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Max's Proposal
A suitable wife?
It was a practical proposal. Max Vella, a rich and famous businessman, needed a wife to organize his many social functions, and Sara needed money to help her sister.
So Sara took on the role of dutiful wife, but just as she was beginning to realize that her feelings for Max were more than just business, she discovered that she wasn't the only candidate he'd had in mind. The beautiful and enviable Imogen was everything Sara was not and, if Sara wanted to keep her man, it looked as if she had a fight on her hands!
- GenresMarriage Of Convenience
Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 1998
13 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Jane Donnelly
145 books28 followersJane Donnelly began earning her living as a writer as a teenage reporter. When she married the editor of the newspaper she freelanced for women's mags for a while. After she was widowed she and her 5 year old daughter moved to Lancashire. She turned to writing fiction to make a living while still caring for her daughter, she sold her first Mills & Boon romance novel as a hard-up singleparent in 1965. She wrote over 60 romance novels for Mills & Boon until 2000. Now she lives in a roses-round-the door cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon, with four dogs and assorted rescued animals. Besides writing she enjoys travelling, swimming, walking and the company of friends.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2020
I really loved it until the end
The ending while not bad just didn't do it for me. I guess I wanted more. I don't want to hear about the other woman I don't want to hear anything. He was probably lying anyway. He needs more than Boogies skillet for sure. I loved this at first and I liked the whole premise of it. It was a nice change and somewhere around 80% I just didn't like it as well anymore. I really can't put my.finger on why it fizzled but it did.
The ending while not bad just didn't do it for me. I guess I wanted more. I don't want to hear about the other woman I don't want to hear anything. He was probably lying anyway. He needs more than Boogies skillet for sure. I loved this at first and I liked the whole premise of it. It was a nice change and somewhere around 80% I just didn't like it as well anymore. I really can't put my.finger on why it fizzled but it did.
October 5, 2016
This was one of Jane Donnelly's last novels and it appears she was running out of steam and fresh ideas. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this story of a newspaper reporter heroine and the wealthy tycoon who forced her into marriage, but it's all so predictable.
They have a meet-cute at the Bonfire Night ball, held at the hero's castle/house. She is resting her feet in a side room, hidden from view when she overhears the hero tell a man to "take someone out" if they don't cooperate with a business deal. Her reporter's instincts tell her that she should write a story about the hero's corruption, but she's too scared. The hero makes his presence known and tells her he knew she was there all along and was just having a bit of fun. The heroine accepts this with good grace and they provide fodder for all of the local gossips by hanging out together for the rest of the night.
The heroine can't believe he's interested in her, but a box of chocolates arrives the next day and an invitation for an interview. The paper has been trying to print a human interest story about the local orphaned boy who made good for years, so the heroine has to go. Hero ends up interviewing her about her life and he seems to know all about her sister's husband's gambling debts.
The sister and husband and their bratty twins are beyond annoying and I wish the hero had made the heroine stay away from them as he threatened on their wedding day. Yes, they do get married after a week spent together at an exclusive retreat where the hero agrees to pay off the gambling debts if the heroine will marry him. He doesn't spell out why he wants to marry the hero (we readers know) and that's where the heroine borrows trouble at their New Year's Eve party and lets her jealousy of a nasty OW take over.
It's not a horrible story. I just found the heroine was way too passive once she married and she needed to relocate her sister's family to a country far, far away. The hero could have saved himself a lot of trouble with a few simple explanations.
They have a meet-cute at the Bonfire Night ball, held at the hero's castle/house. She is resting her feet in a side room, hidden from view when she overhears the hero tell a man to "take someone out" if they don't cooperate with a business deal. Her reporter's instincts tell her that she should write a story about the hero's corruption, but she's too scared. The hero makes his presence known and tells her he knew she was there all along and was just having a bit of fun. The heroine accepts this with good grace and they provide fodder for all of the local gossips by hanging out together for the rest of the night.
The heroine can't believe he's interested in her, but a box of chocolates arrives the next day and an invitation for an interview. The paper has been trying to print a human interest story about the local orphaned boy who made good for years, so the heroine has to go. Hero ends up interviewing her about her life and he seems to know all about her sister's husband's gambling debts.
The sister and husband and their bratty twins are beyond annoying and I wish the hero had made the heroine stay away from them as he threatened on their wedding day. Yes, they do get married after a week spent together at an exclusive retreat where the hero agrees to pay off the gambling debts if the heroine will marry him. He doesn't spell out why he wants to marry the hero (we readers know) and that's where the heroine borrows trouble at their New Year's Eve party and lets her jealousy of a nasty OW take over.
It's not a horrible story. I just found the heroine was way too passive once she married and she needed to relocate her sister's family to a country far, far away. The hero could have saved himself a lot of trouble with a few simple explanations.
June 3, 2020
Max's Proposal
This is the first book by this author that I have read. It is set back about thirty years ago. And to me read like the old black and white tv drama. Very flat and one dimensional. The story revolves around Max and Sara's courtship and marriage. There was the contract and outsiders who added the drama. But towards the end the author just had to throw in the other woman for spice. JMHO... She should have been in sooner. The late addition made her part silly.
This is the first book by this author that I have read. It is set back about thirty years ago. And to me read like the old black and white tv drama. Very flat and one dimensional. The story revolves around Max and Sara's courtship and marriage. There was the contract and outsiders who added the drama. But towards the end the author just had to throw in the other woman for spice. JMHO... She should have been in sooner. The late addition made her part silly.
March 25, 2024
I almost gave this 4 stars but we never find out some dangling threads, such as where H spent the night after their New Year’s party. Sister and mother are wastes of space and I see no resolution to their constantly leeching off h.
January 13, 2026
Cute story
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews