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.

TENDER FURY by Connie Mason

PUBLISHER: Leisure, 1984
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: Martinique & USA, 1814-1817
AUTHOR SITE: link

BODICE RIPPER? Yes
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Lovely young Gabrielle LaFarge had resigned herself to the life of a nun in a French convent. But the future that awaits her is far different, for she is informed that she is to marry Philippe St. Cyr, a wealthy plantation owner from the island of Martinique. Gabby resents and fears this handsome, moody man, whose icy surface conceals depths of passion and violence. Though he awakens her to the sensual delights of lovemaking, Gabby’s heart remains untouched – or so she believes. As for Philippe, she is certain that he is incapable of love. Constantly at cross purposes, separated by war and the conniving of Philippe’s jealous mistress, each tries to forget the other but a bond has been forged between them that will serve at last to unite them in love’s sweet, strange … Tender Fury.

MY THOUGHTS: This was a typical bodice ripper and I enjoyed it. It takes place on the island of Martinique, New Orleans, Louisiana (USA), Norfolk, Virginia (USA) and spans three years. It features multiple rapes, drugged heroine, cheating, masturbation, a love triangle, an evil mistress (I love those!), politics, you name it. 

The heroine, 17/18 year old Gabby has pale blonde hair and violet eyes. She goes through so much, most of which is at the hands of her husband. It was overkill with how many men wanted her-  her husband, a man at the brothel where she was staying temporarily, an American named Robert, and Marcel, a man her husband hates. They own neighboring plantations in Martinique. I can't remember why Philippe hates him so much. Marcel's a good 15 years older than Gabby. He loves her and tries to help her escape Philippe. He's a real good friend to her right until the end.

The hero's age isn't given. He's widowed and feels responsible for his wife's death. He also feels responsible for his mother's death when he was only ten years old though he's not truly to blame for either. He's violent and possessive. He whores around but so does Gabby. He's working with Andrew Jackson to deliver documents about an upcoming British invasion and that's why they're in New Orleans for a time.

Amalie is Philippe's slave and mistress. She's nuts and jealous of Gabby. She tries to kill her and sets her up to be raped during a strange ceremony. Nature punishes her in the end. Really the only thing I dislike about her is she refers to herself in third person a lot, which is annoying.

Though the synopsis says Gabby and Philippe are together, I was hoping he'd get killed in the end, and there's a scene that made me think he would die, so she could be with Marcel but that wasn't in the cards for her, sadly.

This is the author's first novel. She passed away in 2020. She was featured in a short segment on 48 Hours called Foreign Affair on an episode called Isn't It Romantic? I can't find the air date of the episode but according to her website, it's from 1995 and she's reading an excerpt from her book Wind Raider, which came out December 1994.

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.

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.

INTERESTING ARTICLE ON BODICE RIPPERS from Racked.com

 See article here.

THE COPELAND BRIDE by Justine Cole (Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Claire Kiehl)

PUBLISHER: Dell, 1983
REISSUED: Dell, 1989
GENRE: Historical Romance

SETTING: England & America, 1835

BODICE RIPPER? Yes
RAPE? Twice
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: All London knew her as "Her Highness,” the fiery temptress who robbed men of their gold.

But it was proud, untouched Noelle Dorian who was cruelly abducted by Quinn Copeland, the rugged American shipping heir, and, in one brutal act of passion, forced to take his family name.

Transformed by Copeland wealth, abandoned by Quinn, Noelle's rare beauty blossomed in London society. But beneath her soft grace burned a vow of vengeance and a passion for the man whose jet-black eyes and powerful touch she would never forget... 

For Quinn would return-to carry her off to the bold shores of the New World. Together they were destined to carve a new life in the harsh wilderness, bound by a love as glorious, as savage, as their pride. From Soho pickpocket to society belle, from London to the shores of the New World, hers was a game of passion and chance.

MY THOUGHTS: This wasn't good at all. It took me a long 8 days to finish it. It's expensive and hard to find but wasn't worth saving it to read for over two years. Timespan is over three years. Noelle is almost eighteen when it starts and Quinn is almost twenty-eight. All but the last 85 pages take place in England. Noelle is English and Quinn is American. 

Noelle is incredibly strong and way too feisty. She's tall, golden-haired and topaz-eyed. She's immature in some ways and very defiant, and violent. She punched Quinn twice in different instances. She's very hateful toward Quinn but with good reason. Her mother Daisy was a prostitute and Noelle's been on her own since she was ten years old, after Daisy died. She's earned a reputation as the best pickpocket in town (she pretends to be a prostitute then robs men blind without them knowing) but had to abandon that life after meeting Quinn, though she secretly helps out he poor kids sometimes, until she's found out.

Quinn's an angry and sometimes violent man. He once turned her over across his knees and spanked her hard because she threw two fishes at him. Another time he hit her with a whip and it ripped open the side of her dress. She took the same whip and hit him in the face with it. A time or two he grabbed her roughly. He's in the ship building business. He's got black hair, brown eyes and is half or part American Indian. He mistakes Noelle for a prostitute and rapes her ("It's not my habit to rape virgins"), then forces her to marry him to get back at his father, Simon, whom he doesn't get along with. He abandons her to his father and father's business partner, Constance. She and Quinn live separate lives for two years, until Quinn shows back up in England. During that entire time Constance educates her and teaches her to be a lady. Noelle looks much different now because she was in disguise back when they first met ( her speech was horrible naturally and her hair was very short and dyed bright orange) and Quinn doesn't even recognize her though he's staring her in the face. He's very angry at her and his father for keeping her identity secret from him and was passing her off as his cousin named Dorian Pope. Now that he likes what he sees, he wants to stay married to her but she wants a divorce. They don't get along at all, argue constantly and the story really goes nowhere. Near the end of the story, page 371, Quinn "raped her violently."

The story was good until Quinn abandoned her, then it got boring. In the last part when they travelled to America (Georgia), it got even worse. The only interesting part was a German man named Wolf(gang) Brandt. He could have made a good love triangle with Noelle and Quinn and Wolf's sister Anna would have made a good villain but they weren't introduced until the end so there was no time for it. 

At no point in this story did I feel their love for each other, which they declared in the last twenty pages or so. You can feel the dislike between them. So if not for traveling to America and the long separation, this would have gotten a B-rating from me. I like their attitudes. I don't agree with a reviewer on Goodreads saying Noelle has Stockholm Syndrome nor do I agree with a different reviewer there comparing Quinn to Sean Culhane from Stormfire.

GOLDEN ROSES by Patricia Hagan

PUBLISHER: Avon, 9/1983
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: Mexico & USA, 1871

RAPE? Yes, twice

BODICE RIPPER? Yes

BACK COVER: link
MY GRADE: B-

SYNOPSIS: With her dear father dead, Amber Forrest was alone in a foreign land, at the mercy of a cruel, domineering stepbrother who vowed he would bend her to his will and make her his bride.

Forced to fight for her destiny, Amber faced bravely the ravishing storm of two men's passions, her gentleness torn between the vicious stepbrother whose pleasure was her pain...and the rugged American whose tender violence was love.

MY THOUGHTS: The timespan is unclear but it's got to be a least a few months. Most of this takes place in Mexico but starts out with Amber traveling there from Louisiana. She's nineteen and ages aren't given for any of the other characters. We only know that Amber's stepbrother Valdis is eleven years older than his half-sister Maretta. 

Amber's incredibly strong and backs down from no one, male or female, no matter the situation. That makes her not believable at times. She's alone in this world and is fighting to be free from Valdis. The bizarre thing is that Cord Hayden, an American man who she meets in Mexico is trying to help her escape Valdis and take her back to America but she doesn't want his help and doesn't want to go back. Neither makes a lick of sense. Why would she want to stay in a foreign country with no money to her name (Valdis stole her cash) when she's got someone willing to help her?

Cord is partially a good guy. He's from Pennsylvania and fought in the Civil War. He's in Mexico because of a bad incident, a horrible criminal betrayal with an ex-lover named Christine that has turned him against love. Here's what he had to say about her, "Yes, he had loved her, had planned to marry her, and all the time she was a two-timing slut with no more scruples than a worn-out old whore." Another reason I love these older books is because of that quote. You don't get those in newer historical romances. He and Amber are in love with each other but that doesn't happen until after the man Amber's in love with, Armond, is no longer in the picture. He's one of three men who are lusting after her. If we weren't told Amber and Cord love each other, we'd have never known it or felt it. They get along fine except for Amber not wanting him to take her back to America. They're supposedly in love yet never really want to be around each other. They had sex once. Another time Cord has sex with Amber from behind while she's sleeping, which makes it rape. She was angry with him when she woke up and realized what happened. The author failed as far as their love story goes but I do like him.

Valdis is madly obsessed with Amber from the first time he laid eyes on her when he picked her up from the train station. He holds her prisoner in his home (and his stepmother!) and won't give her any freedom. He wants to marry her but she hates him. He forced Allegra, his stepmother from the time he was ten, to give him her property at some point in the past, so the house and everything is his. He's beat her up and even raped her. She's a shell of a person and he keeps her locked in her room. The entire household is scared of him, and everyone in town is too. Amber escapes him many times but he keeps finding her. Except for one time when he smacks Amber and another time he grabs her by the throat, he doesn't harm her physically, which is not fitting with his character. You can sense from the start that he's cruel and will abuse the heck out of her, but strangely, he doesn't. He once told her that after he was finished with her he'd rip her heart out and eat it.

His half-sister, Maretta, hates Amber because the man Maretta wants to marry, Armond, is in love with her and she him. She turns villainous and gets revenge. 

Dolita is the house maid in charge of caring for Amber. While on the run with Amber, a friend of Valdis' rapes her but it's only told, not detailed.

The story becomes a bit boring during the last 160 pages or so. It consists of Amber being on the run from Valdis. He finds her, she escapes, Cord finds her and helps her some, then Valdis finds them, they escape him and so on. Cord meets up with his old military friend, Major Powell and they go on an expedition in Arizona. 

I like the tone of the book, I like the characters Valdis, Maretta, and Cord. It just dragged a lot with Amber being on the run for over 1/3 of the book.

LEMONADE by Nina Pennacchi, Translated by Scott P. Sheridan

PUBLISHER: AmazonCrossing, 7/2015
ORIGINAL PUB: 2011 in Italian
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1826
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: As a young woman in Victorian England, Anna Champion knows all too well the social mores that value prettiness over sense, and etiquette over honesty. But when she stands up to the boorishness of dashing Christopher Davenport at a summertime ball, Anna unwittingly attracts his wrath—and becomes entangled in his malicious scheming.

After a lifetime of harboring shame and resentment, Christopher, a ruthless con artist, wants revenge, and unfortunately for Anna, he’s decided that she will be the perfect pawn in his terrible plot. With a fierceness of spirit uncommon in well-bred young ladies in the nineteenth century, Anna will have to use her intelligence and courage to protect her loved ones. But can she also save herself?

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: I've finally read the worst anti-hero ever. I think this is the only romance novel where I wished the main couple didn't have a happily ever after. It should have been titled, "How to Survive a Madman" instead. Spoiler about the book's title; it comes from someone spilling lemonade on someone and someone else getting lemonade dumped on them.

Christopher is twenty-five and out for blood. He's tall, has dark hair and blue eyes. He's a wealthy financier and land owner. He grew up in a brothel for his first five years of life, then he hit the streets for awhile until a family that knew his mother took him in. The subplot is about him seeking revenge on his biological father, with help from his cousin Matthew, for causing his young prostitute mother's suicide twenty years previous. His plan is twisted and plays out at the very end. That part was my favorite of the whole story.

Christopher is a very violent, ugly person, and rotten to the core, like his father. To call him damaged would be an understatement. He rapes Anna multiple times and hits her repeatedly in the face for about nine pages (p. 133-142) during the same incident. He shoves her into a bookcase on page 65 and on page 68 he grabs her by the wrists and shoves her back into the same bookcase. Later on in a carriage he sits next to her and grabs her by the back of her hair to make her look up at him. Another time he grabs her by the nape of the neck and pulls her hair. She smacked him twice too at other times, one of which is before the rape. He practically forces her to marry him and threatens her throughout the marriage with various things, using her family has leverage. She's truly trapped.

Anna is maybe twenty, I'm not exactly sure, has brown hair and amber eyes. She's very strong in this situation and is really stuck with Christopher, who's terrorizing her. She lives with her father and is the oldest of four siblings. Her father is practically dying and thinks the world of Christopher, not knowing he's abusive. We don't know anything about Anna's background or where her mother is. I supposed she died.

The only reason this book didn't get an A from me is because it's a bit slow-moving and Christopher needed to do more groveling throughout the book, not just at the very end. That could have made him an even better character, and I feel he was a great anti-hero. The story, both with Anna and the subplot, is very interesting to me but it fails miserably as a romance, but that's alright with me. Christopher and Anna are just the type of characters I love to read about. He's a disaster and she's got a very strong constitution. I like that the prologue starts out with a gruesome scene. That scene is what sets five-year-old Christopher off on a deadly mission twenty years later.

There are a couple mistakes in the print book, like a couple of sentences are missing a word, a word is misspelled, and once instead of calling Daniel Chris' half-brother, he's called his step-brother. This isn't self-published. It's professionally published/edited through Amazon imprint AmazonCrossing so mistakes like that shouldn't happen.

THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

PUBLISHER: Avon, 4/1972
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England & South Carolina, USA
WIKI: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence — until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee... and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger. A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman... and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.

MY THOUGHTS: Heather is petite, with black hair and dark blue eyes. She's one month from her eighteenth birthday when the story begins in England in June 1799. Her parents are dead. I enjoyed the beginning with Heather living with her verbally abusive aunt Fanny and uncle John Simmons. John is Heather's fathers brother. She goes to stay with Fanny's brother William Court and that's when her life takes a different course. She's left to wander around outside, ends up near the waterfront at night and her life, which just got worse that night, worsens even more when she meets the hero. 

Brandon Birmingham is thirty-five with curly black hair, green eyes, and a beard. He's captain of his own ship. His British parents died in America and left him a plantation and land. He has a younger brother, Jeff, who was left a warehouse and money. Brandon's your typical arrogant bodice ripper hero. He raped Heather twice and once the next morning and made no apologies and showed no remorse. He even laughed at her struggling at one point. He says of another character toward the end of the book that they deserve death for attempting to rape Heather yet he did rape her himself months before.

Heather hates Brandon for over half the book for what he's done and Brandon is angered by her. Even after they've married they don't get along for a good portion of it. They're attracted to each other but for no reason Brandon stays away from Heather and they never attempt to have sex with each other. His borderline hatred for her is do to sexual frustration which comes out as anger. Then all of a sudden they get along and act as a normal married couple.

Louisa Wells is a thirty-two year old blonde woman who Brandon's to marry. She's made out to be a slut. He's marrying her to get her land and she's marrying him for financial support. He does her wrong by marrying Heather while in England without letting her know via letter so Louisa wants revenge. Not a whole lot goes on with her but she definitely adds to the plot line and I like her character. He ends up buying her land from her, which he could have just done in the first place and not plan to marry her to gain it.

The beginning of the book was very good and the last eighty-four pages were too but all the story in-between was quite boring. The story spans about eighteen months. The first half takes place in England and the second half, in the USA. The story went from R-rated to PG then back to R-rated. I like the happenings at the end that involved a minor character from early in the story, one you'd never expect to see again.

Heather gives birth to a son named Beau. He gets his own story in the 1998 novel The Elusive Flame, published twenty-six years after this one. Brandon's brother Jeff has his own story in A Season Beyond a Kiss, published twenty-eight years after The Flame and the Flower. Though that book was published two years after the one about Beau, it's considered the second in the series and Beau's, the third. Though a likable character, I have no interest in reading about Jeff.

Here's a nice article on the novel.

RISEN GLORY by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Original version of Just Imagine)

PUBLISHER: Dell, 11/1984
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: South Carolina & New York, USA
BODICE RIPPER? Yes, mild
RAPE? Yes, digital penetration
PURCHASE: link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: Determined to reclaim the magnificent Risen Glory plantation wrongfully inherited by Baron Cain, her Yankee stepbrother, Kit Weston finds Baron in New York and their love-hate relationship is tested by a stormy marriage.

This book was rewritten as Just Imagine.

MY THOUGHTS: I went from really liking this to wanting it to end as soon as possible. It takes place from 1865-1869. Kit's very likable- she's feisty and a smartmouth with lots of fire and spirit...just the type of heroine I prefer. She's aged sixteen through twenty during the story.

Cain's had a rough life and is getting by on his earnings from gambling. He's twenty-eight. He and Kit clash for most of the story and when they're together I don't feel chemistry. They don't get together until she's back in SC when she's nineteen, after three years away at finishing school. He's pretty verbally abusive and smacks her once. He rapes her once too with his finger while trying to see if she's the virgin she claims to be.

Characters I don't like: Most of them. I don't understand the character of Flora Van Ness at all. She had the makings of a rival for Cain's attention, a villain actually, but the author dropped the ball on that.

I don't like Kit's housekeeper, Saphronia. She's only a couple years older than Kit and they've grown up in the same house together. She's described as a gold-digging light-skinned black woman who's out to snag herself a wealthy white man. I really see no purpose to having her in the story.

Miss Dolly is Kit's chaperone that she had in New York and who's with her in South Carolina. Very annoying older woman who's another character that serves no purpose other than to add filler to the story.

The two main characters are the only ones I liked at all but this story just wasn't good. The story went nowhere after Kit returned home and I got bored with it.

FROM AUTHOR'S WEBSITE: "JUST IMAGINE is a reissue of RISEN GLORY, which has been out of print for many years. It’s not your ordinary reissue, however, which is why we changed the title. I made substantial revisions—fleshing out the characters of Kit Weston (a total scamp) and Baron Cain (his name says it all), as well as adding new scenes. The book has a special “Dear Reader” letter at the beginning that explains why I decided to polish up the original."

ONLY FOR LOVE by Elaine Barbieri

PUBLISHER: Zebra, 8/1994
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: Jamaica, 1772
BODICE RIPPER? Yes, mild
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B-

SYNOPSIS: When Gillian Haige's father dies, his only legacy is a mountain of debts. But never does the eighteen-year-old English beauty dream she'll end up in the dank hold of a ship bound for the Colonies...as an indentured servant! And now her gentle twin lies desperately ill, and will surely perish unless Gillian takes one daring, irrevocable step. It is a wild scheme, yet from the moment she meets Captain Derek Andrews and feels desire ignite between them, Gillian sees the bargain she can strike: her innocence in exchange for her sister's life. But on a journey that carries Gillian from the shores of America to a new life on a storm-swept island, she will be forced to choose once again...to fight for her freedom or to surrender to the man who has possessed her-body and soul-with his liberating passion...

MY THOUGHTS: Gillian, the heroine, is twenty, as stated on page 48, not eighteen, as the synopsis states. This story begins in England, then in Jamaica. Saying that they're headed for the Colonies made me assume they were talking about the British Colonies in the United States but that's not what they meant.

We got zero background on Derek and weren't even told his age or where he's from. He must have been in his late twenties, at least, since he'd spent some time in prison and is captain of his own ship, Colonial Dawn. He's rude and possessive of Gillian but not verbally, physically, or sexually abusive towards her. He doesn't seem too friendly either.

Gillian is feisty and stands up for herself, which I really like in a heroine. I didn't see the need for her to have a sister since the sister was a pretty weak character and served no purpose to the storyline, as far as I could tell.

I really liked the two main villains: Derek's ex-lover, red-haired and green-eyed Emmaline Dorcett. She was obsessed with having him though she was married to an older man. She was peppered throughout the story but I wanted more of her. I found her to be very interesting and wanted to see what damage she could have done. I really wanted some background on her but we got none, including her age. Her husband Robert said she was very young to his 50+ so I'm guessing she's in her twenties.

John Barrett, who's an agent for the London Transport Company, was in charge of all the indentured servants aboard Derek's ship. He became obsessed with Gillian and hatched a plan to have her. Gillian hated him with a passion and that ate at him and intensified his obsession with having her. John once called Gillian Madame Uppity Bitch!

