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The Spanish Inheritance
"It was only for the sake of her young half sister Rosita, that Rachel had written for help and advice to Rosita's relatives in Spain. But the last thing she had expected was that Rosita's masterful cousin, Jeronimo Parades Lucot, should turn up and announce that he was taking over both their lives." This is from the back cover of the book.
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 23, 2016
Oh, my. That was truly awful.
I never read romance when I was a teen and twenty-something, certainly not category romance like this. I was a bit of a book snob then but have not been so for a long time. A quick perusal of my read shelf will attest to just how far my tastes have fallen, though I do appreciate good stories of all types, including romance.
This wasn't one of them.
I was curious to see how romance stories have changed over time, and this was an eye-opener for me. The heroine was insipid, immature, and a complete doormat. Her sister was a manipulative, spoiled brat who, ironically, was more savvy about men at seventeen than Rachel was at twenty-four. The hero was a macho, condescending jerk. We were treated to sentiments like these throughout the book:
From Jeronimo:
“too much rebellion in a woman is not agreeable to any man"
“It's time you faced up to the fact that you were not made for success in the outside world."
“But it's natural for a man to want to protect what he admires and for a woman to submit to his will for her in return for his loving care.”
From Rachel:
“Please let me be the garden you want to possess as your own, to bring you peace and tranquillity if I can."
I grew up during the time this book came out and I think I and every other girl I knew at the time would have had the same gag reflex at reading this as I did now. But the thing that really had my jaw dropping was when Jeronimo, who had assumed custody of the 17-year-old sister, arranged for her to marry her at least several years older boyfriend so that she would have a man to take care of her! Nevermind the fact that the husband-to-be was an idiot easily swayed by the girl and who barely could take care of himself. She. Was. Seventeen.
No. Just no.
I never read romance when I was a teen and twenty-something, certainly not category romance like this. I was a bit of a book snob then but have not been so for a long time. A quick perusal of my read shelf will attest to just how far my tastes have fallen, though I do appreciate good stories of all types, including romance.
This wasn't one of them.
I was curious to see how romance stories have changed over time, and this was an eye-opener for me. The heroine was insipid, immature, and a complete doormat. Her sister was a manipulative, spoiled brat who, ironically, was more savvy about men at seventeen than Rachel was at twenty-four. The hero was a macho, condescending jerk. We were treated to sentiments like these throughout the book:
From Jeronimo:
“too much rebellion in a woman is not agreeable to any man"
“It's time you faced up to the fact that you were not made for success in the outside world."
“But it's natural for a man to want to protect what he admires and for a woman to submit to his will for her in return for his loving care.”
From Rachel:
“Please let me be the garden you want to possess as your own, to bring you peace and tranquillity if I can."
I grew up during the time this book came out and I think I and every other girl I knew at the time would have had the same gag reflex at reading this as I did now. But the thing that really had my jaw dropping was when Jeronimo, who had assumed custody of the 17-year-old sister, arranged for her to marry her at least several years older boyfriend so that she would have a man to take care of her! Nevermind the fact that the husband-to-be was an idiot easily swayed by the girl and who barely could take care of himself. She. Was. Seventeen.
No. Just no.
April 30, 2023
Man, Hunter is really invested in hammering home that message that Doormat Is The Way To Be, Gals. The heroine of this book has occasional spunk when necessary for plot purposes, but in general her role is doormat - which the hero, a Spanish magnate who is the cousin of the heroine's conniving half-sister, views approvingly. Oh, those independent English ladies; when will they realize that they'd prefer to be taken care of?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most interesting character in here is in fact the conniving younger sister Rosita, who refuses to learn Spanish, matter-of-factly announces that she doesn't like her bossy cousin, schemes and wheedles her way to getting some random loser to fall hopelessly in love with her, and always, always gets what she wants. The modern reader is a little taken aback by the fact that she's all of seventeen, and frankly she probably could have done better than the random loser, but what Rosita wants, Rosita gets.
In the meantime, our heroine mopes and whines, occasionally has vapid arguments with our hero Jeronimo, and tries to convince herself and everyone around her that Rosita's boyfriend is in fact in love with her - not for the usual Harlequin reason (protecting Rosita from someone's wrath) but basically out of pique, which is an unusually selfish motivation for a heroine of this era. There is a lot of traveloguing through Granada which would be nicer if the hero didn't monologue about how Spain is getting spoiled by cheap prefab housing. Overall this one was a "meh."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most interesting character in here is in fact the conniving younger sister Rosita, who refuses to learn Spanish, matter-of-factly announces that she doesn't like her bossy cousin, schemes and wheedles her way to getting some random loser to fall hopelessly in love with her, and always, always gets what she wants. The modern reader is a little taken aback by the fact that she's all of seventeen, and frankly she probably could have done better than the random loser, but what Rosita wants, Rosita gets.
In the meantime, our heroine mopes and whines, occasionally has vapid arguments with our hero Jeronimo, and tries to convince herself and everyone around her that Rosita's boyfriend is in fact in love with her - not for the usual Harlequin reason (protecting Rosita from someone's wrath) but basically out of pique, which is an unusually selfish motivation for a heroine of this era. There is a lot of traveloguing through Granada which would be nicer if the hero didn't monologue about how Spain is getting spoiled by cheap prefab housing. Overall this one was a "meh."
January 2, 2018
oh dear...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews