0.5 stars.

Any enjoyment I could have garnered from plot, characterisation or writing style was completely tarnished by content. Even Jeff, my favourite character, lost every ounce of my respect when he found out Heather's backstory and did absolutely nothing to help her. As a matter of fact, he found the whole thing hilarious!

Obviously Brandon needed the difference between rape and consensual sex clarified because he very clearly DID NOT know the difference. Add to that the fact that he LAUGHED when he realised Heather wasn't a prostitute playing hard-to-get but rather a virgin who he'd just forced himself on and it was very difficult to feel anything but hatred for him as the book progressed. As if to test the reader further, he then painted himself as the VICTIM because he was forced to marry the woman he'd RAPED and IMPREGNATED to save her from a life of disgrace and poverty. He was a complete brute towards her as a consequence, both physically and emotionally, well into the second half of the book. Everything about him was despicable and sickening. I literally felt sick reading the novel's final pages because Woodiwiss had the 'couple' joke that the rape that started their 'relationship' was actually a good thing.

The thought that this was one of the first historical romances to be published, the first 'bodice ripper', fills me with dread and complete relief at how far the genre has come since. Brandon made Christian Grey look like a knight in shining armour.