An Unbreakable Bond

by Robyn Donald

Bound to each other by passion ...

Eliot Buchanan was outraged to think that his late uncle's mistress would inherit a large share of the family's New Zealand estate. And as executor of the will he planned to do everything in his power to contest her claim.

For the most part Tiffany could understand Eliot's obvious contempt for her. But she was confused by the passionate desire he was capable of arousing in her.

Suddenly it became overwhelmingly important that Eliot learn the truth about his uncle—even if it meant jeopardizing her own happiness.

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin Romance, Hqn

192 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Robyn Elaine Donald was born on 14 August 1940 in Northland, New Zealand. She was the oldest child in her family, and as a child, she thrilled her four sisters and one brother with bloodcurdling adventure tales, usually very like the latest book she'd borrowed from the library.

Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.

The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.

Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.

Reviews

[⚔Irunía⚔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hallo everyone!!! Today I wanted to raise a very serious discussion topic y'all😭...
For the love of all things good and holy, what in the living hell are books like THIS? HOW CAN THIS BE CALLED A ROMANCE? 😭 WHAT'S EVEN WRONG WITH ROMANCE AUTHORS THESE DAYS? I detest the moral degradation of the modern society some books reflect and, inevitably so, encourage at the same time!! Can you imagine the detrimental effects such stories could have on young girls' minds? Even my mind, the mainstay of immaculate sanity, 💯perfect logic, 💯💯doubtless rationality💯💯💯 ran the risk of being severely damaged by the depraved content of this so called book which speaks VOLUMES. 😭 How can anyone love and promote such a toxic and unhealthy kind of romantic relationship? The misogyny??? The constant slut-shaming remarks? The rapey behaviour? The level of possessiveness the hero demonstrated as if the heroine was an object to buy and own? THE BOOK AND ITS CHARACTERS ARE DESPICABLE PIECE OF Trash. Periodt.
AM I SUPPOSED TO BE IMPRESSED BY A DISGUSTING PIG OF A HERO and forget every ugly thing he had said and done to the heroine JUST BECAUSE OF THE SINGLE ACT OF COMMON DECENCY HE MANAGED TO DEMONSTRATE ? And at what price? Who gives a damn that HE TOOK CARE OF her, so sweetly, 😡 tenderly, 😠lovingly👹 while she was sick when the major part of the story clearly demonstrated that he should have been sent first to prison and then to a psycho ward?? What a pile of bullshit, 🤬 you do not even wanna know the price that the heroine had to pay for a tiny piece of kindness this nasty vile beast showed. You'd never want to see the way he treated her after she recovered.

I cannot even imagine how anyone in their right mind would consider it a love story let alone give it anything more than minus 1000 stars. Periodt.



P. S. Don't believe the rating, 😭😭😭my fingers are shaking so fucking bad (from the righteous outrage, mark my words) I cannot press the single star button it deserves. 😭😭😭 What a joke.

Sorry if I'm absent for some period of time after posting my rant, I'll be extremely busy burning the paperback version

[StMargarets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two quiet, sensitive souls form an “unbreakable bond” in this tender love sto – HA HA HA HA

No.

Robyn Donald wrote this story.

There is no tender. There’s barely any love. But there’s:

*A huge misunderstanding based on a secret from the past.
*Lots of unbridled emotion and passion – first supressed and then bursting forth in a rape.
*A hero who hates to love.
*A heroine who doesn’t know what she wants or how to get it – but persists in exploring this dangerous sexual territory with the hero.
*An HEA that ends with unilateral disarmament on the hero’s part and a long, long grovel/declaration.

So what’s this about? Seamstress heroine moves to the big bad city of Auckland from her dairy farm home on the South Island. She is homesick, but looks forward to her lunch breaks in the park where she has befriended an older man. Turns out the older man is her father (Her mother had a fling with him when she was his secretary. Her current hubby doesn’t know that she never married the father of her daughter and wants to keep it that way.) Her father also wants to keep it a secret since his children are touchy and he wants to keep the peace.

The hero is the father’s nephew by marriage. He is also his lawyer. He thinks the heroine is a jezebel golddigger and he “hates” her. (Violently attracted against his will) The heroine hates him back but is fascinated with him. They see a lot of each other while her father is alive and when he dies, the hero keeps hounding her at first because of the will (heroine inherits some money, his house, and her great-grandmother’s jewelry) and then because he is obsessed.

So much happens in this story – here are some highlights:

*The heroine tells off the OW very early in the story and then we never see her again.
*The heroine’s dynamic with her father was sweet and the hero’s announcement of his death was brutal.
*Heroine lives in a house stripped of its contents.
*The hero buys her a bedroom set after she has been ill. (And he took care of her – no sponging, though)
*Hero rapes her in that new bed and complicates her life and his.
*The heroine’s best friend through all of this is her father’s dog.
*Heroine makes a living designing and sewing table linens.
*The hero is at a complete loss after the heroine turns down his marriage proposal.
*The hero shows her his farm and the heroine is told a story about the hero defying death to help a worker. This is the softening point for the heroine.
*The turning point for the hero is that he gives up fighting his love for the heroine and tells her when the dog is hit by a car and she cries all over him. (Dog is fine)


So that’s it. I felt like I’ve been through a wind tunnel after reading it. Now I need something quiet and Betty Neels-like. Read this one when you’re in the mood for drama. Avoid if you don’t like mean alphas.

[edith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man so obssessed that even though he thinks you're fucking his old uncle on his deathbed, he thinks about you 24/7🤭 WHAA

Eliot was a nasty guy who loved to talk a lot, very mean, but if you could see inside his head, his evil deeds MIGHT go unnoticed. MIGHT. But we can't read his mind, can we? That means, he is the biggest bastard.

‘I— no, Eliot
‘Yes, Eliot,’ he said, his mouth touching hers so softly that she shivered, her hands gripping the arms of the chair.
‘Say “Yes, Eliot”,’

‘I meant what I said. Just leave me alone.’
‘Sometimes I think a beating would do you the world of good.’

Eliot is your ✨dream✨ guy isn't he? Now that you've seen that he is such a sweetheart, let me tell you more.

In a scene there's forced seduction going on, so now you know his cruelty and obsession runs DEEP for this girl.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, trying to force some sense into his head. ‘But I can’t do this, Eliot. Please, don’t rape me.’
But the ugly word did not deter him. He lifted his head and smiled down at her. Tiffany flinched at the set savagery she saw in his expression, the merciless determination.
‘It won’t be rape,’ he said, almost calmly. ‘By the time I’ve finished with you, you little slut, you’ll be begging on your knees for it.’

Right, is this romance again? This turned into some turkish soap opera now.

After this, he learns that she is, sorry, was a virgin, and he eventually learns that the old man was the FMC's father. That problem got solved, YAY! But the actual problem of this guy's obsession is still right fucking there.

He says marry me, she says no, do you know what this man does?

'Where do you think I’ve spent the last few days?’
‘Where?’ she whispered.
‘Getting to know your family.’

‘We got on very well together. I think your stepfather was rather touched that I came to ask him for your hand. I didn’t, of course, tell him that I’d already bedded his stepdaughter. I have the feeling he might have found that hard to forgive. But I’m sure even he would agree that I was doing the right thing by marrying you.’

HAHAAAAA HE IS WORKING OVERTIME FOR THIS MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.

'I want to own you, Tiffany, body and heart and soul. I want to know that when you look at me you’ll know your master.’

Ahh, sweet sweet neurotic rich man with chronic obsessional behaviour🤤 What more can I want?

‘I can manipulate words with the best of them but when I try to imagine my life without you my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth. If you left me ...’ Incredibly, he stopped and swallowed hard. He was not looking at her; indeed, his eyes were fixed on the floor. ‘The thought terrifies me. I daren’t imagine it. It is impossible for me to conceive of any sort of existence without you.’

I am in love with this quote, along with the last 15 pages of the book but, to show them all to you, I'd have to copy and paste all of the pages, so imagine how deep his love/obsession, limerence, runs.

‘Because we tend to dominate. Because we find it hard to share. Because we resent even the sort of smiles I saw you bestow on your old boyfriends today.’

[boogenhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

RE An Unbreakable Bond - RD and I have a very rocky relationship, in fact I keep a special skillet just for the RD H, because more than a few drywall repairs have occurred in the aftershock of finishing one of her books. That doesn't mean she is a bad writer or her books aren't worth reading - far from it, in fact RD is the one writer whose books are the ultimate epitome of what the HP line aspires to be.

Even more than Charlotte Lamb, Penny Jordan and Anne Mather, RD writes an extremely domineering, arrogant Alpha whom I would like to smack with the 12 inch skillet for at least half and usually three fourth's of the book - I spend a lot of time during an RD book just hating on the H, because they are so, so mean and horrible to the h.

Yet for all that, RD is one of my favorite HPlandians - even a bad book by her is better than a lot of other writer's best work - because this lady has a talent for dark, seethingly intense passion and no one but no one in HPlandia does the wrecky better than her.

Her books are not nice, her stories are not sweet and there is NOTHING very politically correct in them - forced seduction and rape are common- but they work and I keep coming back for more, (even with tropes I usually despise,) because she writes so very well I am just enthralled even if I have read the book a hundred times before. RD's stories are rivetingly readable and like the inevitable tide of the ocean, once you start one it is remarkably difficult to pull away.

The other thing that makes her stories work is that her h's are not weak, the might be shy, young and internally insecure - but they do not back down and by the end of the book, you can be pretty confident that RD will convince you that her h is more than capable of handling the H she got.

In fact RD's HEA's are some of the most believable in all of HPLandia and it is mostly because she usually writes a really great h who may give into the intense physical passion but they have mind's of their own and they are no one's doormat, even if they are a bit quieter than most of the h's that abound in this universe and even if they aren't big enough to hold the H forcibly off, they almost always come out as the winner in these little love conflicts that make the HP Universe go round and get a fairly decent reformed Alpha out of it too.

AUB opens with another h and a man in a park, this 23 yr old h is also a city newbie fresh from the farm and she has gotten her fledgling instincts and left the family nest for a sewing and embroidery career in the big city. She gets in the habit of chatting with a kind elderly man she sees everyday at lunch in the park by her work. A few pages later it is revealed that the elderly man is in fact the h's long thought deceased father.

It seems her mum wasn't a widow after all, but had an affair with her married boss and broke it off after she became preggers and cut all contact when the h was five and they moved to the South Island of New Zealand. The h's dad had a very difficult marriage and his wife was pretty horrible, and the h's mum was fresh from the country herself at the time and both were lonely and an affair became a mutual consolation for both of them through a difficult period.

The h is astounded, apparently her mum had written to her father and he decided to look her up, so he was a stalker dad that the h never knew she had. He has two children from his marriage, but they aren't very nice people, and his wife died years ago - so while the h is a bit perturbed by the infidelity and the unmarried mum aspect, she sees a lonely old man that she really likes and she decides to accept his offer to get to know him better.

The h is also named after his beloved grandmother and so the h and the dad establish a relationship - though her mum has asked that they don't publicly acknowledge it, as the h's stepfather is somewhat conservative in his moral view and has no clue the mum wasn't a widow. No one wants to cause the h's mum any difficulty, the mum did not want to break up the dad's marriage with divorce and she decided to cut all contact out of respect for his unexplainedly difficult situation, plus the mum also realized that she and the dad weren't really in love, just lonely.

The mum wanted a marriage where both parties could love and respect each other. The dad is a bit ashamed of himself, but all in all he is just grateful to meet the child that resembles and reminds him so much of his beloved grandma who was the only member of his family who really loved him.

There is a spanner in the works though, and it comes in the form of the dad's nephew - he meets the h one day in the park when he comes to take the dad to a doctor's appointment. The H is a big time lawyer and manages the entire family's wealth (apparently both the dad and his brother were wildly rich business tycoons) and it is clear he totally despises the h whom he describes as a pretty tramp. He calls her even worse when he presumes she and his uncle are having an affair - right after a punishing kiss and a proposition.

The h is frightened of the H and his arrogant bullying, but she doesn't let him see it. He keeps inserting himself into the time she spends with her dad and she gets to know and read his moods pretty well. The H is very sophisticated, kind to small animals ( like Jess the Welsh Corgi that is her dad's dog,) kind to children and the elderly and he also a very able debater. He and the h have a ton of discussions on morality and ethics in between verbal warfare about her trampiness and gold digging.

Then the h's dad has a heart attack and dies, he leaves the h a house and a bit of money and jewelry and the H is even more rotten in his accusations and his taunts. He also can't keep his hands off the h, and though she thinks she hates him - she is also really, really enthralled by his punishing kisses, to the point that she just can't keep her hands off of him either once he gets started.

Strangely enough, the h also trusts the H. Partly because her dad did, and partly because the h gets a really bad virus while establishing herself as a fabric design artist (and becoming very successful at it,) and the H spends several days nursing her through it. He is pretty kind while she is sick and so the h is very conflicted about hating his nasty taunts and liking him for his compassion when she was ill. She also gets really irked when he takes it upon himself to buy her all new, expensive bedroom furniture.

When she inherited the house, the dad's other two kids cleaned it out of furniture etc, and so the h was making do with second-hand stuff - which did not please the H, so he replaced it. The two start a strange relationship of intense passionate kisses, then the H totally rejecting "a woman like herself" and inevitably it leads to a partially forced seduction where they both go nuts over each other.

The H realizes his assumptions are very wrong after he finds out she is a virgin, so where before he planned to use her as a mistress, now he demands she marry him. She calmly turns him down, she wants love and respect, not sex and violent passion that will burn out anyway. The H can't believe she won't marry him, so he sets out to court her and change her mind. He spends several weeks waiting find out if she is preggers (and for once an h calls the Dr. to get some birth control when she isn't,) and introducing her to his upper echelon social set - where we see the H and h from THE GATES OF RANGITATAU being happy and in love. He even tells his mum about her.

The h figures out she is in love with him, but she is srlsy NOT liking it, she believes (mostly correctly,) that the H hates himself for losing control with her and he hates being vulnerable to her charms and that makes him horrible to her.

She also thinks that if they marry, he will treat her as a sex toy until the passion fades and then he will run around with other ladies and despise her and she won't be having any of THAT. She decides that she can't help the passionate response or the way he makes her feel, but she will be stuck for a sugar lump before she will marry some man who won't respect or love her and worse yet come to despise her because he considers her beneath him.

She tells the H that she can't help wanting his body, but she only wants to be his mistress and keep her options open, when she marries it will be to someone who will give her love and respect. That leads to more violently passionate sex, but the H keeps a firm reign on his passions this time around and it drives the h to intense anger, the sex was spectacular but she wants him to lose control.

The H takes off for a business trip and the h is still irked, but missing him too and when he gets back, he takes her to his farm he bought and has a farm manger for, shows her around and talks about their future kids. The h tells him she won't be having his kids and then he blackmails her into marrying him by threatening to tell her stepfather that her mum isn't a widow.

The h is caught and intensely unhappy about the whole thing. She loves her mum dearly tho, and knows her mum loves her stepdad and so she goes through the wedding planning, her and the H verbally battling it out the whole time.

The wedding is a week away when the h realizes that she just cannot marry a man who only sees her as a sex object. She confronts him and tells him the wedding is off. He tries to bully her again by threatening her mum but she stands firm and gives him back his ring.

Then poor little Jess runs outside and gets hit by a car - the h is devastated but the H takes Jess to the vet and Jess is okay. The h is still crying about it though and the H is nice again. He tells her he won't tell about her mum and he apologizes for being so mean, but he does want to know why she won't marry him and she explains that two people should not marry without love.

Marriage is hard enough with it, it would be impossible without it and she isn't a masochist. Then the H has his big moment and confesses that he loves her, he hates it but he does - she obsesses him and he is wildly jealous, even of her dad- he wants to totally possess her and he can't help himself and he no longer cares.

Most of his mean behavior was based on his disgust that he fell in love with her at first sight and he can't stand anyone else being close to her, his feelings go totally against all his notions of his own self-discipline.

He also tells the h that his dad was a serial philanderer and he thought he was the same way based on his attraction to the h who so different from his OW - though he hasn't been with anyone else since he met her and is so into her that he just doesn't see any other woman but her- so he realizes he is completely different from his father after all. The h is shocked but happy and the wedding is back on, cause she is so in love she is sick with it.

They marry in her hometown and the mum explains that she finally told the step dad the truth and he always knew, he just waited for the mum to trust him enough to tell him and they are still madly in love. The H says the step dad warned him about being a possessive, controlling hubby because he is so totally in love with the h, and the h tells him she loves him beyond belief but he won't be allowed to treat her like that. They are both delighted with each other and the h is somewhat domineering herself in bed and it is pink sparklies and HEA's once again in HPLandia.

This one is certainly one trainwreck of a story, but the big love scene at the end where the H confesses his motivations and feelings is really well done and highly believable. RD is one of the few writers that can give the H an unhappy past with loads of baggage and you actually believe it - it helps that she never over-dramatizes the unhappiness or drags it out for a long period.

She is very good at showing the H being Alpharottenish and then she does a good job of concise explanations as to why he is like that, but it never takes up a ton of pages and the H is usually pretty believable in his changed attitude via his actions by the end.

Though this one is not PC by any means, and several other readers hated the forced seduction- (which the H admits to and sincerely apologizes for, though the h explains and showed she wanted it too,) this one is one heck of a good read and if you can stand the angsty pain and violent passion, you should definitely read this book.

[Jen ♥]

Gotta say I was enjoying this even though Eliot is a misogynistic, judgmental, blackmailing, rapey prick. I guess I'm in the mood to read something like this when, normally, I would avoid it or would DNF right away. 

Despite everything that was wrong with this book and how much Eliot is a walking red flag, I was having fun with the story.

But then their engagement party happened, where his ex-gf (or ex-fb, not sure) showed up and kissed him "enthusiastically" on the lips while Tiffany stood by his side and saw it happen. He even grinned at the OW, then playfully reminded her to behave. And I was like, wtf??? 😡 Is this how a man acts around the woman he claims to be in love, obsessed with, and engaged to??? 🤢

Idk if over the years the definition of "in love" has changed for the better. But if this is how a man in love acts in the 80s, then probably cheating is rampant and treated as a normal occurrence in that era. I'm not saying that infidelity isn't happening in today's world; it's just that nowadays people do it discreetly, unlike what this prick did. Because that's cheating for me! 😤 Although he said he didn't care for the OW and that there had been no one since he met Tiffany, I still couldn't get it out of my head. If the roles were reversed, I'm sure he'd flip his sh*t. 🙄

After that blood boiling scene, all the enthusiasm I felt for this story was wiped out in a flash. I couldn't appreciate it anymore, and their "talk", which would've been a pivotal point in the story as this explains why they did the things they did and why they are the way they are, just became so annoying to me. 😩

I'm too sensitive, okay? I know deep down that I don't have a tolerance for something like this. And I keep reminding myself that this was published in the 80s, so the morals and standards of the people about romance might be too different from the current time. But God, I just can't get over it.

Anyhow, setting aside that awful scene, I did like Eliot's obsession with Tiffany and how much he'd go the extra mile to have her. I love a dedicated and devoted man, and this is fiction after all, so anything's possible. He proved there's not a thing in this world he wouldn't do to tie her to him. 🫣 And Tiffany was, surprisingly, not a freaking doormat. She had a backbone, although she had never won with Eliot. 

And those are the only things I enjoyed here: his obsession and her feistiness. But tbh, after that kiss scene, I skimmed the rest of it, idc anymore what would happen to them. 🫠 So overall, it wasn't an enjoyable read for me, might work for others, though. 🤷‍♀️


Book info:
- A-hole MMC
- Insta-love (his side)
- OTT J/P MMC
- Blackmail
- Noncon
- V FMC x Womanizer MMC
- Death of a loved one (off page)
- No OMD
- OWD (MMC's ex kissed him at his engagement party)
- Separation?? (Days or weeks will pass before he visits her; for someone obsessed, he sure is strong enough to stay away from her 🤷‍♀️)
- HEA 🥴

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gawd I live for a reluctantly obsessed hero. He was horrible. A slut shaming misogynist… but my man Could 👏🏻 Not 👏🏻 Help 👏🏻 Himself. 😈😈 And lordt do I live for when these asshats fall hard. 🤣🤣 He was a jealous possessive monster. 😍😍 This poor man was left a pathetic heap of rapey blackmailing desperation. Which was hilarious because all he had to do to win his Heart’s Desire was say the *Magic Words*. 😈🤩

[Birjis · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Beneath that glittering air of command there’s a kind heart.’

Don't believe that line, as dense as Tiffany Brandon is Eliot Buchanan is not polite to her. It seems she is the only person who receives his wrath no matter his other enemies.

'He treated her like a young cousin, and only the cold condemnation in his eyes revealed his true opinion.'

Eliot doesn't like Tiffany's company with his uncle, believing her as his uncle's mistress. He defames and misunderstandes her at every opportunity. After his uncles death he discovers his uncle left some valuables for Tiffany in his will. No matter as the heir he now controls the property through that Tiffany, whom he has lusted after always.

'Are you ready?’ he asked with peremptory abruptness.
‘Yes.’
He looked at her as though he could hardly bear to. ‘You had better put some lipstick on.’
‘And you had better wipe some off,’ she retorted.'

It's been a while since I read Harlequin books. As usual I found less romance. After Eliot wronged Tiffany and asks her to marry him in his own standoffish way she refuses, she won't marry him but she will sleep with him; I understand, that was her way of fighting him back, despite her being a wimp she is smart just stupid when she faces Eliot. The book cover where the man grabs the womans hair and they are about to drown into a hate filled passionate kiss, yeah that's exactly how Eliot and Tiffany is.

[Izzah ꒰Duchess of Cabria ಇ ⭑✧ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ ✧ ⋆꒱ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit conflicted on some parts, very happy with others

My first by this author. It was fun to change the scenery from UK to NZ.


⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ ➵ What I didn't like
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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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[Crazy About Love 💕 · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ three stars -

What a mystifying, almost wonderful (up to a point), angst-driven (but in a weird melodramatic fashion), old-school Harlequin/Mills & Boon read.

What did I take away from this novel? Well, I’ve decided that I can appreciate Kiwi romance writer, Robyn Donald, and that I will seek out more of her books. I’m not convinced that this is her best example of romance, but I did mostly enjoy her very competent storytelling; up to a point anyway.
* side note: I did enjoy her more popular “A Willing Surrender” 👉 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here’s a quick point I wanted to make: I started this story wholly enjoying myself. I even paused to appreciate the fact that I hadn’t enjoyed a story, as much as I was shaping up to enjoy this one, in quite a while. I was pleased to find that I was riveted by what was unfolding to become a really good romance. It’s been a hot minute since I read something and thought, “wow. This is quite good.”, but these thoughts all took place in the first quarter of the novel…

Then the typical HQ/M&B trope of forced seduction took over, and this romance derailed. While I was somewhat about to overlook the dubcon since this is an og Harley and it’s fairly typical of these older reads (this was originally published back in 1986); our heroine became so whiny, and then this whole plot of existential introspection took over. It was just pages and pages of her going on and on about every single thought, and everything was coated with a negative spin. It just wasn’t a happy read.

Our H here is uber-domineering; and our h is the submissive to his dominant alpha. This whole plot of d/s dynamics was interesting (since it was found unexpectedly not-so-hidden inside a HQ) and the sexual tension between our two mc’s is what drives the story.

I personally just wanted our h to accept the fact that she’s into being subservient, and stop all her incessant evaluation of the H’s every single action. It was just exhausting reading her negative Nelly take on the whole thing. Just accept that you’re into the whole alpha dominating relationship you’ve walked into, and quit whining already. I starting skimming the paragraphs and pages of our h’s thoughts since I couldn’t take it anymore, and I just wanted to get to the end of the story.

Donald also wrote paragraphs of scene descriptions that set the tone for the added existential meanderings. I personally did not appreciate all of these intentional introspections of our h’s every thought, nor of our h’s analysis of sunbeams. I was bored with descriptions of prisms on the floor that our trapped in her own mind h continually stared at. I’m surprised a musing of Schrödinger’s Cat wasn’t thrown into this granola mix.

The writing of all this alternative view nonsense did convey a sense of relaxation into scenes of tension between our two mc’s, so I’m going with the thought that all of this included introspection by our h was intentional plotting by Donald. Like I said; she’s a good writer. A bit out there for me, but I can see how she intentionally and purposely wove the plot, so points for that.

Would I re-read this story of the meeting of twin flame souls? I’m not sure. I personally can’t stand speaking to people irl who talk just to hear themselves talk about how the sky is blue and how it affects their soul, and why it encompasses us all because we’re all living beings, or some such hokey nonsense. I’m way too straight and narrow for all that lol.

I am going to add this to my Keeper shelf, though. Would I recommend? If you have a hankering for old-school alphas, then maybe.

For myself, I’ll be looking for another Donald romance to source from eBay. Let’s hope the next one is a better find 🤞.

Three not for everyone stars.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 " Give me that Crazy, Possessive, Overbearing, Hero " Stars!!!
(Rounded down, cuz those 5 stars are precious)

Warning: I'm almost a bottle deep in Riesling while writing this review, so take that for what you will.


Brief Summary:
With the desire to leave from the dependency of her family, as well as the confines of her hometown on a small island on the coast of New Zealand, Tiffany is convinced by her mother to move to Auckland. It is here that she moves into a hostile and acquires a job as a seamstress. Despite her being employed by a reputable company, she feels isolated being the only single woman amongst the other employees on her shift and can't help but feel lonely. The only thing to temper these feelings of loneliness and depression is the friendship she forms with an elderly gentleman, Geoffrey, whom she meets at the park daily to have lunch with. Though an unlikely friendship that often brings negative attention to Tiffany, she doesn't care because she genuinely enjoys spending time with and talking to Geoffrey. Despite speculation to the contrary, it is strictly a platonic relationship, as Geoffrey is 40 years Tiffany's senior. On one occasion Tiffany meets Geoffrey's nephew, Eliot (his belated wife's, sister's son ) since he is meeting Geoffrey to accompany him to a doctor's appointment. There is an instant attraction between the two, but it is hard met because there is simultaneously a feeling of distinct disdain felt by one for the other, as well. Will they be able to withstand the passion that is ignited each time they're within each other's presence, or will they fall prey to an unavoidable magnetism that pulls them into each other's arms, stirring feelings, the strength of which neither have ever felt before?

Don't be silly. I do, of course! And if you've ever read ANY other romance book, you do too!

For those CONCERNED:
- Experienced, womanizer Hero
- Innocent heroine
- Slight age gap... maybe 10 years or so
- For the most part, POOR h and RICH H
- No cheating
- Miscommunication Trope
- Non-Con with a touch of Body Betrayal Syndrome
- NO condems used



We'll jump right in.

"Don't allow others to live your life for you, Tiffany; not even those who love you. When you get to the end, you find that all you have achieved are other people's ambitions."-- Geoffrey

Geoffrey was wonderful. It's a shame that we didn't get more of him than we did, because he was quite an insightful character full of mystery that I would have loved to have received more of his backstory.

At first I really liked the heroine.

"You had better put some lipstick on." - Eliot
"And you had better wipe some off," she retorted. -- Tiffany

She was witty. And even though people made assumptions about her, that did indeed bother her, she never cared to correct them because swaying their opinion was not worth letting them know that it upset her that much in the first place. I admire this quality, especially in a person so young, as the h is only 22 years old. But as the story progressed, the author relied too heavily on the miscommunication trope for her character to remain as endearing. Someone that was first presented as intelligent as Tiffany was, would not have held out to the end of the story to explain WHY she didn't want to marry the Hero.

So towards the end of the book, her character became very frustrating since she clearly loved the H, yet kept refusing to marry him.


The Hero, Eliot, is truly what brought fire to this story! He was the BEST in the WORST way!

He was so manipulative and so obsessed and just crazy over the top possessive of our heroine. He absolutely refused to accept, "No." as a response for any proposition he gave to Tiffany.

Which probably explains my disastrous past love life. But oh well. Ain't no sense in worrying about that now!


Final Thoughts:
I'm really surprised at how low the rating is for this book, considering how it's right in line with a lot of the dark romances I read these days that are rated much higher. And this one really isn't even all that dark. It just showcases a highly manipulative Hero that gets what he wants... even if he has to take it.

I can only assume that since this is an older book, some of the concepts came before their time and are better suited to be appreciated now rather than almost 50 years ago. If you like masculine heroes, that take charge of their innocent, feminine heroines, then this is certainly a book for you and I HIGHLY recommend.
Special thank you to @Melluvsbooks for helping me with this one!

Happy reading, everyone!!!

[Grrrrace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another intense read from RD. This one has some serious slut shaming and a rape/forced seduction (he continues on despite her saying no initially and holds her down until she is seduced by his passion and her own response but she wasn't willing and it doesn't matter that she ends participating very ardently, he should have stopped, and he knows it) and some sexual humiliation/domination. But this is RD, so the hero, despite all of that, is one of her “softer” alphas—he has some tender moments with the h (taking care of her when she is sick) and actually does try to woo her when he’s not being a demanding, autocratic, “own you body and soul” ass. When he's not manhandling her or trying to force her to his will (she's more than a match most of the times), he forgets to be angry at her and reveals a pretty sweet and smitten side:

" Your hair smells like flowers" [he says, distracted while going over the bequest her secret father (whom he thinks is her lover) left her]

"Sh-shampoo," she said in an indrawn breath...."or it's the freesias."

"No, I've noticed it before." His voice came closer.

Tiffany held her breath. Her heart began to thud with quick, heavy strokes. The hands which had pointed out legal phrases moved, slid to curve her cheek and then her chin, lifting her head to meet his. She looked up into eyes like blazing blue fires and said dazedly, "I--no Eliot..."

"Yes, Eliot," he said, his mouth touching hers so softly that she shivered...

"Say 'Yes, Eliot,'" he whispered..."

Despite some sweetness, mostly because the h is so adorable that even the H is sometimes nice to her, the usual RD tropes, executed skillfully, prevail, with the very controlled and controlling H out to punish the h for his own loss of control and need for her. She’s overwhelmed and very inexperienced and overwhelmed by the masterful and resentful H who she feels such an attraction for. We see some of his softer side, in his love of his uncle and how he treats many of the people (and critters) in his life. But he does torment the h pretty harshly, and it’s very angsty.

Tiffany, the h, is awesome—she is quiet and sweet but steely, more than a match for the OW who tries to demean her (and is handed her ass in return) and standing up valiantly to the H, who bulldozes her through much of the book but is finally vanquished into admitting his love for her first and groveling/explaining himself for pages and pages. He is set on marrying her, but she holds out firmly through wooing and threats and implacable intent because she knows that if she marries him, loving him but not loved in turn, her life will be hell.

Another keeper for me, because I have darker tastes when it comes to fictional matters of sexual domination/possessiveness and punishing alphas (when the hs can stand up to them, for the most part, anyway), but this is definitely a love it or hate it book. I loved it.

[bookjunkie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know how in a lot of HPs, they have this long, drawn-out misunderstanding and then wrap up the reveal and I-love-you's in the last page or two and you're just like, I went through all that anguish for that itty-bitty tiny scrap of love? Well, if you're looking for a book that actually has a loooong, drawn-out love resolution for once, this is the book you want. They positively wallow in their mutual love for each other for 13~ pages, she even gets up and goes to make coffee during an intermission of the love-confession. With every page I flipped, I couldn't believe there was still more!

It was all the more satisfying because it starts off with the Hero hating the heroine quite corrosively for being his Uncle's sweet young thang (actually, his secret daughter). The H has a fatal case of insta-love/lust and therefore is absolutely toxic to the innocent, country-bumpkin naif whom everybody mistakes as a gold-digger on the prowl for a sugar daddy. I loved the mistreatment, even the almost-rape/very-forceful-seduction, because it all meant more hell to pay later. RD, bless her heart, did not skimp on the remorse, or the soul-baring scene! The Hero was my favorite shade of obsessive, and he was actually super-nice to to the h, discounting the rocky beginning. Even before he found out the truth, his actions were always kind to the heroine, despite his cruel words.

I have mixed feelings about Robyn Donald because she often infuriates me, but this book was a total winner. It was intense and passionate, and the heroine was actually great and held her own.

[Jasbell76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

March 21/2022

What can I say?


Everything was fine until in the hero and heroine's engagement party, he let the OW kiss him on the mouth in front of the heroine I stopped to read the book inmmediately, that's why it took me several days to finish it, I didn't like that scene AT ALL. I would have given 4/4.5 stars if the author would had omitted that scene, it was unnesesary.
So here is my final score: 3.5
1 ⭐: because he was crazy jelous-obssesive with the heroine
1 ⭐: heroine was strong and independent
1 ⭐: because hero's grovel and declaration of love was decent. I would have liked he had apologized for that scene I described in the spoiler.
0.5 ⭐: for the cute dog.

Why did the book lose 2 stars:
-1 ⭐: because the beginning was slow for me.
-1 ⭐: for the spoiler scene.

[Chantal ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 DON'T FEEL THE LOVE STARS

It was an mildly enjoyable read and yes their was some passion on both side but Love!?

Also, I had an issue with this being called a rape book!
Honestly, if the sex was so bad an experience...WHY did she want to be his mistress instead of his wife?
For me this was not a rape story at all, maybe some dubious consent and even that is iffy.

Yes, she said no but she was egging him on with her hands and body.
Talk about sending out mixed messages!
That part was just messed up for me.
This was just ok for me because I did not get the feeling that he loved her!

Sorry, did not really feel or even see this love manifest itself until the end at the big revel.
Good for maybe a read but not a reread (IMO)

Happy reading!

[Raffaella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one.
There's a big misunderstanding where the heroine is a secret love child and the hero thinks that the man who is actually her father is her sugar daddy, so he treats her contemptuously and sneers and does all the things that usually heroes do in this situation ( eye rolls).
Of course as soon as the old man kicks the bucket he starts snooping around the heroine's door, always believing she's a dirty gold digger and a slut, but actually he's obsessed with her and wants her for himself.
Cruel hero but no victim heroine, luckily.
The only thing that makes RD's heroes bearable is that her heroines are seldom victims and doormat, they tend to be strong and to strike back, so you don't feel too sorry for them.
The poor guy was also celibate since he first met her, even if he thought she was having sex with his uncle (the old man-heroine's father), because he was really obsessed with her.
Entertaining old style book, with some angst and passion aplenty.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a semi-forced seduction he starts to court her and he becomes a smitten dominant H in relentless pursuit. He was a real alpha male, I like that in a HP.

The HEA was a bit over the top. Pages and pages of declarations of how much he loves her, how deep his feelings are for her, that he can’t live without her. It felt like he was Mr Darcy.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toxic Harlequin. Hero thinks that the heroine is the mistress of his elderly uncle.

Really good multi page grovel/love declaration. I love a violently obsessed hero.

[currently being delulu · Rating 1 out of 5]

“ play man child by Sabrina carpenter”

It sounds cringe but read the lyrics to that song it literally feels that song the heroine would play for the hero

[MBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1986, An Unbreakable Bond by Robyn Donald is not for the fainthearted. Featuring a hero that borders on and ventures into the territory of cruelty, with a heroine who stands her ground, as confused as she is by the tidal wave of desire that clouds everything between them, this is Harlequin as I love their titles.

22 year old Tifaine Brandon (Tiffany) meets Eliot Buchanan not under the best of circumstances, with Eliot thinking her to be the mistress of his uncle. The disdain that Eliot feels for her partly results from how she makes him feel; unhinged in a way that he has never been around any woman in his life.

With a secret that Tiffany holds close to her heart, Eliot has no way of knowing the truth, even as the clash of wills results in scenes a lot of readers would find it hard to accept. At the same time, this rollercoaster ride of emotions and the constant upheaval that is a given when it comes to stories by Ms. Donald makes it hard to put this down. Fact that I finished this in one day is testament to that.

With all the misgivings I had, especially in relation to a particular scene which I will not detail here, I still loved the escape the story provided me with. The ruthless nature of Eliot drew me in as much as the proudly defiant nature of Tiffany’s did. The passion and sizzling attraction between the two is often thick enough to cut through with a knife, and that was as invigorating and heady as the rest of the components of the story as they came together.

In a way, what made Eliot’s cruelty “worthwhile” was the fact that he actually admitted to what had or almost did happen at a certain point in time in the story. He abashedly points out to how out of control Tiffany makes him feel, and the depths to which his emotions go when it comes to her. Somehow I understood where he was going with that; great passion does not allow for placidity when it comes to emotions. If you want peaceful, you go with the person who makes you feel as little as possible.

Recommended for fans of older and vintage Harlequin titles. This is not everyone’s cup of tea, especially in this day and age.

Final Verdict: In An Unbreakable Bond, Robyn Donald gives readers a tale that consumes the whole of you, even as you are reluctant to give it your all.

Rating = 4/5

For more reviews and quotes, please visit A Maldivian's Passion for Romance

[Capt. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it simply because Elliot is a besotted mess even when he though Tiffany was his uncle’s mistress he couldn’t help but fall in love with her (and be simultaneously mean like any HP hero).
And Tiffany gave as good as she got, never ever backing down though body betraying syndrome is a must in HPlandia.

[RomLibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bound to each other by passion ...Eliot Buchanan was outraged to think that his late uncle's mistress would inherit a large share of the family's New Zealand estate. And as executor of the will he planned to do everything in his power to contest her claim.For the most part Tiffany could understand Eliot's obvious contempt for her. But she was confused by the passionate desire he was capable of arousing in her. Suddenly it became overwhelmingly important that Eliot learn the truth about his uncle--even if it meant jeopardizing her own happiness.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, however the rape scenes in these novels I've been reading lately are just crazy. When it comes to rape stuff, it's black and white for me, even though the hero and heroine decided it was 'seduction' I can firmly say it was rape, the chick said no.

[Tmstprc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting relationship, dubious consent over and over, and yet it works.

[Mtve41 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t keep picking up another RN and force myself through it and expect different rainbows and unicorns. Not going to happen. With RN and myself, I haven’t really crossed a 3 🌟 so far so it must be me and not the book. The book looses itself into long descriptions of the mundane and it gets exhausting. The MCs don’t have incredible chemistry, just forced proximity which they have to endure and explore.

Tiffany is living by herself independently working as a seamstress after graduating boarding school. She had to get away from home and this was a good way to start her own life. She befriends an elderly man and often meets him at the park for lunch. Eventually they even go out on dinner dates but not everyone knows the reality of their relationship and assumes the worst. One of them judges of her character is the H Eliot. The elderly man is his uncle and he hates seeing Tiffany so blatantly date an old man.

Sadly the old man dies and Tiffany is left on the receiving end of Eliot’s judgement. Tiffany is also left some possessions by this late man aka a place to live, some jewelry and some trust fund. Eliot is suspicious and already hates her enough and now that he thinks she’s available, also wants to sleep with her.

Eliot was just being a predictable HP vintage H but Tiffany, she wasn’t your average tstl h. She was a tease and had her own back and acted silly and sulky the whole time. She wanted respect and treatment as an adult, but she was reactive and unrestrained like a teen. She was also grossly independent for her age and (lack of) worldly experience and yet talked back to the H just to spur him on. My point: if you want sex, don’t be asking (read begging) for it and then backing off pretending like you don’t.

The h would shamelessly provoke the H and then complain that he mishandled her or crossed boundaries. Like girl, you’re already half way naked here.

The H finally proposes and this happens not too far into the book and Tiffany for all her high and mighty opinion refuses. Nobody knows the hell she wants but she keeps refusing to ever marry him. She even tells the H that she’ll gladly be his mistress but not his wife. The H shows her how the wife gets respect and tenderness and the mistress, rude insubordinate sex.

The last third of the book is sadly Tiffany taking advantage of this besotted man. She just wanted him down on his knees, begging her for her love and singing songs and writing poems on his immense love for her. She just wanted the man on his knees proclaiming love and fidelity. I hated her.

After all of this she finally agrees to marrying him and they live HEA on their homestead. She looked like she had a crafty mother who raised her and taught her just how to trap a man and keep him serving you for life. 🙄

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The heroine discovers the biological father she never knew, and they decide to keep their relationship a secret. And the hero is a jerk about it.

He does, however, turn out to be one of RD’s rare kind heroes. He makes sure the heroine gets her inheritance and he looks after her when she’s sick, and yes: he still calls her a no good tramp for most of the book but again: by RD standards he’s a sweetheart.

[Roub · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enoyed the book very much. the passion between them was too hot !! i could easily give it a 5 star but there are a few things which disturbed me. here let me explain: i did not like the fact that he raped the heroine and most of the time treated her like a slut. he was clearly a beast and meant to use her sexually and get rid of her when he had had enough of her. and then all of a sudden, this crazed sexual obsession of his turned out to be love!? how can you rape some one you love ?? and does a younger woman involved with an older man justify rape !? yes he raped her because he thought she had had a sexual relationship with his uncle. so if he wanted her and she rejected him, he had the right to force her. what kind of ass does that make of him !? of course in the end the author tried to explain the hero's sick behaviour by his childhood haha !! still i was scotched to the book. don't miss it

[JillyB · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 2nd RD book in 24 hours......the heroine in the book said she must be a masochist....I’m thinking I must be too! I’m really glad the h and H were able to declare their undying love for each other before I witnessed my first murder/suicide HP book. These two had some intense thoughts and feelings! Ok, so for some better reviews, checkout StMargarets and Boogenhagen’s. I pretty much knew I was going to like this book when I saw that they both gave it 4 stars!

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[SassyLeg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it: passion/jealousy/obsession, misunderstanding and a great alpha male..... cruel but so much in love!!

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

What’s that? I read an 80s harlequin presents and it was depraved and misogynistic. Was I surprised? No, it was literally written for middle aged housewives in need of a little depravity. Did I enjoy it? Yeah maybe…. is that so bad?

So I read ✨vintage✨ smut and am here to announce that it is no feminist romance. Although, the heroine does have a job and becomes an ~entrepreneur~ and it’s mentioned for a good 2 sentences so at least there’s that. Not to mention the need for a giant SA trigger warning and the way this is just littered with slut-shaming. I’ve gotta hand it to the 80s harlequin authors who would absolutely not survive a modern day reckoning but were unashamedly buckwild in their own time. Grossly problematic in every way, this book has no boundaries what so ever. But oops what’s that? My finger slipped and gave it a 2 star rating instead of 1? I have a simple explanation; there’s a cute corgi called Jess that steals the show, the underlying plot was kinda great and I was thoroughly entertained by the ridiculousness of a multi-page declaration of love that included a coffee break because they were declaring their love for too long. Also, I really enjoyed how the author expressed over and over again how the hero and heroine weren’t conventionally attractive but still made it seem as if they were the two hottest people alive. This resulted in me picturing a Chris Hemsworth/Adam Sandler mash up that made me laugh. In hindsight, this was absolutely garbage fire trash but I have extremely low standards and my imagination can keep me entertained no matter what is put in front of me.

Plot: 3/5
Character likability: 1/5
Steaminess: the most negative number in existence/5