Meredith is a hot mess’s Reviews > The Rain Maiden > Status Update

This whole book is one long OTT soap opera, so I just laughed off all the creepy stuff—nobody in this book is terribly likable, iirc, but I did enjoy the Isabel’s tenacity. Just wait until the French king shows up & starts testing out his wiles on Henry’s sons. 😂

Sarah Mac wrote: "This whole book is one long OTT soap opera, so I just laughed off all the creepy stuff—nobody in this book is terribly likable, iirc, but I did enjoy the Isabel’s tenacity. Just wait until the Fren..."

I took a closer look at your review after the prologue to try to get a better sense of what I'm in for. Somehow pederasty seems par for the course

Pretty much. It’s a book that awed me with its earnest portrayal of whackadoo WTFery, yet the cray happenings are just plausible enough that you can’t help thinking yeah, maybe it’s not too far removed from reality. It’s like reading a torrid Borgia book—we’ll never know for certain, so… *shrug*

I did not like those parts either but rest of book made up for it.

Mel wrote: "I did not like those parts either but rest of book made up for it."

It comes across as sad to me because she's so young and clearly has been groomed. In GoT it just made Cersei seem more villainous & twisted. I'm still at the beginning but enjoying the Pagan & religious aspects.

Well, I don't think it's the worst thing I've ever read. It's mostly just gore/horror, I can't endure. It does make you wonder how it got published. I would have been saying no.

I did skim or skipped most of it and I didn't get to the necro part. I wasn't interested in the general historical aspect. I only read Isabel's parts.

I gave it an extra star just for being edgy. But every time the cover pops up somewhere, I think to myself, I should really just leave books unrated more often.

And you thought I was exaggerating when I said I was generous with the stars lol

Ann wrote: "I did skim or skipped most of it and I didn't get to the necro part. I wasn't interested in the general historical aspect. I only read Isabel's parts.

I gave it an extra star just for being edgy. But every time the cover pops up somewhere, I think to myself, I should really just leave books unrated more often..."

The necro part is in the prologue, right at the top. It's easy to miss.

As much as I like to think I'm all for taboo stories, biological father-daughter incest isn't palatable to me. At least in Lolita Humbert wasn't related to her.

I'm struggling with this, tbh. To the point I'm tempted to dnf, and maybe wait till I'm in a better mood for something like this. The writing is nice ~ I like how the author describes interactions. She does fade to black scenes very very well. The info dumps are giving me a hard time. I'm sort of in the mood for reading something with some kind of romantic element, and right now I don't see it at all.

I'm also wondering how in the world it got published.

The necro part is in the prologue, right at the top. It's easy to miss."

Really? In the prologue maybe I did read it.

I'm also wondering how in the world it got published.
There's plenty of really bad erotica that was published in that era. But it was more of an underground thing.

I've never heard of Tudor Publishing before but it doesn't sound or look obscure. That cover isn't cheap and it was made to be seen.

It tests my commitment to no censorship and I'm just really glad I didn't find it when I was a kid. Growing up with hyper sexualized media was damaging enough. And of course, it's only gotten worse. I'm 36, when I was a kid pre-teen sex wasn't uncommon for girls and it was almost always with older guys.

I would have re-read this a million times and probably call Isabel my spirit animal or something equally stupid.

Ann wrote: "It tests my commitment to no censorship and I'm just really glad I didn't find it when I was a kid...I would have re-read this a million times and probably call Isabel my spirit animal or something equally stupid...."

😂😭😂 omg. I'm dead.

I cringe so hard at the thought of preteen girls getting their hands on dark romances, especially the new adult bully romances. I was completely bereft of bodice rippers growing up. Neither my grandmother or mother read them. My local library didn't have them. The most scandalous thing I probably ever read around that age was Philippa Gregory's series about Anne Boleyn. I was obsessed.

I cringe so hard at the thought of preteen girls getting their hands on dark romances, especially the new adult bully romances."
Seems like only yesterday Melita and I were talking about how shocking The Bronze Horseman was to contain explicit sex. Now it's a really nice sweet book in comparison.

When I was a teen my school had books about making good life choices. Like All My Dangerous Friends and Companions of the Night where the heroine decides dating a dangerous guy is bad and she walks away. They choose not to live in the dark and the wrong side of the law.

The most scandalous thing I probably ever read around that age was Philippa Gregory's series about Anne Boleyn. I was obsessed.
The worst I read was my brother's GoT books and most of it went over my head. Except for Daenerys' wedding night, I re-read that bit multiple times lol

My school had mainly YA books. Though they did carry Rebecca, I remember picking that up at my jr. high school library, thinking it would be scandalous because of the red cover and gold lettering. Of course, it wasn't scandalous in a salacious way at all and I was shook. My first gothic and I was addicted and in terrible shape until I discovered Jane Eyre & Wuthering Heights to scratch the itch. I wish Interview With A Vampire had been popular back then instead of Twilight. It's so emo I know I would've reread it a million times.

In high school there were a group of girls who passed around bodice rippers in class for the sex scenes ~ their version of porn since their parents monitored their computer usage 😂 Mine didn't - so I didn't feel the urge to read the poorly written sex scenes. I wish I could remember what BRs they passed around, but I remember them being badly written and it scared me away from the genre for years.