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Sleeping Partners
LET SLEEPING PARTNERS LIE
Once, Lauren Bell had nearly played spider to Sam Hardy’s fly. Seduced by his charm and devastating looks, she’d fallen for the rugged photographer. But his love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation preceded him. Lauren got out with her heart intact. . . barely.
Now she was engaged to a charming and eligible man. So why was Sam’s reappearance in her life so disrupting? He haunted her dreams and her waking hours, teasing, baiting, challenging her to the final showdown. Tormented beyond reason, Lauren yearned to succumb to desire—but at what price?
Once, Lauren Bell had nearly played spider to Sam Hardy’s fly. Seduced by his charm and devastating looks, she’d fallen for the rugged photographer. But his love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation preceded him. Lauren got out with her heart intact. . . barely.
Now she was engaged to a charming and eligible man. So why was Sam’s reappearance in her life so disrupting? He haunted her dreams and her waking hours, teasing, baiting, challenging her to the final showdown. Tormented beyond reason, Lauren yearned to succumb to desire—but at what price?
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
2 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Lamb
261 books315 followersSheila Ann Mary Coates Holland
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy
Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy
Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 9, 2018
Re Sleeping Partners - Charlotte Lamb does her own HP Plus with extra drama.
The h in this one is 26 and working a on London women's magazine. She wants to move over to news reporting, but so far nothing has turned up. When the book starts the h is engaged to the son of the chairman of the media conglomerate she works for. She is happy and enjoying her charming and very handsome fiance, when she notices one of her friends in an intimate tête-à-tête with the H.
This alarms her, as her friend is married to another man that the h works with and the man she is with is a notoriously great war photographer. His fame in photography is only eclipsed by his equally notorious ladies man love and leave em' reputation. The h herself dated the man at one time several years earlier, but when a few very well meaning and nice ladies warned her about his leaving ways, the h broke things off before she could get seriously hurt.
The ladies all like the H, but were all of them dated for a while and dumped when he met someone new. The former H flames were very careful to let the h know that he doesn't cheat - he just meets someone more interesting to him, offers a kiss on the cheek in goodbye and off he goes. The h, who at the time was just starting out in her career, figures that she was in danger of liking the H too much. So she gets hers in first and dumps him and then proceeds to start carving out a journalistic career.
The h is very worried for her friend, so when she and her fiance run into the H and the friend on the way out, she tries to warn her not to get involved with the H. That bit of lecturing advice falls as flat as a pancake and the h and her now former friend have a few words until the H comes up and sweeps the lady off.
The h goes back to work, to finish up an article and gets the shock of her life when her friend's husband shows up unexpectedly. He works for the same magazine the h does and he ran into problems, so his out of town business trip got cut short, he is only dropping by to talk to the editor before he makes his way home.
The h hits the red alert. This particular man had been married years earlier and got divorced when his first wife left him for another man. The h's friend really worked hard to get married to him, so the h is worried that this could all blow up very badly - especially when she call her friend's marital flat and gets the answering machine. ( The h might be a teensy bit jealous too, but she doesn't recognize it.)
So she rushes over to her friend's flat and interrupts what seems to be a session of hanky panky between the married friend and the H. The woman is not pleased to see her and is really quite nasty, until the h tells that her husband is back and on his way home. The h leaves then and the H follows her out. Words are exchanged and the h makes it clear that she despises him.
The h has other things to worry about tho, like the fact that the chairman of the media conglomerate and her fiance's father, refuses to accept her. The fiance keeps telling her things will be fine, but the h is worried - she works doubly hard, cause she know any mis-step and the h will be fired.
Then the married friend and her husband throw a party. The h and her fiance go and the H shows up with a really beautiful redhead who is also the daughter of an American media tycoon. The married friend gets the h to help her sneak a few quick words with the H, while the h's fiance and the redhead go off to have a dance. The H uses the h as an excuse to break away from the now unwanted married woman's advances, and the fiance has a nasty moment when he sees the h dancing with the H. They are arguing tho, the h hasn't changed her low opinion of the H one bit.
The fiance has to travel out of town, so the h takes a few days to go see her family in her home village. While she is there, she gets the flu and is out of things in the London office for a while. She doesn't hear much from her fiance and there is some concern over her driving her car back to London. To her surprise, the H shows up to drive her home - he claims her editor asked him to do it, as everyone is ill and the woman needs the h to get back to work.
Things are tense on the drive back and the h is fiercely resistant to the H. He leaves in a huff when she refuses to engage with him on any level and the h is soon back at work. She doesn't hear from her fiance tho, and that is a cause for concern. Finally the fiance calls her up to meet for dinner. The h, who is excited cause she just applied for a news paper reporting job in her conglomerate, goes off to the restaurant to wait for her fiance.
She waits, but he never shows. Instead the H shows up and explains that the fiance has dumped her for the redheaded media tycoon's daughter and is currently at his engagement party. The ex fiance wrote a letter for the H, but forgot to post it and so his redheaded fiancee called the H to have him go break the news when they saw her waiting in the restaurant.
The h is humiliated and mortified and the H thinks this is a great time to get a few roofie kisses in. The h is responding, but then she realizes that the H is just trying it on cause she turned him down years earlier and his ego wants revenge and she kicks him out.
Then the h finds out that she got the newspaper job. She is due to start in a month, so she books herself on a cruise to get over her broken heart. The H stops her as she is doing some shopping and asks if she blackmailed the ex-fiance's father to give her a new job by threatening to go over to Nick Caspian's gutter rags and sell a down market story. The h is furious and shows the H the post date on the job offer letter, it was sent before she even knew she had been dumped and the h takes off.
(Okay, Nick Caspian wasn't mentioned really, but srsly this h gets so played by these opportunists
that I really wanted Gina Tyrrell to call her up and offer her a job.)
So the h goes on her cruise and she is having a nice time, but she has no faith in men now and avoids any dating like the plague. On one of the islands the ship stops on, the h notices a famous female singer is buying flowers. She says hello and the singer recognizes her and they strike up a conversation. The h is close to the singer's age and the singer really likes her. She gives the h a big scoop that she is on the island to marry a famous older movie star and the singer offers the h the exclusive story.
The h is supposed to be starting her new job, but she calls her editor and lets him know she has a big deal story and she needs some more time. She doesn't mention who or where, but the next thing she knows the H shows up on the singer's future husband's yacht. He smooth talked his way on board by offering to photograph the wedding for them.
(The h's new editor figured out where the h was by where she jumped the cruise ship, then he sent the H out to ostensibly take pictures, but it was really a tacky power play to scoop the h in my POV, these people are huge opportunists.)
So the H is there and when he isn't taking intrusive pictures, he is harassing the h with gropey hands. The h tells him to stop and he won't and then he asserts that it is really his story because weddings are always told in pictures, the h is only the junior partner. The h doesn't have much choice but to accept that dictate and things get complicated when one of the rock band drummers who is invited starts putting really pushy moves on her. The H claims he is being handsy and kissing her to warn the drugged out drummer off, but the h doesn't like it.
Finally the wedding happens and the h has a few glasses of champagne and gets a little flirty with the H. He has to develop his pictures tho and she has to type up her story. She is in her room when drummer druggie breaks in and starts attacking her. The h screams and the H hears her and then he comes in and throws druggie drummer out. The h is in full on panic mode and it leads to a big lurve mojo lurve club moment between the H and h.
The h wakes up the next day, happy cause she loves the H and finds out he left the island a few hours earlier. There is no note, no nothing and the h knows she has been pumped and dumped. The h is heartbroken, again. She goes back to London and starts her new job and everyone assumes she and the H are having an affair.
Her editor wants to assign her and the H as a story writing pair and the h is horrified. (Gina Tyrrell should have called about now.) She doesn't want to be around the H, especially when he eventually returns and she sees the ladies flocking around again - including the married friend who makes of point of being especially nasty to the h. The H does come around to ask the h to dinner, but she refuses and then the h gets a call from her ex-fiance.
He has heard the rumors about the h and the H too and he meets the h in the pub to harass her about dating the H. The H shows up and there is a big fight. Ex fiance blobfish runs off after the H threatens to break his face and the H drags the highly irate h off. The h runs on the slick sidewalk outside her flat to get away from the H and she slips and lands on her face. The H fireman carries her up to her flat and then strips her off and dumps her in the tub - to her really shrill protests.
The h tells the H to leave, but he doesn't and then the h really tells him off. The H accuses the h of leaving him and she tells him she wasn't the one with a list of ladies a mile long, nor was she the one who took off without a word and then did not even bother to call for weeks. He Left Her! and she hates him and wants him to leave.
The H claims to love her, and then he claims that he gets tunnel vision about his work and that he never calls or writes anybody. The h is all set to give him his final conge', but when he says he loves her, she doesn't and confesses that she loves the H back.
We leave them declaring true love, making small wedding plans and discussing doing the story on the ex-fiance's and the redhead's wedding. The redhead asked the h if she would, cause she did such a nice job on the singer's wedding story -or maybe she just wants to rub her managing to steal the ex in the h's face and the h doesn't care, she has the H and she is happy to write about the ex and his bride for the big HEA.
This one had a lot of drama and tension, but the H's motives were pretty unclear except that he wanted the h - he may or may not love her, but she does seem to have a talent for getting good stories and he wants to stop going to dangerous places, so maybe it will it be a good partnership. The H jokes at the end that since everyone knows they are sleeping partners, they figure they should be work partners too.
I kinda felt bad for the h tho, it felt like she was being manipulated and being taken advantage of. Her whole career is now going to revolve around the H's accomplishments, she will always come in second place. When the H gets bored he will move on and I thought that was kind of sad. That is just the way it goes in HPlandia sometimes tho, and this one was a drama train all the way.
The h in this one is 26 and working a on London women's magazine. She wants to move over to news reporting, but so far nothing has turned up. When the book starts the h is engaged to the son of the chairman of the media conglomerate she works for. She is happy and enjoying her charming and very handsome fiance, when she notices one of her friends in an intimate tête-à-tête with the H.
This alarms her, as her friend is married to another man that the h works with and the man she is with is a notoriously great war photographer. His fame in photography is only eclipsed by his equally notorious ladies man love and leave em' reputation. The h herself dated the man at one time several years earlier, but when a few very well meaning and nice ladies warned her about his leaving ways, the h broke things off before she could get seriously hurt.
The ladies all like the H, but were all of them dated for a while and dumped when he met someone new. The former H flames were very careful to let the h know that he doesn't cheat - he just meets someone more interesting to him, offers a kiss on the cheek in goodbye and off he goes. The h, who at the time was just starting out in her career, figures that she was in danger of liking the H too much. So she gets hers in first and dumps him and then proceeds to start carving out a journalistic career.
The h is very worried for her friend, so when she and her fiance run into the H and the friend on the way out, she tries to warn her not to get involved with the H. That bit of lecturing advice falls as flat as a pancake and the h and her now former friend have a few words until the H comes up and sweeps the lady off.
The h goes back to work, to finish up an article and gets the shock of her life when her friend's husband shows up unexpectedly. He works for the same magazine the h does and he ran into problems, so his out of town business trip got cut short, he is only dropping by to talk to the editor before he makes his way home.
The h hits the red alert. This particular man had been married years earlier and got divorced when his first wife left him for another man. The h's friend really worked hard to get married to him, so the h is worried that this could all blow up very badly - especially when she call her friend's marital flat and gets the answering machine. ( The h might be a teensy bit jealous too, but she doesn't recognize it.)
So she rushes over to her friend's flat and interrupts what seems to be a session of hanky panky between the married friend and the H. The woman is not pleased to see her and is really quite nasty, until the h tells that her husband is back and on his way home. The h leaves then and the H follows her out. Words are exchanged and the h makes it clear that she despises him.
The h has other things to worry about tho, like the fact that the chairman of the media conglomerate and her fiance's father, refuses to accept her. The fiance keeps telling her things will be fine, but the h is worried - she works doubly hard, cause she know any mis-step and the h will be fired.
Then the married friend and her husband throw a party. The h and her fiance go and the H shows up with a really beautiful redhead who is also the daughter of an American media tycoon. The married friend gets the h to help her sneak a few quick words with the H, while the h's fiance and the redhead go off to have a dance. The H uses the h as an excuse to break away from the now unwanted married woman's advances, and the fiance has a nasty moment when he sees the h dancing with the H. They are arguing tho, the h hasn't changed her low opinion of the H one bit.
The fiance has to travel out of town, so the h takes a few days to go see her family in her home village. While she is there, she gets the flu and is out of things in the London office for a while. She doesn't hear much from her fiance and there is some concern over her driving her car back to London. To her surprise, the H shows up to drive her home - he claims her editor asked him to do it, as everyone is ill and the woman needs the h to get back to work.
Things are tense on the drive back and the h is fiercely resistant to the H. He leaves in a huff when she refuses to engage with him on any level and the h is soon back at work. She doesn't hear from her fiance tho, and that is a cause for concern. Finally the fiance calls her up to meet for dinner. The h, who is excited cause she just applied for a news paper reporting job in her conglomerate, goes off to the restaurant to wait for her fiance.
She waits, but he never shows. Instead the H shows up and explains that the fiance has dumped her for the redheaded media tycoon's daughter and is currently at his engagement party. The ex fiance wrote a letter for the H, but forgot to post it and so his redheaded fiancee called the H to have him go break the news when they saw her waiting in the restaurant.
The h is humiliated and mortified and the H thinks this is a great time to get a few roofie kisses in. The h is responding, but then she realizes that the H is just trying it on cause she turned him down years earlier and his ego wants revenge and she kicks him out.
Then the h finds out that she got the newspaper job. She is due to start in a month, so she books herself on a cruise to get over her broken heart. The H stops her as she is doing some shopping and asks if she blackmailed the ex-fiance's father to give her a new job by threatening to go over to Nick Caspian's gutter rags and sell a down market story. The h is furious and shows the H the post date on the job offer letter, it was sent before she even knew she had been dumped and the h takes off.
(Okay, Nick Caspian wasn't mentioned really, but srsly this h gets so played by these opportunists
that I really wanted Gina Tyrrell to call her up and offer her a job.)
So the h goes on her cruise and she is having a nice time, but she has no faith in men now and avoids any dating like the plague. On one of the islands the ship stops on, the h notices a famous female singer is buying flowers. She says hello and the singer recognizes her and they strike up a conversation. The h is close to the singer's age and the singer really likes her. She gives the h a big scoop that she is on the island to marry a famous older movie star and the singer offers the h the exclusive story.
The h is supposed to be starting her new job, but she calls her editor and lets him know she has a big deal story and she needs some more time. She doesn't mention who or where, but the next thing she knows the H shows up on the singer's future husband's yacht. He smooth talked his way on board by offering to photograph the wedding for them.
(The h's new editor figured out where the h was by where she jumped the cruise ship, then he sent the H out to ostensibly take pictures, but it was really a tacky power play to scoop the h in my POV, these people are huge opportunists.)
So the H is there and when he isn't taking intrusive pictures, he is harassing the h with gropey hands. The h tells him to stop and he won't and then he asserts that it is really his story because weddings are always told in pictures, the h is only the junior partner. The h doesn't have much choice but to accept that dictate and things get complicated when one of the rock band drummers who is invited starts putting really pushy moves on her. The H claims he is being handsy and kissing her to warn the drugged out drummer off, but the h doesn't like it.
Finally the wedding happens and the h has a few glasses of champagne and gets a little flirty with the H. He has to develop his pictures tho and she has to type up her story. She is in her room when drummer druggie breaks in and starts attacking her. The h screams and the H hears her and then he comes in and throws druggie drummer out. The h is in full on panic mode and it leads to a big lurve mojo lurve club moment between the H and h.
The h wakes up the next day, happy cause she loves the H and finds out he left the island a few hours earlier. There is no note, no nothing and the h knows she has been pumped and dumped. The h is heartbroken, again. She goes back to London and starts her new job and everyone assumes she and the H are having an affair.
Her editor wants to assign her and the H as a story writing pair and the h is horrified. (Gina Tyrrell should have called about now.) She doesn't want to be around the H, especially when he eventually returns and she sees the ladies flocking around again - including the married friend who makes of point of being especially nasty to the h. The H does come around to ask the h to dinner, but she refuses and then the h gets a call from her ex-fiance.
He has heard the rumors about the h and the H too and he meets the h in the pub to harass her about dating the H. The H shows up and there is a big fight. Ex fiance blobfish runs off after the H threatens to break his face and the H drags the highly irate h off. The h runs on the slick sidewalk outside her flat to get away from the H and she slips and lands on her face. The H fireman carries her up to her flat and then strips her off and dumps her in the tub - to her really shrill protests.
The h tells the H to leave, but he doesn't and then the h really tells him off. The H accuses the h of leaving him and she tells him she wasn't the one with a list of ladies a mile long, nor was she the one who took off without a word and then did not even bother to call for weeks. He Left Her! and she hates him and wants him to leave.
The H claims to love her, and then he claims that he gets tunnel vision about his work and that he never calls or writes anybody. The h is all set to give him his final conge', but when he says he loves her, she doesn't and confesses that she loves the H back.
We leave them declaring true love, making small wedding plans and discussing doing the story on the ex-fiance's and the redhead's wedding. The redhead asked the h if she would, cause she did such a nice job on the singer's wedding story -or maybe she just wants to rub her managing to steal the ex in the h's face and the h doesn't care, she has the H and she is happy to write about the ex and his bride for the big HEA.
This one had a lot of drama and tension, but the H's motives were pretty unclear except that he wanted the h - he may or may not love her, but she does seem to have a talent for getting good stories and he wants to stop going to dangerous places, so maybe it will it be a good partnership. The H jokes at the end that since everyone knows they are sleeping partners, they figure they should be work partners too.
I kinda felt bad for the h tho, it felt like she was being manipulated and being taken advantage of. Her whole career is now going to revolve around the H's accomplishments, she will always come in second place. When the H gets bored he will move on and I thought that was kind of sad. That is just the way it goes in HPlandia sometimes tho, and this one was a drama train all the way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2020
"Sleeping Partners" is the story of Lauren and Sam.
Well, this was bad.
A super annoying and shrill heroine, a confused tomcat hero, crazy OM/OW, weak characters, baseless plot, mediocre romance, minimal angst, zero chemistry and some sort of unsatisfying ending.
Did not like it at all.
Unsafe
1/5
Well, this was bad.
A super annoying and shrill heroine, a confused tomcat hero, crazy OM/OW, weak characters, baseless plot, mediocre romance, minimal angst, zero chemistry and some sort of unsatisfying ending.
Did not like it at all.
Unsafe
1/5
March 8, 2016
This was a pretty decent read, certainly not one of CL's best, but still pretty good.
I'm a sucker for besotted heroes and it didn't take long to figure out this guy was crazy for the heroine. It was just a shame that she didn't see it. Then again, we wouldn't have a story.
I'm a sucker for besotted heroes and it didn't take long to figure out this guy was crazy for the heroine. It was just a shame that she didn't see it. Then again, we wouldn't have a story.
February 11, 2024
Lauren Bell used to date photojournalist Sam Hardy, but bailed when learning about his reputation with women, sleeping with them and dumping them, and assumed that was going to come true for her. She is now engaged to Rob, and she sees Sam with her friend Patty, who's married. She assumes they're sleeping together and takes them to task for it. Sam keeps on showing up in Lauren's life at that point, and she assumes that he still wants the one who got away as a notch on his belt. Despite being engaged, Lauren is drawn to Sam.
Ugh. This was a chore. Lauren was shrill and unlikeable, and had an all-year one-way ticket on the assumption train. Seriously, you could tell her that unicorns were real and shat rainbows and she would take you at face value. Romance books involving the heroine already engaged to another man NEVER work for me. At times, Sam the hero felt like a secondary character in his own story. It's not even until nearly halfway through the book that Lauren is no longer engaged - and it's the other man who ends it, not her! Good grief. Lauren maintains her childish, snotty attitude right until an abrupt turnaround for the "happy" ending. How do we know that Sam won't do something else she doesn't like and assumes the absolute worst?
Sam was no great shakes as a hero, but like most old school category romances, the author manages to show he loves the heroine without telling us. However, I wasn't too impressed by a sequence of Lauren being sexually assaulted, and Sam telling her it was her fault for leaving the windows open, and then seducing her himself! Yuck!
Nothing here worked for me. I read two other books while slogging through this mess. And the people on the cover can't possibly be the characters in the book! They look happy!
Ugh. This was a chore. Lauren was shrill and unlikeable, and had an all-year one-way ticket on the assumption train. Seriously, you could tell her that unicorns were real and shat rainbows and she would take you at face value. Romance books involving the heroine already engaged to another man NEVER work for me. At times, Sam the hero felt like a secondary character in his own story. It's not even until nearly halfway through the book that Lauren is no longer engaged - and it's the other man who ends it, not her! Good grief. Lauren maintains her childish, snotty attitude right until an abrupt turnaround for the "happy" ending. How do we know that Sam won't do something else she doesn't like and assumes the absolute worst?
Sam was no great shakes as a hero, but like most old school category romances, the author manages to show he loves the heroine without telling us. However, I wasn't too impressed by a sequence of Lauren being sexually assaulted, and Sam telling her it was her fault for leaving the windows open, and then seducing her himself! Yuck!
Nothing here worked for me. I read two other books while slogging through this mess. And the people on the cover can't possibly be the characters in the book! They look happy!
June 9, 2021
Once, Lauren Bell had nearly played spider to Sam Hardy’s fly. Seduced by his charm and devastating looks, she’d fallen for the rugged photographer. But his love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation preceded him. Lauren got out with her heart intact. . . barely.
Now she was engaged to a charming and eligible man. So why was Sam’s reappearance in her life so disrupting? He haunted her dreams and her waking hours, teasing, baiting, challenging her to the final showdown. Tormented beyond reason, Lauren yearned to succumb to desire—but at what price? (less)
Now she was engaged to a charming and eligible man. So why was Sam’s reappearance in her life so disrupting? He haunted her dreams and her waking hours, teasing, baiting, challenging her to the final showdown. Tormented beyond reason, Lauren yearned to succumb to desire—but at what price? (less)
June 23, 2015
Fantastic with a few tweaks could been a 5. Not really sure exactly why i like it except it was all nice. I enjoyed the story all the characters. It flowed well. I really live to read the romance when the Hero has loved the heroine just about his whole life. They scream loyalty and honor. We need more of that in the world.
December 13, 2017
Stupid stuff really. The girl runs from Sam the chick magnet throughout the book. As though he suffers from a contagious disease, she avoids him and scorns him. Of course, she feels the mandatory "tremors" every time he comes close.
She is supposedly in love and engaged to another rich scum bag. But gets dumped. Then our chick magnet gets into earnest pursuit , gets her into bed and promptly vanishes. Thereby upholding his reputation of date them and dump them.
He then reappears and claims that this time his love is for keeps. The girl is quite happy with his declaration, and HEA.
Nothing in it to hold interest. 2 stars.
She is supposedly in love and engaged to another rich scum bag. But gets dumped. Then our chick magnet gets into earnest pursuit , gets her into bed and promptly vanishes. Thereby upholding his reputation of date them and dump them.
He then reappears and claims that this time his love is for keeps. The girl is quite happy with his declaration, and HEA.
Nothing in it to hold interest. 2 stars.
September 5, 2021
Eh, all the decisions except for breaking up with the hero originally weren't made by the heroine, she is just dragged through out the story. We didn't really know the hero so I don't know if he is cool or not. Hate that other guy, he needed so much karma cause he was such a two timing coward. Eh skip, not a very interesting read.
October 23, 2019
Loved this - for once the hero's not a millionaire business tycoon, he and the heroine both have actual jobs, and there's a horrible other man rather than a horrible other woman. As always the communication skills of both parties could use some serious work. Or a complete transplant, actually.
June 3, 2021
It was OK but once more we have true love detour because of gossip and unwillingness to take a risk. I enjoyed reading this just yesterday but today couldn't remember the plot until I read the blurb. Kind of says it all. Not up to Lamb's usual standards for tension and love drama.
April 24, 2020
Lacking any actual romance until the very end.
June 21, 2016
Simply ok. The readers can see that the hero cares for her, of course since we are reading a harlequin, but from Laurel's point of view, she really couldn't be blamed for thinking that he was just having a good time with her and would dump her when he was through. He did have a reputation.
July 29, 2016
Didn't really care for this novel. While I find the content mediocre the whole 'cheating' thing made it worse.
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June 17, 2018LET SLEEPING PARTNERS LIE
Once, Lauren Bell had nearly played spider to Sam Hardy's fly. Seduced by his charm and devastating looks, she'd fallen for the rugged photographer. But his love 'em and leave 'em reputation preceded him. Lauren got out with her heart intact... barely.
Now she was engaged to a charming and eligible man. So why was Sam's reappearance in her life so disrupting? He haunted her dreams and her waking hours, teasing, baiting, challenging her to the final showdown. Tormented beyond reason, Lauren yearned to succumb to desire--but at what price?
Once, Lauren Bell had nearly played spider to Sam Hardy's fly. Seduced by his charm and devastating looks, she'd fallen for the rugged photographer. But his love 'em and leave 'em reputation preceded him. Lauren got out with her heart intact... barely.
Now she was engaged to a charming and eligible man. So why was Sam's reappearance in her life so disrupting? He haunted her dreams and her waking hours, teasing, baiting, challenging her to the final showdown. Tormented beyond reason, Lauren yearned to succumb to desire--but at what price?
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews