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Blackshear Family #1
A Lady Awakened
Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business a month of illicit interludes . . . for a fee.
Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?
Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?
346 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Cecilia Grant
5 books652 followersI write Regency-set historical romance with a high angst-to-plot ratio. I specialize in hard-headed heroines and good-hearted heroes. So far.
A word about the "reviews" I post here: Please think of them as recommendations rather than reviews. If I like a book, I'll list it here and scrawl a few sentences about why I liked it. I've gone back and forth about whether to use stars (it feels like a sledgehammer approach to something pretty intricate), and at the moment I'm back to using them. Mostly because I'm slow about writing reviews, and there were a lot of books I wanted to go on record as having enjoyed!
A word about the "reviews" I post here: Please think of them as recommendations rather than reviews. If I like a book, I'll list it here and scrawl a few sentences about why I liked it. I've gone back and forth about whether to use stars (it feels like a sledgehammer approach to something pretty intricate), and at the moment I'm back to using them. Mostly because I'm slow about writing reviews, and there were a lot of books I wanted to go on record as having enjoyed!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,163 reviews
February 10, 2017
Good grief. This was just...I don't even know. Excuse me while I lick my wounds.
A LADY AWAKENED; or, MAULED BY TEH FEELZ.
MARTHA: I am prim & proper & devoid of emotion. I have successfully smothered Feelz since I was a child. Feelz are good for nothing. Feelz have no place in life.
LAWYER: So, hey. There's a problem with your husband's will.
MARTHA: It had better not demand Feelz.
LAWYER: No, it's demanding your departure from this house.
MARTHA: Oh, that's right. My marriage sucked from day one, but I never told anyone. Talking about marriage is acknowledging Feelz, & I can't do that.
MARTHA'S BROTHER: What the hell, sister?! Come live with me & my wife. For some bizarre reason, we care about what happens to you.
MARTHA: No. I am alone. I want my independence. I'd rather stay here & socially reform my tenants & make all the little children attend school. Did you know women can better themselves through education?
LAWYER: Whatever. If you had an heir, you could stay.
MARTHA: But my husband was impotent.
LAWYER: In that case, his Evul Brother will take the house & rape the female servants. Have a nice day.
MARTHA: I can't have a nice day. I devote my energy to emotionally distancing myself from life's hideous Feelz. Oh, the angst. I'd better go to church & talk about my school.
PREACHER: I am sending really obvious signals that I'd marry you if you weren't in mourning.
MARTHA: I can't acknowledge those signals. I can't show Feelz. Meanwhile, my husband is dead & I've got no baby. How can I circumvent this inconvenience?
MARTHA'S MAID: Your new neighbor is a beta woobie-rake.
MARTHA: Hmm. If this guy knocked me up, I could claim the baby is my dead husband's heir. I could save the servants from being raped & continue campaigning for my tenant school. It's a perfect solution!
THEO: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....church is boring.
MARTHA: You're my new neighbor. You're sleeping in church. You offend me with your Feelz. I'll pay you to have sex with me every day for a month.
THEO: ...Whut?
MARTHA: If you get me pregnant, I'll pay you extra.
THEO: Mrs Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?
MARTHA: I'm barely 21 years old. And seduction is for Feelz, which I don't have.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want to get to know me first?
MARTHA: I don't care so long as you're free of STDs. Sex is gross.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want me to caress you a bit & learn what you like?
MARTHA: I don't care about caresses. Foreplay is for pansies.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want me to make you feel nice while we're having sex?
MARTHA: I don't care about feeling nice. Feeling nice is unacceptable.
THEO: I don't understand why you're determined to hate my cock after you paid to use it.
MARTHA: And I don't understand why men are so lame. Men don't acknowledge that women have Feelz! They don't get to know us before sticking their peens between our legs! They don't try to learn what we like! They don't care about making us feel nice while we're being forced to have sex! THEY HATE OUR FEELZ, YOU SEE?
THEO: You're an odd woman.
MARTHA: Oh, sorry. Is my attitude preventing you from getting a proper erection?
THEO: Yeah, actually.
MARTHA: You mean...
THEO: Uh-huh. You'll have to enjoy yourself to get my all-important juices flowing.
MARTHA: But...but...I refuse to like sex. Sex is the devil's road to Feelz.
THEO: Okay, seriously. What the fuck is wrong with you?
MARTHA: I refuse to talk about having Feelz.
THEO: Hey, now! I have Feelz too! I have mommy issues.
MARTHA: That's because you haven't invested yourself in bettering society. Have I told you about my reform school?
THEO: It's hot when you're an anachronistic feminist. Let me kiss your boob or something.
MARTHA: Forget touching my boob. I'll never enjoy sex, so stop trying. It's giving me Feelz.
THEO: I'm sorry, Martha. I'm only giving you Feelz because you're giving me Feelz. Let me tell you how I was emotionally affected by visiting my poorest tenants this afternoon.
MARTHA: The plight of the children is horrible. I want them to attend school regularly.
...At which point I reached page 80. When I skipped ahead to page 200-something, Theo was insisting Martha tie him up with her stockings & learn to enjoy being on top & in control of their sexual relationship.
NO.
NO.
SO MUCH NO.
Two stars because there were some pretty sentences. But I won't be trying any more of this author unless she dials down the pointless, plotless angst.
A LADY AWAKENED; or, MAULED BY TEH FEELZ.
MARTHA: I am prim & proper & devoid of emotion. I have successfully smothered Feelz since I was a child. Feelz are good for nothing. Feelz have no place in life.
LAWYER: So, hey. There's a problem with your husband's will.
MARTHA: It had better not demand Feelz.
LAWYER: No, it's demanding your departure from this house.
MARTHA: Oh, that's right. My marriage sucked from day one, but I never told anyone. Talking about marriage is acknowledging Feelz, & I can't do that.
MARTHA'S BROTHER: What the hell, sister?! Come live with me & my wife. For some bizarre reason, we care about what happens to you.
MARTHA: No. I am alone. I want my independence. I'd rather stay here & socially reform my tenants & make all the little children attend school. Did you know women can better themselves through education?
LAWYER: Whatever. If you had an heir, you could stay.
MARTHA: But my husband was impotent.
LAWYER: In that case, his Evul Brother will take the house & rape the female servants. Have a nice day.
MARTHA: I can't have a nice day. I devote my energy to emotionally distancing myself from life's hideous Feelz. Oh, the angst. I'd better go to church & talk about my school.
PREACHER: I am sending really obvious signals that I'd marry you if you weren't in mourning.
MARTHA: I can't acknowledge those signals. I can't show Feelz. Meanwhile, my husband is dead & I've got no baby. How can I circumvent this inconvenience?
MARTHA'S MAID: Your new neighbor is a beta woobie-rake.
MARTHA: Hmm. If this guy knocked me up, I could claim the baby is my dead husband's heir. I could save the servants from being raped & continue campaigning for my tenant school. It's a perfect solution!
THEO: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....church is boring.
MARTHA: You're my new neighbor. You're sleeping in church. You offend me with your Feelz. I'll pay you to have sex with me every day for a month.
THEO: ...Whut?
MARTHA: If you get me pregnant, I'll pay you extra.
THEO: Mrs Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?
MARTHA: I'm barely 21 years old. And seduction is for Feelz, which I don't have.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want to get to know me first?
MARTHA: I don't care so long as you're free of STDs. Sex is gross.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want me to caress you a bit & learn what you like?
MARTHA: I don't care about caresses. Foreplay is for pansies.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want me to make you feel nice while we're having sex?
MARTHA: I don't care about feeling nice. Feeling nice is unacceptable.
THEO: I don't understand why you're determined to hate my cock after you paid to use it.
MARTHA: And I don't understand why men are so lame. Men don't acknowledge that women have Feelz! They don't get to know us before sticking their peens between our legs! They don't try to learn what we like! They don't care about making us feel nice while we're being forced to have sex! THEY HATE OUR FEELZ, YOU SEE?
THEO: You're an odd woman.
MARTHA: Oh, sorry. Is my attitude preventing you from getting a proper erection?
THEO: Yeah, actually.
MARTHA: You mean...
THEO: Uh-huh. You'll have to enjoy yourself to get my all-important juices flowing.
MARTHA: But...but...I refuse to like sex. Sex is the devil's road to Feelz.
THEO: Okay, seriously. What the fuck is wrong with you?
MARTHA: I refuse to talk about having Feelz.
THEO: Hey, now! I have Feelz too! I have mommy issues.
MARTHA: That's because you haven't invested yourself in bettering society. Have I told you about my reform school?
THEO: It's hot when you're an anachronistic feminist. Let me kiss your boob or something.
MARTHA: Forget touching my boob. I'll never enjoy sex, so stop trying. It's giving me Feelz.
THEO: I'm sorry, Martha. I'm only giving you Feelz because you're giving me Feelz. Let me tell you how I was emotionally affected by visiting my poorest tenants this afternoon.
MARTHA: The plight of the children is horrible. I want them to attend school regularly.
...At which point I reached page 80. When I skipped ahead to page 200-something, Theo was insisting Martha tie him up with her stockings & learn to enjoy being on top & in control of their sexual relationship.
NO.
NO.
SO MUCH NO.
Two stars because there were some pretty sentences. But I won't be trying any more of this author unless she dials down the pointless, plotless angst.
July 3, 2020
In my idle hours, and in my less idle ones, I spend more time than is reasonable pondering the following questions: what’s my favourite romance novel? If I was sent to a desert island and could only take one with me, which would it be? The answer usually changes with my mood. But my God, Cecilia Grant’s magnificent ‘A Lady Awakened’ wins out very, very frequently. Because, to me, it is perfection.
When people roll their eyes on finding out I read romance and are all: ‘bodice rippers!’ ‘members!’ ‘Fabio!’ ‘rapey heroes!’ [ok, no one actually says ‘rapey’], I give them a short list of brilliant, modern romance novels and Grant is always on it.
I read it for the first time back in 2014 when I first started reading romance and long before I discovered goodreads in any significant way. Since then I have re-read it all the way through twice (I don’t re-read all that much) and gone back to passages very, very frequently.
Not to over-egg this pudding, but, if you haven’t read this: get on it, immediately.
I will now attempt to review this book in a way that does some semblance of justice to just how much I love it and to just how good it is.
The plot. Heroine needs to get pregnant to steal an estate away from her dead husband’s brother. Pays the hero to act as her ‘whore’ (his definition), ‘stud animal’ (hers). This seems a bit over the top when written down in this simple way. But Grant makes it work with magic words and magic characters.
And, oh, what characters. Heroine, Martha Russell. She’s rigid, pious, blunt, principled, clever and brave. Martha isn’t ‘likeable’, and I like her for precisely that reason. Grant isn’t trying to sell her as a character to the reader, she just let’s her be and she is absolutely committed to the heroine she’s written. On seeing the hero’s torso for the first time:
“That mattered to some woman. Muscles and so forth. Those taut flat ones across his stomach, for instance… Women who didn’t place the proper priority on a man’s character had doubtless taught him to be vain of his physique, and even a woman of principle could enjoy, on some aesthetic level, the picture he made with his shirt removed.” (14%)
No swooning at the body of a Greek Adonis for our Martha, absolutely not. And she’s decidedly less impressed with what’s beneath the trousers:
“Where she was molded, he was rough-hewn… he looked rangy, haphazard, his male parts an ill-placed afterthought. Like the last leftover bits of clay scraped together, rolled into primitive forms and stuck onto the middle of him, the stones in their rough red sack and that improbably appendage dangling to the fore… Nor could she respect Mirkwood’s exemplar, despite it’s apparently remarkable size, and the jaunty [JANUTY!!!!] air suggesting confidence of its welcome anywhere.” (15%)
This really captures Martha in a nutshell. And it’s made all the more delightful because Theo thinks she’s admiring him and struts about like the rake he is. The juxtaposition is amazing.
This is a novel which does character growth like no other. Martha remains quintessentially the same person throughout, but slowly, like a flower opening to sunlight, our hero, Theo gets into her mind and then into her heart (because, with Martha, ever practical woman that she is, you cannot get into the latter without finding your way into the former). Whilst that’s happening, partially because that’s happening, she becomes more social throughout the novel, she sees some of her own weaknesses and she starts to remedy them.
Theo Mirkwood. A rake, exiled to his Father’s country estate for his profligate spending in London. He can’t wait to get back. The proposition from Martha that they have sex and he gets to make money from it is snapped up by him with very little thought. At the start of this novel, that’s just how he is. By the end, he’s a leader of men (as Martha points out, he always has been, he just didn’t see it yet). He finds that all the characteristics in Martha that he disliked at first are the things he’s come to love:
“But she was never lovelier than when she spoke this way, all afire with the knowledge of wrongs to be righted and good to be done.” (59%)
She’s a woman it’s difficult to impress and impressing her makes Theo feel more of a man than all the legions of women that came before her.
There’s a small moment late on which shows just how much Theo has grown (Grant does these small moments very well):
“With one finger he crushed the painstaking folds of his cravat to bare his neck to the breeze on that side. A month ago, his cravat was sacrosanct.” (65%)
Their love story is the very definition of a slow burn, despite the fact that they’ve had sex by about the 20% mark. At first, Theo is everything Martha dislikes: frivolous, lazy, overly sexual. Theo doesn’t dislike Martha in the same way, but it’s fair to say he doesn’t understand her, she’s a young woman completely outside what he has experienced to date in his easy London life. Slowly, Theo finds himself, Martha starts to appreciate there is more to him than she first thought and Theo starts to court Martha’s good graces, at first because he wants to master her sexually and then because he falls for her:
“ “You’re a leader of men, Mirkwood. I should never have guessed it.” They were the most thrilling words a woman had ever said to him… His head felt light and his legs unsteady; who’d have known a man could get drunk on a lady’s good opinion.” (71%)
It’s wonderfully subtle in its execution and beautiful to boot.
Then there's the sex. Oh, my, the sex. It’s the best kind because it’s hawt but absolutely integral to the story and the characters. Martha hates being in bed with Theo at first (she wants to get her seed and get out). As she comes to like him, then respect him, then love him, the sex gets good. One of my favourite things about this novel is Martha’s internal dialogue as she finds some enjoyment in the sex and then eventually, wanting Theo to have a whirl at pleasuring her. She’s put him off about it so many times, she’s worried the ship has sailed for good and then she finds to her delight, that it hasn’t. Theo learns the merit of having to work to get a woman to enjoy herself and introducing Martha to the wonders of sex with someone you like and who likes you in return:
“No lust, it developed, was so gratifying to a man as the lust that blossomed only after esteem had taken root.” (76%)
This is as true for the reader as it is for Theo. It’s delicious.
Grant achieves the story and the characters and the romance with a command of language and imagery which drives me mad with jealousy. A few examples:
“ “Because that is not what I choose to do.” The words had such clean edges, she might have sliced them on a tiny guillotine.” (9%)
And, how’s this for a description of a heroine?
“So many different ways women had of being beautiful. Mrs Russell’s beauty was of a kind that spoke in whispers, veiled her like mist. As though she has some hope of keeping it to herself, and granted her curves might escape a careless man’s notice, so gradual were they. She wanted a discerning lover. One who saw all her sensual promise. One who knew how to tease out the voluptuousness from an understated form.” (10%)
Theo’s feelings on Martha unexpectedly helping him with a task:
“He felt as though he were suspended in air, or floating on a strange warm sea. Time might stop all round them and here he would be, washed with the music of soft feminine modulations, working away in the pleasure of unspoken companionship. Why she should have confidence that his project must be worthy of her own industry, he could not fathom.” (43%)
Martha, on being invited by Theo to tie him up:
“For an instant she felt as though someone had flipped her skin raw side out: she was one furious blush head to toe.” (72%)
Martha’s perfectly in character declaration, as observed by Theo:
“ “Yes. Duty.” Her whole body tensed with sweet,self-conscious effort, as though she must find the way to deliver her next words through a mouthful of rocks. “My heart as well. I love him.” Her cheeks went scarlet. Any observer might conclude she’d just confessed to some mortifying mishap.” (95%)
There are so many more quotes I could have chosen. I have half the book highlighted on my Kindle. It’s just brilliant. I would not change any part of it and I look forward to re-reading it periodically for the rest of my days.
When people roll their eyes on finding out I read romance and are all: ‘bodice rippers!’ ‘members!’ ‘Fabio!’ ‘rapey heroes!’ [ok, no one actually says ‘rapey’], I give them a short list of brilliant, modern romance novels and Grant is always on it.
I read it for the first time back in 2014 when I first started reading romance and long before I discovered goodreads in any significant way. Since then I have re-read it all the way through twice (I don’t re-read all that much) and gone back to passages very, very frequently.
Not to over-egg this pudding, but, if you haven’t read this: get on it, immediately.
I will now attempt to review this book in a way that does some semblance of justice to just how much I love it and to just how good it is.
The plot. Heroine needs to get pregnant to steal an estate away from her dead husband’s brother. Pays the hero to act as her ‘whore’ (his definition), ‘stud animal’ (hers). This seems a bit over the top when written down in this simple way. But Grant makes it work with magic words and magic characters.
And, oh, what characters. Heroine, Martha Russell. She’s rigid, pious, blunt, principled, clever and brave. Martha isn’t ‘likeable’, and I like her for precisely that reason. Grant isn’t trying to sell her as a character to the reader, she just let’s her be and she is absolutely committed to the heroine she’s written. On seeing the hero’s torso for the first time:
“That mattered to some woman. Muscles and so forth. Those taut flat ones across his stomach, for instance… Women who didn’t place the proper priority on a man’s character had doubtless taught him to be vain of his physique, and even a woman of principle could enjoy, on some aesthetic level, the picture he made with his shirt removed.” (14%)
No swooning at the body of a Greek Adonis for our Martha, absolutely not. And she’s decidedly less impressed with what’s beneath the trousers:
“Where she was molded, he was rough-hewn… he looked rangy, haphazard, his male parts an ill-placed afterthought. Like the last leftover bits of clay scraped together, rolled into primitive forms and stuck onto the middle of him, the stones in their rough red sack and that improbably appendage dangling to the fore… Nor could she respect Mirkwood’s exemplar, despite it’s apparently remarkable size, and the jaunty [JANUTY!!!!] air suggesting confidence of its welcome anywhere.” (15%)
This really captures Martha in a nutshell. And it’s made all the more delightful because Theo thinks she’s admiring him and struts about like the rake he is. The juxtaposition is amazing.
This is a novel which does character growth like no other. Martha remains quintessentially the same person throughout, but slowly, like a flower opening to sunlight, our hero, Theo gets into her mind and then into her heart (because, with Martha, ever practical woman that she is, you cannot get into the latter without finding your way into the former). Whilst that’s happening, partially because that’s happening, she becomes more social throughout the novel, she sees some of her own weaknesses and she starts to remedy them.
Theo Mirkwood. A rake, exiled to his Father’s country estate for his profligate spending in London. He can’t wait to get back. The proposition from Martha that they have sex and he gets to make money from it is snapped up by him with very little thought. At the start of this novel, that’s just how he is. By the end, he’s a leader of men (as Martha points out, he always has been, he just didn’t see it yet). He finds that all the characteristics in Martha that he disliked at first are the things he’s come to love:
“But she was never lovelier than when she spoke this way, all afire with the knowledge of wrongs to be righted and good to be done.” (59%)
She’s a woman it’s difficult to impress and impressing her makes Theo feel more of a man than all the legions of women that came before her.
There’s a small moment late on which shows just how much Theo has grown (Grant does these small moments very well):
“With one finger he crushed the painstaking folds of his cravat to bare his neck to the breeze on that side. A month ago, his cravat was sacrosanct.” (65%)
Their love story is the very definition of a slow burn, despite the fact that they’ve had sex by about the 20% mark. At first, Theo is everything Martha dislikes: frivolous, lazy, overly sexual. Theo doesn’t dislike Martha in the same way, but it’s fair to say he doesn’t understand her, she’s a young woman completely outside what he has experienced to date in his easy London life. Slowly, Theo finds himself, Martha starts to appreciate there is more to him than she first thought and Theo starts to court Martha’s good graces, at first because he wants to master her sexually and then because he falls for her:
“ “You’re a leader of men, Mirkwood. I should never have guessed it.” They were the most thrilling words a woman had ever said to him… His head felt light and his legs unsteady; who’d have known a man could get drunk on a lady’s good opinion.” (71%)
It’s wonderfully subtle in its execution and beautiful to boot.
Then there's the sex. Oh, my, the sex. It’s the best kind because it’s hawt but absolutely integral to the story and the characters. Martha hates being in bed with Theo at first (she wants to get her seed and get out). As she comes to like him, then respect him, then love him, the sex gets good. One of my favourite things about this novel is Martha’s internal dialogue as she finds some enjoyment in the sex and then eventually, wanting Theo to have a whirl at pleasuring her. She’s put him off about it so many times, she’s worried the ship has sailed for good and then she finds to her delight, that it hasn’t. Theo learns the merit of having to work to get a woman to enjoy herself and introducing Martha to the wonders of sex with someone you like and who likes you in return:
“No lust, it developed, was so gratifying to a man as the lust that blossomed only after esteem had taken root.” (76%)
This is as true for the reader as it is for Theo. It’s delicious.
Grant achieves the story and the characters and the romance with a command of language and imagery which drives me mad with jealousy. A few examples:
“ “Because that is not what I choose to do.” The words had such clean edges, she might have sliced them on a tiny guillotine.” (9%)
And, how’s this for a description of a heroine?
“So many different ways women had of being beautiful. Mrs Russell’s beauty was of a kind that spoke in whispers, veiled her like mist. As though she has some hope of keeping it to herself, and granted her curves might escape a careless man’s notice, so gradual were they. She wanted a discerning lover. One who saw all her sensual promise. One who knew how to tease out the voluptuousness from an understated form.” (10%)
Theo’s feelings on Martha unexpectedly helping him with a task:
“He felt as though he were suspended in air, or floating on a strange warm sea. Time might stop all round them and here he would be, washed with the music of soft feminine modulations, working away in the pleasure of unspoken companionship. Why she should have confidence that his project must be worthy of her own industry, he could not fathom.” (43%)
Martha, on being invited by Theo to tie him up:
“For an instant she felt as though someone had flipped her skin raw side out: she was one furious blush head to toe.” (72%)
Martha’s perfectly in character declaration, as observed by Theo:
“ “Yes. Duty.” Her whole body tensed with sweet,self-conscious effort, as though she must find the way to deliver her next words through a mouthful of rocks. “My heart as well. I love him.” Her cheeks went scarlet. Any observer might conclude she’d just confessed to some mortifying mishap.” (95%)
There are so many more quotes I could have chosen. I have half the book highlighted on my Kindle. It’s just brilliant. I would not change any part of it and I look forward to re-reading it periodically for the rest of my days.
December 31, 2012
I don't think I've ever read a romance novel like this, which should be a recommendation in itself, seeing as so many of them follow one of the "standard" plots. You know the sort of thing - hero and heroine hate each other on sight but gradually fall in love; hero/heroine has to marry money to restore the family fortunes and gradually fall in love, etc.
The gradual falling in love bit DOES happen, but it's done in such an original manner. The heroine is a widow who wants desperately to remain in her marital home - but her desire to do so stems from her sense of obligation to the local community rather than from any selfish desire to keep a roof over her head.
What I liked so much about this book was the way in which the two central characters, come together through a shared sense of community and duty. It's not a traditional seduction and there are no mind-blowing first-time orgasms - in fact, the sex is initially perfunctory and not at all sexy, which is rather a refreshing change from the majority of the romantic novels published nowadays.
This book is warm, and funny and also manages to include social observation through the ways in which the protagonists interact with their tennants and workers.
I know this is an odd way to review a romance novel - but what makes it so enjoyable is the fact that it's so DIFFERENT. It's romantic (of course) and funny and tender and altogether a fabulous read. Go on - treat yourself!
The gradual falling in love bit DOES happen, but it's done in such an original manner. The heroine is a widow who wants desperately to remain in her marital home - but her desire to do so stems from her sense of obligation to the local community rather than from any selfish desire to keep a roof over her head.
What I liked so much about this book was the way in which the two central characters, come together through a shared sense of community and duty. It's not a traditional seduction and there are no mind-blowing first-time orgasms - in fact, the sex is initially perfunctory and not at all sexy, which is rather a refreshing change from the majority of the romantic novels published nowadays.
This book is warm, and funny and also manages to include social observation through the ways in which the protagonists interact with their tennants and workers.
I know this is an odd way to review a romance novel - but what makes it so enjoyable is the fact that it's so DIFFERENT. It's romantic (of course) and funny and tender and altogether a fabulous read. Go on - treat yourself!
November 18, 2011
My mind kept wandering. It did not hold my interest. I did not enjoy the rigid heroine with no emotional interactions.
STORY BRIEF:
Martha did not marry for love. She married to avoid being dependent on her brother. Her husband died ten months later from a horse accident. She learns that her brother-in-law James will inherit the estate and that he molested female servants when he lived there 16 years ago. She believes it is her duty to keep James away from the estate in order to protect the female workers. She also believes it is her duty to improve the lives of all tenants and workers in the area. She financed a local school and is lobbying the families to send their daughters. In order to keep James away, she must get pregnant within the next 30 days and claim that the pregnancy is by her husband. She hires her neighbor Theo to have sex with her every day for 30 days.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Each time they have sex, she refuses to show emotion and refuses to experience pleasure. She demands he perform as quickly as possible while she lies stiff as a board like a corpse. There are 11 sex scenes like this, for about 2/3 of the book. Talk about boring sex scenes. She makes comments like “I didn’t hire you for pleasure. I’m not paying you to do those things. Can you just get on with it please?” In the 11th sex scene, he’s still trying to talk her into letting him pleasure her, which she will not allow. She says “I’ve told you I don’t want it. My mind rules my body. You’re depraved beyond my worst conjectures.”
She has no emotional interaction with anyone during the book. She is uptight, rigid, critical, judgmental, pious, and holier-than-thou. The only thing she cares about is her sense of duty to do good. Her plans are “to see the school’s enrollment double, shepherd a dairy into being on the very next property and then turn her attention to all the good she could do in town. If she remained at Seton Park, the days and years ahead could be gratifying indeed.” Ok, I can admire someone like this, Sister Theresa spinster for life, never smiling at anyone unless it is while she is giving them a gift. She is self-sacrificing. When she has a loss, she does not cry. When she eventually falls in love, it feels wooden. I didn’t enjoy reading about her. Maybe some vulnerability might have helped. I welcome unusual and different character creations from authors, but I need to be able to enjoy reading about them, be they good or wicked. Martha was not fun to read about, and that is the biggest problem.
Theo was interesting enough. He had a good heart. He was rich kid enjoying his life of wine, women, and gambling. His father sent him to the country for a while in hopes of providing some seriousness to his life. Of course, living next door to serious Martha definitely brought out that part of Theo. He began taking an interest in the people on his land and their lives, thanks to Martha’s influence. I don’t know why he falls in love with her, probably because he likes himself better as a result of her influence. It wasn’t a fun relationship to read about. Maybe if she had shown some emotional desire for him I would have liked it better.
One of my pet peeves is having a character deny their feelings and take actions against those feelings. This is usually done in order to have a conflict. It’s different in this book yet similar. Martha’s entire life is denying her feelings. She has none and never will.
She eventually falls in love with Theo, so we are told. But after that the sex scenes were still missing sensuality and hotness. I didn’t feel any desire coming from her. It might have been fun to see her shell cracking with emotions coming through and her confusion about “feelings” be they sexual, love, or other.
