Jeannelle M. Ferreira
Autor(a) de The Covert Captain: Or, A Marriage of Equals
About the Author
Obras por Jeannelle M. Ferreira
Associated Works
Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction for a Time of Pandemic (2020) — Contribuidor — 27 exemplares
Here, We Cross: a collection of queer and genderfluid poetry from Stone Telling 1-7 (2012) — Contribuidor — 9 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1981-03-26
- Sexo
- female
Membros
Críticas
Listas
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 5
- Also by
- 8
- Membros
- 54
- Popularidade
- #299,230
- Avaliação
- 4.0
- Críticas
- 2
- ISBN
- 7
- Marcado como favorito
- 1
The first half of the book is the half that I enjoyed, and if I had rated only that half, I probably would have ended up wavering between three and four stars. But then the second half of the book happened, and I was left completely disappointed.
What bothered me the most was Harry's casual antisemitism. It literally stopped me in my tracks, and I reread the pages once more to make sure that I hadn't misread anything. I hadn't. And now there shall be a rant.
Look, I know that antisemitism was a "thing" in history; hell, it's still a thing today. I'd be a moron if I sat here and tried to do anything except acknowledge the facts. I'm not even going to argue that there is no place for it in historical fiction or historical romances (for example, even though I didn't like the book itself, I did enjoy that the author of "The Admiral's Penniless Bride" brought up antisemitism in a historical romance - but the difference was, the two leads were NOT antisemitic).
In my opinion, there is absolutely NO place for antisemitism in a LEAD CHARACTER in a historical romance unless there is a HUGE shift somewhere along the way in their thinking. Even then, it'd have to be a monumental change, one that made my jaw drop open and think, "okay, wow, this character definitely had an incredible change of heart! I am now cool with this character, because s/he had such growth and understands her/his previous ways of thinking were wrong and unacceptable and is making efforts to counteract the harm that happened prior to her/his change of heart." And we didn't get that from Harry. Her antisemitism remained unchallenged while it happened and unaddressed in the rest of the book.
No. That does not work for me at all.
What bothers me the most is that I googled the author, and she identifies as Jewish. I cannot speak for her motivations and don't presume to, but I cannot understand, for the life of me, why she would make one of the leads in a romance antisemitic. As a Jewish woman myself, it was like a giant slap in the face to read that, and yet another slap was delivered when I got to the end of the book and no one called Harry out for it. How am I supposed to like a racist, bigoted character, even if it is "true to the times," in a ROMANCE of all things? I can't.
Even worse, there was really NO PURPOSE to showcase Harriet's antisemitism. It didn't add anything to the story. It didn't serve to draw attention to societal ills. It was just like dropping a rock into a very still pond and then ignoring the ripples.
I found myself wishing that Nathaniel/Nora would run far and wide from Harry instead, and that kind of ruined everything for me.
(Actually, I started out rating this book as two stars, but as I ranted about the antisemitism, I realized that I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, and so I dropped it down to one star because it makes me so mad.)
That said...
The writing style is very dry. This can be common in Regency-era romances (especially when authors are trying to make them sound more authentic), but I don't care for it. It was difficult to get attached to either of the characters because it felt like the writing style was rather standoffish (this helped later when we got that rude little surprise from Harry, I guess).
Even ignoring the antisemitism from one of the heroines, I didn't care for the second half of the book anyway. It felt like the author wasn't sure where to go with the story
I liked the character of Nathaniel/Nora, and I found myself wishing that she would find a better love interest (preferably one who wasn't antisemitic, thanks).
Meh. This novella was a great disappointment to me.… (mais)