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The Sea Master
She hadn't inteded to become a stowaway.
Running away from her fiance's crude advances, Michelle plunged from bad to worse - literally. Her misadventure included a chill dunking in the Thames and a narrow escape onto a moored yacht, where she collapsed in exhaustion.
When she finally awoke she had anotehr shock. The vessel was far out to sea, bound for Bermuda. And she was totally alone with the autocratic captain, Guy Farringdon.
Michelle smoldered at Guy's ultimatum - that she work for her passage. But she didn't dare accept his alternative suggestion....
Running away from her fiance's crude advances, Michelle plunged from bad to worse - literally. Her misadventure included a chill dunking in the Thames and a narrow escape onto a moored yacht, where she collapsed in exhaustion.
When she finally awoke she had anotehr shock. The vessel was far out to sea, bound for Bermuda. And she was totally alone with the autocratic captain, Guy Farringdon.
Michelle smoldered at Guy's ultimatum - that she work for her passage. But she didn't dare accept his alternative suggestion....
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
1 person is currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Sally Wentworth
106 books95 followersDoreen was born on 1936 or 1937 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She married Donald Alfred Hornsblow, with whom she has a son Keith, in 1968. The family lived in Braughing, England.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 1, 2020
19 year-old stowaway with a smokin’ hot bod captivates cynical 32 year-old boat builder after a week at sea. News at eleven.
This story is about as nuanced as that (imaginary) headline. Heroine is a poor little rich girl who lets her parents and fiancé think she drowned because she has felt unloved her whole life. Hero obviously has had too much sun since he said he fell in love with the heroine when she cried over catching and killing a fish.
*sigh*
The heroine was charmless, the hero cardboard. But the boat adventures were mildly interesting.
This story is about as nuanced as that (imaginary) headline. Heroine is a poor little rich girl who lets her parents and fiancé think she drowned because she has felt unloved her whole life. Hero obviously has had too much sun since he said he fell in love with the heroine when she cried over catching and killing a fish.
*sigh*
The heroine was charmless, the hero cardboard. But the boat adventures were mildly interesting.
November 19, 2012
3-1/2 stars. Highly melodramatic. The heroine is one of the spoiled rich child sort. She is very spoilt and I could have been quite put out with her but I just went with the idea that this was a story of a spoiled young girl growing up and falling in love and that worked for me. The hero was pretty surly and not real nice to her but he wasn't horrible. You didn't really know him very well. I would've liked to have seen a bit more clues to his changing feelings though. Kept my attention.
October 18, 2020
Poor hero. Let’s just say he definitely wasn’t all that crazy about her, she was the crazy one here! Heroine was a compulsive liar too. She threw a tantrum because hero wants her off his boat after her lies. She flat out refuse to get off because she loves him & wants to be with him. When he wanted to get the authorities to come take her away, she threatened him with prison. & How exactly will she do that? By telling them lies about him...Psycho much?! I believe he was legit terrified. He had to call her parents to come get her. That cringey scene took place around the 80% mark which did ruin the whole book for me. I mean, it started out rather cute & engaging until she became like a leech that the hero just can’t shake off.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2019
She hadn't inteded to become a stowaway.
Running away from her fiance's crude advances, Michelle plunged from bad to worse - literally. Her misadventure included a chill dunking in the Thames and a narrow escape onto a moored yacht, where she collapsed in exhaustion.
When she finally awoke she had anotehr shock. The vessel was far out to sea, bound for Bermuda. And she was totally alone with the autocratic captain, Guy Farringdon.
Michelle smoldered at Guy's ultimatum - that she work for her passage. But she didn't dare accept his alternative suggestion..
Running away from her fiance's crude advances, Michelle plunged from bad to worse - literally. Her misadventure included a chill dunking in the Thames and a narrow escape onto a moored yacht, where she collapsed in exhaustion.
When she finally awoke she had anotehr shock. The vessel was far out to sea, bound for Bermuda. And she was totally alone with the autocratic captain, Guy Farringdon.
Michelle smoldered at Guy's ultimatum - that she work for her passage. But she didn't dare accept his alternative suggestion..
October 4, 2023
Utter rubbish!
The h is furious because her parents haven't come to her engagement party and her fiancee bothers her with kisses, so she runs away, gets into some strange boat and falls asleep. In the morning she finds out the boat is sailing to Bermuda and decides to teach everyone a lesson: by letting them think she's drowned while she's enjoying herself in the sun.
The only problem is that the owner of the boat isn't pleased with her presense and makes her do some chores. What a creep!
Or a sexy creep?
10 days later is suddenly HEA.
The h is furious because her parents haven't come to her engagement party and her fiancee bothers her with kisses, so she runs away, gets into some strange boat and falls asleep. In the morning she finds out the boat is sailing to Bermuda and decides to teach everyone a lesson: by letting them think she's drowned while she's enjoying herself in the sun.
The only problem is that the owner of the boat isn't pleased with her presense and makes her do some chores. What a creep!
Or a sexy creep?
10 days later is suddenly HEA.
September 7, 2020
I like this book, because it has a different plot than the rich man - poor girl story. The scene where he catches a fish and kills it and she then gets upset with him for doing that was hilarious. There were some steamy love scenes in it. 5 stars.
August 14, 2014
Meh, the heroine needed to grow up more before it made any sense for the hero to change his mind and go for her. Readable, but not very convincing.
January 28, 2024
By God, how I LOATHED the heroine in this one. It is rare, oh so very rare, for me to say so... but this girl was a complete and utter ct.
Where do I even begin? At the start I guess. Having done a messy-drunk runner from her engagement party, she falls in the Thames and crawls onto a boat. She passes out in a cabin, and upon waking decides to stow away, leaving her parents and fiancé to believe she is drowned and dead. Why? To punish them of course! To punish mummy and daddy for not giving her enough attention, and her fiancé for being too hands on in the back of her Ford Fiesta.
By the time they are well out at sea she is discovered by the captain and our hero - Guy (more on this twat later). She immediately starts lying to him about everything. Lies lies lies, without so much as a blink of her eye she's the biggest fucking liar going. He says fine you can stay, but you have to do your fair share of work on the boat. This enrages her. She pouts and screams and flounces about, she punches him and smashes glasses and cries, she goes on a pathetic hunger strike (while stealing food behind his back) and in short is a spoiled, nasty, horrible bitch. Here we learn that her whole life, while hating mummy, she nonetheless lived in mummy's mansions and was waited on hand and foot by mummy's servants. In short, she's one of those princess types who blubbers and whines when her nails start to chip.
In time she starts to fall for Guy. This begins the 'seduction' phase of her awful behavior. She lies a whole load more, and doe everything in her power to make him have sex with her, including 'making him mad', sunbathing topless and ordering him to rub oil on her tittays, to simply refusing to move out of his way while screeching that she'll falsely accuse him of abduction and rape, to both the police and the press.
Finally she gets her own way (gets fucked basically) by throwing all her clothes overboard and climbing naked into his bed. She has no shame, pants after him like a relentless bitch in heat, no matter how many times he says NO she stamps her feet and flashes her bum at him... it's really quite horrible and gave me a gross, low-down feeling in my stomach.
Now... onto Guy, our 'hero'. He's truly awful. He grabs her by the throat, slaps her about, shoves her against a wall and calls her a bitch, twists her wrist back to almost breaking point, wrenches her arm up her back to almost breaking point while screaming at her, and he threatens to rape her several times and calls her a whore a whole lot. Why is she so besotted with this awful, abusive, mean, horrible man?
URGH. So to summarize, both the H and h were HORRIBLE, awful, nasty, cruel, vile, rancid piles of dog shit and I hated every moment they were together.
Where do I even begin? At the start I guess. Having done a messy-drunk runner from her engagement party, she falls in the Thames and crawls onto a boat. She passes out in a cabin, and upon waking decides to stow away, leaving her parents and fiancé to believe she is drowned and dead. Why? To punish them of course! To punish mummy and daddy for not giving her enough attention, and her fiancé for being too hands on in the back of her Ford Fiesta.
By the time they are well out at sea she is discovered by the captain and our hero - Guy (more on this twat later). She immediately starts lying to him about everything. Lies lies lies, without so much as a blink of her eye she's the biggest fucking liar going. He says fine you can stay, but you have to do your fair share of work on the boat. This enrages her. She pouts and screams and flounces about, she punches him and smashes glasses and cries, she goes on a pathetic hunger strike (while stealing food behind his back) and in short is a spoiled, nasty, horrible bitch. Here we learn that her whole life, while hating mummy, she nonetheless lived in mummy's mansions and was waited on hand and foot by mummy's servants. In short, she's one of those princess types who blubbers and whines when her nails start to chip.
In time she starts to fall for Guy. This begins the 'seduction' phase of her awful behavior. She lies a whole load more, and doe everything in her power to make him have sex with her, including 'making him mad', sunbathing topless and ordering him to rub oil on her tittays, to simply refusing to move out of his way while screeching that she'll falsely accuse him of abduction and rape, to both the police and the press.
Finally she gets her own way (gets fucked basically) by throwing all her clothes overboard and climbing naked into his bed. She has no shame, pants after him like a relentless bitch in heat, no matter how many times he says NO she stamps her feet and flashes her bum at him... it's really quite horrible and gave me a gross, low-down feeling in my stomach.
Now... onto Guy, our 'hero'. He's truly awful. He grabs her by the throat, slaps her about, shoves her against a wall and calls her a bitch, twists her wrist back to almost breaking point, wrenches her arm up her back to almost breaking point while screaming at her, and he threatens to rape her several times and calls her a whore a whole lot. Why is she so besotted with this awful, abusive, mean, horrible man?
URGH. So to summarize, both the H and h were HORRIBLE, awful, nasty, cruel, vile, rancid piles of dog shit and I hated every moment they were together.
February 8, 2026
The 19 year old spoiled brat, poor little rich girl stows away on the sea captain’s boat to get away from her messy life, and off we go for a romance-on-the-high-seas, Harlequin adventure compellingly written by Sally Wentworth.
I really liked this story because the author managed to write not only a believable love story but a coming-of-age tale for an emotionally neglected, bitter and resentful, childish heroine who transforms into a strong woman by the end. The hero is quite honorable and his brutal set-downs of the bratty heroine are mostly justified.
In the midst of their budding romance, Wentworth writes a scene of such high tension, when their boat loses power in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle and is in danger of being crushed by a huge ship, that even knowing Harlequin tropes would never allow the death of a main character, it was still extremely nail-biting.
I could have done without a fourth act where the hero, thinking he is doing it for the greater good of the heroine, tries to kill her love for him by openly flirting with her vapid actress mother. And the vapid mother who has been jealous of her own daughter and incredibly damaging to her self-worth suddenly become the magnanimous wise-woman who helps the two lovebirds reunite. So one star off for that cause that was completely unnecessary.
Still, I loved leaving the hero and heroine at the end of this tale, imagining all the fun high-seas adventures they are going to have, working in synch, as a team, and very much in love. Kudos to Sally Wentworth for another winner!
I really liked this story because the author managed to write not only a believable love story but a coming-of-age tale for an emotionally neglected, bitter and resentful, childish heroine who transforms into a strong woman by the end. The hero is quite honorable and his brutal set-downs of the bratty heroine are mostly justified.
In the midst of their budding romance, Wentworth writes a scene of such high tension, when their boat loses power in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle and is in danger of being crushed by a huge ship, that even knowing Harlequin tropes would never allow the death of a main character, it was still extremely nail-biting.
I could have done without a fourth act where the hero, thinking he is doing it for the greater good of the heroine, tries to kill her love for him by openly flirting with her vapid actress mother. And the vapid mother who has been jealous of her own daughter and incredibly damaging to her self-worth suddenly become the magnanimous wise-woman who helps the two lovebirds reunite. So one star off for that cause that was completely unnecessary.
Still, I loved leaving the hero and heroine at the end of this tale, imagining all the fun high-seas adventures they are going to have, working in synch, as a team, and very much in love. Kudos to Sally Wentworth for another winner!
October 10, 2021
Michelle is the neglected child of wealthy, divorced actors. She's celebrating her engagement to not-so-nice guy Peter when his attempts to coerce her into sex spur her into running away, falling into the Thames, and scrambling onto a boat for safety. With no way to leave the boat, she falls asleep in the cabin and doesn't wake up until she's miles from home, alone with the boat owner Guy Farringdon.
The setting and the back story are interesting. The poor-little-rich-girl is a nice switch from the usually impoverished girl who meets a millionaire, and Wentworth's description of life on a small boat is convincing, at least to a landlubber like me.
The reasons for the low rating are the unlikeable MCs and the unsatisfying love story. Michelle is only nineteen, and she acts like it (or younger). She's selfish, and she lies, lies, lies. Giving Guy a fake name initially is completely understandable, but her continued lying becomes troublesome. She's also simply immature and not ready for a serious adult relationship.
Guy spanks her. He's a 30something adult who spanks a 19yo. I try to take into account the age of the vintage Harlequins, but spanking an adult woman (even an immature, bratty one) wasn't okay in the 70s, not in England or the US. Guy is alternately hostile and pervy, and I can't see who would fall for either of them.
The setting and the back story are interesting. The poor-little-rich-girl is a nice switch from the usually impoverished girl who meets a millionaire, and Wentworth's description of life on a small boat is convincing, at least to a landlubber like me.
The reasons for the low rating are the unlikeable MCs and the unsatisfying love story. Michelle is only nineteen, and she acts like it (or younger). She's selfish, and she lies, lies, lies. Giving Guy a fake name initially is completely understandable, but her continued lying becomes troublesome. She's also simply immature and not ready for a serious adult relationship.
Guy spanks her. He's a 30something adult who spanks a 19yo. I try to take into account the age of the vintage Harlequins, but spanking an adult woman (even an immature, bratty one) wasn't okay in the 70s, not in England or the US. Guy is alternately hostile and pervy, and I can't see who would fall for either of them.
June 25, 2020
When you read an old-school Harlequin romance you know what to expect: jerk older bloke won over by the heart of a younger less sexually experienced woman, so people who read then review these titles with the knowledge of a woman from the 2000's isn't fair on the author who wrote it in the eighties. So, I'm giving this four stars because I enjoyed the fast-faced story, which was probably considered modern for it's time, though the characters motivations and behaviours are dated and it's not wholly politically correct which is exactly why I bought it- because I wanted to read an old-fashioned romance to escape reality for a while.
June 26, 2020
The storyline had potential, bad motive and unlikeable characters ruined anything this could have had. Wentworth, you know you are so much better than this drivel.
May 2, 2011
I felt that the heroine was too immature and I really wanted to give her a good shake for all her unnecessary lying!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews