Customer Reviews

Sweet Savage Love

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Sweet Savage Love is about a naive girl full of romantic fancies who confronts the more lurid realities of life and love. Ginny is caught in more situations than some readers might find easy to swallow. There is also an element of forced seduction involving Ginny and Steve Morgan that readers might find offensive. However, there is a deep, unrecognized attraction between the hero and heroine that is not present in Ginny's other encounters. It is not mature love at first. However, most love takes time to grow. The novel is set in the background of the American Southwest and in Mexico during the rebellion against the Emperor Maximillian. The reader gets a small taste of history and the feel for the injustices and turmoil which resulted in this war. However, this is primarily a romance novel to entertain. Steve and Ginny both go through a lot but this does occur during a tumultous (sp?) time in history. Ginny's morals or lack thereof may sour some readers but she is the product of her upbringing and her experiences. Steve Morgans liasons with women are also not high up on the moral ladder but he is the typical male with double standards of whom there are plenty today. Sweet Savage Love is a novel to be enjoyed and not to be analyzed too seriously. Another good Rosemary Rogers novels which is completely separate from Steve and Ginny is The Wildest Heart. This second novel is not quite a dramatic as Sweet Savage Love. Readers might find it a bit easier to swallow.

Alright, first let me say that I was looking up a good romance book set on a friend's opinion. I came across Rosemary Rogers "Sweet Savage Love." I read the reviews, many said that this book was great, the love scenes were a bit brutal at times, and that Ginny's prostitution was unsuitbale. GIVE ME A BREAK! First off, let me say that Ginny was KIDNAPPED by Steve Morgan against her will. Steve considered her his plaything and nothing more. He continually plays with her heart and her body and feeling no remorse. They get married and i swear, he has sex with atleast 10 other women, while Ginny gets raped about 10 times defending Steve. When Steve finds out about this, he goes on to call her a whore, about 30 times in the whole book, even though she stood up for him! On their wedding night he was off fiddling with a slave girl!Not to mention there are so many questions i have. There are people in the stories brought in, babies, friends, women, and in the next minute they drop of out the scene and you have no idea where they went. Steve IS NOT hero, and this IS NOT a love story. If you want a love story, an actual ROMANCE, then please find other authors.

This is the story of Ginny Brandon. She was living the high life until she went to live with her father in the States. She finds herself in Mexico. Her father is shipping some merchandise across the west with Ginny and her step Mom. Steve Morgan is hired to lead the team across the terrain. Steve starts having feelings (sexual) for Ginny and she also likes him back - at the beginning. That is how this horror story begins.

This is a horrible book. Not for the reasons you might think. I know she gets raped and kidnapped by the hero. I know she gets horribly raped like 20 times (some gang rapes) after they caught her and Steve. I knew from the reviews that this was going to be a harder book to read, well I didn't expect this. The book was so long it was like torture! I have to give the book credit, that is keeps you glued to it but it was a horrible ride. Like getting on a very bad roller coaster - once you start you have to stay on the ride until it was over.

I guess the reason I hated this book was because it wasn't fun at all. Never during the book did I think - entertainment. I have read over 108 books and I have never felt this way - like I was a prisoner to this book. I mean I have read pirate stories where the hero rapes the girl and then she gets raped by others but at least the hero loved her and would get mad if she got raped. Steve, oh Steve - not only does he start Ginny's destruction, but he punishes her for it. I swear - if he called me a whore one more time, he would have woke up with no nuts!!! O my gosh, not only did he not show her any love, he, he, he, (screaming right now looking for the words). I guess I don't have any. He wasn't worth it! I don't know why so many people loved him. He was the worst hero ever. If he loved her, I wouldn't want that kind of love!

Overall - this book put me in a very bad mood for the three days that it took to read it. I read to go into a fantasy land not to get stuck in a nightmare.

This book was written almost 30 years ago?!! I was astonished when I read that, because this book reads like a modern day book, a VERY well written modern day novel.

I must admit, I hate romance novels with bad hero/heroines and after reading the reviews here, I almost passed on it. Well let me tell you, I am glad I tried it. Up most, what you gotta keep in mind is, this can NOT be considered a "romance" book.. you'll HATE it if you start this book thinking that. You must have an open mind, know that in this book you'll see the heroine abused horribly again, and again... raped, kidnapped, horrible hero who cheats EVERY other day ( I swear ), and the heroine puts up with it. This makes it worse, where was the heroine's pride? Yep, your typical 70s book. I remember one scene, SPOILER HERE :

After the hero kidnaps the heroine, he takes her to a whore house to hide her, he then goes to another room to shower and to have sex with one of the girls and the heroine is right next door, he then comes in the room see's she's been crying, asleep... he thinks about having sex with her too, right after having sex with a whore... that pissed me off! LOL, yes, horrible hero, and there were many, many scenes like this here, he was a male slut!

END SPOILER:

There are so many reviews here so read those for plots I wont go into that... You will enjoy this dark "fiction" novel with a dark hero and a beautiful heroine who will do anything and put up with anything for her love for this undeserving hero ( imho ). That part drove me nuts...

Nevertheless, this book deserves 5 stars because I was thoroughly entertained, I seriously could NOT put this hateful, woman degrading novel down, I became addicted to this epic novel mid way. There are so many twists, so many awful things the hero does and the heroine goes through that will make you grind your teeth and yet, YOU will sit there losing sleep because you just gotta read another page....



IT WAS THAT GOOD.. Yes, I hated this book as a female reader but damn, what a novel.

I originally read this book when I was 15 years old and enjoyed it then, however, my mother loved this book and became a dedicated follower of the author. After reading 'Sweet Savage Love' years later, 1997, I discovered why she fell in love with the book, then. The novelist broke all the rules in the 1970s. The novelist made groundbreaking steps for new writers to emerge and shamelessly pen steamy, sensual and very graphic sexual or lovemaking scenes. Rosemary Rogers was one of the first to walk that untrodden path of penning explicit sex, however, Rosemary Rogers has a passion for sexual assault, as found in many of her books. The genre that every woman wants to be raped by her lover is ridiculous, especially if you've ever been forced to submit against your will (which obviously Rogers has not had to experience). But in Ginny and Steve's case, I believe that Ginny submitted because she wanted to. She allowed Steve to 'assault' her because she was just as enthralled with Steve Morgan as he with she. Lust ruled their relationship. They both were strong willed stubborn people whom were first attracted through lust. Love, if it did, came much later, after their children were grown in 'Bound By Desire'. But I enjoyed 'Sweet Savage Love' and enjoyed the characters. But I am not a fan of Rosemary Rogers. One negative fault with Rogers is the permiscuous nature of Ginny. Taboo. Not accepted by many romance readers. Romance readers can deal with the male's permiscuous activities, however, if he doesn't get his act together and loves the heroine with total devotion towards the end of the novel, then he is considered a candidate for penicillin and obviously lacks understanding on the definition of love. But 'Sweet Savage Love' still remains an all-time favorite of mine. What kept 'Sweet Savage Love' a favorite of mine was the excitement and adventure of capturing the gold, being on the run from the law, toppling governments and thwarting armies, etc. Steve Morgan was in essence an 1860s 'James Bond'. Yes, he is a 'secret service' agent for the United States government. A profession you don't find in many historical American romance novels. So if you enjoy excitement, adventure, intrique, and some 'I Spy', combined with passion, spunk, and plain old 'lust', you'll enjoy the timeless classic 'Sweet Savage Love'. But reader beware, this is not your typical romance novel and if you're a devoted fan of Johanna Lindsay, stay away from 'Sweet Savage Love'.

Sweet Savage Love has all the twisted appeal of one of those R. L. Stein novels for teenagers. The heroine, Virginia Brandon, is such a bubble-headed tease that you want to slap her silly, the way the hero frequently does, which may be why you keep turning the pages. The hero, Steve Morgan, has the morals of an alley cat and little else to recommend him. His one redeeming quality is that he hates Virginia almost as much as you do. Each of them singly is mind-numbingly stupid, and the two of them together are positively Martian. The only sensible thing either one of them does is eat, drink, or sleep -- and even then, they usually screw it up. I think what I love best about this book is that end up married, and never did any couple deserve each other more.

Really, one of the worst books I have ever read. The heroine is a selfish, spoiled brat who has the mindset of a five year old. The hero is a cold hearted bastard. In some ways their perfect for each other. Things happening, the plot (there really isn't one) play's out. Circumstances lead to both the hero and heroine being raped mulitple times- though the heroine is raped by everyone and their father- (and yes, they were both raped by men- sick, sick, sick) the hero works in a undergound mine where the doctor there repeatidly has his way with him, even though the author describes ther hero has being beyond strong throughout the entire book. The heroine- unwillingly at first- becomes a whore, then kills her pimp and runs away, where she immeadietely forgets all the weeks of horror and cruel treatment and starts screwing a couple other men, cheating on her 'protecter' without a care. Doesn't even think about the hero at all during this time. Blah, blah, blah, finds out he's alive, drops her various lovers and runs t oshow him her new 'skills'. He in turn hates HER for being raped by god and the country in the first place (which she had no control over, and lets face it, what did he go through). They resolve it in the last two pages. Oh, and he was cheating on her the entire book.


I love a revenge, abused, conflicted story. More then most. That's my favortie sub-genre of romance. It adds more depth in my opinion. Even better when it's the hero (though some will not agree with me) because I love what he has to go through to get back in her good graces, but this is ridiculous. Nothing is redeemable about this sorid, hateful book.

It was over 20 years ago that I first read this book - now I am an avid historical romance reader. And nothing compares to this series. You hate this couple, you love this couple, you want to scream into the book and shake them for the way they treat each other - You can certainly not feel indifferent to them. At first it is Ginny that grates on my nerves the most. It is probably her immaturity - she is young and so completely clueless to real life and she angers Steve unnessecarily, taunts him and teases him to think her totally different than she really is. Steve on the other hand is totally the way he appears, tough, hardened and completely without any moral compass. Only his grandfather seems to give him any conscence so he marries Ginny after totally compromising her. This is when the book takes you into the darkest of depths - what happens to both Steve and Ginny should not even happen to anyone, even in a novel!! But perhaps some of this was necessary for Ginny to grow up and become a real person. It was during this horrible point in Ginny's life when she thought Steve dead, worse him thinking that she had betrayed him, that she realizes how very much she always loved him. Steve's tortures were as bad if not worse, and he becomes even more of a dark sole. When Ginny finally finds out he is alive and manages to get to the hacienda where he will eventually return - it will take every skill in her power to convince Steve that she had not betrayed him and that she wants their marriage and him. Right now I wish there were not these other books in this series - which I know i have to read - but I cannot even stand to know that this couple will probably go through all the anguish all over again for many years to come. The saga of Steve & Ginny is a timeless, heartfelt smoldering love story that causes the reader to be overwhelmed with its intesity!!

This book was 700 pages of misery! I truly wish Rogers had spared us some of the absolutely ghastly episodes in this book. Not only did the hero and heroine spend the book hating each other, but the characters were dragged through the worst fate I can imagine. Episodes of rape, forced prostitution, and horrid beatings all occur. This is not a book anyone should read if they are seeking to escape the concerns of real life, the tale experienced here is surly worse and not a place I care to escape to. I will never read this book again; the only reason I finished it was that I could not bear to leave the characters in such misery! This tale is savage indeed!

As a romance writer, I am revisiting the classics that launched the entire powerful arm of publishing, (the romance genre), and I ordered an old original copy of "Sweet Savage Love." Wow. No wonder this sold millions and was imitated. What a masterfully written book. Exciting and completely plunges a reader into this world. Told in multiple POV's, loaded with adverbs, yet still penned with clarity, this story happens in parts of the U.S. and in Mexico, during the Civil War era. Ginny, the heroine, is half-French, half-American, and Steve Morgan, the dark hero, is half-American, half-Hispanic. The riveting non-stop action spans all their adventures and suffering, and the dysfunctional, wildly physical nature between the leads. Morgan is an unapologetic rake, treating women like used Kleenex, but to me, the guy's harsh gunslinger / mercenary lifestyle fits his character. He wouldn't whistle Yanni tunes in a woman's ear, or offer to wash the dishes while she rests in a recliner. He's selfish and calculating, an adrenaline junkie. Ginny has perhaps the bigger character arc, and she endures horrors when she is captured and forced into prostitution, (white slavery). That part of the book required teeth-gritting. In the end, I found Ginny had more steel than Steve, moving from a Paris Hilton type of pampered existence in the opening, and emerging as a strong, multi-faceted woman who won't back down from working hard. She gets lost in her gypsy dancing. She's strong, yet sensuous, enjoys her seductive power over men, eventually, after recovering from the brutality she suffers. A complete foil for the heartless Steve, who, in spite of himself, grows attached to her - even thinks of her when he's with other women. He is the one a reader gets frustrated with, because Ginny is resourceful, catches on fast, and he can't "see" her value, because he can't form normal emotional attachments. But what a reader discovers, is the pages fly by and you want to see these two together, even as they rant (lots of exclamation points!) and tear off their clothes with passion. It's a no-holds-barred, tough, unrelenting, and to me - honest. This was a harsh landscape, not genteel or civilized. Throughout most of recorded human history, women were treated slightly above cattle. (I exaggerate, maybe a tad better than that - but no real rights)

Plus, just watch an episode of "Mad Men" and how women were treated in the 1960's. That's just a quick glimpse of how women could be dismissed.

Ginny stabs Steve when he tries to take her by force, and she is raped, multiple times. Truly horrifying. I recall seeing a WWII book and an image of a beautiful Jewish girl who was raped in the streets by German soldiers. This exploitation has happened throughout history. "Sweet Savage" delivers an unpleasant dose of reality.

It doesn't make it right, or wrong, it's just a part of human brutality. Look what the Romans did to people in their Coliseum.

Newer romances have none of the suffering these characters endure, they are more politically correct, and I hate to say it, bland... essentially forgettable. This can seem way over-the-top for more refined tastes. Me, I like all kinds of books, ugly, raw, pretty, sensitive, etc. "Jane Eyre" is my favorite romance - this is the antithesis to the intellect Jane and tortured, impassioned Rochester, which are more cerebral characters and reflect the setting.

I thought this passage was especially powerful:

"Steve Morgan, who had always prided himself on his cold detachment from emotional entanglements now found, as he galloped toward Zacatecas, that the prospect of seeing Ginny again was almost worth facing a firing squad for. If they were going to execute him in any case, they would probably allow him a few minutes alone with her. He could take her in his arms and taste the wonderful texture of her lips again, and feel her small, perfectly shaped breasts pressing against his chest. He'd tell her -- yes, what did it matter now? Before they killed him, he'd tell her he loved her."