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The Ivory Key
Their time had come.Hope Langston needed to be alone, so she retreated to Minnesota and-her island cottage. But even there, in her private haven, she had no sense of solitude. Something kept beckoning, pulling at her. Someone was watching, waiting ....Armand Santeuil had waited lifetimes for her--the woman he loved with an ageless and burning passion. And finally he had Hope. Nothing would stand in the way of their boundless love, he vowed. Not even destiny...
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
2 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Rita Clay Estrada
69 books8 followersRita Clay was born on 31 July 1941 in Michigan, U.S.A.. Her mother was a former Miss Michigan, while her father was a U.S. Air Force pilot. She spent much of her early years living in Europe.
Rita married very young with her high school sweetheart, James Estrada, and she stayed at home to raise their four children. In 1977, when she had been married about 20 years, her husband brought her a typewriter and said, "'You said you always wanted to write. Now write." She and her mother, Rita Gallagher, accepted the challenge. While beginning to write, they learned how to publish books and made great friendships with other writers.
Rita's first attempt of publication was a long historical romance which was promptly rejected. Her next manuscript, a contemporary romance, was like wise rejected. But her third manuscript, Wanderer's Dream, was sold to Silhouette Books. She used her maiden name, Rita Clay for her titles for Silhouette. In 1982, she moved to Dell to write for their Candlelight Ecstasy line and she wrote as Tira Lacy, an anagram of Rita Clay, because Harlequin owned her pen name. In 1985 she resigned from Harlequin and asked to use her fullname, Rita Clay Estrada, on all future books.
Rita, her mother, and 35 other authors, decided that an association was needed to defend their published members. They founded the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A), that years later persuaded Harlequin books to register copyrights for authors' works and to allow writers to own their own pseudonyms. Previously, the authors were forced to leave their pseudonym behind if they switched publishing houses, making it more difficult fortheir fans to follow.
R.W.A. signature award, the RITA, which is the highest award of excellence given in the genre of romantic fiction, is named after her. The R.W.A. also awarded Estrada their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Rita married very young with her high school sweetheart, James Estrada, and she stayed at home to raise their four children. In 1977, when she had been married about 20 years, her husband brought her a typewriter and said, "'You said you always wanted to write. Now write." She and her mother, Rita Gallagher, accepted the challenge. While beginning to write, they learned how to publish books and made great friendships with other writers.
Rita's first attempt of publication was a long historical romance which was promptly rejected. Her next manuscript, a contemporary romance, was like wise rejected. But her third manuscript, Wanderer's Dream, was sold to Silhouette Books. She used her maiden name, Rita Clay for her titles for Silhouette. In 1982, she moved to Dell to write for their Candlelight Ecstasy line and she wrote as Tira Lacy, an anagram of Rita Clay, because Harlequin owned her pen name. In 1985 she resigned from Harlequin and asked to use her fullname, Rita Clay Estrada, on all future books.
Rita, her mother, and 35 other authors, decided that an association was needed to defend their published members. They founded the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A), that years later persuaded Harlequin books to register copyrights for authors' works and to allow writers to own their own pseudonyms. Previously, the authors were forced to leave their pseudonym behind if they switched publishing houses, making it more difficult fortheir fans to follow.
R.W.A. signature award, the RITA, which is the highest award of excellence given in the genre of romantic fiction, is named after her. The R.W.A. also awarded Estrada their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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February 1, 2017*Sigh.* I guess I am a glutton for punishment. Forget the cheesy cover but that should have been a warning to me. Hope Langston survived a kidnapping/captive situation while in Central America. We are led to believe she was tortured during that time. After two months, she was released. Her boss paid her ransom, not her wealthy father who lived in that area. She had a brief stay in a hospital and was coaxed to take a vacation. Hope went to live on a lone ten-mile island in northeast Minnesota. By herself.
My family and I actually vacationed in the northeastern tip of that state years ago and it is gorgeous. But the two things that I remember about the area were the leaches in the lakes and mosquitoes. And not just any mosquitoes. They were kamikaze mosquitoes. During our entire stay, you absolutely, positively could not leave your cabin door without coating yourself with spray. They were waiting immediately outside to bite you. So why am I telling you this? Because
I made it as far as 35% because of all the positive ratings. Then I started to skim. I eventually set the book aside. I don't know how it ended. And I don't care.
My family and I actually vacationed in the northeastern tip of that state years ago and it is gorgeous. But the two things that I remember about the area were the leaches in the lakes and mosquitoes. And not just any mosquitoes. They were kamikaze mosquitoes. During our entire stay, you absolutely, positively could not leave your cabin door without coating yourself with spray. They were waiting immediately outside to bite you. So why am I telling you this? Because
I made it as far as 35% because of all the positive ratings. Then I started to skim. I eventually set the book aside. I don't know how it ended. And I don't care.
February 6, 2010
This is a Harlequin Temptation that was published in 1987 and boy can you tell while reading it. Aside from that the book was fairly good. The story was nice and the characters likable. It was fluffier than the usual fluffiness of romance novels though.
It was probably one of the first paranormal romances published (the publisher even put a note at the beginning about their uncertainty regarding this fact) so it possibly helped pave the way for them. Just for that reason I can't really complain too much about it. I love paranormal romance!
It was probably one of the first paranormal romances published (the publisher even put a note at the beginning about their uncertainty regarding this fact) so it possibly helped pave the way for them. Just for that reason I can't really complain too much about it. I love paranormal romance!
August 6, 2014
27 years later this book still deserves a place on the keeper shelf. Definitely a harbinger tale for the paranormal genre.
Read
February 16, 2017a definite fave, have read many times over the years.
April 20, 2025
Written in 1987 with a preface from the editor stating they were going to try something new! Today, the market is saturated with what we now call fantasy romance/paranormal romance! So if you want to read a forerunner here it is!
There are plenty of love scenes in the book with “finishes”. They aren’t extremely graphic.
There is a hea although not what one would expect!
Sequels were not part of these books but oh how I wish this one had one!!! It’s a wonderful, sweet, sad, fabulous fantasy romance!! Most of these books don’t withstand the test of time. This book does!!
And you might find a new author to hunt down at those 1/2 off library sales like I did!
Btw, the author founded the Romance book awards and wrote books on how to write a romance novel. So you know it’s good writing!
There are plenty of love scenes in the book with “finishes”. They aren’t extremely graphic.
There is a hea although not what one would expect!
Sequels were not part of these books but oh how I wish this one had one!!! It’s a wonderful, sweet, sad, fabulous fantasy romance!! Most of these books don’t withstand the test of time. This book does!!
And you might find a new author to hunt down at those 1/2 off library sales like I did!
Btw, the author founded the Romance book awards and wrote books on how to write a romance novel. So you know it’s good writing!
July 2, 2018
Another favorite from my Harlequin era. Hope needs some recovery time on a North Shore island in Minnesota. There's a little time travel action with Armand, a French soldier from the time the area was first explored by Europeans.
November 21, 2022
s. 166 Potřel si dlaní týl hlavy ?
s. 41 sandvič
s. 70 anlgický
s. 84 Odstratovat
s. 161 zřeštěně
s. 182 manikuře
ji/jí - s. 93
špatné dělení slov - s. 15, 36, 103, 185
[české vydání, 1994, Klíč ze slonoviny]
s. 41 sandvič
s. 70 anlgický
s. 84 Odstratovat
s. 161 zřeštěně
s. 182 manikuře
ji/jí - s. 93
špatné dělení slov - s. 15, 36, 103, 185
[české vydání, 1994, Klíč ze slonoviny]
August 4, 2025
Leave it to this author to make what could have been a romantic ghost story completely ridiculous (to math her other books)!
DNF
And this is the last book of hers I'll read! How she ever got published in the first place I'll never know, unless a relative owned the company!
DNF
And this is the last book of hers I'll read! How she ever got published in the first place I'll never know, unless a relative owned the company!
July 21, 2025
¡Simplemente una preciosa historia!
August 28, 2016
Short and sweet.
I'm not a huge fan of ghost story romances - at least those that feature a "real" ghost as opposed to someone pretending to haunt. It's always nice to read a romance where the hero is French.
This is somewhat dated but not horribly so.
Plus - I learned where the phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from.
I'm not a huge fan of ghost story romances - at least those that feature a "real" ghost as opposed to someone pretending to haunt. It's always nice to read a romance where the hero is French.
This is somewhat dated but not horribly so.
Plus - I learned where the phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from.
Read
December 30, 2013Našla jsem krabici se starýma harlekýnkama z babiččiny knihovny. Tak tohle jsem hltala v patnácti :)
December 22, 2014
Yeah, this cover is cringe inducing. But I read this book (my mom's!) in my teens. Time travel! Romance! Cheesy, but my adolescent self found it entertaining.
tbr-pal
April 14, 2017I read this back when I was a teenager... one of only a handful of Harlequin novels that I still remember! I would be curious to read it, 20 some years later!
September 21, 2018
I didn't really care for the ending, and I am not a huge fan of history, and that is why I gave it 4* instead of 5. Really 3.5, but I was generous and rounded up. There was a quite a bit of history in this, some of which I skimmed over. But some of it was necessary for the story. Armand has some unfinished business, and Hope is helping him while falling in love. Classic star crossed lovers. It was a good story, although, I thought the back story of why she ended up on the island was a little far fetched. It really had nothing to do with the story line.I wish she had delved into why she looked like someone else a bit further. I can't help wonder if they were related, but she didn't.In the end, I also wish that we had more time with the man from the boat. There was a very interesting description of him, and then she saw him, and then not
hing.
hing.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews