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Run for Your Love
He was the man of her dreams!
Fortunately Olivia was not deterred by her first dramatic encounter with the man at the lonely Yorkshire farmhouse. She had returned to nurse him -- and stayed to marry him.
She was amazed, later, to learn that her enigmatic husband was the man she had always idolized from afar -- the famous concert pianist, Macaire Connal, whose career had been ruined by an accident.
Was her love for him strong enough to help him to happiness? Or would she lose out to Macarie's ex-fiancee who was determined to break up the marriage?
Fortunately Olivia was not deterred by her first dramatic encounter with the man at the lonely Yorkshire farmhouse. She had returned to nurse him -- and stayed to marry him.
She was amazed, later, to learn that her enigmatic husband was the man she had always idolized from afar -- the famous concert pianist, Macaire Connal, whose career had been ruined by an accident.
Was her love for him strong enough to help him to happiness? Or would she lose out to Macarie's ex-fiancee who was determined to break up the marriage?
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
8 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Lilian Peake
132 books69 followersLilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.
Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.
Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.
Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.
Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 22, 2017
When I started to read this book, never expected to come across a h such as Olivia. She is sweet, adorable, openly affectionate, emotionally fearless and goes wherever her heart leads. When she decides to dig in her heels n take on the ow she does just that n comes out tops. She has definitely found a place in ‘my most favoritest hs evaa’ list. No wonder the H dint know what hit him.. ☺
A beautiful heartwarming story made almost perfect bcuz of an unforgettable h and a delicious brooding surly H who has the tortured maestro off to a tee. With a suitably evil ow doing her stuff well aided by her sidekick - the H’s vile agent, a good plot, some melodrama and a lovable dog. Only the ending and some events leading up to it could have been done better but still simply loved this book.
I think I have underestimated LP as a romance writer. She totally disarmed me with this emotionally satisfying read.
A beautiful heartwarming story made almost perfect bcuz of an unforgettable h and a delicious brooding surly H who has the tortured maestro off to a tee. With a suitably evil ow doing her stuff well aided by her sidekick - the H’s vile agent, a good plot, some melodrama and a lovable dog. Only the ending and some events leading up to it could have been done better but still simply loved this book.
I think I have underestimated LP as a romance writer. She totally disarmed me with this emotionally satisfying read.
May 6, 2016
A solid old skool Harley that would have been so much better with a good throw down between the sweet and sassy h and the evil OW as well as a better or some grovel from the H.
Essentially, Olivia is on a vacation after her aunt dies and wanders in out of the mist, literally, to cranky, young hermit Mac's house. Although his dog loves her, Mac is a big meanie so she leaves. However, with no place to go and drawn to both man and dog, Olivia goes back. Mac proposes the next day. Old skool remember.
In need of a witness, luckily or unluckily it happens to be a reporter who recognizes Mac as a pianist who went off the rails after his opera singer fiancee dumped him, crashed, and damaged his arm to the point he can't play any more. Turns out he was Olivia's idol. The news hits the papers and Mac's beloved self-imposed anonymous exile is over.
Fade to black sex on the honeymoon.
All hell breaks out loose when Mac's cruel and smarmy manager turns up and viciously wants him to dump little ole Olivia. The couple end back at Mac's manor and the evil OW shows up. Whew. Olivia really needed to TAKE HER DOOWWWWWNNN.
Olivia leaves in order to give Mac what she thinks he wants: an opportunity with his career and one of the biggest bitches in Harley-Land.
Sturm und drang, a weak showing of an OM, miscommunication, and arm-twisting ensues.
This could easily have been a 4 star if Mac had manned up and decked his loser of a manager, but more importantly had shown Olivia how much he loved and needed her. The author is heading in that direction but doesn't really connect the dots. As another reviewer stated, it looks as if he will continue to take her for granted. Olivia is a very sweet and more than just a little quirky heroine. She definitely leaps before looking. She's made for a tortured hero who will worship her quirky emotional ways. At least the dog adores her.
Another half star deducted for a poor title. Usually the old school Harley's nail it. This one should have been Out of the Mist or something similar as much is made several times how the h came to the H out of the mist.
Essentially, Olivia is on a vacation after her aunt dies and wanders in out of the mist, literally, to cranky, young hermit Mac's house. Although his dog loves her, Mac is a big meanie so she leaves. However, with no place to go and drawn to both man and dog, Olivia goes back. Mac proposes the next day. Old skool remember.
In need of a witness, luckily or unluckily it happens to be a reporter who recognizes Mac as a pianist who went off the rails after his opera singer fiancee dumped him, crashed, and damaged his arm to the point he can't play any more. Turns out he was Olivia's idol. The news hits the papers and Mac's beloved self-imposed anonymous exile is over.
Fade to black sex on the honeymoon.
All hell breaks out loose when Mac's cruel and smarmy manager turns up and viciously wants him to dump little ole Olivia. The couple end back at Mac's manor and the evil OW shows up. Whew. Olivia really needed to TAKE HER DOOWWWWWNNN.
Olivia leaves in order to give Mac what she thinks he wants: an opportunity with his career and one of the biggest bitches in Harley-Land.
Sturm und drang, a weak showing of an OM, miscommunication, and arm-twisting ensues.
This could easily have been a 4 star if Mac had manned up and decked his loser of a manager, but more importantly had shown Olivia how much he loved and needed her. The author is heading in that direction but doesn't really connect the dots. As another reviewer stated, it looks as if he will continue to take her for granted. Olivia is a very sweet and more than just a little quirky heroine. She definitely leaps before looking. She's made for a tortured hero who will worship her quirky emotional ways. At least the dog adores her.
Another half star deducted for a poor title. Usually the old school Harley's nail it. This one should have been Out of the Mist or something similar as much is made several times how the h came to the H out of the mist.
August 28, 2020
"Run for Your Love" is the story of Olivia and Connal.
Well. The book is this very striving, passionate romance between a determined heroine and a EXTREMELY temperamental artist. She gets stranded with him, and starts falling in love with his angry, rude self and his really cute dog. He then abruptly proposes marriage, and she agrees, only to realize during the wedding that he's her favorite pianist. He had a public breakup followed by a tragic accident, and disappeared from the limelight. She now spends all her time coaxing him to play again, while he has temper tantrums and aggressive rebuttals. Ofcourse, there's some OW/OM/creepy agent drama, media plays a helpful as well as a destructive role, their love is filled with the heroine doing all the trying and the hero being like "fine, phew, guess I love you because you tolerate me".
Very different and a good one time read. Will leave you frustrated in parts, but the heroine just makes you root for her (she's a lost in love case)
Safe
3/5
Well. The book is this very striving, passionate romance between a determined heroine and a EXTREMELY temperamental artist. She gets stranded with him, and starts falling in love with his angry, rude self and his really cute dog. He then abruptly proposes marriage, and she agrees, only to realize during the wedding that he's her favorite pianist. He had a public breakup followed by a tragic accident, and disappeared from the limelight. She now spends all her time coaxing him to play again, while he has temper tantrums and aggressive rebuttals. Ofcourse, there's some OW/OM/creepy agent drama, media plays a helpful as well as a destructive role, their love is filled with the heroine doing all the trying and the hero being like "fine, phew, guess I love you because you tolerate me".
Very different and a good one time read. Will leave you frustrated in parts, but the heroine just makes you root for her (she's a lost in love case)
Safe
3/5
January 31, 2016
I don't get all the rave reviews for this one. I must have read a different book. Don't get me wrong, I love a dysfunctional couple as much as the next person, but these two just got on my nerves.
Maybe I'm just too simplistic, and missed the greater cause, but this heroine had "kick-me" taped onto her back and the hero obliged…. repeatedly. Not my idea of romance.
Maybe I'm just too simplistic, and missed the greater cause, but this heroine had "kick-me" taped onto her back and the hero obliged…. repeatedly. Not my idea of romance.
August 22, 2014
Heroine Olivia has an accident with her car. She gets stranded ends up in a farmhouse where she meets a brooding unkept hermit. He is sick, she nurses him, they get married.
Angst ensues when she finds out that her husband is not a poor hermit but a super famous talented pianist whose career was ruined by an accident.
Olivia is determined to make Mac re establish his career again and thus make him happy but Mac thinks all she feels for him is hero worship and is dazzled by his fame and money. Also his PR team and his evil ex-fiancee use all kinds of machinations to break up their marriage.
Super angsty enjoyable read. Olivia didn't run away from her love she fought for Mac with all her strength and she fought dirty. Loved her!
Angst ensues when she finds out that her husband is not a poor hermit but a super famous talented pianist whose career was ruined by an accident.
Olivia is determined to make Mac re establish his career again and thus make him happy but Mac thinks all she feels for him is hero worship and is dazzled by his fame and money. Also his PR team and his evil ex-fiancee use all kinds of machinations to break up their marriage.
Super angsty enjoyable read. Olivia didn't run away from her love she fought for Mac with all her strength and she fought dirty. Loved her!
May 31, 2018
He put her through hell, never trusted her, was rough with her, humiliated her, and never groveled. She chased after him and had no self-respect.
November 4, 2024
So much drama in this one… lots of fun manhandling scenes and dubcon…
Unfortunately, these two can’t stop cutting up at each other and I didn’t really see a resolution with any of their issues.
Unfortunately, these two can’t stop cutting up at each other and I didn’t really see a resolution with any of their issues.
July 28, 2015
I wish I could give this book the gif-filled review that it deserves, but unfortunately I can't because I'm travelling and don't have a PC with me.
For now, let this be sufficient -
I loved this book. Loved, loved, LOVED.
Review to come.
For now, let this be sufficient -
I loved this book. Loved, loved, LOVED.
Review to come.
July 4, 2023
H could use some exercise for his knees, he needs to crawl to ask forgiveness from h for the hell he and his cronies put her into. I love the angst for it gave me the emotional thrills i seek from my shelves, but some part was not right and gave me the cringe hence the lost of 2 stars.
Read
May 13, 2016I am not sure how to rate this book. I liked the book for like first 65% of it but then I realized that there would not be a good enough explanation for the Mac's behavior and that Olivia will continue to be a doormat and not have any dignity at all. I had such high hopes for this book ughhhh.
April 23, 2019
He was the man of her dreams!
Fortunately Olivia was not deterred by her first dramatic encounter with the man at the lonely Yorkshire farmhouse. She had returned to nurse him -- and stayed to marry him.
She was amazed, later, to learn that her enigmatic husband was the man she had always idolized from afar -- the famous concert pianist, Macaire Connal, whose career had been ruined by an accident.
Was her love for him strong enough to help him to happiness? Or would she lose out to Macarie's ex-fiancee who was determined to break up the marriage?
Fortunately Olivia was not deterred by her first dramatic encounter with the man at the lonely Yorkshire farmhouse. She had returned to nurse him -- and stayed to marry him.
She was amazed, later, to learn that her enigmatic husband was the man she had always idolized from afar -- the famous concert pianist, Macaire Connal, whose career had been ruined by an accident.
Was her love for him strong enough to help him to happiness? Or would she lose out to Macarie's ex-fiancee who was determined to break up the marriage?
October 15, 2018
I have come the conclusion that I’m not a fan of Lilian Peake’s work. I wish she wrote stronger heroines.
Olivia’s car runs out of gas in the middle of the country on a dark, rainy night. In her search for he finds a run down farm house, the only place she can ask for help.
There she meets Mac. A cantankerous, mean spirited, man who refuses to give her shelter. He paints himself as a murdering, rapist in an attempt to scare her away. Olivia pressures him into letting her stay.
Mac is ill and Olivia takes it upon herself to care of him while he is ill. When he is lucid again, he proposes to her and she accepts. They marry within three days of meeting each other.
What he didn’t tell her is that he is a world renowned concert pianist. A man in hiding from the world after his fiancée ran off with another man three days before the wedding, and a car accident shortly after she ran off damaged his left arm leaving him in pain and unable to play without intense physio. She learns who he is as they were saying their vows.
What she didn’t tell him is that she wasn’t the poor, unemployed waif he assumed she was. She was left a healthy insurance and a home of her own by her aunt who recently passed away. He learns all the details as the story unfolds and calls her a liar.
Their marriage made the papers. They return to his life where his slimy manager and he s ex-fiancé is waiting. The vileness of these two cannot be understated. They were slimy, oily and nasty.
There is a battle to fight when the vile twosome comes to Mac’s home with threats of blackmail. Instead of holding her ground and fighting, Olivia runs away and Mac lets her. He didn’t fight for her either.
That pissed me off. Why walk away when the man is yours. His ring on your finger gives you the right to be as nasty as you need to be to protect your man.
The book continues on with the H and h sniping at each other. The H being an ass towards the h. And ends with a weak ass reunion. It started out so promising and failed me so badly.
I don’t like Lilian Peale books. They all do the same thing.
Olivia’s car runs out of gas in the middle of the country on a dark, rainy night. In her search for he finds a run down farm house, the only place she can ask for help.
There she meets Mac. A cantankerous, mean spirited, man who refuses to give her shelter. He paints himself as a murdering, rapist in an attempt to scare her away. Olivia pressures him into letting her stay.
Mac is ill and Olivia takes it upon herself to care of him while he is ill. When he is lucid again, he proposes to her and she accepts. They marry within three days of meeting each other.
What he didn’t tell her is that he is a world renowned concert pianist. A man in hiding from the world after his fiancée ran off with another man three days before the wedding, and a car accident shortly after she ran off damaged his left arm leaving him in pain and unable to play without intense physio. She learns who he is as they were saying their vows.
What she didn’t tell him is that she wasn’t the poor, unemployed waif he assumed she was. She was left a healthy insurance and a home of her own by her aunt who recently passed away. He learns all the details as the story unfolds and calls her a liar.
Their marriage made the papers. They return to his life where his slimy manager and he s ex-fiancé is waiting. The vileness of these two cannot be understated. They were slimy, oily and nasty.
There is a battle to fight when the vile twosome comes to Mac’s home with threats of blackmail. Instead of holding her ground and fighting, Olivia runs away and Mac lets her. He didn’t fight for her either.
That pissed me off. Why walk away when the man is yours. His ring on your finger gives you the right to be as nasty as you need to be to protect your man.
The book continues on with the H and h sniping at each other. The H being an ass towards the h. And ends with a weak ass reunion. It started out so promising and failed me so badly.
I don’t like Lilian Peale books. They all do the same thing.
August 17, 2018
It's a bit insane to me how much the hero pushes the heroine away only to let her know in the end that he loved her all along.
Um, okay? She loves you too though? Happily ever after is within your grasp dude?
The hero keeps acting like the heroine is some lying monster but she had good reasons for hiding things from the hero, primary among them being his utter lack of interest in her (even though it was love at first sight for him).
I get that he had trust issues though but I felt like he put our heroine through a lot. If she weren't a bright young girl and instead acted like some silly, desperate doormat I would have hated the book. Her personality saved it for me.
I don't know why I keep reading books from this author. But she does have really good hidden gems among the confusing pile of nonsense hero's who treat the women like scum.
Um, okay? She loves you too though? Happily ever after is within your grasp dude?
The hero keeps acting like the heroine is some lying monster but she had good reasons for hiding things from the hero, primary among them being his utter lack of interest in her (even though it was love at first sight for him).
I get that he had trust issues though but I felt like he put our heroine through a lot. If she weren't a bright young girl and instead acted like some silly, desperate doormat I would have hated the book. Her personality saved it for me.
I don't know why I keep reading books from this author. But she does have really good hidden gems among the confusing pile of nonsense hero's who treat the women like scum.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2021
The heroine didn’t make sense to me at all with her childish behavior. She married a man after knowing him only few days. Short after wedding she expected his love declaration and in stead of fighting for her husband she ran away. She was clingy and nagging. I was glad that she wasn’t that young but we learn that she was very sheltered and that explains why she was so naive.
The story was not believable. The hand also magically healed.
The story was not believable. The hand also magically healed.
November 4, 2015
Olivia went from a caretaker(to aunt) straight into a codependent marriage with the hero. Therefore her character lacked depth; a nagging, superficial, desperate, florence nightingale wife.
December 30, 2025
3.8 stars. Hmm, most of this story was great, v gripping read and full of passion and heightened emotion and well told, with a h who was likable at first and a brooding H who is haunted by his demons. But the storytelling had the heroine behave is some ways that made her seem TSTL, ugh, also the ending was executed very poorly, which meant that the emotional payoff just wasnt there. The way the h behaved made her seem scatty and stupid sometimes which was odd because in other ways she was admirable and determined and a devoted loving person. Also, the H and h were a bit torrid and horrid in their arguments like those screaming fit, crazy, fighting arguments you see on tv that make you roll your eyes because it makes the couple look a bit trashy. erm, i suppose that was supposed to look like hot passion back in the days?
On the plus side it was gripping and page turning and had some great angsty tropes with the H believing the h is a golddigger but marrying her because he needs a woman in his life, some hot passion even if it was closed door (pity because open door was what this book needed), and it did you lots of heightened emotions for most of it, with us rooting for the couple to get together and absolutely hating the OW who was a really nasty piece of work, utterly vindictive selfish biatch.
Also worth noting that while i gave this book 4 stars and enjoyed some of the ride the first time, i dont think i would want to reread this book because the payoff wasnt memorable or satisfying.
So anyway, this is the one where 26 yr old h Olivia has just spent 10 years nursing a sick aunt who recently died and left olivia a decent inheritance. finally free, she decides to take a roadtrip up to the moors in england in April, but then runs out of petrol in the middle of nowhere with a nasty mist rolling in. She is cold and afraid and miles from help. She walks until she reaches an old farmhouse, and inside she finds the H, an angry shabby unkempt man with an overgrown beard who snarls at her to go away. He says his name is Mac. He has a large dog who is very friendly and seems to be begging Olivia for her help. She notices the man is coughing a lot and is very sick in his freezing house. She begs him to give her shelter and food because she is soaked and freezing and tried, but he throws her out. She leaves in the miserable rain, but then he sends his dog after her to fetch her back.
When she come sback, he is still resentful but he doesnt throw her out. He does however say some threatening things, trying to scare her off. She stays becuase she has nowhere to go in this terrible weather. She cleans the awful mess up and he lets her feed herself, but refuses he offers of trying to feed him and urging him to get in bed as he is clealry about to drop dead of the flu. The next morning, he tells her to leave.
She walks to the village miles away, but noone can help her because all the local farmers have their own work to cope with in a mist and cant tow her car for her. The b&B owners have the flu and cant offer her shelter. she walks back towards her car. Passing the man's farmhouse, she notices the dog waiting for her at the end of the drive as if he needs her help, so she goes to the farmhous. The manis now very ill. He is also threatening again, even warning her that he might be a murderer for all she knows and almost choking her. Even so, shae stays, drawn to him for some reason.
She sleeps int he freezing downstairs room again as he has the only bed in the place. in the middle of the night, she check on him and he has a high fever and is v sick. She forces meds down his throat and tries to cool him with a flannel, and even sleeps next to him, too scared to leave him in case he worsens int he night. in his delerium, he begs her not to leave and says he was afraid that she would never come back and he had lost her for good. She has pieced together from stuff he said about hating women and women being treacherous that some woman must have broken his heart and she thinks he must love that other woman to be calling for her in his delirium.
SPOILERS AHEAD
They had sort of bonded a bit before he got sick that night, and she had inadvertently revealed that she was a virgin. So in the morning, when he proposes marriage, she thinks he wants her for her body and proposed because marriage is the only way to get her. That he has been lonely and wants a wife for his physical needs. But she has realised she is in love with him, is hugely drawn to him for an inexplicable reason etc. He kisses her to prove how attracted she is to him and to say they wont regret marrying. She agrees.
This felt a bit rushed to me and a bit confusing as to why she would feel so strongly for him, but it was also well told enough for me to think that some girl, though she is 26, she really is still stuck at age 16 since that's the age she started nursing her aunt and stopped having a life, thus maybe she got carried away by this brooding big man and drawn in by lust etc. it kind of makes sense.
All she knows about his at this point is that he had an injure left arm that is too painful for him to use due to a car crash after which his love abandoned him, and that he has a secret locked room, and that supposedly he is all alone in the world and poor. All he knows about her is that her aunt died after she had nursed her for ten years, that she is supposedly poor, and that she is a major fan of some famous concert pianist guys whose poster she's had pinned up in her bedroom for years. that she adores his classical music.
So anyway, they marry within days. At the wedding, they have a couple of strangers as witnesses and just themselves. She hears his full name at the ceremony and realises HE IS the famous pianist she's had a huge crush on! She has the shock of her life.
They go home for their wedding night, but they get all spatty again. She cant shut her mouth about him getting treatment for his arm so he can be a pianist again. She just wont shut up about it even when he tells her he doesnt want to talk aboutit. This really started to annoy me. Respect the guy's boundaries and stop harping on about how he owes his music to the world, blah. Anyway, he then accises her of subconsciously recognising him beforehand and only marrying him for his success and money. Tot he extent that he shaves his beard off for their wedding night and he taunts her that he did is so she can have her fantasy of a dream man in her bed that night. Woah. Despite this. she still goes to bed with him Fade to black.
In the morning, the local post office woman arrives all excited with their wedding photos and some newspapers - the news has broken globally that the super famous pianist has married again. He is furious. he just wants peace and quiet and now the press is going to hound him.
Anyway, tese two keep having bouts of spanniness and attraction. Theirs is rarely a peaceful relationship. Hes eems determined to push her away, but when she says she could walk out if she wanted, he gets angry and tells her to eff off. Then she runs after him and begs him that she would never leave him. I guess his abandonment complex must be pandered to but its not told in a great way and makes the heroine seem a bit pathetic and needy.
Anyway, some of the heroines actions at this point annoyed me hugely. Her internal dialogue was a smart caring strong woman, and yet randomly her behaviour and actions were needy or juvenile and truly stupid. Examples:
(1) First harping on about wanting him to play music again without caring what he wanted.
(2) Secondly, demanding he take her with him when he wanted to be alone on his walks to think. Harping on even after he explained himself. Get over yourself you stupid, needy whiny biatch. Let the man be alone to think.
(3) He's told her he doesn’t trust women. So when he leaves his key to his private room in the lock, she could prove she is trustworthy by leaving his private things alone until he invites her to see. But no, she goes in to invade his privacy because she wants to. Yuck. No self control. And utterly stupid thing to do when you know your man has trust issues.
(4) Man, she becomes needy and whiny at points, as if, just because theyve married, all of a sudden everything has to be her way and they have to behave like one unit. Biatch, he's only known you two minutes. This aint no true love match. Trust must be built. Pace your fudging self!
(5) Also, I didn’t like their violence towards once another. He sometimes lashed out with grabbing her throat or seizing her. She lashed out by throwing a record at him that sliced him. Yuck.
(6) She is so fudging stupid that when they move back to his main home for privacy reasons, she tells the housekeeper private things about how they met that the housekeeper then tells the press. Also, towards the end of the book, after she and Mac have broken up, she wants to see Mac again and doesnt know where he is so she and goes to his concert to speak to him, but she takes Daniel--the man who Mac thinks is her lover!--to an intended reconciliations with her hubby. wtf, are you stupid, woman? and she allows the press to photograph her and daniel together. How stupid can she be?
But anyway, i am skipping ahead. His public relations manager turns up. (Another gripe is why didnt Mac fire this interfering nasty snake of a man?) The guy is demanding that Mac fix up his arm so he can play again and make more sales, and that mac must divorce his nobody of a wife because Mac's former fiancee, the beautiful opera singer, is now free to bein a relationship again and she wants Mac back and it will be a better story for the press to have the beauty on his arm.
Mac tells the guy to get lost, and then he takes Olivia across country to his big grand house full of rich people stuff, and then taunts her about how lucky she is to have married a rich man, being the greedy grasper that she is. WTF dude.
Then most of the story conflict comes form the sleazy media manager bringing the OW opera diva to Mac's house to demand Mac must get together with her again or else she will go to the press and ruin Mac by releasing a story of how he mistreated his wife when they met and how he raped his wife etc. (The truth was he threatened her with rape to scare her off, and yes he did throw her out in awful weather in the moors.) Anyway, Olivia cant bear for his career and his legend to be thus tarnished, esp with Mac blowing so hot and cold on her, and esp because she thinks Mac must still deep down be in love with the opera diva, so she slings some words at the diva, but she also storms out and leaves Mac. He grabs her but she yanks herself away, and he cant stop her because of his injured painful arm.
So anyway, she drives to her own home that he aunt left her. There she meets Daniel, the guy who wanted to marry her (Mac knows about him.) Daniel is the son of her late aunt's best friend and is used to having the run of the house because he has a darkroom he uses in their for his photography hobby and Olivia still lets him come and go as he pleases to use the darkroom. The guy is a sulky mummy's boy who is whiney about her getting married, but no serious threat to her marriage. She thinks of him more as a friend.
Two months pass during which she misses Mac. The press call her but he insists that she and Mac are not broken up and that he is recuperating for his arm. But then media starts publishing stories about Mac spending time with the opera diva and photos of them spending time together come out. She tells herself the photos are staged publicity shots.
Suddenly one day, she is having a bath when she hears a knock downstairs and she hears Daniel open the door and then men's voices. Then footsteps. She shrieks out in dismay, thinking Daniel is coming into the bathroom, which she never bothered to lock apparently because he would never invade her privacy like that. But it is Mac who storms in. His arm is mostly fixed. He has spent these months finally getting the treatment he needed. He accuses her of having an affair with Daniel and of waiting for Daniel to share the bath with her. He carries her to her bedroom and makes angry love to her. Afterwards he says he came to take her home, but since she is a lying biatch who really is with her lover and shacked up in his house, he doesnt want her any more. She says this is her house and Daniel is only here to use the darkroom. He doesnt believe her about Daniel, but he is angry she never told him her aunt had left her a big house and money. Says she let him believe she is poor, and what other lies has she told. He storms out.
ENDING SPOILERS
The ending is a hot mess and I wish it had been better executed. She decides to go find Mac and beg him to take her back, but she doesnt know where he is so she must go to his first come-back concert to try to talk to him. What sort of moron wanting to reconcile with her hubby would take Daniel there with her? Apparently she takes him for moral support. She does manage to get in to speak to Daniel, but it blows up in her face when she tells him she came alone, but then the opera diva walks in and says she is lying and that Daniel is waiting outside the room. Plus she and Daniel get photographed and the press spins a story about how she is desperately trying to win Mac back after he's spurned her for the opera diva, and that she has resorted to limping into the arms of another man for comfort.
Also, the opera diva phones her to threaten her to stay away from Mac or else she will release the lies about him being a rapist to ruin him. She says she doesnt love daniel, but she wants him back for the publicity and she doesnt care if she ruins his career, because she will have her own money and not reply on his. Evil cow.
What is Olivia's solution to this mess? Apparently her solution is to go back to the farmhouse on the moors and renovate it and live there? Erm, how is that a solution to anything? How is that gona win your man back? The only person she knows there is the journalist who was a witness at her wedding who leaked the story to the press about where Mac is. So she phones him and asks for his help to find workers to make the house fit to live in. His dad can do it, he says. In the meantime, she suddenly decides to give the true story of how she met mac to him so that she can preempt any lies that the opera diva might try to release to the press. She wants to nullify the diva's ability to ruin Mac in future. The guy takes her story and publishes it.
This causes the press to descend on her farmhouse and push their way in when she stupidly opens the door to them. She fields their questions. Meanwhile, Mac, who had gone to holland to begin his paion concert tour, suddenly comes back to the farmhouse and sees her giving a press conferences. He makes a show of a reunion with his wife for the cameras and throws the press out. Then heaccuses her of being fame hungry and of selling that story to get her won five mins of fame etc. Ugh. why the heck did he come back if not for a reunion? They fight some more. Then he storms off for another long walk. This time, he doesnt come back at midnight and she is so anxious that she goes looking for him, and falls over and nocks herself out. He maamnged to find her and rescue her. He brings her home to the farmhouse. They fight some more, and then somehow it swings back to a declaration of love and ksises and a supposed HEA.
IT was a terrible ending swinging back and forth unconvincingly, making him look fickle this time, with all the swings having no logical reason, and thent he final swing towards a love declarations also having insufficient logical basis. WTH. I was a bit annoyed really. One can imagine them having another fight two minutes later and breaking things off and heading towards a divorce again. meh.
I suppose i will try to take some gratification from it because he said he had loved her from the moment he saw her, that he had feared he;d lost her forever when she left that first time after he chased her off. that even in his feverish state, because he knew she would have oto walk back towards his farmhouse from the village to get back to her car, he staggered down the long drive and left the dog waiting for her so that the dog would bring her back. So it was her who he was speaking to in his delirium. He says that he had the car crash not because opera diva had left him but because he was so distracted by wondering why he had given a poor concert performance and then realised it was because he had never been emotionally attached to opera dive or some gumf like that. It would have been a stronger tale if he had been in love with the diva and then realised that she was unworthy and that it was Olivia who was worthy of his love.
CONCLUSION
I would say if you like a lot of high drama then this book is worth a read. and be prepared for an ending that is all over the place. there was too too much fighty drama between this couple. They has silly spats all over the place. It was never boring thus i was forced to give it nearly 4 stars, but its was the silliness of some of her behaviour and a bit of his too towards the end, and the poor execution of the end that makes me want to downgrade it a bit. I wont be reading it again i dont think and i doubt it will linger in my mind either. Read it if you want a trashy soap opera of a romance.
On the plus side it was gripping and page turning and had some great angsty tropes with the H believing the h is a golddigger but marrying her because he needs a woman in his life, some hot passion even if it was closed door (pity because open door was what this book needed), and it did you lots of heightened emotions for most of it, with us rooting for the couple to get together and absolutely hating the OW who was a really nasty piece of work, utterly vindictive selfish biatch.
Also worth noting that while i gave this book 4 stars and enjoyed some of the ride the first time, i dont think i would want to reread this book because the payoff wasnt memorable or satisfying.
So anyway, this is the one where 26 yr old h Olivia has just spent 10 years nursing a sick aunt who recently died and left olivia a decent inheritance. finally free, she decides to take a roadtrip up to the moors in england in April, but then runs out of petrol in the middle of nowhere with a nasty mist rolling in. She is cold and afraid and miles from help. She walks until she reaches an old farmhouse, and inside she finds the H, an angry shabby unkempt man with an overgrown beard who snarls at her to go away. He says his name is Mac. He has a large dog who is very friendly and seems to be begging Olivia for her help. She notices the man is coughing a lot and is very sick in his freezing house. She begs him to give her shelter and food because she is soaked and freezing and tried, but he throws her out. She leaves in the miserable rain, but then he sends his dog after her to fetch her back.
When she come sback, he is still resentful but he doesnt throw her out. He does however say some threatening things, trying to scare her off. She stays becuase she has nowhere to go in this terrible weather. She cleans the awful mess up and he lets her feed herself, but refuses he offers of trying to feed him and urging him to get in bed as he is clealry about to drop dead of the flu. The next morning, he tells her to leave.
She walks to the village miles away, but noone can help her because all the local farmers have their own work to cope with in a mist and cant tow her car for her. The b&B owners have the flu and cant offer her shelter. she walks back towards her car. Passing the man's farmhouse, she notices the dog waiting for her at the end of the drive as if he needs her help, so she goes to the farmhous. The manis now very ill. He is also threatening again, even warning her that he might be a murderer for all she knows and almost choking her. Even so, shae stays, drawn to him for some reason.
She sleeps int he freezing downstairs room again as he has the only bed in the place. in the middle of the night, she check on him and he has a high fever and is v sick. She forces meds down his throat and tries to cool him with a flannel, and even sleeps next to him, too scared to leave him in case he worsens int he night. in his delerium, he begs her not to leave and says he was afraid that she would never come back and he had lost her for good. She has pieced together from stuff he said about hating women and women being treacherous that some woman must have broken his heart and she thinks he must love that other woman to be calling for her in his delirium.
SPOILERS AHEAD
They had sort of bonded a bit before he got sick that night, and she had inadvertently revealed that she was a virgin. So in the morning, when he proposes marriage, she thinks he wants her for her body and proposed because marriage is the only way to get her. That he has been lonely and wants a wife for his physical needs. But she has realised she is in love with him, is hugely drawn to him for an inexplicable reason etc. He kisses her to prove how attracted she is to him and to say they wont regret marrying. She agrees.
This felt a bit rushed to me and a bit confusing as to why she would feel so strongly for him, but it was also well told enough for me to think that some girl, though she is 26, she really is still stuck at age 16 since that's the age she started nursing her aunt and stopped having a life, thus maybe she got carried away by this brooding big man and drawn in by lust etc. it kind of makes sense.
All she knows about his at this point is that he had an injure left arm that is too painful for him to use due to a car crash after which his love abandoned him, and that he has a secret locked room, and that supposedly he is all alone in the world and poor. All he knows about her is that her aunt died after she had nursed her for ten years, that she is supposedly poor, and that she is a major fan of some famous concert pianist guys whose poster she's had pinned up in her bedroom for years. that she adores his classical music.
So anyway, they marry within days. At the wedding, they have a couple of strangers as witnesses and just themselves. She hears his full name at the ceremony and realises HE IS the famous pianist she's had a huge crush on! She has the shock of her life.
They go home for their wedding night, but they get all spatty again. She cant shut her mouth about him getting treatment for his arm so he can be a pianist again. She just wont shut up about it even when he tells her he doesnt want to talk aboutit. This really started to annoy me. Respect the guy's boundaries and stop harping on about how he owes his music to the world, blah. Anyway, he then accises her of subconsciously recognising him beforehand and only marrying him for his success and money. Tot he extent that he shaves his beard off for their wedding night and he taunts her that he did is so she can have her fantasy of a dream man in her bed that night. Woah. Despite this. she still goes to bed with him Fade to black.
In the morning, the local post office woman arrives all excited with their wedding photos and some newspapers - the news has broken globally that the super famous pianist has married again. He is furious. he just wants peace and quiet and now the press is going to hound him.
Anyway, tese two keep having bouts of spanniness and attraction. Theirs is rarely a peaceful relationship. Hes eems determined to push her away, but when she says she could walk out if she wanted, he gets angry and tells her to eff off. Then she runs after him and begs him that she would never leave him. I guess his abandonment complex must be pandered to but its not told in a great way and makes the heroine seem a bit pathetic and needy.
Anyway, some of the heroines actions at this point annoyed me hugely. Her internal dialogue was a smart caring strong woman, and yet randomly her behaviour and actions were needy or juvenile and truly stupid. Examples:
(1) First harping on about wanting him to play music again without caring what he wanted.
(2) Secondly, demanding he take her with him when he wanted to be alone on his walks to think. Harping on even after he explained himself. Get over yourself you stupid, needy whiny biatch. Let the man be alone to think.
(3) He's told her he doesn’t trust women. So when he leaves his key to his private room in the lock, she could prove she is trustworthy by leaving his private things alone until he invites her to see. But no, she goes in to invade his privacy because she wants to. Yuck. No self control. And utterly stupid thing to do when you know your man has trust issues.
(4) Man, she becomes needy and whiny at points, as if, just because theyve married, all of a sudden everything has to be her way and they have to behave like one unit. Biatch, he's only known you two minutes. This aint no true love match. Trust must be built. Pace your fudging self!
(5) Also, I didn’t like their violence towards once another. He sometimes lashed out with grabbing her throat or seizing her. She lashed out by throwing a record at him that sliced him. Yuck.
(6) She is so fudging stupid that when they move back to his main home for privacy reasons, she tells the housekeeper private things about how they met that the housekeeper then tells the press. Also, towards the end of the book, after she and Mac have broken up, she wants to see Mac again and doesnt know where he is so she and goes to his concert to speak to him, but she takes Daniel--the man who Mac thinks is her lover!--to an intended reconciliations with her hubby. wtf, are you stupid, woman? and she allows the press to photograph her and daniel together. How stupid can she be?
But anyway, i am skipping ahead. His public relations manager turns up. (Another gripe is why didnt Mac fire this interfering nasty snake of a man?) The guy is demanding that Mac fix up his arm so he can play again and make more sales, and that mac must divorce his nobody of a wife because Mac's former fiancee, the beautiful opera singer, is now free to bein a relationship again and she wants Mac back and it will be a better story for the press to have the beauty on his arm.
Mac tells the guy to get lost, and then he takes Olivia across country to his big grand house full of rich people stuff, and then taunts her about how lucky she is to have married a rich man, being the greedy grasper that she is. WTF dude.
Then most of the story conflict comes form the sleazy media manager bringing the OW opera diva to Mac's house to demand Mac must get together with her again or else she will go to the press and ruin Mac by releasing a story of how he mistreated his wife when they met and how he raped his wife etc. (The truth was he threatened her with rape to scare her off, and yes he did throw her out in awful weather in the moors.) Anyway, Olivia cant bear for his career and his legend to be thus tarnished, esp with Mac blowing so hot and cold on her, and esp because she thinks Mac must still deep down be in love with the opera diva, so she slings some words at the diva, but she also storms out and leaves Mac. He grabs her but she yanks herself away, and he cant stop her because of his injured painful arm.
So anyway, she drives to her own home that he aunt left her. There she meets Daniel, the guy who wanted to marry her (Mac knows about him.) Daniel is the son of her late aunt's best friend and is used to having the run of the house because he has a darkroom he uses in their for his photography hobby and Olivia still lets him come and go as he pleases to use the darkroom. The guy is a sulky mummy's boy who is whiney about her getting married, but no serious threat to her marriage. She thinks of him more as a friend.
Two months pass during which she misses Mac. The press call her but he insists that she and Mac are not broken up and that he is recuperating for his arm. But then media starts publishing stories about Mac spending time with the opera diva and photos of them spending time together come out. She tells herself the photos are staged publicity shots.
Suddenly one day, she is having a bath when she hears a knock downstairs and she hears Daniel open the door and then men's voices. Then footsteps. She shrieks out in dismay, thinking Daniel is coming into the bathroom, which she never bothered to lock apparently because he would never invade her privacy like that. But it is Mac who storms in. His arm is mostly fixed. He has spent these months finally getting the treatment he needed. He accuses her of having an affair with Daniel and of waiting for Daniel to share the bath with her. He carries her to her bedroom and makes angry love to her. Afterwards he says he came to take her home, but since she is a lying biatch who really is with her lover and shacked up in his house, he doesnt want her any more. She says this is her house and Daniel is only here to use the darkroom. He doesnt believe her about Daniel, but he is angry she never told him her aunt had left her a big house and money. Says she let him believe she is poor, and what other lies has she told. He storms out.
ENDING SPOILERS
The ending is a hot mess and I wish it had been better executed. She decides to go find Mac and beg him to take her back, but she doesnt know where he is so she must go to his first come-back concert to try to talk to him. What sort of moron wanting to reconcile with her hubby would take Daniel there with her? Apparently she takes him for moral support. She does manage to get in to speak to Daniel, but it blows up in her face when she tells him she came alone, but then the opera diva walks in and says she is lying and that Daniel is waiting outside the room. Plus she and Daniel get photographed and the press spins a story about how she is desperately trying to win Mac back after he's spurned her for the opera diva, and that she has resorted to limping into the arms of another man for comfort.
Also, the opera diva phones her to threaten her to stay away from Mac or else she will release the lies about him being a rapist to ruin him. She says she doesnt love daniel, but she wants him back for the publicity and she doesnt care if she ruins his career, because she will have her own money and not reply on his. Evil cow.
What is Olivia's solution to this mess? Apparently her solution is to go back to the farmhouse on the moors and renovate it and live there? Erm, how is that a solution to anything? How is that gona win your man back? The only person she knows there is the journalist who was a witness at her wedding who leaked the story to the press about where Mac is. So she phones him and asks for his help to find workers to make the house fit to live in. His dad can do it, he says. In the meantime, she suddenly decides to give the true story of how she met mac to him so that she can preempt any lies that the opera diva might try to release to the press. She wants to nullify the diva's ability to ruin Mac in future. The guy takes her story and publishes it.
This causes the press to descend on her farmhouse and push their way in when she stupidly opens the door to them. She fields their questions. Meanwhile, Mac, who had gone to holland to begin his paion concert tour, suddenly comes back to the farmhouse and sees her giving a press conferences. He makes a show of a reunion with his wife for the cameras and throws the press out. Then heaccuses her of being fame hungry and of selling that story to get her won five mins of fame etc. Ugh. why the heck did he come back if not for a reunion? They fight some more. Then he storms off for another long walk. This time, he doesnt come back at midnight and she is so anxious that she goes looking for him, and falls over and nocks herself out. He maamnged to find her and rescue her. He brings her home to the farmhouse. They fight some more, and then somehow it swings back to a declaration of love and ksises and a supposed HEA.
IT was a terrible ending swinging back and forth unconvincingly, making him look fickle this time, with all the swings having no logical reason, and thent he final swing towards a love declarations also having insufficient logical basis. WTH. I was a bit annoyed really. One can imagine them having another fight two minutes later and breaking things off and heading towards a divorce again. meh.
I suppose i will try to take some gratification from it because he said he had loved her from the moment he saw her, that he had feared he;d lost her forever when she left that first time after he chased her off. that even in his feverish state, because he knew she would have oto walk back towards his farmhouse from the village to get back to her car, he staggered down the long drive and left the dog waiting for her so that the dog would bring her back. So it was her who he was speaking to in his delirium. He says that he had the car crash not because opera diva had left him but because he was so distracted by wondering why he had given a poor concert performance and then realised it was because he had never been emotionally attached to opera dive or some gumf like that. It would have been a stronger tale if he had been in love with the diva and then realised that she was unworthy and that it was Olivia who was worthy of his love.
CONCLUSION
I would say if you like a lot of high drama then this book is worth a read. and be prepared for an ending that is all over the place. there was too too much fighty drama between this couple. They has silly spats all over the place. It was never boring thus i was forced to give it nearly 4 stars, but its was the silliness of some of her behaviour and a bit of his too towards the end, and the poor execution of the end that makes me want to downgrade it a bit. I wont be reading it again i dont think and i doubt it will linger in my mind either. Read it if you want a trashy soap opera of a romance.
July 5, 2020
So a girl gets lost in the distant Scottish wilderness. And knocks at a random deserted house for shelter. A man dressed like a beggar, coughing madly and looking half dead opens the door. And within minutes she "feels" that special feeling for him - I have found my soulmate thing.
Really ?? The only thing I would worry about in such circumstances is whether he is suffering from something contagious and I might die of the same thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Never mind about practicalities. They get to kissing level of intimacy within an hour of her landing there. And in about 24 hours, she is ready to marry him ?!@?!@?!@!@$#@$ If that isn't crazy non-sense, what else is !
Oh yes, marriage works wonderfully well actually. He is her favourite pianist celebrity in hiding actually. He lost a finger or two during some silly accident. And thanks to a not-worth-mentioning OW, he is sworn against love.
But marriage, sex are all perfectly ok by him. Only love is the bad word in his lexicon. Never mind. He has 100 pages to come around. So he does.
Yawn worthy. 2 stars.
Really ?? The only thing I would worry about in such circumstances is whether he is suffering from something contagious and I might die of the same thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Never mind about practicalities. They get to kissing level of intimacy within an hour of her landing there. And in about 24 hours, she is ready to marry him ?!@?!@?!@!@$#@$ If that isn't crazy non-sense, what else is !
Oh yes, marriage works wonderfully well actually. He is her favourite pianist celebrity in hiding actually. He lost a finger or two during some silly accident. And thanks to a not-worth-mentioning OW, he is sworn against love.
But marriage, sex are all perfectly ok by him. Only love is the bad word in his lexicon. Never mind. He has 100 pages to come around. So he does.
Yawn worthy. 2 stars.
November 19, 2022
The h was inconsistent, bratty, almost hysterical. The H did not ask her to leave, in fact he indicated he didn't want it, but h had a hissy fit and stormed out. The h told H several times that she owned a house but he still acted as though she had lied to him. True, she didn't say it was a very nice house and that she had inherited money too, but she never claimed to be destitute, H just assumed it.
I wasn't fond of either H or h and the OW and OM were disasters as was the smarmy agent. Ugh. This author just doesn't do it for me. Even her angsty novels fall short and have immature hs.
I wasn't fond of either H or h and the OW and OM were disasters as was the smarmy agent. Ugh. This author just doesn't do it for me. Even her angsty novels fall short and have immature hs.
October 26, 2024
A little choppy but a good story all the way through. Glad the heroine took a stand. Ingenious counter revenge! The hero was depicted well. A famous brooding super star that continually felt sorry for himself and read all of his distrust and suspicion into his wife. Frustrating at times but as the story progressed I couldn't read fast enough. So it deserves the 4 stars.
June 30, 2021
She is pathetic. She is a fan (groupie) of the H who is a famous pianist. So when she meets him, she grabs her chance.
I don’t like the story line of a fan who meets her idol. It reminds me of the female fans in concerts who throw their underwear to the pop artist on the podium.
I don’t like the story line of a fan who meets her idol. It reminds me of the female fans in concerts who throw their underwear to the pop artist on the podium.
April 2, 2023
That was really not good. It was like reading someone recalling a dream. Nothing jelled, nothing flowed, no one acted like human beings. Could have been a good story, but after the marriage crazy junk started happening. Skip this convoluted mess.
June 24, 2019
Weird. Yet awesome. So this is vintage?
June 17, 2020
3.5 stars
September 6, 2023
Run from this book,
June 19, 2025
Review to follow
December 17, 2017
وجوه الغيرة - ليليان بيك
سلسلة روايات عبير
الملخص :
كانت تعني كل شيء بالنسبة لرجلين.... دانيال الرقيق الهادئ
الذي يحلم بأن تكون زوجته, وماك ديلاني الموسيقار المعروف
الذي أصيب بحادث اصطدام وعاش وحيدا في مزرعة مهجورة
حاقدا على العالم, فاقد الثقة بالنساء ولا سلوى له إلا مرارة الذكرى.
وبينهما... اوليفيا التي فتحت قلبها لسيمفونية الحب ذات ليلة عاصفة.
منحت الفنان المعذب كل شيء, فلم يقابلها الا بالسخرية. وعلمها معنى
الغيرة. ولكن المعركة الحقيقية كانت بين عقلها وقلبها. حتى طوفان
الغيرة الأعمى لم يكن كافيا ليطفئ نيران النشوة الحلوة اللاحقة التي
تتقد في أعماقها.....
سلسلة روايات عبير
الملخص :
كانت تعني كل شيء بالنسبة لرجلين.... دانيال الرقيق الهادئ
الذي يحلم بأن تكون زوجته, وماك ديلاني الموسيقار المعروف
الذي أصيب بحادث اصطدام وعاش وحيدا في مزرعة مهجورة
حاقدا على العالم, فاقد الثقة بالنساء ولا سلوى له إلا مرارة الذكرى.
وبينهما... اوليفيا التي فتحت قلبها لسيمفونية الحب ذات ليلة عاصفة.
منحت الفنان المعذب كل شيء, فلم يقابلها الا بالسخرية. وعلمها معنى
الغيرة. ولكن المعركة الحقيقية كانت بين عقلها وقلبها. حتى طوفان
الغيرة الأعمى لم يكن كافيا ليطفئ نيران النشوة الحلوة اللاحقة التي
تتقد في أعماقها.....
May 29, 2016
Not too clever writing. Full of illogical happenings.
December 7, 2016
Star Rating: ★★½☆☆
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