I am late. Last time I posted I was so organized! Apparently this was a one off occurrence! O-oSo, this book should really should be on the DIK island but I don't think it is. It's one of the books that got me into reading romance novels and despite somehow going missing off my shelf, I still have rather fond memories of it.
I don't think I ever sat down and read it in its entirety. I'll admit to reading all the good bits by themselves (and often). I always read the bit where Roxanne finally ends up with the bad boy hero, it was epic stuff. I even took it away to Pony Club Camp and we all sat around in our sleeping bags with a torch reading it. Terrifically educational!
Roxanne lives the lifetimes of 20 woman and was still reasonably well adjusted at the end of the story. She is the stuff true heroines are made of; orphaned, beautiful (of course), clever (of course), well traveled (Baltimore, Georgia, Klondike, the South Seas and San Fran), attacked by some man in a wardrobe if I remember rightly or maybe a cupboard. Dreadfully unlucky in the love department she finally meets with Rhodes and rides off into the sunset. Absolutely classic Sherwood and despite it's many godawful flaws it was such a treasure.
After reading most of this glorious and totally old school romance I ended up with a love of secondhand book shops. I trawled through them looking for more Valerie and was able to read such classics as Bold Breathless Love (a love affair between asthmatics) and I came across Steve and Ginny from Rosemary Rogers, Shirlee Busbee and Kathleen Woodiwiss. I had what I guess you'd call a classical education in romance reading. hehe.I wonder if anyone else read her books as a teenager and developed the same obsession with romantic literature that I did? Shanna, Her Shining Splendor, Gypsy Lady, and Sweet Savage Love - who else has these gems tucked away somewhere on their shelves?
