الفجر في الغسق

by Roumelia Lane, روميليا لاين

It had seemed like the best solution!
Robert Colby was gravely ill when his brother, Trent, sent for the girl Robert loved. So it was too late to tell them they had the wrong girl — that Lucy Miles had written to Robert using Vivienne's name and sending her photograph.

And that was how Vivienne found herself in Tangier, trying to deceive Robert, to make his last months happy ones.

But her deception became doubly difficult when she realized that she was in love with the wrong brother!

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Romance

Paperback

First published July 1, 1978

About the author

Kay Green
aka Roumelia Lane, Florissa May, Guy Granger, Katie Kent, Harley Davis

Kay Green was born on 31 December 1927 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK. On 1 October 1949, she married Gavin Frederick Green, they had a son and a daughter.

Reviews

[Griffinyarn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some books just don't date well. So maybe it is just a reflection of the time that this was written (1979), but the heroine was annoyingly stupid. And I hate TSTL heroines.

First, her "plain" friend Lucy talks her into pretending to be the pen pal of the dying Robert. And although we all know that this is not going to work, I can accept the fact that she went along with it (especially since otherwise we don't have a story).

What really frustrated me was when she starts looking for her ex-love interest (not lover, since we need her to be a virgin for the hero) while living in the same house as Robert and his brother, the acerbic (and obvious "hero" of the story) Trent. And when she finds him... well, that's when I gave up on the story. (Meaning I skip read to the end)

Vivienne moved closer to Gary. His whole attention was trained on the table, so she said with a twinkle,
‘Would it surprise you to know that I’ve been searching for you all over Tangier?’

Something went wrong again. He swore, and with exasperation in his tones he shot her a look. ‘Not now ! Can’t you see I’m busy?’

Vivienne had no time to react much to this comment because at a distance she saw Trent and it was clear that he was looking for her. She knew that he had spotted her. He was making his way over. She said, hoping to catch Gary’s attention with her smile and her hopeful look, ‘I have to go now. Perhaps …?’ His mind was on the game and she dared not stay.

Yeah, what a hunk!
So of course she keeps having clandestine meetings with him, spills her guts about her deception, gets blackmailed into stealing the keys to the hero's safe and is naturally discovered by the hero while the ex is cleaning out the safe (Totally saw that coming). So the heroine spills her guts for the second time and the hero has her thrown in jail has her deported kisses her. Of course.

'Well, now you know.’

‘That’s right. Now I know.’ She felt his fingers roughly caressing her shoulders. His face in the shadows had a look that held her spellbound, and nothing seemed more natural to her, after the weeks of being close to one another in so many different ways, than to be here with Trent now like this. His eyes on her glowed in a peculiar way, then she was in his arms.

Wait! Haven't we forgotten about Robert (who still hasn't figured out that Vivienne is not his pen pal)? Yes, but don't worry, reports of his (imminent) death were greatly exaggerated, so Lucy (finally) turns up, they fall instantly in love and all's well that ends well. *Rolls eyes*

Not recommended.

[Stormi (StormReads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one sounded like it was going to be fun but then it took a turn with the MC hunting for her ex-boyfriend while pretending to be Robert's girl and yeah I just didn't get that especially when I knew she was going to fall for Robert's brother Trent...that starts to happen kind of at 35 pages left of the book...just not romantic at all.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was overall way too happy. There was very little to no dramatics in it. It kind of made me sad that there wasn't anyone to stir the pot. The ending was good and I was happy for Robert and Lucy.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Emotionally dead heroine (23) pretends to be her nicer friend to meet the dying hero's brother. She's very unpleasant, and only becomes truly animated when finding her deadbeat ex-boyfriend from 4 years ago in Morocco (such a cringy scene).
The hero (37) would do anything for his brother, but soon falls for the heroine (or at least her hot body in a skimpy bikini). He spends every evening at his casino. The heroine kisses the brother through most of the book.
The loser ex-boyfriend blackmails her into trying to rob the hero, but she's so dim it doesn't come off. He forgives her the minute she confesses that she is not the girl his brother was writing to.
Lucy (the friend) comes and the attraction between her and the brother is instant and they fall in love within 2 weeks, so the hero and heroine can be together.
Lucy and Robert (the brother) are a lovely couple. I feel sorry for the hero being in love with the cold fish heroine.
Disliked: Heroine, setting, ex-boyfriend, most of the storyline, atmosphere, the heroine making out with the brother.

[Myrna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A shy girl sends her pen pal a photo of her beautiful roommate (the h) because she doesn’t think he’ll be attracted to the real her. The young man is chronically ill, and his brother (the H) arranges for the pen pal to visit because the doctors are pessimistic about his prognosis.

Reluctantly, the h agrees to go in her roommate’s place. She doesn’t mind the young man; she actually likes him and feels sorry about his illness. However, her main focus is finding her old boyfriend.

She searches for him tirelessly, and when she finally locates him—he doesn’t recognize her at all. But that doesn’t stop her. She continues chasing after him, begging for dates, and revealing her big, BIG secret the very first time they meet. And when he starts blackmailing her, she's shocked?

[RomLibrary]

It had seemed like the best solution!
Robert Colby was gravely ill when his brother, Trent, sent for the girl Robert loved. So it was too late to tell them they had the wrong girl — that Lucy Miles had written to Robert using Vivienne's name and sending her photograph.

And that was how Vivienne found herself in Tangier, trying to deceive Robert, to make his last months happy ones.

But her deception became doubly difficult when she realized that she was in love with the wrong brother

[Tonya Warner]

Lucy has been writing to Robert for months, only, she lead him to believe she was Vivienne in anme and looks. When Robert is close to dying from the debillitating disease he has, his brother pleads for Vivienne to come and make his final days happy.



Trent knows that Vivienne is keeping a secret but he still falls in love.



A very sweet story.

[Verity]

ROBERTA LEIGH / RACHEL LINDSAY