Help me identify 80s bonkbusters oh wise mn

[Bramblesinforrin]

I am trying to identify which 80s bonkbusters the following plot lines or circumstances are from. I don't think they're all the same book. Help oh wise literary ones.

The one with the boat with the really sharp spike on it at the end (which skewers someone at one point).

This could be the same one where the heroine has sex just the once with the husband with the heart condition so that she can conceive.

Then there is the one where the ingenue is taken shopping in Paris for a Hermes scarf and is always given not quite enough food to eat so that she constantly feels a little hungry.


Thank you oh wise ones.

[meditrina]

"the same one where the heroine has sex just the once with the husband with the heart condition so that she can conceive."

This is 'Lace' by Shirley Conran - Pagan Trelawney asks one of the others to help plot her unsafe period, to maximise chances of conception. I don't remember a boat spike skewering anyone in that though.

[joanofarchitrave]

Was the person getting skewered on a boat from Mistral's Daughter? I just re read it a few months ago . I don't remember her being skewered but she was hit by something on the boat and died immediately.

[Bramblesinforrin]

Ah mistral's daughter. Rings a bell.

Currently re-reading lace, what a treat! I feel 15 again!

[JustBecauseICan]

Mistrals Daughter, Maggy's daughter, Teddy who became Mistral's lover got her head bashed in by an anchor diving off a boat.

It's one of my re-read comfort food books. And even though is 80s romantic shite, I still cry at the ending.

Televised in early 1986, Nana Mouskouri did the theme "Only Love"

I may have liked it quite a lot

[SorrelForbes]

Is the last one Goodbye Janette by Harold Robbins?

[LineRunner]

Is the last one that book where the heroine Honey becomes Billy and has a fashion empire?

[LineRunner]

A Woman of Substance? Hold the Dream?

[MissBattleaxe]

Do you mean Scruples? Honey Winthrop/Billie Ikehorn lives in Paris and comes back slim and stylish having been fat and frumpy and taken under the wing of a posh Aunt or something.

I just re read Mistral's Daughter too. It was a bloody good read as well.

[mignonette]

The last one is 'Scruples' by Judith Krantz where the heroine Billy is very overweight and goes to Paris on a 'gap year' and loses huge amounts of weight. There is also a follow up called 'Scruples Two'.

I am re-reading all of these books for the umpteenth time because they are fabulous.

Other books of this genre for you OP-

'Princess Daisy' by Judith Krantz
'Class Reunion' and 'After The Reunion' by Rona Jaffe
'Decades' by Ruth Harris
'Husbands and Lovers' by Ruth Harris
'The Watershed' by Erin Pizzey
'In The Shadow of the Castle' by Erin Pizzey

[Bramblesinforrin]

I seem to remember the boat one as the boat having something long and sharp sticking from it - but I've ordered a second hand mistrals daughter anyway, so will enjoy the read.

My comfort read is the shell seekers by rosamund pilcher.


So, which one is where the heroine goes to stay with an older relative in Paris, arrives fat and dumpy, promptly taken to Hermes as you have to have an Hermes scarf darling, and introduced to tiny portions as weightloss and transformation?

Btw, loving the Dior outfits in lace, top read.

[LineRunner]

Yes! Scruples. She has to stop stuffing her face in Paris and becomes a thin and beautiful millionaire.

[Bramblesinforrin]

Xp mignonette. Off to find a copy

[Bramblesinforrin]

Oh this is all fab. I am remining the joy of teen reading!

[MissBattleaxe]

Ahh, 80s bonkbusters. Squirt yourself with Giorgio Beverley Hills and get stuck in. Guilty pleasure Heaven! Judith Krantz is fab.

[mignonette]

They are big, satisfying reads. I took Lace on a long flight to South Korea aged sixteen and devoured it.

[MissBattleaxe]

They are great aren't they? I thought Mistral's daughter was brilliantly written. There is real skill in her writing. I try and avoid all the TV series as it's never as good as it was in my imagination.

[mignonette]

I envy anybody who still has 'Class Reunion', 'Decades' 'Scruples' and 'Princess Daisy' especially still to read. So much fun to come!

[Galaxymum]

Happy memories of early teens when I devoured Lace and all Judith Krantz books. I seemed to jump from children's books to adult novels in one go - but as these books were very much coming of age stories I saw them as YA.

I also loved The Debutantes by June Flaum Singer. One character loses her virginity to a glass coke bottle!

Lace was awesome though.

[mignonette]

YES! The Debutantes and 'The Movie Set'. I loved all of her books.

[Viviennemary]

I recognised Scruples but couldn't remember the title. I also read another of those type that kept me awake half the night but I can't remember much about it. Somebody married a music business popstar type person from the 60's and he turned out terrible. Can't remember much more about it. It was the lives of three or four women.

[mignonette]

Penny Vincenzi wrote bonkbuster novels. Could it have been one of hers?

Another blast from the past- Jackie Collins 'Hollywood Wives'. Actually Vivien It might have been one of hers.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

This thread is just what I need right now. I have a horrible cold and need easy, entertaining comfort-reading, and now I am going to head straight for my collection of Judith Krantz! Thank you!

[mignonette]

I have started reading 'Scruples' again and have excavated my box of original copies stored since my teenage years. So have all the titles listed above ready to be re read and am so pleased that this thread has reminded me about them.

Get well soon SDT

[Viviennemary]

I've read a few Penny Vicenzi but it was before that. It's been driving me mad for years. I think the popstar might have been called Piers for some reason. Not a good name for a rock star!

[Bramblesinforrin]

Hollywood wives. That sounds like a must read.

Ah lovely 80s trashy bonkbusters, giant should pads and chunky gold jewellery.