While I found the sexiness and heat between these two characters as very credible, I was less than convinced by the supposed rift that came between thWhile I found the sexiness and heat between these two characters as very credible, I was less than convinced by the supposed rift that came between them. I found Bacon to be needlessly angry about Spencer’s decision to write a book about the navy’s treatment of injured soldiers. (However, it was funny to read about grown men attempting to shrug off potentially dangerous injuries. They were like a bunch of Black Knights, constantly sniping that it was just a “scratch”.)
Usually, I don’t find myself at odds with Ms. Albert’s take on her characters. But I couldn’t find Spencer as much in the wrong as Bacon did. It takes two to make or break this kind of relationship and Bacon backed off too quickly to suit me. His carping against Spencer afterwards made no sense to me; he kept accusing Spencer of pushing him away when I thought that Bacon (aka Del) was too quick to dismiss his relationship with Spencer.
While I’m a fan of the Out of Uniform series, this one doesn’t rate as highly as the others I’ve read....more
When I was young, eating food was easy. You fixed a meal and people would say, “What’s that lovely smell?” “Did you make your sumptuous roast beef?” “When I was young, eating food was easy. You fixed a meal and people would say, “What’s that lovely smell?” “Did you make your sumptuous roast beef?” “Oh, man, we’re having that great chocolate mousse again!” Nowadays, you’re more likely to hear: “Is this vegan? I won’t eat it if it’s got eggs, dairy or meat in it!” “I’m allergic to strawberries and pineapples.” “I can’t have crunchy peanut butter. It’s hard on my colon.” “My doctor has me on a no-gluten diet.” Oh, it’s enough to make you grit your teeth with frustration.
But times change. People and societies change. I learned to cook vegan and vegetarian meals. I had to accommodate my friends’s tastes and needs. Better to learn to cook different comestibles than have someone go into anaphylactic shock because you served them the wrong food.
When I was a girl, there were two sexes for humans. That was enough. There were two sexualities: hetero and homo. When did things change? So you can see what a head-scratcher for me to encounter new sexual terms in this latest novel. Demisexual? Gray ace? What the hell are those?!?
But Ms. Albert eases us into understanding these terms as well as the special desires of the man trying to figure out his sexuality…or lack of it. It’s also only part of the larger picture going on here. Ms. Albert has two men negotiating household needs, a court battle, custodial rights of three children, well-meaning strangers and disapproving relatives. With all this going on, sexual desires take a definite backseat.
Ms. Albert once more proves herself the master of m/m sexuality set amidst the mundane needs of two men in search of love and meaning in their lives. Ms. Albert’s novels are firmly set in contemporary times. Differing sexualities are easily accepted by many among Mark’s circle, far more so than he anticipated, while others are not so agreeable about the notion of two men cohabitating and rearing children together.
That’s what brings me back to Ms. Albert’s stories again and again. Her men and their problems are as varied as specially prepared meals. The characters learn how to accommodate each other; they learn how to deal with the world at large and as a microcosm. Some people will understand; some people won’t. There are happy endings and bitter partings. Ms. Albert’s romances aren’t ever just romances; they give the reader glimpses into whole new lives. And, as it turns out, gray asexuality is just as hot as anything else when both parties love each other.
I recommend this novel for anyone who likes variety, spice and hot military action in their m/m stories....more
I’ve been reading another book entitled God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction. In it, the author goes through several chapters that revealI’ve been reading another book entitled God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction. In it, the author goes through several chapters that reveal the Creator in all his baseness. One chapter deals with His misogyny. Since the bible was written by males, the “values” in it reflect the mores, manners, culture and customs of the time. Women were chattel, property, victims, war prizes and bargaining chips. They were considered expendable, unclean during their periods, prone to harlotry, weak and, above all things, lesser than men. When I read romance novels of this sort, I wonder if they were truly penned by women or by men who secretly long for a return to the good old days.
Having taken her sister’s place in a wedding to a man feared for his criminal origins, Viveka Brice fails to make her getaway by tripping on her high heels and falling into the water, where she nearly drowns. So she stumbles like some victim in a cheap horror movie and, promptly finding herself a Damsel in Distress, she is forced to become the stand-in for her rescuer’s plot.
Mikolas Petrides is a man who wishes to make a name for himself in legitimate circles. Since he bears the double stigma of being illegitimate son and the grandson of a local mafioso, he had hoped that marriage to Viveka’s timid younger sister would give him a wedge into higher society. Since he got her sister, she’ll have to do.
There you have it. Viveka, despite having a very different temperament than her sister Trina, is treated as though she’s interchangeable with her. Since Mikolas felt nothing for Trina, he was perfectly willing to let her cat around after they were married—as long as he was allowed to do the same. (So his upper-class contacts would tolerate adulterous behavior but not bastardry? How does that make any sense?) However, he claims that he’s keeping Viveka with him in order to protect her from her vindictive stepfather, who set up this arranged marriage deal in the first place and is furious that Viveka has ruined his plans. But that doesn’t mean sex is off the table!
Women who start off as mistresses only to become married partners are a running theme with Ms. Collins (or should I say a running gag?), evidently. But it’s not an idea I think has any part in a realistic, contemporary world. I can accept a woman having had sexual experience before she meets Mr. Right. However, I refuse to believe that a relationship starting off as a sleazy, sordid, salacious sex-for-hire situation winds up with wedded bliss. That is beyond disgusting and harkens back to Old Testament, desert-school morality.
However, Ms. Collins has both Viveka and another of her heroines, Claire Daniels (who turns up in this novel), start off as virgins. In one scene, where Viveka is wistfully mourning how her well-laid plans have been destroyed, she looks up to find Mikolas staring at her like a wounded puppy just before he tells her how he really can’t think of anything except getting her in bed with him.
That really is the sum of their relationship. Mikolas would have let his wife turn him into a cuckold and he has no shame about making Viveka his mistress. He wants to turn his grandpa’s criminal empire into a lawful business, but his personal morals show him to be nothing more than a misogynistic guttersnipe. They have painful sex in which he gallantly tries not to hurt her (but does because she’s so tight) and it winds up as rip-roaringly terrific, the way it always does in these stories.
Viveka actually does manage to get him into an upper-class bracket by associating with the wives of powerful men. But the stain of their awful, seedy relationship just stuck in my craw and nothing could redeem it. To hell with Mikolas Putrid and all his kind....more
A man tries getting revenge on another only to find his target is dead. So he seizes the dead man’s assets, systematically strips fortunes from his woA man tries getting revenge on another only to find his target is dead. So he seizes the dead man’s assets, systematically strips fortunes from his would-be victim’s male inheritors and makes a mistress out of the corpse’s living, luscious, lovely lady. Wait, that’s The Greek’s Pleasurable Revenge. A man confronts a woman and states she’s nothing more than a filthy slut who’s slept her way into a profitable position. No, that’s Bought by her Italian Boss. Or am I thinking about Pursued by the Desert Prince?
Those are the trite scenarios that we get here. Aleksy Dmitriev, business tycoon, was wronged by Victor Van Eych for an unspecified crime. He’s been pursuing vengeance against Victor for a long time, only to find Victor dead shortly before Aleksy acquires the company.
We know that Aleksy is holding a grudge against Victor because Claire Daniels encounters him throwing a childish tantrum. He’s hurling Victor’s trophies into a garbage can, gleefully watching them shatter and break. Then he confronts Claire by stating he’s getting rid of all Victor’s trophies—including her.
Yes, he’s assumed Claire was Victor’s mistress. To be fair, she let everyone think it. Victor was very kind to her when no one else was. In exchange, Claire pretended to be his mistress because Victor was actually impotent and was ashamed to have anyone know it. Because of this well-maintained fiction, Aleksy’s hatred for Victor extends to contempt dumped on poor Claire, too. So what does Aleksy do? To appease his spleen, he demands that Claire become his mistress. Say what?
Aleksy is supposed to be a sharp character. But he comes across as a bullying, tyrannical, sneering, moronic twat who jumps at assumptions and is easily parted from his money. He could have dug into Claire’s assets to see whether she had unusually large funds deposited into her bank account, as one would expect from the mistress of a rich man. But he didn’t. He could have checked Victor’s medical records before accusing Claire; then he would have found out about Victor’s impotency. But he doesn’t do that until after Claire tells him Victor’s secret. He could have checked to see if Claire’s foundation, the burgeoning Brighter Days, was actually a reality before handing over $50,000 to it. But he didn’t do that until after the check cleared.
Then he has the gall to ask her why she would lose her virginity for a charity. Really? This is the part where you grovel and say you’re sorry, you worthless cad, not ask her about her rationales! But Claire is one of those quivering, meek, doubting, damaged, virginal romantic heroines who barely have any personalities of their own. So she constantly answers Aleksy’s questions about matters that are none of his business. She’s lost her job (thank you, Aleksy), she can’t afford her flat and Victor’s promise to fund her charity fell through with the old man’s death. So she’s made a devil’s bargain with Aleksy to sleep with him to get the necessary funds of $100,000. (And this is supposed to make her NOT look like a scheming gold-digger?)
Aleksy’s reasons for his vendetta against Victor aren’t really specified, at least not for four-fifths of the book. Early on, he hands Claire a paper supposedly detailing Victor’s criminal activities. But the reader doesn’t get to see what’s on that paper. Later, Aleksy holds Victor responsible for his father’s death but states that he can’t prove the connection. With such vague statements in play, the reader can be forgiven for being a little skeptical about Victor’s supposed crimes, disinterested in Aleksy’s motivations and angry on Claire’s behalf for being shanghaied into sexual slavery by a man who despises her.
But what does Claire do? She swings immediately from being grateful to Victor to feeling ashamed for having worked for him because he’s turned out to be such a dirtbag. Gee, could it be because you’re falling for your keeper, you pliant little wimp?
Aleksy is a barbaric toad and Claire his willing, submissive doormat. There is nothing holding them together except for their galloping gonads. Maybe there are readers out there who think folks like this make for dreamy, romantic couples. This reader wishes they were both thrown to the bears....more
In many warped romance novels, nothing says affair like instant passion and nothing sparks instant passion like overt and immediate antagonism, otherwIn many warped romance novels, nothing says affair like instant passion and nothing sparks instant passion like overt and immediate antagonism, otherwise known as UST. But in novels like this UST doesn’t remain unresolved for very long.
The action starts with Kasim ibn Nour, Crown Prince of Zhamair, informing Angelique Sauveterre that he doesn’t approve of her supplying a generous wedding package for his sister Hasna. He thinks she’s sleeping with his soon-to-be brother-in-law Sadiq and he doesn’t approve of a mistress supplying anything for his sister. He doesn’t judge Sadiq; Kasim has had mistresses himself. Evidently, they all do, according to him. (By “they” he means men. He’s not the sort to lay blame at the man’s door, it seems. Only the woman is considered reprehensible. That’s why he’s having the conversation with her and not Sadiq. Ah, the double standard is alive and well here.)
After a thoroughly humiliating conversation, he demands that Angelique send him a check for whatever wedding preparations she’s made for his sister and not contact Sadiq again.
Isn’t he great? He leaps to assumptions (he doesn’t even bother digging into her financial accounts or her background), makes nasty aspersions and finally ends with a command. He’s had his share of mistresses which makes him a prize slut. What a guy. Clearly, being royalty doesn’t come with a superb sense of comportment.
Angelique should stand her ground. She should refuse to make any statements to him since it’s none of his business. She should tell him that he’s making an ass of himself and he should hire private investigators before launching accusations that insult her, debase his sister and shame Sadiq. She could wait until he leaves, ring up his sister and let Hasna know exactly what a tool her brother is being. See how Kasim would take it when he catches the flack from his angry sister!
But Angelique is overcome with Kasim’s commanding presence, the way she quivers in reaction at his handsomeness and blushes at his glance. So she grabs his hand and then he hauls her in for a blistering kiss. Then he tells her to accompany him for dinner and, inexplicably, she does. After dinner, they… No need to tell what occurs between them, is there?
Kasim is an ill-mannered tool and no self-respecting woman should have anything to do with him. But that’s not how novels like this work. Respect and restraint aren’t as important as getting busy between the sheets with a man who’s basically impugned your honor and judged you to be a mercenary ho.
It doesn’t matter that Kasim comes to love Angelique. It doesn’t matter that their family dynamics show a lot of similarity between them. This is a horrid start to an affair and no amount of sexual heat justifies it. Kasim’s behavior warrants at the very least a good, hard kick to the balls and at the most public announcements of what a colossal, mean-spirited, judgmental sack of pig’s droppings he is.
