The Wildest Heart, by Rosemary Rogers - Review

It's Official, I'm In Love
You may recall a bit of a rave I posted last fall for Rosemary Rogers' Sapphire. As far as I can tell, Sapphire is a new release with a 2005 (well, relatively new) copyright, whereas The Wildest Heart is a re-release, originally published in 1974. So I wasn't sure if that would make a difference.

All I can say is, Rogers has still *got it*, baby. This is a fabulous book and deserves your attention if you're a romance lover. If this is Old Skool, then I think the entire cadre of current historical romance authors should take a refresher course. Not that there isn't wonderful stuff coming out every month, but there is really a huge difference in scope and scale, and I want more of this kind of EPIC DRAMA. (I feel a glom coming on...)

Hey, Gabaldon Lovers
At well over 700 pages, if you are an aficionado of the Very Long Book, and the intricate plotting that goes along with it, I think there's a very good chance you'll like this one too. Jamie and Lucas would get along really well, I suspect; if nothing else they could have a good commiseration over wimmin-folk who don't stay in their places.

Skooled
It's true that I'll forgive a bland or linear plot if the characters are great, if the chemistry is there, and if the romance satisfies. But if I can get it ALL between the same set of covers? HELLZYES, that's even better. The plot of The Wildest Heart is what the modern Big Mis wants to be when it grows up. The conflict between the characters is tied to a campaign of misinformation, disinformation, and scandalous secrets that begins before Rowena gets within a thousand miles of Lucas. If she'd ignored the evidence against him, we'd all scoff and call her TSTL.

The book is structured in a "coming of age" format, and starts out with a few scenes from Rowena's late adolescence in India, where she lived with her grandfather, and then moves into a relatively short section in Europe with her mother and stepfather. At one point, I thought maybe that bit should have been dropped... but I'm glad it wasn't. Events in this extended prologue inform Rowena's adult character and give you such an insight to her feelings on certain exchanges that the author doesn't even have to write it in -- you will cringe on Rowena's behalf, just knowing. It's genius, really, and it's something that might not be possible in a book of 350 pages vs. 700.

The plot twists and turns throughout the story as bits of conflicting information emerge, and right along with Rowena, you wonder whose information you can trust. The final twists were jaw-dropping surprises, at least to me, but written with such skill that there's no hint of contrivance or manipulation. The brilliance of this book is that the plot is so complex and yet it's entirely character-driven. The passions and hatreds of two or three generations provide the gearworks that power you through the story.

The Characters
The story is written from Rowena's first person narrative-- which frankly I wasn't thrilled with at first, but soon forgot my objections. Despite her desire to take charge of her life, circumstances and other people continue to buffet her in crazily extreme directions, but she never seems passive. With all this going on, I think the first person is a good way to keep the reader in a place to understand why she does the things she does. Rowena has no allies through a large part of the story, so much of her processing of events is internal.

One downside to this though is that Lucas remains an enigma to the reader as much as Rowena throughout most of the story. He's a bit of a background on which events are acted out, and he's off-stage for a fairly big chunk of the pagecount. Lucas might be the first of the angsty damaged heroes. He's a classic Western hero; taking the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune without flinching or explaining. And yet somehow as readers we see a little of his vulnerability, of his pain and that brings him closer to us.

Things You Don't See Every Day
Like Scarlett O'Hara, Rowena marries the wrong guy in the course of this story. She's not a virgin when she finally comes to the hero. There is rape, but it's not perpetrated by the hero. And Lucas is no white knight. He's engaged in a scandalous affair throughout the book and makes no promises to throw over this influential woman to be exclusive with Ro.

The love-making that seemed so daring in 1974 is far more soft-lensed and less graphic than any given best-seller today, but it's still hot and passionate and evocative:

Naked again, I went to him, and equally naked, he received me. We made love slowly and unhurriedly and inevitably. With Lucas, there was no holding back, no sense of violation. I wanted him, and he wanted me, and for the first time in my life, I learned how it felt to be taken out of myself with longing, and to have the longing fulfilled.

Bottom Line
The Wildest Heart is a long, slow, complex read. It's perfect for sinking into on a cold snowy night or taking with you on vacation. I strongly recommend and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Around the Blogosphere
Romance Rookie
The Burton Review
Books Like Breathing
Revenge of the Book Nerds (heh. love the blog name)
Rundpinne

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Disclosure: Review copy provided by Sourcebooks.

Saphhire, by Rosemary Rogers - Review

Old-Skool Done Right
Oh. My. God. How much do I love this book? Up to the moon and back, that's how much.*

Ms. Rogers and I go way back. From Sweet Savage Love to The Crowd Pleasers, that woman wrote some OUTRAGEOUS stuff. And I loved every single page.

Her classic books pretty much epitomize the Old Skool romance, from the punishing kisses to the spoiled and tempestuous but also sweetly virginal eighteen year old heroine; up to and including the kidnapping raping hero.

I've been aware that she's published some new stuff recently, but I hadn't gotten around to trying any of them. However, I feel a glom coming on because I have to tell you, this book has everything I love about Old Skool, stuff you don't see much any more, but has left the raping to to the bad guys where it belongs.

My Favorite Part... Is a Secret
This is one of those occasions where my no-spoiler policy is really inhibiting because it makes discussing my very favorite part of the story a little bit problematic: one of the reasons I loved it so much is because it took me completely by surprise, and I don't want to spoil it for you. In this book is a really extended battle of wills between the couple -- really really. And at the point where another heroine might have done something different, Sapphire's choice-- and more particularly, its execution-- is 1) brilliant; 2) exactly perfect; 3) difficult -- so freakin' difficult I could hardly believe she did it. I wanted to jump up and cheer at one particular moment when I knew she was going to make it work.

But I can't tell you what it was. I'm afraid even a hint would give it away.

These are a Few of My Favorite [Old Skool] Things
Stuff I've missed about the 70s and 80s romances that hooked me forever on the genre -- you could practically go down a checklist, and it's all here. (Except the spanking. Ah well, can't have everything, I suppose.)

Loooonnnger adventures. I'm not talking page count. I'm talking months or even years in the storylines, where the characters butt heads, develop and change.

The tropics. So many of the older romances included sections in the Carribbean or other tropical and exotic locales. Sapphire starts out in Martinique and comes complete with the amoral, free-lovin' alter-ego island girl character to advise our heroine on those strange, disturbingly tingly feelings.

A hero who is actually still getting some at the start of the book. I'm not sure this is something I've missed, exactly, but when you see it in a book published after 1990, you suddenly realize, you haven't actually seen it in a really long time. Or at least if you're me, that's what happens. There's a scene where he bangs a society woman up against a wall on a balcony before she even quite realizes it's happening -- a bit shocking these days but a textbook example of showing and not telling us quite a lot about his character:

Only afterward, as he fastened his wool trousers and smoothed her silk skirts and bodice, did he see a single tear slip down her pale face."

"Don't cry," he murmured as he kissed her cheek.

"I-I've never done this before," she said breathlessly.

...[snip - at this point, they're interrupted by the lady's elderly husband]

The hem of her gown almost brushed Blake's polished boot as she glided past him. Either Mr. Williams didn't see him or he didn't care what his wife did on balconies with strangers.

Blake smiled. Yet another reason to be in no hurry to wed.

Brrr. Cold much?

A book with British society stuff set in an historical period other than Regency. Rumors abound that Victorian is the next Regency, and I think it's already here. I like the mobility people had and the feeling that change is about to bust wide open everywhere.

Protagonists that travel. From Martinique to London to Boston to New York. Love it.

Cross-dressing heroine. OK, so this isn't actually one of my particular buttons, but it is for some people, so PSA, this book haz it.

The whore with the heart of gold. Actually, there are several in this book. Why stop at one? It's not like Rogers got famous because of her restraint.

My Only Regret
The ending felt kind of rushed to me. The turning point where they come back to each other just... well, to be honest it didn't work very well at all for me. How can I still love the book if this didn't work? Wish I knew. I just wished there were about 50 more pages and that Blake had had to work a little harder once they were re-united. But it was such a damn good ride getting to the point I can't bring myself to hate on it because of that.


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*Couple things: yeah, I'm living under a rock right now, which is how come I just found out about the western rodeo round-up git-along thing going on over at Ramblings... can't participate right now but I may do a belated post and link back. Also, the exact rock I'm living under is named Natalie-- she's my newest niece and I'm out of town helping out my sister with childcare, which I hope partially explains a) my general absenteeism from Blogland (yours, mine, and Kristie's) and b) the reference to the Psychotically Competitive Nutbrown Hare (hope they've got a nut-brown therapy fund going).