Mempelai Sang Jutawan Prancis

by Rebecca Winters

Vincent Rolland sangat marah saat mengetahui putranya, Paul, diam-diam telah membeli cincin pertunangan yang nyaris menguras seluruh tabungan yang ia sediakan sebagai hadiah kelulusan Paul dan Monique---kedua anak kembarnya, yang bersekolah di Paris. Vincent yakin wanita yang akan dinikahi Paul mata duitan dan bertekad menyingkirkan wanita itu dari kehidupan putranya. Tetapi, usahanya itu ditentang keras Paul, yang begitu putus asa hingga sengaja menabrakkan diri di depan sebuah truk yang melaju.

Meskipun nyawanya bisa diselamatkan, Paul mengalami trauma kejiwaan yang sulit disembuhkan. Satu-satunya orang yang bisa membantu memulihkan Paul, dan pada akhirnya mengubah hidup Vincent, adalah wanita yang dicintai Paul, Hallie Linn, yang ternyata seorang... biarawati.

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

aka Rebecca Brown Burton, Rebecca Burton

Rebecca Winters, born Rebecca Brown Burton, was the author of over 175 romance novels published with Harlequin, delighting readers worldwide for more than 35 years. Her stories, translated into many languages, have sold nearly thirty million copies. A French teacher turned novelist, she combined her love of language, family, and storytelling into a remarkable literary legacy.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christian romance meets Harlequin. The heroine is a lay nun who went into her vocation in the aftermath of a great and overwhelming tragedy but hasn't taken her final vows yet. The hero is a wealthy French vineyard owner who starts off by assuming she is a gold digging tramp, in true Harlequin fashion.

I give the story points for not being preachy about the religious themes that are inevitably explored, for the heroine giving one of the most dignified, most effective set-downs to the hero's initial misperception, and for solid, good writing overall.

It was an okay read for me. I did not feel overly emotionally connected to the characters and their plight. Heroine was very Mary-Sue-ish and the hero was a nice beta-hero. Perfectly okay but it rather lacked a little bit of spice and heat that can turn a story from merely okay to truly enjoyable and memorable.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually give a plot summary, but the blurb on the book is really not informative, and very little of the book is reflected in it, so here goes: Hallie is a 26-year-old lay nun in Paris, weeks away from taking her vows. Her two young French friends, Paul and Monique, who are 18-year-old-twins, throw her a surprise birthday party, during which Paul reveals he's in love with her, and proposes. She tries to turn him down gently, but during the process, Paul's father intervenes angrily. He thinks Hallie is the same kind of exploitative schemer that the twins' mother was. Paul freaks out, and is injured running into the road. When the family takes Paul home to their chateau, Hallie comes as well, hoping to help the family mend emotionally. During this visit, Hallie and Vincent develop feelings for each other, but fight it, due to various complicating factors, such as Paul and her vocation.

This book was pleasant, in that for the most part, characters were generally kind. There was nothing steamier than some kissing (not that I personally object to the steamy stuff, but sometimes a really tame romance is nice too). The religious aspect was a novelty.

What kept it from a higher rating was the fact that for me, the narrative and dialogue were constantly kind of artificial. There was never a moment when I lost the sense of being told a story and got sucked in - it always felt like characters and not people.

[Pravana · Rating 4 out of 5]

About the book -
It was a totally different kind of a story.
One of the best scenes in the book is the one where the Hero comes to know how wrong he was in coming to the conclusion that the heroine had designs on his son for his money.

Rebeccca winters is an author whose writing I find to be refreshingly different.
I think of her books as a kind of palate cleanser. Barring a few exceptions, most of her books give you the “Feel-good” factor.
If one were to elaborate.........
They would have one or more of the following -

1) They are almost always clean romances- meaning no physical scenes.
2) They will have an ephemeral or otherworldly quality about them.
3) They will have normal loving parent / parents / siblings.
4) Most of the time, the Main Characters will be portrayed as genuinely nice people.
5) After the Hero / Heroine realise that they love the other, if circumstances conspire to keep them apart, the internal angst / dialogues / emotions are described very poignantly.
6) If the Hero starts off with jumping to the wrong conclusions about the heroine, it doesn’t last once the misunderstandings are cleared.
7) There’s angst but again a good kind of angst - not the type which is frustrating or annoying.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

04/12/08
TITLE/AUTHOR: THE FRENCHMAN'S BRIDE by Rebecca Winters
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Romance/2003/185 pgs
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand-Alone
TIME/PLACE: Present/Paris, France
CHARACTERS: Hallie Linn/lay nun; Vincent Rolland/vintner
FIRST LINES: Reaching for a towel, Vincent Rolland stepped from the shower of his London hotel suite having made the decision to fly to Paris after his business lunch later in the day.

COMMENTS: Hallie Linn is only 25 but has seen much tragedy -- she is one of only a handful of survivors of a plane crash that ended the lives of her husband, his family & her family. After this she decides to devote her life to service and becomes a lay nun in preparation to taking her final vows. While working in Paris she meets two young students (twins, Paul & Monique). They are in their late teens and want to learn to speak English better -- the 3 quickly become fast friends. Paul's friendship develops into a major crush. Vincent, their father who resides at the vineyards in the countryside of France is apalled at Paul's romance and wants to stop this before it goes any further. Hallie of course is innocent and only sees Paul as a brother but Vincent jumps to conclusions and thinks she is after the family fortune. Vincent & Hallie are off to a very shaky start w/ many an obstacle. Sweet romance.

[Talya · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Found family ✅
-Age gap✅
-angst ✅
-Smut ❌
-Romance ❔ (although it has romance towards the end I would not read it if you are looking for a full on romance book)
-Enemies to lovers ❔(not exactly enemies but initial hate based on miscommunication and information)

Triggers:
-Dealing with loss
-A suicide attempt is mentioned but very very shortly and not graphically

I loved everything in this book, but the beginning was weird to me to be honest.
even though this book is short you can see the progress that the characters are going through.

I usually don't like when the male character has children but in this book it was different,
It's a very sweet story featuring a kind-hearted and smart female lead.

[Diamond]

حب خائف
ريبيكا وينترز
ليس بإمكان هالي لين أن تقع في غرام ذلك الرجل الفرنسي الرائع فنسنت رولاند ... فهذا الأمر كان معقدا وصعبا للغاية فهو سيغير حياتها إلى الأبد ...
وكذلك لدى فنسنت أسباب تمنعه من التورط مع هالي ...
ـ آسف يا هالي ... آخر ما أريد القيام به أن أجرحك . أريد أن أقفل الباب على ذلك الفصل من حياتنا إلى الأبد .
ـ ولكن هل بإمكانك أن تسامحيني ؟
نظرت إليه بعنف فرأى الدموع في عينيها ما هذا السؤال ؟ ألا تدرك أنني صديقتك ؟
صديقته ! إنه في أعماقه يريد أكثر من ذلك بكثير

الابن يقع في حب الراهبه
يصاب الابن ولكي يصرفونه عن الفكره
يتظاهر الاب بحب الراهبه

[Pauline Destinugrainy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hallie, seorang calon biarawati (25 tahun), mengalami masalah ketika seorang anak 18 tahun jatuh cinta padanya. Apalagi ketika anak itu akhirnya mengalami gangguan psikis. Menariknya, ketika bertemu dengan ayah si bocah, Hallie malah suka pada ayahnya.
Konfliknya menarik, dan penyelesaian masalahnya secara kekeluargaan juga menarik. Hanya saja endingnya agak maksa sih... but hey..it is harlequin after all. Semua harus happy ending.

[signorina Vei · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird.
masa 1 orang biarawati untuk ayah & anak??
tp boleh juga..