DATA:
Story length: 346 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words, but rarely used. Sexual language: moderate to strong, but rarely used. Number of sex scenes: 14. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 45. Setting: Around 1814 England. Copyright: 2012. Genre: regency romance.
DISCLOSURE:
This book is an Advance Reader’s Edition provided to me free of charge through the Amazon Vine Program in return for my writing a review.
STORY BRIEF:
Martha did not marry for love. She married to avoid being dependent on her brother. Her husband died ten months later from a horse accident. She learns that her brother-in-law James will inherit the estate and that he molested female servants when he lived there 16 years ago. She believes it is her duty to keep James away from the estate in order to protect the female workers. She also believes it is her duty to improve the lives of all tenants and workers in the area. She financed a local school and is lobbying the families to send their daughters. In order to keep James away, she must get pregnant within the next 30 days and claim that the pregnancy is by her husband. She hires her neighbor Theo to have sex with her every day for 30 days.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Each time they have sex, she refuses to show emotion and refuses to experience pleasure. She demands he perform as quickly as possible while she lies stiff as a board like a corpse. There are 11 sex scenes like this, for about 2/3 of the book. Talk about boring sex scenes. She makes comments like “I didn’t hire you for pleasure. I’m not paying you to do those things. Can you just get on with it please?” In the 11th sex scene, he’s still trying to talk her into letting him pleasure her, which she will not allow. She says “I’ve told you I don’t want it. My mind rules my body. You’re depraved beyond my worst conjectures.”
She has no emotional interaction with anyone during the book. She is uptight, rigid, critical, judgmental, pious, and holier-than-thou. The only thing she cares about is her sense of duty to do good. Her plans are “to see the school’s enrollment double, shepherd a dairy into being on the very next property and then turn her attention to all the good she could do in town. If she remained at Seton Park, the days and years ahead could be gratifying indeed.” Ok, I can admire someone like this, Sister Theresa spinster for life, never smiling at anyone unless it is while she is giving them a gift. She is self-sacrificing. When she has a loss, she does not cry. When she eventually falls in love, it feels wooden. I didn’t enjoy reading about her. Maybe some vulnerability might have helped. I welcome unusual and different character creations from authors, but I need to be able to enjoy reading about them, be they good or wicked. Martha was not fun to read about, and that is the biggest problem.
Theo was interesting enough. He had a good heart. He was rich kid enjoying his life of wine, women, and gambling. His father sent him to the country for a while in hopes of providing some seriousness to his life. Of course, living next door to serious Martha definitely brought out that part of Theo. He began taking an interest in the people on his land and their lives, thanks to Martha’s influence. I don’t know why he falls in love with her, probably because he likes himself better as a result of her influence. It wasn’t a fun relationship to read about. Maybe if she had shown some emotional desire for him I would have liked it better.
One of my pet peeves is having a character deny their feelings and take actions against those feelings. This is usually done in order to have a conflict. It’s different in this book yet similar. Martha’s entire life is denying her feelings. She has none and never will.
She eventually falls in love with Theo, so we are told. But after that the sex scenes were still missing sensuality and hotness. I didn’t feel any desire coming from her. It might have been fun to see her shell cracking with emotions coming through and her confusion about “feelings” be they sexual, love, or other.
DATA:
Story length: 346 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words, but rarely used. Sexual language: moderate to strong, but rarely used. Number of sex scenes: 14. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 45. Setting: Around 1814 England. Copyright: 2012. Genre: regency romance.
DISCLOSURE:
This book is an Advance Reader’s Edition provided to me free of charge through the Amazon Vine Program in return for my writing a review.
January 7, 2012
Reading this made me realize that one of my favorite things to happen in a historical romance is for the main characters to be forced together in an unusual way that unexpectedly fosters true intimacy. In A Lady Awakened, what initially brings Theo and Martha together is sex -- unwanted, unpleasant sex. Martha, a proper lady to her very core, feels forced to rent her feckless neighbor Theo’s services as a stud so that she can quickly produce an heir, and save her late husband’s estate from going to a man known for abusing his female servants. Theo, at first happy to oblige, soon finds that servicing a woman who is disgusted by his best efforts is deeply disheartening.
I’m really making this sound good, aren’t I? Well, while Martha and Theo are meeting each other secretly for sex, they are also slowly getting to know each other. And while Martha’s high principles begin to infect Theo with an interest in his land and his dependents, Theo begins to make Martha aware that there’s more to him than she realized -- and that there can be more to sex than procreation.
A Lady Awakened initially seemed a slightly misleading title, because Martha is not a stranger to either sexual desire or sexual pleasure, on her own. She’s at first unbelieving she could have pleasure with a partner, and then unwilling to compromise her ethically shady position any further by receiving it. What eventually wins Martha over is not Theo’s studly skills in the bedroom, but his increasingly stellar qualities as a person:
“Serious, conscientious, and seeking her opinion: he could have had anything he wanted of her in that moment. She pressed her lips together. Generosity demanded generosity in return. ‘Think on it. Sleep on it. You’ll make the right choice.’
She felt his pleasure as surely as though his skin was shuddering against hers. He was all but a virgin in this, the experience of being taken seriously. Perhaps no woman--no one at all--had ever gazed at him with quiet faith and encouraged him to believe in his own abilities.”
I love the emotional symmetry here: Martha, who needs so much to be taken seriously by men herself, discovering that this is something she can give to a man, who needs it as much as she does. That realization of the possibility of reciprocity between a couple, sexually and emotionally, is Martha’s true awakening.
This is a leisurely told story, with more information about daily estate life than is currently popular in historical romance, but I never found it boring. Martha’s cold affect made it harder to passionately love the story and the ending is not entirely satisfying, but it was a very interesting and rewarding read, and a promising debut.
I’m really making this sound good, aren’t I? Well, while Martha and Theo are meeting each other secretly for sex, they are also slowly getting to know each other. And while Martha’s high principles begin to infect Theo with an interest in his land and his dependents, Theo begins to make Martha aware that there’s more to him than she realized -- and that there can be more to sex than procreation.
A Lady Awakened initially seemed a slightly misleading title, because Martha is not a stranger to either sexual desire or sexual pleasure, on her own. She’s at first unbelieving she could have pleasure with a partner, and then unwilling to compromise her ethically shady position any further by receiving it. What eventually wins Martha over is not Theo’s studly skills in the bedroom, but his increasingly stellar qualities as a person:
“Serious, conscientious, and seeking her opinion: he could have had anything he wanted of her in that moment. She pressed her lips together. Generosity demanded generosity in return. ‘Think on it. Sleep on it. You’ll make the right choice.’
She felt his pleasure as surely as though his skin was shuddering against hers. He was all but a virgin in this, the experience of being taken seriously. Perhaps no woman--no one at all--had ever gazed at him with quiet faith and encouraged him to believe in his own abilities.”
I love the emotional symmetry here: Martha, who needs so much to be taken seriously by men herself, discovering that this is something she can give to a man, who needs it as much as she does. That realization of the possibility of reciprocity between a couple, sexually and emotionally, is Martha’s true awakening.
This is a leisurely told story, with more information about daily estate life than is currently popular in historical romance, but I never found it boring. Martha’s cold affect made it harder to passionately love the story and the ending is not entirely satisfying, but it was a very interesting and rewarding read, and a promising debut.
April 27, 2020
★ Thanks to Jill for recommending this début novel. I closed the book with a deeply satisfied sigh, but at first I totally disliked the heroine. It's not to everyone's taste.
A Lady Awakened is book 1 of the Blackshear Family series. The writing style is witty and light (I chuckled several times), balanced by sad, painful, or poignant sections. The plot includes several heartwarming story lines. The romance includes a LOT of sex, progressing from cold, quick sex to blast-furnace love scenes. ツ
No lust was so gratifying to a man as the lust that blossomed only after esteem had taken root. He might have gone his whole life without finding this out, if he'd never been exiled to Sussex.The setting is Regency England, about 1815, in a rural neighborhood near Brighton by the Sea, in Sussex County. (The author did not capture the pastoral setting -- she's not particularly descriptive or vivid, but it's fine.)
Martha Russell, née Blackshear, is bound by duty, conscience and reason, but unbeknownst to her, she's also a woman of strong passions with mutiny burning in her belly. (The author does a magnificent job showing the metamorphosis of Martha, from a passionless prude to a passionate lover.) She is attractive, with shining chocolate brown eyes and long, honey-colored hair (but Grant does not belabor her physical traits like some authors do). Mrs. Russell is only 21, newly widowed after 10 months of marriage.
Theophilis Mirkwood (Theo) is heir to a baronetcy, sexy as they come and 26 years old. He is tall and well formed, with dark blue eyes and pale golden hair. This London playboy has been banished to Pencarragh, one of his father's estates, to learn agriculture and farm management from Mr. Granville, his manager. I loved Grant's development of Theo's character, from carefree playboy to beloved champion of laborers and tenants. ♥
When the widow Russell learns that the heir to her home, Seton Park, is a known pedophile, having raped at least two teenage servant girls, she takes instant action to keep him away from her servants, by creating a baby -- an heir -- while her dead husband is still warm. ASAP. Martha pays Theo to "give her his seed" -- every day for a month, starting right now, if you please. ツ
For Theo -- so earthy, so bawdy, so passionate -- it's hell. Martha thinks that if she responds or derives any pleasure whatsoever from the "act" it will make her a whore, so she keeps "duty" forefront. Theo employs every means to kindle Martha's desire, but the task "was proving to be a labor worthy of Hercules."
(My heart went out to this big-hearted beautiful guy. I was disgusted wtih Martha, yet sympathetic to her dilemma; it felt authentic for the period.)
Theo soon stops trying to awaken any responses in Martha and simply mates with her, working on the "heir" project. But meanwhile, a beautiful friendship develops around Theo's varied plans to help his impoverished tenants and laborers -- plans that Martha fully endorses. Theo has such a big ♥.
(The pacing dragged a little at one point, and I grew tired of sex served cold, so this is a flaw. However, there were other absorbing story lines that held my interest when I grew irritated with puritanical Martha).
At about 70% into the book, Martha's passions FINALLY ignite, because she falls in love with Theophilus. Often at his side, she sees him striding through rural Sussex, bringing hope and support to poverty-stricken laborers, teaching a mentally-impaired girl how to make a paper fan, re-thatching roofs, supporting a new school, and creating a new economy. It takes a while for Martha to realize she's in love with Theo, but after seeing him carry a dying man nearly a mile, she's a goner:
To a stunned and star-struck Martha, he'd never looked so powerful. So capable. So suffused with grace and might.Theo finally got the passion he wanted from Martha. And wow! Once Martha knew Theo's heart, she gave herself totally to him, like a wild woman (the scene in the chair!). These guys burned up the sheets. ツ
A little striptease, some light bondage:
"Untie me."What Martha loved best was that Theo valued her opinion, and sincerely cared about his people. One night, while brainstorming how to improve the local economy, Martha muses:
"No," she said, and bent to kiss him again.
He scrabbled at the knots. He'd free himself.
"No. This was your idea. You've no one to blame but yourself." She gazed down at him like a governess out of someone's perverse boyhood fantasies.
Good God. She was enjoying this..."You want me," he whispered.
"Yes," she said.
Serious, conscientious, and seeking her opinion: he could have had anything he wanted of her in that moment.What the playboy loved best about the puritan was that she believed him capable of ANYTHING and supported EVERY idea he had. Late at night, Theo tentatively broaches the idea of gaining investors for his dairy scheme. Martha, being detail oriented, readily endorses his preliminary idea and offers several strategic tips. Theo -- no dummy -- realizes her worth:
He could go through life forging one nebulous idea after the next, and know that she would hammer each one into practical shape.I thought it perfect, this relationship that began so badly. They complemented each other. Martha's prudent attention to detail only magnified Theo's natural aptitude for visionary leadership. Theo's gift for gab brought VISITORS into Martha's lonely life -- so now Theo totally walks on water in her eyes ツ. He showed her that she was respected, admired, and surrounded by allies.
(Sigh. Grant kept me up till 3am, blinking tears away).
★ But wait! There's another storyline here. A heartwarming drama unfolds where Theo's underprivileged tenants and Martha's household servants gain a new sense of unity and pride. I loved the secondary characters, especially old Mr. Barrows, the laborer's wife, Mrs. Weaver (Olivia) and the abigail, Sheridan (odd names for servants). The details surrounded Mrs. Weaver were particularly well done. I also liked the vicar, Mr. Atkins. And how original, to cast a man of the cloth in a positive light. ツ
There's MUCH more to this story, including the routing of the rapist and the uniting of the community, but enough said. Wondering if they had a baby together? It's best to wait, but if you must know, see the spoiler:
************
Adult Content: Numerous explicit sex scenes, including oral sex, some F-bombs, a few instances of religious profanity. Just enough strong language to lend realism, but not enough to seem gratuitous or irritating. I noted only one or two typos.
August 10, 2012
4.5! I've been hearing this author mentioned a lot lately, and now I know why. This historical romance is easily on par with some of the best authors of this genre - Balogh, Quinn, Kleypas...etc.
I think the one thing I enjoyed most about this story is how I got to see the romance evolve from a cold and simple business association to a deeply warm and passionate friendship all the way to a heart stopping love. Both characters evolve emotionally as well, when they realize the circumstances of which they created may not have the intended outcome.
A Lady Awakened was a great tale that kept me fully engaged, with a strong storyline and two well developed, interesting characters. I will definitely be reading the next in this series soon.
I think the one thing I enjoyed most about this story is how I got to see the romance evolve from a cold and simple business association to a deeply warm and passionate friendship all the way to a heart stopping love. Both characters evolve emotionally as well, when they realize the circumstances of which they created may not have the intended outcome.
A Lady Awakened was a great tale that kept me fully engaged, with a strong storyline and two well developed, interesting characters. I will definitely be reading the next in this series soon.
April 12, 2022
Trying to figure out how to review this book. It has a plot that I have never read before or would I have even thought of it. A widow needs to have a son to prevent the loss of her home to her brother-in-law who is a cad and other reasons. She decides she needs to get pregnant, and our poor hero (Theo) is chosen for this wonderful task. Only what Theo views as a wonderful opportunity really turns out to be.....a chore isn't quit the right wording. But Martha views this as purely for procreation and not enjoyment....needless to say our hero is not of the same mind. This part of the book shows growth of character and really fleshes him out as a caring man and the person he really is. I never felt that with Martha.
The later part of the book is a whole change in mood and storytelling in order to have a romance and a hea.
Would I read it YES....would I reread it no. So I am rating it 3.5*
The later part of the book is a whole change in mood and storytelling in order to have a romance and a hea.
Would I read it YES....would I reread it no. So I am rating it 3.5*
February 16, 2021
I read this for the # TBRChallenge, previous updates with my full thoughts, comments, and quotes can be found:
Reading Update: Chapter 1
Reading Update: 20%
Reading Update: 40%
Reading Update: 60%
Reading Update: 80%
Reading Update: 100%
This definitely reads different than the majority of romance out there and I can see why people loved it and didn't enjoy it. Our widow Martha has more cold than warmth and is more of an analytical personality than emotional and her actions have to be looked at in the grey area to be able to sympathize with her. When her husband dies, she learns that his brother set to inherit raped at least two housemaids, so she sets out to get pregnant to keep the estate from him.
Theo, our hero, is sent to the country by his father to learn some maturity and responsibility. He maybe bats an eyelash at Martha's proposition but he still follows her to the bedroom that day. From there they have sex everyday to try and get her pregnant and their sex scenes are definitely frigid and mechanical. As they get to know one another and through actions they take throughout the story with tending to their tenants or trying to improve the people's lives on their estates, Theo learns maturity and how to care for Martha, while Martha thaws and learns the very basics of caring.
This is a very quiet show and not tell story, a lot of it is in the little details. I thought a few chapters in the middle slowed the pace too much and Martha and Theo's first loving sex scene wasn't quite lead into right and felt, at least off the page, anti-climatic. However, the secondary characters were on point and added so much to this story, I will cry for years for a Mrs. and Mr. Weaver novella.
If you can't get passed the coldness of Martha and frigid bedroom scenes, you probably won't make it to the 20% mark and I can definitely see why some wouldn't. If you can absorb those, though, you'll find a different romance story ripe in the little details.
Reading Update: Chapter 1
Reading Update: 20%
Reading Update: 40%
Reading Update: 60%
Reading Update: 80%
Reading Update: 100%
This definitely reads different than the majority of romance out there and I can see why people loved it and didn't enjoy it. Our widow Martha has more cold than warmth and is more of an analytical personality than emotional and her actions have to be looked at in the grey area to be able to sympathize with her. When her husband dies, she learns that his brother set to inherit raped at least two housemaids, so she sets out to get pregnant to keep the estate from him.
Theo, our hero, is sent to the country by his father to learn some maturity and responsibility. He maybe bats an eyelash at Martha's proposition but he still follows her to the bedroom that day. From there they have sex everyday to try and get her pregnant and their sex scenes are definitely frigid and mechanical. As they get to know one another and through actions they take throughout the story with tending to their tenants or trying to improve the people's lives on their estates, Theo learns maturity and how to care for Martha, while Martha thaws and learns the very basics of caring.
This is a very quiet show and not tell story, a lot of it is in the little details. I thought a few chapters in the middle slowed the pace too much and Martha and Theo's first loving sex scene wasn't quite lead into right and felt, at least off the page, anti-climatic. However, the secondary characters were on point and added so much to this story, I will cry for years for a Mrs. and Mr. Weaver novella.
If you can't get passed the coldness of Martha and frigid bedroom scenes, you probably won't make it to the 20% mark and I can definitely see why some wouldn't. If you can absorb those, though, you'll find a different romance story ripe in the little details.
September 28, 2020
When you set down on paper the plot to this HR, it doesn't look all that appealing and might even seem offensive to some persons' sensibilities. Newly-widowed Martha Russell wants to retain control of her late husband's estate and can only do so by producing an heir within the appropriate number of months of her first year of mourning. Unfortunately, she was not pregnant when her husband died. What to do? Hire the stud services of newly-arrived neighbor Theo Mirkwood, whose father has exiled him to their nearby Pencarragh estate as punishment for his wayward ways. She has one month to conceive or it's off to live with her brother and his wife and her brother-in-law will come to take over the Russell property.
Well, she's not as mercenary as that sounds. Said brother-in-law is not a good person. He seduces helpless women, wastes money, neglects his wife, and would care not at all about the welfare and education of the tenants at the estate or even about the condition of the estate itself. Martha wants desperately to protect those people who have been relying on her during her time as mistress of the Russell property.
Since there's a deadline for getting pregnant, we have sex scenes early on in the book, but it's business-arrangement sex for a good part of the story. Martha is bound and determined not to have any pleasure in their encounters and encourages Theo to just do it and get it over with every time they have sex. No dawdling around with unnecessary kissing and foreplay. Enjoying the experience would only add to the guilt she's already feeling about what she is doing.
Well, the rest you just have to read. Theo isn't into necrophilia so he's working towards getting some response from her in bed, while she is blocking his attempts at all cost. And at the same time, out of bed they are becoming acquainted with each other as real people, not just sex partners. Martha begins to see the goodness and responsibility hiding in Theo's fun-loving persona. Theo sees the real caring and feeling woman that cool and aloof Martha works so hard to hide from others.
The best thing about the book is the beautiful writing. I venture to say I enjoyed the way the story is written much more than the story itself. This is polished, flowing, wonderful writing and was a joy to read. Very few authors of mass market paperback HRs write this well. IMO, Grant is in a class with Joanna Bourne and Meredith Duran, two exceptionally talented writers of HRs.
Other books and movies have tried variations on this theme of using or hiring someone, not a lover, to procreate but this one by Grant is by far the best HR with that theme that I have read. Other attempts have been Lorraine Heath's Waking Up With the Duke and Anna Campbell's My Reckless Surrender but Grant's is better than those. Perhaps comparable in romance and poignancy to the Grant book is the movie Firelight (Le lien secret) with Sophie Marceau, a beautiful movie set in the 1800s.
Well, she's not as mercenary as that sounds. Said brother-in-law is not a good person. He seduces helpless women, wastes money, neglects his wife, and would care not at all about the welfare and education of the tenants at the estate or even about the condition of the estate itself. Martha wants desperately to protect those people who have been relying on her during her time as mistress of the Russell property.
Since there's a deadline for getting pregnant, we have sex scenes early on in the book, but it's business-arrangement sex for a good part of the story. Martha is bound and determined not to have any pleasure in their encounters and encourages Theo to just do it and get it over with every time they have sex. No dawdling around with unnecessary kissing and foreplay. Enjoying the experience would only add to the guilt she's already feeling about what she is doing.
Well, the rest you just have to read. Theo isn't into necrophilia so he's working towards getting some response from her in bed, while she is blocking his attempts at all cost. And at the same time, out of bed they are becoming acquainted with each other as real people, not just sex partners. Martha begins to see the goodness and responsibility hiding in Theo's fun-loving persona. Theo sees the real caring and feeling woman that cool and aloof Martha works so hard to hide from others.
The best thing about the book is the beautiful writing. I venture to say I enjoyed the way the story is written much more than the story itself. This is polished, flowing, wonderful writing and was a joy to read. Very few authors of mass market paperback HRs write this well. IMO, Grant is in a class with Joanna Bourne and Meredith Duran, two exceptionally talented writers of HRs.
Other books and movies have tried variations on this theme of using or hiring someone, not a lover, to procreate but this one by Grant is by far the best HR with that theme that I have read. Other attempts have been Lorraine Heath's Waking Up With the Duke and Anna Campbell's My Reckless Surrender but Grant's is better than those. Perhaps comparable in romance and poignancy to the Grant book is the movie Firelight (Le lien secret) with Sophie Marceau, a beautiful movie set in the 1800s.
Read
August 2, 2015I read Cecilia Grant's A Lady Awakened not so much over Christmas as on Christmas, ignoring my partner’s family, the Queen’s speech, and even Toy Story 3 to finish reading it. Because it’s honestly that good. I think it’s unavoidable to make more of the things you read at the end of the year compared to the beginning, but A Lady Awakened simply has to stand has one of the most original, intriguing and tiny-mind-blowing books I read in 2013.
The book opens with the heroine, Martha Russell, childless, newly widowed and about to return to her brother’s home to live out the rest of her days as a quiet burden upon his family, a fate she has no choice but to resign herself to enduring. Her solicitor, however, encourages her to remain at her late husband’s estate until it is absolutely certain that no heir has been conceived. Martha knows that she isn’t pregnant, but she has her own commitments to Seaton Hall: specifically the servants and tenants, who rely on the family for their livelihood, and the building of a local school, to which she has given her support. She also learns that the man who stands to inherit is a dissolute character, who previously forced himself upon some of the women of the household. Realising that all these problems would be solved if she was pregnant, Martha strikes a deal with her new neighbour Theo Mirkwood, temporarily exiled from London for extravagance and general debauchery. They’ll have sex every day for a month, and Martha will pay him, “regardless of issue” to quote the lady directly.
What follows, I suppose, is a lovers-to-friends story, except they’re not really lovers because while their daily sexual engagements are...something. What they’re really aren’t is lover-like, much to Theo’s dismay. Martha is determined that the arrangement remain strictly business, and while the first half of the novel is this excrutiating awkward-off of unsexy sex it’s also completely fascinating to watch two people with completely irreconcilable worldviews, motivations and value systems clash, fail to understand each other, and then gradually, and subtly, begin to move through acceptance, and understanding to friendship and love. And to situate the most visible expression of all this emotional and intellectual development in the bedroom is unbelievably bold, clever and impressive. Ms. Grant, I totally take off all my hats.
Full review is over here at Heroes and Heartbreakers. Yay!
The book opens with the heroine, Martha Russell, childless, newly widowed and about to return to her brother’s home to live out the rest of her days as a quiet burden upon his family, a fate she has no choice but to resign herself to enduring. Her solicitor, however, encourages her to remain at her late husband’s estate until it is absolutely certain that no heir has been conceived. Martha knows that she isn’t pregnant, but she has her own commitments to Seaton Hall: specifically the servants and tenants, who rely on the family for their livelihood, and the building of a local school, to which she has given her support. She also learns that the man who stands to inherit is a dissolute character, who previously forced himself upon some of the women of the household. Realising that all these problems would be solved if she was pregnant, Martha strikes a deal with her new neighbour Theo Mirkwood, temporarily exiled from London for extravagance and general debauchery. They’ll have sex every day for a month, and Martha will pay him, “regardless of issue” to quote the lady directly.
What follows, I suppose, is a lovers-to-friends story, except they’re not really lovers because while their daily sexual engagements are...something. What they’re really aren’t is lover-like, much to Theo’s dismay. Martha is determined that the arrangement remain strictly business, and while the first half of the novel is this excrutiating awkward-off of unsexy sex it’s also completely fascinating to watch two people with completely irreconcilable worldviews, motivations and value systems clash, fail to understand each other, and then gradually, and subtly, begin to move through acceptance, and understanding to friendship and love. And to situate the most visible expression of all this emotional and intellectual development in the bedroom is unbelievably bold, clever and impressive. Ms. Grant, I totally take off all my hats.
Full review is over here at Heroes and Heartbreakers. Yay!
January 15, 2022
What book was your last "WHY HAVEN'T I READ THIS BEFORE" ?
Mine : A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant
It's a historical romance. Exquisite writing, brilliant story telling.
A young widow hires the rake next door to help her conceive the heir she needs to secure her dower's inheritance and prevent the legitimate heir—her odious rapist brother in law — to get his hands on the estate and the help.
The main characters are stark opposites. It's a delight to witness how different they are on paper. She's pious and principled, he's roguish and mischievous. Though the premise may not be original, this story was unlike any historical romance I've read so far.
For a book whose plot centers around a sex bargain, the focus is actually aptly redirected to the building of their friendship, through delightful conversations, menial daily tasks, estate and tenants management, all leading to such magnificent intimacy.
Their daily coupling while transactional at first, little by little morphed into something else, Theo was dedicated to break Martha's resolve to deny herself any pleasure in her quest for an heir. Duty first.
The emotional payoff of this slow paced, reciprocal education is so satisfying, there's quite a deal of angst in the end that made my heart race more than it's healthy but I don't regret the distress one bit.
I loved this book!
More reviews and book talk at :
You can find me here too ☞
Mine : A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant
It's a historical romance. Exquisite writing, brilliant story telling.
A young widow hires the rake next door to help her conceive the heir she needs to secure her dower's inheritance and prevent the legitimate heir—her odious rapist brother in law — to get his hands on the estate and the help.
The main characters are stark opposites. It's a delight to witness how different they are on paper. She's pious and principled, he's roguish and mischievous. Though the premise may not be original, this story was unlike any historical romance I've read so far.
For a book whose plot centers around a sex bargain, the focus is actually aptly redirected to the building of their friendship, through delightful conversations, menial daily tasks, estate and tenants management, all leading to such magnificent intimacy.
Their daily coupling while transactional at first, little by little morphed into something else, Theo was dedicated to break Martha's resolve to deny herself any pleasure in her quest for an heir. Duty first.
The emotional payoff of this slow paced, reciprocal education is so satisfying, there's quite a deal of angst in the end that made my heart race more than it's healthy but I don't regret the distress one bit.
I loved this book!
More reviews and book talk at :
You can find me here too ☞
October 24, 2020
This is one of those books that is routinely listed as *one of the best historicals ever!* and somehow I'd never read it! But I finally did read it, and it really is wonderful. It's just so tender and beautiful and I cried a little, I did!
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
Read
April 28, 2024I love them, Your Honor 😩😩😩
April 3, 2015
I wanted to love it but didn't :( I felt a disconnect with the heroine for most of the book, and I'm not sure what it was that held me back from her. She's a bit introverted, socially awkward, straight-laced and frumpy, and I tend to like that type of heroine, especially when she's paired with the quintessential rake. And I did like watching her sort of come out of her shell, I just think it took her too long to do so. By the time she's personable, the book is ending, and I felt like I didn't get to know the "new" her.
The story was new-ish, though, and I did love how the entire countryside was involved. The little bit of subterfuge that goes along with the love affair was an honorable one, though the ending was kind of disappointing to me...although I suppose it kind of had to go there.
Listened to the audio, and this is the same narrator who does the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb...Susan Ericksen. She did a fantastic job, as always.
April 23, 2021
Ooooooh, this was so much fun!
I mean, so many shades of wrong fun kind of book!
This story already started on the wrong side. There's no romance, no sweet anything between the hero and heroine. She hires him to get her pregnant and I never laughed so much about awkward encounters.
They are opposites, he's the funny rake that is sunny and good for nothing that everybody loves, she's the extremely prim and proper religious kind of governess like. It is so much fun seeing their interactions. To the point that I was crying from laughing... but it is wrong what happens in this book... Until everything turnes out right.
It was a great read, just wished we had an epilogue. But I say this about every book without one.
This is not the traditional historical romance, as she hires him to get her pregnant in 30 days, it is a loooot of their physical relationship being related.
I mean, so many shades of wrong fun kind of book!
This story already started on the wrong side. There's no romance, no sweet anything between the hero and heroine. She hires him to get her pregnant and I never laughed so much about awkward encounters.
They are opposites, he's the funny rake that is sunny and good for nothing that everybody loves, she's the extremely prim and proper religious kind of governess like. It is so much fun seeing their interactions. To the point that I was crying from laughing... but it is wrong what happens in this book... Until everything turnes out right.
It was a great read, just wished we had an epilogue. But I say this about every book without one.
This is not the traditional historical romance, as she hires him to get her pregnant in 30 days, it is a loooot of their physical relationship being related.
August 7, 2015
A Lady Awakened was my first Cecilia Grant book and most probably my last. To put it bluntly, this was just mediocre at best, and painfully boring at worst.
I have three main issues with it:
First, the writing style was verbose and confusing. I was surprised to find it reminiscent of the stream of consciousness style of narration, which, for me, would be a very odd style to employ in writing a romance novel. I think this was the first time I encountered this in Romancelandia. I don't know what effect it was supposed to have, but it did not go well. It was just... weird.
For example, there were so many passages like this:
Imagine a whole book filled with interior monologues like that. Ugh, no.
Second, the characters were flat, uninspiring and annoying. This held true especially for Martha. Dear Lord. She was so dour and grave most of the time that I failed to connect to her. Can you believe she said things like "Please get on with it already" during her first time with Theo? God. Girl, you don't do that.
At least Theo was kind of interesting. But aside from him, the others in the novel had personalities of a dust pan. Meh.
Third, there was no chemistry between the leads, and the sex scenes were so cringeworthy and awkward. Yeah, I blame the heroine for this one. Like I said, she was just so hard to put up with I actually felt bad for Theo. I don't even know how he managed to get turned on when she was such a bitch most of the time.
Honestly, I was so relieved to finish this book. I don't think I could stomach Martha and the horrible writing for another minute. Good riddance, Martha.
I have three main issues with it:
First, the writing style was verbose and confusing. I was surprised to find it reminiscent of the stream of consciousness style of narration, which, for me, would be a very odd style to employ in writing a romance novel. I think this was the first time I encountered this in Romancelandia. I don't know what effect it was supposed to have, but it did not go well. It was just... weird.
For example, there were so many passages like this:
Oh, for God’s sake. He was a disgrace to whoredom. To stud-animaldom as well. What bull ever felt a moment of concern for whether the cow actually desired him? Quickly he moved into position. Put a hand down to brace himself. Filled his lungs again. And with one mighty push, he was in. Mere mechanics would take care of the rest. Enough times in and out would get him there. Her tight grip on him—had he ever been so exquisitely sheathed?—might get him there even sooner.
She ought to touch him, though. Her right arm lay slack on the mattress; her left bent to keep that fist at her shoulder. “Can you put your hands on me?” he said in a hoarse whisper. Hark at him, asking politely when the occasion called for command.
Imagine a whole book filled with interior monologues like that. Ugh, no.
Second, the characters were flat, uninspiring and annoying. This held true especially for Martha. Dear Lord. She was so dour and grave most of the time that I failed to connect to her. Can you believe she said things like "Please get on with it already" during her first time with Theo? God. Girl, you don't do that.
At least Theo was kind of interesting. But aside from him, the others in the novel had personalities of a dust pan. Meh.
Third, there was no chemistry between the leads, and the sex scenes were so cringeworthy and awkward. Yeah, I blame the heroine for this one. Like I said, she was just so hard to put up with I actually felt bad for Theo. I don't even know how he managed to get turned on when she was such a bitch most of the time.
Honestly, I was so relieved to finish this book. I don't think I could stomach Martha and the horrible writing for another minute. Good riddance, Martha.
July 29, 2017
I must admit, this book is one of the weirdest I've read lately. It has the push-all-the-wrong-buttons features, and yet, I loved every bit of it. If you want a different take on Historical Romances, different approaches, this one may be something for you. You're in for a treat.
The wrong buttons?
- A yuck-worthy plot. Heroine's husband dies, she needs to produce an heir in order to keep the estate, etc. She'll pay hero money for one month of sex. And everything goes eeewwww. But the execution. Oh wow! Nothing was as expected.
- A fairly unlikable heroine. I was never quite sure why Martha was so emotionally cold to begin with. Was it her experience with her first husband? She sure didn't like it. Something in her childhood? A mix of both? At times, I was extremely frustrated with her. At the end of the day, I was reading a romance, so her coldness was bewildering, to say the least. Despite all that, she cares for those who are under her protection and - most importantly - she has a spine! She has her goals and she'll move heaven and earth to achieve them. But not in a Wham!-Bam!-Boom!-I'm-feisty-and-loud kind of way.
- A fairly unlikable hero. So many so-called rakes in HRs turn out to be anything but rakes. Theo, on the other hand, is a rake. Banished to the country by his father for his scandalous and reckless lifestyle, he engages in an illicit affair with Martha to get her pregnant. His motivation? He's bored, he needs money and why not have some fun during his exile. But, but but...where's the romance? Where are the emotions? Where is the I-must-shag-her-or-I'll-die feeling? No, Martha is tolerable enough for him to get a hard-on. He is not an arsehole. Just someone who's been quite careless. Or I could simply call him shallow.
Back to the execution of the plot and the character development. Everything is different about this book. The first sexual encounters between Martha and Theo are awkward, at best. In one scene, Theo has to watch himself shagging Martha in a mirror in order to finish and he feels like he's having sex with a corpse. Now, that's disgusting, but the way Cecilia Grant tells the story is so compelling, so poignant, that I wanted to know how she would make these two unlikable characters fall in love and make me care for them at the same time. She does a tremendous job with it. She does it with Theo. Theo is a happy-go-lucky person, the complete opposite of Martha. He may find the first times with her sexually frustrating, but he's open to learn more about her, and he asks. I don't think I could have finished this book if it hadn't been for Theo. Like Martha, we learn that there's more to Theo. He isn't as shallow and careless as he appeares to be at the beginning. He's smart, loves having fun, and has no problem making fun of himself. Martha, confused by his constant questioning, as his only job is to give 'his seed', starts responding. Unwillingly, at first, because at the same time she's scared that Theo may not hold his end of the bargain, but the more time passes, the more natural it comes to her to talk to him about herself. Obviously, because of her rather cold character, it takes longer to warm up to Martha. It's all about the layers. Layer by layer, her character is revealed and by the end of the book, I loved her. I loved them both, actually. All the wrong buttons had turned to the right ones. I was captivated by a story of two so different people, not only compared to each other, but to the usual characters we find in the run-of-the-mill romances.
And that's because they talk. It sounds simplistic, but in essence, it's what makes love believable, in my opinion. Two people talk, share, listen, experience and they fall in love. It's brilliantly done. I could feel them falling in love with each other and it was bittersweet.
The end of the month, and with it the end of their 'contract', approaches. Martha and Theo start realising that something deeper has grown between them. Deeper than friendship. They find themselves in a proper dilemma. There's a lot going on in the story. But to keep it simple: If Martha is pregnant, Theo won't be able to claim the child as his. He was fine with it at the start of their affair, but as he has fallen in love with Martha, the thought becomes intolerable. On top of it, he knows that he will lose Martha to the duty of being the ward to the heir. If she isn't pregnant, it'll destroy Martha's dream of making a real change to the lives of those who are under her protection. The way Cecilia Grant brings everything together is well done. We even get a little bit of drama in the end, in a book that shows us two so un-dramatic people falling in love.
By the way, 'well done' is an understatement. Grant is a great storyteller.
The wrong buttons?
- A yuck-worthy plot. Heroine's husband dies, she needs to produce an heir in order to keep the estate, etc. She'll pay hero money for one month of sex. And everything goes eeewwww. But the execution. Oh wow! Nothing was as expected.
- A fairly unlikable heroine. I was never quite sure why Martha was so emotionally cold to begin with. Was it her experience with her first husband? She sure didn't like it. Something in her childhood? A mix of both? At times, I was extremely frustrated with her. At the end of the day, I was reading a romance, so her coldness was bewildering, to say the least. Despite all that, she cares for those who are under her protection and - most importantly - she has a spine! She has her goals and she'll move heaven and earth to achieve them. But not in a Wham!-Bam!-Boom!-I'm-feisty-and-loud kind of way.
- A fairly unlikable hero. So many so-called rakes in HRs turn out to be anything but rakes. Theo, on the other hand, is a rake. Banished to the country by his father for his scandalous and reckless lifestyle, he engages in an illicit affair with Martha to get her pregnant. His motivation? He's bored, he needs money and why not have some fun during his exile. But, but but...where's the romance? Where are the emotions? Where is the I-must-shag-her-or-I'll-die feeling? No, Martha is tolerable enough for him to get a hard-on. He is not an arsehole. Just someone who's been quite careless. Or I could simply call him shallow.
Back to the execution of the plot and the character development. Everything is different about this book. The first sexual encounters between Martha and Theo are awkward, at best. In one scene, Theo has to watch himself shagging Martha in a mirror in order to finish and he feels like he's having sex with a corpse. Now, that's disgusting, but the way Cecilia Grant tells the story is so compelling, so poignant, that I wanted to know how she would make these two unlikable characters fall in love and make me care for them at the same time. She does a tremendous job with it. She does it with Theo. Theo is a happy-go-lucky person, the complete opposite of Martha. He may find the first times with her sexually frustrating, but he's open to learn more about her, and he asks. I don't think I could have finished this book if it hadn't been for Theo. Like Martha, we learn that there's more to Theo. He isn't as shallow and careless as he appeares to be at the beginning. He's smart, loves having fun, and has no problem making fun of himself. Martha, confused by his constant questioning, as his only job is to give 'his seed', starts responding. Unwillingly, at first, because at the same time she's scared that Theo may not hold his end of the bargain, but the more time passes, the more natural it comes to her to talk to him about herself. Obviously, because of her rather cold character, it takes longer to warm up to Martha. It's all about the layers. Layer by layer, her character is revealed and by the end of the book, I loved her. I loved them both, actually. All the wrong buttons had turned to the right ones. I was captivated by a story of two so different people, not only compared to each other, but to the usual characters we find in the run-of-the-mill romances.
And that's because they talk. It sounds simplistic, but in essence, it's what makes love believable, in my opinion. Two people talk, share, listen, experience and they fall in love. It's brilliantly done. I could feel them falling in love with each other and it was bittersweet.
The end of the month, and with it the end of their 'contract', approaches. Martha and Theo start realising that something deeper has grown between them. Deeper than friendship. They find themselves in a proper dilemma. There's a lot going on in the story. But to keep it simple: If Martha is pregnant, Theo won't be able to claim the child as his. He was fine with it at the start of their affair, but as he has fallen in love with Martha, the thought becomes intolerable. On top of it, he knows that he will lose Martha to the duty of being the ward to the heir. If she isn't pregnant, it'll destroy Martha's dream of making a real change to the lives of those who are under her protection. The way Cecilia Grant brings everything together is well done. We even get a little bit of drama in the end, in a book that shows us two so un-dramatic people falling in love.
By the way, 'well done' is an understatement. Grant is a great storyteller.
October 15, 2012
Historical romance A Lady Awakened breaks ground in a genre infamously frivolous and milkshake frothy (thank you, Georgette Heyer). Cecilia Grant injects maturity into Heyer's legacy- that sounds envelope-stuffing boring. Don't picture a sober, didactic tale. Grant writes subtle humor and surprising heat, often together at once, but she doesn't idolize the idle aristocrat, the party-hopping, tea-sipping, walking in-your-face to anyone who's had to work for a living.
You wouldn't know that straightaway. Theo Mirkwood arrives in the Sussex countryside a womanizer. He meets Martha Russell, a stiff, if upright, widow, and Awakened chronicles their journey as Theo teaches Martha love and joy and learns himself the fulfillment of purpose and contributing to a community.
I liked the bait-and-switch. Grant dangles out the Casanova and immediately fleshes him out beyond his pastimes into a complex man kind, funny and loving. I liked that though Theo's strained relationship with his father affected him, Grant didn't explain away his habits with a tragic backstory, and best of all, she eschewed stereotypes.
Far from a fountain of emotional warmth, love and all things stereotypically "feminine," Martha expresses her feelings only with difficulty and pursues Victorian morality more than love or passion. It is Theo who is patient, warm, and open, comfortable with his feelings and expressing them. "You know how to say things I don't know how to say," she tells him once. He saves her, and I don't mean from monsters or dungeons. Many women, like Martha, have trouble with vulnerability or expression, etc., and I appreciated that an author finally acknowledged them and drew a more complex portrait of women (and men), diversified the landscape.
For example, despite her apparent frigidness, Martha isn't asexual. She fantasizes with enough regularity to indicate a healthy libido. (Hilarious, by the way!) In fact, Awakened approaches sex with refreshing realness and humor. (The pillow talk cracked me up.) Belying the popular wisdom that women like men whom other women like, Theo's womanizing doesn't endear him to Martha, but Grant prevents Martha from becoming the condescending heroine by addressing her judgmental attitude early on.
While Theo's experience comes to use, he doesn't win Martha with his wicked bedroom tricks, again defying lust-winz! romance tropes that seem to imply that by golly, if you're just good enough in the sack, then maybe she'll stay with you. Ultimately, "stimulate my mind" Martha warms to Theo because she comes to love him as a person, by accident. He asks her help outside the bedroom, she's like, "okay, nothing better to do except mourn my douchey husband," and she sees he's actually a nice dude when he's not playing with himself. Contrary to trope, he thinks about other things and often. He is, in fact, very nice and probably the most lovable "rake" I've read.
Know how some readers say men should read romances to understand women? My usual answer to that is, "No! No! Good God, no!" But if the book were A Lady Awakened, it might be all right. Theo knows how to treat a ladeh.
Also, 500 points for treating the lower class like people too, boring farming aside, and period accuracy. The book reminded me of our period dramas with the "earnest young men," only with less angst and more heat. I really liked the noble, middle class characters, light prose, and the insight peppered throughout. Also, the relevance. Without any anachronisms, Awakened manages to be more modern than many contemporary romances. While Awakened's slow pace requires patience, it's well worth it for a trope-trouncing romance without cheesiness or inexplicable misunderstandings. Mmm, brain candy! Read it now! It's so different, it's glorious! Thanks for the recs, friends!
You wouldn't know that straightaway. Theo Mirkwood arrives in the Sussex countryside a womanizer. He meets Martha Russell, a stiff, if upright, widow, and Awakened chronicles their journey as Theo teaches Martha love and joy and learns himself the fulfillment of purpose and contributing to a community.
I liked the bait-and-switch. Grant dangles out the Casanova and immediately fleshes him out beyond his pastimes into a complex man kind, funny and loving. I liked that though Theo's strained relationship with his father affected him, Grant didn't explain away his habits with a tragic backstory, and best of all, she eschewed stereotypes.
Far from a fountain of emotional warmth, love and all things stereotypically "feminine," Martha expresses her feelings only with difficulty and pursues Victorian morality more than love or passion. It is Theo who is patient, warm, and open, comfortable with his feelings and expressing them. "You know how to say things I don't know how to say," she tells him once. He saves her, and I don't mean from monsters or dungeons. Many women, like Martha, have trouble with vulnerability or expression, etc., and I appreciated that an author finally acknowledged them and drew a more complex portrait of women (and men), diversified the landscape.
For example, despite her apparent frigidness, Martha isn't asexual. She fantasizes with enough regularity to indicate a healthy libido. (Hilarious, by the way!) In fact, Awakened approaches sex with refreshing realness and humor. (The pillow talk cracked me up.) Belying the popular wisdom that women like men whom other women like, Theo's womanizing doesn't endear him to Martha, but Grant prevents Martha from becoming the condescending heroine by addressing her judgmental attitude early on.
While Theo's experience comes to use, he doesn't win Martha with his wicked bedroom tricks, again defying lust-winz! romance tropes that seem to imply that by golly, if you're just good enough in the sack, then maybe she'll stay with you. Ultimately, "stimulate my mind" Martha warms to Theo because she comes to love him as a person, by accident. He asks her help outside the bedroom, she's like, "okay, nothing better to do except mourn my douchey husband," and she sees he's actually a nice dude when he's not playing with himself. Contrary to trope, he thinks about other things and often. He is, in fact, very nice and probably the most lovable "rake" I've read.
Know how some readers say men should read romances to understand women? My usual answer to that is, "No! No! Good God, no!" But if the book were A Lady Awakened, it might be all right. Theo knows how to treat a ladeh.
Also, 500 points for treating the lower class like people too, boring farming aside, and period accuracy. The book reminded me of our period dramas with the "earnest young men," only with less angst and more heat. I really liked the noble, middle class characters, light prose, and the insight peppered throughout. Also, the relevance. Without any anachronisms, Awakened manages to be more modern than many contemporary romances. While Awakened's slow pace requires patience, it's well worth it for a trope-trouncing romance without cheesiness or inexplicable misunderstandings. Mmm, brain candy! Read it now! It's so different, it's glorious! Thanks for the recs, friends!
July 27, 2020
This is not your typical historical romance, and man it tried so hard to be different in a good way, and it could have been. But it wasn’t. Cecilia Grant had everything going for her...until the hero raped the heroine. Goddammit.
We’ll get to the rape in a bit, but first we’ll talk about the basic set-up of A Lady Awakened.
Martha Russell’s husband has died, and his brother is going to inherit the land. Except it turns out that the brother is a nasty rapist, and our girl Martha wants to protect her tenants and the house servants. So she decides to hire her neighbor, Theo Mirkwood, as a breeding stud, so she can quickly conceive and pass of the baby as her dead husband’s. Then, naturally, Martha and Theo fall in love and all that juicy stuff.
I rather like what Grant attempted (but did not succeed) to do with Martha’s character. She’s a very serious, emotionally reserved young woman, with a logical, calculating approach toward social work. She’s very, very, very aloof. And Theo works as a good foil, he’s also very young, spoiled, and a bit silly, but only because he’s been allowed to be. The title of the book indicates that it’s Martha that undergoes a lot of change, and she does...sort of. But the biggest character growth in the book is Theo’s, as Martha’s serious and mature outlook on life affect his own actions.
Now, the sex. The first sex scene between the protagonists happens right away. And it sucks. It’s just a business deal, after all. The two then proceed to have mechanical, emotionless sex daily for the remainder of the book. Theo keeps wanting to “awaken Martha’s passions” or somesuch, but she isn’t interested in catching feels at all. That, for one thing, feels a little rapey. If a person tells you they’re not interested in a passionate affair, you should respect that and stick to the terms agreed upon.
Later on, we find out that Martha was sexually abused by her father. Which would explain her total disinterest in sex as a fun, pleasurable experience.
And then, about two hours after that, Theo decides to start having sex with Martha. While she is asleep. And when she wakes up in the middle, he complains, and tells her it would be so much easier if she just went back to sleep.
THAT. IS. RAPE.
This book was written in 2011, a year in which the world had pretty firmly established that a sleeping person is not capable of giving consent. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
I lost all interest in A Lady Awakened right there, honestly, but pressed on with the book in order to see what happened. Not that it really matters, because RAPE. Rape in a novel written in 2011, wherein the rape is never addressed and sorted through. (Say what you want about Bodice Rippers, but rape is clearly labeled as such in those books, and treated accordingly.)
Remember when I read Sherry Thomas’s Not Quite a Husband and got really angry about that time when the dude had sex with the woman while she slept, and she BEGGED him not to, and he kept doing it anyway? Yeah. This shit is not my jam.
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We’ll get to the rape in a bit, but first we’ll talk about the basic set-up of A Lady Awakened.
Martha Russell’s husband has died, and his brother is going to inherit the land. Except it turns out that the brother is a nasty rapist, and our girl Martha wants to protect her tenants and the house servants. So she decides to hire her neighbor, Theo Mirkwood, as a breeding stud, so she can quickly conceive and pass of the baby as her dead husband’s. Then, naturally, Martha and Theo fall in love and all that juicy stuff.
I rather like what Grant attempted (but did not succeed) to do with Martha’s character. She’s a very serious, emotionally reserved young woman, with a logical, calculating approach toward social work. She’s very, very, very aloof. And Theo works as a good foil, he’s also very young, spoiled, and a bit silly, but only because he’s been allowed to be. The title of the book indicates that it’s Martha that undergoes a lot of change, and she does...sort of. But the biggest character growth in the book is Theo’s, as Martha’s serious and mature outlook on life affect his own actions.
Now, the sex. The first sex scene between the protagonists happens right away. And it sucks. It’s just a business deal, after all. The two then proceed to have mechanical, emotionless sex daily for the remainder of the book. Theo keeps wanting to “awaken Martha’s passions” or somesuch, but she isn’t interested in catching feels at all. That, for one thing, feels a little rapey. If a person tells you they’re not interested in a passionate affair, you should respect that and stick to the terms agreed upon.
Later on, we find out that Martha was sexually abused by her father. Which would explain her total disinterest in sex as a fun, pleasurable experience.
And then, about two hours after that, Theo decides to start having sex with Martha. While she is asleep. And when she wakes up in the middle, he complains, and tells her it would be so much easier if she just went back to sleep.
His chest met her back—gently—and he draped an arm over her rib cage to keep her there. His knee pushed—slowly—between her knees. His hand grasped her thigh, lifting it up and back to rest atop his leg. His cock brushed against her, lingering on the threshold of where she opened to him, and—quiet as snowfall—slipped in.
"What are you doing?" Awake and alert in an instant. "You did this already, last night."
He cursed softly. "Can't you just sleep through it?"
"Sleep through it? Are you mad?"
THAT. IS. RAPE.
This book was written in 2011, a year in which the world had pretty firmly established that a sleeping person is not capable of giving consent. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
I lost all interest in A Lady Awakened right there, honestly, but pressed on with the book in order to see what happened. Not that it really matters, because RAPE. Rape in a novel written in 2011, wherein the rape is never addressed and sorted through. (Say what you want about Bodice Rippers, but rape is clearly labeled as such in those books, and treated accordingly.)
Remember when I read Sherry Thomas’s Not Quite a Husband and got really angry about that time when the dude had sex with the woman while she slept, and she BEGGED him not to, and he kept doing it anyway? Yeah. This shit is not my jam.
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July 21, 2018
I'm really not sure how to review this book between a cold, upstanding widow and a charismatic land management student, but I will say that it in its everyday approach to intimacy it really did wow me. There's this scene, when fondness of the part of the hero was building, that made my heart kick just right.
And here's a heroine I admire, working to do the right thing the only way she can. This book did not rely on sex, but a genuine friendship between the two main characters. Conversely, sex only served to alienate them from one another in the absolutely stiff and uncomfortable scenes.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this book felt weird realistic for the beginning of a relationship...and it was such a good read.
And here's a heroine I admire, working to do the right thing the only way she can. This book did not rely on sex, but a genuine friendship between the two main characters. Conversely, sex only served to alienate them from one another in the absolutely stiff and uncomfortable scenes.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this book felt weird realistic for the beginning of a relationship...and it was such a good read.
October 4, 2012
This book has the novelty of having two likable people, full of goodwill, who both act in a mature way, and fall in love with each other. I actually have a lot of good thoughts for it because of that. It’s also well written.
On the other hand though, I thought it was kind of dull.
The basic story is about a young widow, Martha, who will be left with little money if she does not have a son. Her late husband has left the house and estate to his lecherous brother-in-law who is known for pouncing on servant girls and getting them pregnant. Martha is horrified at the thought of someone abusing the servants. So being very practical, she comes up with a plan. She decides to ask her neighbor’s playboy son, Theo, to be her gigolo for a month in the hopes that he will get her pregnant.
Theo is surprisingly not insulted by this and agrees, simply because he’s super randy and he thinks she’s hawt. This begins their odd relationship.
Since they are strangers and Martha is frigid, their sex is quite awkward. Martha’s kind of bossy too, lying on the bed, stiff as a board with her legs open, telling him to hurry up. Consequently, Theo is somewhat unnerved by her. So of course they fall in love. How could they not? LOL
Theo is a super nice beta guy. He sort of lacks self confidence, which at first Martha crushes, and then she builds up. I think of him as wanting a woman to mother him, so he’s attracted to Martha who scolds him all the time. Martha needs Theo because she’s way too uptight and needs to get laid.
I didn’t mind Martha, although I can see why some reviewers said they didn’t like her. I think she’s kind of fascinating, and I love how pragmatic she is. She sees herself as a very moral person, yet her questionable actions don’t portray her like that at all. Here is a woman who married an older, wealthy man she didn’t love (for practical reasons.) Then she decides to commit fraud by passing off another man’s child as her late husband’s, (to save the servant girls from a lecher.) Then she hires a gigolo to get her pregnant. Obviously, in Martha’s eyes, the end justifies the means, which makes her not very moral at all. I liked her determination, but I think she's fooling herself if she thinks her motives are completely altruistic.
These characters are well rounded. I think their attraction to each other makes perfect sense, and their romance is sweet. They both go through a nice character arc. I was rather touched by the sweet ending.
This book has so little suspense though. The villain is weak, and doesn’t show up until the end of the book. There’s no sexual tension, since both Martha and Theo had sex from the beginning. I didn’t feel a sense of danger or dread. There’s no secret intrigue or mystery. In fact, very little happens.
Not to mention, the book felt very modern, with modern point-of-views. Consequently, I never did get that cool feeling of being transported back in time.
I’m giving it three stars.
Since I see all the positive reviews, I’m thinking maybe I’m just not into Regency Romance. Are all Regency books this slow? It may be awhile before I try another. I must admit though, the second book in this series looks better than this one.
On the other hand though, I thought it was kind of dull.
The basic story is about a young widow, Martha, who will be left with little money if she does not have a son. Her late husband has left the house and estate to his lecherous brother-in-law who is known for pouncing on servant girls and getting them pregnant. Martha is horrified at the thought of someone abusing the servants. So being very practical, she comes up with a plan. She decides to ask her neighbor’s playboy son, Theo, to be her gigolo for a month in the hopes that he will get her pregnant.
Theo is surprisingly not insulted by this and agrees, simply because he’s super randy and he thinks she’s hawt. This begins their odd relationship.
Since they are strangers and Martha is frigid, their sex is quite awkward. Martha’s kind of bossy too, lying on the bed, stiff as a board with her legs open, telling him to hurry up. Consequently, Theo is somewhat unnerved by her. So of course they fall in love. How could they not? LOL
Theo is a super nice beta guy. He sort of lacks self confidence, which at first Martha crushes, and then she builds up. I think of him as wanting a woman to mother him, so he’s attracted to Martha who scolds him all the time. Martha needs Theo because she’s way too uptight and needs to get laid.
I didn’t mind Martha, although I can see why some reviewers said they didn’t like her. I think she’s kind of fascinating, and I love how pragmatic she is. She sees herself as a very moral person, yet her questionable actions don’t portray her like that at all. Here is a woman who married an older, wealthy man she didn’t love (for practical reasons.) Then she decides to commit fraud by passing off another man’s child as her late husband’s, (to save the servant girls from a lecher.) Then she hires a gigolo to get her pregnant. Obviously, in Martha’s eyes, the end justifies the means, which makes her not very moral at all. I liked her determination, but I think she's fooling herself if she thinks her motives are completely altruistic.
These characters are well rounded. I think their attraction to each other makes perfect sense, and their romance is sweet. They both go through a nice character arc. I was rather touched by the sweet ending.
This book has so little suspense though. The villain is weak, and doesn’t show up until the end of the book. There’s no sexual tension, since both Martha and Theo had sex from the beginning. I didn’t feel a sense of danger or dread. There’s no secret intrigue or mystery. In fact, very little happens.
Not to mention, the book felt very modern, with modern point-of-views. Consequently, I never did get that cool feeling of being transported back in time.
I’m giving it three stars.
Since I see all the positive reviews, I’m thinking maybe I’m just not into Regency Romance. Are all Regency books this slow? It may be awhile before I try another. I must admit though, the second book in this series looks better than this one.
September 19, 2017
This book is certainly unique. I am not quite sure what to think of it. The comparison I keep coming back to is it's the Chevy Chase movie of HR. It started with many awkward funny moments that primarily took place in the bedroom, and I was amused, laughing out loud at times. Then the joke went on too long, and I got bored and annoyed. It probably does not help that I am not a fan of comedy of errors where the MC(s) are almost solely to blame for their misfortune. I have a fairly sizable dislike of the vacation movies and other similar ones in that vein (I am looking at you Meet the Parents). Ultimately, while this book has some funny parts, it really lacked in the romance department. It wasn't a total fail, but I just didn't care much by the end of it.
Besides the early funny bits, I did enjoy the growth of the hero from being an immature scapegrace to a responsible land owner, who cared about his people and wanted to provide for them. That was very well done and props to the author for that development. I felt the heroine didn't have as much of a transition and her sudden change in direction at the end felt a bit forced. I was hoping for an easier time for both of them as they decided to be together, but instead it ends with a scandal.
The premise is unusual-- the only one I have read that comes close is Darius by Grace Burrowes. The story telling is unique, and it has a comedic tone to it. There is plenty of detail, that showed the research put in by author. I can see why people like it, but it just didn't fully work for me.
Besides the early funny bits, I did enjoy the growth of the hero from being an immature scapegrace to a responsible land owner, who cared about his people and wanted to provide for them. That was very well done and props to the author for that development. I felt the heroine didn't have as much of a transition and her sudden change in direction at the end felt a bit forced. I was hoping for an easier time for both of them as they decided to be together, but instead it ends with a scandal.
The premise is unusual-- the only one I have read that comes close is Darius by Grace Burrowes. The story telling is unique, and it has a comedic tone to it. There is plenty of detail, that showed the research put in by author. I can see why people like it, but it just didn't fully work for me.
June 30, 2017
Review written June 29, 2017
4 1/2 Stars - A great historical with a bit different touch and feeling. Terrific audio narration as well.
A Lady Awakened (a very clever and fitting title) is the first #1 in the HR series Blackshear Family (ones recommended by my friend Sofia) by Cecilia Grant. A romances author new for me.
This was a good one — My big applause
I was listening to the 12:39 hours audiobook very well with lot of feeling narrated by Susan Ericksen. Twelve perfect good audiobook listening hours. Recommended!
**********************************************
« Martha Russell is a proper, laced-up widow, who finds more pleasure in charitable acts than she ever did in her marriage bed. Theophilus Mirkwood is a known rake whose all-too-true reputation has basically gotten him thrown out of London. »
A "grown up romance" in my taste with a interesting, sensitive and witty storyline. I couldn't guess...
I feel I probably have longed for heroes of this kind (even if I didn't know). You admirers of for example Courtney Milan's historicals will probably recognize this storyline style with a bit "unusual" male main character. — A slightly unsure, not overly strong or always secure about himself male to start with. Different from the most common ones in this genre at least. Not the perfect always sexy caveman like man, but instead the type of man you typically know from real life ... and hopefully love for his big and good heart and for all his ordinary human weaknesses. — Mr Mirkwood was just perfect. Loved him from start to end.
... As I also felt about this so very admirable strong, to start with also a bit cold hearted, nice heroine.
**********************************************
**********************************************
Oh, so much I enjoy to be really surprised about a new author and read (don't let the HR typical book cover fool or trick you). As now after just finished, to just sit here in the sofa with that wonderfully satisfied and positive feeling. — Conclusion? I just must keep on choose more historicals by this so wonderful clever HR story teller. What a marvelous good surprise this was. Sincerely enjoyed and "loved" A Lady Awakened in all ways.
**********************************************
I LIKE - to be so pleased about a book as this one
4 1/2 Stars - A great historical with a bit different touch and feeling. Terrific audio narration as well.
A Lady Awakened (a very clever and fitting title) is the first #1 in the HR series Blackshear Family (ones recommended by my friend Sofia) by Cecilia Grant. A romances author new for me.
This was a good one — My big applause
I was listening to the 12:39 hours audiobook very well with lot of feeling narrated by Susan Ericksen. Twelve perfect good audiobook listening hours. Recommended!
**********************************************
« Martha Russell is a proper, laced-up widow, who finds more pleasure in charitable acts than she ever did in her marriage bed. Theophilus Mirkwood is a known rake whose all-too-true reputation has basically gotten him thrown out of London. »
A "grown up romance" in my taste with a interesting, sensitive and witty storyline. I couldn't guess...
I feel I probably have longed for heroes of this kind (even if I didn't know). You admirers of for example Courtney Milan's historicals will probably recognize this storyline style with a bit "unusual" male main character. — A slightly unsure, not overly strong or always secure about himself male to start with. Different from the most common ones in this genre at least. Not the perfect always sexy caveman like man, but instead the type of man you typically know from real life ... and hopefully love for his big and good heart and for all his ordinary human weaknesses. — Mr Mirkwood was just perfect. Loved him from start to end.
... As I also felt about this so very admirable strong, to start with also a bit cold hearted, nice heroine.
**********************************************
‘If one believed, as the Bible and the Greek myths had it, that man had been created first and woman after, then one must conclude there had been some dramatic improvement in the process following that amateurish first attempt.
Where she was molded, he was rough-hewn. Where her form curved with logic and precision, not to mention breeding parts tucked neatly away, he looked rangy, haphazard, his male parts an ill-placed afterthought. Like the last leftover bits of clay scraped together, rolled into primitive forms and stuck onto the middle of him, the stones in their rough red sack and that improbable appendage dangling to the fore.’
**********************************************
Oh, so much I enjoy to be really surprised about a new author and read (don't let the HR typical book cover fool or trick you). As now after just finished, to just sit here in the sofa with that wonderfully satisfied and positive feeling. — Conclusion? I just must keep on choose more historicals by this so wonderful clever HR story teller. What a marvelous good surprise this was. Sincerely enjoyed and "loved" A Lady Awakened in all ways.
**********************************************
I LIKE - to be so pleased about a book as this one
January 21, 2012
Here is the wonderful premise of this: A recently widowed Martha Russell will lose her estate and her much valued independence unless she proves she is carrying an heir to her late husband. Only she isn’t. Therefore she needs to get pregnant fast.
Enter Theo Mirkwood, an exiled good-for-nothing playboy. Martha decides to strike a deal with him - he is going to fornicate with her every day for a month and she is going to pay him a certain amount of money. It seems like the book will just be a long list of sex scenes, but there wouldn’t be a story if it wasn’t for the fact that Martha is as prim, proper and uptight as they get. Theo tries all sorts of tricks on her but she just lays there like a piece of wood with her eyes closed thinking of England.
The romance and even physical attraction take forever to develop. To the readers who like to have sparks flying from the page one, I’d like to dedicate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7uXX...
Slowly and surely, Martha makes Theo grow the fuck up and Theo makes Martha loosen up a little. Finally the Lady awakens and it all culminates in one of the hottest sex scenes I have read in a romance novel. I shit you not. I intend to send my boyfriend a copy of those few pages asking him if he is interested in historical reenactments.
Yeah, I think in general this book was psychologically almost realistic and historically almost accurate. It would’ve got five stars from me (very rare for a romance novel) and become my ultimate Regency Romance if it wasn’t for the awful head hopping every half a paragraph. But after all it was Cecilia Grant’s debut, so I am going to cut her some slack here. As far as girly porn goes, I am expecting great things from this woman.
Also, see that hair on the book cover? I want that hair. Oh, and that dress, too.
Ok, I am done here. Over and out.
Enter Theo Mirkwood, an exiled good-for-nothing playboy. Martha decides to strike a deal with him - he is going to fornicate with her every day for a month and she is going to pay him a certain amount of money. It seems like the book will just be a long list of sex scenes, but there wouldn’t be a story if it wasn’t for the fact that Martha is as prim, proper and uptight as they get. Theo tries all sorts of tricks on her but she just lays there like a piece of wood with her eyes closed thinking of England.
The romance and even physical attraction take forever to develop. To the readers who like to have sparks flying from the page one, I’d like to dedicate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7uXX...
Slowly and surely, Martha makes Theo grow the fuck up and Theo makes Martha loosen up a little. Finally the Lady awakens and it all culminates in one of the hottest sex scenes I have read in a romance novel. I shit you not. I intend to send my boyfriend a copy of those few pages asking him if he is interested in historical reenactments.
Yeah, I think in general this book was psychologically almost realistic and historically almost accurate. It would’ve got five stars from me (very rare for a romance novel) and become my ultimate Regency Romance if it wasn’t for the awful head hopping every half a paragraph. But after all it was Cecilia Grant’s debut, so I am going to cut her some slack here. As far as girly porn goes, I am expecting great things from this woman.
Also, see that hair on the book cover? I want that hair. Oh, and that dress, too.
Ok, I am done here. Over and out.
December 22, 2022
Incredible.
This is going to be a long review, I think. And I'm going to have to talk about Lisa Kleypas for a second. Sorry!
Married by Morning is my favorite of Lisa Kleypas' Hathaway series. I love a hero who is attempting to take on responsibility after years of rake/scoundrel/hellion/wastrel behavior. Who just wants to be taken seriously. Cousin West Ravenel is in this mode. Vere from The Last Hellion. Leo Hathaway is a charming iteration of this and the dynamic between Martha and Theo most reminded me of the one between Leo and Catherine.
But I have one little gripe with Married by Morning, that I will try my best, in my very prudish way to explicate. The sex doesn't make any sense to me. Catherine has all this anxiety about being bred and raised for sexual pleasure (her virginity was going to be auctioned off by some members of her extended family) that she is pretty terrified of her own pleasure. She is also the stern governess to the spirited and younger Hathaway sisters. In her hidden identity (she is hiding from the man who bought her virginity), she finds following the rules and being very starchy and dictatorial regulating and calming. I was surprised to realize when I was reading MbM that the sex scenes are just...pretty typical Kleypas sex scenes, with some added elements of Leo considering her past to tamper down his Big Domineering Kleypas Hero Style to suit Catherine's anxieties.
They then proceed to do very typical Kleypas heavy petting. When Catherine shirks back, Leo verbally calms her and assures her.
Throughout the book Leo is leaping at, falling over, launching himself at Cat. And Cat "lets him." Even my favorite line in the whole book "you don’t have to be mine. just let me be yours" is Leo imploring Cat to let him do something. Again, I want to emphasize how much I enjoyed MbM. But the whole time, especially after getting to know Cat for a few books, I really thought that maybe this would be the Kleypas book where the heroine takes a little bit more of an active role in the bedroom. Perhaps even a more dominant role. I'm not sure if that just hadn't crossed Kleypas' mind at the time of writing (I never assume that Kleypas has forward notions about anything), especially considering that in the Ravenels' rendition of "good time guy does good" in Cousin West Ravenel, we get the impeccable shaving scene.
A Lady Awakened has what I thought Leo and Cat's bedroom relationship should be. And "let" takes on a whole different timbre.
Martha Russell (nee Blackshear) needs a baby in order to keep her home. She is recently widowed and she's not pregnant. I'm sure I've read romance novels where inheriting a home as a dowager is based on the woman being pregnant, but I feel like most (all?) incorporate the "wait and see" aspect into the plot, rather than have the heroine do anything about it. And Martha does something about it!
Enter Theo Mirkwood. A good time fellow who falls asleep at church and has a body like sin. Not that Martha cares. She needs his lack of scruples and his appendage and little else to pull off this fraud. Despite his protestations that he could make it fun for her. Like, really he could!
Martha is so starchy, but also very very good reasons for being so starchy! She is deeply concerned with taking the moral action. She understands that committing the fraud is immoral, but she's done the calculus (she has a really good reason for wanting to keep the house out of the hands of the actual heir, that really does help a lot of people). Her late husband was also totally unconcerned her pleasure. Martha does not characterize her husband's behavior as rape, but he is at the very least, not interested in keeping Martha from having a bad time.
And she is constantly telling Theo "no." Initially, he is in it because what almost-rake wouldn't be? He is getting PAID by an attractive widow to take his pleasure once a day for a month, without any of the seduction bits. But quickly, he realizes that his tried and true seduction bits don't really work on Martha. She finds even his earnest compliments of her body hollow. She steels herself against any non-business oriented attentions. The moment he attempts to romanticize their couplings, she shuts him down.
When Martha gets seduced is when Theo trusts her opinions. He has been sent to Sussex by his father to calm down a bit from his spendthrift ways of London. He is supposed to be learning the art of farming and having tenants (ding ding ding, Cousin West Ravenel alarm bells). He is totally uninterested in this. But he is really good with people. And he is really good with Martha, who loves the mechanics of managing land. They fall into an easy friendship of mutuality, where he helps her get to know the people of their adjoining lands (her marriage wasn't long enough to really form relationships with any of her tenants or people from the town, plus she is intellectual and awkward around strangers), and she makes him look good in front of his land steward, who is serving as surveillance for Theo's father.
Now to the sex. I would almost characterize this as an erotica, though it wasn't like the sex scenes were *that* steamy compared to other similarly marketed romance novels. But for Martha and Theo, it would be impossible to extract their romance from their sex. And this is what makes the difference between this book and Married by Morning. For Kleypas, sex scenes function like end stops to the scenes of emotional development between a couple. In A Lady Awakened, the sex and the romance and the friendships are totally inextricable. And if anyone, like me, was disappointed to realize that Cat in MbM was going to be a mainly passive and submissive participant in her relationship with Leo, Martha in A Lady Awakened does not disappoint.
The shifting meaning of and dynamic of Theo's command of lets. Outstanding, incredible, Sherry Thomas-like union of bedroom politics and outside romance.
There are a million more things that I loved about this book. But after a run of books that just were not hitting for me, this book reminded me of what I love about romance novels. The joy built a genre that is predicated on learning how to love (each other, ourselves) better.
This is going to be a long review, I think. And I'm going to have to talk about Lisa Kleypas for a second. Sorry!
Married by Morning is my favorite of Lisa Kleypas' Hathaway series. I love a hero who is attempting to take on responsibility after years of rake/scoundrel/hellion/wastrel behavior. Who just wants to be taken seriously. Cousin West Ravenel is in this mode. Vere from The Last Hellion. Leo Hathaway is a charming iteration of this and the dynamic between Martha and Theo most reminded me of the one between Leo and Catherine.
But I have one little gripe with Married by Morning, that I will try my best, in my very prudish way to explicate. The sex doesn't make any sense to me. Catherine has all this anxiety about being bred and raised for sexual pleasure (her virginity was going to be auctioned off by some members of her extended family) that she is pretty terrified of her own pleasure. She is also the stern governess to the spirited and younger Hathaway sisters. In her hidden identity (she is hiding from the man who bought her virginity), she finds following the rules and being very starchy and dictatorial regulating and calming. I was surprised to realize when I was reading MbM that the sex scenes are just...pretty typical Kleypas sex scenes, with some added elements of Leo considering her past to tamper down his Big Domineering Kleypas Hero Style to suit Catherine's anxieties.
"Please" she choked out. "Please don't hold my wrists"
As he heard the note of fear in her voice, his face changed. He released her arms at once.
They then proceed to do very typical Kleypas heavy petting. When Catherine shirks back, Leo verbally calms her and assures her.
Throughout the book Leo is leaping at, falling over, launching himself at Cat. And Cat "lets him." Even my favorite line in the whole book "you don’t have to be mine. just let me be yours" is Leo imploring Cat to let him do something. Again, I want to emphasize how much I enjoyed MbM. But the whole time, especially after getting to know Cat for a few books, I really thought that maybe this would be the Kleypas book where the heroine takes a little bit more of an active role in the bedroom. Perhaps even a more dominant role. I'm not sure if that just hadn't crossed Kleypas' mind at the time of writing (I never assume that Kleypas has forward notions about anything), especially considering that in the Ravenels' rendition of "good time guy does good" in Cousin West Ravenel, we get the impeccable shaving scene.
A Lady Awakened has what I thought Leo and Cat's bedroom relationship should be. And "let" takes on a whole different timbre.
Martha Russell (nee Blackshear) needs a baby in order to keep her home. She is recently widowed and she's not pregnant. I'm sure I've read romance novels where inheriting a home as a dowager is based on the woman being pregnant, but I feel like most (all?) incorporate the "wait and see" aspect into the plot, rather than have the heroine do anything about it. And Martha does something about it!
Enter Theo Mirkwood. A good time fellow who falls asleep at church and has a body like sin. Not that Martha cares. She needs his lack of scruples and his appendage and little else to pull off this fraud. Despite his protestations that he could make it fun for her. Like, really he could!
Martha is so starchy, but also very very good reasons for being so starchy! She is deeply concerned with taking the moral action. She understands that committing the fraud is immoral, but she's done the calculus (she has a really good reason for wanting to keep the house out of the hands of the actual heir, that really does help a lot of people). Her late husband was also totally unconcerned her pleasure. Martha does not characterize her husband's behavior as rape, but he is at the very least, not interested in keeping Martha from having a bad time.
And she is constantly telling Theo "no." Initially, he is in it because what almost-rake wouldn't be? He is getting PAID by an attractive widow to take his pleasure once a day for a month, without any of the seduction bits. But quickly, he realizes that his tried and true seduction bits don't really work on Martha. She finds even his earnest compliments of her body hollow. She steels herself against any non-business oriented attentions. The moment he attempts to romanticize their couplings, she shuts him down.
When Martha gets seduced is when Theo trusts her opinions. He has been sent to Sussex by his father to calm down a bit from his spendthrift ways of London. He is supposed to be learning the art of farming and having tenants (ding ding ding, Cousin West Ravenel alarm bells). He is totally uninterested in this. But he is really good with people. And he is really good with Martha, who loves the mechanics of managing land. They fall into an easy friendship of mutuality, where he helps her get to know the people of their adjoining lands (her marriage wasn't long enough to really form relationships with any of her tenants or people from the town, plus she is intellectual and awkward around strangers), and she makes him look good in front of his land steward, who is serving as surveillance for Theo's father.
Now to the sex. I would almost characterize this as an erotica, though it wasn't like the sex scenes were *that* steamy compared to other similarly marketed romance novels. But for Martha and Theo, it would be impossible to extract their romance from their sex. And this is what makes the difference between this book and Married by Morning. For Kleypas, sex scenes function like end stops to the scenes of emotional development between a couple. In A Lady Awakened, the sex and the romance and the friendships are totally inextricable. And if anyone, like me, was disappointed to realize that Cat in MbM was going to be a mainly passive and submissive participant in her relationship with Leo, Martha in A Lady Awakened does not disappoint.
"Let me look at you."
Her fingers tightened their grip on her covering. Her wary eyes narrowed. "Is this...will it be...useful in...preparing you?"
"Useful. Yes. Helpful. too."
"Let me do this." His thumb was relentless. "Let me. Though it may sound like a supplication, that's actually a command."
"You are not in any position to command me." [...]
"On the contrary, I would say I'm in exactly that position." He smiled, so sure of his victory, and finally she had the grounds for resistance she'd needed.
"No. Stop. I want you to stop."
"Let me be your whore if I want to be."
Let me. "You mean that as a command, I suppose."
"Always. Use me, Martha."
The shifting meaning of and dynamic of Theo's command of lets. Outstanding, incredible, Sherry Thomas-like union of bedroom politics and outside romance.
There are a million more things that I loved about this book. But after a run of books that just were not hitting for me, this book reminded me of what I love about romance novels. The joy built a genre that is predicated on learning how to love (each other, ourselves) better.
June 10, 2024
Book 3 of moving TBR COMPLETE!!! And we have ARRIVED!!
A Lady Awakened is the story of two people who are good but become better through their relationship with one another. Theo needs money and to prove himself to his father. Martha needs a surprise "heir" from her deceased husband. The two form a pact to help one another, and what follows is a painfully awkward relationship that grows into, perhaps, something more?
The romance and sideplots twine together effectively, and the story manages to successfully balance humor and high stakes. There's an earnestness to this book that I found endearing. It's nice to read about people who work so well together while retaining their own separate personalities and goals.
A Lady Awakened is the story of two people who are good but become better through their relationship with one another. Theo needs money and to prove himself to his father. Martha needs a surprise "heir" from her deceased husband. The two form a pact to help one another, and what follows is a painfully awkward relationship that grows into, perhaps, something more?
The romance and sideplots twine together effectively, and the story manages to successfully balance humor and high stakes. There's an earnestness to this book that I found endearing. It's nice to read about people who work so well together while retaining their own separate personalities and goals.
July 25, 2017
It’s not often I get a case of hero pity, but I have a serious case now. Our charming reprobate and all around really nice guy is propositioned by the very recent widow to bed her in order to impregnate her so she can, hopefully, gain control of her husband’s estate. More nice guy evidence: he takes food and gifts to his workers and is horrified and literally sickened when one of the mothers thinks he is there to seduce her slow daughter.
It’s an uphill battle as the widow simply lays there with the occasional impatient sigh of a hostess that wishes a boring guest to leave. He loses his cool and asks her to act less corpse like which shames her a little.
As for our heroine, she has a good heart even if she does suck all the joy out of pretty much any room she’s in whether she’s doing her imitation of a cold fish with the hero or unknowingly belittling one of her tenants daughter’s reading material. Why read a frothy novel when you can read a novel about Scotland from a historical view? Ms. Tiny H would certainly disapprove of Goodreads HP circle of readers.
The h is an honorable h. Her reason for defrauding the rightful heir is not only because of the school for local girls she wants to open but because the rightful heir is known as a rapist and already has at least one bastard in the area as well as several women he abused.
The h warms up eventually, and her humor is as dry as the Sahara especially when she's thinking about men's penises. Just take my word; she has a different take on the male anatomy than most romance heroines.
It’s an uphill battle as the widow simply lays there with the occasional impatient sigh of a hostess that wishes a boring guest to leave. He loses his cool and asks her to act less corpse like which shames her a little.
As for our heroine, she has a good heart even if she does suck all the joy out of pretty much any room she’s in whether she’s doing her imitation of a cold fish with the hero or unknowingly belittling one of her tenants daughter’s reading material. Why read a frothy novel when you can read a novel about Scotland from a historical view? Ms. Tiny H would certainly disapprove of Goodreads HP circle of readers.
The h is an honorable h. Her reason for defrauding the rightful heir is not only because of the school for local girls she wants to open but because the rightful heir is known as a rapist and already has at least one bastard in the area as well as several women he abused.
The h warms up eventually, and her humor is as dry as the Sahara especially when she's thinking about men's penises. Just take my word; she has a different take on the male anatomy than most romance heroines.
March 24, 2017
DNF at 81%
I'm sorry, but I can't finish this. I know other people loved this book for the very reason I absolutely loathed it, but I really don't care what happens to the "heroine" after she stamped on the perfectly loveable hero's heart.
I admit, the storyline (woman so desparate to keep her dead husband's estate in her hands that she hires someone to knock her up so she can present an heir) is unusual and therefore a very appreciated break from the formulaic romance novels that tend to dominate the genre. But beautiful writing aside, I couldn't put up with this woman. She's just too cold for my tastes: she refuses every single attempt the hero makes to make her feel comfortable (at some point he even tells her sleeping with her feels like doing it with a corpse because she's so damned unresponsive) and he has to force himself to fantasize about being with someone else to even get it up. WTF? Add to that the fact that she refuses to find pleasure with him but fantasizes about the virtuous vicar (who clearly loves her for being oh so virtuous and good, and would love to marry her the second her mourning period is over), and has the nerve to complain that the idiot hero clearly doesn't love her after he just freaking told her, and I'm officially offended that someone as nice as the hero puts up with this.
And yes, I get it. Through her constant bitching and nagging she changes him into a better person who cares deeply about his estate so she will finally approve of him. But why? I don't get it. And that's my main problem. I just don't get how that is enough reason for him to decide he's in love with her. I never felt any love between those two, and I just don't care enough to find out what makes her suddenly change her mind.
I will read the rest of this series because I really loved the couple from the novella that takes place before this, so I know it's just my own issues with this story and not the author's fault that I didn't like the book.
I'm sorry, but I can't finish this. I know other people loved this book for the very reason I absolutely loathed it, but I really don't care what happens to the "heroine" after she stamped on the perfectly loveable hero's heart.
I admit, the storyline (woman so desparate to keep her dead husband's estate in her hands that she hires someone to knock her up so she can present an heir) is unusual and therefore a very appreciated break from the formulaic romance novels that tend to dominate the genre. But beautiful writing aside, I couldn't put up with this woman. She's just too cold for my tastes: she refuses every single attempt the hero makes to make her feel comfortable (at some point he even tells her sleeping with her feels like doing it with a corpse because she's so damned unresponsive) and he has to force himself to fantasize about being with someone else to even get it up. WTF? Add to that the fact that she refuses to find pleasure with him but fantasizes about the virtuous vicar (who clearly loves her for being oh so virtuous and good, and would love to marry her the second her mourning period is over), and has the nerve to complain that the idiot hero clearly doesn't love her after he just freaking told her, and I'm officially offended that someone as nice as the hero puts up with this.
And yes, I get it. Through her constant bitching and nagging she changes him into a better person who cares deeply about his estate so she will finally approve of him. But why? I don't get it. And that's my main problem. I just don't get how that is enough reason for him to decide he's in love with her. I never felt any love between those two, and I just don't care enough to find out what makes her suddenly change her mind.
I will read the rest of this series because I really loved the couple from the novella that takes place before this, so I know it's just my own issues with this story and not the author's fault that I didn't like the book.
August 17, 2023
An agave plant of a woman finds herself widowed and in need of a pregnancy, lest a terrible lech of a man inherit her properties and abuse her staff. Luckily a total horn dog who is always DTF moves in next door and he is only too happy to fertilize her crops (sorry). Martha is the prickliest of pears and unimpressed by Theo, who takes it very personally and decides to seduce her by making her feel appreciated and orgasm-y. Does Martha get knocked up? Does Theo chill out? What’s up with the brothers? Why is there so much tender staring? Oh no.
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