Review: Disfigured Love, by Georgia Le Carre

Disfigured Love by Georgia Le Carre
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I love a great, dark story, ‘Disfigured Love’ ended up being a disappointment for me. It definitely had plenty of “dark” content, but it failed to trigger much of an emotional response. I never felt a strong connection to the main characters and the heroine’s reactions seemed forced.

Lena Seagull grows up in an extremely abusive household in Russia. Her father is a real bastard and her mother is the embodiment of Battered Wife Syndrome. For years he abuses everyone in the household, until he decides to begin selling off his children one by one. Meanwhile, the mother is paralyzed with fear and does absolutely nothing to prevent this.

When Lena’s father sells her to the human traffickers, she is sold in an online auction. Guy Hawke is the wealthy man that purchases Lena. Although he struggles internally with the idea of buying a girl, his conscience is not powerful enough to make him do the right thing. He knows that what he’s doing is horrible, but he doesn’t care. He wants Lena and he will force her to submit to him.

Guy wastes no time in abusing his new toy. He viciously and repeatedly rapes her. Lena, surprisingly, seems to take it all in stride. Honestly, it was so unbelievable that it was laughable.

All the while, he wears a mask, or blindfolds her, when they are together so that she cannot see his disfigured face. Of course, Guy has a tragic past that has left him emotionally scarred and is supposed to somehow excuse his behavior. Again, it was just too convenient and felt contrived. I didn’t buy it.

Following the classic ‘Beauty and the Beast’ storyline, the two end up falling in love. No big shocker there! When Lena discovers his big secret, this results in a big misunderstanding. Guy “sets her free”, but really he just tosses her out like a piece of trash.

In the end, they find their way back to each other. The misunderstanding is cleared up. They go on to live out the HEA. Cue the eye roll.

Overall, I give it 2 1/2 stars. It wasn’t the worst I’ve read, but it left a LOT to be desired. Mostly, it was just underwhelming. As a huge fan of darker reads, I actually liked the fact that the author wasn’t afraid to write about controversial topics, like abuse, in graphic detail. However, the appeal in a dark read is in the emotional response that it elicits. This book failed to do that.

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