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Legend of Morgan #6
Le sabre et la soie (Jade)
In the sweeping tradition of Sweet Savage Love, New York Times bestselling author Rosemary Rogers takes readers on an epic journey that spans continents and explores the depths of human passions.
Born of scandal and denied his birthright, Dominic Challenger took to the sea, charting his own future. A true rogue, Dominic answers to no one, trusting only himself. Until Marisa.
Born of wealth and privilege, Marisa is a prisoner to her father's expectations. When the sanctuary she has found behind the walls of a convent is threatened by the news that her father has arranged for her to marry, Marisa flees...right into the arms of a pirate.
From the safety of a sheltered convent to a sultan's harem, from the opulence of Napoleon's court to the wilds of the new frontier, Marisa and Dominic brave all that they encounter in this thrilling age: intrigue, captivity and danger. And above all, an enduring passion that ignites into an infinite love.
458 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1976
96 people are currently reading
1469 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Rogers
111 books421 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Rosemary Jansz Navaratnam Rogers Kadison
Rosemary Jansz was born on 7 December 1932 in Panadura, British Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), she was the oldest child of Dutch-Portuguese settlers, Barbara "Allan" and Cyril Jansz. Her father was a wealthy educator who owned three posh private schools. She was raised in colonial splendor: dozens of servants, no work, summers at European spas, a chaperone everywhere she went. A dreamy child, she wrote her first novel at eight, and all through her teens scribbled madly romantic epics in imitation of her favorite writers: Sir Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas and Rafael Sabatini.
At 17, Rosemary rebelled against a feudal upbringing and went to the University of Ceylon, where she studied three years. She horrified her family by taking a job as a reporter, and two years later marrying with Summa Navaratnam, a Ceylonese track star known as "the fastest man in Asia." The marriage had two daughters. Unhappily, he often sprinted after other women. Disappointed with her husband, in 1960, she moved with her two daughters and took off for London.
In Europe she met her future second husband, Leroy Rogers, an african-american. "He was the first man," she recalls, "who made me feel like a real woman." After getting a divorce from her first husband, she married Rogers in his home town, St. Louis, Missouri. They moved with her family to California, where she had two sons. Six years later, when that marriage broke up, Rosemary was left with four children to support on her $4,200 salary as a typist for the Solano County Parks Department. In 1969, in the face of a socialist takeover of Ceylon, her parents fled the island with only ?100, giving Rosemary two more dependents. At 37, the rich girl from Ceylon was on her uppers in Fairfield.
Every night for a year, Rogers worked to perfect a manuscript that she had written as a child, rewriting it 24 times. When she was satisfied with her work, she sent the manuscript to Avon, which quickly purchased the novel. That novel, ''Sweet Savage Love'', skyrocketed to the top of bestseller lists, and became one of the most popular historical romances of all time. Her second novel, ''Dark Fires'', sold two million copies in its first three months of release. Her first three novels sold a combined 10 million copies. The fourth, ''Wicked Loving Lies'' sold 3 million copies in its first month of publication. Rosemary Rogers became one of the legendaries "Avon Queens of Historical Romance". The difference between she and most of others romance writers is not the violence of her stories, it is the intensity. She says: "My heroines are me", and certainly her life could be one of her novels.
In September of 1984, Rosemary married a third time with Christopher Kadison, but it was a very brief marriage and they soon began to live apart. "I'd like to live with a man," she admits, "but I find men in real life don't come up to my fantasies. I want culture, spirit and sex all rolled up together."
Today single, Rosemary lives quietly in a small dramatic villa perched on a crag above the Pacific near Carmel. Her four children are now away from home and she continues to write.
Rosemary passed away at the age of 87 on November 12, 2019 in Carmel, California where she called home since the early 1970s.
Rosemary Jansz Navaratnam Rogers Kadison
Rosemary Jansz was born on 7 December 1932 in Panadura, British Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), she was the oldest child of Dutch-Portuguese settlers, Barbara "Allan" and Cyril Jansz. Her father was a wealthy educator who owned three posh private schools. She was raised in colonial splendor: dozens of servants, no work, summers at European spas, a chaperone everywhere she went. A dreamy child, she wrote her first novel at eight, and all through her teens scribbled madly romantic epics in imitation of her favorite writers: Sir Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas and Rafael Sabatini.
At 17, Rosemary rebelled against a feudal upbringing and went to the University of Ceylon, where she studied three years. She horrified her family by taking a job as a reporter, and two years later marrying with Summa Navaratnam, a Ceylonese track star known as "the fastest man in Asia." The marriage had two daughters. Unhappily, he often sprinted after other women. Disappointed with her husband, in 1960, she moved with her two daughters and took off for London.
In Europe she met her future second husband, Leroy Rogers, an african-american. "He was the first man," she recalls, "who made me feel like a real woman." After getting a divorce from her first husband, she married Rogers in his home town, St. Louis, Missouri. They moved with her family to California, where she had two sons. Six years later, when that marriage broke up, Rosemary was left with four children to support on her $4,200 salary as a typist for the Solano County Parks Department. In 1969, in the face of a socialist takeover of Ceylon, her parents fled the island with only ?100, giving Rosemary two more dependents. At 37, the rich girl from Ceylon was on her uppers in Fairfield.
Every night for a year, Rogers worked to perfect a manuscript that she had written as a child, rewriting it 24 times. When she was satisfied with her work, she sent the manuscript to Avon, which quickly purchased the novel. That novel, ''Sweet Savage Love'', skyrocketed to the top of bestseller lists, and became one of the most popular historical romances of all time. Her second novel, ''Dark Fires'', sold two million copies in its first three months of release. Her first three novels sold a combined 10 million copies. The fourth, ''Wicked Loving Lies'' sold 3 million copies in its first month of publication. Rosemary Rogers became one of the legendaries "Avon Queens of Historical Romance". The difference between she and most of others romance writers is not the violence of her stories, it is the intensity. She says: "My heroines are me", and certainly her life could be one of her novels.
In September of 1984, Rosemary married a third time with Christopher Kadison, but it was a very brief marriage and they soon began to live apart. "I'd like to live with a man," she admits, "but I find men in real life don't come up to my fantasies. I want culture, spirit and sex all rolled up together."
Today single, Rosemary lives quietly in a small dramatic villa perched on a crag above the Pacific near Carmel. Her four children are now away from home and she continues to write.
Rosemary passed away at the age of 87 on November 12, 2019 in Carmel, California where she called home since the early 1970s.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
September 2, 2016
This book is wild and filled with nonstop action. Wicked Loving Lies takes you halfway around the world and puts the heroine through a slew of outrageous situations. Marisa spends time in Napoleon’s court, a Turkish harem, a Louisiana plantation, and even gets taken by Comanches. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that covered so much area in so little time. This book has enough action and plot for ten books.
And strangely, after 676 pages, the characters were still pretty one dimensional.
I definitely enjoyed it though and was never bored.
This book has three (almost four) jaw dropping scenes that surprised me and blew me away, and let’s face it, most books don’t even have one. For that alone I’ll give a good rating. Talk about a bodice ripper, this is like the Queen Bee of bodice rippers.
You can’t take this book seriously though. It’s just too silly. Both Dominic and Marissa have way OTT histories, especially Dominic. There is no way he could do all the things he supposedly did in his short young life. It’s just impossible, and Rogers just kept tacking on new things.
Is there rape? Hell yes there is rape! I lost count how many times Marisa gets raped (most of them are by Dominic.) They can’t have a spat without her getting raped. Dominic even rapes her to save her from being raped. In fact the rape is so excessive, I’m convinced Rosemary Rogers has a rape fetish. I kept wishing Marisa would get seriously pissed and pull a Lisbeth Salander on Dominic, but she doesn’t. Instead she falls in love with him.
As for Dominic, I seriously despised him. He’s a total and complete douche. And Marisa’s got a brain full of rocks for falling for him. Toward the end, Marisa meets this truly kind man, a respected, young and handsome. He knows she’s ruined. He knows she’s an idiot. He loves her anyway and he helps her. He offers her a good life. Do you think she even considers this? Hell no, she wants to live with Mr. Douchebag. I suppose there’s no accounting for taste, but I have to admit that women’s lib speech Marisa gave at the end of the book was a bunch of bull if she’s planning on staying with Dominic.
After reading this, I feel like women have come a long way since the seventies. While I do get tired of the politically correct attitude that novels have today, I find the attitude that prevailed in this book very sad. The idea that Marisa should change her behavior and become more passive to her abusive, rapist husband is so appalling. Is this what women used to believe? That if a relationship was failing, it was the women’s fault and she should change. Men don’t need to apologize because they are just being manly? I just want to knock some of these guys upside the head with a frying pan.
And strangely, after 676 pages, the characters were still pretty one dimensional.
I definitely enjoyed it though and was never bored.
This book has three (almost four) jaw dropping scenes that surprised me and blew me away, and let’s face it, most books don’t even have one. For that alone I’ll give a good rating. Talk about a bodice ripper, this is like the Queen Bee of bodice rippers.
You can’t take this book seriously though. It’s just too silly. Both Dominic and Marissa have way OTT histories, especially Dominic. There is no way he could do all the things he supposedly did in his short young life. It’s just impossible, and Rogers just kept tacking on new things.
Is there rape? Hell yes there is rape! I lost count how many times Marisa gets raped (most of them are by Dominic.) They can’t have a spat without her getting raped. Dominic even rapes her to save her from being raped. In fact the rape is so excessive, I’m convinced Rosemary Rogers has a rape fetish. I kept wishing Marisa would get seriously pissed and pull a Lisbeth Salander on Dominic, but she doesn’t. Instead she falls in love with him.
As for Dominic, I seriously despised him. He’s a total and complete douche. And Marisa’s got a brain full of rocks for falling for him. Toward the end, Marisa meets this truly kind man, a respected, young and handsome. He knows she’s ruined. He knows she’s an idiot. He loves her anyway and he helps her. He offers her a good life. Do you think she even considers this? Hell no, she wants to live with Mr. Douchebag. I suppose there’s no accounting for taste, but I have to admit that women’s lib speech Marisa gave at the end of the book was a bunch of bull if she’s planning on staying with Dominic.
After reading this, I feel like women have come a long way since the seventies. While I do get tired of the politically correct attitude that novels have today, I find the attitude that prevailed in this book very sad. The idea that Marisa should change her behavior and become more passive to her abusive, rapist husband is so appalling. Is this what women used to believe? That if a relationship was failing, it was the women’s fault and she should change. Men don’t need to apologize because they are just being manly? I just want to knock some of these guys upside the head with a frying pan.
March 15, 2021
MINI REVIEW:
"Oh damn men and their superior ways. From now on I'll stand on my own two feet and fight for what I want--anyway I have to, with my body and my wits... Why not? It's a man's world, what other choice do you leave a woman who possesses a mind?"
Those words are from Marisa, the heroine of this amazing, action-packed bodice ripper by the Original Legend, Rosemary Rogers.
If you a high threshold for triggering issues like overbearing alphas, forced seduction, forced marriage of convenience, adultery, rape, branding, highwaymen, harem romance, slavery, racism, kidnapping, murder, a mother having her child taken away from her, divorce, and remarriage, not to mention traveling to almost every continent in the world, an affair with Napoleon, criminals on the run, plus a hefty dose of second-wave feminism from a heroine who goes to hell and back several times over in a romance written in the 1970s, and it sounds like your idea of a thrilling read, Wicked Loving Lies might be a book you'd want to pick up.
As far as I'm concerned, it's Rogers' best work. Some parts of it were so hot, like Chapter 17, other parts heartbreaking or shocking, but it was NEVER boring!
That's what I loved about these older romances, there was always so much stuff going on you never had time to take it all in, you just kept moving. Marisa is a heroine you want to smack or shake or hug or give her a big old high five. She's amazing and she never gave up even though life kept coming at her with no remorse. Except when she thought her beloved Dominic was dead...and even then she was not going out without taking someone else with her.
A great read for bodice ripper aficionados, but not for the faint of heart.
4 1/2 stars rounded up to 5
"Oh damn men and their superior ways. From now on I'll stand on my own two feet and fight for what I want--anyway I have to, with my body and my wits... Why not? It's a man's world, what other choice do you leave a woman who possesses a mind?"
Those words are from Marisa, the heroine of this amazing, action-packed bodice ripper by the Original Legend, Rosemary Rogers.
If you a high threshold for triggering issues like overbearing alphas, forced seduction, forced marriage of convenience, adultery, rape, branding, highwaymen, harem romance, slavery, racism, kidnapping, murder, a mother having her child taken away from her, divorce, and remarriage, not to mention traveling to almost every continent in the world, an affair with Napoleon, criminals on the run, plus a hefty dose of second-wave feminism from a heroine who goes to hell and back several times over in a romance written in the 1970s, and it sounds like your idea of a thrilling read, Wicked Loving Lies might be a book you'd want to pick up.
As far as I'm concerned, it's Rogers' best work. Some parts of it were so hot, like Chapter 17, other parts heartbreaking or shocking, but it was NEVER boring!
That's what I loved about these older romances, there was always so much stuff going on you never had time to take it all in, you just kept moving. Marisa is a heroine you want to smack or shake or hug or give her a big old high five. She's amazing and she never gave up even though life kept coming at her with no remorse. Except when she thought her beloved Dominic was dead...and even then she was not going out without taking someone else with her.
A great read for bodice ripper aficionados, but not for the faint of heart.
4 1/2 stars rounded up to 5
June 10, 2021
Wicked Living Lies was a thorough bodice ripper. Back then I didn't appreciate nor understand this genre properly but when I went point to point this time I could understand the rare details of BR. I can understand why Dominic is compared to Sean from Stormfire by Christine Monson, although Sean's character is a little hazy for me right now but I remember what a grade A cruelest hero he was. Dominic doesn't leave a bit of soft feelings for Merisa. He is a total douche and he is very easy to despise. His assumptions are outrageous, he believes whatever he wants even if you lay down the truth/explanations in front of him. He has always misunderstood Merisa and he is only rude to her. No surprises, that's how the story works.
Merisa had a great adventure taking her to the other side of the world starting from a convent from where she escapes because she doesn't want to get married, misunderstood as a gypsy, forced as a mistress, finally a wife, then divorced, spends time in a harem of an infatuated Turkish captain and also gets kidnapped by the Comanches. Merisa goes through brutal actions, it's a time-period where women were less valued, easily attacked both physically and morally. She sleeps with many men, and gets betrayed by the man she thought she liked/loved. To clarify, her biggest enemy was Dominic, she suffers multiple rapes from him and he ruins her mostly. The best part, Merisa is not tame, there is no humility, resignation or obedience in her nature. She fights back until the end; that's when she develops feelings for Dominic. Both of them falls for each other but Dominic once again ruins it because he 'believes' he is 'saving' her.
I realise I detest fluttering females in their balloon gowns. I don't want to know how many gowns you own, what colour you're wearing, how many you have, or how low your neckline is. There are pirates and comaches but unfortunately the whole book doesn't focus the scenes mostly on that.
Triggers: expect every kind of BR wtf-ery.
Merisa had a great adventure taking her to the other side of the world starting from a convent from where she escapes because she doesn't want to get married, misunderstood as a gypsy, forced as a mistress, finally a wife, then divorced, spends time in a harem of an infatuated Turkish captain and also gets kidnapped by the Comanches. Merisa goes through brutal actions, it's a time-period where women were less valued, easily attacked both physically and morally. She sleeps with many men, and gets betrayed by the man she thought she liked/loved. To clarify, her biggest enemy was Dominic, she suffers multiple rapes from him and he ruins her mostly. The best part, Merisa is not tame, there is no humility, resignation or obedience in her nature. She fights back until the end; that's when she develops feelings for Dominic. Both of them falls for each other but Dominic once again ruins it because he 'believes' he is 'saving' her.
I realise I detest fluttering females in their balloon gowns. I don't want to know how many gowns you own, what colour you're wearing, how many you have, or how low your neckline is. There are pirates and comaches but unfortunately the whole book doesn't focus the scenes mostly on that.
Triggers: expect every kind of BR wtf-ery.
June 18, 2016
Dominic And Marisa -- Blazing A Trail Of Fiery Desire Across Three Continents!
I've chatted about this book with a number of Goodreads friends ever since I first came on this site. But I feel compelled to share a very kinky secret I've never admitted to anyone before! You see, it's not the brutal rapes and the multiple scenes of degrading violence that Marisa endures that make this book so compulsively addicting to me.
No, the thing I like about this book is that, in a weird way, it's almost hands down the most luxurious and languidly paced story I've ever read. What I mean is, when you read closely, Marisa is always being whisked off to one exotic locale after another, only somehow, she's always being pampered and waited on and allowed to sleep late and sort of just reclining in luxury in an almost dazed state as she waits for the next roller-coaster ride of sexual excitement to begin.
Did you ever notice how many times in this book Marisa is "dazed" or "exhausted" while something big is happening? You can always count on her to be dozing when her carriage is abducted by rapists or when her sweetheart has just begged her to elope. And her default mode when it comes to getting some down time is to "sleep till noon."
I've chatted about this book with a number of Goodreads friends ever since I first came on this site. But I feel compelled to share a very kinky secret I've never admitted to anyone before! You see, it's not the brutal rapes and the multiple scenes of degrading violence that Marisa endures that make this book so compulsively addicting to me.
No, the thing I like about this book is that, in a weird way, it's almost hands down the most luxurious and languidly paced story I've ever read. What I mean is, when you read closely, Marisa is always being whisked off to one exotic locale after another, only somehow, she's always being pampered and waited on and allowed to sleep late and sort of just reclining in luxury in an almost dazed state as she waits for the next roller-coaster ride of sexual excitement to begin.
Did you ever notice how many times in this book Marisa is "dazed" or "exhausted" while something big is happening? You can always count on her to be dozing when her carriage is abducted by rapists or when her sweetheart has just begged her to elope. And her default mode when it comes to getting some down time is to "sleep till noon."
Is this girl channeling Scarlett O'Hara, or Homer Simpson, or Garfield?
As each new chapter in her life begins, she's always sleeping till noon. Dumped in Paris among strangers? Sleeps till noon and awakens in a strange house. Kidnapped by a desert sheikh? Has fabulous butt sex with a man she barely knows? No problem, she gets to sleep into the afternoon the next day. Trapped in a steamy plantation mansion with a nasty stepmother who really hates her? Sure, it's upsetting, but she still manages to sleep until noon.
This books should be called WICKED LUXURIOUS LIFESTYLES.
And that's why I love it!
July 16, 2010
This is the first graphic romance novel I ever read. At the precocious and curious age of 12, I "borrowed" it from the mother of a friend. By "borrow" I totally mean I swiped it. I kept it between my mattress and box spring and read it by flash light under my covers. Oh, the sheer excitement of reading something sooo forbidden. It was better than the dirty parts of Judy Blume's Seventeen or Wifey that we would high light and pass around like contraband in 6th grade. It put words to of all the budding passion and bodily urges I had been feeling but of course would not discuss with any adult I knew.
Still young enough to actually play with dolls and toys, I named one of my Breyer model horses Dominic Challenger. I'm sure therapists everywhere could add a chapter to a book on that action alone...
None the less, I was hooked. I went on to read manymanymanymanymanymany more bodice rippers and formulated some very odd notions of love as a result. I have spent the better part of my adult life unlearning them.
Still young enough to actually play with dolls and toys, I named one of my Breyer model horses Dominic Challenger. I'm sure therapists everywhere could add a chapter to a book on that action alone...
None the less, I was hooked. I went on to read manymanymanymanymanymany more bodice rippers and formulated some very odd notions of love as a result. I have spent the better part of my adult life unlearning them.
December 4, 2014
Congratulations. The worst book I have ever tried to read. She makes Anne Rice sound like Jane Austen. Fit only for women who hate themselves Yes, that's how I really feel. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
February 18, 2012
Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit.
This book has been the MOST EPIC (and I'm not sure that such term is wholly positive) Bodice Ripper that I've ever read, I think. TONS of intrigue, politics, drama, hate, world-trotting, in addition to the usual BR fare.
Disclaimer: I love Bodice Rippers, so this "review" is not a HATERade but just my opinion of one.particular.book. - capisce?
Anyway...lord have mercy! This one had me feeling kookoo for Cocopuffs with all its ups and downs.
Did I like the book? I'm not sure. It's got its positives, for sure, but it wasn't a "romance" by my standards. In fact, the romance aspect was really missing for me. I get the 'hate you until you love me' thing; hell,it's something I actually enjoy reading. But maybe I missed the boat here because I got the hate alright, but it was hard for me to 'get' the love between the story's protagonists.
However, I have to admit that I could NOT tear myself away from this book. Sorta like witnessing a scary car accident where we see one car flip over and eject its passenger to his death before our very eyes. Jah. Shocking and fascinating all at once! 0_o
So, I'm gonna sit on this review for a few days before assigning a star rating, as I'm not sure if and/or how much I liked this book. But I will say that if you want to read an epic (and I mean E-PIC) adventure and can look past the ca-razy shit that happens, then you're in for one heckuva ride.
All that said, I think I've thoroughly popped my Rosemary Rogers cherry and can easily be done with her books for good. Been there, tried it, read the books, DONE. That is, until a certain K-Wiki can convince me otherwise ;)
This book has been the MOST EPIC (and I'm not sure that such term is wholly positive) Bodice Ripper that I've ever read, I think. TONS of intrigue, politics, drama, hate, world-trotting, in addition to the usual BR fare.
Disclaimer: I love Bodice Rippers, so this "review" is not a HATERade but just my opinion of one.particular.book. - capisce?
Anyway...lord have mercy! This one had me feeling kookoo for Cocopuffs with all its ups and downs.
Did I like the book? I'm not sure. It's got its positives, for sure, but it wasn't a "romance" by my standards. In fact, the romance aspect was really missing for me. I get the 'hate you until you love me' thing; hell,it's something I actually enjoy reading. But maybe I missed the boat here because I got the hate alright, but it was hard for me to 'get' the love between the story's protagonists.
However, I have to admit that I could NOT tear myself away from this book. Sorta like witnessing a scary car accident where we see one car flip over and eject its passenger to his death before our very eyes. Jah. Shocking and fascinating all at once! 0_o
So, I'm gonna sit on this review for a few days before assigning a star rating, as I'm not sure if and/or how much I liked this book. But I will say that if you want to read an epic (and I mean E-PIC) adventure and can look past the ca-razy shit that happens, then you're in for one heckuva ride.
All that said, I think I've thoroughly popped my Rosemary Rogers cherry and can easily be done with her books for good. Been there, tried it, read the books, DONE. That is, until a certain K-Wiki can convince me otherwise ;)
May 28, 2012
I just finished the last lines of this book. Incredible! This story is why you just can't hand out 5 stars to every good book you read. Some stories are just that much better than the rest.
This was like several stories in one and each one grabbed you, sucked you in, and kept you on the edge of your seat hoping for or dreading what was going to happen next. Every scenario had scenes that evoked emotions from one end of the continuum to the next. I often found myself crying and heartbroken, sometimes for who you might consider the "bad-guy".
I was often dumbfounded or just plain horrified by some of the things that happened in the story. This is not a easy read. If you like fluff, well, I would pass on this one. Some of the most horrible things that happen in the book were perpetrated by the hero...over and over and over again (and over again ;). Despite his crimes...and her's, you continue to root for them to find their happiness with each other.
If you have a strong stomach for controversial topics such as rape and violence, then this is definitely worth the read.
This was like several stories in one and each one grabbed you, sucked you in, and kept you on the edge of your seat hoping for or dreading what was going to happen next. Every scenario had scenes that evoked emotions from one end of the continuum to the next. I often found myself crying and heartbroken, sometimes for who you might consider the "bad-guy".
I was often dumbfounded or just plain horrified by some of the things that happened in the story. This is not a easy read. If you like fluff, well, I would pass on this one. Some of the most horrible things that happen in the book were perpetrated by the hero...over and over and over again (and over again ;). Despite his crimes...and her's, you continue to root for them to find their happiness with each other.
If you have a strong stomach for controversial topics such as rape and violence, then this is definitely worth the read.
September 11, 2016
This book is totally nuts. Wicked Loving Lies takes you halfway around the world and puts the heroine through a slew of outrageous situations. Marisa spends time in Napoleon’s court, a Turkish harem, a Louisiana plantation, and even gets taken by Comanches. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that covered so much area in so little time. This book has enough action and plot for ten books.
And strangely, after 676 pages, the characters were still pretty one dimensional.
I definitely enjoyed it though and was never bored.
This book has three (almost four) jaw dropping scenes that surprised me and blew me away, and let’s face it, most books don’t even have one. For that alone I’ll give a good rating. Talk about a bodice ripper, this is like the Queen Bee of bodice rippers.
You can’t take this book seriously though. It’s just too silly. Both Dominic and Marissa have way OTT histories, especially Dominic. There is no way he could do all the things he supposedly did in his short young life. It’s just impossible, and Rogers just kept tacking on new things.
Is there rape? Hell yes there is rape! I lost count how many times Marisa gets raped (most of them are by Dominic.) They can’t have a spat without her getting raped. Dominic even rapes her to save her from being raped. In fact the rape is so excessive, I’m convinced Rosemary Rogers has a rape fetish. I kept wishing Marisa would get seriously pissed and pull a Lisbeth Salander on Dominic, but she doesn’t. Instead she falls in love with him.
As for Dominic, I seriously despised him. He’s a total and complete douche. And Marisa’s got a brain full of rocks for falling for him. Toward the end, Marisa meets this truly kind man, a respected man, young and handsome. He knows she’s ruined. He knows she’s an idiot. He loves her anyway and he helps her. He offers her a good life. Do you think she even considers this? Hell no, she wants to live with Mr. Douchebag. I suppose there’s no accounting for taste, but I have to admit that women’s lib speech Marisa gave at the end of the book was a bunch of bull if she’s planning on staying with Dominic.
After reading this, I feel like women have come a long way since the seventies. While I do get tired of the politically correct attitude that novels have today, I find the attitude that prevailed in this book very sad. The idea that Marisa should change her behavior and become more passive to her abusive, rapist husband is so appalling. Is this what women used to believe? That if a relationship was failing, it was the women’s fault and she should change. Men don’t need to apologize because they are just being manly? I just want to knock some of these guys upside the head with a frying pan.
And strangely, after 676 pages, the characters were still pretty one dimensional.
I definitely enjoyed it though and was never bored.
This book has three (almost four) jaw dropping scenes that surprised me and blew me away, and let’s face it, most books don’t even have one. For that alone I’ll give a good rating. Talk about a bodice ripper, this is like the Queen Bee of bodice rippers.
You can’t take this book seriously though. It’s just too silly. Both Dominic and Marissa have way OTT histories, especially Dominic. There is no way he could do all the things he supposedly did in his short young life. It’s just impossible, and Rogers just kept tacking on new things.
Is there rape? Hell yes there is rape! I lost count how many times Marisa gets raped (most of them are by Dominic.) They can’t have a spat without her getting raped. Dominic even rapes her to save her from being raped. In fact the rape is so excessive, I’m convinced Rosemary Rogers has a rape fetish. I kept wishing Marisa would get seriously pissed and pull a Lisbeth Salander on Dominic, but she doesn’t. Instead she falls in love with him.
As for Dominic, I seriously despised him. He’s a total and complete douche. And Marisa’s got a brain full of rocks for falling for him. Toward the end, Marisa meets this truly kind man, a respected man, young and handsome. He knows she’s ruined. He knows she’s an idiot. He loves her anyway and he helps her. He offers her a good life. Do you think she even considers this? Hell no, she wants to live with Mr. Douchebag. I suppose there’s no accounting for taste, but I have to admit that women’s lib speech Marisa gave at the end of the book was a bunch of bull if she’s planning on staying with Dominic.
After reading this, I feel like women have come a long way since the seventies. While I do get tired of the politically correct attitude that novels have today, I find the attitude that prevailed in this book very sad. The idea that Marisa should change her behavior and become more passive to her abusive, rapist husband is so appalling. Is this what women used to believe? That if a relationship was failing, it was the women’s fault and she should change. Men don’t need to apologize because they are just being manly? I just want to knock some of these guys upside the head with a frying pan.
April 22, 2012
First off, I have to laugh a little, because I read this back in December, and am just now typing up my (handwritten) review, and the details of this book are already pretty foggy in my mind. Dunno if that's anything to go for recommending this book ;) Onto the review:
I picked this book up mostly because of its notoriety, I wanted to see for myself what this story was all about. It was the winner of a 'Pick My Next Read' poll in the Western and Medieval Romance Lovers Group... so it was time to get on with reading it. To be honest here, this book was a struggle to read in places. Don't get me wrong, I grew to be invested in the heroine, Marisa, rather quickly, and wanted to see her end up happy, but whenever the 'hero' Dominic appeared, it was sometimes hard to keep reading the abuse he heaped on her. It was a constant barrage of totally wrong accusations, name calling and other forms of verbal abuse, and of course, the notorious rape... again and again. It's a wonder the poor girl's parts were even functioning by the end of the book. Thankfully, for a good portion of the book they are separated, or I might not have been able to finish.
So the premise is - poor young Marisa has been raised in a Spanish convent ever since her French mother and nursemaid were killed in the French Revolution when Marisa was just a child. She's a little bit wild and headstrong, but determined to become a nun. She vows she'll let no man touch her, since she witnessed the brutal gang-rape of her nurse as they fled the Terror in Paris. So one day, she gets news from her father (who's been living in Louisiana on his huge plantation all this time) that she's to wed Don Pedro Arteaga. She also overhears Don Pedro himself talking bawdily with his friend, and so she swears she will not marry him. Instead, she decides to run away with her Gypsy friend Blanca, whose caravan is leaving for France. Disguised as a Gypsy girl, she's unfortunately caught out alone one night at a festival, and it's here she officially meets the male lead of this tale, Dominic Challenger, who was shown earlier in the novel to have had a pretty damn rough life so far... He's hated by his (secretly) homosexual Duke father (who may not really be his father, due to the fact that Dom's mother was abducted from their plantation property back in America by a group of raiding natives, and supposedly fell in with a wild frontiersman) who ships him off to Ireland where his mother came from. Here he gets involved with the rebellion, and is captured, and brought to the Duke, who imprisons him and tortures him before packing him off to the Royal Navy as practically a slave. So anyway, this is where our lead characters meet, and he and his friends assume her to be a Gypsy and force her to go along with them, despite her protests and attempted escape. Dom really shows himself to be a dick here for the first time, treating her roughly and being rude. But of course he just thinks that she's a worthless Gypsy girl, and she doesn't tell any of them her true identity because she doesn't think they'll believe her anyway. By the end of the night, she's been intoxicated and hauled off to someone's house, where Dom rapes her, quite roughly, and even worse because she's a virgin. It's only the first in a long line of rapes for Marisa. The next morning finds him all pissy because she didn't tell him she was a virgin, and he tells his man Donald to give her some coins and take her back to the Gypsies. However, the caravan has moved on. She begs Donald to help her get to France, where she has a wealthy aunt and a powerful godmother. So Donald smuggles her onto Dominic's ship, which just so conveniently happens to be heading to France. Of course it's not long before Dominic discovers her presence and makes her a captive in his cabin, raping her a bunch more times, degrading her at every turn, forcing her to remain naked most of the time despite her discomfort. So of course she hates his bloody guts, and tries to fight back in any way she can, but being all small and tiny female doesn't help. At last they reach France, and she makes a wild escape, running and falling bedraggled into the arms of Philip Sinclair, who just so happens to be ol' Dom's cousin. After hearing a slightly edited version of her story, he rushes her to the palace of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose wife Josephine turns out to be Marisa's godmother. Marisa is reunited with her and also with her aunt Edmee, and it's not long before she's introduced to society and quickly is a beautiful and sought-after woman. Philip becomes her favorite companion and they spend a lot of time together, she fancies herself in love with him, his kindness and gentle way of treating her a huge contrast to Dominic's abuse. However, the happy bubble is not to last, and Dominic reappears, as her aunt's lover none-the-less. At least he doesn't rape her during this time, but he does take his chances to berate her some more. Soon Napoleon has his eye on Marisa, wanting her for his mistress, though she really doesn't want to be. One night she and Philip go for a stroll in the gardens while at a party, and they are caught alone together, though they weren't misbehaving or anything. Dominic quickly steps forward and tells the gathered crowd that he's had his way with Marisa loads of times, and therefore will marry her himself. She's outraged, but her aunt and everyone else thinks it's a splendid idea, even though she told her aunt that it was Dominic who had raped her before she made her escape. On her wedding night she's supposed to remain under Napoleon's roof, but Dom steals her away to a secluded villa, where he proceeds to yell at her for forcing him to marry her (which really ticked me off seeing as how the bastard volunteered his self for whatever reason!) and heaps some more name-calling and verbal abuse on her. She yells at him for being a rutting beast, and so he rips her gown off and carries her upstairs where he actually doesn't rape her this time, but uses some foreplay and such and shows her pleasure. For about a day they start to get along, and even sort of seem like they might start to care for each other... but one little comment by her about his previous treatment of her sets him off again, and he's back to being King Bastard of Dickwad Hill, throwing accusations of being a lying whore in her face and all that good stuff. After getting one more nice good extra brutal rape in, he leaves, taking all the servants and supplies with him, leaving her completely alone in the house save some halfwit peasant dude. When she awakes she's not feeling so hot, and collapses in a haze of pain. Seems she was pregnant from her time on Dom's ship, and his most recent brutality upon her person has caused her to miscarry. She send the peasant guy for help, and when she awakens again her aunt, and Josephine, a Jo's daughter are there to comfort her. After some time passes, she accompanies her aunt back to Edmee's home in England where Marisa has been set with the task of gathering info from French emigres about possible Royalist plots against Napoleon. She's also reunited with Philip and accepted into society, and eventually meets Dominic's father the Duke, with whom she forms an uneasy sort of alliance. She decides to become Philip's lover, and while on their way to Bath, they are set upon by what seems to be highwaymen. Philip is tied up and forced to watch while one of the men rapes her and brands her with a hot iron on her inner thigh. She's given a warning to give up her spying and whoring. Once the mystery man leaves, she unties Philip, only to have him, excited by watching her get used roughly before his eyes like a prostitute, fall upon her and have his way with her. Then they make haste to Bath where her aunt calls a doctor and tries to console her. Marisa's not upset with Philip for his actions though, and they become lovers in full. Soon however, Dominic makes his return to London and she's forced to play the obedient wife. He keeps his hands off her for awhile though, until one night when they argue and he proceeds to get drunk and decides to 'punish' her again. Her traitorous body unfortunately responds though, and she ends up, well, not hating it. The next morning she decides to run away with Philip. They wind up at the Duke's house, where, unbeknownst to her, the Duke and Philip have arranged an attempt on Dom's life. However Dom doesn't die, instead, the Duke does... and when Philip tries to shoot Dom in retaliation, the gun explodes and kills him. Immediately Dom rounds up Marisa and they are on the move. Dom confesses to being the mystery rapist who had branded her, as well as confessing to killing her father through injuries acquired in a duel (before he ever met Marisa). He books them on a ship to Spain, but before they get there, they're set upon by pirates and taken captive, along with the other passengers on board. Marisa tells them who she is, and that they'll get a hefty ransom from Napoleon for her return. She and the other two captured women are taken to stay at the house of Kamil, an important Turkish military man. He has sworn off traditional sex with a woman for a period of time, something to do with his career in the military, but convenient for him, he really enjoys the company of young boys, as that form of sex is not forbidden by his vows, and it's not uncommon or strange where he's at, so he's not deprived of all sex. It just so happens that Marisa isn't a curvy girl, in fact she's rather slim and could easily pass for a boy, especially with her newly cropped hair. It's not long before Kamil is all hot for her, and they become lovers... but due to those pesky vows, he can't do her normal style, he's gotta do her the other way, like... y'know what I'm saying? But he's kind to her, and shows her loads and loads of pleasure in their romps by night, and by day she goes about garbed as a boy, accompanying him everywhere, riding, patrolling, etc, learning and reveling in the freedoms she gets. All too soon though it becomes apparent that she's pregnant with Dominic's child, and she fears Kamil won't like her anymore if she starts to look more womanly. He consoles her though, and offers her a way to be rid of the pregnancy, but she decides she wants to have the child. Kamil promises her that he'll let her keep it, but his real plans are more cruel. If it is a boy, he will sell it to one of the many pleasure houses to be trained and used for bad things. If it is a girl, he may let her keep it, but only to eventually sell it off as a young wife to someone else. When the baby arrives, it is a boy and is secreted away in haste. They tell her it was a stillborn (girl if I remember right), and since her attendants had drugged her during labor, she knew no different. She's depressed by the news, but Kamil promises her that when his vow period is up, he'll give her many more children. He's decided not to ransom her after all, and wants to marry her instead. But it's not to be, as war with America seems to be looming. He is called to a different town, and his scheming jealous sister arranges for the bashaw to ransom Marisa back to France, and so she's off again. Dom in the meanwhile has found shelter with a tribe whose leader he saved. He joins up with a group of American soldiers, and finds a way to kill Kamil and rescue his baby son and his nurse Selma, who was one of the other captured passengers. Back in France, Marisa at last becomes Napoleon's mistress, for a few months anyway. After that, she heads to New Spain to be reunited with her uncle, a very important man in the Church. She thinks she wants to become a nun after all, but he tells her she needs to experience more in life first. So he sends Marisa off to meet her father's widow Inez, and to see the plantation and lands her father had left to her (M). Her escort to Louisiana turns out to be Don Pedro, who it seems hasn't lost his desire to wed her. For awhile he seems ok, a gentleman for the most part. When she reaches Louisiana, she finds her stepmother is just as much of a bitch as she had envisioned her to be. Marisa's quickly accepted into the local society, and they attend parties and balls and all that. Ah, but kismet shows its face, and it turns out that Dominic's here in Louisiana too, and engaged to a wealthy plantation owner's prim and proper daughter. While out riding, Marisa has the misfortune of running into him without the protection of other people around, and of course they set to fighting, and well, as we know Dom, he pulls her off her horse, throws her down, and rapes her. But having been well-taught about pleasure now, she responds and it becomes a heated thing. When she returns to her stepmother's home, she's berated by her and Don P. Then she learns Dom has a son who is about the same age as her child would've been had it lived. She begins to get suspicious and confronts him about it. He confirms that it is her child. She says she will do anything to see him, and they go to a room above a tavern where he demands to know why she thinks she deserves it after having abandoned the boy. She tells him the truth about having been told it was stillborn, and amazingly he believes her, but they're arguing anyway and he gets mad when she mentions Kamil, so he flips her over onto the bed and takes her the way Kamil always did, but without the benefits of oil and massage and all that stuff that makes it a bit more pleasurable. He then tells her he won't let her see the boy after all, and she returns home desolate. Stepmother decides it's time to head to the family plantation. When they arrive though, she learns of Inez's dastardly plans. Seems Inez has 'discovered' that Marisa's mother wasn't actually her father's 1st wife, but a quadroon slave, the same woman who was Marisa's nurse. The story, which may or may not be true, is that when the wife's baby died, Marisa was passed off as the daughter instead, having been born at nearly the same time. Since her mother in this version of events was a slave, though she had light skin, well, that makes Marisa a slave as well. Inez quickly sells her off before any scandal can arise, and Marisa is shipped off for some more abuse. Dom ends up buying her, and to work off the money he had to borrow to do so, he is sent into New Spain to capture wild horses. He takes her along, but leaves her alone until one ni9ght she decides she can't take it anymore, and she sorta seduces him. This begins a new chapter of sorts for them, and they actually start to talk and get to know each other and all that good stuff. She even realizes she's in love with him. Ok, I'll interrupt my narration here to say that amazingly, I grew to like Dom in this part of the book. All up to this I hated him, but here he shows his human side and I'm almost ashamed to say I kinda liked him. So yea, they capture the horses and prepare to head back. Alas, Don P. has decided he'd like to kill Dom and his troops are heading to their encampment to capture the American spies. Dom decides he has to send Marisa away so she won't get killed, and since he was adopted by a Comanche tribe he tells her to go with them and they'll ransom her off to the gov't of New Spain, but she has to be raped by a member of the tribe first, it's a rule. OF course she argues about the decision and he decides to do the rapin' himself in front of his men and the natives, and then off she goes with the Comanche, where she's ransomed to kind Capitan Higuera who takes her to San Antonio to stay in the convent she'd been at before when traveling with her uncle. Word is sent to her uncle in Mexico City, but it'll be months before he can get to her. Marisa is desolate, believing Dom was killed by the Spanish troops. Having learned it was Don P. who led them, she vows revenge. She becomes Higuera's lover, as well as to the governor, in order to get Don P. called to San Antonio. He comes, bringing a tortured group of captured Americans with him. She plans to kill him, but when he tells her he has Dom, and she sees for herself his battered condition, she has to save him. She pleads with Higuera and the gov' but they tell her nothing can be done. Then Don P. says that if she marries him, he'll arrange to look the other way while Dom escapes, but if she refuses, he'll torture him some more. Having discovered earlier that she's again pregnant with Dom's baby, she agrees. He takes her to the dungeon to see him, and in a power-trip a-hole move, Don P. throws her down and tries to rape her with Dom chained up to watch. Before he succeeds though, Higuera comes in and fights with Don P., and Dom trips him, causing him to fall down one of those really deep torture holes and die. But there's still nothing to be done to save Dom from his sentence, at least until her uncle arrives with the viceroy and his sentence is nulled due to the fact that Marisa is carrying his child, as well as her uncle's position. Their son is sent for along with Selma, and they are remarried and set off with her uncle to start anew in California, where their new son is born.
Ok, so this was a hard book to like. But I did... sort of, really only once I got to the last third of the story. The first two-thirds was just hard to take the abuse. I think Dom did learn to be a bit of a better man by the end of the book, but it was a hell of a battle. Took starvation, torture, and more torture to get him to realize 'Hey, maybe I shoulda been a li'l nicer to Marisa'. My problem wasn't with the author's writing, the book was well-written, and the plot and such made me want to keep reading, but it was just the barrage on the poor heroine! I'm not sure if I'll try anymore in this series or not... it's a hesitant maybe. But definitely not for a good long while. I need to let this one fade a little. I'll definitely be reading something lighter to cheer myself back up after reading this.
I picked this book up mostly because of its notoriety, I wanted to see for myself what this story was all about. It was the winner of a 'Pick My Next Read' poll in the Western and Medieval Romance Lovers Group... so it was time to get on with reading it. To be honest here, this book was a struggle to read in places. Don't get me wrong, I grew to be invested in the heroine, Marisa, rather quickly, and wanted to see her end up happy, but whenever the 'hero' Dominic appeared, it was sometimes hard to keep reading the abuse he heaped on her. It was a constant barrage of totally wrong accusations, name calling and other forms of verbal abuse, and of course, the notorious rape... again and again. It's a wonder the poor girl's parts were even functioning by the end of the book. Thankfully, for a good portion of the book they are separated, or I might not have been able to finish.
