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A review by corsetreads
Taming the Rake by Erica Ridley
3.0
I’m giving this three stars because it was well written. The author is very talented. But this book made me very upset.
The heroine Gladys, is kissed by the hero who disappears right after and ruins Gladys’ reputation. She’s shunned by society and her family and is basically put out on the streets with no money to her name and no one to turn to for help.
Five years later, she returns to the town where the rake ruined her and she wants revenge. Where has she been all these years? Well she’s become a courtesan so successful she’s already financially ready to retire.
I really dislike that Gladys was forced into sex work and it’s brushed off in this way that only serves to make Gladys more of a tough girlboss. But the Gladys we meet in the beginning of the story has never even SPOKEN to a man, and her first and only kiss was with the man who ruined her. It genuinely makes me sad to think of how her first experience doing sex work must have been, she was so innocent (her parents didn’t even let her read novels that might corrupt her) and she was suddenly so desperate for money and protection she was forced to sell her body. And did so for the next five years. There’s nothing empowering about that. It’s deeply tragic and I don’t like that it was just glossed over “and anyway now where here and she’s done being a courtesan and she’s getting revenge! Girl power!”
Gladys never really heals from her trauma, or indicates she even has any, after living such traumatic events. It seems like everything is just fixed by the hero suddenly falling in love with her. Which frankly, wasn’t an earned happily ever after. The hero didn’t know he ruined her, he didn’t mean to, but it still doesn’t mean she should have romanticized him and forgiven him. It didn’t read like a romance, it read like a cautionary tale and it left me feeling deeply sad and unsettled.
Historical romance should center the female gaze, we should be kind to our heroines, not brutalize them. I know that historically, the world hasn’t been kind to women, but that doesn’t mean I want that cruel reality in what’s supposed to be escapism.
The heroine Gladys, is kissed by the hero who disappears right after and ruins Gladys’ reputation. She’s shunned by society and her family and is basically put out on the streets with no money to her name and no one to turn to for help.
Five years later, she returns to the town where the rake ruined her and she wants revenge. Where has she been all these years? Well she’s become a courtesan so successful she’s already financially ready to retire.
I really dislike that Gladys was forced into sex work and it’s brushed off in this way that only serves to make Gladys more of a tough girlboss. But the Gladys we meet in the beginning of the story has never even SPOKEN to a man, and her first and only kiss was with the man who ruined her. It genuinely makes me sad to think of how her first experience doing sex work must have been, she was so innocent (her parents didn’t even let her read novels that might corrupt her) and she was suddenly so desperate for money and protection she was forced to sell her body. And did so for the next five years. There’s nothing empowering about that. It’s deeply tragic and I don’t like that it was just glossed over “and anyway now where here and she’s done being a courtesan and she’s getting revenge! Girl power!”
Gladys never really heals from her trauma, or indicates she even has any, after living such traumatic events. It seems like everything is just fixed by the hero suddenly falling in love with her. Which frankly, wasn’t an earned happily ever after. The hero didn’t know he ruined her, he didn’t mean to, but it still doesn’t mean she should have romanticized him and forgiven him. It didn’t read like a romance, it read like a cautionary tale and it left me feeling deeply sad and unsettled.
Historical romance should center the female gaze, we should be kind to our heroines, not brutalize them. I know that historically, the world hasn’t been kind to women, but that doesn’t mean I want that cruel reality in what’s supposed to be escapism.