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Obsessive Desire
He was a fantasy, a magnetic stranger
Rhea had admired him from across the crowded room, but she never dreamed she'd see him again in Bangaloo Creek!
Stephen Crane made it plain that he planned to stay--and that he found Rhea attractive. As for Rhea, she'd never been so potently drawn to a man before.
A widow with a young daughter, Rhea put her responsibilities first. Yet how could she resist Stephen or the explosive desire that threatened to engulf them?
Rhea had admired him from across the crowded room, but she never dreamed she'd see him again in Bangaloo Creek!
Stephen Crane made it plain that he planned to stay--and that he found Rhea attractive. As for Rhea, she'd never been so potently drawn to a man before.
A widow with a young daughter, Rhea put her responsibilities first. Yet how could she resist Stephen or the explosive desire that threatened to engulf them?
Paperback
First published June 1, 1990
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About the author
Miranda Lee
815 books235 followersMaureen Mary was born on 1945 at Port Macquarie, a popular seaside town on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is the youngest of four children. Her sister was the novelist Wendy Brennan (Emma Darcy). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. When Miranda was ten, her father was transferred to Gosford, another coastal town in the countryside, much closer to Sydney. After leaving her convent school, she briefly studied the cello before moving to Sydney, where she embraced the emerging world of computers. Her career as a programmer ended after she married, had three daughters and bought a small acreage in a semi-rural community. Following this, she attempted greyhound training, as well as horse and goat breeding, but was left dissatisfied.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 27, 2017
Re Obsessive Desire - Miranda Lee's sophomore HP is a tale of a slightly repressed widow who becomes obsessed with the Alpha H new neighbor whose daughter is BFF's with her own child.
Out of all the HP authors in the 1990's, ML is one of the most sensual and she likes to push the boundaries of passion with her very intense and varied love scenes. This book is nowhere near the explicit lurve moments her writing has today, but it is very fair to say that OD is probably the first HP that is entirely based on lust and lurve mojo. There are only two big passion moments in the book but the build up and the h's intense longing leave little page count left for much relationship building between the h and H.
The 27 year old h has been a widow for six years when the story opens. She lives in a small rural Australian town and she and her daughter have a pretty simple life. The h has recently started her own one of a kind clothing business based on clothes she makes from the fibers of her farm animals and she also plays the organ for weddings for extra income.
She meets the H when he is a guest at a wedding she is scheduled to play at and the mutual attraction is instantaneous, the H seems very keen on the h until he sees her wedding ring and her child and assumes that she is married. The h is in no hurry to enlighten him on her current marital status. He attracts her, but he also frightens her and most of the story is the h coming to terms with her physical longing for the H.
Unbeknownst to the H, the h has seen him in Brisbane before, both times with various women and the h is convinced the H is a lady buffet sampler extraordinaire. Since the h endured rather than enjoyed the physical side to marriage and has been distanced from her mother when the lady remarried a man with a lot of passion a year after the h's own father died, the h is very frightened and confused by the lancings of desire that are spiking through her whenever she meets the H. She is shocked to discover that she is horribly jealous of his various female acquaintances and it is this rejection of her own inner longing that keeps her very wary of the H.
She is also outraged by the discovery of the H's ten year old daughter hiding in her cow byre in tears. The h rescues the little girl from her very friendly farm dogs and soon the little girl confesses that she ran away when her father wanted to send her off to boarding school. The h's daughter and the H's daughter become BFF's and while the two young ladies are bonding, the h calls the H to give him a few words about proper parenting.
The H initially accuses the h of kidnapping his child and comes roaring over to the h's house. The h soon sets him straight and also learns that the H did not even know he was a father until his daughter's mother died a few months earlier. The h delivers a good lecture on sending his daughter to the local primary and also how to be a good parent. The H takes her lectures to heart and tho the h tries to avoid contact with him, as soon as he finds out she is really a widow, the H announces he will have her in his bed.
This shocks the h, she was never very good at the physical lurve mojo and her anxiety is heightened when the H becomes the new president of the local Parent-Teacher association and as the h is the secretary, she and the H are forced together to plan the various fund raising activities. Finally the tension explodes in one night of lurve at the H's city penthouse and the h is overwhelmed with rapture. She is also in shock over her uninhibited response.
But when the H claims he doesn't want to see her again as he wants to be with a woman who actually likes and respects him, the h feels heartbroken and has a huge mopey moment, especially when the H helps her to save one of her dogs by rushing her to the vet and then leaves the h right after.
The h's newfound physical passion does allow her to be more tolerant of her mother's marriage and kinder to her stepfather - she really resented it when her mother remarried when she was twelve and then seemed to become absorbed in the roofie kisses of her new husband, with no time for the h. The h and her mother and stepfather make a start on a warmer relationship between them and the mother encourages the h to talk to the H about how she feels. The h girds her loins in her best blue dress and goes off to find the H.
She finds him at his office and his secretary is one of the women the h has seen him with the first few times she saw him before they actually met. The secretary confides that the H is very kind to her in an older brother fashion and the watch that the h assumed was a lover's token of devotion was actually a present after the girl returned from her honeymoon.
( The other woman the h saw the H with was an actress the H dated before he found out he was a father, and tho the H had been out with her one time after meeting the h, it was completely platonic. The woman was hoping it would turn out differently and she could rekindle the affair, but when she tried to get the H to dump his daughter in boarding school, she overplayed her hand and the H no longer wanted to date her.)
The h confesses she came to find the H to tell him she loved him and to explain about her repression and her marriage. The H admits that the h hurt him badly, his first love was his daughter's mother. When he was 21 and an investment intern, she was an executive at the company he worked for. She was 37 and the H thought she was only in her twenties. The woman picked him to use for stud service and as soon as she found she was preggers, she resigned her job and disappeared and never told the H anything about the pregnancy and left him heartbroken. He found out about his daughter when the woman died and left him a letter. Then he met the h and fell in love with her, but she kept rejecting him and he felt that he was only being used as a tension reliever for her too.
Now that the h has explained and declared her love for him, the H is happy to confess he adores the h back and after a big lurve mojo session on the office floor, we get a nice little wedding epilogue scene with the h all ready to announce a stork visit for the HEA.
This one was pretty average and kinda a letdown on the romance development between the H and h. We don't get a lot of h and H time together that doesn't include the H declaring he will have the h in his bed and the h having mental wobblies about it. The secondary relationships were much better in details and while I bought the HEA, I wasn't sure what the two of them were actually seeing in each other beside insta-lust attraction and a LOT of physical passion that was only described by the h's inner angsting.
I think ML was going for a story where the h discovers and accepts the carnal side of her nature, but ML isn't great on the development and to be honest, I am pretty sure her editors probably limited her on the descriptive side of that to keep in line with the more conservative HP standards of the time period.
This one is a good look at the direction ML will take HPlandia and also an interesting comparison to the HP's currently being written. While not as detailed and descriptive as the current HP line up, it has a lot in common with the HP's of today and that does make this one worth a read if you run into it.
Out of all the HP authors in the 1990's, ML is one of the most sensual and she likes to push the boundaries of passion with her very intense and varied love scenes. This book is nowhere near the explicit lurve moments her writing has today, but it is very fair to say that OD is probably the first HP that is entirely based on lust and lurve mojo. There are only two big passion moments in the book but the build up and the h's intense longing leave little page count left for much relationship building between the h and H.
The 27 year old h has been a widow for six years when the story opens. She lives in a small rural Australian town and she and her daughter have a pretty simple life. The h has recently started her own one of a kind clothing business based on clothes she makes from the fibers of her farm animals and she also plays the organ for weddings for extra income.
She meets the H when he is a guest at a wedding she is scheduled to play at and the mutual attraction is instantaneous, the H seems very keen on the h until he sees her wedding ring and her child and assumes that she is married. The h is in no hurry to enlighten him on her current marital status. He attracts her, but he also frightens her and most of the story is the h coming to terms with her physical longing for the H.
Unbeknownst to the H, the h has seen him in Brisbane before, both times with various women and the h is convinced the H is a lady buffet sampler extraordinaire. Since the h endured rather than enjoyed the physical side to marriage and has been distanced from her mother when the lady remarried a man with a lot of passion a year after the h's own father died, the h is very frightened and confused by the lancings of desire that are spiking through her whenever she meets the H. She is shocked to discover that she is horribly jealous of his various female acquaintances and it is this rejection of her own inner longing that keeps her very wary of the H.
She is also outraged by the discovery of the H's ten year old daughter hiding in her cow byre in tears. The h rescues the little girl from her very friendly farm dogs and soon the little girl confesses that she ran away when her father wanted to send her off to boarding school. The h's daughter and the H's daughter become BFF's and while the two young ladies are bonding, the h calls the H to give him a few words about proper parenting.
The H initially accuses the h of kidnapping his child and comes roaring over to the h's house. The h soon sets him straight and also learns that the H did not even know he was a father until his daughter's mother died a few months earlier. The h delivers a good lecture on sending his daughter to the local primary and also how to be a good parent. The H takes her lectures to heart and tho the h tries to avoid contact with him, as soon as he finds out she is really a widow, the H announces he will have her in his bed.
This shocks the h, she was never very good at the physical lurve mojo and her anxiety is heightened when the H becomes the new president of the local Parent-Teacher association and as the h is the secretary, she and the H are forced together to plan the various fund raising activities. Finally the tension explodes in one night of lurve at the H's city penthouse and the h is overwhelmed with rapture. She is also in shock over her uninhibited response.
But when the H claims he doesn't want to see her again as he wants to be with a woman who actually likes and respects him, the h feels heartbroken and has a huge mopey moment, especially when the H helps her to save one of her dogs by rushing her to the vet and then leaves the h right after.
The h's newfound physical passion does allow her to be more tolerant of her mother's marriage and kinder to her stepfather - she really resented it when her mother remarried when she was twelve and then seemed to become absorbed in the roofie kisses of her new husband, with no time for the h. The h and her mother and stepfather make a start on a warmer relationship between them and the mother encourages the h to talk to the H about how she feels. The h girds her loins in her best blue dress and goes off to find the H.
She finds him at his office and his secretary is one of the women the h has seen him with the first few times she saw him before they actually met. The secretary confides that the H is very kind to her in an older brother fashion and the watch that the h assumed was a lover's token of devotion was actually a present after the girl returned from her honeymoon.
( The other woman the h saw the H with was an actress the H dated before he found out he was a father, and tho the H had been out with her one time after meeting the h, it was completely platonic. The woman was hoping it would turn out differently and she could rekindle the affair, but when she tried to get the H to dump his daughter in boarding school, she overplayed her hand and the H no longer wanted to date her.)
The h confesses she came to find the H to tell him she loved him and to explain about her repression and her marriage. The H admits that the h hurt him badly, his first love was his daughter's mother. When he was 21 and an investment intern, she was an executive at the company he worked for. She was 37 and the H thought she was only in her twenties. The woman picked him to use for stud service and as soon as she found she was preggers, she resigned her job and disappeared and never told the H anything about the pregnancy and left him heartbroken. He found out about his daughter when the woman died and left him a letter. Then he met the h and fell in love with her, but she kept rejecting him and he felt that he was only being used as a tension reliever for her too.
Now that the h has explained and declared her love for him, the H is happy to confess he adores the h back and after a big lurve mojo session on the office floor, we get a nice little wedding epilogue scene with the h all ready to announce a stork visit for the HEA.
This one was pretty average and kinda a letdown on the romance development between the H and h. We don't get a lot of h and H time together that doesn't include the H declaring he will have the h in his bed and the h having mental wobblies about it. The secondary relationships were much better in details and while I bought the HEA, I wasn't sure what the two of them were actually seeing in each other beside insta-lust attraction and a LOT of physical passion that was only described by the h's inner angsting.
I think ML was going for a story where the h discovers and accepts the carnal side of her nature, but ML isn't great on the development and to be honest, I am pretty sure her editors probably limited her on the descriptive side of that to keep in line with the more conservative HP standards of the time period.
This one is a good look at the direction ML will take HPlandia and also an interesting comparison to the HP's currently being written. While not as detailed and descriptive as the current HP line up, it has a lot in common with the HP's of today and that does make this one worth a read if you run into it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2022
The kids were actually the best part. She is about 75% silly, insecure, and constantly leaping to judgey conclusions, combined with a thankless backstory that makes her a widow who never loved or enjoyed being intimate with her husband. Because in Harlequin Land, if you’re not a virgin, you’re only allowed to achieve climax with your one true love.
Anyway, he’s not bad, but the romance is on the dull side except when it’s verging on histrionics.
Anyway, he’s not bad, but the romance is on the dull side except when it’s verging on histrionics.
May 26, 2011
Re-read 10/02/2013
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews