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Ellen: a tale of love and domestic discipline in Regency England
Expertly crafted, this substantial and wonderfully engaging read tells the story of how Ellen, the daughter of a London seamstress, came to be Lady Dutton. The main storyline is augmented by two other women's histories wound into it: those of Ellen's mother-in-law, Grace Dutton, and Ellen's mother, Alice Walsh. Gradually, all the pieces slot into place in this epic historical tale of love, lust, and discipline. Corporal punishment is woven into the mix in a skilful and realistic way, as is loving domestic discipline between husband and wife. The mildly erotic scenes are enhanced by the spanking, which is a theme that runs through the book - but you don't have to be a kinkster to enjoy this happy ever after masterpiece from Robin Harrington, depicting rich slices of life in Regency England.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 3, 2018
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 20, 2019
An ambitious spanking romance that weaves together three stories (and a few subplots) of marriages that include domestic discipline, with that of Ellen and Henry being, perhaps, the most healthy of the three. Harrington juxtaposes theirs with those of Grace and Cuthbert, which is mostly loving but does involve problems of both infidelity and discipline used as a means of silencing genuine marital concerns, and Alice and George, which is outright abusive. In so doing, she tries to demonstrate the difference between loving domestic discipline and domestic abuse.
Perhaps because it was so ambitious, it rather raised my expectations. While the spanking scenes were certainly enjoyable, and the plots were reasonably entertaining, I kept wanting more complexity in the characters, who are simply what one generally sees in spanking fiction (I know; I expect too much from my porn!). The grumpy editor in me wanted to take a red pen to a good third of the novel as there is a great deal of unnecessary repetition and/or elements that do not further the plot or should be summarized in a few sentences. And for a book that is so much better than a lot of spanking fiction on the market, the title and cover are awful! I almost didn't get the book because it looked so amatuerish. This is not a book just about Ellen (indeed, I'm puzzled why this isn't actually three books as from a marketing perspective that would be more profitable, to say nothing of it's quite a long read as is). Given the allusions to Austen, perhaps Bargains and Birches for a title?
Despite my being a nit-picky bitch, I did enjoy this book very much and have already picked out Hester at Ewefield Farm: a historical spanking romance to read next.
Perhaps because it was so ambitious, it rather raised my expectations. While the spanking scenes were certainly enjoyable, and the plots were reasonably entertaining, I kept wanting more complexity in the characters, who are simply what one generally sees in spanking fiction (I know; I expect too much from my porn!). The grumpy editor in me wanted to take a red pen to a good third of the novel as there is a great deal of unnecessary repetition and/or elements that do not further the plot or should be summarized in a few sentences. And for a book that is so much better than a lot of spanking fiction on the market, the title and cover are awful! I almost didn't get the book because it looked so amatuerish. This is not a book just about Ellen (indeed, I'm puzzled why this isn't actually three books as from a marketing perspective that would be more profitable, to say nothing of it's quite a long read as is). Given the allusions to Austen, perhaps Bargains and Birches for a title?
Despite my being a nit-picky bitch, I did enjoy this book very much and have already picked out Hester at Ewefield Farm: a historical spanking romance to read next.
Displaying 1 of 1 review