Obsession

Hawthorne #3

by Katherine Sutcliffe

Three years after being abandoned by Maria Ashton, the vicar's daughter with whom he had fallen in love, Trey Hawthorne, the future duke of Salterdon, discovers that his beloved had been confined in an insane asylum by his scheming and manipulative grandmother.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 29, 2003

About the author

Katherine Sutcliffe was born an only child in East Texas. After working for a time at an oil company and as a headhunter for a computer personnel company, Sutcliffe decided in 1982 to quit her job and attempt to write a novel. Three years later she sold her first book, Desire and Surrender to Avon Books. She works eight hours a day, five to seven months a year. Sutcliffe also attempts to find a single CD that will provide inspiration during the writing of each book. In the past, she has used the soundtrack to Somewhere in Time and Kitarō's Silk Road.

In 1995 and 1996, Sutcliffe worked as the Consultant Head Writer for the soap operas As The World Turns and Another World. Sutcliffe was offered the job after Bill Graham, who searched for writers for Proctor and Gamble, mentioned to his wife that they wanted to refocus the soap opera stories on romance. His wife, who loved Sutcliffe's book, insisted that he contact her. During her time as a soap opera writer, she concentrated on developing the six-month story lines, which the breakdown writers would then develop into dialogue and individual scenes for the show. During this time frame, Sutcliffe also made a guest appearance on Another World, playing herself. She resigned from her position after the networks began to insist that she move to New York City to be more accessible.

Her historical romance, Notorious, sold out its first printing in a mere four days.

Sutcliffe lives near Dallas, Texas. She met her husband, an English geologist, while they worked for the same oil company. They have three children, Bryan, Rachel, and Lauren. Sutcliffe also raises and shows Arabian horses.

Reviews

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know how or where to even begin - I am so double minded about this book.
Did I like it? No.
Did I hate it? Most of it.
Did it bore me? NO! I was up till 3 am stuck with finding out how things will get resolved.

For the unaware, this book, third in the series is an actual sequel to book #2. Meaning the author wasn’t happy with the hea for the h/H of book #2 and brought in fresh problems to delay their hea by another book and 3 years.
I haven’t read either book #1 - story of this H’s twin brother - or book #2 which apparently has the h nursing the H, a raving and difficult duke, post a head injury, and them falling in love. The H’s grandmother is a witchy one who doesn’t approve of the vicar’s daughter and tries her best to separate them and that she does, off pages, between the books. Reading reviews of that book, I see people saying that it ends abruptly. How, why I don’t know.

*Spoilers* This book opens three years later with the disillusioned H about to marry a vampy ow when a maid interrupts to shrilly accuse the grandmother of having sent the h to an asylum for the criminally insane. The H hates the ruthless old lady anyway and believed (correctly) for a long time that she had a role in the h’s disappearance till he got a letter, purportedly from the faithless h, telling him of her marriage to another.
Now, he rushes to this asylum and is almost sick at seeing the grim conditions there and even more so on finding the h, locked up and naked, living in her own filth. She’s almost wild and in a dissociative state and not only fails to recognize him but attacks him.
He brings her to his estate (crumbling and impoverished - another story here) but things don’t get better. He tries but the h is lost within her mind in another dimension.
After this opening, I was hoping for an interesting and emotional read but...

Problems?
Let’s list them. (Major plot spoilers)
* He’s so angry all the time. No patience or real understanding. He’s more sorry for himself than for the hellish horrors the h has suffered. He’s a sorry sob, lolling around drunk and ineffective, having lost his inheritance by way of dissipation. Seriously, dukes can be poor but dirt poor? His servants (2-3 of them) were killing rooftop pigeons for food.

* His compassion is seriously lacking. He cares but not as much as I would have liked. It wasn’t just the loss of freedom but the degradation and torture the h must have faced. She needs him so much even if she’s pushing him away but he stops trying after a while, leaving her care to others like the ow. The author shies away from telling us one way or the other about the real possibility of sexual abuse the h must have faced. That was a cop out I didn’t like. How can it be brushed under?

* The OW! She comes to stay with them and he spends more time with her than the h. She almost succeeds in seducing him a few times. Definitely he’s aroused by her, and she sleeps with him, in his bed, wrapped around him! Ughh! The H keeps repeating (monotonously) that he only loves the h but it’s so difficult to buy it.
She’s present in most scenes between the h/H. And he trusts her. if you dislike this, imagine the gullible idiot thinking no one’s understood him better than her - ever. Before qualifying oh, apart from Maria, the h. That’s a long way from initially telling us that he’s marrying this ow for sex and money. So now they understand each other? The author's efforts to redeem/ humanise the ow despite all her culpabilities is maddening AH.

The ow’s pregnant btw. No, not by him but she wanted him for the father - in return for her money and he's playing along. A duke, no less! She’s a rich woman - twice widowed, thrice divorced or some such. That’s unbelievable even by modern standards.

* There are no real scenes or even a single proper conversation between the h/H!
People who’ve read book #2 may have witnessed the love and understanding between them but here, there’s nothing. Worse than nothing.
First half has the h attacking or ignoring him in her delusional state. In the second half, she’s (understandably) angry and unforgiving and he keeps his distance.

*Most unforgivable is his abandoning of his daughter - or the search thereof. And how!
He realizes that the h gave birth in captivity (after seeing her fixated on a doll and caring for it). He goes in search but it just takes his grandmother to say that she will reveal his illegitimacy (and his twin brother’s) to the world and ruin them, for him to abandon the search. The bastard goes back and heartlessly flings the h’s doll in the fire. One of the most unforgivable things I’ve ever read about. He reasons it by not wanting to destroy the happiness of his brother and his family. In fact, he wears this self-righteousness and sacrifice of his actions for a long while in the book. It was not his sacrifice to make. And a most twisted logic at that.
I can never forgive people who desert their children. Does he not even care where and how she is? He’s worried bout his brother’s children and their future but not his own vulnerable and lost daughter. And the already immeasurably tortured h? She has gone ‘crazy’ for just this reason - her daughter being taken from her but apparently he just doesn’t care enough!
As a ‘hero’, he was dead to me after this.

*Lastly, I hate stories where the bad people don’t get a comeuppance. The ow getting away, I can still take, but the grandmother? Her sins cannot be measured and she can never atone for what she did to the h and her daughter but she gets away with it without any remorse at all forget a reckoning- with her secrets and dignity intact. The H could not even give her a proper tongue lashing or a set-down. It was all so feeble and watered down. Left a bad taste. She deserved to at least die.

*Not that I understand the old lady's objective or the conflict in all this. So if she hates him (or her husband) why would she care if he married below him? Earlier, we are led to believe that she doesn't want the family line to be sullied but then it's revealed that it's already sullied and she doesn't really give a hoot. And so, if she hates everyone, there were plenty of skeletons in the family closet like his homosexual father and she could have humiliated anyone, whenever she wished and its not as if she's scared of public humiliation as she's ready to 'reveal all' if he doesn't listen to her. So, why wait for all the vitriol to come out now? And she's ready to let her husband's one-time mistress (The ow! I know, gross! And convoluted. Does the H even know?) enter the family but not let him have the h? The author could have shown her hatred being fixated on the H for being her husband's lookalike but that's not how it is played out. Yes, she hates the husband for bringing in bastard kids of his but it's carrying hatred for too long and carrying it out to diabolical levels. At a very late stage.
All very ott and suspend-major-disbeliefs.

Unrelated But - To all those who wish to read about vengeance and a H wreaking it for his woman, read Dark Side of the Sun. I read it just prior to this book and so felt the stark contrast in 'Hero-ing'.

[Nessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG I AM SO DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS PIECE OF SHIT! THE AUTHOR SHOULD HAVE JUST ENDED IT AT THE SECOND BOOK

WTF IS GOING ON? I thought the heroine was strong and look what she became! A total loony in her own mind after three years of separation.

I hated how the hero moved on and had sex with Edwina. Men have needs, THAT IS BULLSHIT! It is just an excuse to fuck someone. You wont die by not having sex and I found his actions and thoughts absolutely DISLOYAL and his love not worth a salt. He didnt put in effort to chase the woman he loves back and if he did, he would have known his fucking grandmother concocted the whole scheme and had Maria thrown into the asylum.

