Angel in a Red Dress by Judith Ivory – Review
Angel in a Red Dress was previously published in 1988 under the title ‘Starlit Surrender’ with the author, Judith Ivory, writing as Judy Cuevas. The new title doesn’t seem to tie in easily with the story. The heroine, Christina, is the angel, but nowhere in the story is she described as wearing red. There is a quote at the beginning of the first part of the book: “Except for the poppy, the pimpernel is the only scarlet flower in all England.” So perhaps the red part appears when the hero, Adrien, evokes it in his favorite opium-induced fantasy, when he takes opium (which is derived from the bright red poppy plant) to relieve pain. . She is also an angel in his battle to save him when everyone else thinks he is dead.
Christina Bower is the beautiful only daughter of a respected lawyer at King’s Bank. During her first season in London, she has a brief encounter with the notorious rake Adrien Hunt, 7th Earl of Kewischester. She finds him totally intriguing, but even her title-hungry father finds Adrien not a suitable match for his daughter. Her father encourages a union between Christina and Richard Pinn, the eldest son of a baronet, only for Pinn to divorce her three years later for apparently being barren.
Needing to escape to a quiet place until the divorce is finalized, Christina, now 23, accompanies her cousin Evie to an earl’s estate outside London. Christina had not realized that the absent earl was 35-year-old Adrien. Adrien is an arrogant half-French British couple whose affairs are legendary. Evie even tells Christina that there isn’t a woman within 50 miles of the earl’s estate who doesn’t know him intimately, including herself. He is rich, smart, handsome, and deadly charming. The attraction between Adrien and Christina is immediate and palpable.
Christina isn’t immune to Adrien’s charms, but she knows she really should run away from him, because giving in to her feelings would be inviting his heart to be broken, since he would never consider her a wife and she couldn’t tolerate becoming his. lover. She might be glorious to be with him, but she would ultimately break her heart, because she would eventually have to marry and have a legal heir.
The story is set in England and France at the time of the French Revolution and the second half is full of action and adventure as Adrien (in Scarlet Pimpernel mode) tries to rescue imprisoned French aristocrats from the guillotine. Christina unknowingly finds herself in the middle of Adrien’s undercover operations. The main focus of the story is Adrien and Christina and their complicated relationship.
On the surface, this book has it all: romance, intrigue, mystery, and action.
But the hero, although on the one hand he has his attractive qualities, in my opinion they are slightly outweighed by his imperfections. I realize this was set in the 18th century and he was an earl. However, I felt that his actions were too selfish. Though on second thought, perhaps he didn’t know any other way to get what he wanted, since he hadn’t encountered such persistent opposition before, or the growing desperation to keep a hold on what he realized he wanted most: Christina.
He’s certainly not a ‘fake rake’ – he has five illegitimate children from some of his earlier flings, which Christina understandably finds disturbing, even as she’s impressed that he actively and genuinely cares for them. Furthermore, he does not immediately abandon his and other lovers’ debauched ways upon meeting and pursuing Christina for the first time.
When Christina initially refuses to become his mistress, he gives her some space and respects her decision. However, after she succumbs, and months later decides she doesn’t want to continue in that role, he just can’t understand why she wouldn’t be content to remain her lover for the foreseeable future. He forces her to accept his physical advances, using his sexual progress to create sexual desire in her, even though she fights him, he forces her anyway or, exhausted from the fight, she finally gives up, saying for example : “Go ahead, rape me.” Adrien hated going through his resistance scenario every time, but he still wouldn’t take no for an answer.
While it’s clear to the reader that, on one level, she wants to make out with him, on another level, she’s fighting against it in a fight to keep her dignity and integrity to herself. She can’t get away from him because he has made it physically impossible for her to leave him, so she is doing the only thing she can, trying to be true to herself. Her selfishness does not allow him to respect her wishes.
For the reader, this repeated abuse depresses the romantic side of the story. Another problem I had in the romance department was the lack of interaction between the two main characters. There wasn’t enough of the story to show the positive sides of their developing relationship.
Adrien has to be dragged away kicking and screaming as he realizes how much he has come to love Christina. When he finally comes to grips with this, circumstances separate the characters and the reader eagerly awaits the outpouring and declaration of love, but it all rushes and never happens, leaving the reader feeling cheated. The hero never apologizes for the hurtful and insulting things he said and did to her, and he never actually verbalizes that he loves her. It’s an unsatisfying ending that ends too quickly. The tyrannical hero is never redeemed at the end of the book. The story lacked the emotional intensity expected from a romance novel.
