Book 80, 2024

Raintree: Sanctuary by Beverly Barton

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



There was not much left to read of my book at work; therefore, I brought it home and finished it today. I had suffered long enough, believe me. The book was Raintree: Sanctuary by Beverly Barton. It's part of Silhouette's "Nocturne" line, and it's the final book in the entire, horrid "Raintree" series, written by different authors. I was repulsed by the first two, and this one was worse, which I would not have thought possible. Main characters are Mercy Raintree, a Princess of the Raintree, and Judah Ansara, the Ansara Dranir (which is their ruler, I guess). The princess and the evil villain, let's call them.

Mercy has a secret: her beloved child, Eve, is the daughter of a rival Ansara, whom Mercy spent 36 hours with seven years ago. When she discovered Judah was Ansara, Mercy fled. Only Eve's nanny knows the truth about her parentage.

Judah knows the day will come when he will lead the Ansara into battle against the Raintree clan, intending to kill them all and reign supreme. His half-brother, Cael, grows impatient and wants to attack now. Judah also suspects that Cael is moving and maneuvering against him in an effort to take over as the Dranir. When Judah learns that Cael dispatched assassins to take out the Raintree royalty, including Mercy, he is incensed. Mercy is his to kill. He arrives at the edge of the Raintree sanctuary in time to save Mercy from the assassin and take her to her home base to recover. There, Judah meets Mercy's daughter, Eve, and realizes she is his child. He immediately plans to take Eve back to his people, knowing he'll have to do it over Mercy's dead body. No matter, Judah means to kill her anyway.

So this is what apparently passed for romance in...*checks publication date*...2007. 2007?! This seemed straight out of 1977, when such codswallop was popular. I'm looking at you, Rosemary Rogers, and that gawd-awful Sweet Savage Love (1974). Did we really used to think abusive, hateful, cold-hearted men who mistreated women were sexy? Or romantic? Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.

( Read on for my lengthy tirade about how despicable this book was...if you dare )

Favorite line: She would fight the devil for her daughter's soul.

Reading this was like slogging through raw sewage. I could actually feel my face twisting with disgust. The most prevalent reaction it engendered in me was a combination of contempt and revulsion. If you're wondering why I read the entire thing, I guess I'd liken it to a train wreck. It was horrifying yet I was compelled to see it to the bitter end. Now that I finished it (Go, team me!), I am convinced I deserve an award. An Olympic-style medal for my mettle. I also need some brain bleach. This gets ZERO STARS. I was forced to give it one star because the rating system won't allow me to give ZERO STARS. I read this so I could warn you not to. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of it.

You know what else hacks me off? I set a goal to read 80 books this year, and this is the one that met my goal. Unfair! Stupid, loathsome book.