The Bandit and the Gentleman
Both were wounded in the same train robbery in frontier Colorado and left on Abigail McKenzie's doorstep to nurse back to life.
Gentle, loving David, promising her a happiness she'd lost hope of finding, was all a lady could wish for.
Jesse stood for everything she hated: he was rude, violent, roughly handsome and disturbingly sensual.
But it was Jesse's mocking mouth that troubled her dreams, Jesse who made her feel a hundred things a lady should never know, Jesse who challenged her every waking hour. She fought him with all the stiff propriety her stubborn will commanded...but in her burned the aching embers of love too long denied--love that would force her to a choice no woman should ever have to make...
Do you remember the first romance you ever read?
Through my twenties I was a horror fan. Yep, loved Stephen King. I also read true crime and Ann Rule type non-fiction accounts. My first "romance" experiences were accidentally getting a Nora Lofts Gothic from my bookclub. Pretty good. Catherine Cookson. Wow. I remember The Black Dress. Okay, I was hooked. Well, I don't know what inspired me because I'd mostly ordered through the bookclub until the, but in 1983 I went to a store and browsed the racks for something similar to Catherine Cookson. What I found was HUMMINGBIRD. Oh my goodness. I was hooked for life. I ran right back out and found THE RAINBOW SEASON by Lisa Gregory. (Candace Camp) Can you imagine the good fortune of discovering those two authors in my very first romance shopping trip?
I read every book both of them wrote and I branched out, and by then I was a true romance lover. I guess that's where my love of western and Americana comes from. My favorite LaVyrle book of all time is TWICE LOVED. She is the master of taking the mundane details of life and turning them into the stirring details of a love story. Internal conflict, poignant emotions wrung from the soul, and characters you believe in and root for.
What hooked you on romance?
I loved and adored Hummingbird. I had discovered historical romance by then, but Hummingbord was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Cookson was a lovely person. She just outside my village. I used to see her every so often. However, she never considered that she wrote romance. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with her books -- Newcastle and Northumberland are ever so much nicer than her books. Truly.
Thanks for sharing, Michelle! Things wer often a tad bleak in her stories, no? But that was my first toe in the romance pond.
ReplyDeleteI ADORE your cover, btw!
My first romance was a western romance by Rosanne Bittner, although I don't remember which title it was. I was searching for westerns & that book looked good, and it drew me into the whole romance genre.
ReplyDeleteKaren! Me, too! You reminded me that I used to read westerns. I read every Louis L'Amour there was. I still own a complete leatherbound set.
ReplyDeleteNot counting the classics, my first romance was For the Roses by Julie Garwood. I was 13 or 14 and I had seen the tv movie "Rose Hill" that was based on the book (but nothing like the book) and got my mom to buy it for me. Yeah, it was definitely a shock when I read the first love scene...LOL. But I was hooked and haven't looked back since.
ReplyDeleteI still remember my first Harlequin Historical (and still have it) as well...Cally and the Sheriff by Cassandra Austin. My sister bought it for me when we were book shopping for her (she read contemporary category romances, but I was drawn to the historical...I was a HUGE fan of westerns and the western themed romances sucked me in)...I was hooked on historicals.
CSJ, I too read C cookson & N Lofts, plus Zane Grey (learned my first swear word- bastard there! age 12 LOL); devoured & collected LaVyrle-loved the Midwest connection; didn't care for Separate Beds for some reason. Stopped romance for awhile; reintroduced to genre 12 yrs ago by a co-worker: we had slack time to read a novel a week. I enjoy history so historicals are my favorite: Ire/Scot/England & American.
ReplyDeleteJennifer; I worked for Hallmark when that movie came out & we had many unhappy readers who were upset with the changes in plot & characters. One movie that DID follow the book almost verbatim (I read it 2 wks before airdate) was Anne Quindlen's Black & Blue. Very suspenseful!
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I don't recognize that cover. Will have to check my box of L Spencer soon.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I too appreciate hearing
background on authors, makes them seem closer. My husband is from near Cambridge; on our second trip, I brought back 20 Boons/Mills books, 8 yrs ago before stricter limits on luggage!
I have more Candace than Lisa just because I ran out of time & space.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, I really loved all of Cassandra Austin's books. My favorite was the blind hero. Her real name is Sandra and she lives in Kansas. We used to often hang out in our hotel rooms at local conferences. She's a really nice lady.
ReplyDeleteI do recall when a LOT of readers were up in arms over For The Roses. Julie lives in Kansas City and used to attend the local conferences there. A very gracious person.
Lou, that is the old Hummingbird cover - there is a new one.