Thursday, July 26, 2012

Love's Tender Fury by Jennifer Wilde

All you adults can take your Fifty Shades of Grey and shove it! If I'm going to read smut, it has to be historical smut, like the stuff I was reading when I was in junior high! I'm on vacation this week and the resort office has an excellent selection of reading material--Nora Roberts, Clive Cussler, John Rutherford, and classic 70s romance like the one I selected.

Marietta is just a good girl trying to make it in the world as a governess. When she is framed by the Lord of the House because she doesn't want him to rape her, she is sold into indentured servitude and shipped to the Carolinas. Bought by the highest bidder, Derek, she becomes a plantation mistress, but is sold quickly when she helps two slaves escape. She moves onto Natchez and New Orleans with Jeff and sets up a gambling house. She's quite the sophisticated lady in New Orleans, but when Jeff dies without marrying her, she is left with nothing but some jewels to sell. She can't make it as a seamstress in Natchez and marries the rich German who owns everything around Natchez. But he harbors secrets and he turns against Marietta when she helps her sister-in-law escape from the clutches of her evil brother. Luckily, Derek still loves Marietta though, and saves the day.

Ahhhh, romance! These are the books I was raised on and now I know why my perception of romance is completely skewed! Marietta is raped, sold, bought, used, objectified, and beaten, but I had to keep reading. This is one old romance book that is worth it--I loved the history of the West that was included.


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