What do you think?
Rate this book
A Special Sort of Man
Easier said than done
Though Fran couldn't refuse her injured sister's plea to hand deliver some vitally important disks to her boss in Paris, she could hardly be expected to take Helena's place as his private assistant.
But Jordan Parry didn't take no for an answer.
As desirable as he was difficult and demanding, Fran quickly understood her sister's attraction. Clearly, their relationship went beyond business - which meant that somehow Fran had to distance herself from the powerful sensuality of this special sort of man, who seemed only too happy to help her explore one of the world's most romantic cities.
Though Fran couldn't refuse her injured sister's plea to hand deliver some vitally important disks to her boss in Paris, she could hardly be expected to take Helena's place as his private assistant.
But Jordan Parry didn't take no for an answer.
As desirable as he was difficult and demanding, Fran quickly understood her sister's attraction. Clearly, their relationship went beyond business - which meant that somehow Fran had to distance herself from the powerful sensuality of this special sort of man, who seemed only too happy to help her explore one of the world's most romantic cities.
Hardcover
First published May 1, 1991
35 people want to read
About the author
Natalie Fox
63 books4 followersNatalie Fox was born and educated in London. She's had many interesting careers, including working in a casino as a roulette croupier and working for a Soho coffee bar, for which she delivered sandwiches by scooter in the West End. Although she did not start writing until after her fortieth birthday, Natalie says she's "always been a romantic at heart." Natalie and her husband now live in Spain.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 9, 2018
Re A Special Sort of Man - Natalie Fox's second of three HP outing is a take on the boss/secretary trope with a twist.
The h in this one is the younger sister of the H's secretary and she is sent to Paris in her sister's place when the sister has an accident. The sister and the h are not the best of friends, in fact the h's 14 yr older sister hates the h's guts. Mainly cause the h was a late life baby and the sister had been an only child and fiercely resented her parent's giving the baby more attention that she felt she got. After the h was born, the sister stormed out her parent's house three years later and never looked back.
The sister is so angry and nasty and bitter, that when her mother died and then her father became ill with a terminal illness, the sister refused to have anything to do with her parents. She left the h to drop out of art school and nurse her father with no assistance in any shape or form for two years until his illness claimed him.
She graciously allowed the h a small room in her Georgian house in London, as the h had literally no place else to go, but the h is working two jobs to afford a flat and trying to get some extra lessons in so she can become an artist - all without the help of her still bitter and nasty sister, who has more than enough money to at least help the h out to continue the schooling she had to quit or lend her enough for a deposit on a flat - however the sister wouldn't get to berate the h everyday, so she certainly isn't going to do anything that might help the h.
The h is pretty happy go lucky tho and she agrees to help her sister by rushing the computer disks that comprise the H's latest research breakthrough over to the Paris conference. The H, who is a former General Practitioner doctor who had to take over his father's drug company when he had a stroke, is trying to take over another drug company to keep his father's hospice program going and the h's sister messed up the data for the presentation.
Everyone had to work overtime to fix the sister's mistake and then the sister wasn't watching where she was going and almost got ran over and is now in hospital. So slime sister summons the h to go to Paris and the h gets a few days off and goes. The h checks into the very nice upscale French hotel and gets assigned the sister's room when the hotel doesn't catch the different first name.
The h then gets caught up in drawing the scene from her window and is startled by the summons of a VERY ANGRY H. The h runs to the H's room with the disks and the presentation. She is covered in pastel chalk from her drawing and the H is instantly attracted.
He and the h have some very smart verbal battles right away, the H accuses the h of being a corporate spy. Then he refuses to let the h leave and he keeps her passport and her money. The h thinks the H is the most special man she has ever seen, but she also believes that he and her sister are a couple. (The sister is very insistent that she is in love with the H and the h naturally believes that her hard, glossy sister is sleeping with him at the very least.)
So the h isn't too pleasant when the H insists that the h has to stay and take her sister's place, the H infers that extra-curricular bedroom duties will be involved too and the h accuses him of forgetting about her sister, who surely has a claim.
