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Escape to Caribbean Kisses
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- GenresHarlequin Romance
Paperback
First published May 19, 2006
4 people want to read
About the author
Susanne McCarthy
92 books71 followersI'm a Londoner, though now I live in Devon, a twenty-minute walk from the sea. I love nothing more than walking my pretty Cavapoo on the beach in the rain (well, OK, I don't object to the sun, but when it's raining we usually have the whole beach to ourselves.)
Back in the day I had 25 novels published by Mills&Boon. After a long gap doing other things I found my love of writing again, and self-published three new novels.
But I knew that to reach more readers I needed an established publisher. Step in Joffe Books. They were top of my list so I was delighted when they accepted the first novel I sent them.
This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Back in the day I had 25 novels published by Mills&Boon. After a long gap doing other things I found my love of writing again, and self-published three new novels.
But I knew that to reach more readers I needed an established publisher. Step in Joffe Books. They were top of my list so I was delighted when they accepted the first novel I sent them.
This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 14, 2026
This volume contains two stories: Groom By Arrangement by Susanne McCarthy and The Children's Doctor by Joanna Neil. I give 3 stars for the former, and 0 star for the latter, resulting in a 1.5 star rating overall :( These two stories have NOTHING in common except that they take place in the Caribbeans, as you shall see if you bother to read the synopsis below. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to waste your time though lol!
Review of Groom By Arrangement by Susanne McCarthy:
Our young heroine inherited a casino on a small private Caribbean island. Her stepfather is in charge until she reaches the age of 25 or she marries, whichever comes first. Our hero is a tycoon who shows up to the casino with an axe to grind. Apparently, the unscrupulous stepdad bilked hero's naive, young nephew out of hundreds of thousands in gambling debts. Hero takes his revenge by hustling the stepdad to the tune of half a mil. It's like Cool Hand Luke, but with poker. Stepdad goes nuts. Apparently, he owes a lot of money to some shady mobsters in Florida and desperately needs the heroine to sell the casino to them at a bargain basement price. So he locks her into a cellar until he gets her signature. Heroine escapes, with the help of her stepdad's hooker with a heart of gold girlfriend, and decides to enter a marriage of convenience with the hero, so she can kick out the stepdad from her casino. Stepdad tries to kill them both and as they both dive in front of each other to save the other's life, they realize it's twu luv after all lol. Stepdad is taken to jail and the tycoon and heroine have their HEA, including converting the casino into a first class hotel resort. It was ridiculous and over the top and filled with unintentionally comical purple prose but it was entertaining for what it was, just like a night at the casino.
Review of The Children's Doctor by Joanna Neil:
Doctor heroine moves to a Caribbean island for a temporary job at the local hospital because she is interested in learning more about tropical medicine. Hero is the local suave island plantation owner as well as extremely skilled surgeon who owns a private clinic specializing in cardiology, for rich people who want to combine their heart surgery with a nice vacation among the palm trees lol.
Hero's childhood sweetheart who had jilted him years before has recently come back to the island, with her 2 year old son in tow. Everybody and their mother is predicting that hero will get back with his ex. The hero himself doesn't deny it, even as he tries again and again to put the moves on the heroine. He tells her at one point that he has a special affinity for the ex's son because after all, that could have been his son if she hadn't jilted him.
Hero continues to woo the heroine but he spends all his time with the OW. There is no doubt in my mind that he is sleeping her and also trying to bed the heroine at the same time. One of the hospital nurses calls him about a patient and the OW answers his phone huskily, telling her the doctor had a late night and just went into the shower tee-hee. In another instance, the heroine finds them smooching in his office. Hero also operates on her fragile plot moppet with a heart condition. He keeps reminding heroine that he will always be here for OW and her son whenever they need him. He has loved her since they were children etc.
After all this, the conclusion consists of him having the absolute gall to gaslight the heroine into believing that he actually only ever cared for the OW as a SISTER. ROFL. In that case, it was a very "special" brother-sister relationship that made him wish his "nephew" was his own son. WTH???? From the hints the hero was dropping, it seemed that he was more interested in the heroine joining his clinic (even building a special pediatric ward for her) than in having her for his wife. This was an EPIC GASLIGHTING FAIL for me.
Review of Groom By Arrangement by Susanne McCarthy:
Our young heroine inherited a casino on a small private Caribbean island. Her stepfather is in charge until she reaches the age of 25 or she marries, whichever comes first. Our hero is a tycoon who shows up to the casino with an axe to grind. Apparently, the unscrupulous stepdad bilked hero's naive, young nephew out of hundreds of thousands in gambling debts. Hero takes his revenge by hustling the stepdad to the tune of half a mil. It's like Cool Hand Luke, but with poker. Stepdad goes nuts. Apparently, he owes a lot of money to some shady mobsters in Florida and desperately needs the heroine to sell the casino to them at a bargain basement price. So he locks her into a cellar until he gets her signature. Heroine escapes, with the help of her stepdad's hooker with a heart of gold girlfriend, and decides to enter a marriage of convenience with the hero, so she can kick out the stepdad from her casino. Stepdad tries to kill them both and as they both dive in front of each other to save the other's life, they realize it's twu luv after all lol. Stepdad is taken to jail and the tycoon and heroine have their HEA, including converting the casino into a first class hotel resort. It was ridiculous and over the top and filled with unintentionally comical purple prose but it was entertaining for what it was, just like a night at the casino.
Review of The Children's Doctor by Joanna Neil:
Doctor heroine moves to a Caribbean island for a temporary job at the local hospital because she is interested in learning more about tropical medicine. Hero is the local suave island plantation owner as well as extremely skilled surgeon who owns a private clinic specializing in cardiology, for rich people who want to combine their heart surgery with a nice vacation among the palm trees lol.
Hero's childhood sweetheart who had jilted him years before has recently come back to the island, with her 2 year old son in tow. Everybody and their mother is predicting that hero will get back with his ex. The hero himself doesn't deny it, even as he tries again and again to put the moves on the heroine. He tells her at one point that he has a special affinity for the ex's son because after all, that could have been his son if she hadn't jilted him.
Hero continues to woo the heroine but he spends all his time with the OW. There is no doubt in my mind that he is sleeping her and also trying to bed the heroine at the same time. One of the hospital nurses calls him about a patient and the OW answers his phone huskily, telling her the doctor had a late night and just went into the shower tee-hee. In another instance, the heroine finds them smooching in his office. Hero also operates on her fragile plot moppet with a heart condition. He keeps reminding heroine that he will always be here for OW and her son whenever they need him. He has loved her since they were children etc.
After all this, the conclusion consists of him having the absolute gall to gaslight the heroine into believing that he actually only ever cared for the OW as a SISTER. ROFL. In that case, it was a very "special" brother-sister relationship that made him wish his "nephew" was his own son. WTH???? From the hints the hero was dropping, it seemed that he was more interested in the heroine joining his clinic (even building a special pediatric ward for her) than in having her for his wife. This was an EPIC GASLIGHTING FAIL for me.
Displaying 1 of 1 review