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East of Jamaica
INNOCENCE BETRAYED, SHE FLED TO PARADISE. Deceived by her uncle, Eden MacFarland sails for the Caribbean island of Martinique to take a post as a governess, to find herself lured into a silken trap in the Villa Anglais. When her first client, Jeremy Singleton, a wealthy planter, offers rescue if she will marry him, Eden agrees. But Jeremy’s past and that of the man who first taught her passion tangle in a deadly dance with Eden as their prize. Struggling to remain faithful to Jeremy, she is helplessly drawn to Ross Duval, who means to ruin Jeremy. Looming over them, Mount Pelée threatens to erupt and sweep the city of Saint Pierre and all of them into the sea if they cannot escape its menace and their own untamed desires.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2018
Eh. Maybe 2.5, but I hated the MCs, so no rounding up. :P
This wasn't the worst I've read, but therein lies the rub. It was just...there. No personality to the prose, no oomph to the plot -- it just plodded along without any zest. There was slavery, prostitution, rape, vague near-incest, island flora, bizarrely motivated revenge, a volcano...it should've been awesome, but it wasn't. Constant eyerolling over Eden's stompy, naive shrewishness & Ross' mimbo chest-pounding swagger didn't help; there was no palpable connection, so I couldn't understand why they were so horny for each other. Admittedly, I was somewhat interested in side characters like Denise & Gretchen (either of whom would've been better leads), & I did like Jeremy -- he didn't deserve to saddle himself with the bullshit Steve & Ginny Wannabe Drama(tm).
...At least it was short. But dude. 300 pages w/ 65 chapters?! Little wonder there was no flow.
This wasn't the worst I've read, but therein lies the rub. It was just...there. No personality to the prose, no oomph to the plot -- it just plodded along without any zest. There was slavery, prostitution, rape, vague near-incest, island flora, bizarrely motivated revenge, a volcano...it should've been awesome, but it wasn't. Constant eyerolling over Eden's stompy, naive shrewishness & Ross' mimbo chest-pounding swagger didn't help; there was no palpable connection, so I couldn't understand why they were so horny for each other. Admittedly, I was somewhat interested in side characters like Denise & Gretchen (either of whom would've been better leads), & I did like Jeremy -- he didn't deserve to saddle himself with the bullshit Steve & Ginny Wannabe Drama(tm).
...At least it was short. But dude. 300 pages w/ 65 chapters?! Little wonder there was no flow.
June 16, 2018
Not very good
This story begins in 1899 Connecticut with a young woman who lives with her uncle. Eden's uncle has spent her inheritance and embezzled from the bank he is employed at and tries to force her into marriage to a young man employed at the same bank to basically get him to not tell of his embezzlement or the losing of her inheritance.
She refuses to marry the man and is setup by her uncle to be compromised by another visiting young businessman named Ross. So she's basically raped.
Eden decides to run away to New York and ends up being duped by an employment agency. The agent is a front for white slavery and fools Eden and other young women into boarding a ship for Martinique where they believe they will arrive as private teachers to wealthy families.
This plot would work but for the poor storyline as Eden is sold into a house of prostitution and forced to submit to her first customer, an older man who offers to buy her from the house if she will marry him. She agrees.
The plot thickens when she is brought to her new home after her marriage and not only meets her step-children who are close in age to her, but she runs into Ross again at a social event. It gets much worse and much more convoluted as the story takes on several twists and turns wherein poor Eden is forced into one sexual situation after another. It's almost as if she has a "take me" bull's she on her back and a credible story of white slavery becomes incredible. I truly got the impression this was either the stupidest woman on this earth or she just plain had no moral compass. There is absolutely no depth to any of the characters!
When her baby dies near the end Eden shows such a lack of emotion it is to the point of making me wonder if she had the capacity to feel any deep emotion. In most of her sexual encounters she is just "taken," and not necessarily against her will. She is kidnapped for the purpose of sex so often by different men she just goes with it! It became a bad joke . The writer attempts to paint a picture of Eden as a martyr for her weak attempts to spare servants on her husband's plantation from the unwanted attentions of her stepson Marcel and her distaste for slavery and post-slavery practices, but again, there is no emotional depth.
The book is a one-dimensional story with a whole bunch of stuff thrown in in an attempt to keep the reader interested, but I put the book down often after reading a couple pages due to lack of interest. My goal was to finish so I could write my honest opinion.
My honest opinion is to pass on this one. The facts related to the volcano eruption on the island in 1902 is probably the only interesting part of the book, but you have to read four-fifths of the book, wading through the idiocy of Eden's life, before you get to the eruption.
This story begins in 1899 Connecticut with a young woman who lives with her uncle. Eden's uncle has spent her inheritance and embezzled from the bank he is employed at and tries to force her into marriage to a young man employed at the same bank to basically get him to not tell of his embezzlement or the losing of her inheritance.
She refuses to marry the man and is setup by her uncle to be compromised by another visiting young businessman named Ross. So she's basically raped.
Eden decides to run away to New York and ends up being duped by an employment agency. The agent is a front for white slavery and fools Eden and other young women into boarding a ship for Martinique where they believe they will arrive as private teachers to wealthy families.
This plot would work but for the poor storyline as Eden is sold into a house of prostitution and forced to submit to her first customer, an older man who offers to buy her from the house if she will marry him. She agrees.
The plot thickens when she is brought to her new home after her marriage and not only meets her step-children who are close in age to her, but she runs into Ross again at a social event. It gets much worse and much more convoluted as the story takes on several twists and turns wherein poor Eden is forced into one sexual situation after another. It's almost as if she has a "take me" bull's she on her back and a credible story of white slavery becomes incredible. I truly got the impression this was either the stupidest woman on this earth or she just plain had no moral compass. There is absolutely no depth to any of the characters!
When her baby dies near the end Eden shows such a lack of emotion it is to the point of making me wonder if she had the capacity to feel any deep emotion. In most of her sexual encounters she is just "taken," and not necessarily against her will. She is kidnapped for the purpose of sex so often by different men she just goes with it! It became a bad joke . The writer attempts to paint a picture of Eden as a martyr for her weak attempts to spare servants on her husband's plantation from the unwanted attentions of her stepson Marcel and her distaste for slavery and post-slavery practices, but again, there is no emotional depth.
The book is a one-dimensional story with a whole bunch of stuff thrown in in an attempt to keep the reader interested, but I put the book down often after reading a couple pages due to lack of interest. My goal was to finish so I could write my honest opinion.
My honest opinion is to pass on this one. The facts related to the volcano eruption on the island in 1902 is probably the only interesting part of the book, but you have to read four-fifths of the book, wading through the idiocy of Eden's life, before you get to the eruption.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews