This week we are discussing Guarded Treasure by Mae Lovette, Ch. 8-14.
Content Warning!!! This book contains situations and subjects related to: sexual content, curses, and sexism.
Spoiler Warning!!! This post is full of spoilers for Guarded Treasure by Mae Lovette.
Discussion:
Michaela: Hello friends and welcome to our second discussion of Guarded Treasure by Mae Lovette. We have definitely had some new developments in this section that are thickening the mystery side of the plot. Plus some very steamy encounters between our two main characters.
I felt like the writing style with bouncing between the two character’s point of view/inner narrative was both beneficial to the very clear misunderstanding brewing during their moments together and it also felt pretty choppy. At times it was hard to tell whose thoughts we were reading. I gotta say for a second there I really thought Ben was going in a gross misogynistic way and it honestly took me a couple pages before it was finally clarified. That was extremely worrisome to me. I still felt a little weird about Ben’s “I’ll teach you” attitude but I can also see the appeal for some readers. It can be a trope written in a beautiful way, not sure this quite hit that spot for me personally though. Most likely this was from my unease a couple pages prior with Ben’s apparent personality switch to misogynistic ass that ended up being an incorrect interpretation by me.
Jac: I really struggle with the bounciness of the POV. At one point, we even randomly switch to Myrna’s POV! I typically like dual+ POV, because you’re right - it can be very beneficial to help you understand both sides of an encounter - but that’s when it’s separated into clear sections or chapters.
I love me some spicy scenes, and this one wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read, but it definitely wasn’t the best. Everything involving sex in this book thus far feels inaccurate to the time period, to be honest, and it’s hard for me to look past that. I agree with Ben in that Edith shouldn’t settle for anything less than what she wants and deserves, but the way he went about it was a little… meh. In the end, she still has full agency of herself and her body, and he can’t do a thing about it. I feel weird about Ben just bouncing after the party, after they had sex for the first time. It makes me feel like he was being sneaky about something, or getting cold feet. HIs reasoning for going back just didn’t make sense to me.
Can we talk about the exchange where Ben was like “Oh I finally figured out your true motives for wanting to be a part of this expedition” after they talked about getting access to Pimbley’s library? None of that made sense to me. I thought maybe Edith wanted access to a specific book but then she just left with the family records? Did I miss something?
Michaela: I thought the sex scene was written pretty well, not the best, as you said. I’m more of a steamy scene person than a spicy scene person typically. I like the build up to the spicy stuff in this book a lot. I thought the moment in the train was good, it had a lot of spice while also being full of story and character interaction at the same time. Also, I agree, it felt really weird for Ben to just leave so suddenly. I’m assuming the reasoning will become clearer the next time we revisit his narrative but geez my guy, give a girl two seconds maybe. Also also, I agree on the time period front as well. Obviously people were and are far more sexually active than is accurately recorded because of purity culture but the way they talk about it still feels off. But also maybe the culture around sex is that part of the world was different at that time, which that subject I am not educated on so I could totally be wrong.
Also they were gone for far too long during that gala. Ain’t no way no one noticed them gone for at least two hours. A room full of socialites didn’t notice two unattached young people roam off together? Please.
Okay I thought that ‘motive’ was really weird too, how I interpreted it was that she was really after the Book of Light. As in something she had said triggered him to realize that would be the perfect spot to hide the most sought after magical artifact. I still feel like I missed something with all of that though.
In general right now the adventure and the romance feel weirdly separate. Maybe it will be all integrated again when Edith gets back to Argo. I felt much more melded early on in the story but going back to Cairo really threw the vibes off for me. I am enjoying the overall vibe of the story plus the romance though, I think if you read it through for a good time rather than reading to discuss it it wouldn’t bother you quite as much.
I am enjoying this new magical twist with the Didia family. Now that is way more dramatic than a scorned belly dancer. The mystery part of the story feels a whole lot juicier to me. I don’t know what to expect from the rest of the story regarding any of this new information, though.
Jac: I am not entirely sure what to expect next, either. I’m glad they finally addressed the magic because so far what happened in the tomb has just been accepted as part of the world but never really got explained. I’m hopeful for some more clarity on the way the magic systems work, and how it all ties into this Book of Light,
I anticipate there will be some sort of third-act conflict between Ben and Edith, which I typically don’t love in these kinds of stories, so I’m curious to see how that comes about. I’m hoping that we get a half-way decent happy ending for them!
Well friends, that’s it for this discussion. We’ll see you next time!
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