Harlequin Presents Readers discussion

A Spanish Awakening by Kim Lawrence.

I found this fairly enjoyable as it incorporates many of the themes I enjoy in an HP novel. I only wished it was executed a bit better. I found the narrative rather repetitive and there could have been a lot more dialogue and action rather than simply narrative. I believe the author dedicated two whole chapters to one particular scene. One thing that really bothered me about the story is that the hero was married first and divorces his wife because of his feelings for the heroine. At least the heroine was not as annoying as most and supposedly had a brain.

The Billionaire Affair (Mistress to a Millionaire)

An enjoyable read. The hero has loved the heroine a long time and never got over her. I always do enjoy a smitten hero.

I love smitten heroes! I'll have to check to see if I have this one.

"A Walk on the Wild Side" by Natalie Anderson. I would give this a 3 out of 5, which would constitute enjoyable but utterly forgettable.

I am pretty "conservative" in my preference for heros and this one definitely doesn't fit the mold of the "businessman billionaire" as he is a snowboarding athlete. (I always do prefer brains over brawn and the author does emphasize the muscles over and over again in the hero's description.) However, I read with an open mind and was enjoyable nonetheless. Characters meet accidentally and have a one-afternoon stand. Hero is noncommittal at first until the dreaded accidental pregnancy, blah, blah. An enjoyable read nonetheless. I like Natalie Anderson's narrative style and the beginning was flirty and fun until the pregnancy and the whining started.

"Beauty and the Greek" by Kim Lawrence.

Also an enjoyable but utterly forgettable read. I did like the hero despite the make-over arc. Heroine thinks she is in love with the weak brother but in the end finds out she really is in love with the autocratic older brother who helps her with a make-over to drag the younger brother away from the arms of the ever so trite evil femme fatale. The story was better executed than the synopsis of the story would indicate so the read was enjoyable enough.

The Spanish Awakening - Why would it bother you if the guy ended his marriage first before pursuing the other woman?

That makes me like him already and will give this book a try. The synopsis didn't sound interesting so I was going to give it a pass once its available in the states. However, he's the anti-HP hero, an honorable man. He actually ends what sounds like a business marriage before starting a new relationship instead of just cheating.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Slaveforomance wrote: " The Spanish Awakening - Why would it bother you if the guy ended his marriage first before pursuing the other woman?

That makes me like him already and will give this book a try. The synopsi..."

A personal preference really. Kind of like the heroine was the cause for the divorce. I tend to be pretty conservative in my preference in that score in that I prefer both a hero and heroine with no "baggage" sort of speak unless it is between themselves.

Speaking of this particular hero, he is indeed considerate of the heroine in that he waits a considerable time after the divorce prior to pursuing the heroine so that she is not seen as the "other woman."

Did they have a relationship prior to the divorce? I read the first available chapter and he did fall in love with the heroine. I am just not sure if they ever had a real relationship; it was vague and seemed almost kind of like a secret admirer. So I guess she was the the cause but his wife cheating a few months after the wedding didn't help either.

I am still going to read it because I like the hero already and the first chapter intrigued me. That marriage needed to end anyways. While divorce is never ideal, sometimes it is necessary. Better to end it now before children are involved.

Slaveforomance wrote: "Did they have a relationship prior to the divorce? I read the first available chapter and he did fall in love with the heroine. I am just not sure if they ever had a real relationship; it was va..."

No, they don't have a relationship prior to the divorce (he was a friend of the family) and the hero waits some time after the divorce so as not to brand the heroine as the other woman. The heroine had no idea at all how the hero feels about her and is shocked when he tells her about it. She is rather a bit clueless in general, which is what I like about her.

Mia wrote: "Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I love smitten heroes! "

Me Too !! :)"

Mia, Lady Danille- in that case I think you would enjoy

A Night with the Society Playboy (Nights of Passion) by Ally Blake and Exposed: Misbehaving with the Magnate by Kelly Hunter. I really enjoyed those two books for the smitten heroes if you haven't already read them. They are quite different as the first is light and flirty and the second one is intense and passionate. I just love Ally Blake's Caleb to bits.

The Marchese's Love-Child by Sara Craven. Good story, despite the fact that, as an amazon.com reader put it, it is quite frustrating given that there really isn't much interaction at all between the hero and the heroine until the last five pages of the book.

Summary: hero and heroine had a summer affair. The heroine thinks hero dismissed her by sending one of his cronies to pay her off. She bears him a son and then they encounter each other again three years after the hero supposedly sent her away.

Despite the baby story and the hackneyed story description, the story itself was quite touching. Rather than the story just being about the overt s-e-x (as many HPs are) or the baby premise, the two are quite organic to the broader love story (not much of the former element in this book- unusual for a Sara Craven novel- and I quite appreciated the lack of gratuitous sex in this book). The hero has never forgotten the heroine and could never get over her. The hero is quite likable although he wasn't honest with the heroine about his identity when they had their summer affair.

Overall a good read with a touching story, although I agree with the amazon.com reviewer that it would have been better with more interaction between hero and heroine. Nevertheless, the mutual passion between hero and heroine is quite palpable. Perhaps the book is good because of its subtlety in that respect, leaving the reader to fill in the unspoken blanks with her imagination.

This is one of my favorite books by Sara Craven. Sometimes very little sex scenes makes the book better because you focus on the relationship rather than just the physical aspect. We know they were compatible in that area.

And, I agree on the touching side of the story. That's why I like the book so much.

Slaveforomance wrote: "This is one of my favorite books by Sara Craven. Sometimes very little sex scenes makes the book better because you focus on the relationship rather than just the physical aspect. We know they we..."

I so agree with you on that point. HPs frequently present the carnal aspect of a relationship as being true love without focusing on the romance part it. To me, a novel that focuses on the romance part and leaves the more physical aspect of it to the imagination to be the most enjoyable and elegant love stories. After all, don't we read these books for the romance part of it? Why have HP editors forgotten something so basic about ROMANCE novels? If all I wanted to read were salacious sex scenes, I would read erotic novels, not romance novels. Not that I mind some of it if done well, mind you :P.

The Highest Stakes of All by Sara Craven. Out next month in the US. Pretty revolting stuff- enough said. Skimmed the book after the first couple of chapters because I was so put off by it. If you want to see a spoiler, see comment here http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3....

Lynn Graham's The Heiress Bride (Sister Brides, #3). Enjoyable read, likable hero unlike the majority of Lynn Graham heroes. I liked that the heroine wasn't completely taken with the hero at first and just looked to him as a means of escape. Hero is pretty smitten with the heroine although he doesn't realize at first.

Hey, guys joining in for the first time here, hope I am not breaking any rules.
Re:Spanish Awakening by Kim Lawrence
I enjoyed this too, just to see the hero fall for the heroine first, not my favorite Lawrence though.

Saly wrote: "Hey, guys joining in for the first time here, hope I am not breaking any rules.
Re:Spanish Awakening by Kim Lawrence
I enjoyed this too, just to see the hero fall for the heroine first, not my favo..."

Welcome Saly! So good to have another HP fan to share our addiction! I'm fairly new to this site too so am not too familiar about the rules, but I think Lady Danielle generally spelled out some simple rules which is generally just to be nice to each other! How can we not though, we are here to share our love for romance?!

Lululemon wrote: Welcome Saly! So good to have another HP fan to share our addiction! I'm fairly new to this site too so am not too familiar about the rules, but I think Lady Danielle generally spelled out some simple rules which is generally just to be nice to each other! How can we not though, we are here to share our love for romance?!

Lululemon thanks for the gracious welcome :) Yes we are all fans so :)

Warm & fuzzy welcome, Saly. I luv KL & hero who luvs heroine 1st. Looking forward to reading it.

Lululemon, the reviews for the latest SC scare the cwap outta me but I will still read it outta curiosity. I hope the next one will not be as bhad.
I have Kelly Hunter on my TBR. Will tackle it soon.

Thanks, Verity :) Me as well there are very few romances where the hero falls first.

Verity wrote: "Lululemon, the reviews for the latest SC scare the cwap outta me but I will still read it outta cu..."

Verity- yeah, the new SC is pretty revolting stuff. What I wrote in my blurb is only half of the atrocities in the book. The other reviews tell you more. I guess it's got the "I'm horrified but fascinated" curiosity value (and I don't mean that in a good way), but I think you need to have a pretty strong stomach for this one.

I would love to hear what you think of Kelley Hunter's Exposed: Misbehaving with the Magnate. I loved that book and its brooding and passionate hero.

All Night With The Boss by Natalie Anderson.

As the title indicates, this is an office romance although no, for a change, the heroine is not the hero's secretary.

Like Natalie Anderson's "A Walk on the Wild Side" above, this book started out with so much promise, only to fizzle out and disappoint me in the end. The first couple of chapters were so flirty and fun and I do enjoy Natalie Anderson's narrative style. I felt the required conflict in the story was contrived and that the author was struggling to find something to keep the hero and heroine apart in order to keep the story going. I find that her heroines are not week doormats, but they are rather whiny. I found the hero to be quite likable although he lacks the typical over-the-top, private jet flying glamour of most HP heroes- he holds a professional job as partner in a management consulting firm. But I liked that he is not a typical HP hero in the sense that he is not an obnoxious, overbearing, sexist and inconsiderate jerk. The H/h mate like rabbits in the book, not so much in descriptive terms, but the author tells you that they mate like rabbits. That was annoying too because it made the relationship a purely lust based one without the development of the actual relationship between h/H.

**SPOILER ALERT*** (view spoiler)[ What was even more annoying, was that the author had to address the lack of plot by introducing the dreaded unplanned pregnancy ploy in order to bring the h/H together. That is the laziest plot device, especially because the author could have done so much with the fact that the heroine was due to leave the country. I really prefer a hero and heroine who come together out of their own volition and work out their differences because of their feelings for one another, not because they are forced to come together due to the dreaded pregnancy. (hide spoiler)]

Despite my gripes, the book overall was fairly enjoyable only because the beginning of the story was fun and flirty, hero is likable and I enjoy the author's writing style.

Prince of Scandal by Annie West.

I give this one 5 stars (*****). Expected release in North America August 2011. Synopsis and link to review below:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

Ruling prince

Raul, Prince of Maritz, is furious that an archaic law is forcing him to wed. But scandal and unrest has dogged this prince for years, and a marriage to recently discovered princess Luisa Hardwicke will help bring stability to the monarchy.

Reluctant Princess

Only Luisa is an outspoken, mud-splattered farm-girl, who isn’t going to come quietly! Even as she’s reluctantly transformed into polished perfection, Luisa challenges Raul at every turn – and he finds himself anticipating their wedding night with an excitement he never imagined he’d feel . . .

The Night Of The Wedding (Do Not Disturb) by Kathryn Ross.

I would give this three ***s. I love romance that blossoms between friends and this fits within that genre. Hero and heroine have been good friends for years. Romance starts to develop when both attend a wedding after the heroine is dumped by her fiance. Despite this being my favorite theme, it was not a satisfying read because the author does not explore how the hero and heroine evolve from friendship to romance. She hints a little bit about the prior feelings of the hero, but it should have been explored and flushed out more for it to be a satisfying read. Instead, we are left to speculate about how the hero feels about the heroine prior to the wedding night. Also missing that "spark" that I look for in an HP romance.

His Mistress By Marriage by Lee Wilkinson.

I would give this 2 **s for "bleh." I liked the hero quite a bit- he deserves 4**s. I liked the fact that he loved the heroine so much (why, I have to ask) that he would do anything to keep her. The heroine was annoying and whiny. There were a lot of blaring logical gaps in this one which were way too much to ignore despite my ***CONSIDERABLE*** suspension of disbelief prowess where HP novels are concerned. And that's saying a lot.

