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The Heat Is On
Lorel felt a shiver of alarm
It ran like ice-cold water down her spine. A man, a blue-eyed stranger, had stormed into the room in the middle of her party and switched off the music, and now he furiously confronted Lorel.
She stared at him, fighting back her instant rise of panic, slamming shut a door in her mind. While something in her found every line of his chiseled face, every ounce of his masculine arrogance, very familiar, she couldn't place him, didn't want to place him.
But the stranger, screenwriter Steve Kennedy, took great pleasure in placing her....
It ran like ice-cold water down her spine. A man, a blue-eyed stranger, had stormed into the room in the middle of her party and switched off the music, and now he furiously confronted Lorel.
She stared at him, fighting back her instant rise of panic, slamming shut a door in her mind. While something in her found every line of his chiseled face, every ounce of his masculine arrogance, very familiar, she couldn't place him, didn't want to place him.
But the stranger, screenwriter Steve Kennedy, took great pleasure in placing her....
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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January 11, 2017
Re The Heat is On - SH read waaaaay to many of her mum's books growing up, because her H's are even more whacked/obsessive/jealous/stalkery than early Charlotte Lamb's, and there is no doubt they are cheaters extraordinaire. Warning for further reading - this book is distinctly not PC and practically a time machine to the caveman decade of Seventies HPlandia.
So this one starts with our 24 yr old h having a party in her flat. She is an actress and there is a particular part she dying to get, she has an audition lined up. One of her party gigs is to re-enact a tabletop dance scene from Cabaret. The h is in the middle of this when suddenly the music stops and there is a very angry man standing in front of her. It is her upstairs neighbor and apparently he did not get or did not accept a party invitation. He also seems to know the h, but she would swear she has never seen him before in her life.
The man apparently wants to dispute that, and it is pretty obvious he REALLY doesn't like her. They get into a verbal spat and during the course of it, the h claims she has the lead role in the movie she is auditioning for the next day. The guy seems to be taken aback by that and after a few more threats, he storms out. So the h goes to her audition, very hopeful and sorta nervous, plus the party stopper guy made her extremely anxious for some reason, almost like he is threatening to her, but she can't figure out why.
She goes to audition and the director is there and so is Mr. Party Crasher - it turns out he is the scriptwriter for the epic film and so he knew she lied when she claimed to have the part. She does some readings and the director wants to screen test her. Mr. Party Crasher gets her off alone and we find out that there is actually a real history between them, which the h made herself forget.
The backstory is that when the h was 18 she was either courted by or just had a huge crush on a man who married her sister. (We don't get the explanation behind that, so I don't know if the h got dumped for the sister or was just an infatuated 18 yr old.) At the wedding, the h ran off into the garden and the sister's new hubby followed her. The h wanted him to leave her alone cause she was so hurt in her rejected love. She winds up giving a chaste kiss to the groom, but he was drunk and turned it into a full-on snog. Which was witnessed by Mr. Party Crasher, who was enjoying an evening cheroot in the garden.
When the h tries to get away from Mr. Party Crasher and big sis's husband conveniently vanishes, Mr. PC turns into Mr. Assault and Gropey Hands in the Garden. He tells the h she has to cooperate in the assault or he will tell her dad that she is messing about with her sister's new hubby. The h fights him off, eventually after gropey times, and goes back inside and proceeds to get completely plastered. Mr. PC Gropey Hands catches her drunk little self when she is about to keel over and takes her to his room in the hotel above.
The last thing the h remembers is being naked on his bed and getting kissed by him. She woke up hours later, was completely shocked at her state of undress and assumed that the loss of virginity had occurred as MR. PC Assault Guy was sleeping right next to her. So she snuck out and stumbled home. She managed to block the experience out completely, but hasn't gone out with a man since. Mainly cause she is afraid she is a seekrit nympho and will start sleeping with anybody. She has a tremendous sense of shame about the whole thing and Mr. PC Assault called her a sad one night stand when he was reminding her of the experience in the present.
