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The Vines in Splendour
Instinct warned her to avoid a man like Nick!But as he was the new owner of the vineyard where Shannon rented a small cottage, their meeting was inevitable.Life hadn't been easy for Shannon. Supporting her young orphaned niece had left her little time for male friends and someone like Nick was totally beyond her experience. She quickly discovered he had the power to disturb her emotions and she realized the danger of allowing him into her life.Nick Stanich, however, didn't wait to be invited. He took over, commanding and demanding. And in spite of her best intentions, Shannon soon found herself responding!
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1978
About the author
Helen Bianchin
391 books233 followersHelen Shirley was born on February 20 1939 in New Zealand, where she grew up, an only child possessed by a vivid imagination and a love for reading. She wrote stories for amusement in her early teenage years, and when she left leaving school, she took a secretarial job at a father-and-son legal firm.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 14, 2018
The lady doth protest too much. This is the only note of this one note courtship novel. The hero, who has inherited the vineyards and the cottage the heroine is renting, pursues the heroine. The heroine, who has been caring for her niece since she was 19, thinks the hero is just toying with her as he takes her out to dinner, to parties, on play dates with her niece, on picnics, etc . . .
She can't fathom that the punishing kisses, concern about her well being, and a marriage proposal are anything but a cheap ploy to ??? Honestly, I didn't care after a 100 pages of her biting insults and humiliating tears. Girlfriend had issues.
She can't fathom that the punishing kisses, concern about her well being, and a marriage proposal are anything but a cheap ploy to ??? Honestly, I didn't care after a 100 pages of her biting insults and humiliating tears. Girlfriend had issues.
June 7, 2013
3 1/2 Stars ~ Shannon and her six year old niece lease a cottage on a vineyard, and when their elderly landlords pass away, their future becomes uncertain. Learning that a provision has been made that she and Kelly can stay as long as they wish, is a huge relief for Shannon. The child became her sole responsibility when Kelly was an infant and Shannon only nineteen. The only glitch is that her new landlord is the nephew heir, Nick. Shannon had only met him twice, each time her senses reeling and her defenses faltering. Nick was charismatic and far too good looking for his own good, definitely a man way out of Shannon's very inexperienced league. As her cottage is mere yards away from the main house, Shannon can't avoid Nick, especially when Kelly becomes a determined matchmaker.
One needs to remember that this book was first published in 1979 when the tyrannical heroes were very popular. Nick sweeps into Shannon's life like a cyclone and turns her world upside down. His never take no for an answer attitude, keeps her temper near boiling. While it's obvious to the reader that he's concerned with how hard she works to support Kelly; she only sees him as a domineering bully. Ms. Bianchin does a wonderful job establishing their sexual chemistry and even gives us a few laugh out loud moments with Shannon's clumsy blunders. While not one of Ms. Bianchin's best books, this one has it's own charm and I found it a very pleasant read.
One needs to remember that this book was first published in 1979 when the tyrannical heroes were very popular. Nick sweeps into Shannon's life like a cyclone and turns her world upside down. His never take no for an answer attitude, keeps her temper near boiling. While it's obvious to the reader that he's concerned with how hard she works to support Kelly; she only sees him as a domineering bully. Ms. Bianchin does a wonderful job establishing their sexual chemistry and even gives us a few laugh out loud moments with Shannon's clumsy blunders. While not one of Ms. Bianchin's best books, this one has it's own charm and I found it a very pleasant read.
February 1, 2020
Instinct warned her to avoid a man like Nick!
But as he was the new owner of the vineyard where Shannon rented a small cottage, their meeting was inevitable.
Life hadn't been easy for Shannon. Supporting her young orphaned niece had left her little time for male friends and someone like Nick was totally beyond her experience. She quickly discovered he had the power to disturb her emotions and she realized the danger of allowing him into her life.
Nick Stanich, however, didn't wait to be invited. He took over, commanding and demanding. And in spite of her best intentions, Shannon soon found herself responding!
But as he was the new owner of the vineyard where Shannon rented a small cottage, their meeting was inevitable.
Life hadn't been easy for Shannon. Supporting her young orphaned niece had left her little time for male friends and someone like Nick was totally beyond her experience. She quickly discovered he had the power to disturb her emotions and she realized the danger of allowing him into her life.
Nick Stanich, however, didn't wait to be invited. He took over, commanding and demanding. And in spite of her best intentions, Shannon soon found herself responding!
November 20, 2020
The h is moody, insulting, bitchy. And so childish.
I can’t understand why the H loves her. He says it was love at first sight, so apparently she is beautiful, but after spending time with her and all she does, is bitch, how would he want to marry that? It doesn’t make any sense.
No sex in this book, only some brutal kissing.
I can’t understand why the H loves her. He says it was love at first sight, so apparently she is beautiful, but after spending time with her and all she does, is bitch, how would he want to marry that? It doesn’t make any sense.
No sex in this book, only some brutal kissing.
September 8, 2014
The new owner of the vineyard liked what he saw when he met Shannon Fitzpatrick, a dark haired, hot tempered Irish woman (child by her actions). It was lucky for him that she was renting a small cottage on his newly inherited estate. The fact that the cottage set close to the home her good friends Katija and Ivan Stanich had lived in and now Nick Stanich was moving into suited him fine. Shannon worked in the cottage she rented making clothing for her clients, she was glad she could work out of her home, for she was raising her orphaned niece Kelly.
November 8, 2009
It was a good read and a splendid expression of the phrase "there's a very thin line between love and hate".
Read
July 31, 2011This was the very first romance novel I ever read, taken right out of my grandmother's stash. I adored it, was shocked by it, and was hooked on Harlequins and romance novels ever since.
March 21, 2014
Very weak.
Read
August 29, 2014DNF
June 13, 2016
Star Rating: ★½☆☆☆
November 23, 2009
A very cool Book
Read
July 4, 2018Instinct warned her to avoid a man like Nick!
But as he was the new owner of the vineyard where Shannon rented a small cottage, their meeting was inevitable.
Life hadn't been easy for Shannon. Supporting her young orphaned niece had left her little time for male friends and someone like Nick was totally beyond her experience. She quickly discovered he had the power to disturb her emotions and she realized the danger of allowing him into her life.
Nick Stanich, however, didn't wait to be invited. He took over, commanding and demanding. And in spite of her best intentions, Shannon soon found herself responding!
But as he was the new owner of the vineyard where Shannon rented a small cottage, their meeting was inevitable.
Life hadn't been easy for Shannon. Supporting her young orphaned niece had left her little time for male friends and someone like Nick was totally beyond her experience. She quickly discovered he had the power to disturb her emotions and she realized the danger of allowing him into her life.
Nick Stanich, however, didn't wait to be invited. He took over, commanding and demanding. And in spite of her best intentions, Shannon soon found herself responding!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews