Where are all the real men? she wondered…For Lady Diana Davenport, they existed only in her books and dreams. There she could lose herself, becoming the licentious Diana, goddess of the hunt–far from the rigid restraints of eighteenth-century London, where she was courted by fops and fools. That is, until she tried on an authentic Roman helmet in an antiques store and was catapulted back in … catapulted back in time, landing in Marcus Magnus’s arms. This was no dream! She was lost in Aquae Sulis, the city she knew as Bath, prisoner of a Roman general who accused the violet-eyed beauty of being a Druid spy–and then made her his slave!
“COME TO ME.”
His words were soft, imperious, charged with danger and desire. Marcus Magnus was powerful, arrogant, and infuriating. A real man. And now Lady Diana was his slave, hostage to his will, vowing to fight him to the end–with every seductive weapon she possessed….
Virginia Henley is the author of eight romances published by Dell, including the New York Times bestsellers Seduced and Desired.
She divides her time between Ontario, Canada, and St. Petersburg, Florida.
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History, adventure, time travel, steamy romance all in one. Will the love survive time? Despite having read this before, the story still captures. Interesting characters and historical details are Definitely a plus.
Overall:
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Tension:
Romance:
Sensuality:
Intimate Scene Length:
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Humor: Yes, a bit
Basic plot
Diana just isn’t happy in her current Georgian time period. Her father was a scholar and she lives for the stories in his books. The only man that has remotely captured her interest is Mark, the Earl of Bath. While visiting in Bath, she tries on an ancient roman helmet and is cast back in time, sometime during the reign of Emperor Nero in Rome so around 60 AD. Here, she is taken captive by Roman Marcus.
Give this a try if you want:
– Time travel – the “current” time is just before George IV becomes Regent. Heroine travels back to Roman times for most of the book
– Fairly high steam – this book is explicit and has a number of scenes, though I feel like many are on the shorter side
– Captive theme – hero does hold the heroine as his slave for a time
– You’re okay with various content warnings including some dubious consent (this is classic ravishment fantasy)
– There is a small masquerade part of the book
– Scarred soldier romance hero/aristocracy hero
My thoughts:
I wasn’t a big fan on this one. I thought I might like it at first – going in knowing there’s going to be content warnings and craziness. And I did like the first half, though it didn’t make the most sense.
As the book came to a close though, it made even less sense to me. I did struggle with this, as well as how the timeline went back and forth.
The hero, Marcus, is very pushy and arrogant. Most of it is consensual, but he does hold her as his slave, so there’s a level of dubious consent over the whole thing. He’s a Roman soldier that is struck by how unique and beautiful Diana is.
Diana is a free spirit that just sees nothing of worth in her current time. She loves reading her father’s collection of books and is a student of history and is convinced she wasn’t born in the right time period.
Going to get into specifics here, so spoiler warning!
I am still kind of confused over the whole hero/heroine thing. So she is pulled to and repelled by Mark, the EARL. He wants her without knowing why. Then she goes back in time and it’s Mark. But it’s not, it’s Marcus. He takes her v-card craziness ensues. But it got really weird for me when she returns to her time (also – she DIES in the past??? Marcus kills her? How messed up is that….) but then she goes back to Georgian time and it just got even crazier to me. Marcus IS Mark? And he’s slowly getting his memories back??? AND the heroine is a born again with a new v-card??? I am just so confused.
Overall the book had some parts I enjoyed – going in knowing it could be problematic and holds ravishment fantasy here. But it’s nothing I was super in love with and would ever want to reread.
Love this time travel