The h gets the part, Mr. PC Assault does some more punishing kisses, verbal battering and gropey hands moments. Then the h has to get ready to go to the film set in Egypt. But her sister has to into hospital with appendicitis and her teen-crush-no-longer brother in law can't cope with the kids on his own. The h has to go down to their country home and take charge, the BIL doesn't seem to care that the h has a major movie role and a contract to fulfill.
The h decides to give up the movie role and do the family duty thing. She is no longer in love or infatuated with the BIL and has not been since the wedding. Having a one night fling will do that to you I guess.
Anyhows, Mr. PC Assault shows up, accuses the h of still having an affair with her BIL and after a few punishing kisses and handsy groping, tells the h she still has a part. The crew will film around her scenes and she is to hie herself to Egypt as soon as her sister is better. The h does domestic engineering and visits her in hospital sister and Mr. PC Assault visits regularly for more punishing gropey kissings after verbal accusations. The h is falling for Mr. PC cause lurve is pain and this h wants to wallow in it.
The h finally makes it to Egypt and the first thing she sees is Mr. PC Assault (who was supposed to meet her at the airport and did no,t) with another woman who is all over his Assaulter self like flies on sticky tape. The h is furious and jealous and hurt, cause Mr. PC was also seen with this same lady in London, right after his hit and run gropey assault on the h.
They get right into filming - an English lady captured by a Desert Sheikh film- and the H does the stand in for the male lead during the h's big abduction scene. After which we get yet ANOTHER gropey assault on the desert sands with the h half undressed. (Apparently the club of lurve is not holstered during this moment, tho that will not be made apparent until a few chapters later.) The h and H have a bickerfest with verbal cudgels and then PC Assault wanders off with his OW.
That night, the h is woken from her sound sleep by the sounds of a big argument in the room next door. She stumbles to the balcony and sees PC Assault and the OW all cozied up with wet hair and toweling robes and arguing about the OW's hubby. Who then makes his big appearance and is threatening divorce. The OW's hubby is also the producer for the h's big film and the h is petrified cause it is REALLY obvious that PC Assault and OW are caught in flagrante delicito. The h can't move away tho, she is too hurt that PC Assault was only groping her to hide his big romance with the producer's wife.
There is ugly words and arguing and the h is caught eavesdropping by PC Assault. He bullies her into agreeing that he is NOT having an affair with the OW (tho he clearly is,) and threatens the h with dire retribution if she doesn't avow his innocence.
Then PC Assault goes on to explain that he never actually inserted body parts into her drunken 18 yr old self, cause she was drunk and he fell in love. She is angry that he couldn't tell her that sooner, cause she spent years hating herself. PC Assault says he spent years stalking her and being in love with her and she could have at least looked him up and worshiped at his feet for a bit before his affair with his mistress took him out for a while. But the h denied even knowing him and so he had to be very assaulting and mean and verbally abusive to help stem the fury of his unrequited ego er, love. But the h should really quit being hard on herself and just love him cause everyone at 18 gets drunk and idiotic.
The h is overjoyed he loves her, cause she is feeling the love by the way he pulls her hair and so after big "I love u's" they start arguing about the wedding and celebrate the moment of engagement with the now reunited OW and her hubby next door for the HEA.
I have no words. (I may have scrambled some of the h and H big reveal moments cause the plot points on this were all over. I had to read it twice, but all the Captain I had to drink was not really helping with continuity very much, tho the gist of the story is there.)
If you like OTT Dramarama reeaally old skool style, grab this book, cause it was a trainwreck avalance wrapped in a tsunami trip to HPlandia. (To be fair, it really is tons better than SH's earlier books - except for The Devil's Mistress, but I think CL may have helped on that one.)
So this one starts with our 24 yr old h having a party in her flat. She is an actress and there is a particular part she dying to get, she has an audition lined up. One of her party gigs is to re-enact a tabletop dance scene from Cabaret. The h is in the middle of this when suddenly the music stops and there is a very angry man standing in front of her. It is her upstairs neighbor and apparently he did not get or did not accept a party invitation. He also seems to know the h, but she would swear she has never seen him before in her life.
The man apparently wants to dispute that, and it is pretty obvious he REALLY doesn't like her. They get into a verbal spat and during the course of it, the h claims she has the lead role in the movie she is auditioning for the next day. The guy seems to be taken aback by that and after a few more threats, he storms out. So the h goes to her audition, very hopeful and sorta nervous, plus the party stopper guy made her extremely anxious for some reason, almost like he is threatening to her, but she can't figure out why.
She goes to audition and the director is there and so is Mr. Party Crasher - it turns out he is the scriptwriter for the epic film and so he knew she lied when she claimed to have the part. She does some readings and the director wants to screen test her. Mr. Party Crasher gets her off alone and we find out that there is actually a real history between them, which the h made herself forget.
The backstory is that when the h was 18 she was either courted by or just had a huge crush on a man who married her sister. (We don't get the explanation behind that, so I don't know if the h got dumped for the sister or was just an infatuated 18 yr old.) At the wedding, the h ran off into the garden and the sister's new hubby followed her. The h wanted him to leave her alone cause she was so hurt in her rejected love. She winds up giving a chaste kiss to the groom, but he was drunk and turned it into a full-on snog. Which was witnessed by Mr. Party Crasher, who was enjoying an evening cheroot in the garden.
When the h tries to get away from Mr. Party Crasher and big sis's husband conveniently vanishes, Mr. PC turns into Mr. Assault and Gropey Hands in the Garden. He tells the h she has to cooperate in the assault or he will tell her dad that she is messing about with her sister's new hubby. The h fights him off, eventually after gropey times, and goes back inside and proceeds to get completely plastered. Mr. PC Gropey Hands catches her drunk little self when she is about to keel over and takes her to his room in the hotel above.
The last thing the h remembers is being naked on his bed and getting kissed by him. She woke up hours later, was completely shocked at her state of undress and assumed that the loss of virginity had occurred as MR. PC Assault Guy was sleeping right next to her. So she snuck out and stumbled home. She managed to block the experience out completely, but hasn't gone out with a man since. Mainly cause she is afraid she is a seekrit nympho and will start sleeping with anybody. She has a tremendous sense of shame about the whole thing and Mr. PC Assault called her a sad one night stand when he was reminding her of the experience in the present.
The h gets the part, Mr. PC Assault does some more punishing kisses, verbal battering and gropey hands moments. Then the h has to get ready to go to the film set in Egypt. But her sister has to into hospital with appendicitis and her teen-crush-no-longer brother in law can't cope with the kids on his own. The h has to go down to their country home and take charge, the BIL doesn't seem to care that the h has a major movie role and a contract to fulfill.
The h decides to give up the movie role and do the family duty thing. She is no longer in love or infatuated with the BIL and has not been since the wedding. Having a one night fling will do that to you I guess.
Anyhows, Mr. PC Assault shows up, accuses the h of still having an affair with her BIL and after a few punishing kisses and handsy groping, tells the h she still has a part. The crew will film around her scenes and she is to hie herself to Egypt as soon as her sister is better. The h does domestic engineering and visits her in hospital sister and Mr. PC Assault visits regularly for more punishing gropey kissings after verbal accusations. The h is falling for Mr. PC cause lurve is pain and this h wants to wallow in it.
The h finally makes it to Egypt and the first thing she sees is Mr. PC Assault (who was supposed to meet her at the airport and did no,t) with another woman who is all over his Assaulter self like flies on sticky tape. The h is furious and jealous and hurt, cause Mr. PC was also seen with this same lady in London, right after his hit and run gropey assault on the h.
They get right into filming - an English lady captured by a Desert Sheikh film- and the H does the stand in for the male lead during the h's big abduction scene. After which we get yet ANOTHER gropey assault on the desert sands with the h half undressed. (Apparently the club of lurve is not holstered during this moment, tho that will not be made apparent until a few chapters later.) The h and H have a bickerfest with verbal cudgels and then PC Assault wanders off with his OW.
That night, the h is woken from her sound sleep by the sounds of a big argument in the room next door. She stumbles to the balcony and sees PC Assault and the OW all cozied up with wet hair and toweling robes and arguing about the OW's hubby. Who then makes his big appearance and is threatening divorce. The OW's hubby is also the producer for the h's big film and the h is petrified cause it is REALLY obvious that PC Assault and OW are caught in flagrante delicito. The h can't move away tho, she is too hurt that PC Assault was only groping her to hide his big romance with the producer's wife.
There is ugly words and arguing and the h is caught eavesdropping by PC Assault. He bullies her into agreeing that he is NOT having an affair with the OW (tho he clearly is,) and threatens the h with dire retribution if she doesn't avow his innocence.
Then PC Assault goes on to explain that he never actually inserted body parts into her drunken 18 yr old self, cause she was drunk and he fell in love. She is angry that he couldn't tell her that sooner, cause she spent years hating herself. PC Assault says he spent years stalking her and being in love with her and she could have at least looked him up and worshiped at his feet for a bit before his affair with his mistress took him out for a while. But the h denied even knowing him and so he had to be very assaulting and mean and verbally abusive to help stem the fury of his unrequited ego er, love. But the h should really quit being hard on herself and just love him cause everyone at 18 gets drunk and idiotic.
The h is overjoyed he loves her, cause she is feeling the love by the way he pulls her hair and so after big "I love u's" they start arguing about the wedding and celebrate the moment of engagement with the now reunited OW and her hubby next door for the HEA.
I have no words. (I may have scrambled some of the h and H big reveal moments cause the plot points on this were all over. I had to read it twice, but all the Captain I had to drink was not really helping with continuity very much, tho the gist of the story is there.)
If you like OTT Dramarama reeaally old skool style, grab this book, cause it was a trainwreck avalance wrapped in a tsunami trip to HPlandia. (To be fair, it really is tons better than SH's earlier books - except for The Devil's Mistress, but I think CL may have helped on that one.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2021
Silliness - old skool style. This means endless misunderstandings:
From the first time the H/h meet:
- Heroine is kissing her sister's drunken groom (whom she has a crush on)
- Hero takes drunk heroine back to his hotel room after the reception
- Heroine thinks they had sex after she blacked out and hero lets her think that.
To the next time they meet five years later:
-Hero has rented the apartment above hers and complains about a loud party
-Heroine proclaims she is a success and has a part in a new movie
To the next day:
Hero is at heroine's audition.
I'm sure you can guess where this is going. Heroine gets the part, but has to drop out to take care of her sister's family while sis is in the hospital for appendicitis and a broken leg. Hero thinks heroine is having an affair with her brother-in-law . . . .
*Snip here for boredom in explaining it all.*
Heroine does end up in Egypt filming the movie, but an OW and her jealous husband add to the farcical plot.
In short, we are *told* of the H/h's love and passion, but we are only *shown* their immature antics. Interesting, but not at all convincing of a romance.
The best part of the story was the heroine ordering Dover sole and melon for dinner and mourning the fact that she had to continually diet. Since the author's mother is Charlotte Lamb - I found this Easter egg/meta commentary hilarious.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
From the first time the H/h meet:
- Heroine is kissing her sister's drunken groom (whom she has a crush on)
- Hero takes drunk heroine back to his hotel room after the reception
- Heroine thinks they had sex after she blacked out and hero lets her think that.
To the next time they meet five years later:
-Hero has rented the apartment above hers and complains about a loud party
-Heroine proclaims she is a success and has a part in a new movie
To the next day:
Hero is at heroine's audition.
I'm sure you can guess where this is going. Heroine gets the part, but has to drop out to take care of her sister's family while sis is in the hospital for appendicitis and a broken leg. Hero thinks heroine is having an affair with her brother-in-law . . . .
*Snip here for boredom in explaining it all.*
Heroine does end up in Egypt filming the movie, but an OW and her jealous husband add to the farcical plot.
In short, we are *told* of the H/h's love and passion, but we are only *shown* their immature antics. Interesting, but not at all convincing of a romance.
The best part of the story was the heroine ordering Dover sole and melon for dinner and mourning the fact that she had to continually diet. Since the author's mother is Charlotte Lamb - I found this Easter egg/meta commentary hilarious.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
January 2, 2018
I didn’t like the heroine I know she was 18 but she still kissed her newly married brother in law years back. As for hero I do believe he wasn’t having an affair with ow because there really was no reason for him to lie especially after he confessed his love to heroine. I also think he was an idiot who put himself in situations with ow where anyone would believe he was having an affair with her. I didn’t particularly like either MC’s hence the 2*.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2019
"The Heat Is On" is the story of Lorel and Steve.
Oh Lawd.
Well, this headache has a temperamental battle between an over-emotional heroine and an obsessed hero. We have oodles of OM/OW drama, crazy jealousy, past lies, misunderstandings, bruising kisses and a very passionate confession. In summary, two pig headed individuals, madly in love and treating each other crap instead of communicating like adults. Gah.
SWE
2/5
Oh Lawd.
Well, this headache has a temperamental battle between an over-emotional heroine and an obsessed hero. We have oodles of OM/OW drama, crazy jealousy, past lies, misunderstandings, bruising kisses and a very passionate confession. In summary, two pig headed individuals, madly in love and treating each other crap instead of communicating like adults. Gah.
SWE
2/5
January 18, 2020
Lorel felt a shiver of alarm
It ran like ice-cold water down her spine. A man, a blue-eyed stranger, had stormed into the room in the middle of her party and switched off the music, and now he furiously confronted Lorel.
She stared at him, fighting back her instant rise of panic, slamming shut a door in her mind. While something in her found every line of his chiseled face, every ounce of his masculine arrogance, very familiar, she couldn't place him, didn't want to place him.
But the stranger, screenwriter Steve Kennedy, took great pleasure in placing her
It ran like ice-cold water down her spine. A man, a blue-eyed stranger, had stormed into the room in the middle of her party and switched off the music, and now he furiously confronted Lorel.
She stared at him, fighting back her instant rise of panic, slamming shut a door in her mind. While something in her found every line of his chiseled face, every ounce of his masculine arrogance, very familiar, she couldn't place him, didn't want to place him.
But the stranger, screenwriter Steve Kennedy, took great pleasure in placing her
April 9, 2017
Lol, this book was so random. I skimmed through most of the details and focused mainly on dialogue, because, jeeeeeeeeeeez.......so much detail and so many twists and turns in the "conflict". Seems like the author had two separate stories planned, and then was like.."Nah, let's put it together in one book."
Interesting tidbits:
"He looks at himself and sees an old man."
--"A very attractive and wealhty old man."
"Lorel, her heart belongs to Daddy. She just wants a big strong Daddy to look after her."
HOLY HARLEQUIN HELL!! For a Harley from the 70s (with no sex in it!) that was awfully risque to say! Further interesting tidbits a page later:
"For a minute there I thought I'd have to put you across my knee!"
--'Excitement flashed in her eyes and she couldn't help saying softly, "Did you sir?"'
"Wow...Who does your heart belong to? Your friendly neighbourhood headmaster?"
Cue moaning kisses and hand and arm tightening.
Kinky, Ms. Holland, kinky. :D I like it. Three stars for bravery and making my "wtf" shelf because...seriously, for a vintage Harley? I still can't even....lol.
Interesting tidbits:
"He looks at himself and sees an old man."
--"A very attractive and wealhty old man."
"Lorel, her heart belongs to Daddy. She just wants a big strong Daddy to look after her."
HOLY HARLEQUIN HELL!! For a Harley from the 70s (with no sex in it!) that was awfully risque to say! Further interesting tidbits a page later:
"For a minute there I thought I'd have to put you across my knee!"
--'Excitement flashed in her eyes and she couldn't help saying softly, "Did you sir?"'
"Wow...Who does your heart belong to? Your friendly neighbourhood headmaster?"
Cue moaning kisses and hand and arm tightening.
Kinky, Ms. Holland, kinky. :D I like it. Three stars for bravery and making my "wtf" shelf because...seriously, for a vintage Harley? I still can't even....lol.
July 28, 2025
I could have really liked this, without the background of Egypt as a movie setting, but there were some things that were just too flawed.
