What do you think?
Rate this book
And The Bride Wore Black
Wedding vows were meant to be kept!
There was an old story about the Cade men; they only love once....but when they do, it's for eternity!
But where did that leave an ordinary working girl like Fabia Grant? Alex Cade had made it clear that he needed her solely for business purposes. Yet, somehow, nothing could stop the pangs of jealousy that pierced Fabia's heart whenever glamorous widow Susan latched on to Alex!
Fabia was determined not to give in to her feelings. She had made a vow, and it was one she didn't take lightly...that if she was foolish enough to fall in love, then she would wear black on her wedding day!
There was an old story about the Cade men; they only love once....but when they do, it's for eternity!
But where did that leave an ordinary working girl like Fabia Grant? Alex Cade had made it clear that he needed her solely for business purposes. Yet, somehow, nothing could stop the pangs of jealousy that pierced Fabia's heart whenever glamorous widow Susan latched on to Alex!
Fabia was determined not to give in to her feelings. She had made a vow, and it was one she didn't take lightly...that if she was foolish enough to fall in love, then she would wear black on her wedding day!
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
16 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Helen Brooks
406 books120 followersRita Bradshaw was born on 1949 in Northampton, England, where she was educated as a good Christian. She met Clive, her husband, at the age of 16 andnow the magic is still there. They have three lovely children, Cara, Faye, and Benjamin, and have always had a menagerie of animals in the house, which at the present is confined to two endearing and very comical dogs who would make a great double act on TV! The children, friends, and pets all keep the house buzzing and the food cupboards empty but Helen wouldn't have it any other way. She still lives today in Northampton with her family. Although having enjoyed some wonderful holidays abroad she has never been tempted to live anywhere else, although she rather likes the idea of a holiday home close to the sea one day.
Being a committed Christian and fervent animal lover she finds spare time is always at a premium, but long walks in the countryside with her husband and dogs, meals out followed by the cinema or theatre, reading, swimming, and having friends over for dinner are all fitted in somehow. She also enjoys sitting in her wonderfully therapeutic, rambling old garden in the sun with a glass of red wine, (under the guise of resting while thinking of course!)
For years, she was a secretary. She began writing in 1990 as she approached that milestone of a birthday 40! She realized her two teenage ambitions (writing a novel and learning to drive) had been lost amid babies and hectic family life, so set about resurrecting them.
Her first novel was for Mills and Boon and was accepted after one rewrite in 1992 as Helen Brooks, and she passed her driving test (the former was a joy and the latter an unmitigated nightmare!) She has written 50 novels as well as several sagas as Rita Bradshaw.
Since becoming a full-time writer she has found her occupation one of pure joy and often surprised when her characters develop a mind of their own but she loves exploring what makes people tick and finds the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" to be absolutely true. She would love to hear from any readers care of Mills & Boon.
Being a committed Christian and fervent animal lover she finds spare time is always at a premium, but long walks in the countryside with her husband and dogs, meals out followed by the cinema or theatre, reading, swimming, and having friends over for dinner are all fitted in somehow. She also enjoys sitting in her wonderfully therapeutic, rambling old garden in the sun with a glass of red wine, (under the guise of resting while thinking of course!)
For years, she was a secretary. She began writing in 1990 as she approached that milestone of a birthday 40! She realized her two teenage ambitions (writing a novel and learning to drive) had been lost amid babies and hectic family life, so set about resurrecting them.
Her first novel was for Mills and Boon and was accepted after one rewrite in 1992 as Helen Brooks, and she passed her driving test (the former was a joy and the latter an unmitigated nightmare!) She has written 50 novels as well as several sagas as Rita Bradshaw.
Since becoming a full-time writer she has found her occupation one of pure joy and often surprised when her characters develop a mind of their own but she loves exploring what makes people tick and finds the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" to be absolutely true. She would love to hear from any readers care of Mills & Boon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 14, 2024
The wealthy, handsome H approaches the beautiful h at a glittering soiree and poor him, he doesn't know what he has gotten himself into. The h is bitter. As in, the chip on her shoulder is the size of Mount Everest, because of the one horrendous experience she had with a slimy womanizer when she was 18 and freshly off the turnip cart. So the h decides to play a nasty trick on the H, pretending to be a grotesque, loud, obnoxious, Southern Belle. She twangs, snarls, and two-steps her way around the glittering ball holding onto the H and slobbering all over him, while he is desperately trying to get away from her.
At the end of the ball, a very irate H figures out that the h was not even a guest and crashed the hoity toity soiree. He demands the h follow him to the hotel manager's office for some explanations but the h manages to elude him by climbing out of the bathroom window, still decked out in her ballgown, and slip down the wall of the hotel, leaving him a cheeky message written in her lipstick on the bathroom mirror. It was a ridiculous beginning but so much fun that I was hooked :)
The H tracks down the h and sort of blackmails/guilts her into a fake engagement to appease his dying grandmother. They are to spend the Christmas holidays at Grandma's ornate English countryside mansion and hob-knob with all the local high society including a nasty widow neighbor who has set her sights on the H. I really enjoyed the pace, the characterizations, and all the secondary characters (including a friendly pair of German Shepherds named Major and Minor). I loved how obviously besotted the H was and how h's vulnerability tempered her bitchiness. The ending was rather sweet so overall, I enjoyed this story.
At the end of the ball, a very irate H figures out that the h was not even a guest and crashed the hoity toity soiree. He demands the h follow him to the hotel manager's office for some explanations but the h manages to elude him by climbing out of the bathroom window, still decked out in her ballgown, and slip down the wall of the hotel, leaving him a cheeky message written in her lipstick on the bathroom mirror. It was a ridiculous beginning but so much fun that I was hooked :)
The H tracks down the h and sort of blackmails/guilts her into a fake engagement to appease his dying grandmother. They are to spend the Christmas holidays at Grandma's ornate English countryside mansion and hob-knob with all the local high society including a nasty widow neighbor who has set her sights on the H. I really enjoyed the pace, the characterizations, and all the secondary characters (including a friendly pair of German Shepherds named Major and Minor). I loved how obviously besotted the H was and how h's vulnerability tempered her bitchiness. The ending was rather sweet so overall, I enjoyed this story.
February 10, 2017
Awww. Such a smitten hero! Such a brittle, hostile heroine!
I liked the heroine better at the beginning when she impulsively threw herself at the hero at a charity function (thus causing him to lose a deal) and then escaped with her friend through a bathroom window. There was a light-heartedness and sense of humor about her that she lost and never seemed to regain once the hero began his pursuit.
After the hero convinces her to play his girlfriend and got her on his home turf in Cumbria with his Italian grandmother and kind servants and a Christmas right out of postcard and she was still blowing hot and cold(shrilly, I might add), I lost patience with her.
But oh, my. This hero. The author slowly reveals his character and his values and his hopes and dreams through some delightful set pieces. I don’t usually enjoy Christmas stories, but there was nothing cloying or sentimental about these scenes. I really liked the grandmother. She wasn’t Machiavellian or all-wise – just an old woman who wanted the best for her grandson.
That the heroine was *that* blind to the hero’s good qualities seven years after a rich guy almost got her into bed under false circumstances seems a bit . . .odd.
Still, this is worthwhile vintage with an engaging hero and some fun adventures in the English countryside.
I liked the heroine better at the beginning when she impulsively threw herself at the hero at a charity function (thus causing him to lose a deal) and then escaped with her friend through a bathroom window. There was a light-heartedness and sense of humor about her that she lost and never seemed to regain once the hero began his pursuit.
After the hero convinces her to play his girlfriend and got her on his home turf in Cumbria with his Italian grandmother and kind servants and a Christmas right out of postcard and she was still blowing hot and cold(shrilly, I might add), I lost patience with her.
But oh, my. This hero. The author slowly reveals his character and his values and his hopes and dreams through some delightful set pieces. I don’t usually enjoy Christmas stories, but there was nothing cloying or sentimental about these scenes. I really liked the grandmother. She wasn’t Machiavellian or all-wise – just an old woman who wanted the best for her grandson.
That the heroine was *that* blind to the hero’s good qualities seven years after a rich guy almost got her into bed under false circumstances seems a bit . . .odd.
Still, this is worthwhile vintage with an engaging hero and some fun adventures in the English countryside.
dnf
August 7, 2017It's not you it's me!
But I actually fell asleep 😴!
But I actually fell asleep 😴!
June 14, 2013
Heroine wallowed too much in the past and I really didn't like her that much. For me it was obvious what the hero felt. My complain it felt the book had no romance, only the heroine acting badly.
May 30, 2024
Nice role reversal for once, with him falling for her at first sight and her needing lots of persuasion to give him a chance. He is super tortured into her from beginning to end (without being too problematic), which makes for some nice angst porn.
December 3, 2018
This was a weird story. Alex blackmailing Fabia into being his fake girlfriend for Christmas didn't make sense at all as there was nothing to hold over her. So she played a prank on him, so his pride was hurt; but she could have just refused to go at anytime. There really was no logical reason (yes, I'm aware of the irony here) for them to embark on the entire charade together. And what was there to stop her from revealing the truth to his grandmother? And the chip on her shoulder just made her dislikeable and very unappealing. And the old trope about the traumatised leading lady constantly having flashbacks and feeling sorry for herself and hating Christmas and being cynical about love and therefore needing a big strong man to heal her is just so overused it was as annoying as Fabia was. I'm pretty sick of female characters like these. What they need is therapy, not romance. Brooks's problem is that all her heroines seem to have a female rival for the hero's affections; and the rival is always a superficial, evil, gold digging, two-dimensional wicked witch that is meant to act as foil to the heroine. But in this case that only served to make the heroine, Fabia even more dislikeable. And her dog-in-the manger attitude. She treated Alex like dirt, but expected him to run and fetch at her command. She was such a wet blanket I couldn't understand why Alex still wanted to be with her. It isn't love when you're constantly tested and made to jump through hoops to prove your worth. And the whole love at first sight thing? In this book it was enough to turn me into a Grinch!
May 18, 2020
Wedding vows were meant to be kept!
There was an old story about the Cade men; they only love once....but when they do, it's for eternity!
But where did that leave an ordinary working girl like Fabia Grant? Alex Cade had made it clear that he needed her solely for business purposes. Yet, somehow, nothing could stop the pangs of jealousy that pierced Fabia's heart whenever glamorous widow Susan latched on to Alex!
Fabia was determined not to give in to her feelings. She had made a vow, and it was one she didn't take lightly...that if she was foolish enough to fall in love, then she would wear black on her wedding day
There was an old story about the Cade men; they only love once....but when they do, it's for eternity!
But where did that leave an ordinary working girl like Fabia Grant? Alex Cade had made it clear that he needed her solely for business purposes. Yet, somehow, nothing could stop the pangs of jealousy that pierced Fabia's heart whenever glamorous widow Susan latched on to Alex!
Fabia was determined not to give in to her feelings. She had made a vow, and it was one she didn't take lightly...that if she was foolish enough to fall in love, then she would wear black on her wedding day
September 5, 2017
"And the Bride wore Black" is the story of Cade and Fabia.
Fabia attends Cade the millionaires party, disrupts it, kisses him, and costs him his business deal. Later she runs away.
However Cade chases her and blackmails her to be his pretend fiancée for his sick grandmothers sake.
So the problem again with this book is the heroine.
She is VERY annoying- judges the hero, calling him names, pushing him away, verbally abusing and hurting him- and when he turns away feels bad. This continues throughout the book without reason- the hero DOESNT do one thing to deserve that lashing except being rich.
The hero was very sweet and devoted and did not deserve this harpy.
Safe
2/5
Fabia attends Cade the millionaires party, disrupts it, kisses him, and costs him his business deal. Later she runs away.
However Cade chases her and blackmails her to be his pretend fiancée for his sick grandmothers sake.
So the problem again with this book is the heroine.
She is VERY annoying- judges the hero, calling him names, pushing him away, verbally abusing and hurting him- and when he turns away feels bad. This continues throughout the book without reason- the hero DOESNT do one thing to deserve that lashing except being rich.
The hero was very sweet and devoted and did not deserve this harpy.
Safe
2/5
July 17, 2018
Available on Open Library.
Just ok. The Hero was obviously smitten, but the blind prejudiced heroine could not see it at all.
She wasn’t a bride until the end, and she didn’t wear black.
Just ok. The Hero was obviously smitten, but the blind prejudiced heroine could not see it at all.
She wasn’t a bride until the end, and she didn’t wear black.
April 11, 2021
ΠΟΛΥ ΩΡΑΙΟ!!!! Μια ξεχωριστή ιστορία αγάπης που μου άρεσε πολύ!!!! Με χιούμορ, θαυμάσια πλοκή και ένα πολύ γλυκό επίλογο!!!!!
April 18, 2023
This book moved me from enjoyment of the prank played on the H to cheering for him to win the love of the h.
March 5, 2012
4 ½ Stars! ~ The opening of this lovestory has our hero enchanted with our heroine's beauty and when he attempts to make his move, our heroine shocks him by presenting a crude personality sure to repulse him. Fabia has great fun fooling Alex, only she later learns that when he discovers her prank that he's not amused. Fabia allows a very painful experience with a rich playboy to paint her opinions of Alex in the same colour. Slowing through his persistence she begins to doubt her preconceived impressions. Fabia is torn by her attraction to Alex and by the voice in her heart that warns her that he's just like the one who hurt her. Alex hates that Fabia has stereotyped him because of his wealth and the press that comes with that wealth. Although we are not given his POV, it's clear that Alex cares deeply for Fabia even though she fails to see it until it's almost too late. These are wonderful characters and their journey to a HEA was one I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
November 22, 2025
Okay, first off: The blurb is a lie.
They way it's written implies strongly that there is a MOC and the bride makes a "vow" saying that if, by God, she has the horrible misfortune to fall in love with the H before the wedding, she'll wear black, so help her!
Nope. This is not a MOC at all, and she does not make any vows about anything. She and the H are having a conversation about romance, marriage, relationships, etc. and in her bitterness and frustration with men, she says that happy-ever-after is a farce, and if she ever DID get married (for any reason at all), she'd wear black, as an OTT declaration of how poorly she views the idea of falling in love, marriage, hea, etc.
What is actually going on is a fake dating relationship wherein the h is being """forced""" by the H to pretend to be involved with him over his Christmas with his grandmother, because literally all the other women possible in his life would insist upon getting married and take advantage of him because he's super rich.
He says she owes him this because, at a party they both attended weeks before, she pretended to be a loud, obnoxious, trashy Southern Belle and ruined a major financial deal by making him look bad in front of his potential clients or whatever.
Heroine has a backstory where she was romanced and betrayed by a spoiled rich jerkface who was slumming while his mistress was away, and she was hurt so much by this betrayal (the mistress came in and caught them in bed then the OM said horrible things about the heroine because he didn't get to actually f her)
Anyway, for some reason this didn't just break her heart for a while, even though it's highly unlikely she was actually in LOVE love with the Other Jerkface; it scarred her forever against like all men, and especially wealthy ones.
Now I feel that, and frankly all her reasons for avoiding super wealthy men like the absolute plague were 100% valid. Also, Hero did some dumb and insensitive things that didn't help matters much. He claimed to be Not Like Other Rich Men, but instead of either letting it go and deciding she wasn't for him, or putting himself in her shoes and trying not to trigger her defense mechanisms by acting like an entitled rich man used to buying his way everywhere, he just insisted she get over her issues while also using his influence and wealth to vaguely threaten her into faking a relationship with him, kept getting offended when she even LOOKED a certain way when he did things that were obviously Rich Boy things. And then, he bought her expensive jewelry for Christmas. Instead of something thoughtful and mindful and sweet, it was just jewelry, for someone he KNEW had prejudices against wealthy men buying women, and suspected his motives, and didn't value money or prestige or anything.
Just, he did not help matters.
In the end, they got their HEA after a lot of nonsense though and I'm glad bc he did seem like a perfectly decent, ordinary person who could just buy a random shopping center on a moment's notice, no biggie.
(He did not do this btw, he just happened to own the one he took her Christmas shopping in lol)
This was pretty okay, not imo as bad as the lowest ratings gave it, but not really a masterpiece. The Christmas-holiday setting without being annoyingly Christmas obsessed was an extra bonus since it's November!
They way it's written implies strongly that there is a MOC and the bride makes a "vow" saying that if, by God, she has the horrible misfortune to fall in love with the H before the wedding, she'll wear black, so help her!
Nope. This is not a MOC at all, and she does not make any vows about anything. She and the H are having a conversation about romance, marriage, relationships, etc. and in her bitterness and frustration with men, she says that happy-ever-after is a farce, and if she ever DID get married (for any reason at all), she'd wear black, as an OTT declaration of how poorly she views the idea of falling in love, marriage, hea, etc.
What is actually going on is a fake dating relationship wherein the h is being """forced""" by the H to pretend to be involved with him over his Christmas with his grandmother, because literally all the other women possible in his life would insist upon getting married and take advantage of him because he's super rich.
He says she owes him this because, at a party they both attended weeks before, she pretended to be a loud, obnoxious, trashy Southern Belle and ruined a major financial deal by making him look bad in front of his potential clients or whatever.
Heroine has a backstory where she was romanced and betrayed by a spoiled rich jerkface who was slumming while his mistress was away, and she was hurt so much by this betrayal (the mistress came in and caught them in bed then the OM said horrible things about the heroine because he didn't get to actually f her)
Anyway, for some reason this didn't just break her heart for a while, even though it's highly unlikely she was actually in LOVE love with the Other Jerkface; it scarred her forever against like all men, and especially wealthy ones.
Now I feel that, and frankly all her reasons for avoiding super wealthy men like the absolute plague were 100% valid. Also, Hero did some dumb and insensitive things that didn't help matters much. He claimed to be Not Like Other Rich Men, but instead of either letting it go and deciding she wasn't for him, or putting himself in her shoes and trying not to trigger her defense mechanisms by acting like an entitled rich man used to buying his way everywhere, he just insisted she get over her issues while also using his influence and wealth to vaguely threaten her into faking a relationship with him, kept getting offended when she even LOOKED a certain way when he did things that were obviously Rich Boy things. And then, he bought her expensive jewelry for Christmas. Instead of something thoughtful and mindful and sweet, it was just jewelry, for someone he KNEW had prejudices against wealthy men buying women, and suspected his motives, and didn't value money or prestige or anything.
Just, he did not help matters.
In the end, they got their HEA after a lot of nonsense though and I'm glad bc he did seem like a perfectly decent, ordinary person who could just buy a random shopping center on a moment's notice, no biggie.
(He did not do this btw, he just happened to own the one he took her Christmas shopping in lol)
This was pretty okay, not imo as bad as the lowest ratings gave it, but not really a masterpiece. The Christmas-holiday setting without being annoyingly Christmas obsessed was an extra bonus since it's November!
December 26, 2023
This should have been called "And the Bride Wore a Dunce Cap", because she sure was dumb to fall for the baloney that the "villain" of this Pity Party Fest novel was so full of. She may have been only 18 at the time, but growing up in foster homes, then earning her own living at 16 in London should have made her worldly enough to know that a man twice her age (and a wealthy one at that) wouldn't suddenly fall head over heels with a teenage working-class girl, then ask her to "prove her love" by sleeping with him, like some horny frat guy. She let herself be dazzled by his money (understandable) and decided she was wrong to hold out for the gold band, only to have his mistress catch him before the deed was done!
SO RIDICULOUS!!!
Most young women would have chalked it up to a bad experience, been glad the OW got there before the creep's penis got in her vagina, so she could go back to her original intent of staying a virgin until marriage and gotten on with her life. Instead, she makes a martyr of herself, and decides no man can be trusted, especially rich men. So, when the H comes along, and he just happens to be wealthy, you can guess the rest.
There's the silly "let's pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend to make Grandma happy" (the independent, nonconformist and outspoken grandmother was the only worthy character in this book) plot device, the conniving OW/former girlfriend, who uses her children as bait to trap the H, and a whole lot of wasted time, while the h fights her feelings, determines to think of the H as another rich creep, acts hot for him one minute, then turns into a cold bitch the next, and while he was no prize himself, I still think he'd have been smart enough to forget this melodramatic martyr and found a woman who didn't have her emotions in cold storage over something stupid that happened seven years ago!
I've read novels where the h had reason to really hate and distrust men (like the one where the h was viciously raped by two crappy creeps) and was still willing to try and trust again, so this one acting the way she did with such a lame excuse was just too dumb!
Skip this one!
SO RIDICULOUS!!!
Most young women would have chalked it up to a bad experience, been glad the OW got there before the creep's penis got in her vagina, so she could go back to her original intent of staying a virgin until marriage and gotten on with her life. Instead, she makes a martyr of herself, and decides no man can be trusted, especially rich men. So, when the H comes along, and he just happens to be wealthy, you can guess the rest.
There's the silly "let's pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend to make Grandma happy" (the independent, nonconformist and outspoken grandmother was the only worthy character in this book) plot device, the conniving OW/former girlfriend, who uses her children as bait to trap the H, and a whole lot of wasted time, while the h fights her feelings, determines to think of the H as another rich creep, acts hot for him one minute, then turns into a cold bitch the next, and while he was no prize himself, I still think he'd have been smart enough to forget this melodramatic martyr and found a woman who didn't have her emotions in cold storage over something stupid that happened seven years ago!
I've read novels where the h had reason to really hate and distrust men (like the one where the h was viciously raped by two crappy creeps) and was still willing to try and trust again, so this one acting the way she did with such a lame excuse was just too dumb!
Skip this one!
January 28, 2025
My recent dip back into category romances reminded me that I read this one way back in 2023, even wrote a review(!), but then for some reason never got around to posting it? So here’s me remedying that.
Anyway, it was overall far too cliché and contrived for my tastes, and starts to taste a bit like diabetes as things progress (which admittedly might do it for some readers, but ultimately doesn’t for me). The author also takes almost 50 pages to just get the plot rolling, which is frankly heinous in a book that’s only 189 pages in length. The author can string a sentence together competently and her prose is very readable, but she otherwise beats points into the ground (possibly to pad out the word count?) and indulges in some obvious telling instead of showing, such as when she insists via Fabia that Alex is an “enigma.” (He very much isn’t.) Extra points deducted for early-book fat-shaming and weird focus on the heroine’s diet. (I know it was 1993, but still.) Tonally, it eventually resembles a Hallmark Christmas card, albeit with interludes of heavy petting.
Also, the title effectively has nothing to do with the plot—it almost feels like the author was handed the title from on high, and thus just had to make do by tokenly shoe-horning it in. Truly, I think the best thing about this one might be the cover art. 2 stars, maybe 2.5 if you catch me on a generous day.
(As an aside, the book later had an official manga adaptation, which I would actually rate 3 stars. It’s still far from perfect, but it smooths over some of the more problematic aspects, and in general, I feel the story just works better as a goofy, quick comic.)
Anyway, it was overall far too cliché and contrived for my tastes, and starts to taste a bit like diabetes as things progress (which admittedly might do it for some readers, but ultimately doesn’t for me). The author also takes almost 50 pages to just get the plot rolling, which is frankly heinous in a book that’s only 189 pages in length. The author can string a sentence together competently and her prose is very readable, but she otherwise beats points into the ground (possibly to pad out the word count?) and indulges in some obvious telling instead of showing, such as when she insists via Fabia that Alex is an “enigma.” (He very much isn’t.) Extra points deducted for early-book fat-shaming and weird focus on the heroine’s diet. (I know it was 1993, but still.) Tonally, it eventually resembles a Hallmark Christmas card, albeit with interludes of heavy petting.
Also, the title effectively has nothing to do with the plot—it almost feels like the author was handed the title from on high, and thus just had to make do by tokenly shoe-horning it in. Truly, I think the best thing about this one might be the cover art. 2 stars, maybe 2.5 if you catch me on a generous day.
(As an aside, the book later had an official manga adaptation, which I would actually rate 3 stars. It’s still far from perfect, but it smooths over some of the more problematic aspects, and in general, I feel the story just works better as a goofy, quick comic.)
May 29, 2022
Meet-cute where the orphaned h sees the H at a charity do and smacks a kiss on him, among other fun details. The H is intrigued but through a series of misunderstandings their 1st meeting is very...eventful and she runs off. The H has to hire an agency to find her in busy London, and emotionally blackmails her into acting as his gf to visit his gazillionaire 87 year old grandma in a gigantic Cumbrian mansion. It's Christmas, there's heavy snow, midnight walks to church, cozy fireside dinners, 2 fuzzy dogs, and the poor H has been throwing hints left right and center. The h was played by a rich 40 year old when she was barely legal, and she instantly paints the H in the same vein and lets him know it. The poor guy even acknowledges that his money is actually working against him lol. I dropped one star off because of how stubborn and BLIND the h was till the last pages. The H kept sending feelers and laying his heart out on a platter and she kept backing off every single time and finally ends up hurting him emotionally. There's a random threat to H's life in the end which makes her confess her love and the H tells her that he fell in love with her at first sight back the charity do. Sweet HEA although would have loved some post wedding scenes.
June 1, 2019
This is not romance, its just a story about weirdos. This could have been a really good book with the h's quirky sense of humor and the cute meet but she weirds into this virgin with a huge chip on her shoulder and judging all men based on her experience as an 18 year old who falls for a 40 year old rich playboy. The H in the first 3 chapters came across as a psycho rich idiot as he goes spending money searching for h after she came on to him as a repulsive souther ingenue, chases away his client, saves some guest at the party and runs out via the restroom after writing a message with a lipstick! The idiotic H keeps talking about h owing him when there was no such obligations from her. The author really is trying too hard to bring the characters together and it results in the whole scene coming across as weirdly unpalatable to us readers.
February 12, 2018
I liked this book, but some of it was hard to take. The opening scene where the hero and heroine meet was utterly ridiculous, and not in a fun. She was so bitter and made assumptions about the hero, who she had never met, that she decided on a prank that backfired spectacularly on her. There were things to like about the book and things to dislike, so overall, it was just your average Harlequin/Mills & Boon book.
October 28, 2023
Slow
I liked the characters, but Fabia was so mean for so long. When she finally let Alex in, it was over. We never got to see the romance. It's a okay story, I just wish there was more.
I liked the characters, but Fabia was so mean for so long. When she finally let Alex in, it was over. We never got to see the romance. It's a okay story, I just wish there was more.
January 28, 2024
Um protagonista tóxico, abusivo e agressivo.
Sei que o livro foi escrito há muitos anos, mas incomoda-me este machismo e romanização de comportamentos abusivos.
Para além disso, está mal escrito, a história é muito cliché e básica. Já li, no ano passado, um livro praticamente com a mesma história
Sei que o livro foi escrito há muitos anos, mas incomoda-me este machismo e romanização de comportamentos abusivos.
Para além disso, está mal escrito, a história é muito cliché e básica. Já li, no ano passado, um livro praticamente com a mesma história
October 24, 2020
Just the worst. Rage inducing bullshit.
February 9, 2021
Besotted hero. Handsome, strong, rich, alpha male, but not cruel. Just very, very tender and loving.
And it’s refreshing to read about a HP heroine who isn’t stupid and/or cold.
And it’s refreshing to read about a HP heroine who isn’t stupid and/or cold.
May 23, 2022
First part and ending are 5 stars but the middle drags and the OW is a bore.
May 3, 2021
Second reading, still enjoyable but I still wonder why many HP h's allow previous slimebuckets to taint them forever on love.
December 18, 2013
tak, tohle byla asi nejvíc zajímavá kniha, co jsem za poslední dny četla.
měla napínavej konec. prostě byla zajímavá. nescházelo drama, ačkoliv ho tam nebylo zas tolik, ale i tak to možná stačilo.
no, řeknu to tak - četla jsem i lepší. :)
měla napínavej konec. prostě byla zajímavá. nescházelo drama, ačkoliv ho tam nebylo zas tolik, ale i tak to možná stačilo.
no, řeknu to tak - četla jsem i lepší. :)
Read
November 4, 2012it was a pretty cool book .............. i guess......
November 26, 2015
Ssurprise
Bitterness surrounds the heroine but finally finds her one true love.grandma great character which added spice to story.love won out
Bitterness surrounds the heroine but finally finds her one true love.grandma great character which added spice to story.love won out
October 20, 2016
Star Rating: ★★½☆☆
Read
July 2, 2018Wedding vows were meant to be kept!
There was an old story about the Cade men; they only love once....but when they do, it's for eternity!
But where did that leave an ordinary working girl like Fabia? Alex Cade had made it clear that he needed her solely for business purposes. Yet, somehow, nothing could stop the pangs of jealousy that pierced Fabia's heart whenever glamorous widow Susan latched on to Alex!
Fabia was determined not to give in to her feelings. She had made a vow, and it was one she didn't take lightly...that if she was foolish enough to fall in love, then she would wear black on her wedding day!
There was an old story about the Cade men; they only love once....but when they do, it's for eternity!
But where did that leave an ordinary working girl like Fabia? Alex Cade had made it clear that he needed her solely for business purposes. Yet, somehow, nothing could stop the pangs of jealousy that pierced Fabia's heart whenever glamorous widow Susan latched on to Alex!
Fabia was determined not to give in to her feelings. She had made a vow, and it was one she didn't take lightly...that if she was foolish enough to fall in love, then she would wear black on her wedding day!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews