Today on this sixth day, we look at poorly chosen topics for stories, the most egregious of which is a young woman losing her virginity. This is always about women because with men, there's never an issue. A woman on the other hand is presented as a different species where her entire worth is contained within her virginity. She has no other value. The word 'virgin' or its derivations are not mentioned in YA. It's always 'V' - like we daren't even really talk about what this is, so we'll use a code word...letter!
- V-Card Sharing Spaces by Alicia Michaels. This could have been on the first day of Christmas since it's a first person voice story - inevitably - but Alicia Michaels already appears on that day for a different first person voice novel! It makes a reviewer wonder if she has some sort of a disorder which prevents her from writing in third person. This novel could also have been on the dumb-ass book covers fourth day of Christmas, since the cover of course is never going to show her hymen, or any of her hips or legs. It shows only her innocent face and her top sliding off her shoulders. But here it is because of the topic.
- A Virgin for Two Brothers by Jenika Snow. I hereby pledge to never read anything written by this author. This is a story told more than once by different authors where a virgin auctions off not only her virginity, but also in this case, her hand in marriage, and she's 'bought' by not one, but two men - brothers - so how the marriage is going to work is anyone's guess. Yuk. Just Yuk. And barf. There's the in-built assumption in these stories that some guy who's willing to buy a woman is automatically going to be her best choice for a partner. How fucked-up is that?
- Cowboys & Virgins by Alexa Riley is a bundle that includes "dirty alpha cowboys" and "innocent virgins ready to ride." Seriously? How innocent are they if they're ready to ride, and what is the 'innocent' virgin contrasted with? The guilty one? The rakish one? The slutty one? What a load of horseshit.
- Pretty Virgin by Alexa Riley (again) is another obnoxious title - telling us, hey, not only is she a virgin, but she's also pretty. No brown paper bag needed. That;s two strikes: Alexa Riley should be thoroughly ashamed of how she treats women.
- His Virgin Acquisition by Maisey Yates is no better. She seems to have made a career out of writing this garbage. Now a virgin is a business acquisition.
- The Virgin Scorecard by Lauren Blakely. Just the title of this is enough to make me nauseated; there's no need to read the blurb or have any clue what garbage is inside the covers. This same author has cloned this novel into at least a couple of others which are, as judged solely from the titles, exactly the same story over and over. Other titles include "The Virgin Game Plan," and "The Virgin Rulebook." All of these idiot books feature a buff-looking guy - and probably the same guy - topless on each over, because clearly the woman isn't important. Only her pussy, which is obviously represented by the 'V' in 'virgin'.
- Virgin by Radhika Sanghani is more first person bullshit - a story where the blurb claims she's gasping for it - sex, that is, because she 'hasn't done it' and she so desperately needs it. "Anyone out there want sex? Anyone? Hello?" the blurb asks. It's as pathetic as you can get. "Hey, what have I got to lose?" she asks like a fucking idiot. Well her disease-free status is the first thing that comes to mind....
- The Virgin Who Bewitched Lord Lymington by Anna Bradley is one of five clone books I list starting here. The Caveman's Virgin by Sam Crescent and Jenika Snow (yes, the same Jenika Snow) has a buff guy with a shaved chest on the cover who looks nothing whatsoever like any caveman ever did, and I seriously doubt that any caveman ever gave a shit about whether a woman was a virgin or not.
- The Virgin and the Viscount by Robyn Dehart. Robbing the heart? Seriously?
- The Virgin and the Rogue by Sophie Jordan is pretty much the same story as the one immediately above. The above novel describes Mathilda as a 'Lady of Virtue' like women who've had sex are nothing but cheap sluts. Men who've had sex are, of course, worldly rogues. Jody Picoult praises this, which merely serves to teach me that I need never read anything she's ever written.
- Scandal's Virgin by Louise Allen is yet another clone.
- Virgin Marriage by Alexa Riley has 'marriage' embarrassingly misspelled right on the fucking pink cover with the 'A' and the 'I' reversed. LOL!
- The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters is a Cad-fail novel. What the fuck does it matter if she's a virgin or not - especially if she's frozen corpse?! Pathetic and shameful.
- Virgin Unwrapped by Christine Merrill leaves it in no doubt right from the title, what the value of the female character is: a present to give to a man and nothing more. If she's not a virgin when he 'takes her' and 'makes her his' then she's fucking worthless, of course. Thus author also has a novel titled 'Paying the Virgin's Price" because of course a virgin is worth something. A hymen-free woman is useless, so this author appears to think.
- His Christmas Virgin by Carole Mortimer makes it equally clear that virginity is a present to give and if you don't have that, then you have nothing to offer.
- Talos Claims His Virgin by Michelle Smart - who appears to be misnamed - makes it clear that every man is entitled to a virgin and he'd better get what he's owed. Most women need not apply.
- Sins of a Virgin by Anna Randol begs a question that I have no interest in learning any answers to.
