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The Fire and the Ice
This was going to be even worse than she'd feared
Journalist Sara Ford had good reason to be apprehensive when wealthy playboy Max Christian took over as editor of London Now magazine. He'd neither forgotten nor forgiven the scathing article she'd written about him two years earlier.
And it was obvious from Sara's first day under his regime that Max was going to enjoy making her life miserable. She could withstand his brutal criticisms of her work. It was when he began to toy with her long-repressed emotions that she knew herself defenseless....
Sara falling in love with Max - only to be faced with Delia Waterlow, who told her, 'I always get what I want, and I want Max very badly indeed...'
Journalist Sara Ford had good reason to be apprehensive when wealthy playboy Max Christian took over as editor of London Now magazine. He'd neither forgotten nor forgiven the scathing article she'd written about him two years earlier.
And it was obvious from Sara's first day under his regime that Max was going to enjoy making her life miserable. She could withstand his brutal criticisms of her work. It was when he began to toy with her long-repressed emotions that she knew herself defenseless....
Sara falling in love with Max - only to be faced with Delia Waterlow, who told her, 'I always get what I want, and I want Max very badly indeed...'
187 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1982
71 people want to read
About the author
Vanessa James
24 books41 followersaka Sally Beauman
Sally Kinsey-Miles graduated from Girton College, Cambridge (MA in English Literature) She married Christopher Beauman an economist. After graduating, she moved with her husband to the USA, where she lived for three years, first in Washington DC, then New York, and travelled extensively. She began her career as a journalist in America, joining the staff of the newly launched New York magazine, of which she became associate editor, and continued to write for it after her return to England. Interviewed Alan Howard for the Telegraph Magazine in 1970 in an article called 'A Fellow of Most Excellent Fancy'. (Daily Telegraph Supplement, May 29th.) Apparently a very long interview. The following year they met again, and the rest is history. After a long partnership Sally and Alan married in 2004. She has one son, James, and one grandchild.
Sally had a distinguished career as a journalist and critic, winning the Catherine Pakenham Award for her writing, and becoming the youngest-ever editor of Queen magazine (now Harper’s & Queen). She has contributed to many leading newspapers and magazines in both the UK and the USA, including the Daily Telegraph ( from 1970-73 and 1976-8 she was Arts Editor of the Sunday Telegraph Magazine), the Sunday Times, Observer, Vogue, the New York Times and the New Yorker. She also wrote nine Mills & Boon romances under the pseudonym Vanessa James, before publishing her block-buster novel Destiny in 1987 under her real name. It was her article about Daphne du Maurier, commissioned by Tina Brown, and published in The New Yorker in November 1993, which first gave her the idea for writing Rebecca de Winter’s version of events at Manderley – an idea that subsequently became the novel, Rebecca’s Tale. In 2000 she was one of the Whitbread Prize judges for the best novel category.
Sally Kinsey-Miles graduated from Girton College, Cambridge (MA in English Literature) She married Christopher Beauman an economist. After graduating, she moved with her husband to the USA, where she lived for three years, first in Washington DC, then New York, and travelled extensively. She began her career as a journalist in America, joining the staff of the newly launched New York magazine, of which she became associate editor, and continued to write for it after her return to England. Interviewed Alan Howard for the Telegraph Magazine in 1970 in an article called 'A Fellow of Most Excellent Fancy'. (Daily Telegraph Supplement, May 29th.) Apparently a very long interview. The following year they met again, and the rest is history. After a long partnership Sally and Alan married in 2004. She has one son, James, and one grandchild.
Sally had a distinguished career as a journalist and critic, winning the Catherine Pakenham Award for her writing, and becoming the youngest-ever editor of Queen magazine (now Harper’s & Queen). She has contributed to many leading newspapers and magazines in both the UK and the USA, including the Daily Telegraph ( from 1970-73 and 1976-8 she was Arts Editor of the Sunday Telegraph Magazine), the Sunday Times, Observer, Vogue, the New York Times and the New Yorker. She also wrote nine Mills & Boon romances under the pseudonym Vanessa James, before publishing her block-buster novel Destiny in 1987 under her real name. It was her article about Daphne du Maurier, commissioned by Tina Brown, and published in The New Yorker in November 1993, which first gave her the idea for writing Rebecca de Winter’s version of events at Manderley – an idea that subsequently became the novel, Rebecca’s Tale. In 2000 she was one of the Whitbread Prize judges for the best novel category.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 28, 2017
The Fire and the Ice starts when our feministic, masculine dressing h, who is a magazine writer with a reputation for disliking men and a sharp tongue in her people profiles, comes into work to find a new editor has moved in (replacing her beloved mentor,) and the whole office is completely changed. The h is very apprehensive cause it turns out the new editor is a past article interviewee and the h spared no mercy when it came to putting his character through a finely ground mill in her story about him.
The H is a major womanizer with a lot of money, and a very chauvinistic attitude and likes to shout and throw things. He was very offended by the h's published profile on him, he says because she got a lot of facts wrong - but in reality because most of the things she said about his character were actually pretty true and he did not like the mirror that was held up to him.
The h is prepared to take her lumps tho, everyone tells her that the H doesn't hold a grudge and she figures he will shout and then get on with things.
Except it doesn't work out that way, the H becomes very critical of her - he is continually demeaning and demanding, always seeking her out to harass her. He taunts her about her father abandoning her as a child when he cheated on and then divorced the h's mum, tells her she is sexually repressed, and keeps forcing kisses on the her.
It also doesn't help that she has to work next to a fashion editor who is very rude and witchy. This woman is the h's exact opposite and while the h has an Ice maiden reputation with the men, she actually has a very kind heart and the OW plays on that to set the h up with a borrowed couture dress that the OW manages to spill raspberries all over when she tricks the h into wearing it at a dinner party.
The OW is apparently in love with the H, and trying to get the h out of the way - she implies that she and the H are lovers and that the H is planning to propose.
When the H hits the roof about the dress and the h realizes the OW set her up, she resigns from her job. The H tells her she has to work out her two month notice and then takes off after the OW who is leaving on a trip. The h sees them embracing in the hall when she goes back to rescind her resignation and she realizes that the H was playing her. While the H is gone he demands that she show up for a weekend meeting at the OW's parent's estate.
The h arrives and the H tries to seduce her in the conservatory and the h firmly refuses him. Later that night the H goes to her room, tells her he went and talked to her mother and starts another forced seduction. The h kicks him out again and early the next morning leaves with the OW's brother.
She calls a photography who offered her a clothes modeling job in the Seychelles and off she goes. She figures out she is in love with the H but she thinks it is pretty hopeless as he marrying the OW. Her mum writes her a letter regarding the h's childhood and the mum's bitterness and this supposedly gives the h some more perspective on her childhood.
I wasn't really buying the mum's apparent change of heart here or the childhood baggage dump, the dad cut off all ties to his kid cause the mum had postnatal depression and the dad couldn't deal with it so he went out and found another woman. The divorce was really, really acrimonious and it left the mum really bitter, but neither one of these two were models of parenting excellence - they pretty much abandoned the h while one went off to a new family and the other sulked in spite. This is supposed to explain the h's resistance to womanizing men and the H is supposed to be womanizing cause HIS mum cheated on his dad and his dad killed himself - both of these people had serious baggage that wasn't going to be solved by a little letter 20 years too late.
The h also runs into the H's mum on the island, and the mum encourages the h to go to the H. She thinks about it on the plane ride home but then winds up fainting during plane turbulence when she reads of the H's engagement in the paper and that her previous editor and mentor had died. The H is waiting to pick her up at the airport and sweeps her off her feet to his home.
He locks them in a room and confesses his love, his harassment was because he was madly in love with the h and wanted her to notice him and he thought bullying her into marriage and sex was the way to do it.
He was outraged that she told other people she did not like him and did not want to work for him, so instead of maybe buying her a latte and asking her out on a date or making the OW tell the story of the ruined dress with both the h and the OW in the same room, he belittles her daily, offers punishing kisses and handles the damaged dress situation so adroitly that it maneuvers her into resigning. He also states that his prior actions were all the h's fault (so we get reinforcement of HPlandia rule #1 - the h is ALWAYS responsible for the bad behavior of the H)
This man is supposed to be a publishing genius and ironically I guess he was, cause the h melts all over him and declares she lurves him back and accepts all the blame for misunderstanding his actions - thus proving that not only are the h's in HPlandia avidly following rule #1, they are actively working to glorify HPlandia rule #4:
Any bullying, belittlement or punishing kiss by an HP H will immediately induce true lurve and adoration in an HP h that will last a lifetime -- or at least until page 192 of the book.
The H is a major womanizer with a lot of money, and a very chauvinistic attitude and likes to shout and throw things. He was very offended by the h's published profile on him, he says because she got a lot of facts wrong - but in reality because most of the things she said about his character were actually pretty true and he did not like the mirror that was held up to him.
The h is prepared to take her lumps tho, everyone tells her that the H doesn't hold a grudge and she figures he will shout and then get on with things.
Except it doesn't work out that way, the H becomes very critical of her - he is continually demeaning and demanding, always seeking her out to harass her. He taunts her about her father abandoning her as a child when he cheated on and then divorced the h's mum, tells her she is sexually repressed, and keeps forcing kisses on the her.
It also doesn't help that she has to work next to a fashion editor who is very rude and witchy. This woman is the h's exact opposite and while the h has an Ice maiden reputation with the men, she actually has a very kind heart and the OW plays on that to set the h up with a borrowed couture dress that the OW manages to spill raspberries all over when she tricks the h into wearing it at a dinner party.
The OW is apparently in love with the H, and trying to get the h out of the way - she implies that she and the H are lovers and that the H is planning to propose.
When the H hits the roof about the dress and the h realizes the OW set her up, she resigns from her job. The H tells her she has to work out her two month notice and then takes off after the OW who is leaving on a trip. The h sees them embracing in the hall when she goes back to rescind her resignation and she realizes that the H was playing her. While the H is gone he demands that she show up for a weekend meeting at the OW's parent's estate.
The h arrives and the H tries to seduce her in the conservatory and the h firmly refuses him. Later that night the H goes to her room, tells her he went and talked to her mother and starts another forced seduction. The h kicks him out again and early the next morning leaves with the OW's brother.
She calls a photography who offered her a clothes modeling job in the Seychelles and off she goes. She figures out she is in love with the H but she thinks it is pretty hopeless as he marrying the OW. Her mum writes her a letter regarding the h's childhood and the mum's bitterness and this supposedly gives the h some more perspective on her childhood.
I wasn't really buying the mum's apparent change of heart here or the childhood baggage dump, the dad cut off all ties to his kid cause the mum had postnatal depression and the dad couldn't deal with it so he went out and found another woman. The divorce was really, really acrimonious and it left the mum really bitter, but neither one of these two were models of parenting excellence - they pretty much abandoned the h while one went off to a new family and the other sulked in spite. This is supposed to explain the h's resistance to womanizing men and the H is supposed to be womanizing cause HIS mum cheated on his dad and his dad killed himself - both of these people had serious baggage that wasn't going to be solved by a little letter 20 years too late.
The h also runs into the H's mum on the island, and the mum encourages the h to go to the H. She thinks about it on the plane ride home but then winds up fainting during plane turbulence when she reads of the H's engagement in the paper and that her previous editor and mentor had died. The H is waiting to pick her up at the airport and sweeps her off her feet to his home.
He locks them in a room and confesses his love, his harassment was because he was madly in love with the h and wanted her to notice him and he thought bullying her into marriage and sex was the way to do it.
He was outraged that she told other people she did not like him and did not want to work for him, so instead of maybe buying her a latte and asking her out on a date or making the OW tell the story of the ruined dress with both the h and the OW in the same room, he belittles her daily, offers punishing kisses and handles the damaged dress situation so adroitly that it maneuvers her into resigning. He also states that his prior actions were all the h's fault (so we get reinforcement of HPlandia rule #1 - the h is ALWAYS responsible for the bad behavior of the H)
This man is supposed to be a publishing genius and ironically I guess he was, cause the h melts all over him and declares she lurves him back and accepts all the blame for misunderstanding his actions - thus proving that not only are the h's in HPlandia avidly following rule #1, they are actively working to glorify HPlandia rule #4:
Any bullying, belittlement or punishing kiss by an HP H will immediately induce true lurve and adoration in an HP h that will last a lifetime -- or at least until page 192 of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2020
Another vintage story with the heroine on the defense throughout. First, because she wrote a hatchet interview about the hero two years before. Second, because she is hyper-focused on her career. Third, because she refuses to change her style of dress/makeup/hair.
She has to retract from all of these positions for her HEA and that's why I didn't enjoy this story all that much.
She is wrong about the hero. Wrong about the catty "lifestyle" journalist who sets her up with an expensive dress and then spills raspberries all over her. Wrong about the hero's coded marriage proposal (I'm thinking about getting married).
I got tired of the hero always "winning" so heroine could have an HEA that fit the status quo.
There are some fun scenes - especially with the hero's mother and the crazy OW, but overall it more depressing than uplifting. Boogenhagen has all the details in her spoiler review.
She has to retract from all of these positions for her HEA and that's why I didn't enjoy this story all that much.
She is wrong about the hero. Wrong about the catty "lifestyle" journalist who sets her up with an expensive dress and then spills raspberries all over her. Wrong about the hero's coded marriage proposal (I'm thinking about getting married).
I got tired of the hero always "winning" so heroine could have an HEA that fit the status quo.
There are some fun scenes - especially with the hero's mother and the crazy OW, but overall it more depressing than uplifting. Boogenhagen has all the details in her spoiler review.
April 27, 2017
Dear author:
Why do you bother creating an intrepid reporter heroine, only to make her possibly the worst journalist in the profession?
Someone who doesn't check sources, resulting in such a vile, unwarranted hatchet piece against the hero, that it would make Rupert Murdoch proud.
Someone who is dumb enough to swallow and never question an OW's transparent attempt to befriend her in order to wedge the knife in her back with more ease.
Someone who is such a spineless, leaky jellyblob that even when in possession of the truth that would clear up a Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstanding in a nanosecond, still refuses to divulge it.
Someone who is too dense to recognize sincere, truthful words but only too happy to gulp down lies, insults and sabotage.
Someone who is so insecure and weak she runs away rather than confront life.
A very disappointing, lackluster and forgettable story.
Why do you bother creating an intrepid reporter heroine, only to make her possibly the worst journalist in the profession?
Someone who doesn't check sources, resulting in such a vile, unwarranted hatchet piece against the hero, that it would make Rupert Murdoch proud.
Someone who is dumb enough to swallow and never question an OW's transparent attempt to befriend her in order to wedge the knife in her back with more ease.
Someone who is such a spineless, leaky jellyblob that even when in possession of the truth that would clear up a Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstanding in a nanosecond, still refuses to divulge it.
Someone who is too dense to recognize sincere, truthful words but only too happy to gulp down lies, insults and sabotage.
Someone who is so insecure and weak she runs away rather than confront life.
A very disappointing, lackluster and forgettable story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2019
3 ½ Stars ~ This romance by Ms. James was written in the early 80's when women were reaching for careers first and marriage later. Having been the same age as the heroine at this time, I could easily relate. A young reader today may have a difficult time with these characters.
Twenty-three year old Sara is an up-and-coming staff writer for London Now magazine. She'd been a secretary when the magazine's editor, Geoffrey seen her talent and became her mentor. Due to illness, Geoffrey decides to retire and Sara now has to face a young energetic editor who has a reputation of being tough. One of Sara's first interviews had been of her new editor, Max, when he'd made the magazine Bystander a huge success. That was two years ago, and from the background info she'd collected she knew he was a womanizer born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Looking into his vibrant blue eyes (which reminded her of her cheating father) she allowed her prejudice taint the interview. The resulting article, though honed with some truths, was a bit of a hit piece one Sara was sure Max would not have forgotten. So when she meets him again, she's nervous and while her co-workers all sing his praises, for her he's on the attack and demands perfection.
Max is thirty-five and has had a busy social life, including many women. But the tone of Sara's article, while filled with poorly researched inaccuracies, does hit close to home. He's from a broken family too, but it was his mother who'd been the cheater, and when he was a young boy, his father had committed suicide. So he has a bit of a commitment phobia. With Sara he's a harsh task master constantly demanding re-writes with often brutal criticism. Sara thinks he's on her so hard because of the past article, but Max actually sees her talent and wants her to evolve. He's hugely attracted to the make-up free, often braless, jean wearing tomboy beauty. Sara finds her attraction to him disturbing and is a bit afraid of it.
While Max has a quick temper, thus "the fire"; Sara holds herself away from others, rarely dates and devotes all her time to her career, thus "the ice". While we don't have Max's point of view, Ms. James does often give Sara glimpses of pain in his eyes, usually when she rebuffs him. And when Sara is hurting or unwell, Max is there to help her. Because of the "evil other woman", these two have a rocky journey to HEA.
Ms. James wraps up this romance very nicely. Everything is wonderfully resolved and there is no doubt that Max and Sara belong together.
Twenty-three year old Sara is an up-and-coming staff writer for London Now magazine. She'd been a secretary when the magazine's editor, Geoffrey seen her talent and became her mentor. Due to illness, Geoffrey decides to retire and Sara now has to face a young energetic editor who has a reputation of being tough. One of Sara's first interviews had been of her new editor, Max, when he'd made the magazine Bystander a huge success. That was two years ago, and from the background info she'd collected she knew he was a womanizer born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Looking into his vibrant blue eyes (which reminded her of her cheating father) she allowed her prejudice taint the interview. The resulting article, though honed with some truths, was a bit of a hit piece one Sara was sure Max would not have forgotten. So when she meets him again, she's nervous and while her co-workers all sing his praises, for her he's on the attack and demands perfection.
Max is thirty-five and has had a busy social life, including many women. But the tone of Sara's article, while filled with poorly researched inaccuracies, does hit close to home. He's from a broken family too, but it was his mother who'd been the cheater, and when he was a young boy, his father had committed suicide. So he has a bit of a commitment phobia. With Sara he's a harsh task master constantly demanding re-writes with often brutal criticism. Sara thinks he's on her so hard because of the past article, but Max actually sees her talent and wants her to evolve. He's hugely attracted to the make-up free, often braless, jean wearing tomboy beauty. Sara finds her attraction to him disturbing and is a bit afraid of it.
While Max has a quick temper, thus "the fire"; Sara holds herself away from others, rarely dates and devotes all her time to her career, thus "the ice". While we don't have Max's point of view, Ms. James does often give Sara glimpses of pain in his eyes, usually when she rebuffs him. And when Sara is hurting or unwell, Max is there to help her. Because of the "evil other woman", these two have a rocky journey to HEA.
Ms. James wraps up this romance very nicely. Everything is wonderfully resolved and there is no doubt that Max and Sara belong together.
January 5, 2021
It’s a well written book in the sense that you don’t get bored and the writing style with creating scenes and atmospheres and describing feelings is very good. But...
On the one hand there is the H who is clearly in love with the h. I like the plot that he gets his ‘revenge’ and the fact that he doesn’t really hide his feelings.
On the other hand there is this stupid journalist h who apparently isn’t very good in her work. Two years before she had written an evil article about the H and it turns out that all she had written wasn’t true.
And I also didn’t like what happened that night when her colleague let her wear a borrowed dress and that dress got ruined. That colleague lies about what had happened and insists that the h desperately wanted to wear that dress and didn’t take no for an answer.
Of course the H asks her what had really happened. Instead of just telling the H the truth, the h keeps her mouth shut out of some strange sense of loyalty towards that colleague. She feels insulted that he believes the lies of that colleague and she says she quits her job.
I mean, really? He asks her what had happened with her wearing that dress, he tells her what that colleague had said and he wants to know her side of the story. So he does everything right. And then that stupid h acts as if he attacked her.
The H is open about his feelings for her. So romantic when he tells her what he does in the evenings at home: he’s alone, reading or listening to music, and he thinks about her a lot. Any woman would know that when a man says those things he feels for her. But not this h. Sigh.
On the one hand there is the H who is clearly in love with the h. I like the plot that he gets his ‘revenge’ and the fact that he doesn’t really hide his feelings.
On the other hand there is this stupid journalist h who apparently isn’t very good in her work. Two years before she had written an evil article about the H and it turns out that all she had written wasn’t true.
And I also didn’t like what happened that night when her colleague let her wear a borrowed dress and that dress got ruined. That colleague lies about what had happened and insists that the h desperately wanted to wear that dress and didn’t take no for an answer.
Of course the H asks her what had really happened. Instead of just telling the H the truth, the h keeps her mouth shut out of some strange sense of loyalty towards that colleague. She feels insulted that he believes the lies of that colleague and she says she quits her job.
I mean, really? He asks her what had happened with her wearing that dress, he tells her what that colleague had said and he wants to know her side of the story. So he does everything right. And then that stupid h acts as if he attacked her.
The H is open about his feelings for her. So romantic when he tells her what he does in the evenings at home: he’s alone, reading or listening to music, and he thinks about her a lot. Any woman would know that when a man says those things he feels for her. But not this h. Sigh.
March 21, 2013
Really nice older HP, maybe even 4.5 stars. I loved the back and forth emotional wrenching, and the old-fashioned perfect heroine (who wouldn't want to be the "tomboy" who doesn't wear make-up or nice clothes, who nonetheless everyone thinks is more beautiful than all the girls who are trying to look nice). Lost a half a star or a star because the whole thing felt a little glib and there was no good reason the hero and heroine weren't getting together. Still, an enjoyable read with a good HEA.
July 6, 2023
Dreadfully boring. There isn’t much plot except long descriptions of the mundane around a magazine company. The writer got lost and didn’t want to come back from her who-said-what-to-who in the office. It was exhaustive and there was barely much interaction between the MCs.
The h is not very attractive in terms of her personality. She’s stiff and is referred to as the office “woman lib” aka a high profile feminist. She wears unattractive jeans and talks back and holds a grudge against every female who pretties herself before coming to work. Basically the h is worked up all the time because of you know - zero action in her boring life. She needed a good laying tbh.
The H is jovial and seems like a nice enough guy- he’s the new editor. He hated the guts of the h who wrongfully wrote an interview she did with him where she portrayed him as a player who had a string of women chasing him. Also said some other ugly stuff about him while he’s known amongst his peers as a nice kind man.
What put me off like OFF was what the H revealed about the h when she’d come to interview him a few years back. The h showed up in jeans and a T without a bra so she could point out further how she was a feminist who hated men.
I found that utterly repulsive and I couldn’t forgive the h. I also tried and tried to like the h but every time the H made a move, she’d cry and run away. This woman would run away like it was Mr Collins talking to her and not a good looking decent guy like the H.
I’ve no clue why the H even liked the h, they had nothing in common except a parent they lost in their early age.
The star of the show is Delia -OW of sorts. She has the most screen space in this book on how she repeatedly gets the h into a fix over her silly planning for parties or for modelling.
It was a boring winding road and the h was despicable and churlish. I didn’t care to stay for her HEA. I was excited for an office romance but there’s only office here folks. Do not recommend.
The h is not very attractive in terms of her personality. She’s stiff and is referred to as the office “woman lib” aka a high profile feminist. She wears unattractive jeans and talks back and holds a grudge against every female who pretties herself before coming to work. Basically the h is worked up all the time because of you know - zero action in her boring life. She needed a good laying tbh.
The H is jovial and seems like a nice enough guy- he’s the new editor. He hated the guts of the h who wrongfully wrote an interview she did with him where she portrayed him as a player who had a string of women chasing him. Also said some other ugly stuff about him while he’s known amongst his peers as a nice kind man.
What put me off like OFF was what the H revealed about the h when she’d come to interview him a few years back. The h showed up in jeans and a T without a bra so she could point out further how she was a feminist who hated men.
I found that utterly repulsive and I couldn’t forgive the h. I also tried and tried to like the h but every time the H made a move, she’d cry and run away. This woman would run away like it was Mr Collins talking to her and not a good looking decent guy like the H.
I’ve no clue why the H even liked the h, they had nothing in common except a parent they lost in their early age.
The star of the show is Delia -OW of sorts. She has the most screen space in this book on how she repeatedly gets the h into a fix over her silly planning for parties or for modelling.
It was a boring winding road and the h was despicable and churlish. I didn’t care to stay for her HEA. I was excited for an office romance but there’s only office here folks. Do not recommend.
July 24, 2021
Too much of feminism vs chauvinism arguments.
September 18, 2019
This was going to be even worse than she'd feared
Journalist Sara Ford had good reason to be apprehensive when wealthy playboy Max Christian took over as editor of London Now magazine. He'd neither forgotten nor forgiven the scathing article she'd written about him two years earlier.
And it was obvious from Sara's first day under his regime that Max was going to enjoy making her life miserable. She could withstand his brutal criticisms of her work. It was when he began to toy with her long-repressed emotions that she knew herself defenseless....
Sara falling in love with Max - only to be faced with Delia Waterlow, who told her, 'I always get what I want, and I want Max very badly indeed...' m
Journalist Sara Ford had good reason to be apprehensive when wealthy playboy Max Christian took over as editor of London Now magazine. He'd neither forgotten nor forgiven the scathing article she'd written about him two years earlier.
And it was obvious from Sara's first day under his regime that Max was going to enjoy making her life miserable. She could withstand his brutal criticisms of her work. It was when he began to toy with her long-repressed emotions that she knew herself defenseless....
Sara falling in love with Max - only to be faced with Delia Waterlow, who told her, 'I always get what I want, and I want Max very badly indeed...' m
March 20, 2013
This novel was a bit perplexing at times but I did enjoy it. Not as much as the other novels though. The HEA's are pretty amazing.
September 13, 2022
In this one, journalist Sara spars with editor, Max. It's all a bit dated and riven with the kind of misunderstanding and lack of communication that tends to annoy me. Nevertheless this writer can write and the love declarations at the end were rather sweet. I like that this writer makes a thing about them pre-empting the wedding night after the love declaration. She did this in The Object of the Game as well.
August 23, 2021
Actually it's more like 2.5 stars.
This book hasn't aged well. It's truly dated. It starts well but soon it's a journey downhill.
'The fire and the ice' is the hero's description.
The heroine wrote an unflattering article about the famous editor who is her boss now.
This book hasn't aged well. It's truly dated. It starts well but soon it's a journey downhill.
'The fire and the ice' is the hero's description.
The heroine wrote an unflattering article about the famous editor who is her boss now.
March 20, 2021
The h and H barely spent any time together. And the OW didn't get any comeuppance what so ever! Not even of page. They didn't discuss her involvement to any extent at all!
Grrr
Grrr
November 20, 2014
I thought it was funny what a slob the heroine was.
Though, she was too gullible and taken in by the villainess easily.
The hero was afraid of being hurt (with good reason) and could've actually saved himself some if he'd communicated better with the heroine.
The most interesting character in the book was the hero's mother. She was like Elizabeth Taylor (many marriages and divorces) and I felt sad for her that she thought that was how she should live.
The book could have definitely used more excitement, like a plane crash or a murder attempt. Something!
Though, she was too gullible and taken in by the villainess easily.
The hero was afraid of being hurt (with good reason) and could've actually saved himself some if he'd communicated better with the heroine.
The most interesting character in the book was the hero's mother. She was like Elizabeth Taylor (many marriages and divorces) and I felt sad for her that she thought that was how she should live.
The book could have definitely used more excitement, like a plane crash or a murder attempt. Something!
June 2, 2013
I loved it. I also noticed that it doesn't rate very well with the other readers, but I don't care. It HAD its moments that made up for the rest of the clunkiness of the book. I think Vanessa James writes in a way that will get very polarized reactions. Either you really hate it or really love it.
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