My concern is more when this issue crops up in newer releases. With an older book, I take the culture of the time in which the book was written into account. That said, I realize timing plays a part-an SFR written twenty or thirty years ago can have a different subtext than a new release. Seriously, is either of those choices too much to ask? Okay, but even if a society is technically a patriarchy, it can still involve much more progressive laws, institutions, and practices that ensure a stronger sense of gender equality than we have now. But let’s say the alternatives are unrealistic or are more fantasy than plausible science. Why aren’t we asking them to create worlds with other types of hierarchies? (Well, except for Jess Granger-she already did that in BEYOND THE RAIN). After all, this is a subgenre that is currently dominated by women authors. While not one hundred percent unexpected, patriarchal societies in science fiction romance are more prevalent than I’d like. An exception, of course, would be if an author provided additional commentary on why the misogynistic elements of a patriarchal society had endured. Growing up, I learned that I don’t need permission from any man to have a job, so it’s difficult if not impossible for me to engage with a story that contradicts my experience in such a fashion. Even more puzzling when said world isn’t even Earth.

It’s especially puzzling when my own personal experience is at such odds with an author’s presentation of her futuristic world.

It really takes me out of an SFR story when I’m told that it’s still a man’s world in the future-sometimes hundreds of years later. Now, I expect to find subtext of one kind or another in just about every science fiction romance I read, but it’s the subtext regarding Western patriarchal society in particular that gives me significant pause. The chapters I read contained subtexts, as I interpreted them, regarding the evil of alcohol and the dangers of sex before marriage. While I haven’t read the above book, I did start Autumn Dawn’s WHEN SPARKS FLY. His capitulation that she can have a career was basically that, a throwaway line on the last page, like, 'Ok, honey, you can have a job if you want one that badly.' And even then he's still in control because he's giving her permission. I also felt like Ryven caved much too quickly on forcing her to essentially be a highly-ranked stay-at-home mom. This passage in particular caught my eye : James reviewed NO WORDS ALONE by Dorchester author Autumn Dawn.

No Words Alone by Autumn Dawn