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by Anne Mather

Εκείνο το βράδυ, του δόθηκε χωρίς να υπολογίσει ούτε ποιος ήταν, ούτε τις συνέπειες. Κι όμως, κάτι μέσα της την προειδοποιούσε ότι ο δρόμος που ακολουθούσε ήταν γεμάτος κινδύνους. Η Ρέιτσελ τα απόδιωξε όλα κι έζησε μαζί με τον Ρότζερ δυο μέρες υπέρτατης ευτυχίας. Όλα όμως έχουν κάποιο τέλος κι η Ρέιτσελ αποφασίζει να αγνοήσει το κάλεσμα της καρδιάς της και να υπακούσει στις προσταγές του πατέρα της. Η μοίρα όμως θα φέρει και παλι μπροστά της τον Ρότζερ, ένα Ρότζερ που ζητάει επίμονα εξηγήσεις.

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Romance, Category Romance, Contemporary, Hqn

151 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Anne Mather is the pseudonym used by Mildred Grieveson, a popular British author of over 160 romance novels. She also signed novels as Caroline Fleming and Cardine Fleming.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.

Reviews

[Leona · Rating 5 out of 5]

After years of searching for this book, I finally found it and it so lived up to my expectations! I really enjoyed the heroine and hero and the chemistry that ignites between the two is unforgettable. Rachel Fleming happens upon a young man who is crouched over a steering wheel, unconscious. She stops to assist him. Turns out that the man is not ill, or drunk, but rather sleep deprived. He awakes to find her crouched over him and the pursuit is on. (sleeping beauty in reverse) Unfortunately, Rachel is already engaged to Roger, Mr. "wet blanket" and "mama's boy".

It was fun watching our hero, Alexis stalk , chase, no woo Rachel!

I thought there were some rather interesting sexual innuendos about her relationship with Roger, that I didn't quite catch the first time around that actually made me chuckle at Anne Mather's daring. It appears, our Rachel is one sexually frustrated gal. Seems Rachel is technically a virgin, but old Roger boy expects her to service him, but never wants to return the favor. So when Alexis turns up on the scene, ready to do whatever it takes to turn Rachel on, she can't help but melt at his touch!

I liked this one a lot. I read it first in 1984, and it left such a memorable impression that I have searched for two years to find it, going through every title published in 1983 and 1984. This morning, I hit the jackpot!

I highly recommend. I think this is Anne Mather's best.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Samaritan h meets out-for-revenge-against-his-fiance H in an intricate story that has the poor girl being pulled by her mama’s boy fiancé, her gambler father, and the very insistent H. (The h’s own Sirocco, if you will)

There’s a lot of chemistry between the H/h (and an open door sex scene that is fairly explicit for that time in the line’s history). The h tries to be loyal to her fiancé and her father, but neither one of them deserves her – so it’s with great relief when the half-French/half-Arab H finally whisks her off to the desert kingdom he is set to inherit.

Family intrigue ensues and the h flees to England without speaking to the H. There’s one final twist with the H’s mother making the case for her son. It’s ironic since the h was having an argument with her fiancé about his mother’s interference when the book opens, so a little reversal there.

The h was very stressed out about doing the right thing – at work, with her roommate, with her father, with her fiancé. I liked how the H kind of plowed through all of that and just made her get her priorities straight. People pleasing got her nowhere.

This is one I think I will enjoy more with a re-read, knowing now what I do about the H. He really was besotted.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this one. I think that it's a lot of fun reading vintage Harlequin Presents, because it's a window into the past. I get a kick out of the characters wearing clothes that will never (let's hope) be in fashion again, and I can visualize they way they look. For instance, Alexis is quite fond of velvet suitcoats and silk trousers. Not something that you can get away with now unless you are deliberately channeling 70s pimp.

Overall, this is pretty strong writing. I just didn't like Alexis, at all. I thought he was manipulative to the extreme. While I will be the first admit I like stalkerific heroes, I felt like he was stalkerish in a very unsexy and offputting way. I know the difference between fiction and fantasy, and it's appealing when the hero is obsessed with the heroine, as long as he's not controlling and manipulative about it, and he's clearly not stalking every mode she makes. After Rachel helps him the first night, he is pretty much following her every day or has his servants doing it. He knows where she works, who her roommate is, and other pertinent information that made him seem like a scary guy who might do Rachel harm. I also didn't like how sexually aggressive he was. Rachel made it clear she was engaged, and Alexis did everything he could to destroy her relationship with her fiance'. While her fiance' was a big time tool, that wasn't right. I guess for me, the difference in why a hero can be stalkerific in a good way or just a plain old creepy stalker is unselfish love and concern for the heroine. I still didn't really believe Alexis loved Rachel at the end of this story. I think he was strongly attracted to her and obsessed, but I didn't get a sense of "I would die for you" kind of love from Alexis.

I agree with another reviewer that the descriptions of the Arab people in Alexis' family and his servants was a bit on the racist side. At least stereotypical. That was a turnoff as well.

So let's talk about what I liked. I did like Rachel, although I wish she wasn't such a pushover. It was pretty odd how the author hints at the fast that her fiance' is selfish enough to expect manual gratification but doesn't reciprocate. He doesn't seem to find Rachel sexy to me. I wondered about that. I felt like maybe he wasn't attracted to her, or that he was possibly gay. I still don't know about it. But I did like Rachel. I think she deserved better than both her ex and Alexis, personally.

I think the love scenes were pretty good, but too bad I felt like Rachel was coerced into sexual situations moreso than truly voluntary. So that did take the blush off the rose for me.

I'm sure many vintage HP fans will like this more than me. The hero really kind of killed it for me. Otherwise, it was a diverting blast from the past.

[Vintage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hero:
He’s blonde, and he’s half French. Blonde and/or French are never good when it come to heroes in HarleyLand. Are there any French or part French heroines? Blonde, good lord yes.




OM aka fiancee:
His name is Roger.Need I say more?

Bone of contention:
The idiot fiancee wants the heroine, The Bride to Be, to let his MOTHER organize the wedding from the attendants to the dresses to the food to the cake…Revving up here.

In the first couple of chapters where the H chases the heroine across London and subsequently dispatches her dweeby Mama’s-boy fiancee it had all the earmarks of a romantic comedy as the movie, How to Steal a Million, a charming romantic caper or the even funnier What’s Up Doc?. In fact, the scene where he talks about getting rid of her fiancee is right out of WUD…


Howard: What am I gonna tell Eunice?

Judy: That's the easy part. You go up to her room. She answers the door; now she will have been crying so her eyes will be all bloodshot and her nose will be all red and runny, but you look past all that. You stare purposefully into those red-rimmed, swollen eyes, and you say, "Eunice, my dear, there's been a terrible mistake. I've behaved like a cad, a bounder! But now I see everything clearly and I've decided that Judy and I are gonna put you into a home."

Howard: That is not funny!”



Then I remembered, oh yeah, Anne Mather, and as the name flitted through my brain it all turned ugly.

I guess my favorite part (not really) is after stalking, manipulating her, getting rid of her fiancee, blackmailing her about her father, seducing her, taking her virginity, setting her up to be slut shamed and sneered at by his grandfather and his ex-fiancee AS he plans to kidnap her to the Blahblah Arab kingdom, he gets petulant at her anger and refusal to have sex again and claims she’s “racist”.

They travel to the Blahblah kingdom where they have awesome sex, and the h has to endure some bad relative interaction and evil OW fuming which trumps great sex so the h leaves the kingdom.

Hero goes into a decline, confrontation and HEA.

Points off for no actual confrontation between the h and boring Roger.

[Naksed · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be the Anne Mather book to break the mold but the hero was jerky as ever, the heroine just as much of a doormat.

He used her callously to avenge himself on his cheating fiancee, not caring about breaking up her engagement, upsetting her career, uprooting her from her country and friends, and quite disgustingly letting his slimy relatives humiliate and berate her. He did treat her as a hooker, flaunting their sex life in front of his grandfather and his fiancee to get his revenge. They called her a whore in front of him and he let that happen. He was disgusting!

As usual, she was the doormat who let her fiancee, her future mother in law, her dad, the H and all his relatives ride roughshod over her. They may as well roll her in front of the palace gates and embroider a "welcome and please wipe your muddy boots before entering" sign on her.

[*CJ* · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Sirocco" is the story of Rachel and Alex.

So confession- I had *misinterpreted* a sex scene between h and her fiance and abandoned this book. I got a mail informing it wasn't so, and decided to continue my journey. Alas..

Anyways, absolute pushover and doormat h, misused by her fiance, soon to be MIL, father gets coerced into a trap by a stalker (not in a cute way) H, who is Arab (enter stereotypical cliches)- but soon realizes he has his own agenda. She gives her fiance handjobs because yes, he is THAT selfish yet cannot push away the H who is on her like fly on sugar. Loads of drama and hymen tearing and betrayals and kidnappings and tears later, they have this delusional HEA.

Umm. The H was less a romantic lead, more a controlling creep. The h was TSTL.

I cannot.

SWE
2/5

[Julz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stalkerific story about a hero who wouldn't take no for an answer after one lonely night when our heroine plays the Good Samaritan to his drunk crazy dude (he turned out to actually be a rich sheik heir, of course). There was some get-even involved with his pursuit but that just made it fun. I was left wondering at the end how he could become so in luuuurve so fast, but that's how we love our romances, yes? An enjoyable read with no difficult topics overcome.

[Romance_reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

a product of its time, this story had all the usual stereotypes but was still delightful to read. loved this one and especially the chemistry between the H and h. loved the way Alex the hero pursued the h Rachel. He wooed her so sensually. four stars!

[Raffaella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sorry I’m not too good with editing but this book deserved some really appalled face because it is really bizarre in a way only AM can.
The hero set up the heroine to use her against some ex ow and doesn’t hesitate to ruin her engagement with her fiancé.
Ok, om fiancé is not the best thing around and I was really surprised and amused that ms Mather describe the couple having heavy petting. Not something you expect by an older Hp. This om enjoys having hand jobs by the heroine without giving her anything back. Not nice is he?
The hand job is the best part of the book, with the heroine naivety bordering on dumbness because she really doesn’t understand that the hero goes to extreme lengths to have her and is actually madly in love with her.
So, dumb naive heroine with older besotted hero for those who love old school Hp. I enjoyed it as a light and fun reading.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

He is a besotted alpha male. In lust and in love from the moment he saw her.

She is engaged to another man. It was confusing when her fiancé said to her: ‘Go on, make love to me’, and then to read that ‘some time later’ she came out of his bedroom. I then thought she wasn’t a virgin anymore, but technically she was. Apparently she did have a sexual relationship with her fiancé, but they did not go all the way.

[Grrrrace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay one for me--points for some unusual plot elements, including... handjobs? And it's not the hero benefiting either. Hahahaha--well done, AM, in breaking the mold there. Not to mention that when our hero deflowers the heroine (they hop into bed pretty quickly), he gets a little too excited, too fast too soon, and leaves her wondering what all the fuss is all about (he quickly recovers and rounds 2 and 3 are quite the satisfying romps for our heroine, so after a false start, his mojo's workin').

Our virginal (but apparently not entirely innocent) heroine is living her life, engaged to be married to a guy who likes some manual gratification but doesn't seem interested in reciprocating the payoff. Not to worry--the frustrated heroine comes to the aid of a guy who appears to be passed out in his car but is only sleeping. He's blonde (boo!), of French/Middle Eastern descent, and a sheik in his own tiny country (though we don't know that right away). He pursues the heroine, and just like that, her engagement is broken and she's in his bed. From there, our heroine doesn't seem to remember the word "no," and through some half-hearted blackmail ends up traveling to his tiny mythic country (her father is in debt; hero buys up the debt and uses it as leverage to get the heroine to do what he wants). He is using her to make it clear to his autocratic grandfather that he won't marry his cousin. The heroine, in love with her blonde Arab prince by now, ends up fleeing when it becomes clear she's just the popsie decoy to help him achieve his ends.

His mother chases her down in London and tells her the hero was terribly hurt and is pining, so she goes to him and there's a little groveling and HEA.

Honestly, the most interesting things about this book were the handies and the premature ejaculation on the hero's part . That's not a ringing endorsement! Overall, just meh and kind of phoned in, with an anemic alpha and a TSTL heroine. Your mileage may vary.

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think V's review sums up the book pretty nicely. The heroine is engaged to a man who's rich, kind of a mama's boy and takes only his pleasure hence the heroine's virgin status. So, when she kind of has a fight with him and is leaving a party she sees the hero in his car, thinking he is sick she approaches him but turns out that he is only tired. From then on the hero starts chasing her despite her fiancee being in the picture.

Well from the start its obvious that her fiancee is a tool and her love goes away pretty darn quick. Of course the hero causes the broken engagement and then buys her gambling daddy's debt, blackmailing her. Then comes his Arab family and ex-fiancee who thinks the heroine is his revenge and that is kind of true. This book features a hero who doesn't speak or clear the air on important issues. Of course mommy comes to the heroine to clear the air and tell her that the hero is pining for him. Despite the drama I enjoyed the book, which is actually my first by Anne Mather.

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars. (I've already confessed about lack of brain cells. LOL)

[Megzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best Anne Mather's book I read. The male lead character is quite a stalker, something that usually turns me off... but not in this book. For some reason I can't quite fathom I trusted him even when the author wanted me to question his actions.

[sbf20112011 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, older read. Hero is very smitten and persistent with the heroine -- I always love that. The oblique references to the hand jobs I guess the heroine had been giving her fiance was a little surprising/off-putting given the older setting. Felt a little long overall, but still some good angst and tension, so I liked it.

[willaful · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thoughts at "Cooking Up Romance" (but no recipe): http://www.cookupromance.com/2015/06/...

[Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Anne Mather Harlequin Presents is what I consider to be an "old reliable." She wrote romances that are almost guaranteed to entertain, or if not, then at least not bore me. Although usually satisfying, Mather rarely wrote books I would place on an all-time best list. Sometimes she does surpris,e however, so it makes reading her works an experience to look forward to.

In her short novel Sirocco, Mather employs one of her commonly used tropes: a hero in pursuit of an already "attached" woman.

One night, Rachel Fleming comes across a man whom she thinks requires help. The man is slumped in his car, just sleeping, but Rachel doesn't know that. He turns out to be Alexis Roche, a blond half-Arab, half-French, sheik ruler of a tiny nation (Rachel doesn't know that either until later).

Alexis is instantly intrigued by his would-be savior and begins to stalk her.

Seriously.

If it's not him, he has his "people" trail her. He finds out where she lives, works, and that she's currently engaged to a wealthy man, Roger what's-his-name, a spoiled mama's boy who uses the heroine for his desires.

Seriously.

I read this on Kindle but knew it was written long ago. The copyright date is 1983, so it's reasonable to assume social values here were similar to those found in the early 1960s as this is an old-school, vintage Harlequin Presents. What blew me away was even though the heroine was a virgin, she gets sexually intimate with her fiance:

"Roger was singularly old-fashioned when it came to relationships, and although he had taught her ways to please him without their going to bed together, they had never actually made love,"

Then Roger tells Rachel later during a passionate moment together: "'Oh, sweetheart, I've missed you,’ he murmured, drawing her reluctant hands to his body. ‘Hmm, that feels good. Go on, go on: make love to me.'"

I was, as they say, in these books, gobsmacked: "The heroine IS doing what I THINK she's doing!" How Anne Mather got that past the editors in 1983 is beyond me, but sometimes, as I said, Mather does surprise.

Anyway, Alexis is able to manipulate his way into Rachels' life, hawking her, hounding her, preying upon her, until Rachel's life is turned completely upside down. Alexis is typical of Mather's heroes, self-centered, arrogant, and determined to have his way. She also describes the awful clothing her characters wear, so you can imagine the hero in his velvet suit, his silk shirt unbuttoned down to his navel to reveal his masculine, suitably hairy chest as he smokes cheroots while he contemplates seducing the heroine.

Alexis manages to blackmail Rachel into his arms as he uses her father's outstanding gambling debts to force her to do whatever he wants. Alexis then whisks her away to his little sheikdom, where he has his way with her (and she with him), all while Alexis' family looks upon Rachel with scorn.

About the heroine, Rachel. She tries to carry herself as a confident, modern woman, disdainful of the type who'd sit back and allow a man to run her roughshod. However, many awful characters weigh her down: her fiance, her father, Alexis' family members, and Alexis himself. Rachel poses as this strong character but is she really? Alexis is certainly the take-charge type, and though she opposes him, in the end, we all know how this winds up.

I sort of hated this book and liked it at the same time. I enjoyed Alexis' pursuit of Rachel, although it's hard to see when desire turns to love with Mather's male characters. Was this just a power play for Alexis? Rachel attempts to fight for the right to live life on her terms. She's just not very good at it. I had mixed feelings about this one, but there was something so engaging about the tale, I read it super quickly.

As I feel now, it's a 3.5 star read, which is what I usually rate an Anne Mather book.

[Dearangely · Rating 1 out of 5]

اولا البطل نصف عربي نصف فرنسي... وانا عادة اتجنب البطل العربي وخاصة اذا كان دوره فيه فسق وفجور... ولو علمت منذ البدايه عن هويته لما قرأت الروايه... واكثر شيء اثار اشمئزازي وغضبي لما البطله كانت مع البطل في غرفة نومه بعد خروجهما من الشاور والبطل كان يداعبها وهي نصف عاريه ودخل عليه جده العربي المسلم الشيخ ابراهيم بن راشد وكان غاضبا لتجاهل البطل لخطيبته العربيه وابنة خالته وحفيدة الشيخ ايضا وبالرغم من المشهد المقرف الذي شهده الجد مازال يرغب في زواجهما... للعلم البطل مسيحي😒😒 😒وهذه نقطه اخرى اغضبتني في الروايه حيث اظهرت وكأنه لابأس في زواج المسلمه من مسيحي... حيث ان والد البطل مسيحي.. والشيخ يريد حفيده ان يتزوج من حفيدته بالرغم من انه مسيحي... وامر آخر اغضبني هو تسمية الكاتبه للخليج العربي بالخليج الفارسي.

[Poonam · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are in the mood for a stalkerific hero who is also underhanded and devious, this is the book to go for.

[SassyLeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was just so over top, I couldn’t help but just like the flow. The hero was just outrageous in his actions to get what he wanted, which was the heroine. She tried hard, but she was lost from the beginning. Thou Doest Protest Too Much is what she did a lot of, but to no avail. As the hero’s father said at one point, she was besooted with the hero. There was a lot of passion between the two of them, with the hero in charge of relationship until their last moments. Another party interfered and caused the heroine to doubt if anything permanent could come out of the relationship, especially as the hero had never mentioned any words of love and marriage during their times together. How dense some men can be! She was just supposed to figure out that what he really wanted was commitment. Duh! Anyway, she didn’t and she let the other party run her off (ex-fiancee’s mother). The hero then just let wind be sucked out of him when he found out she was gone and supposedly gave up on the relationship. (Can you believe this?). Well, in this instance its good that there was another interfering mother. (Um, there were 3 interfering mothers in this one). She helped to untangle the nonsense and to save the romance! Fathers may know best, but Mothers will get the job done!

[Spinneretta · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Rachel finds Alexis slumped over the wheel of his car, she fears the worst, and tries to play Good Samaritan to the sleeping man.
For her troubles, Alex pursues her, interferes in her engagement, and causes her no end of trouble!

I’m not a huge fan of Anne Mather, her books are often rather tense situations that I find depressing. This was one of her better ones.
Rachel is a bit naïve, both her fiancé and her father take advantage of her good nature. Her fiancé is a boorish fool, who has some annoying double standards, and it takes way too long to get him out of the picture. Her father is a user, and she is far too nice to him!
Alex, on the other hand, is rather a master manipulator. He steamrollers Rachel into pretty much everything, but is somewhat redeemed by the end, as we realize most of it was because of the way he feels about Rachel.
There are a couple of sex scenes, which was a little surprising for a vintage book.
As far as Anne Mather books go, this was a winner. If you enjoy reading some of the older harlequin/Mills & Boon books, you’ll probably enjoy this one!

[Tapa in lovezone · Rating 1 out of 5]

H : Initially I loved his stalkery behavior (I know it’s wrong 😉). I love the full on chase guy. But then I hated the fact that at first he only wanted the h as a revenge to his cheating fiancée. That part just ruined the book for me. The H in actual is boring. And by the end I didn’t like him at all.

h : The h is always stressed out. There’s nothing remarkable about her.

OW : H is supposed to marry ow. But she cheats on him. And hence he meets the h coincidentally and uses her as a revenge against the cheating ow.

OM : Useless momma’s boy fiancé. I didn’t understand why the h was even engaged to him.

OVERALL : Boring. I liked the start. It was promising. But then the real face of everyone came and I was just bored. This is a plain book. Didn’t feel anything while reading it.

[Toni-Lea Chin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read from Anne Mather. A few of Mather's heroines tend to be a bit off-putting by their bitchy attitude but I liked Rachel and Alexis was the perfect Hero. There's only one thing I like more than a besotted Hero and that's an obsessively besotted rich Hero. Alexis was a rather exotic and appealing character.

Definitely recommend.

[MAG Scrittrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

In pratica, Andrew la stalkera, la costringe ad andare a letto con lui, la rapisce e la tratta come un oggetto. Però è innamorato, anche se tutto questo amore si è palesato solo alle ultime due pagine. Inizia bene, con un corteggiamento passionale e dolce, ma poi la situazione degenera. Senza contare quelle due, tre scene che s'interrompono dopo un colpo di scena e vengono successivamente raccontate con un dialogo frettoloso.

[Mish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A

[Sorhija · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fav from Anne Mather. Period.

[Janette Korff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good easy reading

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Fleming wished she had never stopped to help the stranger in distress. But it was too late now. The tables had turned.
Alexis Roche was no helpless victim. He was a seasoned hunter committed to the chase. He found out Rachel's name, address, even where she worked and set out to systematically change her whole life. First he toyed with her engagement, and then he closed in on he dangerously frazzled emotions.
Rachel's mind bid her to run...but her heart was tiring from the chase.

[Tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in 2009.

Can't remember too much about the book, only that the hero wanted the heroine and he'd do anything, absolutely anything to have her. Including but not limited to stopping her engagement, life or job.