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Για Λίγη Στοργή - Άρλεκιν Χρυσά Καλοκαιρινά #ΧΠ3
Στη διάρκεια του μήνα του μέλιτος ένα ατύχημα καθηλώνει για πολλούς μήνες τον Θαντ στο κρεβάτι του νοσοκομείου. Η Βανέσα τον περιποιείται γεμάτη στοργή και αφοσίωση. Ο Θάντ όμως, αντί να εκτιμάει τη στάση της, την αντιμετωπίζει με σκληρότητα και καχυποψία.
Εκείνη δυσκολεύεται να εξηγήσει τη συμπεριφορά του, ώσπου μαθαίνει ότι η αλλαγή του οφείλεται σε κακόβουλα κουτσομπολιά που αναφέρονται στις σχέσεις της με τον προϊστάμενο της.
Τι θα κάνει η Βανέσα για να τον πείσει πως είναι αθώα; Αλλά πάλι αξίζει να προσπαθήσει, όταν εκείνος την αντιμετωπίζει με τόση αδιαφορία;
Εκείνη δυσκολεύεται να εξηγήσει τη συμπεριφορά του, ώσπου μαθαίνει ότι η αλλαγή του οφείλεται σε κακόβουλα κουτσομπολιά που αναφέρονται στις σχέσεις της με τον προϊστάμενο της.
Τι θα κάνει η Βανέσα για να τον πείσει πως είναι αθώα; Αλλά πάλι αξίζει να προσπαθήσει, όταν εκείνος την αντιμετωπίζει με τόση αδιαφορία;
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1979
111 people want to read
About the author
Daphne Clair
122 books64 followersDahpne Clair is one of many pseudonyms of Daphne de Jong, a New Zealand writer who also uses the names Laurie Bright, Claire Lorel and Clarissa Garland. She is the winner of the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award and has been a finalist for the Romance Writers of America Rita Award more than once.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 16, 2021
I finally took the plunge and read this one. It’s a harrowing read because it’s so realistic/enraging. H/h had only been married for a few weeks before they were in a bad car accident. Hero spent months in the hospital (Ha! Now that’s dated.) and his personality completely changed. He’s jealous and verbally abusive to his bewildered wife.
Heroine had also been the subject of cruel gossip based on the lies a co-worker (and now her boss) told about her. This was years ago, but the heroine has learned to keep her head down. This wanna-be OM continues to gaslight her as she tries to keep the payments up on their new house, since hubby hasn’t worked in six months.
So yes – heroine puts up with abuse at home and at work, but tries to hide it from her in-laws and anyone else who expresses concern about her.
The black moment/low moment comes when the hero rapes her in a jealous rage after her boss (OM) drives her home and kisses her in front of her husband. The next morning the hero is finally ashamed of himself.
Heroine forgive him when she learns he had been getting No wonder the poor man was crazed!
Suffice it to say that this did not sell me on their HEA. All the men in this story were horrible and heroine is just living in their world (that seems to be DC’s jaded philosophy).
It’s very well written and the suspense is riveting. But it’s a depressing read all around.
Heroine had also been the subject of cruel gossip based on the lies a co-worker (and now her boss) told about her. This was years ago, but the heroine has learned to keep her head down. This wanna-be OM continues to gaslight her as she tries to keep the payments up on their new house, since hubby hasn’t worked in six months.
So yes – heroine puts up with abuse at home and at work, but tries to hide it from her in-laws and anyone else who expresses concern about her.
The black moment/low moment comes when the hero rapes her in a jealous rage after her boss (OM) drives her home and kisses her in front of her husband. The next morning the hero is finally ashamed of himself.
Heroine forgive him when she learns he had been getting No wonder the poor man was crazed!
Suffice it to say that this did not sell me on their HEA. All the men in this story were horrible and heroine is just living in their world (that seems to be DC’s jaded philosophy).
It’s very well written and the suspense is riveting. But it’s a depressing read all around.
December 9, 2017
Ok, it is books like this that give Harlequins a bad rap. But after reading Wilaful's review, I just had to read this one.
A young couple were married for only two weeks when they get into a bad car accident. Husband goes to save wife and he is badly injured. He spends significant time in the hospital recovering. The book opens on the day of his release. Heroine notices that hubby is a little distant, cold and quite mean to her.
She chalks it all down to his months in hospital and figures once he gets home, things will settle down. (That part seemed fairly plausible to me)
However, the heroine was an absolute naive twit. While hero is ill in the hospital, she takes a job working for a man that she had an affair with six years ago. The affair soured, and the man told all kinds of nasty stories about her. It was so bad, that she was humiliated in her own home town. Of course, six year's later he offers her a job and profusely apologizes about the past. According to him, he just happened to tell one person about them and that person leaked everything. (Really?) She also conveniently finds herself being shuttled back and forth to work by him. She even goes to a Christmas party with him and lets him into her house where he gets drunk as a skunk. She is shocked when he makes a pass at her. But she still sees nothing wrong with his behavior and keeps spending time with him. It never dawns on her that he is trying to manipulate her and destroy her happy marriage
It seems that villain is pissed that she ditched him and wants her back. He is secretly sending poisonous letters to her husband claiming that they are having an affair. Hubby, who happens to also be a creep believes the jerk and is absolutely horrible to the heroine from the moment he leaves the hospital.
The whole story was a classic case of stupidity and abuse. It actually could have been quite a phenomenal read had the author played a few scenes differently, especially the last one. In the last scene the villain overhears she is alone and goes to her house. She opens the door at night not knowing who is on the other side. (Not sure about you, but I never open a door late at night not knowing who is on the other side) Voila, it is evil man himself and she gets more than she bargained for. He attempts rape threatening to break her arm. But she coerces him instead to sit down and have coffee. While sitting on his lap having coffee, husband comes home. He walks in on this cozy little coffee break, and throws a hissy fit. Husband rapes her instead. Though, at the risk of bringing the wrath of my GoodRead friends down on my head, I am not sure I could call it rape.
"Vanessa, I've never struck a woman in my life, and I don't intend to start now. It's one temptation I've been fighting ever since I walked in here. But there is another, which in the circumstances you may regard as perverted. I have a strong desire to take you to bed and I don't think you would like what would happen to you if I did. I can't guarantee to withstand that temptation if I stay here an longer."
"Thad, I want you to stay."
"Are you prepared to take the consequences? he asked" "
Her throat felt tight, but she managed a husky "yes".
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure"...
The command came softly, but it was unmistakably a command, and the look on his face reinforced it. "Wait for me in the bedroom"
The author had at least some decency not to take us right into the rape scene, but we learn pieces of it through some flashbacks. We also learn that only a few hours after the rape, she turns to him for consolation and makes love to him. Really? I guess its all in a day?
A young couple were married for only two weeks when they get into a bad car accident. Husband goes to save wife and he is badly injured. He spends significant time in the hospital recovering. The book opens on the day of his release. Heroine notices that hubby is a little distant, cold and quite mean to her.
She chalks it all down to his months in hospital and figures once he gets home, things will settle down. (That part seemed fairly plausible to me)
However, the heroine was an absolute naive twit. While hero is ill in the hospital, she takes a job working for a man that she had an affair with six years ago. The affair soured, and the man told all kinds of nasty stories about her. It was so bad, that she was humiliated in her own home town. Of course, six year's later he offers her a job and profusely apologizes about the past. According to him, he just happened to tell one person about them and that person leaked everything. (Really?) She also conveniently finds herself being shuttled back and forth to work by him. She even goes to a Christmas party with him and lets him into her house where he gets drunk as a skunk. She is shocked when he makes a pass at her. But she still sees nothing wrong with his behavior and keeps spending time with him. It never dawns on her that he is trying to manipulate her and destroy her happy marriage
It seems that villain is pissed that she ditched him and wants her back. He is secretly sending poisonous letters to her husband claiming that they are having an affair. Hubby, who happens to also be a creep believes the jerk and is absolutely horrible to the heroine from the moment he leaves the hospital.
The whole story was a classic case of stupidity and abuse. It actually could have been quite a phenomenal read had the author played a few scenes differently, especially the last one. In the last scene the villain overhears she is alone and goes to her house. She opens the door at night not knowing who is on the other side. (Not sure about you, but I never open a door late at night not knowing who is on the other side) Voila, it is evil man himself and she gets more than she bargained for. He attempts rape threatening to break her arm. But she coerces him instead to sit down and have coffee. While sitting on his lap having coffee, husband comes home. He walks in on this cozy little coffee break, and throws a hissy fit. Husband rapes her instead. Though, at the risk of bringing the wrath of my GoodRead friends down on my head, I am not sure I could call it rape.
"Vanessa, I've never struck a woman in my life, and I don't intend to start now. It's one temptation I've been fighting ever since I walked in here. But there is another, which in the circumstances you may regard as perverted. I have a strong desire to take you to bed and I don't think you would like what would happen to you if I did. I can't guarantee to withstand that temptation if I stay here an longer."
"Thad, I want you to stay."
"Are you prepared to take the consequences? he asked" "
Her throat felt tight, but she managed a husky "yes".
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure"...
The command came softly, but it was unmistakably a command, and the look on his face reinforced it. "Wait for me in the bedroom"
The author had at least some decency not to take us right into the rape scene, but we learn pieces of it through some flashbacks. We also learn that only a few hours after the rape, she turns to him for consolation and makes love to him. Really? I guess its all in a day?
April 7, 2021
Cover by Will Davies. Sculpture H is working on doesn't correspond to any piece mentioned in the book which is typical...
4.5 stars
I love Daphne Clair's books but they're no walk in the HP park: relationships are believably complicated, solutions are generally painful, but the situations themselves aren't OTT, they manage to elicit anxiety precisely because character actions and emotions are only slightly heightened—they feel almost too plausible. By the end I'm not left feeling joyful—just profoundly relieved that the tension is in abeyance for a while.
4.5 stars
I love Daphne Clair's books but they're no walk in the HP park: relationships are believably complicated, solutions are generally painful, but the situations themselves aren't OTT, they manage to elicit anxiety precisely because character actions and emotions are only slightly heightened—they feel almost too plausible. By the end I'm not left feeling joyful—just profoundly relieved that the tension is in abeyance for a while.
October 24, 2019
WARNING: F-Bombs abound
Bam SMASH! Arrrrgh, this book made me so mad but I devoured it like pizza and finished it in one gulp. I don't even really know how to describe the relationship of Thad and Vanessa… a carnival funhouse version of a Master/slave relationship, perhaps? Not even close. No matter what punishment or harshness the Master doles out on his slave, there's always respect and trust going both ways. That's the important distinction. Afterward, the Master also takes care and cherishes his slave. (NOTE: I AM STRICTLY talking about BDSM here, don't get it twisted; what I describe is an act of love between two CONSENTING adults.) Thad treats Vanessa like some nasty thing he stepped on while jogging and now he has to scrape it off from the bottom off his trainers against the side of a curb. Thad is an abusive, jealous dickbag who tends to lash out when he's pissed and Vanessa is his favourite target. He's an insecure, self-pitying, embittered man because his wife dared to have a life while he was languishing away in the hospital, the wounded hero who risked his life for his lady love, when she should have been at his side where she belonged.
And what did the bitch do? Carried on with another man while he sat in his hospital bed, trapped in his broken body, a small window his only view of the outside world. He almost died protecting her and she DARED do this to him? Once he gets his hands on the little harlot, he'll strangle her, then maybe kiss her, beat her within an inch of her life...and maybe soothe all the bruises afterwards. He didn't know for sure what he would do once he's out of the hospital, but he knew one thing: the little bitch was going to pay in blood, sweat, and tears. And “little bitch” is Thad’s favourite endearment for her (to his credit, I don't think he ever outright calls her a whore or a slut , not even once).
Oh, and Thad is a stupid name. It's sillier and dopier than Chad, which is on my list of male names I can't stand. I may inadvertently refer to Thad as Chad. Or douchebag. Or asshole.
Thad and Vanessa grew up in the same neighborhood together, but Vanessa, who had recently experienced a rash of after-school-special type of drama plus a recent bout with the law on the charge of drunk driving, is determined to stay on the straight and narrow path and chooses instead to go around with Thad’s eldest brother, whom she deems safe and a good role model. For Vanessa, Thad is a little too charming, a little too handsome, and a little too good at getting with any girl he wants because they practically throw themselves at him. In that respect, Thad reminds her of the man who broke her heart when she was eighteen and ruined her reputation with half the town by telling anyone who'd listen that she's a loosey-goosey type of girl. She is now just getting her life back together and doing a fine job at it, when Thad decides to ramp up his game of seduction after his older brother gets engaged with somebody who is not Vanessa.
Thad and Vanessa begin to see each other with Thad promising he won't be impatient and the pace of their relationship would be entirely dependent on Vanessa. It certainly starts out that way--Thad doesn’t seem to expect anything more than hand-holding or a quick kiss on the lips at her parents’ doorstep at the end of each date. But Vanessa can sense the tension in him. She knows he won’t be satisfied with the chaste stuff for too long. One night, while she and Thad are sitting in his car, Thad kisses her and Vanessa immediately begins to feel that burst of passion and need which were what got her in trouble in the first place. Ross had wanted to go a little further than Vanessa was comfortable with and when Vanessa refused, Ross got very angry and left her. Before she knew it, there were rumors going around about her that she’s a fast girl who’d go around with any boy and give him an all-access pass. She pushes Thad away and he gets very frustrated. He starts acting like… a dick and basically accuses her of being a dick-tease. RED FLAG #1, Vanessa, jeez! You poor, naive child. Vanessa tells Thad she never wants to see him ever again and he says FINE! But then he comes back and tells her he loves her and wants to marry her. She finds it hard to believe that a guy as good-looking and popular as Thad would want an ordinary girl like her, but she’s also fallen in love with him…
And they just both want to do it so bad. Seriously, I think these dumb kids got married because they wanted to have sex with each other and they didn’t want to deal with the whole fornicators go to hell thing or something. Or that only sluts and tramps have sex outside of marriage. See, parents? This is what happens when you don’t sit your children down and talk to them properly about sex, responsibilities, and consequences. [Hell, maybe it WAS their parents who told them that only sluts and tramps have sex outside of marriage… *shudder*]
Vanessa and Thad buy a little house together, get married, and go off in connubial bliss for two weeks, indulging and slaking their lusts in each other (I’m so tired, I can’t even think of a really off-putting simile right now… something about otters maybe? No, otters are cute). It was great, filmable times all around. On their way back from their honeymoon, tragedy strikes in the form of another car slamming into theirs and Thad’s first instinct is to throw himself across Vanessa’s body so that he would take most of the damage. And he does. Before they can even truly live together as man and wife, Thad’s severe injuries get him hospitalized for several months and separated from his bride. At first, things were all right: he had a private room, Vanessa visited him every day and stayed for as long as the nurses would let her, and they were able to… express their affection for each other in private. Thad was cool with that. It wasn't perfect, but the occasional hand-job was better than nothing.
Then money starts to get tight and Vanessa is forced to find a job (to Thad’s dismay) and Thad is transferred to a room with three other guys because it's all they can afford anymore. Thad is a proud, stubborn guy, so he refuses financial help from his parents, and he and Vanessa have to make do with the money she makes at the bank. Since Vanessa is a working woman now, she doesn't have as much time to spend with Thad (who I keep wanting to call Todd) or the energy to cheer him up and pretend that everything is awesome all the time and this begins to bum Thad out. Not only does he not see his wife as often as he likes anymore, he can't even get anything spicier than a quick peck on the lips, let alone a hand-job, with three other assholes looking on. Thad becomes depressed, sexually frustrated, and slightly resentful of Vanessa’s freedom, so when he starts to receive anonymous letters telling him that while he's laid out in the hospital, his wife--that lying, cheating cheater who cheats--is boning her boss, who happens to be her ex-lover. Thad--who refuses to believe the letters at first--becomes more suspicious and embittered as each day passes.
Poor Vanessa, of course, has absolutely zero idea that any of this is even brewing in Thad’s mind, so when the day comes for her to pick him up to take him home, Vanessa is flabbergasted at Thad’s distant and seemingly angry behavior. She tells herself that he just needs time to adjust to his new surroundings and once he acknowledges their house as his home, things could go back to normal. When Thad rejects her sexual overtures, she figures it's because he is ashamed that his once beautiful face and body are now marred with ugly scars from the accident. But Thad, Vanessa wants to cry out, I find your scars beautiful because you're honorable and brave and you got them for saving my life! And kiss every inch of his body. When she finally gets Thad to respond to her advances, he shoves her away after a moment and says the line that made me want to reach inside the book and strangle him: “My, my. You really are a sex-starved little bitch, aren't you? Can't you even wait until we've eaten [dinner]?” And on their first night together in a home they bought as man and wife, our hero decides to drink three-quarters of a bottle of whiskey and pass out on the couch. Die in a fire, Chad.
When Vanessa threatens to make him take it back--
Is Thad threatening to a) beat her or b) rape her? He certainly is a bargain. Ugh, you douchebag! Eat a whole bag of salty, poisoned rat dicks and choke on them.
They visit his parents’ house and when he is not ignoring her, he is openly pawing her and obscenely kissing her in front of family members in an effort to embarrass her. In a particularly rough “playing around” in the swimming pool, Chad-Thad almost drowns her then kisses her before she can take a full breath of air. When the asshole’s older brother, the one Vanessa used to date notices Chad-Thad’s odd behavior and pulls Vanessa aside, the spoiled brat notices and grabs Vanessa, accusing her of flirting with his brother. After an awkward dinner, Thad decides he wants to go back to the pool and makes Vanessa go with him. It’s dark and the two of them are alone now. Vanessa figures that a swim might cool Thad off. Before she even knows what’s happening, Thad is jumping into the pool stark-naked and demands that Vanessa join him. When they get out of the pool, he kisses her and mauls her roughly, demanding immediate sex. Vanessa demurs because she’s afraid someone will walk in on them and Chad-Thad says, well, you’re the one who’s complaining about me not making love to you. Vanessa relents and the asshole takes her roughly next to the swimming pool, washes in the pool afterward as though Vanessa is dirty, and walks away, leaving her there. Vanessa looks after him, thinking, whatever the hell that was, it was something less than love. OH REALLY YOU THINK?!
Not that Vanessa is entirely blameless in this whole thing. After all, the job she has at the bank? Well, her boss is the ex-lover who had crumpled her maiden’s reputation and wiped his ass on it like it was toilet paper. He tells her he was sorry, he was just really upset because he was super in love with her and was distraught when she turned him down, so he talks to one friend about her and that one friend is the one who spread a bunch of lies about her. Let’s say I believe him for a second---WHAT EXACTLY DID HE TELL THAT ONE FRIEND? “Yeah, so this chick-- man, she was all over me… She was like the reigning Queen of Slutsville, New Zealand.” He apologizes to her and says he can get her a job at the bank that he manages, no strings attached, in a show of good faith, since he knows she’s been having money issues. And everything is cool until he gets drunk at the company Christmas party, drives Vanessa home (wait, what?), and she invites him in for coffee. Of course he assaults her. OF COURSE HE DOES. He’s the villain, you fool! He apologizes profusely and says it will never happen again and Vanessa forgives him and continues to work at the bank. To be fair, she and Thad needed the money. But this continues! She knows that Thad is mad-crazy-jealous over this guy and yet she allows him to drive her to and from work. One afternoon as Snidely Whiplash (Ross the boss) drops her off, he suddenly grabs her and basically assaults her again--she shoves him away and he says she’ll be sorry. Just like he told her last time when she refused his advances when she was a young girl and what happened? She was basically run out of her village for being a scarlet woman.
AND OF COURSE THAD SAW THE WHOLE THING from the window and misinterpreted it. *forehead-slap* He doesn’t tell her he saw, by the way. He just continues to act like an asshole… so business as usual.
Vanessa returns to work (????) with every intention of quitting (schyeah, right), but when Snidely Whiplash acts normal and treats her like he hadn’t tried to shove his tongue down her throat and play silly-putty with her boobs the day before, Vanessa’s thinking goes like this, “Well, maybe it’s all right. Maybe he’s embarrassed and realized he made a mistake and he won’t try again and we can go on as before.” JESUS TAP-DANCING CHRIST, Vanessa, what is wrong with you?!
Oh and here's the the whipped topping on Vanessa’s shit-cake: while out to lunch one day, she overhears a bunch of gossiping old men talking about Snidely Whiplash undeservedly getting a promotion meant for a more qualified colleague. As it turns out, the head office received an anonymous letter about said colleague being a little too handsy with the young female employees, so he got fired instead. An anonymous letter… (Flashback to Thad getting all defensive about Vanessa’s handling of the mail he had received while he was in the hospital) Vanessa shrugs it off. “Gossiping old men: what’s it got to do with me?”
Earlier in the story, Thad discovers that he’s actually some kind of sculpting genius and he can make awesome things with clay. While he was at the hospital with nothing to do, the nurses gave him clay to mess around with as part of his physical therapy and he found himself making little animals and people--good enough to be sold! He and Vanessa set up the guest room to be his little studio and Thad starts producing stuff that’s good enough to be exhibited. And makes pretty darn good money at it (ah! now he can be the breadwinner again. all's right with the world). Along the way, he meets this gorgeous, free-spirited artist who becomes his mentor as well as really good friend and I think she was written in to make Vanessa jealous, but she was just so...awesome. I couldn’t hate her. Even Vanessa couldn’t hate her. When Vanessa tries to be all judgmental about Celine’s supposed open relationship with her merchant marine husband to Thad, Thad freaks the fuck out and starts ranting about fidelity and honor which Celine has and Vanessa doesn’t and how Vanessa isn’t even fit to lick Celine’s boots. And what the fuck does Vanessa know about being faithful? Nice.
Anyway, no matter how awful Thad seems to think Vanessa is, he can’t keep himself away from her and his mind can’t reconcile the kind, generous, loving human being that he sees with the scheming, lying, cheating cheater who cheats that he knows her to be. Thad has a tiny epiphany and becomes sort of decent to her for a few days. While out with Celine and her husband, Thad pulls her aside and they have this delightful conversation (I’m paraphrasing):
Thad: Do you believe that once a person saves another person, the life of the person saved now belongs to the savior?
Vanessa: I belonged with you, anyway.
Thad: I belonged with you, too. We belonged to each other. Do you love me?
Vanessa (breathlessly): Yes.
[they kiss passionately and make out, rubbing each other’s sensitive parts and whatnot]
Thad: Then prove it. Make love to me in this semi-public park area.
Vanessa: But Thad, someone might see…
Thad: Do you care?
Vanessa: No…
And then of course he catches her kissing Snidely Whiplash in his car in the rain and he goes HULK-CRAZY. He goes to his studio and sculpts this crazy thing of Vanessa looking like a cartoony harlot with big boobs and a horny look on her face. Then he tells Vanessa he’s leaving for the weekend to be with Celine on an art exhibit.
SPOILER: THIS IS WHY I CAN’T FORGIVE CHAD-THAD. While he’s out of the house, Snidely Whiplash pushes his way into their house (Vanessa, you dingbat, why would you let him in?) with every intention of raping the lovely lady. He gets very rough with her: smacks her around, twists her arm, shoves her… and it’s obvious he’s very drunk. He even threatens to break her arm. Vanessa thinks fast and realizes if she could calm him down, he could listen to reason, so she offers to make him coffee. While giving him his coffee, Snidely Whiplash yanks her down onto his lap and… Our Conquering Hero smashes through the door and saves the day. Only he doesn’t. He tells Ross to get the hell out and instead of treating his wife like a traumatized victim, he yells at her and accuses her of all kinds of things. Then he says he’s leaving for the bar before he does something he really regrets, like… kill her or something, I don’t know. Vanessa asks him not to leave. Thad asks her if she knew the consequences of his staying. Vanessa says she does.
“Then wait for me in the bedroom.” <~~~ FUCKING CREEPY.
UGH!! From one rapist to another. After he realizes what an utter shitheel and waste of human space he’d been, he doesn’t grovel and beg for her forgiveness. He just says, “I told myself that if you decided to walk out on me, I would let you go. That would be right thing to do after all I’ve done to you.” JUMP IN A VAT OF ACID, CHAD-THAD. No huge epiphany, no huge discoveries, and he doesn’t beat Snidely Whiplash to a pulp for trying to rape his wife AND sending him those shitty letters that started all this mess to begin with. It just occurs to him, “Oh, right, the Vanessa I fell in love with and married would never fuck me over and betray me in this manner. How could I ever think she would do such a thing otherwise? Silly, silly Thad,” just like it might occur to you to pick up some yogurt while you’re already standing in line at the checkout of your grocery store.
Vanessa, Vanessa, Vanessa… what can we do with you? You stay married to a guy who practically rapes you every night because it’s the only affection you get from him, you work for a guy who tries to assault you a couple of times, and OH! almost ruined your life once before and is obsessed with you… it’s like you knowingly stick yourself into these situations that you know will turn to shit and yet when it does turn to shit, you look around innocently like you don’t know what’s going on and ask, “What happened?” Ugh. She does tell Thad in the end she’s going to leave him and stay with her parents for a bit, but then Thad was like, “Look, my bad, I should have believed you. I’m sorry.” (ONLY HE DOESN’T EVEN REALLY SAY HE’S SORRY) and Vanessa is suddenly throwing off her luggage and flinging herself back into his arms. Before you know it, they’re bantering about sex and giggling. THE END. THIS IS NOT HOW IT SHOULD HAVE ENDED.
Vanessa should have been like, “No, Thad. Sorry doesn’t cut it. You thought the worst of me and I’ve given you no reason to. I was a devoted wife to you and worked my fingers to the bone so I could pay for your hospital bills. I never complained, not once. I have never given you cause to think I would ever cheat on you, and yet you get a couple of silly little letters saying I’m a whore and you believe them over me? Fuck you. No, seriously, Thad. Die in a fire.”
“Vanessa, I’m sorry, I was feeling insecure and scared… and I don’t think I’m the man I once was and I’m practically blind in one eye, so I can’t even get a real job anymore and I think you deserve better than a piece of shit like me. I was scared you’d leave me and I lashed out at you. Please, forgive me. Give me another chance.”
“Thad, the only reason I’m giving you another chance is because you once almost died protecting me and yeah, call me crazy, but I’m in love with you. However I will no longer stand for your shit and I’m insisting that we go to marriage counseling.”
“Anything you want, babe. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to you that you didn’t make a mistake marrying a man like me. I love you, Vanessa.”
BOOM! THE END.
Bam SMASH! Arrrrgh, this book made me so mad but I devoured it like pizza and finished it in one gulp. I don't even really know how to describe the relationship of Thad and Vanessa… a carnival funhouse version of a Master/slave relationship, perhaps? Not even close. No matter what punishment or harshness the Master doles out on his slave, there's always respect and trust going both ways. That's the important distinction. Afterward, the Master also takes care and cherishes his slave. (NOTE: I AM STRICTLY talking about BDSM here, don't get it twisted; what I describe is an act of love between two CONSENTING adults.) Thad treats Vanessa like some nasty thing he stepped on while jogging and now he has to scrape it off from the bottom off his trainers against the side of a curb. Thad is an abusive, jealous dickbag who tends to lash out when he's pissed and Vanessa is his favourite target. He's an insecure, self-pitying, embittered man because his wife dared to have a life while he was languishing away in the hospital, the wounded hero who risked his life for his lady love, when she should have been at his side where she belonged.
And what did the bitch do? Carried on with another man while he sat in his hospital bed, trapped in his broken body, a small window his only view of the outside world. He almost died protecting her and she DARED do this to him? Once he gets his hands on the little harlot, he'll strangle her, then maybe kiss her, beat her within an inch of her life...and maybe soothe all the bruises afterwards. He didn't know for sure what he would do once he's out of the hospital, but he knew one thing: the little bitch was going to pay in blood, sweat, and tears. And “little bitch” is Thad’s favourite endearment for her (to his credit, I don't think he ever outright calls her a whore or a slut , not even once).
Oh, and Thad is a stupid name. It's sillier and dopier than Chad, which is on my list of male names I can't stand. I may inadvertently refer to Thad as Chad. Or douchebag. Or asshole.
Thad and Vanessa grew up in the same neighborhood together, but Vanessa, who had recently experienced a rash of after-school-special type of drama plus a recent bout with the law on the charge of drunk driving, is determined to stay on the straight and narrow path and chooses instead to go around with Thad’s eldest brother, whom she deems safe and a good role model. For Vanessa, Thad is a little too charming, a little too handsome, and a little too good at getting with any girl he wants because they practically throw themselves at him. In that respect, Thad reminds her of the man who broke her heart when she was eighteen and ruined her reputation with half the town by telling anyone who'd listen that she's a loosey-goosey type of girl. She is now just getting her life back together and doing a fine job at it, when Thad decides to ramp up his game of seduction after his older brother gets engaged with somebody who is not Vanessa.
Thad and Vanessa begin to see each other with Thad promising he won't be impatient and the pace of their relationship would be entirely dependent on Vanessa. It certainly starts out that way--Thad doesn’t seem to expect anything more than hand-holding or a quick kiss on the lips at her parents’ doorstep at the end of each date. But Vanessa can sense the tension in him. She knows he won’t be satisfied with the chaste stuff for too long. One night, while she and Thad are sitting in his car, Thad kisses her and Vanessa immediately begins to feel that burst of passion and need which were what got her in trouble in the first place. Ross had wanted to go a little further than Vanessa was comfortable with and when Vanessa refused, Ross got very angry and left her. Before she knew it, there were rumors going around about her that she’s a fast girl who’d go around with any boy and give him an all-access pass. She pushes Thad away and he gets very frustrated. He starts acting like… a dick and basically accuses her of being a dick-tease. RED FLAG #1, Vanessa, jeez! You poor, naive child. Vanessa tells Thad she never wants to see him ever again and he says FINE! But then he comes back and tells her he loves her and wants to marry her. She finds it hard to believe that a guy as good-looking and popular as Thad would want an ordinary girl like her, but she’s also fallen in love with him…
And they just both want to do it so bad. Seriously, I think these dumb kids got married because they wanted to have sex with each other and they didn’t want to deal with the whole fornicators go to hell thing or something. Or that only sluts and tramps have sex outside of marriage. See, parents? This is what happens when you don’t sit your children down and talk to them properly about sex, responsibilities, and consequences. [Hell, maybe it WAS their parents who told them that only sluts and tramps have sex outside of marriage… *shudder*]
Vanessa and Thad buy a little house together, get married, and go off in connubial bliss for two weeks, indulging and slaking their lusts in each other (I’m so tired, I can’t even think of a really off-putting simile right now… something about otters maybe? No, otters are cute). It was great, filmable times all around. On their way back from their honeymoon, tragedy strikes in the form of another car slamming into theirs and Thad’s first instinct is to throw himself across Vanessa’s body so that he would take most of the damage. And he does. Before they can even truly live together as man and wife, Thad’s severe injuries get him hospitalized for several months and separated from his bride. At first, things were all right: he had a private room, Vanessa visited him every day and stayed for as long as the nurses would let her, and they were able to… express their affection for each other in private. Thad was cool with that. It wasn't perfect, but the occasional hand-job was better than nothing.
Then money starts to get tight and Vanessa is forced to find a job (to Thad’s dismay) and Thad is transferred to a room with three other guys because it's all they can afford anymore. Thad is a proud, stubborn guy, so he refuses financial help from his parents, and he and Vanessa have to make do with the money she makes at the bank. Since Vanessa is a working woman now, she doesn't have as much time to spend with Thad (who I keep wanting to call Todd) or the energy to cheer him up and pretend that everything is awesome all the time and this begins to bum Thad out. Not only does he not see his wife as often as he likes anymore, he can't even get anything spicier than a quick peck on the lips, let alone a hand-job, with three other assholes looking on. Thad becomes depressed, sexually frustrated, and slightly resentful of Vanessa’s freedom, so when he starts to receive anonymous letters telling him that while he's laid out in the hospital, his wife--that lying, cheating cheater who cheats--is boning her boss, who happens to be her ex-lover. Thad--who refuses to believe the letters at first--becomes more suspicious and embittered as each day passes.
Poor Vanessa, of course, has absolutely zero idea that any of this is even brewing in Thad’s mind, so when the day comes for her to pick him up to take him home, Vanessa is flabbergasted at Thad’s distant and seemingly angry behavior. She tells herself that he just needs time to adjust to his new surroundings and once he acknowledges their house as his home, things could go back to normal. When Thad rejects her sexual overtures, she figures it's because he is ashamed that his once beautiful face and body are now marred with ugly scars from the accident. But Thad, Vanessa wants to cry out, I find your scars beautiful because you're honorable and brave and you got them for saving my life! And kiss every inch of his body. When she finally gets Thad to respond to her advances, he shoves her away after a moment and says the line that made me want to reach inside the book and strangle him: “My, my. You really are a sex-starved little bitch, aren't you? Can't you even wait until we've eaten [dinner]?” And on their first night together in a home they bought as man and wife, our hero decides to drink three-quarters of a bottle of whiskey and pass out on the couch. Die in a fire, Chad.
“Why have you been so cold with me?”
“You mean, why don't I make love to you?” he said flatly. “Perhaps because I no longer find you attractive--maybe 2 weeks was enough. You're beautiful, but there are lots of beautiful girls.”
When Vanessa threatens to make him take it back--
“I wouldn't,” he warned softly. “You might get a whole lot more than what you bargained for.”
Is Thad threatening to a) beat her or b) rape her? He certainly is a bargain. Ugh, you douchebag! Eat a whole bag of salty, poisoned rat dicks and choke on them.
They visit his parents’ house and when he is not ignoring her, he is openly pawing her and obscenely kissing her in front of family members in an effort to embarrass her. In a particularly rough “playing around” in the swimming pool, Chad-Thad almost drowns her then kisses her before she can take a full breath of air. When the asshole’s older brother, the one Vanessa used to date notices Chad-Thad’s odd behavior and pulls Vanessa aside, the spoiled brat notices and grabs Vanessa, accusing her of flirting with his brother. After an awkward dinner, Thad decides he wants to go back to the pool and makes Vanessa go with him. It’s dark and the two of them are alone now. Vanessa figures that a swim might cool Thad off. Before she even knows what’s happening, Thad is jumping into the pool stark-naked and demands that Vanessa join him. When they get out of the pool, he kisses her and mauls her roughly, demanding immediate sex. Vanessa demurs because she’s afraid someone will walk in on them and Chad-Thad says, well, you’re the one who’s complaining about me not making love to you. Vanessa relents and the asshole takes her roughly next to the swimming pool, washes in the pool afterward as though Vanessa is dirty, and walks away, leaving her there. Vanessa looks after him, thinking, whatever the hell that was, it was something less than love. OH REALLY YOU THINK?!
Not that Vanessa is entirely blameless in this whole thing. After all, the job she has at the bank? Well, her boss is the ex-lover who had crumpled her maiden’s reputation and wiped his ass on it like it was toilet paper. He tells her he was sorry, he was just really upset because he was super in love with her and was distraught when she turned him down, so he talks to one friend about her and that one friend is the one who spread a bunch of lies about her. Let’s say I believe him for a second---WHAT EXACTLY DID HE TELL THAT ONE FRIEND? “Yeah, so this chick-- man, she was all over me… She was like the reigning Queen of Slutsville, New Zealand.” He apologizes to her and says he can get her a job at the bank that he manages, no strings attached, in a show of good faith, since he knows she’s been having money issues. And everything is cool until he gets drunk at the company Christmas party, drives Vanessa home (wait, what?), and she invites him in for coffee. Of course he assaults her. OF COURSE HE DOES. He’s the villain, you fool! He apologizes profusely and says it will never happen again and Vanessa forgives him and continues to work at the bank. To be fair, she and Thad needed the money. But this continues! She knows that Thad is mad-crazy-jealous over this guy and yet she allows him to drive her to and from work. One afternoon as Snidely Whiplash (Ross the boss) drops her off, he suddenly grabs her and basically assaults her again--she shoves him away and he says she’ll be sorry. Just like he told her last time when she refused his advances when she was a young girl and what happened? She was basically run out of her village for being a scarlet woman.
AND OF COURSE THAD SAW THE WHOLE THING from the window and misinterpreted it. *forehead-slap* He doesn’t tell her he saw, by the way. He just continues to act like an asshole… so business as usual.
Vanessa returns to work (????) with every intention of quitting (schyeah, right), but when Snidely Whiplash acts normal and treats her like he hadn’t tried to shove his tongue down her throat and play silly-putty with her boobs the day before, Vanessa’s thinking goes like this, “Well, maybe it’s all right. Maybe he’s embarrassed and realized he made a mistake and he won’t try again and we can go on as before.” JESUS TAP-DANCING CHRIST, Vanessa, what is wrong with you?!
Oh and here's the the whipped topping on Vanessa’s shit-cake: while out to lunch one day, she overhears a bunch of gossiping old men talking about Snidely Whiplash undeservedly getting a promotion meant for a more qualified colleague. As it turns out, the head office received an anonymous letter about said colleague being a little too handsy with the young female employees, so he got fired instead. An anonymous letter… (Flashback to Thad getting all defensive about Vanessa’s handling of the mail he had received while he was in the hospital) Vanessa shrugs it off. “Gossiping old men: what’s it got to do with me?”
Earlier in the story, Thad discovers that he’s actually some kind of sculpting genius and he can make awesome things with clay. While he was at the hospital with nothing to do, the nurses gave him clay to mess around with as part of his physical therapy and he found himself making little animals and people--good enough to be sold! He and Vanessa set up the guest room to be his little studio and Thad starts producing stuff that’s good enough to be exhibited. And makes pretty darn good money at it (ah! now he can be the breadwinner again. all's right with the world). Along the way, he meets this gorgeous, free-spirited artist who becomes his mentor as well as really good friend and I think she was written in to make Vanessa jealous, but she was just so...awesome. I couldn’t hate her. Even Vanessa couldn’t hate her. When Vanessa tries to be all judgmental about Celine’s supposed open relationship with her merchant marine husband to Thad, Thad freaks the fuck out and starts ranting about fidelity and honor which Celine has and Vanessa doesn’t and how Vanessa isn’t even fit to lick Celine’s boots. And what the fuck does Vanessa know about being faithful? Nice.
Anyway, no matter how awful Thad seems to think Vanessa is, he can’t keep himself away from her and his mind can’t reconcile the kind, generous, loving human being that he sees with the scheming, lying, cheating cheater who cheats that he knows her to be. Thad has a tiny epiphany and becomes sort of decent to her for a few days. While out with Celine and her husband, Thad pulls her aside and they have this delightful conversation (I’m paraphrasing):
Thad: Do you believe that once a person saves another person, the life of the person saved now belongs to the savior?
Vanessa: I belonged with you, anyway.
Thad: I belonged with you, too. We belonged to each other. Do you love me?
Vanessa (breathlessly): Yes.
[they kiss passionately and make out, rubbing each other’s sensitive parts and whatnot]
Thad: Then prove it. Make love to me in this semi-public park area.
Vanessa: But Thad, someone might see…
Thad: Do you care?
Vanessa: No…
And then of course he catches her kissing Snidely Whiplash in his car in the rain and he goes HULK-CRAZY. He goes to his studio and sculpts this crazy thing of Vanessa looking like a cartoony harlot with big boobs and a horny look on her face. Then he tells Vanessa he’s leaving for the weekend to be with Celine on an art exhibit.
SPOILER: THIS IS WHY I CAN’T FORGIVE CHAD-THAD. While he’s out of the house, Snidely Whiplash pushes his way into their house (Vanessa, you dingbat, why would you let him in?) with every intention of raping the lovely lady. He gets very rough with her: smacks her around, twists her arm, shoves her… and it’s obvious he’s very drunk. He even threatens to break her arm. Vanessa thinks fast and realizes if she could calm him down, he could listen to reason, so she offers to make him coffee. While giving him his coffee, Snidely Whiplash yanks her down onto his lap and… Our Conquering Hero smashes through the door and saves the day. Only he doesn’t. He tells Ross to get the hell out and instead of treating his wife like a traumatized victim, he yells at her and accuses her of all kinds of things. Then he says he’s leaving for the bar before he does something he really regrets, like… kill her or something, I don’t know. Vanessa asks him not to leave. Thad asks her if she knew the consequences of his staying. Vanessa says she does.
“Then wait for me in the bedroom.” <~~~ FUCKING CREEPY.
UGH!! From one rapist to another. After he realizes what an utter shitheel and waste of human space he’d been, he doesn’t grovel and beg for her forgiveness. He just says, “I told myself that if you decided to walk out on me, I would let you go. That would be right thing to do after all I’ve done to you.” JUMP IN A VAT OF ACID, CHAD-THAD. No huge epiphany, no huge discoveries, and he doesn’t beat Snidely Whiplash to a pulp for trying to rape his wife AND sending him those shitty letters that started all this mess to begin with. It just occurs to him, “Oh, right, the Vanessa I fell in love with and married would never fuck me over and betray me in this manner. How could I ever think she would do such a thing otherwise? Silly, silly Thad,” just like it might occur to you to pick up some yogurt while you’re already standing in line at the checkout of your grocery store.
Vanessa, Vanessa, Vanessa… what can we do with you? You stay married to a guy who practically rapes you every night because it’s the only affection you get from him, you work for a guy who tries to assault you a couple of times, and OH! almost ruined your life once before and is obsessed with you… it’s like you knowingly stick yourself into these situations that you know will turn to shit and yet when it does turn to shit, you look around innocently like you don’t know what’s going on and ask, “What happened?” Ugh. She does tell Thad in the end she’s going to leave him and stay with her parents for a bit, but then Thad was like, “Look, my bad, I should have believed you. I’m sorry.” (ONLY HE DOESN’T EVEN REALLY SAY HE’S SORRY) and Vanessa is suddenly throwing off her luggage and flinging herself back into his arms. Before you know it, they’re bantering about sex and giggling. THE END. THIS IS NOT HOW IT SHOULD HAVE ENDED.
Vanessa should have been like, “No, Thad. Sorry doesn’t cut it. You thought the worst of me and I’ve given you no reason to. I was a devoted wife to you and worked my fingers to the bone so I could pay for your hospital bills. I never complained, not once. I have never given you cause to think I would ever cheat on you, and yet you get a couple of silly little letters saying I’m a whore and you believe them over me? Fuck you. No, seriously, Thad. Die in a fire.”
“Vanessa, I’m sorry, I was feeling insecure and scared… and I don’t think I’m the man I once was and I’m practically blind in one eye, so I can’t even get a real job anymore and I think you deserve better than a piece of shit like me. I was scared you’d leave me and I lashed out at you. Please, forgive me. Give me another chance.”
“Thad, the only reason I’m giving you another chance is because you once almost died protecting me and yeah, call me crazy, but I’m in love with you. However I will no longer stand for your shit and I’m insisting that we go to marriage counseling.”
“Anything you want, babe. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to you that you didn’t make a mistake marrying a man like me. I love you, Vanessa.”
BOOM! THE END.
March 11, 2024
Silly heroine here, because she didn’t tell the truth to her husband. She and the hero has just come back from their honeymoon when they have an accident and he’s severely hurt. He has to stay in hospital for months and the heroine has to find a job because he can’t work. She finds a job in a bank where her ex bf works, the man who years before took her innocence and then turned out to be a self centered and stupid man. She dumped him and he tried again to win her back, and when she rejected him he spread rumors about how easy she was.
Now he says he’s changed but actually he is still in love, or maybe better, obsessed with her. When her husband comes back home he’s changed and treats her with contempt. Their relationship is not as it was before and he only used her for sex. There’s a lot of wondering why on the heroine part, but he won’t tell.
It turns out someone sent him letters while he was at the hospital that his wife was having an affair with her ex. And he believed them, and when the heroine keeps coming back home in her ex car, well, the hero is suspicious.
Those two should have talked long before. The hero should have told her about the letters at once, the heroine should have told him the truth about her ex and that her ex was harassing her, so they would have spared themselves a lot of angst. The book is angsty, the hero is cruel but he really thinks she’s cheating on him, and actually her ex forcibly kisses her outside her house, after which she should have told her husband what was going on. They both have faults, but I can understand since they have been married for a couple of weeks only and the trust has still to be built.
Now he says he’s changed but actually he is still in love, or maybe better, obsessed with her. When her husband comes back home he’s changed and treats her with contempt. Their relationship is not as it was before and he only used her for sex. There’s a lot of wondering why on the heroine part, but he won’t tell.
It turns out someone sent him letters while he was at the hospital that his wife was having an affair with her ex. And he believed them, and when the heroine keeps coming back home in her ex car, well, the hero is suspicious.
Those two should have talked long before. The hero should have told her about the letters at once, the heroine should have told him the truth about her ex and that her ex was harassing her, so they would have spared themselves a lot of angst. The book is angsty, the hero is cruel but he really thinks she’s cheating on him, and actually her ex forcibly kisses her outside her house, after which she should have told her husband what was going on. They both have faults, but I can understand since they have been married for a couple of weeks only and the trust has still to be built.
November 24, 2012
This is one of those books I enjoyed when I was 14 and book stupid.
Reading this again wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.
The hero and heroine are married, and we join the couple as the hero is coming out of the hospital and home for the first time. They were on their way to their new house after their honeymoon when they had an accident. The hero threw himself over the heroine to protect her so she got away with light stuff but he didn't. It's been MONTHS while he's been stuck in the hospital and he's now pretty scarred up. The heroine doesn't care because she loves him, and his scars just prove how much he loves her because he got them saving her life.
The hero is being cold and distant and the heroine is upset but thinks that it's because of the accident. Things change but she has to give him space.
But the hero is not only cold, he accuses her of all sorts of nasty stuff, like cheating on him and being desperate for sex.
What I liked about this book is the hero and heroine were fairly normal, yes, he was a jerk, but the heroine also knew that it would be effects from his stay in the hospital and the scars etc. She tried to deal with it and loved him anyway. There's also the role reversal. When he went into hospital she had to get a job to pay the bills so they didn't lose their house.
She has trouble at work and plans to quit but can't because of the bills.
Most of it was very down to earth.
I loved the heroine in this because she wasn't stupid. She was strong, confident and loved the hero so actually got the information she needed, tried her best to protect him, and stuck with the hard times knowing that it was hard for him and that's why he was acting out.
Reading this again wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.
The hero and heroine are married, and we join the couple as the hero is coming out of the hospital and home for the first time. They were on their way to their new house after their honeymoon when they had an accident. The hero threw himself over the heroine to protect her so she got away with light stuff but he didn't. It's been MONTHS while he's been stuck in the hospital and he's now pretty scarred up. The heroine doesn't care because she loves him, and his scars just prove how much he loves her because he got them saving her life.
The hero is being cold and distant and the heroine is upset but thinks that it's because of the accident. Things change but she has to give him space.
But the hero is not only cold, he accuses her of all sorts of nasty stuff, like cheating on him and being desperate for sex.
What I liked about this book is the hero and heroine were fairly normal, yes, he was a jerk, but the heroine also knew that it would be effects from his stay in the hospital and the scars etc. She tried to deal with it and loved him anyway. There's also the role reversal. When he went into hospital she had to get a job to pay the bills so they didn't lose their house.
She has trouble at work and plans to quit but can't because of the bills.
Most of it was very down to earth.
I loved the heroine in this because she wasn't stupid. She was strong, confident and loved the hero so actually got the information she needed, tried her best to protect him, and stuck with the hard times knowing that it was hard for him and that's why he was acting out.
March 5, 2013
Sorry, but I like a little romance in my romance novels....
June 7, 2024
My feminism was thrown out the window when and after reading this 😭
The MMC thought the FMC was cheating on him but he can’t make himself leave. Oh man, I just really have a weakness to doormat, pathetically in love men because the equivalent of those in women are so rampant in books that I learned to appreciate the rare ones.
Salute to this author in the HP genre for writing controversial genres 🤭
The MMC thought the FMC was cheating on him but he can’t make himself leave. Oh man, I just really have a weakness to doormat, pathetically in love men because the equivalent of those in women are so rampant in books that I learned to appreciate the rare ones.
Salute to this author in the HP genre for writing controversial genres 🤭
November 5, 2013
liked it very much !! what disturbed me was the lack of grovel on thad's part. vanessa 4gave him immediately when he had been an ass all through the book. he had rough sex wid her, was distant n hated her all on the basis of anonymous letters. i guess the accident had affected him emotionally n thus his savage behavior. very nice read though, dunt miss it.
Read
October 31, 2019I did not like this book. The only reason I gave it the second star was that the start up was good making me interested in how it was going to play out that I read through to the end. It had a lot of potential but alas.....
***** Spoiler Alert*****
Main reason I did not like this book is the utter inexcusable unbelievable stupidity of the Heroine. I can't even call it naivety it is plain stupidity. Sure the Hero has his asshole moments as well but nothing tops the idiocy of the Heroine. we're talking, taking a job under her ex-lover who hurt, scandalized and humiliated her six years before because he now apologized, stupid. It doesn't stop at that. She knows he's still attracted to her yet accepts rides from him, invites him into her home when he's drunk to make him coffee giving him a chance to assault her in her bedroom, chalks that episode to his drunk status, continues to work for him and accept rides from him, never doubting him because he "was sorry and changed" I mean come on how dumb can a woman be???? it's very sad when a story with potential ends up being one of the worst reads.
***** Spoiler Alert*****
Main reason I did not like this book is the utter inexcusable unbelievable stupidity of the Heroine. I can't even call it naivety it is plain stupidity. Sure the Hero has his asshole moments as well but nothing tops the idiocy of the Heroine. we're talking, taking a job under her ex-lover who hurt, scandalized and humiliated her six years before because he now apologized, stupid. It doesn't stop at that. She knows he's still attracted to her yet accepts rides from him, invites him into her home when he's drunk to make him coffee giving him a chance to assault her in her bedroom, chalks that episode to his drunk status, continues to work for him and accept rides from him, never doubting him because he "was sorry and changed" I mean come on how dumb can a woman be???? it's very sad when a story with potential ends up being one of the worst reads.
pback-to-read
February 9, 2021How could she prove her love for him?
Vanessa's marriage to Thad had barely started when a car accident hospitalized Thad for several months. Now Thad was recovering, but their marriage wasn't. Just what had gone wrong with it?
Vanessa couldn't understand Thad's bitter, suspicious attitude toward her. Then she learned that he had believed the vicious rumors being spread about Vanessa and her boss.
There seemed to be no way she could convince Thad that the rumors were false. Even worse, Thad seemed totally uninterested in trying to save their shaky marriage!
Vanessa's marriage to Thad had barely started when a car accident hospitalized Thad for several months. Now Thad was recovering, but their marriage wasn't. Just what had gone wrong with it?
Vanessa couldn't understand Thad's bitter, suspicious attitude toward her. Then she learned that he had believed the vicious rumors being spread about Vanessa and her boss.
There seemed to be no way she could convince Thad that the rumors were false. Even worse, Thad seemed totally uninterested in trying to save their shaky marriage!
January 10, 2018
Well that was an enjoyable read. I can say that the Hero was somewhat asshole because well, he got into an accident and was disfigured. He didn't have a job, because he was in the hospital for many months - almost a year I think - , and I think it un-manned him to see his wife work and provide for them in majority. Then he received anonymous letters that his wife was 'seeing/playing' with other men and one of the letters even mocked his scarred being. For months in the hospital doing nothing, those notes festered on him, fed on his in-capabilities to be a "husband", gnawed on him like little worms. It didn't help that his wife had a "reputation" before - a nasty reputation that was. At first he ignored them but then - well, an idle mind blah blah you know how it goes.
heroine was a strong character. She loved the Hero and wondered why he treated her coldly. It didn't help that she worked in a bank and her boss was her former lover. And that lover wanted her back badly.
You know the gist of the story from this, right?
They didn't talk about the issue and it was tearing both of them apart. I think they needed a counselor or sort. I liked that they appeared real to me - I mean, I really felt the Hero's darker emotions/thoughts and I also felt the heroine's struggle to fight for the relationship at the same time she needed to work (even if she didn't like her boss - and she would have quit but she was also practical and the jobs in their area were scarce and they needed the money since most of their money went to hospitalization and all).
What I did not like about this:
heroine was a strong character. She loved the Hero and wondered why he treated her coldly. It didn't help that she worked in a bank and her boss was her former lover. And that lover wanted her back badly.
You know the gist of the story from this, right?
They didn't talk about the issue and it was tearing both of them apart. I think they needed a counselor or sort. I liked that they appeared real to me - I mean, I really felt the Hero's darker emotions/thoughts and I also felt the heroine's struggle to fight for the relationship at the same time she needed to work (even if she didn't like her boss - and she would have quit but she was also practical and the jobs in their area were scarce and they needed the money since most of their money went to hospitalization and all).
What I did not like about this:
June 6, 2025
Something less than a good story!
Happens every time! When I find myself more interested in the secondary characters (in this case, sculptor Celine and her sailor husband Ritchie) rather than the main characters, (the H and h, Thad and Vanessa), it's because the story has something lacking.
In this case, it was taking what could have been a good story about a newlywed couple finding their way back to their life together after it was disrupted by a terrible car crash. It could have included rehabilitation, adjustments, insecurities and resentments, etc., (and also the interesting start of an artistic career), but instead it was a silly story about jealousy, ugly rumors, lack of trust, and a whole lot of stupidity!
Vanessa was as stupid in the present as she was in the past, when she let a creepy womanizer charm his way into her panties, and when she realized she was only one of many foolish young women who fell for his phony facade, she dumped him, humiliated and ashamed of herself (and disgusted with him), while he got revenge for his bruised ego by spreading rumors that she was the town tramp, causing nice guys to keep away as if she had the plague and creepy guys to come around hoping for some action.
The author doesn't make a lot of stuff clear, but apparently this all caused her to leave town, come back and get in with the wrong crowd, get involved in a drunk driving mess (she wasn't drunk, but everyone else was, so WHY WASN'T SHE DRIVING????), go away again, come back again and be escorted around town by Thad's older brother, Brett who felt like a protective older brother toward her. It's never really explained how all this came about, just that through him, she met Thad, fell for him but didn't want to, since he reminded her of her ex-lover, Ross.
But true love wins out in the end! (Of a reasonable facsimile thereof.)
And then the accident, which leaves Thad in the hospital for months!
The reason for Vanessa's present-day stupidity is that while Thad's in the hospital, she takes a job in a bank where Ross not only works, but he's the one who got her the job!!! It seems he's terribly sorry for his bad behavior, he didn't mean for all those nasty rumors to get started (even though started by his big mouth), in truth, he really did care for her more than any other woman, and won't she please forgive him????
And the birdbrain does!!! She actually believed him!!! Even when he drove her home from the Christmas office party (though why she went to the party instead of visiting her husband in the hospital I can't figure), and she realized he was a bit drunk (AGAIN SHE'S RIDING WITH A DRUNK DRIVER???? This girl should get the "Birdbrain of the Year" award!!) so she invited him in for coffee and he tried to rape her!!! Luckily, she got away, and he came to his senses, blamed the drinks, asked her forgiveness - yet again - left without the coffee, drove away, crashed into a tree and died!
NO SUCH LUCK!! Instead, he assures her back at work (yes, she still continued to work there, bless her little bird brain) that it'll never happen again, and she foolishly believes him, even accepting rides home from him, despite his more than once telling her he still wants her, still cares, etc., and noticing a kind of menacing look in his eyes when she rejects his advances!
And yet she still continues working at that bank!!! When this book was written, there was some talk already of sexual harassment at work, so she could at least have tried reporting it! And she should have told her husband, instead of letting him jump to his own foolish conclusions. She also should have looked for another job, in spite of them being hard to find where they lived. SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!!! Even when she hears about Ross getting the job that should have gone to someone else because that man's character had been maligned by vicious rumors, and she suspected those rumors had been started by Ross, SHE STILL KEEPS WORKING AT THE BANK, AND LETTING ROSS DRIVE HER HOME!!!!!
It takes him forcing kisses on her in the car outside her house to finally get through the birdseed in her head and FINALLY she quits! But she has to give notice and stay another week or two, naturally!
The silliness goes on, and Thad contributes more than his share, as he seems his old self one minute, a stranger the next, acts cruel and hurtful at times (including physically), wants her, then rejects her, makes violent love to her (if you can call it "love", or the "something less" that's repeated more than once) and then seems to hate both her and himself for it, then gets gentler again, then suspicious, then sarcastic, then drinks a bit too much, then seems suspicious of her and his brother (he was never convinced their relationship was only platonic), and has so many mood swings it seemed he either needed meds or was off them! He even insists they have sex outdoors by the pool at his parents' house, while they're inside watching TV!! He must have gone into a time warp, where he's still a horny teenager!! SO STUPID!!!
Even more stupid (Vanessa's not the only one with birdseed for grey matter), is Thad believing anonymous typewritten notes he kept getting, saying that Vanessa's been cheating on him with her bank boss, aka Ross!
Gee, I wonder who could have sent those???? Could it be Ross himself???? Naw, it couldn't be!!!!
OF COURSE IT WAS ROSS, and it took ditsy Vanessa long enough to figure that one out!!!
I won't even go into details about Ross's final crappy move on Vanessa, the confrontation by Thad, and the angst fest that they settled in bed (big surprise), I'll just say that this HEA leaves you with a letdown feeling, as you can't help but wonder if they'll end up divorced sometime down the road. The grounds: they were both TSTL!!!!
And Ross apparently gets away with all his nefarious actions! I was hoping for another jealous husband to put a few bullets below his belt, leaving him with a lovely soprano voice!
No such luck again!
If you skip this one, it's a decision you won't regret.
Happens every time! When I find myself more interested in the secondary characters (in this case, sculptor Celine and her sailor husband Ritchie) rather than the main characters, (the H and h, Thad and Vanessa), it's because the story has something lacking.
In this case, it was taking what could have been a good story about a newlywed couple finding their way back to their life together after it was disrupted by a terrible car crash. It could have included rehabilitation, adjustments, insecurities and resentments, etc., (and also the interesting start of an artistic career), but instead it was a silly story about jealousy, ugly rumors, lack of trust, and a whole lot of stupidity!
Vanessa was as stupid in the present as she was in the past, when she let a creepy womanizer charm his way into her panties, and when she realized she was only one of many foolish young women who fell for his phony facade, she dumped him, humiliated and ashamed of herself (and disgusted with him), while he got revenge for his bruised ego by spreading rumors that she was the town tramp, causing nice guys to keep away as if she had the plague and creepy guys to come around hoping for some action.
The author doesn't make a lot of stuff clear, but apparently this all caused her to leave town, come back and get in with the wrong crowd, get involved in a drunk driving mess (she wasn't drunk, but everyone else was, so WHY WASN'T SHE DRIVING????), go away again, come back again and be escorted around town by Thad's older brother, Brett who felt like a protective older brother toward her. It's never really explained how all this came about, just that through him, she met Thad, fell for him but didn't want to, since he reminded her of her ex-lover, Ross.
But true love wins out in the end! (Of a reasonable facsimile thereof.)
And then the accident, which leaves Thad in the hospital for months!
The reason for Vanessa's present-day stupidity is that while Thad's in the hospital, she takes a job in a bank where Ross not only works, but he's the one who got her the job!!! It seems he's terribly sorry for his bad behavior, he didn't mean for all those nasty rumors to get started (even though started by his big mouth), in truth, he really did care for her more than any other woman, and won't she please forgive him????
And the birdbrain does!!! She actually believed him!!! Even when he drove her home from the Christmas office party (though why she went to the party instead of visiting her husband in the hospital I can't figure), and she realized he was a bit drunk (AGAIN SHE'S RIDING WITH A DRUNK DRIVER???? This girl should get the "Birdbrain of the Year" award!!) so she invited him in for coffee and he tried to rape her!!! Luckily, she got away, and he came to his senses, blamed the drinks, asked her forgiveness - yet again - left without the coffee, drove away, crashed into a tree and died!
NO SUCH LUCK!! Instead, he assures her back at work (yes, she still continued to work there, bless her little bird brain) that it'll never happen again, and she foolishly believes him, even accepting rides home from him, despite his more than once telling her he still wants her, still cares, etc., and noticing a kind of menacing look in his eyes when she rejects his advances!
And yet she still continues working at that bank!!! When this book was written, there was some talk already of sexual harassment at work, so she could at least have tried reporting it! And she should have told her husband, instead of letting him jump to his own foolish conclusions. She also should have looked for another job, in spite of them being hard to find where they lived. SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!!! Even when she hears about Ross getting the job that should have gone to someone else because that man's character had been maligned by vicious rumors, and she suspected those rumors had been started by Ross, SHE STILL KEEPS WORKING AT THE BANK, AND LETTING ROSS DRIVE HER HOME!!!!!
It takes him forcing kisses on her in the car outside her house to finally get through the birdseed in her head and FINALLY she quits! But she has to give notice and stay another week or two, naturally!
The silliness goes on, and Thad contributes more than his share, as he seems his old self one minute, a stranger the next, acts cruel and hurtful at times (including physically), wants her, then rejects her, makes violent love to her (if you can call it "love", or the "something less" that's repeated more than once) and then seems to hate both her and himself for it, then gets gentler again, then suspicious, then sarcastic, then drinks a bit too much, then seems suspicious of her and his brother (he was never convinced their relationship was only platonic), and has so many mood swings it seemed he either needed meds or was off them! He even insists they have sex outdoors by the pool at his parents' house, while they're inside watching TV!! He must have gone into a time warp, where he's still a horny teenager!! SO STUPID!!!
Even more stupid (Vanessa's not the only one with birdseed for grey matter), is Thad believing anonymous typewritten notes he kept getting, saying that Vanessa's been cheating on him with her bank boss, aka Ross!
Gee, I wonder who could have sent those???? Could it be Ross himself???? Naw, it couldn't be!!!!
OF COURSE IT WAS ROSS, and it took ditsy Vanessa long enough to figure that one out!!!
I won't even go into details about Ross's final crappy move on Vanessa, the confrontation by Thad, and the angst fest that they settled in bed (big surprise), I'll just say that this HEA leaves you with a letdown feeling, as you can't help but wonder if they'll end up divorced sometime down the road. The grounds: they were both TSTL!!!!
And Ross apparently gets away with all his nefarious actions! I was hoping for another jealous husband to put a few bullets below his belt, leaving him with a lovely soprano voice!
No such luck again!
If you skip this one, it's a decision you won't regret.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2022
C in my A-Z romance readathon.
This was so so hard to rate, I swear I was vacillating between 5 stars and 1 star. Why? Well, as a romance it was quite possibly the saddest, bleakest, depressingest, most unromantic 'romance' I've ever read. It was suffocating, stressful and anxiety inducing. I felt nothing but grievance on behalf of the h who suffered injustice and cruelty at the hands of mean, jealous men. The HEA felt non-existant and her forgiveness disappointing and frustrating - like I just watched a friend go back to her abusive husband for the nth time and all I can do is lament her terrible life choices.
But DAMN I couldn't put it down! I read it in a single, breathless sitting and afterwards felt wrung out. I had to give it 5 stars in the end because as a book it was an outstanding if entirely stressful ride. Damn Daphne Clare, are all her books like this? Dare I read another lol.
This was so so hard to rate, I swear I was vacillating between 5 stars and 1 star. Why? Well, as a romance it was quite possibly the saddest, bleakest, depressingest, most unromantic 'romance' I've ever read. It was suffocating, stressful and anxiety inducing. I felt nothing but grievance on behalf of the h who suffered injustice and cruelty at the hands of mean, jealous men. The HEA felt non-existant and her forgiveness disappointing and frustrating - like I just watched a friend go back to her abusive husband for the nth time and all I can do is lament her terrible life choices.
But DAMN I couldn't put it down! I read it in a single, breathless sitting and afterwards felt wrung out. I had to give it 5 stars in the end because as a book it was an outstanding if entirely stressful ride. Damn Daphne Clare, are all her books like this? Dare I read another lol.
October 27, 2022
ohhhhKayyyy....this book was written ten years before I was born. I kept that in mind, knowing that the life and views back then are way different then today's.....
But omg I cringed every time the MC got abused and forced upon!! Even the story of how Vanessa and Thad got together I was like O__O. How was he any better than Ross?!?! He forced kissed her one too many times. And the present Thad was too abusive too, despite having a "valid" reason.
Contrary to most people's opinions, I actually really like miscommunication tropes which is why this book was a borderline 2/3 lol. My eyes were going through the pages fast when it all blew up at the end.
Usually in romance books, the reader is supposed to swoon for the male love interest, but I couldn't help but admire Vanessa's patience with all the terrible men in the book (minus Brett)....
I wish Vanessa really did go to her mother's house after it all went down. It would have made for a more dramatic (and believable) reunion/ending.
Again, this is a borderline 3--like, 2.9999999999999. lol.
But omg I cringed every time the MC got abused and forced upon!! Even the story of how Vanessa and Thad got together I was like O__O. How was he any better than Ross?!?! He forced kissed her one too many times. And the present Thad was too abusive too, despite having a "valid" reason.
Contrary to most people's opinions, I actually really like miscommunication tropes which is why this book was a borderline 2/3 lol. My eyes were going through the pages fast when it all blew up at the end.
Usually in romance books, the reader is supposed to swoon for the male love interest, but I couldn't help but admire Vanessa's patience with all the terrible men in the book (minus Brett)....
I wish Vanessa really did go to her mother's house after it all went down. It would have made for a more dramatic (and believable) reunion/ending.
Again, this is a borderline 3--like, 2.9999999999999. lol.
August 8, 2025
This was my first Harlequin Presents book and I absolutely hated it. How many times could this poor stupid girl get raped?!? I hated her boss and I hated her husband.
Vanessa and Thad just got married when they were involved in a car accident. Thad had to spend some time in the hospital and while he was there, received some anonymous letters accusing his wife of infidelity. So naturally, he doesn’t say anything to her and proceeds to punish her and abuse her.
This was infuriating and I hated every moment of this story. There was no romance, no kindness and no love. And the ending…ohmygosh, it was horrible. I don’t recommend this at all.
Vanessa and Thad just got married when they were involved in a car accident. Thad had to spend some time in the hospital and while he was there, received some anonymous letters accusing his wife of infidelity. So naturally, he doesn’t say anything to her and proceeds to punish her and abuse her.
This was infuriating and I hated every moment of this story. There was no romance, no kindness and no love. And the ending…ohmygosh, it was horrible. I don’t recommend this at all.
December 13, 2019
Not a nice story at all. I can understand why Thad had reason to be suspicious of Vanessa but his hot and cold attitude became annoying and he was starting to get really nasty. The ending was silly. There needed to be more about the letters.
May 23, 2023
Closest thing to a suspense in an HP. He was incredibly cruel and you felt this tension weave throughout the story. He is certainly on par with Hugo from Shattered Dreams and Leo from Betrayal in Bali.
May 12, 2017
I think this might be the first romance novel I have read that has a jerk as the love interest and a conniving male instigating problems!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2021
It was a good book.
February 22, 2024
This book is depressing and the heroine can't be that naive.
April 11, 2024
Compelling, depressing, well written, but gloomy in the extreme... the nicest part is the attractive cover. None of them are particularly likeable and I had to force myself to finish it.
February 8, 2016
I didn't like this at all. the storyline had so much appeal but I am disappointed with the way this story went. both hero n heroine r stupid. though hero has much more valid reasons to doubt heroine, heroine ranks highest in stupidity. she does everything tat makes others to doubt her. she has already had a bad case of gossiping done about her but she still goes along with the same villain trusting him and this same villain made her life he'll in the past. so she was definitely TSTL and I hated her!!
November 20, 2014
This was one of those ones where the hero hurts the heroines feelings a lot and she's way confused about why he's being such a bastard. Always entertaining.
November 11, 2017
Modern
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