موعد مع الغرام

by Rosemary Carter, روزماري كارتر

Letter From Bronze M by Rosemary Carter released on Nov 23, 1984 is available now for purchase.

Genres: Harlequin Presents, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance

Unknown Binding

First published August 1, 1984

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 1 out of 5]

After her sister is killed in a car crash, Heroine goes to Bronze Mountain, the South African resort where her sister was employed, to complete the mural that was left unfinished in the wake of her death. Both sisters were artists and had worked on the sketches for the mural together. The surviving, grieving heroine wants to complete the mural in her sister's memory.

Heroine is met at the train station by a dashing man on horseback who offers her a lift to the resort. They end up spending the whole day together, visiting an old mining ghost town, spying on some baby ducks in a "vlei" and eventually exchanging passionate kisses. Heroine is in luuuurrrvvveee. He seems pretty smitten too. While sitting pillion behind her knight in shining armor, she mentally composes a letter to her parents telling them that she has for the first time in her life been madly and deeply struck by the love arrow, and hopes that they can accept and share in her newfound joy despite the profound and still fresh wound of losing their beloved other daughter. This state of bliss lasts until hero and heroine finally arrive at the resort and the heroine realizes this is the man who was driving the car in which her sister lost her life. He also happens to be the owner of the resort and her current boss.

Heroine immediately blames the hero for her sister’s death, speculating that he must have either been drunk or recklessly driving to cause the crash. She is also angry that he didn't even bother to come tell heroine and her parents the news in person, nor did he express any remorse or grief afterwards. All they got was a terse, unemotional, typewritten letter three months after the accident. Melodramatically, heroine resigns herself to a long life of lovelessness since the only man she has ever and will ever fall in love with is her sister's murderer.

The hero is angry at heroine’s accusations but doesn't defend himself. The same night that she met him, heroine sees him on a date with a hot blonde at the local restaurant. Heroine is there herself with a toady OM who also works at the resort and knew her sister as well. Hero and OM act as if they have a nasty history between them and the heroine is the newest bone they are going to fight over. The rest of the story is a series of bickerfests, slaps, shakes, ankle sprains, horse rides, Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstandings, some Detective Latoya Jackson Online Correspondence School for Private Investigation sleuthing, punishing kisses and visits to the local game park.

In a complete reversal, heroine decides to throw herself at hero but he keeps rejecting her. One night, he seems to finally succumb to her but can't close the deal as the trauma of the car accident has rendered him impotent, so he says. Heroine doesn't give up. Stalks him, corners him, sexually harasses him, and even declares she loves him, to which he replies "I'm flattered." LOL

Finally, hero asks the OW (who he has been dating the whole time that heroine has been running after him) to open the door to his cabin in a slinky slip and tousled bed-hair to warn off the heroine when she shows up for yet another "talk." Heroine runs off crying and gets herself lost in the forest. Hero eventually finds her and avows his love. He confesses that he had been dating her sister when she worked at the resort but that they weren't serious and he had already lost interest in her by the night of the car accident. He was driving her home because she was drunk and the OM who had been flirting with her was also too drunk to drive. The sister, in a drunken rage at being forcibly removed from the party, hit and kicked at the hero, took control of the steering wheel, and was the one responsible for the car crash. Hero was badly injured himself and stayed in the hospital for three months, where he was in and out of consciousness. Hence, the long silence after the accident.

The reason the hero didn't tell the truth and let every one think he was either driving recklessly or drunk is because of his immense survivor's guilt. If he hadn't insisted on driving heroine’s sister that night, maybe she would still be alive. Heroine accepts his explanation and magnanimously absolves him of all his perceived crimes. They can now freely and happily be together. All is well that ends well as the heroine mentally writes another letter from Bronze Mountain to her parents to share this HEA.

This was so trainwrecky and just tacky. Bad enough that he was attracted to and dated two sisters, but on top of it, all the nonsense with the OW while he was supposedly in love with heroine from Day One? Pfffftttt. And then all the psycho stalking and pseudo-sex therapy by the heroine, oh my. And the poor, bewildered parents who just let one daughter after the other leave for this shady place called Bronze Mountain... The real letter from Bronze Mountain should have been: Parents, don't send your daughters to this F'd up place!

[boogenhagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re Letter From Bronze Mountain - this is an interesting HP and one of the last RC wrote before she switched to HR's where she is mostly remembered for the master trainwreck that is A Wife Worth Keeping - the book where the wife walks in on her husband naked in bed with an employee at a business conference. AWWK was also the last book she wrote so perhaps it is a bit unfair to consider that her legacy.

LFBM starts with the h making a journey to the South African Velt, she is going to a place called Bronze Mountain where a new resort is being built. She hasn't made any arrangements to be met and the place is very remote, so when a handsome stranger, the H, shows up and offers her a day out with him and then he will take her to the resort, she is overwhelmed by love at first sight (or lust as the case may be) and goes with him, riding double on his trusty horse.

She and he have a great time and she starts mentally composing a letter home about her overwhelming attraction and feelings for the H. Eventually they get to the resort and the h introduces herself. She is there to finish the mural that her half sister started for the resort, the h and her sis are both artists and were in business together - unfortunately the sister was killed in a car wreck where the H happened to be driving. The h did not recognize the H as being the one with her sister because he uses a nickname "Roan" as opposed to the name they were given when informed about the wreck--which is Brandon.

The h is appalled because the other reason she is there is to find out exactly what went on with her sister, the sister had wrote about the H and was apparently in love with him. The h doesn't understand why someone who was in a serious relationship would send a stilted typed note about the sister's death and wouldn't want to meet the family and share the grief.

The h investigates around and works on the mural, and also feels that the H has been much more traumatized than he admits to, so she wants to find a way to help him. That she is in love with him and is trying to find a path to have a life with him is there as well, but the H keeps pushing her away.

Her investigations lead to her to the conclusion that the sister wasn't really serious about the H, she was just mad that he wouldn't add his scalp to her belt - there is another man at the resort that the sis was using too, and he finally confesses a bigger involvement with the sister than the H had.

When the h asks for a time to talk to the H about what really happened the night her sister died, the H -thinking the h is going to plead for his affections again- sets it up that the h walks in on him and another lover. The h is stunned and wanders off into the jungle where she gets lost and winds up staying over night. She is found the next day by the H and true love is avowed by all.

It is finally revealed that the H took the sister out for an evening as a friend, at the party the sister was all over the other man and very drunk. The H knowing both the OM and the sis were in no condition to be driving, arranges to take the sister home and a ride for the other guy. The sister has a drunken tantrum on the tricky mountain road going back and causes the big wreck.

The H feels incredibly guilty about the whole thing and that is why he got the lady to come over and pretend to be his lover-he wanted to drive the h away. He is terrified the h was dead when she got lost (and given the surroundings, that could have been a real possibility) and it makes him realize that he needs the h no matter what.

The h is not in any doubt about her feelings, she just needed to give her grieving parents some answers as they had no information and were tormenting themselves by not knowing what happened to the sister and the supposed love of her life.

The best thing about this book is the very vivid description of the area, there is the veldt, the mountains and the very rugged landscape - the love story isn't bad and the H's sense of guilt is very well conveyed. This one isn't a great book, but it is fairly entertaining if you run across it.

[Margo · Rating 1 out of 5]

The H does a terrible thing that nearly costs the h her life. There is simply too much toxicity for this to be a real HEA, so I'm writing a healing epilogue, which begins immediately after the terrible thing.

The h finds herself stranded and alone in the jungle after seeing the H with the OW (half-naked, clearly post-coital). After she has found rudimentary shelter for the night, she has time to think about the chain of events that got her to this point. She realizes that now that she's cleared up the circumstances of her sister's death, she can move forward. She thinks about all the things she wants to do in her life and, how, if she lives, she's going to leave this place and explore the world and enjoy every moment and make a true difference. Yes, she loves the H, but he doesn't love her, and that's OK.

When she is rescued the next day, the H is in full grovel mode, having also spent the night thinking about his life. He tells the h that the scene with the OW was deliberately set up to make the h stop loving him, and that he loves the h and always has, which prompts the following exchange:

H: Darling, I love you and I know you love me. Petra has never meant anything to me. We've never made love. I just did it to hurt you. When I realized that my foolish stunt nearly cost you your life, I was devastated. We can move forward and forget the past.
h: Move forward and forget? That little tableau with Petra upset me so much that I nearly got myself killed! Now admittedly, I need to work on my response to negative events, but that is otherwise almost entirely on you.
H: Yes, darling, and I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, if you'll let me.
h: You know, cupcake, I thought about that and I want to thank you for your offer. However, I realized something -- I'm young and beautiful, and I think it's just possible that I can fall in love with someone who has better coping and communications skills and doesn't try to "White Fang" me because he's not mature enough to handle things like a grownup.
H: But I can learn these things!
h: I'm sure you can, and will, for somebody else. Or even if you can't, why not go with Petra? She's clearly willing to accept pretty much anything you give her.
(She softens.)
h (gently): Look, sweetheart, you need psychiatric help and some grownup coping skills. I know you won't get them because you're an H, but it's true nevertheless. I wish you the best of luck.
H: I'll never forget you.
h: Yeah, yeah. I'll never forget you, either -- you'll always be a cautionary tale for me. I give you 72 hours before you are being comforted by Petra. (Sighs.) And I don't blame you. I fully anticipate being comforted by that surprisingly brawny Swedish doctor who examined me after I was rescued.
H: So you're leaving me for Dr. Sven!
h . (Sighs.) Boy, you really don't get it. (Brightens) But that falls into the category of "not my problem."

[Sarah Dane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but I'm annoyed with Brendon Stevens aka Roan

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can you love and hate at the same time?

It was unusual for Megan Westcott to put her trust in a stranger so quickly. But Roan was no ordinary stranger. He was the most extraordinarily dynamic man she'd ever met

Without fear or hesitation, Megan rode off with him to explore the South African countryside, feeling safe and protected by his strength and power. Then she learned that he was the man responsible for her sister's death.

And a love that had started out with such promise turned against them both as Megan tried to deny the force of the attraction between them. (less)

[أجمل زهرة · Rating 3 out of 5]

6-موعد مع الغرام
روايات عبير الجديدة

صدمت ميغان وعائلتها بموت اختها تامي، فقررت ان تسافر الى شرقي ترانسغال لتكتشف ما حدث وهناك قابلت رون الرجل الذي سبب لها التعاسة.
ومع ذلك وقعت في حبه، فهو يشبهها كثيرا ولكن لماذا يحاول ان يبتعد عنها؟
اخيرا عرفت ميغان السبب حين التقت بترا... ماذا تفعل الان وهي نفسها لا تعرف!