Shades Of Autumn

by Margaret Mayo

When she first went to work as secretary to Brad Stuart, Laura thought he was the most difficult and unreasonable man she had ever met. By the time she had come to understand him better, she had fallen hopelessly in love with him.

Then yet another disagreement threatened their relationship. Laura wondered if there would ever be any future in it.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

188 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1976

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

For Children's writer see Margaret Mayo

Jessica R. Mayo was born on February 7, 1936 in Staffordshire, England, and has remained within the county all of her life. It was never her ambition to become a writer, although she always loved reading, even to the extent of reading comics out loud to her twin brother when she was eight years old. In fact her only writing experience was in letters to various pen pals around the world. She unfortunately lost touch with them now and often wonders whether any of them have ever discovered that her chatty letters were the forerunner to her writing career.

She left school to become a secretary, taking a break to have her two children, Adrian and Tina. Once they were at school she started back to work and planned to further her career by becoming a bi-lingual secretary. Unfortunately she couldn't speak any languages other than her native English, so she began evening classes. It was at this time that she got the idea for a romantic short story - to this day she doesn't know where the idea came from or why, but she thanks her lucky stars because it kick-started her career. Margaret, and her mother before her, had always read Mills & Boon romances, and to actually be writing one excited her beyond measure.

'My life began at forty' is another one of her favourite sayings - because that is when her first book was published - two and a half years after she first set pen to paper (that first book was written long before she felt confident enough to send it off).Having those books accepted was the happiest and most exciting day of her life. She waltzed her husband around the room and their two children thought they'd gone mad, until they were told the good news.

Her first two submitted novels were accepted simultaneously, and now she has over sixty-five to her credit. When she looks at them lined up on her bookshelf she wonders how she has managed to write all those millions of words. She is a hopeless romantic who loves writing. She falls in love with every one of her heroes and likes to boast about how many 'love affairs' she's had.

Margaret gets so immersed in her writing that one day - before she made writing her full-time career and did most of her writing at the office (!!) - her daughter phoned to ask whether she could come and meet her out of work. Margaret told her not to be silly because it was foggy. Her daughter said 'But it's sunny here.' And when Margaret looked out of the window the sun was shining. Her hero and heroine were lost out in a sea of fog!

Before she became a successful author Margaret was extremely shy and found it difficult to talk to strangers. For research purposes she forced herself to speak to people from all walks of life and now says her shyness has gone forever - to a certain degree. She is still happier pouring her thoughts out on paper.

Copied from Fantastic Fiction

Reviews

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The h and the H make themselves miserable for no good reason. No OW, and the H is revealed during the last third of the book to be somewhat of a sweetheart.

[Nightwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those obnoxious category romances where the FMC is constantly saying "yes" while thinking "no," meaning she ends up going on multiple dates with a guy she dislikes while giving both him and her employer (who she's decided she's in love with) the impression that she's super into this dude. Laura, you started out by saying you needed to wash your hair; just stick with the hair-washing and say good-night, don't fold like a cheap card table and agree to a night on the town or an evening nightcap in the cozy living room of your borrowed apartment. She's supposedly spunky but that mostly means obnoxiously argumentative; meanwhile, the MMC is a controlling jerk, and there's a side plot involving the MMC's sister, who thinks she can't walk but it's really her own fault because she's not being positive enough about it (?) and there is a surgery which can repair her ability to walk (?) which I'm sure will be successful, oh and by the way her surgeon has the hots for her, I think? This is annoying and offensive - although my expectations are generally low for disability rep in a Harlequin category romance from the 70s - but, like, there's no reason to keep reading when I'm this irritated, is there?

The cover is amusingly seventies. There's that going for it.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I remember this book from my early days as a Harlequin junky
It's too simplistic to be an interesting read today though ....

[Lila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bland and lazy writing. Author could do a better job, but didn't bother. Not even to add some excitement with description of autumn, winter and Christmas in the country...
every detail that would add some realism, conveniently forgotten.
no mentioning that it's plain improper to casually consider breaking workplace ethics...

bad enough that heroine is a boring martyr, in the end the hero must turn into a drooling dunce

[Tapa in lovezone]

H was too stiff and boring and judgemental..

[Jen Castaneda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to revisit books from my youth. This was one I read in my teens, and it did not stand the test of time. It is a stupid little book.