A Lady Awakened

Blackshear Family #1

by Cecilia Grant

Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business a month of illicit interludes . . . for a fee.

Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Fiction, Audiobook

346 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I write Regency-set historical romance with a high angst-to-plot ratio. I specialize in hard-headed heroines and good-hearted heroes. So far.

A word about the "reviews" I post here: Please think of them as recommendations rather than reviews. If I like a book, I'll list it here and scrawl a few sentences about why I liked it. I've gone back and forth about whether to use stars (it feels like a sledgehammer approach to something pretty intricate), and at the moment I'm back to using them. Mostly because I'm slow about writing reviews, and there were a lot of books I wanted to go on record as having enjoyed!

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good grief. This was just...I don't even know. Excuse me while I lick my wounds.


A LADY AWAKENED; or, MAULED BY TEH FEELZ.

MARTHA: I am prim & proper & devoid of emotion. I have successfully smothered Feelz since I was a child. Feelz are good for nothing. Feelz have no place in life.
LAWYER: So, hey. There's a problem with your husband's will.
MARTHA: It had better not demand Feelz.
LAWYER: No, it's demanding your departure from this house.
MARTHA: Oh, that's right. My marriage sucked from day one, but I never told anyone. Talking about marriage is acknowledging Feelz, & I can't do that.
MARTHA'S BROTHER: What the hell, sister?! Come live with me & my wife. For some bizarre reason, we care about what happens to you.
MARTHA: No. I am alone. I want my independence. I'd rather stay here & socially reform my tenants & make all the little children attend school. Did you know women can better themselves through education?
LAWYER: Whatever. If you had an heir, you could stay.
MARTHA: But my husband was impotent.
LAWYER: In that case, his Evul Brother will take the house & rape the female servants. Have a nice day.
MARTHA: I can't have a nice day. I devote my energy to emotionally distancing myself from life's hideous Feelz. Oh, the angst. I'd better go to church & talk about my school.
PREACHER: I am sending really obvious signals that I'd marry you if you weren't in mourning.
MARTHA: I can't acknowledge those signals. I can't show Feelz. Meanwhile, my husband is dead & I've got no baby. How can I circumvent this inconvenience?
MARTHA'S MAID: Your new neighbor is a beta woobie-rake.
MARTHA: Hmm. If this guy knocked me up, I could claim the baby is my dead husband's heir. I could save the servants from being raped & continue campaigning for my tenant school. It's a perfect solution!



THEO: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....church is boring.
MARTHA: You're my new neighbor. You're sleeping in church. You offend me with your Feelz. I'll pay you to have sex with me every day for a month.
THEO: ...Whut?
MARTHA: If you get me pregnant, I'll pay you extra.
THEO: Mrs Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?
MARTHA: I'm barely 21 years old. And seduction is for Feelz, which I don't have.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want to get to know me first?
MARTHA: I don't care so long as you're free of STDs. Sex is gross.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want me to caress you a bit & learn what you like?
MARTHA: I don't care about caresses. Foreplay is for pansies.
THEO: Well...okay. But don't you want me to make you feel nice while we're having sex?
MARTHA: I don't care about feeling nice. Feeling nice is unacceptable.
THEO: I don't understand why you're determined to hate my cock after you paid to use it.
MARTHA: And I don't understand why men are so lame. Men don't acknowledge that women have Feelz! They don't get to know us before sticking their peens between our legs! They don't try to learn what we like! They don't care about making us feel nice while we're being forced to have sex! THEY HATE OUR FEELZ, YOU SEE?



THEO: You're an odd woman.
MARTHA: Oh, sorry. Is my attitude preventing you from getting a proper erection?
THEO: Yeah, actually.
MARTHA: You mean...
THEO: Uh-huh. You'll have to enjoy yourself to get my all-important juices flowing.
MARTHA: But...but...I refuse to like sex. Sex is the devil's road to Feelz.
THEO: Okay, seriously. What the fuck is wrong with you?
MARTHA: I refuse to talk about having Feelz.
THEO: Hey, now! I have Feelz too! I have mommy issues.
MARTHA: That's because you haven't invested yourself in bettering society. Have I told you about my reform school?
THEO: It's hot when you're an anachronistic feminist. Let me kiss your boob or something.
MARTHA: Forget touching my boob. I'll never enjoy sex, so stop trying. It's giving me Feelz.
THEO: I'm sorry, Martha. I'm only giving you Feelz because you're giving me Feelz. Let me tell you how I was emotionally affected by visiting my poorest tenants this afternoon.
MARTHA: The plight of the children is horrible. I want them to attend school regularly.




...At which point I reached page 80. When I skipped ahead to page 200-something, Theo was insisting Martha tie him up with her stockings & learn to enjoy being on top & in control of their sexual relationship.

NO.
NO.
SO MUCH NO.

Two stars because there were some pretty sentences. But I won't be trying any more of this author unless she dials down the pointless, plotless angst.

[Alexis Hall]

I managed to dig my review of this book out of the depths of my archives which makes me really happy. Even though the author once told me directly it made her uncomfortable that someone with a penis* had read her work (for the record, I don't read with my penis, it just happens to be something I was born with), the book remains one of my favourite histroms. (*not her exact phrase obviously but in practice what she was saying).

Here's the review. Spoilers ho.

I read A Lady Awakened not so much over Christmas as on Christmas, ignoring my partner’s family, the Queen’s speech, and even Toy Story 3 to finish reading it. Because it’s honestly that good. I think it’s unavoidable to make more of the things you read at the end of the year compared to the beginning, but A Lady Awakened simply has to stand has one of the most original, intriguing and tiny-mind-blowing books I read in 2013.

The book opens with the heroine, Martha Russell, child-less, newly widowed and about to return to her brother’s home to live out the rest of her days as a quiet burden upon his family, a fate she has no choice but to resign herself to enduring. Her solicitor, however, encourages her to remain at her late husband’s estate until it is absolutely certain that no heir has been conceived. Martha knows that she isn’t pregnant, but she has her own commitments to Seaton Hall: specifically the servants and tenants, who rely on the family for their livelihood, and the building of a local school, to which she has given her support. She also learns that the man who stands to inherit is a dissolute character, who previously forced himself upon some of the women of the household. Realising that all these problems would be solved if she was pregnant, Martha strikes a deal with her new neighbour Theo Mirkwood, temporarily exiled from London for extravagance and general debauchery. They’ll have sex every day for a month, and Martha will pay him, “regardless of issue” to quote the lady directly.

What follows, I suppose, is a lovers-to-friends story, except they’re not really lovers because while their daily sexual engagements are ... something ... what they’re really aren’t is lover-like, much to Theo’s dismay. Martha is determined that the arrangement remain strictly business, and while the first half the novel is this excrutiating awkward-off of unsexy sex it’s also completely fascinating to watch two people with completely irreconcilable worldviews, motivations and value systems clash, fail to understand each other, and then gradually, and subtly, begin to move through acceptance, and understanding to friendship and love. And to situate the most visible expression of all this emotional and intellectual development in the bedroom is unbelievably bold, clever and impressive. Ms Grant, I totally take off all my hats.

I think the thing that makes it borderline bearable to read, since it falls – with full awareness – into some incredibly grey areas of consent and exploitation – is that it’s ... funny, horribly horribly funny. Particularly Theo’s attempts to play the seductive rake in the face of Martha’s complete sexual disinterest:

His forefinger touched down on her breastbone and traced a leisurely path between the ribs, into the hollow of her navel, and on down, just to the patch of light-colored curls. “Turn over,” he said, his voice already gone thick.

Her eyes flew open. “I did not authorize anything out of the ordinary,” she said, the words shrill with alarm.

“I only want to look. I promise we’ll fornicate face-to-face like Christians.” He couldn’t quite mask his laughter. “But let me finish looking.”

And given that Theo enters the text as an unabashed sensualist, flush with all the unquestioned power of being a man desired by women in a world that equates sexual promiscuity with masculine value, it’s darkly satisfying to watch him flail and fail and fall apart:

Her words hung in the air like a chill mist, and a sudden awful slackening came in the flow of blood to his pertinent regions. Could he really put himself somewhere so inhospitable?

I confess I did feel sorry for Theo, and I cringed for him, and – in his way – he’s as much a victim of the gendered expectations and power dynamics of his world as Martha – but I’ve read so many romances in which awesomely prowessful rakes drag reluctant virgins into the light of sexual pleasure that it was nothing short of delicious to me to see this trope so thoroughly and remorselessly deconstructed. For the record, I completely get it as fantasy, from either direction, actually as it’s equally pleasurable to imagine being the hallowed invoker of someone else’s sexual awakening and to have one’s own sexuality awoken by someone sufficiently competent and interested to do it, but – in my admittedly limited experience – it tends to be quite a gendered dynamic within the genre, since men are usually doing the awakening and women are the ones being awoken. Obviously it’s complicated because, to a degree, it’s experiential and that’s especially relevant for historicals as women were supposed to be virgins, but it does kind of feed into this notion that a woman’s sexuality is, essentially, in the gift of a man.

The novel’s engagement in – and, to be honest, it’s rejection of - these sort of ideas is, well, obvious from the title. But although there’s journey from sex-as-necessity to sex-for-pleasure within A Lady Awakened, Martha is actually entirely in control of her sexuality, and her sexual pleasure. Theo certainly entertains power fantasies of awakening a frigid widow, and that was what my previous experiences with the genre had led me to expect, but Martha isn’t frigid, she’s just principled:

"You’re not a bad man, Mirkwood. I do think you have promise. But while I find I can be cordial with a man who lives for pleasure, and even come to feel a certain regard for him, I cannot, in the end, truly admire such a man. And I don’t care to give myself up to a man I don’t admire. Pardon my frankness."

She is perfectly capable of managing her own pleasure – she masturbates, and she knows what she prefers (clitoral stimulation, over or with penetration) – but the point at which she chooses to share it with Theo is the point at which he has not overcome her principles, but proven himself worthy of her. For the most part, awakening – for both of them – is largely emotional and intellectual. Theo, for example, gradually moves beyond the easy, meaningless life of sensuality and selfishness his upbringing has fit him for, and learns that he’s far more caring, and far more capable, than he had ever previously had opportunity to demonstrate.

I liked Theo a lot. His flaws are all small-scale and unglamorous – he’s ignorant, and careless, and self-serving – but I also found him deeply likeable, and he can join Sebastian from To Have & To Hold as a charming-type character who really does come across as charming. He’s sufficiently clueless early on that his halting progress from wastrel to a suitable partner for Martha, partially in response to Martha’s own care for a side of his nature previously neglected, felt both plausible and satisfying.

She felt his pleasure as surely as though his skin was shuddering against hers. He was all but a virgin in this, the experience of being taken seriously. Perhaps no woman--no one at all--had ever gazed at him with quiet faith and encouraged him to believe in his own abilities.

But, for me, while I very much enjoyed the contrasts and correspondences between Martha and Theo, the expectations placed on them, and the lives they’ve led, this was very much Martha’s book. She’s strong-willed, proud, principled and almost unbearably stubborn at times. Also cold, sharp unpleasant and self-righteous. She reminded me a lot of one of Laura Kinsale’s heroines, actually, in that many of her traits are neither particularly endearing, nor conventionally feminine, but I simply loved that she was like that: driven by duty, courage and honour, and careless of things that might make her – in short – nicer. Honestly, she’s a little bit like a female Mr Darcy. Which is awesome, and I adored her.

(Also – and I can barely write this without bursting into flames on the internet - she’s incredibly sexy, in her stern, clever, wicked governess way. Good grief.)

Theo, by contrast, is terribly “nice” – good at giving the impression of caring, when he doesn’t, in fact, give a damn. There’s a moment early on where he briefly wins Martha’s good opinion by actually having a conversation with her, and then blows it completely by being a shallow prick:

“I don’t believe you’re listening.” Her voice dropped a good dozen degrees in warmth.
“Not to the words.” He bent his head to brush his lips over the thin, blue-veined skin. “But you’re rather lovely when you speak so. All ardent and crusading.”

I found this scene starkly heartbreaking in a novel that, like its heroine, tends to shy away from sentiment and drama. It’s the first hint of a possible connection between these two apparently very different people, and there’s something rather vulnerable in this sadly misplaced hope of Martha’s that here might be a man who will see her quality and take her seriously. And then, of course, Theo goofs it up completely. I wanted to kick him. Martha’s moments of vulnerability are quite rare, and most of her desires are wrapped up in her sense of duty, so there’s something particularly tragic in this idea that the one thing she wants so desperately for herself, and finds almost impossible to obtain, is something that should be absolutely the right of all humans: respect, and equal footing.

Gradually, however, they begin to edge towards common ground. It’s fascinating to watch the collision of Martha’s worthy, will-intentioned unpleasantness and Theo’s worthless, slapdash charm, and the way they each learn from each other how to be better, stronger people. Martha’s sense of duty gradually becomes more personal – focused on individuals, rather than an abstract sense of moral rectitude – and Theo’s careless caring becomes careful, a way to genuinely help others, rather than manipulate them into helping him.

Another thing that struck me about their oppositional attitudes to the world was the way, on the surface, it almost seemed like a gender reversal thing. Emotion, after all, is usually associated with women, and consequently heroines, in general, tend to be warmer, softer, more emotionally expressive than heroes. But in A Lady Awakened, Martha is cold, calm, thoughtful, rational and dutiful. She hates talking about herself, her experiences, or her feelings:

“Also, I suppose I was afraid of appearing ridiculous.” A few at a time, she got the words out, her voice awkward even to her own ears. “I have not been in the habit of doing such things. I feared this would be obvious to you, and you would find me ridiculous as a result.”

By contrast, Theo is warm, kind, outgoing, expressive and nurturing. I think it’s fairly evident that he’s always possessed these qualities, however little he has chosen to use them to the benefit of others, but what Martha teaches him to do is focus them and ground them, just as he teaches her that tenderness is not necessarily weakness. But I didn’t actually read this as gender reversal (there’s nothing in the text to even raise the question that Theo’s kindness makes him “girly” any more than Martha’s rigidity of principle makes her “ungirly”) I read it as an exploration of the impact of uneven social power. Because while Theo, as Martha observes in a kind moment of her own, is a virgin to being taken seriously, there’s an extent to which he is never in any danger of not being taken seriously. He can afford to be frivolous and shallow and as sentimental as he likes. Martha, by contrast, is assumed to be these things anyway, simply because she’s a woman, so for her they really do represent vulnerability in a way they never could for him.

And, just in case I’ve made poor Martha sound like an unforgivably dreary companion, she’s brutally entertaining sometimes:

One couldn’t think much of whatever planning process had resulted in human reproductive design. Men with their parts dangling like stockings on a washday line. Women with their pleasure put away from the main event.

It might sound a little strange to be writing so admiringly of the strength and integrity of a woman who essentially spends most of the book committed to an act she knows is both illegal and immoral, and I’ve seen this cited in some reviews as a troubling aspect to Martha’s character, but I guess I’m a bad human because I didn’t give a toss. Or rather, I feel that people of strong principles trapped in powerless positions are often driven to desperate acts, and I don’t really have much ethical stake in the legality of land investiture in nineteenth century England. So, yeah, you go girl. Since you have no legal status of your own, and no way of acquiring any, and you’ve just got out of ten months of legally sanctioned rape at the hands of a spineless alcoholic, defraud away. Would you like me to hold your coat while you do it? Also, while I might not have cared, Martha really does. She never really becomes comfortable with what she’s doing and, at the point at which it is no longer a victimless crime, she abandons her commitment to it.

A Lady Awakened is slow and subtle and also quite a lot about agriculture, but I honestly found it remarkable. Its revelations are mostly private and its dramas internal, and it rejects as many genre tropes as it deconstructs. Martha’s previous husband, for example, while he is abusive is banally, cluelessly abusive. As she herself reflects the cruelty lies in the fact she has no right to refuse him. And much of the book is spent preparing for the arrival of the new owner of Seaton, but when he arrives, he is no demonic manifestation, he’s simply a weak-willed and weasely nobody, who is promptly ousted. While I’m not sure about the plausibility of the social conquest of the petty rapist, I found it a very satisfying outcome for a book so preoccupied with sex and power, self and society, and how to navigate them with integrity, and find freedom in the mutuality of love.

Everything I learned life and love from reading A Lady Awakened: it is actually possible to find a man named Theophilis attractive, under no circumstances agree to have sex with a woman who only wants your sperm even if she offers to pay you five hundred pounds for it, sex is terribly unsexy sometimes, Martha Russell is the best person ever.

[Wollstonecrafthomegirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my idle hours, and in my less idle ones, I spend more time than is reasonable pondering the following questions: what’s my favourite romance novel? If I was sent to a desert island and could only take one with me, which would it be? The answer usually changes with my mood. But my God, Cecilia Grant’s magnificent ‘A Lady Awakened’ wins out very, very frequently. Because, to me, it is perfection.

When people roll their eyes on finding out I read romance and are all: ‘bodice rippers!’ ‘members!’ ‘Fabio!’ ‘rapey heroes!’ [ok, no one actually says ‘rapey’], I give them a short list of brilliant, modern romance novels and Grant is always on it.

I read it for the first time back in 2014 when I first started reading romance and long before I discovered goodreads in any significant way. Since then I have re-read it all the way through twice (I don’t re-read all that much) and gone back to passages very, very frequently.

Not to over-egg this pudding, but, if you haven’t read this: get on it, immediately.

I will now attempt to review this book in a way that does some semblance of justice to just how much I love it and to just how good it is.

The plot. Heroine needs to get pregnant to steal an estate away from her dead husband’s brother. Pays the hero to act as her ‘whore’ (his definition), ‘stud animal’ (hers). This seems a bit over the top when written down in this simple way. But Grant makes it work with magic words and magic characters.

And, oh, what characters. Heroine, Martha Russell. She’s rigid, pious, blunt, principled, clever and brave. Martha isn’t ‘likeable’, and I like her for precisely that reason. Grant isn’t trying to sell her as a character to the reader, she just let’s her be and she is absolutely committed to the heroine she’s written. On seeing the hero’s torso for the first time:

“That mattered to some woman. Muscles and so forth. Those taut flat ones across his stomach, for instance… Women who didn’t place the proper priority on a man’s character had doubtless taught him to be vain of his physique, and even a woman of principle could enjoy, on some aesthetic level, the picture he made with his shirt removed.” (14%)

No swooning at the body of a Greek Adonis for our Martha, absolutely not. And she’s decidedly less impressed with what’s beneath the trousers:

“Where she was molded, he was rough-hewn… he looked rangy, haphazard, his male parts an ill-placed afterthought. Like the last leftover bits of clay scraped together, rolled into primitive forms and stuck onto the middle of him, the stones in their rough red sack and that improbably appendage dangling to the fore… Nor could she respect Mirkwood’s exemplar, despite it’s apparently remarkable size, and the jaunty [JANUTY!!!!] air suggesting confidence of its welcome anywhere.” (15%)

This really captures Martha in a nutshell. And it’s made all the more delightful because Theo thinks she’s admiring him and struts about like the rake he is. The juxtaposition is amazing.

This is a novel which does character growth like no other. Martha remains quintessentially the same person throughout, but slowly, like a flower opening to sunlight, our hero, Theo gets into her mind and then into her heart (because, with Martha, ever practical woman that she is, you cannot get into the latter without finding your way into the former). Whilst that’s happening, partially because that’s happening, she becomes more social throughout the novel, she sees some of her own weaknesses and she starts to remedy them.

Theo Mirkwood. A rake, exiled to his Father’s country estate for his profligate spending in London. He can’t wait to get back. The proposition from Martha that they have sex and he gets to make money from it is snapped up by him with very little thought. At the start of this novel, that’s just how he is. By the end, he’s a leader of men (as Martha points out, he always has been, he just didn’t see it yet). He finds that all the characteristics in Martha that he disliked at first are the things he’s come to love:

“But she was never lovelier than when she spoke this way, all afire with the knowledge of wrongs to be righted and good to be done.” (59%)

She’s a woman it’s difficult to impress and impressing her makes Theo feel more of a man than all the legions of women that came before her.

There’s a small moment late on which shows just how much Theo has grown (Grant does these small moments very well):

“With one finger he crushed the painstaking folds of his cravat to bare his neck to the breeze on that side. A month ago, his cravat was sacrosanct.” (65%)

Their love story is the very definition of a slow burn, despite the fact that they’ve had sex by about the 20% mark. At first, Theo is everything Martha dislikes: frivolous, lazy, overly sexual. Theo doesn’t dislike Martha in the same way, but it’s fair to say he doesn’t understand her, she’s a young woman completely outside what he has experienced to date in his easy London life. Slowly, Theo finds himself, Martha starts to appreciate there is more to him than she first thought and Theo starts to court Martha’s good graces, at first because he wants to master her sexually and then because he falls for her:

“ “You’re a leader of men, Mirkwood. I should never have guessed it.” They were the most thrilling words a woman had ever said to him… His head felt light and his legs unsteady; who’d have known a man could get drunk on a lady’s good opinion.” (71%)

It’s wonderfully subtle in its execution and beautiful to boot.

Then there's the sex. Oh, my, the sex. It’s the best kind because it’s hawt but absolutely integral to the story and the characters. Martha hates being in bed with Theo at first (she wants to get her seed and get out). As she comes to like him, then respect him, then love him, the sex gets good. One of my favourite things about this novel is Martha’s internal dialogue as she finds some enjoyment in the sex and then eventually, wanting Theo to have a whirl at pleasuring her. She’s put him off about it so many times, she’s worried the ship has sailed for good and then she finds to her delight, that it hasn’t. Theo learns the merit of having to work to get a woman to enjoy herself and introducing Martha to the wonders of sex with someone you like and who likes you in return:

“No lust, it developed, was so gratifying to a man as the lust that blossomed only after esteem had taken root.” (76%)

This is as true for the reader as it is for Theo. It’s delicious.

Grant achieves the story and the characters and the romance with a command of language and imagery which drives me mad with jealousy. A few examples:

“ “Because that is not what I choose to do.” The words had such clean edges, she might have sliced them on a tiny guillotine.” (9%)

And, how’s this for a description of a heroine?

“So many different ways women had of being beautiful. Mrs Russell’s beauty was of a kind that spoke in whispers, veiled her like mist. As though she has some hope of keeping it to herself, and granted her curves might escape a careless man’s notice, so gradual were they. She wanted a discerning lover. One who saw all her sensual promise. One who knew how to tease out the voluptuousness from an understated form.” (10%)

Theo’s feelings on Martha unexpectedly helping him with a task:

“He felt as though he were suspended in air, or floating on a strange warm sea. Time might stop all round them and here he would be, washed with the music of soft feminine modulations, working away in the pleasure of unspoken companionship. Why she should have confidence that his project must be worthy of her own industry, he could not fathom.” (43%)

Martha, on being invited by Theo to tie him up:

“For an instant she felt as though someone had flipped her skin raw side out: she was one furious blush head to toe.” (72%)

Martha’s perfectly in character declaration, as observed by Theo:

“ “Yes. Duty.” Her whole body tensed with sweet,self-conscious effort, as though she must find the way to deliver her next words through a mouthful of rocks. “My heart as well. I love him.” Her cheeks went scarlet. Any observer might conclude she’d just confessed to some mortifying mishap.” (95%)

There are so many more quotes I could have chosen. I have half the book highlighted on my Kindle. It’s just brilliant. I would not change any part of it and I look forward to re-reading it periodically for the rest of my days.

[Caz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever read a romance novel like this, which should be a recommendation in itself, seeing as so many of them follow one of the "standard" plots. You know the sort of thing - hero and heroine hate each other on sight but gradually fall in love; hero/heroine has to marry money to restore the family fortunes and gradually fall in love, etc.

The gradual falling in love bit DOES happen, but it's done in such an original manner. The heroine is a widow who wants desperately to remain in her marital home - but her desire to do so stems from her sense of obligation to the local community rather than from any selfish desire to keep a roof over her head.

What I liked so much about this book was the way in which the two central characters, come together through a shared sense of community and duty. It's not a traditional seduction and there are no mind-blowing first-time orgasms - in fact, the sex is initially perfunctory and not at all sexy, which is rather a refreshing change from the majority of the romantic novels published nowadays.

This book is warm, and funny and also manages to include social observation through the ways in which the protagonists interact with their tennants and workers.

I know this is an odd way to review a romance novel - but what makes it so enjoyable is the fact that it's so DIFFERENT. It's romantic (of course) and funny and tender and altogether a fabulous read. Go on - treat yourself!

[Jane Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

My mind kept wandering. It did not hold my interest. I did not enjoy the rigid heroine with no emotional interactions.

STORY BRIEF:
Martha did not marry for love. She married to avoid being dependent on her brother. Her husband died ten months later from a horse accident. She learns that her brother-in-law James will inherit the estate and that he molested female servants when he lived there 16 years ago. She believes it is her duty to keep James away from the estate in order to protect the female workers. She also believes it is her duty to improve the lives of all tenants and workers in the area. She financed a local school and is lobbying the families to send their daughters. In order to keep James away, she must get pregnant within the next 30 days and claim that the pregnancy is by her husband. She hires her neighbor Theo to have sex with her every day for 30 days.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Each time they have sex, she refuses to show emotion and refuses to experience pleasure. She demands he perform as quickly as possible while she lies stiff as a board like a corpse. There are 11 sex scenes like this, for about 2/3 of the book. Talk about boring sex scenes. She makes comments like “I didn’t hire you for pleasure. I’m not paying you to do those things. Can you just get on with it please?” In the 11th sex scene, he’s still trying to talk her into letting him pleasure her, which she will not allow. She says “I’ve told you I don’t want it. My mind rules my body. You’re depraved beyond my worst conjectures.”

She has no emotional interaction with anyone during the book. She is uptight, rigid, critical, judgmental, pious, and holier-than-thou. The only thing she cares about is her sense of duty to do good. Her plans are “to see the school’s enrollment double, shepherd a dairy into being on the very next property and then turn her attention to all the good she could do in town. If she remained at Seton Park, the days and years ahead could be gratifying indeed.” Ok, I can admire someone like this, Sister Theresa spinster for life, never smiling at anyone unless it is while she is giving them a gift. She is self-sacrificing. When she has a loss, she does not cry. When she eventually falls in love, it feels wooden. I didn’t enjoy reading about her. Maybe some vulnerability might have helped. I welcome unusual and different character creations from authors, but I need to be able to enjoy reading about them, be they good or wicked. Martha was not fun to read about, and that is the biggest problem.

Theo was interesting enough. He had a good heart. He was rich kid enjoying his life of wine, women, and gambling. His father sent him to the country for a while in hopes of providing some seriousness to his life. Of course, living next door to serious Martha definitely brought out that part of Theo. He began taking an interest in the people on his land and their lives, thanks to Martha’s influence. I don’t know why he falls in love with her, probably because he likes himself better as a result of her influence. It wasn’t a fun relationship to read about. Maybe if she had shown some emotional desire for him I would have liked it better.

One of my pet peeves is having a character deny their feelings and take actions against those feelings. This is usually done in order to have a conflict. It’s different in this book yet similar. Martha’s entire life is denying her feelings. She has none and never will.

She eventually falls in love with Theo, so we are told. But after that the sex scenes were still missing sensuality and hotness. I didn’t feel any desire coming from her. It might have been fun to see her shell cracking with emotions coming through and her confusion about “feelings” be they sexual, love, or other.

DATA:
Story length: 346 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words, but rarely used. Sexual language: moderate to strong, but rarely used. Number of sex scenes: 14. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 45. Setting: Around 1814 England. Copyright: 2012. Genre: regency romance.

DISCLOSURE:
This book is an Advance Reader’s Edition provided to me free of charge through the Amazon Vine Program in return for my writing a review.

[willaful · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this made me realize that one of my favorite things to happen in a historical romance is for the main characters to be forced together in an unusual way that unexpectedly fosters true intimacy. In A Lady Awakened, what initially brings Theo and Martha together is sex -- unwanted, unpleasant sex. Martha, a proper lady to her very core, feels forced to rent her feckless neighbor Theo’s services as a stud so that she can quickly produce an heir, and save her late husband’s estate from going to a man known for abusing his female servants. Theo, at first happy to oblige, soon finds that servicing a woman who is disgusted by his best efforts is deeply disheartening.

I’m really making this sound good, aren’t I? Well, while Martha and Theo are meeting each other secretly for sex, they are also slowly getting to know each other. And while Martha’s high principles begin to infect Theo with an interest in his land and his dependents, Theo begins to make Martha aware that there’s more to him than she realized -- and that there can be more to sex than procreation.

A Lady Awakened initially seemed a slightly misleading title, because Martha is not a stranger to either sexual desire or sexual pleasure, on her own. She’s at first unbelieving she could have pleasure with a partner, and then unwilling to compromise her ethically shady position any further by receiving it. What eventually wins Martha over is not Theo’s studly skills in the bedroom, but his increasingly stellar qualities as a person:

“Serious, conscientious, and seeking her opinion: he could have had anything he wanted of her in that moment. She pressed her lips together. Generosity demanded generosity in return. ‘Think on it. Sleep on it. You’ll make the right choice.’

She felt his pleasure as surely as though his skin was shuddering against hers. He was all but a virgin in this, the experience of being taken seriously. Perhaps no woman--no one at all--had ever gazed at him with quiet faith and encouraged him to believe in his own abilities.”

I love the emotional symmetry here: Martha, who needs so much to be taken seriously by men herself, discovering that this is something she can give to a man, who needs it as much as she does. That realization of the possibility of reciprocity between a couple, sexually and emotionally, is Martha’s true awakening.

This is a leisurely told story, with more information about daily estate life than is currently popular in historical romance, but I never found it boring. Martha’s cold affect made it harder to passionately love the story and the ending is not entirely satisfying, but it was a very interesting and rewarding read, and a promising debut.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Blink. Blink.) WHAT was THAT??!!

This book might as well have been an alien spacecraft landing in my yard. I’ve never read anything like it. I’ve run across characters like Theophilus before: well-dressed, charming fribbles who excel at social popularity and sexual pleasure and very little else. I’m not sure I’ve seen one transform in quite as convincing a way, though. Then there’s Martha, the uncharming, pursed-lipped, propriety-spouting prude whose sense of duty and sanitized honor is only surpassed by her ignorance and ability to deceive herself. The self-righteous Martha has a big problem and solves it in the most unexpected and inconceivable way, while wrapping her actions in morally righteous justifications, and Theo’s open-eyed participation is, frankly, just as heinous when one contemplates what he’s actually agreeing to.

And from those humble beginnings magic is born. Not right away. In the beginning I didn’t like Theo for his irresponsibility, and I positively loathed Martha for pretty much everything she said. And did. And thought. But the book kept surprising me, and I found more and more to like about the story and the character development the farther I read. I warmed to Theo fairly quickly and realized he was going to face some serious hurt when the unyielding Martha gave him his walking papers. But even Martha won me over in the end—the very end, because she was so emotionally blind it came down to the wire.

I read half this book yesterday and it had its claws in me so deeply I DREAMED the last half. I was wrong, but not disappointed.

I’m only sorry the villain didn’t get his just desserts.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to figure out how to review this book. It has a plot that I have never read before or would I have even thought of it. A widow needs to have a son to prevent the loss of her home to her brother-in-law who is a cad and other reasons. She decides she needs to get pregnant, and our poor hero (Theo) is chosen for this wonderful task. Only what Theo views as a wonderful opportunity really turns out to be.....a chore isn't quit the right wording. But Martha views this as purely for procreation and not enjoyment....needless to say our hero is not of the same mind. This part of the book shows growth of character and really fleshes him out as a caring man and the person he really is. I never felt that with Martha.
The later part of the book is a whole change in mood and storytelling in order to have a romance and a hea.
Would I read it YES....would I reread it no. So I am rating it 3.5*

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

★ Thanks to Jill for recommending this début novel. I closed the book with a deeply satisfied sigh, but at first I totally disliked the heroine. It's not to everyone's taste.

A Lady Awakened is book 1 of the Blackshear Family series. The writing style is witty and light (I chuckled several times), balanced by sad, painful, or poignant sections. The plot includes several heartwarming story lines. The romance includes a LOT of sex, progressing from cold, quick sex to blast-furnace love scenes. ツ

No lust was so gratifying to a man as the lust that blossomed only after esteem had taken root. He might have gone his whole life without finding this out, if he'd never been exiled to Sussex.

The setting is Regency England, about 1815, in a rural neighborhood near Brighton by the Sea, in Sussex County. (The author did not capture the pastoral setting -- she's not particularly descriptive or vivid, but it's fine.)

Martha Russell, née Blackshear, is bound by duty, conscience and reason, but unbeknownst to her, she's also a woman of strong passions with mutiny burning in her belly. (The author does a magnificent job showing the metamorphosis of Martha, from a passionless prude to a passionate lover.) She is attractive, with shining chocolate brown eyes and long, honey-colored hair (but Grant does not belabor her physical traits like some authors do). Mrs. Russell is only 21, newly widowed after 10 months of marriage.

Theophilis Mirkwood (Theo) is heir to a baronetcy, sexy as they come and 26 years old. He is tall and well formed, with dark blue eyes and pale golden hair. This London playboy has been banished to Pencarragh, one of his father's estates, to learn agriculture and farm management from Mr. Granville, his manager. I loved Grant's development of Theo's character, from carefree playboy to beloved champion of laborers and tenants. ♥

When the widow Russell learns that the heir to her home, Seton Park, is a known pedophile, having raped at least two teenage servant girls, she takes instant action to keep him away from her servants, by creating a baby -- an heir -- while her dead husband is still warm. ASAP. Martha pays Theo to "give her his seed" -- every day for a month, starting right now, if you please. ツ

For Theo -- so earthy, so bawdy, so passionate -- it's hell. Martha thinks that if she responds or derives any pleasure whatsoever from the "act" it will make her a whore, so she keeps "duty" forefront. Theo employs every means to kindle Martha's desire, but the task "was proving to be a labor worthy of Hercules."

(My heart went out to this big-hearted beautiful guy. I was disgusted wtih Martha, yet sympathetic to her dilemma; it felt authentic for the period.)

Theo soon stops trying to awaken any responses in Martha and simply mates with her, working on the "heir" project. But meanwhile, a beautiful friendship develops around Theo's varied plans to help his impoverished tenants and laborers -- plans that Martha fully endorses. Theo has such a big ♥.

(The pacing dragged a little at one point, and I grew tired of sex served cold, so this is a flaw. However, there were other absorbing story lines that held my interest when I grew irritated with puritanical Martha).

At about 70% into the book, Martha's passions FINALLY ignite, because she falls in love with Theophilus. Often at his side, she sees him striding through rural Sussex, bringing hope and support to poverty-stricken laborers, teaching a mentally-impaired girl how to make a paper fan, re-thatching roofs, supporting a new school, and creating a new economy. It takes a while for Martha to realize she's in love with Theo, but after seeing him carry a dying man nearly a mile, she's a goner:

To a stunned and star-struck Martha, he'd never looked so powerful. So capable. So suffused with grace and might.

Theo finally got the passion he wanted from Martha. And wow! Once Martha knew Theo's heart, she gave herself totally to him, like a wild woman (the scene in the chair!). These guys burned up the sheets. ツ
A little striptease, some light bondage:

"Untie me."
"No," she said, and bent to kiss him again.
He scrabbled at the knots. He'd free himself.
"No. This was your idea. You've no one to blame but yourself." She gazed down at him like a governess out of someone's perverse boyhood fantasies.
Good God. She was enjoying this..."You want me," he whispered.
"Yes," she said.

What Martha loved best was that Theo valued her opinion, and sincerely cared about his people. One night, while brainstorming how to improve the local economy, Martha muses:

Serious, conscientious, and seeking her opinion: he could have had anything he wanted of her in that moment.

What the playboy loved best about the puritan was that she believed him capable of ANYTHING and supported EVERY idea he had. Late at night, Theo tentatively broaches the idea of gaining investors for his dairy scheme. Martha, being detail oriented, readily endorses his preliminary idea and offers several strategic tips. Theo -- no dummy -- realizes her worth:

He could go through life forging one nebulous idea after the next, and know that she would hammer each one into practical shape.

I thought it perfect, this relationship that began so badly. They complemented each other. Martha's prudent attention to detail only magnified Theo's natural aptitude for visionary leadership. Theo's gift for gab brought VISITORS into Martha's lonely life -- so now Theo totally walks on water in her eyes ツ. He showed her that she was respected, admired, and surrounded by allies.

(Sigh. Grant kept me up till 3am, blinking tears away).

★ But wait! There's another storyline here. A heartwarming drama unfolds where Theo's underprivileged tenants and Martha's household servants gain a new sense of unity and pride. I loved the secondary characters, especially old Mr. Barrows, the laborer's wife, Mrs. Weaver (Olivia) and the abigail, Sheridan (odd names for servants). The details surrounded Mrs. Weaver were particularly well done. I also liked the vicar, Mr. Atkins. And how original, to cast a man of the cloth in a positive light. ツ

There's MUCH more to this story, including the routing of the rapist and the uniting of the community, but enough said. Wondering if they had a baby together? It's best to wait, but if you must know, see the spoiler: Martha did "take his seed" with great joy, but she ended up marrying him. She figured out another way to thwart the soul-less heir to Seton Park. These poignant scenes showed how far the cold fish had come.

************
Adult Content: Numerous explicit sex scenes, including oral sex, some F-bombs, a few instances of religious profanity. Just enough strong language to lend realism, but not enough to seem gratuitous or irritating. I noted only one or two typos.

[OLT · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you set down on paper the plot to this HR, it doesn't look all that appealing and might even seem offensive to some persons' sensibilities. Newly-widowed Martha Russell wants to retain control of her late husband's estate and can only do so by producing an heir within the appropriate number of months of her first year of mourning. Unfortunately, she was not pregnant when her husband died. What to do? Hire the stud services of newly-arrived neighbor Theo Mirkwood, whose father has exiled him to their nearby Pencarragh estate as punishment for his wayward ways. She has one month to conceive or it's off to live with her brother and his wife and her brother-in-law will come to take over the Russell property.

Well, she's not as mercenary as that sounds. Said brother-in-law is not a good person. He seduces helpless women, wastes money, neglects his wife, and would care not at all about the welfare and education of the tenants at the estate or even about the condition of the estate itself. Martha wants desperately to protect those people who have been relying on her during her time as mistress of the Russell property.

Since there's a deadline for getting pregnant, we have sex scenes early on in the book, but it's business-arrangement sex for a good part of the story. Martha is bound and determined not to have any pleasure in their encounters and encourages Theo to just do it and get it over with every time they have sex. No dawdling around with unnecessary kissing and foreplay. Enjoying the experience would only add to the guilt she's already feeling about what she is doing.

Well, the rest you just have to read. Theo isn't into necrophilia so he's working towards getting some response from her in bed, while she is blocking his attempts at all cost. And at the same time, out of bed they are becoming acquainted with each other as real people, not just sex partners. Martha begins to see the goodness and responsibility hiding in Theo's fun-loving persona. Theo sees the real caring and feeling woman that cool and aloof Martha works so hard to hide from others.

The best thing about the book is the beautiful writing. I venture to say I enjoyed the way the story is written much more than the story itself. This is polished, flowing, wonderful writing and was a joy to read. Very few authors of mass market paperback HRs write this well. IMO, Grant is in a class with Joanna Bourne and Meredith Duran, two exceptionally talented writers of HRs.

Other books and movies have tried variations on this theme of using or hiring someone, not a lover, to procreate but this one by Grant is by far the best HR with that theme that I have read. Other attempts have been Lorraine Heath's Waking Up With the Duke and Anna Campbell's My Reckless Surrender but Grant's is better than those. Perhaps comparable in romance and poignancy to the Grant book is the movie Firelight (Le lien secret) with Sophie Marceau, a beautiful movie set in the 1800s.

[♡Karlyn P♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5! I've been hearing this author mentioned a lot lately, and now I know why. This historical romance is easily on par with some of the best authors of this genre - Balogh, Quinn, Kleypas...etc.

I think the one thing I enjoyed most about this story is how I got to see the romance evolve from a cold and simple business association to a deeply warm and passionate friendship all the way to a heart stopping love. Both characters evolve emotionally as well, when they realize the circumstances of which they created may not have the intended outcome.

A Lady Awakened was a great tale that kept me fully engaged, with a strong storyline and two well developed, interesting characters. I will definitely be reading the next in this series soon.

[WhiskeyintheJar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for the # TBRChallenge, previous updates with my full thoughts, comments, and quotes can be found:

Reading Update: Chapter 1

Reading Update: 20%

Reading Update: 40%

Reading Update: 60%

Reading Update: 80%

Reading Update: 100%

This definitely reads different than the majority of romance out there and I can see why people loved it and didn't enjoy it. Our widow Martha has more cold than warmth and is more of an analytical personality than emotional and her actions have to be looked at in the grey area to be able to sympathize with her. When her husband dies, she learns that his brother set to inherit raped at least two housemaids, so she sets out to get pregnant to keep the estate from him.

Theo, our hero, is sent to the country by his father to learn some maturity and responsibility. He maybe bats an eyelash at Martha's proposition but he still follows her to the bedroom that day. From there they have sex everyday to try and get her pregnant and their sex scenes are definitely frigid and mechanical. As they get to know one another and through actions they take throughout the story with tending to their tenants or trying to improve the people's lives on their estates, Theo learns maturity and how to care for Martha, while Martha thaws and learns the very basics of caring.

This is a very quiet show and not tell story, a lot of it is in the little details. I thought a few chapters in the middle slowed the pace too much and Martha and Theo's first loving sex scene wasn't quite lead into right and felt, at least off the page, anti-climatic. However, the secondary characters were on point and added so much to this story, I will cry for years for a Mrs. and Mr. Weaver novella.

If you can't get passed the coldness of Martha and frigid bedroom scenes, you probably won't make it to the 20% mark and I can definitely see why some wouldn't. If you can absorb those, though, you'll find a different romance story ripe in the little details.

[JenReadsRomance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that is routinely listed as *one of the best historicals ever!* and somehow I'd never read it! But I finally did read it, and it really is wonderful. It's just so tender and beautiful and I cried a little, I did!

Highly recommended.

[Renae · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not your typical historical romance, and man it tried so hard to be different in a good way, and it could have been. But it wasn’t. Cecilia Grant had everything going for her...until the hero raped the heroine. Goddammit.

We’ll get to the rape in a bit, but first we’ll talk about the basic set-up of A Lady Awakened.

Martha Russell’s husband has died, and his brother is going to inherit the land. Except it turns out that the brother is a nasty rapist, and our girl Martha wants to protect her tenants and the house servants. So she decides to hire her neighbor, Theo Mirkwood, as a breeding stud, so she can quickly conceive and pass of the baby as her dead husband’s. Then, naturally, Martha and Theo fall in love and all that juicy stuff.

I rather like what Grant attempted (but did not succeed) to do with Martha’s character. She’s a very serious, emotionally reserved young woman, with a logical, calculating approach toward social work. She’s very, very, very aloof. And Theo works as a good foil, he’s also very young, spoiled, and a bit silly, but only because he’s been allowed to be. The title of the book indicates that it’s Martha that undergoes a lot of change, and she does...sort of. But the biggest character growth in the book is Theo’s, as Martha’s serious and mature outlook on life affect his own actions.

Now, the sex. The first sex scene between the protagonists happens right away. And it sucks. It’s just a business deal, after all. The two then proceed to have mechanical, emotionless sex daily for the remainder of the book. Theo keeps wanting to “awaken Martha’s passions” or somesuch, but she isn’t interested in catching feels at all. That, for one thing, feels a little rapey. If a person tells you they’re not interested in a passionate affair, you should respect that and stick to the terms agreed upon.

Later on, we find out that Martha was sexually abused by her father. Which would explain her total disinterest in sex as a fun, pleasurable experience.

And then, about two hours after that, Theo decides to start having sex with Martha. While she is asleep. And when she wakes up in the middle, he complains, and tells her it would be so much easier if she just went back to sleep.

His chest met her back—gently—and he draped an arm over her rib cage to keep her there. His knee pushed—slowly—between her knees. His hand grasped her thigh, lifting it up and back to rest atop his leg. His cock brushed against her, lingering on the threshold of where she opened to him, and—quiet as snowfall—slipped in.

"What are you doing?" Awake and alert in an instant. "You did this already, last night."

He cursed softly. "Can't you just sleep through it?"

"Sleep through it? Are you mad?"

THAT. IS. RAPE.

This book was written in 2011, a year in which the world had pretty firmly established that a sleeping person is not capable of giving consent. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

I lost all interest in A Lady Awakened right there, honestly, but pressed on with the book in order to see what happened. Not that it really matters, because RAPE. Rape in a novel written in 2011, wherein the rape is never addressed and sorted through. (Say what you want about Bodice Rippers, but rape is clearly labeled as such in those books, and treated accordingly.)

Remember when I read Sherry Thomas’s Not Quite a Husband and got really angry about that time when the dude had sex with the woman while she slept, and she BEGGED him not to, and he kept doing it anyway? Yeah. This shit is not my jam.

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[Ⓐlleskelle - That ranting lady ッ · Rating 5 out of 5]

What book was your last "WHY HAVEN'T I READ THIS BEFORE" ?
Mine : A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

It's a historical romance. Exquisite writing, brilliant story telling.
A young widow hires the rake next door to help her conceive the heir she needs to secure her dower's inheritance and prevent the legitimate heir—her odious rapist brother in law — to get his hands on the estate and the help.

The main characters are stark opposites. It's a delight to witness how different they are on paper. She's pious and principled, he's roguish and mischievous. Though the premise may not be original, this story was unlike any historical romance I've read so far.

For a book whose plot centers around a sex bargain, the focus is actually aptly redirected to the building of their friendship, through delightful conversations, menial daily tasks, estate and tenants management, all leading to such magnificent intimacy.

Their daily coupling while transactional at first, little by little morphed into something else, Theo was dedicated to break Martha's resolve to deny herself any pleasure in her quest for an heir. Duty first.

The emotional payoff of this slow paced, reciprocal education is so satisfying, there's quite a deal of angst in the end that made my heart race more than it's healthy but I don't regret the distress one bit.
I loved this book!

More reviews and book talk at :

You can find me here too ☞

[Daniella · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Lady Awakened was my first Cecilia Grant book and most probably my last. To put it bluntly, this was just mediocre at best, and painfully boring at worst.

I have three main issues with it:

First, the writing style was verbose and confusing. I was surprised to find it reminiscent of the stream of consciousness style of narration, which, for me, would be a very odd style to employ in writing a romance novel. I think this was the first time I encountered this in Romancelandia. I don't know what effect it was supposed to have, but it did not go well. It was just... weird.

For example, there were so many passages like this:

Oh, for God’s sake. He was a disgrace to whoredom. To stud-animaldom as well. What bull ever felt a moment of concern for whether the cow actually desired him? Quickly he moved into position. Put a hand down to brace himself. Filled his lungs again. And with one mighty push, he was in. Mere mechanics would take care of the rest. Enough times in and out would get him there. Her tight grip on him—had he ever been so exquisitely sheathed?—might get him there even sooner.

She ought to touch him, though. Her right arm lay slack on the mattress; her left bent to keep that fist at her shoulder. “Can you put your hands on me?” he said in a hoarse whisper. Hark at him, asking politely when the occasion called for command.

Imagine a whole book filled with interior monologues like that. Ugh, no.


Second, the characters were flat, uninspiring and annoying. This held true especially for Martha. Dear Lord. She was so dour and grave most of the time that I failed to connect to her. Can you believe she said things like "Please get on with it already" during her first time with Theo? God. Girl, you don't do that.


At least Theo was kind of interesting. But aside from him, the others in the novel had personalities of a dust pan. Meh.

Third, there was no chemistry between the leads, and the sex scenes were so cringeworthy and awkward. Yeah, I blame the heroine for this one. Like I said, she was just so hard to put up with I actually felt bad for Theo. I don't even know how he managed to get turned on when she was such a bitch most of the time.

Honestly, I was so relieved to finish this book. I don't think I could stomach Martha and the horrible writing for another minute. Good riddance, Martha.

[Luana ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooooooh, this was so much fun!
I mean, so many shades of wrong fun kind of book!

This story already started on the wrong side. There's no romance, no sweet anything between the hero and heroine. She hires him to get her pregnant and I never laughed so much about awkward encounters.

They are opposites, he's the funny rake that is sunny and good for nothing that everybody loves, she's the extremely prim and proper religious kind of governess like. It is so much fun seeing their interactions. To the point that I was crying from laughing... but it is wrong what happens in this book... Until everything turnes out right.

It was a great read, just wished we had an epilogue. But I say this about every book without one.

This is not the traditional historical romance, as she hires him to get her pregnant in 30 days, it is a loooot of their physical relationship being related.

[Mel Thomas]

I love them, Your Honor 😩😩😩

[Allison E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t be like me. Don’t disregard an entire genre because you don’t resonate with its covers. Don’t think that a book that looks like this couldn’t possible be one of the best pieces of romantic literature that you have ever read !!!

This is my love letter to the historical romance genre (I am an official convert) and to A Lady Awakened in particular. If this genre has any other books of this caliber, trust I will find them. If you like my recs for fantasy/ romance/ fanfiction, you’re gonna want to make some room for this genre.

Now let’s talk THIS work of art.

The craziest thing about A Lady Awakened is that it executed one of my least favorite tropes… in maybe the literal only way that could have worked for me. Usually I’m not a fan of “sexual contracts” in books where the love interest seduces the female main character by body (in teaching her the ~ pleasures of intimacy which she was previously naive to/ denied) and then eventually by mind and heart. I just personally don’t care for that much sexual content pre emotional connection.

Cecilia Grant has irrevocably changed my mind about this trope though… or maybe this book is simply the exception? I think it’s in part because of the way these two characters tick (more on that later) and also just thanks to Grant’s prose. When I tell you her writing is EXQUISITE !! It falls of the BONEEE. The modern rom coms I’ve read have nothing on the way this woman writes… although romcoms are serving a bit of a different need so I rest my case.

Back to the characters/ premise. In A Lady Awakened we follow newly widowed Martha Russel as she finds herself under the threat of her evil brother-in-law taking her home and leaving her to become a dependent once again. She cooks up a diabolical plan: approach a recently exiled, and widely known rake (i.e. Theo Mirkwood) and pay him to impregnate her so that she can secure an heir, keep her home, and protect her employees. Theo, naturally, agrees.

Here is where things get good. Martha (serious and respectable woman that she is) is dead set on not enjoying this morally questionable business arrangement. I don’t mean that casually. I don’t mean she’s going to half heartedly deny her pleasure and succumb to Theo’s charms after a few chapters. She is genuinely not physically attracted to this man she doesn’t know. She does not care for his practiced flirtations or his bedroom compliments or his honeyed words. Theo for his part, is absolutely stumped as to why this woman is not susceptible to any kind of seduction.

This is a romance, we know things are going to shift between these two. But that shift is NOT brought about sexually and it is in THIS matter than Cecilia has my utmost devotion. Martha’s body can’t be seduced until her mind is. It was giving demisexual and I loved it.

“Then, as though she could not have come to the conclusion on her own, he held it necessary to inform her of the exact effects her bodily charms had upon him. Thus did he like to unburden himself to her. When he might have confided cares and nascent ideas, and been rewarded with that warm, steadying support she would gladly give in return, he chose instead to say trite things such as any man could say, and take as his prize that congress in which only her body need be present.”

Are you kidding?? YES.

Anyway I should wrap this up but I just have to add that this is a story where the two characters grow and are made better by each other. The characterization of Martha and Theo was a delight and their dialogue impeccable. There’s also an early line that really becomes a main thread of this story: “People have a way of rising, or sinking, to meet one’s expectations.”

And rise they do, both in the personal growth context, and well, in the sexual one too.

[Duchess Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love it but didn't :( I felt a disconnect with the heroine for most of the book, and I'm not sure what it was that held me back from her. She's a bit introverted, socially awkward, straight-laced and frumpy, and I tend to like that type of heroine, especially when she's paired with the quintessential rake. And I did like watching her sort of come out of her shell, I just think it took her too long to do so. By the time she's personable, the book is ending, and I felt like I didn't get to know the "new" her.

The story was new-ish, though, and I did love how the entire countryside was involved. The little bit of subterfuge that goes along with the love affair was an honorable one, though the ending was kind of disappointing to me...although I suppose it kind of had to go there.

Listened to the audio, and this is the same narrator who does the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb...Susan Ericksen. She did a fantastic job, as always.

[Bubu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, this book is one of the weirdest I've read lately. It has the push-all-the-wrong-buttons features, and yet, I loved every bit of it. If you want a different take on Historical Romances, different approaches, this one may be something for you. You're in for a treat.

The wrong buttons?
- A yuck-worthy plot. Heroine's husband dies, she needs to produce an heir in order to keep the estate, etc. She'll pay hero money for one month of sex. And everything goes eeewwww. But the execution. Oh wow! Nothing was as expected.
- A fairly unlikable heroine. I was never quite sure why Martha was so emotionally cold to begin with. Was it her experience with her first husband? She sure didn't like it. Something in her childhood? A mix of both? At times, I was extremely frustrated with her. At the end of the day, I was reading a romance, so her coldness was bewildering, to say the least. Despite all that, she cares for those who are under her protection and - most importantly - she has a spine! She has her goals and she'll move heaven and earth to achieve them. But not in a Wham!-Bam!-Boom!-I'm-feisty-and-loud kind of way.
- A fairly unlikable hero. So many so-called rakes in HRs turn out to be anything but rakes. Theo, on the other hand, is a rake. Banished to the country by his father for his scandalous and reckless lifestyle, he engages in an illicit affair with Martha to get her pregnant. His motivation? He's bored, he needs money and why not have some fun during his exile. But, but but...where's the romance? Where are the emotions? Where is the I-must-shag-her-or-I'll-die feeling? No, Martha is tolerable enough for him to get a hard-on. He is not an arsehole. Just someone who's been quite careless. Or I could simply call him shallow.

Back to the execution of the plot and the character development. Everything is different about this book. The first sexual encounters between Martha and Theo are awkward, at best. In one scene, Theo has to watch himself shagging Martha in a mirror in order to finish and he feels like he's having sex with a corpse. Now, that's disgusting, but the way Cecilia Grant tells the story is so compelling, so poignant, that I wanted to know how she would make these two unlikable characters fall in love and make me care for them at the same time. She does a tremendous job with it. She does it with Theo. Theo is a happy-go-lucky person, the complete opposite of Martha. He may find the first times with her sexually frustrating, but he's open to learn more about her, and he asks. I don't think I could have finished this book if it hadn't been for Theo. Like Martha, we learn that there's more to Theo. He isn't as shallow and careless as he appeares to be at the beginning. He's smart, loves having fun, and has no problem making fun of himself. Martha, confused by his constant questioning, as his only job is to give 'his seed', starts responding. Unwillingly, at first, because at the same time she's scared that Theo may not hold his end of the bargain, but the more time passes, the more natural it comes to her to talk to him about herself. Obviously, because of her rather cold character, it takes longer to warm up to Martha. It's all about the layers. Layer by layer, her character is revealed and by the end of the book, I loved her. I loved them both, actually. All the wrong buttons had turned to the right ones. I was captivated by a story of two so different people, not only compared to each other, but to the usual characters we find in the run-of-the-mill romances.

And that's because they talk. It sounds simplistic, but in essence, it's what makes love believable, in my opinion. Two people talk, share, listen, experience and they fall in love. It's brilliantly done. I could feel them falling in love with each other and it was bittersweet.

The end of the month, and with it the end of their 'contract', approaches. Martha and Theo start realising that something deeper has grown between them. Deeper than friendship. They find themselves in a proper dilemma. There's a lot going on in the story. But to keep it simple: If Martha is pregnant, Theo won't be able to claim the child as his. He was fine with it at the start of their affair, but as he has fallen in love with Martha, the thought becomes intolerable. On top of it, he knows that he will lose Martha to the duty of being the ward to the heir. If she isn't pregnant, it'll destroy Martha's dream of making a real change to the lives of those who are under her protection. The way Cecilia Grant brings everything together is well done. We even get a little bit of drama in the end, in a book that shows us two so un-dramatic people falling in love.

By the way, 'well done' is an understatement. Grant is a great storyteller.

[new_user · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical romance A Lady Awakened breaks ground in a genre infamously frivolous and milkshake frothy (thank you, Georgette Heyer). Cecilia Grant injects maturity into Heyer's legacy- that sounds envelope-stuffing boring. Don't picture a sober, didactic tale. Grant writes subtle humor and surprising heat, often together at once, but she doesn't idolize the idle aristocrat, the party-hopping, tea-sipping, walking in-your-face to anyone who's had to work for a living.

You wouldn't know that straightaway. Theo Mirkwood arrives in the Sussex countryside a womanizer. He meets Martha Russell, a stiff, if upright, widow, and Awakened chronicles their journey as Theo teaches Martha love and joy and learns himself the fulfillment of purpose and contributing to a community.

I liked the bait-and-switch. Grant dangles out the Casanova and immediately fleshes him out beyond his pastimes into a complex man kind, funny and loving. I liked that though Theo's strained relationship with his father affected him, Grant didn't explain away his habits with a tragic backstory, and best of all, she eschewed stereotypes.

Far from a fountain of emotional warmth, love and all things stereotypically "feminine," Martha expresses her feelings only with difficulty and pursues Victorian morality more than love or passion. It is Theo who is patient, warm, and open, comfortable with his feelings and expressing them. "You know how to say things I don't know how to say," she tells him once. He saves her, and I don't mean from monsters or dungeons. Many women, like Martha, have trouble with vulnerability or expression, etc., and I appreciated that an author finally acknowledged them and drew a more complex portrait of women (and men), diversified the landscape.

For example, despite her apparent frigidness, Martha isn't asexual. She fantasizes with enough regularity to indicate a healthy libido. (Hilarious, by the way!) In fact, Awakened approaches sex with refreshing realness and humor. (The pillow talk cracked me up.) Belying the popular wisdom that women like men whom other women like, Theo's womanizing doesn't endear him to Martha, but Grant prevents Martha from becoming the condescending heroine by addressing her judgmental attitude early on.

While Theo's experience comes to use, he doesn't win Martha with his wicked bedroom tricks, again defying lust-winz! romance tropes that seem to imply that by golly, if you're just good enough in the sack, then maybe she'll stay with you. Ultimately, "stimulate my mind" Martha warms to Theo because she comes to love him as a person, by accident. He asks her help outside the bedroom, she's like, "okay, nothing better to do except mourn my douchey husband," and she sees he's actually a nice dude when he's not playing with himself. Contrary to trope, he thinks about other things and often. He is, in fact, very nice and probably the most lovable "rake" I've read.

Know how some readers say men should read romances to understand women? My usual answer to that is, "No! No! Good God, no!" But if the book were A Lady Awakened, it might be all right. Theo knows how to treat a ladeh.

Also, 500 points for treating the lower class like people too, boring farming aside, and period accuracy. The book reminded me of our period dramas with the "earnest young men," only with less angst and more heat. I really liked the noble, middle class characters, light prose, and the insight peppered throughout. Also, the relevance. Without any anachronisms, Awakened manages to be more modern than many contemporary romances. While Awakened's slow pace requires patience, it's well worth it for a trope-trouncing romance without cheesiness or inexplicable misunderstandings. Mmm, brain candy! Read it now! It's so different, it's glorious! Thanks for the recs, friends!

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has the novelty of having two likable people, full of goodwill, who both act in a mature way, and fall in love with each other. I actually have a lot of good thoughts for it because of that. It’s also well written.

On the other hand though, I thought it was kind of dull.

The basic story is about a young widow, Martha, who will be left with little money if she does not have a son. Her late husband has left the house and estate to his lecherous brother-in-law who is known for pouncing on servant girls and getting them pregnant. Martha is horrified at the thought of someone abusing the servants. So being very practical, she comes up with a plan. She decides to ask her neighbor’s playboy son, Theo, to be her gigolo for a month in the hopes that he will get her pregnant.

Theo is surprisingly not insulted by this and agrees, simply because he’s super randy and he thinks she’s hawt. This begins their odd relationship.

Since they are strangers and Martha is frigid, their sex is quite awkward. Martha’s kind of bossy too, lying on the bed, stiff as a board with her legs open, telling him to hurry up. Consequently, Theo is somewhat unnerved by her. So of course they fall in love. How could they not? LOL

Theo is a super nice beta guy. He sort of lacks self confidence, which at first Martha crushes, and then she builds up. I think of him as wanting a woman to mother him, so he’s attracted to Martha who scolds him all the time. Martha needs Theo because she’s way too uptight and needs to get laid.

I didn’t mind Martha, although I can see why some reviewers said they didn’t like her. I think she’s kind of fascinating, and I love how pragmatic she is. She sees herself as a very moral person, yet her questionable actions don’t portray her like that at all. Here is a woman who married an older, wealthy man she didn’t love (for practical reasons.) Then she decides to commit fraud by passing off another man’s child as her late husband’s, (to save the servant girls from a lecher.) Then she hires a gigolo to get her pregnant. Obviously, in Martha’s eyes, the end justifies the means, which makes her not very moral at all. I liked her determination, but I think she's fooling herself if she thinks her motives are completely altruistic.

These characters are well rounded. I think their attraction to each other makes perfect sense, and their romance is sweet. They both go through a nice character arc. I was rather touched by the sweet ending.

This book has so little suspense though. The villain is weak, and doesn’t show up until the end of the book. There’s no sexual tension, since both Martha and Theo had sex from the beginning. I didn’t feel a sense of danger or dread. There’s no secret intrigue or mystery. In fact, very little happens.

Not to mention, the book felt very modern, with modern point-of-views. Consequently, I never did get that cool feeling of being transported back in time.

I’m giving it three stars.

Since I see all the positive reviews, I’m thinking maybe I’m just not into Regency Romance. Are all Regency books this slow? It may be awhile before I try another. I must admit though, the second book in this series looks better than this one.

[Sam I AMNreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really not sure how to review this book between a cold, upstanding widow and a charismatic land management student, but I will say that it in its everyday approach to intimacy it really did wow me. There's this scene, when fondness of the part of the hero was building, that made my heart kick just right.

And here's a heroine I admire, working to do the right thing the only way she can. This book did not rely on sex, but a genuine friendship between the two main characters. Conversely, sex only served to alienate them from one another in the absolutely stiff and uncomfortable scenes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this book felt weird realistic for the beginning of a relationship...and it was such a good read.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny thing: I forgot I owned this. I was digging up (kind of literally. Sideways digging because of double stacking with horizontal books on top) books looking for a book I want to reread (I probably loaned it...) and found this, which was very acclaimed at the time, everybody was reading and it still keeps getting mentioned by readers. I got it sometime in the past, tried to read it twice but I never went very far on it.

Other trusted readers were right, and I often have hidden treasure in my TBR piles, but past me was also right, and while I respect this so very much and I can see how this can be an example of author doing something unique and daring (a really do-gooder prim and proper FMC doing a really unscrupulous thing, a FMC considering doing even more unscrupulous things, sex scenes which do go immediately into ecstasy for all, sex scenes where the FMC and MMC are enjoying themselves differently) really really well, there was a level of involvement in my part that never quite worked. I don't consider myself a self-insert romance reader, and I really admired Martha's character but I kept getting annoyed by her PoV. Rating is 4 stars because skill and respect and all but if I was going by enjoyment, count it as 3 stars or lower...

Though for all the author's skills, objectively I think the ending, past 80% is flawed. It felt odd, forced, melodramatic and even out of character (Martha trying to reconcile her morality and protect her sister in law by doing a choice which any contemporary gentleman would be suspicious of and feel incredibly unfair if the baby was a boy... Theo blabbing to his family needlessly) and it ends on the wrong place. We needed a proper epilogue, we need to see them 1 year in the future to figure out the details of the implied (required if it is a romance) HEA. This is an actual flaw for a romance novel.

The author wrote 3 books and a novella, all about the same family and then just stopped writing. This was the time where historical romance novels were losing readership, and some historical novelists were experimenting with other things, and I mourn that a bit still. Her style, her research is definitely top notch, and it's really interesting. I am going to skip the next book for sure because the blurb is just off for me, but I might check the third book in this series, depending on mood..

I hope the author is somehow somewhere writing other things (but if it is romance, it needs better HEAs). Conspiracy theory warning: this is amazing writing for a debut novel. Even more extreme conspiracy theory warning:And if it was a pen name for a male author I would not be 100% surprised: for sure Theo felt more real than Martha.

[Ali L · Rating 5 out of 5]

An agave plant of a woman finds herself widowed and in need of a pregnancy, lest a terrible lech of a man inherit her properties and abuse her staff. Luckily a total horn dog who is always DTF moves in next door and he is only too happy to fertilize her crops (sorry). Martha is the prickliest of pears and unimpressed by Theo, who takes it very personally and decides to seduce her by making her feel appreciated and orgasm-y. Does Martha get knocked up? Does Theo chill out? What’s up with the brothers? Why is there so much tender staring? Oh no.

[guiltless pleasures · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that was a quality historical romance. I was just reviewing my reading notes and highlights, and even just that was making me laugh and sigh all over again. What a book: complex, challenging and hot as hell.

It takes a lot of guts to write a romance in which the first third or more consists of the protagonists having excruciatingly awkward sex, let alone one with a heroine who is uptight and downright rude sometimes. But Cecilia Grant clearly has guts by the wheelbarrowfull, and it makes me all the sadder that she only wrote three books and a novella.

This is probably the book that has felt closest to Judith Ivory’s caliber, in terms of both writing, character development and general audacity. So. Five stars.

[Joanna Loves Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is certainly unique. I am not quite sure what to think of it. The comparison I keep coming back to is it's the Chevy Chase movie of HR. It started with many awkward funny moments that primarily took place in the bedroom, and I was amused, laughing out loud at times. Then the joke went on too long, and I got bored and annoyed. It probably does not help that I am not a fan of comedy of errors where the MC(s) are almost solely to blame for their misfortune. I have a fairly sizable dislike of the vacation movies and other similar ones in that vein (I am looking at you Meet the Parents). Ultimately, while this book has some funny parts, it really lacked in the romance department. It wasn't a total fail, but I just didn't care much by the end of it.

Besides the early funny bits, I did enjoy the growth of the hero from being an immature scapegrace to a responsible land owner, who cared about his people and wanted to provide for them. That was very well done and props to the author for that development. I felt the heroine didn't have as much of a transition and her sudden change in direction at the end felt a bit forced. I was hoping for an easier time for both of them as they decided to be together, but instead it ends with a scandal.

The premise is unusual-- the only one I have read that comes close is Darius by Grace Burrowes. The story telling is unique, and it has a comedic tone to it. There is plenty of detail, that showed the research put in by author. I can see why people like it, but it just didn't fully work for me.

[Ingie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review written June 29, 2017

4 1/2 Stars - A great historical with a bit different touch and feeling. Terrific audio narration as well.

A Lady Awakened (a very clever and fitting title) is the first #1 in the HR series Blackshear Family (ones recommended by my friend Sofia) by Cecilia Grant. A romances author new for me.

This was a good one — My big applause
I was listening to the 12:39 hours audiobook very well with lot of feeling narrated by Susan Ericksen. Twelve perfect good audiobook listening hours. Recommended!

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« Martha Russell is a proper, laced-up widow, who finds more pleasure in charitable acts than she ever did in her marriage bed. Theophilus Mirkwood is a known rake whose all-too-true reputation has basically gotten him thrown out of London. »

A "grown up romance" in my taste with a interesting, sensitive and witty storyline. I couldn't guess...

I feel I probably have longed for heroes of this kind (even if I didn't know). You admirers of for example Courtney Milan's historicals will probably recognize this storyline style with a bit "unusual" male main character. — A slightly unsure, not overly strong or always secure about himself male to start with. Different from the most common ones in this genre at least. Not the perfect always sexy caveman like man, but instead the type of man you typically know from real life ... and hopefully love for his big and good heart and for all his ordinary human weaknesses. — Mr Mirkwood was just perfect. Loved him from start to end.

... As I also felt about this so very admirable strong, to start with also a bit cold hearted, nice heroine.

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‘If one believed, as the Bible and the Greek myths had it, that man had been created first and woman after, then one must conclude there had been some dramatic improvement in the process following that amateurish first attempt.

Where she was molded, he was rough-hewn. Where her form curved with logic and precision, not to mention breeding parts tucked neatly away, he looked rangy, haphazard, his male parts an ill-placed afterthought. Like the last leftover bits of clay scraped together, rolled into primitive forms and stuck onto the middle of him, the stones in their rough red sack and that improbable appendage dangling to the fore.’

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Oh, so much I enjoy to be really surprised about a new author and read (don't let the HR typical book cover fool or trick you). As now after just finished, to just sit here in the sofa with that wonderfully satisfied and positive feeling. — Conclusion? I just must keep on choose more historicals by this so wonderful clever HR story teller. What a marvelous good surprise this was. Sincerely enjoyed and "loved" A Lady Awakened in all ways.

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I LIKE - to be so pleased about a book as this one

[Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is the wonderful premise of this: A recently widowed Martha Russell will lose her estate and her much valued independence unless she proves she is carrying an heir to her late husband. Only she isn’t. Therefore she needs to get pregnant fast.
Enter Theo Mirkwood, an exiled good-for-nothing playboy. Martha decides to strike a deal with him - he is going to fornicate with her every day for a month and she is going to pay him a certain amount of money. It seems like the book will just be a long list of sex scenes, but there wouldn’t be a story if it wasn’t for the fact that Martha is as prim, proper and uptight as they get. Theo tries all sorts of tricks on her but she just lays there like a piece of wood with her eyes closed thinking of England.

The romance and even physical attraction take forever to develop. To the readers who like to have sparks flying from the page one, I’d like to dedicate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7uXX...

Slowly and surely, Martha makes Theo grow the fuck up and Theo makes Martha loosen up a little. Finally the Lady awakens and it all culminates in one of the hottest sex scenes I have read in a romance novel. I shit you not. I intend to send my boyfriend a copy of those few pages asking him if he is interested in historical reenactments.

Yeah, I think in general this book was psychologically almost realistic and historically almost accurate. It would’ve got five stars from me (very rare for a romance novel) and become my ultimate Regency Romance if it wasn’t for the awful head hopping every half a paragraph. But after all it was Cecilia Grant’s debut, so I am going to cut her some slack here. As far as girly porn goes, I am expecting great things from this woman.

Also, see that hair on the book cover? I want that hair. Oh, and that dress, too.
Ok, I am done here. Over and out.