Passionate Involvement

by Lilian Peake

"Cling to the Italian in me," Sarne Brand said, and he meant it. "Steer clear of my English side." That was the side of him Tamsin didn't know; that Sarne never revealed.

Inexplicably she felt snubbed, as if somehow she'd been shut out. And yet, if Sarne put on dark glasses where everything other than his holiday self was concerned, wasn't she, in fact, doing the same?

Well, she'd been warned. And she'd take heed from now on!

Genres: Harlequin, Romance

303 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1977

About the author

Lilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.

Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.

Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes, men only see what they want to see and their interpretation is often skewed by their sexual responses to a woman or to a situation.

In this novel, the H makes a huge error in judgement because he assesses the heroine based on her outward appearance, expensive clothing and posh hotel suite and comes up with a skewed interpretation. He thinks she's some rich old man's sugar baby slut because she's too young to be able to dress in expensive clothing and afford an extended vacation in an expensive hotel in Lugano. He's also a major hypocrite because he shares no personal information about his life yet he judges her for refusing to share hers. The heroine, Tamsin, is on an extended vacation to Lugano Switzerland in order to recuperate from an accident. It's all paid for by her rich uncle William, who's a part owner of the hotel. Uncle William has told Tamsin not to reveal her connection to him because he wants her to do some undercover snooping and see if the employees at the hotel are all doing their jobs properly. That's why Tamsin's unable to tell the H why she's able to afford her clothing and the vacation. But, I also thought she was a bit stupid too because she could've said it was a gift from all of her friends and relatives after her accident. Of course, this would've been far too easy an explanation for a heroine in a Lilian P novel.

The blurb for this novel grabbed my attention because it's not often one comes across something like this:

"Cling to the Italian in me," Sarne Brand said, and he meant it. "Steer clear of my English side."


Did I find that sexy or impressive ? Did it intrigue me and make me want to know more about a guy who actually speaks like that ?



It actually annoyed me a bit because it's an instant sign that this H is gonna be supremely egotistical. And, I wasn't surprised to see that I'd been proven correct on that score. Was there any good side to this ? Well, I suppose I should be grateful that he wasn't one of those pretentious, narcissistic, illeist morons who keep referring to themselves in the third person, by their own names. That would've been utterly unbearable, to say the least. I see enough of that shit on social media all the time.

This novel was like a prose version of some production of the theatre of the absurd. It started off with great potential and the H hadn't shown signs of being a horrible asshole, but then the storyline devolved into crass chaos and the plot twists became a bit ridiculous. I think Lilian P lost the plot on this one. It seemed as if she ran out of stuff to write about and decided to inject OTT situations that were a bit unconventional and strange, in an old school HP novel. I usually go gaga for OTT drama and I'm a trainwreck addict, but I hate when authors introduce campy situations just for the sake of creating an impression and especially when it does nothing to improve thematic structure and character design.

The MC's are strangers who meet at a posh hotel in Lugano and they're instantly attracted to each other. They both keep their little secrets from each other and at first this helps with the storyline. However, midway in the novel the budding romance is thrown off course by the heroine's refusal to tell him about her background. His jealousy ( of her unknown sugar daddy lover ) makes him acts like a nasty bastard but that didn't shock me since this is a Lilian P novel, after all. What shocked me is the fact that he kept blowing hot and cold with the heroine. It was almost as if he suffered from multiple personality disorder. Then, when he had to do some work as an interpreter for a local conference, he starts to dine and flirt with another woman and ignores the heroine.

Tamsin reacted in a very extreme and stupid manner. She decided to use TWO young men to make him jealous. That itself isn't upsetting because I like a little bit of fair play in my romance novels; heroes are often guilty of flaunting numerous other women so it's not bad when a heroine decides to make a H jealous. My problem with Tamsin, however, was the manner in which she degraded herself publicly with the 2 young men. The 2 young men were English backpackers and Tamsin allowed them to touch, fondle and kiss her at the same time while all 3 of them dined in the hotel's restaurant. That's just distasteful to me. I know that the heroine didn't do anything sexual with these 2 men but I can't stand lewd public displays especially when it hints at some menage action. It stunned me that Lilian P would allow her heroine to act like this.

Tamsin also went to a nightclub with both guys, danced with them separately and let them both kiss her passionately on the dance floor ! Then she followed them to their hotel room, which was on the same floor as the H's. It was all very innocent but the H passed by and saw them all clowning around. Obviously, with his dirty mind and based on her previous public behaviour, his perception of her as a slut just grew. Then, the shit really hit the fan after her uncle William turned up and he saw her in the latter's hotel room. After that, the H went all caveman and it was not pretty !


With a muted joy, she ran to the side of the pool.

'Sarne,' she whispered, 'Sarne ...'

She stretched out her hand and it was taken in a fierce grip. Her body unbalanced ... she was falling through the air ... there was a splash of water all round her and she was in the pool beside him, soaked to the skin, gasping for breath. Savage hands gripped her, tearing at her dress so that the buttons pulled apart. Her hair floated on the water and fingers gathered it, jerking her mercilessly into a floating position. His other hand supported her back and his lips fixed on hers, forcing hers wide and exploring her mouth until she thought she would choke. Teeth savaged her lips and she cried out as she felt the sharpness penetrate their sensitive skin.


He had made her mouth bleed! He released her hair only to touch with a ferocious fondling her breasts which lay revealed beneath the unfastened buttons.


The heroine ended her vacation abruptly after this savage mauling/seduction in the pool because she was still in love with Sarne and believed that he was engaged to another woman. The other ridiculous thing the author did was to name the H's ancestral castle The Villa Magnifico. That sounded so cheesy and almost as if Lilian P couldn't be bothered to think of a more realistic and impressive name.

Safety: There was some OM and OW interference in this novel but I didn't get any solid evidence that the H was intimate with the colleague he had wined and dined. For one thing, he was too busy with the conference and he didn't spend too much time with the lady. Usually, Lilian P gives more definite clues that a H's having some outside action with another woman. He was also not engaged to the OW whom the heroine thought was his fiancee. The heroine made an ass of herself in public with the 2 young men but she didn't let them touch her when they were not within sight of the H. It was all done, with the 2 young men's assistance, as a prank to make the H jealous. This could've been better if the author hadn't gotten caught up with making the second half of the story so unbelievably ridiculous. Drama for the sake of drama is not entertainment...

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read this book when I was younger, I didn't think much of the story or the characters at all except they were positively infuriating two dimensional and unlikeable to the point where you either thanked Heaven above that they were fictional and did not exist, or wished perversely that they did exist in your world so you could sit them both down and launch forth with a raging tirade on how to be a decent human being. I think I took the story far too seriously as a 15 year old girl with little experience with life, love, human nature to really see the story for what it was and move on to better material.

As a 55 year old woman, I finally can see this story more clearly for what it is: A simplistic paper back novel with a formulaic plot all such 1970s romance stories adhered to, two spoiled, annoying characters I could barely tolerate, and a setting in some European destination I can only dream of. The 55 year old me has long since realized that one can move on to travel books and other splendid works of fiction as a means of escape. Too bad Harry Potter and the Twilight saga didn't exist for the 15 year old me.

[Myrna · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her accident Tamsin spends time incognito in her uncle's hotel. The fellow guest is suspicious...

The female character is a clinging wine that latches onto a male guest at the luxurious hotel in Switzerland. She can’t do anything alone, she even asks him to sort a telephone call for her. As for exploring Switzerland on her own – no chance. He has to hold her hand and organize outings. LP would like us to think the FC is naïve and lonely, my opinion she’s simply stupid. She follows the MC like a lovesick puppy even when he cruelly humiliates her. As for the male character, he’s disgusting. He insults the girl and then demands apologies when she asks him a simple question. He tells her off for her impertinence and rebukes her when she asks him if he’s married, after asking her if she’s a virgin and where the money comes from.
The MC grills her to get the answer to the question who’s paying for her stay. And the FC is ready to tell him everything (even the code to the safe), only she’s sworn to secrecy by her uncle (the owner of the hotel). The drama is killing me!

[RomLibrary]

"Cling to the Italian in me," Sarne Brand said, and he meant it. "Steer clear of my English side." That was the side of him Tamsin didn't know; that Sarne never revealed.

Inexplicably she felt snubbed, as if somehow she'd been shut out. And yet, if Sarne put on dark glasses where everything other than his holiday self was concerned, wasn't she, in fact, doing the same?

Well, she'd been warned. And she'd take heed from now on!

[Andrea .... e suas cafonices.]

H estúpido, que só vê o que quer... H estúpida, que não conta o que deve. Resultado: duas pancadas na cabeça, daqui há uns meses, provavelmente, um belo coágulo por nada que valesse a pena. Ecaa. Não vale uma aspirina.

[Melanie Icheen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love it

[Giselle Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leyendo historias como estas me pregunto si de verdad las mujeres pierden la cabeza por los hombres a pesar de que las circuntancias que rodean alrededor del individuo en cuestion son inciertas y sus intenciones dudosas....de verdad somos tan debiles?