Three historicals

The trouble is. I don't like heroes who use hos. First. It's generally disrespectful to women. If the hero was a decent sort of guy, he'd give the ho some money without using her body. Most ho's in those days were full of disease...which they passed on to the guys who used them. Very unpleasant for the usually nice respectable heroine. Also. It doesn't say much about the social skills of the hero if the only way he can get a woman is by paying for her services. How can such a person be heroic?

So...

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase.

The heroine starts out fairly sparkling and independent minded. Then she marries Dain and turns into some kind of doormat. So what he's had a rough childhood. He's verbally abusive, drags her around physically, bangs her practically in public...and she says nothing. And that was all before the sub-plot about the illegitimate child of Dain. dnf.

Scandalous by Night by Barbara Pierce.

Another man-ho. Plus. This novel featured endless characters with such strange names. Often it was difficult to tell who was a guy and who was a female. Couples from previous novels are introduced far too quickly in the plot. The hero came across like a mean-spirited bully to the young heroine. Also. A stepmother has carnal relations with both her stepsons. But thats just padding for the novel. The father knows but does nothing. Why on earth does the heroine live in a house where she knows that sort of thing is going on and is slapped by the stepmother as well. So what her own parents are dull. They are not abusive. She should have moved back to her own home. The hero, generally, is knee-deep in sordid degeneracy and is just seeking to carry on the cycle of abuse by courting the heroine, who, I think, was his full cousin. I got to page 91 and realised the story was making my skin crawl. Revolting...dnf.

Again. This books shows exactly why I started my blog. None of the reviews I read even mentioned all that intra-family biblical relations stuff.

Before the Scandal by Suzanne Enoch.

At the very start of the novel, the hero, estranged from his family, returns to his ancestral home because of a letter full of lies written by his younger sister. Again he says nothing to her. Which shows him to be a fool. I couldn't maintain interest after that. Boring. dnf.

Neither Harry in Rendevous nor Ravenstone in Dangerous used prostitutes. Simon in Enchanted did and he was made to suffer for it. And that's how it should be.