Rate this book

Arrow To The Heart (1993)

by Jennifer Blake(Favorite Author)

3.36 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0449147347 (ISBN13: 9780449147344)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Ivy Books

series

Louisiana Plantation Collection

review 1: This book was pretty good. Blake is one of the few historical romance authors I can stomach as she tends to be fairly historically accurate and tell a fresh story. This novel was no different although I had to keep reminding myself that it was taking place in Louisiana and not Britain. Also, the premise was so odd - that the his and was more or less pimping out his wife for an heir and the love story was between said wife and pimp - it was pretty unbelievable. Fortunately, convenient deaths allow Romeo & Juliet to live happily ever after. LOL
review 2: Once in a while when I feel like doing some light - reading, then I pick up some romances, which I playfully term as 'Trashy Romances’, novels which are all about love, romance, sex, thrills, mystery, intrigues... more, the works. They serve their purpose well, as in they distract me, make me escape in a world which is rosy and everything is candy floss and glitter. At the same time, I cannot forget the ‘trashy’ part of such romances, as they are extremely patriarchal and seem to be written by male chauvinists rater than by intelligent female authors. They do not serve any purpose besides the satiating of the senses and perhaps adding to the knowledge about a particular era or place. However, there are few such romances which are a little more than what I have already elucidated above. Such novels are intelligent and add something to the repertoire of the reader but alas! Such novels are few and far between and this one was certainly not so!Now after much meandering and my talk of romances, I must come to the novel in question. I never regret reading any book, as I believe every book has something to offer to the reader, however this novel has made me come close to regret, to have picked it up in the first place. The novel had nothing to offer to the reader except sex and some more. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against sex, it is as natural as eating and sleeping, however to have sex for a story instead of a real plotline is quite disappointing for a reader who expects a strong plotline if nothing else. The protagonists are not convincing and not neatly fleshed out. The heroine is always ‘sexualized’ and seen as a sexual object under the male gaze be it of her husband or her ‘lover’. The non –existent plotline is all about the heroine stuck in a loveless marriage and how her husband wants a male heir and wants a man to ‘bed’ her, flouting her wishes and is not above using force. The heroine is typically a virgin who has to be initiated in the ‘art of lovemaking’ by the hero. The protagonists seem to indulge in witty conversations, layered by entrendre and repartee, but it is neither interesting nor witty enough to hold the reader’s attention. The hero has learnt to ‘control his lovemaking’ through a technique that he learnt from the Arabians and from certain odalisques. There are frequent references to the ‘ Orient’ and how adept they are in matters of amour; which of course is typical again, as the ‘ East’ has always been seen as ‘ exotic’ and ‘ sexual’ and ‘ licentious to the point of being depraved’. The maid and manservant of the protagonists are a quadroon and of Arabic lineage and they of course are quite ‘knowledgeable’ about amour as well. The heroine is a typical damsel in distress, who has to be rescued by her knight in shining armor, who is hardly a ‘gentleman’. The feminist in any woman will certainly boil in rage upon reading this book. To be the object of lust and sexual gratification is what Katerine ( the heroine ) is reduced to, she can only feel ‘ complete’ when she has had a baby, she cannot leave her psychotic husband as she has ‘ nowhere to go’. At last, the final reunion comes about with Rowan (the male protagonist) ‘kidnapping’ Katerine by wrapping her in a rug and whisking her away much against her wishes. So much for female empowerment and feminism! It upset me to see that this novel has been written by a famous female author and that this book was written as recently as 1995. If our female authors will write such patriarchal novels, where women have no say and they are solely the object of sexual gratification and whose only aim in life is to feel ‘ complete’ by giving into patriarchy, then surely we are a long way away from the equality of the sexes. The novel has put me off romances, I won’t be reading one again in a hurry and I think my term for such romances is quite appropriate-‘trashy’. The only positive thing that I can say about the book is that it paints a beautiful and vivid picture of nineteenth century Louisiana. Also, the language of the novel is quite lyrical and poetical with certain terms and phrases that I was not familiar with, so if nothing else, at least the novel helped me better my vocabulary! Now, I know what ‘comestibles’ and ‘dandle’ mean!P.S – Sorry for the word ‘ typical’ used often in the review, could not help using it, as the novel is much a stereotype as it’s protagonists. less

Download links for: Arrow to the Heart

Advertising