This was quite a story, powerful as well as heartbreaking, and if it hadn't gone over the top in several aspects, I would have given it another star.

If not for the want of a bit of lace...In 18thc London, young Amanda Prescott goes out in the late evening to get some, so her dressmaker mother can finish an important gown for a prominent lady. She gets lost along the way, is mistaken for a prostitute and kidnapped by some young men as a parting gift to their friend, Tony, Brandt, who's leaving for America the next day, to take over the family plantation. The guys strip her and lock her in Tony's room (their harsh treatment is because they think she's a whore acting the maiden, as what respectable girl wanders alone in the dark), where, frightened and feeling sick, she lies down on the bed and falls asleep. When a drunk Tony arrives, he's pleased to find a working girl in his bed, and in his condition, doesn't realize he raped a virgin.

He leaves for his new home, and her life takes a downward spiral, as her mother, already in fragile health, was so worried she took a bad turn, from which she didn't recover. The gown not being completed, she lost the lady's patronage, as well as other customers, and Amanda had to resort to stealing food to keep them from starving. She got caught and was sent to Newgate Prison, where a lecherous constable offered to save her from being raped by guards (which happened all too often), as well as see that her mother was kept comfortable for her remaining days, if she agreed to sleep with him on his weekly visits to the jail, and what choice did she have? She endured it like a zombie, to keep from getting violently sick.

Her sentence is commuted to indentured servitude and she's shipped off to America, where she's bought by the very man that raped her, though Tony has no idea who she is. He does feel a strong attraction to her and a forced seduction scene soon follows.

The story takes some dark paths, as Tony's torn between his feelings for Amanda (whom he grows to love, though he hides it all too well) and his mistress, Letty, who can truly be described as diabolical. Her cruel streak is apparent from the start, so why Tony decides to marry her is puzzling, unless it's because she shows him such a wild time in bed. that doesn't stop him from seducing Amanda, who (though she at first vowed to herself to make him pay for what he did) soon realizes she loves him. Nathan, the overseer (and a good one, nothing cruel about him) and a friend of Tony's, soon falls for Amanda. Though she considers him a friend, she's drawn to him when Tony treats her badly, which is all too often. On one bizarre night, Tony and Letty were having wild sex in his room, and Amanda, seeking to forget this, went for a walk outside, was joined by Nathan, and they started kissing. Taking a break from action, Tony walked out on his bedroom terrace, saw them in the moonlight, was furious (despite his lust for Letty, Amanda's gotten to him in a way he can't shake) and in anger, had sex with Letty standing up on the terrace, where Amanda and Nathan couldn't help but notice!

No, this is NOT your typical romance novel, it's dark and ominous in many places. After an argument, Amanda hits Tony and he hits her back, and almost beats her with a riding crop (thank goodness he came to his senses in time). Trying to look at it psychologically, I'd say that he was afraid of love and resented Amanda for making him feel it, so he treated her so crummy and turned to Letty, as she didn't effect his emotions, just his body. In fact, after he was with her, he'd regret she wasn't Amanda.

I won't go into every detail, but there's a real tearjerker moment, when, after a trip to England, Tony returns to find Amanda had his son, only he doesn't believe it's his baby! Just like the lace created a turning point for Amanda, so did a slip on the stairs, which made her give birth prematurely, and Tony questions when the baby was conceived, thinking she may have gotten pregnant by someone onboard ship and wanted to dupe him into thinking it was his child so he'd marry her and she'd be mistress of the plantation. His attitude was reinforced by the fact that she had told him about the constable, and while in London, Tony located him and he admitted what he'd done but added that Amanda wasn't a virgin when he first slept with her. So now he's angry, thinking she lied to him, not knowing he was her first because she didn't know how to tell him the story and have him believe it. To make matters even worse, he'd intended to ask her to marry him, but of course, he changed his mind after "discovering her deception" and started up with Letty again.

This book has so many emotion spinning scenes, like when Letty stays over and she and Tony are so loud in their lust that the baby starts crying, and he tells Amanda to keep the squalling brat quiet! When he's not referring to the baby that way, he calls him Amanda's bastard. Yes, you want to throttle him! Especially when, after going ahead with plans to marry Letty, he gives in to her wishes and decides to give her Amanda's indentured service papers as a wedding gift, then tells Amanda he'll reconsider if the sleeps with him whenever he says. All the time, he won't let himself admit how much she means to him, and keeps up a heartless facade. Someone's in need of therapy!

As for Letty, if she were literally the devil's daughter, she would make Satan a proud papa! She's diabolical and sadistic, and makes Amanda suffer terribly. Thanks to her, Amanda's whipped (though luckily Nathan showed up to stop it from getting too far), captured by Indians, (I refuse to dignify these creepy ones by calling them Native Americans), kidnapped and set up to get pregnant by a slave (though she and the slave involved manage to avoid having sex) and made to believe that Tony gave her indentured servant papers to Letty after all, when he had said he's burned them. (Letty had substituted the papers and stole the real ones). Then, she takes her vengeance to a whole new level.

It's happened many times in romantic sagas, that the heroine sacrifices herself to save the man she loves, often giving her body to a man she despises. Well, this time it's the man who does the sacrificing, as Tony (who finally admitted how much he loved Amanda and actually went through a lot for her later on, about time too) has to sleep with Letty again, or else she won't give him back the indenture papers and will sell them to anyone she pleases. Yes, she finally gets her comeuppance (and there's also one scene which even the most radical feminist couldn't possibly object to, where Tony loses his cool and slaps the crap out of Letty), but it sure took long enough!

BTW: If you're wondering why Amanda seems to take so much garbage from Tony (though she does have her angry and feisty moments), just remember the expression: "the heart wants what it wants", and despite having a nice guy like Nathan in love with her, who offered to accept her child as his own, her heart wanted Tony.

There's a HEA, though long time coming, but worth sticking around for, and there are times where Tony really suffers, which is good payback for his treatment of Amanda. So give it a try, but be warned: it's not a day at the beach. ( )

I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars for this one. On the one hand the plot was gripping, the characters were reasonably well defined, the setting was interesting and the book resolved itself well. On the other hand, at times the twists got to much, the theme of tortured heroine was too drawn out, the love scenes and language was eyerollingly cheesy most of the time and at times my frustration at the heroines continued torment almost led me to just give up on the whole book.

Caress and Conquer is a bodice ripper. Nobody can really pick up a book with a title like that, a cover to match and claim they were expecting anything other then what they got. The hero is sexist, arrogant and cruel. The heroine is tortured needy and, at times, too stupid to live. The plot is packed with over the top sensationalism and cheesy love scenes. I can't fault the book for this because, being a bodice ripper and not high brow historical fiction, these elements are to be expected.

In summary, as far as bodice rippers go this one was great. However, do not expect the book to be anything other than what it is. ( )

Usually I like the adventures these bodice rippers offer, but there was no adventure here. It was just tragedy after tragedy. 2.5 stars. ( )