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The Winter Heart
She'd gone from one predicament to another
Meg had taken the blame when her young stepsister, Carol, provoked a tragic accident. And in the ensuing publicity she, and not Carol, had been branded a cheap little adventuress. So when novelist Simon Egan offered her a job as his secretary and the chance to escape with him to Colorado, Meg eagerly accepted.
Little did she know Simon had been personally involved in that tragedy, and mistaking her for Carol, had planned an elaborate revenge.
Why couldn't Meg convince him he'd chosen the wrong victim?
Meg had taken the blame when her young stepsister, Carol, provoked a tragic accident. And in the ensuing publicity she, and not Carol, had been branded a cheap little adventuress. So when novelist Simon Egan offered her a job as his secretary and the chance to escape with him to Colorado, Meg eagerly accepted.
Little did she know Simon had been personally involved in that tragedy, and mistaking her for Carol, had planned an elaborate revenge.
Why couldn't Meg convince him he'd chosen the wrong victim?
186 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1985
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529 people want to read
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March 13, 2016
RE The Winter Heart - what can I say about this one besides the fact that LC's last HPlandia outing is totally, totally whacked. LC outdoes herself on the revenge portion but fails miserably on the H redemption.
The h is a 23 year old struggling artist, her life was wrecked when she took the blame for an accident caused by her spoiled step-sister. She finally got away from the sewer sludge and is offered a job working for a writer in Colorado. The h is happy, and falls in love with the writer. He leads her on and marries her, then hits her with the whammy that he is the brother of the woman's husband who she was having an affair with and he has married her for revenge. (Cause apparently he never heard of civil liability, nope marriage to a multi-millionaire and forced drudgery is suitable punishment for a trampy little tart like her.)
The husband died in a car wreck caused by the sister (who he thinks is the h) and his sister (who was semi-paralyzed) was forced to endure the publicly humiliating affair but srsly loved the hubby and so she offed herself after his death, leaving a note for her sorta beloved brother. The H enacts his grand plan o'vengeance by taking the h to a remote wooded cabin and forcing her to be an unpaid slave, he is very adamant he will not be taking any sloppy seconds either.
Except the h is actually pretty happy, even tho the H is a total nematode parasite. She has always worked hard and she likes the homemaker mode. She is also still loving the H (I don't know why, he isn't remotely lovable but he does worry that she isn't eating enough, worried that she will die from malnutrition and he will have to explain away an emaciated body I guess.) Then the H decides he likes the skeletal look and throws sex into the mix, he finds out she is a virgin, but of course she is still guilty - just now she is a tease instead of a tart.
The sexxing and insults continue, the H has to humiliate her every time - it is his version of foreplay - and the h gradually gets that he wants her to confess she loves him so he can taunt her some more- she obligingly does and his response is to find her step sister.
The two are happily slurping the sewage sludge together and he and the stepsister are getting mighty friendly, when the h finally snaps out of her fugue state and figures out a way to escape the H. The sister is all about telling the h how cozy she and the H are, and for all his evasions later - I totally believe he slept with her or at least came pretty close. The sister really doesn't lie, she got the h to take the blame for the accident yes, but she is very forthright in stating things. The H does nothing but lie the entire book, so he isn't exactly a credible witness.
The h escapes, but now she is preggers. She miraculously finds a job, a place to stay and an expert teacher to help her with her painting. She even has the teacher falling in love with her. But does she leave the state and find a new life or take the expert teacher up on his offer of unconditional love and a father for her child - NO, she calls the H up cause he deserves to know about the baby and he sorta apologizes.
He claims he knew the sister was responsible right away - yet he still paid for thousands of dollars worth of clothes and a first class ticket to California, where I am sure he has a cozy little house all set up for her. He says he was going to confront the sister during the last night they were together but the h left, (because she finally saw what he actually was - just like HIS sister's dead husband.) The h gets stuck with a half-hearted declaration of love and an avoidance of the question on what he did with the sister and his current mistress he was sleeping with when he married the h.
She loves him back and he knew all about the baby cause he was the one who got her the job and the place to stay. So essentially, she had no hope whatsoever and now all she can do is wait for the baby to be born so he can A: stuff them in one of his houses, he will visit occasionally and flaunt his affairs in the meantime. or B: (and more likely given his character,) she will have the baby, he will hire adequate staff and isolate her and proceed to torture her mentally and rape her until she either commits suicide (just like his sister,) or has a breakdown and has to be admitted to a mental institution.
I am betting on the suicide outcome myself, my theory is that he secretly hated how weak his sister was - her suicide made him feel guilty and made him angry she tainted the family name. The h strongly reminded him of his sister and so he tormented her the way he would have liked to punish the sister - except she escaped for a little while and other people now know and care about her - so he has to seduce her away before he can fulfill his final need for revenge - thus proving what a psycho sewage parasite he really is and leaving me with serous doubts about any sort of HEA here.
Read this one cause it is a wall banger trainwreck extraordinare, but lay in adult beverage/cookie supplies and new dry wall before you do it - this book is epic for the number of drinking binges it has inspired and is still notorious in HPLandia as being one of the most wrecky ever and thus almost required HPlandia reading.
The h is a 23 year old struggling artist, her life was wrecked when she took the blame for an accident caused by her spoiled step-sister. She finally got away from the sewer sludge and is offered a job working for a writer in Colorado. The h is happy, and falls in love with the writer. He leads her on and marries her, then hits her with the whammy that he is the brother of the woman's husband who she was having an affair with and he has married her for revenge. (Cause apparently he never heard of civil liability, nope marriage to a multi-millionaire and forced drudgery is suitable punishment for a trampy little tart like her.)
The husband died in a car wreck caused by the sister (who he thinks is the h) and his sister (who was semi-paralyzed) was forced to endure the publicly humiliating affair but srsly loved the hubby and so she offed herself after his death, leaving a note for her sorta beloved brother. The H enacts his grand plan o'vengeance by taking the h to a remote wooded cabin and forcing her to be an unpaid slave, he is very adamant he will not be taking any sloppy seconds either.
Except the h is actually pretty happy, even tho the H is a total nematode parasite. She has always worked hard and she likes the homemaker mode. She is also still loving the H (I don't know why, he isn't remotely lovable but he does worry that she isn't eating enough, worried that she will die from malnutrition and he will have to explain away an emaciated body I guess.) Then the H decides he likes the skeletal look and throws sex into the mix, he finds out she is a virgin, but of course she is still guilty - just now she is a tease instead of a tart.
The sexxing and insults continue, the H has to humiliate her every time - it is his version of foreplay - and the h gradually gets that he wants her to confess she loves him so he can taunt her some more- she obligingly does and his response is to find her step sister.
The two are happily slurping the sewage sludge together and he and the stepsister are getting mighty friendly, when the h finally snaps out of her fugue state and figures out a way to escape the H. The sister is all about telling the h how cozy she and the H are, and for all his evasions later - I totally believe he slept with her or at least came pretty close. The sister really doesn't lie, she got the h to take the blame for the accident yes, but she is very forthright in stating things. The H does nothing but lie the entire book, so he isn't exactly a credible witness.
The h escapes, but now she is preggers. She miraculously finds a job, a place to stay and an expert teacher to help her with her painting. She even has the teacher falling in love with her. But does she leave the state and find a new life or take the expert teacher up on his offer of unconditional love and a father for her child - NO, she calls the H up cause he deserves to know about the baby and he sorta apologizes.
He claims he knew the sister was responsible right away - yet he still paid for thousands of dollars worth of clothes and a first class ticket to California, where I am sure he has a cozy little house all set up for her. He says he was going to confront the sister during the last night they were together but the h left, (because she finally saw what he actually was - just like HIS sister's dead husband.) The h gets stuck with a half-hearted declaration of love and an avoidance of the question on what he did with the sister and his current mistress he was sleeping with when he married the h.
She loves him back and he knew all about the baby cause he was the one who got her the job and the place to stay. So essentially, she had no hope whatsoever and now all she can do is wait for the baby to be born so he can A: stuff them in one of his houses, he will visit occasionally and flaunt his affairs in the meantime. or B: (and more likely given his character,) she will have the baby, he will hire adequate staff and isolate her and proceed to torture her mentally and rape her until she either commits suicide (just like his sister,) or has a breakdown and has to be admitted to a mental institution.
I am betting on the suicide outcome myself, my theory is that he secretly hated how weak his sister was - her suicide made him feel guilty and made him angry she tainted the family name. The h strongly reminded him of his sister and so he tormented her the way he would have liked to punish the sister - except she escaped for a little while and other people now know and care about her - so he has to seduce her away before he can fulfill his final need for revenge - thus proving what a psycho sewage parasite he really is and leaving me with serous doubts about any sort of HEA here.
Read this one cause it is a wall banger trainwreck extraordinare, but lay in adult beverage/cookie supplies and new dry wall before you do it - this book is epic for the number of drinking binges it has inspired and is still notorious in HPLandia as being one of the most wrecky ever and thus almost required HPlandia reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2021
I’ve read this book before and never reviewed it. Reasons are the H is horrible, but there were times when I felt the heroine deserved everything she got for being SO STUPID and such a bleeding heart doormat It’s one thing to offer yourself up in a revenge MOC/affair to help the loser brother/sister that wrecks your ex-tycoon lover/husband’s are-you-compensating-for-something car, but to accept responsibility for murder or second degree murder or whatever is a little STUPID.
Doormat finally gets a clue that her sister is a major loser, and leaves for the bright lights to study. Vengeful H comes in, and other reviews fill in the details.
One star alone for the fact that the heroine finally escapes, but another deducted for not having a scene where the H makes the little sister suffer someway, anyway. Getting a new skippy wardrobe and doing the dishes hardly qualifies as payback for killing the H's BIL and driving his sister to suicide.
Doormat finally gets a clue that her sister is a major loser, and leaves for the bright lights to study. Vengeful H comes in, and other reviews fill in the details.
One star alone for the fact that the heroine finally escapes, but another deducted for not having a scene where the H makes the little sister suffer someway, anyway. Getting a new skippy wardrobe and doing the dishes hardly qualifies as payback for killing the H's BIL and driving his sister to suicide.
December 25, 2025
Note: AgentScully recommended this book to me and since I've already read it and don't have the stomach to do a re-read, this review is from memory.
You know how garlic-y foods are really good? Say a Caesar salad. But if the chef overdoes the garlic, you taste it for hours after. You don't forget that salad, but you don't have fond memories of it, either.
The Winter Heart has too much metaphorical garlic.
Recipe:
Take an idiot, martyr heroine and a selfish, thoughtless sister. Let the heroine take the blame for sister's actions.
Add in a diabolical hero who wooed and then married the heroine with revenge in mind.
Place in a snowbound cabin.
Pass the breath mints because the evil sister is still alive and not sorry.
This is an intense read and everyone who loves HP's should read it because it is a classic trainwreck full of angst and cruelty and emotion. Thanks for reminding me of this story, AgentScully!
You know how garlic-y foods are really good? Say a Caesar salad. But if the chef overdoes the garlic, you taste it for hours after. You don't forget that salad, but you don't have fond memories of it, either.
The Winter Heart has too much metaphorical garlic.
Recipe:
Take an idiot, martyr heroine and a selfish, thoughtless sister. Let the heroine take the blame for sister's actions.
Add in a diabolical hero who wooed and then married the heroine with revenge in mind.
Place in a snowbound cabin.
Pass the breath mints because the evil sister is still alive and not sorry.
This is an intense read and everyone who loves HP's should read it because it is a classic trainwreck full of angst and cruelty and emotion. Thanks for reminding me of this story, AgentScully!
March 17, 2016
HORRID, CRUEL, VENGEFUL HERO THAT REVIEWERS FILL THEIR REVIEWS WITH ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY HATED HIM? CHECK
HEROINE FALLS IN LOVE WITH HIM FROM DAY 1? CHECK
What, are you looking for more checks? ARE YOU KIDDING, WHAT ELSE DO I NEED WHEN I HAVE ALL THIS
*Review to come.*
HEROINE FALLS IN LOVE WITH HIM FROM DAY 1? CHECK
What, are you looking for more checks? ARE YOU KIDDING, WHAT ELSE DO I NEED WHEN I HAVE ALL THIS
*Review to come.*
August 14, 2012
I couldn't get past the hero and his hateful, abusive methods of torture. I was shocked that the heroine did not cave under the torture and was capable of even walking away. The fact that she loved him, didn't make sense unless you want to buy into a stockholm syndrome. The twisted baby plot at the end was a cop out by the author forcing them into a reconciliation that should never have happened.
He deserved jail, and she needed therapy. Not my view of romance. If this had been labeled as a horror book, I could have stomached it. But then in those books, the good guys usually win and the bad guys go to jail.
He deserved jail, and she needed therapy. Not my view of romance. If this had been labeled as a horror book, I could have stomached it. But then in those books, the good guys usually win and the bad guys go to jail.
August 16, 2017
Well, I’m a happy camper. Enjoyed this vengeful hero, mistaken-identity virgin heroine ride immensely.
Meg was the driver in the crash that killed her step mum who was in the passenger seat. To honor her last dying wish, Meg at 17, became guardian to her young stepsister. She left school, got a job, squelched her dreams of being an artist and devoted her energies to young Carol probably hoping she'd grow up to be a kind, gracious young lady. But alas no, she became the equivalent of today’s selfie-obsessed teen, the one who can’t see past her own false eyelashes and sense of entitlement.
Carol takes up a position as companion to a wheelchair-bound rich society woman, whose husband couldn’t take to a life of celibacy and usually dipped his hand, amongst other things, into the forbidden cookie jar labelled “Other Women.” But boy, did he pick the wrong cookie. Carol did not like being tossed in the trash after a few nibbles and one night, amid wild claims of being pregnant, drives off angrily with him in the passenger seat. She crashes the car, he dies but she lives.
(There should be a warning buzzer the next time someone decides to take a ride with these sisters.)
Anyway, Carol had cunningly used Meg’s name and social security number to be hired for this job so after some you-owe-me-you-killed-my-mama hysterics, she convinces Meg to tell the police that Meg was really the passenger and the husband the one actually driving the car. Being HP land, they get away with it. But the poor widow is devastated by the loss of her husband and his infidelity so she kills herself.
In the ensuing madhouse of publicity and tabloids during which her own fiance dumps her, Meg decides to just fuck it all and reboot her life. She quits her job, sells everything, says adios to Carol (who has hooked up with lightning speed to another loser) and takes the first train out to the farthest town to escape. She works part-time and starts putting herself through business school so she can get a better career and eventually indulge in her passion of art. She hears of a famous writer, Simon who is willing to pay exorbitantly for a typist so she signs up for it immediately.
Before long, they end up spending lots of time together. She finds his rugged looks, charm and brilliance irresistible, and he is impressed she has brains as well as beauty and talent. This mutual attraction society starts burning up into sexy love and he proposes marriage. She is ecstatic and believes her life is finally turning around, the poor dear.
Simon suggests going up to a mountain lodge for their honeymoon far from the madding crowd. After a quick, unromantic, registry marriage they begin a long, treacherous drive up mountains roads to the remote lodge where she starts having qualms. The lodge is unfit to live in, with a 1920s kitchen, filthy rooms, bare necessities, no links to the external world and her new husband is displaying qualities synonymous with the weather: a cold, harsh, wintry disposition.
He tells her they will be snowed in for the next few months and reveals his true identity: Brother of the rich socialite who killed herself, Judger of Meg’s evil deeds, Executor of punishment, Withholder of sex, Non-listener of explanations, Determined penis controller, Failed penis controller, Oh-shit-you-virgin-but-you-still-slut Shamer and Nevermind-great-sex-conquers-all Concluder.
The best part of the book is how Meg deals with her new Jailor-husband so I shall not ruin it with details. Carol would have crumbled but Meg is a tough, resourceful cookie who understands his pain, loves him but also knows she has to get away from him. Simon is deliciously devilish in his cruelty but never resorts to violence or forced sex. He struggles against his love for Meg knowing details of his sister's anguish through her suicide letter and allows his hurt and anger to override his better judgement of her character. Carol is a delightful villainess who literally gets away with murder with her drunk driving and digs her own grave with a mouth that doesn’t shut up.
Aside from the introduction of a bunch of unnecessary characters towards the end of the book which annoyingly detracted from the HEA, I will hold on to this book for a while. A new fave :)
Meg was the driver in the crash that killed her step mum who was in the passenger seat. To honor her last dying wish, Meg at 17, became guardian to her young stepsister. She left school, got a job, squelched her dreams of being an artist and devoted her energies to young Carol probably hoping she'd grow up to be a kind, gracious young lady. But alas no, she became the equivalent of today’s selfie-obsessed teen, the one who can’t see past her own false eyelashes and sense of entitlement.
Carol takes up a position as companion to a wheelchair-bound rich society woman, whose husband couldn’t take to a life of celibacy and usually dipped his hand, amongst other things, into the forbidden cookie jar labelled “Other Women.” But boy, did he pick the wrong cookie. Carol did not like being tossed in the trash after a few nibbles and one night, amid wild claims of being pregnant, drives off angrily with him in the passenger seat. She crashes the car, he dies but she lives.
(There should be a warning buzzer the next time someone decides to take a ride with these sisters.)
Anyway, Carol had cunningly used Meg’s name and social security number to be hired for this job so after some you-owe-me-you-killed-my-mama hysterics, she convinces Meg to tell the police that Meg was really the passenger and the husband the one actually driving the car. Being HP land, they get away with it. But the poor widow is devastated by the loss of her husband and his infidelity so she kills herself.
In the ensuing madhouse of publicity and tabloids during which her own fiance dumps her, Meg decides to just fuck it all and reboot her life. She quits her job, sells everything, says adios to Carol (who has hooked up with lightning speed to another loser) and takes the first train out to the farthest town to escape. She works part-time and starts putting herself through business school so she can get a better career and eventually indulge in her passion of art. She hears of a famous writer, Simon who is willing to pay exorbitantly for a typist so she signs up for it immediately.
Before long, they end up spending lots of time together. She finds his rugged looks, charm and brilliance irresistible, and he is impressed she has brains as well as beauty and talent. This mutual attraction society starts burning up into sexy love and he proposes marriage. She is ecstatic and believes her life is finally turning around, the poor dear.
Simon suggests going up to a mountain lodge for their honeymoon far from the madding crowd. After a quick, unromantic, registry marriage they begin a long, treacherous drive up mountains roads to the remote lodge where she starts having qualms. The lodge is unfit to live in, with a 1920s kitchen, filthy rooms, bare necessities, no links to the external world and her new husband is displaying qualities synonymous with the weather: a cold, harsh, wintry disposition.
He tells her they will be snowed in for the next few months and reveals his true identity: Brother of the rich socialite who killed herself, Judger of Meg’s evil deeds, Executor of punishment, Withholder of sex, Non-listener of explanations, Determined penis controller, Failed penis controller, Oh-shit-you-virgin-but-you-still-slut Shamer and Nevermind-great-sex-conquers-all Concluder.
The best part of the book is how Meg deals with her new Jailor-husband so I shall not ruin it with details. Carol would have crumbled but Meg is a tough, resourceful cookie who understands his pain, loves him but also knows she has to get away from him. Simon is deliciously devilish in his cruelty but never resorts to violence or forced sex. He struggles against his love for Meg knowing details of his sister's anguish through her suicide letter and allows his hurt and anger to override his better judgement of her character. Carol is a delightful villainess who literally gets away with murder with her drunk driving and digs her own grave with a mouth that doesn’t shut up.
Aside from the introduction of a bunch of unnecessary characters towards the end of the book which annoyingly detracted from the HEA, I will hold on to this book for a while. A new fave :)
October 3, 2009
I do not deny that I enjoy the rather unrealistic for the real world, and campy in a very 'this is real to the people participating' way, storylines of the Harlequin Presents line.
This story has the marriage for revenge plot. Simon is a writer whose sister is paralyzed in a car accident caused by a bimbo his brother-in-law was having an affair with. When he goes to investigate, he finds out that Maggie was driving the car. But it turns out, she wasn't. Her younger sister was.
He sets out to get revenge on the little tramp who ruined his sister's life. He is going to get her to fall in love with him, marry her and take her off to a secluded cabin in the mountains and make her pay for what she did to his sister and her marriage. That's probably the worst plan for revenge I've ever heard. Yet this book is a great story.
Maggie is of course a really good, decent woman, who would never have an affair with a married man. She's never had an affair at all. She's too busy working and trying to make ends meet and taking care of her ungrateful 'Lolita-esque' sister. In fact, she is terrified of cars ever since her mother died in a car accident and she was driving.
Instead of seeing that Maggie is a good and decent human being, Simon persists in believing her to be an amoral trampy gold-digger, but finds himself attracted to her air of innocence all the same. He hires her to be his secretary to help him transcribe his book, and romances her into marriage.
Poor Maggie is none the wiser until they get to Simon's little cabin in the mountains where he takes her for their honeymoon, when he reveals his true colors. He hates her guts and he wants to make her pay by making her his slave and taking her away from the glamorous world she lives in so she cannot seduce and destroy any other men. Maggie protests her innocence on deaf ears. He doesn't listen. After all this, he still expects Maggie to help him with his book, and to do all the cooking and cleaning.
This is not a book that you like for the hero, clearly. I liked it for Maggie. I could sympathize with her, and I hoped she made it out of this crazy situation with her sanity intact. Of course, things change where Simon finds he wants to make her his real wife in every way. Things heat up in the bedroom, although Maggie doesn't get why she would fall in love with a crazy, cruel man like Simon.
All along, Maggie is showing her true colors. That she is a good person, and she would never do what Simon has accused him of. Of course, she turns out to be a real homemaker (turning the sparsely furnished cabin into a home, cooking great meals on the antiquated stove, and taking up quilting). He sees this, but thinks it's just an act. Suddenly, the younger sister shows up, just when things sort of settle into an uneasy truce. She has decided that she wants to take her sister's husband, since he's a rich man who can keep her in style. The good news is that she is kind of dumb. She says way too much, and pretty soon it's clear who the culprit was in his sister's hit and run accident, affirming Simon's doubts about Maggie's innocence.
Maggie sees any dreams she had of a happy marriage going down the drain. She had tried to get away initially, but to no avail. This time she succeeds and ends up getting a nearby neighbor to take her to town on his snowmobile.
Of course, Simon shows up to claim his runaway wife. Repentant and ready to declare his love, having sent the younger sister on her way. And Maggie with her forgiving heart, is only to happy to take him back.
This is a story that you can find only in a Harlequin Presents. But, just like some people will sit and watch B movies and enjoy them for the entertainment they provide, that is how I take Harlequin Presents. And I do not mean to put down any of the writers of these books. I think there are some fine writers in this line. But the storylines are what make them seem like B movies to me. I think they have some very over the top elements, but they succeed in what they were designed for, to captivate and to entertain, and this book served its purpose. For that reason, it's one of my vintage Harlequin Presents keepers.
This story has the marriage for revenge plot. Simon is a writer whose sister is paralyzed in a car accident caused by a bimbo his brother-in-law was having an affair with. When he goes to investigate, he finds out that Maggie was driving the car. But it turns out, she wasn't. Her younger sister was.
He sets out to get revenge on the little tramp who ruined his sister's life. He is going to get her to fall in love with him, marry her and take her off to a secluded cabin in the mountains and make her pay for what she did to his sister and her marriage. That's probably the worst plan for revenge I've ever heard. Yet this book is a great story.
Maggie is of course a really good, decent woman, who would never have an affair with a married man. She's never had an affair at all. She's too busy working and trying to make ends meet and taking care of her ungrateful 'Lolita-esque' sister. In fact, she is terrified of cars ever since her mother died in a car accident and she was driving.
Instead of seeing that Maggie is a good and decent human being, Simon persists in believing her to be an amoral trampy gold-digger, but finds himself attracted to her air of innocence all the same. He hires her to be his secretary to help him transcribe his book, and romances her into marriage.
Poor Maggie is none the wiser until they get to Simon's little cabin in the mountains where he takes her for their honeymoon, when he reveals his true colors. He hates her guts and he wants to make her pay by making her his slave and taking her away from the glamorous world she lives in so she cannot seduce and destroy any other men. Maggie protests her innocence on deaf ears. He doesn't listen. After all this, he still expects Maggie to help him with his book, and to do all the cooking and cleaning.
This is not a book that you like for the hero, clearly. I liked it for Maggie. I could sympathize with her, and I hoped she made it out of this crazy situation with her sanity intact. Of course, things change where Simon finds he wants to make her his real wife in every way. Things heat up in the bedroom, although Maggie doesn't get why she would fall in love with a crazy, cruel man like Simon.
All along, Maggie is showing her true colors. That she is a good person, and she would never do what Simon has accused him of. Of course, she turns out to be a real homemaker (turning the sparsely furnished cabin into a home, cooking great meals on the antiquated stove, and taking up quilting). He sees this, but thinks it's just an act. Suddenly, the younger sister shows up, just when things sort of settle into an uneasy truce. She has decided that she wants to take her sister's husband, since he's a rich man who can keep her in style. The good news is that she is kind of dumb. She says way too much, and pretty soon it's clear who the culprit was in his sister's hit and run accident, affirming Simon's doubts about Maggie's innocence.
Maggie sees any dreams she had of a happy marriage going down the drain. She had tried to get away initially, but to no avail. This time she succeeds and ends up getting a nearby neighbor to take her to town on his snowmobile.
Of course, Simon shows up to claim his runaway wife. Repentant and ready to declare his love, having sent the younger sister on her way. And Maggie with her forgiving heart, is only to happy to take him back.
This is a story that you can find only in a Harlequin Presents. But, just like some people will sit and watch B movies and enjoy them for the entertainment they provide, that is how I take Harlequin Presents. And I do not mean to put down any of the writers of these books. I think there are some fine writers in this line. But the storylines are what make them seem like B movies to me. I think they have some very over the top elements, but they succeed in what they were designed for, to captivate and to entertain, and this book served its purpose. For that reason, it's one of my vintage Harlequin Presents keepers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2016
Wow, this was one crazy story!
She not only married him but she went to the mountains with him!
He treats her like shit and she tries to clear it up and he just was a total asshole.
She should have let the sister take the consequences of her actions!
She was too sweet by far!
When he saw that she was going to have his baby after all that he did to her, he should have swallowed his pride and came to her.
However, I did like that he waited for her to talk to him as he felt he did not deserve her!
He didn't at first, but I liked him at the end!
She not only married him but she went to the mountains with him!
He treats her like shit and she tries to clear it up and he just was a total asshole.
She should have let the sister take the consequences of her actions!
She was too sweet by far!
When he saw that she was going to have his baby after all that he did to her, he should have swallowed his pride and came to her.
However, I did like that he waited for her to talk to him as he felt he did not deserve her!
He didn't at first, but I liked him at the end!
April 28, 2022
I have to confess this is one of my all time favourites. It has an H who is up there in the annals of the worst scum of the earth there ever was. It's as if Jack Nicholson in the Shining had been made into HP Hero. The setting is an isolated cabin in the woods, and the plotline has an unhinged man bent on revenge. I could imagine the H (Simon) hacking a hole in the door with an axe, and staring through, crazy-eyed, just like in the Shining.
I could just not put this down, even if an earthquake had happened. Loved Meg, who appeared to be a doormat at first, but then she somehow found the strength to survive everything he did to try to break her.
The grovel at the end was good but not nearly long enough for what he had done to her.
Lilian Cheatham wrote the emotions and drama in a very compelling way.
Definitely not for everyone, but if you love trainwrecks and heroes who are so OTT deranged, this is for you. It's fiction after all. If he were real, I would be first to call police to have him carted away in a straight jacket.
I could just not put this down, even if an earthquake had happened. Loved Meg, who appeared to be a doormat at first, but then she somehow found the strength to survive everything he did to try to break her.
The grovel at the end was good but not nearly long enough for what he had done to her.
Lilian Cheatham wrote the emotions and drama in a very compelling way.
Definitely not for everyone, but if you love trainwrecks and heroes who are so OTT deranged, this is for you. It's fiction after all. If he were real, I would be first to call police to have him carted away in a straight jacket.
September 3, 2020
Oh yes!! Lilian Cheatham delivers revenge with no holds barred, not the wimpy “put Revenge in the title and call it a day” anemic revenge tropes you get from so many later Harleys. The angst in this one is unrelenting and epic—drama junkies rejoice! I love me a punishing alpha, and Simon of TWH is up there with Hugo of Sally Wentworth’s Shattered Dreams and Muir of Charlotte Lamb’s Betrayal. Emotional torment with a heaping side of—yes!—punitive housework and some sexual humiliation (he makes her tell him over and over that she wants him--which works for explicit consent in what might otherwise be a forced seduction, though, so there's that flipside), so fair warning. I thought Cheatham did a bang-up job in giving the heroine a good underpinning for her actions and emotions, and shows how she changes over the course of the story. Tempered in fire for sure!
I enjoyed every asshat-driven, angsty moment of this with unrepentant glee. What can I say—if you’re going to do a revenge trope, do it thoroughly without pulling any emotional punches or softening the (anti)hero too much! Angst at 11, an alpha as dickish as they come, an initially sweet and good-hearted heroine who really isn’t that forgiving or accommodating once she’s been pushed too far—what’s not to love if that’s your particular itch? Happy sigh.
I enjoyed every asshat-driven, angsty moment of this with unrepentant glee. What can I say—if you’re going to do a revenge trope, do it thoroughly without pulling any emotional punches or softening the (anti)hero too much! Angst at 11, an alpha as dickish as they come, an initially sweet and good-hearted heroine who really isn’t that forgiving or accommodating once she’s been pushed too far—what’s not to love if that’s your particular itch? Happy sigh.
October 26, 2021
This is on my list for sociopath heroes and for TSTl heroines.
The heroine's younger slutty sister has a car accident where her lover dies, so she asks the heroine to lie and tell she (the heroine) was driving the car.
And the heroine agrees.
What????
Are you serious???
This is where I stopped caring for the heroine, because one thing is try to take care of your younger sister but another is tell the police you caused a car accident where a man die.
Really, she deserved what happened later.
The hero is a psycho.
Because he's the brother of the dead man's wife, who decided to commit suicide after her husband left her with Little Miss Slut.
And he decides to avenge his dead sister by marrying the woman he thinks is responsible for his sister's death and to take her to an abandoned hut in Colorado where she will be treated as Cinderella.
Then he decides to use her for sex, debasing her, and humiliating her.
She tries to tell him the truth but of course, being him stupid and dumb, he doesn't believe her, even when he finds out she was a virgin. There is when I was really annoyed. How he could believe this after his sister wrote in her diary that the slut who was having an affair with her husband was pregnant and he believed her, I am not able to understand.
I don't even know what to say about a man like this.
Oh, and after some months he took Lil Miss Slut to their hut, to further humiliate her, and to flirt with her in front of the heroine. And he was deceived by lil slut, thinking that the heroine abandoned her lil sister and then went on with his BIL. He was too stupid to live.
And the heroine was too stupid to live too, since she fell in love with the psycho.
Eventually she was able to run away, but she didn't aks for a divorce, no, she waited for months, and, being pregnant, she decided to tell him.
So the psycho could justify, pitifully in my opinion, his psycho behaviour and asked her to stay with him. And of course she accepted and was very happy.
What???
Woman, you never learn don't you.
The book was full of angst of course, and this is why I give 3 stars.
Obviously it was so politically not correct that I don't even know where to begin.
And the man was awful, not only a psycho but also stupid which for me is still more unforgivable...
The heroine's younger slutty sister has a car accident where her lover dies, so she asks the heroine to lie and tell she (the heroine) was driving the car.
And the heroine agrees.
What????
Are you serious???
This is where I stopped caring for the heroine, because one thing is try to take care of your younger sister but another is tell the police you caused a car accident where a man die.
Really, she deserved what happened later.
The hero is a psycho.
Because he's the brother of the dead man's wife, who decided to commit suicide after her husband left her with Little Miss Slut.
And he decides to avenge his dead sister by marrying the woman he thinks is responsible for his sister's death and to take her to an abandoned hut in Colorado where she will be treated as Cinderella.
Then he decides to use her for sex, debasing her, and humiliating her.
She tries to tell him the truth but of course, being him stupid and dumb, he doesn't believe her, even when he finds out she was a virgin. There is when I was really annoyed. How he could believe this after his sister wrote in her diary that the slut who was having an affair with her husband was pregnant and he believed her, I am not able to understand.
I don't even know what to say about a man like this.
Oh, and after some months he took Lil Miss Slut to their hut, to further humiliate her, and to flirt with her in front of the heroine. And he was deceived by lil slut, thinking that the heroine abandoned her lil sister and then went on with his BIL. He was too stupid to live.
And the heroine was too stupid to live too, since she fell in love with the psycho.
Eventually she was able to run away, but she didn't aks for a divorce, no, she waited for months, and, being pregnant, she decided to tell him.
So the psycho could justify, pitifully in my opinion, his psycho behaviour and asked her to stay with him. And of course she accepted and was very happy.
What???
Woman, you never learn don't you.
The book was full of angst of course, and this is why I give 3 stars.
Obviously it was so politically not correct that I don't even know where to begin.
And the man was awful, not only a psycho but also stupid which for me is still more unforgivable...
February 2, 2019
"The Winter Heart" is the story of Meg and Simon.
In this angsty tale, a martyr, pushover heroine takes the blame for her bitchy evil stepsister's deeds, only to be trapped into a deceitful marriage with the hero- who plans to take revenge from her! The reason: Her stepsister was responsible for his sister's death, and since our *stupid* heroine decides to take it upon herself, he thinks of her as the culprit! So what does he do? Employs the h. Fakes loving her. Marries her. Whisks her to an isolated cabin in a snowstorm and plans to slave her around, making her suffer to punish her. Pfft.
The heroine was very sacrificing, easily seduced by the hero, quick in forgiving and should have smacked both the H and her stepsister way before the end. The hero was cruel and mean, and IMO did not grovel enough. The stepsister should be been killed- I detested her so much.
Honestly, it was an overall average read- but I love me a good, heartbreaking story- and the pain the heroine experiences after learning the truth made me gobble the book up. It would have been made better if the hero occasionally showed bursts of tenderness, instead of cruelly seducing the heroine, or if he believed her AT LEAST ONCE.
Okay-ish.
SWE/Unsafe
3/5
In this angsty tale, a martyr, pushover heroine takes the blame for her bitchy evil stepsister's deeds, only to be trapped into a deceitful marriage with the hero- who plans to take revenge from her! The reason: Her stepsister was responsible for his sister's death, and since our *stupid* heroine decides to take it upon herself, he thinks of her as the culprit! So what does he do? Employs the h. Fakes loving her. Marries her. Whisks her to an isolated cabin in a snowstorm and plans to slave her around, making her suffer to punish her. Pfft.
The heroine was very sacrificing, easily seduced by the hero, quick in forgiving and should have smacked both the H and her stepsister way before the end. The hero was cruel and mean, and IMO did not grovel enough. The stepsister should be been killed- I detested her so much.
Honestly, it was an overall average read- but I love me a good, heartbreaking story- and the pain the heroine experiences after learning the truth made me gobble the book up. It would have been made better if the hero occasionally showed bursts of tenderness, instead of cruelly seducing the heroine, or if he believed her AT LEAST ONCE.
Okay-ish.
SWE/Unsafe
3/5
August 15, 2012
I just don't get why someone would write an awesome Old Skool revenge story, complete with deceit and betrayal and evil sisters and jealousy, and then piss it all away with an anticlimactic ending. The balance was really good for most of the book, with the heroine growing a spine nicely. An appropriate dramatic ending would have given this 4 stars. For a similar but less disappointing book, I'd recommend Betrayal in Bali.
May 12, 2015
3.5 stars. The end was anticlimactic, but the rest was so WTF that I'll round up.
Believe it or not I was a junior English lit major before I went into tech. That part of me knows a Hqn/Mills&Boon novel is not technically 5 star literature - but wow was this one fun! Just what I was looking for in a 'WTF HP' train wreck sorta book.
I really liked how angry the heroine was with the H as well and she leaves him, which I LOVE. Also, the step-sister was so OTT self absorbed and manipulative it was hilarious. And the H with all his irrational justifications *shakes head*. I thought that after he discovered the h was still a virgin, he'd realize she hadn't been lying, but he just keeps on being a jerk.
I would like to take away a 1/2 star for the end, because even though the H was suitably horrified by his behavior, I think the h was far too easy on him. She should have made him sweat a little.
Believe it or not I was a junior English lit major before I went into tech. That part of me knows a Hqn/Mills&Boon novel is not technically 5 star literature - but wow was this one fun! Just what I was looking for in a 'WTF HP' train wreck sorta book.
I really liked how angry the heroine was with the H as well and she leaves him, which I LOVE. Also, the step-sister was so OTT self absorbed and manipulative it was hilarious. And the H with all his irrational justifications *shakes head*. I thought that after he discovered the h was still a virgin, he'd realize she hadn't been lying, but he just keeps on being a jerk.
I would like to take away a 1/2 star for the end, because even though the H was suitably horrified by his behavior, I think the h was far too easy on him. She should have made him sweat a little.
August 7, 2016
‘Look,’ Meg said, as she stared out the cabin window at the snow drifts, and wondered if author and new husband Simon was about to put her through some torturous version of The Shining, ‘I didn’t really want to get into this, but here goes. One night my sister Carol came home late. She’d been in an accident, and a man, her employer, was dead. She swore to me that she hadn’t been driving. Not that I believed her of course. I’m gullible, but I’m not stupid. She begged me to go to the police and say that I was the one in the car. She had a shoplifting charge and she was terrified she’d be arrested for violating her parole. But it wasn’t me, I swear it!’
‘Oh you tempting, lying, seductive sociopath,’ Simon said. ‘Blaming your filthy crimes on an innocent teenager! Who knew that anyone could stoop so low! But you caused the death of my cheating brother in law, and drove my fragile sister to suicide, and I am going to make you pay!’
This is what’s happened. When Meg was eighteen she was in a car accident that killed her stepmother. Meg was driving and while she wasn’t at fault, she has huge phobias and hasn’t driven since. Meg’s stepmother begged her to look after stepsister Carol, so Meg lied and said they were related, so Carol could stay with her. But Carol hated this whole situation, because it prevented her from being adopted by a rich childless couple so taken with Carol’s beauty that they lavished money and money on her, and Carol lived happily ever after. Six years after the stepmother’s death Meg is working at a classy restaurant and stressing about Carol, who is a complete narcissist and not worth anyone’s time. After the accident, Meg learns that Carol used her name to get her job, seduced her employer and tormented his sick wife. Carol is eighteen and crazy villainous.
After all that went down, the press kept hounding Meg because of the whole suicide scandal. Carol went off to live with her boyfriend and do drugs, and Meg decided she would go to another city and study business, so she could make some money and eventually study art, which is what she really wanted to do. I’m a bit vague on how she supported herself while studying business. She did own a flat, and she sold her furniture, so maybe that financed business school. I don’t know she couldn’t have sold everything to finance art school, other than it wouldn’t have fit the plot.
Meanwhile, Simon vows to get revenge on the nasty girl who caused his sister’s suicide. Simon is a famous author and from a wealthy background, and naturally he has a private investigator on tap (as one does). Simon discovers where Meg is, and hires her to type up his manuscript when she’s finished her course. Initially, he’s a bit forcefully seductive but Meg exercises her upright moral fibre and puts him in his place. Over the next two(ish) months he’s a little bit seductive but mostly pleasant, and she falls in love. That upright moral fibre keeps her nice, and while Simon’s original revenge plan was to seduce and humiliate her, he instead decides marriage will add that extra bit of spice when he stages his dramatic revelation.
So, there’s marriage. Then there’s a trip up a mountain as winter sets in. Simon has it all planned out. Meg will clean the cabin, which she will hate, will cook and serve Simon his meals. He will write his book and she will think about what a horrible person she is and maybe mend her ways. He will not touch her sexually, she disgusts him.
This is all completely ridiculous. Of course he’s going to touch her sexually. Of course she’s great at cleaning and cooking. Of course no one can have a rational conversation. Everyone gets into highly emotionally charged states and insists that they are right! And the other person is wrong, and will suffer! It’s crazy fun and satisfying.
Meg is basically a terrible person. She’s got this whole superficial ‘I am the innocent sufferer’ thing going on, but she’s made some really bad decisions and prefers to wallow in her status as a victim of the injustices heaped up her. Of course I loved her whole terribly wounded act, but she deserves almost every bad thing that happens to her.
Simon is also a terrible person. This whole long-game revenge thing is really pretty dark. He also can’t quite hold his lusts in check, so the whole ‘you disgust me sexually’ thing goes out the window pretty quickly. Cutting yourself off from everything with a woman you claim to despise but really want to bang, and making her cook and clean for you is ridiculous. He’s an idiot with too much money. No one should buy his books, he has no idea how people really work.
The other insane thing this book does is attempt to demonstrate Meg’s innate goodness through her domestic skills. Simon is quietly impressed when Meg gets to work cleaning his grotty cabin, and serves him tasty meals. I think I’m supposed to be impressed that she doesn’t buy herself fancy clothes or bother with makeup. I am not. I am also not impressed when she gets physically and dramatically sick from all her emotions. Pull yourself together girl. No one’s chasing you with an axe.
After her final doormat act, covering for Carol’s crime, Meg is horrible about Carol. Meg recasts their entire relationship with herself as the victim of Carol’s evil, vain and nasty machinations. Carol is quite comfortable in the role of the villain, but I couldn’t quite get over the fact that Carol was eighteen. She was a terrible person, but Meg insisted on treating her primarily as a rival, which reflected very badly on Meg.
Even with all that, this book is fantastic. Meg keeps making escape attempts. Simon occasionally forgets he wants to have much hate sex with Meg and is halfway decent company. The drama builds and builds until everyone needs a lengthy time out. This is only my second Lillian Cheatham romance, and I think she’s great. Crazy, but great.
‘Oh you tempting, lying, seductive sociopath,’ Simon said. ‘Blaming your filthy crimes on an innocent teenager! Who knew that anyone could stoop so low! But you caused the death of my cheating brother in law, and drove my fragile sister to suicide, and I am going to make you pay!’
This is what’s happened. When Meg was eighteen she was in a car accident that killed her stepmother. Meg was driving and while she wasn’t at fault, she has huge phobias and hasn’t driven since. Meg’s stepmother begged her to look after stepsister Carol, so Meg lied and said they were related, so Carol could stay with her. But Carol hated this whole situation, because it prevented her from being adopted by a rich childless couple so taken with Carol’s beauty that they lavished money and money on her, and Carol lived happily ever after. Six years after the stepmother’s death Meg is working at a classy restaurant and stressing about Carol, who is a complete narcissist and not worth anyone’s time. After the accident, Meg learns that Carol used her name to get her job, seduced her employer and tormented his sick wife. Carol is eighteen and crazy villainous.
After all that went down, the press kept hounding Meg because of the whole suicide scandal. Carol went off to live with her boyfriend and do drugs, and Meg decided she would go to another city and study business, so she could make some money and eventually study art, which is what she really wanted to do. I’m a bit vague on how she supported herself while studying business. She did own a flat, and she sold her furniture, so maybe that financed business school. I don’t know she couldn’t have sold everything to finance art school, other than it wouldn’t have fit the plot.
Meanwhile, Simon vows to get revenge on the nasty girl who caused his sister’s suicide. Simon is a famous author and from a wealthy background, and naturally he has a private investigator on tap (as one does). Simon discovers where Meg is, and hires her to type up his manuscript when she’s finished her course. Initially, he’s a bit forcefully seductive but Meg exercises her upright moral fibre and puts him in his place. Over the next two(ish) months he’s a little bit seductive but mostly pleasant, and she falls in love. That upright moral fibre keeps her nice, and while Simon’s original revenge plan was to seduce and humiliate her, he instead decides marriage will add that extra bit of spice when he stages his dramatic revelation.
So, there’s marriage. Then there’s a trip up a mountain as winter sets in. Simon has it all planned out. Meg will clean the cabin, which she will hate, will cook and serve Simon his meals. He will write his book and she will think about what a horrible person she is and maybe mend her ways. He will not touch her sexually, she disgusts him.
This is all completely ridiculous. Of course he’s going to touch her sexually. Of course she’s great at cleaning and cooking. Of course no one can have a rational conversation. Everyone gets into highly emotionally charged states and insists that they are right! And the other person is wrong, and will suffer! It’s crazy fun and satisfying.
Meg is basically a terrible person. She’s got this whole superficial ‘I am the innocent sufferer’ thing going on, but she’s made some really bad decisions and prefers to wallow in her status as a victim of the injustices heaped up her. Of course I loved her whole terribly wounded act, but she deserves almost every bad thing that happens to her.
Simon is also a terrible person. This whole long-game revenge thing is really pretty dark. He also can’t quite hold his lusts in check, so the whole ‘you disgust me sexually’ thing goes out the window pretty quickly. Cutting yourself off from everything with a woman you claim to despise but really want to bang, and making her cook and clean for you is ridiculous. He’s an idiot with too much money. No one should buy his books, he has no idea how people really work.
The other insane thing this book does is attempt to demonstrate Meg’s innate goodness through her domestic skills. Simon is quietly impressed when Meg gets to work cleaning his grotty cabin, and serves him tasty meals. I think I’m supposed to be impressed that she doesn’t buy herself fancy clothes or bother with makeup. I am not. I am also not impressed when she gets physically and dramatically sick from all her emotions. Pull yourself together girl. No one’s chasing you with an axe.
After her final doormat act, covering for Carol’s crime, Meg is horrible about Carol. Meg recasts their entire relationship with herself as the victim of Carol’s evil, vain and nasty machinations. Carol is quite comfortable in the role of the villain, but I couldn’t quite get over the fact that Carol was eighteen. She was a terrible person, but Meg insisted on treating her primarily as a rival, which reflected very badly on Meg.
Even with all that, this book is fantastic. Meg keeps making escape attempts. Simon occasionally forgets he wants to have much hate sex with Meg and is halfway decent company. The drama builds and builds until everyone needs a lengthy time out. This is only my second Lillian Cheatham romance, and I think she’s great. Crazy, but great.
July 3, 2013
I liked the heroine and I thought that the hero redeemed himself at the end but the relationship was underdeveloped and not a well written book. I mean the heroine falls in love with the hero from day one and that made me laugh. I like unrealistic but this one was a bit too much.
December 15, 2012
The ending ruined this story. Otherwise it would've been a decent, if not a little stupid, hatefest/revenge plot...despite a hero who couldn't see his nose if someone ripped it off and showed it to him.
The heroine covers for a worthless, self-centered stepsister who is indirectly/directly responsible for the deaths of the H's sister and brother-in-law, respectively. The H goes by name alone (creating a case of mistaken identity) and tricks the h into marrying him so he can take her to a nasty remote cabin in Colorado to enact his revenge by making her clean (I didn't say it made sense. I said it was a hatefest ;D)
Of course Mary Sue just loves to clean and she loves being with him whether he's wiping his feet on her tush or not so his revenge backfired a little. Reversing his proclamation that he wasn't going to consumate their marriage, he then pops her cherry and tortures her nightly by making her say she wants him before he gives her any. And in case you're curious, yes, he still thought she was a hussy, despite being a virgin. Heh. ;D
After she breaks the ultimate taboo by saying she loves him, he brings in the little sister for the h's final humiliation and we get all that angsty OW stuff before the h makes her escape.
Then the irrelevant, boring stuff comes in. She receives help from a bunch of practically total strangers who are all too willing to help her find convenient food and lodging. She gets a job and spends three months doing a bunch of filler stuff because apparently the author needed a page quota and couldn't think of anything else for the H & h to do together.
She finally decides to tell the H about the not-so-secret baby (you knew there was one, right?) and, voila! we find he's been watching her since the moment she left, like the crazy stalker that he is.
If the author had ended the story in the cabin, I would've given this baby 4 stars for its WTFery. Since she made me suffer all that extraneous BS, I'm docking it.
Don't read if you hate alphahole H's who unjustifiably emotionally and mentally torture the h for extended periods of time only to have them reunite in the end, sprinting through the meadow as if nothing happened.
BTW, the evil sister, she never got the revenge due her. She got a new wardrobe and a free ticket to California courtesy of the H. Yeah.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2023
3.5 stars - I like this sort of thing where the H thinks something terrible about the h and is cruel but then finds out otherwise. I love an innocent stoic h. 🤷🏼♀️ I love a good surprise virgin scene. It’s good angst. This probably would have worked better for me if their relationship actually shifted after he discovers he was wrong about at least that one thing. But it didn’t really change. He had to be hit over the head with the truth before he believed the h. I liked that he was watching and protecting her from a distance but I didn’t like that he seemed almost resigned to never being with her again even when he knew she was pregnant. Why did she have to suffer at his hands and then also say ILY first and also be the one to end the separation?? I prefer a hero who is a bit more take charge and determined, and this hero definitely showed he was capable of that, but for some reason, when it really counted, he was just gonna stalk her and wring his hands?? 🫤. I did love the drama and angst in this one tho 🤷🏼♀️
May 23, 2020
He was wonderfully horrible. ❤️ If he didn't slept with Cindy at first and groveled on his knees on broken glasses at the end, I would have given 5 fav stars.
June 3, 2020
OMG! This book is vintage HP meets The Shining!
Cruel, revenge seeking, author hero, long suffering heroine, he manipulates her into a relationship and marriage, drags her off to Colorado mountains in the dead of winter and keeps her there against her will, all because he blames her for the suicide death of his sister. Of course, our long suffering heroine isn’t really responsible, it’s the fault of her evil step-sister. His hatred doesn’t keep him from wanting her and we have our dub-con first sex scene, where, huh, she’s still a virgin. How is this possible? Isn’t she the slut that slept with and then killed his BIL in a car accident? Now he still blames her because she must have had some sort of control over said BIL.
Then he brings the evil step-sister to Colorado, thinking his horrible manipulative wife has abandoned the poor girl. Only now he’s realizing something isn’t right. The step-sister has him in her sights, admits too much about their past, and our hero’s eyes are opened. While he’s trying to get rid of the step-sister, our pregnant heroine escapes the mountain and runs away to Denver.
Now, she has no clue the hero has helped her find a home and a job. He’s waiting for her to reach out to him. When she doesn’t do this fast enough, one of her new “friends” pushes her to contact him. He comes rushing to her, one huge apology later, they live HEA.
Vintage HP at its best.
Cruel, revenge seeking, author hero, long suffering heroine, he manipulates her into a relationship and marriage, drags her off to Colorado mountains in the dead of winter and keeps her there against her will, all because he blames her for the suicide death of his sister. Of course, our long suffering heroine isn’t really responsible, it’s the fault of her evil step-sister. His hatred doesn’t keep him from wanting her and we have our dub-con first sex scene, where, huh, she’s still a virgin. How is this possible? Isn’t she the slut that slept with and then killed his BIL in a car accident? Now he still blames her because she must have had some sort of control over said BIL.
Then he brings the evil step-sister to Colorado, thinking his horrible manipulative wife has abandoned the poor girl. Only now he’s realizing something isn’t right. The step-sister has him in her sights, admits too much about their past, and our hero’s eyes are opened. While he’s trying to get rid of the step-sister, our pregnant heroine escapes the mountain and runs away to Denver.
Now, she has no clue the hero has helped her find a home and a job. He’s waiting for her to reach out to him. When she doesn’t do this fast enough, one of her new “friends” pushes her to contact him. He comes rushing to her, one huge apology later, they live HEA.
Vintage HP at its best.
February 11, 2022
I like a heroine with backbone. And there was a satisfying amount of apologizing in the end.
March 21, 2018
***THREE STARS***
I bought a used copy of this baby off from Amazon and it was barely holding together by a thread when I opened it up. I didn't realize how old this story was, and the dating came through a bit on the story telling. It wasn't a bad story. I didn't hate it, but I didn't completely fall in love with it either. Meg was a bit of a doormat though. Her sister walked all over her before the drama started, then when she was whisked away by Simon, she pretty much happily took all his revenge he had to dish out to her. Would have loved to see some bitch slapping of Carol by the ending. She was the most manipulative, selfish, little slut, and she definitely needed a good ass beating by her sister. I have to say, I was very disappointed she didn't get the payback she deserved. And there wasn't as much grovel as I would have liked in this kind of story either. Simon really needed to grovel after all he put Meg through. A LOT of grovel. I gotta have that grovel!
I bought a used copy of this baby off from Amazon and it was barely holding together by a thread when I opened it up. I didn't realize how old this story was, and the dating came through a bit on the story telling. It wasn't a bad story. I didn't hate it, but I didn't completely fall in love with it either. Meg was a bit of a doormat though. Her sister walked all over her before the drama started, then when she was whisked away by Simon, she pretty much happily took all his revenge he had to dish out to her. Would have loved to see some bitch slapping of Carol by the ending. She was the most manipulative, selfish, little slut, and she definitely needed a good ass beating by her sister. I have to say, I was very disappointed she didn't get the payback she deserved. And there wasn't as much grovel as I would have liked in this kind of story either. Simon really needed to grovel after all he put Meg through. A LOT of grovel. I gotta have that grovel!
September 28, 2015
I want to give this a higher rating but I found the end weird. This was a great marriage as revenge story and he was pretty bastardly towards her. Plenty of angsty goodness. But the ending felt oddly drawn out and anticlimatic. Also these HP girls can be so dumb about taking the blame for crimes committed by worthless POS family members. But this book had quilting as a component. That was fun.
January 21, 2016
Rating: 5 stars. Still, I wish there was more grovel.
Relationship toxicity (1-10): 2 When Simon isn't in revenge retribution mode.
I've been thirsting for extreme asshole heroes for awhile, and this filled my need.. Temporarily anyway. It gave me the chest pain and tears I was begging to have. Enough said.
Relationship toxicity (1-10): 2 When Simon isn't in revenge retribution mode.
I've been thirsting for extreme asshole heroes for awhile, and this filled my need.. Temporarily anyway. It gave me the chest pain and tears I was begging to have. Enough said.
December 28, 2021
I don’t mind a cruel H in a HP, as long as he is not despicable. This H is cruel at times, but not despicable. At some times he was even caring towards her.
I like the scene in bed in which she protests because she thinks he wants sex and he says to her that he only wants to hold her close. Ahwww.
Anyway, I understand his motives for revenge for what he thought the h had done. So I wasn’t upset by his cruelty.
I did not like that she was the first to say ‘I love you’. There was no pursuit from him. He didn’t say it back. He made her beg for him and she did.
What I also didn’t like, was that the H didn’t grovel towards the end. She escaped his house, but after a while she was the one who called him.
.
I like the scene in bed in which she protests because she thinks he wants sex and he says to her that he only wants to hold her close. Ahwww.
Anyway, I understand his motives for revenge for what he thought the h had done. So I wasn’t upset by his cruelty.
I did not like that she was the first to say ‘I love you’. There was no pursuit from him. He didn’t say it back. He made her beg for him and she did.
What I also didn’t like, was that the H didn’t grovel towards the end. She escaped his house, but after a while she was the one who called him.
.
December 1, 2015
I really could have liked this book. If it was written better. You know during my undergraduate years sometimes I procrastinated when I had to write an essay until the last minute and then wrote a good essay with a brilliant idea but bad writing. It felt as if Cheatham did the same with this book lol!
May 25, 2020
Lots of angst, major jerk-face hero, virgin surprise, marriage for revenge plot... all my favorite themes thrown into one Harlequin romance!
Plot:
Simon (hero) woos Meg (heroine) into marriage and then flips the switch to revenge for a crime against his sister. Simon does not believe the truth that Meg was taking the blame for her stepsister. He proceeds to be a jerk both verbally and by forcing her to do the labor and upkeep of an old winter cabin. It is only when Simon finally meets the utterly selfish and vapid stepsister that he realizes Meg's innocence and takes steps towards redeeming himself.
My thoughts:
Even though Simon was so diabolical in his wooing of Meg, there felt like some real moments of bonding. I could believably see how they would make a great couple. Simon, being so steadfast in his revenge plans, seemed oblivious to any genuine connection with Meg. It all kind of hits him like bricks in the end when he discovers the truth. I appreciate that he did some groveling in the end.
Plot:
Simon (hero) woos Meg (heroine) into marriage and then flips the switch to revenge for a crime against his sister. Simon does not believe the truth that Meg was taking the blame for her stepsister. He proceeds to be a jerk both verbally and by forcing her to do the labor and upkeep of an old winter cabin. It is only when Simon finally meets the utterly selfish and vapid stepsister that he realizes Meg's innocence and takes steps towards redeeming himself.
My thoughts:
Even though Simon was so diabolical in his wooing of Meg, there felt like some real moments of bonding. I could believably see how they would make a great couple. Simon, being so steadfast in his revenge plans, seemed oblivious to any genuine connection with Meg. It all kind of hits him like bricks in the end when he discovers the truth. I appreciate that he did some groveling in the end.
September 29, 2022
(Principally a note to self.) The writing style was unappealing to me. Couldn't put my finger on it. Sort of naive telling not showing and a bit goody goody. Read to the end (although to be fair I almost always do) but this author is unlikely to be for me. Weird author bloke marries her and installs them up a snowbound Colorado mountain out of revenge for something her hideous stepsister did that she took the fall for. He was incredibly hammy. Like the hooded claw with added rapeyness. She was a nauseating Disneyesque h.
It's a fabulous arm porn cover as well. Sigh. What a waste.
It's a fabulous arm porn cover as well. Sigh. What a waste.
February 26, 2012
Simon has a sister that is paralyzed and is made to endure a very blatant affair b/w her hubby and “Meg”. After a tragic car accident in which the hubby dies, Simon’s sister later offs herself and of course leaves a convenient note. Simone discovers the note and sets out to punish “Meg”.
Caretaker Meg covers for his step sister, Carol’s, involvement in the accident. After which she parts way from this taker and goes about trying to make a life for herself after sacrificing so much for another. She obtains a terrific job working for Simon Egan and soon finds herself in love w/ him. Simon proceeds on w/ his vengeful plan of marrying Meg, divulging his reasons, and forcing her to stay w/ him in a rustic cabin in the mountains until spring when they can return to civilization, divorce, and move on w/ their lives.
Simon promised many things to Meg throughout this story, but he fails to live up to them. He also makes flimsy excuses for why Meg wasn’t fitting into that slot he placed her in – some of them didn’t add up w/ the evidence either. I could NOT believe how quickly she fell in love w/ Simon either. It felt more like she was just hungering for someone to love her and would accept anything he dished out if he just spouted off those three words to her once in a while.
I never felt that Simon investigated things much and it made me wonder what kind of novels he wrote – fantasies, science fiction, what? I couldn’t believe how quickly she thinks she knows him either when she didn’t even know his real name until they were already married. Because Simon doesn’t believe her story he tells her that she is allowed one mistake and she has had it! Um . . . what about all of his? I wouldn’t take him if he was gift wrapped in diamonds, emeralds and pearls, w/ a side of a billion dollars and chocolates!!
Meg believes that Simon’s next phase of torment is getting her to admit her love for him. She does admit it and then shortly after her nasty step sister shows up. Simon couldn’t believe this beautiful woman, Carol, could be heartless and cold like MEG. He says some pretty harsh things to Meg and it still appears that he doesn’t believe Meg is innocent.
So are we supposed to like him because he feeds her, clothes her sees to her nourishment when ill - yeah sorry I don’t. He can’t punish her if she dies and he will be punished if she dies as well. Ugghhh at one point Simon tells Meg, “I know all about you. I can see through you all the way. You’re about as transparent as glass.” So why is she there then?
I couldn’t believe he was then willing to help out Carol when she is the root of all the problems here. I didn’t like the way he quickly forgets everything else and believes that Meg should as well. How can she forget what his latest phase of punishment has brought upon her life?
Wants to know if she loves him? Not he loves her and how sorry he was nope does she love him? She said before but now he not too sure. If she wanted him back she could have contacted him but she didn’t- she later says same to him and I am wondering what I missed here.
Simon was hungering for Meg’s confession of love by that time he couldn’t believe she was guilty of all things he thought she did and then Carol came – idiot invited her! Simon claimed as soon as he met Carol he knew the truth – yet he called Meg names when Carol left the room. He wants to know if she pulled the disappearing act because she thought he wanted Carol. What freaking planet do they live on? I would have left for the simple fact that he was wrong in so many ways!!
She makes excuses in her thoughts for him that I just wasn’t buying – Those other times, he had stripped her bare of all human self-respect and dignity, and it had done things to her soul that had almost destroyed it, but the worst thing was what it had done to him. These were her thoughts – um what did it do to him?
He claims because Meg got up and left the table he couldn’t confront anyone? Seriously – how did that stop him? I think she was just so lonely and wanting someone to love her, that just the fact that he shows up and makes a halfhearted attempt, confession, and repentance it’s all good for her. Perhaps they both do deserve each other.
This so annoyed me at the beginning of the story because it was a bit confusing: So carol’s mom married meg’s father when meg 18 and fell in love w/ her step sister carol a two year old; meg 13 her father died step mom assumed responsibility for meg; meg 17 step mom died and she took over care of carol what kind of timeline is that??
Caretaker Meg covers for his step sister, Carol’s, involvement in the accident. After which she parts way from this taker and goes about trying to make a life for herself after sacrificing so much for another. She obtains a terrific job working for Simon Egan and soon finds herself in love w/ him. Simon proceeds on w/ his vengeful plan of marrying Meg, divulging his reasons, and forcing her to stay w/ him in a rustic cabin in the mountains until spring when they can return to civilization, divorce, and move on w/ their lives.
Simon promised many things to Meg throughout this story, but he fails to live up to them. He also makes flimsy excuses for why Meg wasn’t fitting into that slot he placed her in – some of them didn’t add up w/ the evidence either. I could NOT believe how quickly she fell in love w/ Simon either. It felt more like she was just hungering for someone to love her and would accept anything he dished out if he just spouted off those three words to her once in a while.
I never felt that Simon investigated things much and it made me wonder what kind of novels he wrote – fantasies, science fiction, what? I couldn’t believe how quickly she thinks she knows him either when she didn’t even know his real name until they were already married. Because Simon doesn’t believe her story he tells her that she is allowed one mistake and she has had it! Um . . . what about all of his? I wouldn’t take him if he was gift wrapped in diamonds, emeralds and pearls, w/ a side of a billion dollars and chocolates!!
Meg believes that Simon’s next phase of torment is getting her to admit her love for him. She does admit it and then shortly after her nasty step sister shows up. Simon couldn’t believe this beautiful woman, Carol, could be heartless and cold like MEG. He says some pretty harsh things to Meg and it still appears that he doesn’t believe Meg is innocent.
So are we supposed to like him because he feeds her, clothes her sees to her nourishment when ill - yeah sorry I don’t. He can’t punish her if she dies and he will be punished if she dies as well. Ugghhh at one point Simon tells Meg, “I know all about you. I can see through you all the way. You’re about as transparent as glass.” So why is she there then?
I couldn’t believe he was then willing to help out Carol when she is the root of all the problems here. I didn’t like the way he quickly forgets everything else and believes that Meg should as well. How can she forget what his latest phase of punishment has brought upon her life?
Wants to know if she loves him? Not he loves her and how sorry he was nope does she love him? She said before but now he not too sure. If she wanted him back she could have contacted him but she didn’t- she later says same to him and I am wondering what I missed here.
Simon was hungering for Meg’s confession of love by that time he couldn’t believe she was guilty of all things he thought she did and then Carol came – idiot invited her! Simon claimed as soon as he met Carol he knew the truth – yet he called Meg names when Carol left the room. He wants to know if she pulled the disappearing act because she thought he wanted Carol. What freaking planet do they live on? I would have left for the simple fact that he was wrong in so many ways!!
She makes excuses in her thoughts for him that I just wasn’t buying – Those other times, he had stripped her bare of all human self-respect and dignity, and it had done things to her soul that had almost destroyed it, but the worst thing was what it had done to him. These were her thoughts – um what did it do to him?
He claims because Meg got up and left the table he couldn’t confront anyone? Seriously – how did that stop him? I think she was just so lonely and wanting someone to love her, that just the fact that he shows up and makes a halfhearted attempt, confession, and repentance it’s all good for her. Perhaps they both do deserve each other.
This so annoyed me at the beginning of the story because it was a bit confusing: So carol’s mom married meg’s father when meg 18 and fell in love w/ her step sister carol a two year old; meg 13 her father died step mom assumed responsibility for meg; meg 17 step mom died and she took over care of carol what kind of timeline is that??
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January 19, 2022I wish the hero and heroine’s sister had ended up together so that the sister could torture the hero and drive to ruin and suicide. She’d ruin him first then he’d attempt a suicide but botches the whole thing and instead becomes confined to his bed. Left at some hospice to deal.
The sister being the brain addled moron she is, and having a penchant for drugs and hard drinking, would give herself completely away to a reporter who breaks the news out on TV and writes a book about it and by doing so restores the heroine’s good name.
The heroine would run over further than the next town, be NOT pregnant with her rapist’s child, go on to fall in love with a fantastic man who’d worship the ground she stepped on and have a marvelous life. Carrying the wisdom of her past which would prevent her from making such mistakes again.
The sister being the brain addled moron she is, and having a penchant for drugs and hard drinking, would give herself completely away to a reporter who breaks the news out on TV and writes a book about it and by doing so restores the heroine’s good name.
The heroine would run over further than the next town, be NOT pregnant with her rapist’s child, go on to fall in love with a fantastic man who’d worship the ground she stepped on and have a marvelous life. Carrying the wisdom of her past which would prevent her from making such mistakes again.
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