I think that Mrs. Richmond crossed the line with some of her dialogue and situations regarding sex and marriage with this story. To give some background, Susannah Underhill is a mail order bride who moves from Detroit to meet her new and unknown husband in the Dakota territories. So far, so good. Soon the reader finds out how insecure Susannah is with her husband...and yes, that's probably not unusual considering he's a total stranger. There's no 'getting-to-know-you' episode, but they're thrown together alone in his sod house and have to learn to get along. There's nobody else around for miles. Probably not an unusual set of circumstances in the 1800's if you find yourself a mail order bride.
The husband is very comfortable in his own skin, so to speak, and is anxious to consummate the marriage. Of course he is. He's been alone way too long, and conveniently has found himself a wife. He's like a big, likable puppy dog, but I feel that the author is very blunt and excessive with her handling of this issue. I just don't think that sex needs to be handled so casually and indelicately. Call me old-fashioned, but I'll stand by my first impression.
Seriously?
I think that women have become so used to reading about intimate issues in women's fiction, that to have it so blatantly represented by a Christian publisher gives us the big green light to read things that are best left to the imagination. And to put more icing on the cake, our daughter, who is unmarried and in her early twenties read the book (well, most of it) before I got my hands on it and was offended as well. I dunno. Used to, you could count on a Christian publisher being a bit more discreet and tasteful with their writers. What happened?
"Susannah wrinkled her nose, tickled by the curly hair on her husband's chest. She slid down a couple inches to his belly, where his hair lay flat, mink brown against his ivory skin. Her body stretched across his, as liquid and lazy as the Sheyenne River."
Seriously?
I think that women have become so used to reading about intimate issues in women's fiction, that to have it so blatantly represented by a Christian publisher gives us the big green light to read things that are best left to the imagination. And to put more icing on the cake, our daughter, who is unmarried and in her early twenties read the book (well, most of it) before I got my hands on it and was offended as well. I dunno. Used to, you could count on a Christian publisher being a bit more discreet and tasteful with their writers. What happened?
(this book was provided free for me to review from litfusegroup)
