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Model Of Deception
Could she deceive a man like him?
Paula had to get close to Luke Armstrong and persuade him to sell his Caribbean island. That way the prospective buyers would write off her mortgage. And Luke would be well paid.
But Paula neglected some of the details. She planned to escape before things went too far. And even if Luke were to catch her and try to force himself on her, she decided he'd be turned off-the way her fiance had been-by her inability to respond.
She didn't expect Luke to be more than she could handle. She hadn't planned on falling in love.
Paula had to get close to Luke Armstrong and persuade him to sell his Caribbean island. That way the prospective buyers would write off her mortgage. And Luke would be well paid.
But Paula neglected some of the details. She planned to escape before things went too far. And even if Luke were to catch her and try to force himself on her, she decided he'd be turned off-the way her fiance had been-by her inability to respond.
She didn't expect Luke to be more than she could handle. She hadn't planned on falling in love.
189 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 8, 1985
3 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Pargeter
104 books75 followersMargaret Pargeter was a popular writer of 50 romance novels in Mills & Boon from 1975 to 1986.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 30, 2018
That's exactly the way I felt for the majority of this novel ! Exasperated with both MC's. But, as with most of the books I've read by Margaret Pargeter, I just couldn't stop reading. The MC's were both a bit childish, the heroine was too selfish at first and the H deserves a place in the top 10 HPlandia list of most spiteful and vengeful heroes.
Paula the H starts off as a spoilt, entitled, materialistic former rich girl whose daddy died bankrupt. She's also one of the vainest heroines ever ! Most beautiful HPlandia heroines are modest but Paula's not shy when it comes to admiring her own physical attributes:
Anyway, what kind of daddy has the audacity to die and leave his only child nothing ? Lol. She has also been recently jilted by her aristocratic fiance and has to work as a model in order to pay her bills. Paula hates working but I'm not qualified to judge her on that score, since I'm very lazy and self indulgent myself. Anyway, Paula's money management skills are non existent and she soon finds herself unable to pay the mortgage on her fancy condo. Her bankers offer her a solution: they will pay off the mortgage if she goes to the Caribbean and seduces a guy called Luke Armstrong ( the H ) into selling his island to them. Now I am pondering this last part a lot because Paula is not a seductress. On the contrary, Paula's a frigid virgin who, as Boogenhagen will say, is still playing with unicorns. Lol.
The other thing that I couldn't figure out was: why do they want Luke's island specifically ? That last part is never answered satisfactorily.
The first part of the novel deals with a besotted H who treats Paula like a goddess and a princess and she laps up this adoration because she thinks she's entitled to it. The H is on the verge on proposing marriage to Paula when he discovers that she's been conning him all along. This changes the entire power dynamic in their relationship because Luke is now seeking vengeance. He keeps Paula trapped on his island and makes her work as a housekeeper cum dogsbody. At first I was filled with glee:
It was good to see Paula get a little punishment because she's not the nicest heroine out there. But then the H started to become nastier and his treatment of her began to border on serfdom or near slavery. She really suffered from all that hard work ! At that point, my initial glee turned to anger because I hated seeing her in such emotional and physical pain from the overwork and his continual insults:
What makes me angrier is the H's whole attitude of self-satisfaction when he sees how hurt and tormented she is. I think Luke even started to enjoy his little revenge plot against the heroine:
The MC's also have sex but Luke's attitude, like his boner, doesn't soften. He's also a rich writer and one of his books is being made into a movie. He brings an OW ( who's an actress ) to the island and acts like he and this malicious tart are having a relationship. It is later revealed ( when the MC's reconcile at the end ) that he had not been banging the OW. Actually Luke said that he hadn't been banging the hagbitch OW. This is one of those novels where the author doesn't employ the use of the 3rd person omniscient narrative voice that lets the reader see what the H is thinking. I guess, the romantic and optimistic reader will choose to believe the H. There had been a scene where Paula had caught him holding the OW in his arms, though. The less naive reader might choose not to believe the H and might even think that, maybe, his interaction with the OW had been something kinda similar to:
LOL.
Paula has, in the midst of all her well deserved suffering, fallen in love with Luke but thinks that he will never love her because of the way she had tried to con him.
The MC's are the separated for a few months because Luke has to go to New York on business and Paula returns to London to sort out her life. Paula becomes a cook for a young couple and she also gets rid of her condo and rents a cheap bedsitter apartment instead. The author did a fabulous job of showing how much Paula had changed. She's no longer a horrible bitch and has learnt to appreciate the value of money. Luke soon reappears in her life because he is a cousin of Paula's employer. He is mean and makes a lot of nasty comments to her; he tells her that he has been with other women while he was in New York. This is revealed to be a lie, later on when he confesses that he has been celibate since his time with Paula on the island. There's an intense reunion scene when Luke goes berserk because he can't find Paula and thinks she has run away from him. This causes him to confess his love for her and to propose marriage.
There were some really drama filled parts of this novel. Both MC's were horrible to each other at different points in the novel: Paula had tried to con and manipulate him for money and he had repaid her by treating her like an unpaid servant. I enjoyed all the angst filled drama because these 2 truly deserved each other ( and that's not really a compliment ...). But they both ended up with their HEA and are probably still the happy loved up twosome on his romantic private island in the Caribbean:
Safety: I guess I'll admit to being one of the naive, romantic optimists since I choose to believe that the H had been telling the truth when he'd said that he hadn't banged the OW. He also said that he'd been unable to think of other women while they were separated and he'd been in the USA. The heroine was celibate during their separation.
This is the heroine, Paula:
This is the H, Luke:
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2016
Re Model of Deception - Margaret Pargeter's final HP outing brings us a spoiled, 20 year old, recently-jilted-by-a-future-lord-and-now-penniless-after-the-death-of-her-parents-but-still-beautiful-h. She is having a very hard time adjusting, but she is fairly obnoxious, so it is hard to empathize with her.
She is also in danger of being evicted, she works as a model occasionally but is rather lackadaisical in getting to her jobs, so finances are running low. Her mortgage holders have a deal for her that can help her out. (NO, not THAT kind of deal-well not precisely). If she will go to the Bahamas and seduce a certain island holder into selling his property to the mortgage guys, she will get her luxury flat for free and a large amount of cash besides.
She is still a virgin, (she thinks she is frigid,) in spite of her looks and her many dates, but hopes maybe she can pull this off. So away she goes and meets the island holder H. He likes the look of her and she tries to insinuate herself, but she is the worst agent provocateur imaginable and after leading her on with a false marriage proposal, he reveals he knows all about her attempted con and she can work it off as his housekeeper for a bit.
He is also a best selling novelist, and taunts her with the riches she could have had with him as he drags her off to his lonely island and proceeds to forcibly seduce her one night. She gets into it after the first time and thanks him for making her realize she isn't frigid. She is now in love with the H. He is decidedly not in love with her. After two nights of bliss and her doing housework during the day, some friends of his happen to drop in, including a very lovely OW.
The h is set to work looking after them, the H is occupied with the new lady and the h is miserable. (I did feel sorta bad for her pain, but I can't figure out if MP has a secret housework fetish or she really hates it - all of her h's turn into domestic drudges as part of their ritual humbling martyrdom.) The H eventually kicks the h out, as he is off with his new lady to NYC.
She goes back to England, a much more humble and nicer person and gets a job as a cook. The people she now works for temporarily have an unexpected guest arrive, it turns out to be the H. (They are his cousins. ) She has to beg him not to expose her as a con-artist and right before the punishing kisses, he tells her he has had other women when she asks. He tells her she is on his probation and then he dumps her again.
The H is nicer to her the next day, and the lady she works for knows something is up. The h gets the day off as the H is apparently taking another woman out for lunch and her employer feels sorry for her.
The h goes home to her lonely little room, (she gave the luxury flat up,) and the H shows up later that night. He has supposedly been in love with her all this time, he tells her he should have made her follow through on the fake engagement he set her up for so he could torture, er-love on her, as his wife where she would be firmly trapped, er- lurved up. He is kicking his own self for a missed opportunity there.
He claims to have lied about the OW women and he wasn't really sleeping with the guest on the island. Now that the h is properly domesticated, she can come slave in his kitchen and learn nanny skills on his kids, and the h is deliriously happy to chain herself to his domestic servitude as the gates of Pargeter Commonwealth shut forever to any new admissions.
