I’ve had a so-so weekend. We didn’t do anything really noteworthy apart from The Tall Guy taking me out for a meal, at our favourite restaurant on Friday evening.
On Saturday it was my brother’s birthday, but I’d organised for him and his other half to spend the weekend in the West End of London, so I didn’t actually see him. I’ve still got his birthday card, which he probably wont get now.
I’m really crap at making sure celebratory cards get to their final destination in time. I’ve still got Christmas cards that I forgot to send from over ten years ago. Sigh.
Oh I forgot, I got my first official freebie book on Saturday. Kate Rothwell sent me a copy of her book, Somebody Wonderful, as well as it’s sequel, Somebody To Love.
I was happy as a pig in shit when the postman dropped the package off, even if it did take 30 minutes just to remove the friggin wrapping!
I’m currently reading Somebody To Love (yes I know I should read Somebody Wonderful first ) which so far I’m enjoying, although Kate, I’m desperately hoping that Araminta grows a backbone soon.
In other news, I finally managed to finish Bertrice Small’s Skye O’Malley.
I’d been trying to read this book for over three weeks, and for some reason, I just couldn’t get into it. I got to page 40, and I was very close to ripping the pages up in temper, but taking into consideration that I had a further two of her books in my TBR pile, I knew I’d have to persevere.
Well, I persevered.
Here’s the blurb:
Skye O’Malley is the beautiful fiery daughter of … Ooops, sorry there goes our doorbell, BRB!
Five minutes later…
Bloody Trick or Treaters! I refuse to answer the door for the rest of tonight. Bah Humbug!
Anyway where was I?
Oh yeah, I was in the middle of the blurb…
Skye is the beautiful fiery daughter of Dubhdara O’Malley, chief of Clan O’Malley, born to him in 1540.
From birth, Skye is promised to the odious Dom O’Flaherty (are you still awake?) who is basically an absolute c*nting twat. (erm… that’s my view but Skye didn’t like him either).
Days before her marriage to Dom the Twat, she meets Niall “Hubba Hubba” Burke, with whom she falls instantly in love with.
She begs and pleads with her father to stop the marriage, but The O’Malley (as he’s fondly known in Ireland) refuses to renege on a promise made years before.
Niall obviously falls in love with Skye, and is frustrated by her upcoming nuptials to another man.
Anyway, the wedding takes place, and just as Dom The Twat is about to take Beautiful Skye to bed, Niall claims the droit du seigneur, which basically means that he can have sex with her before her new husband (yeah, that was a WTF moment for me too) so he does, to the displeasure of Dom The Twat.
Anyway, after their assignation, Niall is kidnapped (how rude?) from Skye’s bed whilst she’s still sleeping, and when Skye wakens, she finds that her Daddy Dearest has organised for her to stay at a convent whilst she waits to see if her and Niall’s union has resulted in a child being conceived.
Luckily (or unluckily) for Skye, she’s not pregnant, and so her torturous married life to Dom The Twat begins.
She is immediately installed in Dom’s house, where his sister Claire The Fucking Bitch lives also.
During their marriage, Dom treats her like shit, and forces his sick perversions on her whenever he can.
Things come to a head when Skye comes across her husband and his sister shagging.
Jesus. Mary. And Fucking Joseph.
WTF? Incest? Urgggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!
I pretty much skipped over the description of what they were doing, but I was then plunged into a scene where the two animals proceeded to rape Skye and debase her in the most inhumane ways.
At this point, I threw the book at the wall, and picked up L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables.
I went back to the book two weeks later, and totally skipped the whole Dom O’Flaherty period.
Anyway, Skye goes back home, and finds that her father is dying. Dubhdara O’Malley leaves the majority of his holdings (including his ships) to Skye, who was eager to follow in her father’s sea-faring footseps.
Niall and Skye re-unite, but just before their marriage, Skye’s ship is attacked, and she ends up being sold into slavery, and she eventually ends up in an Algerian harem, owned by a flesh-peddler called Khalid El Bey.
From this point, Skye experiences one adventure after the other, culminating in her returning to England, and being involved in a good old dog fight with Elizabeth Tudor, the young Queen of England at that time.
The Verdict
I’m going to ignore the first 100 pages of this book, because quite frankly, it was dross, and having started the sequel to this book already, I suspect that Small doesn’t do gripping first, second, third or fourth chapters well.
Skye O’Malley was a well-written book, and apart from the over-use of the term ‘Manroot’, I didn’t have that many complaints about her way with words.
What I liked most about the book, was Skye herself. Small made her a strong and daring female, who took no prisoners, yet at the same time, she had a soft, caring and passionate side.
She was a wonderfully developed character who didn’t piss me off at any point in the book (I said we’d ignore the first 100 pages) although I did think she must have been the unluckiest person in the Tudor era.
I also enjoyed the accuracy of the historical details in the book. It was interesting to get a glimpse of how things might have been between Elizabeth Tudor and Robert Dudley. (If you don’t know your history, I’m not going to explain).
The story flowed nicely, and it was a treat to read a historical romance that wasn’t so predictable.
With people dying every ten pages, I was never allowed to get attached to any of Skye’s heroes. By the time I’d got to the end of the book, Skye had buried three husbands, and had more money than God. My kinda gal.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed reading Skye O’Malley, and I’m quite looking forward to reading the sequel.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely, if you don’t mind rape scenes, infidelity, the over-use of the words, manroot, codpiece, and rod, and random murders.
Anybody read anything else of interest?
Eve Vaughn
October 31
7:35 pm
I absolutely fell in love with the Skye O’Malley books, and the books of her daughters and grandaughters. What was so great about Skye was that she owned her sexuality, not a lot of writers wrote women like that around the time those books were published. Skye was truly kickass and Beatrice Small is a master of the pen. *sigh* I think you will enjoy the sequel, Karen, also be sure to read the two books about her grandaughter Jasmine. Also excellent.
Anne
October 31
8:18 pm
Oh ick. Definitely NOT my kind of book.
I’m reading and almost done with Katherine Allred’s “Second Time Around” and I must say that I’m enjoying it immensely : )
Jennifer B
October 31
8:27 pm
Well here’s a book I will NEVER read. Thanks so much for your candid and hilarious take on it! I was laughing even as you were giving me the shivers. Blech. Now I have to go find something to wash the taste of bile out of my mouth.
And I’m not reading a damned thing that will hold my interest. Help me. Please. 😉
byrdloves2read
November 1
12:18 am
Well, I agree with Jennifer’s “Blech”. Sounds like a lot of suffering. I just finished Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Once you get past the first 100 or so pages where “bling” brand names are being thrown about like confetti it gets really good and oh so funny. I haven’t laughed so much through a book in a long time. Felt good. Recommend it.
Sam
November 1
9:29 am
Manroot!!!
LOL!
I can forgive lots of things in a book, but not sex with animals and not manroots.
I’m now totally involved in my Pratchet book ‘Night Watch’ and though I had a hard time starting it because of ‘No Time Whatsoever to Sit down and Read’…Now that school holidays are over I think I’ll finally be able to finish it. It’s one of the best Pratchet books I’ve read!
Dawn
November 1
11:09 am
I’ve just read Shelly Laurenston’s Hunting Season. IMO it was fan-freaking-tastic. Never read any of her books before, and probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t won it.
The H was absolutely scrummy and great in bed (of course) and the h was totally kick-ass. I’ve rarely laughed so much while reading and in a good way. (Digressing briefly, I did read a M&B recently where the man “husked” a lot – I nearly peed myself.)
Anyway, that’s my recommendation.
Karen Scott
November 1
11:31 am
Eve, I’ve nearly come to the end of the sequel, and yes I’ve enjoyed it so far. If she didn’t litter her books with non-consensual sex, and infidelity, I’d probably wholly recommend it, but I know that a lot of romance readers don’t have the stomach for those kind of plot devices. Skye as a heroine is fabulous though, and were it not for the way her character’s been written, the books would have been crap.
Anne, I haven’t started KA’s book yet, I shall get round to it sooner or later I guess!
Jennifer, have you read Lisa Valdez’s Passion yet? If not, I would recommend it, but the language in it isn’t for the faint hearted. It’s a very ‘earthy’ read, if you know what I mean, but the chracter development is fantastic.
Linda I’ve never read SEP, mainly because everybody else has, I may try her, but not yet.
Sam, Small must have used every purple prose description for the penis and the vagina. ‘Lance’ was another one she was fond of.
Dawn, I’ve read about three Shelly Laurenston books, and all of them made me laugh out loud. The heroines were kick-ass, and I loved that. She would be an autobuy if she wasn’t at Triskelion. I hate their book buying procedures, too freaking long winded.
Sam
November 1
3:46 pm
“Let me lance you with my manroot – huh huh huh.”
Oh Dawn, what is with the H and the h? Heroine and hero, right?
I knew it. I do love those kick-ass heroes.
🙂 8 > :
🙂 : 8- :
(Here is a picture of my H and h, happily lying next to each other. And in case you’re wondering those are their toes, and she’s just a little shorter than he is.)
LaShaunda
November 1
8:52 pm
Karen,
I picked a copy of this book at the dollar store. It was a book on tape. Can you imagine hearing these scenes? I think I spent half the book with my mouth open. No she didn’t write this. LOL!
I like Skye, she had a wild life. I haven’t looked into the other books, I’ll have to see if I can find them on tape.
Anne
November 1
11:01 pm
Karen,
SEP’s Match Me If you Can was a FABULOUSLY FUNNY book! You’d enjoy it… I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!
Dawn
November 2
12:04 pm
ROFL Sam. Love the pics. One of the guys in the office heard me laughing and asked if I was reading dirty joke. I was obviously doing my “dirty joke” laugh.
Kate R
November 3
9:06 pm
Snort
Let me know if you think she gets a back bone. (her big weakness is weak women. No, it’s not a sexual weakness. Heck it can be sold on ebay..)