It Happened One Autumn Summary: It happened at the ball...
Where beautiful but bold Lillian Bowman quickly learned that her independent American ways weren't entirely "the thing." And the most disapproving of all was insufferable, snobbish, and impossible Marcus, Lord Westcliff, London's most eligible aristocrat.
It happened in the garden...
When Marcus shockingly—and dangerously—swept her into his arms. Lillian was overcome with a consuming passion for a man she didn't even like. Time stood still; it was as if no one else existed... thank goodness they weren't caught very nearly in the act!
It happened one autumn...
Marcus was a man in charge of his own emotions, a bedrock of stability. But with Lillian, every touch was exquisite torture, every kiss an enticement for more. Yet how could he consider taking a woman so blatantly unsuitable... as his bride?
It Happened One Autumn Review:
This book is hard to finish. From their first intimate encounter, a precedent is set for the rest of their meetings. It also states, quite adamantly, that when a woman says no, it actually means yes because she secretly wants it. Throughout the novel, there is a push and pull relationship between, which does have its funny moments. The rounders game where Lillian tackles Westcliff was funny and reframed their previously, antagonistic relationship. However, for many of the events, Lillian comes off childish and Westcliff appears domineering. Luckily, whenever the secondary characters showed up, the story became a lot more interesting. Lillian and Daisy's antics were especially fun to read about. This will be further explained below, but the progression of their love story is tainted by their intimate encounters. Below, I discuss three instances where the men's behaviour was either rape or assault. Most readers believe that these three events were passionate and sexy, in a good way. But I will try and explain my stance on why these actions were wrong.
The first time that they kiss, which is very early on in the book, Westcliff ends up kissing Lillian three times. She repeatedly tries to push Westcliff off and says no. But based on the perfume she wears, he was to over come to listen to her. And she responded during the first so she must have wanted it to continue. For me, this appears similar to people under the influence who exhibit poor behaviour; however, a perfume's scent can hardly be equal to an intoxication. There are more factors than just someone's attraction, such as their comfort level which are important to consider in any interaction. Especially, somewhere as restrictive as the Victorian society.
Then there is the first sex scene. Westcliff has walked just in on Lillian drinking brandy until she is drunk. Westcliff himself states, "[s]he was foxed, staggering, tap-hackled, top-heavy, shot-in-the-neck, staggering drunk". Its hilarious, and Lillian adds to this with her actions. Westcliff further comments that starting anything sexual with her, no matter how flirty she may act, would be wrong and taking advantage of her disposition. Nonetheless, Westcliff reaches a certain where he can no longer control himself. He can no longer handle Lillian's drunk advances anymore and decides to have sex with her. Now, many readers say that Lillian was asking for it or that she wanted it. However, she was not in control of her facilities during this time...BEING DRUNK. To contrast her drunkness, Westcliff is stone-cold sober during the entire interaction. Additionally, he has a larger sexual knowledge than Lillian does because women are kept innocent until marriage. Both St. Vincent and Westcliff describe Lillian as such. So Westcliff can think both clearly and has a greater understanding of what is coming next. He should be acting as her guide; instead, he becomes her rapist. This is rape. She can't give her consent because she is intoxicated which means that this is non-consensual sex or rape. It doesn't matter how much she wants it, as stated before there are multiple factors other than their physical attraction to warrant an intimate event. This was a disgusting scene and it made the next scene, where he cleans her up after forcibly stripping of her blanket, even worse.
The final incident includes St. Vincent and Lillian, not Westcliff. St. Vincent has captured Lillian in a stupid kidnapping scheme to force her to marry him because he is severely in debt. Nothing in this book explains this random behavioural change in St. Vincent and the only reason it is likely here it to create a redemption arc for him in the next novel and create a climactic end. The kidnapping leads to Lillian tied up on a bed, where St. Vincent opens her dress and gropes her breast. And the book highlights that she turns away her head in discomfort and shame. This event by itself would not be problematic because it is quite clear that it is sexual assault. However, St. Vincent is the hero of the next book Devil in Winter, and the novel (as well as the next one) states that the main problem was actually stealing Westcliff's girl. It never labels St. Vincent as an assaulter. Especially telling is the conversation in the next book where Evie boldly states that St. Vincent could have never raped Lillian; however, his incredibly aggressive behaviour in this novel shows otherwise. More on that in the next review.
While this novel was great the first few times I read it because I, like many other readers, either ignored the scenes or assumed that it was what normal love looked like. Now, I know better and this novel makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it. I'm not passing judgement on those that continue to enjoy the novel, this is a work of fiction. Nonetheless, it is important to understand the underlying issues.
This brings me to my next point, which is becoming more apparent through Ms. Kleypas' novels. The heroes seem unduly aggressive. For example, Simon from the previous novel grabs and kisses Annabelle without her permission. Additionally, whenever there is a sex scene, the heroines are described using words such as helpless or use actions such as crying or quiver. Not only is that kinda weird in general, but its also uncomfortable when paired with the "manly" way the heroes are described. It is important to note that Simon and Mathew (Scandal in Spring) are quite nice as heroes and there many attempts to place them on equal footing to the heroines.
Overall, the novel is a 1-star read.
