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by Courtney Sheets
My seventh grade English teacher, a diminutive woman in
stature but a powerhouse in attitude and ability to get kids engaged, had a
lending library. This small wire rack rested under the blackboard, waiting for
us to take a book. We could check out one book at a time. I remember picking a
book titled Emily. It was part of a
series known as the Sunfire Romances. The Sunfire Romance series was a
collection of books dealing with young woman, usually around fifteen or sixteen
years of age, in some tumultuous time in American History. You had Sabrina, a
strong-willed Patriot during the Revolutionary war. Veronica was a smart brassy
sixteen year-old living in Hawaii during World War II. Roxanne was young
actress carving out a name for herself in Hollywood during the Great
Depression. With these stories you got history and romance, a double whammy!
Emily dealt with a young woman from an affluent background
during the turn of the century. She was torn between two loves, the handsome
rich boy Worth she grew up with or the poor brooding medical student Stephen. I
myself had a thing for the brooding med student, placing Keanu Reeves as
Stephen in the movie in my mind. Along the way Emily learned life lessons and
realized she wanted to be a nurse. Pretty good stuff when you are thirteen. You
get a little thrill when she shares a kiss with her chosen man.
After that I was hooked on romances, even if I didn’t know I
was reading the genre. I will fully admit I did not read Jane Austin as a girl
or a teenager. In fact, my first foray into Ms. Austin’s work was when my
college roommate made me sit down and watch Pride and Prejudice, the Colin
Firth version. I was however a connoisseur of Charles Dickens and Elizabeth
Gaskell. These authors can be classified as romance novelists in a way. Take A
Tale of Two Cities for example, Sydney Carton gives up his life for the woman
he loves. I mean come on; he takes her husband’s place at the guillotine.
That’s romance. How about North and South? What would we do if John Thornton
and Margaret Hale didn’t get together at the end of the book? See what I mean,
romance. What about The Scarlet Pimpernel? Sir Percy Blakeley becomes the
Scarlet Pimpernel to fight injustice, but he fights Chevelin because he loves
his wife so much.
My first real romance novel, one that fell completely into
the genre, was called Bandit’s Kiss
by Mary Lou Rich. I was sixteen at the time and so excited to have progressed
to full-fledged romance. I don’t remember much about this book other than the
heroine spent a lot of time in her nightgown. But I would have to say Emily and
her Sunfire Romance sisters were what set me on the path of romance and romance
writing. I love...love. I know there is probably a twelve-step program I can
enter, but I don’t really want to quit romances.
When her father is brutally murdered in front of her eyes,
Marian of Locksley is thrust into a world of treason and greed, where the
ultimate prize is the throne of England. Left with little choice, she disguises
herself as Robin of the Hood, an outlaw despised by royalty and loved by the
people…and the wickedly handsome, steadfast Will Scarlet. Forced into hiding
deep within Sherwood Forest, Will joins Robin Hood’s band of merry men, not
realizing the fearless outlaw he follows is really the woman he desires for his
own. He dares to risk everything in the fight for justice and love, longing for
the day he can claim the courageous beauty. But first, England must be saved
and legend must be born.
The Hooded Man
When her father is
brutally murdered in front of her eyes, Marian of Locksley is thrust into a
world of treason and greed, where the ultimate prize is the throne of England.
Left with little choice, she disguises herself as Robin of the Hood, an outlaw
despised by royalty and loved by the people…and the wickedly handsome,
steadfast Will Scarlet.
Forced into hiding deep within Sherwood Forest, Will joins Robin Hood’s band of merry men, not realizing the fearless outlaw he follows is really the woman he desires for his own. He dares to risk everything in the fight for justice and love, longing for the day he can claim the courageous beauty. But first, England must be saved and legend must be born.
Forced into hiding deep within Sherwood Forest, Will joins Robin Hood’s band of merry men, not realizing the fearless outlaw he follows is really the woman he desires for his own. He dares to risk everything in the fight for justice and love, longing for the day he can claim the courageous beauty. But first, England must be saved and legend must be born.
#costumeharpy, #decadentpub
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