Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

Hi, I just joined Goodreads so hello everybody. I was looking for cruel a bit disturbing scenes. What cruel scenes and heroes do you remember and think unforgettable? Don't be obliged to Historical romance, contemporary, dark erotica and others are ok as well.
Thanks

Welcome Shuaria, the most cruel scene I remember is the detailed realistic rape scene in . This book is a favourite of mine, I like the story and think well developed. Also there is a free short thing which is a beginning of a story but was extremely disturbing dark scene of hero hurting heroine, real antihero.
Thanks

Hi Jiha, thank you very much. I already read Lemonade and liked it, yes this scene was strange. The tycoons Barbarian slave looks promising going to check it, hope for more recommendations .
Thanks to all Goodreads community.

You can also try Stormfire, it has plenty of terrible scenes done by hero

Well, the hero in Stormfire did about everything possible to the heroine. The hero from Passion’s Joy tried to force the heroine into abortion after he’d found out she was pregnant and there’s a history of madness in his family. The hero in Into Passion’s Dawn tried to drown his pregnant heroine. Just to name a few.

Great thread! Loved both Lemonade and Stormfire. I'll look through my shelves and see if I have any other recs to add

Noelle wrote: "Great thread! Loved both Lemonade and Stormfire. I'll look through my shelves and see if I have any other recs to add"

Yep I like the thread too and like your shelves Noelle, thanks for sharing

Thanks everybody, I read the Tycoon's Barbarian Slave whole story the hero is a nightmare thanks for the suggestion, now reading into passion's dawn, not sure if I can get ecopy of passion's Joy. Thanks all for participating and still hope for more suggestions.
All good wishes

Here is an oldie but a goodie, 'This Other Eden', the H is the worst, from the beginning appears to have NO redeeming qualities, he isn't just cruel but selfish, self-serving, greedy, controlling, impulsive...basically come up with an unacceptable quality and he had it. The heroine manages a game-changer though, one of the best surprises in romance I think, well it has a twist in keeping with our H's uber-devious nature

All male MCs in E.L. Beth books are very cruel, violent even!
Also you can try these
The Silver Devil The Flesh and the Devil Born to be Bound Stolen Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale To Have and To Hold After A Rose at Midnight Touch the Wind Claiming the Courtesan Stolen Edin's Embrace I Know What Love Is Vanquish Falling Star Mansions Beloved Enemy Virtue & Vanity Gabriel's Bride Run The Copeland Bride Monster Secret Fire The Demon Lover .

Stormfire Lemonade This Other Eden are among the best for me!

Into Passion's Dawn both h and H were crazy

Feel free to look on my shelves, 90% of the books I read have a villain hero

I didn't think most of those OOT, except a select few. However, I did forget Copeland Bride. It was realllllly scary, what sort of cruelty the hero portrayed.

Mermarie wrote: "I didn't think most of those OOT, except a select few. However, I did forget Copeland Bride. It was realllllly scary, what sort of cruelty the hero portrayed."

Hi Mermarie, can you please tell what OOT means?

Over The Top.

Ok, thanks!

I was going to ask the same thing...checking out that list, thank you!

Vellini wrote: "All male MCs in E.L. Beth books are very cruel, violent even!
Also you can try these
The Silver Devil The Flesh and the Devil Born to be Bound
Woow that's really impressive. There is also RetributionRetribution by Julia Ban, I found the scene when hero threatened his own wife of jail and terrified her till she blacked out really evil and crazy.

Jiha wrote: "Vellini wrote: "All male MCs in E.L. Beth books are very cruel, violent even!
Also you can try these
The Silver Devil The Flesh and the Devil [book:Bo..."

Yeah, the hero in that one was crazy, an Harlequin like jerk!

There was the scene in Forced when hero forced her eat dog food.

Also Stormfire had rapes and humiliation scenes that was very extreme. Stormfire is absolutely over the top masterpiece if you like well written cruelty.
I also loved the development of Forced plot very much hero was absolutely crazy. He did everything out of jealousy and desperation to get heroine starting from threatening her of jail to make her leave her fiance to bullying into marriage and even standing between her seeing family and friends who didn't like him. I like this thread and hope for more suggestions.

There is also Consequences. This has over the top cruel scenes in one of them the hero beat the heroine so bad she spend days unconscious and after that he manipulated her into marriage. When he think she'll leave him he poisons himself and made her accused of trying to kill him to get her under his control.

Jiha wrote: "There is also Consequences. This has over the top cruel scenes in one of them the hero beat the heroine so bad she spend days unconscious and after that he manipulated her into marriage. When he think she'll leave him he poisons himself and made her accused of trying to kill him to get her under his control.
"

That doesn't sound like a romance novel. Is it?

Well I think it has many elements but cruel dark romance is part of it not flowers and roses though.

Jude Deveraux The Velvet Promise

The hero was very cruel! Even though I loved this book... I just wanted her to find sweet love with his brother!

I'm pretty sure this doesn't qualify as a romance but if you're looking for the most disturbing stuff I ever had to read, that would be Capture. That's decidedly the worst of the worst and it made me comprehend how sometimes seeing someone burned alive on a stake might be extremely satisfying and even appealing.

Also, no hero but a villain and a tough heroine in this neat little book: Break Her.

I would recommend Trade Winds by M M Kaye, it should along there with Teresa Denys's books and Stormfire.

Well Written and the hero is very different, to say the least.

Melita wrote: "I would recommend Trade Winds by M M Kaye, it should along there with Teresa Denys's books and Stormfire.

Well Written and the hero is very different, to say the least."

I have Trade Wind eBook but haven’t read it. I was involved in some buddy reads of some other M.M. Kaye books in another group.

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Melita wrote: "I would recommend Trade Winds by M M Kaye, it should along there with Teresa Denys's books and Stormfire.

Well Written and the hero is very different, to say the least."

I have [bo..."
Seems good going to try this one.

I have Trade wind in ebook too, among others by M.M Kaye, but haven't found the time to read it yet. I know the Hero was dark and did some bad stuff (view spoiler)[including raping the heroine (hide spoiler)] but I'm sensing a good old romance in it, not in the bodice-ripper style more like: This Other Eden, The Flesh and The Devil, Gone with the Wind or like Melita wrote Stormfire (I mean a BR without shallowness)

Vellini wrote: "I have Trade wind in ebook too, among others by M.M Kaye, but haven't found the time to read it yet. I know the Hero was dark and did some bad stuff [spoilers removed] but I'm sensing a good old ro..."

Vellini,

M.M. Kaye’s Books could been seen as old-fashioned today and un-pc but not in a bodice ripper way, but more old fashioned in terms of attitudes toward people of color and of women.

So your assessment that Trade Wind is an old-fashioned Romance is correct. I’ve only read a couple of her books, but I belong to a couple of groups and have friends on my flist who enjoy her books, but these are older women.

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Vellini wrote: "I have Trade wind in ebook too, among others by M.M Kaye, but haven't found the time to read it yet. I know the Hero was dark and did some bad stuff [spoilers removed] but I'm sensi..."

I personally love old-fashioned romance, Gone With the Wind being my favorite, even if my vision had changed very much when I grew older. I doubt I would've said "It's my fovorite" if I've read it now. Regardless, I still prefer those old fashioned books, BR and dark romance wich I view like contemporary BR.

If you look at the reviews of the book, it is different from her other books and some people do not like it because of the hero who barely makes it across the line.

@Vellini

I think Margaret Mitchell was writing an historical fiction rather than a romance when she wrote GWtW.

I’ve read the book many times. My perception of the book had changed from when I was a teenager (surprise! surprise!). Now I see I see the book as (view spoiler)[very, very sad—a tragedy of massive proportions. (hide spoiler)]

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "@Vellini

I think Margaret Mitchell was writing an historical fiction rather than a romance when she wrote GWtW.

I’ve read the book many times. My perception of the book had changed..."

I totally agree with you, GWTW is as far as it can be from a romance for a book. I was a teenager the first time I read it, and remember being depressed many days after I finished. It's just that I kept the image a the two MCs later when I was picking my reads. And the feeling I had with GWTW I only found with the best BR/Historical romance. I don't know, maybe because the authors kept the character of Rhett Butler when writing their male protagonists (Scarlett not so much). Maybe that's why I can't help putting it on my list of best romance even if it's not one.

Melita wrote: "If you look at the reviews of the book, it is different from her other books and some people do not like it because of the hero who barely makes it across the line."

Melita, if you're speaking about Trade Wind, what drew me to it is exactly the fact that the hero was an anti-hero, my favorite :D

He was a real person for his historical times. I find the heroes in the newer books all the same whether it is those Dark Book so popular today or the historical romances, also a lot of them don't ring true.

Shattered Dreams by Sally Wentworth has another cruel, abusive hero.

I read and re-read it in one sitting, but I didn't like it.

What is scary about this book is that I read somewhere that the author's husband was abusive towards her so the things in this book could be her own experiences.

The thing I like about Trade Winds is that the hero is a product of his times and not because (put your own excuse for his bad behaviour e.g. his ex-wife/ex-girlfriend/parent/life, etc...).

Also, I am tired of historical romance with modern mindset attitudes, do not reflect the time they are written in.

Woman were very much dependent on man as far power and money were concerned .

The hero in Trade Winds does not see his actions or attitude as bad. He doesn't change much, the heroine has to see his point of view whether she agrees to them or not, and basically take him as he is, if she want him.

That is another thing I like about the Silver Devil, is that heroine sees him as he is and takes him as he is.

A bit like real life, at the end of the day, you can't change a person, you got to see them as they are, no use crying when you marry them. LOL.

In both books, the heroine has the power because each sees what she is getting.

I agree w Jenny about Shattered Dreams. Dark Summer Dawn is another old Harlequin that had a disturbingly cruel hero. The older HPs frequently have some right bastards.

I love the old Johanna Lindsey BR, Fires of Winter. h is the slave of a Viking and he's such a bastard. Still love it though. Lindsey had some gems in her BR hay day.

Linda Howard oldies tend to have some cruel Hs as well. All that Glitters, Loving Evangeline, and After the Night are some of my favs.

The hero in Woman of Iron by Sheila Holland was very cruel but the heroine was great. I discovered that it's a pen name for Charlotte Lamb and now I'm looking for all her old Harlequin because I loved her writing and you can tell that she has some great Anti H

Try reading some early Robyn Donald books, she is a great New Zeland writer.

Bump

Read this one lately and thaught it should be added really good plot with really cruel hero who did abhorrent things like beating heroine blackmailing her, threatening to kill her family she was so desperate to get away from him that she schemed to kill him but he survived and got amnesia, hated the Mafia thing as hero is kind of wealthy criminal.

This one also has really cruel hero who cold heartedly did every evil, it s a kind of sci fiction and somehow evil powerful hero made his evil legal starved heroine, beat her, humiliated enslaved her then topped it all by brainwashing her into marrying him.
Another cold hearted one that I find unique in his evilness is hero of heroine was almost daily crying on his chest and hurting because her family seems not willing to respond to her messages or talk to her while not knowing that her possessive jealous husband the hero was actually preventing any contact between her and them. What spoilt it for me was heroine quite reaction when she found out. Hope to see more suggestions as I like this thread.

Oh snap, I agree-- Stormfire was over the top at every twist and turn. I've read a lot of the other book recommendations in these tropes, but Stormfire still stands out head and shoulders above the rest (for me).

Jericho wrote: "Oh snap, I agree-- Stormfire was over the top at every twist and turn. I've read a lot of the other book recommendations in these tropes, but Stormfire still stands out head and shoulders above the..."

There is nothing like Sormfire it was extremely intense, a real master piece nothing comes close to it. Have you read and Lemonade?

I did read Lemonade, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a favorite. I've never read Uncommon Vows! Thanks for the recommendation! It sounds intense! I'm totally putting it on my list! 😁

Jida wrote: "
Read this one lately and thaught it should be added really good plot with really cruel hero who did abhorrent things like beating heroine blackmailing her, threatenin..."

I keep seeing Resurrect pop up when I'm browsing titles to read. I wasn't sure about whether it would be worth it but I think I'll add it to my TBR :)

Has someone mentioned If I remember well he was looking to heroine as below him but still wanted her somehow then he thaught she is gonna marry his brother so he seduced her and told her father. his father was having mental problem he almost killed heroine because of hero's jealous mean act.

taking her children away was beyond cruel

I felt like reading some cruel Bodice-rippers and boy did I get them! Vellini, I think you named every asshole Bodice-rippers I can think of. I love it and yes I know I'm a little crazy for loving it