Pact Without Desire

by Jane Arbor

"I will marry the first man who asks!"

Sara made her reckless statement in a moment of hurt and pique after being jilted by Cliff. And for better or worse, the man listening asked her.
Rede Forrest had said her desire to "show" her ex-fiancé suited his own plans. He needed a wife. And for reasons she couldn't quite explain to herself, Sara rashly accepted his offer.
But once married to Rale -and savoring her new life in Singapore—all thoughts of Cliff were wiped out of her Mind!

Genres: Harlequin Romance

188 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1979

About the author

Eileen Norah Murphy Owbridge was born on 8 September 1903 in Yeovil, Somerset, England, she lived in Preston, Sussex, England, and passed away on 4 February 1994 in Worthing, West Sussex.

Under the pseudonym Jane Arbor she wrote over 55 romance novel for Mills & Boon from 1948 to 1985. She started writing doctor-nurse romances, and many have been reedited with diferent titles, that included the words "nurse", "doctor" or "surgeon". Later, she focused her writing in foreign settings like the continental Europe, the Caribbean, Morocco...

Reviews

[More Books Than Time]

Close to 4 stars. Girl marries on complete rebound, goes to Singapore where she and he have the usual ups and downs.
This seems like a realistic MOC.

[Beebs]

Eh, DNF.

All of the MCs are just awful, selfish, annoying people. All of them. And there just wasn't anything else about this book compelling enough to keep me going to find out how they get together. It wasn't even outrageous enough to rage-read, or mock-read lol.

Ah well on to another. No rating as I didn't finish but it would be maybe a 2 but probs a 1 star.

[Gianluca]

I read it in Italian (in the famous collection Harmony). More enjoyable than some "intellectual" things.

[Jen]

I was intrigued by the archetypal Asia-set cover, which I have a penchant for. I was less impressed by the story—perhaps it's a sign of the times but it was so slow and riddled with asinine introspection from the heroine. She initially marries the hero out of vindictive reasons (hence the pact without desire) to spite her previous fiancee who jilted her for another woman, whom she again encounters when she and her husband move to Singapore, as you do.

Enter the hero's young Malaysian protegee who of course stirs up suspicion and doubt and resentment in the heroine, and this lasts for much of the book until I'm just a bit too tired to care by the end.