Jayne from Dear Author.com has penned a thoughtful review of Taken by the Viking. I always enjoy reading her reviews as she makes think how I can improve the book I am working on.
My cp, Donna Alward, will be nodding her head at the comment that the villian went too easily with Annis towards the end. She had mentioned this to me. I sort of ignored it because I didn't agree, and there was no way that Annis was going to allow him to do anything else. She does enjoy being proved right.
Jayne also mentions Johanna Lindsey's Fires of Winter -- a book I enjoyed way back but I have to agree with Jayne. I think now I would find the rape scenes disturbing. I know in 1970 Violet Winspear famously proclaimed that she could not write a hero that was not capable of rape. But that was way back when. I know in my heart of hearts that I could not write a hero who WAS capable of rape. Forced seduction -- yes perhaps but there would have to be good reasons., The key word here is seduction and it implies consent and the woman is eventually a partner in the scene. Rape implies something very different and that the woman has no desire or wish to participate. I like to have the sexual tension building before the actual act. One of the revisions I had to do for Taken was to move the first sex scene to later in the book. I had had it too early and it felt off and the tension had decreased. Luckily my lovely editor spotted the problem and suggested a neat solution. The revisions I did on Taken actually stretched me quite a bit and I think made me grow as a writer.
Anyway, I have been very pleased to read the reviews and to hear what readers think about the story.
Don't forget to visit Unusual Historicals for a chance to win a signed copy of Taken.
1 comment:
It's a brilliant review, go you!
And no I told you so's...not one! You know I think this is your tightest book yet.
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