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Yuletide Bride
A mistletoe marriage?
"What could be nicer than a Christmas wedding?"
Under normal circumstances Amber would have agreed with the sentiment but Max Warner was only offering her a cold-blooded marriage of convenience, designed solely to give their daughter a name. He didn't love her--had never loved her. Eight years before, he had walked out of her life, not even knowing that their torrid affair had left more than heartache in its wake. And yet the thought of being Max's bride was proving irresistible, even if it meant that the only Christmas present Amber ended up with was another broken heart!
"What could be nicer than a Christmas wedding?"
Under normal circumstances Amber would have agreed with the sentiment but Max Warner was only offering her a cold-blooded marriage of convenience, designed solely to give their daughter a name. He didn't love her--had never loved her. Eight years before, he had walked out of her life, not even knowing that their torrid affair had left more than heartache in its wake. And yet the thought of being Max's bride was proving irresistible, even if it meant that the only Christmas present Amber ended up with was another broken heart!
Paperback
First published November 1, 1995
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39 people want to read
About the author
Mary Lyons
127 books20 followersMary-Jo Wormell, whose nom de plume is Mary Lyons, was a popular British writer of over 40 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1983 to 2001. She was also a Conservative Party parlimentary candidate.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 25, 2018
Re Yuletide Bride - Mary Lyons pulled out her fill out the blank standard seekrit baby day at the HP office manuscript for this one.
The h is a 25 yr old widow with a seven year old, a big manor house and no income. Her father was a big businessman who lost it all and died and then the h's mum went a bit nuts too.
When the book opens, the h's Pimp Mama BFF's are all about getting the h to sell herself off to the highest bidder for domestic servitude and broodmaring - the candidate of choice is the new local Doctor with a private income.
In standard HP format, that all goes by the wayside after the big news erupts that the local bad boy made good when he left town eight years earlier is now on his way back.
He had wild success with both the lurvely lady buffet and the finance world in his pursuit of the Alpha accouterments, but now he has scored even bigger as his grandma died and left him a ton of cash.
As this is HPlandia and ML is in the groove, the H and h meet up again when the H decides to buy her crumbling manor house. Then he notices the h's daughter is a dead ringer for himself in looks and personality.
Thus the berating of the h for marrying the local rich lad who had a kind heart in an MOC to provide a father for her baby after the H pumped and dumped her is duly scheduled on the hour every hour for as long as the H can bully the h or sabotage her belongings into connecting with him.
We also get the Bronze Standard Version of the Alpha H threatening to take custody of the h's child if she does not bow down before him, daughter of infidels!
(Which was annoying, as the little girl's birth certificate reflected her dead husband as the father and that was legal and the H had no chance.)
However, we are seriously stuck in this groove, so of course the h agrees to marry him, of course the Lurve Force Mojo is strong and of course the h's mentally missing mum AND the daughter adore the H and all is going along splendidly well with preparations for the wedding.
THEN, in a huge last minute slam to at least add SOMETHING original to the plot, The Rights For the Old Mill Pond are at risk. The h is discovered to be the seekrit heir to the building rights for the Mill Pond, building rights which the H's super seekrit failing construction company need to become a not failure.
The Pimp Momma BFF's are all about making sure that the h understands that there is a good chance the H is only marrying the h for these building rights, (which were so seekrit even her solictor had to uncover centuries of documents to find them,) and the h has the usual mopey moment hysterics and the wedding is off.
Until the H harasses the h into revealing her deep dark suspicions and then remarks that he had no clue he even owned a super seekrit failing construction company, as it was part of his inheritance. But also there is the fact that if the h and her solicitor did not even know about the building rights buried in centuries old documents that only she and her solicitor had, how he was supposed to know this and plot accordingly?
The h finally believes he really loves her and she has always loved him back - cue up the standard HP H get out of jail for being a nematode line "I did have other women over the years, but it was only you in my heart."
The h is suitably reprimanded and allows the H to carry her off to bed for the Purple Passion Atonement moment and we leave the two of them happy at the wedding, doting nutty mum and adoring daughter looking on, for the fluffy standard HP HEA.
This one is so standard it is substandard and unless you have a thing for Pimp Momma BFF's who like to busybody and do not do that wearing Zoot Suits, white spats and those lovely broad brim purple hats, I don't recommend this as an HPlandia outing.
The h is a 25 yr old widow with a seven year old, a big manor house and no income. Her father was a big businessman who lost it all and died and then the h's mum went a bit nuts too.
When the book opens, the h's Pimp Mama BFF's are all about getting the h to sell herself off to the highest bidder for domestic servitude and broodmaring - the candidate of choice is the new local Doctor with a private income.
In standard HP format, that all goes by the wayside after the big news erupts that the local bad boy made good when he left town eight years earlier is now on his way back.
He had wild success with both the lurvely lady buffet and the finance world in his pursuit of the Alpha accouterments, but now he has scored even bigger as his grandma died and left him a ton of cash.
As this is HPlandia and ML is in the groove, the H and h meet up again when the H decides to buy her crumbling manor house. Then he notices the h's daughter is a dead ringer for himself in looks and personality.
Thus the berating of the h for marrying the local rich lad who had a kind heart in an MOC to provide a father for her baby after the H pumped and dumped her is duly scheduled on the hour every hour for as long as the H can bully the h or sabotage her belongings into connecting with him.
We also get the Bronze Standard Version of the Alpha H threatening to take custody of the h's child if she does not bow down before him, daughter of infidels!
(Which was annoying, as the little girl's birth certificate reflected her dead husband as the father and that was legal and the H had no chance.)
However, we are seriously stuck in this groove, so of course the h agrees to marry him, of course the Lurve Force Mojo is strong and of course the h's mentally missing mum AND the daughter adore the H and all is going along splendidly well with preparations for the wedding.
THEN, in a huge last minute slam to at least add SOMETHING original to the plot, The Rights For the Old Mill Pond are at risk. The h is discovered to be the seekrit heir to the building rights for the Mill Pond, building rights which the H's super seekrit failing construction company need to become a not failure.
The Pimp Momma BFF's are all about making sure that the h understands that there is a good chance the H is only marrying the h for these building rights, (which were so seekrit even her solictor had to uncover centuries of documents to find them,) and the h has the usual mopey moment hysterics and the wedding is off.
Until the H harasses the h into revealing her deep dark suspicions and then remarks that he had no clue he even owned a super seekrit failing construction company, as it was part of his inheritance. But also there is the fact that if the h and her solicitor did not even know about the building rights buried in centuries old documents that only she and her solicitor had, how he was supposed to know this and plot accordingly?
The h finally believes he really loves her and she has always loved him back - cue up the standard HP H get out of jail for being a nematode line "I did have other women over the years, but it was only you in my heart."
The h is suitably reprimanded and allows the H to carry her off to bed for the Purple Passion Atonement moment and we leave the two of them happy at the wedding, doting nutty mum and adoring daughter looking on, for the fluffy standard HP HEA.
This one is so standard it is substandard and unless you have a thing for Pimp Momma BFF's who like to busybody and do not do that wearing Zoot Suits, white spats and those lovely broad brim purple hats, I don't recommend this as an HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2016
Bog standard return of the hero who had done the heroine wrong. She has been living in poverty since she got pregnant at 18 and had to wed the local rich boy because the hero left for America and never came back. The rich boy gambled all of his money and conveniently died so he's out the picture. Now the heroine lives in poverty in a big drafty house with her mentally ill mother and the secret baby (who is now 7).
Hero is now rich - check.
Heroine has been Cinderella and celibate during their separation - check.
Hero calls her a gold digger - check.
Hero threatens to drag child custody through the courts - check.
Hero forces marriage - check.
Heroine refuses because he doesn't love her - check.
That old black magic is still there - check.
There's one last misunderstanding about the hero's real motivations for marriage - check.
Heroine is a shrew. Hero is a cardboard alpha. The sub-plot with the preserving the old mill was tedious. Lynne Graham would have made the H/h charming. Penny Jordan would have piled on the angst. Mary Lyons just paints this one by numbers.
Hero is now rich - check.
Heroine has been Cinderella and celibate during their separation - check.
Hero calls her a gold digger - check.
Hero threatens to drag child custody through the courts - check.
Hero forces marriage - check.
Heroine refuses because he doesn't love her - check.
That old black magic is still there - check.
There's one last misunderstanding about the hero's real motivations for marriage - check.
Heroine is a shrew. Hero is a cardboard alpha. The sub-plot with the preserving the old mill was tedious. Lynne Graham would have made the H/h charming. Penny Jordan would have piled on the angst. Mary Lyons just paints this one by numbers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2012
I think I just need to stop reading the "secret baby" plots. They are my least favorite tropes, even in the hands of great writers. What I hate most about them:
1) Man threatens to take child away from woman and she caves like a ton of bricks..
For the life of me, I will never understand what would possess a woman to want to place her child into the hands of a man that ruthlessly abandons her pregnant and destitute. Secondly, no court takes a baby away from a capable mother.
2) A man abandons you penniless and pregnant. Years later, when he finally shows up he threatens to take your child away from you, yet you quiver and can't help but fall into bed with him. But wait before you fall into bed with him, you find out that you never really stopped loving this man...
3) The heroine is beyond TSTL, cause no one in their right mind would do this.
This book was worst than most... I found myself skipping words and paragraphs just to get through it. I could not relate to either the H/h.
Save your money and buy something else!
1) Man threatens to take child away from woman and she caves like a ton of bricks..
For the life of me, I will never understand what would possess a woman to want to place her child into the hands of a man that ruthlessly abandons her pregnant and destitute. Secondly, no court takes a baby away from a capable mother.
2) A man abandons you penniless and pregnant. Years later, when he finally shows up he threatens to take your child away from you, yet you quiver and can't help but fall into bed with him. But wait before you fall into bed with him, you find out that you never really stopped loving this man...
3) The heroine is beyond TSTL, cause no one in their right mind would do this.
This book was worst than most... I found myself skipping words and paragraphs just to get through it. I could not relate to either the H/h.
Save your money and buy something else!
January 30, 2022
"Yuletide Bride" is the story of Amber and Max.
A second chance so called romance in which the hero and hero meet after eight years due to fate. She is a widowed single mother, he's supposedly a very rich businessman. What happened in their past that shaped them both forms the story.
This was SO BORING! I really struggled to finish this one- barely any chemistry, disjointed plot, annoying characters.. I skimmed the second half.
SWE
1.5/5
A second chance so called romance in which the hero and hero meet after eight years due to fate. She is a widowed single mother, he's supposedly a very rich businessman. What happened in their past that shaped them both forms the story.
This was SO BORING! I really struggled to finish this one- barely any chemistry, disjointed plot, annoying characters.. I skimmed the second half.
SWE
1.5/5
November 14, 2018
The Yuletide Bride
They were once lovers until he left eight years ago. She married and her daughter was born six months later. She is now a widow and takes care of her mother and daughter. The house she inherited from her husband. Now he is back and causing upheaval in her town. Things go wrong when he finds out he has a child. Lies and deception happened years ago. We're they both victims? What will he do now that he knows? Will either accept and love?
They were once lovers until he left eight years ago. She married and her daughter was born six months later. She is now a widow and takes care of her mother and daughter. The house she inherited from her husband. Now he is back and causing upheaval in her town. Things go wrong when he finds out he has a child. Lies and deception happened years ago. We're they both victims? What will he do now that he knows? Will either accept and love?
November 26, 2021
Enjoyable pleasant read. The conflicts were due to misunderstanding and conclusion jumping and they sorted them quickly. It was easy to see both h an H loved each other
The final conflict is idiotic. H calls it as it is and I wanted to smack her.
The final conflict is idiotic. H calls it as it is and I wanted to smack her.
Read
June 25, 2018A mistletoe marriage?
"What could be nicer than a Christmas wedding?"
Under normal circumstances Amber would have agreed with the sentiment but Max Warner was only offering her a cold-blooded marriage of convenience, designed solely to give their daughter a name. He didn't love her--had never loved her. Eight years before, he had walked out of her life, not even knowing that their torrid affair had left more than heartache in its wake. And yet the thought of being Max's bride was proving irresistible, even if it meant that the only Christmas present Amber ended up with was another broken heart!
"What could be nicer than a Christmas wedding?"
Under normal circumstances Amber would have agreed with the sentiment but Max Warner was only offering her a cold-blooded marriage of convenience, designed solely to give their daughter a name. He didn't love her--had never loved her. Eight years before, he had walked out of her life, not even knowing that their torrid affair had left more than heartache in its wake. And yet the thought of being Max's bride was proving irresistible, even if it meant that the only Christmas present Amber ended up with was another broken heart!
hq-to-read
July 5, 2018A Mistletoe Marriage?
"What could be nicer than a Christmas wedding?"
Under normal circumstances Amber would have agreed with the sentiment but Max Warner was only offering her a cold-blooded marriage of convenience, designed solely to give their daughter a name. He didn't love her�had never loved her. Eight years before, he had walked out of her life, not even knowing that their torrid affair had left more than heartache in its wake. And yet the thought of being Max's bride was proving irresistible, even if it meant that the only Christmas present Amber ended up with was another broken heart!
"What could be nicer than a Christmas wedding?"
Under normal circumstances Amber would have agreed with the sentiment but Max Warner was only offering her a cold-blooded marriage of convenience, designed solely to give their daughter a name. He didn't love her�had never loved her. Eight years before, he had walked out of her life, not even knowing that their torrid affair had left more than heartache in its wake. And yet the thought of being Max's bride was proving irresistible, even if it meant that the only Christmas present Amber ended up with was another broken heart!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews