Full tide

by Celine Conway

When Mrs. Browne read Lisa's tea leaves, she prophesied two patches of trouble, probably connected with a man. Lisa didn't worry. For years she had wanted "things to happen," and now, at twenty-two, she was setting off on a voyage to South Africa and life seemed exciting and infinitely promising. But before she had even set foot aboard ship she had attracted the unfavourable notice of the liner's coldly efficient captain, and from then on she found herself struggling in the tide of new and strange emotions.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance

189 pages, Unknown Binding

First published March 1, 1964

About the author

Lilian Warren aka Rosalind Brett and Kathryn Blair.

Lilian Warren was born in London, England, UK. She worked as secretary, when at 19, her first magazine story was accepted. She married and moved to South Africa, where she continued writing. In the 1950s, she started to write to Rich & Cowan, and later to Mills & Boon, under various pseudonyms Rosalind Brett, Celine Conway, and Kathryn Blair. She passed away on 1961 in South Africa. Some of her books were published posthumuously.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

On a 3 week cruise from England to South Africa, the heroine falls in love with the cool, aloof, cruel, chauvinistic, mysoginistic ship captain who insults her at every turn, glares at her from across the dining hall, and tries to influence her to take a job with his mistress, a diva actress who is also on board and needs a whipping boy secretary for her tour of South Africa.

To hide her hopeless, undying love for this dreamboat, the heroine spends all her time with the worthless shipboard Romeo, even to the extent of letting all assume they are engaged and soon to be married. She even catfights over him with said diva actress, who likes to have a little boytoy action on the side while keeping her eye on the main chance i.e. the ship captain.

The secondary characters, including the plot moppet who is the heroine's charge, and a widow still grieving for her late husband, were well-rounded and frankly more interesting than the headache-inducing shenanigans of this quartet.

My prize after finishing the book was a big ol' migraine.

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a fundamental inconsistency in this book that causes it to collapse. The H claims that his job prevents him from paying marked attention to the h, yet it doesn't prevent him from paying marked attention to the OW. It only gets a second star because despite being manipulated by the H and the OW, who put an enormous amount of pressure on her to do something, the h wins her battle of wills.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars! ~ As is common in vintage romance, we learn everything there is to know about the hero in the last chapter, all other views of his emotions are purely from the heroine's speculation. Lisa is a young woman who, though inexperienced in the world, is self reliant and one not afraid to jump in when needed. Mark, the aloof ship's Captain, sees Lisa as trouble and doesn't hesitate to tell her so. These two butt heads several times, and yet, when Lisa needs help, Mark is the one she calls for. This is a robust love story with many secondary characters, all well developed and vital in showcasing our hero and heroine. This is another vintage treat, one I'm sure I'll reach for again!

[Myrna · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘This is the first time we’ve been together as two normal human beings. On the ship we had the whole crew and staff, the hundreds of passengers and all the rules and regulations between us. We never talked ordinarily, as man and woman, because being master of the ship tied me to a certain code of behaviour - which didn’t include making love to one of the passengers. ‘

And that’s my trouble. There can’t be any romance between the captain and one of the passengers. They hardly ever meet and hardly ever speak about themselves. Mostly they speak about the h’s charge, the h’s male friend and the glamorous actress who’s trying to get him leave his studies and pursue acting.
The captain might fall for the pretty nurse but he doesn’t have the opportunity to pursue her or even get to know her. But the story is sweet and innocent.

I just wish all young charges were so accommodating for the sake of their pretty companions’ personal life.

The H is a lawyer who became a sailor during the war and stayed.

[Lyana Margareth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. The guy was one of the worst creations and that’s really something because the last three of her Heroes really made my heart pitter-patter. He’s misogynistic , she swings between sensible and silly (more silly). Boring background story and plot too.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can feel the hero's frustration with having to surpress his feelings because of his position.

[JR · Rating 3 out of 5]

In usual Celine Conway fashion, 'Full Tide' features an idealistic, determined young heroine, Lisa Maxwell and a laconic, off-hand hero, Captain Mark Kennard. The pair meet when Kennard is captaining the ship the heroine is travelling on from England to South Africa. For orphaned Lisa, the voyage is an unexpected boon - for the past couple of years she's been a guardian/companion to young Nancy Veness, who's father is practising as a doctor in Durban, and now she's escorting the ten year old to South Africa to rejoin him.

Having led a very sheltered life at the Veness family villa in Richmond, the bright eyed heroine is determined to 'find adventure' on the ship. However, her first encounter with its Captain, proves unfortunate; Mark accuses Lisa of being negligent when Nancy trips down some stairs. Relations between them barely improve either, when the surly ship's Captain spies the heroine being chatted up by handsome young passenger, Jeremy Carne. Despite Mark's taunts that she's succumbed early on to a 'shipboard Romeo', Jeremy in fact inspires no emotions in Lisa other than friendliness. But, when she subsequently inserts herself in Jeremy's affairs to prevent 'other woman' actress, Astra Carmichael, getting her talons in, Mark misunderstands her motives .

The Captain's jealousy of the 'other man' character, Jeremy, is evident early on, as is the desperation with which he attempts to deny his growing feelings for the heroine. But being obtuse innocent, Lisa doesn't see it; she's convinced Mark's behaviour means that he despises her. Illustrative of this is a scene where the hero has Lisa in his cabin and tells her:

"You deal in the small coin of life, but I've grown beyond that. You and I could never meet on the same plane if we tried for the rest of our lives - and I hardly think we shall do that."

By the time the Wentworth anchors at Durban, despite herself, Lisa is head over heels in love with the short-tempered Captain. She's convinced, however, that her feelings aren't reciprocated, believing the house Mark recently purchased in Cape Town is intended as his marital home with the beautiful, sophisticated Astra. After delivering Nancy to her father's care and a half-hearted pretend engagement to Jeremy, Lisa decides the best course of action is to return to England and forget Mark by throwing herself into training to be a nurse. Before she can depart from South Africa however, Mark flies in from England and proposes to her. Seemingly carried away with tender emotions, he even goes so far (and its' a long way for a M&B 'glamorously untouchable' hero to unbend) as to apologise to Lisa for his snarky comment about them existing on 'different planes':

"That was a pitiful attempt at self-defence. We'd known each other such a short time, yet I found myself thinking of you while I was about my work. No woman has ever come between me and my ship before, and it made me uneasy."

In summary, provided you don't mind a taciturn hero and guileless heroine, 'Full Tide' isn't bad for the genre; I'm rating it a three-star vintage romance read. That said, if you're after a similar, but more entertaining book with a vintage cruise/love-ship vibe I'd recommend instead getting your paws on either the kitsch Path of the moonfish or the well-written Someone Else's Heart.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read for a 10 year old in the 1970s. I also liked the book cover artwork too. This too was another of my mum's books from her mills and boon collection.

[Ksenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful portrayal of falling in love and loving so deeply from afar.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem with this story is the prevalence of the OW - a beautiful, successful actress who manipulates all the way through. The relationship between the hero and her is never explained, but he takes her dancing and to dinner intermittently when he is ashore. It makes his insistence that the heroine do what the OW says all the time, and his demand for her to take a job with the OW, rather hard to take as he always sides against the heroine. He does give a kind of explanation for that, but it’s an uncomfortable thread left hanging. I rather like the OM and I wish he had featured a little more and I was pleased that he and the heroine withstood the charisma of the OW (the hero stated that the heroine would lose the OM to the OW because she is so fascinating).
Otherwise this is an engaging book of a lovely heroine with a strong moral code. The hero is not quite worthy of her, but his declaration at the end is heartfelt and rather nice.
3 1/2 stars