More Books than Time

Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

The Odds Against Kinda Sorta Romance by Margaret Pargeter

by Leave a Comment

This Is a Romance?

Carl her husband and the Hero: “I don’t want your love!… I never asked for it or encouraged it, so don’t blame me if you get hurt.” “If I care it’s because you’re my wife, something belonging to me, but not for you personally.” Carl kisses her so hard that her mouth bleeds, grinds his chest into her breasts, bites her breast, shows triumph when he sees that he hurt her.

His wife Gail, the heroine, thinks during this: “Carl must still be hurting terribly to be capable of saying such things. If she cared for him, her love might act like a healing balm and he might forget.”

I don’t see love here. I see a petulant, spoilt man whose fiancée walked out rather than deal with his broken leg, and who married the girl that he knew had loved him unconditionally for years. I see a woman who fools herself into believing that this sorry excuse for a man could grow up and be worth her time and marriage.

Plot Synopsis

Carl owns a racing stable and is engaged to Other Woman Petula, a very spoiled, selfish beauty. Petula dumps Carl just before book opens because Carl broke his leg and Petula wants a man who can take her around, lavish money and attention, and clearly Carl is out of the running for a couple months.

Gail’s father had been Carl’s chief trainer and Gail worked as his assistant and has been acting as the trainer/stable manager for several months. Gail has been in love with Carl (why??) for years and he alternately acts ignorant and as if he knows. I believe he knows and thinks it’s hilarious. Gail comes to his house, cooks his dinner, gives of herself with zero return.

Carl starts to pay Gail a little attention, finally he asks her to marry him, going out of his way to make it clear that he cares nothing for her, even threatening her with losing her job if she refuses. “In a way, being so plain, you could consider you’re doing rather well for yourself, marrying me.” Carl does not suffer from humility.

They marry. Carl insults Gail’s dress, calls her dowdy and claims people will feel sorry for him because she looks so awful: “I didn’t realize that after marrying you I might be pitied even more than I was.” Carl says several times that he will eventually get tired of her and make her leave.

Carl and she share a suite in his house, he doesn’t intend to sleep with her, a few days later Carl blames drinking too much for kissing her. Eventually Gail offers herself and at first Carl is delighted to sleep with her but later blames her for it and he continues to make “scathing remarks”.

Eventually OW Petula, now divorced, sees Gail at a race and tells her to tell Carl that she’s back and wants him. Of course Gail does not do this.

Carl acts even more erratically and Gail calls him on it, says he’s afraid to go places where he will run into Petula. He hits her because “You aren’t fit to mention her name!” Gail knows her marriage is doomed and decides not to tell him that she is pregnant.

Carl meets up with Petula in London and decides to divorce Gail and marry Petula in New York. He has his bags packed when she comes in – apparently he wasn’t going to bother to tell her – and we have the low light of this faux romance and insight into this conceited man:

“You didn’t tell me you saw Petula at Ascot.”
“What would be the point? She hurt you and I didn’t want it to happen again.”
“She realizes she hurt me, but she was confused. When she was engaged to me, her feelings had never been so involved before and she became frightened.”
“So frightened she married another man.”
“She felt safe with Oscar. He was like a harbour in a storm. It wasn’t until she married him that she realized what she’d given up.” (As noted before Carl does not have low self esteem.)
“Doesn’t she have any conscience about leaving her husband?”
“She couldn’t make him happy when she can think only of me.”
“Hasn’t our marriage meant anything to you?”
“You knew when you married me that there was little chance of our relationship being permanent. It wasn’t a normal marriage.”
“You made it one.”
“You didn’t exactly discourage me. Proximity had a lot to do with it. I believe you knew I was fighting it, yet you couldn’t stay out of my bed. As a woman, even a fairly innocent one, you couldn’t help taking advantage. It’s not always easy to resist something that’s handed to you on a plate.”
“How can you (love Petula)? She’s like a statue, beautiful but as cold as marble. She’ll never be able to love you back in any way because she’s not a real woman.”

At this point Carl hits her across the room. Gail apologizes for saying that about Petula! And no, Carl does NOT apologize.

Gail offers to leave and Carl tells her he would be grateful if she did because Petula wants the house completely done over before they return from New York. He walks out. Gail drives off to her sister’s house and gets into a car accident and miscarries. (Of course.) Her sister and brother in law are glad to have her with them but Gail knows she needs to get a job, be independent, she’s frightened of running into Carl or Petula if she works with horses.

About six weeks later Gail is home by herself when Carl comes. He knows all about the accident and the miscarriage and he’s bitterly remorseful. He claims he realized on the flight to New York – sitting next to Petula – that he doesn’t love Petula, he loves Gail. Now he’s come to ask her to come home to him. Like a dummy Gail does.

What’s Wrong with This?

A better question might be “What’s right with this?” Carl hurts Gail mentally, emotionally, physically. He constantly throws her looks and her love for him in her face, mocks her, holds Petula up as the model for women. Gail takes it all because she loves him.

I understand putting up with things you do not like in a marriage, with putting your spouse before yourself, honoring and cherishing them. But I do not understand marrying a man who loves someone else, who thinks of you as third-rate, who has no respect for you and considers himself to be the be-all and end-all of men. Much less staying with a husband who throws you across the room for being disrespectful towards the woman he prefers to you.

It’s hard to believe this is love. Yvonne Whittal uses the same plot in House of Mirrors, where the H marries the h then dumps her to be with the OW. In that story the hero is selfish but never physically abusive and he clearly likes the heroine and finds her physically attractive. The heroine has self worth, blames him for her miscarriage and asks her sister not to mention his name. Later she realizes she loves H and forgives him when he humbly asks. That story felt real. The Odds Against does not. If I were Gail I’d shove Carl out the door of her sister’s house and sue him for divorce with an enormous settlement. I would not risk my heart and health to this man again.

Overall

The Odds Against has plenty of angst, misery, horrible hero scenes, vicious OW, pleasant scenery, all things that make a delightful Harlequin romance. Unfortunately the key ingredients that Harlequins need to be believable romances are missing. The heroine has little to no self-respect and Carl’s apology and grovel do not seem credible. The same hero who fondly believed he is so wonderful that Petula couldn’t let herself give in to the overwhelming emotions she had is now apologizing and planning to make it up to Gail? I doubt this will last more than a few days. In a week or two Carl will be right back with the cruel, condescending remarks and looking for Petula or a Petula-lookalike.

Still I have to give this story

3 Stars

simply for the angst and misery level. It is emotionally intense, although I don’t believe some of the feelings are real.

I got my copy of The Odds Against from Thriftbooks and you usually can find copies on Amazon, other used book sites and eBay. It is not available on Archive.org as of February 2023.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

The Bedroom Barter Harlequin Presents Romance by Sara Craven

by Leave a Comment

The Bedroom Barter combines an unusual plot that offers many opportunities for a great story with a leaden pace burdened by too much thinking. We spend over half the book inside the heroine’s head. We get to listen while Chellie alternates between being mad at herself for getting into a stupid, very dangerous situation and for falling in love with Ash who can’t possibly love her back, with worrying about how she will live with no money, no job, and virtually no skills.

The Bedroom Barter from Amazon

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Chellie is young, barely 20, and works in brothel/girlie joint in a Latin American seaside town. She isn’t a prostitute or dancer, she is a singer. She got stuck in the girlie joint when she ran away from home with her Latin American pseudo-fiancé who promised her all sorts of things until he got her to his country, discovered she didn’t get her trust fund for 15 years, raped and dumped her after stealing all her money, credit cards and valuables.

Her hotel kicked her out and she was quite ill. She asked a policeman for help who sent her to Mama Rita’s house. Mama offered Chellie a singer job, reassured her she wouldn’t have to pole dance, and kept her passport. Naturally the wages barely covered room and board and Mama needs Chellie to pay an inflated bill before she’ll hand over the passport.

Chellie sees Ash across the room when she sings and both are attracted. Ash asks for her to do a “private dance”. Chellie is terrified, starts to dance, then realizes she cannot strip and collapses. Ash offers to get her passport and get her out of the country on the yacht he is boat-sitting in exchange for her cooking during the trip.

Chellie falls in love with Ash on the trip but she sees a photo of a lovely young blond, the boat owner’s daughter, by his bed and assumes the girl is his fiancée. Both are attracted, but separately decide they aren’t going to complicate things by sleeping together. Ash doesn’t feel he can give into his attraction because he hasn’t told Chellie the truth; Chellie resists because she fears to trust her judgement now and believes Ash is serious about the girl in the photo.

Once they reach the island Ash takes Chellie to a home owned by Mister Howard, the same man who owns the boat Ash captained. She is increasingly frantic, wants her passport, wants Ash, wants to decide what she should do back in England.

When Ash arrives they do sleep together, but Ash removes all evidence before Chellie wakes up, leaving her to believe he fears his girlfriend finding out. She decides to borrow money from Ash and leave, but then her father’s right hand man, Charles, arrives and makes it clear he resents having to waste his time fetching her and that her father resents it even more.

Chellie is heartbroken. Ash rescued her for money, at her father’s behest. She goes home to London, manages to get a receptionist job and shares a flat, gets singing lessons and some small singing gigs. She sees Ash while singing at her latest engagement, drops everything and runs after him. Ash confesses he loves her but doesn’t feel that he can get in the way of her singing career. Chellie tells him she loves him and doesn’t care about singing compared to being with him. Happiness ensues.

Why Doesn’t The Bedroom Barter Work?

The Bedroom Barter should be an excellent book with a tight, intense plot, plenty of attraction, interaction, fear, embarrassment. Instead it’s a dreary slog through Chellie’s head. She naturally worries about her future, feels guilty and ashamed of running away with the creep who abandoned her, and is afraid to trust her judgment about Ash, especially since Ash is running hot and cold and she doesn’t know why he helped her.

Chellie knows Ash is physically attracted but she wants more and she doesn’t think he is offering anything except a short affair. Chellie is wise enough to know that sleeping with someone under those conditions is not a recipe for peace and probably a bad step into another disaster.

We get very little of Ash’s point of view, only a couple conversations with Laurent, his boat crew. It’s obvious that there is more going on, that he didn’t simply help Chellie out of kindness, and author Craven doles out little tidbits to tell us it is a paid rescue fairly early in the novel. Chellie doesn’t know this but is astute and picks up that there is more going on. We readers can surmise it’s her father but it never occurs to Chellie that her dad would care enough to track her down or that someone would be able to find her.

The mental head journeys take up over half the word count in The Bedroom Barter. The scenes between Ash and Chellie, or Chellie and Charles or her father, or Ash and Laurent, are excellent, tightly written and move the story. I wish Sara Craven had more of these and less of the endless moaning, self pity, worry and fear. Anyone with a dollop of empathy would know that Chellie is afraid and worried without having pages of the internal monologues. Plus the introspection uses many extra words, “But he… And he… So it…” so on and on and on and on some more. It drags the pace and ruins what could have been a good story by a favorite author.

Sara Craven includes a LOT of internal monologue in her novels but usually offsets it enough that the story moves and we can continue to invest in the characters. Over half the book happened inside Chellie’s head, far too much to keep my attention on the romance and story.

Overall

Chellie is an appealing character, still optimistic, hopeful, loving, despite terrible experiences, being betrayed, confined, exploited. The story almost works because she is a character worth writing about. Her romance with Ash initially is a combination of physical attraction and gratitude until she is able to step back and look at him as a person. Chellie and Ash never spend enough time to get to know each other but their time together is so intense I can understand why both feel they are in love and love the other.

However, it’s a good question how long the love will last under the pressure of day to day living. I would doubt the Happy Ever After for that reason, except strong-willed Chellie and Ash will somehow make their marriage work and be happy together.

Overall I rate this

3 Stars,

middle of the road, good but not good enough that I want to reread. I have a mental list of the books I would pack if we should decide to move again – and it’s a much smaller list than the number we moved here – and The Bedroom Barter wouldn’t make the cut.

I bought my paperback copy from Thriftbooks and you likely will find this on most used book sites, eBay and Amazon. Amazon has the Kindle version here.

All Amazon links are ads that pay blog author commission.

Guilty Passion – Romance by Jacqueline Baird

by Leave a Comment

Author Jacqueline Baird manages to tie 3 Harlequin Presents topes – Revenge, Second Chance, Secret Baby – into one excellent and enjoyable story. Guilty Passion succeeds despite a nutty backstory because the characters show themselves and drive the plot. There is very little introspection or mental whining; the heroine gets up and takes care of things.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Benedict pursued and won Rebecca for revenge because she supposedly had rejected his younger brother Gordon who then drove off a cliff in despair. Rebecca met Gordon when she was 18 and had fun with him that summer with no talk of marriage. The papers painted her as a heartless Lolita who drove Gordon to suicide, but the autopsy and inquest showed Gordon had an inoperable brain tumor and accidentally hit reverse instead of drive. It was not suicide, although Gordon’s mother convinced herself it was after she read Gordon’s diary entry that he loved Rebecca.

Benedict was pursuing his anthropology hobby when he was hurt and spent a few years with Indians in the Amazon jungle. His family thought he was dead. While he was gone his father and then his brother died, and when he returned he believed his mother’s version of Gordon’s death even though his uncle told him it was an accident.

Four years after Gordon died Rebecca goes with Rupert, the Oxford professor who employs her as a part time researcher, to Benedict’s lecture about his time in Brazil. Rebecca has a double first and wants to be a teacher; her father died and she lives with Rupert and his wife Mary who were her dad’s good friends. Rebecca is entranced with Benedict. At first he’s uninterested until Rupert introduces her with her last name, then he is extremely interested in her and they spend quite a bit of time together after the lecture and the next few weeks. Rebecca is in love and thinks Benedict loves her. He gives her an inexpensive garnet ring and she is thrilled and starry-eyed about being engaged, although Benedict never actually proposes.

Rebecca goes shopping in London, stops by Benedict’s house. She’s surprised he has such an expensive home. They sleep together and it is everything Rebecca dreamt, right until Benedict is furious afterwards that she had been a virgin, that she cheated Gordon, that she’s nothing but a heartless gold digger. He frightens Rebecca because she doesn’t know what he is talking about, why he is so angry that she hadn’t slept with Gordon, why he is accusing her. Benedict explains Gordon was his half brother, that Rebecca dumped him and caused his death, and that he never had any intention to marry her. And on and on. Rebecca is desolated and furious. She takes her shopping, dumps the ring and leaves. Benedict drives her to the train station and she goes back to Rupert and Mary’s home and tells them the engagement is broken.

They meet again when Rupert and Mary have their baby baptized and they both are godparents, but Rebecca refuses to have anything to do with Benedict. She later discovers she is pregnant. She has the baby, gets her teaching certification and starts teaching older kids. She has a little money from her dad and has good friends who help and she does not tell Benedict about their son Daniel because she knows he despises her. There’s a bit of payback here too.

Five years later we are in the present. Rebecca is chaperoning a bunch of students in France with two other teachers (who are no help) when Benedict spots her. Rebecca is tiny, very pretty with good figure, and fearless. Her students do what she tells them. Benedict takes her to dinner one night, then inveigles himself to help drive the kids’ bus (this would never happen nowadays) and Rebecca feels like maybe she ought to tell Benedict about Daniel. They are together when Rebecca buys a bottle of cognac for Josh; it’s a thank you for taking care of Daniel while she was in France but Benedict assumes Josh is her lover. The last evening Benedict breaks a date with her because the lady Rebecca thinks is the Other Woman called. Rebecca is glad she didn’t say anything.

She goes home, picks Daniel up from her friends, and is doing the laundry when Benedict arrives. He’s furious. He realized that if Rebecca calls herself Mrs. then she probably has a child, and he hired an investigator who found that indeed Daniel is just the right age to be his son. Benedict demands she either marry him or he will seek full custody in court. He states right off that he probably couldn’t win on the merits, but he’s got a lot of money and can tie her up for years. Plus Daniel bonds with him immediately. He tells her to dump Josh, doesn’t listen when she tries to tell him who Josh is, gets her school to release her from her contract, takes her and Daniel off to his country home.

They marry. At the reception Daniel mentions Josh which infuriates Benedict and he drags Rebecca back home to consummate the marriage immediately. Finally he listens to Rebecca and believes her that she had no lovers, Josh and his wife are good friends and no, she never got his apology letter and yes, she loves him. He loves her too. The final scene has little Daniel coming in their bedroom banging on a drum his uncle gave him. (Obviously the uncle has sadistic tendencies.) Happy Ever After.

Characters Make This Work

How does the author pull this hodgepodge of crazy plot and nutty backstory and over the top problems into a believable story? Characters are excellent. Jacqueline Baird uses dialogue and events to show the people and drive the plot, she does not rely on introspection or self pity.

Rebecca Rebecca is consistent throughout the story. She Is warm, loving, emotional, loyal to friends. She trusts almost everybody – at first any way, until they prove they cannot be trusted – and then she will remember that distrust even while she looks for mitigating reasons. Benedict hurt Rebecca terribly when he turned on her after they made love, accused her of wanting his money, of leading Gordon on and cruelly dumping him, claims he never proposed (true, he simply gave her a ring and seemed to agree they were engaged).

When Rebecca learned she was pregnant with a child by a father she couldn’t trust she didn’t waste time whining or feeling miserable or plotting revenge. She got on with things, got her teaching certificate, had the baby, bought a place to live, found day care and took care of her child, got a job and taught.

Rebecca is wary when she meets Benedict 5 years later yet she is willing to spend time with him, to listen to him, to get to know him. She plans to tell Benedict about Jonathon when he casually breaks their last date and she realizes that she is still not important to him.

Benedict calls Rebecca a firecracker. She is physically tiny, beautiful, with an outgoing, sunny personality, high energy and strong will. She keeps the teenagers in her student group under control and deftly manages the other teachers who are less assertive even though the teens are all much larger than she and full of the usual teen mischief.

She knows what she wants and works to get it. Rebecca turned down a lucrative banking job in the US because she wanted to teach. She teaches at a big school in London – apparently kids around 16, not small children. She wanted a decent place for Jonathon to live; she invested her small inheritance in a place with a small garden (aka yard for us Americans) and she furnished it to be comfortable and private. Even Benedict is impressed despite himself when he comes there.

Rebecca stands on her own yet is not too proud to accept help from friends, such as when Josh and his wife take care of Jonathon while she is with her students in France. Rebecca takes good care of her son, is careful not to spoil him and is careful with the money she has. She is smart, and moreover, rather wise. She doesn’t date and isn’t interested in guys after Benedict.

Benedict seems to veer crazily emotionally, swinging from berating Rebecca and acting hateful to quickly regretting his behavior. After he turned on her when they made love he insisted to take her to the train station, then watched the train leave and ran after it. His whole emotional responses to Rebecca is like this; he loves her despite not wanting to do so and is at constant loggerheads with himself, despising her, then despising himself for loving her then despising himself for rejecting her.

He felt terribly guilty when he learned the truth about Gordon and tried to apologize to Rebecca but he didn’t try very hard. He sent a letter but did not follow up when he got no response. My inference is that he regretted his behavior and felt guilty, wanted to make amends but was relieved when he could let it drop while telling himself Rebecca didn’t want anything to do with him.

Benedict acts the same way 5 years later when he finds out about Jonathon. He is initially furious, then he realizes he still wants Rebecca (still won’t admit he loves her), realizes she had some good reasons to keep away from him. He tells her with some self-righteousness that she owed it to tell him about their, after all he had tried to apologize, etc., etc. Later when he calms down Benedict knows he was just as much to blame if not more so than Rebecca.

I foresee a somewhat stormy future for these two strong-willed people!

Overall

It’s somewhat off putting to read Benedict’s constant disparagement that runs in parallel with his constant attempts to sleep with Rebecca. We see the turmoil in his heart all though the story. Rebecca is steadier but she too has a temper and a strong will. These two play off each other and make the story. Author Jacqueline Baird is wise to skip over the struggle that Rebecca must have faced as a single mother, especially since she had not gotten her teaching certificate before she got pregnant. Instead she shows the emotional swings both Benedict and Rebecca endure.

On the down side, the putative Other Woman stirs the pot for no discernable reason. From Benedict’s perspective the OW has no reason to feel jealous because she is simply an employee, but she nonetheless is nasty to Rebecca and tells her that Benedict will dump her the minute Jonathon no longer needs her. There doesn’t seem to be a good reason for the OW to be in the story.

Guilty Passion is believable despite the trope mash ups and thus

4 Stars

I got my copy from Thriftbooks and you can likely find copies on other used sites and on Amazon or eBay.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Bride at Whangatapu – Romance by Robyn Donald

by Leave a Comment

Bride at Whangatapu marks Robyn Donald’s foray into Harlequin Presents Romance, published in 1977. Since then Ms. Donald has become a very successful and popular author, serving us intensely emotional romances usually set in New Zealand. I enjoy her work.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Avoid Spoilers

Fiona interviews for a job on a rural station in New Zealand. She is a skilled, well-paid secretary with a 4 year old son who is not recovering from bronchitis as he should, and she wants a position in the country so her son can recover in fresh air. Surprise! Her interviewer is Logan, the man she had a brief affair with 5 years ago, the father of her son.

Fiona has not seen Logan since the morning after they slept together. He was so shocked that she was a virgin that he verbally ripped her to shreds, called her every name possible and that she was nothing but a cheap tarty whore. (Which was obviously not the case but let’s go with it.) Fiona was shocked and went home. She was so hurt after Logan attacked her that she refused to tell her parents his name and did not tell him about their son. Her parents died and she lives alone with son Jonathan, wears a wedding ring and pretends to be a widow.

Logan recognizes her and he knows from her application that she has a small boy. He’s suspicious and interrogates Fiona about the boy’s dad. Sure enough, Fiona has a dated birthday picture of her son in her purse and Logan grabs the purse from her and snoops. He coerces Fiona to marry him by claiming he will do everything possible to wrest custody from her and since he’s rich, he can tie her up endlessly in court if nothing else. They agree to tell everyone that they had married 5 years ago and reconciled now for the son’s sake.

Logan takes her to Whangatapu where she meets his mother, his housekeeper and his steady girl friend. The mother and housekeeper are hostile and unpleasant and the girl friend acts superficially friendly but is jealous, possessive, unkind underneath. Fiona refuses to sleep with Logan until they love each other and Logan feels guilty enough that he goes along with this. Of course this adds to the unpleasant atmosphere.

The son, Jonathan, is very happy and recovers from his endless cough. He likes the housekeeper, his grandmother, his father and he also likes Denise, the girl friend. Denise likes him too.

Fiona doesn’t do much to endear herself to the others at first, but eventually she becomes friends with the mother and housekeeper, but she still distrusts Logan and avoids him, acts as his secretary but otherwise avoids him as much as possible. Denise suspects they married only recently and she plays up to Logan and when he’s not around, she makes no pretense of friendship for Fiona. She instead acts as though she and Logan had been engaged, that they are having an affair, and that Fiona should waft away on the breeze, leaving Jonathan behind.

Logan makes several passes at Fiona. They both know that he could seduce her into bed and they don’t sleep together only because he’s honoring her request. Logan’s feelings for Fiona are not at all clear. He doesn’t act lovingly towards her, he encourages Denise and plays up to her, he makes it clear that he married Fiona for Jonathan’s sake, not her own. (Of course Logan imagines that he is completely transparent and that of course Fiona knows he doesn’t love Denise. Clueless.)

Eventually Fiona faces the situation. She has three choices. She can continue, give Logan nothing of herself, distrust him, make a life with his mother and housekeeper and Jonathan. She can leave, leaving Jonathan for Logan and eventually, Denise, once Logan divorces Fiona and remarries. She can trust Logan, give him something of herself. Logan clearly states she is not to leave, there will be no divorce. Fiona chooses the option 3. First she gets rid of Denise. Fiona tells Denise she loves Logan, that she’s staying his wife, that Denise has no leverage, that it will do her no good whatsoever to tell people that Fiona and Logan married recently, that Jonathan had been illegitimate.

Fiona is no coward and once she decides on option 3 she sleeps with Logan but it is not lovemaking. Logan is not cruel but his also not at all tender, somewhat hurtful in fact. Fiona feels she was seduced, not made love to, and she fears this will the rest of her life.

Logan brings her back to bed and they talk. He thinks it was clear that he did not love Denise, did not have an affair, that he loves Fiona. She has to tell him that nothing has been clear. She doesn’t know him at all. He apologizes for being rough with her, she explains why she decided to “allow him his legal rights to her person”. Happy ever after.

Does This Work?

I do believe the happy ever after ending. Logan has been overbearing and he is angry with Fiona for not telling him about Jonathan, even though he recognizes that his verbal cruelty after their night together 5 years earlier gave her plenty of reason to keep their son a secret.

Logan is never had a big problem with anything. Men like him, he’s dynamic and super attractive to women, he’s rich, successful, good looking. He eventually realizes he is super lucky, won the jackpot when he got Fiona as his wife. She’s smart, strong, an excellent secretary, organized, kind and helpful, attractive, very good with people and knows what to say and when to keep still. She does an excellent job raising Jonathan. Unfortunately for Logan, Fiona is still wary of him, she doesn’t know him, doesn’t trust him. She doesn’t completely buy Denise’s persona of jilted almost-bride or lover, but sees Logan play up to Denise and thinks he might still prefer her to herself.

By about the middle of the story Logan is going quietly nuts. The man who never had a problem attracting women can’t get his own wife to sleep with him. His son loves him now too, but fiercely defends his mom when anyone says or implies anything negative. His own mother and housekeeper have brought Fiona into their family and he’s feeling left out. Poor baby.

I love how Fiona treats Denise. She doesn’t let Denise rule the roost or crow over her and she is politely skeptical about the whole almost-fiancée thing. She is never rude but never a doormat. This is one of the best heroine/Other Woman interactions in all of the Harlequin universe. The scene where Fiona tells Denise to take a hike is classic.

Fiona seems to see herself as more wishy washy around Logan than she is. She tells him what she thinks and what she wants quite clearly except for the few days where she seriously considers leaving and letting him have Jonathan and Denise. She eventually tells Logan she loves him at the end after she decides to give up her pride. She tells him she had no idea what he thought or felt, that she had not known him at all. Right there we have a peek into the problems with any marriage of convenience, no matter why the couple marries; if they don’t know each other, trust each other, marriage with its continual intimacy of living together regardless of sexual situation, is difficult.

Summary

I like Bride at Whangatapu for the character development, New Zealand glimpse, Fiona. It lacks some of the emotional intensity that Robyn Donald builds into her later books. Ms. Donald shows us how Fiona grows and develops her relationships with her mother in law, housekeepers, putative other man, family guests, Denise, but she more tells us than shows us how Fiona sees her relationship with Logan. I think that is the missing element that keeps Bride at Whangatapu from being a 5 star read for me.

3 Stars

I got my copy on eBay. You can likely find copies on Thriftbooks or other used book site and Amazon has new and used copies and an audio version.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Cruel Conspiracy – by Helen Brooks, Revenge Romance Kinda Sorta

by Leave a Comment

In Cruel Conspiracy Helen Brooks can’t make up her mind whether she has an office romance, a revenge romance, a travelogue, or a batter-her-down-with-overwork romance. It is not very successful.

Normally I enjoy Helen Brooks’s romances; she writes quite well and her characters are engaging and the plots fun. This time she has a few fundamental flaws in her plot and the romance itself is not credible.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Aline Marcell’s 24 year old twin Tim embezzled from his employer, our hero Cord Lachoni who is in his late 30s. Knowing Cord and the police are on his trail Tim hides in Aline’s apartment while she is on vacation, and when she gets back Tim asks her to pick up some papers from his office. Of course Cord catches her, does not believe she was completely uninvolved, thinks she paid for her vacation with money she helped Tim steal. Aline is unable to prove she came by the funds honestly. (Plot Hole #1)

Because Cord greatly values Aline’s uncle, a long term friend and employee, he will allow them to repay him by working for him however, where ever and whenever he wants, for room and board. He conscripts Aline, who is a school teacher, to go to the French town where he is setting up a new office and be his personal assistant and basically do all the dog work needed to get everything ready for Cord and his English employee contingent and the new French employees. (Plot Hole #2)

Aline is working 50+ hours a week in very hot weather, presumably with no air conditioning, before Cord arrives, then once he comes she acts as his confidential assistant and translator setting up his new business. (Plot Hole #3)

Cord’s French business partner has a glamorous daughter Claudia – and we all know what that means in a romance novel – yes, she had a short affair with Cord years ago and intends to pick it up again. Other Woman Claudia shows up uninvited at the office, makes nasty comments to Aline, hangs all over Cord, the usual OW tactics. Meanwhile, some of Aline’s coworkers act friendly and Cord takes great exception to this.

There are the usual dinners, semi-seduction attempts, suggestive comments, more Claudia nastiness. Finally Cord holds an office get together barbeque at his enormous villa on the Mediterranean. At the barbeque Claudia tells Aline flat out that Cord and she are engaged. Aline walks away down the beach where Cord finds her, tells Aline that she danced with some friends solely to provoke him, that she knew “what it would do to him seeing other men touch her”. Aline asks Cord how can he try to make love to herself when he’s marrying Claudia? Cord does not deny the engagement.

The next week a gloating, ecstatic Claudia and her father come to the office, and Cord calls in Aline. There is a document missing that someone cribbed from and handed to a competitor. Claudia is certain Aline is guilty and gloats that Cord will look like a fool when everyone finds out that a bit of a secretary did him in. Cord is gentle with Aline but she’s sure he blames her and blows up, tells him to stuff his job and leaves.

Cord follows her home, tries to convince her to stay, threatens her and her brother, tries again to get her to sleep with him (he still hasn’t said whether he’s marrying Claudia), then gives her the funds for her fare back to London and tells her uncle and brother her flight so they can meet her. Later he calls to tell her that Claudia’s dad is hospitalized with a major heart attack and Claudia admitted to taking the document. (He still hasn’t said anything about marrying Claudia.) Aline tells Cord she loves him, and decides to get a long way away before he can find her.

Aline goes to a small inn in Yorkshire. Cord follows her, admits he had known for months that she had nothing to do with the embezzlement, that he’s not marrying Claudia, that he loves Aline and wants to marry her, that he’s been too cowardly to admit it to himself or to her. Final words from Cord: ‘And then I will possess you, utterly, completely, until the earth melts and the only thing that matters to you is me.’

Plot Holes

Plot Hole #1: Aline does not need to prove her innocence, the court must prove her guilty. If she wants to avoid a court charge and prove it to Cord, she could do it. She got the vacation funds when an old friend repaid the money Aline had loaned her, but friend is on a cruise and cannot be reached. Even back in the 1990s, before ubiquitous cell phones one could communicate with a ship if one needed to.

Plot Hole #2: Aline is smart, but she’s a school teacher with zero business experience. Yes, she can translate French to English, but can she do all the things a confidential personal assistant to a business leader like Cord? Later the story mentions that she’s typing with two fingers. (Note to the wise, learn to type, it’s a good skill, comes in handy.)

Plot Hole #3: This is the big one. Aline is Cord’s confidential PA. She handles all sorts of private documents, must keep secrets, treat business matters and information in confidence. Yet Cord thinks she’s an embezzler. If he believes she is a crook then he wouldn’t put her in a position of trust.

Characters

I like Aline. She sticks up for herself, and even though she could have/should have told Cord to go jump in a lake, she loves her brother and allows Cord to pressure her into working for him. Aline works hard and learns fast and acts with great honor. She also does not sleep with Cord despite several seduction attempts and her own growing love.

Cord is a jerk and a coward. He admits it at the end, he was too afraid to allow himself to love and he wanted to get to know Aline because she attracted him, and that’s why he pressured her to be his PA despite realizing she wouldn’t have helped Tim embezzle.

The worst thing about Cord and the romance itself is that Cord sees it through what he wants, he needs, he fears. Even at the end it’s all about him possessing Aline. That is not love.

Summary

Even after Cord admits he loves Aline, he’s still focussed on himself and he’s still an obsessive, possessive jerk. It makes their romance unbelievable because I have to think Aline will wake up after a few months of glorious bedtime adventures and realize she goofed. Sometimes books with overly possessive heroes are fun to read, and I enjoy this up to the last chapter while I read it, but all the time the plot holes, age difference and Cord’s actions make me seriously doubt whether there is a happy ever after in Aline’s future. The last chapter, when Cord kinda sorta apologizes, disappoints me, especially the very end where he displays his possessive streak in full glory.

2 Stars

I got my E book copy of Cruel Conspiracy from Harlequin.com and you can read a Nook copy from Barnes and Noble or a Kindle version from Amazon. Or look for paperback copies on Amazon, eBay or used book sites.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Daring Deception – Harlequin Presents Romance by Amanda Browning

by Leave a Comment

I do not like Daring Deception. The hero, Nathan, has known heroine Rachel for two years because she helps her grandfather and Nathan runs Grandpa’s bank. Nonetheless Nathan knows Rachel is a man eater with no morals who sleeps around because he witnessed Rachel steal another girl’s fiancé a year before he came to work for Grandpa. In truth the other girl is Rachel’s cousin, roommate and business partner and the fiancé is a fortune hunter. The cousin had agreed to let Rachel try to steal her guy because she did not believe he had been after her money. Nonetheless, Nathan is never wrong.

Rachel is in love with Nathan, supposedly, although it’s hard to believe when they spend almost no time together. It turns out Nathan is in love with Rachel too, although he despises her and fights the attraction. Again, hard to believe.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Avoid Spoilers

Grandpa needs someone go retrieve love letters his good friend had written to a dead aristocrat. The letters would hurt aristo’s wife and embarrass his family and Grandpa was good friends with both the lady and her lover. Lady’s nephew swiped the letters and is blackmailing her. (Yes, the plot is this dumb.) Will Nathan please whistle up a blonde bombshell and go get the letters while bombshell distracts the villain?

Nathan doesn’t have a spare blonde in his pocket but, oh yes, Rachel! Rachel is blonde and gorgeous and of course, being a man eating slut can surely vamp the villain. Rachel protests but goes along with it. She nearly loses her temper when Nathan takes her aside to explain just why he knows she can do this little job and gets so mad she decides not to tell Nathan about her cousin. Nathan threatens to tell Grandpa about Rachel’s dark side and Rachel manages to not tell him that it was Gramps who sent her to extricate cousin.

Nathan is lucky at cards and Villain loves to gamble for high stakes, so off to Tahoe we go, where Nathan engages Villain in card game while Rachel leans over him and pretends to be his lucky talisman. Villain invites Nathan to his house – oh, be sure to bring the blonde too – and off we trot. While Nathan gambles with Villain Rachel goes exploring and finds the letters in Villain’s bedside table. The next morning Rachel flirts while Nathan grabs the letters and we leave quickly, but not before Rachel and Nathan end up in bed together.

The next day Nathan comes by Rachel’s apartment, meets cousin, realizes Rachel is not the vamp he thought. Explanations, I Love You, and Happy Ever After. Supposedly.

Characters, Really?

If this were real life if I were Rachel I’d avoid Nathan like poison. He only believes her not to be a slut/vamp/man eater after he talks to cousin. Despite knowing each other for two years, seeing her up close for a few days, sleeping together, Nathan still does not trust Rachel without third party proof. This is not a good way to start a life together.

I don’t think Rachel loves Nathan either. She likes his body, she likes what she knows about his personality although she knows he doesn’t like her even before she learned what he thought about her. She is hurt by his nasty comments and accusations and angry and gleefully anticipates showing him the truth. She knows almost nothing about the man himself before their Tahoe weekend.

And shall we look at Grandpa? A man who cheerfully sends his beloved granddaughter and well-liked and respected friend to tangle with a villain and all to prevent embarrassment to someone else?

Nope, I do not buy that any of these people know what love is. Nathan and Rachel may be happy together, but it will blow up the first time Nathan has a breath of suspicion against Rachel, and she will never know where she truly stands with him. Nathan was able to sleep with a woman he claimed to despise, tell her the next morning it was a one night stand, not a relationship, who then claims later his is in love.

Not only is the plot incredibly stupid the people and their motivations are inane, juvenile, and yes, stupid.

Overall

I finished this stupid story because I bought it and wanted to get to the end. It isn’t worth wasting your time and certainly do not waste your money.

2 Stars

I purchased my E copy on Harlequin.com and you can get Kindle E versions on Amazon. Look at Amazon and used book sites for paperback copies.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Devil Lover – Revenge Romance by Carole Mortimer

by Leave a Comment

Oh my. This is bad. Unfortunately it is readable and almost compelling but it is not a story to enjoy. The plot centers on revenge, and it’s misplaced revenge at that, and the hero, Andreas (yes, he’s Greek so we have yet another stereotype), makes it clear that he does not and will not love the heroine Regan.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Regan interviews for a job as a companion/governess to a young teen girl that turns out to be a smokescreen to get her to Andreas’s house in rural England. There he tells her that her father stole his wife and deliberately caused a car racing accident that left him blind in one eye. Therefore he’s going to marry Regan, get her pregnant, make her life hell, all to get his revenge on Regan’s dad who is now dead. (His ex wife is dead also but no one seems to care about that.)

Andreas has been thorough and clever, having a young employee act as Regan’s boyfriend the last year or so, in order to keep her pure and untouched. Now she’s shoved into an upstairs room and Andreas threatens to rape her/make her his mistress, until she agrees to marry him. Regan is no pushover so she climbs out the drainpipe but Andreas sees her and she falls the last few feet. She’s hurt but not incapacitated, and he pressures her into marriage. (Her first mistake.)

There is an interlude back in England where Regan goes to her aunt and uncle’s home, finds out they knew all about the accident and bad feelings, but not about Andreas’s revenge drive. Andreas meets her there and takes her semi-willingly to Greece. She’s starting to fall in love with him. (Her second mistake.)

Andreas continually provokes her and then bullies her into apologizing for reacting with “disrespect”, i.e., treating him as he treats her. She apologizes each time. (Her third mistake.)

He takes her to Greece and once she’s healed forcibly seduces/rapes her. Then he leaves with his secretary whom he implies is also his long term mistress.

Regan and Helena, Andreas’s daughter, go to England where Regan goes to a friend’s wedding with Clive, the nice man Andreas had used to interview her initially. Regan is saying good-bye to Clive when Andreas walks in all puffed up with haughtiness and arrogance and conceit and makes nasty comments and jeers at Regan and Clive. Clive ignores the jeers and tells Andreas he’s misjudged his innocent wife. Andreas makes a snide comment about having made sure Regan is no innocent any longer. Clive leaves.

Andreas admits he learned that the car crash that blinded him was truly an accident, not semi-deliberate attempted murder. He kinda sorta apologizes for seeking revenge on Regan but it’s obvious he’s not sorry a bit, more sorry for himself that he had made a mistake.

He pushes at Regan about their one time intercourse, was it rape? She says no. (I guess because at the end she physically responded and enjoyed it. Still rape in my book.) Was it love? She says no, but then you told me it would not be love. It was hate. Andreas makes a big noise about he didn’t hate Regan, in fact he started to love her when she risked death to escape him. We have the great denouement, with both Andreas and Regan saying I Love You. Gag.

Characters

Regan may think she is in love with Andreas, but reading the story it’s clear that her mistakes in first agreeing to marry, then allowing him to browbeat her in accepting blame for his nasty behavior, then mistaking physical attraction for love is going to make for a long and unhappy marriage once she wakes up to the man she is stuck with.

She should have refused marriage and if Andreas raped her, filed a police report. Perhaps Andreas could have talked his way out of a rape charge using the old “lovers’ tiff” dodge, but Regan would have been off the hook. Andreas threatens to follow her, drag her back if Regan attempts to escape before or after marriage, but there are laws against stalking. Andreas can make Regan’s life miserable trying to stay away from him but it’s a better misery than being stuck with a guy like him for life.

Andreas taunts Regan, makes vicious comments, alternates between treating her as a nuisance he can barely tolerate and a sex toy, there solely to please him in bed. He never treats her as a person. There are many jerks and arrogant, obnoxious, self-satisfied mean males (I won’t call them men) in Harlequin Presents but this guy is one of the worst.

I didn’t find either love at all convincing. If Andreas truly loved Regan he would not have forced her, not have continued to treat her like dirt, certainly would have treated her better or offered her an annulment once he learned he was mistaken to blame her father. If Regan loved Andreas she wouldn’t have been so cowed by him.

Overall

I liked Devil Lover the first time I read it, gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but upon rereading must drop it to a very low 2 star rating. I don’t usually rate books as 1 star unless they are exceptionally lousy, or I don’t finish them or they are filthy. Devil Lover isn’t that bad nor is it smut so

2 Stars.

I got my copy from Harlequin.com and you can read it online for free at Archive.org. Amazon has it in E and paperback formats and it is available on used book sites and eBay.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

The Baby Secret – Second Chance Growing Up Romance by Helen Brooks

by Leave a Comment

Why I like The Baby Secret by Helen Brooks:

  • She grows up
  • He never lies
  • He realizes she needs and wants to be fully part of his life and tells him so
  • He’s forceful but not a bully, determined to keep her, loving
  • She learns to trust
  • And she grows up, stops looking for the easy answers and sees the complexity in people, in herself, in him.

The Baby Secret is worth reading to see a heroine visibly mature in 180 pages. Victoria fled her husband the morning after their wedding because her mother told her things about her husband that were true but so slanted to make him look like a womanizing, manipulative creep, not the loving man he is. Victoria must accept that some things that are not pretty nonetheless do not taint and that knowing facts is no substitute for knowing her husband.

Plot Synopsis – Click Here to Skip Spoilers

The story opens about 3 months after Victoria marries Zac. She is in Tunisia, staying at a villa her best friend’s brother William owns, and has just learned that her illness and fatigue are because she is pregnant.

Victoria married Zac because she loved him and believed he loved her, but he had to leave their hotel room during the night to attend Gina, a distant cousin and guest at their wedding, who tried to commit suicide and called him for help. Tory’s grasping socialite mother told her about it and that the cousin is Zac’s mistress. Further, Zac married Tory because he wants a well-bred wife and to cement a business deal. These statements are misleading but true, except that William broke off his affair with Gina before he met Tory and has not been with another lady since.

Tory asks Zac about each statement in isolation, refuses to listen when he tries to explain that he loves her, that he had to help Gina in all humanity, that he has no mistress. Zac confirms each statement and tries to explain but Tory decides that he is too much like her mother, part of the seedy world she wants to leave. She thinks Zac only wants a pretty doll that he could bring out when he wants and put aside when he does not, much as her parents and their friends act about people. She wants to be real to her husband, part of decisions, part of his life.

Tory and Zac return to London and Tory rents a charming mews house that Zac arranged through her mother unbeknownst to her. Zac sees Tory with William and thinks the baby might be his, which Tory does not dispel. Zac keeps trying to see Tory, to take care of her, to show her how much he loves her, but he’s afraid she might prefer William and Tory can’t bring herself to trust him.

They have a lovely afternoon on the river and Zac tells her that he saw William and knows for certain that he is the only man Tory has slept with, that he knows Tory loves him, that he loves Tory, explains about Gina and that this nonsense has to stop. Tory believes him but she’s still afraid.

Tory has a temporary job in a florist shop and falls hard, gets a customer to call Zac. Zac scoops her up, takes her to the hospital to be checked, then home to their house, the home they bought together and decorated for their lives together. Tory is still rejecting Zac but she’s beginning to realize the problem is hers, not his, that she may not be cut out for marriage. After she heals from the fall they have a wonderful afternoon of love and passion; Zac tells her how much he loves her, how beautiful she is and how pregnancy makes her look wonderful. Tory thought he might simply be saying that to be kind, but finally believes him.

Tory is about 5 weeks from her due date and Zac informs her that he intends they will live together after the baby, or if she cannot do that, then they will separate but remain married and he will take care of her and the child. This makes Tory think about herself, her parents whom she found cold and unloving.

Tory goes to see her father’s long time lover, Linda, who explains that her dad loved both herself and Tory and stayed with her mother for Tory’s sake, that he was not cold and uncaring, nor did he play games.

Tory decides she has to grow up now, that she has to start trusting Zac and herself, that she must believe he loves her, she loves him and they can be happy together. The baby starts to come when she arrives home to a frantically worried Zac in a snow storm. They make it to the hospital, baby is born and they see their happy ever after.

Characters and Why This Story Works

Many, maybe most, category romances have characters who need to grow up before they can be happy in a marriage. Usually the characters flit around the issue or perhaps work to develop trust or to communicate, but it’s a rare Harlequin where the heroine knows she must mature and then does it.

Tory is only 20 when the book opens and Zac is 35 and far more worldly and experienced. Tory had a miserable childhood with parents to avoided her, a mother who is angry that Tory is pregnant (apparently she got pregnant solely to ruin mom’s life), a few friends and not much self knowledge. She is smitten with Zac from the beginning, loves spending time with him, the laughter and kisses and she had eagerly looked forward to their wedding, wedding night and married life.

The wedding and wedding night were great, Zac was sensitive, caring and passionate. He admits later that he should have told her about Gina’s phone call, must include her in the rough part of his live along with the smooth. Zac makes it clear throughout the book that he loves Tory totally, forever, and tells her that he was incredulous when this wonderful girl loved him back, he couldn’t believe his luck.

Author Helen Brooks handles Tory’s increasing maturity with skill; this is not a heavy-handed coming of age story but a romance where the girl needs to grow up a bit, learn to trust. The turning point for Tory is when she realizes that is she who has the problem, that Zac didn’t betray her in any way, that she must learn to trust or she’s going to be miserable her whole life. As she puts it, if it hadn’t been Gina it would have been something because she was looking for something.

Tory could have tried to use OM/good friend William to play games with Zac’s head and heart but she does not. Instead she backs off from relying on William when she realizes that he’s a little in love with her. She could have been a brat about coming home with Zac after she fell, or could have stuck her head in the sand and refused to talk to him or to think through the problem.

Tory talked to Linda who helped her immensely. One reason Tory didn’t trust people was she didn’t think either parent had cared much about her, once she found her dad had cared she was able to step back and not let the past hurt so much. I doubt lack of parental caring would be sufficient all by itself to cause such deep distrust, but certainly it was a part.

Zac is a wonderful character. He is obviously deeply in love with Tory, doesn’t want her to leave him, and if she does leave him he doesn’t want to get revenge or see her hurt in any way. He arranges an inexpensive rental for her without touching her pride, he keeps tabs on her, he dates her, he courts her. (We all need a Zac in our lives!)

Tory’s mom Coral is a caricature of a rich socialite who’s grasping, cares only about herself, selfish, self-centered, bored with her daughter, fixated on status. She’s well-written; given the short length the author had to take some shortcuts with the minor characters.

Overall

I liked The Baby Secret a lot because it explicitly covers the theme of growing up within the context of a romance and without being a dull coming-of-age story. The characters are excellent and plot is simple enough that it doesn’t get in the way of the story.

4 Stars

I read this on Archive.org and purchased E book from Harlequin.com. You can get paperback copies at most used book sites and both the Kindle version and the E book on Amazon.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Second Best Wife by Isobel – Marriage of Convenience

by Leave a Comment

Second Best Wife by Elizabeth Hunter is the same book as The Undesirable Wife by Isobel Chase. The second title is available in large print paperback which I bought without realizing it was the same romance. I enjoy the story under either title.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Georgina’s lovelier, younger sister, Jennifer no longer wants to marry her fiance, William, and sends Georgina to tell him. Jennifer wants to marry Duncan now. William and Georgina have a long, hostile relationship, ever since 10 year old Georgina punched him in the nose for taunting her after she punched out young Duncan for picking on Jennifer. William called her Georgy-Porgie, as in “Georgie Porgie hit the boys and made them cry” mercilessly ever since and continually calls her a bully and complains about her bullying Jennifer. William is 5 years older than Georgina now, and she is 26, so she has lived with the nasty taunts for years.

Georgina has an odd relationship with sister Jennifer. Parents prefer Jennifer and most boys dump Georgina when they spot Jennifer, although Jennifer has very few friends except those who are Georgina’s friends. People like Georgina; she is warm, honest, transparent, while Jennifer is obsessed with her looks and showing up Georgina. William thinks Georgina is jealous of Jennifer when in fact it is the opposite. Their parents prefer Jennifer – as long as Jennifer is present. Her glamour fades with distance.

Georgina feels bad for having the unlovely errand to tell William his fiance has jilted him, but she’s also a bit gleeful that old frenemy is getting his comeuppance. She both likes and dislikes, loves and hates, William and she hasn’t been 100% honest with herself about her feelings. William tells Georgina that she must have bullied Jennifer into dumping him, so she, Georgina, can take her place and marry him.

After all, William has to keep Georgina from bullying Jennifer into dumping Duncan now! “You’ve pushed Jennifer around too long.” “You’d soon be casting an envious eye over Duncan, and we’d all be back where we started, making the best of things after you’ve broken them to pieces. No, Jennifer won’t be safe from you until I have you firmly shackled to my side. I may not be able to give her anything else, but at least I mean to giver her that!”

Georgina first is adamant that she will not marry William, but slowly comes to think it might be good. Her mother has a heart to heart with her that completely surprises Georgina. Her mother doesn’t think she ever bullied Jennifer, and is all in favor of the marriage.

Jennifer gives Georgina a letter, insists she gives it to William on the plane to Sri Lanka (called Ceylon in the novel) after the wedding, absolutely not before. Naïve Georgina follows directions and William is furious. Jennifer in her letter begs him to stay, she’s changed her mind and want to marry him and it’s all Georgina’s fault that they got separated and Georgina did everything she could to get William and keep him from Jennifer and, and, and. Naturally William, being a dummy about the sisters believes Jennifer.

William takes Georgina to Ceylon where he has a job running an engineering project for the British Commonwealth. One reason he wanted a wife was to help with his 20 year old ward, Celine, who appears mentally handicapped and unable to relate to people. Georgina mentions that it’s a good thing he married her and not Jennifer because her sister would not have gladly taken care of another young girl, especially one who isn’t quite right and gorgeous to boot. William shoots this observation down and threatens to take Georgina apart if she harms or bullies Celine. He also tells her that he would like to get rid of Miss Campbell who takes care of Celine, but when Georgina sends Miss Campbell packing the first day, William refuses to back her up and asks Miss Campbell to stay.

Eventually William takes Georgina to bed which they both enjoy and find physically and emotionally satisfying. Georgina discovers that Celine is terrified of some huge puppet masks that Miss Campbell uses to great effect to frighten her and keep her cowed and under control. This time William agrees and Miss Campbell goes.

Things are better. Celine is now alert and functioning and the local tea plantation manager, Stuart, has fallen for her. William of course thinks Stuart is chasing Georgina and that Georgina is flirting and encouraging him which she denies. Otherwise he seems to think better of Georgina than before.

Jennifer writes Georgina that she is coming for a visit and includes a note from their mother. Mom now says she doesn’t have any idea why William would have married Georgina or why Georgina would have broken up the big love affair between Jennifer and William and why would Jennifer think she should marry Duncan. Oh, and poor Jenny. She doesn’t have many friends of her own and Georgina’s don’t come to visit when Georgie isn’t there, even though Mom and Dad think Jenny has far the nicer character. William reads this and asks the humiliated Georgie whether Dad also prefers Jennifer.

Jennifer shows up with Miss Campbell and starts sniping and insulting Georgina. She tells her that their mom doesn’t want Georgina to thwart Jennifer’, i.e., to stop Jennifer from dislodging Georgie from William so he can marry Jennifer and get things back the way they should be. William hears quite a bit of this.

Celine is missing that evening and Georgie forces Jennifer to admit that she and Miss Campbell had met her on the drive up, that Miss Campbell had taken her away and that she, Jennifer, was just as glad because she didn’t like Celine and what was all the fuss about anyway? Jennifer guesses where Celine is and rushes to rescue her – Jennifer makes more nasty comments about Georgie always having to feel she is the one to do the rescuing – and they meet Stuart who found Celine. William kicks Miss Campbell out and Jennifer insults Georgie some more and commiserates with William on having such a lousy wife.

William by this point doesn’t see any need to commiserate about being married to Georgie. He takes her out for the afternoon to a lovely waterfall, apologizes and makes love with Georgie. Happiness ensues.

Characters and Conflicts

The Undesirable Wife is the story of William learning to love Georgina, realizing how wrong he was about her and her sister Jennifer. The first fifth of the book, before they marry, William continually berates Georgina and puts Jennifer on a pedestal.

William doesn’t know Georgina or Jennifer at all. He is blunt: Georgina is a bully, she bullies poor meek Jennifer, she is jealous of Jennifer, she has no friends and certainly no boyfriends because they all desert her for Jennifer, she pushed Jennifer first into agreeing to marry William and later, bullied her to dump William, she inveigled his mother to prefering her over Jennifer only because she “never made the faintest effort even to be kind to her (Jennie)”, she is deceitful, pretends to cherish Jennifer when she is undermining her. Some William pronouncements on Georgie vs. Jennifer make this clear:

  • Georgie as Bully
    • “Because you’ve bossed the poor girl about unmercifully ever since I’ve known you!”
    • “She (Jennifer) was afraid of you.” “If you can black my eye, what could you do to her?”
    • “Well, now she’sll see you as you really are, won’t she? As an intemperate, vicious little thug!”
  • Georgie as jealous of Jennifer
    • “Did you have to break it up? Couldn’t you have contained your jealousy for your sister just this once?
    • “I don’t believe anyone else has ever stormed your selfish little heart.”
    • “you won’t shift the responsibility on to anyone else, least of all that long-suffering sister of yours. Jealousy is a very nasty thing.
    • “Is it Jennifer’s fault that men find her more attractive than they do you?”
    • “Because you’re jealous of Jennifer and you hated anyone to like her better than you.”
  • Just before Jennifer arrives, about 2/3 of the way through the story, William tells Celine that Georgie never could compete with Jennifer, that Georgie’s pushy and he expects that Jennifer will be kind to Celine and be friends with her.

William is all mixed up about Georgina’s attraction compared to Jennifer’s. He tells Georgie several times that men prefer Jennie (given as a reason for Georgie’s supposed jealousy) and that Jennie takes boyfriends from Georgina, yet he tells Georgie that he suspects she stole Peter (whom she claimed to be semi-engaged to) from Jennifer and that she stole Jennie’s friends and boyfriends.

William’s worst attacks are when he explains to Georgie that he intends to marry her. He believes Georgina is trying to ruin his and Jennifer’s lives by bullying Jennie into dumping him, and he has three reasons to marry Georgie: to punish her, to keep her from breaking up Jennifer and Duncan and inflicting her bullying and mean jealousy on her sister. And because he thinks that once he makes her fall in love with him that Georgina will be an acceptable, maybe even desirable, wife.

William sees Jennifer as sweet, kind, gentle, cowed by Georgina’s stronger ways. Even near the end of the story when Jennifer arrives with Miss Campbell, supposedly after he has realized he was lucky to get Georgie and not Jennifer, he says “I expect Jennifer took pity on her (Miss Campbell) because she’s ugly and unfortunate in her manner. She always had a kind heart.” It isn’t until he sees Jennifer again that he realizes that she is the jealous one, manipulating Georgie and everyone else, not caring at all for anyone besides herself.

The first few days of their marriage William continues the refrain, albeit somewhat muted. When Georgie figures out how Miss Campbell has terrified Celine and she sleeps with William, he backs off even more, then when he finally realizes what Jennifer is he apologizes for mistreating Georgie and tells her he now knows that she is the one who needs protecting, not Jennie.

Jennie is a champion manipulator, deceitful, vindictive, weak yet vicious. She pushes Georgie to tell William she’s dumping him (Georgie is glad to do this errand), then when William comes to confirm it she blames Georgie for first making her marry William, then breaking it up, and she acts fearful and convinced that Georgie only wants to make trouble for her.

She cons Georgie to deliver her letter to William only after the wedding and after they have left England and her tearful note makes William furious. If he thought about it he would have realized that Jennifer had no need to give him a letter via Georgie; she could have insisted on seeing him the night before or the morning of the wedding. Stuart mentions to Georgie at the end that William knows full well the Jennie lied in the note, but William had thrown the letter in Georgie’s face just a few days earlier.

Within a few days of William and Georgie’s wedding Jennifer has convinced her mother that Georgie stole William, that she had pushed her into dumping him for Duncan. Georgie is mortified that William reads her mom’s letter because it’s unkind and makes it clear that mom has little use for Georgie compared to Jennifer. Jennifer puts on the same act when she writes to Georgie informing her that she is coming to visit (this is within a couple weeks of the wedding) and that she sees Georgie as a thief, a backstabbing sister on par with Brutus.

The evening Jennifer arrives in Ceylon she attacks Georgie, tells her she will get her property (William) back, that Georgie cannot compete. William hears some of this and he is there when Jennifer admits she let Miss Campbell take Celine away and that she can’t see the fuss about a stupid girl, not when she’s there. The next morning she starts her flirtatious tricks and manipulation with Stuart, tries to get him interested in her and thinking badly of Georgie. Georgie tells her to stop it, then Stuart tells her off and later William makes it clear he’s not fooled any longer.

Georgie is amazed that Jennifer has such a thick skin, that rejection and even hard words don’t faze her at all. As William says, he doesn’t think his opinion would “so much as dent her self-conceit”.

William claims he loves Georgie in his big apology/seduction scene by the waterfall, but it isn’t terribly convincing. He finally realizes that his lovely sweet Jennifer is a mirage, but that doesn’t mean he now loves Georgina. He told Georgie before this that he wasn’t in love with Jennifer but thought she’d be an admirable wife, friends to Celine and loving to him, and now he knows that Georgie is all those things. He desires Georgie and is glad he can sleep with her and seems to want children, but I’m not convinced that he loves her.

Georgie is straightforward, except it’s a mystery to me why she would love William. She says she likes his masterful ways and she enjoys sleeping with him, and that she would not have married him without love. It’s hard to see how a girl as forthright and honest as Georgie would fall for someone who insults her every time they meet. The author makes it seem possible even if most of us would run for the hills rather than marry someone so ruthless and cold and insulting as William was with Georgie.

Celine grows up during the story. Once Georgie finds out that Miss Campbell used big demon masks to terrify Celine, and Celine and Stuart fall in love, Georgie is able to protect Celine and remove Miss Campbell. Once that baleful influence is removed Celine is able to mature. She may never be 100% normal but she’s no longer nearly catatonic nor screaming with rage and nightmares.

Stuart is a lovely young man who likes Georgie when they meet and he reads between the lines of William’s descriptions to see that she is the better sister. He tells Jennifer that William says she has “soft, gentle manners and a nice nature. Pity he was mistaken. Georgina has had a lot to put up from you in the past, but you won’t have hear around in the future to smooth your path.”

Stuart likes Georgie quite a bit but he’s enamored of Celine. William accuses Georgie of flirting with Stuart and even hints she might be bullying Celine or manipulating people to secure Stuart’s regard. William declares that he’s not going to allow Georgie to give herself to Stuart and he’s jealous of the fact Georgie likes Stuart and is on easy friendship terms with him. Stuart ignores this; he loves Celine and plans to marry her.

Miss Campbell fancies herself a witch and was culpable, if not responsible, for the fire that killed Celine’s mother. She sees Celine as her meal ticket and more, thinks she can steal Celine’s youth and beauty. Everyone is glad when Miss Campbell leaves!

Setting

Georgina and Jennifer live with their parents close by William’s mother’s house in England. Georgie loves William’s house; it is warm and cheerful and welcoming, the opposite of her own home. William is an engineer on a new assignment for the British Commonwealth in Ceylon to build a dam.

Author Isobel Chase writes about Ceylon’s tea plantations and the tea harvesting and processing, but this is not a travelogue. She shows Ceylon is a gorgeous country with mountains and beaches and waterfalls and tea. She mentions the problems that were growing in the early 1980s between the Tamil people who immigrated to Ceylon from India and the native Singhalese and that the British are building the dam and investing in the country.

Overall

I enjoyed this story quite a bit; I am fascinated by the idea of someone knowing they are second best in a marriage and making the best of it.

When you go into a situation knowing you are second choice, what do you do? Do you work to become first choice? Accept what you have? Rail against unfair fate?

House of Mirrors is another story with this theme although very different in style and plot and is an exceptionally good Harlequin romance. Second Best Wife has a different backstory and set up and Georgie has different challenges than did Liz in House of Mirrors.

In Second Best Wife/Undesirable Wife Georgie must overcome both William’s attachment (and idiocy) to her sister and his antipathy and dislike of her, while he believes she is a horrible person and insults her continually. Georgie doesn’t protest too much against his prejudice. She knows that although she is forthright she is not a bully, that in fact she has protected her sister all her life and taken many shots and unkindness from Jennifer and her family. They have been unfair and William is even worse, but she decides she loves him and will take what she can get while trying to capture William’s heart. But she doesn’t expect to keep William. She expects that William will choose Jennie over her; even if he does remain married to her he will have an affair with Jennifer.

William is bossy and expects Georgie to knuckle under, to let him rule her and make decisions for her. She enjoys his mastery in bed but she pushes when he tries to exert control or says he will take over and run her life.

Isobel Chase is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Hunter who wrote Harlequins under both names. The bossy, masterful hero is a staple in the 4 or 5 books of hers that I read; I don’t care for the hero being over the top dominant. It isn’t necessary in my experience for the man to always run the show and it’s a weakness in this author’s – and in many other Harlequin authors’ – work to have a super dominant hero. I think it’s evidence of sloppy characterization and plot, a handy shortcut to get the plot to the requisite happy ending.

Overall I enjoyed Second Best Wife/The Undesirable Wife. I read it under title Second Best Wife on Archive.org first, then purchased The Undesirable Wife from Thriftbooks without realizing is the same title.

4 Stars

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Man of Velvet, Marriage of Convenience Romance by Dana Terrill

by Leave a Comment

Something about this story resonates with me. I love marriage of convenience romances – I suspect more than a few marriages even in the US or UK are made for convenience instead of love – and Man of Velvet is written very well. Neither character loves the other at first, in fact they dislike and distrust and the love surprises and grows slowly as they come to know each other. There is a nasty Other Woman, a little boy, minions galore with housekeeper, butler and maids, a semi-Other Man, lovely setting, rich descriptions. What’s not to like?

Plot Synopsis – Skip to Avoid Spoilers

Man of Velvet starts with Diana doing a bit of housebreaking, entering Caleb’s country home via the French doors into the library. Her mission: Retrieve her younger sister Deana’s love letters to Caleb’s brother Barrett who died recently in a car accident. Unfortunately Caleb is there and finds her in the library, tries to seduce her until Diana taunts him that he is less-skilled a lover than his brother. Diana knows Caleb thinks she was the woman Barrett was in love with but that’s OK with her; she and her sister intend to leave Connecticut as soon as Deanna has her baby.

One reason Deanna wanted her letters back is she feared Caleb would try to take her baby once born. Deanna was right to worry. She died having Barry, her baby, and Diana took him up to a tiny railway junction town in southeast Vermont. She had ended up there after her car broke down and she found a place to stay with the veterinarian’s family. Everyone assumes Diana is Barry’s mother and she lets that assumption ride.

Two years the story gets going. Diana is returning to Vermont from a trip to Hartford Connecticut to deliver her watercolor book illustrations. She and Steven, the son of the publishing company owner, hit it off and Steven intends to follow up. Unbeknownst to Diana, when she gets off the train and meet Barry and her landlady’s family, Caleb is in the train crossing the junction. He recognizes her, realizes the boy must be his dead brother’s child, and decides to come and get Barry and take Diana too.

Caleb shows up a few days later, tells Diana he will get custody of Barry, spend whatever it takes – despite the fact that she is (as far as he knows) Barry’s mother, not his aunt – and that she can come along too as his wife. Diana didn’t think the law would necessarily protect Barry and her from Caleb, especially given she is actually the aunt, not the mom. She tries to head Caleb off by getting fake engaged to Steven but it doesn’t work and Caleb drags her off to the Justice of the Peace.

The wedding scene is hilarious because Barry doesn’t stop crying and Caleb keeps telling JP to hurry it up. Diana is wearing jeans and she’s clearly not at all happy while the JP and his wife are dumbfounded.

They get back to Hartford and start living together, although Diana refuses to sleep with Caleb. The servants all like her and Barry and Caleb introduces them to his friends. Caleb agrees that Diana can continue being friends with Steven provided they only meet at Diana’s home.

The big problem is Irene, Barrett’s widow, who was supposedly crippled in the car accident that killed Barrett. Caleb essentially coerced Barrett into marrying Irene; Irene really wanted Caleb but settled for Barrett for his money. She is ice cold, manipulative, devious and wants Caleb. Somehow Caleb, who is ordinarily sharp in business and people, allows Irene to deceive him over and over; she uses tears and self-pity to guilt Caleb into believing her. She used to run to Caleb every time Barrett didn’t do what she wanted and eventually Barrett ignored both her and Caleb’s pressure and fell in love with Deanna.

Irene doesn’t like Diana and wants to displace her but realizes she need to be ambulatory if she wants Caleb to ever marry her. Irene informs Diana that Barrett had told her that he wanted a divorce to marry the girl he loved, that she herself had been driving the car and deliberately had gone off the road because she knew Barrett was not in his seatbelt although she was, and she figured she had a good chance of living although Barrett likely would die. Yes, she is that hateful.

Author Terrill shows us Caleb and Diana becoming more aware of each other, liking each other more and being attracted to each other through a couple scenes. Caleb tries to seduce and/or talk Diana into bed but she resists. Diana doesn’t want Caleb to know that she is not Barry’s mother and she does want to punish him for forcing her into marriage. She teases him a few times and Caleb sees her with Steven (and Steven’s almost fiancée) and he decides he wants her and intends to sleep with her. Caleb gives a huge party every year for his business and at the end of the evening, after Diana has teased him verbally and provoked him by flirting, he tries to make love to her. Diana tells him it’s not on, that she hopes he aches all night and that it’s her revenge for forcing her to Hartford.

Caleb goes into her room and forcibly seduces her. To be blunt it starts as rape but quickly becomes mutual. Caleb realizes Diana is a virgin and thus not Barry’s mother. She explains and they seem to have a happy future together.

Irene won’t let that happen. She does everything she can to make trouble between Caleb and Diana, guesses that Barry is actually her dead husband’s child, not Caleb’s, and hysterically calls Caleb to tell him that Diana gleefully told her. This is not true and Diana tells Caleb off, but the downslope starts.

Diana knows Irene can walk. She overhears Irene telling Caleb that yes, she is just beginning to walk (not true, she walks well now) and that it means they can be together, they can have a life together. Diana is hurt and furious. It seems Caleb takes Irene’s word over hers, always lets Irene get her own way and puts Irene ahead of Diana. She takes Barry and goes back to Vermont.

Caleb comes once and she tries to explain but they are both too angry and hurt. Eventually Caleb’s housekeeper tells Diana that Caleb is terribly ill and that, oh, by the way, Irene left and won’t be back. Diana packs Barry up and hightails it back to Caleb. I love you and happy ever after.

Characters and Emotional Connections

The genius of Man of Velvet is the slow growing of intense emotions between Caleb and Diana. Neither wants to admit how important the other has become and both want to shield themselves from emotional hurt. Caleb once had been jilted by his fiancée for a richer man and Diana saw how cold and controlling Caleb was with his brother. Diana also fears that Caleb will realize she is not Barry’s mother, presumably fearing that he might divorce her and keep Barry if he knows she is only the aunt.

The four vignettes that show Caleb and Diana increasingly interested in each other are richly detailed and feel real. Barry gets bee stung and Caleb helps remove the stinger, puts him to bed, then lies down with Diana to comfort her. Comfort turns to arousal, then to passion. Diana recognizes that Caleb has handed her a weapon for revenge. She starts looking for an opportunity to get Caleb aroused so she can turn him down. Nasty yes, but deserved.

The next week or so Diana is edgy and irritable – we can surmise it’s partly due to sexual frustration – and Caleb organizes a house party at the country home where Diana retrieved her sister’s letters and met Caleb. They end up having to share a room and bed two nights and there’s a bit more teasing and attempted seduction in between friendship, fun, trips to craft shops and walks in the country.

The last scenes that precipitate seduction are at Caleb’s grand party. He comes home early and finds Steven is putting sun lotion on Diana, then he takes over the job and makes it clear he’s claiming possession.

At the party Diana has to listen to Irene make little innuendos and barbed comments all during dinner and she retaliates by mentioning to Caleb, in front of other people, that they could get an annulment. Caleb gets rid of the company, carries Irene back to her room (since she supposedly can’t walk and doesn’t like to use her crutches or wheelchair), then comes to Diana and kisses her, arouses her. Diana realizes this is her opportunity and asks Caleb whether he wants her. Yes. He does. Well, the answer is NO. Caleb recognizes this is her revenge and Diana runs upstairs to her room. She’s restless and knows she is as frustrated as Caleb but she still doesn’t want sexual intimacy with him. He comes in and that’s that.

Irene watches the entire time that Caleb and Diana are falling in love and she escalates her campaign to remove Diana and replace her. First she pulls away as Diana hands her a tea cup, to make it look as though Diana is ignorant and clumsy, then she hands Barry a costly, large glass unicorn which he breaks, disparages him to make people think he’s as clumsy as Diana. She complains about Diana and Barry to Caleb, cries and tries to make him feel guilty and sorry for her. She tells Diana that she knew Barrett was having an affair (supposedly with Diana) and that was why she caused the accident, that she knew Barrett had given the ambulance driver a message for his lover and makes it clear she is glad Barrett was dead.

Why Diana Leaves Caleb

Diana is fed up with being second to Irene and sick of the endless comments and Irene’s look-at-me act and tired of Caleb not putting her, his wife, first. Both Diana and Caleb know people could be unfaithful, and are not sure of each other, a rich earth for Irene’s lies. It is a culmination of little things, exacerbated by Irene telling her that now that she can walk and give him a son, Irene believes Caleb will divorce Diana and marry her. Irene is cutting, disparaging and vicious.

Later Diana is out when Caleb needs to fly to London at the last minute. He asks Irene to pass on the message to Diana that he’s going and wants to talk to her when he returns. Irene of course neglects to pass on anything other than Caleb told her, not Diana.

Caleb’s response when Irene tells him that she’s getting back the use of her legs is the final straw for Diana. When I read Caleb’s comments I can see why Diana felt she has lost Caleb to Irene: “Keep your mind on just one thing, what it means to me if you can walk again. Try please for me.” Irene: “It’s what I’ve always wanted, dreamed about – us. I’m sure, now that I can walk, we can have a life together.”

When Caleb comes after Diana he knows she saw him with Irene but it doesn’t mean to him what Diana thinks it means. Diana tells him she left to clear the way for him to get with Irene. He says that Diana couldn’t begin to guess what he needs, but he does not clear it up, instead tells her he knows she saw Steven several times and that he believes she left because she loves Steven. Diana is too emotionally spent to explain that Steven plans to marry his girlfriend or to confront Caleb about Irene.

The author doesn’t explain why Irene left after Diana had gone back to Vermont, but we can guess that she made a play for Caleb and he refused to divorce Diana and was pretty blunt about not loving or wanting Irene. While Diana was gone Caleb found a letter Barrett had written Deanna that made it clear he felt Caleb was partially at fault for having coerced him to marry Irene, that Irene took advantage of that over and over and that Barrett was done with Irene regardless whether she allowed a divorce. Caleb shows the letter to Diana when she comes home and apologizes for doubting what she had told him about Barrett and Deanna and Irene.

Diana

Diana is no fool and no patsy and no doormat. She had worked in an antique store for years before becoming an artist illustrating children’s books and she does not hesitate to state her opinion of some jade Caleb found for a friend. Irene tries to make Diana look foolish without success.

Diana is devoted to Barry. Not only is he Deanna’s child but Barry is a lovable sweet child with plenty of character. One touching scene is the bee sting incident; before the bee stung Barry he and Diana had been throwing grass clippings at each other and romping on the lawn. She gives up her freedom for Barry, marries Caleb whom she fears and resents in order to avoid a losing custody battle.

We see Diana as warm, caring, generous, open, honest, forthright, friendly. She makes friends with all the staff – this is the same staff that resent and dislike Irene for her temper and dishonesty. Diana doesn’t mince words except she is reticent about calling out Irene to Caleb. She doesn’t tell Caleb about the little nasty comments and tricks nor tell him that Irene can walk and walk well. She tries to tell Caleb about his brother’s marriage and defend her sister, but of course, Caleb doesn’t believe her.

Early in their marriage Caleb tells Diana she doesn’t need to work and he doesn’t want her to. Diana had earlier signed a contract for so many illustrations with Steven’s publishing company and tells Caleb she intends to keep her commitment. They agree that she may do so, that in exchange, she dresses better and wears fewer jeans and t shirts. I thought this was funny because Caleb is the original stick-to-the-agreement business guy yet he wants her to drop her contract. Surprisingly Diana goes along with it, primarily to keep the peace and because she is aware that she must dress better to move comfortably in Caleb’s world.

Normally no one likes a sexual tease but given the immense provocation of Caleb pressuring her into marriage, I admire Diana for finding a weapon, however distasteful, to use against him. Caleb knows what Diana is doing but he’s pretty sure he can overcome any reluctance.

Caleb

Caleb is one of those guys who doesn’t ever want to admit defeat and hates to be wrong. He found Diana attractive when he caught her looking for Deanna’s letters and started kissing her to the point where Diana was convinced he would not stop. He despised her yet wanted her. Caleb’s mixed feelings last for a few months until he gets to know Diana and realizes she’s a decent, loving and lovable person.

Caleb comes to love Barry, in fact he lets everyone believes he is Barry’s father and thus Diana’s lover. He comments to Diana that Barry will have everything that would have been Barrett’s,

Caleb is a pushover for Irene, especially when Irene cries. There’s guilt there but something else too. Caleb ignores Diana’s tears when he forcibly seduces her but when they are done he obviously feels something besides satisfaction. Tears unman him.

Caleb chose to be hard and cold. His mother left them when he was 17, his dad drank himself to death and nearly destroyed the company, his fiancée dumped him for a richer man when she realized how far down Caleb’s company had gotten. Now he’s worked hard to build his company back and he refuses to meet his mom and his stepdad and won’t extend friendship or forgiveness to the ex-fiancée. It’s intriguing that such a hard man who despises others who break their commitments is such easy prey for Irene.

Even after they sleep together Caleb somewhat distrusts Diana and keeps himself aloof. He takes her out that next morning to run and share “the best part of the day” with her, early morning, and he makes love to her again and again.

Things go downhill badly once Irene calls Caleb in hysterics because Diana supposedly had taunted her with Barry being Barrett’s son. Caleb believes Irene, chastises Diana, then later comes in their room to apologize and make peace. Diana pushes him away, hurt because he doesn’t trust her, doesn’t believe her, seems to value only their physical connection. After that he sleeps in a different room and leaves Diana completely alone. At this point neither has told the other I Love You, and both are wary.

After Diana leaves Caleb and Irene have a shouting match, after which Caleb makes her a settlement (small by Irene’s standards) before Irene goes to her sister’s. (The settlement plus Caleb’s comment about Barry inheriting Barrett’s share makes me wonder whether Barret had died without a will, or had left everything to his children and only the minimum amount to Irene.) Caleb tells Diana later that she had been right about several things, that Irene can walk very well and that she will never interfere in their lives again.

Other Man and Other Woman

Irene is partially the prototypical Harlequin Other Woman, except she uses guilt and what she believes her superior suitability, plus her supposed good looks. Typical of the genre Irene spends most of her viciousness on Caleb’s wife, Diana, and acts tearful and helpless and oh-so-hard-done-by with Caleb. She makes snide remarks about and to Diana in front of Caleb and it’s pretty clear that Caleb allows her a lot of latitude and doesn’t do much to stop her until after Diana leaves him. Caleb feels guilty about Irene which gives her a huge weapon; the story hints the guilt is because Caleb coerced his brother although Irene wants to believe the guilt is because Caleb regrets that he had not married her himself.

Irene lets Caleb think it had been his brother who was driving in the car accident that killed him. That adds to Caleb’s guilty feelings and makes him blame Diana not only for the anger and hurt she (supposedly) had caused Irene, but blames her for Barrett’s death. Caleb believes that Barrett and Irene had argued about Diana, thus causing the accident. This is another weapon Irene uses against Diana and Caleb.

Steve is not truly an Other Man. Diana tries to make Caleb think he is more important than he is but all their interactions are strictly friendship, not romantic. Steve is a lovely, uncomplicated man who makes no secret that he likes Diana and enjoys her company. He states right at the beginning that he’s not going to tangle with Caleb; he respects him and knows he can be ruthless.

Overall

I liked Man of Velvet so much I bought a copy even though it is available to read for free on Archive.org. Author Terrill captures the growing love between Diana and Caleb just the way I would imagine it would be given these characters and situation. The dislike and distrust dwindle and liking and trust grow and it feels real.

Neither Caleb nor Diana is the typical, off the shelf Harlequin hero or heroine. Both are more complex, motivated by much more than basic emotions or desires, and that makes them much more interesting characters than those in many category romances. In the end, the reason I like Man of Velvet so much is the love that grows between Caleb and Diana.

5 Stars

I got my paperback copy on Thriftbooks and you can usually find copies on Amazon, eBay and other used book sites or read on Archive.org.

All Amazon links are paid ads.