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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/senshisun on 2025-08-12 22:03:13+00:00.

Author’s Note: This post discusses novels with titles that include the adjective “savage” in reference to American Indians, which may be upsetting to some readers. The novels may have other upsetting material, but those are not discussed in the post. If you have any concerns, please let me know!

Language Note: In this post, I used the term American Indians to refer to various indigenous groups across the continental United States. I’m from Canada. We use different terms, but I used “American Indians” to be consistent with my American sources.

Cassie Edwards was a prolific romance novelist. Her first novel came out in 1982, and she released her 100th novel in 2007. That’s an average of releasing four novels per year for twenty-five years.

A few years into her publishing career, she found her niche in what she called “Indian romance.” These novels featured men from indigenous American Indian groups falling in love, usually with white or culturally displaced women. Her interest in the genre and her quick writing speed meant that soon, she was a force to be reckoned with in that niche. She had publishing deals with many well-known romance publishing houses, including Zebra, Signet, Leisure, and Harlequin. Many of her books were re-released, and she sold over a million copies. She received awards for these novels, including a Romantic Times “Lifetime Achievement Award”, a Reviewer’s Choice Award, and a spot on the Romance Writers of America’s Hall of Fame.

Not everyone who read Edwards was a fan. Common criticisms were repetitive writing, dull characters, reliance on kidnapping as a plot point, and stereotypical portrayals of Native American people. Professor Debbie Reese used an Edwards book in an American Indian Studies class to explore “America’s love affair with things-Indian, or rather, things that masquerade as Indian.”

Over the years, readers questioned whether these novels were racist. At one point, Edwards had two series with “savage” in the series title, and many of her books also used the adjective. Zebra re-released one of the series under the title Wild Arizona, and all five books were re-titled to match. Edwards claimed that her grandmother was full-blood Cheyenne, and her website promoted the Red Feather Development Project to help American Indians in need of housing. She researched every American Indian community she wrote about.

That research would become her downfall. She plagiarised work from dozens of other authors, including American Indian authors.

This discovery came to light when a woman only known as Kate read Shadow Bear (2007) and found some passages discussing animals or culture were written in a different voice. The characters spouted facts like they were tour guides at an interpretive centre, not people actively involved in their own culture. Katie found some of those passages were remarkably similar to text in Land of the Spotted Eagle by Luther Standing Bear (2006) and "Toughing it Out in the Badlands” by Paul Tolme in Defenders Magazine (Summer 2005, now offline).

The similarities made Kate wonder if Edwards’ other books might also have that issue. She and Candy Tan went through as many of the books as they could find. Over several days, the number of stolen source texts grew. Tan started posting on a romance novel review website she co-founded and contributed to, Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Commenters on that site found even more suspect passages.

Their final document was 87 pages long and covers 20 books from four publishers. The oldest book was from 1983, and its newest was from 2007. This had been an ongoing issue for 24 years. Most of the source works were non-fiction, but passages from the novel Laughing Boy by Oliver Le Forge appeared in Savage Dream (1990, reissue 2003).

When SMTB released their findings to the public, they also sent notices to Edwards’s publishers. Signet reported that the passages were fair use. Edwards said she “didn’t know she was supposed to credit her sources” (Hillele Itali, AP)

Romance Writers of America, a trade group for romance authors, noted her actions went against their code of ethics. However, since Edwards had let her RWA membership lapse years ago, the RWA’s options were limited to removing her from the Hall of Fame.

In April 2008, Signet Books announced they were cancelling Edwards’s contract and reverting rights to all books they had published with her. This meant that the publisher no longer wanted to work with her. The Cassie Edwards biography on Sweet Savage Flame, a vintage romance review site, says there was a lawsuit “but the courts ultimately cleared Roberts [sic] of any legal wrongdoing.” I can’t find any information about a lawsuit.

She continued to publish. Her final novel was released in 2009. After that, she retired to a private life. Edwards passed away in 2016. Her Wild Arizona Series is still available from Zebra Books in ebook, Otherwise, her books are out of print.

Smart Bitches Trashy Books still exists, and continues to review books and report on scandals in the romance novel community.

This scandal had a bright side. Black-footed ferrets received more attention.

Edit: Corrected a consistency error. Added that Tan is a SBTB co-founder, not just a contributor. Hat tip to qssung.