The Carhart Series

CW: sexual assault

Lavinia and William start a ‘relationship' because William overhears a conversation between Lavina and her brother which indicates they need to produce 10 pounds or face imprisonment. Thus, William coerces Lavinia into sex by buying up her brother's debt and insisting she pay with her body.

For me, there was no redeeming William or the book after that. Unless he became a true champion of female rights who helped ensure fewer women had to be in Lavinia's position, I was always going to hate him. Additionally, I feel like Milan doesn't address the rape as she should. The resolution is too pat and fails to really contend with how awful his actions were. Apparently, he doesn't really coerce her because her brother was a minor and thus she didn't really need to pay the 10 pounds. But he didn't know that, and that's the important bit here. He selfishly exploits her vulnerability with no regard for her personhood and instead of being the villain of this story, he is the hero. In fact, by the end, he has both a better job and the woman he has always fantasised about (I won't insult love by suggesting that he loves her). At one point, he tells her he's not the man for her and she replies with: I knew that the minute you tried to coerce me into bed. This should have been the end. Honestly, this would have been a 5-star novella if the book had ended here and they never got together.

I believe that this book should never have been a novella. In order to truly rehabilitate a character as despicable as William, Milan needed at least 320 pages. This is Milan's first effort and it obviously lacks the nuance that she now brings to most of her stories (even the novellas).