WHAT IRRITATED me was how Trey was always seeking comfort from Edwina and he is such a asshole here. If Maria took the time to heal him previously he obviously DOES NOT DO THE SAME here except mope and act all selfish!!!

AND MARIA OH MARIA! Her character is so dull and pathetic here I just wanna thrown this entire book out the window. I can't believe I invested in this shit!!! The beginning was great in Devotion but Obsession was unnecessary!!!

OMG do yourself a favour and dont read this!!! Just know there is a HEA and they have a daughter and sons together at the end! THE END!

[Mrs. S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read a few books by this author, many years ago, that I enjoyed. I picked this one up at a used book store for $1. Thank goodness I did not spend full or half price on it. The beginning seemed so promising, but by the first 3rd of book, I could tell it was not up to the usual standards for romance novels.

This paragraph is a spoiler so skip it and go to the next one if you don't want to know a few details about the book. It starts off with Trey at the altar about to marry Edwina, a wealthy widow. Someone burst in to tell him his one true love who disappeared 6 months prior has been in an asylum which was orchestrated by his manipulative, hateful grandmother. From there the writing becomes very amateurish. Very unrealistic scenarios follow (not unexpected in a romance), but quite unlikely. Two examples: 1) the previously selfish, rude, debauched duke decides to work in a mine, voluntarily 2) the woman he left at the altar stays in his home after he jilted her. He allows it even though he shouts, threatens and tells her to leave every few pages AND she remains through all this even though he professes to love Maria every few paragraphs.

Even though it was a quick read, I realized it was because the text was in a larger than usual size. There really wasn't a lot of substance to this book. Quite disappointing, mainly because it had so much potential.

[Kaza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just started reading Obsession and so far I'm shocked and disapointed....

It's 3 years since the last book and the situation Maria has been in during those 3 years is horrendous and the way Trey went back to whoring, gambling, womanizing and then almost having oral sex with his recent ex-fiance, while Maria is in his house, is disapointing for his character to say the least.....

I hope this gets better. If Maria doesn't get justice or something for what she went through, I may not like this book. I hate to think what her reaction will be when she finds out what Trey has been up to while she was suffering because of him.

edit: I just got to where Trey is in bed with his ex-fiance (she snuck in) and they are laughing together, he's touching her pregnant belly (not his), he agreed they were good together and now Trey is reponding to her sexually (again) and making out with her ...not liking things so far...is this going to get good soon? It is a romance about him and Maria correct?


The ending of Obsession was really good! The rest of the plot I'm not so sure about. The plot was full of horrible situations and went in directions I wasn't entirely comfortable with. My opinion of Trey was pretty low at first but he did make strides as it went on. He is still not my favourite character though.

In all, Obsession was a bit of a roller coaster ride and the good parts helped with the grief the plot put me through while reading it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sequel to my favorite Sutcliffe novel, Devotion. Rather than a straight-up romance, the novel is a gothic romance with development of many characters, including that of the rival “other woman.” It breaks boundaries, subverts tropes, and creates something new that hearkens back to nineteenth-century British literature. I truly regret that she has written few novels after this one and no more like this.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is underrated book! but it’s $8.99 that’s why

The angst of this book! Perfect! But I just hope it was not that expensive 💔 I didn’t regret buying it at all. For all the people with OW and angst lovers this is soooo good. Even if English isn’t my first language I really enjoyed it.

[Kristýna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still can't make up my mind about whether I like it or not. In the begging it was boring and sometimes it doesn't make any sense. Then the story got realistic but the end was so, so pink and sweet. It wasn't my book definitively.

[Katherine Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than the first book which was the beginning of this story. However, I didn't like Trey's behavior at times. I can't even imagine how he even thought for a moment about not looking for his daughter. Maria has always shown her love more than him.

[BURMA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow everything seems a bit exaggerated.

[Aneca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first got this book because I found the back blurb interesting. It was only when I picked it up a few days ago that I discovered that this a sequel to another book with the same hero/heroine. I have no idea how the author managed to end that book in a way that could be considered a romance since when this one starts they have been apart for years and the hero thinks the heroine married someone else.

Trey Hawthorne, the Duke of Salterdon, once had a reputation that would humble the Marquis de Sade. Then he found his heart's desire in gentle, innocent Maria Ashton, whose healing touch ignited a forbidden passion between the noble duke and the lowborn vicar's daughter. Defying his family, Hawthorne intended to wed Maria -- but she mysteriously vanished before he could take her as his bride. After tirelessly searching for her for months, Trey gave up hope and reverted to his former wicked ways.

Now, chance has led Trey to his beloved at last -- but the devastating truth behind her disappearance might prove more than he can bear. As he fights to rescue his beautiful Maria from a life of torment, Trey wonders if in saving her, he will also finally save himself -- or if the fight will cost him everything....

The interesting thing about this book is that it's told in the first person from the hero's point of view. I'm sure there must be other's around but I don't remember reading any. Other than that this is pretty much written in the "bodice ripper" style. We have an alpha male who is completely over the top, always barking orders and mad about something. The heroine, who has spent the last years in an asylum for the insane and is not exactly aware of what is happening to her for the first half of the book. And the proverbial other woman who is fighting for the hero's love and no matter how many times he sends her away she never goes.

I have some trouble with these kind of books nowadays, everything seems so exagerated - actions, feelings, motives - that I just can't relate with any of them. It's more or less like watching a south american soap opera where everyone and everything is larger than life.

Eventually the hero conquers every obstacle and manages to end up with the heroine. Despite that many events of the previous book are mentioned in this one I don't think it is essential to read it first but it does seem that all of the reasons for the main couple to be in love were just there and here we just know it because we are being told.

Grade: C+

Whe I first started reading romance I read several by Sutcliffe that I greatly enjoyed but for now I think I'll stick to her romantic suspense titles.

[Christelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai été vraiment surprise qu'il y ait une suite au tome précédent Le solitaire apprivoisé.
Dans ce tome-ci, on retrouve les même personnages principaux, Maria et le duc, pour qui les choses ne se sont pas terminées aussi bien qu'on l'aurait attendu.
En effet, suite à la disparition de Maria trois ans auparavant, le duc est retombé dans ses travers de débauche. Le jour de son mariage, il apprend que Maria, loin de s'être mariée et de l'avoir abandonné, a été en fait enfermée dans un asile psychiatrique à cause des machinations de sa grand-mère.
On se retrouve ici face à deux héros qui ont beaucoup souffert, de la séparation, des trahisons et machinations, de la maladie... et les retrouvailles seront loin d'être aisées.
J'ai beaucoup aimé la description des personnages: la grand-mère en méchante cruelle, haineuse et manipulatrice, le duc en héros torturé entre son amour pour Maria, sa haine pour sa grand-mère et son sens du devoir familial, Maria en héroïne désemparée et désenchantée, Edwina en fiancée délaissée cynique et prête à tout pour récupérer mais non dénuée de quelques sentiments.
J'ai également apprécié que l'histoire soit narrée principalement à la première personne du point de vue du héros. C'est la première fois que je lisais un roman de ce genre rédigé ainsi et j'ai beaucoup apprécié.

[Nastassja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsession was not an easy read. I've read Devotion, the first book it this series a couple of years ago and I had no idea that there was another book. In my imagination everything ended quite well in the first book, and even an abrupt ending did not confuse me. So I was surprised to find another book, but at the same time I was glad to read continuation of one of my favourite books. After finishing Obsession I'm not certain what to think, I did not expect such a poignant book. This one is much harder then the previous book. In Obsession, there is a lot of hurt and pain, it was not an easy task to finish this book. I'm not sure that Obsession was a necessary book to write, and I'd like it to be more pleasant and kind sometimes. But nevertheless, I am glad that main characters have found their happily after in the end. I do not want to write critique about this book, I am totally a fan of the Devotion, and so Obsession is a little addition to the whole story and I liked it, beautiful and poignant love story.