A Quest: What Classic Romances Should I Find?

3 days ago 10

This After Dark post is open to everyone so folks can see what ridiculous tasks I am assigning myself. Any reviews and book shrieking will be part of the upcoming year in After Dark.

…

I am traveling to Denton, Texas, for the Art and Jazz Fest.

Are there romance-specific quests I might undertake in Denton? Oh, hell yeah.

First, Denton is the home of The Plot Twist, a romance bookshop and bar. Will I be visiting? ABSOLUTELY of course are you kidding?

I’m going to miss the Twilight trivia night, but shopping will most definitely happen. Which is part one of my quest! What shall I shop for while I’m there? I welcome suggestions!

Maybe I’ll attempt another IG Live while I’m there. I’m so tremendously bad at Instagram (they keep changing it! WHY. WHY?!) my efforts are always comical.

But second, and my second quest: Books & More. (I’m going to be doing so much book shopping and jazz listening, it’s going to be incredible.)

I first learned about Books & More in December 2023 when Amanda and I recapped RT magazine’s July 2004 issue in Episode 593. Romantic Times Rewind: July 2004 Ads & Features. And I visited in October 2024.

Look at the used romance room, y’all. USED. ROMANCE. ROOM.

This is only HALF of the Romance Room:

A picture of bookshelves filled with old romances, with old movie posters on the far wall

I felt like I was in a museum. I practiced absurd restraint and only purchased one book last year: Lion and the Lark by Doreen Owens Malek.

A picture of my hand holding a shadowbox with a copy of Lion and the Lark, with the oil painting of the cover on my office wall. John DeSalvo is in a hot pink gladiator toga and a woman with impossibly uplifted breasts is arching her back against him

This year, I have PLANS. Which leads me to my question for my quest:

What old skool romance should I seek out while I’m in the Museum Of Older Romances Conveniently Located in Denton Texas?

When I say this is like a museum, I’m not kidding. You can find entire cover progressions for one book:

Jude Deveraux's The Raider, starting with a vignette of two people one with an eye mask on about to kiss, then a window with a gold curtain, and then some kind of flowers scattered on a coral background

I have a special warmth in my heart for The Raider because I own the Barbie™ set inspired by this book.

Official portrait of the two dolls out of the box standing on some plastic rocks. They can't stand on their own.

Look at this incredible Ken, about whom the back of the box says, “Ken is swashbuckling in a sheer white cotton shirt paired with black pants.”

Close up of Ken's face with an amazing amount of eye cosmetics and a shaded something on his cheeks meant to suggest stubble or something.

Spelunking in old skool romance collections is among my favorite activities, and I would love to have your suggestions.

I’m planning on reading and recapping/reviewing/shrieking at some of these. SO! WHICH ONES should I seek out?

For example: there’s not going to be anything problematic in this book, right?

White Dreams by Susan Edwards - a woman in a fringed dress meant to represent an Indigenous person is being embraced by John DeSalvo in a military uniform with epaulets. There's an Erect Cactus behind them.

White Dreams? The heroine’s name is Star Dreamer, and she’s hiding from the Sight “in the white man’s world with Grady O’Brien.” Surely nothing uncomfortable for the modern reader will happen, like when “the rescue a free Black woman from slavers, [and] incur the wrath of a dangerous man known only as the Dragon.”

I’m sure the Erect Cactus™ is not symbolic, no.

And I’m certain this is fine, right?

Shirl Henke's Night Wind's Woman - a man with an upper arm cuff and a headband is naked in some water behind a woman who has blonde damp hair, also naked, and seems to be holding a flower to her breast?

Wait until you see the stepback:

The naked woman is again in front of Night Wind arching her back with flowers on her boob, but her whole flank and half her ass is visible and he looks very overcome by this development

That’s a bum.

I could and probably will spend hours in this room. So in the interest of making me read and recap some truly absurd books, and sharing the glorious old skool covers, I humbly ask that you help me develop my shopping list.

I’ll be reading and recapping some of them, so this is your chance to send me down a truly bonkers rabbit hole.

Which old skool romances should I hunt for at Books & More, and what should I pick up at The Plot Twist?

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