Come Into The Sun

Tropical Escape #2

by Barbara McMahon

Sent from the family estate in England a decade ago by a overly strict, unforgiving grandfather, Alexis Kent has led a life of adventure in the Caribbean working on sail boats and catching work wherever she can. A recent unfortunate turn of events has her signing on as the sole crew member for an eccentric writer who wants nothing to do with civilization, just to be left alone to write. Neither expected the sparks that flew.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

196 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Bestselling, award winning author Barbara McMahon has written more than 80 novels which have sold more than 16 million copies world wide in more than fifty countries in twenty-eight languages.

Known for her heartwarming, emotional stories, she excels in capturing those feelings when first falling in love. She has won or been nominated for every major award in the romance genre from a double nomination in the RITA to winning the Bookseller's Best, National Readers Choice Award and the prestigious HOLT Medallion, among others.

Barbara lives in West Michigan with her husband and two fur babies. Her favorite passtimes are genealogy research and taking her dogs on walks in the wood behind their home.

Reviews

[Leona · Rating 1 out of 5]

A young woman hires on as crew for a man who is sailing the West Indies while writing a book. They settle into a very respectful working relationship until vicious rumors from the heroine's past come back to haunt her.

The hero was one ruthless cad and I found very little to like about him, let alone love. He was a user and believed the heroine was his personal punching bag. For whatever reason, known only to the heroine, she allows his crass insults and demeaning attitude. It takes a near rape, before she picks up her bags and decides to walk away.

Up to this point, I could have taken all he shoveled out, had he come to his senses and groveled. However, to make matters worse all he has to do is dedicate the book to her, and she forgives him. That part actually made me sick thinking she could be so easily swayed.

This was one of those heartbreaking romances, where you wish the heroine would end up with someone else. If this is typical of the author's work, I won't be reading anything else. My views of romance and love are very different. I also prefer to read about heroine's I can admire, not doormats.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heroine Alexis visits the hero Dominic in the hope of being hired as a crewman for his boat. Dominic initially turns her down but gives her the job after no one else applies. Dominic is a writer and plans to sail to a small uninhabited island to anchor and write for a while. On the initial sail to Barbados, Alexis and Dominic get on well and Dominic trusts her, but he realises that under her quiet nature she seems to be hiding something. Alexis finds she is starting to feel happy again after disastrous events in her past have caused her to leave many places. Her happiness is short lived when Dominic's cousin, whom Lexy once spurned, tells Dominic all about her seemingly sordid past. Lexy thinks she will now be without a job and again needing to move on, but is surprised when Dominic keeps her on. But his attitude towards her has completely changed and she has to put up with his rather cruel remarks whilst trying to deal with the fact that she had fallen in love with him. He makes it clear he also desires her but she knows for the sake of her heart and price she must resist.

I found this a bit of an up and down read. Some parts are really good and others not. I liked the story and plot, it is well written and interesting. What I didn't ;like though is the way Dominic treated Lexy, it was rather cruel and, I think, went a bit too far. I also found the writing style a bit too stiff, but this is not surprising considering it was written nearly 30 years ago.

Overall though it's a quick and 'easy' read.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[RomLibrary]

Alexis Kent was desperate to escape. For her, the glorious West Indies had stopped being a paradise some time ago, and the berth on Dominic Frazer's boat seemed like her last chance. It didn't matter that the two of them would be alone on board the Marybeth for weeks on end, so long as she could get off Santa Inez. And Dominic was a writer, absorbed in his work and unlikely to ask questions - he has made that very clear. It was after she had fallen gradually, inexorably in love with him, that Dominic found out why she had run away. And then, once again, Lexy's whole future was threatened by the shadow of her past. Dominic seemed to want the woman he believed her to be. But it was his love that Lexy wanted - and his trust.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars voted down. Very patriarchal book with chauvinistic H and a virginal h whose reputation had been lost. For all that I hate this kind of romance, the h was really captivating in her quiet calm dignity in the beginning. The H truly didn't deserve the h n I never did like the HEA! Even if the h had been a courtesan in truth, she still wouldn't have deserved the insults at all.