Calum

Ties of Passion #3

by Sally Wentworth

Calum by Sally Wentworth released on Aug 23, 1996 is available now for purchase.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Mills and Boon

186 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Doreen was born on 1936 or 1937 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She married Donald Alfred Hornsblow, with whom she has a son Keith, in 1968. The family lived in Braughing, England.

Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.

Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.

Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.

Reviews

[Andrei Bădică · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Incapabilă să scoată nici un sunet, Elaine închisese telefonul. Rămăsese încremenită multă vreme, ca de piatră. Lacrimile i se rostogoleau pe obraji. Se simțea golită de orice emoție. Nu era geloasă, cu atât mai puțin furioasă. Dar, încetul cu încetul, o cuprinsese un teribil sentiment de vinovăție. Neil n-ar fi simțit nevoia s-o înșele dacă ea ar fi reușit să-l satisfacă fizic..."
"-Nu cred că ești lașă, dimpotrivă. Nu toată lumea are curajul să pună capăt unei relații care nu mai merge, așa cum ai făcut-o tu cu fostul soț. Cei mai mulți dintre oameni rămân împreună sub pretextul că "totul se va aranja până la urmă". Le este teamă să ia o hotărâre radicală, își imaginează că sunt vinovați pentru comportamentul celuilalt..."

[boogenhagen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Re Calum - Sally Wentworth's final book in her Ties of Passion series

The h in this one is the event planner for the big party that is the central focus for all the books of this series. She is in her late twenties and a widow. Her marriage was very bad, she was a unicorn grooming innocent who married a rampant and sleazy womanizer who forced her to do things she wasn't comfortable with.

The h's late ex was also a bully and treated the h very badly, even more so after she miscarried their child right after she caught him cheating on her. Then he convinced her she was frigid and pretty much made her life a misery until he had the good grace to die in a stunt plane accident.

To top matters off, the h found several diaries with detailed notes and photographs of all his women in his paper's after he died. When his enabling mother tried to take advantage of the h and bully her, the h told her where to go jump- his mother knew exactly what her son was and still blamed the h for things and the h despises her.

So the h is now pretty independent, but she is also interested in the H as he packs a huge wallop of Lurve Force Mojo. The h has had to work closely with both the H, who is the Head of Family scion who takes care of all the family's dirty secrets and with the snot stinker h from the second book, so she gets plenty of LFM exposure.

The H is pretty bland in this, blob fishes have more personality really, but he does believe he is King of all he Surveys, that everyone should kow tow to him and that hired peons like the h should drop everything at his demand.

If you have read the first book, you can skip the first five or six chapters of this one - it is an almost verboten rehash of the first two books, but with the H making side comments now and then. The story doesn't really get going until we get to the other big party location on the H's family ranch.

The h decides to accept the H's roofie kissing seduction moves and after a terrible first time between them, the h explains about her past. That leads the H to chase her into the ranch's garden during a rainstorm and a huge Purple Passion Explosion moment takes place in a fury of thunder and lightening.

The H and h indulge in an affair for a few days, after the h's party obligations are completed. The H expects the h to drop her business obligations to wait around for him to lurve club her infrequently after HIS business obligations are met and the h tells him no.

So the H gets his blob fish hiney hurt and claims the h was just using him. The h believes that he was just using her a bit later, because several weeks go by and she never hears from the H. The h also believes that it really was a fling and she has no hope of anything more with the H because of really entrenched H family legend that says the men in the family only marry blonde English ladies.

The h is a redhead and she thinks that leaves her out. But hey, she figures she had some great Purple Passion Explosions, so at least she isn't frigid and she gives herself a makeover and starts dating another guy.

Things are getting to the big lurve club moment with the new guy when the H shows up again cause he was in town and needed a convenient tart for the night. The h realizes that the H is probably keeping a girl in every port he calls at and throws him out.

The new guy walks in on this big fight and it puts a damper on their anticipated first night o' love together. The H is skulking outside the h's flat when it doesn't work with the new guy and in between one h utterance of "get lost and die" and the next, the h changes her mind and lurves it up with the H.

The H thinks the big Passion Mojo event means the h will upend her entire life and marry him and be his duly devoted handmaiden. The h explains that she might love him, she doesn't know and she politely declines his offer of marriage.

The H goes off to sulk some more, but after a few months of the h longing for the lurve club of the H, the h eventually agrees to marry him if he will tolerate her continuing her business.

Then we get the H's big reveal of how he had an affair with a married lady who got preggers and it might or might not be his child - but it is passed off as the lady's husband's and will continue to be so, unless the h from the first book cannot be persuaded not to sell her story.

(Which means that the H may have a kid somewhere, cause the h from the first book never sold any stories about this H.)

The h eventually organizes herself to run her business by remote and shows up at the H's vineyards as they are celebrating the harvest by tramping on the grapes.

*If you are a wine drinker, skip this next part for sure.*

The h and H decide that they will marry and to celebrate their love, they have a huge Lurve Club Extravaganza in the vat of the newly crushed grapes.

(I was sincerely hoping that no one was going to bottle those grapes and I don't even want to think about the full body exfoliation that probably took place later to remove the stains and the various bits of grape from assorted bodily areas.)

The H and h declare each other their True Loves Forever. It doesn't even matter if they have to take care of the H's discarded child, because the vintage is right for the glory of their love and we leave the h and H making wedding plans and the three h's of the books becoming the closest of mutually supportive friends for the big HEA.

(I am never drinking wine again after reading this. I plan to remain faithful to the Captain and Ms. Bombay Sapphire from now on - I figure the alcohol content those two stalwart companions carry is enough to kill anything, but if not, there is always a shot of moonshine to help them out with that.)

For the most part, this book was boring. The h was interesting as she mulled over her horrible first marriage and did her business things, but the H was pretty much wallpaper with a big lurve club.

If you read the first book, you have pretty much covered the whole plot and unless wine stains are your thing, I don't recommend this or the prior book for a good day's HP outing.

[Grace*dnfing books since 2022* · Rating 1 out of 5]

If the first book was a winner, and the second book a pretty poor follow-up, this book was something that really should never have gotten published. The same interactions from the first book that were repeated verbatim in the second book are luckily passed over as Elaine, the heroine, was legitimately busy managing aspects of the grand gala. Unfortunately, she's pretty lame of a heroine, without that special spark that marks many of Sally Wentworth's heroines. Also, Calum, the sought-after bachelor from the first two books, the hero you've been waiting for, falls flat on his face. He was first a gentleman, then a chauvinist, and then a ruthless snob, and you really wanted him to get his comeuppance, and...nothing happens. Elaine is lusting after him from the get-go and there are almost no interactions for the first five chapters, which would have been fine if something else had been happening. Nothing did. There was a lot of businesslike chatter about, well, the business, that went like this: "How are the quarterly reports?" "I see. Let's push that aside and review them later." Yeah, it was so boring because nothing exciting was even happening even in the business! Then, yadda yadda yadda, they got it on in the grapes-stomping pit. GROSS! If it wasn't enough that Francesca and Sam were doing it in the pure, clean, freshwater spring that was the cornerstone of their wines, now we see that their family wine is built is sexing it up where the wines are made.

Yeah, I mentioned the best part. The business.

[Ena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent enough plot if a bit rushed. Calum is sensitive enough to be with our heroine, Elaine, who has a dark past. He is not however a fully fleshed out character, but Elaine is, so meh. I like that Elaine is gutsy. She sorted herself out after her first disastrous marriage and won’t be pushed around, so major props. The first book in the series, Chris, is the best of the three.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book that I read in the series. I never really thought it's a series until GR lelz. Well, it's alright with me until that sex on the wine tank. I found it gross... it was alright if it's in a tub full of wine. But wine tank, and they use it for business? ulk!

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'est celui que j'ai le moins aimé de la série.
Ce tome est bien mais il lui manque un petit truc pour qu'il soit au niveau des 2 autres tomes.