
The Price of Desire by Jo Goodman is a historical romance novel that delves into themes of abuse, dark secrets, and outside forces working against the main characters, Olivia and Griffin. The story follows Olivia, who is left as payment for her brother's gambling debt, and Griffin, a Viscount who accepts her into his home. As their bond deepens, they navigate through past traumas, mysterious pasts, and enemies, ultimately finding love and security in each other. Goodman's writing style is described as deep, layered, and complex, with characters that are true to themselves and engaging dialogue that sets her apart in the genre.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
There are high content warnings related to child molestation, sexual assault, and trauma, which may be triggering for some readers.
Has Romance?
There is a high level of romance present, with deep emotional engagement between the main characters.
From The Publisher:
A proper lady finds herself under the care of a sexy scoundrel in this Regency romance by the USA Today bestselling author of To Bedevil a Duke. Olivia Cole is devastated to learn that her ne'er-do-well brother has promised her to the operator of a London gaming hall as payment of his debts.
Olivia accepts her fate--even if it means that her reputation will suffer from living among rogues and gamblers. But when she meets the sexy and mysterious Griffin Wright-Jones, Viscount Breckenridge, Olivia has more than just her good name to worry about—for he rouses in her wanton thoughts she's never dared entertain—until now.
Griffin wears the scars of his life on his striking face. Although he wants Olivia like no other woman before, he could never force her to share his bed. But with each passing night, Griffin and Olivia's resolve weakens until finally they take their greatest gamble on one night of reckless pleasure
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1 comment(s)
This is my first Jo Goodman book, and I was definitely not disappointed. I will definitely have to snag more of her books.
Honestly, I am a bit shocked that I responded as well to this story as I did, because it has a couple of story points that don't normally play well to me. I am not sure that I can explain, at this point, why they didn't rub me as wrongly as they most often do. And I certainly can't go into it without getting into spoilers, so... just to be really brief and somewhat generic:
The premise of the story (as in, no more spoilers than you get by reading the blurb on the back cover) - this is usually not a story type that sits well with me. Yes, of
course the bulk of the blame lies with whatever family member put the heroine into this situation, but the hero also starts off with a large black mark against him in my books. It is shameful for whatever douchebag relation of the heroine's to decide to trade her away in payment of his debt. It is only marginally less shameful for the hero to agree.
In this case, it just played out differently. I really -
really - don't feel like Griffin took advantage. And let me tell you, this is a topic that I trend towards oversensitivity on. He wasn't happy to have her there. He largely set her into a room and tried to pretend she wasn't there, as much as he was able. He was suspicious that her brother was taking advantage of him (by assuming that Griffin would never take advantage of Olivia).
Much of the first half of the book had the hero and heroine dancing around each other, as they tried to figure each other out. I really loved being along for the ride, and it was great fun, spiked with some intense emotional moments.
The other bit that I tend to dislike in fiction is sexual abuse. I am not going to go into detail, in order to avoid spoilers. I would just like to have a more general conversation on the subject. The problem I have with it is that - more often than not - authors will use it for shock value, and then when it becomes inconvenient, they will choose to remove it as a factor. In that way, I don't feel that it is handled respectfully, more often than not. Also - this is a tangent, forgive me, but it is rooted in an argument that I had with someone recently - let me clarify why I don't like for it to be shrugged off by the character / author. It is because, in reality, it is
not ever shrugged off. I know that books are not reality. I know they are a world of make-believe. But as someone who has dedicated a significant amount of her life volunteering at a battered women's shelter, I am also wary of expectations. So very many women think there is something wrong with them because they CAN'T just shrug it off. I cannot - will not - tolerate having that reinforced by "strong" heroines that suffer a rape and then move on with their lives after a brief cry. No, I don't want a wailing victim - nothing is served by the perception that one's life is over after an assault, either - but I do want recognition of the fact that
healing takes work. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't make you weak if you need time.
Sorry for the tangent, but I felt I had to clarify, because I have been accused of wanting my heroines to be weak, co-dependent and emo. And that is so far from my mind that it is laughable.
Anyway. I felt that this book, on the other hand,
largely handled it well (I have a couple of caveats... I will get to that).
Olivia's abuse is in her distant past - most of it 12 years ago. It still impacts her, in that it has shaped the woman she grew into, but it doesn't leave her perpetually victimized. Olivia is
strong - one of the strongest HR heroines I have read. She has learned to cope, and how to defend herself. And with Griffin, she learns how to heal.
I feel like the author gave this subject the gravity it deserves, in terms of how it affected the characters. Further, I appreciated that the author gave weight to the fact that there are all kinds of abuse, and they are all equally unforgivable.
Griffin's first wife not just took advantage, but was emotionally abusive to him. She was clearly physically abusive to Nat.
All of these characters were hurt, and had every reason to be bitter, selfish, defensive or cold. Yet none of them were. They were all able to breathe, despite the past that could so easily suffocate them, and they all strove for something more in their lives. That made this book beautiful, to me.
Now for my caveats. I can't stand for there to not be some level of justice. This seems to particularly be common in HR - "winning" seems to mean moving on with your life. As in
illigitimi non carborundum - "don't let the bastards get you down." I am all for turning the other cheek, but in my fiction I want some justice, dammit.
The fact that nearly every villain in this book walked away in the end ticks me off. In my opinion, the only ones who "paid" in any manner were the least of them: Crocker and Mrs. Christie? They get sent away or face the penal colony? Yeah, what they did was shitty, but it was
nowhere near the level of what had been done by Sir Hadrien or the people running that girls' school. It feels like punishment was heaped on those two in part because the most disgusting criminals were above the law. And you know, maybe that's true in a historical sense, but I don't give a shit. There have to be consequences for what those people did. Frankly, I was appalled that Griffin would even meet with Sir Hadrien, and later, when they were in the carriage on the way to Crocker's, I wish he had just killed the man and had done with it. What Sir Hadrien did was so loathsome that my brain can't even really process it. The fact that his only comeuppance was having to tolerate his daughter in society (oh boohoo, I am fucking crying for you) is unacceptable to me.
And that's why it gets 4 stars from me. Though I accept that it may not be entirely accurate in a historical sense, when it comes to my reading entertainment, there has to be some sense of justice or karma. There must be consequences to horrific behavior. In the end, it isn't really a complete HEA for me unless there is some balance to the world.
That aside, the story was a delight. I loved Olivia, loved Griffin. Loved the secondary cast, loved Nat. The emotional interplay between them as they figured each other out... it was beautiful. I loved that Griffin was the romantic one, while Olivia was pragmatic. I loved how smart they both were, how they figured things out even faster than I did. I really, really enjoyed the book. I look forward to multiple re-reads, as this one is certainly a keeper.
What can you read after
The Price Of Desire?
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