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.

MY LORD MONLEIGH by Jan Cox Speas

PUBLISHER: Bobbs-Merrill, 1956
RESSUED: Avon, 1978
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: Scotland, 17th century
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: Scotland was a land divided. The rightful Simon Stuart had been driven into exile in France, his country ruled by the dour Presbyterians who had ridden into power on the coattails of Oliver Cromwell's rise to power in England. All who opposed them were rebels and outlaws, to be hunted down and branded as traitors. And the man with the highest price on his head was Monleigh.

Anne Lindsay met him first on the windswept moors, though when first she saw him she had no idea who he might be. She knew only that he was handsome and that he did something to her heart, that here was the one man who could bring warmth and happiness into a life seemingly forever chilled by the bleakness of her early childhood. . .

MY THOUGHTS: I was disappointed in this. I finally bought it for $13 after searching for several years then horded it for another 4.5 years before reading it. I can't understand why only one person on Goodreads has mentioned the rape. I know it happened but I was seriously doubting it until I got to a review that mentioned it. It was written in such a weird way that left me really confused. The story was too condensed and felt shorter than 297 pages. If I hadn't read on Word Wenches blog I'd not have known this took place in the 17th century. I had no sense of the timespan but someone said it was no more than a month. I don't know how old Simon is or anything about his background except what really happened to his wife. I only know he's got dark hair and gray eyes.

I like bad characters so I liked Margaret Clennon (and Walter) but I was also hoping something bad would happen to her as punishment for being a nasty person. I really like the dark and drab tone of the book and that Anne seems depressed. You don't get that much in historical romance so it was a nice change.

Rape scene is here. You can read the book for free at Archive.org.

The 1978 Avon reissue, pictured on the right, has a beautiful cover. The pages are edged in red too.

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.

LORD DEVERILL'S HEIR and THE HEIR by Catherine Coulter

PUBLISHER: Topaz, 10/1996

ORIGINAL PUB: 1980

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England, 1810

STEPBACK: link

RAPE? Yes

MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Justin Deverill is a military man strong, shrewd, stubborn, and very handsome who has just become the Earl of Strafford. He must wed his cousin Arabella, though, to reap the full legacy of his title. But faced with an order from her father s will to marry Justin, Arabella rebels. Since her father is dead, the only available target is Justin himself. Arabella has finally met her match and the pair sets off fireworks both in their anger and their passion.

The Heir is a reworked and expanded edition of the author's 1980 Signet Regency Romance novel Lord Deverill's Heir. The Heir is 156 pages longer than the original. The Signet Regency Romance series ran from 1979-2006. The novels are shorter in length, under 300 pages. 

MY THOUGHTS: Timespan is short, maybe a month. Rape, incest, a villain, oh my!

I really like Arabella. She's eighteen. She's a very strong character. She hates Justin with a passion, is very angry and hostile towards him thinking he's out to get her inheritance. When she realizes he's not, her attitude changes completely, which I didn't like. It's like a switch was flipped and she became someone else. It should have taken some time for the change to happen.

Justin is nine years older than Isabella. He's a very distant cousin and they look very similar. I dislike that. They have the same black hair and gray eyes though she doesn't have a cleft in her chin like he does. He looks like he could be her brother. He thinks she's done him wrong before they wed so he rapes her on their wedding night (p. 72 in original, p. 133 in rewrite) but doesn't see it as rape because he "used cream." It's clearly rape, which he realizes at the end of the story and all is forgiven. 

I'm happy to say there's a villain in this, twenty-four-year-old Gervaise de Trecassis, cousin to Arabella's half sister, Elsbeth, who's twenty. He's out to get a certain something that's revealed near the end. Also revealed is a family secret involving him, which devastates him.

There are a few typos in this and two of these three sentences don't make sense, from page 141, "Arabella rather hoped that he would rot, in addition to hell. He deserved to rot. He deserved every bad thing that could happen to him did happen."

Some things I didn't like, I just didn't see the need for Arabella's mother, Ann, to be so involved, and her doctor beau, Paul Braynon. There was also another pointless character, Suzanne Talgarth. A paternity secret was discovered near the end too and how they figured out what was going on with that isn't really believable, just based on what was written in a note.

I don't like the stepback for this either because Arabella looks at least ten years older than she is and the larger photo of them looks nothing like the smaller background image of them. Justin has a cleft in his chin but not in the photo.
 

About the 1996 rewritten version- Every chapter is longer and some dialogue has been reworded or expanded. The rape and incest is still in it, incest is p. 97 of original version, p. 178 in rewrite. One difference in the rape scene in the rewrite is that Justin uses lube ("cream".) In the original version the American author chose to use British spellings for certain words (color/colour, labor/labour, just two examples) but in the rewrite they're spelled the American way. In both versions Justin admits to raping Arabella (from original, page 208, "Yet, when I raped you, I felt loathing for myself.", from rewrite, page 358, "He saw Arabella on their wedding night, her face alight with anticipation until she had recognized his rage, until he had forced her, humiliated her."

 

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.

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.

WHERE PASSION LEADS by Lisa Klepyas

PUBLISHER: Onyx, 1987 (her first novel)
SETTING: England/France, 1816
HEROINE: Rosalie Belleau, 20
HERO: Randall Berkeley, 28
VIRGIN HEROINE: Yes
BODICE RIPPER? No
RAPE? Yes, once by hero
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Beautiful young Rosalie Belleau was swept up into an aristocratic world of luxury, license and intricate intrigue when the most notorious and handsome rake in London, Lord Randall Berkeley; abducted her in the belief that she was any man’s for the taking. Before he realized his mistake, he had branded her with his desire-and lost his heart to this girl so unlike any he had ever known. Both Rosalie, waking to womanhood, and Sir Randall, learning the power of lose, were in the dark about each other–until the flames of passion lit their way through a labyrinth of danger… to the dazzling heights of ecstasy….

SPOILER SUMMARY:

HEROINE: She's 20 year old Rosalie Belleau, born in 1796 in France. She's got long dark hair and blue eyes. She's an only child. Rosalie is personal maid to Lady Winthrop and companion to her daughter Elaine.

HERO: He's 28 year old Randall Berkeley but goes by 'Rand'. He's got "deep amber hair" and "unfashionably dark skin", hazel eyes. Has one brother named Colin. He's two years younger than Rand.

The book opens with Rosalie asking her mother Amille about her father. Amille said her father had been a confectioner who had died when Rosalie was one month old. Amille wanted to change the subject. Amille asked Rosalie what she wanted out of marriage. Rosalie wanted contentment. She said she wanted to live and had a suspicion that she'll end up a spinster.

Rand and his grandfather were discussing the family business, Berkeley Shipping. Rand said he'd take care of the problem that they were having with the business and would travel to France to take care of it. His grandfather told him that he didn't like that he was the first born, making him heir to his grandfathers fortune, since Rand's parents were dead. He then told Rand he didn't think he was deserving of the fortune and that he trusted his brother Colin more.

Rand went to the club to hang out with his friends before traveling to France the next day. While he was there, Rosalie and her mother Amille were at the theater. A candle on stage caught the curtains on fire, so everyone ran out of the place out into the street. Some man was chasing after Rosalie, grabbing at her and she scratched his face. He punched her and knocked her out cold. She fell and her face landed on Rand's foot. He'd just come out of the club with his friends. Rand picked her up and put her over his shoulder. The dock worker who'd been chasing Rosalie told Rand that she was his since he'd been chasing her so Rand paid the man for his 'trouble'. Rand took her home in his carriage.

She woke up in Rand's bed with a terrible headache and called out for her mother, since she was a bit disoriented. The first thing Rand said to her was, "So they're blue", talking about her eyes. She asked him how he came to be there and he told her she was accosted the night before and that it had been impossible for him to ignore her. She said she needed to leave. He told her to sit down so they could discuss what she owed him for rescuing her. She told him she owed him nothing and he said, the hell you don't!" She got up, dressed only in her chemise, and started to get dressed. Rand told her, "I wouldn't bother with that just yet." She continued to get dressed and he told her to put the garment down. She told him he wouldn't bed her and grabbed up his razor and threatened him with it. He grabbed her wrist and put the blade up to her throat, causing her to get nicked. He put a cloth up to her neck to get up the blood and she smacked him. He kissed her and dragged her over to the bed. He took his robe off, revealing his nakedness. He spread her arms wide and she said, "Don't do this to me. You could have anyone." She told him she was a virgin and he said he didn't believe her. She said it was true and he said, "Then it seems I'm called upon to find proof of your claim." Then he raped her and found that she was indeed a virgin; he saw the blood.

She knew she couldn't return to work since she didn't come home the night before and Rand knew it too. He didn't want her to have to become a prostitute so he told her she was going with him to France for a few weeks, until he could figure out what to do with her. She told him she didn't want to have to 'submit' to him for even one night and he said he wouldn't touch her. She said she didn't know what to do and he told her to decide whether or not she was going with him or not. She decided to go with him and wrote a letter to her mother, letting her know where she was going.

They arrived in France and shared adjoining rooms. They later went to the dressmakers to have clothing made for her. They spent two weeks avoiding each other and really only saw each other at dinner. He opened up a bit about himself. He told her his mother was French and she and his father had lived together in London while he and his brother Colin had been raised by servants in another household in England. When Rand was in his early teens, his father was suffering with gout and moved in with he and his brother. His father started drinking heavily because of gout pain. To amuse himself, he'd force Rand to drink too. Rand became an alcoholic. His mother knew about it but didn't do anything to stop it. She'd grown up wealthy in France. A few years later his mother died in labor with another mans child. His grandparents made him sober up and sent him away to school. A year later his father died. Rand told Rosalie that he wanted to sell the French estates that belonged to his mother.

Rand left the room then to go do something and Rosalie broke down and cried for him and his childhood. She berated herself and asked how she could cry for him after what he'd done to her. Later she told him he didn't have any respect for her and he said he did. She was remembering a dance they'd shared recently and she realized then that she was starting to care for him, her rapist. They then went to visit his friend George Brummell, who goes by the name "the Beau", again. He recognized the pin Rosalie was wearing on a ribbon around her neck. It had the letter B on it, which she was told by her mother stood for their last name, Belleau, and said the pin had been her fathers. Beau called in his servant who then told everyone that that was the same pin Beau, who is 18 years older than Rosalie, gave to a girlfriend, Lucy Doncaster many, many years before. On a previous visit, Beau and told Rosalie that she resembled Lucy and showed her a photo of her from a locket. He told them that Lucy disappeared one day way back then and a year later, was found dead in the river, where she'd drowned herself. Rosalie's mother Amille had been Lucy's governess then. So it looks like George 'the Beau' Brummell and Lucy Doncaster may be Rosalie's parents. Lucy must have given Rosalie to Amille to raise. That would mean that soon after Rosalie's birth, Lucy drowned herself.

Rosalie is very upset by this news, so they leave to go back to the hotel. The next day Rand went to see Beau. He told Beau that because of all the debt he left behind in England, he'd better never tell anyone that Rosalie may be his daughter because she may be thrown into debtors' prison. Days later, Rand was shown a newspaper article that said it's rumored that Rosalie is the daughter of Beau. Rand became jealous at the thought of men chasing after her when they find out she's the daughter of a famous man. He got the idea then to marry her, to protect her from Beau's debt. He went home and decided not to tell Rosalie about the article. He asked her to go to Paris with him for a week because he had business to discuss. He wanted to shield her from the rumor. She agreed to go with him.

One night after arriving in Paris, she and Rand were dancing together after dinner. She thought to herself that she was in love with him. They went back to their hotel room. Her luggage had been put into the adjoining room but she didn't want to leave Rand's room, so she asked him to unlace the back of her dress. He told her she'd better go but she didn't move. She said his name and he asked her if she knew what she was doing. She said yes, so they had sex. The next night at the opera house, a woman came up to Rand and Rosalie. She told Rosalie she must be the famous Miss Belleau, then told her she'd been written about in the paper. They went home. Rosalie was mad because Rand hadn't told her about the article in the paper. She said when they got back to London, she was going to find a job and ask her mother about Beau. Rand said he couldn't let her live alone in London, then asked her to marry him. She said she didn't want to marry him or be kept by him. She loves him, though she hasn't told him yet, and thinks that one day he'll lose interest in her. He said to her, "You'll marry me if I have to tempt, bully and seduce you into it." They had sex then got into an argument over her not wanting to marry him.

Rand left the room then Rosalie got violently sick from the wine. She rang for a maid then passed out. The doctor was called in and Rand figured that the wine had been drugged with opium. He tried to find out who could have drugged it but came to the conclusion that it'd be impossible to figure it all because there were so many kitchen staff workers and servants. He knew that Beau had gossiped about Rosalie possibly being his daughter and that may have led to her being poisoned. He wrote to Mr. Bonchamps, inquiring about Beau's credit 'affairs'. He told the man to visit with each and every person Beau has done business with and tell them to cut off his credit. That night in the room with Rosalie, Rand saw someone unlock the door then go over to Rosalie. It was dark so Rand couldn't see who it was. Rand grabbed the man around the neck from behind and the man stabbed Rand then fled. The maid came into the room, 15 year old Mireille Germain, to tend to his wound. He told her to not mention the intruder to anyone. A few days later Rand was sitting by Rosalie's bedside while she was still unconscious. He told her she had broken him and asked her not to leave him here alone. Just then Rosalie woke up. He asked Mireille, the maid, to bring her some broth and water. Rand knew someone was out to get Rosalie, so they, along with the maid, left for his family's chateau. He told her she needed to recover in the country. He didn't tell her about the intruder.

One day, she found a drunk Rand sitting in front of a portrait of his mother. Thinking about his parents had upset him so he started drinking. He told her to get out. She told him he's not accountable for anything his parents had done. When she awoke the next day, the village bell was ringing. There was a fire in the village. Rand showed up and Rosalie begged him not to help with the fires but he went anyway. He told her to say at the house but later, he saw her helping out in the village. He asked her why she'd disobeyed him and she said, "Because I love you." Later that night in her bedroom, he told her that he loved her and asked her again to marry him. She said yes.

A letter arrived from her mother, Amille. She confirmed that Lucy and Beau were indeed her parents. Amille also told Rosalie that she should stay in Rand's care as long as possible but she didn't say why. At the same time her letter was delivered, Rand got a letter from his brother notifying him of their grandfathers death. They needed to go back to England within a few days. Rand wanted the maid Mireille and her older brother Guillaume to go with them. Guillaume had showed up there one day after Mireille told him she was going with Rand and Rosalie to the chateau. Rand allowed him to say and found work for him. Before leaving for England, Rosalie, Mireille and Guillaume went to the fair. Rosalie wanted to have her fortune read so there were heading to the where the Gypsy lady was. Guillaume made up a lie about having dropped the money purse and he asked his sister to go look for it. She went to look for it and Guillaume grabbed Rosalie's wrists and tied them, gagged her and tied her legs together. He told her that the world is not good to people like her. He gave her to the Gypsy woman and she left with her. Guillaume told Mireille what he'd done, told her that someone was offering a lot of money to kidnap Rosalie and that the two of them were going to be rich. Mireille had grown close to Rosalie and shocked at what her brother had done. She told him she never wanted to see him again and walked away from him. She left a note for Rand telling him her brother is the one who stabbed him in Paris and that he's sent Rosalie to London. Mireille wasn't heard from again.

Rand returned home to England and told his brother Colin what had happened. He got Colin to go around to various clubs to see if he could find out anything about Rosalie. When Rand was in a club, he met Rosalie's mother, Amille. They went back to her home to talk privately. She told him that Lucy had been deeply in love with Beau but he didn't love her. She was supposed to marry the Earl of Rotherham, but she didn't want to and that he was very obsessed with her. Lucy was pregnant with Rosalie and very depressed so she and her governess Amille traveled from England to France to say with Amille's family. Lucy never told her family she was pregnant. She gave birth to Rosalie in France, then drowned herself a few months later. Amille hadn't planned to raise Rosalie but ended up doing so. She made up the story about Rosalie's father and being widowed. She told him it was probably the Earl of Rotherham that was after Rosalie, not Beau.

Back in England, Rosalie was being held in a bedroom. The Earl of Rotherham came into the room. He told her that Lucy had been his and since Rosalie is her daughter, she now belonged to him. He told her she was a whore like her mother. She hit him in the throat and ran out of the room. As she was running toward the front door, Rand, out of the blue, showed up, since Amille told him the Earl probably had her. Rotherham was watching from the top of the stairs and he challenged Rand to a saber fight, which of course, Rand won.

Last chapter begins with them taking about it being their first day was husband and wife. Rand said she has men searching all over for Guillaume. Rosalie told him she wants her maid Mireille found. That's how the book ended.
_____________

MY THOUGHTS: I thought this was a pretty good book and I never got bored with it. What I liked most about it was her 15 year old maid Mireille. Mireille is very guarded about her past. Her brother said once that their mother was a prostitute and that he and Mireille are half siblings. At the end of the book Mireille up and disappeared but guess what? She's got her own story in this books sequel, "Forever My Love". In the book she's 20 years old and uses the name Mira. Edit- A better/longer review will come after I've reread this.

MIDNIGHT WALTZ by Jennifer Blake

PUBLISHER: Ballantine, 12/1984
REISSUED: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 8/2011
SETTING: Louisiana, 1856
HEROINE: Amalie Declouet, 24
HERO: Robert Farnum, 31ish
BODICE RIPPER? Maybe
RAPE? Yes
GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: In the aristocratic world of the magnificent plantations of nineteenth-century Louisana, yound Amalie knows how to behave as the new mistress at Belle Grove, but her arranged marriage to Julien Declouet is full of surprises. Amalie finds her husband perfectly polite, although oddly aloof, by day, but a completely different man when he visits her in her chambers at night, full of white-hot emotions and passion that sweeps her away. As the steamy Louisiana summer swelters onward, and the mystery of her husband's dual personalities intensifies, Amalie finds herself engulfefd in an emotional storm that threatens to wreak destruction on them all...

MY THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed this story. It was definitely different than the rest. Julien and Amalie have a dysfunctional marriage when it comes to sex and we can figure out why. Julien and his cousin Robert, whom I really like, are good friends and Robert is clearly jealous, and envious, of him. They work together, along with Julien's mother, who isn't the sweet old lady she's made out to be, and come up with a terrible plan to fool Amalie. And it works and goes undiscovered...for a time. That's when the unusual plotline comes into play and I enjoyed it. In fact, I've had to seek out more like it. It was a bit slow moving throughout and there was a lack of background information on the lead characters, which disappointed me. That's why I didn't give it an A+. I was also interested in the murder mystery involving an important character and was surprised to find who was behind it.

Reissued 2011 cover. Though I'm reviewing the reissued version, I chose to show the original cover.

Other books with same theme:

Annalise by Libby Sydes
Arrow to the Heart by Jennifer Blake
Autumn Rain by Anita Mills
Blackheart by Tamara Leigh
Cat Lady by Joan Overfield
Deceptive Heart by Maureen Kurr
In the Garden of Temptation by Cynthia Wicklund (ebook only)
Kissed by Shadows by Jane Feather
Lark by Norah Hess (contemp. romance)
Midnight Waltz by Jennifer Blake- does without her knowledge
One Wicked Night by Shelley Bradley
Prisoner of My Desire by Johanna Lindsey
Secrets of the Night by Jo Beverley
The Crystal Heart by Katherine Deauxville
The Fulfillment by LaVyrle Spencer
Waking Up With a Duke by Lorraine Heath
Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells

I received this from the publisher in 2011 in exchange for an honest review.