Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

So, I'm a gay man, and I *love* a good bodice ripper. I especially love a romance that has interesting gender dynamics, like when the "heroine's" gender is questionable in some way (maybe "she" just doesn't seem like a girl, maybe there's some "Oh I feel like a boy!" type content, see Rebecca) or where the hero is bisexual (Shout out to The Silver Devil). A lot of modern more wholesome LGBTQ+ just doesn't do it for me, it feels a little saccharine to me a lot of the time, and honestly, as a giant queen, I'm a sucker for a gown.

So yeah, what bodice rippers feel like they have elements that make them almost seem like ciphers for something less heterosexual...?

Hi Vincent, the only overtly gay or queer character in an old historical I can think of is in Gaywyck.

I haven't come across any cross-dressing men, but cross-dressing women are common enough. Like To Touch the Sun and Lady Cavalier.

Maybe Lady Vixen by Shirlee Busbee? The heroine pretends to be a boy and works for the hero. During this time the hero takes the young boy under his wing, and shows signs of being attracted to "him," and the hero sometimes continues to refer to her by her masculine name after the gender reveal. If at all possible I recommend trying to read the original version from the 80s vs. the one available on Amazon. Shirlee edited the one on Amazon and I found it less engaging.

I can't believe I forgot Alyx, this is 100% Simon's PoV and Alyx is more like a side character.

The master who owns Simon rapes him and is weirdly obsessed with Simon.

I have a shelf, 'disguised identity,' and many of the books there have it described in the blurb the heroine cross dresses and pretends to be a man. I haven't read these books yet, so I can't say if there was queer coding or the extent of the gender commentary.

Burning Fires of Passion by Lucy Phillips Stewart

Lovespell by Deana James

Callista by Cordia Byers

Passionate Rebel by Danielle de Winters

Thank you all so much! My husband and I are having so much fun with these we've decided to try our hand at writing a gay bodice ripper (set in Georgian England) where a rake loses his freedom to a former friend in a hand of cards, and ends up dressed as a lady and as this man's lover.

Vincent wrote: "we've decided to try our hand at writing a gay bodice ripper (set in Georgian England) where a rake loses his freedom to a ..."

Fantastic, we need more modern BR authors! I'm looking forward to reading it.

Duke of Sin isn't really a bodice ripper, but it does have a villain hero, and he happens to be bisexual. I'm reading it now, haven't read any of the other books in the series, but found that book on a list of "Villain gets the girl" books.

As Meat Loves Salt Well this one doesn't have happy ending it is a historical with gay heroes, and also like dark and rapey. not read yet

Sadly, my recommendation is a historical novel, not a bodice-ripper romance, but the bisexual and gay rep is a central character and plot element.

Through a Glass Darkly: The very young heroine (she's 15) marries a man much older than herself, whom she adored from early childhood. He had and has relationships with both men and women. Without spoiling too much, I personally found the portrayal of the husband very 3-dimensional, layered and complex. I would have loved the novel much more if the novel had been more about him, and less about his quite childish, at times, bride.

There is also a prequel that features said older man before the heroine was even born: Dark Angels. I have not read it yet, so I cannot say if it is good or not.

For historical fiction, Shield of Three Lions, by Pamela Kaufma was about a young (underage) heroine who disguises herself as a boy to survive. She ends up on becoming a page boy and finds herself on a crusade with Richard the Lion-Hearted, who takes a liking to the lad. (As you might expect, he is disappointed when his page boy turns out to be a girl.)

There have been some historical romances where there was ambiguity because the hero couldn't figure out why he was falling in love with this young man. For example, Jackie Ivie’s Lady of the Knight. And I think Pam Rosenthal’s Almost a Gentleman. (I contributed to a post about it some time ago. See https://allaboutromance.com/at-the-ba....) But the ambiguity was often not drawn out long enough. And in many cases, the ambiguity made the hero look dense.

Note: These were not bodice rippers. I haven't read bodice rippers along this line. Yet.

I haven't read this one yet, but in Shadow Dance by Anne Stuart, I believe there is a hero who disguises himself as his brother's wife -- and a heroine who is disguised as a man.

Anne wrote: "For historical fiction, Shield of Three Lions, by Pamela Kaufma was about a young (underage) heroine who disguises herself as a boy to survive. She ends up on becoming a page boy and finds herself ..."

I thought about mentioning this one but decided not to because I wouldn't suggest it to anyone unless I knew they were a fan of medieval comedy.

Shield of Three Lions, was intentionally written in the style of Canterbury Tales, there's plenty of shit, farting, and descriptions of general uncleanliness. Medieval humour edges into scat fetish territory. It's well written and entertaining though.

I read the sequel nearly twenty years ago and enjoyed it, I picked this up thinking it would be a nice normal historical. But they're two very different books.

From what I remember he knew her real identity all along. But he is certainly bisexual at least. He really likes his page boys.

I don't think this is what your looking for Devil's Grace: Renn Arelia's Story by Karen Dean Benson. It's not really a BR and it's the housekeeper I believe is transgender ( can't rermember). The housekeeper works with the villians but has a surprising backstory. I could find some books where the characters humously cross dress like The Switch by Lynsay Sands but thats not hard to find, (Shaesphere mastered it). Very few book are like Siliver Devil.