Taming of Lisa

by Flora Kidd

"Women use children to snare fathers...."So that was how Lisa appeared to Fraser Lamont - as a pestering woman who was using his child to ingratiate herself with him. The egotistical conceit of the man!Lisa's blood began to boil. He was the most arrogant, chauvinistic man in all Scotland!But why should he bother her? She had no interest in him, but she was beginning to love little Johnnie. Surely there was no question of "like son, like father"?

Genres: Harlequin Romance

296 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1972

About the author

Flora Mildred Cartwright was born on 1926 in Liverpool, England, UK. The youngest of four children, Flora and her family lived in the same house until she was a teen. In 1949, she graduated from Liverpool University, where she met Robert Kidd, her husband. They moved to her beloved Scotland, where she began teaching, writing, and raised their four children: Richard, Patricia, Peter and David.

Flora Kidd published her first novel, Visit To Rowanbank, in 1966 at Mills & Boon. In 1977, the family moved to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, where she continued her romance career with Mills & Boon until 1989, when she retired. In 1994, she published the first of the The Marco Polo Project novels, to support a project to build a replica of the 19th century ship Marco Polo.

Flora Kidd passed away on March 19, 2008 at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars ~ Lisa's a clothing designer and hates her job working under a boss who refuses to respect her ideas simply because she's a woman. Fed up one day, she quits, which is a good thing as her great Aunt Maud has been taken ill and she needs Lisa's help. When Lisa arrives in Scotland she hears all her Aunt's beefs about the neighbour boat builder who is pestering to buy her land. Lisa understands her Aunt's love of her home and her fear of the changes Fraser proposes to make. When Fraser's father died, his mother had sold the boat works and taken the boy away. Boat building was in Fraser's blood and as soon as he had the means he returned to Scotland and bought back the family business. He's quite successful but soon his success will be in jeopardy if he doesn't expand, and Maud's land is perfect to his needs. Not having met the man, Lisa doesn't care for his arrogance in dealing with people and she certainly dislikes his apparent neglect of his 7 yr old son, Johnnie.

The boy would be a handful for two parents, but for a single father whose work keeps him long hours, Johnnie is left in the care of housekeepers who don't seem to stay very long. Fraser has a definite keep away air about him, having had one too many women who would use motherless Johnnie to try to snare the father. So when Lisa takes a genuine interest in the boy, he forbids her to see him. Johnnie has a mind of his own, and he secretly spends time with Lisa after school. Aunt Maud's health continues to fail, so Lisa takes an interest in the local tweed spinning mill, discovering that her design ideas would be ideal for the growing company. She enjoys the independence free lancing her designs gives her, and soon the owner of the mill begins to take more than a business. Lisa sees how old fashioned Sandy's ideas are of marriage and she finds his attentiveness rather stifling. Fraser, on the other hand, doesn't pamper women not even so much as to open the door for them. When Fraser's finds himself without a child minder for Johnnie, he refuses to consider Lisa, until she convinces him that the last thing she wants is to get married to any man, that she enjoys her independence too much. But it's not long after that confession that Lisa comes to realize that she'd love to be the woman who cares for Johnnie and his hard-hearted father.

I haven't read many books by Flora Kidd. This gem of a story was a pleasant surprise. From the their first meeting Lisa wasn't going to allow Fraser to charm her into getting his own way, and so they butted heads. Lisa sparked Fraser's interest but the last thing he needed was a clinging wife. His work and his son were all he needed. Through Johnnie, Lisa came to see the man his father was, and though she hated Fraser's hours away from the boy, she couldn't fault him for wanting to make a good life for him. Fraser finds Lisa's brand of hitting him with hard truths disconcerting, and she's absolutely right, his pride keeps him aloof and unwilling to accept help when he needs it. Though Fraser and Lisa kiss only once, and rarely actually touch, there is an undoubted chemistry that keeps them both hyper aware. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading more of Ms. Kidd's books.

[Usagi Tsukino · Rating 1 out of 5]

For once we have a hero that is not a jack*ss, not violent, not b*stard, not even contemptuous or manwh*re, nothing of the like so what was wrong with this book?! It was so freaking boring!!! Nothing big happens, and the hero's son is so annoying.