You never get the whole story about the h and the (sort of) OM, who was also her sister's husband! You get a flashback to the wedding, where the 18-year-old h, fancying herself in love with him, runs out of the reception and into the garden in tears, which makes sense, but not the actions of her new brother-in-law, who chased after her and ends up kissing her! If he had guessed her feelings about him and felt bad, wouldn't it have made more sense to leave her alone, instead of leaving his bride's side to run after her? Didn't it occur to him that people might notice and wonder? And the fact that he took her in his arms, making her already topsy-turvy emotions more acute so that she impulsively kissed him and he responded! True, he broke away and went back inside, but what gives? Did he have feelings for her? Had they talked about this before? You never find out! You're just told the h got over her feelings and thought of him as family not long after, but I just felt there was more to it. And did her sister ever suspect anything? You're never told.
Even when the h stays with him five years later (to help care for her niece and nephew when her sister is in the hospital0 and they have scenes alone together, no reference to the past is never made.
What you do get is a ridiculous situation where the H (apparently a guest at the reception) overheard them, watches the h have too much champagne, dance and act flirty (and thought this was a good thing, even though it was the result of her feeling miserable), takes her away with him, undresses her at his place, lets her sleep it off, but not before responding to her kissing him (thinking he's the OM), then getting into bed with her and holding her naked body! Yes, naked! I could see him taking off her fancy dress to make her more comfortable, but he had to take her underwear off too????
The h wakes up before he did, hungover and horrified that she was in bed with a man she barely knew, that she lost her virginity to a stranger while drunk! It's not surprising she left ASAP and walked home before dawn, and snuck int her bedroom, while her apparently unconcerned parents were sleeping. I guess they didn't care that their teenage daughter disappeared somewhere????
WTF!!!!
The result of all this was that the h blocked out what happened in a way (refusing to remember the H), but it stayed in her subconscious and that, plus her guilt over her feelings for her sister's husband, made her leave home to attend drama school, concentrate on an acting career, and avoid men as anything more than fellow actors or friends.
And here's another flaw: early in the story, at a party she and her roommate give for their actor friends, one of the guys keeps trying to get her to change her mind about her just friends rule and start dating him, claiming he's fallen in love with her, and then that's it for him! He's no longer part of the story, so why have that whole scene with him if he was just going to disappear after that?
When the H enters the picture (first moving into the building, then crashing the party, complaining about the noise and interrupting her dance routine) her memories come back and she wants to avoid him, but since he happens to be the screenwriter of the movie that she's auditioning for a role in, that proves impossible.
And are we really supposed to believe that, after only less than two years of being out of drama school, and not having much acting experience, a major studio head is going to give her a starring role in a movie? Apparently, casting a famous face would take away from the story (never heard that one before) and she - out of the countless women who auditioned - has that certain something. (I'll bet the author watched that movie about the search for Scarlett O'Hara, when Vivien Leigh walked in and WOW, IT'S HER!!! But Vivien was already a major star!)
And aside from showing one scene in the movie, where the h is chased near the pyramids and carried off by the sheik (it's an historical movie, supposedly based on true-life memoirs), who turns out to be the H rather than the actor playing the leading man, you don't get much about the movie at all, just a lot of hype. The h has one conversation with the leading man, then he's out of the story, too. A lot of wasted potential.
As for the H, what do you think of a guy who, at age 30, takes a drunk 18-year-old girl home, undresses, kisses and gets into bed with her, knows they didn't have sex but that she may not realize that, knows where she lives and semi-stalks her, then gets angry that she didn't try to get in touch with him! WHAT???? He should have been the one to get in touch, to let her know nothing happened, instead of following her and acting more like a college guy than a grown man! And five years later (still obsessed with her), he follows her to her sister's house (she thought she had to give up her role in the movie, but they're giving her time before she meets them in Egypt) and accuses her of carrying on with her brother-in-law! What do I think of him? Not much!!
Even less, when he uses his overly friendly relationship with a former fling (the sort of OW) to get the h jealous on the movie set! (He's now 35, isn't that a bit past it for such games???) For two people who are just friends now, he and the OW do an awful lot of lip locking! Every time they're together they kiss, and then they fault her husband for getting jealous, because of course, he has no reason to be, it's just in his mind. He's a lot older than his wife and very wealthy, but of course, his money had nothing to do with why she married him, it's true love! (Yeah right, and pigs have wings and fly, like bats in the night.)
Meanwhile, the h sees him with the OW before he deliberately tried to make her jealous, and got jealous back then, and pretends she couldn't care less about him, and that she plans to use his relationship with the OW and sell it to the tabloids for major $$$! Why do so many h's try to get back at the H by making themselves sound like gold-diggers? It never made sense to me.
It's ironic: he caught her giving an innocent kiss to her brother-in-law, she caught him giving an innocent (???) kiss to his friend, and they both gave each other the famous excuse: "That was different."
So was this book, and not in a good way!
I didn't like the H (especially when he kept acting like the h owed him something because he'd been obsessed with her for five years) and the h got on my nerves too. I didn't see them as a HEA couple.
BTW: I'll bet the author thought her readers would be too dumb to catch the reference to Kate Bush and then have the h and her roommate watching "Wuthering Heights" on TV. Or have it mentioned that the author of the memoir that the movie was based on wrote her book in 1922, and have the h stay in room 1922 at the hotel.
How "cute"!
Skip this one, I should have been so smart.
You never get the whole story about the h and the (sort of) OM, who was also her sister's husband! You get a flashback to the wedding, where the 18-year-old h, fancying herself in love with him, runs out of the reception and into the garden in tears, which makes sense, but not the actions of her new brother-in-law, who chased after her and ends up kissing her! If he had guessed her feelings about him and felt bad, wouldn't it have made more sense to leave her alone, instead of leaving his bride's side to run after her? Didn't it occur to him that people might notice and wonder? And the fact that he took her in his arms, making her already topsy-turvy emotions more acute so that she impulsively kissed him and he responded! True, he broke away and went back inside, but what gives? Did he have feelings for her? Had they talked about this before? You never find out! You're just told the h got over her feelings and thought of him as family not long after, but I just felt there was more to it. And did her sister ever suspect anything? You're never told.
Even when the h stays with him five years later (to help care for her niece and nephew when her sister is in the hospital0 and they have scenes alone together, no reference to the past is never made.
What you do get is a ridiculous situation where the H (apparently a guest at the reception) overheard them, watches the h have too much champagne, dance and act flirty (and thought this was a good thing, even though it was the result of her feeling miserable), takes her away with him, undresses her at his place, lets her sleep it off, but not before responding to her kissing him (thinking he's the OM), then getting into bed with her and holding her naked body! Yes, naked! I could see him taking off her fancy dress to make her more comfortable, but he had to take her underwear off too????
The h wakes up before he did, hungover and horrified that she was in bed with a man she barely knew, that she lost her virginity to a stranger while drunk! It's not surprising she left ASAP and walked home before dawn, and snuck int her bedroom, while her apparently unconcerned parents were sleeping. I guess they didn't care that their teenage daughter disappeared somewhere????
WTF!!!!
The result of all this was that the h blocked out what happened in a way (refusing to remember the H), but it stayed in her subconscious and that, plus her guilt over her feelings for her sister's husband, made her leave home to attend drama school, concentrate on an acting career, and avoid men as anything more than fellow actors or friends.
And here's another flaw: early in the story, at a party she and her roommate give for their actor friends, one of the guys keeps trying to get her to change her mind about her just friends rule and start dating him, claiming he's fallen in love with her, and then that's it for him! He's no longer part of the story, so why have that whole scene with him if he was just going to disappear after that?
When the H enters the picture (first moving into the building, then crashing the party, complaining about the noise and interrupting her dance routine) her memories come back and she wants to avoid him, but since he happens to be the screenwriter of the movie that she's auditioning for a role in, that proves impossible.
And are we really supposed to believe that, after only less than two years of being out of drama school, and not having much acting experience, a major studio head is going to give her a starring role in a movie? Apparently, casting a famous face would take away from the story (never heard that one before) and she - out of the countless women who auditioned - has that certain something. (I'll bet the author watched that movie about the search for Scarlett O'Hara, when Vivien Leigh walked in and WOW, IT'S HER!!! But Vivien was already a major star!)
And aside from showing one scene in the movie, where the h is chased near the pyramids and carried off by the sheik (it's an historical movie, supposedly based on true-life memoirs), who turns out to be the H rather than the actor playing the leading man, you don't get much about the movie at all, just a lot of hype. The h has one conversation with the leading man, then he's out of the story, too. A lot of wasted potential.
As for the H, what do you think of a guy who, at age 30, takes a drunk 18-year-old girl home, undresses, kisses and gets into bed with her, knows they didn't have sex but that she may not realize that, knows where she lives and semi-stalks her, then gets angry that she didn't try to get in touch with him! WHAT???? He should have been the one to get in touch, to let her know nothing happened, instead of following her and acting more like a college guy than a grown man! And five years later (still obsessed with her), he follows her to her sister's house (she thought she had to give up her role in the movie, but they're giving her time before she meets them in Egypt) and accuses her of carrying on with her brother-in-law! What do I think of him? Not much!!
Even less, when he uses his overly friendly relationship with a former fling (the sort of OW) to get the h jealous on the movie set! (He's now 35, isn't that a bit past it for such games???) For two people who are just friends now, he and the OW do an awful lot of lip locking! Every time they're together they kiss, and then they fault her husband for getting jealous, because of course, he has no reason to be, it's just in his mind. He's a lot older than his wife and very wealthy, but of course, his money had nothing to do with why she married him, it's true love! (Yeah right, and pigs have wings and fly, like bats in the night.)
Meanwhile, the h sees him with the OW before he deliberately tried to make her jealous, and got jealous back then, and pretends she couldn't care less about him, and that she plans to use his relationship with the OW and sell it to the tabloids for major $$$! Why do so many h's try to get back at the H by making themselves sound like gold-diggers? It never made sense to me.
It's ironic: he caught her giving an innocent kiss to her brother-in-law, she caught him giving an innocent (???) kiss to his friend, and they both gave each other the famous excuse: "That was different."
So was this book, and not in a good way!
I didn't like the H (especially when he kept acting like the h owed him something because he'd been obsessed with her for five years) and the h got on my nerves too. I didn't see them as a HEA couple.
BTW: I'll bet the author thought her readers would be too dumb to catch the reference to Kate Bush and then have the h and her roommate watching "Wuthering Heights" on TV. Or have it mentioned that the author of the memoir that the movie was based on wrote her book in 1922, and have the h stay in room 1922 at the hotel.
How "cute"!
Skip this one, I should have been so smart.
February 4, 2021
I don’t believe there’s nothing between the H and the OW. The h sees the H give the OW kisses on her mouth every time she sees them together. He explains it by saying that he and the OW are good (platonic) friends since a long time.
I may be old-fashioned, but I kiss my friends on the cheek. I wouldn’t give my female friends a kiss on the mouth, so why would I do that with my male friends.
The OW is married to a friend of his. Why would you even do that to a friend to kiss his wife on her mouth.
And the h is a strange bird too. She was in love with her sister’s husband when she was 18. On the wedding day of her sister and that guy, she kisses the guy.
5 years later, when her sister breaks her leg and is in the hospital, she helps her brother-in-law by cooking and taking care of the children of him and her sister. If you have a love and kissing history with your sister’s husband, even if that’s a few years ago, why walk around him in your night gown at morning breakfast. Why not wear something decent.
Both the H and the h are not really people you would want near your husband or wife.
I may be old-fashioned, but I kiss my friends on the cheek. I wouldn’t give my female friends a kiss on the mouth, so why would I do that with my male friends.
The OW is married to a friend of his. Why would you even do that to a friend to kiss his wife on her mouth.
And the h is a strange bird too. She was in love with her sister’s husband when she was 18. On the wedding day of her sister and that guy, she kisses the guy.
5 years later, when her sister breaks her leg and is in the hospital, she helps her brother-in-law by cooking and taking care of the children of him and her sister. If you have a love and kissing history with your sister’s husband, even if that’s a few years ago, why walk around him in your night gown at morning breakfast. Why not wear something decent.
Both the H and the h are not really people you would want near your husband or wife.
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