ALYX by Lolah Burford with Author Photo

PUBLISHER: Signet, 1977
GENRE: Historical Fiction
SETTING: Jamaica, 1790s

TIMESPAN: about 4 years
HEROINE: Alyx de Vere
HERO: Simon
GRADE: A+
DATES READ: 1/04, 5/04, 11/06, 10/07, 1/22

SYNOPSIS: They were enslaved in a place where lust knew no bounds-and only love was forbidden… They were two white slaves thrown together in the darkness of the breeding hut. She, Alyx de Vere, a virginal, sixteen-year-old beauty carried off to nightmare captivity on a Caribbean sugar plantation. He, Simon, handsome, young, once heir to a noble title. He felt no desire for this anonymous woman who was forced upon him. And she knew only fearful hatred for this stranger who was about to violate her youthful innocence.

But as night after night of tremulous, fevered mating passed, something forbidden grew between these two desire-damned lovers-a rapturous passion that drove them to dare any peril to free each other from this savage world of bondage and brutal submission. And it was then that Alyx and Simon swore that no power-even death itself-would ever overcome their eternal bond of flaming, all-conquering love…

SPOILER SUMMARY: This is the story of 27-year-old Simon and 16-year-old Alyx de Vere, both British. Simon was sold at auction to August, owner of a plantation in Jamaica, 10 years earlier when he was 17. This story takes place in late 1790s Jamaica.

Here's how Simon ended up in Jamaica. Simon was in line to inherit his fathers estates and all that came along with it when his father was injured in a horse riding accident. Simon's jealous uncle Phillip came up with a horrible plan; to kidnap and ship Simon off to a place far away for life so that he would be next in line to inherit his brother's title and estate. But there was one little problem; what to do with Simon?

Simon's father was out riding one day while Simon was away at school. His father fell off the horse as went into a coma. Uncle Phillip put his plan into action. He went to see Simon at school, told him his father was hurt and his mother sent him to come get him and bring him home. Later that night, Phillip gave Simon some drugged coffee, which made Simon sick, then he passed out. He was taken to his own room to recover.

When he awoke, he was bound and gagged. Phillip was standing beside him, he removed Simon's gag and forced him to drink more drugged rum. Simon and Phillip then traveled by carriage. Phillip told him they were traveling 'towards' Simon's father's. The carriage was then attacked by men who kidnapped Simon for ransom, Phillip watching all the while.

Simon awoke on a bed, bound in a hut, being taken care of by some men for about a week. He was blindfolded one day, put into the floor of a carriage and covered by a rug, so as not to be seen by anyone. After traveling for awhile, the carriage stopped, multiple gunshots were fired and the men who helped Phillip with Simon were killed. Simon knew Phillip did it because he heard his voice. Phillip then forced Simon to swallow some kind of powder.

He was later put on a ship with other captives, they sailed to Jamaica and he was put on an auction block naked, examined by a man who ended up buying him. That man was Simon's master, August. Simon was sold under the name Aston Smith.

Simon was forced to share August's bed for five years. When Simon would resist, he'd get whipped. After five years, Simon stopped sharing August's bed but the rapes continued. Soon after Simon stopped sharing his masters bed, he became one of four *studs*. The studs were to get the female slaves, both black and white, pregnant. After they'd gotten one pregnant, they were given a one month break. Studs were treated better than other slaves.

After being a stud for five years, Alyx arrived. She was sent to Jamaica because she'd gotten caught stealing Simon's uncle Phillip's horse. One of her friends dared her to do it just for fun, so she did it then got caught. She'd been there a few months when she'd been put into the breeding hut with Simon. August put those two together until Alyx got pregnant because August wanted those two to have a son that August and his wife could raise as their own, since they couldn't have their own children.

So Simon and Alyx met in the breeding hut. That's how the book opens. They were in total darkness every time so they couldn't see each other at all. The reason for that is so that if they pass by each other, they won't recognize each other and won't know who they're pregnant by or who has fathered who's child.

Just about every night, Simon and Alyx were put in the hut together. They talked and got to know each other. Alyx told Simon how she came to be there and Simon told her his story.

Alyx knew she was pregnant and even threw up once while they were together. She hid the dirty sheet under the bed because she knew if anyone knew she was pregnant, she wouldn't see Simon again. After a short time it was discovered that she was pregnant so she didn't see Simon for a long time. Though they didn't know what the other looked like, since they'd only been together in total darkness, Alyx recognized Simon one day while they were working. Alyx dropped her bucket of water, Simon looked at her but continued on, she whispered his name and in that moment he knew she was Alyx, since she's the only one who knows his real name. They talked, he felt her stomach and saw that she was pregnant. They made plans to meet by the fountain later, they met and had sex and were caught by August's wife. She wanted to have him castrated, whipped and hung. After he was whipped and was about to be hanged, August arrived and saved Simon.

They made plans to escape the plantation together. They met, Simon has his master's keys, they met the priest who married them, then as they were boarding a ship that Simon had arranged for earlier. As they were boarding it, gunshots rang out and August and his men shot the captain and another man, and made Alyx and Simon return home. Simon was whipped 200 times.

He was then put to work in a field with a man who'd had his tongue cut out. He was also raped by the man from time to time. He then became 'stud' to Alyx again. They were told not to talk to each other, so they didn't. Then he didn't see her again for three years. One day someone came to the hut Simon lived in and told him his master wanted to see him. When he got there, August told him he'd checked out his story about being an earl and that Simon had been telling the truth. He tore up Simon's 'paper of purchase', introduced him to his son and daughter, then Alyx and allowed them both to sail home to England. They were finally free; Simon, after 13 years, Alyx, after 3.

When Simon arrived at his mother's home after a few months of sailing, she was surprised to see him but didn't seem happy. He told her that Phillip had abducted him but she didn't belive him. All of them then traveled to see Phillip, who was very sick and in bed. He told Phillip that he and his family was going to have to find some place to live, since they were living in Simon's house. Neither one mentioned the kidnapping.

On the way home, a rider came up to the carriage and told Simon that his uncle wanted to see him. Simon returned alone to the house. When Simon went into the bedroom, Phillip asked Simon if he knew what Phillip had done to him and Simon said yes. Phillip said that he wasn't sorry for what he'd done and that he'd do it all over again if he could.

Simon wrote up a statement saying that Phillip was retracting his statement about Alyx stealing his horse then got Phillip to sign it. He was going to use that to have the charges against Alyx dropped. Next, he asked Phillip if he ever wondered about him or regretted what he'd done and Phillip said 'no'. Simon went home, told Alyx she could leave him if she wanted, since they hadn't been getting along much during the whole voyage back home to England. She said she wanted to stay with him; that's how the book ended.

MY THOUGHTS: I absolutely love this book. It's a top favorite of mine. It fits the criteria of romance (hero and heroine have a relationship throughout with a happily ever after) but I don't see it as one though some do, so I'll catagorize it as one. It's the darkest and most disturbing book I've ever read. I've read it five times in exactly 18 years and it only cost $1.

Both main characters have terrible lives on the plantation. Alyx is put with a 'stud', Simon, for the sole purpose of getting pregnant. Their owner, August, wants their male offspring to raise as his own son so he can inherit everything when August dies. Simon and Alyx are put together in a breeding hut every night in total darkness never seeing what the other looks like. Though they're not to speak to each other at all, they do and form a bond. When Simon isn't on stud duty he's being raped often by August, or servicing his wife, who's name we never learn. August occasionally likes to strangle Simon until he passes out before raping him, sometimes drugging him first. He has him whipped too whenever he feels like it. August's wife is serviced too by Simon. When she sees Simon and Alyx speaking to each other outside of the hut (they somehow figure out who the other is though they've never actually seen each other), she gets incredibly jealous and wants to castrate him. They call him by the fake name he gave them, Aston:

"I hope you die hard, Aston," she whispered, viciousness in her voice over him already like the whip, and he winced under it. "Your neck is strong and I hope it will not break, and you strangle slowly. I hope you take a long time to die, and that you know all the time that it is happening, and that you pray for death before you get it, Aston. I will watch you, Aston, all the while it is happening to you, I will watch your face, Aston, and not let them cover it so that I can see you while you are suffering."

Once Alyx gets pregnant, Simon starts planning their escape but it doesn't go smoothly once the plan's set in motion. That's exciting to read, and tension-filled. I like Alyx. She's mild in personality. This should have been called "Simon" because he's the star of the show. Because they're forced to have sex with each other, they're raping each other. There's a scene near the end, page 292, when they're free and Simon does rape Alyx:

"He was angered at her too then, and he made it his affair, quickly and roughly, forcing her, then he was sorry. She was shaking with angry sobs." 

The ending isn't satisfying, it's too short, and I don't like Simon's mother at all. I doubt anyone does. I don't feel her reaction to seeing him again is a normal one, but then again this is fiction. My only complaint is that the ending needed to be expanded, the book is only 312 pages, and this book definitely needed a sequel. 

The author's note at the end of the book tells us who the character Simon was based on. It says, "In the eighteenth century, the Sixth Earl of Anglesey (uncle Phillip) "is notorious as having procured the kidnapping and bondage in America of his nephew, James Annesley, rightful Lord Altham". If you want to read more about the real event that inspired the character Simon, click here.

Alyx's character was based on a true case of a 14 year old girl who stole a horse and was 'condemned to transportation' to Australia and ended up married to the ship's captain.

Lolah died in 2002. Below is an image of her, taken from the back of the hardcover edition of her book Vice Avenged (see my review). Image came from the internet.

LOVE'S LEADING LADIES by Kathryn Falk

PUBLISHER: Pinnacle, 1/1982
GENRE: Nonfiction
MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Here, for the first time, is an intimate look at the women who write the bestsellers that bring passion, charm, and happiness into the lives of countless readers.

As the Barbara Walters of personal interviews, Kathryn Falk-and avid romantic novel fan herself-has asked intriguing questions of favorite authors, who now tell all about their home lives, their hopeful dreams, and devastating disappointments. Even about their own romantic experiences!

Complete with photographs, facts, favorite recipes, astrological signs, and up-to-date lists of published works-plus others soon to be released-this one-of-a-kind anthology is an absolute must for the more than 20 millions romantic novel fans who find themselves fascinated by...LOVE'S LEADING LADIES.

Authors profiled: link.

MY THOUGHTS: I loved this. Each author got 4-6 pages and there's a mix of both historical romance and contemporary authors. Seems like over half included one of the author's favorite recipes. There's a black and white headshot of every single author except Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, who got an illustration of herself instead. The author called her "reclusive" and said she was a "born-again Christian" who doesn't answer fan mail. We learned that authors Iris Bancroft and Rebecca Brandewyne are MENSA members and that Rosemary Rogers and Shirlee Busbee, two of the biggest authors of the 80s, worked together for a time while Rosemary was a published author. Julie Ellis wears a size 3 US shoe! Author Virginia L. Hart (who apparently goes by the name Ginger) is married to famous country singer Freddie Hart, who died a few years ago.

Parris Afton Bonds is a born-again Christian and here's something odd she said to justify having raped heroines in her books, "I find my approach amusing, because as a tyro at writing romance I found it very difficult to justify sexual intercourse between two unmarried characters and still remain true to my Christian tenets. As a result I often had to resort to 'rape' between my hero and the heroine in order to juggle the sex and romance!"

Barbara Cartland is pretty funny, "That's why I'm selling millions of paperbacks to women who are on Valium because they're having such a rotten time in real life." "I don't like most women," she admits without hesitation. "I can't bare ugly women who sit about doing nothing but waiting to play bridge. All my life I have thought men were something very special. It is a treat to be alone with them. I prefer a dumb man to an intelligent woman." She also calls herself "some sort of British heirloom."

THE PIRATE AND THE PAGAN by Virginia Henley

PUBLISHER: Dell, 11/1990
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England and the sea, 1660s
BODICE RIPPER? Yes

MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Wild as a pagan goddess, Lady Summer galloped her stallion along the Cornish coast. She had dabbled in the smuggler's game to save her family estate, but a wealthy marriage would better serve her purpose now. Lord Ruark Helford seemed the answer to her reckless prayers. But as his hot, hungry kisses drew her toward deception and irresistible acts of love, she had to hesitate. Would this arrogant, handsome lord be her ticket to heaven--or hell?

MY THOUGHTS: I really liked this. Summer's a hazel-eyed 17-year-old spitfire. She has a brother, Spencer, who's three years younger. They're dirt poor and are about to lose their home. They smuggle to stay alive and she's a highwayman sometimes. They've only got one relative, aunt Lil, their father's sister. I wish she had played a larger roll. She's not a bad character at all but I could see her doing bad deeds. 

Ruark's age isn't given. He's a pirate so I'm assuming he's much older than she. She needs his money to save their home, Roseland, and they marry too fast without his knowledge of why she's truly marrying him. He smacks her on three different occasions (chapter 21, 33, 39) and rapes her once. Despite that, I like him. He has a younger brother, Rory, and there's a love triangle between all of them. That, I like and it added depth to the plot. There's a major twist involving that that I didn't like at all.

The only negatives are that the story was too long and there were too many explicit sex scenes.

WHISPER TO ME OF LOVE by Shirlee Busbee

PUBLISHER: Avon, 4/1991
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1815

STEPBACK: link
MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: She was a raven-haired waif from the streets of London-- a wild innocent to be rescued... and tamed. A spirited beauty, she would captivate Royce Manchester's jaded heart-- while resisting the smoldering desire she felt for her virile protector.

In Royce's glittering world of money and privilege, young Morgana discovered the shocking secret of her true identity-- entangling the wealthy American planter in a deadly skein of aristocratic family intrigue. But grave peril would only feed the flames of a love that knew no bounds... and a glorious rapture that would not be denied.

MY THOUGHTS: I couldn't gauge the timespan on this but it felt very short, maybe a couple months and takes place in England. Like a lot of historical romances, this had a mystery running throughout that I thoroughly enjoyed. Shirlee created a few evil villains that were introduced in the prologue so that hooked me from the start.

Morgana is 19 and goes by the name 'Pip.' She had black curly hair and gray eyes. She's dirt-poor and lives with her two older brothers, Jacko and Ben. She dresses like a boy and is a pickpocket like her brothers. It's what they do to get by in life. She stands up to Royce and I really like her. 

Royce is a 33-year-old American. He's 6'3" with tawny hair and topaz eyes. He first meets Morgana when she attempts to steal from him. She ends up staying at his house when he learns she's female and what her living situation is like. They don't get along and bicker, which I like. Some of Royce's terms of endearment for her are, greedy little strumpet, scheming baggage, delectable little slut, conniving little slut, conniving little bitch, wretched grasping little hussy, grasping little harlot. Of course she's none of those things. We weren't really given any background on him, which was disappointing.

A servant helps Royce uncover the mystery of Morgana's parentage, which she doesn't even know isn't what is seems. This part of the plot involves three villains, two of which are working together, and I like all three. The mystery is essentially what keeps the story moving. I never guessed who the "one-eyed man" was and don't see how anyone could have.

Dominic Slade, from the previous book in this series, Midnight Masquerade, is in this one briefly, along with his wife Melissa. I haven't read it so I don't know if Royce is in it but I assume he is. Melissa is the sister of Royce's twenty-year-old cousin Zachary, who's in this book but he doesn't serve much purpose.

A PIRATE'S LOVE by Johanna Lindsey

PUBLISHER: Avon, 10/1978

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: France/Caribbean, 1667

RAPE: Yes
MY GRADE: A-

SYNOPSIS: With languid tropical breezes caressing her breathtakingly beautiful face, Bettina Verlaine stood before the mast, sailing westward to fulfill a promise her heart never made - marriage to a Count her eyes had never beheld.

Then in a moment of swashbuckling courage, the pirate Tristan swept her away and the spell of his passion was cast over her heart forever.

But many days - and fiery nights - must pass before their love could flower into that fragile blossom a woman gives to only one man.

MY THOUGHTS: This is set in France and the Caribbean during 1667 and spans about one year. It's the author's second novel.

Bettina Verlaine is 19 with white-blonde hair and color-changing dark green and dark blue eyes. She's angry because she's being shipped off to the Caribbean, Saint Martin, to marry a man she doesn't know, Comte Pierre de Lambert. 

Captain Tristan Matisse is 26 with light brown hair and pale blue eyes. He's French but passes himself off as English. He's on his way home to the Caribbean on his ship "Spirited Lady", somehow spies Bettina on her ship "Windsong" and seizes it because he just has to have her. He forces her to submit to his repeated rapes in exchange for the lives of the men on her ship. She's captive on his ship for about two weeks so I assume she's raped every night though only eight are mentioned. She hates his guts and plans to murder him and even tries once. As a child Tristan witnessed a woman be gang raped so you have to assume that messed his mind up and is why he had no qualms about raping Bettina. I really needed to see some groveling from him but didn't get to. He's on a mission to murder the rapist too which is odd since he's a rapist himself. His mission comes to a head at the end.

I like most things about this book except that her mother's in it for the duration. The woman is sickening. She thinks Bettina should be grateful for being alive and really doesn't seem to care that her daughter's raped all the time. She has her own happily ever after with a man from her past.

Bettina's feisty as hell and I like her a lot. She holds her own. She even punched Tristan twice. Right before she leaves for Saint Martin she learns a secret from her mother regarding her father. That secret comes back around near the very end of the story and frankly I could have done without it as it did nothing for the storyline. It was put in the story just to give her mother a bit of storyline. There's a throwaway character in the last part named Gabby Drayton who makes an appearance then is gone as quickly as she came. Her purpose was to make Bettina jealous.

LORD CAREW'S BRIDE by Mary Balogh

PUBLISHER: Signet, 6/1995

REISSUED: Bantam, 2/2010

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England

MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Jennifer's cousin Samantha Newman is smarting after she too is toyed with by Lord Kersey. In the midst of her heartbreak, she seeks solace from her new friend, the disabled gardener Hartley Wade. If only she knew that Hartley is secretly Lord Carew, and that he hides more than extraordinary wealth: a passionate secret held deep in his heart that only her love can reveal.

MY THOUGHTS: This was very enjoyable right from the start. Hero and heroine meet just eight pages into the story, and it's less than 300 pages. The story takes place six years after Dark Angel, where we first met eighteen-year-old Samantha. She's twenty-four now and less than a year away from inheriting a fortune from her late parents. 

Samantha had her heart broke in the previous novel and that's turned her against falling in love and getting married. She meets Hartley by chance and they become fast friends. She's not attracted to him in a romantic way but he falls in love with her right away.  

Hartley seems slightly depressed. He's your typical nice guy without a bad bone in his body. He even cries a few times. He isn't happy about being single and is very sad when Samantha has to go back to London just a few days after meeting her, so he follows her there in hopes of catching a few glimpses of her without her knowing about it. She's genuinely happy to see him again and agrees to marry him though she's not in love with him. That part was a little too sudden to suit me. At this point she still doesn't know who he really is. She's actually horrified to know he's in love with her. She thinks that the relationship can only go downhill from there if you start out being in love with your spouse. 

Lionel, from Dark Angel, is back from abroad and he's here to stir up drama. A sad secret is revealed about him being involved with Hartley's childhood injury that caused him to become crippled. 

Sir Albert Boyle and Rosalie from Dark Angel are in here. They've been married for six years and have three children.

Jennifer and Gabriel from Dark Angel are in here and have three children.

There's nothing I disliked about this story. I like that Hartley has emotions and though I do prefer alpha males in fiction, I did enjoy reading about the opposite. He's very mild-mannered but we do see him get angry/jealous when he finds out about Samantha's past love interest. 

SAPPHIRE by Rosemary Rogers

PUBLISHER: Mira, 11/2005

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: British West Indies, England, USA, 1831

STEPBACK: link

MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Despite her privileged life in the sultry paradise of Martinique, the beautiful and daring Sapphire Fabergine will never be satisfied until she claims the honor and legitimacy that has been denied her. Sapphire sails to London to confront the aristocratic family who had disowned her before she was even born --- only to find that her biological father is dead and that his title has passed to Blake Thixton, an attractive yet loathsome distant American cousin.

Convinced Sapphire is determined to bring about his ruin, Blake kidnaps her and sails back to America, where he presents her with a choice: become his mistress or serve him as a maid in his waterfront mansion. Without means in this unfamiliar land, Sapphire is trapped. But she will not compromise her quest for honor so easily --- not even for the man she has come to desire.

MY THOUGHTS: I really liked this. It's a mild bodice ripper and if I didn't know better I'd have thought it was from thirty years ago, and that's meant as a compliment. The time span is about a year, maybe a little more.

Sapphire is living with her father Armand, adopted sister Angelique (a true tramp who's one year older than Sapphire), and her dead mother's friend Lucia in the French West Indies. Sapphire is twenty, with auburn hair and one blue and one green eye. She learns of her true parentage, including her mother Sophie's shady past, so she sets sail for England with Angelique and Lucia to claim what's hers. 

Blake is a very successful merchant. He's ten or so years older than her (his age isn't given but Sapphire thinks he's 10-12 years older than herself) with dark hair. He's from Boston, USA, and went to Harvard. Blake had an abusive father and I wanted to know more about him. I don't think his mother was mentioned so I'd have liked more background on his childhood and parents. He has no desire to be in England and wants to settle his dead relative's estate as soon as possible. Enter Sapphire. He thinks she's lying about her parentage and wants nothing to do with her at first. He's arrogant and irritable and won't hear her out. He comes to her rescue in England then ruins it by kidnapping her. She won't give in to his request of her becoming his mistress yet sleeps with him anyway while forced to be his hired help. 

I like when Sapphire runs away, disguising herself as a boy, but don't like how she ends up making her living. It's farfetched and uninteresting. Her reunion with Blake during that time is too coincidental so I wish the author had put more thought into how to reunite them.

While not the fasting moving story, I enjoyed it. Like most books, this one is longer than it needed to be. The only thing this book lacked was a villain. There are two other new relationships in the story, Angelique and Henry, Lucia and Jessup, and that's two too many. 

The author died in California in November 2019.

 

A ROSE IN WINTER by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

PUBLISHER: Avon, 12/1982

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England, 1792

MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Erienne's father had given her hand to the richest suitor. She was now Lady Saxton, mistress of a great manor all but ruined by fire, wife to a man whose mysteriously shrouded form aroused fear and pity. Yet even as she fell in love with her adoring husband, Erienne despaired of freeing her heart from the dashingly handsome Yankee who couldn't forget her. The beautiful Erienne, once filled with young dreams of romance, was now a wife and woman...torn between the two men she loved.

MY THOUGHTS: This was very good but slow until the last 100 pages (of a 564 page book) or so, then it really picked up. Timespan is just a few months.

Erienne is twenty with black hair, violet eyes, and is very spirited. I really like her. She's a very strong character who knows how to stand up to people. She's got an eighteen-year-old brother, Farrell. Her mother died years before. She lives with her horrible father, Avery, who treats her like garbage and reveals secrets to Erienne. He's sheriff but that's just a cover for the bad things he's doing. I found him to be very annoying because he spoke like a country bumpkin and it got on my nerves.

Christopher Seton is cousin to the man she marries, Lord Stuart Sexton. Christopher has russet-brown hair, gray-green eyes and is thirty-three. He's madly in love with Erienne from the start and pursues her, even after she's married. He's been living in American for awhile and most call him 'Yankee.' He's very likable and I absolutely love the way he antagonizes Erienne at every turn. He loves to ruffle her feathers and she falls for it every time. She hates him for wounding her brother and wants nothing to do with him.

Stuart has returned to the semi-burned home, Saxton Hall, after being presumed dead for a few years. He wears a black hood to cover his burned face and gloves to hide his burned hands. Everyone's disturbed by his appearance, most especially Erienne, who's reluctant to consummate their marriage. After marrying him she thought "he looked like he crawled from the pits of hell."

Claudia Talbot's a minor character for most of the story. She's a nasty young woman who resembles Erienne. She has the makings of a good villain and I wish more had been done to make her one.

There's a great twist in the last 150 pages involving Stuart and Christopher that I didn't see coming. Erienne thought she's figured it out (out of nowhere, of course) but it turned out to be something even crazier. I prefer her original thought though I'm happy with the actual twist. There's someone known as a night rider who's out killing people but turns out that person, who I didn't suspect, isn't really the one doing the killings, so that was a bit confusing.

Erienne should have felt some angst because of having to deal with being strongly attracted to Christopher while being married to Stuart but there wasn't any.

I'm so happy with this plot but the book shouldn't have been so long, almost 600 pages. The twist seems unique to me and I liked it a lot. I've read four of her books and this is the only one I've liked. The cover is beautiful and I'm sorry it took me 12.5 years to get around to reading it. 

Other Woodiwiss books I've reviewed:

The Flame and the Flower

The Elusive Flame, sequel to The Flame and the Flower

THE SECRET PEARL by Mary Balogh

PUBLISHER: Signet, 9/1991
REISSUED: 12/2005
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1822
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: A+

SYNOPSIS: He first spies her in the shadows outside a London theatre, a ravishing creature forced to barter her body to survive.

To the woman known simply as Fleur, the well-dressed gentleman with the mesmerizing eyes is an unlikely savior. And when she takes the stranger to her bed, she never expects to see him again. But then Fleur accepts a position as governess to a young girl…and is stunned to discover that her midnight lover is a powerful nobleman. As two wary hearts ignite—and the threat of scandal hovers over them—one question remains: will she be mistress or wife?

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: This is very dark, deep and well-written. A fiction novel has never made me cry, until this. The end of chapter 26, to be exact, a scene not involving hero or heroine. The story spans two years. Most of it takes place at Adam's estate.

Fleur Hamilton (Isabella Bradshaw) is on the run. She's twenty-three, with red hair and brown eyes. Her second cousin, Matthew Bradshaw, Lord Brocklehurst, is blackmailing her over something that has to do with why she's run away. He also wants to marry her but I don't think it's to get his hands on the money that she's due to inherit from her deceased parents.

The hero is Adam Kent, Duke of Ridgeway.  He's very likable but too beta. I'd have liked to have seen more passion from him. Instead he's pretty reserved. Adam is physically scarred on his face and body from fighting in the Battle of Waterloo and was even presumed dead at one point. He has dark hair and eyes and "hawkish" features. He's in his early thirties and has been married to twenty-six-year-old Sybil for six years. They have a daughter, five-year-old Pamela. He's fallen out of love with his wife, who hates his guts, and she's still in love with his younger half-brother, Thomas Kent, and has been since before they married. She's in bad health, is unfaithful, and is truly a miserable person and undeserving of a devoted husband and daughter, or a devoted anybody.

The romance between Isabella and Adam is a slow burn and I didn't feel much angst considering they couldn't be together for quite awhile. It took far too long for Isabella to even stop being scared of Adam. Her fear of him made no sense at all. There was a part near the end when Isabella received a letter from someone. I felt she should have sent a reply that expressed all she'd been feeling and how she feels about what was written in the letter, but she didn't and that bugs me.

I really like a bit of suspense in historical romance so I really enjoyed the subplot, if it can be called that, with Thomas/Sybil, and with Matthew/Isabella, though I wish more had been done with Matthew at the end. He deserved some sort of punishment. Though the book is long, 400 pages, I can't think of anything that should have been cut from it. The story never dragged and I never got bored.

The 2005 reissue is somehow longer in length from the 1991 original though no content has been changed.

AFTER INNOCENCE by Brenda Joyce

PUBLISHER: Avon, 1994
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: New York/Paris, 1901
BODICE RIPPER? No
VIRGIN HEROINE? Yes
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
GRADE: A+++

SYNOPSIS: Estranged from society, wealthy and beautiful artist Sofie O'Neil finds solace in her private world. She longs just once to taste a forbidden love, to follow the dangerous diamond smuggler Edward Delanza to paradise. But Edward wants far more from the innocent young heiress than a brief and passing encounter. For he is determined to heal her and possess her now . . . and for all time.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE NOVEL OF ALL-TIME AND THIS IS MY SPOILER SUMMARY FOR IT.

Review first published 11/20/2011. Updated 4/30/2020.

Read multiple times between late 1994/early '95 and 1999, then read four more times since then.

HEROINE: Sofie O'Neil, 20, born May 1881. 'Tawny-golden' hair, amber eyes. Sofie is an only child.

HERO:  Edward Delanza, around 23, from California. Black hair, blue eyes, tan skin. Edward is the youngest of three sons. His middle brother is Slade and oldest brother is James.

PROLOGUE- New York City, 1890. Sofie is nine years old and her mother Suzanne is calling for her inside the house. She finds her and sees a drawing of Sofie's father laying at her feet. Suzanne picks it up and yells at Sofie to stop drawing pictures of her father, Jake. She tells Sofie that Jake isn't coming home, Sofie tells her he is, Suzanne says he isn't, Sofie is upset, runs and falls down the stairs, hurting her ankle. The housekeeper came over to her and Sofie lied and told her she was fine. Suzanne was watching from the top of the staircase and said, "If she is hurt, it is her own fault." She'll walk with a limp the rest of her life and be labeled a 'cripple' by everyone, including her own nasty, hateful, jealous mother.

PART 1- THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

Chapter one begins in Newport Beach, 1901 at a party Sofie's mother Suzanne Ralston is having. It's summer and Sofie has recently turned 20. Her mother Suzanne is 36. The guests are all staying at the Ralston's beach house. Suzanne convinced Sofie to come to the party. Sofie is out on the beach with her sketchbook to do a little sketching. She see's a handsome man walking along the beach with his shirt unbuttoned. She begins to sketch him and hears a woman's voice call out to him. It's her mothers widowed friend Hilary. She's talking to Edward about wanting to have sex with him but he doesn't want to do it in the sand when they could do it in a soft bed later. Hilary unbuttons her jacket revealing her bare breasts. Sofie is shocked. Edward thought he saw a flash of movement then spotted Sofie crouched down watching. The thought of being watched by her excited him, so he and Hilary had sex right there in the sand in broad daylight. Sofie fled, accidentally leaving her sketchbook behind. Edward was disgusted with himself for what he'd done. He never lets her know that he saw her. Sofie arrives back to the house. Hilary's cousin Henry Marten is asking Suzanne if he could be introduced to Sofie, whom he's just seen walking outside. Suzanne doesn't want Henry to be interested in Sofie so she tells him her daughter has a 'dreadful limp' and is a 'cripple' and has 'never had a suitor.' Sofie walks in and sees them. Suzanne knows that it's frowned upon for women to be artists and that people think Sofie is eccentric and reclusive. She doesn't want Henry to be interested in Sofie so she proudly tells him Sofie is an artist and studies art at the academy. She tells Sofie to tell them what she's drawn today and Sofie realizes she's left her sketchbook behind.

Later that day, Sofie is telling her stepsister Lisa, 17, that she must have left her sketchbook at the beach and has Lisa go look for it. She told her that she sketched a man named Edward at the beach. Lisa said it must have been Edward Delanza and that he was a guest at their house. All the ladies at the house think Edward is attractive and dangerous because it's rumored that he smuggles diamonds and gems out of Africa. That isn't true. Sofie is scared to death that she'll see Edward at the house. She doesn't know that he saw her at the beach but doesn't want to have to face him after what she's seen. Later on, Edward is in his room. He looks over to an open sketchbook...Sofie's sketchbook, laying open on a chair. He doesn't know who Sofie is or what her name is but assumes she's a guest at Suzanne's.

He went downstairs and saw her right away standing alone. They made eye contact. Hilary and a friend came up to Edward and began talking. He asked them who the girl in the corner was and was told she was Sofie, daughter of their hostess Suzanne. He walked over to her and introduced himself then kissed her hand. He asked her if she was going to spend the rest of the summer there and she told him no, she had art classes to attend in the city and that she and her classmates are devoted to their art. He told her one day a handsome man would earn some of her devotion. She told him that she intended to earn a living by selling her art and that if she did wed, a husband probably wouldn't allow her to earn a living. He asked if she planned to marry one day and she said no. He asked her if she dressed the way she did, in ugly gray gowns with her hair pulled back, and hid her beauty was to turn away unwanted suitors. She said she had no beauty to hide.

Suzanne called everyone in to dinner. She'd been watching Sofie and Edward talk and didn't like it. Suzanne thinks Edward is just like Sofie's dead father and wants Edward far away from her. After dinner, nasty old Suzanne told Sofie to say away from Edward and insulted her by saying that she was 'neither rich nor beautiful' and she shouldn't 'encourage' him. Suzanne left Sofie sitting in a chair. Sofie's ankle hurt from doing so much walking that day so when she stood up, she gasped at the pain. People looked her way, then looked away in embarrassment. Edward rushed over to Sofie and asked if she was OK. He doesn't know that she walks with a limp yet and she's scared of him finding out. She told him she was a 'cripple' and hurt her ankle years before and it didn't heal right. He removed her special shoe and began massaging her ankle. Suzanne was horrified that he'd do that and went over to them. She told him she wanted to see him tomorrow morning. When he left, she yelled at Sofie, told her Edward was just like her 'goddamned, rotten father, that miserable Irish bastard" and that Edward would use her like she had been used. Sofie spent the rest of the night in her room drawing him.

While Suzanne was waiting for Edward the next morning, she was remembering when she'd met Jake. He died (no he didn't) eleven years ago. He'd left all of his money and assets to Sofie, one million dollars worth and not a penny to Suzanne. She'd met him in NYC in 1880 when she was 15. He's an Irish immigrant who came here after his mom and sister died in a fire set by British soldiers in Ireland. He was about 18 when he met Suzanne. One day in 1880, Suzanne rode her horse to where Jake was doing construction work. She'd seen him there several times before while out with her friends. She though he was attractive. So one day she went to see him. He saw her watching him and went up to her. He asked who she was and asked if she was going to meet him somewhere. She nodded yes. He gave her a key to his place and directions. She went inside and was disgusted at his place. It was run down and shabby. Suzanne came from wealth herself. Jake got there and took his clothes off and it went from there.

Back to the present, Edward went to see Suzanne. She asked him what his interest in Sofie was and told him he was trying to bed her. He said that wasn't true and Suzanne asked him to leave her home so he did. While Edward was waiting in the driveway for the carriage to take him away, he told himself he'd make a point of seeing Sofie again. When Sofie found out that Edward was gone, she was very sad and disappointed. She'd enjoyed him flirting with her.

When Sofie had been home for over a week Edward came to see her. Her parents and Lisa were still at the beach house. She asked him why he was there and he replied, "You need me Sofie. You need shaking up. Badly." Right before he kissed her he said, "I'm going to shake you up Sofie." He barely kissed her then pulled away and said, "Jesus!" He apologized then asked if they were still friends. She asked him to pose for a painting for her and he said yes, then left. As he was leaving the Ralston mansion, Sofie's father Jake was watching Edward. He'd stood outside the house all day hoping to see her.

When Edward was picking his mail up at the Savoy hotel where he was staying, a man, who was Jake, bumped into him on purpose, making him drop his mail. Edward thought the man looked 15 years older than himself. Jake is 38 so Edward is about 23 though his exact age is never given.

Jake is in his mansion. He now goes by the name Jake Ryan, not Jake O'Neil. Eleven years ago, he and his friend escaped prison and were in a shootout with police. The friend was shot and killed and the building burned down. Jake switched nametags with the friend, stealing his identity. The dead man's name tag said Jake O'Neil so everyone believed he was dead. Two weeks later, Suzanne married Benjamin Ralston who had a daughter named Lisa. Now Jake is a successful businessman who's made a fortune in construction.

Edward went to Sofie's to pick up the artwork she said she'd do for him. She wasn't at home but was outside in a bad part of town painting. He told her the painting she was working on was 'powerful' and to never tell him she is eccentric again because she's not; she's 'extraordinary.' He wanted to see more of her work so they went to her studio inside the Ralston mansion. He saw a portrait of a man and recognized him as the man who'd bumped into him in the hotel lobby. He asked Sofie who he was and she said it was her father Jake. Jake fled Ireland because he blew up a British army camp. Not long after that, he met and married Suzanne. When Sofie was six, Jake and Suzanne were at a party. A retired English military officer recognized Jake and he was put into prison in Great Britain less than a year later for his crime in Ireland. After being in prison for two years, that's when he and the other man escaped and Jake stole his identity.

They continued to look at her artwork. One painting of flowers, she said Suzanne had said they didn't resemble flowers and that a five year old could have painted it. He saw the painting she'd done for him; it was a portrait of himself. He told her he wasn't a 'goddamn hero.' He kissed her. She asked him what his intentions were. He said to be a friend, a good friend, one she wouldn't forget. Sofie and Edward ate at a restaurant and discussed the possibility of her selling her artwork. She asked him if he'd pose for her.

Back at Newport Beach, Suzanne told Benjamin that she was going to have Sofie come back. The reason for that was she knew that he was back in NYC. Benjamin came to Suzanne's bed that night to have sex. As Suzanne often does, she pretends it's Jake with her, not her husband. When it was over and Benjamin was sleeping, Suzanne was crying, thinking about the last time she saw Jake. It was in prison in 1888.

She was escorted into his cell. Right away, he asked where Sofie was and asked why she didn't bring her when she knew she was supposed to. Suzanne began yelling at him saying, "What about me? What about me, you bastard? What about me?" She was remembering the first years of their marriage and all the affairs she'd had. They argued in his cell and he told her to leave and to bring Sofie to see him. He told her if she didn't bring her to see him today, he'd find a way to get back at her from prison. "Always Sofie! I do hate you Jake, I do!" She didn't bring Sofie to see him. And that night, she cheated on him again.

Back to the present again, she's still in bed next to a sleeping Benjamin. She thinking about how she spends some of Sofie's trust fund money on herself without Sofie's knowledge. She's embezzled a couple thousand dollars from Sofie too and has it in her own private bank account. Sofie is to receive quarterly installments of her money beginning on her 21st birthday with the last payment being given on her 25th birthday. If she marries before she's 25, she receives it all at once. Suzanne decides to check up on Sofie herself.

Without Sofie knowing it, Edward arranged for an art dealer to view her work. He drove his car to Sofie's to pose for her and give her the good news. While painting his portrait, things got a little heavy. Sofie ended up on his lap kissing him and he even touched her 'intimately.' The art dealer came over and bought some of the paintings, including the one of Edward titled 'A Gentleman At Newport Beach.' After the dealer left, Suzanne showed up while Edward as still there. She was furious and made him leave, since it was her home. She suspects that something is going on between them and asks her if she's still a virgin. Sofie tells her she's too old to be asked personal questions like that. Later Sofie is in her room talking with Lisa. Lisa asks her if she's in love with Edward and she says that she is.

Sofie was very upset from arguing with Suzanne and by Lisa telling her to say away from Edward so she went to the Savoy hotel to see Edward. She knocked on his door. He opened it and was shocked to see her there. He told her to wait there while he put a jacket on. They went for a drive in his car. They'd been driving for an hour and stopped at an inn to eat. A bad storm was coming. The inn owner came over to their table while they were eating to tell them that he'd just heard the storm was going to be terrible and that they should stay there. It'd be too dangerous to travel. They had separate rooms. Sofie, wearing just her nightgown, that the owners daughter loaned her, knocked on Edwards door. She was surprised he hadn't come to her door since she thought he was out to seduce her. They had sex three times that night. Edward asked her to marry him, since he felt very guilty. Sofie told him no, she couldn't marry without love. Edwards car was destroyed in the storm so they took a carriage home. Sofie went up to her room and Suzanne came in. Sofie asked Suzanne what she'd do if she was pregnant. Suzanne said she could go away to have it and give it up for adoption.

PART 2- LA BOHEME

Suzanne went to the opera by herself. She saw a man who looked like Jake. He saw her too and hurried out. She followed him outside and saw him talking with a young girl, his mistress Lou Anne. She could see that it was indeed Jake. She called his name when he was alone but he ignored her. She caught up to him. She told him everyone thought he was dead, that there was evidence of it. They argued and she realized she was now married to two men. He asked how Sofie was. He said he comes to town every few years to see her. Suzanne was jealous of that, that he'd come to catch a glimpse of Sofie but not let Suzanne know he was alive, and began hitting him and told him she hated him. 

November 1901, Sofie is in Paris with a chaperone because she is now three months pregnant. She's going there to not only have the baby so that no one who knows her will know about it and also to study art. The plan is for Sofie to get a new French chaperone so that the current one will return home to NYC without knowing she's pregnant. She gets settled in. Back in NY, it's now Christmas eve. Edward has no idea she's pregnant and hasn't seen her since the day he brought her home after the storm. He stops by to speak with her but is told by Suzanne that she's in Paris. While in France, Sofie has met up with her old art teacher and has made lots of friends.

It's now May 1902, Sofie has just turned 21. She writes Edward a letter telling him she's pregnant and the baby is due at the end of June. Edward is back in Africa digging for diamonds. He goes into his hotel room and finds the letter from Sofie there that she'd sent three months before. Two months later, in October, he's banging on her door in Paris. She's not home and her friend Georges, who is on his way to visit with Sofie, recognizes Edward from Sofie's paintings. He says Sofie may be at a saloon called Zut where they all hang out. He takes Edward there. Edward is as mad as hell and tells Sofie to take him to see their child. The baby's name is Edana, after Edward, and her middle name is Jacqueline, after her father Jake. They got to Sofie's shabby apartment and he asked her when she wanted to get married. She told him she wasn't getting married because of Edana. He said he'd be back to discuss it. Sofie told her nanny and companion Rachelle that they were going home to New York City that night....without telling Edward.

PART 3- A WOMAN OF PRINCIPAL

New York City, November, 1902. Sofie, Edana and Rachelle have arrived at her parents house. The servants let her in and she introduces them to her baby. She's in her old room nursing Edana when Suzanne bursts in. It's been over a year since she's seen her. She's yelling asking Sofie why she's there and saying 'how could you' show up here with a baby. She asked if she wanted to meet her grandchild and Suzanne yells "No!" Suzanne tells Sofie that she's picked out a couple who want to adopt the baby. Sofie yells "No!", tells her to "get out" and throws a candlestick at her mother, then yells again, "get out!" Sofie, the baby and Rachelle left to say at a hotel. They were almost out of money because Sofie didn't have time to get her money out of the bank before they left France. Sofie was scared Suzanne would try to withhold her trust money from her so she contacted Henry Marten and told him everything. He told Sofie that he wanted to marry her back when he'd met her at the party but Suzanne had discouraged it. He asked Sofie if she'd marry him and she said she'd think about it. Edward arrived back in NY and went to Sofie's house. Suzanne lied and told him Sofie was visiting relatives in Boston. He didn't believe her.

Sofie's stepsister Lisa was having an engagement party. Sofie went with Henry. Jake was there too. Suzanne told Jake that Sofie had a baby and that Edward was the father. Jake said he'd make him marry her. Sofie saw Jake but didn't know who he was. Edward was there. He found Sofie and made her take him to see Edana. When he saw the place they were staying in, he moved the three of them into his suite at the Savoy and got himself another room. The next morning, Edward let himself into the room and had Rachelle take Edana out so he could be alone with Sofie. She was angry that he'd let himself in. They argued then had sex. He was mad because he thought she wanted to marry Henry Marten, and not him. When Edward went back to his room, Jake attacked him from behind. Jake said he was Sofie's father and that he was going to marry her. Edward told him he did want to marry her but she wouldn't marry him.

Suzanne went to visit Jake at his mansion. She'd gone to see him before but was always told he wasn't at home. He let her in and she told him about falling out with Sofie, they argued and then had sex. That was the first time Suzanne had cheated on her husband Benjamin but she'd cheated on Jake a lot.

Edward went to see Sofie. He wanted to force her to marry him, so he told her he was going to let everyone know they had a child together. She said he didn't need to do that, that she would marry him. She went to tell Henry she couldn't marry him.

An exhibition was going to be held for Sofie in an art gallery. She had done a nude painting of Edward without his knowledge and it was being hung up. She wouldn't allow it to be shown so had them take it down. She told the dealer he could show it privately. He asked what the painting was called. She looked into Edwards blue eyes and said it was called After Innocence. Everyone arrived at the gallery. Suzanne saw Jake there. She told him she wanted him back. He told her no. She said, "I did it once-I'll do it again!" He asked what she was talking about. She told him that 15 years before when he'd been spotted at that party, then imprisoned, it was due to her. She alerted the authorities. For the first time in their dysfunctional marriage, Jake had cheated on Suzanne with a 'dance hall girl' and it made Suzanne, who'd cheated on him plenty, jealous.......so she got back at him and had him arrested for blowing up the army camp when he was a teenager in Ireland. She said to him, "You stupid fool! It was me! I turned you in then- and I'll turn you in again! I will! Take me back Jake!" He ran out the door.

The exhibition was a success but the nude of Edward didn't sell. That night in Sofie's hotel room, Edward told her he loved her, that he'd always loved her. The wedding will be in a month so that Edward's family in California will have time to arrive. Edward went to Jake's house and called him a coward for not letting Sofie know he's alive. As he was leaving, he told him the date, time and place of the wedding. Sofie went home and made up with her mother. Why, I don't know.

Wedding day, January 1, 1903. Edward see's Jake in the chruch and makes him go see Sofie before the wedding. They reunite and she asks Edward if they can postpone their honeymoon for a few weeks so she can visit with her father.

PART 4- AFTER INNOCENCE- EPILOGUE

New York City, present day, 1993. Sofie and Edward's granddaughter Mara Delanza is at an art auction where the elusive painting AFTER INNOCENCE, the nude painting of Edward, is going to be sold. She's hoping to see it. A blonde woman buys the portrait for 5 million dollars. When the auction is over, Mara chases after the woman, calling out to her. The lady stops, looks at her, then continues to walk away very fast. We never learn who the woman is. Sofie and Edward both died in 1972, six months apart, in their 90s.

THE END!

MY THOUGHTS: This book is perfection. I still have my original hardcover from Doubleday Book Club. The image of Sofie and Edward is printed on the back cover. I love both hero and heroine but wish Edward was a bit older; he's only 22-ish. It's a wonderful story about a somewhat emotionally abused heroine who has grown up with a cold mother and was made to feel like an outcast due to a bad ankle. This book has a great plot and subplot involving Sofie's mother and father, and a very minor subplot involving her teenage stepsister, Lisa. There's never a dull moment in this.

Suzanne- Sofie's mother, a semivillain who's out to sabotage her. She's controlling, only cares about herself and appearances, and is just awful and child-like in some ways. The revelation toward the end about her involvement with Jake's arrest fifteen years before was unexpected. She's an interesting character, to say the least. We get a lot of her backstory, starting when she met Jake, Sofie's father. I'd have liked to have gotten some backstory from before she met him. All we know is she comes from money.

Edward, who we first met the year before in the previous book called "Secrets", is a great young man, if not a little too possessive of Sofie. He's taken with Sofie from the start, mostly because he caught her watching him during a private moment with another woman. In Sofie's defense, she was there first. He realized how awful her mother is to her and decides to befriend her but things go too far. He wants to do what he feels is the right thing but Sofie doesn't agree with him.

Jake, Sofie's father, is very likable and his disgust for Suzanne is understandable and warranted.

Lisa, Sofie's stepsister, she's seventeen and very supportive of Sofie and her aspiring art career.

Benjamin, Sofie' stepfather. He's not too likable as he sides with Suzanne in everything. Sofie's stepsister Lisa has her own short story, which is in two anthologies, FIVE GOLDEN RINGS and A GIFT OF JOY. I didn't like her story because I don't like who she's marrying at all. We met Julian, the husband-to-be, in this book, After Innocence. It's a real shame they couldn't have gotten their own full novel. Edward's older brother Slade, who came to his wedding with his pregnant wife Regina Bragg Shelton Delanza and their son have their own book, SECRETS, which came before this one. In that one, you'll get to read about Edwards nasty mother.

This is the order of the Bragg series:

Innocent Fire- Story of Derek and Miranda Bragg.

Firestorm- The story of Storm Bragg. Her parents are in Innocent Fire.

Violet Fire- Story of Rathe Bragg, brother of Storm.

Dark Fires- Nicholas Bragg, brother of Rathe and Storm.

The Darkest Heart- The story of Shoz's (from The Fires of Paradise) parents.

The Fires of Paradise- Rathe's daughter Lucy's story.

Scandalous Love- Story of Nicole, daughter of Nicholas (Nick) Bragg.

Secrets- Nick's youngest daughter Regina's story. Her husband's name is Slade Delanza.

After Innocence- The story of Slade's youngest brother Edward and his wife Sofie.

STORMFIRE by Christine Monson- with author photo and obituary

PUBLISHER: Avon, 1984 and 1985
LOCATION: England/Ireland, 1798
TIMESPAN: About 8 years
HEROINE: Catherine Enderly, 17
HERO: Sean Culhane, 20
BODICE RIPPER? Yes
RAPE? Lots by hero only
VIRGIN HEROINE? Yes

READ FREE: link, link
READ: 8/03, 10/07, 12/08, 6/10

FROM PUBLISHER: Abducted on her way to boarding school, a terrified Catherine Enderly was brought from England to the coast of Ireland, the prisoner of the angry and powerful young Sean Culhane—a man sworn to vengeance against her family. Frightened but defiant, the young countess met her captor with a strength that belied her fragile loveliness. But even as Sean vowed to have his revenge on Catherine, with each encounter he became more attracted to her. Her fiery innocence was a seduction that lured the passions of long smoldering hostility into a blazing inferno of desire. Locked in a love-hate duel, he did not suspect that the captivating beauty who fought him with such tenacity was struggling desperately against her own awakened desires, and that his touch had become the burning reminder that the fierce hatred she felt for him had become an all-consuming love.  

 

This is Christine Monson's first book, published in 1984, reissued in 1985. She won the Best New Historical Author Award from ROMANTIC TIMES for this very book. She later received the Romantic Times Best Romantic Adventure Award for her book Surrender the Night. Below is my handcrafted summary of the novel, compiled from 27 pages of handwritten notes. This certainly was a labor of love.

SPOILER SUMMARY BELOW

This is the tale of two people; 17 year old English Catherine Enderly, who has long black hair, blue eyes, is fine boned, and Irish Sean Culhane. He's somewhere around 20 and has short dark hair and green eyes. He's a smuggler of currency, art and spies. His mother took him away from her home at Shelan when he was born. Shelan is where Sean now lives.

The book opens up with Catherine at home a week after Christmas Eve, 1798. She's there on vacation from school at The Gentlewoman's Academy in Bath, where she's been going since her mother's death five years before. Her maid wakes her up by yelling at her, asking who the man was who'd left her bedchamber the night before. That man was Frenchman Colonel Raoul Louis d'Amauri. We'll learn more about him later in the book. One week later, Catherine is traveling back to school by coach. She noticed the coach was being followed by a horsemen so they stopped, she jumped out and started running. Three men started chasing her. She ran into a saloon to escape and was caught by Sean's brother, Liam, who's older by two years. They have the same mother, Megan. No one knows for sure if Brendan Culhane is Sean's father.

Sean sent Liam to abduct Catherine because, according to what Sean later tells Catherine, her father John 'owes me a debt'. John, who later turns out to NOT be Catherine's father, used to be a commandar who had lead a raid in Kenlo, Ireland. Sean and Liam's mother Megan was murdered in that raid but Sean survived. When Liam was two years old and his father had been in prison for two years for trying to attack the Dublin Armory, their mother Megan ran away with Sean, who she'd given birth to recently. Liam must have been a baby or wasn't born yet when Brendan went to prision.

Catherine is carried aboard Sean's ship. She wakes up on the floor to find Sean staring at her and to find that they are in Ireland, where Sean and Liam live. Sean told Catherine that as long as she's there, she's his to do what he wants with. She then made a terrible mistake by spitting on him. Sean backhanded her, cutting her lip and blooding her nose. She fell when he hit her, he picked her up and carried to his room and sat her in a chair. He helped clean her face up. Then he sat on his bed and made her take is boots off. He told her to take her dress off but she refused. She turned around and threatened to kill him with a candlestick. He ripped her dress off, make her get on the bed, then raped her. He then took her underwear, rubbed her crotch on them then wrapped them in paper to mail to her father. He collected the shreds of her undergarments and wiped them with the mingling of her blood and his seed." She got the package away from him. He told her not to throw it into the fire because it wasn't worth dying for. She threw it into the fire anyway. "Blackness clouded in Sean, the packet conjuring up the image of Megan's oil soaked, blazing corpse." Sean knocked Catherine to the floor as she tried to block his way to retrieve the burning package. We later find out he did send the package to her father.

Catherine became kitchen help and had to serve Sean and all the men their food. Once while serving him cobbler, she purposely let the cream run off the plate onto his lap. He made her go without food for the rest of the day. She got dizzy and sagged to the floor. Sean said she'd have to go without food the next day too. She told him if she wasn't going to get to eat, she'd not do her work.

One day she was snooping in his desk drawer and found a map with her father's estate marked off. She stole a horse to escape but was found by Sean and his men when they realized she was missing. Sean tied her wrists together, tied them to the horse's tail and made her walk the rest of the way home. When she got home, Sean told Peg, the servant, to bathe Catherine, wash her mouth out with soap, which Peg did, and feed her. She slept on the floor. Catherine awoke to the sound of Flannery, the doctor there and Sean's friend, attaching a leg iron to her ankle and to the floor. It had a ten pound ball attached to it. An iron was attached to her neck too. Later on, Sean raped her again then attached her neck iron to the headboard to keep her there. He raped her yet again. He told her she was to knock on his door every night and if he answered, she was to come in. If he didn't answer, she was to leave. One time Sean wasn't there but Peg's daugher Moora told Catherine she was to wait in the room for him, so she chained Catherine to the floor to await him. Sean came home, put a sleeping Catherine in his bed and went to sleep. Catherine awoke to Sean raping her.

A few days later, Sean and his men traveled to England and burned down the woods on Catherine's fathers property. Her father saw the blaze then went over to his desk and took out the package Sean had sent him of Catherine's dirty underwear. He knew Sean was responsible for the fire.

Sean didn't like that Liam and Catherine spent time together so he sent Liam to America for a month, telling him he'd come back a new man. He acted as 'first officer' of the Silvie, Sean's ship. Two weeks later, Catherine was lying in bed next to a sleeping Sean. She got up, got a brass letter opener out of the desk drawer, stood over him and almost stabbed him but lost her nerve and didn't stab him. He said to her, "Flannery was right; you haven't the grit for murder." He knew she was attempting to stab him and hadn't tried to stop her. He pulled back the sheet so she could see his arousal then made her crawl into bed with him.

Later, after her work cleaning fish outside, she went inside the blockhouse. There, she found several rows of muskets. They had saltwater on them so she thinks they must have come in by boat at night since she hadn't seen any activity at all during the day. She thinks maybe Sean is shipping arms all over Ireland. At this time Sean is at his lover Fiona's cottage. She's two years younger than him. As he was leaving Fiona to sail back home, he told her he wouldn't be back to see her anymore. The next day, Catherine was once again washing her hands in the pond because she'd been cleaning fish, when Maude, as servant, tried to drown her. A boy ran to get help while Sean was there so he came running to help her. He did CPR on her then gave her a bath. During dinner she was a bit drunk and tried to seduce him. He said 'no'. The next day he said to Catherine he'd 'make love to you again only at your desire". She then shared his bed willingly every night from then on. He also removed the iron band from around her neck.

Sean left Catherine a note saying he'd be gone for three weeks. He traveled to Norfolk, Ireland and met with some men, one or more had been friends with Sean's father, Brendan. While Sean was away, Catherine spent a lot of time with Liam, allowing him to draw her. She asked him if he was in love with her and he said yes. He asked her to marry him but she didn't give him an answer. They were about to have sex but she changed her mind. Sean arrived home and brough her her horse from England. They went riding together every afternoon after that. During one of their rides, Catherine told Sean that when she was twelve, she was out riding with her mother. Her mother tried to jump the wall on her horse but she and her horse landed on it. The fence pierced their bodies. Catherine shot the horse to put it out of it's misery. Her mother begged her to shoot her too, so Catherine did. Her father locked her in her room for "weeks or months", she couldn't remember which, and she wasn't allowed to go to the funeral. That's when she was sent away to school.

They were out on a boat, near shore and Catherine jumped out to escape Sean. She swam to shore and hid in an abandoned house but he found her. She just happened to be hiding in the very house where Sean and his mother Megan lived. It's were they were when Megan was raped and gutted by Catherine's father John's men. Sean witnessed it. Then when Sean was seventeen, he found the man who raped her and he gutted him. Sean and Catherine were back on the ship and Catherine tried to escape again. Sean said to her, "I'll never let you go girl. Not while I breathe. If you don't kill me, I'm going to take you and go on taking you. I may even give you a child. And if you run away from me, I'll bring you back. If you want to be rid of me, it's now or never." He was telling her to stab him. She had the knife poised to stab him then lunged, lightly stabbing him. She looked into his eyes and couldn't kill him. She dropped the knife, he grabbed her and kissed her. Then they had sex.

After they arrived back home, Liam asked her again if she'd marry him. She agreed only so she could escape Sean. She planned to not consummate the marriage so that she could get an annulment. Catherine and Liam escaped together. Sean found them and made Catherine leave with him. When they got home, Sean locked her in a room for weeks. She was allowed to eat. Later after Catherine and Sean argued about her running away, he cut her clothes off, forced her to her knees and cut all of her hair off, then raped her. He fell asleep and raped her again after he woke up.

The next morning, he put a negligee on her, put makeup on her, dragged her down stairs into the mess hall and said to the five men there, "I've a fresh wench for you lads. Who'll be first to top the English whore?" He then pulled the negligee down to her waist, fondled her beasts then pushed her clothes down to the floor, leaving her naked. He pushed her toward the men and before he could turn around to leave, three men where dragging her down to the floor. He left her there, then went riding on his horse. The horse threw him to the ground, so he slept there. When he woke up he started thinking about what he'd done to Catherine and began running home. Tim O'Rourke tried to talk the men out of raping her. One of the men tried to shoot him, so someone shot and killed him. Catherine was put back into her cell.

After being locked up for two weeks, Sean's ex-lover Fiona brought Catherine her meal and told her that she'd be bringing the meals from now on. Fiona is once again sleeping with Sean. Catherine started noticing that her meals were getting smaller and smaller. She noticed too that she was pregnant. Once Fiona took over, Catherine stopped receiving a new candle when hers burned out. So she was left in the dark in her windowless cell. After not seeing Catherine for three months, Sean went to her cell and found her huddled in the corner. She'd lost a lot of weight. Sean carried her to his room. Evil Fiona came to his room to visit and saw Catherine in there with him. Sean told her to leave, then knocked her to the floor. He told her that if he ever saw her again he'd put a bullet through her "murderous heart." Sean had a new room set up for Catherine with a barred window. By then, she was six months pregnant but no one could tell since the baby was 'undersize'.

Sean had a dinner party and allowed Catherine to attend. Sean had his lover Ellen there. The next day Sean told Catherine she was to be examined by Dr. Flynn because she looked unwell, they argued, he called her a 'reformed whore' and she said, "You dare call me slut! When that dyed creature you were pasting yourself against last night is nothing but a celebrated whore?" Sean struck her and she fell into the corner of the desk. She'd cracked three ribs and cracked her lip. Soon after Catherine is made to go horseback riding with Sean and Ellen. No one knows about her broken ribs but Catherine. Catherine is riding very slow because of the pain. Sean tells Ellen that she'd just going slow to get sympathy. Sean told Catherine then that he's sick of her whining and that the site of her alive sickens him. He said he's 'weary of maintaining her carcass.' She tried to make her horse jump the fence but it couldn't make it. Catherine fell off and landed on her face. Sean went over to her and she told him she couldn't breathe. He said, "Hush baby, don't try to talk anymore." Her ribs had broken through the skin. Sean carried her home so the doctor could perform surgery on her. He yelled at Sean for making her ride a horse when she had broken ribs, but Sean hadn't known that. Sean was dining with the doctor, Flynn, and Flynn told him, "she lost the baby on the table." Told him then that it was a boy fetus who was about four months old and had died inside her two months previous, likely due to malnourishment, thanks to Fiona starving her. Peg wrapped the baby in something and told Sean to bury him. That was near the end of 1799.

After Catherine recovered, she'd no longer talk, walk or move. She wouldn't acknowledge anyone or anything. In the summer of 1800, over six months later, Sean carried Catherine into the water at the beach, ducked her head underwater to get a reaction from her but he got no reaction. Back on the beach, Sean told her he'd never stop loving her. Her hair was shoulder length by now. He'd take her on drives in the carriage but she still wouldn't speak. One day she finally snapped out of whatever she'd been in and started talking again. Sean took her to the baby's grave. There, she named him Michael, after Dr. Flynn.

In October of 1800, Liam finally showed back up after being gone for over two years. He began accusing Sean and Catherine of being brother and sister and said she was his sister too. He showed Sean a letter their father had given Father Ryan, along with his will. The letter stated that when Brendan was eighteen, he sailed to France, met Catherine's mother Elise, then later went back home and married their mother Megan. Brendan later saw Elise in Dublin years later. She'd gotten married to Catherine's father John Enderly years before because she'd been pregnant by Brendan and had given birth to a stillborn child. Her husband John was gay so they never slept together. Elise would come to visit Brendan in prison. She was there trying to gain his release. Megan, Brendan's wife, saw Elise in his cell, assumed they were having an affair, went home to Shelan then gave birth to Sean a few months later, then fled, abandoning Liam. Liam and Sean agreed that they would never tell Catherine that she was their sister.

Sean told Catherine that he was sending her home after 'almost three years'. So that would be around 1801. On the eve of Catherine's return, John, her father, received an anonymous note saying Catherine would return home to England via Liverpool within the week. John had some of his men stake out the docks and inn so that he may capture Sean when he see's him. His men captured Sean. Sean was stripped down and his hands were tied to a support above his head and his feet were spread apart and tied to support columns. He was whipped with a studded cat-o'-nine-tails until he passed out. John Enderly watched it all from above on the balcony.

Liam was the only one, aside from Sean, who knew Catherine was returning home. So Liam is the one who notified John of Catherine's return. Liam has always hated Sean, since he showed up at their home when he was about 10, after their mother was murdered by John Enderly's men. When the book started, Sean had been home at Shelan with Liam for about ten years. So he's about 20.

Catherine arrived back home and her father asked her where she'd been this whole time. She made up some story about being abducted by Caribbean smugglers, was taken to a Spaniard, Perez, who only let her go because he was getting married. She said he abducted her because Perez held John Enderly responsible for the death of his mother. John asked her if she believed his story and she said no. I can't even remember why she didn't tell the truth.

On Catherine's 21st birthday, she would inherit her mother's fortune, the Vigny Estates. Her mother is from a very wealthy French family. John thought to himself that Catherine wasn't yet 21, so he had ' nearly two months' to decide whether she would prove more useful dead or alive!! He was deciding whether or not she should live. Amin, Catherine's groom, told her about her inheritance and told her she wasn't really John's daughter. He went on to tell Catherine that Brendan Culhane, Liam and possibly Sean's father, was her father too. She tells Amin that she was Sean's mistress and has been married to Liam for two years. Liam is in fact her real brother. Yes folks, they've committed incest

Back to Sean and his torture. After Sean passed out from his beating, his abuser, Mr. Worth and John Enderly put a bottle of ammonia under his nose to wake him up. Enderly told Sean his refusal to 'break' confirms his guilt about abducting Catherine. Sean called John an 'envious faggot' when John threatened to cut off Sean's 'manhood'. John gave Mr. Worthy the package Sean had sent him of Catherine's soiled underwear in it. He told Worthy to put Sean's 'equiptment' in it and bring it to him. He intended to 'present' the package to Catherine. Mr. Worthy had four men take Sean down from the flogging brace' and put him, spread-eagle, on an X shaped stone slab and cuffed his limbs to it. Worthy removed one testicle (you only need one anyway, right?) from Sean. John left one testicle and the penis because he thinks Sean will bargain with him to keep what's left.

Later, John Enderly had Sean put on his hands and knees and beat in the head with the butt of guns. Sean attacked one man, got his gun away from him and shot someone in the face with it. Sean was then shot near his heart by someone. Next thing he knows, he wakes up outside in the snow, lying next to other dead men. Everyone thought Sean was dead so they put him in with the other dead men to await burial. He took a blanket that was covering one of them and covered himself with it. He wrapped rags from one of the corpses on his feet and wandered out into the snow. Three hours later, he came to a house. He knocked but no one answered. He got the door open, then passed out.

While all this was going on, Catherine traveled back to Ireland less than two weeks after her return to England. She ran into Louis, someone she'd met during that dinner party Sean allowed her to attend while she was locked up. Catherine was using Louis to get to his father, Charles Artois. She went to visit Charles. She told him that she would turn 21 on December 23rd and she thought her father murdered her mother by injuring her horse, causing it to fall, to get her mothers fortune. She said he wasn't really her father and was scared he may try to kill her to to get her fortune. She told him she was now pregnant by Sean, but she didn't say who the father was. She wanted Charles to "extend Enderly some reassurance of friendship and proof of regard" for her. She'd be protected then and Enderly would think Charles was the father. Charles asked her what she had to wager and she offered herself, thus becoming his mistress in exchange for her safety.

Catherine was back in Liverpool, England, at the office of the commandant of Liverpool Military Prison. She asked about Sean and they let her talk to the doctor there. He told her that Sean was shot while trying to escape and was buried in a potter's field. He told Catherine that her father was planning on serving her Sean's manhood on a platter. He gave her directions to where he was supposedly buried. She asked two gravediggers outside about Sean. They told her that a younger, dark haired man was among the other bodies and that a 'dead' man got up bleeding and left. She knew that must have been Sean. Catherine went searching a found the house where Sean was. He was passed out on the floor. His right arm was broken near the wrist and several ribs were caved in. Catherine went back to the gravediggers, got them and the prison doctor to come help Sean. The doctor did performed surgery on him to remove the bullet from his chest. He didn't remove the bullet. He told Catherine that she was his half sister; they shared the same father, Brendan. She told him that she knew, since Amin had told her after she arrived home. She told Sean that Liam must have already known that when he married her. Catherine told him she was pregnant. The doctor then fixed Sean's broken nose then gave Catherine two vials of a deadly liquid. He told her that if she and Sean were to be caught, they were to each take a vial to kill themselves.

They headed to the water to steal a boat so they could escape. Catherine sailed them home safely to Sean's home in Ireland. Flannery greeted them. Catherine removed the bullet from Sean's chest with a sterilized crochet hook. Later on, Liam showed back up. He forced Catherine at gunpoint to leave with him. He had his gun pointed at Sean so Catherine shot Liam dead. Sean and Catherine were being invaded by Liam's men, so they escaped outside. They were heading toward the ship so they could sail away. Flannery wouldn't go with them and ended up getting shot through the heart, killing him. Sean's home, Shelan, blew up. As they were sailing away, they got caught in a storm. The storm tore up part of their ship causing them to drift out to sea. They assumed they'd end up dying. One of them mentioned then that it was January 21st and that Liam had died two days before. Then they were captured by a French warship. Catherine had turned 21 a month before.

Catherine ended up marrying 27 year old Raoul d' Amauri, can't remember why. He only married her for her fortune. After they married, Napoleon gave Catherine papers to sign which made her owner of the Vigny estates. Raoul wanted her to become Napoleon's mistress to help further his career and when she said no, he slapped her. Later on, Catherine met with Sean and told him Raoul was being transfered to Spain and that she was moving into a convent. She told Sean that when their unborn child was old enought, she'd send him to live with Sean. Sean told her he was sneaking back to Ireland and then they kissed....still believing they're siblings. That night, Raoel came to her bedroom, told her she knew where Sean was and tried to make her tell him where. She refused and Raoel kept smacking her until she fell to the ground. He was about to kick her in her pregnant stomach but stopped when the maid arrived. Sean went to his mistress Madeleine's house and asked her to hide Catherine and told her she was his sister. Someone arrived at Madeleine's right as Sean was leaving throught the window. He told Sean Catherine was in labor. Sean when to Catherine's and they traveled back to Madeleine's together. While Catherine was in labor, Raoul and Fourquet were hiding in Madeleine's garden to see if Sean was there. Sean saw them, aimed his gun at them and they agreed to a dual. Sean killed both men in the dual. A month later, Sean was in Belgium and got word of his son's birth. Catherine named him Brendan. He's got green eyes like is father, Sean. Sean's 37 year old mistress Madeleine figured out the baby was Sean's, yelled at Catherine for having an incestious relationship with Sean (they didn't know at the time!) and told her too that Sean was a spy for France's enemy (England?) and was giving them military secrets. She told her to get out of her house.

Next chapter starts four years later! with Sean visiting Catherine and their son at the convent. Catherine would be about 25, since her son Brendan was born when she was 21, and Sean would be about 29 or 30. Sean tells her that he's a deserter from the Austrian army. She tells him to take their son to America to start a new life. Some man at the convent reads them Brendan's original will. Brendan had left a copy with someone else too. In the will he says that his wife Megan thought he was having an affair years before with Catherine's mother Elise, before Catherine was born. Megan was jealous so she had an affair of her own with their friend Lockland Fitzhugh. That man is Sean's real father, NOT Brendan Culhane, who IS Catherine's real father. So Catherine and Liam ARE true siblings. Before Liam's death, he'd forged a copy of his father's will so that Sean and Catherine would think they were related and would stay away from each other. Liam was jealous of Sean, so that's why he did it.

THE END!

Below is the online article from Christine Monson's obituary that was posted on the Denver Post's website in September 2003.

Claire Martin, Denver Post Staff Writer Historical romance writer Christine Monson published six novels and had finished the draft of another when she died Sept. 11. Greeley author Christine Monson, whose romance novels "Golden Nights" and "Stormfire" were the most successful of her six published books, died Sept. 11 at her former husband's home in Greeley. She was 57 when she committed suicide. Monson was slight, with long, curly blond hair, a woman who was as at home reading books as she was writing them. She became an avid reader when she was a child, relying on her imagination to make her forget - for a while - the joyless West Virginia coal camp where she and her brother were raised. She learned to coax the extraordinary out of the ordinary. She knew how to scour the racks at Goodwill stores, plucking Donna Karan and Yves St. Laurent from hangers crowded with more pedestrian labels. She braked for yard sales and once brought home an elegant maple dresser that she bought for $15. She allowed herself to pay retail for one extravagance - a mink coat she purchased with proceeds from her first book. When Monson first saw "Romancing the Stone," she immediately recognized herself in Joan Wilder, the timid romance writer appalled to find herself in the middle of a dangerous adventure. Like the movie character, Monson preferred to live vicariously through the characters she sketched for her books. "She was a romantic who loved adventure, but she loved reading and writing about adventure more than doing it," said her former husband, Jon Monson, with whom she remained close after their recent divorce. Once, the Monsons took their daughter, Jennifer, then a baby, camping near Aspen. When Jon Monson paused to set up their tent in a forest clearing, Christine shook her head. She chose a site high on some bluffs overlooking the valley, envisioning the dramatic sunset. However, she failed to foresee the relentless wind that buffeted their camp and dangerously fanned the flames of their campfire. They quenched the fire and rolled diaper wipes into earplugs to muffle the sound of their tent snapping in the gusty night. Christine Monson used the image of fire in several book titles - "Flame Run Wild" and "This Fiery Splendor," along with "Stormfire," her debut novel. Her historical romances were colloquially known as bodice-rippers - novels that pitted a strong-willed woman against a headstrong man who behaves extremely badly for much of the story. Sometimes, even her fans thought her male characters got carried away. "The hero is too violent and cruel" in "Stormfire," one anonymous reader commented in a review on Amazon.com. The same reviewer went on to praise "Rangoon," Monson's second novel, "as wonderfully written" and to applaud Monson's ability to "take you to another time, another place where you can see the temples, feel the rain" in Burma. Fan Alyssa Maizan wrote that "Rangoon" was "definitely tied for the very best romance novel ever written (along with 'The Wildflower')." "But in later years, Christine was somewhat embarrassed by her romance writing," Jon Monson said. Instead, she focused her attention on a screenplay about a social nature-versus-nurture experiment conducted on orphans during the Great Depression. During the last year of her life, she was working on what she considered a more serious novel about an internal quest for the Holy Grail. She moved to London to research the new novel but found herself overwhelmed with depression and asked her former husband to bring her back to Colorado shortly before she died. Besides her former husband, survivors include her daughter, Jennifer Monson of Cairo; and her mother, Lillian Clevinger, and brother, Tom Clevinger, both of Wilmington, N.C.

I got this photo of Christine from inside the back cover of her 1990 novel Golden Nights.

MY THOUGHTS: This is one of my most favorite novels of all time. I first read it in August 2003 after hearing about it on a romance forum. I'd searched the internet for it right after I'd heard about it but had no luck finding it for a decent price. The book was mentioned yet again a few months later on that same forum so I began searching for it again. I found it for just $1. The story is amazing. Need I say more?