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Destiny's Splendor
Jessica Star Coltin, determined not to let herself be married off to the highest bidder by her cruel guardian, turns to the Indian warrior Star Hawk for protection and love
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First published December 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 22, 2021
This review is of “Destiny’s Splendor”; published in December 1988, this book is book #2 in an unofficial “series” by Kathleen Drymon. (The series, in order, consists of:
“Savage Dawn”-September 1984.
“Destiny’s Splendor”-December 1988.
“Velvet Savage”-September 1989.
“Gentle Savage”-February 1990.
“Savage Heaven”-February 1995.)
The book starts with two births. In a Blackfoot Indian village, chief Golden Eagle and his wife Singing Moon welcome a son, Star Hawk. In New Orleans, on a plantation, Dennis Coltin and his wife Hope welcome a daughter, Jessica Star. None are aware of what fate and destiny has in store for them.
Fast forward many years. Jessica, now 19 and the heroine of the book, is in despair. Dennis and Hope were killed in a carriage accident-which really wasn’t one-a year ago, and Jessica has to deal with Dennis’ cousin, Edmond DeVaugn’s, guardianship. (This will end when Jessica turns 21 or marries). Edmond has been parading a group of lecherous men in front of her to force her to marry (Edmond wants Jessica to marry a man he can control, along with the Coltin fortune). One day, Jessica meets Star Hawk, now 22 and the hero of the book. Star Hawk shows kindness and empathy to her, something she needs in her life. Later, Star Hawk kidnaps Jessica and takes her to his village. They later marry and consummate their marriage.
Not everyone is happy about Jessica and Star Hawk’s marriage. Golden Eagle tries to talk Star Hawk out of marriage to her; this fails. Later, a Blackfoot woman, Spring Lilly, tries to kill Jessica; Star Hawk stops her. For a long while, Jessica-now named Silver Star-and Star Hawk are happy.
That happiness is soon threatened, however, as Jessica is kidnapped by two trappers and returned to New Orleans and Edmond’s evil clutches. He takes her to London to marry her off to a lecherous Earl. Star Hawk finds the trappers and makes them sorry for their actions. He then sets sail for England to find Jessica, who is pregnant.
Star Hawk stops Jessica’s planned marriage, kills DeVaugn, and returns to America with Jessica, just in time for her to deliver twins, a boy and a girl. Jessica and Star Hawk have their Happily Ever After. And the story will continue.
Upside: It is very rare to see two people so deeply in love as Jessica and Star Hawk are. From the moment they meet to their marriage to their separation, reunitement and birth of their children, Ms. Drymon lets their love for each other shine through. Jessica and Star Hawk are both, for the most part, likeable characters.
Downside: Although Ms. Drymon tries very hard to skip past this, the fact is that “Destiny’s Splendor” is a Stockholm Syndrome romance; Star Hawk kidnapped Jessica. No matter the fact that they love each other, this is still a Stockholm Syndrome romance; which is a trope I loathe.
While I liked Jessica, she wasn’t my favorite type of heroine. (She has no skills beyond knowing about plants for medicinal purposes). Having said that, though, two points need to be made:
Point #1: Although Ms. Drymon doesn’t specify the time setting of “Rapture’s Splendor”, there are references to “the colonies”, therefore, an inference can be made that the book is set during or before 1776. Women clearly didn’t have as many life choices as they do today.
Point #2: Jessica comes from a well-to-do family. Women from wealthy families weren’t supposed to have skills, or intelligence that was made public; their role was to look beautiful, become a wife and mother.
Mini Bottom Line: Although Jessica isn't may favorite type of romance heroine, there are mitigating factors which I must acknowledge.
There isn’t any real depth or character development here, and though she falls deeply in love with him, I feel that most of Jessica’s love was out of gratitude to Star Hawk for showing her kindness, something she didn’t get from most males after her father died.
Sex: Most of the love scenes are very mild, and filled with extremely purple prose.
Violence: Assault, battery, slashings and one killing take place here. The violence is not graphic.
Bottom Line: “Destiny’s Splendor” probably isn’t as good a book as I’m making it sound like. It also probably isn’t as bad a book as I’m making it sound like. Although I’m giving the book 3 stars, if Goodreads added gradients, my real grade would be about 3.45 stars.
“Savage Dawn”-September 1984.
“Destiny’s Splendor”-December 1988.
“Velvet Savage”-September 1989.
“Gentle Savage”-February 1990.
“Savage Heaven”-February 1995.)
The book starts with two births. In a Blackfoot Indian village, chief Golden Eagle and his wife Singing Moon welcome a son, Star Hawk. In New Orleans, on a plantation, Dennis Coltin and his wife Hope welcome a daughter, Jessica Star. None are aware of what fate and destiny has in store for them.
Fast forward many years. Jessica, now 19 and the heroine of the book, is in despair. Dennis and Hope were killed in a carriage accident-which really wasn’t one-a year ago, and Jessica has to deal with Dennis’ cousin, Edmond DeVaugn’s, guardianship. (This will end when Jessica turns 21 or marries). Edmond has been parading a group of lecherous men in front of her to force her to marry (Edmond wants Jessica to marry a man he can control, along with the Coltin fortune). One day, Jessica meets Star Hawk, now 22 and the hero of the book. Star Hawk shows kindness and empathy to her, something she needs in her life. Later, Star Hawk kidnaps Jessica and takes her to his village. They later marry and consummate their marriage.
Not everyone is happy about Jessica and Star Hawk’s marriage. Golden Eagle tries to talk Star Hawk out of marriage to her; this fails. Later, a Blackfoot woman, Spring Lilly, tries to kill Jessica; Star Hawk stops her. For a long while, Jessica-now named Silver Star-and Star Hawk are happy.
That happiness is soon threatened, however, as Jessica is kidnapped by two trappers and returned to New Orleans and Edmond’s evil clutches. He takes her to London to marry her off to a lecherous Earl. Star Hawk finds the trappers and makes them sorry for their actions. He then sets sail for England to find Jessica, who is pregnant.
Star Hawk stops Jessica’s planned marriage, kills DeVaugn, and returns to America with Jessica, just in time for her to deliver twins, a boy and a girl. Jessica and Star Hawk have their Happily Ever After. And the story will continue.
Upside: It is very rare to see two people so deeply in love as Jessica and Star Hawk are. From the moment they meet to their marriage to their separation, reunitement and birth of their children, Ms. Drymon lets their love for each other shine through. Jessica and Star Hawk are both, for the most part, likeable characters.
Downside: Although Ms. Drymon tries very hard to skip past this, the fact is that “Destiny’s Splendor” is a Stockholm Syndrome romance; Star Hawk kidnapped Jessica. No matter the fact that they love each other, this is still a Stockholm Syndrome romance; which is a trope I loathe.
While I liked Jessica, she wasn’t my favorite type of heroine. (She has no skills beyond knowing about plants for medicinal purposes). Having said that, though, two points need to be made:
Point #1: Although Ms. Drymon doesn’t specify the time setting of “Rapture’s Splendor”, there are references to “the colonies”, therefore, an inference can be made that the book is set during or before 1776. Women clearly didn’t have as many life choices as they do today.
Point #2: Jessica comes from a well-to-do family. Women from wealthy families weren’t supposed to have skills, or intelligence that was made public; their role was to look beautiful, become a wife and mother.
Mini Bottom Line: Although Jessica isn't may favorite type of romance heroine, there are mitigating factors which I must acknowledge.
There isn’t any real depth or character development here, and though she falls deeply in love with him, I feel that most of Jessica’s love was out of gratitude to Star Hawk for showing her kindness, something she didn’t get from most males after her father died.
Sex: Most of the love scenes are very mild, and filled with extremely purple prose.
Violence: Assault, battery, slashings and one killing take place here. The violence is not graphic.
Bottom Line: “Destiny’s Splendor” probably isn’t as good a book as I’m making it sound like. It also probably isn’t as bad a book as I’m making it sound like. Although I’m giving the book 3 stars, if Goodreads added gradients, my real grade would be about 3.45 stars.
February 24, 2009
This book had the worst (best?) purple prose I have ever read. When I have the time I am going to put some of the best phrases up on this review because they were hilarious.
Books like these are what gives romance a bad name. The heroine was a spineless girl/woman with a perfect body, long flowing reddish blonde hair and SILVER eyes. Her name was Jessica STAR Colton. She pretty much just sat around waiting for the Hero to tell her what to do, how she could serve him and of course waited for the hero to save her from any danger. The hero was a noble Blackfoot Indian who was a beautiful male specimen (of course). He was the best and strongest warrior in his tribe with long flowing black hair and a perfect handsome face. His name was STAR Hawk. Get it? Both have star in their name because when both were born their parents saw two falling stars, which meant they were DESTINED for each other.
Star Hawk sees Jessica Star gathering herbs in the woods and just knows she is his destiny. So he kidnaps her from her home and takes her to his camp. They quickly decide they belong together and are in LOVE. They spend a lot of time looking at the other thinking how perfectly beautiful they are, then waxing poetic about how great their love is and will continue for all eternity. Then the love scenes begin. And the laughter from me. They were so funny and purple that Barney was put to shame. There were love rods, quivering sheaths, flying through the clouds (aka orgasm) and of course - love nectar.
I had to skim the rest of the book because I just couldn't take it seriously. Skip this book unless you want to see just how bad some of the 80's romance was and get a good laugh.
Books like these are what gives romance a bad name. The heroine was a spineless girl/woman with a perfect body, long flowing reddish blonde hair and SILVER eyes. Her name was Jessica STAR Colton. She pretty much just sat around waiting for the Hero to tell her what to do, how she could serve him and of course waited for the hero to save her from any danger. The hero was a noble Blackfoot Indian who was a beautiful male specimen (of course). He was the best and strongest warrior in his tribe with long flowing black hair and a perfect handsome face. His name was STAR Hawk. Get it? Both have star in their name because when both were born their parents saw two falling stars, which meant they were DESTINED for each other.
Star Hawk sees Jessica Star gathering herbs in the woods and just knows she is his destiny. So he kidnaps her from her home and takes her to his camp. They quickly decide they belong together and are in LOVE. They spend a lot of time looking at the other thinking how perfectly beautiful they are, then waxing poetic about how great their love is and will continue for all eternity. Then the love scenes begin. And the laughter from me. They were so funny and purple that Barney was put to shame. There were love rods, quivering sheaths, flying through the clouds (aka orgasm) and of course - love nectar.
I had to skim the rest of the book because I just couldn't take it seriously. Skip this book unless you want to see just how bad some of the 80's romance was and get a good laugh.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews