Passion’s Rapture, Penelope Neri’s first book, is a bodice-ripper where the heroine falls in love with her rapist, the hero. The best thing said about her 1981 debut is that Neri could never write anything worse.
Passion's Rapture by Penelope Neri
Rating: 
Published: 1981
Illustrator: Ray Kursar
Imprint or Line: Zebra Historical Romance
Genres: Historical Romance, Bodice Ripper, Forced Seduction, Georgian Era Romance, Pirate Romance, Romance with Rape Element
Pages: 592
Format: Paperback
Buy on: Amazon
Reviewed by: Blue Falcon
TOTAL SPOILER ALERT ⚠
The Book
File Passion’s Rapture by Penelope Neri under the category “hero rapes the heroine” book.
One of the worst aspects of 1970s/80s romance novels is the tendency for the “hero” of the story to rape the heroine and, even worse, for the heroine to fall in love with the cretin. Unfortunately, this incident is repeated twice in Neri’s debut romance, Passion’s Rapture.
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The Plot
Blake the Flake
Warning, many spoilers coming for this very long–nearly 600 pages long–book.
Passion’s Rapture begins with the book’s heroine, Amanda Sommers, 19, being evicted from her home. After the death of Amanda’s mother, Jessica, her father, Robert, drank and gambled the Sommers’ family fortune away. He ended up dying in Newgate debtors prison.
Thankfully for Amanda, some old family friends give her a position as a governess for their daughter.
On the way to the job, an individual named Paul Blake accosts her and his behaviour toward her is obnoxious and boorish. They have several other encounters-including one where he tries to rape her, yet despite this-and the warnings of other licentious actions by Blake-Amanda agrees to marry him.
Their wedding day is full of surprises. Miguel de Villarin interrupts the the ceremony and claims Blake dishonored his sister– which Blake did. Blake tries to shoot de Villarin and misses. Miguel’s answering shot doesn’t, hitting Blake in the kneecap. Because this is the 1700’s when medical technology wasn’t what it is today, surgeons amputate Blake’s leg below the knee. Obviously, there is no wedding and Blake vows revenge on de Villarinoff.
So This is What James Mallory Was up to Before Gentle Rogue?
Later, Amanda goes to see Blake to tell him she still loves him and will marry him. Blake coldly informs her that he never loved her, and was only marrying her to have sex with her and to use her family to assist him financially.
Stupidly, Amanda tries later to convince Blake she loves him. Soon after two members of the Gypsy Princess abducted Amanda thinking she’s a doxie. They bring brought her to their ship as a sexual plaything for the ship’s captain, James Mallory, who rapes her.
He does feel guilty about it later, big whoop.
As the ship voyage continues, Amanda begins falling in love with James!
Two events interrupted their love boat cruise. First, a massive deadly storm kills over half of the ship’s crew. Secondly, the damaged Gypsy Princess comes upon what they believe is an abandoned ship, and they try to commandeer it.
Too late, they realize it’s a trap. A horde of pirates soon kill more of the Gypsy Princess‘ crew. They then take Amanda, James and a few other survivors hostage.
Amanda and James eventually free themselves and destroy the ship by blowing it up. The subsequent explosion tosses Amanda overboard into the ocean. She is rescued by a fisherman named Fernando. What she finds out later is that Fernando’s surname is…de Villarin! Miguel’s brother.
Oh, Yeah, the Hero. Um, It’s Miguel, I Guess?
Amanda is taken later to the de Villarin family hacienda, where Miguel is. He is just as obsessed with killing Blake as Blake is to kill him. When Amanda shows up, Miguel erroneously believes that she and Blake are conspiring to kill him.
Miguel rapes Amanda, then feels guilty about it; notice a pattern here? Despite being raped-again-Amanda develops loving feelings for Miguel and they do have several consenting sexual encounters.
Blake later tries to kill both Amanda and Miguel when he eventually captures both of them.
Amanda is then put on a ship headed to New Orleans. On the ship, Amanda meets a prostitute named Nellie Flagg, who befriends Amanda. Together, they stage Amanda’s death. They convince others she jumped off the ship and drowned in order to avoid being captured again by Blake’s henchmen.
Amanda also finds out during this trip that she is pregnant from Miguel’s rapes of her.
After arriving in New Orleans, Amanda and Nellie get jobs at a coffeehouse owned by Henri and Solange Robineau. Madame Robineau treats them like dirt, while Monsieur Robineau wants to have sex with Amanda. (Every man that sees Amanda wants to have sex with her.)
Amanda gives birth to a son named Michael–the Anglo version of Miguel–and for a while is content.
Wow, Amanda’s Really Gets Around
Unfortunately, Amanda can’t outrun Blake, who arrives in New Orleans with his lover/accomplice, Yvette, a madam of a house of ill repute. They kidnap Amanda and blackmail her by claiming that they have Michael and force her to work in Yvette’s brothel or they will kill him.
Amanda’s first customer has sex with her-and she enjoys it-but that man also turns out to be a friend of James Mallory-who Amanda believed was dead-and they help her get out of the brothel.
Later, Yvette shows up with proof that she and Blake really do have Michael, and she tells Amanda to bring Miguel to a house to make an exchange of lives.
Amanda tracks down Miguel, whom she earlier told of her love for him. Together, they finally put an end to Blake and Yvette’s reign of terror over their lives. The pair go on to live happily ever after.
The Upside
Side note: James gets his own book, Beloved Scoundrel.
This book is very much like a soap opera, with multiple outrageous, over-the-top things happening.
The Downside
That doesn’t mean it’s any good. There are multiple issues here. First and foremost is the fact that the heroine is raped twice, and nearly a third time. And somehow, she falls in love with all three of the perpetrators!
Then there is Amanda herself. While I do admire her strength in dealing with all she deals with, both physically and emotionally, the fact is some of her misfortunes are her own fault. She is the one who agrees to marry Blake despite his behavior. She is the one who falls in love with two “men” who rape her. Amanda is, at best, naive and at worst, stupid.
Miguel and James are worse. Despite Ms. Neri’s efforts to rehabilitate them by claiming that they “feel bad” after raping Amanda, the fact is, if they don’t rape her, they wouldn’t have to feel bad about it.
Sex
There are multiple rape and lovemaking sessions between Amanda and her lovers, but they are not explicit. Ms. Neri’s sex scenes become more graphic in later books.
Steam Factor:
Violence
There’s lots of it. Rapes, shootings, physical assaults, killings, it’s all here. Although none are overly graphic, they are plentiful!
Bottom Line on Passion’s Rapture
If, as a reader, you’re okay with a “hero” raping the heroine or you’re a lover of Penelope Neri’s books, you may like Passion’s Rapture.
But even though I am a fan of Ms. Neri, I didn’t.
(NOTE: COVER POINTS DO NOT COUNT!)
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| Overall: | 2.2 |
Synopsis
EACH DAY
Amanda Sommers, a ravishing English beauty, raged at the devastatingly handsome Miguel de Villarin. He had shot her fiancé Paul, accusing him of a life: dishonoring de Villarin’s sister. And now he had imprisoned Amanda in a tower room of his estate, trying to force her to admit the preposterous – that she was Paul’s spy and hired killer!EACH NIGHT
Passion’s Rapture by Penelope Neri
Amanda swore she would escape her tormenter, that she would rather hurl herself on the rocks below than submit to his brutal caresses. But each night, the moment she saw him, Amanda’s determination weakened as her desires peaked. She despised being the captive of a dishonorable man, yet she was a prisoner of his love!
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