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Time Fuse
When Selina Thorn applied for a job with the father she never met, darkly handsom Piers Gresham, his nephew, decided she was just another grasping woman on the make. And made no secret of his contempt for her. But neither could he hide his desire.
Selina found the aggravating man increasingly difficult to resist. But was Piers's expert seduction of her only a means to get her to confess to the real reason she was there? Her dark secret was about to be exposed....
Selina found the aggravating man increasingly difficult to resist. But was Piers's expert seduction of her only a means to get her to confess to the real reason she was there? Her dark secret was about to be exposed....
Hardcover
First published May 10, 1985
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About the author
Penny Jordan
1,124 books666 followersPenelope Jones Halsall
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
November 15, 2022
❥i'll never understand people getting it on right after learning that their relative just got admitted to the hospital. horny psycho bunnies.
(i was literally the only person wondering about what happened to the heroine's sleazy dad and whether he died or not (hoping for the latter) while the girl was having the time of her life almost letting her dearest cousin fuck her brains out on the couch of her dad's house. girl was so distracted she didn't even bother to ask 🤣)
❥them embracing the fact that they're first cousins?? it's giving the ✨targaryens✨ but even the targaryens are more self-conscious about blood bonds. (maybe fucking your first cousin used to be a norm back in the 1980s 😏)
❥the hero wasn't even any cruel (PD is famous for her cruel asshole heroes but they are no anywhere near Robyn Donald's brand of assholes from what I can gather #depression). 😔 as if that wasn't already bad enough, he was considerably less intelligent and observant than i'd expect from a successful lawyer. men that are jealous are hot, but not when this makes them lose their brain cells by association. if he aspires to be a jerk he needs to be smart, otherwise where's the fun in watching a dumb man misguided by his own lack of perspicacity and rash assumptions? only intentional cruelty is hot, just saying. 🌚
❥ it's super annoying how the heroine's mom was painted as the villain of the story (she definitely was) meanwhile her father got away with wearing the phoney halo over his head throughout the entire story when we know for a fact that he's the largest piece of garbage whose misbehaving dick literally ruined a couple of lives? mind you, the saint guy cheated on his wife with the heroine's mom, abandoned his bastard daughter and wreaked havoc within his own family refusing to take responsibility for his fuck-ups, but somehow the disastrous consequences of HIS choices ended up on his mistress' shoulders? because she refused to stay in the shadows like a good little mistress?? 💀
if i were his daughter i'd never forgive him unless he grovelled on his knees in front of me in the presence of his entire family circle and changed his will to pass all of his property over to me, ofc. then i'd pretend that i did xx.
(the heroine needs to get smacked so hard, and i volunteer to do the job. she literally thanked her lying, cheating, worthless scumbag of a dad for GIVING LIFE TO HER. 🤣🤣 bitch, he ejaculated in someone who was not his wife and never once tried to check whether his offspring was still kicking and breathing somewhere out there or not and needed his help. pls get your head outta your ass and stop embarrassing your kind thanking him for that, ok. 💀 i'm so mad he didn't get any comeuppance, all it took him was a couple of words expressing remorse:/)
(i was literally the only person wondering about what happened to the heroine's sleazy dad and whether he died or not (hoping for the latter) while the girl was having the time of her life almost letting her dearest cousin fuck her brains out on the couch of her dad's house. girl was so distracted she didn't even bother to ask 🤣)
❥them embracing the fact that they're first cousins?? it's giving the ✨targaryens✨ but even the targaryens are more self-conscious about blood bonds. (maybe fucking your first cousin used to be a norm back in the 1980s 😏)
❥the hero wasn't even any cruel (PD is famous for her cruel asshole heroes but they are no anywhere near Robyn Donald's brand of assholes from what I can gather #depression). 😔 as if that wasn't already bad enough, he was considerably less intelligent and observant than i'd expect from a successful lawyer. men that are jealous are hot, but not when this makes them lose their brain cells by association. if he aspires to be a jerk he needs to be smart, otherwise where's the fun in watching a dumb man misguided by his own lack of perspicacity and rash assumptions? only intentional cruelty is hot, just saying. 🌚
❥ it's super annoying how the heroine's mom was painted as the villain of the story (she definitely was) meanwhile her father got away with wearing the phoney halo over his head throughout the entire story when we know for a fact that he's the largest piece of garbage whose misbehaving dick literally ruined a couple of lives? mind you, the saint guy cheated on his wife with the heroine's mom, abandoned his bastard daughter and wreaked havoc within his own family refusing to take responsibility for his fuck-ups, but somehow the disastrous consequences of HIS choices ended up on his mistress' shoulders? because she refused to stay in the shadows like a good little mistress?? 💀
if i were his daughter i'd never forgive him unless he grovelled on his knees in front of me in the presence of his entire family circle and changed his will to pass all of his property over to me, ofc. then i'd pretend that i did xx.
(the heroine needs to get smacked so hard, and i volunteer to do the job. she literally thanked her lying, cheating, worthless scumbag of a dad for GIVING LIFE TO HER. 🤣🤣 bitch, he ejaculated in someone who was not his wife and never once tried to check whether his offspring was still kicking and breathing somewhere out there or not and needed his help. pls get your head outta your ass and stop embarrassing your kind thanking him for that, ok. 💀 i'm so mad he didn't get any comeuppance, all it took him was a couple of words expressing remorse:/)
May 21, 2019
Nicely intense story of a heroine who, in a bid to meet her father, takes a job as his PA. Heroine was the daughter of his mistress. Heroine's father is hero's uncle. Yes, the H/h are first cousins.
Hero is immediately suspicious of/attracted to the beautiful heroine and is cruel and cutting every chance he gets.
Heroine feels guilty for being alive, for lying to her very nice father and for being so attracted to the hero.
Hero is a barrister so he likes going for jugular. Heroine watches him berate a rape victim in court and is chagrined when it turns out the woman was lying. *major cringe* That scene just rubbed me the wrong way.
Hero is cruel because he's in love and heroine doesn't know any better, so I can accept their romance. The real fairytale was how the heroine's father, wife and family embraced the heroine as a long lost daughter.
Boogenhagen has all of the details in her excellent review.
Hero is immediately suspicious of/attracted to the beautiful heroine and is cruel and cutting every chance he gets.
Heroine feels guilty for being alive, for lying to her very nice father and for being so attracted to the hero.
Hero is a barrister so he likes going for jugular. Heroine watches him berate a rape victim in court and is chagrined when it turns out the woman was lying. *major cringe* That scene just rubbed me the wrong way.
Hero is cruel because he's in love and heroine doesn't know any better, so I can accept their romance. The real fairytale was how the heroine's father, wife and family embraced the heroine as a long lost daughter.
Boogenhagen has all of the details in her excellent review.
January 14, 2016
RE Time Fuse - This one is another PJ angst fest doozy but the h isn't a total doormat, just a bit weak in the tailbone when faced with the devastatingly alphamanliness of the H.
