Selene

re the Deveraux book… I haven't re-read them in years and years and I have zero recollection of a rapist causing a suicide having a happy ending after killing his own brother?!… wow. I remember I loved those Velvet books. Go figure.

@ Growlycub:

Highland Velvet: Roger the Rapist is in love with heroine of that book. Roger kidnaps heroine and heroine’s sister-in-law. Heroine evades Roger’s attempts at the loving. Roger’s younger bro, Brian, meanwhile, falls for the sister-in-law. Roger’s plans are going all to ruin so he gets drunk one night and decides the sister-in-law is a big ol’ whore and the cause of all his problems. He rapes her then passes out. Sister-in-law throws herself out the window right after.

Velvet Song: Roger hates hero of this book. Brian steals hero’s armor and challenges Roger to a duel. Roger kills Brian and only realizes it once they take the helmet off.

Velvet Angel: Roger’s younger sister is heroine. At the end of the book Roger, heroine and hero all have to work together to do…something (only read this once years ago) on the way they rescue a damsel-in-distress. Roger falls for her and in the epilogue we find out they got married and had a daughter together.

Again I say, wtf? If you’re going to set up someone to do something that evil and awful then you had better by goodness kill him at the end. Horribly.

Claudia Dain
Now I'm nervous! In my current series, The Courtesan Chronicles, the central heroine is definitely seeking revenge. I never gave it a thought that readers would have a problem with that. And *really* never considered that they would have any sort of problem with a revenge motivation in a woman.

Go for it Claudia. I love women revenge stories…hell hath no fury and all that other good stuff. Plus I love your books…To Burn is one of my favorites.

A good example of the woman revenge story is Fern Michaels’ Sea Siren. A Spanish senorita and her sister are raped on a galleon by evil pirates…sister is killed by pirate who has a hook for a hand…senorita spends the rest of the book as a woman pirate seeking revenge on the evildoer. I believe it’s a trilogy.

re the Deveraux book… I haven’t re-read them in years and years and I have zero recollection of a rapist causing a suicide having a happy ending after killing his own brother?!… wow. I remember I loved those Velvet books. Go figure.

Whether or not I perceive it as justice or revenge plays a part in whether or not I like some revenge plots. Of course, sometimes I don’t care. It’s kind of a story by story decision. :)

we female readers are much more lenient in how amoral a male character is versus a female character.

But if the hero isn’t amoral, how can the heroine redeem him? ;)

I like well written revenge plots. “Well written” sounds like a given, but if it’s not well, well done, I’ll toss it. Mary Jo Putney’s Silk and Shadows is a good revenge book.

Interestingly, I don’t have a preference as to whether or not the revenge is abandoned. It totally depends on the book and author.

Now I'm nervous! In my current series, The Courtesan Chronicles, the central heroine is definitely seeking revenge. I never gave it a thought that readers would have a problem with that. And *really* never considered that they would have any sort of problem with a revenge motivation in a woman.

Going even further out on a limb, I don't want her to reform, feel guilty, or give it up for love! I want her to get her revenge. She deserves a little revenge for all that she endured. Her method of revenge is very precise, very targeted, so maybe that helps.

What this says about me I don't want to contemplate.

Heh, I got no problems with women and revenge. Two of mine feature an H/h who are both hired swords, but it’s the heroine who has the bloodthirst. She’s definitely not afraid to do what needs to be done, despite the fact that the revenge cuts her deeply. And she definitely doesn’t shy away from being messy about it, either.

It’s more revenge without that simmering rage, though, that you find with heroes. It feels cooler but at the same time more necessary–and maybe more costly to the avenger.

She never got to have a happily ever after, so why should he? Others might disagree, but like I said: Me=Bloodthirsty.

Damn straight. And IMO, it would only be more perfect if the avenger was a woman.

Loved Quick and the Dead. Kill Bill, too. I just like me some cold, revenging women who know how to take care of business.

Whatever the motive, I too want to see the villains get their just deserts. Reading about

the guy who brutally raped (and thereby drove to suicide) the Montgomery sister not only never got killed, he also got his own HEA

- that just makes me feel all stabby. I’ll take care to avoid that series.

Yeah, that was kind of odd. I can't remember what went on there. Wasn't there some kind of big explainer about that in Velvet Angel.

@ Lizzy: In Velvet Song, Roger McRapist’s brother (who was in love with the sister) fooled Roger into dueling with and killing him. So Roger killed his own brother and I think that was supposed to be the big comeuppance to redeem the rapist, but, to me, it wasn’t enough. Roger needed to DIE. His victim killed herself because of what he did to her. She never got to have a happily ever after, so why should he? Others might disagree, but like I said: Me=Bloodthirsty.

And I, personally would have no problem (I don’t think) with a revenge plot for a heroine.

Kill Bill was a graphic novel, although not a romance, and the Bride got plenty of revenge. And I know Medea’s certainly not a heroine, but she’s thought of in heroic terms — and there was no revenge greater than hers. And one of my favorite villains, Madame Defarge, propelled the entire trajectory of A Tale of Two Cities based on her wanting revenge for the rape and death of her sister. I don’t look unfavorably on women and revenge at all.