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Adam's Law
Kate's life was in tatters. Once a top London Model - now her face was scarred and her self-confidence broken. She was more than glad to hide herself away on picturesque Guernsey, as the guest of her lovable scatterbrained Aunt Dolly. Kate had envisaged a peaceful, isolated convalescence - she hadn't bargained for Adam. She found him devastating - how could anyone be so deliberately and persistently cruel? Could she endure him for long enough to discover the sweet and loving characteristics that her aunt insisted he possessed? It seemed unlikely.
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 15, 2019
Epic fail. The writer attempts to portray her male protagonist as a "tough-love" man trying to help a physically and emotionally traumatized accident victim. What he actually came across as was a cruel bully wielding a sledgehammer to pulverize a little fly.
His justification for berating her, insulting her, slut-shaming her, putting her down, and manhandling her? He was afraid that her depression would eventually end up in suicide if he didn't do something to shake her out of it. And her enabling aunt just sat back and let it all happen, even encouraging this zero-hero to continue his abuse.
I nearly fell off my chair. If she wasn't suicidal before, this nasty pair's mistreatment of her surely would have pushed her off the edge. Nowadays, he would be prosecuted for it as surely as that psycho bitch who told her emotionally fragile boyfriend to get back into his truck and kill himself.
This was a terrible and shameful example of a Harlequin gone bad. Not Gloriously Bad, cause those are the best, but just plain awful. I sincerely hope you avoid this :(
His justification for berating her, insulting her, slut-shaming her, putting her down, and manhandling her? He was afraid that her depression would eventually end up in suicide if he didn't do something to shake her out of it. And her enabling aunt just sat back and let it all happen, even encouraging this zero-hero to continue his abuse.
I nearly fell off my chair. If she wasn't suicidal before, this nasty pair's mistreatment of her surely would have pushed her off the edge. Nowadays, he would be prosecuted for it as surely as that psycho bitch who told her emotionally fragile boyfriend to get back into his truck and kill himself.
This was a terrible and shameful example of a Harlequin gone bad. Not Gloriously Bad, cause those are the best, but just plain awful. I sincerely hope you avoid this :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2016
Re Adam's Law - This is CJ's attempt at the prototype HP Alpha H - usually her H's fall into the beta category with some bullying for the h's own good (her h's are always repressed or suffering big emo traumas in HPlandia,) but I am not sure she was really effective at it. This H does a LOT more bullying and insulting - CJ was channeling some Pargeter here - but CJ also drew the line at a few punishing kisses.
We also get the usual show and not tell that is trademark CJ and you will have to read this one yourself to determine how valid the h's viewpoint was for most of the book - CJ's books always require the reader to dig in and read between the lines, so in that respect this is typical CJ work.
The h is 21, a former model and has recently been injured in an auto accident. She was out with the guy she had been dating, they had been at a party and on the way back to another party when a motorcyclist crashed into the side of the car they were in. The h's date was fine, the h had her cheekbone shattered and some significant scaring. Since her job is dependent on her looks and her mum had hysterics when she saw her, the h is in a very bad place emotionally and mentally.
She is a bit vain and has relied on her looks for a quite a while to ease her way through life, but at heart she is a nice person and she did like her job - like many people, her career was the foundation of a lot of her self-esteem. When she sees the avoidance and pitying looks everyone around is giving her and she realizes that life as she knew it was pretty much over, (though there is a chance for plastic surgery three months on,) the h withdraws into a shell and accepts her aunt's offer of a place to hibernate for a while on the Isle of Guernsey where the aunt has a freehold and goats and dogs and various other animals and lives a bohemian country existence.
The h arrives and is feeling very battered and depressed and this worsens as her aunt explains that her famous sculptor stepson is also in residence and the h should be prepared for his bluntness. The h is too depressed to care and spends the first few weeks getting over the PTSD of the car accident.
The h can't sleep, doesn't look after herself or look in the mirror and spends all her time reading and hiding from other people. The stepson starts making brutal and cutting remarks about the h's lack of motivation and her habit of hiding her face and the continual put downs are gradually raising her ire.
The h has to bite her tongue a lot and the H's bullying continues until the h is driven by sheer frustration to start participating in the world around her again. She gradually accepts going out into public, begins helping out around the freehold and spending time with the H. Her self image is gradually repaired over the weeks she is there and she falls in love with the H - who eventually gives up on the bullying once she comes out of her depression and becomes a nice companion.
The H has a tragic past himself, he lost the woman he loved when she died shortly after their engagement. The h is about ready to go for her plastic surgery when the H becomes surly and rude again and he tells her that there is no profit in falling in love with him because he isn't interested. The h is heartbroken and leaves to go have her plastic surgery, she figures even if her face can't be fixed, she can still model clothes.
She gets the surgery and her face is perfect once again, she can now pick up the threads of her former life. Supposedly all her former friends were worried when she just disappeared and the man she was dating is convinced he is in love with her, but the h felt that had the surgery not been a success these people would have pretended not to know her. She is missing the H terribly and mourning the lost love, but resolves to get on with her career.
The day the h is released from hospital, one of her friends springs a surprise party on the h at her home. She is surrounded by flirtatious guys and wild partiers when the H shows up. He accuses her of taking up her plastic existence once again and storms off - never giving the h a chance to explain the situation. The h is hurt all over again, love and Guernsey changed her values and she has matured quite a bit. She does resume the modeling but her partying and fun days are over.
She is living quietly and getting lots of bookings when her boss insists she attend the annual Agency party. The H shows up and hauls her off and then demands that she marry him - he isn't very nice or romantic about it either. He sounds like Atilla the Hun demanding the sacking of Rome when he tells her they are marrying.
The h starts crying and refuses because she loves him and then we get the only H pov in the book. He is very cranky in his demands because he is wildly in love and all his bullying was because he couldn't stand to see such a beautiful woman destroyed and lacking confidence. The H is also afraid the h doesn't love him back, but now that she is refusing and crying and incoherent with love he can relax and be nice because he has gotten his dream.
The big HEA is mutual avowals of lurve and devotion and the h informs him that she is ready to change her meaningless existence to follow him hither and yon and provide a rugrat or two to keep things interesting along the way. The H is delighted and can't wait to inform his stepmum that her hopes have been realized, but the h reminds him that her madcap aunt is visiting sheep in Scotland, so big announcements will have to wait until she returns.
This one isn't bad, tho a lot of people think the H went to far in his criticisms and I admit he gets some nasty jibes in. Then again, the h was despondent and nothing was reaching her at all, so she needed a brutal verbal savaging since no one had a skillet. This is CJ's next to last HP and while the effort to have a more typical HP H was valiant, this one still has characters that are only visiting and not permanent residents of the HP firmament.
We also get the usual show and not tell that is trademark CJ and you will have to read this one yourself to determine how valid the h's viewpoint was for most of the book - CJ's books always require the reader to dig in and read between the lines, so in that respect this is typical CJ work.
The h is 21, a former model and has recently been injured in an auto accident. She was out with the guy she had been dating, they had been at a party and on the way back to another party when a motorcyclist crashed into the side of the car they were in. The h's date was fine, the h had her cheekbone shattered and some significant scaring. Since her job is dependent on her looks and her mum had hysterics when she saw her, the h is in a very bad place emotionally and mentally.
She is a bit vain and has relied on her looks for a quite a while to ease her way through life, but at heart she is a nice person and she did like her job - like many people, her career was the foundation of a lot of her self-esteem. When she sees the avoidance and pitying looks everyone around is giving her and she realizes that life as she knew it was pretty much over, (though there is a chance for plastic surgery three months on,) the h withdraws into a shell and accepts her aunt's offer of a place to hibernate for a while on the Isle of Guernsey where the aunt has a freehold and goats and dogs and various other animals and lives a bohemian country existence.
