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Passage of the Night
Kirstie had gone to considerable trouble
Her plot just had to succeed! She would abduct Francis Grayson and dump the attractive businessman on a remote mountain in Vermont. And she'd leave him there until her elder sister Louise was safely married.
But Kirstie hadn't made any allowance for Francis's quick recovery or his resourcefulness.
Nor had it once crossed her mind that she might be just as susceptible to Francis's lethal charms as Louise....
Her plot just had to succeed! She would abduct Francis Grayson and dump the attractive businessman on a remote mountain in Vermont. And she'd leave him there until her elder sister Louise was safely married.
But Kirstie hadn't made any allowance for Francis's quick recovery or his resourcefulness.
Nor had it once crossed her mind that she might be just as susceptible to Francis's lethal charms as Louise....
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1991
About the author
Amanda Carpenter
37 books43 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Amanda Carpenter (aka Thea Harrison) resides in northern California. She wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter.
She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She's back with her paranormal Elder Races series under the pseudonym Thea Harrison.
Amanda Carpenter (aka Thea Harrison) resides in northern California. She wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter.
She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She's back with her paranormal Elder Races series under the pseudonym Thea Harrison.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 23, 2017
Re Passage of the Night - Amanda Carpenter brings us another non HP HP, this time with a pilot h who kidnaps the business tycoon H to save her sister.
Fair warning on this one, AC's writing style in this is an adjective laden, lyrical spout of poetic prose. The story is pretty simple but the wording is on par with reading a modern English version of Beowulf. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, AC writes beautifully, but it may be very wearing on those HP Voyagers who aren't quite so into poetic symbolism and drawn out contemplation. AC manages to infer throughout rather than state - all the way until the end declarations, so no calling on the Captain to help you through this one, you will miss the implications.
Because I am good at snark and not so good at romantic idealization, I will share the technical bits of the story and for the lyricism, well on this one you have to read the book. I can't convey it well and I tried a couple of times, but it just wasn't right.
The book opens with the armed h waiting in an underground parking garage for the H to emerge from his office. She cleverly set up construction barricades around the H's car to isolate it and so when he comes out, she pulls her empty gun and forces him into the car. She gives him drugged coffee and tells him either drink or she will shoot. He drinks, but he isn't very happy about it, and I was a bit appalled myself. (However AC manages to convey the h's distress so well, that I was inclined to be empathetic. Obviously this woman wouldn't be taking such a drastic action unless there were some serious issues at play.)
So the h takes the now passed out H and gets her uncle to help get the H into a helicopter. The h and her brothers own an air service, they do helicopter tours, cargo flights and small passenger flights. The h is taking the H to a family cabin in a remote area of Vermont and when they arrive, the h leaves the H to wake up in the plane and hides the radio. She also opens up the family cabin and we soon find out that the h has kidnapped the H and brought him here to prevent him from ruining her sister's wedding.
The h's sister, who is 35 to the h's 26, came to the h in tears a few days earlier, claiming that the H was being the uber pursuing bullying stalker Alpha HP H and refusing to acknowledge that their long ago college romance was over. The sister claims that the H is stalking her and threatening to break up her wedding and carry her off.
The h is extremely alarmed, romantic rivalry and wooing away a girl is one thing - the h wouldn't get involved in something like that, but threatening to enforce a relationship with a woman who is clearly engaged and using bullying methods to do it? Well this is her sister and the h won't be having her stalked and harassed like that. So she develops the kidnapping plan and here we all are in Vermont.
The H wakes up and the h explains that he won't be allowed to ruin her sister's life. He can hike out if he wants to leave, but the hike to civilization is six days and the wedding will be over by then or he can wait at the cabin a week and the h will come back and pick him up. The H takes the third option, after his initial confusion about why is there and what is going on, he disables the helicopter and forces the h to stay with him. (We don't get any H pov in this one, yet it is pretty clear after the first chapter that the H wasn't really harassing the sister and that he is more than interested in the h.)
The h is astounded that the H would do such a thing, yet she has acted pretty despicably and in direct conflict with all of her morals, so she resignedly settles into sharing the cabin with the H for the next seven days. The h and H then start to talk, the h explains what her sister said and the H explains that, yes he moved to New York and he did look the sister up. But they only had one date and he found out she was engaged and then she showed up to take him to diner one night. The H was pleased to take a little stroll down memory lane, but he wasn't interested in breaking up an engagement.
As the h gets to know the H better, her sense of doom grows, she has to believe her sister because well, she is her sister, but the H's version of things is making more and more sense. The h also recalls her favorite brother's coolness towards her sister. After a few adventures with the H where they fall down a ravine and end up roofie kissing each other and then both jump into the lake and the h gets a big cramp and the H carries her back to the cabin, the h starts to realize that her sister is manipulative, selfish drama queen. The h has been blind to her manipulations all these years because she loves her. The sense that the H is not lying is further born out when the h gets the radio for him to contact his office so they won't panic and the H only implies that he is having transportation problems returning from a weekend trip and doesn't rat the h out for kidnapping.
After a few more days of h angsting over who to believe, the h reluctantly accepts the truth about her lying, manipulative slime of a sister and gets the H to fix the helicopter so they can fly back to civilization. Where the H promptly kidnaps the h back and takes her to his penthouse.
They hang out and have pizza and talk and then the h's sister shows up. The H called her so that the h could see for herself the interaction between the two of them. The h sees them together and realizes the H was really telling the truth. She leaves with her sister and tells her sister what she did, the sister laughs but the h is still uneasy.
The h is right about being uneasy, her sister dumps her fiance right at the altar and then starts chasing after the H. The H isn't interested and he pursues the h. They go out to a club for a date and there is a drunk guy who harasses the h on the way to the ladies, he shoves her down and the H starts a big bar fight. (He is a really, really nice H, but he does have a small temper control problem when other people hurt the h.)
They both manage to escape and are back at the H's penthouse when the H's business obligations interfere and the h explains that she wants to come first with a guy. Sister mess aside, the H works 80 hours a week and has no time for anything else. The h doesn't want to be a one night stand and she wants a relationship where she isn't last on the list and squeezed into an available 15 minute slot. She leaves while the H is on the phone for business and goes home.
The next day the sister manages to make the h believe that she and the H have a thing going on. The h is heartsick because by now she loves the H, but she wants him to be happy so she doesn't return his calls. Then the h's brother was supposed to do a cargo charter to Cincinnati and he doesn't show up. The h offers to go, but her other brother is worried. She looks terrible, has been working all day and the weather is bad. It is a big contract tho, and the h feels she is okay to fly and as there just isn't anyone else, the brother agrees to let her go.
There are delays with the cargo getting unloaded and this makes the h very late in getting back. She had hoped to avoid the bad weather, but the delays in unloading put her right in the middle of the big storm. Still she almost gets to the landing runway before the wind tries to flip the plane and the h crash lands when the stress of the storm broke the landing gear. Everyone is terrified that the h will be killed and her brothers and the H run out to pull her out of the plane when she finally lands.
The H explains that her sister lied, AGAIN, he only saw the sister to tell her that he loved the h and did not want to be around her anymore and she was to stop stalking him. The sister, in retaliation, told the h's brother that the h wanted to fly to Cincinnati in his place and the brother had no reason to doubt the message, so he did not show up. The brother's know now tho and things aren't boding well for the sister/family relationship in the future.
The H takes the h back to her house and the h hears the sister lying to the H that she is with another man, then she pops out of the car and the sister realizes the jig is up. The H loses his temper and grabs the sister's purse and car keys and drags her to the door and tells her she either leaves or he will kill her. He pushes the sister into the rain outside and it was one of the best H kicks OW out moments in HPlandia ever.
The H and h make the big lurve declarations to each other and the H tells her he quit his job to be able to spend time building a family with the h. The h is thrilled and they adjourn to the boudoir to love it up and make quicky marriage plans for the big HEA.
This one was good, but the style might not be for everyone. Both the H and h were nice people and the depth of the characterization was really well done. The original kidnapping was a bit wacky, but the overall resolution of not only the sister's antics but the problems of not having time to have a life were explored enough that the HEA was really believable.
I liked this one a lot and think everyone should read it, but I don't put it on the required reading list for HPlandia cause really these two were only visiting - tho the sister probably makes a few more HP appearances as her part was really classic HP OW and she was right at home in it.
Fair warning on this one, AC's writing style in this is an adjective laden, lyrical spout of poetic prose. The story is pretty simple but the wording is on par with reading a modern English version of Beowulf. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, AC writes beautifully, but it may be very wearing on those HP Voyagers who aren't quite so into poetic symbolism and drawn out contemplation. AC manages to infer throughout rather than state - all the way until the end declarations, so no calling on the Captain to help you through this one, you will miss the implications.
Because I am good at snark and not so good at romantic idealization, I will share the technical bits of the story and for the lyricism, well on this one you have to read the book. I can't convey it well and I tried a couple of times, but it just wasn't right.
The book opens with the armed h waiting in an underground parking garage for the H to emerge from his office. She cleverly set up construction barricades around the H's car to isolate it and so when he comes out, she pulls her empty gun and forces him into the car. She gives him drugged coffee and tells him either drink or she will shoot. He drinks, but he isn't very happy about it, and I was a bit appalled myself. (However AC manages to convey the h's distress so well, that I was inclined to be empathetic. Obviously this woman wouldn't be taking such a drastic action unless there were some serious issues at play.)
So the h takes the now passed out H and gets her uncle to help get the H into a helicopter. The h and her brothers own an air service, they do helicopter tours, cargo flights and small passenger flights. The h is taking the H to a family cabin in a remote area of Vermont and when they arrive, the h leaves the H to wake up in the plane and hides the radio. She also opens up the family cabin and we soon find out that the h has kidnapped the H and brought him here to prevent him from ruining her sister's wedding.
The h's sister, who is 35 to the h's 26, came to the h in tears a few days earlier, claiming that the H was being the uber pursuing bullying stalker Alpha HP H and refusing to acknowledge that their long ago college romance was over. The sister claims that the H is stalking her and threatening to break up her wedding and carry her off.
The h is extremely alarmed, romantic rivalry and wooing away a girl is one thing - the h wouldn't get involved in something like that, but threatening to enforce a relationship with a woman who is clearly engaged and using bullying methods to do it? Well this is her sister and the h won't be having her stalked and harassed like that. So she develops the kidnapping plan and here we all are in Vermont.
The H wakes up and the h explains that he won't be allowed to ruin her sister's life. He can hike out if he wants to leave, but the hike to civilization is six days and the wedding will be over by then or he can wait at the cabin a week and the h will come back and pick him up. The H takes the third option, after his initial confusion about why is there and what is going on, he disables the helicopter and forces the h to stay with him. (We don't get any H pov in this one, yet it is pretty clear after the first chapter that the H wasn't really harassing the sister and that he is more than interested in the h.)
The h is astounded that the H would do such a thing, yet she has acted pretty despicably and in direct conflict with all of her morals, so she resignedly settles into sharing the cabin with the H for the next seven days. The h and H then start to talk, the h explains what her sister said and the H explains that, yes he moved to New York and he did look the sister up. But they only had one date and he found out she was engaged and then she showed up to take him to diner one night. The H was pleased to take a little stroll down memory lane, but he wasn't interested in breaking up an engagement.
As the h gets to know the H better, her sense of doom grows, she has to believe her sister because well, she is her sister, but the H's version of things is making more and more sense. The h also recalls her favorite brother's coolness towards her sister. After a few adventures with the H where they fall down a ravine and end up roofie kissing each other and then both jump into the lake and the h gets a big cramp and the H carries her back to the cabin, the h starts to realize that her sister is manipulative, selfish drama queen. The h has been blind to her manipulations all these years because she loves her. The sense that the H is not lying is further born out when the h gets the radio for him to contact his office so they won't panic and the H only implies that he is having transportation problems returning from a weekend trip and doesn't rat the h out for kidnapping.
After a few more days of h angsting over who to believe, the h reluctantly accepts the truth about her lying, manipulative slime of a sister and gets the H to fix the helicopter so they can fly back to civilization. Where the H promptly kidnaps the h back and takes her to his penthouse.
They hang out and have pizza and talk and then the h's sister shows up. The H called her so that the h could see for herself the interaction between the two of them. The h sees them together and realizes the H was really telling the truth. She leaves with her sister and tells her sister what she did, the sister laughs but the h is still uneasy.
The h is right about being uneasy, her sister dumps her fiance right at the altar and then starts chasing after the H. The H isn't interested and he pursues the h. They go out to a club for a date and there is a drunk guy who harasses the h on the way to the ladies, he shoves her down and the H starts a big bar fight. (He is a really, really nice H, but he does have a small temper control problem when other people hurt the h.)
They both manage to escape and are back at the H's penthouse when the H's business obligations interfere and the h explains that she wants to come first with a guy. Sister mess aside, the H works 80 hours a week and has no time for anything else. The h doesn't want to be a one night stand and she wants a relationship where she isn't last on the list and squeezed into an available 15 minute slot. She leaves while the H is on the phone for business and goes home.
The next day the sister manages to make the h believe that she and the H have a thing going on. The h is heartsick because by now she loves the H, but she wants him to be happy so she doesn't return his calls. Then the h's brother was supposed to do a cargo charter to Cincinnati and he doesn't show up. The h offers to go, but her other brother is worried. She looks terrible, has been working all day and the weather is bad. It is a big contract tho, and the h feels she is okay to fly and as there just isn't anyone else, the brother agrees to let her go.
There are delays with the cargo getting unloaded and this makes the h very late in getting back. She had hoped to avoid the bad weather, but the delays in unloading put her right in the middle of the big storm. Still she almost gets to the landing runway before the wind tries to flip the plane and the h crash lands when the stress of the storm broke the landing gear. Everyone is terrified that the h will be killed and her brothers and the H run out to pull her out of the plane when she finally lands.
The H explains that her sister lied, AGAIN, he only saw the sister to tell her that he loved the h and did not want to be around her anymore and she was to stop stalking him. The sister, in retaliation, told the h's brother that the h wanted to fly to Cincinnati in his place and the brother had no reason to doubt the message, so he did not show up. The brother's know now tho and things aren't boding well for the sister/family relationship in the future.
The H takes the h back to her house and the h hears the sister lying to the H that she is with another man, then she pops out of the car and the sister realizes the jig is up. The H loses his temper and grabs the sister's purse and car keys and drags her to the door and tells her she either leaves or he will kill her. He pushes the sister into the rain outside and it was one of the best H kicks OW out moments in HPlandia ever.
The H and h make the big lurve declarations to each other and the H tells her he quit his job to be able to spend time building a family with the h. The h is thrilled and they adjourn to the boudoir to love it up and make quicky marriage plans for the big HEA.
This one was good, but the style might not be for everyone. Both the H and h were nice people and the depth of the characterization was really well done. The original kidnapping was a bit wacky, but the overall resolution of not only the sister's antics but the problems of not having time to have a life were explored enough that the HEA was really believable.
I liked this one a lot and think everyone should read it, but I don't put it on the required reading list for HPlandia cause really these two were only visiting - tho the sister probably makes a few more HP appearances as her part was really classic HP OW and she was right at home in it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2019
4 1/2 Stars! ~ Ms. Carpenter has a knack for suspense and this book certainly showcased that talent right from the first pages!
Our heroine, Kirstie is under the mistaken impression that our hero, Francis is harassing her sister and pressuring her to leave her fiance. Louise had confided how afraid she was of Francis and so Kirstie's protective instincts overwhelmed her logic and she decided that the best move was to eliminate Francis. Kidnapping Francis took all her courage. Though she had hoped that she had thought of everything, she discovered during her days secluded with Francis in the Vermont mountains, one devastating flaw in her plan. Louise had lied. Francis hadn't even known she was engaged and nor was he harassing her. Returning to New York brought only more confusion, for Louise had second thoughts the morning of her wedding and jilted her fiance at the altar. When Francis contacts Kirstie she thinks he wants to discuss Louise and their affair. His reaction to the news that Louise is not married, leaves Kirstie with no doubt that he does want her sister.
I love gutsy heroines and Ms. Carpenter knows how to write them! This is one of those stories that will keep you turning the pages until you've met the last. Not only is there suspense, intrigue, danger, there are moments of tenderness and understanding. Both hero and heroine learn some home truths about themselves, and are able to reach deep inside and take a hard look. These two are meant for each other. This one will go on the keeper shelf!
Our heroine, Kirstie is under the mistaken impression that our hero, Francis is harassing her sister and pressuring her to leave her fiance. Louise had confided how afraid she was of Francis and so Kirstie's protective instincts overwhelmed her logic and she decided that the best move was to eliminate Francis. Kidnapping Francis took all her courage. Though she had hoped that she had thought of everything, she discovered during her days secluded with Francis in the Vermont mountains, one devastating flaw in her plan. Louise had lied. Francis hadn't even known she was engaged and nor was he harassing her. Returning to New York brought only more confusion, for Louise had second thoughts the morning of her wedding and jilted her fiance at the altar. When Francis contacts Kirstie she thinks he wants to discuss Louise and their affair. His reaction to the news that Louise is not married, leaves Kirstie with no doubt that he does want her sister.
I love gutsy heroines and Ms. Carpenter knows how to write them! This is one of those stories that will keep you turning the pages until you've met the last. Not only is there suspense, intrigue, danger, there are moments of tenderness and understanding. Both hero and heroine learn some home truths about themselves, and are able to reach deep inside and take a hard look. These two are meant for each other. This one will go on the keeper shelf!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
September 18, 2018"Passage of the Night" is the story of Kirstie and Francis.
Zzzzzz..
Basically, the story is about our adventurous heroine kidnapping the hero, who is her sister's "Ex" to prevent him from causing a problem to her sister's marriage.
What she doesn't know is that he does not have any idea about the same, nor that he is extremely resourceful.
Soon attraction ignites in a remote cabin, but as truth reveals itself, Kirstie is forced to reconsider everything..
VERY, VERY boring read which dragged on 100 pages too long as per me. The characters were very one dimensional, and spent the whole book pushing/chasing and being annoying.
Unsatisfactory.
Safe
Unrated.
Zzzzzz..
Basically, the story is about our adventurous heroine kidnapping the hero, who is her sister's "Ex" to prevent him from causing a problem to her sister's marriage.
What she doesn't know is that he does not have any idea about the same, nor that he is extremely resourceful.
Soon attraction ignites in a remote cabin, but as truth reveals itself, Kirstie is forced to reconsider everything..
VERY, VERY boring read which dragged on 100 pages too long as per me. The characters were very one dimensional, and spent the whole book pushing/chasing and being annoying.
Unsatisfactory.
Safe
Unrated.
December 15, 2012
Seriously, the heroine of this book was just plain stupid. She kidnaps the hero thinking he is trying to interfere in her sister's upcoming wedding and even though the hero says he is not, the heroine doesn't want to accept that because it would mean opening her eyes to her sister's manipulation. The hero was really patient with her in the face of her stupidity. Once things clear up, I did wish she would kick her sister to the curb because later too she got caught in her sister's stupidity.
April 6, 2026
Kirstie kidnapped Francis Grayson with the help of her step-grandfather on the assumption that he was harnessing her young sister not to get married to her true love. She even flew him in a helicopter to an isolated place out of her desperation. However, her drastic plan to save her sister's wedding bankrupt when Francis sabotaged the helicopter and so made her trapped like him in that isolated place. Then he persistently tried to open her eyes to some very nasty facts in her life.
Really unbelievable! This novel gave me a splitting headache! My poor head! Not only was the heroine's behavior absurd to the extreme, but the whole narration and dialogues were hard to follow because of the shallow writing. Besides, who in his/her right mind would immediately resort to kidnapping instead of confronting the other party and discussing things first? Kristie is devoid of any common sense! I totally wasted my time reading this. Not recommended at all.
Really unbelievable! This novel gave me a splitting headache! My poor head! Not only was the heroine's behavior absurd to the extreme, but the whole narration and dialogues were hard to follow because of the shallow writing. Besides, who in his/her right mind would immediately resort to kidnapping instead of confronting the other party and discussing things first? Kristie is devoid of any common sense! I totally wasted my time reading this. Not recommended at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
pback-to-read
February 9, 2021Kirstie had gone to considerable trouble
Her plot just had to succeed! She would abduct Francis Grayson and dump the attractive businessman on a remote mountain in Vermont. And she'd leave him there until her elder sister Louise was safely married.
But Kirstie hadn't made any allowance for Francis's quick recovery or his resourcefulness.
Nor had it once crossed her mind that she might be just as susceptible to Francis's lethal charms as Louise.
Her plot just had to succeed! She would abduct Francis Grayson and dump the attractive businessman on a remote mountain in Vermont. And she'd leave him there until her elder sister Louise was safely married.
But Kirstie hadn't made any allowance for Francis's quick recovery or his resourcefulness.
Nor had it once crossed her mind that she might be just as susceptible to Francis's lethal charms as Louise.
October 11, 2021
2.5 stars because the heroine was so infuriatingly gullible. Honestly she drove me absolutely mad - time after time she believed her bat.hit crazy toxic sister instead of the hero. I don't know what he saw in her - she was whackadoodle. He deserved better.
Well written though.
Well written though.
January 16, 2022
One of the worst romances I've ever read. Boring in the beginning I found myself skipping whole passages. I didn't like the main character ending up in a relationship with her sister's ex. Is this even a thing? I would think a sibling's ex would be off limits. Don't waste your time with this one.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews