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Preconceito
A diferença social entre Margot Huntley e Jordan Merrick era um abismo intransponível, como ele mesmo havia dito sete anos atrás. E isso ainda doía no coração da jovem enfermeira. Margot tinha nascido na parte pobre da cidade, longe das grandes mansões onde gente igual a ela só podia entrar pela porta dos fundos. Nada que fizesse mudaria essa situação. Por isso, quando Jordan começou a trabalhar a seu lado, no hospital, Margot tentou mantê-lo à distância. Mas a velha paixão da adolescência ainda a queimava por dentro, mesmo sabendo que ele a considerava uma pessoa inferior, uma mulher-objeto para ser usada e posta de lado, nunca respeitada. E, muito menos, amada.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Yvonne Whittal
56 books81 followersYvonne Whittal was born and raised in South Africa, the setting of most of her romances. She started writing stories at a young age, but didn't really get serious about writing until after she married and had children. She got many rejection letters from publishers, until a friend who loved romances gave her to encouragement to continue.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 4, 2017
Wow, vile mummsie alert. I love it!
If nothing else, this book serves as evidence that the slights we receive as kids can last forever. I still hold a grudge over a sixth grade incident that... oh never mind.
The h has held a grudge, I mean HELD A GRUDGE, since she was a teenager over something the H said about her being part of trade and needing to go the side of the house. Up until then he was Mr.High School Wonderful. As a result of this diss, the heroine obsesses about coming from the wrong side of the tracks ad nauseam, and throws it in the hero's face.
Everyone is all grown up now, and our Charlie Browniest of all the Charlie Brown heroines is now a nurse, and the H is the brilliant Dr. Evil (surgeon). Dr. Evil also has one of the worst mothers EVER. She's so awful I could not wait for the next zinger. The H puts his RicoSuave moves on the heroine, but she's beyond unenthused. You can tell the H is not used to being dismissed and he manipulates her into taking her to dinner at the motel. My first thought was motel, you dog you, but all they do is eat. Although he does put the moves on her in the car on the way home.
The h deflects him consistently, and the story has an uneven balance of push-pull between the H and the h. Dr. Evil is not cruel, but he's not the nicest of heroes either, and one simple comment like "I am NOT engaged to the Nordic OW bitch from the bitter reaches of cold hell that my mother prefers" would have solved the problem, but this is HarleyLand and communication is limited.
One of the secondary characters finally kicks the mom out at tea time for being so rude which was a highlight for me. The h takes this OTT social abuse from mummsie and the Nordic OW with such servility and humbugness it drained some of the fun out of it.
This MIL is going to be a huge albatross. She has a huge and very unbelievable about-face at the end, but I doubt it will last. My favorite quote is when the H says
I was really hoping he would add, and we'll put mother in it, but sadly they decided to build instead.
There was no joy in Mudville.
If nothing else, this book serves as evidence that the slights we receive as kids can last forever. I still hold a grudge over a sixth grade incident that... oh never mind.
The h has held a grudge, I mean HELD A GRUDGE, since she was a teenager over something the H said about her being part of trade and needing to go the side of the house. Up until then he was Mr.High School Wonderful. As a result of this diss, the heroine obsesses about coming from the wrong side of the tracks ad nauseam, and throws it in the hero's face.
Everyone is all grown up now, and our Charlie Browniest of all the Charlie Brown heroines is now a nurse, and the H is the brilliant Dr. Evil (surgeon). Dr. Evil also has one of the worst mothers EVER. She's so awful I could not wait for the next zinger. The H puts his RicoSuave moves on the heroine, but she's beyond unenthused. You can tell the H is not used to being dismissed and he manipulates her into taking her to dinner at the motel. My first thought was motel, you dog you, but all they do is eat. Although he does put the moves on her in the car on the way home.
The h deflects him consistently, and the story has an uneven balance of push-pull between the H and the h. Dr. Evil is not cruel, but he's not the nicest of heroes either, and one simple comment like "I am NOT engaged to the Nordic OW bitch from the bitter reaches of cold hell that my mother prefers" would have solved the problem, but this is HarleyLand and communication is limited.
One of the secondary characters finally kicks the mom out at tea time for being so rude which was a highlight for me. The h takes this OTT social abuse from mummsie and the Nordic OW with such servility and humbugness it drained some of the fun out of it.
This MIL is going to be a huge albatross. She has a huge and very unbelievable about-face at the end, but I doubt it will last. My favorite quote is when the H says
I bought some ground right outside the village...
I was really hoping he would add, and we'll put mother in it, but sadly they decided to build instead.
There was no joy in Mudville.
January 27, 2017
Good thing the protagonists in Yvonne Whittal's Where two ways meet are both in the health care profession given the amount of illness, injuries, and death in this story.
Heroine alone crashes her car into the side of a mountain, gets pneumonia, and later suffers from severe smoke inhalations.
h's mom gets stomach cancer, only to die of heart failure during the ensuing surgery.
H has a car accident too, while his mother nearly dies in a house-fire caused allegedly by an automatic tea-maker. I like to offer the alternative theory that she had just forgotten to close shut the gates from hell that she had installed in her basement to facilitate her secondary job as the Queen of the Damned and the flames from that eternal fire pit let loose on the house.
Aside from all the booboos, the story centers on the issue of class difference, with the heroine being literally from the wrong end of the tracks of the little town, something the H's snobby mother and nasty girlfriend never cease to remind her of.
h is understandably weary that H's flirtation with her is nothing more than a last attempt at sowing wild oats before announcing his marriage to the rich bitch girlfriend. She was absolutely right to be weary. Hero never talks love. He shows lust for her. He dangles the OW in front of h while stealing kisses from her when no one is looking. He also never denies that h fascinates him because he never had this much trouble before getting a woman into bed and later, does not deny that his marriage proposal to h was a spur of the moment whim meant to annoy his snobby mom.
On the other hand, he does seem pretty affectionate and compassionate when her mom's death leaves her overwhelmed with grief, and he does take time off work to stay at her bedside in hospital while she is fighting a severe case of pneumonia.
So what gives with this guy? I really didn't blame the h for feeling suspicious and wary about his honorable intentions. He really did seem wishy-washy. I think he came back to his small town after some years in Europe, decided to flirt with the little nurse who was coldly rebuffing his advances, because he found the game enticing, and got caught in the thrill of the chase until he kind of blurted out marriage and then felt honour-bound not to back out.
YW certainly leaves ample room for other interpretations but it was telling for me, that I was a lot more intrigued by the romance between secondary characters (who sound as if they got their own MOC book at some point) and their very hot connection, than the romance between the main characters.
Final verdict: not bad, but not great either.
Heroine alone crashes her car into the side of a mountain, gets pneumonia, and later suffers from severe smoke inhalations.
h's mom gets stomach cancer, only to die of heart failure during the ensuing surgery.
H has a car accident too, while his mother nearly dies in a house-fire caused allegedly by an automatic tea-maker. I like to offer the alternative theory that she had just forgotten to close shut the gates from hell that she had installed in her basement to facilitate her secondary job as the Queen of the Damned and the flames from that eternal fire pit let loose on the house.
Aside from all the booboos, the story centers on the issue of class difference, with the heroine being literally from the wrong end of the tracks of the little town, something the H's snobby mother and nasty girlfriend never cease to remind her of.
h is understandably weary that H's flirtation with her is nothing more than a last attempt at sowing wild oats before announcing his marriage to the rich bitch girlfriend. She was absolutely right to be weary. Hero never talks love. He shows lust for her. He dangles the OW in front of h while stealing kisses from her when no one is looking. He also never denies that h fascinates him because he never had this much trouble before getting a woman into bed and later, does not deny that his marriage proposal to h was a spur of the moment whim meant to annoy his snobby mom.
On the other hand, he does seem pretty affectionate and compassionate when her mom's death leaves her overwhelmed with grief, and he does take time off work to stay at her bedside in hospital while she is fighting a severe case of pneumonia.
So what gives with this guy? I really didn't blame the h for feeling suspicious and wary about his honorable intentions. He really did seem wishy-washy. I think he came back to his small town after some years in Europe, decided to flirt with the little nurse who was coldly rebuffing his advances, because he found the game enticing, and got caught in the thrill of the chase until he kind of blurted out marriage and then felt honour-bound not to back out.
YW certainly leaves ample room for other interpretations but it was telling for me, that I was a lot more intrigued by the romance between secondary characters (who sound as if they got their own MOC book at some point) and their very hot connection, than the romance between the main characters.
Final verdict: not bad, but not great either.
March 21, 2017
The conflict in this one is "class differences." And the two characters who are most aware of the class differences between the surgeon H and the nurse h are the heroine and the hero's mother. The heroine, because she is still smarting from a comment she overheard the hero say when she was a teen, and the hero's mother because she is a snob.
While the hero pursues a reluctant heroine, YW keeps us entertained by sending afflictions upon her characters. The heroine's mother dies of cancer, the heroine wrecks her car and contracts pneumonia and later on smoke inhalation. The hero also wrecks his car and his mother is in a house fire.
Oh, and there's an OW and cameos from the H/h of Love Is Eternal and their daughter.
This is a sweet story for all of the drama. Hero was smitten. Heroine finally learned to trust and the hero's mother-in-law had to change her tune by the end.
While the hero pursues a reluctant heroine, YW keeps us entertained by sending afflictions upon her characters. The heroine's mother dies of cancer, the heroine wrecks her car and contracts pneumonia and later on smoke inhalation. The hero also wrecks his car and his mother is in a house fire.
Oh, and there's an OW and cameos from the H/h of Love Is Eternal and their daughter.
This is a sweet story for all of the drama. Hero was smitten. Heroine finally learned to trust and the hero's mother-in-law had to change her tune by the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2021
This book is an example of how much a careless and casual comment in a sensitive time of a person's life like teenage years can change that person's perception of himself/herself and consequently can affect all his/her life, choices, relationships.
There's also the matter of social prejudice, that's very hard to overcome both for the person who's discriminated and the one who is making a discrimination.
The whole issue is very well dealt, because there's even a physical obstacle that divides the town in two parts.
So, there are people who live on one side of the town that are the privileged ones, and those who lives on the other side that are the ones who have to struggle for a living.
The heroine lives on the other side of the town, with her widowed mother who is a seamstress, and she helps her to make a living working when she's free from school.
She loves the older hero from afar, he's from the good part of the town, a medicine student, and very nice too.
There are 10 years between them so she's very young in his eyes.
One day, when the heroine is 17 she goes to the hero's house to deliver one of her mother's work and she hears the hero telling his mother that she should tell those people from the other side of the town to ring the back door (the one used by hired help, that is).
This mean remarks hurts terribly the sensitive and smitten teenager.
Seven years later the hero comes back as a surgeon in the hospital where she works as a nurse and they meet again.
He's attracted to her and tries to date her but she's still resentful because of that remark and basically snubs him every time.
The poor man doesn't understand why she doesn't want him but her belief that their social distance can't be overcome is really unmovable.
The hero's mother, a snob of the first water, even tells her that the hero is going to marry a proper lady and he's only amusing himself with her.
So the heroine rejects the hero repeatedly, and the poor man is really giving up hope, when eventually he has an accident and everything is cleared between them
The hero explains what was, really a big misunderstanding.
I loved the misunderstanding, the hero did say what the heroine heards him say, but there was an explanation for it...(and it was really a VBM.)
The hero here is a dear, he's kind and gentle and I think that he was really in love with the heroine because he had to put up with all her rejections more and more times.
He was determined to have her.
The heroine is a sad person, she has a lot of accidents and not an ounce of joy in her life, and I think she was prejudiced too against those who lived on the right side of the town.
I enjoyed this reading, even if the whole story was a little sad, with people dying, having accident, being sick... I need something strong now to make me happy... very strong. I suppose I will have a very long cuddle from my cats.
There's also the matter of social prejudice, that's very hard to overcome both for the person who's discriminated and the one who is making a discrimination.
The whole issue is very well dealt, because there's even a physical obstacle that divides the town in two parts.
So, there are people who live on one side of the town that are the privileged ones, and those who lives on the other side that are the ones who have to struggle for a living.
The heroine lives on the other side of the town, with her widowed mother who is a seamstress, and she helps her to make a living working when she's free from school.
She loves the older hero from afar, he's from the good part of the town, a medicine student, and very nice too.
There are 10 years between them so she's very young in his eyes.
One day, when the heroine is 17 she goes to the hero's house to deliver one of her mother's work and she hears the hero telling his mother that she should tell those people from the other side of the town to ring the back door (the one used by hired help, that is).
This mean remarks hurts terribly the sensitive and smitten teenager.
Seven years later the hero comes back as a surgeon in the hospital where she works as a nurse and they meet again.
He's attracted to her and tries to date her but she's still resentful because of that remark and basically snubs him every time.
The poor man doesn't understand why she doesn't want him but her belief that their social distance can't be overcome is really unmovable.
The hero's mother, a snob of the first water, even tells her that the hero is going to marry a proper lady and he's only amusing himself with her.
So the heroine rejects the hero repeatedly, and the poor man is really giving up hope, when eventually he has an accident and everything is cleared between them
The hero explains what was, really a big misunderstanding.
I loved the misunderstanding, the hero did say what the heroine heards him say, but there was an explanation for it...(and it was really a VBM.)
The hero here is a dear, he's kind and gentle and I think that he was really in love with the heroine because he had to put up with all her rejections more and more times.
He was determined to have her.
The heroine is a sad person, she has a lot of accidents and not an ounce of joy in her life, and I think she was prejudiced too against those who lived on the right side of the town.
I enjoyed this reading, even if the whole story was a little sad, with people dying, having accident, being sick... I need something strong now to make me happy... very strong. I suppose I will have a very long cuddle from my cats.
September 15, 2013
I enjoyed this older Harley. It is the sequel to Love Is Eternal and, in my opinion, a much better story. Their attraction and love was much more credible. I didn't buy into the love in Love Is Eternal. I thought they would one day end up killing each other. It was nice to see that they actually did get their HEA.
December 20, 2019
"Where Two Ways Meet" is the story of Margot and Jordan.
Our h and H are from opposite sides of town- she originates from humble beginnings, with her mother working as a seamstress for the extremely wealthy H's mother. An offhand remark about their financial disparity hits its mark, and the h develops intense resentment towards the H.
Years later, she works as an efficient OT nurse, when the H returns back to their town as a senior surgeon. His attempts at cordial friendship are met with icy disdain, and the H cannot understand the h's aloofness towards him. But with the help of her kind mother, he eventually succeeds in dating her. The h also has a wonderfully supportive friend in the other surgeon's wife, who adopts her into their family.
But soon tragedy strikes. To the h's shock, the H becomes her rock, and the flowers of love bloom in the desert. Alas, enter the evil mother and jealous OW as the villains in their newfound romance. With prejudices, threats and preconceptions tarnishing their present, will these two find their HEA?
Absolutely LOVED it. I adore romances with heavy angst, and this made me cry buckets. I love the h's inner strength, the h's devotion and pursuit, the kindness of the secondary characters and the snobbish cattiness of the antagonists- all made it a worthwhile read. The ending was VERY dramatic, but the confessions were heartwarming.
I was hoping (the amazing) Joanna and Daniel would have had their story too- and they DID- so excited to read "Love Is Eternal" and discover their love story.
Safe
4.5/5
Our h and H are from opposite sides of town- she originates from humble beginnings, with her mother working as a seamstress for the extremely wealthy H's mother. An offhand remark about their financial disparity hits its mark, and the h develops intense resentment towards the H.
Years later, she works as an efficient OT nurse, when the H returns back to their town as a senior surgeon. His attempts at cordial friendship are met with icy disdain, and the H cannot understand the h's aloofness towards him. But with the help of her kind mother, he eventually succeeds in dating her. The h also has a wonderfully supportive friend in the other surgeon's wife, who adopts her into their family.
But soon tragedy strikes. To the h's shock, the H becomes her rock, and the flowers of love bloom in the desert. Alas, enter the evil mother and jealous OW as the villains in their newfound romance. With prejudices, threats and preconceptions tarnishing their present, will these two find their HEA?
Absolutely LOVED it. I adore romances with heavy angst, and this made me cry buckets. I love the h's inner strength, the h's devotion and pursuit, the kindness of the secondary characters and the snobbish cattiness of the antagonists- all made it a worthwhile read. The ending was VERY dramatic, but the confessions were heartwarming.
I was hoping (the amazing) Joanna and Daniel would have had their story too- and they DID- so excited to read "Love Is Eternal" and discover their love story.
Safe
4.5/5
November 27, 2020
Edited to credit cover artist: the fabulous Len Goldberg, who I can't praise enough, not only for his many wonderful covers—but now that I'm actively trying to attach artist names to their work—for having a legible signature! The high-low combination of portentous gray clouds and what looks like H giving the thumbs up to someone outside the circular frame is still awesome and is one of my favorites from this era.
Margot: Jordan, based on a snippet of conversation I overheard and misinterpreted 7 years ago, stupidly careless to let me overhear by the way, I'm certain you are a snob who looks down on me. So convinced am I, I'm not going to ask for an explanation or wonder even in my deepest thinkiest moments if you still believe this now or really if you ever believed this? Also I hold grudges like whoa! Also dos, I'm incapable of adding new observations to old information and coming to a different more nuanced conclusion. Also tres, can you even conceive of my pain when your narrowed eyes sweep me from head to toe and I realize that the linen pants and silk sweater I threw on to rush to the hospital are of inferior quality?
Jordan: I'm a surgeon, I have very sensitive hands, let me give you a demonstration. Otherwise I have only enough sensitivity to understand that you don't like me much, well babe, women like me! so obviously you have some kind of chip on your shoulder. To be scrupulously fair to myself, I've asked you about your prejudice towards me, did you answer? I must have been too immersed in my speak harshly, kiss brutally, storm off cycle to notice.
Purple prosey, lots of ecstasy and agony. The most thought provoking aspect of WTWM? South Africa in the early 1980's and the insurmountable problem is that H's mother is viciously, prejudicially classist! I can only imagine the shakeup in HPlandia if YW had introduced an interracial couple, maybe she tried? I'll add this speculation to the mental morass containing my thoughts about Rage to Possess.
Margot: Jordan, based on a snippet of conversation I overheard and misinterpreted 7 years ago, stupidly careless to let me overhear by the way, I'm certain you are a snob who looks down on me. So convinced am I, I'm not going to ask for an explanation or wonder even in my deepest thinkiest moments if you still believe this now or really if you ever believed this? Also I hold grudges like whoa! Also dos, I'm incapable of adding new observations to old information and coming to a different more nuanced conclusion. Also tres, can you even conceive of my pain when your narrowed eyes sweep me from head to toe and I realize that the linen pants and silk sweater I threw on to rush to the hospital are of inferior quality?
Jordan: I'm a surgeon, I have very sensitive hands, let me give you a demonstration. Otherwise I have only enough sensitivity to understand that you don't like me much, well babe, women like me! so obviously you have some kind of chip on your shoulder. To be scrupulously fair to myself, I've asked you about your prejudice towards me, did you answer? I must have been too immersed in my speak harshly, kiss brutally, storm off cycle to notice.
Purple prosey, lots of ecstasy and agony. The most thought provoking aspect of WTWM? South Africa in the early 1980's and the insurmountable problem is that H's mother is viciously, prejudicially classist! I can only imagine the shakeup in HPlandia if YW had introduced an interracial couple, maybe she tried? I'll add this speculation to the mental morass containing my thoughts about Rage to Possess.
October 20, 2015
The book started slow, and didn't perk up until halfway through. Much of the beginning focused on Jordan and Margot's professional relationship at the clinic which kept their interactions impersonal. When not working they bickered constantly with few, if any, pleasant interludes placed in between.
Lack of communication and misunderstandings were the reasons for the tension between them. Margot incorrectly thought Jordan was a social snob, while Jordan gave Margot mixed signals, making her (and myself) think that Jordan wasn't sincere or all that into her, so I had a difficult time believing in their happy ending.
Lack of communication and misunderstandings were the reasons for the tension between them. Margot incorrectly thought Jordan was a social snob, while Jordan gave Margot mixed signals, making her (and myself) think that Jordan wasn't sincere or all that into her, so I had a difficult time believing in their happy ending.
December 19, 2023
H must be one of the least cruel heroes.
May 10, 2021
This was actually pretty nice if not for the annoying h who was from the other side of the tracks.
Margot and Jordan meet in school briefly but know of each other since Margot’s mom would mend clothes for his mom. He’s from the upper crust side of the tracks and she’s of modest means.
This one fine day while delivering clothes for his mother, Margot hears Jordan say something spiteful and since then carries a monstrous grudge against him.
The h and H meet again years later working at a hospital. The H still cares for the h and takes on a hot pursuit and really tries his best with bringing her the moon and the stars but the annoying h has her mind set in stone. There is nothing the man doesn’t do for her but she can’t see beyond part of what she heard a lifetime ago.
While I loved Jordan, Margot was just ridiculous and I didn’t like her misery rant of being poor from the other side of the tracks. She takes this man for a long torturous ride without giving much in return. And for that she goes in my special list that I made for women like her.
The H’s mom is rightfully evil and tries much to break up his love for his lady. This is good reading from back in the days!
Margot and Jordan meet in school briefly but know of each other since Margot’s mom would mend clothes for his mom. He’s from the upper crust side of the tracks and she’s of modest means.
This one fine day while delivering clothes for his mother, Margot hears Jordan say something spiteful and since then carries a monstrous grudge against him.
The h and H meet again years later working at a hospital. The H still cares for the h and takes on a hot pursuit and really tries his best with bringing her the moon and the stars but the annoying h has her mind set in stone. There is nothing the man doesn’t do for her but she can’t see beyond part of what she heard a lifetime ago.
While I loved Jordan, Margot was just ridiculous and I didn’t like her misery rant of being poor from the other side of the tracks. She takes this man for a long torturous ride without giving much in return. And for that she goes in my special list that I made for women like her.
The H’s mom is rightfully evil and tries much to break up his love for his lady. This is good reading from back in the days!
September 19, 2013
I think that in some ways, this one was better than Love Is Eternal. For one, I really liked Jordan. He was pretty straight-forward and quite caring towards Margot. Margot seemed a little too obsessed with prejudice and couldn't see Jordan's sincerity until near the end. What bothered me was the extremely cheesy exchange after they confess their feelings for each other. However, considering that this was a very old Harlequin novel, it was to be expected. An enjoyable and quick read nonetheless.
August 14, 2014
I really liked this one. They were from two socioeconomical backgrounds. The resentment felt real. The characters were well developed.The OW and his cow of mother added just enough angst to the story.
May 18, 2017
What Naksed said:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And what vintage said:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Not buyin that HEA mate!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And what vintage said:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Not buyin that HEA mate!
February 17, 2016
What a great find! Loved it. Hero is really in love the the heroine. The mother in law from hell was ott. She gets tolerable in the end also I got to see Joanna's HEA from YW book Love is eternal. So good to see they had a little girl they called after his mother Serena. I loved it.
