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Museum Piece
Carefully guarded, untouchable--her heart was like a museum piece.
James Elliott thwarted her at every turn, outmaneuvering and outbidding her, scooping up art treasures before she could acquire them for San Francisco's Museum of American Art. It was unscrupulous and unethical, and Mary Lindsay McDonough decided she'd better do something about it. She would send him a letter of protest, a very cool, very professional letter. But not before she had written an eminently satisfactory, extremely nasty poison pen letter-the letter she would have sent if she didn't have her reputation and that of the Museum to consider.
Unfortunately, distracted by a box of chocolates, she slipped the wrong letter into the envelope ....
James Elliott thwarted her at every turn, outmaneuvering and outbidding her, scooping up art treasures before she could acquire them for San Francisco's Museum of American Art. It was unscrupulous and unethical, and Mary Lindsay McDonough decided she'd better do something about it. She would send him a letter of protest, a very cool, very professional letter. But not before she had written an eminently satisfactory, extremely nasty poison pen letter-the letter she would have sent if she didn't have her reputation and that of the Museum to consider.
Unfortunately, distracted by a box of chocolates, she slipped the wrong letter into the envelope ....
255 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
13 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Anne Stuart
203 books2,062 followersAnne Stuart is a grandmaster of the genre, winner of Romance Writers of America's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, survivor of more than thirty-five years in the romance business, and still just keeps getting better.
Her first novel was Barrett's Hill, a gothic romance published by Ballantine in 1974 when Anne had just turned 25. Since then she's written more gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, romantic adventure, series romance, suspense, historical romance, paranormal and mainstream contemporary romance for publishers such as Doubleday, Harlequin, Silhouette, Avon, Zebra, St. Martins Press, Berkley, Dell, Pocket Books and Fawcett.
She’s won numerous awards, appeared on most bestseller lists, and speaks all over the country. Her general outrageousness has gotten her on Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Vogue, People, USA Today, Women’s Day and countless other national newspapers and magazines.
When she’s not traveling, she’s at home in Northern Vermont with her luscious husband of thirty-six years, an empty nest, three cats, four sewing machines, and one Springer Spaniel, and when she’s not working she’s watching movies, listening to rock and roll (preferably Japanese) and spending far too much time quilting.
Anne Stuart also writes as Kristina Douglas.
Her first novel was Barrett's Hill, a gothic romance published by Ballantine in 1974 when Anne had just turned 25. Since then she's written more gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, romantic adventure, series romance, suspense, historical romance, paranormal and mainstream contemporary romance for publishers such as Doubleday, Harlequin, Silhouette, Avon, Zebra, St. Martins Press, Berkley, Dell, Pocket Books and Fawcett.
She’s won numerous awards, appeared on most bestseller lists, and speaks all over the country. Her general outrageousness has gotten her on Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Vogue, People, USA Today, Women’s Day and countless other national newspapers and magazines.
When she’s not traveling, she’s at home in Northern Vermont with her luscious husband of thirty-six years, an empty nest, three cats, four sewing machines, and one Springer Spaniel, and when she’s not working she’s watching movies, listening to rock and roll (preferably Japanese) and spending far too much time quilting.
Anne Stuart also writes as Kristina Douglas.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 13, 2019
"Museum Piece" is the story of Mary and James.
A fabulous battle of wits between Mary Lindsay McDonough and James Elliott, this book has two art collectors trying to outsmart each other. The H ends up stealing all the pieces the h and her boss want, but the h ends up stealing the most precious thing from the hero..his heart!
Loads of funny banter, sensual lovemaking, and running away fill this read, mixed with eccentric exes and crazy friends.
The best part, IMHO, was the adorable small epilogue.
Safe
4/5
A fabulous battle of wits between Mary Lindsay McDonough and James Elliott, this book has two art collectors trying to outsmart each other. The H ends up stealing all the pieces the h and her boss want, but the h ends up stealing the most precious thing from the hero..his heart!
Loads of funny banter, sensual lovemaking, and running away fill this read, mixed with eccentric exes and crazy friends.
The best part, IMHO, was the adorable small epilogue.
Safe
4/5
June 26, 2022
<2
I didn’t check GoodReads before buying this book. So I read it thinking this was a recently published novel, when it’s a reprint of a 1980’s book. Unfortunately it’s a damned important piece of information. Old romances can be good, but more often than not, they have a FMC that’s troubling. Honestly I can take the forced seduction more than I can take those spineless, useless joke of a woman.
Museum Piece isn’t that “old skool” , but unfortunately it has a spineless, brainless heroine. I like a woman who says no, means no and acts no. I don’t want to read about a child.
To add to that injury the family backstory was appalling and when there’s real betrayal it gets swept under the rug. Yes, they had a right to be happy, they hadn’t the right to lie or to let her realise the truth at the worst possible moment. I wouldn’t have forgiven that. Selfish doesn’t cover it.
It’s a pity that hormones (and probably the set number of pages) got the best of an otherwise good story :)
I didn’t check GoodReads before buying this book. So I read it thinking this was a recently published novel, when it’s a reprint of a 1980’s book. Unfortunately it’s a damned important piece of information. Old romances can be good, but more often than not, they have a FMC that’s troubling. Honestly I can take the forced seduction more than I can take those spineless, useless joke of a woman.
Museum Piece isn’t that “old skool” , but unfortunately it has a spineless, brainless heroine. I like a woman who says no, means no and acts no. I don’t want to read about a child.
To add to that injury the family backstory was appalling and when there’s real betrayal it gets swept under the rug. Yes, they had a right to be happy, they hadn’t the right to lie or to let her realise the truth at the worst possible moment. I wouldn’t have forgiven that. Selfish doesn’t cover it.
It’s a pity that hormones (and probably the set number of pages) got the best of an otherwise good story :)
August 21, 2009
I was disappointed with this Anne Stuart book. It was just bland and not that exciting. For the first time I didn't even believe I was reading an Anne Stuart novel. She has a very characteristic writing style that keeps my interest, and it was lacking in this book. I gave this one away, but now I wish I had kept it. Because I am a completist, I'd like to have a copy of this one. And maybe I'd like it better on reread.
May 20, 2010
Museum Piece is an early Stuart novel, but old or new.....you are guaranteed to enjoy every page. In this story Molly is a buyer for a museum who is fed up with a "James Ellliot" who always seems to snatch her treasures away by paying a higher price. She inadvertently sends him a scathing letter, that she never intended him to see, and he is livid after he receives it. Their first meeting is scorchingly hot and you can tell you're going to be in for a ride.
The courtship of Molly and James is what makes this book special. Molly is adopted and is afraid of love and abandonment. She runs away from James many times throughout this book, and James has this remarkable ability to chase her when need be and leave her alone when need be. He never does what you think he'll do, and this keeps both Molly and you, as the reader, on your toes. This book packs quite the punch for only being 255 pages long, and while it was written in 1984....great books stand the test of time!
The courtship of Molly and James is what makes this book special. Molly is adopted and is afraid of love and abandonment. She runs away from James many times throughout this book, and James has this remarkable ability to chase her when need be and leave her alone when need be. He never does what you think he'll do, and this keeps both Molly and you, as the reader, on your toes. This book packs quite the punch for only being 255 pages long, and while it was written in 1984....great books stand the test of time!
December 14, 2021
Well this was interesting. I liked the fact that the heroine was so learned. What I couldn’t forgive the author was the way that she let the heroine find out about her birth mother. Then nothing else was said about this, apart from the heroine sending her a hand stitched quilt, which had taken her 4 years to make. Perhaps the author had run over her word count and taken out other writing relating to this. I think she must have done but as no other mention is made of this in the novel that was published , I could not get past it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2016
3.5 stars. Rounding up because I'm judging it against the standard of when it was written (1984).
Fun banter between the hero and heroine. I remember almost nothing else about it except that I enjoyed their zippiness.
Fun banter between the hero and heroine. I remember almost nothing else about it except that I enjoyed their zippiness.
July 8, 2020
I saw this book somewhere a while back and it stuck in my head, in part because I am an assistant curator like the heroine, and in part because the dated title combined with the cover just kinda makes for a humorous image. I finally broke down and bought an original 1984 print that I found online. The book itself, I would give a 2. I can forgive a lot of the outdated and cringey 1984 romance tropes, the alphahole hero firmly rooted in the patriarchy, and the heroine who is forward-thinking in some ways but then is also rooted in the patriarchy in others. It was 1984. What I can't forgive is the museum part of things, the disregard for the sanctity of objects and artifacts and the disdain for the museum field. That was not cool in any year. So that puts it at a 2. What got this book an extra star was that I did a live read of it on a Facebook group I belong to, and that was a hoot. It was fun to share my impressions as I went (and rant about the lack of museum professionalism) and have a good laugh about how things have changed and how this is a pretty good representation of the time from which it came. I also think Anne Stuart is a very good writer. I swear my vocabulary improved just reading this. I don't think vintage romance gets the credit it deserves for being very smartly written, despite its lack of diversity, consent, feminism, etc etc etc. Oh, and it was much steamier than I remembered vintage romance being. So I will keep my musty old copy and happily remember those three days when I shared laughs with fellow romance readers as I read it.
July 22, 2022
A heroine with no good reason to keep battling a man she's very attracted to and a man who shrugs off her oppositional disorder, finding it sexy apparently. Though supposedly highly educated and committed searchers for antiques, she as an employee for a museum and he for a private collector, they both behave in an asinine way late in the book. She smashes a priceless statue that belongs to him in a fit of pique and he takes it not as a sign to run the opposite way from such an out-of-control harridan but as an indication of her love for him. Duh, no.
This throwing or smashing things trope in romance novels is a particularly irritating one as in real life it is a major turn off or leads to violence to one's person if both people in a couple lack adult self-control.
This throwing or smashing things trope in romance novels is a particularly irritating one as in real life it is a major turn off or leads to violence to one's person if both people in a couple lack adult self-control.
April 23, 2023
A Great Acquisition
What mini masterpiece. The heroine keeps running and the hero keeps chasing, until there is nowhere else to go but they need to be together. The romantic cat and mouse game. Stuff that only dreams are made of rather than the reality of life.
What mini masterpiece. The heroine keeps running and the hero keeps chasing, until there is nowhere else to go but they need to be together. The romantic cat and mouse game. Stuff that only dreams are made of rather than the reality of life.
April 3, 2022
Anne's a great writer, especially for her time. This was a good classic 'contemporary romance'.
November 13, 2013
My review at Booklist:
After two years of celibacy, Molly McDonough, assistant curator at a San Francisco antiquities museum, has met her match in James Elliott, acquisitions director for one of the world’s richest men. When James steals two of Molly’s finds, she’s incensed and writes him a scathing letter that she doesn’t mean to mail but does so by mistake. James retaliates, and the war is on. As everyone knows, all is fair in love and war. But as they battle for artworks and slowly fall in love, other aspects of their lives interfere. Molly’s father is remarrying after his wife’s death; Molly’s former lover, an artist, wants her back; and James’ boss is dying. As they deal with these setbacks, they battle for control over each other, even as they fight their attraction. Stuart steals a bit from Pride and Prejudice, and her word choices are a bit dated, but readers will delight in the lovers’ witty banter and this slightly skewed waltz of love, a 1984 classic available in hardcover for the first time.— Pat Henshaw
After two years of celibacy, Molly McDonough, assistant curator at a San Francisco antiquities museum, has met her match in James Elliott, acquisitions director for one of the world’s richest men. When James steals two of Molly’s finds, she’s incensed and writes him a scathing letter that she doesn’t mean to mail but does so by mistake. James retaliates, and the war is on. As everyone knows, all is fair in love and war. But as they battle for artworks and slowly fall in love, other aspects of their lives interfere. Molly’s father is remarrying after his wife’s death; Molly’s former lover, an artist, wants her back; and James’ boss is dying. As they deal with these setbacks, they battle for control over each other, even as they fight their attraction. Stuart steals a bit from Pride and Prejudice, and her word choices are a bit dated, but readers will delight in the lovers’ witty banter and this slightly skewed waltz of love, a 1984 classic available in hardcover for the first time.— Pat Henshaw
March 13, 2013
I am an Anne Stuart fan, and figured it would be fun to read one of her earlier works, and I found "Museum Piece" used for not much money. Unlike some other older romance works, this one has aged fairly well.
Although initially I liked Molly, and I understood why she was so emotionally closed off, I grew frustrated with her blowing hot-and-cold all the time, and I wondered why James (or any guy) would tolerate being treated like that?
A couple of other weak points: when Molly unexpectedly meets her birth mother, and jumps to all the wrong conclusions, James explains everything -- but how did he find out? Why does Molly have a melt-down when she discovers the truth about James's family?
Overall it's a good story, and for a 1984 work, it can be pretty steamy in places -- there's even a spanking scene!
Although initially I liked Molly, and I understood why she was so emotionally closed off, I grew frustrated with her blowing hot-and-cold all the time, and I wondered why James (or any guy) would tolerate being treated like that?
A couple of other weak points: when Molly unexpectedly meets her birth mother, and jumps to all the wrong conclusions, James explains everything -- but how did he find out? Why does Molly have a melt-down when she discovers the truth about James's family?
Overall it's a good story, and for a 1984 work, it can be pretty steamy in places -- there's even a spanking scene!
August 13, 2021
While I found the idea of duelling rival curators interesting, this is not that.
Also, the idea that this girl could claim to be a halfway decent curator when she wears a museum piece to a party in order to make some kind of statement makes me insane. You might as well just rip it to pieces. And the corset you buy from a modern lingerie store is not the same as an Edwardian corset, so the dress probably looks like saggy garbage anyway, assuming it even fits.
If you can't tell, this brief moment made me extremely mad.
Also, the idea that this girl could claim to be a halfway decent curator when she wears a museum piece to a party in order to make some kind of statement makes me insane. You might as well just rip it to pieces. And the corset you buy from a modern lingerie store is not the same as an Edwardian corset, so the dress probably looks like saggy garbage anyway, assuming it even fits.
If you can't tell, this brief moment made me extremely mad.
May 12, 2013
Ack! I picked this up from the new self at the local library...somehow the skull and crossbones on the cover lead me to believe it was a mystery. I had the thought as I was reading it that it reminded me of one of the Harlequin Romances I borrowed from a friend as a 13 year old. It went from bad to worse as I resorted to skimming the last half of the book. Imagine my surprise (or lack of!) when I realized this is a hardcover reprint of a 1984 Harlequin!
September 16, 2013
I can't even call this rag a novel. It's certainly not literature. Cliches, average writing, boring dialogues, predictable plot, what is good about that book first edited in '85? Nothing comes to mind. I might have considered reading it when I was in my teens but today there are better. Not even finished 2 chapters. 0 stars
June 20, 2013
This was a story that had a blurb than plot between the pages. I didn't like any of the characters even when the people who supposedly loved them best treated them shabbily. A lot of preposterous plot points and unbelievable coincidences.
Big disappointment so movin' on to other books.
Big disappointment so movin' on to other books.
July 25, 2013
This was a random find at the library and it was well-written with great characters. They are vivid, real and flawed. I had never read anything by the author before and it was a nice detour and I would definitely read another by her.
August 3, 2014
Two art collectors try to outbid and outmaneuver the other. At first they are enemies, but soon become lovers.
I usually love Anne Stuart's books, but this is not one of them. The heroine soon became annoying, running away from every situation she didn't want to face. My rating: 2 Stars.
I usually love Anne Stuart's books, but this is not one of them. The heroine soon became annoying, running away from every situation she didn't want to face. My rating: 2 Stars.
March 25, 2013
A back and forth love story. Nice and light reading.
April 14, 2013
Re-release of a 1985 book
April 22, 2013
Little outdated but still good (I was just a toddler when it was originally published. Hehe).
July 31, 2014
Very predicable and sappy
November 10, 2017
Absolutely enjoyed it!! Picked it up at every spare moment I got cause that's how intriguing it was!!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews