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After the Loving
After The Loving by Carole Mortimer released on Aug 25, 1987 is available now for purchase.
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1987
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200 people want to read
About the author
Carole Mortimer
1,296 books907 followersI have written almost 250 romance novels in contemporary and Regency.
I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.
I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man
I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.
I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
July 25, 2016
Re After the Loving - Once again CM breaks some new ground in HPlandia with this story of an h forced into marriage for the baby's sake. Up until this point, married for preggerness has not been a major HP trope. This book is going to change all that, cause now you can hardly turn around without running into it. If they aren't doing the seekrit baby deal, they are marrying cause the H will grab custody and it all started with this book.
The story opens with the 24 yr old h finding out she is preggers. She is overjoyed cause she thought she was infertile due to a childhood operation where the doctor's told her parents future motherhood was unlikely. The h isn't so happy that it also appears she is going to be a single parent, it seems her current and only lover is restless and looking for new pastures. Since she has lasted 3 months longer than any of his previous partners, she figures the last six months with him have been a gift and she is preparing to move on as she is sure the H won't want to be burdened with a baby.
The H is a 39 yr. old widower with two children aged 20 and 18. He owns half of London and has regularly switched his ladies out for new ones every three months or so. He married his late wife when he was 19 cause she got preggers and stayed married until her death, tho they both slept with other people as they weren't really into each other. He and the h met when she was having a business lunch with his best friend and he horned in on the h. Then he sent the h a dozen roses over three hours and showed up at the end of the deliveries at her office to take her out to dinner.
The h used to be a model and then decided to open her own agency at 22. She knew her looks wouldn't hold out forever and was very familiar with the modeling world since she started in it at 16. The h fell in love with the H and his aggressive pursuit of her. What really impressed her was that he did not sleep for 24 hours in order to travel to America to do a business deal and then rushed right back the same day to take her out.
The h had never had a lover before the H, she was nicknamed the Ice Queen. Because of her fertility issues, she felt she wasn't really a complete woman and so avoided intimate encounters. But the H's manly sweeping her off her feet made her succumb to his virile temptation. Plus he introduced her to his kids on their second date, and the h was so charmed by the kids' bluntness and arrogant charm, she just couldn't resist the H's package - even though the 20 yr old son made a pass at her.
The h winds up sleeping with the H after the meet the kids date and the h compliments herself and him by telling him she couldn't have picked a better first lover. Then she clarifies the ground rules for being his mistress. (A mistress is what she calls herself too, tho she supports herself and takes no gifts from him - I had to wonder what CM was implying here or if she was bowing down to the HP moral conventions of HP virgins don't have lovers.) She tells him she understands there is no commitment and lot lurve clubbing and the affair is on.
Now it is six months later and the h is preggers and meeting the H's 18 yr old daughter for lunch. The girl is bluntly rude for the most part. She wants the h to talk her father into letting her move out of his house, The h declines on the grounds that the H is in the process of replacing her. There is a bit about double standards between the H and what he wants his daughter to do in regards to lurving it up, and the daughter manages to imply that the h is the wrong kind of woman - (I guess CM needed to hammer home the lurve clubbing shaming.)
The h meets the H later that night as they are going to a party, the H has been increasingly distant over the last month and the h is anxiously waiting to be handed her congé. She decides not to tell the H about his impending fatherhood, especially when they get to the H's BFF party and the H is hanging all over another woman. The h decides to leave after the display the H makes of himself and his potential new bed warmer. The H's BFF wants to take her home, but the h declines as it is his party and she just wants to escape the humiliation.
The H decides to peel himself away from his new conquest to take the h home. They wind up boudoir bouncing and the next morning the h tells him she is done, she doesn't specifically bring up his behavior (in fact she never brings up his overly familiar behavior with OW at all, she takes it as a given and just what he will do,) and the H storms off. The h goes to her parents in Scotland who are delighted to be grandparents. The h lets them know that the affair with the H is over and things are going well with the parents being happy about the baby.
Then the H shows up and tells the h he called her doctor to chat about how her pregnancy was going. The h is flabbergasted that he went behind her back, he told her he recognized the signs and was waiting for her to clue him in. Since she did not, he wants to stop her from having a termination. The h explains that she did not think he would be interested. His kids are grown and she can't see him doing nappy duty.
The H replies that nothing is further from the truth, he wants the baby and she is going to marry him or he will go for custody.
(Can we all smack our heads here? This is the first time that threat is issued, but it won't be the last by a long shot - how many marriages have taken place in HPlandia cause of an H threatening a custody suite that he would never win. Take notice readers, this is the birth of a major trope in the making. Without that threat over half of HPlandia would not exist and this line of books would be a lot shorter.)
The H does agree to a platonic marriage, so the h agrees to marry him. (And all of this without ever consulting a lawyer - that won't happen until Sharon Kendrick's Her Secret Pregnancy fourteen years from now.)
They marry and the H is kinda surly, but at the wedding when the H sees the h dancing with his BFF, he really turns on the nasty and becomes Mr. Evil Crankypants. He accuses the h of cheating on him with his BFF. (Which honestly was kinda odd, the h and H were have a no strings affair, so how can you cheat on non-commitment?) She vehemently denies any such doings or goings on and we all start to realize that this H is insanely jealous.
Since the H and h marry at Christmas, there is a whole houseful of people and the H and h have to share a bedroom - the H tells her she can have her own room after the families all leave. He then proceeds to tell her that if she sleeps with anyone else over the course of their marriage, he will divorce her and take the child (starting yet another sub-trope,) and then possessively puts his hands on her body. The h reminds him that he isn't supposed to be touching her per their agreement, but the H arrogantly states he is touching his child.
The families leave, the daughter moves out with a dubious female flatmate and the H and h avoid each other for a while. The h decides to have lunch with the H's BFF and while they are discussing the affair accusation, the H shows up and loses his mind a bit. The h is actually afraid of the H for the first time in their relationship and they have another spat where the h tells the H off and she says how does he know the baby is actually his if she is so promiscuous. Then the H calms down a bit and we find out that the H knows it is his child and not the BFF's cause the BFF is sterile. The H and h reach a tentative truce and actually get to know each other with no lurve clubbing involved.
Things are going well between them and then the daughter invites them over for dinner. The h and H meet the daughter's roommate, who is a bit of a tart and hangs all over all the men except her actual date. Things get more tense when the BFF shows up, the daughter looks at the BFF as an honorary uncle and thought that he and the H were getting along again. Earlier in the day the h had found out from her employee friend that the H's assistant had been asking the friend all kinds of questions about the H and h when he took her out for a date. The BFF also confirms that the H may have his assistant spying on the h when they are talking about the state of the BFF's and H's current relationship.
The h is shocked and appalled that the H would have an employee spy on her. She feels faint and the H takes her home where they have a semi-forced seduction scene. Then the h starts bleeding and the H rushes her to the hospital. The bleeding stops but the H is pretty panicked.
The h finally has had enough of the H and she tells him off, tells him she wouldn't have picked him for the father of her child except she thought she was infertile, and then tells him she is done and leaving. The H gets her to agree to stay in his house until after the baby is born, so that she has someone to look out for her while she is on bedrest.
The h and H resume their distance from each other, with the H getting thinner and paler every day. Until the daughter moves back in cause her flatmate tried it on with her boyfriend. The flatmate got totally rejected, but the daughter wants to move home. The h agrees to socialize with the H to keep up appearances in front of the daughter and then the daughter mentions that she saw the BFF and the H's spying assistant together.
The h almost faints again, but she gets the H alone and interrogates him on who told him she was having it off with his BFF. The H tells him it was his assistant who kept saying he had seen the BFF and h together in tons of restaurants all over London.
The h asks him how the assistant knew where they would be, London is a big place and unless there was a coordinated effort to locate the two or somebody was sharing schedules, there was just no way they could run into the assistant so much. The h explains that she thinks the BFF is trying to break them up.
Then the H confesses his love. He tells her that he loved her at first sight, but she only wanted an affair and it was a tremendous irony that he had the tables turned on him once he found his true love. He kept the h distant from his work and his kids cause he did not want to frighten her off. He acted like a mad person because he was sooo jealous of the BFF and couldn't stand for anyone else to be with the h. Especially since he felt he had so many negatives against him with his age, his kids and his first marriage that the h would soon tire of him and move on, and he just couldn't handle the thought of that.
The h admits she loves him back and then they plan the confrontation with the BFF. The BFF shows up and admits he tried to split them up. He and the H's dead wife were lovers and he was mad that she wouldn't leave the H cause the BFF couldn't give her kids. He feels the H ruined his great love cause the dead wife preferred the H over him at first and then after the kids, refused to leave the H because she was afraid she would lose her children. The BFF feels that no decent woman would want him as he is not fully a man, but the h almost losing the baby had made him ashamed of himself and he is now moving to America.
The h and H are sad that he felt that way but relieved he is going and they decide to celebrate their love with a bit of the club holding. The epilogue comes when the h delivers a baby boy and the H's new assistant means he has plenty of time to hang around and change nappies and the H and h are wildly in love for a big HEA.
CM does some great twists with this one and manages to establish a major trope for later stories. The thought of a man feeling inadequate because of his sterility and the much older H taking the usual HP h insecurity role are interesting fillips to the forced marriage trope and while the H is highly annoying in his jealous tantrums for the first eight chapters, CM pulls it all together in the end for a fairly enjoyable book.
The story opens with the 24 yr old h finding out she is preggers. She is overjoyed cause she thought she was infertile due to a childhood operation where the doctor's told her parents future motherhood was unlikely. The h isn't so happy that it also appears she is going to be a single parent, it seems her current and only lover is restless and looking for new pastures. Since she has lasted 3 months longer than any of his previous partners, she figures the last six months with him have been a gift and she is preparing to move on as she is sure the H won't want to be burdened with a baby.
The H is a 39 yr. old widower with two children aged 20 and 18. He owns half of London and has regularly switched his ladies out for new ones every three months or so. He married his late wife when he was 19 cause she got preggers and stayed married until her death, tho they both slept with other people as they weren't really into each other. He and the h met when she was having a business lunch with his best friend and he horned in on the h. Then he sent the h a dozen roses over three hours and showed up at the end of the deliveries at her office to take her out to dinner.
The h used to be a model and then decided to open her own agency at 22. She knew her looks wouldn't hold out forever and was very familiar with the modeling world since she started in it at 16. The h fell in love with the H and his aggressive pursuit of her. What really impressed her was that he did not sleep for 24 hours in order to travel to America to do a business deal and then rushed right back the same day to take her out.
The h had never had a lover before the H, she was nicknamed the Ice Queen. Because of her fertility issues, she felt she wasn't really a complete woman and so avoided intimate encounters. But the H's manly sweeping her off her feet made her succumb to his virile temptation. Plus he introduced her to his kids on their second date, and the h was so charmed by the kids' bluntness and arrogant charm, she just couldn't resist the H's package - even though the 20 yr old son made a pass at her.
The h winds up sleeping with the H after the meet the kids date and the h compliments herself and him by telling him she couldn't have picked a better first lover. Then she clarifies the ground rules for being his mistress. (A mistress is what she calls herself too, tho she supports herself and takes no gifts from him - I had to wonder what CM was implying here or if she was bowing down to the HP moral conventions of HP virgins don't have lovers.) She tells him she understands there is no commitment and lot lurve clubbing and the affair is on.
Now it is six months later and the h is preggers and meeting the H's 18 yr old daughter for lunch. The girl is bluntly rude for the most part. She wants the h to talk her father into letting her move out of his house, The h declines on the grounds that the H is in the process of replacing her. There is a bit about double standards between the H and what he wants his daughter to do in regards to lurving it up, and the daughter manages to imply that the h is the wrong kind of woman - (I guess CM needed to hammer home the lurve clubbing shaming.)
The h meets the H later that night as they are going to a party, the H has been increasingly distant over the last month and the h is anxiously waiting to be handed her congé. She decides not to tell the H about his impending fatherhood, especially when they get to the H's BFF party and the H is hanging all over another woman. The h decides to leave after the display the H makes of himself and his potential new bed warmer. The H's BFF wants to take her home, but the h declines as it is his party and she just wants to escape the humiliation.
The H decides to peel himself away from his new conquest to take the h home. They wind up boudoir bouncing and the next morning the h tells him she is done, she doesn't specifically bring up his behavior (in fact she never brings up his overly familiar behavior with OW at all, she takes it as a given and just what he will do,) and the H storms off. The h goes to her parents in Scotland who are delighted to be grandparents. The h lets them know that the affair with the H is over and things are going well with the parents being happy about the baby.
Then the H shows up and tells the h he called her doctor to chat about how her pregnancy was going. The h is flabbergasted that he went behind her back, he told her he recognized the signs and was waiting for her to clue him in. Since she did not, he wants to stop her from having a termination. The h explains that she did not think he would be interested. His kids are grown and she can't see him doing nappy duty.
The H replies that nothing is further from the truth, he wants the baby and she is going to marry him or he will go for custody.
(Can we all smack our heads here? This is the first time that threat is issued, but it won't be the last by a long shot - how many marriages have taken place in HPlandia cause of an H threatening a custody suite that he would never win. Take notice readers, this is the birth of a major trope in the making. Without that threat over half of HPlandia would not exist and this line of books would be a lot shorter.)
The H does agree to a platonic marriage, so the h agrees to marry him. (And all of this without ever consulting a lawyer - that won't happen until Sharon Kendrick's Her Secret Pregnancy fourteen years from now.)
They marry and the H is kinda surly, but at the wedding when the H sees the h dancing with his BFF, he really turns on the nasty and becomes Mr. Evil Crankypants. He accuses the h of cheating on him with his BFF. (Which honestly was kinda odd, the h and H were have a no strings affair, so how can you cheat on non-commitment?) She vehemently denies any such doings or goings on and we all start to realize that this H is insanely jealous.
Since the H and h marry at Christmas, there is a whole houseful of people and the H and h have to share a bedroom - the H tells her she can have her own room after the families all leave. He then proceeds to tell her that if she sleeps with anyone else over the course of their marriage, he will divorce her and take the child (starting yet another sub-trope,) and then possessively puts his hands on her body. The h reminds him that he isn't supposed to be touching her per their agreement, but the H arrogantly states he is touching his child.
The families leave, the daughter moves out with a dubious female flatmate and the H and h avoid each other for a while. The h decides to have lunch with the H's BFF and while they are discussing the affair accusation, the H shows up and loses his mind a bit. The h is actually afraid of the H for the first time in their relationship and they have another spat where the h tells the H off and she says how does he know the baby is actually his if she is so promiscuous. Then the H calms down a bit and we find out that the H knows it is his child and not the BFF's cause the BFF is sterile. The H and h reach a tentative truce and actually get to know each other with no lurve clubbing involved.
Things are going well between them and then the daughter invites them over for dinner. The h and H meet the daughter's roommate, who is a bit of a tart and hangs all over all the men except her actual date. Things get more tense when the BFF shows up, the daughter looks at the BFF as an honorary uncle and thought that he and the H were getting along again. Earlier in the day the h had found out from her employee friend that the H's assistant had been asking the friend all kinds of questions about the H and h when he took her out for a date. The BFF also confirms that the H may have his assistant spying on the h when they are talking about the state of the BFF's and H's current relationship.
The h is shocked and appalled that the H would have an employee spy on her. She feels faint and the H takes her home where they have a semi-forced seduction scene. Then the h starts bleeding and the H rushes her to the hospital. The bleeding stops but the H is pretty panicked.
The h finally has had enough of the H and she tells him off, tells him she wouldn't have picked him for the father of her child except she thought she was infertile, and then tells him she is done and leaving. The H gets her to agree to stay in his house until after the baby is born, so that she has someone to look out for her while she is on bedrest.
The h and H resume their distance from each other, with the H getting thinner and paler every day. Until the daughter moves back in cause her flatmate tried it on with her boyfriend. The flatmate got totally rejected, but the daughter wants to move home. The h agrees to socialize with the H to keep up appearances in front of the daughter and then the daughter mentions that she saw the BFF and the H's spying assistant together.
The h almost faints again, but she gets the H alone and interrogates him on who told him she was having it off with his BFF. The H tells him it was his assistant who kept saying he had seen the BFF and h together in tons of restaurants all over London.
The h asks him how the assistant knew where they would be, London is a big place and unless there was a coordinated effort to locate the two or somebody was sharing schedules, there was just no way they could run into the assistant so much. The h explains that she thinks the BFF is trying to break them up.
Then the H confesses his love. He tells her that he loved her at first sight, but she only wanted an affair and it was a tremendous irony that he had the tables turned on him once he found his true love. He kept the h distant from his work and his kids cause he did not want to frighten her off. He acted like a mad person because he was sooo jealous of the BFF and couldn't stand for anyone else to be with the h. Especially since he felt he had so many negatives against him with his age, his kids and his first marriage that the h would soon tire of him and move on, and he just couldn't handle the thought of that.
The h admits she loves him back and then they plan the confrontation with the BFF. The BFF shows up and admits he tried to split them up. He and the H's dead wife were lovers and he was mad that she wouldn't leave the H cause the BFF couldn't give her kids. He feels the H ruined his great love cause the dead wife preferred the H over him at first and then after the kids, refused to leave the H because she was afraid she would lose her children. The BFF feels that no decent woman would want him as he is not fully a man, but the h almost losing the baby had made him ashamed of himself and he is now moving to America.
The h and H are sad that he felt that way but relieved he is going and they decide to celebrate their love with a bit of the club holding. The epilogue comes when the h delivers a baby boy and the H's new assistant means he has plenty of time to hang around and change nappies and the H and h are wildly in love for a big HEA.
CM does some great twists with this one and manages to establish a major trope for later stories. The thought of a man feeling inadequate because of his sterility and the much older H taking the usual HP h insecurity role are interesting fillips to the forced marriage trope and while the H is highly annoying in his jealous tantrums for the first eight chapters, CM pulls it all together in the end for a fairly enjoyable book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2021
This book is a beautiful written love-story that really touched my heart.Carole never disappoints me.Bryna Fairchild and Raff Gallaghar are a perfect couple and i just love how the author displayed both of their feelings so well even if it was through Bryna`s POV. I also love how Bryna didn`t get so crazily jealous as the other heroines when they see another female flirting with the hero. She behaved like a woman with class,i like it.
Bryna thinks Raff only want a affair without commitment to her,but when i got to know more about Raff i knew that she was wrong.As a reader i could easily see how much besotted he was and after their marriage did i also realize that he was a slave to her.She unknowingly hurt him and broke his heart many times just to hide her love,thinking he doesn`t love her back...and gosh how my heart cried for him.But in the end everything was clear to them and i was mildly surprised as to the reason why the mysterious villian tried to destroy everything between Raff and Bryna.
Bryna thinks Raff only want a affair without commitment to her,but when i got to know more about Raff i knew that she was wrong.As a reader i could easily see how much besotted he was and after their marriage did i also realize that he was a slave to her.She unknowingly hurt him and broke his heart many times just to hide her love,thinking he doesn`t love her back...and gosh how my heart cried for him.But in the end everything was clear to them and i was mildly surprised as to the reason why the mysterious villian tried to destroy everything between Raff and Bryna.
June 16, 2019
CM pushes the limits of her May/December romance with the heroine only being four years older than the hero’s son. Also squicky? Hero and his first wife (now dead) were in an “open marriage” because the hero’s wife wanted to play the field, but not lose her kids. That open marriage still reverberates years later.
So yeah – some of the morality is a bit dubious at best.
The central conflict is the 24 year-old heroine is pregnant and doesn’t think hero will want another child this late in life. She was a virgin when they met, thinks she sterile, and decides to break it off before her pregnancy is noticeable.
Hero finds out. Forces marriage. He is convinced the heroine and his bff are having an affair. They met through the bff, but he was a client of the heroine’s – not her lover.
This misunderstanding continues with the bff constantly inserting himself. It’s not until the heroine almost loses the baby that the bff backs off. Eventually the heroine figures out who was trying to break them up.
Amazingly H/h both forgive the culprit on the high of childbirth or something. There is a sweet epilogue with everyone fighting over holding the baby.
The misunderstandings in this one could have been cleared up with a few lines of dialogue. Lots of angst for nothing.
So yeah – some of the morality is a bit dubious at best.
The central conflict is the 24 year-old heroine is pregnant and doesn’t think hero will want another child this late in life. She was a virgin when they met, thinks she sterile, and decides to break it off before her pregnancy is noticeable.
Hero finds out. Forces marriage. He is convinced the heroine and his bff are having an affair. They met through the bff, but he was a client of the heroine’s – not her lover.
This misunderstanding continues with the bff constantly inserting himself. It’s not until the heroine almost loses the baby that the bff backs off. Eventually the heroine figures out who was trying to break them up.
Amazingly H/h both forgive the culprit on the high of childbirth or something. There is a sweet epilogue with everyone fighting over holding the baby.
The misunderstandings in this one could have been cleared up with a few lines of dialogue. Lots of angst for nothing.
May 20, 2021
I love CM. I love her style and I love a characteristic that is lacking in many romance writers (unfortunately): her vivid imagination. She describes her stories as if she's actually living them and seeing what's happening. Her books are never boring, her secondary characters are always interesting and useful to the main characters, they are not simply something that is there to fill some pages, like it often happen with other authors. I hated some of her heroes and heroines, and I loved some. Not in this book. There's a lot of miscommunication, misunderstanding and even deception but eventually we find out all the elements that were already there: this is also one of her merits: in the end you understand that all the characters' behaviours were easily explained, their explanations make sense, you don't perceive the end as a hasty attempt to solve a situation that got out of the writer's hand. It was all very clear for the reader to see. In this book we have: a naive and innocent heroine who falsely believes she's sterile, and is in love with the hero but since she thinks he never does commitments she lets him think that it's what she wants too; a paranoid jealous hero who's in love with the heroine but thinks she only wants him for sex (because she told him so), a secret enemy who wants revenge and tries to split the couple telling the hero that the heroine is cheating on him. The heroine finds out she's pregnant. She knows the hero doesn't do commitment and since he was cold and distant lately she thinks he's going to leave her. She leaves him firts, without telling him she's pregnant. The hero finds out anyway and blackmails her into marrying him. They got married but she tells him it will only be for the baby and she doesn't want to have sex with him. The hero is angry and tells her he knows she's been cheating on him. She denies but he seems very sure about it. She's very aggrieved and she risks losing her baby. Eventually she understand someone is trying to boycott their relationship. Too much is unsaid, the heroine and the hero are both too proud to admit their feelings but eventually the heroine will be the one to understand what is really happening to them, and why. I don't want to reveal too much but I really enjoyed the plot. I liked both characters even with their issues, the heroine is a passive aggressive, always complaining and snapping at the hero, and the hero is a control freak and has trust issues. Anyway I really enjoyed it and I recommend it. It's also a safe reading because even if the hero was a womanizer, since he meet the heroine he's faithful to her, and so she is. I recommend it, it's a vintage reading and you can see it but it's very good.
July 29, 2016
So I sing you to sleep
After the lovin'
With a song I just wrote yesterday
And I hope you can hear
What the words and the music have to say.
It's so hard to explain
Everything that I'm feelin'
Face to face I just seem to go dry.
'Cause I love you so much
That the sound of your voice can get me high.
Thanks for takin' me (Thanks for takin' me)
On a one way trip to the sun (On a one way trip to the sun)
And thanks for turnin' me (Turnin' me)
Into a someone. (Someone)
So I sing you to sleep
After the lovin'
I brush back the hair from your eyes.
And the love on your face
Is so real that it makes me want to cry.
And I know that my song
Isn't sayin' anything new.
Oh, but after the lovin'
I'm still in love with you.
Yes, I had to do that.
What we have is a May-December romance with a huge dose of failure to communicate.
After the lovin'
With a song I just wrote yesterday
And I hope you can hear
What the words and the music have to say.
It's so hard to explain
Everything that I'm feelin'
Face to face I just seem to go dry.
'Cause I love you so much
That the sound of your voice can get me high.
Thanks for takin' me (Thanks for takin' me)
On a one way trip to the sun (On a one way trip to the sun)
And thanks for turnin' me (Turnin' me)
Into a someone. (Someone)
So I sing you to sleep
After the lovin'
I brush back the hair from your eyes.
And the love on your face
Is so real that it makes me want to cry.
And I know that my song
Isn't sayin' anything new.
Oh, but after the lovin'
I'm still in love with you.
Yes, I had to do that.
What we have is a May-December romance with a huge dose of failure to communicate.
June 26, 2022
Started off as a nice may-December romance with a widower hero with children same age as heroine and straight away we get a heartwarming surprise pregnancy when heroine thought she couldn't conceive. We see hero showing some Alpha skills when he is able to force her into marriage. But i was a bit disappointed with hero becoming more and more beta once heroine moves in and misunderstandings start. Would've liked a bit more ruthless actions from the hero. Some steamy bits but once you've read modern authors doing hot may-dec romance, hot scenes from these vintages feel inadequate.
June 26, 2019
"After the Loving" is the story of Bryna and Raff.
A very typical HQN plot where the h/H are in a sexual relationship- fertility has low chances but conception occurs- h runs away only for H to chase her after discovering pregnancy- a coerced marriage- loads of OM drama and jealousy- unnecessary miscommunication- resolution- HEA.
I enjoyed the H's mature kids, their relationship with the heroine and her parents. The rest was purely meh.
Safe
2.5/5
A very typical HQN plot where the h/H are in a sexual relationship- fertility has low chances but conception occurs- h runs away only for H to chase her after discovering pregnancy- a coerced marriage- loads of OM drama and jealousy- unnecessary miscommunication- resolution- HEA.
I enjoyed the H's mature kids, their relationship with the heroine and her parents. The rest was purely meh.
Safe
2.5/5
January 10, 2023
The H and h are in a relationship. She finds out that she is pregnant, but she decides she doesn’t want to tell him. So after a wonderful night, she tells the H the next morning that she is fed up with him and that he needs to leave. Just like that. 😮
He was her doormat. She was awful. I didn’t like how she deliberately did things behind his back so he wouldn’t know and how she talked about him behind his back. She had no respect for him at all. Therefore only two stars.
He was her doormat. She was awful. I didn’t like how she deliberately did things behind his back so he wouldn’t know and how she talked about him behind his back. She had no respect for him at all. Therefore only two stars.
July 16, 2013
Good story and a nice insecure possessive hero. The heroine was ok but her blindness about the other man made me want to scream!
July 16, 2013
I loved it.. fast, fun and riveting. Mortimer at her very best.
October 27, 2015
Other shelves: betta-hero, evil-other-man (hero's "best-friend"), former-model-heroine.
It took me 13 days to finish this book :(
It was just OK. Maybe it was my mood...
I will take a break of Carole Mortimer's vintage books for a while. I will continue reading Harlequins *_* but I will check out others I have in my to-read shelf.
Xx
It took me 13 days to finish this book :(
It was just OK. Maybe it was my mood...
I will take a break of Carole Mortimer's vintage books for a while. I will continue reading Harlequins *_* but I will check out others I have in my to-read shelf.
Xx
August 10, 2023
Idiot MCs but mostly h! But nicer than modern ones.
October 31, 2016
3.5
Raff and Bryne are having an affair , and she decides to end it , guess why ? Because she thinks Raff will do it anyway , oh not just that she also knows that she is pregnant with his child . Stupid enough ? Isnt she ? She made a fool of herself during a whole lot of book successfully , unfortunately .
Raff is a widower , with two kids 21 and 18 each of them ( I dont intend to call them kids though) . Bryne is 25 , gosh this age difference is something I felt weird . Raff's son was flirting with Bryne and imagine a 21 year Boy-Man with a new born baby , they would look like Father Son more than siblings . lol
There was this OM , who rifts them apart with misunderstandings and accusations , playing silently being a friend and good wisher to each of them . I will not reveal who he is or why he did so , that is the main twist after all .
I am loving Mortimer's HP's . She is my favorite HP writer as far as the books I read so far , I just hope I dont regret my words after reading her other books ;)
Raff and Bryne are having an affair , and she decides to end it , guess why ? Because she thinks Raff will do it anyway , oh not just that she also knows that she is pregnant with his child . Stupid enough ? Isnt she ? She made a fool of herself during a whole lot of book successfully , unfortunately .
Raff is a widower , with two kids 21 and 18 each of them ( I dont intend to call them kids though) . Bryne is 25 , gosh this age difference is something I felt weird . Raff's son was flirting with Bryne and imagine a 21 year Boy-Man with a new born baby , they would look like Father Son more than siblings . lol
There was this OM , who rifts them apart with misunderstandings and accusations , playing silently being a friend and good wisher to each of them . I will not reveal who he is or why he did so , that is the main twist after all .
I am loving Mortimer's HP's . She is my favorite HP writer as far as the books I read so far , I just hope I dont regret my words after reading her other books ;)
July 19, 2021
Jealousy and the hero and heroines inability to share true thoughts and emotions drive this. Add in an outside influencer that feeds insecurities and we get a decent story.
2.5 rounded up for the confrontation with the villain and the happy little epilogue.
2.5 rounded up for the confrontation with the villain and the happy little epilogue.
June 8, 2021
Marrying his pregnant mistress!
Bryna Fairchild isn't supposed to get emotionally involved with brooding millionaire Raff Gallagher. Their affair is only meant to be temporary—Raff is a notorious bachelor who doesn't do commitment. But discovering that she's expecting his baby is bound to change things between them…
Raff is a man who always gets what he wants. And six months ago he wanted Bryna as his mistress. Now what Raff wants is to claim his heir…and to do so he's determined to make Bryna his wife!
Bryna Fairchild isn't supposed to get emotionally involved with brooding millionaire Raff Gallagher. Their affair is only meant to be temporary—Raff is a notorious bachelor who doesn't do commitment. But discovering that she's expecting his baby is bound to change things between them…
Raff is a man who always gets what he wants. And six months ago he wanted Bryna as his mistress. Now what Raff wants is to claim his heir…and to do so he's determined to make Bryna his wife!
August 23, 2015
3.5 stars
March 1, 2017
The title of this book brought back memories of my parents playing Englebert Humperdinck's "After the Loving" and the "ewwww" factor for us kids.
February 24, 2018
one of my fav
July 6, 2017
This was painful to read. By painful, I don't mean emotionally, I mean it was that bad. The writing style was stiff and made it hard for me to feel connected. It was like reading a manual! There wasn't enough sexually tension or heat. Then certain details in the book were just hard for me to get over.
April 24, 2015
not bad! but ridiculous! they cud not keep their hands off each other! and suddenly bryna was pregnant and decided she did not want sex wid him anymore!? cud not bear it!? she insisted for separate bedrooms when they got married. i was like oh really, dats absolutely weird! i dunno if it was her hormones or what bcoz it was very obvious dat rafe had strong feelings for her. neway, i got bored for the matter cud have been resolved so easily but wud not bcoz they did not trust each other. what's love without trust!?
October 14, 2012
Loved it!!
February 24, 2021
3.5 stars
CM doesn't often use pregnancy as a plot device (in her vintage books at least) so I was curious to see how it would be deployed. A vast majority of HPs from the early 2000s til now use this trope and while it's one of my favorites, I don't think it did much for this story.
Bryna and Raff have been lovers for six months when she discovers she is pregnant. Theirs is a no commitment affair and Bryna senses Raff is losing interest and about to break up with her. They attend a dinner party at Raff's BFF and while there Raff encourages another woman's flirting and even makes out with her neck while dancing IN FRONT of Bryna and said BFF. Bryna knows the affair is over and breaks up with Raff the next morning. He discovers she's preggers and forces her to enter a MOC for the baby promising that they will not resume their physical relationship. They're miserable together and lots of jealousy and drama happens. The conflict is resolved at the end with one sit down, honest conversation. *bangs head on wall*
While both characters love each other and are faithful, CM never explains why Raff acted like a cheating manwhore at that dinner party. Also, he claims to have loved her from the get go but he never by word or action indicated that he wanted a more serious relationship. She was a virgin and tried to be the sophisticated woman that Raff typically got involved in so I don't blame her too much. Raff being the much older and more experienced of the two should have bore more of the burden to define their relationship. All in all, just a typical HP. Nothing too angsty, romantic or special about it.
CM doesn't often use pregnancy as a plot device (in her vintage books at least) so I was curious to see how it would be deployed. A vast majority of HPs from the early 2000s til now use this trope and while it's one of my favorites, I don't think it did much for this story.
Bryna and Raff have been lovers for six months when she discovers she is pregnant. Theirs is a no commitment affair and Bryna senses Raff is losing interest and about to break up with her. They attend a dinner party at Raff's BFF and while there Raff encourages another woman's flirting and even makes out with her neck while dancing IN FRONT of Bryna and said BFF. Bryna knows the affair is over and breaks up with Raff the next morning. He discovers she's preggers and forces her to enter a MOC for the baby promising that they will not resume their physical relationship. They're miserable together and lots of jealousy and drama happens. The conflict is resolved at the end with one sit down, honest conversation. *bangs head on wall*
While both characters love each other and are faithful, CM never explains why Raff acted like a cheating manwhore at that dinner party. Also, he claims to have loved her from the get go but he never by word or action indicated that he wanted a more serious relationship. She was a virgin and tried to be the sophisticated woman that Raff typically got involved in so I don't blame her too much. Raff being the much older and more experienced of the two should have bore more of the burden to define their relationship. All in all, just a typical HP. Nothing too angsty, romantic or special about it.
September 5, 2017
An author I have always loved
Being too lazy to type out a review, borrowing these shelves
Apr 10, 2015 Jasbell76 rated it it was ok
Shelves: faithful-hero, faithful-heroine, hero-kind-decent, hero-thinks-heroine-cheated-him, hero-pushes-marriage, hero-thinks-heroine-is-dishonest, hero-one-and-only-lover, heroine-thinks-was-sterile, heroine-inexperienced, heroine-gets-pregnant, contemporary-romance, virgin-heroine, english-hero, heroine-thinks-hero-is-dishonest, heroine-is-career-woman, english-heroine, beautiful-heroine, widower, 2015-hp-challenge, mistress-heroine, marriage-of-convenience, heroine-falsely-accused, possessive-hero, hero-falsely-accused, tortured-heroine, heroine-i-want-to-smack, older-hero, young-heroine, no-cheating, jealous-hero, villain-other-man, misunderstanding, miscommunication, locale-in-england, virgin-heroine-believable, hero-i-like, no-sex-with-om-or-ow-safe, rich-hero
Being too lazy to type out a review, borrowing these shelves
Apr 10, 2015 Jasbell76 rated it it was ok
Shelves: faithful-hero, faithful-heroine, hero-kind-decent, hero-thinks-heroine-cheated-him, hero-pushes-marriage, hero-thinks-heroine-is-dishonest, hero-one-and-only-lover, heroine-thinks-was-sterile, heroine-inexperienced, heroine-gets-pregnant, contemporary-romance, virgin-heroine, english-hero, heroine-thinks-hero-is-dishonest, heroine-is-career-woman, english-heroine, beautiful-heroine, widower, 2015-hp-challenge, mistress-heroine, marriage-of-convenience, heroine-falsely-accused, possessive-hero, hero-falsely-accused, tortured-heroine, heroine-i-want-to-smack, older-hero, young-heroine, no-cheating, jealous-hero, villain-other-man, misunderstanding, miscommunication, locale-in-england, virgin-heroine-believable, hero-i-like, no-sex-with-om-or-ow-safe, rich-hero
November 26, 2021
I loved the beginning.
Bryna unexpectedly finds out she's expecting. She's been having an affair with Raff and believes he's about to end their relationship and isn't interested in having a child (he already has 2 grown-up kids from his previous marriage). Thus her decision to leave ship. Raff appears on the scene and confronts Bryna about her condition.
And that's only the beginning.
Unfortunately, the main characters start behaving weirdly and in HPfashion. Not amused.
Bryna unexpectedly finds out she's expecting. She's been having an affair with Raff and believes he's about to end their relationship and isn't interested in having a child (he already has 2 grown-up kids from his previous marriage). Thus her decision to leave ship. Raff appears on the scene and confronts Bryna about her condition.
And that's only the beginning.
Unfortunately, the main characters start behaving weirdly and in HPfashion. Not amused.
June 8, 2019
After the Loving
They meet through a mutual friend. Started an affair that ended up with her pregnant. They had a few issues that became stumbling blocks. He had two children from a previous marriage. With his lack of trust their own happy ending was not a sure thing. Who was causing problems between them?
They meet through a mutual friend. Started an affair that ended up with her pregnant. They had a few issues that became stumbling blocks. He had two children from a previous marriage. With his lack of trust their own happy ending was not a sure thing. Who was causing problems between them?
September 23, 2019
I really enjoyed this one. I usually love reading Harlequin books and Carole Mortimer. What does happen when you presume what the other feels and is thinking instead of talking. Angry words and misunderstandings.
May 13, 2025
snooze fest alert.
both are unlikable.. they did not do horrible things but you just can not like anything about them.
zero chemistry felt.
Silly story line.. boring as hell. even skimming it made me extremely bored.
both are unlikable.. they did not do horrible things but you just can not like anything about them.
zero chemistry felt.
Silly story line.. boring as hell. even skimming it made me extremely bored.
April 26, 2018
Very passionate moving!!!
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