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This book is "illustrated," in that it has the author's photography throughout it, not directly of scenes that are taking place so much as a sort of conceptual visual accompaniment to those scenes. It's very different, and I'm not sure how much it worked for me. In fairness, I'm not a very visual person. I don't watch much television or many movies, and I don't convert written word into visuals. I certainly didn't dislike it, I just don't know that it heightened the experience of the book for me in the way that it might for someone who is more visually inclined.
In terms of the actual book, this is definitely something different, if that's what you're looking for. The concept here is that we've got our Duke, Grayson, who wasn't supposed to inherit, but his male family has all managed to die and so, well, he has. Grayson has been over in India practicing spycraft, and has brought back with him a man who is serving in the capacity of Grayson's valet even though Grayson seems to feel that's beneath him. This character appears to be in the book for the purpose of playing the "wise Indian" at times, and honestly, every time he was "on screen" I was super uncomfortable. I've talked before about the weird trope in historical romance of "I'm friendly with my valet, so I must not be a snob" and that's some of what's going on here, but there's also some very weird racial stuff that's just...unsettling.
Grayson is contracted to marry Cecilia, something left over as a deal between their fathers. Grayson's father was abusive toward him, and Cecilia's father appears to hate Grayson because his friend (the father) did. In any case, I don't think Cecilia is particularly enthusiastic about the marriage, if anything, there is a later suggestion that she is in league with her father to blackmail Grayson, but that's kind of all an aside because about a minute after going to talk with her, Cecilia hits her head and her body is inhabited by Lulu, a woman from Colorado who makes her money as a pro-Domme.
Where does Cecilia go? Who knows? Is she okay? Who knows? Does anyone seem to care? No, not so much. Is that more than a little disturbing? Yes, actually.
I think part of my issue was that I had a hard time letting that go. There are some interesting things going on with Lulu, say, the body dysphoria she's experiencing at being in another woman's body, but overwhelmingly, her reactions don't ring true to me as someone who, as far as we, the reader, are aware, is an adult who has been supporting herself independently in the 21st century. To whit, I'm never certain why she agrees to marry Grayson almost immediately. The text talks about her feeling safe with him, but...that's not a reason to marry someone you've just met? And he's made it clear that there are other options for her?
Nor do I ever end up feeling like I understand Lulu as a character particularly. For example, she has clear resistance to forming committed relationships (it's unclear that she's even left any FRIENDS behind), but we never learn why? That's not something people just come out of the womb like.
Grayson, in comparison, is well-fleshed out, but often feels like he's his need to submit and very little more? As though he has allowed that one "flaw" to overcome his ability to human?
I would also caution anyone going into this as an erotica, because I don't think it reads that way. There's not a particularly significant amount of sex despite much of the main couple's relationship compatibility appearing to be sexual, rather than intellectual or emotional. And it's fairly light on all things BDSM. I will say, I do appreciate that LeBlanc either practices or has actually done some legitimate footwork on understanding certain SM practices that I rarely see in fictional BDSM or kink representation.
This was a book I really wanted to like, because femdom is exceedingly rare in histrom, and SM femdom even moreso, but I just never really hooked in to either of these characters, and due to that, remained distracted by issues in the foreground that were bothering me.
In terms of the actual book, this is definitely something different, if that's what you're looking for. The concept here is that we've got our Duke, Grayson, who wasn't supposed to inherit, but his male family has all managed to die and so, well, he has. Grayson has been over in India practicing spycraft, and has brought back with him a man who is serving in the capacity of Grayson's valet even though Grayson seems to feel that's beneath him. This character appears to be in the book for the purpose of playing the "wise Indian" at times, and honestly, every time he was "on screen" I was super uncomfortable. I've talked before about the weird trope in historical romance of "I'm friendly with my valet, so I must not be a snob" and that's some of what's going on here, but there's also some very weird racial stuff that's just...unsettling.
Grayson is contracted to marry Cecilia, something left over as a deal between their fathers. Grayson's father was abusive toward him, and Cecilia's father appears to hate Grayson because his friend (the father) did. In any case, I don't think Cecilia is particularly enthusiastic about the marriage, if anything, there is a later suggestion that she is in league with her father to blackmail Grayson, but that's kind of all an aside because about a minute after going to talk with her, Cecilia hits her head and her body is inhabited by Lulu, a woman from Colorado who makes her money as a pro-Domme.
Where does Cecilia go? Who knows? Is she okay? Who knows? Does anyone seem to care? No, not so much. Is that more than a little disturbing? Yes, actually.
I think part of my issue was that I had a hard time letting that go. There are some interesting things going on with Lulu, say, the body dysphoria she's experiencing at being in another woman's body, but overwhelmingly, her reactions don't ring true to me as someone who, as far as we, the reader, are aware, is an adult who has been supporting herself independently in the 21st century. To whit, I'm never certain why she agrees to marry Grayson almost immediately. The text talks about her feeling safe with him, but...that's not a reason to marry someone you've just met? And he's made it clear that there are other options for her?
Nor do I ever end up feeling like I understand Lulu as a character particularly. For example, she has clear resistance to forming committed relationships (it's unclear that she's even left any FRIENDS behind), but we never learn why? That's not something people just come out of the womb like.
Grayson, in comparison, is well-fleshed out, but often feels like he's his need to submit and very little more? As though he has allowed that one "flaw" to overcome his ability to human?
I would also caution anyone going into this as an erotica, because I don't think it reads that way. There's not a particularly significant amount of sex despite much of the main couple's relationship compatibility appearing to be sexual, rather than intellectual or emotional. And it's fairly light on all things BDSM. I will say, I do appreciate that LeBlanc either practices or has actually done some legitimate footwork on understanding certain SM practices that I rarely see in fictional BDSM or kink representation.
This was a book I really wanted to like, because femdom is exceedingly rare in histrom, and SM femdom even moreso, but I just never really hooked in to either of these characters, and due to that, remained distracted by issues in the foreground that were bothering me.
