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Frangipani

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So much for her dreams of a peaceful cruise...

"By the time we dock in Fiji, " Cassandra's sister enthused, "I'll find you a millionaire, too. It won't be difficult if you play your cards right. " As if Cassandra could really find happiness in the arms of a man she didn't love!

She was completely taken aback--especially knowing that Nick Carrol, the Ocean Wanderer's captain, had overheard her sister's words and categorized Cassandra as an equally avaricious mercenary. Which simply was not true!

Cassandra wasn't looking for a wealthy husband. She wasn't looking for a husband at all--not after having met Nick....

186 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1985

2 people are currently reading
39 people want to read

About the author

Anne Weale

227 books49 followers
Jay Blakeney
aka Anne Weale, Andrea Blake

Jay Blakeney was born on Juny 20, 1929. Her great-grandfather was a well-known writer on moral theology, so perhaps she inherited her writing gene from him. She was "talking stories" to herself long before she could read. When she was still at school, she sold her first short stories to a woman's magazine and she feels she was destined to write. Decided to became a writer, she started writing for newspapers and magazines.

At 21, Jay was a newspaper reporter with a career plan, but the man she was wildly in love with announced that he was off to the other side of the world. He thought they should either marry or say goodbye. She always believed that true love could last a lifetime, and she felt that wonderful men were much harder to find than good jobs, so she put her career on hold. What a wise decision it was! She felt that new young women seem less inclined to risk everything for love than her generation.

Together they traveled the world. If she hadn't spent part of her bridal year living on the edge of a jungle in Malaysia, she might never have become a romance writer. That isolated house, and the perils of the state of emergency that existed in the country at that time, gave her a background and plot ideally suited to a genre she had never read until she came across some romances in the library of a country club they sometimes visited. She can write about love with the even stronger conviction that comes from experience.

When they returned to Europe, Jay resumed her career as a journalist, writing her first romance in her spare time. She sold her first novel as Anne Weale to Mills and Boon in 1955 at the age of 24. At 30, with seven books published, she "retired" to have a baby and become a full-time writer. She raised a delightful son, David, who is as adventurous as his father. Her husband and son have even climbed in the Andes and the Himalayas, giving her lots of ideas for stories. When she retired from reporting, her fiction income -- a combination of amounts earned as a Mills & Boon author and writing for magazines such as Woman's Illustrated, which serialized the work of authors -- exceed 1,000 pounds a year.

She was a founding member of the The Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2002 she published her last novel, in total, she wrote 88 novels. She also wrote under the pseudonym Andrea Blake. She loved setting her novels in exotic parts of the world, but specially in The Caribbean and in her beloved Spain. Since 1989, Jay spent most of the winter months in a very small "pueblo" in the backwoods of Spain. During years, she visited some villages, and from each she have borrowed some feature - a fountain, a street, a plaza, a picturesque old house - to create some places like Valdecarrasca, that is wholly imaginary and yet typical of the part of rural Spain she knew best. She loved walking, reading, sketching, sewing (curtains and slipcovers) and doing needlepoint, gardening, entertaining friends, visiting art galleries and museums, writing letters, surfing the Net, traveling in search of exciting locations for future books, eating delicious food and drinking good wine, cataloguing her books.

She wrote a regular website review column for The Bookseller from 1998 to 2004, before starting her own blog Bookworm on the Net. At the time of her death, on October 24, 2007, she was working on her autobiography "88 Heroes... 1 Mr. Right".

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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for boogenhagen.
1,993 reviews882 followers
February 3, 2016
Re Frangipani -- or (and sing along if you know the words,) The Looooooooove Boat soon will be making another ruunnn.--

Except this time we are finding something for everyone with a tall, dark and handsome Captain H, who looks like an Island warrior in his board shorts, cause Captain Stubing was on shore leave along with Julie, Issac, Gopher and Doc. (Personally, I thought AM made a plot mistake kicking Issac off the boat, cause there were some angsty points where EVERYBODY could have used some serious alcohol and a friendly ear with a bit of a joke thrown in.)

The h is a 20 year old innocent English lady fresh from nursing her difficult dad (who has now moved on to a heavenly reward), and being the homemaker for several years. Her sister, who is six years older and was kicked out by not-so-dear-old dad as a teenager, has invited the h to come spend Christmas on her fiance's boat.

The h is expecting a little sailing sloop and gets the Royal Caribbean, but privately owned. The sis is looking more like a trophy than a respectable fiancee, and the h is starting to have doubts when big sis wants to kit her up like an extra escapee from a Showgirl revue.

Her worries are confirmed when she meets our not so friendly crew, which Captain H is the leader of. The initial meet and greet by the crew is very NOT approving, and they make no bones about not liking the sister- who is regarded as more flavor of the hour than future Mrs. Favor Granter and be respectful, cause she is the better half of He Who Signs the Paychecks.

In fact this crew is remarkably judgmental about a guy and his lifestyle, for people who are rather dependent on his continued willingness to employ them. Our Captain H is a bit of a tartar as well, and when he catches the h in a late night swim off the side of the yacht, a full lecture on keeping things shipshape and tidy with some harsh words thrown in about stupidity is delivered in a pretty disrespectful manner for an employee who is talking to a guest.

The h gets her worries confirmed when big sis admits she lied about being engaged to ease the h's mind, and while she can't help the h in the romance department, more commercial arrangement opportunities may arise when the rest of the guests board the ship later on. The h can't seem to help the NOT approval of big sis's lifestyle and a considerable amount of time is spent by the h worrying about how to talk her big sis out of an embarrassing (in the h's pov,) life choice.

There is also a lot of travelogue description of the Hawaiian Islands and a nice description of a sunrise over a volcano crater. The Captain H is seen Captaining in the distance and the h sets about making friends with the crew. The guests arrive and romances start to blossom. We do get a partial kiss for the h from the H after an earthquake tremor, but this only adds more worries to the h's mental churn, as she now frets about her big sis and frets about hiding her love for Captain H.

The h notices one of the guests looks a lot like Captain H's deceased but very beloved mum, and Captain H seems to be spending a lot of time with her, sending our little Puritan h into a lather of jealous longing. The H has warned the h about getting involved with the crew, and so the h is spending a lot of time reading and we are all learning about various historical Hawaiian spots.

After a few bits of jealous longing, the h discovers that the lovely female guest is actually pairing off with the First Mate and not Captain H, so with a little hope in her heart, we all sail for Fiji.

Alas, we get to Fiji and it appears the H's real love is a beautiful Island lady who is joining the ship as a chambermaid. The h is once again in despondency - not only has she an unrequited love for Captain H, but it seems big sis isn't seeing the error of her ways as a wealthy man's companion, and the h is falls more deeply into hidden despair. The h does win first prize in the shipwide lifeboat drill, so at least there is a little happiness to brighten her day.

Where oh Where is Issac and his blender when you need him? Christmas happens and the h is pleased that everyone, crew included, gives her lovely gifts. The h reciprocates and despite her hopeless longing, she encourages the Island lady to hold out for the reciprocation of that lady's true love and we get to learn about some nice Fijian parties and legends.

The ship is now sailing for Sydney Australia and our h is once again inspired but conflicted too, turns out the lovely Island lady is actually set on bagging the ship's Steward - who is also Captain H's BFF and they are both hoping to go into the chartered sailboat business together as soon as they can afford the schooner.

(Better get an Issac with a blender, full bar and a cocktail shaker, is all I can say - those paying guests are going to need a rosy glow to tolerate Captain H's strict guest regulations, rules and orders with any equanimity.)

Unfortunately our misguided h told the H she was missing an imaginary boyfriend in England and now can't figure out a tactful way to confess that her imagination had run away hand in hand with her pride. She also dressed as Minnie Mouse, complete with golfball nose, to the big New Year's Eve party -- she won a prize but failed to inspire passionate romance pillaging in the heart of Captain H.

The h is still pondering her sorry situation when we get to Sydney and sail through the harbor for an excellent view of the beautiful Opera House. We get to hang around some interesting Sydney landmarks with the h and the lovely Island lady (they are now BFF's), and then OH NOES - tragedy strikes.

The Captain H's grandpa is feeling a bit under the weather and Captain H has to take shore leave to see him - when he gets back he plans to introduce our h to some of the gazillion relatives he has in the area and get her a job working as an au pair while the h figures out what she wants to be when she grows up.

Most disastrously, the big sis decides to run away with ship's sleazy radio officer that very day, leaving the wealthy ship owner feeling a mite perturbed, cause big sis bilked him out of some heavy duty pricey consolation prizes, clothes and jewels.

The h is mortified and afraid of everyone judging her based on big sis's behavior. So in the time honored tradition of neurotic HP h's everywhere, the h packs up her forlorn little suitcase and hides in an attic bedsit near King's Cross.

She mopes and hangs out for a bit, but then figures she needs to just get on with things. So while she is looking for a job, she decides to go to a big open air concert in the Domain where the great operatic Diva Joan Sutherland is reprising her famous role as Lucia de Lammermoor, a dramma tragico with a very famous Mad Scene that is coveted by coloratura soprano's everywhere.

(It is at this point that AW must have realized that she had just written 174 pages of a romance that as yet had no real romance for the H and h, so in Grand Bel Canto operatic style we start --- The Final Act)

The h is hanging out in the Domain, (which looks pretty cool on Google Earth,) crying over the sad tale of tragic lost love and eating an apple, when a young schoolboy approaches her and asks if she is a native or a tourist. She tells him she is a tourist and he tells her he has a message for her.

The h is astonished, she tells him he must be mistaken, the boy asks her name and then tells her that lovely Island girl said she would probably be in the Domain that night and so Uncle Captain H rounded up 50 of his family members to parse the area for the h after they all carefully studied her picture.

The h hands him her sorta eaten apple to hold while he hands her a note from Captain H which reads, "I love you. I must see you, Captain H". The h is overjoyed with happiness and ecstatically trying to figure out a way to find Captain H in a crowd of 50,000 people.

Captain H and the nephew have it covered tho. In a truly unique method of rounding up wandering h's, the nephew hands the h her apple back, and then lights a fireworks sparkler and waves it around in circles. Soon a whole little chain of sparklers are circling around the Domain and the nephew directs the h to the approved rendezvous point of the Art Gallery portico steps. Knowing how slippery some of these wily h's can be, he waits patiently with the h for Captain H to appear.

Not to worry, the h isn't fighting the round up, when Captain H's manly form appears silhouetted against the starry summer sky, the h runs to him and he runs to her and flinging their arms around each other, the kissing starts and the whole dramatic Mad Scene from the opera is totally missed.

The H and h avow true love forever, even though they won't be rich cause the sail charter business is variable and times may be lean as charter boats are very dependent on economic prosperity, (and bartenders named Issac,) but the h doesn't care cause she got her Captain H and they have other riches to enjoy. Right along with lovely Island lady and Captain H's BFF, whose marriage celebration is the final high note of the story.

So we leave the happy couple flinging themselves on the transcendent shores of love. The h is hoping Island lady and Captain H's BFF are enjoying their honeymoon as much as she is hers, while the scent of crushed Frangipani drifts on the evening air and the HPlandia Ship of Love readies itself for another voyage into the uncharted shoals of Romance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
June 4, 2020
So much for her dreams of a peaceful cruise...

"By the time we dock in Fiji, " Cassandra's sister enthused, "I'll find you a millionaire, too. It won't be difficult if you play your cards right. " As if Cassandra could really find happiness in the arms of a man she didn't love!

She was completely taken aback--especially knowing that Nick Carrol, the Ocean Wanderer's captain, had overheard her sister's words and categorized Cassandra as an equally avaricious mercenary. Which simply was not true!

Cassandra wasn't looking for a wealthy husband. She wasn't looking for a husband at all--not after having met Nick
548 reviews16 followers
August 26, 2018
The story takes place on board a cruise ship. The girl is a guest of her sister, who in turn is a rich man's arm candy. But the younger one, the heroine, is the conscientious type.

The hero is the ship's captain. He thinks the kid sister is a free loader like the elder one. So initially he is quite hostile. But slowly realizes this one is different.

Add to the cruise, a few OMs and OWs and the reader is kept busy for over 100 pages.

Finally the slutty elder sis elopes from the ship. So our puritan heroine feels too humiliated to stay on. She runs away when the ship halts at Sydney, and goes into hiding.

The hero stages an elaborate search operation and finally finds the girl.

A grand last scene, a hearty confession and a mild attempt at sexual descriptions of their honeymoon. The author gives us a mediocre book with a grand climax.

3.5 stars actually.
Profile Image for Prac Agrl.
1,341 reviews2 followers
October 18, 2023
It was an ok read
i didn't see what the H saw in h frankly also I didn't like certain points like h being judgemental and prissy about her sister i mean really!! i didn't like her on that, otherwise she was a decent person.
Profile Image for Jacqueline J.
3,565 reviews371 followers
October 23, 2010
It was okay. The heroine was a little judgmental about her sister being someone's mistress. There was good description of islands in the South Pacific. The romance was okay but not very heated/passionate. I don't mean there weren't any sex scenes just that the feelings seemed weakish and the time spent together was not very intense.
Profile Image for Debra Morrow.
1 review
November 11, 2015
All the more in making me want to go on another cruise, especially to Hawaii & Fiji...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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