I included a snippet of the reddit post that ensnared us

Also I made this meme about reverse harem books but I think it still applies

Like in the 2020s how are you gonna adapt a series where just about every female character (and some of the dudes) spends time in a harem against their will?

Author: Bertrice Small.

Publication Date: 1993.

Genre: Historical romance (antiquity)

Premise: Cailin Drusus, the hoydenish daughter of an old Roman-Briton family, lives a happy life during the twilight of the Roman Empire, aware of but largely unbothered by the crumbling infrastructure all around her. Then a terrible betrayal forces her to take shelter with her Celtic relatives in the countryside, where she meets stalwart Saxon warrior Wulf Ironfist. She’s well on her way to rebuilding a new life with her man, when yet another betrayal results in her being sold into slavery in Constantinople, where she meets another man. It’s just one thing right after another.

Thoughts: I generally put romance authors (or, at least, good romance authors) into one of three categories. First, there are romance authors who are great at creating compelling emotional drama within and between characters (or “Heart” authors). Second, there are romance authors who can depict the characters’ world in a tangible, fascinating way (or “Setting” authors). Third, there are authors who are really funny, excel at writing chemistry between the main characters, or just have a really engaging writing style (or “Fun” authors). Plenty of authors are skilled in more than one of these categories, but most have a clear best event. Bertrice Small, at least in this book, is very much a Setting author. 

Bertrice Small, at least in this book, is very much a Setting author. The three points of the love triangle--adaptable Cailin, lunkish but decent Wulf, and pleasant but problematic Flavius--are all perfectly adequate characters; however, they and their relationships are all overshadowed by the bonkers plot. There isn’t much in the way of humor...at least, not intentional humor. The sex scenes are very frank, yet they don’t exactly sizzle. I was blown away, though, by how beautifully Small renders the transition between the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. She concentrates mainly on Cailin’s Londinium-adjacent hometown and her grandfather’s tribal village in the nearby countryside, and this narrow focus really brings home the unease and poignancy of an ending era. She also effectively conveys that the Byzantine Empire had a completely different set of things going on; Cailin’s move to the city is a huge cultural shock for the reader as well as the character. Some overly educational pillow talk aside, the details of the characters’ daily lives are skillfully integrated with the plot in all the settings. I was completely transported.

In addition to my genuine enjoyment of the setting, I got a lot of laughs from how over-the-top the story was. Cailin and Wulf have so many enemies: Cailin’s greedy cousin, the cousin’s vengeful wife, Cailin’s bigoted grandfather, the grandfather’s scheming young wife, a pair of Byzantine pimps (they’re more like frenemies, to be fair), Flavius’s evil bisexual ex-wife, the ex-wife’s evil bisexual boyfriend, some random villain back in England who tries to steal Wulf and Cailin’s castle, and a fake amnesiac. Few of them stick around for long, so it’s like a revolving door of skulduggery. Much of the novel is in poor taste, but it’s hard to take most of it seriously.

I'm surprising even myself by the fact that I read such stuff at such a young age, lol.

However I never really viewed Bertrice Small's novels as "romance".

They're full of history with erotica intertwined. I think the reason why I enjoyed her books was how much detail she put into historical aspects.

There is.... A Moment where Jasmine is about to expire from grief over losing her husband so her priest uncle and steward(?) conspire to lightly(?) drug her and have Hottie Local Irishman have sex with her WHILE SHE THINKS IT'S HER DEAD HUSBAND all so she can regain the will to live?!?!?!

AND IT WORKS! She's also preggo from that one encounter and tbh based on the amount of the amount of seed described, I should have known 💀

ALSO Jasmine herself is the daughter of the Emperor Akbar and a white lady he took as his consort except it turned out her Scottish husband wasn't actually dead and Akbar, noble man that he is, wanted her to go back to her actual husband so he had her drugged and carried away onto a ship

It definitely straddles the line between historical fiction and historical romance; it's historical fiction with good sex basically lolol

Do I think it's entirely historically accurate? Well, I wouldn't be able to judge but it's clear Bertrice has done her research, and what's more important to me than even the historically accurate *vibes*, especially when writing an Eastern culture, is the respect. And overall, I actually do think Bertrice treats Mughal Indian culture with respect. There is never any pearl-clutching narratively about the Akbar's forty wives or his zenana (harem), and Bertrice portrays the culture of religious tolerance he fostered

I can't say the same for other books in this series where heroines are kidnapped and sold into harems, and the premises alone sound like they are going to portray the worst of the various cultures of the East and Middle East.

My impression of Bertrice is that she doesn't shy away from the harsher realities of the era, regardless of whether it's in the East or West. There are multiple barely-pubescent girls being married off in her books (I skimmed the first parts of Skye O'Malley and This Heart of Mine), and they are having sex shortly after. Sometimes it's sex the heroine enjoys, sometimes it isn't. Wild Jasmine has eroticized incest and underage sex as per the modern definition.

It was an interesting choice to use Sanskirt for genitalia (lingham and yoni).