April 22nd, 2009 — Arabia/Middle East, Defining the Genre, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Sheik/Desert
There are many fictional desert kingdoms in Sheik romance. In these desert romances the handsome and enigmatic sheik or prince finds love with the white woman for her sass and zeal of life. She is usually American or English. Powerful and very masculine he domineers her despite her Western background.
Did you know the term bodice-ripper comes from Sheik romance?
The very first Sheik romance/s contained a rape scene. In an article published in 2006 by the Chicago Tribune, staff writer Patrick T. Reardon, writes, “this pattern of kidnap-rape-love, rooted in a pre-1980s cultural belief that unmarried women shouldn't go looking for sex, involved ‘forcing pleasure on women.’ For their own good, apparently.” Of course in these rape fantasies the heroine never truly suffers or afterwards is traumatized. The experience is a passionate one on both ends and eventually ends in love.
Interesting Fact: The Biblical Dinah was raped – or not – and when Shechem asked for her hand in marriage, he was told only if he and all his compatriots were circumcised. While they were recovering, Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, killed them all. To take a woman, then ask for her hand, was one way to ensure you could marry her, especially if the two of you were interested in each other, and the match might not otherwise be received. (Gen: 30-34).
The Sheik:
In desert romances, the male lead is darkly exotic with dark eyes, handsome features, and tawny sun-kissed bronze skin. He’s been educated at Harvard or Oxford and has learned to tolerate or prefer Western culture, ingenuity, and technology. Almost always, he is forward thinking and Westernized to some degree.
Possible Plots:
Some themes in Sheik romance include marriages of convenience, kidnapping, and rescues, similar to Highlander romance.
The Lure Behind the Desert/Harem Fantasy:
Sheik romance like Paranormal romance has risen in the last few years. In an age where chivalrous princes are nearly nonexistent, Sheik romance offers a modern prince to romance readers. He's a little bit wild, more than a little dangerous, but very much in love with his heroine. Combine this irresistible masculine force with the exotic and (most times fantastical and fictional) lands of Africa, the Middle East, and the East and it's magic in the making.
Difference between a Sheik and a Sultan:
Abstractly, the word sultan means strength and authority. A sultan is like a king. Some basic research shows that lands under or previously held under sultan rule could be found anywhere in the East or Middle East.
Lands held by a sheikdom are usually solely Arabic. A sheik in Arabic means "elder" and refers to the elder in a tribe or lord of a tribe. Also it can be in reference to Islamic study and is a title earned upon completion of studies. But in desert romances the title is used as the official title of the Bedouin tribe leader and for nobility.
*You can also spell Sheik with an ‘h’ as in Sheikh romance or sheikhdom.
Originally posted 2008-07-30 05:26:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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April 16th, 2009 — 1 Star, 4 Stars, Book Review, Estranged, Farming, G-I, Gentry, Great Britain, Historical Romance, Mistress or Courtesan, Movie Reviews, Pregnant, Rape/Abuse, Rogues and Rakehells, Runaway, Secret Baby, Survival, Virgin Heroine
The movie: BBC 2008 v. staring Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne, and Hans Matheson
I read this book in eighth grade at the urging of my English teacher who thought I would enjoy this book above all others he had offered up for students to read and on which to do a report. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Tess of D’Ubervilles was my first DNF (did not finish) ever. I learned how to speed read with this book. I learned out to read the bare minimum and still understand what was going on in the book.
I suppose it is meant to be one of the greatest love stories ever written but even watching the movie, a much condensed version, acted wonderfully makes me want to find the eight hundred plus page book and hurl it at a wall.
There is so much sadness in this story. Lots of spoilers; in fact I tell the whole story below:
Mr. D’Uberfield finds out he and his family are of noble blood and when things go badly on the farm sends Tess to speak with their rich relatives. Alec D’Ubervilles immediately lusts after her and offers her a position in his family’s home. At first opportunity he rapes her. Tess runs back home, pregnant from the event. The baby dies.
Tess goes off again to work as a dairy maid. There she meets Angel Clare and falls in love. He does too. They marry. He finds out about Alec and the baby and leaves her. For a year perhaps two I’m not quite sure but he stays away in South America.
Meanwhile Alec finds Tess again and pursues her like a dog after a bone. Tess writes to Angel begging his forgiveness and his help. Angel never got the letters but after surviving yellow fever goes back to England determined to find Tess. He searches and searches and follows Tess’ trail until finally he finds her as mistress/wife to the object of her downfall.
Tess tells Angel to go away and never return because she’s already dead. Brokenhearted all over again Tess turns and goes upstairs where after a confrontation with Alec she kills him with a bread knife. From there she runs to Angel’s side and tells him she’s murdered the man that has ruined her/them and now that she has can he forgive her and take her back. They run off together, find an empty home and for the first time he makes love to Tess.
When they are found by a servant they run off again. They stop at Stone Henge. Tess talks about dying. Tess begs him to take care of her family and marry her younger sister. He begs her not to ask this of him. They fall asleep.
Upon waking they are surrounded by law enforcement agents. There is no escape. The story ends Angel and her younger sister wait outside the city where the bell tolls Tess’ execution.
Book: 1 Stars because the story is completely terrible and angst driven. There’s no happiness to be found not even in Tess and Angel’s stolen moments.
Buy Book: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Buy Audio Version: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Mini-Series: 4 Stars… the acting, scenery, and script are all perfectly executed. Gemma makes a lovely Tess, you really feel for her. Eddie is perfect as Angel, beautiful, sweet, kind, loving. Alec could not have been betters played by anyone. Hans does a phenomenal job. He’s easy to despise; playing the entitled gentleman who thinks little beyond his own pleasures so adeptly.
Buy Mini-Series: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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February 1st, 2009 — 0.5 Stars, Book Review, Counts, Marquis, Viscounts, Estranged, Gambling, Great Britain, Historical Romance, J-L, Rape/Abuse, Scarred Hero, Suspense/Thriller
I have been reading The Price of Desire by Jo Goodman these last few days and at 200 pages in I knew it was going to be a disaster. This review contains a lot of spoilers so be warned. I think many readers will find it helpful to read the spoilers as the book is very dark and angsty when everything else about the book leads one to think it’s going to be a fun story. The back is titillating and gives no clue to what’s really inside the book. Real quick it goes something like this: Alastair has promised his sister Olivia to Griffin to pay off his gambling debts and both Olivia and Griffin take the biggest gamble on each other.
Before I learned more about the characters past I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. At 200 pages in they've shared one kiss. Overall it’s been very slow reading as the heroine is very withdrawn and so is the hero. While at 200 pages in it's no longer at the painful level to read and be witness to their story it certainly is not as engaging as it could be and there's already been a settling of a 1000 pound debt (mainly the brother handing Olivia over to the hero), attempted rape (by some drunk in the hell that came upon her room), a fire (that started during the attempted rape- she gets him in the end by nearly strangling him to death with a towel), and confrontation with the delinquent brother (after he fails to get the funds to release her from the hero's care). In any case, I can tell the hero cares somewhat, but the emotional exchange between the two is so dry that there's hardly any connection.
At 350 pages in, they’ve exchanged bodily fluids and words of love and we come to learn a lot about Olivia and this is where it gets me. I’m sorry but I read romances to enjoy myself and get a few moments to escape reality. Nothing about Olivia’s past is enjoyable. Beyond the attempted rape scene from before we learn that Olivia was raped in her past. As if that weren’t bad enough her father ‘played’ with her when she was younger than six years old a ‘touching’ game. When the nanny brought this to the attention of Olivia’s stepmother, Olivia gets sent to a boarding school for young girls where priests tortured the girls as punishment for small infractions by sitting/standing on seatless chairs. Somehow her father reaches the school to continue his sick game and rapes his daughter all part of his and a few other men’s game and setup involving carriages and gifts. Olivia between ages 6-12 was used and it only stopped because she started her menstruation cycle. The following is in her own words…
“I was not his only little girl, I knew that. But I also knew I was his favorite… He gave me to them, Griffin. He sent me to them when it pleased him to do so. To sit at their table while they played cards, to deal for them as I’d been taught, perform on command, and later… as any one of them was struck by a fancy… I was a present on some occasions… his marker on others.”
Needless to say this book has a rating of 0.5 Stars. I don’t know anyone who’d willing read any further once they got to that revelation. As for me I closed the book and started writing this post. It was too much trauma, perversion, and sickness of the mind to deal with and I certainly didn’t want to keep thinking about it. Hopefully Olivia wins happiness in the end, the girl clearly deserves it, but I just didn’t want to dwell on the matter any more. I blame the publishers for letting a novel like this hit the shelves.
Originally posted 2008-10-03 06:48:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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