My Lady Disdain

by Elizabeth Ashton

Jacqueline had always loved Gino, and when he asked her to marry him she gladly accepted. But she knew he wasn't marrying her for love, only because he wanted a competent helpmate.

Then her glamorous sister came along and announced that she and Gino were in love. Should Jac let him go; or should she stick to her rights as his fiancee?

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Romance, Romance

189 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1976

About the author

Elizabeth Ashton was a British writer of romance novels to Mills & Boon from 1969 to 1990.

Reviews

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upping from 2 stars to 3 stars. Though there was a lot to annoy a reader, I found the heroine and the hero to be charming. I could have done without the family from H#$%, but otherwise it was cute.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. The H is, from the start, very interested in the h. The h has a good reason to be suspicious of the H, but it's explained at the right point in the book. The h is also quite immature in terms of romance, but for all of that, she spends a great deal of time kissing the H. (The H never misses an opportunity.) The OW is a non-threat, but the OM is -- I thought he was going to end up assaulting the h at several points, but then his personality changed at the end.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a lot of romances between the mid 70s and the mid 90s, and I still have a box of my favorites. I'm going through them and reviewing them as genre romances on goodreads.

My Lady Disdain is one of the earliest I read. I may have even purchased it new at the White Hen, something I rarely did since I could save my 75 cents for something else and buy used books at the thrift shop for 10 cents.

It seems old-fashioned even for 1976, but it is part of the original tame Harlequin Romance line. A girl and boy spar as teenagers then hit a few bumps in the road before declaring their love as young adults. I don't think I'd even read or seen Much Ado About Nothing but I loved the literary references to Shakespeare as a teenager myself. Also the heroine is plain and the hero handsome, but he loves her for her personality - I guess I liked that too. It holds up as a gentle bedtime read.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the Italian Alps. Heroine is a born martyr to her awful, awful family. Hero also had an awful family and he imprinted on the heroine at a young age.

When hero has learned the hotel business he returns to the Alps to run an inn there. He asks the heroine to marry him, much to the surprise of her awful, awful parents and everyone else who constantly remind the heroine how plain she is. H/h have too much pride to declare their love to each other, so they pretend this is a business-like, practical marriage.

So heroine is ripe for believing her younger sister's lies that hero was her lover in Paris. Heroine breaks it off from the hero, who is understandably angry. Heroine tries to join a nunnery (lol) but they won't take her.

The dress designers who her sister models for show up to have a fashion show at the hero's hotel. They give heroine a make-over.

And hero doesn't like it. He liked her the way she was. After subduing some drunken guests and shooing off the OW, H/h declare themselves for an HEA.

Heroine's family was so annoying - and heroine was too, for that matter. The real pain of losing the H softened her up nicely. I was happy for their HEA. Hero really did love her, but it was a vintage romance slog to get there.

[Putri.dahlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this book! It was a hand-me-down from my mother. I was so into this book that I could pictured the scene in the book, and I've read it so many times! Sadly, it accidentally went missing in the hand of my friend who borrowed it.