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Smoke in the Wind
Her response to him was frightening... Venetia Gamble had felt desire before. The result? Such a disastrous marriage that she felt she wanted never to experience desire again. And she hadn't--until now. Ryan Fraine, famous documentary filmmaker, was in New Zealand to set up a new television station. From the moment they met, Venetia, herself a TV reporter, knew this man could make her suffer as she never had before. So she shied away from his blazing sensuality. Yet there was something else, something in the very core of her soul that wouldn't permit escape....
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
4 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
Robyn Donald
448 books148 followersRobyn Elaine Donald was born on 14 August 1940 in Northland, New Zealand. She was the oldest child in her family, and as a child, she thrilled her four sisters and one brother with bloodcurdling adventure tales, usually very like the latest book she'd borrowed from the library.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
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January 6, 2018
Re Smoke in the Wind - Just to get this out of the way before I start, I hate this book - I mean srsly despise, detest and have burnt copies at the stake kinda hate this book. Needless to say this intransigence on my part will probably affect the way I spoilerize this one.
But just because I hate it doesn't mean it is badly written. Actually the fact that the writing for this one is excellent only adds fuel to the fire that is my fury over this story. This book is totally the trainwreck in a hurricane with an avalanche on top. When HP reader's talk about epic trainwrecks this book will ALWAYS come up.
It has achieved legendary cult status and for the amount of trainwrecks that litter the shores of HPlandia, this book will ALWAYS come out in the top ten if not the top five as the wreckiest and maybe most hated H ever. There is probably not a more polarizing book in all of HPlandia - you will either hate this or love this but no one ever walks away indifferent, for that reason you cannot call yourself an HP devotee if you haven't gotten through this one (irregardless of how much chocolate or how much vino you had to drink to get there,) and thus this book is required HP reading.
The premise trope of this one is a rarely used but always interesting one, the H marries another woman instead of the h. This trope has been used at least five times by Anne Mather, Lynne Graham, Jacqueline Baird and Emma Darcy and a few times by RD. Sometimes it works better than others, but RD's version is the ONLY version that has the H marrying another woman not because of blackmail or misguided family honour, but because the H flat out preferred and loved the OW more that the h - which kinda puts a roadblock on the romance that is really hard to overcome.
This one starts with the h being 23 and an orphan, she is currently a very assertive television reporter, making a name for herself and doing tough interviews. The h is in the big city after leaving her aunt and uncle's conservative lifestyle and family farm - they had raised her since her parents died but Venetia is too ambitious and too assertive to play the meek and feminine farmer stay home house wife. No matter how much she keeps her mouth shut and tries to conform, she totally doesn't fit in. A brief rush of hormones to the head as a teenager resulted in her aunt and uncle forcing her into a shotgun marriage with another teenager because of pregnancy. She miscarried the baby and the marriage was never going to work, so at 23 Venetia is already a hardened veteran of divorce and has a rather cynical view of life and men.
Enter Ryan the H or in this instance the pus filled boil on a carbuncle. Boil boy is supposed to be this insightful and enigmatic veteran reporter that is famous for his clear eyed perception and understanding of the truth in any situation. He has multiple lovers and a past littered with the road kill of his tossed aside former flames who did not make the long term relationship or wife grade. Boil boy has very strict standards for a life partner/wife-- she has to be a mild, feminine, gentle stay at home, totally devoted handmaiden to all things Boil boy. The only problem is that BB only likes his ladies a bit on the assertive side and with a heaping helping of wall banging boudoir bouncing.
Boil boy has a huge mommy problem, his mother was a business woman and had no time for him-- which means that he has huge problems with women who aren't aspiring domestic engineering handmaidens in any situation besides wall banging. Despite being in his third decade and supposedly mature, BB can't seem to figure out that maybe dear old mum just wasn't good with children period.
So Boil boy and Venetia meet and the attraction is red hot and instant. Venetia has some misgivings, but ultimately winds up succumbing to the power of the lurve club. While there only seems to be lurve clubbing and work between them and Boil boy seems to assume they only have a lot passion between them and resents it, Venetia is busy doing her job and falling in love.
Then Boil boy meets Venetia's cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a taller Venetia look alike but 180 degrees different in personality. Elizabeth is the HP definition of stay at home devoted handmaiden domestic engineer and Boil boy dumps Venetia for Elizabeth in a heartbeat. (After the obligatory rape scene where he uses her and promises to "break" Venetia if she ever reveals anything more that what she has to Elizabeth.)
Bovine Elizabeth knows full well she is poaching on her cousin's man, but she doesn't care cause Boil boy wanting her more just reaffirms that she is the perfect Princess while Venetia is an unacceptable, difficult reject. So Boil and Bovine marry and Venetia winds up preggers after the last Boil boy confrontation. She flees to her grandmother's in Australia. Boil and Bovine eventually show there as well, but Gramma is well aware of the situation (as are Bovine's parent's, and isn't it ironic that the family feeling this time isn't to force a marriage for the unborn child's sake, but to please keep your tarty self and your little mistake as far away as possible from our little bovine angel and her happiness.)
Gramma really has no use for a cow and a carbuncle and so the happy duo is soon on their way. Gramma is team Venetia all the way and berates Boil boy for a fool cause even the Victorians accepted that people have prior partners.
(Yay for Gramma here, one of the continual fallacies in this book is that Boil boy insists that Venetia misrepresented herself about her experience and that is why he was so horrible to her for 99% of the book. Venetia did not, she presented a professional attitude towards her job and she was enthusiastic about her tower of power experiences with Ryan. Most people have multiple facets to their personalities and usually these come out as two people get to know each other in various situations. IMO Venetia never acted or presented a fake persona in her viewpoints and her opinions, she was an experienced reporter with some real world sophistication - this was one aspect of her personality and in no way was faked, just cause RD says it don't make it so. Venetia was divorced, she did not elaborate because Ryan never asked (like normal people getting to know each other do,) mainly cause Ryan never saw Venetia as anything other than a lurve club receptacle and never bothered with the personal details.
No Venetia did not put her personal business all out there for Ryan to pick through and comment, he did not elaborate on his exes either. Supposedly they were in an adult relationship where past experiences were discrete. He was fine with accepting other men's negative remarks about her tart appeal or her promiscuity, just as Venetia accepted there was a ton of gossip about him but relied on her own personal judgement. I find it highly ironic that for all his vaunted insight and clear eyed vision, Ryan couldn't recognize good old male envy when he ran into to it.)
So anyways six years go by and Venetia has John her son, and the bovine princess dies. Boil boy shows up and is ready to claim his son and bully Venetia back into bed. The hypochondriac parasite aunty dearest has decided to confess to the existence of John in another effort to manipulate and guilt Venetia in the mold she determines she should fit. Plus aunty parasite has a terminal fear of being alone and she figures she can use Venetia to keep Boil boy hooked into the family line. Now that the bovine princess is gone, it suddenly becomes imperative that Ryan do right by his son and get them into the marital family fold. Ostensibly Boil boy is there to make Venetia's first book into a film, as she is now a best selling novelist, but really it is all about degenerating her enough to humiliate her back into family control.
After 40 pages of insults, threats and bullying and a stunning display of jealousy when Boil boy and Venetia meet up again with her former husband, (and he srsly looked like a much better propostion,) Venetia finally caves and figuring her love is enough for both of them, she marries Boil boy after a night of tumultuous swinging of the lurve club and the resultant disapproval of aunty parasite. Boil boy and Venetia and John start a life as a family and Boil does appear to be an interested father, the boudoir bouncing is intense but Venetia is starting to think that maybe the ghost of the bovine princess is always going to make this pairing an actual threesome.
Things finally come to a head when Venetia confronts Boil boy about him thinking he can use her as a substitute for Elizabeth. Boil boy denies this, he insists that soon after marriage he realized he made a mistake, he wanted Elizabeth only as a friend and Venetia as his wife but he picked the bovine option and so he was stuck and longing for Venetia physically. Elizabeth would never understand him leaving her and he is still ashamed at how he can't control his passion around Venetia. He says he doesn't feel guilty about Elizabeth tho, cause he made her happy.
Then he immediately negates everything he said two seconds earlier by telling Venetia that he never realized how he felt about her until Elizabeth was dead and mourned and he came to Australia to see Venetia and John and realized he loved her and missed her - so instead of six years of tormented yearning for a woman he rejected, he really only missed her for about a month before they married cause they did not jump into bed right away.
Not only that but Boil boy insists that the whole thing is all Venetia's fault anyway for not hiring a full page newspaper ad about her prior experience and if she had just been more willing to publish her complete sexual past with appropriate witnessed depositions by all pertinent persons, Ryan would have never made the mistake of believing she was a promiscuous tart and might have actually gotten to know her as a real person instead of a thrusting object.
Then Ryan completes his utter pustule pomposity by swearing he will follow Venetia into Hades itself to give her a good old lurve club thrusting, thus proving that he still is massively ashamed of his uncontrollable passion for her and that she is going to spend the next 12 years or (more hopefully,) the rest of his short life expectancy (preferably in days instead of months,) paying for his inability to admit his own weakness. In terms of HEA believablity and H redemption, that last page just makes this an EPIC fail.
Which is a shame, cause RD is a good writer. We are all used to her having utter misogynistic parasite sewage slurpers for H's but she usually manages to give them a really great redemption scene in the last pages of the book. That never happens here, instead Ryan refuses to acknowledge that his problems are just that, HIS problems and he never does really find a constructive resolution.
Instead RD has to devolve Venetia down to Ryan's level and when you combine that with Venetia's family's epic betrayal with no remorse, this just makes this one a wall banger of house bashing proportions. RD betrays the reader, she betrays Venetia and most importantly she betrays Ryan - by not allowing him to grow and acknowledge that he made a mistake all on his own, there is no redemption and he comes across as the same sanctimonious smug nematode parasite prig that he has always been, but now Venetia is stuck with that for life and how much should she have to suffer for daring to be a developed person?
The two things RD does get right is Gramma's fierce defense of Venetia and providing her with financial independence and great good sense (if only V had listened,) and she kills off the bovine princess Elizabeth. Unfortunately not in great pain and agony as we are repeatedly assured Elizabeth was happy and did not suffer. It is totally mean and I am horrible for saying it,
(But barring Venetia returning to the family farm with a hot All Black Captain fiance,-- who turns out to be Elizabeth's emotional obsession and her physical passion object, --who then firmly rejects Elizabeth cause the AB Captain prefers real women to boring bovine princesses and intends to marry his real woman total love Venetia - and Elizabeth seeing John and realizing that Venetia has Ryan's child, and she will always be infertile and Ryan gets to realize that his only child will never know him as a father- then both Ryan and Elizabeth having to stand by and smile as their two obsessions walk off into the HEA sunset together,)
Elizabeth's demise is the one cold comfort in this utter farce of a romance and failed HEA.
Words cannot adequately describe the complete sense of tummy pounding disgust I feel when I read this book. What makes it worse is that RD had a huge potential multiple times to pull this one out of the gutter and she totally let it sink lower than sub sewer level. Cesspools have more to offer in happiness than this book. Ryan is a nothing, vapid H who is not lovable. There is literally not ONE thing to like about him and that makes his pairing with Venetia and John all the worse, cause even devolved as she is by the end, she is still a gazillion million times better than Ryan will ever be - even if he is reincarnated until the heat death of the universe, there is just no redemption for this sad example of slimey pustulous pomposity and no way to erase that slime streak from HPlandia.
Read this one with great caution, but read it you must - if only to understand and appreciate the whole universe that is HPlandia and how precarious those HEA's can be.
But just because I hate it doesn't mean it is badly written. Actually the fact that the writing for this one is excellent only adds fuel to the fire that is my fury over this story. This book is totally the trainwreck in a hurricane with an avalanche on top. When HP reader's talk about epic trainwrecks this book will ALWAYS come up.
It has achieved legendary cult status and for the amount of trainwrecks that litter the shores of HPlandia, this book will ALWAYS come out in the top ten if not the top five as the wreckiest and maybe most hated H ever. There is probably not a more polarizing book in all of HPlandia - you will either hate this or love this but no one ever walks away indifferent, for that reason you cannot call yourself an HP devotee if you haven't gotten through this one (irregardless of how much chocolate or how much vino you had to drink to get there,) and thus this book is required HP reading.
The premise trope of this one is a rarely used but always interesting one, the H marries another woman instead of the h. This trope has been used at least five times by Anne Mather, Lynne Graham, Jacqueline Baird and Emma Darcy and a few times by RD. Sometimes it works better than others, but RD's version is the ONLY version that has the H marrying another woman not because of blackmail or misguided family honour, but because the H flat out preferred and loved the OW more that the h - which kinda puts a roadblock on the romance that is really hard to overcome.
This one starts with the h being 23 and an orphan, she is currently a very assertive television reporter, making a name for herself and doing tough interviews. The h is in the big city after leaving her aunt and uncle's conservative lifestyle and family farm - they had raised her since her parents died but Venetia is too ambitious and too assertive to play the meek and feminine farmer stay home house wife. No matter how much she keeps her mouth shut and tries to conform, she totally doesn't fit in. A brief rush of hormones to the head as a teenager resulted in her aunt and uncle forcing her into a shotgun marriage with another teenager because of pregnancy. She miscarried the baby and the marriage was never going to work, so at 23 Venetia is already a hardened veteran of divorce and has a rather cynical view of life and men.
Enter Ryan the H or in this instance the pus filled boil on a carbuncle. Boil boy is supposed to be this insightful and enigmatic veteran reporter that is famous for his clear eyed perception and understanding of the truth in any situation. He has multiple lovers and a past littered with the road kill of his tossed aside former flames who did not make the long term relationship or wife grade. Boil boy has very strict standards for a life partner/wife-- she has to be a mild, feminine, gentle stay at home, totally devoted handmaiden to all things Boil boy. The only problem is that BB only likes his ladies a bit on the assertive side and with a heaping helping of wall banging boudoir bouncing.
Boil boy has a huge mommy problem, his mother was a business woman and had no time for him-- which means that he has huge problems with women who aren't aspiring domestic engineering handmaidens in any situation besides wall banging. Despite being in his third decade and supposedly mature, BB can't seem to figure out that maybe dear old mum just wasn't good with children period.
So Boil boy and Venetia meet and the attraction is red hot and instant. Venetia has some misgivings, but ultimately winds up succumbing to the power of the lurve club. While there only seems to be lurve clubbing and work between them and Boil boy seems to assume they only have a lot passion between them and resents it, Venetia is busy doing her job and falling in love.
Then Boil boy meets Venetia's cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a taller Venetia look alike but 180 degrees different in personality. Elizabeth is the HP definition of stay at home devoted handmaiden domestic engineer and Boil boy dumps Venetia for Elizabeth in a heartbeat. (After the obligatory rape scene where he uses her and promises to "break" Venetia if she ever reveals anything more that what she has to Elizabeth.)
Bovine Elizabeth knows full well she is poaching on her cousin's man, but she doesn't care cause Boil boy wanting her more just reaffirms that she is the perfect Princess while Venetia is an unacceptable, difficult reject. So Boil and Bovine marry and Venetia winds up preggers after the last Boil boy confrontation. She flees to her grandmother's in Australia. Boil and Bovine eventually show there as well, but Gramma is well aware of the situation (as are Bovine's parent's, and isn't it ironic that the family feeling this time isn't to force a marriage for the unborn child's sake, but to please keep your tarty self and your little mistake as far away as possible from our little bovine angel and her happiness.)
Gramma really has no use for a cow and a carbuncle and so the happy duo is soon on their way. Gramma is team Venetia all the way and berates Boil boy for a fool cause even the Victorians accepted that people have prior partners.
(Yay for Gramma here, one of the continual fallacies in this book is that Boil boy insists that Venetia misrepresented herself about her experience and that is why he was so horrible to her for 99% of the book. Venetia did not, she presented a professional attitude towards her job and she was enthusiastic about her tower of power experiences with Ryan. Most people have multiple facets to their personalities and usually these come out as two people get to know each other in various situations. IMO Venetia never acted or presented a fake persona in her viewpoints and her opinions, she was an experienced reporter with some real world sophistication - this was one aspect of her personality and in no way was faked, just cause RD says it don't make it so. Venetia was divorced, she did not elaborate because Ryan never asked (like normal people getting to know each other do,) mainly cause Ryan never saw Venetia as anything other than a lurve club receptacle and never bothered with the personal details.
No Venetia did not put her personal business all out there for Ryan to pick through and comment, he did not elaborate on his exes either. Supposedly they were in an adult relationship where past experiences were discrete. He was fine with accepting other men's negative remarks about her tart appeal or her promiscuity, just as Venetia accepted there was a ton of gossip about him but relied on her own personal judgement. I find it highly ironic that for all his vaunted insight and clear eyed vision, Ryan couldn't recognize good old male envy when he ran into to it.)
So anyways six years go by and Venetia has John her son, and the bovine princess dies. Boil boy shows up and is ready to claim his son and bully Venetia back into bed. The hypochondriac parasite aunty dearest has decided to confess to the existence of John in another effort to manipulate and guilt Venetia in the mold she determines she should fit. Plus aunty parasite has a terminal fear of being alone and she figures she can use Venetia to keep Boil boy hooked into the family line. Now that the bovine princess is gone, it suddenly becomes imperative that Ryan do right by his son and get them into the marital family fold. Ostensibly Boil boy is there to make Venetia's first book into a film, as she is now a best selling novelist, but really it is all about degenerating her enough to humiliate her back into family control.
After 40 pages of insults, threats and bullying and a stunning display of jealousy when Boil boy and Venetia meet up again with her former husband, (and he srsly looked like a much better propostion,) Venetia finally caves and figuring her love is enough for both of them, she marries Boil boy after a night of tumultuous swinging of the lurve club and the resultant disapproval of aunty parasite. Boil boy and Venetia and John start a life as a family and Boil does appear to be an interested father, the boudoir bouncing is intense but Venetia is starting to think that maybe the ghost of the bovine princess is always going to make this pairing an actual threesome.
Things finally come to a head when Venetia confronts Boil boy about him thinking he can use her as a substitute for Elizabeth. Boil boy denies this, he insists that soon after marriage he realized he made a mistake, he wanted Elizabeth only as a friend and Venetia as his wife but he picked the bovine option and so he was stuck and longing for Venetia physically. Elizabeth would never understand him leaving her and he is still ashamed at how he can't control his passion around Venetia. He says he doesn't feel guilty about Elizabeth tho, cause he made her happy.
Then he immediately negates everything he said two seconds earlier by telling Venetia that he never realized how he felt about her until Elizabeth was dead and mourned and he came to Australia to see Venetia and John and realized he loved her and missed her - so instead of six years of tormented yearning for a woman he rejected, he really only missed her for about a month before they married cause they did not jump into bed right away.
Not only that but Boil boy insists that the whole thing is all Venetia's fault anyway for not hiring a full page newspaper ad about her prior experience and if she had just been more willing to publish her complete sexual past with appropriate witnessed depositions by all pertinent persons, Ryan would have never made the mistake of believing she was a promiscuous tart and might have actually gotten to know her as a real person instead of a thrusting object.
Then Ryan completes his utter pustule pomposity by swearing he will follow Venetia into Hades itself to give her a good old lurve club thrusting, thus proving that he still is massively ashamed of his uncontrollable passion for her and that she is going to spend the next 12 years or (more hopefully,) the rest of his short life expectancy (preferably in days instead of months,) paying for his inability to admit his own weakness. In terms of HEA believablity and H redemption, that last page just makes this an EPIC fail.
Which is a shame, cause RD is a good writer. We are all used to her having utter misogynistic parasite sewage slurpers for H's but she usually manages to give them a really great redemption scene in the last pages of the book. That never happens here, instead Ryan refuses to acknowledge that his problems are just that, HIS problems and he never does really find a constructive resolution.
Instead RD has to devolve Venetia down to Ryan's level and when you combine that with Venetia's family's epic betrayal with no remorse, this just makes this one a wall banger of house bashing proportions. RD betrays the reader, she betrays Venetia and most importantly she betrays Ryan - by not allowing him to grow and acknowledge that he made a mistake all on his own, there is no redemption and he comes across as the same sanctimonious smug nematode parasite prig that he has always been, but now Venetia is stuck with that for life and how much should she have to suffer for daring to be a developed person?
The two things RD does get right is Gramma's fierce defense of Venetia and providing her with financial independence and great good sense (if only V had listened,) and she kills off the bovine princess Elizabeth. Unfortunately not in great pain and agony as we are repeatedly assured Elizabeth was happy and did not suffer. It is totally mean and I am horrible for saying it,
(But barring Venetia returning to the family farm with a hot All Black Captain fiance,-- who turns out to be Elizabeth's emotional obsession and her physical passion object, --who then firmly rejects Elizabeth cause the AB Captain prefers real women to boring bovine princesses and intends to marry his real woman total love Venetia - and Elizabeth seeing John and realizing that Venetia has Ryan's child, and she will always be infertile and Ryan gets to realize that his only child will never know him as a father- then both Ryan and Elizabeth having to stand by and smile as their two obsessions walk off into the HEA sunset together,)
Elizabeth's demise is the one cold comfort in this utter farce of a romance and failed HEA.
Words cannot adequately describe the complete sense of tummy pounding disgust I feel when I read this book. What makes it worse is that RD had a huge potential multiple times to pull this one out of the gutter and she totally let it sink lower than sub sewer level. Cesspools have more to offer in happiness than this book. Ryan is a nothing, vapid H who is not lovable. There is literally not ONE thing to like about him and that makes his pairing with Venetia and John all the worse, cause even devolved as she is by the end, she is still a gazillion million times better than Ryan will ever be - even if he is reincarnated until the heat death of the universe, there is just no redemption for this sad example of slimey pustulous pomposity and no way to erase that slime streak from HPlandia.
Read this one with great caution, but read it you must - if only to understand and appreciate the whole universe that is HPlandia and how precarious those HEA's can be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2025
Venetia was a well known 23 year old television reporter in New Zealand. She was beautiful, petite, an orphan who was brought up by her aunt and uncle. The couple had a biological daughter around Venetia's age, Elizabeth, who was Venetia's lookalike, the difference been that she was tall while Venetia was petite.
Venetia was always the cuckoo in their nest.
Venetia got pregnant at 18 by her boyfriend and her conservative aunt insisted that they marry. They divorced after she suffered a miscarriage.
Her aunt believed that Venetia was a bad influence on sheltered, innocent Elizabeth so Venetia moved to town and avoided romantic relationships. She concentrated instead on her career.
Ryan was a dynamic, handsome Britton in his thirties. He was a journalist and was known worldwide for producing brilliant documentaries and had a big reputation with the ladies.
Ryan and Venetia met at a function. There was a huge spark of attraction. He'd kissed her and although Venetia responded, she told him she did not go in for one-night stands.
That weekend Venetia was invited out on a yacht. Ryan happened to be there and the two had a conversation about career women versus stay at home ones taking care of their children and husbands.
Ryan confided that his mother was a career woman and he came a poor second to her business.
He was brought up by a succession of childminders when as a child only wanted to have a mother there for him.
His belief was that a woman who wants a child should be prepared to devote herself to it, as children need stability.
Venetia's take on this was that no woman should give up a promising career, she certainly wouldn't.
If a woman work things out carefully, she can have a career and a family as well.
Ryan disagreed with that.
Ryan was told by an adversary colleague of Venetia's that she slept her way to the position she now held at work. Though that was not true, Ryan believed him and resented her as he had conservative ideas about morality, never mind the large number of women he'd slept with. Obviously his conservative ideas only applied on women.
Ryan and Venetia gave in to their explosive chemistry. They were dynamite together. The weeks that followed were the happiest of Venetia's life. She was totally in love with him.
She knew he didn't love her, only wanted her, but she was hopeful that he would eventually learn to love her. He never stayed the night and never took her to his home.
One evening Ryan took Venetia to a restaurant for a farewell dinner. She was to go overseas for a work assignment the next day and be away for a month.
Coincidentally Venetia's aunt, uncle and Elizabeth were dining at the same restaurant. They invited the couple to join them and Ryan promptly accepted, to Venetia's displeasure.
Ryan seemed very interested in Elizabeth. She was meek, passive, domesticated without ambition and career.
He'd focused all his attention on her and blushing Elizabeth seemed to relish the attention from such a handsome, sophisticated man.
Alarmed Venetia confronted her cousin in the bathroom. She made it clear to her that Ryan was very important to her and they were lovers. She told her to back off.
The next day Venetia left for her overseas trip.
Venetia arrived back to New Zealand a month later and when Ryan came to visit seemed cold and distant. "It’s over Venetia. You'll probably always be able to make me want you, but that's all. You knew it was no great romance ". He was now with Elizabeth and was going to marry her.
Venetia threatened to tell sheltered, virgin Elizabeth about his sexual appetites. That would scare her away. He said if Venetia said anything to hurt her, he would destroy her.
They had rough sex on the floor, and right after, he got up, looked down at her with contempt, and left.
The next day her aunt visited. She told Venetia that they would all be greatly relieved if she left the country.
Within a month Venetia moved to Australia and stayed with her grandmother. She soon discovered she was pregnant.
Five months later, Ryan and Elizabeth came knocking unexpectedly. Venetia's grandmother was Elizabeth's grandmother as well.
They were returning back from their honeymoon in Hawaii and were on their way back to New Zealand.
Venetia hid in the next room but was able to hear them. Elizabeth sounded happy.
At some point Elizabeth asked the grandmother if Venetia was there and how was she? The grandmother said with deadly blandness "I am glad to hear that you have some concern for her Elizabeth. We all have to face the consequences of our actions. What happened between you and Venetia is a matter for your conscience ".
Venetia noticed how protective Ryan was of Elizabeth. He never was like that with Venetia and at that moment she really accepted that Ryan really loved Elizabeth and Ryan and herself were over for good despite her pregnancy.
Six years later.
Venetia's grandmother passed away the year before and left everything to Venetia. She was living a quiet life with her five year old son, John.
Ryan never knew about his son even though her aunt and uncle knew from the get go. Her aunt had been most insistent that Venetia stayed away for ever.
No need to upset dear Elizabeth.
Venetia became a successful author and she hadn't seen or spoken to Ryan for six years.
She was not in love with him anymore.
Elizabeth was unable to have children and a year ago she'd died from leukaemia.
One day Venetia had a visit from Ryan and that's how the second part of the story started...
Venetia was always the cuckoo in their nest.
Venetia got pregnant at 18 by her boyfriend and her conservative aunt insisted that they marry. They divorced after she suffered a miscarriage.
Her aunt believed that Venetia was a bad influence on sheltered, innocent Elizabeth so Venetia moved to town and avoided romantic relationships. She concentrated instead on her career.
Ryan was a dynamic, handsome Britton in his thirties. He was a journalist and was known worldwide for producing brilliant documentaries and had a big reputation with the ladies.
Ryan and Venetia met at a function. There was a huge spark of attraction. He'd kissed her and although Venetia responded, she told him she did not go in for one-night stands.
That weekend Venetia was invited out on a yacht. Ryan happened to be there and the two had a conversation about career women versus stay at home ones taking care of their children and husbands.
Ryan confided that his mother was a career woman and he came a poor second to her business.
He was brought up by a succession of childminders when as a child only wanted to have a mother there for him.
His belief was that a woman who wants a child should be prepared to devote herself to it, as children need stability.
Venetia's take on this was that no woman should give up a promising career, she certainly wouldn't.
If a woman work things out carefully, she can have a career and a family as well.
Ryan disagreed with that.
Ryan was told by an adversary colleague of Venetia's that she slept her way to the position she now held at work. Though that was not true, Ryan believed him and resented her as he had conservative ideas about morality, never mind the large number of women he'd slept with. Obviously his conservative ideas only applied on women.
Ryan and Venetia gave in to their explosive chemistry. They were dynamite together. The weeks that followed were the happiest of Venetia's life. She was totally in love with him.
She knew he didn't love her, only wanted her, but she was hopeful that he would eventually learn to love her. He never stayed the night and never took her to his home.
One evening Ryan took Venetia to a restaurant for a farewell dinner. She was to go overseas for a work assignment the next day and be away for a month.
Coincidentally Venetia's aunt, uncle and Elizabeth were dining at the same restaurant. They invited the couple to join them and Ryan promptly accepted, to Venetia's displeasure.
Ryan seemed very interested in Elizabeth. She was meek, passive, domesticated without ambition and career.
He'd focused all his attention on her and blushing Elizabeth seemed to relish the attention from such a handsome, sophisticated man.
Alarmed Venetia confronted her cousin in the bathroom. She made it clear to her that Ryan was very important to her and they were lovers. She told her to back off.
The next day Venetia left for her overseas trip.
Venetia arrived back to New Zealand a month later and when Ryan came to visit seemed cold and distant. "It’s over Venetia. You'll probably always be able to make me want you, but that's all. You knew it was no great romance ". He was now with Elizabeth and was going to marry her.
Venetia threatened to tell sheltered, virgin Elizabeth about his sexual appetites. That would scare her away. He said if Venetia said anything to hurt her, he would destroy her.
They had rough sex on the floor, and right after, he got up, looked down at her with contempt, and left.
The next day her aunt visited. She told Venetia that they would all be greatly relieved if she left the country.
Within a month Venetia moved to Australia and stayed with her grandmother. She soon discovered she was pregnant.
Five months later, Ryan and Elizabeth came knocking unexpectedly. Venetia's grandmother was Elizabeth's grandmother as well.
They were returning back from their honeymoon in Hawaii and were on their way back to New Zealand.
Venetia hid in the next room but was able to hear them. Elizabeth sounded happy.
At some point Elizabeth asked the grandmother if Venetia was there and how was she? The grandmother said with deadly blandness "I am glad to hear that you have some concern for her Elizabeth. We all have to face the consequences of our actions. What happened between you and Venetia is a matter for your conscience ".
Venetia noticed how protective Ryan was of Elizabeth. He never was like that with Venetia and at that moment she really accepted that Ryan really loved Elizabeth and Ryan and herself were over for good despite her pregnancy.
Six years later.
Venetia's grandmother passed away the year before and left everything to Venetia. She was living a quiet life with her five year old son, John.
Ryan never knew about his son even though her aunt and uncle knew from the get go. Her aunt had been most insistent that Venetia stayed away for ever.
No need to upset dear Elizabeth.
Venetia became a successful author and she hadn't seen or spoken to Ryan for six years.
She was not in love with him anymore.
Elizabeth was unable to have children and a year ago she'd died from leukaemia.
One day Venetia had a visit from Ryan and that's how the second part of the story started...
May 6, 2015
3 loved to hate it stars.
I've been avoiding this one for a while. It's infamous in HP circles. However, it is so memorable because it is hard to put down and has a lot of angst, a plot that's unique in HP land, and a Hero that will make you want to smash his face in with a large stick of wood covered in lots of prickly splinters soaked in poison ivy juice (I've thought hard about this).
Seriously, this guy was right up there with the "hero" from Shattered Dreams for misogyny and general ass-hattery.
Here's my spoilery take if anyone is interested. I know this one has been discussed to death.
I've been avoiding this one for a while. It's infamous in HP circles. However, it is so memorable because it is hard to put down and has a lot of angst, a plot that's unique in HP land, and a Hero that will make you want to smash his face in with a large stick of wood covered in lots of prickly splinters soaked in poison ivy juice (I've thought hard about this).
Seriously, this guy was right up there with the "hero" from Shattered Dreams for misogyny and general ass-hattery.
Here's my spoilery take if anyone is interested. I know this one has been discussed to death.
September 7, 2018
Apparently HP required reading. I had to wait over 300 days on OpenLibrary and would have been happy to wait a little longer. Luckily I was somewhat inoculated by my fellow GR friends from a total stroke out rant.
Heavy sigh, yep, this was one big train wreck, and I’m feeling pretty cranky right now as my diet prevents alcohol. Not good timing on my part. Few actually likeable characters. The heroine, the hero, the vapid cow cousin, the manipulative aunt and uncle are subpar people.
I really feel that RD wrote this as a cautionary tale to women to NOT have sex before marriage especially of it is good sex. The story also reeks of the 1970s/1980s offended male reaction to women working by choice rather than necessity which I guess goes hand in hand with sexual liberation. A lot of women didn’t like women working as it myy rock the boat.
Anyhoo, let’s get down and dirty about all the terrible people.
The hero aka POS.
OMG, the hero (POS) is Mr. Cake and Eat it too. Honestly, the worst thing Ryan does isn’t marrying the bovine cousin, but the constant SLUT SHAMING and derision of the heroine. His lip curls, he laughs derisively, he sneers… you get the picture. He believes anything and everything tossed his way. Granted the h doesn’t say much to stop it, but all right already. You lust after her. You hate lusting after her. Then you have animal sex with her. Die a thousand deaths, you POS. Hey, smoking is still a thing. Light one up.
Of course, POS gets off scot free. He’s in a not-really-friends-but-we-still-have-sexy-benefits relationship with the heroine when he sees her cousin, the new and better (virginal) cow, and dumps the h brutally. Then he has one more go round on the merry go round with the heroine in a not very nice kind of way that Venetia just loves, of course. When the bovine one kicks the bucket, the POS now has the sadder but wiser ho and his offspring to pull into the fold. Barf. Virgin/Whore issues abound.
The heroine, Venetia
Venetia. Not a prize either. Let’s face it, she falls for this asshole and has a tendency to repeat her mistakes. A lot.
The cousin, Elizabeth
She is probably the most evil character in the book. Her own cousin who was orphaned drags her to the bathroom to tell her point blank she loves the worthless POS hero. It obviously made an impact as the cousin straps on her Happy Homemaker persona and ends up seeing him on the sly while the heroine is away on assignment saving lives and getting typhoid. Then she MARRIES HIM! I’m surprised she didn’t ask the h to be maid of honor. She then gaslights the H and her family because she’s so worried about her cousin and feels so bad. The visit by Elizabeth and the POS to the grandmother reminds me of a short scene from A Room With a View,
Charlotte Bartlett: I shall never forgive myself.
Lucy Honeychurch: You always say that, Charlotte, but you always do forgive yourself.
The only one that had her number was the awesome grandmother who, other than the boy, was the only decent character.
The son
He’s more than a plot moppet, but shows possessive tendencies like Daddy.
Yes, I hated it, but as I said I was prepared.
Heavy sigh, yep, this was one big train wreck, and I’m feeling pretty cranky right now as my diet prevents alcohol. Not good timing on my part. Few actually likeable characters. The heroine, the hero, the vapid cow cousin, the manipulative aunt and uncle are subpar people.
I really feel that RD wrote this as a cautionary tale to women to NOT have sex before marriage especially of it is good sex. The story also reeks of the 1970s/1980s offended male reaction to women working by choice rather than necessity which I guess goes hand in hand with sexual liberation. A lot of women didn’t like women working as it myy rock the boat.
Anyhoo, let’s get down and dirty about all the terrible people.
The hero aka POS.
OMG, the hero (POS) is Mr. Cake and Eat it too. Honestly, the worst thing Ryan does isn’t marrying the bovine cousin, but the constant SLUT SHAMING and derision of the heroine. His lip curls, he laughs derisively, he sneers… you get the picture. He believes anything and everything tossed his way. Granted the h doesn’t say much to stop it, but all right already. You lust after her. You hate lusting after her. Then you have animal sex with her. Die a thousand deaths, you POS. Hey, smoking is still a thing. Light one up.
Of course, POS gets off scot free. He’s in a not-really-friends-but-we-still-have-sexy-benefits relationship with the heroine when he sees her cousin, the new and better (virginal) cow, and dumps the h brutally. Then he has one more go round on the merry go round with the heroine in a not very nice kind of way that Venetia just loves, of course. When the bovine one kicks the bucket, the POS now has the sadder but wiser ho and his offspring to pull into the fold. Barf. Virgin/Whore issues abound.
The heroine, Venetia
Venetia. Not a prize either. Let’s face it, she falls for this asshole and has a tendency to repeat her mistakes. A lot.
The cousin, Elizabeth
She is probably the most evil character in the book. Her own cousin who was orphaned drags her to the bathroom to tell her point blank she loves the worthless POS hero. It obviously made an impact as the cousin straps on her Happy Homemaker persona and ends up seeing him on the sly while the heroine is away on assignment saving lives and getting typhoid. Then she MARRIES HIM! I’m surprised she didn’t ask the h to be maid of honor. She then gaslights the H and her family because she’s so worried about her cousin and feels so bad. The visit by Elizabeth and the POS to the grandmother reminds me of a short scene from A Room With a View,
Charlotte Bartlett: I shall never forgive myself.
Lucy Honeychurch: You always say that, Charlotte, but you always do forgive yourself.
The only one that had her number was the awesome grandmother who, other than the boy, was the only decent character.
The son
He’s more than a plot moppet, but shows possessive tendencies like Daddy.
Yes, I hated it, but as I said I was prepared.
November 21, 2020
Let’s talk about Ryan Fraine.
Notorious in discussions of alpha heroes, Ryan is probably one of the most hated heroes in vintage Harleys—and that’s saying something. Getting to the HEA is brutal, but we do finally arrive. And what a ride! Love it or hate it, the writing, the wtfery, the locomotiove pacing make this a pulse-pounding, unputdownable read.
Notorious in discussions of alpha heroes, Ryan is probably one of the most hated heroes in vintage Harleys—and that’s saying something. Getting to the HEA is brutal, but we do finally arrive. And what a ride! Love it or hate it, the writing, the wtfery, the locomotiove pacing make this a pulse-pounding, unputdownable read.
January 4, 2016
This is one you don't forget. It's a guilty pleasure.
December 12, 2019
Worst hero ever!
That's quite an achievement because there are many, many contenders for that "illustrious" title. Yet somehow I didn't hate this book, which I'd read years ago and remember being difficult to put down. Venetia received my sympathy, while Ryan didn't deserve his second chance. Bad enough he was a douche, but unrepentant douches who choose the other woman over the heroine are the worst.
That's quite an achievement because there are many, many contenders for that "illustrious" title. Yet somehow I didn't hate this book, which I'd read years ago and remember being difficult to put down. Venetia received my sympathy, while Ryan didn't deserve his second chance. Bad enough he was a douche, but unrepentant douches who choose the other woman over the heroine are the worst.
June 30, 2011
My God! Whoever says that Harlequin stories are only fluff would definitely have a tough time categorizing this title as such. Smoke in the Wind by Robyn Donald is a title that ended up in my TBR pile via a recommendation received from Amazon. I finally gave into my curiosity and sampled my first Robyn Donald last night and boy did I have a hard time letting the story go to catch some much needed shut eye last night because yes once you start reading, this is the sort of book that refuses to let go!
Television reporter Venetia Gamble meets the engimatic and handsome Ryan Fraine whose reputation precedes him as one of the best in her field during a function held to inaugurate the set up of the first private television station in New Zealand. Even though the cynicsm that lurkes close to the surface in Ryan's eyes tells Venetia that he is a man best left alone, the explosive reaction that he seems to trigger with her baser emotions and seems to return in full makes her a slave to the fulfillment that he alone can give her.
23 year old Venetia has already learnt the bitter lesson of letting passion rule her life when she had been just 18 years old. Fiercely independent and not as sophisticated as she lets on, Venetia plays a dangerous game in perfecting the image that she thinks is what Ryan looks for in a woman though her ploy fails miserably when she falls in love with him only to have him fall for Venetia's innocent and serene cousin Elizabeth.
Six year later, Venetia has made a life for herself and her five year old son John at her grandmother's place in Austalia. And it is here that Ryan comes to seek her out, having bought the rights for her book which is to be made into a movie by the man himself. Elizabeth having passed away a year back, Ryan once again starts the dangerous cat and mouse game that they had played before with the passion that swirls between them stronger than ever, refusing to be denied even if giving in is the furthest thing Venetia wants.
With their son to consider, Ryan proposes that she marry him and give him the opportunity to once and for all slake the uncontrollable hunger that rules them both given half the chance. But the hurt and betrayal from 6 years back when Ryan had shattered the very foundation of her being when he had cruelly ended things with her has left its mark on Venetia who is ever more cautious and fools herself into thinking that she would ever be able to say no where Ryan is concerned.
Smoke in the Wind is an intense read that requires a lot from the reader and I revelled in the heady sensations that coursed through me every single minute of the story. Ryan is a hero that is hard to get on board with, his cruel treatment of Venetia because he can't accept the fact that he is vulnerable to her as she is to him hard to accept. Still I found myself fascinated with his character and came to understand what it is that drives him to be his meanest when he is around Venetia.
Venetia on the other hand is strong, fiesty and independent and vulnerable to the very core where Ryan is concerned. Though she gives as good as she gets, she is no match for the strong connection that is between her and Ryan and has withstood the test of time, distance and immense betrayal and once again it is Venetia that opens up herself to the possibility that this time around with maturity and past mistakes to guide her, she would be able to reap the benefits of Ryan's affections even if he might never come to love her as he did for his first wife.
If Robyn Donald writes all her stories with unapologetic honesty as this one, I am already a fan as Smoke in the Wind is a romance that fans of ruthless alpha heroes and fans of Harlequin romances ought not to miss. I would have loved to see Ryan brought to his knees and maybe see him grovel a little, hell a lot more but I suppose a gal can't have everything she wants.
Memorable Quotes
He smelled so good, of warm, aroused male. And taste. On his probing tongue, in his mouth, lingered the faint essence of the wine they had had for dinner, but mostly her mouth accepted his own special flavour, potent, exciting, more precious than the best vintage champagne. And the feel of him, the hard, powerful muscles so pleasurably contrasted with the smooth, flowing silk of the skin over them, a magnificent masculine dichotomy which conquered all that was feminine in her.
‘You,’ he repeated, his voice heavy and hard, shaking with emotion he no longer troubled to hide, ‘I took one look at you and knew that that was it, I’d spent the last six years with hunger for you eating at my heart.’
Rating=4.5
Original review posted on MBR's Realm of Romance
Television reporter Venetia Gamble meets the engimatic and handsome Ryan Fraine whose reputation precedes him as one of the best in her field during a function held to inaugurate the set up of the first private television station in New Zealand. Even though the cynicsm that lurkes close to the surface in Ryan's eyes tells Venetia that he is a man best left alone, the explosive reaction that he seems to trigger with her baser emotions and seems to return in full makes her a slave to the fulfillment that he alone can give her.
23 year old Venetia has already learnt the bitter lesson of letting passion rule her life when she had been just 18 years old. Fiercely independent and not as sophisticated as she lets on, Venetia plays a dangerous game in perfecting the image that she thinks is what Ryan looks for in a woman though her ploy fails miserably when she falls in love with him only to have him fall for Venetia's innocent and serene cousin Elizabeth.
Six year later, Venetia has made a life for herself and her five year old son John at her grandmother's place in Austalia. And it is here that Ryan comes to seek her out, having bought the rights for her book which is to be made into a movie by the man himself. Elizabeth having passed away a year back, Ryan once again starts the dangerous cat and mouse game that they had played before with the passion that swirls between them stronger than ever, refusing to be denied even if giving in is the furthest thing Venetia wants.
With their son to consider, Ryan proposes that she marry him and give him the opportunity to once and for all slake the uncontrollable hunger that rules them both given half the chance. But the hurt and betrayal from 6 years back when Ryan had shattered the very foundation of her being when he had cruelly ended things with her has left its mark on Venetia who is ever more cautious and fools herself into thinking that she would ever be able to say no where Ryan is concerned.
Smoke in the Wind is an intense read that requires a lot from the reader and I revelled in the heady sensations that coursed through me every single minute of the story. Ryan is a hero that is hard to get on board with, his cruel treatment of Venetia because he can't accept the fact that he is vulnerable to her as she is to him hard to accept. Still I found myself fascinated with his character and came to understand what it is that drives him to be his meanest when he is around Venetia.
Venetia on the other hand is strong, fiesty and independent and vulnerable to the very core where Ryan is concerned. Though she gives as good as she gets, she is no match for the strong connection that is between her and Ryan and has withstood the test of time, distance and immense betrayal and once again it is Venetia that opens up herself to the possibility that this time around with maturity and past mistakes to guide her, she would be able to reap the benefits of Ryan's affections even if he might never come to love her as he did for his first wife.
If Robyn Donald writes all her stories with unapologetic honesty as this one, I am already a fan as Smoke in the Wind is a romance that fans of ruthless alpha heroes and fans of Harlequin romances ought not to miss. I would have loved to see Ryan brought to his knees and maybe see him grovel a little, hell a lot more but I suppose a gal can't have everything she wants.
Memorable Quotes
He smelled so good, of warm, aroused male. And taste. On his probing tongue, in his mouth, lingered the faint essence of the wine they had had for dinner, but mostly her mouth accepted his own special flavour, potent, exciting, more precious than the best vintage champagne. And the feel of him, the hard, powerful muscles so pleasurably contrasted with the smooth, flowing silk of the skin over them, a magnificent masculine dichotomy which conquered all that was feminine in her.
‘You,’ he repeated, his voice heavy and hard, shaking with emotion he no longer troubled to hide, ‘I took one look at you and knew that that was it, I’d spent the last six years with hunger for you eating at my heart.’
Rating=4.5
Original review posted on MBR's Realm of Romance
February 13, 2023
Argh! I definitely have a love-hate relationship with this book. Never have I hated a hero so much! Yet, I absolutely love a gut-wrenching story that puts me through the emotional wringer. This book definitely gave me the feels. I never felt like the hero redeemed himself in the least though, which is important to me when reading this type of story. Right to the very end I hated Ryan’s guts.
August 28, 2016
Just telling you to read at your own risk here.
I had to stop myself from throwing my iPad as I read over and over again all the bullshit this fudgetard made her go through.
Also, the fact that she even had this bastard child made me so pissed!
She really was stupid!!!
He was the most un-hero hero I have ever had the misfortune to read.
Please forget you ever saw this book is my best advice here!
Turn back now, do not enter this hurricane!
You are just going to get hurt.
Don't say I didn't warn you!
I had to stop myself from throwing my iPad as I read over and over again all the bullshit this fudgetard made her go through.
Also, the fact that she even had this bastard child made me so pissed!
She really was stupid!!!
He was the most un-hero hero I have ever had the misfortune to read.
Please forget you ever saw this book is my best advice here!
Turn back now, do not enter this hurricane!
You are just going to get hurt.
Don't say I didn't warn you!
February 22, 2022
Boogenhagen wrote an entertaining and detailed review... so this is just ranting. :)
In the midst of a hot love affair, the heroine was painfully dumped by the “Hero”... but not before he raped her, threatened her, and unknowingly got her pregnant with his son. (That whole scene is nausea-inducing.) He secretly and purposefully had replaced her with her own cousin Elizabeth, wooing the cousin while she was away on business.
Before leaving on her trip, the heroine had made it abundantly clear to Elizabeth that she was in love with the “Hero.” There was no grey area. ‘Sweet’ Elizabeth knew *exactly* the harm she was inflicting, and the teeny-tiny smackdown she got by the Grandmother was both great and woefully inadequate. Elizabeth was a horrid person and needed to die painfully.
Actually, six people deserved to die in this story: the “Hero,” his chosen Stepford Wife Elizabeth and her parents, the lying boss, and another scummy male character. Unfortunately, only Elizabeth does. I regret that the author chose not to make her suffer, because she deserved to.
I’m glad Elizabeth couldn’t conceive a baby and wish the “Hero” would’ve missed even MORE of his son’s life.
To say the “Hero” was a worthless, irredeemed pig isn’t strong enough. The description that he was some insightful journalist was BS. He was positively clueless about his own issues and the characteristics of everyone around him. I didn’t sympathize with him for one second. By his own words, he never would have left Elizabeth. It’s impossible to believe he loved the heroine at any point. (Lust, yes...)
So we have a “Hero” that never would’ve left his first wife... and who didn’t respect or understand anything about the mother of his child.
There’s no grovel... he never did see anything wrong in what he did to the heroine, past or present.
He didn’t regret missing his son’s birth or his first six years. He didn’t look at anything from his child’s perspective, only his own. He remained a chauvinist. He was a thoughtless, self-absorbed bully. I can’t recall him making one positive gesture toward anyone else in this book, other than to/about Elizabeth.
I’m sorry the heroine didn’t go back to her first husband... a youthful marriage that had quickly ended. HE had grown up into a very likable character who seemed more Hero-like in his scenes.
HEA? Doubtful for them, and absolutely NOT for the reader.
In the midst of a hot love affair, the heroine was painfully dumped by the “Hero”... but not before he raped her, threatened her, and unknowingly got her pregnant with his son. (That whole scene is nausea-inducing.) He secretly and purposefully had replaced her with her own cousin Elizabeth, wooing the cousin while she was away on business.
Before leaving on her trip, the heroine had made it abundantly clear to Elizabeth that she was in love with the “Hero.” There was no grey area. ‘Sweet’ Elizabeth knew *exactly* the harm she was inflicting, and the teeny-tiny smackdown she got by the Grandmother was both great and woefully inadequate. Elizabeth was a horrid person and needed to die painfully.
Actually, six people deserved to die in this story: the “Hero,” his chosen Stepford Wife Elizabeth and her parents, the lying boss, and another scummy male character. Unfortunately, only Elizabeth does. I regret that the author chose not to make her suffer, because she deserved to.
I’m glad Elizabeth couldn’t conceive a baby and wish the “Hero” would’ve missed even MORE of his son’s life.
To say the “Hero” was a worthless, irredeemed pig isn’t strong enough. The description that he was some insightful journalist was BS. He was positively clueless about his own issues and the characteristics of everyone around him. I didn’t sympathize with him for one second. By his own words, he never would have left Elizabeth. It’s impossible to believe he loved the heroine at any point. (Lust, yes...)
So we have a “Hero” that never would’ve left his first wife... and who didn’t respect or understand anything about the mother of his child.
There’s no grovel... he never did see anything wrong in what he did to the heroine, past or present.
He didn’t regret missing his son’s birth or his first six years. He didn’t look at anything from his child’s perspective, only his own. He remained a chauvinist. He was a thoughtless, self-absorbed bully. I can’t recall him making one positive gesture toward anyone else in this book, other than to/about Elizabeth.
I’m sorry the heroine didn’t go back to her first husband... a youthful marriage that had quickly ended. HE had grown up into a very likable character who seemed more Hero-like in his scenes.
HEA? Doubtful for them, and absolutely NOT for the reader.
November 13, 2019
The hero Ryan Frane is infamous in the HP messageboards for being one of the worst heroes in HPlandia and with good reason: he is not a good guy. He is cynical, arrogant, selfish, and a proud chauvinist. You’re probably thinking that’s pretty standard for an HP hero, but Ryan does something that’s pretty unforgivable in the book: he falls in love with someone else and dumps the heroine. And that someone is the heroine’s cousin.
Venetia is an up and coming reporter in New Zealand when she meets Ryan who is a world-famous Kiwi who makes political documentaries that have been known to topple dictators and despots. The two of them hit it off immediately, but Venetia wants to play it cool because Ryan is a known playboy and a commitment-phobe. Venetia was briefly married when she was eighteen since she got pregnant but the baby miscarried and the marriage was scrapped immediately and she hasn’t had a lover since then, but she wants Ryan to think she’s sophisticated and as fun-loving as he is and someone who won’t bog him down because she’s convinced she can get him to fall in love with her if she’s patient and plays it cool long enough. Meanwhile, Ryan believes the worst of Venetia because she’s young, beautiful, and successful, so she must have slept her way up the career ladder. Besides, he’s heard some vile rumors about her from men who don’t like her very much, so surely they must be reputable sources. Venetia brings Ryan around to meet her family and Ryan is instantly struck stupid by Venetia’s cousin Liz, who is demure, innocent, and beautiful like the Virgin Mary. In the restaurant bathroom, Venetia warns Liz to stay away from Ryan in a true evil villain fashion, telling Liz that Ryan belongs to her and she’s not afraid to fight dirty to keep him. But all of her scheming is for naught. After she gets back from an assignment that keeps her away from Ryan for sometime (she doesn’t mention to him that she had typhoid while she was away on assignment, by the way), Ryan is already head over heels in love with Liz and has every intention of dumping Venetia. He tells Venetia that Liz is perfect for him because Venetia reminds him too much of his mother who is too focused on her career and doesn’t really care about home and hearth. But that doesn’t stop him from having sex with her one last time because that’s just the kind of guy he is.
SPOILER ALERT!! THIS IS THE PART WHERE I REVEAL EVERYTHING!! Ryan marries Liz because of course he does, so Venetia runs away to Australia to live with her grandmother because she’s pregnant with Ryan’s baby and she doesn’t want anyone to know about it, especially not Ryan and Liz. Venetia helps her grandmother put together her grandfather’s memoirs and is able to compile enough material for a novel, which becomes an international best-seller. Six years later, Liz has died from leukemia and Ryan has come to Australia to seek out Venetia because he wants to make a movie from her novel and Venetia to write the screenplay herself. Of course, Ryan doesn’t know about her son John and Venetia wants to keep it that way because John is a secret baby. Venetia is outraged that Ryan has the audacity to show up after what he had done to her, never mind the balls to demand that she work with him. But John is right about at that age when he’s starting to question where his father is and why he’s not around and Venetia has no real answers for him.
Meanwhile, Venetia’s aunt, Liz’s mother, suffers a heart attack and is demanding that Venetia return to New Zealand to take care of her. The last thing that Venetia wants to do is be a Liz-substitute for her aunt or Ryan. It’s clear to Venetia, however, that she’s never stopped loving Ryan and that her son does need a father and that Ryan does seem to be willing to fill in the role, even threatening to sue for sole custody if Venetia doesn’t stay and marry him. Venetia is essentially trapped, but it’s not a trap that she necessarily wants to escape because for once, she has her aunt’s approval, Ryan’s attention, a father for her son, and the family she’s always wanted. She lost her parents at a young age and Liz’s parents had to take her in and she had to grow up with Liz, who seemed perfect in every way. She got pregnant, married, lost her baby, and then got divorced all when she was very young, while Liz remained intact, then Liz stole the only man she truly loved. She couldn’t even get proper revenge on Liz because the dumb bitch had to go and die of leukemia!
Ugh, and then there’s Ryan Frane. Ryan tells Venetia that his mother put her career above everything else, even her family, and she didn’t love him. He married Liz, he tells her, because he was afraid that Venetia was made in the same mold as his mother and she was going to place her career above him. Liz, he said, didn’t have those ambitions because she was a simpler person. Of course, that also meant that she didn’t have much in the way of highs and lows because she didn’t rage and didn’t understand passion and love the way Venetia and Ryan did. What Ryan wants Venetia to know, by the way, was that Liz had been about as deep as a petri dish and was only capable of projecting about as much emotional response as a houseplant. In short, Ryan made a mistake six years ago and realized it shortly after being married to Liz a few months and had been regretting it ever since. Surely, this should be the perfect place for Venetia to laugh in Ryan’s face, sock him in the jaw, and walk out of his life forever. But she doesn’t do that. **sigh** They never do.
As awful as Ryan Frane is, this particular HP was compulsively readable. I could not put it down. Maybe its reputation preceded it and I had heard about how cracktastic it was, but once I picked it up, I never set it down once. I read this thing from beginning to end in one sitting and oh my gosh, was it ever so angsty. I’ll admit, there were tears, okay? I cried a little because I got so mad at Ryan and I felt so bad for poor Venetia because she loved him so much and just wanted him to think she was cool and sophisticated, then he called her a whore and all sorts of bad names and I just… lost it, okay? She was all alone with her baby and he was married to Liz all that time and I was like, I can’t. And then she had to go and die of leukemia and leukemia is the worst. Ryan is also the worst. Nevertheless, I went through this book like a bag of potato crisps like I’m on my period and afterwards, I was sad and gloomy. Like I was on my period.
Venetia is an up and coming reporter in New Zealand when she meets Ryan who is a world-famous Kiwi who makes political documentaries that have been known to topple dictators and despots. The two of them hit it off immediately, but Venetia wants to play it cool because Ryan is a known playboy and a commitment-phobe. Venetia was briefly married when she was eighteen since she got pregnant but the baby miscarried and the marriage was scrapped immediately and she hasn’t had a lover since then, but she wants Ryan to think she’s sophisticated and as fun-loving as he is and someone who won’t bog him down because she’s convinced she can get him to fall in love with her if she’s patient and plays it cool long enough. Meanwhile, Ryan believes the worst of Venetia because she’s young, beautiful, and successful, so she must have slept her way up the career ladder. Besides, he’s heard some vile rumors about her from men who don’t like her very much, so surely they must be reputable sources. Venetia brings Ryan around to meet her family and Ryan is instantly struck stupid by Venetia’s cousin Liz, who is demure, innocent, and beautiful like the Virgin Mary. In the restaurant bathroom, Venetia warns Liz to stay away from Ryan in a true evil villain fashion, telling Liz that Ryan belongs to her and she’s not afraid to fight dirty to keep him. But all of her scheming is for naught. After she gets back from an assignment that keeps her away from Ryan for sometime (she doesn’t mention to him that she had typhoid while she was away on assignment, by the way), Ryan is already head over heels in love with Liz and has every intention of dumping Venetia. He tells Venetia that Liz is perfect for him because Venetia reminds him too much of his mother who is too focused on her career and doesn’t really care about home and hearth. But that doesn’t stop him from having sex with her one last time because that’s just the kind of guy he is.
SPOILER ALERT!! THIS IS THE PART WHERE I REVEAL EVERYTHING!! Ryan marries Liz because of course he does, so Venetia runs away to Australia to live with her grandmother because she’s pregnant with Ryan’s baby and she doesn’t want anyone to know about it, especially not Ryan and Liz. Venetia helps her grandmother put together her grandfather’s memoirs and is able to compile enough material for a novel, which becomes an international best-seller. Six years later, Liz has died from leukemia and Ryan has come to Australia to seek out Venetia because he wants to make a movie from her novel and Venetia to write the screenplay herself. Of course, Ryan doesn’t know about her son John and Venetia wants to keep it that way because John is a secret baby. Venetia is outraged that Ryan has the audacity to show up after what he had done to her, never mind the balls to demand that she work with him. But John is right about at that age when he’s starting to question where his father is and why he’s not around and Venetia has no real answers for him.
Meanwhile, Venetia’s aunt, Liz’s mother, suffers a heart attack and is demanding that Venetia return to New Zealand to take care of her. The last thing that Venetia wants to do is be a Liz-substitute for her aunt or Ryan. It’s clear to Venetia, however, that she’s never stopped loving Ryan and that her son does need a father and that Ryan does seem to be willing to fill in the role, even threatening to sue for sole custody if Venetia doesn’t stay and marry him. Venetia is essentially trapped, but it’s not a trap that she necessarily wants to escape because for once, she has her aunt’s approval, Ryan’s attention, a father for her son, and the family she’s always wanted. She lost her parents at a young age and Liz’s parents had to take her in and she had to grow up with Liz, who seemed perfect in every way. She got pregnant, married, lost her baby, and then got divorced all when she was very young, while Liz remained intact, then Liz stole the only man she truly loved. She couldn’t even get proper revenge on Liz because the dumb bitch had to go and die of leukemia!
Ugh, and then there’s Ryan Frane. Ryan tells Venetia that his mother put her career above everything else, even her family, and she didn’t love him. He married Liz, he tells her, because he was afraid that Venetia was made in the same mold as his mother and she was going to place her career above him. Liz, he said, didn’t have those ambitions because she was a simpler person. Of course, that also meant that she didn’t have much in the way of highs and lows because she didn’t rage and didn’t understand passion and love the way Venetia and Ryan did. What Ryan wants Venetia to know, by the way, was that Liz had been about as deep as a petri dish and was only capable of projecting about as much emotional response as a houseplant. In short, Ryan made a mistake six years ago and realized it shortly after being married to Liz a few months and had been regretting it ever since. Surely, this should be the perfect place for Venetia to laugh in Ryan’s face, sock him in the jaw, and walk out of his life forever. But she doesn’t do that. **sigh** They never do.
As awful as Ryan Frane is, this particular HP was compulsively readable. I could not put it down. Maybe its reputation preceded it and I had heard about how cracktastic it was, but once I picked it up, I never set it down once. I read this thing from beginning to end in one sitting and oh my gosh, was it ever so angsty. I’ll admit, there were tears, okay? I cried a little because I got so mad at Ryan and I felt so bad for poor Venetia because she loved him so much and just wanted him to think she was cool and sophisticated, then he called her a whore and all sorts of bad names and I just… lost it, okay? She was all alone with her baby and he was married to Liz all that time and I was like, I can’t. And then she had to go and die of leukemia and leukemia is the worst. Ryan is also the worst. Nevertheless, I went through this book like a bag of potato crisps like I’m on my period and afterwards, I was sad and gloomy. Like I was on my period.
not-interested
October 15, 2018Not masochist enough.
May 18, 2016
The other reviewers were right!, November 9, 2008
MY THOUGHTS: I've been selling some of my old Harlequin Presents novels and this book was one of them. Because I will never have it again I decided to read/skim it - and this was before I even read the two previous reviews here. Holy eff. I HATE the hero. What a [...]! Even though I skimmed it, I was like, what the hell?? It seemed like the hero had an affair with the heroine, cruelly dumped her, married her cousin and six years later, semi blackmails her! Oh yah, the poor heroine had to raise their son alone, well with Grandmother's help at least. But anyway, uggghhhh!!! This hero just seemed like a [...]! The previous reviewer got it right - that the stupid hero had his own preconceived notions of the "perfect woman/wife" for him that is why he married the cousin. If that was me, I'd be like screw you! No matter what, you'll never get to have me again!!! But unfortunately the "hero" is the hero of the story so heroine has to end up with him - grrr... The heroine does seem like a strong willed, strong backbone woman so I have no complaints about her except why do you have to love the hero??? Bottomline, hero sux, can't believe he gets to have the good fortune of ending up with the heroine. I prefer the heroine to end up with her ex-husband!!! It seemed like her ex grew up and became a really charming person - GRRRRR.... Stupid hero can thank his lucky stars the heroine loves him.
MY THOUGHTS: I've been selling some of my old Harlequin Presents novels and this book was one of them. Because I will never have it again I decided to read/skim it - and this was before I even read the two previous reviews here. Holy eff. I HATE the hero. What a [...]! Even though I skimmed it, I was like, what the hell?? It seemed like the hero had an affair with the heroine, cruelly dumped her, married her cousin and six years later, semi blackmails her! Oh yah, the poor heroine had to raise their son alone, well with Grandmother's help at least. But anyway, uggghhhh!!! This hero just seemed like a [...]! The previous reviewer got it right - that the stupid hero had his own preconceived notions of the "perfect woman/wife" for him that is why he married the cousin. If that was me, I'd be like screw you! No matter what, you'll never get to have me again!!! But unfortunately the "hero" is the hero of the story so heroine has to end up with him - grrr... The heroine does seem like a strong willed, strong backbone woman so I have no complaints about her except why do you have to love the hero??? Bottomline, hero sux, can't believe he gets to have the good fortune of ending up with the heroine. I prefer the heroine to end up with her ex-husband!!! It seemed like her ex grew up and became a really charming person - GRRRRR.... Stupid hero can thank his lucky stars the heroine loves him.
Read
June 28, 2011I am at a loss as to what I want to rate this one. It's either a 2 or a 4.....
Lots of the angst and drama that I love (4), but on the other hand I did not feel that the hero's past justified his cruel actions (2). The heroine had issues (a failed marriage and pregnancy at 18) and was stronger because of them. I can't say the same for the hero and his issue (no love from mommy).
Lots of the angst and drama that I love (4), but on the other hand I did not feel that the hero's past justified his cruel actions (2). The heroine had issues (a failed marriage and pregnancy at 18) and was stronger because of them. I can't say the same for the hero and his issue (no love from mommy).
March 20, 2018
Venetia has a TV news job, and she's at a function when she's next to British Ryan, hard-hitting news journalist and documentarian. He's in NZ to start a private television channel, and to be sexy and judgemental about any women who don't know their place.
Venetia mentally puts on her big girl pants, and does her best to convince Ryan that she's a tough sexy woman and totally ready for an adult affair. Except: she won't sleep with him after meeting him only several hours earlier. She has standards.
Undeterred, Ryan calls her up with an invite to spend a day on a boat. It's Logan and Fiona's boat from 'Bride at Whangatapu!' They slightly deserve to have so many sucky people on their boat, because they were both idiots in their book. As well as Ryan, there's this guy Brett and his difficult girlfriend. And Brett is a not-fun reminder of Venetia's past.
She explains to Ryan later that Brett is the cousin of the boy she married when she was 18. She was pregnant, but lost the baby. The marriage ended, and what she doesn't tell Ryan is that Brett paid her to go away. She used the money to study journalism, and here she is. And here Ryan is, and they give in to their explosive sexual chemistry, and it's on. Venetia climbs all over Ryan like he's her life-sized sex toy, and Ryan is reluctantly into it. He's really hooked on the sex, but he doesn't want to be. He never spends the night.
Ryan has told Venetia a little of his childhood. His mother ran an antiques business and loved it, but didn't have much time for him and he fiercely resented it. 'Where was your father?' Venetia asks. She's sympathetic because she's in love with him, but she can also see that he's being a bit nonsense. Ryan shrugs and says that he was there, sure. But it was his mother he wanted! And, it's really difficult to feel any sympathy for Ryan. He's so bitter and joyless. Donald mentions that Venetia laughs at his jokes, but I'm entirely baffled because what we mostly get are these really tense conversations where Venetia is trying to hide how much in love with him she is, and he's implying that she's a hard bitch.
It all really falls apart when Venetia and Ryan are out at a restaurant and coincidentally, it's the same restaurant where Venetia's cousin Elizabeth is celebrating her 21st birthday with a quiet dinner with her parents. Elizabeth is a taller version of Venetia, but never goes anywhere without her mother, or does anything. Her hobby is collecting things for her trousseau.
Ryan insists that they all have dinner together, and it's a nightmare. Venetia feels desperate and starts clutching at him to demonstrate her ownership, and Elizabeth starts doing a breathy, big-eyed act. In a bathroom conference, Venetia tells Elizabeth to back the hell off.
It's no good. Venetia goes off to cover a story in the Pacific, and then her narrative crosses paths with 'Storm Over Paradise' and Venetia does some reporting and relief work and gets sick, and then she gets home, and Ryan shows up to tell her it's over. He's with Elizabeth now. Venetia is super furious and they have passionate sex on the carpet.
In the majority of her books, Donald deals with Immortal Love. The couple discover an instant and intense sexual attraction, unlike anything they've ever felt, or will ever feel again. They spend a lot of the book denying that they are in love, and are punished for it. Her plots get really murky when one of the immortal lovers is already involved with someone else, but Donald has firmly established that soulmates have to be together. They have to be sensitive to whoever they are going to hurt, but the far greater harm comes from denying that they are meant to be.
Theoretically, Donald could have set this whole thing up as a denial of Immortal Love. She could have been pointing out that Venetia and Ryan had a bad start, and then Ryan fell in love with someone else, and then when Ryan and Venetia meet again years later a more permanent love blooms. But: I don't believe for a second that's what she's doing her. Ryan, in deciding that he's going to pursue and marry Elizabeth, betrays Immortal Love. We don't really get into his head, but he thinks he wants a sweet, passive wife who will gently adore him. He needs the certainty that she'll always be there for him, unlike his mother. And, unlike Venetia, who has a career and dares to challenge him in discussions. He's blind to the fact that it's Venetia that he wants, and while that's sad: he's broken sacred trust, he's cursed, and all must be punished.
Six years pass in about three pages. Ryan produces 3 feature length productions. Elizabeth gets leukaemia and dies. Venetia moves to Australia, lives with her grandmother, writes books and raises Ryan's son in secret, and the problem with punishment and suffering in the true sense of a curse, is that the person who deserves it most seems to get the least. While Venetia is doing fine and loves her son, she's sad and has had to craft this whole narrative around how it wasn't Immortal Love because Ryan fell in love with Elizabeth, and probably thought that she, Venetia, was sexy trash. Elizabeth was annoying and a hypocrite, and shouldn't have pinched her cousin's man. Narratively though, she's doomed because of Ryan's betrayal, which is a tough break, and should be a lesson to all OWs: getting between soulmates is death.
Poor Elizabeth. Reading between the lines she gets polite sex about once a week, with Ryan struggling not to think about Venetia. And Ryan spends most of his time at work. He's nice to her and treats her like a cute pet, which is all she really wanted out of life, because she's an idiot.
Ryan eventually shows up in Australia. He has the rights to film Venetia's book, and she'd written into the contract that she has script editing rights. Then he discovers he has a son and demand his rights, because Ryan is completely awful. And all this happens with still over 100 pages in which Venetia will have to come to miserable terms with the fact that she's going to be married to Ryan and be satisfied with her cousin's seconds.
They sort everything out in the last few pages, and I had the satisfaction of knowing that I was right, dammit, and that this was about Immortal Love all along. But: I couldn't like Ryan. Sometimes I enjoyed hating him when he was at his most awful. Donald is a good writer, and she gives plenty of cues about Ryan's inner turmoil, but I think I'd have found him more sympathetic if I'd spent time in his head. It was too easy to dismiss his issues with his mother as man-baby misogyny. While he does a satisfying deconstruction of his faults at the end, I don't think he'll ever be a comfortable, gentle person. Venetia is a sympathetic and interesting character, and I liked how she's flawed and her consciousness of her faults.
Venetia mentally puts on her big girl pants, and does her best to convince Ryan that she's a tough sexy woman and totally ready for an adult affair. Except: she won't sleep with him after meeting him only several hours earlier. She has standards.
Undeterred, Ryan calls her up with an invite to spend a day on a boat. It's Logan and Fiona's boat from 'Bride at Whangatapu!' They slightly deserve to have so many sucky people on their boat, because they were both idiots in their book. As well as Ryan, there's this guy Brett and his difficult girlfriend. And Brett is a not-fun reminder of Venetia's past.
She explains to Ryan later that Brett is the cousin of the boy she married when she was 18. She was pregnant, but lost the baby. The marriage ended, and what she doesn't tell Ryan is that Brett paid her to go away. She used the money to study journalism, and here she is. And here Ryan is, and they give in to their explosive sexual chemistry, and it's on. Venetia climbs all over Ryan like he's her life-sized sex toy, and Ryan is reluctantly into it. He's really hooked on the sex, but he doesn't want to be. He never spends the night.
Ryan has told Venetia a little of his childhood. His mother ran an antiques business and loved it, but didn't have much time for him and he fiercely resented it. 'Where was your father?' Venetia asks. She's sympathetic because she's in love with him, but she can also see that he's being a bit nonsense. Ryan shrugs and says that he was there, sure. But it was his mother he wanted! And, it's really difficult to feel any sympathy for Ryan. He's so bitter and joyless. Donald mentions that Venetia laughs at his jokes, but I'm entirely baffled because what we mostly get are these really tense conversations where Venetia is trying to hide how much in love with him she is, and he's implying that she's a hard bitch.
It all really falls apart when Venetia and Ryan are out at a restaurant and coincidentally, it's the same restaurant where Venetia's cousin Elizabeth is celebrating her 21st birthday with a quiet dinner with her parents. Elizabeth is a taller version of Venetia, but never goes anywhere without her mother, or does anything. Her hobby is collecting things for her trousseau.
Ryan insists that they all have dinner together, and it's a nightmare. Venetia feels desperate and starts clutching at him to demonstrate her ownership, and Elizabeth starts doing a breathy, big-eyed act. In a bathroom conference, Venetia tells Elizabeth to back the hell off.
It's no good. Venetia goes off to cover a story in the Pacific, and then her narrative crosses paths with 'Storm Over Paradise' and Venetia does some reporting and relief work and gets sick, and then she gets home, and Ryan shows up to tell her it's over. He's with Elizabeth now. Venetia is super furious and they have passionate sex on the carpet.
In the majority of her books, Donald deals with Immortal Love. The couple discover an instant and intense sexual attraction, unlike anything they've ever felt, or will ever feel again. They spend a lot of the book denying that they are in love, and are punished for it. Her plots get really murky when one of the immortal lovers is already involved with someone else, but Donald has firmly established that soulmates have to be together. They have to be sensitive to whoever they are going to hurt, but the far greater harm comes from denying that they are meant to be.
Theoretically, Donald could have set this whole thing up as a denial of Immortal Love. She could have been pointing out that Venetia and Ryan had a bad start, and then Ryan fell in love with someone else, and then when Ryan and Venetia meet again years later a more permanent love blooms. But: I don't believe for a second that's what she's doing her. Ryan, in deciding that he's going to pursue and marry Elizabeth, betrays Immortal Love. We don't really get into his head, but he thinks he wants a sweet, passive wife who will gently adore him. He needs the certainty that she'll always be there for him, unlike his mother. And, unlike Venetia, who has a career and dares to challenge him in discussions. He's blind to the fact that it's Venetia that he wants, and while that's sad: he's broken sacred trust, he's cursed, and all must be punished.
Six years pass in about three pages. Ryan produces 3 feature length productions. Elizabeth gets leukaemia and dies. Venetia moves to Australia, lives with her grandmother, writes books and raises Ryan's son in secret, and the problem with punishment and suffering in the true sense of a curse, is that the person who deserves it most seems to get the least. While Venetia is doing fine and loves her son, she's sad and has had to craft this whole narrative around how it wasn't Immortal Love because Ryan fell in love with Elizabeth, and probably thought that she, Venetia, was sexy trash. Elizabeth was annoying and a hypocrite, and shouldn't have pinched her cousin's man. Narratively though, she's doomed because of Ryan's betrayal, which is a tough break, and should be a lesson to all OWs: getting between soulmates is death.
Poor Elizabeth. Reading between the lines she gets polite sex about once a week, with Ryan struggling not to think about Venetia. And Ryan spends most of his time at work. He's nice to her and treats her like a cute pet, which is all she really wanted out of life, because she's an idiot.
Ryan eventually shows up in Australia. He has the rights to film Venetia's book, and she'd written into the contract that she has script editing rights. Then he discovers he has a son and demand his rights, because Ryan is completely awful. And all this happens with still over 100 pages in which Venetia will have to come to miserable terms with the fact that she's going to be married to Ryan and be satisfied with her cousin's seconds.
They sort everything out in the last few pages, and I had the satisfaction of knowing that I was right, dammit, and that this was about Immortal Love all along. But: I couldn't like Ryan. Sometimes I enjoyed hating him when he was at his most awful. Donald is a good writer, and she gives plenty of cues about Ryan's inner turmoil, but I think I'd have found him more sympathetic if I'd spent time in his head. It was too easy to dismiss his issues with his mother as man-baby misogyny. While he does a satisfying deconstruction of his faults at the end, I don't think he'll ever be a comfortable, gentle person. Venetia is a sympathetic and interesting character, and I liked how she's flawed and her consciousness of her faults.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2021
Since it’s almost Halloween I decided to make an effort and to read a creepy book.
My Goodreads friends warned me it was crazy, but since I’m used to deal with unusual situations I braced myself and went on reading it.
Wicked.
Really really wicked.
This author has the most clever mind I’ve ever seen.
Here we have the story of the other woman.
How she thinks, why she is the way she is, she doesn’t want involvements and doesn’t want children, marriage and other stupid things.
She also threatens her naive and younger virgin cousin to leave her man alone, because he’s a wonderful lover. And in the restroom, as usually ow do!!!
Yes, she is the perfect ow!!!
And the naive, sweet, virgin cousin who wants only marriage and children eventually marries ow’ s man!!!
The cretin hero!
But our beloved author pulls a rabbit from her hat:
She makes the cousin sterile and she kills her of leukemia five years later!
While our heroine/ ow, who has had the zero’s love child and kept him hidden from his father, (what a perfect revenge) will have the hero back and they will have their perfect hea.
This is devilish!
Of course I didn’t appreciate that the bastard sob jilted the heroine to marry her virgin cousin only because he thought the heroine was a man eater.
This is a no-no for me, a dealbreaker.
No misunderstandings here, he’s a bastard and that’s it.
And the heroine was not ow in the second part of the book, she was really a hurt creature in a chauvinist world.
She turns herself into the classic heroine.
Pity. It would have been four stars if she kept her bitchiness high.
Original.
My Goodreads friends warned me it was crazy, but since I’m used to deal with unusual situations I braced myself and went on reading it.
Wicked.
Really really wicked.
This author has the most clever mind I’ve ever seen.
Here we have the story of the other woman.
How she thinks, why she is the way she is, she doesn’t want involvements and doesn’t want children, marriage and other stupid things.
She also threatens her naive and younger virgin cousin to leave her man alone, because he’s a wonderful lover. And in the restroom, as usually ow do!!!
Yes, she is the perfect ow!!!
And the naive, sweet, virgin cousin who wants only marriage and children eventually marries ow’ s man!!!
The cretin hero!
But our beloved author pulls a rabbit from her hat:
She makes the cousin sterile and she kills her of leukemia five years later!
While our heroine/ ow, who has had the zero’s love child and kept him hidden from his father, (what a perfect revenge) will have the hero back and they will have their perfect hea.
This is devilish!
Of course I didn’t appreciate that the bastard sob jilted the heroine to marry her virgin cousin only because he thought the heroine was a man eater.
This is a no-no for me, a dealbreaker.
No misunderstandings here, he’s a bastard and that’s it.
And the heroine was not ow in the second part of the book, she was really a hurt creature in a chauvinist world.
She turns herself into the classic heroine.
Pity. It would have been four stars if she kept her bitchiness high.
Original.
February 15, 2013
4.5 stars. I feel like I kind of have to choose 5 stars rather than 4 (which you have to do for a 4.5 rating) for the intensity, even though I really could not forgive this hero. He committed the ultimate romance sin in my book -- choosing another woman over the heroine, and not even because of circumstances, but because he fell in love with the other woman (reevaluated at a later date, but still)!! It would take a lot of hero groveling to overcome that sin, and this hero didn't even come close -- he basically blamed the heroine for pretending to be something she wasn't when they were together -- pretending to have a lot of experience when she didn't, leading him to choose to marry her virgin cousin.
It was all so awful, and yet the angst drew me in, big time. So I'm giving it a high rating despite the fact that I hated a lot of the story. Whatever it was, it was not lukewarm or boring!
It was all so awful, and yet the angst drew me in, big time. So I'm giving it a high rating despite the fact that I hated a lot of the story. Whatever it was, it was not lukewarm or boring!
December 12, 2019
Every bit as awful as Mansion for My Love and for the same reasons: an arrogant a**hat of a hero chooses a milquetoast OW over the strong heroine, wounding the heroine deeply. Then *whoops* he discovers he wasn't in love with the OW after all, but rather than grovel to the heroine, he moans about how he suffered for what his bad decision cost him while patting himself on the back for how noble he is. (Seriously, the book ends with him telling the heroine he was glad for the years of happiness he gave the man-stealing OW. Then the heroine declares her passionate, deathless love for him. Why do you have to ruin the lives of your amazing heroines, Robyn Donald? Whyyyy?)
The only happy ending I will accept is for this guy to die penniless, scrofulous, ridiculed, and alone.
The only happy ending I will accept is for this guy to die penniless, scrofulous, ridiculed, and alone.
June 20, 2016
he's not worthy of the name hero.WHAT A DISGUSTING JERK AND AWFUL Bİ.CH COUSİN (Saint Elizabeth)AND AWFUL MOTHER AND Masochist İDİOT TSTL HEROİNE...and the ending... GOD !!!...the ending...
February 3, 2023
SPOILER ALERT ⚠
The Book
Smoke in the Wind by Robyn Donald features one of her trademark piggishly cruel heroes. In spite of his repugnant deeds against the heroine, this is one of Donald’s better books.
Your mileage may vary, as I have a weird penchant for these kinds of crazy stories–when they’re done right. Smoke in the Wind is one of them.
The Characters and the Set-Up
The reason this so-called hero didn’t detract from the story was the refreshingly capable heroine, Venetia Gamble (what a great name!), who had tons of fortitude. Alas, not enough for her to dump the porcine swine and get with a better man.
Venetia is a hot up-and-coming news reporter in New Zealand. Ryan Fraine, a famous documentary filmmaker, is in the Land of White Clouds looking to set up a new TV station. When these two high-powered professionals meet, the temperature is off the charts.
Venetia had been hurt in love before. At only 23, she has a failed marriage behind her. After getting pregnant at 17, her guardians–her aunt and uncle–forced her and her boyfriend into a shotgun wedding. The marriage ended not long after she miscarried the baby. Despite that, she and her ex-husband are on friendly terms.
Ryan is a bachelor who has pumped and dumped every Kiwi beauty from Cape Reinga to Wellington to Bluff. (Impressed with my geographical skills? It’s easy when you have the internet!) He’s a typical Robyn Donald hero, a sexist bigot sizzling with sensual intensity and irresistible to women.
Venetia is a well-adjusted human being, confident in her sexuality. Nevertheless, she’s wary of his “love ’em and leave ’em” reputation.
Ryan sizes up Venetia and thinks because she’s not a virgin:
“She’s a very kinky girl/ The kind you don’t take home to mother…”
Venetia tells him she’s not into one-night stands, so Ryan translates that into:
“She’s up for a steaming hot, quick fling.”
And Venetia can’t resist him. They’re at it every which way, and though Venetia is gaga for Ryan, our girl plays it cool.
The Plot
Part One
Venetia’s pretense of indifference fools Ryan. It turns out he’s a shallow guy for whom only surface-level appearances matter. Venetia’s relationship with Ryan turns dark when his true colors–fish belly white–begin to show.
He is looking for a wife, just not Venetia in that role. Our girl is perfect for bedroom fun, but she’ll never as the mother of his little Ryans and Ryanas.
You see, Mr.-Sex-on-Legs has mommy issues as his mother was a businesswoman, i.e., a bad mother who had no time for babies, and his childhood left him traumatized. The dude has a deep-seated hatred towards working women, believing they make poor wives and mothers.
So he will be dumping Venetia in the near future. Very near.
Venetia is an orphan who had been raised by her traditionalist aunt and uncle and grew up with her younger cousin, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looks similar to Venetia but is the polar opposite in personality. She’s a “sweet” girl with no plans for an icky career, the kind a man like Ryan would take home to meet his family and be proud to call wife.
In actuality, Liz isn’t so sweet at all because when she comes with her family to visit Venetia and meets Ryan, she flutters her eyes at him in feigned innocence, and ball-brains Ryan falls for it. Within weeks, the two-timing scum sucker tells Venetia their “relationship” is over, and he’s marrying sweet Liz.
Venetia is left heartbroken–and pregnant. She quits her job and moves to Australia to live with her grandmother.
Venetia isn’t bitter with the hand she’s dealt. It is what it is.
Part Two
Years later, Elizabeth passes away. After a period of mourning, Venetia’s aunt and uncle let their beloved son-in-law know of his secret son with Venetia. Oh, yes, those two knew! Like their amoral dead daughter, they did everything to keep Ryan at Liz’s side.
Ryan flies out to Australia to claim his child and reignite his relationship with Venetia.
In Australia, Venetia had been raising their son John and had a flourishing career as a novelist. When Ryan demands what’s his, she’s shaken but fights with all her iron will.
But Ryan will not be deterred. he knows their sexual bond was never severed and uses it to his benefit.
Despite his ruthless behavior, Ryan is self-aware, and his intense reactions toward Venetia stem from his inability to control his feelings for her. His marriage to Elizabeth wasn’t exactly what he wanted, even if he had thought it was. A man like Ryan thrived on passion, Elizabeth was just blech.
Ryan married Liz because he saw her as a more idealized version of the sexually-secure working woman he rejected. Ryan’s strict standards for a partner stem from his unresolved mommy issues.
His desire–his love–for Venetia conflicts with all his self-imposed beliefs.
Meanwhile, Venetia’s grandmother is a supportive and wise character who adds depth to the story and provides a voice of reason amidst the chaos.
There’s a scene where Venetia bump into her ex at a dance, and they spend a pleasant time together, making me think, “Wouldn’t it have been a nice twist if she ended up with him?”
But no, Ryan is too vital a force to be ignored. One issue I had is Ryan never really expresses regret for his marriage to Liz. She was not emotionally deep, but she was genuine in her love for him, so he was content to have made her happy for a few years.
(This made me want to throw an egg at Ryan, but almost 50 cents an egg right now, I wouldn’t waste valuable protein for a smeg head like him.)
"I won’t allow you to treat me as if I was an illness you can’t be vaccinated against," she said with an icy composure that hid her fear and despair.
"You won’t be able to stop me," he said quietly, not bothering to mute the threat. "Because we both know I could take you on that kitchen table if I wanted to. And I do want to."
Ryan’s cruelty towards the vulnerable Venetia is both riveting and gut-wrenching. Venetia is a fearless and determined woman who refuses to let Ryan break her spirit… Even as he captures her in the end. So, it’s mostly a happy ending, right?
“You wear your independence like a banner. I like to look at you and know that I can kiss you free of it any time I want to. It’s like owning my own small falcon that comes only to my hand and gives up her freedom only for me.”
In the end, Ryan acknowledges his feelings for Venetia, that he loves her. He fought against it because of inhibitions and childhood trauma.
Final Analysis of Smoke in the Wind
Smoke in the Wind is a terrible romance but a riveting read that will leave you breathless. Ryan is par-for-the-course as far as Robyn Donald’s heroes go. (Okay, maybe one of her top 5 worst heroes. She really knew how to write a lot of dickhead male main characters.)
The dominant/submissive dynamic between Ryan and Venetia is both intense and fascinating. Venetia is strong and resilient, overcoming her traumatic past and standing up for herself. The plot is well-crafted, with twists and turns that kept me engaged, even as I despised Ryan.
It’s Venetia who makes this Harlequin Presents shine. Ryan is both vicious and self-aware, reflecting the depth of his inner turmoil. Despite his porcine nature, he is a well-written, complicated, and intriguing character.
Ryan and Venetia’s sexual relationship is as extreme as the muted BD/SM powerplay in Harlequins can be, a dominant/submissive one, with Ryan exerting his control over Venetia.
Smoke in the Wind is a roller coaster ride of emotions, with a heroine who is capable and determined to overcome the challenges life throws at her. Despite Ryan’s cruel actions, Venetia refuses to be a victim and rises above the situation, proving that the heart can survive enormous pain.
Overall, Smoke in the Wind is a must-read for fans of intense, passionate romance. The multi-faceted characters, thrilling plot, and nail-biting drama make this an HPLandia stand out.
For more retro-romance reviews please visit: Sweet Savage Flame
The Book
Smoke in the Wind by Robyn Donald features one of her trademark piggishly cruel heroes. In spite of his repugnant deeds against the heroine, this is one of Donald’s better books.
Your mileage may vary, as I have a weird penchant for these kinds of crazy stories–when they’re done right. Smoke in the Wind is one of them.
The Characters and the Set-Up
The reason this so-called hero didn’t detract from the story was the refreshingly capable heroine, Venetia Gamble (what a great name!), who had tons of fortitude. Alas, not enough for her to dump the porcine swine and get with a better man.
Venetia is a hot up-and-coming news reporter in New Zealand. Ryan Fraine, a famous documentary filmmaker, is in the Land of White Clouds looking to set up a new TV station. When these two high-powered professionals meet, the temperature is off the charts.
Venetia had been hurt in love before. At only 23, she has a failed marriage behind her. After getting pregnant at 17, her guardians–her aunt and uncle–forced her and her boyfriend into a shotgun wedding. The marriage ended not long after she miscarried the baby. Despite that, she and her ex-husband are on friendly terms.
Ryan is a bachelor who has pumped and dumped every Kiwi beauty from Cape Reinga to Wellington to Bluff. (Impressed with my geographical skills? It’s easy when you have the internet!) He’s a typical Robyn Donald hero, a sexist bigot sizzling with sensual intensity and irresistible to women.
Venetia is a well-adjusted human being, confident in her sexuality. Nevertheless, she’s wary of his “love ’em and leave ’em” reputation.
Ryan sizes up Venetia and thinks because she’s not a virgin:
“She’s a very kinky girl/ The kind you don’t take home to mother…”
Venetia tells him she’s not into one-night stands, so Ryan translates that into:
“She’s up for a steaming hot, quick fling.”
And Venetia can’t resist him. They’re at it every which way, and though Venetia is gaga for Ryan, our girl plays it cool.
The Plot
Part One
Venetia’s pretense of indifference fools Ryan. It turns out he’s a shallow guy for whom only surface-level appearances matter. Venetia’s relationship with Ryan turns dark when his true colors–fish belly white–begin to show.
He is looking for a wife, just not Venetia in that role. Our girl is perfect for bedroom fun, but she’ll never as the mother of his little Ryans and Ryanas.
You see, Mr.-Sex-on-Legs has mommy issues as his mother was a businesswoman, i.e., a bad mother who had no time for babies, and his childhood left him traumatized. The dude has a deep-seated hatred towards working women, believing they make poor wives and mothers.
So he will be dumping Venetia in the near future. Very near.
Venetia is an orphan who had been raised by her traditionalist aunt and uncle and grew up with her younger cousin, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looks similar to Venetia but is the polar opposite in personality. She’s a “sweet” girl with no plans for an icky career, the kind a man like Ryan would take home to meet his family and be proud to call wife.
In actuality, Liz isn’t so sweet at all because when she comes with her family to visit Venetia and meets Ryan, she flutters her eyes at him in feigned innocence, and ball-brains Ryan falls for it. Within weeks, the two-timing scum sucker tells Venetia their “relationship” is over, and he’s marrying sweet Liz.
Venetia is left heartbroken–and pregnant. She quits her job and moves to Australia to live with her grandmother.
Venetia isn’t bitter with the hand she’s dealt. It is what it is.
Part Two
Years later, Elizabeth passes away. After a period of mourning, Venetia’s aunt and uncle let their beloved son-in-law know of his secret son with Venetia. Oh, yes, those two knew! Like their amoral dead daughter, they did everything to keep Ryan at Liz’s side.
Ryan flies out to Australia to claim his child and reignite his relationship with Venetia.
In Australia, Venetia had been raising their son John and had a flourishing career as a novelist. When Ryan demands what’s his, she’s shaken but fights with all her iron will.
But Ryan will not be deterred. he knows their sexual bond was never severed and uses it to his benefit.
Despite his ruthless behavior, Ryan is self-aware, and his intense reactions toward Venetia stem from his inability to control his feelings for her. His marriage to Elizabeth wasn’t exactly what he wanted, even if he had thought it was. A man like Ryan thrived on passion, Elizabeth was just blech.
Ryan married Liz because he saw her as a more idealized version of the sexually-secure working woman he rejected. Ryan’s strict standards for a partner stem from his unresolved mommy issues.
His desire–his love–for Venetia conflicts with all his self-imposed beliefs.
Meanwhile, Venetia’s grandmother is a supportive and wise character who adds depth to the story and provides a voice of reason amidst the chaos.
There’s a scene where Venetia bump into her ex at a dance, and they spend a pleasant time together, making me think, “Wouldn’t it have been a nice twist if she ended up with him?”
But no, Ryan is too vital a force to be ignored. One issue I had is Ryan never really expresses regret for his marriage to Liz. She was not emotionally deep, but she was genuine in her love for him, so he was content to have made her happy for a few years.
(This made me want to throw an egg at Ryan, but almost 50 cents an egg right now, I wouldn’t waste valuable protein for a smeg head like him.)
"I won’t allow you to treat me as if I was an illness you can’t be vaccinated against," she said with an icy composure that hid her fear and despair.
"You won’t be able to stop me," he said quietly, not bothering to mute the threat. "Because we both know I could take you on that kitchen table if I wanted to. And I do want to."
Ryan’s cruelty towards the vulnerable Venetia is both riveting and gut-wrenching. Venetia is a fearless and determined woman who refuses to let Ryan break her spirit… Even as he captures her in the end. So, it’s mostly a happy ending, right?
“You wear your independence like a banner. I like to look at you and know that I can kiss you free of it any time I want to. It’s like owning my own small falcon that comes only to my hand and gives up her freedom only for me.”
In the end, Ryan acknowledges his feelings for Venetia, that he loves her. He fought against it because of inhibitions and childhood trauma.
Final Analysis of Smoke in the Wind
Smoke in the Wind is a terrible romance but a riveting read that will leave you breathless. Ryan is par-for-the-course as far as Robyn Donald’s heroes go. (Okay, maybe one of her top 5 worst heroes. She really knew how to write a lot of dickhead male main characters.)
The dominant/submissive dynamic between Ryan and Venetia is both intense and fascinating. Venetia is strong and resilient, overcoming her traumatic past and standing up for herself. The plot is well-crafted, with twists and turns that kept me engaged, even as I despised Ryan.
It’s Venetia who makes this Harlequin Presents shine. Ryan is both vicious and self-aware, reflecting the depth of his inner turmoil. Despite his porcine nature, he is a well-written, complicated, and intriguing character.
Ryan and Venetia’s sexual relationship is as extreme as the muted BD/SM powerplay in Harlequins can be, a dominant/submissive one, with Ryan exerting his control over Venetia.
Smoke in the Wind is a roller coaster ride of emotions, with a heroine who is capable and determined to overcome the challenges life throws at her. Despite Ryan’s cruel actions, Venetia refuses to be a victim and rises above the situation, proving that the heart can survive enormous pain.
Overall, Smoke in the Wind is a must-read for fans of intense, passionate romance. The multi-faceted characters, thrilling plot, and nail-biting drama make this an HPLandia stand out.
For more retro-romance reviews please visit: Sweet Savage Flame
June 22, 2022
Whoa, yup the reviews are right, this is very very bad. Hate the hero. HATE him. He is stupid, judgmental, listens to people who bad mouth the heroine without following up with her, assumes only bad things about the heroine, only wants a stay a home dumb as rocks wife he can become bored with, claims the HEROINE left him when he dumped her with a nice little pretty close to rape scene in the middle of it, married the heroine's cousin, knew he didn't love his wife but figured she is so simple she wouldn't notice how dead inside he became. Question: would he have come for her if she didn't have his kid? Doubt it. And why is HE upset she didn't tell him? His mother-in-law told him about his kid...meaning you can't be upset at the HEROINE while MIL knew the ENTIRE TIME AND JUST WANTED them gone to protect her bag of potatoes daughter over her niece. Gotta hate her too you moron. This dude is just so awful. "I didn't know you, did I?" Oh and who's fault is that when you treat the heroine like your sex toy, prick! Yeah no. Sweetie, you are doing fine, slam the door in his face! The poor poor heroine, who doesn't love that the hero, oh and EVERYONE in her family judge her for one mistake at 18? Her dumb cousin, anyone else picture Karen Smith from Mean Girls, just stupid. I'm GLAD she realized what a bitch she was to the heroine(unlike the hero) and felt bad. But she deserved to be looked at like a dumb doll by her 'far more intellectual and successful' husband. Thats what you get for purposely poaching your cousin's man, when she told you SHE loved him. 'We parted badly.' Oh did you? Did you expect her to come to your wedding?! Just go. I can't with you. But I hope those SIX years were miserable for both the hero and the cousin, it's what they both deserved. The hero even claims it disgusts him to want the heroine because she will sleep with anyone…did he forget HE asked to sleep with her on the first night they met and she said NO?!! This guy is just the pits. Still think the heroine is doing fine as a single mother and shouldn't be with the hero. He is awful. The hero hurt the heroine so much that she is forced to flee the country, but when he finds out about his kid he demand the heroine and the kid(who has known only this new country since birth and has friends and good role models) to move back to the country they fled with no regard to the heroine’s new life/profession/friends/support system/home or his son’s entire life. Yeah he’s gonna be a selfish father and husband. The last fight that “brought everything out in the open” started because he was treating the heroine like shit and she called him out. And instead of owning up to this behavior he starts exposing how he messed up and always loved her…my man…that AINT the issue at hand. Ugh read for the cringe but skip if you want actual romance.
October 9, 2022
Harlequin’s top contender for The Lunatic Award.
He speeds past all types of gaslighting ->>> straight to scapegoating.
Irredeemable right until the bitter end.
He speeds past all types of gaslighting ->>> straight to scapegoating.
Irredeemable right until the bitter end.
October 20, 2022
2.5 Soapy Stars
I’ve heard about this book for years, but never got around to locating a copy. I knew the bones going in, and that the H, Ryan, is one the most hated HP leading men, so I had uber high expectations that he was going to be a giant asshole. And don’t get me wrong, he’s a jerkface, but I’m an asshole connoisseur… I actively seek out these pricks, and I was left a little disappointed. I found him arrogant, judgmental, with mommy issues, but not the mighty alpha-hole I love to read about. The blurb is quite vague, so this review will have some “plot outline” spoilers. So please 🛑 if you want to go in blind.
In a nutshell, Venetia Gamble is an orphaned (raised by Aunt & Uncle) career girl that marches to the beat of her own drum. She’s not content to be a meek, conservative homemaker, and is making her way in the man’s world of journalism. Enter Ryan Fraine, the sexy documentary maker, and Venetia’s dormant libido starts to thrum. V and Ryan start a very active love affair where they can’t get enough of each other. Venetia is in love (although she leads him to believe she has sexual liaisons all the time) but Ryan is closed off. A chance meeting with her lookalike cousin Elizabeth; her taller, sweeter, conservative, more domesticated doppelganger, and Ryan drops her like a bad habit. Heartbroken V runs off to her Gma after the new happy couple marry and discovers she’s preggers. The story picks up 6 years later with the return of widowed Ryan hunting Venetia down to make a film from her book.
Ok-I had several issues. First, this took awhile to get moving. Most of the first 15% is filled with office crap then sex. It takes 30% to get to Elizabeth, and 33% for the breakup which, for me, was a dud. Again, maybe it’s because I’ve heard about this “brutal breakup” numerous times, but I expected more. Basically,
My biggest issue was that I didn’t really connect to either mc before the separation. I found them both unpleasant, he’s an arrogant jerk, but she’s no peach herself. Plus, their relationship was basically a 10-day sex-a-thon with no real substance. I felt no chemistry or affection; I wouldn’t have guessed she loved him if not for her internal thoughts. It just felt like a flimsy connection to base the entire heartbreak of the book on. 🤷♀️ Later, V is much more likable, but then she’s a wimp.
Also, where’s the comeuppance? Where’s the groveling? Why is no one pointing any finger at Elizabeth who knowingly went after a man she knew her cousin loved??!! Or how her aunt and uncle went along with hiding her and John for YEARS. Why is Ryan not pissed for missing his son’s life? Why doesn’t V call them all out? They ALL should’ve groveled… auntie included, and V just let it go.
Bottom Line- Hands down my favorite part was Gma giving Elizabeth and Ryan a little what for… go Grams, but that was about it. V pushes back a bit, but not near enough for me, and Ryan doesn’t even come clean until the end. I needed more, I needed her crappy family to fess up, I needed Ryan to grow a heart, I needed someone to point out that Elizabeth was in the wrong, and I needed more page-time for them to resolve these issues, so I could get on board for the HEA. I also prefer when the man stealing family member is evil, and the H was miserable being married to her. So basically, I would only recommend this to readers looking for a whacky HP romance where the H first marries the h’s cousin because if you’re looking for feels or resolution, you’ll probably be disappointed.
I’ve heard about this book for years, but never got around to locating a copy. I knew the bones going in, and that the H, Ryan, is one the most hated HP leading men, so I had uber high expectations that he was going to be a giant asshole. And don’t get me wrong, he’s a jerkface, but I’m an asshole connoisseur… I actively seek out these pricks, and I was left a little disappointed. I found him arrogant, judgmental, with mommy issues, but not the mighty alpha-hole I love to read about. The blurb is quite vague, so this review will have some “plot outline” spoilers. So please 🛑 if you want to go in blind.
In a nutshell, Venetia Gamble is an orphaned (raised by Aunt & Uncle) career girl that marches to the beat of her own drum. She’s not content to be a meek, conservative homemaker, and is making her way in the man’s world of journalism. Enter Ryan Fraine, the sexy documentary maker, and Venetia’s dormant libido starts to thrum. V and Ryan start a very active love affair where they can’t get enough of each other. Venetia is in love (although she leads him to believe she has sexual liaisons all the time) but Ryan is closed off. A chance meeting with her lookalike cousin Elizabeth; her taller, sweeter, conservative, more domesticated doppelganger, and Ryan drops her like a bad habit. Heartbroken V runs off to her Gma after the new happy couple marry and discovers she’s preggers. The story picks up 6 years later with the return of widowed Ryan hunting Venetia down to make a film from her book.
Ok-I had several issues. First, this took awhile to get moving. Most of the first 15% is filled with office crap then sex. It takes 30% to get to Elizabeth, and 33% for the breakup which, for me, was a dud. Again, maybe it’s because I’ve heard about this “brutal breakup” numerous times, but I expected more. Basically,
My biggest issue was that I didn’t really connect to either mc before the separation. I found them both unpleasant, he’s an arrogant jerk, but she’s no peach herself. Plus, their relationship was basically a 10-day sex-a-thon with no real substance. I felt no chemistry or affection; I wouldn’t have guessed she loved him if not for her internal thoughts. It just felt like a flimsy connection to base the entire heartbreak of the book on. 🤷♀️ Later, V is much more likable, but then she’s a wimp.
Also, where’s the comeuppance? Where’s the groveling? Why is no one pointing any finger at Elizabeth who knowingly went after a man she knew her cousin loved??!! Or how her aunt and uncle went along with hiding her and John for YEARS. Why is Ryan not pissed for missing his son’s life? Why doesn’t V call them all out? They ALL should’ve groveled… auntie included, and V just let it go.
Bottom Line- Hands down my favorite part was Gma giving Elizabeth and Ryan a little what for… go Grams, but that was about it. V pushes back a bit, but not near enough for me, and Ryan doesn’t even come clean until the end. I needed more, I needed her crappy family to fess up, I needed Ryan to grow a heart, I needed someone to point out that Elizabeth was in the wrong, and I needed more page-time for them to resolve these issues, so I could get on board for the HEA. I also prefer when the man stealing family member is evil, and the H was miserable being married to her. So basically, I would only recommend this to readers looking for a whacky HP romance where the H first marries the h’s cousin because if you’re looking for feels or resolution, you’ll probably be disappointed.
August 25, 2019
I just can't get over the fact that as soon as the h left on her trip, the H intentionally sought out the cousin because he wanted the "respectful" version of his mistress. Then this POS has the nerve to whine to the h about how bland the sex was and he knew he made a mistake within a couple of months. It was ok though because poor Elizabeth never knew this and was happy. No apology to the h, in fact he blamed her for letting him think she was promiscuous. 2.5 stars rounded down for no groveling. And the little boy was a brat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2011
He was a real a@@ but she was good!! I loved her. She was strong and tought him a lesson or two. I'd have him grovel some more, but hey, you can't have everything!!!! LOL
May 18, 2018
The title was what drew me to this one, and though I have read the reviews before reading this book (and based on that), no doubt Ryan is the biggest prick of all, but what I felt after reading it was sad. Just sad at what all the characters had to go through because of the thoughtless acts of three people, or should I say Ryan (only). And I didn't like the aunt, Janice, at all in spite of the loss she has suffered. (Its really very rare for any other woman - of your mother's age or relation - to love you like your own mother does), and she proved that, by putting her daughter above the adopted one, always. I loved little John the most, such a ferocious kid, possessive/protective of his Mum, Venetia, jealous of his own father (hahaa), but overall a really adorable little fella. At the end, an epilogue would have been nice, since the confessions came on pretty late.
October 20, 2022
I can't believe I did this to myself. Okay, maybe I can. I'm an emotional masochist. I agree with the majority of my GR friends here. This "hero" was just awful. No redemption. At the end, I couldn't get past his behavior and decisions. I don't believe the heroine was second best, at least not based on what he confessed to the heroine--as confusing as that was--at the end of the book. However, this still left a bad taste in my mouth. See, I don't care that he realized he was never in love with the OW. For me, the realization came too late. He had treated the heroine like garbage, and dumped her for what he thought was a holier version of the heroine. He MARRIED her (virginal) cousin! So what that a few months into the marriage he found himself "miserable" without the heroine. So what! Because as he said, if the OW hadn't died, he NEVER would have left her, because "it would have killed her" if he had. Oh, how noble of him. Yeah, well she died anyway, buddy, and I didn't feel a bit sorry about that, by the way. So basically, the jackass--or as reviewer, boogenhagen, called him: "pus filled boil on a carbuncle"--had all the consideration for Little Ms. Traitor Cousin but not for the heroine. To top it off, he never groveled, and only ended up going back to the h because he was told she had a son--his. And the h disappointed me when she married him even though she believed at the time that he didn't love her. No self-worth. He was an ass before, he was still an ass after. His mommy issues didn't absolve him, not in my eyes. This book made me mad.
(No ebook available. Read on Open Library)
(No ebook available. Read on Open Library)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2022
Well, this was different. The h in this story is actually the OW.
The h is his f*ck buddy. She is not a virgin, she has been married at 18 years old because she was pregnant with that guy’s baby.
She is like his Tinder date. She jumps into bed with the H easily. By page 35 they already humped each other.
He never said loving things to her and he left immediately after humping. So no reader can say he was leading the h on.
But then the H meets the h’s cousin. The h’s cousin is a virgin and sweet. He falls in love at first sight with the h’s cousin and he marries her.
In the end he says that he always loved the h, but we all know that is just nonsense. She is and was and will always be the OW.
The h is his f*ck buddy. She is not a virgin, she has been married at 18 years old because she was pregnant with that guy’s baby.
She is like his Tinder date. She jumps into bed with the H easily. By page 35 they already humped each other.
He never said loving things to her and he left immediately after humping. So no reader can say he was leading the h on.
But then the H meets the h’s cousin. The h’s cousin is a virgin and sweet. He falls in love at first sight with the h’s cousin and he marries her.
In the end he says that he always loved the h, but we all know that is just nonsense. She is and was and will always be the OW.
special-unread-plot
June 4, 2023Oh God. HOW, just HOW could the h forgive him ??!!!!! Does she have NO PRIDE, WHERE IS her SELFRESPECT???!!! These doormat heroines make me feel ashamed that I'm a woman. Oh, God give women an ego, big fat ego, not a big dick H. The h needed to say only 2 words to the H, Elizabeth and her aunt, ``FUCK YOU´´ and slap each of them. I wish she had reconciliation with her ex husband, not with the H
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