[debubbie]

Needless to say I am not having much luck. The book is about 10 yrs old or maybe older. I thought the title was something like "pirates promise" "pirates captive" "captive promise" or something to that effect. Google searches do not turn up anything useful. The story was about two different couples in the book. One of the ladies had been taken captive by a pirate who was also a sultan?. To teach her some humility he made her into a slave, which was the lowest ranking of his land. He listened to his people and she had to fan him and bring him water and such. He had a friend that I think sailed with him, who had meet a woman on one of their travels and wanted to rescue her from her abusive husband but was she was afraid of his rage as he was fairly important. For some reason I keep thinking the abused woman lived in Persia and part of the story may have taken place in Constantinople or Istanbul.

If anyone has any ideas or know of any other good authors who you like please let me know. The cold weather is starting to move in here and I need some books to read!!!

[sheilaj]

I can't help you with that story but my favourite romance author is Georgette Heyer. She wrote English historical romance, mostly around the time of the Regency in England. The background is historically acurate and the stories are just wonderful. Abebooks also have a booksleuth forum here which is amazingly successful at identifying books from detail such as you have given

[angelaNussbaum]

Oh gosh that sounds familiar.. i'll have to think on it... but very familiar.....

Angela

[Smiles]

sheilaj, on Oct 30 2008, 11:17 PM, said:

I can't help you with that story but my favourite romance author is Georgette Heyer. She wrote English historical romance, mostly around the time of the Regency in England. The background is historically acurate and the stories are just wonderful. Abebooks also have a booksleuth forum here which is amazingly successful at identifying books from detail such as you have given

I'm with you on Georgette Heyer.
She actually wrote pastiches of Jane Austen type novels - they are several cuts above most of the romance novels.
Her prose is a joy to read.
She also wrote a handful of wonderful detective novels.
Her stuff often shows up in used book shops. Many of her books were out of print for a while.

Gayle

[kerryveale]

I haven't read Georgette Heyer in years, but she is a really good writer. (I've only read the romances, I'll have to try the detective novels--thanks for the tip!)

[debubbie]

I've never read Heyer, I'll have to see what I can dig up. I like the English historical romances better than any. So right now, I am into Victoria Alexander, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas. But, I have read most of theirs and need something else!

I wish someone knew what the title of that book is! I have been searching for months with no luck!

[lorac]

I love to read and I am always on the lookout for some new authors. I especially love regency novels. Here are some of my favorites:

Janet Evanovich -- Stephanie Plum (female bounty hunter) novels. There are currently fourteen or fifteen books and they are a hoot.
Lisa Kleypas -- Devil In Winter, It Happened One Autumn are two of her books from her Wallflower series. A new one has just come out.
Nora Roberts and also her other pen name J D Robb -- Eve Dallas (police detective) books set in New York of 2050. About 16 or so books.
Mary Balogh -- great regency novels
Julia Quinn -- especially her novels about the Bridgerton family -- all set in regency England
Carol Higgins Clark and her mother Mary Higgins Clark -- Mystery writers
and of course J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of books. I've read all of them, at least 5 times and now I am on my sixth reading of them.

Hope this list gets you through at least part of the winter.

[sandradee]

Is it one of the Mary Jo Putney Silk and Shadows, or Silk and Secrets series. The plot sounds very familiar to me also. Good luck!

sandradee

ps - BIG fan of Georgette Heyer & Jane Austen & Harry Potter. If you like quirky combo of regency romance, sci fi, fantasy check out Lois McMasters Bujold and the writing team of Steve Miller & Sharon Lee.

ps - always looking for a good book!

[JenniferZ]

Romance novels are not usually my typical reading fare, HOWEVER, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. A friend of mine brought me the first book in the series when I was pregnant and on bedrest with my first child. I devoured that book in a matter of days and read and have re-read the rest of the series many times since.

The books are probably along the lines of historical fiction; the author craftily weaves actual historical figures and events into her stories. But the main characters are Claire (an Englishwoman) and Jamie (a Scottish Highlander) and their unlikely romance is a major theme throughout the series.

I cannot recommend them enthusiastically enough!

[angelaNussbaum]

I keep coming back to this.. and i keep thinking the author of the book you described is Bertrice Small, but she has a couple books similar... I hope that helps.

Angela

[SydneyScrapper]

Hi Deb,

I can't help you with that particular book but for anyone who likes English romance/sagas, my absolutely hands-down favourite author is Penny Vincenzi. The titles are quite scandalous (eg. Another Woman or No Angel) but actually they're very thoughtfully written books, usually family romance/drama/sagas with excellent stories. Some of them go back to WWI and the war years between WWI and WWII but some are more contemporary. Better than most chick-lit although I read anything and everything chick-lit!

I absolutely adore her, have read everything she's written and can't wait for her next one.

[sunnie2004]

If you all would ike a FANTASTIC love story writer please look up Lavyre Spencer...she has retired a while back but by far she has the books that will make you cry laugh & force you to sit & read it till it if finished then be bummed out when it is over. I miss reading her books too.

[lorac]

JenniferZ, on Nov 5 2008, 07:19 AM, said:

Romance novels are not usually my typical reading fare, HOWEVER, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. A friend of mine brought me the first book in the series when I was pregnant and on bedrest with my first child. I devoured that book in a matter of days and read and have re-read the rest of the series many times since.

The books are probably along the lines of historical fiction; the author craftily weaves actual historical figures and events into her stories. But the main characters are Claire (an Englishwoman) and Jamie (a Scottish Highlander) and their unlikely romance is a major theme throughout the series.

I cannot recommend them enthusiastically enough!

Love, love, love the Outlander series. I read the first one on my way back from Germany in 1994 and have read all of the others since, and re-read them. They are wonderful, filled with love, sex, history and time travel. She can be quite graphic, so if you don't like that type of novel I wouldn't read her books. Also, Beatrice Small did a series of books, starting with "Skye O'Malley" and they are wonderful. Check out this site for her books: http://www.bertrices...bookshelf.shtml they list them all.

Hope that helps.

[StephRN]

Wow, this is a great thread. I love Georgette Heyer. My BFF got me hooked. She has every single one ever printed in her library. I have an extensive collection too. Thankfully, some of them have been reprinted in recent years.

One of my classmates in nursing school gave me Outlander to read and I loved it. I have the rest of the series but haven't managed to finish it. It's waiting for me.

Some of the other authors mentioned sound great. I'll be looking them up.

[mousee23]

I can also recomend paperbackswap.com You basically trade books through the mail only paying postage for the books you mail out.I've gotten books there for my self and my 3 children from all sorts of generes

[MammaBurke]

Linda Howard's MacKenzie series ranks as a favorite of mine. Available in Kindle editions.

[catvinnat]

a bit different but still a romance, my all time favourite is Neville Shutes A Town Like Alice. Its a little old fashioned but a real epic that sweeps over the Far East, Australia and England at the time of WW11 and afterwards. My copy is so dogeared it has fallen apart