Johanna Lindsey: Which One First?

Book CoverMore ebooks have been released from Avon, including Hearts Aflame, which is their current .99c offering (Amazon | BN | WORD | Kobo). This book is a classic medieval Lindsay.

While I am not as big a fan of medieval -set romances, I know this book has some fans.

ESPECIALLY since the original cover looked like THIS:

image

A Viking lass named Kristen who hides warships in her hair, battling Royce, Thane of Wyndhurst, and his cheekbones? How can you resist? 

Now that much of Johanna Lindsey’s backlist has been digitized and is now in most retailers, including Amazon, BN, WORD Brooklyn’s eBookstore and Kobo, I have a question for you, and the start of a new feature I hope to continue over the coming months: Classic Romances: Which One First?

For those of you who haven’t read Johanna Lindsey, or another famous name in romance, this thread might help. Which book should a curious reader staring at a mountain of backlist start with? We’ll go author-by-author – so if you have a big name in romance you’ve always been curious about and you want to know “Which One First?”, please feel free to email me your suggestion at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with “Classic Romances” in the subject line.

So, for someone who hasn’t read Johanna Lindsey and now has their choice of old skool cover, new skool cover, or digital, which one do you recommend someone read first?

Comments are Closed

  1. angylinni says:

    The Mallory’s, they rule.  I can totally remember reading about the sex in the chair and being so scandalized.  OMG, people did that?  Then of course I dreamed for my hero to come and find me and do the very same thing. 😀

  2. Stefanie says:

    I started reading Lindsays after reading the cover snark on site.  I started collecting them, or rather snapping up first editions at goodwill and Out of the Closet for fifty cents.  I have Gentle Rogue and the best cover, in my humble opinion, Tender is the Storm.  I like them well enough, but my favorite Lindsay is Heart of Thunder.  The heroine is pretty badass—unafraid to shoot gross, old, wannabe cowboys or escape from her kidnapper/lover.  The hero skirts the line between old-skool Daley and gruff-and-misunderstood, but ultimately are likable.  Even has a last minute trip to England and a second kidnapping/attempted murder in the last 75 pages.

    I think I need to find sone more Lindsays though, these all sound oldskool-tactic.

  3. helen says:

    Even way back when romance was not confined to one specific genre so I’ll spread the love a little!
    Katherine Woodiwiss’s Wolf and the Dove, Flame and the Flower, etc (all of her books are classics!) (70’s) (historicals)
    Laura Kinsale Uncertain Magic, (actually all of her early books are outstanding) (most of her best were 80’s and early 90’s) (paranormal historical, and historicals)
    For a classic erotic (or at least more on the erotic side) romance try Robin Schone’s Awaken My Love (1995)
    For very early SCIFI romance try Ann Maxwell (timeshadow riders for example) or Cynthia Felice and Willis’s Water Witch, and for a change of pace Sharon Green’s Early series (multiple) (she had several sci/fi romance, or female warrior /fantasy type romance series early 80’s/90’s)
    For early romantic fantasy try Michelle Sagara West’s The Sundred Series (originally published in the very early 90’s)

  4. helen says:

    Sorry about that long apparently totally off topic post guys, I totally read that last bit as post suggestions for old skool romances rather than specifically Lindsay’s romances.

    For Lindsay I’d recommend Warrior’s Woman (LOVED IT-in my opinion it far surpassed anything she wrote before or since)

  5. Jill says:

    A piece of advice for those who love Reggie and Tony: Stay away from the audiobook versions of the later Mallory novels. The voice talent makes both characters—as well as some of the other older, beloved ones—sound totally unlike you’d (well, at least me) expect them to sound. Completely took me out of the story and ruined my image of Reggie and Tony. It was just wrong, I tell you.

    “Warrior’s Woman” and its sequels are so unlike anything else JL wrote that they really stand out to me. Not a big SF/ro fan, but those worked for me as fun reads with excellent boot-knocking scenes.

  6. ashley says:

    Marriage most Scandalous is the BEST johanna Lindsey everrrrr.

    Hearts aflame is good too, I have that original cover lol

  7. ashley says:

    oh God and there is one where the hero’s name is Tristan and the heroine is Betina that book is VILE. horrible rapey stuff.

  8. ijinx says:

    I remember loving Warrior’s Woman when I was, like, 16. Later I re-read it and it put me off JL for a while, right along with Captive bride, which is really old skool. The guy wins out most of the time, where is the fairness in that?

    Maybe Savage Thunder? If I remember correctly, the girl was kind of filthy rich for a change and in a position of power, at least for a while. And of course, there is the epic sexxoring on the horse scene.

  9. Wendy says:

    This is great! My mom owned a craft store when I was growing up, and there was a box of books in the break room. It was chock FULL of JL’s books. I never worked up the nerve to read one all the way through (being 14 and embarassed as all get out), but I certainly opened many at random and read furtively while eating my lunch.
    Thanks to this listing of favorites, I will perhaps finally read one all the way through. But do I go for silly or try for good?

  10. Jody W. says:

    I know it has cult status, but Warrior’s Woman hurt my soul in a way that has yet to fade. Still—if anyone picks it up for the first time after this, would love to see a review from the perspective of now!

  11. Andrea Lyons says:

    First and always FAVORITE:  Tender Rebel – the Mallory’s – Anthony – OMG – delicious!!  Huge fan of Joanna Lindsay – she’s been around for over 30 years – a trailblazer – along with K. Woodiwiess.  Thanks for the stroll down memory lane!!

  12. Kelly S. says:

    Thanks for doing this!

    A question I have is how do they hold up?  When you are recommending these books from an author’s backlist, have you read them recently?  Do you still enjoy them?  Does the changing times matter?

    Also, if you really love this author and some of the books are related, would you please explain how in your recommendation? I’m the type that must read a series in order or be very grumpy.

  13. Pamela says:

    I JUST reread this book last month. Love it! It is one of my fav JL books. It was a keeper that is falling apart. Will not be long before I have to buy it in Kindle version.

  14. Kris says:

    I love anything from Lindsey up until The Magic of You. a Malory book.  I have re-read Man of My Dreams about 30 times, and am on my 3rd copy because I read ‘em til they fall apart.  Considering how picky I am about how my books look, that says a lot about that particular book.  Her newer titles don’t enchant me at all, the titles themselves irritate the hell out of me, and I am extremely disenchanted with the whole “publish in hardcover first” phenomenon, only because I don’t believe that her books are worth it anymore.  That said, it is hard to pick a good first Lindsey book, because the first one I read was A Pirate’s Love, and I was 14 years old, and hiding under my blankets with a flashlight lest I get caught.  That would probably NOT be a good cherry-breaker.  I think Once a Princess would be best, followed by Man of My Dreams.

  15. Asia M says:

    Thanks for the entry! That’s just what I needed. 😀 I’ve been wanting to try Lindsey again for a while, but I wasn’t sure with which one…

    “Home for the Holidays” happens to be one of the first romance novels I read, and it sucked. 🙁 It was a Polish translation, too, but that’s no kind of excuse for the corny, cliche and boring plot.

  16. sweetsiouxsie says:

    My MOTHER introduced me to Johanna Lindsay and she was 80 YEARS OLD at the time! I collected all of Lindsay’s backlist. Hearts Aflame….was that part of the vikings raiding England series? If so, I loved it and nicknamed it “The Women in Chains Trilogy”. Read the books to see why. I love the Mallories too, especially Anthony’s story. What a hunk!
    Is Fabio posing for the original cover of Hearts Aflame shown above???
    After I read Once a Princess and its sequel, I looked and looked for the country in which the stories took place, but I couldn’t find it on any map. That’s because Lindsay made it up!!
    She is great!!!!

  17. Kaetrin says:

    My very first Linsday was A Pirate’s Love (that’s the horrible rape-y one meantioned earlier with Tristan and Bettina).  I think I was about 12 when I read it and totally clueless about the significance of the rape-y-ness of the book.  At the time I enjoyed it but I can’t see myself doing so now.

    I devoured Lindsay in my teens but I’m not sure I’d be happy to read them now.  I did enjoy most of them – I think Savage Thunder is ringing a bell – was that the one with a Rafael or a Chavez?

  18. Jessi says:

    I have to agree with many people above on Gentle Rouge. This was my first Lindsay book and I never have enjoyed much of her other titles, but I can still read this one over and over. I just love James, despite all of his Old Skool tricks – and I wish I was George. I did read and like in a once-was-nice way several of the other Mallory titles.

  19. Cialina says:

    Huh. I actually have not read this Lindsey book but I started reading her Malory series a year ago. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with for the Romance Classics list. I’m definitely trying to read the best of genre at the moment.

  20. Nicole says:

    Im hoping someone can help me. I seem to remember reading a JL book back in the day where there was a little girl who had two different eye colors. It has always bothered me that I could not remember which book this was in. And Ive wondered if JL had ever written this child’s story once she had grown up. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

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