What do you think?
Rate this book
Cassia #2
Slave Lady
Drawn to Liverpool in the hope of recovering their inheritance, newlyweds Cassia and Vincent de Sauvage find horrifying squalor and depravity. On the quayside, slaves are herded like animals. In the cities, child brothels spawn.
Driven by the memories of her own tainted past, Cassia determines to fight the cruelty, the corruption, until one night she sees the face of the profligate tyrant who rules the brothels...a face which suddenly appears strangely, terrifyingly familiar.
Sequel to "Royal Slave"
Driven by the memories of her own tainted past, Cassia determines to fight the cruelty, the corruption, until one night she sees the face of the profligate tyrant who rules the brothels...a face which suddenly appears strangely, terrifyingly familiar.
Sequel to "Royal Slave"
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
20 people want to read
About the author
Julia Fitzgerald
26 books6 followersPseudonyms: Julia Fitzgerald, Julia Hamilton, Julia Watson and Jane De Vere.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 1, 2024
I read the first book in this two book series, and while the first had its flaws, at least it wasn't a time waster like this one. (If I knew how, I'd take away half a star.)
Cassia and Vincent get married, but (big surprise) the honeymoon's over almost as soon as it begins. Cassia finds her long lost aunt, who was held prisoner and nearly died, and cares for her, meanwhile learning of the terrible slave trade going on in Liverpool (including white slavery), and remembering her time as a captive, forced to sleep with a horny old man, Cassia wants to do what she can to help. She and Vincent are on the same page (if only he's stop with the "Doucette", which reminds me of douchebag, and just call her by her name...or anything else) but they're not in sync for long, when a fall results in her losing their baby, and she blames him for not being there to comfort her while she suffered. Since he had no idea what had happened, and was only away from her because of a terrible rainstorm, this hardly seems fair, but the reader's made to understand that she went into a depression, not just because of the baby, but because of unresolved angry feelings against Vincent she didn't know she had, since in the past he was a slave trader, ready to sell her to the very old man she later ended up servicing. This causes her to shut him out and be cold to him for quite a while.
During this time, they both succumb to temptation, as the OW is sexy and seductive, ready to offer Vincent what his wife is denying him, while the OM is someone Cassia finds easy to talk to and whom she has things in common with.
Now here's the question: when is the line to infidelity crossed? While Vincent had some passionate sex with the OW, Cassia was on the ground in a garden with the OM, where he fondled and kissed her breasts, then did the same to her "womanhood", before she fought him, (despite liking it) as she didn't want to be guilty of adultery. (WTF!) But is infidelity strictly interpreted as a penis-in-vagina thing? Doesn't another man licking your southern lips and all they contain count as a betrayal? Call me a prude, but I think oral activity should be reserved for your spouse. (Ask Hillary Clinton, she'll tell you.) In my book, Cassia also broke her vows, not just Vincent.
If you want to give them both a break, you could say that at the time, Cassia couldn't get past the wall she put up between her and Vincent, and it had been a few months, so he was lonely and neglected, vulnerable to the charms of another woman. Then, Cassia knew he had turned to someone else, and that made her vulnerable to the other man, who kept telling her how much she meant to him.
However, being old fashioned, I choose not to excuse them. They both should have tried harder to work things out, and at least tried to talk to each other, instead of avoiding each other and turning to other people.
Another bone for prim-and-proper me to pick is the way so many of these rivals easily disregard the fact that the object of their affections (i.e. lust) is married. They just dismiss this so easily as being of no importance whatsoever, and that irritates me. If the H and h aren't yet married or engaged, then it's not so bad, let them have their shot at persuasion, but once there's a ring on the finger, forget it, time to give up and move on. (Chances are it's their ego, not their heart, that's affected).
Then, after she's kidnapped and abused by a madman, and Vincent rescues her, you get a very rushed, unconvincing HEA.
I'd rather they got a divorce.
Cassia and Vincent get married, but (big surprise) the honeymoon's over almost as soon as it begins. Cassia finds her long lost aunt, who was held prisoner and nearly died, and cares for her, meanwhile learning of the terrible slave trade going on in Liverpool (including white slavery), and remembering her time as a captive, forced to sleep with a horny old man, Cassia wants to do what she can to help. She and Vincent are on the same page (if only he's stop with the "Doucette", which reminds me of douchebag, and just call her by her name...or anything else) but they're not in sync for long, when a fall results in her losing their baby, and she blames him for not being there to comfort her while she suffered. Since he had no idea what had happened, and was only away from her because of a terrible rainstorm, this hardly seems fair, but the reader's made to understand that she went into a depression, not just because of the baby, but because of unresolved angry feelings against Vincent she didn't know she had, since in the past he was a slave trader, ready to sell her to the very old man she later ended up servicing. This causes her to shut him out and be cold to him for quite a while.
During this time, they both succumb to temptation, as the OW is sexy and seductive, ready to offer Vincent what his wife is denying him, while the OM is someone Cassia finds easy to talk to and whom she has things in common with.
Now here's the question: when is the line to infidelity crossed? While Vincent had some passionate sex with the OW, Cassia was on the ground in a garden with the OM, where he fondled and kissed her breasts, then did the same to her "womanhood", before she fought him, (despite liking it) as she didn't want to be guilty of adultery. (WTF!) But is infidelity strictly interpreted as a penis-in-vagina thing? Doesn't another man licking your southern lips and all they contain count as a betrayal? Call me a prude, but I think oral activity should be reserved for your spouse. (Ask Hillary Clinton, she'll tell you.) In my book, Cassia also broke her vows, not just Vincent.
If you want to give them both a break, you could say that at the time, Cassia couldn't get past the wall she put up between her and Vincent, and it had been a few months, so he was lonely and neglected, vulnerable to the charms of another woman. Then, Cassia knew he had turned to someone else, and that made her vulnerable to the other man, who kept telling her how much she meant to him.
However, being old fashioned, I choose not to excuse them. They both should have tried harder to work things out, and at least tried to talk to each other, instead of avoiding each other and turning to other people.
Another bone for prim-and-proper me to pick is the way so many of these rivals easily disregard the fact that the object of their affections (i.e. lust) is married. They just dismiss this so easily as being of no importance whatsoever, and that irritates me. If the H and h aren't yet married or engaged, then it's not so bad, let them have their shot at persuasion, but once there's a ring on the finger, forget it, time to give up and move on. (Chances are it's their ego, not their heart, that's affected).
Then, after she's kidnapped and abused by a madman, and Vincent rescues her, you get a very rushed, unconvincing HEA.
I'd rather they got a divorce.
Displaying 1 of 1 review