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الثمن
ليس لديها مال أو عمل أو بيت يأويها... كانت بيفن ضائعة لا تعرف إلى من تلجأ لمساعدتها حتى انهارت بين ذراعي غريب تو�...
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
1 person is currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Steele
338 books113 followersJessica Steele was born on May 9, 1933 in the elegant Warwickshire town of Royal Leamington Spa. She has two super brothers, Colin and George, and a lovely sister, Elizabeth. She was a delicate child and missed a lot of school. In fact, she left school at aged 14, when she was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. At 16, she started work as a junior clerk. In 1967, Jessica married with her husband, Peter and within a very short space of time they had moved from her hometown to the lovely area where they now live. Their house is built into the side of a hill, and has beautiful views over more hills and valleys. Her brothers and her sister are very close and she has plenty of nephews and nieces to make up for the fact that she and her husband have no children of their own. Both she and her husband are more than a little dog-oriented, and their current dog is a Staffordshire bull terrier named Florence. Florence is gorgeous. She loves everybody but, since she is 40 pounds of dynamite and would hurl her boisterous self at everyone she meets - given half a chance - she has to be restrained (as much as possible). She is fun.
Her husband spurred Jessica on to her writing career, giving her every support while she did what she considers her five-year apprenticeship (the rejection years) while learning how to write. She published her first books in 1979. Jessica has tried using a typewriter, but it just doesn't work for her. She is much happier writing in longhand, and in actual fact has a dozen or so fountain pens filled and ready to go at the start of any one session. A friend has a secretarial agency and, after deciphering Jessica's writing, returns an immaculately typed manuscript. To gain authentic background for her books, she has travelled and researched in Greece, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Hong Kong, China and Japan.
Her husband spurred Jessica on to her writing career, giving her every support while she did what she considers her five-year apprenticeship (the rejection years) while learning how to write. She published her first books in 1979. Jessica has tried using a typewriter, but it just doesn't work for her. She is much happier writing in longhand, and in actual fact has a dozen or so fountain pens filled and ready to go at the start of any one session. A friend has a secretarial agency and, after deciphering Jessica's writing, returns an immaculately typed manuscript. To gain authentic background for her books, she has travelled and researched in Greece, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Hong Kong, China and Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 28, 2010
Not a terribly exciting story, but Destined to Meet has a charm to it. I love the British Harlequin Romances. They are nice fare to take me away from my existence and to read a nice love story.
Bevin meets Jarvis when she's horribly sick. She approaches him to do a survey on the street as part of her new job, and faints right in front of him. Jarvis ends up taking her home to his apartment to recover, for lack of anywhere else to take her, and the fact that he's drawn to her. She seems to be what was missing in his life, and she falls right into his arms. His sister shows up and assumes that Bevin is Jarvis's new squeeze. This is timely since his late grandfather's will requires him to marry before his next birthday. Bevin is still confused and sick when she answers the door and meets his sister, and unwittingly agrees when Rosalind suggests that she's Jarvis's fiance. This is good and bad news for Jarvis, because it gives him a buffer between him and his pushy relatives, although it also puts pressure on him to move up the wedding date.
What follows is a bit of comedy of manners, although it's not particularly humorous. Bevin's tendency to be tongue-tied when she's on the spot, and her gentle nature has her inadvertently agreeing to what the very pushy Rosalind suggests regarding her relationship with Jarvis, digging their hole deeper each time. Jarvis gets frustrated each time, but can't stay mad at the sweet angel he ended up bring home with him. Bevin and Jarvis go along with their "fake" engagement, and spend time together, coming to realize that they make each other's lives complete.
I have a weakness for these British Harlequins, so it was enjoyable to me on those grounds, although a bit slow-paced and drama free (I like my Harlequin drama--what can I say?). I felt Bevin needed to be more assertive, in general. She seemed to go along with things too easily, although she showed backbone with Jarvis, for the most part. I didn't like how she took so much crap off her stepmonster, who had neatly stepped in and stole her inheritance due to her cheap father's refusal to get a lawyer to do his will. The lady pretty much stole her house away, and was using Bevin as an unpaid housekeeper/cleaner. I also wished that she would have communicated more clearly with Jarvis. She gave out a lot of mixed signals. Thankfully, he was a gentleman and didn't take advantage of her, although he easily could have. He was a genuinely nice guy, and I appreciated that about him. Not too many people would have taken a sick stranger home to their house and nursed her back to health, expecting nothing in return, although he did appreciate her cooking when she was on the mend.
This was a short, entertaining read, although a little on the dry side. It's definitely a sweet/"both feet on the floor" romance, which has an appeal nowawadays if a reader feels oversaturated with too much "nookie" in romance. For readers who have to have "nookie", I'd recommend skipping this one. I liked the charm of the very British elements, so I'll probably keep it for those reasons.
Bevin meets Jarvis when she's horribly sick. She approaches him to do a survey on the street as part of her new job, and faints right in front of him. Jarvis ends up taking her home to his apartment to recover, for lack of anywhere else to take her, and the fact that he's drawn to her. She seems to be what was missing in his life, and she falls right into his arms. His sister shows up and assumes that Bevin is Jarvis's new squeeze. This is timely since his late grandfather's will requires him to marry before his next birthday. Bevin is still confused and sick when she answers the door and meets his sister, and unwittingly agrees when Rosalind suggests that she's Jarvis's fiance. This is good and bad news for Jarvis, because it gives him a buffer between him and his pushy relatives, although it also puts pressure on him to move up the wedding date.
What follows is a bit of comedy of manners, although it's not particularly humorous. Bevin's tendency to be tongue-tied when she's on the spot, and her gentle nature has her inadvertently agreeing to what the very pushy Rosalind suggests regarding her relationship with Jarvis, digging their hole deeper each time. Jarvis gets frustrated each time, but can't stay mad at the sweet angel he ended up bring home with him. Bevin and Jarvis go along with their "fake" engagement, and spend time together, coming to realize that they make each other's lives complete.
I have a weakness for these British Harlequins, so it was enjoyable to me on those grounds, although a bit slow-paced and drama free (I like my Harlequin drama--what can I say?). I felt Bevin needed to be more assertive, in general. She seemed to go along with things too easily, although she showed backbone with Jarvis, for the most part. I didn't like how she took so much crap off her stepmonster, who had neatly stepped in and stole her inheritance due to her cheap father's refusal to get a lawyer to do his will. The lady pretty much stole her house away, and was using Bevin as an unpaid housekeeper/cleaner. I also wished that she would have communicated more clearly with Jarvis. She gave out a lot of mixed signals. Thankfully, he was a gentleman and didn't take advantage of her, although he easily could have. He was a genuinely nice guy, and I appreciated that about him. Not too many people would have taken a sick stranger home to their house and nursed her back to health, expecting nothing in return, although he did appreciate her cooking when she was on the mend.
This was a short, entertaining read, although a little on the dry side. It's definitely a sweet/"both feet on the floor" romance, which has an appeal nowawadays if a reader feels oversaturated with too much "nookie" in romance. For readers who have to have "nookie", I'd recommend skipping this one. I liked the charm of the very British elements, so I'll probably keep it for those reasons.
April 9, 2022
Bumping from 2 stars to 3 stars. It was cute. I still found the ending a bit too soppy, but a fun way to spend a rainy weekend. Original review below.
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This was actually a very fun ride up until the end, where it just got way too sappy for me and I felt that the hero was speaking more like a woman than a man. Nothing tends to turn me off from a romance than when that happens.
I like Jessica Steele, but I am finding this happening more and more in her work.
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This was actually a very fun ride up until the end, where it just got way too sappy for me and I felt that the hero was speaking more like a woman than a man. Nothing tends to turn me off from a romance than when that happens.
I like Jessica Steele, but I am finding this happening more and more in her work.
October 11, 2025
Pleasant. It’s got an very, very evil stepmother but the heroine is comfortable telling people what she thinks of them so all good.
The hero is really sweet, with the mandatory unreasonably pissed off alpha moments. Thankfully he gets over them in a page after explanations are given. He could of course ask FIRST... but what proper alpha asks before throwing a fit?
Altogether I enjoyed it. Not much happens but they spend a lot of time together and they have a relationship that made me go ‘aaaawww’
Suspend disbelief on the content of BOTH wills. We need them for the plot, ok? So don’t ask why. Accept it and enjoy the book.
Did I mention the heroine was BROWN eyes? And there I thought that colour was exclusive to a very very small percentage of dark and foreboding males. And even there... look closer! I’m might be midnight blue!
The hero is really sweet, with the mandatory unreasonably pissed off alpha moments. Thankfully he gets over them in a page after explanations are given. He could of course ask FIRST... but what proper alpha asks before throwing a fit?
Altogether I enjoyed it. Not much happens but they spend a lot of time together and they have a relationship that made me go ‘aaaawww’
Suspend disbelief on the content of BOTH wills. We need them for the plot, ok? So don’t ask why. Accept it and enjoy the book.
Did I mention the heroine was BROWN eyes? And there I thought that colour was exclusive to a very very small percentage of dark and foreboding males. And even there... look closer! I’m might be midnight blue!
March 28, 2025
Quite a sweet story of an unskilled heroine (22) falling for businessman hero (36) and spending lots of time with him. The hero is kind, but seems to think all women want him and for some reason he doesn’t want to give up his bachelor status. The heroine is just simply in love and wants to cook and clean for him for the rest of her life.
The story takes place over 8 weeks.
Harmless. 3 stars.
The story takes place over 8 weeks.
Harmless. 3 stars.
August 10, 2018
روايات أحلام 211
الثمن، جيسيكا ستيل
this was actually a very fine romance, it deserves 4 stars
Bevin has a very cute personality, she is so sweet and innocent, she lost her father and her house, and she had to find a job, on the 1st day of her new job, she was terribly sick, where she ended up in a complete stranger's arms, Jarvis Devilliers, he took her to his own apartment and took a very good care of her and listened to her problems.... i can not say more in order not to ruin the joy of figure it out for the future readers.
الثمن، جيسيكا ستيل
this was actually a very fine romance, it deserves 4 stars
Bevin has a very cute personality, she is so sweet and innocent, she lost her father and her house, and she had to find a job, on the 1st day of her new job, she was terribly sick, where she ended up in a complete stranger's arms, Jarvis Devilliers, he took her to his own apartment and took a very good care of her and listened to her problems.... i can not say more in order not to ruin the joy of figure it out for the future readers.
abrierto-to-read-hr-other
January 17, 2021No job, not much money and no roof over her head -- unless she was prepared to act as drudge for her uncaring stepmother. Bevin didn't know where to turn for help. Until, amazingly, a complete stranger took over her destiny. — Jarvis Devilliers installed her in his own apartment, listened to her problems and offered his own solutions. Was it possible that he expected nothing in return? Or would Bevin discover that there was a price to be paid for Jarvis's help?
July 19, 2017
This was a really sweet read. But I lost patience with the long conclusion at the end. These are typical with Jessica Steele books, that there are long explanations and recaps. But this ending was something like 20 pages of repetitions of what I'd just read. Other than that this was quite a good book.
June 1, 2024
I read this after reading a whole load of angsty "alpha male meets feisty woman" by another author and I loved it. Maybe it was just the fact that it was such a change but I just thought it was really sweet and I really liked both characters.
December 31, 2021
معجزة أنقذتها.. لكن ماذا كان يحدث لو لم تحدث؟
June 21, 2011
from loss to strange safety
from feelings of hate and agony to peace of mind
she found herself like that with a tycoon and a rich man in his house
he cared for her during her illness
and relieved her shock
and offered her help
but that house she lived in with him was an example of the only peace in her cruel life
and that man who lived with her was an example of safety /trust and honor
how much could her poverty give that stranger in return?!
but she couldn't keep thinking that way when she realized the correct feeling that man provided her
suddenly in the end she finds herself more lost more miserable when circumstances aparted her from the only safest shelter she had once found
to what time could she bear thinking of it and him like a memory
from feelings of hate and agony to peace of mind
she found herself like that with a tycoon and a rich man in his house
he cared for her during her illness
and relieved her shock
and offered her help
but that house she lived in with him was an example of the only peace in her cruel life
and that man who lived with her was an example of safety /trust and honor
how much could her poverty give that stranger in return?!
but she couldn't keep thinking that way when she realized the correct feeling that man provided her
suddenly in the end she finds herself more lost more miserable when circumstances aparted her from the only safest shelter she had once found
to what time could she bear thinking of it and him like a memory
November 20, 2014
Gotta love an evil stepmother.
The heroine was extremely likable and sweet.
The hero wasn't too fast in falling in love.
The relationship between them was a little boring, but perhaps realistic.
The heroine was extremely likable and sweet.
The hero wasn't too fast in falling in love.
The relationship between them was a little boring, but perhaps realistic.
September 3, 2014
Romance with a nice twist. This time the man helps a girl and basically does all the things she needs to get her life back on track. Of course it does not hurt that he is so rich yet never took real physical advantage of her. Amazed at the differences in their ages.
October 11, 2014
2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews