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Yours with Love
The scheme would be of mutual benefit
When Jason Kent literally crashed into Virginia's life, he turned her whole world upside down. In return for a large sum of money, he asked her to pose as his mistress so that his wife would divorce him.
Virginia agreed because it meant she could finance her younger brother's artistic career.
But would she have been so willing if she had known the full impact Jason Kent would have on her life?
When Jason Kent literally crashed into Virginia's life, he turned her whole world upside down. In return for a large sum of money, he asked her to pose as his mistress so that his wife would divorce him.
Virginia agreed because it meant she could finance her younger brother's artistic career.
But would she have been so willing if she had known the full impact Jason Kent would have on her life?
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
67 people want to read
About the author
Mary Burchell
162 books84 followersIda Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 15, 2017
May/December romance where Jason is the extremely sophisticated, cynical and married H that runs into 18 yo Virginia’s house, or to be more accurate her penny-pinching Aunt’s house.
Jason’s wife slithers in and happily drops the bombshell that he may be paralyzed for life so it’s not a huge surprise when Jason confesses he wants a divorce. He offer V 20,000 pounds, which today’s value is approximately $350,000, to move in and play his mistress so he and his wife will have some grounds to get divorced. Turns out this was written in 1940 well before the divorce statutes that exist now.
With the money V can escape her big bummer of an Aunt as well as support her dubious and pretty wimpy brother in his art efforts. V makes it to the house of sin where it turns out sin pays as she buys some new clothes, and the servants are actually decent to her.
When she tells her little brother that she has the means to help him with his art, it’s no longer necessary. Little brother has found a mentor that he will live with and get art lessons from. Honestly, between the h running to big bad London to be a pretend mistress, and the little brother going to live with a mature artist for “training” I fear for these two.
Without a punishing kiss, a slut shame, or a grabbed arm things implode between the H and h when he tells her his wife is coming back to him.
V walks out and finally gets her own life as a secretary. She’s courted by Clive, a really nice guy, that she keeps on a string. I mean, the name… Clive…tells you he will be dust.
Her brother’s “mentor” paints a picture of her that is snatched up by the H. She sees him at a play where she is contemplating accepting Clive’s unspoken offer and, well, at least poor Clive has Virginia’s awesome friend to fall back on.
The h and H meet and it’s a pretty cool HEA although I suspect fireworks off page. Turns out he pushed her away so she could have a chance of a real life after the emotional deprivation with her aunt.
This was enjoyable as I love the incredibly British feel to it, dahling. Given that it was published in 1940, you would think you might get a hint of the era, but surprisingly no. I don’t even think they take tea. Another book that would have been more fun as a murder mystery. The shiny ex-wife or the disapproving Aunt would have made excellent victims.
I have a feeling the author was more interesting than any of her characters as here part of her bio.
Ida Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
Jason’s wife slithers in and happily drops the bombshell that he may be paralyzed for life so it’s not a huge surprise when Jason confesses he wants a divorce. He offer V 20,000 pounds, which today’s value is approximately $350,000, to move in and play his mistress so he and his wife will have some grounds to get divorced. Turns out this was written in 1940 well before the divorce statutes that exist now.
With the money V can escape her big bummer of an Aunt as well as support her dubious and pretty wimpy brother in his art efforts. V makes it to the house of sin where it turns out sin pays as she buys some new clothes, and the servants are actually decent to her.
When she tells her little brother that she has the means to help him with his art, it’s no longer necessary. Little brother has found a mentor that he will live with and get art lessons from. Honestly, between the h running to big bad London to be a pretend mistress, and the little brother going to live with a mature artist for “training” I fear for these two.
Without a punishing kiss, a slut shame, or a grabbed arm things implode between the H and h when he tells her his wife is coming back to him.
V walks out and finally gets her own life as a secretary. She’s courted by Clive, a really nice guy, that she keeps on a string. I mean, the name… Clive…tells you he will be dust.
Her brother’s “mentor” paints a picture of her that is snatched up by the H. She sees him at a play where she is contemplating accepting Clive’s unspoken offer and, well, at least poor Clive has Virginia’s awesome friend to fall back on.
The h and H meet and it’s a pretty cool HEA although I suspect fireworks off page. Turns out he pushed her away so she could have a chance of a real life after the emotional deprivation with her aunt.
This was enjoyable as I love the incredibly British feel to it, dahling. Given that it was published in 1940, you would think you might get a hint of the era, but surprisingly no. I don’t even think they take tea. Another book that would have been more fun as a murder mystery. The shiny ex-wife or the disapproving Aunt would have made excellent victims.
I have a feeling the author was more interesting than any of her characters as here part of her bio.
Ida Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
January 15, 2013
Mary Burchell does it again. I really enjoy her work because in spite of the fact that most of her books are over 40 years old, she writes wonderfully strong heroines who grasp at life and make the best of it. I believe her trademark is writing about young strong heroines who have great depth of character. That's not surprising, given Mary Burchell was an incredibly strong woman ahead of her time.
I like that her books are full of sexual tension, but not sexual content. It puts more emphasis on the power of delivery.
Our hero is a wealthy older man who comes crashing (literally) into her gates. She nurses him back to health for weeks, but he ends up crippled from the accident. His road to recovery will be a long one, and there is question about whether he will walk again. He is married to the wife from hell....who seems only interested in his money. He concocts a scheme where our heroine will come live with him and pose as his mistress inorder to force his wife to finally file for divorce.
This is certainly a pretty risky move for a young beautiful 18 year old. Given the time, this marks her as a "fallen" woman and she will lose any chance of ever making a decent match. So right out the gate we know this hero is insensitive and self serving. He offers her $20K pounds to act out the part, which will ultimately ruin her, but will help her put her brother through art school.
I don't want to go into the rest of the story, but there are some interesting twists and turns that made this story unique and a very enjoyable read. In typical Burchell fashion, by the end of the book I had fallen hard for that nasty callous hero.
I like that her books are full of sexual tension, but not sexual content. It puts more emphasis on the power of delivery.
Our hero is a wealthy older man who comes crashing (literally) into her gates. She nurses him back to health for weeks, but he ends up crippled from the accident. His road to recovery will be a long one, and there is question about whether he will walk again. He is married to the wife from hell....who seems only interested in his money. He concocts a scheme where our heroine will come live with him and pose as his mistress inorder to force his wife to finally file for divorce.
This is certainly a pretty risky move for a young beautiful 18 year old. Given the time, this marks her as a "fallen" woman and she will lose any chance of ever making a decent match. So right out the gate we know this hero is insensitive and self serving. He offers her $20K pounds to act out the part, which will ultimately ruin her, but will help her put her brother through art school.
I don't want to go into the rest of the story, but there are some interesting twists and turns that made this story unique and a very enjoyable read. In typical Burchell fashion, by the end of the book I had fallen hard for that nasty callous hero.
October 26, 2017
Mary Buchell has officially shot to the top of my favorite authors list along side Anne Weale, Sara Seale and Anne Mather. Old school Harlequins are my absolute favorite and as long as a book fulfill my simple requirements I couldn't be happier:
1. Rich older handsome Hero
2. Younger agreeable heroine
3. interesting plot
4. HEA (which leaves me in a state of whimsey)
1. Rich older handsome Hero
2. Younger agreeable heroine
3. interesting plot
4. HEA (which leaves me in a state of whimsey)
September 9, 2020
Right, 4 stars for a story about an 18 year old girl deciding to become a rich man's mistress quite deliberately !!!!!! Nope, the guy doesn't promise a marriage at all, in fact he is already married(to a mercenary OW of course). The girl goes along the plan in exchange for 20 thousand pounds. Ostensibly to help fund her younger brother's 'artistic' education. But she doesn't shy away from acknowledging that she is doing it because she fancies the guy big time.
So how can this sort of story line be a 4 star, you might wonder !!!?!?
That's the sheer writing genius of the author. Who makes the whole sordid business look so innocent and sincere, nothing crass or cheap about it.
The wide eyed innocence of the heroine who is named Virginia quite ironically! Her hazy morals are in complete contrast with her strong integrity, sheer hard work and sincere concern for the hero.
The cynic hero who has jaded views about the world at large realizes quite early in the story that he has found a rare breed of human being - the sincere simpleton - when he meets Virginia.
The hard hearted cynic business tycoon proposes the whole mistress ruse to get rid of his wife. Virginia wants to escape the stifling environment with a tyrant aunt, nothing malicious about the guardian, she is just totally authoritarian. So when the hero meets with an accident in front of Virginia's house quite by chance, he is bed ridden at her place for a few days. That's when they strike up an unconventional friendship while she nurses him. They hit upon the 20000 pound bargain in a jolly mood actually!
But when the implementation of the mistress ruse begins, our hero realises what nonsense he is proposing to do. The girl is too naive to realize the implications of acting as an alibi to be cited in his divorce suite. Seeing her innocent admiration and genuine affection for him, he decides he cant spoil her life.
So he fakes a reconciliation with his wife and sends Virginia away. Within 2 days of arriving ! She goes on to do a secretarial course and learns to live a normal life. Her old friend and her sweet cousin (the pleasant soft hearted OM who always loses out to the roguish hero!) help Virginia out in settling down in London.
But when the OM reaches the proposing stage, our sweet little miss realizes that her affections are still locked with the rogue!! So she gets to his place and confronts him. First, she obediently returns the money he loaned her when he ruthlessly sent her away.
After that comes a lovely, poignant heart to heart climax between the two. Where the hero confesses to his noble act. And the heroine loves him even more for thinking about her welfare by sacrificing his own interests.
They say really sweet and honest things to each other. He warns her about the perils of marrying a 15 year older, severely injured and once married guy. But also admits that he is scared she will turn him down. But Virginia is a 100% goner. She simply cannot see the black spots in the guy, and she is so hopelessly in love with him that nothing else matters!
Border line immoral plot. Lovely execution. No crass language. Beautiful depth of feeling between the leads that the reader can sense and savour. 4 stars. Definitely.
So how can this sort of story line be a 4 star, you might wonder !!!?!?
That's the sheer writing genius of the author. Who makes the whole sordid business look so innocent and sincere, nothing crass or cheap about it.
The wide eyed innocence of the heroine who is named Virginia quite ironically! Her hazy morals are in complete contrast with her strong integrity, sheer hard work and sincere concern for the hero.
The cynic hero who has jaded views about the world at large realizes quite early in the story that he has found a rare breed of human being - the sincere simpleton - when he meets Virginia.
The hard hearted cynic business tycoon proposes the whole mistress ruse to get rid of his wife. Virginia wants to escape the stifling environment with a tyrant aunt, nothing malicious about the guardian, she is just totally authoritarian. So when the hero meets with an accident in front of Virginia's house quite by chance, he is bed ridden at her place for a few days. That's when they strike up an unconventional friendship while she nurses him. They hit upon the 20000 pound bargain in a jolly mood actually!
But when the implementation of the mistress ruse begins, our hero realises what nonsense he is proposing to do. The girl is too naive to realize the implications of acting as an alibi to be cited in his divorce suite. Seeing her innocent admiration and genuine affection for him, he decides he cant spoil her life.
So he fakes a reconciliation with his wife and sends Virginia away. Within 2 days of arriving ! She goes on to do a secretarial course and learns to live a normal life. Her old friend and her sweet cousin (the pleasant soft hearted OM who always loses out to the roguish hero!) help Virginia out in settling down in London.
But when the OM reaches the proposing stage, our sweet little miss realizes that her affections are still locked with the rogue!! So she gets to his place and confronts him. First, she obediently returns the money he loaned her when he ruthlessly sent her away.
After that comes a lovely, poignant heart to heart climax between the two. Where the hero confesses to his noble act. And the heroine loves him even more for thinking about her welfare by sacrificing his own interests.
They say really sweet and honest things to each other. He warns her about the perils of marrying a 15 year older, severely injured and once married guy. But also admits that he is scared she will turn him down. But Virginia is a 100% goner. She simply cannot see the black spots in the guy, and she is so hopelessly in love with him that nothing else matters!
Border line immoral plot. Lovely execution. No crass language. Beautiful depth of feeling between the leads that the reader can sense and savour. 4 stars. Definitely.
March 20, 2018
The H was an admitted jerk, but the h wanted him anyway. She was way, way too good for him -- so much so that he was correct in knowing he should stay far, far away from him. She gets her way, and he does love her, so I'm guessing it's considered a HEA. However, the bottom line for me is that
Read
December 1, 2015Easy to read. Sweet. Old school. But my cup of tea. Always good to see the h grown to be stronger and better.
February 2, 2017
You can't go wrong with Mary Burchell.
December 25, 2018
Just once I wish one of these heroines was like, “You know, my life kind of fucking sucks right now and I’m gonna grab this chance to make it better.” Instead we have to have the excuse of a Dubious Male Relative to justify the behavior of our Martyr Mary Sue heroine. Blerg. Also, we have an 18 year old heroine with a 40 year old man and [shudder] cousins marrying. And yet it was batshit crazy fun.
May 28, 2025
coming from the regency romances the premise of 'pls help me divorce my wife' was pretty novel to me and I kinda whish it had followed more into that, even though (or because) that would have made it a completely different story. With the characters not even seeing each other for half of the book and being completely focused on the fmcs perspective this felt more like a coming of age story than a romance story to me. That being said I still loved the story as it was.
October 17, 2020
1980s book with a 1950s plot. Once I got past the rather dated premise, it wasn't entirely awful. But I couldn't help agreeing with the hero that the heroine needed a chance to see a little more of the world before they did something about their insta-love. Ms. Burchell clearly liked those teenage girl/thirty-something man romances. Doesn't bear thinking about in real life, but she could make it work. (Usually)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2022
Lovely story with likable people. (Brother is a bit dim and auntie smug in her petty realm.)
January 31, 2023
This was very sweet, but it didn’t have enough angst!
April 20, 2025
Read this in one day. Enjoyed it very much. It kept me guessing. Mary Burchell is my new favorite author.
I reread this book several months later. It is one of the three books she wrote in 1940, so it is one of her earliest books.
Eighteen-year-old Virginia was raised with her younger brother Richard by their insufferable Aunt Julia. There is a car crash in front of their home, so she finds herself tending to the injured man, Jason Kent. He is a powerful businessman, married to a very lovely and elegant shrew. Despite his artistic talents, 17-year-old Richard is working in an office rather than pursuing his dreams. Virginia needs money to finance his art training, so she accepts Jason's offer to pose as his mistress for 20,000 pounds so he can get a divorce. So she sneaks off to live with him.
Grey eyes: Clive
I reread this book several months later. It is one of the three books she wrote in 1940, so it is one of her earliest books.
Eighteen-year-old Virginia was raised with her younger brother Richard by their insufferable Aunt Julia. There is a car crash in front of their home, so she finds herself tending to the injured man, Jason Kent. He is a powerful businessman, married to a very lovely and elegant shrew. Despite his artistic talents, 17-year-old Richard is working in an office rather than pursuing his dreams. Virginia needs money to finance his art training, so she accepts Jason's offer to pose as his mistress for 20,000 pounds so he can get a divorce. So she sneaks off to live with him.
Grey eyes: Clive
September 4, 2016
A pretty boring Mary Burchell; I'm not sure how it ended up in my box of romances to keep from my teenaged years. Part of the problem is that it was written in 1940 and published in 1980 as a Harlequin Romance, and the scandal about the good girl who is going to throw away her reputation (in exchange for money to help her brother) by helping a stranger get a divorce doesn't seem very scandalous for 1980. The plot and characters weren't up to Mary Burchell's usual standards. For Burchell die-hards only.
Want to read
November 5, 2011The scheme would be of mutual benefit
When Jason Kent literally crashed into Virginia's life, he turned her whole world upside down. In return for a large sum of money, he asked her to pose as his mistress so that his wife would divorce him.
Virginia agreed because it meant she could finance her younger brother's artistic career.
But would she have been so willing if she had known the full impact Jason Kent would have on her life?
When Jason Kent literally crashed into Virginia's life, he turned her whole world upside down. In return for a large sum of money, he asked her to pose as his mistress so that his wife would divorce him.
Virginia agreed because it meant she could finance her younger brother's artistic career.
But would she have been so willing if she had known the full impact Jason Kent would have on her life?
April 12, 2013
The age gap thing kind of.... rubs me the wrong way, but I like the purity of the story and its straight to the point quality.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews