When I learned that Jackie Collins had died on Saturday, my first thought was, She blew my mind.
For some of us, our romance gateway might have been Sweet Valley High, or Sweet Dreams, or even the Sunfire books. (I remain eternally bummed that the story for Roxanne didn’t live up to the cover, which promised something a touch more scandalous – as scandalous as the Sunfire books could get, anyway.)
My romance gateway was initially Sweet Valley High, but I remember reading Lucky and, well, like I said, mind: blown. For me, if SVH hinted at the angst and emotional drama that awaited me in romance, Lucky and the Santangelos didn’t hint at anything. They were quite frank about what incredibly addictive and sudsy stories awaited me in other corners of the genre.
I don’t think I read more than two of the Santangelo series books, most likely because I was afraid I’d get caught. But I remember reading Lucky, hiding the cover so no one would notice it – though it was a dark blue paperback with a giant diamond necklace on it, but to me, at the time, that signaled HELLO THERE IS SOME HOT SINFUL STUFF IN THIS BOOK (and this person probably shouldn’t be reading it). My brain was on fire – I had no idea that books were like that, that storied would be that hot, that detailed.
Collins’ books were opulent, dishy, and overtly sexual – so much so that her early works were banned in some countries. When people talk about “trashy books,” and they do so in positive, delighted tones the way we do here, Collins’ novels neatly fit that description. For many readers that I’ve spoken to over the years, her books were memorable experiences in explicit sexuality, and sexually assertive heroines. For me, in my personal reading memory, they typify the 80s: BIG. Big hair, big shoulder pads, big drama, big sex scenes (and big cocks), and big, evolving dramas that moved very fast. Collins is also one of the earliest examples in my own literary memory when the glamour of the author matched the glamour of the book.
I’m always struck by how one person’s writing can go so far around the world, and be read by so many people. I know Collins was an author whose books were read by many, many readers, likely on many vacations, beaches, or, maybe like me, hidden behind a magazine during long, unending car trips, hoping I wouldn’t get caught.
Have you read a Jackie Collins novel? Which do you recommend for a curious reader? Do you have any reading memories that stick with you?
Lots of present day readers shun 80s heroines but I’ll take one (and a crazy plot)any day over the angsty, broken, confused, whiny, Stockholm-syndrome-loving, I-know-he’s-a-psychopath-but-I=love-him doormats that pass for romance heroines in today’s books. “Lucky” by Ms. Collins was my intro to glitzy shlock. After that I was mainlining Krantz and Steele and Taylor-Bradford. I’d re-read “Hollywood Wives” in a minute over a book with a chick chained in a basement by someone who really, really cares about her but is just “socially awkward.”
Lucky was the first Jackie Collins book I read. The first and not the last. It set a standard for imperfect heroines who were confident enough to fight for life on their own terms. The settings were glamorous and the endings were happy. We have to salute Ms. Collins for producing and promoting the type of books that celebrate women. Her unabashed love for drama encouraged the reader not to hide her love for romance. ❤️
I’ve never read anything by Jackie Collins, and I’m trying to decide if I want to. I did read the Sunfire books, though. I probably read Roxanne ten times. That and the one with the girl who disguises herself as a boy to go out to California to mine gold, and falls in a gold mine her first week there. I’d almost forgotten how awesome those books were.
Hollywood Wives! I’m not sure I would recommend it – I have no idea how well it holds up, but my 14 or 15 year old head completely exploded when I read it.
It introduced me to so many shocking and fascinating things – male escorts, lesbian sex, threesomes, infidelity, a man getting his penis stuck in a woman’s vagina after he had a heart attack during sex, and I don’t know what else (I may be conflating some of my memories of Hollywood Wives with the many Judith Krantz books I also devoured in the 80s, but I don’t think so).
I recall that penis stuck in the vagina scene too. I was Hollywood Wives. Both hilarious and frightening. Think it added a couple of extra years to my virginity.
That was my first Jackie, and I read it inside the cover of my high school text books. She wrote interesting women, sexually brazen women. She was so unapologetically brazen herself, while still remaining classy. I became a writer, in part, because of her and this feels like losing someone I know. RIP Jackie
I loved the sun fire books! I read Roxanne all the way down here in New Zealand when I was around 12. They were in our school library 🙂
I went on to read Jackie Collins and others like Lace. Lovely post, a real trip down memory lane. 🙂
My first Collins book was Chances, which I read in 1981. After that, I glommed the rest of her books and snatched up each new release for the next several years. I never hid the covers or apologized for my reading choices. Eventually, I realized that these were pretty bad books and the quality of the writing seemed to get even worse, so I stopped reading them.
For some reason, I reread Hollywood Wives a few years ago. It didn’t hold up very well. Jackie Collins’s books were pretty awful and impossible to put down. I read Lucky in one sitting. Her books were like crack and, for a few years, they were one of my preferred brands.
I was stunned when I heard the news about Jackie Collins. I remember staying up half the night reading “Lady Boss” (the third Lucky book) when it was first released–it was the first book I ever bought in hardcover! My first Jackie Collins book remains one of my favorites: “Hollywood Husbands.” I reread it recently and it holds up better than some, like “Hollywood Wives.”
I really only enjoyed the first three Lucky books, but I might try to get through the rest of the series now, just to see how it ended.
I tried to read a couple of books by her, but couldn’t really get into them.
I seem to recall watching some made for TV movies based on them and enjoying those.
@cleo:
OH MY GOD. YES. HE GOT STUCK. I remember that! That was a memory dust bunny in a dark corner of my mind and it just came rushing out to dance. I’m laughing loud enough to startle the dogs.
I did not read Jackie Collins, being a bit too stunted by my Catholic upbringing. I did manage to read Scruples though and found it traumatic yet fascinating.
Hollywood Wives for me, too! I’d never read anything like it and thought it delicious at the time. Had me hooked from start to finish. Later I knew it fell into the “trashy books” category but in all the good ways.
Now it’s been ages since I last read a Jackie Collins,but back in the day,they were some of the first books I smuggled into the house,to read under the covers, as my Mum equated romance novels with BSE.! One of my oldest friends still insists on buying a Jackie Collins in hardback for her holiday reading,because..in her words “A beach holiday without a JC just isn’t the same ” !
I first saw JC on a British talk show, and Barbara Cartland was also on the programme. Cartland proceeded to chip at JC about the raunchy nature of her books… JC then, very politely & fantastically classily put Dame Barbara back in her box. From that moment on I was a fan…even if I grew out of her books. She was a guest on Loose Women just before she died, and she was as funny, charming & witty as ever.
. She will be missed.R.I.P Jackie, you opened my eyes to the raunch factor, and I will be forever greatful for that .
Godspeed, Jackie Collins.
I remember reading Chances when it first came out. I was at the beginning of my career, working in advertising. I wished I was “dangerously beautiful” like Lucky but I was more like dangerously klutzy. Those 80s books with the strong, strong heroines gave me the nerve to be fearless in the business world, a trait I am known for yet today.
Jackie Collins was one of the few “trashy” novelists my mother would read and she passed the books along to me. I remember discussing Hollywood Wives with her and one of our neighbors. We wondered how much of it was true. (Remember this was before TMZ and E!) I’m thinking a re-read is in order in remembrance of both Ms. Collins and my mother. They both battled breast cancer.
Hollywood Wives was my first Jackie Collins novel as a teenager. Collins as well as Judith Krantz were must-reads.
I think Lucky was my first Jackie Collins novel, and I did read quite a few of hers. I was really shocked and saddened to hear she has passed away-I loved how feisty she was. She gave great interviews-and she will definitely be missed.
I have never read one of her books but I have always liked her because I was absolutely obsessed with Lucky Santangello from the TV movie\miniseries. I was seven and I thought that she was the best.
I said “oh no” and hoped that this was done sort of prank. It wasn’t, though and I knew it.
I remember reading “Hollywood Wives” as a junior in high school and not really liking it that much, but a classmate said, “here, this is much better” and gave me “Chances,” which I loved. I loved “Lucky” even more and read it to tatters, and after that Jackie’s novels were first-day buys for me as well as seeking out her early stuff. Lucky Santangelo was definitely Jackie’s Mary Sue, but she was so much fun you didn’t care. That’s what Jackie’s novels always were to me–hella fun reads, and you know she loved writing them, that she didn’t care about realism in the slightest and would happily pour on the crazysauce. She did get repetitive in the nineties and I stopped reading her new stuff, but she was my favorite eighties author and “Chances” and “Lucky” live on my Kindle. Godspeed, Jackie.
I was so sad when I heard Jackie had died! Loved her books and she was always so lovely and encouraging to me on twitter. We fangirled over Outlander and Sam Heughan together!
I couldn’t remember the name of my first Jackie until I read the comments here. I knew it was about the Santangelos, and had a lot to do with Lucky’s father… Gino (?) It was Chances!!! I think I was just starting high school. I ended up reading Hollywood Wives, and Hollywood Husbands, Lucky etc.
I have to say, thinking back on it, I DO prefer a character like Lucky compared to what seems to be a Fifty Shades TSTL trend. The control freaky nature of the male character that seems to go hand in hand with the whole Erotic/Romance genre is not very much fun. In Jackie novels, control freaky psychopaths were the bad guys. We liked our good guys as murdering Italian gangsters, thank you very much. Yeah, I outgrew her in the nineties, but to me, Jackie Collins novels are the ultimate trashy books. They seemed so epic when I read them.
I don’t know that I ever really felt all that ashamed reading them. They blew my mind for sure, but my mom felt like a big trashy romance novel was better than not reading at all, so I didn’t really have to hide them. I remember looking around in my english class one day, and I’d say roughly half the girls in the room were reading a Jackie Collins novel, so it was just a thing for a while. Then again, we are talking about a time when Flowers in The Attic had already been the book du jour in junior high. I will say, Jackie books definitely took the heat up a notch from Danielle Steele, and I’d been reading her books since 7th grade.
I had no idea Jackie Collins passed away. Had plenty of fun hours reading her books. Thanks for the reminder.