Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

It sounds like Island Flame by Karen Robards.  The hero’s name was Jonathan Hale and the hero was Catherine.  I don’t recall Catherine singing to Jonathan, but it has been a while since I read this one.

I think this might be Teresa Medeiros’ “Thief of Hearts” although I cannot remember precisely if there was a rape or not but the rest sounds familiar

Oh, good gracious! That book sounds wretchedly fantastic! I must read it! hahahaha I was laughing out loud as I read this post. Gotta love the type of woman who ends up loving the man who raped her.

If anyone knows the title, let me know. I would love to get my hands on a copy. :)

Gotta love the type of woman who ends up loving the man who raped her.

I thought that was every heroine from a historical romance written in the 1970’s.

I haven’t read that one, mercifully, but it reminded me of a classic This American Life segment where Robin Epstein visits RWA National and records some ladies waxing Woodiwiss about the rapist heroes of yore.

If anyone’s curious, you can listen for free here. The RWA segment starts around the six-minute mark.

Oh if you want a wonderful (idiotic) rapist hero you should read anything by Sharon Green…Rebel Prince is the best f**ked up romance disguised as sci fi.  I was 15 when I first read it, cover art has decent manly chest…heroine (if you can call her that) has beautiful red-gold hair.  Plot is utterly ridiculous, sex scenes are breif, awful and condescending.

For some reason I kept reading Sharon Green, maybe in the hopes of improvement, and can’t remember a single book I liked wholeheartedly.  I remember thinking later that the writer had to be a man because of how awful the women were but after reading some of McNaught, Deveraux and Woodiwiss I changed my mind…unless they’re all men who like to write about ‘forcible seduction’. Bleck.

reason93: and counting why I don’t read those authors anymore.

Not “Thief of Hearts” - no rapage in that one, it’s one of my favorites.  Love, betrayal, redemption, high seas hi-jinxs, and hot consensual sexxoring.

Tempt the Devil by Connie Mason?  From what I recall, there was kidnapping, (semi) forced sex, and a secret pirate Island (in addition to such genius lines as “Though Diablo wielded more authority than most captains, every man had a say in ship rules and the disposal of booty.  And the girl was definitely booty.”)

LOL - so many pirate/rape romances to choose from. My tbr list just grew (maybe not).

As per this quote from above, “Gotta love the type of woman who ends up loving the man who raped her,” it reminds me of Luke and Laura in the old General Hospital Days. They were hot stuff, and yet, it all started from a rape. That’s not exactly a message I want sent out.

In Island Flame by Karen Robards, the story starts out like that, but I believe the heroine’s father seizes the pirate’s ship and the hero is about to be hung when the heroine tells her father she’s pregnant and begs him to spare the pirate’s life.  Then the rest sounds similar to what you describe, though I don’t remember any singing either.

Not the same but it reminds me a bit of the book Tell Me Lies where a woman is captured by pirates. She knows the crew wants to rape her so to save herself she seduces the captain instead. Then during sex hides the fact she’s a virgin. And yet, despite the fact that she herself made him want her so the crew wouldn’t rape her, views it as being raped simply because she was a virgin when they had sex.

I wanted to smack her the entire book for that thought. She choose to have sex with him albeit it was to escape being gang-raped. And the fact was he was one of those guys with honor. If she had just told him “I’m a virgin” he wouldn’t have slept with her. In fact, he feels extreme guilt later on when her father confronts him with the fact that she was a virgin.

Sometimes you just have to trust a pirate.

Cara-
Great link, thanks!

It’s Island Flame, as some people have already said… only the “pirate island” is on the Canarian Islands, right near Tenerife… seriously, there were other people in Spain apart from pirates!
I think the pirate was kind of angry because the father, when he learned that she was pregnant, kind of convinced an employee? to marry her and so the pirate thinks she cheated on him?
But maybe I’m mixing up different pirate stories

It’s not Island Flame…I read a synopsis online and it doesn’t sound quite right and the cover I found is not the one I recall. I can’t describe it because, well, I barely remember it, and it looks like all the others. I’m certain there was a phallic symbol somewhere in the background - the ship’s mast, maybe?

I wish I could remember more. I think it was written after 1985, I woulda read it in 1988 or so and I believe it was published just a year or two prior to that.

Thanks fellow bitches…appreciate the help.

No pregnancy that I remember and no marriage to anyone else…and definitely singing while he was out of it.

The first half of the plot sounds like Johanna Lindsey’s “A Pirate Love” (yes, even she had rapist heros).  But, in that book there’s an evil stepfather I think and I don’t remember the heroine singing….

Hey, this is interesting, I wonder if you’d recognize the title from this list.

http://www.likesbooks.com/pirates.html#pirates

Could it be A Pirates Love by Johanna Lindsey?

I think the pirate was kind of angry because the father, when he learned that she was pregnant, kind of convinced an employee? to marry her and so the pirate thinks she cheated on him?

I don’t think Catherine marries anyone else in “Island Flame.”  Maybe that’s from another book?  Sometimes the bad ones run together in my head, I know.

I’m trying to remember how Catherine and Jonathan’s Big Misunderstand thing happens.  They’re on his secret island, and she realizes she’s pregnant, and then there’s some battle that he’s in, and her rich father arrives and captures her back (what with her having been kidnapped by Jonathan and his pirates in the beginning).  Then it goes a bit hazy.  I think Catherine pleads for his life, because she’s with child and in love with her pirate and all, and maybe her father does a “Princess Bride” and tells her that the Dread Pirate Jonathan will be returned to his ship?  Jonathan definitely remains a prisoner, and the father has him beaten and tells him that Catherine demands the beatings, which he believes (but in a she’s-teh-ebil! way, not in a well-as-I-beat-her-and-raped-her-and-held-her-prisoner-maybe-she-has-a-reason-not-to-like-me way).  Maybe Catherine thinks that he’s free but abandoned her?  Eventually he escapes, and they go to live on his secret plantation in the South, and get married and she has a baby.  In the end, they’re still in a miff, and go to some ball where she flirts with other men (?) and he is so mad that he forces himself on her in the carriage on the way home, ripping her pretty gold dress.  And I think he feels slightly guilty for the first time, or something like that.  And they live HEA until the sequel, which I refuse to read.

But you already said that this isn’t the book you’re looking for, and I’m pretty sure there’s no singing in “Island Flame.”

Some parts of your description remind me of Trade Wind by M M Kaye but it’s been years since I read that book. I know there was kidnapping, rape and remorse followed by consensual sex, the heroine nearly marries her ?cousin and I think I remember singing. I don’t remember a super secret pirate island though. I do remember loving this book as a teenager but i suspect I would hate it with a passion now.

Um… Can I just say that I love this series of comments going on right now?? I’m laughing so hard!

don’t think Catherine marries anyone else in “Island Flame.”  Maybe that’s from another book?  Sometimes the bad ones run together in my head, I know.

I don’t think they get married, just the father looks arround after she confesses she’s pregnant, and one of the men who heard it is like a captain who works for him, and so I don’t remember exactly how they reach an agreement for this other captain to say it’s his child and to propose to Catherine…
But the synopsis you gave sounds quite right to me, specially with the beating and all… can’t believe there is even a sequel!

Some parts of your description remind me of Trade Wind by M M Kaye but it’s been years since I read that book. I know there was kidnapping, rape and remorse followed by consensual sex, the heroine nearly marries her ?cousin and I think I remember singing. I don’t remember a super secret pirate island though. I do remember loving this book as a teenager but i suspect I would hate it with a passion now.

I thought of Trade Wind too, but there is definitely no super secret island, and I don’t believe there’s singing either. He takes her back to his house (after rescuing her from her uncle, not father) and they start a shelter for typhoid orphans. I also loved that book as a teenager, and I still kind of like it, despite the rape. Unlike her two other historical romances her protagonists are quite flawed (she’s a prig, he’s a slave-trader), which makes the story more interesting.

I read The Sheik recently, in a spirit of curiosity. It… made me feel kind of ill. Unless you count the M M Kaye books I hadn’t read any of these notorious Old Skool romances before. I don’t think I’ll dabble further.

It sounds like it might be The Captain’s Doxy by Lafayette Hammett

I never know which books anyone is looking for but I just LOVE reading the comments - and this

He takes her back to his house (after rescuing her from her uncle, not father) and they start a shelter for typhoid orphans

really tickled me today. Where do these authors come up with this stuff?? :)

It definitely sounds like a Connie Mason book. Then again, it’s been nearly ten years since I read one of those. :P

Brenda Joyce?

Trade Wind is one of my favourite books ever…even with the rape and them ending up together. The rape is actually dealt with in an interesting way… for him its partly an excuse to have her, but mostly revenge on her fiancé for stealing and raping his arab mistress who then commits suicide. For her she is attracted to him anyway, despite knowing his shady background, but she forgives him because she feels guilt from being the fiancee of the evil Clayton. She met the girl who died and her daughter and knows that the little girl (who later dies) will never have a proper parent.

Anyway… while rape is an unforgivable crime, a lot of ladies like to read these shall we say bodice rippers, the no no..erm…yes yes kind. Its fantasy pure and simple. Authors tend to write what culturely people are asking for.

Shanna by K Woodiwiss?  As I recall the Heroine (Shanna) marries a man in prison to keep her father happy, he is condemned to the gallows. He gets transported instead.  Some how along the way Pirates enter the picture as well as the typical Woodiwiss You think I am just a poor man but really my wealthy family owns Virginia note. And the hero’s name is Ruark who can go wrong.

returned47=has had 47 happy returns this year!

the father has him beaten and tells him that Catherine demands the beatings, which he believes (but in a she’s-teh-ebil! way, not in a well-as-I-beat-her-and-raped-her-and-held-her-prisoner-maybe-she-has-a-reason-not-to-like-me way).

Oh, that’s classic. And so right! It’s always alright for the hero (??) to act like an assmunch, but when he gets what’s coming to him, he feels like he’s the victim and it’s so unfair. Boo hoo.

I read The Sheik recently, in a spirit of curiosity. It… made me feel kind of ill.

Oh, I hope you’re not talking about the “classic” (and I use that word loosely) Sheik by Edith Hull. If I had known I would have warned you in time to avoid this book like the plague. Sometimes I think this is the story to blame for all these you-raped-me-so-now-I-love-you books we’ve been talking about.

I feel like I have read this book.  I wondered about Woodiwiss also

I don’t think it’s Lindsay’s Pirate’s Love.  I remember most of the plot to that

Vaguely curious myself now :)

Holy crap, this is driving me crazy now. It started as a nebulous request at best - now, I’m obsessed. I spent the evening online trying to find sites that list pirate-romance novels. Fuck me, there are a lottttttttt.
I’ve read all the synopsis of the suggestions and none are right. The cover had the heroine in a yellow dress with long red hair, like to her ankles or something, and the background is pinkish-purple (the new iris color at Lands End).
I can’t remember how she came to be on his ship - but he rapes her, while she’s sleeping or bathing? he sees all the bruises he left behind - on her thighs - and starts to gently rub her skin.
The assmunch hero (love that) is tortured while in prison and her father tells him that she asked for his torture - of course, he believes it. When he breaks out and goes to get her she’s in bed and wearing something significant, in that, it pisses him off somehow. I can’t remember is she’s in black (because she was mourning his death - her father told her he was dead), or whether it’s something frilly and pretty because her father forbade her to wear black any more and got rid of everything.
She ends up caring for him while he has the dreaded fever (I think he was shot) and this is where she sings to him.
I cannot remember any of the secondary characters, but I believe there is no mother in the picture and I don’t recall any siblings - I’m fairly certain she’s an only child.
I think I remember his pirate island being attacked - canons, of course, can’t have a pirate party without cannons.
This is making me mental.

work46 - you can say that again…

@Cara Davies

I haven’t read that one, mercifully, but it reminded me of a classic This American Life segment where Robin Epstein visits RWA National and records some ladies waxing Woodiwiss about the rapist heroes of yore.

I have that This American Life episode on my iPod and listen to it two or three times a year. It always makes me smile. For Kate Duffy fans—she is featured in this segment, doing her famous query critique workshop.

Doesn’t sound like “Shanna”—they meet on an island and Ruark is an indentured servant or slave or something. He becomes a pirate captain later in the book.

Might be Dana Ransom’s “Pirate’s Captive”. Written in 87. Azn description is somewhat vague, tho. Also sounds like it could be Virginia Henley in the 80s—the story is up her alley.

I’ll be curious to learn this one. Pirate romances are full of awesome, even if they do require total suspension of belief.

hundred88 = the number of pirate romances I’ve read over the years.

So many rapist pirate heroes, so little time….

Shanna had no pirate, but Flame and Flower did, and she sang “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” in that on the ship.  But that’s all I remember.  LOL

Oh my, very memorable.

No, I must disagree about The Flame & The Flower. While it does have the required rape and singing, the “hero” is just your regular, rich shipping tycoon who repeatedly rapes and terrorizes a young English virgin. And Shanna did have pirates, but I don’t think it’s the book we’re looking for.

spamword: book47
  We’re gonna go through 47 pirate rapist books until we find the right one.

While looking around for this title I happened across a book that recieved horrible reviews.  It fits with the correct timeline of the sought after title but I really have no idea if that is it at all.
  It’s called The Pirate’s Lady (1987) by Kay McMahon.  Apparently the site that reviewed the book had everyone hating the hero (who is a rapist!) and the dumb girl who falls for him.  Anyone read this one?  It’s almost worth the 1 cent asking price to see how bad the book really is.

OK this quest has caught me too.  I just spent 45 minutes looking at romancewiki.com trying to find this book.

Well, it’s definitely not A Pirate’s Love by Joanna Linsdey.  The h/h were Bettina and Tristan.  There was a rape but she was kidnapped by other pirates and then rescued by Tristan.  IIRC Bettina’s dad was dead (or otherwise not a part of the story).  (I was about 12 when I read it and I still have a soft spot for it even though I don’t think it would hold up to 2009 scrutiny).

It’s not Shanna or The Flame & The Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss either.  There was no rape in Shanna.  Both Ruark and Shanna were captured by pirates but Ruark got Shanna away safely and it was just one part of the story.  There were no pirates in TF&TF; although there was a rape/forced seduction. 

Gotta say, I do love both those books.  Shanna really needed to grow up but I loved Ruark from the start.  I also loved Brandon Birmingham.  Even though he raped Heather, he believed she was a prostitute and she never said she wasn’t (because she’d thought she’s murdered someone and didn’t want to be arrested).  So, I found it easier to forgive Brandon than other rapist heroes.  He was very honourable thereafter and I really loved the scene where he is taken to her house where the eeevil Aunt and Uncle keep her in slavery and abuse and he rescues her and gives her his coat/cloak.

(I didn’t love that he “used” (the services of) prostitutes but that was common for the time so I didn’t get too bent out of shape about it.  More importantly for me at least, he was totally faithful to Heather after they got together and this was despite him not getting any for ages and ages.

...sorry, I got a bit off topic… *hangs head in shame*...

I have no idea… but the whole singing thing makes me think of “The Little Mermaid.”

Well I read this LONG time ago, but Lauren Wilde had a Pirate book out at that time, red headed heroine, and a fushia/purple background cover… Zebra was publisher with the metallic heart sticker I think. Not sure if she was raped, but most of the late 80’s early 90’s romance had “forceful” (ie forced, non-consensual) sex in them. So that wouldn’t stand out in my memory. Had secret island, her father hated him of course, she get kidnapped and taken to his “secret island etc . .. . Hope this is it! If not good luck, I know the trauma of searching for the one book that have character names that escape you but the plot and book cover is clearly layed out in your head.

Sorry title was “Rapture’s Revenge” by Lauren Wilde

So I kept going back to Crimson Rapture by Jennifer Horsman and Island Flame by KR - even though neither covers fit in with what I recall. But they could’ve changed with printings.

I decided to check reviews….Ding, ding, ding, I think we may have a winner - Island Flame. Here’s a review I found that describes good bits of what I recall, minus the singing.

“...Jon takes Cathy’s innocence and continues to keep her captive throughout the long voyage. Once they stop for supplies at the Spanish Port of Cadiz, Cathy makes an escape attempt and falls into even rougher hands. Jon saves her, only to almost lose his own life. Through the long days of nursing Jon back to health, she learns from his man Petersham the hard boyhood and life Jon has had and she begins to realize she is falling in love with this dark, troubled pirate. When Jon awakes from his illness he realizes the same about Cathy and struggles with his feelings of love that are new to this hardened man. He takes her to his island home in Las Palmas and they have a short idyllic life, still not expressing their love.
As Cathy discovers she is carrying Jon’s child, the island is attacked by British ships. Her father is among them and he captures Jon and is ready to hang him. Cathy pleads for his life and that of her child and convinces her father to allow her to marry Jon. After the ceremony Cathy’s father knocks Jon unconscious, has him hauled off to prison, but tells Cathy that he has escaped and left her alone and pregnant, while at the same time whipping and torturing Jon in prison telling him that all of his torture is at the request of Cathy. Jon eventually escapes and once again kidnaps a very pregnant Cathy, taking her this time to America to his Charleston plantation. There they struggle through their relationship and the mutual lies and betrayals.”
I couldn’t find this detailed a synopsis - thank you gentle reviewer - you rock. And BTW, this reviewer is the only one that liked this book. Go figure.
Eileen - right off the top - you had it. You rock, too. I have to believe this just might be the book in question. Unfortunately, there are no copies available at my local library. Boo. But after reading all the bad reviews I’m fairly certain I couldn’t read it again.
Thanks for rallying and helping a bitch out. You guys are the best.

Oh, I hope you’re not talking about the “classic” (and I use that word loosely) Sheik by Edith Hull.

Yes, unfortunately.

If I had known I would have warned you in time to avoid this book like the plague. Sometimes I think this is the story to blame for all these you-raped-me-so-now-I-love-you books we’ve been talking about.

Yeah, that had crossed my mind as well. I’m not particularly versed in early romance novels (of the trashy variety, that is - I’m fond of Austen, Gaskell and the Brontes), but I couldn’t think of anything similar that pre-dated it. Apparently it’s totally ok to rape a girl repeatedly as long as you’re secretly an English nobleman and you eventually apologise… after said girl’s spirit is completely broken.

Little Mermaid? ROFL. I almost spat out my sandwich reading that!

Kelly, I’ve always considered Island Flame one of my all-time favorite books, I even mention it on the About Me page on my website because it was one of the first romance novels that really sucked me in and eventually lead me to write them. 

But I don’t think I’ll ever reread it because my tastes have changed over the years (I’m in my early 40s versus my early 20s when that sort of thing seemed somehow romantic), and I don’t want to ruin the illusion of how amazing it was. *grin*  Same with A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught, which is my all-time very fave book.  I want to reread it, yet I’m terrified I may not care for it as much all these years later.

I never bothered reading Sea Fire, sequel to Island Flame, because my SIL hated it; he thinks she cheated on him, so cheats on her or whatever.  But I have loved many of her books over the years.  :-)

Even though he raped Heather, he believed she was a prostitute and she never said she wasn’t (because she’d thought she’s murdered someone and didn’t want to be arrested).  So, I found it easier to forgive Brandon than other rapist heroes

Sorry, off topic, but this jumped out at me.  Without at all knowing the book you’re talking about (so it may not apply to this particular character), no, raping a prostitute is not ok.  I’d be much more inclined to forgive a hero who used prostitutes regularly but paid them fairly for services rendered and treated them politely than an ass-hat who felt all scrupled about raping some delicate flower of his own class but had no problem with using violence against “that kind” of woman.  For more info on this particular rant check out this website; http://rodedraad.nl/other-languages/english.html

Hear, hear, Rebecca.

Dear Goddess, the *stuff* that gets published!

I haven’t read Island Flame, but it sounds so similar to one of my favorite books, Magic Embrace by Jennifer Horseman. The hero in this one Black Garrett rapes to heroine not one but twice. The first time is actually more forgivable because he believes that she’s a well-ridden slut. And the second time he wants her so much he gives her old-timey roofies and has his erotic way with her. It’s so wrong, but I rationalize it by knowing that they feel true love for one another and will eventually be together. The really unfortunate aspect of the book is that after all she’s put through the heroine actually rescue the hero.  It’s so well plotted and paced I just wish it wasn’t tainted with rape and I didn’t feel guilty for enjoying it so much.

When I said “even though he raped Heather, he believed she was a prostitute”  I meant that he thought she was a prostitute and he had sex with her.  He didn’t hit her.  He wasn’t violent.  He did, however have sex with her and she did not consent - hence - rape.
He did pay her (or, at least he planned to - she escaped and took some money and left her dress in exchange) - his men, tasked with finding Brandon a “lady of the night” for an eager sea captain after a long lonely voyage (are the violins playing yet?) mistook Heather for a hooker (cause she was alone at night in a sexy dress, near the docks).  Brandon thought she was a hooker and treated her as if she was one.  She didn’t at any stage say - oh, by the way, I’m not a hooker, I’m an innocent maiden who’s escaped from evil servitude and BTW I’ve just killed someone and I’m running away from the police (at least, IIRC!).

Please don’t misunderstand me.  Rape (of anyone, anytime) is wrong, wrong, wrong.

All I meant was that it was genuinely a case of mistaken identity (occupation?) for him and this made it easier for me to forgive him.  He thought she was a new hooker and treated her well (well, if she had actually been a hooker) BUT she wasn’t.

I found it much harder to forgive Sebastian in To Have and To Hold who knew exactly what he was doing and to whom and did it anyway.

Plus right near the end of the book, it has one of the best lines EVAH - “Madam, you will ride tonight after all”.  (and guess what sort of riding he was talking about? *snort*)

Uh, Brandon didn’t treat Heather well. At all. She fought him and he laughed it off as a game. She cried herself to sleep after the first time he raped her and the next morning he raped her for a second time, anyway, despite the fact that she was fighting against him AGAIN. And while he didn’t hit her, he certainly did use force against her:

The weight of his body held her on her back in the bunk and now Heather began to fight in earnest. She held her knees tightly together while she sought to scratch or claw him anywhere she could, but always a hand or elbow was there to stem her effort. He laughed as if enjoying her struggles.

‘You show considerably more spirit this morning, m’lady.’

Then her arms were slowly drawn upward on either side of her head and held there easily in one of his hands. His other hand cupped a breast and he played with it to his pleasure while she twisted and fought against his overpowering strength. His knee slowly forced open her thighs and spread them and again she felt his manhood deep within her.”

That is a clear-cut case of rape. It’s not mistaken identity or occupation. Regardless of whether the woman in that scene is a prostitute or not, the man in it is certainly a rapist.

She didn’t at any stage say - oh, by the way, I’m not a hooker, I’m an innocent maiden who’s escaped from evil servitude and BTW I’ve just killed someone and I’m running away from the police (at least, IIRC!).

Why should she have had to say that in the first place? She was a terrified seventeen year-old girl who was being raped by a thirty-five year-old man, and she didn’t even know he thought she was a prostitute until the next morning. She thought he was the police.

I found it much harder to forgive Sebastian in To Have and To Hold who knew exactly what he was doing and to whom and did it anyway.

But what about the fact that Brandon rapes Heather even after he learns that she’s not a prostitute, and doesn’t see anything wrong with it? And what about the fact that once they’re married and he’s admitted to himself that he loves her, he threatens to rape her again if she won’t willingly have sex with him?

Ah!  That just goes to show that actual research trumps my imperfect memory.

Again, let me say that rape is wrong.  No ifs ands or buts.

I understand that this issue can push some hot buttons for many people. Overall, I guess it’s less of a hot button for me.

I still loved the book though….. go figure (maybe cause I remember it wrong!)

I popped back in to see if the mystery had been solved. Now I find myself wonder if all the rape in romance novels isn’t caused by the same reason many women have “rape fantasies.” To make the reader feel less guilty about the sex scene. After all, it’s not the heroine’s fault, she was raped.

(My personal opinion on RFs is that they’re really forced orgasm fantasies. Because some women, myself included, were raised to believe that good girls never have orgasms. My mom used to lovingly tell me “Only men and whores enjoy sex. Good girls never do.”)

I didn’t like rape scenes in romances when I was younger and I still don’t. I recently read one called In The Garden Of Ruth where a 13 year old girl is raped, then starts sleeping with her rapist’s brother - the future King David. Then when David throws her over she “discovers” she’s in love with her rapist and offers to be his concubine since he’s already married. I wanted to beat the crap out of the author.