Since this is the last day of bodice
rippers before I move on to Mediveals, and one of my FB friends was asking
about this book, I thought to post this review of a favorite keeper of mine.
Stormfire
has been a controversial romance, not just because it’s a bodice ripper, but
because of some of the harsh elements it contains. So, of course, I had to read
it to discover the truth for myself. Some readers might categorize this an
“80’s bodice ripper” and so it is, first published in 1984, but I never look at
books that way. To me a story stands or falls on its own no matter the era it
was written (some of my favorite keepers were written decades ago). If the
story is absorbing and the characters compelling, if I can’t stop thinking
about it and I find myself reading late into the night, then I know I have a
keeper.
It begins in the late 18th
century and continues into the early 19th, set in Ireland (mostly),
England, Scotland and France. It’s the story of Sean Culhane, a bitter Irishman
seeking revenge, and the spirited English beauty Catherine, daughter of John Enderly,
Viscount Windemere. Hardened by the English atrocities he has witnessed, Sean weaves
an intricate plan using his smuggling in art, spies and munitions to destroy the
man responsible for decimating his family in Kenlo and consigning hundreds of
Irish to their deaths. Abducting Enderly’s daughter is only the beginning.
Sean brutally rapes the innocent
Catherine and then makes her his whore and puts her to work as a slave on his
older brother’s estate of Shelan in Ireland. Catherine fights Sean with every
ounce of her being, even trying to escape into the night, while earning the
respect of Sean’s men. I couldn’t help but wonder how English atrocities could drive
a good man to such cruelty and how an English girl raised in luxury might be
affected by such treatment. Then, too, Sean’s initial brutality toward
Catherine seemed at odds with the devotion shown him by his housekeeper, his
mistress and his men, making me wonder what the real man was like under that
hardened exterior. Eventually, as seems inevitable, Sean and Catherine soften
toward each other. She comes to understand what motivates Sean’s desire for
revenge, and he comes to admire her courage and tenacity.
This is a saga of nearly 600
pages and I cannot do it justice in a review, but let me say there are many twists
and turns I did not anticipate in the relationship between Sean and
Catherine—and Sean’s brother, Liam (“the more dangerous of the two”). It’s the
story of a man who nearly destroys the woman he deeply loves, all for the sake
of bitter revenge. And it’s the story of a woman who comes to love that man so
that she would do anything to save him. But there is much more to this saga, as
others would see them both destroyed.
Into a great story, Monson
has woven the pain of Ireland’s history, a beautiful land sorely affected by
the English. (It includes the Irish rebellion of 1798 and its aftermath.) The
writing is so good, there were times I stopped and re-read a passage just to
admire it.
Here
is one of Catherine’s musings about Sean:
“His spirit, like the lonely,
windswept sea, was ever-restless, ever-changing, sometimes howling down to
savage the unyielding land, then caressing it with a lulling embrace,
inevitably wearing away its resistance. He was asking her to become a part of
him, without reservations, without ties that would inevitably be wrenched
apart, leaving her battered on the rocks and him lonelier and wilder than
before.”
Whatever you might say about
this book, Monson’s writing is consistently brilliant and her story absorbing.
She did an incredible job creating an impossible situation. When Sean falls in
love with Catherine and her unwavering spirit, you want them to be together,
yet you can’t see a way for it to happen—a powerful set up for the rest of the
book and there were many obstacles yet to follow.
I highly recommend this romance
for those readers unafraid of what are some raw scenes and more angst than
other romances. It’s a well written, worthy tale, and it’s going on my Best
Irish Historical Romances list as well as my Favorite Heroes and Heroines list.
You can see it on Amazon but even the used copies aren't cheap. So I'm posting the link to a site that has a link to a free download. When a book is out of print and too expensive for the average reader, I think that's fair. Here it is.
