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A review by lux_klara
Judgment Road by Christine Feehan
2.0
So, this book could have been good. I actually enjoyed the characters and I was also enjoying the story. Was it amazing? No, it wasn't.
To be honest, Christine Feehan has a writing style that, while it doesn't really captivate me, it is still able to entartain me and make me want to read a series even tough I often end up not liking several of her books and sometimes even make me enjoy books that I feel like I shouldn't enkoy. It's very weird. Because it's not that I LOVE her writing style. But it still akes me interested and invested in the overall arch.
But this book was shaping up to be one of those books that I actually did enjoy.
And THEN it happened.
Basically there is a scene where Reaper and his MC Club tortures the heroine. What happens is that she never told them any of her past, is very vague about it and at the same time, there are people abducting the wives of the MC club's meber so they fear she is a spy.
So, instead of Reaper trying first to ask her privately and explaining the situation (so that she could maybe tell him her past) they directky decided that it's better if they ask her questions while another memeber "Absinthe" held her hand. Absinthe has a power that makes sure he always know if the person he is helding the hand of is saying the true and if they refuse to answer the question they feel pain.
She refuses to answer. To make it clear, if she had answered them immediately she would have never felt anything but, because of her own reasons and fears, she refuses to tell them anything for hours...so she end up getting tortured.
To be clear, my problem isn't that they actually immediately jumped to question her using Absinthe (instead of having Reaper try to get the answer firsts) because, given the way they grew up it's actually very realistic and understandable. Especially consdering that if she had immediately answered the questions, she wouldn't ahve felt anything so I coulsee them thinking "hey, if she isn't a spy she shoudl answer immediately".
So, I don't blame the MC Club (or even Reaper) for immediately going that route instead of the one any other normal person would (they just aren't nornal and, due to their own upbringing, they are paranoid and the way they end up dealing with situation is rarely ideal).
I don't even blame Anya for her resitance. She had legitimate reasons to fear for her own safety and having people you don't really know that well torture you (while being seemingly unaffected by it) isn't really something that would incite trust and confidence. So yeah....Ican understand that.
What completely ruined the book was how the AFTERMATH of the torture was handled. It was just plain terible.
In one day she was already ready to stay with Reaper. Sure, she wasn't comfortable, but it was already obvious in the morning that she wouldn't run away.
THAT'S NOT OKAY.
And I honestly dislike the way it was treated by everyone, not only herself. Blythe (Czar/Victor's wife, the one they feared would be getting kidnapped) telling her their past as if to justify their action and trying to convince her to give Reaper a second chance (tough she was, at least, delicate in doing so).
Victor (Torpedo Ink's president) was sorry but still said that "she was shutting them out for one mistake". That wasn't one mistake. That was torture.
Feehan said/wrote that they regretted their action but their words and the way they acted confutes this. It showed that they didn't truly, and I mean truly, understand what they did to her and, tbh, it seemed as if Anya herself wasn't aware of it.
Her own body language seemed to seek comfort in Reaper and, while I may understand that a bit more, it pissed me off because at the end of the day, he didn't have to really regain her trust because she had already given it to him (again).
The only thing I appreciate about the situation is that it was reiterated that it was everyone's fault. Reaper could have walked away with her, could have insisted they used another method. The other made the mistake of standing by the choice of Victor. They really didn't need to do that, they could have brought her in a room, explained WHY they were doubting her and, ONLY IF she didn't give them the answer, they would have to question her using Absinthe power. That was it. Instead they immediately decided for the method that could hurt her.
And Feehan treated the situation as if sex was the answer or their past was. And I mean, Yes, given their terrible past it makes sense why they did it, BUT it doesn't mean that there shouldn't be consequences for their mistake or that they shouldn't face them.
And Anya wasn't just compassionate about "their past", she though of Reaper as if the fallen angel because of this immediately after the torture. She really didn't seem traumatized and hurt enough. Hurt yes, but not as much as she should have been considering the circumstances. And she really acted as if sex could solve their problem because "they are attracted to one another" (which just isn't a justifucation). So Anya immediately returns to Reaper and get friendly with all of the MC members again. Because of course, it's so easy to get over it (just talking about it makes me angry). So yeah, consequennces? We don't know them in this book.
Overall, I know there is another situation that I know could trigger people: - Reaper hates to be touched and gets violent so, for fear of hurting Anya he ALMOST cheats on her getting a blowjob in hope to get used to being touched while simultanously making sure that he would never hurt Anya herself. He doesn't go through it but almsot blows his relationship with her (again).
Personally, despite the terrible reasoning I could get over it relatively easily.
BUT the aftermath of the torture just ruined the book. So yeah, it's a shame.
To be honest, Christine Feehan has a writing style that, while it doesn't really captivate me, it is still able to entartain me and make me want to read a series even tough I often end up not liking several of her books and sometimes even make me enjoy books that I feel like I shouldn't enkoy. It's very weird. Because it's not that I LOVE her writing style. But it still akes me interested and invested in the overall arch.
But this book was shaping up to be one of those books that I actually did enjoy.
And THEN it happened.
Basically there is a scene where Reaper and his MC Club tortures the heroine. What happens is that she never told them any of her past, is very vague about it and at the same time, there are people abducting the wives of the MC club's meber so they fear she is a spy.
So, instead of Reaper trying first to ask her privately and explaining the situation (so that she could maybe tell him her past) they directky decided that it's better if they ask her questions while another memeber "Absinthe" held her hand. Absinthe has a power that makes sure he always know if the person he is helding the hand of is saying the true and if they refuse to answer the question they feel pain.
She refuses to answer. To make it clear, if she had answered them immediately she would have never felt anything but, because of her own reasons and fears, she refuses to tell them anything for hours...so she end up getting tortured.
To be clear, my problem isn't that they actually immediately jumped to question her using Absinthe (instead of having Reaper try to get the answer firsts) because, given the way they grew up it's actually very realistic and understandable. Especially consdering that if she had immediately answered the questions, she wouldn't ahve felt anything so I coulsee them thinking "hey, if she isn't a spy she shoudl answer immediately".
So, I don't blame the MC Club (or even Reaper) for immediately going that route instead of the one any other normal person would (they just aren't nornal and, due to their own upbringing, they are paranoid and the way they end up dealing with situation is rarely ideal).
I don't even blame Anya for her resitance. She had legitimate reasons to fear for her own safety and having people you don't really know that well torture you (while being seemingly unaffected by it) isn't really something that would incite trust and confidence. So yeah....Ican understand that.
What completely ruined the book was how the AFTERMATH of the torture was handled. It was just plain terible.
In one day she was already ready to stay with Reaper. Sure, she wasn't comfortable, but it was already obvious in the morning that she wouldn't run away.
THAT'S NOT OKAY.
And I honestly dislike the way it was treated by everyone, not only herself. Blythe (Czar/Victor's wife, the one they feared would be getting kidnapped) telling her their past as if to justify their action and trying to convince her to give Reaper a second chance (tough she was, at least, delicate in doing so).
Victor (Torpedo Ink's president) was sorry but still said that "she was shutting them out for one mistake". That wasn't one mistake. That was torture.
Feehan said/wrote that they regretted their action but their words and the way they acted confutes this. It showed that they didn't truly, and I mean truly, understand what they did to her and, tbh, it seemed as if Anya herself wasn't aware of it.
Her own body language seemed to seek comfort in Reaper and, while I may understand that a bit more, it pissed me off because at the end of the day, he didn't have to really regain her trust because she had already given it to him (again).
The only thing I appreciate about the situation is that it was reiterated that it was everyone's fault. Reaper could have walked away with her, could have insisted they used another method. The other made the mistake of standing by the choice of Victor. They really didn't need to do that, they could have brought her in a room, explained WHY they were doubting her and, ONLY IF she didn't give them the answer, they would have to question her using Absinthe power. That was it. Instead they immediately decided for the method that could hurt her.
And Feehan treated the situation as if sex was the answer or their past was. And I mean, Yes, given their terrible past it makes sense why they did it, BUT it doesn't mean that there shouldn't be consequences for their mistake or that they shouldn't face them.
And Anya wasn't just compassionate about "their past", she though of Reaper as if the fallen angel because of this immediately after the torture. She really didn't seem traumatized and hurt enough. Hurt yes, but not as much as she should have been considering the circumstances. And she really acted as if sex could solve their problem because "they are attracted to one another" (which just isn't a justifucation). So Anya immediately returns to Reaper and get friendly with all of the MC members again. Because of course, it's so easy to get over it (just talking about it makes me angry). So yeah, consequennces? We don't know them in this book.
Overall, I know there is another situation that I know could trigger people: - Reaper hates to be touched and gets violent so, for fear of hurting Anya he ALMOST cheats on her getting a blowjob in hope to get used to being touched while simultanously making sure that he would never hurt Anya herself. He doesn't go through it but almsot blows his relationship with her (again).
Personally, despite the terrible reasoning I could get over it relatively easily.
BUT the aftermath of the torture just ruined the book. So yeah, it's a shame.