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Java Nights
It was time to rebuild her life
Two years ago Rae's world had collapsed in ruins. Now her new job as a teacher in Indonesia was part of her effort to come to terms with the past.
Not that there weren't still problems to be faced--chief among them the war of wits she had to wage with Anouk, easily her most uncooperative pupil.
Yet it was Jason Grant, Anouk's attractive but uncompromising father, who was to present Rae with the greatest challenge of all!
Two years ago Rae's world had collapsed in ruins. Now her new job as a teacher in Indonesia was part of her effort to come to terms with the past.
Not that there weren't still problems to be faced--chief among them the war of wits she had to wage with Anouk, easily her most uncooperative pupil.
Yet it was Jason Grant, Anouk's attractive but uncompromising father, who was to present Rae with the greatest challenge of all!
189 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 10, 1990
12 people want to read
About the author
Karen van der Zee
93 books41 followersI always wanted to write, ever since I was a child growing up in Holland. I was a dreamer, reading books and making up my own stories. I had notebooks full of stories which I illustrated with crayon drawings. My brothers burned the notebooks in the attic one day, fortunately not burning down the house. They don’t remember this now, but I do!
I also always wanted to travel. Holland is very flat and I wanted to see mountains and coconut palms and tropical beaches and deserts. I wanted to meet interesting people and learn about different cultures and see how people lived their daily lives. And then I wanted to write adventurous stories set in these exotic places
I got lucky and fell in love with a globetrotting American. I met him in Amsterdam, he asked me to marry him in Rome, and we tied the knot in a ten-minute ceremony in Kenya, East Africa, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Some wedding that was! Not the stuff of romantic dreams, but really good for a laugh.
After Kenya we lived in the States for a while, then four years in Ghana, West Africa where not only our first daughter was born, but my first Mills & Boon romance as well. It took me a year to write, which is three months longer than it takes to have a baby. It was set in Ghana, and I called it SWEET NOT ALWAYS, a slogan found on a big colorfully decorated truck that transported people, goods, and live chickens.
I continued writing romances and loved the creativity of it, although it was, and is, never easy. Later we also lived in Indonesia, Ramallah (Palestine), then another three years in Ghana, and most recently six years in Armenia, which lies east of Turkey and north of Iran. Along the way we acquired a couple more kids, so now we have three.
I’ve written over thirty books now, many set in exotic locations such as Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Java, Kenya and Ghana, as well as Holland and the US. Writing as Mona van Wieren, I received a RITA for a Silhouette Romance entitled RHAPSODY IN BLOOM.
I love the challenge of living in a foreign country where the food is different, the people interesting and life gives me endless inspiration for my writing. So, I’ll just keep going for a while.
I also always wanted to travel. Holland is very flat and I wanted to see mountains and coconut palms and tropical beaches and deserts. I wanted to meet interesting people and learn about different cultures and see how people lived their daily lives. And then I wanted to write adventurous stories set in these exotic places
I got lucky and fell in love with a globetrotting American. I met him in Amsterdam, he asked me to marry him in Rome, and we tied the knot in a ten-minute ceremony in Kenya, East Africa, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Some wedding that was! Not the stuff of romantic dreams, but really good for a laugh.
After Kenya we lived in the States for a while, then four years in Ghana, West Africa where not only our first daughter was born, but my first Mills & Boon romance as well. It took me a year to write, which is three months longer than it takes to have a baby. It was set in Ghana, and I called it SWEET NOT ALWAYS, a slogan found on a big colorfully decorated truck that transported people, goods, and live chickens.
I continued writing romances and loved the creativity of it, although it was, and is, never easy. Later we also lived in Indonesia, Ramallah (Palestine), then another three years in Ghana, and most recently six years in Armenia, which lies east of Turkey and north of Iran. Along the way we acquired a couple more kids, so now we have three.
I’ve written over thirty books now, many set in exotic locations such as Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Java, Kenya and Ghana, as well as Holland and the US. Writing as Mona van Wieren, I received a RITA for a Silhouette Romance entitled RHAPSODY IN BLOOM.
I love the challenge of living in a foreign country where the food is different, the people interesting and life gives me endless inspiration for my writing. So, I’ll just keep going for a while.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 20, 2017
re Java Nights - Karen van der Zee takes us to the Island of Java, to the Indonesian city of Semarang for a detailed life among the ex-pat community there.
The h is a 27 yr. old widow, who is returning to Java as an English as a second language teacher in the little ex-pat school. She had been a teacher at the school two years earlier when her husband was alive. Her husband was awarded the job of doing an Indonesian development project and they were very happy until a man the h only knows as "Steel" bought out her husband's contract and forced him out, so they had to return to the US.
This sent her husband into a towering depression, he began drinking and nothing the h could do would stop his disintegration. One night her husband drank too much at party, swam out to sea and drowned. It was ruled an accident, but the h thinks it was deliberate and has spent the last two years grieving for her beloved husband's loss and getting her Masters in ESL studies.
She has friends among the ex-pats on Java and so when she was looking for a teaching position, her friend's got her the job. The opening of the book is the h returning to Semarang in an effort to move on from the past and build a new life. She is warmly welcomed by the whole community. There is one man with a five year old daughter who only speaks Dutch. The h's first night there the guy keeps staring at her and later on the h finds out that he did not want her to be the ESL teacher.
The h doesn't understand his attitude, but she makes the best of the situation. Except his daughter refuses to learn English. The girl's mother died a few years earlier in car accident and she was happy in Holland with her grandparents, but she doesn't like that her father made her move to Java. So she stubbornly persists in either refusing to learn or starts disrupting class. The h tries several times to help the little girl, but is eventually forced to remove her from the other students and place her by herself in another part of the class room. The girl's father takes exception to this treatment and has a go at the h.
She explains that the girl has some emotional problems and when the h tried to talk to the H about them, he blamed the whole situation on the h and refused to take any actions with his daughter. The h forcibly explains that he wants a therapist/grandmother for the girl, yet he refuses to act and she isn't a therapist, she is a teacher and she simply cannot teach a girl who actively resists being in her class. The H gets really angry and tells her off, but later he comes back and takes the h out to dinner and apologizes.
The h decides that maybe the girl is missing her home life, her mother's death shook her up and then having to leave the stability of Holland probably left the girl insecure and unhappy. The h tries to learn some Dutch to communicate with the child, but the girl reacts very violently and tells her that she isn't her mother and can't replace her.
The H gets very angry at the h for trying to change the situation and the h is feeling bad because she is attracted to the H. The H and h had been spending some time together at the various detailed parties the ex-pats have for each other and she thought they might be able to build a relationship. The H is the first man she has been interested in since her husband passed on.
The h's attempts at Dutch communication bring about a break thru for the H's daughter. She begins participating in class and accepting the h. There is a big teary moment when the h, who is a great baker and worked in a bakery while attending uni, makes the child a birthday cake with roses and the little girl breaks down in sorrow for being so mean to the h. It is soon all soothed over and the h and H become lovers. Things are perking along nicely with lots of ex-pat life details and a trip to an island resort up in the hills where the H and h become lovers.
Then the h finds out that the H was the guy called 'Steel' who forced her husband out. She asks him why he did it and he doesn't have a good answer and the h is clearly traumatized. She accuses the H of ruining her and her husband's life and holds the H responsible for his decline and death. She thinks the H did it for the prestige of the contract the husband was hired to do and she doesn't want to be involved with someone who ruins lives out of ego and greed.
(The H is some kind of specialist trouble shooter for developing nations projects, if things aren't working out on various projects, he and his company go in and fix them - it was very vague really, but he is some kind of consultant.)
The h breaks up with the H and she is friends with an Australian guy the H doesn't like. She and the Australian go to Singapore for a change and to shop, (they are only friends,) and the H follows them with his daughter and her grandparents. The h doesn't want to see the H and gets angry that he is still pursuing her. The H eventually accepts that she isn't willing to continue on and we all return to Semarang for the h to teach and have major mopey moments along with more Java travelogue.
The people the h is living with, (she has the guest apartment,) have to return to Florida due to family tragedy, so the h has to find another place to live. The H and his daughter are taking over the house the h is at and so the h shares a house with her Australian friend. The H isn't happy about it, he is still randomly roofie kissing the h at various intervals to get her to change her mind, but the h is still holding firm since the H won't explain his actions.
While she is living in the Australian guy's house, (he is frequently gone on business and they aren't romantic, the Australian guy has a girlfriend in another city,) a wall falls over in the torrential rains and almost wipes out the h's bedroom, she thinks it is an earthquake and the wall falling does almost as much damage. She has to move back into the apartment at the H's new house in the aftermath of the accident and they wind up in bed again. The next morning the h rejects the H all over again and later that day, the h is at the local hotel using the pool when she hears a group of men discussing how incompetent her dead husband was and how he was forced out before he ruined the project.
The h is in shock at the accusation and she goes to confront the H. He confirms that her husband wasn't a good fit for the job and couldn't get the project to work the way it was supposed to, so the H had to come in and buy the husband out. The h has herself a little think about things and then decides she needs to apologize to the H. She does and he forgives her and they both declare true love for the big HEA.
This one was interesting for the detailed descriptions of living in a completely different culture in a developing country. The romance was okay, but the big misunderstanding and separation was kinda drawn out cause the H could have explained at any time, but he went the roofie kisses route instead, so it felt a bit forced.
KvdZ always has a lot of angsty h pining, so that is the norm for her and the romance was okay with a believable HEA, but not really one to hunt down. However, if you ever wondered what it is like to live in an ex-pat community back in the 90's, this is definitely one HPlandia outing you will want to read.
The h is a 27 yr. old widow, who is returning to Java as an English as a second language teacher in the little ex-pat school. She had been a teacher at the school two years earlier when her husband was alive. Her husband was awarded the job of doing an Indonesian development project and they were very happy until a man the h only knows as "Steel" bought out her husband's contract and forced him out, so they had to return to the US.
This sent her husband into a towering depression, he began drinking and nothing the h could do would stop his disintegration. One night her husband drank too much at party, swam out to sea and drowned. It was ruled an accident, but the h thinks it was deliberate and has spent the last two years grieving for her beloved husband's loss and getting her Masters in ESL studies.
She has friends among the ex-pats on Java and so when she was looking for a teaching position, her friend's got her the job. The opening of the book is the h returning to Semarang in an effort to move on from the past and build a new life. She is warmly welcomed by the whole community. There is one man with a five year old daughter who only speaks Dutch. The h's first night there the guy keeps staring at her and later on the h finds out that he did not want her to be the ESL teacher.
The h doesn't understand his attitude, but she makes the best of the situation. Except his daughter refuses to learn English. The girl's mother died a few years earlier in car accident and she was happy in Holland with her grandparents, but she doesn't like that her father made her move to Java. So she stubbornly persists in either refusing to learn or starts disrupting class. The h tries several times to help the little girl, but is eventually forced to remove her from the other students and place her by herself in another part of the class room. The girl's father takes exception to this treatment and has a go at the h.
She explains that the girl has some emotional problems and when the h tried to talk to the H about them, he blamed the whole situation on the h and refused to take any actions with his daughter. The h forcibly explains that he wants a therapist/grandmother for the girl, yet he refuses to act and she isn't a therapist, she is a teacher and she simply cannot teach a girl who actively resists being in her class. The H gets really angry and tells her off, but later he comes back and takes the h out to dinner and apologizes.
The h decides that maybe the girl is missing her home life, her mother's death shook her up and then having to leave the stability of Holland probably left the girl insecure and unhappy. The h tries to learn some Dutch to communicate with the child, but the girl reacts very violently and tells her that she isn't her mother and can't replace her.
The H gets very angry at the h for trying to change the situation and the h is feeling bad because she is attracted to the H. The H and h had been spending some time together at the various detailed parties the ex-pats have for each other and she thought they might be able to build a relationship. The H is the first man she has been interested in since her husband passed on.
The h's attempts at Dutch communication bring about a break thru for the H's daughter. She begins participating in class and accepting the h. There is a big teary moment when the h, who is a great baker and worked in a bakery while attending uni, makes the child a birthday cake with roses and the little girl breaks down in sorrow for being so mean to the h. It is soon all soothed over and the h and H become lovers. Things are perking along nicely with lots of ex-pat life details and a trip to an island resort up in the hills where the H and h become lovers.
Then the h finds out that the H was the guy called 'Steel' who forced her husband out. She asks him why he did it and he doesn't have a good answer and the h is clearly traumatized. She accuses the H of ruining her and her husband's life and holds the H responsible for his decline and death. She thinks the H did it for the prestige of the contract the husband was hired to do and she doesn't want to be involved with someone who ruins lives out of ego and greed.
(The H is some kind of specialist trouble shooter for developing nations projects, if things aren't working out on various projects, he and his company go in and fix them - it was very vague really, but he is some kind of consultant.)
The h breaks up with the H and she is friends with an Australian guy the H doesn't like. She and the Australian go to Singapore for a change and to shop, (they are only friends,) and the H follows them with his daughter and her grandparents. The h doesn't want to see the H and gets angry that he is still pursuing her. The H eventually accepts that she isn't willing to continue on and we all return to Semarang for the h to teach and have major mopey moments along with more Java travelogue.
The people the h is living with, (she has the guest apartment,) have to return to Florida due to family tragedy, so the h has to find another place to live. The H and his daughter are taking over the house the h is at and so the h shares a house with her Australian friend. The H isn't happy about it, he is still randomly roofie kissing the h at various intervals to get her to change her mind, but the h is still holding firm since the H won't explain his actions.
While she is living in the Australian guy's house, (he is frequently gone on business and they aren't romantic, the Australian guy has a girlfriend in another city,) a wall falls over in the torrential rains and almost wipes out the h's bedroom, she thinks it is an earthquake and the wall falling does almost as much damage. She has to move back into the apartment at the H's new house in the aftermath of the accident and they wind up in bed again. The next morning the h rejects the H all over again and later that day, the h is at the local hotel using the pool when she hears a group of men discussing how incompetent her dead husband was and how he was forced out before he ruined the project.
The h is in shock at the accusation and she goes to confront the H. He confirms that her husband wasn't a good fit for the job and couldn't get the project to work the way it was supposed to, so the H had to come in and buy the husband out. The h has herself a little think about things and then decides she needs to apologize to the H. She does and he forgives her and they both declare true love for the big HEA.
This one was interesting for the detailed descriptions of living in a completely different culture in a developing country. The romance was okay, but the big misunderstanding and separation was kinda drawn out cause the H could have explained at any time, but he went the roofie kisses route instead, so it felt a bit forced.
KvdZ always has a lot of angsty h pining, so that is the norm for her and the romance was okay with a believable HEA, but not really one to hunt down. However, if you ever wondered what it is like to live in an ex-pat community back in the 90's, this is definitely one HPlandia outing you will want to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2018
Rae goes to Indonesia to teach, but encounters Anouk who refuses to learn English and her father Jason. She clashes with Jason regarding teaching his daughter and develops feelings for him. Little did she know that Jason was responsible for making her a widow two years ago.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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