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Picked this up on the cheap as a nostalgia buy to see how the favorite romance author of my extreme youth had updated herself in the millennium. The answer is, she hadn’t. And romances written about ‘strong women� by second wave feminist authors are often fairly awful in the full light of new millennium day.

In this case, it’s noncon with bells on. The heroine is sold into sexual slavery by her (loving!) father to further his career. Then she’s raped by couthless forest men who buy slaves to serve as pregnancy vessels and then kill them. Next she meets a super handsome immortal guy who teaches her ‘trust� via group sex with his male pals (no swords cross because queer people don’t exist.) Finally, there’s the prince of the plains who forces her into an unwanted marriage.

Oddly, the sex itself is dull and pro-rata. The early Bertrice Small was erotic AF and constantly pushing the envelope. But this was phoning it in, with a lot of ‘manroot� thrusting not even worth skimming.

The heroine was the only strong, smart, leadery woman (aside from one other she winds up having to speak up for.) Sorry, but a lone strong, powerful woman isn’t a feminist story. ‘You’re not like other girls� is misogyny.

The story in the end turned out to be a preachy retro �70s allegory of capitalist colonizers (the men who sold the heroine into sexual slavery) versus peaceful indigenous people living in tune with the land (when not busy forcing women passing by into marriage.) With some random fae you barely see thrown in. Meh.

Lastly, omg did it need a solid edit. For example, the heroine repeats her backstory to every single person she meets, so, we have to read it over and again because she meets a lot of people. 30% of this noncon fest could have been cut without losing a thing.

I’ll always have a soft spot for the classic Bertrice Small books, which were also noncon as hell but at least sexy with it. However, I shouldn’t have followed her into the 21st century.