A review by crispycritter
Gentle Tyrant by Lucy Gillen

1.0

I should have expected 1970s romances to have some . . . problematic elements. But hooboy reading this was quite the experience.

• The author frequently used animal metaphors to describe the heroine - in particular, that she was like a wild horse that just needed to be broken *barf*
• Nothing happened. She was a secretary for a brother who did . . . something. And took lots of rides on the moors where she constantly ran into other people from the house.
• The hero was one of those old school dudes who said awful things, shook her like a doll, then kissed her passionately (and against her will!!!!). 
• The only other woman with lines is evil, naturally.
• At the line level this was just terrible. Run on sentences, weird word repetition.

It's kinda wild that novels written in the Victorian era feel more progressive than this. BUT this is still such a cute lil book to add to my collection. Keeping it for aesthetics only, as what's inside the pages is absolute hot garbage.