Relucant Charade

by Margaret Callaghan

Mills & Boon Sweet series promises love affairs to last a lifetime… "If you need a fiance, Adam, hire a professional!"

All her life, Denise had walked in her cousin Jen's shadow now she was being asked to step into her shoes literally! The trouble was, Denise could no more imitate Jen's sophisticated manner than she could pretend to love Jen's fiance , Adam Walker.

The whole plan was outrageous! Denise was determined to resist Adam's persuasive charm, but it was proving harder than she'd anticipated. And, with marriage in the cards, it might prove equally difficult to step aside when Jen came back!

Genres: Harlequin

186 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Margaret Callaghan was born on 1953 in Liverpool, England, UK. She was brought up and educated in the nearby market town of Ormskirk, Lancashire, famed for its gingerbread and its unusual parish church boasting both steeple and tower.

Reviews

[Live2Read · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. The reason is that the plot and characters were poorly written. This is one of my favorite tropes, so I would have loved to enjoy it, but execution was one of the worst…

First of all, homies be always talking too much. Repetitive and infantile conversations made their interaction uncool as the total mood between them felt off. Also, she was way too drastic. Possibly it's my fault, but I was under the impression that Denise would be this weak/timid/shy character pitted against the formidable hero. At least in the early days on, that was, but surely not. Despite having a crush on the hero, despite her unease with him, homegirl’s mouth can really run a mile & her attitude be popping from the start. I mean, sure, why not? That’s fine & all, but then again why was she ever portrayed so dismal & hopeless in the first place? Here, we have a Denise with no backbone when it comes to her cousin, but when it comes to the hero, she suddenly turns into a firecracker. It is erratic & simply convenient for the story. In this case, I would much prefer her timid to make this situation possible than having her be this feisty yet incapable of her situation. Last but not least, I was annoyed with the writing. The word "hey" was used frequently———no, not in a friendly greeting or in a surprised manner like "what the hey!" but rather in a way that was taunting? I don't recall ever seeing the word "hey" used this way. Maybe the author wrote it all up because she thought it was cool, hoping to start a new trend? Or perhaps I'm simply stupid & at one point or in certain parts of the world people do use ‘hey’ in this way? I'm not sure. I genuinely wonder.
‘And when the clock strikes midnight Ill crawl into your bed—hey, Adam?’ she couldn’t resist needling.

‘Just like the price. But I’m worth every penny, hey, Adam?’

‘But you won’t, hey, Adam?’ she needled.

‘Denise Elliot, lady of leisure. Like Jen, you could have been born to the part—hey, Denise?’

I’m just going to go ahead & assume ‘hey’ in context here means ‘right’…Right????

[More Books Than Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good setup and characters that on paper were interesting but it’s just a muddle with muddled characters and inconsistent plot.

Lots of Harlequin hs are stupid but this one takes the cake. The H both offers her a generous settlement if she leaves and blackmails her to stay because her cousin won’t help her financially. Contradictory and h fell for it.

This author can do much better

[Bev W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the ending was predictable, it was a nice easy read and a good distraction when feeling sick. I also liked the absence of soft porn details.