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Wild Rapture
FIERY ECSTASY
Amber Courtney's vibrant blue eyes flashed with anger as she confronted her new husband. She'd been blackmailed into marrying Nicholas Chandler, but she'd be damned if she'd share his bed. She longed to slap the arrogant smile from his handsome face; instead she found herself trapped in his embrace, succumbing to his wicked, wanton loving. But even as he bewitched her body, Amber swore he'd never touch her heart!
BURNING DESIRE
Nicholas Chandler's dark brown eves sparkled with laughter as he watched his bride flush with fury. He knew he could make her forget her wounded pride with one long, luscious kiss -- one slow, sensuous caress. Her surrender would be his sweetest victory He would conquer her trembling flesh and awaken her innocent passion until she could no longer resist the savage power of love's WILD RAPTURE
Amber Courtney's vibrant blue eyes flashed with anger as she confronted her new husband. She'd been blackmailed into marrying Nicholas Chandler, but she'd be damned if she'd share his bed. She longed to slap the arrogant smile from his handsome face; instead she found herself trapped in his embrace, succumbing to his wicked, wanton loving. But even as he bewitched her body, Amber swore he'd never touch her heart!
BURNING DESIRE
Nicholas Chandler's dark brown eves sparkled with laughter as he watched his bride flush with fury. He knew he could make her forget her wounded pride with one long, luscious kiss -- one slow, sensuous caress. Her surrender would be his sweetest victory He would conquer her trembling flesh and awaken her innocent passion until she could no longer resist the savage power of love's WILD RAPTURE
591 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1985
70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 28, 2016
It Would Have Been a Good Book, but Two Major Issues Diminish it in My Eyes.
Kay McMahon is without question one of the most frustrating authors I read. She can write parts of books which can be really good, but her tendency to feature her "heroes" raping her heroines is one reason I cannot support a lot of her work. And this book, "Wild Rapture"; sadly falls into that category.
The Particulars: This long-nearly 600 pages-complicated, soap-opera like novel, is centered primarily in Williamsburg, Virginia, and though it isn't officially listed as such, it is a sequel to "Passion's Slave" & "Ecstasy's Conquest." The "hero" of this book, Nicholas Chandler, is the grandson of Alanna Bainbridge Remington & Beau Remington from "Passion's Slave", and the son of Victoria Remington and Andrew "Dru" Chandler from "Ecstasy's Conquest." At the time of this book, only Alanna and Dru are still alive; Dru is killed in the prologue at the beginning of the book. Beau died fighting for American independence, and Victoria died giving birth to Nicholas' sister, Kate.
Before we meet Nicholas, Dru dies in a suspicious fire and then the father of the heroine of the book, Amber Courtney, is killed in a duel. Fletcher Courtney, father to both Amber and her twin sister Andrea, is a ne'er do well gambler who is accused by the evil Baron Helzer Von Buren of being a card cheat. Von Buren then tries to blackmail the sisters into becoming his wife and mistress. Fearful for their safety, they try to borrow the money Von Buren claims he's owed. When that fails, Amber approaches Nicholas Chandler, who rapes her to "teach her a lesson." (Sadly, this type of behavior runs in the family. Beau raped Alanna in "Passion's Slave" as well.) Amber then tries to get revenge on Nicholas by disguising herself as a boy and stealing from him. This fails because her cousin, who she asks to help her because she believes he's a ruthless pirate, is in reality a blithering idiot. Later on, Nicholas blackmails Amber into marriage; this is for both of their benefits. He'll pay off Von Buren and, because he's married, he will get to keep his inheritance of the family shipping company. (A codicil in his father's will stated that Nicholas needed to marry or his share of the family business would transfer to Kate's ownership.) Amber hates being married to Nicholas; they fight a lot and the only sympathy or understanding she gets is from Alanna and Kate. When Amber leaves for a spell to get her head together about her feelings for Nicholas, she is kidnapped by Von Buren's henchmen and taken to Casablanca. This is where things become really stupid.
Once Nicholas finds out where Amber has been taken-he confronts and later kills Von Buren-he could have simply gone to Casablanca and rescued her from her kidnappers. Instead, Nicholas decides to pretend to be a desert nomad, "buys" Amber and another kidnapped young woman, Holly Clark, and proceeds to exert further mental cruelty upon Amber by claiming she'll never go home again and see her sister to, once again, "teach her a lesson." Who died and appointed Nicholas his wife's "teacher" is unknown, but this stupidity and arrogance leads to them being attacked by a real desert pirate who lost the bidding for Amber and Holly, which leads to both of them suffering emotional and physical injury that could have been avoided had Nicholas not been the a-hole he is. Eventually, they do make it back to Williamsburg and find out that the reach of Von Buren was not his alone. He had help from someone who they-and I-never suspected which leads to tragic consequences. While I liked the ending because it came completely by surprise, the utter arrogance, stupidity and uncaring actions by Nicholas which led to the bad things happening make this an unlikable book for me.
Sex: a few scenes. Not overly graphic, but clearly descriptive enough.
Violence: In addition to Amber's rape, there is another rape-that of Von Buren's second wife, Heather Banford,who was blackmailed into marrying Von Buren in the same way he tried to force Amber and Andrea to do so. There are also other acts of violence but none are graphically described.
Bottom Line: If Ms. McMahon had not put rape scenes or the stupid actions of Nicholas in the book, it might have been a really good book. But, if, if only and what if are three of the saddest words/phrases in the English language. She didn't, so this is yet another piece of garbage by Ms. McMahon.
Kay McMahon is without question one of the most frustrating authors I read. She can write parts of books which can be really good, but her tendency to feature her "heroes" raping her heroines is one reason I cannot support a lot of her work. And this book, "Wild Rapture"; sadly falls into that category.
The Particulars: This long-nearly 600 pages-complicated, soap-opera like novel, is centered primarily in Williamsburg, Virginia, and though it isn't officially listed as such, it is a sequel to "Passion's Slave" & "Ecstasy's Conquest." The "hero" of this book, Nicholas Chandler, is the grandson of Alanna Bainbridge Remington & Beau Remington from "Passion's Slave", and the son of Victoria Remington and Andrew "Dru" Chandler from "Ecstasy's Conquest." At the time of this book, only Alanna and Dru are still alive; Dru is killed in the prologue at the beginning of the book. Beau died fighting for American independence, and Victoria died giving birth to Nicholas' sister, Kate.
Before we meet Nicholas, Dru dies in a suspicious fire and then the father of the heroine of the book, Amber Courtney, is killed in a duel. Fletcher Courtney, father to both Amber and her twin sister Andrea, is a ne'er do well gambler who is accused by the evil Baron Helzer Von Buren of being a card cheat. Von Buren then tries to blackmail the sisters into becoming his wife and mistress. Fearful for their safety, they try to borrow the money Von Buren claims he's owed. When that fails, Amber approaches Nicholas Chandler, who rapes her to "teach her a lesson." (Sadly, this type of behavior runs in the family. Beau raped Alanna in "Passion's Slave" as well.) Amber then tries to get revenge on Nicholas by disguising herself as a boy and stealing from him. This fails because her cousin, who she asks to help her because she believes he's a ruthless pirate, is in reality a blithering idiot. Later on, Nicholas blackmails Amber into marriage; this is for both of their benefits. He'll pay off Von Buren and, because he's married, he will get to keep his inheritance of the family shipping company. (A codicil in his father's will stated that Nicholas needed to marry or his share of the family business would transfer to Kate's ownership.) Amber hates being married to Nicholas; they fight a lot and the only sympathy or understanding she gets is from Alanna and Kate. When Amber leaves for a spell to get her head together about her feelings for Nicholas, she is kidnapped by Von Buren's henchmen and taken to Casablanca. This is where things become really stupid.
Once Nicholas finds out where Amber has been taken-he confronts and later kills Von Buren-he could have simply gone to Casablanca and rescued her from her kidnappers. Instead, Nicholas decides to pretend to be a desert nomad, "buys" Amber and another kidnapped young woman, Holly Clark, and proceeds to exert further mental cruelty upon Amber by claiming she'll never go home again and see her sister to, once again, "teach her a lesson." Who died and appointed Nicholas his wife's "teacher" is unknown, but this stupidity and arrogance leads to them being attacked by a real desert pirate who lost the bidding for Amber and Holly, which leads to both of them suffering emotional and physical injury that could have been avoided had Nicholas not been the a-hole he is. Eventually, they do make it back to Williamsburg and find out that the reach of Von Buren was not his alone. He had help from someone who they-and I-never suspected which leads to tragic consequences. While I liked the ending because it came completely by surprise, the utter arrogance, stupidity and uncaring actions by Nicholas which led to the bad things happening make this an unlikable book for me.
Sex: a few scenes. Not overly graphic, but clearly descriptive enough.
Violence: In addition to Amber's rape, there is another rape-that of Von Buren's second wife, Heather Banford,who was blackmailed into marrying Von Buren in the same way he tried to force Amber and Andrea to do so. There are also other acts of violence but none are graphically described.
Bottom Line: If Ms. McMahon had not put rape scenes or the stupid actions of Nicholas in the book, it might have been a really good book. But, if, if only and what if are three of the saddest words/phrases in the English language. She didn't, so this is yet another piece of garbage by Ms. McMahon.
August 14, 2024
A showcase of an un-grabbing premise and strange behaviors. Why they behaved the way they do is beyond me. His and her actions are unexplainable. The author only writes to write without thinking of the actions and characters as a whole to the plot. Storytelling wasn’t engrossing! After heroine got raped she flees into the night to grab a cup of tea? Was that it? Strange…
December 23, 2013
I knew even before I was halfway through the book that I was going to give it only one star. The main reason being how the story dealt with rape. This book goes beyond me wanting to throw it against the wall. What it really made me want to do is take a brick and pulverize the hero's nuts.
With her father dead and the family in debt, Amber Courtney goes to rich businessman Nicholas Chandler to ask for a loan. Not only does he turn her down, he rapes Amber and then tosses her out on the street. The next day when he bumps into his victim again, Nicholas kinda/sorta/almost feels bad about what he did to Amber and so tries to make it up to her by... buying her some bread pudding.
[Brick to the nuts!]
Later, Nicholas confesses to family friend Sean about what happened with Amber and we get this lovely interaction:
Sean: "And now ya be feelin' the guilt."
Nicholas: "Yes."
Sean: "Ya shouldn't. The guilt is hers. She must have known what she was gettin' into before she ever came ta ya."
[Brick to the nuts!]
Still needing the money, Amber disguises herself as a filthy boy and gets employment at the hero's shipping line. When Nicholas discovers the truth about his newest employee, he rants on an on about how Amber owes him and must pay for all the things she's done to him, like spilling pudding in his lap and fooling him with her disguise. Crimes apparently much worse than rape.
Nicholas forces Amber to marry him, seducing her with such playful banter as, "I will take what I feel I deserve, whether you agree or not." He then locks her in a room and rapes her again. (There are other people in the house at the time and there's no way they couldn't hear all the commotion going on as Amber tries to fight Nicholas off. Yet they do nothing, so screw you too, minor characters!) After the ceremony Nicholas drops the bomb on Amber that she's on a two week probation period. If she doesn't please him as a wife in that time he'll simply have the marriage annulled, not pay off her family's debts and toss her out in the street again. You're a jewel, Chandler.
Now while I hate Nicholas Chandler with the fires of a thousand suns, don't think Amber is any better. She regards her attack at most as nothing more than a nuisance. There's a telling scene when Amber throws herself a pity party and bemoans all the bad things that have happened to her lately. I can't help but notice her sexual assault does not make the list. Because getting turned down for a loan is so much worse than being raped by a complete stranger.
I know some readers enjoy their romance heroes to be rapists and heroines to have treacherous bodies. Obviously I don't. I want revenge! I want time served! I want groveling!
With her father dead and the family in debt, Amber Courtney goes to rich businessman Nicholas Chandler to ask for a loan. Not only does he turn her down, he rapes Amber and then tosses her out on the street. The next day when he bumps into his victim again, Nicholas kinda/sorta/almost feels bad about what he did to Amber and so tries to make it up to her by... buying her some bread pudding.
[Brick to the nuts!]
Later, Nicholas confesses to family friend Sean about what happened with Amber and we get this lovely interaction:
Sean: "And now ya be feelin' the guilt."
Nicholas: "Yes."
Sean: "Ya shouldn't. The guilt is hers. She must have known what she was gettin' into before she ever came ta ya."
[Brick to the nuts!]
Still needing the money, Amber disguises herself as a filthy boy and gets employment at the hero's shipping line. When Nicholas discovers the truth about his newest employee, he rants on an on about how Amber owes him and must pay for all the things she's done to him, like spilling pudding in his lap and fooling him with her disguise. Crimes apparently much worse than rape.
Nicholas forces Amber to marry him, seducing her with such playful banter as, "I will take what I feel I deserve, whether you agree or not." He then locks her in a room and rapes her again. (There are other people in the house at the time and there's no way they couldn't hear all the commotion going on as Amber tries to fight Nicholas off. Yet they do nothing, so screw you too, minor characters!) After the ceremony Nicholas drops the bomb on Amber that she's on a two week probation period. If she doesn't please him as a wife in that time he'll simply have the marriage annulled, not pay off her family's debts and toss her out in the street again. You're a jewel, Chandler.
Now while I hate Nicholas Chandler with the fires of a thousand suns, don't think Amber is any better. She regards her attack at most as nothing more than a nuisance. There's a telling scene when Amber throws herself a pity party and bemoans all the bad things that have happened to her lately. I can't help but notice her sexual assault does not make the list. Because getting turned down for a loan is so much worse than being raped by a complete stranger.
I know some readers enjoy their romance heroes to be rapists and heroines to have treacherous bodies. Obviously I don't. I want revenge! I want time served! I want groveling!
August 4, 2022
Amber❤️N'❤️Nicholas
I was rooting for them and at the same time wanting to strangle them for not seeing what was right in front of them.
This book will keep you guessing?
With a love growing between ♡♡Amber an d Nicholas♡♡ Follow with action mystery not to mention make you laugh and cry...💓
When I first read this book I didn't know that it was The 2nd book.
The 1st book is about Nicholas parents
I want to read it but haven't got to yet.
I was rooting for them and at the same time wanting to strangle them for not seeing what was right in front of them.
This book will keep you guessing?
With a love growing between ♡♡Amber an d Nicholas♡♡ Follow with action mystery not to mention make you laugh and cry...💓
When I first read this book I didn't know that it was The 2nd book.
The 1st book is about Nicholas parents
I want to read it but haven't got to yet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews