Rapture's Mistress

by Gimone Hall, Bernard Horace Hall

Her beauty aroused many men-- but it was her own wild desire that held her captive.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overly long vintage ripper, but entertaining nonetheless. As with all Gimone Hall HRs, the reader is dropped into the story with little introduction to the characters, so it takes awhile to get to know them. But unlike Hall’s best rippers,** this one has long periods of dullness that must be pushed through to enjoy the better sections; the duller portions did indeed stretch my patience to the limit, but I never wanted to scan in case I missed anything, so that counts for something.

It’s a very surreal book, moreso than other Halls I’ve read. The setting whiplashes between Gilded Age/fin-de-siecle Caribbean & New Orleans with portions set on Rough Rider-era Cuba, so we see the shabby grandeur of neo-plantations & their paid wages vs NoLa’s decline into OTT vices contrasted with the violence of revolution. We can also juxtapose Lily’s acting/dance career (clearly inspired by RL outrageous ladies like Sarah Bernhardt) with the bizarre dissociative unreality of her life & times beyond the stage, so in that much the novel is quite intriguing & deserves its 4 stars. Lily was a tough nut to crack, but I did end up liking her; as for the hero, Joe…meh. He’s an ass—not a sexy alpha asshole, just a neglectful douchebag with grating double standards. Neither Edmond (OM) nor Archer (OM #2) nor Jenny (OW) nor Cyrillia (servant girl) nor Susan (bff) deserve their fates being entangled with the dumpster fire that is Lily & Joe’s romance, but at least Susan lands on her feet.

3.5, rounded up to 4 because it grew on me (slowly, but still—gaining interest is much better than losing it).


**IMO: Ecstasy’s Empire & The Jasmine Veil.


{Note: This book is part of my ongoing quest to pluck tomes I’ve had unread for 7+ years & either love-and-keep or DNF-and-donate.}

[Chrisangel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining, but way too long and with too much forced melodrama. Also, then historical research left a lot to be desired, as it was accurate only half the time. The rest of the time, the author seemed not to know what era she was writing about, as she confuses the 1880's/90's with the post-civil war days, not to mention the potato blight! Other parts give off an early 19thc feeling, rather than a late one. We get sailing ships when steamships had taken over, and other errors, like dueling, which had stopped in the South after the Civil War, and Ms. Hall makes it sound like it was still a common practice in the late 1880's. And with swords???? Pistols had taken over by the early 19thc!

I think think Ms. Hall got too carried away with the h's adventures to pay close enough attention to accuracy, thinking no one would notice.

HA!!