Μοιραία συνάντηση

by Judith Gould, Ρηγούλα Γεωργιάδου (Translator)

Η Βάλερι Ροσέλ, έχοντας απαρνηθεί τα πλούτη και την αριστοκρατική καταγωγή της, κερδίζει τη ζωή της δουλεύοντας ως κτηνίατρος σε μια επαρχιακή πόλη. Πίσω, όμως, από την εικόνα της δυναμικής, ανεξάρτητης γυναίκας, κρύβει μια καρδιά που λαχταρά την αγάπη και την αποδοχή που έχει στερηθεί. Μια νύχτα με καταιγίδα, την καλούν σ' ένα κοντινό κτήμα για να φροντίσει ένα άρρωστο άλογο. Και η Βάλερι, αψηφώντας τις φήμες που κυκλοφορούν για τον μυστηριώδη ιδιοκτήτη του, πηγαίνει μέσα στη θύελλα να συναντήσει το πεπρωμένο της...

Ο Γουίνταμ Άσλεϊ Κόνραντ ζει απομονωμένος στην έπαυλή του σαν ερημίτης. Κάποιοι πιστεύουν πως έχει διασυνδέσεις με τη μαφία, κάποιοι μιλούν για εμπόριο ναρκωτικών. Αλλά η αλήθεια είναι άλλη - και πολύ πιο οδυνηρή... Κληρονόμος μιας τεράστιας περιουσίας, ο Γουίνταμ ήταν κάποτε ένας ανέμελος πλεϊμπόι. Ώσπου ένα φρικτό ατύχημα άλλαξε για πάντα τη ζωή του. Κι από τότε κρύβεται από τον κόσμο για να προστατεύσει το μυστικό του...

Από τη στιγμή που συναντιούνται, εκείνη τη μοιραία, συναρπαστική νύχτα, ο Γουίν και η Βάλερι νιώθουν μια ακατανίκητη έλξη να τους ενώνει. αυτό, όμως, ανατρέπει τα σχέδια κάποιων ανθρώπων γύρω τους που δεν θα διστάσουν να φτάσουν στα άκρα για να τους χωρίσουν... Οι δυο εραστές πρέπει τώρα ν' αντλήσουν από την αγάπη τους τη δύναμη για να αντιμετωπίσουν όχι μόνο τις σκιές του παρελθόντος αλλά και τους κινδύνους του παρόντος, πριν διεκδικήσουν επιτέλους το δικαίωμα στην ευτυχία...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction

378 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

pseudonym of two authors: Nick Bienes and Rhea (pronounced “Ray”) Gallaher

Reviews

[Rhonda Rae Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense novel...page turner from the beginning...exciting and wonderfully surprising!

I've never read Judith Gould before and I'm embarrassed to say that because she is an exquisite author. My, oh my, I'll be collecting many more books from Ms. Gould…whew.

The title was what struck my attention because I enjoy things having to do with timing and/or time travel and this wasn't about time travel but something even more realistic and exciting. It's about timing in our lives. Everything has a season and time and everything has a reason or leads to something better when we are citizens of integrity.

I was pleasantly satisfied with this story, many layers, many tensions, many adventures, many twists, and it kept me guessing until the last chapter.

A fairy tale story and one that makes me believe in happy ever after reality. Sometimes there are tragedies in life, in fact, life is full of tragedies and wrongs but in the end everything does have a way of working out for the best and we can never know what the best is until we turn the last page.


Loved it! Thoroughly devoured it…(-:

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valerie Rochelle was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but as she grows up she is made to feel like an outsider always looking in at the perfect world of her parents. Gangly, tomboyish and shy, she's not pretty, popular or social enough to satisfy her family. For friendship and love she turns to animals with whom she develops quick and special bonds. She defies her family's wishes and trains as a veterinarian and, at the same time, she blossoms into a strikingly beautiful young woman and attracts Teddy de Mornay, a charming, handsome and popular young man who her family considers the ideal match for their daughter. While practising as a vet in the country, Valerie comes to the conclusion that Teddy isn't the man she thought he was. She meets Wyn Conrad, a mysterious stranger with a dark secret who is proprietor of Stonelair, a horse farm. They fall in love but their happiness is threatened from all sides. Unknown to them, Wyn's soon-to-be ex-wife will stop at nothing to see them both dead, as will his righthand man, Santo, and one of Valerie's colleagues has reasons of her own to murder them both - as well as Teddy...

[Marcia DeCruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what you'd expect from a romance novel.
Valerie the vet was born into a rich family with a pedigree name. Her mother is a snob. Her one defiance was going to veterinarian school that she paid for thru student loans. Her mother didn't approve and wanted to send her to a finishing school.
She is engaged to a fiancé with a pedigree name who she knows her mother would approve of.
Teddy's proposal made Val realized he was not the one however the mother keeps pushing for a wedding date.
Along comes Wyn...extremely wealthy but with some imperfections.
He had a polo accident that left him badly scarred.
Of course when he met Val, when one of his horse was sick, he knew she was the one.
Of course she felt the same way.
Because Wyn is filthy rich, everyone, it seems is out to get him for his money.
Typical romance novel. Nothing really spectacular. Just a good read.

[Lola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've read in a very long time!
Valerie became a veterinarian through no help from her snobbish, very monied parents.
She's been dating Teddy for a long time but she's not as excited by their relationship as she thinks she should be. It turns out that Teddy connives behind her back & in partnership with Val's mother to decide what Val should be doing with her life. Val needs to get tough & stand up for herself.
Val gets called to treat a horse at a place called Stonelair where the owner is never seen around town and receives no visitors. His worker is a Mr. Clean look-alike & scary.
Lots going on in this book--continued to hold my interest & made me lose sleep because I'd stay up to read what was going to happen.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple, straightforward, lighthearted read with some family drama, old world romanticism, and a woman set in living her best life by not fitting-in to social norms, old dreams, family money and what it all means.

Val a vet with intrinsic connection to her patients- is betrothed to one conniving and double dealing Teddy- she meets and falls for the town’s newbie with a presumed dark tale of his own.
Well, horses are poisoned; a hedgehog drowns; houses broken in; turned colleagues; mother daughter fights over assets; friendships won and all is well.
PS. lots of descriptive sex. Steamy 🧖🏾‍♀️

[Virginia Markhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot about this book that was super good, and just as much that was not. Really enjoyed the main character. Her frustration with her mother was real. Could not buy in to her issues with the boyfriend/fiancé. After dumping him, i struggled with ther immediate love for the new guy. Really? Way to much graphic sex for me. Seemed like the author was trying to offer way to much sex to cover up poor content. Ugh. Still, I couldnt put the darn thing now.

[Wika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprised me at the end though

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valerie Rochelle is a successful veterinarian. But beneath her independent, self-sufficient façade is a lonely little girl who yearns for affection and love. Then, one stormy evening, she is called to a nearby estate to tend to an ailing horse. No one has ever seen the reclusive new owner of Stonelair. Wyndham Ashley Conrad, the heir to a mining and chemical fortune, was once an international playboy, celebrated for his handsome looks and devil-may-care charm. Now he is a scarred, solitary figure who hides his painful secret from the world.

Yet from the moment Wyn and Valerie meet-one exhilarating, unforgettable night-something sparks to life between them. The powerful attraction that develops will take them beyond the fears of the past to a place of freedom and everlasting love.

A heartrending novel that speaks to our most intimate yearnings and desires, A Moment in Time brings together two of Judith Gould's most unforgettable characters: a man and a woman who see each other only with their hearts.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valerie Rochelle is a vererinarian, called to Stonelair to take care of a sick horse. Once she meets the elusive Wyn Conrad, who owns Stonelair, her life is never the same. Love story with just a little suspense thrown in for good measure.

[Connie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

good story, but the sex scenes were too much

[Georgia Steinhoff]

I felt that she was repetitive throughout the book and in certain parts would state one thing and then contradict it in other parts or act as though it hadn't been mentioned previously.

[Nwaiwu Chinedu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice book by all ramifications

[Cws]

F Gou