You can read more reviews at my blog, The Armchair Librarian."She became conscious of herself as one slowly stirring to life from a total void, knowing of no previous existence beyond the present indeterminate moment. Reason and memory played no part in the timeless vacuum. She was an embryo floating in darkness, living and breathing but somehow set apart from the world by a distant hazy film that existed beyond the sphere of her being. There, an aura of light glowed, tempting her to draw near. With a natural buoyancy her mind rose slowly upward to the surface of awareness, but as she neared the indistinct border where the first weak rays of reality penetrated, twin talons of pain began to pierce her temples" (33).Is she an escaped madwoman? A murderess? The wife of Ashton Wingate? ...or the wife of someone else? Ashton Wingate is returning to his plantation in the middle of the storm when his carriage is crashed into by a rogue rider on a horse. Inspection of her rain-soaked white nightgown proves that she's a woman, and also one of rape-able age. Further inspection of her *ahem* features reveals her to be the spitting image of his wife, Lierin, presumed dead after all these years after his ship, The River Witch, was attacked by pirates.Wingate brings the girl to his house, much to the dismay and chagrin of his family and servants, and the love rival, Marelda. Marelda has been vying for an engagement almost before Wingate's wife went overboard and drowns. She is pissed off at this new development, and accuses the woman of faking looking like his wife and faking her coma and her amnesia, accusing her of "faking", calling her "slut", "tart", "tramp", "trollop", "twit", and various other things.We know Marelda is the bad guy because she tells Wingate he's being too nice to the slaves, wears tight dresses that reveal her nipply bits, and flirts with other men to make Wingate (unsuccessfully) jealous."The rouge and the kohl stood out boldly on her rage-twisted face and made her resemble a rejected street hussy in amorous disarray" (84). "Not only were the couple mentally cursed and castigated but stripped and put on imaginary racks of torture, where she laid burning coals against their flesh for every offense they had caused her to suffer. She especially delighted in the idea of flogging the wench, while Ashton helplessly witnessed the torture" (87).If you had a bodice-ripper drinking game, this is the kind of book that could send you into the hospital for alcohol-poisoning. There's swooning, amnesia, mistaken identity, false identities, rape, animal cruelty, rapey heroes, politically incorrect racial and gender stereotypes, gun duels, forced seduction, pirates, blackmail, slut-shaming, and so much more.Despite the dubious origins of Lierin's past, Wingate is convinced that she is his wife, and after a lot of bruising kisses and forced embraces, he delivers this line ("The difference between seduction and rape, my love, is the simple word no" (117).) and then they have sex.And then they have sex.And then they have more sex.And then they have even more sex.But Marelda is determined that Lierin is an escapee from the madhouse that just burned down and intends to frame her in order to get her sent back to the asylum.And then another dude comes into the picture who is convinced that Lierin isn't Lierin but, in fact, her twin sister, Lenore, who married him, and he conspires with Lierin's father to spirit her away from the arms of Ashton to her lands in Biloxi.This was rather terrible and ridiculous, and I enjoyed every moment of it. Those last 100 pages were mindfuck central, and just when I thought things couldn't get any more ridiculous they...well, they did. I'm beginning to see why bodice-rippers are so all the rage - it is possible to enjoy them ironically, and still retain your literary integrity just as it is possible to listen to Britney Spears and still retain your hipster cred.Looking for a fun, trashy read? Check this one out!4 stars!
ben böyle bir kitap görmedim......kitabın sonuna kadar heyecan doruktaydı... durağan bir noktası yoktu..okurken kesinlikle sıkılmassınız... Kitabın tanıtımındada gördüğünüz üzre Ashton eşini bir kaza sonucu kaybediyor...Yada öğle düşünüyor... Ama kader bu ya tam acısı azalmak üzereyken karanlık ve yağmurlu bir günde karsıyla karşılaşıyor... Daha doğrusu çarpışıyor...Ata binmiş olan Lierin Ashton'un arabasına çarpıyor..ve hafızasını kaybediyor...Ashton Lierin'i evine götürüyor ve herkese onun karısı olduğunu söylüyor... Lierin hafızasını kaybetmişte olsa kendisine büyük bir sevgi ve şefkatle yaklaşan Ashton'la mutlu olmaya karar veriyor... Tam böyle mutluluğu yakalamışken Malcolm Sinclair -kitabın sonuna kadar nefret ettim- ortaya çıkıp onun Lierin değil de ikiz kardeşi Lenore olduğunu ..hatta kendisinin karısı olduğunu delilleriyle beraber Ashton'a gösterir..Ama Ashton çok sevdiği karısını ikinci kez kaybetmeye tahammül edemez... Ama Malcolm'un kanıtlarınıda göz ardı edemez..Ve Lierin-Lenore 'un peşini Bioxin-olması lazım-'e kadar takipeder..Zira Lierin-Lenore babası ve orda olacağını bilmediği Malcolmla beraber o evde yaşamaya başlamıştır... İşte asıl olaylar bundan sonra başlar...Hırsızlıklar..Saldırılar..Ölümler... ve en önemlisi bir satranç ustalığıyla..zekice planladığı yöntemlerle Ashton'un hamleleri... Kitapta öyle yerler olduki kadın kahramanımızın Lierin mi Lenore mu olduğunu çözemedim... Merak edenlere önerilir... Ben beğendim..mutlaka okumalısınız..Sinirimi bozan tek sorun kitabın bitişiydi... Bence biraz daha uzun olabilirdi... Birde benim sinir olunacaklar listem var... Listemin başını Malcolm alırken onu Ashton'un peşini bi türlü bırakmayan Marelda takip ediyor... Birkaç ufak tefek insanlar daha var...Ama onlarda o kadar büyütülecek tipte değiller... Son olarak söylemeliyimki bu yazar işini biliyor:)
What do You think about Come Love A Stranger (1986)?
the start was very promising but then the book got pretty boring n confusing wid all the characters involved ! what i really like abt the book was ashton n his firm conviction dat the woman before him was indeed his wife. he accepted her though he had found her in a nightgown on the streets after a small accident. this was compromising 4her, she cud be a fake. he cud easily have misjudged her or delivered her 2 the madhouse but he did not. he was devoted 2 lierin n i was glad at the end dat she was indeed lierin. ashton deserved 2 have his wife back. but then even if she had been lierin's sister, he wud have loved her the same. he was dat kind of man. he was a definite 5 star hero n i think i wud have liked 2 go 2 bed wid him lol :D it's the way the story was narrated which was 1 star. it was boring n slow paced
—Roub
This book has a problem. Bear with me for a moment:The quiet peace of the moonlit river was broken by the hushed murmur of voices and the steady pulsing of pistons in a powerful engine.The rushing burble of water beneath a stout hull softly harmonized with the long sighs of these monster steam pistons and the chugging splash of water under the paddle wheel...There a frigging adjective. before. every. noun.Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against adjectives per se.I just dislike being told that peace is quiet, murmurs are hushed and a pulse is steady.Goodbye, Ms Woodiwiss
—Sidonie Kervau
Entertaining Amnesia Plot, but slightly flawed 3.5 stars. 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Entertaining Amnesia Plot, but slightly flawed 3.5 stars, November 16, 2007 Newly wed Ashton Wingate and his wife Lierin are set upon by river pirates and Lierin is swept off the boat into the river and presumed drowned. Three years later Ashton's carriage collides with a woman on horseback and he is shocked to see that it is his "dead" wife, who recalls nothing of her past, including her husband. But is she really Lierin or her twin sister Lenore? Thus begins KEW's entertaining take on your basic amnesia plot. Woodiwiss does a nice job with the romance of Ashton and Lierin, plenty of mystery, suspense and evil villains -- albeit the villains were just a tad bit over the top for me. I give Ashton extra points in the hero category, despite his strong desire for Lierin, he gave her space to make her own decisions while she sorted out her lost memory of their past together. I have to admit about 2/3 of the way through the book I was onto at least a part of the big surprise, but there was more to it than I had guessed. My major quibble is the very abrupt ending to the book; I would very much have appreciated an epilogue to round the end out. All in all, a pleasant romance and while it's not a great novel it's still a worthwhile way to spend a rainy afternoon. 3.5 stars
—Misfit
