Ann’s Comments (group member since Nov 19, 2017)

Ann’s comments from the Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous group.

Lauren wrote: "Ann, I want to thank you for introducing me to Aleen Malcolm. While I didn't like The Taming, I did like her writing style. I think I've now read all her books. My favorite was The Children of the ..."
Ohh, I haven't read "The Children of the Mist" yet. That's something to look forward to then. I'm glad you found some good reads.

I agree, her writing is what I'd call "pop" it's generic but in a good way. Easy to digest and just plain enjoyable. Like Johanna Lindsey, Virginia Henley and Woodwiss, they're comfortable reads.

Some of the popular BR authors like Brandewyne and Marilyn Harris feel like a chore for me. The writing feels dense.

I can't think of any bodices actually being ripped.

Nenia has a shelf called "bodices-were-actually-ripped" hopefully it can be helpful.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Lauren wrote: "I've looked at the list of our fav. top 5 Bodice-rippers. I'm curious if anybody has any new favorites after 2 years. I would love to discover some new great Bodice-rippers.
so I recommend adding ..."

Some books not already mentioned...
Glynda by Susannah Leigh
Dark Fires by Brenda Joyce
Valentina by Fern Michaels
Waters of Eden by Katherine Kent
Ecstasy's Empire by Gimone Hall
Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey
Lord of Midnight by Jo Beverley
This Triumphant Fire by Anne Carsley
Devlyn Tremayne by Aleen Malcolm
The Taming by Aleen Malcolm
Island Flame by Karen Robards

A few of them feature the US for part of the book but I don't think they fit the historical America romance vibe.

and honourable mentions to Jess and The Naked Angel. Not really BR but I think some people in the group might like them.

Rainbowheart wrote: "Not well, but I think it was white or cream colored with some type of design on the front. The title might have been written in a flowery font."

A light cover with no figures narrows it down. It might be found just by browsing covers.

If you find a book that sounds familiar but the cover isn't you can select "More Details..." > "All Editions" to view other covers.

Sounds interesting! I'm not familiar with the story but I'm betting it's late 90s.

Contraception, graphic dirty talk and screen time for side characters is a more recent trend.

Do you remember the cover at all?

I strongly disliked Fires of Winter by Johanna Lindsey.
I've struggled to rate to Fires of Winter. Is it actually good? No. Did I enjoy it? Mostly. I finish reading it unlike far too many books. I have a problem with being too forgiving with BR books because they get so much hate lol.

Fire of Winter is incredibly popular with a general audience. Younger people and a general audience is who I thinking of when making a list for newbies.

Knowing who you are giving a recommendation to is important.

After thinking about it some more... maybe doing recs like goodreads is a good approach.

If you liked Lemonade etc then try Fires of Winter etc

But that would be a little more awkward to create lists for.

There are plenty of general BR lists already. Karla has told me she made The Real BR list after the Down n Dirty list became filled Lindsey etc. One person's trash is another's treasure.

Maybe tell us the criteria of what you want and don't want to appear.

Great idea!

My reading has been slacking recently, there's still too many I haven't read. But from what I've read so far and just going off from you've listed...Personally I'd cut Marilyn Harris, Patricia Hagan, Rebecca Brandewyne and Victoria Holt as a BR newbies first read. The writing is very dense and often too long winded. I'd say they're for advanced BR readers, they're a slog to get through.

Henley, Woodiwiss, and Lindsey is what I'd recommend to convince someone who is use to more recently published romance. These are easy to sink into, very readable compared to modern fiction. Modern romance is mostly quick romance and sex, they're not big on intrigue and history.

Thicc vs Flat BR
Historical with romance vs Romance historical

And good luck getting them to read E.M. Hull, in my experience younger generations don't want to read or watch anything old. Doesn't matter how much they like the look or sound of vintage stuff. Same reason as above it's not what they're use too.

But I'm still fairly new to BR myself just my opinion.

Hey Lauren, have you seen Karla's BR list already? That is the best starting point to find the juiciest rippers.

A few of my faves not at the top of the list...
Adora - It is worse than Teresa Denys or Christine Monson, just for one particular scene alone (at least I thought so). It's the only one of her books I've enjoyed.
I highly recommend giving it a try, skipping that one part is not a bad idea. It's a great epic, there's a whole novel within the novel, if it was written today I'm sure her editor would have told her to cut it for a separate book $$$.

Alyx - I'm in the minority for this one. The title is very misleading Alyx is a side character, and it is 100% Simon's PoV, he is the real damsel-in-distress. Both the master and mistress rape (or dub-con) him. Like other BR fans, I don't enjoy betas but I didn't read him as a weak man.
The writing is sometimes very off, especially in the beginning. I thought it must been a translation at first, but Burford was an instructor in the SMU English department, according to her bio.

The Sheik - Don't over look this one just because it's the dinosaur on the shelf. It's popular for a good reason, and it's free to download on Gutenberg.

Also Beloved Enemy, Defiant Captive, Royal Seduction and Fanina

I think most of these are available on openlibrary.

kookyquinn wrote: "Gross."
You must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and stumbled in here by accident.

Cheating is standard fair for bodice rippers.

@Phoebe

The Rain Maiden is the book you're looking for. This family would make the Borigas look like saints lol

Here's the page about making physical donations.
https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/art...-

I've emailed them before to ask if it's ok to order second hand books online and put them on the shipping address. But I never did receive a reply back. Most of the books I buy are in the US doubling the cost just to ship them to me.

I'm trying to be less impulsive with my purchases in the future. Watching ebay and visiting second hand shops. Oddly enough it's often cheaper for me to order from BetterWorldBooks than a Australian seller on ebay. But I have had some issues with BWB sending me incorrect books.

It's possible to find some reasonably priced books to sponsor on Openlibrary if you're willing to spend hours hunting. I would recommend not taking your chances with any Harlequin imprints though. They've been re-using old ISBNs you might end up with the incorrect book.

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "I just discovered The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough. I think it’s more HF that HR, but it’s a 1000+ p..."

You can borrow it from archive.org
https://archive.org/search.php?query=...

It looks interesting

I'd like to but I'm broke at the moment. I've been on an old book spending spree recently.

But I'll watch the thread and contribute to the fund when I can.