The aliens have lost contact and HPlandia will never be the same. We wave a fond farewell to Ms. Pargeter and thankfully remove our aluminum foil helmets, relieved that we can all travel the highways of HPlandia without fear of being moving lightning conductors.
In a weird sorta way, I liked this book. The h was pretty horrible and I had a lot of empathy for the H, but she really was rather pathetic towards the end in her unloved misery, and so at least the H got some of his own back.
He really was rather nice for an MP H and the h did humble pretty well when she put her mind to it. This is probably the only MP where the h was more unlikable than the H, and that takes some serious twisting of MP's usual style.
She is also in danger of being evicted, she works as a model occasionally but is rather lackadaisical in getting to her jobs, so finances are running low. Her mortgage holders have a deal for her that can help her out. (NO, not THAT kind of deal-well not precisely). If she will go to the Bahamas and seduce a certain island holder into selling his property to the mortgage guys, she will get her luxury flat for free and a large amount of cash besides.
She is still a virgin, (she thinks she is frigid,) in spite of her looks and her many dates, but hopes maybe she can pull this off. So away she goes and meets the island holder H. He likes the look of her and she tries to insinuate herself, but she is the worst agent provocateur imaginable and after leading her on with a false marriage proposal, he reveals he knows all about her attempted con and she can work it off as his housekeeper for a bit.
He is also a best selling novelist, and taunts her with the riches she could have had with him as he drags her off to his lonely island and proceeds to forcibly seduce her one night. She gets into it after the first time and thanks him for making her realize she isn't frigid. She is now in love with the H. He is decidedly not in love with her. After two nights of bliss and her doing housework during the day, some friends of his happen to drop in, including a very lovely OW.
The h is set to work looking after them, the H is occupied with the new lady and the h is miserable. (I did feel sorta bad for her pain, but I can't figure out if MP has a secret housework fetish or she really hates it - all of her h's turn into domestic drudges as part of their ritual humbling martyrdom.) The H eventually kicks the h out, as he is off with his new lady to NYC.
She goes back to England, a much more humble and nicer person and gets a job as a cook. The people she now works for temporarily have an unexpected guest arrive, it turns out to be the H. (They are his cousins. ) She has to beg him not to expose her as a con-artist and right before the punishing kisses, he tells her he has had other women when she asks. He tells her she is on his probation and then he dumps her again.
The H is nicer to her the next day, and the lady she works for knows something is up. The h gets the day off as the H is apparently taking another woman out for lunch and her employer feels sorry for her.
The h goes home to her lonely little room, (she gave the luxury flat up,) and the H shows up later that night. He has supposedly been in love with her all this time, he tells her he should have made her follow through on the fake engagement he set her up for so he could torture, er-love on her, as his wife where she would be firmly trapped, er- lurved up. He is kicking his own self for a missed opportunity there.
He claims to have lied about the OW women and he wasn't really sleeping with the guest on the island. Now that the h is properly domesticated, she can come slave in his kitchen and learn nanny skills on his kids, and the h is deliriously happy to chain herself to his domestic servitude as the gates of Pargeter Commonwealth shut forever to any new admissions.
The aliens have lost contact and HPlandia will never be the same. We wave a fond farewell to Ms. Pargeter and thankfully remove our aluminum foil helmets, relieved that we can all travel the highways of HPlandia without fear of being moving lightning conductors.
In a weird sorta way, I liked this book. The h was pretty horrible and I had a lot of empathy for the H, but she really was rather pathetic towards the end in her unloved misery, and so at least the H got some of his own back.
He really was rather nice for an MP H and the h did humble pretty well when she put her mind to it. This is probably the only MP where the h was more unlikable than the H, and that takes some serious twisting of MP's usual style.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2018
Down-on-her-luck, socialite heroine is pressured by her mortgage company to seduce the hero so that he will sell his private Caribbean island in exchange for loan forgiveness on her expensive flat. It's a hare-brained idea and the heroine is too inexperience (and lazy) to foresee the pitfalls. Namely, she would fall for the hero. He would find out her scheme and feel both betrayed and the need for revenge.
Heroine is snobby, lazy, and inexperienced - but very, very beautiful. Not a heroine most readers would warm up to - but I did once this reverse Cinderella learned to cook and clean and tell the truth. Hero was smitten from the get-go and tried hard to be mean, but he just couldn't sustain it.
Heroine is a better person for her ordeal and hero had to work out just what he felt for her, so his declaration at the end felt all the more sincere. This is actually sweet by MP standards. :)
Boogenhagen and Ivy have all the details in their excellent reviews.
Heroine is snobby, lazy, and inexperienced - but very, very beautiful. Not a heroine most readers would warm up to - but I did once this reverse Cinderella learned to cook and clean and tell the truth. Hero was smitten from the get-go and tried hard to be mean, but he just couldn't sustain it.
Heroine is a better person for her ordeal and hero had to work out just what he felt for her, so his declaration at the end felt all the more sincere. This is actually sweet by MP standards. :)
Boogenhagen and Ivy have all the details in their excellent reviews.
July 12, 2020
"Model Of Deception" is the story of Paula and Luke.
Let's recap this mess.
-Heroine is a shallow, self absorbed heiress who finds herself orphaned and running out of money
-Takes a job as a model and also agrees to deceive a rich man in exchange for some money
-Behaves like a selfish snob to everyone
-Meets the rich hero and begins implementing her stupid plan
-Gets whisked away to a deserted island, where the truth is revealed
-Suddenly, she's now living a life of servitude as a punishment to the hero, and finds herself "working off" her sins
-The hero then uses the second half of the book to punish her, and she takes all the humiliation because..*eyeroll*..love
-Punishments include cleaning, cooking, hymen surrender, OW serving, threats and a healthy dose of Stockholm syndrome
-More drama ensues..followed by a chase and HEA
I think what pissed me off was how quickly I went from disliking the heroine to hating the hero. Yeah, she was a bitch but he wasn't much better IMO.
Nah. A very bad taming of the threw meets beauty and the beast. I mean bitch and the horndog.
SWE
2/5
Let's recap this mess.
-Heroine is a shallow, self absorbed heiress who finds herself orphaned and running out of money
-Takes a job as a model and also agrees to deceive a rich man in exchange for some money
-Behaves like a selfish snob to everyone
-Meets the rich hero and begins implementing her stupid plan
-Gets whisked away to a deserted island, where the truth is revealed
-Suddenly, she's now living a life of servitude as a punishment to the hero, and finds herself "working off" her sins
-The hero then uses the second half of the book to punish her, and she takes all the humiliation because..*eyeroll*..love
-Punishments include cleaning, cooking, hymen surrender, OW serving, threats and a healthy dose of Stockholm syndrome
-More drama ensues..followed by a chase and HEA
I think what pissed me off was how quickly I went from disliking the heroine to hating the hero. Yeah, she was a bitch but he wasn't much better IMO.
Nah. A very bad taming of the threw meets beauty and the beast. I mean bitch and the horndog.
SWE
2/5
February 7, 2012
This was pretty good, maybe 4.5 stars. I especially enjoy stories where the heroine isn't a paragon of morality -- I love the idea of a hero who loves her despite her flaws. And this definitely was a reformed-heroine type story -- she was very spoiled and selfish at the start. Although she had behaved quite badly, I did wish the hero hadn't had the upper hand for the entire last half of the book -- I felt like the ending could have used one last scene where he really chased after her (technically he did come to her apartment, but I wanted him to beg for her -- he'd treated her badly for quite a long time). Still though, a satisfying read.
July 22, 2018
Not bad except the time H and h have together is not long enough.
April 16, 2021
Could she deceive a man like him?
Paula had to get close to Luke Armstrong and persuade him to sell his Caribbean island. That way the prospective buyers would write off her mortgage. And Luke would be well paid.
But Paula neglected some of the details. She planned to escape before things went too far. And even if Luke were to catch her and try to force himself on her; she decided he'd be turned off -- the way her fiancee had been -- by her inability to respond.
She didn't expect Luke to be more than she could handle. She hadn't planned on falling in love.
Paula had to get close to Luke Armstrong and persuade him to sell his Caribbean island. That way the prospective buyers would write off her mortgage. And Luke would be well paid.
But Paula neglected some of the details. She planned to escape before things went too far. And even if Luke were to catch her and try to force himself on her; she decided he'd be turned off -- the way her fiancee had been -- by her inability to respond.
She didn't expect Luke to be more than she could handle. She hadn't planned on falling in love.
March 12, 2013
Read and reread many times over the years. I wish I still had it.
December 7, 2017
مترجم لغة اللعربية من مجموعة احلام .
164-الموج السجين :
عندما تصبح العواطف صفقة والقلب ملعبا للمصالح فماذا يحدث للحب ؟ وهل يتحول إلى سلعة للبيع؟ ظنت ميرا أنها وجدت حلا لمشاكلها المادية عن طريق إيقاع ثورن سوداذلنغ في هواها ولم تعرف عارضة الأزياء الفاتنة أنها تلعب بالنار إلا بعدما أحرق الندم عينيها الجميلتين فمن سيصدق الآن أن ميرا المدللة قد وقعت في الحب قلبها المدفون عمرا في ثلوج المخدوع المتعطش إلى الانتقام ؟
164-الموج السجين :
عندما تصبح العواطف صفقة والقلب ملعبا للمصالح فماذا يحدث للحب ؟ وهل يتحول إلى سلعة للبيع؟ ظنت ميرا أنها وجدت حلا لمشاكلها المادية عن طريق إيقاع ثورن سوداذلنغ في هواها ولم تعرف عارضة الأزياء الفاتنة أنها تلعب بالنار إلا بعدما أحرق الندم عينيها الجميلتين فمن سيصدق الآن أن ميرا المدللة قد وقعت في الحب قلبها المدفون عمرا في ثلوج المخدوع المتعطش إلى الانتقام ؟
May 17, 2021
Only in the land of Pargeter can you fall in love by housework..(certainly not in the land I live in ha ha). Both main characters were very juvenile. I do love me a cruel hero but this seemed tame. heroine was tstl.
May 27, 2023
Ψεύτικη Αγάπη - Μάργκαρετ Πάρτζετερ, Άρλεκιν Συλλογή , νούμερο 639 , έτος έκδοσης: 1985
Όλα στη ζωή της πήγαιναν στραβά. Έτσι όταν οι εργοδότες της της πρόσφεραν ένα μεγάλο ποσό για να πάει στην Καραϊβική και να πείσει τον Λιούκ Άρμστρονγκ να πουλήσει το νησί του, η Πόλα δε δίστασε ούτε στιγμή.
Στην αρχή όλα φαινόταν να προχωρούν σύμφωνα με το σχέδιο, ως τη στιγμή που ο Λιούκ ανακάλυψε την αλήθεια και αντέστρεψε τους όρους μ' έναν τρόπο που η Πόλα δεν είχε προβλέψει!
Αλλά ο πραγματικός εφιάλτης άρχισε όταν συνειδητοποίησε ότι είχε ερωτευτεί τον Λιούκ -και μάλιστα τη στιγμή που εκείνος έφερνε στο νησί τη Μόνικα σαν επίσημη αγαπημένη του ...
Από τις πρώτες ιστορίες της Πάρτζετερ που διάβασα και μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ!!!!!
Όλα στη ζωή της πήγαιναν στραβά. Έτσι όταν οι εργοδότες της της πρόσφεραν ένα μεγάλο ποσό για να πάει στην Καραϊβική και να πείσει τον Λιούκ Άρμστρονγκ να πουλήσει το νησί του, η Πόλα δε δίστασε ούτε στιγμή.
Στην αρχή όλα φαινόταν να προχωρούν σύμφωνα με το σχέδιο, ως τη στιγμή που ο Λιούκ ανακάλυψε την αλήθεια και αντέστρεψε τους όρους μ' έναν τρόπο που η Πόλα δεν είχε προβλέψει!
Αλλά ο πραγματικός εφιάλτης άρχισε όταν συνειδητοποίησε ότι είχε ερωτευτεί τον Λιούκ -και μάλιστα τη στιγμή που εκείνος έφερνε στο νησί τη Μόνικα σαν επίσημη αγαπημένη του ...
Από τις πρώτες ιστορίες της Πάρτζετερ που διάβασα και μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ!!!!!
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