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Another Dawn
HER LOVE COULD BEAT THE ODDS. — Photographer Jan St. Clair knew the risks involved in loving author Nick Alexander. An old injury threatened Nick's life. Surgery would give him only a fifty-fifty chance to live. But Jan was stubbornly determined that nothing would mar their newlywed bliss. Nothing. — She drew courage from Nick's embrace, strength from the fiery warmth of his lips. And from the force of their passion, so long denied, she found the will to make each moment last a lifetime....
222 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 4, 2021
The 25 year old photographer heroine has hero-worshipped the 35 year old famous author hero since she was a child. Her father was his mentor and he ended up kind of being adopted into the family and always treated her like his favorite kid sister. As she grew up, her feelings grew into something more than sibling fondness. She had a huge crush on him but he went off to Hollywood and married a gorgeous starlet.
Then he got divorced and came back to live in New Mexico to concentrate on his writing. In recent years, they have been living together as roommates, platonically, with the heroine despairing of him ever making a move on her.
When the hero does finally propose, it is an offer of a marriage of convenience, in name only, with no bedroom acrobatics included. His reason? He wants to ward off the man-eating barracuda ex-wife who is determined on getting him (and his money) back into her greedy hands.
I simply HATE the trope of hero using heroine as buffer against another woman. It always strikes me as so wimpy that the hero can't simply say NO all by himself like a big boy, and it also makes me suspect about whatever lingering feelings he has for the ex that he professes to hate.
Here, the twist is that the hero is slowly dying of an old wound from an accident years ago and he is terrified that the ex-wife is somehow going to get authority over medical decisions for him if he should ever become incapacitated. In essence, he wants the doctor to pull the plug on him if it ever comes down to him being hospitalized, rather than risk a surgery where there is a fifty percent chance he might survive but end up paralyzed for life. He is scared that the ex-wife will keep him in some sort of limbo in the hospital despite his wishes so she can have control over his money and live it up while he suffers. He makes the heroine promise that if it ever comes down to it, she will not give permission to the doctor to operate and let him die.
The heroine agrees to it because she loves him. On their wedding night, despite all his protests, she sets out to seduce him because she wants a real marriage for the short time they have together. It doesn't take long before he succumbs to her charms. Apparently, he has been lusting after her since she was fifteen (YUCK) and despaired of ever having his feelings reciprocated, given their age gap.
They have a hot and heavy honeymoon but soon, the hero has an accident at home and the decision that heroine must make is precipitated. Despite her promise to him, she tells the doctor to go ahead and operate on him. She can't lose him, no matter what happens. The surgery is sucessful but the hero, at first, will be recovering in a wheelchair until physical therapy can help him regain the use of his legs. Everything should be hunky dory after this point but the hero is obviously very depressed and anxious, as well as in much discomfort. He is grumpy and snappy and he says some cruel things to the heroine. The heroine is distraught and ashamed, and thinks the hero has stopped loving her because he resents her for going back on her word and instructing the doctors to operate instead of letting him die, as he wanted. She runs away from home and stays away for a while, nursing her Seekret Pregnancy.
In her absence, the hero makes a Herculean effort to get better all on his own. By the time the heroine returns to check on him, he is walking again. They reconcile and clear up all their misunderstandings. The hero never resented the heroine for saving his life. It was the right decision to make and he could not help it if he was grumpy because he felt less than a whole man and a burden on her. The heroine of course loves him forever and ever and ever. Oh and the ex-wife conveniently got remarried to a millionaire so she won't be bothering them ever.
Overall, the author wrote the story compellingly but I just found it a bit boring after they consummated their marriage of convenience within the first couple of chapters. I usually like this trope because the fun of it usually takes the whole book to disentangle their various bottled up feelings for each other and conclude with a big love declaration at the end. Here, the drama revolved more about his operation. It didn't sit well with me that, with all the love she professed for him, she abandoned him during his crucial recovery time, when he most needed support from her. Okay, he was being an impossible patient. You get married for better or worse right? I can't help feeling she let him down. Last but not least, this is the second time I have experience this author's "racistish" elements though I take it with a grain of salt because of the era this was published. In her book Forever, her protagonist called an African tribe "ugly savages." Here, her heroine is Native American and her hero calls her his "little savage" and "Pocahontas" as terms of endearment. *CRINGE*
Then he got divorced and came back to live in New Mexico to concentrate on his writing. In recent years, they have been living together as roommates, platonically, with the heroine despairing of him ever making a move on her.
When the hero does finally propose, it is an offer of a marriage of convenience, in name only, with no bedroom acrobatics included. His reason? He wants to ward off the man-eating barracuda ex-wife who is determined on getting him (and his money) back into her greedy hands.
I simply HATE the trope of hero using heroine as buffer against another woman. It always strikes me as so wimpy that the hero can't simply say NO all by himself like a big boy, and it also makes me suspect about whatever lingering feelings he has for the ex that he professes to hate.
Here, the twist is that the hero is slowly dying of an old wound from an accident years ago and he is terrified that the ex-wife is somehow going to get authority over medical decisions for him if he should ever become incapacitated. In essence, he wants the doctor to pull the plug on him if it ever comes down to him being hospitalized, rather than risk a surgery where there is a fifty percent chance he might survive but end up paralyzed for life. He is scared that the ex-wife will keep him in some sort of limbo in the hospital despite his wishes so she can have control over his money and live it up while he suffers. He makes the heroine promise that if it ever comes down to it, she will not give permission to the doctor to operate and let him die.
The heroine agrees to it because she loves him. On their wedding night, despite all his protests, she sets out to seduce him because she wants a real marriage for the short time they have together. It doesn't take long before he succumbs to her charms. Apparently, he has been lusting after her since she was fifteen (YUCK) and despaired of ever having his feelings reciprocated, given their age gap.
They have a hot and heavy honeymoon but soon, the hero has an accident at home and the decision that heroine must make is precipitated. Despite her promise to him, she tells the doctor to go ahead and operate on him. She can't lose him, no matter what happens. The surgery is sucessful but the hero, at first, will be recovering in a wheelchair until physical therapy can help him regain the use of his legs. Everything should be hunky dory after this point but the hero is obviously very depressed and anxious, as well as in much discomfort. He is grumpy and snappy and he says some cruel things to the heroine. The heroine is distraught and ashamed, and thinks the hero has stopped loving her because he resents her for going back on her word and instructing the doctors to operate instead of letting him die, as he wanted. She runs away from home and stays away for a while, nursing her Seekret Pregnancy.
In her absence, the hero makes a Herculean effort to get better all on his own. By the time the heroine returns to check on him, he is walking again. They reconcile and clear up all their misunderstandings. The hero never resented the heroine for saving his life. It was the right decision to make and he could not help it if he was grumpy because he felt less than a whole man and a burden on her. The heroine of course loves him forever and ever and ever. Oh and the ex-wife conveniently got remarried to a millionaire so she won't be bothering them ever.
Overall, the author wrote the story compellingly but I just found it a bit boring after they consummated their marriage of convenience within the first couple of chapters. I usually like this trope because the fun of it usually takes the whole book to disentangle their various bottled up feelings for each other and conclude with a big love declaration at the end. Here, the drama revolved more about his operation. It didn't sit well with me that, with all the love she professed for him, she abandoned him during his crucial recovery time, when he most needed support from her. Okay, he was being an impossible patient. You get married for better or worse right? I can't help feeling she let him down. Last but not least, this is the second time I have experience this author's "racistish" elements though I take it with a grain of salt because of the era this was published. In her book Forever, her protagonist called an African tribe "ugly savages." Here, her heroine is Native American and her hero calls her his "little savage" and "Pocahontas" as terms of endearment. *CRINGE*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2015
Let me put this question out to you: Will you do something to save the life of the person you love the most knowing that he may hate you for doing it? I think I will. At least, he'll be alive, right?
Because that's what Jan did to save the man she had loved since she was a girl of ten. They had married to keep Nick's first wife from coming back. And Jan decided that he she was going to have a real--and long--marriage.
The main reason why I loved this book was the friendship between the two main characters. It's always fascinating to read about friends before they become more than that--and have that friendship remain after two people have made that significant 'big step.'
Because that's what Jan did to save the man she had loved since she was a girl of ten. They had married to keep Nick's first wife from coming back. And Jan decided that he she was going to have a real--and long--marriage.
The main reason why I loved this book was the friendship between the two main characters. It's always fascinating to read about friends before they become more than that--and have that friendship remain after two people have made that significant 'big step.'
July 15, 2018
3.5 stars
This wasn't a bad read. The heroine has been in love with the decade older hero for years but it seems like her love will remain unrequited. But when the hero receives some bad news regarding his health he asks her to marry him so that his ex doesn't get a hand on his money. For heroine it is all her dreams come true and she makes sure that the hero knows she intends to have a real marriage. We get pages of them in bed and quickly falling in love. The second part deals with the hero's anger on being temporarily bed-ridden. All in all not a bad read.
This wasn't a bad read. The heroine has been in love with the decade older hero for years but it seems like her love will remain unrequited. But when the hero receives some bad news regarding his health he asks her to marry him so that his ex doesn't get a hand on his money. For heroine it is all her dreams come true and she makes sure that the hero knows she intends to have a real marriage. We get pages of them in bed and quickly falling in love. The second part deals with the hero's anger on being temporarily bed-ridden. All in all not a bad read.
May 13, 2023
One of my favorite throwback romances. I love it! The couple is very passionate and has a few hardships they must endure but they never stop loving each other.
April 21, 2012
Titre vf : L'avenir nous appartient
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews