Review: Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

27 September of 2016 by Jean

Reviewer's Rating: 5

5.0Overall score

A classic keeper!

Shanna By Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Genre: Historical Romance

Released: April 1, 1977 reprint May 31, 2016

Publisher: Avon

Series: Series Title, Book #

Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author Kathleen E. Woodiwiss comes one of her most iconic and beloved romances of all time…

A pact is sealed in secret behind the foreboding walls of Newgate Prison. In return for one night of unparalleled pleasure, a dashing condemned criminal consents to wed a beautiful heiress, thereby rescuing her from an impending and abhorred arranged union.

But in the fading echoes of hollow wedding vows, a solemn promise is broken, as a sensuous free spirit takes flight to a lush Caribbean paradise, abandoning the stranger she married to face the gallows unfulfilled.

Ruark Beauchamp’s destiny is now eternally intertwined with that of the tempestuous, intoxicating Shanna. He will be free . . . and he will find her. For no iron ever forged can imprison his resolute passion. And no hangman’s noose will keep Ruark from the bride— and ecstasy—that he craves.

Review

Reviewed by Jean

A classic keeper!

Ever have that book that stays on your shelf and you read it at least once a year? I think for many romance readers it was always Jayne Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and such other wonderful classics. For me it was Shanna. Until about ten years ago when I had to make a cross-country move and my copy was misplaced, Shanna was my faithful yearly read. It was THE book that turned me on to the romance genre. What wasn’t there to like about it? Adventure, action, locals, a murder mystery…. it was truly epic. Recently, I found a copy of it at a bookstore and I just couldn’t help myself. I bought it. Then I read it all over again.I have to tell you the reading was a bit different this time around for me. I still love the story. It still holds that special place on my bookshelf and in my heart… but this time I think I was a little more analytical in my reading. I couldn’t help thinking how different the writing style of the late 70’s, early 80’s is to today.

Shanna is full of amazingly beautiful descriptions and narrative. The dialog is both poetic at times and incendiary at others. Rather than the rogue that is tamed by the heroine, you get the shrew tamed by the hero. Watching the uncompromising Shanna brought down from her thorny bower to live and love is such a treat even now. What then is the big difference between today’s romance and that of Woodiwiss and other historical authors of decades past?

I couldn’t help thinking that an author today wouldn’t have been as verbose in the narrative and description. Today so much of writing is about the white space on a page as white space translates to action and dialog. It means a book is typically faster paced. For all the advances in media, it has had a great impact on what we read as well. We tend to expect what we want quickly and suffer from impatience. Think about it. A whole movie in an hour and a half to two hours. TV programs that tell a tale in an hour. We’ve become impatient with things that take longer. So a book that takes more attention and longer to read with all its descriptive narrative has fallen much by the wayside.

Even so, there are those that are so worth the read. Shanna will always be on my favorites books shelf. It will always be one of the first historicals I recommend. If it hasn’t been touted a classic yet then someone should definitely get on redefine the lists.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

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About Author

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Kathleen Erin Hogg was born on June 3, 1939, in Alexandria, Louisiana, she was the youngest of eight siblings by Gladys (Coker) and Charles Wingrove Hogg, a disabled World War I veteran. She long relished creating original narratives, and by age 6 was telling herself stories at night to help herself fall asleep. At age 16, she met U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant Ross Eugene Woodiwiss at a dance, and they married the following year. She wrote her first book in longhand while living at a military outpost in Japan.

She is credited with the invention of the modern historical romance novel: In 1972 she released The Flame and the Flower, an instant New York Times bestseller that created a literary precedent. The novel revolutionized mainstream publishing, featuring an epic historical romance with a strong heroine and impassioned sex scenes. The Flame and the Flower was rejected by agents and hardcover publishers, who deemed it as “too long” at 600 pages. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, she instead submitted it to paperback publishers. The first publisher on her list, Avon, quickly purchased the novel and arranged an initial 500,000 print run. The novel sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication.

The success of The Flame and the Flower prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. The romance novels which followed in her example featured longer plots, more controversial situations and characters, and more intimate and steamy sex scenes.

She was an avid horse rider who at one time lived in a large home on 55 acres (220,000 m2) in Minnesota. After her husband’s death in 1996, she moved back to Louisiana. She died in a hospital on July 6, 2007 in Princeton, Minnesota, aged 68, from cancer. She was survived by two sons, Sean and Heath, their wives, and numerous grandchildren. Her third son, Dorren, predeceased her. (Goodreads author page)