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Princess
Adam was now her adversary.
Serena Templeton was not a sleeping princess. She was a tragic little figure existing in a shadow world that she had constructed as a fortress to pain. Then Adam Carmichael pierced her defenses and established himself as a force in her life.
In time Serena became a lovely, vital young woman. But she jealously guarded her innermost feelings for fear that Adam would use them against her.
Adam demanded her love... but first he would have to force Serena to confront her fear.
Serena Templeton was not a sleeping princess. She was a tragic little figure existing in a shadow world that she had constructed as a fortress to pain. Then Adam Carmichael pierced her defenses and established himself as a force in her life.
In time Serena became a lovely, vital young woman. But she jealously guarded her innermost feelings for fear that Adam would use them against her.
Adam demanded her love... but first he would have to force Serena to confront her fear.
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1984
3 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 21, 2024
The title of Alison Fraser's Harlequin romance is apt because it really reads like a dark fairy tale. The titular princess has been cursed, like Sleeping Beauty, into a kind of self-imposed, dream-like state in order to escape the relentless, sadistic abuse of the Evil Witch of her stepmother, a monster fashioned straight out of the Grimm Brothers' horror books.
It isn't explicitly spelled out in the story, but I got this really creepy feeling that the unhinged, step mom was playing Humbert Humbert to the poor heroine's Lolita after her father's death. Whatever happened inside the walls of that isolated country manor where the power was all on the side of the monster, it was really, really ugly, to the extent that even heroine's hapless therapist incredibly didn't believe in her when she finally had the courage to articulate the abuse that her stepmother inflicted on her.
When the hero, a Prince with tarnished armor, comes to "rescue" his Princess inside her rubble prison after the death of her gaoler, he finds her in near catatonic state. Knowing that he cannot help her, he enlists the services of a Fairy Godmother (aka his actual mother) to help lift the curse from the Princess so that they can finally have their HE A.
This story was unusual for a Harlequin, especially one published in the early 1980s, because it was pretty bleak, without being melodramatic, and presented us with protagonists who were dealing with some real-life, serious issues such as mental illness and alcoholism, which the author did her best to treat with respect, according to the attitudes and conventions of the time.
And the author doesn't give us a miraculous Harlequin cure for these issues through the Sheer Power of Love, Marriage and Babies. I really appreciated that. Instead, we are left with two real people who we know are always going to be struggling somewhat with their personal demons, even amidst the bliss of their union.
Despite its dark themes, the story is very romantic. The hero looks at the heroine's beautiful face and wonders if looking at her will ever stop hurting so much. Much more effective than flowery declarations friends with watery promises of eternal happiness.
It isn't explicitly spelled out in the story, but I got this really creepy feeling that the unhinged, step mom was playing Humbert Humbert to the poor heroine's Lolita after her father's death. Whatever happened inside the walls of that isolated country manor where the power was all on the side of the monster, it was really, really ugly, to the extent that even heroine's hapless therapist incredibly didn't believe in her when she finally had the courage to articulate the abuse that her stepmother inflicted on her.
When the hero, a Prince with tarnished armor, comes to "rescue" his Princess inside her rubble prison after the death of her gaoler, he finds her in near catatonic state. Knowing that he cannot help her, he enlists the services of a Fairy Godmother (aka his actual mother) to help lift the curse from the Princess so that they can finally have their HE A.
This story was unusual for a Harlequin, especially one published in the early 1980s, because it was pretty bleak, without being melodramatic, and presented us with protagonists who were dealing with some real-life, serious issues such as mental illness and alcoholism, which the author did her best to treat with respect, according to the attitudes and conventions of the time.
And the author doesn't give us a miraculous Harlequin cure for these issues through the Sheer Power of Love, Marriage and Babies. I really appreciated that. Instead, we are left with two real people who we know are always going to be struggling somewhat with their personal demons, even amidst the bliss of their union.
Despite its dark themes, the story is very romantic. The hero looks at the heroine's beautiful face and wonders if looking at her will ever stop hurting so much. Much more effective than flowery declarations friends with watery promises of eternal happiness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2014
3.5 to 4 stars
An old skool goodie about a hero who inherits a luscious psych-case that had withdrawn into her own imaginary world to escape sever abuse at the hands of her stepmother, the hero’s auntie. (Been reading about a lot of evil aunties lately.)
Our hero is an unapologetic, if only slightly guilt ridden, alcoholic alphahole who takes a few pages out of Sean Connery’s book when dealing with disagreeable females. Don’t fret though; the OW deserved being backhanded for daring to say the heroine was a nutjob. Plus it served the purpose of reducing that irritating habit of coming into his office. You have to consider the pluses and minuses.
My mental picture of the heroine put me to mind of a blond Samara from The Ring with her stringy hair in her face and scary way of communicating. Of course she cleans up nicely during the 18 months the hero is off slapping his mistress around in Hollywood (he’s a super-rich novelist and screen writer, don’tcha know.) When he comes back, watch out! The juices start flowing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this heroine, who had the hero bleeding from the eyes with a severe case of blue balls. He was half crazed with lust…I mean love, and forever stopping himself from popping her one or jumping her bones. One couldn’t blame him, though, considering how creative, deep, challenging and intelligent she was on top of being utterly beautiful. After all, she was made of stuff that enabled her to go from being in a dissociative psychotic state for six or eight years to fully recovered and entering into college in less than two. Those intervening secondary school years are just filler anyway, right?
There was lots of fun with her drop kicking him in the mud and rubbing the OM well and good into his face. She even had the audacity to tell him she was getting it on with the nice neighbor boy! Of course there was a couple of OW too to give the reader that angst fix.
The author had to go and ruin it for me with that happy-happy-joy-joy ending (after the chase across several countries to bring her back scene). However, this is still one worthy of its trainwreck label.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2020
An anatomy of a vintage hero : They were all incredibly stupid for an intelligent man. Lol
May 19, 2019
4 stars
The review that got me interested in this one is better than any review I could write, so enjoy!
Naksed's review of Princess
The review that got me interested in this one is better than any review I could write, so enjoy!
Naksed's review of Princess
February 24, 2022
I was going to give 4 stars for the first part was really... wow...
The second part was a lil more sedated.
I love the great, really great psychological analysis of the traumatic experience of the heroine when she was a child.
She had lived with her father and her stepmother, who makes the wicked stepmoms of Cinderella and Snow White look like innocent lambs.
The woman was a psycho, but until heroine's father was alive he took care of her.
When he died in a car accident and the teenage heroine was left alone with the stepmom, the woman became completely crazy.
The young heroine, to avoid being completely destroyed by the woman's madness, closed herself in a fictional world inside her mind, becoming more and more disconncted with the real world.
This is an accurate analysis of what can happen when a person has to endure a situation that is too much for her sanity. Either he/ she becomes mad, or he/she detaches himself from real life to save his/her sanity from complete madness.
When evil stepmom dies, she leaves the heroine to the hero, who is her nephew, a debauched writer, because she hopes he will lock her up on a mental institute.
The heroine is 18 and has quite lost touch with reality.
The hero is reluctant to send her to an insitute and asks his mother to take care of her, with the help of some psychiatrists.
He leaves for almost two years, during which he has great success in writing some trash for film makers.
He doesn't lead a very edifying life, he's drunk for most of the time and lives with a mistress who's not even a mistress since he seems unable to perform anymore.
Then a letter arrives from his mother where she describes the wonderful progress of his ward, who is nor completely recovered and ready to attend college.
Actually the psychiatrist doesn't believe she's completely recovered, and thinks she hides her most secret core to the rest of the wolrd.
The heroine basically hates the hero because he's related to her evil stepmom, and thinks he wants to hirts her like she did, because, when he first visited and she was ill, he tried to help her during one of her nightmare and she thought he wanted to rape her.
That scene was very weird, because he really wanted to help, but while she was screaming and kicking him, her nightdress tore and she was exposed to the hero. The poor man reacted with a hard-on that was not lost on the heroine, so the misunderstanding and his feeling of guilt.
He didn't want to be in lust with a girl he considered only a child, and a very sick one.
So he left for two years.
When he gest back the heroine is still hating him, while he's instantly smitten and after a couple of days he understand that for the first time in his long and reckless life he's in love.
The rest of the book is about him trying to win the heroine's hate and her prejudices, and the heroine fighting her feelings.
There's a om, a young man who loves the heroine, but she doesn't love him, and ow, the discarded mistress who comes and causes trouble.
The hero is very angry with the woman, because he loves the heroine deeply, and knows he has to go slow if he wants to have her love and her trust.
And her trust is something very important, more than love.
Eventually the heroine runs away and the hero, after a moment of dispair, goes to her and declares his love and asks her to marry him.
This book was really good, too good for a hp or a m&b.
The theme was unusual, and both characters are far from perfect.
I loved them both though, with their faults and all, because there's a real change in them and it's because they have found love in each other, and this love is really the force that makes them change.
The hero is in love with her very probably from the first time he sees her, sick and troubled, but thank god he stays away until she's completely recovered and grown up.
He's not very nice in the beginning, he drinks too much and spends his time with the wrong kind of people, and lives with an awful ow without even having sex with her. But I loved him, more than many other heroes.
The heroine is a strong woman, who endured incredible abuses from a madwoman, and was able to recover, thanks to the love of the hero and his mother.
I recommend it because it's an interesting, differend and very deep reading.
The second part was a lil more sedated.
I love the great, really great psychological analysis of the traumatic experience of the heroine when she was a child.
She had lived with her father and her stepmother, who makes the wicked stepmoms of Cinderella and Snow White look like innocent lambs.
The woman was a psycho, but until heroine's father was alive he took care of her.
When he died in a car accident and the teenage heroine was left alone with the stepmom, the woman became completely crazy.
The young heroine, to avoid being completely destroyed by the woman's madness, closed herself in a fictional world inside her mind, becoming more and more disconncted with the real world.
This is an accurate analysis of what can happen when a person has to endure a situation that is too much for her sanity. Either he/ she becomes mad, or he/she detaches himself from real life to save his/her sanity from complete madness.
When evil stepmom dies, she leaves the heroine to the hero, who is her nephew, a debauched writer, because she hopes he will lock her up on a mental institute.
The heroine is 18 and has quite lost touch with reality.
The hero is reluctant to send her to an insitute and asks his mother to take care of her, with the help of some psychiatrists.
He leaves for almost two years, during which he has great success in writing some trash for film makers.
He doesn't lead a very edifying life, he's drunk for most of the time and lives with a mistress who's not even a mistress since he seems unable to perform anymore.
Then a letter arrives from his mother where she describes the wonderful progress of his ward, who is nor completely recovered and ready to attend college.
Actually the psychiatrist doesn't believe she's completely recovered, and thinks she hides her most secret core to the rest of the wolrd.
The heroine basically hates the hero because he's related to her evil stepmom, and thinks he wants to hirts her like she did, because, when he first visited and she was ill, he tried to help her during one of her nightmare and she thought he wanted to rape her.
That scene was very weird, because he really wanted to help, but while she was screaming and kicking him, her nightdress tore and she was exposed to the hero. The poor man reacted with a hard-on that was not lost on the heroine, so the misunderstanding and his feeling of guilt.
He didn't want to be in lust with a girl he considered only a child, and a very sick one.
So he left for two years.
When he gest back the heroine is still hating him, while he's instantly smitten and after a couple of days he understand that for the first time in his long and reckless life he's in love.
The rest of the book is about him trying to win the heroine's hate and her prejudices, and the heroine fighting her feelings.
There's a om, a young man who loves the heroine, but she doesn't love him, and ow, the discarded mistress who comes and causes trouble.
The hero is very angry with the woman, because he loves the heroine deeply, and knows he has to go slow if he wants to have her love and her trust.
And her trust is something very important, more than love.
Eventually the heroine runs away and the hero, after a moment of dispair, goes to her and declares his love and asks her to marry him.
This book was really good, too good for a hp or a m&b.
The theme was unusual, and both characters are far from perfect.
I loved them both though, with their faults and all, because there's a real change in them and it's because they have found love in each other, and this love is really the force that makes them change.
The hero is in love with her very probably from the first time he sees her, sick and troubled, but thank god he stays away until she's completely recovered and grown up.
He's not very nice in the beginning, he drinks too much and spends his time with the wrong kind of people, and lives with an awful ow without even having sex with her. But I loved him, more than many other heroes.
The heroine is a strong woman, who endured incredible abuses from a madwoman, and was able to recover, thanks to the love of the hero and his mother.
I recommend it because it's an interesting, differend and very deep reading.
March 2, 2011
I read this because 1) the heroine was thought to be autistic and 2) I wanted to try something by this author.
However, I didnt really find the novel as interesting as I thought I would. I found the storytelling very stodgey with the omnipotent POV and the author going "and so it came about" and then going back and reporting what happened.
The romance wasnt very . . . romantic. As happens with a lot of romances with "special" heroines, the h came across as too childlike with her temper tantrams and lot of mention of her "small" and "slight" figure. I was also bothered by how violent the hero was. I know this was written in 1984 but the H was unapologetic about back-handing his mistress - so hard that she was afraid of him afterwards - and he was a hair-trigger just waiting to happen again and again. Also, the hero fell in love with the heroine pretty much right away - while he thought she was still possibly retarded - just because she was beautiful. He had a portrait of her mother and the heroine was the spitting image of her mom. Creepy. The fact that he was a generation older than her was just par for the course.
Tropes: older man (he's 35, she's 18), guardian/ward + step-cousins, bitchy OW
However, I didnt really find the novel as interesting as I thought I would. I found the storytelling very stodgey with the omnipotent POV and the author going "and so it came about" and then going back and reporting what happened.
The romance wasnt very . . . romantic. As happens with a lot of romances with "special" heroines, the h came across as too childlike with her temper tantrams and lot of mention of her "small" and "slight" figure. I was also bothered by how violent the hero was. I know this was written in 1984 but the H was unapologetic about back-handing his mistress - so hard that she was afraid of him afterwards - and he was a hair-trigger just waiting to happen again and again. Also, the hero fell in love with the heroine pretty much right away - while he thought she was still possibly retarded - just because she was beautiful. He had a portrait of her mother and the heroine was the spitting image of her mom. Creepy. The fact that he was a generation older than her was just par for the course.
Tropes: older man (he's 35, she's 18), guardian/ward + step-cousins, bitchy OW
August 22, 2013
4 Stars ~ While the success of Adam's books is gratifying, the celebrity lifestyle he's led has disillusioned him and he recognizes what a selfish bastard he can be. When he attends the funeral of his mother's half sister on her behalf, he's surprised to learn that he's the woman's heir and that he's also inherited the woman's step-daughter, Serena. Meeting the timid child, he's again shocked to learn the girl is 19 and from all appearances she's autistic, having retreated deeply within herself. Appealing to his mother, she's now shocked, because she had been told the child had died in the car accident that had taken her father many years ago. An incident forces Adam to leave the girl in his mother's care, but he insists that she have psychiatric care as he's certain she's not autistic at all. Eighteen months pass with Adam in Hollywood writing horrible screen plays, and Serena under his mother's care, comes out of her retreat, and just as Adam has suspected the girl is genuinely gifted and highly intelligent. When he returns, he's very taken with how lovely she is and he quickly falls in love with her. But Adam's jaded and Serena seems to hate him. It's with persistence, he finally gets her to open up about the cruelty she endured from her step-mother when her father had died. And just as Serena comes to trust Adam and to seem to return his love, Adam's old flame shows up.
This is Ms. Fraser's debut and I must say I found it a very compelling read. I'm a bit of a sucker for stories of tortured pasts, and this one was a doozy. Adam is really a bit of a jerk and he knows it. His genuine love for Serena actually does make him a better man, albeit one with glaring flaws. Serena is a young woman who in her struggle to become alive again, also sets up barriers so that no one can ever abuse her again. Always battling wills, they are plagued with misunderstandings. While Adam wants to give Serena a chance to grow up, she wonders if he's just humouring her out of obligation. There are moments where the story seems to lag, but all in all I enjoyed this story very much and was eager to read on to find out what would happen next.
This is Ms. Fraser's debut and I must say I found it a very compelling read. I'm a bit of a sucker for stories of tortured pasts, and this one was a doozy. Adam is really a bit of a jerk and he knows it. His genuine love for Serena actually does make him a better man, albeit one with glaring flaws. Serena is a young woman who in her struggle to become alive again, also sets up barriers so that no one can ever abuse her again. Always battling wills, they are plagued with misunderstandings. While Adam wants to give Serena a chance to grow up, she wonders if he's just humouring her out of obligation. There are moments where the story seems to lag, but all in all I enjoyed this story very much and was eager to read on to find out what would happen next.
March 8, 2021
"Princess" is the story of Serena and Adam.
This is vastly different to any HQN romance I have ever read. And I would to give TW of abuse and spoilers before I start my review.
Hero is an accomplished writer, who gets called in to a will reading for a distant dead aunt. Apparently, he has been left over an estate, and his aunt's 'retarded' stepdaughter's guardianship. Meeting the young woman, he sees a lost soul, who he suspects is autistic but withdrawn. He involves his mother in her care and disappears. He also gets makes sure she gets the psychiatric help she so desperately needs.
The story moves to months later, where with therapy and the mother's help, the heroine starts recovering and that is when the hero re-enters her life. She is antagonistic towards him, yet he can't stop himself from falling for her..
There is detailed description of the mental and physical torture the young heroine was put through in some pages, but we do get an idea from her behavior anyways. She suffers from intense PTSD, dissociation as well as depression, and it is heartbreaking to see her in catatonic scenes. The hero too has his bursts of almost physical and verbal violence towards OW, who takes pleasure in rousing his anger. The age gap between them also might bother some people.
I like the absolute craziness the hero felt towards the heroine- and how she expressed herself through her art. Theirs was a very unconventional but physically passionate romance. That being said, she needed so much more help and therapy.
This was very different and heartbreaking, a total roller coaster ride, but I did enjoy it. The ending was beautiful.
SWE
3.5/5
This is vastly different to any HQN romance I have ever read. And I would to give TW of abuse and spoilers before I start my review.
Hero is an accomplished writer, who gets called in to a will reading for a distant dead aunt. Apparently, he has been left over an estate, and his aunt's 'retarded' stepdaughter's guardianship. Meeting the young woman, he sees a lost soul, who he suspects is autistic but withdrawn. He involves his mother in her care and disappears. He also gets makes sure she gets the psychiatric help she so desperately needs.
The story moves to months later, where with therapy and the mother's help, the heroine starts recovering and that is when the hero re-enters her life. She is antagonistic towards him, yet he can't stop himself from falling for her..
There is detailed description of the mental and physical torture the young heroine was put through in some pages, but we do get an idea from her behavior anyways. She suffers from intense PTSD, dissociation as well as depression, and it is heartbreaking to see her in catatonic scenes. The hero too has his bursts of almost physical and verbal violence towards OW, who takes pleasure in rousing his anger. The age gap between them also might bother some people.
I like the absolute craziness the hero felt towards the heroine- and how she expressed herself through her art. Theirs was a very unconventional but physically passionate romance. That being said, she needed so much more help and therapy.
This was very different and heartbreaking, a total roller coaster ride, but I did enjoy it. The ending was beautiful.
SWE
3.5/5
March 12, 2022
He’s a writer. She’s a painter. Both temperamental.
She’s had a traumatic childhood that caused her to dissociate. She drifted into the land of fantasy. The hero inherits her along with a house in Yorkshire from his mother’s half sister. Heroine was her step daughter.
He finds her spaced out and child like. He or rather his mother arranges therapy. She recovers. But she is fragile.
He is an alcoholic. Out of control. When he’s in the grip of feelings, he drinks. He also beats up the woman with him.
He is entirely too free with his hands. The number of times he was violent with the other woman. Hardly the mark of a decent man.
Why resort to violence with someone who isn’t equal to you in weight or muscle? Why resort to violence at all.
There is zero romance. It’s all in the air. Being spoken about but not shown.
He wants her. He wants her. But when she’s near at hand he does nothing. It’s all being spoken about rather than felt.
If two people desire each other. Something should happen. Nothing does.
If love is there. Some scene is contrived to show it. None was. Oh he bought a painting expensively at an auction for her. But the scene was handled terribly.
He ran after her when she bolted with his horse. He entered her bedroom. I thought. Finally!! The denouement. Nothing happened. Nothing.
Their interactions were lukewarm to tepid.
Hero did not seem heroic at all. The way he keeps dithering about, confused, uncertain. It’s very irritating.
She meanwhile remains an enigma. What is she thinking? Feeling? Doing?
Mystery.
It’s written from the hero’s POV. But yet. Not.
The story began beautifully and had the promise of being really fantastic, but somewhere along the way, the author lost the plot.
Not much thought was given to what the author wanted to convey.
Who are they both inside? Why do they love each other. Nothing.
They seem like two confused souls that drifted towards each other and crashed.
His mother is entirely too intrusive into his life.
If she didn’t tell him to chase the heroine he would have been ok with it.
What a tepid romance. Nope. Solid nope.
She’s had a traumatic childhood that caused her to dissociate. She drifted into the land of fantasy. The hero inherits her along with a house in Yorkshire from his mother’s half sister. Heroine was her step daughter.
He finds her spaced out and child like. He or rather his mother arranges therapy. She recovers. But she is fragile.
He is an alcoholic. Out of control. When he’s in the grip of feelings, he drinks. He also beats up the woman with him.
He is entirely too free with his hands. The number of times he was violent with the other woman. Hardly the mark of a decent man.
Why resort to violence with someone who isn’t equal to you in weight or muscle? Why resort to violence at all.
There is zero romance. It’s all in the air. Being spoken about but not shown.
He wants her. He wants her. But when she’s near at hand he does nothing. It’s all being spoken about rather than felt.
If two people desire each other. Something should happen. Nothing does.
If love is there. Some scene is contrived to show it. None was. Oh he bought a painting expensively at an auction for her. But the scene was handled terribly.
He ran after her when she bolted with his horse. He entered her bedroom. I thought. Finally!! The denouement. Nothing happened. Nothing.
Their interactions were lukewarm to tepid.
Hero did not seem heroic at all. The way he keeps dithering about, confused, uncertain. It’s very irritating.
She meanwhile remains an enigma. What is she thinking? Feeling? Doing?
Mystery.
It’s written from the hero’s POV. But yet. Not.
The story began beautifully and had the promise of being really fantastic, but somewhere along the way, the author lost the plot.
Not much thought was given to what the author wanted to convey.
Who are they both inside? Why do they love each other. Nothing.
They seem like two confused souls that drifted towards each other and crashed.
His mother is entirely too intrusive into his life.
If she didn’t tell him to chase the heroine he would have been ok with it.
What a tepid romance. Nope. Solid nope.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2015
I loved this book for the strong female character Serena. She had gone thru hell thanks to the original evil step mother then enter the hero Adam. It was so clear what he felt for her and how he adored her. He even tells his mother that he loves her and not to stand in his way. Serena is so confused by Adam you can feel her pain and see her dilemma. I loved that even though he loves her he did not put up with tantrums. She was a lovable character and he was a sympathetic hero.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2019
There was some pleasure in the story but there was a bit too much drama, too much abuse (hero toward heroine) for my comfort. At least, I would have enjoyed it more without two or three slaps. Nonetheless, I admit, there were a really good background story and true issues as for Harlequin romance.
March 19, 2023
This felt too much like a father-daughter thing. She was too childish. She is 19, he is 35. She has a traumatic past which made their relationship even more unequal.
The h was not mature enough for him (or any other man) to be wanting her. It’s as if he wanted a child. In the beginning he thinks she’s 14, so she was like a child on the inside and on the outside. It felt creepy.
He was not romantic or passionate and neither was she.
The h was not mature enough for him (or any other man) to be wanting her. It’s as if he wanted a child. In the beginning he thinks she’s 14, so she was like a child on the inside and on the outside. It felt creepy.
He was not romantic or passionate and neither was she.
April 7, 2015
Yikes, ugh whoa! Those were my first thoughts when I read the first half of the book and what I wanted to write on the review immediately. But I thought no I must get through this book. Spoilers. Ok I usually like an older man / younger woman romance but this one to me was just ugh. First off the hero: an alcoholic violent beater? Uh no thank you!! And the heroine, sure I felt sorry for her life and what she went through but I'm sorry she kind of annoyed me a bit (actually I was going to say pissed me off but that's probably too harsh of a word) she was just too I dunno, mean to the hero.... And i don't see how she could have started to develop feelings for him due to her always being mean to him. Back to the hero, I don't like how the author portrayed him to be. I usually hate bitchy horrible OW but I don't think she deserved being hit by the so called hero. (although that ho certainly didn't learn her lesson coming back again to do one last dirty work!) oh yeah and the hero still seemed to have violent thoughts /actions toward the heroine if she pushed him too far. Uh hello!! Did you forget what happened to her?? lastly I thought it was interesting that most of the book was written in the perspective of the hero so you get to hear and understand his thoughts and actions were; that and the happy ending was why I gave it an extra star (I would have given it a 2) and also because I liked the hero's mother.
May 30, 2020
3.5 stars, super dark and gloomy vibe with the lonely teenage girl locked away and mentally deteriorating after abuse in the family estate. the h's mental state and expression of her inner rage through art was fascinating and the H being a writer gave them common creative ground. this book was the DEFINITION of smitten/obsessed hero, like this guy was seriously very much in love.
i usually cannot stand age-gaps of more than 10 years but the time period this was written in and the fact that it's addressed in the book helps.
i usually cannot stand age-gaps of more than 10 years but the time period this was written in and the fact that it's addressed in the book helps.
March 8, 2021
quite a unique story but i definitely a needed break from the traditional romance plots. The H/h have lots of chemistry and it was refreshing to see an H who knew he loves the h early on. I ended the book smiling even though there was no epilogue! Read this when you’re fatigued of the usual plots.
April 11, 2022
I've read this one in the last year but couldn't find it in my collection so in seeing another review on here I immediately tracked it down for a cheeky read. This book was a massive guilty pleasure.
I ADORED the H despite his wild backhand, excessive drinking problem and cynical, debauched, spoiled past because this guy was SMITTEN!
***disclaimer while I heartedly disapprove of domestic violence in anyone particularly H's I'm not deducting a star from this H because while he was totally out of order the OW was provoking him while he was drunk and maligning our h***
I also loved our h who let the H on a merry old chase and probably gave him a few extra grey hairs. She had a spine and it's great to see a h beat a H at his own game and she did repeatedly (because he steadfastly adored her too much to ever really hurt her).
The H starts off the story as an arrogant, womanising asshat and it's these delightful character flaws that make his evil, abusive aunt leave all her worldly goods to the H expecting him to to live up to his selfish faults by committing the stepdaughter to an asylum type establishment. She actually told her family she died in an accident along with her father and those that dealt closely with her that she damaged due to a blow to her head. It's later implied she caused the accident that killed the h's father and that the stepmother abused her ever since causing her to hide away to escape the abuse. One of her tortures being to say the H will lock her up etc so she is programmed to hate him before they even meet.
The H recognises that she is actually highly intelligent and that she doesn't like him but he does try to help her. When trying to help her after hearing her having a nightmare results in his actions being misconstrued he leaves her with his mother on the proviso she gets help and he takes off for the US to get drunk and write terrible screenplays for 18 months. He recognises he's in love with the h already but in denial and this leads to his drinking problem, crap writing and impotent relationship with his OW who followed him onto his flight and caught him at a weak drunken moment (she basically catches him drunk takes him to bed when they land and spends all his money. I actually believe him and when he declares his celibacy later on and the OW throws an impotent drunk insult at him).
