Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Ah I remember devouring this book when I was in high school.  Loved it at the time.  Maybe I should re-read.

Hey, I posed for that cover.

Okay, maybe in my dreams.  Did have long blonde hair back when I read it, though I could never persuade my hair to do the artfully blowing back thing.  Prolly because I did not have hair people and a big electric fan making it appear just so.

Perhaps someday I will pick up the old school romance novels I used to read, as ebooks, but for now there are too many great new books I want to read.

Warrior’s Woman, of course. Large cult following in the sf field.

(Captcha: you’re 24, which I was much older than even the first time the book came out.)

The “old” books I recommand by Lindsay :
-Hearts Aflame,
-Fires of winter,
-Surrender my love, (all 3 above are part of the same series)
-Prisoner of my desire,
-Once a princess

Well, the 1990 Warrior’s Woman was the first book of JL’s that I read, remember, bought the book.  I have read all - or almost all of her books, but that one has special memories for me.

It falls under historical -futuristic category, if there is such a thing.

Defy Not the Heart. I think it may have been the first romance novel I ever read (courtesy of my then-friend Sabrina), and I *hearted* it ever so much.

Also, seconds to Surrender My Love and Warrior’s Woman (even though it is actually quite awful, it was sci-fi-ish well before paranormal romance was the norm).

captcha - nature 32. It’s in my nature to have read 32 of JL’s books? Absolutely!

I am partial to Once A Princess and The Heir, myself.

I wish I could ask that, but I don’t even know famous names in romance. I’ve just been reading books based on those reviewed here. Which author first, maybe?

I miss having access to a library. I used to be able to judge which authors and books I wanted by borrowing first. Going by other people’s recommendations is fine now and then, but i’m seriously ten kinds of picky about what books I like.

THE MALORY SERIES!!! ??? that´s where to start and end Johanna Lindsey!

Gentle Rogue - I can still read it and love it.

I read “Secret Fire” first, which I don’t necessarily recommend as your first Lindsey, but I DO recommend if you’re in the mood to marvel at home she fit every trope into one book. Ugly duckling sister, kidnapping (to RUSSIA), dubious consent and a heavy use of mythical aphrodisiacs? Fifteen year old me was enthralled.

I preferred Fires of Winter to Hearts Aflame, but I loved Brenna a lot more than Kirsten, who admittedly spent Fires of Winter annoying the crap out of me.

My first and last Johanna Lindsey book was Silver Angel.  It was originally published in 1988, and I picked it up a couple years ago while visiting the in-laws over christmas.  It. Was. Horrible.  I only finished it out of morbid curiosity.  I remember reading a post about rape in romance about a year or so ago, and it definitely called to mind this book.  Maybe I would enjoy some of her other novels, but I would really NOT recommend this as a first time Lindsey.

Prisoner of My Desire! It was my first romance, and it blew me away :))) You didn’t get many medieval romances with bondage and the heroine sexually assaulting the hero in those days.

Savage Thunder was one of my all-time favorite Johanna Lindsey books, as well as Prisoner of My Desire and Warrior’s Woman.  All are on my keeper shelf!

Johanna Lindsey is the first romance author who’s name I remembered. Until her I’d just pick up whatever looked good on the supermarket shelf without noticing names. I’ve tried reading some of her newer works and I can’t get through them, but I still love a lot of her old stuff.

My recommendations:
Prisoner of My Desire - Rape-y as all hell, but, um, at least it goes both ways?

Secret Fire - Rape-y as well. I was young! Shut up! On the plus side, Russia, which is a nice change.

Paradise Wild - Rape. And secret baby. And I’ve reread several times and it’s still one of my favorites. I’m sorry.

Warrior Woman - I’m not embarrassed about this one! Yeah, there’s a lot of “Me man. You woman. You do what I say,” but not to the level of your typical HP. And the heroine gets to put the hero in his place, so it’s all good. This one has two sequels that I enjoyed at the time but I can’t even remember the titles now.

I like a lot of her Mallory series as well. They can come close to trying-too-hard-to-be-funny, so I wouldn’t read them back-to-back, but still enjoyable.

I would definitely say the Malory series. I’d start with the first Love Only Once,  then move to Tender Rebel, and Gentle Rogue. The good news is that there are several more after GR (which is one of my all-time favorite classic romances).

My favourite JL’s are:

So Speaks The Heart
Defy Not The Heart
Warrior’s Woman
Fire’s of Winter
Savage Thunder
Angel
A Heart So Wild
Prisoner of My Desire

So many good books to choose from! It’s great being able to reread them on my iPad.

Ah, Joanna Lindsey, my first romance love. I’m 99% sure that my very first romance was Gentle Rogue (the last 1% accounts for a fuzzy memory of when I first read a category, but I believe it was after). I loved GR so much and my mother (from whom I had snuck the book) didn’t have the first two Mallory books, so one day while my parents were at work I walked a mile to a used book store to buy Love Only Once and Tender Rebel. Man I would have been in trouble if they knew I 1) left the house without permission, 2) went somewhere that no one knew about, or 3) read a romance novel. Of course as an adult I’m just glad nothing happened to the stupid 12-year-old who would have gone missing with no clues left to find her.

That was the beginning of a summer I spent entirely at my grandparents house several states away. I brough those three books and spent the summer reading them over and over again. I knew them so well that I can still walk myself through them from first page to last in my head, and have actually done so to kill time during MRIs.

So recommendations…
The first three Mallory books, as mentioned above (LOO, TR, and GR). I also really love the fourth, The Magic of You, but I say skip five and six, as well as the Andersons.

Other favorites would be Once a Princess and Deny Not the Heart (both mentioned above), as well as Angel.

In high school I tracked down and read every one of her books published up until that time (thank you UBS) and there are some I would really recommend modern readers against, unless they are prepared for Old School, hair-pulling misogyny. That list would include Captive Bride, Paradise Wild, Glorious Angel, and A Pirate’s Love. There were definitely others as well but those are titles that stick out for disturbing even my unformed, dysfuctional 12-year-old heart.

Ack, that should be Defy Not the Heart. And while posting I’ve seen a recommendation for Angel come up too so I’m seconding (or thirding or fourthing) all of mine.

Tender Rebel, A Gentle Feuding, and Fires of Winter. FofW was my very 1st Lindsey (honestly, I think I was 11) & I loved it so much, I stole it from my sister’s friend’s treasure chest closet bookcase.

GF was my first Scottish romance and TR my ab fab Mallory in Anthony. I loved all the series tho they got more and more crazypants. Haven’t gone back to read in years b/c I’m sure they won’t hold up to my memories of them.

I am well prepared for this, as I just recently purged the JoLi shelf, sorting out what I love and what I’ve kept because I couldn’t bear to break up a set.

The only two Malory books I kept: Tender Rebel (Scottish heiress in need of a husband to protect her fortune from her skeevy cousin, and the manwhore who volunteers to “help” her because the sooner she’s hitched to some impotent slob, the sooner she’ll be coming to him for a good shagging, includes not one but TWO of my go-to ohmagawdhawt scenes) and Gentle Rogue (“gentleman” pirate who knows his cabin boy is a chick in drag, and the crossdressing gal who thinks her boss gets it up for adolescent boys, LOL infinity).

I stuck with that family saga through all the miscellaneous strays and boring relations just to get to Jeremy, thinking the whelp of a pirate and a whore would be great raucous fun… and I broke up with Johanna Lindsey forever when she neutered him.

Though I was never a fan of Westerns, I also kept Angel for the hired gun and the PET LEOPARD.

captcha: placed27—Oh, I placed way more than 27 of these in the donate box.

@Kerry Allen , now that I think about it, Jeremy’s story was the final nail in the coffin for me as well. She made Jeremy so boring, and then she had to go with the “poor unsuitable girl is actually the long lost daughter of Important Person so it’s cool!” bit.

Gentle Rouge is my absolute favorite of the Mallory books. Also loved Tender Rebel, and I have a soft spot for Say You Love Me.

Oh! flash to the past! I started with Fires of Winter (Kirsten’s mother) and devoured the remainder.  I would definately recommend the Love only Once or Warrior’s Woman to start.

I think Jeremy’s story was the end for lots of people. It was so poorly written, unimaginative and derivative, which would have been bad enough but since it was Jeremy’s book, it was unforgivable.

@Kerry Allen, I love your plot summaries for TR and GR.

@Las, I too have a soft spot for Say You Love Me but I figured a new reader wouldn’t have years of good will towards the Malorys to excuse some of the craziness and the Regan ex machina.

@ Vick I see your “Silver Angel” & I raise you a “Captive Bride”. Dreckitude even in 1977 when most romances were rapey kick me-beat me-make me write bad checks-but I’ll forgive you if you tell me you love me in the last two pages WTF messes.

One of my favs :) Oh gosh…

Man of My Dreams, Once a Princess, Love Only Once (Regan and Nicki!! Ahh!), and Secret Fire.

Man of My Dreams ROCKS - I always love a alpha Duke who is hiding in the stables :)

Once a Princess - Yea, I love the hidden/gone Princess who must marry the Prince.

The Mallory’s. Love Regan and Nicki!

With a Secret Fire, I must admit I love everything Russian. So that was great.

May I say that pricing all of these at $7.99 is awful. I hate you Agency pricing, I HATE YOU!

I have all the paperbacks and most of the hardbacks in my library though.

Secret time… I posed for my Senior portrait in High School in my cheer leading jacket, poms poms, and a hardcover of Johanna Lindsey.  Yea… I can’t remember which one off hand. I’m tempted to publish it. :)

Oh, Angel. Love that one. And Man of my Dreams.

JL and Julie Garwood and Julia Quinn were the first romance writers I ever read. So many memories. Such awful covers on the JLs.

@ Nicole: How you can not the fabulous hunk of beefcake that is Fabio?!?!?!

Fabio with blonde hair…black hair…brown hair…red hair…dressed as a pirate…as a space lord…as a Viking…as an Indian…as a medieval dude!

I love those covers for their amazing cheesitude!

Such awful covers on the JLs.
I never thought I’d say this but the Fabio covers were so much nicer than the ones being used now!

My favorites Lindsey’s:

Love Me Forever (has Lachlan from Man of My Dreams)
Tender is the Storm (twin brothers, or are they?, in the West)
Angel (forced to marry, but can’t pass up those husbandly rights)
You Belong to Me (first time I read about someone getting it on with more than one other person - Vasili really is a man whore)
A Heart So Wild (revenge for the baby sister killed by the evil white man, plus a hard ass grandpa)
A Man to Call My own (twin sisters - one good, one bad - what’s not to love?)

I never pass up a chance to read Johanna Lindsey or Julie Garwood.

I’ve read quite a few Johanna Lindsey’s, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most is The Heir.  The way she emphasized friendship over blazing attraction between the hero and heroine was very novel to me.  This one isn’t a classic example of her work, but it might be a better read for those who don’t want to journey back to Old Skool Romancelandia.

Must admit my two fav offerings from JL are Angel and Secret Fire. Depending on my mood, of course.
IMO, Angel is more romantic while Secret Fire goes tips toward the (admittedly tame) titillation side. I honestly can’t remember not liking one of JL’s books until I hit The Pursuit. Though this had more to do with how my tastes had changed than the author’s writing.

I read all of Johanna Lindsey’s books up until the mid-00’s. She has two different types of books…One type is the Mallory and Warrior series. These JL books are usually amusing, consensual and filled more with banter than with manhandling. The other type is Prisoner of My Desire, Silver Angel, Fires of Winter, etc. Your standard bodice ripper novels where the hero and heroine spend 90% of the book seething at each other. Also rape.

Personally, I loved the first few Mallory novels and the Warrior series. I also loved ‘Love Me Forever.’ Scottish giant and an English laidy. It was a sequel to Man of My Dreams, but I vastly preferred it over the original.

I have every single JL book but two are still in my TBR pile - A Marriage Most Scandalous and the most recent Malory Novel That Perfect Someone - I don’t understand how it is exactly a Malory novel though since neither character is a Malory and aren’t related. 

Anyway, my favorite JL books are Man of My Dreams, You Belong to Me, A Heart so Wild, Tender Rebel and Gentle Rogue (Malory’s), Hearts Aflame, and Savage Thunder.

However, for every favorite I have one that I can’t stand - such as Fires of Winter, Glorious Angel, Brave the Wild Wind, Captive Bride, Paradise Wild, and A Pirate’s Love.  The so-called heroes acted more like villains which made the HEA totally unbelievable.  There’s a few more that belong in this list but it’s been so long since I read them that I’m not sure exactly which ones.  lol

JL’s well worth the read though - especially if you can miss the villain-hero books.  :D

Prisoner of My Desire is the only one where I can recall any of the plot.  If plot is the word I want.  Oh, no, wait, Savage Thunder has sex on horseback?  Yeah.  That’s it all I’ve got.  I’m pretty sure I loved all her books when I read them, but I’m very fuzzy on details.  Can’t say that I’d recommend any of them, though, because the ladies nowadays seem to prefer skipping the rape course, but I’m also pretty sure that I liked her early rape-y books better than the later ones.  I could be confusing her with someone else.  It’s amazing how often I think I’ve gone off an author only to discover that it’s a different author entirely.  Did she wind up writing some dull regency, or maybe highlanders?

Oh boy, dual blasts from the past.  My sister and I eagerly awaited each new Mallory to be published.  The second blast, also of that era, was my butt length long hair - which got caught in everything and everywhere!

captcha: suddenly 88 I suddenly remembered I have 88 books in my
TBR pile - no more buying books!  Yeah, like that will last !!

80s/90s Lindseys are some OLD SKULE romances, and can be kinda rapey (or flat out have a rapist hero) ... but they are also what got me hooked on single title romances back in the day. If you can suspend any knowledge of history, they are really fun reads. And some of the sex scenes are STILL toe-curling.

Plus, one of her books, Defy Not the Heart (yeah, that IS the title) taught me that oral sex was going to feel really, really good ... so, I owe her one.

I’ve actually never read Johanna Lindsey.  This might be the perfect time to start.  I need an old school romancelandia kickstart.

How is the formatting on these books?  I know it can be hit or miss with the old stuff being digitized en masse like this.

I think the first “big” romance I ever bought for myself was JL.  It was set in Hawaii.  *scurries off to google*  Paradise Wild.  I don’t recommend reading it, though.  Most of the females in the book were really irritating to my 13-yo self.

I did love a lot of her stories, especially when she let her humour out and reigned the rapeyness and whineyness in.  And she had the BEST hair/eye colour combinations.  Up to and including eyes that changed colour with moods, leading to mistaken identity IRRC.

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. :D

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.

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)

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)

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.

Marriage most Scandalous is the BEST johanna Lindsey everrrrr.

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

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.

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.

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?

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!

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!!

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.

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.

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.

Thanks for the entry! That’s just what I needed. :D 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.

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!!!!

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?

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.

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.

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?