Larissa

by Lynn Lowery, Lynn L. Hahn

Pursued by men's passions. By one love enslaved.Boston society's dazzling Larissa. Scorched by desire, her fine-bred innocence stripped by a man it was a scandal to love.Across the Ottoman Empire, Cathay and India, to the South Seas and the American West... No matter the men who laid claim to her beauty, one man only would master her life.

Genres: Romance

426 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1979

About the author

Lynn Lowery was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. As a student of Northwestern University she combined a major in Russian with a major in journalism. She learned to read, write, and speak Russian fluently and developed a special love for Russian history, so that nineteenth-century Russia was a logical choice in setting for her first two romantic novels, Sweet Rush of Passion and Loveswept. With her husband, James Hahn, she has published several articles and books on sociological subjects and community affairs and has written several juvenile books.

Reviews

[Meredith is a hot mess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread 3/10/2022

I'm raising this to five stars. I can't believe right now my review is the only review up for this book -- people are sleeping on this. If you enjoy bodice rippers with a cabin romance, long separations, secret babies, globe trotting, and adventure on the high seas give this a try if you can get your hands on it. I look back on both this and Wild Sweet Witch fondly. Wild Sweet Witch is definitely more hardcore :)

Original review:


A cute and charming BR. Well-written with a solid-plot. Includes several of the BR tropes that I like, and they were pulled off well. I found this entertaining and a great stress-reliever. It was fast-paced and action-packed. The author kept the descriptive writing to a minimum, which was refreshing. This is an out of print bodice ripper that I could not find online – I purchased it from Abebooks for about $4.


Fun events/tropes:

Kidnapped in Turkey, taken into a harem.

Kidnapped in China, trained to pleasure her ‘Sir’ (lol)

Secret pregnancy (This is not typically a trope I like, but I didn’t mind it here)

Marriage to a man who is not her true love (Edmund). Usually this man is made out to be the villain, but I found Edmund a ympathetic character.

Several sea voyages and lots of travelling with a plethora of entertaining events. The places Larissa travels too includes: Turkey, China, India, Hawaii, California, and Boston. I’m usually nervous when starting a BR with lots of travel (because it can be boring), but this one kept my interest the entire time.



Trigger Warnings: Heroine's child dies after childbirth. One side-character dies of an opium overdose, another side-character dies of typhoid. All the deaths were heartbreaking.

I was impressed by the author's writing style (compared to other BRs) and enjoyed her likable but flawed characters. I'll be reading more from her. In the author's bio at the end of the book it says she majored in both Russian and journalism. I'll be checking out Loveswept and Sweet Rush of Passion, which are set in Russia. I like it when an author knows their history and is able to weave it in with the plot.

I'm getting the feeling this author writes BRs that are more politically correct when compared to others. Those expecting a hardcore BR experience with lots of rape, true assholes, and all the seriously intense stuff will be let down. For instance, even though the heroine is kidnapped, she's always conveniently rescued in the nick of time. I didn't mind this though - I wanted some lighthearted entertainment and this BR delivered. A hero that is actually a nice guy with just a touch of dastardly behavior is refreshing time to time.