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Command Performance
[BookStrand Contemporary Romance] Wealthy Vittorio d'Este believes in protecting his family, which is why he does not want his nephew, Marcus, to marry songstress Lindi Baker. On the pretext of finding out if she is a suitable mate for Marcus, he orders her to his private island for a command performance. But Lindi is not what he thinks she is. She, too, brings out all his protective instincts and teaches him how to love again. But how will he react when he learns that she has lied to him? Singer Lindi Baker has been bullied for years, so she is in no mood to be commanded by Vittorio d'Este, no matter how gorgeous he is. Lindi agrees to accompany Vittorio to his private island at the behest of Gemma, who is the one really sleeping with Marcus. Unsophisticated Lindi does not realise until it's too late that her own heart is at stake. ** A BookStrand Mainstream Romance
- GenresContemporary
124 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
5 people want to read
About the author
Sally Quilford
53 books29 followersSally Quilford has had stories published in most of the major women’s magazines, and had seven pocket novels (to date) published My Weekly Pocket Novels. They have subsequently been sold to Ulverscroft Publishings Linford Romance Library, for large print publication. She has also won and been placed in many competitions. As well as running a popular competition calendar (linked to her column in Writers’ Forum magazine) Sally has judged writing competitions.
Sally is a monthly columnist with Writers Forum magazine and has also had articles published in The New Writer. Sally lives in Derbyshire with her husband and four westies. When the weather is nice enough she writes in her shed, hence her own ‘publisher’ on her Kindle ebook being labelled ‘Tales From the Shed’. Her proudest moment so far, not counting the birth of her children and the day she married, was when the King of Twitter, Stephen Fry linked to her (old) blog from his Twitter page, describing her as ‘pleasantly sane’.
Sally is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association. She is also available for workshops (mainly on writing romance and short fiction for women’s magazines).
Sally has had novellas, stories and articles published in the following publications:
Novels/Novellas
My Weekly Pocket Novels
The Secret of Helena’s Bay
My True Companion
Bella’s Vineyard
A Collector of Hearts
Imitation of Love
Sunlit Secrets
Mistletoe and Mystery
The People’s Friend Pocket Novels
Our Day Will Come (tbp 9th August 2012)
Easy Read/Bridges and Knight
Bonfire Memories (Oct 2012)
Linford Romance Library (Large Print)
The Secret of Helena’s Bay (in libraries now)
Bella’s Vineyard (in libraries now)
A Collector of Hearts (in libraries now)
My True Companion (in libraries now)
An Imitation of Love (in libraries now)
Sunlit Secrets (in libraries now)
Mistletoe Mystery (due 1.12.2012)
Our Day Will Come (due in 2013)
Siren Publishing
Command Performance – as Sally Quilford (January 2012)
Let Me Be Your Hero (The Peak of Love 1) – as Elise Hart (April 2012)
The Future Mrs. Winter – as Sally Quilford (May 2012)
A New Flame (The Peak of Love 2) – as Elise Hart (August 2012)
A Christmas Moon – as Sally Quilford (December 2012)
Articles
Writers Forum – as monthly columnist
The New Writer
The First Line
Writing Magazine
Stories
Magazines
Take A Break Fiction Feast
My Weekly
The Weekly News
Best
That’s Life Fast Fiction (Australia)
Allas (Sweden)
Dark Tales
Dark Horizons (British Fantasy Society’s publication)
Anthologies
Sexy Shorts for Lovers (Accent Press)
Sexy Shorts for the Beach (Accent Press)
The Creature in the Rose (BeWrite.net)
Several Xcite anthologies (under different pseudonym and as Sally Quilford)
Diamonds and Pearls (Accent Press)
Tears and Laughter and Happy Ever After (Blot Publishing)
Scream (Bridge House)
Going Places (Bridge House)
The Dogstar and other Science Fiction Stories (Leaf Books)
The Someday Supplement (Leaf Books)
La Fenetre (2 issues)
Sally is a monthly columnist with Writers Forum magazine and has also had articles published in The New Writer. Sally lives in Derbyshire with her husband and four westies. When the weather is nice enough she writes in her shed, hence her own ‘publisher’ on her Kindle ebook being labelled ‘Tales From the Shed’. Her proudest moment so far, not counting the birth of her children and the day she married, was when the King of Twitter, Stephen Fry linked to her (old) blog from his Twitter page, describing her as ‘pleasantly sane’.
Sally is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association. She is also available for workshops (mainly on writing romance and short fiction for women’s magazines).
Sally has had novellas, stories and articles published in the following publications:
Novels/Novellas
My Weekly Pocket Novels
The Secret of Helena’s Bay
My True Companion
Bella’s Vineyard
A Collector of Hearts
Imitation of Love
Sunlit Secrets
Mistletoe and Mystery
The People’s Friend Pocket Novels
Our Day Will Come (tbp 9th August 2012)
Easy Read/Bridges and Knight
Bonfire Memories (Oct 2012)
Linford Romance Library (Large Print)
The Secret of Helena’s Bay (in libraries now)
Bella’s Vineyard (in libraries now)
A Collector of Hearts (in libraries now)
My True Companion (in libraries now)
An Imitation of Love (in libraries now)
Sunlit Secrets (in libraries now)
Mistletoe Mystery (due 1.12.2012)
Our Day Will Come (due in 2013)
Siren Publishing
Command Performance – as Sally Quilford (January 2012)
Let Me Be Your Hero (The Peak of Love 1) – as Elise Hart (April 2012)
The Future Mrs. Winter – as Sally Quilford (May 2012)
A New Flame (The Peak of Love 2) – as Elise Hart (August 2012)
A Christmas Moon – as Sally Quilford (December 2012)
Articles
Writers Forum – as monthly columnist
The New Writer
The First Line
Writing Magazine
Stories
Magazines
Take A Break Fiction Feast
My Weekly
The Weekly News
Best
That’s Life Fast Fiction (Australia)
Allas (Sweden)
Dark Tales
Dark Horizons (British Fantasy Society’s publication)
Anthologies
Sexy Shorts for Lovers (Accent Press)
Sexy Shorts for the Beach (Accent Press)
The Creature in the Rose (BeWrite.net)
Several Xcite anthologies (under different pseudonym and as Sally Quilford)
Diamonds and Pearls (Accent Press)
Tears and Laughter and Happy Ever After (Blot Publishing)
Scream (Bridge House)
Going Places (Bridge House)
The Dogstar and other Science Fiction Stories (Leaf Books)
The Someday Supplement (Leaf Books)
La Fenetre (2 issues)
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 28, 2012
Originally posted at: http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.c...
Ms. Quilford has a wonderfully gentle writing style that carries you along with her story. Lindi Ms. Quilford's heroine is portrayed as more than slightly gullible, incredibly naive, cowed by everyone around her, and I could truly feel her timorous approach to life. I was rooting for her to grow and learn from the new experiences bombarding her when Vittorrio, the author’s hero, came into her life.
The whole story revolves round misconceptions, false accusations from Vittorio, and what truly amounts to kidnapping. I found myself wondering why Lindi simply fell in with his plans when he was less than pleasant to her. She may not like her mother’s partner (and how could she not know they were lovers too?), but up to that point she’d never rebelled against anything she was told to do. At this point, it disappointed me I was not behind Lindi as solidly as I had been, especially as I was enjoying the author’s wonderfully vivid description. I have seen Chesterfield’s crooked church spire, and I’ve visited Venice and loved how Ms. Quilford took me back to those places so easily.
Unfortunately I never came to like Ms. Quilford’s hero. Yes he was a man at the top who let nothing get in his way if he wanted something, but he didn’t grow or change as the story unfolded.
It still didn’t stop me from enjoying the sweet romance involved until suddenly without warning the timid beleaguered heroine turned into a dominant sexual partner who resorts to mild bondage all within one night, and then as quickly as the sun rises, reverted back to character.
While this may not have been my favorite book, that will not stop me looking out for more books by this author. I love her vivid descriptions; she has a writing style that appeals, and characters that bring out reader emotions whether they are negative or positive, and since that is what most writers strive for, Ms. Quilford has definitely achieved her aim with this book.
Ms. Quilford has a wonderfully gentle writing style that carries you along with her story. Lindi Ms. Quilford's heroine is portrayed as more than slightly gullible, incredibly naive, cowed by everyone around her, and I could truly feel her timorous approach to life. I was rooting for her to grow and learn from the new experiences bombarding her when Vittorrio, the author’s hero, came into her life.
The whole story revolves round misconceptions, false accusations from Vittorio, and what truly amounts to kidnapping. I found myself wondering why Lindi simply fell in with his plans when he was less than pleasant to her. She may not like her mother’s partner (and how could she not know they were lovers too?), but up to that point she’d never rebelled against anything she was told to do. At this point, it disappointed me I was not behind Lindi as solidly as I had been, especially as I was enjoying the author’s wonderfully vivid description. I have seen Chesterfield’s crooked church spire, and I’ve visited Venice and loved how Ms. Quilford took me back to those places so easily.
Unfortunately I never came to like Ms. Quilford’s hero. Yes he was a man at the top who let nothing get in his way if he wanted something, but he didn’t grow or change as the story unfolded.
It still didn’t stop me from enjoying the sweet romance involved until suddenly without warning the timid beleaguered heroine turned into a dominant sexual partner who resorts to mild bondage all within one night, and then as quickly as the sun rises, reverted back to character.
While this may not have been my favorite book, that will not stop me looking out for more books by this author. I love her vivid descriptions; she has a writing style that appeals, and characters that bring out reader emotions whether they are negative or positive, and since that is what most writers strive for, Ms. Quilford has definitely achieved her aim with this book.
January 27, 2012
See my review on the bookstrand site
March 13, 2012
Anyone who reads my reviews regularly would know that I am a fan of Sally Quilford's work. So if you're expecting me to give this book a glowing review, well, you'd be absolutely right.
What I love about Sally's work is that she is simply a joy to read. Her writing flows so beautifully that I tend to find myself finishing chapters before I know it. It's a bit like television - effortless entertainment. Her storylines are compulsive.
This book was written with Mills and Boon in mind but apparently, they turned it down. It's their loss. She is such an original writer. She took what is a sort of romance novel 'formula' i.e. an English rose and a handsome Italian. With her original approach, she made something completely different of it. I enjoyed reading about Belinda's awakening and self discovery - okay, she had this tall, dark, handsome hero helping her find her way, but who's complaining? I'm sure the readers won't anyway. I know I didn't.
Incidentally, this is the first time I've read anything by Sally with overtly sexual content in it. Her pocket novels usually steer clear of the dark side of life. They're the kind of books you could safely give to your kids to read without any worry about having their morals corrupted, so to speak. This story, Command Performance, is written with an adult readership in mind. Now me, while I like to read romantic fiction (provided it's good quality stuff) I'm one of those people who would prefer to leave the sexual details on the cutting room floor. I enjoy the spark, sizzle and chemistry when reading about a romancing couple. I have no desire whatsoever to get into bed with them. However, times have changed and many publishers demand that stuff nowadays. So if an author has to do what an author has to do, they should grasp the nettle bravely and this is exactly what Sally does. I've said it before about this writer and I'll say it this time too. She gets straight to the heart of the matter, no mucking about. She delivers her scene frankly and even with a sense of humour which I found rather endearing. Well done, Sally. I know I couldn't do that myself!
I'm rather a slow reader nowadays, but I finished this one within twenty four hours. That, in my opinion, says it all. Definitely paisa vasool (that's a phrase we have in India, which means 'value for money').
What I love about Sally's work is that she is simply a joy to read. Her writing flows so beautifully that I tend to find myself finishing chapters before I know it. It's a bit like television - effortless entertainment. Her storylines are compulsive.
This book was written with Mills and Boon in mind but apparently, they turned it down. It's their loss. She is such an original writer. She took what is a sort of romance novel 'formula' i.e. an English rose and a handsome Italian. With her original approach, she made something completely different of it. I enjoyed reading about Belinda's awakening and self discovery - okay, she had this tall, dark, handsome hero helping her find her way, but who's complaining? I'm sure the readers won't anyway. I know I didn't.
Incidentally, this is the first time I've read anything by Sally with overtly sexual content in it. Her pocket novels usually steer clear of the dark side of life. They're the kind of books you could safely give to your kids to read without any worry about having their morals corrupted, so to speak. This story, Command Performance, is written with an adult readership in mind. Now me, while I like to read romantic fiction (provided it's good quality stuff) I'm one of those people who would prefer to leave the sexual details on the cutting room floor. I enjoy the spark, sizzle and chemistry when reading about a romancing couple. I have no desire whatsoever to get into bed with them. However, times have changed and many publishers demand that stuff nowadays. So if an author has to do what an author has to do, they should grasp the nettle bravely and this is exactly what Sally does. I've said it before about this writer and I'll say it this time too. She gets straight to the heart of the matter, no mucking about. She delivers her scene frankly and even with a sense of humour which I found rather endearing. Well done, Sally. I know I couldn't do that myself!
I'm rather a slow reader nowadays, but I finished this one within twenty four hours. That, in my opinion, says it all. Definitely paisa vasool (that's a phrase we have in India, which means 'value for money').
March 25, 2012
An interesting story, well written.
February 16, 2012
This read like a sexier Harlequin with all the olde'skool cliches. It was like a trip down memory lane but also a reminder why I gave up the cookie-cutter Harlequins.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews