Sunday, June 8, 2008

Review – Only With Your Love



Title: Only With Your Love
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Publishing Date: 1992
Genre: Historical
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Hot

Celia Vallerand is sailing to America from France with her new husband, Philippe when their ship is attacked by pirates. Her husband dies trying to save her life and she is taken prisoner. She is to be a present for the leader’s brother. The pirates sail to their own private island, which serves as a place to hide their stolen goods. This is when Celia is given to Andre, a big nasty fat man with a penchant for roughing up the women he sleeps with usually ending in death.

Celia is saved from this fate by another pirate Captain Griffin, only he is not fat and nasty, he’s a gorgeous specimen of a man with piercing blue eyes and silky black hair. He promises to take Celia back to her husband’s family in New Orleans.

I had a few problems with this book, the main one being Celia’s instant attraction to Captain Griffin. It was hard for me to believe that a woman who had just seen her husband’s bloody dead body and a woman who had been beaten and almost raped would be mentally capable of dealing with feelings of lust at this point. It is too much of a stretch for me for this scenario to work.

What did work for me was the winding and twisting plot. There were a lot of surprises in this book. There were some that I saw coming and some I did not. This is what kept me turning the pages, not necessarily the characters themselves. Celia was just okay for me. She didn’t really leap off the pages. I felt that she was just a tad bit selfish for me to really like her. Griffin was a major jerk, but I liked him anyway. He was definitely selfish too.

*Warning* This book has a forced seduction scene that borders precariously close to rape.

Here is what others had to say:

Reading Adventures

11 comments:

Ana said...

I was wondering where you were!

I never felt like reading this book, now even less. Thanks for the review.

Kristie (J) said...

This is one of the few Kleypas books that didn't work for me. I didn't really care for either heroine or hero. I give her a pass though because this one was written early in her career when this kind of storyline was fairly common. I did prefer the first one, Because You're Mine.

Kris said...

Have not read this one, not sure if I will, thanks for the review :)

Kate said...

Guh...I just can't deal with forced seduction/rape scenes. Makes me angry. Thanks for the warning.

nath said...

Hmm, doesn't sound like a great book. Thanks for reviewing it!!

and oh, Warlord is next! yay!

Jill D. said...

Ana and Kris, I would only recommend this book if you didn't have anything else to read and wanted to read a Kleypas.

Kristie, I know! Can you believe that Lisa actually has a dud amongst her books? It's hard to believe, isn't it!

Kate, I felt like some kind of warning was needed because I know how some readers are really put off by this type of thing.

Nath, You crack me up! You are really excited about Warlord! Yes, a review will be coming shortly.

Amy said...

It's weird -- not Kleypas, but just that I finished MINE TILL MIDNIGHT this morning. I know I have OWYL in my tbr somewhere, but I may have to pull it out for the trade pile. I'm not a forced seduction fangirl at all.

nath said...

Well you know, it's always fun to see what other ppl thought of your favorite books :D

Jill D. said...

Amy, Kleypas has so many other wonderful books, unfortunately this is just not one of them. I really enjoyed Mine Till Midnight and can't wait for Meripen and Winnie's book.

Kate said...

I agree, Jill! Mine Till Midnight is the only one I've read, and I'm really looking forward to Seduce Me At Sunrise.

Amy said...

What I'm curious about is Leo's story. I've not checked her website, but has she mentioned a book for him?