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Island Of The Heart
Island Of The Heart by Sara Craven released on Dec 25, 1989 is available now for purchase.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
1 person is currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Sara Craven
493 books267 followersAnne Bushell was born on October 1938 in South Devon, England, just before World War II and grew up in a house crammed with books. She was always a voracious reader, some of her all-time favorites books are: "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë, "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell and "The Code of the Woosters" by P. G. Wodehouse.
She worked as journalist at the Paignton Observer, but after her marriage, she moved to the north of England, where she worked as teacher. After she returned to journalism, she joined the Middlesbrough Writers' Group, where she met other romance writer Mildred Grieveson (Anne Mather). She started to wrote romance, and she had her first novel "Garden of Dreams" accepted by Mills & Boon in 1975, she published her work under the pseudonym of Sara Craven. In 2010 she became chairman of the Southern Writers' Conference, and the next year was elected the twenty-six Chairman (2011–2013) of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Divorced twice, Annie lives in Somerset, South West England, and shares her home with a West Highland white terrier called Bertie Wooster. In her house, she had several thousand books, and an amazing video collection. When she's not writing, she enjoys watching very old films, listening to music, going to the theatre, and eating in good restaurants. She also likes to travel in Europe, to inspire her romances, especially in France, Greece and Italy where many of her novels are set. Since the birth of her twin grandchildren, she is also a regular visitor to New York City, where the little tots live. In 1997, she was the overall winner of the BBC's Mastermind, winning the last final presented by Magnus Magnusson.
She worked as journalist at the Paignton Observer, but after her marriage, she moved to the north of England, where she worked as teacher. After she returned to journalism, she joined the Middlesbrough Writers' Group, where she met other romance writer Mildred Grieveson (Anne Mather). She started to wrote romance, and she had her first novel "Garden of Dreams" accepted by Mills & Boon in 1975, she published her work under the pseudonym of Sara Craven. In 2010 she became chairman of the Southern Writers' Conference, and the next year was elected the twenty-six Chairman (2011–2013) of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Divorced twice, Annie lives in Somerset, South West England, and shares her home with a West Highland white terrier called Bertie Wooster. In her house, she had several thousand books, and an amazing video collection. When she's not writing, she enjoys watching very old films, listening to music, going to the theatre, and eating in good restaurants. She also likes to travel in Europe, to inspire her romances, especially in France, Greece and Italy where many of her novels are set. Since the birth of her twin grandchildren, she is also a regular visitor to New York City, where the little tots live. In 1997, she was the overall winner of the BBC's Mastermind, winning the last final presented by Magnus Magnusson.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 2, 2017
Re Island of the Heart - Sara Craven does the doppelganger - but in the SC province of HPlandia it isn't enough to do the sloppy second ickness where the h is lookalike ringer for the H to punish in his thwarted affection. Nope, when SC does the squicky, she does SERIOUS SQUICKY and throws in feuding brothers too.
So this h can't win no matter what, she is the second rate prize between two feuding men and totally outclassed by the inevitable return of the original woman. It is only because SC is a great writer that it becomes the usual HP trainwrecki drama and not a mad descent into carnal chaos.
Interestingly, this is one of the very few HP's set in Ireland. Which made me ponder, but then I realized that for years Ireland had the biggest readership of M&B/HP's, so setting stories there was probably a bit like Our Mary Margaret up the road getting a spot of romance and where is the exotic getaway fantasy in that? Even if the H is a wildly rich and suitably Mr. Crankyface Alpha, it just isn't very interesting if you already live there.
Well SC sets out to fix all that with this one, but I still got the squicky feeling. Tho the Irish H did have a fair amount of charm, when he wasn't being Mr. Crankyface and SC does a great job at working in some little known Irish piracy history with Grace O' Malley and she invents a really good story for the H's private little island.
The h is 19 and rather naive and sheltered, she still lives at home with mum and dad and they are intent on her getting a secretary diploma and an office job. The h isn't down with that, she has fought for years to be allowed to take piano lessons, and she has some talent. It must run in the family, the h's namesake grandmother had talent too and spent a lot of frustrated years trying to make it in showbiz.
Due to her parents prejudice against performance artists, the h started late on piano and needs more education and time to develop her skill. The h is desperate to take a shot at further music education and convinces her parents to let her participate in a local recital contest. The winner gets a chance at the big time and the h intends to give it her all.
She doesn't win, but one of the big Simon Cowell-like judges offers her a place at his home in Ireland for the summer. The h can be the accompanist for his vocalist mother, whose regular accompanist ran off to get married, and the famous pianist/composer will give the h further tuition in piano and help her develop her talent. The h is excited to go and hopes this is her big break. It is pretty clear that Composer Guy is looking for a little fun in the mist, but the h is so happy to get a chance and has a bit of a crush going on, she just doesn't see it.
When she gets to Ireland, people are looking at her funny and the h soon learns that CG is married and pushes her hard for an affair. The h has no experience, so even tho CG says that his wife left him and was too ambitious to stay around as his wife, the h is dubious. CG claims the wife really married him because she was fighting with CG's brother, the guy she really wanted, to get some half baked revenge on him. The h is feeling rather perturbed cause this isn't like any situation she has ever seen before.
Besides the H, CG's brother, has made his thunderous appearance on the h's first night, while she was in her jammies and playing Clair de Lune. After he tried to throw her out, he got a few roofie kisses in that have totally inflamed her body, but her mind doesn't like him at all.
(He really is rather mean at first. The H is a big time businessman and he owns the house where the h, CG, CG's Prima Donna vocalist mother and their younger siblings are all staying at. He takes one look at the h and is not happy that CG is pulling shenanigans under his roof, plus he wouldn't mind getting a leg over the h himself.)
CG tries to seduce the h, but the H distracts him by getting him drunk and the h locks herself in her room. She is starting to figure out that CG really only wanted her as a summer fling when his wife shows up, at the H's behest, and the h gets the shock of her life because they look practically identical.
The h is ashamed, embarrassed and seeing her dreams of being a concert pianist go down in flames. She runs off and wanders into the H. The H takes her sailing over to his little tiny private island on his private lough, 'Oilean an chroi' (Island of the Heart), and the h is totally enchanted. Until she realizes that she has been kidnapped and the H is going to keep her there until CG and his wife get themselves sorted.
(The island's legend is that it was the love nest hideaway of a Great Irish Clan Chieftain who fell in love with a lady from rival feuding clan. When the lover became preggers, he built her a tower on the island as he had to marry someone else and the lover's kin were mortal enemies. The Chieftain's wife eventually found out and she and her family attacked the Chieftain's lover on the island, killed their child and cut out the woman's heart. The wife then gave it to her husband as a gift so he would always have his 'beloved heart'.)
The h is furious and wants to leave, but she gets really ill with flu and the H takes care of her. After she recovers, she and the H start spending time together and she falls head over heels in love. The inevitable physical passion leaves the h cast adrift on the golden shores of bliss when she and the H lurve it up, but the H is very distant the next day and the h realizes that not only has she been educated in ways she never expected, she has also been thoroughly had when the H blows her off as a fling.
The H finally takes her back to the main house and the h finds out from the younger siblings that CG and his wife are divorcing so his wife can marry the H. The h leaves and goes back to England, she gets a job working as a bar pianist and tries to move on with her life.
The H eventually tracks her down and hauls her off to his lair, CG's wife is there and informs the h that she is sticking with her husband and she and the H are only childhood friends. The H comes in and tells the h that he loves her, but he was worried she was obsessed with being a pianist and since various members of his family are obsessed with music to the detriment of everything else, he wasn't sure what to do.
He isn't marrying the OW, that was just something the kids cooked up in random speculation after listening to CG rant and rave about his faithless wife. The h avows that she is over being a concert pianist, she only wants to adore the H forever and have a house and take his younger siblings in cause their Prima Donna mother is pretty unstable. The H also claims that he and the OW tried to be intimate once when they were teens, but they totally had no mojo, so the h is assured she isn't second best. The H and h are planning a wedding and avowing their island of love will always be in their hearts for the sparkly, lurved up HEA.
Squick factor aside, this one was actually pretty good. The h was painfully naive and started with a huge teen idol crush on the OM, but she matured pretty nicely over the course of the story. While the H starts out fairly mean, he rapidly improves into an almost charming guy.
I still hate this trope, but SC did convince me that the h was first with the H and she wasn't subbing for anyone else. Give this one a go if you run into it, it is one of the better doppelganger trips to HPlandia.
So this h can't win no matter what, she is the second rate prize between two feuding men and totally outclassed by the inevitable return of the original woman. It is only because SC is a great writer that it becomes the usual HP trainwrecki drama and not a mad descent into carnal chaos.
Interestingly, this is one of the very few HP's set in Ireland. Which made me ponder, but then I realized that for years Ireland had the biggest readership of M&B/HP's, so setting stories there was probably a bit like Our Mary Margaret up the road getting a spot of romance and where is the exotic getaway fantasy in that? Even if the H is a wildly rich and suitably Mr. Crankyface Alpha, it just isn't very interesting if you already live there.
Well SC sets out to fix all that with this one, but I still got the squicky feeling. Tho the Irish H did have a fair amount of charm, when he wasn't being Mr. Crankyface and SC does a great job at working in some little known Irish piracy history with Grace O' Malley and she invents a really good story for the H's private little island.
The h is 19 and rather naive and sheltered, she still lives at home with mum and dad and they are intent on her getting a secretary diploma and an office job. The h isn't down with that, she has fought for years to be allowed to take piano lessons, and she has some talent. It must run in the family, the h's namesake grandmother had talent too and spent a lot of frustrated years trying to make it in showbiz.
Due to her parents prejudice against performance artists, the h started late on piano and needs more education and time to develop her skill. The h is desperate to take a shot at further music education and convinces her parents to let her participate in a local recital contest. The winner gets a chance at the big time and the h intends to give it her all.
She doesn't win, but one of the big Simon Cowell-like judges offers her a place at his home in Ireland for the summer. The h can be the accompanist for his vocalist mother, whose regular accompanist ran off to get married, and the famous pianist/composer will give the h further tuition in piano and help her develop her talent. The h is excited to go and hopes this is her big break. It is pretty clear that Composer Guy is looking for a little fun in the mist, but the h is so happy to get a chance and has a bit of a crush going on, she just doesn't see it.
When she gets to Ireland, people are looking at her funny and the h soon learns that CG is married and pushes her hard for an affair. The h has no experience, so even tho CG says that his wife left him and was too ambitious to stay around as his wife, the h is dubious. CG claims the wife really married him because she was fighting with CG's brother, the guy she really wanted, to get some half baked revenge on him. The h is feeling rather perturbed cause this isn't like any situation she has ever seen before.
Besides the H, CG's brother, has made his thunderous appearance on the h's first night, while she was in her jammies and playing Clair de Lune. After he tried to throw her out, he got a few roofie kisses in that have totally inflamed her body, but her mind doesn't like him at all.
(He really is rather mean at first. The H is a big time businessman and he owns the house where the h, CG, CG's Prima Donna vocalist mother and their younger siblings are all staying at. He takes one look at the h and is not happy that CG is pulling shenanigans under his roof, plus he wouldn't mind getting a leg over the h himself.)
CG tries to seduce the h, but the H distracts him by getting him drunk and the h locks herself in her room. She is starting to figure out that CG really only wanted her as a summer fling when his wife shows up, at the H's behest, and the h gets the shock of her life because they look practically identical.
The h is ashamed, embarrassed and seeing her dreams of being a concert pianist go down in flames. She runs off and wanders into the H. The H takes her sailing over to his little tiny private island on his private lough, 'Oilean an chroi' (Island of the Heart), and the h is totally enchanted. Until she realizes that she has been kidnapped and the H is going to keep her there until CG and his wife get themselves sorted.
(The island's legend is that it was the love nest hideaway of a Great Irish Clan Chieftain who fell in love with a lady from rival feuding clan. When the lover became preggers, he built her a tower on the island as he had to marry someone else and the lover's kin were mortal enemies. The Chieftain's wife eventually found out and she and her family attacked the Chieftain's lover on the island, killed their child and cut out the woman's heart. The wife then gave it to her husband as a gift so he would always have his 'beloved heart'.)
The h is furious and wants to leave, but she gets really ill with flu and the H takes care of her. After she recovers, she and the H start spending time together and she falls head over heels in love. The inevitable physical passion leaves the h cast adrift on the golden shores of bliss when she and the H lurve it up, but the H is very distant the next day and the h realizes that not only has she been educated in ways she never expected, she has also been thoroughly had when the H blows her off as a fling.
The H finally takes her back to the main house and the h finds out from the younger siblings that CG and his wife are divorcing so his wife can marry the H. The h leaves and goes back to England, she gets a job working as a bar pianist and tries to move on with her life.
The H eventually tracks her down and hauls her off to his lair, CG's wife is there and informs the h that she is sticking with her husband and she and the H are only childhood friends. The H comes in and tells the h that he loves her, but he was worried she was obsessed with being a pianist and since various members of his family are obsessed with music to the detriment of everything else, he wasn't sure what to do.
He isn't marrying the OW, that was just something the kids cooked up in random speculation after listening to CG rant and rave about his faithless wife. The h avows that she is over being a concert pianist, she only wants to adore the H forever and have a house and take his younger siblings in cause their Prima Donna mother is pretty unstable. The H also claims that he and the OW tried to be intimate once when they were teens, but they totally had no mojo, so the h is assured she isn't second best. The H and h are planning a wedding and avowing their island of love will always be in their hearts for the sparkly, lurved up HEA.
Squick factor aside, this one was actually pretty good. The h was painfully naive and started with a huge teen idol crush on the OM, but she matured pretty nicely over the course of the story. While the H starts out fairly mean, he rapidly improves into an almost charming guy.
I still hate this trope, but SC did convince me that the h was first with the H and she wasn't subbing for anyone else. Give this one a go if you run into it, it is one of the better doppelganger trips to HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2016
This was a ho-hum read for me. I didn't like the characters all that much. Flynn is a mean jerk for most of the book. I can deal with a jerk hero who seems to be head over heels for the heroine and that's why he's a jerk. In this case, it was hard to believe he was so crazy in love with Sandie. His excuse for how he was treating her was pretty darn lame. Sandie seems very immature. I really didn't like that one point she seemed like she was considering having an affair with Crispin even though she knew he was married. I just can't stomach adultery and while Sandie is young and inexperienced, I disliked that she was even thinking about getting with Crispin for a hot minute. Other than the characters not being likable, there's really not enough substance to this story for my tastes. While music is always an appealing element to a story, the music didn't add that much to it for my tastes. I am a pretty big fan of Sara Craven, but this one left me underwhelmed. It wasn't terrible, just not anything that stood out in this book for me.
June 25, 2024
The relationships between all the players in this tacky tale were way too tangled and incestuous for me. Hero's first love was OW. Everybody thought they were the great loves of each other's lives and would marry. However, OW dumped hero and married hero's half brother. Then, their marriage imploded and OW and husband separated, which is the point in the story where heroine enters stage left.
Hero's half brother finds heroine at some village piano competition. Fascinated because she is the physical double of the OW, his ex-wife, he totally goes Vertigo on heroine, deciding to groom her like he used to do his wife for a career as a piano concert star. Oh and he also makes it clear he is very DTF the heroine. Kisses and groping ensue.
Hero is a rude pig to heroine believing that she is his half brother's side piece while he is separated from OW. That doesn't prevent hero from sleeping with heroine and then dumping her when the OW shows up and summons him.
In the end, the OW tells the heroine she is going back to her husband and that heroine should give the hero a chance. There has supposedly been nothing going on between OW and H since OW's marriage to H's half brother. OW explains that the H's half brother is the love of OW's life. While they were just going through a rough patch because of half brother's sudden panic attacks and stage frights, H acted simply as a platonic friend and brother-in-law, lending OW much needed "emotional support."
Hero, in the midst of his love declaration to heroine, chuckles about the one night he slept with OW back when they were a thing, claiming it was a disaster because it felt more like they were brother and sister.
The family reunions are going to be EPIC, that's really all I can say about this train wreck!
Hero's half brother finds heroine at some village piano competition. Fascinated because she is the physical double of the OW, his ex-wife, he totally goes Vertigo on heroine, deciding to groom her like he used to do his wife for a career as a piano concert star. Oh and he also makes it clear he is very DTF the heroine. Kisses and groping ensue.
Hero is a rude pig to heroine believing that she is his half brother's side piece while he is separated from OW. That doesn't prevent hero from sleeping with heroine and then dumping her when the OW shows up and summons him.
In the end, the OW tells the heroine she is going back to her husband and that heroine should give the hero a chance. There has supposedly been nothing going on between OW and H since OW's marriage to H's half brother. OW explains that the H's half brother is the love of OW's life. While they were just going through a rough patch because of half brother's sudden panic attacks and stage frights, H acted simply as a platonic friend and brother-in-law, lending OW much needed "emotional support."
Hero, in the midst of his love declaration to heroine, chuckles about the one night he slept with OW back when they were a thing, claiming it was a disaster because it felt more like they were brother and sister.
The family reunions are going to be EPIC, that's really all I can say about this train wreck!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2023
Yet another inappropriate cover. The h, Sandie, is a slip of a lass pianist with long, blonde hair. This cover woman looks like she should have a name plate on an executive office 😂
This is set in Connemara, which is a bit different as these things go. And the H, Flynn, does have a hint of the Oirish in his speech. She's been talent spotted by the H's svengali brother, Crispin, and whisked to Ireland for the summer for him to give her private tuition and for her to act as accompanist to his opera singer mother. The fact that she is the doppelganger of his estranged wife is pure coincidence(!).It's a rambling house full of siblings of which Flynn is the eldest.
The wanting to be a concert pianist bit is something of a stretch as she doesn't seem to have, even to my unmusical understanding, anything like the required single minded dedication this needs but i guess the plot has to start somewhere.
Anyhow, I like a two brothers thing, and this has some decent elements of that. It doesn't quite hit the mark as a fulfilling romance as their connection doesn't seem all that deep to me. Nevertheless it's not bad. I'd maybe reread just for the charm of the Irish lake/sea/island setting.
This is set in Connemara, which is a bit different as these things go. And the H, Flynn, does have a hint of the Oirish in his speech. She's been talent spotted by the H's svengali brother, Crispin, and whisked to Ireland for the summer for him to give her private tuition and for her to act as accompanist to his opera singer mother. The fact that she is the doppelganger of his estranged wife is pure coincidence(!).It's a rambling house full of siblings of which Flynn is the eldest.
The wanting to be a concert pianist bit is something of a stretch as she doesn't seem to have, even to my unmusical understanding, anything like the required single minded dedication this needs but i guess the plot has to start somewhere.
Anyhow, I like a two brothers thing, and this has some decent elements of that. It doesn't quite hit the mark as a fulfilling romance as their connection doesn't seem all that deep to me. Nevertheless it's not bad. I'd maybe reread just for the charm of the Irish lake/sea/island setting.
September 14, 2018
The h annoyed the hell out of me.
The H was an overbearing bully.
The H’s brother was a spoiled, drama queen.
The book was tedious to get through so I skimmed through most of it.
The H was an overbearing bully.
The H’s brother was a spoiled, drama queen.
The book was tedious to get through so I skimmed through most of it.
February 26, 2024
I love the cover art but it doesn’t relate much to the actual story. Heroine is an inspiring pianist who gets bamboozled into going to Ireland to study piano under a handsome savant pianist/composer. I really thought this was going to be a musically themed sweet romance based on the first chapter, but the story takes a quick turn. Piano guy happens to be married and only tricked the heroine to come stay with him for a fling and because she is a doppelgänger for his wife. Older half-brother (hero) with no musical talent tries to discourage the heroine away from the piano savant guy, includes some heated kisses and a little cruelty (telling the h that she is actually not talented enough to make it big). Wife of piano guy shows up, so hero tricks h into coming to the nearby island, called Island of the Heart, and keeps her there for several days so that piano guy can reconcile with his wife. h gets a virus and H takes care of her. They also spend some time bonding. Virgin h decides she wants hero to make love to her and she asks him point blank. He declines and takes a walk. h doesn’t want to give up and instead strips down naked on the floor and wants for him to return. When he does, he has no willpower to decline the offering. The next day they leave the island, and hero makes it sound like it’s been a one night stand. H leaves to help out the piano guys wife, upsetting the h so she leaves to go home to England. Later as she is playing at a piano bar, hero shows up, takes her to meet the piano guys wife who explains she and the H are just friends. H professes his love and then end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2017
Island Of The Heart scores five stars not because of the plot so much as the hero. It's been a long time since I've come across a Craven Hero that doesn't cross the line when it comes to consent. Flynn Killane is considerate when up against a stubborn Craven Heroine, and comes off as less manipulative overall.
Alexandra and Crispin got on my nerves at the beginning of the narrative, and somehow, the introduction of Flynn made me liked Alexandra more.
The text gets progressively better once Flynn and Alexandra are on their own.
Alexandra and Crispin got on my nerves at the beginning of the narrative, and somehow, the introduction of Flynn made me liked Alexandra more.
The text gets progressively better once Flynn and Alexandra are on their own.
August 23, 2012
This one was okay but not great. It had arguing in it and as you can tell from my reviews I really don't like that. But it did have a good ending. So if you like good endings like this one then you will like this one.
SPOILER ALERT...
The end was like a lot of these books but with a little twist. The other woman was involved. How is that for a twist. You will have to read it to see what happened. I don't want to give it away. It was interesting though how it ended.
SPOILER ALERT...
The end was like a lot of these books but with a little twist. The other woman was involved. How is that for a twist. You will have to read it to see what happened. I don't want to give it away. It was interesting though how it ended.
May 1, 2015
*sigh* The h - incredibly stupid throughout the whole book, I felt sorry for the H having to deal with her in novel world!
abrierto-to-read-hr-other
February 5, 2019It was a marvellous opportunity. And Sandie grabbed it. Only afterwards did she realise she'd been a little naive.
When noted pianist and composer Crispin Sinclair offered her free tuition at his Irish home, she had no idea how closely she resembled the wife he hadn't got around to divorcing. And she'd viewed Crispin only as a musician, not a man.
So it was as well that enigmatic Flynn Fillane was around to rescue her. Sandie hoped, though, it wouldn't prove to be out of the frying pan, into the fire!
When noted pianist and composer Crispin Sinclair offered her free tuition at his Irish home, she had no idea how closely she resembled the wife he hadn't got around to divorcing. And she'd viewed Crispin only as a musician, not a man.
So it was as well that enigmatic Flynn Fillane was around to rescue her. Sandie hoped, though, it wouldn't prove to be out of the frying pan, into the fire!
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