The Girl from Rome

by Nan Asquith

Jane had had a wonderful summer in Rome with Gino - but now, unhappily, it was all over. Would it help to solve her problems if she accepted Vance Morley's invitation to go with him to Corfu - and its unusual condition?

Genres: Harlequin Romance

188 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1973

About the author

Nan Asquith and Susannah Broome are pseudonyms for Nancy Evelyn Pattinson.

Nancy Evelyn Pattinson, the author of 20 or so romantic novels, settled in Harpenden, England after WWII and stayed there until shortly before her death in the 1970's.

Reviews

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, it seems like such a trend in the books I'm reading -- an EOC to fob off the OW, who is a prominent figure in the H's life. The h is nice, the OW is tiresome but more snarky than insidious for the most part. The OM is exactly the type to really threaten the H, so that provides some balance.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

or, Jane is Literally a Car Wreck

We start with lots of set up about Jane and her boring tour guide job, her infatuation with Italian Stereotype Gino and her Meet Cute with our hero, Vance. A setback with Gino sends Jane running away from Rome with Vance. Where she promptly steals his car and immediately crashes it into a stone wall in her bid to show Vance how “mature” and “reliable” she is.

Does Vance sue this brat like a normal human would? No, no he does not. He puts idiot Jane into a private hospital where he watches over her every day and pays her (one guesses) not inconsiderable medical bills. Sigh. In payment, he asks Jane to go to Corfu with him and enter into a fake engagement for reasons he refuses to share with her. We all know this is going to come back and bite him on the ass.

In Corfu we meet Vance’s sickly brother Julian and Julian’s beautiful wife Anthea, our Ineffectual OW. [A sidenote about Anthea: she has several chances to be a truly epic OW – there are parapets to push Jane off of, rough waves to drown her in, etc. Sadly, Anthea takes advantage of none of these opportunities, preferring to be whiney and boring instead. Disappointing.] Anyway, there are clearly undercurrents going on here but again Vance refuses to use his words, flouncing off in a huff whenever Jane dares to say anything. Jane eventually learns from Julian that Anthea & Vance had been engaged but when Vance gave up his lucrative job in the family business to be a writer Anthea suddenly found herself attracted to the richer brother. Standard OW move.

Then we have the well-timed return of Gino the Italian Caricature to make Vance huffy and Anthea suspicious. Anthea then tells Jane that she and Vance were “together” on a recent trip to Athens and that they’re just waiting for Julian to get stronger before they announce their intentions to be together forEVAH! Anthea slyly suggests that Jane leave Corfu to make everyone more comfortable. Poor dumb bunny Jane falls for it hook, line and sinker and decides she’s going to run away. Again. But, in a (not really) dramatic car chase scene, Vance overtakes Jane’s getaway taxi for rushed and not-very-convincing ILYs and marriage proposal. Hopefully they won’t see much of Julian & Anthea because that could make for some truly uncomfortable Christmas dinners.

At least the descriptions of Corfu were lovely and all those fun 1970s fashion references (so many pantsuits!) made this otherwise lackluster entry a real hoot. I do hope these two learned some better communication skills, though.