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The Second Sunrise
IN PASSION'S NAME...
Jenny Townsend had made a pact. Her elderly husband had extracted her word as he lay on his deathbed. His beautiful virgin bride would marry again — but she must promise to try many men, beginning with his own three grandsons; and only then, and only for love, would she choose her mate. Now she was a very rich widow — with everything money could buy — pledged to the pursuit of pleasure.
Jenny Townsend had made a pact. Her elderly husband had extracted her word as he lay on his deathbed. His beautiful virgin bride would marry again — but she must promise to try many men, beginning with his own three grandsons; and only then, and only for love, would she choose her mate. Now she was a very rich widow — with everything money could buy — pledged to the pursuit of pleasure.
383 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
1 person is currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Francesca Greer
3 books1 followerReal name: Frances Leroy "Frankie-Lee" Griggs Weed Zelley Janas.
She wrote hundreds of novels and short stories, publishing under pseudonyms including Saliee O'Brien, Marie Eyre, and Stuart Jason. She had her first story published at age 12.
Obituary: Sun Sentinel, 2/22/2002
By Jose Dante Parra Herrera Staff Writer
Writing novels in the post-World War II era, Frankie-Lee Janas often had to deal with the sex discrimination that marked the times.
So when a reader wrote to complain about a violent scene in one of her books, saying that a woman could not possibly write something so gruesome, she took it as a compliment, her grandson said.
Mrs. Janas, of Hollywood, author of hundreds of romance and historical novels, died last week. She was 93.
Mrs. Janas was born in the small town of Appleton, Mo., the daughter of a postal carrier and a homemaker. She often told Thurlow Weed IV, her only grandson, about her grandfather, a teacher in Indian territory in the days before Kansas and Oklahoma were states.
Her first short story was published when she was 12. At a time when few women had the opportunity to go to college, Mrs. Janas went to the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in rhetoric and writing.
She married Thurlow Weed and was soon writing short stories and reading her work on a weekly radio show. Her grandson said many of her pieces were published in The Saturday Evening Post.
Mrs. Janas penned hundreds of romance novels and historical fiction, including a series of novels about the Cajun migration from Canada into Louisiana and some about African-American characters living in the pre-Civil War South. Her agent sometimes told her to use a male pseudonym, arguing that readers would not respond well to such work coming from a woman.
But she did not allow prejudices about her gender to dictate what she wrote, Thurlow Weed IV said. "You would say to yourself, 'Those torrid passages could not come from this prim and proper-looking lady.'"
In 1948 Mrs. Janas moved to Hollywood and shortly thereafter divorced her husband. She later married Leroy Zelley, who died in 1958. Her third husband was Eugene Janas, a reporter for the Fort Lauderdale News known for his exposés. He died in 1989.
She left recently found unpublished manuscripts, Thurlow Weed IV said.
In addition to her grandson, Mrs. Janas is survived by stepdaughters Judy Winslow and Jeane Burford, and daughter-in-law Auwina S. Weed.
She wrote hundreds of novels and short stories, publishing under pseudonyms including Saliee O'Brien, Marie Eyre, and Stuart Jason. She had her first story published at age 12.
Obituary: Sun Sentinel, 2/22/2002
By Jose Dante Parra Herrera Staff Writer
Writing novels in the post-World War II era, Frankie-Lee Janas often had to deal with the sex discrimination that marked the times.
So when a reader wrote to complain about a violent scene in one of her books, saying that a woman could not possibly write something so gruesome, she took it as a compliment, her grandson said.
Mrs. Janas, of Hollywood, author of hundreds of romance and historical novels, died last week. She was 93.
Mrs. Janas was born in the small town of Appleton, Mo., the daughter of a postal carrier and a homemaker. She often told Thurlow Weed IV, her only grandson, about her grandfather, a teacher in Indian territory in the days before Kansas and Oklahoma were states.
Her first short story was published when she was 12. At a time when few women had the opportunity to go to college, Mrs. Janas went to the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in rhetoric and writing.
She married Thurlow Weed and was soon writing short stories and reading her work on a weekly radio show. Her grandson said many of her pieces were published in The Saturday Evening Post.
Mrs. Janas penned hundreds of romance novels and historical fiction, including a series of novels about the Cajun migration from Canada into Louisiana and some about African-American characters living in the pre-Civil War South. Her agent sometimes told her to use a male pseudonym, arguing that readers would not respond well to such work coming from a woman.
But she did not allow prejudices about her gender to dictate what she wrote, Thurlow Weed IV said. "You would say to yourself, 'Those torrid passages could not come from this prim and proper-looking lady.'"
In 1948 Mrs. Janas moved to Hollywood and shortly thereafter divorced her husband. She later married Leroy Zelley, who died in 1958. Her third husband was Eugene Janas, a reporter for the Fort Lauderdale News known for his exposés. He died in 1989.
She left recently found unpublished manuscripts, Thurlow Weed IV said.
In addition to her grandson, Mrs. Janas is survived by stepdaughters Judy Winslow and Jeane Burford, and daughter-in-law Auwina S. Weed.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 4, 2017
Warning: This review contains images and descriptions of really crazy plot points that you couldn't even believe possible in romance. Read at your own risk.
I don’t know the last time I laughed so much with a romance that wasn’t supposed to be funny. But this book was so unpredictably crazy that I found myself laughing in almost every page.
The Second Sunrise is a bodice ripper disco style (set in the very early 80s), without an ounce of political correctness and lots of insane twists I never saw coming. As I was reading, I seriously believed the author was making fun of the genre; because how else would you justify the goings-on in this story? The situations were so absurdly over the top that they bordered on a farce but by the end, something about these characters made me enjoy their HEA, even if the heroine was off her rocker.
This is the story of Jenny, an orphan who wasn’t adopted as a child because she wasn’t pretty. (Boohoo!) Happily, this ugly duckling became a swan
and at 18, an elderly millionaire offers her $10 million to marry him. She accepts immediately because she wants to please him. (Those $10mil had nothing to do with it.)
Si, the husband, is really sick and can’t perform his husbandly duties so she remains a virgin. He dresses her all in green and gray and decrees that once he dies, she should try out any prospective groom in the sack before she marries again. He also proposes she starts her husband hunt with his 3 grandsons.
As somebody who has read hundreds of romance books, I fully expected her to never to go through with the scheme. I thought she would either fall in love with one of the grandsons or find somebody else and that would be it. Silly me!
The day of Si’s funeral, she meets Tom March, a Missourian who comes to discuss the plight of the Migrant workers who pick fruit in Jenny's land. Jenny, who should have been sympathetic to these poor souls, really doesn't care a fig and wants him to leave. They argue, she is so filled with rage that she wants to scratch his eyes out, he kisses her forcibly and they do it.
. Twice.
But surprise, surprise! Jenny says Tom raped her. Even though she was in her right mind (no drugs), participated eagerly, didn't say no, didn't fight, didn't try to run away and wasn't restrained. And she was actually happy she was “raped” because it proved she wasn't frigid (although who knows why she thought that, given that she enjoyed the attentions of her 87-year old husband) and because well, she liked it a lot.
(Note: I understand that women can climax while being raped. However, I don’t think they reminisce about the episode fondly like Jenny does.)
Jenny being Jenny can’t accept she liked it so she justifies herself thinking that Tom must have tricked her somehow. (Tricked into an orgasm! I wish more men knew that trick.) It was because of her grief, because it had been the first time, she decided. She could never enjoy a real sexual encounter with this man. Famous last words!
Jenny reacts to her attraction to Tom March like a sulky toddler who can’t get her way. She’s used to men fawning over her so when he doesn’t, she hates him on sight and ascribe him base motives, even though this is a man who's fighting for the rights of the less fortunate. In her head, she almost never calls him by name but the “Missouri ruffian", animal, evil, a fortune hunter, hypocrite, and a long list of faults she makes up without any evidence. (Yes, this Jenny is quite a prize.)
However, the fever that Tom March has started in her is so strong that the poor woman can’t help herself. She takes to swimming in the beach in the middle of the night
(sometimes in the altogether) and always ends up in his house (not on purpose, of course.) Luckily for her, she always manages to find Tom half-naked
and after trading some insults, they end up rolling in bed, beach, ground, etc.
This is the beginning of more than a dozen encounters that follow a similar pattern. (I’m NOT kidding.) Even though Tom is a really forceful man, Jenny does all the pursuing while he focuses on trying to improve the life of the poor migrant workers. I wondered why he put up with her because although most guys won’t deny a willing woman who falls in their lap, her behavior at times was really execrable. But there are a few hints that he cares for her (there's a veiled proposal at some point) and his tactic of letting her come to him really gets results because he’s the only one she can’t forget. He’s also the only one who really knows her and doesn’t let himself be blinded by her beauty:
I’m beginning to understand you now. Beautiful, yes. But hot-tempered, greedy. Disloyal to your friends. Glad I found out in time. I was actually crazy enough to think that what happened between us meant something.
(These characters are more self-aware than you think!)
Jenny decides that the best way to get rid of this passion for Tom is to follow Si’s plan and sleep with the grandsons. And she does it! She goes through several men in quick succession and after the deed is done, she immediately receives a proposal of marriage from each man which she doesn’t decline but promises to consider. Meanwhile, the “considering” involves bouts in bed with the Missourian. Every time she sleeps with a guy, she thinks she’s rid of “the terrible passion” but it only takes one look from Tom for her to go aflame. She keeps asking herself: Why, oh, why did she want to jump into bed with him every time they were alone? At some point, she even wonders if she’s in turned into a sex maniac (I should say!)
I won’t go into all her encounters with the other men but one in particular is noteworthy because it illustrates Jenny’s sui generis definition of rape. The man started his business with ‘no preliminary caresses’ and after a few pumps, it’s over. Jenny, who got no satisfaction, then mulls:
His desire had been sated with just one fast assault. Virtual rape.
I thought that was called premature ejaculation.
(That proposal was promptly declined.)
While all this hooking up is going on, there are a lot of parties (immediately after the husband kicks the bucket), dealings with the migrants, Jenny’s passion for greyhound racing, a plane crash, a visit to Missouri and a suspense plot with a final showdown in which Jenny uses all her swimming skills and the villain gets a very original comeuppance.
This is not AT ALL the kind of book you would try if you want to read a good romance but if you are looking for a campy train-wreck that will have you in stitches, then this book may be for you.
I don’t know the last time I laughed so much with a romance that wasn’t supposed to be funny. But this book was so unpredictably crazy that I found myself laughing in almost every page.
The Second Sunrise is a bodice ripper disco style (set in the very early 80s), without an ounce of political correctness and lots of insane twists I never saw coming. As I was reading, I seriously believed the author was making fun of the genre; because how else would you justify the goings-on in this story? The situations were so absurdly over the top that they bordered on a farce but by the end, something about these characters made me enjoy their HEA, even if the heroine was off her rocker.
This is the story of Jenny, an orphan who wasn’t adopted as a child because she wasn’t pretty. (Boohoo!) Happily, this ugly duckling became a swan
and at 18, an elderly millionaire offers her $10 million to marry him. She accepts immediately because she wants to please him. (Those $10mil had nothing to do with it.)Si, the husband, is really sick and can’t perform his husbandly duties so she remains a virgin. He dresses her all in green and gray and decrees that once he dies, she should try out any prospective groom in the sack before she marries again. He also proposes she starts her husband hunt with his 3 grandsons.
As somebody who has read hundreds of romance books, I fully expected her to never to go through with the scheme. I thought she would either fall in love with one of the grandsons or find somebody else and that would be it. Silly me!
The day of Si’s funeral, she meets Tom March, a Missourian who comes to discuss the plight of the Migrant workers who pick fruit in Jenny's land. Jenny, who should have been sympathetic to these poor souls, really doesn't care a fig and wants him to leave. They argue, she is so filled with rage that she wants to scratch his eyes out, he kisses her forcibly and they do it.
. Twice. But surprise, surprise! Jenny says Tom raped her. Even though she was in her right mind (no drugs), participated eagerly, didn't say no, didn't fight, didn't try to run away and wasn't restrained. And she was actually happy she was “raped” because it proved she wasn't frigid (although who knows why she thought that, given that she enjoyed the attentions of her 87-year old husband) and because well, she liked it a lot.
(Note: I understand that women can climax while being raped. However, I don’t think they reminisce about the episode fondly like Jenny does.)
Jenny being Jenny can’t accept she liked it so she justifies herself thinking that Tom must have tricked her somehow. (Tricked into an orgasm! I wish more men knew that trick.) It was because of her grief, because it had been the first time, she decided. She could never enjoy a real sexual encounter with this man. Famous last words!
Jenny reacts to her attraction to Tom March like a sulky toddler who can’t get her way. She’s used to men fawning over her so when he doesn’t, she hates him on sight and ascribe him base motives, even though this is a man who's fighting for the rights of the less fortunate. In her head, she almost never calls him by name but the “Missouri ruffian", animal, evil, a fortune hunter, hypocrite, and a long list of faults she makes up without any evidence. (Yes, this Jenny is quite a prize.)
However, the fever that Tom March has started in her is so strong that the poor woman can’t help herself. She takes to swimming in the beach in the middle of the night
(sometimes in the altogether) and always ends up in his house (not on purpose, of course.) Luckily for her, she always manages to find Tom half-naked
and after trading some insults, they end up rolling in bed, beach, ground, etc.This is the beginning of more than a dozen encounters that follow a similar pattern. (I’m NOT kidding.) Even though Tom is a really forceful man, Jenny does all the pursuing while he focuses on trying to improve the life of the poor migrant workers. I wondered why he put up with her because although most guys won’t deny a willing woman who falls in their lap, her behavior at times was really execrable. But there are a few hints that he cares for her (there's a veiled proposal at some point) and his tactic of letting her come to him really gets results because he’s the only one she can’t forget. He’s also the only one who really knows her and doesn’t let himself be blinded by her beauty:
I’m beginning to understand you now. Beautiful, yes. But hot-tempered, greedy. Disloyal to your friends. Glad I found out in time. I was actually crazy enough to think that what happened between us meant something.
(These characters are more self-aware than you think!)
Jenny decides that the best way to get rid of this passion for Tom is to follow Si’s plan and sleep with the grandsons. And she does it! She goes through several men in quick succession and after the deed is done, she immediately receives a proposal of marriage from each man which she doesn’t decline but promises to consider. Meanwhile, the “considering” involves bouts in bed with the Missourian. Every time she sleeps with a guy, she thinks she’s rid of “the terrible passion” but it only takes one look from Tom for her to go aflame. She keeps asking herself: Why, oh, why did she want to jump into bed with him every time they were alone? At some point, she even wonders if she’s in turned into a sex maniac (I should say!)
I won’t go into all her encounters with the other men but one in particular is noteworthy because it illustrates Jenny’s sui generis definition of rape. The man started his business with ‘no preliminary caresses’ and after a few pumps, it’s over. Jenny, who got no satisfaction, then mulls:
His desire had been sated with just one fast assault. Virtual rape.
I thought that was called premature ejaculation. (That proposal was promptly declined.)
While all this hooking up is going on, there are a lot of parties (immediately after the husband kicks the bucket), dealings with the migrants, Jenny’s passion for greyhound racing, a plane crash, a visit to Missouri and a suspense plot with a final showdown in which Jenny uses all her swimming skills and the villain gets a very original comeuppance.
This is not AT ALL the kind of book you would try if you want to read a good romance but if you are looking for a campy train-wreck that will have you in stitches, then this book may be for you.
May 13, 2013
Wow. What a five star reading experience (tongue firmly in cheek!). The Second Sunrise is in such a category of it's own it needed a new shelf created - So bad, it's awesome!
It's like a bodice ripper has time travelled to the 70's. (See checklist below)
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
* Rape.... that the heroine actually enjoyed.
* Old, rich,impotent guy finds and marries penniless orphan at the Orphanage he runs and then marries her.
* After his death, he "requests" her to find her next husband.... by sleeping with his three grandsons. (She gladly complies)
* Strong, alpha male hero from "Missoura" who treats the heroine roughly but gives her multiple big "O"'s.
* The usual "someone is trying to kill me" subplot.
* Hero (Tom March) gets Heroine (Jenny Townsend) pregnant.(Because she "forgets" to take the Pill.)
* After hating each other for most of the novel regardless of continual explosive sex a near death experience makes them realise their true feelings.
Read as part of the "Jenny Train" on the Amazon Romance Refugees Forum it was an experience I wouldn't have missed for the world.
It's like a bodice ripper has time travelled to the 70's. (See checklist below)
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
* Rape.... that the heroine actually enjoyed.
* Old, rich,impotent guy finds and marries penniless orphan at the Orphanage he runs and then marries her.
* After his death, he "requests" her to find her next husband.... by sleeping with his three grandsons. (She gladly complies)
* Strong, alpha male hero from "Missoura" who treats the heroine roughly but gives her multiple big "O"'s.
* The usual "someone is trying to kill me" subplot.
* Hero (Tom March) gets Heroine (Jenny Townsend) pregnant.(Because she "forgets" to take the Pill.)
* After hating each other for most of the novel regardless of continual explosive sex a near death experience makes them realise their true feelings.
Read as part of the "Jenny Train" on the Amazon Romance Refugees Forum it was an experience I wouldn't have missed for the world.
August 4, 2018
I'm on the fence with this one. In some ways it's a five star for it's cray cray action. Then again does it really deserve five stars? I dinged it a half a star for giving me whiplash. This is pretty unique as the author is so fast paced you never get bored. However, it's like a glutony of reading. The transitions in the story is like being on speed. The author's other book First Fire is somewhat similiar in that there's lots of angry sex and sex just to get someone out of one's system. Still I appreciate reading something that is neither fluffy or boring. I recommend this to those into bodice rippers who do not take things like this too seriously. This is not a romantic bodice ripper so avoid if that is what you are looking for that. This is zany, OTT and not to be taken seriously. If you want something serious avoid this cracktastic read. If you like to be shocked with your reading by all means give this a spin. This book makes me very curious about the author who also wrote under other pseudonyms such as Sallie O'Brien. I wonder what other crazy stuff she has out there.
December 1, 2012
I have no words. So happy Karla brought Jenny - and a Missouri migrant - into my life.
July 13, 2013
This book is just as cracktastically awful and unintentionally funny as everyone says. But as much as I was entertained, it also made me really angry. Jenny is vapid and STUPID and has nothing in her life except shopping. Even though she owns (well, inherits) her own business, she leaves all the decisions about running it to the men. And don't even get me started on the men. No one cared about Jenny. They just cared about her beauty.
Full rant here (with minor spoilers): Just Contemporary Romance
Full rant here (with minor spoilers): Just Contemporary Romance
March 26, 2021
So bad it's deliciously good!
February 9, 2022
This was definitely a trainwreck!!! It was unlike any other bodice ripper I've ever read, I think it may be a category in itself.
Seriously, this book was so unpredictably and surprisingly insane to the brink of absurdity that I found myself enjoying it and laughing in shock.
Sex scenes galore and out of control behaviors that you can't help but feel sucked in!
The story is unique... I have never quite read anything remotely similar. I was like WTF in almost every page but all in all, a 5-star read for me, this was suprisingly crazy and entertained me so much that it deserves the 5 stars!
January 28, 2021
OH how I miss this fine gentleman who rescued me from the orphanage and poverty - who never drove into me w/ his old __ ; just teased w/ his fingers. Now he's dead, so she's taking his (her dead husband's) advise ... OH is she ever ready for a thorough f***king! on this, his dying day!? And every day - or twice a day after. WIth diff guys. But OH just how can she find a man to love who will also make her scream his good name? (not getting prego cause BirthControl pills take affect when you swallow them just before the act, right). She sadly hates her rapist a little more & more, (sadface) but OH, here he comes again .. Finished just to see who all dies - to escape this dumb shit. Tossed in the trash laughing.
maybe-read
June 12, 2013The summary and reviews for this book made me morbidly curious. o____o
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews