A review by claire_loves_books
A Courtesan's Scandal by Julia London

2.0

I didn't enjoy this book. The courtesan out of necessity thing is something I dislike, if the heroine is a courtesan out of necessity not choice she's never consented to being a courtesan and has therefore not consented to having sex, that's rape. (the book was full of scenes with rapey undertones- and it's used a plot device, rather than a crucial part of the story)

Also are we supposed to thing she's 'better' because she doesn't enjoy sex? I pitied Kate more because she wasn't in control of her decisions but it wouldn't have made her less worthy of Grayson's love if she did enjoy sex. I just find it really anti-women that we are supposed to think more of the MC if she only enjoys sex with her one true love.

Anyway Kate also spends a lot of this book being miserable, going against her principles and feeling bad for it. She's also judged negatively constantly by most the people around her (including the 'hero' for most the book) and it's just not enjoyable to read.

I just couldn't like the hero either, he treats Kate like she's beneath him and let's her know it,

Spoiler

he treats Diana horribly, basically cheating on her, yes she's cheating on her husband but that doesn't make what he did right. She then turns out to be pretty unpleasant but only after they've completely broken up, if felt like she'd been written to be nasty so we could forgive the hero for being horrible to her.

The inclusion of the slave trade/political plot was interesting, but it didn't really have much connection to the main plot and just slowed the book down.