Unlikely Cupid

by Catherine George

"You're not at all suitable for Miles."

Janus Stanhope certainly didn't keep his opinions to himself--he wanted Georgina to know he didn't approve of her engagement to his younger brother.

Under the circumstances, Georgina couldn't enlighten him. In any case, he was so arrogant she felt he deserved to be fooled!

Georgina was only pretending to be Miles's fiancee--to help him out of a bind. But now she found herself in a mess. For Georgina found Janus far too attractive for her own peace of mind!

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance

251 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1991

About the author

Deirdre Matthews was born in a village on the Welsh-English border, where the public library featured largely in her life. Her mother, who looked upon literature as a basic necessity of life, fervently encouraged her passion for reading, little knowing it would one day motivate her daughter into writing her first novel.

At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!

Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.

But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.

These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 1 out of 5]

HAIKU BOOK REVIEW: Unlikely Cupid, by Catherine George.

Unlikely Cupid, so
likely stupid,
I've only myself to blame.

[Wendy Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t specifically love older man/younger women romances, but I accept that they are common occurrences back in the day, especially in Harlequin romances. But I can’t get over the squick factor of his calling her “child,” “darling child,” and repeatedly, “little one.” Because the last one just makes me think of Thor, and as much as I usually like Catherine George, I wish this novel could be snapped out of existence.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it gets a bit far-fetched and silly toward the end, for a Harlequin this was pretty good. I liked the set-up of the story and the meddling and mischievous elderly matchmakers. The connection is endearing enough and the development kind of fun because of the trickery involved. At the end her not fessing up to Janus IS kind of realistic, but hey it's a Harlequin, and where would these be without misunderstandings that keep the plot moving?

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull and acting middle-aged heroine (20) falls in love at first sight with London suited manwhore hero (35). She runs a flower shop (yawn) and he has so many women (he says at one point he has a choice of 'beds' to visit) that he is compared to Warren Beatty (and that cannot be a good thing).
I am not sure where the romance is in that. There is zero chemistry between them and he'll be cheating on business trips before the year is out.

[LLC · Rating 3 out of 5]

The h agrees, under protest, to be the girlfriend/fiance of a childhood friend, Miles. This supposed to be a one time event at his sisters wedding so that his family will quit worrying about an inappropriate girl he's been seeing. He then convinces her to continue the charade as his Grandmother has a heart condition and he doesn't want her stressed. The h is happy about the situation because at the wedding she meets Mile's older brother Janus. They immediately strike sparks off each other but the situation is complicated by her supposed engagement to Miles. They manage to have an never ending string of misunderstandings on the way to their inevitable HEA.

This is actually a rather sweet romance, there's no real angst, altho the H/h both suffer some before they manage to settle their misunderstandings. This more of a farce and should not be taken seriously. It's light hearted but doesn't really have any LOL moments.

[Anne Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is your typical Harlequin Romance: boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl have a misunderstanding resulting in a spat, through various convolutions they realize it was all a misunderstanding. Throw in a match-maker grandmother and a brother as a rival to make it a little interesting. Stir vigorously. Then boy and girl kiss and make up—or in this case, end up in bed together, with promises of love and marriage, of course. I don't think this is a spoiler. It's the typical plot of a Harlequin Romance, and anyone who reads the things has seen it—over and over again.

Yeah, like a typical Harlequin Romance, it gets sappy toward the end, too.

At one point, I bought a bunch of these things. Heaven only knows what possessed me, but I paid for them so I'm hell-bent to actually read them.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

i hate Miles, he's like spoiled 5 year old kid and he ruined the whole book.
but loved janus, and Gee really doesn't know how to say word NO!

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

You're not at all suitable for Miles."

Janus Stanhope certainly didn't keep his opinions to himself--he wanted Georgina to know he didn't approve of her engagement to his younger brother.

Under the circumstances, Georgina couldn't enlighten him. In any case, he was so arrogant she felt he deserved to be fooled!

Georgina was only pretending to be Miles's fiancee--to help him out of a bind. But now she found herself in a mess. For Georgina found Janus far too attractive for her own peace of mind! (le

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Rating: ★★½☆☆