Shanna

I love this book because it made me fall in love with books and reading! It was the first “historical romance” book I ever read, and it is still among my favorites of all time.

The strong, masculine lead character pitted against Shanna, who is equally stubborn and independent, makes a novel full of fireworks and passion. It’s also a long, meaty novel, which I love, and full of twists and turns throughout.

A secret identity, a strong female lead, and a smart, handsome, heroic aristocrat pretending to be a bondslave were all it took for me to pick up this circa 70s romance.

I’ve always loved a rich plot and detailed descriptions of an era and its settings. In every chapter, the late Ms. Woodiwiss proves how brilliantly she researched pre-colonial America, the Caribbean rum trade, pirates, 1700s clothing, and tall ships. And that’s not to say she littered the plot with unnecessary exposition. She took me to a place I could see, feel, and taste. Her writing is visceral.

I journey… show more.

A classic that probably hasn’t made its way onto many modern lists. But this book, in its nearly seven hundred pages, will absolutely carry any reader away. Shanna is a feisty, rambunctious, often bitchy, often wrong, character. She’s so clever that she gets in her own way. You never know what she’s going to do, but you know she’s too big for the life she is being threatened with and that she’ll do anything to make sure she doesn’t fall victim to a life that will bore her. She refuses to be a wasted woman. Also? This book is jampacked… show more.