What do you think?
Rate this book
Married...Again
The only thing she wasn't prepared for was life itself...
Eleanor desperately loved her husband, Max Harper, but when he chose his research work over their marriage one more time, she had no choice but to file for divorce. She couldn't know that his ship would go down in a storm in the North Atlantic. Two years later, she's buried him in the past, launched a thriving business and even started dating again. She's getting her life together and she's doing just great, she tells anybody who asks her. But she's absolutely not prepared for what--or who--is about to step into her mom's study next...
Eleanor desperately loved her husband, Max Harper, but when he chose his research work over their marriage one more time, she had no choice but to file for divorce. She couldn't know that his ship would go down in a storm in the North Atlantic. Two years later, she's buried him in the past, launched a thriving business and even started dating again. She's getting her life together and she's doing just great, she tells anybody who asks her. But she's absolutely not prepared for what--or who--is about to step into her mom's study next...
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published February 6, 2018
10 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Doyle
64 books52 followersIt all started with Shanna and Star Wars. An odd combination, I know, but what people don't appreciate about Star Wars is the deep romantic element between two of the lead characters. I wasn't seven years-old when I was able to clearly spot that Han and Leia were supposed to be a couple.
Sure most of my friends, who at the time weren't nearly as mature as I was – after all some of them were still six, thought that Leia loved Luke. But anyone really looking could see that Han and Leia were the couple to beat.
That's when I discovered romance.
Then at about fifteen or so I was babysitting one night, bored out of my mind – the children were fast asleep at this point – so I picked a book from the shelf. I wasn't much of a reader at the time, but I liked the orange cover. It was Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss.
That's when I discovered romance novels.
Making up stories – that's just something I've always done. It's like breathing for me. But it wasn't until I began to read actively that I thought maybe I could actually write a book. The benefit of writing over reading is that I get to have everything just the way I like it. I should mention at this point that I'm a little bit of a control freak.
But I didn't go to school for writing. In fact I went to school to be the President of the United States - make that a power hungry control freak.
I attended Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. And no, that is not a school to learn how to become a nun. Although, since I'm not married yet, my mother believes that subliminal messages were piped into the dorm rooms through hidden speakers.
I strayed from the presidential track. Figured instead of running the country I would do something really meaningful. I became a school teacher and spent two amazing years in Seattle.
Eventually I came back home to South Jersey. I got a temp job to hold me over until I could find another teaching position and have been at my current company for eight years. I keep telling my boss that I'm only staying for a little while longer. But he has since stopped listening to me.
So what else is there to know about me? I write. I work. I exercise. I try not to eat. I fail. I beat myself up for not succeeding to not eat. Then I drink. It's a simple life I lead.
I date. But that's a whole other story….
Sure most of my friends, who at the time weren't nearly as mature as I was – after all some of them were still six, thought that Leia loved Luke. But anyone really looking could see that Han and Leia were the couple to beat.
That's when I discovered romance.
Then at about fifteen or so I was babysitting one night, bored out of my mind – the children were fast asleep at this point – so I picked a book from the shelf. I wasn't much of a reader at the time, but I liked the orange cover. It was Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss.
That's when I discovered romance novels.
Making up stories – that's just something I've always done. It's like breathing for me. But it wasn't until I began to read actively that I thought maybe I could actually write a book. The benefit of writing over reading is that I get to have everything just the way I like it. I should mention at this point that I'm a little bit of a control freak.
But I didn't go to school for writing. In fact I went to school to be the President of the United States - make that a power hungry control freak.
I attended Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. And no, that is not a school to learn how to become a nun. Although, since I'm not married yet, my mother believes that subliminal messages were piped into the dorm rooms through hidden speakers.
I strayed from the presidential track. Figured instead of running the country I would do something really meaningful. I became a school teacher and spent two amazing years in Seattle.
