Mara

by Kathleen Morris

Passionate...Tantilizing...Tempestuous...

A virginal Irish child-woman, ravished on her eighteenth birthday by her rake-hell cousin...

A lonely girl searching the American frontier for her long-lost father...

The unwilling "bride" of a powerful Cheyenne chief...

Captive of a brutish mountain man...

Faro dealer and courtesan in San Francisco...

Queen of Circle City, "Paris of the Klondike"...

These are the many lives of MARA and through them all runs the white-hot bond of passion to the man named Desmond, a bond as immortal as love itself.

445 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1978

Reviews

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who's been looking for outstanding historicals/bodice rippers for years but who has been burned by too many rotten eggs, I definitely recommend this. It's on par with Stormfire by Christine Monson in many ways, though not as brutual. A rare find. since reading the Wolf and the Dove and the Flame Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss a few years ago, no other books have lived up to them despite having tried countless recommended authors and books of this particular genre. Mara, however, has reaffirmed my faith.

The heroine is the perfect type for the kind of romance - breathtakingly beautiful - every man who sees her is taken with lust, or in some cases, madness - innocent, tragic and her story is captivating. Lately all I've come across is confident, bold heroine's and it's a nice change to read about the vulnerable beauty once more. There isn't really a hero in this book, at least not in the way of hero's in historicals written today. The hero, Desmond, is despicable but captivating despite his many flaws.

The back-cover says enough about the plot so I'll leave it there:

'A virginal Irish child-woman, ravished on her eighteenth birthday by her rake-hell cousin...

A lonely girl searching the American frontier for her long-lost father...

The unwilling 'bride' of a powerful Cheyenne chief....

Faro dealer and courtesan in San Francisco...

Queen of the Circle City, "Paris of the Klondlike..."

These are the many lives of Mara and through them all runs the white-hot passion to the man named Desmond, a bond of love as immoratal as love itself.'

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for people who love trashy romance novels as I do. Fun read, fast paced and full of adventure. Perfect for a beach read. I did have a real hard time with the romance between Mara and Desmond. He's her cousin and that is nasty. I get they aren't cousins by blood but he legit calls her mom "auntie" and they call each other "cousin" and introduce each other to people as cousins. So it feels incesty to me. I was glad when Desmond disappeared for half the book and disappointed when he returned. Will their kids call him Cousin Desmond or Dad? I hope nobody has to do a genealogy project for school. I much preferred her short lived romance to the chief. Sure, he totally forced her to marry him and they could not communicate at all but he was NOT her cousin.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, though annoyed that the entire novel centers around Mara’s semi-incestuous love-hate relationship with her “cousin” who raped her. She’s clearly a strong woman, and could have stood well on her own without pining for the man who forcefully took her virginity when he was tasked with protecting her. Author seemed to write different short stories about different women and then decided at the last minute to crudely shove them all into one novel about the same woman. I could almost give it the better genre of being a historical novel, but the parts jumped too quickly from one city to the next. The author certainly could have spent some more time bridging how Mara succeeded in getting different places. I don’t need Tolkein descriptions but turning a page and she’s half way across the country just doesn’t work. Unfortunately just when you feel invested in each part of the story, Morris uproots the reader and moves Mara to a different state… repeatedly. Loved the books about her living with the Cheyenne or up in the Klondike, but alas neither lasted long enough or went into much detail.

But what about the naughty scenes, you ask? Meh.

Would have made a much better read as a series of longer books with better focus on each part. Too much jumping around. And why does it seem all 70’s-80’s “romance” novels I’ve read have rape at their core? Just ew.

[ANGELINA · Rating 1 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read; 300+ pages of nonsense! The (so-called) H and h, Desmond and Mara, were two of the most irritating, annoying, unlikeable people, I found myself wishing that the parts that took place in San Francisco had happened during the earthquake and they had both gotten killed!

This will give you an idea of what I mean. Desmond and Mara are distant cousins, which of course means that it wouldn't be against the law for them to get married, but he's in the role of guardian/head of family, and takes it much too seriously, constantly lording it over Mara, especially when it comes to suitors. He declares he'll kill any man who harms her, then what does he do? He rapes her! Makes perfect sense, at least in his warped mind. (So technically, he should have killed himself, which would have been no great loss!) Then Mara gives one of the most ridiculous WTF!!! speeches I've ever heard. She tells him (more or less) that if he had only been a suitor for her hand, and courted her properly or even if he had swept her into his arms and then seduced her, she would have been his for eternity. But now??? This is really bizarre, as she never gave him any indication that she cared for him at all. In fact, she went out of her way to be nasty, snarky and defiant, and made it clear more than once that she wanted him to stay out of her life. And he's supposed to pick up from this that she loves him??? Two of the most dysfunctional people that ever disgraced the pages of a book!

I won't bother to go into anymore story details, it's just not worth it. But in case you're wondering why I bothered to read it, I can mention that, once upon a time there was a short-lived TV series with the same name as the guy in this book, and it was so terrible (or so it was said, as I never saw it) that people supposedly tuned in just to see how bad it was. In the same way, I kept reading (actually skimming) to see if it could get and worse. AND IT DID!

Unless you want to find out the same thing, don't waste your time.