Comments on: The Grand Dame of Romance, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Passes Away

By: melanie gordon

melanie gordon — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:32:27 +0000

I was very sorry to hear of her passing .I named my daughter Heather Brianna after the Heroine in The Flame and The Flower.To me she will always be one of the best EVER.

By: Phyllis Biundo

Phyllis Biundo — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:16:25 +0000

I’ve read all her books and own quite a few. I’ve collected them over the years, beginning with the Wolf & the Dove, Flame and the Flower, Shanna, Petals on the River, Come Love a Stranger, Reluctant Suiter, A Rose in Winter, Ashes in the Wind, So Worthy My Love, etc. My daughters read the books as well. We enjoyed reading and discussing the books. We all had our own favorite ones. I feel like a family member passed away. My condolences to all members of her family.

By: Peggy in Oklahoma

Peggy in Oklahoma — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:35:17 +0000

What a terrible shock. She was such a private person that the public never knew her. Maybe the mystery helped her popularity? I too remember reading her as a teenager. To this day The Wolf and the Dove is one of my foavorites. Cancer is so horrible and painful.
I hope that her family can find peace. I want thank them for sharing their mother with us. and that she changed the world . Not many people can say that.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:36:53 +0000

Wow. Very sad. Like so many others who posted Shanna was my first romance. It blew my mind. I don’t think I put it down from the first moment I picked it up. Without it I don’t know that I would have ever become the reader I did.

All of her books are on my keeper shelf. But my favorite was Rose In Winter. In my opinion you just can’t go wrong with a Beauty and the Beast story.

By: DS

DS — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:16:29 +0000

I have no idea where her later writing went but I don’t think I would want to reread any of her first books. They just never had the staying power of the other historicals I had read about that time: I still have copies on my shelves of Dunnet, Gellis and Golon, but nothing by Woodiwess.

However, her books are important in the development of genre romance asweknowit.

By: Cheryl St.John

Cheryl St.John — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 03:27:46 +0000

This is sad news. Kathleen was a legend in her own time. Her gift to the romance world will be missed.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:02:53 +0000

Woodiwiss was one of my mother’s favourite romance authors, and therefore one of the first authors I looked up when I graduated from teenage romances. I reread The Wolf and the Dove a few years ago, and while, as Janine said, it’s of an older style, I still enjoyed it a lot (and I’m not normally a big fan of medieval romances, either). I’ve never read Shanna, but I think I may have to now.

I feel for her family.

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:10:11 +0000

I read and re-read my copy of Ashes in the Wind until it literally fell apart. Maybe it’s time for a new copy. I enjoyed most of her books, but that one was my favorite.

By: Robin Bayne

Robin Bayne — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:18:16 +0000

Adding my sadness at the loss and sending prayers for her family. I met her at a New Jersey conference years ago–she was very nice and willing to answer questions. Flame and Shanna will always remain on my keeper shelf.

By: Janine

Janine — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:58:52 +0000

What sad news. I too remember reading her books from my early romance reading days. Robin, The Flame and the Flower, though iconic and worth reading for that reason, is not her best in my opinion. My favorites are A Rose in Winter and The Wolf and the Dove. I think maybe I liked A Rose in Winter best (it's a beauty and the beast themed story), but since I read the two books years apart, it is hard to be sure. The Wolf and the Dove was good too, but it's older (her next book following The Flame and the Flower, I believe) and therefore more old style.