Sa vorbim despre dragoste

by Claudia Jameson, Sandra Brown

Chelsea had to grow into love

Neglected by her parents, Chelsea Prescott was a rebellious, insecure teenager when she'd first met Ricardo Colchero at his family home in Madrid. "Be careful about what you want, nina," the dark-eyed banker had warned gently, "because that's surely what you'll get."

A finishing school and a year of traveling had transformed Chelsea from an awkward girl to a beautiful woman. Suddenly her easy relationship with Ricardo was complicated by a new and powerful attraction.

Ricardo's intentions were clear. He wanted Chelsea. But only if she was free and ready to choose love for itself.

Genres: Harlequin Presents

Unknown Binding

First published April 1, 1986

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere between the coming of age story and travelogue of Spain is a sweet 2 1/2 star romance.

Poor little rich girl heroine is 17 (!) when she meets our 29 year-old banker/economist/heir to an ancient Spanish family hero. She is pretty much a brat, but the hero endeared himself to her (and to me) when he didn't go along with the humiliation her father was dishing out in front of him. He saw through her bravado to the fear and insecurity beneath. Heroine doesn't really want to befriend the hero or his sister, but she eventually learns to like his sister and they become firm friends when they go off to finishing school in Switzerland together.

The narrative then speeds up - after finishing school, heroine spends time with hero's sister at hero's house. H/h have a memorable New Year's eve when heroine tells hero why she won't speak to her mother. (Mother only married because she was pregnant. Never wanted children. Heroine feels rejected.) Hero comforts her and tells her to keep an open mind about her mother. They share some kisses, but heroine is trying to play it cool.

Heroine then travels the world, works at kibbutz, and then goes to work for her mother, finally understanding her. Heroine is still convinced marriage and children aren't for her when she arrives at the hero's house for his sister's wedding. Heroine is now twenty-one.

Hero is smitten, heroine is still attracted, but won't admit it. All of their easy camaraderie is gone, thanks to all that sexual tension. Heroine thinks hero is avoiding her. They argue at the wedding (about nothing really), but try not let it show. Heroine tells hero they aren't compatible, since they never have any intellectual conversations - it's all just physical attraction and she wants no part of that.

Hero has a five week book tour around Spain and heroine is going along as his assistant. She sees another side of the hero (the intellectual side, the status side), but continues to resist his overtures. Fed up, he tells her she will have to make the next move. There's a sweet moment when she swerves to avoid a goat in the road and sees how close to the edge of the mountain they are. She loses her nerve and cries and wants him to drive, but he tells her she can do it. (Which she does)

It all comes to head when the hero's grandmother dies and the hero shuts down from grief. Heroine realizes she loves him, but has to go away because he is only interested in sex. (He already proposed - but she thinks marriage is prison or something ). He lets her go. She is on the plane when she realizes that she has to go back and stop trying to hide her feelings from him. He welcomes her with open arms. She realizes she's not her mother and she does want a home and family. HEA

I wish the author had had more control of her narrative, since there were so many fast forwards, and wasted descriptions of the scenery and side conversations that led to nowhere. I really liked the hero and how he interacted with our very confused heroine. I especially liked how he helped with her family dynamics and how he held off from romancing her as a teenager. I wish we could have had more scenes of them together when they were getting a long. They really were cute together. All of her blathering about freedom got a little tedious, but it rang true because of her background.

My Open Library copy had a lot of garbled passages.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this were very good and parts were excruciatingly slow and introspective.

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chelsea had to grow into love

Neglected by her parents, Chelsea Prescott was a rebellious, insecure teenager when she'd first met Ricardo Colchero at his family home in Madrid. "Be careful about what you want, nina," the dark-eyed banker had warned gently, "because that's surely what you'll get."

A finishing school and a year of traveling had transformed Chelsea from an awkward girl to a beautiful woman. Suddenly her easy relationship with Ricardo was complicated by a new and powerful attraction.

Ricardo's intentions were clear. He wanted Chelsea. But only if she was free and ready to choose love for itself.