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Web of Deceit
She was a pawn to be used as he liked
And in the circumstances, Eve had no choice but to go along with the pretense set up by Max Nilsson's schemes.
A rich man's lover--or a loving daughter trying to shield her family? Eve knew very well which was her real self. Only by cruel coincidence the man being baited by Max was the one man whose good opinion Eve really longed for.
And Carl Ramsay believed that she was a heartless gold digger. With the evidence stacked against her, winning Carl's love seemed hopeless ....
And in the circumstances, Eve had no choice but to go along with the pretense set up by Max Nilsson's schemes.
A rich man's lover--or a loving daughter trying to shield her family? Eve knew very well which was her real self. Only by cruel coincidence the man being baited by Max was the one man whose good opinion Eve really longed for.
And Carl Ramsay believed that she was a heartless gold digger. With the evidence stacked against her, winning Carl's love seemed hopeless ....
188 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 1990
4 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Browning
112 books30 followersAmanda Browning (born in Essex, England) is an English writer of over 25 romance novels since 1987.
Browning is a twin, who grew up in a big family in the borders of Essex.
She worked for years in libraries, and when she left her job, she decided began to write. Although her first two manuscripts could not be used, the third was accepted and published in 1987.
She is single and continues living in the old family home on the borders of Essex. She is great-aunt to eighteen nieces and nephews.
Browning is a twin, who grew up in a big family in the borders of Essex.
She worked for years in libraries, and when she left her job, she decided began to write. Although her first two manuscripts could not be used, the third was accepted and published in 1987.
She is single and continues living in the old family home on the borders of Essex. She is great-aunt to eighteen nieces and nephews.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 30, 2017
Re Web of Deceit - Amanda Browning was just warming up in her HP debut, her sophomore effort is a trainwreck avalanche wrecki angst fest that really shows her talent for the OTT complete whackalicous emo drama. I never read AB for the quality of her HEA's, 90% percent of the time I absolutely do not believe them. But if angst is your passion and HP drama your reading soul food, you can't do any better than AB.
I have to warn you, the Tart Shaming in this one is massive, derogatory and hugely unrepentant. With a different kinda h, one who is self confident and shrugs off outside opinion with a smile, this book could have been remarkably funny and even more entertaining. But AB is not going for the laugh or the light heart here, she is deadly serious about her angst and her tortured h.
So needless to say our h is not the kinda h who can shrug off any accusation or belittlement with a wicked wink and a smile. Tho AB does inject a shot of humor here and there to leaven the darkness, this h is truly, truly tortured and it isn't only the bad the guy who is inflicting it. This H is arguably as bad, if not worse than the Evil OM who so badly mistreats our h. Warnings and dire alarums are over now, lets get on with this whacktastic trip to HPlandia!
This one starts with the 24 yr old h being blackmailed by her former employer. The h used to work in his loans department at one of his London companies. Her mother is a famous actress and her father is an English farmer. The h's mother left them for most of her childhood, the lure of stage and screen was too strong for her to be happy on a farm. When the h was almost grown, her mother returned.
Her father and mother supposedly never stopped loving each other or got divorced. But the mother couldn't act anymore as she has some mysterious degenerative illness, so it was back to the long abandoned family nest she came. The mother's health care in the pricey Swiss clinic proved to be expensive and even tho the h's father sold his farm and the mother had some money as well, finances were running short. The h knew she was to get an inheritance from a grandmother when she was 25. She went to her unlikable boss and asked for a short term loan, thinking to pay it back when she came into her inheritance.
Max, the blobfish pustule boss, agrees to the loan. He gave her the money and sent her a loan agreement, she signed it and sent it back waiting for her copy to be returned. But blobfish pustule claims he had a company audit done and there is no agreement on record. He tells the h he will put her in prison for embezzlement unless she does what he wants.
The h is desperate that the world not know how ill her mother his, even tho the lady is comatose and likely to remain that way as her time is very short, the h would rather be a slime pustule's mistress than have her mother humiliated or hurt her father. (AB is remarkably silent on how much more hurt the H's father would be when his daughter is flaunted to the world as a slime gulper's blow up doll.)
The h is forced to act the like Max's mistress in public, but for some reason that is never revealed to us, Max doesn't sleep with the h even tho she was willing to do so. Instead he takes her various parties and moves her into his house in Massachusetts in America. One night at a party, she is being disparaged by all the Boston Brahmins Max likes to flaunt her in front of and she meets a man who seems really nice and has great blue eyes. The h is attracted, they share some banter and a dance and then she has to tell him she isn't available. They part with a wistful little smile for what might have been.
Then the h gets introduced to Mr. Blue Eyes by Max. Mr. Blue Eyes is a movie director and Max is letting him use his house where a famous murder occurred fifty years earlier. Mr. Blue Eyes and Max obviously don't get along and one of the reasons is that in order to use the house, the H has to use the h as his leading lady. Pustule Max has given the h orders that she is to do her best to ruin the film with bad acting. Which is highly ironic cause her mother is one of the Grande Dames of theater and the h is an excellent actress herself. However the threat of her mother's exposure, (not to mention a prison sentence,) is hanging over her head so the h has to try and sabotage the film.
The H, Mr. Snapping Fiery Blue Eyes, is appalled that he has to use an obvious gold-digging tart as the lead in his so very important movie. He starts right in on the tart shaming, gold-digging accusations, all the while wishing that he was the man with the golden ticket and that he had been the one to put that diamond and pearl collar on the h.
Eventually we find out that the movie is about a man who was supposedly murdered by his eldest daughter, leaving his second wife to make off with his fortune and a rather shady family chauffeur that she married, only to have him die in a tragic drowning accident sometime later. The H is out to prove the eldest daughter did not do the crime and he want's to use Max's house because it is the place where the murder took place.
Pustule Max wants to mess the film up but we don't get the reasons for that until almost the end of the book. Nonetheless it is clear that a one-uppance game and a spraying contest is going on between the two men, with the h as the despised and berated punching bag between the them.
(Do not ask why the h did not keep a copy of the agreement or why she did not go to the police. This AB's HPlandia and we have wrecki drama to produce, so any kind of logical plot points that undermine the angst are not going to be appreciated. )
The H and his film people arrive and the h is nervous with trepidation, the tart shaming continues unabated with regularly scheduled H and Max shame sessions every hour on the hour, it all gets a bit monotonous in it's regularity. (Tho there is a humorous h moment when she calls Pustule Max's very nasty and condescending former lover housekeeper Mrs. Danvers to her face instead of her actual name.)
The h does try to act badly, and does a fairly good job of it, but the H is still shaming to shame the devil and now he is mixing in roofie kisses to boot. The h despises herself because her body is totally betraying her. Pustule Max is on the warpath too. Pustule Max slaps the h when she goes against one of his dictates, and the H does try to offer the h help when he sees it. But the hourly alarm went off for Tart Shaming, so that scene degenerates in more H name calling too.
Eventually the H and h try to have a truce. The h finds out that the H wants to use his film to prove the daughter of the murdered man did not do it, it was actually the murdered man's second wife, but the H has no actual proof. The H and h are going through the house to look at places to film the movies scenes and they find pictures of the second wife, the murdered man and the daughter. The h doesn't think the daughter could have done it either based on how cute she was in her picture.
The H explains that his grandfather was in love with the daughter who was convicted. The H's grandfather spent a portion of his time trying to prove she was innocent, before he set that aside and fell in love with someone else and got married and had a life. The H has to validate his grandfather's memory, so it is vital that his Truth Revealing Movie be the utmost success.
The h is moved by the H's story and decides that since Pustule Max took himself off to Geneva, she can help the H out and actually act her part - which is the part of the murdered man's second wife. The H wanted her to withdraw from the film, that is the deal he has with Pustule Max to use the house. If the h will walk away from the acting job, the H can get someone else and keep filming in the house and his Great Truth Revealing Film Will Astound the World . The h can't walk away cause she has her mother hanging over her head.
(It was odd how the possibility of prison for embezzlement for the h was never mentioned after the first time, the h kept harping on how exposure of her illness would hurt the h's incoherent and COMATOSE mother.) So while the h can't quit, she can act, and even tho the H offers her other parts and carte blanche with his own bank account if she will quit Max and be his mistress, the h continues on in her lonely and non-lurved up quest for HP martyrdom.
The h does the acting part well, but things are deteriorating with the H. Pustule Max is still off and one of the other cast members recognizes her as her mother's daughter. There are a lot of little spats and spits and the H and h fight a lot with some punishing kisses thrown in.
Then the h almost drowns one afternoon down on the beach and the H saves her. They lurve it up on the sand and the H instantly knows things are really off cause the h just lost her unicorn petting status when by appearances she should have been managing menages in round the world trips. The H demands answers and when the h refuses to give them, citing his low opinions of her in the past, the H decides he will make her tell him what her secret is.
He tries to romance her, the h doesn't give in. She tells him she can't cause her secret is too sensitive and too important. He causes all kinds of delays in the filming, by making the h repeat scene after scene, when he knows the h is worried that Pustule Max will return and find out that she isn't sabotaging the film like he told her to. The h even attempts to seduce him and the H forces her to perform upon him, before breaking it off and then kicking her out of his room.
(I was sorta appalled at the H's behavior by this point. He himself said Pustule Max was dangerous to cross, yet he continually demands that the h trust him and he deliberately puts her at risk of exposure to Max with his shenanigans - he knew Putsule was abusive, yet he practically forces the h into a Pustule confrontation. The H wasn't stupid, the h had already gone through all kinds of punishment, half of which the H himself had dished out, yet he still thought she would just tell him everything. Just that fact that she was willing to endure so much abuse should have clued him in that the h felt her secret was dire, yet he continues on like she is just playing around and it was obvious she wasn't. So what kind of semi decent person condones that? However, AB is hell-bent on gaining maximum angst extraction here, so there is worse to come.)
After all the H's bullying, blandishments, insults and beratements and his deliberate forcing the h into a confrontation with Max, the H has one more trick up his sleeve. He decides the h has to do a nude love scene with the actor playing the daughter's fiance's part. He makes her film it over and over and when the h is taking a break, the H tries some seduction of his own on the set - the h thinks it is to get her to loosen up and he is filming it. After one more take with the actor this time, the h gets it right and then slaps the H and borrows a car and takes off. She stops by some cliffs and the H chases after her and thinks she is going to jump and that he pushed her into it.
There is a big love declaration by the H at this point, supposedly he fell in love as soon as his mighty Lance of Lust broke the barrier and transformed his pike into the Club of Lurve. The H claims if the h jumps he will too and the h decides she loves him back. Since the H overheard a phone conversation with the h's dad about her mum, the h explains the rest of the situation and the H decides they will trap the Pustule Max - he also adds that Pustule Max is the son of the murdered man's second wife and part of his taunting of the H is that his mother got away with murder and the H can never prove it. So the H gets the police (finally,) and the h wears a wire and gets Pustule Max alone and gets his acknowledgement of the original loan agreement and where it is at on tape.
The h also notices a ring that the Pustule is wearing, she has seen that ring before in the portrait of the murdered man that she saw in the house. The only problem is that the ring was supposed to have been stolen by the daughter who was convicted of the crime and yet here is Pustule Max claiming that his mother gave it to him as a family heirloom. The h denounces Pustule Max and his mother as liars, blackmailers and murderers and Pustule Max attacks her.
The police rush in, along with the H and the district attorney, and Pustule Max's slime bubble is permanently popped, because blackmail is an indictable offense that includes felonious prison time. Now that Pustule Max is all dried up, the H and h decide to marry in the comatose mum's Swiss hospital room with unresponsive mum and the h's father as witnesses. They will finish the film after the honeymoon and thus presumably the h will eventually win an Oscar and an H for the surprisingly rushed and non-melodramatic HEA.
This one was an angsty martyred h dramafest with a somewhat dubious HEA, mainly cause that H change over was lightening fast and I honestly can't see any h wanting to be with a man who pretty much abuses you from day one. The h was incredibly TSTL and so it was all the more incongruous when AB had the h show some feisty intelligence and spirit, it just did not suit her character. Plus I was a bit worn out with all the h's angsting over people calling her a tart - what did she expect was going to happen when she deliberately acted as tart like as possible in public at Max's direction?
It was like she was hurt that she acted in a certain manner and people reacted that way, yet the h had no problems treating another woman who actually was a tart in exactly the same disparaging manner. (Max brought home a bonus gift to himself from Geneva and flaunts her in front of the h and everybody. The h is hurt about that too, but the Pustule's actual tart was a hoot in all her tarty disdain for the lesser peons, the h should have taken notes.)
Anyhows this one is a trainwreck galore, but in terms of a satisfying HEA HP outing, it seems a bit lacking. There was just too much antagonism for too long to really rescue this romance without some serious H redemption time and AB just did not have the page count to salvage things. How likable this one is depends entirely on your tolerance for h inherent TSTL moments and how much you really like the wrecki angst in your HPlandia travels.
I have to warn you, the Tart Shaming in this one is massive, derogatory and hugely unrepentant. With a different kinda h, one who is self confident and shrugs off outside opinion with a smile, this book could have been remarkably funny and even more entertaining. But AB is not going for the laugh or the light heart here, she is deadly serious about her angst and her tortured h.
So needless to say our h is not the kinda h who can shrug off any accusation or belittlement with a wicked wink and a smile. Tho AB does inject a shot of humor here and there to leaven the darkness, this h is truly, truly tortured and it isn't only the bad the guy who is inflicting it. This H is arguably as bad, if not worse than the Evil OM who so badly mistreats our h. Warnings and dire alarums are over now, lets get on with this whacktastic trip to HPlandia!
This one starts with the 24 yr old h being blackmailed by her former employer. The h used to work in his loans department at one of his London companies. Her mother is a famous actress and her father is an English farmer. The h's mother left them for most of her childhood, the lure of stage and screen was too strong for her to be happy on a farm. When the h was almost grown, her mother returned.
Her father and mother supposedly never stopped loving each other or got divorced. But the mother couldn't act anymore as she has some mysterious degenerative illness, so it was back to the long abandoned family nest she came. The mother's health care in the pricey Swiss clinic proved to be expensive and even tho the h's father sold his farm and the mother had some money as well, finances were running short. The h knew she was to get an inheritance from a grandmother when she was 25. She went to her unlikable boss and asked for a short term loan, thinking to pay it back when she came into her inheritance.
Max, the blobfish pustule boss, agrees to the loan. He gave her the money and sent her a loan agreement, she signed it and sent it back waiting for her copy to be returned. But blobfish pustule claims he had a company audit done and there is no agreement on record. He tells the h he will put her in prison for embezzlement unless she does what he wants.
The h is desperate that the world not know how ill her mother his, even tho the lady is comatose and likely to remain that way as her time is very short, the h would rather be a slime pustule's mistress than have her mother humiliated or hurt her father. (AB is remarkably silent on how much more hurt the H's father would be when his daughter is flaunted to the world as a slime gulper's blow up doll.)
The h is forced to act the like Max's mistress in public, but for some reason that is never revealed to us, Max doesn't sleep with the h even tho she was willing to do so. Instead he takes her various parties and moves her into his house in Massachusetts in America. One night at a party, she is being disparaged by all the Boston Brahmins Max likes to flaunt her in front of and she meets a man who seems really nice and has great blue eyes. The h is attracted, they share some banter and a dance and then she has to tell him she isn't available. They part with a wistful little smile for what might have been.
Then the h gets introduced to Mr. Blue Eyes by Max. Mr. Blue Eyes is a movie director and Max is letting him use his house where a famous murder occurred fifty years earlier. Mr. Blue Eyes and Max obviously don't get along and one of the reasons is that in order to use the house, the H has to use the h as his leading lady. Pustule Max has given the h orders that she is to do her best to ruin the film with bad acting. Which is highly ironic cause her mother is one of the Grande Dames of theater and the h is an excellent actress herself. However the threat of her mother's exposure, (not to mention a prison sentence,) is hanging over her head so the h has to try and sabotage the film.
The H, Mr. Snapping Fiery Blue Eyes, is appalled that he has to use an obvious gold-digging tart as the lead in his so very important movie. He starts right in on the tart shaming, gold-digging accusations, all the while wishing that he was the man with the golden ticket and that he had been the one to put that diamond and pearl collar on the h.
Eventually we find out that the movie is about a man who was supposedly murdered by his eldest daughter, leaving his second wife to make off with his fortune and a rather shady family chauffeur that she married, only to have him die in a tragic drowning accident sometime later. The H is out to prove the eldest daughter did not do the crime and he want's to use Max's house because it is the place where the murder took place.
Pustule Max wants to mess the film up but we don't get the reasons for that until almost the end of the book. Nonetheless it is clear that a one-uppance game and a spraying contest is going on between the two men, with the h as the despised and berated punching bag between the them.
(Do not ask why the h did not keep a copy of the agreement or why she did not go to the police. This AB's HPlandia and we have wrecki drama to produce, so any kind of logical plot points that undermine the angst are not going to be appreciated. )
The H and his film people arrive and the h is nervous with trepidation, the tart shaming continues unabated with regularly scheduled H and Max shame sessions every hour on the hour, it all gets a bit monotonous in it's regularity. (Tho there is a humorous h moment when she calls Pustule Max's very nasty and condescending former lover housekeeper Mrs. Danvers to her face instead of her actual name.)
The h does try to act badly, and does a fairly good job of it, but the H is still shaming to shame the devil and now he is mixing in roofie kisses to boot. The h despises herself because her body is totally betraying her. Pustule Max is on the warpath too. Pustule Max slaps the h when she goes against one of his dictates, and the H does try to offer the h help when he sees it. But the hourly alarm went off for Tart Shaming, so that scene degenerates in more H name calling too.
Eventually the H and h try to have a truce. The h finds out that the H wants to use his film to prove the daughter of the murdered man did not do it, it was actually the murdered man's second wife, but the H has no actual proof. The H and h are going through the house to look at places to film the movies scenes and they find pictures of the second wife, the murdered man and the daughter. The h doesn't think the daughter could have done it either based on how cute she was in her picture.
The H explains that his grandfather was in love with the daughter who was convicted. The H's grandfather spent a portion of his time trying to prove she was innocent, before he set that aside and fell in love with someone else and got married and had a life. The H has to validate his grandfather's memory, so it is vital that his Truth Revealing Movie be the utmost success.
The h is moved by the H's story and decides that since Pustule Max took himself off to Geneva, she can help the H out and actually act her part - which is the part of the murdered man's second wife. The H wanted her to withdraw from the film, that is the deal he has with Pustule Max to use the house. If the h will walk away from the acting job, the H can get someone else and keep filming in the house and his Great Truth Revealing Film Will Astound the World . The h can't walk away cause she has her mother hanging over her head.
(It was odd how the possibility of prison for embezzlement for the h was never mentioned after the first time, the h kept harping on how exposure of her illness would hurt the h's incoherent and COMATOSE mother.) So while the h can't quit, she can act, and even tho the H offers her other parts and carte blanche with his own bank account if she will quit Max and be his mistress, the h continues on in her lonely and non-lurved up quest for HP martyrdom.
The h does the acting part well, but things are deteriorating with the H. Pustule Max is still off and one of the other cast members recognizes her as her mother's daughter. There are a lot of little spats and spits and the H and h fight a lot with some punishing kisses thrown in.
Then the h almost drowns one afternoon down on the beach and the H saves her. They lurve it up on the sand and the H instantly knows things are really off cause the h just lost her unicorn petting status when by appearances she should have been managing menages in round the world trips. The H demands answers and when the h refuses to give them, citing his low opinions of her in the past, the H decides he will make her tell him what her secret is.
He tries to romance her, the h doesn't give in. She tells him she can't cause her secret is too sensitive and too important. He causes all kinds of delays in the filming, by making the h repeat scene after scene, when he knows the h is worried that Pustule Max will return and find out that she isn't sabotaging the film like he told her to. The h even attempts to seduce him and the H forces her to perform upon him, before breaking it off and then kicking her out of his room.
(I was sorta appalled at the H's behavior by this point. He himself said Pustule Max was dangerous to cross, yet he continually demands that the h trust him and he deliberately puts her at risk of exposure to Max with his shenanigans - he knew Putsule was abusive, yet he practically forces the h into a Pustule confrontation. The H wasn't stupid, the h had already gone through all kinds of punishment, half of which the H himself had dished out, yet he still thought she would just tell him everything. Just that fact that she was willing to endure so much abuse should have clued him in that the h felt her secret was dire, yet he continues on like she is just playing around and it was obvious she wasn't. So what kind of semi decent person condones that? However, AB is hell-bent on gaining maximum angst extraction here, so there is worse to come.)
After all the H's bullying, blandishments, insults and beratements and his deliberate forcing the h into a confrontation with Max, the H has one more trick up his sleeve. He decides the h has to do a nude love scene with the actor playing the daughter's fiance's part. He makes her film it over and over and when the h is taking a break, the H tries some seduction of his own on the set - the h thinks it is to get her to loosen up and he is filming it. After one more take with the actor this time, the h gets it right and then slaps the H and borrows a car and takes off. She stops by some cliffs and the H chases after her and thinks she is going to jump and that he pushed her into it.
There is a big love declaration by the H at this point, supposedly he fell in love as soon as his mighty Lance of Lust broke the barrier and transformed his pike into the Club of Lurve. The H claims if the h jumps he will too and the h decides she loves him back. Since the H overheard a phone conversation with the h's dad about her mum, the h explains the rest of the situation and the H decides they will trap the Pustule Max - he also adds that Pustule Max is the son of the murdered man's second wife and part of his taunting of the H is that his mother got away with murder and the H can never prove it. So the H gets the police (finally,) and the h wears a wire and gets Pustule Max alone and gets his acknowledgement of the original loan agreement and where it is at on tape.
The h also notices a ring that the Pustule is wearing, she has seen that ring before in the portrait of the murdered man that she saw in the house. The only problem is that the ring was supposed to have been stolen by the daughter who was convicted of the crime and yet here is Pustule Max claiming that his mother gave it to him as a family heirloom. The h denounces Pustule Max and his mother as liars, blackmailers and murderers and Pustule Max attacks her.
The police rush in, along with the H and the district attorney, and Pustule Max's slime bubble is permanently popped, because blackmail is an indictable offense that includes felonious prison time. Now that Pustule Max is all dried up, the H and h decide to marry in the comatose mum's Swiss hospital room with unresponsive mum and the h's father as witnesses. They will finish the film after the honeymoon and thus presumably the h will eventually win an Oscar and an H for the surprisingly rushed and non-melodramatic HEA.
This one was an angsty martyred h dramafest with a somewhat dubious HEA, mainly cause that H change over was lightening fast and I honestly can't see any h wanting to be with a man who pretty much abuses you from day one. The h was incredibly TSTL and so it was all the more incongruous when AB had the h show some feisty intelligence and spirit, it just did not suit her character. Plus I was a bit worn out with all the h's angsting over people calling her a tart - what did she expect was going to happen when she deliberately acted as tart like as possible in public at Max's direction?
It was like she was hurt that she acted in a certain manner and people reacted that way, yet the h had no problems treating another woman who actually was a tart in exactly the same disparaging manner. (Max brought home a bonus gift to himself from Geneva and flaunts her in front of the h and everybody. The h is hurt about that too, but the Pustule's actual tart was a hoot in all her tarty disdain for the lesser peons, the h should have taken notes.)
Anyhows this one is a trainwreck galore, but in terms of a satisfying HEA HP outing, it seems a bit lacking. There was just too much antagonism for too long to really rescue this romance without some serious H redemption time and AB just did not have the page count to salvage things. How likable this one is depends entirely on your tolerance for h inherent TSTL moments and how much you really like the wrecki angst in your HPlandia travels.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2020
The reason for angst could not be more irrational but the angst was good. 😁
August 3, 2017
Amanda Browning does menace so well. Heroine is being blackmailed because she was tricked out of a loan (the villain makes it look like embezzlement) that was for her ailing actress mother. Now she trapped posing as the villain's mistress. The humiliation of that role is bad enough, but the villain decides to use her as a weapon against a filmmaker (hero) who may or may not have the evidence to prove the villain's mother was a murderer.
The heroine is to be so bad at acting that the filmmaker's movie will tank at the box office. Unfortunately, the heroine is a good actress (taking after her mother) and she has fallen in lust with the hero, so it pains her to keep messing up. The film crew and fellow actors aren't happy with her, either.
The heroine is stuck in her own mire of lies and blackmail and the hero keeps pushing her to tell the truth. They become lovers when the villain leaves town and this makes the hero more ruthless in getting the not-a-virgin-any-longer h to trust him. He goes so far as to make her do a nude love scene. This proves to be too much. The hero has to beg her forgiveness and declare himself when he thinks the heroine is gong to throw herself off of a cliff.
The villain is finally caught when the heroine wears a wire.
I liked this - but then I'm an angst junky and AB never pulls her punches. The heroine suffered until the very last minute. As for the romance - I could buy it. This heroine seemed hooked on the high drama, as did the hero. Hopefully they can make movies together because they don't seem the type to settle down into domestic bliss.
The heroine is to be so bad at acting that the filmmaker's movie will tank at the box office. Unfortunately, the heroine is a good actress (taking after her mother) and she has fallen in lust with the hero, so it pains her to keep messing up. The film crew and fellow actors aren't happy with her, either.
The heroine is stuck in her own mire of lies and blackmail and the hero keeps pushing her to tell the truth. They become lovers when the villain leaves town and this makes the hero more ruthless in getting the not-a-virgin-any-longer h to trust him. He goes so far as to make her do a nude love scene. This proves to be too much. The hero has to beg her forgiveness and declare himself when he thinks the heroine is gong to throw herself off of a cliff.
The villain is finally caught when the heroine wears a wire.
I liked this - but then I'm an angst junky and AB never pulls her punches. The heroine suffered until the very last minute. As for the romance - I could buy it. This heroine seemed hooked on the high drama, as did the hero. Hopefully they can make movies together because they don't seem the type to settle down into domestic bliss.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2018
The plot is based on weak reasoning. h is giving into blackmail to protect her dying mother yet why mother should care if she is in such mental deformation that she is unaware of anything?
September 25, 2012
Synopsis from the back cover:
She was a pawn to be used as he liked. And in the circumstances, Eve had no choice but to go along withthe pretense set up by Max Nilsson's schemes. A rich man's lover--or a loving daughter trying to shield her family? Eve knew very well which was her real self. Only by cruel coincidence the man being baited by Max was the one man whose good opinion Eve really longed for. And Carl Ramsay believed that she was a heartless gold digger. With the evidence stacked against her, winning Carl's love seemed hopeless...
This was pretty good, very angsty. A classic he-thinks-she's-a-gold-digger-and-therefore-despises/lusts-after-her. Felt a little long, but still very readable.
She was a pawn to be used as he liked. And in the circumstances, Eve had no choice but to go along withthe pretense set up by Max Nilsson's schemes. A rich man's lover--or a loving daughter trying to shield her family? Eve knew very well which was her real self. Only by cruel coincidence the man being baited by Max was the one man whose good opinion Eve really longed for. And Carl Ramsay believed that she was a heartless gold digger. With the evidence stacked against her, winning Carl's love seemed hopeless...
This was pretty good, very angsty. A classic he-thinks-she's-a-gold-digger-and-therefore-despises/lusts-after-her. Felt a little long, but still very readable.
March 25, 2025
The h & H literally fall in love at first sight in this one but alas there is angst and an evil OM to keep them apart.
The h has been blackmailed to appear as the mistress to a evil old dude who makes her move into his house and appear at parties and stuff.
She agreed to a loan with him - he was the boss at a company she worked for - and he hid the paperwork and threatened her with embezzlement charges if she didn't cooperate. h needed the money for her dying mum so agreed to the terms and even says she would have slept with him if needed to protect her family.
Enter the H a film maker who the Evil OM wants the h to work for by taking on a role in his film but being terrible at it. h reluctantly agrees even though the h is horrible to her due to wanting her for himself and thinking she's a gold digging hussy for shacking up with the evil old dude.
h is actually a secretly great actress though as thats what her mum was before her illness (everyone thinks shes dead) and no one knows shes the daughter of said famous lady until one of her old co-stars identifies her as the spitting image of her mum.
H is constantly awful to the h but she helps him with his film anyway - he wanted to make the film in the house where a murder took place and he had family ties to it.
h has a photographic memory so helps H with solving the murder and he wires the h for a confession from OM so that he's arrested for a HEA.
The h has been blackmailed to appear as the mistress to a evil old dude who makes her move into his house and appear at parties and stuff.
She agreed to a loan with him - he was the boss at a company she worked for - and he hid the paperwork and threatened her with embezzlement charges if she didn't cooperate. h needed the money for her dying mum so agreed to the terms and even says she would have slept with him if needed to protect her family.
Enter the H a film maker who the Evil OM wants the h to work for by taking on a role in his film but being terrible at it. h reluctantly agrees even though the h is horrible to her due to wanting her for himself and thinking she's a gold digging hussy for shacking up with the evil old dude.
h is actually a secretly great actress though as thats what her mum was before her illness (everyone thinks shes dead) and no one knows shes the daughter of said famous lady until one of her old co-stars identifies her as the spitting image of her mum.
H is constantly awful to the h but she helps him with his film anyway - he wanted to make the film in the house where a murder took place and he had family ties to it.
h has a photographic memory so helps H with solving the murder and he wires the h for a confession from OM so that he's arrested for a HEA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2015
It was only ok for me. Too much hate between the H and h because she refuses to trust him w her secret. An evil old OM is blackmailing her, making it look like she is his paid whore. H wants to help her but when she doesn't confide in him he gets aggressive! Later we find out he loved her all along and was mad since she didn't trust him! Why wasn't he more gentle and understanding especially as he knew she had a problem. Instead he punishes her by forcing her to do a nude love scene!! (background is they are filming a movie) WTH!! Since when does a H do that to the woman he loves and it was w the other actor, not himself. This is so weird! He helps her in the end and they get their HEA but I definitely felt he should have grovelled more and she could have been less stubborn about her secret.
April 16, 2021
She was a pawn to be used as he liked
And in the circumstances, Eve had no choice but to go along with the pretense set up by Max Nilsson's schemes.
A rich man's lover--or a loving daughter trying to shield her family? Eve knew very well which was her real self. Only by cruel coincidence the man being baited by Max was the one man whose good opinion Eve really longed for.
And Carl Ramsay believed that she was a heartless gold digger. With the evidence stacked against her, winning Carl's love seemed hopeless ...
And in the circumstances, Eve had no choice but to go along with the pretense set up by Max Nilsson's schemes.
A rich man's lover--or a loving daughter trying to shield her family? Eve knew very well which was her real self. Only by cruel coincidence the man being baited by Max was the one man whose good opinion Eve really longed for.
And Carl Ramsay believed that she was a heartless gold digger. With the evidence stacked against her, winning Carl's love seemed hopeless ...
April 7, 2023
I loved the love/hate relationship between Carl and Eve as well as the secrets that made the story better. This book has some very heart-wrenching scenes from Harvey's recognition of Eve as her mother's daughter to Carl's talking Eve off the cliff. This book is one that I have read many times and will read many times in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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