Do you have a favorite Zebra romance author?

[JennyG]

Mine would be Patricia Pellicane. She writes just the way I like it, innnocent heroine paired with a jealous alpha male who is nuts about her. I think I've read almost all of her books and loved more or less every one of them.

[Mermarie]

Catherine Emm, who is actually Kay McMahon. I may be prejudice, but Catherine Emm's Forbidden Magic was my very first romance novel, and it was a bodice ripper, too. Her Old English dialogue was so incredible, and an accurate depiction for the timeline. It's basically a better version of The Wolf & the Dove. I wish someone would read both and give me their honest opinion, because it's really so similiar, it's uncanny.

[JennyG]

I have both in my TBR-pile. I'll move them up and hopefully have the time to read at least one of them soon.

I'll let you know how I like it.

[Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince]

First, I'm psyched to see this group! Zebra historicals were a huge part of my early romance memories, and obviously I still enjoy them today.

Like Mermarie, my first Zebra remains my favorite: , a civil war epic that borrows heavily from Gone With the Wind & North and South, but I don't mind because it's so good! There are bodice riper elements, great secondary characters and a hero who is unflinchingly devoted to his woman.

Another great epic by Dana Ransom is the third book in her 4-part Dakota series
. Norah Denby is a con-artist who teams up with a former lover to swindle marks out of their fortunes. Rory Prescott is a naive young cowboy and heir to the Prescott ranch who falls for the deceptive Norah.
continues the story of Rory & Norah's tumultuous marriage.

This year I've discovered Deana James, who has quickly become one of my top authors. Favorites include:



As you can tell from the covers, my favorite books tend to have blond or redhead heroes.

Other writers I've enjoyed are Penelope Neri, whose books include varied settings and eras, and Victoria Thompson, who produced great westerns.

[Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince]

Mermarie wrote: "Catherine Emm, who is actually Kay McMahon. I may be prejudice, but Catherine Emm's Forbidden Magic was my very first romance novel, and it was a bodice ripper, too. Her Old English dialogue was so..."

I know remember you mentioning this one before. I have to dig it out and get to it! I also have about 3 or 4 Kay McMahon books around; hopefully I can get to these as well.

[Mermarie]

Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince wrote: "Mermarie wrote: "Catherine Emm, who is actually Kay McMahon. I may be prejudice, but Catherine Emm's Forbidden Magic was my very first romance novel, and it was a bodice ripper, too. Her Old Englis..."

It's my goal to start collecting her other books, to see whether or not the quality is there under her other pseudonym, as it was with Catherine Emm. I've dabbled in a bit of Dana Ransom, The Pirate's Captive(PB), but I never finished it. I believe I had an exam that week and didn't pick it back up...but I will likely in the future. We should definitely compile our lists, and work on a group read in the future sometime.

Paperbacks I have for Deana James:
Crimson Obsession
Masque of Sapphire
Beloved Rogue

Kindle:
Speak Only Love

Also, Jenny--it's pretty coincidental, but I selected Creole Captive by Pellicane for a possible group read on BRRA, along with Captive Heart, by Phoebe Conn. How strange both have 'captive' in the title. You can clearly see where my attention runs these days. LOL

[Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince]

Mermarie wrote: "Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince wrote: "Mermarie wrote: "Catherine Emm, who is actually Kay McMahon. I may be prejudice, but Catherine Emm's Forbidden Magic was my very first romance novel, and it was a..."

I started Pirate's Captive a few weeks ago, but put it down somewhere and haven't found it since. I'm always doing that with my books!

Just finished Crimson Obsession, which was all right, very similar to an Anne Stuart historical in plot and characterization. Speak Only Love was a good read, despite the hero spending most of the book fall-down drunk, recovering from sickness, getting beaten up or shot. Come to think of it, Deana James usually has some extreme harrowing situation where the H/h get injured, sickened, dirtied or drenched which is followed by lots of sex.

I also have the other two you mentioned, but haven't read them. We do have a lot of books in common! Let me know what you'd like to read.

[Mermarie]

I was actually anticipating the moment you returned from hiatus, to compare books and whatnot. I had to scour your Zebra collection, and a myriad of other sites, such as Worldcat.org, and fictiondb.com to compile lists for our Bodice Ripper site project Zebra gallery. It's still a work in progress!

Here are a few others we have in common:

Beloved Enemy by Jane Feather
Angel Eyes by Thea Devine
TEMPTED BY FIRE by Thea Devine

[Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince]

Mermarie wrote: "I was actually anticipating the moment you returned from hiatus, to compare books and whatnot. I had to scour your Zebra collection, and a myriad of other sites, such as Worldcat.org, and fictiondb..."

I'm so impressed you were able to put these books together (and the Zebra on kindle as well!) I'm glad if my collection helped you a bit. Fictiondb frustrated me because they had so few covers for the Lovegram and Heartfire lines and that's the main way I can remember what I read so long ago. Who can remember all those titles? They're all so interchangeable:
Let's see...

Geographical location + Saucy Noun = Highland Rogue

Sexy Possessive Noun + Kinky Noun = Ecstasy's Hostage

Color + Sexy Noun = Golden Desire

The Jane Feather one looks good and so does Tempted by Fire, but something about the cover cracks me up:

It's a sexy pose, but it looks as if he's taken a harsh whiff under her arms and is backing away...

[Xai Xai]

My favourite authors are Constance O Banyon and Wanda Owen