Man, it totally stands out when the heroine is the unlikeable one in these books, huh? Usually I will find the hero untolerable out of the pair.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Man, it totally stands out when the heroine is the unlikeable one in these books, huh? Usually I will find the hero untolerable out of the pair."

True that! I guess it could be worse if BOTH the H and h are unlikable!

Yes, that's the worse, indeed!

It's surprising how all of us agree that we all need a good heroine otherwise the book doesn't do it for us.

I definitely have to like the heroine when a read a book. I can deal with disliking the hero, for some reason.

Hmm. I never actually thought about that too much. I think my focus tends to be on the hero but it really grates on my nerves when the heroine is a total doormat, a total neurotic bundle of nerves like the last one, bitchy or a total whiny pain in the behind. Actually, now that I think about it, liking the heroine is important too particularly because most of the story is told from the heroine's perspective. So I guess for me I have a certain pain threshold for both the H and h. I'm an equal opportunity kind of gal, so I'll judge them on their individual merits :P.

Have taken a short break from HP reading but picked up The Thorn in His Side by Kim Lawrence. The beginning was kind of slow and the heroine was a bit irrational and overly-emotional for my taste but later she turns out to be rather quirky and likable for it. The hero is also quite likable and is totally smitten with the heroine despite himself. The writing was a bit repetitive with narrative about the mutual uncontrollable lust over and over again. SHOW ME through the interaction among the characters instead of just telling me it is so. I find that to be an annoying quirk in Kim Lawrence's writing style. But the ending made up for it and as usual with Kim Lawrence's books it ended up being an overall enjoyable read particularly because of the totally smitten hero. I would give this ****s and merits a "sighlicious" seal of approval from me.

[On a side note, there were quite a lot of typos and mistakes throughout this edition- don't they believe in editing anymore? What gives?]

I'm glad you liked this one. Weird about all the typos, though.

The Man She Loves To Hate. As expected from a Kelly Hunter book, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I just love her writing style (and by that I mean the actual writing and not necessary the story lines though I enjoy those too). I find her writing engaging and sassy and she has a way of really drawing the reader into the story. This was an emotional and angst-filled read and touching as well. The heroine is fragile and vulnerable and yet strong in her own right and the hero is thoroughly likable and fights really hard to get the girl, which in my book always brings up the "dishy" factor for the hero quite a few notches.

Bride for Real by Lynne Graham. I absolutely HATED, HATED, HATED, HATED, HATED, HATED, HATED this book. Did I adequately impress the fact that I HATED this book? This is the second book following The Marriage Betrayal. Please follow my advice and save yourself money and precious time by not bothering to read book 1 at all. It is a complete waste of time and money and really superfluous to the outrageous story that follows in book 2. Book 1 is not worth the paper it is printed on and it is completely pointless. Actually, please save yourself a lot of outrage, time and money and skip both books altogether.

(view spoiler)[ H is blackmailed into marrying the h by h's father because she falls pregnant. He had no intentions of marrying her otherwise despite the fact that she was pregnant. Baby is stillborn. Marriage disintegrates because h never trusted H since he was blackmailed into marrying her. While they are separated, H has a one-night stand with his old flame and fathers a child. Suddenly H decides he needs a reconciliation and h's father this time blackmails the h into reconciling with the H. H finds out he fathered a child as a result of one night stand and then BLAMES THE HEROINE for the event by saying that if she hadn't left him, this wouldn't have happened.
What kills me about this book is that the h ACTUALLY BLAMES HERSELF for this. Heroine forgives hero (why wouldn't she when it was her fault after all) and raises the daughter produced out of wedlock. (hide spoiler)]

I am so thoroughly disgusted with Lynne Graham that I have no adequate words to express it. This book is so wrong on so many levels I am simply too outraged to list them all. Never mind what a total and complete jerk the hero is to the heroine in the first book in the series. Romance? Was this supposed to be a romance book? Hard to tell because I didn't notice any.

Oh man! I don't understand why authors are writing these books to justify (view spoiler)[ Adultery and cheating (hide spoiler)] so much lately. I absolutely try to avoid these, and it's getting harder and harder. Thanks for the warning, Lulu. I consider LG autobuy/autoread, but I don't know if I can handle this one.

The Crown Affair by Lucy King. An enjoyable read with a hunk of a hero. I would give 3.5 stars because I think there could have been a little more to the plot other than the excuse that the hero has emotional scars (which really was not much of a scar) and therefore no relationship. I liked the writing style as it was flirty and fresh. To be released as an HP Extra September 1.

With This Fling... by Kelly Hunter. Kelly Hunter never disappoints. As you have come to expect quality from certain brands out there, I have to say I have come to expect a good romance from Kelly Hunter and she delivers every time. An enjoyable read with good fun writing. It was refreshing that the roles were reversed in this one in that the heroine is filthy rich and the hero is just your run-of-the-mill middle-class hunk.

Lovers Not Friends by Helen Brooks. Oh, wow. This book was breathtakingly romantic. It was a little intense but so, so good. This one goes into my "favorite HP of all time" pile. I know I'll read this again at some point.

The Heat of Passion (Forbidden!) by Lynne Graham. This is my first vintage Lynne Graham book and I have to say I really liked it. Looking forward to reading her classics such as Bond of Hatred and The Spanish Groom when they are available in ebook format.

Her older books were really good. I think some of her books from a few years ago are still good. I haven't read her latest books yet. I have about 12 lined up on my bookcase.

Doukakis's Apprentice by Sarah Morgan. I loved this book because the heroine was so refreshingly and awesomely bad-ass! A thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing read with smart repartee and dialogue. I even forgot I was reading a harlequin because there was none of that I'm so weak and feeble, woes me, I love him so much but he doesn't love me and I let him step all over me self-pity from the heroine. I rate this "A" for awesome because the heroine was so refreshingly modern, sassy, smart and likable.

The Vengeful Husband (The Husband Hunters, #2) by Lynne Graham. I don't typically love Lynne Graham books and I can't say I love this 110% like some of my other all-time favorites but this is definitely the best Lynne Graham I have read so far. I give this 4.75 glowing stars. The heroine was quite likable in a gullible and naive way without being ridiculous as a lot of Lynne Graham's heroines can be. The hero was also likable because he was so crazy about the heroine. He was a total lovesick fool even though he hid how crazy he was about the heroine behind his revenge cloak. But you know very well it was just a cloak to hide from himself how much she blew him away. Their one-night stand really made quite an impression on him! He would often make references to things the heroine had done or said that night that showed just how far gone the poor sucker was and that really cracked me up. He would say things like "you burned me alive that night" and I thought that was so adorable. Poor, poor, lovesick fool- he didn't stand a chance from the beginning. *Grin*.

All 3 in that series are really good. I reread them regularly...Good stuff!

The Vengeful Husband is one of my all time favorites by LG.

Megan wrote: "All 3 in that series are really good. I reread them regularly...Good stuff!"

Megan- I read the synopsis for the two other books in the trilogy and wasn't that intrigued, but if you think they were good I'll definitely have to give them a try.

Lady D- I really liked this LG and will definitely be re-reading this at some point, I'm sure. Folks here are so right when they say the old LGs are sooooo much better than her current books.

The Matchmaker Bride by Kate Hewitt. Egh. Enough said.

You have read the best one of the 3, but I did enjoy the others. I am also maybe not very critical...:~)

Megan wrote: "You have read the best one of the 3, but I did enjoy the others. I am also maybe not very critical...:~)"

Meaning what, that I am??? *Laugh*

Just kidding. As you may have gathered by now, I feel really strongly about things- either I really like them or I really dislike them. And I have a really short attention span for those I don't feel strongly about either way.

No, No, that is not what I meant at all...I was just saying that I except a much lower standard from my HP's. If it mildly entertained me I'm ok with that! So I don't usually rate them too harshly.

Megan wrote: "No, No, that is not what I meant at all...I was just saying that I except a much lower standard from my HP's. If it mildly entertained me I'm ok with that! So I don't usually rate them too harshly."

I know, I know, Megan, I was just kidding.