Recommendations for Raped or Abused heroines

[Nicole]

Hi,
I just joined this group and my favorite trope is raped(not by Hero) or abused heroines. I would appreciate any recommendations you could give me.

Thanks!

[Beth]

Michelle Reid's The Marriage Surrender is a good one.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31...

[Verity]

Raped :
Laurey Bright (aka Daphne Clair) ~ A sudden sunlight.
Daphne Clair ~ The loving trap.

Abused :
Anne Mather ~ Hot pursuit.
Daphne Clair ~ Carpenter's mermaid.
Sandra Canfield ~ The loving.

I 2nd The marriage surrender.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Harlequin Presents are my crack!]

Welcome, Nicole.

[Nicole]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out.
Nicole

[Roub]

i checked the loving trap. it seems very nice.i'm going 2 read it. thnxs verity:-)

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Virgin on Her Wedding Night (Harlequin Presents, #2915) by Lynne Graham

It's not a rape situation but it was a bad abuse situation. Pretty good book and interesting.

[Vanessa]

Back in the Lion's Denh's hubby, H's bro, seems to have smacked her around a bit.

There was another one that fits that description too. the h's hubby, H's cousin this time IIRC, smacked h around and lied all over town about her too. He kicked bucket and H moves in w/.....ultimatumThe Greek Tycoon's Ultimatum

[Romance Lover]

Raped
Abused
Accidentally raped by the hero!

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Harlequin Presents are my crack!]

Oh I remembered one, Velvet Promise. Her ex actually raped her and got her pregnant, and because she was young, she got bullied into marrying him. Her marriage was hell. She finally had the courage to break free, but the family essentially demonized her. The hero is a cousin to her ex, and has to realize she is actually the victim and not the bad person the family says she is.

[Verity]

Charlotte Lamb ~ Stranger in the night. Heroine was raped then the rapist had some nuts & tried to come back into her life as if she could fuggedaboutit.

[Verity]

Demetra wrote: "Raped
Abused
Accidentally raped by the hero! "

Innocent pawn has the sweetest accidental rapist hero in HPlandia.

[Romance Lover]

Verity wrote: "Innocent pawn has the sweetest accidental rapist hero in HPlandia. "
Yes, I totally agree!

[Verity]

Charlotte Lamb ~ A violation. Haven't read but the title is self-explanatory. Not sure I'll evah read it.

[Asteropê]

The heroine in this one has a sexual assault and near rape as a 16 years old:

[Nicole]

Thanks for all the recommendations! Keep them coming!

Nicole

[Asteropê]

From summary: When she was fifteen Laurel had been the victim of an attempted rape, and Oliver Savage was the reporter who had twisted her story, tearing her reputation to shreds and leaving her fearful of every man who came too near...


Heroine is a rape victim


Raped by H's dead brother


Review I read said h was sexually abused in foster care


Review I read says, "a woman struggling to be physically and emotionally intimate after being drugged and raped during a night out."


Amnesiac rape victim


Reviews state she's a rape victim

[Liliah]

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79...

I think the h was raped by her stepfather

[Asteropê]

Her (dead) husband was basically verbally and emotionally abusive which left her with major issues with intimacy. He (dead husband) only hit her once, but I think the rest would count as being abused.

[Verity]

Lynsey Stevens ~ Man of vengeance. Hero's cousin's sloppy 2nds. Allegedly her expired hubby roughed her up.

[Asteropê]

Since you said you like this trope, I came across these in my search before. They're not Presents, but I thought you might be interested.


She was raped


She was raped and accused the wrong man, consequences occurred...

[Asteropê]

found another one in my reading for the Bingo Challenge:


h was abused mentally, emotionally, physically by her ex-husband. He (the ex) used sex as punishment and she became afraid of it, even having nightmares. She also had past injuries like broken ribs, etc.

[Nicole]

Thanks again everyone for the recs!!

Nicole

[Asteropê]

& another:



Her father, the king was physically cruel and abusive. Hit her, terrorized her and her brother, leaving her with nightmares and issues.

[Asteropê]

Abused by her uncle. More along the lines of emotional and psychological abuse with physical (not sexual) implied. The things he did caused her PTSD (hinted at in the book) and nightmares. Her uncle also tried to kill her a few times, leading to more anxiety issues.

[Melanie♥]

^^^^Sounds good!

[Nicole]

Hi,

Thanks for the recommendations Asterope!!

Nicole

[Kawaii]

I'm curious what people mean when they say "accidental" rape?

[Nicole]

Two books that I categorize as "accidental" rape are: - hero and heroine are both given date rape drug by his unscrupulous manager.
- heroine in given drug by whorehouse madam and hero thinks she is just another prostitute.

[Kawaii]

Nicole wrote: "Two books that I categorize as "accidental" rape ..."

I guess I'm curious why woman are using the term, (even if it is just fiction), "accidental" with rape. I think it's a little careless, don't get me wrong, this is about fiction and I have my own "rape" fantasies. (Great thing about fantasies is that what you control them).
BUT if the reading community keeps perpetuating this myth - it doesn't help any of us. *Sigh* Maybe I'm sensitive to this since I was a target of abuse. Also the irony doesn't get missed by me that the same people who say "accidental" also call women "doormats/weak/TSTL/etc". Each to their own on that, but rape and accidental don't go together for me. EVER.

[Nicole]

I get where you a coming from.

[JennyG]

It is probably to distinguish that the hero is unaware that he is actually raping the heroine.

[Asteropê]

JennyG wrote: "It is probably to distinguish that the hero is unaware that he is actually raping the heroine."

That's how I took that term. That a situation arises that makes it unclear if consent is there or not -- especially from the hero's POV.

For example, pretend in a historical romance a woman is told her whole life that during sex to just shut up and lay there. She does and her new husband consummates the marriage. She doesn't want it and we may hear her thoughts saying so, but she follows what she knows and she doesn't say anything or fight back. To her, this is rape, to him? It's not. He has no clue that anything is amiss. Perhaps she tells him later and he's shocked and angry, wondering why she didn't say something. He tries to make it up to her, etc. This to me is more so an "accidental" rape than anything else.

[Kawaii]

I understand that people are using this term with fiction, but I guess I'm just advocating for use of a different term. Because rape is very real and to see so many different romance novel communities using this term so carelessly is why I had to say something.

For me, it's about the responsibility of putting things out there. And this subject is one that *I* personally feel strongly about. I just don't want a girl or boy/men to get the wrong idea... that a girl/woman can be "accidentally" raped or boys/men can rape someone and say it was an "accident". And to me it doesn't matter about the other person's intent - it matters about what the person who had it happen feels.

From my perspective(real life situations, not fictional): If a person was so scared that s/he didn't do anything when a person who they were kissing/making out with becomes more insistent or even violent - does this mean they aren't being raped? Or say person A is flirting with person B and person B takes it wrong and decides that means person A want to have sex and so person B does it- is the flirter responsible for "leading" the other on and therefor deserved what they got? Insensitivity doesn't excuse accountability for your behavior. JennyG in your example, If you're in bed with someone and they aren't responding, why not just check-in and say "Hey, wassup?" or "You diggin me or what?" lol. I know that's about a historical fictional romance but like I said for me the use of that term goes beyond referring to fiction.

So my question is what is another word or description to use in place of "accidental" so we don't perpetuate old myths about rape/"date rape"/"marital rape"?

Btw, I read these so I'm not upset about the content. I understand about rape fantasy. Or some of the circumstances I don't see it as rape, I see it as seduction and it has that loss of control element to it. Like take me awayyyy my hero! :) Isn't that what most rape fantasies are about anyway? Where the H does everything that you want without having to say a word and some of things you secretly want but would never ask for?

[Kay]

Father of Her Child
This one has the h being physically and emotionally abused by ex. H is perfect protector. Laughed out loud during one scene. Loved it!

[Mareli]

Wise Folly, she was raped by the hero's brother. I was considering, due to the great amount of titles, that this is a very popular theme, oh my.