If you spent any time in a used bookstore in the 90s, you’ve seen her. That raven hair. Those sapphire eyes. Usually, she was half-clothed on a mass-market paperback cover, looking way more composed than anyone should while being kidnapped by Barbary pirates. That’s Skye O’Malley. And the woman who dreamed her up, Bertrice Small, didn’t just write romance novels. She basically built a whole subgenre of "erotic historicals" that made the average Harlequin look like a Sunday school pamphlet.
Honestly, the Skye O’Malley series is a trip. It’s wild.
The Woman Behind the "Honey-Oven"
Bertrice Small was famously called the "Queen of Sensuality," and she earned that title with every purple-prose-filled page. Born in Manhattan in 1937, she wasn't some reclusive dreamer. She was a powerhouse who published over 50 novels. People often lump her in with the "bodice-rippers" of the late 70s and 80s, but that doesn't quite capture the sheer scale of her world-building.
She lived on Long Island for decades. She loved her cats, Finnegan and Sylvester. She had a cockatiel named Nicki who allegedly whistled the NY Mets charge call. It’s such a normal, cozy life for a woman who spent her workdays writing about harems, shipwrecks, and "weeping honey-ovens." That’s the famous Small euphemism, by the way. If you know, you know.
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Why Skye O’Malley Is Not Your Average Heroine
When the first book, Skye O’Malley, dropped in 1980, it hit the romance world like a lightning bolt. Most heroines at the time were "spunky" but ultimately needed saving. Skye? Skye was a literal ship captain. She was a merchant. She was an Irish laird who could out-calculate a banker and out-maneuver Queen Elizabeth I.
She wasn't a "one-and-done" romance lead. Over the course of the O'Malley Family Saga, Skye:
- Marries multiple times (and actually loves most of them).
- Survives being a concubine in Algiers.
- Becomes a wealthy shipping magnate.
- Manages to keep her figure and "tiny waist" despite having enough children to populate a small village.
It’s easy to roll your eyes at the "Mary Sue" elements. She’s too beautiful. She’s too smart. Every man who looks at her basically falls over. But for readers in the 80s, seeing a woman who owned her sexuality—and her business empire—was radical. She wasn't punished for having multiple lovers. In a Bertrice Small book, pleasure was a requirement, not a sin.
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The Problematic Reality of the 80s "Bodice-Ripper"
We have to be real here. Reading these books in 2026 is a different experience than reading them forty years ago. Small’s work is famously "spicy," but it also contains tropes that make modern readers flinch.
There is a lot of non-consensual and "dub-con" (dubious consent) content. Skye is raped by the villainous Robert Dudley in the first book. It’s brutal. The way Small handles it—often having heroines "recover" through the healing power of better sex later—is a hallmark of the era that hasn't aged well. It’s a fantasy world where trauma is a plot point used to highlight the heroine’s resilience.
Also, the "harem" trope. Small loved an Ottoman setting. She leaned heavily into the "exotic East" stereotypes, where Irish or English women were sold into slavery only to become the Sultan’s favorite. It’s classic Orientalism. Yet, Small did her homework. Her descriptions of 16th-century clothing, food, and political alliances were surprisingly dense. She wasn't just faking the history; she was weaving a very specific, very horny tapestry over a frame of real research.
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The O'Malley Family Tree (It’s a Forest)
If you’re planning to dive in, don’t stop at the first book. The saga is huge. After the original six books (which end with Wild Jasmine), Small launched Skye’s Legacy. This followed Skye’s descendants—Jasmine, Velvet, and the rest.
The O’Malley DNA is strong. Every daughter seems to inherit the same sapphire eyes and the same inability to stay out of trouble. The books travel from the emerald hills of Ireland to the Mughal Empire in India. It’s a global soap opera with better outfits.
How to Read the Skye O’Malley Series Today
If you want to understand why Bertrice Small still has a cult following, you need a strategy. Don't go in expecting a modern, "clean" romance. This is raw, unfiltered 1980s energy.
- Start at the beginning. Read Skye O’Malley (1980). It establishes the rivalry with Queen Elizabeth and the core romance with Niall Burke.
- Embrace the prose. Small doesn't use one adjective when four will do. If she describes a silk gown, you’re going to hear about every thread.
- Check your triggers. Seriously. These books are products of their time.
- Look for the business side. Pay attention to how Skye handles her money. It’s one of the most underrated parts of the series. She’s a capitalist queen.
Small passed away in 2015, but the O’Malley women live on in the "Legacy" and "World of Hetar" series. She proved that you could write historical fiction that was both meticulously researched and profoundly "trashy" in the best way possible. She gave women permission to want adventure, power, and a really good "honey-oven" experience, all without apologizing for it.
To start your journey into the O'Malley universe, grab a copy of the original 1980 novel—preferably one with the original "stepback" cover art if you can find it. It's the only way to get the full, unadulterated experience of a woman who changed the romance genre forever.