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Notting Hill Grooms #2
Reform of the Playboy
Tall, dark and dangerously sexy...
Finn Maclean has a reputation as a ruthless playboy, never seen without a beautiful woman on his arm. It's no wonder that Harriet is suspicious of his lethal brand of attraction.
Harriet Wentworth might be an experienced lawyer, but when it comes to men she's an innocent. Finn would be happy to educate her, but Harriet makes it clear she has no intention of becoming another notch on his bedpost. Finn is intrigued. Harriet might be the one woman who claims immunity to his charms, but she's also the one woman he'll stop at nothing to have....
NOTTING HILL GROOMS
London's streets aren't just paved with gold--they're home to three of the world's most eligible bachelors!
Finn Maclean has a reputation as a ruthless playboy, never seen without a beautiful woman on his arm. It's no wonder that Harriet is suspicious of his lethal brand of attraction.
Harriet Wentworth might be an experienced lawyer, but when it comes to men she's an innocent. Finn would be happy to educate her, but Harriet makes it clear she has no intention of becoming another notch on his bedpost. Finn is intrigued. Harriet might be the one woman who claims immunity to his charms, but she's also the one woman he'll stop at nothing to have....
NOTTING HILL GROOMS
London's streets aren't just paved with gold--they're home to three of the world's most eligible bachelors!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
3 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Mary Lyons
127 books20 followersMary-Jo Wormell, whose nom de plume is Mary Lyons, was a popular British writer of over 40 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1983 to 2001. She was also a Conservative Party parlimentary candidate.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 15, 2018
Rating: 3 stars
A mad-cap whirlwind story using one of my favorite tropes: Enemies to Lovers. Both characters are genuine people with altruistic tendencies while being flawed, strong-willed and opinionated.
Harriet has a good heart though sadly she suffers from insecurity and low self-esteem. This is what I found most irritating about her since she is described as being a "Stunner " who could have modeled for Dante Gabriel Rossini's Women of the Flame. Of course, Finn McClean is rich, arrogant, extra-extra handsome, and Harriet's nemesis. There is chemistry from the moment they clash and things go from there to melodramatic. All the twists and ties of the classic Rom-Com are set into motion, with the Big Misunderstanding--a plot device I can't stand cuz it's so done and lame--and the heroine resisting commitment for a stupid reason when she is merely insecure and scared.
There are some fun moments in this book where they both come off as naughty children on the playground. Also, an interesting point is that while snooping around Finn's flat, Harriet stumbles across a well-used Bible. I felt that offered some insight into Finn's being, that he has a moral code somewhere and a conscious. In other words, he is looking to be redeemed by the right woman and despite his playboy rep, there is more to him than meets the eye. What you got here is a cocktail mix of Pride and Prejudice, Taming of the Shrew and any Rom-Com where Boy and Girl have a previous nasty First Meeting, are forced to cohabit for various reasons and have a Major Misfortune that forces them to spend a lot of time in each other's company until they fall into bed and possibly in love.
Not a bad effort and not a waste of time even if the end is rather corny but delightful. Ah, L'amour.
A mad-cap whirlwind story using one of my favorite tropes: Enemies to Lovers. Both characters are genuine people with altruistic tendencies while being flawed, strong-willed and opinionated.
Harriet has a good heart though sadly she suffers from insecurity and low self-esteem. This is what I found most irritating about her since she is described as being a "Stunner " who could have modeled for Dante Gabriel Rossini's Women of the Flame. Of course, Finn McClean is rich, arrogant, extra-extra handsome, and Harriet's nemesis. There is chemistry from the moment they clash and things go from there to melodramatic. All the twists and ties of the classic Rom-Com are set into motion, with the Big Misunderstanding--a plot device I can't stand cuz it's so done and lame--and the heroine resisting commitment for a stupid reason when she is merely insecure and scared.
There are some fun moments in this book where they both come off as naughty children on the playground. Also, an interesting point is that while snooping around Finn's flat, Harriet stumbles across a well-used Bible. I felt that offered some insight into Finn's being, that he has a moral code somewhere and a conscious. In other words, he is looking to be redeemed by the right woman and despite his playboy rep, there is more to him than meets the eye. What you got here is a cocktail mix of Pride and Prejudice, Taming of the Shrew and any Rom-Com where Boy and Girl have a previous nasty First Meeting, are forced to cohabit for various reasons and have a Major Misfortune that forces them to spend a lot of time in each other's company until they fall into bed and possibly in love.
Not a bad effort and not a waste of time even if the end is rather corny but delightful. Ah, L'amour.
May 12, 2011
Just passable really. Another one of those typical romances where the 'hero', of the story, and I use that term very loosely, starts out as anything but heroic. In fact he's an arrogant dickhead to put it bluntly. But of course the girl practically swoons each time he puts his hands on her and can't help making an absolute fool of herself in the process. I live in hope that she'll realise what a complete loser he is and come to her senses and find another lovely man who actually has some manners. But sadly my hopes are not fulfilled and once again she ends up falling for him and he suddenly becomes moderately pleasant and of course 'fantastic in bed'. Then he sees her out with someone else and immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion and becomes, predictably, his original idiot self.
Then there's the little matter of her mother. I mean really, do mothers like that actually exist anymore? Could she be anymore of a prat ? Her horror when her daughter explains why she broke up with boring George is beyond belief, and she almost has a fit of the vapours ( as you can see I've read many a romance in my time)when Harriet tells her that george has as much passion as a dead fish. Honestly , how many women act like that these days? I'd venture to say... oh...NONE! My daughter is 30 and we talk about anything and everything to each other and I do mean EVERYTHING. In fact we often have a laugh about it when we realise what it is that Mother and daughter are discussing. But for heavens sake - two adult women should be able to discuss anything especially Mother and daughter, so that character didn't ring true for me. I'm almost finished the book now and I can almost guarantee that they'll have a confrontation, he'll apologise ( hopefully) for being such an unmitigated fool after she tells him he has no right to question her after having had one of his bimbos in his flat all week, and he assures her that it was nothing and he has given the other girl her marching orders already and he couldn't do it beforehand as he had to dash off out of town suddenly and din't have time to deal with the fallout before he left. Do I have it pretty close ? needless to say he'll end up being the most wonderful thing on two legs and they'll marry and live happily ever after. Same old same old.
I do find myself wishing that just once the creep would find himself dumped, the gorgeous gay guy would turn out NOT to be gay and he and the heroine would fall madly in love with one another and that this would happen a little closer to the beginning of the book. I'd like to see the arrogant prat get his comeuppance for once.
Then there's the little matter of her mother. I mean really, do mothers like that actually exist anymore? Could she be anymore of a prat ? Her horror when her daughter explains why she broke up with boring George is beyond belief, and she almost has a fit of the vapours ( as you can see I've read many a romance in my time)when Harriet tells her that george has as much passion as a dead fish. Honestly , how many women act like that these days? I'd venture to say... oh...NONE! My daughter is 30 and we talk about anything and everything to each other and I do mean EVERYTHING. In fact we often have a laugh about it when we realise what it is that Mother and daughter are discussing. But for heavens sake - two adult women should be able to discuss anything especially Mother and daughter, so that character didn't ring true for me. I'm almost finished the book now and I can almost guarantee that they'll have a confrontation, he'll apologise ( hopefully) for being such an unmitigated fool after she tells him he has no right to question her after having had one of his bimbos in his flat all week, and he assures her that it was nothing and he has given the other girl her marching orders already and he couldn't do it beforehand as he had to dash off out of town suddenly and din't have time to deal with the fallout before he left. Do I have it pretty close ? needless to say he'll end up being the most wonderful thing on two legs and they'll marry and live happily ever after. Same old same old.
I do find myself wishing that just once the creep would find himself dumped, the gorgeous gay guy would turn out NOT to be gay and he and the heroine would fall madly in love with one another and that this would happen a little closer to the beginning of the book. I'd like to see the arrogant prat get his comeuppance for once.
August 28, 2022
"Reform of the Playboy" is the story of Harriet and Finn.
The hero needs an apartment, and the heroine wishes to sublet one.. just not to the hero. He is a playboy, she is a lawyer. Thus begins a comedy of errors with her basically breaking his leg by accident, them becoming housemates, him disrupting her dates with his antics, some drama and a HEA.
Felt like a romcom!
SWE
2.5/5
The hero needs an apartment, and the heroine wishes to sublet one.. just not to the hero. He is a playboy, she is a lawyer. Thus begins a comedy of errors with her basically breaking his leg by accident, them becoming housemates, him disrupting her dates with his antics, some drama and a HEA.
Felt like a romcom!
SWE
2.5/5
October 3, 2020
Cutesy romance, nothing too special but a simple feel-good reading experience.
February 14, 2022
This book absolutely should not have worked on me. Finn didn't ever respect boundaries and Harriet seemed to be one step from hysterics. The slapstick sequence where Harriet breaks Finn's leg made me groan and close my tablet. And yet it somehow charmed me so that I stuck with it to the (completely ridiculous) end.
February 8, 2012
Not one of my faves...had potential, but I'm picky when it comes to my jerkish heros...I don't know quite what quality he didn't have, b/c actually Finn had some good qualities...but it just left me meh.
July 18, 2014
The book was remarkably good for such a short novel. I was surprised by it. For once I as left satisfied by a small book.
own-but-wont-read-or-wallbanger
July 13, 2018Striking heroine. Finn Maclean has a reputation as a ruthless playboy, but his temporary landlady, Harriet, makes it clear she has no intention of joining Finn's 'harem'. Finn is intrigued. Harriet might be immune to his charms - but she's the one woman he'll stop at nothing to have.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews