Wow! What a great book this was back in the 70's, nevermind the blatant sex for the day. The story was awesome!
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!!
