Lemonade by Nina Pennacchi
General Genres & Darkness Level - Basic info & Content
Darkness Level 4
Historical
Stand-Alone Novel
Tropes & Triggers - Although I try my hardest not to include any spoilers, these tags may give away a little more of the story. If you don't want to risk the possibility of knowing a wee bit extra about the type of content and aren't too bothered anout exact tropes then don't click here 🙂
Abused Heroine
Anti-Hero
Emotionally Damaged Hero/Heroine
Enemies to Lovers
Innocent/Sheltered Heroine
Non Consent/Rape
Revenge/Vengeance
Sassy Heroine
Strong AF Heroine
Virgin Heroine
Darkness Level – 4 out of 6
My Rating is 4 Stars
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Blurb
As a young woman in Victorian England, Anna Champion knows all too well the social mores that value prettiness over sense, and etiquette over honesty. But when she stands up to the boorishness of dashing Christopher Davenport at a summertime ball, Anna unwittingly attracts his wrath—and becomes entangled in his malicious scheming.
After a lifetime of harboring shame and resentment, Christopher, a ruthless con artist, wants revenge, and unfortunately for Anna, he’s decided that she will be the perfect pawn in his terrible plot. With a fierceness of spirit uncommon in well-bred young ladies in the nineteenth century, Anna will have to use her intelligence and courage to protect her loved ones. But can she also save herself?
My Review Of Lemonade by Nina Pennacchi
So here’s the thing.
I love historical TV shows. Vikings, The Last Kingdom, Tudors, Spartacus, etc. But I rarely read historical books.
I just feel like I can never find one dark and fucked up enough to really sink my teeth into. Almost as if what was considered taboo and dark back then (even though it was written recently) is kinda pale grey now, ye ken?.
However, this one here was actually very good and certainly had its dark and twisted moments.
We’re talking bullying, non-consent, alpha-hole and a nice wee dollop of angst and somehow a touch of humour and sweetness.
CHRISTOPHER
I get sooo fucking angry about how disregarded women were back in the day.
Like, fuck you and the horse you rode in on ya knob!
I mean I’d love to meet the man who thought that anything I have to say was just nonsense and unimportant. The poor soul who’d try to treat me as ‘lesser’.
As the blurb says, it’s all about “the social mores that value prettiness over sense, and etiquette over honesty.”
Anyway, it all had me legit growling at my kindle.
Christopher is a twat. Through and through.
It starts out with him utterly dismissing Anna when he full force bumped into her at a party and spilt her ’Lemonade’ all over her dress, thoroughly embarrassing her.
He looked at her, assessed her and then judged her as lesser and insignificant and therefore not worth his time or effort to even apologise to her.
Major. Fucking. Heid the baw. (Scottish insult)
He’s wealthy, handsome and arrogant as fuck. A selfish little bully that I would just love to meet…(yes I’m still angry at him).
And so when Anna decides she’s gonna get a wee bit of revenge after he humiliates her he’s like “What the fuck? Who is this cretin that she thinks she can speak to me this way?”
These were his thoughts when she dared to address him.
“Few things surprised Christopher, but the reaction from this insignificant, ridiculous girl was one of them. Shouldn’t a young girl of this sort keep a low, submissive profile?”
So, you can see why I’m pissed, right?
The thing is, now she has his attention and he becomes kinda obsessed.
Okay, not just kinda obsessed, he was utterly cray-cray-obsessed with her for all the wrong reasons.
When he realises later that he actually needs Anna to like him in order to ‘fit in’ with her best friend things get dark and fucked up pretty quickly because nothing and no one is getting in the way of his revenge.
Yeah, it gets really dark and yummy 🙂
ANNA
I immediately loved Anna.
She’s so fed up with the rules of etiquette and he just flips her bitch switch at the wrong moment, lol.
Pompous and arrogant, the infamous lemonade spiller had crossed the room like a god come down from Olympus, moving away from her with all the regard of a lion toward an ant. (You are a nobody, Anna.) Well, she wasn’t the most important person in the room—she knew that—and he wasn’t the first little lord to slight her, either. But to not even apologize? No, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed incredible.
Anna is so smart and strong and super independent for the period (the 1820s) and I love how her mind works.
But be warned!
She goes through utter Hell with this prick.
And if he thinks she’s just going to fall in line after a few charming words and commands from him (which he does) then he’s in for a wild and brutal battle.
It’s a while since I’ve gotten so angry with a character, lol.
But I’ll tell you what, she gave as good as she got (verbally anyway. Not so much physically…which is why she needs me!).
She didn’t back down even when she was terrified and I just wanted to jump into that book and hug her.
Link arms with her and clothesline that son of a bitch.
Seriously brilliant character development.
SEX/DISTURBING SCENES
!!**TRIGGER WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT !!**NON CON**!!
“No! Please! Don’t do that to me! You can’t possibly. I don’t believe, no . . . Oh, please . . . Please, no! No!” He raised his right hand and struck her on the face, then again. Back and forth he hit her face, her soft features, with the palm of his hand. He slapped her ears, her temples, her cheeks. [...] “They won’t take you away from me,” he mumbled, and, leaning against her, he suddenly thrust into her. He felt a sharp pain as he invaded her unprepared and tight opening, and he was inside of her. “Oh God, no! No! No . . .” she screamed, her voice cracking several times due to the stabbing pain and her wild cries, which kept her from breathing. The man who was on her, hiding his face, was panting hotly into her shoulder. He was pushing deeply into her, and he ripped mercilessly into her virginal body. [...] “Have mercy . . . Have mercy! Enough! Please! It hurts me. It hurts badly!” This man did not hear her. He did not answer her screams. He didn’t react to her scratches and punches, which grew ever more weak. [...] When Christopher raised his face and went to kiss her, the look of horror on her face was immeasurable. With a scream, she pushed him away as he fell off her. She tried to get away, rolling over off her back and putting her hands on the ground to get on her feet, but he pulled down on her shoulders, pressed her to the ground, and struck her face, making blood run down her cheeks. He climbed on her again and brought his hand forward between her thighs, raising her pelvis and drawing it near him. He penetrated her again, from behind like an animal. “No! Christopher! Please, no!” She reacted desperately but with no more strength in her body or her soul. “How could you? How?” “Shh,” he whispered, speaking for the first time since the nightmare had begun. He was panting, and his voice was hoarse. Her pain seemed to mean nothing to him. “If you are good, it will be over. It will all be over quickly.” “Let me go . . . please . . . Chris . . . Christopher!” [...] “It’s almost done . . . be good . . .” He began to move again inside her, slowly. And slowly he began again to take pleasure in it. Anna was still at the mercy of this man, and the liquid heat that filled her—her own blood—made his movements less painful. A flow of red was taking away the last of her extinguished strength, and her physical suffering as well.
Final Thoughts on LEMONADE by Nina Pennacchi and Scott P. Sheridan
I will say it takes a wee while to get into the nitty-gritty of the story, maybe about 20% in, but it does very quickly get intense after that point. It kinda makes me think of a very dark and disturbing Bridgerton and is well worth a read 🙂
4 Stars
Thank you for reading!
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