What do you think?
名ばかりの結婚
まだ幼い姪を育てるため、キャシーはイラストを描いて、なんとか生計を立てていた。そんな彼女のもとを、ある日突然一人の男性が訪れる。見るからに高慢そうなスペインの名門一族の当主ハビエルは、自分が姪の父親の兄だと告げ、亡くなった弟の忘れ形見を、なんとしてもスペインへ連れ帰ると主張するのだ。しかも彼はキャシーを姪の母親と人違いしているらしく、脅迫同然に彼女の同行をも促した。悩んだ末、キャシーは正体を隠したままスペインへと赴いた。
Paperback Shinsho
First published March 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 13, 2018
Re In Name Only - Diana Hamilton does the Old Skool HP outline, with some adjectives, of the original Seekrit Baby Trope.
Back in the day, before the pre-marital lurve club barrier was smashed in the late 1980's, you really couldn't have an unmarried, mother h.
(No matter how many Angels of HPlandia breathed on them or unicorns stopped by their grotty flat to be groomed. HP h's in the olden days were expected to be pure and virtuous girls and toting obvious baby exceptions was mostly against the rules. Unless you were Anne Mather or Penny Jordan, both of them being big time best selling authors.)
But Marriage of Convenience for the Baby's Sake is an excellent HP trope. It allows for the H to expand his vocabulary for at least four or five chapters with new ways to denounce our sweet little HP h as a Tarty Harlot Tramp, while fighting off his longing to explore the Love Force Mojo with the h as an usually enticing Lurve Club Holder.
Meanwhile, our pure and virtuous h nobly suffers the H's increasing slights, as she willingly martyrs herself in the HP Classic Madonna Mother Mode and she wins the H's reluctant affection, before all is revealed and True Love once again provides us with an HP HEA.
But how to do that when the Alan Boon and Irish Censorship Board Rules clearly state there shall be no Lurve Club Extravaganza's Before the Wedding?
If you are really cagey, like in a vintage Violet Winspear, you have some other woman be the Tarty Harlot Tramp who either dies or abandons her baby. Then you get the h, in all her purity and virtue, step up to make a home for the poor tyke and prove herself to be an adept and able, but usually poverty stricken mother.
Which is just what DH does here. She knows her vintage outlines well and with just a few modern twists - this h isn't a virgin, she has one sub-standard relationship lurve club experience, DH is off and running to Old, Old Skool HPlandia.
The basic outline, with some interesting details is as follows:
A. h is a martyred family caretaker. In this case the h became the family mainstay when her dour father came home one day when she was 15 and announced he was leaving for South America with another woman, completely shattering the h's mother.
B. h's sewer slurping relative gets preggers and dumps the baby. The h's sister is a Tarty Model Harlot Goldigger on the prowl. She met some rich Spanish Guy, had two days of fun in the sun and brought home a souvenir. Said souvenir was promptly handed to the h at birth and in this outline, the h was promised she could adopt him.
C. Rich Spanish Guy dies in fatal car accident. But not before the h's sister sent letters announcing her impending stork visit and looking for money, prior to the baby hand off.
D. Rich Spanish Guy's scary Older Brother H shows up. He found the letters and now wants to remove his only living reminder of his brother from the Tarty Harlot Tramp --who is sure to want to cast off the dire dirge of motherhood and return to her Tarty Harlot Tramp Partying Ways.
E. Our Virtuous h will be trampled by Wild Horses and Eaten by Ferocious Bears before she gives up her baby. So she lies and lets the H believe she is the bio mother.
F. Scary Berating Alpha Bully H WILL NOT have his only remaining legacy raised by a Trampy Harlot Tart. There will be Legal Battles and possible Kidnapping and/or Bribing of Officials for the Living Legacy.
G. The h knows if it goes to court, or her Gold Digging Sister, she will lose her beloved bundle of joy. So when Alpha Bully H demands that h and baby accompany him to some isolated location in the middle of some foreign country, the h packs up her baby bag and off we go.
H. In some exotic, usually warm and luxurious while still being isolated European Location - in this case Andalusia- the h and baby meet the H's relatives, prove their devoted maternal skills and we get some nice HP travelogue along the way to the h falling in utter love with the Berating But Handsome With It Alpha H.
I. The Lurve Force Mojo kicks in - in the middle of beratements and nasty verbal assertions by the
H. Major roofie kissing sessions are undergone with the H in full Lurve Predator Mode.
*In this highly unusual instance most almost Lurve Club Events take place in the fragrant, (and hopefully bug free,) scratchy grassy area of the Andalusian Campos.
J. After several chapters of roofie kissing and verbal battery, Marriage For the Baby's Sake is proposed and the Big Purple Passion Moment Occurs. This is where the Earth Moves, Stars Dance and HP Angles Weep - once again very daringly, with the sounds, smells, and probably some big-time dirt stains, in the Great Outdoors.
K. The Big Stumbling Block event proceeding the Classic HP Standard h Mopey Moment. This time it is the h's Tarty Harlot Tramp sister showing up, just as the h is about to do her Big Reveal.
L. Tarty Harlot Tramp Sister is now the Evil OW and the h is too mopey and scared to Fight For Her Man. This is usually characterized by aforesaid Evil OW doing her best to run the h off while the H is wandering lost in the HP mists.
*DH provides a surprise twist here, the Evil Ow Sister kicks the h out of the isolated hacienda before H and Evil OW go on their own jaunt. But none of the staff will take the h down the long, winding road to the nearest town, so the h has to sullenly drag her battered little suitcase behind her as she starts out on the long trek home.
M. Surprise arrival on said long, lonely winding road of an Extremely Irked Alpha H. Our sweet and virtuous Maternal Martyr h is dragged back by her hair to the H's family home.
N. The h braces herself for a siege against the H's Awesome Alpha Fury upon his return, convinced she is doomed to a miserable grotty flat life with beans on crumbs and perpetual gloomy rain.
O. The H is very curt upon his return, but amazingly announces HE has not called the wedding off.
The h is shocked! But the H refuses further conversation, only drags the h out on his horse to his favorite Lurve Club Spot on the Campos, passionate lurve clubbings ensue.
P. The Final Explanations - the H figured out the truth ages ago, he isn't mad and he understood why the h did it - but HOW DARE SHE TRY TO DUMP HIS ARROGANT HINEY. Lurve Clubbing Punishments with Possible Spankings will ensue - probably for a full year after the wedding.
Q. The h shyly admits that spankings are a Thang and she is looking forward towards enduring her punishment, because she loves the H so, so much.
R. Alpha H takes her continual servile devotion and martyrdom as his due and by the way, he is sure he loves her too - she is way, way above in the doormat desirability stakes than his first awful, evil wife who wouldn't even go to bed with him.
*The H is sure the h will try very hard to please him in EVERY WAY - unlike the Greedy Gold Digger Ice Witch who took her pay without the play and then died in her last big ticket toy she cheated the H to get.
S. With these tender devotions of True Love Avowals expressed, the H seals the deal with the information that the Evil OW Harlot Tramp Sister has signed away bundle of joy baby custody for a large cash gift and a vague promise to check in on them all sometime.
T. We leave the H and h planning the wedding. The h gets her assurances that no matter how many Living Legacies they may have, the H will always have room for their first beloved adopted child.
We can now breathe a sigh of relief that these two ubiquitous HP main characters have made it to the Sunset Rosy Glow of an HEA, for another standard HP outline of the Madonna Mother Virtuous h MOC for the Baby trope and a very average HPlandia outing.
Back in the day, before the pre-marital lurve club barrier was smashed in the late 1980's, you really couldn't have an unmarried, mother h.
(No matter how many Angels of HPlandia breathed on them or unicorns stopped by their grotty flat to be groomed. HP h's in the olden days were expected to be pure and virtuous girls and toting obvious baby exceptions was mostly against the rules. Unless you were Anne Mather or Penny Jordan, both of them being big time best selling authors.)
But Marriage of Convenience for the Baby's Sake is an excellent HP trope. It allows for the H to expand his vocabulary for at least four or five chapters with new ways to denounce our sweet little HP h as a Tarty Harlot Tramp, while fighting off his longing to explore the Love Force Mojo with the h as an usually enticing Lurve Club Holder.
Meanwhile, our pure and virtuous h nobly suffers the H's increasing slights, as she willingly martyrs herself in the HP Classic Madonna Mother Mode and she wins the H's reluctant affection, before all is revealed and True Love once again provides us with an HP HEA.
But how to do that when the Alan Boon and Irish Censorship Board Rules clearly state there shall be no Lurve Club Extravaganza's Before the Wedding?
If you are really cagey, like in a vintage Violet Winspear, you have some other woman be the Tarty Harlot Tramp who either dies or abandons her baby. Then you get the h, in all her purity and virtue, step up to make a home for the poor tyke and prove herself to be an adept and able, but usually poverty stricken mother.
Which is just what DH does here. She knows her vintage outlines well and with just a few modern twists - this h isn't a virgin, she has one sub-standard relationship lurve club experience, DH is off and running to Old, Old Skool HPlandia.
The basic outline, with some interesting details is as follows:
A. h is a martyred family caretaker. In this case the h became the family mainstay when her dour father came home one day when she was 15 and announced he was leaving for South America with another woman, completely shattering the h's mother.
B. h's sewer slurping relative gets preggers and dumps the baby. The h's sister is a Tarty Model Harlot Goldigger on the prowl. She met some rich Spanish Guy, had two days of fun in the sun and brought home a souvenir. Said souvenir was promptly handed to the h at birth and in this outline, the h was promised she could adopt him.
C. Rich Spanish Guy dies in fatal car accident. But not before the h's sister sent letters announcing her impending stork visit and looking for money, prior to the baby hand off.
D. Rich Spanish Guy's scary Older Brother H shows up. He found the letters and now wants to remove his only living reminder of his brother from the Tarty Harlot Tramp --who is sure to want to cast off the dire dirge of motherhood and return to her Tarty Harlot Tramp Partying Ways.
E. Our Virtuous h will be trampled by Wild Horses and Eaten by Ferocious Bears before she gives up her baby. So she lies and lets the H believe she is the bio mother.
F. Scary Berating Alpha Bully H WILL NOT have his only remaining legacy raised by a Trampy Harlot Tart. There will be Legal Battles and possible Kidnapping and/or Bribing of Officials for the Living Legacy.
G. The h knows if it goes to court, or her Gold Digging Sister, she will lose her beloved bundle of joy. So when Alpha Bully H demands that h and baby accompany him to some isolated location in the middle of some foreign country, the h packs up her baby bag and off we go.
H. In some exotic, usually warm and luxurious while still being isolated European Location - in this case Andalusia- the h and baby meet the H's relatives, prove their devoted maternal skills and we get some nice HP travelogue along the way to the h falling in utter love with the Berating But Handsome With It Alpha H.
I. The Lurve Force Mojo kicks in - in the middle of beratements and nasty verbal assertions by the
H. Major roofie kissing sessions are undergone with the H in full Lurve Predator Mode.
*In this highly unusual instance most almost Lurve Club Events take place in the fragrant, (and hopefully bug free,) scratchy grassy area of the Andalusian Campos.
J. After several chapters of roofie kissing and verbal battery, Marriage For the Baby's Sake is proposed and the Big Purple Passion Moment Occurs. This is where the Earth Moves, Stars Dance and HP Angles Weep - once again very daringly, with the sounds, smells, and probably some big-time dirt stains, in the Great Outdoors.
K. The Big Stumbling Block event proceeding the Classic HP Standard h Mopey Moment. This time it is the h's Tarty Harlot Tramp sister showing up, just as the h is about to do her Big Reveal.
L. Tarty Harlot Tramp Sister is now the Evil OW and the h is too mopey and scared to Fight For Her Man. This is usually characterized by aforesaid Evil OW doing her best to run the h off while the H is wandering lost in the HP mists.
*DH provides a surprise twist here, the Evil Ow Sister kicks the h out of the isolated hacienda before H and Evil OW go on their own jaunt. But none of the staff will take the h down the long, winding road to the nearest town, so the h has to sullenly drag her battered little suitcase behind her as she starts out on the long trek home.
M. Surprise arrival on said long, lonely winding road of an Extremely Irked Alpha H. Our sweet and virtuous Maternal Martyr h is dragged back by her hair to the H's family home.
N. The h braces herself for a siege against the H's Awesome Alpha Fury upon his return, convinced she is doomed to a miserable grotty flat life with beans on crumbs and perpetual gloomy rain.
O. The H is very curt upon his return, but amazingly announces HE has not called the wedding off.
The h is shocked! But the H refuses further conversation, only drags the h out on his horse to his favorite Lurve Club Spot on the Campos, passionate lurve clubbings ensue.
P. The Final Explanations - the H figured out the truth ages ago, he isn't mad and he understood why the h did it - but HOW DARE SHE TRY TO DUMP HIS ARROGANT HINEY. Lurve Clubbing Punishments with Possible Spankings will ensue - probably for a full year after the wedding.
Q. The h shyly admits that spankings are a Thang and she is looking forward towards enduring her punishment, because she loves the H so, so much.
R. Alpha H takes her continual servile devotion and martyrdom as his due and by the way, he is sure he loves her too - she is way, way above in the doormat desirability stakes than his first awful, evil wife who wouldn't even go to bed with him.
*The H is sure the h will try very hard to please him in EVERY WAY - unlike the Greedy Gold Digger Ice Witch who took her pay without the play and then died in her last big ticket toy she cheated the H to get.
S. With these tender devotions of True Love Avowals expressed, the H seals the deal with the information that the Evil OW Harlot Tramp Sister has signed away bundle of joy baby custody for a large cash gift and a vague promise to check in on them all sometime.
T. We leave the H and h planning the wedding. The h gets her assurances that no matter how many Living Legacies they may have, the H will always have room for their first beloved adopted child.
We can now breathe a sigh of relief that these two ubiquitous HP main characters have made it to the Sunset Rosy Glow of an HEA, for another standard HP outline of the Madonna Mother Virtuous h MOC for the Baby trope and a very average HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2017
I would have enjoyed this story so much more if the heroine hadn’t lied and lied and lied some more. She had good reason to lie at the beginning. Her sister had dumped her newborn on her and took off to the States to do soft drink commercials. The child was the result of a one night stand with a Spanish nobleman, who never answered their letters. The heroine has decided to adopt the five month old (with her sister’s blessing), so it’s a shock when the hero’s older brother shows up with the news that his brother is dead and the family wants the baby. He is pretty threatening at the beginning, but then he turns human and likeable. The heroine – not so much.
The heroine lets the hero think she is the mother through the entire book – through the trip to Spain, meeting the hero’s mother, hearing about the hero’s traumatic first marriage, having sex with the hero, many extended travelogues through the Andalusia part of Spain, right up to and including accepting the hero’s marriage proposal. She is an hour away from telling the hero (right) when the sister shows up.
Since we’re at the end of the book, the hero quickly forgives the heroine, arranges for the adoption of the child from the greedy sister and promises more children in the future. He was too good for her.
The heroine lets the hero think she is the mother through the entire book – through the trip to Spain, meeting the hero’s mother, hearing about the hero’s traumatic first marriage, having sex with the hero, many extended travelogues through the Andalusia part of Spain, right up to and including accepting the hero’s marriage proposal. She is an hour away from telling the hero (right) when the sister shows up.
Since we’re at the end of the book, the hero quickly forgives the heroine, arranges for the adoption of the child from the greedy sister and promises more children in the future. He was too good for her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to Read
April 23, 2017Want to read
Although I have a sneaky feeling I've already read it.
Surely, there couldn't be a book with a similar plot? Ha
Although I have a sneaky feeling I've already read it.
Surely, there couldn't be a book with a similar plot? Ha
March 6, 2014
Holy crap this was full of angst. I was feeling so sad for the heroine caught up in lies, trying to protect her sisters son, her son because it's own biological mother was a shameless tool. Then when the sister showed up, I was driven by instant hate. I'm glad we got our HEA and the sister was banished.
June 20, 2024
Не те щоб я читаю вінтажні любовні романи заради великих літературних відкриттів, але й штампи треба писати з повагою до них. Тобто іспанський мачо з виноградниками - одна штука, біла сорочка і конячка додається, англійська троянда з племінником - одна штука, нестримний потяг і хвилювання про фігуру теж є, страшна таємниця, обплетені трояндами балкони, спека і всякі іспанські слова, щоб ніхто не забув, що тут херес роблять - все в наявності (вибачте). Але написано воно якось без відчуття міри, а це проблема, коли є тропи.
Але за Іспанію з трояндами таки пів зірочки додам, вона помічна і розрадлива.
Але за Іспанію з трояндами таки пів зірочки додам, вона помічна і розрадлива.
November 13, 2021
In Name Only
This was an older story. I had a bit of trouble with the drama that was unfolding. Normally when the h pretends she is the mother of the child the other woman is usually not living. But I couldn't get over wondering when she was going to get caught. This was different from the other books. There is a HEA ending that worked out. I will reread this one again.
This was an older story. I had a bit of trouble with the drama that was unfolding. Normally when the h pretends she is the mother of the child the other woman is usually not living. But I couldn't get over wondering when she was going to get caught. This was different from the other books. There is a HEA ending that worked out. I will reread this one again.
January 29, 2023
Very Romantic
This was such a romantic book, filled with patience, old world charm, and true love. I recommend this for anyone starting out on a Harlequinn book. This may be my favorite one yet and I've read quite a few in the series.
This was such a romantic book, filled with patience, old world charm, and true love. I recommend this for anyone starting out on a Harlequinn book. This may be my favorite one yet and I've read quite a few in the series.
October 12, 2017
not bad but it could be better
December 14, 2014
Read upon my mom's recommendation I found it a quick easy read, nicely emotional, albeit formulaic with the baddie sister and predictably fraught with misunderstandings. It would have benefited from a deeper character study, since its got great potential with vivid setting and memorable secondary characters. The Spanish background is extremely well done. The author clearly loves Spain and does it justice, its permeated with Andalusian details.
March 13, 2018
"I never bet on certainties."
Javier Campuzano, attractive head of a wealthy Spanish family, was sure of Cathy's real character. She was selfish, immoral and a bad mother, who would be only too happy to hand over little Johnny to his Spanish relatives and abandon all responsibility for his future upbringing. But what Javier didn't know was that Cathy wasn't the child's mother, even though she claimed to be ..
Javier Campuzano, attractive head of a wealthy Spanish family, was sure of Cathy's real character. She was selfish, immoral and a bad mother, who would be only too happy to hand over little Johnny to his Spanish relatives and abandon all responsibility for his future upbringing. But what Javier didn't know was that Cathy wasn't the child's mother, even though she claimed to be ..
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews