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From the Highest Mountain
Samantha preferred being enemies
Samantha adored her brother, David, and wanted nothing to spoil his marriage to Lynda. So when his best friend, Doug, asked Sam what advice she'd give a bachelor who was head over heels in love with his best friend's wife, her reply was prompt: "Find somebody else. Somebody single."
That's how she got maneuvered into a temporary engagement with Doug--a man she loathed. Other people might find the situation humorous--but Samantha was determined not to be bested by her old enemy!
Samantha adored her brother, David, and wanted nothing to spoil his marriage to Lynda. So when his best friend, Doug, asked Sam what advice she'd give a bachelor who was head over heels in love with his best friend's wife, her reply was prompt: "Find somebody else. Somebody single."
That's how she got maneuvered into a temporary engagement with Doug--a man she loathed. Other people might find the situation humorous--but Samantha was determined not to be bested by her old enemy!
187 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1991
1 person is currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Jeanne Allan
36 books12 followersBarbara Blackman was under the pseudonym Jeanne Allan, the author of 25 romance novels for Harlequin. On the cover of her first novel, Peter's Sister, her surname was misspelled as "Allen".
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 5, 2017
Oh, dear. A really cute premise - the heroine and her brother's best friend (hero) have been at odds since childhood. The story opens with the heroine driving the hero home from her brother's wedding rehearsal because he has a migraine. She floods the engine and they end up having a drink waiting for the engine to right itself. The alcohol and pain medication takes its toll on the hero and the heroine finds out that he is in love with her brother's bride. She stays with him all night because she's worried about the drug/alcohol combo. Her brother catches her leaving the hero's room and she lies and says they are thinking about getting married. She does this so her brother doesn't suspect that the hero is love with his bride.
Sounds great, right? Well it would be if the heroine wasn't such a shrew and the hero didn't bait her every two seconds. This was a non-stop bickerfest. I kept reading because I wanted to see when they would actually stop flaying each other alive with words, but they kept it up until almost the last page. (And the reconciliation was just as bad - the hero goes into her room and takes her out of her bed, slung over his shoulder to the delight of the bed and breakfast patrons).
Uh. The descriptions of Breckenridge Colorado, the bed and breakfast the heroine helped her mother run were interesting as were some of the side-characters. But nothing could redeem these two immature characters. I'm in the minority of reviewers who rated this, so it could just be my dislike of non-stop arguing. Give it a whirl if you like the Taming of the Shrew trope.
Sounds great, right? Well it would be if the heroine wasn't such a shrew and the hero didn't bait her every two seconds. This was a non-stop bickerfest. I kept reading because I wanted to see when they would actually stop flaying each other alive with words, but they kept it up until almost the last page. (And the reconciliation was just as bad - the hero goes into her room and takes her out of her bed, slung over his shoulder to the delight of the bed and breakfast patrons).
Uh. The descriptions of Breckenridge Colorado, the bed and breakfast the heroine helped her mother run were interesting as were some of the side-characters. But nothing could redeem these two immature characters. I'm in the minority of reviewers who rated this, so it could just be my dislike of non-stop arguing. Give it a whirl if you like the Taming of the Shrew trope.
January 3, 2014
So, while I was reading this book I kept waiting for my romance which I didn't really get, what I got was a book which was a total bicker-fest which didn't stop at all. The heroine has had a fighting relationship with the hero ever since her eighteen year old college brother brought his friend home, the heroine then twelve took a dislike to him and despite the fact that she is 24 now it still continues. She just returned after two years away, her brother is getting married and before the marriage she realises that the hero has a thing for the bride. So, they put on a charade and throughout the book the hero makes moon eyes towards the sis-in-law and bam suddenly the heroine is in love with him and tries to seduce, he blows up on her and then they have a talk and HEA, it just didn't ring true to me.
March 7, 2011
Summary+Cover
http://www.fictiondb.com/author/jeann...
Review:
This is my comfort-read book....I just love this book to bits. And for those of you who wish to know why:
1-Witty dialog
2-You can put yourself in the h's place and 'experience' what she does
3-The beginning situation the H/h is unconventional
4-The reasons they give for the HEA are interesting...!
=)
http://www.fictiondb.com/author/jeann...
Review:
This is my comfort-read book....I just love this book to bits. And for those of you who wish to know why:
1-Witty dialog
2-You can put yourself in the h's place and 'experience' what she does
3-The beginning situation the H/h is unconventional
4-The reasons they give for the HEA are interesting...!
=)
August 20, 2017
I'll give it a three just because I loved it when I was younger. But if I read it for the first time now, I would've given it a two.
I still liked the story. But the writing was awful. I read the book in swedish, so I don't know if it was just the translation or the authors writing. And since it's from the nineties I can't comment on the outdated swedish language.
I guess I hadn't read that many books with good writing at the time. Now, that's a different story.
I still liked the story. But the writing was awful. I read the book in swedish, so I don't know if it was just the translation or the authors writing. And since it's from the nineties I can't comment on the outdated swedish language.
I guess I hadn't read that many books with good writing at the time. Now, that's a different story.
July 25, 2021
my grandma left me literally like 100 of these babies and I'm reading them in her honor slowly but surely. out of the three I've read so far this one is my favorite, and I think if it had been written in the modern day with a modern idea of how consent works and also lost that weird antiquated no sex before marriage bit and actually let them have sex I think it would be an awesome book. Who doesn't like the enemies to lovers trope? No one! three stars for a tolerable plot and actually decent writing.
January 31, 2012
I stuck with this book because I thought the premise was cute: Two bickering childhood “frenemies” (he’s her older brother’s best friend; she’s the bratty child who ruined his fun) pretend to be in love to cover up the fact that the hero is madly in love with his best friend’s wife (aka heroine’s new sis-in-law).
An aside: This is what I like about Jeanne Allan’s books. She conjures up regular couples with a twist. However, after halfway through the book, I felt like screaming from the mountaintops in exasperation.
Here’s why:
1. The heroine is a brat: using her “wobbling chin” to get her way; hurling spiteful words only to apologize for them later on; and so hell-bent on seeing him in a bad light.
2. The guy’s a push-over. I like the little ways he showed that he cared: folding napkins, changing sheets for her bed-and-breakfast guests, reading her various facial expressions like a book, taking photographs. But his sulkiness when he doesn’t get the spwe-chial hug of recognition, got annoying quickly.
3. Squabbling over past fights and slights can be cute because it backlights the H/h’s mindset -- but up to a certain point. Overdone, the plot gets bogged down and I wish they’d just moved forward already.
4. Only one drama queen allowed per book. I thought his anger was overblown when he misconstrued her seduction scene as her revenge plot.
5. Doing the caveman abduction is only for Neanderthal women.
What troubles me most is that IF their familiarity with each other has already bred contempt even before they marry, their love may not be enough to sustain them through the years. It'll require a major overhaul of both their egos and personalities to make an HEA possible. Otherwise, what exacerbated them before as frenemies will exacerbate them a thousandfold as marriage partners.
An aside: This is what I like about Jeanne Allan’s books. She conjures up regular couples with a twist. However, after halfway through the book, I felt like screaming from the mountaintops in exasperation.
Here’s why:
1. The heroine is a brat: using her “wobbling chin” to get her way; hurling spiteful words only to apologize for them later on; and so hell-bent on seeing him in a bad light.
2. The guy’s a push-over. I like the little ways he showed that he cared: folding napkins, changing sheets for her bed-and-breakfast guests, reading her various facial expressions like a book, taking photographs. But his sulkiness when he doesn’t get the spwe-chial hug of recognition, got annoying quickly.
3. Squabbling over past fights and slights can be cute because it backlights the H/h’s mindset -- but up to a certain point. Overdone, the plot gets bogged down and I wish they’d just moved forward already.
4. Only one drama queen allowed per book. I thought his anger was overblown when he misconstrued her seduction scene as her revenge plot.
5. Doing the caveman abduction is only for Neanderthal women.
What troubles me most is that IF their familiarity with each other has already bred contempt even before they marry, their love may not be enough to sustain them through the years. It'll require a major overhaul of both their egos and personalities to make an HEA possible. Otherwise, what exacerbated them before as frenemies will exacerbate them a thousandfold as marriage partners.
July 29, 2013
Well, that was adorable one. :)))
Samantha wants her brother happy. That's why when her brother's best friend, Doug, admitted that he's in love with her brother's fiancée, Sam determined to save her brother's soon-to-be marriage. She "bullied" Doug to be engaged with her. At first she thought her action would make Doug suffered and paid him good after years he pulled pranks to her. But she was dead wrong. Doug gladly announced her as his fiancée. Now Samantha's the one who got bullied and apparently, her heart's in danger too..
I kind of liked this one. Light romance with intense heat. By heat I mean Sam and Doug's argument. It's like there was no day passed without them arguing.
It was cute at first but somehow it become irritating. I was hoping Doug would take action consider him being 6 years older than Sam. But his flat attitude didn't win me. He knew that Sam's a girl with childish behavior yet he made no move to "tame" her.
Overall it was a good read, but I certainly expected more. :)
Samantha wants her brother happy. That's why when her brother's best friend, Doug, admitted that he's in love with her brother's fiancée, Sam determined to save her brother's soon-to-be marriage. She "bullied" Doug to be engaged with her. At first she thought her action would make Doug suffered and paid him good after years he pulled pranks to her. But she was dead wrong. Doug gladly announced her as his fiancée. Now Samantha's the one who got bullied and apparently, her heart's in danger too..
I kind of liked this one. Light romance with intense heat. By heat I mean Sam and Doug's argument. It's like there was no day passed without them arguing.
It was cute at first but somehow it become irritating. I was hoping Doug would take action consider him being 6 years older than Sam. But his flat attitude didn't win me. He knew that Sam's a girl with childish behavior yet he made no move to "tame" her.
Overall it was a good read, but I certainly expected more. :)
November 19, 2015
In the beginning I found this to be pretty interesting. H thinks he is in love with his best friend's wife and h (best friend's sister) intervenes. They have known each other for years and have never gotten along. The the constant back and forth bickering finally wore me down. The book's focus was so much on their battles that the romance part did not come through for me. The childish arguments and constantly nitpicking and trying to always top the other's insults did not make for an HEA to me.
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May 24, 2016من اعالي الجبال
جاين أولان
فضلت سامنثا أن تكون في خانة الأعداء.
كانت سامنثا تحب شقيقها دافيد كثيراً ولا تريد أن يفسد أي أمر ، زواجه من ليندا .
ولهذا أجابت ، عندما سألها صديق أخيها المقرب ، دوغ ، بِمَ تنصح عازباً وقع حتى قمة رأسه في حب زوجة صديقه ، قائلة :" اذهب وابحث عن امرأة أخرى ، امرأة أخرى عزباء." وهكذا ، تورطت في خطوبة مؤقتة مع دوغ ...الرجل الذي كانت تمقته . قد يجد الآخرون الوضع مسلياً ، ولكن سامنثا كانت مصممة على أن لاتدع عدوها القديم يتفوق عليها ؟
جاين أولان
فضلت سامنثا أن تكون في خانة الأعداء.
كانت سامنثا تحب شقيقها دافيد كثيراً ولا تريد أن يفسد أي أمر ، زواجه من ليندا .
ولهذا أجابت ، عندما سألها صديق أخيها المقرب ، دوغ ، بِمَ تنصح عازباً وقع حتى قمة رأسه في حب زوجة صديقه ، قائلة :" اذهب وابحث عن امرأة أخرى ، امرأة أخرى عزباء." وهكذا ، تورطت في خطوبة مؤقتة مع دوغ ...الرجل الذي كانت تمقته . قد يجد الآخرون الوضع مسلياً ، ولكن سامنثا كانت مصممة على أن لاتدع عدوها القديم يتفوق عليها ؟
February 7, 2017
Funny and cute. Some sweet moments. The endless bickering was... endless. It never stopped. This would have been a much better book if they could have actually stopped fighting for one freaking moment.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews