What do you think?
Rate this book
ΠΙΚΡΗ ΑΓΑΠΗ 688
Innocent Pawn by Catherine George released on Dec 25, 1985 is available now for purchase.
Unknown Binding
First published July 1, 1985
146 people want to read
About the author
Catherine George
443 books73 followersDeirdre Matthews was born in a village on the Welsh-English border, where the public library featured largely in her life. Her mother, who looked upon literature as a basic necessity of life, fervently encouraged her passion for reading, little knowing it would one day motivate her daughter into writing her first novel.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 27, 2018
Was someone hitting the sauce hard when writing this story or was the plot concocted during a fever nightmare? Either way, this shit is Insane in the Membrane.
September 14, 2019
Author engineers a diabolical meet cute – hero is drunk and jet-lagged/heroine is sleeping in his usual guest bed at his sister’s house. Forcible sex ensues. Heroine is enraged and . . . pregnant. Hero is remorseful, defensive, and continually tries to make it up to the heroine. They marry during the heroine’s long hospitalization for her pregnancy but divorce soon after the baby is born.
The story opens with their daughter’s kidnapping five years later.
Yes, the author ladles on the drama and bickering at the beginning, but their reconciliation brings less drama and more bickering as the story wears on.
By the end I hadn’t picked a side since the H/h were equally prickly and annoying. Their five year-old daughter seemed more mature at times. Still, this was an interesting story and I’m glad the author did not let the hero off easy.
The story opens with their daughter’s kidnapping five years later.
Yes, the author ladles on the drama and bickering at the beginning, but their reconciliation brings less drama and more bickering as the story wears on.
By the end I hadn’t picked a side since the H/h were equally prickly and annoying. Their five year-old daughter seemed more mature at times. Still, this was an interesting story and I’m glad the author did not let the hero off easy.
January 14, 2013
I really enjoyed this book even though the plot was a bit far-fetched. Hester is a young, up and coming caterer. She takes on a job to cater a fancy dinner party where she plans to stay the night in one of the guest bedrooms. Hero, shows up late, jet lagged, has one too many drinks and ends up in the wrong room. Hester's pleasant dreams turn into a nightmare when she wakens to find herself being mauled and raped by the hero. Of course, he doesn't realize what is going on because he is drunk as a skunk and she flees the house, returning home trying to wipe away the memories.
To his credit, he does find her and tries to make amends. Unfortunately, the little episode leaves Hester pregnant and they marry until she gives birth.
The story opens five years later when the young daughter is kidnapped. Though the divorce is amicable, Hester has kept her distance. She has limited Jack's access to her, and his much adored daughter, with every other week visitation rights. It seems Hester holds a grudge and is bitter and vindictive towards Jack.
I know this plot sounds rather far-fetched and goofy, but somehow it really worked and I truly enjoyed the story. I think what made it compelling was Jack's feelings for Hester, his remorse and regrets for what happened, and above all the actions he took to set things right. In fact, there were points in the story where i just wanted to shake Hester and tell her..... "Grow up! You are throwing something very precious away".
My only regret is that there were some interesting conflicts introduced that seemed to conveniently evaporate into nothingness. Had they been followed through, I think this would have been an even more powerful and enjoyable read.
I do recommend if you are looking for something a little different, but absorbing!
To his credit, he does find her and tries to make amends. Unfortunately, the little episode leaves Hester pregnant and they marry until she gives birth.
The story opens five years later when the young daughter is kidnapped. Though the divorce is amicable, Hester has kept her distance. She has limited Jack's access to her, and his much adored daughter, with every other week visitation rights. It seems Hester holds a grudge and is bitter and vindictive towards Jack.
I know this plot sounds rather far-fetched and goofy, but somehow it really worked and I truly enjoyed the story. I think what made it compelling was Jack's feelings for Hester, his remorse and regrets for what happened, and above all the actions he took to set things right. In fact, there were points in the story where i just wanted to shake Hester and tell her..... "Grow up! You are throwing something very precious away".
My only regret is that there were some interesting conflicts introduced that seemed to conveniently evaporate into nothingness. Had they been followed through, I think this would have been an even more powerful and enjoyable read.
I do recommend if you are looking for something a little different, but absorbing!
February 15, 2016
Re Innocent Pawn - This is one of those books where I vacillate a lot. On one hand it really is a nice love story, on the other-- that love story is based on a premise that I found totally unacceptable.
The h is a caterer with a friend, she agrees to do a party where she will need to spend the night because of the distance. She cater's the party and everything goes great. She is given a guest room for the night. While she is asleep, she wakes up from a sorta erotic dream to find she is being raped by a complete stranger. She tries to fight him off, but he overpowers her and has his way. She sneaks out of the house in shock and goes home.
The next day the brother of the woman giving the party shows up at her home and it turns out he is the rapist. He tries to apologize, it seems he was jet lagged and drunk, got the room wrong and raped the h. He feels he stole something from her because it was obvious she was a virgin. The h kicks him out, he keeps trying and asks her out, she is pretty frank that she wants nothing to do with him.
(The h did not go to the police, and I get that, she was raped by an eminently respectable client's brother, he only sees it as sleeping with a reluctant woman, but he is very apologetic and even her mum isn't all that keen to call it rape. Everyone around her tells what a nice man he is and that she should just let the matter blow over.
Every time I reread this one I am more gobsmacked by the fact that no one, not even the h's own mother, tells the H that he is in fact a violent rapist. No matter how nice the rest of the time, he committed a violent crime and should be spending 10 to 20 in prison. If it were my child in that situation, this man would be missing a few dangly bits - I wouldn't be encouraging my child to just let it pass.)
The h winds up preggers, as most virgin's in HPlandia do, and because she needs bed rest for most of the pregnancy, it is decided she should marry her rapist cause he has private insurance. In fact the h's best friend called the H and told him about the pregnancy. Thankfully she is soon dropped from the book. The mum encourages the h to build a relationship with the H and yet again, I am just agog.
The H is also involved with his girlfriend, I have no idear how he explained that one, and when the h's daughter is born, the h and H divorce. The h limits the H's access to the child and again, everyone thinks she is mean, petty and resentful. The H pays child support (as he very well should) and matters erupt big time when the daughter is kidnapped from her private school.
The h thinks the H took her at first, but that turns out not to be the case. They are waiting around for a ransom note and the whole history above is backflashed, when they get a phone call that the little girl is asleep in the garden. Turns out the kidnapper's took the wrong child. Now the little girl is having nightmares and post traumatic stress and is constantly terrified. The H wants the h to marry him and for her the daughter to live in his home, the daughter feels safe there and the scenes where she is at the h's home and terrified are truly heart-wrenching.
The h has never recovered from the H's rape. Even though she doesn't call it that, it was a rape and I don't think repeated exposure to the H and having him parent her child has helped matters much. She needed therapy and no one even thinks to offer it. She is seen as the spiteful one, cause she doesn't want a rapist as her child's father or helping to raise the little girl.
Yet he has gone on to have relationships, an active life and has no problem spreading around his resentment at his limited child time. She is still so traumatized six years on, that she only works, cares for her daughter and lives like a nun. She has had no relationships and no life outside of the above.
She reluctantly agrees to marry him and he finally manages to seduce her, she decides she is in love and he claims to love her back. He is really nice for the entire book after he meets her out of bed, but it doesn't seem right to me that he gets away with a serious crime and the h is presented as the bad person.
The relationship - if you can forget the rape portion - is a decent courtship, but I still wonder at the H's family's complicity, along with the mum and the supposed best friend, in throwing the h under the bus cause the H was usually such a nice man. This is one of the most unique plots in HPlandia.
As far as I know, it was never used again, and that is probably a blessing - I am just not sure that the admittedly well done courtship and falling in love portion is enough to still the deep uneasiness that a rapist gets away with it and essentially gets rewarded with a loving wife and child after a callously brutal act.
The book itself gets fairly good ratings, and it is only a story - so take my POV with a grain of salt - cause mileage varies and you may really like this one.
The h is a caterer with a friend, she agrees to do a party where she will need to spend the night because of the distance. She cater's the party and everything goes great. She is given a guest room for the night. While she is asleep, she wakes up from a sorta erotic dream to find she is being raped by a complete stranger. She tries to fight him off, but he overpowers her and has his way. She sneaks out of the house in shock and goes home.
The next day the brother of the woman giving the party shows up at her home and it turns out he is the rapist. He tries to apologize, it seems he was jet lagged and drunk, got the room wrong and raped the h. He feels he stole something from her because it was obvious she was a virgin. The h kicks him out, he keeps trying and asks her out, she is pretty frank that she wants nothing to do with him.
(The h did not go to the police, and I get that, she was raped by an eminently respectable client's brother, he only sees it as sleeping with a reluctant woman, but he is very apologetic and even her mum isn't all that keen to call it rape. Everyone around her tells what a nice man he is and that she should just let the matter blow over.
Every time I reread this one I am more gobsmacked by the fact that no one, not even the h's own mother, tells the H that he is in fact a violent rapist. No matter how nice the rest of the time, he committed a violent crime and should be spending 10 to 20 in prison. If it were my child in that situation, this man would be missing a few dangly bits - I wouldn't be encouraging my child to just let it pass.)
The h winds up preggers, as most virgin's in HPlandia do, and because she needs bed rest for most of the pregnancy, it is decided she should marry her rapist cause he has private insurance. In fact the h's best friend called the H and told him about the pregnancy. Thankfully she is soon dropped from the book. The mum encourages the h to build a relationship with the H and yet again, I am just agog.
The H is also involved with his girlfriend, I have no idear how he explained that one, and when the h's daughter is born, the h and H divorce. The h limits the H's access to the child and again, everyone thinks she is mean, petty and resentful. The H pays child support (as he very well should) and matters erupt big time when the daughter is kidnapped from her private school.
The h thinks the H took her at first, but that turns out not to be the case. They are waiting around for a ransom note and the whole history above is backflashed, when they get a phone call that the little girl is asleep in the garden. Turns out the kidnapper's took the wrong child. Now the little girl is having nightmares and post traumatic stress and is constantly terrified. The H wants the h to marry him and for her the daughter to live in his home, the daughter feels safe there and the scenes where she is at the h's home and terrified are truly heart-wrenching.
The h has never recovered from the H's rape. Even though she doesn't call it that, it was a rape and I don't think repeated exposure to the H and having him parent her child has helped matters much. She needed therapy and no one even thinks to offer it. She is seen as the spiteful one, cause she doesn't want a rapist as her child's father or helping to raise the little girl.
Yet he has gone on to have relationships, an active life and has no problem spreading around his resentment at his limited child time. She is still so traumatized six years on, that she only works, cares for her daughter and lives like a nun. She has had no relationships and no life outside of the above.
She reluctantly agrees to marry him and he finally manages to seduce her, she decides she is in love and he claims to love her back. He is really nice for the entire book after he meets her out of bed, but it doesn't seem right to me that he gets away with a serious crime and the h is presented as the bad person.
The relationship - if you can forget the rape portion - is a decent courtship, but I still wonder at the H's family's complicity, along with the mum and the supposed best friend, in throwing the h under the bus cause the H was usually such a nice man. This is one of the most unique plots in HPlandia.
As far as I know, it was never used again, and that is probably a blessing - I am just not sure that the admittedly well done courtship and falling in love portion is enough to still the deep uneasiness that a rapist gets away with it and essentially gets rewarded with a loving wife and child after a callously brutal act.
The book itself gets fairly good ratings, and it is only a story - so take my POV with a grain of salt - cause mileage varies and you may really like this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2013
As twisted as it sounds, the accidental rapist turned out to be the most purrfect baby daddy in HPlandia & the aloof heroine was the 1 who came across more as the villain w/ her vindictiveness, by making the earnest hero pay endlessly for his 1 big boo-boo. The plot coulda been set in Regency era. Drunken, jet-lagged hero stumbles into the wrong bed, damsel in distress has a wet dream that turns into a nitemare, she gets knocked-up, hollow marriage of benefits ensues, cold-blooded heroine punishes hero for his sin, bundle of joy gets kidnapped, H/h reunite to help kiddo cope w/ PTSD, sweet HEA.
Read
March 24, 2022DNF.
I couldn’t finish it. It was too much.
The young and virgin heroine is sleeping in one of her clients house and the hero who’s the client brother, comes in her bed drunk and sleepy and basically rapes her.
She leaves in the morning and instead of going straight to the police she pretends nothing happened.
The hero goes to her and apologizes, he was drunk and you know the jet-lag… wff????? Obviously she refuses and sends him away.
Then she finds out she’s pregnant and the hero proposes. All the people around her instead of kicking his sorry ass and calling the police, forces her to marry him and she accepts reluctantly. All her pregnancy she has to stay in bed and eventually she finds out the hero is traveling with his pa, who was also his former mistress before the rape. She asks for divorce.
Five years later. The child is kidnapped by mistake and this brings h/H to be together for some days.
The hero is angry and resentful because he can’t have a real family and he can see his daughter only occasionally.
Oh, he has a nice job, he’s a billionaire and has also many ladies so nothing is missing but a dutiful wife and this is all the heroine’s fault.
The heroine’s mother tells her she shouldn’t have divorced him.
The heroine after the rape couldn’t bear to be with men again so she’s living a deprived life, and nobody around her seems to realize she had a trauma and needs help. Professional help.
And for a 22 yo virgin being raped by a complete stranger is something you don’t recover easily and without help.
The hero seems to think her sterile life is all her fault.
He didn’t make any effort to help her healing from the trauma.
He blames her.
I hated this.
I stopped reading and I wondered what was the author thinking about when she wrote this pos.
Because this is what it is.
The hero is painted as a good and steady man, a good dad and a mild mannered man, and the heroine as a stubborn resentful bitch.
No, sorry I just can’t.
Someone should tell this writer that this is not the way to deal with such a trauma.
And the hero is just a pig and a criminal.
He was not a teenager and he behaved abominably.
I can’t accept a book where the heroine has to marry and love her rapist. This is the second one. The first was a penny Jordan one but at least she didn’t know he was the man who raped her and he didn’t know too, until the end. And I found it disgusting all the same.
Here the rapist is the poor victim.
It’s just as bad that the heroine had only a sweet mother and no brother or dad to defend her, we wouldn’t have had a hero for long and a book if she had.
I couldn’t finish it. It was too much.
The young and virgin heroine is sleeping in one of her clients house and the hero who’s the client brother, comes in her bed drunk and sleepy and basically rapes her.
She leaves in the morning and instead of going straight to the police she pretends nothing happened.
The hero goes to her and apologizes, he was drunk and you know the jet-lag… wff????? Obviously she refuses and sends him away.
Then she finds out she’s pregnant and the hero proposes. All the people around her instead of kicking his sorry ass and calling the police, forces her to marry him and she accepts reluctantly. All her pregnancy she has to stay in bed and eventually she finds out the hero is traveling with his pa, who was also his former mistress before the rape. She asks for divorce.
Five years later. The child is kidnapped by mistake and this brings h/H to be together for some days.
The hero is angry and resentful because he can’t have a real family and he can see his daughter only occasionally.
Oh, he has a nice job, he’s a billionaire and has also many ladies so nothing is missing but a dutiful wife and this is all the heroine’s fault.
The heroine’s mother tells her she shouldn’t have divorced him.
The heroine after the rape couldn’t bear to be with men again so she’s living a deprived life, and nobody around her seems to realize she had a trauma and needs help. Professional help.
And for a 22 yo virgin being raped by a complete stranger is something you don’t recover easily and without help.
The hero seems to think her sterile life is all her fault.
He didn’t make any effort to help her healing from the trauma.
He blames her.
I hated this.
I stopped reading and I wondered what was the author thinking about when she wrote this pos.
Because this is what it is.
The hero is painted as a good and steady man, a good dad and a mild mannered man, and the heroine as a stubborn resentful bitch.
No, sorry I just can’t.
Someone should tell this writer that this is not the way to deal with such a trauma.
And the hero is just a pig and a criminal.
He was not a teenager and he behaved abominably.
I can’t accept a book where the heroine has to marry and love her rapist. This is the second one. The first was a penny Jordan one but at least she didn’t know he was the man who raped her and he didn’t know too, until the end. And I found it disgusting all the same.
Here the rapist is the poor victim.
It’s just as bad that the heroine had only a sweet mother and no brother or dad to defend her, we wouldn’t have had a hero for long and a book if she had.
January 14, 2015
4 Stars ~ Hester had become fast friends with Lucy at Catering College, and they decided to form their own company; Lucy had the business sense and Hester was the culinary talent. Hired to do a job out of their normal area, for a wealthy couple's tenth anniversary, Hester agrees that she'll stay after the meal, enjoy the party and spend the night. All is well until in the wee hours Hester slowly wakes from what she thinks is a delicious dream, only to discover there is a man in her bed and he's determined to have her. She fights him, tries to scream but his mouth passionately steals her voice. When the deed is done, he rolls over in a sated drunken stupor and passes out. Mortified, Hester leaves in the dead of night, wanting the safety of her own home and to find away to put the whole incredible event behind her. When the next morning a young man comes to call, she's further mortified when he introduces himself as her seducer. Jack feels nothing but self disgust and knows that his jet-lag and the couple of drinks he'd had with his brother-in-law, and then the mistake in guest rooms is no excuse, but it's all he has. He's beside himself with guilt because the condition of the sheets has more than made it clear that Hester had been a virgin. Hester wants nothing to do with Jack and she bluntly tells him to leave her home and to leave her alone. But when a few weeks later it's obvious that the mistaken night of passion has had consequences, Hester's friend Lucy makes the call to let him know.
Fast forward six years, and Hester's daughter has been kidnapped from her private school. When the school claims her father picked her up, Hester furiously phones her ex, only to learn he doesn't have Jo. With the police called, Hester and Jack spend a hectic 24 hours waiting for the ransom call, but none comes. Finally, a call comes and to announce that Jo is in the back garden. And that is where Hester finds her, in a drug induced slumber. It turns out the kidnappers had snatched the wrong child, but Jo is none the less traumatized and when she realizes that the kidnappers know where she goes to school and where she lives, she suffers from nightmares. Jack proposes a remarriage, one that is based on friendship and a common love for their child. Worried about Jo, Hester agrees, and suddenly finds herself wanting more than friendship with the man she's remarried.
I wondered how Ms. George was going to pull off such a dramatic storyline. Jack's remorse and need to atone for his behaviour is sincere and it's obvious how deeply affected he is by that night. Hester at first feels revulsion for him, but when he steps up to take care of her, and then their child, she comes to realize her feelings now are far from revulsion. Rape under every circumstance is traumatic for the victim and Hester has to come to terms with her experience. Both Jack and Hester have so much to offer, but their beginning keeps getting in the way, until Hester bravely takes the steps to make their threesome a real family. This is a compelling read, with heartfelt emotions and a hard won HEA.
Fast forward six years, and Hester's daughter has been kidnapped from her private school. When the school claims her father picked her up, Hester furiously phones her ex, only to learn he doesn't have Jo. With the police called, Hester and Jack spend a hectic 24 hours waiting for the ransom call, but none comes. Finally, a call comes and to announce that Jo is in the back garden. And that is where Hester finds her, in a drug induced slumber. It turns out the kidnappers had snatched the wrong child, but Jo is none the less traumatized and when she realizes that the kidnappers know where she goes to school and where she lives, she suffers from nightmares. Jack proposes a remarriage, one that is based on friendship and a common love for their child. Worried about Jo, Hester agrees, and suddenly finds herself wanting more than friendship with the man she's remarried.
I wondered how Ms. George was going to pull off such a dramatic storyline. Jack's remorse and need to atone for his behaviour is sincere and it's obvious how deeply affected he is by that night. Hester at first feels revulsion for him, but when he steps up to take care of her, and then their child, she comes to realize her feelings now are far from revulsion. Rape under every circumstance is traumatic for the victim and Hester has to come to terms with her experience. Both Jack and Hester have so much to offer, but their beginning keeps getting in the way, until Hester bravely takes the steps to make their threesome a real family. This is a compelling read, with heartfelt emotions and a hard won HEA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 8, 2021
"Your money is the cause of all this," Hester accused her ex-husband wildly when their five-year-old daughter was missing and feared kidnapped. Then Jo was returned unharmed, and John set out to move heaven and earth to keep her safe. At least where his daughter was concerned, John was motivated by love rather than a sense of duty. But could he ever feel more than responsibility toward Hester for the accident of Jo's birth? John didn't see why not. "The trick is," he reasoned, "to look past the money to the man behind it."
April 27, 2021
I think this may be Catherine George’s best HP.
June 17, 2023
I couldn't finish this one. Here's a newsflash: lots of men suffer jet lag and lots of men get drunk, (and some suffer both at the same time) and they don't rape women, so for the H in this novel to use that as an excuse is just too pathetic! And when the h, after suffering trauma, later on turns Laura to the H's Luke ("General Hospital" fans will know what that means), it goes beyond pathetic!
This should never have been written at all.
This should never have been written at all.
August 6, 2023
"Innocent Pawn" is the story of Hester and John.
So the heroine's name somehow reminded me of an evil witch, and she was one with a B. Absolutely one of the most annoying female characters I have read. All she did was screech, scream and throw accusations, saying things without thought. I get that she and the hero had an unconventional arrangement, but gosh I'd have moved continents than marry a Karen like her.
Nope
Unsafe
1/5
So the heroine's name somehow reminded me of an evil witch, and she was one with a B. Absolutely one of the most annoying female characters I have read. All she did was screech, scream and throw accusations, saying things without thought. I get that she and the hero had an unconventional arrangement, but gosh I'd have moved continents than marry a Karen like her.
Nope
Unsafe
1/5
May 22, 2024
This is the one where he raped her while jetlagged and then has to marry her. She should have had an abortion and sued him for everything he had.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 10, 2024
A rape apologist book.
April 2, 2025
Questo libro ha una vita . Eppure io me lo sono riletta con amore . Hester mi è piaciuta sempre
May 7, 2016
At a party, a drunken John mistakenly crawled into Hester's bed and rapes her. In the morning, he realizes what he did and seeks her out. She becomes pregnant from the ordeal and John offers her marriage, but they divorce after their daughter, Jo, is born. Fast forward 5 years later and Jo has been kidnapped, forcing John and Hester to have to deal with each other again (outside of arranged meetings between John and Jo). Hester is very bitter toward John, but he seems to want to rekindle things. After Jo is recovered and she experiences trauma, Hester agrees to marry John again for Jo's sake, thinking it will be a marriage of truce. But John wants a real marriage and Hester finds herself willing to give it a chance.
A very unusual premise for a modern (such as it is) romance. It is rather revealing of the times that nobody really called the hero's actions "rape" or condemned him for those actions (other than the heroine of course). He certainly gave good grovel though, and it embittered him as he does everything he can to win the heroine back. Then of course, after having slept together once after marriage and the heroine does a 180 in the sex department, he totally loses any ground he gained with me by claiming he'd have her whether she was willing or not, since she'd already set the sexual relationship in motion. But then I couldn't respect the heroine very much either. This is a woman who admits to the hero that she'd pretty much gotten over the rape and loved her husband before she divorced him, but that she decided to be vindictive about a perceived infidelity...and that's why she did it. She destroyed 5 years of their lives, separated father and daughter (except for visitation weekends) and made him wallow in his rapey guilt for that time because she thought he was cheating on her... He forgave her way too quickly for that.
A very unusual premise for a modern (such as it is) romance. It is rather revealing of the times that nobody really called the hero's actions "rape" or condemned him for those actions (other than the heroine of course). He certainly gave good grovel though, and it embittered him as he does everything he can to win the heroine back. Then of course, after having slept together once after marriage and the heroine does a 180 in the sex department, he totally loses any ground he gained with me by claiming he'd have her whether she was willing or not, since she'd already set the sexual relationship in motion. But then I couldn't respect the heroine very much either. This is a woman who admits to the hero that she'd pretty much gotten over the rape and loved her husband before she divorced him, but that she decided to be vindictive about a perceived infidelity...and that's why she did it. She destroyed 5 years of their lives, separated father and daughter (except for visitation weekends) and made him wallow in his rapey guilt for that time because she thought he was cheating on her... He forgave her way too quickly for that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2014
O-K, at least he grovelled
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews