First, before I get into what this post is about, I want to make a Public Service Announcement. Grimspace releases in six days (officially), although it’s already out in some stores. There are a number of sites running promos, doing interviews with me, and/or giving away copies of the book. Lauren Dane, Carrie Lofty, and May, are all giving away free loot, so you’ll want to check that out. Look at my Appearances page to see where else you can find more goodness.
Moving on. Today, I’m starting a post series, which will stretch over a number of weeks. See, I got to feeling nostalgic about some of the authors I used to love when I was pretty dang young. In college, years after they came out, I glommed Kay Hooper and Fayrene Preston Loveswept novels like they were crack.
So I hunted up an online used bookstore and ordered a batch of old Fayrene Preston titles. I was curious how their awesomeness would stand up to my fond memories of them — and how an old school romance would compare to the ones we have coming out today. What would’ve changed? Would an alpha from ‘88 be different than an alpha in 2008?
Well, that’s what I’ll be talking about today.
First, let’s take a look at the cover art. (My husband was kind enough to scan the book for me. Thanks, honey!)
We have a classic clinch. Long “Dynasty” hair on the heroine; the dress looks 80s to me, especially the fabric. I think I had something like that for Homecoming in high school! Hero man has wickedly feathered hair, and he looks terribly serious about planting one on the heroine, who may have fainted at the idea of his tongue.
Great title, though. It directly references the color of the hero’s eyes.
In terms of art style, though, it’s not as dated as some covers I’ve seen. In fact, it immediately brings to mind this more modern cover; the couple has just been updated a bit.
In the Kresley Cole cover, we get grunge hair on the hero as opposed to super-feathered coif. The woman is wearing a backless dress instead of an itchy 80’s lace and lamé creation.
Interestingly enough, I do recall the gold dress on the cover from a scene in the book. So props to the Loveswept art department for paying attention to detail.
Enough about the the external, though, right? Let’s get to the meat of the book! Sapphire Lightning had a particularly unreal air, as compared to modern category romances (except possibly the Presents line, but I don’t read many of those). I think category romances today try to keep things more accessible to the everyday woman, more relatable as opposed to pure escapism.
In Sapphire Lightning, the hero is the CEO of a huge corporation, and he’s filthy rich. He comes from a prominent family, and his bitchy old grandmother is the social arbiter of all things upper-crust in the town where they live. Sounds like a Presents plot waiting to happen, right? Now all we need is a feisty, impoverished single mother to turn his world on its ear.
Well, we get a heroine who is a mother, yes. But she’s not single. She was married to his cousin, who hated his stiff and proper relatives in the States, so he ran away to Ibiza to learn to be an artist, where he met the heroine and married her. Yes, that’s the twist. She’s not poor or feisty. Her father is a renowned artist. Her husband (who died like a rock star in a plane crash) studied with dear old Dad. Her mother is a Pulitzer prize winner novelist.
The heroine herself is accomplished in every possible regard: so perfect, graceful, funny, witty, a tender, loving mother… and she’s also a famous artist in her own regard, but nobody knows her true identity because she wanted to make it on her own, not trading off the reputation of her parents. Naturally, the hero cannot help but be overwhelmed, for he has never been confronted with such a feminine paragon before.
The plot is quite delightfully over the top. Nobody in this backward little town seems to have a clue how they got on before Toni showed up to teach them the error of their ways. She makes people’s lives better just by coming into a room and smiling with her glorious topaz eyes. She organizes a carnival for impoverished and/or sick kids instead of the stuffy old ball they’ve always had before. The ladies of the town social club come to her house and she gets them drunk, so their husbands come to pick them up and everyone is happy because they all have drunken sex and the tight-hipped bitchy women are suddenly easy-going and satisfied. Thank god for liquor!
Toni only came to town to sell off her husband’s house and then she intends to head back to sun-drenched Ibiza to rear their son. The baby is more like a doorstop than an actual child; he serves to show how awesome and selfless Toni is. She’s never tired or irritable or covered in spit.
For his part, Linc makes up his mind to have Toni in a stalker-style way. He sees her on the beach and WHAM. This formerly iron-willed, self-controlled CEO is a yammering fool with sweaty palms and a stiffie that won’t quit. Since he knows everyone in the small town, he calls the realtor Toni has asked to sell her house (Linc has slept with the realtor!) and he bribes her not to list or show the house. That high-handed move immediately put my back up.
But after a while, Toni’s attraction to Linc makes her rethink selling the house. So she calls the realtor and asks her not to show the house, proving our alpha did, indeed, know the little woman better than she knew herself. I sighed.
Toni’s interactions with the hero are delightfully hilarious. I have no doubt that at 16, I would’ve found this book the height of yumminess, but now, many years later, I find it has a high cheese factor as well, all the absurd delight of a soap opera. See, the hero and heroine (Linc and Toni) go back and forth like so:
“I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you. Your grace, your charm, your feminine mystique. I must have you!” (Hard punishing kiss)
“No, no, no, no, no! My husband hated you! I was a bad wife to him, and I didn’t love him as I should but I’ll be a good widow, I swear. I cannot make the beast with two backs with the one man he–mmf. Mmmmmm…” (oooh, swoon! Lightning bolts in my girlie parts…)
Then there was some silly melodrama about how Linc had supposedly burned down the shed where her dead husband used to paint in secret. Kyle, the dead husband, was making a portrait of the bitchy old grandmother to win her love, but Linc spoiled all of that. Toni found a letter written by Kyle in his old papers and she couldn’t believe she had gotten down with a man who could do such a cruel thing, so she started avoiding Linc, which broke his sensitive alpha heart.
Later, Toni’s house catches on fire during the carnival (not sure why because they were up on top of a Ferris Wheel, nearly having sex), and Linc runs in to save her artwork because “nothing beautiful should ever be destroyed” and she’s like, “ZOMG, he couldn’t have burned Kyle’s paintings! He values art and beauty! He would never do that! OHNOES, what have I done?! He’ll never forgive me.”
Which I thought was sort of backward thinking. I mean, if Linc really hated Kyle, maybe he wouldn’t give a shit about his paintings. Or maybe Linc was just trying to impress the chick he wanted to keep boning until they were old and gray? So she goes to Linc and tells him about her epiphany, and he’s like, “Hmf, it’s too little, too late!” And stalks off, despite the fact he had been Hoovering her hooters up on a Ferris Wheel ten minutes before.
Anyway, it turns out that the bitchy old grandma burned down the shed because she was mad Kyle wouldn’t go to business school, and she thought if she destroyed his work, he’d get over his artsy fartsy phase.
A lot of stuff didn’t add up or make sense, but it was a fun book in a totally “Dynasty” way. They finally got together when she groveled for doubting him and proposed marriage, after turning him down numerous times. Would I say it holds up to modern romance novels? Probably not. But it was a fun trip to the past nonetheless.
What about you guys? What old favorites have you re-read that made you go, I liked this?!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Yes, and not just romance. I used to inhale all the Tarzan books Edgar R. Burroughs published, and *sigh* over the adventure, and the mysterious civilizations, and the grand conflicts between nature/good and civilization/evil, and… Well, of course I mooned over Tarzan himself.
I read and re read those books until they literally fell apart (okay, they were my father’s books and not in the best shape to begin with, but still! I could quote pages of dialogue and action off the top of my head).
Then life and other books got in the way, and when I went back to Tarzan after a couple of decades hiatus I was… sad. I mean, I still love them to pieces but I can’t in good conscience tell my kids, “read them, they are good!” because… well, they aren’t good.
On romance, something similar happened to me with Johanna Lindsey. I used to own copies of gah! a dozen of her books at least, and re read a good chunk of them several times. Then I discovered other (better) writers, and as I grew more selective (limited budget, limited time, too many books out there), I just couldn’t read most of them anymore. The sexual politics just… well, disgusted me. (And don’t get me started on the one or two wherein rape is considered the hero’s right over the heroine!)
By the same token… I still keep a copy of her “Angel” *grin*
February 20th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Johanna Lindsey, Iris Johanson, Loved those old loveswepts too. Don’t read them much anymore. Not enough time in the day. Johanna Lindsey warrior woman is still a good read to me. She’s the first author that mixed scifi with romance that i’d ever read.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Oh man, I remember reading a Johanna Lindsey where the heroine is kidnapped, rolled up in a rug, and then fed an aphrodisiac, but the hero doesn’t want her “unwilling” so he makes her suffer untold horniness all night long, rather than take her against her will. Like, whuh?!
Hello, you had her ROLLED UP IN A RUG, DUDE! Why stop there? And I freakin’ loved that book. Sigh.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Oh man, I still have my stash of Loveswept books and Candelight Romance series in a box in my closet. I have moved way past those storylines in my general interest level and sexual content, but I just can’t part with them yet. Plus so many of them have since become some of my favorite authors. Iris Johanson, Elizabeth Lowell Glenna McReynolds (Tara Janzen, Sandra Brown, and Kay Hooper, are some off the top of my head. Lots of great reading memories.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Candlelight!
I used to pick those up at flea markets and rummage sales. I wonder how they would be today…
February 20th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Well since I read a LOT of historicals those hold pretty well but there are a few I wonder why I read them. But then again that is part of growing up.
At least kind of growing up. I haven’t finished yet. I love the books out there now I think the heroine are stronger and more self-reliant.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Larena, I think you make an excellent point.
In the older books, the women were more passive, just waiting to be rescued. In the books I’m reading today, many of the women are strong and powerful; they sort out of their own issues, and get the love of an awesome guy as frosting on their happy cake.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I think some/most of the books I’ve read will still hold up. I didn’t start reading romances until… maybe senior year of high school? Before then I was a little snot and read only classics.
Of course, that really wasn’t so long ago. Haha. I don’t mind the Candlelight books - I discovered Diana Palmer and I’ve been trying to read my way through her back list. Lemme tell you, that is a feat. I’ve read all but 12, I think? This is funny - I’m glad you posted this, Ann. The first person I think of is Barbara Cartland. In fact, I was trolling half.com for books yesterday, and *almost* bought this 3-in-1 BC book… but just couldn’t do it. I don’t think I could stomach it.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
JSL, now I officially hate you, woman. Not long ago after high school??? ack!!!
*sigh* I’m old… *wail* and creaky *sob*
February 20th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Barbara Cartland! I used to read those… man.
Every one of her heroines was like an anime babe, right? Huge eyes, tiny nose, cupid’s bow mouth, tiny pointed chin, and angelic blond curls. She was also slim as a sylph and heartbreakingly innocent..
February 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
and…. she…. could only… speak… like… Kirk.
I’m gonna get a headache now…
February 20th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Haha - Ann, azteclady - you got it! (I think BC would have thrown in a few more ellipses…)
Also - sorry, yes… I’m rather an infant. 
February 20th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Yep…I am just like you.. I was SO addicted to Loveswept romances. My favorite was Iris Johansen. I still have those books on my shelf. Loved Kay Hooper’s series books, too. Still have some Diana Palmers, early Nora Roberts, Leanne Banks…I could make this an endless stream. Really LOVED Barbara Faith’s sheik books- now those wouldn’t be pc today, for sure. This is like memory lane.
Liked that you compared one “old” cover to a “new” one. I’ve been learning lately that a lot of the new covers are cycled from old stuff or stock photos. No wonder why someone’s hair/body type doesn’t match the story!
Would love to see you at RT and talk about these oldies. Don’t know if I want to revisit them…think maybe some of the luster would be off, you know….
February 20th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Ann, just looked at that post with the Johanna Lindsey. I think I have “said” horny book up in my attic! Wasn’t that a series of sci-fis she did where the men punished the women by giving them that horny drink? She did another I think with a Russian setting where the heroine has that happen to her, and Mr. Happy Hands works her all night long! Does anybody remember also bookmarking the sex parts in those Rosemary Rogers books, too?
Oh this is a MOST excellent post, Ann. I will have to keep coming back to it..
February 21st, 2008 at 7:00 am
Hehe, Laura, I think she did write more than one with that aphrodisiac — with varying results. Sometimes I can’t believe what plot devices I thought were awesome back in the day. Now, here are my faves:
Heroine in man-drag
Friends to lovers
Long time crush
Heroine brings unattainable male to his knees
February 21st, 2008 at 8:36 am
Hey, Ann, share some of those “heroine in man-drag” stories. I’m racking my brain here- and can’t think of any.
As I was trying to fall asleep last night, damn you, Ann, this post keep my wheels turning, I remembered my all-time fav author from the past (when I was a teen)- Carole Mortimer. I would have DIED and gone straight to heaven if I would have met her!!
February 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Heroine in man drag: one of Johanna Lindsey’s Mallory books–James story, I believe?
Yes, I have way too good memory for these things.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Oh man, I did a post on this… I made a list of titles… lemme find it.
Here! The Definitive Heroine Cross-Dressing List
Feel free to add to it.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Now I know why I don’t know any of the cross-dressers! I haven’t read historical romance for some time. I could see this as a good plot devise for these because it really wouldn’t work well in a contemporary setting. Seems like some of these authors fell back on it a bit much, don’t you think because they are guilty of using it many, many, times!
Can’t wait for you to comment on more oldies but goodies next week. What a trip down memory lane!!