Skip to main content

Granny Reads: Embrace the Flame by Diana Haviland

At this point this is the winner by far for Granny Reads. Haviland's novel covers all the major tropes of a historical bodice ripper. Our heroine's name is Desire, and she was tragically orphaned during the latest plague. Despite her gentle upbringing, Desire finds herself at the mercy of a brothel owner who orders her to either become a whore or earn her keep as a thief. Obviously our virtuous heroine can't become a whore, so she tries to steal from a man who turns out to be a highwayman with a mysterious past, whom we eventually discover is the wrongly disinherited son of a late country gentleman. It all sounds so ridiculous, and yet the relationship between Desire and Morgan feels so real.

As far as any old school conventions of the genre, Desire is nearly raped about a billion times in this book, typifying the (hopefully) outdated notion that attempted rape should be seen as a compliment and confirmation of your good looks. There's also a homely spinster who is, of course, an evil shrew and causes all sorts of trouble for Desire, but her brother ends up disowning her for her misdeeds, so clearly being bitter about not having men attempt to rape you gets you nowhere.

When I was in library school and studied romance novel reading habits (seriously, read Reading the Romance if you care at all about this stuff), I was surprised to learn that some women really do read historical romances to learn about history. While specific historical details like this aren't usually my thing, in this case it wasn't too obtrusive and did help me understand the story a little better. The action takes place during the Restoration of the English monarchy, shortly after the Black Plague of 1665 and towards the end of the book is the The Great London Fire of 1666. King Charles II is even a minor character. Our characters spend time in Newgate and the details of the deplorable conditions there makes prison today look like a vacation. Such a specific historical setting also gave me a pretty good idea how the story was to be resolved.

Annoyingly, this is another romance novel where the cover has nothing to do with the story. Several times in the story Desire's raven hair is mentioned, yet our cover model is blond. With the typical cheesy pose, it's almost comical how little this picture has to do with the story.

If you like historical romances, then this one offers a lot to love, and you owe it to yourself to find a copy.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ebooks & Libraries

For a long time I've been frustrated with the way ebook publishers have been approaching library lending, but my rage has been overruling my sense and I haven't been able to get many coherent thoughts into print. Luckily Bobbi Newman pretty much hit the nail on the head with her " 9 Reasons Why Publishers Should Stop Acting Like Libraries Are the Enemy and Start Thanking Them ". I could go through each of her reasons and expound on why each one makes so much sense and explains a piece of where my frustration is coming from, but I'm going to focus on the points that have been bugging me the most. First from the consumer side, I know I'm not alone in the group of people who don't like to buy books until they're pretty sure they're going to love them. I simply read too much for buying every book I read to make any sort of financial sense. Often that means borrowing the first book in a series or by a new author to see if I want to spend money on th...
1 comment
Read more

2023 Reading Challenges

Total Books Read: 85  of 100 Read Books I Own: 9 of 15 He's Where the Joy Is: Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity  by Tara-Leigh Cobble Anne of Ingleside  by L. M. Montgomery (re-read) Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now  by Rainbow Rowell, et. al. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts  by Rebecca Hall The Truth About White Lies  by Olivia A. Cole Mark of the Raven  by Morgan L. Busse When Morning Comes  by Arushi Raina Revelation Bible Study: Extravagant Hope  by Margaret Feinberg Romans: Good News That Changes Everything  by Melissa Spoelstra Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 4 of 5 Beartown by Fredrik Backman Loose Ends by Rebekah Weatherspoon The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang To Love Your Enemy by Jungyoon and Taegon As for subject matter reading, I love doing Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, even if I simultaneously chafe at someone else telling me what to read, leaving me scrambling to finish t...
Post a Comment
Read more

2015 Reading Resolutions

Last year was the first year that I decided to do reading challenges beyond the basic "read x books" and I loved it. I read more books in 2014 than I ever have before, so I'm going to stick with it for 2015. First up is the challenge I created all on my own. When I was a precocious youngster, I was obsessed with reading "the best" books. Now I've learned the importance of reading things you enjoy, but I've read a lot of classics and tend to enjoy them, so I spent way to much time compiling various "best of" lists and made one master list of best novels. For 2015, I plan to read 50 of the 100 best (that I haven't already read). Below is the list, with the ones I read linked to my Goodreads review. Progress: 10 of 50 Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart Aligheri Dante The Divine Comedy Anonymous One Thousand and One Nights Atwood, Margaret The Handmaid's Tale Austen, Jane Emma Austen, Jane Persuasion Baldwin, James Go Tell It O...
Post a Comment
Read more