goddesseyes9

I have a lot of Romance Novels that I have to get rid of because I never really liked them. I did read them during high school but thank goodness I never really got into them because they have so many problems. Particularly how they deal with rape. And how the female falls in love so quickly with the hero. And how they are ALWAYS virgins. GOD!  I mainly read them to see how they described the bedroom scenes. Or non-bed scenes. But they usually described them with pretty words. Like "--only moments to bring her to a shuddering climax." I have read better sex scenes in fanfiction and erotica. These have saved me by describing the act in great detail and that stories can be written this way. Like PWP for fanfics.
Anyway here is a novel that did not annoy so much.

Silk and Shadows (c) 1991 Signet Historical Romance Penguin Putnam
Page Count: 431
Author: Mary Jo Putney
Read: 03/27/18- 04/10/18

I would have read this sooner but I had con so yeah.
This one did not annoy me as much. This is also a re-read. So I will describe this one better.
It stars with a man seeking revenge. Or vengeance.  Or a vendetta. He is a foreigner from Kafiristan. He has darkish skin, close to black if not black skin. Because a maid called him the N word. I'll explain: she is a bigot. Anyway, in order to be accepted into London Society you need to know a high noble with influence and he does have a friend who is. An earl or something. So he, Peregrine, not his real name, starts his revenge plan by befriending the bastard that wronged him. We don't find out what that is till like 3/4's of the way in. He has waited 25 years for this but he wants to ruin this person, his social standing, his wealth; I don't know if he wants him to suffer or to die. His revenge plan takes place like over a few weeks or the entire summer that kinda leads into fall/winter. At like page 290 its about 2 or 3 months but I'm not really keeping track.

So right off the bat we have revenge which makes me intrigued! And the hero ain't a white guy.

Of course we know more about the males than the females. It is nice that P. is trying to steal the Bad Guy, Charles, betrothed Lady Sara. At first it is part of his plan to break it off but he, I guess, falls for her. And yes, Lady Sara ends up falling for him too. If you can call it that. P. is much more friendly to Lady S. than C is. C. just really deep down needs a woman of high social status so he can be a Baron and a mother for his daughter but also wants her to be obedient to him. You know wife/woman always subservient to men/husband. Now Lady S., though she is of high social class, has a bad leg, fall off a horse in her youth almost killed her, but now has a limp.
She is like 27, P. i like 35 and C. is about 50. Because of her leg she is not completely ostracized or accepted because of her status. Anyway P. helps in bringing her back to her former self or at least have more courage to ride a horse again, to dance again, to do things before her accident. Lady S. sees the marriage as no better offer and C. is not all bad. Of course C. has a professional side for society and his real side. He owns brothels and uses cruel tactics in his business ventures, a railway. So P. decides to take Lady S. away by "ruining" her. They both end up in a sexual encounter and get walked on by her father, C. and her cousin Lord Ross. Also the friend of P. In order to avoid a scandal P. marries Lady S. but he does kinda like her.  Which is when the maid incident happens.
Oh! I guess I should mention that P. is a good guy. He ends up saving a prostitute form one of C's brothels. Of course he never had sex with her. SO NOBLE! Whatever. DId I mention P. is handsome? The ladies seem to think so. Always looking at him at balls.
The people seem to assume a lot, those who know Lady S., are supportive for her marriage to P. UGH!!
It was hinted that why not Lady S. and her cousin Lord Ross marry. They are first cousins and it is accepted. But they both know deep down they love each other too much to be together. Like brother and sister.
Before P. ruined Lady S. he tried to warn her about C's true business and how his fist wife died.
After C breaks the engagement he plans his revenge against Lady S. How dare she lead him on! Humiliate him! He thought the cripple would be pure. Make her pay for betraying him. He plans to kidnap her and keep her prisoner or send her to a brothel, one where no one can find her.
The whole time his revenge plan is still going on. P. has not given up. It comes to a head when C asks P for loan because the banks will not give him one. All part of P's master plan.
Again only paying half attention here. I've also skipped the sex scenes.
When C asks for a loan P tells him "I'll see you in hell first." Before this confrontation he decides to end the revenge. Someone says how long until he is satisfied by the revenge. What if someone close to you pays a price for it. Can he protect them all?
Because of this incident things start to click for C. He finally remembers where and when he has seen those Green Eyes that P has.
Right now we STILL don't know what happened in the past. 
So they are both aware of what is going on and now it's a war between the two. They both did decide to not involve Lady S or C's daughter. Like I won't go after her if you don't come after mine.
Now the gloves are off and there is like a tug of war . This takes place in like the last 100 pages. So you can understand as a reader that some times they just, the author, sums up the rest rather quickly.
I hate that! Most books sum up the rest in the last 100 or so pages. They take forever in the beginning and the middle then the end is climatic but not completely satisfied. It's like take your time! But NO! Not just this book but others too.
Then finally after like a fire, doubtful truth and rumors, almost death, P comes out with the past. Turns out when he was ten, his life lead him to Tripoli, where C was an honored guest there. P was captured and about to be sold in to slavery. Without going into much detail, he was used as a whore by C. Possibly for months. When C left P vowed revenge against him.
Now his wife Lady S knows, he told her. But now she seems to be giving him an ultimatum: he can have his revenge and relish it but she will not be with him. She will leave.
At this point 2 things. 1: she seems to love him before he even says those words back to her. So she believes but are we sure he does love her? Maybe. Then again she knew that this might be a loveless marriage. But also I don't like that the woman has to fall in love first. LAME!
2: Shut up Lady! He should have his revenge. Just because you have not suffered as he has that does not give you permission to completely judge him. Just because you don't want innocents hurt, hurt financially that is and brothels, that she can judge him for getting revenge. She says "--with so much anger and hatred in you, perhaps there is no room for love." True that she does have her point of revenge, he has his own. I see her logic but I prefer his.
I skipped the sex scenes so I don't know how descriptive she is. Like how erotic.
One reason I don't hate this is because it is not Babies Ever After, just Marriage Ever After.
Kinda sucks that he doesn't go through with the revenge. The Bad Guy Charles commits suicide. Gun shot to his head.
Basically revenge is nothing if it means losing your self worth and your love.