The h arrives and is feeling very battered and depressed and this worsens as her aunt explains that her famous sculptor stepson is also in residence and the h should be prepared for his bluntness. The h is too depressed to care and spends the first few weeks getting over the PTSD of the car accident.
The h can't sleep, doesn't look after herself or look in the mirror and spends all her time reading and hiding from other people. The stepson starts making brutal and cutting remarks about the h's lack of motivation and her habit of hiding her face and the continual put downs are gradually raising her ire.
The h has to bite her tongue a lot and the H's bullying continues until the h is driven by sheer frustration to start participating in the world around her again. She gradually accepts going out into public, begins helping out around the freehold and spending time with the H. Her self image is gradually repaired over the weeks she is there and she falls in love with the H - who eventually gives up on the bullying once she comes out of her depression and becomes a nice companion.
The H has a tragic past himself, he lost the woman he loved when she died shortly after their engagement. The h is about ready to go for her plastic surgery when the H becomes surly and rude again and he tells her that there is no profit in falling in love with him because he isn't interested. The h is heartbroken and leaves to go have her plastic surgery, she figures even if her face can't be fixed, she can still model clothes.
She gets the surgery and her face is perfect once again, she can now pick up the threads of her former life. Supposedly all her former friends were worried when she just disappeared and the man she was dating is convinced he is in love with her, but the h felt that had the surgery not been a success these people would have pretended not to know her. She is missing the H terribly and mourning the lost love, but resolves to get on with her career.
The day the h is released from hospital, one of her friends springs a surprise party on the h at her home. She is surrounded by flirtatious guys and wild partiers when the H shows up. He accuses her of taking up her plastic existence once again and storms off - never giving the h a chance to explain the situation. The h is hurt all over again, love and Guernsey changed her values and she has matured quite a bit. She does resume the modeling but her partying and fun days are over.
She is living quietly and getting lots of bookings when her boss insists she attend the annual Agency party. The H shows up and hauls her off and then demands that she marry him - he isn't very nice or romantic about it either. He sounds like Atilla the Hun demanding the sacking of Rome when he tells her they are marrying.
The h starts crying and refuses because she loves him and then we get the only H pov in the book. He is very cranky in his demands because he is wildly in love and all his bullying was because he couldn't stand to see such a beautiful woman destroyed and lacking confidence. The H is also afraid the h doesn't love him back, but now that she is refusing and crying and incoherent with love he can relax and be nice because he has gotten his dream.
The big HEA is mutual avowals of lurve and devotion and the h informs him that she is ready to change her meaningless existence to follow him hither and yon and provide a rugrat or two to keep things interesting along the way. The H is delighted and can't wait to inform his stepmum that her hopes have been realized, but the h reminds him that her madcap aunt is visiting sheep in Scotland, so big announcements will have to wait until she returns.
This one isn't bad, tho a lot of people think the H went to far in his criticisms and I admit he gets some nasty jibes in. Then again, the h was despondent and nothing was reaching her at all, so she needed a brutal verbal savaging since no one had a skillet. This is CJ's next to last HP and while the effort to have a more typical HP H was valiant, this one still has characters that are only visiting and not permanent residents of the HP firmament.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2012
The heroine Kate travels to Guernsey to stay with her aunt in order to rest and recover from her recent car accident. Kate is feeling very delicate emotionally, trying to come to terms with the fact that her face is badly scarred and her modelling career may be over. For the first few days of her stay all Kate does in mope around feeling sorry for herself, and this infuriates her aunt's stepson Adam, the hero. Adam regularly tells Kate what he thinks about her behaviour and doesn't pull any punches, at first this upsets Kate but she soon begins to fight back. Adam spends time with Kate pushing her out of her comfort zone and making her do things. They grow closer and closer and as Kate's confidence returns she falls for Adam. But she is regularly left confused over Adam's rather hot and cold attitude towards her. When the time comes for Kate to return to her life, she knows she has Adam to thank for her recovery but she is left heartbroken by Adam's sudden scorn.
This is a difficult review to write as on a couple of levels I really liked this book, but the details really let it down. I felt sympathy for the heroine and her issues over her scarred face, but at first it was made out as though the scars were really bad, and permanent, but then she had plastic surgery (once) and they completely disappeared... this is confusing as surely they couldn't have been as bad to start with?! The hero and heroine had a lot of chemistry, and I enjoyed reading how the hero constantly pushed the heroine and helped her face her problems in a 'tough love' sort of way. No POV from hero so his rather up and down moods were difficult to understand.
I didn't like the pacing of the book, the time scale moved so fas that there was hardly any room for depth.
The plot idea is good, but unfortunately the execution is not so great.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
This is a difficult review to write as on a couple of levels I really liked this book, but the details really let it down. I felt sympathy for the heroine and her issues over her scarred face, but at first it was made out as though the scars were really bad, and permanent, but then she had plastic surgery (once) and they completely disappeared... this is confusing as surely they couldn't have been as bad to start with?! The hero and heroine had a lot of chemistry, and I enjoyed reading how the hero constantly pushed the heroine and helped her face her problems in a 'tough love' sort of way. No POV from hero so his rather up and down moods were difficult to understand.
I didn't like the pacing of the book, the time scale moved so fas that there was hardly any room for depth.
The plot idea is good, but unfortunately the execution is not so great.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
pback-to-read
June 8, 2020Adam cared too much to leave her in peace
Beautiful but scarred, Kate Sumner came to Guernsey to hide, convinced that a car accident had ended her career as a model. Only Adam de la Mare stood in the way of her unhappy isolation.
A domineering, talented sculptor, Adam refused to ignore Kate. Despite her fears he bullied her back to life, back to the glamorous career she had known.
But Kate had changed. Life in the city would be too frantic and empty. She would miss the quiet rhythms of Guernsey life. Most of all she would miss Adam.
Beautiful but scarred, Kate Sumner came to Guernsey to hide, convinced that a car accident had ended her career as a model. Only Adam de la Mare stood in the way of her unhappy isolation.
A domineering, talented sculptor, Adam refused to ignore Kate. Despite her fears he bullied her back to life, back to the glamorous career she had known.
But Kate had changed. Life in the city would be too frantic and empty. She would miss the quiet rhythms of Guernsey life. Most of all she would miss Adam.
April 17, 2024
🏺Ce livre est une déception.
Je l'ai lu jusqu'au bout mais je trouve que l'histoire n'était pas construite, elle n'était pas chronologique.
Au début et pendant une bonne partie du livre ça n'avançait pas, l'histoire tournait en rond.
Certes l'attirance et l'histoire d'amour étaient bien là mais c'est arrivé beaucoup trop tard.
Néanmoins, les sujets qui touchent à l'accident, la chirurgie, le regard de la femme sur son corps, sa beauté après un accident sont très bien abordés et développés afin de comprendre le travail physique et surtout psychologique après un accident.
J'ai trouvé ça important et très bien amené par l'auteur.🏺
Je l'ai lu jusqu'au bout mais je trouve que l'histoire n'était pas construite, elle n'était pas chronologique.
Au début et pendant une bonne partie du livre ça n'avançait pas, l'histoire tournait en rond.
Certes l'attirance et l'histoire d'amour étaient bien là mais c'est arrivé beaucoup trop tard.
Néanmoins, les sujets qui touchent à l'accident, la chirurgie, le regard de la femme sur son corps, sa beauté après un accident sont très bien abordés et développés afin de comprendre le travail physique et surtout psychologique après un accident.
J'ai trouvé ça important et très bien amené par l'auteur.🏺
November 12, 2013
Hero is a fucking dick, just an absolute douche bag. couldn't finish this book, i wanted to castrate him so bad.
August 15, 2015
This was an ok read. The hero grew on me., The Heroine's self pity eventually left. It felt the story kinds dragged on too much self condemnation.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews