I wanted to like Regency romance Take Me by Lucy Monroe, I really did. The book seems to have good intentions. The heroine, Calantha, is a widow who was battered in her first marriage. When she is introduced Monroe provides some insight into what it took for her to survive, how the marriage damaged her psyche, and how she moves forward in the shadow of her past.
Unfortunately the book does not do this topic justice. Calantha's character arc consists of her learning to not mind when her love interest, Jared, treats her badly, scares her, believes that she might be a child murderer, refuses to impart important information to her because that would require them putting off having sex, and is generally a jerk -- but not as much of a jerk as her first, more physically abusive husband, so it's okay.
Calantha's virginity coming into her marriage with Jared also struck a wrong note. I understand that it is practically a requirement that Regency romance heroines are virgins, but it made little sense against her back story. We are told that her first husband refused to have sex with her as a method of destroying her self-esteem. From a character-development point of view, it is certainly an easier journey for a woman to learn to enjoy sex if she was not previously sexually assaulted -- but I still could not suspend my disbelief here.
Finally, there is a kidnapping very early in this book. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that kidnappings in Regency romances always, always make me roll my eyes. But since this one came so early, I thought perhaps it was just a way to tick off this plot point and move on. Alas, no, the last third of the book is devoted to a different kidnapping.
This is one to skip.
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