Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

I've gone retro for the moment and am in the middle of The Girl From Storyville by Frank Yerby. It's from 1972 and is even older than that, since the author is consciously using the old Victorian style of storytelling with an omniscient narrator, trivial asides, etc.

The main character of Fanny is driving me nuts, though. She takes self-hate to new levels. Like, OMG.

That said, my copy has some purty and moody cover art by, I'm very sure, Sanjulian.

Aw, you're distracting me again! :D

How about this one?


I'll be done with the Yerby book by the end of the weekend, hopefully earlier.

The Girl From Storyville was very good, though a huge Debbie Downer of a book. It's more literary HF than anything else. For anyone interested, my review is here.

Starting the Buddy Read tonight of .

Just starting in the mood for some dark,moody,gothic romance with a dash of past/present thrown in :)

♥ Cheshire Catt ♠ wrote: "Sandi - that one looks good!"

So far so good..:) I think you would like this one,if you dont have it..III pass it on to you.

Reading and it's definitely holding my attention.

Rosemary tends to do that when she's on her A Game, as she was when she wrote that one. :D

I'll give you a brain cell test when this is all over. ;D

Awwww, poor derp kitteh :(

I dont know how you ladies can read 3 books at a time..tried it and I usually forget totally what one book is about. If I do the books have to be say..3 different kinds of reads."Night of the Phantom" any good?

If I read multiple books, they have to be completely different. I tried reading two western Harleys at the same time and got soooooooooooooo confused.

I'm really not liking ol' Dominic Challenger, I wanna get really violent with him every time he appears, but I'm sort of hooked, because I just can't look away from this train-wreck of a relationship! :)

Heh, EXACTLY! :D

Finished and recommend it as more romantic HF than HR or a bodice ripper.

I have a few library books I need to read, all non-fiction and promise to be interesting or fun. :)

Just re-read the Divine Series by PC Cast.

Just finished reading the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole.

Finished Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare.

Staring at The Guardian by Sherrilyn Kenyon...haven't been able to open the book.

Currently reading Lawe's Justice.

READ AN INTERVIEW WITH THE COVER MODEL FOR ...CHRISTINE FEEHANS'....DARK PREDATOR



FRANCIS J. CURA......

Can anyone download this free pdf? of Kresley Cole's In case anyone wants the Kresley Cole's novella The Warlord Wants Forever, it is a free PDA file download from Amazon. Here is a link: Free Copy of TWWF.
I can't seem to get it to work. I don't know if my copy/paste is going to work here either.

Your link didn't show up, Marietta. I went to the Amazon page for it and they're asking 1.99.

Yes, I know. Both the link and Amazon. But when you look it up on Goodreads, it gives that link, so I was wondering if anybody could use it. I guess it is an old link. Thanks!

I didn't get too far with the NF library books. Not in the mood at the moment. So it's been a "50 pages or else" project of the TBR:

Survivors:


Hit the Wall aka DNF DUDS:


Currently under the microscope:

Ecstasy

I am reading Jacquelyn Frank's Shadowdweller series...

Seasonal distractions are finally settling down so I picked up . I've found I CANNOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. So good in every aspect....characterization, non-stop action, swash-buckling adventure on the high seas, sooo good...at times I feel as if I'm watching on the big screen rather than laying in bed turning pages...

Sharon wrote: "Seasonal distractions are finally settling down so I picked up . I've found I CANNOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. So good in every aspect....characterization, non-stop ac..."

Her older books were really good,not fond of her new stuff..

Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* wrote: "
Her older books were really good,not fond of her new stuff.. "

You know Sandi, you're right. I remember reading some of her newer books a few years ago and thought they lacked.

This one however is nothing like those. Nothing.

Sharon wrote: "Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* wrote: "
Her older books were really good,not fond of her new stuff.. "

You know Sandi, you're right. I remember reading some of her newer books a few years ago and tho..."

Your right about this one Sharon,I think it was one of her best..wish that I had kept it :(

This book doesn't fit in this group's title but I am breaking away from romance for this. It was hard to decide what to read next, I too, have downloaded so many freebies. My TBR list keeps growing and growing.

I've been shamelessly stats fluffing lately with short stories, but I did manage to finish a full-length book, a Gothic but still...



Now I've started a Christine Monson book. It doesn't have encouraging ratings, but I've always got to see for myself with these things. >:)

Christine Monson "Surrender the Night"
This looks interesting Karla..didnt know she had another one,how is it so far?

Only as Monson can write it. The opening scene is grim and full of death (poor birds!) but with such commentary on the nouveau riche of the East Coast as seen through the eyes of Old Europe in a visiting Austrian aristocrat. Too early to tell, but the writing is so.....Monson. :D That automatically makes it better than a large number of romance authors.

Decided to work on getting ahead in some already-started series for a New Year's Res. So it's a Buddy Read of Defiant Ecstasy. Not going well....

Group's been very quiet. Anyone else up to anything? :P

Im thinking of starting but holy 1019 pages!! can I do it!?:O

I keep looking at that one, too, and always finding something else to read. LOL I'm not shy of chunksters & have read longer books, but that one is making me skittish for some reason. :D

I'm reading a gothic right now -- The Seance. I'm pretty impressed. The book is divided into 5 parts, each from a different character's POV and years apart. Cool. No skim reading with THIS book. :)

OK, I'm reading The Prince of Eden b/c Karla liked it so much, and I did like the first book in the series (This Other Eden) quite a lot. THAT one was not only a great BR, but a terrific historical because it showed, in an emotionally riveting way, why there were revolutions in American and France.

But this one, not feelin' it so much. The author still does a great job developing the characters in the context of history. But all the characters are miserable, and seem determined to remain so. I'm over halfway through and wondering if there's a point. Karla mentioned a lack of a linear plot, so maybe that's part of it. But these days no author would get away with having a story that meanders through angst, depression, selfish orgies of bitterness, and helpless wallows of guilt and uselessness for over half the book without ever having one single point of light. There is not one character in this story who holds it together, and some of them are perfectly awful.

I'm compulsive enough that I'll read to the end, but IF (big IF) this story doesn't redeem itself in huge ways by the end, this is getting, rather than one to five stars, one to five dilberries. I'm guessing if Karla liked it that the ending satisfies, but it will have to amaze me if it is to make up for the fact that, for the last day and change, I've dreaded picking up this book.

Prince of Eden is a completely different type of book than This Other Eden. I thought it was more of a throwback to the large Victorian novels about one main protagonist and their effect on all the people surrounding them. (Like Anthony Trollope's He Knew He Was Right) I love those types of novels as well though they can be frustrating AS ALL GET OUT, so I liked PoE as much as TOE, but for entirely different reasons.

The ending is a murky downer, just so you know.

Sorry that you're not enjoying it as much.

And yes, I bought the rest of the series, too. Are the other books any less depressing?

I did get to the part where Thomas talks Jennifer into trying to make up to their mother, which was hopeful. But then he met Charlotte Bronte's brother...

Oh and I couldn't even feel sorry for Harriet. I understood her reasoning and could even forgive her choosing to be selfish for five days. But she chose it at such cost to Thomas--and had to see that it would wreck him. I kinda hope she jumps off a cliff.

ETA the one character I really like and respect in this book is the one I really hated in the last one. But she doesn't have much of a story.

Books 3 & 4 are really dim and depressing, #5 is about a character getting redeemed from the depths, and then #6 went totally off the rails for me. It was a typical HR and so at odds from what the rest of the series had been that I didn't like it. The second half is "heroine on a wacky road trip with hero in pursuit." Bizarre. Haven't read #7 yet, but a GR friend who did said it wasn't much better than #6. I think Harris petered out and simply wrote them because the publisher wanted her to crank out more Eden books.

K just read to the bit about the baby. Now I really hope she jumps off a cliff.

Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) wrote: "Group's been very quiet. Anyone else..."

I know I've been quiet...finished . Have yet to review it...there are sooo many interesting characters in this story...really want to hunt down images of the women Fergus so adeptly portrayed...that is going to take mucho time.

I just started . So far, wowza!

Finished . I didn't like it and thought there was barely any story and written badly in the bargain. Oh well.

Just started and it's really goofy cheesy fun so far. Silly trash the way I like it. :)

I know I've been quiet...finished . Have yet to revi..."

Hi Sharon, I read this book last year for my 50 States Challenge and from my understanding these women were all fictional. I remember doing research to see if this was based on a real story and felt let down that it was not.

Mirely wrote: "I remember doing research to see if this was based on a real story and felt let down that it was not...."

I noticed there are quite a few readers who actually thought this was a work of non fiction. I already knew going in that it wasn't, but I can understand how they might have come up with that conclusion. Jim Fergus wrote this journal so convincingly from the very beginning, starting with the INTRODUCTION by J. Will Dodd through to the very end, the Epilogue, written in closing by J.W. Dodd.

I loved this story. It's hard to realize a male author wrote the entire book through the eyes of a late 1800's woman so realistically.

Yep, I've got an idea how some readers would think this is non fiction.

Just started Barbary Bounty. I'm hoping that it has some dumb, stupid and weird stuff, just like it's predecessor Barbary Bride, but just be more interesting time around. :D

Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) wrote: "Just started Barbary Bounty. I'm hoping that it has some dumb, stupid and weird stuff, just like it's predecessor Barbary Bride, but just be more interesting time arou..."

These look good! III be interested to hear what you think :)

Just turned the last page of .

Anne done GOOD in this one. Totally redeemed herself as a writer with this book.

If you haven't read it yet Jeanine, I think you are going to really like it. Serial killers and all... :D

Finished Romany Passions . It was an average read, though it was a pretty raw little ripper. Sort of reminded me of The Frost & the Flame , for those who have also read that one.

Karla..did you finish the Barbary books?

Yes, I did. Glad there aren't others in the series, though! Two are enough. :P

just finished my first Judith McNaught, Whitney, My Love. What a great book, I haven't read any romances in almost a year, I guess I got hooked on HF for awhile but am now indulging in some 70-80s Bodice rippers, my favorite. I ordered two yesterday from amazon, Decieve Not My Heart and So Wild A Heart, I'm searching for The Silver Devil, amazon has it listed for $55 so need to find a lil bit cheaper copy as I can't afford that on a 30 yr old used copy. Anyways its great to be back!