Book 80, 2024

[chez_jae]

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.


- The misogyny in this was...I have no words. The worst was Cael, who kept "whores" (Really? The author couldn't at least have called them "concubines"?) that he beat and raped when he was bored.
- The assassin sent to kill Mercy watches her for a time, wishing he could rape her first. Um, wow.
- Judah knew who Mercy was when he first met her. He found her attractive, yes, but for him the best part of banging her was for the notch on his belt. He deflowered a Raintree Princess!
- Never mind Judah's intent; I wanted to kill Mercy. It would have been a mercy killing for her and for all of womankind. She is a Raintree Princess! She is a powerful empath! Yet when faced with Judah once more, she becomes this spineless, weak-willed twit overcome with lust who is utterly incapable of resisting his awesome manliness. Is this actually a thing? Have I missed out on one of life's great mysteries? Because I sure as hell have never been so drawn to a man, desired him so much, that I literally could not keep a thought in my head nor control myself nor prevent my vag from landing on his dick. And this was how she reacted after he informed her he planned to murder her and take their daughter.
- Speaking of their daughter, Eve was described as a precocious child. Precocious child? More like obnoxious brat. She was uncommonly powerful (of course), defiant, and she actually attacked her mother when she didn't get her way. How precious! Pardon me while I gag.
- When Mercy and Judah succumbed to their mutual lust, it was rape. He raped her. She repeatedly said no, pushed him away and tried to escape, and he ran her down, tore her clothes off, knocked her onto the ground and raped her. And this is what the author had the nerve, the gall, to peddle as romance to the unsuspecting public. You are a horrible human being, Beverly Barton. This book not only did a massive disservice to the ideal of romance, it did a massive disservice to women.
- In the aftermath of this, did Mercy use her awesome powers to remove her attacker from the face of the earth? No, because he's the father of her child, and he's so attractive, and she's fairly certain she loves him and always has. Pardon me while I gag again.
- Here is a sampling of just how odious this book was:
♦ "Quiet! Control your tongue and your thoughts." The 1600's called--they want their uppity he-man attitude back.
♦ "You may wish me dead, but you won't kill me. And I won't kill you. Not until I've fucked you again." I don't know about the rest of you, but my little heart just goes all pitter-patter when a man says that to me!

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.