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A Heartless Marriage
From playboy lover…
When gorgeous millionaire Raoul de Chevnair chose Leigh as his bride, it seemed he'd left his flirtatious bachelor days behind for good. But had he? Their marriage had scarcely begun before his playboy habits returned and Leigh found him in the arms of another woman….
…to faithful husband?
That was five years ago. Leigh is no longer a naive teenager, bowled over by Raoul's charm. So when he vows to win back her trust, Leigh is determined not to give in that easily! It's all very well for Raoul to sweep her off on an exotic second honeymoon, but Leigh needs a lot of convincing that Raoul has decided to take his marriage vows seriously after all!
When gorgeous millionaire Raoul de Chevnair chose Leigh as his bride, it seemed he'd left his flirtatious bachelor days behind for good. But had he? Their marriage had scarcely begun before his playboy habits returned and Leigh found him in the arms of another woman….
…to faithful husband?
That was five years ago. Leigh is no longer a naive teenager, bowled over by Raoul's charm. So when he vows to win back her trust, Leigh is determined not to give in that easily! It's all very well for Raoul to sweep her off on an exotic second honeymoon, but Leigh needs a lot of convincing that Raoul has decided to take his marriage vows seriously after all!
189 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
45 people are currently reading
278 people want to read
About the author
Helen Brooks
404 books119 followersRita Bradshaw was born on 1949 in Northampton, England, where she was educated as a good Christian. She met Clive, her husband, at the age of 16 andnow the magic is still there. They have three lovely children, Cara, Faye, and Benjamin, and have always had a menagerie of animals in the house, which at the present is confined to two endearing and very comical dogs who would make a great double act on TV! The children, friends, and pets all keep the house buzzing and the food cupboards empty but Helen wouldn't have it any other way. She still lives today in Northampton with her family. Although having enjoyed some wonderful holidays abroad she has never been tempted to live anywhere else, although she rather likes the idea of a holiday home close to the sea one day.
Being a committed Christian and fervent animal lover she finds spare time is always at a premium, but long walks in the countryside with her husband and dogs, meals out followed by the cinema or theatre, reading, swimming, and having friends over for dinner are all fitted in somehow. She also enjoys sitting in her wonderfully therapeutic, rambling old garden in the sun with a glass of red wine, (under the guise of resting while thinking of course!)
For years, she was a secretary. She began writing in 1990 as she approached that milestone of a birthday 40! She realized her two teenage ambitions (writing a novel and learning to drive) had been lost amid babies and hectic family life, so set about resurrecting them.
Her first novel was for Mills and Boon and was accepted after one rewrite in 1992 as Helen Brooks, and she passed her driving test (the former was a joy and the latter an unmitigated nightmare!) She has written 50 novels as well as several sagas as Rita Bradshaw.
Since becoming a full-time writer she has found her occupation one of pure joy and often surprised when her characters develop a mind of their own but she loves exploring what makes people tick and finds the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" to be absolutely true. She would love to hear from any readers care of Mills & Boon.
Being a committed Christian and fervent animal lover she finds spare time is always at a premium, but long walks in the countryside with her husband and dogs, meals out followed by the cinema or theatre, reading, swimming, and having friends over for dinner are all fitted in somehow. She also enjoys sitting in her wonderfully therapeutic, rambling old garden in the sun with a glass of red wine, (under the guise of resting while thinking of course!)
For years, she was a secretary. She began writing in 1990 as she approached that milestone of a birthday 40! She realized her two teenage ambitions (writing a novel and learning to drive) had been lost amid babies and hectic family life, so set about resurrecting them.
Her first novel was for Mills and Boon and was accepted after one rewrite in 1992 as Helen Brooks, and she passed her driving test (the former was a joy and the latter an unmitigated nightmare!) She has written 50 novels as well as several sagas as Rita Bradshaw.
Since becoming a full-time writer she has found her occupation one of pure joy and often surprised when her characters develop a mind of their own but she loves exploring what makes people tick and finds the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" to be absolutely true. She would love to hear from any readers care of Mills & Boon.
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April 24, 2024
Five things I learned from Helen Brooks' A Heartless Marriage:
5. Gorgeous, French millionaires who normally have to fight off throngs of beautiful, smart, exciting supermodels, only fall in love with poor, mousey, English girls and their dimpled knees.
4. If you wife finds a naked chick in your room and runs off for FIVE YEARS, for the love of God, under no circumstances, do not dare, EVEN ONCE in those five years, to try to find your wife in order to explain that it was a set-up and you never betrayed her.
3. When you get around to reconciling with your wife after FIVE YEARS of separation, make sure that the same naked chick she caught you in flagrante with in the past pops back in again just at the moment when your wife was ready to trust you again.
2. If you are legally separated from your husband because you believe him to be a heartless, cheating cad who broke your heart, the best way to file for divorce is to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT IT for FIVE YEARS and then return to him and live with him for three months just to prove to him that the marriage is over.
1. Constantly referring to yourself as fat and unattractive is an irresistible aphrodisiac to handsome, confident, arrogant, French millionaire husbands. Keep it up!
5. Gorgeous, French millionaires who normally have to fight off throngs of beautiful, smart, exciting supermodels, only fall in love with poor, mousey, English girls and their dimpled knees.
4. If you wife finds a naked chick in your room and runs off for FIVE YEARS, for the love of God, under no circumstances, do not dare, EVEN ONCE in those five years, to try to find your wife in order to explain that it was a set-up and you never betrayed her.
3. When you get around to reconciling with your wife after FIVE YEARS of separation, make sure that the same naked chick she caught you in flagrante with in the past pops back in again just at the moment when your wife was ready to trust you again.
2. If you are legally separated from your husband because you believe him to be a heartless, cheating cad who broke your heart, the best way to file for divorce is to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT IT for FIVE YEARS and then return to him and live with him for three months just to prove to him that the marriage is over.
1. Constantly referring to yourself as fat and unattractive is an irresistible aphrodisiac to handsome, confident, arrogant, French millionaire husbands. Keep it up!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2018
Re A Heartless Marriage - Helen Brooks makes her HP debut in this married couple reunited after five years story.
A little word before I start the spoilerization. This one is EXTREMELY tropy with the third most popular trope in HPlandia - A married couple separated due to the machinations of the evil OW.
This trope used to be the most popular one ten years earlier, because the only way you could have on page sex in HP's was if the couple was married. In the late 80's and 90's we broke that HP barrier, but Helen Brooks is one of the few HP writers that ALWAYS has a unicorn grooming h, unless she is doing a marriage in trouble story, where eventually she will write a pretty decent love scene.
Her H's are definitely Alpha, but they are also GENTLEMEN in the vintage sense of that word. They usually adore their heroines and you can pretty much take it as a given that an HB married H WILL NEVER cheat.
(HB has deep convictions about the sanctity of marriage and premarital sex. She never preaches about any of this, but her writing is consistently solid in that regard. So for future HP voyaging, Helen Brooks is the safest HP author in the line up, usually her heroines have damage from the past and have big trust issues but fidelity is paramount.)
The conflict in most HB books comes from the h's sternly refusing to give into Treacherous Body Syndrome if they feel the relationship is not a solid one. They are innocents, but they also have backbones and usually careers.
So even tho an HB book may have Mistress in the title, it a surety that the h will never be the H's mistress and the H might be a bossy boots ordering the h about, but his intentions are strictly honorable.
An HB H's goal is to make the h his beloved wife and lovingly order her about to infinity and beyond. The h's usually have their own idears about that.
This one starts with the 25 yr old h running into her estranged husband of seven years. She married our French Ancien Régime Scion in a whirlwind courtship when she was 18 and they were together for 18 months before parting for five years.
They were passionately in love and devoted and even got a really big cuddly tiger striped cat, named Oscar, when the h rescued him as a tiny bedraggled kitten who had been thrown in the river in a plastic sack.
Oscar was very weak and malnourished and the H and h labored together for three days to get him to take food from a medicine dropper. Oscar recovered just fine, except he has PTSD about enclosed spaces.
Oscar likes to walk about on a leash with the h and he has been patiently and sadly waiting for the h to return to his adoring side after she ran off five years earlier.
Why did she run off? She found the supermodel wife of one of the H's friends, who came to stay with the H while searching for a house with her husband, naked in the h's marital bed when the H came waltzing nude out of the shower.
The h has a thing about cheaters AND her looks, since her own devastatingly handsome father ran off with multiple women while married to her mother and finally ran off for good shortly after the h was born.
The h endured YEARS of her mother bewailing the loss of the only man she ever loved, while decrying the lack of looks that both her and the h supposedly have that drives god-like handsome men from their sides.
The h loved her mother, but she hated the way her mother hopelessly clung to the memory of a man who was at best a womanizing fool and at worst the lowest slime slurper in all the HP universe. The h is pretty insecure about her own looks as well.
(She was pleasantly plump and wholesome at 18, which of course was light years from the H's bevy of beautiful, wealthy, aggressive babes-- who were also miles ahead of her in sophistication and style.)
So when she sees a naked supermodel OW and the H in the h's bedroom together, the h did NOT take this apparent betrayal lightly.
She confronted the H head on and gave him an ENORMOUS piece of her very irate mind. She did not even give him a chance to say anything cause she was totally on a major ranty roll and then the h took off, leaving poor Oscar behind because she couldn't figure out a way to sneak him past the British animal quarantine and pet passports weren't invented yet.
The H, in a very dubious Alpha executive decision, decided not to chase the h down and make her listen. Instead he hired private detectives to follow the h around as she built her artistic career and gave her time to mature into her own person.
It is only with the advent of a very kind and gentle OM that is very interested in the h - tho she is NOT really interested in him as anything other than a nice person and a friend- that the H decides enough is enough and he is going to get his girl back.
So he tells the h that she can have a divorce if she will return to his home as his wife for three months. The h is furious and thinks she should have just filed for divorce in England as soon as she was able, but she agrees cause the H promises an uncomplicated divorce if they can't reconcile in the allotted time.
Of course the h doesn't really want a divorce, she is still in love with the H and always will be. But she also has horrible memories of her mother's abjectly pathetic hopelessness about the h's father. She just can't give into her wishful thinking and make herself a doormat and turn a blind eye, while the H lurves it up at the lady buffet with women much more attractive than herself.
So the battle of wills begins, interspersed with walks and cuddles with Oscar. There are massive almost Purple Passion Roofie Kissing moments, also the H is being very demanding about the h talking about their relationship with him and a lot of time is spent with the H and h just learning about each other's personalities and interests.
(Their first attempt at marriage was much more focused on being blissfully in love and lurvin' it up every chance they got. This time the H wants to build a more solid foundation to their relationship, tho five years of celibacy is very wearing on an HP Alpha H, so there is lots of roofie kissing moments too.)
Eventually the h and H go to a big society affair and the H brushes off hoards of ravening, predatory wanna be OW and only has eyes for the h. The h overhears two beautiful society doyennes gossiping about what a shame it is that the H has been mourning his lost love wife for the last five years and won't even look at another woman.
In best HP traditions of believing some kid on a skateboard at the street corner over their own spouse, the h decides that the H is truly absolutely sincere in his big devoted I Love You Forever declarations and we get a wildly in love and raging fade to black Purple Passion moment as the h and H re-consummate their marriage.
The next morning the happy, in love again h takes Oscar out for a stroll to question him about his dubious lady cat lovin' nightly activities and then disaster strikes. When the h returns to the H's magnificent manor, the maid comes rushing out in a flutter of tongue-tied embarrassment.
When the h feels the chills of true betrayal running down her back, she steps over to the H's study, which conveniently has the door partway open. The h spies the original man-eating OW, still supermodel lovely, kissing the H as he gazes at her with a tender look in his eyes.
Immediately the h realizes that the H is lying sack of mushroom fertilizer and her marriage is over. She takes her things, she takes Oscar and she takes a nice car and goes to a little pensionné, where she proceeds to have HUGE mopey moments.
Oscar is kinda mopey too, he probably misses his own lady love. But he does good cuddles, so the h isn't virtually prostrate with grief over her most recent betrayal.
Nope, the h is keeled over for another reason, cause it doesn't just rain tragedy and drama in HPlandia, it pours when we are at the final crisis. The h finds out she is preggers with twins and she has no clue what to do.
The nice elderly lady the h is renting a room from manages to track down the H and he shows up as the h is keeling over and being ill again and finally the big explanations can begin.
Five years earlier the H supposedly marched the aggressive OW right out of his and the h's bedroom and over to her husband in the adjoining wing.
There were tears and accusations and the H ended up losing his friend , the husband, after he drove them both to the airport. He claims the h had shouted at him that he was keeping her like a pet during her big epic ranty moment, so he decided to let her grow up on her own and just keep close tabs on her.
But then he couldn't be apart from her anymore and coerced the h into living with him again. The supposed wanna be OW showed up at their home that same morning they reconnected because she wanted to make amends to the h.
But the h and Oscar were out, so the H listened to her apology and let her kiss him, ostensibly as a kiss of forgiveness for her prior crass behavior.
The h accepts this explanation, really she was too nauseated to do anything else, and finally lets the H carry her off to his Chateau of Love presumably for the big HEA.
This book is well done for a first time HP outing. Except for that very abrupt ending. It would be quite reasonable to think that when the vicious tart who ruined your marriage the first time around shows up again, you probably shouldn't go off into a secluded room and then let her kiss you.
(You have a freakin' 100 room Chateau and you don't have an open spaced, formal receiving area where you can set the trampy tart's skanky hiney down and force a cup of tea on her? I swear the h had her annoying moments on this one, but srsly, this H was an idiot.)
But he was an obviously in love idiot and they were both extremely nice people. Oscar was a great cat bonus, tho I had to rate down a star for the h leaving him the first time.
*Devoted cat staffers leave no cat behind, immaturity and a huge ranty moment is no excuse.*
I also marked down for the utterly whacktastic OW scene at the end. But other than that, this is a pretty nice maiden HPlandia voyage and HB will prove to be one of it's nicest writers, so don't be afraid to spend some time with her when you want a safe HPlandia outing.
A little word before I start the spoilerization. This one is EXTREMELY tropy with the third most popular trope in HPlandia - A married couple separated due to the machinations of the evil OW.
This trope used to be the most popular one ten years earlier, because the only way you could have on page sex in HP's was if the couple was married. In the late 80's and 90's we broke that HP barrier, but Helen Brooks is one of the few HP writers that ALWAYS has a unicorn grooming h, unless she is doing a marriage in trouble story, where eventually she will write a pretty decent love scene.
Her H's are definitely Alpha, but they are also GENTLEMEN in the vintage sense of that word. They usually adore their heroines and you can pretty much take it as a given that an HB married H WILL NEVER cheat.
(HB has deep convictions about the sanctity of marriage and premarital sex. She never preaches about any of this, but her writing is consistently solid in that regard. So for future HP voyaging, Helen Brooks is the safest HP author in the line up, usually her heroines have damage from the past and have big trust issues but fidelity is paramount.)
The conflict in most HB books comes from the h's sternly refusing to give into Treacherous Body Syndrome if they feel the relationship is not a solid one. They are innocents, but they also have backbones and usually careers.
So even tho an HB book may have Mistress in the title, it a surety that the h will never be the H's mistress and the H might be a bossy boots ordering the h about, but his intentions are strictly honorable.
An HB H's goal is to make the h his beloved wife and lovingly order her about to infinity and beyond. The h's usually have their own idears about that.
This one starts with the 25 yr old h running into her estranged husband of seven years. She married our French Ancien Régime Scion in a whirlwind courtship when she was 18 and they were together for 18 months before parting for five years.
They were passionately in love and devoted and even got a really big cuddly tiger striped cat, named Oscar, when the h rescued him as a tiny bedraggled kitten who had been thrown in the river in a plastic sack.
Oscar was very weak and malnourished and the H and h labored together for three days to get him to take food from a medicine dropper. Oscar recovered just fine, except he has PTSD about enclosed spaces.
Oscar likes to walk about on a leash with the h and he has been patiently and sadly waiting for the h to return to his adoring side after she ran off five years earlier.
Why did she run off? She found the supermodel wife of one of the H's friends, who came to stay with the H while searching for a house with her husband, naked in the h's marital bed when the H came waltzing nude out of the shower.
The h has a thing about cheaters AND her looks, since her own devastatingly handsome father ran off with multiple women while married to her mother and finally ran off for good shortly after the h was born.
The h endured YEARS of her mother bewailing the loss of the only man she ever loved, while decrying the lack of looks that both her and the h supposedly have that drives god-like handsome men from their sides.
The h loved her mother, but she hated the way her mother hopelessly clung to the memory of a man who was at best a womanizing fool and at worst the lowest slime slurper in all the HP universe. The h is pretty insecure about her own looks as well.
(She was pleasantly plump and wholesome at 18, which of course was light years from the H's bevy of beautiful, wealthy, aggressive babes-- who were also miles ahead of her in sophistication and style.)
So when she sees a naked supermodel OW and the H in the h's bedroom together, the h did NOT take this apparent betrayal lightly.
She confronted the H head on and gave him an ENORMOUS piece of her very irate mind. She did not even give him a chance to say anything cause she was totally on a major ranty roll and then the h took off, leaving poor Oscar behind because she couldn't figure out a way to sneak him past the British animal quarantine and pet passports weren't invented yet.
The H, in a very dubious Alpha executive decision, decided not to chase the h down and make her listen. Instead he hired private detectives to follow the h around as she built her artistic career and gave her time to mature into her own person.
It is only with the advent of a very kind and gentle OM that is very interested in the h - tho she is NOT really interested in him as anything other than a nice person and a friend- that the H decides enough is enough and he is going to get his girl back.
So he tells the h that she can have a divorce if she will return to his home as his wife for three months. The h is furious and thinks she should have just filed for divorce in England as soon as she was able, but she agrees cause the H promises an uncomplicated divorce if they can't reconcile in the allotted time.
Of course the h doesn't really want a divorce, she is still in love with the H and always will be. But she also has horrible memories of her mother's abjectly pathetic hopelessness about the h's father. She just can't give into her wishful thinking and make herself a doormat and turn a blind eye, while the H lurves it up at the lady buffet with women much more attractive than herself.
So the battle of wills begins, interspersed with walks and cuddles with Oscar. There are massive almost Purple Passion Roofie Kissing moments, also the H is being very demanding about the h talking about their relationship with him and a lot of time is spent with the H and h just learning about each other's personalities and interests.
(Their first attempt at marriage was much more focused on being blissfully in love and lurvin' it up every chance they got. This time the H wants to build a more solid foundation to their relationship, tho five years of celibacy is very wearing on an HP Alpha H, so there is lots of roofie kissing moments too.)
Eventually the h and H go to a big society affair and the H brushes off hoards of ravening, predatory wanna be OW and only has eyes for the h. The h overhears two beautiful society doyennes gossiping about what a shame it is that the H has been mourning his lost love wife for the last five years and won't even look at another woman.
In best HP traditions of believing some kid on a skateboard at the street corner over their own spouse, the h decides that the H is truly absolutely sincere in his big devoted I Love You Forever declarations and we get a wildly in love and raging fade to black Purple Passion moment as the h and H re-consummate their marriage.
The next morning the happy, in love again h takes Oscar out for a stroll to question him about his dubious lady cat lovin' nightly activities and then disaster strikes. When the h returns to the H's magnificent manor, the maid comes rushing out in a flutter of tongue-tied embarrassment.
When the h feels the chills of true betrayal running down her back, she steps over to the H's study, which conveniently has the door partway open. The h spies the original man-eating OW, still supermodel lovely, kissing the H as he gazes at her with a tender look in his eyes.
Immediately the h realizes that the H is lying sack of mushroom fertilizer and her marriage is over. She takes her things, she takes Oscar and she takes a nice car and goes to a little pensionné, where she proceeds to have HUGE mopey moments.
Oscar is kinda mopey too, he probably misses his own lady love. But he does good cuddles, so the h isn't virtually prostrate with grief over her most recent betrayal.
Nope, the h is keeled over for another reason, cause it doesn't just rain tragedy and drama in HPlandia, it pours when we are at the final crisis. The h finds out she is preggers with twins and she has no clue what to do.
The nice elderly lady the h is renting a room from manages to track down the H and he shows up as the h is keeling over and being ill again and finally the big explanations can begin.
Five years earlier the H supposedly marched the aggressive OW right out of his and the h's bedroom and over to her husband in the adjoining wing.
There were tears and accusations and the H ended up losing his friend , the husband, after he drove them both to the airport. He claims the h had shouted at him that he was keeping her like a pet during her big epic ranty moment, so he decided to let her grow up on her own and just keep close tabs on her.
But then he couldn't be apart from her anymore and coerced the h into living with him again. The supposed wanna be OW showed up at their home that same morning they reconnected because she wanted to make amends to the h.
But the h and Oscar were out, so the H listened to her apology and let her kiss him, ostensibly as a kiss of forgiveness for her prior crass behavior.
The h accepts this explanation, really she was too nauseated to do anything else, and finally lets the H carry her off to his Chateau of Love presumably for the big HEA.
This book is well done for a first time HP outing. Except for that very abrupt ending. It would be quite reasonable to think that when the vicious tart who ruined your marriage the first time around shows up again, you probably shouldn't go off into a secluded room and then let her kiss you.
(You have a freakin' 100 room Chateau and you don't have an open spaced, formal receiving area where you can set the trampy tart's skanky hiney down and force a cup of tea on her? I swear the h had her annoying moments on this one, but srsly, this H was an idiot.)
But he was an obviously in love idiot and they were both extremely nice people. Oscar was a great cat bonus, tho I had to rate down a star for the h leaving him the first time.
*Devoted cat staffers leave no cat behind, immaturity and a huge ranty moment is no excuse.*
I also marked down for the utterly whacktastic OW scene at the end. But other than that, this is a pretty nice maiden HPlandia voyage and HB will prove to be one of it's nicest writers, so don't be afraid to spend some time with her when you want a safe HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2019
Lots of good reviews so I’ll keep this short.
H/h have been separated for five years. They were young and stupid when they married. Heroine was 18 and hero 24.
They were young and stupid when they broke up 18 months later. Heroine saw the H with a naked house guest in their bedroom and didn't stick around for explanation.
They are still young (30 and 24) and stupid (heroine sees the hero with the same OW that broke them up and doesn't stick around for explanations). Wow. Lightning does strike twice.
I know I read this back in the day and I’m sure I had more patience for the heroine’s hurt feelings and the hero's lockjaw, but I just found them tedious. Hero was devoted and celibate for their entire separation but he left it for too long.
I can understand the first misunderstanding – but the second was contrived and showed how little they had changed. Oh, well. They’ll have fun making big scenes while the devoted help raise their twins.
H/h have been separated for five years. They were young and stupid when they married. Heroine was 18 and hero 24.
They were young and stupid when they broke up 18 months later. Heroine saw the H with a naked house guest in their bedroom and didn't stick around for explanation.
They are still young (30 and 24) and stupid (heroine sees the hero with the same OW that broke them up and doesn't stick around for explanations). Wow. Lightning does strike twice.
I know I read this back in the day and I’m sure I had more patience for the heroine’s hurt feelings and the hero's lockjaw, but I just found them tedious. Hero was devoted and celibate for their entire separation but he left it for too long.
I can understand the first misunderstanding – but the second was contrived and showed how little they had changed. Oh, well. They’ll have fun making big scenes while the devoted help raise their twins.
December 29, 2011
Carbon copy of "The millionaire's Xmas wife" :
~ Big mis = Hero is caught w/ OW in compromising situation : Check.
~ Heroine storms outta brief, sticky marriage w/out giving hero a chance to explain : Check.
~ Insta luv @ 1st sight : Check.
~ Whirlwind courtship & holy matrimony : Check.
~ Hero lets heroine slip thru his fingers w/ wishful thinking she'd come to her senses or find some IQ points by stewing away from him (in this case, 5 friggin' years vs 10 months in TMCW) : Check.
~ Heroine w/ a truckload of daddy issues so all men are tarred w/ same cheater's brush : Check.
~ Heroine is insecure due to hubby's mega-volt shex appeal so sluts fall prostate @ his toes : Check.
~ Heroine walks around w/ earplugs despite estranged hubby's protestations of innocence : Check.
~ H/h didn't formally sign the splitsville papers to make way for reunion : Check.
~ After getting sick of playing a sitting duck, Hero finally makes his move to lure back heroine & if things still don't work out w/in set time frame, buhbye : Check.
~ Celibate hero during estrangement : Check.
~ Heroine utters "I hate U" or some fake bullshit when actually she means "Put out my fire w/ your meaty hose, my luv.", then reverts back to her post-coital Ice Maiden act : Check.
~ Heroine lets hero do all the chasing & doesn't meet him halfway : Check.
~ Contentious Heroine claims she's over 20 y/o yet acts like a 12 y/o : Check.
~ Hero's passionate, intense, showy declaration of obsession : "U're mine !"
~ Anytime hero does & says thud-worthy things to show the depth of his luv, he gets kicked in the teeth : Check.
~ Allegedly OW gives naive heroine a double whammy by wrecking H/h's marriage & showing up again @ the end to thicken the flimsy conflict : Check. Check. Check.
Now, the only differences here :
~ Heroine runs away again upon seeing w/ nekid eyes hubby kissing the OW, not knowing she carries twin buns in her roaster
~ Contrived last-sec dwamatic exit : I thought Europeans only air kiss both cheeks w/ acquaintances, so WTF was hero thinking, kissing OW, knowing 1) this was his BFF's slutty wife who had caused irreversible damage to his marriage & friendship, 2) luck & timing are not exactly his forte, it's like shooting himself in the foot, twice.
~ The ending was so abrupt & saccharine-like that I felt gypped. All that angst for Nuffink ? Heartless, truly !
Then I realized I was reading HP straight outa a Freakyville, so anyfink goes.
~ Big mis = Hero is caught w/ OW in compromising situation : Check.
~ Heroine storms outta brief, sticky marriage w/out giving hero a chance to explain : Check.
~ Insta luv @ 1st sight : Check.
~ Whirlwind courtship & holy matrimony : Check.
~ Hero lets heroine slip thru his fingers w/ wishful thinking she'd come to her senses or find some IQ points by stewing away from him (in this case, 5 friggin' years vs 10 months in TMCW) : Check.
~ Heroine w/ a truckload of daddy issues so all men are tarred w/ same cheater's brush : Check.
~ Heroine is insecure due to hubby's mega-volt shex appeal so sluts fall prostate @ his toes : Check.
~ Heroine walks around w/ earplugs despite estranged hubby's protestations of innocence : Check.
~ H/h didn't formally sign the splitsville papers to make way for reunion : Check.
~ After getting sick of playing a sitting duck, Hero finally makes his move to lure back heroine & if things still don't work out w/in set time frame, buhbye : Check.
~ Celibate hero during estrangement : Check.
~ Heroine utters "I hate U" or some fake bullshit when actually she means "Put out my fire w/ your meaty hose, my luv.", then reverts back to her post-coital Ice Maiden act : Check.
~ Heroine lets hero do all the chasing & doesn't meet him halfway : Check.
~ Contentious Heroine claims she's over 20 y/o yet acts like a 12 y/o : Check.
~ Hero's passionate, intense, showy declaration of obsession : "U're mine !"
~ Anytime hero does & says thud-worthy things to show the depth of his luv, he gets kicked in the teeth : Check.
~ Allegedly OW gives naive heroine a double whammy by wrecking H/h's marriage & showing up again @ the end to thicken the flimsy conflict : Check. Check. Check.
Now, the only differences here :
~ Heroine runs away again upon seeing w/ nekid eyes hubby kissing the OW, not knowing she carries twin buns in her roaster
~ Contrived last-sec dwamatic exit : I thought Europeans only air kiss both cheeks w/ acquaintances, so WTF was hero thinking, kissing OW, knowing 1) this was his BFF's slutty wife who had caused irreversible damage to his marriage & friendship, 2) luck & timing are not exactly his forte, it's like shooting himself in the foot, twice.
~ The ending was so abrupt & saccharine-like that I felt gypped. All that angst for Nuffink ? Heartless, truly !
Then I realized I was reading HP straight outa a Freakyville, so anyfink goes.
October 3, 2021
I really really wanted to slap the heroine. BAD! If not for her, this would have been a five point read. The hero was swoon worthy and so in love with the h it was painful to watch. And she was a total b word. I hated her almost. I only gave it four stars for the hero. Even at the end, I had a hard time liking her. She sees a naked woman in her husbands bed and she sees him coming out the shower with a towel on and assumes the worst, as would I. But does she ever let him try and explain? No and the hero lets her go so she can grow up basically and he waits CELIBATE for five years. I truly believed that too. The heroine has met a nice man, calls him a friend, and has been doing things with him platonically but has no romantic interest. But he does. The hero gets sick of waiting and comes to get her thinking she has grown up but NOT! She is an absolute idiot. He kind of bribes her into coming to live with him for three months so that he can show her how right they were together. Only he was wrong, she was so mean and unlikeable I wanted him to just say enough. Get rid of her whiny, self pitying self and move on. He takes her to an island, names a hospital after her, and totally calls her beautiful all the time. He says you are mine, but whenever he tries to explain about the girl in the bed, she shuts him down. She is unbelievable. Then they have 'procreational pursuits' (that is her term for sex) and then she is loving the loving and then she is a b word again! I would have dumped her. I wouldn't have blamed the h for dumping her. She drove me nuts and just when you think it is safe to go back in the water, bam the wannabe OW shark shows up again and she sees something and runs off without listening AGAIN!!! She hides out under and assumed name for two months and well you need to read the rest to believe it. It was so annoying. He loved her so much. And boogenhagen she left her beloved cat behind the first time she left!!! FIVE LONG YEARS!! What kind of woman leaves without her 'cat'! (I was going to use the p word for cat to make it funny but I just couldn't do it but I am still laughing out load in my head.). The cat has been abandoned for all that time and at this point, I knew that she could not be redeemed. HE even told her the cat was depressed for a long time after she left. I could never leave my pet behind. Husband, maybe but pet, hell no!!! But the cat forgave her, and when she runs the second time, the cat goes with her. So she did do something right in the book but that is it. The rest of the time she is a whiny, pathetic excuse of a woman. I wish I could have been the h. I would have shot the naked biatch in the bed 16 times (I would have reloaded) and tied my husband to a chair and interrogated/tortured him until I got to the truth. But I guess if we were h's there would be no HP's. So I have to live with it, I just don't have to like this heroine. TSTL is an appropriate moniker for her. And did I mention she left behind her 'beloved' CAT!???!?! OMG! That just slayed me. All I could think is I hope Boogenhagen doesn't read this or someone is going to be in a lot of trouble.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2021
The heroine married the playboy hero when she was 18, one year later she found a naked woman in his (their) bed and he coming out from the bathroom naked.
So she left him. He didn’t follow her and 5 years later he appears again and asks her to spend 3 months with him.
She accepts and eventually he tells her that he had just come from the bathroom and hadn’t seen the woman yet. He didn’t even look at a woman after meeting her.
He waited for 5 years because he wanted to give her time to grow up and become her own person.
Then, when they were together again, she accidentally sees him in his study with said woman kissing him.
He explains that she came to apologize and that was a friendly kiss.
No, really???
The book was quite disappointing. From a counselor POV:
- I can accept that he was not the womanizer he was before meeting her but anyway he introduced her into a world made of false and hypocritical people who only used people as commodities, a shallow world she hated and resented.
- it was to be expected that sooner or later something like that was bound to happen: a woman who wanted his husband and didn’t care if he was married or not. I don’t blame her for refusing such an environment, such people, and him since he was part of it.
-He blames her because she refused his explanations because she’s insecure after her father left her and her mother for ow. The blame was all his. I think that all women in the world finding their husband in the same situation would think that he was cheating and wouldn’t believe his explanations. At least not at first.
- he waited for 5 years before going back to her. Too long, I don’t think he really wanted her so much and the risk in letting her go for so long after only 18 months of marriage was really too great. She could have lost what little they had in common. I saw his behavior as a refusal of their marriage. It was as if he said: i shouldn’t have married you because you’re too young and still have to grow up. Not well done. A commitment is a commitment and he made one when he married her, and it was to be together forever.
- the fact that he allowed the woman who caused their marriage break to come to his house -again-and let her kiss him was really stupid and shows how little he really cared for his wife’s feelings.
It was not necessary to see ow, he should have accepted her apologies by phone and maybe he could even have sent her to hell please. There are billions people in the world, it is not necessary to be at peace and harmony with everyone, especially one who caused many people to be hurt for her selfishness and egotism. She should have lived with the consequences of her actions. That last stunt was really unforgivable.
-I don’t think I would want to live with a husband like that (and I think many wouldn’t too) always surrounded by nasty and rapacious people, a man who didn’t even understand whom and when he had to keep very distant from his life.
I understood the heroine more that I understood the hero, but eventually she forgave him too easily and the main issue was not dealt with: his lifestyle and his friends. especially with two children on the way.
The risk of repeating the same ugly situations is very very high in my opinion.
So she left him. He didn’t follow her and 5 years later he appears again and asks her to spend 3 months with him.
She accepts and eventually he tells her that he had just come from the bathroom and hadn’t seen the woman yet. He didn’t even look at a woman after meeting her.
He waited for 5 years because he wanted to give her time to grow up and become her own person.
Then, when they were together again, she accidentally sees him in his study with said woman kissing him.
He explains that she came to apologize and that was a friendly kiss.
No, really???
The book was quite disappointing. From a counselor POV:
- I can accept that he was not the womanizer he was before meeting her but anyway he introduced her into a world made of false and hypocritical people who only used people as commodities, a shallow world she hated and resented.
- it was to be expected that sooner or later something like that was bound to happen: a woman who wanted his husband and didn’t care if he was married or not. I don’t blame her for refusing such an environment, such people, and him since he was part of it.
-He blames her because she refused his explanations because she’s insecure after her father left her and her mother for ow. The blame was all his. I think that all women in the world finding their husband in the same situation would think that he was cheating and wouldn’t believe his explanations. At least not at first.
- he waited for 5 years before going back to her. Too long, I don’t think he really wanted her so much and the risk in letting her go for so long after only 18 months of marriage was really too great. She could have lost what little they had in common. I saw his behavior as a refusal of their marriage. It was as if he said: i shouldn’t have married you because you’re too young and still have to grow up. Not well done. A commitment is a commitment and he made one when he married her, and it was to be together forever.
- the fact that he allowed the woman who caused their marriage break to come to his house -again-and let her kiss him was really stupid and shows how little he really cared for his wife’s feelings.
It was not necessary to see ow, he should have accepted her apologies by phone and maybe he could even have sent her to hell please. There are billions people in the world, it is not necessary to be at peace and harmony with everyone, especially one who caused many people to be hurt for her selfishness and egotism. She should have lived with the consequences of her actions. That last stunt was really unforgivable.
-I don’t think I would want to live with a husband like that (and I think many wouldn’t too) always surrounded by nasty and rapacious people, a man who didn’t even understand whom and when he had to keep very distant from his life.
I understood the heroine more that I understood the hero, but eventually she forgave him too easily and the main issue was not dealt with: his lifestyle and his friends. especially with two children on the way.
The risk of repeating the same ugly situations is very very high in my opinion.
July 11, 2011
Ok...so, the woman found nekkid in your BEDROOM five years ago is BACK in the house? WTHeck?
Seriously? You couldn't have this conversation with the door open? You couldn't have been in an open room, say the family or living room, where the maid SEES what's going on? He admitted earlier that she was a little gosspit. Neither the hero nor the previous wanna-be ow thought this was a bad thing? He LET her kiss him? I don't care if she's happily married now and over her "infatuation" with him...
YOUR WIFE WHO LEFT YOU FIVE YEARS AGO, BECAUSE OF THIS WOMAN and her own insecurities, IS OUT TAKING A WALK AND COULD MISCONSTRUE THE MEANING OF A MOSTLY CLOSED DOOR AND THE FORMERLY HOME-WRECKING SKANK KISSING HER HUSBAND...A HANDSHAKE WOULD HAVE MORE THAN SUFFICED!!
Whatever! That alone knocked off a whole star in my rating for this book.
This pretty much sums up the book:
'I want to care for you, to protect you, to love you for the rest of our lives, my love,' he muttered into the soft silk of her hair. 'My hunger for you consumes me. How could you think I would ever do anything to hurt you? I adore you, my sweet kitten.'
Uh huh. Possessive jerk! AT LEAST he remained celibate during their five year separation...although, that, too, was kinda dumb. Five years?? Do these people not realize that NOTHING is guaranteed? He should have gone after her...well, then we wouldn't have had a book.
Seriously? You couldn't have this conversation with the door open? You couldn't have been in an open room, say the family or living room, where the maid SEES what's going on? He admitted earlier that she was a little gosspit. Neither the hero nor the previous wanna-be ow thought this was a bad thing? He LET her kiss him? I don't care if she's happily married now and over her "infatuation" with him...
YOUR WIFE WHO LEFT YOU FIVE YEARS AGO, BECAUSE OF THIS WOMAN and her own insecurities, IS OUT TAKING A WALK AND COULD MISCONSTRUE THE MEANING OF A MOSTLY CLOSED DOOR AND THE FORMERLY HOME-WRECKING SKANK KISSING HER HUSBAND...A HANDSHAKE WOULD HAVE MORE THAN SUFFICED!!
Whatever! That alone knocked off a whole star in my rating for this book.
This pretty much sums up the book:
'I want to care for you, to protect you, to love you for the rest of our lives, my love,' he muttered into the soft silk of her hair. 'My hunger for you consumes me. How could you think I would ever do anything to hurt you? I adore you, my sweet kitten.'
Uh huh. Possessive jerk! AT LEAST he remained celibate during their five year separation...although, that, too, was kinda dumb. Five years?? Do these people not realize that NOTHING is guaranteed? He should have gone after her...well, then we wouldn't have had a book.
March 10, 2022
How come no one had hit this woman with a shovel yet?? i'll never know ..
August 13, 2016
2.5 stars
After a short whirlwind romance Raoul and Leigh got married and spent the next 18 months in honeymoon until she caught him coming out of their master suit bathroom completely naked with their married house guest spread eagle in their bed. This was five years ago. He was gorgeous, she was full figure and very judgemental about her weight and her looks. She had severe self confidence issues. I have read few books with similar plot. There were some differences in this book. Her father, also an Adonis, was a serial cheater and he finally left his plump wife and daughter for good when she was only few years old. Her mother reminded in love with her scumbag of husband until her death; She believed handsome husbands were not made to fall in-love and remain faithful to one person.
What bothered me more than anything else in this book was the length of time they were separated. In my opinion 5 years equals to much more as life and the brain change so much across when one is in their twenties. Twenties are the defining decade of adulthood. 80% of life's most defining moments take place by about age 35. So to me it was unacceptable to hear he was giving her room for so many years so she could experience life.
Leigh remained immature throughout the book. I expected to see character growth but it didn't happen.
Raoul was just a big idiot. Only a stupid person would first decide to march the house-guest to her quarters and explain what has happened to his friend/the married husband and then driving them to the airport himself instead of grabbing his wife and the house guest by their neck and asking his friend to join them as he told what has taken place in his room... made the house-guest explain what she did and then ask his chauffeur to drive them to the airport. Who was more important, The wife or his so called friend whom by the way accused him of seducing his wife? He out did his previous act after he allowed the woman who causes the breakup in his marriage back to his house 5 years later without his wife being present. He saw her in his study with closed doors instead of asking the maid to show her to the drawing room while he waited for his wife which by the way was what we were told the woman in question was there to see and confess what has taken place 5 years ago. Then he held her, looked adoringly into her eyes and kissed her while once again the wife was standing in the doorway.
After a short whirlwind romance Raoul and Leigh got married and spent the next 18 months in honeymoon until she caught him coming out of their master suit bathroom completely naked with their married house guest spread eagle in their bed. This was five years ago. He was gorgeous, she was full figure and very judgemental about her weight and her looks. She had severe self confidence issues. I have read few books with similar plot. There were some differences in this book. Her father, also an Adonis, was a serial cheater and he finally left his plump wife and daughter for good when she was only few years old. Her mother reminded in love with her scumbag of husband until her death; She believed handsome husbands were not made to fall in-love and remain faithful to one person.
What bothered me more than anything else in this book was the length of time they were separated. In my opinion 5 years equals to much more as life and the brain change so much across when one is in their twenties. Twenties are the defining decade of adulthood. 80% of life's most defining moments take place by about age 35. So to me it was unacceptable to hear he was giving her room for so many years so she could experience life.
Leigh remained immature throughout the book. I expected to see character growth but it didn't happen.
Raoul was just a big idiot. Only a stupid person would first decide to march the house-guest to her quarters and explain what has happened to his friend/the married husband and then driving them to the airport himself instead of grabbing his wife and the house guest by their neck and asking his friend to join them as he told what has taken place in his room... made the house-guest explain what she did and then ask his chauffeur to drive them to the airport. Who was more important, The wife or his so called friend whom by the way accused him of seducing his wife? He out did his previous act after he allowed the woman who causes the breakup in his marriage back to his house 5 years later without his wife being present. He saw her in his study with closed doors instead of asking the maid to show her to the drawing room while he waited for his wife which by the way was what we were told the woman in question was there to see and confess what has taken place 5 years ago. Then he held her, looked adoringly into her eyes and kissed her while once again the wife was standing in the doorway.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2021
This time h needed skilletting!
April 12, 2018
The h, Leigh, is a rather melodramatic and insecure twit, while her French husband, Raoul, is a passionate and long-suffering sort. Leigh is supposed to be independent and self-accomplished. Instead, she comes off as stubborn, irritating and self-righteous. I just could not grasp what Raoul saw in her. I dislike heroines who go on and on about their looks being inferior--especially to other women and their partner's looks--it discredits the storyline for me and the h comes off as pathetic and insecure. I prefer strong women who pride themselves on being true to who they are in every sense and let the rest sort it out. Plus, she married a guy as gorgeous outside as he was on the inside! Her estranged husband's attempts to calmly talk to Leigh about what damaged their marriage, along with her lack of insight and distrust, made me dislike her. She was mature enough to get married at 19 but not smart enough to understand what she was seeking to discard like trash. For someone always going on about hard work being honest, she didn't seem to apply her work ethic and diligence to managing her relationship with her husband. Her most positive qualities were her honesty and loyalty. She had a massive selfish streak, leading on an OM while still pining for Raoul. But she was also a hypocrite b/c when the OW came into the picture, she didn't go above and beyond what Raoul did when he decided to fight for her. Raoul was honest about it all, he did not skulk in the shadows, as he put it!
Raoul was a no-nonsense sort of guy. He laid into Leigh a few times and read her the riot act over her foolish antics and unwillingness to communicate like an adult. His very Latin approach to wooing his wife, coupled with a fierce, alpha dominant moodiness worked in this story. I honestly don't know what he saw in her. She seemed unable to get past his astonishingly perfect looks, dismissing the loving, earnest, generous hardworking man who adored her, warts and all.Ah well, this is fiction after all. In the real world, Raoul would have lost his patience and moved on, of course, with a woman that valued him and trusted him.
Raoul was a no-nonsense sort of guy. He laid into Leigh a few times and read her the riot act over her foolish antics and unwillingness to communicate like an adult. His very Latin approach to wooing his wife, coupled with a fierce, alpha dominant moodiness worked in this story. I honestly don't know what he saw in her. She seemed unable to get past his astonishingly perfect looks, dismissing the loving, earnest, generous hardworking man who adored her, warts and all.Ah well, this is fiction after all. In the real world, Raoul would have lost his patience and moved on, of course, with a woman that valued him and trusted him.
August 28, 2017
"A Heartless Marriage" is the story of Raoul and Leigh, and is a second chance romance between a married couple, who are separated due to misunderstandings.
Now, I have recently been on a Helen Brooks binge, and she has definitely entered the league of my favorite HQN authors- with the amazing way the emotions of characters and love is portrayed, as well as for her super devoted obsessive heroes.
Raoul was no exception! Even though Leigh leaves him after "catching" him with OW, he never gives up on her- letting her spread her wings- and its not due to his ego/family name- but because he genuinely loves her.
Leigh's angst is well written too, and we feel bad for these star crossed lovers.
I really liked that the couple still cared for each other despite their separation. The big fat misunderstanding was really silly in the end, but it gave the story some much needed angst- and the couple learned the truths about one another-so I didnt mind it.
Ending was really stupid and dramatic, but ends in an implied HEA.
Overall, really enjoyed it.
Safe
4/5
Now, I have recently been on a Helen Brooks binge, and she has definitely entered the league of my favorite HQN authors- with the amazing way the emotions of characters and love is portrayed, as well as for her super devoted obsessive heroes.
Raoul was no exception! Even though Leigh leaves him after "catching" him with OW, he never gives up on her- letting her spread her wings- and its not due to his ego/family name- but because he genuinely loves her.
Leigh's angst is well written too, and we feel bad for these star crossed lovers.
I really liked that the couple still cared for each other despite their separation. The big fat misunderstanding was really silly in the end, but it gave the story some much needed angst- and the couple learned the truths about one another-so I didnt mind it.
Ending was really stupid and dramatic, but ends in an implied HEA.
Overall, really enjoyed it.
Safe
4/5
June 1, 2017
Just middle of the road.
September 15, 2020
What can I say, it’s my jam. Separated for eighteen months after the heroine learns her husband cheated on her with his secretary, they are weeks away from the divorce being finalised when our hero decides he’s waited long enough for her to come to her senses.
He constantly declared his innocence but she believes his sister must be telling the truth because she can’t imagine a motive for destroying a beloved brother’s marriage.
He was a lovely hero and so patient with her insecurities due to her abandonment issues from childhood. The ending was sweet.
He constantly declared his innocence but she believes his sister must be telling the truth because she can’t imagine a motive for destroying a beloved brother’s marriage.
He was a lovely hero and so patient with her insecurities due to her abandonment issues from childhood. The ending was sweet.
August 31, 2012
Ok, I jumped from the first quarter of the book to the last ten percent or so. Somewhere in there, they moved to France and got a cat named Oscar who likes fish.
This was relatively predictable, but the ending had some angsty twists that weren't totally unoriginal but mostly. This is a angsty cheater type story to read when you don't have anything else and you haven't already read this story line a million times.
This was relatively predictable, but the ending had some angsty twists that weren't totally unoriginal but mostly. This is a angsty cheater type story to read when you don't have anything else and you haven't already read this story line a million times.
July 25, 2011
I really liked the premise of this book, but the heroine was so shrilly childish in her resistance to listening to any explanation that it was hard to feel anything but impatience for her. It was hard to see her as an adult, and not someone in her early teens. The hero likewise was a disappointment. He was so perfect in his role of patient pining true love, not to mention so beautifully exotic and rich that he was like a parody of a romance hero, rather than seeming like a real person.
July 30, 2012
I truly love Helen Brooks' romances..but this one just didn't do it for me. She usually writes such wonderful heroines, but this one just came off very immature. I struggled with her thought process and felt she was not really deserving of the heroes love and devotion. Frankly, I was surprised that the hero was still committed to her after all the stupidity.
Surprising result from Helen Brooks.
Surprising result from Helen Brooks.
March 18, 2020
Just ridiculous.
ETA... I reread this as I couldn’t remember it, it’s still ridiculous!
ETA... I reread this as I couldn’t remember it, it’s still ridiculous!
November 24, 2020
Ridiculous premise, and the H is an idiot .
September 15, 2014
This is a weird one. It's Mills & Boon, so I'll leave the question of realistic to one side for this review. However, there are still some definite WTF things going on.
On the one hand, I think the h was ridiculously unfair to just witness what she witnessed and then bugger off (for 5 years!) without so much as letting him open his mouth to defend himself. Come on! At least let him plead innocence, even if you then choose not to believe him! So for most of the book, I'm on the side of the devoted, patient (in the extreme!) H.
Bu then the H does something so monumentally stupid at the tail-end of the book, it's almost enough for me to switch sides. I mean, he cannot be that dumb. Really.
Bascially, the end comes right when I'm feeling the need for some proper retribution for these dumbasses. Her for being an immature little drama-queen, and him for being the dumbest son of a bitch this side of George Bush.
On the one hand, I think the h was ridiculously unfair to just witness what she witnessed and then bugger off (for 5 years!) without so much as letting him open his mouth to defend himself. Come on! At least let him plead innocence, even if you then choose not to believe him! So for most of the book, I'm on the side of the devoted, patient (in the extreme!) H.
Bu then the H does something so monumentally stupid at the tail-end of the book, it's almost enough for me to switch sides. I mean, he cannot be that dumb. Really.
Bascially, the end comes right when I'm feeling the need for some proper retribution for these dumbasses. Her for being an immature little drama-queen, and him for being the dumbest son of a bitch this side of George Bush.
October 5, 2021
The h and H are married. About 5 years ago she left him because she saw a naked woman in his bed.
He is a besotted, loving giant. He calls her his darling wife. He begs her to stay with him. He says again and again how beautiful she is. He says he left his business afairs aside just to be with her. He names a hospital after her….
And then we read her thinking how little she means to him. Huh? Wtf.
Other than that I have three major criticisms on this book:
1) The woman is extremely TSTL. She doesn’t deserve him. I wanted to slap her.
2) The making love scenes were so vague and short and boring. The first time they made love, I had to re-read that part because I missed that they actually made love. The writer needs to be more explicit in the love making scenes, a bit more detailed. It’s not the Victorian Age anymore.
3) Near the end of the book I got a bit annoyed with him too. He was too much her puppet, he was too much her doormat. He acted according her every whim.
He is a besotted, loving giant. He calls her his darling wife. He begs her to stay with him. He says again and again how beautiful she is. He says he left his business afairs aside just to be with her. He names a hospital after her….
And then we read her thinking how little she means to him. Huh? Wtf.
Other than that I have three major criticisms on this book:
1) The woman is extremely TSTL. She doesn’t deserve him. I wanted to slap her.
2) The making love scenes were so vague and short and boring. The first time they made love, I had to re-read that part because I missed that they actually made love. The writer needs to be more explicit in the love making scenes, a bit more detailed. It’s not the Victorian Age anymore.
3) Near the end of the book I got a bit annoyed with him too. He was too much her puppet, he was too much her doormat. He acted according her every whim.
September 21, 2019
2 Stars
Basically Leigh is an idiot woman who didn't let her husband explain or say anything so she wasted years of their life and did the same stupid mistake again at the end of the book, this hero need another woman I really don't know why he love her
Basically Leigh is an idiot woman who didn't let her husband explain or say anything so she wasted years of their life and did the same stupid mistake again at the end of the book, this hero need another woman I really don't know why he love her
October 11, 2013
A passionate love.....was an nice enjoyable read.
September 24, 2020
Strangely I actually liked this book even though the h behaved stupidly and even though the H was overbearing.
I wish there had been an epilogue with the twin babies being born and all.
I wish there had been an epilogue with the twin babies being born and all.
March 16, 2021
2.5 stars. I did not enjoy this! Skimmed it
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February 4, 2024dar uma estrela a este pedaço de inferno hediondo era um ato de caridade inconcebível.
April 8, 2012
Leigh Wilson left her husband Raoul de Chevnair five years ago after walking into her bedroom and finding a naked woman on the bed and Raoul coming out of the bathroom similarly unclothed. Now he's back and has coerced her into agreeing to spend the next three months with him before granting her a divorce.
It's immediately obvious to the reader that Raoul was innocent; Leigh did not find him in bed, but coming out of the bathroom after a shower. The naked woman happened to be Miranda, a guest staying with them with her husband. That's right, with the full knowledge that both couples were in the house, Miranda decided to seduce her host. She is either incredibly stupid, or secretly wanted to be caught, but this is never addressed. The question I asked, which Leigh never did, was if Raoul really was cheating on her, why would he be dumb enough to do it in his own home where he'd obviously be caught? Anyway, Leigh never gave him the opportunity to explain, and just screamed and ranted at him before setting fire to all her clothes and running off.
Raoul's excuse for the past five years is that among the things Leigh had yelled at him, was the accusation that he was stifling her and making her feel trapped. He decided magnanimously to let her go and spread her wings, knowing that her love for him would act as a chastity belt (please note I'm being sarcastic here). Too bad he never told her what really happened with Miranda or how he actually felt about her. It wasn't possible to give her freedom without breaking her heart? It wasn't possible to love her without stifling her? It wasn't possible to force her to listen to him tell her he was never unfaithful?
As for Leigh, she's pretty determined to believe the worst about Raoul because he's attractive and she's plain. Her father was attractive and repeatedly cheated on her mother until finally leaving them a few weeks after her birth. I understand this was unpleasant, but considering she never knew her father I can't see how this excuses her skewed view of Raoul. She jumps to the assumption that he has been cheating on her all along with multiple partners and that the many times she has seen him turn down women (in fact he always turns down women who try to make moves on him) is just a front to fool her. She doesn't even remember saying that she felt stifled and needed freedom. So all this stuff just came bursting out of her from nowhere? It just doesn't gel.
Finally, after hearing strangers at a party discussing Raoul's lack of interest in women, Leigh decided to give him a hearing. He explains what happened with Miranda and she believes him. Unfortunately the next day she sees him kissing Miranda. Ugh. Where do I start? The fact that Leigh wouldn't listen to Raoul until she heard strangers gossiping about him is simply ludicrous. It really doesn't say much about her, and doesn't give me any confidence in their relationship working out later. Raoul tells Leigh that he hadn't seen Miranda since that fateful night. She showed up that morning to apologise and offer to explain the truth to Leigh, and Raoul was kissing her in thanks. Huh? Why isn't he angry with Miranda? Even if he and Leigh are back together, even if he decided to allow Miranda through the front door and listen to what she has to say after what she did, I can't believe that he'd feel friendly enough to kiss her after her apology. Forgiving her and being friends with her again are totally different things.
I found this book very mediocre. It got great reviews at Amazon, I guess primarily because Raoul was faithful to Leigh all along (and during their five year separation), which is very rare among category romance heros. I complain every time we have heros who aren't faithful, and though I appreciate Raoul's fidelity, it doesn't save the book. His decision to leave Leigh alone for five years for her own good seems pretty high-handed and dumb to me. Let's not even get into how stupid Leigh is. I finished off agreeing with all the other women in the book who felt that Leigh didn't deserve Raoul, but I didn't like Raoul enough to care whether or not he got a happily ever after.
It's immediately obvious to the reader that Raoul was innocent; Leigh did not find him in bed, but coming out of the bathroom after a shower. The naked woman happened to be Miranda, a guest staying with them with her husband. That's right, with the full knowledge that both couples were in the house, Miranda decided to seduce her host. She is either incredibly stupid, or secretly wanted to be caught, but this is never addressed. The question I asked, which Leigh never did, was if Raoul really was cheating on her, why would he be dumb enough to do it in his own home where he'd obviously be caught? Anyway, Leigh never gave him the opportunity to explain, and just screamed and ranted at him before setting fire to all her clothes and running off.
Raoul's excuse for the past five years is that among the things Leigh had yelled at him, was the accusation that he was stifling her and making her feel trapped. He decided magnanimously to let her go and spread her wings, knowing that her love for him would act as a chastity belt (please note I'm being sarcastic here). Too bad he never told her what really happened with Miranda or how he actually felt about her. It wasn't possible to give her freedom without breaking her heart? It wasn't possible to love her without stifling her? It wasn't possible to force her to listen to him tell her he was never unfaithful?
As for Leigh, she's pretty determined to believe the worst about Raoul because he's attractive and she's plain. Her father was attractive and repeatedly cheated on her mother until finally leaving them a few weeks after her birth. I understand this was unpleasant, but considering she never knew her father I can't see how this excuses her skewed view of Raoul. She jumps to the assumption that he has been cheating on her all along with multiple partners and that the many times she has seen him turn down women (in fact he always turns down women who try to make moves on him) is just a front to fool her. She doesn't even remember saying that she felt stifled and needed freedom. So all this stuff just came bursting out of her from nowhere? It just doesn't gel.
Finally, after hearing strangers at a party discussing Raoul's lack of interest in women, Leigh decided to give him a hearing. He explains what happened with Miranda and she believes him. Unfortunately the next day she sees him kissing Miranda. Ugh. Where do I start? The fact that Leigh wouldn't listen to Raoul until she heard strangers gossiping about him is simply ludicrous. It really doesn't say much about her, and doesn't give me any confidence in their relationship working out later. Raoul tells Leigh that he hadn't seen Miranda since that fateful night. She showed up that morning to apologise and offer to explain the truth to Leigh, and Raoul was kissing her in thanks. Huh? Why isn't he angry with Miranda? Even if he and Leigh are back together, even if he decided to allow Miranda through the front door and listen to what she has to say after what she did, I can't believe that he'd feel friendly enough to kiss her after her apology. Forgiving her and being friends with her again are totally different things.
I found this book very mediocre. It got great reviews at Amazon, I guess primarily because Raoul was faithful to Leigh all along (and during their five year separation), which is very rare among category romance heros. I complain every time we have heros who aren't faithful, and though I appreciate Raoul's fidelity, it doesn't save the book. His decision to leave Leigh alone for five years for her own good seems pretty high-handed and dumb to me. Let's not even get into how stupid Leigh is. I finished off agreeing with all the other women in the book who felt that Leigh didn't deserve Raoul, but I didn't like Raoul enough to care whether or not he got a happily ever after.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2013
REUNITED
Another enjoyable read from this author, this couple have been separated for five long years. The heroine had been but a teenager when they married, while he was older more confident, A man of the world feted by women. When the heroine discovers something she runs. He waits for five years before making a reappearance in her life. Coercing her to spend some time with him. But it seems he didn't learn his lesson the first time round.
An okay read from this author, I enjoyed it even though there were aspects of this story that just didn't gel. The ending felt a bit too rushed.
Another enjoyable read from this author, this couple have been separated for five long years. The heroine had been but a teenager when they married, while he was older more confident, A man of the world feted by women. When the heroine discovers something she runs. He waits for five years before making a reappearance in her life. Coercing her to spend some time with him. But it seems he didn't learn his lesson the first time round.
An okay read from this author, I enjoyed it even though there were aspects of this story that just didn't gel. The ending felt a bit too rushed.
February 22, 2022
The issues keeping them apart—the big misunderstanding, her refusal to listen to him, his letting five years go by before attempting to explain himself—are weak, but Oscar the cat’s relationship with his mistress is worth an extra star. He saves the day anyway, since he is too independent to survive travel quarantine, which means the heroine has to stay in France. That’s right, a cat saves the marriage—and this book.
March 18, 2025
"A Ridiculous Marriage" would be more to the point! An insecure 18-year-old, with a mountain of daddy issues had no business getting married, and a sophisticated millionaire playboy in his mid-twenties had no business asking her!
Too much of the usual tropes: he's too handsome while she's too plain, she really can't believe he's fall for someone like her, the OW makes her crappy slutty move, the h chooses to believe what she thinks she saw and runs away (naturally, mustn't skip that scenario), several years go by in which the h never thinks about him (yeah, right), is doing just fine on her own (so she tells herself), is making a new life for herself (which translates to "all career, no love"), and - as usually happens when there's an artistic career involved - it goes from being very important to not much thought about almost overnight.
Another trope: H suddenly shows up and wants her back! It seems he's been keeping an eye on her these past five years, waiting until she's grown as a person and is ready to be an independent adult. Of course, he hadn't really cheated, of course he still loves her, of course, he's been faithful, despite dozens of women throwing themselves at his feet, but if he loved her so much and missed her so much like he claims, why did he wait FIVE WHOLE YEARS to get in touch???? I think two years (three at most) would have been enough time. It's hard to believe his claim that he was lonely and unhappy without her and yet stayed away so long.
He was also keeping tabs on her personal life, which was nonexistent, except for a friend (the unseen OM). Apparently, the h went on platonic dates with him because he seemed to accept her friend zoning him (despite hoping she'd change her mind sometime), whereas other men she avoided like the plague, thinking they would just want to get her naked. She never stopped to think how unfair she was being; she knew the OM cared for her as more than a friend and she should have stopped seeing him, knowing that she only wanted the H and that would never change, despite all the "I HATE YOU!" nonsense. (Hasn't grown up much in 5 years, has she?) The OM really was a simp, as well as a wimp, because we're told the H had confronted him and told him to stay away from his wife, and the guy admitted he was in love with her but would back off (probably because he was afraid of the H, not from any noble motives).
Then there's the bargain: she'll spend three months with him, and if she doesn't change her mind and really wants a divorce, so be it! Naturally, you get all the nonsense: she's determined NOT tom sleep with him, she sleeps with him more than once and it's orgasms galore, followed by all the "Never again!" nonsense (tell that to your wet lady bits) and slowly she begins tom wonder: "Was I too hasty when I burned my designer dresses and left? Maybe he was innocent, after all? I mean, guy who builds a hospital on an island to help the people (and names it after ME) can't be all bad! Can he????
Most ridiculous trope: the h leaving all that money and luxury and not caring. COME ON!!! That goes against human nature, particularly female one! Why do you think we prefer our heroes to be full of $$$$$! This whole "I'll make it on my own" martyrdom gets pretty stale, and in our materialistic "ME First' society, it's pretty laughable, too!
What's also laughable is when the h suddenly decides she may have been wrong after all, misjudged the H, been too quick to compare him with her equally handsome (though not equally wealthy) playboy dad, who dumped her mom when she was preggers, and the dimwit still loved him! Naturally, she didn't want to be a dimwit like Mom, but that didn't mean Hubby was like Dad! And just when she's realizing a lot of things she should have before, who shows up again, but the OW! She's apparently in a lip lock with the H! And what does the h do??? Yes, you guessed it! She runs away again!!!!
She should have confronted the 304, kicked her butt so hard she wouldn't sit for weeks, and shouted, "STAY AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND, BIMBO, OR I'LL DEFLATE YOUR SILICONE BOOBS!" No such luck.
What's really STUPID (even more so than the rest of the book) is the H had no trouble finding the h when she left the first time (and she went to another country) but now, when she was in the same country, it took him a couple of months to find her, COME ON!!
And (yet another trope) she's pregnant, and with twins yet! And (trope again) she's not sure she wants to let the H know! (She actually told her landlady she was a widow, wishful thinking????)
And for the height of stupidity: it seems the OW was just being nice (WHAT????); she wanted to see the h and explain what happened five years ago, when - despite being married to a simp who adored her - she decided she wanted the H so much she'd do a strip in his bedroom while he was in the shower, so when the h came in and saw her naked, and then the H came out of the bathroom (also naked), naturally she thought:
UNBELIEVABLE!!! It took the horny bitch five years to apologize???? And her no-balls husband still wants her???? (Maybe that's why she chased the H; she wasn't getting any thrills at home!)
I didn't read to the finish, because I didn't want these two to have a HEA! I was hoping the OM showed up, shed his simp mode, made passionate love to the h and she got pregnant with his twins, but tried to pass them off as the H's because she realizes she wants all that $$$$ after all! He finds out, dumps her ass (she has to rely on her tanked art career and the OM's pitiful salary) then the H finds a woman without daddy issues and who actually acts 25, not like she's still 18!
The H had his flaws, and could be annoying at times, but he was a gem compared to the h.
In truth, my favorite character was Oscar the cat, who should have been the one to run away!
Too much of the usual tropes: he's too handsome while she's too plain, she really can't believe he's fall for someone like her, the OW makes her crappy slutty move, the h chooses to believe what she thinks she saw and runs away (naturally, mustn't skip that scenario), several years go by in which the h never thinks about him (yeah, right), is doing just fine on her own (so she tells herself), is making a new life for herself (which translates to "all career, no love"), and - as usually happens when there's an artistic career involved - it goes from being very important to not much thought about almost overnight.
Another trope: H suddenly shows up and wants her back! It seems he's been keeping an eye on her these past five years, waiting until she's grown as a person and is ready to be an independent adult. Of course, he hadn't really cheated, of course he still loves her, of course, he's been faithful, despite dozens of women throwing themselves at his feet, but if he loved her so much and missed her so much like he claims, why did he wait FIVE WHOLE YEARS to get in touch???? I think two years (three at most) would have been enough time. It's hard to believe his claim that he was lonely and unhappy without her and yet stayed away so long.
He was also keeping tabs on her personal life, which was nonexistent, except for a friend (the unseen OM). Apparently, the h went on platonic dates with him because he seemed to accept her friend zoning him (despite hoping she'd change her mind sometime), whereas other men she avoided like the plague, thinking they would just want to get her naked. She never stopped to think how unfair she was being; she knew the OM cared for her as more than a friend and she should have stopped seeing him, knowing that she only wanted the H and that would never change, despite all the "I HATE YOU!" nonsense. (Hasn't grown up much in 5 years, has she?) The OM really was a simp, as well as a wimp, because we're told the H had confronted him and told him to stay away from his wife, and the guy admitted he was in love with her but would back off (probably because he was afraid of the H, not from any noble motives).
Then there's the bargain: she'll spend three months with him, and if she doesn't change her mind and really wants a divorce, so be it! Naturally, you get all the nonsense: she's determined NOT tom sleep with him, she sleeps with him more than once and it's orgasms galore, followed by all the "Never again!" nonsense (tell that to your wet lady bits) and slowly she begins tom wonder: "Was I too hasty when I burned my designer dresses and left? Maybe he was innocent, after all? I mean, guy who builds a hospital on an island to help the people (and names it after ME) can't be all bad! Can he????
Most ridiculous trope: the h leaving all that money and luxury and not caring. COME ON!!! That goes against human nature, particularly female one! Why do you think we prefer our heroes to be full of $$$$$! This whole "I'll make it on my own" martyrdom gets pretty stale, and in our materialistic "ME First' society, it's pretty laughable, too!
What's also laughable is when the h suddenly decides she may have been wrong after all, misjudged the H, been too quick to compare him with her equally handsome (though not equally wealthy) playboy dad, who dumped her mom when she was preggers, and the dimwit still loved him! Naturally, she didn't want to be a dimwit like Mom, but that didn't mean Hubby was like Dad! And just when she's realizing a lot of things she should have before, who shows up again, but the OW! She's apparently in a lip lock with the H! And what does the h do??? Yes, you guessed it! She runs away again!!!!
She should have confronted the 304, kicked her butt so hard she wouldn't sit for weeks, and shouted, "STAY AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND, BIMBO, OR I'LL DEFLATE YOUR SILICONE BOOBS!" No such luck.
What's really STUPID (even more so than the rest of the book) is the H had no trouble finding the h when she left the first time (and she went to another country) but now, when she was in the same country, it took him a couple of months to find her, COME ON!!
And (yet another trope) she's pregnant, and with twins yet! And (trope again) she's not sure she wants to let the H know! (She actually told her landlady she was a widow, wishful thinking????)
And for the height of stupidity: it seems the OW was just being nice (WHAT????); she wanted to see the h and explain what happened five years ago, when - despite being married to a simp who adored her - she decided she wanted the H so much she'd do a strip in his bedroom while he was in the shower, so when the h came in and saw her naked, and then the H came out of the bathroom (also naked), naturally she thought:
UNBELIEVABLE!!! It took the horny bitch five years to apologize???? And her no-balls husband still wants her???? (Maybe that's why she chased the H; she wasn't getting any thrills at home!)
I didn't read to the finish, because I didn't want these two to have a HEA! I was hoping the OM showed up, shed his simp mode, made passionate love to the h and she got pregnant with his twins, but tried to pass them off as the H's because she realizes she wants all that $$$$ after all! He finds out, dumps her ass (she has to rely on her tanked art career and the OM's pitiful salary) then the H finds a woman without daddy issues and who actually acts 25, not like she's still 18!
The H had his flaws, and could be annoying at times, but he was a gem compared to the h.
In truth, my favorite character was Oscar the cat, who should have been the one to run away!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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