The Red Cliffs

by Eleanor Farnes

Since she lived and worked in London, Alison did not really have any use for the delightful Devonshire cottage that had come to her after her brother's death. But as soon as she met the detestable, overbearing Neil Edgerton, who seemed to think he had some claim on the place as well, she determined to go to any lengths to stop him getting his hands on it.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Eleanor Farnes is a British writer, who wrote over 60 romance novels at Mills & Boon from 1935 to 1979. Eleanor Farnes lived in England, but her family had a home in Spain, where she also spend part of each year. She also traveled widely in Europe, South Africa, and North America. She started to write after marrying and having 2 children. Her hobbies included the restoring of old houses and traveling, that had brought the charm and beauty of exotic locales to her novels, like Spain, Italy or Switzerland, that she knew personally. She also wrote doctor/nurse romances.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heroine in this one was SO, SO stupid, she would have won a contest with Kelly Bundy for World' Stupidest Beautiful Girl :(

Yet the vintage story itself was charming. The hero was a really, really great romantic figure who reminded me of Austen's Darcy, the villain was suitably Wickham wicked, and there was a host of secondary characters who brought the quaint English village setting vividly to life.

The heroine was stubborn, prideful and the worst judge of character ever, blinding herself to the deep and deadly faults of her brother, and then aligning herself with a stalkerish, rapey, small-time conman despite repeated and blunt warnings from all and sundry.

However, I forgave her for her stupidity because ultimately, she grew a lot throughout the story, recognized her faults with humility, and most of all, I really enjoyed how she had the gumption to leave her humdrum city life behind and achieve her lifelong dream of an idyllic country life where she would be able to develop her real artistic talent for wood carving.

The hero was very prejudiced towards the heroine but as the story slowly reveals the depth of suffering caused to him and his sister by heroine's callous, selfish, weak brother, you couldn't really blame him for painting all the members of that accursed family with the same brush. In any case, he was nowhere near as hardheaded or blind as the heroine and discerned much earlier than her that the past needs to be buried if they were to grasp their chance at happiness.

Though I am a little worried and icked out by the fact that, despite his attraction to the heroine, the hero couldn't help but be repulsed by the physical family resemblance to her brother. At one point, instead of admiring her hot bod lying next to him in a swimsuit, he is staring at her lips and feeling nauseated by their resemblance to his hated former brother-in-law's lips YUKKK!!! Better turn down all the lampshades on the honeymoon!!!

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately, I found the H's opinion of the OW to be extremely troublesome.