Wrap Me In Splendor

St. Germains #1

by Ellen Tanner Marsh

The Lovers the Seas Could Not Separate...the Pride only Passion Could Conquer!
Raven Barrancourt, jet-haired, tempestuous and as beautiful as the storm-lashed Cornwall she loved...driven to the ends of the earth to save her ancestral home.

Charles St. Germain, a smuggler and sea captain driven by his own quest for the legendary diamond Kohinoor...but Raven, as splendorous as any jewel, is the real treasure he must possess.

Endless love...From their first meeting the love that burned in them was thwarted again and again by ruthless pride. From the palaces and poverty of far-away India to the wildnerness called America, their partings were to inflame them until her blood was hot with desire and his passion was as fierce as the crashing waves that called her home. Until their prideful hearts were wed in boundless ectasy...

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Even though Ellen was born in Germany, she was raised in New Jersey (insert Jersey joke here). That’s probably why she suffered extreme culture shock when her family moved to South Carolina when she was sixteen.

After all, it's hard to be uprooted from a pretty colonial town, say goodbye to lifelong friends, and be dragged 800 miles south by your parents. Ellen freely admits that the transformation from Jersey Girl to Southern Belle was a rocky one.

But steeped in history, the Lowcountry of South Carolina is the perfect place for a writer to live, because Charleston’s gorgeous historic houses, cobblestone streets, and moss-draped gardens serve as the ultimate “romance laboratory.”

So 40 years later has Ellen acclimated to living here? "Heck yeah, y’all."

Reviews

[Christina ~ Brunette Reader]

No rating, DNF at p. 35

I’m not generally a fan of vintage bodice rippers, but once in a while I pick one up as I’ve appreciated in the past their often lush and varied settings and storylines, always hoping to find that rare gem that might also suit my “modern” Historical Romance (the ones published from the 1990s onward, so to speak) reader’s tastes.
Some of these old-school romances have aged well for me, most haven’t... Wrap Me in Splendor belongs to the latter category, from verbose and adjectives-packed descriptions galore to sparse and stilted dialogues. I don’t need to be reminded every other paragraph that the heroine’s sloping eyes are topaz/golden in colour and that they are sloping of course, that she has a small and pointed face, that everything about her is dainty and that her waist is tiny.
And then this, after she and the hero have met for a couple of minutes of unwanted groping:

”Be still [...] Your words mean nothing to me. Your body tells me all I want to know.”

I really don’t feel like facing the eye-rolling misery wading through 500 pages of such drivel would inspire in me, sorry.

[Frances · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book "could have been a contender", how it got so bad so quickly, amazing!

[Marnie McFadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would like to read the sequels