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sophia_sol) wrote2017-06-28 05:33 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2017-06-28 05:33 pm
This Wicked Gift, Proof By Seduction, and Trial By Desire, by Courtney Milan
Okay so I spent a few days in June reading a bunch of Courtney Milan. Apparently she's a "betcha can't eat read just one" kind of author for me. I read ten. Most were rereads, which I don't have anything new to say about, but this time I did get around to reading a few books of hers that I hadn't read in November when I last did this. Namely: the Carhart series, the first romances that Courtney Milan ever published! This was back when she was being conventionally published by Harlequin instead of being a self-published author.
This Wicked Gift, by Courtney Milan (Carhart #0.5)
WELL, this is definitely more rapey than I want my happy-ending romance fiction to be! The leading man has sex with the leading woman when he thinks she's being coerced into it and doesn't actually want it. THAT MAKES HIM A RAPIST even if it turns out the woman totally wanted it all along! Ugh ugh ugh.
Proof By Seduction, by Courtney Milan (Carhart #1)
And so I continue with the Carhart series despite the extremely inauspicious beginnings. This one, well, at least it didn't have a rapist main character? I still didn't love it though. I dunno, I didn't write down my thoughts soon enough after having read it so I don't remember all the reasons. But it doesn't have the things I like about later Courtney Milan (such as strong female friendships and interesting families) and also doesn't have a romance that I enjoyed reading about. And the leading man was pretty uninteresting to me, and the leading woman kept making baffling life choices.
Trial By Desire, by Courtney Milan (Carhart #2)
The Carhart series continues to improve! This one was actually mostly enjoyable. I liked the leading woman's mission in life, and I enjoyed the nature of the romance being one of having to develop a relationship between a husband and wife who don't really know each other and have been on different continents for years. But although this is closer to the Courtney Milan I know and love, this book just didn't get me excited the way her later books do.
This Wicked Gift, by Courtney Milan (Carhart #0.5)
WELL, this is definitely more rapey than I want my happy-ending romance fiction to be! The leading man has sex with the leading woman when he thinks she's being coerced into it and doesn't actually want it. THAT MAKES HIM A RAPIST even if it turns out the woman totally wanted it all along! Ugh ugh ugh.
Proof By Seduction, by Courtney Milan (Carhart #1)
And so I continue with the Carhart series despite the extremely inauspicious beginnings. This one, well, at least it didn't have a rapist main character? I still didn't love it though. I dunno, I didn't write down my thoughts soon enough after having read it so I don't remember all the reasons. But it doesn't have the things I like about later Courtney Milan (such as strong female friendships and interesting families) and also doesn't have a romance that I enjoyed reading about. And the leading man was pretty uninteresting to me, and the leading woman kept making baffling life choices.
Trial By Desire, by Courtney Milan (Carhart #2)
The Carhart series continues to improve! This one was actually mostly enjoyable. I liked the leading woman's mission in life, and I enjoyed the nature of the romance being one of having to develop a relationship between a husband and wife who don't really know each other and have been on different continents for years. But although this is closer to the Courtney Milan I know and love, this book just didn't get me excited the way her later books do.