Rhonda "Reads"... Shattered by Joan Johnston
Disclaimer 1: the text below is copy/pasted from my Amazon.co.uk review, currently awaiting approval. In case it doesn't get through, I'm putting it here because if I don't spew somewhere, I'll just brood on the bloody thing.
Disclaimer 2: I did not (thank God) buy this book; it was borrowed from the library.
Sidenote 1: I also checked the reviews on Amazon.com. None of them raise any of the points I've made below, either. In fact, the book is sitting at 4 1/2 stars! And numerous reviewers talk about liking Shaw, even wanting him to be real! What. The. FUCK.
TL;DR: the author expects us to accept a bully and an abuser as a "romantic hero" and view his controlling behaviour as not only reasonable but as a sign that he truly cares about the heroine. She also reinforces the myth that "No" secretly means "Yes": that when a woman shows signs of physical attraction to a man, but nevertheless expresses a wish NOT to have sex with him, it is ok for him to continue making sexual advances, including the use of physical force, until he has worn her down - and that this does not count as rape. Offensive and misogynistic.
***
This is the first Joan Johnston novel that I've "read" - by which I mean, I read chapters 1 to 9 and the epilogue fully, then skimmed until the beginning of chapter 21 at which point I hurled the book across the room - more on which later.
A positive point first: the actual writing itself is good. Even the info-dumping parts read as interesting and natural, which is not an easy trick to pull off. And if you can stomach the events which lead up to them, those sex scenes which I read are relatively unembarrassing (although if I never read the phrase "nether lips" again, it'll be too soon >.<).
Having read reviews elsewhere on Amazon.co.uk by long-time readers of this author, I understand that there is a long and complex back story to the Kate/Jack relationship, which led fans to believe that they would finally get their Happily Ever After in this novel. **Spoiler number one: they don't.** Unsurprisingly, many felt betrayed. They had thought they were reading one story and ended up with something completely opposite, and those who have posted reviews are very articulate about their scorn for the preposterous plotting and character contortions which are used to try and justify the story which we have got. I won't therefore go into those, but refer you instead to the other reviewers. **Please note, by necessity the reviews do contain spoilers.**
Now when you have followed characters faithfully through several books, investing time, money and imagination in them, and are firmly convinced that they are a One True Pairing, it is natural to want to rant about their not ending up together after all, and I do understand why the (now ex-)fan reviewers are so focused on this. But what I find shocking, is that not one - NOT ONE - of those reviews mentions that **spoiler number two, the character with whom Kate does end up, is a domineering bully, who uses abduction, intimidation, emotional blackmail, physical violence and sexual harrassment in order to "persuade" our heroine to marry him.**
It is such an obvious portrayal of domestic abuse that I cannot understand how the other reviewers (presumably all female) missed it! Given how upset they are over the end of the Kate/Jack relationship, you'd think that they would cast a very hostile eye over the interloping newcomer, Wyatt Shaw, but no, their ire seems to be reserved for their former favourites, Kate and Jack. **Spoiler number three: the reviewers outright BLAME Kate for "running off" with Shaw when she is clearly presented as being forced to go with him against her will - and also for having sex with him, when she is repeatedly shown as saying, "No," an answer which Shaw ignores, continuing to make sexual advances until he physically and psychologically wears her down.** THINK about this, people: readers are placing the fault on a female protagonist for the actions of a male character. This is victim-blaming. It doesn't matter that the people involved here are fictitious; fiction is important because it helps to shape our ideas and perceptions of real life. If you can blame a victim in a story, then you can blame a victim in real life, too.
I read up to chapter 9, growing more and more disbelieving that a character like Shaw could be presented as a legitimate "romantic hero" in this day and age. When I skipped to the epilogue to confirm that yes, indeed, Shaw and Kate do marry, I nearly tossed the book right then, but I decided to give the author a chance to redeem her story. Perhaps, I reasoned, at some point she would have Shaw apologise or acknowledge that his behaviour has been, at the very VERY least, unreasonable. So I skimmed through, looking for that moment of redemption, empathy, remorse. I had a brief moment of hope when he **(spoiler four) promises not to touch her unless she says she wants him to, and does make an effort to keep it.**
But then I came to chapter 21. **Spoiler five: Kate moves into a separate bedroom in an attempt to free herself from Shaw's control and get some much-needed space to think. Shaw's reaction is to break down the door in the early hours of the morning and carry her, kicking and screaming, back to his room, where he roars at her that she will sleep in his bed regardless of her repeated wishes otherwise, then, in blatant breach of his earlier promise, physically pins her down and forces a kiss on her.** At that point, it became abundantly clear that no, the author was not going to have this character show any regret; that she instead expected her readers to view this violent, sexually tyrannical behaviour as the actions of a man in love!!!!
And furthermore, that she expected us NOT to consider this as rape, because **(spoiler six) Kate has admitted to being physically attracted to Shaw and, once sex has been initiated, does not make further attempts to fight it; indeed, in earlier, similar incidents, has enjoyed it.** I refer you back to those other reviewers: they blame Kate openly for the sex because the WRITING blames Kate IMPLICITLY for the sex. Let me be a 110% clear about this: THIS IS RAPE. Kate repeatedly and loudly tells Shaw that she does not want to sleep with him, and afterwards, she repeatedly and loudly expresses her regret, confusion and anger over what has happened. Abusers use sex and sexual attraction to keep their victims under their control. [Begin sarcasm] After all, if you think he's hot and you enjoy it once you 'get into it', then you can't have any reason for saying, "no," can you? He's just giving you what you secretly wanted; isn't that what love is about? It's a sign of how much he cares! He knows you so well! He can tell that you're just being silly, that you don't understand your own mind, and that you were really saying, "yes," weren't you, of course you were! [End sarcasm]
I threw the book across the room in pure fury. I couldn't stop thinking of someone who has come out of an abusive relationship, maybe picking up this book in the hopes of some fun, frothy entertainment, to discover a image of that awful period being represented as romantic and sexy. Or worse, of someone still in an abusive relationship, who would find further reinforcement of their abuser's manipulations and lies. (Remember what I said earlier, about fiction being important because it helps shape how we understand reality? This is what I was talking about.)
At best, the characterisation of Shaw is naive and irresponsible. At worst, it's misogynistic, teaching women that "true love" is demonstrated by bullying, emotional manipulation and sexual violence, that this behaviour is what they deserve and desire, and thus letting some of the vilest f***ers on the planet off the hook. That we are still being fed this bulls*** in modern romance fiction - and that literate, articulate women with access to the internet are still swallowing and then regurgitating it - makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that the author is actually a good writer, makes it worse.
I will not be reading any other works by this author. I can't say if the above is a blip or something which is embedded in all of her writing, but I'm just too enraged to find out. Other potential readers may wish to try a different novel by her, but I would strongly warn them off of this one.
Disclaimer 2: I did not (thank God) buy this book; it was borrowed from the library.
Sidenote 1: I also checked the reviews on Amazon.com. None of them raise any of the points I've made below, either. In fact, the book is sitting at 4 1/2 stars! And numerous reviewers talk about liking Shaw, even wanting him to be real! What. The. FUCK.
TL;DR: the author expects us to accept a bully and an abuser as a "romantic hero" and view his controlling behaviour as not only reasonable but as a sign that he truly cares about the heroine. She also reinforces the myth that "No" secretly means "Yes": that when a woman shows signs of physical attraction to a man, but nevertheless expresses a wish NOT to have sex with him, it is ok for him to continue making sexual advances, including the use of physical force, until he has worn her down - and that this does not count as rape. Offensive and misogynistic.
***
This is the first Joan Johnston novel that I've "read" - by which I mean, I read chapters 1 to 9 and the epilogue fully, then skimmed until the beginning of chapter 21 at which point I hurled the book across the room - more on which later.
A positive point first: the actual writing itself is good. Even the info-dumping parts read as interesting and natural, which is not an easy trick to pull off. And if you can stomach the events which lead up to them, those sex scenes which I read are relatively unembarrassing (although if I never read the phrase "nether lips" again, it'll be too soon >.<).
Having read reviews elsewhere on Amazon.co.uk by long-time readers of this author, I understand that there is a long and complex back story to the Kate/Jack relationship, which led fans to believe that they would finally get their Happily Ever After in this novel. **Spoiler number one: they don't.** Unsurprisingly, many felt betrayed. They had thought they were reading one story and ended up with something completely opposite, and those who have posted reviews are very articulate about their scorn for the preposterous plotting and character contortions which are used to try and justify the story which we have got. I won't therefore go into those, but refer you instead to the other reviewers. **Please note, by necessity the reviews do contain spoilers.**
Now when you have followed characters faithfully through several books, investing time, money and imagination in them, and are firmly convinced that they are a One True Pairing, it is natural to want to rant about their not ending up together after all, and I do understand why the (now ex-)fan reviewers are so focused on this. But what I find shocking, is that not one - NOT ONE - of those reviews mentions that **spoiler number two, the character with whom Kate does end up, is a domineering bully, who uses abduction, intimidation, emotional blackmail, physical violence and sexual harrassment in order to "persuade" our heroine to marry him.**
It is such an obvious portrayal of domestic abuse that I cannot understand how the other reviewers (presumably all female) missed it! Given how upset they are over the end of the Kate/Jack relationship, you'd think that they would cast a very hostile eye over the interloping newcomer, Wyatt Shaw, but no, their ire seems to be reserved for their former favourites, Kate and Jack. **Spoiler number three: the reviewers outright BLAME Kate for "running off" with Shaw when she is clearly presented as being forced to go with him against her will - and also for having sex with him, when she is repeatedly shown as saying, "No," an answer which Shaw ignores, continuing to make sexual advances until he physically and psychologically wears her down.** THINK about this, people: readers are placing the fault on a female protagonist for the actions of a male character. This is victim-blaming. It doesn't matter that the people involved here are fictitious; fiction is important because it helps to shape our ideas and perceptions of real life. If you can blame a victim in a story, then you can blame a victim in real life, too.
I read up to chapter 9, growing more and more disbelieving that a character like Shaw could be presented as a legitimate "romantic hero" in this day and age. When I skipped to the epilogue to confirm that yes, indeed, Shaw and Kate do marry, I nearly tossed the book right then, but I decided to give the author a chance to redeem her story. Perhaps, I reasoned, at some point she would have Shaw apologise or acknowledge that his behaviour has been, at the very VERY least, unreasonable. So I skimmed through, looking for that moment of redemption, empathy, remorse. I had a brief moment of hope when he **(spoiler four) promises not to touch her unless she says she wants him to, and does make an effort to keep it.**
But then I came to chapter 21. **Spoiler five: Kate moves into a separate bedroom in an attempt to free herself from Shaw's control and get some much-needed space to think. Shaw's reaction is to break down the door in the early hours of the morning and carry her, kicking and screaming, back to his room, where he roars at her that she will sleep in his bed regardless of her repeated wishes otherwise, then, in blatant breach of his earlier promise, physically pins her down and forces a kiss on her.** At that point, it became abundantly clear that no, the author was not going to have this character show any regret; that she instead expected her readers to view this violent, sexually tyrannical behaviour as the actions of a man in love!!!!
And furthermore, that she expected us NOT to consider this as rape, because **(spoiler six) Kate has admitted to being physically attracted to Shaw and, once sex has been initiated, does not make further attempts to fight it; indeed, in earlier, similar incidents, has enjoyed it.** I refer you back to those other reviewers: they blame Kate openly for the sex because the WRITING blames Kate IMPLICITLY for the sex. Let me be a 110% clear about this: THIS IS RAPE. Kate repeatedly and loudly tells Shaw that she does not want to sleep with him, and afterwards, she repeatedly and loudly expresses her regret, confusion and anger over what has happened. Abusers use sex and sexual attraction to keep their victims under their control. [Begin sarcasm] After all, if you think he's hot and you enjoy it once you 'get into it', then you can't have any reason for saying, "no," can you? He's just giving you what you secretly wanted; isn't that what love is about? It's a sign of how much he cares! He knows you so well! He can tell that you're just being silly, that you don't understand your own mind, and that you were really saying, "yes," weren't you, of course you were! [End sarcasm]
I threw the book across the room in pure fury. I couldn't stop thinking of someone who has come out of an abusive relationship, maybe picking up this book in the hopes of some fun, frothy entertainment, to discover a image of that awful period being represented as romantic and sexy. Or worse, of someone still in an abusive relationship, who would find further reinforcement of their abuser's manipulations and lies. (Remember what I said earlier, about fiction being important because it helps shape how we understand reality? This is what I was talking about.)
At best, the characterisation of Shaw is naive and irresponsible. At worst, it's misogynistic, teaching women that "true love" is demonstrated by bullying, emotional manipulation and sexual violence, that this behaviour is what they deserve and desire, and thus letting some of the vilest f***ers on the planet off the hook. That we are still being fed this bulls*** in modern romance fiction - and that literate, articulate women with access to the internet are still swallowing and then regurgitating it - makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that the author is actually a good writer, makes it worse.
I will not be reading any other works by this author. I can't say if the above is a blip or something which is embedded in all of her writing, but I'm just too enraged to find out. Other potential readers may wish to try a different novel by her, but I would strongly warn them off of this one.