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Golden Nights
New York socialite Suzanne Maintree is used to getting her way. So when her weakling husband, Bradford, abandons her on their wedding night, Suzanne is determined to track him down and claim half of his gold mine. But when she meets charming Rafter Smith, Suzanne is catapulted into reckless enchantment--and far beyond the dangerous limits of love.
378 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Christine Monson
7 books84 followersChristine Monson was born in 1946. Raised in a West Virginia coal camp, she read for escape, learning to coax the ordinary out of the extraordinary. She published her controversial debut novel, Stormfire, in 1984.
Lauded by some readers as lyrical and moving, and condemned by others as a violently immoral tale, Stormfire, a romance set during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, has gained a cult following since its release. After Stormfire’s publication, Monson continued combining high-angst historical romance with political conflict: Rangoon is set prior to the third Anglo-Burmese War, Surrender the Night breaks apart the main couple during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and A Flame Run Wild follows a weary Crusader. She published her last two novels, Golden Nights and This Fiery Splendor, in the early 90s.
Lauded by some readers as lyrical and moving, and condemned by others as a violently immoral tale, Stormfire, a romance set during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, has gained a cult following since its release. After Stormfire’s publication, Monson continued combining high-angst historical romance with political conflict: Rangoon is set prior to the third Anglo-Burmese War, Surrender the Night breaks apart the main couple during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and A Flame Run Wild follows a weary Crusader. She published her last two novels, Golden Nights and This Fiery Splendor, in the early 90s.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 12, 2021
I enjoyed this book.
It was fun and had all types of excitement and action.
While the details were bogged down, there was romance here, but it’s more focused on character and events to. So you have to be patient with the book, as it can be slow at times.
The main characters were very interesting, though there are other characters as well. Suzanne is a fierce herione. Rafer is a smoky hero. Not much to say about them.
My mind was so bogged down by all the big long paragraphs and the slowness of the story. So I didn’t like this as much as I thought I would, but I still found it enjoyable.
To save time, I will shelve the story, as I did have books before that I found slow and didn’t work for me. Overall though, this is a solid well built story.
It was fun and had all types of excitement and action.
While the details were bogged down, there was romance here, but it’s more focused on character and events to. So you have to be patient with the book, as it can be slow at times.
The main characters were very interesting, though there are other characters as well. Suzanne is a fierce herione. Rafer is a smoky hero. Not much to say about them.
My mind was so bogged down by all the big long paragraphs and the slowness of the story. So I didn’t like this as much as I thought I would, but I still found it enjoyable.
To save time, I will shelve the story, as I did have books before that I found slow and didn’t work for me. Overall though, this is a solid well built story.
July 2, 2023
At this point I will read a recipe book if it's written by Christine Monson
4.5 stars
Before I start I want to state the mental toll reading a bodice ripper takes on a person. A lot. It takes a lot.
Then why read a old school Bodice ripper? You may ask.
Well, why smoke weed or why drink tequila or why eat greasy fried food? Huh? So there! you have your answer. (smirks)
Now I love Christine Monson, love her and if I had a way to time travel , I would just go back to when she was alive and tell her, how important she is to me, to us;how her well woven stories with all sorts of heros and heroines teach me lessons and make me experience 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, things which I would have never even though or dreamt about and I will carry all these indescribable 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, wherever I go, until the moment I die. (Got quite sentimental there, sniffs)
Suzanne was a new York socialite back in the 1860s and when tragedy befell her father in the '69 gold crash, they lost everything, her fiancé Marcus, who already hated her Father's guts breaks his engagement with her after her is asked for help by her. Bradford hoth who already has the hots for the her (pun intended) proposes marriage and also promises her well being. They are married in a week and at their wedding night, Brad elopes to Mexico, Alone trying to save his ass after committing a scam in the bank that he works. Our dear 'Su' is left miserable and without any support tries the best she can to pay off her father's debts. She then meets her father-in-law Ramsey Hoth, who is new money Chicagoan and detests his daughter-in-law and wants to some how get rid of her, when they get the news that Brady-boy died in one of the many floods. Our Su still believes that the scum is alive and living and some how convinces her FIL about the said things as she needs his money and he needs his son, so it's a win-win for the both of them, and then they are off to Mexico.
Brad goes and makes a deal with a guy called Kim Gordon-Smith and buys half his mine 'Coco's and realises his foolish venture when he sees that the land is either barren of gold or they don't have the money for mining(I'm not sure). So he poses being dead as he's already wanted across the country and starts work for a guy called banner.
Our Su lands in Mexico and wait in a barhouse where we get to meet the enigmatic Mr. Rafer Smith and there's a brawl in the barhouse when rafer kisses Su and then she starts trashing him and it's all very funny and this Rafer guy is a cinnamon bun compared to Monson's other hero's. Su, Rafer and Ram team up together to find the sonovabitch Brad.
But, but Su finds him hot, he already wants to sleep with her
So Our red-haired Su decides to play him, she'll seduce him in a hotel get the whereabouts of Brad and will be off with him.
She doesn't realise that he out played her and then at night they have wild, hot purple-posy sex in her cabin on the boat. But she pretends that it never happened with them but with her FIL(ik this is weird but I think there is a love triangle between them. It might sound bad but it's not, it's really not. Just read it, already). Now they are in New Orleans and the river boat and all gave NATASHA PETERS'S savage surrender vibes. At around 40%the plot kinda slags but then it's important to the storyline.
We come to know about this guy called James Carlisle who is wanted and who with his 3 brothers and Father stole nearly $200,000 worth of gold from a German guy called Banner and then James was caught his remaining family dead. He was just in his mid-teens and was brutally tortured, he had no nail left, that kind of brutal. He escapes and reaches a whore-house in New-Orleans where he is given motherly love and a milf kinda relationship with Madame Coco, where he also grows up.
James is Rafer who is Kim and Su with Ramsey hire wagons and stuff to travel which reminded me of Rosemary Rogers SAVAGE SURRENDER, all the traveling and all. While Rafer/Kim/James and Suzanne are also continuing to have hate-sex both have feelings for each other and are equally Arrogant. This is where I appreciate both the MC's where Suzanne does hate him, she has a soft spot for him and is Very stern, smart can shoot, All the Bodice Rippers/historical fiction that I have read Suzanne Maintree has to be my favorite and most precious heroine, she never gives up and is wickedly good but also harsh when she needs to be.
Our MMC is already smitten by her and when they reach Denver, he realize he's already in love with her and since he can't do shit for her , he gives his share of mines to her. And it leads to a verbal fight between the two(three) where Su is so frustrated and due to her tryst with Rafer in the cold, blacks out and nearly dies and that's when Rafer realizes he can't lt her go and follows them. There's also a prison escape it was fun! They even lose dear men on the way and then Ramsey proposes but Su refuses and this all continues even with Apache attacks and stuff.
They are saved and taked to this Banner Guy, but he doesn't recognize Jamie and has a mistress named Ines who's a yampa who is also in love with Brad and they plan to elope this is the climax.
All in all you can enjoy, like really Enjoy a Bodice Ripper only if your in the mood for it. If your not you'll probably dnf it so, just don't rush and only read them when your actually looking for some actual action.
4.5 stars
Before I start I want to state the mental toll reading a bodice ripper takes on a person. A lot. It takes a lot.
Then why read a old school Bodice ripper? You may ask.
Well, why smoke weed or why drink tequila or why eat greasy fried food? Huh? So there! you have your answer. (smirks)
Now I love Christine Monson, love her and if I had a way to time travel , I would just go back to when she was alive and tell her, how important she is to me, to us;how her well woven stories with all sorts of heros and heroines teach me lessons and make me experience 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, things which I would have never even though or dreamt about and I will carry all these indescribable 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, wherever I go, until the moment I die. (Got quite sentimental there, sniffs)
Suzanne was a new York socialite back in the 1860s and when tragedy befell her father in the '69 gold crash, they lost everything, her fiancé Marcus, who already hated her Father's guts breaks his engagement with her after her is asked for help by her. Bradford hoth who already has the hots for the her (pun intended) proposes marriage and also promises her well being. They are married in a week and at their wedding night, Brad elopes to Mexico, Alone trying to save his ass after committing a scam in the bank that he works. Our dear 'Su' is left miserable and without any support tries the best she can to pay off her father's debts. She then meets her father-in-law Ramsey Hoth, who is new money Chicagoan and detests his daughter-in-law and wants to some how get rid of her, when they get the news that Brady-boy died in one of the many floods. Our Su still believes that the scum is alive and living and some how convinces her FIL about the said things as she needs his money and he needs his son, so it's a win-win for the both of them, and then they are off to Mexico.
Brad goes and makes a deal with a guy called Kim Gordon-Smith and buys half his mine 'Coco's and realises his foolish venture when he sees that the land is either barren of gold or they don't have the money for mining(I'm not sure). So he poses being dead as he's already wanted across the country and starts work for a guy called banner.
Our Su lands in Mexico and wait in a barhouse where we get to meet the enigmatic Mr. Rafer Smith and there's a brawl in the barhouse when rafer kisses Su and then she starts trashing him and it's all very funny and this Rafer guy is a cinnamon bun compared to Monson's other hero's. Su, Rafer and Ram team up together to find the sonovabitch Brad.
But, but Su finds him hot, he already wants to sleep with her
So Our red-haired Su decides to play him, she'll seduce him in a hotel get the whereabouts of Brad and will be off with him.
She doesn't realise that he out played her and then at night they have wild, hot purple-posy sex in her cabin on the boat. But she pretends that it never happened with them but with her FIL(ik this is weird but I think there is a love triangle between them. It might sound bad but it's not, it's really not. Just read it, already). Now they are in New Orleans and the river boat and all gave NATASHA PETERS'S savage surrender vibes. At around 40%the plot kinda slags but then it's important to the storyline.
We come to know about this guy called James Carlisle who is wanted and who with his 3 brothers and Father stole nearly $200,000 worth of gold from a German guy called Banner and then James was caught his remaining family dead. He was just in his mid-teens and was brutally tortured, he had no nail left, that kind of brutal. He escapes and reaches a whore-house in New-Orleans where he is given motherly love and a milf kinda relationship with Madame Coco, where he also grows up.
James is Rafer who is Kim and Su with Ramsey hire wagons and stuff to travel which reminded me of Rosemary Rogers SAVAGE SURRENDER, all the traveling and all. While Rafer/Kim/James and Suzanne are also continuing to have hate-sex both have feelings for each other and are equally Arrogant. This is where I appreciate both the MC's where Suzanne does hate him, she has a soft spot for him and is Very stern, smart can shoot, All the Bodice Rippers/historical fiction that I have read Suzanne Maintree has to be my favorite and most precious heroine, she never gives up and is wickedly good but also harsh when she needs to be.
Our MMC is already smitten by her and when they reach Denver, he realize he's already in love with her and since he can't do shit for her , he gives his share of mines to her. And it leads to a verbal fight between the two(three) where Su is so frustrated and due to her tryst with Rafer in the cold, blacks out and nearly dies and that's when Rafer realizes he can't lt her go and follows them. There's also a prison escape it was fun! They even lose dear men on the way and then Ramsey proposes but Su refuses and this all continues even with Apache attacks and stuff.
They are saved and taked to this Banner Guy, but he doesn't recognize Jamie and has a mistress named Ines who's a yampa who is also in love with Brad and they plan to elope this is the climax.
All in all you can enjoy, like really Enjoy a Bodice Ripper only if your in the mood for it. If your not you'll probably dnf it so, just don't rush and only read them when your actually looking for some actual action.
June 27, 2025
A little slow at times, but a fun romp. They don’t write sex scenes this flowery anymore, and I think that’s a bit of a shame. A liked the adventure of it all, but my favourite part is definitely our feisty heroine.
July 12, 2023
Golden Nights by Christine Monson (1990) doesn’t have the epic bodice ripping of Stormfire but it’s certainly worth buying and reading if you come across a copy while looking for that other book. Strong MCs, lyrical and emotional prose and a good Western adventure add up to makes this my third favorite of her six books, after Stormfire and Fiery Nights. Sadly, after suffering depression, Christine Monson committed suicide in 2003.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews