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Dolphin Bay
Sandra had gone a long way - from England to New Zealand -- to get away from a love affair that had gone wrong. She soon fell in love with her new home -- but it was far too early to fall in love with another man, as she told Blake firmly when he asked her to marry him.
Or so she thought -- until she met Rob Farr and lost her heart to him almost on sight. And much good that would do her, for it was more than clear that all Rob's interest and affection was reserved for the lovely Lisa Maybury.....
Or so she thought -- until she met Rob Farr and lost her heart to him almost on sight. And much good that would do her, for it was more than clear that all Rob's interest and affection was reserved for the lovely Lisa Maybury.....
- GenresHarlequin Romance
298 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1975
About the author
Gloria Bevan
51 books4 followersGloria Isabel Bevan
aka Fiona Murray, Gloria Bevan
Gloria Isabel was born on 20 July 1911 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia, the daughter of a mining engineer. At three, her family moved to New Zealand, and considers herself a New Zealander. She lived in Auckland, from 1926 to 1936. On 1937, she married Thomas Henry Bevan, a building inspector, and they had three daughters.
After leaving school she worked as a typist, but she had been writing stories for as long as she could remember and feel "there's a certain magic about writing even when the characters refuse to act the way I want them to." She not begin to publishing until she was well into her fifties, first detective novels as Fiona Murray in 1965, She started corresponding with fellow New Zealand writer, Essie Summers who introduced her to publisher Alan Boon and under her married name, Gloria Bevan, she wrote 25 contemporary romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1969 to 1992, many of which are set in her beloved New Zealand. When not writing, she explored the many and varied exotic locations within reach of her suburban Auckland home. Her obvious love of her country and her particular talent for weaving interesting background information into her novels made her a popular romance writer of her era.
Gloria Bevan was interviewed by New Zealand author Rachel McAlpine in 1992 for The Passionate Pen. This was published in 1998. In The Passionate Pen's Introduction, McAlpine mentions that Gloria Bevan had moved into a rest home. According to New Zealand's National Library website, Mrs Bevan died in 1998
aka Fiona Murray, Gloria Bevan
Gloria Isabel was born on 20 July 1911 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia, the daughter of a mining engineer. At three, her family moved to New Zealand, and considers herself a New Zealander. She lived in Auckland, from 1926 to 1936. On 1937, she married Thomas Henry Bevan, a building inspector, and they had three daughters.
After leaving school she worked as a typist, but she had been writing stories for as long as she could remember and feel "there's a certain magic about writing even when the characters refuse to act the way I want them to." She not begin to publishing until she was well into her fifties, first detective novels as Fiona Murray in 1965, She started corresponding with fellow New Zealand writer, Essie Summers who introduced her to publisher Alan Boon and under her married name, Gloria Bevan, she wrote 25 contemporary romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1969 to 1992, many of which are set in her beloved New Zealand. When not writing, she explored the many and varied exotic locations within reach of her suburban Auckland home. Her obvious love of her country and her particular talent for weaving interesting background information into her novels made her a popular romance writer of her era.
Gloria Bevan was interviewed by New Zealand author Rachel McAlpine in 1992 for The Passionate Pen. This was published in 1998. In The Passionate Pen's Introduction, McAlpine mentions that Gloria Bevan had moved into a rest home. According to New Zealand's National Library website, Mrs Bevan died in 1998
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 31, 2018
The most exciting thing in this book occurred in Chapter 1 when our sandy-haired, sand-color-skinned, sand-color- bathing-suit-wearing Mary Sue heroine Sandra aka "Sand Girl" meets the blonde-haired, mahogany-skinned hero during a dolphin rescue. Oh, how I wish I could have joined the family of dolphins as they swam out to sea in search of exciting adventures... Alas, I had to follow the human protagonists of this dull, dumb story where NOTHING HAPPENS!
In short, H and h meet and it's insta-love but a Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstanding about OW-OM keep them pining from afar until the last page where it is cleared up with a couple of paragraphs of a rare, little-known,magical miracle known as, y'know, COMMUNICATION. OW is actually involved with H's brother,not H. And OM has his own pining-from-afar, obsessed, would-be girlfriend who has finally mustered the nerve to go after her man. The end.
In short, H and h meet and it's insta-love but a Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstanding about OW-OM keep them pining from afar until the last page where it is cleared up with a couple of paragraphs of a rare, little-known,magical miracle known as, y'know, COMMUNICATION. OW is actually involved with H's brother,not H. And OM has his own pining-from-afar, obsessed, would-be girlfriend who has finally mustered the nerve to go after her man. The end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2022
Super gentle vintage romance to the point of being... well, dull. Some gorgeous scenery descriptions, and the hero and heroine do indeed rescue a dolphin (hurray!) which is described at one point as "a large fish" (boo!). There was basically no heat to the story at all - the hero and heroine, as the reader can figure out, have fallen for each other almost instantly, but it's like a Betty Neels novel in that you can't really tell until suddenly the hero's all "Let's get married!"
That said, there were some great aspects to this story - it basically lacked all the offensive characteristics that sometimes pop up in old romance novels. The heroine is nineteen, but she's also convinced the hero is in love with a friend who is described as being in her early thirties - and that friend is described as beautiful, competent, composed, sophisticated, and entirely desirable; at no point is her age brought up as a negative (how could the hero want someone that old when he has a chance at the teenage heroine etc.). Similarly, there's another woman who's in love with the guy who's pining after the heroine, and she's in her late twenties. Both women are polite and even warm to the heroine throughout the novel. There's just no bitchiness at all. The heroine's younger sister is a huge tomboy, which annoys the heroine no end, but there's no real change to that over the course of the novel - at the end of the book the sister announces that she wants a bridesmaid's dress with very specific requirements, but there's no indication that she's going to start wearing dresses regularly now or stop skipping school to go fishing. She's a kid, kids are weird, the end. The only appearance by a Maori person is a young woman who sings at the local hotel - while she's home from university.
Over all, I've got to be honest, this was enjoyable but pretty boring. There wasn't anything offensive about it, but also no real grip.
That said, there were some great aspects to this story - it basically lacked all the offensive characteristics that sometimes pop up in old romance novels. The heroine is nineteen, but she's also convinced the hero is in love with a friend who is described as being in her early thirties - and that friend is described as beautiful, competent, composed, sophisticated, and entirely desirable; at no point is her age brought up as a negative (how could the hero want someone that old when he has a chance at the teenage heroine etc.). Similarly, there's another woman who's in love with the guy who's pining after the heroine, and she's in her late twenties. Both women are polite and even warm to the heroine throughout the novel. There's just no bitchiness at all. The heroine's younger sister is a huge tomboy, which annoys the heroine no end, but there's no real change to that over the course of the novel - at the end of the book the sister announces that she wants a bridesmaid's dress with very specific requirements, but there's no indication that she's going to start wearing dresses regularly now or stop skipping school to go fishing. She's a kid, kids are weird, the end. The only appearance by a Maori person is a young woman who sings at the local hotel - while she's home from university.
Over all, I've got to be honest, this was enjoyable but pretty boring. There wasn't anything offensive about it, but also no real grip.
September 13, 2024
I didn't like this one very much. The beginning was lovely with the dolphin escapade, but it went rapidly downhill from there. The heroine's backstory is pointless, the hero has no depth whatsoever and the setting was disappointing. I think the hero was dumb - how could he not think everyone thought Lisa was the love of his life (the boat he sailed was called Lady Lisa, he was excited for her to come, her post was the most important, they had secret conferences, he took her to dinner, she stayed at his house...)? The big reveal of the secret at the end was lame, pointless, and made no sense. It's fortunate that his' Sand Girl' (cringe) was almost as dim as he, but at least they will be happy, hey.
Poor show for a Gloria Bevan - her characters are normally much more rounded.
Poor show for a Gloria Bevan - her characters are normally much more rounded.
July 17, 2018
A lovely, gentle and sweet story. Published in 1976 (I was a teenager and I hadn't discovered Mills and Boon books yet) so I knew there wouldn't be any raunchy love scenes. I really enjoy the older stories. Also the fact that it was a story set in New Zealand.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews