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elfduchess's review against another edition
(Review contains minor romance spoilers. I mean, you know they get together and sex each other. … And I the plot is so thread thin that I couldn't give spoilers for it if I tried.)
(Also, I figure I should warn that I touch lightly on this book's transphobia in the form of misgendering/deadnaming/outing of a transwoman that is not seen at all in the book and is, in fact, just a throw away conversation...likely to show how progressive Maud and Violet are. Or the author is.)
Four reasons. (Actually, more than that, but I could have forgiven the minor ones if I'd not had the other issues.) I pushed past the first two that made me uncomfortable, only to be dealing with the third and fourth in quick succession with each other.
So, the first problem I had was when Alan Ross (birth name Alonzo Rossi) is first introduced. He is described as 'an olive skinned young man with the kind of soulfully flawless good looks that made one want to rake ones fingernails across his cheek.'
…
I'm really surprised that I'm the only one that finds this racist, because I don't usually catch on to these type of things, but this just feels so, so bad when he's the only POC of any import and, I think, the only POC male so far. No other person was described in a way that linked their good looks to violence being perpetrated on them.
Second thing was the lead up to the first sex scene between Violet and Maud. This is just something that got in my head and really niggled at me because of the wording and the POV. We're inside Violet's head, she places her fingers on Maud's lips and then - I think when they part - she slips a finger inside Maud's mouth. Okay. I'm okay with this so far. Violet's thoughts are following the line of 'this does not indicate that they are going to do anything else.' That is true and I'm actually appreciating this awareness. Then she continues to think 'Violet could continue. Violet could stop at anytime.' And she never gives an acknowledgement that Maud could ask for this to continue or that Maud could ask for it to stop.
I've had too many bad experiences with this sort of disregard to mutual consent, that I was kind of starting to be super vigilant.
Third thing was the blatant and obvious misgendering (and deadnaming?) of a transwoman. Violet is attempting to shock Maud - apparently - by telling her about the transwomen she knew back in New York. Maud will not be shocked though, because one of the women in the women's society is a 'lady of that nature.' I was…hopefully impressed. But then Maud continued: 'Ms Hannity (sp?) had been a Sailor when she was young Mr Hannity.'
Honestly, you don't even need this. In the context of the conversation, it's obvious. (I also have a couple of issues with the fact that Maud knows this when she is not friends with this woman and the casual way she outs her, when that could have been extremely dangerous for Ms. Hannity.)
Fourth issue that made me stop was during sex again. 'Violet seemed to take the reminder of Maud's academic knowledge as a challenge, to prove her greater experience.' … Look, I've not forgotten, because this book will not let me forget, that Maud is the inexperienced virgin trope and Violet is the bisexual slut trope. First of all, the bisexual slut trope is one that really gets under my skin and there had better be a decent way to either back it up, or other bisexual representation. This has neither. And the inexperienced virgin is pretty much why I stay away from het historicals.
These last two issues, slap up against each other left me looking at other minor issues I had with this book, such as:
The fact that Violet is putting on a show during their first sex scene and…I feel that if she feels she still has to do that, they are having sex much too soon.
Which, also, they have sex after they have known each other three days. Which is noted somewhere near the first sex scene. (I like slow burn. I have also only found one author that understands that when I say 'slow burn' I mean 'glacial burn' to such a degree that you will forget that you're reading a romance.)
And there there's also the point that Violet disregards Maud's privacy and looks through a book of Maud's that it is obvious Maud doesn't want her to.
Which, IIRC, lead directly in to the second half of an argument about Violet not wanting to sex Maud up because Maud's too new at this (only recently discovering her Sapphic leanings) and horny (after reading erotica) and Maud responds, maturely, that she can certainly find another woman - or man - aboard the ship to help her get her rocks off.
Oh, and there was also the second meeting between Maud and Violet, where Lord Hawthorn was fingers deep in Violet. That whole scene did not feel good and, honestly, left me kind of disgusted.
Finally, as I was scrolling through some reviews, I discovered that Violet is married to a vanished husband so she cannot divorce him - a fact which she never tells Maud. And this is the point that I know I am making the right decision for myself.
(Side note: I have no intention of continuing this series. I had hoped that I might, but after seeing the casual racism directed to Alan Ross and knowing that in the first book I mentally pegged Lord Hawthorn as a verbally abusive bastard, I have zero interest in reading their romance.)
(Also, I figure I should warn that I touch lightly on this book's transphobia in the form of misgendering/deadnaming/outing of a transwoman that is not seen at all in the book and is, in fact, just a throw away conversation...likely to show how progressive Maud and Violet are. Or the author is.)
Four reasons. (Actually, more than that, but I could have forgiven the minor ones if I'd not had the other issues.) I pushed past the first two that made me uncomfortable, only to be dealing with the third and fourth in quick succession with each other.
So, the first problem I had was when Alan Ross (birth name Alonzo Rossi) is first introduced. He is described as 'an olive skinned young man with the kind of soulfully flawless good looks that made one want to rake ones fingernails across his cheek.'
…
I'm really surprised that I'm the only one that finds this racist, because I don't usually catch on to these type of things, but this just feels so, so bad when he's the only POC of any import and, I think, the only POC male so far. No other person was described in a way that linked their good looks to violence being perpetrated on them.
Second thing was the lead up to the first sex scene between Violet and Maud. This is just something that got in my head and really niggled at me because of the wording and the POV. We're inside Violet's head, she places her fingers on Maud's lips and then - I think when they part - she slips a finger inside Maud's mouth. Okay. I'm okay with this so far. Violet's thoughts are following the line of 'this does not indicate that they are going to do anything else.' That is true and I'm actually appreciating this awareness. Then she continues to think 'Violet could continue. Violet could stop at anytime.' And she never gives an acknowledgement that Maud could ask for this to continue or that Maud could ask for it to stop.
I've had too many bad experiences with this sort of disregard to mutual consent, that I was kind of starting to be super vigilant.
Third thing was the blatant and obvious misgendering (and deadnaming?) of a transwoman. Violet is attempting to shock Maud - apparently - by telling her about the transwomen she knew back in New York. Maud will not be shocked though, because one of the women in the women's society is a 'lady of that nature.' I was…hopefully impressed. But then Maud continued: 'Ms Hannity (sp?) had been a Sailor when she was young Mr Hannity.'
Honestly, you don't even need this. In the context of the conversation, it's obvious. (I also have a couple of issues with the fact that Maud knows this when she is not friends with this woman and the casual way she outs her, when that could have been extremely dangerous for Ms. Hannity.)
Fourth issue that made me stop was during sex again. 'Violet seemed to take the reminder of Maud's academic knowledge as a challenge, to prove her greater experience.' … Look, I've not forgotten, because this book will not let me forget, that Maud is the inexperienced virgin trope and Violet is the bisexual slut trope. First of all, the bisexual slut trope is one that really gets under my skin and there had better be a decent way to either back it up, or other bisexual representation. This has neither. And the inexperienced virgin is pretty much why I stay away from het historicals.
These last two issues, slap up against each other left me looking at other minor issues I had with this book, such as:
The fact that Violet is putting on a show during their first sex scene and…I feel that if she feels she still has to do that, they are having sex much too soon.
Which, also, they have sex after they have known each other three days. Which is noted somewhere near the first sex scene. (I like slow burn. I have also only found one author that understands that when I say 'slow burn' I mean 'glacial burn' to such a degree that you will forget that you're reading a romance.)
And there there's also the point that Violet disregards Maud's privacy and looks through a book of Maud's that it is obvious Maud doesn't want her to.
Which, IIRC, lead directly in to the second half of an argument about Violet not wanting to sex Maud up because Maud's too new at this (only recently discovering her Sapphic leanings) and horny (after reading erotica) and Maud responds, maturely, that she can certainly find another woman - or man - aboard the ship to help her get her rocks off.
Oh, and there was also the second meeting between Maud and Violet, where Lord Hawthorn was fingers deep in Violet. That whole scene did not feel good and, honestly, left me kind of disgusted.
Finally, as I was scrolling through some reviews, I discovered that Violet is married to a vanished husband so she cannot divorce him - a fact which she never tells Maud. And this is the point that I know I am making the right decision for myself.
(Side note: I have no intention of continuing this series. I had hoped that I might, but after seeing the casual racism directed to Alan Ross and knowing that in the first book I mentally pegged Lord Hawthorn as a verbally abusive bastard, I have zero interest in reading their romance.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Ableism, Deadnaming, and Transphobia