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Cast a Tender Shadow
She had married a total stranger!
Romantically adventurous by nature, Kate eagerly flew to France to marry wealthy Antoine Savoney-Morlet at his family chateau.
Little did she suspect that his possessive mother would never allow that match -- until after the ceremony, when she discovered, to her horror, that she'd been tricked into marrying Antoine's look-alike cousin, Charles!
But that shock was nothing compared to her confusion when she found herself hopelessly in love with her substitute husband ...
Romantically adventurous by nature, Kate eagerly flew to France to marry wealthy Antoine Savoney-Morlet at his family chateau.
Little did she suspect that his possessive mother would never allow that match -- until after the ceremony, when she discovered, to her horror, that she'd been tricked into marrying Antoine's look-alike cousin, Charles!
But that shock was nothing compared to her confusion when she found herself hopelessly in love with her substitute husband ...
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 23, 2016
Fashion model Kate Ellerdale meets handsome Antoine during a fashion show in Dorset, London and they both fall madly in love. Antoine proposes and Kate accepts. Antoine must return to his home in France and they agree that Kate will join him in a month and then they will be married in France. When Kate eventually arrives a month later in France she is met by a chauffeur and driven to Antoine's family chateau. (Antoine called Kate and told her that he had to fly to Hamburg but he will return the next day for the wedding.) Kate finds the French chateau dark and gloomy with it's crumbling walls and cold atmosphere. Especially after Kate meets Antoine's unfriendly mother, who persuades Kate to wear the traditional "family heirloom" veil for the wedding. At first Kate doesn't want to, but then gives in to try to stay on good terms with her soon-to-be mother-in-law. On the day of the wedding Kate goes to the church wearing the heavy veil (which slightly clouds her vision). But when the heavy veil is lifted she realizes she has married another man!
This was an absurd story, mostly set in France. The hero was okay but the storyline was ridiculous and confusing.
This was an absurd story, mostly set in France. The hero was okay but the storyline was ridiculous and confusing.
August 11, 2019
Ha! No wonder this one is on the craziest harlequins list. The fashion model heroine falls for a French guy at a party and after a whirlwind romance, agrees to travel to France to marry him. He calls her the night before she is to travel and tells her he’s away, but he’ll be there for the wedding.
Heroine ends up at the gloomy chateau with his crazy, cackling mother and half sister. The crazy mom insists heroine wear a heavy veil over her face for the wedding. The veil is so opaque, she can barely see. Heroine thinks her groom has gotten taller, but she happily repeats her vows.
Hero raises her veil for the kiss and heroine realizes she’s married a stranger. It’s the OM’s cousin.
And in a series of scenes that yet again show how women are socialized not to raise a fuss in public, heroine goes along with the hero’s pleas not to say anything through the entire wedding reception, their drive away from the chateau and at the hotel restaurant that night.
It’s only the next day that the hero explains himself. He agreed to help his cousin out by letting crazy mom think the heroine is out of her son’s life for good. After a period of time, the hero will divorce the heroine and then the cousin can swoop in and marry her behind crazy mom’s back. Then she can move to the gloomy chateau with a weak, hen-pecked son with his crazy mom still in residence.
(I know. I know. Even the author couldn’t keep a straight face. )
The heroine finds herself attracted to the hero and his beautiful estate. She tries not to fall in love by making herself as unattractive as possible (pouring suntan oil on her hair, for example). But that backfires when a wannabe OW shows up and heroine feels humiliated by her appearance.
Heroine eventually stops self-sabotaging and H/h get along well. Hero is a famous photographer and has made something of himself after being cheated out of his inheritance* by crazy aunt.
The H/h eventually consummate their marriage, but it’s only when the cousin shows up to “claim” the heroine that the H/h reveal their true feelings. Heroine does a nice set down of the cousin for an HEA.
This was a lot of fun, with a nice travelogue of France with a lot of food porn and a heroine who is self-aware enough to know she’s in wonderland and should tread softly.
*So why did he help out his cousin by marrying h? It’s never explained and makes no sense and is a big plot hole – but then the entire story is crazy and that is a quibble.
Heroine ends up at the gloomy chateau with his crazy, cackling mother and half sister. The crazy mom insists heroine wear a heavy veil over her face for the wedding. The veil is so opaque, she can barely see. Heroine thinks her groom has gotten taller, but she happily repeats her vows.
Hero raises her veil for the kiss and heroine realizes she’s married a stranger. It’s the OM’s cousin.
And in a series of scenes that yet again show how women are socialized not to raise a fuss in public, heroine goes along with the hero’s pleas not to say anything through the entire wedding reception, their drive away from the chateau and at the hotel restaurant that night.
It’s only the next day that the hero explains himself. He agreed to help his cousin out by letting crazy mom think the heroine is out of her son’s life for good. After a period of time, the hero will divorce the heroine and then the cousin can swoop in and marry her behind crazy mom’s back. Then she can move to the gloomy chateau with a weak, hen-pecked son with his crazy mom still in residence.
(I know. I know. Even the author couldn’t keep a straight face. )
The heroine finds herself attracted to the hero and his beautiful estate. She tries not to fall in love by making herself as unattractive as possible (pouring suntan oil on her hair, for example). But that backfires when a wannabe OW shows up and heroine feels humiliated by her appearance.
Heroine eventually stops self-sabotaging and H/h get along well. Hero is a famous photographer and has made something of himself after being cheated out of his inheritance* by crazy aunt.
The H/h eventually consummate their marriage, but it’s only when the cousin shows up to “claim” the heroine that the H/h reveal their true feelings. Heroine does a nice set down of the cousin for an HEA.
This was a lot of fun, with a nice travelogue of France with a lot of food porn and a heroine who is self-aware enough to know she’s in wonderland and should tread softly.
*So why did he help out his cousin by marrying h? It’s never explained and makes no sense and is a big plot hole – but then the entire story is crazy and that is a quibble.
January 21, 2020
Randomly bought this at the thrift store. It was kind of whackadoodle. The crazy plot was explained perfectly by StMaragrets so I'll just give a couple of impressions. I guess mostly the plot was so crazy that the writing was sort of vague. Like the author thought if she explained in too solid detail we'd see just how bizarre the whole thing was. Everyone's motivations were pretty unclear. And I had my jaw on the ground when the heroine didn't make any fuss at all about being married to the wrong man to avoid making a scene. Hmmm
October 2, 2016
What a silly little story, but sort of entertaining in spite of itself. Young, somewhat dim, British model falls in love with a handsome Frenchman vacationing in England. Instalove turns to proposal and she happily accepts. He returns to France for business and she agrees to follow in a month. She does so and finds his family more than a little strange, especially his mother, Madame. In an attempt to win her over, our heroine agrees to wear the family veil, even though it is huge, heavy, thing that will ruin her chic wedding dress. Wedding over, big ass veil lifts and she finds that she is married to someone she has never seen, although he vaguely resembles her intended.
Rather than immediately putting a stop to the charade and catching a quick flight back to England, our heroine Kate, rebels against being tricked into marriage with a man she has never met, by wearing jeans instead of her lovely wedding suit to travel in. She intends to question him thoroughly, but is distracted when he plies her with yummy French food and wine and ends up sleeping peacefully in the back of his car as they motor off toward his home. Once at his home, which is much nicer than the dark, spooky chateau that was the ancestral home of her fiancee, she gets a few details about how, in order to keep Kate safe from insane and potentially dangerous mama, her intended and cousin Charles (her new husband) came up with this plot. Eventually, Charles informs her, her fiancee, Antoine will cowboy up, stand up to his mean mama and come and claim his bride. Kate wants to be outraged, but again, Charles plies her with excellent food, and booze, so she decides to go along with this scheme. When she feels like Charles is starting to get a little too friendly, her attempt to rebel again involves dressing casually and putting suntan oil in her hair to make it appear greasy. I am not kidding you folks, this woman has been lied to, deceived, and married off to a stranger, and this is how she fights back.
As you might expect, Kate starts to enjoy her life with Charles, suspects that she may even, GASP!, be falling in love with him, and decides not to fight it, since he has a nice house, lots of money and an excellent cook and wine cellar. This one wraps up exactly as you might expect.
Not the best that HQ has to offer, but not the worst way to kill an hour.
Rather than immediately putting a stop to the charade and catching a quick flight back to England, our heroine Kate, rebels against being tricked into marriage with a man she has never met, by wearing jeans instead of her lovely wedding suit to travel in. She intends to question him thoroughly, but is distracted when he plies her with yummy French food and wine and ends up sleeping peacefully in the back of his car as they motor off toward his home. Once at his home, which is much nicer than the dark, spooky chateau that was the ancestral home of her fiancee, she gets a few details about how, in order to keep Kate safe from insane and potentially dangerous mama, her intended and cousin Charles (her new husband) came up with this plot. Eventually, Charles informs her, her fiancee, Antoine will cowboy up, stand up to his mean mama and come and claim his bride. Kate wants to be outraged, but again, Charles plies her with excellent food, and booze, so she decides to go along with this scheme. When she feels like Charles is starting to get a little too friendly, her attempt to rebel again involves dressing casually and putting suntan oil in her hair to make it appear greasy. I am not kidding you folks, this woman has been lied to, deceived, and married off to a stranger, and this is how she fights back.
As you might expect, Kate starts to enjoy her life with Charles, suspects that she may even, GASP!, be falling in love with him, and decides not to fight it, since he has a nice house, lots of money and an excellent cook and wine cellar. This one wraps up exactly as you might expect.
Not the best that HQ has to offer, but not the worst way to kill an hour.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2021
She had married a total stranger!
Romantically adventurous by nature, Kate eagerly flew to France to marry wealthy Antoine Savoney-Morlet at his family chateau.
Little did she suspect that his possessive mother would never allow that match -- until after the ceremony, when she discovered, to her horror, that she'd been tricked into marrying Antoine's look-alike cousin, Charles!
But that shock was nothing compared to her confusion when she found herself hopelessly in love with her substitute husband
Romantically adventurous by nature, Kate eagerly flew to France to marry wealthy Antoine Savoney-Morlet at his family chateau.
Little did she suspect that his possessive mother would never allow that match -- until after the ceremony, when she discovered, to her horror, that she'd been tricked into marrying Antoine's look-alike cousin, Charles!
But that shock was nothing compared to her confusion when she found herself hopelessly in love with her substitute husband
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June 29, 2013عروس من ذهب
تلاعبت نسمات الحب بقلب أنونا، فركضت خلف سرابه وسافرت وحدها إلى بلد غريب لتتزوج من أليكسي بيري أستاليا وتزوجت، لكن بعدما ارتفع البرقع عن وجهها وجدت أنها لم تتزوج أليكسي، الرجل الرقيق الحنون بل إبن عمه المتغطرس أنونا في قصر ليس فيه إلا الخداع الزوج الجديد أكّد لها أنه لا يرغب فيها، لكن أنونا قررت أن لا تثق بأحد، رغم أن مشاعر جديدة أخذت تقتحم أسوار قلبها
تلاعبت نسمات الحب بقلب أنونا، فركضت خلف سرابه وسافرت وحدها إلى بلد غريب لتتزوج من أليكسي بيري أستاليا وتزوجت، لكن بعدما ارتفع البرقع عن وجهها وجدت أنها لم تتزوج أليكسي، الرجل الرقيق الحنون بل إبن عمه المتغطرس أنونا في قصر ليس فيه إلا الخداع الزوج الجديد أكّد لها أنه لا يرغب فيها، لكن أنونا قررت أن لا تثق بأحد، رغم أن مشاعر جديدة أخذت تقتحم أسوار قلبها
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January 9, 2021This kind of books should be tagged as horror...🤔🤦🏻♀️
Antoine, Antoine's mother and Charles are SINISTER!! 😣
Deleted... 😖
Antoine, Antoine's mother and Charles are SINISTER!! 😣
Deleted... 😖
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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