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Finding Out
Would they ever have a happy anniversary?
David Marchmont had forced the beautiful Lineesa Creighton, Australia's top model, to marry him a year ago - as restitution for the death of his younger brother.
Lineesa had suffered her own guilt over that tragedy. The added punishment of being caught in a loveless marriage was almost too much to bear.
Although Lineesa should have hated David, she found she couldn't. But with so much guilt and misunderstanding between them there seemed scant hope for a happy marriage. And yet, deep down, Lineesa was sure David wanted one.
David Marchmont had forced the beautiful Lineesa Creighton, Australia's top model, to marry him a year ago - as restitution for the death of his younger brother.
Lineesa had suffered her own guilt over that tragedy. The added punishment of being caught in a loveless marriage was almost too much to bear.
Although Lineesa should have hated David, she found she couldn't. But with so much guilt and misunderstanding between them there seemed scant hope for a happy marriage. And yet, deep down, Lineesa was sure David wanted one.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1985
4 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Lindsay Armstrong
317 books91 followersGillian Smith (alias Lindsay Armstrong) was born in South Africa. She grew up with three ambitions: to become a writer, to travel the world, and to be a game ranger. She didn't achieve the last one, but her fascination for wildlife and that special something about Africa and its big game still remains with her. When she went to work it was in travel, at an agency and an airline, and this started her on the road to seeing the world.
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
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February 28, 2016
RE Finding Out - This is not only a train wreck, it is a trainwreck in a typhoon with an avalanche and an earthquake thrown in. This is another one where you just have to be happy the h was happy, cause she must have been a really evil person through several lifetimes to wind up with the amoebic parasite of a sewage slurping nematode that is the H.
More likely this was a trial manual for inducing Stockholm syndrome. Or perhaps LA really wanted to compete with Robyn Donald, Lilian Peake and carry the torch for Margaret Pargeter - tho I was praying for an alien abduction by the end - sadly no Aliens made an appearance, and that of course means No Ripley. The poor h needed a Ripley with a flamethrower to rescue her in this one, and an Alien jumping out of the Amoeba's chest over spaghetti would have been cause for joyous celebration.
I will stop fantasizing now and get on with the story. The h is 21 when the book opens and has been married to the 39 year old Amoeba for a year. He forced her to marry him to repay her "debt" to him for the death of his little amoebic brother (who also slurped a lot of sewage mixed with a lifestyle where he wrecked three pricey sports cars in five years,) and who killed himself in a fourth car wreck after the h refused his proposal of marriage -- because they had only been friends in her eyes and he was kind to her, but she did not love him and wouldn't marry a man without it.
The h had been doing her modeling career, mostly to support her mum's mortgage, her mum disapproved but was happy to live on the h's money. The little amoeba kept escorting her out and she refused to go to bed with him or marry him, and little amoeba went whining to all and sundry that she was rejecting his lurve. Then he died when racing his car and hitting an oil slick, the h felt partially responsible, and the Amoeba firmly insisted that she was the direct cause of his brother's death and she had to pay.
Amoeba threatened to foreclose on her mum's home if she did not do as he said. Amoeba marries her, isolates her in his luxurious home where he regularly taunts and berates her and forces her to throw parties where he brings his latest mistress along. He is horribly mean and awful, as is his current mistress. The h has a nervous breakdown after a year of torture when the h realizes the man the Amoeba has hired to be her jailer is in love with her and the H starts in with his accusations and insults when he finds them out on the balcony together. The h was blindsided by both the man's feelings and the H's attack and she pretty much has a mental collapse and sleeps for almost 24 hours.
Apparently her physical health is important to the Amoeba, he can't humiliate and attack her if she is physically ill and so he calls in his old friend, a doctor. The friendly family doctor advises a complete mental rest and a vacation and the Amoeba agrees - he will force the h into a vacation with him. So much for a mental rest. On the way to vacation, they come across a couple on a remote homestead who are unconscious from severe food poisoning. They arrange for a helicopter rescue and then find the couple's baby they overlooked.
They can't leave cause the Range Rover is not working, and the h surprises the Amoeba with how well she adapts to barren Outback living and cares for the baby. The Amoeba gets to know the h as a person instead of assuming she is a vacuous sex object, and is shocked that she is good with the baby in harsh conditions etc. He figured she was just like the other amoebic bimbos he swims in slime with, and that he was hurting her mightily by not allowing her to exercise her obviously great needs for sex and male companionship.
They Amoeba realizes he was wrong about the h in a lot of ways and he wants to "get to the bottom of her". They have some heart to hearts where she explains about her reluctance in modeling and he explains that his brother wrecked a lot of cars and she really wasn't responsible for his death.
The Amoeba was just angry that she wouldn't marry the brother and the brother did not get his way. The Ameoba resents that, A LOT. Supposedly little brother had a hard time with the Amoeba's and his stepmother and the Amoeba thought the h should make up for his own neglect during the little brother's childhood by doing what the little brother wanted irregardless of what she thought or needed.
The h is actually a bit put off by sex and feels a lot of unhappiness that she had to work at a career where she used sex to sell things. (LA has some kind of social commentary going on with this one, and I though it was way too overdone. She buys into the 70's feministic stereotype that modeling and women who model are not worthwhile people, and that the sole motivation of using a model is to sell sex. That may be a viewpoint, but there is a lot of gray in the world and anyhow, social commentary doesn't belong in HPLandia - it is a social commentary all on it's own and doesn't need outer world enhancement IMO.)
The H realizes that she really isn't like what he has been thinking she was and so after the baby is reunited with it's grateful parents and the h and Amoeba are getting along a bit better, they continue their vacation at a nice resort. They are starting to come to a sort of peaceful truce but the A is physically attracted to the h and starts kissing her. The h responds but then draws back from physical intimacy, she sees his attraction and his repulsion in his eyes.
She doesn't want to have sex with a man who resents wanting her and tries to get away and the A promptly rapes her, telling her she has no choice. She REALLY doesn't enjoy it - she is a virgin and he forcibly holds her down and attacks her. The A blames her for being a virgin and not telling him. She admits she did not because the A wouldn't have believed her and also because she felt it was repayment for his brother's death.
The A then does some more psycho-analytical garbage on the h that winds up with her being convinced she invited her own rape. While the h wants to end the marriage as he promised, the A decides that she can just learn to enjoy being raped and starts the sex all over again.
The A is "teaching" her and "freeing" her from her inhibitions. The h is even more traumatized now cause she did NOT want the lurve club, but he brought out a physical response and so to alleviate her own sense of deep shame for enjoying repeated rapes, she convinces herself that she is in love with the A. He is quick to take advantage of that, while telling her that he is setting her up to enjoy other men.
They return to his home and the sexing goes on, but though the Amoeba said he wanted a real marriage, it quickly becomes obvious he is only using her as a willing receptacle for his lurve emissions. He either ignores her or belittles her or acts like she is about to seduce all his business associates every time he bothers to come home. The h tries to talk to him about needing more in a marriage and the Amoeba decides he needs to divorce her, now that he has "cured" her of her sex hangups.
They part, he gives her the deed to her mum's house, and the h is heartbroken. Mum met a new man and married, so the h lives in the house she paid so dearly for. She gets a job doing radio interviews and starts putting her life together again after she gets the final divorce papers. Then she sees the Amoeba at the horse races, goes home without speaking to him and has a meltdown on the porch.
The Amoeba shows up because she smiled across the paddock at him and finds her crying her heart out. He confesses that he loves her and used her as a punching bag to pay for his own sins of sleeping with his stepmother while she was married to his father. His father had a heart attack when the stepmother threw the affair in his face and the h looked like the stepmother, so he had to abuse her to atone for his past errors in judgement.
The h is just happy he wants her again, she throws herself at him and vows eternal love and it is an HEA that continues into The Heart of the Matter - (which is another messed up wrecky extravaganza with an h whose different, but remarkably similar in sewage slurping, Amoeba sleeps with her mum) - where this Amoeba and h are apparently very happily married or he is still practicing his brainwashing techniques.
Overall this is not a book to recommend to people you like, unless they have a large liquor cabinet and a taste for wreckiness with a strong stomach. The angst is prolific, but the revelations about the Amoeba and his motivations come so late in the book that there is no chance for anything but serious revulsion that this middle-aged parasite has latched on to a sadly abused and brainwashed woman.
LA does prove that she can hang with the best in repulsive males, and she manages to keep that repulsion going for a few more books. I like LA in general, but she is definitely an acquired taste and should really only be read by those who are hardened veterans of HPlandia - her early works especially are not for newbies or those of romantic sensibilities, she has some very messed up situations in these ones and not everyone will enjoy them.
If you like the wreckiangst or the totally non pc-ness of the early 80's and don't mind rape, LA does do some intricate plots and has some really great h's - her H's are the ones that she has to work on and they do eventually get better - but not in this one.
More likely this was a trial manual for inducing Stockholm syndrome. Or perhaps LA really wanted to compete with Robyn Donald, Lilian Peake and carry the torch for Margaret Pargeter - tho I was praying for an alien abduction by the end - sadly no Aliens made an appearance, and that of course means No Ripley. The poor h needed a Ripley with a flamethrower to rescue her in this one, and an Alien jumping out of the Amoeba's chest over spaghetti would have been cause for joyous celebration.
I will stop fantasizing now and get on with the story. The h is 21 when the book opens and has been married to the 39 year old Amoeba for a year. He forced her to marry him to repay her "debt" to him for the death of his little amoebic brother (who also slurped a lot of sewage mixed with a lifestyle where he wrecked three pricey sports cars in five years,) and who killed himself in a fourth car wreck after the h refused his proposal of marriage -- because they had only been friends in her eyes and he was kind to her, but she did not love him and wouldn't marry a man without it.
The h had been doing her modeling career, mostly to support her mum's mortgage, her mum disapproved but was happy to live on the h's money. The little amoeba kept escorting her out and she refused to go to bed with him or marry him, and little amoeba went whining to all and sundry that she was rejecting his lurve. Then he died when racing his car and hitting an oil slick, the h felt partially responsible, and the Amoeba firmly insisted that she was the direct cause of his brother's death and she had to pay.
Amoeba threatened to foreclose on her mum's home if she did not do as he said. Amoeba marries her, isolates her in his luxurious home where he regularly taunts and berates her and forces her to throw parties where he brings his latest mistress along. He is horribly mean and awful, as is his current mistress. The h has a nervous breakdown after a year of torture when the h realizes the man the Amoeba has hired to be her jailer is in love with her and the H starts in with his accusations and insults when he finds them out on the balcony together. The h was blindsided by both the man's feelings and the H's attack and she pretty much has a mental collapse and sleeps for almost 24 hours.
Apparently her physical health is important to the Amoeba, he can't humiliate and attack her if she is physically ill and so he calls in his old friend, a doctor. The friendly family doctor advises a complete mental rest and a vacation and the Amoeba agrees - he will force the h into a vacation with him. So much for a mental rest. On the way to vacation, they come across a couple on a remote homestead who are unconscious from severe food poisoning. They arrange for a helicopter rescue and then find the couple's baby they overlooked.
They can't leave cause the Range Rover is not working, and the h surprises the Amoeba with how well she adapts to barren Outback living and cares for the baby. The Amoeba gets to know the h as a person instead of assuming she is a vacuous sex object, and is shocked that she is good with the baby in harsh conditions etc. He figured she was just like the other amoebic bimbos he swims in slime with, and that he was hurting her mightily by not allowing her to exercise her obviously great needs for sex and male companionship.
They Amoeba realizes he was wrong about the h in a lot of ways and he wants to "get to the bottom of her". They have some heart to hearts where she explains about her reluctance in modeling and he explains that his brother wrecked a lot of cars and she really wasn't responsible for his death.
The Amoeba was just angry that she wouldn't marry the brother and the brother did not get his way. The Ameoba resents that, A LOT. Supposedly little brother had a hard time with the Amoeba's and his stepmother and the Amoeba thought the h should make up for his own neglect during the little brother's childhood by doing what the little brother wanted irregardless of what she thought or needed.
The h is actually a bit put off by sex and feels a lot of unhappiness that she had to work at a career where she used sex to sell things. (LA has some kind of social commentary going on with this one, and I though it was way too overdone. She buys into the 70's feministic stereotype that modeling and women who model are not worthwhile people, and that the sole motivation of using a model is to sell sex. That may be a viewpoint, but there is a lot of gray in the world and anyhow, social commentary doesn't belong in HPLandia - it is a social commentary all on it's own and doesn't need outer world enhancement IMO.)
The H realizes that she really isn't like what he has been thinking she was and so after the baby is reunited with it's grateful parents and the h and Amoeba are getting along a bit better, they continue their vacation at a nice resort. They are starting to come to a sort of peaceful truce but the A is physically attracted to the h and starts kissing her. The h responds but then draws back from physical intimacy, she sees his attraction and his repulsion in his eyes.
She doesn't want to have sex with a man who resents wanting her and tries to get away and the A promptly rapes her, telling her she has no choice. She REALLY doesn't enjoy it - she is a virgin and he forcibly holds her down and attacks her. The A blames her for being a virgin and not telling him. She admits she did not because the A wouldn't have believed her and also because she felt it was repayment for his brother's death.
The A then does some more psycho-analytical garbage on the h that winds up with her being convinced she invited her own rape. While the h wants to end the marriage as he promised, the A decides that she can just learn to enjoy being raped and starts the sex all over again.
The A is "teaching" her and "freeing" her from her inhibitions. The h is even more traumatized now cause she did NOT want the lurve club, but he brought out a physical response and so to alleviate her own sense of deep shame for enjoying repeated rapes, she convinces herself that she is in love with the A. He is quick to take advantage of that, while telling her that he is setting her up to enjoy other men.
They return to his home and the sexing goes on, but though the Amoeba said he wanted a real marriage, it quickly becomes obvious he is only using her as a willing receptacle for his lurve emissions. He either ignores her or belittles her or acts like she is about to seduce all his business associates every time he bothers to come home. The h tries to talk to him about needing more in a marriage and the Amoeba decides he needs to divorce her, now that he has "cured" her of her sex hangups.
They part, he gives her the deed to her mum's house, and the h is heartbroken. Mum met a new man and married, so the h lives in the house she paid so dearly for. She gets a job doing radio interviews and starts putting her life together again after she gets the final divorce papers. Then she sees the Amoeba at the horse races, goes home without speaking to him and has a meltdown on the porch.
The Amoeba shows up because she smiled across the paddock at him and finds her crying her heart out. He confesses that he loves her and used her as a punching bag to pay for his own sins of sleeping with his stepmother while she was married to his father. His father had a heart attack when the stepmother threw the affair in his face and the h looked like the stepmother, so he had to abuse her to atone for his past errors in judgement.
The h is just happy he wants her again, she throws herself at him and vows eternal love and it is an HEA that continues into The Heart of the Matter - (which is another messed up wrecky extravaganza with an h whose different, but remarkably similar in sewage slurping, Amoeba sleeps with her mum) - where this Amoeba and h are apparently very happily married or he is still practicing his brainwashing techniques.
Overall this is not a book to recommend to people you like, unless they have a large liquor cabinet and a taste for wreckiness with a strong stomach. The angst is prolific, but the revelations about the Amoeba and his motivations come so late in the book that there is no chance for anything but serious revulsion that this middle-aged parasite has latched on to a sadly abused and brainwashed woman.
LA does prove that she can hang with the best in repulsive males, and she manages to keep that repulsion going for a few more books. I like LA in general, but she is definitely an acquired taste and should really only be read by those who are hardened veterans of HPlandia - her early works especially are not for newbies or those of romantic sensibilities, she has some very messed up situations in these ones and not everyone will enjoy them.
If you like the wreckiangst or the totally non pc-ness of the early 80's and don't mind rape, LA does do some intricate plots and has some really great h's - her H's are the ones that she has to work on and they do eventually get better - but not in this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2020
Reread Sept. 2020
I raised my rating to 4 stars after rereading this. All the same problems/objections are still there, but I found it such a compelling read that I enjoyed it all over again. If you are an angst junkie and love a cruel hero, you will probably like this one.
Original Review:
This is a revenge story that turns into a meditation on guilt and redemption. That so many readers can't forgive the hero, tells me the author wasn't successful in redeeming him - or even explaining his behavior, but I found it fascinating.
I won't go into the plot because so many other reviewers have covered the highlights. Here's what I liked about this story:
1.Heroine's reactions to being in a year-long revenge marriage which is the opening of the story. She basically has a breakdown and the hero realizes what he's done to her.
2. How does a hero climb down from his revenge scenario? I found the sojourn to the Outback to be the perfect transition in the story. The H/h had to work together and think about someone other than themselves.
3. The sex was not great for the heroine the first time (it was basically rape). The hero is wracked with guilt and the heroine is in a daze - that seemed very realistic to me. It took a while for them to find their rhythm, so to speak, but they did.
4. The hero had been terrified* by the heroine (triggered by his own sordid past) from the first time he met her and it's what caused him to break up with her in the black moment. His backstory worked for me, but I can see why it didn't work for others. We find out what the trauma was so late in the story - and it does not shed a good light on the hero - that I can see why the ending raises doubts in the reader.
5. I liked that none of the pain was glossed over - these characters suffered at each other's hands - but the author also showed how they could be good together in some lovely scenes in the middle of the story. It's the "pierced heart" school of love - only a lover can hurt you and only that same lover can heal you. The author is not completely successful with this scenario. The heroine suffers too much, imo. But it's a story to make you think (or rage and throw things).
*terrified the way un-evolved males are terrified - lashing out - projecting - running away. This is not a good trait. I liked that LA doesn't sugar-coat it. There's nothing seductive about this behavior. It's only when he shows his better nature that the reader can even like the hero.
I raised my rating to 4 stars after rereading this. All the same problems/objections are still there, but I found it such a compelling read that I enjoyed it all over again. If you are an angst junkie and love a cruel hero, you will probably like this one.
Original Review:
This is a revenge story that turns into a meditation on guilt and redemption. That so many readers can't forgive the hero, tells me the author wasn't successful in redeeming him - or even explaining his behavior, but I found it fascinating.
I won't go into the plot because so many other reviewers have covered the highlights. Here's what I liked about this story:
1.Heroine's reactions to being in a year-long revenge marriage which is the opening of the story. She basically has a breakdown and the hero realizes what he's done to her.
2. How does a hero climb down from his revenge scenario? I found the sojourn to the Outback to be the perfect transition in the story. The H/h had to work together and think about someone other than themselves.
3. The sex was not great for the heroine the first time (it was basically rape). The hero is wracked with guilt and the heroine is in a daze - that seemed very realistic to me. It took a while for them to find their rhythm, so to speak, but they did.
4. The hero had been terrified* by the heroine (triggered by his own sordid past) from the first time he met her and it's what caused him to break up with her in the black moment. His backstory worked for me, but I can see why it didn't work for others. We find out what the trauma was so late in the story - and it does not shed a good light on the hero - that I can see why the ending raises doubts in the reader.
5. I liked that none of the pain was glossed over - these characters suffered at each other's hands - but the author also showed how they could be good together in some lovely scenes in the middle of the story. It's the "pierced heart" school of love - only a lover can hurt you and only that same lover can heal you. The author is not completely successful with this scenario. The heroine suffers too much, imo. But it's a story to make you think (or rage and throw things).
*terrified the way un-evolved males are terrified - lashing out - projecting - running away. This is not a good trait. I liked that LA doesn't sugar-coat it. There's nothing seductive about this behavior. It's only when he shows his better nature that the reader can even like the hero.
December 15, 2022
Oh boy! Been a while since I read such a tearjerker train wreck. I can see why it has received all the mixed reviews, but I luuurved it. Every tear-inducing, angst-ridden page of it.
Usually I hate weepy hs but I didn't mind the author keeping the waterworks turned on, all the way through.
If it was a death, MUs, blame and vengeance that cause heartburn and tears in the first half, then it is conflicted emotions and deep seated unresolved guilt that causes a rift in their fragile relationship in the second half.
* Major spoilers Ahead *
Usually I hate weepy hs but I didn't mind the author keeping the waterworks turned on, all the way through.
If it was a death, MUs, blame and vengeance that cause heartburn and tears in the first half, then it is conflicted emotions and deep seated unresolved guilt that causes a rift in their fragile relationship in the second half.
* Major spoilers Ahead *
August 29, 2021
I can't forgive the H. If he didn't see her at the race, she would have been miserable for a long time.
October 2, 2011
I thought this would be an angsty read because it started as a revenge plot – for her having rejected the hero’s younger brother who then sped off and killed himself in a car accident. But then they settled into an uneasy but barely tolerable marriage. But I don’t like the book for three reasons:
1. the hint of marital rape. The act wasn’t described in the book but it can be conjectured that it wasn’t a pleasure act for the virginal girl and she went through the motion with the sense of compensation for having indirectly caused the death of the younger brother. They immediately resolved the issue and started a new, more companion-like direction in their marriage. Marital relations were resumed a few weeks after the incident.
2. the passage of time, at the end. I don’t understand how the H could just give up their relationship, divorce her, then after more than a year search for her again to renew everything. It was probably meant to show how she grew, away from his shadow, but plot seemed half-baked.
3. his long-ago and long-ended sordid affair with his stepmother under the nose of his father. This is just a moral failing that’s another dealbreaker for me.
So many books, so little time. I could have passed up on this one.
1. the hint of marital rape. The act wasn’t described in the book but it can be conjectured that it wasn’t a pleasure act for the virginal girl and she went through the motion with the sense of compensation for having indirectly caused the death of the younger brother. They immediately resolved the issue and started a new, more companion-like direction in their marriage. Marital relations were resumed a few weeks after the incident.
2. the passage of time, at the end. I don’t understand how the H could just give up their relationship, divorce her, then after more than a year search for her again to renew everything. It was probably meant to show how she grew, away from his shadow, but plot seemed half-baked.
3. his long-ago and long-ended sordid affair with his stepmother under the nose of his father. This is just a moral failing that’s another dealbreaker for me.
So many books, so little time. I could have passed up on this one.
December 14, 2022
2 "nemotode" stars from Boogenhausen? "If you are an angst junkie and love a cruel hero, you will probably like this one" says St Margarets? Oooh, yes please! It's been so long since I ran across a new-to-me punishing-hero story! Scratched all my dark "screw the roses, send me the thorns" itches for sure, in that way that only older HPs can. As usual, we spend a lot of time in LA's heroine's head, privy to her deepest thoughts (and bad poetry)--if with far...fewer...ellipses than I usually associate with her (thanks editor!). The hero is far more inscrutable in that classic HP no-hero-POV way, which, for me, makes for even more angst since we don't understand his underlying drivers/traumas until the very end. Much of the hero's worst behavior is in the past as the story begins (and LA does not go into the detail that Diana Palmer would have so deliciously to make explicit his likely neglect, slut shaming, and contempt of our poor misunderstood ex-model), but even as he moves to understanding that he's misjudged our poor heroine, there's plenty of cruel hero to go around still. Not for everyone, but for fans of the darker, older HPs, this one might be worth seeking out.
March 23, 2022
I am not sure he cheated. I never read that at least. But the story was boring and the hero was a jerk but he said he never slept with the OW so I am not sure why I marked it as cheating this was very boring.
February 28, 2023
Disjointed and inconsistent.
It’s maybe a matter of it’s me and not the author but I think that I definitely have not a good relationship with this author.
Her books don’t reach me. They leave me cold.
Even in one like this that should be angsty, I can’t feel the angst.
The dialogues seems incongruous and the characters are somehow distant.
The heroine is a beautiful model who had somehow of an emotional affair with the hero’s brother.
When he dies in a car accident after she rejected him the hero blames her for his death and blackmails her into a fake marriage where he will - what exactly- I don’t know how to describe it- maybe he will keep her as a trophy wife without any right to be free.
The hero might be cold and sometimes cruel but we don’t exactly know the how and the when, we only know he takes her out to his dinner and dresses her nicely, and it’s not exactly explained if he has a mistress or not but it appears he doesn’t have one because he’s as cold as a dead fish.
When she has a nervous breakdown he decides it’s time for them to take a nice holiday together because he starts having doubts on her being the whore of Babylon so they have this holiday together and he understands he was wrong about her, she’s young, innocent and his brother after all loved speed and had a car crash that he would have anyway sooner or later.
Why the heroine should feel something more than anger and contempt for such a man who always judged her without really knowing her it’s a mystery to me.
That’s it, they fall in love and eventually even have sex together.
It’s not so good for the heroine, and that’s where the hero fails completely because he could be cruel, selfish and stupid but no, please, why does he have to be a bad lay too?
After some time the heroine is able to enjoy the sex more but sadly as soon as the holidays ends the hero is once again distant and cold, until he tells her he doesn’t love her and he wants to set her free so she can find a man who loves her.
F**k you man!
Why didn’t he set her free before being intimate and telling her sweet little things?
Idiot and coward!
So the heroine is divorced and dumped and for one year he basically ghosts her.
The poor woman is really depressed and since she’s not so brilliant either, she doesn’t abuse the first law of dumped women: to get over someone you have to get under someone.
Soooo nope sadly she doesn’t try to move on or onto someone else, and when they meet one year later she’s still in love with him.
The poor excuses he gives her for his dumping are ludicrous and I don’t want to tell them since I’m embarrassed for him, but let me tell you that I wouldn’t have taken him back if he had walked on fire without shoes, of course.
Nope.
But she’s miss pushover 1985 and several following years too, so she takes him back without a fuss.
Bad, too bad.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that he used her and punished her without even giving her the chance to speak for herself, I hated that he used her for sex then divorced her and wouldn’t have come back if he hadn’t met her accidentally because he was afraid of her rejection. Coward.
The heroine believed she deserved her punishment because she rejected the hero’s brother, really? So I don’t have the right to refuse a man I’m not sure I love because he could smash his sorry ass crashing a car???? In what planet are you living???
So nope, the book didn’t get me at all, the hero is the most annoying and less charming I’ve recently read and the heroine doesn’t even have a spine.
I think that I’m definitely over with this author. I’ve tried and did my best but she’s not for me.
It’s maybe a matter of it’s me and not the author but I think that I definitely have not a good relationship with this author.
Her books don’t reach me. They leave me cold.
Even in one like this that should be angsty, I can’t feel the angst.
The dialogues seems incongruous and the characters are somehow distant.
The heroine is a beautiful model who had somehow of an emotional affair with the hero’s brother.
When he dies in a car accident after she rejected him the hero blames her for his death and blackmails her into a fake marriage where he will - what exactly- I don’t know how to describe it- maybe he will keep her as a trophy wife without any right to be free.
The hero might be cold and sometimes cruel but we don’t exactly know the how and the when, we only know he takes her out to his dinner and dresses her nicely, and it’s not exactly explained if he has a mistress or not but it appears he doesn’t have one because he’s as cold as a dead fish.
When she has a nervous breakdown he decides it’s time for them to take a nice holiday together because he starts having doubts on her being the whore of Babylon so they have this holiday together and he understands he was wrong about her, she’s young, innocent and his brother after all loved speed and had a car crash that he would have anyway sooner or later.
Why the heroine should feel something more than anger and contempt for such a man who always judged her without really knowing her it’s a mystery to me.
That’s it, they fall in love and eventually even have sex together.
It’s not so good for the heroine, and that’s where the hero fails completely because he could be cruel, selfish and stupid but no, please, why does he have to be a bad lay too?
After some time the heroine is able to enjoy the sex more but sadly as soon as the holidays ends the hero is once again distant and cold, until he tells her he doesn’t love her and he wants to set her free so she can find a man who loves her.
F**k you man!
Why didn’t he set her free before being intimate and telling her sweet little things?
Idiot and coward!
So the heroine is divorced and dumped and for one year he basically ghosts her.
The poor woman is really depressed and since she’s not so brilliant either, she doesn’t abuse the first law of dumped women: to get over someone you have to get under someone.
Soooo nope sadly she doesn’t try to move on or onto someone else, and when they meet one year later she’s still in love with him.
The poor excuses he gives her for his dumping are ludicrous and I don’t want to tell them since I’m embarrassed for him, but let me tell you that I wouldn’t have taken him back if he had walked on fire without shoes, of course.
Nope.
But she’s miss pushover 1985 and several following years too, so she takes him back without a fuss.
Bad, too bad.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that he used her and punished her without even giving her the chance to speak for herself, I hated that he used her for sex then divorced her and wouldn’t have come back if he hadn’t met her accidentally because he was afraid of her rejection. Coward.
The heroine believed she deserved her punishment because she rejected the hero’s brother, really? So I don’t have the right to refuse a man I’m not sure I love because he could smash his sorry ass crashing a car???? In what planet are you living???
So nope, the book didn’t get me at all, the hero is the most annoying and less charming I’ve recently read and the heroine doesn’t even have a spine.
I think that I’m definitely over with this author. I’ve tried and did my best but she’s not for me.
December 6, 2018
2 stars
This one had all the elements that I usually like, but I felt removed from everything while reading. I'm not sure if it was me or the author who kept the reader from any emotional involvement with the characters but descriptions of clothing, locales, etc. are not emotional connections between the two MCs - and, they do not spend much time together, everthing is from the h's POV and there is little insight into the H except from two information dumps - 1 by his family's longtime housekeeper.
This one had all the elements that I usually like, but I felt removed from everything while reading. I'm not sure if it was me or the author who kept the reader from any emotional involvement with the characters but descriptions of clothing, locales, etc. are not emotional connections between the two MCs - and, they do not spend much time together, everthing is from the h's POV and there is little insight into the H except from two information dumps - 1 by his family's longtime housekeeper.
January 26, 2013
Wow! Just Wow! I can’t even deem it a train wreck, cause baby, I COULD look away!
David determined that Lineesa was a gold digging harlot that was responsible for his younger brother’s death, due to a high speed accident. He decides to seek revenge by basically forcing her to marry him and he will keep her in the fashion he believes she enjoys – gold digger minus the tramp part because he isn’t about to consummate that marriage. I still can’t believe these hs can’t find another job in this enormous world to support themselves – okay and really if she were a gold digger Mr. Marchmont wouldn’t she have quickly found a richer man to put you off??? Oh yeah and I guess it’s just an HPlandia law whereby a foreclosure can be had just for the heck of it! So trite.
So David and Lineesa have been married for a year and it is a marriage in name only. Did I happen to mention their ages? I don’t know why but sometimes this really bothers me. She is only 21 while he is kissing 40 and frankly, should have known better. Keeping her locked up she decides that everything in the world is her fault! Yes, the brother’s death is her fault, her looks her fault, the fact that men want her because of her looks …..you get the point. Also, just the way that younger brother approached her in the beginning seemed a bit creepy but then maybe it’s the world of today that makes it that way. Once David has Lineesa convinced that everything in the world is her fault he sees that she is starting to break – yeah, okay he claims he couldn’t ever break her spirit but I disagree. WTH was up with her actions that night? Seemed like a break to me and then the fact that she clings to him later on and has determined that she is in love with him.
This one just went from bad to worse and somewhere under that pond scum it continued to delve deeper. He never once got to know her and he used his brother as the excuse for making her pay. In reality this creepy crawly with morals that don’t seem to exist, believed she resembled someone else and he was hoping to make her pay for something he should have paid for tenfold!! How in the world can you call him a Hero? Okay I get some cheat with OM’s spouses but this was really keeping it in the family and seemed so TWISTED!!! He even managed to rape Lineesa and guess what….yep it was her fault!! I can’t recall now but I think it was even her fault that she resembled the OW. I don’t think this book is romantic at all and she, Lineesa, should have been thanking her lucky stars she got away from this creep!! This guy even determined that what the OM may have felt for her wasn’t love at all. Why? How would David know? Because he acquaints it with what he felt for OW? PUUUHHLLEEAAZZEE!! I think he was so enamored of the OW that he was willing to ruin a family for her and he couldn’t even do the right thing and walk away. Oh wait!! That’s why he walked away from Lineesa right? Because he loved her? So….yeah see where I’m going….that means the OM truly loved her too!!!!
David determined that Lineesa was a gold digging harlot that was responsible for his younger brother’s death, due to a high speed accident. He decides to seek revenge by basically forcing her to marry him and he will keep her in the fashion he believes she enjoys – gold digger minus the tramp part because he isn’t about to consummate that marriage. I still can’t believe these hs can’t find another job in this enormous world to support themselves – okay and really if she were a gold digger Mr. Marchmont wouldn’t she have quickly found a richer man to put you off??? Oh yeah and I guess it’s just an HPlandia law whereby a foreclosure can be had just for the heck of it! So trite.
So David and Lineesa have been married for a year and it is a marriage in name only. Did I happen to mention their ages? I don’t know why but sometimes this really bothers me. She is only 21 while he is kissing 40 and frankly, should have known better. Keeping her locked up she decides that everything in the world is her fault! Yes, the brother’s death is her fault, her looks her fault, the fact that men want her because of her looks …..you get the point. Also, just the way that younger brother approached her in the beginning seemed a bit creepy but then maybe it’s the world of today that makes it that way. Once David has Lineesa convinced that everything in the world is her fault he sees that she is starting to break – yeah, okay he claims he couldn’t ever break her spirit but I disagree. WTH was up with her actions that night? Seemed like a break to me and then the fact that she clings to him later on and has determined that she is in love with him.
This one just went from bad to worse and somewhere under that pond scum it continued to delve deeper. He never once got to know her and he used his brother as the excuse for making her pay. In reality this creepy crawly with morals that don’t seem to exist, believed she resembled someone else and he was hoping to make her pay for something he should have paid for tenfold!! How in the world can you call him a Hero? Okay I get some cheat with OM’s spouses but this was really keeping it in the family and seemed so TWISTED!!! He even managed to rape Lineesa and guess what….yep it was her fault!! I can’t recall now but I think it was even her fault that she resembled the OW. I don’t think this book is romantic at all and she, Lineesa, should have been thanking her lucky stars she got away from this creep!! This guy even determined that what the OM may have felt for her wasn’t love at all. Why? How would David know? Because he acquaints it with what he felt for OW? PUUUHHLLEEAAZZEE!! I think he was so enamored of the OW that he was willing to ruin a family for her and he couldn’t even do the right thing and walk away. Oh wait!! That’s why he walked away from Lineesa right? Because he loved her? So….yeah see where I’m going….that means the OM truly loved her too!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2014
Absolutely horrid. Yet, as everyone else has commented, it's a train wreck I couldn't put down. A more hateful hero in HPLandia would be hard to find. Non-stop emotional abuse. Rape. Hot and cold treatment. Man tease. And the list goes on and on and on. And the little secret reveal at the end only made the hero more revolting and vile. Awful, awful, awful. And yet, I couldn't stop reading. What does that say about me? I must be a masochist just like the heroine.
December 6, 2012
I just couldnt stop swiping to the next page. Fan friggin tastic trainwreck to kill insomnia.
December 3, 2023
Поредната арлекинска кукувица, която съвсем не е лоша 🤣
3,5⭐️
3,5⭐️
April 10, 2013
Creepy 'hero'. Doormat woman. Stockholm syndrome after much mental abuse. He broke her. Raped her. And then forced her to continue on in the relationship after expressing intense remorse. He was remorseful because he raped a virgin, not because he RAPED SOMEONE.
I know. I know. It was written back in my teenage years when this shit was acceptable, but at least make the grovel good. She was such an effin wuss - stepford young woman with creepy older man.
Just bad.
I know. I know. It was written back in my teenage years when this shit was acceptable, but at least make the grovel good. She was such an effin wuss - stepford young woman with creepy older man.
Just bad.
June 15, 2020
Sorry, not my idea of a romantic hero. Cruel, violent, heartless heroes are dime a dozen in HP Land. But this one is creepy, perverted, yuck !
He had the hots for his step mother, and carried on with her behind his elderly father's back ! Agreed, he feels horribly guilty about it. But when he confesses his sordid tale to the hapless heroine , he argues that he was just 21 , That's his defense !! Really !?!?!??!?@$#$
21 is adult, man. You should be jailed for this ! So what if the step mother was a bitchy seductress !
Now after a lot of years, the hero finds another stunning looking woman, the heroine. And she is in the 'wrong' profession. Oh, no. Don't get fancy ideas. HP land cannot handle the harsh realities of prostitutes and fallen women. This one is merely a model ! And a virgin at that !!
At 21, she is making plenty of money. But is made to believe that its the earning of sin. She walks and talks like a cynical cross bearer. What truckload of nonsense !
The hero marries her by blackmail. Why is that ? She befriended his younger brother, who coincidentally happened to die on the same day the heroine gently turned down his marriage proposal. So the elder brother decides, I have found a reincarnation of the evil step mother. I couldn't punish the older one. Let me bring the world down on this poor hapless girl !
Married, living a life of ice cold disdain. First anniversary comes. And suddenly he realizes he is harming her too much. Its affecting her health and sanity. So off they go , on a country side trip. They inevitably get close. The "Oh, she is a virgin" discovery happens. And then he sobers down. She also happens to fancy him. So all's well.
But after a while he decides she is becoming too important to him. So its time to cut her off. Snap divorce, pointless separation for over a year. She is pining still, but at least manages to make a good life for herself.
They meet by chance after a good year or so. And the longing, guilt and sordid confessions pour out. What's there to forgive, just love me , she says. HEA !!!!!!!
Nope, doesn't work at any level.
He had the hots for his step mother, and carried on with her behind his elderly father's back ! Agreed, he feels horribly guilty about it. But when he confesses his sordid tale to the hapless heroine , he argues that he was just 21 , That's his defense !! Really !?!?!??!?@$#$
21 is adult, man. You should be jailed for this ! So what if the step mother was a bitchy seductress !
Now after a lot of years, the hero finds another stunning looking woman, the heroine. And she is in the 'wrong' profession. Oh, no. Don't get fancy ideas. HP land cannot handle the harsh realities of prostitutes and fallen women. This one is merely a model ! And a virgin at that !!
At 21, she is making plenty of money. But is made to believe that its the earning of sin. She walks and talks like a cynical cross bearer. What truckload of nonsense !
The hero marries her by blackmail. Why is that ? She befriended his younger brother, who coincidentally happened to die on the same day the heroine gently turned down his marriage proposal. So the elder brother decides, I have found a reincarnation of the evil step mother. I couldn't punish the older one. Let me bring the world down on this poor hapless girl !
Married, living a life of ice cold disdain. First anniversary comes. And suddenly he realizes he is harming her too much. Its affecting her health and sanity. So off they go , on a country side trip. They inevitably get close. The "Oh, she is a virgin" discovery happens. And then he sobers down. She also happens to fancy him. So all's well.
But after a while he decides she is becoming too important to him. So its time to cut her off. Snap divorce, pointless separation for over a year. She is pining still, but at least manages to make a good life for herself.
They meet by chance after a good year or so. And the longing, guilt and sordid confessions pour out. What's there to forgive, just love me , she says. HEA !!!!!!!
Nope, doesn't work at any level.
May 24, 2021
This had the potential to turn out decent if not for the unnecessary twist in the end accompanying the long time period.
Our FL is a model a.k.a "scarlet woman" in the world's eyes according to the book who **spoiler alert** is a virgin like that was the twist we did not see coming. She leads on the ML's younger brother knowing she was getting some signal of "love" from him but like an ostrich burying their head in the sand she kept believing it is "friendship" when at one point she even contemplates marrying him. Ultimately realizes it would be wrong to marry him when faced with his proposal, rejects him leading to the younger brother driving like a maniac and dying. She finds herself in a situation every FL of the M&B land faces when trouble comes knocking on their door- "Getting blackmailed into marrying" or "marriage of convenience"
The leads carry on for a year leading separate lives and just being an event attending couple. The FL having nervous breakdown and being hysterical makes the ML realize that she is not as cold and unfeeling as she looks??? How do you infer that but ok. Moving on takes her on a trip, forcefully makes love to her, makes her fall for him and then returning to normal life says they should call it quits as the FL fell in the pit of love and he can't reciprocate it. They get divorced and meet after more than a year and the ML comes hoping for another chance and yay it's **happily ever after** with a nonsensical reason as explanation for leaving her.
Honestly I am pretty sure the ML would not have come back to make amends if he had not seen her and they would have lead separate lives. It seemed he saw her and decided well why not... let's pick up where we left off.
Our FL is a model a.k.a "scarlet woman" in the world's eyes according to the book who **spoiler alert** is a virgin like that was the twist we did not see coming. She leads on the ML's younger brother knowing she was getting some signal of "love" from him but like an ostrich burying their head in the sand she kept believing it is "friendship" when at one point she even contemplates marrying him. Ultimately realizes it would be wrong to marry him when faced with his proposal, rejects him leading to the younger brother driving like a maniac and dying. She finds herself in a situation every FL of the M&B land faces when trouble comes knocking on their door- "Getting blackmailed into marrying" or "marriage of convenience"
The leads carry on for a year leading separate lives and just being an event attending couple. The FL having nervous breakdown and being hysterical makes the ML realize that she is not as cold and unfeeling as she looks??? How do you infer that but ok. Moving on takes her on a trip, forcefully makes love to her, makes her fall for him and then returning to normal life says they should call it quits as the FL fell in the pit of love and he can't reciprocate it. They get divorced and meet after more than a year and the ML comes hoping for another chance and yay it's **happily ever after** with a nonsensical reason as explanation for leaving her.
Honestly I am pretty sure the ML would not have come back to make amends if he had not seen her and they would have lead separate lives. It seemed he saw her and decided well why not... let's pick up where we left off.
June 21, 2016
Mental abuse. Rape. Stockholm syndrome. Do you need more to be convinced to not give this book a choice?! I don't know why the heck I didn't read the GR reviews before starting this book, it would have been better for me and my health. Jeez. Not anymore shit from this author, that is for sure.
February 20, 2022
This book was sick....so unromantic..is that why people marry?? to misudge and then decide to punish through marriage? wtf! - enough to drive the innocent h to her mental breakdown. Tbe hero was not only sick and cruel but also with an incestous shade to his character ..i hated him!!!
March 5, 2021
Perhaps the worst "hero" in hplandia I've met yet.
September 25, 2014
This started out really nicely seeming like a good angsty revenge story, but instead, the hero dropped the purposeful a--hole behavior (which I like in HP land) and instead just became a weak-willed, pathetic a--hole (which I don't like anywhere). It was readable, but disappointing.
Side note that it was interesting to see the hero and heroine have to try a few times before the heroine enjoyed sex.
Side note that it was interesting to see the hero and heroine have to try a few times before the heroine enjoyed sex.
January 19, 2013
love the book !! it would have been a 5 star if the sex scenes were described but then it was an old harlequin
Read
March 25, 2014review to come
April 16, 2016
1.25 stars
September 18, 2021
I literally opened goodreads to specially add this review. Absolute trainwreck! I gave this book so many chances right down to the last 10 pages but the author let me down completely.
1. The classic revenge marriage trope was so weak but I let it go.
2. The H gave the h an intense nervous breakdown and destroyed her whole personality and life, and this is also show in the book. I felt each moment of it.
3. He then drags her up to some rough region for a "vacation" where she becomes the carer for an abandoned baby and all he can still say with moony eyes is one day, yes she should have a baby (with someone else)
4. They randomly end up having fade-to-black sex and it is made very clear that the h doesn't get her culmination, with the H saying every time "Don't worry, you'll get it eventually" like it's something she needs to work on herself. I think she got it maybe once in the whole book.
5. The H emotionally dumps her the minute they go back home, and only uses her as a receptacle, and eventually that stops too, they eventually have a convo where they h confesses her stockholm syndrome love, and the H replies by saying they should split up ASAP. The h moves out, gets a job, and is eventually given completed divorce papers. (Yes, exactly that casually, over the course of a few paragraphs!)
6. 1 year later, the H spies the h randomly and just as randomly FINALLY goes to meet her for the first time in months, and they decide to remarry.
7. Most icky of all, he admits that he slept with his stepmother while she was still married to his dad, and it gave his father a heart attack. DISGUSTING NEMATODE.
1. The classic revenge marriage trope was so weak but I let it go.
2. The H gave the h an intense nervous breakdown and destroyed her whole personality and life, and this is also show in the book. I felt each moment of it.
3. He then drags her up to some rough region for a "vacation" where she becomes the carer for an abandoned baby and all he can still say with moony eyes is one day, yes she should have a baby (with someone else)
4. They randomly end up having fade-to-black sex and it is made very clear that the h doesn't get her culmination, with the H saying every time "Don't worry, you'll get it eventually" like it's something she needs to work on herself. I think she got it maybe once in the whole book.
5. The H emotionally dumps her the minute they go back home, and only uses her as a receptacle, and eventually that stops too, they eventually have a convo where they h confesses her stockholm syndrome love, and the H replies by saying they should split up ASAP. The h moves out, gets a job, and is eventually given completed divorce papers. (Yes, exactly that casually, over the course of a few paragraphs!)
6. 1 year later, the H spies the h randomly and just as randomly FINALLY goes to meet her for the first time in months, and they decide to remarry.
7. Most icky of all, he admits that he slept with his stepmother while she was still married to his dad, and it gave his father a heart attack. DISGUSTING NEMATODE.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2022
3.75 stars
Ok, I should, by all rights, rate this one star. The heroine is kind of a doormat. The ending is abrupt. He doesn’t chase after her at the end. And there’s a cheesy poem.
But…
Taking into account the era the HQ was made in and accepting the H’s outdated stereotypical behavior as if you are reading a period romance…and setting aside the abrupt ending…it’s actually really good.
The fact that he doesn’t chase after her bothered me, but I think it actually works based on his treatment of her. He doesn’t think he is good for her, basically, or that she would really be happy with him.
It also bothered me that the only reason he came after her is because she smiled brilliantly at him - honestly the only non-doormatish thing she does for most of the book, really, but when he explained his reasoning it sort of worked for me, at least in retrospect.
And I love the speech about how he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and worried if she was warm enough, and so forth.
The angst is just everywhere, in waves, throughout the book. The H and h’s relationship transforms like 7 different times to completely different relationships so they actually know each other in more than one way by the end of the book. Their relationship is, for once, not based on sex!!?? And the poem, though cheesy, does play a good role in the plot.
Plus there are so many funny statements here and there, especially towards the beginning. This is the one where, in middle of a party, she idly wonders if anyone has ever been brained by a champagne glass.
I know I shouldn’t…but…I really like this one. Especially the angst, I don’t know if it was just the fact that I was tired but I cried!!!
I think it also helps that it was a re-read for me, so I knew what I was getting into and was better able to accept the story style going in.
3.75 Stars
Ok, I should, by all rights, rate this one star. The heroine is kind of a doormat. The ending is abrupt. He doesn’t chase after her at the end. And there’s a cheesy poem.
But…
Taking into account the era the HQ was made in and accepting the H’s outdated stereotypical behavior as if you are reading a period romance…and setting aside the abrupt ending…it’s actually really good.
The fact that he doesn’t chase after her bothered me, but I think it actually works based on his treatment of her. He doesn’t think he is good for her, basically, or that she would really be happy with him.
It also bothered me that the only reason he came after her is because she smiled brilliantly at him - honestly the only non-doormatish thing she does for most of the book, really, but when he explained his reasoning it sort of worked for me, at least in retrospect.
And I love the speech about how he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and worried if she was warm enough, and so forth.
The angst is just everywhere, in waves, throughout the book. The H and h’s relationship transforms like 7 different times to completely different relationships so they actually know each other in more than one way by the end of the book. Their relationship is, for once, not based on sex!!?? And the poem, though cheesy, does play a good role in the plot.
Plus there are so many funny statements here and there, especially towards the beginning. This is the one where, in middle of a party, she idly wonders if anyone has ever been brained by a champagne glass.
I know I shouldn’t…but…I really like this one. Especially the angst, I don’t know if it was just the fact that I was tired but I cried!!!
I think it also helps that it was a re-read for me, so I knew what I was getting into and was better able to accept the story style going in.
3.75 Stars
November 3, 2019
Lineesa was a model whom David Marchmont's brother, Piers, adored and wanted to marry, but Lineesa was honest with him and gently refused his proposal. She discovered later that he died two days afterwards in a car crash. David accused Lineesa of causing the crash albeit indirectly because she was mercenary and a tart. He made his mind up about her long time ago after overhearing a conversation between her and a friend of the family. He set himself a judge and sentenced her to the worst fate. He forced her to marry him to be only an "ornament" in his perfect life to teach her a lesson. A year passes, and Lineesa could take no more of David's cruelty, but what could she do when she was falling in his love?!
The way the book is written gives one a headache and the characters shift emotion like they shift their legs while walking! The hero changes from a vicious lion to a domesticated lamb within a chapter after a year of abusing the heroine! Nonsense! For sanity provision, I would recommend staying away from such silly books.
The way the book is written gives one a headache and the characters shift emotion like they shift their legs while walking! The hero changes from a vicious lion to a domesticated lamb within a chapter after a year of abusing the heroine! Nonsense! For sanity provision, I would recommend staying away from such silly books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2023
This book was one of the best, in that it was poignant, touches your heart, and goes deeper into emotions than the average.
It also shows how sometimes mistakes made unwittingly can have consequences you never bargained for. Linessa's modeling career led to her meeting one man too many with one thing on his mind, so she welcomed the friendship of Piers, and wanted it to continue even when his feelings changed to something more, and knowing she couldn't return them. Rather than confront this, she put it off, reluctant to end a friendship that made her happy and made no demands. When the truth comes out, a tragedy results which Linessa blames herself for, as does Piers's brother, David, who overhears a remark she made in response to a snarky, jealous model and takes Lindsey for a heartless gold-digger. He decides to punish her by marrying her, but punishes himself even more.
these are two damaged people, who are suffering from a load of guilt, each for different reasons. (in David's case, it has to do with his stepmother and a betrayal of his father.) there was more remorse and introspection here than you find in the usual HP book.
Also (thank you God) there's none of the usual running away by the h and the H doesn't come off like a jerk, or at least not too much. He puts on a facade of not caring or being unable to love, when in truth he cares too much and is afraid to love, and doesn't think he's worth it, that Linessa would be better off without him.
Linessa doesn't leave him, David tells her to go, believing he's doing the right thing. The scenes of her life without him, and when they meet again, make you want to cry. it's well written, by not being overdone.
There's an interlude in the story involving a baby which is really sweet.
This one's worth reading!
It also shows how sometimes mistakes made unwittingly can have consequences you never bargained for. Linessa's modeling career led to her meeting one man too many with one thing on his mind, so she welcomed the friendship of Piers, and wanted it to continue even when his feelings changed to something more, and knowing she couldn't return them. Rather than confront this, she put it off, reluctant to end a friendship that made her happy and made no demands. When the truth comes out, a tragedy results which Linessa blames herself for, as does Piers's brother, David, who overhears a remark she made in response to a snarky, jealous model and takes Lindsey for a heartless gold-digger. He decides to punish her by marrying her, but punishes himself even more.
these are two damaged people, who are suffering from a load of guilt, each for different reasons. (in David's case, it has to do with his stepmother and a betrayal of his father.) there was more remorse and introspection here than you find in the usual HP book.
Also (thank you God) there's none of the usual running away by the h and the H doesn't come off like a jerk, or at least not too much. He puts on a facade of not caring or being unable to love, when in truth he cares too much and is afraid to love, and doesn't think he's worth it, that Linessa would be better off without him.
Linessa doesn't leave him, David tells her to go, believing he's doing the right thing. The scenes of her life without him, and when they meet again, make you want to cry. it's well written, by not being overdone.
There's an interlude in the story involving a baby which is really sweet.
This one's worth reading!
Read
February 28, 2019Uh, what? This plot is very paper thin, and how the characters thrown together isn’t plausible. No one is likable, and the shenanigans this couple gets into doesn’t make any kind of sense or develop them at all.
not-interested-in-reading
October 27, 2024First, let me say I did not read this. After checking out some of the reviews, I totally believe I would not enjoy this book. I won't go into details other than what you will see from my bookshelves. That should be enough to tell you why I won't be entertaining this story further.
July 29, 2019
It wasn't too bad until the big reveal and then it got all kinds of eek. Won't go into details as I don't want to spoil it but just be prepared.
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