The H doesn't confirm or deny that he is lurvin it up with the sister, so the h is forced to accompany the H to very romantic and cozy dinner and over the course of it, the h falls in love. She doesn't like it when the H takes her to an art gallery later and the female owner of the gallery is putting the moves on the H.
The h does recognize a painting in the gallery, it was done by one her friends she had a little crush on in art school. The h is astounded that his work has deteriorated so badly and she is concerned, cause he left art school when his brother died and no one has heard from him since.
The gallery owner, looking for a way to get close to the H, offers to take the h to see her old friend the next day. The H gets very cranky and furious, he is jealous that the h might be going to see an old flame. He roofie kisses the h when she falls asleep in the taxi cab back to the hotel and the h wakes up furious and totally tells him off.
He watches as she runs off and he shouts at her that she should marry him. The h doesn't hear him, but she is definitely planning on scooping out her sister's man and she goes to bed full of little man stealing plans - tho she doesn't think she will actually sleep with the H. The next day tho, the H wants her to leave and he gives the h her passport and a ton of money to go. The H thinks the h is too distracting for him, he is very interested, but he really needs to make this big presentation work.
Perversely, the h wants to stay and help with the after presentation hostessing and as she and the art gallery owner go to see her old art school friend, she tells the H she isn't going. The h does go see her friend and it soon becomes clear that he is still grieving his brother. His parents lost interest in him and in life and the old friend is now hooked on drugs.
The h accidentally dumps her purse on the old friend's couch and the guy sees that the h has a huge wad of money that is really the H's. The h goes to buy some dresses for her hostessing duties and then realizes that she lost her key in the art school friend's couch. She gets all dressed up, leaves her purse in her bedside table and goes to do the hostess thing and she is great at it. The H's male personal assistant, who is in love with the h's sister, tells her she should go into PR work, cause she is fabulous at it.
The h is happy and on her way back to her room when she finds her old art school friend crashed out on her bed. He claims he was returning her key and he asks her to meet him the next night at a cafe. As he is leaving, the h kisses him on cheek goodbye, she is really worried about him and wondering how she can help him.
The H sees the h kissing the old friend and goes ballistic. The h smacks him hard and then winds up apologizing. Roofie kisses and almost seduction ensue, but the H walks off in the nick of time. The h wakes up the next morning and finds that her art school friend stole all the h's money and her jewelry and the money the H gave her. Then h's sister shows up and every word out of her mouth is a put down. She claims that she is going to share the H's suite, as she accuses the h of stealing her room, but the H lies and says his male assistant has the other room so the two of them will have to share.
The h was supposed to go out with the H to a really important dinner with a finance investor that the H hopes will fund his takeover. The sister jumps in to go in the h's place, so the h decides to go meet her art school friend, she sees his theft as a cry for help. Except the cafe the friend directed her too is a notorious drug den and the h is almost getting attacked when the H pulls her out, he sent her sister to dinner with the important investor so he could follow the h.
They have another big fight about how the h's art school friend needs serious help and the h wants the H to do it. The H doesn't like it and refuses to let the h try and find the old friend. But then the H explains that either he or his male assistant have been following her around Paris as she is out and about, cause the H is in love with her. He takes the h back to his room and bathes her and then the Lurve Force Mojo takes over and we have a purple passion boudoir bounce. The h is in blissful love and more than a little smug that she stole her sister's man.
The sister walks into the H's suite at that point and claims she and the H are marrying and throws the h out. The h goes back to London and has a mopey moment. She meets the H again as he is escorting her sister home from the conference and he is nasty cause he saw the h hugging her boss after he gave her a ride home and the h is nasty back. Then the sister tells the h she has to move out, but the h is ahead of her there and just has a few more days before she moves out into a little place of her own.
The h has a week or so of mopey moments while she moves out and then the H's male assistant hunts her down. He explains that the H is miserable without her, he even got her drug addicted art school friend into treatment cause the h asked him to help and the art school friend is doing really well. The h's sister lied to the h all over the place. The male assistant also explains that the sister expected the H to fall in love with her, but he only ever saw her as a really good secretary and isn't and has never been interested.
When the sister saw how sad the H was after the h left Paris, she told the male assistant everything. Now the male assistant demands that the h forgive her sister cause she feels bad for being sewer slime gulping witch and he is in love with the woman.
The h goes and apologizes and forgives her sister and the sister was abducted by aliens and got a personality transplant, cause now she is in love with the male assistant back. Then she tells the h that the H should be showing up at the h's new flat soon, the sister called him and told him what she had done to drive the h away.
The h goes home and the H is there, he loves her madly and was glad he could help her friend and he bought a country house he will fill with primroses, just like his primrose h and they will marry and she can paint, but he will never let her go. Thus we end another whacktastic HPlandia outing.
I am kinda ashamed of me and how much fun I had with this. It was pretty tacky overall with the h scheming to take her sister's supposed man. But the sister was truly, truly horrible and the h was pretty funny and it was soon obvious that the H had no romantic interest in the sister - NF gives us a little of his POV.
It is so rare for the OW or evil relative to get any comeuppance in HPlandia that I took a very gleeful view of the h's silly antics. I don't know if I actually believe the HEA, but it was a fun ride to get there and sometimes that makes all the difference in an HP outing.
The h in this one is the younger sister of the H's secretary and she is sent to Paris in her sister's place when the sister has an accident. The sister and the h are not the best of friends, in fact the h's 14 yr older sister hates the h's guts. Mainly cause the h was a late life baby and the sister had been an only child and fiercely resented her parent's giving the baby more attention that she felt she got. After the h was born, the sister stormed out her parent's house three years later and never looked back.
The sister is so angry and nasty and bitter, that when her mother died and then her father became ill with a terminal illness, the sister refused to have anything to do with her parents. She left the h to drop out of art school and nurse her father with no assistance in any shape or form for two years until his illness claimed him.
She graciously allowed the h a small room in her Georgian house in London, as the h had literally no place else to go, but the h is working two jobs to afford a flat and trying to get some extra lessons in so she can become an artist - all without the help of her still bitter and nasty sister, who has more than enough money to at least help the h out to continue the schooling she had to quit or lend her enough for a deposit on a flat - however the sister wouldn't get to berate the h everyday, so she certainly isn't going to do anything that might help the h.
The h is pretty happy go lucky tho and she agrees to help her sister by rushing the computer disks that comprise the H's latest research breakthrough over to the Paris conference. The H, who is a former General Practitioner doctor who had to take over his father's drug company when he had a stroke, is trying to take over another drug company to keep his father's hospice program going and the h's sister messed up the data for the presentation.
Everyone had to work overtime to fix the sister's mistake and then the sister wasn't watching where she was going and almost got ran over and is now in hospital. So slime sister summons the h to go to Paris and the h gets a few days off and goes. The h checks into the very nice upscale French hotel and gets assigned the sister's room when the hotel doesn't catch the different first name.
The h then gets caught up in drawing the scene from her window and is startled by the summons of a VERY ANGRY H. The h runs to the H's room with the disks and the presentation. She is covered in pastel chalk from her drawing and the H is instantly attracted.
He and the h have some very smart verbal battles right away, the H accuses the h of being a corporate spy. Then he refuses to let the h leave and he keeps her passport and her money. The h thinks the H is the most special man she has ever seen, but she also believes that he and her sister are a couple. (The sister is very insistent that she is in love with the H and the h naturally believes that her hard, glossy sister is sleeping with him at the very least.)
So the h isn't too pleasant when the H insists that the h has to stay and take her sister's place, the H infers that extra-curricular bedroom duties will be involved too and the h accuses him of forgetting about her sister, who surely has a claim.
The H doesn't confirm or deny that he is lurvin it up with the sister, so the h is forced to accompany the H to very romantic and cozy dinner and over the course of it, the h falls in love. She doesn't like it when the H takes her to an art gallery later and the female owner of the gallery is putting the moves on the H.
The h does recognize a painting in the gallery, it was done by one her friends she had a little crush on in art school. The h is astounded that his work has deteriorated so badly and she is concerned, cause he left art school when his brother died and no one has heard from him since.
The gallery owner, looking for a way to get close to the H, offers to take the h to see her old friend the next day. The H gets very cranky and furious, he is jealous that the h might be going to see an old flame. He roofie kisses the h when she falls asleep in the taxi cab back to the hotel and the h wakes up furious and totally tells him off.
He watches as she runs off and he shouts at her that she should marry him. The h doesn't hear him, but she is definitely planning on scooping out her sister's man and she goes to bed full of little man stealing plans - tho she doesn't think she will actually sleep with the H. The next day tho, the H wants her to leave and he gives the h her passport and a ton of money to go. The H thinks the h is too distracting for him, he is very interested, but he really needs to make this big presentation work.
Perversely, the h wants to stay and help with the after presentation hostessing and as she and the art gallery owner go to see her old art school friend, she tells the H she isn't going. The h does go see her friend and it soon becomes clear that he is still grieving his brother. His parents lost interest in him and in life and the old friend is now hooked on drugs.
The h accidentally dumps her purse on the old friend's couch and the guy sees that the h has a huge wad of money that is really the H's. The h goes to buy some dresses for her hostessing duties and then realizes that she lost her key in the art school friend's couch. She gets all dressed up, leaves her purse in her bedside table and goes to do the hostess thing and she is great at it. The H's male personal assistant, who is in love with the h's sister, tells her she should go into PR work, cause she is fabulous at it.
The h is happy and on her way back to her room when she finds her old art school friend crashed out on her bed. He claims he was returning her key and he asks her to meet him the next night at a cafe. As he is leaving, the h kisses him on cheek goodbye, she is really worried about him and wondering how she can help him.
The H sees the h kissing the old friend and goes ballistic. The h smacks him hard and then winds up apologizing. Roofie kisses and almost seduction ensue, but the H walks off in the nick of time. The h wakes up the next morning and finds that her art school friend stole all the h's money and her jewelry and the money the H gave her. Then h's sister shows up and every word out of her mouth is a put down. She claims that she is going to share the H's suite, as she accuses the h of stealing her room, but the H lies and says his male assistant has the other room so the two of them will have to share.
The h was supposed to go out with the H to a really important dinner with a finance investor that the H hopes will fund his takeover. The sister jumps in to go in the h's place, so the h decides to go meet her art school friend, she sees his theft as a cry for help. Except the cafe the friend directed her too is a notorious drug den and the h is almost getting attacked when the H pulls her out, he sent her sister to dinner with the important investor so he could follow the h.
They have another big fight about how the h's art school friend needs serious help and the h wants the H to do it. The H doesn't like it and refuses to let the h try and find the old friend. But then the H explains that either he or his male assistant have been following her around Paris as she is out and about, cause the H is in love with her. He takes the h back to his room and bathes her and then the Lurve Force Mojo takes over and we have a purple passion boudoir bounce. The h is in blissful love and more than a little smug that she stole her sister's man.
The sister walks into the H's suite at that point and claims she and the H are marrying and throws the h out. The h goes back to London and has a mopey moment. She meets the H again as he is escorting her sister home from the conference and he is nasty cause he saw the h hugging her boss after he gave her a ride home and the h is nasty back. Then the sister tells the h she has to move out, but the h is ahead of her there and just has a few more days before she moves out into a little place of her own.
The h has a week or so of mopey moments while she moves out and then the H's male assistant hunts her down. He explains that the H is miserable without her, he even got her drug addicted art school friend into treatment cause the h asked him to help and the art school friend is doing really well. The h's sister lied to the h all over the place. The male assistant also explains that the sister expected the H to fall in love with her, but he only ever saw her as a really good secretary and isn't and has never been interested.
When the sister saw how sad the H was after the h left Paris, she told the male assistant everything. Now the male assistant demands that the h forgive her sister cause she feels bad for being sewer slime gulping witch and he is in love with the woman.
The h goes and apologizes and forgives her sister and the sister was abducted by aliens and got a personality transplant, cause now she is in love with the male assistant back. Then she tells the h that the H should be showing up at the h's new flat soon, the sister called him and told him what she had done to drive the h away.
The h goes home and the H is there, he loves her madly and was glad he could help her friend and he bought a country house he will fill with primroses, just like his primrose h and they will marry and she can paint, but he will never let her go. Thus we end another whacktastic HPlandia outing.
I am kinda ashamed of me and how much fun I had with this. It was pretty tacky overall with the h scheming to take her sister's supposed man. But the sister was truly, truly horrible and the h was pretty funny and it was soon obvious that the H had no romantic interest in the sister - NF gives us a little of his POV.
It is so rare for the OW or evil relative to get any comeuppance in HPlandia that I took a very gleeful view of the h's silly antics. I don't know if I actually believe the HEA, but it was a fun ride to get there and sometimes that makes all the difference in an HP outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2021
2.5 stars rounded up because little sis got the man evil big sis wanted. Why both sisters wanted this hero is beyond me. He's supposed to be a doctor and a CEO of a pharmaceutical company, but he's impulsive, disorganized and missing-in-action from his responsibilities whenever the heroine shows up. I wouldn't trust him with any fiduciary or managerial decisions.
Heroine was at least fun and interesting. She is an artist who has agreed to take 5 floppy discs to Paris that the hero needed for a speech. Her sister is the hero's PA - but she's out of action after a traffic accident.
The H/h were obviously smitten with each other from the start, the sister was never a plausible threat, so the author had to manufacture drama with a drug addict classmate of the heroine's. That thread never went anywhere.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her spoiler review.
Heroine was at least fun and interesting. She is an artist who has agreed to take 5 floppy discs to Paris that the hero needed for a speech. Her sister is the hero's PA - but she's out of action after a traffic accident.
The H/h were obviously smitten with each other from the start, the sister was never a plausible threat, so the author had to manufacture drama with a drug addict classmate of the heroine's. That thread never went anywhere.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her spoiler review.
October 25, 2012
mehh...just okay.
December 2, 2020
Εξωπραγματικό.Βιαστικό σε συναισθήματα και ακόμη πιο βιαστικό στον χρόνο δημιουργούνται !Πως λέμε ψεκάστε σκουπίστε τελειώστε;Ακριβώς αυτό!Ανώριμοι ήρωες σημερα ετσι και αύριο αλλιώς !Ούτε ο επιλογος δεν μπόρεσε να το σώσει, εκλεισε με σημαντικές παραλήψεις ,που περίμενα να ξεκαθαρίσουν ,δεν είδα ομως φως και απόρησα για ποιο λόγο αναφέρθηκαν πιο μπροστα ...Κρίμα γιατί η συγγραφέας έχει δώσει δείγματα εξαιρετικής δουλειάς.Το συγκεκριμένο σίγουρα όχι απλά δεν ανήκει στην top κατηγορία της αλλά με το ζόρι πιάνει βαση.
2.5/5
2.5/5
June 18, 2020
"You make me feel alive," he said slowly.
-
My friend gave me this novel, I gusss 12 years ago. It was my first romantic novel and I still remember it, I really loved it back then and It'll always have a special place in my heart.
-
My friend gave me this novel, I gusss 12 years ago. It was my first romantic novel and I still remember it, I really loved it back then and It'll always have a special place in my heart.
July 12, 2020
A special sort of man , actually the novel's title was so attractive to me , I was wondering what is a special qualities and values of men which this novel to refer to. firstly what i'am truly love about romantic novels it that its gives us a litte bit of glimmer about charming habits, authentic feelings and cozy reactions with partners. those factors or matters are so important to learn. as we are in our community don't appreciate feelings nor have culture about learning relationships essentials and how it's so important so we can win a healthy relationship. but unfortunately we live in world which materialistic , artificial propaganda and non-sense habits wins against authentic feelings.I shocked with first quality of man that was how he has attractive jawline , wide shoulders and grey eyes. then novel continue narrative insta love story between fran and jordan I was expect the plot will take a more mature form like how they are pushed each of other toward their passions , achieve their dreams with each other, respect boundaries of their each other, care about them self mentally , physically , spiritally for their each other ,share their precious moments the tough before nice that more authentic good vibes between man and woman but instead the flow of love story continue grow based on their sexual desire. then novel go more and more into something so clichy which is the two sisters fran and helena fighting on who has right on seducing this sort of man. this novel can be summarized in a few sentences "Paul Jordan Not a special sort of man , he is a male who follow his instincts male toward a girl who fall in a Man frame".
but I can't deny a favor this novel done to me which is that "Not all books are friends to our mind and our soul"
It's very important note to take in our account if books are big resource of feeding your mind as it's help us to follow what's our mind tell and grip what's our heart feel. it's make us more authentic version of our self .which defines who us really are ?
but I can't deny a favor this novel done to me which is that "Not all books are friends to our mind and our soul"
It's very important note to take in our account if books are big resource of feeding your mind as it's help us to follow what's our mind tell and grip what's our heart feel. it's make us more authentic version of our self .which defines who us really are ?
May 8, 2022
A weak read.The H and h fall for each other on sight and the poor guy keeps staring at her and wandering off into lala land in his mind. The first time they meet, they spend the evening in Paris having a cozy dinner together then walk along the Seine then stop at an art gallery and then smooch in the car which is earth shattering and the guy literally proposes to her immediately afterwards. I liked the H cz he was my classic type: Tall, dark haired, grey eyed, wears glasses sometimes, and is a doctor. Lol. (I'm all of the above too except the eyes and gender, haha).
The h is a bit natty and silly. She's on an urgent mission for the floppy disks but the first hour she arrives in Paris, she spends it making sketches out of her hotel room window cz the scene is apparently super aesthetic or sth, and then smudges her entire outfit with the pastels and her hair in a frizzy mess - I felt like that author was trying too hard to make her look gauche or innocent in contrast to her older sister.
There's a certain grey area here. The h believes that her older sister is either sleeping with the H or wants to do so. She initially fights the attraction but towards the end she is feeling glad that the H is showing a preference towards herself. I'm not a big fan of sisters competing for a guy, and although WE know the H and he sister never slept together, the h risked a sloppy seconds scenario here.
Bit of a rushed consummation and ending, almost like the author had a deadline to make. Nice HEA after all, and the h's sister starts magically considering the "paunchy, middle aged" male colleague of hers who has been in love with the sister since ages.
The h is a bit natty and silly. She's on an urgent mission for the floppy disks but the first hour she arrives in Paris, she spends it making sketches out of her hotel room window cz the scene is apparently super aesthetic or sth, and then smudges her entire outfit with the pastels and her hair in a frizzy mess - I felt like that author was trying too hard to make her look gauche or innocent in contrast to her older sister.
There's a certain grey area here. The h believes that her older sister is either sleeping with the H or wants to do so. She initially fights the attraction but towards the end she is feeling glad that the H is showing a preference towards herself. I'm not a big fan of sisters competing for a guy, and although WE know the H and he sister never slept together, the h risked a sloppy seconds scenario here.
Bit of a rushed consummation and ending, almost like the author had a deadline to make. Nice HEA after all, and the h's sister starts magically considering the "paunchy, middle aged" male colleague of hers who has been in love with the sister since ages.
February 13, 2022
Bland and not very much going on. Sister's jealousy is odd and not explained, it's just stated. And the hero acts wildly, he says one thing then swaps to the opposite instantly. The heroine is just kinda there, she doesn't really have a purpose or urgency. I'd say skip it, since it is so unmemorable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews