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Katherine Bay Romance #1
Yesterday's Sins
Some sins are unforgiveable, and Catriona has vowed to never forgive Alex ... His mistake was grievous and left his honour badly tarnished, something he finds intolerable ...
Accused of the hit and run that killed his nephew, Catriona has had time in plenty to regret the impulsive decision that saw her visit Alex Kreagan in a bid to clear her name.
What she can’t forget the passion they shared, or the daughter they had together, and when she fled Australia to create a new life and escape the man who threw her well-ordered life into chaos, these indelible memories came with her. For eight years she has lived in the tiny South Auckland village of Clevedon as Kate Audley, an uber successful real estate agent.
Now that Alex has found her, Kate discovers he is just as ruthless in his determination to make amends, as he was in exacting vengeance. Yesterday’s Sins is the captivating story of a woman’s attempt to resist the man she loves to hate and Alex’s equally determined commitment that she won’t succeed.
Can these wounded lovers find a way to forgive and reconcile when fate gives them a second chance
If you like your heroes flawed and emotionally damaged and heroines who are prepared to sacrifice all for family, you will love this series. Follow these charismatic characters and their friends as they struggle to find that special someone who holds the power and enough love to heal their damaged hearts.
Yesterday's Sins is where it all began. All these romances are stand alone reads, but you will meet up with familiar names and characters throughout these books.
If you like your romance spiced with mystery, danger and intrigue, you'll find it here. Welcome to the small idyllic town, where nothing is quite what it seems, where secrets lie hidden to catch you unawares.
Accused of the hit and run that killed his nephew, Catriona has had time in plenty to regret the impulsive decision that saw her visit Alex Kreagan in a bid to clear her name.
What she can’t forget the passion they shared, or the daughter they had together, and when she fled Australia to create a new life and escape the man who threw her well-ordered life into chaos, these indelible memories came with her. For eight years she has lived in the tiny South Auckland village of Clevedon as Kate Audley, an uber successful real estate agent.
Now that Alex has found her, Kate discovers he is just as ruthless in his determination to make amends, as he was in exacting vengeance. Yesterday’s Sins is the captivating story of a woman’s attempt to resist the man she loves to hate and Alex’s equally determined commitment that she won’t succeed.
Can these wounded lovers find a way to forgive and reconcile when fate gives them a second chance
If you like your heroes flawed and emotionally damaged and heroines who are prepared to sacrifice all for family, you will love this series. Follow these charismatic characters and their friends as they struggle to find that special someone who holds the power and enough love to heal their damaged hearts.
Yesterday's Sins is where it all began. All these romances are stand alone reads, but you will meet up with familiar names and characters throughout these books.
If you like your romance spiced with mystery, danger and intrigue, you'll find it here. Welcome to the small idyllic town, where nothing is quite what it seems, where secrets lie hidden to catch you unawares.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 6, 2012
95 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Shirley Wine
30 books47 followersAfter a lifetime of living in rural New Zealand this has provided a rich base for my stories.
I have always written and for many years freelanced for metroploitan and regional newspapers.
I write romance because I love delving into human relationships. It is these relationships in all their diversity that make the human race so fascinating.
I've been asked why Romance and my answer is always: I write romance because to me first and last, family matters.
Visit my author blog https://shirleywine.com
I have always written and for many years freelanced for metroploitan and regional newspapers.
I write romance because I love delving into human relationships. It is these relationships in all their diversity that make the human race so fascinating.
I've been asked why Romance and my answer is always: I write romance because to me first and last, family matters.
Visit my author blog https://shirleywine.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 22, 2022
3 stars. The audacity of this raggedy asshole to act squeamish after everything he had done to her had me gasping. 🤣🤣🤣
The strong, cold, psychopathic type,
He should be grovelling at her feet, yet he stands there like a king who has stooped to wiping his disobedient subject's mouth.
So you're telling me that the hero accuses the teenage heroine of being the one who ran down his little nephew (killing the poor child), eggs his assistant on to drug the said teenage girl (hello jail?) so that he could kidnap, rape, marry and forcefully impregnate her unhindered, but all of that batshit crazy train-wreckedness of their relationship happens off-fucking-page?
I needed more context on their second chance romance. More than a couple of fairly noncommittal and almost casual recollections from eight years ago that is. 👀
This book is the Wal-mart version of The Guarded Heart (that I highly recommend if you're into that type of trash; it's much angstier and wackier) where anything of keen interest to me happens in the past.
If the heroine of The Guarded Heart had managed to escape from the deathly clutches of her avenging breeder and hide for 8 years, this story would do for a nice sequel.
Still, the relationship between the main characters in the book was so deliciously toxic, it whetted my insatiable appetite for abusive love stories. 👅
I don't know about anyone else, but the main characters whose obsession for each other exceeds their love for their child have such a strong appeal for me. 🌚
While still not fully reunited, they both envied their own poor daughter because she had the luxury of spending time with one of them. This is so deliciously fucked up when you're jealous of the fact that unlike you your flesh and blood has your spouse's undivided attention. 😭🙏🏻
The writing is of utmost class and elegance. A bit dry. Or maybe refined.
Despite everything that happens in the story, I thought that the angst level didn't reach its full potential here. As in considering all of the above mentioned, the story should have felt more tearful and heartbreaking and have me bawling my eyes out instead of writing this perfectly plane review.
P.S. I can't fucking believe that some reviewers put the blame on the heroine for leaving her child to the hero and disappearing out of her daughter's life. This is insane, guys.
Imagine being forcefully married, raped, emotionally abused and impregnated against your will as a teenager. Now tell me how bad and unlikeable a teenage, barely legal girl is for not being able to be play good mommy to her rapist's child. She focused on her career and made a name for herself as she should, and I was there for it 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 (ofc the author had to include some patriarchal bullshit about the hero being a key element to her happiness but still).
I'm so done with some women's good girl complex and their "what about her maternal instinct" attitude. 🤦🏼♀️ You're literally reading about a grown-ass man forcing himself on a 18-year-old girl, but you still choose to clutch your pearls over her decision?
Woman's physical and emotional health has always been low on the list of priorities, how could I forget huh?
"What a shame to waste all that wonderful energy in rage, but first," He reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief and holding her head in one hand wiped her lips thoroughly. "I dislike the taste of another man on my woman's mouth."
The strong, cold, psychopathic type,
He should be grovelling at her feet, yet he stands there like a king who has stooped to wiping his disobedient subject's mouth.
So you're telling me that the hero accuses the teenage heroine of being the one who ran down his little nephew (killing the poor child), eggs his assistant on to drug the said teenage girl (hello jail?) so that he could kidnap, rape, marry and forcefully impregnate her unhindered, but all of that batshit crazy train-wreckedness of their relationship happens off-fucking-page?
I needed more context on their second chance romance. More than a couple of fairly noncommittal and almost casual recollections from eight years ago that is. 👀
This book is the Wal-mart version of The Guarded Heart (that I highly recommend if you're into that type of trash; it's much angstier and wackier) where anything of keen interest to me happens in the past.
If the heroine of The Guarded Heart had managed to escape from the deathly clutches of her avenging breeder and hide for 8 years, this story would do for a nice sequel.
Still, the relationship between the main characters in the book was so deliciously toxic, it whetted my insatiable appetite for abusive love stories. 👅
I don't know about anyone else, but the main characters whose obsession for each other exceeds their love for their child have such a strong appeal for me. 🌚
While still not fully reunited, they both envied their own poor daughter because she had the luxury of spending time with one of them. This is so deliciously fucked up when you're jealous of the fact that unlike you your flesh and blood has your spouse's undivided attention. 😭🙏🏻
The writing is of utmost class and elegance. A bit dry. Or maybe refined.
Despite everything that happens in the story, I thought that the angst level didn't reach its full potential here. As in considering all of the above mentioned, the story should have felt more tearful and heartbreaking and have me bawling my eyes out instead of writing this perfectly plane review.
P.S. I can't fucking believe that some reviewers put the blame on the heroine for leaving her child to the hero and disappearing out of her daughter's life. This is insane, guys.
Imagine being forcefully married, raped, emotionally abused and impregnated against your will as a teenager. Now tell me how bad and unlikeable a teenage, barely legal girl is for not being able to be play good mommy to her rapist's child. She focused on her career and made a name for herself as she should, and I was there for it 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 (ofc the author had to include some patriarchal bullshit about the hero being a key element to her happiness but still).
I'm so done with some women's good girl complex and their "what about her maternal instinct" attitude. 🤦🏼♀️ You're literally reading about a grown-ass man forcing himself on a 18-year-old girl, but you still choose to clutch your pearls over her decision?
Woman's physical and emotional health has always been low on the list of priorities, how could I forget huh?
July 24, 2019
This is the hands down the BEST Old Skool HP Pastiche I have ever read. This has all the glorious wrecki drama of the biggest HP trainwrecks ever written and I enjoyed every single moment of it.
Huge Warning, this is totally and completely non pc and very angsty. So read with extreme caution.
Huge Warning, this is totally and completely non pc and very angsty. So read with extreme caution.
Read
July 20, 2019Spoilers
Tag:Everybody is gross:
The hero who has the heroine drugged so he can get a child off her to replace the nephew she "killed".
The assistant who drugged her so hero could do.....
The heroine who abandoned her daughter for EIGHT YEARS because...why? Why did you abandon your baby? How the hell does your drama mitigate abandoning your own child and placing the blame on the H for that? Hot button.
The heroine's father who automatically assumes his daughter is guilty of a hit and run and turns his back on her then later wants to blackmail the H when it's not true.
The h's twin brother who, despite driving her home, thinks she snuck back out and killed a 6 year old in a hit and run and left.
The evil cousin and her family who is actually guilty then later tries to blackmail the innocent heroine.
The evil Greek housekeeper who pretends not to know English and is evil.
Tag:Everybody is gross:
The hero who has the heroine drugged so he can get a child off her to replace the nephew she "killed".
The assistant who drugged her so hero could do.....
The heroine who abandoned her daughter for EIGHT YEARS because...why? Why did you abandon your baby? How the hell does your drama mitigate abandoning your own child and placing the blame on the H for that? Hot button.
The heroine's father who automatically assumes his daughter is guilty of a hit and run and turns his back on her then later wants to blackmail the H when it's not true.
The h's twin brother who, despite driving her home, thinks she snuck back out and killed a 6 year old in a hit and run and left.
The evil cousin and her family who is actually guilty then later tries to blackmail the innocent heroine.
The evil Greek housekeeper who pretends not to know English and is evil.
June 9, 2014
30 something hero kidnaps 18yo heroine thinking she killed his nephew in a drunk driving accident (it was actually her cousin). He forces her to marry him and give him a child. She runs away and he finds her some years later when she's in her mid/late twenties. There is a HEA, but the amount of victim blaming placed on the heroine makes this hard to stomach at times. Strength of emotion/writing was what kept me reading.
I was highly conflicted. It was a page turner, even though I had definite issues with it. I'm still not sure why I liked it. So much was piled on the heroine. It definitely smacked of victim blaming. The H said he had regrets, but then turned around and blamed the heroine for being a horrible person for leaving their daughter. IMHO that was horribly unfair. She was 18 yrs old and the pregnancy was forced on her, along with a lot of other trauma. The h was traumatized and clinically depressed, which the author did a great job of illustrating.
Oddly, I didn't hate the H. He had some good qualities that the author was able to bring out. He loved the daughter and raised her well. He was also understanding of the heroine in lots of ways and took care of her property/inheritance while she was away. He didn't shirk his responsibility for what happened to her, but he also had unrealistic expectations of her at the same time.
I do wish there had been more info about the 'before' part. There were so many unanswered questions. When/how did they fall in love? How exactly did the H treat her before/after the truth about the accident came out? It was all so vague.
I was highly conflicted. It was a page turner, even though I had definite issues with it. I'm still not sure why I liked it. So much was piled on the heroine. It definitely smacked of victim blaming. The H said he had regrets, but then turned around and blamed the heroine for being a horrible person for leaving their daughter. IMHO that was horribly unfair. She was 18 yrs old and the pregnancy was forced on her, along with a lot of other trauma. The h was traumatized and clinically depressed, which the author did a great job of illustrating.
Oddly, I didn't hate the H. He had some good qualities that the author was able to bring out. He loved the daughter and raised her well. He was also understanding of the heroine in lots of ways and took care of her property/inheritance while she was away. He didn't shirk his responsibility for what happened to her, but he also had unrealistic expectations of her at the same time.
I do wish there had been more info about the 'before' part. There were so many unanswered questions. When/how did they fall in love? How exactly did the H treat her before/after the truth about the accident came out? It was all so vague.
August 8, 2019
This is a second chance story that comes *after* all the revenge/forced marriage/forced birth/betrayal scenes. *sigh*
I missed the 18 year-old heroine unjustly accused of a hit and run that killed hero's nephew. I missed the drugging and kidnapping. The treacherous body syndrome. The escape from the hospital after giving birth.
Sure it's all referenced and bits of traumatic backstory are cunningly revealed as the hero once again invades the heroine's life. But it's not the same as living through it with the H/h.
Still, this is a very compelling look at how forgiveness and the passage of time and some hard-won lessons can result in an HEA. The H/h had a lot of helpers along the way and their reconciliation took over a year. The author did a great job of tying off the plot threads in believable ways.
Just a fun book all around if you like the old skool. I recommend.
I missed the 18 year-old heroine unjustly accused of a hit and run that killed hero's nephew. I missed the drugging and kidnapping. The treacherous body syndrome. The escape from the hospital after giving birth.
Sure it's all referenced and bits of traumatic backstory are cunningly revealed as the hero once again invades the heroine's life. But it's not the same as living through it with the H/h.
Still, this is a very compelling look at how forgiveness and the passage of time and some hard-won lessons can result in an HEA. The H/h had a lot of helpers along the way and their reconciliation took over a year. The author did a great job of tying off the plot threads in believable ways.
Just a fun book all around if you like the old skool. I recommend.
November 15, 2023
I have read this author before and enjoyed the story, I was looking for a book that I had on my TBR pile for a challenge and this one popped up and I was looking forward to it, sadly this one wasn’t for me, yes it is a romance and there is a lovely HEA, but I really struggled to connect with the hero and heroine in the story.
Kate as she is now known as, fled to New Zealand from Australia after tragedy and has vowed never to forgive Alex the man who caused everything in her mind, she has abandoned her child and her old life to start over.
Alex has never given up searching for Catriona, and now he has found her he is determined to put the past behind them and look to the future with their daughter, will she ever forgive him?
If you love a strong and flawed hero and a heroine who has so much in her past to get over then this one will be for you.
Kate as she is now known as, fled to New Zealand from Australia after tragedy and has vowed never to forgive Alex the man who caused everything in her mind, she has abandoned her child and her old life to start over.
Alex has never given up searching for Catriona, and now he has found her he is determined to put the past behind them and look to the future with their daughter, will she ever forgive him?
If you love a strong and flawed hero and a heroine who has so much in her past to get over then this one will be for you.
July 27, 2019
Still too sweet hero, he was totally redeemed imo. I know, I'm deranged. Lol
July 28, 2022
2 stars 😋💀
⬛️ You find out that your nephew has been killed by a woman who is now standing at your doorstep, you have two courses of action to exact revenge:
▪️Think of inflicting the most repulsive, harsh non-sexual punishment ❌
▪️Think of inflicting a punishment that involves the most intimate and sacrilegious act known to humankind ✅
This book in a nutshell: Alex (H) thinks Kate (h) killed his nephew so when she shows up at his doorstep to tell him it wasn’t her that killed his nephew, he very conveniently kidnaps her with the not-so-honorable intention of impregnating her. Now I would have loved to see how Alex’s plan turned out had Kate actually been infertile 💀 Would have served him right, but he impregnates her alright. She goes into premature labor and is not sure if her baby girl will survive and then out of the blue decides that staying with Alex is no longer an option 🧍🏻♀️
So she flees 🏃🏻♀️
Without her daughter 🤱🏻
Like she spent 26 or more weeks with this man, what was a few days more? To see if her daughter survived. Because how can she trust the intentions of a man who drugged, kidnapped and forced a pregnancy on her?
Fast forward 8 years: apparently this lady, Kate, had all her screws loose because she’s on the run from Alex and in the first chapter she meets his lookalike at a party and she’s absolutely terrified of him yet she let’s him drive her home and let’s him make her hot chocolate and let’s him coerce her into eating an omelet because she was much too thin and he was a doctor and all of this encroaching behavior of this absolute stranger was met with nothing but a narrowed gaze.
🥀Now Kate was just being cute and giving people an opening torightfully drug, rape, kidnap and impregnate her. Silly little Kate, ugh.
Everything about this book was very brusque and unsatisfying. Kate alluded to the past and the 26 weeks of pregnancy she spent with him which made me indecisive about my feelings for Alex. This would have been a nice read if there had been actual ACCOUNT of the past events and not just brief flashbacks that left everything to the imagination! Present day Alex was certainly no treat, there was nothing coherent about him. He was just always either barging into Kate’s office or showing up at her house unannounced for no purpose at all except for maybe to make some sassy comments and then make a hasty exit, whistling and sashaying. 🕴🏻
This didn’t read like a book at all! I don’t know I’ve never read anything like this before lol. It was so aggravating it felt like the author wrote random scenes and then stitched them all up.
Two seconds after finishing it and I can’t even recall a single thing that happened in the book. There was no romance at all!! I didn’t even get to enjoy the MCs fucking like animals because all the sex scenes were fade to black 😔 Now you know the real reason for my aggravation.
Johnny, you hit me. You just hit me.
But I digress.
From what little on-page morsels we were given of Alex’s and Kate’s romance it was obvious that this was the most perfectly deranged couple. Alex was always breaking into her house, making her food when she fainted, holding her while she sobbed and then cleaning her up… like a very dutiful and righteous burglar. 🧍🏻♀️
One moment he is this attentive, caring gentleman and in the next scene we have Alex waking her up from a nightmare by a SHARP slap to her cheek and forcing her to eat. GIVEME HER A BREAK, KID.
Like every other egotistical man he failed to assume responsibility for the fact that he was actually a rapey unscrupulous bastard and gaslighted her into thinking that Kate hated him because he aroused her forbidden sexual desires 😚
What Alex did wasapplaudable condemnable, but hey if a man kidnapped me and impregnated me without my consent I’d be all the happy for it, I mean I’d be beyond flattered that some man was willing to knock me up and give me a child I’d always dreamed of, consent or not be damned. But of course, I’d put up a front to show him that I absolutely detested him.
Why after 8 years of radio silence was she suddenly interested in getting to know her daughter. It infuriated me. She could have produced another child with another man and gratified her motherly curiosities with her. And why did shestoop to Alex’s level when she threatened to tell Sarah how she was conceived? Like????
Hellooo, Sarah! Do you know that I was kidnapped and impregnated against my will, and your father being a sensualist evoked in me the most erotic and sinful desires that I am very ashamed to admit because I was in exile and being held captive to bear a child to supplant your father’s nephew that he wrongly thought I’d killed, and I was not meant to appease my sexual fantasies at the hands of my captor. Hello, Sarah, is your 7 year old brain comprehending all this or was my threatening your father all in vain?
Fucking stuuuuupid! 🤩🤩
“He said I was going nowhere until I gave him a child to replace the one I'd killed.”
⬛️ You find out that your nephew has been killed by a woman who is now standing at your doorstep, you have two courses of action to exact revenge:
▪️Think of inflicting the most repulsive, harsh non-sexual punishment ❌
▪️Think of inflicting a punishment that involves the most intimate and sacrilegious act known to humankind ✅
This book in a nutshell: Alex (H) thinks Kate (h) killed his nephew so when she shows up at his doorstep to tell him it wasn’t her that killed his nephew, he very conveniently kidnaps her with the not-so-honorable intention of impregnating her. Now I would have loved to see how Alex’s plan turned out had Kate actually been infertile 💀 Would have served him right, but he impregnates her alright. She goes into premature labor and is not sure if her baby girl will survive and then out of the blue decides that staying with Alex is no longer an option 🧍🏻♀️
So she flees 🏃🏻♀️
Without her daughter 🤱🏻
Like she spent 26 or more weeks with this man, what was a few days more? To see if her daughter survived. Because how can she trust the intentions of a man who drugged, kidnapped and forced a pregnancy on her?
Fast forward 8 years: apparently this lady, Kate, had all her screws loose because she’s on the run from Alex and in the first chapter she meets his lookalike at a party and she’s absolutely terrified of him yet she let’s him drive her home and let’s him make her hot chocolate and let’s him coerce her into eating an omelet because she was much too thin and he was a doctor and all of this encroaching behavior of this absolute stranger was met with nothing but a narrowed gaze.
🥀Now Kate was just being cute and giving people an opening to
Everything about this book was very brusque and unsatisfying. Kate alluded to the past and the 26 weeks of pregnancy she spent with him which made me indecisive about my feelings for Alex. This would have been a nice read if there had been actual ACCOUNT of the past events and not just brief flashbacks that left everything to the imagination! Present day Alex was certainly no treat, there was nothing coherent about him. He was just always either barging into Kate’s office or showing up at her house unannounced for no purpose at all except for maybe to make some sassy comments and then make a hasty exit, whistling and sashaying. 🕴🏻
This didn’t read like a book at all! I don’t know I’ve never read anything like this before lol. It was so aggravating it felt like the author wrote random scenes and then stitched them all up.
Two seconds after finishing it and I can’t even recall a single thing that happened in the book. There was no romance at all!! I didn’t even get to enjoy the MCs fucking like animals because all the sex scenes were fade to black 😔 Now you know the real reason for my aggravation.
“Exhausted, she dropped into a troubled sleep, haunted by nightmarish memories. When a hand touched her shoulder, she shrank away, screaming.
A sharp slap on her cheek stifled the sound in her throat.
Sitting bolt upright, she lifted a hand to her cheek, staring at Alex in utter shock. "You hit me."
"You were hysterical. I've brought you food. Don't waste it. You need to eat, you're a total wreck.”
Johnny, you hit me. You just hit me.
But I digress.
From what little on-page morsels we were given of Alex’s and Kate’s romance it was obvious that this was the most perfectly deranged couple. Alex was always breaking into her house, making her food when she fainted, holding her while she sobbed and then cleaning her up… like a very dutiful and righteous burglar. 🧍🏻♀️
One moment he is this attentive, caring gentleman and in the next scene we have Alex waking her up from a nightmare by a SHARP slap to her cheek and forcing her to eat. GIVE
“What sort of man drugs and kidnaps an eighteen year old girl, and then forces her to bear his child? God, that sort of thing has been outlawed since the dark ages? I hated you eight years ago, Alex, and nothing has changed."
His eyes glittered and he went pale under his ruddy tan. A small muscle at the corner of his lips twitched, giving her time for regret.
"It wasn't me you hated, Catriona," he growled softly, "what you hated was your need to satisfy the craving of your awakened sexuality.”
Like every other egotistical man he failed to assume responsibility for the fact that he was actually a rapey unscrupulous bastard and gaslighted her into thinking that Kate hated him because he aroused her forbidden sexual desires 😚
What Alex did was
“I'm very loath to threaten you, Alex. Unless you do allow me to visit my daughter, then it's only a matter of time before Sarah discovers how she was conceived. How do you think you're going to fare with her when she knows that?”
Why after 8 years of radio silence was she suddenly interested in getting to know her daughter. It infuriated me. She could have produced another child with another man and gratified her motherly curiosities with her. And why did she
Fucking stuuuuupid! 🤩🤩
February 28, 2022
wow.
This was an angst fest. I didn't sleep all night after reading it...
It is a new author for me and I think I like her style very much.
She definitely has a way with emotions and feelings.
No half measures.
The plot is the most politically uncorrect you can find around that doesn't border on excesses like BDSM, mafia, and everything that seems very fashionable today (all things I'm not very fond of because they are more fantasy than romance for me)
This is not abuse for the sake of abuse, or rape for the sake of rape, and it's not young adults either, with those lil dramas that shake the teenagers' fragile emotional balance.
This is a story of loss, revenge, depression, guilt, and forgiveness.
It may seem not very probable, but it's quite acceptable and even possible.
The heroine is a 18 yo girl who's wrongly accused of the death of the hero's young nephew.
The boy was hit by a car who didn't stop and the driver was a young woman.
The hero saw the accident and think she was at the drive.
Only that she wasn't. She was at a party with other people, and came back home without her car because she had drunk too much.
Neither her father or her twin believe her so she decides to go to the hero's house and to say she's sorry but she's not responsible for what happened.
Silly move, but she's 18 and impulsive.
The hero, believing her guilty, drugs her, kidnaps her and forces her to get pregnant to have a child who will take place of his lost nephew.
The nephew was is died twin's only son, 7yo.
Sad?
Crazy?
But it's only the beginning.
The heroine is forced to live with the hero and is forcibly seduced, and gets pregnant.
Luckily or maybe not,the real culpable is found, and it's her young cousin, who's very similar to her in looks.
The hero is guilt- ridden, and wants to send her back home but she's still angry with her relatives and doesn't want to be with them.
She prefers to be with the hero, knowing that they don't have anything beyond sex.
This part is not very well explained, you only get to know it through the character's interactions, so you can only guess.
So I guess that the heroine suffered from sever Stockholm syndrome, she felt an unwilling attraction for the older and more mature hero who seduced her, but she couldn't love him since he deprived of her life, forcing her to get pregnant and to leave her studies, her friends, her chance to be a normal and sane teenager.
The hero also persuaded her or maybe forced her to marry him. We don't know if he forced her, but surely she was very conflicted about this choice.
When she decided she could forgive her father and brother, they had an accident and died.
The heroine blamed the hero and because of this choc she gave birth to a preterm daughter who had very little chance to survive.
His husband cousin gave her money to go away, and she thought that the hero was offering her money as a payback for the child he wanted.
So she left.
8 year later the book begins.
The heroine is a anorexic and depressed young woman with a good career as a realtor and the hero finally has found her.
She's still angry and hates him, but he tries to talk to her and then he takes their daughter to their second meeting and the heroine has another choc.
There's a lot of explaining and the heroine will go back to her house to close with her past, but as soon as she's there she has a breakdown and for many days her life is at risk.
Again, the hero will help her and the heroine will learn many things about her past that are not what she thought.
Her father was very ill and he decided to drive, killing himself, his son, and other 7 people because he had a heart attack.
The hero's cousin gave her money to go to a rehab where she could recover from her traumas, he didn't mean to pay her back, and the hero didn't know anything about it.
The hero had to fight a hard battle for their daughter's custody because they were not married and his father was a mob boss, so he had to require sole custody for their daughter.
He looked for her for years, but couldn't find her.
Now he wants her back, because both him and their daughter need her.
So the heroine introduces herself to her daughter and tries to create a bond with her before she can tell her the truth.
It's all very angsty and moving.
No one of the character is pleasant.
At a certain point I wondered what a distopic world this author had made, because there was basically no one of the main characters who wouldn't cheat, lie, deceive or exploit.
The hero was a psychopath to kidnap a 18 yo girl and get her pregnant, forcibly.
He was the worst of all, and even if he tried to redeem himself and he felt guilty for all the years afterwards I couldn't accept his behavior. Sociopath is what he was, and he deserved jail for several years. Hard and bad.
And the fact that he took the wrong woman was not an excuse for his beastly behavior.
Afterward we find out he only wanted to frighten the heroine but was so attracted by her that he kept her and they made love. No, sorry. Had sex.
Yeah, right.
Get that psycho and lock him in jail with some very nasty criminals.
I didn't like him and I don't believe that he was so sorry that he spent years looking for the heroine and feeling sorry and remorseful.
I don't even think he was able to love.
The heroine was a poor broken creature, without the help of a counselor, who lived in the past between guilt, sorrow and fear.
She abandoned her child but this was due to her multiple traumas.
But she was not a nice person, too.
All the hero's clan, his brother, his minions, everyone was awful, no one really cared for heroine's feelings, no one took real car of her.
They tried to justify the hero's criminal behavior and to make him look as the offended party.
Not at all.
He was an adult, powerful and more experienced than the heroine, he abused her abominably.
Aaand, no, it's not true that everything can be forgiven.
There are actions which have consequences so severe that it's impossible to repair.
So, as the hero wouldn't forgive the murder of his nephew, the heroine shouldn't have forgiven his kidnapping and getting her pregnant.
I pity the child, because with two parents like that I don't know what will happen to her, but she was damaged too unfortunately.
The angst was really super, and even if there are some inconsistencies that I didn't like, as all the story of the kidnap, the seduction and the marriage, and her previous relationship with the hero, this book really kept me glued and I couldn't put it down until the very end.
Not sure about the safety, but the heroine was celibate for sure, and it seems that the hero had some honor that prevented to break his marriage vows even if the heroine was not with him. So I suppose he too was celibate. (I don't even want to think otherwise, because after what he'd done to the heroine he didn't deserve the smallest pleasure for him)
This was an angst fest. I didn't sleep all night after reading it...
It is a new author for me and I think I like her style very much.
She definitely has a way with emotions and feelings.
No half measures.
The plot is the most politically uncorrect you can find around that doesn't border on excesses like BDSM, mafia, and everything that seems very fashionable today (all things I'm not very fond of because they are more fantasy than romance for me)
This is not abuse for the sake of abuse, or rape for the sake of rape, and it's not young adults either, with those lil dramas that shake the teenagers' fragile emotional balance.
This is a story of loss, revenge, depression, guilt, and forgiveness.
It may seem not very probable, but it's quite acceptable and even possible.
The heroine is a 18 yo girl who's wrongly accused of the death of the hero's young nephew.
The boy was hit by a car who didn't stop and the driver was a young woman.
The hero saw the accident and think she was at the drive.
Only that she wasn't. She was at a party with other people, and came back home without her car because she had drunk too much.
Neither her father or her twin believe her so she decides to go to the hero's house and to say she's sorry but she's not responsible for what happened.
Silly move, but she's 18 and impulsive.
The hero, believing her guilty, drugs her, kidnaps her and forces her to get pregnant to have a child who will take place of his lost nephew.
The nephew was is died twin's only son, 7yo.
Sad?
Crazy?
But it's only the beginning.
The heroine is forced to live with the hero and is forcibly seduced, and gets pregnant.
Luckily or maybe not,the real culpable is found, and it's her young cousin, who's very similar to her in looks.
The hero is guilt- ridden, and wants to send her back home but she's still angry with her relatives and doesn't want to be with them.
She prefers to be with the hero, knowing that they don't have anything beyond sex.
This part is not very well explained, you only get to know it through the character's interactions, so you can only guess.
So I guess that the heroine suffered from sever Stockholm syndrome, she felt an unwilling attraction for the older and more mature hero who seduced her, but she couldn't love him since he deprived of her life, forcing her to get pregnant and to leave her studies, her friends, her chance to be a normal and sane teenager.
The hero also persuaded her or maybe forced her to marry him. We don't know if he forced her, but surely she was very conflicted about this choice.
When she decided she could forgive her father and brother, they had an accident and died.
The heroine blamed the hero and because of this choc she gave birth to a preterm daughter who had very little chance to survive.
His husband cousin gave her money to go away, and she thought that the hero was offering her money as a payback for the child he wanted.
So she left.
8 year later the book begins.
The heroine is a anorexic and depressed young woman with a good career as a realtor and the hero finally has found her.
She's still angry and hates him, but he tries to talk to her and then he takes their daughter to their second meeting and the heroine has another choc.
There's a lot of explaining and the heroine will go back to her house to close with her past, but as soon as she's there she has a breakdown and for many days her life is at risk.
Again, the hero will help her and the heroine will learn many things about her past that are not what she thought.
Her father was very ill and he decided to drive, killing himself, his son, and other 7 people because he had a heart attack.
The hero's cousin gave her money to go to a rehab where she could recover from her traumas, he didn't mean to pay her back, and the hero didn't know anything about it.
The hero had to fight a hard battle for their daughter's custody because they were not married and his father was a mob boss, so he had to require sole custody for their daughter.
He looked for her for years, but couldn't find her.
Now he wants her back, because both him and their daughter need her.
So the heroine introduces herself to her daughter and tries to create a bond with her before she can tell her the truth.
It's all very angsty and moving.
No one of the character is pleasant.
At a certain point I wondered what a distopic world this author had made, because there was basically no one of the main characters who wouldn't cheat, lie, deceive or exploit.
The hero was a psychopath to kidnap a 18 yo girl and get her pregnant, forcibly.
He was the worst of all, and even if he tried to redeem himself and he felt guilty for all the years afterwards I couldn't accept his behavior. Sociopath is what he was, and he deserved jail for several years. Hard and bad.
And the fact that he took the wrong woman was not an excuse for his beastly behavior.
Afterward we find out he only wanted to frighten the heroine but was so attracted by her that he kept her and they made love. No, sorry. Had sex.
Yeah, right.
Get that psycho and lock him in jail with some very nasty criminals.
I didn't like him and I don't believe that he was so sorry that he spent years looking for the heroine and feeling sorry and remorseful.
I don't even think he was able to love.
The heroine was a poor broken creature, without the help of a counselor, who lived in the past between guilt, sorrow and fear.
She abandoned her child but this was due to her multiple traumas.
But she was not a nice person, too.
All the hero's clan, his brother, his minions, everyone was awful, no one really cared for heroine's feelings, no one took real car of her.
They tried to justify the hero's criminal behavior and to make him look as the offended party.
Not at all.
He was an adult, powerful and more experienced than the heroine, he abused her abominably.
Aaand, no, it's not true that everything can be forgiven.
There are actions which have consequences so severe that it's impossible to repair.
So, as the hero wouldn't forgive the murder of his nephew, the heroine shouldn't have forgiven his kidnapping and getting her pregnant.
I pity the child, because with two parents like that I don't know what will happen to her, but she was damaged too unfortunately.
The angst was really super, and even if there are some inconsistencies that I didn't like, as all the story of the kidnap, the seduction and the marriage, and her previous relationship with the hero, this book really kept me glued and I couldn't put it down until the very end.
Not sure about the safety, but the heroine was celibate for sure, and it seems that the hero had some honor that prevented to break his marriage vows even if the heroine was not with him. So I suppose he too was celibate. (I don't even want to think otherwise, because after what he'd done to the heroine he didn't deserve the smallest pleasure for him)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2012
I wasn't really sure about this book but I wanted to read it because of all the controversy it was causing over at Amazon. It really had me hooked in the beginning ...kinda like a train wreck, I wanted to put it down and stop reading but I just couldn't. lol. After about 60% through though I lost interest in the characters and decided to "shelf" it on my dnt shelf.
February 23, 2022
I loved the angst filled wreck that was this book, but what I can’t let go of, is that as much as the writer had gone through the pains of writing a heroine who is high strung and volatile, the hero was worse. Up until the last scene he kept turning on her and thinking she’d known about her psycho cousin, and had brought her down on their heads. Also his overreaction to hearing she’d spent the day with their daughter was very telling, a Freudian slip if you will, he told her everything she’d needed to know about how he really thought of her. Also he hadn’t let go of his Australian firm for her sake, he was forced to step down and having just found out about the whereabouts of the heroine he’d had though, « wellll, why not? »
June 19, 2019
H believes that h killed his nephew in a hit and run. H drugs her and holds h captive. H is attracted to h. H wants an eye-for-an-eye (a child in place of the life of his nephew.) H/h attracted to each other but with the revenge theme - it is love/hate. h escapes. H finds her years later. I would consider it a mini-grovel if H was not such a huge jerk. I'm in the minority - but this satisfied my need for some soapy trainwreck. Follows some glorious old HP traditions. 3.5 stars.
June 5, 2012
You know the thing I struggle with when reading these HPesque books is the often arrogant, entitlement complex that the heroes display. This is certainly the case with Alex. And while I am sure he was remorseful of his actions I can't see how any future relationship for Alex and Kate could be on even footing.
It was an angsty too-and-fro read that I enjoyed though I have to admit a certain degree of frustration with neither characters ability to 'stick to an emotion'. I wanted to scream 'make up your mind already!!!'.
The storyline in incredibly fanciful and to enjoy the read I had to suspend belief but in the end I did enjoy it but I doubt I can read it again.
It was an angsty too-and-fro read that I enjoyed though I have to admit a certain degree of frustration with neither characters ability to 'stick to an emotion'. I wanted to scream 'make up your mind already!!!'.
The storyline in incredibly fanciful and to enjoy the read I had to suspend belief but in the end I did enjoy it but I doubt I can read it again.
May 12, 2017
I actually liked this book quite a bit, I would have liked to have had more of the story during Cat's captivity revealed. She is a hot mess after she escapes Alex with guilt and anger eating her alive. Alex is not living the good life either. Taking the journey through her anger and grief allows her to live and love again. I totally get that.
March 30, 2013
messed up all over!!! sabog ang sequencing. sabog ang prose. sabog at inconsistent ang characters!!! sabog ang storyline!!>_< what the hell was i thinking?!?!!!
March 2, 2022
Lots of great reviews on this one(Stmargarets, Raffaella, . This wasn’t a Harlequin Presents, but it had the elements of one.
The premise: Hero took revenge on heroine for a crime she didn’t commit. The revenge plot is told in flashbacks. The story opens 8 years after the revenge took place, and the hero has found the heroine after she disappeared. The hero is dealing with guilt and love for the h. The h is dealing with depression, guilt, and the uneasiness that accompanies someone who loves their tormentor. Can these two forgive past transgressions and move on? The h has more to work through to get to that point, but the hero has his own inhibitions to get over as well.
🛑🛑The following will contain major spoilers for the book! Stop Now if you do not want a spoiler filled review!🛑🛑🛑
The premise: Hero took revenge on heroine for a crime she didn’t commit. The revenge plot is told in flashbacks. The story opens 8 years after the revenge took place, and the hero has found the heroine after she disappeared. The hero is dealing with guilt and love for the h. The h is dealing with depression, guilt, and the uneasiness that accompanies someone who loves their tormentor. Can these two forgive past transgressions and move on? The h has more to work through to get to that point, but the hero has his own inhibitions to get over as well.
🛑🛑The following will contain major spoilers for the book! Stop Now if you do not want a spoiler filled review!🛑🛑🛑
June 3, 2018
This was a Harlequin done right for me if you compare it to other Harlequin books in terms of sexism. But still like other Harlequin there was two senseless moments where the character’s mind frame just did not make any sense in the real world.
But apart from the above a total page turner for a dramatic angst junkie reader. The woman can most definitely write, apart from the minute errors (Mistakes in pronouns he/she).
But apart from the above a total page turner for a dramatic angst junkie reader. The woman can most definitely write, apart from the minute errors (Mistakes in pronouns he/she).
April 11, 2014
2.5 stars.
Now, this book has a promising plot. more important, has a promising groveling hero too. but sadly, everything going wrong with a bad writing. a pity.
So, we have a ruthless, nasty hero, Alex, who even after he'd drugged, kidnapped, forced his baby to the heroine, Catriona still had gut to say this:
"It wasn't me you hated, Catriona. What you hated was your need to satisfy the craving of your awakened sexuality."
Huh? really? even if you're right, you dared to say that? where's your conscience? your nephew's dead, so we talk about a life, but then you forced a baby to an eighteen yo girl who still had a chance for a good future. now we talk about 2 lives and the complicated future. as far as i know, that's not an eye for an eye. that's the whole face for an eye.
After a traumatizing experience like that, Catriona now became a mess. all she had were insecurity, mental scars, and violence. now, did i surprised? well, partly yes.
So, Catriona threw the food, slapped with no reason, cursed in front of her child, and threw a vase, that almost hit her own daughter. and every time something'g wrong, she left her daughter with no conscience. All she could think was about her own self. bleh. and she didn't feel guilty after that, just "oh, what would my daughter think about ME?" double bleh.
now it becomes 2 stars.
there're some things i don't get:
- Gregory explained he'd given her money to give her a choice, after she asked him to help her to leave. and she said, Gregory paid her to leave. ??!!
- When Alex and Cat kissed, blablabla, suddenly Sarah called them, and wambam, they're on the bed??? my eyes must be wrong.
- Luke, Gregory and Alex could come into her bedroom freely. wow. you wanted to create some macho men's character? where's the privacy??
- About the cousin, Jessica. She killed his nephew, got put in a jail because of that, and she's bitter mad about that?? conscience flyyy to the wind. and she could blackmailed them? i don't get any sense in that. unless, my mind already crumble because of this ridiculous story.
were the character's hateful? nope, i didn't hate them. they're just ridiculously stupid and imbecile i wanted to push them one by one down off the cliff.
i got my head hurt and lots of wrinkles on my face reading this.
now it's 1 star. not recommended.
Now, this book has a promising plot. more important, has a promising groveling hero too. but sadly, everything going wrong with a bad writing. a pity.
So, we have a ruthless, nasty hero, Alex, who even after he'd drugged, kidnapped, forced his baby to the heroine, Catriona still had gut to say this:
"It wasn't me you hated, Catriona. What you hated was your need to satisfy the craving of your awakened sexuality."
Huh? really? even if you're right, you dared to say that? where's your conscience? your nephew's dead, so we talk about a life, but then you forced a baby to an eighteen yo girl who still had a chance for a good future. now we talk about 2 lives and the complicated future. as far as i know, that's not an eye for an eye. that's the whole face for an eye.
After a traumatizing experience like that, Catriona now became a mess. all she had were insecurity, mental scars, and violence. now, did i surprised? well, partly yes.
So, Catriona threw the food, slapped with no reason, cursed in front of her child, and threw a vase, that almost hit her own daughter. and every time something'g wrong, she left her daughter with no conscience. All she could think was about her own self. bleh. and she didn't feel guilty after that, just "oh, what would my daughter think about ME?" double bleh.
now it becomes 2 stars.
there're some things i don't get:
- Gregory explained he'd given her money to give her a choice, after she asked him to help her to leave. and she said, Gregory paid her to leave. ??!!
- When Alex and Cat kissed, blablabla, suddenly Sarah called them, and wambam, they're on the bed??? my eyes must be wrong.
- Luke, Gregory and Alex could come into her bedroom freely. wow. you wanted to create some macho men's character? where's the privacy??
- About the cousin, Jessica. She killed his nephew, got put in a jail because of that, and she's bitter mad about that?? conscience flyyy to the wind. and she could blackmailed them? i don't get any sense in that. unless, my mind already crumble because of this ridiculous story.
were the character's hateful? nope, i didn't hate them. they're just ridiculously stupid and imbecile i wanted to push them one by one down off the cliff.
i got my head hurt and lots of wrinkles on my face reading this.
now it's 1 star. not recommended.
May 23, 2013
More like 2.5. This book was a hot mess from beginning to end.
October 8, 2019
Undecided
I gave 3 stars because even though I liked the book, it frustrated me at the same time. Don't read head if you don't want spoilers.
The hero was a munplitive asshole and even though he felt bad he rarely showed that to the heroine. Her actions were understandable and his friend and him made her feel bad about her reactions to things they caused. Granted the hero wasnt to blame for the accident, but her feelings were warranted. It just seemed that everyone was trying to justify the hero's actions and making the heroine feel bad for hers. I guess there wasn't enough grovel from the hero or anger from the heroine that she expressed for me. Even with all that I did like the book and it was a good read, there were just times i wanted to smack both the heroine and the hero.
I gave 3 stars because even though I liked the book, it frustrated me at the same time. Don't read head if you don't want spoilers.
The hero was a munplitive asshole and even though he felt bad he rarely showed that to the heroine. Her actions were understandable and his friend and him made her feel bad about her reactions to things they caused. Granted the hero wasnt to blame for the accident, but her feelings were warranted. It just seemed that everyone was trying to justify the hero's actions and making the heroine feel bad for hers. I guess there wasn't enough grovel from the hero or anger from the heroine that she expressed for me. Even with all that I did like the book and it was a good read, there were just times i wanted to smack both the heroine and the hero.
December 21, 2022
I don’t know why authors do this .. This book started with Catriona going to Alexander home to apologise for a crime she didn’t committed and author started the next chapter as 8 years later …u got to be kidding me …Even the flashbacks the girl was having was not explained 🥴..How I am going to read this book ? Nd she left her own child… Sarah was only few days old nd she left her 🥴😭… girl byeeee ..and she changed her whole identity..how u can abandoned your one child …I was bored to death with this book ..third person’s POV is my worst enemy …
Read
February 20, 2024The audacity of this man 😳 He cut across her attempt to explain. "It's just like that. You're a lying, spoilt little witch. So much for my thinking you had changed. If you've upset Sarah—"
After reading ,I like this trope but this one wasn’t pleasurable or convincing
Till the end the hero acting like he was the victim and snapping at the heroine as much as he could without any real reaction from heroine
After reading ,I like this trope but this one wasn’t pleasurable or convincing
Till the end the hero acting like he was the victim and snapping at the heroine as much as he could without any real reaction from heroine
June 4, 2019
Good Book
This was first time I read her book. This book was Good. The ending was Good, also. I had to finish this book, before I went to bed. Will definitely read more if her books. Good Book.
This was first time I read her book. This book was Good. The ending was Good, also. I had to finish this book, before I went to bed. Will definitely read more if her books. Good Book.
July 20, 2023
Skipped through this book, It felt like a manuscript yet to be written into a real book. Pity,it had some potential. But there is so much that already happened but only discussed, it made me loose interest.
February 27, 2021
Very different book. My first book by Shirley. I really liked it a lot.
did-not-finish
February 26, 2022DNF. Too depressing.
January 7, 2023
To much drama
The story had potential, but it was all over the place I was confused half the book. It was ok
The story had potential, but it was all over the place I was confused half the book. It was ok
October 8, 2023
Oldie but never logged
February 13, 2024
Despite the original premise for this book being ridiculous, I liked the story, and set in New Zealand is always a bonus.
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