I have not read anything by Brenda Joyce before and this one was a pleasant surprise. For all intents and purposes I should have hated the book but I...moreI have not read anything by Brenda Joyce before and this one was a pleasant surprise. For all intents and purposes I should have hated the book but I found that I could not put it down. The more I read the more intrigued I was as to how the author will make this scenario into a HEA. It seemed impossible by the turn of events. However she somehow pulled it off. I saw that some reviews wrote that this is a typical doormat heroine and abusive hero but I didn’t see it like that, the heroine has a lot of pride and is very unyielding, I think she was more abused by her own family then the hero. Hero was brutal at times but there was build-up to their relationship and it seemed he was more restrained then someone in his place will be from all the her escapades. The sex scenes are hot and steamy and there was build-up to the culmination, the hero truly cared for her, overall I liked the book. (less)
Lady Diana Devenport has had a hard time coping with her aunt and uncle who are these nasty scheming individuals greedy for her money. She wants freed...moreLady Diana Devenport has had a hard time coping with her aunt and uncle who are these nasty scheming individuals greedy for her money. She wants freedom and adventure. While in Bath she puts an ancient roman helmet and is transported in time to 61AD where she becomes the slave of Marcus Magnus – a roman general. I don’t know much about Bath other then the Romans build some nice bathing facilities there which our hero/heroine used on a daily basis and multiple times a day contrary to any other period of English History except the present:) Hero was typical Alfa type man and I was astonished that he treated Diana so well. The romance story was nice and also the villains were interesting, however I believe they didn’t get enough of their own evil brew. Diana was transported back in her own time, from where she has been missing for about 9 months, her aunt and uncle have declared her dead and embezzled all her money. Safe to say they weren’t happy at her reappearance. To save the day comes Mark (who is the modern day Marcus). All the characters in this book are the same through time, except for the aunt and uncle, they were the modern day villains. I liked the romance story, it was unique to have such connection through time, sex was hot, though funny phrases like mons (I do not know what that means just guessing) and phallus were used repeatedly, which was strange since dick was used as well, don’t know why we had to go back to calling it something else.
I rate books by their story content but also by how interested I am to keep reading. This book was very fast to read and I did not want to put it down. I am staring immediately on another one by the same author “Tempted” and fyi I would love to have Virginia Henley as my grandmother, mine has never even used the word sex or any other connecting to that one……children just come dropped by storks if you ask mine:) (less)
What and epic adventure with a capital “A”. I don’t know if it is possible at all to summarize the plot of this book because it goes almost through en...moreWhat and epic adventure with a capital “A”. I don’t know if it is possible at all to summarize the plot of this book because it goes almost through entire continent, starting at a convent in Spain and winding up in America. It is a book I have mixed feeling about because the abuse that our heroine took is above and beyond anything a person can forgive and most of the plot was unnecessary imo. This book is about a heroine who is loved/wanted by almost everyone but her husband who is our main hero until late in the book. This book is 750 pages and it could have as easily been 300. I thrived on the few happy moments our heroine got and I felt that after all there should be a longer HEA. Also a warning that the heroine pretty much sleeps with every male she meets in this book and there is repeated rape by her husband. (less)
This book has such high reviews and I can understand why It was probably the best as the time it was written. I liked the begging of it as well but it...moreThis book has such high reviews and I can understand why It was probably the best as the time it was written. I liked the begging of it as well but it quickly deteriorated due to the overly flowery writing. I sat and laughed at the ridiculous sentences because I am accustomed to a totally different historical romance experience, but nevertheless I finished it and to be fair for the time it was written I gave it 4 stars.(less)
I am very hard pressed to describe this book, it is by far the most violent romance book I have ever read. I recently started to review old time roman...moreI am very hard pressed to describe this book, it is by far the most violent romance book I have ever read. I recently started to review old time romances that have a male character who is a complete ass and beaten up female but this goes beyond everything else. There is all sorts of violence, physical, sexual, mental, at first I could not believe there will be any romance coming out of the whole thing, I cried and I had to speed read some pages because I had to get to a more peaceful part. At some point I just thought that the author will kill off the characters and give them some piece. In reality no living thing can go through so much and come out alive/sane. At times this book greatly reminded me of Outlander series (first 2 books), there are a lot of similarities, although this book had a lot more hurt, Jamie’s ordeal looks like nothing too much after reading this. I need something nice and cheerful to take away from this entire story, it needed more happy ending then it got, this book begs for an ever after princes tale epilogue, sigh but at the end it kept me so occupied that I finished it of in a day and half. I am not sure if I will Endeavour to read anything by this author again, but I do not regret reading this book.(less)
Lysistrata travels with her father who is a doctor to take position at the Queen’s Rangoon hospital. She is very intelligent but rather plain looking...moreLysistrata travels with her father who is a doctor to take position at the Queen’s Rangoon hospital. She is very intelligent but rather plain looking girl. She tries to help her dad at the hospital but is refused by the head doctor saying that it is no place for women. She befriends a lady that decides to transform her by dressing her up in new clothes and presenting her to the English Rangoon society. On the first social event she attends she stumbles on Ram while he is having tête-à-tête with one of the married ladies. Lysistrata is extremely sensual creature, although it starts off as her being rather plain, I did enjoy her company a lot and I was happy for her HEA.
Ram is very mysterious character. He is the child of a princess and an English captain and has a foot in both worlds. Of course he is every woman’s dream, except our heroine, at least at the beginning
The dialogue is the best ever imho, I though Lysistrata to be one of the most interesting female characters. The book was very strong at the beginning, it would have been my favorite if it continued in the same style as it started but I had a problem with two things - the hero’s feelings and the lack of expressing them to our heroine and the story was a bit confusing. The hero holds heroine responsible for what happened to him even though it was almost impossible that she can set him up for anything like that. Also it is a good description of Rangoon for those interested in the daily lives during that period. (less)
Everyone says this is the romance that started it all and this book has overall very high ratings so I decided to try it. There are some books that do...moreEveryone says this is the romance that started it all and this book has overall very high ratings so I decided to try it. There are some books that do not age and will be loved in years to come (like the historicals of my favorite author Judith McNaught) but this is not one of them. Completely unfeeling brutish male characters are a thing of the past for which I am very happy otherwise this genre would never have drawn my attention. In this day and age we appreciate the strong willed women and men who are more caring even if they are dark and brooding. Even that I would probably laugh out laud at any book with similar content published today I have to give props for writing something like this in 1973. It was interesting to read, I was surprised at how drawn I was in the story at first and didn’t put the book down for the first 50% of it, it dragged out for me a little bit but picked up again at the end. I do not regret reading it since I had a good time and was not bored more like outraged at the characters behavior. For those of you who have read it I have to say if someone was about to rape me and he fell onto my knife I won’t be overly concerned if I killed him or not, more like it he will fall onto my knife 10 times (quote from the musical Chicago:)(less)
Steet Surrender aka Evening Star is the first book I have read by Catherine Coulter but won't be the last.
Giana is some silly English chit that comes...moreSteet Surrender aka Evening Star is the first book I have read by Catherine Coulter but won't be the last.
Giana is some silly English chit that comes out of school enamored by a fortune hunter. Her mom is a successful bossiness woman and sees through him right away but cannot convince her daughter that he is only after the family money so she takes drastic measures and sends her off to Italy in the care of her uncle who is to show her another side of life by meeting her with prostitutes. Well the dear uncle does more then that and installs her to see what goes on in a bawdy house. I have to say this was very amusing and interesting to read about. The culmination of Giana’s “holiday” in Italy ended up being a flower auction for her virginity, which was bought by the very irresistible American Alexander:). We see him perform in the bawdy house earlier when Giana is watching and the scene is very yummy.
Four years latter Giana is successful businesswoman like her mother and meets with Alexander for business purposes. The moment he sees her he recognizes that she is the virgin he bought and never tasted that night in Italy. Well he is very upset by being tricked out of that pleasure but is convinced that she is playing some sort of game and blackmails her into coming with him to a cottage at the sea side. I won’t spoil it completely for you but she does get pregnant that night but since she is so headstrong and convinced marriage to a man will be her downfall she does not want to marry him. Here comes his outrageous offer that she pretends until the baby is born that she is his wife, that way she can leave him after if she wants. So the journey to New York begins. From here on you have to find the story for yourself but I have to mention that this book has my favorite pregnant scenes ever. The way Alex treats Giana is so fairitaleish that it made me giddy with happiness.
I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it. (less)
I finally finished this epic “romance” book. I would really want to know who wrote this book, It is a complete misconception of the female. From the v...moreI finally finished this epic “romance” book. I would really want to know who wrote this book, It is a complete misconception of the female. From the very first it becomes obvious that a woman did not write this. It was written by a man, who thought that as long as there are sex scenes in it, women will love it and it will bring him money and from his characterization it looks like he doesn’t think very highly of women. I can compare the heroine with the very realistic German android sex doll “Andy” who has a heavy breathing option a G-Spot and has as much sense and brain as our heroine. The heroine is an empty shell who gets thrown about into the arms of all sorts of men, and has sex with them all, anyway they want it. Almost all the sex is forced and she enjoys it all. She is getting orgasms left and right, I laughed. It was tragic but it was way too funny to feel any sympathy. I wasn’t thinking about the story while I was reading, I was thinking about what was going on in the mind of the writer. Is he a guy with no experience whatsoever or may be he has an “Andy” in the closet. There is one scene where the guy is having sex with a virgin. I almost fell off my chair after the fact he couldn’t penetrate 3 times in a row, the woman must have reinforced steel inside or some such. Basic human anatomy should be a required subject research for writing a sex scene. The hero was not much better then the heroine, he treated her so bad I have no clue as to why she wanted him at the end. I was actually hoping she will end up with guy #2 because he was the only male character who didn’t force her and I can believe his love for her and vise versa. Although our heroine loved them all. The guys were sleeping with other girls in the harem and she was fine with it. I wanted to ask the author “do you even know any women?” In the romance world men are portrayed as possessive but in reality women are more so and I would think that is regardless their religion. Overall this book deserves to be looked at if you manage to get your hands on a copy. It is almost impossible and huge thanks to Karla for letting me borrow it. There is some fun factor if you look on the ridiculous side of things, and would like to find out about the history of romance books. (less)
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