Alexa

by Maggie Osborne

From a Heaven of Passion to a Hell of Pain....
Voluptuously lovely Alexa Whittier was raised in the sheltered paradise of a sultan's harem where her English mother was a treasured captive. Nothing had prepared this untouched beauty for what awaited when she was plunged into the world of violent conquest and callous cruelty that was fifteenth century Spain.

From the arms of a royal general who ripped through her defenses...to the forbidden kisses of the most brilliant physician of the realm... to the dangerous hungers of the King himself, Alexa pursued her destiny—only to face a woman's supreme test in the torture chambers of the dread Inquisition and in the hands of a man who used her writhing body to ravish her very soul!

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical, Dark, Romance, Harem

378 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

aka
Margaret St. George

Maggie Osborne is the author of I Do, I Do, I Do and Silver Lining, as well as more than forty contemporary and historical romance novels written as Maggie Osborne and Margaret St. George. She has won numerous awards from Romantic Times, Affaire de Coeur, BookraK, the Colorado Romance Writers, and Coeur du Bois, among others. Osborne won the RITA for long historical from the Romance Writers of America in 1998. Maggie lives in a resort town in the Colorado mountains with her husband, one mule, two horses, one cat, and one dog, all of whom are a lot of aggravation, but she loves them anyway.

Reviews

[Love love · Rating 1 out of 5]

**********SPOILERS*******
I have to through in the towel on this one....or wave my white flag, it's just that bad. This is the first time that I really didn't like the heroine. I have read books were I didn't really care about any of the characters but this one I just really can't stand. She's an awful person and I keep waiting for her to redeam herself but after 75% into the book and still no luck on that, I gave up. Now I just don't care if she suddenly sees the light or has a personality transplant it wouldn't be enough for me to stick with it.

Alexa (h) kidnapped at sea with her family as a little girl and then sold in the slave martket into a harem with her mother, has beeen pampered all her life. Then when the Spanish King and Queen invade Morish Granada the sultan was forced to leave and disban his hare only taking a few of his wives with him. Alexa is forced to be parted from her mother, one of the wives that had given him a son, and beg mercy from the spanish invaders.

Diego (H) is a general in the spanish army and as he watches the morish people walking past the King and Queen (the king is suppose to pick out his next mistress and have her be one of the ladys in waiting for the queen)he notices Alexa and the silk heram pants peeking out from under her burnoos. He knows that she came from one of the harems and now he feels she is free for the taking.

So of course Alexa is chosen by King Ferdinand and she moves in with the rest of the ladies in waiting for Queen Isabella.One thing though...Queen Isabella can only be surrouned by virins so there must be a test done to determin if Alexa is a virgin. In comes Dr. Jaime and while he perfoms the test Alexa falls in love with him.(eye roller) It's not long before Diego is able to get sometime alone with Alexa so that she can repay him for keeping quiet about the whole harem thing. Only she has no idea what he wants or has planned. Once she figures it out she fights him but it's no use and he rapes her, never realizing that she was a virgin. She decides to not think about it and put the whole thing behind her. As she starts to make friends with the othe women she finds out that her now best friend Bianca is to be married to Jaime, they grew up together as orphans and have always known that they would marry. Well Alexa decides that it's best for everyone if they don't get married and that she should have Jaime and she does everything she can think of to make him see that he loves her in a way that he could never love Biance....some bestie, that's one I could do without. Then there is the black plauge, when it hits she wants to flee but can't dissapoint Jaime and so she stays, just like Bianca, and helps the good doctor. Well of course she comes down with the plauge and the only reason she pulls through is because Diego takes her to his villa and nurses her back to helth by himself. As soon as the last boil is gone he makes love to her again, only soft and gentle and in her derlirum she thinks that it Jaime. As she heals she realizes that it was Diego and then has a willing love afair with him until it's time to return to court. Then they hate each other again.
Now King Ferdinand wants her but in steps Tomas Torquemada himself and threatens her with the Spanish Inquisition if she didn't stay away from the king. All along she is still planing on taking away her best friends so to be husband, even when poor Bianca gets thrown into the Spainsh Inquisition, she never stops until she arranges for the good doctor to be threatend with debtor's prison if he didn't marry her. Only the jokes on her because when she finally gets him calmed down enough to have sex with her (a few months or so ) she finds out that he has a defective penis, a birth defect that makes it grow down and under his body when he gets hard! lol THIS IS WERE I STOPED READING LOL.

This is a very graphic book, from the boils from the plauge, to the horors of the Inquisition (including the rape of a woman by a midget with a very large penis). There are parts in this book that you really couldn't be eating at the same time your reading. I have read three other books by Maggie Osborne and loved them but this one makes me afraid to pick up another one.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
This book was like a rip off of Gone With the Wind , except it takes place during the Spanish Inquisition. The h is bratty and very selfish. She is in love with a weak but kind man who happens to be betrothed to a exceptional kind woman. Meanwhile, the good looking rogue that loves her she rejects. Atleast, Scarlett O'hara was charming and clever, this character lacks either trait. She is so selfish that while her friend is being tortured she forces the woman's betrothed into marriage.

The story did have some interesting parts. I have to admit there were times when I was enthralled. If the h had been smarter and likable this could have been a very good BR.

*I should state that BR tend to be hits or misses depending on the reader. While this one was as miss for me, others might love it. You never know

[Cat The Curious · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a small child Alexa and her English mother are taken captive and installed in the harem of Abdul Hasan. When the harem is destroyed by the Spanish invaders of King Ferdinand, Alexa finds herself displaced and seeking refuge as a lady in waiting to Queen Isabella in the Spanish Court. Alexa reminds me of a blonde Scarlet O'Hara in harem pants. Our heroine is selfish and a bit of a schemer. If you like Mary Sues, you probably won't find Alexa likable especially in the beginning. Early on in the book our heroine has set her sights on the weak willed, goody two shoes, doctor, Jamie, (think Ashley here) who is betrothed to a long suffering Bianca, (Mellie-type). We also have our tall, dark, and handsome rogue, General Cordoba who (ravishes more than Rhett and), lusts after our beautiful heroine, Alexa. He catches a glimpse of Alexa's harem garb under her burnoose when she is taken in as a lady in waiting. Cordoba offers to burn Alexa's harem garb to hide the fact that she comes from a harem from the invading King's court. Our wicked general instead keeps Alexa's harem bra and pants for future blackmail. This is a sly move on Cordoba's part in order to taunt Alexa with the fact that he knows her secret and can reveal it at anytime. Even more than that, he likes carrying Alexa's dirty laundry around with him as a token of his lust.:P. Cordoba is such a blackmailing, horny cad. I love him. Alas, Alexa pines for that which she can not have, and schemes enough to get it. This only leads to unhappiness and disappointment. I like how Alexa transforms during the course of the book and in my opinion, redeems herself. She commits herself to try to make amends for some wrongs she committed when she was younger. Our heroine experiences the plague and Spanish Inquisition. There are plenty of gross out moments, tortures, burnings, and rapes, etc. . This is the barbaric Spanish Inquisition after all. Those moments may cause some not to like this book, however it was the tension between the vividly drawn characters that made this a winner for me. I do like the fact that rape isn't glossed over in this book as much as it is in many other books from the 80's. While some may pan a smutty book with their one stars, I grab it up with my greedy hands and relish every page of this crack-fest. This is well-written and fast paced enough for me to stay up all night reading and thinking about for several days. Fluffies avoid this at all costs. This is now one of my favorites. I also hate the fact that I will probably never read Portrait in Passion by Osborne unless it comes out on Kindle. These older treasures by her are becoming an expensive taste. Luckily my greedy little hands purchased Alexa before it became outrageously expensive. I have recommended this to the non-fluffies out there who I think will enjoy.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time Early 1400's
Spain

At an early age (4 or 5 yrs. old) the ship her family had taken from England to Spain was captured by slave traders. From that early age until she is 17 years old, (h) Alexa Whittier and her mother have lived in the Moorish harem of the Sultan Abdul Hasan in Granada. Head strong, spoiled and pampered, Alexa dreams of the wonders of the mysterious outside world, refusing to quietly reconcile her fate to a life forever lived behind perfumed silk walls.


In chapter 1, Alexa's dream becomes a reality. Granada is under the siege to ethnic cleanse Spain by the army of the devout Catholic Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.

As Hasan's household flees the city, Alexa is left behind when the harem is disposed of.

Before she leaves, her mother, the sultana, gives brief council to her beautiful daughter who is to be left to survive alone..."hide from the soldiers, there are none more cruel"..."never trust a man in the military...we are chattels to them, to be used and discarded"..."you will have no one to fully depend upon but yourself...trust no one"..."don't bestow yourself cheaply...you have knowledge of love...but there is an ugly side to love...the ugliness exists"...


With that, her mother departs, extracting a promise from an older woman from the harem to watch over her daughter and to help her to survive.


Head strong Alexa does survive the escape, by her wit and determination.



From the Black plague, to the court of Queen Isabella, into the arrogant dangerous arms of the Queen's general, Diego Cordoba (H),



and lastly into the nightmare of the hands of the terrifying leader of the Spanish Inquisition, Tomas Torquemada.




Many parts of this story are not easy to read.



Early on I got fed up with Alex's immature selfishness. Although IMO Osborne did a very good job with Alex's character...a self-centered, spoiled, pampered 17 year woman, raised in a harem of like-minded women as her models.


Other characters brought tears to my eyes.

A few times I felt I was thrown into a Vincent Price horror movie.

Reading Osborne's rendition of the nightmare of the Spanish Inquistion is the stuff of nightmares.


So reader beware.

[Vivisection · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways, this novel is a retelling of Gone With the Wind, you know, if Margaret Mitchell was into sex dwarves, genital deformities, and the Inquisition. Beyond this point lies spoilers.

Alexa=Scarlett O'Hara--willing to bare her harem clad body to King Ferdinand to avoid being slaughtered as an infidel. She is both attracted and repulsed by the handsome Diego Cordoba. She pusues a completely impractical romance with a completely inept man who loves another. Alexa does nothing unless it serves her own ends. After all, she marries her best friend's fiancé after Bianca is dragged off to the Inquisition. Of course, she works and grows and becomes a better person blah, blah, blah.

Bianca=Melanie Wilkes--the pious, gentle, loving side kick, who despite her devotion and faith, is nevertheless hauled off to the Inquisition for sheltering and aiding Jews in a spiteful action by a jealous rival of Alexa's. After torture, rape, and an unfortunate pregnancy, she dies virtuously in childbirth having forgiven Alexa and charging her with the raising of her daughter (who is fortunately NOT born a dwarf). Of course, Alexa realizes she truly loved her friend, she really did!

Diego Cordoba=Rhett Butler--while much less charming than the rascally Rhett Butler, he sees Alexa's true nature. He teases her constantly about her self-serving ways and her complete oblivion to the wants/jealousies/needs of those around her. Cordoba also pines for her and nurses Alexa through the plague and rescues her from the Inquisition.

Jaime Rejas=Ashley Wilkes--the long suffering fiance of Bianca who risks heresy for doctoring Jews not because it is the right thing to do but because Bianca pressures him. He lusts for Alexa but he also wants the loving, gentle marriage that Bianca promises. Unlike Mr. Wilkes, Jaime is not trapped by a culture and time gone by. Instead, Jaime cannot have a true marriage because his penis is attached to his leg and underbutt due to some crazy medical malformation. Thus he is figuratively and physically impotent. I wish I were kidding.

Nada=Mammy--the trusted family servant who faithfully sleeps on straw pallets and keeps her Muslim faith despite the suspicious surroundings of the Spanish court. Naturally, Nada tells Alexa the truth while excusing and coddling her behavior and dropping pearls of Muslim wisdom. Of course she does.

Instead of the Civil War and carpet-bagging Yankees, Alexa must contend with the Spanish quest to rid Seville of Jews, Muslims and other heretics. She battles her own lust for Cordoba, the plague, a useless husband, a lascivious king, a vengeful Torquemada, jealous ladies in waiting, while growing a heart and aiding secret Jewish colonies. It's a huge, huge, HUGE pot of crazy stirred by the crazy stick.

My Takeaway: As I reread some of my favorite bodice rippers from my high school days, it slowly becomes clear why my ideas of romance and love are so fundamentally warped.

[Olnega · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably deserves a higher rating because it wasn’t a terrible story but the heroine was so selfish, disloyal and stupidly blind to reality... In these kinds of books, I’ve come to expect those traits from the hero, but I hold the heroine to a higher standard. The moment she started contemplating how to seduce her best friend’s fiancé, the story lost its appeal for me.

[ANGELIA · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you like to read about torture, sadism, horny kings, a guy with a weird penis who can't even pee straight (let alone anything else), a H so boring he can replace sleeping pills, and a h so self-centered she thinks the world should applaud her farts, then this is the book for you.

It was NOT the book form me, hence the single star, and even that was a stretch.

DNF!!!!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a rollercoaster of historical fiction. Osborne didn’t shy away from the brutalities of plague or the Inquisition, and then there’s a bodice ripper romance to boot! I learned about so many forms of torture.