Helpful Score: 7
This was one of the first romance novels I read. Forgot how much I didn't like it. Too long, too much wife beating and not enough love.
Helpful Score: 3
This book is about a very un-gentle "romance". The "hero" smacks her around and basically rapes her in every love scene in the book. But she likes it and seems to be unable to be turned on without that type of treatment. Is the author describing a BDSM relationship as it may have looked before that type of thing was done by verbal consent? The heroine was such a nincompoop, you almost don't blame the hero for how he treats her. The book is way too long, you can easily skip a couple hundred pages. But despite all my complaints about the book and the story and the characters...they stay with me. I kept the book because there is something about them, about this story, that is compelling.
I've read online in a number of different polls that this is considered one of the best bodice-rippers of all time. It is consistently in the top ten of this type of romance. I'm not a big reader of bodice-rippers, which is why I was researching them, and I think I can see why it is so popular. The book is like a shadow that stays in the back of your mind.
I've read online in a number of different polls that this is considered one of the best bodice-rippers of all time. It is consistently in the top ten of this type of romance. I'm not a big reader of bodice-rippers, which is why I was researching them, and I think I can see why it is so popular. The book is like a shadow that stays in the back of your mind.
Helpful Score: 2
This was the first book that I have read by R. Brandewyne and of all the 15 books of her's that I went on to read, it remains my favorite. It was a keeper for me. This book was written 20 years ago and many of today's sensitive readers would not like this book because of the strong and sometimes harsh storyline. The hero was a man to read about and to dream of but one would not want to be married to him in reality. He's not a man you can wrap around your little finger.
Helpful Score: 1
This book demonstrates the harsh lifestyle that our ancestors lived through, both physically & emotionally. Even though it is technically a romance, I would call it more of an epic because the hero & heroine have to go through an awful lot before they get their happily-ever-after. This is a loooong book (almost 600 pages), so gentle reader, you must be very dedicated to get through it all.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm very conflicted about this book. The hero basically rapes the heroine, his wife, in every "love" scene. But she likes it, or so it would seem because she is always sexually satisfied by him in the end. Brandewyne really means it, though, this woman never experiences gentle lovemaking in the whole book. I think the story was too long by half and much of the story was just upsetting or frustrating. However with all that said, I am still thinking about it, several days later, even though I am reading a different book now. And I found the book difficult to put down. I was invested in their love story and thought the resolution was worthwhile. But I kept wishing that the last couple sections of the epic would have been omitted. It just made me like the heroine less.
