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The Passionate Lover
The situation was so unfair
Everything had gone wrong after Shelby O'Neal's arrival at the Double K ranch in Montana. Kenny's relentless pursuit, his proposal, frantic wedding plans--all became meaningless once Shelby revealed the terms of her inheritance.
And now the arrogant Kyle Whitney was escalating his campaign against Shelby. He assumed she was mercenary enough to try her wiles on him now that his young cousin had dropped out of the running.
Surely, once he knew the truth, Kyle would realize that Shelby had never been influenced by money, but acted strictly from the heart...
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
51 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Carole Mortimer
1,301 books911 followersI have written almost 250 romance novels in contemporary and Regency.
I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.
I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man
I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.
I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 6, 2015
Re Passionate Lover - This book, for all it's quiet resting on CM's impressive backlist is a real ground-breaker in terms of HPlandia. I talk about the "Rules of HPlandia" in other posts but don't usually talk about why those rules are in place. Before Torstar in Canada bought all the shares of HQN (including M&B) in 1981, HPlandia was ruled and guided by it's most fearsome and visionary editor Alan Boone.
AB was not against racier romances by any means, but he had a huge market in Ireland and Irish censor's were strict - no sex without marriage, no heroine affairs, h virginity or widowhood is a must and the h's must act like LADIES, impetuosity is fine, promiscuity a book killer. On the HQN side, the Bonnycastle ladies (the family purchased M&B for HQN) had a "decency code" and would reject romances they considered too risque.
By 1985, Torstar owned all of HPlandia, Alan Boone had semi-retired as editor and other category romance lines (with more lenient strictures like Candlelight and Silhouette who had dropped the h virgin requirement) were outselling HP's. HQN solved this to a certain extent by buying Sihouette in 1984, but the fact remained that books with consensual sex were selling out fast and HPlandia just wasn't as interesting anymore.
Then CM wrote The Passionate Lover and the dam was broken.
The h is a 25 year old widow of an extremely wealthy man who was twice her age. In fact she was his manicurist when she was 21 and he was 42 and they fell in love. He married her, in spite of all the gold-digging jibes, and they were deliriously happy for a few years before they found out he had a fatal illness. Sadly the h's beloved husband died, leaving her an extremely wealthy widow as long as she was a widow.
With the h's persuasion, her husband put a codicil in his will that she only had the money as long as she did not marry again. If she does remarry, and the husband srsly wanted her to do so, the money reverts to his family. (This is the second time in HPlandia this trope has been used for an h- Robyn Donald's A Durable Fire is the first. The idea is the dead husband wants to protect the h from fortune hunters, if they are willing to marry her without the inducement of millions, they must really love the h and therefore are okay to marry. This device also differentiates the goodness of the h in contrast to the wickedness of the OW as seen in Rachel Lindsay's Substitute Wife - the OW in that one refused to marry her long standing affair partner who is the H because she would have been forced to give up her husband's fortune, thus compelling the H to fall in love with the h he married as a cover for his affair with his boss's wife, as she is the virtuous one who doesn't put money over love.)
The h had met the H's cousin in London, where he determinedly pursued her and finally got her to agree to travel to Montana to marry him. She thought the cousin was part owner of the H's ranch and when she tells the cousin about the terms of her husband's will, she doesn't think it will matter as she believes they are both in love. The cousin then abandons the h in a blizzard and runs off with his former girlfriend, whose father owns a neighboring ranch. The cousin is a fortune hunter looking for his own slice, and by marrying his high school gf, he is ensuring he will get his own property.
The h had been making wedding plans for the cousin and herself and the book starts when she is lost in the blizzard. She finds a cabin to take shelter in and the H shows up after searching for, the cousin has run off.
The H believes she is a gold-digger looking for a nest and he is verbally cruel and insulting. As the days pass, they relax around each other more but the tension is ratcheted up when they get into a snowball fight and the H spanks her. Later that day they become mutual lovers and the h isn't sorry about it. (HPlandia # 4 rule here- physical abuse will ALWAYS induce major lurve status in the h.) She hasn't been with anyone since her husband died and she misses it. She is very attracted to the H, he seems to be less insulting to her and the love scenes are much more descriptive, come a lot earlier and are longer than anything written before in HPlandia.
The h sprains her ankle while attempting to attract a rescue plane and then falls very ill on the day they are rescued. Because of the illness and ankle, the h is forced to spend more time on the H's ranch and the attraction is going strong, the h is in love and so she wholeheartedly becomes the H's lover and happily shares his bed every night. ( this is a first for HPlandia, mutual, consensual sex without marriage or blackmail and the h is thoroughly enjoying it.) Eventually the h leaves to go back to her life and luxury salon she owns in London. The cousin has been dismissed as the fortune hunter he is, but the h fails to tell the H the extent of his perfidy - he still believes she is a gold digger. The h extends an invitation for the H to stay with her if he is ever in London and then goes home.
The h finds out she is preggers a few months later. She had called the H, but he was out with another woman - a former friend's widow whom the h suspected he was sleeping with- so she decides that she is done with the H and doesn't inform him of her pregnancy. Then the H shows up at her London salon and is gobsmacked that the h is actually wealthier than him. They restart their affair until the H realizes just who the h is the widow of. They fight about her not telling him and he leaves her again.
Later that day a drunken H shows up at her salon with some very bedraggled flowers and the words "I don't care if you're the richest woman in the world, I love you and want to be your consort." The h accepts his proposal right before he passes out. When he finally wakes up from his drunken stupor, he proposes again and again the h accepts. She also describes how she gave her dead husband's money back to his family and also how she never used it. She explains about the terms of the will and the H is overjoyed with love and mutual reassurances of devotion. The h finally gets around to telling him about the baby and the H is even happier for a nice HEA.
This book was exceptional in a number of ways. First there is the unprecedented mutual affair scenario. Granted the h was a widow, and CM sets most of the book in America, but the fact that the first full intimacy takes place within 75 pages of the opening of the book and the h has no promise of marriage has never been done in HPlandia before.
The other exceptional factor is this book is CM's exploration of what the outcome of a May-December relationship could be. One of CM's big tropes in her preceding works was very young h's marrying men twice their age. CM explores the likely outcome of such a union, if the couple stays married and in love, and gives her own version of what should happen next. In many ways this book is CM's maturation as a writer and this book is a bridge to the much more varied tropes and descriptive love scenes that still characterize her works today.
CM manages to break a few rules and also manages to widen the borders of traditional HPlandia with this book, she sets the foundations for new tropes and more liberal plot lines in a very natural, almost understated way. That is why everyone who is interested in the evolution of the HP Universe should read this one, it is a decent story with some unheard of ideas and tropes for the time period and it is from this one book that we can see the development of a lot of the scenarios that are prevalent in the current line up of HPLandia today.
If anyone is interested in the history of HPlandia prior to this book I frequently refer to Passion's Fortune: The Story of Mills & Boon by Joseph McAleer (it is sorta pricey, but I found a used copy pretty inexpensive) and Jay Dixon's The Romantic Fiction of Mills & Boon, 1909-1995- (buy the used paper back version, the other is really too expensive) Both of the these books talk about the publishing process, the guidelines and the reasoning, plus give little thumbnails of the various author's and are invaluable for all those who love HPlandia.
AB was not against racier romances by any means, but he had a huge market in Ireland and Irish censor's were strict - no sex without marriage, no heroine affairs, h virginity or widowhood is a must and the h's must act like LADIES, impetuosity is fine, promiscuity a book killer. On the HQN side, the Bonnycastle ladies (the family purchased M&B for HQN) had a "decency code" and would reject romances they considered too risque.
By 1985, Torstar owned all of HPlandia, Alan Boone had semi-retired as editor and other category romance lines (with more lenient strictures like Candlelight and Silhouette who had dropped the h virgin requirement) were outselling HP's. HQN solved this to a certain extent by buying Sihouette in 1984, but the fact remained that books with consensual sex were selling out fast and HPlandia just wasn't as interesting anymore.
Then CM wrote The Passionate Lover and the dam was broken.
The h is a 25 year old widow of an extremely wealthy man who was twice her age. In fact she was his manicurist when she was 21 and he was 42 and they fell in love. He married her, in spite of all the gold-digging jibes, and they were deliriously happy for a few years before they found out he had a fatal illness. Sadly the h's beloved husband died, leaving her an extremely wealthy widow as long as she was a widow.
With the h's persuasion, her husband put a codicil in his will that she only had the money as long as she did not marry again. If she does remarry, and the husband srsly wanted her to do so, the money reverts to his family. (This is the second time in HPlandia this trope has been used for an h- Robyn Donald's A Durable Fire is the first. The idea is the dead husband wants to protect the h from fortune hunters, if they are willing to marry her without the inducement of millions, they must really love the h and therefore are okay to marry. This device also differentiates the goodness of the h in contrast to the wickedness of the OW as seen in Rachel Lindsay's Substitute Wife - the OW in that one refused to marry her long standing affair partner who is the H because she would have been forced to give up her husband's fortune, thus compelling the H to fall in love with the h he married as a cover for his affair with his boss's wife, as she is the virtuous one who doesn't put money over love.)
The h had met the H's cousin in London, where he determinedly pursued her and finally got her to agree to travel to Montana to marry him. She thought the cousin was part owner of the H's ranch and when she tells the cousin about the terms of her husband's will, she doesn't think it will matter as she believes they are both in love. The cousin then abandons the h in a blizzard and runs off with his former girlfriend, whose father owns a neighboring ranch. The cousin is a fortune hunter looking for his own slice, and by marrying his high school gf, he is ensuring he will get his own property.
The h had been making wedding plans for the cousin and herself and the book starts when she is lost in the blizzard. She finds a cabin to take shelter in and the H shows up after searching for, the cousin has run off.
The H believes she is a gold-digger looking for a nest and he is verbally cruel and insulting. As the days pass, they relax around each other more but the tension is ratcheted up when they get into a snowball fight and the H spanks her. Later that day they become mutual lovers and the h isn't sorry about it. (HPlandia # 4 rule here- physical abuse will ALWAYS induce major lurve status in the h.) She hasn't been with anyone since her husband died and she misses it. She is very attracted to the H, he seems to be less insulting to her and the love scenes are much more descriptive, come a lot earlier and are longer than anything written before in HPlandia.
The h sprains her ankle while attempting to attract a rescue plane and then falls very ill on the day they are rescued. Because of the illness and ankle, the h is forced to spend more time on the H's ranch and the attraction is going strong, the h is in love and so she wholeheartedly becomes the H's lover and happily shares his bed every night. ( this is a first for HPlandia, mutual, consensual sex without marriage or blackmail and the h is thoroughly enjoying it.) Eventually the h leaves to go back to her life and luxury salon she owns in London. The cousin has been dismissed as the fortune hunter he is, but the h fails to tell the H the extent of his perfidy - he still believes she is a gold digger. The h extends an invitation for the H to stay with her if he is ever in London and then goes home.
The h finds out she is preggers a few months later. She had called the H, but he was out with another woman - a former friend's widow whom the h suspected he was sleeping with- so she decides that she is done with the H and doesn't inform him of her pregnancy. Then the H shows up at her London salon and is gobsmacked that the h is actually wealthier than him. They restart their affair until the H realizes just who the h is the widow of. They fight about her not telling him and he leaves her again.
Later that day a drunken H shows up at her salon with some very bedraggled flowers and the words "I don't care if you're the richest woman in the world, I love you and want to be your consort." The h accepts his proposal right before he passes out. When he finally wakes up from his drunken stupor, he proposes again and again the h accepts. She also describes how she gave her dead husband's money back to his family and also how she never used it. She explains about the terms of the will and the H is overjoyed with love and mutual reassurances of devotion. The h finally gets around to telling him about the baby and the H is even happier for a nice HEA.
This book was exceptional in a number of ways. First there is the unprecedented mutual affair scenario. Granted the h was a widow, and CM sets most of the book in America, but the fact that the first full intimacy takes place within 75 pages of the opening of the book and the h has no promise of marriage has never been done in HPlandia before.
The other exceptional factor is this book is CM's exploration of what the outcome of a May-December relationship could be. One of CM's big tropes in her preceding works was very young h's marrying men twice their age. CM explores the likely outcome of such a union, if the couple stays married and in love, and gives her own version of what should happen next. In many ways this book is CM's maturation as a writer and this book is a bridge to the much more varied tropes and descriptive love scenes that still characterize her works today.
CM manages to break a few rules and also manages to widen the borders of traditional HPlandia with this book, she sets the foundations for new tropes and more liberal plot lines in a very natural, almost understated way. That is why everyone who is interested in the evolution of the HP Universe should read this one, it is a decent story with some unheard of ideas and tropes for the time period and it is from this one book that we can see the development of a lot of the scenarios that are prevalent in the current line up of HPLandia today.
If anyone is interested in the history of HPlandia prior to this book I frequently refer to Passion's Fortune: The Story of Mills & Boon by Joseph McAleer (it is sorta pricey, but I found a used copy pretty inexpensive) and Jay Dixon's The Romantic Fiction of Mills & Boon, 1909-1995- (buy the used paper back version, the other is really too expensive) Both of the these books talk about the publishing process, the guidelines and the reasoning, plus give little thumbnails of the various author's and are invaluable for all those who love HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2020
Boogenhagen has the spoiler review for this bit of silliness. At anytime the heroine could have spoken up and explained what really happened to cause her to be lost in a Montana blizzard. (Hero's cousin is a cad) Or she could have explained the details of her late husband's will.
But that vintage lockjaw kept the misunderstandings going until the hero caught up with her in London for a drunken proposal. Depending on your tolerance for misunderstandings and heroines who can never get their story out, will determine how much you like this. Oh, and the hero's slut-shaming which hides his intense attraction.
Do read Boogenhagen's review - she gives a nice history of the Mills&Boon editorial guidelines and why this story broke new ground.
But that vintage lockjaw kept the misunderstandings going until the hero caught up with her in London for a drunken proposal. Depending on your tolerance for misunderstandings and heroines who can never get their story out, will determine how much you like this. Oh, and the hero's slut-shaming which hides his intense attraction.
Do read Boogenhagen's review - she gives a nice history of the Mills&Boon editorial guidelines and why this story broke new ground.
July 11, 2020
"The Passionate Lover" is the story of Shelby and Kyle.
Unexpectedly sweet!
Our heroine is a widow, who has been engaged with OM for a few months. That is, until she tells him the truth about her fortune, and he leaves her to die in a snowstorm. She is takes shelter is a deserted cabin, only to be rescued and stranded with his disapproving and very macho cousin, the hero. As passion ignites between the two, they embark on a love affair. Their journey is filled with misunderstandings, evil exes and loads of OW/OM jealousy. Ends in a very cute HEA.
Things I liked about this book
-The honesty and strength portrayed by the heroine- she stood up for herself and was not a doormat- and her attitude towards her ex's wealth
-How the hero and heroine did not fight their mutual attraction
-The hero's sanity, and that he confessed his feelings first
Very mature characters for a HQN book. I am shocked!
Safe for me/SWE for some
3.5/5
Unexpectedly sweet!
Our heroine is a widow, who has been engaged with OM for a few months. That is, until she tells him the truth about her fortune, and he leaves her to die in a snowstorm. She is takes shelter is a deserted cabin, only to be rescued and stranded with his disapproving and very macho cousin, the hero. As passion ignites between the two, they embark on a love affair. Their journey is filled with misunderstandings, evil exes and loads of OW/OM jealousy. Ends in a very cute HEA.
Things I liked about this book
-The honesty and strength portrayed by the heroine- she stood up for herself and was not a doormat- and her attitude towards her ex's wealth
-How the hero and heroine did not fight their mutual attraction
-The hero's sanity, and that he confessed his feelings first
Very mature characters for a HQN book. I am shocked!
Safe for me/SWE for some
3.5/5
July 10, 2018
Hero has to get drunk before he gets the nerve to tell heroine he loves her and wants to marry her. Blech not my idea of romance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2011
A entertaining story that starts as a fairly standard, gut-punching hero-thinks-heroine-is-a-gold-digging-hooar romance but ends on a lighter note. Some may find this a bickerfest, but it didn’t get on my nerves; instead I appreciated that the heroine gave as good as she got. (I could’ve used fewer angry conversations with other characters, though.) Note: readers morally opposed to secret baby plots won’t like this. Also, there is an honest-to-god spanking scene.
November 23, 2020
This had the potential to be really good but instead ending up being yet-another incoherent meh-ss from CM. Read Boogenhausen's review for why it was groundbreaking in its day and for excellent spoilerage. For me, this had vintage aspects that usually really work for me--an alpha hero, a heroine with backbone (some of the time anyway), the hero and heroine trapped in a cabin during a blizzard, great chemistry and hot sex scenes (CM definitely turned up the heat in her HP outings, with more explicit takes than many a contemporary HP author). But it falls apart because of the oh-so-convoluted Big Misunderstandings--if you break them down, they just don't even make sense. Also, the heroine is soooo fickle--she loved her dead husband (or did she really?). She loves the hero's cousin--until abruptly she doesn't (he's as weaselly asshat as it gets so maybe he did "kill" her love, as she says, but she certainly gets over it the instant she spies our hero's manly self). She loves the hero instantly! But she goes off with nary a fight or whimper and doesn't really seem that affected by his loss, tbh.
I dunno, I have liked maybe one CM book out of the half dozen? more? that I've read recently, and she never was a go-to author for me. I find her rushed and inconsistent and this is a good example of how she has really great elements that she then just neuters by introducing not-that-likable characters and flimsy conflicts/plots. Given how prolific she was, it's possible that I'm just picking weaker offerings but so far, it's more misses than hits for me.
Extra points in this one for a sexually confident heroine (I loved how she kept disconcerting the hero by being the one who refused to pretend their first boots-knocking episode didn't happen and making it clear that she enjoyed the hell out of it), but too bad she vacillated between that and a wimpy "I'll take whatever crumbs he offers" weenie. I did like that the hero was so smitten and confused in the end that he has to get drunk to show up and try to win her over, hahahaha, love when an alpha hero is revealed to be as vulnerable as the heroine (or, in this case, maybe more).
Such a shame, because there were moments in this one that I truly liked but overall I thought it was just okay.
I dunno, I have liked maybe one CM book out of the half dozen? more? that I've read recently, and she never was a go-to author for me. I find her rushed and inconsistent and this is a good example of how she has really great elements that she then just neuters by introducing not-that-likable characters and flimsy conflicts/plots. Given how prolific she was, it's possible that I'm just picking weaker offerings but so far, it's more misses than hits for me.
Extra points in this one for a sexually confident heroine (I loved how she kept disconcerting the hero by being the one who refused to pretend their first boots-knocking episode didn't happen and making it clear that she enjoyed the hell out of it), but too bad she vacillated between that and a wimpy "I'll take whatever crumbs he offers" weenie. I did like that the hero was so smitten and confused in the end that he has to get drunk to show up and try to win her over, hahahaha, love when an alpha hero is revealed to be as vulnerable as the heroine (or, in this case, maybe more).
Such a shame, because there were moments in this one that I truly liked but overall I thought it was just okay.
November 15, 2010
Not nearly the drama I was looking for with my HP fix. The hero was an ass for no reason. The heroine was not a doormat but she didn't defend herself in a smart manner. I kept thinking 'you need to tell him X or Y'. There wasn't a lot of clear description. The action seemed to happen really fast. No hideous but far from CM's best work.
July 11, 2020
"The Passionate Lover" was a passionate read i truly enjoyed!
The heroine,Shelby O`Neil gets stuck in a cabin with the hero,the sexy ranch-owner Kyle Whitney,the cousin of her fiance.Both of them have a hot hate-love relationship i so much LOVE!I love their bickering and the EXPLOSIVE chemistry between them.
The heroine,Shelby O`Neil gets stuck in a cabin with the hero,the sexy ranch-owner Kyle Whitney,the cousin of her fiance.Both of them have a hot hate-love relationship i so much LOVE!I love their bickering and the EXPLOSIVE chemistry between them.
November 27, 2012
I really loved this novel. Certain things ticked me off about it and it was a bit disorganized. It started off really fast and weird but other than that, it was absolutely perfect. I wish there was more ending because I didn't want it to end but it was still great.
Want to read
March 3, 2019"Amante apasionado"
January 11, 2018
As usual, C.M is an amazing writer and I LOVE her books so much. Every book is different from the other in the best way; new characters, new places and plots.
September 26, 2021
I ended up skimming this. Seemed more like insta-lust than love at first sight. Didn't like the characters and the story wasn't interesting.
October 24, 2023
Shelby O’Neal is at the Double K ranch in Montana to marry Kenny. But she tells him something he doesn't like, and he leaves her in a snowstorm that turns to a blizzard. She is found by his cousin, Kyle, who is a much better match.
August 31, 2013
Starts out typical but doesn't remain so and I appreciated how the tables turned.
Read
December 31, 2017The situation was so unfair
Everything had gone wrong after Shelby O'Neal's arrival at the Double K ranch in Montana. Kenny's relentless pursuit, his proposal, frantic wedding plans--all became meaningless once Shelby revealed the terms of her inheritance.
And now the arrogant Kyle Whitney was escalating his campaign against Shelby. He assumed she was mercenary enough to try her wiles on him now that his young cousin had dropped out of the running.
Surely, once he knew the truth, Kyle would realize that Shelby had never been influenced by money, but acted strictly from the heart...
Everything had gone wrong after Shelby O'Neal's arrival at the Double K ranch in Montana. Kenny's relentless pursuit, his proposal, frantic wedding plans--all became meaningless once Shelby revealed the terms of her inheritance.
And now the arrogant Kyle Whitney was escalating his campaign against Shelby. He assumed she was mercenary enough to try her wiles on him now that his young cousin had dropped out of the running.
Surely, once he knew the truth, Kyle would realize that Shelby had never been influenced by money, but acted strictly from the heart...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews