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Stormy Possession
This book has an ISBN10:0373707894 which was also used for another book.
Love can never be bought, or sold!
Sally had to save her father from bankruptcy. Only one man could help her--financier Luke Andretti, who had a reputation for driving a hard bargain.
"I will put your father's affairs in order," Luke said, "for a price. You must marry me, and give me a son."
She had to accept on his terms. But Sally vowed Luke would rue the day he had forced her into a loveless marriage. She was going to fight him every inch of the way!
Love can never be bought, or sold!
Sally had to save her father from bankruptcy. Only one man could help her--financier Luke Andretti, who had a reputation for driving a hard bargain.
"I will put your father's affairs in order," Luke said, "for a price. You must marry me, and give me a son."
She had to accept on his terms. But Sally vowed Luke would rue the day he had forced her into a loveless marriage. She was going to fight him every inch of the way!
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
16 people are currently reading
275 people want to read
About the author
Helen Bianchin
381 books230 followersHelen Shirley was born on February 20 1939 in New Zealand, where she grew up, an only child possessed by a vivid imagination and a love for reading. She wrote stories for amusement in her early teenage years, and when she left leaving school, she took a secretarial job at a father-and-son legal firm.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 20, 2017
This has all the thrills and chills of a vintage that you would expect from the forced marriage trope.
Let's count them, shall we?
1. H/h "meet cute" when heroine in a bikini is trying to change her tire by the side of the road. Heroine is defensive, hero is leering.
2. Daddy has a bad heart is about to go bankrupt.
3. Hero has the power to make or break Daddy. Heroine appeals to his better nature. He asks her out instead. Heroine refuses.
4. Heroine (who is a chef) is called to cook and serve a meal for two at hero's house. Guess what? She's the guest of honor. Hero coerces her into marriage a few days later.
5. Heroine has to off load her drippy OM and there is an OW lurking around to insult the heroine.
6. H/h marry, go to a honeymoon in NZ where they view the hot springs and have angry forced sex with scratching and bruising on both sides.
7. Back home in OZ, the hero goes back to work and the heroine grooms herself and carries on with small defiant acts like catering a dinner party for her father and putting up with the catty OW.
8. Hero keeps threatening to spank heroine, does spank heroine, and they continue to have angry sex.
9. It's Christmas at the hero's sisters house - complete with gifts for the kids and a sob story about the protective hero.
`10. Then it's back to races with heroine's flamboyant mommy showing up and the hero away on business. Heroine misses him. They each declare themselves, HEA.
Add in some 70's dance moves (Do the hustle!) Lots of meals and good grooming descriptions and you have a solid forced marriage story with a smitten, passion-morphs-to-violence hero and a shrill heroine who keeps coming back for more until they label what they have as "love."
Let's count them, shall we?
1. H/h "meet cute" when heroine in a bikini is trying to change her tire by the side of the road. Heroine is defensive, hero is leering.
2. Daddy has a bad heart is about to go bankrupt.
3. Hero has the power to make or break Daddy. Heroine appeals to his better nature. He asks her out instead. Heroine refuses.
4. Heroine (who is a chef) is called to cook and serve a meal for two at hero's house. Guess what? She's the guest of honor. Hero coerces her into marriage a few days later.
5. Heroine has to off load her drippy OM and there is an OW lurking around to insult the heroine.
6. H/h marry, go to a honeymoon in NZ where they view the hot springs and have angry forced sex with scratching and bruising on both sides.
7. Back home in OZ, the hero goes back to work and the heroine grooms herself and carries on with small defiant acts like catering a dinner party for her father and putting up with the catty OW.
8. Hero keeps threatening to spank heroine, does spank heroine, and they continue to have angry sex.
9. It's Christmas at the hero's sisters house - complete with gifts for the kids and a sob story about the protective hero.
`10. Then it's back to races with heroine's flamboyant mommy showing up and the hero away on business. Heroine misses him. They each declare themselves, HEA.
Add in some 70's dance moves (Do the hustle!) Lots of meals and good grooming descriptions and you have a solid forced marriage story with a smitten, passion-morphs-to-violence hero and a shrill heroine who keeps coming back for more until they label what they have as "love."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2024
I grew very tired of the rude, immature, tantrumy, constantly shrieky heroine. She really didn’t let up against the hero until the last chapter. What did he do to deserve her wrath? He proposed a marriage of convenience in exchange for helping her father out of bankruptcy. Well, she didn’t have to take it, did she? She chose to sell herself so that her father and of course herself wouldn’t be shunned by high society when they lost their assets. This makes her a golddigging hall of famer in my book.
Naturally, she loathed herself and chose to visit that self-disgust and guilt onto the hero. Did he deserve it? He stood up for her against slimy OM and OWs, made her his priority, showered her with attention, gifts, and multiple orgasms, and he helped her father out without belittling him. She on the other hand berated him daily like a fishwife, disparaging his ethnicity (Italian), his character, his integrity etc. I wish she would have showed some of that fire to the witchy OWs who were rude to her but noooo, she was a frail kitten when it came to them, and only strong-armed her husband. He finally snapped and gave her a spanking! What a mess this story was :~{
Naturally, she loathed herself and chose to visit that self-disgust and guilt onto the hero. Did he deserve it? He stood up for her against slimy OM and OWs, made her his priority, showered her with attention, gifts, and multiple orgasms, and he helped her father out without belittling him. She on the other hand berated him daily like a fishwife, disparaging his ethnicity (Italian), his character, his integrity etc. I wish she would have showed some of that fire to the witchy OWs who were rude to her but noooo, she was a frail kitten when it came to them, and only strong-armed her husband. He finally snapped and gave her a spanking! What a mess this story was :~{
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2018
2.5 stars rounded to 3. I keep telling myself I'll never read a book from HB again and yet, here I am after finishing another one of her works. The problem with an HB is that its extremely predictable and has a storyline that's identical to every other HB book out there. And this one was no different. Stormy Possession reminded me of the first book I'd read from this author (and liked)- Wildfire Encounter. The story was the same, and in some cases, even the dialogues seemed like they were copy pasted from one book to the other. Very lazy writing and completely uninventive.
Just as with Lynne Graham, Helen Bianchin too, has found a formula that she thinks will work every time. Only, it doesn't. The same silent, brooding, non expressive/poker faced alpha H paired with a uncommonly shrewish h who's blind to her own feelings does not make for a great romance.
And now I really need to stop reading her books.
Just as with Lynne Graham, Helen Bianchin too, has found a formula that she thinks will work every time. Only, it doesn't. The same silent, brooding, non expressive/poker faced alpha H paired with a uncommonly shrewish h who's blind to her own feelings does not make for a great romance.
And now I really need to stop reading her books.
October 19, 2022
Past insomniac me has a lot of explaining to do. Why did I think it was a good idea to buy a bunch of old Harlequin books from ebay in the middle of the night?
This was bad. So, so bad.
Plot, character development, good writing where art thou?
I hated both Sally and Luke. Sally was a bitch who argued at every opportunity, and Luke basically treated her like a child and possession.
The steam was fade to black with basically implied assault, but Sally would mention on occassion that she liked it . . . eventually.
Luke and Sally fought ON EVERY SINGLE PAGE, and then all of a sudden 3 pages from the end they declared their undying love for each other. Ummm, okay.
And what's with all the exclamation points?!?!?!
November 13, 2012
A very typical early Bianchin novel -- some spanking, forced virginity-taking, etc. Though having read some other 70s/80s HPs lately, I have to give it to Bianchin for at least letting her heroines enjoy sex most of the time. Basic plot summary: the heroine fought the hero fruitlessly for most of the book, fell in love anyway, and then he said "I love you" out of the blue and conveniently right as she was about to tell him. Also, the heroine changed clothes many times and brushed her hair vigorously.
July 14, 2020
It became a chore and I have a list of books to read.
I like drama. I like arguments. I like vintage pushy heroes. I like heroines who scream at the heroes and deliberately burn their dinner... when there is reason.
Sally has been throwing a tantrum for the past 50 pages. There is no reason for it. It will not make her life better. Sally doesn’t like anyone except for her dad. Sally is a bitch. Sally also managed to hit my pet peeve:
“After we’re married you’ll have to force me or rape me” she tells the hero. WHY THE F-? You agreed to marry him so that he saves your dad financially. He didn’t screw your dads finances. That’s daddy’s fault. He didn’t have to fix daddy’s finances either, no matter how much you think he should act like a charity. He offered to help if you marry him and have a family with him. WHY THE F- SHOULD HE RAPE YOU? Didn’t you agree to be his wife?
And I stopped reading.
Also why the hero wants to marry her is beyond me. She is top 3 most unpleasant heroines. I like a heroine with faults but... come on... give it a break girl! And can there be a SINGLE likeable thing about you?
Cherry on the cake: This didn’t bother me cause I don’t mind overdone villains but the girl Sally dislikes sounds like a parody. “Oh, you’re getting engaged to Sally? But she’s so pathetic. You know, if she sucks you can come to me” Said to the hero when he’s out celebrating his engagement with Sally. In front of Sally. No one is THAT rude. It’s stupid to be that rude.
Sally of course throws another tantrum, gets up and rushes out of the restaurant to get a cab leaving the hero behind. Even though the hero supported her and told her not to mind the other girl. Sally is... 5 years old. Barely.
I like drama. I like arguments. I like vintage pushy heroes. I like heroines who scream at the heroes and deliberately burn their dinner... when there is reason.
Sally has been throwing a tantrum for the past 50 pages. There is no reason for it. It will not make her life better. Sally doesn’t like anyone except for her dad. Sally is a bitch. Sally also managed to hit my pet peeve:
“After we’re married you’ll have to force me or rape me” she tells the hero. WHY THE F-? You agreed to marry him so that he saves your dad financially. He didn’t screw your dads finances. That’s daddy’s fault. He didn’t have to fix daddy’s finances either, no matter how much you think he should act like a charity. He offered to help if you marry him and have a family with him. WHY THE F- SHOULD HE RAPE YOU? Didn’t you agree to be his wife?
And I stopped reading.
Also why the hero wants to marry her is beyond me. She is top 3 most unpleasant heroines. I like a heroine with faults but... come on... give it a break girl! And can there be a SINGLE likeable thing about you?
Cherry on the cake: This didn’t bother me cause I don’t mind overdone villains but the girl Sally dislikes sounds like a parody. “Oh, you’re getting engaged to Sally? But she’s so pathetic. You know, if she sucks you can come to me” Said to the hero when he’s out celebrating his engagement with Sally. In front of Sally. No one is THAT rude. It’s stupid to be that rude.
Sally of course throws another tantrum, gets up and rushes out of the restaurant to get a cab leaving the hero behind. Even though the hero supported her and told her not to mind the other girl. Sally is... 5 years old. Barely.
November 20, 2021
She needs money for her father’s financial affairs. He wants her to be with him in return. She accepts.
The h was tiring. She bickers a lot. Her tantrums were all over the place.
I don’t understand why she was in a state of permanent rage. She didn’t have to accept his offer. It wasn’t as if her father needed some life-saving surgery or something.
Did she really expect the H to just gift her a huge amount of money and then walk away. Come on, he isn’t a Teletubbie.
The h was tiring. She bickers a lot. Her tantrums were all over the place.
I don’t understand why she was in a state of permanent rage. She didn’t have to accept his offer. It wasn’t as if her father needed some life-saving surgery or something.
Did she really expect the H to just gift her a huge amount of money and then walk away. Come on, he isn’t a Teletubbie.
June 7, 2020
After angrily agreeing, with barely a token protest, to marry a complete stranger and bear his son in exchange for bailing her dad out of bankruptcy, the heroine, Sally, proceeds to have a blazing tantrum for 187 pages. The hero, Rico Suave/Luke, is alternately cynically amused, wryly amused, tenderly amused, exasperated, and occasionally menacing. The characters use the titular term, stormy possession, a couple of times in conversation. There’s mild food porn (the heroine is a chef), a spanking, lots of Italian endearments, a reference to the Hustle, an open-shirted hairy-chested hero, a multitude of fade-to-black bedroom scenes, OW jealousy, and a HEA that I hope includes the heroine opening a catering business with the manservant Carlo. Good fun! I remember this as being a favorite of my teenage self; very lightweight and un-PC now but it was a guilty pleasure.
January 22, 2015
Hated it. Heroine was mean, shrewish and petulant!
November 9, 2020
Love can never be bought, or sold!
Sally had to save her father from bankruptcy. Only one man could help her--financier Luke Andretti, who had a reputation for driving a hard bargain.
"I will put your father's affairs in order," Luke said, "for a price. You must marry me, and give me a son."
She had to accept on his terms. But Sally vowed Luke would rue the day he had forced her into a loveless marriage. She was going to fight him every inch of the way!
Sally had to save her father from bankruptcy. Only one man could help her--financier Luke Andretti, who had a reputation for driving a hard bargain.
"I will put your father's affairs in order," Luke said, "for a price. You must marry me, and give me a son."
She had to accept on his terms. But Sally vowed Luke would rue the day he had forced her into a loveless marriage. She was going to fight him every inch of the way!
October 6, 2014
كانت مليئه بالمشاعر والاهات جعلتني اشد اعصابي احببتها وعشت مع ابطالها نهايه رائعه وشيقه احببتها
April 14, 2023
This wasn't a bad story, the usual marry for the wrong reason (in this case, to save her father from bankruptcy), feel overwhelming desire that you try not to show (but fail, of course), get jealous of his former mistresses, have a pushy ex-boyfriend who thinks he's entitled to you, think that the man you now love only wants you for sex, finally admit your love, only to fear it's too late. Then, of course, HEA!
At least, since she was a chef, I got to learn some interesting cooking terms and Italian dishes. For that, it earned an extra star!
At least, since she was a chef, I got to learn some interesting cooking terms and Italian dishes. For that, it earned an extra star!
December 10, 2017
رواية انت لي .... من روايات عبير
February 28, 2019
No me atraparon los personajes, no me atrapó la historia, la protagonista una boba total y el unas contestaciones de Mier** ... La verdad que no la recomiendo para nada.
January 30, 2022
Just ok read
December 9, 2020
Wasn’t a fan of the hero. Trigger warning for use of “savage”, misogyny and rape scene.
January 10, 2017
I find reading these early Helen Bianchin titles to be, at times, delightful. Alternately, I also, at times, find reading them a bit trying.
The delight for me comes in the form of a passage such as this...
"At thirty-seven, I am scarcely in my dotage. I manage a mean tango, and I have been known to attempt the hustle."
The HUSTLE!!! I was laughing so hard I woke up my dog.
The dismay, in this book's case, came from the
Anyway, it's Helen Bianchin, and she's my second favorite of all time so three stars and a half because the hero does the hustle.
The delight for me comes in the form of a passage such as this...
"At thirty-seven, I am scarcely in my dotage. I manage a mean tango, and I have been known to attempt the hustle."
The HUSTLE!!! I was laughing so hard I woke up my dog.
The dismay, in this book's case, came from the
Anyway, it's Helen Bianchin, and she's my second favorite of all time so three stars and a half because the hero does the hustle.
May 18, 2016
I liked the hero ....the heroine just annoyed me with all her complaining and trying to avoid sex ....until he spanks her .....which must have been a turn on in the 70's ....but now seems so ridiculous ...but I was entertained ....and would have liked an epilogue.
January 30, 2015
احداثها حلوة وممتعة بس حسيت سرد كتيير اوي
والاحداث بتطول
بس هية رومانسية جدااا وجميلة وفيها مشاعر حلوة بريئة
والاحداث بتطول
بس هية رومانسية جدااا وجميلة وفيها مشاعر حلوة بريئة
Read
May 20, 2015amazing love it
January 12, 2017
I want to read this book please
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2015
احداثها ف البادايه حلوه اووووي وشيقه بس بعد كدا ممل عشان مط الاحداث بس هي حلوه رغم طولها :)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews