Romance History: Rosemary Rogers

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Dubbed the "Queen of Historical Romance," Rosemary Jansz Navaratnam Rogers (b. 1932 in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka) is a best-selling author of historical romance novels as Rosemary Rogers. She was the second romance author, after Kathleen Woodiwiss, to have her novels published in trade paperback format. Rogers is considered to be one of the founders of the modern historical romance, and many of today's writers cite her writing as one of their biggest influences.

Rogers was one of the first romance authors to extend her scenes into the bedroom. Her novels are often full of violence, and the heroine is usually raped one or more times, sometimes by the hero, and sometimes by other men. Her heroines travel to exotic locations and meet important people. In many cases, one or both of the protagonists follows a "riches-to-rags-to-riches" storyline. 

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Comments

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I didn't care for Rosemary Rogers. Or rather, I liked her when I first read one of her books, but then liked her less with each book. I read the "Steve and Ginny" series and the first one was fun, with all the back-and-forthing and plot twists and misunderstandings and evil villains setting up deceptive scenes and whatnot, and the classic hero/heroine dialogue:

"Slut!"

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!"

"Cur!"

"Jade!"

"Slime!"

etc.

So we go on and on and on and we finally get to the end of the book and everything's straightened out, all the misunderstandings explained and deceptions revealed, yay. And they're still just as fiery and passionate but they're using the energy in a positive way and don't despise one another anymore, yay!

So I open the second book (hey, a sequel!) and they're passionately pouncing and tearing one another's clothes off and whatever all else, and that's cool, until something happens and there's a misunderstanding and we're at it again:

"Slut!"

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!"

"Cur!"

"Jade!"

"Slime!"

etc.

Oh, good grief. Okay, fine, so I read the second book, and the usual twists and villains and hot sex and they despise each other again until everything's explained and revealed and straightened out and finally they love each other again and we have one more hot, passionate sex scene for the road.

So then we get the third book in the series and I'm thinking this one's got to be at least a little different, right? I mean, after all they've been through? They're smart people, they can, like, learn from experience, yes? I start reading and everything's great at first, lots of hot love and wild passion and steamy sex, and then something happens and there's some sort of argument or misunderstanding or whatever it was and they're off again:

"Slut!"

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!"

"Cur!"

"Jade!"

"Slime!"

etc.

And there we go, they absolutely despise one another again, although of course their bodies are still burning for each other, etc., but they're cussing each other out whenever they're within about forty city blocks. And at that point I closed the book and that was the end of it, because these people were ridiculous and I was seriously tired of it all. I think I was like sixteen or so when the third book came out, but even at that wild and hormone-ridden age, I went looking for another smut perveyor. [wry smile] And since my mom was addicted to these things, I always had plenty of choices around the house.

Ms. Rogers definitely did the genre a service by opening it up to wild, passionate, explicit sex. I didn't even mind the rapes, which pretty much everyone writing historical romances in the seventies was doing. I just couldn't like her characters, though -- I wanted to smack them both and tell them to open their eyes and use their brains. :/

Angie

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

You make me laugh! It's a pretty good definition of Rogers' work. Some like her some hate her, but definitely all talk of her. Elisa