When he gets a letter from his mum saying how well she's doing he grabs this excuse to go home and see for himself (really I think he was waiting to hear this so he knows he can try to win her without feeling guilty and that's why he has such a crap time in the US waiting for her).
It's definitely love at first site and his mum spots this but our h just loathes him (she's genuinely scared of him because of what her stepmum told her he'd do to her and she doesn't want to care for anyone in case they hurt her)
This novel was told mainly from the H's perspective and you could feel his hurt at how she treats him he's never really horrible to her despite extreme provocation even though sometimes he wants to hurt her like she hurts him. These 2 bring out the best in each other in the end and you can see how they have both but particularly him have changed. I hope he gets his 6 kids and daughter that looks like her and I can see him being a hands on dad and supporting his gorgeous wife as she hits artistic stardom with his full support.
This is going on my favourites list for sure
I ADORED the H despite his wild backhand, excessive drinking problem and cynical, debauched, spoiled past because this guy was SMITTEN!
***disclaimer while I heartedly disapprove of domestic violence in anyone particularly H's I'm not deducting a star from this H because while he was totally out of order the OW was provoking him while he was drunk and maligning our h***
I also loved our h who let the H on a merry old chase and probably gave him a few extra grey hairs. She had a spine and it's great to see a h beat a H at his own game and she did repeatedly (because he steadfastly adored her too much to ever really hurt her).
The H starts off the story as an arrogant, womanising asshat and it's these delightful character flaws that make his evil, abusive aunt leave all her worldly goods to the H expecting him to to live up to his selfish faults by committing the stepdaughter to an asylum type establishment. She actually told her family she died in an accident along with her father and those that dealt closely with her that she damaged due to a blow to her head. It's later implied she caused the accident that killed the h's father and that the stepmother abused her ever since causing her to hide away to escape the abuse. One of her tortures being to say the H will lock her up etc so she is programmed to hate him before they even meet.
The H recognises that she is actually highly intelligent and that she doesn't like him but he does try to help her. When trying to help her after hearing her having a nightmare results in his actions being misconstrued he leaves her with his mother on the proviso she gets help and he takes off for the US to get drunk and write terrible screenplays for 18 months. He recognises he's in love with the h already but in denial and this leads to his drinking problem, crap writing and impotent relationship with his OW who followed him onto his flight and caught him at a weak drunken moment (she basically catches him drunk takes him to bed when they land and spends all his money. I actually believe him and when he declares his celibacy later on and the OW throws an impotent drunk insult at him).
When he gets a letter from his mum saying how well she's doing he grabs this excuse to go home and see for himself (really I think he was waiting to hear this so he knows he can try to win her without feeling guilty and that's why he has such a crap time in the US waiting for her).
It's definitely love at first site and his mum spots this but our h just loathes him (she's genuinely scared of him because of what her stepmum told her he'd do to her and she doesn't want to care for anyone in case they hurt her)
This novel was told mainly from the H's perspective and you could feel his hurt at how she treats him he's never really horrible to her despite extreme provocation even though sometimes he wants to hurt her like she hurts him. These 2 bring out the best in each other in the end and you can see how they have both but particularly him have changed. I hope he gets his 6 kids and daughter that looks like her and I can see him being a hands on dad and supporting his gorgeous wife as she hits artistic stardom with his full support.
This is going on my favourites list for sure
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2022
Oof. I had a lot of problems with this one.
While this author’s MO always seems to be older man-younger woman with a big power imbalance, I’ve never before felt as though the guy was explicitly taking advantage of the heroine. Here, however, he is overcome by lust uncomfortably early, and under circumstances I found it hard to look past. She is nearly catatonic from (apparently) years of abuse by her stepmother, his aunt, who inexplicably left the girl as his ward in her will. Her recovery and subsequent wild swings of emotion never quite added up for me either, it all seemed answered so quickly and yet not at all.
The chemistry between them is definitely there, however, and the author’s writing is compelling as usual, even when I found it hard to keep up with what exactly was going on. Not her best effort, imo, and the only one of the five I’ve read so far that I won’t be revisiting anytime soon.
While this author’s MO always seems to be older man-younger woman with a big power imbalance, I’ve never before felt as though the guy was explicitly taking advantage of the heroine. Here, however, he is overcome by lust uncomfortably early, and under circumstances I found it hard to look past. She is nearly catatonic from (apparently) years of abuse by her stepmother, his aunt, who inexplicably left the girl as his ward in her will. Her recovery and subsequent wild swings of emotion never quite added up for me either, it all seemed answered so quickly and yet not at all.
The chemistry between them is definitely there, however, and the author’s writing is compelling as usual, even when I found it hard to keep up with what exactly was going on. Not her best effort, imo, and the only one of the five I’ve read so far that I won’t be revisiting anytime soon.
December 23, 2013
4 Terribly old skool stars. It was originally published in 1964 and the hero was evidently a beatnik. 17 years between the hero and heroine. It had lots of lovely melodrama. The heroine with mental illness, the disaffected self-centered hero.
October 28, 2019
Once upon a time, a little girl lived with her brilliant artist father in a small seaside village in Italy. Because her mother was dead, the father decided the little girl needed a new mother, so he went and found himself a bride from England, who was very beautiful, but unbeknownst to him, was quite cruel and jealous of his beautiful dead wife and the special bond he shared with his daughter, who was looking more and more like her mother with each passing day. One day, the father died and the little girl was distraught, but the new mother told her everything was going to be all right because she was going to be her special little girl from now, but it was all a lie. In time, the true nature of the wicked stepmother was revealed and the little girl, whose name was Serena, was punished because the stepmother never forgot that her husband loved the little girl and her mother more than he loved her as a bride and she hated the little girl for it. She locked Serena up in a room in an ivory tower and treated her as though she were mad, so that no one would believe her when she told anyone that stepmother was being cruel. Before she herself weakened and died, she promised to Serena that the man to whom she is entrusting her guardianship is also wicked and will ensure that Serena is locked up in a mental institution, so that no one would ever remember that the little girl ever existed. Because of this, Serena dreaded the day the man will come for her and she was not disappointed when she met him and saw a cruel, dispassionate, and arrogant man. Her fear of him only grew when she woke up one night in the grips of a nightmare and found him in her bed, a monster hovering over her, ready to devour her body and soul.
Adam Carmichael is the black sheep of the family. The son of a financial wizard, he dropped out of Cambridge to become a writer. For several years in his twenties and thirties, he was licentious, dissolute, profligate, and enjoyed watching the world burn with the money his father left him, along with his rich asshole, equally morally bankrupt friends. His experiences made for good writing material, though, because he is a famous, celebrated literary genius and rolling high and feeling good without a care in the world. That is, until his aunt, the younger sister of his mother, leaves him her entire estate and along with it, the guardianship of a nineteen-year-old girl who, according to his aunt, is mentally retarded. But Adam only had to meet the girl briefly to recognize that while the girl is in severe need of a mental health professional, she showed flashes of intelligence and cognitive sharpness in contrast to his aunt’s assessment. She is also incredibly beautiful. Adam’s like, nopenopenope, even I’m not THAT fucked up, I’m staying far away from this bitch. He does the right thing, calls his mom to take care of the whole mess, but right before he nopes the fuck out of Yorkshire, a little incident takes place in which he comes upon Serena screaming in her bedroom while having a nightmare. When he tries to comfort her, she struggles like a wildcat in his arms, so her nightgown rips and her boobs pop out and all of his good intentions are shot to hell for a couple of seconds, but just as he’s regaining his sanity, his mom walks in and finds them that way, with him hovering over a pale, cowering Serena like a creeper…
Adam runs away to Hollywood with his (evil) mistress Julia in tow and spends a couple of years there, throwing miserable Hollywood parties where he gets miserably drunk, and writing shitty screenplays that are purposefully shitty, but ironically people love. He tries to forget Serena, but that proves impossible because his mother insists on writing regular reports about her as well psychiatric evaluations that prove Adam right: Serena is highly intelligent, but with deep-seated issues caused by years of abuse inflicted by his evil, cruel aunt. When Julia taunts him about his obsession with Serena along with his drinking, Adam snaps and hits (!) her. He notes to himself that he wasn’t the first of her lovers to hit her because she has a sharp tongue, but that he had never hit her before—still, this little dark moment wakes something up in Adam and he realizes it’s time to go home to England.
He gets back to the wilds of Yorkshire and discovers that Serena has become even more beautiful and instead of the half-wild child he had left less than two years before with his mother, she has grown into a poised, well-mannered, sophisticated lady. She is finishing her studies at a local college and currently dating a local farmer, who--while not up to Adam’s intellectual standards and can barely keep up with Serena’s obvious wit--is perfectly kind and treats Serena very well. Best of all, Adam’s mother, Nancy, approves of him very much and thinks he is a good match for Serena. Nancy thinks Adam is up to no good—she witnessed that One Fateful Night when he was skulking around in Serena’s bedroom—and warns him to stay away from Serena because she knows what he’s like and she was the one who helped Serena become the person that she is now and she doesn’t want Adam destroying her. Adam tells her she’s wrong because he’s in love with her and he wants to marry her and take care of her.
Now here is where Adam deviates from your usual Harlequin Romance Novel Hero Central Casting. We’re just halfway through the book and here, Adam is openly telling his mother that he is in love with the heroine and wants to marry her. Usually, at this point, the hero hasn’t realized this for himself yet and is only thinking with his penis. Usually it’s MINEMINEMINE, gotta get her in bed, gotta brand her, gotta pee on her, gotta let the other dudes know that the bitch is mine. But with Adam, it’s not like that. Yes, he teases Serena, makes her mad, and does all the arrogant, posturing, maddening things that a Harlequin Romance Hero® does, but it’s only to draw Serena out of her shell because she’s determined to shut him out. A part of Serena still equates Adam with her stepmother because after all, her stepmother assigned Adam to be Serena’s guardian because the stepmother believed that Adam was just like her. Serena is with Farmer John because he is safe, even though he bores her to death and she finds Adam sexy and intellectually stimulating.
Adam calls Serena “Princess” because the first time he saw her, she looked like a fragile, beautiful princess who must have been locked up all this time in a tower by her evil stepmother, his aunt. His first instinct was to save her, but he was wrapped up in his own cynicism and wasn’t quite in the business of saving princesses from towers. After coming back from staying away from her for so long, Adam finds that she’s become a different kind of princess, the “ice” kind, more inscrutable than before and even more unwilling to let him save her. Adam tells her that her boyfriend isn’t good enough for her, that she needs someone who is a match for her intellectually, and that a man who is angered by a smart-mouthed woman is more inclined to respond with his fists because he doesn’t have his wits to rely on (good scare tactic, Adam. Remember when you slapped Julia for being mouthy?Super Cool). Hanging out with Adam who takes her art galleries and the opera, Serena realizes that a life with John would indeed be intellectually bereft because he isn’t much for book-learnin’ and doesn’t understand art, especially not hers, since they aren’t simple, pretty pictures. John doesn’t exactly set her loins a-blazin’ with his kisses, neither…unlike Adam’s.
I really enjoyed this particular HP because both of the protagonists could hold their own. Adam isn’t just some out-of-control, overly hormonal brute who mauls Serena at every opportunity; he understands her vulnerabilities and the deep hurts she carries deep inside from the abuse she received at the hands of his aunt. When needed, he is sensitive and patient with her. One of the things that interested me about this book was that Serena was described as autistic, but she isn’t, not really. She is able to retreat deeply into herself and disappear into her art as a way of saving herself from the cruelties of her stepmother. Eventually she learns enough coping skills to be able to go outside of herself and could distinguish reality better from her daydreams and nightmares, but she is still understandably wary of Adam for most of the book. Still she doesn’t cower before Adam and gives as good as she gets. She doesn’t let him bully her around. What I really like about this coupling even though there is a considerable age difference is that Serena can keep up with Adam and they have many things in common, not just the passion and the sex. I really think it’s a happily-ever-after that can be sustained long after the book ends.
What I wasn’t a big fan of was that the villains were other women. I’m not really fond of the Good Women, Bad Women trope and this book was chock full of them. Serena and Nancy, Adam’s mom, were Good Women as an example because they’re smart, care about other people, love books and culture, and actually love Adam for who he is and not just his money. The Bad Women are Serena’s evil stepmother (and Adam’s aunt), Adam’s ex-girlfriend Julia, and to some extent, John’s ex-girlfriend, who is also snide and petty with Serena. None of them appreciate good art or books and think they’re a waste of time. Julia doesn’t really “get” Adam’s work like Serena does and when John’s ex-girlfriend meets Adam, she tells him she’s never heard of him because she doesn’t do a lot of book-readin’ because she doesn't find it as practical as working around the farm. Even Adam’s aunt, the evil stepmother, didn’t really understand what a great artist Serena’s father was because she was dismissive of him. To some extent, John, Serena’s boyfriend is this way also because he doesn’t truly understand Serena’s art. At an auction where he and Serena are bidding on an artwork that Serena is very interested in, John’s greatest sin is not recognizing that the artist is Graham Templeton, Serena’s father, and that the subject themselves are a young Serena and her mother. Because he’s a PLEBIAN WHO DOESN’T DESERVE SERENA, THAT’S WHY. Luckily for Serena, the winning bid goes to Adam, who DID recognize instantly that the painting was a Graham Templeton and he was actually buying the painting for Serena as a “goodbye present” because he had decided to let her go since she seemed to hate him and hasn’t shown him any encouragement at all, so he was just going to go away forever… But then she gets annoyed with him and almost slaps him and just like that, he was BACK, baby! Truly, the intellectual snobbery in this book is staggering.
That said, I really enjoyed it and I loved Serena and Adam together, despite the great age difference. I loved Adam (I didn't love the hitting so much--why did you have to do that, Adam?), the drunken, cynical writer felled by an ice princess who declares to his mother, “I love her. I want to marry her” in the middle of the book. In the middle of the book! That’s crazy.
Adam Carmichael is the black sheep of the family. The son of a financial wizard, he dropped out of Cambridge to become a writer. For several years in his twenties and thirties, he was licentious, dissolute, profligate, and enjoyed watching the world burn with the money his father left him, along with his rich asshole, equally morally bankrupt friends. His experiences made for good writing material, though, because he is a famous, celebrated literary genius and rolling high and feeling good without a care in the world. That is, until his aunt, the younger sister of his mother, leaves him her entire estate and along with it, the guardianship of a nineteen-year-old girl who, according to his aunt, is mentally retarded. But Adam only had to meet the girl briefly to recognize that while the girl is in severe need of a mental health professional, she showed flashes of intelligence and cognitive sharpness in contrast to his aunt’s assessment. She is also incredibly beautiful. Adam’s like, nopenopenope, even I’m not THAT fucked up, I’m staying far away from this bitch. He does the right thing, calls his mom to take care of the whole mess, but right before he nopes the fuck out of Yorkshire, a little incident takes place in which he comes upon Serena screaming in her bedroom while having a nightmare. When he tries to comfort her, she struggles like a wildcat in his arms, so her nightgown rips and her boobs pop out and all of his good intentions are shot to hell for a couple of seconds, but just as he’s regaining his sanity, his mom walks in and finds them that way, with him hovering over a pale, cowering Serena like a creeper…
Adam runs away to Hollywood with his (evil) mistress Julia in tow and spends a couple of years there, throwing miserable Hollywood parties where he gets miserably drunk, and writing shitty screenplays that are purposefully shitty, but ironically people love. He tries to forget Serena, but that proves impossible because his mother insists on writing regular reports about her as well psychiatric evaluations that prove Adam right: Serena is highly intelligent, but with deep-seated issues caused by years of abuse inflicted by his evil, cruel aunt. When Julia taunts him about his obsession with Serena along with his drinking, Adam snaps and hits (!) her. He notes to himself that he wasn’t the first of her lovers to hit her because she has a sharp tongue, but that he had never hit her before—still, this little dark moment wakes something up in Adam and he realizes it’s time to go home to England.
He gets back to the wilds of Yorkshire and discovers that Serena has become even more beautiful and instead of the half-wild child he had left less than two years before with his mother, she has grown into a poised, well-mannered, sophisticated lady. She is finishing her studies at a local college and currently dating a local farmer, who--while not up to Adam’s intellectual standards and can barely keep up with Serena’s obvious wit--is perfectly kind and treats Serena very well. Best of all, Adam’s mother, Nancy, approves of him very much and thinks he is a good match for Serena. Nancy thinks Adam is up to no good—she witnessed that One Fateful Night when he was skulking around in Serena’s bedroom—and warns him to stay away from Serena because she knows what he’s like and she was the one who helped Serena become the person that she is now and she doesn’t want Adam destroying her. Adam tells her she’s wrong because he’s in love with her and he wants to marry her and take care of her.
Now here is where Adam deviates from your usual Harlequin Romance Novel Hero Central Casting. We’re just halfway through the book and here, Adam is openly telling his mother that he is in love with the heroine and wants to marry her. Usually, at this point, the hero hasn’t realized this for himself yet and is only thinking with his penis. Usually it’s MINEMINEMINE, gotta get her in bed, gotta brand her, gotta pee on her, gotta let the other dudes know that the bitch is mine. But with Adam, it’s not like that. Yes, he teases Serena, makes her mad, and does all the arrogant, posturing, maddening things that a Harlequin Romance Hero® does, but it’s only to draw Serena out of her shell because she’s determined to shut him out. A part of Serena still equates Adam with her stepmother because after all, her stepmother assigned Adam to be Serena’s guardian because the stepmother believed that Adam was just like her. Serena is with Farmer John because he is safe, even though he bores her to death and she finds Adam sexy and intellectually stimulating.
Adam calls Serena “Princess” because the first time he saw her, she looked like a fragile, beautiful princess who must have been locked up all this time in a tower by her evil stepmother, his aunt. His first instinct was to save her, but he was wrapped up in his own cynicism and wasn’t quite in the business of saving princesses from towers. After coming back from staying away from her for so long, Adam finds that she’s become a different kind of princess, the “ice” kind, more inscrutable than before and even more unwilling to let him save her. Adam tells her that her boyfriend isn’t good enough for her, that she needs someone who is a match for her intellectually, and that a man who is angered by a smart-mouthed woman is more inclined to respond with his fists because he doesn’t have his wits to rely on (good scare tactic, Adam. Remember when you slapped Julia for being mouthy?
I really enjoyed this particular HP because both of the protagonists could hold their own. Adam isn’t just some out-of-control, overly hormonal brute who mauls Serena at every opportunity; he understands her vulnerabilities and the deep hurts she carries deep inside from the abuse she received at the hands of his aunt. When needed, he is sensitive and patient with her. One of the things that interested me about this book was that Serena was described as autistic, but she isn’t, not really. She is able to retreat deeply into herself and disappear into her art as a way of saving herself from the cruelties of her stepmother. Eventually she learns enough coping skills to be able to go outside of herself and could distinguish reality better from her daydreams and nightmares, but she is still understandably wary of Adam for most of the book. Still she doesn’t cower before Adam and gives as good as she gets. She doesn’t let him bully her around. What I really like about this coupling even though there is a considerable age difference is that Serena can keep up with Adam and they have many things in common, not just the passion and the sex. I really think it’s a happily-ever-after that can be sustained long after the book ends.
What I wasn’t a big fan of was that the villains were other women. I’m not really fond of the Good Women, Bad Women trope and this book was chock full of them. Serena and Nancy, Adam’s mom, were Good Women as an example because they’re smart, care about other people, love books and culture, and actually love Adam for who he is and not just his money. The Bad Women are Serena’s evil stepmother (and Adam’s aunt), Adam’s ex-girlfriend Julia, and to some extent, John’s ex-girlfriend, who is also snide and petty with Serena. None of them appreciate good art or books and think they’re a waste of time. Julia doesn’t really “get” Adam’s work like Serena does and when John’s ex-girlfriend meets Adam, she tells him she’s never heard of him because she doesn’t do a lot of book-readin’ because she doesn't find it as practical as working around the farm. Even Adam’s aunt, the evil stepmother, didn’t really understand what a great artist Serena’s father was because she was dismissive of him. To some extent, John, Serena’s boyfriend is this way also because he doesn’t truly understand Serena’s art. At an auction where he and Serena are bidding on an artwork that Serena is very interested in, John’s greatest sin is not recognizing that the artist is Graham Templeton, Serena’s father, and that the subject themselves are a young Serena and her mother. Because he’s a PLEBIAN WHO DOESN’T DESERVE SERENA, THAT’S WHY. Luckily for Serena, the winning bid goes to Adam, who DID recognize instantly that the painting was a Graham Templeton and he was actually buying the painting for Serena as a “goodbye present” because he had decided to let her go since she seemed to hate him and hasn’t shown him any encouragement at all, so he was just going to go away forever… But then she gets annoyed with him and almost slaps him and just like that, he was BACK, baby! Truly, the intellectual snobbery in this book is staggering.
That said, I really enjoyed it and I loved Serena and Adam together, despite the great age difference. I loved Adam (I didn't love the hitting so much--why did you have to do that, Adam?), the drunken, cynical writer felled by an ice princess who declares to his mother, “I love her. I want to marry her” in the middle of the book. In the middle of the book! That’s crazy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2020
I'd read this before, but had forgotten about it.
This is very emotionally intense, especially if you don't read any spoilers ahead of time. To be honest, Adam gave me the creeps at first with his obsession, but you can see his feelings develop throughout the journey.
This is very emotionally intense, especially if you don't read any spoilers ahead of time. To be honest, Adam gave me the creeps at first with his obsession, but you can see his feelings develop throughout the journey.
June 9, 2021
Adam was now her adversary.
Serena Templeton was not a sleeping princess. She was a tragic little figure existing in a shadow world that she had constructed as a fortress to pain. Then Adam Carmichael pierced her defenses and established himself as a force in her life.
In time Serena became a lovely, vital young woman. But she jealously guarded her innermost feelings for fear that Adam would use them against her.
Adam demanded her love... but first he would have to force Serena to confront her fear.
Serena Templeton was not a sleeping princess. She was a tragic little figure existing in a shadow world that she had constructed as a fortress to pain. Then Adam Carmichael pierced her defenses and established himself as a force in her life.
In time Serena became a lovely, vital young woman. But she jealously guarded her innermost feelings for fear that Adam would use them against her.
Adam demanded her love... but first he would have to force Serena to confront her fear.
September 22, 2011
Engaging, if weird, old HP. The mental illness/female fragility stuff definitely comes across as old-fashioned (not to mention the hero's inclination to hit his mistress and the underlying feeling of it that it was ok), but the romance is decent. Interesting to have the hero reveal his love for the heroine (though not to her of course) so early in the book.
April 20, 2012
Psycho dude with no self control whatsoever. Bad ever-after for them.
[DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS AUTHOR!]
[DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS AUTHOR!]
March 3, 2014
a great unrequited love book. but the ending's too abrupt. and after all our hero did to win her, he didn't exactly say i love you in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2020
Everything I expected this book to be, it wasn’t. Not in a bad way but also not in a good way, if that makes any sense. This book seem longer than usual harlequins. Witting style reminds me more of an almost contemporary/historical romance. Pace was slower & a lot of things happened yet nothing progressive. Don’t get me wrong, it started out well but it kind of dragged on. I stayed on for the unique plot & it was engaging; nonetheless I had to start skimming the last few pages to be able to finish the book. We get several head hop, hero’s POV was majority of the book’s narration. Spoilers: hero’s mom was such a cockblocker lol. She had no faith in her son at all, I think she secretly hate him. The romance was lacking because of the back & forth bickering. They were sometimes witty, sometimes confusing. I believe I’m too dumb to understand the “intelligence” of this book. Heroine is intelligent...me not so much. So that must be why I found some parts confusing. Tension was there, romance not so much...unfortunately. I thought he was going to be this obsessed, loving, respected grown man. In actuality he was a man-child with some loose morals, party animal, heavy drinker & women abuser. (That abusive scene with the OW was so unnecessary. He was the dumb one for putting up with her in the first place.) He wasn’t man enough for me, through his actions & his decisions. The OW, his mom, & the heroine probably will end up running his life for him at this pace. Again, everything I expected this book to be, it wasn’t. Not in a bad way but also not in a good way...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2017
Princess is the second novel by British author, Alison Fraser. As a favour to his mother, Nancy, author Adam Carmichael goes to the reading of his Aunt Andrea’s will in Yorkshire. He’s surprised to find she has left her stately home to him, on the condition that he look after her step-daughter, Serena Templeton, a young woman of whose existence he was completely unaware. The solicitor’s comments and her almost catatonic behaviour have Adam wondering about Serena’s mental state, but when he speaks to her alone, it’s apparent she’s intelligent and wilful. Fast forward two years. Adam has been living a debauched life in Hollywood while his mother has overseen Serena’s education and medical treatment. When he returns, sparks fly between him and Serena.
Oh dear! This is rather heavy going. Until almost the last page, the interactions between Adam and Serena are heated, often spiteful and insulting. Their inner monologues are angst-ridden and the reader is tempted to give them both a good shake and tell them to actually talk to each other without assuming innuendo and malicious intent. The plot is OK, but the execution is tedious and the characters are unrealistically intense. Fraser’s later novels are better: give this one a miss.
Oh dear! This is rather heavy going. Until almost the last page, the interactions between Adam and Serena are heated, often spiteful and insulting. Their inner monologues are angst-ridden and the reader is tempted to give them both a good shake and tell them to actually talk to each other without assuming innuendo and malicious intent. The plot is OK, but the execution is tedious and the characters are unrealistically intense. Fraser’s later novels are better: give this one a miss.
February 5, 2021
2.5 stars rounded up to 3
The H finds himself guardian to his recently deceased aunt's stepdaughter. He thinks she's autistic but it turns out she was abused by the aunt and just needs a little TLC and psychiatric help to recover. The H is absent from her recovery which takes place over the span of two to three years. It's when he returns to the UK and she's recovered that their romance is kindled. It was fine, nothing earth shattering or particularly great. I will say though, this was the first time I read of an H punching a woman. The woman he punched was his mistress who was talking s**t about the step-cousin/h and he clocked her. So trigger warning: one scene of violence
The H finds himself guardian to his recently deceased aunt's stepdaughter. He thinks she's autistic but it turns out she was abused by the aunt and just needs a little TLC and psychiatric help to recover. The H is absent from her recovery which takes place over the span of two to three years. It's when he returns to the UK and she's recovered that their romance is kindled. It was fine, nothing earth shattering or particularly great. I will say though, this was the first time I read of an H punching a woman. The woman he punched was his mistress who was talking s**t about the step-cousin/h and he clocked her. So trigger warning: one scene of violence
February 19, 2022
I knew I was going to love it from this line at the beginning:
‘I’ve seen him now,’ she said silently, ‘standing tall and erect in the courtyard. Your dark emissary who stands there in the rain staring up at his property—at me. But I know what he is...’ and she smiled in her bitterness.
A chilling tale that verges on a Gothic fairy-tale.
‘I’ve seen him now,’ she said silently, ‘standing tall and erect in the courtyard. Your dark emissary who stands there in the rain staring up at his property—at me. But I know what he is...’ and she smiled in her bitterness.
A chilling tale that verges on a Gothic fairy-tale.
January 30, 2019
Meh, the romance fell flat for me and it just felt contrived.
July 2, 2022
Gothic feel to this Harley. It strays from formulatic romantic by exploring systematic child abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and anger issues. Well done
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