Shanna

Rating:
Summary: The best romance novel ever written!
Review: It's one of those books that you just hate to put down until you've finished it. It's romantic, full of rich detail, funny, one of those books you would love to see a sequel written

Rating:
Summary: Love will find a way........
Review: This was my first romance novel by Woodiwiss. From the beginning, you truly hope that Shanna & Ruark end up together, but the circumstances seem insurmountable. As the book goes on, we watch Shanna grow up along the way and finally become a woman, no longer a spoiled, little rich girl. This book contains love & hate, rape & pillage, sex & violence, and a happy ending. Ruark, is the man of my dreams. I've been looking for him all of my life. For a true romantic, this is a book you can pick up and read again every few years and still enjoy it.

Woodidiss re-introduces Ruark in 'Petals on the River' (another one of her novels that I thoroughly enjoyed). If you are a romantic at heart, I strongly recommend them both.

Rating:
Summary: Not quite 5 stars compared to her other novels
Review: Shanna Trahern has lived a spoilt life in a Caribbean paradise and is the sole heiress to her father's massive fortune. Yet it is this wealth that causes a rift between the father and daughter, as Orlan Trahern desires for more. He longs for the acceptance of the aristocrats, and he means to do it through Shanna. Sensing a lack of interest in her part to marry, he gives her an ultimate - either to find herself a titled husband in a year, or face marrying any man of his choice. And so, wanting to outwit her father, she strikes a deal with Ruark Beauchamp, from an aristocratic family in London, a man convicted of murder and condemned to hang, and who will serve Shanna's purpose well.

When Ruark hears her case, he was elated - for Shanna's beauty so blinded him that any chance to be with her was worth the hanging. He agrees to her request in the condition that they spend their wedding night together and consummate their marriage.

And so a deal was struck but shortly after their wedding vows were made, Shanna breaks her promise and Ruark vows that should fate be kind enouugh to let him live, he will seek her out and carry their bargain through.

Once again, Kathleen Woodiwiss proves her talent for superb storytelling, showing her ability to breathe life into her characters and ability to captivate the readers with her vivid descriptions of each scene, thus transporting us to another time. But I must say that I felt she got a little carried away with Shanna, as the novel is too lengthy.

The plot is good and I absolutely loved Ruark but I found it hard to relate to Shanna in the beginning, as she seemed so spoilt and selfish and undeserving of Ruark, who is patient, charming and funny. I was trying hard to put it down to the fact that she lacked a mother's guidance and was spoilt by her father, but I still struggled to convince myself. That's why I was really glad when she finally matures towards the end and redeems herself.

This is the fourth book of hers that I have read and as much as I enjoyed reading this, I didn't find it hard to put down unlike The Flame and The Flower, The Wolf and the Dove and A Rose in Winter and found myself skipping a lot of pages (quite a lot actually), which is why I'm only giving it 4 stars (well, 4 and a half really).


Rating:
Summary: It was good but...
Review: Shanna was not deserving of a man like Ruark. By page (300 and something) I was outraged. I was so angry with Shanna. She was so immaturel. The reason why I gave this book 5 stars because, it definitely held my attention. I was really unable to put it down and I am not a avid reader. I started out reading Shanna first, because of the previous reviews this book had gotten.

I'm glad I did and will continue to be a reader of KW. She is an excellent writer. Now I am reading the Flame and the Flower. I have strong feelings about this book as well, but I am saving my reviews until later.




Rating:
Summary: Shanna is a wonderful book...
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Ruark had so much love for Shanna & was willing to do anything to win her love. At first Shanna was not very likable. She had set her expectations way too high & wasn't willing to consider somebody without a title. It was so much fun watching her change into a loving, caring person. There is so much adventure & romance in this book. I recommend this book to anybody.

Rating:
Summary: What a fun romance!
Review: This epic book was so much fun to dig into. Miss Woodiwiss does a great job with setting and character creation, that I wish I found in other romances. Frankly I don't, not even in the author's other books I have tried. I give this book 4 stars because it was a bit long in places, but otherwise it was a satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Read it in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981... 2004
Review: I remember that the cover of this book colored every display shelf of the Walden books in our new mall on August 1, 1978 (my sister's 18th birthday, and my 19th birthday only 20 days away.) I was shopping for a gift for her which ultimately led to me buy SHANNA for myself. Although a voracious reader, I had never read a Romance novel before that. I have read very few novels that are not categorized as Historical Romance since then.

Why on earth would I want to read about Pelican Briefs, Space, Sophie's Choice or that the Devil Wears Prada when I can read about a sexy, incorrigible hero who is willing to do anything, and I do mean anything -- including killing a pirate captain, commandeering his ship and crew, instilling himself as pirate captain -- to win the love, or save the life of, the woman he loves?

I know it sounds fantastic, unbelievable and totally unrealistic. I can assure you that the pirate captain "thing" is not nearly as unrealistic as being a beautiful skinny blonde with an amazing wardrobe, living on her own private paradisical caribbean island during the reign of King George III... in a mansion, no less. But who cares?

Here's my reality. I'm living the life of the assistant in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (and not making a bad living doing it). I can watch the evening news and feel like I've just read the latest Grisham book. If you want realistic, edge of your seat reading, then you read about that stuff... I am a 44 year old woman of reasonable intelligence and I can tell you, I can handle a lot that life sends my way... and I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'd rather read about a man who can sword fight a pirate captain to the death, sail a ship (and not one with an engine), undress a woman with his eyes <raising my eyebrows>, and sweep her off of her feet, and traverse the globe with her... and never, ever get lost or ask for directions.

Put those stressful books down and pick-up a romance novel. Shanna is a great place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Long, but so worth it!
Review: I just really enjoyed this book. It reminded me alot of A Rose in Winter as far as the wit and humor went. It had dramamtic parts, but over all it was such a fun read. So far, Ruark is my all time favorite Woodiwiss hero. So manly and respectful. And what a hoot!! There was much action, but it was not over done. But what most impressed me was the maturing we saw in Shanna. Little by little she matured to be a woman worthy of Ruark. No matter of your opinions on any other Woodiwiss book, you really need to read this one.

Rating:
Summary: Epic and Loooong Romance!
Review: At well over 600 pages, this book is much longer than your average romance novel and it is packed with location changes and secondary characters, mysteries and misunderstandings. Part of the action takes place near Richmond Virginia and I was stunned at the research that must have gone into the book when I realized that the throw-away locations of roads that they took and inns at which they stopped were *accurate*!
The best part of the book was the hero, Ruark. He was a fabulous character who made the best of everything that life threw at him. The character of Shanna was more problematic for me (hence only 4 stars). Frankly, she was a selfish, self-pitying, manipulative, lying brat at the beginning of the book and she took almost 600 pages to realize that Ruark's love was more precious than her pride and her fancy dresses. Of course, she was *drop-dead* beautiful, but how on earth did she ever get a fantastic guy like Ruark to fall in love with her? She *slowly* matures during the course of the book, but she is so immature and selfish during the initial part of the story than I could not ever really like her. (A minority opinion, perhaps, since many other reviewers *loved* the character of Shanna.) Alot of her behavior is excused by other characters because she was "spoiled" (yeah, no kidding) or "very young" (actually she was 21 or 22 years old, not really all that young). Her only other good characteristics (besides her stunning beauty) were her plucky spirit and her intermittent concern for the villagers on her father's island (she also rides very well.) In her favor, she is a strong character--consistent and rarely boring, even when she is most annoying.
Despite my reservations about Shanna, this is a very good book.
The plot is very far-fetched but none the less vastly entertaining, covering lots of ground before Shanna and Ruark can finally admit their love to each other and everyone else. The dialogue is rather stilted, but perhaps that is a nod to the Georgian period setting.
I enjoyed this book but preferred "The Windflower" by Laura London or "The Hidden Heart" by Laura Kinsale (both excellent sea adventure/pirate books!)