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The Argentine Lover
The Argentine Lover By Samantha Winston It's not a sport, it's a religion. Juan Allistair is a high goal polo player, one of the elite. Rennie Piccabéa is the daughter of an Olympic show jumping medallist who's now a beautician. Juan's a cultured, educated Catholic with a bright future. Rennie's a small-town girl, a junior college student whose best friend has green hair. A Prince of Polo and a futureless Floridian. They shouldn't be together. They've got nothing in common. But they can't keep their hands off each other…
- GenresContemporary Romance
213 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2003
26 people want to read
About the author
Samantha Winston
44 books19 followersSamantha Winston is the pen name for Jennifer Macaire, an American freelance writer/illustrator. She was born in Kingston, NY, and lived in Samoa, California, and the Virgin Islands before moving to France. She attended Parsons school of design for fine art, and Palm Beach Junior College for art and English literature. She worked for five years as a model for Elite. Married to a professional polo player, she has three children.
After settling in France, she started writing full time and published short stories in such magazines as Polo Magazine, PKA's Advocate, The Bear Deluxe, Nuketown, The Eclipse, Anotherealm, Linnaean Street, Inkspin, Literary Potpourri, Mind Caviar and the Vestal Review. One of her short stories was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In June 2002 she won the 3am/Harper Collins flash fiction contest for her story "There are Geckos".
After settling in France, she started writing full time and published short stories in such magazines as Polo Magazine, PKA's Advocate, The Bear Deluxe, Nuketown, The Eclipse, Anotherealm, Linnaean Street, Inkspin, Literary Potpourri, Mind Caviar and the Vestal Review. One of her short stories was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In June 2002 she won the 3am/Harper Collins flash fiction contest for her story "There are Geckos".
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 28, 2010
4.5 stars for this lovely and fulfilling story. Reminds me of what a good person is like.
STORY BRIEF:
Juan is from Argentina. He is cultured and educated. He came to the U.S. to play professional polo for awhile with plans to return to Argentina and marry his fiancée Rosa later. Rennie’s father died early and her mother raised her alone without much money. Before Rennie was born, her mother won a silver medal in the Olympics, show jumping with her horse. Rennie learned to ride from her mother. Rennie gets a job as a groom in the stables for Juan’s polo team. Rennie and Juan have a physical attraction to each other that they can’t seem to avoid.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
There was almost “no pondering in the minds” in this story, which is a positive. Action and events moved along at quite a clip. I loved the characters, the self discovery journeys and the loving endings. I learned a lot about the polo community that I didn’t know before - very different from other sports. Since the author is married to a professional polo player in real life, I assume the polo information is accurate.
I loved Rennie’s attitude throughout the story. She was good, sensitive, loving and brave. She fell in love with Juan early on and knew he didn’t love her. She hung in there planning to do her best and hoping he would learn to love her. Too many other romance novels have a person loving someone but not pursuing it because they “fear they might get hurt.” I usually don’t enjoy that type of conflict. I loved that Rennie was brave enough to follow her heart and try anyway even though she was experiencing some hurt. As the story progresses her wonderful qualities start showing. Juan was a reluctant lover. If Juan had been a perfect guy, the story would have been too sweet. But his reluctance and personality gave the relationship some interesting imbalance.
Rennie grew up poor and poorly educated. At one point, Juan resented her lack of education. What she did after that caused tears in my eyes. Instead of sulking, she pleasantly surprised me by doing two things. I was also touched by her desire and actions so Juan wouldn’t have to spend money on her.
I also enjoyed some of the other characters and their actions as well: Arnaud, Marilyn and Rupert.
DATA:
Story length: 203 pages. Sexual language: strong with rear door activity, ff, and ménage a trios (ffm). Number of sex scenes: 14. Total number of sex scene pages: 35. Setting: current day Palm Beach, Florida, England, France and Wales. Copyright: 2003. Genre: contemporary romance.
OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I’ve read the following Samantha Winston books.
5 stars. The Argentine Lover. Copyrt 2003. Review Date: 12/19/08.
4 stars. Darla's Valentine (in anthology Fever-Hot Dreams). Copyrt 2003. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 5/17/08.
4 stars. The Phallas From Dallas (in anthology Lady Jaided’s Sexy Smiles). Copyrt 2003. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/20/08. This story was co-authored by Ciarra Sims.
3 stars. My Fair Pixie (in anthology Lady Jaided’s Virile Vampires). Copyrt 2005. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 9/11/08.
2.5 stars. Frog Prince From Planet Marecare (in anthology Lady Jaided’s Sexy Smiles). Copyrt 2003. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/20/08.
2.5 stars. Tiger Gold (in anthology Veiled Pleasures). Copyrt 2005. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/19/08.
STORY BRIEF:
Juan is from Argentina. He is cultured and educated. He came to the U.S. to play professional polo for awhile with plans to return to Argentina and marry his fiancée Rosa later. Rennie’s father died early and her mother raised her alone without much money. Before Rennie was born, her mother won a silver medal in the Olympics, show jumping with her horse. Rennie learned to ride from her mother. Rennie gets a job as a groom in the stables for Juan’s polo team. Rennie and Juan have a physical attraction to each other that they can’t seem to avoid.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
There was almost “no pondering in the minds” in this story, which is a positive. Action and events moved along at quite a clip. I loved the characters, the self discovery journeys and the loving endings. I learned a lot about the polo community that I didn’t know before - very different from other sports. Since the author is married to a professional polo player in real life, I assume the polo information is accurate.
I loved Rennie’s attitude throughout the story. She was good, sensitive, loving and brave. She fell in love with Juan early on and knew he didn’t love her. She hung in there planning to do her best and hoping he would learn to love her. Too many other romance novels have a person loving someone but not pursuing it because they “fear they might get hurt.” I usually don’t enjoy that type of conflict. I loved that Rennie was brave enough to follow her heart and try anyway even though she was experiencing some hurt. As the story progresses her wonderful qualities start showing. Juan was a reluctant lover. If Juan had been a perfect guy, the story would have been too sweet. But his reluctance and personality gave the relationship some interesting imbalance.
Rennie grew up poor and poorly educated. At one point, Juan resented her lack of education. What she did after that caused tears in my eyes. Instead of sulking, she pleasantly surprised me by doing two things. I was also touched by her desire and actions so Juan wouldn’t have to spend money on her.
I also enjoyed some of the other characters and their actions as well: Arnaud, Marilyn and Rupert.
DATA:
Story length: 203 pages. Sexual language: strong with rear door activity, ff, and ménage a trios (ffm). Number of sex scenes: 14. Total number of sex scene pages: 35. Setting: current day Palm Beach, Florida, England, France and Wales. Copyright: 2003. Genre: contemporary romance.
OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I’ve read the following Samantha Winston books.
5 stars. The Argentine Lover. Copyrt 2003. Review Date: 12/19/08.
4 stars. Darla's Valentine (in anthology Fever-Hot Dreams). Copyrt 2003. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 5/17/08.
4 stars. The Phallas From Dallas (in anthology Lady Jaided’s Sexy Smiles). Copyrt 2003. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/20/08. This story was co-authored by Ciarra Sims.
3 stars. My Fair Pixie (in anthology Lady Jaided’s Virile Vampires). Copyrt 2005. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 9/11/08.
2.5 stars. Frog Prince From Planet Marecare (in anthology Lady Jaided’s Sexy Smiles). Copyrt 2003. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/20/08.
2.5 stars. Tiger Gold (in anthology Veiled Pleasures). Copyrt 2005. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/19/08.
August 15, 2017
3.75 stars! Book 1 of 1. A feel good romance. A tale of two young lovers exploring each other and their sexuality, at times erotic.
Juan Allistair (19 years/rookie high goal polo player/dark brown hair/hazel eyes) meets Renée Piccabéa, “Rennie” (19 years/part-time student/strawberry-blond hair/grey eyes) and they both have an instant attraction. But while Renni is falling in love, Juan is determined to stay on course to become a rich and famous polo player and then return to his native Argentina and marry his fiancé. Yet they can’t keep away from each other. Both are inexperienced sexually so their relationship and this story very much becomes that of a sexual exploration (some f/f/m and anal). Renni is sweet and endearing, but not worldly, which annoys Juan. In his immaturity and ignorance he was at times insensitive to her. He definitively started off on the wrong foot, but as the story progressed he had the opportunity to redeem himself. For me he ended up a lovable and memorable young hero.
Samantha Winston is an excellent storyteller. We are swept into the world of polo, traveling the world while Juan and Renni explore each other. Both characters are well developed and engaging. There is also a side love story with secondary characters. I felt the story was “dated” at times (cell phone used on one occasion). I’d describe it as a cute, enjoyable, feel-good story wrapped up all happily, but also a sensuous read!
***
Hero rating: 3.5 stars
Heroine rating: 4 stars
Story line concept rating: 4 stars
Story ending rating: 4 stars
Sex scenes rating: 4.5 stars
Sex scenes frequency: 4 stars
******************************
Overall rating: 3.75 stars
Would I re-read this book: Probably not.
Would I read future books by this author: Yes.
Juan Allistair (19 years/rookie high goal polo player/dark brown hair/hazel eyes) meets Renée Piccabéa, “Rennie” (19 years/part-time student/strawberry-blond hair/grey eyes) and they both have an instant attraction. But while Renni is falling in love, Juan is determined to stay on course to become a rich and famous polo player and then return to his native Argentina and marry his fiancé. Yet they can’t keep away from each other. Both are inexperienced sexually so their relationship and this story very much becomes that of a sexual exploration (some f/f/m and anal). Renni is sweet and endearing, but not worldly, which annoys Juan. In his immaturity and ignorance he was at times insensitive to her. He definitively started off on the wrong foot, but as the story progressed he had the opportunity to redeem himself. For me he ended up a lovable and memorable young hero.
Samantha Winston is an excellent storyteller. We are swept into the world of polo, traveling the world while Juan and Renni explore each other. Both characters are well developed and engaging. There is also a side love story with secondary characters. I felt the story was “dated” at times (cell phone used on one occasion). I’d describe it as a cute, enjoyable, feel-good story wrapped up all happily, but also a sensuous read!
***
Hero rating: 3.5 stars
Heroine rating: 4 stars
Story line concept rating: 4 stars
Story ending rating: 4 stars
Sex scenes rating: 4.5 stars
Sex scenes frequency: 4 stars
******************************
Overall rating: 3.75 stars
Would I re-read this book: Probably not.
Would I read future books by this author: Yes.
August 12, 2011
3-1/2 stars
I'm surprised I liked this book as well as I did. It was written with an oddly passive voice. Which for once didn't really annoy me. I enjoyed reading about polo. The heroine was a very young woman and came across that way instead of seeming older than her stated years. The hero was an ordinary young man. Well other than being a polo player. Anyway he didn't know what to do relationship wise and made mistakes but they worked to stay together. I really enjoyed the joy he took in having sex with his wife. You could almost see the grin on his face. There was a bunch of sex which read rather oddly considering the passive voice but it wasn't bad. Except that there was a f/f scene which may not bother some readers but I do not enjoy any same sex interaction whether male or female so I just skimmed quickly past that part. I did like their discussion about it afterwards though. Anyway it was interesting and worth reading if you can accept the passive voice.
I'm surprised I liked this book as well as I did. It was written with an oddly passive voice. Which for once didn't really annoy me. I enjoyed reading about polo. The heroine was a very young woman and came across that way instead of seeming older than her stated years. The hero was an ordinary young man. Well other than being a polo player. Anyway he didn't know what to do relationship wise and made mistakes but they worked to stay together. I really enjoyed the joy he took in having sex with his wife. You could almost see the grin on his face. There was a bunch of sex which read rather oddly considering the passive voice but it wasn't bad. Except that there was a f/f scene which may not bother some readers but I do not enjoy any same sex interaction whether male or female so I just skimmed quickly past that part. I did like their discussion about it afterwards though. Anyway it was interesting and worth reading if you can accept the passive voice.
November 15, 2011
Loved the H/h honesty in their feelings towards each other. He never puts her down, only reacts internally to the gap in their background. He's driven by lust, falling unwittingly. She's such a good person, loves him as he is, moody and all. The story was written differently, with little dialog but what they felt and thought was right there. I skipped the brief FF encounter, it wasn't needed.
HERO is a Performer, his individual accomplishment as Polo player and games pressure affects his moods. Passionate, gentle.
SCENES/CONTENT: many/erotic
GENRE/TONE: contemporary/light
LENGHT: 210 pages
HERO is a Performer, his individual accomplishment as Polo player and games pressure affects his moods. Passionate, gentle.
SCENES/CONTENT: many/erotic
GENRE/TONE: contemporary/light
LENGHT: 210 pages
July 24, 2016
Romantic
I enjoyed the development of the characters as the story unfolded. Learning about them as they grew and changed with their life experiences. It was a tender, difficult, sad and romantic journey.
I enjoyed the development of the characters as the story unfolded. Learning about them as they grew and changed with their life experiences. It was a tender, difficult, sad and romantic journey.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews