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The Ultimate Choice
She'd never run from anything before
And Kelly wasn't about to start now. Horses were Kelly's life -- and when the sardonic new owner of Marian Park seemed set to ruin her career in show jumping, she was furious.
More important, there was the callous way he'd treated her beloved grandfather. So Kelly stormed off to confront Justin St. John.
It was a confrontation, all right -- only Kelly found a very different man from the one she'd heard about. And the reality was far more challenging...
And Kelly wasn't about to start now. Horses were Kelly's life -- and when the sardonic new owner of Marian Park seemed set to ruin her career in show jumping, she was furious.
More important, there was the callous way he'd treated her beloved grandfather. So Kelly stormed off to confront Justin St. John.
It was a confrontation, all right -- only Kelly found a very different man from the one she'd heard about. And the reality was far more challenging...
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
48 people want to read
About the author
Emma Darcy
640 books327 followersEmma Darcy is the pseudonym created by the married writing team of Wendy (1940-2020) and Frank Brennan (1936-1995). Their life journey has taken as many twists and turns as the characters in their stories, whose international popularity has resulted in over sixty-million book sales. With more than a hundred titles, Emma Darcy appeared regularly on the Waldenbooks bestseller lists in the U.S.A. and in the Nielson BookScan Top 100 chart in the U.K.
Wendy was born 28 November 1940 in Australia. Her sister was the novelist Maureen Mary (Miranda Lee). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. She obtained an Honours degree in Latin and initially worked as a high school English/French teacher. She married Frank Brennan, an Australian businessman born in 1936. She changed careers to computer programming before marriage and motherhood settled her into a community life. She was reputedly the first woman computer programmer in the southern hemisphere.
As voracious readers, the step to writing their own books seemed a natural progression and the challenge of creating exciting stories was soon highly addictive. They were published since 1983. In 1993, for the Emma Darcy pseudonym's 10th anniversary, they created the "Emma Darcy Award Contest" to encourage authors to finish their manuscripts. After the death of Frank Brennan in 1995, Wendy wrotes books on her own. She lived in a beachside property on the central coast of New South Wales, and liked to travel extensively to research settings and increase her experience of places and people.
Wendy Brennan passed away on December 21, 2020. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, writer Miranda Lee.
Wendy was born 28 November 1940 in Australia. Her sister was the novelist Maureen Mary (Miranda Lee). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. She obtained an Honours degree in Latin and initially worked as a high school English/French teacher. She married Frank Brennan, an Australian businessman born in 1936. She changed careers to computer programming before marriage and motherhood settled her into a community life. She was reputedly the first woman computer programmer in the southern hemisphere.
As voracious readers, the step to writing their own books seemed a natural progression and the challenge of creating exciting stories was soon highly addictive. They were published since 1983. In 1993, for the Emma Darcy pseudonym's 10th anniversary, they created the "Emma Darcy Award Contest" to encourage authors to finish their manuscripts. After the death of Frank Brennan in 1995, Wendy wrotes books on her own. She lived in a beachside property on the central coast of New South Wales, and liked to travel extensively to research settings and increase her experience of places and people.
Wendy Brennan passed away on December 21, 2020. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, writer Miranda Lee.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 19, 2017
Re the Ultimate Choice - ED is back with what is probably her most poorly plotted and least convincing book. It pains me to say that, cause at this time Wendy and Frank are still writing together. But given the health problems that Frank has a few years from now, I have often wondered if most of this one was written by Wendy alone.
The story starts with the 35 yr old H buying a 22 million dollar estate. This place has special meaning for him. It was owned by his first and only love's grandfather, she died when the H was 19 from a bad fall during a horse jumping accident. The grandfather continued on alone for the next 16 years, but he too has passed away recently.
The H has a lot of bitter regret over that accident so long ago, he wonders if he made the right choice. But to his mind it doesn't matter now, he owns the place and he wants everything to continue exactly as it has been doing for as long as he owns the place. Obviously this is a man deeply mired in grief over his lost young love.
The h is 22 and a physical therapist. She is a feisty redhead, currently very enraged over the new owner of the estate she lives on. She gets called to the big house to do some PT for the H. It seems he has a very old hip injury that needs some serous therapy. The h isn't too pleased to be called to the manor, this H is disrupting everything around the Crooked Creek area and while he has a mouthwatering physique, her anger is overriding her good sense and she has to stop the treatment to yell at him.
We find out that the h and her grandfather have a house and some land on the estate. Her grandfather does the breeding for all the prize winning sheep the place runs. There is one prize ram in particular, Octavian Augustus the Fourth, that is the number one wool producing Ram in the world and the estate owns him. The H has plans for that breeding strain that the h's grandfather is up in arms about, but that isn't the only thing the h's little family is angry about. The H is kicking them out of their home and her grandfather is very elderly and about to fall apart with despair and worry. The previous owner was his dear friend and always said he would outlive Grandpa, but now he is gone and the new guy is messing everything up.
The h isn't happy herself, the previous owner saw a resemblance to his dead granddaughter in the h, and got her a string of show jumping horses. The H has forbidden any use of his horses for show jumping and the h is furious because she will lose out on her opportunity to ride for the Grand Prix Cup. The h knows that technically the H feeds, stables and bought the horses with the estate, but she feels they are hers because she trained them all to jump and increased their value.
So when the h gets the opportunity to berate the H, she takes it. She yells and complains about the H kicking elderly old men out of their homes when they have a gentleman's agreement with the prior owners. The H gets Grandpa's name and a strange look crosses his face, but he does agree to give the deeds to the house and the land to the h's grandpa, provided that he gets first refusal if they ever want to sell. The h is stunned by this generous act and forgoes to mention the sheep or the horses.
She tells Grandpa and his friend, the local retired Judge, about the deed transfer. Grandpa is relieved but complains that the H is taking Octavian Augustus's dna and implanting it in 5000 ewes he is selling to the Russians. Grandpa and the Judge are up in arms about this, cause with Augustus being such a champion, it will mean they will be unable to sell their lesser stock to the rest of the world. The h meanwhile is fretting about her horses and her show jumping and the almost kissing moment she had with the H.
The h decides she needs to tackle the horse subject if the H shows up for more treatment in her office. When she does finally hunt him down, he forbids her to use his horses for show jumping, in fact he seems to be very perturbed over any type of jumping. The h continues to badger him at his home when she goes to thank him for the deeds to Grampy's house.
They argue over the horses and the H threatens to destroy them rather that see another jumping accident. This infuriates the h, so she steals the horse and hides him at the Judge's house. (Apparently in HPlandia a little Grand Larceny with a 20 yr sentence is nothing compared to a spoilt brat getting her way, especially if she is the h who decides she is right.)
The H tries to stop her and winds up injuring his bad hip even more. The h bullies him into more treatment cause she is going to fix his leg and hip for him. Grandpa is still complaining about the dissemination of Augustus's bloodline to unworthy foreigners and he is complaining that the H is refusing to take his usual quota of sheep for the manor's kitchen and that the H will force him to run cattle as well, cause the H is tired of mutton for every meal. Apparently even determining what he wants for dinner is too much change for these locals when it comes to the H's new property.
The h has to go berate the H some more, cause he isn't keeping his side of the agreement - never mind that he just gave away thousands of pounds worth of land and a house to the ingrates. (I guess the deal between Grampy and the prior owner was that Grampy provided the meat for the manor and he got the use of the land. But I was questioning the audacity of the h and her Grampa in even considering berating the guy who gave them a fortune for nothing.)
The big show jumping competition is next on the agenda and the h takes her stolen horse and enters. The H, who is now admitting defeat in the face of such total communal attacks, goes to watch the h win. There is another almost kissing moment and the H asks the h to marry him. She refuses and the H leaves, but she changes her mind fast when she sees what Grampy and the Judge have done next.
The two of them stole Octavian Augustus the Fourth to keep his dna from being inseminated and are hiding the ram in Grampy's and the h's kitchen. The H's estate factotum has called the police and the Army SAS and there is a massive hunt for the ram going on. Grampy and the Judge are scared and the h is realizing this stunt will probably mean a prison term of 25 to life because this is a very expensive ram.
She goes to the H's manor to explain, but winds up lurving it up instead. The H assumes they are going to marry and then the h drops the missing ram bomb. At this point, it was more than obvious that the only reason the h changed her mind was because the army was out looking for Augustus and the h was worried about her grampa.
The H catches on to this pretty fast too and while he is accusing her of using her body to trade for favors, which she totally did, she is accusing him of being a horse killer and justifying how she HAD to steal HER horse. The H then explains that he doesn't want her jumping because he got injured when the prior owner's granddaughter died. In fact he got injured saving the seven year old h from being rolled over by the fallen horse.
The H's dead love was practicing jumping, the horse failed a jump and fell, pinning the 18 yr old girl under the horse. The h, at seven, was watching and ran to help, but the horse panicked and was flailing about. The H got the h out of the way but the horse rolled on HIM and in the process kicked the other girl in the head killing her.
The h finally figures out that the H saved her life at the expense of his own true love and she finally starts feeling a little ashamed of herself. The H goes and calls off the army and the police and lets Grampy and the Judge know he won't prosecute them for livestock theft. The h runs after the H and does some fast talking about how she doesn't care if she is a sub for his dead love, she still loves him and wants to marry him and have his babies.
The last chapter is an epic epilogue, cause ED had to try and salvage something, where we find out that Grampy and the Judge used a different ram's dna to impregnate the ewes being sold to Russia in a sneaky little double cross, so Augustus's bloodline will stay safe in the country and the H and h marry and have five kids and the h wins the Grand Prix Jumping cup on the horse the H did not want her to ride.
This book was bizarre and all the entitled grand larceny was just not my cuppa at all. I probably would have been okay with it had the h not been so arrogantly smug that all the stealing was justified because the land, the house the sheep and the horses were really HERS because the prior owner had let her and Grampy use them.
The big, glaring flaw in that whole sentiment is that if the prior owner had really felt that way and wanted the h and Grampy to actually own those things, then why did he not leave them to the h and Gramps in his will? He must of had one, cause the H buys the estate from the prior owner's executors.
I also did not like how the h, with the backing of the entire community, basically rode roughshod over anything the H wanted or cared about, right down to what he wanted for dinner. It was tacky, it was egocentric and I felt very sad over the H's grief and really hoped that instead of declaring how much he loved the h, he had told her she was a poor second best to the woman he really loved but she needed to justify her expense by providing some heirs. Sadly THAT did not happen but if there ever was an HP where I felt the H being a cad to the h was deserved, it was this one.
I can enjoy an HP outing when the H is jerk, usually there is some attempt at redemption. But it is a terrible trip to HPlandia when the H deserves a better h and there is just no coming back when the h is an outrageous, mercenary thief and not even repentant about it. Give this a go if you must, but I highly recommend a full complement of adult beverages and plenty of padding in place for the inevitable wall banging.
The story starts with the 35 yr old H buying a 22 million dollar estate. This place has special meaning for him. It was owned by his first and only love's grandfather, she died when the H was 19 from a bad fall during a horse jumping accident. The grandfather continued on alone for the next 16 years, but he too has passed away recently.
The H has a lot of bitter regret over that accident so long ago, he wonders if he made the right choice. But to his mind it doesn't matter now, he owns the place and he wants everything to continue exactly as it has been doing for as long as he owns the place. Obviously this is a man deeply mired in grief over his lost young love.
The h is 22 and a physical therapist. She is a feisty redhead, currently very enraged over the new owner of the estate she lives on. She gets called to the big house to do some PT for the H. It seems he has a very old hip injury that needs some serous therapy. The h isn't too pleased to be called to the manor, this H is disrupting everything around the Crooked Creek area and while he has a mouthwatering physique, her anger is overriding her good sense and she has to stop the treatment to yell at him.
We find out that the h and her grandfather have a house and some land on the estate. Her grandfather does the breeding for all the prize winning sheep the place runs. There is one prize ram in particular, Octavian Augustus the Fourth, that is the number one wool producing Ram in the world and the estate owns him. The H has plans for that breeding strain that the h's grandfather is up in arms about, but that isn't the only thing the h's little family is angry about. The H is kicking them out of their home and her grandfather is very elderly and about to fall apart with despair and worry. The previous owner was his dear friend and always said he would outlive Grandpa, but now he is gone and the new guy is messing everything up.
The h isn't happy herself, the previous owner saw a resemblance to his dead granddaughter in the h, and got her a string of show jumping horses. The H has forbidden any use of his horses for show jumping and the h is furious because she will lose out on her opportunity to ride for the Grand Prix Cup. The h knows that technically the H feeds, stables and bought the horses with the estate, but she feels they are hers because she trained them all to jump and increased their value.
So when the h gets the opportunity to berate the H, she takes it. She yells and complains about the H kicking elderly old men out of their homes when they have a gentleman's agreement with the prior owners. The H gets Grandpa's name and a strange look crosses his face, but he does agree to give the deeds to the house and the land to the h's grandpa, provided that he gets first refusal if they ever want to sell. The h is stunned by this generous act and forgoes to mention the sheep or the horses.
She tells Grandpa and his friend, the local retired Judge, about the deed transfer. Grandpa is relieved but complains that the H is taking Octavian Augustus's dna and implanting it in 5000 ewes he is selling to the Russians. Grandpa and the Judge are up in arms about this, cause with Augustus being such a champion, it will mean they will be unable to sell their lesser stock to the rest of the world. The h meanwhile is fretting about her horses and her show jumping and the almost kissing moment she had with the H.
The h decides she needs to tackle the horse subject if the H shows up for more treatment in her office. When she does finally hunt him down, he forbids her to use his horses for show jumping, in fact he seems to be very perturbed over any type of jumping. The h continues to badger him at his home when she goes to thank him for the deeds to Grampy's house.
They argue over the horses and the H threatens to destroy them rather that see another jumping accident. This infuriates the h, so she steals the horse and hides him at the Judge's house. (Apparently in HPlandia a little Grand Larceny with a 20 yr sentence is nothing compared to a spoilt brat getting her way, especially if she is the h who decides she is right.)
The H tries to stop her and winds up injuring his bad hip even more. The h bullies him into more treatment cause she is going to fix his leg and hip for him. Grandpa is still complaining about the dissemination of Augustus's bloodline to unworthy foreigners and he is complaining that the H is refusing to take his usual quota of sheep for the manor's kitchen and that the H will force him to run cattle as well, cause the H is tired of mutton for every meal. Apparently even determining what he wants for dinner is too much change for these locals when it comes to the H's new property.
The h has to go berate the H some more, cause he isn't keeping his side of the agreement - never mind that he just gave away thousands of pounds worth of land and a house to the ingrates. (I guess the deal between Grampy and the prior owner was that Grampy provided the meat for the manor and he got the use of the land. But I was questioning the audacity of the h and her Grampa in even considering berating the guy who gave them a fortune for nothing.)
The big show jumping competition is next on the agenda and the h takes her stolen horse and enters. The H, who is now admitting defeat in the face of such total communal attacks, goes to watch the h win. There is another almost kissing moment and the H asks the h to marry him. She refuses and the H leaves, but she changes her mind fast when she sees what Grampy and the Judge have done next.
The two of them stole Octavian Augustus the Fourth to keep his dna from being inseminated and are hiding the ram in Grampy's and the h's kitchen. The H's estate factotum has called the police and the Army SAS and there is a massive hunt for the ram going on. Grampy and the Judge are scared and the h is realizing this stunt will probably mean a prison term of 25 to life because this is a very expensive ram.
She goes to the H's manor to explain, but winds up lurving it up instead. The H assumes they are going to marry and then the h drops the missing ram bomb. At this point, it was more than obvious that the only reason the h changed her mind was because the army was out looking for Augustus and the h was worried about her grampa.
The H catches on to this pretty fast too and while he is accusing her of using her body to trade for favors, which she totally did, she is accusing him of being a horse killer and justifying how she HAD to steal HER horse. The H then explains that he doesn't want her jumping because he got injured when the prior owner's granddaughter died. In fact he got injured saving the seven year old h from being rolled over by the fallen horse.
The H's dead love was practicing jumping, the horse failed a jump and fell, pinning the 18 yr old girl under the horse. The h, at seven, was watching and ran to help, but the horse panicked and was flailing about. The H got the h out of the way but the horse rolled on HIM and in the process kicked the other girl in the head killing her.
The h finally figures out that the H saved her life at the expense of his own true love and she finally starts feeling a little ashamed of herself. The H goes and calls off the army and the police and lets Grampy and the Judge know he won't prosecute them for livestock theft. The h runs after the H and does some fast talking about how she doesn't care if she is a sub for his dead love, she still loves him and wants to marry him and have his babies.
The last chapter is an epic epilogue, cause ED had to try and salvage something, where we find out that Grampy and the Judge used a different ram's dna to impregnate the ewes being sold to Russia in a sneaky little double cross, so Augustus's bloodline will stay safe in the country and the H and h marry and have five kids and the h wins the Grand Prix Jumping cup on the horse the H did not want her to ride.
This book was bizarre and all the entitled grand larceny was just not my cuppa at all. I probably would have been okay with it had the h not been so arrogantly smug that all the stealing was justified because the land, the house the sheep and the horses were really HERS because the prior owner had let her and Grampy use them.
The big, glaring flaw in that whole sentiment is that if the prior owner had really felt that way and wanted the h and Grampy to actually own those things, then why did he not leave them to the h and Gramps in his will? He must of had one, cause the H buys the estate from the prior owner's executors.
I also did not like how the h, with the backing of the entire community, basically rode roughshod over anything the H wanted or cared about, right down to what he wanted for dinner. It was tacky, it was egocentric and I felt very sad over the H's grief and really hoped that instead of declaring how much he loved the h, he had told her she was a poor second best to the woman he really loved but she needed to justify her expense by providing some heirs. Sadly THAT did not happen but if there ever was an HP where I felt the H being a cad to the h was deserved, it was this one.
I can enjoy an HP outing when the H is jerk, usually there is some attempt at redemption. But it is a terrible trip to HPlandia when the H deserves a better h and there is just no coming back when the h is an outrageous, mercenary thief and not even repentant about it. Give this a go if you must, but I highly recommend a full complement of adult beverages and plenty of padding in place for the inevitable wall banging.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2011
Yup. I can definitely imagine a happily ever after for this couple: an indulgent 38 year old man and a headstrong 22 year old girl. He would lay down the law (or whatever he perceived as law) and she would just circumvent it. Like: Don’t want me riding the horse? Fine! I’ll just rustle the horse then.
From the beginning, it was obvious that he was attracted to her. But that he would be such a pushover is totally unexpected. It's like expecting an alpha guy and getting a beta instead.
Gathering from the way she would barge into his house, subject him through therapy or plead her pet causes, she knew her powers, too. And she’s a girl with the smarts -- she amended her rejection of his marriage proposal so conveniently, in my opinion, after discovering her beloved grandpa’s antics. (That’s another story distraction: the sheep and wool industry in Australia.)
The epilogue was the industry-standard peek at wedded bliss with 5 (!) kids. However, readers who speedread will miss one of the better-written parts in the story: the Almost Kiss.
His finger was stroking on chin and there was a shifting of emotions, a relaxing of their guard. Then, his gaze dropped to her mouth. Her lips parted in anticipation. His head started to bend but then she closed her eyes and whispered to let her go. She heard his sharp intake of breath and then he withdrew his hold on her. (And I’m writing that scene almost verbatim because Emma Darcy wrote it well in sparse words…)
There’s just something seductive about satisfaction restrained.
From the beginning, it was obvious that he was attracted to her. But that he would be such a pushover is totally unexpected. It's like expecting an alpha guy and getting a beta instead.
Gathering from the way she would barge into his house, subject him through therapy or plead her pet causes, she knew her powers, too. And she’s a girl with the smarts -- she amended her rejection of his marriage proposal so conveniently, in my opinion, after discovering her beloved grandpa’s antics. (That’s another story distraction: the sheep and wool industry in Australia.)
The epilogue was the industry-standard peek at wedded bliss with 5 (!) kids. However, readers who speedread will miss one of the better-written parts in the story: the Almost Kiss.
His finger was stroking on chin and there was a shifting of emotions, a relaxing of their guard. Then, his gaze dropped to her mouth. Her lips parted in anticipation. His head started to bend but then she closed her eyes and whispered to let her go. She heard his sharp intake of breath and then he withdrew his hold on her. (And I’m writing that scene almost verbatim because Emma Darcy wrote it well in sparse words…)
There’s just something seductive about satisfaction restrained.
December 23, 2020
The hero deserved a better heroine.
The man hunted by his past
When Justin St. John was 19 years old, the things he loved the most were taken from him: Noni, the love of his life and Polo, the sport he used to play. At 35 years old, the businessman based in Sydney returned to the town of Crooked Creek to purchase Marian Park, the 22 million dollar merino sheep stud farm previously owned by Henry Lloyd, Noni's grandfather.
The injury on his left leg that he had acquired from trying to save Noni still left him in pain. Little did he know that the physiotherapist who was going to provide him services was someone who had cost him so much in the past.
The woman fighting for her future
Kelly Hanrahan, the 22 year old physiotherapist, had formed a bad opinion about Justin before she even met him in person. To her, the new owner of Marian Park was a bane in her life. He threatened to evict her and her grandfather from their plot of land and forbade her to use the stallions and mares that belonged to his estate.
She intended to give the man a piece of her mind, but little did she know getting too close to him would cause more problems than before.
I generally like feisty heroines who refuse to be pushovers, but I guess the execution of the heroine's character in this story caused her to appear more annoying than charming. I didn't find myself cheering her on. Half the time, I wanted her to fall off the horse! In my opinion, she got her way too easily. There was no real stake for her at all.
For the first time in a long while, I actually liked the hero better than the heroine in this story. He wasted no time correcting his errors, was protective of the heroine without being controlling, and
forgave the people who disrespected him way too fast. He was continually beset by the choices he made in the past and it was a pleasure to see him come to terms with his fears in the end.
I just felt like it was too out of the blue when Justin asked Kelly to marry him after the show jumping competition. To me, it seemed rushed. Up until then, they had just exchanged a few kisses. While they may have some form of physical intimacy, the "emotional" part between them was still underdeveloped. I believed they had the hots for each other, but I needed to be convinced more that they loved each other.
Also, perhaps it would've been better if Kelly had a moment where she could have proven that she wasn't just using Justin's attraction to her to get what she wants. To me, she came off as someone sly.
In conclusion, Justin deserved better than Kelly.
The man hunted by his past
When Justin St. John was 19 years old, the things he loved the most were taken from him: Noni, the love of his life and Polo, the sport he used to play. At 35 years old, the businessman based in Sydney returned to the town of Crooked Creek to purchase Marian Park, the 22 million dollar merino sheep stud farm previously owned by Henry Lloyd, Noni's grandfather.
The injury on his left leg that he had acquired from trying to save Noni still left him in pain. Little did he know that the physiotherapist who was going to provide him services was someone who had cost him so much in the past.
The woman fighting for her future
Kelly Hanrahan, the 22 year old physiotherapist, had formed a bad opinion about Justin before she even met him in person. To her, the new owner of Marian Park was a bane in her life. He threatened to evict her and her grandfather from their plot of land and forbade her to use the stallions and mares that belonged to his estate.
She intended to give the man a piece of her mind, but little did she know getting too close to him would cause more problems than before.
I generally like feisty heroines who refuse to be pushovers, but I guess the execution of the heroine's character in this story caused her to appear more annoying than charming. I didn't find myself cheering her on. Half the time, I wanted her to fall off the horse! In my opinion, she got her way too easily. There was no real stake for her at all.
For the first time in a long while, I actually liked the hero better than the heroine in this story. He wasted no time correcting his errors, was protective of the heroine without being controlling, and
forgave the people who disrespected him way too fast. He was continually beset by the choices he made in the past and it was a pleasure to see him come to terms with his fears in the end.
I just felt like it was too out of the blue when Justin asked Kelly to marry him after the show jumping competition. To me, it seemed rushed. Up until then, they had just exchanged a few kisses. While they may have some form of physical intimacy, the "emotional" part between them was still underdeveloped. I believed they had the hots for each other, but I needed to be convinced more that they loved each other.
Also, perhaps it would've been better if Kelly had a moment where she could have proven that she wasn't just using Justin's attraction to her to get what she wants. To me, she came off as someone sly.
In conclusion, Justin deserved better than Kelly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2023
Well I'm normally quite partial to a horsey story (blame Ruby Ferguson and Jilly Cooper) but this one was a dud. Mainly because the H and h weren't appealing. He, Justin, had a bad limp and was hung up on the granddaughter of the former owner of the house he's just bought, who died in a riding accident age 19. 16 years later he's back there, brooding and morose. The h, Kelly, is a physio and a show jumper and as far as I could tell a 19 yr old spoilt brat. He basically gives in to her over everything (after initially laying down the law). There is a lot of faff about ram semen (not a typo or a euphemism) and the H goes from being adamant she will not compete to being fine with it while she goes from ultra competitive to total domesticity (5 kids) with nary a backward glance. My neck hurt from the switchbacks. Didn't hang together well, off pacing and unlikeable characters.
August 13, 2024
Melodramatic equestrian romance between a 38 year old man still grieving fifteen years after his fiancee's fatal fall from her horse and the feisty 22 year old horse show jumper who, pardon the pun, rides rougshod over him and drags him out of mourning. The hero meets heroine when he buys his dead fiancee's girlhood home and plans to keep it a shrine to her, even keeping her portrait over the fireplace (How very ghoulish). Heroine and her grandfather have been squatting on hero's land based on a "gentleman's agreement" with the previous owner, and are incensed that the hero is going to turn them out.
I thought the heroine was pretty horrible the way she shouted at him and berated him and stomped her feet all over him until the poor guy simply rolled over and played dead. Not to mention the ick factor of their 16 year age gap, but that's par for the course for a 1980s romance. Even worse, hero knew heroine when she was a 7 year old child, in fact saving her from the horse that threw his fiancee when he could have been saving the fiancee instead. He made an instinctive call to sweep a child away from the path of an enraged stallion and the consequence of that split second decision was that the horse fatally struck his fallen fiancee and injured the hero to boot, shattering his leg, and leaving him with lifelong pain.
The hero has been blaming the heroine for indirectly causing his fiancee's death for fifteen long years but now he feels such a strong, passionate connection between them that he proposes within days of meeting her? This, after she continuously makes his life hell one way or the other, guilting him into giving her the deed to HIS land, trespassing on his property, forcing her way into his home after being repeatedly told to leave, stealing his horse, defying him at every turn, insulting him, refusing his proposal then seducing him when she thought her grandfather would get into trouble for stealing the hero's prize sheep. Poor hero, he is now married to a family of squatters, thieves, and the king and queen of con artists! When all he wanted to do was live out the rest of his life in peaceful mourning over his fiancee, his one true love and a better woman than the heroine could ever hope to be, even by her own admission! I hope the sex was worth it because I really felt sorry for him and what the rest of his life was going to look like with this tyrant who is treating him like one of her horses, always with one hand on the whip and the other one on the reins (pardon the pun again).
I thought the heroine was pretty horrible the way she shouted at him and berated him and stomped her feet all over him until the poor guy simply rolled over and played dead. Not to mention the ick factor of their 16 year age gap, but that's par for the course for a 1980s romance. Even worse, hero knew heroine when she was a 7 year old child, in fact saving her from the horse that threw his fiancee when he could have been saving the fiancee instead. He made an instinctive call to sweep a child away from the path of an enraged stallion and the consequence of that split second decision was that the horse fatally struck his fallen fiancee and injured the hero to boot, shattering his leg, and leaving him with lifelong pain.
The hero has been blaming the heroine for indirectly causing his fiancee's death for fifteen long years but now he feels such a strong, passionate connection between them that he proposes within days of meeting her? This, after she continuously makes his life hell one way or the other, guilting him into giving her the deed to HIS land, trespassing on his property, forcing her way into his home after being repeatedly told to leave, stealing his horse, defying him at every turn, insulting him, refusing his proposal then seducing him when she thought her grandfather would get into trouble for stealing the hero's prize sheep. Poor hero, he is now married to a family of squatters, thieves, and the king and queen of con artists! When all he wanted to do was live out the rest of his life in peaceful mourning over his fiancee, his one true love and a better woman than the heroine could ever hope to be, even by her own admission! I hope the sex was worth it because I really felt sorry for him and what the rest of his life was going to look like with this tyrant who is treating him like one of her horses, always with one hand on the whip and the other one on the reins (pardon the pun again).
December 19, 2023
I got such an ick feeling off of the h in this one. She came across as a user, a manipulator, and very selfish. I really really didn't like her using her role as a physiotherapist to initially hurt and then later grope/perv on/coerce the H. She stole a horse when she didn't get her own way. She pushed people about, and forced her way into a private home to get her own way. She was constantly using emotional blackmail too to get her own way. Me me me, what I want, when I want, how I want.
And what on earth was going on with that marriage proposal? She turns him down in the afternoon, quite rightly saying 'I hardly know you, I certainly don't know you well enough to know if I even love you' then lo and behold that same evening she needs something and is throwing herself at the H screaming, weeping, gasping 'I love you, my soul mate, my life, I love you so!' and I am thinking 'bitch what?' Her love confession was just another user's trick to ger her own way. I fucked HATED her.
And what on earth was going on with that marriage proposal? She turns him down in the afternoon, quite rightly saying 'I hardly know you, I certainly don't know you well enough to know if I even love you' then lo and behold that same evening she needs something and is throwing herself at the H screaming, weeping, gasping 'I love you, my soul mate, my life, I love you so!' and I am thinking 'bitch what?' Her love confession was just another user's trick to ger her own way. I fucked HATED her.
July 16, 2024
Inherited from grandma. This was a no go for me. The set up was like such a terribly past connection and felt like the feeling stat would come out of that were not dealt with at all. As usually to fast of love and Justin's character was liek none existent unclear why liked each other were just like your hot they will last forever surely.
August 23, 2025
DNF at page 35. The h’s tantrums were almost unbearable. What an awful, entitled, spoilt brat she is. I’ve read the other reviews here and they all say the same about the h, so it apparently doesn’t get any better with her.
January 16, 2011
Trope: older man (12 years)
January 23, 2013
A head strong lead lady and a man still mourning the girl he once loved and tragically lost.
I loved the secondary characters in this book, the grandfather and the judge.
I loved the secondary characters in this book, the grandfather and the judge.
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