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The Iron Man by Kay Thorpe released on Jan 25, 1979 is available now for purchase.
153 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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About the author
Kay Thorpe
181 books65 followersKay Thorpe was born on 1935 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK. An avid reader from the time when words on paper began to make sense, she developed a lively imagination of her own, making up stories for the entertainment of her young friends. After leaving school, she tried a variety of jobs, including dental nursing, and a spell in the Women's Royal Airforce from which she emerged knowing a whole lot more about life - if only as an observer.
In 1960, she married with Tony, but didn't begin thinking about trying her hand at writing for a living until she gave up work some four years later to have a baby, John. Having read Mills & Boon novels herself, and done some market research in the local library asking readers what it was they particularly liked about the books, she decided to aim for a particular market, and was fortunate to have her very first, completed manuscript accepted - The Last of the Mallorys, published in 1968. Since then she has written over seventy five books, which doesn't begin to compare with the output of some Mills & Boon authors, but still leaves her wondering where all those words came from.
Sometimes, she finds she has become two different people: the writer at her happiest when involved in the world of books and authors; and the housewife, turning her hands to the everyday needs of husband and son. Once in a while, she finds it difficult to step from one role to the other. She likes cooking, for instance, but she finds that it can be an irritating interruption when she's preoccupied with work on a novel, so the quality of her efforts in the kitchen tend to be a little erratic. She says, "As my husband once remarked, my writing gives life a fascinating element of uncertainly: one day a perfect coq au vin, the next day a couple of burned chops!"
Luckily Kay has daily professional help with her housework, and that leaves her time to indulge in her hobbies. Like many other Mills & Boon authors, she admits to being a voracious consumer of books, a quality she shares with her readers. She likes music and horseback riding, which she does in the countryside near her home. But her favorite hobby is travel - especially to places that will make good settings for her books.
Kay now lives on the outskirts of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, along with husband, Tony, and a huge tabby cat called Mad Max, her one son having flown the coop. Some day she'll think about retiring, but not yet awhile.
In 1960, she married with Tony, but didn't begin thinking about trying her hand at writing for a living until she gave up work some four years later to have a baby, John. Having read Mills & Boon novels herself, and done some market research in the local library asking readers what it was they particularly liked about the books, she decided to aim for a particular market, and was fortunate to have her very first, completed manuscript accepted - The Last of the Mallorys, published in 1968. Since then she has written over seventy five books, which doesn't begin to compare with the output of some Mills & Boon authors, but still leaves her wondering where all those words came from.
Sometimes, she finds she has become two different people: the writer at her happiest when involved in the world of books and authors; and the housewife, turning her hands to the everyday needs of husband and son. Once in a while, she finds it difficult to step from one role to the other. She likes cooking, for instance, but she finds that it can be an irritating interruption when she's preoccupied with work on a novel, so the quality of her efforts in the kitchen tend to be a little erratic. She says, "As my husband once remarked, my writing gives life a fascinating element of uncertainly: one day a perfect coq au vin, the next day a couple of burned chops!"
Luckily Kay has daily professional help with her housework, and that leaves her time to indulge in her hobbies. Like many other Mills & Boon authors, she admits to being a voracious consumer of books, a quality she shares with her readers. She likes music and horseback riding, which she does in the countryside near her home. But her favorite hobby is travel - especially to places that will make good settings for her books.
Kay now lives on the outskirts of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, along with husband, Tony, and a huge tabby cat called Mad Max, her one son having flown the coop. Some day she'll think about retiring, but not yet awhile.
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November 24, 2019
POP QUIZ FOR KAY THORPE'S IRON MAN:
1. If your fiance discourages you from visiting him in Africa, acts shady whenever you bring up the wedding date, and then stops responding to your letters altogether for six months, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on with your life. He's a big fat jerk.
b. Write to a local friend/his employer/the local police/Interpol/the local English Consulate and ask them to investigate. Maybe something bad happened to him?
c. Break your lease, quit your job, and get on a plane for Africa with only enough money to pay for a one-way ticket and a twenty pound bill left-over.
2. If you discover your fiance has been shacking up with a local married woman and has totally run out of #*%¡¢&<£ where you're concerned, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on with your life. He's a big fat jerk.
b. Give him and his sidepiece an epic dressing down and berate him into giving you money for your fare back home. It's the least that big fat jerk could do.
c. Sell your body and your soul to another big fat jerk in order to facilitate an escape route for the fiance after his sidepiece steals all his money and the sidepiece's very irate husband comes after him with a machete.
3. If your husband tricks you into a marriage of convenience, rapes you brutally, and berates and humiliates you on every occasion, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on. He's a big fat jerk.
b. Submit for now, lulling him into a false sense of complacency, until an opportunity for escape and revenge arises. At this point, you can get out of your current story and star in a brand new HP book with a cold and elaborate dish of revenge as its central theme.
c. Fall in love, risk your life for him, and beg him to believe and accept your one-sided love for him.
4. When your husband's ex-mistress gloats that you are simply not woman enough to hold his attention, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on. She's a big fat jerk.
b. Punch her in the nose.
c. Continue hosting her in your own home, including loaning her your own clothes, serving her food and coffee, and ultimately lending her your car to facilitate her hospital visit to your husband so they can resume their affair.
RESULTS
If you have answered overwhelmingly with (a) or (b) to the above questions, I regretfully inform you that you have FAILED your pop quiz. You must go back to the dusty one dollar bin at your local library and immerse yourself in HP books for the next six months, familiarizing yourself with all the rules, regulations, tropes, and tribulations of HPlandia before you attempt a quiz of this nature again.
If however you have answered overwhelmingly with (c) to the above questions, may I offer you my most heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU HAVE PASSED and are now ready to relish many, many more deliciously angsty reads which are undoubtedly waiting for you in the dusty one dollar bin of you local library.
Happy reading!!! :)))
1. If your fiance discourages you from visiting him in Africa, acts shady whenever you bring up the wedding date, and then stops responding to your letters altogether for six months, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on with your life. He's a big fat jerk.
b. Write to a local friend/his employer/the local police/Interpol/the local English Consulate and ask them to investigate. Maybe something bad happened to him?
c. Break your lease, quit your job, and get on a plane for Africa with only enough money to pay for a one-way ticket and a twenty pound bill left-over.
2. If you discover your fiance has been shacking up with a local married woman and has totally run out of #*%¡¢&<£ where you're concerned, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on with your life. He's a big fat jerk.
b. Give him and his sidepiece an epic dressing down and berate him into giving you money for your fare back home. It's the least that big fat jerk could do.
c. Sell your body and your soul to another big fat jerk in order to facilitate an escape route for the fiance after his sidepiece steals all his money and the sidepiece's very irate husband comes after him with a machete.
3. If your husband tricks you into a marriage of convenience, rapes you brutally, and berates and humiliates you on every occasion, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on. He's a big fat jerk.
b. Submit for now, lulling him into a false sense of complacency, until an opportunity for escape and revenge arises. At this point, you can get out of your current story and star in a brand new HP book with a cold and elaborate dish of revenge as its central theme.
c. Fall in love, risk your life for him, and beg him to believe and accept your one-sided love for him.
4. When your husband's ex-mistress gloats that you are simply not woman enough to hold his attention, do you:
a. Cut your losses and move on. She's a big fat jerk.
b. Punch her in the nose.
c. Continue hosting her in your own home, including loaning her your own clothes, serving her food and coffee, and ultimately lending her your car to facilitate her hospital visit to your husband so they can resume their affair.
RESULTS
If you have answered overwhelmingly with (a) or (b) to the above questions, I regretfully inform you that you have FAILED your pop quiz. You must go back to the dusty one dollar bin at your local library and immerse yourself in HP books for the next six months, familiarizing yourself with all the rules, regulations, tropes, and tribulations of HPlandia before you attempt a quiz of this nature again.
If however you have answered overwhelmingly with (c) to the above questions, may I offer you my most heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU HAVE PASSED and are now ready to relish many, many more deliciously angsty reads which are undoubtedly waiting for you in the dusty one dollar bin of you local library.
Happy reading!!! :)))
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2016
I read this marriage of convenience story set in Sierra Leone 20 years ago. It was in a box of 50 Harleys I picked up at a garage sale. Of all of those books, this the only story I remembered and wanted to read again. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the title and the author, but I remembered the white HP cover that had zebras on it. When I discovered Open Library, I realized I could perhaps read it again. With the help of FictionDB, I finally tracked it down and it was as good as I remembered.
Today, I read it again because I had never reviewed it - and even the third time around I enjoyed it. It's not that it's an angst fest - it's just a well told story (not a word is unnecessary - Kay Thorpe has a fairly spare style) with a very alpha male, set in a very masculine environment.
The set up - heroine quits her job, gives up her flat and empties her bank account to travel from England to the iron ore mine to check on her fiance who hasn't written in six months. The boss of the mine (Hero) tells her the fiance has been fired and is living with a married woman in Freetown. The heroine, who has taken an instant dislike to the hunky hero, doesn't believe him - even when he produces of a pile of letters from her that were left unopened by the fiance. She storms out, but her driver has left her stranded there until the next day. The hero has no choice but to put her up for the night.
Heroine manages to cause a stir at the "club" in the mining compound that night because she is an attractive woman in an all male environment. Hero had warned her, and has to break up a fight because of her.
The next morning the hero takes her to the squalid house where her fiance is shacked up with the OW. Fiance tells her it's over. Heroine cries - not because she cares about the fiance anymore - but because she is stranded in Africa with little money and no way home. Hero then proposes she marry him. work as a bookkeeper at the mine to earn some money, and when he leaves for England in five weeks she can accompany him and have her flight paid for by the company because she is his spouse. She agrees and is grateful, thinking she has to revise her opinion of him. They marry that very day.
All is well until the hero shows her around his house and lets her know that he expects this to be a real marriage for five weeks. Heroine fights him off not very successfully, but there is an emergency at the mine and he is gone all night.
Suffice it to say, they do make their marriage real - off the page. (1974 copyright date). The heroine is not forced, but still doesn't want to give in "those feelings" about the hero until they have a weekend by the sea and they run into people the hero knows and the inevitable OW.
I'm leaving out a lot, because this is one of those stories that is packed with atmosphere and action and part of the enjoyment is discovering along with the heroine just what makes this alpha tick. There's a real menace to him, even though he is not verbally abusive and actually turns out to be a soft touch when it comes to the heroine. The heroine doesn't know that, though - and the hero doesn't seem to know that about himself, either. He seems (he's all action, a man of few words) just as surprised as she to discover his neat little plan is getting complicated.
The climax of the story really puts the heroine in a good light. She has been pretty passive throughout, but here she shows courage and for once, her impulsiveness is an asset. Alpha male is alpha during the dark moment and heroine gives a scathing speech that is something to behold.
I can't say I'd want this hero in real life - he's hyper masculine - doesn't talk about himself - assumes a lot - but goodness, he's fun to read about. Those little moments of softness - he calls the heroine "green eyes," kills a scorpion for her, holds her when she cries, and well - *sigh*
If you like your alphas straight up with no chaser this is a good one.
Today, I read it again because I had never reviewed it - and even the third time around I enjoyed it. It's not that it's an angst fest - it's just a well told story (not a word is unnecessary - Kay Thorpe has a fairly spare style) with a very alpha male, set in a very masculine environment.
The set up - heroine quits her job, gives up her flat and empties her bank account to travel from England to the iron ore mine to check on her fiance who hasn't written in six months. The boss of the mine (Hero) tells her the fiance has been fired and is living with a married woman in Freetown. The heroine, who has taken an instant dislike to the hunky hero, doesn't believe him - even when he produces of a pile of letters from her that were left unopened by the fiance. She storms out, but her driver has left her stranded there until the next day. The hero has no choice but to put her up for the night.
Heroine manages to cause a stir at the "club" in the mining compound that night because she is an attractive woman in an all male environment. Hero had warned her, and has to break up a fight because of her.
The next morning the hero takes her to the squalid house where her fiance is shacked up with the OW. Fiance tells her it's over. Heroine cries - not because she cares about the fiance anymore - but because she is stranded in Africa with little money and no way home. Hero then proposes she marry him. work as a bookkeeper at the mine to earn some money, and when he leaves for England in five weeks she can accompany him and have her flight paid for by the company because she is his spouse. She agrees and is grateful, thinking she has to revise her opinion of him. They marry that very day.
All is well until the hero shows her around his house and lets her know that he expects this to be a real marriage for five weeks. Heroine fights him off not very successfully, but there is an emergency at the mine and he is gone all night.
Suffice it to say, they do make their marriage real - off the page. (1974 copyright date). The heroine is not forced, but still doesn't want to give in "those feelings" about the hero until they have a weekend by the sea and they run into people the hero knows and the inevitable OW.
I'm leaving out a lot, because this is one of those stories that is packed with atmosphere and action and part of the enjoyment is discovering along with the heroine just what makes this alpha tick. There's a real menace to him, even though he is not verbally abusive and actually turns out to be a soft touch when it comes to the heroine. The heroine doesn't know that, though - and the hero doesn't seem to know that about himself, either. He seems (he's all action, a man of few words) just as surprised as she to discover his neat little plan is getting complicated.
The climax of the story really puts the heroine in a good light. She has been pretty passive throughout, but here she shows courage and for once, her impulsiveness is an asset. Alpha male is alpha during the dark moment and heroine gives a scathing speech that is something to behold.
I can't say I'd want this hero in real life - he's hyper masculine - doesn't talk about himself - assumes a lot - but goodness, he's fun to read about. Those little moments of softness - he calls the heroine "green eyes," kills a scorpion for her, holds her when she cries, and well - *sigh*
If you like your alphas straight up with no chaser this is a good one.
September 26, 2020
1.5 stars
*spoilers*
Englishwoman Kimberly Freeman travels to Sierra Leone in West Africa in the hopes of finding her fiancé who has stopped responding to her letters. He's been working at a local mine, and she's worried something has gone wrong (it has, he's shacked up with a married woman). So Kim quits her job and flies out with nothing to her name in order to track Chris down.
She ends up finding him with the assistance of one of the senior engineers, Dave Nelson. (It was actually Dave who'd fired Chris for getting into a fight on the premises of the mine.) Chris isn't too happy to see Kim, but their official breakup is civil.
Dave, meanwhile, having wanted Kim at first sight (the love part is murky), pounces on this opportunity. He knows Kim is broke and proposes that if she marries him she can then fly for free as his wife a few weeks later when he returns to England for his next leave. He intends it to be a real marriage but doesn't clarify this. Kim naively agrees, thinking it will be a quick and platonic marriage of convenience that will be dissolved as soon as they return to England. He does tell her she can work at the mine as a bookkeeper to while away her time. And boy does she have time!
Forgive me if I sound like I have a pole up my butt, but did we really need to read scenes detailing Kim showering, Kim cleaning out the kitchen, Kim lying on her bed and/or sitting?! They all amounted to a bunch of filler scenes that didn't move the plot forward, but were sadly just as memorable as any scene she had with Dave.
This lack of chemistry, the filler scenes, and Kim's devotion to Chris made me feel Kim loved her slimy fiancé more than she did Dave. She even asked Dave to give Chris travel money so he could escape his tarty girlfriend's pissed-off husband and brother! We are supposed to think Kim was such an iceberg to Dave for so long because she was ashamed of desiring him, yet there's little evidence to support her supposed love for him.
One supposed example:
Thinking he was going to be only half a man now that his one arm most likely needed to be amputated (due to a recent a mining injury), Dave tells Kim to leave him for good. Little devoted 'ole Kim's response? She leaves without making a fuss and tells the OW, Karen, that she can have Dave. WTF! The only reason Kim doesn't end up leaving the mine—and Dave—is because the helicopter pilot tells her Dave's arm is in more serious condition than he'd indicated. This prompts her to beg the pilot to turn back. Sounds admirable, but this was a case of too little, too late for me. In fact and in comparison, I once observed a fellow Dairy Queen customer who displayed more passion and hunger for her burger than Kim ever did for Dave!
Kim expressed plenty of spirit in her dislike for her MOC, yet when it came time to fight for her "iron man" she barely gave a squeak? Not buying it.
*spoilers*
Englishwoman Kimberly Freeman travels to Sierra Leone in West Africa in the hopes of finding her fiancé who has stopped responding to her letters. He's been working at a local mine, and she's worried something has gone wrong (it has, he's shacked up with a married woman). So Kim quits her job and flies out with nothing to her name in order to track Chris down.
She ends up finding him with the assistance of one of the senior engineers, Dave Nelson. (It was actually Dave who'd fired Chris for getting into a fight on the premises of the mine.) Chris isn't too happy to see Kim, but their official breakup is civil.
Dave, meanwhile, having wanted Kim at first sight (the love part is murky), pounces on this opportunity. He knows Kim is broke and proposes that if she marries him she can then fly for free as his wife a few weeks later when he returns to England for his next leave. He intends it to be a real marriage but doesn't clarify this. Kim naively agrees, thinking it will be a quick and platonic marriage of convenience that will be dissolved as soon as they return to England. He does tell her she can work at the mine as a bookkeeper to while away her time. And boy does she have time!
Forgive me if I sound like I have a pole up my butt, but did we really need to read scenes detailing Kim showering, Kim cleaning out the kitchen, Kim lying on her bed and/or sitting?! They all amounted to a bunch of filler scenes that didn't move the plot forward, but were sadly just as memorable as any scene she had with Dave.
This lack of chemistry, the filler scenes, and Kim's devotion to Chris made me feel Kim loved her slimy fiancé more than she did Dave. She even asked Dave to give Chris travel money so he could escape his tarty girlfriend's pissed-off husband and brother! We are supposed to think Kim was such an iceberg to Dave for so long because she was ashamed of desiring him, yet there's little evidence to support her supposed love for him.
One supposed example:
Thinking he was going to be only half a man now that his one arm most likely needed to be amputated (due to a recent a mining injury), Dave tells Kim to leave him for good. Little devoted 'ole Kim's response? She leaves without making a fuss and tells the OW, Karen, that she can have Dave. WTF! The only reason Kim doesn't end up leaving the mine—and Dave—is because the helicopter pilot tells her Dave's arm is in more serious condition than he'd indicated. This prompts her to beg the pilot to turn back. Sounds admirable, but this was a case of too little, too late for me. In fact and in comparison, I once observed a fellow Dairy Queen customer who displayed more passion and hunger for her burger than Kim ever did for Dave!
Kim expressed plenty of spirit in her dislike for her MOC, yet when it came time to fight for her "iron man" she barely gave a squeak? Not buying it.
September 24, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ four stars -
This is one of those stories where I almost didn’t write a review for it, as I was not completely convinced it deserved it. What’s with this “deserving” business? Well, anyone that follows me and this Harley/M&B read-fest will remember that I have stated several times that I’m not going to review every single one of these romances, because there are just too darn many of them!
Truth be told, I wasn’t going to review this since I was thinking it should get three stars… BUT - as you can clearly see with your own two eyes, this landed at a four for me; and in my own concise fashion of explanation, here’s why:
. I just can’t stop thinking about this story! Is it problematic? Yes! And those reasons I will list in a moment; but it is at its heart a romantic tale, and it succeeds in that aspect. In fact, I’m compelled to mention a similarity to an all-time classic romantic film, “An Affair To Remember” (the 1957 version with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr). Here’s a line from that movie that will tear you up:
“If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don’t you think?”
. At its core, this is a romance in the old style - original publication by Mills & Boon in 1974
It’s a hard tale to read at times, and it will take a reader with a strong compunction for old-school romance to get to the finish line.
You’ll need to wade through - a very strong alpha Hero - he won’t be for everyone; he’s definitely a horse of a different color in today’s day and age. They just don’t make ‘em like Dave anymore. He’s a throwback to the male of the Greatest Generation, and younger readers may not be on board with this; I personally loved it.
. If it’s such a romantic tale, what’s problematic about it? Let’s start with the old-school actions of rape, for one. Our Hero attempts to rape our heroine (I would even categorize it as a violent rape since he kicks the door in), but is stopped by outside actions in the plot (there is an emergency at the mine that pulls him out of this troubling scene with our poor h). They do eventually consummate their marriage (off page) and the h is described as being resigned to her fate, and she does end up enjoying the physical aspect of their relationship. Romantic? Not this part. I’m actually surprised I kept reading after the Hero’s actions, since I felt the peril in that moment, and I didn’t like it; but I kept reading…
. This is my first Kay Thorpe. The story is well-told, and it’s compelling reading. I loved the descriptions of late twentieth century Africa; and the descriptions of mining expat life were captivating. Thorpe did a fantastic job of describing the scene and its inhabitants; that was all well done.
What was not well done was the character development, but that could be due to the inherent M&B publishing constraints, so I’ll give that a slight pass, but a backstory on our mc’s with more than a small paragraph would have gone a long way.
. What makes this a four star read? It’s the compelling writing that dragged it to four stars. That ending - simple, very old-school-romantic - it deserves the comparison to “An Affair”. It’s heartfelt, and our mc’s rise to the occasion. They’ve earned a true-blue lasting love; that’s what is on the pages here, and it’s felt by the reader. Our two mc’s have found their soulmates, and that’s why this is a compelling read.
I highly recommend this book. It won’t be for everyone (for reasons mentioned above), but for those looking for a read about the meeting of soulmates, this will be one you’ll want to add to your Keeper Shelf.
Four true-blue (with a slight stain) stars.
This is one of those stories where I almost didn’t write a review for it, as I was not completely convinced it deserved it. What’s with this “deserving” business? Well, anyone that follows me and this Harley/M&B read-fest will remember that I have stated several times that I’m not going to review every single one of these romances, because there are just too darn many of them!
Truth be told, I wasn’t going to review this since I was thinking it should get three stars… BUT - as you can clearly see with your own two eyes, this landed at a four for me; and in my own concise fashion of explanation, here’s why:
. I just can’t stop thinking about this story! Is it problematic? Yes! And those reasons I will list in a moment; but it is at its heart a romantic tale, and it succeeds in that aspect. In fact, I’m compelled to mention a similarity to an all-time classic romantic film, “An Affair To Remember” (the 1957 version with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr). Here’s a line from that movie that will tear you up:
“If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don’t you think?”
. At its core, this is a romance in the old style - original publication by Mills & Boon in 1974
It’s a hard tale to read at times, and it will take a reader with a strong compunction for old-school romance to get to the finish line.
You’ll need to wade through - a very strong alpha Hero - he won’t be for everyone; he’s definitely a horse of a different color in today’s day and age. They just don’t make ‘em like Dave anymore. He’s a throwback to the male of the Greatest Generation, and younger readers may not be on board with this; I personally loved it.
. If it’s such a romantic tale, what’s problematic about it? Let’s start with the old-school actions of rape, for one. Our Hero attempts to rape our heroine (I would even categorize it as a violent rape since he kicks the door in), but is stopped by outside actions in the plot (there is an emergency at the mine that pulls him out of this troubling scene with our poor h). They do eventually consummate their marriage (off page) and the h is described as being resigned to her fate, and she does end up enjoying the physical aspect of their relationship. Romantic? Not this part. I’m actually surprised I kept reading after the Hero’s actions, since I felt the peril in that moment, and I didn’t like it; but I kept reading…
. This is my first Kay Thorpe. The story is well-told, and it’s compelling reading. I loved the descriptions of late twentieth century Africa; and the descriptions of mining expat life were captivating. Thorpe did a fantastic job of describing the scene and its inhabitants; that was all well done.
What was not well done was the character development, but that could be due to the inherent M&B publishing constraints, so I’ll give that a slight pass, but a backstory on our mc’s with more than a small paragraph would have gone a long way.
. What makes this a four star read? It’s the compelling writing that dragged it to four stars. That ending - simple, very old-school-romantic - it deserves the comparison to “An Affair”. It’s heartfelt, and our mc’s rise to the occasion. They’ve earned a true-blue lasting love; that’s what is on the pages here, and it’s felt by the reader. Our two mc’s have found their soulmates, and that’s why this is a compelling read.
I highly recommend this book. It won’t be for everyone (for reasons mentioned above), but for those looking for a read about the meeting of soulmates, this will be one you’ll want to add to your Keeper Shelf.
Four true-blue (with a slight stain) stars.
February 26, 2017
First of all, geeeez this book is hard to find!!! I had to scour all the infinite corners of heaven and earth to find a copy to read (available for free at your local OpenLibrary anywhere with internet, as it turns out).
So Kim is a headstrong, rather thoughtless heroine who gives up everything to chase down her missing fiancé in the wilds of Africa with twenty pounds in her pocket and no way to get back home. She takes an instant dislike to Dave, the rough, gruff Hero who tells her how her fianc�� quit his job and is shacking up with his mistress. Dave offers Kim a temporary Marriage of Convenience so she can leave with him in five weeks when he heads for England.
At first, I was like, "Oh." Cos I've read this trope before, and Kim looked like she was gonna be one of those heroines who have this auto-hatred of the H for no discernible reason and just act tiresome about it the whole time. And she kind of was, for a large portion of the time... but not all!
Dave surprised me by being seriously raw. I make lots of comments re: Alpha Heroes but Dave just sat me down and shut me up. He wasn't over-the-top mean or cruel, but... let's just say he was a do-er not a talker. It wasn't so much the forced seduction, although that caught me by surprise too. It was all the little things... the way he made Kim know he wasn't gonna stand for her shit, and really made her (and me) feel the threat. I sure wouldn't sass him twice, and I'm a very spoiled little sister! Been sassing big men all my life! Kim didn't end up getting her own way much, but it was fun watching her put up a fight:
"I have a right to expect SOME privacy, even from you," she added stubbornly.
The amusement increased. "All right, then, ask me nicely to move and I might consider it."
Caution fought briefly with annoyance and lost. "Go to the devil!"
"You call that asking nicely?"
All bedroom activity was fade-to-black, by the way. Crying inside. Dave was really manly.
The ending was my favorite part of this book, and what rocketed it up to 5 stars. I wasn't overly fond of Kim until she got a hold of herself and made the best decision in her life. Don't read the spoilers if you're gonna read the book.
Thanks StMargarets for writing the review that made me get my first library card in ages.
So Kim is a headstrong, rather thoughtless heroine who gives up everything to chase down her missing fiancé in the wilds of Africa with twenty pounds in her pocket and no way to get back home. She takes an instant dislike to Dave, the rough, gruff Hero who tells her how her fianc�� quit his job and is shacking up with his mistress. Dave offers Kim a temporary Marriage of Convenience so she can leave with him in five weeks when he heads for England.
At first, I was like, "Oh." Cos I've read this trope before, and Kim looked like she was gonna be one of those heroines who have this auto-hatred of the H for no discernible reason and just act tiresome about it the whole time. And she kind of was, for a large portion of the time... but not all!
Dave surprised me by being seriously raw. I make lots of comments re: Alpha Heroes but Dave just sat me down and shut me up. He wasn't over-the-top mean or cruel, but... let's just say he was a do-er not a talker. It wasn't so much the forced seduction, although that caught me by surprise too. It was all the little things... the way he made Kim know he wasn't gonna stand for her shit, and really made her (and me) feel the threat. I sure wouldn't sass him twice, and I'm a very spoiled little sister! Been sassing big men all my life! Kim didn't end up getting her own way much, but it was fun watching her put up a fight:
"I have a right to expect SOME privacy, even from you," she added stubbornly.
The amusement increased. "All right, then, ask me nicely to move and I might consider it."
Caution fought briefly with annoyance and lost. "Go to the devil!"
"You call that asking nicely?"
All bedroom activity was fade-to-black, by the way. Crying inside. Dave was really manly.
The ending was my favorite part of this book, and what rocketed it up to 5 stars. I wasn't overly fond of Kim until she got a hold of herself and made the best decision in her life. Don't read the spoilers if you're gonna read the book.
Thanks StMargarets for writing the review that made me get my first library card in ages.
September 24, 2020
One of the very first Harleys I ever read, back in the mists of time (it would have been out 10 years or so when I got to it too), and I always remembered this one and a recent emergence in my GR threads led to a reread. It stands up fairly well. The atmosphere is interesting and unusual--a Sierra Leone mining camp, where the heroine is stranded after she follows her dirtbag fiance on an impulse. In a real bind, she ends up marrying the mining camp boss temporarily until he can take her back to England on his leave five weeks hence. Hero Dave is a toughie--super alpha, just how I likes 'em, a man of few words and fewer scruples, and quite ruthlessly determined on taking full advantage of the heroine's predicament, both because he wants her and to make it clear to his men that she is out of bounds and not cause for trouble. The naive heroine thinks he's doing her an altruistic favor, but soon finds out he expects to share the marriage bed. She's reluctant, he's forceful, and ultimately she has treacherous body syndrome but is resentful to find herself a convenient bedfellow.
There's a LOT that works here--the oppressive setting, where death and injury are everyday occurrences and the mod cons are few and far between; an enigmatic old-skool hero who's tough and determined and very very cynical about life and women but a little soft on the heroine; an impulsive but ultimately practical and adaptable heroine who unwillingly finds herself falling for the hero; some mild OW drama; a near-tragic event that allows the heroine to not only show her worth but also clarifies some of her own feelings to herself and to the hero. Thorpe's writing style is clean and concise and relies chiefly on the fast-moving dialogue. Both the hero and heroine have brief but effective backstories that lay groundwork for the types of people they are and to explain some of the conflicts and drama between them.
This one is almost real life (putting aside the near-instant MoC) in its emotional buildup. It takes quite a while (and a near-death experience) for the heroine to acknowledge that her reluctant attraction to the hero has deepened into love, and even longer for him to let down some formidable barriers enough to allow her to stay with him and to believe they have a chance at a future. A secondary character sums it up really well when he tells the heroine that she is overcomplicating things and to look at what her own actions, as well as the actions of the hero, are telling her rather than spinning round and round trying to figure out what she really feels. Wise advice that leads to mutual declarations and a pretty good shot at an HEA.
Definitely some anachronistic elements in this one, including forced seduction (off page), some mild threats from the hero that he never follows through on, and cultural clunkers, but overall I thought it stood up pretty well. I always find it interesting that some of the 70s authors sidestepped the entire issue of whether the heroine was a virgin and often offer subtle clues that they're not--it's pretty clear in this one, despite the matter not being explicitly addressed, that she is probably NOT. With so many category romance novels conflating virginity with worth and the emergence of the oh-so-prevalent unlikely virgins in these books, I find it refreshing that there appeared to be authors who chose to make it subtly clear that their heroines have quite naturally (given the times) had sexual experiences (however lackluster--after all, we want relations with our heroes to be transcendent and like nothing before!). Jane Donnelly does this a fair bit, and I'm now curious to see if Kay Thorpe does so in other books of this time period. But I digress.
I still enjoy this one a great deal and have it as a keeper as a really well-done Harley from this era.
There's a LOT that works here--the oppressive setting, where death and injury are everyday occurrences and the mod cons are few and far between; an enigmatic old-skool hero who's tough and determined and very very cynical about life and women but a little soft on the heroine; an impulsive but ultimately practical and adaptable heroine who unwillingly finds herself falling for the hero; some mild OW drama; a near-tragic event that allows the heroine to not only show her worth but also clarifies some of her own feelings to herself and to the hero. Thorpe's writing style is clean and concise and relies chiefly on the fast-moving dialogue. Both the hero and heroine have brief but effective backstories that lay groundwork for the types of people they are and to explain some of the conflicts and drama between them.
This one is almost real life (putting aside the near-instant MoC) in its emotional buildup. It takes quite a while (and a near-death experience) for the heroine to acknowledge that her reluctant attraction to the hero has deepened into love, and even longer for him to let down some formidable barriers enough to allow her to stay with him and to believe they have a chance at a future. A secondary character sums it up really well when he tells the heroine that she is overcomplicating things and to look at what her own actions, as well as the actions of the hero, are telling her rather than spinning round and round trying to figure out what she really feels. Wise advice that leads to mutual declarations and a pretty good shot at an HEA.
Definitely some anachronistic elements in this one, including forced seduction (off page), some mild threats from the hero that he never follows through on, and cultural clunkers, but overall I thought it stood up pretty well. I always find it interesting that some of the 70s authors sidestepped the entire issue of whether the heroine was a virgin and often offer subtle clues that they're not--it's pretty clear in this one, despite the matter not being explicitly addressed, that she is probably NOT. With so many category romance novels conflating virginity with worth and the emergence of the oh-so-prevalent unlikely virgins in these books, I find it refreshing that there appeared to be authors who chose to make it subtly clear that their heroines have quite naturally (given the times) had sexual experiences (however lackluster--after all, we want relations with our heroes to be transcendent and like nothing before!). Jane Donnelly does this a fair bit, and I'm now curious to see if Kay Thorpe does so in other books of this time period. But I digress.
I still enjoy this one a great deal and have it as a keeper as a really well-done Harley from this era.
August 30, 2023
Entirely satisfactory "they don't make 'em like that any more" vintage HP read. Remarkably, given their uber prevalence in my generation, the only Dave I've ever come across as a HP H. Granted, the uber prevalence of Daves, and a certain basicness about it (sorry Daves and Dave lovers) makes it hard to find romantic (David, oddly, not quite so bad). Anyhow, this Dave was the archetypal Dave with added Clint. Set on a south African mining site where women are such a rarity they reduce all present to slavering, priapic fistfighting, it put me in mind of a PW. Jungle Enchantment I suspect, or more likely its sister. She's come to find her fiance who hasn't replied to her letters for 6 months. The daftest MoC ensues and KT glosses over the marital rapes in a way that probably has modern sensibilities reaching for placards but this is just bdsm before it was invented. The h, Kim, is that vintage HP h combination of idiocy, weakness and pluck. Hey, aren't we all. It doesn't have a lot of sugar coating but the ending has a very 'equal match' character without melting into a puddle of high carb junky goo. No cinnamon rolls or aftercare here, be warned. I don't care about either so I loved it.
March 26, 2023
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رواية رومانسية تحكي عن سيدة كانت في رحلة بحث عن خطيبها " البائس" الذي لا يرد على رسائلها لتقع بحب سجانها".
أنا لا أحب الأدب الرومانسي 🌝🌝🌝🌝
وهذه الرواية وقعت عليها بمحض الصدفة..
ماذا بعد القراءة ؟
ونُحب رغماً عنا من لا يُحبنا ونبغض بكل مافينا من أحبنا!
#أبجدية_فرح 4/5 🌷📚
#أقدام_في_الوحل #كاي_ثورب
#candleflame23bookreviews
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رواية رومانسية تحكي عن سيدة كانت في رحلة بحث عن خطيبها " البائس" الذي لا يرد على رسائلها لتقع بحب سجانها".
أنا لا أحب الأدب الرومانسي 🌝🌝🌝🌝
وهذه الرواية وقعت عليها بمحض الصدفة..
ماذا بعد القراءة ؟
ونُحب رغماً عنا من لا يُحبنا ونبغض بكل مافينا من أحبنا!
#أبجدية_فرح 4/5 🌷📚
#أقدام_في_الوحل #كاي_ثورب
#candleflame23bookreviews
November 21, 2019
This is my 41st read on my my way to the first 100 HPs. It is numbered 81 and was originally published in 1974. This was going to be a higher star read until the end. This hero was super alpha and pretty unfeeling. He married her to help her out of a tight spot and then insisted on marital rights. It was pretty non consensual. There was a lot of you’ll do as you are told etc. It was pretty enjoyable in that vintage non pc way. But the end let it down. I wanted something dangerous to happen to the heroine and for the hero to panic and realize he loves her grand gestures and all that. Instead it’s the other way round. The hero gets hurt and the heroine fights to prove her love for him. Lame ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2025
ذكرتني بأيام طفولتي 😁
October 1, 2018
Available on Open Library.
The story was written way before iconic comic hero for which Robert Downey Jr is best known for, though he and the Hero share a few chauvinistic traits.
The Hero in this one is very very Alpha, in that he gives no quarter to the heroine and quite callously imposes his will on her. However, he has moments of harlequin Hero in him. He rescues the heroine and his concern for her welfare far exceeds that of her former fiancé. He comforts her in her distress and tries to give her some entertainment. All these fine deeds of his are mostly concealed amongst his other more callous dealings with the heroine.
The heroine is an impulsive dodo. She burns all her bridges only to get stranded in a foreign country with no money. It’s up to the Hero to rescue her out of the situation she gets herself in. To further compound her circumstances she marries a total stranger in haste. I think she got what was coming to her, and yes the Hero manipulated it to suit his needs.
This can actually serve as a cautionary tale for young girls.
St Margaret’s review gave a good summary and Naksed’s gave a good assessment. LOL
The story was written way before iconic comic hero for which Robert Downey Jr is best known for, though he and the Hero share a few chauvinistic traits.
The Hero in this one is very very Alpha, in that he gives no quarter to the heroine and quite callously imposes his will on her. However, he has moments of harlequin Hero in him. He rescues the heroine and his concern for her welfare far exceeds that of her former fiancé. He comforts her in her distress and tries to give her some entertainment. All these fine deeds of his are mostly concealed amongst his other more callous dealings with the heroine.
The heroine is an impulsive dodo. She burns all her bridges only to get stranded in a foreign country with no money. It’s up to the Hero to rescue her out of the situation she gets herself in. To further compound her circumstances she marries a total stranger in haste. I think she got what was coming to her, and yes the Hero manipulated it to suit his needs.
This can actually serve as a cautionary tale for young girls.
St Margaret’s review gave a good summary and Naksed’s gave a good assessment. LOL
April 1, 2021
She didn't even have fare to return home
Kim hadn't had a letter from her fiancé for eighteen months. Impulsively she decided to fly to Africa to find out why.
She wasn't prepared to accept the explanation offered by Dave Nelson, Chris's boss at the mine site in Sierra Leone.
Chris wasn't the sort of man who would abandon her like a worn-out ore vein. Or was he? And Dave's solution to her dilemma certainly didn't seem to be in her best interests.
Kim hadn't had a letter from her fiancé for eighteen months. Impulsively she decided to fly to Africa to find out why.
She wasn't prepared to accept the explanation offered by Dave Nelson, Chris's boss at the mine site in Sierra Leone.
Chris wasn't the sort of man who would abandon her like a worn-out ore vein. Or was he? And Dave's solution to her dilemma certainly didn't seem to be in her best interests.
September 29, 2020
I had to think about this before reviewing it.
Originally published in 1974, and you can tell. Heroine journey to Sierra Leone in search of her errant fiancé, she hasn’t heard from him in months and she needs to know what was going on. She finds his employer only to find out it’s his former employer and the fiancé is shacking up with a married woman, cheating bastard—LOL 😆😜😆
The hero is the cheating fiancé’s former boss. When he finds out our ding-bat heroine bought a one-way ticket, and only had 20 pounds to her name, he offers her a deal. Marry him for 5 weeks, work for the company and she can get home for free with him. Ah, but like my father-in-law always says, nothing in life is free and his price for this deal? A real marriage including sex (off page, of course—this is 1974). But then dubious consent can be off page.
Dubious consent or not, the hubby turns out to be a good guy?! Maybe?!
After a job site accident, the hero may loose an injured arm, stoically he try’s to send him home, mini confrontation, and they have their I love you moment.
The End.
Originally published in 1974, and you can tell. Heroine journey to Sierra Leone in search of her errant fiancé, she hasn’t heard from him in months and she needs to know what was going on. She finds his employer only to find out it’s his former employer and the fiancé is shacking up with a married woman, cheating bastard—LOL 😆😜😆
The hero is the cheating fiancé’s former boss. When he finds out our ding-bat heroine bought a one-way ticket, and only had 20 pounds to her name, he offers her a deal. Marry him for 5 weeks, work for the company and she can get home for free with him. Ah, but like my father-in-law always says, nothing in life is free and his price for this deal? A real marriage including sex (off page, of course—this is 1974). But then dubious consent can be off page.
Dubious consent or not, the hubby turns out to be a good guy?! Maybe?!
After a job site accident, the hero may loose an injured arm, stoically he try’s to send him home, mini confrontation, and they have their I love you moment.
The End.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2021
I gave this 2 stars until I thought again and realized it is very well-written and the lovely take down at the end is super!
Please see my much longer review (with spoilers) here: https://www.morebooksthantime.com/the...
Please see my much longer review (with spoilers) here: https://www.morebooksthantime.com/the...
August 22, 2022
Chimere in Sierra Leone di Kay Thorpe ( scritto 1974 prima pubblicazione 1979)
Che dire… Harmony vecchio stile molto datato con una serie di limiti dovuti proprio alla sua età, con situazioni che se scritte oggi farebbero inorridire.
La storia si snocciola in maniera anche abbastanza semplice: Kim vola fino in sierra Leone per ritrovare il suo fidanzato (che nel frattempo se n’è trovato un’altra) e invece trova Dave, il suo capo ingegnere. Senza soldi e senza prospettive non sa cosa fare, ecco che Dave si propone di sposarla e poi quando sarà il momento, come sua moglie potrà tornare in Inghilterra. ho subito pensato al cliché della fake Relationship e invece no ;il buon Dave non aveva nessuna intenzione che che il loro fosse un matrimonio finto, E malgrado lei non avesse nessuna voglia e avesse anzi opposto resistenza lui aveva tutta l’intenzione di forzare la mano.
Questo punto mi è piaciuto davvero poco e pur volendo dare l’attenuante della concezione “dell’uomo che non deve chiedere mai” degli anni 70 - 80 francamente , l’ho considerato molto maschilista e poco romanzesco. Neanche la Palmer ha osato così tanto. Il resto è comprensibile: il taglio delle scene sensuali completo, tecnologie arretrate, mancanza addirittura di calcolatrici … non mi ha fatto impazzire. La Winspear Nello stesso periodo ho scritto delle piccole perle. ⭐️⭐️
December 6, 2022
First read by this author and wasn’t a fan of the writing here - I usually enjoy this plot too! The h and H have very little real conversation so it was tough to understand why either of them profess to love the other.. I know that’s pretty common with HP’s but found it to be especially lacking in this one because the author didn’t even take the easy route of love at first sight which a lot of other HP’s do. Don’t recommend.
August 19, 2018
Ok, easy to read.
Read
January 23, 2021This review isn't about the book ,it's about my only friend Abla who adored reading , exchanged books with me and I still remember the day she was reading this ..Will never forget you ,RIP Butterfly
March 1, 2022
"3.5/5"
August 24, 2023
Mon meilleur roman harlequin à vie. Pendant 3 ans j’ai tenter de me trouver un exemplaire j’avais si peur d’être déçu et non ! Ce livre a dépassé mes grandes attentes. Cet ouvrage est typiquement Harlequin! C’est un roman brûlant et rapide que je recommande à tous
Bonne lecture
Bonne lecture
May 24, 2014
great story ♥
April 30, 2016
I think this novel is realistic more than romantic, it follows the logic at last, that's why I like Kay Thorpe
November 20, 2025
A Harlequin Romance the IRON MAN, translated into French. One of my unexpectedly fave harlequins from the growing-up, coming-of-age years
July 1, 2022
This is called Iron man, the Good reads info is not in English!
December 7, 2014
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