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Act Like It
RECOMMENDED: Act Like It by Lucy Parker is $1.99! If you haven’t read this yet, it was one of Sarah’s favorite reads in the past couple years. She says, “I mean, I could squee at you some MORE beyond my review but I think you’ve heard me already. I loved this book. You should read it. It’s delightful.”
This just in: romance takes center stage as West End theatre’s Richard Troy steps out with none other than castmate Elaine Graham
Richard Troy used to be the hottest actor in London, but the only thing firing up lately is his temper. We all love to love a bad boy, but Richard’s antics have made him Enemy Number One, breaking the hearts of fans across the city.
Have the tides turned? Has English rose Lainie Graham made him into a new man?
Sources say the mismatched pair has been spotted at multiple events, arm in arm and hip to hip. From fits of jealousy to longing looks and heated whispers, onlookers are stunned by this blooming romance.
Could the rumors be right? Could this unlikely romance be the real thing? Or are these gifted stage actors playing us all?
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The Flame and the Flower
The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss is 99c! This is part of today’s Kindle Daily Deals. This is an Old Skool romance and for many, was their intro to the genre. I will warn you that there is rape and talk of it. For some, this book will hold a special place in readers’ hearts, while others say this one does not age well. What do you think?
The Flower
Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence—until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee. . . and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.
The Flame
A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman. . .and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.
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Time Served
RECOMMENDED: Time Served by Julianna Keyes is 99c! This is a contemporary romance with an ex-con hero and it was mentioned on a previous podcast with Jane, who recommends Keyes if you like “moody loner dudes:”
You kind of have two unlikeable people. They reconnect after he’s out of prison. There’s a lot of attraction there, lot of unresolved issues, and she can’t really bring herself to admit that she wants him. I thought it was a very gritty book, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Dean Barclay had nothing to do with my decision to flee my old life, but he is 100 percent of the reason I vowed to never look back.
I’ve never forgotten how it felt to follow Dean—dangerous, daring, determined—away from the crowd and climb into his beat-up old Trans Am. I was sixteen and gloriously alive for the first time. When I felt his hand cover my leg and move upward, it was over. I was his. Forever.
Until I left. Him, my mom, and the trailer park. Without so much as a goodbye.
Now Dean’s back, crashing uninvited into my carefully cultivated, neat little lawyerly life. Eight years behind bars have turned him rougher and bigger—and more sexually demanding than any man I’ve ever met. I can’t deny him anything…and that just might end up costing me everything.
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The Scotsman Who Saved Me
The Scotsman Who Saved Me by Hannah Howell is $1.99! This is the first book in a new series, Seven Brides for Seven Scotsmen. There is a “nursed back to health” element, if that’s your catnip. However, readers were expecting a bit more action based on the book description.
From New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell comes a brand new series featuring the MacEnroys, a family of seven strong, seductive Scottish brothers who have come to America with nerves of steel—and who will take no prisoners when it comes to love…
A brutal attack on Emily Stanton’s family has left her for dead . . . until she is found in the woods by a handsome stranger with a thick brogue who vows to protect her. There’s only one problem: As a woman with a noble English background, she has no business keeping company with such a man.
For Scotsman Iain MacEnroy, Emily’s high-tone accent is a bitter reminder of the oppressive regime he left behind. The last thing he needs is to be burdened by the needs of a beautiful, blue-eyed Englishwoman. But taking care of elegant, educated Emily begins to transform Iain in ways he never imagined. Could it be that the deep divisions from the old world no longer apply in the new—and that Iain and Emily can share a passion as lush and wild as the Scottish highlands themselves?
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Time Served was a mixed bag for me because although it was high angst and had great smut which are 2 things that generally make me really like a book, I kind of hated the hero. At one point he admits to the heroine that while in prison he fantasized about revenge f**king her and forcing her to have anal sex.
I don’t recall the exact details, but if memory serves HE committed a crime after she left town as a teenager without telling him and therefore breaking his heart.
So to me, his continued cruelty to her was excessive.
There was also a secondary female character who was the heroine’s coworker and was written very much as a bitch for no apparent reason and I think there was some insinuation from the heroine that this character was a slut who slept with the partners for career advancement. Yikes.
I love TIME SERVED, it’s one of my all-time favorites and a reliable comfort re-reads, but the last time it was on sale, I remember several people posted objections to a scene where the hero confesses that he had fantasized about a “revenge rape” of the heroine. This comes up in a long, angsty scene during a visit to the heroine’s mother’s grave. It didn’t bother me, given the context, but ymmv. Also, some people objected to what they felt was slut-shaming of the heroine’s co-worker. Again, that didn’t bother me (and that character later is the heroine of another book, IN HER DEFENSE).
Sorry, I didn’t read @SarahPeach’s post before I posted my thoughts on TIME SERVED, but it does seem those two elements (the revenge rape confession and the slut-shaming of the coworker) might be elements that will turn off some readers. I love Julianna Keyes’s books, but her characters can be problematic, especially her heroes.
“Rebuild My Heart” by Ariel Tachna, a Dreamspun Desires category, is free today at Dreamspinner Press.
I picked up The Flame and the Flower for a quarter several years ago. Even compared to the books I started reading in 80s and 90s, I don’t think it had aged well.
@DiscoDollyDeb, I was so torn because I feel like if one of those elements hadn’t been there, I’d probably call it a comfort read, too! Because I can get down with some darker romance. Ah well, onwards to more books! ❤
I am sure I read “Flame and Flower” way back when with the lusty cover. The new cover now looks like a woman who is rueing that she cupcakes instead of cookies and had to take some time out to come to terms with that.
I’m going to go ahead and admit that while TFATF does not stand up well by today’s romance standards, it will never lose its place on my keeper shelf. I credit those early bodice rippers for my ability to tolerate plot elements that so many find problematic. Also for the eye roll engendered by content warnings.
To commemorate moving out of their headquarters in the Flatiron Building, Tor is putting out a FREE short story by Seanan McGuire:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SWV4Z91?ref=em_1p_1_im&ref_=pe_25222860_420028660
I was fifteen years old and the romances I read were Georgette heyer that was on the shelves in the school library. And then Flame came out. Damn ! I was enthralled and a bit shocked. A few years ago I reread Flame( about 35 years after first read) as research for a story about my high school years, that linked my then limited sexual experience and sexual education to romance novels, with a particular shout out to Flame. No it doesn’t age well. But it was my first so to say and it has a special place in my heart. How could it not? It’s the first book I ever read were it talked about a character’s ” nipples ruching”
couldn’t get past the rape bit, so stopped reading and hadn’t picked up another one of Woodiwiss
No, Flame doesn’t age well. And I’m not sure the modern reader will get why those of us who read it in the 1970s and 80s were enthralled. I snuck it off my mother’s shelf and read it at the age of 14 or 15, I think, along with a lot of Rosemary Rogers (really doesn’t age well), Judith McNaught (definitely doesn’t age well), Harold Robbins (nope does not age well and also a guy who may be a borderline misogynist), and Judith Krantz (not quite as bad), Phyllis A Whitney (gothic not much sex), Mary Stewart (gothic not much sex), and Laurie McBain (who also doesn’t age well). Keep in mind that this was during Luke and Laura — the top rated romance in television. (Luke raped Laura in a disco, she forgave them, they went off on the run together and had an epic romance on GH and their wedding was the highest rated episode of television with the most viewers until I think MASH). Prior to this – there was no sex in romance novels. We had the banter, but no sex. The boddice ripper had the “seduction” or “violent seduction”. I viewed it as the female romance writers way of handling rape, domestic violence and lack of agency women had in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Keep in mind? That women were considered the property of their husbands on the law books up until the 21st century. I remember finding out that Missouri law stated that a woman was her husbands property and owed him sex — in 1990. That was actually on the books. It enraged me at the time. I was doing orders of protection for legal aid. So, if you are living in world that is treating you in this way — how do you cope with it? I think romance novels are a way that a lot of women coped with sexual violence and male violence. By trying to find the good in a person and redeeming them, they found a way to cope with and survive a situation that could not get out of and not always avoid. I don’t think it was healthy, but I get it. From what I’ve read about Rogers, she did not have a happy marriage. I don’t know about the others. But I honestly think you have to read the books within the context of the time period they were written. Also, if a historical — it’s arguable that would have been the case in the 1800s or 1700s, it certainly was in 20th century. That said? I had troubles reading it now. Also had troubles with Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Rider series for the same reasons. They don’t hold up well either.
Act Like It is hilarious and great, and the series only gets better (Pretty Face) and better (The Austen Playbook).
Hey Christine-
I am of the same life/time frame, and so happy to note how so much has changed. My lovely daughter was telling me “it’s ok mom-you’ve lived to see it changing” when I started cry-talking about how awesome Megan Rapinoe is! And what she and all the women stepping into their full lives are doing. Yes, there is pushback, but we crones can see the distance we’ve traveled. And our books reflect that.
Would I be able to read TFATF as a piece of high camp, or is it just too messed up to have fun with?
Mrs. Obed Marsh, I would suggest reading the sample first. I checked the B&N sample today and it has an attempted rape (foiled with her knife), an accidental rape (“You mean you were not a whore?” and an actual rape “Well, you’ll get used to it. Get back in the bed.” I couldn’t read it, even knowing I used to read this stuff all the time.
Oops, I should have said “intentional” not “actual.”
Mrs. Obed Marsh — no it’s not high camp. It’s written straight. I tried re-reading it recently and couldn’t get through it. I had the same problems with a few other books. And “neh” – hey not a crone, quite yet. But I agree — we’ve come a long way. I remember when you couldn’t find a LGBTQA romance in books, and now you can. Or interracial relationships. The world has changed a lot in just the last ten years. We have technology and the internet to thank for this — and sites such as this one, that bring people together to share information and experiences in a safe forum. Say what you will about the information age, it has at least built awareness and helped to change a few things as a result.
Re TFATF: I’ve said this before, but I think it’s worth repeating: it’s probably best to think of old-skool bodice-rippers the same way we think of puberty: something we had to go through to get to where we are today but not something we’d ever want to revisit.
I agree about TFATF, but I will say that I think The Wolf and The Dove by KEW still holds up — yes, it has the tropes (drugged by mom so doesn’t actually lose virginity! and so forth!) but the hero is not the attempted rapist, the hero replaces him. And the hero actually ruminates on child raising at one point in a startlingly aware way. I still enjoy Wolf and the Dove an reread it every couple years. Unfortunately, it’s not on sale.
@Alexa: I’m impressed that your school library had Georgette Heyer books on the shelves!
Chiming in as I always do on posts re: Time Served that I view it as one of the most objectionable books I’ve read in several years. The hero fantasizes about raping the heroine because she committed the terrible, terrible sin of…deciding her only way out of their rough neighborhood is to run off to college, leaving behind her high school boyfriend without an explanation. It’s crappy teenage behavior but the fact that it’s consider, by both the hero and the heroine, to be so horrible that she is marinating in shame over it years later is, in my view, the epitome of toxic masculinity.
The heroine’s professional nemesis is also slut-shamed in a way that I found incredibly problematic, because it’s exactly the type of crap that is often said about young, attractive, successful lawyers (basically the heroine repeatedly asserts that she’s sleeping with the boss – which is not demonstrated to be true in the book, and also at no point does anyone consider that even if it is true, a young woman sleeping with an older powerful, male boss is often NOT a consensual situation).
I could go on – there’s more – but those are the worst parts, IMO.
Also, many people have said that in later books, her nemesis’s backstory is explained and she becomes more sympathetic, but IMO books have to stand alone and her portrayal in Time Served is brutally sexist. It would be better if the heroine understood that she was being unfair, but the book portrays the heroine as being entirely justified in how she views her nemesis.
@Christine – I think there’s a ton of truth to what you’re saying about “forced seduction” in old skool romance as a way to grapple with violence and lack of agency in women’s lives.
@cbackson – what you said about Time Served brings up the equally problematic nature of the contemporary novels — or a specific trope in current contemporary novels. I tried reading one similar to Time Served that I cannot remember the name of. It came highly rec’d from Good Reads, and is a romance between the heroine (a film buff) and the hero (a wrestler). They are pushed together in a film course in college to do a project regarding sex in film. So far so good, right? Except, about two years ago, if that, the romantic hero not only stalked and bullied her, he and his friends, at his prompting, ran her off the side of the rode with their truck. They literally ran her down while she was walking home from school. She was in the hospital. And they went to trial for it and some may have served jail time. She suffers severe PTSD as a result. And now, two years later the writer is doing a romance, and he’s teaching her how to fend people off like him and …etc. I had troubles with it. BUT. I think it’s like the writing of the Boddice Rippers…just as Time Served seems to be — which is the writer is finding a way to deal with all this ingrained misogyny in our culture. What I find interesting about romance novels — is the writers try to solve painful issues with love and forgiveness and find ways to get past it, while in say mystery/thriller/horror genres it’s about payback and revenge. Time Served — I don’t think I’d be able to get through — but I’m wondering if it’s the same thing — trying to grapple with that feeling of powerlessness? Because romance novels really do feel like power plays or gender politics a lot of the time.
@Christine: The book you’re describing is Charlotte Stein’s NEVER SWEETER. Although I love Stein’s style and voice, NEVER SWEETER is the one book of hers that I actively encourage people NOT to read. I don’t think there’s any situation where a woman would willingly spend time with the guy who bullied her so badly in high school that she had to be hospitalized. To me, the situation in TIME SERVED is not in anyway close to that. TIME SERVED is angsty and reflects the fact that neither the hero nor the heroine has really moved on since high school (the heroine has gone further career- and education-wise, it’s true, but emotionally she and the hero are still stuck in 12th grade). I would never recommend NEVER SWEETER, but I do recommend TIME SERVED, with the caveats @SarahPeach and @Cbackson discuss.
Ladies, I just want to thank you all for the – as usual – wholesome and thoughtful discussion. The Bitchery is my shelter in the storm of the internet.
@DiscDollyDeb – thank you. That’s good to know. I’ve noticed there’s a spectrum, just as there is with the boddice rippers. Laurie McBain is more in the Time Served category of boddice rippers, as is Woodliss’s Wolf and the Dove, while Flame and the Flower is more in the Never Sweeter category. NEVER SWEETER — I tried and after 50 pages, I gave up. For the reasons you explained above. You’re correct there is no way. Also since she had a standing order of protection against him, the school would not have been able to admit him. (I did that for a while — so I know how orders of protection work.) Time Served does sound a bit different. Thanks for the qualification.
Quick clarification? I helped issue orders of protection back in the 1990s in Missouri. When issued the abuser is not allowed within 100-50 feet of the filer. Is she’s working in a store, he has to leave. If she’s a student in school — he can’t take any of her classes and the school has to ensure that he is no where near her and would most likely be barred from admitting him.
“A Princess in Theory” by Alyssa Cole is $1.99 for Kindle.
I’m exhausted to death of heros seek revenge on women who did nothing more than hurt their feelings. Yeah, it sucks. But nearly everyone I know I had their heart broken in high school. Ghosting someone doesn’t deserve violent retribution.