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Fear of Love

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Fiction, Romance, Contemporary

190 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

24 people are currently reading
151 people want to read

About the author

Carole Mortimer

1,296 books907 followers
I 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

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5 stars
44 (22%)
4 stars
44 (22%)
3 stars
66 (33%)
2 stars
27 (13%)
1 star
16 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Sandra.
746 reviews6 followers
April 30, 2024
Alexandra (who is 17) doesn’t get on with her sister Gail’s brother-in-law, Dominic (34, who has a current affairs tv program and is sent to dangerous places to cover stories). Alexandra wants to marry her young boyfriend Roger but Dominic is opposed to it (due to a bad marriage of his own when he was young). Eventually Alexandra and Dominic become attracted to each other…

I didn’t find Alexandra and Dominic a convincing couple. The age difference was very obvious, especially due to her immature behavior, and temper tantrums. I couldn’t imagine worldly Dominic seriously interested in her, especially when he could have any woman he wanted. Though, he did act like a jerk at times. I usually enjoy Carole Mortimer’s books, but I didn’t care for this one.
Profile Image for Azet.
1,095 reviews284 followers
March 29, 2021
"Fear of Love" is one of Carole Mortimer`s earlier classics about the young stubborn spitfire Alexandra and her brother-in-law,the cynical attractive TV-show host Dominick Tempest.
You will have to be ready to witness this heroine fight for the man she loves,and WOW did i admire her.She behaves like a spoiled brat from the start and i really wondered why she disliked Dominick so much.But we soon watch her bloom and grow to a woman through her love for Dominick and while he doesn`t believe in it,she still fights stubbornly for it.

Dominick feared her love and for himself to fall in love with her,and i understood when he broke her heart,that he had realized his love for her.He hurt Alexandra very much many times,and i understood when she gave up on him,a woman can only take so much and i was so glad when he came back to confess and propose,and how Alexandra coldly rejected him.He had to grovel through that!After all hurt he caused her and he deserved that and much more!I also like the supporting characters and i throughly enjoyed Alexandras and Dominicks romantic love-story!

Profile Image for *CJ*.
5,105 reviews626 followers
May 5, 2018
"Fear of Love" is the story Alexandra and Dominic, and oh lord what a headache inducer this one.
Basically, 17 year old Alexandra's older sister Gail is married to our 35 year old Dominic's brother Trevor. Alexandra wants to marry her 20 year old boyfriend Roger, but is denied permission due to Dominic's past history of early marriage, and his influence on her sister and brother in law.
As she goes to confront him, she finds him enjoying post coital bliss with Sabrina, his mistress and thus begins the tale of childish tantrums and "attraction" between an immature heroine and a indecisive hero.
The heroine is basically a jailbait femme fatale, attracting every man in 50 mile radius and hero a manwhore, sleeping with anything having a cooch. For some reason, the hero's mocking and lasvicious gaze and cruel taunts disillusion the heroine in falling for him, and then onwards both of them keep pushing away each other with OM/OW, and soon falling back in each others arms.
The heroine came off as naive *cough* stupid and seriously needed a reality check/backbone.
The hero just needed to be checked for an STD.
The ending will make you want to stab, especially with the running away and drama between the two leads. I mean, who responds like that to a difficult delivery?
EGH.
Hella bad.
Unsafe
1/5
Profile Image for Melanie♥.
1,094 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2019
It was amusing to see this little not-quite-18-year-old spitfire heroine bring a 34 year old broadcast journalist to his knees.
Profile Image for Beeg Panda.
1,619 reviews572 followers
March 23, 2022
Beautiful, bratty, spoilt 17 year old heroine hellbent on getting engaged to her equally eager beau.

That is, until her sexy 34 year old brother-in-law (sister’s husband’s brother) puts a spanner in the works.

Enigmatic and sophisticated, world renowned television personality and ex journalist who gained popularity through his coverage of wars/revolutions. He’s the one person who doesn’t take her crap and let’s her know exactly what a thoughtless idiot she can be with her constant tantrums and argumentative ways.

When he isn’t setting her straight, he’s messing with her emotions and burgeoning sexuality by pointing out just how different they are in experience and taste. Wonderful typical Mills and Boon thrillingness I lapped up as a teenage reader (YA readers of this century have little idea…) and am drawn to even today.

Mostly he holds the cards until he doesn’t as she pushes his buttons and then finally gains the upper hand. The man’s world is rocked off its axis by this petulant spitfire. I wanted to laugh if I wasn’t so upset on his behalf. (But I’m all “long live the alpha!”)

It’s all so OTT and delicious. 🙄😂 Ridiculous and uplappable. 😉🙄
Of course she comes to her senses when she realises he’s re-arranging his whole life for her.
Sigh…swoon…

And Ms Mortimer and her penchant for exclamation marks!
Used to irk me no end! Now, as I re-read her work, I look at it fondly!
527 reviews
September 24, 2011
Pretty dumb -- the age difference was silly (and I like big age differences in general). Mostly it was that the 17-year-old and the 34-year-old both acted like they were 13.
Profile Image for Alexis-Morgan Roark.
Author 3 books455 followers
November 30, 2010
I can already tell I'm not going to like this one. He's twice her freaking age! Seriously? Ok. My DH is 8 years older than me, and there is a generational difference, but twice her age??? Egads! Ok. I am going to have set that particular prejudice aside as every single book by Ms. Mortimer that I am reading, to date, seems to be a "May-December" romance.

Setting prejudices aside and back to reading...Okay, I finished the book and well, it was a little better than the last one, but c'mon people, seriously? A 17 year age difference?

At least this hero wasn't a total and complete moron like the last few. I did appreciate the mini-Epilogue and knowing they had a child, Emma.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
July 4, 2013
18 year old heroine and 34 year old hero have a love hate relationship. Heroine was very feisty and hero was not a jerk in fact he seemed pretty smitten with the heroine since page one. Enjoyable read!
Profile Image for Noël Cades.
Author 26 books224 followers
July 11, 2018
Ridiculously melodramatic, super sexy, totally implausible relationship - this is the stuff that classic romance is made of!

I absolutely did not believe in 34-year-old Dominic’s sudden, overriding passion for his bratty, immature 17-year-old sister-in-law Alexandra, but I loved it nonetheless.

This is one of those romance novels that one suspects was written pretty quickly, but it’s still a fun ride.

Except the ending. The “penultimate estrangement” felt contrived, and then, WTF? Not only - after teasing us relentlessly - does the couple decide to “wait until marriage” for consummation. But then, instead of a wedding night and some action, we skip forward 18 months to Alexandra having just given birth to Dominic’s daughter (so obviously no sex at that point either). Cheers, Carole. Not.
Profile Image for Jae.
433 reviews15 followers
dnf
January 22, 2018
God, I cannot do this. The dude is 35 and the GIRL is 17. What the actual fuck. When I started this and the girl is shown to be 17 years old, I was like, ew, ok, maybe this is one of those they-spend-10-years-apart-and-meet-again-WHEN-SHE-IS-A-GROWN-PERSON, but nope, she is 17 the whole time.

I realize that this was published in 1980, but guess what? I DON'T CARE. This shit is gross and harmful.
Profile Image for Melissa.
80 reviews
Read
May 28, 2011
Kind of creepy about the age difference...Could have been better if they made her at least 18 at some point in the book...but they didn't.
Profile Image for iamGamz.
1,549 reviews51 followers
October 20, 2018
Enjoyable. A May/December romance.

The h is seventeen and the H is thirty-four. Her older sister is married to his younger brother. Keeping it in the family.

They hated each other until he saw her boyfriend kiss her passionately and finally realized that she was no longer a little girl. She realizes that things between them had changed when she noticed him looking at her lustfully.

There is a lot of drama. The fighting between these two is constant. They’re either arguing or they’ve got their tongues down each other’s throats.

While I did enjoy the book, it did take some doing to get through the book. It was too wordy in some places and I found the h a bit immature. But considering her age, that’s understandable. There’s no excuse for the H’s immaturity though. He came off as the more childish of the two at times.

It’s a book that’s worth the read, but I will not be revisiting.
Profile Image for Roub.
1,112 reviews63 followers
May 1, 2015
der was so much happening at once! i really felt like the hero was cradle snatching and i'm not sure of alexandra's feelings. after all, one minute she was in love wid robert and getting married to him, the next minute she had replaced him wid dominic!lol! she was also going out wid john!? dominic was supposedly afraid of love!? or maybe he was really afraid of alexandra's love due to her fickleness. she was so young, only seventeen and still a child. she was immature and i dunt think ready for marriage, especially not to a cynical man like dominic. the book was well done and i was never bored but i did not believe in their HEA. so i minused 2 stars.
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
April 11, 2021
Alexandra Paige resents TV journalist Dominic Tempest for interfering in her life. He may be her sister's brother-in-law, but he has a nerve saying she is too young to get married! Especially when Dominic himself has clearly noticed that the kid he's known for years is now a woman…
Dominic knows Alexandra is off-limits—he's older than her and she's practically family—but as the tension between them increases, Dominic can't resist stoking the fire that his attraction to Alexandra has ignited!
Profile Image for Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi.
549 reviews33 followers
May 17, 2016
Young immature seventeen year old who frequently bursts into tears, throws tantrums and yells at everyone falls in love with world weary handsome arrogant slightly journalist. He's also twenty years older than her. And everyone's okay with it.
Profile Image for SmittenKitten.
173 reviews10 followers
March 16, 2021
Heroine: 17-year old Alexandra or "Alex", college student but on summer break, fancies herself in love with her 20-year old boyfriend who lives with his parents

Hero: 34-year old Dominic, divorced, wealthy hot shot news reporter, has a current mistress

Set-up: Alex was basically raised by Gail (her older sister) and Trevor (Gail's 27-year old husband). Dominic is the older brother of Trevor. Alex finds Dominic domineering and is angry that he convinced Gail/Trevor that she should wait until she is at least 18 before marrying her boyfriend. Dominic catches Alex in a heavy make out session with the boyfriend, resulting in him now seeing her as a desirable woman.

Thoughts: The story started off strong with some angst between Alex/Dominic, but it fizzled about half way through. Dominic came across as emotionally weak with his constant hot/cold feelings. The h/H didn't seem to have much in common beyond both being immature and hot-headed. It was weird that big sis seemed to have no real issue with little sis dating a known rake twice her age. And lastly, if you are going to go there and have an underage heroine with a much older man... at least OWN IT... let the magic happen... instead readers never get the deflower scene, just a short jump in time with a baby in the epilogue.
Profile Image for Elaine.
4,449 reviews91 followers
June 18, 2023
Finished reading this, but didn't like the two main characters very much. This was my less favourite Carole Mortimer story ever. A young teenager falling for a 30 something man - couldn't get my head around this. I think this must have been a book from years ago - didn't really look which year it was.
A ghastly 1☆
Profile Image for Starlitz328.
210 reviews15 followers
June 5, 2022
How did I discover this? Interestingly enough one of my fave historical romance authors (Beverley Kendall) posted about how it’s one of the titles she treasures and will carry with her wherever she moves.

This was okay. I do love books where the h chases the H and this had plenty of that. I think the book was just too tame for me with no on screen ~spice~.
Profile Image for Pearl.
12 reviews
July 29, 2018
I know its an old book and that back in the day it was normal for <18 to be with older men, but this is a no for me.
Profile Image for Joanna.
478 reviews
November 19, 2018
Le daría más estrellas a este libro si no hubiera sido un constante “sí quiero, no quiero, siempre sí, siempre no”

Dominic y Alexandra me sorprendieron muchísimo, su historia de amor avanzó tremendamente rápida pero me alegra mucho saber que al final a pesar de lo rápido que sucedió todo su amor no era simplemente pasajero.

Dominic le dobla la edad a Alexandra y los rumores que comenzaron a haber en la ciudad empezaban a afectar a Alex, me alegro mucho que poco a poco Dominic la ayudara a superar eso.

La historia entre ambos me ha gustado, avanzó, como digo, tremendamente rápida, en dos días Alexandra ya le decía que lo amaba y me parece una barbaridad pero al mismo tiempo, supongo que estaba en lo cierto. El como inició su historia de amor fue totalmente extraña para mí JAJA, no veía venir ese comienzo, no creí que Dominic le coqueteara de esa manera tan descarada O.o en fin, me gustó y no me quejo.

Me gustaron los personajes y más que Alexandra fuera madura y no se avergonzara de decir lo que pensaba, lo único que no me pareció fue que el personaje de Dominic fuera tan indeciso; había momentos donde le decía quiero que te cases conmigo y podían pasar horas y ya le estaba diciendo que su amor era pasajero, puedo jurar que yo al leer eso estaba tipo YA MEJOR CÁLLATE DUDE, me estresaba muchísimo eso, solo dañaba a Alexandra a lo tonto porque al final siempre le terminaba diciendo que siempre sí quería casarse y aggh🙄, a pesar de eso su personaje también me ha gustado y más en el ultimo capítulo, me encantó su forma de demostrarle que de verdad la ama, no tiene precio todo lo que arriesgo solo por amor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Last Chance Saloon.
782 reviews14 followers
April 9, 2025
Seventeen year old heroine changes over night from wanting to marry her 20 year old boyfriend of 4 months to wanting only the hero - her 34 year old brother-in-law’s brother. She had seen him in the shower with an ex-girlfriend, then as the book starts he is kissing his current bed partner. He becomes interested in the heroine when he sees her midriff whilst she’s making out with her boyfriend (!!!!) and then plays hot and cold with her after undressing her with his eyes, etc. What proceeds is a yo-yo of he wants her, then he tries to get erections for other women but can’t manage it any more, so he comes back to the heroine (who practically pants for him in every scene). She might be young and fickle and feel things with the devastation almost all 17 year old girls do, but he has less emotional maturity than her. He’d already married and divorced one 17 year old years ago because he doesn’t seem to practice contraception, and has not learned a lesson. Nor can he go more than a day or to without a woman. He belittles the heroine and discards her with contempt when he realises he loves her, then tries to bed more women. Sigh.
2 1/2 stars as I really liked the heroine’s sister and brother in law - everyone else was pathetic. The heroine should have bided her time, grown out of it, and met someone without an STD.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
364 reviews7 followers
January 20, 2021
"Στα δεσμά του έρωτα"- Κάρολ Μόρτιμερ, Σειρά Συλλογή, νούμερο 195, έτος έκδοσης στην Ελλάδα: 1980

Όταν η Αλεξάνδρα Πέιτζ, ανακοίνωσε την πρόθεσή της να παντρευτεί τον Ρόμπερτ Γιάνγκ, αντιμετώπισε την κατηγορηματική άρνηση της αδερφής της. Η έκπληξη που ένιωσε από τη στάση της Γκέιλ, μετατράπηκε σε οργή, όταν έμαθε ότι ουσιαστικός υπεύθυνος για την στάση της αυτή, ήταν ο κουνιάδος της αδερφής της, ο γοητευτικός ζωντοχήρος Ντομινίκ Τέμπεστ. Ένας αδυσώπητος πόλεμος, θα ξεσπάσει τότε ανάμεσά τους, μέχρι που η Αλεξάνδρα θα καταλάβει, ότι είναι τρελά ερωτευμένη μ' αυτόν τον κοσμοπολίτη γυναικοκατακτητή. Αδιαφορώντας για τη τιμή των όπλων, θα το βάλει στα πόδια για να σωθεί. Δεν υπολόγισε , όμως, σωστά τις κινήσεις του αντιπάλου της...

ΜΙΑ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΙΔΙΑΙΤΕΡΑ ΔΥΝΑΤΗ!!!! Έτσι κι αλλιώς, στα περισσότερα βιβλία της Μόρτιμερ, κυριαρχούν τα έντονα συναισθήματα που βιώνουν οι χαρακτήρες της!!!!
7 reviews1 follower
July 13, 2017
A bit of a let down because I guess I was expecting a bit more from this book. However, I love Carole Mortimer so I will read her books all the time. The young lady was too childish for me and seemed to be petulant most of the time.
25 reviews
February 7, 2022
The h is a spoiled child. The H is a jerk. The conversations made me feel awkward. If I could have stopped myself from finishing it, I would have but its simply a compulsion.
Profile Image for Ksenia.
40 reviews
April 15, 2023
I know only of two authors who have been able to convincingly pull off big age difference between two main characters and Carole Mortimer is not among them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews

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