Another villain early on was an older prostitute named Maggie, who was always called a 'vicious whore' by Jon Barrett. The verbal sparring between them was great! She too became obsessed with Gillian on the ship but I don't understand why she hated her so much. I thought she was going to do harm to her but that didn't happen.

This was published in 1994 but it felt like one older. The heroine had a backbone, the hero was rude, there were terrible villains. Though there's no abuse towards the heroine, I consider this a mild bodice ripper.

The negatives- I wish over half this story didn't take place on a ship. I wish Maggie's character had lasted longer and I wish Emmaline and John had teamed up to do some harm. You wouldn't know by the cover that this is historical and the hero/heroine's hair color isn't quite right.

MIDNIGHT FIRES by Andrea Layton

PUBLISHER: Playboy Paperbacks, 1/1979
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: New York & Massachusetts, USA 1770's
BODICE RIPPER: Yes
RAPE: Multiple
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Ravished by a cruel, merciless stranger...loved by the passionate man she might never see again...Carolyn Salford flees the brutal wilderness for aristocratic Boston and the arms of her fiancé. Stalked by danger, vulnerable to the turbulent desires tormenting her, she is haunted by the memory of a man she dare not love but cannot forget.

SPOILER SUMMARY: Carolyn is eighteen years old. She and her family are traveling from New York to Boston, but they're travelling separately. Along the way she runs into George Nelson, a man two years older than her, who's in love with her. He rapes her once then it turns consentual. She goes on her merry way and is kidnapped and raped several times by some random Frenchman named Jean Lemelle. He gets what he's had coming to him and she's once again on her way. Not much else happens until the last fifty pages, when she meets up with her fiancé, William. William only wants to marry her because of the fortune she's to inherit soon from her British mothers family. He rapes her several times, including once anally, and holds her prisoner in his home and verbally abuses her constantly. He's keeping her drugged with laudanum and they set sail on a ship bound for London. She thinks he plans to killer her once they're married. She escapes, meets back up with George, who she's now in love with, and they get married.

MY THOUGHTS: This is truly one of the most boring books I've ever read. Luckily it was barely over 300 pages. The first 150 pages or so was Carolyn traveling, mostly by herself via horseback, to Boston. The plot was mostly talk of war and I got so sick of it. The only interesting part was the last fifty-some pages or so, when William came on the scene. William's a character I'd have liked to have known more about. Not even his age was given.

CAPTAIN'S WOMAN by Saliee O'Brien

PUBLISHER: Pocket Books, December 1979
SETTING: 1714 England/Bahamas/Cuba
TIMESPAN: Six years
NARRATION: First Person
HEROINE: Mary Read
HERO: Captain Roger Courtney
BODICE RIPPER: Yes
RAPED HEROINE? Yes
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: SHE WAS DISGUISED AS A BOY- Forced to flee England to escape her lecherous kinsmen, she was a stowaway on a pirate ship, with a secret as dangerous as her life.

BUT SHE WAS ALWAYS A WOMAN!- She served her Captain, a man cold as ice. But her love couldn't touch him, for he had a secret as mysterious as his stormy past.

CAPTAIN'S WOMAN- A novel of flaming passion, a woman's enduring love and the storms that beset it.

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: This is one crazy story. The heroine, Mary, is nineteen and living at her deceased grandmother's home, which is now being run by the grandmother's male relative. Mary is using the name George Read because she's been living the last five years of her life as a boy. Her mother died and she went to live with the grandmother....who really believes she's male. When she was little, her mother dressed her as a boy and took her to visit her grandmother. The grandmother didn't like boys so that's the reason for the disguise.

Sir Cecil, who's thirty and married, is bisexual. He's been at Hunter House since the grandmother died two months before. He takes a liking to 'George', who is not a blood relative. He catches him undressing one day and discovers that George is really a woman. He rapes Mary and tells her she's to be his secretary and that they're to continue their sexual relationship. She told him no and told his wife that she was really a woman. Cecil had Mary arrested for being an impostor and she was taken away by two men. On the way to Newgate Prison, they raped her outside of the carriage. She got away from them, naked, hid and then returned to the spot she was raped and put all her clothes, and wig, on. She found a ship called The Hague and snuck onto it and hid.

A guy named Karl van Buskirk found her and believed her to be male due to her disguise. Somehow he found she was female and she agreed to have sex with him if he kept her secret and tried to find her a job on the ship. He introduced her to Captain Roger Courtney, who's got auburn hair and blue eyes. She, disguised as George, became his cabin boy. A crewman came into the room once and saw that she was a woman and agreed to keep it secret. Word got out to some that she was female and she got raped by a crewman. Soon after, the same day, she and Captain Roger where in his cabin. He raped her. When the penetration began she actually held him tighter to her. She thought this about the incident, "He held me tightly, shuddering and I knew that, though he had raped me, it was actually I who had conquered him."

All sorts of crazy nonsense takes place for the rest of the novel, far too much to get into. I got real bored after about a third of the way through it and couldn't wait to finish it. Way too much manly sea stuff and fighting for my liking.

Karl is thrown overboard and is presumed dead until he shows up years later. Mary ends up in Cuba married to a Cuban man named Pablo Gómez. She'd met him previously. She finds out from her maid that he's been raping and beating her. The maid takes her to a dungeon where Pablo currently has four girls chained up and hanging from the ceiling. During this time, Captain Roger Courtney shows up. She still loves him and agrees to sail away with him, even though the's still married to Pablo, to his home in England, where he's a Lord and no longer a pirate. That's how the story ends.

It's totally implausible that a feminine woman could live several years dressed as a man and have no one know it. How stupid do authors think we, the readers, are? And this whole time, there was no mention of Mary ever getting pregnant. The stuff with the dungeon could have been interesting if the author hadn't thrown that in out of the blue during the last few pages.

This is one over-the-top story. It's only 296 pages and too much action is packed into it. I got this book in September 2009 and have finally read it. I was impressed with the craziness of it but my excitement died shortly after I started reading it.

BOUND BY THE HEART by Marsha Canham

PUBLISHER: Avon, 10/1984
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: Caribbean & Barbados, 1811/12
BODICE RIPPER? Yes, very mild
RAPE? Yes
PURCHASE: link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Rescued from the stormy waters of the Caribbean, Summer Cambridge, daughter of the British governor of Barbados faced a new threat aboard the American ship Chimera. Captain Morgan Wade, the notorious buccaneer, brazenly ordered the young beauty to his cabin to be held for his own pleasure! Summer fought him with the ferocity of a wildcat, but held by his insistent passion, she was swept by waves of desire she had never known, and was powerless to resist him. Even as she returned to Barbados and the marriage that had been arranged for her, she still trembled with memories of those days and nights of forbidden passions, and of the man whose love would forever hold her heart captive.

 I'm reviewing the out of print paperback from 1984, not the rewritten e-book, which has the rape scene removed. 

MY THOUGHTS: Summer is blond with gray-green eyes. Her age was never given so I'll assume she's in her early twenties. She's a typical, slightly boring heroine. Not very feisty like I prefer, especially in these older books.

The American hero, Morgan, is thirty-four years old and has long black hair and blue eyes. He buys cargo and guns legally then sells them to the French, then transports them to America. In typical bodice ripper fashion, he rapes Summer aboard his ship once or twice (page 35 of print book) and makes no apologies for it. That's pretty much where his abuse of her ends.

I liked her terrible husband Bennett Winfield. He lost interest in her right after they married. He suspected her of harboring feelings for Morgan and a secret, and forbade her ever seeing him again and threatened to ruin her and her family if she did. He's shown violence towards her too. I like him much more than I do Morgan.

The story spans about a little over a year, beginning in June 1811. This just wasn't a good story at all. It fits my criteria of a mild bodice ripper; it had the typical arrogant hero, rape, a decent amount of time apart from each other (over a year), and evil secondary characters and lots of action involving ships.

Morgan's slightly younger half brother, Stuart Roarke was just pointless in this story.

I liked the first 119 pages when Summer and her ten year old brother Michael were on Morgan's ship then island, Bounty Key, but once she returned home about a third of the way into the story, boring throughout the rest of the novel. The last fifty pages or so was nothing but one ship fighting against another and I truly forced myself to finish the book. It majority was so uninteresting to me. I really feel like this historical romance turned into purely historical fiction. The only good thing I can say about this is that I love the cover.

NEVER CALL IT LOVE by Veronica Jason

PUBLISHER: Signet, 12/1978
GENRE: Historical Romance

SETTING: England/Ireland/W. Indies/America, 1778

TIMESPAN: 5-6 years
BODICE RIPPER? Yes
RAPE? Yes
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: When beautiful young Elizabeth Montlow lost her innocence it was not on a night of romantic dreams. It was in an act of savage violence by a man seeking vengeance. Yet from this brutal beginning came an all-consuming passion that would take Elizabeth from the sheltered eighteenth-century English countryside to a lonely manor in Ireland, where she was forced to share her man with his ravishing and ruthless mistress... to a nightmare exile on a lush and licentious Caribbean island, where lust and murder went hand in hand... to the depths of the lawless American wilderness, where two men played a monstrous game of heart-wrenching deception with her as the stake...

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: This didn't live up to my expectations at all. I learned of it at least five years ago online from someone who said it reminded her a bit of Stormfire. There were just a couple similarities, like hero and heroine's nationality, rape, hero being a smuggler, ect., but the plotlines/core of the story were dissimilar.

Elizabeth is twenty-three, dark brown hair, gray eyes, and is from England. I found Elizabeth to be very bland and passive. Patrick is from Ireland but lives in England, is tall and thin, has a 'dark' complexion, brown hair, brown eyes, and is thirty-two. He's been smuggling arms, cannons, and muskets for ten years. The story begins and ends in England, 1778-1783.

The first 100 pages of the story were the best of all and were mostly about Elizabeth's eighteen-year old disturbed brother, Christopher, the blond Golden Child. Christopher and his friends were wearing masks when they kidnapped and raped Anne Reardon, Patrick's seventeen-year old ward, in Christopher's unoccupied family home. They fooled her into thinking they'd let her go. They let her run away from them, they chased her, and she jumped out the window and died later from her injuries. He fooled Elizabeth and their mother into believing he was innocent but Elizabeth always had doubts. I find Christopher to be one interesting character, the most interesting of the entire story. 

Patrick, who'd met Anne briefly at a ball or something the previous year, was very angry at her for covering for her brother, whom he believed responsible for Anne's death. He broke into her bedroom one night, demanding to know where her brother fled after the trial. She wouldn't give him any information so he raped her (p. 89), after slapping her for struggling. That's his only violence toward her in the story.

For me, the story went downhill from there and became very boring. They got married because she was in a desperate situation. Patrick had been considering marrying Miora Ashley, a wealthy twenty-seven year old widow back in Ireland. I'm not sure why he wanted to marry Elizabeth. He didn't really feel any affection toward her and though she brought a dowry to the marriage, he had much more to gain by marring Miora. Miora became his mistress only after realizing she could no longer marry him, since he was married to Elizabeth. She disappeared from the story for awhile and was brought back to give the readers a suspect for an event that caused Patrick, Elizabeth, and Colin to flee to the West Indies.

The most boring part of all was when Patrick, Elizabeth, and his half-brother Colin were forced to flee the West Indies (after already having to flee England because Patrick was caught planning an uprising against England) and settled in America (Pennsylvania). There they had to live off the land and it made for dull reading. Not much happened the entire few years they lived there until Elizabeth got bad news about Patrick that lead me to believe they wouldn't have a happy ending.

Something eventful, a few confessions, happened near the end involving a secondary character that I didn't see coming. This person had lied about several important things and were involved in murder because they were angry and jealous of another person. I felt a little sad for them at the end.

It was mentioned very early on that Patrick and Colin were responsible for Anne's father Tim's death in a boating accident but the reason for that was never given. We weren't told if the death was intentional or not.

I don't think Patrick ever told Elizabeth that he loved her though she did overhear him once talking out loud about loving her. He never showed affection toward her or gave the impression that he was interested in her at all.

 Overall, this wasn't an interesting love story and dammit, I'm disappointed.

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?