Eventually I came back home to South Jersey. I got a temp job to hold me over until I could find another teaching position and have been at my current company for eight years. I keep telling my boss that I'm only staying for a little while longer. But he has since stopped listening to me.
So what else is there to know about me? I write. I work. I exercise. I try not to eat. I fail. I beat myself up for not succeeding to not eat. Then I drink. It's a simple life I lead.
I date. But that's a whole other story….
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 9, 2019
The premise is angsty, the situation is melodramatic, the emotions are...not. This is Harlequin Superromance.
Max and Eleanor's marriage disintegrates after three years because Max, an oceanographer studying climate change out of a research center in Trondheim, frequently leaves her for weeks or months at a time to go on research missions. Apparently, there's nothing for Eleanor to do in Trondheim (Wikipedia disagrees) plus she doesn't speak Norwegian. When she communicates her dissatisfaction to her husband (who has just given her one day's notice that he's about to leave again for a 4-month voyage), she gets the most obnoxious combination of responses ever: first, that she knew about his vocation when she married him and had agreed to "the plan" (focus on the climate now, then have babies in a few years); second, that she can't expect Max to be her whole life, she has to find a passion of her own. (Pre-dead Max is intolerable.)
"If you go, I'm going to divorce you."
"Don't give me ultimatums."
He leaves and returns four months later to find an empty home and divorce papers waiting for his signature. Which is really awkward for him, because he had planned to swoop home, sex her up to appease her, then let her know that the research funding had been extended and he was headed back to sea for a few more weeks.
He tosses the divorce papers in the trash and vows to fight for his marriage...as soon as he returns from this additional research voyage. At this point, Poseidon is as pissed off with Max as I am: his ship is lost during a storm and all hands are presumed dead.
Of course I love everything about this set-up. Men behaving stupidly and then having to grovel about it is why I read Harlequins.
Except what we get when the undead husband returns two years later isn't so much a grovel as it is a man whose perspective has been changed by a life-altering experience who is now prepared to demonstrate that he is ready to make his estranged wife the center of his existence. Which is lovely and healing, but somehow incredibly unsatisfactory to me. He went through hell, but he didn't go through hell to get back to her. So it doesn't really count for me.
Meanwhile, the wife has found her passion and started her own business, and he now offers her the support she had given his career in the three years before Norway wore her out. It's very balanced and fair. And it's better than Norway, because in addition to supporting her, he can continue his academic career since Denver isn't the vast wasteland that is Trondheim. (Seriously, Trondheim looks lovely. They probably have internet. I sympathize with the wife's impatience with his long absences, but I don't know why we're demonizing Trondheim.) They can both have fulfilling lives and HEA.
But I need to talk about .
Max and Eleanor's marriage disintegrates after three years because Max, an oceanographer studying climate change out of a research center in Trondheim, frequently leaves her for weeks or months at a time to go on research missions. Apparently, there's nothing for Eleanor to do in Trondheim (Wikipedia disagrees) plus she doesn't speak Norwegian. When she communicates her dissatisfaction to her husband (who has just given her one day's notice that he's about to leave again for a 4-month voyage), she gets the most obnoxious combination of responses ever: first, that she knew about his vocation when she married him and had agreed to "the plan" (focus on the climate now, then have babies in a few years); second, that she can't expect Max to be her whole life, she has to find a passion of her own. (Pre-dead Max is intolerable.)
"If you go, I'm going to divorce you."
"Don't give me ultimatums."
He leaves and returns four months later to find an empty home and divorce papers waiting for his signature. Which is really awkward for him, because he had planned to swoop home, sex her up to appease her, then let her know that the research funding had been extended and he was headed back to sea for a few more weeks.
He tosses the divorce papers in the trash and vows to fight for his marriage...as soon as he returns from this additional research voyage. At this point, Poseidon is as pissed off with Max as I am: his ship is lost during a storm and all hands are presumed dead.
Of course I love everything about this set-up. Men behaving stupidly and then having to grovel about it is why I read Harlequins.
Except what we get when the undead husband returns two years later isn't so much a grovel as it is a man whose perspective has been changed by a life-altering experience who is now prepared to demonstrate that he is ready to make his estranged wife the center of his existence. Which is lovely and healing, but somehow incredibly unsatisfactory to me. He went through hell, but he didn't go through hell to get back to her. So it doesn't really count for me.
Meanwhile, the wife has found her passion and started her own business, and he now offers her the support she had given his career in the three years before Norway wore her out. It's very balanced and fair. And it's better than Norway, because in addition to supporting her, he can continue his academic career since Denver isn't the vast wasteland that is Trondheim. (Seriously, Trondheim looks lovely. They probably have internet. I sympathize with the wife's impatience with his long absences, but I don't know why we're demonizing Trondheim.) They can both have fulfilling lives and HEA.
But I need to talk about .
February 10, 2018
I don't know what it is about Stephanie Doyle's writing but she can really pull me in with her characters and she is my favourite writer of the SUPERROMANCE line. I will always read her books synopsis unseen. This book really puts you through the emotional wringer. You had two people who loved each other but the heroine chose to walk away because the hero wouldn't put her first. Then the hero did a more shittier thing after coming back and learning she had left, he left on a trip again thinking cockily that he had all the time in the world to fix what was wrong. But then fate intervened.
The heroine took those four months away to rediscover herself, and started a business which she poured herself into, then the hero is thought dead. She moves on, closes her heart, dates again (which is realistic). The hero comes back, less cockier and hell bent on getting her back again because what he went through made him realise nothing mattered, not his work, not his ego but the heroine. But just because he had made that realisation didn't mean the heroine had to feel the same, she had grown up, changed and didn't want to fall back, let him in to hurt her again. The hero did realise she wasn't the same, but hoped she would still love him. I loved how she fought like hell to not let the hero change her life. I really felt she put him through the wringer to prove his love to her, even when I wished she would capitulate but a part of me is glad she didn't). They weren't naive . At the end I did feel their happy ending was fell fought.
The heroine took those four months away to rediscover herself, and started a business which she poured herself into, then the hero is thought dead. She moves on, closes her heart, dates again (which is realistic). The hero comes back, less cockier and hell bent on getting her back again because what he went through made him realise nothing mattered, not his work, not his ego but the heroine. But just because he had made that realisation didn't mean the heroine had to feel the same, she had grown up, changed and didn't want to fall back, let him in to hurt her again. The hero did realise she wasn't the same, but hoped she would still love him. I loved how she fought like hell to not let the hero change her life. I really felt she put him through the wringer to prove his love to her, even when I wished she would capitulate but a part of me is glad she didn't). They weren't naive . At the end I did feel their happy ending was fell fought.
August 13, 2019
This was quite well done. 3.5 rounded up to 4. I must admit I was intrigued by the premise of the Hero who comes back from the dead. I think I’ve read a couple of this tropes on HPlandia.
The Hero and the heroine are a married couple, having problems. The Hero is a workaholic scientist who spends 4-5 months at a time away from his wife because of his work. Added to that is that their present posting is in a remote part of Norway where the wife is isolated, away from family, friends and in a place where she doesn’t speak the language. I must admit that I can imagine most normal persons would go stir crazy in this circumstances. She doesn’t even have a job or a baby to occupy her time, nor can she pop over to the local pub since she can’t speak the language. Effectively, it’s tantamount to total isolation.
The hero returns only to inform her that he is leaving on yet another expedition, so she blows her top and gives him an ultimatum. He is very offended and uncompromising. So she leaves and files for divorce. We learn later that he intended to follow her and work out their problem except that the ship he is on, capsizes and he is presumed dead.
It’s 3 years hence and the heroine thinks she is a widow. She has gotten on with her life and built a successful business. When suddenly her dead husband returns. He had been rescued by fishermen from an isolated community, but since he had a broken femur he had to recover and wait a few years before a commercial vessel found its way to that location.
He wants his wife back and promises that he has changed his ways and will no longer be going on expeditions. The wife doesn’t want to give up her business and new lifestyle so they need to learn to trust each other and see if they can build a new and different life together.
The Hero and the heroine are a married couple, having problems. The Hero is a workaholic scientist who spends 4-5 months at a time away from his wife because of his work. Added to that is that their present posting is in a remote part of Norway where the wife is isolated, away from family, friends and in a place where she doesn’t speak the language. I must admit that I can imagine most normal persons would go stir crazy in this circumstances. She doesn’t even have a job or a baby to occupy her time, nor can she pop over to the local pub since she can’t speak the language. Effectively, it’s tantamount to total isolation.
The hero returns only to inform her that he is leaving on yet another expedition, so she blows her top and gives him an ultimatum. He is very offended and uncompromising. So she leaves and files for divorce. We learn later that he intended to follow her and work out their problem except that the ship he is on, capsizes and he is presumed dead.
It’s 3 years hence and the heroine thinks she is a widow. She has gotten on with her life and built a successful business. When suddenly her dead husband returns. He had been rescued by fishermen from an isolated community, but since he had a broken femur he had to recover and wait a few years before a commercial vessel found its way to that location.
He wants his wife back and promises that he has changed his ways and will no longer be going on expeditions. The wife doesn’t want to give up her business and new lifestyle so they need to learn to trust each other and see if they can build a new and different life together.
February 3, 2018
Eleanor Harper isn't sure she wants to be married, not after her scholar-researcher husband leaves her again in a Norwegian village where she knows no one, not the language, and with nothing but her own fears and resentment to keep her company. So... when he leaves again for a funded program, she leaves, too--back to her mother's home in Nebraska. Then she finds out why Max doesn't come back to her. His ship has gone down and his body has yet to be found. Devastated, she pours herself into developing a business.
Then, more than two years later, at her sister's engagement party, Max shows up, replete with evidence of his injuries and a tale of what happened to him. Now what? He isn't ready to be divorced, but is Eleanor ready to be married again?
Max is determined to win her back, to make her fall in love with him. And help comes in some unexpected corners, but will it be enough, even after she ends up pregnant with his baby? Great characters in situations easy to imagine occurring, even in a purple maternity dress.
Then, more than two years later, at her sister's engagement party, Max shows up, replete with evidence of his injuries and a tale of what happened to him. Now what? He isn't ready to be divorced, but is Eleanor ready to be married again?
Max is determined to win her back, to make her fall in love with him. And help comes in some unexpected corners, but will it be enough, even after she ends up pregnant with his baby? Great characters in situations easy to imagine occurring, even in a purple maternity dress.
May 30, 2018
Married...Again
They were married but like some marriages there were cracks. He would leave for long periods of time due to his work...no passion. She was stuck in a country where she did not know the language. After a passionate argument she left to go back home. He came back and found her gone. Instead of going after her he went back out one more time. But he became lost and feared dead. Now fast forward two plus years she has a striving business with possibly a new love interest. When he shows back in her life. What happens next is the story.
They were married but like some marriages there were cracks. He would leave for long periods of time due to his work...no passion. She was stuck in a country where she did not know the language. After a passionate argument she left to go back home. He came back and found her gone. Instead of going after her he went back out one more time. But he became lost and feared dead. Now fast forward two plus years she has a striving business with possibly a new love interest. When he shows back in her life. What happens next is the story.
March 25, 2018
Sweet
I enjoyed their story and the hero was vulnerable and strong at the same time. It was a bit over the top with the Daniel character which is why it’s only three stars.
I enjoyed their story and the hero was vulnerable and strong at the same time. It was a bit over the top with the Daniel character which is why it’s only three stars.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews