Till the End of Time

by Lilian Peake

Indifferent. That's how Marisa would have described her attitude to Dirk Sterling. Three years ago he had walked out on their marriage-now she was just waiting for their divorce. But that was before Dirk came back to town-as dictatorial and exasperating as ever! Seemingly nothing has changed-yet, with a shock, Marisa found herself jealously wondering about Dirk's relationship with the glamorous widow, Luella. . .

Genres: Harlequin Presents, Romance, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance

188 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1973

About the author

Lilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.

Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.

Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

That's what the martyr heroine of this novel is guilty of doing and that's why her marriage to the H had failed. This is a rather bleak second chance romance because the issues that are presented are quite realistic. Lots of marriages enter a danger zone when one partner begins to give priority to persons other than the spouse. Marisa, the heroine of this story, did that to the H Dirk. The H didn't deserve that so he opted for a legal separation from the heroine; she'd wanted a divorce but the alpha male H refused. I have no idea how divorce worked then, since this was written before my time, but I thought it would have been fairly easy to obtain a divorce even if one spouse was reluctant. After all, doesn't the court grant divorces if there's proof of a long term separation ? But, back to the story...

The H lost my sympathy because he just gave up on her; he didn't fight for the marriage because he had too much pride to beg. My opinion of him wasn't helped by the fact that he's the archetypal chauvinist who thinks his wife should serve him:



But I could forgive that ( since this novel was written in a very different era ) IF he'd been a chauvinist with a heart. I did believe that he loved the heroine but there was the other issue of his lack of celibate status during the separation. Marisa was as celibate as nun wearing a chastity belt among a bunch of gay guys. She was dating ( in a platonic weird manner ) her neighbour Elwyn. How shall I describe Elwyn? Well, maybe the following gif might be a good introduction:



Elwyn is the guy who gets in the way every single time and he does it deliberately ( unlike the cute dolphin ) because he's selfish and self centred. Elwyn and his invalid mother were the cause of the MC's separation. Marisa, because she's the uncrowned queen of Martyr Central, thinks she owes it to Mrs. Worrell to be that lady's permanent slave/dogsbody/servant/nurse/surrogate daughter etc. Why does the heroine feel this undying devotion ?

Mrs. Worrell had been good to Marisa, taking the place of her mother who had died just before Marisa had reached her teens. When her father had married again, his new wife had wanted to live her life with him unencumbered by his daughter. When Mrs. Worrell had offered Marisa a home, she had accepted gladly.


I totally understand Marisa's gratitude to Mrs. Worrell but she could've shown her appreciation in other ways that didn't threaten her marriage. Mrs. W was also kinda selfish. What kind of woman would just sit there, like a parasite, and watch while the marriage of her surrogate daughter is destroyed because of her own possessive co-dependency on the heroine ? Marisa was also the type of person who found it impossible to escape from her little comfort zone. In this case, that comfort zone was the tiny ramshackle council house she had shared with the H. The heroine seemed more attached to this house than she was to the H because she absolutely refused to leave when he'd wanted her to go away with him. I couldn't understand that at all because most normal couples are usually dying to move out of their starter home into something fancier. This heroine seemed to be mired down in a whirpool of depressive stasis. It seemed unfair to the H that she should've expected him to be happy to live in that rundown house for the rest of his life just because it's her little comfort zone. Nevertheless, Marisa continued to pine after him after he'd left her. She even kept all the personal items he'd left behind !


Everywhere she went in the house there were reminders of Dirk. There were two armchairs in the sitting-room; two chairs in the tiny room where they had eaten their meals; in the bathroom two towel rails, in the bedroom a double bed. A half-filled bottle of aftershave lotion still stood, as it had for nearly three years now, on the dressing-table. She dusted it regularly and put it back. Now and then she told herself she would have to throw it away, but the day she did that she knew she would have given up hope.

Dirk returns to take up a big new job at Marisa's firm. He's the new boss and she has to work as his personal secretary. In the tradition of all of Lilian Peake's asshole H's, Dirk takes a sadistic delight in insulting Marisa and gloating about how he's moved up in the world while she's still living in a dump. He also spent a lot of time ( and effort ) squiring around a glamorous widow called Luella just to make the heroine jealous. But he never seemed to have much fun with the widow because most of his attention was focused on Marisa's non relationship with Elwyn and on throwing massive tantrums like a jealous man child. He even tells Marisa that he will divorce her but only if she has sex with him one last time.They end up having off page sex towards the very end and the cruel H leaves a hateful "Slam Bam thank you maam " note:


'Thanks', the note said, 'for the night's entertainment. You certainly earned your reward. Now you've complied with my condition you can have the divorce you keep pestering me for. That's why you did it, isn't it?—Dirk.'

Marisa falls apart because she'd thought the asshole had slept with her because he wanted a reconciliation. She goes into a mild depression, stops eating and gets into a car accident during a snow storm. Dirk finds her and saves her from hypothermia. But what really got me laughing like a loon was the morning after she wakes up and he says:

'My beloved wife,' he whispered at last, 'have I done enough to prove to you that I love you, that I've never stopped loving you, and never will stop loving you until the end of time?'

I guess his cruel verbal barbs and his nasty post coital note were just signs of "Tough Love a la Dirk."

I almost forgot to mention the tedious minor storyline about the housing council's attempts to evict the heroine, Mrs. W and Elwyn. This novel was a bit depressing because both MC's were so unwilling to compromise and make their marriage work.

[Julz · Rating 3 out of 5]

GRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I HATE this guy!!!!! What a freaking jerk!! And just for the fun of being a jerk!!! This guy deserves to be dumped on his keester and left for the ice queen.

Now that we have that established... The story comes in when the couple have been separated for three years after the hero, Dirk (his name is off one letter in my opinion. I wonder if that was intentional), walked out on her over his jealousy. Granted, the heroine, Marisa, could have made some changes that could have helped, but she was stuck and I think I understand. But even if she, and not the person the H should've been mad at, had actually done something horrible, it didn't excuse the H's plain overt joy at being the most mean and heartless so-and-so to walk the planet. He was just an immature, childish bully who took every opportunity to take hurtful digs at the h. And it never let up! In addition to the constant innuendos and put downs, things that he did that I think were totally unforgivable include...constantly belittling and discounting her feelings of hurt about their marriage and their first home together, repeatedly insinuating that she's a liar when she said she didn't have a romantic relationship with the Elwyn, kissing other women in front of her, constantly telling her the progression of his relationship with his girlfriend, telling her he was sleeping with his girlfriend and was planning to marry her, buying presents for his girlfriend and her son and dumping them in the h's lap just to be hurtful, telling her that he had girlfriends while they were separated and that he tried to "make love" to them. If you tried but failed, it's the same as doing. There were just so many that I know I missed a bunch. It was like he was obsessed to hit below the belt at every opportunity.

However, I did notice this from the H: he was always trying to entice her and would make comments like "you ready to move in and be my wife?" claiming her and calling her his wife in public(...except when there was a girl he wanted to tongue kiss in front of her...ass!)constantly helping her and giving her money/taking care of her These were interspersed in between the insults and hurtful actions directed at the h. Maybe the guy was suppose to be crazy with jealousy, making him the enormous penis that he was.

At first, I thought the h was a little pathetic because she was still pining after the H after three years. Then she won my respect after I found out a little more and with how she stood up to him and wasn't swayed or hypnotized by the H's strong aura (I hate when they do that). But she lost it again at the end with a way over the top stupid stunt, but I'll try to forget that little slip.

Even though the couple got their HEA and both seem happy about it, I'm still mad as hell and wish Dick...I mean...Dirk would get his d...hand caught in a meat grinder. He's a putz who, if this were RL, will just continue being a petty, immature, and insecure asshat who'll make the h's life hell on earth.

So if that sounds like fun, then you've found yourself a good ansty angerfest to enjoy.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cheating obnoxious heroine.

[Poonam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really felt bad for the supporting character of this book (Elwyn). The heroine Marisa really used him and kept stringing him along. If she did not love him and was in love with her husband she should have just made that clear at the start instead of taking advantage of him.

Also, the hero Dirk behaved like a jerk throughout the book and at the end said he dd everything to prove his love for her and the dumb woman she is, she accepted him with open arms.

This book was published in 1975 and the way marriage is described meaning wife being possession of a husband and the husband having certain rights even if the wife does not agree made me want to puke!

I do like possessive and dominating heroes but this somehow did not click with me!

[Lu Bielefeld · Rating 1 out of 5]

Paperback - portuguese edition
Bianca 238 - Dilema de uma Mulher Casada
--------------

[Kalyee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things to know about this book

-being unreasonably cruel is how you show your love

- kissing is called "making love"

- whether you're the H or h, it's A-ok to stick your tongue down half the secondary characters throats


And yet, I still mamanged to be entertained :D

[RomLibrary]

Indifferent. That's how Marisa would have described her attitude to Dirk Sterling. Three years ago he had walked out on their marriage -- now she was just waiting for their divorce.

But that was before Dirk came back to town - as dictatorial and exasperating as ever! Seemingly nothing had changed -- yet, with a shock, Marisa found herself jealously wondering about Dirk's relationship with that glamorous widow, Luella

[Cathy Norfin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hateful - condescending - just downright mean - Hero!
Heroine should have just said No on many occasions. - And ignored the hero

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

These two were perfect for each other. They were both so wrong - all of the time - that I'm glad they've paired off and saved the rest of the planet from their toxicity.

H/h have been separated three years. Hero is an architect. Heroine is a secretary. When they split up, hero went to another branch of the office. Now he's back, going to be a partner in the firm and heroine is his secretary.

Also, heroine's house is going to be torn down - only she and the landlady and her son (the OM in the hero's mind) are left. They have decided their going to stay in their hovel no matter what.

I did enjoy seeing the heroine's stubborness rewarded by the bailiffs throwing all of her stuff out on the lawn in the rain. Hero rescued her, but she sobbed on the shoulder of the OM like the fool she was.

Hero is also a fool - but he's cruel with it. He kisses women in front of the heroine. He squires a lovely young widow about town and he says awful things to the heroine in public, in private. It doesn't matter.

The H/h are at an impasse until they have sex again, so the author has to engineer scenes around the play heroine is producing, a conference the hero attends with the heroine, and a retirement dinner where the speaker spends a page of dialogue extolling the virtues of a long lasting marriage.

Mercifully the heroine makes her move of despair - in a snowstorm, of course. Hero finds her in a snowbank and implores her to live another day so they'll be together forever.

So I'll say good bye to this most disfunctional couple. I'm sure their offspring are littering the HPs of today - messed up because of their godawful parents.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1973 this is a …typical early Harlequin.

There is lots of angst, drama, verbal sparring that cover up the main character’s feelings and as usual plain honest âcommunication would have finished the book in a few pages which is a typical theme for a HQ book.

This book was cute and a good way to wile away a couple of hours.

[أجمل زهرة · Rating 3 out of 5]

عاد بلا قلب - روايات احلام

[FOTINI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ώσπου να'ρθει η ώρα...

[Rana Adel · Rating 3 out of 5]

قرأتها مترجمة للعربية فى سلسلة" أحلام" تحت إسم
" عاد بلا قلب "