Wild Irish Rose

by Joan Wolf

HER FORTUNE COULD BUY HER EVERYTHING... EXCEPT THE MAN — SHE WAS FORBIDDEN TO LOVE — Elegant parties, designer clothes, and all the privileges of the very rich couldn't replace the love missing from heiress Sara Underwood's life. Then a visit to her family's fabulous Kentucky horse farm brought her face-to-face with her destiny: handsome, proud Daniel Riordan, trainer of her grandfather's thoroughbreds. His lilting Irish brogue thrilled her; his dark Celtic eyes haunted her dreams; his sensuous touch could take possession of her very soul. But a chasm of class and money would keep him forever at a distance unless Sara dared to risk her fortune and her heart to make Daniel hers for just one ecstatic moment ... or for all time.

188 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 5, 1985

About the author

Joan Wolf is a USA TODAY bestselling American writer, whose acclaimed Regency romances have earned her national recognition as a master of the genre. Her many historical and contemporary romances, some of which have been chosen as Literary Guild selections, have been highly praised by reviewers and authors alike.

Joan was born in 1951 and she grew up in the Bronx, New York. A former English teacher, she obtained a Bachelor's degree in Mercy College and Master in English and Comparative Literature at Hunter College. An avid rider and horse owner, Joan lives in Connecticut with her husband Joe and two grown children, Jay and Pam.

Reviews

[Kiki · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was really just a one star read for me.

But I gave the additional star for hero’s timely apology, and zero drama concerning “seekrit pregnancy “.

However, I clearly am sensitive! But hero LITERALLY fell in love with h at the first contact of hymen! He was lusting after her. Forever. Yes. But he fell in love with her hymen. Now, you have to notice I didn’t criticise her virginity, I questioned his motivation of love which lays solely on female virginity. If you can’t tell the difference that’s on you. I’m not responsible for your feelings.

The following quote just didn’t leave me throughout the book!

“It was not until he heard her cry out that he realized she was a virgin. She lay nestled quietly in his arms and he felt his heart would break with love for her. She was his. She had never been anyone else’s.”

So what about her? Because he sure as hell has been a lot OW’s. Starting from 16. He was hella experienced. Starting with a married woman. So what does she get in return of her “virtue”? An overused dick who’ll never love her as much as she’d love him? A surprise baby because he failed to protect her? An STD from his not so virtuous past? What DOES SHE GET? because our hero is sure as hell NOT virtuous.

“When he was sixteen years old the wife of one of the earl’s guests had taught him what sex was all about, and since that time he had gathered a good deal of experience,”

So why is our h being short-changed?

On top of that he’s a catholic but of course as usual the religious responsibilities fall on the women, doesn’t it? What if he is promiscuous? It’s the h that is unworthy of him. The OM who Is so in love with her let’s her know of this not so nicely!

“But Daniel’s Irish Catholic, Sara. If he marries you he’s going to mean till death do us part.” There were two bright spots of color on her cheeks. “I’ll mean it too.” “Well”—B.J. gestured helplessly toward the stereo—” there’s your record.””

Of course because h is rumoured to have numerous broken relationships, rumoured is the key word, she surely cannot be married in the way the Catholics mean but the hero who has vast experience of course can settle down the moment he decided. The double standards are astounding and my brain frankly hurts. So much so that I accidentally permanently deleted the book. Oh there goes my $2.99

On top of that, the H would NEVER love the h as much she loved him. Between her life and him, she’d always choose him. And between his life and herself? I wonder if she even makes a close second.

This is him:

“Yes, I can see that. And I can see where I fit very nicely into his dynastic plans. But I have plans of my own, Sara, and they are all centered in Ireland. I’m an Irishman. I like Americans—I like America. But I’m an Irishman and I want to go home. If you want to come with me, fine. But Ireland’s where I am going. If you want Canfield, you’ll have to have it without me.”

This is her:

“I’d rather have you,”

am I the ONLY one noticing the difference? Yes? Oh well, I really do like my own company so at least I’ll have my brain to complain to. No harm. No foul.

On top of this WHOLE clusterfuck, there is further clusterfuck of the h taking the horses to Ireland all by herself, because she wants the H happy, and he won’t be happy with her family. So of course she’d be sacrificing Mary Sue. Cause then she’ll be managing the farm life like a pro! No past experience? Who needs them? Enthusiasm is apparently enough contrary to the saying. Then she’d manage a harsh farmer’s life with a newborn in tow and of course do excellently without any bump. Will learn to cook like a pro without ever lifting a skillet. Of course, why not? She loved him. Love and enthusiasm is enough.

Who cares if she’s the second best to his dream? Or that she was given an overused penis? One that he fails to wrap? Who the fuck cares about common sense? Love is all we need!

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poor boy-rich girl romance with good potential that kind of ran out of steam towards the end, imho. Fans of equestrian romance who are looking for a no angst, straightforward, very sweet romance, will like it though.

The h in this one is the quintessential "Poor, Little, Rich, Girl." Author check-marked all the boxes when creating her: raised by servants, check; neglected by witchy, socialite mom whose career consists of marrying and divorcing gigolos, check; romantic figure of a father dead, check; empty, glitzy, socialite life, check; being mentioned in gossip rags, check; haughty, snob attitude masking massive amount of insecurity and self-loathing, check.

The story begins as Gramps Moneybags, tired of his daughter and granddaughter sullying his good name by being dragged around gossip rags with their latest, inappropriate escort, comes to New York to take back his granddaughter to his Kentucky horse ranch. He has given up on his daughter (who is in the process of divorcing Gigolo number four and acquiring Gigolo number five) but hopes his as-yet-unmarried, 24 year old granddaughter can meet a nice country boy amongst the horsey set of Kentucky, settle down at his ranch, and finally give him the male heir that he has been waiting for.

The h does meet and start socializing with some very nice and appropriate young men and women from neighbouring ranches and is enjoying herself, but it is her grandfather's assistant, a young, Irish man who has been working on the farm training horses in order to save enough money to go back to Ireland and build his own horse ranch, who naturally catches her attention.

The H is breathtakingly gorgeous but he is no manwhore nor is he a conceited bore. He is so very focused on his goal that he has been cautious never to veer off track and that includes minimizing his social life to nil, riding a motorcycle instead of driving a car to save on gas, following a rigid and inflexible work ethic, and not even buying himself a new shirt in two years.

Despite numerous females pursuing him, he has been pretty much living the life of a monk while staying at h's grandfather's ranch, saving all his pennies, and working harder than the horses he has been training. When he meets the h, he is very weary about this alleged vapid, man-eating, succubus from the Big City, though very polite as an employee should be towards his employer's granddaughter.

The h, meanwhile, falls for him the minute she sets eyes on him but she doesn't even know what hit her at first. All she knows is that she is immensely happy when she happens to spend time with H, as he teaches her to ride, how to care for the horses, takes her around and shows her the processes of a working farm, etc. She is soon starting to follow him like a puppy around the ranch, not in a sexual way, but just pushing the boundary of employer-employee into a real, cordial, friendship.

The h, contrary to her reputation and her mom's antics, has never been interested in the male sex. She is deeply suspicious of men's motives whether it comes to sex or money, completely disillusioned by marriage due to her mother, and also very insecure about herself given the lack of any love or solid and consistent emotional support when she was growing up. Her name and pedigree may have incited paparazzi to photograph her and make up salacious innuendos about her in their rags but lies are all they are.

Her behavior around the H though, as innocent as it is, starts tongues wagging, and the hero ends up sort of brutally telling her to leave him alone. She is completely and utterly destroyed at that moment, which is the most emotionally poignant scene of the story. The shutters immediately come down and she assumes the mask of the haughty, detached socialite once more, and coolly and calmly replies back to him, what ever made him think she could have been interested in the first place, and drives off, vowing to herself never to come in his vicinity again.

The h, internally, is deeply shamed and embarrassed that she has been making a fool of herself, her grandfather and the H. Despite his brutal set down of her, she still deeply admires H and would never want to do anything to jeopardize his job or his reputation. She stays away, and throws herself into the social scene of her peers, not out of spite, but out of a shattered self-esteem.

The H finds that he made a terrible mistake. Sure, nothing could ever come out of a relationship between two such widely disparate persons socially and financially. But he didn't have to be such a brute about it and obviously hurt her feelings so. Over the weeks that they have been working so closely together, sharing their mutual love and respect not only for horses, but all animals, he has seen through her mask and known that the real her is just an innocent, inexperienced girl, very far from her social persona of a woman who knows the score and is into games.

I really, really liked that he made a genuine and concerted effort to apologize to her, and that she didn't turn her back or make him suffer further but graciously accepted.

And so, they resume their friendship, which inevitably turns to something more. At this point of the story, the author throws a lot of red herrings that could bring in some angst, conflicts and obstacles for the lovers: a bitter, rejected suitor for the h, the h's witchy mom who makes a reappearance (if this was Charlotte Lamb, there is no doubt she would have thrown a Twist of Fate into this story arch), a patrician grandfather who would not take kindly to his heir consorting with the help, etc.

None of that happens though. The OM is not happy but he is accepting of the relationship. The witchy mom is furious but subdued. Gramps Moneybags is, against all odds, ecstatic. H is the son he would have loved to have and his match with his granddaughter is perfect for him because he finally has a dynasty that he can leave his empire too. The H refuses though, because he doesn't want to be handed a gift for work he has done "in bed", he wants to earn everything he gets from actual work. So it's off to Ireland we go.

Once again, there was potential for some interesting angst as the heroine would have to shed her pampered, ignorant life in favor of becoming a poor farmer's wife in Ireland, with no friends or family, no familiarity with the local customs and cultures, and a lot of isolation and hard work ahead. It would have been fun to read about her stumbling along, their marriage forced to sustain under pressure, see her grow up and mature into the fierce, go-getting, woman she always had the potential to be after being such an insecure, sad, deb all her life. Maybe this could have happened in a longer, fully developed novel but in this short format, the author instead had to present us with a miraculous, instantaneous transformation and an HEA that was almost smoothly achieved, without any bumps in the road.

A nice romance overall, my only contention being that it was just too nice.

[Vintage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Given the lack high blood pressure increasing tags like evil ow, cheating, MOC, revenge etc...this was an underwhelming, slow paced sweet romance.

See Naksed's review for a full on report.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'd bet $10 or more that Joan Wolf saw "Manions of America when it came out. This is why...


Pierce Brosnan IS Daniel. Too, too beautiful.

The real hero and a decent other guy, a rarity in RomanceLand, was B.J. BJ was the grandson of a neighboring horse form and in love with the heroine and an all around good guy.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

September's TBR Challenge prompt, "Dress for Success," made me think of a long ago Joan Wolf. Sara Underwood is a poor little rich girl, poor in the sense that her father is dead, her mother is addicted to the spotlight, to getting married/divorced*rinse/repeat, and making sure her daughter marries well--a prince would be nice. Sara's parents divorced before her father died. If there's one thing she longs for, it's "the long-term stability of marriage with a man whom she loves and who loves her back." How likely is it she'll find what she's looking for in New York City? Fortunately, her grandfather rescues her. He's the very wealthy owner of a Kentucky racing stable and he invites her to spend the summer with him. So dress for success in New York terms means designer outfits and actually, even in Kentucky, dressing for success means frocks suitable for cocktail parties and glamorous post-race parties.

But then Sara meets an Irishman, Daniel Riordan. He works for her grandfather as a trainer and he's beyond gifted. Sara falls hook, line, and sinker. On the surface, Sara and Daniel have nothing in common--she's rich, he's not, he comes from a farming background ... but in all the essentials, they are meant to be. Here's where the TBR Challenge hook comes in--to have a future with Daniel, Sara will have to jettison her designer duds--her HEA dress for success future will be more boots and jeans than silk and lace.

[Laura Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I try to remind myself that the book is dated as far as context is concerned, felt like something from the 1960's. The story , characters, interactions, and dialog reminded me of nighttime soap opera in its heyday.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an older Joan Wolf Signet. No cell phones and no quick pregnancy tests. But those things weren't missed. I like Joan's books, both contemporary and historical. Especially her short books of the '80s. This one is so sweet. I really adored it.