Blogging Extravaganza: The Windflower World Tour!
Pirates! Revenge! Virgins! Oh MY!
A classic Romance Novel first published in 1984, The Windflower by Laura London (AKA Tom and Sharon Curtis) has been hailed as “a many-layered, multi-textured leap forward that set a new standard of excellence for the genre,” (All About Romance). In an interview with The Book Smugglers, author Joanna Bourne named it as her favorite book. It was a 1994 RRA Awards Winner for Best Classic Historical Romance. It’s been named a Desert Island Keeper by numerous people, including DIK’s very own MaryKate.
Unfortunately, the book is out of print and very difficult to find. The current price on Amazon is $28. When I happened upon a copy, Ana and I hatched a plan of sharing the book with romance bloggers everywhere to start a discussion on old school romance novels, classic books, and the future of the genre. Much like the heroine sails the seven seas, traveling to far off places, this copy of The Windflower is going to fly around the world, winning hearts (or not) wherever it goes.
“one must suffer a little adversity if one wants to be interesting”
The Rules:
- Book Review: Each participant has two weeks to read and review the book before sending it off to the next person.
- Map: Update the map and include a link on your blog so we can watch the book sail around the world.
- Postcard: Sign the postcard tucked into the book with your name and location.
- Picture: Take a photo of yourself with the book in your town or city. It’s like the love book!
The Participants:
- The Book Smuggler
- The Ginger Kid’s Den of Iniquity
- Ramblings on Romance
- The Thrillionth Page
- Lurve A La Mode
- The Happily Ever After
- Marcella White Campbell
- What Women Read
- What Kate’s Reading
- Reviewer Lee Brewer
- Literary Escapism
- Kicks & Giggles
- Good and Bad Books
- Apprentice Writer
- Romance Rookie
- Racy Romance Reviews
- Aimless Ramblings
- Cupid’s Chokehold
- The Book Binge
- Ahhh Romance!
- Sula’s Space
- For Peaceful Days and Dreamy Nights
- Alpha Heroes
- (I *think* this is everyone, but if I forgot to list you please let me know!)
The Book Blurb:
She longed for a pirate’s kisses, for a golden rogue’s caress…
Every lady of breeding knows: no one has a good time on a pirate ship. No one, that is, but the pirates. Yet there she was, Marry Wilding- kidnapped in error, taken from a ship bound from New York to England, spirited away in a barrel and swept aboard the infamous Black Joke…. There she was, trembling with pleasure in the arms of her achingly handsome, sensationally sensual, golden-haired captor – Devon. From the storm-tossed Atlantic to the languid waters of the Gulf Stream, from a smuggler’s den to a guilded mansion, Merry struggled to escape… to escape the prison of her own reckless passions, the bondage of sweet, bold desire….
And now for our first stop on The Windflower World Tour: Ana from The Book Smugglers will post today (wednesday) about her reaction to the book. Stop by to see if THE WINDFLOWER has lived up to its promise.
“A true Desert Isle Keeper, it more than fulfills the promise of good romance: you will laugh; you will cry; and you will want to read it again and again.” (AAR)
What romance novels do you consider “classic” examples of the genre?
Tags: "romance novels", The Windflower, Laura London, Tom and Sharon Curtis, The Book Smugglers, The Windflower World Tour, pirates, pirate romance
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
September 10, 2008 at 3:46 am
*cackles, rubs hands together* Heeheee! Can’t wait. AAR, if I don’t laugh, cry and want to read it again and again the blog world shall hear my wrath!
JK. :D
Well, no, I’m serious, just maybe not so vindictively. Of course, even 1994 was a different time for romance – should be interesting to see how it passes the test of time in style, characters, etc., literally.
Urrrr, yall don’t scream in fright when you see my picture now. Hmmmm, might get a stand-in….
September 10, 2008 at 4:22 am
A DIK for me? As I am reading I get a little twinge, like my heart stops and I have to keep reading, not even wanting to go to the bathroom because I am so hooked to what is happening.
Usually the wonderful relationship and chemistry between the hero and the heroine. And of course the wonderful dialogue.
September 10, 2008 at 5:11 am
Woohoo! We are on! OK, I took the pictures today and just posted the book to Jenb! Windflower is on the move!
My rant, I mean, my review is going up later today , I am terrified that I will be the solitary voice of dissent – I couldn’t disagree more with the AAR review.
September 10, 2008 at 5:20 am
Kati generously lent me this book, and I absolutely loved it. Can’t wait to watch it on its world tour.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it Ana.
September 10, 2008 at 5:34 am
Oh lordy…..did you Stacy? I am certain now that I will be the only one! I am so glad I live in the UK, the Windflower mob can’t cross an ocean to lynch me, can they? LOL
September 10, 2008 at 5:59 am
How fun! I can’t wait! Thanks so much, Ciara and Ana for putting this together. I know it’s not easy to arrange this sort of thng! And Ana, wow! I’ll be so fascinated to read your review. Probably for the best – my expectations are sky high.
Oh, hey, Ciara, if you dip back into this post, could you change my blog name to thrillionth page with an H? Not that I would care on one blog, but everyone who participates will probably pick up your list. It’s a common mistake, being that not a real word (as opposed to trillion, which is).
September 10, 2008 at 6:51 am
This is pretty much the coolest idea, ever.
September 10, 2008 at 7:24 am
Sounds like a lot of fun!!! :) I just happend to mention to MaryKate at AIK yesterday that I ran across a copy of The Windflower at my local Half Price books during their Labor Day sale and decided to pick it up. Completely unaware that I was getting such a great deal and a good find! I’d recalled seeing quite a few mentions about it being an all time favorite for so many readers. I’m really looking forward to reading it and also hearing what everyone else thinks about it. :)
September 10, 2008 at 8:31 am
Can I join the tour? I’d love to see what everyone has been talking about?
September 10, 2008 at 8:36 am
Yay! Yes Sayuri_x – we’ll add you to the list.
Anyone who has read the windflower and would like to participate – we would love to have you blog a review on the weeks the book is in transit. You can take a picture with your own copy in your town too. If you don’t have a blog of your own, you can guest post on mine. Email me at ciara [at] ciarastewart.com.
September 10, 2008 at 8:51 am
Whoot! Can’t wait. See, this is what happens when a person has two blogs. Was looking for myself, forgetting about my review blog. Doh!
September 10, 2008 at 9:04 am
Woo hoo, this sounds like so much fun, I can’t wait to participate!!
September 10, 2008 at 9:11 am
I’m looking forward to this! Such a great idea to do the world tour.
September 10, 2008 at 11:14 am
I can’t wait for this! I haven’t read a lot of “old school” romances, so I have a feeling this’ll be a real eye-opener to me. Hooray!
September 10, 2008 at 11:42 am
I can’t wait. And I am glad there are differing opinions out there. It makes it so much more interesting!
September 10, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Ok, my post is up.
http://thebooksmugglers.blogspot.com/2008/09/windflower-world-tour.html
*runs and hides*
September 10, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Okay, so I have a question…how do we update the Doppler map? Granted, I won’t be getting it for awhile, but hopefully I’m not the only one who is clueless on it. :)
This is going to be fun. Another great historical novel (one I would love seeing made into a film) is Amber Flame by Hannah Howell. Love that book.
September 10, 2008 at 2:56 pm
::bounces with glee::
I’m so excited. I really hope the book lives up to the hype! I can’t wait to get my grabby hands on it. Great idea, ladies :) Thanks for organizing this!
September 10, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hi Ladies, you can skip me on the tour. I own THREE copies, and believe that I’ve blogged all I can on the topic (both on my blog and at RNTV), so you can skip me as a stop on the World Tour. Instead, I will follow you all around, commenting as people review it.
I hope folks enjoy it as much as I do.
September 10, 2008 at 3:16 pm
arg, dammit! i forgot to respond to the email and get on the tour bus. is it possible to still get a birth on the boat? plz? :)
old skool romances, pirates, what is not to like?
September 10, 2008 at 3:34 pm
GAH, I’m so torn! I usually like to do my own review before checking out a lot of other peoples’ opinions so that I’m not overly influenced…. but I’m like, LAST on the list!! how will I wait that long??! Can I hold out? We shall see…
September 10, 2008 at 6:08 pm
This will officially be my maiden ship voyage, virtual or otherwise. Ahoy! Ahoy! (I hope that’s still relevant lingo).
Have made my DH promise to teach me how to upload photos before the book sails in to Toronto (on Lake Ontario, natch) and am pondering what would be a good background.
Off to read the Booksmugglers’ take. Yay for non-conformity and independent thought!
September 11, 2008 at 7:49 am
woohoo, the debate is full on, some commenters have posted interesting questions!
September 11, 2008 at 11:28 am
[...] the Windflower World Tour and we can all thank Ciara and Ana for putting it together. She’s posted all the details over at her site so I won’t go into too much detail, but the purpose of the tour is to [...]
September 13, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Ooh, I can’t wait to read it! :D
October 1, 2008 at 11:08 am
So, where is the Windflower now?
October 1, 2008 at 11:21 am
CJ has it! Minneapolis, I think. Somewhere around there.
October 29, 2008 at 6:45 pm
[...] Ciaralira, where you can read the tour kick-off, rules and list of participants [...]
December 30, 2008 at 9:06 am
Can I join this? I’m in Florida!
February 7, 2009 at 8:50 pm
So whatever happened with this? Is it still traveling?
February 8, 2009 at 10:12 am
My bad! But yes, Jackie… The Windflower is still sailing and recently just arrived in the hands of Shannon from What Women Read blog. The book got shipwrecked at my port. All my fault. I took too long with my turn. I probably should have forfeited my spot on the tour because of the chaos in my little world with home construction and such, but the tour should move at a more respectable pace now.
Thanks for your patience, everyone.
March 17, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Don’t fall overboard in shock… but I finally posted my thoughts on The Windflower. Check it out on my blog.
Shannon has already finished the book and is expecting to post her thoughts very soon. Hopefully the tour will pick up speed with these new spring winds! ;)
Thanks for your patience, everyone. Or if you weren’t patient, thanks for not harassing me.
July 9, 2009 at 8:58 am
Does anyone know where The Windflower is now? I haven’t heard much about it since Shannon at the What Women Read blog reviewed it.
October 21, 2009 at 12:34 am
The book is with Kate now, but she can’t read it. I am emailing Lee to see if she still wants it! i want to get this going again!