So the premise is - poor young Marisa has been raised in a Spanish convent ever since her French mother and nursemaid were killed in the French Revolution when Marisa was just a child. She's a little bit wild and headstrong, but determined to become a nun. She vows she'll let no man touch her, since she witnessed the brutal gang-rape of her nurse as they fled the Terror in Paris. So one day, she gets news from her father (who's been living in Louisiana on his huge plantation all this time) that she's to wed Don Pedro Arteaga. She also overhears Don Pedro himself talking bawdily with his friend, and so she swears she will not marry him. Instead, she decides to run away with her Gypsy friend Blanca, whose caravan is leaving for France. Disguised as a Gypsy girl, she's unfortunately caught out alone one night at a festival, and it's here she officially meets the male lead of this tale, Dominic Challenger, who was shown earlier in the novel to have had a pretty damn rough life so far... He's hated by his (secretly) homosexual Duke father (who may not really be his father, due to the fact that Dom's mother was abducted from their plantation property back in America by a group of raiding natives, and supposedly fell in with a wild frontiersman) who ships him off to Ireland where his mother came from. Here he gets involved with the rebellion, and is captured, and brought to the Duke, who imprisons him and tortures him before packing him off to the Royal Navy as practically a slave. So anyway, this is where our lead characters meet, and he and his friends assume her to be a Gypsy and force her to go along with them, despite her protests and attempted escape. Dom really shows himself to be a dick here for the first time, treating her roughly and being rude. But of course he just thinks that she's a worthless Gypsy girl, and she doesn't tell any of them her true identity because she doesn't think they'll believe her anyway. By the end of the night, she's been intoxicated and hauled off to someone's house, where Dom rapes her, quite roughly, and even worse because she's a virgin. It's only the first in a long line of rapes for Marisa. The next morning finds him all pissy because she didn't tell him she was a virgin, and he tells his man Donald to give her some coins and take her back to the Gypsies. However, the caravan has moved on. She begs Donald to help her get to France, where she has a wealthy aunt and a powerful godmother. So Donald smuggles her onto Dominic's ship, which just so conveniently happens to be heading to France. Of course it's not long before Dominic discovers her presence and makes her a captive in his cabin, raping her a bunch more times, degrading her at every turn, forcing her to remain naked most of the time despite her discomfort. So of course she hates his bloody guts, and tries to fight back in any way she can, but being all small and tiny female doesn't help. At last they reach France, and she makes a wild escape, running and falling bedraggled into the arms of Philip Sinclair, who just so happens to be ol' Dom's cousin. After hearing a slightly edited version of her story, he rushes her to the palace of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose wife Josephine turns out to be Marisa's godmother. Marisa is reunited with her and also with her aunt Edmee, and it's not long before she's introduced to society and quickly is a beautiful and sought-after woman. Philip becomes her favorite companion and they spend a lot of time together, she fancies herself in love with him, his kindness and gentle way of treating her a huge contrast to Dominic's abuse. However, the happy bubble is not to last, and Dominic reappears, as her aunt's lover none-the-less. At least he doesn't rape her during this time, but he does take his chances to berate her some more. Soon Napoleon has his eye on Marisa, wanting her for his mistress, though she really doesn't want to be. One night she and Philip go for a stroll in the gardens while at a party, and they are caught alone together, though they weren't misbehaving or anything. Dominic quickly steps forward and tells the gathered crowd that he's had his way with Marisa loads of times, and therefore will marry her himself. She's outraged, but her aunt and everyone else thinks it's a splendid idea, even though she told her aunt that it was Dominic who had raped her before she made her escape. On her wedding night she's supposed to remain under Napoleon's roof, but Dom steals her away to a secluded villa, where he proceeds to yell at her for forcing him to marry her (which really ticked me off seeing as how the bastard volunteered his self for whatever reason!) and heaps some more name-calling and verbal abuse on her. She yells at him for being a rutting beast, and so he rips her gown off and carries her upstairs where he actually doesn't rape her this time, but uses some foreplay and such and shows her pleasure. For about a day they start to get along, and even sort of seem like they might start to care for each other... but one little comment by her about his previous treatment of her sets him off again, and he's back to being King Bastard of Dickwad Hill, throwing accusations of being a lying whore in her face and all that good stuff. After getting one more nice good extra brutal rape in, he leaves, taking all the servants and supplies with him, leaving her completely alone in the house save some halfwit peasant dude. When she awakes she's not feeling so hot, and collapses in a haze of pain. Seems she was pregnant from her time on Dom's ship, and his most recent brutality upon her person has caused her to miscarry. She send the peasant guy for help, and when she awakens again her aunt, and Josephine, a Jo's daughter are there to comfort her. After some time passes, she accompanies her aunt back to Edmee's home in England where Marisa has been set with the task of gathering info from French emigres about possible Royalist plots against Napoleon. She's also reunited with Philip and accepted into society, and eventually meets Dominic's father the Duke, with whom she forms an uneasy sort of alliance. She decides to become Philip's lover, and while on their way to Bath, they are set upon by what seems to be highwaymen. Philip is tied up and forced to watch while one of the men rapes her and brands her with a hot iron on her inner thigh. She's given a warning to give up her spying and whoring. Once the mystery man leaves, she unties Philip, only to have him, excited by watching her get used roughly before his eyes like a prostitute, fall upon her and have his way with her. Then they make haste to Bath where her aunt calls a doctor and tries to console her. Marisa's not upset with Philip for his actions though, and they become lovers in full. Soon however, Dominic makes his return to London and she's forced to play the obedient wife. He keeps his hands off her for awhile though, until one night when they argue and he proceeds to get drunk and decides to 'punish' her again. Her traitorous body unfortunately responds though, and she ends up, well, not hating it. The next morning she decides to run away with Philip. They wind up at the Duke's house, where, unbeknownst to her, the Duke and Philip have arranged an attempt on Dom's life. However Dom doesn't die, instead, the Duke does... and when Philip tries to shoot Dom in retaliation, the gun explodes and kills him. Immediately Dom rounds up Marisa and they are on the move. Dom confesses to being the mystery rapist who had branded her, as well as confessing to killing her father through injuries acquired in a duel (before he ever met Marisa). He books them on a ship to Spain, but before they get there, they're set upon by pirates and taken captive, along with the other passengers on board. Marisa tells them who she is, and that they'll get a hefty ransom from Napoleon for her return. She and the other two captured women are taken to stay at the house of Kamil, an important Turkish military man. He has sworn off traditional sex with a woman for a period of time, something to do with his career in the military, but convenient for him, he really enjoys the company of young boys, as that form of sex is not forbidden by his vows, and it's not uncommon or strange where he's at, so he's not deprived of all sex. It just so happens that Marisa isn't a curvy girl, in fact she's rather slim and could easily pass for a boy, especially with her newly cropped hair. It's not long before Kamil is all hot for her, and they become lovers... but due to those pesky vows, he can't do her normal style, he's gotta do her the other way, like... y'know what I'm saying? But he's kind to her, and shows her loads and loads of pleasure in their romps by night, and by day she goes about garbed as a boy, accompanying him everywhere, riding, patrolling, etc, learning and reveling in the freedoms she gets. All too soon though it becomes apparent that she's pregnant with Dominic's child, and she fears Kamil won't like her anymore if she starts to look more womanly. He consoles her though, and offers her a way to be rid of the pregnancy, but she decides she wants to have the child. Kamil promises her that he'll let her keep it, but his real plans are more cruel. If it is a boy, he will sell it to one of the many pleasure houses to be trained and used for bad things. If it is a girl, he may let her keep it, but only to eventually sell it off as a young wife to someone else. When the baby arrives, it is a boy and is secreted away in haste. They tell her it was a stillborn (girl if I remember right), and since her attendants had drugged her during labor, she knew no different. She's depressed by the news, but Kamil promises her that when his vow period is up, he'll give her many more children. He's decided not to ransom her after all, and wants to marry her instead. But it's not to be, as war with America seems to be looming. He is called to a different town, and his scheming jealous sister arranges for the bashaw to ransom Marisa back to France, and so she's off again. Dom in the meanwhile has found shelter with a tribe whose leader he saved. He joins up with a group of American soldiers, and finds a way to kill Kamil and rescue his baby son and his nurse Selma, who was one of the other captured passengers. Back in France, Marisa at last becomes Napoleon's mistress, for a few months anyway. After that, she heads to New Spain to be reunited with her uncle, a very important man in the Church. She thinks she wants to become a nun after all, but he tells her she needs to experience more in life first. So he sends Marisa off to meet her father's widow Inez, and to see the plantation and lands her father had left to her (M). Her escort to Louisiana turns out to be Don Pedro, who it seems hasn't lost his desire to wed her. For awhile he seems ok, a gentleman for the most part. When she reaches Louisiana, she finds her stepmother is just as much of a bitch as she had envisioned her to be. Marisa's quickly accepted into the local society, and they attend parties and balls and all that. Ah, but kismet shows its face, and it turns out that Dominic's here in Louisiana too, and engaged to a wealthy plantation owner's prim and proper daughter. While out riding, Marisa has the misfortune of running into him without the protection of other people around, and of course they set to fighting, and well, as we know Dom, he pulls her off her horse, throws her down, and rapes her. But having been well-taught about pleasure now, she responds and it becomes a heated thing. When she returns to her stepmother's home, she's berated by her and Don P. Then she learns Dom has a son who is about the same age as her child would've been had it lived. She begins to get suspicious and confronts him about it. He confirms that it is her child. She says she will do anything to see him, and they go to a room above a tavern where he demands to know why she thinks she deserves it after having abandoned the boy. She tells him the truth about having been told it was stillborn, and amazingly he believes her, but they're arguing anyway and he gets mad when she mentions Kamil, so he flips her over onto the bed and takes her the way Kamil always did, but without the benefits of oil and massage and all that stuff that makes it a bit more pleasurable. He then tells her he won't let her see the boy after all, and she returns home desolate. Stepmother decides it's time to head to the family plantation. When they arrive though, she learns of Inez's dastardly plans. Seems Inez has 'discovered' that Marisa's mother wasn't actually her father's 1st wife, but a quadroon slave, the same woman who was Marisa's nurse. The story, which may or may not be true, is that when the wife's baby died, Marisa was passed off as the daughter instead, having been born at nearly the same time. Since her mother in this version of events was a slave, though she had light skin, well, that makes Marisa a slave as well. Inez quickly sells her off before any scandal can arise, and Marisa is shipped off for some more abuse. Dom ends up buying her, and to work off the money he had to borrow to do so, he is sent into New Spain to capture wild horses. He takes her along, but leaves her alone until one ni9ght she decides she can't take it anymore, and she sorta seduces him. This begins a new chapter of sorts for them, and they actually start to talk and get to know each other and all that good stuff. She even realizes she's in love with him. Ok, I'll interrupt my narration here to say that amazingly, I grew to like Dom in this part of the book. All up to this I hated him, but here he shows his human side and I'm almost ashamed to say I kinda liked him. So yea, they capture the horses and prepare to head back. Alas, Don P. has decided he'd like to kill Dom and his troops are heading to their encampment to capture the American spies. Dom decides he has to send Marisa away so she won't get killed, and since he was adopted by a Comanche tribe he tells her to go with them and they'll ransom her off to the gov't of New Spain, but she has to be raped by a member of the tribe first, it's a rule. OF course she argues about the decision and he decides to do the rapin' himself in front of his men and the natives, and then off she goes with the Comanche, where she's ransomed to kind Capitan Higuera who takes her to San Antonio to stay in the convent she'd been at before when traveling with her uncle. Word is sent to her uncle in Mexico City, but it'll be months before he can get to her. Marisa is desolate, believing Dom was killed by the Spanish troops. Having learned it was Don P. who led them, she vows revenge. She becomes Higuera's lover, as well as to the governor, in order to get Don P. called to San Antonio. He comes, bringing a tortured group of captured Americans with him. She plans to kill him, but when he tells her he has Dom, and she sees for herself his battered condition, she has to save him. She pleads with Higuera and the gov' but they tell her nothing can be done. Then Don P. says that if she marries him, he'll arrange to look the other way while Dom escapes, but if she refuses, he'll torture him some more. Having discovered earlier that she's again pregnant with Dom's baby, she agrees. He takes her to the dungeon to see him, and in a power-trip a-hole move, Don P. throws her down and tries to rape her with Dom chained up to watch. Before he succeeds though, Higuera comes in and fights with Don P., and Dom trips him, causing him to fall down one of those really deep torture holes and die. But there's still nothing to be done to save Dom from his sentence, at least until her uncle arrives with the viceroy and his sentence is nulled due to the fact that Marisa is carrying his child, as well as her uncle's position. Their son is sent for along with Selma, and they are remarried and set off with her uncle to start anew in California, where their new son is born.
Ok, so this was a hard book to like. But I did... sort of, really only once I got to the last third of the story. The first two-thirds was just hard to take the abuse. I think Dom did learn to be a bit of a better man by the end of the book, but it was a hell of a battle. Took starvation, torture, and more torture to get him to realize 'Hey, maybe I shoulda been a li'l nicer to Marisa'. My problem wasn't with the author's writing, the book was well-written, and the plot and such made me want to keep reading, but it was just the barrage on the poor heroine! I'm not sure if I'll try anymore in this series or not... it's a hesitant maybe. But definitely not for a good long while. I need to let this one fade a little. I'll definitely be reading something lighter to cheer myself back up after reading this.
December 5, 2012
Wicked Loving Lies was my first Rosemary Rogers adventure or should I say roller coaster ride? I have heard the hype, read the discussion boards and laughed at the updated status of her readers so I thought I was ready, are we ever truly ready for her though? I thought WLL would be the best first choice to start with Rosemary thinking Sweet Savage Love and Dark Fires being linked may be too much for my OCD as a first time read. Enough about why I chose the book right!?
Ok from the get go I didn't really care for Marisa, she seemed immature, weak and a trifle annoying. I might mention that I love spitfire heroines not the meek TSTL type. Anyways so I immediately started to doubt my choice but then the arrogant female user and abuser Dominic shows up and steals my ever loving heart and tramps on it! Yes he did exactly that when he abducts her, rapes her and then pulls the age old disappearing act. I wondered why Rosemary would do this to us?! Follows this is Marisa's decent into the wickedly famous ways of the French, the simpering English and the bold Moors and suddenly little Marisa is all grown up. Dominic made appearances through out these times, even raping and branding her but I never truly felt sorry for her in her experiences partly I guess because I didn't really like her from page one. Dominic though had me on the edge of hysteria at times with his hard cruel masculine pride and alpha male chest hitting ways! I thought the lead up to him being who he is as an adult was as good as could be imagined and his severe mistrust was sometimes blinding but given the history accepted. The ending was well led into but I felt the last two or three chapters ended it abruptly where we had graciously strode up to that point but I liked the ending all the same.
My only real complaint was the chemistry, I like the whole I hate you you SOB but at times was overbearing and misleading or maybe it's because I read this right after The Silver Devil so I was already borderline over dosed on the dominating hate train. Again it could have been me but I thought there would be more positive chemistry with all those raging emotions. Still I think it was a great read and look forward to reading more of her stuff!
Ok from the get go I didn't really care for Marisa, she seemed immature, weak and a trifle annoying. I might mention that I love spitfire heroines not the meek TSTL type. Anyways so I immediately started to doubt my choice but then the arrogant female user and abuser Dominic shows up and steals my ever loving heart and tramps on it! Yes he did exactly that when he abducts her, rapes her and then pulls the age old disappearing act. I wondered why Rosemary would do this to us?! Follows this is Marisa's decent into the wickedly famous ways of the French, the simpering English and the bold Moors and suddenly little Marisa is all grown up. Dominic made appearances through out these times, even raping and branding her but I never truly felt sorry for her in her experiences partly I guess because I didn't really like her from page one. Dominic though had me on the edge of hysteria at times with his hard cruel masculine pride and alpha male chest hitting ways! I thought the lead up to him being who he is as an adult was as good as could be imagined and his severe mistrust was sometimes blinding but given the history accepted. The ending was well led into but I felt the last two or three chapters ended it abruptly where we had graciously strode up to that point but I liked the ending all the same.
My only real complaint was the chemistry, I like the whole I hate you you SOB but at times was overbearing and misleading or maybe it's because I read this right after The Silver Devil so I was already borderline over dosed on the dominating hate train. Again it could have been me but I thought there would be more positive chemistry with all those raging emotions. Still I think it was a great read and look forward to reading more of her stuff!
November 8, 2014
I have no idea why my review isn't posted. o.o I have no idea where it disappeared to. LOL I guess I'll give a few comments until I can either find the other on my HDD, or feel the fucks to re-write it.
Rosemary Rogers is a brilliant master at storytelling. Nothing is taken for granted. She drops clever lil' sprigs of clues along the way, filling the space with constant suspicion and nefarious subplots. When you finally feel like you're catching onto the clever wordplay - your conclusions may be founded, but she adds the kicker to drop you on your ass. A good stout mason jar of moonshine, and she's the sour cherries, or unripened apples you thought you'd built a tolerance up for. She's marvelous. One of the scenes in the Opera, EVERYONE was shifty eyed and all cloak&dagger! I was downright nervous, wondering just who was setting the stage, nevermind the Opera stage itself! It's not your typical, "Zomg, I saw so-in-so with his mistress at the Opera!" from your normal read. It's the freakin' death at a funeral mode, and everyone's guilty of something.
Comparing some old 'heroes' with questionable morals;
Dominic Challenger....... Sean Culhane's younger, less purpose driven brother. Where Sean was comfortable in his deviation, Dominic really had no purpose, and his entire premise was based on sheer whim! THEN...to conveniently justify it, he uses SUSPICION and PARANOIA to validate his actions thereafter. LOL
Sean Culhane: Lambsoft bitch.
Dominic Challenger: Hate's as strong an emotion as love, my sweet gypsy bitch. Show me how much you hate me.
And finally, I sort of felt like their gettin' together was inevitable, because frankly, there weren't anymore cousins/relatives, in either one's family, left to sexorz.
Rosemary Rogers is a brilliant master at storytelling. Nothing is taken for granted. She drops clever lil' sprigs of clues along the way, filling the space with constant suspicion and nefarious subplots. When you finally feel like you're catching onto the clever wordplay - your conclusions may be founded, but she adds the kicker to drop you on your ass. A good stout mason jar of moonshine, and she's the sour cherries, or unripened apples you thought you'd built a tolerance up for. She's marvelous. One of the scenes in the Opera, EVERYONE was shifty eyed and all cloak&dagger! I was downright nervous, wondering just who was setting the stage, nevermind the Opera stage itself! It's not your typical, "Zomg, I saw so-in-so with his mistress at the Opera!" from your normal read. It's the freakin' death at a funeral mode, and everyone's guilty of something.
Comparing some old 'heroes' with questionable morals;
Dominic Challenger....... Sean Culhane's younger, less purpose driven brother. Where Sean was comfortable in his deviation, Dominic really had no purpose, and his entire premise was based on sheer whim! THEN...to conveniently justify it, he uses SUSPICION and PARANOIA to validate his actions thereafter. LOL
Sean Culhane: Lambsoft bitch.
Dominic Challenger: Hate's as strong an emotion as love, my sweet gypsy bitch. Show me how much you hate me.
And finally, I sort of felt like their gettin' together was inevitable, because frankly, there weren't anymore cousins/relatives, in either one's family, left to sexorz.
July 2, 2018
First of all, a disclaimer - I love me some bodice rippers and hero on heroine r*** is not a deal breaker in the confines of an old-school romance novel. I am quite fond of Kathleen Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey, Anna Campbell's The Captive (if we are talking of a newer take on this). Despite rolling my eyes so hard at McNaught's Whitney My Love that they almost fell out, I happily own a copy and occasionally reread it.
All this said, if Goodreads had an option to give zero stars, I would. The hero is a psychopathic sociopath (or is it a sociopathic psychopath) who is flatter than a crape and never has a moment of realizing he is wrong. I don't mind a violent headcase as a hero, but at least make him interesting! Make him repent, however briefly! Something! His notion of interacting with heroine is brutal and continued assault - and that continues over years and years on multiple continents. And no, I don't mean "forced seduction," a trope that I don't mind in old-school books. No, I mean brutal and unpleasant experience for the heroine is a given. No seduction, forced or otherwise, enters into it half the times they are together. I get the appeal of "he overpowers me with his amazing lovemaking despite my protests" fantasy. I do not get the appeal of "I am dry and it hurts." (Yes, that happens.)
There are a million misunderstandings and they are never resolved. Why should they be, that would slow the rickety plot that careens madly all over the globe while making little sense, mainly as an excuse for the heroine to be "forcibly possessed" by yet another random or the hero. (Heroine is forcibly taken more than the fields of Belgium in WWI.) It's basically like a less coherent and less explicit Bertrice Small.
In general, the men in this novel are enough to want the reader to swear off them all together and the women are not much better. I have discussed the hero already. The heroine has all the emotional depth of a wet tissue. She spends 85% of the book violently hating the hero and the rest inexplicably in love with him. She makes about as much sense as a drug trip. The secondary characters are not much better. Frankly, the best ending would have been everyone in the book perishing in a mass fire or a nasty boating accident.
Stay away!
All this said, if Goodreads had an option to give zero stars, I would. The hero is a psychopathic sociopath (or is it a sociopathic psychopath) who is flatter than a crape and never has a moment of realizing he is wrong. I don't mind a violent headcase as a hero, but at least make him interesting! Make him repent, however briefly! Something! His notion of interacting with heroine is brutal and continued assault - and that continues over years and years on multiple continents. And no, I don't mean "forced seduction," a trope that I don't mind in old-school books. No, I mean brutal and unpleasant experience for the heroine is a given. No seduction, forced or otherwise, enters into it half the times they are together. I get the appeal of "he overpowers me with his amazing lovemaking despite my protests" fantasy. I do not get the appeal of "I am dry and it hurts." (Yes, that happens.)
There are a million misunderstandings and they are never resolved. Why should they be, that would slow the rickety plot that careens madly all over the globe while making little sense, mainly as an excuse for the heroine to be "forcibly possessed" by yet another random or the hero. (Heroine is forcibly taken more than the fields of Belgium in WWI.) It's basically like a less coherent and less explicit Bertrice Small.
In general, the men in this novel are enough to want the reader to swear off them all together and the women are not much better. I have discussed the hero already. The heroine has all the emotional depth of a wet tissue. She spends 85% of the book violently hating the hero and the rest inexplicably in love with him. She makes about as much sense as a drug trip. The secondary characters are not much better. Frankly, the best ending would have been everyone in the book perishing in a mass fire or a nasty boating accident.
Stay away!
November 11, 2010
Wow, what an andventure reading this book was. It really defines what a bodice ripper is, to me anyway. I mean where else could you have the heroine go from soon to be nun to a gypsy to the goddaughter of the first lady of France. Then to a haram girl,(the favorite of course),then back to Paris to be Napoleons misstress. Then off to Louisiana to be a plantation owner, oh but wait it turns out she's really the daughter of a slave so she's sold into slavery, and then to an Indian squaw.
Oh and the sex, I have never read a book were the heroine is raped soooo many times by the hero before they have consentual sex. While she was in the haram she was only taken in the ass so that Kamil could keep some sort of vow.
Domanic (H) raped, branded, and slapped her. He was mean and would call her a whore. It wasn't unitl he was near death and chianed up that he could figure out his true feelings for her, that he loved her. ****sigh**** LOL
Oh and the sex, I have never read a book were the heroine is raped soooo many times by the hero before they have consentual sex. While she was in the haram she was only taken in the ass so that Kamil could keep some sort of vow.
Domanic (H) raped, branded, and slapped her. He was mean and would call her a whore. It wasn't unitl he was near death and chianed up that he could figure out his true feelings for her, that he loved her. ****sigh**** LOL
August 16, 2022
Струва ми се, че всеки фен на даден несериозен жанр накрая открива, че жанрът съвсем не е толкова несериозен (или пък самият читател не е). И ако е останал “верен” на този вид литературно бягство достатъчно дълго (фантастика, трилър, кримки, любовни романи и т.н.), ще открие доста интересни тенденции във времето и географията.
Ако подхвана любимите си исторически любовни романи (но в никакъв случай сериозните и класиките, а онези, които зарязваме по хотели и влакове или гледаме да вземем безплатно), градацията е логична.
Първо хронологически са въздишки, напудрен морал (всъщност обществено лицемерие, но такива са били времената) и току някой вземе, че умре от нещастна любов или героично последва “правилния” благоприличен избор. Пълна гадост, добре, че им поотмина времето. Макар че в южнокорейските и китайските сериали това все още да си е така - конфуцианци, какво да ги правиш.
После идват 70-те и 80-те, сексуалната революция, феминизмът и какво ли още не, и - колкото и да е странно - това ясно се вижда и в тези книжлета. Да се смееш ли, да плачеш ли - факт. И ако някой смята, че феминизмът и любовните романи си противоречат, е в грешка.
Започваме с героиня-наследница, бягаща от уреден брак, ама бягство както си трябва - не джейностиновски глупости и пърхане с мигли. Току отнесе и някой бой девойката. Което, като се замислиш, си е реално. После вземе, че се появи героят, и главоболията започват.
В първия вариант от 70-те и 80-те имаме що годе свестен човек. Не е ангел небесен, но не и глупак или тотален егоист, та след бясно преследване из седемте морета се събират. Мацката дори помага със секстантите на кораба или управлението на фермата. Че какво - ферми и имения е имало винаги. В този период скучните балове не се харчат сюжетно, за мое облекчение, за сметка на това приключенията са на килограм, авторките си пишат както им щукне, не ги спират досадни редактори.
Вторият вариант е проблемен. Като в тази книга, която едвам извентилирах (по метода “вентилатор”, от изследователско любопитство). Проблем не в смисъл на “неморален”, хайде без тези глупости. Проблемен, защото - доста ясно и трезво - посочва проблема с домашното насилие. В миналото, пък и сега, връзката между силен консерватизъм и да биеш жената е, общо взето, правопропорционална. Не е тотално правило, но някои от “традиционните” ценности задават рамка, отвъд която - “тя си го проси.” И ето я тук нашата героиня. Бита и малтретирана от когото срещне. Няма спирка. И репликата на любимия все е - ти си си виновна, защо се обличаш, изглеждаш, говориш, гледаш ме така… И патицата…се влюбва, представете си! На екзотиките да не се спирам - испански манастир, наполеоновия двор, регентски Лондон, плантация с роби в Мексико, Луизиана и харем (май в Истанбул, но да не излъжа). А да, забравих за индианците. Добре бе, Розмари, ясно че жестоки времена и т.н., но защо, защо представяш като “любов” стокхолмски синдром на едно деградирало същество? То горкото вече не знае на кой свят е, и се спасява психически като си казва - е, не е чак толкова зле все пак. И даже на моменти се осъзнава.
Именно тази романизация на малтретирането е опасната.
Някой си мисли, че онези мижави и жалки 50 нюанса били нещо? Смях в залата - те са за бебета. Невинни. Виж, този тук сюжет на баба Розмари представлява клиничен интерес. Изобщо целите 70-80-те са така, макар да имат и доста добри попадения и най-вече никой не им е мърморил морализаторски в редакцията.
И взе пак ако някой ме попита трябва ли да се спират такива сюжети - не, по дяволите. Както трябва да имаме възможност да прелистим и “Моята борба”, ако решим. Но е хубаво да живеем в общество, в което и двете са просто странна екзотика.
А колкото до сегашните наследнички на баба Розмари… О, я порастнете малко! На 40 са, а пишат като (за) 14-годишни, че си и вярват (Джулия Куин - и теб имам предвид). Викториански или от времето на регентството жени, издаващи вестник? Имащи почти професия и манталитет от 21-век? Да бе, да.
С две думи, трудно се намира качествен исторически любовен роман, и туй то!
П.П. Между другото, разбирам защо има и 5 звездни оценки :) Всъщност приключенията и географските локации са много, и някои - доста добре списани. Човек (е, жена, щото мъж това няма да го прочете) може да получи представа за някои исторически събития и тенденции, и то доста адекватна. Освен това горкото момиче не е толкова безмозъчно, то знае какво се случва, но просто няма никаква сила да плува срещу течението. Но авторката определено е трябвало да посети психиатър с тази книга - един специалист би написал дисертация за поне по пет стари и неадресирани травми у двамата герои и авторката!
Ако подхвана любимите си исторически любовни романи (но в никакъв случай сериозните и класиките, а онези, които зарязваме по хотели и влакове или гледаме да вземем безплатно), градацията е логична.
Първо хронологически са въздишки, напудрен морал (всъщност обществено лицемерие, но такива са били времената) и току някой вземе, че умре от нещастна любов или героично последва “правилния” благоприличен избор. Пълна гадост, добре, че им поотмина времето. Макар че в южнокорейските и китайските сериали това все още да си е така - конфуцианци, какво да ги правиш.
После идват 70-те и 80-те, сексуалната революция, феминизмът и какво ли още не, и - колкото и да е странно - това ясно се вижда и в тези книжлета. Да се смееш ли, да плачеш ли - факт. И ако някой смята, че феминизмът и любовните романи си противоречат, е в грешка.
Започваме с героиня-наследница, бягаща от уреден брак, ама бягство както си трябва - не джейностиновски глупости и пърхане с мигли. Току отнесе и някой бой девойката. Което, като се замислиш, си е реално. После вземе, че се появи героят, и главоболията започват.
В първия вариант от 70-те и 80-те имаме що годе свестен човек. Не е ангел небесен, но не и глупак или тотален егоист, та след бясно преследване из седемте морета се събират. Мацката дори помага със секстантите на кораба или управлението на фермата. Че какво - ферми и имения е имало винаги. В този период скучните балове не се харчат сюжетно, за мое облекчение, за сметка на това приключенията са на килограм, авторките си пишат както им щукне, не ги спират досадни редактори.
Вторият вариант е проблемен. Като в тази книга, която едвам извентилирах (по метода “вентилатор”, от изследователско любопитство). Проблем не в смисъл на “неморален”, хайде без тези глупости. Проблемен, защото - доста ясно и трезво - посочва проблема с домашното насилие. В миналото, пък и сега, връзката между силен консерватизъм и да биеш жената е, общо взето, правопропорционална. Не е тотално правило, но някои от “традиционните” ценности задават рамка, отвъд която - “тя си го проси.” И ето я тук нашата героиня. Бита и малтретирана от когото срещне. Няма спирка. И репликата на любимия все е - ти си си виновна, защо се обличаш, изглеждаш, говориш, гледаш ме така… И патицата…се влюбва, представете си! На екзотиките да не се спирам - испански манастир, наполеоновия двор, регентски Лондон, плантация с роби в Мексико, Луизиана и харем (май в Истанбул, но да не излъжа). А да, забравих за индианците. Добре бе, Розмари, ясно че жестоки времена и т.н., но защо, защо представяш като “любов” стокхолмски синдром на едно деградирало същество? То горкото вече не знае на кой свят е, и се спасява психически като си казва - е, не е чак толкова зле все пак. И даже на моменти се осъзнава.
Именно тази романизация на малтретирането е опасната.
Някой си мисли, че онези мижави и жалки 50 нюанса били нещо? Смях в залата - те са за бебета. Невинни. Виж, този тук сюжет на баба Розмари представлява клиничен интерес. Изобщо целите 70-80-те са така, макар да имат и доста добри попадения и най-вече никой не им е мърморил морализаторски в редакцията.
И взе пак ако някой ме попита трябва ли да се спират такива сюжети - не, по дяволите. Както трябва да имаме възможност да прелистим и “Моята борба”, ако решим. Но е хубаво да живеем в общество, в което и двете са просто странна екзотика.
А колкото до сегашните наследнички на баба Розмари… О, я порастнете малко! На 40 са, а пишат като (за) 14-годишни, че си и вярват (Джулия Куин - и теб имам предвид). Викториански или от времето на регентството жени, издаващи вестник? Имащи почти професия и манталитет от 21-век? Да бе, да.
С две думи, трудно се намира качествен исторически любовен роман, и туй то!
П.П. Между другото, разбирам защо има и 5 звездни оценки :) Всъщност приключенията и географските локации са много, и някои - доста добре списани. Човек (е, жена, щото мъж това няма да го прочете) може да получи представа за някои исторически събития и тенденции, и то доста адекватна. Освен това горкото момиче не е толкова безмозъчно, то знае какво се случва, но просто няма никаква сила да плува срещу течението. Но авторката определено е трябвало да посети психиатър с тази книга - един специалист би написал дисертация за поне по пет стари и неадресирани травми у двамата герои и авторката!
July 3, 2019
You got to love a sprawling epic. Well, if you’re in the mood for one, and I don’t know about you but I tend to pick up Rosemary Rogers around the summer time. I’ve only read Sweet Savage Love, another classic title by Rogers, but Wicked Loving Lies has an edge on Sweet Savage Love. Even if it skirts the edge of southern belle romances, a time period I can't get into because slavery ran the economy.
Marisa is in a Spanish convent when she receives a message from her father that she is to be married off. To escape her fate, she runs off … and right into the arms of Dominic Challenger, friend of her betrothed-to-be, setting off a fantastical chain of events that takes the pair from Parisian ballrooms, English gambling dens, eastern harems, Southern plantations and sleepovers in Mexico. War? Rape? Political intrigue? Every fantastical location you can think of? Yes, Rogers has you covered.
The hate-hate relationship between Dominic and Marisa is irresistible. Both Dominic and Marisa have valid reasons for mistrusting each other, but they are also put in situations where they show how much they care for each other. Don’t get me wrong. Wicked Loving Lies is an extended rape fantasy, with much of the physical congress occurring Marisa is in a semi-conscious state. Dominic is incredibly cruel to Marisa, experiencing a feeble epiphany at the end that she isn’t the bad guy.
I loved Marisa’s hear-me-roar speech about how no one will ever “rape [her] mind.” and how she declares, “While there’s life in me and breath in me I’ll be myself and belong to myself, no matter how many times I might have to lend out my body.” It’s a satisfying speech, although the reader does wonder about the implications of such a declaration. In the context of the Sexual Liberation of the 1970s where there was a cultural shift for women to reclaim their bodies - loving their bodies and experiencing premarital sex, this message can be profound. In the age of the #metoo movement? Perhaps the message of social change needs to be tweaked to incorporate accountability. In addition, unpacking the racial implications of the stepmother's inheritance schemes and the symbolism of the different geographics is what makes Wicked Loving Lies fascinating. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions about the fairness of slavery - but purely for the light-skinned and mixed. So, there are many problems within this fantasy world.
Overall, dip into Wicked Loving Lies if you like BDs.
Marisa is in a Spanish convent when she receives a message from her father that she is to be married off. To escape her fate, she runs off … and right into the arms of Dominic Challenger, friend of her betrothed-to-be, setting off a fantastical chain of events that takes the pair from Parisian ballrooms, English gambling dens, eastern harems, Southern plantations and sleepovers in Mexico. War? Rape? Political intrigue? Every fantastical location you can think of? Yes, Rogers has you covered.
The hate-hate relationship between Dominic and Marisa is irresistible. Both Dominic and Marisa have valid reasons for mistrusting each other, but they are also put in situations where they show how much they care for each other. Don’t get me wrong. Wicked Loving Lies is an extended rape fantasy, with much of the physical congress occurring Marisa is in a semi-conscious state. Dominic is incredibly cruel to Marisa, experiencing a feeble epiphany at the end that she isn’t the bad guy.
I loved Marisa’s hear-me-roar speech about how no one will ever “rape [her] mind.” and how she declares, “While there’s life in me and breath in me I’ll be myself and belong to myself, no matter how many times I might have to lend out my body.” It’s a satisfying speech, although the reader does wonder about the implications of such a declaration. In the context of the Sexual Liberation of the 1970s where there was a cultural shift for women to reclaim their bodies - loving their bodies and experiencing premarital sex, this message can be profound. In the age of the #metoo movement? Perhaps the message of social change needs to be tweaked to incorporate accountability. In addition, unpacking the racial implications of the stepmother's inheritance schemes and the symbolism of the different geographics is what makes Wicked Loving Lies fascinating. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions about the fairness of slavery - but purely for the light-skinned and mixed. So, there are many problems within this fantasy world.
Overall, dip into Wicked Loving Lies if you like BDs.
November 5, 2021
still bananas!
March 7, 2011
What and epic adventure with a capital “A”. I don’t know if it is possible at all to summarize the plot of this book because it goes almost through entire continent, starting at a convent in Spain and winding up in America. It is a book I have mixed feeling about because the abuse that our heroine took is above and beyond anything a person can forgive and most of the plot was unnecessary imo. This book is about a heroine who is loved/wanted by almost everyone but her husband who is our main hero until late in the book. This book is 750 pages and it could have as easily been 300. I thrived on the few happy moments our heroine got and I felt that after all there should be a longer HEA. Also a warning that the heroine pretty much sleeps with every male she meets in this book and there is repeated rape by her husband.
April 22, 2010
My favorite 'genre' is BR and this one is great. There is plenty of tension, the violence and 'hate' between the Hero and Heroine. This dates from the 70s and has many themes and scenes that are 'verboten' today. There is rape, slavery and infidelity and of course the worst offense: misunderstandings! So be forwarned, not for the faint of heart!
August 6, 2012
Absolutely horrible. Easily one of the worst books I have ever read.
1) There didn't seem to be any actual love.
2) Dominic was an abusive rapist.
3) Marisa didn't even remotely care about her kid.
4) just completely unrealistic, even for romance novels.
It seemed too much like it was trying to be Gone With The Wind, but it failed completely,
February 19, 2023
Not really sure what to rate this so I went right in the middle. While I can't in good conscience recommend this book - it's homophobic and racist and well, very rapey. If I try to view this through the lens of 1976, I can see what it did for women. Yes, the heroine is repeatedly raped to the point that I don't even know how she went on living. This book is a true bodice ripper in every sense of the term. At this point, you might be asking why I continued reading it. Well, to be honest, I couldn't stop reading it. I had to know what else could possibly happen in this book and it shocked me over and over again. It even had me crying so hard, I could barely see the words on the page at one point. It definitely had me asking myself "what are you reading?" several times but that didn't stop me from continuing. I also must add that I really liked Rosemary Rogers' writing style. It kept me interested the whole time.
August 28, 2012
I'm reading this because I was named after the main character. Well, not really, but my mom read this book, didn't like it, but really liked the name Marisa, only with an additional s. So far, I can see why she did not care for it.
Okay, I've read it. It's difficult to rate this book because it's an old-skool bodice ripper, written when rape was a common trope. More than 35 years later, I find it next to impossible to look at it objectively. But, beyond the fact that the heroine falls deeply in love with someone who abuses her horribly, there are other issues:
1) It's epic, I get that, but really? Napoleon's mistress? Spanish Inquisition torture devices? I give kudos to Rosemary Rogers for her no-holds-barred writing, but I was waiting for the kitchen sink to make an appearance.
2) Particularly towards the beginning, far too much backstory is told by characters explaining things in what would be a very weird conversation with another character. I'd almost rather the author include a Greek chorus, as it would be a little more believable.
3) Marisa tends to lose consciousness whenever there's a significant change in locale. One starts to get the impression that the author just didn't want to write transition scenes.
That said, damned if I didn't end up completely compelled by the Dominic/Marisa saga and read the second half of the book in one sitting. For that alone, I couldn't give less than three stars.
Okay, I've read it. It's difficult to rate this book because it's an old-skool bodice ripper, written when rape was a common trope. More than 35 years later, I find it next to impossible to look at it objectively. But, beyond the fact that the heroine falls deeply in love with someone who abuses her horribly, there are other issues:
1) It's epic, I get that, but really? Napoleon's mistress? Spanish Inquisition torture devices? I give kudos to Rosemary Rogers for her no-holds-barred writing, but I was waiting for the kitchen sink to make an appearance.
2) Particularly towards the beginning, far too much backstory is told by characters explaining things in what would be a very weird conversation with another character. I'd almost rather the author include a Greek chorus, as it would be a little more believable.
3) Marisa tends to lose consciousness whenever there's a significant change in locale. One starts to get the impression that the author just didn't want to write transition scenes.
That said, damned if I didn't end up completely compelled by the Dominic/Marisa saga and read the second half of the book in one sitting. For that alone, I couldn't give less than three stars.
May 18, 2018
I started reading this book in the beginning of October 2014 and was pretty excited because I've been searching for a Rosemary Rogers book for several years now and was just unable to find one. It took me a whole month to get through with this! I'm going to be honest about this review, it definitely is not one of the best (historical) romance novels I've ever read. But it was an intriguing and adventure-filled book. Although the beginning started out VERY dull, boring, and SO CONFUSING, it picked up later on as the heroine, Marisa found herself in France living with Napoleon's family. Later it got slow and boring again, then exciting during Marisa's stay in the Turkish harem. Basically, that's how it went until the end: there were times when the story was very exciting and I couldn't put it down, to times when it was so dull, tedious and carried on and on and on...
This book, however, did take me about 1 month to complete! there was something strange about Wicked Loving Lies just made me take forever to finish it!! To the point where I found myself skimming substantial parts because I was so fed up and wanted to get it over with! So overall rating is a 3 stars even though I wish I could give it more than that, but it just wasn't that captivating.
This book, however, did take me about 1 month to complete! there was something strange about Wicked Loving Lies just made me take forever to finish it!! To the point where I found myself skimming substantial parts because I was so fed up and wanted to get it over with! So overall rating is a 3 stars even though I wish I could give it more than that, but it just wasn't that captivating.
November 6, 2011
The hero was a complete bounder who constantly seems to rape the heroine and when not doing so, he always thinks the worst of her
In real terms he was a sociopath - some of his actions re the heroine are just jaw dropping - and not in a good way.
He is up there with Sean from Stormfire.
Two - Three stars as it was strangely readable but I had pretty much had enough trauma in the Old World and the events in America were beyond over the top.
the situation when the heroine is declared a slave quadroon was a step too far and just seemed to be designed by the author to further unnecessarily torture her heroine and this was followed by a descent into degradation which Was just horrible
Still, I did enjoy the first half of the book.
A real guilty pleasure.
I would say that these Rosemary Rodgers books have a tendency to just come across as cold and bleak, which this certainly suffered from and I doubt that I will read anything further by her.
In real terms he was a sociopath - some of his actions re the heroine are just jaw dropping - and not in a good way.
He is up there with Sean from Stormfire.
Two - Three stars as it was strangely readable but I had pretty much had enough trauma in the Old World and the events in America were beyond over the top.
the situation when the heroine is declared a slave quadroon was a step too far and just seemed to be designed by the author to further unnecessarily torture her heroine and this was followed by a descent into degradation which Was just horrible
Still, I did enjoy the first half of the book.
A real guilty pleasure.
I would say that these Rosemary Rodgers books have a tendency to just come across as cold and bleak, which this certainly suffered from and I doubt that I will read anything further by her.
July 6, 2017
Holy hot mess, Batman.
Still, I read every 626 pages of my edition.
I truly have no feelings for Marisa either way, except she's a survivor of her time. In this story the author gave her a network of (long, long list) powerful benefactors who would pop up just in the nick of time. Only to use her for their own agendas, including our "hero." Familia connections IMHO as unbelievable as unicorns, but this was published in 1976, so there was no Wikipedia to fact check the stream of historical rainbows ;)
As far as Dominic Challenger? He had 2, maybe 3, almosty heroic moments. I got WHY he was the way he was. He too was a survivor of his time. And a wee bit of a sociopath with a heaping side of asshole.
In review, it's been decades since I pulled a Rosemary Rogers from its hiding place between my mattress for an under the covers read. LOL
Apparently a classic bodice ripper, like the at least 5 Marisa was subjected to, still is worth the read and 4*
Still, I read every 626 pages of my edition.
I truly have no feelings for Marisa either way, except she's a survivor of her time. In this story the author gave her a network of (long, long list) powerful benefactors who would pop up just in the nick of time. Only to use her for their own agendas, including our "hero." Familia connections IMHO as unbelievable as unicorns, but this was published in 1976, so there was no Wikipedia to fact check the stream of historical rainbows ;)
As far as Dominic Challenger? He had 2, maybe 3, almosty heroic moments. I got WHY he was the way he was. He too was a survivor of his time. And a wee bit of a sociopath with a heaping side of asshole.
In review, it's been decades since I pulled a Rosemary Rogers from its hiding place between my mattress for an under the covers read. LOL
Apparently a classic bodice ripper, like the at least 5 Marisa was subjected to, still is worth the read and 4*
avoid
April 14, 2021Nothing can justify rape and violence. I am glad that I didn't started the book. I would suggest to stay away from the book.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 5, 2012
i never want to read a book as stuipid as this ever again what a waste of time.
June 22, 2023
Don't' know how many prisons, beatings and betrayals Dominic endured but they were wayyyyyy past the point where they were believable. Same as how many willing and 'unwilling' lovers Marisa had. I lost count. There was wayyyyy too much going on. ANY of the different challenges they had to overcome could have been a book in itself. There were so many of them, that I was just like 'ok, what ELSE is the author going to throw their way?' The author clearly hated both MCs, specially Dominic. He did not catch a break the whole book.
I found both MC unlikable too. They had zero communication and connection other than lust. I don't know how this can be classify as romance since the romance was missing the entire book. The only reason I finished this book was because I paid for it.
The HEA is also super dissatisfying since it is told and not shown in an epilogue. After being shown these too going through the ringer, I was hoping that I was going to be shown them being happy. Alas, that did not happen.
A total, unsatisfying read.
I found both MC unlikable too. They had zero communication and connection other than lust. I don't know how this can be classify as romance since the romance was missing the entire book. The only reason I finished this book was because I paid for it.
The HEA is also super dissatisfying since it is told and not shown in an epilogue. After being shown these too going through the ringer, I was hoping that I was going to be shown them being happy. Alas, that did not happen.
A total, unsatisfying read.
May 13, 2020
On page 654 of a 667 page book, the heroine proclaims: “I’m tired of being raped!” Hoo boy, you said it sister! A standard issue brooding hero and a feisty, virginal-for-like-a-hot-second heroine are flung together then wrenched apart by intrigues, wild coincidences, geopolitics, other lovers and all manner of misunderstandings. Rogers doesn’t shrink from the kink in this epic tome, which is less a romance novel and more a story of two people willing to cross oceans and continents for a good lay (or in paperback parlance: the searing, fiery depths of unquenched passion).
The dramatic wave after wave of crises are entertaining until they’re exhausting.
The dramatic wave after wave of crises are entertaining until they’re exhausting.
September 4, 2024
4.75
They don't make epic romance like this anymore.
They don't make epic romance like this anymore.
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