Stacia (the 2010 club)'s Reviews > Magic Embrace

One good night's sleep.
Two cups of coffee.
Three glances at my notes.

I'm still struggling with what to say about this book.

***Spoilers ahead.*** But if you know about what sometimes goes down in bodice rippers, it really won't be much of a spoiler.

Obviously, classic bodice rippers of the rapey era aren't my thing. But I had to check out this pirate-meets-magic story. I'm always looking for a different spin on pirates.

It's not that I wasn't expecting the rape. In stereotypical bodice ripper fashion, I figured it might show up.

Garrett, drawing on a restraint he did not feel, raised his hand and lightly landed the back of his hand to her face.

"God, girl. I never imagined I was a man who could enjoy rape, but as you look like an angel, you taste like the heavens."

Okayyy...expected scene was expected. But this later attitude was not:

"As it is," he took her hand again, "I will not return you to any man who saw this hand and turned his back to it."

Uh...you VIOLENTLY RAPED a woman, then think you're better than the man who didn't step in to defend that same woman when she was getting beaten?



It really was too bad. I was ready to ignore the idiot pirate who was somehow a brilliant scientist (he had microscopes and everything for his discovery of microorganisms...yeah, I know) because there was a cool magic panther in the story AND a funny talking parrot. But this nonsense of the pot calling the kettle black? No. Just no.

However, I kept reading because I wanted to know how Garrett managed to win the innocent, thin girl. Yes, thin. I think Juliet's frame was mentioned as much, if not more, than the amount of times she was heralded as innocent - 25 times to be exact.

Sad to say, "innocent girl" wasn't any brighter than the pirate. I never figured out why Garrett loved her. She neither said nor did anything remarkable. NOT ONCE. She was either whining or showing how little she knew about anything. She was never brave, or intelligent, or even notably kind. She was nothing more than a helpless captive on a ship. Garrett fell in love with her because she was innocent (read : stupidly clueless) and beautiful - that's it. There was no actual character quality of hers which stood out. Garrett kept secrets from her for the entire book because he didn't consider her smart enough to "get" or "handle" things. That's how bad it was.

I'm only giving 2 stars because the read wasn't boring. The story could've been halfway good if the characters were somewhat likable.