March 13, 2010
It's odd that I went a number of years with this Harlequin Presents novel (originally written in 1984 - my birthyear!) sitting on my bookshelf after getting it at random at a old library booksale and never thought to pick it up until my curiosity to sit down to read *anything* Harlequin related in full got the best of me. (And I did so with my teeth gritted) I don't care too much for the series of books because they tend to be very formulaic for me, but to Yvonne Whittal's credit, she makes a likable cast of characters and frames a believable romance between two lovers from, literally, different sides of the tracks - a high ranking surgeon from a high class family, and a struggling nurse who comes from a meager part of town. The interactions between the two main characters are realistic - sometimes funny, sometimes tense, and sometimes spontaneously lustful - and the themes of social class structural differences and the element of a matriarch who doesn't approve of Margot's meager upbringing is formulaic and predictable, but progressively works within the scheme of the novel.
I predicted what would happen through most of book as I read it, but doing so didn't detract from what I was able to take out of it, and people who like this genre and thematic will more than likely appreciate what "Where Two Ways Meet" offers. Whittal is one of the better writers I've found in this series of books, so I give her due credit here. Does it make me more apt to read this series of books? Not so much, but I'm open-minded enough to know that this was a quick engaging story for a 2 hour read and re-read.
My rating for this book: 2.5/5
I predicted what would happen through most of book as I read it, but doing so didn't detract from what I was able to take out of it, and people who like this genre and thematic will more than likely appreciate what "Where Two Ways Meet" offers. Whittal is one of the better writers I've found in this series of books, so I give her due credit here. Does it make me more apt to read this series of books? Not so much, but I'm open-minded enough to know that this was a quick engaging story for a 2 hour read and re-read.
My rating for this book: 2.5/5
June 30, 2026
4 stars. A well-written, passionate romance, but tamer than the angsty Yvonne Whittal book I was hoping for.
I've been reading a run of very angsty Harlequin Presents romances recently, and because I've enjoyed several Yvonne Whittal books for their emotional drama—especially something like Echo in the Valley—I went into Where Two Paths Meet expecting a lot of angst.
For Yvonne Whittal, this one is actually quite tame.
There is plenty of passion in the subtext between Jordan and Margot, but not the same high drama, cruelty, jealousy and emotional agony that I've found in some of her other books. That isn't necessarily a flaw, because this is still a good, well-written story, but it didn't quite hit the specific emotional highs I was hoping for.
Margot grew up in a South African town with a deep social divide between rich and poor. She came from the poorer side, while Jordan came from the wealthy side. She first knew him when she was a child at school and he was eight years older, handsome, athletic and admired by everyone. Like many of the girls, she hero-worshipped him, but in her case it was also because he had once been kind to her.
As she grew older, she still caught occasional glimpses of him because her mother worked as a seamstress for Jordan's mother. Whenever Margot delivered parcels to the house, she hoped to see him, and those small moments fed her teenage feelings for him.
Then, when she was seventeen and he was about twenty-five, everything changed.
Margot arrived at his house to deliver a parcel and knocked on the front door. Jordan opened it, glared at her, then went back inside and said to his mother, in a voice Margot overheard, that it was "that girl from the other side of town" and hadn't his mother told these people to use the servants' entrance?
That destroyed her illusions.
She had believed he was different from the other snobbish people in town. Hearing him apparently share the same contempt for people like her shocked and humiliated her, and from that moment the scales fell from her eyes. She decided he wasn't the nice man she'd once believed him to be.
That moment shaped her for years. Even as she trained as a nurse, she remained conscious of class and social barriers. She had wanted to become a doctor but couldn't get the bursary or funding she needed, so she became a nurse instead, working alongside surgeons and people from the richer side of society while still feeling trapped in her own social position. Given the South African setting and the heavy social divisions in the story, I understood why this affected her so deeply, even if, as a modern reader from another country, I sometimes found her mindset frustrating. Thankfully, Margot is generally strong and likeable, and she doesn't wallow in it constantly. She just bitterly reflects on it now and then.
The story begins when Jordan returns to their town after seven years abroad in Europe, where he has become a successful surgeon. Margot is now a senior nurse at the clinic where he will be working, and she gets a jolt when she realises he is coming back. She tells herself she no longer loves him, but of course there is still something there.
When Jordan first sees her again, he doesn't recognise her. Margot treats him coldly, and later he comes by to ask whether they know each other. Once she reminds him that her mother worked for his mother, he remembers her, including details such as her part-time job in a local shop. But Margot is sharp with him. When he makes a casual comment about pocket money, she corrects him coldly that it wasn't pocket money; it was necessary for survival.
Jordan is surprised by her hostility. He's handsome, successful and wealthy, so he clearly isn't used to women disliking him. Since the book is entirely from Margot's perspective, we don't get his viewpoint, though that probably would have given too much away.
The main romantic conflict comes from Margot believing Jordan is merely toying with her. She thinks he sees her as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks—good enough to pass the time with and perhaps seduce, but not good enough for anything serious. This is made worse by rumours that he is engaged, or about to become engaged, to a beautiful wealthy socialite he met in Europe.
SPOILERS AHEAD
From the beginning, Jordan does pursue Margot. There is strong physical chemistry, and he is quite forceful in the way Yvonne Whittal heroes often are. He pushes his way past her refusals, gets her to go out with him, and presses kisses and embraces on her to break down her reserve. In a modern context, some of his behaviour is questionable. For example, on the first day he follows her home in his car because he's worried about her driving alone after dark, but she doesn't know who is following her, so it may seem to stray into creepy stalker territory if it was a modern context.
Still, compared with some of Whittal's more ruthless heroes, Jordan is tame. He can be dominant and high-handed, but he never crossed into the sort of irredeemable jerk territory that would require a massive grovel. He genuinely seems confused by Margot's resistance because he knows she is attracted to him and doesn't understand why she keeps fighting it.
When Margot hints that they come from different social worlds and that he must think less of her, he accuses her of reverse snobbery. From his perspective, he has never thought that way about her, and he doesn't know why she believes he has. Of course, she won't tell him what she overheard years ago because she is too angry and too proud.
Most of the conflict comes from Margot refusing to give in to him. She fights her physical feelings because she knows if she lets him seduce her and he then walks away, it will emotionally wreck her. This worked much better for me than books where the heroine's body betrayal is so overwhelming that she keeps giving way pathetically. Margot does get carried away at moments, but mostly she sticks to her guns. Once she realises she's fallen back in love with him, she's even more determined not to let him have his way casually.
The rest of the drama comes from a series of external crises. Margot has a car crash. Her mother dies. She gets horrible pneumonia. She runs into a house fire to save Jordan's mom and becomes ill from that. Later, Jordan rolls his car and is injured. A lot of the romance develops through how they react to each other's suffering, saving each other and caring for each other through these incidents. That kept the pace moving and gave the relationship warmth.
Some of the drama also comes from the supposed other woman. The wealthy socialite arrives for part of the story and is flaunted in Margot's face, especially after Margot has rejected Jordan and he keeps turning up at mutual friends' houses with this other woman. Both the other woman and Jordan's mother are vicious about the class divide, making nasty little comments to remind Margot of her place.
This is one area where I really wanted Margot to tell them to fuck off.
Instead, she takes their abuse and insists she's not interested in Jordan anyway. I wanted her to say, actually, he likes me, and if I decide to take him, you'll both have to suck it up. Because that was true. But she never does, which frustrated me. She even goes along to these meetings, knowing these women will only abuse her.
Eventually Jordan proposes, but Margot believes he has only done it to upset his mother, so she turns him down. The poor man has actually spent most of the book chasing her. In essence, he has been in love with her and mad about her since seeing her again, but she keeps pushing him away. By this point, he is losing hope because even after a proposal, she still refuses him, and he doesn't understand what particular block she has against him. The poor man is suffering.
After Jordan's car accident, Margot is terrified something has happened to him so goes to see him, just when she was on the verge of leaving town for another job in order to run away from him. This gives him hope. He finally confronts her and insists she tell him what the problem is. She tells him what she overheard all those years ago, and the misunderstanding is finally cleared up.
It turns out he had said those words sarcastically to his mother. They had been arguing about her snobbery and her views on class, and when Margot came to the front door, Jordan flung the remark back at his mother to demonstrate how awful her attitude was. Unfortunately, Margot overheard only that line and believed it represented his true feelings, when in reality he was challenging his mother's prejudice.
That explanation worked well, and I liked that there was no need for a huge grovel because Jordan hadn't really done anything wrong. If anything, he treated Margot fairly well throughout the book and determinedly pursued her even when she kept rejecting him. This ending didn't leave me with that "the bastard got away with it" feeling that I've had from several Robyn Donald books recently.
The part I did dislike was Jordan's mother suddenly having a change of heart. She had been vicious and nasty, trying to come between them and making classist comments, and then she abruptly decides Margot is a decent person after all because Margot helped save her life in the fire. I understood the practical reality of it—if you love someone, sometimes you have to deal with their awful family—but I still hated that Margot basically had to make peace with this horrible woman. I also didn't believe the mother's prejudice had truly gone anywhere. I suspect she would still be just as snobbish towards everyone else from the other side of town.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't the intense angst-fest I was expecting from Yvonne Whittal, and it didn't match my favourite emotional highs from her work, but it was an interesting, passionate romance with a good undercurrent of longing.
There is definite pining in the subtext from Jordan's side, which I enjoyed, even though I usually prefer the heroine to be the one pining. Margot is also fighting her own feelings throughout, so there is some pining from her side too. The romance is passionate, the writing is good, and the ending is emotionally satisfactory because the conflict is properly explained by the hero rather than brushed aside.
I can't give it more than four stars because it didn't fully match my personal taste for super-angsty, emotionally devastating romance. But as a well-written vintage Harlequin with strong chemistry, class conflict, a determined hero and a heroine who mostly holds her ground, it was a good read.
I've been reading a run of very angsty Harlequin Presents romances recently, and because I've enjoyed several Yvonne Whittal books for their emotional drama—especially something like Echo in the Valley—I went into Where Two Paths Meet expecting a lot of angst.
For Yvonne Whittal, this one is actually quite tame.
There is plenty of passion in the subtext between Jordan and Margot, but not the same high drama, cruelty, jealousy and emotional agony that I've found in some of her other books. That isn't necessarily a flaw, because this is still a good, well-written story, but it didn't quite hit the specific emotional highs I was hoping for.
Margot grew up in a South African town with a deep social divide between rich and poor. She came from the poorer side, while Jordan came from the wealthy side. She first knew him when she was a child at school and he was eight years older, handsome, athletic and admired by everyone. Like many of the girls, she hero-worshipped him, but in her case it was also because he had once been kind to her.
As she grew older, she still caught occasional glimpses of him because her mother worked as a seamstress for Jordan's mother. Whenever Margot delivered parcels to the house, she hoped to see him, and those small moments fed her teenage feelings for him.
Then, when she was seventeen and he was about twenty-five, everything changed.
Margot arrived at his house to deliver a parcel and knocked on the front door. Jordan opened it, glared at her, then went back inside and said to his mother, in a voice Margot overheard, that it was "that girl from the other side of town" and hadn't his mother told these people to use the servants' entrance?
That destroyed her illusions.
She had believed he was different from the other snobbish people in town. Hearing him apparently share the same contempt for people like her shocked and humiliated her, and from that moment the scales fell from her eyes. She decided he wasn't the nice man she'd once believed him to be.
That moment shaped her for years. Even as she trained as a nurse, she remained conscious of class and social barriers. She had wanted to become a doctor but couldn't get the bursary or funding she needed, so she became a nurse instead, working alongside surgeons and people from the richer side of society while still feeling trapped in her own social position. Given the South African setting and the heavy social divisions in the story, I understood why this affected her so deeply, even if, as a modern reader from another country, I sometimes found her mindset frustrating. Thankfully, Margot is generally strong and likeable, and she doesn't wallow in it constantly. She just bitterly reflects on it now and then.
The story begins when Jordan returns to their town after seven years abroad in Europe, where he has become a successful surgeon. Margot is now a senior nurse at the clinic where he will be working, and she gets a jolt when she realises he is coming back. She tells herself she no longer loves him, but of course there is still something there.
When Jordan first sees her again, he doesn't recognise her. Margot treats him coldly, and later he comes by to ask whether they know each other. Once she reminds him that her mother worked for his mother, he remembers her, including details such as her part-time job in a local shop. But Margot is sharp with him. When he makes a casual comment about pocket money, she corrects him coldly that it wasn't pocket money; it was necessary for survival.
Jordan is surprised by her hostility. He's handsome, successful and wealthy, so he clearly isn't used to women disliking him. Since the book is entirely from Margot's perspective, we don't get his viewpoint, though that probably would have given too much away.
The main romantic conflict comes from Margot believing Jordan is merely toying with her. She thinks he sees her as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks—good enough to pass the time with and perhaps seduce, but not good enough for anything serious. This is made worse by rumours that he is engaged, or about to become engaged, to a beautiful wealthy socialite he met in Europe.
SPOILERS AHEAD
From the beginning, Jordan does pursue Margot. There is strong physical chemistry, and he is quite forceful in the way Yvonne Whittal heroes often are. He pushes his way past her refusals, gets her to go out with him, and presses kisses and embraces on her to break down her reserve. In a modern context, some of his behaviour is questionable. For example, on the first day he follows her home in his car because he's worried about her driving alone after dark, but she doesn't know who is following her, so it may seem to stray into creepy stalker territory if it was a modern context.
Still, compared with some of Whittal's more ruthless heroes, Jordan is tame. He can be dominant and high-handed, but he never crossed into the sort of irredeemable jerk territory that would require a massive grovel. He genuinely seems confused by Margot's resistance because he knows she is attracted to him and doesn't understand why she keeps fighting it.
When Margot hints that they come from different social worlds and that he must think less of her, he accuses her of reverse snobbery. From his perspective, he has never thought that way about her, and he doesn't know why she believes he has. Of course, she won't tell him what she overheard years ago because she is too angry and too proud.
Most of the conflict comes from Margot refusing to give in to him. She fights her physical feelings because she knows if she lets him seduce her and he then walks away, it will emotionally wreck her. This worked much better for me than books where the heroine's body betrayal is so overwhelming that she keeps giving way pathetically. Margot does get carried away at moments, but mostly she sticks to her guns. Once she realises she's fallen back in love with him, she's even more determined not to let him have his way casually.
The rest of the drama comes from a series of external crises. Margot has a car crash. Her mother dies. She gets horrible pneumonia. She runs into a house fire to save Jordan's mom and becomes ill from that. Later, Jordan rolls his car and is injured. A lot of the romance develops through how they react to each other's suffering, saving each other and caring for each other through these incidents. That kept the pace moving and gave the relationship warmth.
Some of the drama also comes from the supposed other woman. The wealthy socialite arrives for part of the story and is flaunted in Margot's face, especially after Margot has rejected Jordan and he keeps turning up at mutual friends' houses with this other woman. Both the other woman and Jordan's mother are vicious about the class divide, making nasty little comments to remind Margot of her place.
This is one area where I really wanted Margot to tell them to fuck off.
Instead, she takes their abuse and insists she's not interested in Jordan anyway. I wanted her to say, actually, he likes me, and if I decide to take him, you'll both have to suck it up. Because that was true. But she never does, which frustrated me. She even goes along to these meetings, knowing these women will only abuse her.
Eventually Jordan proposes, but Margot believes he has only done it to upset his mother, so she turns him down. The poor man has actually spent most of the book chasing her. In essence, he has been in love with her and mad about her since seeing her again, but she keeps pushing him away. By this point, he is losing hope because even after a proposal, she still refuses him, and he doesn't understand what particular block she has against him. The poor man is suffering.
After Jordan's car accident, Margot is terrified something has happened to him so goes to see him, just when she was on the verge of leaving town for another job in order to run away from him. This gives him hope. He finally confronts her and insists she tell him what the problem is. She tells him what she overheard all those years ago, and the misunderstanding is finally cleared up.
It turns out he had said those words sarcastically to his mother. They had been arguing about her snobbery and her views on class, and when Margot came to the front door, Jordan flung the remark back at his mother to demonstrate how awful her attitude was. Unfortunately, Margot overheard only that line and believed it represented his true feelings, when in reality he was challenging his mother's prejudice.
That explanation worked well, and I liked that there was no need for a huge grovel because Jordan hadn't really done anything wrong. If anything, he treated Margot fairly well throughout the book and determinedly pursued her even when she kept rejecting him. This ending didn't leave me with that "the bastard got away with it" feeling that I've had from several Robyn Donald books recently.
The part I did dislike was Jordan's mother suddenly having a change of heart. She had been vicious and nasty, trying to come between them and making classist comments, and then she abruptly decides Margot is a decent person after all because Margot helped save her life in the fire. I understood the practical reality of it—if you love someone, sometimes you have to deal with their awful family—but I still hated that Margot basically had to make peace with this horrible woman. I also didn't believe the mother's prejudice had truly gone anywhere. I suspect she would still be just as snobbish towards everyone else from the other side of town.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't the intense angst-fest I was expecting from Yvonne Whittal, and it didn't match my favourite emotional highs from her work, but it was an interesting, passionate romance with a good undercurrent of longing.
There is definite pining in the subtext from Jordan's side, which I enjoyed, even though I usually prefer the heroine to be the one pining. Margot is also fighting her own feelings throughout, so there is some pining from her side too. The romance is passionate, the writing is good, and the ending is emotionally satisfactory because the conflict is properly explained by the hero rather than brushed aside.
I can't give it more than four stars because it didn't fully match my personal taste for super-angsty, emotionally devastating romance. But as a well-written vintage Harlequin with strong chemistry, class conflict, a determined hero and a heroine who mostly holds her ground, it was a good read.
October 2, 2026
This one was fun and angsty, but I found the heroine to be aggravating.
February 18, 2013
This was kind of hokey and the social snobbery was too overt to be believable, but it was still a satisfying older romance. With a sneak peek back at the characters from Love Is Eternal.
October 16, 2019
She was equal to almost any task
As part of a skilled medical team, Margot Huntley was sensitive and alert to the needs of her job She had to be—especially since the arrival of Jordan Merrick, the new senior surgeon.
Margot had never forgotten that Jordan once thought himself too good for her. Nor had she forgiven him for callously crushing all the tender feelings she'd nurtured for him.
Now the knowledge that he wanted to be her lover only angered her ...until his rich, socially acceptable fiancee turned up. (l
As part of a skilled medical team, Margot Huntley was sensitive and alert to the needs of her job She had to be—especially since the arrival of Jordan Merrick, the new senior surgeon.
Margot had never forgotten that Jordan once thought himself too good for her. Nor had she forgiven him for callously crushing all the tender feelings she'd nurtured for him.
Now the knowledge that he wanted to be her lover only angered her ...until his rich, socially acceptable fiancee turned up. (l
December 22, 2022
Margot is such a doormat. Everyone manages her as they please and she's always interrupted when she's speaking. I found her boring and prejudiced.
I didn't understand Jordan's obsession with her. He also should've respected her wishes to be left alone.
That ending was unreal, with the way Jordan's mother changed her attitude so suddenly and drastically.
I liked the plot but the characters left a lot to be desired.
I didn't understand Jordan's obsession with her. He also should've respected her wishes to be left alone.
That ending was unreal, with the way Jordan's mother changed her attitude so suddenly and drastically.
I liked the plot but the characters left a lot to be desired.
January 14, 2018
Margot is a nurse in a plastic surgery hospital. She made herself a career and wanted to left some of the burden up her mother's shoulders who has raised her alone. She reunites with Jorden Merrick whom in her teens loved and idolized, but later hated because she heard him say an insulting remark about her.
A good read as a pass time.
A good read as a pass time.
May 7, 2021
I can agree with the H that the heroine was sometimes infuriating. She seemed deliberately stubborn and blind.
His mother really was a piece of work though. I had high hopes in the beginning but it developed in a predictable and a bit frustrating manner with miscommunication as a main source of drama. Still OK read. The heroine alone fighting the fire was ridiculous.
His mother really was a piece of work though. I had high hopes in the beginning but it developed in a predictable and a bit frustrating manner with miscommunication as a main source of drama. Still OK read. The heroine alone fighting the fire was ridiculous.
June 23, 2022
Did not enjoy and h was too hung up on her place in society. H was wrong not to tell her he wanted more than an affair, in fact he agreed the OW was an ideal fit and that he only proposed to h to annoy his snobby mother. He flip flopped from loving to lusting to disengaged emotionally.
July 13, 2019
I liked the book. Unlike other reviewers, I don't think the hero was insincere but I do think the whole misunderstanding could have been resolved with a simple conversation.
July 31, 2019
A nice little romance with flavors of Korean drama. The constant reference to the difference in their social class was annoying but the H was not the ultra jerk that Whittal's other heroes are.
December 1, 2020
Her hatred of Jordan is a little ridiculous.
August 9, 2021
So many things happen in this book. It is certainly not boring.
He is smitten and determined to win her over. I like that.
He is smitten and determined to win her over. I like that.
December 18, 2019
I chose this one for its cover picture and the summary,enjoyed the storylines. Since, like one of her reviewers on Amazon, YW is the only author I read in HLQ. I LIKEed the H + h for their bond formed at younger ages in school then later meeting again at workplace. He was more than attracted to her at their reunion on his first day. Soon,she became the one he was going to get married to. He followed her in his car to her house. She'd admired him in school for his handsomeness and physique as well as his pleasant greetings on their encounters, however overhearing of him speaking in indignation to his mother caused her a long time of crushed feelings for him. Though reluctant, She was still accepting his advances. The story advances quickly to now a much younger OM enters in this mix of four. I enjoyed the story more up until this point. I felt that the other two didn't stand a chance against their rivals and pretty soon were out of the story. I liked the H's mother changing her opinion N attitude toward Margot and was happy for their love for each other.
March 17, 2022
The story itself painted a very bleak picture of the heroine’s life. The most depressing bit was her narrow minded, prejudiced outlook. Still, had the Hero’s mother been even more vicious and villainous to sufficiently highlight the obstacles the heroine and the hero had to get through the story might have worked better, as it were even as readers who were privy to the talks the hero’s mother felt compelled to have with the heroine, we barely felt the heroine was justified in her dated outlook. Her hangups in socialising with her own colleagues for example, didn’t feel plausible rather ravings of a very disturbed, damaged person who completely lacked in self esteem. On the other hand since we spent most of the book knowing about exactly what the heroine had overheard when delivering the parcel to the Hero’s mother, we were left feeling as if he gaslighted her concerns, and since his behaviour was wishy washy at best, one couldn’t help but agree with the heroine that he just meant to have a fling with her.
All in all not a favourite in any department.
All in all not a favourite in any department.
February 5, 2017
8 years is just too long a period to hold a grudge and hold onto your prejudice... It messes up with your head. Margot is a proof of that.
Jordan was affectionate and caring from beginning. I was wondering how long would he put up and take Margots attitude and refusal. You take any man in todays world and it would be 'f*ck this sh!t' after fist attempt. And his mother is a really one nasty piece of work. Unfortunately, people like her still exist even in today's world.
Jordan was affectionate and caring from beginning. I was wondering how long would he put up and take Margots attitude and refusal. You take any man in todays world and it would be 'f*ck this sh!t' after fist attempt. And his mother is a really one nasty piece of work. Unfortunately, people like her still exist even in today's world.
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