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Spell of the Seven Stones
She wanted a life without tyrants!
Sophy's father had dominated her until his death. She had finally broken with her equally possessive boyfriend. Now she was free to live her own life!
Moving to the Yorkshire village where she bought a pottery business, she settled down to enjoy her new freedom. And she vowed never to let another dominant male enter her life.
Meeting the autocratic Robert Carlton was purely accidental; their resulting relationship stormy Sophy had no intention of giving way to her love for him!
Sophy's father had dominated her until his death. She had finally broken with her equally possessive boyfriend. Now she was free to live her own life!
Moving to the Yorkshire village where she bought a pottery business, she settled down to enjoy her new freedom. And she vowed never to let another dominant male enter her life.
Meeting the autocratic Robert Carlton was purely accidental; their resulting relationship stormy Sophy had no intention of giving way to her love for him!
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
Jane Donnelly
141 books28 followersJane Donnelly began earning her living as a writer as a teenage reporter. When she married the editor of the newspaper she freelanced for women's mags for a while. After she was widowed she and her 5 year old daughter moved to Lancashire. She turned to writing fiction to make a living while still caring for her daughter, she sold her first Mills & Boon romance novel as a hard-up singleparent in 1965. She wrote over 60 romance novels for Mills & Boon until 2000. Now she lives in a roses-round-the door cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon, with four dogs and assorted rescued animals. Besides writing she enjoys travelling, swimming, walking and the company of friends.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 15, 2017
Okay, first of all, that TITLE. Don't you just love the vintage titles? So much better than modern Harlequins with their "Sicilian Tycoon's Bedded and Wedded Greek Mistress-To-Wife's Russian Baby's Secret of Convenience", hmmmmm?
In Spell of the Seven Stones, Jane Donnelly gives us a female protagonist trying to escape a lifetime of being controlled by the men in her life, first her over-protective, suffocating father, then an arrogant, selfish boyfriend. She takes her savings and pours them into a little pottery store in a quaint English village, adopts an adorable mutt, and starts dating the art gallery owner in the next town, who simply adores her. Off to a great start, uh?
Except that her new home sits at the bottom of a hill where a Stonehenge -like structure of seven giant stone monoliths (the eighth one is rumored to have been chased away by a witch) peer menacingly down at her giving her the heebie-jeebies. And even further up the hill is a hidden mansion housing a tycoon so autocratic and feudal that it makes her dearly departed tyrant father and bossy ex-boyfriend seem like small change.
I liked the story and the courtship between the two but what actually got me emotionally was the heroine's internal growth. As she ponders her ambiguous relationship with her late father, the complex, she has a eureka moment without which she could never have found a resolution to her thorny issues towards the hero.
A very nice, well-done, vintage romance, overall.
In Spell of the Seven Stones, Jane Donnelly gives us a female protagonist trying to escape a lifetime of being controlled by the men in her life, first her over-protective, suffocating father, then an arrogant, selfish boyfriend. She takes her savings and pours them into a little pottery store in a quaint English village, adopts an adorable mutt, and starts dating the art gallery owner in the next town, who simply adores her. Off to a great start, uh?
Except that her new home sits at the bottom of a hill where a Stonehenge -like structure of seven giant stone monoliths (the eighth one is rumored to have been chased away by a witch) peer menacingly down at her giving her the heebie-jeebies. And even further up the hill is a hidden mansion housing a tycoon so autocratic and feudal that it makes her dearly departed tyrant father and bossy ex-boyfriend seem like small change.
I liked the story and the courtship between the two but what actually got me emotionally was the heroine's internal growth. As she ponders her ambiguous relationship with her late father, the complex, she has a eureka moment without which she could never have found a resolution to her thorny issues towards the hero.
A very nice, well-done, vintage romance, overall.
July 10, 2017
Slow burn and old school. If you like your tycoons Greek and your heroines to have weak knees and exploding lady parts then walk on by. This slow burn story is less of a romance than a potential suspense story with a little love story included.
Having grown up with an overbearing father, the heroine ditches London and an overbearing swain for her own destiny in a small town. Unfortunately, the overly attractive, alpha and potentially overbearing lord of the town is the H.
This is the late 70s, and at 21 and an experienced potter, this heroine has more savvy and spine than teenagers and twenty-somethings I see today in the sophisticated and liberated times of 2017. Of course, she is fictional but nonetheless. Her attitude about destiny and sexual awareness is incredibly mature and impressive. Contemporary and incredibly anachronistic tiny little Harlequin h's clinging to their virginity, slaving away as office drudges, nannies etc should hang their little blonde head's in shame. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the virginal heroine and the arrogance of the ever-present tycoons as much as the rest, but I like a real story too. Donnelly's location has lots of Gothic goodness with the magical seven stones and plenty of British mist. Plus there is a nicely growing puppy called Puppy who's a scene stealer.
Clutch your pearls, one thing that was very surprising is the implication that the heroine is not a virgin. She knows sex with the hero will be wonderful, but is smart enough to know it's not a good move to make if she wants to maintain her independence and sanity.
The romance is almost secondary so beware, but I enjoyed a look back at the 70s in all its brandy swilling, silk-shirt wearing, turn on the telly once a week details. The hero's huge cave-in at the end was nice to read if little unbelievable.
Having grown up with an overbearing father, the heroine ditches London and an overbearing swain for her own destiny in a small town. Unfortunately, the overly attractive, alpha and potentially overbearing lord of the town is the H.
This is the late 70s, and at 21 and an experienced potter, this heroine has more savvy and spine than teenagers and twenty-somethings I see today in the sophisticated and liberated times of 2017. Of course, she is fictional but nonetheless. Her attitude about destiny and sexual awareness is incredibly mature and impressive. Contemporary and incredibly anachronistic tiny little Harlequin h's clinging to their virginity, slaving away as office drudges, nannies etc should hang their little blonde head's in shame. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the virginal heroine and the arrogance of the ever-present tycoons as much as the rest, but I like a real story too. Donnelly's location has lots of Gothic goodness with the magical seven stones and plenty of British mist. Plus there is a nicely growing puppy called Puppy who's a scene stealer.
Clutch your pearls, one thing that was very surprising is the implication that the heroine is not a virgin. She knows sex with the hero will be wonderful, but is smart enough to know it's not a good move to make if she wants to maintain her independence and sanity.
The romance is almost secondary so beware, but I enjoyed a look back at the 70s in all its brandy swilling, silk-shirt wearing, turn on the telly once a week details. The hero's huge cave-in at the end was nice to read if little unbelievable.
April 23, 2018
Make no mistake; those 3 stars are solely for Robert (the hero) & Puppy (the gigantic dog she adopts). I loathed Sophy & her insufferable attitude.
Sophy spends the entire book yapping about how she's through with domineering males, & she ascribes Robert's every action to his Unwelcome Dominant Attitude as he crushes her free spirit & independence. 🙄 In Sophy's mind, merely being a successful businessman & providing lots of local jobs & advising 20-yr-olds to wait before they marry is proof of his rigid, dominating wrongness & demands immediate expulsion from the human race. The horror!
Certainly there are plenty of HQN heroes who deserve a nut-punch, but Robert isn't one of them. How dare he leave money by her telephone to pay for his using it! How dare he ask for privacy when talking to his brother's pregnant mistress! How dare he inquire if she wants help with her just-started business (then back off when she refuses)! How dare he kiss her when she invites him to (literally), then stop seducing her when she asks him to! How dare he drive her home after she gets soaked to the skin after ignoring his advice not to walk on the stormy dales! How dare he send her friendly letters while on holiday! How dare he not appreciate her wandering his property until he's met her in person!
Seriously, Robert spends virtually the entire book being reasonable, polite, & bowing to Sophy's wishes -- which is what she claims to want. But she still goes on about how he's a spawn of evil & out to ruin her independent life o' awesome...even after she admits she's attracted to him. WTF. Clearly Sophy is in the wrong business. She should've skipped the pottery store & become a dominatrix, because what she *really* wanted was a man groveling for the honor of a kiss to her heel, then thanking her when she whipped him for the audacity of his desire.
That said...I enjoyed Donnelly's writing & the vaguely mystical feel of the prose, so I'll give her another go. I just hope Sophy isn't indicative of a preferred heroine type. Bleh.
Sophy spends the entire book yapping about how she's through with domineering males, & she ascribes Robert's every action to his Unwelcome Dominant Attitude as he crushes her free spirit & independence. 🙄 In Sophy's mind, merely being a successful businessman & providing lots of local jobs & advising 20-yr-olds to wait before they marry is proof of his rigid, dominating wrongness & demands immediate expulsion from the human race. The horror!
Certainly there are plenty of HQN heroes who deserve a nut-punch, but Robert isn't one of them. How dare he leave money by her telephone to pay for his using it! How dare he ask for privacy when talking to his brother's pregnant mistress! How dare he inquire if she wants help with her just-started business (then back off when she refuses)! How dare he kiss her when she invites him to (literally), then stop seducing her when she asks him to! How dare he drive her home after she gets soaked to the skin after ignoring his advice not to walk on the stormy dales! How dare he send her friendly letters while on holiday! How dare he not appreciate her wandering his property until he's met her in person!
Seriously, Robert spends virtually the entire book being reasonable, polite, & bowing to Sophy's wishes -- which is what she claims to want. But she still goes on about how he's a spawn of evil & out to ruin her independent life o' awesome...even after she admits she's attracted to him. WTF. Clearly Sophy is in the wrong business. She should've skipped the pottery store & become a dominatrix, because what she *really* wanted was a man groveling for the honor of a kiss to her heel, then thanking her when she whipped him for the audacity of his desire.
That said...I enjoyed Donnelly's writing & the vaguely mystical feel of the prose, so I'll give her another go. I just hope Sophy isn't indicative of a preferred heroine type. Bleh.
August 12, 2014
Annoying heroine.
September 8, 2019
Completely agree with Naksed review - could not put it any better.
Can I just observe though that the woman on the 1978 Harlequin cover looks eerily like a younger Liz Hurley (before the actress existed as a young version), while the man who's depicted looming up behind her looks like he belongs on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R... (I'm assuming/hoping that was the illustrator's intention given there's a legend involving the 'Seven brothers stones' woven into the story).
Can I just observe though that the woman on the 1978 Harlequin cover looks eerily like a younger Liz Hurley (before the actress existed as a young version), while the man who's depicted looming up behind her looks like he belongs on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R... (I'm assuming/hoping that was the illustrator's intention given there's a legend involving the 'Seven brothers stones' woven into the story).
September 20, 2025
September Readathon
I've read several books by Donnelly; some absolutely hit me just right and some do not work at all. This one came in as not quite either of those. It's very similar to "Touched by Fire" -- from the heroine being an artist and determined to be independent, dallying with the wrong man and never meaning it, falling into a bog on a headstrong walk and needing to wear his oversized robe while getting clean and dry in the hero's beautiful home, while he stays enigmatically enigmatic until they both admit it's love -- with a bit of "Love For A Stranger" tossed in.
Donnelly doesn't tell a story; she's not a storyteller. Maybe more precisely she doesn't care about plot, so much as she gives full rein to her heroine's experience of falling in love.
The heroines are usually able, and able to handle themselves, including being honest with themselves and everyone-but-the-hero about where things stand. They're smart and witty, get stuck in, are figuring life out and are maturing into full-grown-people, talented and working hard and making the best of it even when things go wrong and they have no idea what to do about the poleaxe of THIS MAN who has entered their lives and crowded out every other thought in their continuing, unending thinking.
It can read very as very intimate, and annoying, and bordering on hysterical, and then back to practical and a bit heartbreaking.
The prose is thick and repetitive, folds in on itself, and it can at times be difficult to tell who is saying what to whom, or if what to whom is even being said at all, because the heroine is also given a lot of lead to think through witty retorts she never offers, scenarios to imagine that never happen, and mulling on past-present-future in an ongoing dialogue with herself.
Once you get into the rhythm and pick up on all these elements, the book can flow along quite nicely. But if you aren't drawn to the heroine and why she's doing as she does, it won't come together.
Almost all of Donnelly's books I've read are this way. A stream of consciousness as the heroine folds in and in and in on herself under the weight of maturing, struggle, flirtation, and then a sudden bang of clarity propels her escape from endless looping thoughts to a brisk realization and then saying, at last and plainly, what she wants to-and-from the hero.
It is in that moment the hero has his answer, his desire, and even permission to be likewise plainspoken and he tells her right back: yes, I love you too, let's be together always. HEA! and huzzah. Before, looking back, you can remember his lurking, his glowering, his trying to sweeten her to some things (including most desperately, himself). The heroes are always decent chaps, worthy and also hard-working and smart, but not so worthy they don't angle for an affair (sometimes to test her, sometimes because they just can't help themselves), and it makes them even better when they reveal their own hearts.
The love arc is there, but it's subordinate to the heroine coming into herself.
As I say, sometimes that really works. I get into that headspace and feel for the heroine and pick up the signals Donnelly gives that her hero has fallen hard too, and it's a lovely little read. Sometimes it's too thick and looping and the heroine is too-too something, and her stream of consciousness just doesn't capture me. So goes!
The seven stones themselves are fantastic. What a great thing to bring onto the page, have as their special meeting place, and certainly as exists in a nice little Yorkshire village. The heroine is good, the hero good, and the addition of an enormous and loyal mutt named Puppy is fun and lovely. So this one has its strengths. But, I think because of the two books it reminded me of so much, I felt I'd already read it, and the stream of consciousness became a distracting hindrance rather than a delightful idyll.
So goes.
I've read several books by Donnelly; some absolutely hit me just right and some do not work at all. This one came in as not quite either of those. It's very similar to "Touched by Fire" -- from the heroine being an artist and determined to be independent, dallying with the wrong man and never meaning it, falling into a bog on a headstrong walk and needing to wear his oversized robe while getting clean and dry in the hero's beautiful home, while he stays enigmatically enigmatic until they both admit it's love -- with a bit of "Love For A Stranger" tossed in.
Donnelly doesn't tell a story; she's not a storyteller. Maybe more precisely she doesn't care about plot, so much as she gives full rein to her heroine's experience of falling in love.
The heroines are usually able, and able to handle themselves, including being honest with themselves and everyone-but-the-hero about where things stand. They're smart and witty, get stuck in, are figuring life out and are maturing into full-grown-people, talented and working hard and making the best of it even when things go wrong and they have no idea what to do about the poleaxe of THIS MAN who has entered their lives and crowded out every other thought in their continuing, unending thinking.
It can read very as very intimate, and annoying, and bordering on hysterical, and then back to practical and a bit heartbreaking.
The prose is thick and repetitive, folds in on itself, and it can at times be difficult to tell who is saying what to whom, or if what to whom is even being said at all, because the heroine is also given a lot of lead to think through witty retorts she never offers, scenarios to imagine that never happen, and mulling on past-present-future in an ongoing dialogue with herself.
Once you get into the rhythm and pick up on all these elements, the book can flow along quite nicely. But if you aren't drawn to the heroine and why she's doing as she does, it won't come together.
Almost all of Donnelly's books I've read are this way. A stream of consciousness as the heroine folds in and in and in on herself under the weight of maturing, struggle, flirtation, and then a sudden bang of clarity propels her escape from endless looping thoughts to a brisk realization and then saying, at last and plainly, what she wants to-and-from the hero.
It is in that moment the hero has his answer, his desire, and even permission to be likewise plainspoken and he tells her right back: yes, I love you too, let's be together always. HEA! and huzzah. Before, looking back, you can remember his lurking, his glowering, his trying to sweeten her to some things (including most desperately, himself). The heroes are always decent chaps, worthy and also hard-working and smart, but not so worthy they don't angle for an affair (sometimes to test her, sometimes because they just can't help themselves), and it makes them even better when they reveal their own hearts.
The love arc is there, but it's subordinate to the heroine coming into herself.
As I say, sometimes that really works. I get into that headspace and feel for the heroine and pick up the signals Donnelly gives that her hero has fallen hard too, and it's a lovely little read. Sometimes it's too thick and looping and the heroine is too-too something, and her stream of consciousness just doesn't capture me. So goes!
The seven stones themselves are fantastic. What a great thing to bring onto the page, have as their special meeting place, and certainly as exists in a nice little Yorkshire village. The heroine is good, the hero good, and the addition of an enormous and loyal mutt named Puppy is fun and lovely. So this one has its strengths. But, I think because of the two books it reminded me of so much, I felt I'd already read it, and the stream of consciousness became a distracting hindrance rather than a delightful idyll.
So goes.
December 30, 2022
I feel I am fated to dislike this author's heroines while forever adoring her heroes.
Sophy here absolutely abhors dominating, controlling men. Understandable, who doesn't?
But Sophy must be a liar. Because Why else would Sophy send out more mixed signals than a malfunctioning traffic signal in India?! Why Sophy why? Why would you ask Robert to leave you alone but haunt all the places where you could conveniently run into him? Why, if you've decided you don't want to marry Giles, would you continue to meet him regularly, leading him on? Why would you act like a pig headed 5 year old, determined to do something just because you've been told not to? Why would you blow hot and cold with the rapidity of a boomerang?
Robert you deserve better. A tycoon who also writes love letters and cooks well? *sigh* wasted on the childish Sophy.
Sophy here absolutely abhors dominating, controlling men. Understandable, who doesn't?
But Sophy must be a liar. Because Why else would Sophy send out more mixed signals than a malfunctioning traffic signal in India?! Why Sophy why? Why would you ask Robert to leave you alone but haunt all the places where you could conveniently run into him? Why, if you've decided you don't want to marry Giles, would you continue to meet him regularly, leading him on? Why would you act like a pig headed 5 year old, determined to do something just because you've been told not to? Why would you blow hot and cold with the rapidity of a boomerang?
Robert you deserve better. A tycoon who also writes love letters and cooks well? *sigh* wasted on the childish Sophy.
March 14, 2019
A nice, sweet romance. I loved the fact that the heroine owned her own business and wanted to be independent. She had felt micro-managed by her father and then bullied by her former boyfriend. She meets the hero and spurns him because he isn’t the beta type that she has decided she wants. I can understand how she feels. She had been told what to do all her life and wanted to be her own person.
March 14, 2023
Sophy is a (mostly) appealing character even if she does go overboard into childish pettiness a time or two. And Robert is far from the selfish autocrat that the back cover blurb makes him out to be. The real star of the show, though, is Very Good Boy, Puppy.
January 31, 2024
There are a lot of reviews of this book already, with all the details, but I just want to add that I loved it! I am not even sure why, but it took hold of me and drew me into it's spell.
I adored the heroine - yes, she has a few issues as a result of her upbringing, but she is self-sufficient and just so cool! She does what she wants to, isn't bogged down with anxiety, and is kind and smart and talented!
I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the dog in the book - I wish it had been longer with more dog escapades! The hero is almost a side point as it's really about her and what she wants now she's free of entanglements and can grow as she likes.
If, like me you enjoyed it, I would suggest The Man Outside by the same author. The hero is so unusual and the heroine again her own person - really they don't make them like they used to!
I adored the heroine - yes, she has a few issues as a result of her upbringing, but she is self-sufficient and just so cool! She does what she wants to, isn't bogged down with anxiety, and is kind and smart and talented!
I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the dog in the book - I wish it had been longer with more dog escapades! The hero is almost a side point as it's really about her and what she wants now she's free of entanglements and can grow as she likes.
If, like me you enjoyed it, I would suggest The Man Outside by the same author. The hero is so unusual and the heroine again her own person - really they don't make them like they used to!
doubtful-because-not-v
January 17, 2021She wanted a life without tyrants!
Sophy's father had dominated her until his death. She had finally broken with her equally possessive boyfriend. Now she was free to live her own life!
Moving to the Yorkshire village where she bought a pottery business, she settled down to enjoy her new freedom. And she vowed never to let another dominant male enter her life.
Meeting the autocratic Robert Carlton was purely accidental; their resulting relationship stormy Sophy had no intention of giving way to her love for him!
Sophy's father had dominated her until his death. She had finally broken with her equally possessive boyfriend. Now she was free to live her own life!
Moving to the Yorkshire village where she bought a pottery business, she settled down to enjoy her new freedom. And she vowed never to let another dominant male enter her life.
Meeting the autocratic Robert Carlton was purely accidental; their resulting relationship stormy Sophy had no intention of giving way to her love for him!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews