Chills
I started reading Heather Boyd’s Chills because of its title, which seemed unusual for an historical romance. Well, the title turned out to be most apropos. I was chilled through by this long-drawn-out description of manipulation and abuse masquerading as romance, and I hope never to read anything like it again.
The story begins with Constance Grange discovering that her mother’s gambling has left them deeply in debt. Constance’s former guardian Jack is the extremely wealthy Marquess of Ettington, but because Constance finds him arrogant and bossy, she doesn’t want to appeal to him for help. Plus, she’s twenty-one, so she decides to find someone rich to marry.
Then she gets a letter from Jack’s widowed sister Virginia, inviting her to London. Virginia has always been kind to Constance, sending her expensive gifts each Christmas. So Constance joins her in London, only to find Jack determined that she won’t wed without his approval, and he doesn’t approve of any men for her.
Where to start with Jack? In a nutshell: he’s been writing to Constance for some time but signing the letters with his sister’s name; he sent the expensive gifts under his sister’s name, and he spies on Constance when she’s talking to people. He hates it when she befriends another man, and the mere thought of her marrying someone else drives him into a rage.
Fury, unlike anything he’d known before, had lashed at him. He had held back from throttling her by the skin of his teeth.
He doesn’t want to marry her himself because his sister’s husband beat her during their marriage. I’m not sure which he’s afraid he’ll become, the abuser or the victim, if he marries. Either way, though, he practically breaks out in hives at the prospect of having a wife, but this doesn’t stop him from invading Constance’s personal space, frightening her, touching her in public every chance he gets, and shaking her in private.
He tortured her for a moment longer before practically throwing her from him. She staggered to find her balance, wrapped her arms across her aching chest, and stared at the floor.
In this story, men show they are in love by bullying, grabbing and pawing women. Actually, wait, in this story, men show they are men by bullying, grabbing and pawing women. Jack’s friend Lord Daventry, the hero of the next book in the series, tells Constance he’d like to give her the spanking she deserves for being so obtuse she doesn’t realize Jack is in love with her. In lieu of a spanking, he shoves her against a wall. Virginia’s admirer Lord Hallam – who had a first-hand view of what she went through during her marriage – makes sexually suggestive remarks to her, considers getting her drunk so she’ll loosen up, and squeezes her backside while they’re dancing. Remembering what her husband did to her, Virginia faints. So Hallam carries her upstairs, gives her a strong drink, and undresses her for bed.
Her mind screamed in fear, but thanks to her consumption of spirits, her body refused to listen.
Of course Hallam is another hero, so her mind had better get used to screaming in silence. On one occasion, Virginia even becomes a punching bag for Constance, because when Virginia wears an ugly orange gown in the hopes of dissuading Hallam, Constance rips it off.
She grabbed two handfuls of dress high at the back, and tugged hard. As she suspected, it was an old dress. The stitching was no match for her determination… Ignoring Virginia’s strangled “no,” she pulled on the ties that bound her.
This is the first time I’ve read a romance where a woman’s dress was literally torn off her by another woman. Virginia later confides that her abusive husband used to forcibly strip her this way. Does Constance apologize? No, why should she? She only tore her dearest friend’s clothes off for the best of motives, to make Virginia put on a pretty dress instead so she can please Hallam and have yet another abusive husband!
The writing is no better. The author seems to be trying to avoid using characters’ names too frequently, so Constance sometimes thinks of Jack as “the fair-haired marquess”, “the stiff-backed marquess” and “the long-legged man” (if, God forbid, he has children, will he be Daddy-Long-Legs?). Constance’s nickname is Pixie, and in any scene from Jack’s point of view, the narrative constantly refers to her as Pixie. Though Jack varies it by thinking of her as “the little woman”, “the pint-sized woman” and “the tiny woman”, so I nicknamed her the Incredible Shrinking Woman.
With its helpless heroines who need to be carried to bed after falls and faints, and heroes who smash through doors if said heroines are being abused by men who aren’t the heroes, there is nothing good I can say about Chills. The blurb should include a warning about the sheer quantity of aggression towards women, but since it doesn’t, consider this review a red alert. I only give F grades for books that are offensive, and in this case, I wish there was an even lower one.
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Dear Authors: Violent heroes are Not Cool.
Caz comment “I don’t think it takes much to earn that particular moniker” has got me researching.
I found an interesting article on getting a book onto the usa bestseller list. https://leaderspress.com/how-to-get-on-the-usa-today-bestseller-list/
What I did’t know: The USA Today list includes 150 books in any given week, so I suppose if one of your books hits the list once on 150, you’re a USA today bestselling author.
And being part of an anthology counts, so it may not come as a huge surprise, that at least one of Heather Boyd’s USA Today bestsellers was part of a box sale of romance christmas stories (13 authors, 13 novellas).
So I think I agree with Caz.
Wow, Katja. You really did your homework! It sounds like being a USA Today bestseller can happen easily with a little bit of market manipulation.
This is also a common complaint/praise of KDP depending on who you ask. Since borrows through Kindle Unlimited count toward sales rank, it is quite easy to make an Amazon Top 100 list if the niche is small enough- even if you have sold only a handful of copies. I know this from personal experience and can tell you I would rather have the *sales* than the *rank.* But, believe it or not, sales rankings used to be even more wonky. Before they revamped their system, even free promotion books got counted toward sales rank, which really skewed statistics. Now there are separate Top 100 lists for purchased e-books and free e-books, which makes better sense.
Thanks again for taking the time to research this. I try to learn something new every day.
Thank you, Ms. Perera for plowing through this abuse-fest and giving a thorough review.
Yes, this is self-published. I just checked on Amazon and saw that the e-book edition is from “Amazon Digital Services,” (meaning KDP) and that the paperback publisher is “Heather Boyd.” There are some 1-star reviews but she has an average of 4-stars, so there actually is a market for this kind of stuff. *Sigh* And the fact her bio says she’s a USA Today bestselling author…? I’ve never read any of her work, so I won’t make a judgment here. Oh, and she’s giving it away for free right now. Make of that what you will.
“Actually, wait, in this story, men show they are men by bullying, grabbing and pawing women.” Ugh! If the guys want to beat somebody up, can’t it at least be the villain? Of course, that’s kind of hard to do when the hero *is* the villain.
But seeing some of the sickening passages here gives hope to me and other romance self-publishers out there that it is hard to do much worse.
I think pretty much everyone is a “USA Today Bestselling Author”… I don’t think it takes much to earn that particular moniker!
I went on a historical romance jag some time ago and downloaded a lot of free books from Amazon. You get what you pay for, I suppose. I like enemies-to-lovers romances so I thought I’d enjoy this, but I didn’t think the “enemies” part would be so literal.
But yes, there is absolutely a market for this. I read some reviews of this book on Goodreads, and most readers there seemed to be fine with the level of aggression/violence in the story. One of them included a nice pithy description, though : “[The hero] reminded me of a boy who took the wings off butterflies just because he could.”
“But yes, there is absolutely a market for this. I read some reviews of this book on Goodreads, and most readers there seemed to be fine with the level of aggression/violence in the story.” And I suppose for some readers, this is a milder example.
I remember reading a somewhat disturbing diatribe from a self-published erotica author (or it may have been a podcast, can’t remember now) about the issue of violence in romance/erotica. She was talking specifically about how far you can go publishing on KDP because their decency rules are so vague. Basically, she outlined all the taboos to avoid getting banned, tips for sales, etc. But the scary part was, she said if explicit rape stories/non-con/dubcon were allowed to be published on KDP, they would probably be one of the best selling erotica niches. Apparently, it is a HUGE fetish market. Make of that what you will. Perhaps “Chills” appeals to readers who enjoy these kinds of brutal stories. I really don’t want to dissect this further, but I thought the erotica writer’s insights were morbidly interesting.
“One of them included a nice pithy description, though : ‘[The hero] reminded me of a boy who took the wings off butterflies just because he could.'” Ugh! So not for me.
“And I suppose for some readers, this is a milder example.”
I believe you could pick the most abusive, controlling, manipulative and psychopathic hero out there, and you would find at least a few readers who think he’s a sweetheart, perhaps because he wiped away a drop of the heroine’s blood like Bill did for the Bride in “Kill Bill”. I mean, in that film, you could tell that shooting her in the head hurt him terribly!
The likelihood of there being a huge market for such stories is interesting, given that this week’s Ask AAR topic is about consent. But case in point : P. L. Nunn’s fantasy m/m “Bloodraven” got a recommended read (graded A) on Dear Author despite the fact that there are explicit, violent and painful rape scenes. But like in Catherine Coulter’s old skool romances, the rapist uses lube.
“Kill Bill”. I mean, in that film, you could tell that shooting her in the head hurt him terribly!” Ha ha! Great use of sarcasm. And I love how Quentin Tarantino keeps coming up as a topic on a romance blog/review site.
“I believe you could pick the most abusive, controlling, manipulative and psychopathic hero out there, and you would find at least a few readers who think he’s a sweetheart” Ugh! I know just what you mean. But if people want to read that kind of stuff, that’s their business.
“this week’s Ask AAR topic is about consent.” Yes, I saw that and made a couple of comments on that thread already. I was actually wondering the other day if AAR was going to broach the subject. It’s a great starting point for a lot of interesting discussions.
“P. L. Nunn’s fantasy m/m “Bloodraven” got a recommended read (graded A) on Dear Author despite the fact that there are explicit, violent and painful rape scenes.” I haven’t heard anything about that one, but I probably won’t be reading it.
Oddly enough, I’ve heard that a writer can actually get away with committing more sexual violence on the page against characters in a traditionally published work than in a self-published one, particularly if the traditional author’s work is classified as “fantasy” or “literary fiction.” Case in point, Amazon sells the “Game of Thrones” books despite their on-page sexual violence (I haven’t read any of them, so this is hearsay), but I know of a KDP erotica author who got banned just for having the villain of his story feel up a woman against her will- which sounded quite tame compared to some of the scenes I’ve heard about from “Game of Thrones.” Anyway, this erotica author had to rework the scene to eliminate non-consensual groping before his book could be republished. It’s an odd double standard that I’ve had to navigate in my own work. I wasn’t going to include on-page rape in one of my m/m novellas regardless, but I’ve heard that even the word “rape” can get a self-published erotica banned. (I’m told they have software to look for red flag words.) So I’ve had to write about the off-page attack euphemistically, kind of like making a movie in the Hays Code era. Also, fears of being banned have prevented me from putting explicit content warnings at the front of the e-book. I only say something like, “Some plot elements may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.” I have mixed feelings about trigger warnings, but it would have been nice if I could have added a more specific line in my intro as a courtesy to readers who may be put off by rape as a plot point. (Even though I try to handle the character’s ongoing feelings and trauma respectfully. It’s certainly *not* for titillation.)
“But like in Catherine Coulter’s old skool romances, the rapist uses lube.” I can’t even begin to unpack that…
Heh. If it seems like I say too much about Quentin Tarantino films, I could go on and on about A Song of Ice and Fire (the books on which Game of Thrones is based), because I’ve read them all.
The books are odd in that way. They have some well-written and wonderfully realized women who do *not* exhibit the internalized misogyny of the show (which takes the cliched route where one marker of a Strong Woman is that she despises female-coded activities and her own gender). It’s the only fantasy series I know where we don’t see the perspective of the young hero who becomes a king, because we read his story from his mother’s viewpoint instead.
But at the same time, there is a lot of sexualized violence against women. It’s not what I consider explicit on-page, and in fact the first sex scene shows the woman directly consenting.. On the other hand, at the time she is thirteen (fourteen tops, I can’t recall exactly). Plus, it could be argued that since she’s been married off to this guy against her will, and is entirely dependent on his favor in a patriarchal society, what choice does she have except to consent?
George R. R. Martin has a few too many very young brides, although even in medieval times, people recognized that it wasn’t good for a girl’s health if she started having babies at fourteen.
But getting back to KDP, I had no idea that even the word “rape” might be banned. If so, then yeah, I agree that you can get away with this if you’re trade published. I’m pretty sure I never worried about including the word “rape” in a story when my books were released by Samhain.
Thanks for outlining some of the differences between “A Song of Ice and Fire” and the TV show “Game of Thrones.” Based on your descriptions, he *definitely* gets away with more in his stories than a self-published erotica author would. I say “self-published EROTICA” author, because I am told the unwritten rules for this genre are more stringent, but that you can also get in trouble if you don’t declare your sex-charged book to be such. Not that Mr. Martin’s work would get an erotica classification anyway, even if he were self-published. It gets complicated; that’s all I can say.
“But getting back to KDP, I had no idea that even the word “rape” might be banned” Again, it gets complicated and the rules seem to vary. I have heard many times that you definitely do NOT want to put the word “rape” in your keywords. That’s a surefire way to get your book banned until you remove the offensive term. As for actually putting the word in your story, it’s one of those treading on thin ice things. Case in point, I only used the word once in the sixth book in my series in a non-sexual context (one of the two heroes flippantly blurts out the term, among other things, when he’s getting badly beaten at cards and understandably wounds his boyfriend with his stupid outburst- long story.) I felt like I was taking a big chance though, and that book took a day or two longer than the others to get approved. The approval time may have been unrelated, but you never know. But boy, was I sweating it out!
Speaking of Samhain, I noticed your books are out of print. Are you going to be republishing them? I always think it’s kind of sad when books go out of print, especially in the 21st century when books technically don’t have to go out of print with POD.
Yes, looking at it from another angle, imagine a self-published author with a sexually explicit romance where the heroine was thirteen (I checked my copy of A Game of Thrones). I think even if the author set the story in a world where this was acceptable, it just wouldn’t fly. Martin mentions his character’s age only after several chapters, perhaps to avoid turning readers off.
I’m glad you got your book approved. Amazon needs some way to curate the millions of self-published titles submitted to them, but I’m not certain variable rules and banning of certain words is a good way to go about it. Makes me wonder what would have happened if Joyce Carol Oates had sent in “Rape : A Love Story” to KDP.
I’ve thought about self-publishing my Samhain books, but I’d want to rewrite parts of them first (I’m a bit of a perfectionist), and then I’d have to figure out how to get the formatting and cover art done. Also, those books were fantasy romance, whereas the manuscripts I’m working on now are historical romance, so I don’t think self-publishing my backlist would necessarily give my current work a boost. But I’d like to have at least one or two of those books back in the field eventually. I had a lot of fun imagining and writing them.
“Yes, looking at it from another angle, imagine a self-published author with a sexually explicit romance where the heroine was thirteen (I checked my copy of A Game of Thrones). I think even if the author set the story in a world where this was acceptable, it just wouldn’t fly.” Yeah, sexually active characters under the age of 18, whether “consensual” or not, are a HUGE no-no. There’s a reason why self-published erotica authors usually put on their copyright/disclaimers page something like, “All characters depicted in this story are consenting adults over 18 years of age. No sexually active characters are related by blood…” etc. And that means no plot moppets either, even if they are nowhere near activities that should only be for consenting adults. It would be hard to imagine a mainstream novelist having to write so many disclaimers in the front matter, but there you go. But don’t be scared off by any of this. It sounds like you write fantasy romance rather than erotica, so if you choose to use KDP to bring your books back into action, I think you’d be fine- plot moppets or not.
“I’m glad you got your book approved.” Aw, thanks! I am too. Unfortunately, novellas are not a huge market. So I have to force myself to write an erotica short story before creating another adventure for Joey & Johnny. But it’s like having a little incentive/reward for myself, so it works out. (Shameless plug over…)
“Amazon needs some way to curate the millions of self-published titles submitted to them, but I’m not certain variable rules and banning of certain words is a good way to go about it.” I think KDP is dancing a fine line between wanting to present a somewhat wholesome image of themselves while still allowing authors to create stories that are likely to sell. And let’s be realistic. Most of what’s going to sell on KDP is probably work in the erotica genre. So they’re unlikely to ban erotica completely for financial reasons, but they’re also unlikely to create a specific list of do’s and don’ts for the genre as this would demonstrate they are totally okay with publishing smut, which could hurt their public image. (For the record, I use the term “smut” with the utmost respect. I sure write enough of it…)
Weirdly enough, publishers in general seem to have no problem with violence as opposed to sex, which I’m sure is a cultural thing. George R.R. Martin said people in this culture hardly bat an eye at a description of an ax splitting somebody’s head open but describing consenting adults having intercourse somehow causes a moral panic- even though the latter tends to be a lot more pleasant. Go figure.
“I’d have to figure out how to get the formatting and cover art done.” KDP has really simplified their formatting process for both e-books and paperbacks. They have free downloadable programs and templates that are easy to use and fully compatible with MS Word. And they do look surprisingly professional. But cover art is still the big problem. I use their free stock images, which I realize can look cheap, but being in the erotica racket, I can sort of get away with it. (Few people leave reviews on erotica titles, and the ones who do never seem to mention the covers- even though some of them look atrocious.) And hey! At least you have the advantage of being previously edited. So that’s something. And with self-publishing, you can go back and edit to your heart’s content.
“Also, those books were fantasy romance, whereas the manuscripts I’m working on now are historical romance, so I don’t think self-publishing my backlist would necessarily give my current work a boost.” Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to say. Or perhaps you could go the Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb route and have different names for different genres.
“But I’d like to have at least one or two of those books back in the field eventually. I had a lot of fun imagining and writing them.” I know just what you mean. Being a writer, although rough at times, is SUPER FUN! And yes, daydreaming is part of our job. How cool is that?
Good luck with both fantasy romance and historical romance! I don’t know about you, but some of these “F” rated books on AAR give me hope.
“No sexually active characters are related by blood”? That would rule out A Song of Ice and Fire if it had been self-published, because one of the explicit scenes is between a brother and sister. They’re both adults, which is the only non-messed up thing about the situation. That said, it’s also clear Martin isn’t presenting their relationship as a good thing that’s going to have a happy ending, whereas if this were erotica, maybe the author-on-board factor might be a problem.
As for cultural handling of violence vs. sex, I grew up in the Middle East, where television is regulated by the government, so even a kiss between a married couple on a show was censored. But if the couple had pulled out guns and killed each other, viewers could enjoy the entire experience.
I post on a discussion board for writers, and every now and then someone asks about whether they should write explicit sex scenes in their romance. And nearly always, there will be some replies along the lines of “I already know how people have sex” (because everyone in the world has sex the same way?) or “I prefer romances to focus on character development” (because sex never shows this?). One of the writers offering this advice wrote graphic violence, but said he/she found sex scenes unnecessary because the way the characters behaved the next morning showed whether they’d had good sex. Well, in that case, why describe a man being disemboweled? The fact that people attend his funeral in the next scene shows he’s dead.
Sometimes the advice given to writers is that good sex scenes are about emotions, not mechanics, so the writers shouldn’t describe what hands or mouths do. It’s as though you can have love and romance, or you can have dirty physical sex, but never the twain shall meet. I couldn’t imagine someone posting, “I want to write a fight scene, but I’m worried it might seem gratuitous” and receiving an answer that good fight scenes are about the anger and fear of the people involved, therefore such scenes should not mention what guns, knives or fists do. Of course, the difference is that, as Martin said, brutal violence doesn’t cause a moral panic the way consensual sex does.
I tried self-publishing a fantasy romance novella a long time ago and had a difficult time with the formatting, so I’m glad to hear KDP’s system makes this easier. Even cover art, while I’d have to pay for it, would be easier for a historical romance. A woman roughly matching the heroine’s description in a period dress, and there you go. I still hope to query with the historical romance I just completed, but it’s great that as writers, we have other options.
Best of luck with your writing too!
“Of course, the difference is that, as Martin said, brutal violence doesn’t cause a moral panic the way consensual sex does.” Odd, isn’t it? In a number of European countries, the attitude is just the opposite. For example, I’ve been told you can show a woman’s nipples on daytime television, billboards, and magazine advertisements in France, but violence is judged much more harshly. And just from limited anecdotal experience, I’ve noticed that Italian cinema has little problem combining sex AND violence. I remember seeing clips of some gangster film a long time ago that probably wouldn’t pass muster in other European countries because of the violence, nor in America because of the sex. Again, this is all anecdotal, but I thought it was an interesting observation.
“I couldn’t imagine someone posting, ‘I want to write a fight scene, but I’m worried it might seem gratuitous.'” Yep. And there’s even a book out there forwarded by Stephen King and David Morrell (author of “First Blood”) about how to use/write about weapons and injuries properly in fiction. I saw it in a bookstore. This isn’t a criticism, by the way. It actually looked like a cool book. But can you imagine the moral outcry if there were prominently displayed books in the bookstore on how to write sex correctly/effectively in books? Like you said, a lot of authors won’t even touch the subject except to say it should be exclusively about the emotions. Oh, please! But, that is the author and reader’s choice. Frankly, I’d rather read detailed descriptions about the leads disrobing than disemboweling each other.
“’I prefer romances to focus on character development’ (because sex never shows this?).” Absolutely! Certainly in erotica and erotic romance, the majority of the character development occurs through the sex scenes by definition. But this can be true of other genres as well. Depending on the personality of the characters involved, sex can show a great deal of character development. A normally tough guy, for example, may demonstrate a tender, vulnerable side of himself in the privacy of the bedroom with a partner he trusts. Conversely, a normally shy, timid hero might exhibit unexpected confidence in that same trusting atmosphere. And those are just a couple of examples of how things could play out between the leads. Since I tend to make things up as I go along, *I* often make discoveries about my characters when I move them into the bedroom (or bathroom, motel room, van, wherever…)
Going back to violence, there seems to be a big thing now where people are getting annoyed with the lack of “realism.” Gone are the days when the Western hero gets shot in the shoulder for plot reasons and is fine in the next episode or book in the series. Nope, now we have to get into the gruesome, realistic details to justify writing the story. Hey, I’m all for doing research, but sometimes an episodic wound is just an episodic wound. You know what I mean? Just ask Matt Dillon in “Gunsmoke.” Or any series character who has been clunked over the head more times than a heavyweight boxer. Sure, sometimes realism is the best way to go, but sometimes, you just want a fun escape.
“Best of luck with your writing too!” Thanks!
My goodness, this sounds awful. Reading this kind of thing would make me feel terrible :( thank you for the warning!
You’re welcome. Though now that I come to think of it, maybe this book is meant to appeal to readers who like dark romance? But if so I’d have preferred some warning of it in the blurb, because reading this was a sickening experience.
Good grief, how did this get published? It makes the old Woodiwiss style bodice rippers look quite sweet by comparison. This book should be given a health warning. Good review, Marian. F— ??
Thanks! I’m guessing this is self-published. At least, I really hope so, because I would hate to think Harlequin or Avon gave their stamp of approval to this.