Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

We're planning on another Group Read to start Dec 1. We figure the holiday crush will cut in on reading time, and we can't have that. :D So we're making it extra long.

Voting will start now (poll here) and end on Nov. 30th. Start reading any time from Dec. 1st.

We've chosen some initial candidates that are available in multiple formats. Where noted, there could be editorial differences between the original paperback and the reissued retail ebook.

Also remember that some of these titles may be available on paperbackswap.com (US only) or Bookmooch.com (US and international). So if you're a member of either site, check them out.

If the winner is a book that's on Openlibrary, I've got y'all covered. ;D (More info forthcoming after the poll closes.)

Please feel free to vote for any of these or write-in others!


Bride of Thunder by Jeanne Williams
Available on paper and audio (Free with Audible trial)


For Honor's Lady by Rosanne Kohake
Available on paper and Openlibrary and Audible.
Could be more of a HR than bodice ripper, but the fun is finding out. :P


Tame the Rising Tide by Virginia Morgan
Available on paper and Openlibrary.


The Wildest Heart by Rosemary Rogers
Available on paper and Kindle (this does NOT appear to have been re-edited), and Openlibrary.


Whitefire by Fern Michaels
Available on paper and Kindle and Openlibrary.
(This book is missing the first paragraph or three from the Openlibrary scan. I've created a new file with the missing parts.)

Bride of the Baja
Bride of the Baja by Jocelyn Wilde (Jane Toombs)
Available on paper and Kindle (possibly not edited) and Openlibrary.

Salem's Daughter

Available on paper and Kindle.

Thank you for all of your hard work and scouring those selections for potential group reads, Karla. I guess it's the ones that aren't actually digitized by a professional proofreader that run the highest risk of editing of BRery deliciousness, whereas the downside of loving reader(librarian?) scanners(without some proofreading clean-ups) run the risk of the overall quality being subpar; IE, those recent findings with the first page of several chapters axed out. :O

I've run into that very same problem with the OL version of The Woman Who Loved John Wilkes Booth, but fortunately the book is so dull and predictable that i'm not missing a thing. :P

Winner has been chosen



The Wildest Heart by Rosemary Rogers.

Feel free to jump in with the reading at your convenience! And all discussion will be in this thread. :)

Great! Although I did not vote for this title, it's all good. I've been trying to find time to try the great RR and I already have a copy. :)

It's been awhile since I read RR so I'm excited. :D This will be the motivation for me to power through the chunkster brick doorstopper I'm currently reading, so I can get to RR.

Onward towards RR!

Just a few things...

HAHA. >:D This morning it said the top three were dead-even! I smell a conspiracy.

WOW, I haven't read RR since I started this grp either. But... that Con Sellers King though...

It's going to be fascinating to not only refresh myself with Rosie's kevlar-necessary fallout of temerity, but also the last Indian themed book I've read WAS by Con Sellers, and it was Comanche. It'll be the return-fire needed. :D

P.S.

Someone sniveled reading it(we know this), but thisssssss....

No, the stepmother was basically "the other woman" that wedged herself between the hero and heroine. Disgusting.

>;D Who was the butter and the bread? Wants to know.

I admit, I was saving my vote in case a tiebreaker was needed. :P

Feels like forever since I read RR too.

Looking for different book covers...RR was popular in France with a bunch of reissues of varying success in terms of cover art. :P (under spoiler tag)

(view spoiler)[




(LOL) (hide spoiler)]

Oooh, nice mental image for the heroine. Claudia Cardinale.... *___*

Oh drat, been so busy and missed the voting..were did November go? This was one of my choices so I look forward to reading a RR book it's been so long and should be fun:)

Man, that last cover. Talk about a cover dept fail. The European reissues can be wonky, but that's just...LOL.

Apparently they just wanted the smut and to hell with the pretty packaging. :P

XD I haven't read an RR in a while...too many Highlander romances recently...XD although this wasn't the one I voted for, I can't wait to start it!

I hope to get to it by Christmas. I'm afraid if I put down that doorstopper (The Sun is My Undoing) I'm reading now, I'll never want to pick it back up again. :P Having a Rosemary Rogers chaser afterwards will be a remedy for my literary hangover.

Is all of this book in the 1st person?

The first part isn't then it does go into the first person as Rowena starts writing her journal about what happens to her. But I'm only up to page100 so not sure if it continues like that. I thought it was different how the author did this and I prefer 1st person anyways but it might not work for others. I'm enjoying this one so far :)

Hey, I never noticed this till now but:

Ha! Good catch on that one! It's not often they reuse a cover like they constantly do today.

I've seen both covers numerous times and never noticed. -__- If you're gonna reuse a cover, might as well go with Tom Hall. :D

Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* wrote: "The first part isn't then it does go into the first person as Rowena starts writing her journal about what happens to her. But I'm only up to page100 so not sure if it continues like that. I though..."


Thanks Sandi, I downloaded a sample because RR books are a hit or miss for me so thought I'd check it out before buying. The sample goes up to when she starts writing her journal AND I just cannot read when it's in the 1st person. But I was wondering if it's just the journal part that's 1st person if not I'm out!!

Karla wrote: "I've seen both covers numerous times and never noticed. -__- If you're gonna reuse a cover, might as well go with Tom Hall. :D"

Totally agree on that Karla! :D

Kerrie wrote: "I normally haaaaate 1st person, but this is Rosemary so it instantly cancels out my reservations for it. So far I'm loving it, and as usual RR's writing is making the pages fly by."

I agree Kerrie, it is flying by. Rowena may come off cold and unfeeling to some as the author first portrays her but I like this gal :)

Tracyk wrote: "Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* wrote: "The first part isn't then it does go into the first person as Rowena starts writing her journal about what happens to her. But I'm only up to page100 so not sure ..."

Too bad Tracyk, cause its a good one I think your going to miss. But if 1st person wont work no matter what, then there is no point.

I've tried again & again with 1st person & for some reason it just does not read well for me nor can I get into the characters!

Kerrie wrote: "I normally haaaaate 1st person, but this is Rosemary so it instantly cancels out my reservations for it. So far I'm loving it, and as usual RR's writing is making the pages fly by."

>:E The ole bitchcraft coven in the prologue reminds me of someone/some people. >:D

I had problems with 1st person and refused to read it for years. Liked Jean Plaidy's 1st person Queen narratives as a teen, then the device didn't work for me for a long time (probably thanks to crappy books). Philippa Gregory's Wideacre series was excellent enough for me to re-evaluate my squick. Now sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't - all depends on how the author uses it, I guess. Same goes for 3rd person omniscient POV. The Girl From Storyville was a great use of it, but The Sun is My Undoing isn't really working.

Speaking of which, I think I'm up to 67% of that massive chunkster. Eventually I'll get to Rowena. :P

First person works for me because I feel I can get into the character better. When it doesn't work is when the author uses it with more than the one character and flips back and forth between them. I get totally lost and loose interest real fast.

The Beguiled and The Besieged are like that - multiple POVs. They worked pretty good in both because there was a central focus point for all the characters and getting their different perspectives kept the honesty of all involved completely shady. A pack of liars, basically. :D

A plain narrative where it switches back and forth for no clear reason wouldn't use the device as effectively IMO.

Yes,that might work better. I have only experienced the other and got so confused of who was "talking" Too much multi-tasking for this brain :(

Karla wrote: "Speaking of which, I think I'm up to 67% of that massive chunkster. Eventually I'll get to Rowena."


I went out of my comfort zone and read a few huge fantasy historicals that took forever to finish. One was Game of Thrones, which to my dismay, I actually liked. Not enough to finish the series though (all those thousands of pages to read and no end in site), and I don't even care about watching the show, despite my obsession with Sean Bean. The other was The Lions of al-Rassad, which blew. I'm done with the epic-fantasy genre. I agree with you that if sword and sorcery is what I'm looking for, I'll stick with Robert E. Howard. Short, violent and a full story in just a few pages.

How's everybody feeling about this book? I'm about 38% through. Rowena is certainly her own woman, a totally different character from Ginny and Marisa (so far no dancing like a wild gypsy), but there's been so little of Lucas that I'm not sure what to think. I actually like Todd Shannon more; he's much older, but more a typical overbearing hero type that I'm used to. Hopefully this picks up steam in the second half.

I took a long time to figure out just who the H was. I liked not being sure who the H was for a change.

I thought Ro spent a lot of time writing in her "diary" about how intelligent and logical she, yet did and said stupid things throughout the entire book.

I agree Andrea with you on Rowena. For me, I just never bonded with her as she and the story and the hero...(and I was wondering who that really was at times) it was just all over the place and started to drag. I started to look forward for the end to come..not a good sign :(

Sandi, the book didn't "pick up" for me until part 5 (of 6).

I had to put it down a few times I admit and it did pick up like you said then went downhill again for me and I was so tempted to start skipping:(

I found Rowena very cold and hard throughout the whole book, maybe that was what did it for me. I have to like the characters or it doesn't end up really working for me. Didn't much care for her men much either one was always not around and the other annoyingly pesky...

I've had little time to read on my vacation (boo!) so I've lost momentum with it. However, once I make time for it, it's been sailing by. I kinda like Rowena's character; she's just so different from Ginny and Marisa. And ditto on liking Todd Shannon, based on the amount of face time he's had vs. Lucas so far.

It's had such a different vibe from the other 2 RRs I've read and I like to be surprised. :D

This is my first book by RR.

Recently I felt one of those Jennifer Blake books Forever Eden was like that. I just couldn't finish it and gave it to the Used Book Store, I also felt that way about Outlander. People who I attend church with love it. I just have to not say what I really thought about it.

I did try to read some of those types of books recently, and realized why we gave up reading some of them in the eighties too.

Thanks Sandi and Andrea for the insight. I'm now more than halfway through and FINALLY this book is getting good!

I actually like Rowena's cold, impersonal personality; it's so different from a typical heroine's. I love the conflict between Elena and Rowena. But Lucas...I'm not so sure about him. There has to be some huge development between him and Rowena for their love to supercede anything he feels for anyone else. With Rosemary Rogers, it's possible she'll pull something out of her bag of tricks and make this end amazingly. I'm hoping that's where this is going, because for now Lucas is conflicted and dangerous, yes, but too much of a "mama's boy." He needs to get over that, pronto.

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!



Well maybe Rowena can pull Lucas away from his stepmother's clutches:

“We gave each other, with our bodies, the commitment that neither of us dared put into words. We mated. There is no other word for it. We were equal—man and woman; neither asking what we could not give. And later, when the fury of passion had died away into peace and we were content to lie together, still part of each other, I remember thinking that whatever happened later I would always have something that could not be taken from me or lost. An unchangeable moment, encapsulated in time.”

But is this just an ephemeral moment of passion? Will his obsession for his "mother" be too much for Rowena to overcome? If any woman can do it Rowena can. I'm not sure I'd want to try, but she seems game.

Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince wrote: "Thanks Sandi and Andrea for the insight. I'm now more than halfway through and FINALLY this book is getting good!

I actually like Rowena's cold, impersonal personality; it's so different from a ty..."
She actually grew on me Wendy, but Lucas with his fixation with step-mommy kinda gave me the icky's I started rooting for Todd :D

@Wendy LEQ

Spoiler Alert



I didn't understand why R insisted on going after L to all to the cabin. This seemed to come out of nowhere. I didn't feel any connection between those two at all. Everything was rather sudden to me--R going from coldness, to a dam breaking with "feelings" for L.

In addition to simple lust, she tried to ask L questions about himself and get to know him but he shut that down.

Yes Sandi, as much I appreciated that beautiful lovemaking scene in the cabin, I'm still not warming up to Lucas as I should. For me, when the hero loves another (living) woman it's an annoying obstacle, but I can tolerate it to a certain extent. But this whole mommy-lust/Elena is the only woman Lucas will ever love issue is creepy.

Glad I'm not alone with that Wendy, I really was enjoying how this was going until that point..ick

Andrea (Catsos Person) wrote: "@Wendy LEQ
Spoiler Alert

Well I'm guessing that after (view spoiler)[ Ramon raped her then rejected her for not being a virgin and shot Lucas, Rowena was determined to finally be with a man who made her feel *something* rather than indifference or a passion that was forced upon her (like Todd did--who I still like).

But I, too, didn't see why she had to be with him then and there. Rowena and Lucas should have bonded a bit more during their time together with the Apaches. Then I could understand her connection to him more. That part dragged out and seemed superfluous. It's as if Rowena wants Lucas in part because he belongs to Elena, who all men loved. Rowena wants to take Elena's place in everything.

Plus, I felt awful for Rowena's terrified mare who had to die for Rowena's overwhelming need to be with Lucas in a deadly storm. (hide spoiler)]