The heroine of this book gets raped by the hero while he was drunk and he thought she was a paid local village girl. She has laryngytis and can't tell him differently. The next morning he is accosted by her father. They agree that he will return and marry her if she is pregnant which of course turns out to be the case. They marry and later fall in love. The baby is born and they seem set to be happy. Problem is she is scared of the marriage bed. He is all angsty because of course it is all his fault and they struggle to overcome this obstacle. Of course they eventually do. Meanwhile things are complicated by the appearance of her slightly deranged cousin who has always loved her. The heroine's of J. Wolf's books are generally so beautiful and wonderful that nearly everyone loves them. A favorite that I reread every couple of years. ( )

Catherine takes her horse out riding after recovering from an illness when she is attacked by a drunken man who abducts her under the impression that she is a girl his friend/mancrush James Pemberbrook Lord Allandale found attraktive earlier.Unable to cry out because of her sore throat she is taken to the inn where the drunk en man and his friend are staying.

She is thrown into a room where she is raped by the Earl.The next day the innkeepers wife finds Catherine huddled outside the room trembling and with torn clothes.

Her father is summoned and takes her home.Hej then returns to confront the earl who at first cant even remember what he did.

Being a honorable man (HA!) he offers to marry Catherine (she is later found out to be pregnant and her father sends her off to live with Allandale.

When younger I would read womens magazines that my grandmother sent on to my mother after she was finished reading them. Most of it was the usual stuff interviews and recipes but there was a section that had notices about outrageous news from abroad.I still remember one title "I married my rapist" about an english woman finding happiness with her attacker (urgh)

This book reads like that article.

After the sexual assault its treated as the horrible thing it is.Then when Allandale sees how beatiful his victim is he thinks how awful it was he was too drunk while raping too enjoy her beauty. Hilarious is described as his emotion too.I mean what even :(

Then for some reason that remains a riddle to me Allandale and Catherine fall in love. When confronted by her cousin/previous suitor that she cant possibly love such a man as Allandale (rapist/cheater/iceblock) she brush him off and considers it over and done with.


Then almost as if to try convince the reader that this other guy is the evil one ,not Allandale she makes him into a babyhater and has him abduct Catherine.

I can detect traces of some elements (sans rape)in this book that is also in the much better [book:Golden Girl|889613] but wich in
The Counterfeit marriage is more poorly developed. ( )