More Books than Time

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

Devil Lover – Revenge Romance by Carole Mortimer

by Leave a Comment

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

Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Characters

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

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

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

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

Overall

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

2 Stars.

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

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Man of Velvet, Marriage of Convenience Romance by Dana Terrill

by Leave a Comment

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

Plot Synopsis – Skip to Avoid Spoilers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Characters and Emotional Connections

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why Diana Leaves Caleb

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

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

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

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

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

Diana

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

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

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

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

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

Caleb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other Man and Other Woman

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

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

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

Overall

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

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

5 Stars

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

All Amazon links are paid ads.

The Sweetest Trap. Harlequin Presents by Robyn Donald

by Leave a Comment

I usually like Robyn Donald’s Harlequin Presents for their strong stories, interesting well-developed characters and good dialogue. The Sweetest Trap is disappointing. I made myself finish it despite stopping every few pages to do fun things like dishes and laundry. The plot was simply not enticing enough to overcome wooden characters, continuity problems, spotty dialogue and the cheesy idea of a 35 year old man seducing an 18 year old, unworldly girl.

Plot Synopsis

Cressida, just 18, sails with her domineering father all over the world, gaining him raw material for his philosophical musing/travelogue books that sell well, until her dad has a fatal heart attack off the coast of New Zealand during a dangerous storm. Cressida radios for help since she cannot handle the yacht alone and Luke arrives in his fishing launch to help her bring the yacht into shore.

Luke takes her to his New Zealand home which he shares with his mom, helps her with the inquest, financial settlements, emotional turmoil. Cressida has longed to live the way Luke does, settled in a home surrounded by country yet close enough to the ocean to sail or swim for fun. She had wanted to go to college, had never wanted to accompany her father, but he had promised his dead wife to keep Cressida with him. Now she’s unable to grieve and can feel only bitter regret.

Luke has a long time girlfriend, Paula, who visits several weekends. Luke’s mom tells Cressida that Paula has not wanted to marry Luke since it meant she would have to give up the law career she loves. Later we see that Paula does want to marry Luke and Luke tells Cressida that he had thought seriously about marrying Paula since he cares greatly for her.

Cressida is wise enough to realize she has a crush on Luke and is hoping that it is nothing more, just the usual adolescent strong feelings that dissipate in time. They are physically attracted and Luke kisses her, makes it clear that he wants more. Eventually they take her yacht out on a farewell cruise before she sells it, get caught overnight in a storm and make love. Cressida is horrified afterwards because she knows that was the worst thing to do when she does not want to love Luke and does not want to be pregnant and there’s Paula. Luke says he’ll marry her but it doesn’t sound to Cressida or to me as though he wants to.

When they get back Paula is waiting for Luke in the garage, throws herself in his arms and says “You have to help me. I think I’m pregnant!” Exit Cressida.

She ends up sharing an apartment in Auckland with a nice girl, Jan, who’s pretty fed up with guys – at the moment. Luke shows up and Cressida delivers a great self-sufficiency speech: She wants to find out who Cressida Godwin is and all she’ll ever be if she marries Luke is Mrs. Luke. He’s angry and tells her Paula has been having an affair with someone else, admits he loves Paula, leaves.

Luke’s mom calls Cressida when Luke is hospitalized. Cressida charters a plane to get there and sits with him while he’s unconscious. Paula arrives too and agrees with Cressida that one of the two of them can stay with Luke, and it will be whosever voice he responds to. Luke ignores Paula but reaches for Cressida’s hand. Paula leaves, banished to the cold reaches of discarded HP Other Women. Luke then wakes up and kicks Cressida out.

Things proceed until Luke shows back up one evening when Jan is out, informs her he loves her, won’t take no for an answer, they sleep together again and agree to marry.

Characters and Dialogue

Luke starts his role in The Sweetest Trap by jumping in the ocean during a storm to reach Cressida’s boat, grinning and having a wonderful time playing Viking. Later Robyn Donald tries to show Luke as a thoughtful, emotional, warm and kind man but it doesn’t quite work. Luke is extremely kind to Cressida, supporting her through the horribleness of her dad’s death, offering her a home, helping her gain some basic skills, but he also rides over her and ignores what she wants when it conflicts with what he wants.

Case in point: Luke asks one of his employees to take Cressida shopping since all her clothes are suited to sailing in warm weather, casual or outgrown. Cressida has some money the lawyer for her father’s estate advanced her and she intends to budget only part of that for new clothes. Luke goes behind her back and has his employee go back and get all the other things that Cressida liked but didn’t buy. True, the new things are wonderful and Cressida wants them, but her whole point throughout the story is she wants to be independent, at least long enough to prove to herself that she is a separate person and can take care of herself. Luke was disrespectful.

Let’s not even go to the age difference. The experience gap is even larger and more momentous than the age gap. Cressida went to a convent school in England when she wasn’t cloistered on the yacht with her dad. She met people yes, including a repulsive guy who wanted to buy her for a short term affair, but she was completely under her father’s control. Luke has been an independent adult for almost 20 years.

Cressida had the dubious pleasure of being in the room behind a bookcase when Paula and Luke came in and started kissing and making out. Luke claimed later that was Paula’s last attempt to show him they could make marriage work, supposedly because she didn’t want the affair with the other man. I don’t buy this. This little passionate interlude took many minutes and neither one spoke. It sounded as if Luke enjoyed having Paula try to persuade him, even if he ended up rejecting her.

Cressida has the best dialogue and develops a spine although she berates herself for being weak and easily intimidated. I didn’t think she had allowed herself enough time to discover who she was but overall she was characterized as a person we could visualize being happy. The author tells us instead of showing us a little too much. Cressida is described as feeling empty, bitter, afraid several times but we don’t really see that.

I didn’t like the huge age/experience difference nor that Cressida and Luke sleep together even when Cressida believes he is in love with Paula. She doesn’t seem able to think clearly when Luke is around with his manly self.

The big romance between Cressida and Luke is inconsistent, varying from almost completely physical to metaphysical. Luke says he recognizes Cressida as bone of his bone, part of himself, but this is after he’s tried to push her away, after he’s seduced her, after he’s hurt her, after she’s seen him first make love to Paula then later reject her, after Cressida has escaped his hand. As for Cressida it’s possible for a young lady to truly love a man so much older and more experienced, but it’s far more likely to be a short term crush. Cressida was wise to leave to find out the difference; I was not convinced that she knew what she felt even at the end.

Luke uses Paula. He tells Cressida that he’d seriously considered marrying Paula, that they both cared for the other, that he didn’t love her but knew they could have a happy life together. He keeps seeing Paula and seems to swing between chasing Cressida for physical delight and clinging to Paula for emotional comfort. He finally dumps her, which is when Paula turns to her married co-worker.

The minor characters, Luke’s mom, gossipy neighbors, the young lawyer and his wife, roommate Jan, are nice touches and all have some depth, but are essentially spear carriers, foils to carry the action. I couldn’t visualize any of them.

Style and Continuity

Robyn Donald did not make me care about the characters nor believe any of them are real people. The pace is slow. Sometimes a slow pace with a slow tension build works great with romance novels but this one doesn’t have the tension.

The novel lacks a clear emotional peak. Was it when Luke and Cressida make love in the yacht? When Paula throws herself at him begging for help with a suspected pregnancy? When Luke is in hospital and Cressida and Paula joust over who he will respond to? Is it when Cressida tells Luke she needs to be on her own to find out who she is? The ending is not the peak; in fact it simply happens. Time to sleep together, yay!

I picked a page at random, #104, right after Cressida tells Luke about the degenerate rich guy who wanted her for a couple weeks. There are 6 paragraphs on this page, all quite short. Four paragraphs are tell paragraphs, Robyn Donald tells us what Cressida thinks or describes inconsequential action. Two are mostly dialogue. That ratio is pretty typical, a bit more telling than showing and that, along with the slow pace and icky age difference make this story bland and less interesting than Donald’s usual.

There are at least two glaring and some smaller continuity problems.

  • Luke broke ribs and hurt his arm in a bulldozer accident but Cressida asks him several times about his leg, does it hurt, can he walk OK? Luke says it aches.
  • Cressida doesn’t earn a lot in Auckland yet she charters a plane to get to Luke in the hospital instead of taking the bus.
  • Luke and Cressida make love in the apartment she shares with Jan. I can see Jan having a fit when she comes home and finds them both there, especially if Cressida and Jan share a room.
  • A small problem is when the yacht sells. The buyers are getting it refitted so Luke and Cressida take it out for a last sail. The boat must have been docked near Luke’s house yet we never hear that the buyers came to see it in person. I noticed that which means either the story was weak or the problem was glaring; I usually forgive small problems in a good story.

Overall

The Sweetest Trap combines the big age and experience gap with a domineering man and girl who wants to grow up and develop a spine and personality. I think this should have caused tension and conflict all on its own, and indeed that is so. However the tension is mild and Donald does not develop the conflicts. Instead we have a lot of Luke chasing Cressida around the couch (more or less) and Cressida bemoaning that she has a crush on Luke, a most unsuitable crush object.

The story does not come together.

2 Stars, OK

I got my paperback copy of The Sweetest Trap in a lot on eBay. It is available on Thriftbooks here, and Amazon here, both new and used. I didn’t see it available in E format except in pdf format to borrow on Archive.org.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Devon Interlude Vintage Romance by Kay Thorpe

by Leave a Comment

Kay Thorpe’s Harlequin Romances have bossy men and ladies who stand up for themselves most of the time. Devon Interlude is one of the earliest novels she wrote for Harlequin, published in 1968, and it is a pleasant, easy to read story which, yes, does have her usual bossy guy and non-doormat girl.

After her play folds actress Gail goes to her brother’s home, an inn he is trying to make a go of, in rural Devon. Her brother and his wife had helped her to get started as an actress and Gail is aware she owes them big time and feels guilty because she let the odd letter substitute for visits. In fact her brother has been very ill but didn’t want to worry Gail so she does not know.

In typical Harlequin fashion the first person Gail meets on her way home is her bother’s best friend Mark, who makes no bones about his contempt for her. He accuses her of coming only to get more money from brother Steve, tries to shame her for being uncaring and distant and offers a check, presumably so she won’t bother Steve and wife Carol. Gail is furious with Mark but is honest enough to admit she has been at fault not coming to visit or even to do much to keep in touch with Steve and Carol.

Steve and Carol’s inn is not doing well. They are “foreigners”, outsiders to the closed neighborhood and the locals don’t patronize the inn nor are they able to get tourist traffic. Gail takes responsibility to find them much increased custom when she makes a deal with a tour bus operator in a nearby town. He will bring people to see a local attraction, then stop at the inn for dinner or drinks. This works great and Steve and Carol are pleased and happy their financial situation might improve.

Gail works evenings at the inn and meets a couple younger men who suggest she get involved with the local drama club which they claim is significantly better than the average amateur group. She is a little reluctant but agrees to step in when the lady playing the lead in the play they are rehearsing has to quit. She is impressed with the script and quality of the acting but nearly quits when she realizes that Mark is directing the play.

Mark apologizes for offering her the check and Gail agrees to start fresh with him. They go to the beach and spend time together and Gail realizes she is nearly over the infatuation she had with Paul, an actor she worked with several years. She’s not quite ready to fall for Mark though.

Right about this time Sandra, a neighbor makes it clear she’s targeting Mark and Paul shows up to try and convince Gail to go with him and an acting company to tour Australia. Gail realizes she’s quite happy away from the theater but doesn’t want to stick around and see Sandra and Mark get married. The next thing that happens is that the man who plays the lead opposite Gail in the play gets ill and Mark steps in. Gail delivers a passionate and truthful love avowal in the opening night performance and Mark and she both admit their love and agree to marry.

The conflicts in Devon Interlude are understated. Gail isn’t terribly emotional nor does she brood about Mark or Paul or Sandra. She is slow to realize she is falling in love with Mark – she’s a little afraid since she has just realized she never really loved Paul and doesn’t want to make another mistake. As she’s facing up to her heart she sees Sandra and thinks she cannot compete. Sandra isn’t obviously nasty, unlike some Other Women in later romances, but she is clear that Mark is hers and that Gail is no competition. Neither girl seems to realize that Mark is going to decide Mark’s future!

The family relationships between Steve, Carol and Gail are well done with a light touch that shows how much each values the others without having Gail wallow in guilt. Mark too has some family issues (don’t we all?) and Gail is surprised to see the animosity between Mark and his father.

Overall Devon Interlude is a happy story without a lot of the usual nastiness we see in some Harlequins. Mark is a reasonable person who willingly admits he was too fast to judge Gail and Gail is willing to admit she neglected her family and that Mark, although he was rude and made vile comments, is willing to find a way to get along with Gail since her brother is his very good friend.

Kay Thorpe is a good writer and this is a good story with people who feel like they could be real.

3 Stars

I got my copy from Thriftbooks and other used book sites and eBay likely will have copies as does Amazon.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Betrayal in Bali – Intense Romance by Sally Wentworth

by Leave a Comment

Betrayal in Bali is one of my two or three favorite romance novels and every time I read it I am in awe of the author’s skill with strong emotions. Here Sally Wentworth converts betrayal to love and makes us believe it.

Characters and Plot Synopsis

Gael Markham’s brother in law skids on ice driving her home and hits an oncoming car, killing the two people in the other car. Gael takes the blame for the accident to protect her brother in law from losing his job.

A few weeks later Leo Kane meets Gael at the gallery where she works. He works for an international construction company and is home for a 3 month leave. He takes her to lunch, they date, she falls in love. Leo is older, more experienced, doesn’t show much physical attraction to Gael, nor does he tell her he loves her, yet dates her steadily. One weekend they go sailing and Leo asks her to drive home but she refuses, citing the fact she lost her license after an accident. He presses her on the accident and Gael won’t talk about it, “It’s nothing.” (She still has nightmares about the crash.)

Leo goes on holiday for 5 weeks and Gael realizes she needs to get over him. Then he returns to London and proposes. He will be in Bali to supervise a huge hospital construction project and wants her with him. He says, “I said I would give you a ring” when I get back.

The marry three weeks later just before their flight to Indonesia. Leo acts a little odd, abstracted, lost in thought during dinner when they arrive on Bali. When he comes to her bedroom he viciously tells Gael he won’t consummate the marriage, that he hated having to kiss and touch her, married her only because she killed his fiancée with her drunk driving, that she owes him, that he must have a wife for this job and she can jolly well play the part.

This brutal rejection devastates Gael, she tries to assert her innocence, and demands Leo let her leave. Unfortunately he got a joint passport and she has no money and cannot leave without him. The next day she’s rude to local queen bee Norah, claims she will continue to be rude until Leo lets her go. Leo threatens Gael physically and emotionally in private then turns into Mr. Sweet when they go to Norah’s for dinner, calls her darling, holds her. Gael proposes a bargain with him when they get back home. She will act the company wife for 6 months and Leo will treat her with some basic consideration, let her leave afterwards, then get the marriage annulled. They agree.

Leo continues to treat her with contempt in private, affectionately in public and Gael is emotionally devastated, bored, lonely, barely able to function after parties where Leo pretends to care. She can’t bring herself to socialize with the other wives after Leo rejected her so thoroughly and there is nothing to do, nowhere to go. About a month later she discovers there are bikes on Bali; she asks the servants to sell her camera and buy a bike for her, which allows her freedom to leave the tiny yard and house. She sketches the local scenes and slowly heals from the emotional shock.

About 6 weeks after they arrive in Bali Gael discovers a secluded plantation house on its private beach just a mile from their bungalow and is delighted with the place. Dirk Vanderman, an Australian now returned to Bali, surprises her there and agrees to rent her a room in the house she can use for a studio to paint. They get along great for about 3 weeks, work separately all day, take swim breaks and eat picnic lunches together.

Gael slowly recovers her confidence and joy in life and Leo comments she is eating and looks better, Gael tells him that she has gotten over his betrayal, that he no longer has the power to hurt her. He asks her to accompany him to a country club dinner dance. Gael agrees to go, stating it is only to fulfill her bargain. Leo says it doesn’t have to be like that any more, that he hadn’t realized how much he would hurt her, indicates he’s ready to have a more normal relationship, to stop hating each other. Gael loved Leo intensely and now must either hate or love, she cannot be indifferent and she refuses to love.

Dirk sees her at the dance and the next day talks her into going with him to tour some artist enclaves on Bali. Gael sees Nora, who has never forgiven Gael for snubbing her, and tries to leave unseen instead of greeting her. Of course Norah sees them together and tells Leo. Leo confronts Gael and accuses her of having an affair. He forcibly kisses her and tries to make her admit she hopped into bed with Dirk. Gael denies it, tells him to believe what he wants, she doesn’t really care as she vowed never to let a man touch her after Leo lied and cheated.

The next scene is the emotional turning point. Gael decides she cannot keep going to Dirk’s house to paint any more, even though she knows she will hurt even worse if she quits, bikes over, packs up her painting materials at the plantation house and is nearly ready to leave when Dirk comes and suggests they go swimming one last time. Leo comes as she gets her bikini off the balcony, sees her in her underwear and is enraged, dashes up the stairs. Terrified Gael shouts for Dirk and runs out, still in her underwear and Dirk holds her a second. Leo yells at him to take his hands off his wife. They hit each other and Gael tries to break it up but Leo can’t pull his punch and hits her in the face. She falls down the steps unconscious.

At the hospital Gael is still terrified and refuses to see Leo. Dirk hops through the window to see her and asks her to leave Leo and come to him, that he’s in love with her; Gael replies he’s a wonderful friend, but only a friend and that she can’t leave Leo yet. Leo forces his way to see her, tells her that all his bitterness and anger left when he saw her fall down the stairs, that he wants to try again, to start over as they were in London. Gael says bully for him, but she still lives in her hell and all she wants is to leave.

To us readers it starts looking as though Leo begins to care for Gael. Two weeks earlier he indicated he was no longer fiercely angry with her, that he could begin again, and now, after putting her in the hospital, reiterates this. Gael does not believe him whatsoever. When she leaves hospital Leo takes her out, they spend time together, explore the island, act as a couple. Gael doesn’t trust this and tries to pick fights but Leo works hard to control his temper and reactions, treats her as a wife, forces togetherness. Leo offers Gael the job of to design and select the art display for the new hospital. It’s a dream job that she is reluctant to accept.

They attend an evening coming of age ceremony for their servants’ son. Afterwards Leo says he’s fallen in love with Gael. She’s indignant, accuses him of saying that only because people suspect he beat her up, doesn’t believe him. She can’t resist the job though and is happy doing what she loves.

A few evenings later a close lightening strike startles Gael and Leo comes in her room and tries to make love to her. She responds momentarily then shoves him away, stumbles across the room to get away. He says he’ll leave her alone that night, but that they will make love soon because she wants it too.

The entire island is as tense as Gael and Leo. The rains are late, people are nervous about the political situation and unrest and unemployment. There is a small riot that blows up the propane storage at the hospital construction site that frightens Gael. She’s getting ready to ride her bike over to see what’s going on when their servant Kartini asks her to help to get medical attention for their son, shot in the riot. Gael gets a driver and car from the hospital and goes with Kartini to pick up the boy. During all this the monsoons start and everyone and everything, including the car’s spark plugs, are drenched and muddy. She gets out several times on the short drive to move big sticks, stands in the mud to push the car and finally manages to get to Kartini’s home, pick up the boy, get the car to start up again (remember, 1980 cars weren’t as robust as today’s), and gets halfway back when they almost plow into a big tree that blocks the road. She and Kartini’s husband get out to chop off branches so they can remove the tree. They hear a car and go hide in the jungle.

Leo is driving the car, looking for Gael. He and she meet and he takes Kartini’s family to the hospital then takes Gael home and into the shower and into bed. Gael tells him then that she was not the driver in the accident that killed his fiancée, and he apologizes again. We leave as they begin to make love.

Why Betrayal In Bali Works

Gael is neither pushy nor a pushover. She recognizes how devastated Leo is from losing his fiancée and she even understand why he wants to punish her for it and force her to stay with him so he can keep his job. She might have agreed to stay as recompense had she truly caused Julia’s death but as it was she vehemently denied Leo had any right to lie and cheat and was adamant that she would learn to stop feeling hurt.

Gael is blunt, says what she means and states how she feels. When Leo courts her in London Gael is completely open about her feelings. After being gone 5 weeks Leo tells her he will leave for 3 years in Bali in just a few weeks. Gael doesn’t – can’t – hide how she feels. In Bali she tells Leo he hurt her.

Gael loves Leo. She truly loves him, not just in London or before he betrays her. She loves him despite how he treats her and that’s why she channels all her heart into hating him. She can’t help respond when he tries to kiss her the night he accuses her of sleeping with Dirk or during the storm or in London or at the ending. She must love or hate Leo, nothing between.

Leo is emotionally complex. Does he love Gael at all before she falls down the stairs? I think so. In London he seems torn between keeping emotional and physical distance and caring. He obviously finds her attractive and the fact she’s in love with him adds to her appeal. Yet he doesn’t want to feel anything for her beyond getting her to Bali helping him. When you think about it, it makes sense he would want her to come act the wife since he must be married for his job and she’s readily available. Yet marrying someone for revenge is incredibly stupid. Buddy, you will be married. Stuck with someone you dislike. Stuck in the same house, stuck living together.

He said he didn’t much care how he got Gael to come with him to Bali. If he had explained the situation would she have come? Maybe. Then we’d have had the typical marriage of convenience novel instead of this one full of emotional passion from betrayal.

Leo says he searched his conscience when he realized how much he hurt Gael. That tells me he’s normally a decent man, and now he has to feel guilty. Does guilt turn into love? Not usually. Guilt might make him treat her better, to try and make something of their marriage, but he has to have some will to love her or some emotional connection to stay the course.

Dirk Vanderman is more than a possible Other Man, he’s a true character in his own right. He is kind to Gael and fun, they get along great without any emotional or physical demands yet he expects Gael to do her best. Gael swims better and further to meet Dirk’s challenge.

Norah is a typical obnoxious Queen Bee. Norah doesn’t like that Gael technically outranks her in the closed European company community because Gael is married to the boss and Norah is not. Norah loves to cut Gael down and make spiteful remarks. Gael simply dislikes Norah. She doesn’t like her snobbishness, her condescending attitudes to the natives, she doesn’t like being patronized or treated as a dope. We’ve probably all known Norah types and they aren’t much fun.

Sally Wentworth makes Bali as a setting come alive. This is not a travelogue Harlequin Presents. Wentworth describes the flowers and the beach and the heat and the tiny homes in small villages and the children without making the place as important as the characters. She keeps Bali as the setting, important to the story since we must understand how constrained Gael feels when trapped in her home and yard. There was a lot of political unrest in Indonesia around 1980 when she published Betrayal in Bali, and Wentworth explains enough to make the riot believable.

Emotional connections are strong. Even without knowing Leo’s feelings we see Gael’s heart and Wentworth masterfully shows how one person connects to another and forms an emotional bond between her characters and us readers. I’m not sure how she does it. I’ve read several books by her that have this bond and I can’t quite see why some books connect so strongly with me and some do not. The common denominator seems to be that I can empathize with Gael in Betrayal in Bali and Genista in Rightful Possession, but not so much with Lyn in The Judas Kiss or Casey in Ultimatum. Those ladies seem more vindictive or controlling, not people I can relate to.

I’m in awe how Sally Wentworth creates characters and stories that convert events that should have and did cause immense emotional devastation into growth and emotional healing and finally into love. She converts betrayal into love in Betrayal in Bali and rape into love with Rightful Possession, and both are believable. Which is incredible when you consider the agony the heroines must feel.

Rating

5 Stars. Betrayal in Bali is one of the best Harlequin Presents novels I have read, believable, emotionally fulfilling, delightful characters, enjoyable.

I read Betrayal in Bali back when it was published – I used to borrow some Harlequin romances from our library. There were six that stuck in my mind for years, although I remembered only snippets. It’s funny that I recalled that Leo blames Gael for the car crash because she took the blame although innocent because I had forgotten the entire rest of the novel, even that it was set in Bali. Sally Wentworth wrote three of those six books I remember 40 years later. Which I think says a lot for the depth of her characterization.

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

All Amazon links are paid ads.

If Dreams Came True – Romance and Ballet by Rozella Lake / Roberta Leigh

by Leave a Comment

Rozella Lake also wrote as Roberta Leigh and Rachel Lindsay. The title, If Dreams Came True, is exactly what this lovely romance is about.

Characters and Plot Synopsis

Briony, 22, is an upcoming ballet dancer, on the cusp of moving from the corps de ballet to small solo roles. She’s dedicated to her dancing and to her older sister, Fay, who has limped from childhood and suffers from progressively worse moods and hysteria. Story opens when Briony comes home to their shabby apartment and finds Tom, their doctor and good friend, brought a friend with him, Christopher Clayton. Christopher and Briony are immediately attracted to each other and date for a couple weeks.

Christopher tries to entice Briony into bed with him; she resists but believes she is falling in love with him. He takes her to the Savoy where his mother sees them together; afterwards Christopher tells Briony that he is engaged, and although he loves her, he cannot get out of the upcoming marriage. He tells her that his older brother, Daniel, a neurosurgeon who controls the family fortune, is forcing him to marry Maureen so that Daniel can get the new hospital wing he wants. In fact Christopher tells her several bouncers, that Daniel will cut off his mother’s money, that he’ll force Christopher to dump Briony.

Both girls are shattered. Christopher had spent several hours with Fay and told her he planned to buy a bungalow in the country for them all which would have a ground floor space for her, and now she finds that was a cruel dream, nothing real. Fay tells Briony this and practically falls apart.

Fay repairs jewelry free lance and had been working on a very costly ruby and gold necklace. She wore this to the Savoy with Briony and Christopher and lost it. The necklace was not insured when Fay wore it and now that it is gone she must repay the jeweler 3000 pounds, about $25,000 today, an enormous sum for a dancer. Briony talks to Beloff, the ballet company director, who is willing to talk to the jeweler but who doesn’t have that much extra money either. Fay is devastated, hysterical, Briony is scared but determined to find the funds to keep her sister out of trouble.

A day later Beloff tells Briony that the jeweler told him that Fay had repaid him 2500 pounds, leaving a much smaller 500 pounds, still a tremendous sum for a dancer who is responsible for a crippled sister. Christopher’s brother, Daniel, comes to their apartment just before Briony dashes home still in full theatrical makeup and leotard. He is furious that Briony called Christopher and demanded money, blackmailed him to pay 2500 pounds to keep her from confronting his fiancée. Briony of course knows nothing about this, it was Fay who called, Fay who demanded money, and Fay who lied to Daniel claiming it was Briony and that she wanted the money to buy them a better flat.

A day later Daniel comes by again. He talked to Fay and learned that Christopher had promised much before betraying them and he offers to marry Briony himself and provide a home for Fay. He claims that he needs a wife for the usual social responsibilities and that having a beautiful ballerina as wife will be an asset as he raises money for his hospital wing. Briony is disgusted and at first declines, then accepts after Fay has a breakdown.

They marry in a cold business arrangement. Briony makes no secret that she dislikes Daniel and she still believes she is in love with Christopher. Over the next couple months she realizes that love wasn’t real (as she puts it, you love me “the way you love cream cakes or chocolate!”).

The night after Christopher marries Maureen Daniel suggests that he and Briony take a non-platonic holiday together. She realizes she loves him and agrees. He’s overly considerate and sends her to bed alone. The next day his Deirdre, his former fiancee calls him to South Africa to operate on her husband after a car crash. Husband dies and OW Deirdre gets Daniel to stay in South Africa for 3 weeks, then comes back to England with him, and makes no secret that she intends to marry him herself.

Briony believes Daniel still loves Deirdre, he was cold on the phone and took care of getting her settled before coming home, not the way a man acts who is in love with his wife and can’t wait to see her. She has ample evidence Daniel cares for Deirdre and he doesn’t deny it. He also makes it clear he believes Briony still loves Christopher and doesn’t much like himself. Both are too proud to stop this developing tragedy.

Finally Daniel sends Briony freesias at her debut dancing Giselle with a note saying he knows she doesn’t want his love but wishes her to find love somewhere. She replies urging him to not marry Deirdre, that he is worth far more and a final, second thought ps that she is dancing the next dance for him, implies she loves him.

Finally, both are truthful and open and happy ever after is on the horizon.

Use Dance as Metaphor for Romance

Briony has four challenges:

  • Daniel
  • Fay
  • Paying for the necklace
  • Dancing career

Briony’s dancing career blossoms during the book. She goes from the corps de ballet (the girls in the background who dance as a group) to small solos to dancing the lead role in some challenging and popular ballets. Simultaneously she finds Daniel.

Briony pays the last 500 pounds from the allowance Daniel gives her to buy a fancy dress and mink jacket for Christopher’s wedding, which makes Daniel furious. He doesn’t know to whom she gave the money, except that it was a man. It is when he learns the truth and apologizes to Briony that he suggests they go on a honeymoon.

It’s not clear when exactly Briony began to love Daniel, she stops resenting him early on, then the dislike mutes and eventually she realizes what a fine man he is, though she still does not think he loves her.

Daniel suspects Fay has a neurological problem and hospitalizes her for tests which confirm she has a brain tumor. He operates successfully, removes the tumor, which is benign, and Fay will have a happy life now with Tom.

Everything should be beautiful. Except Daniel seems to prefer Deirdre. But does he? He renews the honeymoon offer, but in an offhand manner that infuriates Briony. Here’s where I wanted to shout at her. All she had to do was point out that if the slept together, then Daniel and she could not get the marriage annulled and he would have to seek divorce, meaning he and Deirdre could not marry for a couple of years. Had she confronted him with that they could have cut through the nonsense.

Further, had Briony been honest and brave enough to tell Daniel she no longer loved his brother, even if she couldn’t tell him that she loved him, we’d have had a much shorter book.

As Briony’s career goes upwards, so does her heart, then she fears she has lost what she never truly had. Finally she resolves everything with Daniel and now is a prima ballerina, her sister is healthy, almost miraculous, and they acknowledge they love each other.

Conflicts in the Story

The obvious conflicts are between Briony and Daniel, with more conflicts between the sisters, and with Christopher and Deirdre. The biggest conflict is within Briony. She loves Daniel, doesn’t believe he cares for her once Deirdre arrives and is heartbroken. She decides several times during the story to forget romance and devote herself to dance.

This is a simple book on the surface, with a happy plot. Under the surface we see Rozella Lake (Roberta Leigh/Rachel Lindsay) creating a character who has to decide to risk her heart. She already risks her physical well being by dancing and now it is her emotions. She has to risk giving her sister the chance to stand on her own, to risk being near her former love Christopher, and to risk Daniel rebuffing her.

Overall

If Dreams Came True is a lovely story. Everything Briony dreamt about came true. She has love, a healthy and happy sister and a brilliant career. We all want to imagine having such a happy life – being top of the tree in our career, loving and being loved by our spouse, having our family healthy. It’s pure escapism yes, but Briony’s challenges are real and take the story from a lovely, sweet froth to a true romance.

5 Stars

I got my paperback copy from Thriftbooks and have seen copies on eBay and you can likely get it from other used book sellers. It is not available online in E format.

The Spanish Connection – Stereotyped Romance by Kay Thorpe

by Leave a Comment

I enjoy most Kay Thorpe romances but this one! The Spanish Connection combines all my most-disliked Harlequin Presents attributes.

  • Stereotyped characters. He’s Spanish, rich. He’s arrogant, thinks he’s God’s gift to women, bossy, obnoxious, uncaring. He files suit to take custody of his dead brother’s sons from their mother! That’s pretty low.
  • Our jerky hero is so colossally full of himself that he tells our heroine that men are always superior to women. Oh my, where to start with this one? Can we just take it as read that superiority depends on the individual and the particular area?
  • He declares he intends to “take” her and that it wouldn’t be rape because he is so gorgeous and sexy and and and. By this point, page 50 or so, I was gagging.
  • He expected all women to be docile doormats. (I worked with a lovely lady from Spain who was the furthest thing possible from doormat-hood.)
  • It’s nauseating to stereotype Spanish men the way this novel does.
  • She falls for him sexually right away and they sleep together the second night she’s in his home. Hey lady, get a grip!! He’s manipulative and obnoxious and out for his own agenda. And if you sleep with him you’ll be so confused he can lead you by the nose.

Plus the story itself is unconvincing. I just don’t buy the romance here. Nina is reflexively jealous of Rafael’s wanna-be girlfriend despite events; she simply sees Rafael with her and assumes they are sleeping together. That’s not love, that’s stupidity.

The plot is nuts, the characters don’t feel real. Even Kay Thorpe’s normal good writing can’t salvage this mess.

Feeling generous today.

2 Stars (I’d give it 1 Star except I did finish it and it is Kay Thorpe!)

I read this initially on Hoopla, which you may be able to access via your library. It’s also available in E format on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Harlequin.com. Look for paperback copies on these sites plus Thriftbooks.com and eBay. I got a paperback copy in a lot with several other books on eBay so it now clutters up my shelves.

Dangerous Charlotte Lamb Romance Harlequin Presents

by Leave a Comment

Charlotte Lamb said once that she could write a book a month, and with that pace a few duds will slip in along with her many stellar stories. Dangerous (paid ad) is a romance between Laura, a nurse chaperoning a resentful, rebellious 16 year old daughter of a very rich man, and that man Domenicos.

Charlotte Lamb tends to take her time and word count to build strong secondary characters, in Dangerous she writes a good, believable story about Laura and Amanda. Amanda starts to grow up and leave behind rebellion for rebellion’s sake, mostly because Laura is wisely indulges her on small things and lets Amanda to meet the boy she likes under the aegis of her grandmother.

Dangerous has side stories: Amanda grows up, Domenicos begins to know her, Domenicos relationship with his mother, Laura’s friendship with Marcel, the uncle of the boy Amanda wants to date. Lamb does a nice job sketching in these stories, enough to keep us interested in the characters, but she doesn’t actually tie off the loose ends.

My biggest disappointment is the romance between Laura and Domenicos is not believable. Domenicos despises women in general and Laura fascinates him because she is honest, does not chase him nor play games and she obviously cares for Amanda and his mother. Plus she’s attractive and radiates innocence. Laura finds Domenicos attractive and she enjoys the time they spend together but she’s sensible enough to be wary of him and not want an affair.

So why do they end up planning to marry? Would Domenicos, a brilliant businessman whose first marriage was a disaster and who doesn’t trust anyone, truly propose after just a month or less, probably less than 24 hours total spent with Laura? I don’t think so. Laura thinks he is propositioning her when he does propose (he words it that way) yet she is willing to risk all for a few moments of joy. It doesn’t ring true to me.

I did not get emotionally involved with any of the characters nor engaged with the story. It was a book I could put down and pick up a day later.

Overall Dangerous is a decent read, well-written with plenty of scenes in and around Paris, with well-done secondary characters. It is meant to be a romance and on that level it doesn’t rate above a skimpy 3 stars. I didn’t love the story, or the characters nor did I get so irritated that I wanted to whack them over the head with a 2×4. (I give 5s for books that engage me to the point where I fume about the jerky hero for days after reading.)

I got my copy of Dangerous from Thriftbooks. Amazon has used copies as of this writing and you likely will find copies on eBay and other used book sites.

All Amazon links are paid ads.

Rightful Possession Romance by Sally Wentworth

by 2 Comments

I’m reviewing Rightful Possession because I wanted to understand how Sally Wentworth make the story work when it should not. I’m going to analyze the story events, characters and structure in this long review because Rightful Possession is the essence of a successful Harlequin romance.

5 Stars

The plot here is straightforward but the romance and the story are not. Basic plot is:

  1. Genista is an airline hostess (flight attendant), a job still semi-glamorous in 1978 when Rightful Possession is published. Genista shares a flat with Lynn, her best friend and fellow stewardess.
  2. Genista’s brother Kevin invents stuff but has no money sense. An acquaintance tells him he can get his invention tested but the “friend” says he can’t access his money until tomorrow and can’t Kevin find the cash today and get repaid tomorrow. Kevin embezzles the money from his employer’s payroll, figuring he can repay the money the next day and never hurt anyone. Of course the con man runs off with the cash. Kevin is jailed in Paris after employer files charges.
  3. Genista flies right over to her brother, hears it’s only a small amount of money, goes to see the company owner, Marc. Marc refuses to let her brother off, and when Genista offers repayment herself, explains that Kevin’s “small amount” was 10,000 pounds, an enormous sum, roughly $200,000 in today’s money. Marc tells her to stop wasting his time and Genista loses it, tells him off. (She’s exhausted by this point after working the entire previous day and night.)
  4. Marc offers her a deal. He needs a hostess who understands and can work with international business people, who speaks multiple languages. He’ll marry her in “an almost business deal”, where she shows up to do her wifely duties then fades away until he needs her again. Genista assumes “business deal” means hostess duties, not sleeping with him but Marc means the full wifely shebang.
  5. He insists on Genista replacing her wardrobe with deluxe designer outfits, marries her, then they go to his Greek island for a few days. There they have the major disagreement as to her duties. Marc agrees to give her another day to get used to the idea.
  6. Genista escapes the villa, walks to the small port and gets passage off the island with a fisherman while Marc is out sailing. Unfortunately fisherman can’t leave until evening and Marc discovers she’s gone and manages to catch them in mid-sail, drags her off and drags her to bed.
  7. Genista tries to tell him she’s never slept with a man before but Marc won’t believe it given the reputation stewardesses had (this is about 10 years after the sleazy Coffee Tea or Me?) and rapes her. Once he realizes she told the truth he tries to court her, show her what love can be, but she refuses to respond and he loses patience and rapes her again.
  8. Once Marc’s asleep Genista goes out to the beach, swims out in the bay, gets a cramp and is in danger with tide carrying her out. Marc rescues her and accuses her of trying to drown herself; Genista tells him yes, she’d rather die than spend another night with him. He is horrified.
  9. They go back to his French chateau and she picks up her hostess duties. Marc promises to leave her alone.
  10. Housekeeper Madam Hermant tries to undermine Genista, refuses to take direction on a dinner party, until Genista tosses that aside and insists on taking over. The next parties are great fun and Marc is pleased and Genista begins to enjoy this aspect of her job. Marc is always affectionate at these parties and praises her to his guests, which disgusts Genista because she sees it as hypocrisy.
  11. Marc buys her a diamond bracelet and she has to face facts. She’s stuck with Marc and 5 years is a long time to hate anyone. She lets go of her hate – still dislikes and distrusts him – but decides to make the best of things. This is the major turning point.
  12. Genista discovers she can slip off the watchdog chauffeur by going to the beauty salon and slipping out the back door. She meets up with both Lynn and her brother this way and tells them she had to marry Marc for repayment but doesn’t tell either of them about the rape or how much she detests him.
  13. It helps that Marc’s old friend Ally shows up, pays extravagant compliments and offers her friendship.
  14. Things proceed in a more-or-less normal fashion. Genista enjoys her work and is beginning to see Marc in a better light although she still despises him for raping her and pretending to care about her in public. He’s always cordial in private but reserved. Genista starts to see that they could be reasonably happy together, although the sex part is still a wall between them.
  15. Genista pawns her bracelet to give Kevin money for his invention. Madame Hermant finds out and makes trouble.
  16. Marc takes Genista back to the island where she realizes she’s falling for him. They kiss and he starts to make love to her until she tenses up and he lets her go before going back to the village. She has mixed feelings now, wanting something more than a dreary business relationship but not quite ready to love.
  17. Marc’s former fiancée, Adrienne, shows up. Marc avoids her at parties but Madame Hermant tells Genista that Marc and Adrienne are waiting only for Adrienne’s husband to die before they marry. This puts Genista’s wakening feelings on ice. Marc gets hurt in a polo match and Genista runs to the first aid room where she sees Adrienne and Marc passionately kissing.
  18. Brother Kevin shows up. He sold his invention and can pay back Marc and redeem Genista’s bracelet. Genista has a special party for Marc the next day on a jet, gets her passport and arranges with Lynn to help her get away at the airport. (This is long before the days of strict security and passengers walked on the tarmac.) She leaves her bracelet and cash and bank statements for Marc and gets away. She resumes her stewardess job.
  19. Two months pass and Adrienne’s husband dies. Genista writes Marc’s lawyers to offer her cooperation in a divorce to set Marc free to marry Adrienne. Marc has been chasing around North Africa looking for Genista because he thought she went with Ally, but with the letter he now knows where to find her. He gets on a flight with her and manages to corner her to talk. He reveals he is in love with her and has been.
  20. Happy ever after.

As said, straightforward plot. She yells at him, he coerces her into marriage, forced sex, anger and hate followed slowly by tolerance then liking then finally love, other wannabe woman, escape, finally he finds her and they settle all. So why does Rightful Possession work? And how does Wentworth manage to make the transition from #7, marital rape, to #16, dawning love feel realistic?

The Set Up. Sally Wentworth uses few pages and incidents to set up the situation and introduce the characters then goes right into the story and lets events and people unfold. She makes every event work to advance the plot and the story.

She tells us nothing and shows us everything by actions and dialogue. For example, when Genista escapes the villa she walks several miles over rough country to reach the port, showing us she is determined and not easily cowed. When Marc thinks she is softening towards him he calls her his little love and says how he has been longing and waiting for this. (Of course he says this in French, thank you translation programs!)

We get clues that Marc cares for Genista because he publicly acts to cherish her and he is patient and tolerates her unrelenting hostility. We can’t tell for sure whether he’s just putting on an act, which Genista believes for several months, or whether there is actual caring. Our beliefs mirror Genista’s. At first we see Marc as hypocritical, then as potentially caring for her, then again even more odious after Genista sees him and Adrienne kissing at the polo match. We still wonder, because after all this is a Harlequin and they are supposed to have happy endings, but how will Marc push this one by?

How indeed. Sally Wentworth has created a believable about face for Genista with a loving husband who simply can’t or won’t tell her how he feels. After Marc finds Genista gives the slip to her chauffeur/bodyguard, he tells her that he fears kidnap. Genista says that is silly since he wouldn’t pay a ransom for her. Marc points out that the kidnappers wouldn’t know that but the telltale is that he takes such a violent breath that his cigarette glows bright red.

Handling the difficult part. However do you go from despising and hating the man who forces you – rape – to falling in love with him? Even after re-re-rereading Rightful Possession I’m amazed that Sally Wentworth pulls this off. A few things help make the transition believable.

Wentworth grays out the actual rape; in fact jumps right from Marc draging Genista off the boat to Genista leaving bed to go to the beach. She remembers the aftermath when Marc tried to make up for raping her before once again losing his temper and forcing her. She recalls his at-first tender and caring and remorseful actions and how she was tempted to respond with zero details. (Thank you.) Genista recalls the second time when Marc tried to make love to her in deeds and words with mixed emotions.

Wentworth created Genista as a sympathetic, credible, realistic person. She’s mature and wise enough to realize she cannot go on hating Marc for 5 years, that it will rebound on her as much as on Marc. She doesn’t trust him or believe he is sincere, but she learns to enjoy his company and relax with him.

Ally and others see Marc as a wonderful caring man and eventually Genista “sees him for the first time as a devastatingly charming and handsome man”. When your friends like and respect someone it’s hard to keep seeing only their faults; that gives Genista time to reflect on her hostess job, her time with Marc, Marc himself and face the brutal encounter.

Is this Stockholm syndrome, where a captive tends to sympathize with their captor, even to allying with them? I did not read it that way. Genista stayed with Marc out of a sense of honor, not because of force or emotional maniuplation, she never pities him or sees him as a victim, she make a conscious decision to stop hating him. She was never ignorant of his faults nor did she have bad feelings towards people who wanted to help her leave. When Lynn offers to help her Genista considers it but stays only because shes feels obligated to repay Kevin’s debt not because she likes Marc or wants to be with him or feels sympathy for him.

Stockholm victims tend to emotionally align to their abuser, to appease them, to behave to the abuser’s requirements. Genista never stops being free in her mind and she continually escapes via the hairdresser dodge to spend time as she pleases. After the first horrorible night together Genista never sees herself as a victim, and once Marc promises to leave her alone she stops feeling any self-pity. Once Kevin can pays his debt she is joyous, she can be free.

Using the story and plot together. Given the story is the people and the plot the actions, Wentworth weaves these together so one props up the other and both are stronger. Marc’s actions – leaving Genista alone, buying her a beautiful bracelet as a gift, praising her to his friends, relinquishing her to Ally’s care, having fun together, spending time together, endless courtesy – come through as caring. We see him through Genista’s eyes and how she responds to his actions and the attitude she infers to him.

It sounds simple to combine story and plot but few authors do so successfully in any genre. Perhaps it’s easier in romance where readers expect a plot to move along a more-or-less predetermined arc, because instead of seeing conventions as a straightjacket, authors can use them for the skeleton and spend their energy building muscles and blood. Wentworth has written several other excellent romances where she uses similar approach, notably Betrayal in Bali, letting the standard plot be the template and using her imagination and skill to fill it in and create a believable, excellent novel.

The Characters Genista, Marc and Ally are three-dimensional, well-developed people. Often authors sketch the secondary characters and do little more even with the two protagonists, but Wentworth makes us see them as individuals. Wentworth lets the plot and dialogue do the work to exposit the characters; there are few inner musings or “well, here’s what happened when I was six” discussions.

It’s easy to identify with Genista, a woman trapped in a nightmare marriage, who manages to step beyond the horrible events and turn her marriage into something worthwhile that she and Marc enjoy.

Genista realizes that she can choose how she responds to Marc, how she thinks about and faces up to the fact husband raped her. She does not hide her head in the sand or pretend it’s not deadly serious, a terrifying, horrible thing, but she is adult and makes her choice to at least tolerate Marc and try to make something out of her enforced marriage.

Immediacy Sally Wentworth makes us feel like we are right there, part of the action, not watching a play. A couple of my favorite romance authors do this very well. Wentworth makes this happen here and it helps us thaw along with Genista and to turn what was originally 5 years of hateful intimacy with a man she detests into a tolerable, sometimes enjoyable life and friendship and later into love.

Wentworth avoided common plot tropes. Genista does not get pregnant, she does not run away, instead leaves only when she can pay the debt, Other Woman Adrienne does not visit Genista to gloat and threaten, no one dies, Genista is happy that her prior boyfriend is marrying her best friend, no one gets clunked on the head and loses their memory. I was slightly surprised that she did not get pregnant from her one night with Marc and believe that made for a much stronger story. Wentworth was able to pare the story down to Marc or no Marc, love or hate.

Was the govel sufficient to justify a happy ever after? Marc laid his heart on the line when he took Genista to the hotel and he made it clear he was horrified that his actions drove her to attempt suicide (as he thought it). He never really apologized although he did make it clear he regretted trying to force her, realized it backfired then and would backfire every time. Is that a sufficient grovel? That’s up to you. I would have liked more and stronger regrets.

Summary Even after reading Rightful Possession several times I’m in awe at how Sally Wentworth made Genista’s transition from victim to loving wife seem so real. I’m even more in awe that she made the conversion from rape to love feel real.

The Iron Man by Kay Thorpe, Trip to Africa Gone Bad

by Leave a Comment

The Iron Man was a good news/bad news sort of book. On the good side we have Kay Thorpe’s writing, meaning the book flows well, the dialogue and interactions move the story, she includes setting and she does not rely on inner musings to tell us what is happening to Kim and Dave. The characters are well done, although I couldn’t identify with either, and there are several conflicts that must be solved and sticky situations to wade through to achieve the trademark happy ending.

On the bad side Dave is a hard guy to appreciate and Kim is a bit of a goof. Dave is iron on the outside with a spine of steel and is opportunistic, decisive, dominant but not nasty. Kim is silly enough to come to Sierra Leone in the early 1970s without a return ticket on the off chance that her fiancé had an accident/amnesia/complete loss of contact. She is convinced fiancé Chris would never ever in a zillion years simply drop her without writing to tell her the romance was off.

Kim has all of 20 pounds (somewhere under $1000 in today’s money) to her name, not enough to get back home and not enough to keep her while she looks for Chris. She gets up to the mine in the mountainside to find him, expecting a joyous reunion. (Yes, she’s that naïve!)

Dave fired Chris some time before when Chris got into a fight over a married lady and took off with said lady. Kim can’t believe that Chris would do this and goes willingly with Dave back to the capital, Freetown, to find Chris. Chris tells Kim it’s over and he won’t come home or drop Mai. Now she’s stuck with no way to get home.

Dave says he’s returning to England in 5 weeks and suggests they marry until then so she can travel with him at company expense, then they will separate and he will help her get on her feet. Kim infers he means a platonic marriage and accepts. Dave of course means nothing of the sort, thus the first conflict.

Dave is hard and unemotional – of course he has emotions but he doesn’t yield to them – and Kim is impetuous and often lets her feelings drive her, thus a second conflict and one that will endure.

Kim and Dave forge a tenuous relationship as she makes a home for him, insists the servant man clean the cupboards and improves the cuisine and he manages to relax with her. They are beginning to get along almost as friends when they go to Freetown for a weekend and meet Dave’s friends on the beach. Friends include Karen, an obvious former girlfriend, who makes it clear she’s interested in Dave and intends to get him. (It isn’t clear why she wants him, she doesn’t love him and she doesn’t need his money and she’s not interested in following him around the world to mining camps. But this is a Harlequin Presents so take it as given that all the girls want Dave.)

Old fiancé Chris shows up wanting money. Kim and Dave make a sordid bargain where Kim will stop pretending she doesn’t want him in exchange for Dave helping Chris escape the country and Mai’s relatives. This isn’t exactly a conflict but sand in the wheels of their friendship.

Dave runs the mining camp and is hands on. When a landslide blocks the road, incidentally blocking Karen in at the camp, Dave gets in the bulldozer to clear it out and the dozer turns over and crushes his arm. He lies to Kim that his arm is merely broken, tells her to go home, that he wants Karen, not her.

This third conflict means that Kim must confront Dave and tell him she loves him and she is convinced he loves her too. She’s on some shaky ground here! Dave rejects love to stay strong and invulnerable and now, with his arm in bad shape, he’s even less willing to admit emotion or accept Kim.

Kim pushes him, finally loses her temper and calls him a coward and not worth her bother and he finally admits he wants to believe she loves him. The story ends here but it’s obvious Kim and Dave have a long, hard road, albeit a happy one, because Dave now has a bad arm and a wife to consider when the next job looms. He’s a skilled engineer and leader but staying in a softly civilized country is a big change after traipsing around the world. Plus he’s not used to having another person love him or to admit to any emotional weakness. Kim’s a strong person despite being emotional and impetuous – witness how she took the rough camp and terrible weather and scorpions and lousy food in her stride – and she’s determined to drag Dave out of his heart’s hidey hole and I think she will succeed.

Please note the story is set in Africa in the early 1970s. Dave and Kim respect the natives and treat them as people but the book refers to Africans as “boys”, part of the baggage in any novel set in this time frame.

Kim Thorpe writes detailed and believable settings. Here we are in the hot mountains in a tropical climate, just before the rainy season lets loose. There are bugs, spartan living conditions, a gravity-fed shower and it’s hot. The rain makes mud everywhere and landslides and potholes and the road is full of deep ravines filled with gooey mud. The author doesn’t belabor these things but we can see them and think that we’d not be nearly as cheerful as Kim.

My favorite romances make me feel like I’m right there, they have a sense of immediacy and movement. The Iron Man doesn’t quite manage that. I felt more like I was watching the story than living it.

I got my paperback copy on eBay in a Kay Thorpe lot (so far my only eBay book purchase that had damaged books) and you can probably find this on Thriftbooks. Archive.org has a pdf copy you can borrow but there is no version for an E reader.

Rating this is a bit of a six of one, half a dozen of another. The plot was nothing outstanding, the setting was excellent. Characters were a mix with the minor characters being 2-dimensional and the main characters reasonably well developed although not terribly sympathetic.

At first I thought Kim was a dope but her better qualities grew on me in retrospect; I realized that it takes a fine character to cheerfully accept mud, heat, bad food and primitive living conditions! Dave has many great qualities but he hides his compassion and I wonder about fidelity.

Because I couldn’t identify with any of the characters or feel like I knew them, or that they are real people, I’m rating this

3 Stars