Every other month (or so), our Book Club picks a different trope or theme and we all bring a book that meets the criteria. It’s a fun way to build up our TBR piles and we thought you might enjoy their recommendations too!
This month we each brought a book published in the 90’s or before. Our findings? Not all romances have aged very well. Just like with our Weird & Wild Edition, we can’t confirm these as recommendations per se, but they are great examples of how the genre has evolved over time. Here are the books we talked about this month:
Dark Fires by Rosemary Rogers
Series Name: Legend of Morgan, # 2
Sequel to Sweet Savage LoveDesire — savage, untamed and undeniable — bound tempestuous Virginia Brandon to Steve Morgan,her magnificent, dangerous soldier of fortune. And in the blistering heat Of revolution’s flames, they swore to love for an eternity and beyond.Now explosive events have shattered their turbulent union — tearing Steve and Ginny apart and casting them upon fateful tides flowing toward separate perils and faraway secret affairs. But no great distance, no sensuous betrayal, no treacherous intrigue of warrior or king can extinguish the brilliance of their majestic love. For their passion their destiny — and it will blaze anew with a white hot intensity when their bodies at last entwine once more.
The Princess by Jude Deveraux
Series Name: Montgomery/Taggert, # 10
Her name was Aria…a beautiful, arrogant princess from a small European kingdom. Stranded in a storm of intrigue near the Florida Keys, she is swept ashore and into the arms of dashing J.T. Montgomery, an officer of the American Navy. Disdainful at first, Aria is secretly tantalized by the handsome Lieutenant’s brash independence…and beneath her proud reserve, J.T. discovers a woman of sensuous fire. To escape her enemies, they return to her royal domain — with Aria posing as an American bride. But if their daring charade succeeds, Aria must choose — between the kingdom she was born to rule, and the man she was destined to love!
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The Thorn Birds is a robust, romantic saga of a singular family, the Clearys. It begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Paddy Cleary moves his wife, Fiona, and their seven children to Drogheda, the vast Australian sheep station owned by his autocratic and childless older sister; and it ends more than half a century later, when the only survivor of the third generation, the brilliant actress Justine O’Neill, sets a course of life and love halfway around the world from her roots.
The central figures in this enthralling story are the indomitable Meggie, the only Cleary daughter, and the one man she truly loves, the stunningly handsome and ambitious priest Ralph de Bricassart. Ralph’s course moves him a long way indeed, from a remote Outback parish to the halls of the Vatican; and Meggie’s except for a brief and miserable marriage elsewhere, is fixed to the Drogheda that is part of her bones – but distance does not dim their feelings though it shapes their lives.
Wonderful characters people this book; strong and gentle, Paddy, hiding a private memory; dutiful Fiona, holding back love because it once betrayed her, violent, tormented Frank, and the other hardworking Cleary sons who give the boundless lands of Drogheda the energy and devotion most men save for women; Meggie; Ralph; and Meggie’s children, Justine and Dane. And the land itself; stark, relentless in its demands, brilliant in its flowering, prey to gigantic cycles of drought and flood, rich when nature is bountiful, surreal like no other place on earth.
Kiss An Angel by Susan Elizabeth Philips
Wedding Day
Pretty, flighty Daisy Devreaux can either go to jail or marry the mystery man her father has chosen for her. Arranged marriages don’t happen in the modern world, so how did the irrepressible Daisy find herself in this fix?
Alex Markov, as humorless as he is deadly handsome, has no intention of playing the loving bridegroom to a spoiled little feather-head with champagne tastes. He drags Daisy from her uptown life to a broken down traveling circus and sets out to tame her to his ways.
But this man without a soul has met his match in a woman who’s nothing but heart. Before long, passion will send them flying sky high without a safety net… risking it all in search of a love that will last forever.
Until Forever by Johanna Lindsey
From the shadows of the past.
Prim and beautiful professor Roseleen White clutches her new prized possession – a thousand-year-old Scandinavian sword. And suddenly, a dream stands before her: a magnificent Viking warrior sworn to satisfy Roseleen’s every desire.
Until forever.
Accursed for untold centuries, mighty Thorn is now enslaved to a woman. Yet it is Roseleen who is the true prisoner, held willing captive by a handsome barbarian who sweeps her back to the ancient past on a journey of sensual discovery. But only by banishing him from her life forever can Roseleen free Thorn from immortality’s chains – forcing her to make a devastating choice that will either imperil their future or preserve a love more powerful than time.
The Militant Heart by Sue Deobold
Unconventional, wayward, impulsive. Alexandra Traherne was anything but the typical debutante. Nonetheless as her only male relative, Rowan Traherne was determined to introduce her to society and find her a suitable mate…before she could disgrace the family name with her wild escapades and suffragette sympathies. Little did he guess that his efforts to civilize Alexandra would only end in scandal, and that he himself would be captivated by her beauty. Her very refusal to submit made him long to claim her soft lips, to tantalize her yearning flesh, to tame her…
Crescendo by Charlotte Lamb
One awful moment shattered her life
Basslea was a haven, and Marina was totally content there. She had her music and her innocent childlike fantasies. Nothing seemed capable of changing her world–until Gideon Firth arrived.
He was everything she was not: sophisticated, urbane, powerful. And she found herself responding to his magnetism the way no unawakened girl should. . . .He seemed to wield a power she didn’t understand, until he forced her to recognize the truth for herself. Then Marina realized what was happening to her–and what had happened!
Irish Thoroughbred by Nora Roberts
Series Name: Irish Hearts, #1
There’s nothing left for Adelia Cunnane in Ireland. The aunt she cared for has passed, and the family farm has been sold for taxes. But her uncle Paddy has written her: Come to America…
The Maryland horse farm where Paddy lives and works is more than Dee dared to dream about. She has always had a magical touch with animals, and her she finds employment in the stables—and a chance to fly, on the muscular back of Travis Grant’s chestnut Thoroughbred. It’s easy to put aside a passing pang of homesickness when she can spend her first paycheck—which feels like a veritable fortune—on the feminine frivolities that were never a part of her life in the old country.
But the most unfamiliar territory of all is her relationship with her boss, the man who has made all this possible. Spirited but innocent, Dee is disconcerted by the way he treats her—and the way she responds. America may be the land of opportunity, a place where even those from the humblest background can pursue what they want—and, perhaps, even find themselves one day attending the Kentucky Derby. But some divides may be too wide to cross, and Dee fears that demanding more could cost her all that she’s already gained…
Thunder Mountain by Theodore Pratt
Brother fights brother in this excitingly frank novel of naked human emotions roused to the boiling point when a ruthless millionaire cuts off a tiny group of men and women from the rest of the world — and keeps them prisoners on top of a primitive Colorado mountain.
Playing the Odds by Nora Roberts
Series Name: The MacGregors, #1
Serena MacGregor’s father knew she’d never settle down and produce a grandchild while working as a blackjack dealer on a luxury cruise ship. But he knew he could stack the odds in his favor by sending unsuspecting Justin Blade—part Comanche and all gambler—to see that his daughter was lucky in love…
The Gentle Awakening by Betty Neels
Florina’s father was furious when, after a lifetime of drudgery, she finally developed the courage to rebel. But there was no danger of her returning home. Florina loved her new job as cook in the household of eminent consultant William Sedley. And it wasn’t long before she realized that she loved her employer, too. But she had no chance of attracting his attention when he was engaged to the glamorous Wanda!
