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The Morning After
A woman awakes in someone else's life--married, pregnant, and facing danger--and in order to survive, she must place herself under the protection of a very appealing ex-intelligence officer
343 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Forster
62 books49 followersNew York Times and USA Today best-selling author Suzanne Forster is living proof of William Shakespeare’s maxim that the uses of adversity are sweet. Suzanne’s writing career began by accident. Literally. A car accident ended her dreams for a career in clinical psychology. During her recovery, she began writing to fill the hours, and before she was well enough to return to graduate school, she’d sold her first book and launched a new career.
Since then Suzanne has written more than thirty novels and been the recipient of countless awards, including The National Readers’ Choice Award for Shameless, her mainstream debut. She’s received recognition for outstanding sales from Waldenbooks and Bookrak, and her recent novel, Unfinished Business, was made into a movie for the Oxygen Network.
Suzanne has a Master’s Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, and she teaches and lectures frequently. Her seminars on Women's Contemporary Fiction at UCLA and UC Riverside were rated outstanding, and her most requested workshop, "The High-Concept Synopsis," is based on personal experience. Her breakout novel, Shameless, sold on a synopsis that triggered a bidding war and garnered her a six-figure contract.
Suzanne has received considerable media attention, including a feature segment on Extra, NBC's news and entertainment magazine, and an Emmy Award–winning "Special Report" on CBS Channel 23 News. Her many print appearances include the L.A. Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Redbook and Orange Coast Magazine
Since then Suzanne has written more than thirty novels and been the recipient of countless awards, including The National Readers’ Choice Award for Shameless, her mainstream debut. She’s received recognition for outstanding sales from Waldenbooks and Bookrak, and her recent novel, Unfinished Business, was made into a movie for the Oxygen Network.
Suzanne has a Master’s Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, and she teaches and lectures frequently. Her seminars on Women's Contemporary Fiction at UCLA and UC Riverside were rated outstanding, and her most requested workshop, "The High-Concept Synopsis," is based on personal experience. Her breakout novel, Shameless, sold on a synopsis that triggered a bidding war and garnered her a six-figure contract.
Suzanne has received considerable media attention, including a feature segment on Extra, NBC's news and entertainment magazine, and an Emmy Award–winning "Special Report" on CBS Channel 23 News. Her many print appearances include the L.A. Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Redbook and Orange Coast Magazine
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 18, 2023
A truly disturbing book. I would have eliminated the creepy "romantic" portion of the book or at least made this book more thriller than romance. I find the "romance" utterly disturbing and creepy. Drugging someone and impregnating them is just NOT true love in my book and the fact she could overlook and forgive that is mind-boggling.
October 9, 2011
** I'm going to talk about specific spoilers in this rant. If you have a love of truly terrible books and don't want to know what happens, don't read any further. **
**********************************************************************************
OK, I've done my warning. Now I can rant.
This is my first one star read of 2011. I usually find some redeeming quality in a book and can at least bump it up to two stars. But my 180th read book of the year is a real stinker.
Temple Banning wakes up one morning in a luxury suite with no memory of the night before. Well there is one memory of maybe a guy 'touching' her and telling her to remember him with opera playing in the background. There is a wedding gown and clothes that are tailored for her but none of them are hers. Oh, and before I forget, there's a marriage certificate that says that she's married to someone she's never heard of before. All in less than 12 hours from her last memory. Believe it or not, this may be the most believable part of the book.
So the heroine takes all of her designer clothes and forgets about them and goes to work. Her best friend is doesn't know anything about the guy she was supposedly seeing, knows nothing about the wedding, and encourages her to talk to a specialist investigator to help look into the case. In fact she just happens to know a guy...
Let's throw in some back story on our heroine. 10 years ago her parents were in Zaire when they contracted a virus that kills within 48 hours. By the time that the daughter heard that her parents were sick, she dropped everything and flew from Houston to Zaire, but it was too late. They were already too sick and died after she arrived. The heroine also contracted the deadly disease, but is the only person to ever survive once she contracted the virus. Let's talk logistics for one minute. Let's say the parents realized they were sick 12 hours after infection. They go to the hospital and are seen within a couple of hours and are admitted (yeah, I don't think so either). They then pick up the phone and contact their daughter. The daughter makes some phone calls, packs a bag, flies from Texas to Africa, makes all of her connecting flights, hires a car, drives to the remote village in Zaire, and gets to see her parents before they die, all in less than 30 hours. Forget confinement areas or quarantine zones. Travel Visas aren't anything to worry about either. It's just not realistically possible. Forget realistically, it's just not possible. Continuity issues like this bug the hell out of me. I'd say fine the author got confused but there are dozens of things like this.
Anyway back to the heroine and her predicament. She calls the investigator and they meet. She thinks he's pretty sexy. WTF? She thinks he's pretty sexy? This is a 30 year old virgin. She's never had these feelings before? She was engaged for several years and never got horny? And now, a couple of days after a possible date rape experience she gets the hots for a guy who acts as cold as a dead fish and tells her that he won't help her? Not likely. As she goes to leave the office they are in an elevator that is sabotaged to fall. They survive and she's taken to the hospital. A pregnancy test is administered and it turns out she's knocked up. Wow, not only was she taken and drugged, married, but also impregnated? I guess that pseudo memory of a guy with her in the missing 12 hours was more than a fantasy.
She still doesn't want to accept the protection of the goon that she was attracted to as he's a total asshole. "I will rule your life. You will have no rights. You will do everything I tell you to do when I tell you." And he's surprised when she doesn't say, "Sure! Sign me up for that."
So she goes out to eat with her best friend. There two more attempts are made on her life. Her food is soaked in soy sauce and she's highly allergic to soy. She would crumple and die in a matter of seconds had she touched anything with soy. Sure. Let's say that and never mention it again. Ever. People give her food and drink. She never checks. Never asks. Just eats or drinks anything people hand her. There are several instances where something is introduced that is significant but is NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN. After her poisoning attempt her friend goes to get her car and is blown up with a car bomb. OK, fine. she finally goes with the 'hero' to have him protect her. So let me see. She was kidnapped, raped, impregnated, had an elevator fall several stories, had a poisoning attempt, and lost her best friend in a car bomb which also destroyed her car. Most people would have called the police at some point in time. But again, that would make sense. Something this book goes out of the way to avoid.
Anyway she arrives at the island. What island? The one that doesn't exist that the 'hero' owns of course. I understand when authors create cities that don't exist. 'I need a small town in the middle of Nevada that nobody knows anything about. I think I shall call it Sherville.' But in this case the author sets most of this story on Peregrine Island. Peregrine Island is an island in the middle of the Chanel Islands off the coast of California. They are within a couple of miles of the mainland and are mostly a National Park. This particular island however is big enough that it takes them a half hour to drive from one end to the other in a Jeep. It has waterfalls, numerous meadows, rolling valleys, and herds of exotic wildlife. Holy crap! A private family owns this? And they have cell phone reception to boot? This is truly a magical land. Like I was trying to say, I don't mind you making up a city that doesn't exist. Change the name of a current city. Whatever. Those are just small town settings. But to make up a land mass that is roughly half the size of Rhode Island a few miles off the coast of California? Come on!
A bunch more impossibly stupid shit happens for the next hundred pages or so. (The heroine who can't swim swan dives off a 30' cliff into the churning ocean waters below because she felt empowered? She catches the hero doing video surveillance of her in her bathroom and shrugs it off? The emotionally unstable housekeeper screams at her/begs her to leave/threatens her/helps her etc.) All this time the hero and heroine exchange about 10 sentences. Page 199 they can't contain their passions and kiss for the first time. And they had a connection why again? I certainly never felt it. More stupid shit happens and we are reminded again and again that the author never bothered to research anything she wrote. The island was named Peregrine Island for the birds that were imported from China? The Peregrine is actually indigenous to North America. The heroine walks around at night hearing the fluttering of the peregrine's wings above her. Um, they are diurnal not nocturnal. The Malay lacewing butterfly is not crimson, it is brown. An island that is maybe 10-15 miles across isn't large enough to have a stream that is waist deep whitewater. Four foot deep whitewater rapids don't flow toward the center of pacific rim islands. I know that I'm being picky. But it's one thing after another after another.
Finally the plot picks up again and the last bit of the book tries to draw everything together. Unfortunately it is just a confusing muddled mess.
But the real big problem here is that the heroine finally finds our who kidnapped her, drugged her, raped her, impregnated her, and was behind all the attacks. It is the 'hero'. He staged all of the earlier attacks to get the heroine to come to his island. They faked the death of her best friend in the car bombing. Her best friend was just there for the six months prior to this for the setup. Her boss also created the job to lure the heroine to this location. It was all to fool her. He did all of this so that they could get some stem cells from her unborn child to try to get a cure for this terrible disease that killed her parents that she miraculously survived years before. So he really was behind everything. He really was the bad guy all along. Does she turn him over to the cops? NO SHE FUCKING DECIDES THAT HE WILL BE A REALLY GOOD FATHER TO HER BABY AND FORGIVES HIM AND MOVES IN WITH HIM TO HIS FUCKING FANTASY ISLAND.
I know that I've done a terrible job of stringing together enough coherent thoughts to properly express my displeasure with this book. It's because there is just so much wrong that I can't condense my thoughts. Suffice it to say that I don't give one stars very often. But this is oh so deserving. Worst book I've read this year.
**********************************************************************************
OK, I've done my warning. Now I can rant.
This is my first one star read of 2011. I usually find some redeeming quality in a book and can at least bump it up to two stars. But my 180th read book of the year is a real stinker.
Temple Banning wakes up one morning in a luxury suite with no memory of the night before. Well there is one memory of maybe a guy 'touching' her and telling her to remember him with opera playing in the background. There is a wedding gown and clothes that are tailored for her but none of them are hers. Oh, and before I forget, there's a marriage certificate that says that she's married to someone she's never heard of before. All in less than 12 hours from her last memory. Believe it or not, this may be the most believable part of the book.
So the heroine takes all of her designer clothes and forgets about them and goes to work. Her best friend is doesn't know anything about the guy she was supposedly seeing, knows nothing about the wedding, and encourages her to talk to a specialist investigator to help look into the case. In fact she just happens to know a guy...
Let's throw in some back story on our heroine. 10 years ago her parents were in Zaire when they contracted a virus that kills within 48 hours. By the time that the daughter heard that her parents were sick, she dropped everything and flew from Houston to Zaire, but it was too late. They were already too sick and died after she arrived. The heroine also contracted the deadly disease, but is the only person to ever survive once she contracted the virus. Let's talk logistics for one minute. Let's say the parents realized they were sick 12 hours after infection. They go to the hospital and are seen within a couple of hours and are admitted (yeah, I don't think so either). They then pick up the phone and contact their daughter. The daughter makes some phone calls, packs a bag, flies from Texas to Africa, makes all of her connecting flights, hires a car, drives to the remote village in Zaire, and gets to see her parents before they die, all in less than 30 hours. Forget confinement areas or quarantine zones. Travel Visas aren't anything to worry about either. It's just not realistically possible. Forget realistically, it's just not possible. Continuity issues like this bug the hell out of me. I'd say fine the author got confused but there are dozens of things like this.
Anyway back to the heroine and her predicament. She calls the investigator and they meet. She thinks he's pretty sexy. WTF? She thinks he's pretty sexy? This is a 30 year old virgin. She's never had these feelings before? She was engaged for several years and never got horny? And now, a couple of days after a possible date rape experience she gets the hots for a guy who acts as cold as a dead fish and tells her that he won't help her? Not likely. As she goes to leave the office they are in an elevator that is sabotaged to fall. They survive and she's taken to the hospital. A pregnancy test is administered and it turns out she's knocked up. Wow, not only was she taken and drugged, married, but also impregnated? I guess that pseudo memory of a guy with her in the missing 12 hours was more than a fantasy.
She still doesn't want to accept the protection of the goon that she was attracted to as he's a total asshole. "I will rule your life. You will have no rights. You will do everything I tell you to do when I tell you." And he's surprised when she doesn't say, "Sure! Sign me up for that."
So she goes out to eat with her best friend. There two more attempts are made on her life. Her food is soaked in soy sauce and she's highly allergic to soy. She would crumple and die in a matter of seconds had she touched anything with soy. Sure. Let's say that and never mention it again. Ever. People give her food and drink. She never checks. Never asks. Just eats or drinks anything people hand her. There are several instances where something is introduced that is significant but is NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN. After her poisoning attempt her friend goes to get her car and is blown up with a car bomb. OK, fine. she finally goes with the 'hero' to have him protect her. So let me see. She was kidnapped, raped, impregnated, had an elevator fall several stories, had a poisoning attempt, and lost her best friend in a car bomb which also destroyed her car. Most people would have called the police at some point in time. But again, that would make sense. Something this book goes out of the way to avoid.
Anyway she arrives at the island. What island? The one that doesn't exist that the 'hero' owns of course. I understand when authors create cities that don't exist. 'I need a small town in the middle of Nevada that nobody knows anything about. I think I shall call it Sherville.' But in this case the author sets most of this story on Peregrine Island. Peregrine Island is an island in the middle of the Chanel Islands off the coast of California. They are within a couple of miles of the mainland and are mostly a National Park. This particular island however is big enough that it takes them a half hour to drive from one end to the other in a Jeep. It has waterfalls, numerous meadows, rolling valleys, and herds of exotic wildlife. Holy crap! A private family owns this? And they have cell phone reception to boot? This is truly a magical land. Like I was trying to say, I don't mind you making up a city that doesn't exist. Change the name of a current city. Whatever. Those are just small town settings. But to make up a land mass that is roughly half the size of Rhode Island a few miles off the coast of California? Come on!
A bunch more impossibly stupid shit happens for the next hundred pages or so. (The heroine who can't swim swan dives off a 30' cliff into the churning ocean waters below because she felt empowered? She catches the hero doing video surveillance of her in her bathroom and shrugs it off? The emotionally unstable housekeeper screams at her/begs her to leave/threatens her/helps her etc.) All this time the hero and heroine exchange about 10 sentences. Page 199 they can't contain their passions and kiss for the first time. And they had a connection why again? I certainly never felt it. More stupid shit happens and we are reminded again and again that the author never bothered to research anything she wrote. The island was named Peregrine Island for the birds that were imported from China? The Peregrine is actually indigenous to North America. The heroine walks around at night hearing the fluttering of the peregrine's wings above her. Um, they are diurnal not nocturnal. The Malay lacewing butterfly is not crimson, it is brown. An island that is maybe 10-15 miles across isn't large enough to have a stream that is waist deep whitewater. Four foot deep whitewater rapids don't flow toward the center of pacific rim islands. I know that I'm being picky. But it's one thing after another after another.
Finally the plot picks up again and the last bit of the book tries to draw everything together. Unfortunately it is just a confusing muddled mess.
But the real big problem here is that the heroine finally finds our who kidnapped her, drugged her, raped her, impregnated her, and was behind all the attacks. It is the 'hero'. He staged all of the earlier attacks to get the heroine to come to his island. They faked the death of her best friend in the car bombing. Her best friend was just there for the six months prior to this for the setup. Her boss also created the job to lure the heroine to this location. It was all to fool her. He did all of this so that they could get some stem cells from her unborn child to try to get a cure for this terrible disease that killed her parents that she miraculously survived years before. So he really was behind everything. He really was the bad guy all along. Does she turn him over to the cops? NO SHE FUCKING DECIDES THAT HE WILL BE A REALLY GOOD FATHER TO HER BABY AND FORGIVES HIM AND MOVES IN WITH HIM TO HIS FUCKING FANTASY ISLAND.
I know that I've done a terrible job of stringing together enough coherent thoughts to properly express my displeasure with this book. It's because there is just so much wrong that I can't condense my thoughts. Suffice it to say that I don't give one stars very often. But this is oh so deserving. Worst book I've read this year.
March 21, 2018
It only gets two stars because I love the name Temple Banning. There weren't any unpredictable twists in this book.
March 19, 2008
This book was awful. The plot was needlessly convoluted, random characters were introduced and then tossed away with little dramatic function, and I hatehateHATED the ending. Aside from being overly melodramatic (which I should honestly be inured to in romance novels by now) the characterizations sucked. I get that Temple is supposed to be this responsible control freak who is only able to let down her guard in the presence of True Love, but Forster constantly beats the reader over the head with that fact. Then she proceeds to have her act out of character.
The most irritating thing about this book?
*SPOILERS (in case you actually care about spoiling a book I actually threw across the room on multiple occasions while reading out of sheer frustration)*
She forgives the hero for kidnapping, drugging, and secretly impregnating her while also staging an extraordinarily elaborate charade to get her alone on an island where he can use her blood in techno-thriller-esque manner to cure his father's deadly disease. THAT IS NOT LOVE. THAT IS STUPIDITY. Even if you don't believe that romance and love must be based on mutual respect and sharing, ABUSE IS NOT LOVE. Marrying someone who had the monumental idiocy to think that secretly impregnating you in order to find a cure for his father's disease would be no big deal is pretty monumentally idiotic in and of itself. Even if he was freakishly obsessed with her for years, it's freakish obsession, not love. Ugh. I hate mystery for the sake of mystery, and this book was full of cheap plot devices that failed to convince me to care about either of the characters.
The most irritating thing about this book?
*SPOILERS (in case you actually care about spoiling a book I actually threw across the room on multiple occasions while reading out of sheer frustration)*
She forgives the hero for kidnapping, drugging, and secretly impregnating her while also staging an extraordinarily elaborate charade to get her alone on an island where he can use her blood in techno-thriller-esque manner to cure his father's deadly disease. THAT IS NOT LOVE. THAT IS STUPIDITY. Even if you don't believe that romance and love must be based on mutual respect and sharing, ABUSE IS NOT LOVE. Marrying someone who had the monumental idiocy to think that secretly impregnating you in order to find a cure for his father's disease would be no big deal is pretty monumentally idiotic in and of itself. Even if he was freakishly obsessed with her for years, it's freakish obsession, not love. Ugh. I hate mystery for the sake of mystery, and this book was full of cheap plot devices that failed to convince me to care about either of the characters.
January 20, 2008
I think this book should have been published under fiction/suspense.
If so it probably would gotten better reviews. I like those types of books. I also like romance novels. But this was certainly not a romance novel.
But it was a GREAT fiction/suspense novel.
It kept me guessing. Which is what you want in a suspense.
The story is about Temple Banning who wakes up in a suite alone with rose petals on the bed, a beautiful negligee, a wedding dress, a wedding certifcate and ring (oops no memory).
Does that mean Drugs. There is champagne.
She goes to her apartment and finds clothes she doesn't remember buying, mens clothing.
When she goes to work the next day. A co-worker is surprised to see her back from her honeymoon. Now she is totally confused.
She makes an appointment with a doctor. And finds out she is pregnant. When mysterous husband calls it is fast and hushed and telling her to call a Mark Challis because she might be in danger.
By this time she has spoken to a co-worker with her doubts about said husband that she can't remember. The co-worker gives her the name of a friend to call that might investigate for her Mark Challis.
I thought the book was suspensful. The plot was great. I was kept guessing.
If so it probably would gotten better reviews. I like those types of books. I also like romance novels. But this was certainly not a romance novel.
But it was a GREAT fiction/suspense novel.
It kept me guessing. Which is what you want in a suspense.
The story is about Temple Banning who wakes up in a suite alone with rose petals on the bed, a beautiful negligee, a wedding dress, a wedding certifcate and ring (oops no memory).
Does that mean Drugs. There is champagne.
She goes to her apartment and finds clothes she doesn't remember buying, mens clothing.
When she goes to work the next day. A co-worker is surprised to see her back from her honeymoon. Now she is totally confused.
She makes an appointment with a doctor. And finds out she is pregnant. When mysterous husband calls it is fast and hushed and telling her to call a Mark Challis because she might be in danger.
By this time she has spoken to a co-worker with her doubts about said husband that she can't remember. The co-worker gives her the name of a friend to call that might investigate for her Mark Challis.
I thought the book was suspensful. The plot was great. I was kept guessing.
July 24, 2014
First book I have read from this author, and she kept me on the edge of my seat. Coincidently, the book I read before this, Evening Stars, by Susan Malory, also had a protagonist who had to raise her younger sister, because their parents were flighty and absent. This one was a puzzle to the end. Talented writer with an intriguing story.
March 26, 2025
"The Morning After" sounded really intriguing when I found it at a second-hand shop. Missing time and a heroine in some sort of danger and potentially falling for her protector? Yes, please! Unfortunately, the book struggled to deliver a story that lived up to what I had imagined from the synopsis.
Our Players
Temple Banning is our heroine who wakes up one morning in a fancy hotel room with no memory of how she got there or the past 12 hours or so. Stranger yet, it's a honeymoon suite, complete with champagne and a signed marriage license...hers!
Mark Challis is our hero. He's a security professional that Temple goes to when her apparent missing husband calls her to say she might be in danger.
Happily Ever After?
Let's just say that if you like your books with an uncomplicated HEA, this is not the book for you. I'll get into more on that later, but these will be major spoilers.
Expectation VS Reality
I expected this book to be exciting, but the slow pace kept killing the tension and thrills. It was also trying to straddle a handful of genres, which could have been interesting. But instead of a cohesive plot that skilfully blended the ideas, it felt confusing and didn't firmly flush out any of the genres it was dabbling in.
A pretty big issue I had was that the synopsis said "They've altered her past", but (I'll spoiler this just in case) This was disappointing because that concept made me think we might be delving into a bit of fantasy. An alternative version of her life that she's been dropped into.
Then the thriller aspect with Temple in "grave danger" that the synopsis says she's aware of right away...takes forever to develop! We get a slow reintegration into her daily life as she goes back to work. Then when danger does finally appear, it's still drawn out and takes quite a long time for it to gain any momentum.
The romance also felt super slow considering that was the genre it was published under. It felt bogged down by the convoluted "thriller" aspect of the storyline, and our heroine's confusion about what was going on. Everyone was presented as a possible suspect at one point or another, which made it feel as though the writer threw in a bunch of red herrings just because.
Errors & Goofs
A handful of sentences left me re-reading them to try and figure out what the intended wording was. Either the sentence seemed as though it was missing a word, or had an extra word that wasn't supposed to be there.
More confusing though was that sometimes the book would contradict itself.
Example 1: In one chapter Temple is talking to a doctor about her pregnancy. Within the space of a single scene, it says "she tells the doctor all about the missing night". A few pages later it says "she never told him about the details of that March night" as though she didn't just tell him all that? And then shortly after that, the doctor says "I wasn't aware we were having memory issues"...uuuuummmm 🤔 She just told him she couldn't remember that night? Does that not count as memory issues? Or am I missing something here.
Example 2: Shortly after waking up in the hotel room Temple calls a doctor who had treated her years ago and leaves her a message. But then chapters later when Temple gets a voicemail from the doctor, she says "she was curious about what the doctor wanted", as though she wasn't expecting a return phone call from her...🤨
Another way the book contradicted itself was how it describes Temple's personality. She's described as a people pleaser who has only recently cut loose, moved to California, and secured her dream job. Oh, and broke up with her long-term fiance.
While all that presented Temple as a woman struggling to chart her own course for once, later on she was described as being "fiercely independent" and struggling to trust another person with anything. Maybe that's just me, but this didn't seem like it was describing the same person.
The Pregnancy
Again, my expectation here from the synopsis was very different than what was written. Since we were told that she "wakes up to undeniable evidence that she is pregnant", I expected that she would be months into her pregnancy and showing. Instead, it seems we are supposed to believe she has gotten pregnant during her missing 12 hours. And she only finds out she's pregnant by going to the doctor. But even then we aren't ever told how far along she is. Days? Weeks? Months? No idea....🤰🤔
More aspects about her being pregnant bothered me and seemed extremely unrealistic. If she only got pregnant during her missing time (again we are never told for sure) her body would not be showing any outward signs of it yet. But despite only days passing, Mark comments about how "full" her breasts look...🤨 and Temple checks herself out naked as though her body is already months into changing. 🤷♀️ None of that made any sense. And there were many more mentions of her personality and mood changing and being blamed on her being pregnant. 🤔
Sick 10 Years Ago?
One of the story threads that felt out of place for a long time was about the virus Temple had contracted 10 years ago. Immediately after waking up and discovering she couldn't remember last night, she wondered if it was that virus reappearing. This felt very out of left field, and totally random.
My Biggest Issue
By far my biggest issue though was how things wrapped up towards the end. Why this is how the writer chose to do it is beyond me. I'll go into details but hide them behind a spoiler because I can't really explain it without giving away anything.
There were plenty of other things that left me scratching my head, such as Temple being a 30-year-old virgin despite being with her fiance for many years. It said they were waiting to have sex until after they were married, but why wait so long to get married then if you are already engaged? 🤷♀️
And again...the ending 🙃 Just...why?
Our Players
Temple Banning is our heroine who wakes up one morning in a fancy hotel room with no memory of how she got there or the past 12 hours or so. Stranger yet, it's a honeymoon suite, complete with champagne and a signed marriage license...hers!
Mark Challis is our hero. He's a security professional that Temple goes to when her apparent missing husband calls her to say she might be in danger.
Happily Ever After?
Let's just say that if you like your books with an uncomplicated HEA, this is not the book for you. I'll get into more on that later, but these will be major spoilers.
Expectation VS Reality
I expected this book to be exciting, but the slow pace kept killing the tension and thrills. It was also trying to straddle a handful of genres, which could have been interesting. But instead of a cohesive plot that skilfully blended the ideas, it felt confusing and didn't firmly flush out any of the genres it was dabbling in.
A pretty big issue I had was that the synopsis said "They've altered her past", but (I'll spoiler this just in case) This was disappointing because that concept made me think we might be delving into a bit of fantasy. An alternative version of her life that she's been dropped into.
Then the thriller aspect with Temple in "grave danger" that the synopsis says she's aware of right away...takes forever to develop! We get a slow reintegration into her daily life as she goes back to work. Then when danger does finally appear, it's still drawn out and takes quite a long time for it to gain any momentum.
The romance also felt super slow considering that was the genre it was published under. It felt bogged down by the convoluted "thriller" aspect of the storyline, and our heroine's confusion about what was going on. Everyone was presented as a possible suspect at one point or another, which made it feel as though the writer threw in a bunch of red herrings just because.
Errors & Goofs
A handful of sentences left me re-reading them to try and figure out what the intended wording was. Either the sentence seemed as though it was missing a word, or had an extra word that wasn't supposed to be there.
More confusing though was that sometimes the book would contradict itself.
Example 1: In one chapter Temple is talking to a doctor about her pregnancy. Within the space of a single scene, it says "she tells the doctor all about the missing night". A few pages later it says "she never told him about the details of that March night" as though she didn't just tell him all that? And then shortly after that, the doctor says "I wasn't aware we were having memory issues"...uuuuummmm 🤔 She just told him she couldn't remember that night? Does that not count as memory issues? Or am I missing something here.
Example 2: Shortly after waking up in the hotel room Temple calls a doctor who had treated her years ago and leaves her a message. But then chapters later when Temple gets a voicemail from the doctor, she says "she was curious about what the doctor wanted", as though she wasn't expecting a return phone call from her...🤨
Another way the book contradicted itself was how it describes Temple's personality. She's described as a people pleaser who has only recently cut loose, moved to California, and secured her dream job. Oh, and broke up with her long-term fiance.
While all that presented Temple as a woman struggling to chart her own course for once, later on she was described as being "fiercely independent" and struggling to trust another person with anything. Maybe that's just me, but this didn't seem like it was describing the same person.
The Pregnancy
Again, my expectation here from the synopsis was very different than what was written. Since we were told that she "wakes up to undeniable evidence that she is pregnant", I expected that she would be months into her pregnancy and showing. Instead, it seems we are supposed to believe she has gotten pregnant during her missing 12 hours. And she only finds out she's pregnant by going to the doctor. But even then we aren't ever told how far along she is. Days? Weeks? Months? No idea....🤰🤔
More aspects about her being pregnant bothered me and seemed extremely unrealistic. If she only got pregnant during her missing time (again we are never told for sure) her body would not be showing any outward signs of it yet. But despite only days passing, Mark comments about how "full" her breasts look...🤨 and Temple checks herself out naked as though her body is already months into changing. 🤷♀️ None of that made any sense. And there were many more mentions of her personality and mood changing and being blamed on her being pregnant. 🤔
Sick 10 Years Ago?
One of the story threads that felt out of place for a long time was about the virus Temple had contracted 10 years ago. Immediately after waking up and discovering she couldn't remember last night, she wondered if it was that virus reappearing. This felt very out of left field, and totally random.
My Biggest Issue
By far my biggest issue though was how things wrapped up towards the end. Why this is how the writer chose to do it is beyond me. I'll go into details but hide them behind a spoiler because I can't really explain it without giving away anything.
There were plenty of other things that left me scratching my head, such as Temple being a 30-year-old virgin despite being with her fiance for many years. It said they were waiting to have sex until after they were married, but why wait so long to get married then if you are already engaged? 🤷♀️
And again...the ending 🙃 Just...why?
May 28, 2017
Temple Banning has cared for her sister Ivy since her unusual parents were killed in an unusal outbreak of Z190 in Zaire 10 years earlier. Going to get them, Temple caught it, but she was the only person to survive due to unusual antibodies. Z190 kills within 2 days usually. Temple has left her doctor fiance and sister in TX and gone to work in CA for an ad agency. When she wakes up one Sat. in a strange hotel room with a marriage license and no husband around, and then discovers she's pregnant, it throws her. When attempts are made on her life, she connects with Mark Challis, an ex intelligence agent who takes her to a "secure" island off CA. The plot thickens. Turns out Mark's brother died of Z190 and his dad now has it and they're trying to fin a cure and using her and her unborn child to do it. Mark and Temple fall in love, but the nature of their relationship is not based on trust.
Interesting story, but convoluted, leaving you to wonder about some things. Some parts very sexual but strange. PG-13.
Interesting story, but convoluted, leaving you to wonder about some things. Some parts very sexual but strange. PG-13.
July 3, 2017
Temple Banning wakes up in the bridal suite of a hotel room with evidence that she is married and pregnant. The last memory was having take away and there is no memory of her dating, let alone having a fiancé. She hires a private investigator, Mark Challis to help her find out what is going on.
Then things start to get weird. REALLY weird! It is almost like this book didn't know what genre it was. It was a mysterious, romantic thriller, with an apocalyptic virus. Add in some mystical powers bought on by reading a book about Aikido and a side Madam Butterfly story. I just didn't get it.
The ending was just odd. After he kidnapped her, impregnated her, threatened her life, kidnapped her again and held her hostage I couldn't believed they got back together! That whole thing about seeing her aura when she had the virus as a kid was a bit off. Also such a big deal was made about her being independent and then she goes back to him because his dad came to visit her and said that he was love sick without her. I didn't buy it - I think she just had Stockholm syndrome.
Then things start to get weird. REALLY weird! It is almost like this book didn't know what genre it was. It was a mysterious, romantic thriller, with an apocalyptic virus. Add in some mystical powers bought on by reading a book about Aikido and a side Madam Butterfly story. I just didn't get it.
The ending was just odd. After he kidnapped her, impregnated her, threatened her life, kidnapped her again and held her hostage I couldn't believed they got back together! That whole thing about seeing her aura when she had the virus as a kid was a bit off. Also such a big deal was made about her being independent and then she goes back to him because his dad came to visit her and said that he was love sick without her. I didn't buy it - I think she just had Stockholm syndrome.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2021
What a worthless read. There is no logic and flow to the book. The first book I have read where the villian is actually the Hero himself. And despite all the rubbish he pulls the heroine forgives him😡
October 26, 2024
This book started out with much intrigue. And then it fell into stupid and stupider. Characters kept evolving until the reader is left wondering if it will ever end. And lucky enough the book does end. But not soon enough. This is a horrible book.
September 4, 2017
This was an awful book. The plot was ridiculous and not remotely believable. There isn't a single likeable character. Waste of time.
May 7, 2022
▪️TRAMA INTERESANTE
▪️The morning after, Temple Banning woke up to a life she cannot remember. Married, pregnant, and in grave danger, she must try to keep her sanity while exposing her secrets -- with the help of a darkly sensual man who could lead her to heaven...or hell.
▪️The morning after, Temple Banning woke up to a life she cannot remember. Married, pregnant, and in grave danger, she must try to keep her sanity while exposing her secrets -- with the help of a darkly sensual man who could lead her to heaven...or hell.
April 15, 2025
Good book. plot twists galore
April 14, 2016
Note: There are a few spoilers, but I did my best to keep them to a minimum.
I was looking through my books the other day when I spotted this guy tucked away on one of the shelves. I decided to re-read it since I couldn't really remember it and that turned out to be a terrible mistake.
Now, there were several little thing sprinkled throughout the pages that bothered me, but I can easily see others not minding. For example, whenever food was mentioned, she would always go into extra detail to describe it even though it never effected the story. Or, it was repeatedly mentioned (often in exaggeration) that Temple character was NOT spontaneous in the slightest. Again, these things are very minor and not that big of a deal, however this merely scratching the surface.
The author also introduced Aikido as a way to fill in some of the plot holes in the story (in a way that it feels like preaching a religion). For the first half of the book, as I mentioned earlier, Temple is someone who doesn't ever do anything crazy. However, as soon as Aikido is brought up, she gets labeled as a mystic and begins to do very spontaneous things like diving off a cliff into the ocean What brought about this change you may ask? No real reason other than to explain why she's able to get out of trouble later on.
Another issue that bugged was how the author tried to quick through the two main characters together. The other started the story by having Temple and Mark not know anything about each other, yet the author later says that he knew her the whole time. Earlier, Mark had people investigate Michael St Claire and wondered about his feelings for her and where they're coming from. Why would he do that if he had already knew her?
At this point, I would have let the book slip by with a three star rating. The issues were not huge and didn't detract from an overall okay story. It was in the last couple chapters that the book crashed and made really upset me. At this point, Temple learns who it was that drugged her and got her pregnant and why they did it. The answer did not justify the action and it reasonably upset her. What ticked me off was that she forgave them! She forgave them for the horrible things they did to her. Seriously?! They didn't get punished or anything for doing something illegal, degrading, and disrespectful! Grrr.
I was looking through my books the other day when I spotted this guy tucked away on one of the shelves. I decided to re-read it since I couldn't really remember it and that turned out to be a terrible mistake.
Now, there were several little thing sprinkled throughout the pages that bothered me, but I can easily see others not minding. For example, whenever food was mentioned, she would always go into extra detail to describe it even though it never effected the story. Or, it was repeatedly mentioned (often in exaggeration) that Temple character was NOT spontaneous in the slightest. Again, these things are very minor and not that big of a deal, however this merely scratching the surface.
The author also introduced Aikido as a way to fill in some of the plot holes in the story (in a way that it feels like preaching a religion). For the first half of the book, as I mentioned earlier, Temple is someone who doesn't ever do anything crazy. However, as soon as Aikido is brought up, she gets labeled as a mystic and begins to do very spontaneous things like diving off a cliff into the ocean What brought about this change you may ask? No real reason other than to explain why she's able to get out of trouble later on.
Another issue that bugged was how the author tried to quick through the two main characters together. The other started the story by having Temple and Mark not know anything about each other, yet the author later says that he knew her the whole time. Earlier, Mark had people investigate Michael St Claire and wondered about his feelings for her and where they're coming from. Why would he do that if he had already knew her?
At this point, I would have let the book slip by with a three star rating. The issues were not huge and didn't detract from an overall okay story. It was in the last couple chapters that the book crashed and made really upset me. At this point, Temple learns who it was that drugged her and got her pregnant and why they did it. The answer did not justify the action and it reasonably upset her. What ticked me off was that she forgave them! She forgave them for the horrible things they did to her. Seriously?! They didn't get punished or anything for doing something illegal, degrading, and disrespectful! Grrr.
May 25, 2013
I like Suzanne Forster novels generally. In this one it is more of a suspense than a romance & that is okay but it is as if she forgot several of the major plot lines. She just ended the book without explaining things. It made the female character look like victim & the male like a victimizer. Not exactly the type of book I was looking for or the ending I was expecting.
November 12, 2007
read 05.20.07
January 5, 2010
WOW - seriously weird. Good, but weird. Definately a little different from your average romance/suspense.
June 28, 2013
not the best book ever but not the worst. story line was good but it got bogged down in weird mystical mumbo jumbo.
September 7, 2013
Could not even finish the book - it was that bad.
Read
August 17, 2013Read 5/00
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