A few weeks ago, I read The Stolen Princess by Anne Gracie (which I bought on a whim from amazon with a bunch of other books after a recommendation from who-knows-where - it wasn't at my library yet). I liked it OK, but I'm not shouting from the rooftops over it. I decided I would wait for the library to get the sequels, but will request them as soon as the library system allows, if that makes sense to anyone other than me.
But then yesterday, I started reading Shattered Rainbows by Mary Jo Putney (which I did get from the library based on some recommendation from somewhere) and suddenly I'm not feeling so in charity with that Princess.
Shattered Rainbows came out in the mid-90's, though it has been re-issued within the last few years. It is the 4th in a series about 4 men who have been friends since childhood and at least some of them served together in the army - two have angel names (this book's hero is Michael) and two have devil-like names (Lucien=Lucifer, Nicholas=Old Nick). They call themselves the "Fallen Angels". I'm not sure about the other heroes, but this story starts out right before the battle of Waterloo and Michael is an experienced officer in the Napoleonic Wars.
The Stolen Princess came out this January. It is the 1st in a planned 4-part series about 4 men who were in the army (in the Napoleonic Wars) together - and I think some of them grew up together, at least this one's hero has a half brother that he grew up with. Three have angel names (this book's hero is Gabriel) and the other has a devil name (Lucas, I think? Maybe another Lucien). They are called the "Devil Riders" and "Wellington's Angels."
And many other parallels. To the point where I had to look up the Princess book (waiting to be donated to the library) to be sure that it was by a different author and I was just getting the heroes muddled up in my head, thinking it was a different series and not the same one.
OK, so Gracie is also a good writer and built a good story and - I hope - the rest of her series will be good as well. She certainly writes more and better than I do. It's just a bit... blatant.
And I am also now trying to remember another Regency romance/Napoleonic conflict book that I read quite a few months ago which also starts in the Napoleonic Wars and also has a widow who is secretly in love with her husband's army buddy and it also starts out in Brussels during the battle of Waterloo, where she also nurses the friend back to health. In that one, the husband dies in the battle, and in the Putney book, the husband dies a few months later. It was part of a series and I read most or all of the books. I really can't remember what book it is.
But sometimes it seems like some of the Regency romance authors do their research solely by reading other Regency novels...
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2 comments:
A whoooooole lot of that plagarism crap goes on in the romance world. Honestly, I blame the editors and publishers as much as the writers -- if readers can find it, so can the editors.
I don't know if romance writers are worse than other authors. except maybe cassie edwards (who was just dumped by one of her publishers after this blog (http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/signet-and-cassie-edwards-part-ways/) came up with dozens of instances where she cut and pasted entire paragraphs and pages from her source materials. her books are pretty bad in the first place, apparently, but it took the power of google to stop her. no word yet from her other publishers...)
but where was i? oh, i'm not sure that it happens more in romance than elsewhere. after all, there are only so many mystery plots, only so many ways to fire lasers in sci fi, etc etc.
but this one was just waaaay too much for me.
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