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A Dangerous Passion
Her rival was a mountain.
When Renata Armstrong met Grant Fowler in Nepal, she was overwhelmed by his honest approach. "We both know what's happening here—we're going to be lovers and probably get married."
Still numb from the loss of her father, brother and boyfriend in a mountaineering accident, Renata was finally ready to love again—until she discovered that Grant was in Nepal to climb Everest.
She had vowed never to let another climber in her life. But it was too late. And once again the mountains threatened to keep Renata from a man she loved....
When Renata Armstrong met Grant Fowler in Nepal, she was overwhelmed by his honest approach. "We both know what's happening here—we're going to be lovers and probably get married."
Still numb from the loss of her father, brother and boyfriend in a mountaineering accident, Renata was finally ready to love again—until she discovered that Grant was in Nepal to climb Everest.
She had vowed never to let another climber in her life. But it was too late. And once again the mountains threatened to keep Renata from a man she loved....
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
1 person is currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Jayne Bauling
58 books71 followersJayne was born in England but grew up in South Africa. After many years in Johannesburg and 17 women's fiction novels published in the UK, a move to White River, Mbombela in Mpumalanga, coincided with an exploration of new writing directions - youth fiction, short stories and poetry. Her YA novel E Eights won the 2009 Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa, Stepping Solo was awarded the 2011 Maskew Miller Longman literature award for novels in English, and Dreaming of Light won the 2012 Gold Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature and was chosen for the 2014 IBBY Honour List. Her youth short story Dineo 658 MP won the 2009 MML silver medal, while This Ubuntu Thing was shortlisted for the inaugural Golden Baobab award and The Saturday Dress was shortlisted for the same award in 2014. In 2011 she also won the inaugural African Writing flash fiction prize for Settling. She has twice been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Another youth novel Our Side of the Wall was shortlisted for the Sanlam Prize. Her adult short stories have appeared in The Bed Book of Short Stories (Modjaji Books), The Edge of Things (Dye Hard Press), African Pens 2011 (Jacana), Feast, Famine & Potluck (Short Story Day Africa), the e-anthology Behind the Shadows, and (the stories An Inappropriate Woman and Witch and Bitch)in the People Opposing Women Abuse Breaking the Silence annual anthologies (Jacana). Rage and Misfortune, her retelling of the OT Samson story was published online by Ludic Press. Poetry: Symbiosis won SAFM's Express Yourself prize, Fist was placed 3rd in the 2008 POWA Women's Writing Project and published in Murmurs of the Girl in Me, while Unschooled was published in POWA's 2010 anthology Stories of the Othere(ed) Woman and The Ladies Take Tea in POWA's 2012 anthology Sisterhood. More poetry in ouroboros review, Markings, poetandgeek, Ons Klyntji, Litnet and the Lowvelder.
Her latest novel is Soccer Secrets (Cover2Cover Books).
Visit her Facebook page Jayne Bauling Writer or follow her on Twitter @JayneBauling
Her latest novel is Soccer Secrets (Cover2Cover Books).
Visit her Facebook page Jayne Bauling Writer or follow her on Twitter @JayneBauling
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 26, 2020
I had to read this directly after i read CJ`s awesome review."A Dangerous Passion" has everything i look for a Harlequin romance.It has all the passion and angst i needed and two main-characters that openly loved each other!Renata Armstrong comes from a family full of mountaineers and have lost three beloved men to the hands of the dangerous Mountains.Now four years later she meets the very alluring hero Grant Fowler in Kathmandu who insists on them belonging to each other-but she loses her heart too early after she finds out that he also climbs mountains.So for fear of losing the love of her life she throws him out of her life.
I got what the author wanted to create in this book,and she succeeded AND I LOVED IT.The torment and longing and suffering Renata and Grant experiences for each other took me hard and i suffered for them.I love how they couldn`t live without each other,and that Grant always felt her presence in spirit even when he was climbing the mountains.The love-scenes was also pretty much steamy for its time,and it became wowza hot in my bedroom,LOL!It was a bitter-sweet experience,reading this amazingly romantic tale..it was so much worth it!
I got what the author wanted to create in this book,and she succeeded AND I LOVED IT.The torment and longing and suffering Renata and Grant experiences for each other took me hard and i suffered for them.I love how they couldn`t live without each other,and that Grant always felt her presence in spirit even when he was climbing the mountains.The love-scenes was also pretty much steamy for its time,and it became wowza hot in my bedroom,LOL!It was a bitter-sweet experience,reading this amazingly romantic tale..it was so much worth it!
May 27, 2019
So I read this based on the Goodreads summary (which is wrong. It's the blurb to To Fill A Silence) but I enjoyed it very much. This is a very angsty story that centers around the heroine's trauma of her father's, brother's, and "sweetheart's" deaths from mountaineering.
Heroine has mourned for three years when she and the hero fall head over heels after a glance across a crowded room. Very few romances portray insta-love convincingly - but I was a believer and felt terrible for the heroine when she discovers hero is also a mountaineer.
She breaks it off with him but still suffers debilitating anxiety while he is on the mountain. Even his safe return brings her no peace since she knows he'll just go up again.
This impasse is broken when the hero feels the same kind of fear while he watches her blindly stumble into a path of a car. Now he understands the depth of her terror. He's giving up the mountains for her. Heroine can't believe it because her whole family was invested in mountaineering and never would have given it up.
Very few romances capture the vulnerability that comes with loving deeply. This isn't an easy read, but it's certainly memorable. I liked that hero had to sacrifice something for once. Heroine was a virgin. Hero was celibate while they were apart.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
Heroine has mourned for three years when she and the hero fall head over heels after a glance across a crowded room. Very few romances portray insta-love convincingly - but I was a believer and felt terrible for the heroine when she discovers hero is also a mountaineer.
She breaks it off with him but still suffers debilitating anxiety while he is on the mountain. Even his safe return brings her no peace since she knows he'll just go up again.
This impasse is broken when the hero feels the same kind of fear while he watches her blindly stumble into a path of a car. Now he understands the depth of her terror. He's giving up the mountains for her. Heroine can't believe it because her whole family was invested in mountaineering and never would have given it up.
Very few romances capture the vulnerability that comes with loving deeply. This isn't an easy read, but it's certainly memorable. I liked that hero had to sacrifice something for once. Heroine was a virgin. Hero was celibate while they were apart.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
July 13, 2016
Re Dangerous Passion - JB brings us a tale of mountaineering, angsty love and interesting little travelogue tidbits of Nepal and some of the highest mountains in the world - we are going to the Himalayas for this HP outing.
The 23 yr old h is a member of the British Embassy in Nepal. She is the daughter of a mountaineer, the sister of a mountaineer and the fiance of a Sherpa who was a mountaineering guide. All of those men in the h's life died on Mt. Everest within four years of each other.
Her father first, then her brother and her fiance together. Needless to say, she isn't very fond of mountaineering and especially not the high elevation mountains. She feels that those mountains are worse than another woman, cause the inner drive that compels men to climb them is not something that a quick affair can stifle. Mountaineers are obsessed and it is a complicated avocation that compels climbers to put the mountains they climb first in all aspects of their lives.
The h sadly realizes that no relationship with a woman will ever compare to the glories of the mountains and so she is resolved to never get involved with that select society ever again - which makes her job in Nepal a bit too close to her nemesis, but she has been managing to avoid the mountaineers and so seems to be doing well. Then she meets the H, and she thinks he is a businessman who happens to ignite a burning passion that can only be true love.
The H is practically proposing within an hour of meeting her and the h feels the compulsion to be with him equally strongly. The h feels it is time to move on from the dead love she has been mourning for the last four years and is ready to make her peace with the Himalayas and move on with her new man.
Even though the feelings develop fast, the H and h do take time to build a bit of a relationship before going all out for boudoir bliss and the relationship is heading along nicely. Then fate or HPlandia synchronicity strikes and the H turns out to be the latest mountaineer to attempt the summit of Everest.
The h freaks out, cause he never told her that mountains were his business and he doesn't know that she is the daughter of a famous mountain climber who died on Everest. When the H finds out, he refuses to believe the depth of the h's trauma at first and tries to force a seduction.
The plan backfires and for once the lurve club mojo only serves to drive the h farther away. The H decides to go ahead and do the climb and leave the h in peace. The h firmly asserts that she has had too much grief because of mountain climbing and she needs to get the H out of her heart before she falls apart.
The H goes on his climb, but any attempts the h makes to remove his presence from her life are doomed to fail. The h is so in love that she can't stop obsessing about him and following along in her mind as he does the climb. The H does succeed in making the summit and on his return, he and the h wind up in the boudoir again. The H swears that he felt the h with him the whole way to the summit.
(He also tells the h about how her fiance died while off the rope trying to save her brother after he fell down one of the lower summits - the fiance made the dangerous attempt because he loved the h and he knew she loved her brother so he had to try. The h takes the news well but I couldn't help thinking that that was a heck of a way to pile more guilt on the poor traumatized h. This poor woman already feels terrible that she couldn't be as supportive internally for her brother and fiance as she wanted to be and now the H is telling her that her fiance did not have to die, but did cause he was trying to help her. That was kinda mean in my book.)
This time the H is startled awake when the h has a nightmare and wakes up screaming. The h is having nightmares every night, she looks terrible and the H realizes that she is not just worried and stress, she is about a half inch away from a nervous breakdown. He decides he needs to get right out of her life, cause he can't handle the responsibility of her causing her PTSD to escalate.
The h goes through the motions of her life and her best friend asks the h why she simply did not ask the H to stop climbing. The h explains that if she asked him to stop, it would poison the relationship eventually and he would come to fiercely resent her and she would rather bleed to death alone than suffer the H's contempt for putting binders on him.
The h is still having the nightmares and there seems to be no end in sight. However, for once in an HP the best friend is just that, she does all she can to be supportive and help the h muddle through this time of sorrow.
The h knows the H is still climbing and she also knows that the H is in town for a few days having succeeded on another ascent. The h is wandering around town with one her little kid Nepalese friends when she sees the H across the street.
He looks back and then gets really angry. The h freaks out, cause she just knows he is irked at her and she steps out into the street without looking and gets run over by a car AND a bike. The H gets the shock of his life when he things she is going to die. (For an OTT dramatic plot moment, it is pretty effective in making the H see the HPlandia light.) He realizes that his instant of total devastating fear is what the h goes through all the time, and he doesn't ever want that experience again - so he is going to fix everything and get his girl.
The h wakes up in the hospital and refuses to see the H. The h also gets a doctor who is a mental health specialist and might be able to help her. That turns out to be unnecessary in the end, cause the H comes in and vows to give up climbing if the h will live with him and be his love and marry him.
He figures he has nothing to lose cause he isn't as obsessed with climbing as he is with her. Since the h now means more than a mountain, and the H has avowed eternal obsessive love, her PTSD is cured and the lurve club mojo gets a little break for once - love has saved the H from potential loss of limb through frostbite AND the mental health of the h. Hurray for the HP rosy light of love, it made the H see some sense after 167 pages.
Now that her sanity is restored, the h is freed from her depression and solemnly swears that if the H feels the need for a climb, he can get his fix with her blessing. The H swears that will never happen, cause she is the H's biggest challenge ever and the big HEA is the H and h moving back to England (and the H's varied business interests,) after she finishes her term at the British Nepalese Embassy - tho the boudoir bouncing activities resume as soon as she is released from the hospital.
This one is pretty good and the angst is very intense. The mountaineer facts and the travelogue portion was pretty interesting too. There is a LOT of internal musings in this one though, so it may not be everyone's cuppa tea. Still if you like the angsty drama in an very different setting, this is a good choice and worth a read if you run into it.
The 23 yr old h is a member of the British Embassy in Nepal. She is the daughter of a mountaineer, the sister of a mountaineer and the fiance of a Sherpa who was a mountaineering guide. All of those men in the h's life died on Mt. Everest within four years of each other.
Her father first, then her brother and her fiance together. Needless to say, she isn't very fond of mountaineering and especially not the high elevation mountains. She feels that those mountains are worse than another woman, cause the inner drive that compels men to climb them is not something that a quick affair can stifle. Mountaineers are obsessed and it is a complicated avocation that compels climbers to put the mountains they climb first in all aspects of their lives.
The h sadly realizes that no relationship with a woman will ever compare to the glories of the mountains and so she is resolved to never get involved with that select society ever again - which makes her job in Nepal a bit too close to her nemesis, but she has been managing to avoid the mountaineers and so seems to be doing well. Then she meets the H, and she thinks he is a businessman who happens to ignite a burning passion that can only be true love.
The H is practically proposing within an hour of meeting her and the h feels the compulsion to be with him equally strongly. The h feels it is time to move on from the dead love she has been mourning for the last four years and is ready to make her peace with the Himalayas and move on with her new man.
Even though the feelings develop fast, the H and h do take time to build a bit of a relationship before going all out for boudoir bliss and the relationship is heading along nicely. Then fate or HPlandia synchronicity strikes and the H turns out to be the latest mountaineer to attempt the summit of Everest.
The h freaks out, cause he never told her that mountains were his business and he doesn't know that she is the daughter of a famous mountain climber who died on Everest. When the H finds out, he refuses to believe the depth of the h's trauma at first and tries to force a seduction.
The plan backfires and for once the lurve club mojo only serves to drive the h farther away. The H decides to go ahead and do the climb and leave the h in peace. The h firmly asserts that she has had too much grief because of mountain climbing and she needs to get the H out of her heart before she falls apart.
The H goes on his climb, but any attempts the h makes to remove his presence from her life are doomed to fail. The h is so in love that she can't stop obsessing about him and following along in her mind as he does the climb. The H does succeed in making the summit and on his return, he and the h wind up in the boudoir again. The H swears that he felt the h with him the whole way to the summit.
(He also tells the h about how her fiance died while off the rope trying to save her brother after he fell down one of the lower summits - the fiance made the dangerous attempt because he loved the h and he knew she loved her brother so he had to try. The h takes the news well but I couldn't help thinking that that was a heck of a way to pile more guilt on the poor traumatized h. This poor woman already feels terrible that she couldn't be as supportive internally for her brother and fiance as she wanted to be and now the H is telling her that her fiance did not have to die, but did cause he was trying to help her. That was kinda mean in my book.)
This time the H is startled awake when the h has a nightmare and wakes up screaming. The h is having nightmares every night, she looks terrible and the H realizes that she is not just worried and stress, she is about a half inch away from a nervous breakdown. He decides he needs to get right out of her life, cause he can't handle the responsibility of her causing her PTSD to escalate.
The h goes through the motions of her life and her best friend asks the h why she simply did not ask the H to stop climbing. The h explains that if she asked him to stop, it would poison the relationship eventually and he would come to fiercely resent her and she would rather bleed to death alone than suffer the H's contempt for putting binders on him.
The h is still having the nightmares and there seems to be no end in sight. However, for once in an HP the best friend is just that, she does all she can to be supportive and help the h muddle through this time of sorrow.
The h knows the H is still climbing and she also knows that the H is in town for a few days having succeeded on another ascent. The h is wandering around town with one her little kid Nepalese friends when she sees the H across the street.
He looks back and then gets really angry. The h freaks out, cause she just knows he is irked at her and she steps out into the street without looking and gets run over by a car AND a bike. The H gets the shock of his life when he things she is going to die. (For an OTT dramatic plot moment, it is pretty effective in making the H see the HPlandia light.) He realizes that his instant of total devastating fear is what the h goes through all the time, and he doesn't ever want that experience again - so he is going to fix everything and get his girl.
The h wakes up in the hospital and refuses to see the H. The h also gets a doctor who is a mental health specialist and might be able to help her. That turns out to be unnecessary in the end, cause the H comes in and vows to give up climbing if the h will live with him and be his love and marry him.
He figures he has nothing to lose cause he isn't as obsessed with climbing as he is with her. Since the h now means more than a mountain, and the H has avowed eternal obsessive love, her PTSD is cured and the lurve club mojo gets a little break for once - love has saved the H from potential loss of limb through frostbite AND the mental health of the h. Hurray for the HP rosy light of love, it made the H see some sense after 167 pages.
Now that her sanity is restored, the h is freed from her depression and solemnly swears that if the H feels the need for a climb, he can get his fix with her blessing. The H swears that will never happen, cause she is the H's biggest challenge ever and the big HEA is the H and h moving back to England (and the H's varied business interests,) after she finishes her term at the British Nepalese Embassy - tho the boudoir bouncing activities resume as soon as she is released from the hospital.
This one is pretty good and the angst is very intense. The mountaineer facts and the travelogue portion was pretty interesting too. There is a LOT of internal musings in this one though, so it may not be everyone's cuppa tea. Still if you like the angsty drama in an very different setting, this is a good choice and worth a read if you run into it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2020
There was a dull roaring in Renata’s ears and she was bereft of all coherent thought, responding mindlessly to the deep, driving sensuality of Grant’s kiss. Heat flooded her body, her breasts were filling with hot blood, hardening and swelling, and her hips jerked and quivered against him. Strong, sure hands slid compulsively to her hips and buttocks, drawing her up hard against the throbbing bulk of his full arousal, and Renata whimpered softly in the back of her throat, arching tautly, wildly out of control.
"A Dangerous Passion" is the story of Renata and Grant.
A beautiful and heartbreaking love story set in the gorgeous snow tipped peaks of Nepal. Our heroine works in the Embassy, when her eyes meet that of an enigmatic stranger. He stages a meeting, declaring his intention to make her his and marry her on their first tête-à-tête. The heroine finds herself madly attracted to him, and he reciprocates her crazy passion. That is until, the heroine finds out about his intention to conquer Mt Everest. In the last three years, she had lost her father, brother and fiance to the mountain, and cannot bear the thought of losing yet another man to the mountains. But she is aware of his love for climbing, and does not want make him choose between her and his ambitions. But is it too late already? Her heart seems too involved, and she cannot stop loving him! This emotional dichotomy forms the story.
EXTREMELY passionate romance, filled with angst, heartbreak, true love, recovery, sacrifices and forgiveness. I really enjoyed the raw emotions between the characters, and how they dealt with their dilemma. So much obsession between them, I gobbled it up!
Heavily recommended.
Safe
4.5/5
"A Dangerous Passion" is the story of Renata and Grant.
A beautiful and heartbreaking love story set in the gorgeous snow tipped peaks of Nepal. Our heroine works in the Embassy, when her eyes meet that of an enigmatic stranger. He stages a meeting, declaring his intention to make her his and marry her on their first tête-à-tête. The heroine finds herself madly attracted to him, and he reciprocates her crazy passion. That is until, the heroine finds out about his intention to conquer Mt Everest. In the last three years, she had lost her father, brother and fiance to the mountain, and cannot bear the thought of losing yet another man to the mountains. But she is aware of his love for climbing, and does not want make him choose between her and his ambitions. But is it too late already? Her heart seems too involved, and she cannot stop loving him! This emotional dichotomy forms the story.
EXTREMELY passionate romance, filled with angst, heartbreak, true love, recovery, sacrifices and forgiveness. I really enjoyed the raw emotions between the characters, and how they dealt with their dilemma. So much obsession between them, I gobbled it up!
Heavily recommended.
Safe
4.5/5
August 7, 2013
My thoughts:
- liked the locale, the era when climbing Everest was the achievement of only a few, the background info about the mountains and climbing, the whole sense of time and place was excellent
- liked that the heroine's dead love was a Sherpa, also realistic that brother wasn't pleased about that
- liked that H was strong and dominant but not an asshole, both H and h were good people really so I couldn't take sides, refreshing that their conflict was they wanted different things not that 1 was a jerk
- liked that the hero didn't totally swear to give up climbing, and heroine understood that he might still get compulsions in future, their agreement to talk things over when that happened was mature and realistic
- writing was good overall, and very angsty
- what didn't work so much for me was the purple prose whenever they locked lips, oy!
- the accident at the end was cheez wiz, but it's a HP, what'd ya gonna do?
- what could have improved the story was more happiness!, heroine should have started off happier so the descent into pit of despair would be more dramatic, instead she comes to terms with her losses and says goodbye on page 64, has a few hours of joy and love, and then discovers hero is a climber on page 67, that's 3 pages!, made the h seem like a perpetual wet blanket
so 4* overall
- liked the locale, the era when climbing Everest was the achievement of only a few, the background info about the mountains and climbing, the whole sense of time and place was excellent
- liked that the heroine's dead love was a Sherpa, also realistic that brother wasn't pleased about that
- liked that H was strong and dominant but not an asshole, both H and h were good people really so I couldn't take sides, refreshing that their conflict was they wanted different things not that 1 was a jerk
- liked that the hero didn't totally swear to give up climbing, and heroine understood that he might still get compulsions in future, their agreement to talk things over when that happened was mature and realistic
- writing was good overall, and very angsty
- what didn't work so much for me was the purple prose whenever they locked lips, oy!
- the accident at the end was cheez wiz, but it's a HP, what'd ya gonna do?
- what could have improved the story was more happiness!, heroine should have started off happier so the descent into pit of despair would be more dramatic, instead she comes to terms with her losses and says goodbye on page 64, has a few hours of joy and love, and then discovers hero is a climber on page 67, that's 3 pages!, made the h seem like a perpetual wet blanket
so 4* overall
January 5, 2022
Who said that hp are light and shallow books should read this one.
There is nothing light here and there’s an unexpected psychological accuracy that is really astonishing.
The plot is original and unusual too.
The heroine lost her father her brother and her fiancée on Mount Everest some year before.
She’s still living and working in the area, at the embassy, and she’s still mourning their deaths.
She meets the hero and it’s love at first sight. True love, and a blinding passion for both.
They basically fall in love at once and the heroine is finally at peace because she thinks she can leave her past to rest and she can say goodbye to her lost relatives and move on with her love, the hero.
But fate is against them.
They never talked about their past or their jobs so there’s a big misunderstanding that ruins their relationship.
She accidentally finds out he’s a climber and he is going to climb Everest too.
She is shattered. She can’t have another climber in her life, she knows that even if he will come back from this expedition alive there will be another climb and then another- until one day he won’t come back, just like her beloved ones.
She is anguished because she has fallen in love with a climber again and she tells him they are finished because she can’t accept another climber in her life.
The hero finds out who she is but refuses to accept that they can’t be together anymore.
He leaves for his expedition and the heroine suffers for weeks.
When he comes back he tries to persuade her to resume their relationship , but when she has a nightmare and wakes up crying he understands she can’t stand that situation any longer.
So he leaves her and goes back to his expeditions.
After some months the heroine has an accident and the hero, who saw her mowed by a car, understands what she should have suffered when he was around climbing mountains.
He tells her he loves her and he suffered too, and he had already decided to give up climbing because all that matters for him is to be with her.
It’s a very angsty book, I recommend it only to angsty suckers like me because the angst level is high throughout all the book.
The angst doesn’t come from some evil person or some bad behavior of one of the characters.
Actually both hero and heroine are two wonderful characters and their love is real even if they have a big problem that prevents them from being together.
The description of the heroine’s anguish is compelling, the reason for her mental state is due to her past losses, she is really not able to re-live all again because it would be a reactivating of her trauma.
She lived several traumas and she swore she would never have a climber in her life, but when she finds out the hero is a climber is too late, she already loves him and she must go through all that pain again, she has no choice.
The passion for climbing is perfectly described as a compulsion, a force which is irresistible and unexplained ( in fact she listens to the hero’s reasons and remembers that all her lost ones tried to make up excuses that were just that- excuses).
But eventually the hero understands that the love for the heroine was stronger that his compulsion and was replaced by his obsession with her, so he couldn’t even enjoy it any longer.
I appreciated that he realized all this before her accident, the accident only made him understand how much the heroine suffered when she didn’t know if he would be back or not.
Excellent psychological analysis and terminology, very angsty and interesting.
I would have liked a more detailed ending, it was a little too simple but anyway, I wish there were more books like that.
There is nothing light here and there’s an unexpected psychological accuracy that is really astonishing.
The plot is original and unusual too.
The heroine lost her father her brother and her fiancée on Mount Everest some year before.
She’s still living and working in the area, at the embassy, and she’s still mourning their deaths.
She meets the hero and it’s love at first sight. True love, and a blinding passion for both.
They basically fall in love at once and the heroine is finally at peace because she thinks she can leave her past to rest and she can say goodbye to her lost relatives and move on with her love, the hero.
But fate is against them.
They never talked about their past or their jobs so there’s a big misunderstanding that ruins their relationship.
She accidentally finds out he’s a climber and he is going to climb Everest too.
She is shattered. She can’t have another climber in her life, she knows that even if he will come back from this expedition alive there will be another climb and then another- until one day he won’t come back, just like her beloved ones.
She is anguished because she has fallen in love with a climber again and she tells him they are finished because she can’t accept another climber in her life.
The hero finds out who she is but refuses to accept that they can’t be together anymore.
He leaves for his expedition and the heroine suffers for weeks.
When he comes back he tries to persuade her to resume their relationship , but when she has a nightmare and wakes up crying he understands she can’t stand that situation any longer.
So he leaves her and goes back to his expeditions.
After some months the heroine has an accident and the hero, who saw her mowed by a car, understands what she should have suffered when he was around climbing mountains.
He tells her he loves her and he suffered too, and he had already decided to give up climbing because all that matters for him is to be with her.
It’s a very angsty book, I recommend it only to angsty suckers like me because the angst level is high throughout all the book.
The angst doesn’t come from some evil person or some bad behavior of one of the characters.
Actually both hero and heroine are two wonderful characters and their love is real even if they have a big problem that prevents them from being together.
The description of the heroine’s anguish is compelling, the reason for her mental state is due to her past losses, she is really not able to re-live all again because it would be a reactivating of her trauma.
She lived several traumas and she swore she would never have a climber in her life, but when she finds out the hero is a climber is too late, she already loves him and she must go through all that pain again, she has no choice.
The passion for climbing is perfectly described as a compulsion, a force which is irresistible and unexplained ( in fact she listens to the hero’s reasons and remembers that all her lost ones tried to make up excuses that were just that- excuses).
But eventually the hero understands that the love for the heroine was stronger that his compulsion and was replaced by his obsession with her, so he couldn’t even enjoy it any longer.
I appreciated that he realized all this before her accident, the accident only made him understand how much the heroine suffered when she didn’t know if he would be back or not.
Excellent psychological analysis and terminology, very angsty and interesting.
I would have liked a more detailed ending, it was a little too simple but anyway, I wish there were more books like that.
May 25, 2013
Nevah been into climbing that much. In fact, the closest was when my 5 y/o daredevil self made a valiant effort to conquer my fear of heights to reach the summit of a towering Bonsai tree in my backyard & fell flat on my peachy peach. No exaggeration to say that a book over-riddled w/ bleeding lavender prose & rampant usage of "summit", "quivering thighs" in terms of creasing the bedsheets, was not that appealing to me.
The hero was actually rather sweet & had guilty conscience to boot. The heroine was a miserable wreck throughout the book. Miserable when she's asleep cuz she has recurrent nitemares (mayhap back then stingy health insurance comp didn't cover psych treatment & meds ?). Miserable when she's not asleep cuz she's had a triple whammy, losing dad, bro & fiance. Miserable when she finds out hero is a passionate climber & immediately dumps his ass. Miserable when he goes away to be w/ his mistress, the mountain. Then to top it all off, she almost turns into a roadkill, which propels hero into realizing that she's worth more than his compulsion for climbing. I almost wish the hero wasn't shooting blanks when he rode her to oblivion, @ least a 3rd wheel woulda made it more entertaining. She's always a whisker away from a nervous breakdown. I think the hero will have his hands full cuz emotionally, she's high maintenance. I dunno if I really believe that he could just turn off his compulsion for climbing, for the sake of having HEA. His caving in @ the end just made him look like he wasn't a hardcore climber.
Typical of HP heroes, anytime she tells him to leave her alone, the lurve doctor's insta response is always to get frisky, stick his nutty knobbed poker in her drippin' whiskery meat wallet. H/h's relationship had a lather, rinse, repeat pattern. Now where's the fun in that ? Nuffink evah got solved, no progression. 1 conflict got dragged laboriously from cover to cover.
"Quiver" gone bad :
Quivering with some sort of excitement, quivering and helpless under the dominance of his stormy...., a live quivering atmosphere, quivered against him, her inward quivering deepen to a pulsing ache, quivered with the need to embrace his maleness, her body jerked and quivered in response, quivering against her hand, her mouth quivered as she leaned forward to kiss. How the hell will she survive if / when she stops quivering ?
The hero was actually rather sweet & had guilty conscience to boot. The heroine was a miserable wreck throughout the book. Miserable when she's asleep cuz she has recurrent nitemares (mayhap back then stingy health insurance comp didn't cover psych treatment & meds ?). Miserable when she's not asleep cuz she's had a triple whammy, losing dad, bro & fiance. Miserable when she finds out hero is a passionate climber & immediately dumps his ass. Miserable when he goes away to be w/ his mistress, the mountain. Then to top it all off, she almost turns into a roadkill, which propels hero into realizing that she's worth more than his compulsion for climbing. I almost wish the hero wasn't shooting blanks when he rode her to oblivion, @ least a 3rd wheel woulda made it more entertaining. She's always a whisker away from a nervous breakdown. I think the hero will have his hands full cuz emotionally, she's high maintenance. I dunno if I really believe that he could just turn off his compulsion for climbing, for the sake of having HEA. His caving in @ the end just made him look like he wasn't a hardcore climber.
Typical of HP heroes, anytime she tells him to leave her alone, the lurve doctor's insta response is always to get frisky, stick his nutty knobbed poker in her drippin' whiskery meat wallet. H/h's relationship had a lather, rinse, repeat pattern. Now where's the fun in that ? Nuffink evah got solved, no progression. 1 conflict got dragged laboriously from cover to cover.
"Quiver" gone bad :
Quivering with some sort of excitement, quivering and helpless under the dominance of his stormy...., a live quivering atmosphere, quivered against him, her inward quivering deepen to a pulsing ache, quivered with the need to embrace his maleness, her body jerked and quivered in response, quivering against her hand, her mouth quivered as she leaned forward to kiss. How the hell will she survive if / when she stops quivering ?
August 21, 2016
The goodreads blurb on this book is wrong.
This is a romance located in Nepal against the background of Everest and Mountaineers. The Hero and heroine start a relationship and encounter a lot of angst and misunderstanding when it is revealed that the Hero is a mountaineer and the heroine has issues about this since her father, brother and fiancee all died trying to summit Mt. Everest.
This is a romance located in Nepal against the background of Everest and Mountaineers. The Hero and heroine start a relationship and encounter a lot of angst and misunderstanding when it is revealed that the Hero is a mountaineer and the heroine has issues about this since her father, brother and fiancee all died trying to summit Mt. Everest.
March 22, 2023
H was idiot but without his idiocy there would be no sweet angst!
April 30, 2013
Really, Renata and Grant’s attraction for each other was instantaneous and very strong. So Renata is very upset when she learns that Grant is a climber, preparing his group expedition to the Everest. She cannot take it anymore the suffering that she knows will have to endure, should she form a lasting relationship with him. And she knows positively that this shall break her down. Her father was a climber that died during an expedition and after this, about two years ago, the high mountains took another crushing toll on her: her brother and her sherpa boyfriend were the ones that didn’t come back from their expedition.
Renata’s conflict has no solution, because whatever decision she takes will be the wrong one:
1) She can accept her love for Grant and suffer during his recurrent expeditions and even lose him or
2) Give Grant up, renounce to a love as strong as the one they fell for each other
I recommend this emotionally charged story that you don’t easily forget.
Renata’s conflict has no solution, because whatever decision she takes will be the wrong one:
1) She can accept her love for Grant and suffer during his recurrent expeditions and even lose him or
2) Give Grant up, renounce to a love as strong as the one they fell for each other
I recommend this emotionally charged story that you don’t easily forget.
July 13, 2021
Another intense love story by Jane Bauling….my 2nd one today, plus one of her books arrived in the mail. But I am determined not to get sucked in on a 3rd book….. yet!
Heroine: now 23, virgin, was raised in a mountain climbing family. After losing her dad, brother, and fiancé to mountain climbing in a span of 3 years, she has sworn off anyone associated with mountain climbing. The book opens 4 years later. There is a mystery man in town. Their eyes meet more than once and it is obvious that there is an instant awareness/lust/love between them. However, our h is torn between moving on with her life. She decides to move on and is sitting at a bar when the H saunters over.
Hero: Grant, 30’s, immediately attaches himself to the heroine at the bar. Within 5 minutes, he has told her not only will they find themselves sleeping with each other(typical male 😑!) BUT they are destined to marry(not typical male 😮!) He takes her back to her apartment. She tells him they need to take it slow. However, 1 kiss wont hurt…..
SPOILER ALERT: THE REST OF REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS!!!
JB knows how to write some very passionate scenes. The h and H pull apart reluctantly with the promise of getting together. They meet several times. However, there seems to be lots of information that they are not sharing with each other for their own reasons. They finally decide to succumb to their passion, and plan the night. Then the h finds out that the H is a mountain climber. When he comes to her apartment that night, she tries to push him away. But one touch and she is done for.
She instantly regrets the sleeping together and tells the hero he needs to go and stay out of her life. He is still in the dark as to why she is reacting so strongly
She sees him one more time at a going away party. Everyone knows she is part of the infamous mountain climbing family. The H now knows why she reacted the way she did, but he goes to his expedition lamenting over his lost love.
Meanwhile, the h is trying to get the H out of her heart and head, but is not eating and having terrible nightmares. So even though she is not with him she can’t stop thinking about him and trying to find out information about the expedition.
Hero comes back. They sleep together again. The h has decided she might as well be with the hero, since she is going to worry about him anyway.
She wakes the H up with a terrifying nightmare about him dying. He doesn’t want to be responsible for her nightmares so he decides that it is best if they separate. (He doesn't realize that she is still going to be a wreck either way)
So life continues. He does the mountain climbing thing and she wastes away worrying about him. Then they spot each other over a crowded street. The h overcome with emotion steps into the street without looking and gets hit by a car. The hero has an epiphany and realizes how she must feel every time he climbs a mountain, because his heart was torn out watching her get hit. We have a very satisfying ending. There is some humor thrown in, and the H is willing to give up his pursuit. However, the h doesn’t want him to ever feel bitter, so she tells him if he ever has the inclination he must talk to her. She isn’t going to stand in his way. He pretty much tells her he doesn’t want to be away from her. The discussion was all very mature!
Heroine: now 23, virgin, was raised in a mountain climbing family. After losing her dad, brother, and fiancé to mountain climbing in a span of 3 years, she has sworn off anyone associated with mountain climbing. The book opens 4 years later. There is a mystery man in town. Their eyes meet more than once and it is obvious that there is an instant awareness/lust/love between them. However, our h is torn between moving on with her life. She decides to move on and is sitting at a bar when the H saunters over.
Hero: Grant, 30’s, immediately attaches himself to the heroine at the bar. Within 5 minutes, he has told her not only will they find themselves sleeping with each other(typical male 😑!) BUT they are destined to marry(not typical male 😮!) He takes her back to her apartment. She tells him they need to take it slow. However, 1 kiss wont hurt…..
SPOILER ALERT: THE REST OF REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS!!!
JB knows how to write some very passionate scenes. The h and H pull apart reluctantly with the promise of getting together. They meet several times. However, there seems to be lots of information that they are not sharing with each other for their own reasons. They finally decide to succumb to their passion, and plan the night. Then the h finds out that the H is a mountain climber. When he comes to her apartment that night, she tries to push him away. But one touch and she is done for.
She instantly regrets the sleeping together and tells the hero he needs to go and stay out of her life. He is still in the dark as to why she is reacting so strongly
She sees him one more time at a going away party. Everyone knows she is part of the infamous mountain climbing family. The H now knows why she reacted the way she did, but he goes to his expedition lamenting over his lost love.
Meanwhile, the h is trying to get the H out of her heart and head, but is not eating and having terrible nightmares. So even though she is not with him she can’t stop thinking about him and trying to find out information about the expedition.
Hero comes back. They sleep together again. The h has decided she might as well be with the hero, since she is going to worry about him anyway.
She wakes the H up with a terrifying nightmare about him dying. He doesn’t want to be responsible for her nightmares so he decides that it is best if they separate. (He doesn't realize that she is still going to be a wreck either way)
So life continues. He does the mountain climbing thing and she wastes away worrying about him. Then they spot each other over a crowded street. The h overcome with emotion steps into the street without looking and gets hit by a car. The hero has an epiphany and realizes how she must feel every time he climbs a mountain, because his heart was torn out watching her get hit. We have a very satisfying ending. There is some humor thrown in, and the H is willing to give up his pursuit. However, the h doesn’t want him to ever feel bitter, so she tells him if he ever has the inclination he must talk to her. She isn’t going to stand in his way. He pretty much tells her he doesn’t want to be away from her. The discussion was all very mature!
July 14, 2019
I have heard that the siren call of a mountain is more potent than that of a mistress and this book illustrated that perfectly. The story flowed and the intensity of the romance was nicely done.
August 24, 2023
One of the very few romances I've read where the h is not the one to give up or adjust to the H's lifestyle. Too many books where the h just forgives/changes her mind to suit the H's narrative made me apprehensive about the end of this one, but to my surprise the author has been exceptionally sensitive to her plight.
The h belongs to a family of mountaineers, and was also engaged to one. She loses her father, brother and fiance in accidents on the mountains and swears to never be involved with anyone connected with mountaineering again.
Working for the British Embassy, she's posted in Kathmandu, Nepal but has adhered to her promise to herself. She meets the H, a fellow British citizen, in the city one day and by evening they've both acknowledged their attraction to each other.
They're together without either of them knowing too much about the other, until the h discovers that the H is the leader of the expedition going up to Everest. She decides to end things with him, but he doesn't listen/understand and they spend the night together after which the h asks him to leave, stating that she hates him. Then H discovers that she's the daughter of the mountaineer he admired and was engaged to someone he considered a friend. He understands her reasons and lets her go.
They meet up again after he returns from Everest and sees how much his expedition had affected her. He witnesses her nightmare which he realizes with horror is a recurring event since he has set out where she keeps seeing him dead. Finally understanding her trauma, he sets her free.
Eventually after another climb, for which he's back in Nepal, he bumps into her on the street. In order to escape from him, she meets up with an accident and is in the hospital where the doctors realize she has underlying trauma, finally!
Anyway, long story short the H after witnessing the accident finally gets what her fear would be like to keep seeing him dying and confesses to her that she means more to him than any mountain would, and commits to her.
The h is finally free of her fear and makes him promise to tell her if he ever wishes to climb again and then HEA.
This is by far one of the most progressive books of that time, where the girl is not pleading with him to give up climbing, in fact with her lineage, she understands his compulsion completely. The H has been insensitive and forceful in places, but realizes his mistakes and makes amends, without expecting her to come round to his way of thinking.
Psychiatrists are mentioned briefly but then the hero confesses and there's no follow up on that but then the book belongs to a time where this would not have been an option readily taken.
The h belongs to a family of mountaineers, and was also engaged to one. She loses her father, brother and fiance in accidents on the mountains and swears to never be involved with anyone connected with mountaineering again.
Working for the British Embassy, she's posted in Kathmandu, Nepal but has adhered to her promise to herself. She meets the H, a fellow British citizen, in the city one day and by evening they've both acknowledged their attraction to each other.
They're together without either of them knowing too much about the other, until the h discovers that the H is the leader of the expedition going up to Everest. She decides to end things with him, but he doesn't listen/understand and they spend the night together after which the h asks him to leave, stating that she hates him. Then H discovers that she's the daughter of the mountaineer he admired and was engaged to someone he considered a friend. He understands her reasons and lets her go.
They meet up again after he returns from Everest and sees how much his expedition had affected her. He witnesses her nightmare which he realizes with horror is a recurring event since he has set out where she keeps seeing him dead. Finally understanding her trauma, he sets her free.
Eventually after another climb, for which he's back in Nepal, he bumps into her on the street. In order to escape from him, she meets up with an accident and is in the hospital where the doctors realize she has underlying trauma, finally!
Anyway, long story short the H after witnessing the accident finally gets what her fear would be like to keep seeing him dying and confesses to her that she means more to him than any mountain would, and commits to her.
The h is finally free of her fear and makes him promise to tell her if he ever wishes to climb again and then HEA.
This is by far one of the most progressive books of that time, where the girl is not pleading with him to give up climbing, in fact with her lineage, she understands his compulsion completely. The H has been insensitive and forceful in places, but realizes his mistakes and makes amends, without expecting her to come round to his way of thinking.
Psychiatrists are mentioned briefly but then the hero confesses and there's no follow up on that but then the book belongs to a time where this would not have been an option readily taken.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2022
Her rival was a mountain
When Renata Armstrong met Grant Fowler in Nepal, she was overwhelmed by his honest approach. "We both know what's happening here--we're going to be lovers and probably get married."
Still numb from the loss of her father, brother and boyfriend in a mountaineering accident, Renata was finally ready to love again--until she discovered that Grant was in Nepal to climb Everest.
She had vowed never to let another climber in her life. But it was too late. And once again the mountains threatened to keep Renata from a man she loved
When Renata Armstrong met Grant Fowler in Nepal, she was overwhelmed by his honest approach. "We both know what's happening here--we're going to be lovers and probably get married."
Still numb from the loss of her father, brother and boyfriend in a mountaineering accident, Renata was finally ready to love again--until she discovered that Grant was in Nepal to climb Everest.
She had vowed never to let another climber in her life. But it was too late. And once again the mountains threatened to keep Renata from a man she loved
February 24, 2017
A lot of good information about mountaineering; Everest and Lhotse Mountains and Nepal.
However, so much dramatic love after mere weeks is not believable. I didn't understand why they loved each other. There was no build up. All they did a few sight seeing together and bumb! Undying love.!
However, so much dramatic love after mere weeks is not believable. I didn't understand why they loved each other. There was no build up. All they did a few sight seeing together and bumb! Undying love.!
April 27, 2021
Very passionate, wow.
It’s not 5 stars for me because of the woman’s fickle ways. She helps him take off his clothes and after the sex she cries that she didn’t want to have sex with him.
And on another night: she begs him to have sex with her and then after the sex she cries again and asks him why he had sex with her.
Well, I guess taking off his clothes sure is a direct way to tell him off. Why didn’t he just understand that she didn’t want sex when she kissed him and caressed him and undressed him 🙄
It’s not 5 stars for me because of the woman’s fickle ways. She helps him take off his clothes and after the sex she cries that she didn’t want to have sex with him.
And on another night: she begs him to have sex with her and then after the sex she cries again and asks him why he had sex with her.
Well, I guess taking off his clothes sure is a direct way to tell him off. Why didn’t he just understand that she didn’t want sex when she kissed him and caressed him and undressed him 🙄
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