What do you think?
Rate this book
A Forgotten Magic
Love and betrayalKelsey Whittaker's life has changed forever. All because she's fallen in love with Brandon Traherne.Kelsey knows that love is supposed to make everything right. But how can anything be right when you fall in love with your fiance's brother? How can anything he right when your fiance dies in a fiery car crash just hours after you break your engagement?And how can anything ever he right for Kelsey when Brandon can't remember the love they shared?
192 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1994
83 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen O'Brien
145 books91 followersSince the day Harlequin bought her first novel, Kathleen has published more than 30 titles with them- everything from hot, sexy contemporaries to dark, brooding suspense. Read in more than 30 countries and 29 languages, she's a five-time finalist for the prestigious RWA RITA Award, a winner of the Maggie Award, and a three-time finalist for Romantic Times' Reviewer's Choice.
Kathleen comes from a family of writers, poets, and journalists- though she may be the one shameless romantic in the bunch. A true Cancer, she values home and family above everything and wouldn't dream of ditching a single friend, memory, gift, or love letter. Consequently, her office is a mess, full of books, colored cut glass, photo albums, Madame Alexander dolls, and a cockatiel who whistles the theme from "The X Files." She is addicted to Mozart and Elvis, Dancing With the Stars, Dorothy Dunnett novels, and sugar-free Popsicles.
Kathleen comes from a family of writers, poets, and journalists- though she may be the one shameless romantic in the bunch. A true Cancer, she values home and family above everything and wouldn't dream of ditching a single friend, memory, gift, or love letter. Consequently, her office is a mess, full of books, colored cut glass, photo albums, Madame Alexander dolls, and a cockatiel who whistles the theme from "The X Files." She is addicted to Mozart and Elvis, Dancing With the Stars, Dorothy Dunnett novels, and sugar-free Popsicles.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 6, 2019
I should have liked this story. The hero has amnesia after a car accident that killed his brother and left him temporarily blinded. The heroine had broken off her engagement to the evil brother (he was blackmailing her) at the time of the accident. In fact, the H/h had just slept together for the first time and were running away from the evil brother who was chasing them in another car.
Dramatic, right?
Sadly, the telling was tedious. There were flashbacks. Angsty internal monologues. Truncated, vague dialogue. Pointless scenes.
I just don’t do well with this author’s style, I guess. It took me many tries to finish this story.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
Dramatic, right?
Sadly, the telling was tedious. There were flashbacks. Angsty internal monologues. Truncated, vague dialogue. Pointless scenes.
I just don’t do well with this author’s style, I guess. It took me many tries to finish this story.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
March 31, 2018
Re A Forgotten Magic - Kathleen O'Brien gives us AMNESIA and makes a pretty good dramatic angstfest out of it in this one.
The story stars with a dramatic car chase in the hilly area outside of San Francisco. The h and H are fleeing from the H's older, slime pustule sub sewer globule brother. The older brother isn't deterred from his car chase by the rain swept windy road, he smashes his car into the h and H's vehicle and while they are dramatically crashing off the road, the brother's car goes off the ledge and he dies.
There is flow of consciousness accident recovery for the slightly damaged h and a dramatic coma moment for the H. When he wakes up, he has a huge weight of guilt for some unknown reason and Amnesia over the whole situation with the h and why his brother was chasing them. He also has bandages blocking his vision, so we get Amnesia with temporary blindness, just to give the wrecki angst a bit of a boost.
As we progress through the story, we get the flash backs of the h to tell us the rest of the story behind the crash. The h works for the H's brother's firm, she has for years and her main baggage is that her father is a compulsive gambler and has been since the h's mother died when she was ten.
The H's brother has been pervy slime slurping after the h for years, but it isn't until he hires her father and then entices the father to gamble away a huge sum of money that the sub-sewer pustule "let the father hold for safekeeping" that he blackmails the h into agreeing to marry him by threatening to send her father to prison to be the very good friend of a guy named Pike.
The h hated the H's older brother, but she loves the H and his winsome, charming antiquities expert archaeology ways and she also really likes the H's little sister. When the h discovers massive feelings of love for the H at the annual company picnic, the h realizes that she can never marry the H's brother, even to keep her father out of prison. She still tries to resist the H tho and for his part, he tries to hide his feelings for his brother's fiancee, tho it disturbs him that she treats his brother with such coldness.
The h calls the brother up at his office in San Francisco from the H's family home to break the engagement. She knows she needs to leave the H's and brother's house ASAP, but takes an hour or two to lurve it up the H because she is now free to fully explore their new love. The H is lost in the Lurve Force Mojo Magic and when the big event is over, he thinks the h's rejection of his brother is just a temporary set back and that they will go ahead and get married.
The H finally gets his lurve club under control, realizes that his brother is going to have a major hissy snot fit and decides to take the h back to her apartment in San Francisco. The h tries to explain the situation with his brother, but the H is feeling too guilty and trying to hard to get the h away from the house to listen to her.
They are too late, the brother shows up as they are driving off and the dramatic opening car chase scene ensues. The h understands the H's guilt feelings as the H is discharged from the hospital and comes home, she feels guilty too. But she sticks around the family home to help the H out with daily tasks and keep an eye on the H's younger sister.
The H, who finds out his brother was using a private detective to dig up dubious doings on EVERYONE - his employees, his family, his business partners and competition, thinks the h was using his brother in her tarty harlot gold digger schemes and that she was being really mean to the brother by refusing to sleep with the slime pustule.
So he treats the h accordingly with harsh words and tarty tramp accusations. But he also has an overwhelming Lurve Force Mojo feeling for the h. As the book progresses, he just can't seem to resist her magnetizing attraction.
Eventually the H realizes that his brother was not the good, friendly loving kindness man the H imagined him to be. He was a domineering, controlling abusive bully who used and coerced almost everyone he came into contact with.
The H also decides to help out the h in a semi repayment of all the things she has been doing to help him and his sister, (the h has been running the business and successfully closed a huge business deal on her own,as the H knows nothing about the business at all. She has also been helping the H while he couldn't see and taking care of his grieving little sister too.) When the h's dad comes to him for a loan because of his gambling issues, the H convinces the man to get some treatment in return for the H bailing him out.
The h goes to the H's bedroom that night and lurves him up in a demonstration of her deep gratitude that her father's gambling will no longer be a noose around her neck. Then the h finds the file the H's brother's detective has of her and she is utterly appalled. The H also found the IOU of the h's father for $25,000.00 in his brother's safe and he taunts the h that her tawdry seduction wasn't enough to keep him from finding it before she did.
The h finally has enough of the H's nasty comments and beratement. She slaps him hard and explains that the H's pervy brother had been panting after her for years and she refused to cooperate in any way. Then the brother found out about the H's father and hired him to work for him. When the h refused to be grateful for the father's employment, the brother deliberately gave him a huge sum of cash to hold over the weekend so it could be deposited on the following Monday.
The brother knew that the money was the exact amount the h's father needed to pay off his loan sharks, who were making threats towards both the father and the h. When the father took the money and used it to pay them off, the h was forced to agree to marry the brother she hated, as he threatened her father with prison.
The h then tells the H that she loved him as soon as she met him and that he felt the same way. She tells the H that she decided to let her father go to prison rather than tarnish the beauty of their love by marrying his slime swiller brother and that she has her own guilt over his death, but she refuses to carry the burden of his anymore as well.
The h takes off in her car into the storm ridden night after her long awaited epic smackdown and the H finally starts to try and remember the night of the accident, he starts shaking and he runs out the door to try and catch the h.
In an eerie almost reenactment of the beginning of the story, the H stands in the driveway as the h is driving out. As the h's headlights hit him, the H starts to remember everything. The h swerves to miss hitting him and luckily she wasn't going fast, cause the car gets mired in the sod on the side of the driveway and the h comes to a shuddering stop.
The H realizes he was utterly wrong about the h and his brother was a slime gulper who probably deserved what he got and he fully apologizes to the h for being so mean to her, while also declaring his epic love and begging for the h's forgiveness. The h is overjoyed by his declaration, declares that loving him is a strong binding magic and the H asks her to help him hobble into the house, so their magic life together can begin.
This one was pretty good in a wrecki drama angst fest kinda way. The H does say mean things, but he really isn't a very mean person and it is easy to forgive him by the end of it. K O'B gives us lots of H POV and delays the full telling of the h's engagement to his brother until the very end, so it easy to see why the H is wary of her.
An epilogue would have been nice tho, the book ends a bit abruptly after the H gets his memory back and does his big grovel. Look this one up when you need some wrecki angst in a milder form, it was a good day in HPlandia outings.
The story stars with a dramatic car chase in the hilly area outside of San Francisco. The h and H are fleeing from the H's older, slime pustule sub sewer globule brother. The older brother isn't deterred from his car chase by the rain swept windy road, he smashes his car into the h and H's vehicle and while they are dramatically crashing off the road, the brother's car goes off the ledge and he dies.
There is flow of consciousness accident recovery for the slightly damaged h and a dramatic coma moment for the H. When he wakes up, he has a huge weight of guilt for some unknown reason and Amnesia over the whole situation with the h and why his brother was chasing them. He also has bandages blocking his vision, so we get Amnesia with temporary blindness, just to give the wrecki angst a bit of a boost.
As we progress through the story, we get the flash backs of the h to tell us the rest of the story behind the crash. The h works for the H's brother's firm, she has for years and her main baggage is that her father is a compulsive gambler and has been since the h's mother died when she was ten.
The H's brother has been pervy slime slurping after the h for years, but it isn't until he hires her father and then entices the father to gamble away a huge sum of money that the sub-sewer pustule "let the father hold for safekeeping" that he blackmails the h into agreeing to marry him by threatening to send her father to prison to be the very good friend of a guy named Pike.
The h hated the H's older brother, but she loves the H and his winsome, charming antiquities expert archaeology ways and she also really likes the H's little sister. When the h discovers massive feelings of love for the H at the annual company picnic, the h realizes that she can never marry the H's brother, even to keep her father out of prison. She still tries to resist the H tho and for his part, he tries to hide his feelings for his brother's fiancee, tho it disturbs him that she treats his brother with such coldness.
The h calls the brother up at his office in San Francisco from the H's family home to break the engagement. She knows she needs to leave the H's and brother's house ASAP, but takes an hour or two to lurve it up the H because she is now free to fully explore their new love. The H is lost in the Lurve Force Mojo Magic and when the big event is over, he thinks the h's rejection of his brother is just a temporary set back and that they will go ahead and get married.
The H finally gets his lurve club under control, realizes that his brother is going to have a major hissy snot fit and decides to take the h back to her apartment in San Francisco. The h tries to explain the situation with his brother, but the H is feeling too guilty and trying to hard to get the h away from the house to listen to her.
They are too late, the brother shows up as they are driving off and the dramatic opening car chase scene ensues. The h understands the H's guilt feelings as the H is discharged from the hospital and comes home, she feels guilty too. But she sticks around the family home to help the H out with daily tasks and keep an eye on the H's younger sister.
The H, who finds out his brother was using a private detective to dig up dubious doings on EVERYONE - his employees, his family, his business partners and competition, thinks the h was using his brother in her tarty harlot gold digger schemes and that she was being really mean to the brother by refusing to sleep with the slime pustule.
So he treats the h accordingly with harsh words and tarty tramp accusations. But he also has an overwhelming Lurve Force Mojo feeling for the h. As the book progresses, he just can't seem to resist her magnetizing attraction.
Eventually the H realizes that his brother was not the good, friendly loving kindness man the H imagined him to be. He was a domineering, controlling abusive bully who used and coerced almost everyone he came into contact with.
The H also decides to help out the h in a semi repayment of all the things she has been doing to help him and his sister, (the h has been running the business and successfully closed a huge business deal on her own,as the H knows nothing about the business at all. She has also been helping the H while he couldn't see and taking care of his grieving little sister too.) When the h's dad comes to him for a loan because of his gambling issues, the H convinces the man to get some treatment in return for the H bailing him out.
The h goes to the H's bedroom that night and lurves him up in a demonstration of her deep gratitude that her father's gambling will no longer be a noose around her neck. Then the h finds the file the H's brother's detective has of her and she is utterly appalled. The H also found the IOU of the h's father for $25,000.00 in his brother's safe and he taunts the h that her tawdry seduction wasn't enough to keep him from finding it before she did.
The h finally has enough of the H's nasty comments and beratement. She slaps him hard and explains that the H's pervy brother had been panting after her for years and she refused to cooperate in any way. Then the brother found out about the H's father and hired him to work for him. When the h refused to be grateful for the father's employment, the brother deliberately gave him a huge sum of cash to hold over the weekend so it could be deposited on the following Monday.
The brother knew that the money was the exact amount the h's father needed to pay off his loan sharks, who were making threats towards both the father and the h. When the father took the money and used it to pay them off, the h was forced to agree to marry the brother she hated, as he threatened her father with prison.
The h then tells the H that she loved him as soon as she met him and that he felt the same way. She tells the H that she decided to let her father go to prison rather than tarnish the beauty of their love by marrying his slime swiller brother and that she has her own guilt over his death, but she refuses to carry the burden of his anymore as well.
The h takes off in her car into the storm ridden night after her long awaited epic smackdown and the H finally starts to try and remember the night of the accident, he starts shaking and he runs out the door to try and catch the h.
In an eerie almost reenactment of the beginning of the story, the H stands in the driveway as the h is driving out. As the h's headlights hit him, the H starts to remember everything. The h swerves to miss hitting him and luckily she wasn't going fast, cause the car gets mired in the sod on the side of the driveway and the h comes to a shuddering stop.
The H realizes he was utterly wrong about the h and his brother was a slime gulper who probably deserved what he got and he fully apologizes to the h for being so mean to her, while also declaring his epic love and begging for the h's forgiveness. The h is overjoyed by his declaration, declares that loving him is a strong binding magic and the H asks her to help him hobble into the house, so their magic life together can begin.
This one was pretty good in a wrecki drama angst fest kinda way. The H does say mean things, but he really isn't a very mean person and it is easy to forgive him by the end of it. K O'B gives us lots of H POV and delays the full telling of the h's engagement to his brother until the very end, so it easy to see why the H is wary of her.
An epilogue would have been nice tho, the book ends a bit abruptly after the H gets his memory back and does his big grovel. Look this one up when you need some wrecki angst in a milder form, it was a good day in HPlandia outings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2019
Decent enough.
August 6, 2024
All a bit too much for me! Not enough "magic" in this story, despite it having an amnesia storyline, usually one of my favorites, but not in this case, with the H forgetting everything he should have remembered, because of guilt he shouldn't be feeling. As for the h, with all she went through, because of her weak father, diabolical fiancé, and the H (the guy's brother, blind in more ways than one), she should have been the one with memory loss, and who'd blame her if it never came back?
I'd have run like hell far away from all of them!
I'd have run like hell far away from all of them!
November 12, 2023
Old reads
abrierto-to-read-hr-other
February 8, 2021Love and betrayal
Kelsey Whittaker's life has changed forever. All because she's fallen in love with Brandon Traherne.
Kelsey knows that love is supposed to make everything right. But how can anything be right when you fall in love with your fiance's brother? How can anything he right when your fiance dies in a fiery car crash just hours after you break your engagement?
And how can anything ever he right for Kelsey when Brandon can't remember the love they shared?
Kelsey Whittaker's life has changed forever. All because she's fallen in love with Brandon Traherne.
Kelsey knows that love is supposed to make everything right. But how can anything be right when you fall in love with your fiance's brother? How can anything he right when your fiance dies in a fiery car crash just hours after you break your engagement?
And how can anything ever he right for Kelsey when Brandon can't remember the love they shared?
October 29, 2011
This was an okay read,liked the way story started but it ended too soon
September 22, 2024
Read several times. It's still my favorite
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews