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Man of the Month --- MR. MAY

Ice Man: Dawson Rutherford, our 100th Silhouette hero!
His scheme: Plan a mock engagement to help secure the land he so desperately needed.

Only one woman had the power to drive this seemingly heartless cowboy wild, and now he needed her to pose as his bride-to-be! A tempestuous night long ago had forced Dawson to abandon all hope of making Barrie his lawfully wedded wife, but there was not telling what sharing a spread with this hot-blooded woman would do to the man of ice...

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

69 people are currently reading
639 people want to read

About the author

Diana Palmer

1,038 books3,099 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Diana Palmer is a pseudonym for author Susan Kyle.

(1)romance author
Susan Eloise Spaeth was born on 11 December 1946 in Cuthbert, Georgia, USA. She was the eldest daughter of Maggie Eloise Cliatt, a nurse and also journalist, and William Olin Spaeth, a college professor. Her mother was part of the women's liberation movement many years before it became fashionable. Her best friends are her mother and her sister, Dannis Spaeth (Cole), who now has two daughters, Amanda Belle Hofstetter and Maggie and lives in Utah. Susan grew up reading Zane Grey and fell in love with cowboys. Susan is a former newspaper reporter, with sixteen years experience on both daily and weekly newspapers. Since 1972, she has been married to James Kyle and have since settled down in Cornelia, Georgia, where she started to write romance novels. Susan and her husband have one son, Blayne Edward, born in 1980.

She began selling romances in 1979 as Diana Palmer. She also used the pseudonyms Diana Blayne and Katy Currie, and her married name: Susan Kyle. Now, she has over 40 million copies of her books in print, which have been translated and published around the world. She is listed in numerous publications, including Contemporary Authors by Gale Research, Inc., Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers by St. James Press, The Writers Directory by St. James Press, the International Who's Who of Authors and Writers by Meirose Press, Ltd., and Love's Leading Ladies by Kathryn Falk. Her awards include seven Waldenbooks national sales awards, four B. Dalton national sales awards, two Bookrak national sales awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for series storytelling from Romantic Times, several Affaire de Coeur awards, and two regional RWA awards.

Inspired by her husband, who quit a blue-collar manufacturing job to return to school and get his diploma in computer programming, Susan herself went back to college as a day student at the age of 45. In 1995, she graduated summa cum laude from Piedmont College, Demorest, GA, with a major in history and a double minor in archaeology and Spanish. She was named to two honor societies (the Torch Club and Alpha Chi), and was named to the National Dean's List. In addition to her writing projects, she is currently working on her master's degree in history at California State University. She hopes to specialize in Native American studies. She is a member of the Native American Rights Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Cattlemen's Association, the Archaeological Institute of Amenca, the Planetary Society, The Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Sheriff's Association, and numerous conservation and charitable organizations. Her hobbies include gardening, archaeology, anthropology, iguanas, astronomy and music.

In 1998, her husband retired from his own computer business and now pursues skeet shooting medals in local, state, national and international competition. They love riding around and looking at the countryside, watching sci-fi on TV and at the movies, just talking and eating out.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,209 reviews630 followers
July 10, 2018
These two belonged together. They were both so messed up and had imprinted their hurt on each other from such an early age, that only they could heal each other. This is an intense story with just the H/h as a focus.

The heroine had loved her stepbrother since she was 15 - even though he was never nice to her. Five years before, when heroine was 22, she was vacationing in France with her stepfather and hero. She shyly flirted with the H and he finally gave into his lust for her that night. Heroine was a virgin and it was painful. Hero is horrified he lost control and said horrible things to her. Heroine fled, had a miscarriage, and hasn't let a man touch her since.

Hero seeks her out after five years because he wants to buy land from a widow and he needs the heroine there as fake fiance. He's impotent and doesn't want the widow to know. (Just roll with it - it was a flimsy excuse) He's also just found out heroine lost his baby and he realizes it's time to make amends and face his demons.

And what demons he has. Too often the asshat heroes explain about an evil mother or stepmother in a paragraph or two, but DP dives into this hero's psyche in a way I don't usually see in a category. Hero is messed up. He thinks love = humiliation and vulnerability and shows this over and over again in his fear masked by aggression.

Heroine puts up with his neurosis because she loves him. Is that good or bad? I don't know. DP gives them both an HEA because of the stubborn strength of their love. The story makes sense, but I don't think you could replicate this in real life. Hero was too messed up and had acted out to much for mere romance to solve his deep-seeded issues. The heroine being afraid of sex after her rape-like first time was actually less of a trauma than what the hero was experiencing.

If you like a deep dive into someone's psyche, you might like this. But warning - the hero is guilt-ridden mess about the rape, the miscarriage, his treatment of the heroine. DP is sympathetic to both the H/h, but some readers might think that the hero is given too much sympathy - making it all about him - especially when he is so unhinged at the end. (Like driving drunk, leaving on his wedding day, throwing the heroine's clothes out the window

Read at your own risk, especially if sexual trauma, erratic male behavior, and obsessive thoughts are triggers. It's an intense story, but not a very healthy one.

H/h are both celibate during their separation. This was a sequel of sorts to Maggie's Dad, but we never see those characters. There are just a few references - and it's the same town in Wyoming.
Profile Image for Alexis-Morgan Roark.
Author 3 books455 followers
November 28, 2011
So...he had sex but hadn't had an orgasm? Huh? I feel a re-read coming on. I guess he had sex but had never felt "close" to the women or something.

Whatever. I wanna call him TSTL-am quite twitching with the need to do so actually-but, I just can't. This guy was damaged and needed some serious therapy.

He was so mean, cruel even (surprise, DP hero afterall) throughout the book that I really started not even liking him.

Then the big old jerk got himself all drunk and I just melted as he succeeded in releasing the reins on his tightly held emotions and got all sappy.

I know. I am a sick, sick reader who needs a 12-Step Program. This guy just got to me when he really shouldn't have. There were some moments-few and far between to be sure-but there were some moments of blazing clarity and such depth of emotion that I was actually stunned by her overall vision and characterization of this guy.

Others, I am sure, will read it and think I've gone quite off my rocker. Perhaps, I have.

There was a bit of a c'mon, seriously moment at the end because real life doesn't give always give us such a nicely wrapped package...then I remembered that this was FICTION and gave in to the sheer beauty of that singularly DP gift of both love and redemption.
Profile Image for Chantal ❤️.
1,361 reviews912 followers
September 24, 2016
3.5 DON'T LOOK AT ME STARS

This Diana Palmer book is back in the era when women feel into two categories, slut or Virgin. There was no in between here.
The rules are simple: if you are a virgin (this tag must be on your face here I guess) than you are not to be touched unless the man was willing to marry you. However,if you slept with someone even once, than you my friend are a "total slut" and are fair game to all who would want to sleep with you.
Note here: I said HE wants to sleep with YOU. I said nothing about what you wanted.
So now you know the rules I can get down and dirty with the story.
WHICH IS TOTALLY F*CKED UP BUT I ENJOYED IT
We have the hero who is a total zero Ice man Dawson Rutherford (even his name sounds pretentious here) who feel as stepbrother to the heroine he know who and what his stepsister is.
He is your typical rich entitled asshole.
He is attracted to her and so her being a slut ( how he draws this conclusion is anyone's guess) he comes into her bedroom one night an rapes her (forced seduction by some).
This of course send him in a tail spin as she is a virgin and he feels like shit for defiling her. So now his step sis is of course a slut!!!
Yes now that she has been "opened for business" she is having guys two at a time, or so he thinks.
WTF, REALLY CRAZY MUCH?
So now that she is a slut why would Dawson have anything to do with her? Well the reason is simple, extreme guilt.
Now I know what you are thinking of course he "rapes" her so he feels bad...but nope that was not enough for him to contact with her and try to make amends.
He finds out by chance that five years ago she had suffered a miscarriage of his child.
Just so we are clear now the "RAPE" was not bad enough for his guilt conscience, he now has to live with the fact that she lost his baby as well. Therefore, He will stop at nothing to make it up to her. He manipulates her into going back to their family ranch with him.
HE NEEDS TO MAKE AMENDS TO HER
Now the Heroine called Berrie has been in love with Dawson since the beginning. She is sweet and kind and unlike most of DP heroines she is beautiful.
She is afraid of him and of sex and does not want to deal with her issues with intimacy or her feelings for Dawson.
This story was full of drama some including another woman but mostly it's a trill ride.
YES IT WAS CRAZY BUT I LOVED IT!
I have read it at least 5 times. It's one of my go to books when I am looking for a totally batsh*t crazy story with loads of drama and an epic grovel!!!

Enjoyable and recommend for all those who enjoy drama and/or Diana Palmer
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,714 reviews719 followers
August 24, 2020
This was exhausting, and I am not sure what to do with it.

5 star angst fest with a 3 star at most enjoyment.

The hero is mean as 99.99% of DP's heroes are, but this time DP really fleshes out his push/pull, love/hate relationship over the heroine and takes his meanness down a more realistic and more depressing path. The love/hate stems from issues with his mother, his stepmother and his father. I guess hatefulness and disinterest from one parent wasn't enough.

The heroine is a little bit more balanced as she only had to deal with her horrible mother who wanted to abort her. I guess that's why she lies back and lets his spite flow all over her and keeps on loving him. DP writes him as a tortured soul that can't seem to stop from hurting the heroine time and time again and that's what was so exhausting for me as a reader. Geez, give her a break.

StMargarets has the most comprehensive review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The couple are in love, but seem to be trapped by it, and I fear that HEA may not last.
Profile Image for Cheesecake.
2,800 reviews509 followers
May 27, 2020
I revisited this one and had to wonder why i'd given it too generous stars the first time...
.............

Dawson and Barrie. Wow, that was just about the strangest DP book I've read yet. Down right bizarre!
Dawson learns that Barrie had a miscarriage of their child 5 years earlier. A child he didn't know about, from an evening where he practically raped her. He decides to go to her and come hell of high water, bring her home to stay... at least that is what he says in the prologue.
Dawson and Barrie's father and mother married when Dawson and Barrie were young. It was not a happy marriage, and it's flaws partially led to the messed up present that is Dawson's existence. He spends the entire time that he knows Barrie, blaming her for the sins of her mother (and his mother too for that matter). Seriously, this guy needs psychiatric therapy BIG TIME! I got whip lash from the number of times he was nice to Barrie, and then turned around with an evil glare and cut her legs out from under her. Schizophrenia maybe? DP tries to give reasons throughout the book for his a-hole-ish-ness. None of it really flies. I got pretty weary by 2/3 but kept hoping for a break in the viscous loop. Sure there's the obligatory hea at the end, and it was sweet, but only at the Very VERY end. And still, I was kinda waiting for him to turn around and kick her in the teeth again. Seriously, the guy needs therapy!
So much I could say, but why bother, he's just a wack job and she's a glutton for punishment no matter how much she 'doth protest.'
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
May 31, 2013
Impotent bipolar hero with mommy issues is in love with his sweet shy stepsister but both afraid of sex and intimacy. There is too much ugly history between them the hero raped the heroine even though she doesn't see it that way, she got pregnant she lost the baby and five years later he is back to make amends.

I wasn't disappointed, it was a good read and I liked it well enough.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,947 reviews299 followers
December 6, 2021
I am accustomed to DP's fragile heroes but this beats them all.
He has a fragile ego and a fragile and complex character.
He's full of insecurities.
He's afraid of everything.
He had a traumatic past and mummy issues.
The women is his early life have been all cold bitches who used sex to manipulate men.
His mama didn't love him.
The heroine's mother was his father second wife and she humiliated him using sex.
Awful.
He grew up twisted.
The heroine loved him from afar, and he rejected her constantly.
Then when she was 21, he seduced her, no, basically raped her thinking she was experienced.
Of course slut shaming followed, and the heroine was traumatized as hell.
She also got pregnant and lost her child, adding trauma to trauma.
The hero found out only 5 years later and is shattered with guilt, both for the rape and for the child.
He tries to presuade her to go back to their house.
I didn't really understand how he thought he would make up to her, since he needed help- professional help- himself.
He's torn between his feelings for her, feelings he doesn't want because he thinks he might become a slave to a woman as his father was.
The man is a basket case.
He is not even able to understand that the heroine is just not the kind of woman who would use a man like that since she loved him for years.
The man, after raping the heroine has become impotent, so it's been 5 years since his lil piece hasn't come to life.
Of course a couple of kisses from the heroine and lil boy is back again, triumphant with life and force...
The path to the end is filled with obstacles and misunderstandings, there's sex and another pregnancy, and we find out that the hero had only partial sex in his life with other woman and could only have orgasms with the heroine.
Now my twisted and kinky mind is imagining things.
How did the hero have sex with other women before the heroine?
Did he only had heavy petting sessions?
Or maybe he also had penetration but without an outcome for him?
It was really kinky and embarassing, both for me and for the very much naive heroine.
In the end everything is ok, with twins and happy marriage and all that goes.
The hero was utterly cruel to the heroine when they were stepsiblings, but I understood that he really had major issues in his big and empty head.
The heroine has no pride, as DP's heroines usual do.
But it was interesting and hilarious for the impotence issue (not that impotence is hilarious, it's the way DP deals with it that makes it hilarious, and DP's readers know what I mean...).


Profile Image for Debbie "Buried in Her TBR Pile".
1,902 reviews297 followers
August 24, 2020
Yes - the H is a jerk and hurts the h - but a huge mass of insecurities from his childhood. Usually DP's heroes can be jerks over things from the past that I want to say - pull up your big-boy pants and grow up. But this H, gotta say Wow - I could kind of see why he is the way he is - events witnessed and experienced formed warped views of women and relationships with them (this is DP and Harlequin, so a little OTT and dramatic - but if you read them, you should know what to expect and judge it for what it is.) I read all the spoilers going into this one so I was in it for entertainment and analyzing/judging H's actions/reactions from the beginning. Don't know what my reaction would have been going in blind. 3 stars.
Profile Image for Fiona Marsden.
Author 37 books148 followers
July 5, 2014
This my first Diana Palmer book. I can't believe I never read her before. This has all my crazy feels. Virgins, abstinent men because reasons, tortured hero (see previous comment). This is my idea of a reunion romance. All the hurt and the angst but also all of the love.

Barrie and Dawson are step-siblings. They pretty much combusted when they first met and she was sixteen and he was a few years older. I never quite figured out exactly. She fell in love and he fell in fear. Cos of "reasons" which are gradually exposed over the course of the story.

Then five years ago things went totally belly up in the aftermath of them giving into the attraction. So for five years they've been avoiding each other and hating on each other. Each believing totally the wrong thing about each other.

Then he finds out something that makes his guilt even more devastating and he resolves to do something about it.

I loved this book. He was so broken and he'd broken her but the love was so strong. I think that's what gets you through the whole crazy messed up shemozzle. Because we know, deep down, the love is there and it's going to be worth it. It made me all emotional.
Profile Image for Aou .
2,042 reviews215 followers
August 25, 2019
She was pregnant, and he'd left her in Sheridan on their wedding day out of nothing more than cold fear because he... because he...
He opened his eyes and took a slow, painful breath. Because he loved her.


It should be the most ridiculously OTT reason of hurting anyone. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to this illogical, dumbass, cruel and jerk heroes. 🙄
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Veronica WordsAreMyDrinkOfChoice.
493 reviews107 followers
May 15, 2020
Hero was an ass, he had excuses but not good enough,'if you keep telling a woman you don't love her and she is worthless it becomes true, in my eyes he never redeemed himself, and she gave in too easily!
Profile Image for Kay.
1,934 reviews124 followers
February 24, 2012
4 Stars! ~ For the past five years, Dawson Rutherford had let his stepsister continue to avoid him. He’d hurt her terribly and hated himself for it. For years he had thought she was just like her mother, teasing and taunting men to get what she wanted. One night of passion, to his shock, he discovered that Barrie had always been innocent, when he had lost control and taken her virginity and he’d hurt her physically and emotionally. Afraid of his own passion for Barrie, he’d treated her coldly as if she deserved his hate. That night had left such bitter scars on Barrie, not only had he taken her forcefully, he’d shattered her heart. Just the thought of any man touching her was enough to make her nauseous. Now Dawson learnt another bitter truth, that their night of passion had had consequences, and that Barrie had miscarried his child without ever having told him she’d ever been pregnant. She’d born it all alone. Somehow, he had to get her back to the family ranch and make it all up to her. Because he too carried deep scars from that night when he’d lost total control and only Barrie would be able to make him whole again.

Well! This story held a few surprises. After reading “Maggie’s Dad” I was intrigued by Antonia’s best friend Barrie and her strained relationship with her stepbrother Dawson, so I sought this one out. At first I was sure I wasn’t going to enjoy this story. Dawson’s treatment of Barrie was so emotionally brutal, I didn’t think he could be redeemed. But slowly as Barrie begins to realize that Dawson hates himself and not her, we see the why. Barrie at first seemed like that deer with the big eyes in the headlights, so shocked and afraid, both of Dawson’s physical side and for the love she can’t stop feeling for him. There are a few very touching scenes where Dawson’s guard is down and Barrie sees completely into the heart of the man she’s always loved. And with her new knowledge, she’s no longer that frightened deer, she becomes a woman willing to fight for the man she loves. After my shaky feelings at the beginning of the story, I’m very pleased that Ms Palmer was able to make this all work out. Though this intensely emotional love story has some very dark moments, the journey to healing and the HEA is a very satisfying one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kace | The Booknerd .
1,437 reviews70 followers
February 20, 2021
What a roller coaster ride of emotions! And while I never in a million years would have put up with Dawson's behavior, I felt he was redeemed somehow via his backstory. Overall, it was a heartbreakingly sweet and enjoyable read.
Profile Image for Bee Mills.
Author 2 books27 followers
January 18, 2019
This H was clearly driven mad by all the semen backing up into his brain since according to him he'd never actually had an orgasm before he slept with the heroine. Basically, he'd been practicing orgasm denial throughout his (apparently quite active) sex life for literally years. Combine that with his experience with his awful mother and the h's horrible, sexually manipulative cow of a mother, I can completely understand why he acted like such a complete titweasel.

You'll note that his behaviour improved enormously once he had a couple of decent orgasms under his belt.
Profile Image for Tanna .
6 reviews
January 21, 2018
I gave it four stars because it was decent writing but I really wasn't into this book. Strange concept for a romance novel. A man who is not into having sex, has major sexual issues and gets insanely angry after having sex? Weird for this genre. I'm still shaking my head.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Zubee.
668 reviews32 followers
October 28, 2019
What can I say? Its only DP who can get away with these plot lines ...
And she is one of the pioneers of the stepbrother romance ... lol ...
P.S. I have read this one countless times and is one of my favorites ...
Profile Image for Janie.
315 reviews29 followers
July 15, 2015
I feel a headache come on everytime I think about Dawson. I think he might be an even bigger d*** than JB Hammock from Heartbreaker! Keep in mind that JB was a JERK, maybe even along the lines of Tate Winthrop from Paper Rose. Diana Palmer wasn't kidding when she titled this book Man of Ice. description

Like all DP books I love, this made me bawl my eyes out for our sweet, virginal heroine.
description

Weird how I still love to reread this book though (at least once a month!), which I first discovered when I was 14 (6 years ago!) and I was even more delighted when I found out that there was a manga version of it! description

I've always found it odd how Dawson claims throughout the story that he's never had proper sex with a woman.. Umm what?
description
Yeah, I don't buy it Dawson. Still you're one of my favourite arsehat heroes! Mind you many of DP's books are based on arse heroes who end up grovelling at the end. I love it!!!! I love it!!!!
description
Profile Image for Jonel.
1,717 reviews311 followers
December 7, 2013
Palmer returns to the scene and makes us fall in love with Wyoming all over again with this heartbreakingly heart-warming tale. She uses exquisitely vivid descriptions that you can’t help but picture. I can barely express how fully she drew me into this tale. The narrator really enhanced the story with his varying pace, tone, and emotion.

You get to know the main characters of this tale in intimate detail. Their past, present, and futures all make their way into this tale. I felt for these characters. My heart broke for both of the main characters in this heart-warming yet shocking tale. The supporting cast, although small, was perfect for this tale. They round out the story nicely, walking the line between family and employee.

I was emotionally invested in this story. I didn’t want it to end but at the same time I wanted to know how it turned out. It was a brilliant tale that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
Profile Image for Cenna Lipscomb.
89 reviews
October 31, 2013
I think the male character in this story needed some serious counseling. I can't see any man going 5 years without finding out why he is impotent. Of course he was carrying around some major guilt, as well he should after forcing his step sister to have sex with him and just leaving her the way he did, blaming her for everything. Unfortunately the female mother roles he was exposed to had already warped his perception of women. As for our heroine, what a doormat. How could she possibly be in love with someone who treated her so callously, no regards to her feelings, and his constant accusations about her sexual life when he knows nothing for sure. This was one messed up pair that needed to be on the psychologists couch.
Profile Image for shms.
1,414 reviews
September 15, 2013
The H was seriously twisted, his behavior was enough to give anyone whiplash and it kinda reminded me of friend's psycho husband. DP really pulled it out of the bag and saved this for me. It takes some doing walking that fine line between crazy and sane.

I like how the h seemed really mature about her insight into H's behaviour, none of that flouncy contradictory behaviour we get from h's. Mind you that could be becuase, in this case, the H behaved like that.
60 reviews2 followers
November 4, 2017
Train wreck abuser

This guy is going to kill her someday. He needs years of therapy to recover from his horrific childhood. She’s got rape is romance syndrome.
Profile Image for SassyLeg.
547 reviews
August 20, 2019
3.5 stars
I have conflicting feelings on this novel. H has serious mental issues due to deep emotional scars: they explain his attitude and behavior but cannot excuse him to be a rapist....
I repeat myself this is just a novel and the author is DP (one of my favorite) - but this time this is really hard....
673 reviews9 followers
July 19, 2014
Sometimes you feel so strongly about a book, simply rating it just won't do.

This is one of those books. I can't describe how much I hated it.

To preface, I know that romance novels aren't the place to go for strong, self-sufficient heroines or sensitive, type B guys. But Man of Ice offended me on multiple levels and I wanted to get it out there for other readers.

First, let's get this out in the open. The hero raped the heroine. You can couch it in "I wanted you so badly I couldn't stop" as much as you want, but when a woman (a virgin at that) is crying, scared, clearly in pain, and telling you to stop, and you don't, that's not romantic, that's rape. Period.

Second, the main characters are pathetic and moronic on multiple levels. The "hero," in addition to being a rapist, is an emotional fuckup, constantly and cruelly taunting the woman he purports to be crazy about, all because one time he saw his stepmother look sexy to "lure" his father. Yep. That's the entirety of his emotional hangup. Oh, and for 11 years, he assumed that because Barrie's mother was an evil, seductive, gold-digging shrew (see the paragraph on misogyny below), that Barrie must be, too. This is presented as a completely understandable and forgivable mistake to make. Because all us ladies (especially related ladies) are the same.

The heroine is pretty much the definition to TSTL. A 26 year old woman who has had sex (well, OK, was raped) and she doesn't know what impotence is? She's a doormat, of course, but perhaps that shouldn't be surprising given the decade of emotional abuse the hero put her through. And apparently pregnancy (because his manly super-sperm got her pregnant both of the first two times they sexed) is something akin to stage 4 cancer, in which wearing a lacy bra when you're two weeks pregnant is "scandalous" and a woman vows to stay in bed the entire nine months to prevent a miscarriage. Lady, if something is wrong with your pregnancy, your body is going to end it, and no amount of bedrest is going to prevent it. But again, she's an idiot.

There's also an undercurrent of misogyny throughout the entire book that's troubling. Aside from the submissive, innocent heroine, all the women are total assholes. Both characters' mothers (both dead) told them that they didn't want them, would have had abortions had they been legal, blahblahblah. All the women around the main characters' age serve no other purpose than to flirt vapidly with the hero because, you know, that's the only reason why us ladies talk to men. Additionally, there's a plot hole in which, early in the story, both characters acknowledge that their parents married one another for love, but later, Barrie's mother becomes this seductress who only married Dawson's father for his money.

A shitshow of a book. Avoid at all costs.
Profile Image for Aarann.
988 reviews82 followers
June 15, 2015
Since I recently did a review of the WTF-tastic "Maggie's Dad" which featured these two main characters as supporting cast, I got a jones to re-read this one. Anyone who is familiar with my reviews knows that I have this weird love-to-hateread thing when it comes to Diana Palmer, particularly the stuff she wrote in the 80s and 90s. Like, I'll be reading it and thinking, "This is truly awful," and yet, I just can't stop myself from coming back to her. I'm pretty sure there's a crack comparison in there somewhere. I know her books must rot my brain.

This was actually my first Diana Palmer. Actually, I'm pretty sure this was one of my very first romance novels ever back when I was a teenager, and launched my then-obsession, back before she was a love-to-hateread author and was just plain a favorite of mine. "Man of Ice" is a step-brother book, written long before step-brother kinks were "in". Barrie Bell (how great is that name, BTW?) was the light-hearted-date-happy best friend of Antonia Long in "Maggie's Dad". Dawson Rutherford is Barrie's (now former) step-brother, and also her first lover way back when. Due to some WTF-ery that only Palmer can pull off, Dawson was pretty brutal with Barrie way back when and caused some heartache that for years, only Barrie knew about. Fast-forward to present day when Dawson finds out that Barrie had gotten pregnant from their long-ago encounter, only to miscarry the baby (that's not a spoiler -- we find out what happened in the first couple of chapters). Broken-hearted by finding out he would have been a father, Dawson decides to make his asshat behavior up to Barrie by inviting her home to play chaperone with a man-hungry widow... and in doing so continues to behave like an asshat.

The book features several of Palmer's most common tropes, but I'm not going to list them here because they'd be spoiler-y. However, if you've ever read more than one Diana Palmer novel, you likely know what they are. It also features a pretty epic drunk dial at the end, the best OTT reaction ever to finding out your woman is planning on leaving you, and the usual slightly awkward dialogue and antiquated morals.

Oh Diana Palmer. I love to hate you. Or hate to love you. Something. Either way, this book is... Awesomely Palmer. I have had the opportunity to give it away several times when I have done book purges (most of which included disgusted purges of Palmer's books) and yet, no. This, like "Maggie's Dad," is a treasure of Holy-Shit-WTF-ery (although nothing tops "Maggie's Dad" in Holy-Shit-WTF-ery for me) and you will likely pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
Profile Image for Lelyana's Reviews.
3,412 reviews400 followers
August 5, 2011
Membaca buku ini , seperti naik roller coaster...emosi tokohnya naik turun secara sangat cepat , menandakan orang2 yang tidak stabil secara emosional.

Tokoh utama impoten dan tokoh wanita frigid, kecuali reaksi antara satu sama lain.
Bersaudara tiri akibat perkawinan, Berrie naksir berat sama Dawson (tokoh utama yg so pasti keren abis tampangnya) ,saat liburan di Riviera, mereka had sex, dan Berrie di tinggalkan Dawson, humiliated !
Hamil dan keguguran akibat peristiwa itu, Berrie justru menghilang dan tidak memberitahukan Dawson.

Lima tahun berlalu dan di lalui dengan sakit hati dan trauma, Dawson meminta Berrie (yang langung kena osteoporosis dg rayuan Dawson) untuk membantu nya berpura2 jadi tunangan nya demi mencapai tujuannya membeli tanah peternakan tetangga sebelah yg naksir berat.
Dia butuh Berrie cuma demi harga diri nya sbg laki2 yg tdk mau jatuh kalo ketauan dia impoten jika sampai tergoda dg si janda cantik pemilik tanah itu.
Bajingan banget kan alasannya?

Emosi Berrie dan Dawson yang naik turun terlalu mendominasi buku ini,membuat lelah membaca nya (padahal buku ini tipis banget)

Walaupun akhirnya (spt romance pada umumnya) berakhir hapy, kedua tokoh nya lumayan membuat diriku mual .....

Not recommended !
Profile Image for amanda s..
3,115 reviews95 followers
February 25, 2014
I liked it.

Even though the story's full of push and pull and misunderstanding that somehow very ridiculous, I still loved it. Mostly because the story's very typical of Diana Palmer and I gotten used with its pace. I'm comfortable.

I was expecting more angst from heroine's side but this one's do. Could be a little bit better though. But overall, my favorite. I enjoyed it, I wish there's more from Diana Palmer. Can't wait to read the next book! :)
Profile Image for Paolita Arce.
462 reviews3 followers
June 23, 2021
No tengo mucho que decir sobre este libro, salvo que me pareció enfermo. Osea el tipo prácticamente la violo, pero ella está perdidamente enamorada de él. No te pases, Barrie. El tipo es un tarado! Y encima, además de haber hecho eso, te trata mal, te dice cosas horribles, y te mira con odio. Pero tú entiendes todo eso? No, hermana, nada de lo que le haya pasado al tipo ese, le da derecho a portarse así. No me gustó para nada.
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