This is the most atrocious of all the Woodiwiss books I have read. It was, frankly, terrible and I must detail all the offenses. Our protagonist is a Russian countess, unbelievably beautiful and amazingly learned and independent (with a stereotypical Irish maid for some reason (faith and begorra!)). She is assaulted by bandits. There is a most unbelievable lengthy scene in which she banters with the chief bandit for those who get off on witty rejoinders before being swept away on a horse against your will. Then she is saved and she runs away with her retinue without a second thought for her savior. But no worry, she meets him naked in the bath the next night. There is an awful amount of soap and breast jiggling and thighs meeting but no, the moment is inappropriate and she, shocked, makes her escape. She reaches Moscow and is essentially banished to a house with an evil stepmother and her lecherous husband. So life for the countess is a living hell and is shown in detail at length. But her savior Tyrone keeps trying to see her and this leads to more silly scenarios like the hot-day-and-I'm-wearing-only-a-wet-chemise scene and the "dressed as a peasant" scene and really it's all too stupid, especially when you consider that the characters are in Russia but are speaking English all the time (for Tyrone's convenience I suppose). When the evil stepmother commits the Countess to an undesirable marriage the Countess decides that seducing Tyrone will not ruin her standing in noble society, anger her lecherous stepfather, insult her intended suitor and his many violent sons, or even offend Tyrone when he figures out being used. In truth, it is the most idiotic plan I've ever heard. But she goes through with it and poor innocent Tyrone is given a lot of hell for her supposed deflowering. Understandably angry he is incensed when he finds himself married to her by royal decree. This results in him refusing to have sex with her. That doesn't last very long and overall the whole misunderstanding, even when extended to both parties, seems rather paltry reasoning. Finally Tyrone, sated with his Countess, goes forth to fight the bandit from the beginning . But the bandit comes to the Countess's bedroom, announces he wants her, and then proceeds to kidnap her. Rape in the bedroom seems like a smarter idea but hey, it's a romance. So then the husband is shocked to find his beloved wife a prisoner, blah, blah,blah and at the bandit's camp a mini-romance sub-plot unfurls that is the ridiculous equivalent to the main plot. Epic battle. Lovers mate. Terrible, terrible story. Motivations shaky. Character depth non-existent. And really, romance doesn't HAVE to be this bad. Is it so hard to find an intelligent plot with engaging characters that are NOT caracatures that strings some decent sex scenes together?!
Now... the rating is from my 15-year-old self. Since this book just might be so embarracing and misogynist, that the current me would like to use it to warm up the sauna. Seriously, unless you're a hardcore harlequin romance fan, who doesn't care how the women are treated and what they're willing to forgive for uh... love? then DO NOT READ THIS. :D But for a 15-year-old romance starving me this was the shits. Oh well. Never claimed that I had or have a good taste in books.I remembered this book once again, since I saw it on a old books store for 20 cents (I bought it and tried to re-read it, but OH MY GODDESS... yeah no).
What do You think about Forever In Your Embrace (2007)?
i was kind of disappointed with this book. from the moment i started reading this the story has a very slow-paced plot, but when i get to the middle part that is where the story really begins for me. could have given it a higher rate if only kathleen woodiwiss would have taken the story that will make the reader excite. i did like colonel tyrone rycroft' and synnovea's character that made me fall for them. the chemistry and passion is there although they would not admit it at once. and in all story they lived happily ever after.
—Laine
I'd advise the author to read at least a book on Russian history before taking such arrogance to write "historical" novels. It's ridiculous to read about socializing "boyarinas" and pools in Russian banyas (bathhouses). It was much more fun to understand that the author doesn't even realize the difference between Russian first-name, father's-name and family name, not speaking about the fact that she invented absolutely absurd names for the characters. So, the fiction is a complete slapdash and besides, it is absolutely boring, vulgar, and in fact, serves only for shameless lust. It was also at least 300 pages too long.
—Judith
