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Golden Gypsy
A RARE JEWEL
When beautiful Dominique Randell consented to be the hostess for the high stakes poker game she didn't know that her lush, tantalizing body was the prize or that the winner would be Jared Barlow, the most dashing man she had ever seen. She could feel his turquoise eyes caressing her satiny curves, setting her blood on fire. Unknowingly he took her innocence and she became as precious as an untouched treasure.
AN UNTOUCHED TREASURE
Her face was radiant, her mane of magnificent hair, and those gorgeous doe-like eyes so sultry, yet so naive. Jared imagined Dominique to be a bewitching golden goddess who knew every way in which to entice and delight a man. He couldn't wait to claim passion's sweet nectar from her lips and fill her with desire. Instead he became a slave to her silken flesh and his fortune was to forever crave the Golden Gypsy!
When beautiful Dominique Randell consented to be the hostess for the high stakes poker game she didn't know that her lush, tantalizing body was the prize or that the winner would be Jared Barlow, the most dashing man she had ever seen. She could feel his turquoise eyes caressing her satiny curves, setting her blood on fire. Unknowingly he took her innocence and she became as precious as an untouched treasure.
AN UNTOUCHED TREASURE
Her face was radiant, her mane of magnificent hair, and those gorgeous doe-like eyes so sultry, yet so naive. Jared imagined Dominique to be a bewitching golden goddess who knew every way in which to entice and delight a man. He couldn't wait to claim passion's sweet nectar from her lips and fill her with desire. Instead he became a slave to her silken flesh and his fortune was to forever crave the Golden Gypsy!
- GenresHistorical Romance
509 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1983
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 14, 2017
Better Than Her Other Books, But Still Issues Remain.
"Golden Gypsy" is the third book I've read by Wanda Owen. While it's definitely better than her previous two books, the same issues that plague her first books are in this book as well.
The Story: The book begins with our meeting the heroine of the book, Dominique Randell, age 17, who is very happy with her life. Dominique is the daughter of Bob Randell, a Louisiana planter. She is engaged to Andy Morgan, son of a neighboring planter family. Dominique and Andy are looking eagerly toward their potential marriage. Which means you know something bad is going to happen. The something bad in this circumstance is Dominique's kidnapping by two goons hired by Devlin Titus, a man with great animus toward both the Randell and Morgan families. They kidnap Dominique and take her from New Orleans to Natchez, Mississippi. Titus plans to ruin Dominique by selling her into a house of ill repute. To that end, Titus convinces her to act as hostess for a card game he is holding. One of the men attending this gambling soiree is the hero of the book, Jared Barlow, owner of the Golden Palace, a combination gaming establishment/brothel. Jared wins the games and takes Dominique back with him to his establishment. He makes love to her, thinking she's experienced; she's not. Things go on from there.
As time goes on, Dominique begins singing in the bar at the Golden Palace and earns the title "Golden Gypsy." She and Jared also begin to fall in love. Jared asks Dominique to marry him. She refuses, believing that she is part-black; she believes that her biological mother, Selena, was an octoroon, or one-eighth black. That turns out not to be the case, as Selena was a Romany gypsy. Another point: Jared was previously abandoned by his mother; because of this, he doesn't completely trust Dominique; because of his womanizing and the fact that he owns a brothel with several beautiful women as employees, Dominique doesn't completely trust Jared, either.
This lack of trust magnifies later events. Andy comes to Natchez on business and comes to the Golden Palace and sees Dominique. She immediately leaves Jared and goes with Andy. (Earlier, Dominique saw Jared with a woman, Lorraine Devereaux, who Dominique believed was his other lover. Despite being sexually involved previously, Jared and Lorraine are not currently lovers.) Andy tells Dominique that her father is ill, which is true. What Andy doesn't tell Dominique is that the real reason he wants to take her back to New Orleans is to install her as his mistress; he is currently married and has a child with a woman he despises, and she him. Dominique eventually realizes she doesn't love Andy anymore and, despite being courted by another man, comes to terms with the fact that she loves Jared. Which is a good thing, because she's pregnant by him. Jared comes to New Orleans to see her and they have their happily ever after. P.S. There is a sequel to this book, "Golden Ecstasy" featuring their son, Gil, as the hero of that book.
While this is a nice book, it has a few issues. First, the names of Dominique and Andy are the same names of characters in Ms. Owen's previous book. The descriptions of Andy's parents, Matt and Denise Morgan, are virtually the same as Elise Cartiers Edwards and Lance Edwards, the heroine and hero of her first two books. In the second book was a young girl named Dominique. Although they're not explicitly stated, these very well could have been the same characters.
Other issues that continue with Ms. Owen's books include: introducing characters and then abandoning them; and storylines which are rounded and not finished. This is a really annoying habit in Ms. Owen's books. The most annoying thing about this book, however, is that most of the issues that Dominique and Jared had could have been solved if they had actually talked to each other; that can be said about a lot of books from the 1980's. Had they actually talked to each other the book would have been so much shorter, like a Harlequin novel, instead of the 500+ pages this book was. I get the sense-fairly or unfairly-that these books were sometimes padded to get a prescribed number of pages. There is a lot of filler in these books.
Sex: A few sex scenes, but most are pretty tame.
Violence: During her kidnapping, Dominique is physically assaulted and sodomized. Later, Jared kills Titus. Jared is shot by a man who wants Dominique, and Jared later kills the man. But none of the violent scenes are graphic in nature.
Bottom Line: The book is entirely adequate, nothing more.
"Golden Gypsy" is the third book I've read by Wanda Owen. While it's definitely better than her previous two books, the same issues that plague her first books are in this book as well.
The Story: The book begins with our meeting the heroine of the book, Dominique Randell, age 17, who is very happy with her life. Dominique is the daughter of Bob Randell, a Louisiana planter. She is engaged to Andy Morgan, son of a neighboring planter family. Dominique and Andy are looking eagerly toward their potential marriage. Which means you know something bad is going to happen. The something bad in this circumstance is Dominique's kidnapping by two goons hired by Devlin Titus, a man with great animus toward both the Randell and Morgan families. They kidnap Dominique and take her from New Orleans to Natchez, Mississippi. Titus plans to ruin Dominique by selling her into a house of ill repute. To that end, Titus convinces her to act as hostess for a card game he is holding. One of the men attending this gambling soiree is the hero of the book, Jared Barlow, owner of the Golden Palace, a combination gaming establishment/brothel. Jared wins the games and takes Dominique back with him to his establishment. He makes love to her, thinking she's experienced; she's not. Things go on from there.
As time goes on, Dominique begins singing in the bar at the Golden Palace and earns the title "Golden Gypsy." She and Jared also begin to fall in love. Jared asks Dominique to marry him. She refuses, believing that she is part-black; she believes that her biological mother, Selena, was an octoroon, or one-eighth black. That turns out not to be the case, as Selena was a Romany gypsy. Another point: Jared was previously abandoned by his mother; because of this, he doesn't completely trust Dominique; because of his womanizing and the fact that he owns a brothel with several beautiful women as employees, Dominique doesn't completely trust Jared, either.
This lack of trust magnifies later events. Andy comes to Natchez on business and comes to the Golden Palace and sees Dominique. She immediately leaves Jared and goes with Andy. (Earlier, Dominique saw Jared with a woman, Lorraine Devereaux, who Dominique believed was his other lover. Despite being sexually involved previously, Jared and Lorraine are not currently lovers.) Andy tells Dominique that her father is ill, which is true. What Andy doesn't tell Dominique is that the real reason he wants to take her back to New Orleans is to install her as his mistress; he is currently married and has a child with a woman he despises, and she him. Dominique eventually realizes she doesn't love Andy anymore and, despite being courted by another man, comes to terms with the fact that she loves Jared. Which is a good thing, because she's pregnant by him. Jared comes to New Orleans to see her and they have their happily ever after. P.S. There is a sequel to this book, "Golden Ecstasy" featuring their son, Gil, as the hero of that book.
While this is a nice book, it has a few issues. First, the names of Dominique and Andy are the same names of characters in Ms. Owen's previous book. The descriptions of Andy's parents, Matt and Denise Morgan, are virtually the same as Elise Cartiers Edwards and Lance Edwards, the heroine and hero of her first two books. In the second book was a young girl named Dominique. Although they're not explicitly stated, these very well could have been the same characters.
Other issues that continue with Ms. Owen's books include: introducing characters and then abandoning them; and storylines which are rounded and not finished. This is a really annoying habit in Ms. Owen's books. The most annoying thing about this book, however, is that most of the issues that Dominique and Jared had could have been solved if they had actually talked to each other; that can be said about a lot of books from the 1980's. Had they actually talked to each other the book would have been so much shorter, like a Harlequin novel, instead of the 500+ pages this book was. I get the sense-fairly or unfairly-that these books were sometimes padded to get a prescribed number of pages. There is a lot of filler in these books.
Sex: A few sex scenes, but most are pretty tame.
Violence: During her kidnapping, Dominique is physically assaulted and sodomized. Later, Jared kills Titus. Jared is shot by a man who wants Dominique, and Jared later kills the man. But none of the violent scenes are graphic in nature.
Bottom Line: The book is entirely adequate, nothing more.
April 19, 2025
Once again, I've read an HR novel that was good, but could have been better, with flaws that didn't have to be there.
I could have done without the kidnapping, sexual assault and the overly done innocent in a brothel trope, though since "The Golden Palace" was a big part of the story, owned by the H, Jared Barlow, I guess that has to be overlooked.
Circumstances take the h, Dominique Randall, from planning her wedding to Andy Morgan to working for Jared, singing at the Golden Palace (as "The Golden Gypsy"). She also becomes his mistress, and soon each is hopelessly in love, yet afraid to admit their true feelings.
As is to be expected, obstacles stand in the way of their happiness together, but they're mostly of their own making. These two could have used couples counseling pretty badly, as they needed to be told how important communication is, and they definitely did NOT do so! Jared had a wild, womanizing past, and this caused Dominique to be jealous, even without cause, and then she retaliates and makes things worse. He gets an innocent kiss from a former girlfriend on New Years, so she starts flirting with another man, then makes plans to leave him, but later comes to her senses. Jared, meanwhile, had gotten her an engagement ring, but when he found out she thought of leaving, he changed his mind about asking her to marry him.
That's just for starters. Later, when he actually does ask her to marry him, once again she sees him in what she thinks is a compromising position, (with another ex, Lorraine Devereaux) assumes he's been untrue, meets up with Andy Morgan again and acts like she still loves him. Then Jared retaliates by sleeping with yet another ex!
Next thing you know, Dominique's planning to return to New Orleans with Andy, then changes her mind when she and Jared give into their feelings and share a passionate night, then changes her mind again when she discovers him gone in the morning (not noticing the note he left for her), then leaves for N.O. with Andy, and almost gives in to his seductions more than once (but can't go through with it because she keeps thinking of Jared) and (needless to say) didn't tell him of her hot night with Jared, though she did tell him she had been Jared's mistress and wasn't ashamed of it.
Andy, meanwhile, had a few secrets of his own!
As for Jared: when he saw Dominique boarding the boat to New Orleans with Andy, he made no attempt to stop her, believing she had read his note and didn't care, and he went back to his old drinking/gambling/whoring ways.
What a mess! (A stupid, unnecessary one!)
To top all this off, when Jared had proposed, Dominique was afraid to say yes, because rumor had it that she was part black (1/16th to be exact). I won't go into the details, but it turns out she was part gypsy, instead! What a relief!!! Nothing wrong with being a gypsy (whose reputations weren't all that great), but to have even a tiny percentage of black blood!!! HORRORS!!! I realize this novel was set in the 19thc south, but still! I'm white and this bothers me, imagine how someone black would feel reading this!
See what I mean about flaws? Way too many!
I could have done without the kidnapping, sexual assault and the overly done innocent in a brothel trope, though since "The Golden Palace" was a big part of the story, owned by the H, Jared Barlow, I guess that has to be overlooked.
Circumstances take the h, Dominique Randall, from planning her wedding to Andy Morgan to working for Jared, singing at the Golden Palace (as "The Golden Gypsy"). She also becomes his mistress, and soon each is hopelessly in love, yet afraid to admit their true feelings.
As is to be expected, obstacles stand in the way of their happiness together, but they're mostly of their own making. These two could have used couples counseling pretty badly, as they needed to be told how important communication is, and they definitely did NOT do so! Jared had a wild, womanizing past, and this caused Dominique to be jealous, even without cause, and then she retaliates and makes things worse. He gets an innocent kiss from a former girlfriend on New Years, so she starts flirting with another man, then makes plans to leave him, but later comes to her senses. Jared, meanwhile, had gotten her an engagement ring, but when he found out she thought of leaving, he changed his mind about asking her to marry him.
That's just for starters. Later, when he actually does ask her to marry him, once again she sees him in what she thinks is a compromising position, (with another ex, Lorraine Devereaux) assumes he's been untrue, meets up with Andy Morgan again and acts like she still loves him. Then Jared retaliates by sleeping with yet another ex!
Next thing you know, Dominique's planning to return to New Orleans with Andy, then changes her mind when she and Jared give into their feelings and share a passionate night, then changes her mind again when she discovers him gone in the morning (not noticing the note he left for her), then leaves for N.O. with Andy, and almost gives in to his seductions more than once (but can't go through with it because she keeps thinking of Jared) and (needless to say) didn't tell him of her hot night with Jared, though she did tell him she had been Jared's mistress and wasn't ashamed of it.
Andy, meanwhile, had a few secrets of his own!
As for Jared: when he saw Dominique boarding the boat to New Orleans with Andy, he made no attempt to stop her, believing she had read his note and didn't care, and he went back to his old drinking/gambling/whoring ways.
What a mess! (A stupid, unnecessary one!)
To top all this off, when Jared had proposed, Dominique was afraid to say yes, because rumor had it that she was part black (1/16th to be exact). I won't go into the details, but it turns out she was part gypsy, instead! What a relief!!! Nothing wrong with being a gypsy (whose reputations weren't all that great), but to have even a tiny percentage of black blood!!! HORRORS!!! I realize this novel was set in the 19thc south, but still! I'm white and this bothers me, imagine how someone black would feel reading this!
See what I mean about flaws? Way too many!
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