From the first moment she saw him, Candy Neilson had been attracted to Justin Richmond. But she knew he wasn't the right man for her. He was, after all, her father's business rival. And worse, one of the newspapers he owned as threatening to print information that would ruin her family.
Still, he was the only one who could help her, and she had to try to bargain with him. Even if that meant considering his ludicrous marriage proposal ... or accepting it.
Jenny Haddon was born in London, England, where she always returns after the travels that she loves. When she was small, her mother couldn't bear reading aloud, so her mother taught her to read at an appallingly precocious age. She wrote her first book with her own illustrations at the age of four but was in her 20s before she produced her first romance as Sophie Weston.
She studied English Language and Literature at university. Choosing a career was a major problem. It was not so much that she didn't know what she wanted to do, as that she wanted to do everything. So she filed and photocopied and experimented. She worked as consultant at the Bank of England and all the time she drew on her experiences to create her Mills & Boon books. She edited press releases for a Latin American embassy in London (The Latin Afffair); lectured in the Arabian Gulf (The Sheikh's Bride); waitressed in Paris (Midnight Wedding); and made herself hated by getting under people's feet asking stupid questions under the grand title of consultant all over the world (The Millionaire's Daughter). She also is an active member of the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association's Committee, and was its twenty-three Chairman (2005-2007).
Jenny has one house, three cats, and about a million books. She writes compulsively, Scottish dances poorly, grows more plants than she has room for, and makes a mean meringue.
Can a character gaslight herself? Asking for the heroine in this one. She thinks everyone is manipulating her.
Her mother who is trying to stay married to the heroine’s rich, philandering father. The OM who runs a homeless shelter and wants the heroine’s money. The hero who is smitten at first sight.
Yes, the characters all want something from the heroine but they are very straightforward in their motivations. It’s the heroine who is continually reading motivations into the character’s words and actions and tying herself into knots. She thinks And thinks And thinks And doesn’t say anything.
Words are stuck in her throat, lodged in the ice in her stomach, jammed between the roaring of her ears.
And we, lucky readers, get a Magic School Bus tour into this neurotic mind.
Finally, the page count requires the heroine to speak to the hero and let him know what’s really going on in her crazy head space. He’s good guy and is able to love her anyway. Me, I’m not that patient.
Possible trigger: Heroine doesn't like to be touched some of the time and other times she does. There are vague references to a guy who "mauled" her on a long ago date. Hero eventually does lose his patience with the sexless marriage - the heroine is afraid, but eventually joins in with enthusiasm.
Hea näide sellest, miks mitte lugeda raamatuid, mille keegi on ära visanud (koridorri naabritele jätnud). Ei saanud lõpuni aru, kas oli väga halb raamat või väga halb tõlge. Ilmselt mõlemat.
I like this partly for excellent characters, good plot, partly because h figures out what she needs to do and does it. It takes her a while to realize she can't play monkey in the middle with her feuding parents, cannot be her mom's support/crutch, must be more honest with H. He notes that she never lies but believes she lets him fool himself, is misleading, actually not so.
She finally sees through the OM as a spoiled brat who wants groupies, not a man who will ever want her for herself. She doesn't believe H loves her. He never says so and lets her alone physically and she's very mixed up. H would have been better off to have the occasional touching and kissing, even if it needed to be without passion, because otherwise poor h is left hanging. She's in a MOC that she doesn't want to be in and doesn't know how to get out of it, change it to a real marriage.
H finally gets fed up when he sees OM kiss her and does not see her push him away and tell him off, forcibly seduces her, still doesn’t break through.
the heroine was so dumb n childish she annoyed me like hell !! the hero clearly fell in love wid her appearance. n not only dat, he actually raped her. how can u have sexual feelings 4 such a child lol !? as it is she was already traumatised by a man tom who tried 2 force her. so after hero raped her, i'd assumed she would be devastated. instead she woke up n realised dat she was in love wid him!? laughable, i simply hated the book..so ridiculous was it
TITULO: EXTRAÑA PROPOSICION TITULO ORIGINAL: No provocation GENERO: CONTEMPORANEA ROMANTICA RESUMEN: Para salvar la reputación de sus padres, Candy tuvo que aceptar la propuesta matrimonial que Justin le hizo. Ella no tenía alternativa, pero podía negociar los términos bajo los cuales se casarían. Sabía que él no la amaba, por eso no entendía por qué Justin la obligó a prometerle que no le provocaría cuando estuvieran casados.
From the first moment she saw him, Candy Neilson had been attracted to Justin Richmond. But she knew he wasn't the right man for her. He was, after all, her father's business rival. And worse, one of the newspapers he owned as threatening to print information that would ruin her family.
Still, he was the only one who could help her, and she had to try to bargain with him. Even if that meant considering his ludicrous marriage proposal ... or accepting it.