This is a tricky book to rate.

On one hand, I think Woodiwiss is a really good writer and that she sure knows how to write romance, but on the other hand, there were just some stuff here that I really don't like to see in books.

1 - the rape.
I know this is a bodice ripper, therefore some forced seduction is to be expected but I hate it when it actually gets to the point of rape.
Rape is wrong, no matter what. Rape is the absolute violation of one's intimacy and the most extreme act of humiliation I can think about.
I can't romanticize rape. It's not romantic when someone is raped, but just because the rapist is attractive and so on, the person ends up forgetting everything and actually falling in love with said individual. Wrong, just wrong.

2 - Heather, the heroine, seems to have been born to be a perpetual target of attempted rape. I swear everyone and their mommas tried to rape the poor girl. So not cool!

3 - Brandon's callous behaviour after raping Heather.

4 - Heather hates Brandon for what he did, but after she gives birth to the fruit of the rape, she suddenly loves him. Also, Brandon is pissed he was forced to marry her and swear to exact revenge on her, yet he suddenly realizes he is head over heels in love with her.

Basically, these were the points that bothered me the most and I feel like they are really serious, so much so that I can't ignore them, hence the lower rating.

I hear it's a classic and the predecessor of the historical romance genre, though, so fans of the genre might want to take a risk and read it.