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悪夢の果て
The engagement shocked them all
Meredith had been Michael's girlfriend for years, and although he hadn't formally proposed, she'd always understood they would marry. She was stunned speechless, then, to meet his fiancee!
Simon, who'd known Meredith all her life, was quick to intervene. "Congratulations!" he ventured heartily. "Not ten minutes ago Meredith consented to be my wife, too."
It was a believable enough lie. Everyone had hoped that Simon would marry again to make a proper home for his son--and Merry'd had a crush on him once. But that was no basis for marriage!
Meredith had been Michael's girlfriend for years, and although he hadn't formally proposed, she'd always understood they would marry. She was stunned speechless, then, to meet his fiancee!
Simon, who'd known Meredith all her life, was quick to intervene. "Congratulations!" he ventured heartily. "Not ten minutes ago Meredith consented to be my wife, too."
It was a believable enough lie. Everyone had hoped that Simon would marry again to make a proper home for his son--and Merry'd had a crush on him once. But that was no basis for marriage!
Paperback Shinsho
First published August 1, 1985
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About the author
Daphne Clair
122 books64 followersDahpne Clair is one of many pseudonyms of Daphne de Jong, a New Zealand writer who also uses the names Laurie Bright, Claire Lorel and Clarissa Garland. She is the winner of the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award and has been a finalist for the Romance Writers of America Rita Award more than once.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 30, 2018
RE Dark Dream - This is an odd one. There is not a big passionate romance here. In fact the 22 yr old h and widower 31 yr old H act more like an old married couple than new lovers. In part this can be explained by the fact that they have known each other for all their lives. The respective families are very close, good friends and the H is not by any means the usual HP Lady buffet sampler. In fact, he has only been with his first wife and the h, and DC does a good job of making that assertion believable by the way his character is presented.
The h is a virgin, of course. She has been pretty monogamous as well, she has been saving herself for another young man, which she has been dating since high school. She has no real career ambitions, her ambition is to be a wife, but more importantly she wants kids - badly. DC doesn't present her as a desperate baby seeker though, she presents the h's desire for motherhood as more of an alternative career path.
I liked the way the h's desire for the mum career was handled, the h wasn't bad at earning a living - she had risen steadily in her chosen profession, she just wasn't that interested in a career. She determined pretty early on that she wanted kids and a husband and her choices are based on that goal, but she isn't just looking for a meal ticket and a baby daddy, she really is a true domestic engineer and all her hobbies are in the homemaking/nurturing direction.
DC gives enough feeling to the background of how the h was raised to really understand why the h would find a lot of satisfaction in the motherhood/homemaker role and she doesn't minimize or maximize the desire for it. This h simply has a strong maternal instinct and she wants to express it. It is isn't really a conscious avocation for the h, but it does explain partly why her marriage comes about in a really bizarre sort of way and why it leaves a lot of room for doubt about the depth of the H and h's love but NOT their commitment to the marriage - they both compromised on the love issue and settled for lukewarm with understanding and compatible sex, I think.
The book opens with the h dozing under a tree in anticipation of her long term boyfriend returning from college and they can start their lives together. She wakes to a kiss, but it isn't the boyfriend. It is the H kissing her, which leads to some embarrassment on the h's part, cause she was getting into it. They chat for a bit and the h avows her love for the boyfriend to put the H off kissing her some more.
They return to the h's family home to find the boyfriend there - with his new fiancee. The h is gobsmacked and is about to make a huge scene when the H jumps in with the announcement that he and the h have just firmed up their engagement. The h does what all good HP h's do when confronted with a situation they can't run away from, she faints.
Upon recovery, she is too embarrassed to deny the H's assertion and so in between sheer outrage that her long time love has dumped her pretty harshly, she is also overwhelmed with family congratulations and her father is tactfully trying not to mention the H's first wife and sticking his foot in it. The h agrees to let the engagement stand for a bit, but the H did wildly love his first wife and so the h assumes that he wants a reliable source of sex and a mum for his son who is currently being cared for by the H's mum during the week and the H on weekends.
To be fair the H does tell the h he loves her, but it is the most banal declaration of love in all of HPlandia and the h is too busy nursing her heartbreak to really think all that much about it. The h and H do have a bit of courtship and the h keeps having to talk herself out of some serious (very valid IMO) doubts about marrying the H. The h first thinks that marrying the H would be a bad idea because there isn't any passionate love, but she was in love and it did not work out so she thinks a practical marriage might be better.
(At this point my inner seekrit romantic was screaming, "Don't commit to this, run as fast as you can and find some wild passion!" - but no one was listening, most especially the h.)
Then the h realizes that sexual heat can't keep a marriage going for the long haul, and while she does feel a big physical pull for the H, she also wonders if she would feel that with other men, now that she can feel free to experiment - if she weren't engaged. But between her natural compassion for the H's sadness over the loss of his first wife, his motherless son, plus her long term friendship with the H and his really good tactics of turning her arguments around to make her feel that she is wrong to have doubts, she is subtly manipulated into following through with the marriage.
They marry, the h realizes she really did not really love the boyfriend, (plus his family finally convinces her that he never felt the same way as she did and a girl has her pride,) and the sex is great. The honeymoon is perfect, tho the sex is all closed door and there is also the only mention of using the bathroom and morning breath in all of HPLandia.
I bought the good sex part, mostly cause the h was very passionate in nature and the H had been without for YEARS. The h and H fall into an effortless routine of domesticity and child rearing. The h quits her job and is enjoying the nesting process and the H seems to be fairly happy.
The one big bone of contention is that the h wants a baby and the H puts her off. He says it is because he wants time to be with her, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear that the H probably intends to never have kids with her.
He is adamant that she take birth control and it is really clear that pregnancy is NOT on his agenda. The h tries to argue her side of wanting a bigger family, but the H turns it around on her by claiming she is using him as a respectable stud service. ( I though that was bit ironic, considering he was using her as a sexual outlet and homemaker.)
Then the inevitable happens, the little son runs away after an argument with the h, he is missing and everyone is searching for him. Since he is four, this is a pretty big deal. When he finally is found, the h forgets her pill in all the excitement and the stress relief coitus gets her up the duff.
She tells the H and he explodes. He is NOT a happy camper. He distances himself from her and when they try for the physical connection, he finds he is impotent. The h feels completely demoralized and the thought occurs to her that he doesn't really want kids with her, he just wanted a replacement wife and mum for his son, but she ultimately got what she really wanted, so she is prepared to make the best of it.
The H starts having nightmares and the h assumes it is about his first wife, who died in childbirth from an aneurysm. The h feels that she has been too free in confessing her love for the H, so she tries to keep it contained and give him extra attention as her ladies' magazine say the biggest danger is that a hubby will feel neglected during the pregnancy. The H finally confesses he isn't dreaming of his first wife, he is dreaming of losing her.
The h takes the situation in hand and makes the H acknowledge that his subconscious fears of another death after birth is driving his inability to raise the flag - so to speak. As soon as the conscious connection between his fear of death and the limp noodleness is made, the H has a miraculous recovery and the tower of power is pumping out full wattage as the H avers that he loves the h just as much as he loved his first wife. The ending is a christening party scene for the new daughter of the H and h, with promises of a power ride later and HEA.
This is a good story and a lot of deeper issues are present that you don't see in HPLandia too often. I did not buy that the H and h were really in wild, passionate love and I did feel the h was a second choice - but the h obviously wanted what she had and so I respected her secondary status as a wife and lover because she really wanted the mum badge more.
This story is an interesting statement by DC about what a woman's freedom to choose really means and for the time, this book provoked a lot of thoughts about what the feminism movement is really about.
I find it really ironic that Western society in most places took 30 years to acknowledge that the women's movement means women get to choose whatever options suit them, be it a career or domestic engineer with mumness, and DC was pretty purposely interpreting that idear in a time when the women's movement was usually about the freedom to have a career, delay marriage and find a material place in the world.
On the other hand, when I visit HPLandia I want wild passion and grand dramatic gestures of undying intense love, not an in-depth study of Western culture mores. I did not get any wild romance here, and that makes this book a great cultural study and a good story of the compromises a woman makes to achieve her goals, but really poor in the actual romance department-- so I have some lingering feelings of dissatisfaction every time I read this book.
The h is a virgin, of course. She has been pretty monogamous as well, she has been saving herself for another young man, which she has been dating since high school. She has no real career ambitions, her ambition is to be a wife, but more importantly she wants kids - badly. DC doesn't present her as a desperate baby seeker though, she presents the h's desire for motherhood as more of an alternative career path.
I liked the way the h's desire for the mum career was handled, the h wasn't bad at earning a living - she had risen steadily in her chosen profession, she just wasn't that interested in a career. She determined pretty early on that she wanted kids and a husband and her choices are based on that goal, but she isn't just looking for a meal ticket and a baby daddy, she really is a true domestic engineer and all her hobbies are in the homemaking/nurturing direction.
DC gives enough feeling to the background of how the h was raised to really understand why the h would find a lot of satisfaction in the motherhood/homemaker role and she doesn't minimize or maximize the desire for it. This h simply has a strong maternal instinct and she wants to express it. It is isn't really a conscious avocation for the h, but it does explain partly why her marriage comes about in a really bizarre sort of way and why it leaves a lot of room for doubt about the depth of the H and h's love but NOT their commitment to the marriage - they both compromised on the love issue and settled for lukewarm with understanding and compatible sex, I think.
The book opens with the h dozing under a tree in anticipation of her long term boyfriend returning from college and they can start their lives together. She wakes to a kiss, but it isn't the boyfriend. It is the H kissing her, which leads to some embarrassment on the h's part, cause she was getting into it. They chat for a bit and the h avows her love for the boyfriend to put the H off kissing her some more.
They return to the h's family home to find the boyfriend there - with his new fiancee. The h is gobsmacked and is about to make a huge scene when the H jumps in with the announcement that he and the h have just firmed up their engagement. The h does what all good HP h's do when confronted with a situation they can't run away from, she faints.
Upon recovery, she is too embarrassed to deny the H's assertion and so in between sheer outrage that her long time love has dumped her pretty harshly, she is also overwhelmed with family congratulations and her father is tactfully trying not to mention the H's first wife and sticking his foot in it. The h agrees to let the engagement stand for a bit, but the H did wildly love his first wife and so the h assumes that he wants a reliable source of sex and a mum for his son who is currently being cared for by the H's mum during the week and the H on weekends.
To be fair the H does tell the h he loves her, but it is the most banal declaration of love in all of HPlandia and the h is too busy nursing her heartbreak to really think all that much about it. The h and H do have a bit of courtship and the h keeps having to talk herself out of some serious (very valid IMO) doubts about marrying the H. The h first thinks that marrying the H would be a bad idea because there isn't any passionate love, but she was in love and it did not work out so she thinks a practical marriage might be better.
(At this point my inner seekrit romantic was screaming, "Don't commit to this, run as fast as you can and find some wild passion!" - but no one was listening, most especially the h.)
Then the h realizes that sexual heat can't keep a marriage going for the long haul, and while she does feel a big physical pull for the H, she also wonders if she would feel that with other men, now that she can feel free to experiment - if she weren't engaged. But between her natural compassion for the H's sadness over the loss of his first wife, his motherless son, plus her long term friendship with the H and his really good tactics of turning her arguments around to make her feel that she is wrong to have doubts, she is subtly manipulated into following through with the marriage.
They marry, the h realizes she really did not really love the boyfriend, (plus his family finally convinces her that he never felt the same way as she did and a girl has her pride,) and the sex is great. The honeymoon is perfect, tho the sex is all closed door and there is also the only mention of using the bathroom and morning breath in all of HPLandia.
I bought the good sex part, mostly cause the h was very passionate in nature and the H had been without for YEARS. The h and H fall into an effortless routine of domesticity and child rearing. The h quits her job and is enjoying the nesting process and the H seems to be fairly happy.
The one big bone of contention is that the h wants a baby and the H puts her off. He says it is because he wants time to be with her, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear that the H probably intends to never have kids with her.
He is adamant that she take birth control and it is really clear that pregnancy is NOT on his agenda. The h tries to argue her side of wanting a bigger family, but the H turns it around on her by claiming she is using him as a respectable stud service. ( I though that was bit ironic, considering he was using her as a sexual outlet and homemaker.)
Then the inevitable happens, the little son runs away after an argument with the h, he is missing and everyone is searching for him. Since he is four, this is a pretty big deal. When he finally is found, the h forgets her pill in all the excitement and the stress relief coitus gets her up the duff.
She tells the H and he explodes. He is NOT a happy camper. He distances himself from her and when they try for the physical connection, he finds he is impotent. The h feels completely demoralized and the thought occurs to her that he doesn't really want kids with her, he just wanted a replacement wife and mum for his son, but she ultimately got what she really wanted, so she is prepared to make the best of it.
The H starts having nightmares and the h assumes it is about his first wife, who died in childbirth from an aneurysm. The h feels that she has been too free in confessing her love for the H, so she tries to keep it contained and give him extra attention as her ladies' magazine say the biggest danger is that a hubby will feel neglected during the pregnancy. The H finally confesses he isn't dreaming of his first wife, he is dreaming of losing her.
The h takes the situation in hand and makes the H acknowledge that his subconscious fears of another death after birth is driving his inability to raise the flag - so to speak. As soon as the conscious connection between his fear of death and the limp noodleness is made, the H has a miraculous recovery and the tower of power is pumping out full wattage as the H avers that he loves the h just as much as he loved his first wife. The ending is a christening party scene for the new daughter of the H and h, with promises of a power ride later and HEA.
This is a good story and a lot of deeper issues are present that you don't see in HPLandia too often. I did not buy that the H and h were really in wild, passionate love and I did feel the h was a second choice - but the h obviously wanted what she had and so I respected her secondary status as a wife and lover because she really wanted the mum badge more.
This story is an interesting statement by DC about what a woman's freedom to choose really means and for the time, this book provoked a lot of thoughts about what the feminism movement is really about.
I find it really ironic that Western society in most places took 30 years to acknowledge that the women's movement means women get to choose whatever options suit them, be it a career or domestic engineer with mumness, and DC was pretty purposely interpreting that idear in a time when the women's movement was usually about the freedom to have a career, delay marriage and find a material place in the world.
On the other hand, when I visit HPLandia I want wild passion and grand dramatic gestures of undying intense love, not an in-depth study of Western culture mores. I did not get any wild romance here, and that makes this book a great cultural study and a good story of the compromises a woman makes to achieve her goals, but really poor in the actual romance department-- so I have some lingering feelings of dissatisfaction every time I read this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2016
A solid HP. Heroine is in love with younger brother and waits eagerly for him to return home to her. He does - with a fiance in tow. Older brother, a widower, knows how she feels and sweeps her into an engagement and whirlwind wedding because he has a young son who needs looking after.
June 13, 2021
This didn't read like a Harlequin, more like the script of a Lifetime movie.
The hero becomes impotent (which I think is a first in Harlequinlandia?) when his young, new bride becomes pregnant. He is furious with her, suspecting at first that she stopped taking contraceptives on purpose. They had argued about the issue of pregnancy, with the hero firmly on the side of not having any more children. He already has a son from his first marriage. His first wife died in childbirth and he is subconsciously terrified that the same happens to his second wife.
Thankfully, his young new bride is a fountain of wisdom and pop psychology who makes him admit to his subconscious fear, accept it, and get over it. They exchange fierce ILYs and the hero even confesses that he was besotted with her long before he proposed a marriage of convenience to her. Heroine had been in love all her life with her childhood sweetheart and had been recently, abruptly jilted by him when hero sprung a proposal on her out of the blue, telling her they could marry in order for her to keep up her pride, and also get an insta-family since he is a widow with an adorable orphaned daughter.
He didn't want to frighten her away with love declarations when she needed time to heal and get over her broken heart. Which she promptly did with the sex therapy he gave her on their honeymoon hehe 😀. So I guess it's fair to say there won't be costly therapist bills in their future, these two are the Harlequin versions of Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil !
The hero becomes impotent (which I think is a first in Harlequinlandia?) when his young, new bride becomes pregnant. He is furious with her, suspecting at first that she stopped taking contraceptives on purpose. They had argued about the issue of pregnancy, with the hero firmly on the side of not having any more children. He already has a son from his first marriage. His first wife died in childbirth and he is subconsciously terrified that the same happens to his second wife.
Thankfully, his young new bride is a fountain of wisdom and pop psychology who makes him admit to his subconscious fear, accept it, and get over it. They exchange fierce ILYs and the hero even confesses that he was besotted with her long before he proposed a marriage of convenience to her. Heroine had been in love all her life with her childhood sweetheart and had been recently, abruptly jilted by him when hero sprung a proposal on her out of the blue, telling her they could marry in order for her to keep up her pride, and also get an insta-family since he is a widow with an adorable orphaned daughter.
He didn't want to frighten her away with love declarations when she needed time to heal and get over her broken heart. Which she promptly did with the sex therapy he gave her on their honeymoon hehe 😀. So I guess it's fair to say there won't be costly therapist bills in their future, these two are the Harlequin versions of Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil !
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2020
Despite what a title called Dark Dream implies, you know you’re not going to end up with a lot of angst when the heroine’s name is Merrie
and the kind-of OW is Francine
Blonde hero that I was going to go with this image
Until his apparently low testosterone not only delayed consummating the marriage but initiated a bout of impotency. This guy might represent him better.
Plot:
Troy, I mean Simon, helps Merrie save face when the man she thinks wants to marry her comes home with a fiancee. Merrie gets a little mopey, but reverts back to her merry self (sorry) pretty darn quick when Simon proves he’s a good kisser. Insert plot moppet, engage dreams/nightmares of dead wife and/or fear of pregnancy and that’s about it.
Sweet story overall and definitely worth a read, but not a love for the ages.
and the kind-of OW is Francine
Blonde hero that I was going to go with this image
Until his apparently low testosterone not only delayed consummating the marriage but initiated a bout of impotency. This guy might represent him better.
Plot:
Troy, I mean Simon, helps Merrie save face when the man she thinks wants to marry her comes home with a fiancee. Merrie gets a little mopey, but reverts back to her merry self (sorry) pretty darn quick when Simon proves he’s a good kisser. Insert plot moppet, engage dreams/nightmares of dead wife and/or fear of pregnancy and that’s about it.
Sweet story overall and definitely worth a read, but not a love for the ages.
May 10, 2022
Nice to read ordinary people’s normal problems other than jetset’s no love principles due to their mommy/daddy issues!
October 13, 2010
Meredith is 21 or so and is waiting for David 22 to return home and marry her. When he does he has a fiance. Simon, her best friend's widowed older brother, was there and immediately claims that not 10 minutes ago Meredith had agreed to marry him. Thus Meredith is saved embarrassment. But Simon has an ulterior motive because of course he loves Meredith. He persuades her to marry him and be a mother to his 4 year old son. Their marriage does not run smoothly and their problems were much more realistic than in most modern HPs. They have some real stuff to overcome. It was well written and believable. Simon was not a dick but he did have some big issues and Meredith was not a doormat but stuck it out through some pretty tough stuff. Worth reading for HP fans. One minor quibble. At the end, oddly, 4 year old Benjy starts talking baby talk which he hadn't done previously. Totally irked me. But it was just a couple of lines so tolerable.
June 13, 2021
These two drove me nuts. The premise was excellent and could have made for a great story. But it was too superficial for the topics the author tried to handle.
September 27, 2020
Good old school romance with remarkable tension-angst.
December 25, 2020
A bit dated, of course, but I still love these old Harlequins.
August 10, 2017
It was rather bland and nothing much happened until after 70% of the story. Even the characters were uni-dimensional, there was nothing extraordinary about them.
October 12, 2019
The engagement shocked them all
Meredith had been Michael's girlfriend for years, and although he hadn't formally proposed, she'd always understood they would marry. She was stunned speechless, then, to meet his fiancee!
Simon, who'd known Meredith all her life, was quick to intervene. "Congratulations!" he ventured heartily. "Not ten minutes ago Meredith consented to be my wife, too."
It was a believable enough lie. Everyone had hoped that Simon would marry again to make a proper home for his son--and Merry'd had a crush on him once. But that was no basis for marriage
Meredith had been Michael's girlfriend for years, and although he hadn't formally proposed, she'd always understood they would marry. She was stunned speechless, then, to meet his fiancee!
Simon, who'd known Meredith all her life, was quick to intervene. "Congratulations!" he ventured heartily. "Not ten minutes ago Meredith consented to be my wife, too."
It was a believable enough lie. Everyone had hoped that Simon would marry again to make a proper home for his son--and Merry'd had a crush on him once. But that was no basis for marriage
November 2, 2023
bad. very bad lmao. dont. just dont. i went on vacation, did not bring books bc theyre very heavy, found this on one of the shelves in my cousin's room and decided to read bc i was bored the heck out and it was not it. but at least i got to read a book when i was bored, but still, this book lmao, too many red flags and the characters are so annoying lmao lmao anw this is just bad thanks good bye
Read
February 9, 2020I’m in the minority, but I found this v depressing. Not for me. Dnf.
July 22, 2020
Very pleasant read. Both characters had strong moral principles.
December 13, 2021
Sweet story but low on angst.
January 8, 2023
Liked the story, for a change was not based on Millionaire's but regular folk with day to day problems.
November 20, 2014
I've read other HPs with a similar plot but I thought this one could've been better
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews