In honor of romance...

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2004
In honor of romance...
17
Fri, 08-05-2005 - 5:07pm

I'm a little shy about starting a topic here, but I thought it might be fun--another thread put this idea in my head...for anyone else who reads romances, have you ever read any that were so emotionally intense that you couldn't put them down? Two that I've read that really struck me like that--

A Candle in the Dark by Megan Chance

From Amazon.com: "This book won the 1994 RITA Award for First Book. It breaks nearly every rule about genre romances. Ana was raised in abject poverty. She has made her way in the world of mid 19th century New York by prostitution, but she still resides in a world of violence. One night the violence touches her and she find herself needing to escape. Cain Alessandro is an alcoholic doctor. He ekes out a meager living between drinking bouts. When he is given a chance to go to California where gold has been discovered he agrees even though he will be posing as Ana's husband. Cain has no interest in the physical if it does not involve alcohol. The trip, part way by ship to Panama and then by land cross the isthmus, tests both of them physically and emotionally as they face their demons. A penetrating look at alcoholism and sexual dysfunction."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440214874/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/103-4921877-9028624?v=glance

The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale

From Amazon.com: "S.T. Maitland, a legendary English highwayman--dangerous and larger than life--has been brought to his knees by an explosion which renders him deaf in one ear and racked by sudden, debilitating bouts of vertigo that leave him staggering, nauseous and wretched. S.T. exiles himself to a decrepit French castle to lick his wounds and mark his days in monotonous anonymity with his only companion, a strange half-wild, half-tame wolf named Nemo. Into this suspended life comes Leigh Strachan, a damaged but beautiful young woman bent on avenging the deaths of her parents and sisters at the hands of religious cultists. She seeks the Prince of Midnight to aid her in her plans for revenge. What she finds is not her Seigneur de Minuit, but a shattered hero of the night, seemingly incapable of helping either her or himself. Their journey of discovery is told in some of the richest prose since Pat Conroy's Prince of Tides."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380761300/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/103-4921877-9028624?v=glance

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Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 10:07am

Hi Lisa ~ ~


Thanks for posting.

Avatar for scrappy_ams
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 11:48am

One of my favorite recent reads is The Monk Downstairs by Tim Farrington. It is about a single mother who rents out her downstairs rooms to help make ends meet. She rents them to a man who recently left the monastic life. Their ensuing relationship is simply beautiful. This is a delightful romantic read that is sweet but not sappy (I really hate sappy in a book!). I highly recommend it. I also agree, Teri, with your recommendation on Beneath a Marble Sky (of course LOL). One of the best love stories I've ever read.

scrappy

Scrappy
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 11:59am
I'll have to think about it before I post an answer, but in the meantime---thanks for the recommendations!


 


Mich

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 7:20am

Thanks for sharing- no need to be shy at all- all posts are welcomed: especially if it contains the recommendation of another great book- and you gave us two!

Nora Robert's has a few trilogys that I couldn't put down- among them her "Key" series, the "three sisters" series that I have read at least three times and she has an Irish triogy that I found enchanting as well.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2004
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 9:09am
I've never tried Nora Roberts, though I've definitely seen her name at the bookstore--back atcha for the recommendation! :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2004
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 9:10am
I read The Other Boleyn Girl too--I was embarking on a several-hours plane trip and it look thick enough to keep me occupied so I bought it at the airport bookstore, lol. It definitely had me hooked!
Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 9:39am

Lisa ~


Speaking of air travel, how was your vacation a couple months ago.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2004
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 9:55am
Yeah, the luggage made it to St. Thomas a full day before we did--it had lots of fun snorkeling and sunning itself and gorging on Caribbean seafood while we ended up being put up in the beautiful Ramada Inn in Philadelphia and desperately wandering the city trying to find something to do there that even remotely compared to snorkeling, sunning ourselves and gorging on Caribbean seafood. (we failed) Once we got there, though, the vacation was so awesome!! We did get two free round-trip tickets from the airline, so we are going to go again next year! :) (hopefully with a little better luck)
Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 12:18pm

Lisa, *jaw dropping*, do you mean you had trouble getting to the Virgin Islands?!


I was talking about your non-trip a few months ago, when your luggage went overseas but *you* never made the trip, ROFL!


Avatar for scrappy_ams
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 9:44pm

I just thought of another book with a wonderful love story. It's called On a Night Like This by Ellen Sussman. It's about a single mother who was recently diagnosed with melanoma. She meets a man that she had gone to high school with and their relationship builds from there. It is such a sad, beautiful story. I just loved it and highly recommend it.

Scrappy

Scrappy

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