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An Old Passion
A dream of love--lost and betrayed
Merrin had vowed she would shed no more tears for Blase or for the life they might have had together.
Six years ago his distrust had driven her into an empty marriage on the rebound that had ended tragically. Since then, she had lived a widow's lonely life, burying herself in her job as assistant to a famous author.
Now her work had made meeting Blase inevitable, and even though she thought she couldn't face the cruelty of his loveless eyes, Merrin knew she would never fully live again until she did....
Merrin had vowed she would shed no more tears for Blase or for the life they might have had together.
Six years ago his distrust had driven her into an empty marriage on the rebound that had ended tragically. Since then, she had lived a widow's lonely life, burying herself in her job as assistant to a famous author.
Now her work had made meeting Blase inevitable, and even though she thought she couldn't face the cruelty of his loveless eyes, Merrin knew she would never fully live again until she did....
186 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1982
5 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Robyn Donald
448 books148 followersRobyn Elaine Donald was born on 14 August 1940 in Northland, New Zealand. She was the oldest child in her family, and as a child, she thrilled her four sisters and one brother with bloodcurdling adventure tales, usually very like the latest book she'd borrowed from the library.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 15, 2025
New Zealand station owner hero is one angry, jealous, possessive, violent guy! Whew. Passion is an apt part of the title - as in the crimes of passion variety.
Heroine was 18 when she had an affair with the hero. All was well until the hero's cousin set her up to take the fall for theft and kissed her so the hero would think they were having an affair. Heroine fled after a week of the hero's temper, married a young man to give her unborn baby a father, then lost the baby when her jealous husband threw her down the stairs and then committed suicide. (More crimes of passion)
The story opens six years later when the secretary heroine returns to the station with her boss, a writer who is using that part of NZ as a setting for his latest novel.
Conflict ensues as the hero tries to get her back in bed by insulting and manhandling her. In RD world, the crueler the hero, the more in love. In this case, hero is smitten.
Heroine holds out (and holds up) very well. She shows her strength during a mudslide that injures the hero and strands them with the OW (an 18 year-old from a neighboring station who has a crush on the hero). There are lots of descriptions of the NZ countryside as well as the requisite party with the H/h feeling jealous of the attentions of other characters.
This was a fun vintage read, but be warned that the hero chokes the heroine, crushes her arms and hands, and gives bruising kisses. Heroine bites him and slaps him as well. These are not evolved characters.
Heroine was 18 when she had an affair with the hero. All was well until the hero's cousin set her up to take the fall for theft and kissed her so the hero would think they were having an affair. Heroine fled after a week of the hero's temper, married a young man to give her unborn baby a father, then lost the baby when her jealous husband threw her down the stairs and then committed suicide. (More crimes of passion)
The story opens six years later when the secretary heroine returns to the station with her boss, a writer who is using that part of NZ as a setting for his latest novel.
Conflict ensues as the hero tries to get her back in bed by insulting and manhandling her. In RD world, the crueler the hero, the more in love. In this case, hero is smitten.
Heroine holds out (and holds up) very well. She shows her strength during a mudslide that injures the hero and strands them with the OW (an 18 year-old from a neighboring station who has a crush on the hero). There are lots of descriptions of the NZ countryside as well as the requisite party with the H/h feeling jealous of the attentions of other characters.
This was a fun vintage read, but be warned that the hero chokes the heroine, crushes her arms and hands, and gives bruising kisses. Heroine bites him and slaps him as well. These are not evolved characters.
August 18, 2018
Wow. This one was of the crazy old skool genre. Heroine is forced to return to the outback station where she grew up and fell in love with hero. They had an affair when she was 17 and he was 24. But of course she is framed for a theft and he kicks her out. He is insanely jealous (there was a lying OM too) and he still is after all these six years she's been gone. My biggest comment is that he continuely hurt her physically, grinding her bones together and such. I mean over and over. When she got scalded and he rushed her to the sink to doctor her burn I felt like calling him a hypocrit. Yeah it all worked out in the end but I felt like he would always be one flirtatious glance away from being a wife beater. Generally I love the crazy old skool but not when he hurts her on purpose over and over.
February 7, 2017
Page 24
In the immortal words of Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Anakin, okay every male character in Star Wars...
REVIEW
Not sure where to go with this. I knew it was going to be angsty, but dang!
Tomorrow.
1/27/2017
A few hours sleep and some coffee....
The h was raised with the H on a ranch in New Zealand. A few years younger than him, she had loved him as a child. After her parents died, their relationship turned sexual, and for her, at least in love. After what he saw as a betrayal (she's suspected of both stealing and sleeping with another man) she leaves. Two of the H's relatives lied about her participation, and the H accepting their word over hers is just a part of her pain.
Six years later she is now working as a secretary for a successful suspense writer who, unfortunately, is good friend with the H. He's planning on going to the New Zealand estate for the setting of his next novel and needs her to go with him. He finagles the whole sordid story plus some from the h, but persuades her to go anyway. She needs to put the past to rest... blah, blah, blah. For such a cliched guy it's a surprise he's such a successful writer. The h buys a ton of clothes to fortify herself. Social class played a big part in plot and character interactions.
Once they arrive, it is obvious to everyone that the H has not embraced the concept, To err is human. to forgive is divine. He doesn't take EVERY opportunity to assault her, but it comes close. This chick has a spine of steel. She still wants the bastard, but holds strong. His focus is not the potential theft, but he harps on her betrayal with his cousin. Equally important to him is the fact she got married just a few months after she left. He knows because he hired a detective to find her.
The h holds strong against his war of attrition as well others on the estate. Actions consist of his constant sexual assaults, flaunting a beautiful but bratty upper-crust babe lining up for Lady of the Manor, the icy reception of his aunt who blatantly lied about her, the insufferable cook who shuts her out for being above her station (if the h prevails which you are never sure of, this old retainer has to go) and we're back to the H.
What is unique about this book? The writing is excellent. There is obviously no 90,000 word count objective as the writer creates a scenario that recalls the love and passion the couple shared as a young couple as well as the malevolence the hero's jealousy and rage evokes with the h can home. Yep, malevolence. This is the second book in a row where the H scared the beejezus out of me, Love Conspiracy was yesterday's. As Fre06 Begum said, "best angsty older books ...some of them really make your tummy churn and hurt for the heroine". YES. This hero makes the antics of the Greek-Spanish-Italian-Sicilian crew look like kindergartners. This one is one step of from the water boarder from..Shattered Dreams
I don't know if these will have a HEA or not. I doubt it longterm as there is little trust or even the willing to trust necessary for a long term relationship, but that's reality and who cares about reality.
Fun elements: the h holds her own against the social structure without being too bitchy. Just her presence makes the hot polloi sit up.
There is a disco dancing moment that was very distressing to read and makes this more 70s than 1982, but maybe disco came late for NZ. No, that doesn't make sense as the Bee Gees are from Australia.
Examples of obsession and cruelty:
In the immortal words of Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Anakin, okay every male character in Star Wars...
I have a bad feeling about this...
REVIEW
Not sure where to go with this. I knew it was going to be angsty, but dang!
Tomorrow.
1/27/2017
A few hours sleep and some coffee....
The h was raised with the H on a ranch in New Zealand. A few years younger than him, she had loved him as a child. After her parents died, their relationship turned sexual, and for her, at least in love. After what he saw as a betrayal (she's suspected of both stealing and sleeping with another man) she leaves. Two of the H's relatives lied about her participation, and the H accepting their word over hers is just a part of her pain.
Six years later she is now working as a secretary for a successful suspense writer who, unfortunately, is good friend with the H. He's planning on going to the New Zealand estate for the setting of his next novel and needs her to go with him. He finagles the whole sordid story plus some from the h, but persuades her to go anyway. She needs to put the past to rest... blah, blah, blah. For such a cliched guy it's a surprise he's such a successful writer. The h buys a ton of clothes to fortify herself. Social class played a big part in plot and character interactions.
Once they arrive, it is obvious to everyone that the H has not embraced the concept, To err is human. to forgive is divine. He doesn't take EVERY opportunity to assault her, but it comes close. This chick has a spine of steel. She still wants the bastard, but holds strong. His focus is not the potential theft, but he harps on her betrayal with his cousin. Equally important to him is the fact she got married just a few months after she left. He knows because he hired a detective to find her.
The h holds strong against his war of attrition as well others on the estate. Actions consist of his constant sexual assaults, flaunting a beautiful but bratty upper-crust babe lining up for Lady of the Manor, the icy reception of his aunt who blatantly lied about her, the insufferable cook who shuts her out for being above her station (if the h prevails which you are never sure of, this old retainer has to go) and we're back to the H.
What is unique about this book? The writing is excellent. There is obviously no 90,000 word count objective as the writer creates a scenario that recalls the love and passion the couple shared as a young couple as well as the malevolence the hero's jealousy and rage evokes with the h can home. Yep, malevolence. This is the second book in a row where the H scared the beejezus out of me, Love Conspiracy was yesterday's. As Fre06 Begum said, "best angsty older books ...some of them really make your tummy churn and hurt for the heroine". YES. This hero makes the antics of the Greek-Spanish-Italian-Sicilian crew look like kindergartners. This one is one step of from the water boarder from..Shattered Dreams
I don't know if these will have a HEA or not. I doubt it longterm as there is little trust or even the willing to trust necessary for a long term relationship, but that's reality and who cares about reality.
Fun elements: the h holds her own against the social structure without being too bitchy. Just her presence makes the hot polloi sit up.
There is a disco dancing moment that was very distressing to read and makes this more 70s than 1982, but maybe disco came late for NZ. No, that doesn't make sense as the Bee Gees are from Australia.
Examples of obsession and cruelty:
August 12, 2021
Normally I would loved the H's cruelty but without feeling the angst no way to rate this crap more than 3 stars!
July 31, 2021
Every once in awhile you read an article where a couple has been married a bazillion years and one spouse dies with the other one dying within 24 hours…..that will be this couple.
Shoutout to Grrrrace for the recommendation and I waited to read her review til I was done, but it is more fabulous then mine will be so check it out for more details: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
So here is the condensed version followed by what can only be called my interpretive dance.
Backstory: The hero Blase(not Blase’ believe me, definitely Blaze!) and the heroine Merrin had a brief love affair when she was 17 and he was 23/24. To borrow from Twilight, it was like the hero basically imprinted on her early on and she felt the same pull when she first arrived at his sheep station at the age of 12, her dad was head shepherd. Her parents died when she was 16, but the family of Blackrock let her stay. He was her first and he actually told her he loved her before he took her virginity. Unfortunately, the first time his love was tested (when false accusations were made against her by a male cousin) he failed the test. Then treated her cruelly for a week before she ran away without trace.
She entered into a quickie, disastrous marriage(she was 18, pregnant with the hero’s child and all alone in the world) After her husband died, she finally found nun like peace as a secretary to a writer(Ellis). They are strictly friends, but he has been kind to her. Now, 6 years later after her disastrous experience with the hero, she finds herself back at the homestead because Ellis is doing research for his next story. He happens to be friends with the Hero. What I liked about this, is the the heroine shares most of what happened to her with Blase. Therefore, we get most of the mystery out of the way before we get to chapter 2. It also allows Ellis to be her rock when she needs it. Once there we have a spurned bitter hero who is going to make the h pay for her blatant betrayal(mainly her marriage). We have an immature ow thrown in to cause some jealousy and angst. The hero wants to rid himself of his burning desire.
SOOOOO……..He does a lot of this:
This is his go to every time and is quite the erogenous zone for the h. However, our h has not forgotten how the H mistreated her and she often fights back resorting to this:
According to the H this is a new skill the h has acquired to inflict pain.
However, our H has his own way of inflicting dominance and pain:
Yet his chokeholds are less dramatic, but still effective in cutting off air.
One night there is a party hosted at the house, and little miss spoilt ow flaunts her immaturity and jealousy of the h.
The h overhears her and the H talking. She says the h isn’t even pretty and wants her gone. Our H shuts the little princess up by kissing her. They leave and everyone retires for the evening. Our h takes a nice little shower and walks into her bedroom to this:
The H waiting for her on her bed. Things get hot and heavy, and I was pretty sure the two were going to get physically reacquainted. Yet, the hero pulls back. He just wants to prove to the heroine that she wants him as well. (I guess now he goes and takes a shower?)
This is how the story continues. These 2 fighting their love and attraction for each other, because neither one of them wants to experience the pain of being hurt again. I have to give it to the h she has to fight him off a lot, even though her body wants to give in. She not only bites, but uses other tactics:
Her attempts to get him in his Crown Jewels never works as he is too quick for her.
One night Merrin gets bamboozled into going to a party with the H and his OW. The h gets relegated to the back seat:
While at the party our h is the belle of the ball. She has many admirers:
Then she cuts it up to a disco beat with one of the admirers
The H gets jealous and dances the next dance (a slow one with her) and makes it somewhat cleat that she is his property while the ow is steaming on the sidelines. Unfortunately, they need to leave the party quick as torrential rains are falling.
Ok I know they are in New Zealand, but Toto’s Africa song seemed to pop up in my head:
.It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
The drive back is treacherous and the whiny ow is scared(she has a fear of the dark). At one point grabbing the steering wheel and then there is a mudslide with a boulder careening into the windshield. The H and h are both hurt and knocked out temporarily. The ow is screaming and having theatrics when the h comes to. The H is hurt more. She calmly assesses the situation and goes to help the H to make sure he is still breathing. Meanwhile the ow is crying about the dark, the blood, and is basically a hot mess. When the h says she needs to get help for the H, the ow becomes hysterical. So the h does what any sensible person would do in this situation.
She also gives the h a verbal smack down as well(I think the word bitch may have been used, I’m just not sure…it’s a blur) Our heroine isn’t one to gloat but I am sure there was a teensy bit of this going on….
So the h goes to get help after kissing the H(who didn't want her to leave)
This, my friends, is finally leading up to the great HEA scene where all the truths are told and the misunderstandings are laid to rest. Finally, they are able to renew their physical side of the relationship including shuddering and mewlings. There will be no leaving each other ever again.
Did this story work for me? Yes, but this isn’t my first RD book. I lightened it with the gifs, but make no mistake it is intense, obsessive, and physical at times. Although there is no rape, rape is talked about with a “just another day at the office feel’ to it. However, unlike Smoke in the Wind I know this hero loves the heroine(being somewhat drawn to her since she first arrived at the station). Is this love a little over the top? Yes it is. Believe me, the h will not have male friends except maybe Ellis. However, I don’t think she wants it any other way as she is just as obsessed with the hero. I was impressed with her overall though. She really did put up a good fight when it came to trying to resist the H. She knew at times what he was up to and figured out early on that he had no love for the ow.
Shoutout to Grrrrace for the recommendation and I waited to read her review til I was done, but it is more fabulous then mine will be so check it out for more details: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
So here is the condensed version followed by what can only be called my interpretive dance.
Backstory: The hero Blase(not Blase’ believe me, definitely Blaze!) and the heroine Merrin had a brief love affair when she was 17 and he was 23/24. To borrow from Twilight, it was like the hero basically imprinted on her early on and she felt the same pull when she first arrived at his sheep station at the age of 12, her dad was head shepherd. Her parents died when she was 16, but the family of Blackrock let her stay. He was her first and he actually told her he loved her before he took her virginity. Unfortunately, the first time his love was tested (when false accusations were made against her by a male cousin) he failed the test. Then treated her cruelly for a week before she ran away without trace.
She entered into a quickie, disastrous marriage(she was 18, pregnant with the hero’s child and all alone in the world) After her husband died, she finally found nun like peace as a secretary to a writer(Ellis). They are strictly friends, but he has been kind to her. Now, 6 years later after her disastrous experience with the hero, she finds herself back at the homestead because Ellis is doing research for his next story. He happens to be friends with the Hero. What I liked about this, is the the heroine shares most of what happened to her with Blase. Therefore, we get most of the mystery out of the way before we get to chapter 2. It also allows Ellis to be her rock when she needs it. Once there we have a spurned bitter hero who is going to make the h pay for her blatant betrayal(mainly her marriage). We have an immature ow thrown in to cause some jealousy and angst. The hero wants to rid himself of his burning desire.
SOOOOO……..He does a lot of this:
This is his go to every time and is quite the erogenous zone for the h. However, our h has not forgotten how the H mistreated her and she often fights back resorting to this: According to the H this is a new skill the h has acquired to inflict pain.
However, our H has his own way of inflicting dominance and pain:
Yet his chokeholds are less dramatic, but still effective in cutting off air. One night there is a party hosted at the house, and little miss spoilt ow flaunts her immaturity and jealousy of the h.
The h overhears her and the H talking. She says the h isn’t even pretty and wants her gone. Our H shuts the little princess up by kissing her. They leave and everyone retires for the evening. Our h takes a nice little shower and walks into her bedroom to this:
The H waiting for her on her bed. Things get hot and heavy, and I was pretty sure the two were going to get physically reacquainted. Yet, the hero pulls back. He just wants to prove to the heroine that she wants him as well. (I guess now he goes and takes a shower?)This is how the story continues. These 2 fighting their love and attraction for each other, because neither one of them wants to experience the pain of being hurt again. I have to give it to the h she has to fight him off a lot, even though her body wants to give in. She not only bites, but uses other tactics:
Her attempts to get him in his Crown Jewels never works as he is too quick for her. One night Merrin gets bamboozled into going to a party with the H and his OW. The h gets relegated to the back seat:
While at the party our h is the belle of the ball. She has many admirers:
Then she cuts it up to a disco beat with one of the admirers The H gets jealous and dances the next dance (a slow one with her) and makes it somewhat cleat that she is his property while the ow is steaming on the sidelines. Unfortunately, they need to leave the party quick as torrential rains are falling.
Ok I know they are in New Zealand, but Toto’s Africa song seemed to pop up in my head:
.It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
The drive back is treacherous and the whiny ow is scared(she has a fear of the dark). At one point grabbing the steering wheel and then there is a mudslide with a boulder careening into the windshield. The H and h are both hurt and knocked out temporarily. The ow is screaming and having theatrics when the h comes to. The H is hurt more. She calmly assesses the situation and goes to help the H to make sure he is still breathing. Meanwhile the ow is crying about the dark, the blood, and is basically a hot mess. When the h says she needs to get help for the H, the ow becomes hysterical. So the h does what any sensible person would do in this situation.
She also gives the h a verbal smack down as well(I think the word bitch may have been used, I’m just not sure…it’s a blur) Our heroine isn’t one to gloat but I am sure there was a teensy bit of this going on…. So the h goes to get help after kissing the H(who didn't want her to leave)
This, my friends, is finally leading up to the great HEA scene where all the truths are told and the misunderstandings are laid to rest. Finally, they are able to renew their physical side of the relationship including shuddering and mewlings. There will be no leaving each other ever again.
Did this story work for me? Yes, but this isn’t my first RD book. I lightened it with the gifs, but make no mistake it is intense, obsessive, and physical at times. Although there is no rape, rape is talked about with a “just another day at the office feel’ to it. However, unlike Smoke in the Wind I know this hero loves the heroine(being somewhat drawn to her since she first arrived at the station). Is this love a little over the top? Yes it is. Believe me, the h will not have male friends except maybe Ellis. However, I don’t think she wants it any other way as she is just as obsessed with the hero. I was impressed with her overall though. She really did put up a good fight when it came to trying to resist the H. She knew at times what he was up to and figured out early on that he had no love for the ow.
June 23, 2024
They are both nuts. They hurt each other physically, mentally, verbally, emotionally. He is a cruel H and I can take a cruel H, but he had her so often in a chokehold that to me he overstepped the line between being a cruel H and a psycho who needs medication.
I would rather have a H give a h a butt spanking the old-fashioned Helen Bianchin way than have him strangle her.
Well, his strangling didn’t succeed because there was a HEA in the end.
I would rather have a H give a h a butt spanking the old-fashioned Helen Bianchin way than have him strangle her.
Well, his strangling didn’t succeed because there was a HEA in the end.
June 4, 2020
Ernest Christopher Dowson's Cynara poem gets another romance novel outing in An Old Passion, with two bitter antagonists/former lovers facing off over past love, betrayals, and an unending obsession with each other. Whew, that was some hot angst, even by RD standards! Vintage-era RD did not write gentle love stories--while her alphas can be protective of those weaker than themselves, they usually expect the hs to be their equals in intense passion and in battle and able to stand up for themselves. They definitely put the hs through the wringer of dominant possessiveness, anger, resentful passion, and an implacable need for vengeance for past wrongs, real or perceived. Her Hs are obsessed with the hs to the point of hatred (and the hs are imprinted on them for life and usually equally resentful of being caught in that trap), and the cliche that love is the flip side of hate is often a central tenet of her tales. This is very much one of those stories, with the H poised on the brink of losing control for most of it and the h just trying to survive his anger and hatred and her realization that she has never and will never get over him. She doesn't go down without a fight though. It's passionate and intense and the angst-train keeps a'rolling until the bitter end.
Many doubt this HEA and I get it--he was so very cruel to her--but I'm an old skool reader and vintage Harleys usually operating on the assumption that love cannot and should not be a gentle emotion--it is bloody and cruel, a hunger, a black unrelenting need that drives the H and h to near-madness until they finally come together, bloodied and exhausted from the battle and ready to parley. My fave HEAs require a precursor of strong, savage emotion and passion that finally is satisfied at great cost. But the payoff is worth it.
This is very old skool, so the H does manhandle her pretty ruthlessly on several occasions and there are some pretty hardcore forced-seduction scenes (and one very near rape until the h gives in to her own feelings). The intensity and drama last to the bitter end; there's no gradual reconciliation between these two and no easing of the H's anger-the h is intent on surviving and the H wants to rid himself of the "sickness," that he views his passion for her to be. RD's uberwrecky tropes are on fine display in this one, and it's one of her most intense reads, with a maddened H right up there with the notorious Ryan from Smoke in the Wind. If you're turned on by super-possessive vengeful alphas intent on punishing (without hitting, which I detest) the h, you'll probably like this one a lot. If you're squicked by the old school tropes and behavior (this H is handsy: threatening fingers around her throat and wrist gripping and (trying to) imposing his will on her through sexual/physical dominance), maybe not for you. For me, it was a really hot vintage un-PC read, just how I like them.
Many doubt this HEA and I get it--he was so very cruel to her--but I'm an old skool reader and vintage Harleys usually operating on the assumption that love cannot and should not be a gentle emotion--it is bloody and cruel, a hunger, a black unrelenting need that drives the H and h to near-madness until they finally come together, bloodied and exhausted from the battle and ready to parley. My fave HEAs require a precursor of strong, savage emotion and passion that finally is satisfied at great cost. But the payoff is worth it.
This is very old skool, so the H does manhandle her pretty ruthlessly on several occasions and there are some pretty hardcore forced-seduction scenes (and one very near rape until the h gives in to her own feelings). The intensity and drama last to the bitter end; there's no gradual reconciliation between these two and no easing of the H's anger-the h is intent on surviving and the H wants to rid himself of the "sickness," that he views his passion for her to be. RD's uberwrecky tropes are on fine display in this one, and it's one of her most intense reads, with a maddened H right up there with the notorious Ryan from Smoke in the Wind. If you're turned on by super-possessive vengeful alphas intent on punishing (without hitting, which I detest) the h, you'll probably like this one a lot. If you're squicked by the old school tropes and behavior (this H is handsy: threatening fingers around her throat and wrist gripping and (trying to) imposing his will on her through sexual/physical dominance), maybe not for you. For me, it was a really hot vintage un-PC read, just how I like them.
April 28, 2024
Almost five stars.
The last forty or so pages were fabulous.
Right. Now I have enough distance to review it.
Heroine’s father was a head shepherd at Hero’s sheep station.
She saw the hero for the first time when she was 8 and he was 15. 7 year difference I think. Perhaps she was ten. It’s indicated that she grew up at the station. Hero was grateful he went away to university or…. He might have turned child molester or what?? Let’s not focus on this.
When she was sixteen her mom died and father took his boat out to sea and never came back. He committed suicide that is.
The hero took her into his homestead where he lived with his aunt. She started doing some secretarial work and maid work too. At the house.
They were both young. She had always hero worshipped him.
The inevitable happened. He slept with her. But since she was too young he kept it under wraps.
People still talked of course.
He was mad about her. Besotted.
His aunt’s son. His cousin stole money and to distract the hero implied that heroine was sleeping with him and she was an accomplice.
The hero went mad. Rapey I think. He refused to listen to her but continued to sleep with her.
She was a kid. Not mature enough to handle the situation. Ran away.
Two weeks later found out she was pregnant.
She married a young man who was in love with her for the baby.
The young man could not bear that she was not comfortable with him or in love with him. He pushed her in a jealous rage. She fell down stairs. Lost the baby.
The young man in remorse and sorrow committed suicide.
She must have been some beauty. No?
So she started working for a crime author. He sort of saved her from folding in on herself. She was very distressed but working for him she sorted herself out. She became quite fond of him. He of her.
When seven years had gone by her boss decided to visit a friend to research a story. The friend was the hero. Of course.
The hero and heroine met again. The story followed the usual Robyn Donald line. Hero being cruel. Kissing her a lot .. haha. .. roofie kisses as a reviewer on the community calls them.
There was another woman. A young girl. Neighbouring land owners daughter. Hero might have married her. But heroine turned up.
Finally in the end. There was an accident. Hero allowed himself to be hurt to save heroine. He would have ducked to avoid a rock but then he remembered she’s sitting behind in the car so did not.
She walked an hour to save him.
She called him her love etc. in that moment.
The misunderstandings got resolved.
The last forty or so pages as I said earlier are quite emotional . When they realise how much they both love each other.
That was evident throughout.
A fated mate kind of situation.
They just wanted each other and nobody else would do. Though they both tried.
Going in my comfort read shelves.
The last forty or so pages were fabulous.
Right. Now I have enough distance to review it.
Heroine’s father was a head shepherd at Hero’s sheep station.
She saw the hero for the first time when she was 8 and he was 15. 7 year difference I think. Perhaps she was ten. It’s indicated that she grew up at the station. Hero was grateful he went away to university or…. He might have turned child molester or what?? Let’s not focus on this.
When she was sixteen her mom died and father took his boat out to sea and never came back. He committed suicide that is.
The hero took her into his homestead where he lived with his aunt. She started doing some secretarial work and maid work too. At the house.
They were both young. She had always hero worshipped him.
The inevitable happened. He slept with her. But since she was too young he kept it under wraps.
People still talked of course.
He was mad about her. Besotted.
His aunt’s son. His cousin stole money and to distract the hero implied that heroine was sleeping with him and she was an accomplice.
The hero went mad. Rapey I think. He refused to listen to her but continued to sleep with her.
She was a kid. Not mature enough to handle the situation. Ran away.
Two weeks later found out she was pregnant.
She married a young man who was in love with her for the baby.
The young man could not bear that she was not comfortable with him or in love with him. He pushed her in a jealous rage. She fell down stairs. Lost the baby.
The young man in remorse and sorrow committed suicide.
She must have been some beauty. No?
So she started working for a crime author. He sort of saved her from folding in on herself. She was very distressed but working for him she sorted herself out. She became quite fond of him. He of her.
When seven years had gone by her boss decided to visit a friend to research a story. The friend was the hero. Of course.
The hero and heroine met again. The story followed the usual Robyn Donald line. Hero being cruel. Kissing her a lot .. haha. .. roofie kisses as a reviewer on the community calls them.
There was another woman. A young girl. Neighbouring land owners daughter. Hero might have married her. But heroine turned up.
Finally in the end. There was an accident. Hero allowed himself to be hurt to save heroine. He would have ducked to avoid a rock but then he remembered she’s sitting behind in the car so did not.
She walked an hour to save him.
She called him her love etc. in that moment.
The misunderstandings got resolved.
The last forty or so pages as I said earlier are quite emotional . When they realise how much they both love each other.
That was evident throughout.
A fated mate kind of situation.
They just wanted each other and nobody else would do. Though they both tried.
Going in my comfort read shelves.
September 8, 2024
Мелодрама на макс, тук чак прекалено и с много повторения, но баба Робин си го умее.
3,5⭐️
3,5⭐️
May 7, 2013
4.5 stars. This one was angst-city from the get-go, so definitely right up my alley. The hero was pretty darn awful to the heroine, and didn't atone for it quite enough in my opinion, which is why I knocked off a half star. Also, the resolution was a little too quick given how drawn out the rest of the story was, and in particular we should have seen more drawn out remorse by the hero over the lost baby story. Still though, I really enjoyed this one for its gut-wrenching ness, particularly a great scene when they're injured in a car. Very enjoyable read.
September 11, 2014
Robyn Donald had the best angsty older books some of them really make your tummy churn and hurt for the heroine but one thing Ivan say her older books really glue me to them and I always end up going back to read them again....her more newer books are too PC and to be honest not for me!
February 1, 2013
The H spends the whole book being mean to h then is possessive in the last few pages. An ok read.
May 12, 2021
dream of love--lost and betrayed
Merrin had vowed she would shed no more tears for Blase or for the life they might have had together.
Six years ago his distrust had driven her into an empty marriage on the rebound that had ended tragically. Since then, she had lived a widow's lonely life, burying herself in her job as assistant to a famous author.
Now her work had made meeting Blase inevitable, and even though she thought she couldn't face the cruelty of his loveless eyes, Merrin knew she would never fully live again until she did.... (less)
Merrin had vowed she would shed no more tears for Blase or for the life they might have had together.
Six years ago his distrust had driven her into an empty marriage on the rebound that had ended tragically. Since then, she had lived a widow's lonely life, burying herself in her job as assistant to a famous author.
Now her work had made meeting Blase inevitable, and even though she thought she couldn't face the cruelty of his loveless eyes, Merrin knew she would never fully live again until she did.... (less)
January 20, 2021
"Φαντάσματα από το παρελθόν" - Ρόμπυν Ντόναλντ, Χρυσό 88, έτος έκδοσης: 1982
Τι έσπρωξε, άραγε τη Μέριν να δεχτεί την πρόταση του εργοδότη της, Έλις Κίμπερ και να γυρίσει πίσω στο Μπλάκροκς, το απέραντο κτήμα του Μπλάιηζ Στάνχοπ στη Νέα Ζηλανδία; Ο εργοδότης της είχε επιμείνει πώς η Μέριν, έπρεπε να γυρίσει για να ξορκίσει τα φαντάσματα του παρελθόντος, πού ήταν η αιτία της τωρινής δυστυχίας της και να βγάλει μια για πάντα τον Μπλαίζ από τη σκέψη της. Αλλά εκείνη δεν μπορούσε να ξεχάσει. Η αγάπη της για τον Μπλαίηζ ήταν πάντα ζωντανή και δυνατή... εκείνος, όμως, την περιφρονούσε όπως εδώ και έξι χρόνια....
ΜΟΥ ΑΡΕΣΕ ΠΟΛΥ ΑΥΤΗ Η ΙΣΤΟΡΊΑ!!!!
Τι έσπρωξε, άραγε τη Μέριν να δεχτεί την πρόταση του εργοδότη της, Έλις Κίμπερ και να γυρίσει πίσω στο Μπλάκροκς, το απέραντο κτήμα του Μπλάιηζ Στάνχοπ στη Νέα Ζηλανδία; Ο εργοδότης της είχε επιμείνει πώς η Μέριν, έπρεπε να γυρίσει για να ξορκίσει τα φαντάσματα του παρελθόντος, πού ήταν η αιτία της τωρινής δυστυχίας της και να βγάλει μια για πάντα τον Μπλαίζ από τη σκέψη της. Αλλά εκείνη δεν μπορούσε να ξεχάσει. Η αγάπη της για τον Μπλαίηζ ήταν πάντα ζωντανή και δυνατή... εκείνος, όμως, την περιφρονούσε όπως εδώ και έξι χρόνια....
ΜΟΥ ΑΡΕΣΕ ΠΟΛΥ ΑΥΤΗ Η ΙΣΤΟΡΊΑ!!!!
April 30, 2025
This book should be titled, "WTF!!!!!"
I don't know what's more surprising, that the author wrote this mess or that so many reviewers gave it top stars! WHY???? what happened to those (over-the-top at times) reviewers who love to rake the H over the coals for everything he does wrong, no matter how minor, and want him to grovel like a simp and beg the h's forgiveness??? In this case, there he should, no one seemed to think he needed to!!!
For most of the book, he treated the h like crap, yet for some reason, everyone's okay with that. The guy was in his mid-20's young, bit still a grown man) when he seduced the teenaged h but that seems to be okay here (though not in other books). He believed his creepy cousin and snobbish, biased aunt over the h, then treated the h so horribly (apparently making her feel like a sex toy, though the details are never given) that she was compelled to run away, but that seems to be okay, too. When she appears in his life after six years, he's ready to pick up where they left off sex-wise, and that's also okay???
I'll be all these reviewers were "50 shades" fans!
I won't tell the whole (dumb) story, just go over the ridiculous situations, and make it clear why I'm only giving this one star (one more than it deserves.
The H gets the into bed before she turned 18 because, though he had planned to wait and marry her when she was 2o, he couldn't overcome his desire! (I guess he never heard of cold showers, "self-help", or "paid companionship"). He later claims he fell for her when she was only 14 (and he was 21), talk about "ICK!!!"
Then, after determining to marry the h ASAP (without bothering to tell her), he comes across her in a compromising situation with his creepy cousin and chooses to believe the creep that they were partners both in crime (theft) and in bed. After going on more than once about how sweet and innocent the h was, he's then ready to believe her to be a conniving tramp who bed hops between cousins, turns against her, treats her like crap and drives her away.
He doesn't admit to her until almost the end of the book that he soon found out the truth (his aunt, who didn't know he and the h were lovers, covered up for her son), looked for her, found out she got married and that's the real reason for his hatred/crap treatment of her in the present.
He used another woman (a famous fashion model) to try and forget the h, led her on, slept with her and made her believe he'd marry her. Then, apparently, he just dropped her. (After that, it was a casual affair once in a while.)
When the h returns, he uses the present OW (one of the most annoying, neurotic characters ever written), to both annoy the h and feed his starving ego, all the time knowing the OW wants to marry him (for selfish reasons, but still true) then claims he only acted like a "big brother" to her. (He claimed the same relationship with the h in the past, so that tells you something.)
He's abusive: comes close to rape a few times, grabs the h roughly by the wrists more than once, seems ready to choke her more than once, and much more than once says insulting things about her.
Most of all, he keeps claiming all he feels for her is desire, and he wants to use her until his lust is satisfied, however long that takes, and keeps smugly telling her he knows how much she desires him as well, so she should stop fighting the inevitable.
Then, suddenly, it's "I love you; I never stopped loving you, I knew you were my one true love from the time I was 21 and you were just 14 ("ICK!!!), marry me, we'll forget the past 6 years and have our HEA!" WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
He didn't even seem the least bit affected when the h told him about the baby, didn't even ask if it was a boy or a girl, which shows me he wasn't bothered a bit. and where was his explosive temper when he finds out why she lost it? Strangely, it seems to have disappeared!
And this is the man the h couldn't forget after six years???? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!!
As for the h, she was almost as much of a joke as he was! You can't hold it against her for sleeping with the h so young (she was overwhelmed by her feelings, and he was the adult, not her), or for being devastated and running away after the h didn't believe her and acted so horribly, nor can you blame her for not wanting to tell the H she was pregnant, because he most likely wouldn't have believed the baby was his at that time.
What you can blame her for was marrying a guy (the unseen OM) she hardly knew, just to give her baby a name! This book was written in the early 80's, so the timeline in the story for her pregnancy would have been the mid 70's, when premarital sex had become the rule rather than the exception, so I doubt anyone would have cared that she was pregnant without a husband. She had gotten a job (apparently that's how she met the OM) so she could at least support herself and could have relied on the OM to help her out as a friend and seen where it went from there later on. But to marry the guy when she was still emotionally damaged from the H was just plain RIDICULOUS! At just 18, she was young, but she managed to get a job and a place to live, so she wasn't helpless.
And didn't she stop to think that it was rather strange that a 20-year-old guy would want to tie himself down by marrying a girl who was pregnant with another guy's kid??? From this jerk's behavior, it was obvious that he was mentally unbalanced. Knowing how she felt about the H, and why she was marrying him, he still demanded that she love him, insisted on his marital rights (it's not clear if she actually had sex with him or tried to but couldn't go through with it), despite her being pregnant with the H's baby. (Another "ICK!!!") Then, he'd get furious when she didn't respond, hit her, knocked her down a flight of stairs, causing her to miscarry, then took the coward's way out and killed himself! (Good riddance, I say!) AND SHE BLAMES HERSELF, FEELS GUILTY, AND CONTINUES TO WEAR HIS RING FOR SIX YEARS!!!
Altogether now: "WTF!!!!!!"
I'm glad the H managed to toss that sucker away!
The fact that she blames herself for the horribly abusive behavior of her bat crap hubby shows how warped her character is! She's a bit bat crap herself!!
She has to be, when she comes to the conclusion that the real reason that she was still angry with the H wasn't because he didn't trust or believe her, but because he saw her as his social inferior, since he had the upper crust background she didn't. OH, COME ON!!!! Talk about NONSENSE!!!
Also, as is usual with HP books, you get to see what's in the h's head (not so often with the H), and usually when she thinks of the H you just know she's in denial, pretending she doesn't care, or only feels lust, not love. Then, you see her gradually making the transition to admitting her real feelings. But with this h, you have her apparently feeling nothing at all for the H, like it ended years ago, then suddenly she feels a spark of desire, the next thing she's so turned on she wants nothing more than to get naked with him (but pride won't let her, of course), then just a suddenly, SHE LOVES HIM!!! And she understands why he treated her so crappy! It was really all her fault, just like it was her fault with bat crap hubby!
UNBELIEVABLE!!! All the feminist reviewers must have been asleep on the job!
Even more ridiculous: the H taking forever to tell the h he knew his cousin lied, the h taking forever to tell him why she married the OM, the H's aunt declaring she loved the h more than her son, yet lied to protect her son (out of guilt???), then told the H the truth too late, no explanation as to why the cousin was so crummy (are we supposed to infer that he was jealous of the H, had the hots for the h and wanted to wreck things for them out of spite?), and he's never actually in the story, we're just told the H found him, beat him up, he disappear, got into trouble in another country and died.
SO DUMB!!!
So was that AWFUL poetry they kept quoting, about some obsessed Victorian guy who can't get his ex-mistress out of his big head, while he uses his little head on other women. Can you get any dumber????
The only good thing about this story was the present OM, the h's boss and good friend, also a friend of the H's, who wants both of them to be happy. He was such a likeable character, you want a HEA for him. Sad to say, he lost that when his wife died. In my head, I decided that she wasn't really dead, she was on a plane that crashed but survived by herself on an island for the past four years, was found and rescued, and reunited with her beloved husband!
That may sound far-fetched, but considering the rest of this booK, it makes PERFECT SENSE!!
I don't know what's more surprising, that the author wrote this mess or that so many reviewers gave it top stars! WHY???? what happened to those (over-the-top at times) reviewers who love to rake the H over the coals for everything he does wrong, no matter how minor, and want him to grovel like a simp and beg the h's forgiveness??? In this case, there he should, no one seemed to think he needed to!!!
For most of the book, he treated the h like crap, yet for some reason, everyone's okay with that. The guy was in his mid-20's young, bit still a grown man) when he seduced the teenaged h but that seems to be okay here (though not in other books). He believed his creepy cousin and snobbish, biased aunt over the h, then treated the h so horribly (apparently making her feel like a sex toy, though the details are never given) that she was compelled to run away, but that seems to be okay, too. When she appears in his life after six years, he's ready to pick up where they left off sex-wise, and that's also okay???
I'll be all these reviewers were "50 shades" fans!
I won't tell the whole (dumb) story, just go over the ridiculous situations, and make it clear why I'm only giving this one star (one more than it deserves.
The H gets the into bed before she turned 18 because, though he had planned to wait and marry her when she was 2o, he couldn't overcome his desire! (I guess he never heard of cold showers, "self-help", or "paid companionship"). He later claims he fell for her when she was only 14 (and he was 21), talk about "ICK!!!"
Then, after determining to marry the h ASAP (without bothering to tell her), he comes across her in a compromising situation with his creepy cousin and chooses to believe the creep that they were partners both in crime (theft) and in bed. After going on more than once about how sweet and innocent the h was, he's then ready to believe her to be a conniving tramp who bed hops between cousins, turns against her, treats her like crap and drives her away.
He doesn't admit to her until almost the end of the book that he soon found out the truth (his aunt, who didn't know he and the h were lovers, covered up for her son), looked for her, found out she got married and that's the real reason for his hatred/crap treatment of her in the present.
He used another woman (a famous fashion model) to try and forget the h, led her on, slept with her and made her believe he'd marry her. Then, apparently, he just dropped her. (After that, it was a casual affair once in a while.)
When the h returns, he uses the present OW (one of the most annoying, neurotic characters ever written), to both annoy the h and feed his starving ego, all the time knowing the OW wants to marry him (for selfish reasons, but still true) then claims he only acted like a "big brother" to her. (He claimed the same relationship with the h in the past, so that tells you something.)
He's abusive: comes close to rape a few times, grabs the h roughly by the wrists more than once, seems ready to choke her more than once, and much more than once says insulting things about her.
Most of all, he keeps claiming all he feels for her is desire, and he wants to use her until his lust is satisfied, however long that takes, and keeps smugly telling her he knows how much she desires him as well, so she should stop fighting the inevitable.
Then, suddenly, it's "I love you; I never stopped loving you, I knew you were my one true love from the time I was 21 and you were just 14 ("ICK!!!), marry me, we'll forget the past 6 years and have our HEA!" WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
He didn't even seem the least bit affected when the h told him about the baby, didn't even ask if it was a boy or a girl, which shows me he wasn't bothered a bit. and where was his explosive temper when he finds out why she lost it? Strangely, it seems to have disappeared!
And this is the man the h couldn't forget after six years???? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!!
As for the h, she was almost as much of a joke as he was! You can't hold it against her for sleeping with the h so young (she was overwhelmed by her feelings, and he was the adult, not her), or for being devastated and running away after the h didn't believe her and acted so horribly, nor can you blame her for not wanting to tell the H she was pregnant, because he most likely wouldn't have believed the baby was his at that time.
What you can blame her for was marrying a guy (the unseen OM) she hardly knew, just to give her baby a name! This book was written in the early 80's, so the timeline in the story for her pregnancy would have been the mid 70's, when premarital sex had become the rule rather than the exception, so I doubt anyone would have cared that she was pregnant without a husband. She had gotten a job (apparently that's how she met the OM) so she could at least support herself and could have relied on the OM to help her out as a friend and seen where it went from there later on. But to marry the guy when she was still emotionally damaged from the H was just plain RIDICULOUS! At just 18, she was young, but she managed to get a job and a place to live, so she wasn't helpless.
And didn't she stop to think that it was rather strange that a 20-year-old guy would want to tie himself down by marrying a girl who was pregnant with another guy's kid??? From this jerk's behavior, it was obvious that he was mentally unbalanced. Knowing how she felt about the H, and why she was marrying him, he still demanded that she love him, insisted on his marital rights (it's not clear if she actually had sex with him or tried to but couldn't go through with it), despite her being pregnant with the H's baby. (Another "ICK!!!") Then, he'd get furious when she didn't respond, hit her, knocked her down a flight of stairs, causing her to miscarry, then took the coward's way out and killed himself! (Good riddance, I say!) AND SHE BLAMES HERSELF, FEELS GUILTY, AND CONTINUES TO WEAR HIS RING FOR SIX YEARS!!!
Altogether now: "WTF!!!!!!"
I'm glad the H managed to toss that sucker away!
The fact that she blames herself for the horribly abusive behavior of her bat crap hubby shows how warped her character is! She's a bit bat crap herself!!
She has to be, when she comes to the conclusion that the real reason that she was still angry with the H wasn't because he didn't trust or believe her, but because he saw her as his social inferior, since he had the upper crust background she didn't. OH, COME ON!!!! Talk about NONSENSE!!!
Also, as is usual with HP books, you get to see what's in the h's head (not so often with the H), and usually when she thinks of the H you just know she's in denial, pretending she doesn't care, or only feels lust, not love. Then, you see her gradually making the transition to admitting her real feelings. But with this h, you have her apparently feeling nothing at all for the H, like it ended years ago, then suddenly she feels a spark of desire, the next thing she's so turned on she wants nothing more than to get naked with him (but pride won't let her, of course), then just a suddenly, SHE LOVES HIM!!! And she understands why he treated her so crappy! It was really all her fault, just like it was her fault with bat crap hubby!
UNBELIEVABLE!!! All the feminist reviewers must have been asleep on the job!
Even more ridiculous: the H taking forever to tell the h he knew his cousin lied, the h taking forever to tell him why she married the OM, the H's aunt declaring she loved the h more than her son, yet lied to protect her son (out of guilt???), then told the H the truth too late, no explanation as to why the cousin was so crummy (are we supposed to infer that he was jealous of the H, had the hots for the h and wanted to wreck things for them out of spite?), and he's never actually in the story, we're just told the H found him, beat him up, he disappear, got into trouble in another country and died.
SO DUMB!!!
So was that AWFUL poetry they kept quoting, about some obsessed Victorian guy who can't get his ex-mistress out of his big head, while he uses his little head on other women. Can you get any dumber????
The only good thing about this story was the present OM, the h's boss and good friend, also a friend of the H's, who wants both of them to be happy. He was such a likeable character, you want a HEA for him. Sad to say, he lost that when his wife died. In my head, I decided that she wasn't really dead, she was on a plane that crashed but survived by herself on an island for the past four years, was found and rescued, and reunited with her beloved husband!
That may sound far-fetched, but considering the rest of this booK, it makes PERFECT SENSE!!
May 24, 2021
Traditional HP.
September 20, 2024
Eighteen-year-old Merrin's love affair with Blase was short lived because Blase believed his cousin, Jerry, when he claimed that she helped him stole the handymen's wages entrusted in her and was having an affair with both him and Blase in the same time! She tried to convince Blase of her innocence, but his cruelty eventually foreced her to run away. She married soon after discovering she was pregnant, but unfortunately she lost both the baby and her husband. Six years later, when she finally though she was settling down as an assistant to a brillient writer called Elis, she discovered that Elis was actually Blase's school mate and that he intended to live in Blases house for a while for his new novel's background setting!! It was then that Blase relenlessly tried to both seduce her and degrade her for his revenge.
The novel's well written and certainly lacks no interesting plot, characters or intensity. It's very engrossing and I would have given it more that 3 stars, but there were things that bothered me a lot while reading it. The Heroine loved the hero so much and she lost his child. She felt guilty for the suicide of her husband, but her feelings of guilt towards him should not have exceeded her grieve of the child she had lost, especially if it was the only link or thing that was left from her beloved one. The hero did not grieve much for that child as well in my opinion nor did he regret his actions and repent enough. He tried to suffocate her more than once! This is not love! This is brutality!
The novel's well written and certainly lacks no interesting plot, characters or intensity. It's very engrossing and I would have given it more that 3 stars, but there were things that bothered me a lot while reading it. The Heroine loved the hero so much and she lost his child. She felt guilty for the suicide of her husband, but her feelings of guilt towards him should not have exceeded her grieve of the child she had lost, especially if it was the only link or thing that was left from her beloved one. The hero did not grieve much for that child as well in my opinion nor did he regret his actions and repent enough. He tried to suffocate her more than once! This is not love! This is brutality!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2024
"An Old Passion" is the story of Merrin and Blase.
So heroine is a poor girl who lived in the outskirts of the hero's home. He basically seduces her, and then when a third party poisons his mind, rudely kicks her out. This barely legal teenager then has a rebound marriage, that ends in abuse and tragedy.
Years later, her idiot boss drags her back to the hero's farm. Thus begins a long tale of heroine getting slutshamed, the hero basically leading her on and cheating on his almost fiance with her, and the heroine regressing to the woman from his past and giving in.
What I dislike was that all of her past trauma and abuse were brushed under the carpet under the guise of forgiveness and love. Whatever.
Unsafe
2/5
So heroine is a poor girl who lived in the outskirts of the hero's home. He basically seduces her, and then when a third party poisons his mind, rudely kicks her out. This barely legal teenager then has a rebound marriage, that ends in abuse and tragedy.
Years later, her idiot boss drags her back to the hero's farm. Thus begins a long tale of heroine getting slutshamed, the hero basically leading her on and cheating on his almost fiance with her, and the heroine regressing to the woman from his past and giving in.
What I dislike was that all of her past trauma and abuse were brushed under the carpet under the guise of forgiveness and love. Whatever.
Unsafe
2/5
July 16, 2025
If the hero (30) had not seduced the heroine (24) when she was 17 and then kept her a dirty little secret, then he wouldn't have had six years of anger, a hot Australian model to have sex with, and lots of house renovations. Instead he had unprotected sex, impregnated someone who worked for him, didn't trust her, verbally and sexually abused her and then six years later slut shamed her (although he had other women).
Hero needs some beta blockers and the heroine needs her head read.
Hero needs some beta blockers and the heroine needs her head read.
December 23, 2020
3.5 stars
Talk about high intensity and a violent H and h ...
H didn't suffer enough ... he was way cruel, both in the past and current time ...
h could stand up for herself in current times; she was snarky and violent back to him ...
at the end we see H knew that she was innocent all along; just wish RD had done the disclosures a bit earlier as the ending seemed a bit rushed ..
Talk about high intensity and a violent H and h ...
H didn't suffer enough ... he was way cruel, both in the past and current time ...
h could stand up for herself in current times; she was snarky and violent back to him ...
at the end we see H knew that she was innocent all along; just wish RD had done the disclosures a bit earlier as the ending seemed a bit rushed ..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2025
OK, so I knew what to expect, but seriously, the angst was off the charts — maybe even a bit too much. The hero is a massive jerk, completely blinded by his jealousy, and always believes the worst about the heroine.
It was infuriating, but it satisfied my need for drama, so I'm giving it three stars 💁♀️
July 15, 2019
For me RD set the bar fairly high with Smoke in the Wind and this one fell short even though it wasn't a bad story.
August 1, 2019
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August 18, 2019
Archive
Was a 4 but the ending was crap. His repeated actions made no sense with his revelations. No sadness for their lost child. She slept with her husband whilst pregnant with H baby. Yuck.
Was a 4 but the ending was crap. His repeated actions made no sense with his revelations. No sadness for their lost child. She slept with her husband whilst pregnant with H baby. Yuck.
October 13, 2025
No groveling no apologies nothing from hero. She just took him back. Her losing a child, ex husband abuse everything swept under the rug. It’s boring too.
October 11, 2021
Hero was a Jekyll and Hyde character. He was adoring and smitten when they were together 6 years ago but the trigger of jealousy turned him into a bit of a monster. I do enjoy old school stalkerish, obsessive heroes in fiction, but this one was a bit of bruiser with it. I could have done without all the ways he used his strength against her. She was pretty violent back.
An intense read.
An intense read.
November 13, 2021
Forgettable
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