But the thing is, he’s already calling her “my love.” How is that possible? He’s known her for what, a day? Sorry, I don’t buy instalove.

I suppose it’s understandable because he’s in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit, and then after she strikes a bargain to marry him, she finds a way to screw him over (I told you she’s a spoiled brat). When we first meet him, he’s rude and gruff. When I told one of my friends that I was getting ready to read a Woodiwiss novel, she got super excited and told me that Ruark (how do you pronounce that, anyway?) was her very first book boyfriend and that I was just going to love him. She even rejects one because his shirt is fraying a bit at the edges. Why does she do this? To get her father off her back, because she’s so spoiled that every man she meets, she finds fault with. Originally published in 1977, Shanna tells the tale of a spoiled little rich girl and the convicted criminal turned bondsman (which is a nicer way of saying “slave who works to pay off their debt and eventually can go free but are treated like trash by anyone with a title”) whom she marries in order to gain a name. And no hangman’s noose will keep Ruark from the bride- and ecstasy-that he craves. For no iron ever forged can imprison his resolute passion. Ruark Beauchamp’s destiny is now eternally intertwined with that of the tempestuous, intoxicating Shanna.

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.īut 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. Woodiwiss comes one of her most iconic and beloved romances of all time…Ī pact is sealed in secret behind the foreboding walls of Newgate Prison. Historical romance released by Avon in 1977, republished in 2016 as part of their Diamond Anniversaryįrom New York Times bestselling author Kathleen E. Paige’s review of Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss

Kathleen erin hogg woodiwiss shanna