This novel sucks eggs. Angelique should have let her personal guard shoot him....more
Being a mistress is something more than a whore and less than a girlfriend. Such is the position Cinnia Whitley finds herself in when Henri SauveterreBeing a mistress is something more than a whore and less than a girlfriend. Such is the position Cinnia Whitley finds herself in when Henri Sauveterre decides to take her as the latest in a string of not-quite-girlfriends. Can you blame him? The first time she meets him, he takes her for a gold digger and the two of them have sex against a wall with only a railing separating them from public view.
She fiercely maintains her independence from him—which doesn’t stop her from taking the expensive jewelry or the fancy dresses he gives her. Of course, she falls in love with him. But, faced with rejection from him, she flees. From there on, the novel deals with her attempts to hold down her job and face the prospect of single motherhood because Henri got her pregnant. Yep, it’s that old standby, the Unexpected Expecting.
But here the novelist throws a curveball. Henri insists on getting married, as is typical of this genre. But Cinnia flatly refuses and Henri finds he can’t force her to marry him. Well, there’s a surprise. Usually, the male protagonist strong-arms the female into wedding him, applying all sorts of reasons why she should and basically pointing out how illogical it would be for her to refuse.
But Cinnia wants love not marriage. She’s not going to accept anything less and rejects his cold-blooded offer (although she does start sleeping with him again after he reappears in her life—sigh). It takes a near-death experience for Henri to realize just how much Cinnia means to him and force out those three magic words.
Ms. Collins may have her fictional women self-governing, hard working and intelligent. But you have to wonder how much she wants her readers to care for those aspects when she has them rolling over and spreading their legs at the drop of a hat just because some rich guy gives them goosebumps....more
Gwyn Ellis is in a pickle. Incriminating photos of her have been sent anonymously to a client at the bank where she’s working. The client is a man whoGwyn Ellis is in a pickle. Incriminating photos of her have been sent anonymously to a client at the bank where she’s working. The client is a man who’s been suspected of skimming funds from his own charities and Ms. Ellis has been set up to take the fall. If Kevin Jensen can make it seem like she’s a slutty adulteress who’s blackmailing him into embezzling his own funds, then she can be the patsy.
What to do? The bank’s reputation has to be saved and that means that she gets fired. But the VP, Vittorio Donatelli, thinks she’s innocent and wants to save her honor. And the best way to do it? Why, making it seem as if she’s engaged in another torrid affair instead—with him.
This is a stupid idea. Anyone can see that. To her vast credit, Gwyn states as much and comes up with all the reasons why this is a ridiculous solution to her problem. 1) It substitutes one scandal for another. Instead of sleeping with a client, she’s now supposed to be carrying on an affair with the Vice President. How does that make her look better? It makes her seem as if she’s sleeping her way to the top, an accusation she’s always strenuously tried to avoid. 2) It doesn’t save her job, reputation or make it possible for her to get work elsewhere. So how does she benefit? 3) She’s in trouble and the best solution is to have her in another affair. What country and century are they living in where this makes sense?
Here we have it: The Exotic Other. I have noted this type in other Harlequin romances. I can get why this particular subgenre of romance fantasy is appealing. Silly stereotypes can stay lodged in our heads in spite of our best efforts to uproot them. No matter how sophisticated or politically correct we become, there are women who think of Italians, Spaniards, Frenchmen, Russians, etc., as epitomizing visions of romance, hot-blooded passion and smoldering intensity.
They’re also handy in romance for traits that don’t…sit too well among our own domestic males. Stalking, rough manhandling, snapped orders, enforced embraces or physical restraint that would scream “abuser” in contemporary American men can be given a free pass if they’re displayed by fictional foreign male characters.
Everything about Vittorio Donatelli grates on the nerves. He’s the embodiment of the stereotype: hot, potent, tall, domineering and commanding. When he strides into a room or speaks, everyone else falls silent, waiting on his word. He snaps orders at Gwyn and expects her to obey. He forcibly places his hand on her back to keep her walking beside him, pulls her by the hand and expects her to spend a lot of time at his side. He treats her like a dog and seems oblivious to her bitter recriminations on his behavior.
She blushed. Hard. Hurt flashed across her expression. “I’m already a powerless game piece. Don’t make it worse by taunting me with my own stupid reaction to you.” Shame darkened her eyes, but she dared to threaten him. “Or we will have a very ugly public breakup.”
“And a very hot and public reunion,” he responded fiercely, catching at the taut tendons in her wrists where she clenched her hands into fists. Tucking them behind her back, he pulled her in close and slid his lips along her perfumed neck, eyes almost rolling back into his skull as male hunger slammed through him. He wanted her. “Because your reaction to me is exactly what will sell this story of ours. So get used to revealing it.”
Then, because she strained her face away from him, he sucked a tiny love bite onto her neck where it met her shoulder. Her whole body shuddered and a sensual moan escaped her. Her hips bucked to press her mons against his straining erection and lingered to rock with muted need, teasing both of them.
This is supposed to come off as a sensual encounter. Instead, it reads like a man forcing himself on a woman, pinioning her wrists and kissing her when she makes it amply clear she doesn’t want him to do so. But she’s just aching with physical need when he touches her and has a previous crush on Vittorio, so it’s okay! Right?
Gwyn seems so aware of the unfairness of this whole sordid situation that she’s practically breaking the fourth wall.
Her mom had been a runner. Gwyn tried to stay and fight. It was the reason she had stuck it out in school despite the cost. Training for a real profession had seemed the best way to be taken seriously. Yet here she was, being pinned up as a sex object in the locker room of the internet, set up by men who believed she lacked the brains to see when people were committing crimes under her nose.
And the solution to this predicament was to sleep with her boss? Or appear to? What kind of world was this?
“It’s such a pathetically male and sexist response to say that sleeping together would solve anything. To suggest I do it to save my job—no, your job—” She was barely able to speak, stunned, ears ringing. Her eyes and throat burned. “It’s so insulting I don’t have words,” she managed, voice thinning as the worst day of her life grew even uglier.
An arc of dangerous fire flashed in his gaze again. “Have you come up against a lot of sexism in your life?”
“Is there an amount that’s reasonable and acceptable?”
Gwyn points out the degradation of her situation to Vittorio. But he doesn’t really care. At every turn, he’s managing her life: getting her a personal assistant, taking her shopping for expensive clothes and jewelry, whisking her away from her apartment and setting her up in his flat, et al. It’s all for the good of the bank, of course, and helps maintain the image that she’s his mistress. He’s intrigued that Gwyn isn’t impressed by or salivating for his wealth but that doesn’t stop him from treating her like a high-class courtesan.
It was also why he enjoyed supporting her. She didn’t expect to be spoiled so her reaction was priceless when he collared her with precious stones and shackled her with gold bracelets.
Collared? Shackled?! What is she, a poodle or prize Arabian?
Gwyn may think of herself as holding on to her self esteem. But it’s hard to respect her when her nipples perform a happy dance every time Vittorio so much as touches her and she’s having sex with him in an elevator. Classy, Gwyn, very classy.
But in the end she falls for him and he decides she’s his, no matter what, and that he loves her too. This is another tired iteration of a woman allowing a rich man to micro- and macro-manage her life while getting in plenty of nooky. It’s another crass Cinderella story given the Italian treatment. Ciao, bella....more
You know how boys can be rambunctious, daring, foolishly reckless in their daily activities? There’s always that one boy who climbs higher trees, jumpYou know how boys can be rambunctious, daring, foolishly reckless in their daily activities? There’s always that one boy who climbs higher trees, jumps in the deep end of the pool, dives into a lake or performs idiotic dares. He winds up in the hospital with a broken leg or arm, gets everybody to sign it and the other boys look up to him for being such a bad mother.
Most boys grow out of that irrationality. Yeager Novak didn’t. He regularly risks his life in high-risk adventures around the world. You can envy him for seeing more of the world than most people ever will. But on the other hand he acts a bit like a little boy in a big man’s clothes.
Speaking of clothes, Hannah Robinson is the exact opposite. With a childhood spent shuttling from one foster home to another, she can’t afford to take silly risks in the name of adventure. Naturally, Yeager sees her as being a buttoned up, plain and strait-laced homebody. But she’s got the most amazing silver eyes…
With Hannah needing to get pregnant in order to claim an inheritance from a grandparent she never knew, the stage is set for the two opposites to knock boots. She could go to a sperm bank (and, surprisingly, the novel poses that route as a possibility) but she sees it as so clinical, not at all the way she wants to conceive. (She’s dismissive, isn’t she? Modern medicine prevents women from dying in childbirth but she doesn’t like the notion of intravenous conception?) Yeager initially refuses her request that he be the sperm donor. But when a close friend dies on one of his adventures, he changes his tune. He wants something to leave behind him, a legacy, and a baby is it. Geez, that’s a big burden to lay on a kid and this one isn’t even a glimmer in his mother’s eye yet.
Yeager has a few conditions. One is that the baby be conceived on an “epic adventure” and for him New York doesn’t qualify. In fact, his prejudice against New York permeates his behavior and inner dialogue. Going out for a restaurant dinner? Seeing the sights? Grabbing a fiery snack from a vending cart? Walking in Central Park? No, that’s not bold enough for Tarzan, not when he can camp near a volcano or go cage diving with sharks.
So his friend dies on an adventure and that gets him mopey and worried. Then the next moment, he’s asking the future mother of his child to go rafting with him. At this point, Hannah should tell him to hit the road and go with plan B, the sperm bank. But she’s hot for Yeager’s muscular bod, there are all those billions at stake and she has to get pregnant in six months to claim the lucre. So what else can she do?
Of course, she learns to love adventure and he learns to prize the beauty that is urban living. I’m not sure that counts as chemistry but a willingness to compromise and allow Hannah to maintain her independence wins a reluctant three-star review....more
Mark Webster is a has-been loser. In his glory days, he was a rock star, a gifted front man for his band and very cute. But now he’s broke, washed up Mark Webster is a has-been loser. In his glory days, he was a rock star, a gifted front man for his band and very cute. But now he’s broke, washed up and bitter. Mark has turned surly, mean, contemptuous, cantankerous, ill mannered and inconsiderate. He’s been thrown out of a lot of places, insulted the wrong people and his manager has had enough. Either he clean up his act, apologize to his former bandmate or they hire a look-alike for his tours.
He makes his entrance in this novel by loudly demanding his entry into a fancy restaurant when he’s underdressed. He bullies the woman at the door, disrupts the dining experience of the other customers and then acts like a sullen little schoolboy when he meets Haven Hoyt, the woman hired to polish up his image. So right away, I dislike him. The rebellious bad boy act is just that—the behavior of a bad BOY. Childish men aren’t appealing to a grown woman. So I wanted Haven Hoyt to kick this loser in the teeth and tell him to man up or hit the road.
But she doesn’t do that. Why? Because she’s a grown woman. She’s mature, she’s professional and she’s got a job to do. She’s already head and shoulders above this scruffy, churlish loser and I found myself inwardly praising her cool, calm exterior and refusal to let him rattle her.
However, it turns out that Haven Hoyt is using a dating site to find a man. Nothing wrong with that. But Haven has very specific ideas of what she wants. She wants her man neat, polished, dressed to the nines, dapper and rich. Well, she doesn’t actually SAY that she’s looking for a rich man…but her inner dialogue confirms it. She was reared in a neo-hippy atmosphere but she wanted to look like Barbie. She liked being dressed up in the best of sleek feminine wear—jewelry, makeup, fine clothes—an attitude that exasperated her earth-mother family.
So she’s a gold-digger and he’s a washed-up glowering man-child. Ugh. Now I dislike both of them and that’s in the first two chapters! The author’s got her work cut out for her making me warm to these two losers.
Most of Mark’s initial (and subsequent) thoughts about Haven revolve around her body and how he’d really like to have sex with her. For over half the book, that’s basically how he thinks of her. It takes so long for him to start thinking of her as a human being with feelings that I was well and truly fed up with him.
Haven also has strict rules about sleeping with her clients—i.e., DON’T DO IT!! In her profession, sleeping with the clientele has proved disastrous for other people. But of course she does. They always do. Keeping your hands off the help or the customers…it’s just never an option with Harlequin romantic leads.
My preliminary distaste for these two deepened and it was tough for me to get past it. But the author gradually won me over to their sides. Haven is riddled with doubt about her inner strength. She rarely makes it past the second date with her chosen men. It’s not just that they’re boring (even if they are); she’s worried they’ll find her shallow. Mark is also worried that he’s too scruffy, messy and unshaven to appeal to Haven’s shiny, put-together persona.
So they have to strive to understand each other, to dig past their first impressions. Haven does a better job at first than Mark, mainly because she’s got a job to polish his image and that means learning something about him. With most of Mark’s early desires for her involving getting her to wrap her legs around him, it’s a harder uphill climb for him. But he makes it and makes it with her.
The romance also—nearly—reverses the usual dynamic of a Cinderella being taken care of by a wealthy prince. Prince Charming, Mark isn’t. He’s broke and needs this gig in order to pay the bills for his sick father. Haven is…all right, she’s not rich. In fact, she needs to help Mark so her career can take off. But she’s clearly got more money than Mark does. The novel makes its point without being explicit or heavy handed about it. To have the woman be richer than the man and have no one complain about it? Lovely.
So this romance wasn’t entirely disagreeable. Haven learns it’s okay to be unkempt once in a while and Mark finds that sporting a clean suit needn’t feel like an imposition. They learn to be part of each other’s world and that’s most satisfactory indeed....more
The titular rich boy is Eric Jenner. He’s handsome, tall and commander of his ship, figuratively speaking. He’s used to getting what he wants. With hiThe titular rich boy is Eric Jenner. He’s handsome, tall and commander of his ship, figuratively speaking. He’s used to getting what he wants. With his money, he can wave a magic wand and get couture clothes, a yacht ready for a weekend of fun and the best doctors. And he’s single, ladies!
We’ve seen his type before in recent romance novels. Billionaire playboys are a dime a dozen in these worlds and they always pair up with poor girls. It’s the Cinderella fantasy come true.
But Eric has met up with Sofia Bingham—née Cortés—again after years of separation. She was married, widowed and had twin children, none of which he knew about. So that throws him into a royal snit, in which he takes swipes at his mother for not letting him know his childhood friend got a life without him. Okay, that’s a bit unfair and renders him a bit of a jerk.
But Eric recently suffered loss of his own. His fiancée Prudence left him standing at the altar and two weeks later married a man she loved—which wasn’t Eric. Then she had that man’s child. Ouch.
Poor Eric. It seems that money can’t buy everything. So when Sofia comes swanning back into his life looking for a job, there are a lot of unresolved feelings between them. They try to remain friends (oh, yeah, that’s going to happen). Then friends with benefits when the heat simmering between them starts sparking (here we go). Then she knows that she’s fallen in love with him after one hot weekend. (Wow, didn’t see that coming.)
She’s working for this man and he has a strict policy against sleeping with employees, a policy with which I fully agree. But neither of them can hold on to their good intentions when they want each other so badly. But Eric’s behavior is questionable from the start. He takes her on his yacht and buys her expensive clothes, including underwear (!). She points out that this is not the way he’d behave with another employee. He counters by stating proper attire is a necessary part of her job; he’s just helping her out by getting her a decent wardrobe. And that includes thongs? Really?
Eric is fully invested in Sofia’s twins, darling children with whom he immediately bonds. He loves talking with them, holding them, playing with them and tending to them. You feel how much he loves these little tots, even if they aren’t his. That shines through and makes him a a much better character than the self-involved playboy he first appears to be.
The central romance is believable, given their previous connection and re-instating of their old childhood friendship. Eric’s connection with her babies and her parents comes off as genuine. But the old, tired plot line of having the employer shtupping the help is one I can’t condone. It’s unprofessional and smacks of exploitation. Lawsuits have been instigated for less.
Good novel that might have been better. But to each her own....more
Plain, wounded women are often to be found in Harlequin romances. Say what you will against their cookie-cutter males—dashingly handsome, ripped, fit Plain, wounded women are often to be found in Harlequin romances. Say what you will against their cookie-cutter males—dashingly handsome, ripped, fit and six feet plus—the women come in a variety of looks. This one is a plain spinster: freckled, lame and scarred from a terrible accident with unruly hair like a bird’s nest. Yes, she cleans up very well in time for her wedding but she doesn’t become a raving beauty by any means. The male protagonist has two scars, one old and one recent. But otherwise he’s exactly what you would expect. So let’s concentrate on the story.
A ludicrous accident has robbed Eleanor Lytton of her stepbrother and her meager allowance. Otherwise an intelligent and sensible woman, she holds the high-handed Earl of Hainford, Blake unreasonably responsible for her stepbrother’s death and insists he accompany her to her new country home, a dreary place with foul furnishings and even fouler weather.
The book shows how they get to know each other, little by little. Their initial hurt and anger gives way very gradually to mutual curiosity and sympathy. Eleanor shows herself to be a redoubtable woman, making what small change she can by publishing insipid novels for juveniles and secreting the money away from her spendthrift stepbrother Francis. She competently handles Blake’s bullet-wound injury without fainting or squeamishness. She manages her stepbrother’s household in town and determines she can deal with her country home in Lancashire, although the finances swiftly dwindle, leaving her in dire economic straits.
Blake for his part isn’t the rakehell her brother was. True, he spends time at gaming halls and other clubs. But he’s not profligate with money and doesn’t court scandal. He’s responsible, charitable and sympathetic towards the radicals (however, we know this mostly by telling rather than by showing since we get this side of his character from his illegitimate half-brother Jonathan; I would have liked to get to know him better but perhaps that’s for another novel).
If either of them comes off as being the more foolish of the romantic pair, it’s Blake. After he’s shot while naked (you have to read this to know why; it’s rather amusing), he should have stayed at the club and gotten his injury tended to by the doctor. Instead, he leaves the place bleeding like a stuck pig to arrive at Eleanor’s house and tell her Francis is dead. What, he couldn’t have gotten bandaged up and sent a messenger?
At another time, he punches a wall and injures his right hand, getting it stuck with splinters. Ouch. Then he falls from his horse and knocks himself on the head. Learning that his new bride has fled over a misunderstanding, he insists on going after her while suffering from a concussion. You learn that he injured himself in a fall when he was a boy. How the hell did this man survive to adulthood?!
The two of them are well matched. They’re both stubborn, willful, prideful and wounded (literally and figuratively). They learn to see past faults and understand the grand nature within each other. They’re a splendid pair. The skilled writing reminds me why Louise Allen is one of the few romance novelists I come back to repeatedly. Her novels feature humor, surprise, innovation and broad-minded thinking that you simply don’t get with the so-called contemporary storylines. So high marks for this one and I look forward to more from her....more
As a sex machine, Sean Connolly is really great in the sack. (Of course. They all are.) He’s also built up a flight company through stubbornness and gAs a sex machine, Sean Connolly is really great in the sack. (Of course. They all are.) He’s also built up a flight company through stubbornness and good business savvy. But his offer to go into a fake engagement to help his sick mother recover her health is a really bad idea. He’s told this by his cousin and Georgia Page is told this by her sister. Do they listen? Well, yeah. But they go ahead with it anyway.
Georgia Page is supposedly a smart woman too. But she’s envious of her sister’s happiness and ignores her sibling’s warning that sex without love isn’t something either of them has ever been able to manage. So when Sean makes her an offer to help her get her business off the ground and gives her a great deal on a house to sweeten the pot, she jumps at the offer.
This book manages to bring comedy into a traditional novel about fake engagement. A hilarious treatise about how a little white lie can snowball into a big disaster, we are treated to an entire town avidly watching the so-called engaged pair and betting on the outcome.
They have great chemistry together and compatible natures. They also worked very well together in public as well as private. So this novel has people in it who show that love is more than hormones colliding.
I have to admit, however, I was just as annoyed as Georgia was by Sean’s dry proposal of an arranged marriage (what is this, the 17th century?). After all, what right did he have to get angry with her? Wasn’t she sticking to their original agreement: have a fake engagement and then end it and publicly? She stood by the terms; so what was he in a huff about?
Naturally, George and Sean fall for each other. But a bungled wedding proposal throws a wrench into the works—and that’s when we see the entire town of Dunley turn out to support Sean.
In spite of the fact that Sean is as crass as Barkis in proposing marriage, the people of Dunley are a colorful bunch and are a treat to read about, even when the focus is shifted from the main characters. The Irish make for great craic and the author manages to have them engage without reducing them to being caricatures. Good novel, interesting characters and a credible ending. Erin go bragh!...more
Slowly but surely, Harlequin romances are moving into the modern age. Yes, they’ll still have unlikely Cinderella scenarios with poor girls meeting haSlowly but surely, Harlequin romances are moving into the modern age. Yes, they’ll still have unlikely Cinderella scenarios with poor girls meeting handsome but lonely billionaires. However, sometimes contemporary ideas will make their way into the improbable tale.
Vasectomies, adoptions, miscarriages, drug addiction, statutory rape (!), a heavily implied abortion and a physically compromised male lead are all part of this novel and I have to admit I found their inclusions to be startling…but not objectionable. Welcome to the 21st century.
That being said, well-worn plot devices are firmly in place. Holly Shay moves in with Jason Cavanaugh after only a token protest. She accepts financial help from him (even after she finds out he’s a billionaire). They agree to stay in the friend zone (guess how long that resolve lasts) and she falls in love with him after only nine days.
Naturally, it’s up to her to declare her feelings first since he’s a commitmentphobe. Let me insert a few words about this oft-seen masculine attitude. Men who tell a woman up front about why they can’t be tied down aren’t being honest: they’re preparing an exit strategy. It doesn’t matter what the reason is. It’s simply their way of getting sex without having to become serious about the person they’re trying to bed. The excuses/reasons/justifications are wide and varied but the motivation is the same. He can’t give anything more than sex because:
He’s got a wife/fiancée/girlfriend. He’s got a job in another state. He’s moving shortly. He’s just passing through. He’s an alcoholic. He’s a drug addict. He doesn’t have long to live. He’s dangerous (criminal, vampire, werewolf, incubus, what have you. Yeah, that chases off a lot of women but there are plenty of ladies out there who find bad boys so HOT.).
Jason’s excuse is poor health. He looks in tip-top shape but he’s had a heart transplant. He needs to see a cardiologist once a month and take a load of pills to make sure his heart keeps working. Well, that is different. But his stated intention of keeping Holly at arm’s length doesn’t last long, especially after he catches her sunbathing and sees her in a towel. Down, boy!
Matters take a predictable road after that though not without some unpredictable twists. What kept me from lapsing into discontent was the addition of Lewis and Miranda, a couple struggling with fertility issues. Miranda is a woman who’s been married four times but has decided that Lewis is the one she wants to keep. A multiple divorcée who isn’t a gold-digger or desperate housewife—another refreshing change.
Miranda and Lewis are a counterpoint to Holly and Jason. Their relationship isn’t perfect by any means and they have their sorrows and tribulations. Miranda doesn’t play the role of the wise and knowing older woman or the chatty, man-obsessed BF who’s constantly poking Holly to go for the gusto. They bolster each other yet sometimes find themselves at a loss…just like real people.
This novel will put off people who prefer their HQ romances to be strictly about unsullied females and stalwart heroes. For those of us yearning for adult fare, however, this is the novel we’ve been saving ourselves up for....more
In the Unexpected Expecting subgenre of romance novels, when many romantic male leads find out their lady friends are pregnant, most are willing to stIn the Unexpected Expecting subgenre of romance novels, when many romantic male leads find out their lady friends are pregnant, most are willing to step right up and be a responsible dad. But it’s always at expense of their single status, his and the woman’s, often after the shortest of mutual prior knowledge. Also, the reasons behind their decisions range from the monetary to possessiveness. The men want to give the child a wealthy upbringing and stamp it with their last name, the way a cowboy stamps a cow with a ranch’s cattle brand.
You’d think the women would balk at this. But no. Apparently, in these romantic fantasies, throwing over your freedom to get hitched to a hot, handsome, hunky inadvertent sperm donor you barely know is a wet dream come true.
Senator Phillip Edgeworth has strong reasons to demand marriage with Alexandra Meer after he knocks her up during their lusty one-night stand. He’s aiming for the White House and he’s not letting anything get in his way. American constituents demand that their presidents be married and faithful. He’s determined to let no breath of scandal destroy his chance at the Oval Office; having an illegitimate child would be disastrous to his plans.
This is sheer nonsense that ignores recent history. Bill Clinton had an affair with an intern and he was elected for a second term. Our current president, the Donald, is such a keen adherent of marriage between one man and one woman that he’s been married three times. So it seems that Americans are very forgiving when it comes to their moral expectations for elected officials.
Phillip coaxes his impending baby mama to the altar with an offer of a loveless marriage, one rooted in friendship. Phillip wants them to be a “unit” (his word) because he doesn’t want to have the child shuttling between the two of them. Never mind that the laidback, socially awkward Alexandra doesn’t want to be a President’s wife, what with its endless socializing, public appearances and talks with political figures. He’s sure he can give her the polish and sophistication she needs to mingle with various dignitaries. He’s a friend, which means he likes her for who she is. But as her husband he wants her to change to suit his needs. Oh, this is off to a swell start.
The hidden truth is that he’s still mourning his dead wife, gone for two years. He’s certain he can keep Alex in his bed and Gina in his heart. So he wants them to be friends but he reminds her about how great they were in bed together, which is more than a lot of people in love get. And all this is finished off with the firm statement that divorce isn’t an option.
In what century is this book written? I’d thought arranged marriages in America had gone the way of jumping the broom or running away to Gretna Green! And no chance of a divorce? This book was published in 2016 but the action might as well be set in 1516.
Phillip initially comes off as being rather callous when it comes to showing Alexandra the proper attention. When morning sickness means sex isn’t in the offing on their wedding night, he’s disappointed, sets her on the bed and wanders off in the hopes that there’s a Rangers game on the tv. Thus, without sex in the mix, he can’t be bothered to show her any consideration? Then he starts getting testy because she won’t quit her real job in order to focus on his work and her growing fetuses, even though she’s only three months gone. Unbelievable.
Alexandra definitely should have looked before she leapt into a marriage with this man. Just because they had a great working relationship and a robust tumble between the sheets doesn’t mean they’ve got what it takes to be a long-term married pair. Perhaps in real life there are married couples who start off with much less between them than an accidentally created lifeform…but what is the likelihood of happy endings for them?
However, Phillip has talks with family members and comes to think that maybe caring for your new bride and allowing love into marriage isn’t such a bad idea. (Wow, you think?) So he’s pulled around to the notion of loving his spouse and Alex gets that happy family she’s wanted for so long. Hip hip hooray. Let the two of them wave goodbye all the way to the White House....more
Some novels feature men willing to jump headfirst into a marriage to a woman they’ve known only for one night, demanding everything from conjugal righSome novels feature men willing to jump headfirst into a marriage to a woman they’ve known only for one night, demanding everything from conjugal rights to paternal ones. Excuse me, what century are we living in where a man is considered husband and father material just because he was a one-time sperm donor?
But this novel is different. The man in question is an emotionally closed-off commitmentphobe who basically pushed away his bedmate because she was starting to take things waaaaay too seriously. Then he learns that she’s pregnant.
Far from wanting to be in the kid’s life, he takes the defensive, says he doesn’t think he has it in him to be a father and wants time to think about it. Granted, she’s had three months to come to terms with the situation and he’s had about ten minutes. But a woman’s pregnancy doesn’t get put on hold while a man’s taking time to think about it.
Matters between them are dicey, too. They’re adversaries (his term) in a bid for who’s going to sell apartments in Charlotte’s condo. Charlotte Locke has been a flibberty-gibbet most of her life, going from one job to another. Michael Kelly is a driven former Olympic gold-medal-winning swimmer who’s channeled his hard-nosed attitude into every one of his business ventures. He’s always won and he’s not about to lose to his former girlfriend.
These two should focus on business. But Charlotte has always worn her heart on her sleeve and I found myself fuming at how she would be chatting up people rather than networking at a party or sleeping with Michael when she had warned herself to stay away from him and keep matters strictly professional between them.
Oy. Apart from Michael’s initial trepidation about learning he’s going to be a father, this novel is just another bland entry in the Unexpected Expecting slot. As far as I’m concerned, you can throw out the baby AND the bath water with this one....more
This novel throws a few surprises into the works. It starts where most novels end: with a marriage between a man and woman certain they’re right for eThis novel throws a few surprises into the works. It starts where most novels end: with a marriage between a man and woman certain they’re right for each other from the very first moment they meet.
How does that saying go? “Marry in haste, regret at leisure”? The blurb gives you the information that not all went well in paradise. Yet, even without that hint, I could smell trouble from the beginning. Jordan lies to Mila to get her to a picnic (guess simply asking her for drinks, dinner and a movie isn’t his style) and then gently taunts her by asking if she’s going to stay or run. It’s the adult equivalent of a teenager sneeringly asking whether you’re chicken or frigid.
Well, this romance is off to a promising start, isn’t it? Mila should run from this guy but she finds herself so drawn to him that she accepts it when he offers her wine, starts pulling the pins out of her hair and talking about how she must feel what he’s feeling, too. All this on their first date.
The scene fades out to a kiss, with nothing explicit being written. But I couldn’t help hoping that they at least used condoms. It’s one thing to be giddy about someone you just met. It’s another to be irresponsible and risk venereal disease with a passing stranger.
But the novel shows that they divorced after a tragedy that takes a while to be revealed. About that divorce? Well, there’s a surprise, too.
Four years create changes in this couple and they’re no longer so sure of their footing. In fact, Mila and Jordan realize they don’t know the other person at all. So the novel takes us along with them as they gradually and painfully peel back their loved one’s defenses, trying to get to the root of why their seemingly love-at-first-sight marriage shattered and disintegrated so quickly.
This is a novel that keeps its couple together but admits a love that seems predestined isn’t necessarily something to jump into without consideration. It’s a romance about adults behaving like adults not giddy, hormone-driven teenagers. Even at moments where sex seems in the offing, Mila or Jordan pulls back (usually because of an outside influence like a phone ringing rather than common sense rearing its head but I’ll take it), preferring to let conjugal relations take a back seat to the communication they earnestly need to engage in.
This book is special, wonderful and satisfying because it turns the quixotic notions of other love stories on their heads and shows what it really takes to keep a relationship going and a marriage strong. Hats off to you, Ms. Beharrie....more
Opposites do attract and an author like Arthur can play with that to humorous effect. Initially, Mack comes off as a bit of a grouch and Wes seems a sOpposites do attract and an author like Arthur can play with that to humorous effect. Initially, Mack comes off as a bit of a grouch and Wes seems a swishy little twink. But first appearances are deceiving and each man peels away at the layers of the other in cautious but probing conversations and truly steamy sex.
Both men have their demons that make them a bit slow to trust each other. Betrayal, loss and ex-boyfriends make for potential minefields and Wes and Mack are quick to back off when they see someone else doesn’t want to talk. That can be frustrating for women to endure (the strong, silent male who doesn’t talk about his feelings isn’t that attractive) but fascinating to read.
There are other characters in this novel. But they have their own issues to handle. That means, thankfully, we don’t get the constant nagging, scrutiny and meddling from other people that seems to proliferate m/f romances. In those novels, there are always folks trying to get a man and a woman together until you wonder whether these people even have lives. But here, most of the figures mixed up with Wes and Mack seem content to let the romance progress on its own.
Expectations are convincingly overturned. There are personal mysteries here. Some get cleared up; some don’t. Presumably, we’ll learn more in subsequent novels in this series. I’m really eager to see what happens between the other significant males....more
A woman learns her fiancé has been cheating on her and she bails during their engagement party. Then she hooks up with an old flame who takes her to hA woman learns her fiancé has been cheating on her and she bails during their engagement party. Then she hooks up with an old flame who takes her to his isolated cabin. Said cabin gets snowed in during a blizzard. Oh, dear. What shall they do to pass the time?
Since this is one of the more familiar romantic scenarios, we don’t have to strain ourselves too hard to figure out what happens after that. Tressa Washington doesn’t back away from the resulting sexual monkeyshines and neither does Roth Lexington, although it takes them a while to shed their clothes and inhibitions. Roth wonders whether she might be using him to get over her trifling, cheating ex-fiancé. That is a concern and the novel does address it, albeit a tad hurriedly.
There are moments when they talk, open up and nurse each other during sickness so it’s not all pornographic romps. Other than a couple of meddling, interfering exes, the main problems are building up trust in each other and accepting the love emerging between them.
But this is a romantic fantasy. So Tressa Washington goes from being a working woman to being a wife and mother. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe in the scene where Roth finally proposes to her. He doesn’t mind keeping her from work and she doesn’t mind the notion of having loads of little children running around the place. In fact, the novel constantly emphasizes her nurturing nature, her desire to have loads of kids and her sadness over having to give up a foster child.
So the scene is set for your 2000s romance with 1950s values. Tressa gives up her last name and presumably her job. Roth gets himself two sons (the start of that football team he dreamed of fathering) and it’s your typical happy-ever-after scene.
For a romance with tears, recriminations, heated sex scenarios and bouncing babies, you could do worse than this one....more
Jack Buchanan has problems with a capital P. He came back from a disastrous military campaign that left him shattered and haunted. Since then, he’s beJack Buchanan has problems with a capital P. He came back from a disastrous military campaign that left him shattered and haunted. Since then, he’s been shoving away everyone who could possibly get through to him. He’s suffering from survivor’s guilt and horrific nightmares. If there’s ever a man who needed therapy, it’s this guy.
So when he finds he left a lovely woman pregnant, he decides he needs to marry her…for the sake of the baby, of course. And because he’s putting himself through some weird kind of penance.
Okay, what?! He’s mixed up, that’s clear. But I can’t believe that Rita Marchetti gives in to his demands to marry her after he gets back. First of all, he lets her know he’s been in town for four months and didn’t bother letting her know by sending her that letter he promised. Then she can see that he’s not the same man who left her all those months ago. He’s closed off, distant and tense. Thus, she’s aware that he’s been wounded in some way. Then he gets huffy and tells her that no child of his is going to be raised over a bakery. Wow, snobbish much?
So she decides she’s going to marry him. After only a week of persuasion on his part. Insert facepalm here.
This man has issues. He thinks the way to deal with it is to marry Rita and yet keep her at arm’s length. How in hell is that supposed to work? Rita should insist he get therapy. At the very least, she shouldn’t marry such a deeply troubled man; what child needs that kind of damaged goods for a father?
But she subscribes to the outmoded notion that she can “save” him. Uh no. If a man is suffering from severe problems like addiction, alcoholism or PTSD (as Jack clearly is), he needs psychiatric care not some good lovin’. Jack has alienated his family and Rita thinks she can get through to him after a week-long tryst and a hasty marriage meant to last only three months? Instead of Jack’s family congratulating her on getting married to him, someone should have pulled her aside and asked her seriously if she knew what she was getting into with this man.
But a little talking-to from his sister and steady persistence by Rita serve to bring Jack around and set his head on straight. This is the sort of goofy, ill-conceived nonsense you only find in puerile novels of this sort. Give this one a pass, ladies, unless you’re the sort who writes letters to serial killers in prison....more
The return to this series features the winsome, happy-go-lucky Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe—only not so notorious since her rakish husband died two years The return to this series features the winsome, happy-go-lucky Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe—only not so notorious since her rakish husband died two years ago. This novel shows a woman who is pressed into the business of becoming an adult. Without her husband rushing her from one madcap party, ball, mischievous adventure after another she’s come to the painful realization that she’s broke. This requires drastic changes in lifestyle.
The stuffy, stodgy and dull Mr. Dante Augustus Montague prefers to think of himself as moral, upstanding, hard working and responsible, thank you very much. Two very different people are hard to think of…but a trip abroad has the wonderful quality of broadening everybody’s horizons. Mix in outspoken Americans, scheming Venetians, flirtatious noblemen and you’ve got yourself one hell of a mind-expanding adventure.
The novel shows the path both main characters take towards becoming more fully rounded human beings, ready to embrace all that adulthood has in store for them. The novel also features the return of that trio of elderly schemers Lady Guinevere Blodgett, Mrs. Ophelia Higginbotham and Mrs. Persephone Fitzhew-Wellmore (geez, what were their parents thinking?), those deceptively doddering ladies who are expert at winding people around their fingers. Reading about them is just as entertaining as reading about those wandering in their periphery.
That brings us to the novella included with the main story. When one of the women chirps “Indeed, my dear friends, what can possibly go wrong?” you know you’re headed for trouble. And trouble raises its ugly head. The ladies once again try their hands at matchmaking, only to run aground on their own cleverness when an invented adventurer (with the improbable name of Reginald Everheart) is expected to make a public appearance. Eep!
What I like is that the women in these stories are driven and intrepid, especially Willie Bascombe, who discovers a core of strength, rectitude and responsibility she never knew she had. The promise that they will accompany their men on adventures and trips is an exciting notion, making me hope for more such explorations in future novels in this series. Westward, ho!...more
