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Forbidden! #1
The Morning After
"You cannot be allowed to go on ruining lives simply because that body of yours drives men insane!"
Cesar DeSanquez was right about Annie's beauty: it had made her into an international supermodel. But the only life about to be ruined was Annie's - by Cesar! In reality, she was a shy virgin, but Cesar preferred to believe in her glossy image. He passionately believed that she had torn apart his family in the space of a night. And now, in the cold light of dawn, he wanted his revenge!
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1996
133 people are currently reading
621 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Reid
388 books637 followersHi, my name is Michelle Reid and I’ve been writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon for the last twenty years, and the crazy part about it is that I only realised it had been twenty years while updating this page!
So, hang on for a minute while I take this huge milestone in....
Twenty years with almost forty books published or in the pipeline ... I know it isn’t a great average when compared with some authors but it sounds pretty good to me!
So what was I doing twenty years ago before I wrote books? Well, I did the all of the usual things, like growing up and attending school, finishing at secretarial college, which I hated, then spent the next several years wandering aimlessly from job to job. Eventually I met my husband, we married and produced two daughters who then grew up and between them presented us with two gorgeous grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Somewhere in between my girls growing up and the grandchildren arriving on the scene, I started writing. To this day I don’t know why, unless it was a natural progression from my never being without a book close by—often several—because books have always been an important part of my life for as far back as I can recall.
So, I started to write, by hand at first, scribbling short stories in notebooks which never saw the light of day. At some point I discovered Mills & Boon Romance books and that was pretty much it for me. I’d found my new love, as in reading romantic fiction and inevitably writing it too.
So twenty years on and almost forty books on, here I am still writing and still loving it!
So, hang on for a minute while I take this huge milestone in....
Twenty years with almost forty books published or in the pipeline ... I know it isn’t a great average when compared with some authors but it sounds pretty good to me!
So what was I doing twenty years ago before I wrote books? Well, I did the all of the usual things, like growing up and attending school, finishing at secretarial college, which I hated, then spent the next several years wandering aimlessly from job to job. Eventually I met my husband, we married and produced two daughters who then grew up and between them presented us with two gorgeous grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Somewhere in between my girls growing up and the grandchildren arriving on the scene, I started writing. To this day I don’t know why, unless it was a natural progression from my never being without a book close by—often several—because books have always been an important part of my life for as far back as I can recall.
So, I started to write, by hand at first, scribbling short stories in notebooks which never saw the light of day. At some point I discovered Mills & Boon Romance books and that was pretty much it for me. I’d found my new love, as in reading romantic fiction and inevitably writing it too.
So twenty years on and almost forty books on, here I am still writing and still loving it!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
October 16, 2022
Re-read on November 2, 2018. Still four stars. It was fun to watch the hero during the re-read. We never get his point of view, but MR does a good job hinting at his true feelings for the heroine.
***Original review:
Now here is enough old school angst and OTT drama to take my mind off of current events. What a ride.
The opening is an attempted rape - so trigger warning. The action them moves forward four years to a party scene. The supermodel/child actress heroine is painted as a promiscuous maneater after being named in a divorce proceeding. She doesn't trust the media enough to set the record straight - nor does she trust anyone except for her OM friend.
The OM friend is currently estranged from his supermodel girlfriend who is jealous of the heroine. As part of a plan to make the OM's former girlfriend jealous, the heroine is draped all over him at a party. When she steps away to use the ladies room she runs into the billionaire/jewelry maker hero who promptly spills champagne on her, rendering her dress transparent. He takes her home and . . . nothing. The heroine is chagrined because she feels attraction to him - something she hasn't felt since her attempted rape.
But she sees him again. The obsessed hero arranges a photo-shoot on his remote Caribbean island. Once the heroine arrives, she finds there is no photo-shoot - she's being blackmailed. The hero is related to the wronged woman in the divorce suit and the OM's jilted girlfriend. He wants heroine out of the way so the girlfriend can reconcile with the OM and get the photo-shoot that had been promised to the heroine.
The heroine had an interesting backstory that worked with her sense of betrayal and lack of trust. The hero was nicely obsessed and kept the revenge going for a most of the story. The heroine wasn't a doormat - just a quivering hormonal mess whenever the hero got too close. Just solid vintage HP entertainment.
***Original review:
Now here is enough old school angst and OTT drama to take my mind off of current events. What a ride.
The opening is an attempted rape - so trigger warning. The action them moves forward four years to a party scene. The supermodel/child actress heroine is painted as a promiscuous maneater after being named in a divorce proceeding. She doesn't trust the media enough to set the record straight - nor does she trust anyone except for her OM friend.
The OM friend is currently estranged from his supermodel girlfriend who is jealous of the heroine. As part of a plan to make the OM's former girlfriend jealous, the heroine is draped all over him at a party. When she steps away to use the ladies room she runs into the billionaire/jewelry maker hero who promptly spills champagne on her, rendering her dress transparent. He takes her home and . . . nothing. The heroine is chagrined because she feels attraction to him - something she hasn't felt since her attempted rape.
But she sees him again. The obsessed hero arranges a photo-shoot on his remote Caribbean island. Once the heroine arrives, she finds there is no photo-shoot - she's being blackmailed. The hero is related to the wronged woman in the divorce suit and the OM's jilted girlfriend. He wants heroine out of the way so the girlfriend can reconcile with the OM and get the photo-shoot that had been promised to the heroine.
The heroine had an interesting backstory that worked with her sense of betrayal and lack of trust. The hero was nicely obsessed and kept the revenge going for a most of the story. The heroine wasn't a doormat - just a quivering hormonal mess whenever the hero got too close. Just solid vintage HP entertainment.
May 2, 2014
I love to read a good, angsty Michelle Reid before going to bed, but I've never read one of hers that was angsty AND so WTF crazy. I loved it! It had it all: Obsessed jealous hero, poor misjudged h, private islands, revenge, blackmail, absurd/questionable reasons for marriage, AND I could feel the h's pain and frustration. Plus, points for the mullet on the cover (Joe Dirt Rulz!).
Spoilery Trigger Warning: .
Spoilery Trigger Warning: .
November 11, 2018
Re The Morning After - Michelle Reid is the third book of the 1997 HPlandia year and the first book in the Forbidden Series.
Which means that we are in for a whole 12 books, one per month, of forced seduction, forced to be a mistress tropes with extra tart shaming of pure and virtuous unicorn grooming h's who are sold up the river by a variety of relative-related contretemps.
Be prepared when you read these, this series is extremely non pc in most of the books and H nematode slime swillerhood abounds.
MR kicks us off in style with a virgin supermodel heroine named Annie. Annie was raised by her aunt, (who was really her mother,) and is the product of an adulterous liaison. Annie started with commercials at a young age and it wasn't until her 'aunt' died when she was 19 that she found out the true circumstances of her birth.
She went to confront her bio dad and met her half brother, after telling them both off after agreeing to not reveal her parentage cause her bio dad had a terminally ill wife, Annie finds herself at a crossroads.
Annie goes to a party at the H's apartment and is almost raped by the H's brother in law. This unfortunate scene opens the book. She hasn't met the H at this point and his sister is all about exacerbating the situation to get a divorce from a husband she hates.
Annie is branded a harlot by the press and the H's sister's divorce petition, her 'nice girl' image is ruined, so Annie makes lemonade out of lemons and markets her modeling image as a 'bad girl' instead. It catapults her to super-stardom.
The H, Cesar, and Annie live's intersect again when Annie's half brother Todd starts dating Susie, Cesar's cousin. Susie wants to be a supermodel too, but she isn't up to the standard, so she sleeps with various men and gets Cesar to use his connections to buy herself a modeling career.
Susie hooks up with Annie's brother Todd, cause he has money and is launching a fabulous life styles of the rich and famous magazine. Susie gets mad because Annie is a part of Todd's life and after living with Todd for a few months, Susie tells Todd that Annie goes or she is off.
Annie feels a little sorry for Susie, because Todd has never explained the relationship between them for his own whatever reasons. Susie is a spoilt twit and is soon flaunting herself in front of Todd with another man and Todd is flaunting Annie on his arm to really set Suzy off.
Cesar steps in to kidnap Annie and to really mess up Todd's business life. Cesar is a billionaire head of a multi-national conglomerate and also the world's most successful jewelry designer. Annie is contracted to model his jewelry for the first edition launching of Todd's new magazine.
Cesar decides that Susie will get that honor instead and so after soaking Annie's dress in champagne to get her away from Todd at the party, he takes her home and Annie feels a smidgen of attraction as the Lurve Force Mojo kicks in.
Then Cesar essentially kidnaps Annie by getting her on his private island under the guise of a modeling shoot and proceeds to rape her. (MR tries to make it a forced seduction, but Annie was battered physically and emotionally and you can't call it anything other than rape, as Annie clearly said NO.)
Cesar is astounded because Annie was virgo intacto and apparently he feels sorta bad as Annie scrubs herself off for an hour in the shower. That doesn't stop him from threatening her with repeated rapes, slapping her and then promising to lock her up, so that he can marry her and keep her sequestered on his island, with no escape, because she might terminate their possible baby.
He then also threatens Todd's magazine launch by telling Annie he will cancel his photo spread of his fabulous jewelry collection. Annie caves to the blackmail and Cesar throws in that it only has to be for two weeks. For some reason Annie believes him, not realizing how psychotically obsessed with her this mullet wearing nematode slime slurper really is.
(As Vintage says, he wears a mullet because he likes it. No further explanations are really needed for anything he does at this point.)
Annie and Cesar marry, there is a week of semi-forced and eventually mutual lurve club extravaganza's and Annie starts to worry about Todd and the magazine launch. To which Cesar tells her that Susie has to have her shot at supermodel stardom and asks Annie to give her contract up in favor of Susie.
Annie refuses, realizes that Cesar has lied to her and used her the entire time and calls him on it. Cesar storms off after another round of lurve clubbing and Annie is stranded on his island for a week because apparently being his forced sex slave that happens to be married to him is supposed to be some kind of huge reward and Annie doesn't appreciate it.
When Cesar eventually returns we learn that Annie believes she is in love because of the wedding photos taken when they got married- they look like people in love or something. Her brother Todd is freaking out and all of the sudden Tarty Tramp Susie did not know anything about Cesar's plot to kidnap and abuse Annie.
Cesar asks Annie to trust him, because he has been so aboveboard and honest and all, and Annie asks why should she. Cesar then explains that he promised Susie she could model his new jewel collection a long time ago and then Susie decided that Todd's new magazine would be the perfect launch for her and Cesar's collection and oh, she supposedly really loves Todd too, forget about all the other men she runs around with.
Cesar shows Annie that the other set of pictures is of Susie wearing his collection, except for his sapphires that he designed for Annie. Cesar offers to let Todd use their wedding pictures for his first edition and Annie refuses. Which is great because Cesar was really going to use Susie's anyway and Cesar was just testing Annie again. (It really is too bad she is a decent person and declines to tell Todd about how Cesar and Susie set her up.)
Now Cesar claims he is in love cause he has been obsessed with Annie for the last four years. Ever since the party he threw, that he never got to go to, where Annie was almost raped. Cesar claims he loves her when he doesn't even know her as person and Annie claims she loves him back.
Todd is told to use Susie's pictures for his big launch, but the future is uncertain for him and Susie relationship wise. (One can only hope that Todd pumps and dumps then throws Susie back on the slag heap and she winds up a B grade porno actress.)
Annie pretends to believe Cesar when he claims Susie didn't help him stage the whole set up and Cesar says his sister is supposedly sorry for crucifying Annie like she did in her divorce. Annie isn't pregnant after all and we can leave these two lurvin it up in obsessed Purple Passion solitude.
Annie can now look forward to enjoying being stuck as second best forever to Cesar's truly slime swilling relatives, frantically slithering straight out of the lowest HP sub sewer system, for a dubious conclusion to a not very happy HPlandia outing.
In case you can't tell, I despise this book. Cesar was the lowest of the low and while not quite scraping the bottom of the barrel compared to some HP H's, a piece of bull fertilizer like him showing up in a MR book was quite a shock.
Considering that this series is a throwback to the really old skool in terms of consent, infidelity and other nefarious romance topics, MR did an excellent job writing this. It is very much a love it or hate it book. Since I don't believe the HEA, I personally hate it, but there are a lot of readers who love the wrecki-drama of it all and it certainly is a very whacktastic trip to HPlandia.
Which means that we are in for a whole 12 books, one per month, of forced seduction, forced to be a mistress tropes with extra tart shaming of pure and virtuous unicorn grooming h's who are sold up the river by a variety of relative-related contretemps.
Be prepared when you read these, this series is extremely non pc in most of the books and H nematode slime swillerhood abounds.
MR kicks us off in style with a virgin supermodel heroine named Annie. Annie was raised by her aunt, (who was really her mother,) and is the product of an adulterous liaison. Annie started with commercials at a young age and it wasn't until her 'aunt' died when she was 19 that she found out the true circumstances of her birth.
She went to confront her bio dad and met her half brother, after telling them both off after agreeing to not reveal her parentage cause her bio dad had a terminally ill wife, Annie finds herself at a crossroads.
Annie goes to a party at the H's apartment and is almost raped by the H's brother in law. This unfortunate scene opens the book. She hasn't met the H at this point and his sister is all about exacerbating the situation to get a divorce from a husband she hates.
Annie is branded a harlot by the press and the H's sister's divorce petition, her 'nice girl' image is ruined, so Annie makes lemonade out of lemons and markets her modeling image as a 'bad girl' instead. It catapults her to super-stardom.
The H, Cesar, and Annie live's intersect again when Annie's half brother Todd starts dating Susie, Cesar's cousin. Susie wants to be a supermodel too, but she isn't up to the standard, so she sleeps with various men and gets Cesar to use his connections to buy herself a modeling career.
Susie hooks up with Annie's brother Todd, cause he has money and is launching a fabulous life styles of the rich and famous magazine. Susie gets mad because Annie is a part of Todd's life and after living with Todd for a few months, Susie tells Todd that Annie goes or she is off.
Annie feels a little sorry for Susie, because Todd has never explained the relationship between them for his own whatever reasons. Susie is a spoilt twit and is soon flaunting herself in front of Todd with another man and Todd is flaunting Annie on his arm to really set Suzy off.
Cesar steps in to kidnap Annie and to really mess up Todd's business life. Cesar is a billionaire head of a multi-national conglomerate and also the world's most successful jewelry designer. Annie is contracted to model his jewelry for the first edition launching of Todd's new magazine.
Cesar decides that Susie will get that honor instead and so after soaking Annie's dress in champagne to get her away from Todd at the party, he takes her home and Annie feels a smidgen of attraction as the Lurve Force Mojo kicks in.
Then Cesar essentially kidnaps Annie by getting her on his private island under the guise of a modeling shoot and proceeds to rape her. (MR tries to make it a forced seduction, but Annie was battered physically and emotionally and you can't call it anything other than rape, as Annie clearly said NO.)
Cesar is astounded because Annie was virgo intacto and apparently he feels sorta bad as Annie scrubs herself off for an hour in the shower. That doesn't stop him from threatening her with repeated rapes, slapping her and then promising to lock her up, so that he can marry her and keep her sequestered on his island, with no escape, because she might terminate their possible baby.
He then also threatens Todd's magazine launch by telling Annie he will cancel his photo spread of his fabulous jewelry collection. Annie caves to the blackmail and Cesar throws in that it only has to be for two weeks. For some reason Annie believes him, not realizing how psychotically obsessed with her this mullet wearing nematode slime slurper really is.
(As Vintage says, he wears a mullet because he likes it. No further explanations are really needed for anything he does at this point.)
Annie and Cesar marry, there is a week of semi-forced and eventually mutual lurve club extravaganza's and Annie starts to worry about Todd and the magazine launch. To which Cesar tells her that Susie has to have her shot at supermodel stardom and asks Annie to give her contract up in favor of Susie.
Annie refuses, realizes that Cesar has lied to her and used her the entire time and calls him on it. Cesar storms off after another round of lurve clubbing and Annie is stranded on his island for a week because apparently being his forced sex slave that happens to be married to him is supposed to be some kind of huge reward and Annie doesn't appreciate it.
When Cesar eventually returns we learn that Annie believes she is in love because of the wedding photos taken when they got married- they look like people in love or something. Her brother Todd is freaking out and all of the sudden Tarty Tramp Susie did not know anything about Cesar's plot to kidnap and abuse Annie.
Cesar asks Annie to trust him, because he has been so aboveboard and honest and all, and Annie asks why should she. Cesar then explains that he promised Susie she could model his new jewel collection a long time ago and then Susie decided that Todd's new magazine would be the perfect launch for her and Cesar's collection and oh, she supposedly really loves Todd too, forget about all the other men she runs around with.
Cesar shows Annie that the other set of pictures is of Susie wearing his collection, except for his sapphires that he designed for Annie. Cesar offers to let Todd use their wedding pictures for his first edition and Annie refuses. Which is great because Cesar was really going to use Susie's anyway and Cesar was just testing Annie again. (It really is too bad she is a decent person and declines to tell Todd about how Cesar and Susie set her up.)
Now Cesar claims he is in love cause he has been obsessed with Annie for the last four years. Ever since the party he threw, that he never got to go to, where Annie was almost raped. Cesar claims he loves her when he doesn't even know her as person and Annie claims she loves him back.
Todd is told to use Susie's pictures for his big launch, but the future is uncertain for him and Susie relationship wise. (One can only hope that Todd pumps and dumps then throws Susie back on the slag heap and she winds up a B grade porno actress.)
Annie pretends to believe Cesar when he claims Susie didn't help him stage the whole set up and Cesar says his sister is supposedly sorry for crucifying Annie like she did in her divorce. Annie isn't pregnant after all and we can leave these two lurvin it up in obsessed Purple Passion solitude.
Annie can now look forward to enjoying being stuck as second best forever to Cesar's truly slime swilling relatives, frantically slithering straight out of the lowest HP sub sewer system, for a dubious conclusion to a not very happy HPlandia outing.
In case you can't tell, I despise this book. Cesar was the lowest of the low and while not quite scraping the bottom of the barrel compared to some HP H's, a piece of bull fertilizer like him showing up in a MR book was quite a shock.
Considering that this series is a throwback to the really old skool in terms of consent, infidelity and other nefarious romance topics, MR did an excellent job writing this. It is very much a love it or hate it book. Since I don't believe the HEA, I personally hate it, but there are a lot of readers who love the wrecki-drama of it all and it certainly is a very whacktastic trip to HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2016
To understand how old school this is one only needs to look at the cover. The hero has a mullet. Nuff said.
January 23, 2025
💀 DNF at 24%.
😱 Slightly Out of Our Little Minds We
It’s not covid-19 the world should be scared of, it’s of this book here. Our Lord Squid knows I’ve read my share of Masterpieces in Utter Crappiness (MiUC™) when it comes to romance, but this one...This. One. Bloody shrimping hell of the stinking fish, does it take the bloody shrimping cake.
➽ Full review to come and stuff. Maybe. One day. In the meantime, see bookshelves for details. You're welcome and stuff.
March 29, 2017
Annie Lacey is a blonde supermodel fallen woman/virgin. The book opens with her attempted rape, and while she is rescued, she is publicly condemned for attempting to seduce a married man. Annie says nothing in her own defence, and prefers it that way. She turns hard and glittery and bitter.
It has no impact on the success of her career, she’s doing very well. She has one close friend, a handsome blond guy. When he invites her to a party she goes, wearing a slinky white dress, and she hangs all over him because blond guy is trying to make his ex jealous. His ex is Annie’s modelling nemesis, and she broke up with blond guy because he refused to stop his purely platonic relationship with Annie.
At the party, Annie sees Cesare, the first man to ever make her insides go a little twisty. Since Cesare is a big thuggish guy with a ponytail I don’t see it, but I guess it takes all kinds. Annie rather wistfully decides to do nothing about the attraction. Instead, she accepts a modelling job in the Caribbean.
The modelling job is to showcase the squillion-dollar designs of secretive and exclusive jewellery designer Adamus. Every couple of years, Adamus releases chunky sparkles that make rich people go crazy. Based on no evidence, I've decided these are probably appalling and vulgar displays of vast wealth and that I would not like them at all.
This is because, surprise! Adamus is actually Cesare, and this modelling job is a trap! Now Annie is stuck on Cesare’s private Caribbean island with Cesare, and he’s bent on revenge for the wrongs she’s done to some of the ladies in his family. Plus, he wants to sleep with her.
This is all angsty and crazy, and is wonderful if you’re in the mood for a heroine unjustly treated who doesn’t owe anyone any explanations, dammit. I liked Annie, because I like heroines who are a bit prickly because it makes sense. She’s clearly professional about her job and is just getting on with what she has to do and grimmly wishing people would stay the hell out of her business.
Cesare’s a more difficult proposition. He’s all ponytail swirling and orders and smoulder at the beginning. Objectively, his family loyalty is commendable. He runs a billion dollar mining company, and it’s nice for him that he has his little jewellery hobby on the side, even if I’ve decided that his designs are vulgar. But when he starts to get a hint that he’s probably done something pretty wrong, and that Annie’s not going to make it easy for him, he turns petulant and unresponsive. It doesn’t work very well if both characters glare at each other and grind their teeth and occasionally spit out some random hurtful insult. One of them has to be the adult. Preferably both of them, but Cesare was in more need of being adult than Annie was, because Annie didn’t go around kidnapping people.
I’m also not sure I forgive him for being initially terrible in bed, and potentially a bit vague about consent. It’s a little ambiguous that he initially is terrible in bed because it’s so frustrating when sex is so vaguely described, but when the heroine runs away in tears post-coitus, it’s not good news. I think it improved later on because at least Reid is nice enough to give her heroines orgasms, even if she is lumping them with thuggish bastards.
I really did find the plot very comforting because Annie seemed to get a lot out of it. She finally got someone else in her corner who was prepared to be a little more effective than blond guy. Perhaps not everything ended up as well for her as I would have wished – I still think Cesare didn’t always have her best interests in mind. Sure, he settled it so no one in his family would spit at her when he took her around for drinks, but this is the least he could do, given the circumstances.
It has no impact on the success of her career, she’s doing very well. She has one close friend, a handsome blond guy. When he invites her to a party she goes, wearing a slinky white dress, and she hangs all over him because blond guy is trying to make his ex jealous. His ex is Annie’s modelling nemesis, and she broke up with blond guy because he refused to stop his purely platonic relationship with Annie.
At the party, Annie sees Cesare, the first man to ever make her insides go a little twisty. Since Cesare is a big thuggish guy with a ponytail I don’t see it, but I guess it takes all kinds. Annie rather wistfully decides to do nothing about the attraction. Instead, she accepts a modelling job in the Caribbean.
The modelling job is to showcase the squillion-dollar designs of secretive and exclusive jewellery designer Adamus. Every couple of years, Adamus releases chunky sparkles that make rich people go crazy. Based on no evidence, I've decided these are probably appalling and vulgar displays of vast wealth and that I would not like them at all.
This is because, surprise! Adamus is actually Cesare, and this modelling job is a trap! Now Annie is stuck on Cesare’s private Caribbean island with Cesare, and he’s bent on revenge for the wrongs she’s done to some of the ladies in his family. Plus, he wants to sleep with her.
This is all angsty and crazy, and is wonderful if you’re in the mood for a heroine unjustly treated who doesn’t owe anyone any explanations, dammit. I liked Annie, because I like heroines who are a bit prickly because it makes sense. She’s clearly professional about her job and is just getting on with what she has to do and grimmly wishing people would stay the hell out of her business.
Cesare’s a more difficult proposition. He’s all ponytail swirling and orders and smoulder at the beginning. Objectively, his family loyalty is commendable. He runs a billion dollar mining company, and it’s nice for him that he has his little jewellery hobby on the side, even if I’ve decided that his designs are vulgar. But when he starts to get a hint that he’s probably done something pretty wrong, and that Annie’s not going to make it easy for him, he turns petulant and unresponsive. It doesn’t work very well if both characters glare at each other and grind their teeth and occasionally spit out some random hurtful insult. One of them has to be the adult. Preferably both of them, but Cesare was in more need of being adult than Annie was, because Annie didn’t go around kidnapping people.
I’m also not sure I forgive him for being initially terrible in bed, and potentially a bit vague about consent. It’s a little ambiguous that he initially is terrible in bed because it’s so frustrating when sex is so vaguely described, but when the heroine runs away in tears post-coitus, it’s not good news. I think it improved later on because at least Reid is nice enough to give her heroines orgasms, even if she is lumping them with thuggish bastards.
I really did find the plot very comforting because Annie seemed to get a lot out of it. She finally got someone else in her corner who was prepared to be a little more effective than blond guy. Perhaps not everything ended up as well for her as I would have wished – I still think Cesare didn’t always have her best interests in mind. Sure, he settled it so no one in his family would spit at her when he took her around for drinks, but this is the least he could do, given the circumstances.
February 23, 2023
Rereading: January 30th/2023
New rating: 3 stars 🌟
Finally I have time to post the review, it's almost a month since I finished the rereading 👀
Well... to sum up, this lovestory happens to fast 😳 I felt the first time I read the book in Spanish it wasn't like that. It's hard to believe they fall in love so quickly (less than a month). Even though the story tells you the hero fall in love with the heroine a few years ago, before the nasty misunderstanding between the heroine and the hero's relative. I don't know...
I think I wouldn't reread it, I don't know why I liked it the first time 🤔
_______________________________
First reading: March 15th/2015
Original rating: 5 stars 🌟
New rating: 3 stars 🌟
Finally I have time to post the review, it's almost a month since I finished the rereading 👀
Well... to sum up, this lovestory happens to fast 😳 I felt the first time I read the book in Spanish it wasn't like that. It's hard to believe they fall in love so quickly (less than a month). Even though the story tells you the hero fall in love with the heroine a few years ago, before the nasty misunderstanding between the heroine and the hero's relative. I don't know...
I think I wouldn't reread it, I don't know why I liked it the first time 🤔
_______________________________
First reading: March 15th/2015
Original rating: 5 stars 🌟
June 12, 2014
That was so angsty, crazy and fucked up I couldn't help but love it. Hero was obsessed and in love with the heroine for years. He thinks she is having an affair with his sister's husband so he kidnaps her and takes her to a secluded island where he seduces her. Heroine hates him with a passion. She was so blind and in denial I wanted to slap her. She was also the bitchiest heroine I've read lately. Still I enjoyed this cause hero was a stalker, so obsessed and crazy for her!
October 18, 2012
It takes alot for me not to like a hero in a romance book but this guy - yep didn't like his attitude or arrogance at all, to me it went over the line from Alpha Male to Dark Ages Dick.
July 1, 2015
This was over the top crazy which is why I read HPs. I'm not looking for reality. Plus it's Michelle Reid so you know the writing is going to be high quality. The hero was OTT as I said. He'd been twisted up for 4 years over a girl he'd wanted but never met in the flesh but never-the-less she'd betrayed him and must be punished. She was well written as a grown up child star who had been used for gain all her life but never really loved. So crazy old school WTFery all around.
June 25, 2018
SOOOO
I had to calm down a bit to write a review for this. I don't think I'm ever going to be calm enough to write about this without having a rage aneurysm.
Basically, the hero is a cuntwaffle. He blames the heroine for absolutely every fucking thing. He probably blames her for the situation in the Middle East and world hunger.
But mostly, he blames her for being hot. Because, being hot, she is inciting men's lustful urges, which they then need to satisfy. With or without her consent.
Ironically enough, he is HORRIFIED to find out that what he'd thought was her having an affair with his brother in law was actually his brother in law attempting to rape her. I say ironically because, well, the hero isn't actually all that clear on what consent does and does not include. Consent, as an example for any dirtbags in the audience, does NOT include having sex with a woman who has clearly stated that she'd rather pass on the boudoir bouncing antics. This counts whether you force her into it using actual force, or more metaphorical forms of coercion like blackmail, fear, or any other form of force you can think of.
I have a problem with consent issues in many HP stories, but this one sincerely squicked me out. It seems to me that the hero even, in the back of his mind (he didn't say so aloud) blamed the heroine for the assault by his brother in law. Because being so beautiful is totally her fault and therefore it is her DUTY to satisfy their manly urges.
Basically, I hated this book with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.
I had to calm down a bit to write a review for this. I don't think I'm ever going to be calm enough to write about this without having a rage aneurysm.
Basically, the hero is a cuntwaffle. He blames the heroine for absolutely every fucking thing. He probably blames her for the situation in the Middle East and world hunger.
But mostly, he blames her for being hot. Because, being hot, she is inciting men's lustful urges, which they then need to satisfy. With or without her consent.
Ironically enough, he is HORRIFIED to find out that what he'd thought was her having an affair with his brother in law was actually his brother in law attempting to rape her. I say ironically because, well, the hero isn't actually all that clear on what consent does and does not include. Consent, as an example for any dirtbags in the audience, does NOT include having sex with a woman who has clearly stated that she'd rather pass on the boudoir bouncing antics. This counts whether you force her into it using actual force, or more metaphorical forms of coercion like blackmail, fear, or any other form of force you can think of.
I have a problem with consent issues in many HP stories, but this one sincerely squicked me out. It seems to me that the hero even, in the back of his mind (he didn't say so aloud) blamed the heroine for the assault by his brother in law. Because being so beautiful is totally her fault and therefore it is her DUTY to satisfy their manly urges.
Basically, I hated this book with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.
avoid
April 23, 2017No, really. I just couldn't get past the cover. I was half expecting to read something along the line "the mullet made me do it"!
July 22, 2017
"The Morning After" is the story of Angelica and Adamas.
Basically Angelica pretends to be promiscuous infront of the world to hide her tragic past, until her "partner's" ex lover's brother kidnaps her for his sister's happiness.
They have sex.. and guess.. hymen was torn!
Now I do love OTT passionate love scenes but
- whenever a H slaps the heroine the book seriously goes downhill for me
- Even though he took her v card, kept calling her a giant hoe even when he knew of the rape attempts in the past by his relative
- Her threatening to kill the baby.. well I support the heroine because I don't like the hero.
Now the hero and heroine do have some smokin sex scenes and there is minor groveling.. but then he abandons her for a week and I was back to disliking him.
And nothing pisses me off in an old school romance when a heroine is angry, the hero is being a literal ass and then he has sex and she's seduced in like blink of an eye forgetting whatever misdeeds he did.
The ending was SO STUPID.
Did not like it AT ALL.
Rant over.
Not safe
2/5 (maybe zero, I don't know)
Basically Angelica pretends to be promiscuous infront of the world to hide her tragic past, until her "partner's" ex lover's brother kidnaps her for his sister's happiness.
They have sex.. and guess.. hymen was torn!
Now I do love OTT passionate love scenes but
- whenever a H slaps the heroine the book seriously goes downhill for me
- Even though he took her v card, kept calling her a giant hoe even when he knew of the rape attempts in the past by his relative
- Her threatening to kill the baby.. well I support the heroine because I don't like the hero.
Now the hero and heroine do have some smokin sex scenes and there is minor groveling.. but then he abandons her for a week and I was back to disliking him.
And nothing pisses me off in an old school romance when a heroine is angry, the hero is being a literal ass and then he has sex and she's seduced in like blink of an eye forgetting whatever misdeeds he did.
The ending was SO STUPID.
Did not like it AT ALL.
Rant over.
Not safe
2/5 (maybe zero, I don't know)
November 27, 2015
This is why I love reading Harlequins. This had everything which makes you enjoy reading a Harlequin. Everything OTT! OTT situations. An alpha douchebag of a hero. A misunderstood heroine. Lots of angst.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I love Michelle Reid's books. The writing was god. Kept me hooked. Though I must warn that the beginning of the book might put off some people. An attempted rape scene at the beginning of the book made me question whether I really wanted to continue or not. But I did go on and I thoroughly enjoyed the madness.
It was one heck of a ride with everything that makes these Harlequins a superb read. This is just a work of fiction and it is unfair to look for any semblance of logic or reality.
This is a story about a child artist Angelica who ha been ripped apart by bad press. It is about Cesare, a man who had been pining for a four years for a woman he had never met and was on a misguided revenge mission gone totally wrong because he believed what the press fed him.
If you love crazy Harlequins, this is a must for you. A word of caution: This is way OTT and may make your blood shimmer and even boil but in the end you know it's a Harlequin and you take everything in your stride and enjoy it thoroughly.
It was unputdownable. A real classic. Miss these. The new ones fail miserably to capture what Harlequin is all about.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I love Michelle Reid's books. The writing was god. Kept me hooked. Though I must warn that the beginning of the book might put off some people. An attempted rape scene at the beginning of the book made me question whether I really wanted to continue or not. But I did go on and I thoroughly enjoyed the madness.
It was one heck of a ride with everything that makes these Harlequins a superb read. This is just a work of fiction and it is unfair to look for any semblance of logic or reality.
This is a story about a child artist Angelica who ha been ripped apart by bad press. It is about Cesare, a man who had been pining for a four years for a woman he had never met and was on a misguided revenge mission gone totally wrong because he believed what the press fed him.
If you love crazy Harlequins, this is a must for you. A word of caution: This is way OTT and may make your blood shimmer and even boil but in the end you know it's a Harlequin and you take everything in your stride and enjoy it thoroughly.
It was unputdownable. A real classic. Miss these. The new ones fail miserably to capture what Harlequin is all about.
November 19, 2010
I did not like this book because the misunderstandings just went waaaay overboard. I also couldn't believe how the bitc&y Susie became such a saint all of a sudden. It just didn't sit well with me. The taking of her virginity was especially hard to read for me. I know he didn't know she was a virgin but still. Just yuck!
An obsessed man finally gets the object of his desire and mucks it up royally again and again then she forgives him. Story at eight.
An obsessed man finally gets the object of his desire and mucks it up royally again and again then she forgives him. Story at eight.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2016
i did not like this one dat much. i felt Cesar championed Susie too much when Annie was supposed to be the heroine of this book. it did not add up dat he pursued his revenge now when the alvarez scandal broke out years ago. i understood his bitterness and his disgust as the woman he had wanted for himself was found making love wid his brother-in-law! however the author stretched matters too far having us believe Cesar loved her all those years without having met her in person. it sounded more like sexual infatuation!
February 7, 2017
No, just... no. It started off very angst-y & I've been reading a lot of angst-y books that have been good, but just... no. For one thing, Cesar DeSanquez wasn't just a borderline stalker, he was full-blown creepy, dangerous, off the chart stalker who had the resources to kidnap Angeline Lacey, supermodel, and make her pay for what he believed were her sins. There was *no* romance in this book, only obsession and forced seduction *aka rape* (considering how horribly hurt physically & emotionally she felt afterward) . I kept hoping that once Cesar found out that Annie was innocent (and an innocent), he would grovel big time, but he never did! In fact, he continued with his emotional and physical torture of her until she caved! NO, NO, NO! NOT love, NOT romance. Why the h**l should Annie have helped his cousin when the cousin was such a whining, jealous b****?! Even after the so-called hero understood what the situation was, he *still* blackmailed Annie! Some love!!!
*************** Rant over***************
*************** Rant over***************
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2019
This was another from MR with a controlling, old fashioned alpha. The h is a popular model so she's no virginal maiden either for appearance's sake, but she actually is! She has had some misfortunes in her personal life and lets on a bad, party girl image thru bad press.
The H deems this to be true and seeks vengeance by believing the h is the OW in his sister's life. All this is untrue but he acts upon his instincts and ends up hurting her anyways. What follows is a sweet journey of redemption.
I liked both the h and H and their HEA.
The H deems this to be true and seeks vengeance by believing the h is the OW in his sister's life. All this is untrue but he acts upon his instincts and ends up hurting her anyways. What follows is a sweet journey of redemption.
I liked both the h and H and their HEA.
December 25, 2012
Finished this one. I'll have to go back and review it in order to write a review. I guess it wasn't that rememberable ;D I know she loved pulling his hair and he'd tell her to stop LOL! Irritating broad ;D
August 1, 2015
Self note:
H abusive towards h (slaps, rapes...).
H abusive towards h (slaps, rapes...).
Read
January 25, 2022I hated the book, the hero, his sister and the tstl heroine. I don’t mind forced seductions but in other contexts. Not only didn’t this hero even like the heroine, he treated her like the lowest of the low and she lapped it all up, no doubt because of her lack of self esteem due to her nightmarish childhood.
September 2, 2020
DNF at 30%
Never been happier to DNF a book.
Never been happier to DNF a book.
December 8, 2015
description
"You cannot be allowed to go on ruining lives simply because that body of yours drives men insane!"
Cesar DeSanquez was right about Annie's beauty: it had made her into an international supermodel. But the only life about to be ruined was Annie's--by Cesar! In reality, she was a shy virgin, but Cesar preferred to believe in her glossy image. He passionately believed that she had torn apart his family in the space of a night. And now, in the cold light of dawn, he wanted his revenge!
"You cannot be allowed to go on ruining lives simply because that body of yours drives men insane!"
Cesar DeSanquez was right about Annie's beauty: it had made her into an international supermodel. But the only life about to be ruined was Annie's--by Cesar! In reality, she was a shy virgin, but Cesar preferred to believe in her glossy image. He passionately believed that she had torn apart his family in the space of a night. And now, in the cold light of dawn, he wanted his revenge!
March 8, 2017
Very angsty read!
April 27, 2021
I never thought I’d rate a Michelle Reid book this low, but well this definitely deserves its rating.
Wont give a summary because other reviewers have already done so.
Yep, not worth the bother.
Wont give a summary because other reviewers have already done so.
Yep, not worth the bother.
March 1, 2024
This book was listed as a grovel book. Absolutely no gravel whatsoever.
January 5, 2021
I gobbled this one up, but I bet it won’t appeal to all. It’s not only wrecky with an incestuous feel, but there’s also some tropes that many readers hate… second-best, forced seduction (off-page), no groveling, a bitchy OW w/ no comeuppance, and a HFN ending. Simply put, this one’s for the drama-llama whores not the romance gals.
In a nutshell,
The book was published in 1996, but is felt like a throwback with the non-PC, forced seduction, a slap, and LOL gems like…
‘Children are not made in heaven, as I suspect you would prefer to believe. They are made by the ejaculation of male sperm into the female womb—a process we well and truly carried out last night.’
And…
Annie arched like a bow, arms flying out and upwards in total abandonment. He arched too, like a giant wolf about to howl its mournful song, his long back, his dark head in a taut arch of pleasure, and for a space out of time neither were of this earth, neither aware of the other as sensation washed their brains of all else.
Bottom Line- I LOVE OW drama. Those crazy bitches supply a lot of entertainment…BUT I NEED them to get what for. I can forgive a fictional asshole, but not if he puts the OW’s needs ahead of our h….and IMO, César cared more for his selfish sister and snake of a cousin. His lack of protectiveness of Annie’s needs was off-putting. Not to mention, the softness Annie had for Susie at the end was nauseating. If she truly loved her brother, she would never encourage him to end up with a bitch…just saying. Now if she would have thrown an absolute fit when opening the envelope, forcing César to give Susie a smackdown… it would’ve been 5 starts for me. As is, it was a wild ride with an unsatisfying end.
In a nutshell,
The book was published in 1996, but is felt like a throwback with the non-PC, forced seduction, a slap, and LOL gems like…
‘Children are not made in heaven, as I suspect you would prefer to believe. They are made by the ejaculation of male sperm into the female womb—a process we well and truly carried out last night.’
And…
Annie arched like a bow, arms flying out and upwards in total abandonment. He arched too, like a giant wolf about to howl its mournful song, his long back, his dark head in a taut arch of pleasure, and for a space out of time neither were of this earth, neither aware of the other as sensation washed their brains of all else.
Bottom Line- I LOVE OW drama. Those crazy bitches supply a lot of entertainment…BUT I NEED them to get what for. I can forgive a fictional asshole, but not if he puts the OW’s needs ahead of our h….and IMO, César cared more for his selfish sister and snake of a cousin. His lack of protectiveness of Annie’s needs was off-putting. Not to mention, the softness Annie had for Susie at the end was nauseating. If she truly loved her brother, she would never encourage him to end up with a bitch…just saying. Now if she would have thrown an absolute fit when opening the envelope, forcing César to give Susie a smackdown… it would’ve been 5 starts for me. As is, it was a wild ride with an unsatisfying end.
March 10, 2014
I've read quite a few of Ms. Reid's books and have always enjoyed her stories. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book. Ms. Reid is an excellent writer. Her characters are great and the writing flows. I know this doesn't sound like a rousing endorsement, but I'm just pushing this review along. Below is my thoughts on what didn't sit well with me about the book. Forgive me for the negative review. Also, there is a bit of a spoiler, so if you haven't read the book and are planning to, proceed with caution. I'm vague, but I do talk about scenes from the latter part of the novel.
For this book, I had high hopes. Like most Harlequin Presents, there's always a bleeding heroine and a hero who has been wronged or feels he has been wronged. If you read the blurb for this book, you'll know that the hero feels the heroine has wronged his family. The heroine, naturally, is innocent. In more ways than one. When the hero finds out that the heroine is innocent of everything, I feel the story fell flat for me. There was the hero's remorse of course, but I couldn't get over how casual his character became. He literally kidnaps the heroine and forces her to stay on his island. Then he blackmails her, or at least, attempts to, unless she does what he tells her. I found this reprehensible. Even when everything is out in the open, the hero is still asking th heroine to compromise her own integrity. Perhaps that's melodramatic of me to say, but that's what I felt. The hero still wanted the heroine to sacrifice, even though nothing that had. The hero made the mess, but he was asking the heroine to help him clean it up. This turn of the plot still didn't sit well with me. I believe the way the heroine phrased it was, it was easier to hurt her, the heroine, than the hero's family member. (If you read the book, you'll know what this line means.)
Up to this point, I was enjoying the book. After this twist, I couldn't really get back into it. Which is unfortunate. However, this is just one book that didn't thrill me. I would recommend this author. Although this book is up to the individual.
For this book, I had high hopes. Like most Harlequin Presents, there's always a bleeding heroine and a hero who has been wronged or feels he has been wronged. If you read the blurb for this book, you'll know that the hero feels the heroine has wronged his family. The heroine, naturally, is innocent. In more ways than one. When the hero finds out that the heroine is innocent of everything, I feel the story fell flat for me. There was the hero's remorse of course, but I couldn't get over how casual his character became. He literally kidnaps the heroine and forces her to stay on his island. Then he blackmails her, or at least, attempts to, unless she does what he tells her. I found this reprehensible. Even when everything is out in the open, the hero is still asking th heroine to compromise her own integrity. Perhaps that's melodramatic of me to say, but that's what I felt. The hero still wanted the heroine to sacrifice, even though nothing that had. The hero made the mess, but he was asking the heroine to help him clean it up. This turn of the plot still didn't sit well with me. I believe the way the heroine phrased it was, it was easier to hurt her, the heroine, than the hero's family member. (If you read the book, you'll know what this line means.)
Up to this point, I was enjoying the book. After this twist, I couldn't really get back into it. Which is unfortunate. However, this is just one book that didn't thrill me. I would recommend this author. Although this book is up to the individual.
January 2, 2015
How on earth could she have fallen in love with this guy? He kidnaps her, accuses her of awful things (granted she's portrayed the image of this) tells her she's going to help ruin her best friend and all because she has been a part of the downfall of his family. Then he basically rapes her - we don't get to see the scene and she recalls how very turned on she was, but she also seems to be in quite a bit of pain afterwards.
Then all the secrets are revealed. I did feel a bit better at the amount of guilt he seemed to show and felt some satisfaction at the barbs she was able to throw his way. Clearly he didn't read the situation correctly before kidnapping her. At no point does the heroine learn anything about the hero (except that he loses control of his lust when he's angry) and yet she falls in love with him? How? Why?
And then of course they get their HEA after a lot of confusing drama about contracts and pictures. Whatever.
Then all the secrets are revealed. I did feel a bit better at the amount of guilt he seemed to show and felt some satisfaction at the barbs she was able to throw his way. Clearly he didn't read the situation correctly before kidnapping her. At no point does the heroine learn anything about the hero (except that he loses control of his lust when he's angry) and yet she falls in love with him? How? Why?
And then of course they get their HEA after a lot of confusing drama about contracts and pictures. Whatever.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2021
Really really old school, with a chauvinistic male and a helpless female. The heroine is a supermodel with a scandalous reputation of a family wrecker. Hero's sister found her with her husband when she was barely of age at a party. Hero's cousin, another model, lost his boyfriend, a photograph, and he's now dating the heroine, so the hero decides to kidnap heroine and seduces her as an act of revenge. There's a forced seduction where heroine loses her virginity but doesn't enjoy the performance very much, a lot of slut-shaming, lot of tantrum from the offended heroine, a forced marriage, a blackmail where hero threatens the photograph's career, secret sons and an attempted rape. At the end of this obviously the heroine is in love with hero. What woman would not be in love with a man who repeatedly slut-shames her, kidnaps her, forces her to have sex, blackmails her and even slaps her? The heroine was an unstable and grumpy female with lots of problems, and I couldn't understand the hero's love, I think it was more an obsession than real love. Anyway a nice book.
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