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記憶の迷路
Together they searched for Isobel's past
After the car accident impaired her memory, Isobel St. Aubyn had only haunting flashbacks and the evasive accounts of her family to bring back her past. Until she met Eliot Richardson.
Torn between hostility and desire for Isobel, the cold intimidating banker was strangely determined to help her. 'If your past won't come back to you,'' he said, "you should go and look for it.'
As they traveled from Devon to Morocco, revisiting scenes from her past, Isobel fell deeply in love. But there was so much more she needed to know about her life ... about Eliot.
After the car accident impaired her memory, Isobel St. Aubyn had only haunting flashbacks and the evasive accounts of her family to bring back her past. Until she met Eliot Richardson.
Torn between hostility and desire for Isobel, the cold intimidating banker was strangely determined to help her. 'If your past won't come back to you,'' he said, "you should go and look for it.'
As they traveled from Devon to Morocco, revisiting scenes from her past, Isobel fell deeply in love. But there was so much more she needed to know about her life ... about Eliot.
Paperback Shinsho
First published July 1, 1986
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206 people want to read
About the author
Vanessa James
23 books41 followersaka Sally Beauman
Sally Kinsey-Miles graduated from Girton College, Cambridge (MA in English Literature) She married Christopher Beauman an economist. After graduating, she moved with her husband to the USA, where she lived for three years, first in Washington DC, then New York, and travelled extensively. She began her career as a journalist in America, joining the staff of the newly launched New York magazine, of which she became associate editor, and continued to write for it after her return to England. Interviewed Alan Howard for the Telegraph Magazine in 1970 in an article called 'A Fellow of Most Excellent Fancy'. (Daily Telegraph Supplement, May 29th.) Apparently a very long interview. The following year they met again, and the rest is history. After a long partnership Sally and Alan married in 2004. She has one son, James, and one grandchild.
Sally had a distinguished career as a journalist and critic, winning the Catherine Pakenham Award for her writing, and becoming the youngest-ever editor of Queen magazine (now Harper’s & Queen). She has contributed to many leading newspapers and magazines in both the UK and the USA, including the Daily Telegraph ( from 1970-73 and 1976-8 she was Arts Editor of the Sunday Telegraph Magazine), the Sunday Times, Observer, Vogue, the New York Times and the New Yorker. She also wrote nine Mills & Boon romances under the pseudonym Vanessa James, before publishing her block-buster novel Destiny in 1987 under her real name. It was her article about Daphne du Maurier, commissioned by Tina Brown, and published in The New Yorker in November 1993, which first gave her the idea for writing Rebecca de Winter’s version of events at Manderley – an idea that subsequently became the novel, Rebecca’s Tale. In 2000 she was one of the Whitbread Prize judges for the best novel category.
Sally Kinsey-Miles graduated from Girton College, Cambridge (MA in English Literature) She married Christopher Beauman an economist. After graduating, she moved with her husband to the USA, where she lived for three years, first in Washington DC, then New York, and travelled extensively. She began her career as a journalist in America, joining the staff of the newly launched New York magazine, of which she became associate editor, and continued to write for it after her return to England. Interviewed Alan Howard for the Telegraph Magazine in 1970 in an article called 'A Fellow of Most Excellent Fancy'. (Daily Telegraph Supplement, May 29th.) Apparently a very long interview. The following year they met again, and the rest is history. After a long partnership Sally and Alan married in 2004. She has one son, James, and one grandchild.
Sally had a distinguished career as a journalist and critic, winning the Catherine Pakenham Award for her writing, and becoming the youngest-ever editor of Queen magazine (now Harper’s & Queen). She has contributed to many leading newspapers and magazines in both the UK and the USA, including the Daily Telegraph ( from 1970-73 and 1976-8 she was Arts Editor of the Sunday Telegraph Magazine), the Sunday Times, Observer, Vogue, the New York Times and the New Yorker. She also wrote nine Mills & Boon romances under the pseudonym Vanessa James, before publishing her block-buster novel Destiny in 1987 under her real name. It was her article about Daphne du Maurier, commissioned by Tina Brown, and published in The New Yorker in November 1993, which first gave her the idea for writing Rebecca de Winter’s version of events at Manderley – an idea that subsequently became the novel, Rebecca’s Tale. In 2000 she was one of the Whitbread Prize judges for the best novel category.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 13, 2016
This is a good one. Heroine has amnesia, there's an evil step father, a blackmailing step sister, and an evil brother who let's the good brother go to prison for a crime he didn't commit. The hero is tortured. The heroine is tortured. They have glimpses of happiness and passion together, but there is a sense of dread and waiting for the other shoe to drop.
This is a gothic novel, for all intents and purposes. Lots of mystery and gas lighting going on. Delicious. My only quibble: I wish the step-sister had suffered more for her sins.
This is a gothic novel, for all intents and purposes. Lots of mystery and gas lighting going on. Delicious. My only quibble: I wish the step-sister had suffered more for her sins.
September 17, 2016
I am definitely in the minority on this one.
An overly dramatic, convoluted plot with unredeemable characters, starting with her immoral family to the hero who was in no way ever a hero.
If I were the heroine, I would run for the hills...... "tout de suite".
An overly dramatic, convoluted plot with unredeemable characters, starting with her immoral family to the hero who was in no way ever a hero.
If I were the heroine, I would run for the hills...... "tout de suite".
December 3, 2022
4.5-star **SPOILERS**
Reads like an improved version of James' Devil's Advocate (written 3 years before this in 1984). Even the Hero's name is the same! It's as if James realized what was missing in Devil's Advocate and put all the improvements in this book. And it worked. This one has a tighter & better-written amnesia romance story. Better romance/romance development. Better character and character development. Even the sex scenes were better and more descriptive (lots of breast play).
For an improved version of Devil's Advocate, the story wasn't the same. This one's unpredictable & angsty. I liked the mystery of h’s amnesia & how we get to see her fuzziness/confusion/frustration/unresponsiveness as H tries to help her regain her lost memory from the last 5 years since the car accident. Angsty from H’s desperation to make h remember him/their romance by taking her to places & doing things that they did in the past to shake her memory but most of the time she couldn’t remember anything & he would try to be nonchalant in his disappointment. Loved former barrister & ex-con 30yo H’s angry obsession with h & his trying to hide his desperation over her not remembering him. Loved H’s sacrifices for h including going to prison for 2 years for falsely agreeing that he kidnapped & raped h per her stepfather’s & his brother’s schemes because he thought that h cheated on him with his brother per his brother’s lies & life was no longer worth living since h’s stepfather wouldn’t let H see her even after her accident. Really liked the full explanation of H&h’s misunderstandings in the end.
Sexual History:
19yo h was a virgin with 25yo H when they secretly eloped 5 years ago before her car accident. She didn’t date anyone in the next 5 years mostly because her stepfather tried to cloister her at the house he moved them to after her car accident and she took care of him during his illness until his death. No info on H’s previous relationships before h but he’d been in love with her since they were kids. H seemed to be celibate during their 5-year separation since he was in prison the 1st 2 years and was bent on planning revenge against h & her stepfather.
Reads like an improved version of James' Devil's Advocate (written 3 years before this in 1984). Even the Hero's name is the same! It's as if James realized what was missing in Devil's Advocate and put all the improvements in this book. And it worked. This one has a tighter & better-written amnesia romance story. Better romance/romance development. Better character and character development. Even the sex scenes were better and more descriptive (lots of breast play).
For an improved version of Devil's Advocate, the story wasn't the same. This one's unpredictable & angsty. I liked the mystery of h’s amnesia & how we get to see her fuzziness/confusion/frustration/unresponsiveness as H tries to help her regain her lost memory from the last 5 years since the car accident. Angsty from H’s desperation to make h remember him/their romance by taking her to places & doing things that they did in the past to shake her memory but most of the time she couldn’t remember anything & he would try to be nonchalant in his disappointment. Loved former barrister & ex-con 30yo H’s angry obsession with h & his trying to hide his desperation over her not remembering him. Loved H’s sacrifices for h including going to prison for 2 years for falsely agreeing that he kidnapped & raped h per her stepfather’s & his brother’s schemes because he thought that h cheated on him with his brother per his brother’s lies & life was no longer worth living since h’s stepfather wouldn’t let H see her even after her accident. Really liked the full explanation of H&h’s misunderstandings in the end.
Sexual History:
19yo h was a virgin with 25yo H when they secretly eloped 5 years ago before her car accident. She didn’t date anyone in the next 5 years mostly because her stepfather tried to cloister her at the house he moved them to after her car accident and she took care of him during his illness until his death. No info on H’s previous relationships before h but he’d been in love with her since they were kids. H seemed to be celibate during their 5-year separation since he was in prison the 1st 2 years and was bent on planning revenge against h & her stepfather.
May 28, 2016
RE Try to Remember - VJ ends with an HP gothic. The h is a 24 yr old amnesiac whose evil and controlling stepfather has recently died. The H is a banker who plotted behind the scenes to ruin the man and seems to hate the h, though she doesn't know why.
Five years earlier the h was in a very bad car accident where the love of her life died. She has been a shadow of herself ever since. She also has an extremely manipulative step sister who has been caught in some nasty photos and the step sis manipulates the h into helping her out by getting
£10,000 to buy them back.
The h asks the H for a loan and he indicates that she can only get the money if she provides a payment in kind, the h refuses the trade and we find out the H spend a year in prison because of an unknown woman's manipulations, which might be why he seems to hate the h so much.
Yet there is an underlying attraction on both sides and the H seems determined to spend more time with the h. The H also spends a lot of time probing the h's memory of the past, he seems to question that her amnesia is really the truth.
The h starts getting flashbacks and they frighten her, she goes to another doctor who specializes in memory problems and he tells her that certain things can trigger memory recovery such as participating in a bout of lurve clubbing.
The h is hesitant to go that route but the H is getting physically closer and the h is very attracted, so when the passionate kissing comes about she calls the H by her dead lover's name. He doesn't take to that too well. Then the H decides to take the h to places in her past, hoping to get her memory back.
It doesn't work completely, the h is just getting fragments and getting more and more frightened by the sense of doom that seems to come with the fragments. Then the man that was blackmailing the step sister over the photo's comes to the H's house and confronts the h. The H finds out about the blackmail and thinks it is photos of the h. He pays the man off, burns the pictures and then takes the h to bed. The lurve clubbing is epic and awesome, but the h still doesn't remember anything.
The H accuses the h of faking her amnesia and being a cheating tart. He explains that five years ago he and the h married. The stepfather tried to break them up but they stuck together until the H had to go out of the country for his Uncle's funeral.
Then the h stopped answering his calls and letter and when the H returned, he found the h had run off with his shady brother leaving her wedding ring behind. The shady brother crashed the car he and the h were in and the brother told the police the H was driving it.
The H is the h's supposedly dead love. The h always called him by his first name and every one else knows him by his middle name. The h's stepfather pushed for prosecution of the H for the accident and tried to get him on a rape charge. The h was in hospital, completely drugged up and near comatose, so the rape charge didn't stick but the H went to prison for the car wreck.
The H's brother convinced him to accept the blame, cause it would have destroyed their mother had the brother been convicted. The H was so torn up over the h's rejection and running off with his brother, that he did not protest and served a year.
Then he decided to ruin the stepfather and then use and abuse the h, to get his revenge for her abandonment and lies. The H thinks the h did all that deliberately, the h's statements about the wreck, blaming the H, were read out in court and a large part of what convicted him. The h swears she did not do it, she wants to confront the H's brother, but they can't cause he died of a heroin overdose two years earlier.
The h can't believe that she would do such a thing. She loved the H with all her heart and she was hoping for a baby with him. The h takes off in the H's car and wrecks in it, trying to recover her missing past. As the car blows up and the H rescues her, the whole story becomes clear.
The h had moved in temporarily with her stepsis while waiting for the H to return from the funeral. The H never called or wrote and the h was getting worried. The step sis had been preventing the h and H from connection. When the H does return and takes her to her new home, he leaves to go take care of some business and the H's brother shows up. He tore off her wedding ring, forced her into the car and was kidnapping her for her stepfather.
The stepsis lied and said the h and the brother were long term lovers and that she was using the H for money to support them and that she ran off with the brother deliberately. When the car wrecked, the h was taken to a private hospital and kept drugged and near comatose until she miscarried her baby and couldn't remember anything.
The step people told her the H died in the wreck. Then she was kept prisoner by her stepfather and stepsister for five years until the stepfather died. The H is in a panic because of the second wreck and when the h explains her side, he goes to hunt down the stepsister. They both want an answer on why she would participate in such a huge deception.
The step sis shows up and explains that she hated the h and wanted her life ruined, she wanted the H for herself and he wouldn't give her the time of day. The stepfather only liked the h and hated his own child cause she was just like him. The H kicks her out and he and the h avow passionate love forever and decide to not let the actions of others ruin their future and have a big HEA.
This is a riveting book, VJ does the suspense really well and the eerie sense of doom threading through the story is great enough to make you overlook the big jump in believability you have to make to buy the whole situation. The love story and the HEA is highly believable too, so if you like the wrecky with a great resolution - this story is a pretty good choice and well worth the time.
Five years earlier the h was in a very bad car accident where the love of her life died. She has been a shadow of herself ever since. She also has an extremely manipulative step sister who has been caught in some nasty photos and the step sis manipulates the h into helping her out by getting
£10,000 to buy them back.
The h asks the H for a loan and he indicates that she can only get the money if she provides a payment in kind, the h refuses the trade and we find out the H spend a year in prison because of an unknown woman's manipulations, which might be why he seems to hate the h so much.
Yet there is an underlying attraction on both sides and the H seems determined to spend more time with the h. The H also spends a lot of time probing the h's memory of the past, he seems to question that her amnesia is really the truth.
The h starts getting flashbacks and they frighten her, she goes to another doctor who specializes in memory problems and he tells her that certain things can trigger memory recovery such as participating in a bout of lurve clubbing.
The h is hesitant to go that route but the H is getting physically closer and the h is very attracted, so when the passionate kissing comes about she calls the H by her dead lover's name. He doesn't take to that too well. Then the H decides to take the h to places in her past, hoping to get her memory back.
It doesn't work completely, the h is just getting fragments and getting more and more frightened by the sense of doom that seems to come with the fragments. Then the man that was blackmailing the step sister over the photo's comes to the H's house and confronts the h. The H finds out about the blackmail and thinks it is photos of the h. He pays the man off, burns the pictures and then takes the h to bed. The lurve clubbing is epic and awesome, but the h still doesn't remember anything.
The H accuses the h of faking her amnesia and being a cheating tart. He explains that five years ago he and the h married. The stepfather tried to break them up but they stuck together until the H had to go out of the country for his Uncle's funeral.
Then the h stopped answering his calls and letter and when the H returned, he found the h had run off with his shady brother leaving her wedding ring behind. The shady brother crashed the car he and the h were in and the brother told the police the H was driving it.
The H is the h's supposedly dead love. The h always called him by his first name and every one else knows him by his middle name. The h's stepfather pushed for prosecution of the H for the accident and tried to get him on a rape charge. The h was in hospital, completely drugged up and near comatose, so the rape charge didn't stick but the H went to prison for the car wreck.
The H's brother convinced him to accept the blame, cause it would have destroyed their mother had the brother been convicted. The H was so torn up over the h's rejection and running off with his brother, that he did not protest and served a year.
Then he decided to ruin the stepfather and then use and abuse the h, to get his revenge for her abandonment and lies. The H thinks the h did all that deliberately, the h's statements about the wreck, blaming the H, were read out in court and a large part of what convicted him. The h swears she did not do it, she wants to confront the H's brother, but they can't cause he died of a heroin overdose two years earlier.
The h can't believe that she would do such a thing. She loved the H with all her heart and she was hoping for a baby with him. The h takes off in the H's car and wrecks in it, trying to recover her missing past. As the car blows up and the H rescues her, the whole story becomes clear.
The h had moved in temporarily with her stepsis while waiting for the H to return from the funeral. The H never called or wrote and the h was getting worried. The step sis had been preventing the h and H from connection. When the H does return and takes her to her new home, he leaves to go take care of some business and the H's brother shows up. He tore off her wedding ring, forced her into the car and was kidnapping her for her stepfather.
The stepsis lied and said the h and the brother were long term lovers and that she was using the H for money to support them and that she ran off with the brother deliberately. When the car wrecked, the h was taken to a private hospital and kept drugged and near comatose until she miscarried her baby and couldn't remember anything.
The step people told her the H died in the wreck. Then she was kept prisoner by her stepfather and stepsister for five years until the stepfather died. The H is in a panic because of the second wreck and when the h explains her side, he goes to hunt down the stepsister. They both want an answer on why she would participate in such a huge deception.
The step sis shows up and explains that she hated the h and wanted her life ruined, she wanted the H for herself and he wouldn't give her the time of day. The stepfather only liked the h and hated his own child cause she was just like him. The H kicks her out and he and the h avow passionate love forever and decide to not let the actions of others ruin their future and have a big HEA.
This is a riveting book, VJ does the suspense really well and the eerie sense of doom threading through the story is great enough to make you overlook the big jump in believability you have to make to buy the whole situation. The love story and the HEA is highly believable too, so if you like the wrecky with a great resolution - this story is a pretty good choice and well worth the time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2019
4 Stars ~ This is a can't-put-down rollercoaster of a romance. Ms. James has crafted a compelling and intensely emotional story filled with betrayal, lies, secrets, and wrongful accusations. She reveals the truth shrouded in intrigue and meandering misleading paths until the right one finally comes to light.
Isabel is a young woman who suffered a trauma five years before which left a two-year hole in her memory. She was told her amnesia is the result of a head injury from a car crash where the driver, Julius, had died. Her step-father isolates her and keeps her medicated so that her memory stays in a blurred mist. And as she devotes herself to caring for him while his health ails, she's none the wiser. Days before his death, her step-sister drunkenly lets slip that Isabel had been in love with Julius, and some how to Isabel this has a ring of truth. Over the past few weeks she'd been weaning herself off the meds, and flashes of her past try to come through.
Eliot is a banker who presents himself to Isabel upon the death of her step-father. Apparently, there is no wealth, only debts secured by the house and all it's contents. This is a problem for Isobel's step-sister Bobby who has a blackmailer needing to be paid off. So Isobel goes to Eliot hoping his bank can lend her the money, but of course, he tells her he can't as she has no assets. Over dinner, he slowly quizzes her on her amnesia, but Isobel knows only what her family has told her. He suggests that "if her past won't come to you, you should go and look for it" and he offers to help her. They start with the country home where it all happened, and when that yields nothing, they follow the clues on her passport, showing she'd been in Morocco just weeks before.
Eliot seems to have a personal stake in this and as we learn that around the time Isobel lost her memory, he'd been wrongfully accused of a crime that landed him in prison for a year. He'd been forced to give up his goal of being a lawyer, and had gone into banking. It's seems there is a woman at the center of this who betrayed him. While this makes it obvious that Eliot is actually the man Isobel had been told died in her accident, she is totally in the dark. This frustrates Eliot to know end and as they follow the clues on her passport, Eliot tries very hard to shake her memories loss. The more time spent with Eliot, the deeper Isobel falls in love with him. Their closeness feels so right to her.
When Bobby's blackmailer seeks her out, Eliot believes it's Isobel being blackmailed. And suddenly he's back to believing the lies that had been told to him years ago, that she had been using him and cheating on him with his brother. With his accusations, Isobel flees distraught, taking his car and speeds away in his car. And as she races on the same route from years ago, flashes of what truly happened come to her.
That last chapters are flashes back to the events seen by both Eliot and Isobel. And the truth is finally revealed. The depth of the deception is evil. Both Eliot's family and Isobel's had strived to keep them apart. Ms. James cleverly kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what came next. One thing that was constant from the beginning was that though Eliot was bitter, he'd never stopped loving Isobel. This is one for the keeper shelf.
Isabel is a young woman who suffered a trauma five years before which left a two-year hole in her memory. She was told her amnesia is the result of a head injury from a car crash where the driver, Julius, had died. Her step-father isolates her and keeps her medicated so that her memory stays in a blurred mist. And as she devotes herself to caring for him while his health ails, she's none the wiser. Days before his death, her step-sister drunkenly lets slip that Isabel had been in love with Julius, and some how to Isabel this has a ring of truth. Over the past few weeks she'd been weaning herself off the meds, and flashes of her past try to come through.
Eliot is a banker who presents himself to Isabel upon the death of her step-father. Apparently, there is no wealth, only debts secured by the house and all it's contents. This is a problem for Isobel's step-sister Bobby who has a blackmailer needing to be paid off. So Isobel goes to Eliot hoping his bank can lend her the money, but of course, he tells her he can't as she has no assets. Over dinner, he slowly quizzes her on her amnesia, but Isobel knows only what her family has told her. He suggests that "if her past won't come to you, you should go and look for it" and he offers to help her. They start with the country home where it all happened, and when that yields nothing, they follow the clues on her passport, showing she'd been in Morocco just weeks before.
Eliot seems to have a personal stake in this and as we learn that around the time Isobel lost her memory, he'd been wrongfully accused of a crime that landed him in prison for a year. He'd been forced to give up his goal of being a lawyer, and had gone into banking. It's seems there is a woman at the center of this who betrayed him. While this makes it obvious that Eliot is actually the man Isobel had been told died in her accident, she is totally in the dark. This frustrates Eliot to know end and as they follow the clues on her passport, Eliot tries very hard to shake her memories loss. The more time spent with Eliot, the deeper Isobel falls in love with him. Their closeness feels so right to her.
When Bobby's blackmailer seeks her out, Eliot believes it's Isobel being blackmailed. And suddenly he's back to believing the lies that had been told to him years ago, that she had been using him and cheating on him with his brother. With his accusations, Isobel flees distraught, taking his car and speeds away in his car. And as she races on the same route from years ago, flashes of what truly happened come to her.
That last chapters are flashes back to the events seen by both Eliot and Isobel. And the truth is finally revealed. The depth of the deception is evil. Both Eliot's family and Isobel's had strived to keep them apart. Ms. James cleverly kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what came next. One thing that was constant from the beginning was that though Eliot was bitter, he'd never stopped loving Isobel. This is one for the keeper shelf.
May 31, 2016
4.5 stars
I loved it. It had all the elements I love in a good story. There is a great balance of angst/suspense and romance. The main characters are likable and all the secondary characters belong in the second level of hell.
The only reason I took 0.5 stars off is because the Step sister, the only remaining protagonist, got a way with all the misery she has caused and our wonderful couple even paid her blackmailer.
I loved it. It had all the elements I love in a good story. There is a great balance of angst/suspense and romance. The main characters are likable and all the secondary characters belong in the second level of hell.
The only reason I took 0.5 stars off is because the Step sister, the only remaining protagonist, got a way with all the misery she has caused and our wonderful couple even paid her blackmailer.
January 26, 2014
This one felt pretty gothic. She's been in an accident and people have been lying to her
May 23, 2024
Definite 4,5 stars with lots of delicious plots as shelved. 😎
July 5, 2023
Review alert. I may or may not say everything that’s on my mind but really, this is a sadddd sad book. I was shocked many times to read a cruel retelling of human envy and betrayal. What lows can a man really reach to antagonize their own flesh and blood. Also what utterly miserable circumstances a person has to endure in life.
I’m not a fan of amnesia stories and I don’t find them romantic without being desolate and depressing.
The h has lost her memory close to 5 years ago. She’s kept on pills and is under house arrest of sorts and has to believe the lies people fill her in with. Her jailers are her step father and a devious step sister. The h is sweet and compliant and doesn’t know what hit her when she lost her memory.
Soon enough the step father dies and enters a man with who she instantly gets a sense of déjà Vu. Despite not having met him before there’s an unbidden feeling like she knows him rather well and rather intimately.
What is revealed slowly is heart breaking. With her loss of memory she was fed a series of despicable lies and her trauma only intensifies when her mind and soul doesn’t connect with anything of truth from her past.
I wasn’t expecting this to be so dark and in sorts this might be a rare amnesia story that I made myself read with it’s high rating here and I’m glad I did.
I really wish they had cell phones and text messages back then. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to cover up the truth then. I also hated how the h gullibly and stupidly agreed to do her step sister’s dirty work one more time. Why are HP hs so foolishly trusting and kind. Can’t they exercise any inherent sense of intuition. Humans are also electric beings and can recognize good or bad energy. Could the h for once recognize how evil her step father and step sister were?!
Sweet HEA but puts you in a melancholy and the HEA doesn’t quite erase it. Amazing read!
Something that stayed with me of what the evil step sister said to the h:
“I can put up with all this,' she said. 'I can accept your being here, with all this money. I can even accept Julius playing the part of doting and protective husband. But the thought of you with children—his children—no, I don't think I can put up with that. So— goodbye, Isobel. Don't invite me to the christenings, will you?”
I’m not a fan of amnesia stories and I don’t find them romantic without being desolate and depressing.
The h has lost her memory close to 5 years ago. She’s kept on pills and is under house arrest of sorts and has to believe the lies people fill her in with. Her jailers are her step father and a devious step sister. The h is sweet and compliant and doesn’t know what hit her when she lost her memory.
Soon enough the step father dies and enters a man with who she instantly gets a sense of déjà Vu. Despite not having met him before there’s an unbidden feeling like she knows him rather well and rather intimately.
What is revealed slowly is heart breaking. With her loss of memory she was fed a series of despicable lies and her trauma only intensifies when her mind and soul doesn’t connect with anything of truth from her past.
I wasn’t expecting this to be so dark and in sorts this might be a rare amnesia story that I made myself read with it’s high rating here and I’m glad I did.
I really wish they had cell phones and text messages back then. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to cover up the truth then. I also hated how the h gullibly and stupidly agreed to do her step sister’s dirty work one more time. Why are HP hs so foolishly trusting and kind. Can’t they exercise any inherent sense of intuition. Humans are also electric beings and can recognize good or bad energy. Could the h for once recognize how evil her step father and step sister were?!
Sweet HEA but puts you in a melancholy and the HEA doesn’t quite erase it. Amazing read!
Something that stayed with me of what the evil step sister said to the h:
“I can put up with all this,' she said. 'I can accept your being here, with all this money. I can even accept Julius playing the part of doting and protective husband. But the thought of you with children—his children—no, I don't think I can put up with that. So— goodbye, Isobel. Don't invite me to the christenings, will you?”
June 3, 2024
I liked it okay, passed the time. But did skim some parts.
Kinda a mystery as well as a romance. Figuring out the heroines past and what happened the 2 years she can't remember.
Romance was mild.
Hero wasn't my favorite and the heroine was okay.
Kinda a mystery as well as a romance. Figuring out the heroines past and what happened the 2 years she can't remember.
Romance was mild.
Hero wasn't my favorite and the heroine was okay.
March 1, 2025
Revisiting a cherished favorite is always special.
Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Re-read: Yes
Keeper: Yes
Favorites Shelf: Yes
Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Re-read: Yes
Keeper: Yes
Favorites Shelf: Yes
December 5, 2021
4 stars for the intensity, but while the hero initially doesn't believe the lies about cheating, it stretches credulity that the one lie he believes is that she lied about him. But then I guess there wouldn't have been a story 🤔
May 30, 2023
I'm generally not a fan of amnesia stories due to the high batshit content. I made an exception for this as I'm on a VJ completist jag. I still don't like the trope and this was still batshit but intense and more interesting than they usually are. I have to admit that there was a little too much name confusion (Eliot/Edmund/Edward) and the eye colour change also furrowed my brow but there was no denying the attraction between these two. He did not believe her amnesia and she, Isobel, had been well and truly gaslit and controlled by her evil step family so it was pretty angsty. Her loyalty to them was real bite-lumps-out-of -the-carpet irritating. I'm also always a little dismayed when a H (or h for that matter) immediately believes another person rather than the person they are supposedly deeply in love with, without so much as a conversation. I'm giving it 4 stars for the amnesia category but I'm unlikely to want to reread.
August 19, 2022
cw: amnesia, car accident, grief
Hero was manipulative. Just like I like to read about.
Hero was manipulative. Just like I like to read about.
December 12, 2023
The poor H and h.
They were proper stitched up by their horrible families including but not limited to evil brother evil stepsister and evil step father. These 2 didn't stand a chance!
The h is in an accident in which the H's brother was driving and she has amnesia. The H went to prison for it but she was told he was dead.
It was love at first sight for these 2 but the families hated each other. When she had the accident, the family lied that the h had identified the H as the driver. The H was devastated and took the rap for it thinking that the courts would discover the truth but instead be spends a few years behind bars and the evil brother dies of a drug overdose.
H goes by one of his other names and has a change of career becoming rather ruthless and doesn't believe the h has amnesia. He sees his chance to get his own back and takes the h on a journey to discover her past. He doesn't admit they are married but soon realises he can't hurt her without hurting himself.
The h is getting flashbacks and is worried and when she realises what happened and what the H was up to she steals his car and tries to escape crashing it in the process. H is devastated he might have lost her again and declares his love.
Turns out the 2 faced witch of a stepsis was evil all along and wanted to destroy the h for being a nice person.
They were proper stitched up by their horrible families including but not limited to evil brother evil stepsister and evil step father. These 2 didn't stand a chance!
The h is in an accident in which the H's brother was driving and she has amnesia. The H went to prison for it but she was told he was dead.
It was love at first sight for these 2 but the families hated each other. When she had the accident, the family lied that the h had identified the H as the driver. The H was devastated and took the rap for it thinking that the courts would discover the truth but instead be spends a few years behind bars and the evil brother dies of a drug overdose.
H goes by one of his other names and has a change of career becoming rather ruthless and doesn't believe the h has amnesia. He sees his chance to get his own back and takes the h on a journey to discover her past. He doesn't admit they are married but soon realises he can't hurt her without hurting himself.
The h is getting flashbacks and is worried and when she realises what happened and what the H was up to she steals his car and tries to escape crashing it in the process. H is devastated he might have lost her again and declares his love.
Turns out the 2 faced witch of a stepsis was evil all along and wanted to destroy the h for being a nice person.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2020
Together they searched for Isobel's past
After the car accident impaired her memory, Isobel St. Aubyn had only haunting flashbacks and the evasive accounts of her family to bring back her past. Until she met Eliot Richardson.
Torn between hostility and desire for Isobel, the cold intimidating banker was strangely determined to help her. 'If your past won't come back to you,'' he said, "you should go and look for it.'
As they traveled from Devon to Morocco, revisiting scenes from her past, Isobel fell deeply in love. But there was so much more she needed to know about her life ... about Eliot.
After the car accident impaired her memory, Isobel St. Aubyn had only haunting flashbacks and the evasive accounts of her family to bring back her past. Until she met Eliot Richardson.
Torn between hostility and desire for Isobel, the cold intimidating banker was strangely determined to help her. 'If your past won't come back to you,'' he said, "you should go and look for it.'
As they traveled from Devon to Morocco, revisiting scenes from her past, Isobel fell deeply in love. But there was so much more she needed to know about her life ... about Eliot.
September 19, 2014
This was too long, especially the end, but very readable if you like angsty HPs. Plot was a bit confusing, but interesting.
August 27, 2022
"Try to Remember" is the story of Isobel and Eliot.
The heroine lives with her flighty stepsister and controlling stepfather ever since she lost her memory in an accident. As flashes from the past disturb her, her stepfather dies, and soon she is forced to give up their home. She meets the hero, a familiar stranger, and they embark on a painful journey to uncover her past.
In the first half of the book the mystery is well built. The heroine is truly lost, the hero has a dark edge and things get a bit spooky. The second half, where the truth is revealed is just.. sad. My heart broke for both the hero and heroine, the absolute torture they had to go through and how terrible people around them were.
Glad they found one another.
Safe
3/5
The heroine lives with her flighty stepsister and controlling stepfather ever since she lost her memory in an accident. As flashes from the past disturb her, her stepfather dies, and soon she is forced to give up their home. She meets the hero, a familiar stranger, and they embark on a painful journey to uncover her past.
In the first half of the book the mystery is well built. The heroine is truly lost, the hero has a dark edge and things get a bit spooky. The second half, where the truth is revealed is just.. sad. My heart broke for both the hero and heroine, the absolute torture they had to go through and how terrible people around them were.
Glad they found one another.
Safe
3/5
October 27, 2017
This was a re-read from my teenage years. For decades I couldn’t remember either the name, nor the author of this book untill I posted in a Goodreads group about it. This was a beautiful heart-wrenching storyline that had stuck with me over the years. Reading it as an adult didn’t at all diminish the powerfulness that had once enthralled me with this one; I cried just as many tears as I did the first time around. I wish I could give this book more than a maximum of 5 stars. I just really love this couple’s story...and I can’t really say much else without giving away key reveals to the exceptional plot.
July 3, 2019
It started off well and then kind of got bogged down in the middle.
October 28, 2019
amnesia story... very dramatic... very strong emotions
May 3, 2022
I tried to read this but got bogged down in the nasty craziness and didn't finish.
July 15, 2022
Hmm. Surprisingly decent. An old-school mystery-romance with a slightly gothic feel. And I must say, for a harlequin - nicely done.
July 14, 2025
Wow, this one was good, but not an easy read by any means! The H and h both go through so much and had so many obstacles to overcome, it was unbelievable!!! For the h it was a car crash, miscarriage, coma, and amnesia, and for the H it was false accusations and a year in jail. She couldn't remember, he couldn't forget, and both were manipulated by three pieces of human crap (her stepfather and stepsister, and his brother) who were motivated by jealousy, insecurity, narcissism and possessiveness. Put it together and you get a very big mess!!
I'll have to say, though, that Isabel and Eliot were not without some share of blame, as she went the usual TSTL route, by being too quick to believe the worst, while he in turn, jumped to the wrong conclusions all too easily. Like when Isabel was paying off a blackmailer on her stepsister's behalf, and Eliot thinks the sexy nude photos in question were Isabel's!!! Anyone who knew her even a little, would know she'd NEVER do anything like that, but he wouldn't even give her a chance to explain, and he's supposed to know her better than anyone! And there's a really tough scene to take, where Eliot's accusing Isabel of faking her amnesia, and he gets so angry he's almost out of control, and meanwhile any fool could see how frightened and miserable she was, she was really suffering! No way was she faking anything! While it's true that he, for his own reasons, was pretty miserable as well, and his actions were coming from his own pain, it was still not an easy scene to get through.
Despite its share of angst moments, this is still a book worth reading. but it is definitely NOT your typical HP story!
I'll have to say, though, that Isabel and Eliot were not without some share of blame, as she went the usual TSTL route, by being too quick to believe the worst, while he in turn, jumped to the wrong conclusions all too easily. Like when Isabel was paying off a blackmailer on her stepsister's behalf, and Eliot thinks the sexy nude photos in question were Isabel's!!! Anyone who knew her even a little, would know she'd NEVER do anything like that, but he wouldn't even give her a chance to explain, and he's supposed to know her better than anyone! And there's a really tough scene to take, where Eliot's accusing Isabel of faking her amnesia, and he gets so angry he's almost out of control, and meanwhile any fool could see how frightened and miserable she was, she was really suffering! No way was she faking anything! While it's true that he, for his own reasons, was pretty miserable as well, and his actions were coming from his own pain, it was still not an easy scene to get through.
Despite its share of angst moments, this is still a book worth reading. but it is definitely NOT your typical HP story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 18, 2016
i was waiting for the big reveal!!, June 15, 2008
This review is from: Try to Remember (G. K. Hall Nightingale Series Edition) (Paperback)
Of course, I kinda knew who Eliot was! I was TOTALLY waiting for the big reveal. Anyway, this book kept me on my toes, and I totally wanted to get the whole story. Kinda like a cliffhanger all the way. But yeah, all those stupid relatives were a bunch of nasty people! Can't believe they wasted five years of the hero/heroine's lives!!! Yay for happy endings!!! (Obviously I loved the book, gave it four stars only coz I wanted the evil villains to have suffered more)
This review is from: Try to Remember (G. K. Hall Nightingale Series Edition) (Paperback)
Of course, I kinda knew who Eliot was! I was TOTALLY waiting for the big reveal. Anyway, this book kept me on my toes, and I totally wanted to get the whole story. Kinda like a cliffhanger all the way. But yeah, all those stupid relatives were a bunch of nasty people! Can't believe they wasted five years of the hero/heroine's lives!!! Yay for happy endings!!! (Obviously I loved the book, gave it four stars only coz I wanted the evil villains to have suffered more)
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June 30, 2013كانت له:
عاشت ايزوبيل خمس سنوات من حياتها في قلب الموت !! وهل هناك موت أصعب من فقدان الذاكرة ؟.. ثم رأت ضوءا وانتعش الأمل في قلبها ولكنه سرعان ما تلاشى.امتدت إليها يد في عتمة ذاكرتها :يد اليوت ريتشاردسون ! هل هي يد عدو أو صديق ؟ هل سينقذها اليوت أم يعيدها إلى شفير الضياع ؟ قالت له: هذا الرجل يسكنني ... يسكن أعماق كياني .. هذا ما أشعر به
ـ يبدو لي هذا مضحكا ... امرأة فتية جميلة يسكنها رجل ميت
ـ أنت لا تصدقني لا ...إنه لا يصدقها ... وما عليها إلا أن تحفر هذا الجدار بأظافرها بحثا عن ضوء أو أن تدع الماضي مدفونا هو إلى الأبد
عاشت ايزوبيل خمس سنوات من حياتها في قلب الموت !! وهل هناك موت أصعب من فقدان الذاكرة ؟.. ثم رأت ضوءا وانتعش الأمل في قلبها ولكنه سرعان ما تلاشى.امتدت إليها يد في عتمة ذاكرتها :يد اليوت ريتشاردسون ! هل هي يد عدو أو صديق ؟ هل سينقذها اليوت أم يعيدها إلى شفير الضياع ؟ قالت له: هذا الرجل يسكنني ... يسكن أعماق كياني .. هذا ما أشعر به
ـ يبدو لي هذا مضحكا ... امرأة فتية جميلة يسكنها رجل ميت
ـ أنت لا تصدقني لا ...إنه لا يصدقها ... وما عليها إلا أن تحفر هذا الجدار بأظافرها بحثا عن ضوء أو أن تدع الماضي مدفونا هو إلى الأبد
February 14, 2015
This author wrote some of the better vintage Harlequins
I liked this one and the mystery in the story
It had me guessing and the main characters were interesting
I liked this one and the mystery in the story
It had me guessing and the main characters were interesting
April 26, 2016
I think this may well be my all-time favourite Mills and Boon book.
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