You know, I really like it to come to work early... it's 8am right now (I've been at work for an hour already) and there's 4 persons in the lab, me included... no one to look over your shoulder to see if you're working or not :P Which allows me to do some blog hopping and this quick review.
So after reading One Forbidden Evening earlier this summer, I got curious and wanted to read A Season to be Sinful, mainly for Sherry, the viscount, but also for the 3 scoundrels Pinch, Dash and Midge. All in all, the characters did not disappoint me that much; however, I cannot say that I loved this book.
So one night, Alexander Graham, viscount Sheridan also known as Sherry, went to the theater with his mistress and almost got stabbed. He assumed that the one trying to stab him was thief; however, this say thief stumbled over his own blade. Hmmm, after consideration, Sherry wondered how the thief could stabbed himself instead of stab him and so, Sherry has been going around, asking to be led to the thief to give him some money. Of course, he didn't find the thief, but another night, three boys show up and ask for the money in order to save their teacher, Miss Lily Rose. At this point, Sherry is pretty shocked that his assaillant was a woman and ask the boys to guide him to her, along with his physician. At this point, Sherry manages to save the live of Lily and become protective of the three scoundrels. Once Lily is strong enough, they depart to his country estate where Sherry, prior to the accident, had decided to go live permanently, because he does not enjoy London. Of course, Sherry and Lily become involved...
... and this is about the part that I stop reading the book. Not because the story wasn't good, but because the plot took a turn that I didn't care for. See, Lily Rose, real name Lilith, was raised at the Abbey of Sacre-Coeur in France. When she was about 16 years old, this English baron came to look for a governess for his children... Yeah right, the pervert came to look for a toy and his sight settled on Lily. At Sister Mary Joseph urgence, Lily runs away and is supposed to make her way to England, but she ends up in the Baron's clutches and become his toy for the next 1 or 2 years... This was part of the plot that I didn't expect and seriously, it totally threw me off. I guess the readers are made to believe that Lily escaped the fate of becoming the baron sex toy by running away and living on the street, and so that's what I believed. However, that's not what happened and really, that's not what I was expecting to read... and that's why I put the book down. Wasn't interested anymore. Next time, dear author, please give me more warning ^^; What I really found unbelievable though was that in a few years, Lily rebound and she was able to make love with Sherry without any problem, I even think that she seduced him and in many instances, initiate the kiss.
Mind you, I don't need my heroines to all be virgins and I have to admit, that it's becoming a common plot, esp. in historicals and so I embrace it when there's some differences in plot. However, I'd believed that when you've been used sexually as she was, you'd be wary a bit... and I just thought that it was quite unbelievable that she could make love with Sherry with no fear or other feelings. So yeah, didn't like that part of the book... actually, what happened is that it made me really sad... You know, you never really like to read about a woman being sexually abused, even less when she's been used and psychologically manipulated. Good for her to have escaped, but that didn't redeem what happened in my heart and so, I didn't really read the end of the book, because at this point, I know I would not have liked the book.
Otherwise, I thought the first half of the book was very well constructed and showed great promises. However, as Tara Marie once said, Jo Goodman's books tend to be long and I think that was the case with this book too...
So that's it. Have a nice day :D