Our h in this one is a 24 year old physically chaste but mentally worldly orphan. She was the product of an affair between her upwardly-mobile-by-physical-favors mum and a famous Queen's Council lawyer. Supposedly the h was born because the mum wanted to force the very married QC to divorce his wife and marry her. Despite a ton of publicity and public degradation, the mum had to be content with a big money payoff and the dubious (in the mum's eyes) delights of having a baby daughter.
(This is actually a newer variation of the ever popular and abundant seekrit baby trope. When it is used as it is in TF the h will grow up not knowing or being acknowledged by one parent, and this lack of knowledge or as in this case, the h's secret knowledge, will be used in myriad ways to create misunderstandings and barriers between the H and h.)
As PJ needed to establish the h's utter aloneness in the world to explain her deep pain and trauma, she kills off the mum when the h is 11, emphasizing how materialistic and greedy the mother was when she dies with yet another wealthy lover.
The mum's apparent greed affects the h tremendously. She is described as being very beautiful but very lady like and a conservative dresser. When a potential suitor comes around, she freezes them out. The h is pretty ruthless in criticizing both her parents and has a very nonchalant external mask, but internally she is a mess and very, very lonely and wanting a family.
The h gets the opportunity to work for the man who is her father as his assistant. While there was no way for the h to get to law school because she was poor, she somehow manages to get some nebulous degree at Oxford which gives her the necessary qualifications.
(Needless to say I was a bit surprised that the h couldn't go to law school due to being poor and not having the right social connections, but could afford to attend and graduate from Oxford - arguably one of the most expensive public schools in England. I felt a bit sorry for the h too, as she really wanted to be a barrister. Then I remembered that I was in HPlandia and the only career the h really needs to worry about is catering to the whims the H, so I felt a bit better and got on with the story.)
The h gets the job working for her father, keeping her identity secret and meets the H when she goes for the interview. The h is moonstruck immediately and the H is eyeing her up like a box of Godiva - but he soon gets an evil glint in his eye and the h realizes she is going to be in for a rough ride. When the h sees the H again while out that evening, he is with another woman and yet he still comes over to ask her to dance. She refuses pretty firmly, (and then felt bad for being so forceful), but the H gives her a look that vows retribution.
The h starts her job and the H starts his harassment, a mixture of punishing kisses and nasty comments and name calling. We get to see the H brutalize a young 18 year old girl on the witness stand when she is bringing a case against a male family friend for rape. The H justifies this by the 18 yr old being sexually active and his "feeling" that she wasn't telling the truth. The H stages his own failed forced seduction of the h a few pages later, after the h's father has a heart attack - but of course his actions aren't attempted rape, they're just the by product of his frustrated but growing (and unwanted in his mind,) love for the h.
The h goes to work for the now semi-retired father at his home estate. The h is instantly accepted by all in the family, including her half-sisters and the father's wife. The H is still stalking her and very suspicious, he brutally questions and kisses her every chance he gets. The h has now acknowledged that she is madly in love with the H and is now desperately worried about protecting her secret parentage.
The h also begins to demonize her mum even more than she already did and idolize her father. I felt this was kinda rotten of PJ, as by his own admission the dad the was madly in love with the h's mum, and probably did promise her all kinds of things when he started the affair
- he was the one who was married and playing around, but a combination of guilt and dirty tricks admitted to by his wife (who seemed to be just as social-status conscious as the h's own mother was,) made him abandon the h and her mum with a big payoff.
The father admits that he took the h's mum to meet the H when he was in boarding school - the h's dad had become the H's father figure after his own father died- and the mum went took the H out of school for an afternoon after the big break up and said some mean and horrible things to him.)
The h's mum's retaliation against the H is used as an excuse for his bitterness and mistrust of beautiful women, but I really thought PJ went overboard in her attempts to angelicize the cheating, lying father and make the mum seem so evil.
After all if the mum had been a horrid as PJ implies, why did she not dump the h onto the state care system after her affair broke up? If she really was only using the h's birth as leverage against her father, the mum had no reason to continue to care for the h until she died.
Later HP author's who use this trope generally go with the dead mum being a tragic figure who is either misguided or lost from the h's father by devious manipulations, and I think that version works for me a bit better.
The h is feeling even more guilty than ever, (cause she must be responsible for her mum's shame,) and after a near seduction when the h's father walks in on the H and h in a state of déshabillé, she runs off the estate and gets caught in a really bad storm. The H follows and they wind up in a barn where the final physical consummation takes place, this scene is also the first in HPlandia where the h uses her mouth on the more rigid parts of the H.
Afterwards the H figures out she was a virgin and not the promiscuous tart he keeps calling her, and the h decides to drive him away after he suggests marriage for a possible pregnancy. The h tells him about her parentage and the father's wife (because no one this family has the good manners to knock on a door before entering someone's bedroom) overhears the story and is shocked. The H leaves for business and the family is very happy to acknowledge the h, but the h is broken-hearted.
The H's mum gives the h a key to the H's flat and she is waiting for him upon his return. He starts in on the insults again, but he looks a bit thin and weary and the h finally confesses her love. The H explains that all his abuse and harassment were really just the measure of his undying adoration of the h and he doesn't care who her parents are and they have their big HEA.
Even though they are blood relatives, apparently the H is convinced the h's father will insist on marriage and because the h is desperate for love and a family she fully agrees that the father has the authority to insist and that the H's mum has the right to demand instant grandchildren and thus another broodmare/stud mating -- er, happy couple is settled under the stars of HPlandia.
Our h in this one is a 24 year old physically chaste but mentally worldly orphan. She was the product of an affair between her upwardly-mobile-by-physical-favors mum and a famous Queen's Council lawyer. Supposedly the h was born because the mum wanted to force the very married QC to divorce his wife and marry her. Despite a ton of publicity and public degradation, the mum had to be content with a big money payoff and the dubious (in the mum's eyes) delights of having a baby daughter.
(This is actually a newer variation of the ever popular and abundant seekrit baby trope. When it is used as it is in TF the h will grow up not knowing or being acknowledged by one parent, and this lack of knowledge or as in this case, the h's secret knowledge, will be used in myriad ways to create misunderstandings and barriers between the H and h.)
As PJ needed to establish the h's utter aloneness in the world to explain her deep pain and trauma, she kills off the mum when the h is 11, emphasizing how materialistic and greedy the mother was when she dies with yet another wealthy lover.
The mum's apparent greed affects the h tremendously. She is described as being very beautiful but very lady like and a conservative dresser. When a potential suitor comes around, she freezes them out. The h is pretty ruthless in criticizing both her parents and has a very nonchalant external mask, but internally she is a mess and very, very lonely and wanting a family.
The h gets the opportunity to work for the man who is her father as his assistant. While there was no way for the h to get to law school because she was poor, she somehow manages to get some nebulous degree at Oxford which gives her the necessary qualifications.
(Needless to say I was a bit surprised that the h couldn't go to law school due to being poor and not having the right social connections, but could afford to attend and graduate from Oxford - arguably one of the most expensive public schools in England. I felt a bit sorry for the h too, as she really wanted to be a barrister. Then I remembered that I was in HPlandia and the only career the h really needs to worry about is catering to the whims the H, so I felt a bit better and got on with the story.)
The h gets the job working for her father, keeping her identity secret and meets the H when she goes for the interview. The h is moonstruck immediately and the H is eyeing her up like a box of Godiva - but he soon gets an evil glint in his eye and the h realizes she is going to be in for a rough ride. When the h sees the H again while out that evening, he is with another woman and yet he still comes over to ask her to dance. She refuses pretty firmly, (and then felt bad for being so forceful), but the H gives her a look that vows retribution.
The h starts her job and the H starts his harassment, a mixture of punishing kisses and nasty comments and name calling. We get to see the H brutalize a young 18 year old girl on the witness stand when she is bringing a case against a male family friend for rape. The H justifies this by the 18 yr old being sexually active and his "feeling" that she wasn't telling the truth. The H stages his own failed forced seduction of the h a few pages later, after the h's father has a heart attack - but of course his actions aren't attempted rape, they're just the by product of his frustrated but growing (and unwanted in his mind,) love for the h.
The h goes to work for the now semi-retired father at his home estate. The h is instantly accepted by all in the family, including her half-sisters and the father's wife. The H is still stalking her and very suspicious, he brutally questions and kisses her every chance he gets. The h has now acknowledged that she is madly in love with the H and is now desperately worried about protecting her secret parentage.
The h also begins to demonize her mum even more than she already did and idolize her father. I felt this was kinda rotten of PJ, as by his own admission the dad the was madly in love with the h's mum, and probably did promise her all kinds of things when he started the affair
- he was the one who was married and playing around, but a combination of guilt and dirty tricks admitted to by his wife (who seemed to be just as social-status conscious as the h's own mother was,) made him abandon the h and her mum with a big payoff.
The father admits that he took the h's mum to meet the H when he was in boarding school - the h's dad had become the H's father figure after his own father died- and the mum went took the H out of school for an afternoon after the big break up and said some mean and horrible things to him.)
The h's mum's retaliation against the H is used as an excuse for his bitterness and mistrust of beautiful women, but I really thought PJ went overboard in her attempts to angelicize the cheating, lying father and make the mum seem so evil.
After all if the mum had been a horrid as PJ implies, why did she not dump the h onto the state care system after her affair broke up? If she really was only using the h's birth as leverage against her father, the mum had no reason to continue to care for the h until she died.
Later HP author's who use this trope generally go with the dead mum being a tragic figure who is either misguided or lost from the h's father by devious manipulations, and I think that version works for me a bit better.
The h is feeling even more guilty than ever, (cause she must be responsible for her mum's shame,) and after a near seduction when the h's father walks in on the H and h in a state of déshabillé, she runs off the estate and gets caught in a really bad storm. The H follows and they wind up in a barn where the final physical consummation takes place, this scene is also the first in HPlandia where the h uses her mouth on the more rigid parts of the H.
Afterwards the H figures out she was a virgin and not the promiscuous tart he keeps calling her, and the h decides to drive him away after he suggests marriage for a possible pregnancy. The h tells him about her parentage and the father's wife (because no one this family has the good manners to knock on a door before entering someone's bedroom) overhears the story and is shocked. The H leaves for business and the family is very happy to acknowledge the h, but the h is broken-hearted.
The H's mum gives the h a key to the H's flat and she is waiting for him upon his return. He starts in on the insults again, but he looks a bit thin and weary and the h finally confesses her love. The H explains that all his abuse and harassment were really just the measure of his undying adoration of the h and he doesn't care who her parents are and they have their big HEA.
Even though they are blood relatives, apparently the H is convinced the h's father will insist on marriage and because the h is desperate for love and a family she fully agrees that the father has the authority to insist and that the H's mum has the right to demand instant grandchildren and thus another broodmare/stud mating -- er, happy couple is settled under the stars of HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 14, 2014
Heroine has never met her father. Her mother had an affair with him but he was a married man. She gets a job at her father's office in order to get close to him. Hero his nephew, thinks she is trying to seduce his beloved uncle and that she is just another gold digger after his money. He is torn cause he falls for her but he knows she is hiding something and he is determined to find out her secret.
Wow! plenty of good Harlequin-ish angst, great characters and a nice HEA. Very intense read, couldn't put it down!
Wow! plenty of good Harlequin-ish angst, great characters and a nice HEA. Very intense read, couldn't put it down!
May 8, 2020
I totally loved the intense emotions Penny Jordan delivered in this story,where we get to watch the clashing between the beautiful Selina Thorn and the cynical Piers Gresham.Their chemistry was electric and i enjoyed their very encounter!
I have come to realize that Penny Jordan sees it as normal to have her heroine and hero as cousins,and i deeply try to ignore that.I mean,is it legal in USA and Britain?Must have been common the time this book was published,either way this i a great story i swallowed up in obsession.It was clear that the hero Piers had deeply fallen in love with Selina against his will.I really like that she took the courage and went to Piers to know what he feels about her.In my opinion it is always the authors heroes who cast aside their pride to confess to their heroines.So it was refreshing in this one!
I have come to realize that Penny Jordan sees it as normal to have her heroine and hero as cousins,and i deeply try to ignore that.I mean,is it legal in USA and Britain?Must have been common the time this book was published,either way this i a great story i swallowed up in obsession.It was clear that the hero Piers had deeply fallen in love with Selina against his will.I really like that she took the courage and went to Piers to know what he feels about her.In my opinion it is always the authors heroes who cast aside their pride to confess to their heroines.So it was refreshing in this one!
December 2, 2020
No one writes damaged heroines and jerkish (but also kind of vulnerable) heroes like PJ when she’s got the bit between her teeth. Time Fuse (meh title) is old-skool crazy in the best way, with an OTT completely ridiculous plot, a PJ-patented batshit-crazy heroine, and an angry walking-hard-on of a hero. This is the stuff, folks.
The tropes in this one are varied and epic— Boogenhausen has all the insane details. Please wait until the ride has come to a full and complete stop once you board this crazytrain.
The tropes in this one are varied and epic— Boogenhausen has all the insane details. Please wait until the ride has come to a full and complete stop once you board this crazytrain.
December 24, 2020
I’m at a bit of a loss with this one—it’s a hot mess.
She’s the result of an affair between a married man and a gold-digger and has never met her father. The breakup was newsworthy, mom got the baby and a bunch of money and dad walked away, back into the loving arms of his wife and family and never had any contact with the OW or his daughter.
When given the opportunity she takes a position as her father’s PA. No one knows a thing, but our hero doesn’t trust her, knows something is off. He’s her father’s nephew, dad is a father figure and the two men are very close. He’s a nasty, angry, mean spirited ass, you know, an average HP hero. Actually, he’s worse than most.
Okay, Penny Jordan is going there, they’re first cousins and super hot for each other... yuck. When they’re not at each other’s throats, they’re lusting after each other. He doesn’t know they’re cousins—she knows and the reader knows, and we wait on tenterhooks through the entire book for the twist that would make this relationship okay. Only we don’t get a twist.
These two really are first cousins.
4 stars for the insane storyline, 1 star for the first cousins thing.
She’s the result of an affair between a married man and a gold-digger and has never met her father. The breakup was newsworthy, mom got the baby and a bunch of money and dad walked away, back into the loving arms of his wife and family and never had any contact with the OW or his daughter.
When given the opportunity she takes a position as her father’s PA. No one knows a thing, but our hero doesn’t trust her, knows something is off. He’s her father’s nephew, dad is a father figure and the two men are very close. He’s a nasty, angry, mean spirited ass, you know, an average HP hero. Actually, he’s worse than most.
Okay, Penny Jordan is going there, they’re first cousins and super hot for each other... yuck. When they’re not at each other’s throats, they’re lusting after each other. He doesn’t know they’re cousins—she knows and the reader knows, and we wait on tenterhooks through the entire book for the twist that would make this relationship okay. Only we don’t get a twist.
These two really are first cousins.
4 stars for the insane storyline, 1 star for the first cousins thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2020
"Time Fuse" is the story of Selina and Piers.
An angsty romance, with an abandoned heroine and a suspicious hero. The heroine has had a super tragic past, and has grown up with the scorn of illegitimacy. She tracks down her father, and applies to be his PA, without revealing her identity. It is there she meets the hero, her father's nephew, who is distrustful of the heroine's intentions, and believes she is out to seduce his elderly uncle. How they navigate this complicated relationship and their evolving feelings, with loads of heartbreak, revelations forms the story, ending in a HEA.
If you don't mind them being cousins and being super obsessed and eventually banging, you'd like this story.
Safe
3/5
An angsty romance, with an abandoned heroine and a suspicious hero. The heroine has had a super tragic past, and has grown up with the scorn of illegitimacy. She tracks down her father, and applies to be his PA, without revealing her identity. It is there she meets the hero, her father's nephew, who is distrustful of the heroine's intentions, and believes she is out to seduce his elderly uncle. How they navigate this complicated relationship and their evolving feelings, with loads of heartbreak, revelations forms the story, ending in a HEA.
If you don't mind them being cousins and being super obsessed and eventually banging, you'd like this story.
Safe
3/5
December 29, 2020
"You little fool... why did you put us both through this hell?"
Because we need silly angst!
Because we need silly angst!
June 1, 2023
The stuff of fluff!!! Ultimate PJ satisfaction. I can only thank my lucky stars that I still have a long list of unread PJs for days when I can pull an all-nighter and curl my toes in.
The h is quite sweet and restrained. She’s just looking for love and a family bond with her long lost father. Her natural attachment to him is read wrongly by her father’s nephew aka her cousin (trigger for some readers).
The H is a hot lawyer on QC. He’s rude and intimidating to the h who’s trying her darnest to not let anyone know of her secret. The H keeps her on a close watch but can’t help falling for her sweet unadulterated beauty. He’s easily jealous and accusatory but then sets it right in the most deeply passionate loving that can make a puddle out of you.
To say that I’ve read quite a few books lately but can’t be bothered to write a review for the half served satisfaction on time invested. My point: pretty mediocre harleys today compared to the burning angsty ones of the past.
If you love PJ, then this is a fab read. Highly recommend. But in true Pj style, comes without an epilogue :(
The h is quite sweet and restrained. She’s just looking for love and a family bond with her long lost father. Her natural attachment to him is read wrongly by her father’s nephew aka her cousin (trigger for some readers).
The H is a hot lawyer on QC. He’s rude and intimidating to the h who’s trying her darnest to not let anyone know of her secret. The H keeps her on a close watch but can’t help falling for her sweet unadulterated beauty. He’s easily jealous and accusatory but then sets it right in the most deeply passionate loving that can make a puddle out of you.
To say that I’ve read quite a few books lately but can’t be bothered to write a review for the half served satisfaction on time invested. My point: pretty mediocre harleys today compared to the burning angsty ones of the past.
If you love PJ, then this is a fab read. Highly recommend. But in true Pj style, comes without an epilogue :(
March 3, 2023
She hears from the H that her dad has been admitted to hospital. Like any good h would do, she faints.
When she comes round, she only thinks about how much she wants to touch the H and sleep with him.
So after you’ve just heard such bad news about your dad, you get h*rny? I don’t understand…
Or maybe it is just a h thing, like fainting is.
When she comes round, she only thinks about how much she wants to touch the H and sleep with him.
So after you’ve just heard such bad news about your dad, you get h*rny? I don’t understand…
Or maybe it is just a h thing, like fainting is.
May 5, 2016
My thoughts: Spoilers ahead. The heroine was born of an affair by her gold digger mother and married man. The fallout from that affair has scarred the heroine immensely. She decides to work for her biological father as a PA and get to know him as well as heal herself emotionally so she can move on with her life. In the process she encounters the hero who is very suspicious of her motives but is intensely sexually attracted to her and super sparks fly. Okay... I DESPISE the hero. Throughout the book he was very mean to the heroine 95% of the book he was always suspicious of the heroine. He was always sexually harassing her, forcing her to do his bidding. I do not, cannot understand how the heroine came to love him. To me it was more of she was sexually attracted to him that's it. But not love. I liked the heroine. In the beginning of the book and maybe the first middle part, she was strong, capable, cool. But after Mr. stupid hero's sexual harassment bombardment and physically/sexually dominating her she turned into an idiot, all her self confidence gone. I know, I'm too harsh, but this hero was no hero at all! Oh yeah, he called her bitch at one point. UGH. And even their happily ever after sucked. The heroine had to be the one to come to him! And poor heroine, she had to ask him in the end: "would you have come for me?" like she still needed that reassurance. I felt so sorry for her. Oh yeah, did I mention they were half-cousins? Their blood relationship didn't bother me that much but I am surprised the other characters in the book were not bothered by it. Their future kids might have a genetic disorder. I was also cynical on how the heroine's revelation of her true identity didn't seem to faze the other characters and that they accepted her just like that. I love the way Penny Jordan writes and I was engrossed. But I did not like the hero and his personality.
December 29, 2014
This one has a slightly more complicated storyline than your normal Penny Jordan romance, and as a result, it is a much more satisfying read. There’s always the element of chance with a Jordan romance; that you’ll end up reading at least a hundred pages of soul searching whilst the (frequently misinformed) heroine tortures herself about her “love” for the hero, and where not much else happens. This is not the case with this romance.
In “Time Fuse”, Selina is the illegitimate daughter of a well to do QC and a feckless woman who tried to blackmail him. Her mother is a dreadful woman, but fortunately, like so many of Jordan’s heroine’s parents, she’s wiped out in a car crash when Selina was 11, leaving Selina to be given a new name (by an overworked social worker who makes a mistake with her surname) and leaving her in foster care. Selina would desperately like to qualify as a barrister but can’t afford it and admits that in 1985, it just wasn’t a pathway for children brought up in care. Still, she’s done okay – she’s highly qualified and gets a job working for her father (the QC) as his PA and his nephew (the hero, “Piers”). Piers is suspicious from the very outset – why would she want to work as a PA when she is so qualified? She must have an ulterior motive, right? The fact that she does have one (wishing to get to know her father) makes Selina very nervous around Piers (as well as disliking him on sight).
To be fair, Selina has good instincts here – there’s a lot to dislike. We’ve only reached page 29 (and Selina’s first week in the job) when Piers starts sexually harassing her. She resolves to stay away from him, but when left to mind the phones in the office, she finds it hard to do both her job and fend off Piers’s unwelcome advances. Before you can say “sod the phones” however, Selina has a moment of madness and decides that she’s in love with Piers. Why? Why? He’s a nasty piece of work, who practically rapes her at one point, even though she’s telling him that she doesn’t want to have sex with him. He’s a violent, nasty man who forces her into his bedroom when all his family are out and calls her things like “you little fool” and “the likes of you” before telling her that she has a “grubby little mind”. In my opinion, he’s the only one with the grubby mind – poor old Selina just wanted to get to know her Dad and do her job.
It’s a Mills and Boon, so you can’t be too disappointed when you realise that poor old Selina is doomed, sorry destined, to be with nasty, violent, grubby-minded Piers forever more. However, there’s a bit more to this novel than your usual Jordan romance. It’s interesting that the one case Selina watches Piers work as the barrister for the defence is a rape one. A fragile-looking fifteen year old girl with a swollen belly is alleging rape against a family friend of her parents. Piers decimates her, using the girl’s history of sexual activity as his defence. Labelled promiscuous the accused gets away with it. (It’s probably true that a lot of rape cases were handled this way in the 80s, where you were basically seen as “asking for it” if you went out in a short skirt, as a woman. It’s probably why a lot of rape cases never made it to court). Selina is angry and demands why Piers did this – he says he knew the man to be innocent. That may be, but there’s a big question over this strand to the storyline in the text, which relates to the “hero”’s morals. Just a few pages later, we reach this stage in the text: “She didn’t want to; she wanted to resist the force of his contemptuous anger and withstand it, but his strength was the greater, his threat to pick her up and carry her forcing her to accede to his demand. When he eventually stopped outside the room she knew to be his she panicked, fighting against him with all her strength, gasping with pain as he shouldered open the door and pulled her inside with little regard for the bruises he was inflicting on her tender skin.” (p. 120). Piers clearly isn’t any better than the rapist he was defending, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Jordan had done this on purpose. Has she consciously made the darkly forbidding heroes her reader’s demanded just one step away from a perpetrator of violent crime?
The “hero” in the book treads a fine line between the acceptable romantic hero of escapism and utter nutcase; and to be honest, he doesn’t always come across as someone you’d want to spend five minutes alone with, never mind the rest of your life. It makes for an interesting read as it opens questions (and not necessarily ones that can be easily answered) about why Jordan would make him so objectionable. It’s a matter which really intrigued me.
There’s a couple of really interesting questions about the society that Jordan was living in during the time of writing this book which this book raises. The first concerns the treatment of children in care – why can’t she qualify as a barrister? Finance is the main reason given but it’s also reported as a fact that as a foster child, the pathway just wasn’t open to her. It is a pathway for the privileged alone. (That would rankle a bit with any reader!) The second is the treatment of victims of rape (a very sensitive subject; and particularly so to what is essentially a book with an all female readership). This is the first time I’ve ever read a Harlequin Mills and Boon book, and felt that the story represented some kind of literature of protest. I’m possibly reading too much into it, but it’s an interesting thought, when you consider what the author might be trying to do.
Still – it’s a Mills and Boon – and it’s all’s well that ends well. Selina decides that she loves him (did she receive a blow to the head during his assault of her?); the family and father she deceived to get her job forgive her and welcome her into the family fold, and despite nearly getting struck by lightning and dying of exposure in a barn in Dorset, it’s all hearts and flowers from thereon. A very strange read; but recommended just for the questions it raises. I'd be very interested to hear what other readers of this book think.
In “Time Fuse”, Selina is the illegitimate daughter of a well to do QC and a feckless woman who tried to blackmail him. Her mother is a dreadful woman, but fortunately, like so many of Jordan’s heroine’s parents, she’s wiped out in a car crash when Selina was 11, leaving Selina to be given a new name (by an overworked social worker who makes a mistake with her surname) and leaving her in foster care. Selina would desperately like to qualify as a barrister but can’t afford it and admits that in 1985, it just wasn’t a pathway for children brought up in care. Still, she’s done okay – she’s highly qualified and gets a job working for her father (the QC) as his PA and his nephew (the hero, “Piers”). Piers is suspicious from the very outset – why would she want to work as a PA when she is so qualified? She must have an ulterior motive, right? The fact that she does have one (wishing to get to know her father) makes Selina very nervous around Piers (as well as disliking him on sight).
To be fair, Selina has good instincts here – there’s a lot to dislike. We’ve only reached page 29 (and Selina’s first week in the job) when Piers starts sexually harassing her. She resolves to stay away from him, but when left to mind the phones in the office, she finds it hard to do both her job and fend off Piers’s unwelcome advances. Before you can say “sod the phones” however, Selina has a moment of madness and decides that she’s in love with Piers. Why? Why? He’s a nasty piece of work, who practically rapes her at one point, even though she’s telling him that she doesn’t want to have sex with him. He’s a violent, nasty man who forces her into his bedroom when all his family are out and calls her things like “you little fool” and “the likes of you” before telling her that she has a “grubby little mind”. In my opinion, he’s the only one with the grubby mind – poor old Selina just wanted to get to know her Dad and do her job.
It’s a Mills and Boon, so you can’t be too disappointed when you realise that poor old Selina is doomed, sorry destined, to be with nasty, violent, grubby-minded Piers forever more. However, there’s a bit more to this novel than your usual Jordan romance. It’s interesting that the one case Selina watches Piers work as the barrister for the defence is a rape one. A fragile-looking fifteen year old girl with a swollen belly is alleging rape against a family friend of her parents. Piers decimates her, using the girl’s history of sexual activity as his defence. Labelled promiscuous the accused gets away with it. (It’s probably true that a lot of rape cases were handled this way in the 80s, where you were basically seen as “asking for it” if you went out in a short skirt, as a woman. It’s probably why a lot of rape cases never made it to court). Selina is angry and demands why Piers did this – he says he knew the man to be innocent. That may be, but there’s a big question over this strand to the storyline in the text, which relates to the “hero”’s morals. Just a few pages later, we reach this stage in the text: “She didn’t want to; she wanted to resist the force of his contemptuous anger and withstand it, but his strength was the greater, his threat to pick her up and carry her forcing her to accede to his demand. When he eventually stopped outside the room she knew to be his she panicked, fighting against him with all her strength, gasping with pain as he shouldered open the door and pulled her inside with little regard for the bruises he was inflicting on her tender skin.” (p. 120). Piers clearly isn’t any better than the rapist he was defending, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Jordan had done this on purpose. Has she consciously made the darkly forbidding heroes her reader’s demanded just one step away from a perpetrator of violent crime?
The “hero” in the book treads a fine line between the acceptable romantic hero of escapism and utter nutcase; and to be honest, he doesn’t always come across as someone you’d want to spend five minutes alone with, never mind the rest of your life. It makes for an interesting read as it opens questions (and not necessarily ones that can be easily answered) about why Jordan would make him so objectionable. It’s a matter which really intrigued me.
There’s a couple of really interesting questions about the society that Jordan was living in during the time of writing this book which this book raises. The first concerns the treatment of children in care – why can’t she qualify as a barrister? Finance is the main reason given but it’s also reported as a fact that as a foster child, the pathway just wasn’t open to her. It is a pathway for the privileged alone. (That would rankle a bit with any reader!) The second is the treatment of victims of rape (a very sensitive subject; and particularly so to what is essentially a book with an all female readership). This is the first time I’ve ever read a Harlequin Mills and Boon book, and felt that the story represented some kind of literature of protest. I’m possibly reading too much into it, but it’s an interesting thought, when you consider what the author might be trying to do.
Still – it’s a Mills and Boon – and it’s all’s well that ends well. Selina decides that she loves him (did she receive a blow to the head during his assault of her?); the family and father she deceived to get her job forgive her and welcome her into the family fold, and despite nearly getting struck by lightning and dying of exposure in a barn in Dorset, it’s all hearts and flowers from thereon. A very strange read; but recommended just for the questions it raises. I'd be very interested to hear what other readers of this book think.
November 29, 2011
FIRST COUSINS. That deserved its own sentence -- how could they not care? His uncle was her father? I was hoping there was going to be an adoption somewhere to make it ok, but no. That aside, a decent older Penny Jordan. As much as I find that most of her books aren't absolutely outstanding, she does promise a certain level of storytelling -- compelling emotion, no weird loose ends, good plot flow. So, 4 stars for me.
October 26, 2025
An ice cold QC called Piers, you say? A frozen, intelligent virgin paying for the sins of the fathers (or in this case mother) you say? Instant sizzling sexual attraction involving a desk you say. PJ knows all my buttons. Which is just as well as the underlying plot is batshit but who cares? Would avoid this guy like the proverbial IRL, PC he is not, more of a caveman in a fancier wig. Still, like many of PJs alphas he is silver tongued in more ways than one and for this I've added the extra half star to round up to 4.
November 9, 2018
This hero's bluntness is so endearing. I just loved him.
And this gem:
And also:
His "I love you." reveal was beautiful.
Their sex scene had a new "post-mortem" discussion that I loved. I found it quite touching.
Baked Alaska makes an appearance, but funnily enough not in the usual Hplandia type of way. :D
"I should have thought I was the last person you'd find...attractive."
"Attractive?" He actually laughed, albeit rather cynically, "My dear what a modest turn of phrase. 'Attraction' isn't what I feel for you Selina. An almost overpowering sexual hunger is more how I'd describe it."
And this gem:
"I'm sure you wouldn't care to have me comment on your sex life."
"Not unless you were speaking from first hand experience."
And also:
"What is it about my looking at you that makes you feel so uncomfortable I wonder?"
"That wasn't discomfort it was annoyance-exactly the same annoyance you would feel were a woman to look at you in the way you were looking at me."
"Would I? Who knows; perhaps if I were in your shoes I should feel flattered."
"There's nothing remotely flattering about being treated as a sex object."
"I thought I was simply admiring the shape and firmness of your breasts."
His "I love you." reveal was beautiful.
Their sex scene had a new "post-mortem" discussion that I loved. I found it quite touching.
Baked Alaska makes an appearance, but funnily enough not in the usual Hplandia type of way. :D
December 12, 2018
3.5 Stars
The result of an extramarital gone horribly wrong, twenty-four year old Selina is offered the chance to work with the father she’s never known. She takes the job for a chance to get to know her dad. What she didn’t count on is his nephew, Piers, and the instant attraction between them.
Isn’t there a law about first cousins getting together like this? And if not, shouldn’t there one. I liked the book but the whole “kissing cousins” thing was a bit disturbing.
Also, why was the family so eager to welcome her into the family when they learned her true identity? Shouldn’t there be some concern? Her mother was a complete bitch and put them all through hell. Who’s to say that the daughter didn’t have ulterior motives? Am I too suspicious and jaded? I know I would be hesitant.
This book is the perfect example of why I love older HP’s. So much drama and confusion. And so politically incorrect. It’s fantastic!
The result of an extramarital gone horribly wrong, twenty-four year old Selina is offered the chance to work with the father she’s never known. She takes the job for a chance to get to know her dad. What she didn’t count on is his nephew, Piers, and the instant attraction between them.
Isn’t there a law about first cousins getting together like this? And if not, shouldn’t there one. I liked the book but the whole “kissing cousins” thing was a bit disturbing.
Also, why was the family so eager to welcome her into the family when they learned her true identity? Shouldn’t there be some concern? Her mother was a complete bitch and put them all through hell. Who’s to say that the daughter didn’t have ulterior motives? Am I too suspicious and jaded? I know I would be hesitant.
This book is the perfect example of why I love older HP’s. So much drama and confusion. And so politically incorrect. It’s fantastic!
November 18, 2016
3.5 stars
I've read few books with the same plot, an illegitimate daughter wants to get to know her biological father without him or his family knowing. Her now dead mother has done enough harm to his reputation. She applies for a job and falls in love with someone in the firm. That someone thinks she is a gold digger with ulterior motives, looking for an older rich man,....In this book that someone happened to be her blood cousin, a main solicitor within the law firm.
I've read few books with the same plot, an illegitimate daughter wants to get to know her biological father without him or his family knowing. Her now dead mother has done enough harm to his reputation. She applies for a job and falls in love with someone in the firm. That someone thinks she is a gold digger with ulterior motives, looking for an older rich man,....In this book that someone happened to be her blood cousin, a main solicitor within the law firm.
November 20, 2014
What the hell is wrong with these people?
THEY ARE BLOOD-RELATED FIRST COUSINS!
I find it amazing that this book was published in 1985, not 1885.
Gross!
THEY ARE BLOOD-RELATED FIRST COUSINS!
I find it amazing that this book was published in 1985, not 1885.
Gross!
June 4, 2017
I like the unique plots (to me) of these vintage Mills & Boon romances. This is written in 1985 and it never fails to horrify me how easily the heroes/men in the books from this era use nasty names like "bitch"/"slut" on heroines/women in general.
The virginal heroines were a bit extreme man haters too haha...
In this story Selina suffered a lot as a notorious illegitimate daughter of a famous man. Not only was she rejected by her father, her own mother did not want her; she was conceived as a tool to land gerself a rich husband, never mind that he was already married with three daughters then!
Selina's life so far sounded sad; she's unwanted and lonely yet her childhood meant she could not open up to any other person at all.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!
I found it incredible how easily she was accepted by her half-family...her father turned out to be a good man after all.
Now Piers...I hate him...he's the typical assholey alpha male from the pre 90s era. It's like boys who bullied the girls they liked the most back in kindergarten or primary school-Piers was just plain awful to Selina right up till she confessed her love for him! There were hardly any tender moments between them and worse was when he admitted he'd eventually have gone to find her after their last fight...but he's happy she found him first cos if he had been the one to look her up he'd always doubt her feelings for him...Male ego would make him hate the fact he'd loved her more than she loved him?! WTH!!!
And him telling her IN THE OFFICE he was admiring her breasts...OMG just so wrong on so many levels...it's not like he's seducing her and talking dirty; he was talking down to her in his contemptuous manner! Argh!
How the hell did Selina go from hating to loving Piers I'll never understand. Maybe it was witnessing him and his prowess in the courtrooms? Heh...
But all in an entertaining read. I enjoyed the settings and lawyers circle etc very much. Definitely better than modern day M&B cookie cutters books post 2000!
The virginal heroines were a bit extreme man haters too haha...
In this story Selina suffered a lot as a notorious illegitimate daughter of a famous man. Not only was she rejected by her father, her own mother did not want her; she was conceived as a tool to land gerself a rich husband, never mind that he was already married with three daughters then!
Selina's life so far sounded sad; she's unwanted and lonely yet her childhood meant she could not open up to any other person at all.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!
I found it incredible how easily she was accepted by her half-family...her father turned out to be a good man after all.
Now Piers...I hate him...he's the typical assholey alpha male from the pre 90s era. It's like boys who bullied the girls they liked the most back in kindergarten or primary school-Piers was just plain awful to Selina right up till she confessed her love for him! There were hardly any tender moments between them and worse was when he admitted he'd eventually have gone to find her after their last fight...but he's happy she found him first cos if he had been the one to look her up he'd always doubt her feelings for him...Male ego would make him hate the fact he'd loved her more than she loved him?! WTH!!!
And him telling her IN THE OFFICE he was admiring her breasts...OMG just so wrong on so many levels...it's not like he's seducing her and talking dirty; he was talking down to her in his contemptuous manner! Argh!
How the hell did Selina go from hating to loving Piers I'll never understand. Maybe it was witnessing him and his prowess in the courtrooms? Heh...
But all in an entertaining read. I enjoyed the settings and lawyers circle etc very much. Definitely better than modern day M&B cookie cutters books post 2000!
July 2, 2022
Ok, so I read this little... er... er...
Well...
My sisters and I have a tradition: I'll make crepes and one of them reads a Harlequin book, making it as ridiculous as possible, with heaving bosoms and all that. It's hilarious. Except that this time we didn't have time to make crepes, and I ended up reading this book for myself.
It's horrible. I know the 70s and 80s Harlequins are notoriously awful, but this one could possibly be the worst of them all.
We have this really beautiful young woman who has always wanted to be a barrister, but couldn't afford the education, so she was just a juridic clerk or something. She got a job with this old judge and was basically adopted by his family. The family considered her a very close family friend, almost like their child. They recommend to her to seek a job with their family friend, a crown barrister, who just happens to be Selena's father. He cheated on his wife with his secretary, who got herself pregnant with him to get him to leave his wife and marry her instead, but that didn't happen. She died when Selena was 11 and she was adopted or put in a surrogate family or something. Anyway, Selena goes to a job interview and is employed. She meets her employer's... hmm... what to call him... next in line? Anyway, he's the employer's sister's son, and - of course - the hero of the story. His name is Piers. He is very cold, hostile, suspicious, and downright nasty to Selena. Because she looks like her mother, and Piers met the woman when her uncle was cheating on his wife with her. He took his mistress to see his sister's son at his school! WTF?
Piers assumes Selena is there just to seduce his uncle, "others have tried". (Apparently just Selena's mother.)
Selena keeps telling him that she isn't interested in her employer that way, that she wants to work in the area but couldn't afford the education (this is repeated at least three times in the book), but for some reason, he doesn't believe her. Anyway, he sexually harasses and even assaults her, and she - of course - falls in love with him because of this. She also behaves guiltily all the time, because she does have a secret, she knows the guy is her father. Why she doesn't tell Piers that of course, she has secrets, everyone does, but they are not going to influence her work, she is not after his uncle, so Piers has no right to know anything about that. Nope. She just blushes and avoids and behaves like a deer in the headlights, and he pushes and digs... but doesn't find out the truth. I seriously don't know why, because the press was following her until her mother died, and she didn't hide her name either, she just used her mother's boyfriend's last name. I don't think it would have been hard for Piers to find out who Selena's mother was and that this is his uncle's bastard daughter, but - alas - he didn't find out.
We have a scene where he tears a 16yo girl into pieces because he was defending the man the girl claimed had raped her. He dug up and interviewed every boy who claimed to have had sex with her and painted her practically a whore. The heroine protests his cruel behavior, and he just says "she admitted 10 minutes ago that she's pregnant with her classmate, and she was afraid of her parents, so she made up the rape story". And the heroine is ashamed for not having trusted Piers' amazing ability to figure out people's secrets.
Anyway, the first moment they are alone, he gropes her breasts and kisses her, and when she slaps him he laughs and says "In my experience women slapping men is more a sign of sexual frustration than being genuinely offended".
He speaks about her sex life.
When the girl is out with the judge's family celebrating his 60th birthday or something, Piers is at the same restaurant with a woman. He comes to the table and asks Selena to dance with him. She politely refuses and says that in her experience it's best to keep the work life and social life separate. He gets furious, and the judge and his wife berate Selena for having been so rude and humiliating Piers in public.
This goes on and on.
Then her employer gets a heart attack. She was on her way to bring him some folders, was in casual outfits, like jeans and a t-shirt (and of course, they looked very sexy on her) and her uncle wasn't there, there was Piers, and Piers is asking what she was doing there, and why she is being so sexy and all, and more sex talk, and she tries to defend herself, and then Piers say "it tells all about how you see my uncle, you haven't even asked how he is", or something like that. Like she had any time with your f-ing p-ssiness.
She gets invited to the uncle's country home because he needs to take it easy, and Piers is there hanging on her to see she doesn't have sex with his uncle. More sexual harassment.
She meets her half sisters and her father's wife (she met her father's sister, Piers' mother, earlier), and they are all very nice.
Then they end up in bed and it's all very hot, but Piers realizes she's a virgin and then he yells at her because of that. And then he wants to marry her.
But she cannot marry her, because he'll hate her when he finds out who her mother is, so she tells him in the most horrible way she can come up with, and his father's wife happens to hear who she is, and tells her her father has always been worried about her and wondering what is happening to her, but he promised Selena's mother to stay away from her life, but he'll be so happy to finally meet her, and they are all so happy and welcoming, and there's tears and joy and happiness and celebration, except for Piers, who had to travel somewhere. And the whole family tells her she should definitely marry her cousin, Piers, who is so obviously in love with her.
So she goes to his apartment and waits for him there, and tells him she loves him, and she was just lying about trying to get her father's money, and he tells her he loves her, and how could she be so stupid to believe anyone would think anything bad of her because of her mother. And blah blah blah.
Oh, and he's 8 years older than she is, she was about 24 or something, so he was 32.
I hate these stories where sexual harassment and assault are nothing to care about, on the contrary, people tell the heroine she shouldn't make noise about it. Where the hero is cold and cruel and mean and nasty and horrible, and the heroine still "falls in love" with him. Where there's nothing but the sexual attraction between the two, and we are supposed to believe it's LUUUUUUVVV!!!!
Well...
My sisters and I have a tradition: I'll make crepes and one of them reads a Harlequin book, making it as ridiculous as possible, with heaving bosoms and all that. It's hilarious. Except that this time we didn't have time to make crepes, and I ended up reading this book for myself.
It's horrible. I know the 70s and 80s Harlequins are notoriously awful, but this one could possibly be the worst of them all.
We have this really beautiful young woman who has always wanted to be a barrister, but couldn't afford the education, so she was just a juridic clerk or something. She got a job with this old judge and was basically adopted by his family. The family considered her a very close family friend, almost like their child. They recommend to her to seek a job with their family friend, a crown barrister, who just happens to be Selena's father. He cheated on his wife with his secretary, who got herself pregnant with him to get him to leave his wife and marry her instead, but that didn't happen. She died when Selena was 11 and she was adopted or put in a surrogate family or something. Anyway, Selena goes to a job interview and is employed. She meets her employer's... hmm... what to call him... next in line? Anyway, he's the employer's sister's son, and - of course - the hero of the story. His name is Piers. He is very cold, hostile, suspicious, and downright nasty to Selena. Because she looks like her mother, and Piers met the woman when her uncle was cheating on his wife with her. He took his mistress to see his sister's son at his school! WTF?
Piers assumes Selena is there just to seduce his uncle, "others have tried". (Apparently just Selena's mother.)
Selena keeps telling him that she isn't interested in her employer that way, that she wants to work in the area but couldn't afford the education (this is repeated at least three times in the book), but for some reason, he doesn't believe her. Anyway, he sexually harasses and even assaults her, and she - of course - falls in love with him because of this. She also behaves guiltily all the time, because she does have a secret, she knows the guy is her father. Why she doesn't tell Piers that of course, she has secrets, everyone does, but they are not going to influence her work, she is not after his uncle, so Piers has no right to know anything about that. Nope. She just blushes and avoids and behaves like a deer in the headlights, and he pushes and digs... but doesn't find out the truth. I seriously don't know why, because the press was following her until her mother died, and she didn't hide her name either, she just used her mother's boyfriend's last name. I don't think it would have been hard for Piers to find out who Selena's mother was and that this is his uncle's bastard daughter, but - alas - he didn't find out.
We have a scene where he tears a 16yo girl into pieces because he was defending the man the girl claimed had raped her. He dug up and interviewed every boy who claimed to have had sex with her and painted her practically a whore. The heroine protests his cruel behavior, and he just says "she admitted 10 minutes ago that she's pregnant with her classmate, and she was afraid of her parents, so she made up the rape story". And the heroine is ashamed for not having trusted Piers' amazing ability to figure out people's secrets.
Anyway, the first moment they are alone, he gropes her breasts and kisses her, and when she slaps him he laughs and says "In my experience women slapping men is more a sign of sexual frustration than being genuinely offended".
He speaks about her sex life.
When the girl is out with the judge's family celebrating his 60th birthday or something, Piers is at the same restaurant with a woman. He comes to the table and asks Selena to dance with him. She politely refuses and says that in her experience it's best to keep the work life and social life separate. He gets furious, and the judge and his wife berate Selena for having been so rude and humiliating Piers in public.
This goes on and on.
Then her employer gets a heart attack. She was on her way to bring him some folders, was in casual outfits, like jeans and a t-shirt (and of course, they looked very sexy on her) and her uncle wasn't there, there was Piers, and Piers is asking what she was doing there, and why she is being so sexy and all, and more sex talk, and she tries to defend herself, and then Piers say "it tells all about how you see my uncle, you haven't even asked how he is", or something like that. Like she had any time with your f-ing p-ssiness.
She gets invited to the uncle's country home because he needs to take it easy, and Piers is there hanging on her to see she doesn't have sex with his uncle. More sexual harassment.
She meets her half sisters and her father's wife (she met her father's sister, Piers' mother, earlier), and they are all very nice.
Then they end up in bed and it's all very hot, but Piers realizes she's a virgin and then he yells at her because of that. And then he wants to marry her.
But she cannot marry her, because he'll hate her when he finds out who her mother is, so she tells him in the most horrible way she can come up with, and his father's wife happens to hear who she is, and tells her her father has always been worried about her and wondering what is happening to her, but he promised Selena's mother to stay away from her life, but he'll be so happy to finally meet her, and they are all so happy and welcoming, and there's tears and joy and happiness and celebration, except for Piers, who had to travel somewhere. And the whole family tells her she should definitely marry her cousin, Piers, who is so obviously in love with her.
So she goes to his apartment and waits for him there, and tells him she loves him, and she was just lying about trying to get her father's money, and he tells her he loves her, and how could she be so stupid to believe anyone would think anything bad of her because of her mother. And blah blah blah.
Oh, and he's 8 years older than she is, she was about 24 or something, so he was 32.
I hate these stories where sexual harassment and assault are nothing to care about, on the contrary, people tell the heroine she shouldn't make noise about it. Where the hero is cold and cruel and mean and nasty and horrible, and the heroine still "falls in love" with him. Where there's nothing but the sexual attraction between the two, and we are supposed to believe it's LUUUUUUVVV!!!!
June 30, 2011
Probably more 3.5*
There was some fairly good angst and conflict. However the first cousin romance is just a little ick for me.
There was some fairly good angst and conflict. However the first cousin romance is just a little ick for me.
February 23, 2016
A lot of hate between the characters.
August 21, 2022
Another hit by Penny Jordan---very solid HP story with a feisty h and sympathetic alpha male (at least for Penny Jordan). 5 stars because book has several of the best off-the-walls chemistry/romantic/intimate scenes without being overly-explicit. Also contains a surprising blink-and-you'll-miss-it 69 description I've read. Has minor OW/OM drama, which is refreshing.
June 30, 2022
Is it really a spoiler though? On the back of the book it says it's the heroine's father and the hero's Uncle. I thought it would turn out to be his Uncle through marriage, but no, the Uncle is the hero's mother's brother. The hero and heroine are first cousins.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2023
Why do I get the feeling Penny Jordan needed some extra money quickly and penned this book in one sitting?
A secret child has a chance to meet her father in person and work for him without revealing her identity. The only fly in the ointment is his suspicious nephew.
A secret child has a chance to meet her father in person and work for him without revealing her identity. The only fly in the ointment is his suspicious nephew.
January 4, 2018
Exciting
Read
May 26, 2019They're cousins. Ok. I loved the story but the fact that they're cousins didn't sit too well with me but well, who am I to judge?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2024
Absolute garbage. Skimmed
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