Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing and Frustrating!!!
Review: If only 0 and negative stars were created!!! This is the second book I have read of Catherine Coulter (the first being Impulse), but had it been the first, I wouldn't touch her books with a ten foot pole. I need to write this review to get on with my life!!! This book should be called "Rapehaven", not Rosehaven. Ohhh, I can't even write down all the thoughts I feel about this book. First of all, Severin is without a doubt the worst leading male I have ever read about. His egotism is astonighing, and his manners are nothing short of atrocious. After practically raping his "wife" on their wedding night, he doesn't stop there. He can be tolerable when she participates in their merging, but if not, he's a raving lunatic. He doesn't let anyone interfere with his "lust", not even his wife, who he has no problem raping to soothe his manhood. To call this romance is sadistic. If he didn't "need" an heir, I would have told him to forget the marriage and go elsewhere to do the only thing he is capable of.. Hastings, on the other hand, could be a tragic character, with the exception that she falls in love with the jerk. If I were her, I wouldn't have threatened him to kill him, I would have done it!!! The fact that her servant tell her she has to change is deplorable. I realize this is supposed to take place when women had no choice and all about anything at all, but still. There's only soo much a reader can take. Marjorie is another winner, and her and Severin were made for each other. Hastings should have handed her Severin on a silver platter, getting rid of both of them. And I would have beaten up Eloise to a bloody pulp. The fact that Severin utters Marjorie's name when starting to have sex with Hastings just shows what indeed he is thinking with, if you can call it thinking at all. Evolution seriously reversed itself with him. The ending doesn't even come close to swaying my thoughts about this book. Wow, Severin finally realizes what a jerk he was about Marjorie and falls in love with Hastings. Too little, and much too late. Okay, I think I'm done, and do feel a tad better. Maybe I should stick with her books only if she's writing in today's day and age. I don't think I could handle another book by her like this; I'd end up murdering the first man I see!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Another Disappointment
Review: Someone here accused the critics of this book of having "PC sensibilities" in terms of the rape of Hastings by her husband Severin. The fact of the matter is that while such things did indeed occur in the 12th century (and sadly continue into now), the attempt to somehow make such an act erotic stretches the bounds of imagination. There is erotic and then there is sheer cruelty. Rosehaven was sadly the latter. I disliked Severin. He was the alpha male taken to cartoonish extremes. This could be excused if this were Ms. Coulter's first book, but it isn't. Besides, I've read other historical romances set in this same time period that showed a lot more sensitivity, like 'The Lily and The Leopard' by Susan Wiggs. I disliked Hastings. She was a doormat incarnate. Enough said. The marten was a nice touch, and the only saving grace. I would have enjoyed reading about its mating expoloits rather than the dysfunctional relationship between the two humans. Thankfully, Ms. Coulter redeems herself big time with her wonderfully comic 'Bride Trilogy'.
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