Old school romance covers had a wide variety of settings, from indoor to outdoors and in every season. Winter is the time to cuddle close to the one you love. Last week was the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, but it was also Christmas, so we didn’t have a chance to welcome in the winter season.
We’ve chosen to show off four romance covers with snow. These winter backgrounds are the perfect settings for couples trying to stay warm with the heat of their passion.
The Covers
For the week of Monday December 26, to Sunday, December 1, 2023 Sweet Savage Flame‘s final edition of our Covers of the Weekfor 2022, we have romance covers with snowy winterscape scenes. We’ll see you in 2023!
What do you think of these romance novel covers featuring snowscapes? Have you read any of these books? Which of our picks do you like the best, if any?
Do you have suggestions or requests for future Covers of the Week themes you’d like to see on Sweet Savage Flame? Let us know, and we’ll do our best to create a gallery of stunning art!
Please drop a comment, and let’s talk romance. See you in 2023!
December is coming to its end. This week will bring us both the Winter Solstice and Christmas. It’s time to celebrate with some snowy romance covers featuring cold winterscapes.
Cuddle up in a warm blanket because the coldest season is here! The first snowfalls of winter are a magical time with a layer of frosty white covering the lands. Then you get tired of it all after two weeks of endless blizzards and constantly shoveling your driveway! 😁
The Covers
For the week of Monday, December 20 to Sunday, December 26, 2021, let’s take delight in some romance covers featuring snow.
Have a Jolly Winter Solstice, Happy Festivus, and a Merry Christmas!
The Covers from Left to Right, Top to Bottom
Golden Torment, Janelle Taylor, Zebra, 1984, Elaine Gignilliat cover art
Winterscape, Anastasia Cleaver, Ace, 1976, Walter Popp cover art
Savage Winter, Constance O’Banyon, Zebra, 1985, Ray Kursar cover art
What do you think of these winter-themed romance covers? Have you read any of these books? Which of our picks do you like the best, if any?
Do you have suggestions or requests for future Covers of the Week themes you’d like to see on Sweet Savage Flame? Let us know, and we’ll do our best to create a gallery of stunning art!
In this review, IntrovertReader can’t gush enough over her love for Secret Fire by Johanna Lindsey, which features a Russian Prince, the aphrodisiac “Spanish fly,” and one of Lindsey’s best heroines.
Secret Fire was the second Johanna Lindsey romance I read, and it cemented her works among my favorites. Published in 1987, this was written during Lindsey’s peak years of output.
The cover is another Elaine Duillo gem, this time featuring white, cream, and brown hues–appropriate for the wintery Russian setting. There’s also a blond male cover model whom I’ve been searching for for years. Forget Fabio and his long-haired colleagues; it’s this guy I have often imagined as the hero of many love stories I’ve read. He’s a perfect model for the ultra-gorgeous hero of Secret Fire, Dimitri. [Note: I have discovered he is the late Gerald “Jerry” Timm, a model and actor.]
The Characters
Dimitri is a half-Russian, half-English Prince who is in England to visit family and smooth over a scandal his sister has gotten into by engaging in an affair with a married man. The uber-sexual Dimitri doesn’t mind his sisters’ affairs, only that she’s so flagrant about them. So he decides to bring her back to Russia on his ship and perhaps find a dutiful spouse for her.
Meanwhile, Lady Katherine St. John, the eldest daughter of an Earl, is enraged to find that her sister has decided to run off and elope. Although Katherine has a father and brother, it’s upon her dainty shoulders that familial responsibilities lie. She concocts a plan to exchange garments with a maid and search the London streets for her sister.
The Plot
As she’s walking about, Dimitri’s carriage is stuck in traffic, and he happens to see Katherine. Although she’s short and rather plain with dull brown hair, there’s something about her that appeals to Dimitri.
As a prince who’s gotten anything and everything he’s ever wanted with a snap of his fingers, Dimitri sends a servant off to procure the woman for a night of passion. Katherine dismisses the man, but he won’t take no for an answer. Before Katherine knows what’s happening, she’s kidnapped and finds herself trapped in strange quarters.
When Dimitri finds out what’s been done, he’s disgusted at first. He was just looking for a quick tryst, not a sex marathon. Dimitri figures he’ll have to let his men have a go with her, as Spanish Fly makes a woman insatiable. Then he enters the room, and those thoughts go out the window. While Katherine might not be the most beautiful woman in the world, she certainly is one of the most sensual visions he’s ever witnessed, naked on the bed and writhing in desire.
And so begins Secret Fire, with a night of pure ecstasy for both Katherine and Dimitri.
Her adamant refusals prompt Dimitri’s servant to ply her with”Spanish Fly” to make her willing for the prince’s touch.
The Prince in Pursuit
However, the next day Katherine is back to her old self and threatens Dimitri’s servants with arrest, as she is the daughter of an Earl. No one believes her, of course. What would an Earl’s daughter have been doing roaming the London docks alone and wearing the clothes of a servant? Still, to prevent any scandal, his servant has the brilliant idea of locking Katherine in a chest and taking her with them to Russia.
When Katherine finds herself at sea, she demands to be returned. Dimitri had not expected to find her aboard the ship but is pleased to see her. Despite his hundreds of past amours, their night together was one of the best in memory, and the lady had been a virgin, to boot!
Dimitri pursues Katherine with an ardor he hadn’t imagined possible. Of course, Katherine rebuffs him at every turn. She’s no common trull but a lady deserving of respect. Dimitri ignores Katherine’s claims of nobility, mostly because he wants to believe that his Katya can be easily had. He knows he has to marry a noble Russian woman to produce an heir for his line, but Katya can be his mistress in the meantime.
Over the seas and rivers, through Europe, and into Russia, Dimitri tries what he can to seduce her back into his arms.
But Katherine has a will made of steel. Even though she wants him just as much as he wants her, she holds out for what she needs–not what he desires.
[He] wanted her. Incredible fantasy. This fairy-tale prince, this golden god wanted her. Her. It boggled the mind. It defied reason. And she said no. Stupid ninny!
SECRET FIRE
Final Analysis of Secret Fire
I love Katherine. Like Georgina Anderson from Lindsey’s Gentle Rogue, she has a habit of talking to herself–a trait I share, to my husband’s annoyance. Katherine’s fiercely proud, stubborn, and resilient. She’s not my favorite Lindsey heroine, but she is up there with the best.
One of my favorite scenes is after Dimitri’s aunt decides to discipline Katherine, and Dimitri’s horrified reaction to it all, combined with Katherine’s stiff-upper-lip reserve.
Dimitri is as equally stubborn and proud as Katherine. But nowhere near as brilliant. That’s ok. His charm and godlike looks make up for it!
This is another of Johanna Lindsey‘s excellent romances that I’ve re-read many times. Secret Fire is an absolute wonder, the hero, the heroine, the plot, the writing, all of it.
Rating Report Card
Plot
5
Characters
5
Writing
4.5
Chemistry
5
Fun Factor
5
Cover
5
Overall:
4.9
Synopsis
He’d caught only a glimpse of her from the window of his carriage, but the young prince knew he had to have her. Within minutes, Lady Katherine St. John was dragged from the London street and carried off to a sumptuous town house — for the pleasure of her royal admirer…
From the tempestuous passion of their first encounter, across stormy seas, to the golden splendor of palaces in Moscow, she was his prisoner — obsessed with rage toward her captor even as an all-consuming need made her his slave. Yet theirs was a fervor beyond her understanding, carrying them irrevocably toward final surrender to the power of undeniable love.
The four seasons of the year make for a wonderful romance cover art theme.
The power of love is as old as the Earth and as constant as the four seasons. To live is to love! At Sweet Savage Flame, romance is in the air all year long.
In 1971 singer/songwriter Carole King wrote the lovely song: “You’ve Got a Friend,” which detailed the lasting strength of love. James Taylor recorded it to great acclaim. Other artists like Dusty Springfield and Michael Jackson would put their own twists on the tune. These simple lyrics always stick with me:
Winter, spring, summer, fall All you have to do is call…
To celebrate the different seasons, from Monday, August 23, 2021, to Sunday, August 29, our 20th edition of Covers of the Week highlights four beautiful romance covers set during Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
The Covers (from left to right, top to bottom)
Spring’s Fury, Denise Domning, Topaz, 1995, Pino cover art
Savage Summer, Constance O’Banyon, Zebra, 1985, Ray Kursar cover art
Wild, Savage Love, Dana Ransom, Zebra, 1990, cover artist TBD
Bold Breathless Nights, Penelope Neri, Zebra, 1989, cover artist TBD.