From the Bookshelf of Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous…

This Other Eden (Eden, #1)

Marilyn Harris

Start date: October 11, 2011

Finish date: October 31, 2011

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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* What is this?
By deleted member · 2 posts · 155 views

last updated Sep 07, 2011 04:51PM

enemies to lovers
By Eliza · 12 posts · 141 views

last updated Jan 26, 2024 11:30AM

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What Members Thought

May 22, 2013 Hot Mess Sommelière ~ Caro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fave-author, gothic, romance

*IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!! Endeavor Press has rereleased This Other Eden in Kindle and Paperback! Rejoice and buy for a few books from your preferred seller :DDDD*

What a great novel this was.
I started reading "This Other Eden" with great expectations. I had read Karla's review of the book and it just seemed too appealing. To be honest, though, the first thing that made me want to read the book was the absolutely gorgeous cover. It's soooo pretty I want to look at it all the time. I even bought the bo ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2015 Vivisection rated it liked it

Shelves: guilty-pleasures, hot-mess-hero-heroine, historical-romance, golden-age-of-bodice-rippers, 18th-century, all-the-rapey-rape

Many, many, many people have this as an ultimate read as far as historical romance goes.

The plusses:
A truly sweeping storyline. I mean it starts with sixteen year old Marianne Locke being thrown in a charnel house with animal and human corpses while she waits to be whipped by her much older employer, one Lord Thomas Eden for refusing his advances. Parents lose their minds. Brothers turn their backs on family. Smuggling, because Cornwall. Conniving, obsessive older men. Vindictive, jealous siste ...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Circa Girl rated it really liked it

Shelves: obsessive-love, character-study, dark, heart-wrenching, damsel-in-distress, i-love-you-i-hate-you, romance, what-a-mess, antagonist-is-protagonist, depressing-as-hell

This gritty romantic (?) classic lived up to its reputation and carries so many memorable, intense scenes that will stay with me. On the other hand, I am hesitant to call it a fun or enjoyable read. In fact, compared to Bledding Sorrow, which was the Marilyn Harris horror novel I had read prior to her more famous work, this was downright slow and took me a little over a month to finish. I often felt stuck in a moody rainy day as chapter after chapter pulled me into the miserable, doomed heads of This gritty romantic (?) classic lived up to its reputation and carries so many memorable, intense scenes that will stay with me. On the other hand, I am hesitant to call it a fun or enjoyable read. In fact, compared to Bledding Sorrow, which was the Marilyn Harris horror novel I had read prior to her more famous work, this was downright slow and took me a little over a month to finish. I often felt stuck in a moody rainy day as chapter after chapter pulled me into the miserable, doomed heads of Thomas and Marianne. What made it effective was how complicated their character development and relationship was allowed to become. It goes beyond enemies to lovers- Thomas inflicts some horrific violence and betrayal and general shit on Marianne that goes beyond what I was accustomed to in stories of this kind. Literally, his first offense against her is so upsetting that it shocks Marianne's father into long-term brain damage and a unbearable period of PTSD for Marianne. In the last third of the story, things finally take a dramatic turn and Thomas humbles and tortures himself both intentionally and unintentionally until he too is a troubled, mess that is unrecognizable to the prideful prick he once was.

His love and obsession is both his & her downfall and redemption in the most melodramatic way possible, but the writing is so good that you can buy that these two characters could endure so much unnecessary pain in such a short amount of time. Their actual love story and direct relationship doesn't truly begin until or at least become reciprocal until the last 200 pages or so, but it is so worth the wait to see the crazy lust and hate turn into something resembling real understanding and care.

I really respected the hell out of Marianne being capable of being a quiet, sensitive, kind hearted woman while still being a willful, prideful survivor who never backs down from her own code of justice and integrity. She starts out being put in a horrific, vulnerable position that should have destroyed her and is taken advantage of despite her quick wit by everyone at each turn but by the end she is fucking running the place. It's a great moody turnaround/cinderella story where the girl gets out on top for once. ...more

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Jun 11, 2010 BRNTerri rated it liked it

Shelves: no-longer-own, historical-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This is the first of seven books in the ‘Eden’ series, published in 1977 and takes place in England. I’d heard of this series for years and finally bought the first four. I’ve only read the first two and was disappointed with both, especially the second one, ‘The Prince of Eden.’

In the first book, ‘This Other Eden’, it’s 1790 and the heroine, Marianne is 16 and is whipped by 40 year old Thomas Eden. I can’t remember why. Two months later she goes to stay with her older sister Jane and her boyfr ...more

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