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The Odds Against Kinda Sorta Romance by Margaret Pargeter

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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.

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Guilty Passion – Romance by Jacqueline Baird

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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.

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Bride at Whangatapu – Romance by Robyn Donald

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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.

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Cruel Conspiracy – by Helen Brooks, Revenge Romance Kinda Sorta

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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.

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Daring Deception – Harlequin Presents Romance by Amanda Browning

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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.

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

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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.

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Second Best Wife by Isobel – Marriage of Convenience

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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

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Hell is My Heaven – Blackmail Marriage by Jeneth Murrey

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Hell is My Heaven is excellent. Hero Jerome, who wants to be The Boss, has blackmailed heroine Kate into marriage expecting a “loving and obedient wife”. Hah. Just how loving would you be if someone forces you to marry them by a) threatening to take custody of your nephew and prevent you from seeing him and b) threatening to send copies of girlie calendar pictures to all the schools in England to prevent you from working? Loving? Heck no. Obedient? No way. The rest of the story shows Kate gradually falling in love with Jerome while he works to overcome her suspicions, distrust and detestment.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

The backstory here is important and told at the beginning based on what Kate thought was true, then adjusted to what really happened. Kate was happily teaching school when her younger stepsister Shirley showed up pregnant and tearful. Shirley was hiding from her husband Theo and his nasty mother and older brother and she claimed Theo and his family treated her horribly. Kate took her in, and supported her through pregnancy and childbirth at first by teaching, but when Shirley’s baby arrives the teaching salary wasn’t enough. (Especially given Shirley’s expensive tastes.)

Kate is lovely, tall, slim, red haired, and had earlier turned down offers to try her hand at modeling. Now, with the baby and Shirley needing ever more income, Kate reluctantly quit teaching and became a very successful model under the name Noel Lowe. Unfortunately her first foray into modeling was to pose in risque outfits for a girlie calendar. She was never nude but the photos were suggestive and Kate hated them. Shirley went back to Theo after a while. Kate doesn’t ever meet Theo or his family, and it later comes out that Shirley never mentioned Kate to them. She pretended she took care of herself while away from Theo.

Shirley never fooled older brother Jerome and he had her investigated. It took quite a while but he discovered Shirley had an older stepsister who taught school. He couldn’t understand why Shirley never talked about Kate but he figured Kate had been responsible for Shirley and baby Phillip.

Shirley last visited Kate just before the book begins. She and Theo were going on a second honeymoon and would Kate take care of 2-year old Phillip? Shirley and Theo died in a crash.

The book opens with Kate at her friend Helen’s house talking about how Kate will have no chance if Jerome and his mother want custody; not only must Kate work, but she has been (gasp!) a model while Theo’s family is rich, ruthless and upper crust. Kate tells Helen that she must hide herself and Phillip and she intends to stop modeling and go back to teaching. Helen is an artist and realistic. She warns Kate that she is gorgeous and model-trained and that it will be impossible to hide from Theo’s family. She offers to rent Kate her remote cottage, the one with no running water, electricity or central heat.

After four cold months in a drafty cottage Kate is bathing Phillip. Jerome walks in, coolly tells Kate he wants the boy, that he would win any custody suit, that he has the girlie negatives and will ruin Kate with every education authority in the country if she does not go along. But that’s OK because Kate can come too. As Jerome’s wife.

From what Shirley had said Kate knows Jerome is ruthless and vindictive enough to do this so she very reluctantly agrees in order to keep Phillip as she sees it, unspoiled by Jerome’s vicious, rich family. Jerome makes it clear that he expects a loving and obedient wife and we can infer that “loving” means sexually affectionate and emotionally warm.Kate tries to wriggle out of this but she cannot.

Jerome brings them back to his London apartment but not without an argument. Kate wants to clean the cottage and Jerome gives her one hour to get herself packed, cottage cleaned and in the car or he’ll take Phillip and leave. Kate seethes all the way to London. Jerome kisses her, and although she does not like him, Kate does respond.

Jerome gets his mother to come help get the wedding ready and Kate is surprised to discover she likes his mother a lot, that she is kind, not at all ruthless or vicious, down to earth. This is the first chink in the Shirley story.

The wanna-be Other Woman, Estelle, 19 and spoiled, is a neighbor of Jerome’s in the country and bursts into Jerome’s apartment to tell Kate to bug off, that Jerome is hers, that his little flings never last long and that (shock!) Kate is a model and Jerome will kick her out when he learns that! Mother tells Estelle to control herself, that Jerome knows what he’s doing, and that if Estelle decides to kill herself to do it somewhere else where she won’t get the carpets dirty. Kate realizes that Jerome’s mother would have had no patience with Shirley’s drama and tantrums. Kate still doesn’t like Jerome and she doesn’t trust him. She decides she will fight back by making herself so boring and dull he won’t want her.

They marry and go to southern Italy to honeymoon. Phillip comes too because Kate refuses to go without him. Kate dreads the wedding night (postponed a couple of days to allow her to get used to Jerome) but she promised. In fact she is surprised to discover she enjoys making love with Jerome, that he makes her feel what she does not want to feel. She tells him that she hates him now more than ever, especially when Jerome is amazed that it had been her first time. Kate resents that he thought her a tramp and she tries several times to talk to Jerome about letting her take Phillip since he now knows she is not a loose trollop. That doesn’t work and they return to England together with Phillip.

There are several small incidents. Jerome makes Kate pick out a nanny for Phillip, makes Kate take an interest in her new home, drags her off to his mother’s house in the country. Basically he keeps her so busy she doesn’t have time to think about her grievances nor to work on her dull and boring act.

Right about the time Kate is beginning to feel something for Jerome Estelle comes to dinner where she tells Kate that she needs to leave Jerome, that if she cannot afford to go that Estelle can help her, and that Estelle will help Kate get a few pounds from Jerome when they split – maybe even a few thousand! (A few thousand pounds in the mid 1980s would be around $10,000 today, not a lot.) Kate can’t believe that anyone would talk like this and she suspects Estelle is mentally off. She tells Jerome about it but he doesn’t see either the humor or the insult.

Jerome has forbidden Kate to go anywhere alone but she does anyway. (As she put it, if you wanted obedient you should not have married me!) She runs into the guy she had desultorily dated before Shirley died and realizes that he’s a jerk and that he hates her for selling out for money and a comfy lifestyle. Jerome is not impressed when Kate tells him about meeting ex boyfriend.

Jerome decides that Kate needs to learn a few things about her darling step sister. He tells her that it was not Theo but Shirley who did not want Phillip, in fact she had an appointment for an abortion when Theo found out and made her come to the country house with him. Shirley insisted Theo get a vasectomy because she did not want children. It was Theo who took care of Phillip, it was Shirley who decided at the last minute to leave Phillip with Kate and it was Shirley who did not tell anyone else where Phillip was. Jerome and his mother thought Phillip must have died along with his parents at first. Jerome drags Kate to his so-called yacht, actually a small dinghy, which Shirley had claimed he used to womanize around Europe. Kate is shattered by these revelations. She had known Shirley was spoiled but she hadn’t realized how little she had cared for anyone besides herself.

The final crisis comes when Jerome, his mother, Phillip and the housekeeper are gone and Kate comes downstairs to dry her hair, find Estelle has taken an ax to Jerome’s study and destroyed file cabinets, left files strewn around and is clutching a small envelope that Kate knows holds those girlie negatives. Estelle tells her to get out and to make sure Jerome comes to see her because otherwise she will give the negatives to Kate’s ex boyfriend who would love to publish them in a sleazy tabloid.

Kate tries to find Jerome but he’s en route from New York and she panics. When Jerome comes home she grabs him and can barely speak because she is so worried. Kate tells him that he must go see Estelle, that he should have destroyed the negatives, that it will be his name, not hers, that gets dragged through the media. Jerome calms her down, explains he destroyed the negatives and the envelope was empty, fobs his mother off with a housebreaker story, then we have the happy ever after.

Plot Questions

Which Came First? How Did Jerome Decide to Get Kate? I can’t figure out when Jerome decided to go after Kate. He investigated Shirley, discovered she had a step sister, school teacher Kate Forest, fairly soon after Shirley married Theo, which is some time before Kate started modeling. Kate posed for the girlie calendar after Phillip was born, thus after Jerome knew Kate existed.

He says he started with a missing sister and the negatives. He realized Kate was Noel Lowe when he saw her birth certificate – born at Christmas and mother’s maiden name was Lowe. Then he knew how to get both Noel Lowe and Phillip at the same time. That implies he wanted Noel Lowe the model early on, otherwise how could he track down girlie negatives before he knew she was Kate? That seems out of character.

Emotions and Characters

Kate is wonderful heroine. She’s got class, character, intelligence and she is honest. Kate recognizes that she had been unfair when she assumed Jerome and his mother were vicious and she apologizes for that.

Kate is devoted to Phillip, just as she had been devoted to Shirley before, and she does not want to be devoted towards Jerome, she wants to dislike him and fight him and she is angry with herself for being attracted to him and enjoying making love with him. She’s a little confused.

It takes Jerome and Helen forcing Kate to face facts about Shirley to make her realize that first, she had never even met Theo or his family and that Shirley never had invited her to their home or made any effort to help herself. Shirley was a user.

Kate wants to revolt against Jerome, to either make his life miserable or be so boring that he dumps her. She’s not able to keep up her good intentions though, because she is genuinely a kind, loving, friendly person.

I liked how Kate recognizes that Estelle’s actions would hurt Jerome, but she does not carry that to the logical conclusion. She realizes that Estelle could not harm her without harming Jerome, but she panicked and did not stop to think it through. If Estelle embarrasses Jerome, Jerome would never want her, never marry her in place of Kate. Instead of calmly telling Estelle this, Kate lets her escape through the window, leaving a mess and damaged furniture behind. Then Kate pleads with Jerome to give in to Estelle’s dictates, to let Kate go and to go see Estelle. This is out of character. I read the book several times and each time this scene jars, does not fit, does not make sense, does not align to how Kate has behaved throughout the story. Kate is not the type to give into blackmail and certainly she should know that Jerome is not either.

In fact, Kate should have realized Jerome loses all blackmail threat once she marries him. If he were to release the girlie negatives it would hurt him. For some reason she didn’t think this through earlier although she clearly recognizes that he is not likely to trash her name once she became Mrs. Jerome Manfred.

I love Kate all through the book although this last scene strikes me as off key. In fact it bothered me more each time I read it.

Jerome is enigmatic all through the story. He is attracted to Kate, believes she will make a good wife, sleeps with her and takes care that she enjoys lovemaking. He does not try to jolly her along or change her attitude from hostile and negative but waits for her own good nature to take over on its own.

Jerome makes it clear that he wants all of Kate, not just her body, but her mind and her heart and her devotion to him. He says several times he is very well pleased with his wife and the bargain they made; does this mean he loves her? At the end Jerome insists that he tells Kate how he feels every time he touches her, which is all the time. But he doesn’t say it verbally. The fact that he held the negatives over her head and didn’t tell her he had destroyed them makes me wonder about his ethics. Does he prize obedience over unforced love?

Jerome admired Kate for being so loyal to Shirley and to Phillip and I suspect (if this were a real person, not a story) that he wanted a wife to be loyal to him. He is rich, good looking, has had girlfriends. Now he wants a family and he wants Kate.

Jerome should have realized that Estelle had escalated from pest to drama queen/stalker to genuinely deranged when Kate tells him about the dinner conversation where Estelle offers her a few thousand (Jerome’s money, not hers) to leave. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t go see Estelle’s parents about her behavior or do anything to curb her. It makes Kate wonder whether he in fact does care for Estelle or that he thinks it’s good to keep Kate feeling insecure in his life.

Minor characters Mrs. Manfred, the nanny and Mrs. Manfred’s housekeeper all have characters. Mrs. Manfred loves dogs and has a bunch of them. She dresses like a bag lady at home in the country and dolls up to the nines in London and can put on a gaudy, posh wedding in a week. Kate likes her immensely.

Kate hires the nanny because Jerome insists. Traveling with Phillip is a miserable experience that puts sticky stuff and dirt all over Kate’s clothes while he demands endless attention and entertainment. Kate is delighted that the nanny is perfectly happy to entertain Phillip on long car rides and doesn’t object to sticky. The nanny does have a few less enjoyable characteristics. She talks in first person plural, even when she is talking to Kate about Kate. Ugh. On the other hand, having someone who will entertain a 2 year old…

The housekeeper is forthright and tells Mrs. Manfred off for leaving dirty buckets all over the house. She had been a sergeant cook in the army and it shows!

The nanny and housekeeper add a lot of humor to the story. That plus Kate’s character and ongoing attempts to revolt against Jerome make great dialogue.

Cover Complaints

On the cover Jerome would be handsome if he weren’t so grim or had so many deep lines in his face. Ugh. Harlequin used this particular face on several books of the era and I don’t much like it. Jerome is determined but I didn’t find him anywhere near as hard as this cover depicts.

Kate looks like a glamour puss on her last legs. She has a hard look and is wearing a rather unflattering dress, sleeveless with low V neck, that I don’t see her wearing any point in the story. Author describes Kate as very attractive, sweet tempered (mostly, except around Jerome) and with excellent taste.

Cover does not fit the story at all.

My Version of the Ending

I’ve read Hell Is My Heaven several times. I loved it the first few times I read it, and I still love it. Kate, the minor characters, the dialogue, the humor, are excellent and make this a wonderful book to read. The last time I read it in order to write this review I found Kate’s odd behavior – panicking at Estelle’s ultimatum – so out of character that it jarred me. I would love to rewrite the scene. Here’s my dialogue:

Kate: “You do realize, Estelle, that Jerome won’t buckle to blackmail? And that if your friend Gerald publishes photos he will name me as Mrs. Jerome Manfred? That it would be Jerome – not me – that is embarrassed? That Jerome would never turn to you after you pull a stunt like that? That even if he were to kick me out he would blame you for embarrassing him, that he would have only contempt for you?”

Estelle: “*$&U#)#*(#%R$ D!!!D!” He will too want me! Me ME MEEEE. You’re nothing!!!! MEEEEE!!! #$%&$%*&&%!!!!!”

Estelle leaves in a flounce. Estelle and ex BF tear open the envelope and find it’s empty. Hahahah!!

Jerome and Kate together pay a visit to Estelle. Jerome presents the facts of life to Estelle and tells her to keep away from him and his family.

Estelle: “%*&)%$$$!!! You love me, ME, MEEEE!!!!! !#$%#”

Jerome: “No. I love Kate.”

Summary

Allowing for the vagaries of time travel, copyright and authorship, I’m not likely to rewrite Hell Is My Heaven. Darn.

Even with the clunky way Kate panics this is still a wonderful book, one of the best Harlequin Romances I’ve read.

5 Stars

I got my paperback copy from Thriftbooks after I had borrowed the pdf version from Archive.org. Amazon has used copies and most likely you can find it on eBay and other used online sites.

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Act of Betrayal by Sara Craven 2nd Chance Romance

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Laura divorced Jason a year after marriage when her uncle showed her proof that Jason had raided their joint savings account to pay rent for and support another woman – a woman with a small boy who looked just like Jason. Uncle told Laura that Jason had asked for money, that he was a sponger and might have confused Laura with her cousin Celia who is Uncle’s heiress. Laura confronted Jason, who admitted that yes, he gave Laura’s money, the allowance she received from the business her father had cofounded with Uncle, to Clare Marshall. Laura never asked whether Jason had slept with Clare or whether the two children were his. She left, emotionally devastated, and returned to live with her uncle, uncle’s unpleasant housekeeper and beautiful, malicious Celia.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Act of Betrayal opens when Laura, orphaned she was small, and a trained cook, is called on to make a special lunch for her uncle’s company board members and a prospective customer who could make or break the firm. Jason is now the managing director of Tristan’s construction, the important customer, and he seeks her out after lunch. Laura knows she still loves and misses Jason but she cannot face marriage with a man who has a relationship with a mistress and hides her feelings to protect herself.

Jason comes by Uncle’s house where Celia co-opts him into a spur of the moment cocktail party that evening. Celia makes it clear to Laura that she intends to catch Jason. Laura had planned to go out that evening but her date, Alan, a food critic, stays for the cocktail party then invites Celia and Jason along with him and Laura to the new restaurant. Alan drinks too much and Jason sends Celia home in a taxi and helps Laura get Alan home. Jason pushes Laura aside when she kisses him, and later Laura sees Jason’s car outside Uncle’s home all night, and assumes he spent the night with Celia.

After about a month, when Laura avoids Jason and Celia as much as possible, she learns that Jason has bought Mill Cottage nearby, and that Clare Marshall – whom he calls his housekeeper – will live there too. Laura realizes she needs to leave the area, that she can’t face the ongoing hurt and heartbreak seeing Jason and knowing he is either with Celia or with Clare, and that if she were to come back to him she would be only one of his harem. Laura starts to look for a live in cook/housekeeper job, but her looks and youth are against her.

Laura drives by Mill Cottage and Clare flags her down, wants to talk and be friends. Clare doesn’t explain anything about her relationship with Jason, but makes it clear that she has separate quarters for herself and her children. Laura assumes that Clare’s single bed simply means she will spend most nights with Jason. Laura is going out when Jason comes in, confronts Laura, drags her upstairs and easily seduces her. Laura wakes up, starts to leave. Jason tells her that “I have you now, Laura, and you are not running out on me again.” Too bad, Laura leaves and spends the night at friends’ house.

The next morning her friend, Bethany, tells her she happened to hear about a job. Laura makes an interview appointment for that afternoon, goes back to Uncle’s house to pack and learns that Uncle is anxious for her to come to the office. Yes, her kindly uncle has some news for her. Laura had always thought her father was the junior partner, that her small allowance was a gift, not anything she was owed. In fact Uncle had diverted her trust fund income back into the business, had not increased the income when Laura married Jason, as he should have, and when Jason asked him for money he was not sponging, it was in fact the funds that were Laura’s by right. Uncle says that Jason is holding the contract up for ransom, that Uncle had to tell Laura the truth or Jason would walk away and Uncle’s company would fold.

Laura is dumbfounded at Uncle’s perfidy and when Jason asks her about it she pushes away and goes to her interview. The interview turns out to be with Jason’s mother who has an interesting confession. It was her husband, Jason’s father, who had the long term affair with Clare and fathered her children before he died. Mom used her health to blackmail Jason to keep quiet because she had the crazy idea that she had to pretend her marriage was perfect. She was willing to see anyone suffer, even her own son, in order to pretend that her husband loved her, not someone else.

Jason comes in then and he and Laura go off to remarry.

Characters and Emotions

I wanted to hit Laura and Jason and yes, Clare too, for keeping quiet about this cruel deception. I understand keeping promises and keeping secrets, but never at the expense of one’s marriage, at the cost of heartbreak.

Jason was angry at Laura, thought that she never really wanted to marry him, that she preferred being alone, and that was why she believed Uncle so fast without asking Jason to explain. Laura simply couldn’t. She should have asked Jason just why he was supporting Clare, gave him the opportunity to explain. Jason asked her to trust him, but he didn’t do much to present himself as trustworthy.

Clare too had the opportunity to explain when she showed Laura around Jason’s new home. She had to know that Laura assumed that Jason was the father but she didn’t bother to clear anything up.

Several times I wanted to yell at the characters to ask the question, to explain the problem. Jason could have voluntarily told Laura that he had to help Clare, that he wasn’t the father, hadn’t had an affair with her, but was morally obligated to help her on someone else’s behalf. He did not. He told Laura that she had never understood the obligation he had for Clare, but he never tried to clarify it for her either.

Act of Betrayal could have been improved if Sara Craven had spent time on the issue of trust. Laura did not trust Jason. She says several times that she never really felt she knew him, that he had always withheld something of himself from her. Of course Jason did not make it easy for her to trust him. He lied to her about going to his studio when in fact he went to Clare and he did not tell her he withdrew their savings. Uncle’s lies fell on ground that Jason himself had prepared and fertilized.

Jason did not trust Laura. He always felt she withheld something of herself, that she was glad to be alone again when she left him. In fact she was hurt and lonely, missed Jason whom she loved and regretted leaving him although she didn’t see how she could have stayed.

The author sketched these trust points but didn’t flesh them out. Instead she made it seem as though the physical attraction and need were the main drivers, when in fact they were sub points to loneliness and love.

Sara Craven is particularly gifted at showing strong emotions in her characters and connections between them. We see from the beginning how Jason’s return affects Laura. Craven shows this in party by sharing Laura’s thoughts, but it’s also obvious by how she avoids Jason, tries to hide behind Alan, how she decides to leave Uncle’s home and get a menial job.

It’s not as obvious how much Jason regrets losing Laura. He makes a lot of snide, sarcastic comments, hangs on Celia, makes it clear that although he might want Laura physically that he blames her for their breakup and intends to wreck revenge on her. That could be love or it could be dislike and basic jerk hood.

Overall Summary

I liked Act of Betrayal for the intense emotional connections and also because I wanted to see how Jason can square the circle of having supported a woman with children that look like him and even are named after him. The dialogue is good, the plot is interesting, the pacing is good.

On the other hand, I’m not fond of romances that hinge on not asking/answering questions or misunderstandings. Emotional cowardice keeps people quiet and it’s stupid. It causes immense hurt and harms marriages and friendships.

Using Jason’s mother as the deus ex machina left me unsatisfied. I felt that Jason could have done something before he and Laura divorced, that she should have asked more questions. Laura obviously still loves Jason, so either she or he should have taken the risk to connect beyond the physical. I loved Jason telling Laura that he has her now and she isn’t going to get away again, but then he lets her leave. Of course that’s the spur that has him forcing Uncle and Mother to confess all. I felt the confessions were the easy way out of the tangle, that Laura should have been able to trust Jason and Jason to trust her.

3 Stars

I got my used paperback copy from Thriftbooks. At this moment there is no E version; Archive.org does not have Act of Betrayal in PDF format nor is it available on Amazon.

On a side note, Jason in the cover picture is very good looking. Lots of times the hero looks like an arrogant jerk but this guy looks like he cares about the lady he is holding.

The Millionaire’s Prospective Wife by Helen Brooks

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This romance has some sweet moments, some funny dialogue and scenes and some emotional connections. Cory is a social worker who helps dysfunctional families, sometimes working far into the night when her clients need help. Nick is the typical Harlequin rich, gorgeous hero, except that he’s wise enough to realize that charm and beauty and sex appeal are not as important as a loving heart and strong character.

Nick never committed before and he has let Cory know this, and she, being rather emotional insecure and full of self-doubts, does not realize that this time NIck is committed, that he has committed himself to her. It is so refreshing to read a story where he says “I love you” before she does.

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

Cory takes her aunt’s big, untrained dog Rufus to the park and makes the mistake of letting Rufus off his leash. Rufus instantly takes off, runs after all the other dogs and knocks Nick right off his feet. Cory is horrified, especially when Rufus then runs back and starts eating Nick’s expensive cell phone. Cory insists that she pay for the cell phone and Nick’s suit; he refuses but recognizes that Cory is determined that she owes him and that she pays her debts. Nick needs a date for a business meeting he is hosting that night. Will Cory accompany him to atone for Rufus’s damage?

Cory reluctantly accepts, tells him that if he finds someone else to not feel obligated to take her. (I think this is when Nick realizes he has found a most unusual lady.) Her aunt insists on buying Cory a designer dress which makes the most of Cory’s looks, which combines with her personality and character to completely blow Nick away. Nick kisses Cory when he takes her home which sets the world on fire for both of them.

They date. Nick eventually worms it out of Cory that she had dated an older, rich guy once before who only wanted to sleep with her, and that she’s frightened of falling for rich, handsome guys as a result. She’s also emotionally insecure, convinced she’s not lovable because her parents never gave her attention or cared.

Nick takes it very very slowly, but steadily works his way into her heart and mind. Cory realizes she loves Nick, but is still convinced he’s a love ’em and leave ’em type and she knows she would be devastated if she sleeps with him then he dumps her.

Cory gets a migraine one night, a very bad attack, and Nick puts her to bed, then stays to make sure she’s ok. She’s still not getting the picture that Nick wants all of her, not a short term sleeping arrangement. Cory is even more terrified when Nick tells her he loves her; she cannot believe he means anything permanent.

The big blow up happens when Nick takes her to his country home, then to his mom’s birthday party. Cory meets his sisters and his mom, all of whom like her, but she also meets Margaret, his mom’s goddaughter who hunts Nick. Nick’s sister tells her that Margaret and Nick had a short no-strings affair a few years earlier, that neither wanted commitment, now Margaret wants Nick back. Nick rejects Margaret, but even this doesn’t clue Cory in.

The next afternoon Cory tells Nick that she cannot keep dating him, that they need to break it off. He breaks all the speed limits to dump her back home where she stews whether she should have taken what she could get, even a short affair, vs. the misery of no Nick. Nick shows up at 3 am, she throws herself into his arms and they end up agreeing to marry and have lots of kids.

Emotional and Character Development

The Millionaire’s Prospective Wife works because Nick gently keeps pushing. First he finds out why Cory is so afraid of dating, then he discovers her parents’ cold attitude, then he realizes she’s a caring, genuine person with a great sense of humor and determination. He never stops pushing Cory to realize she loves him.

Despite the heavy sounding emotions this story has relatively little angst. Nick is never cruel, he never tries to seduce Cory (although he has a hard time stopping himself), he clearly respects her and values her. Cory is also not mean, or vindictive or hateful, she’s simply afraid and knows herself well enough to realize she could not survive an affair. She never dreams that Nick intends marriage.

There is no Other Man except for the cad Cory dated a few years before, and he never appears except in dialogue. Margaret is not a Other Woman because Cory heard Nick tell her no. The other minor characters are good but not particularly fleshed out.

The story is set in London, in Cory’s head, and at Nick’s country home. Author Helen Brooks uses various dogs and cats mostly for humor, first Rufus who brings Nick and Cory together, then the dog in the apartment below Cory’s, then Nick’s mom’s menagerie of dogs and cats, all of whom are a little goofy.

Overall

The Millionaire’s Prospective Wife is a sweet, mostly happy story with a little bit of plot, some humor and some character growth. It’s good and I enjoyed it.

3 1/2 Stars, rounding to 4

I got my ebook copy from Harlequin.com to read on Glose and you can borrow the pdf version from Archive.org here or buy the paperback at Thriftbooks and likely other used book sites. At the moment Amazon does not have this.