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Give a Man a Bad Name
She Rolled the Dice First Marly Bradshaw welcomed the challenge of spending two months in Thailand installing a computer system for one of Bangkok's newest luxury hotels. She also welcomed the opportunity to set Alex Hamilton, hotel magnate and notorious womanizer, up for a fall. It meant Marly had to play a dangerous game - she had to make Alex fall in love with her. The danger was twofold - Marly knew only too well that Alex didn't play any game by the rules and she suspected that her own heart could easily be broken.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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32 people want to read
About the author
Roberta Leigh
113 books66 followersaka Rachel Lindsay, Janey Scott, Rozella Lake
Roberta Leigh was the most frequently used pen name of an author who also published novels as Rachel Lindsay, Rozella Lake, and Janey Scott. Her birth name was Rita Shulman.
Leigh was one of the first romance writers to introduce strong, career-minded heroines who wouldn't be bossed around by the hero.
Leigh had her own film company and wrote and produced 7 TV series for children. She would also "write" the music for her series, although this usually involved her humming or singing the tune into a tape recorder, after which someone else would arrange and write a score.
She studied oil and watercolor painting with Diana Raphael and Michael Chaitow, who her interest in abstract art. Her work has been exhibited at the Podbury Gallery and Finnegan's Gallery in London.
In 1948, she married Michael Lewin and they had a son, Jeremy. Her husband passed away in 1981.
Roberta Leigh was the most frequently used pen name of an author who also published novels as Rachel Lindsay, Rozella Lake, and Janey Scott. Her birth name was Rita Shulman.
Leigh was one of the first romance writers to introduce strong, career-minded heroines who wouldn't be bossed around by the hero.
Leigh had her own film company and wrote and produced 7 TV series for children. She would also "write" the music for her series, although this usually involved her humming or singing the tune into a tape recorder, after which someone else would arrange and write a score.
She studied oil and watercolor painting with Diana Raphael and Michael Chaitow, who her interest in abstract art. Her work has been exhibited at the Podbury Gallery and Finnegan's Gallery in London.
In 1948, she married Michael Lewin and they had a son, Jeremy. Her husband passed away in 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 5, 2018
Re Give a Man a Bad Name - Roberta Leigh's penultimate HP is another HP Plus, the first one of May 1994. She dusts off her h in disguise trope and a pairs it with a convoluted love quadrangle of massive deceptive proportions.
The h in this one is part Thai, her mum's father was a Thailand diplomat and the h's mum met the H's English diplomat dad at an embassy do and love won the day. She is also a computer programmer and when the book opens, she has just been sent to Thailand for two or three months to do computer program for guest tracking and various services at the H's hotel.
One of the h's BFF's is Thai and the h is staying with her family while she completes her contract. She finally spies her boss, who has just returned from a trip to some of the other hotels in the family conglomerate, and the h is instantly attracted, tho rumors abound the H is a lady sampler extraordinaire.
That attraction gets buried under indignation when the h's Other BFF drops in on the h in the midst of travelling back to London from a recent job and tells the h that her live in fiance just dumped her hard to continue his pursuit of the lurvely lady buffet. This was after he proposed marriage, seduced her and she lived with him for 6 weeks.
When the Other BFF gives the name of the h's boss as the man who pumped and dumped her, leaving her heartbroken and miserable, the h formulates a devious plan of revenge. Her Thai BFF works at the same hotel the h does, and that BFF ropes the h into doing a skit with some of other employees for some sort of talent/entertainment show.
The h is dressed in traditional Thai style for the skit, so the first time the H meets her, he thinks she is a traditional Thai maiden and goes for a big attempt at a seduce the h pickup. The h deliberately fosters the traditional Thai maiden impression by using her nickname with him, not her formal English name. The h also lies and claims that the woman originally hired to do the computer program was ill and the h is the one contracted to take her place.
This leads to the h leading the H on a rather malicious dance. She pretends to be a sweetly compliant subservient Thai girl and mocks the H through her pretend submissive agreements with what he is saying, while thinking something else entirely and pretending to defer to him while putting him verbally down as being 'untraditional'.
She also plays mean tricks on him, like giving him super hot curry when he prefers no heat curry and having to quickly tone down her appearance when she sees the H while she is out with the OM - a young Australian doctor in town for extended study.
After the Curry from Hell incident, the h decides enough is enough and it is probably time to drop her disguise. Mainly because the h is salivating and feeling the Lurve Mojo Force for the H, even tho she thinks he was her Other BFF's lover. The h manages to talk herself into believing that she was too harsh on the H and that really her Other BFF has some faults as well, so maybe the H did not use and abandon her.
The h is mentally preparing her fake identity defense, when a young blonde lady comes to the H's office and announces that she is the H's fiancee. The h is taken aback and isn't sure if she should believe the H when he claims that the girl is a longtime fragile family friend who is lost in her own delusions, but might have a breakdown after being orphaned if the H is too blunt about not marrying her.
The H doesn't want to hurt the blonde bimbo's (per the h,) feelings or cause a mental moment, so he lets the BB think whatever she wants and he figures the girl will eventually get the message when he doesn't show up at the altar or whatever.
The h's OM doctor is also interested in the blonde bimbo, which is how the h finds herself in Phuket Province on vacation with the H, the OM and the blonde bimbo. The catty battle between the blonde bimbo and the now OW h is epic, but silent, as the two of them compete with each other for the H's and OM's attention.
The h maneuvers the H in an afternoon picnic alone and then sabotages the boat engine to force her and the H to stay out overnight. The h could have fixed the motor, she only loosened some plugs, but the H claims he is clueless. The H and h are just on the brink of revoking the h's unicorn grooming license, when the Coast Guard show up to rescue them. The blonde bimbo called the British Embassy when she heard the h and H were stranded.
When everyone gets back to the holiday house, the h finds out that the H knows all about motors too and could have fixed the engine, but tried to seduce her instead. The h is more and more unsure bout what the H's real motives are and finally, after a ton of teasing and push/pulling, the h maneuvers the H into proposing marriage. The h is overjoyed at first, until the H says if that is the only way he can get the h into bed, then that is what he will do.
The h is leery of such a lukewarm proposal and confronts the H. The H explains that he used to believe 'Why have one flower in a vase when an entire bouquet is there for the picking?', but after seeing how sweet and compliant and gentle the h is, he really doesn't think he can get along without her and she is totally different from all of his OW.
The h feels marginally ashamed of herself, cause she isn't what she has been pretending to be at all and the H seems to be really sincere. The h decides that she will just have to tell her Other BFF that life happens and she mentally decides to marry the H and her Other BFF will just have to get over things.
Then the blonde bimbo starts acting funny and the h realizes that the girl really isn't a bimbo, she is just really insecure and thinks persistence can wear the H down into marrying her to make the BB feel secure. The h decides to tell the H the truth about her deception and then tell her Other BFF about her feelings, but the BB has to go into hospital with appendicitis, so we all rush off to hospital.
The OM convinces the H that if he leaves the blonde bimbo with the OM in attendance, it may break the BB's obsession with him. So the H and h head back to the mainland and then the H gets called off to the conglomerate's Hawaii hotel before the h can confess her duplicity. (However the OM's plan works and the BB and the OM are soon engaged and in Australia, happy together.)
The h has a huge mopey moment and never hears from the H for a week. Then her Other BFF calls up and announces that she and the H are getting married and honeymooning in Hawaii. The h is devastated, tho it is clear that the Other BFF thinks her fiance was taking time to sort his head out instead of plucking other flowers for his bouquet.
The h crams all her work into the next week or so, intent on getting back to London as soon as she can. She is ducking the H's frequent calls, until he shows up on the day she is to leave and the h reveals her deception and her leading him on to give him a taste of his own tactics and then the h accuses him of lying to her by proposing marriage to get her into bed.
The H claims that is exactly what he was doing and the h caught him out. The h tells him she isn't really interested in him and had to fake it and they both go their separate ways, the h back to London and the H presumably back to his new wife, the h's Other BFF.
The h has major London mopey moments, but manages to pick up another OM to squire her about. One night the h opens her door to see the H waiting on her doorstep. He starts to talk about their relationship, but the h's male roommate is there and the h lets the H believe they are lovers and not just partners who shared buying a big flat with another girl.
The H leaves in a huff and the h's Other BFF calls. She wants the h to meet her new husband and the h is panicking, cause she just saw the BFF's new husband off and now she is going to have to pretend she doesn't know him to hide his deviousness from her Other BFF. So the h goes to her Other BFF's for dinner, but the BFF's new husband isn't the H. The BFF's husband is the H's cousin and they share the same name.
The h is in a quandary now. She knows the H was probably telling the truth all along, but she was intent on paying him back and then falling in love with him and then telling him off again, so she figures her love is doomed. But then the Other BFF invites the h to her belated wedding reception four weeks later and the H shows up with yet another woman, wearing a huge engagement ring.
The other BFF innocently reveals that she had told the h all about how horrible her now husband was to her and the H quickly realizes that the h thought the H was the errant fiance. He drags the h off to a room, where the h has to apologize again cause the lady the H came in with is his engaged to a different doctor cousin, and the two of them finally declare their big mutual love and have their big lurve club fade to black moment.
The replete h and H decide that they will marry now and the h decides she will have to get dressed and go tell her Other BFF that she and the H are sorry to have missed the cake cutting and bouquet tossing, but they will be the next true love HEA.
This one was well written, but I am just not a fan of this trope. I wasn't really sure how this was going to work out for the two of them, because the h did not act like herself for 98.5% of the book and her behavior seemed to be the big attraction for the H. That uncertainty really makes for a dubious HEA, but overall this a pretty standard day at the RL HPlandia office.
The h in this one is part Thai, her mum's father was a Thailand diplomat and the h's mum met the H's English diplomat dad at an embassy do and love won the day. She is also a computer programmer and when the book opens, she has just been sent to Thailand for two or three months to do computer program for guest tracking and various services at the H's hotel.
One of the h's BFF's is Thai and the h is staying with her family while she completes her contract. She finally spies her boss, who has just returned from a trip to some of the other hotels in the family conglomerate, and the h is instantly attracted, tho rumors abound the H is a lady sampler extraordinaire.
That attraction gets buried under indignation when the h's Other BFF drops in on the h in the midst of travelling back to London from a recent job and tells the h that her live in fiance just dumped her hard to continue his pursuit of the lurvely lady buffet. This was after he proposed marriage, seduced her and she lived with him for 6 weeks.
When the Other BFF gives the name of the h's boss as the man who pumped and dumped her, leaving her heartbroken and miserable, the h formulates a devious plan of revenge. Her Thai BFF works at the same hotel the h does, and that BFF ropes the h into doing a skit with some of other employees for some sort of talent/entertainment show.
The h is dressed in traditional Thai style for the skit, so the first time the H meets her, he thinks she is a traditional Thai maiden and goes for a big attempt at a seduce the h pickup. The h deliberately fosters the traditional Thai maiden impression by using her nickname with him, not her formal English name. The h also lies and claims that the woman originally hired to do the computer program was ill and the h is the one contracted to take her place.
This leads to the h leading the H on a rather malicious dance. She pretends to be a sweetly compliant subservient Thai girl and mocks the H through her pretend submissive agreements with what he is saying, while thinking something else entirely and pretending to defer to him while putting him verbally down as being 'untraditional'.
She also plays mean tricks on him, like giving him super hot curry when he prefers no heat curry and having to quickly tone down her appearance when she sees the H while she is out with the OM - a young Australian doctor in town for extended study.
After the Curry from Hell incident, the h decides enough is enough and it is probably time to drop her disguise. Mainly because the h is salivating and feeling the Lurve Mojo Force for the H, even tho she thinks he was her Other BFF's lover. The h manages to talk herself into believing that she was too harsh on the H and that really her Other BFF has some faults as well, so maybe the H did not use and abandon her.
The h is mentally preparing her fake identity defense, when a young blonde lady comes to the H's office and announces that she is the H's fiancee. The h is taken aback and isn't sure if she should believe the H when he claims that the girl is a longtime fragile family friend who is lost in her own delusions, but might have a breakdown after being orphaned if the H is too blunt about not marrying her.
The H doesn't want to hurt the blonde bimbo's (per the h,) feelings or cause a mental moment, so he lets the BB think whatever she wants and he figures the girl will eventually get the message when he doesn't show up at the altar or whatever.
The h's OM doctor is also interested in the blonde bimbo, which is how the h finds herself in Phuket Province on vacation with the H, the OM and the blonde bimbo. The catty battle between the blonde bimbo and the now OW h is epic, but silent, as the two of them compete with each other for the H's and OM's attention.
The h maneuvers the H in an afternoon picnic alone and then sabotages the boat engine to force her and the H to stay out overnight. The h could have fixed the motor, she only loosened some plugs, but the H claims he is clueless. The H and h are just on the brink of revoking the h's unicorn grooming license, when the Coast Guard show up to rescue them. The blonde bimbo called the British Embassy when she heard the h and H were stranded.
When everyone gets back to the holiday house, the h finds out that the H knows all about motors too and could have fixed the engine, but tried to seduce her instead. The h is more and more unsure bout what the H's real motives are and finally, after a ton of teasing and push/pulling, the h maneuvers the H into proposing marriage. The h is overjoyed at first, until the H says if that is the only way he can get the h into bed, then that is what he will do.
The h is leery of such a lukewarm proposal and confronts the H. The H explains that he used to believe 'Why have one flower in a vase when an entire bouquet is there for the picking?', but after seeing how sweet and compliant and gentle the h is, he really doesn't think he can get along without her and she is totally different from all of his OW.
The h feels marginally ashamed of herself, cause she isn't what she has been pretending to be at all and the H seems to be really sincere. The h decides that she will just have to tell her Other BFF that life happens and she mentally decides to marry the H and her Other BFF will just have to get over things.
Then the blonde bimbo starts acting funny and the h realizes that the girl really isn't a bimbo, she is just really insecure and thinks persistence can wear the H down into marrying her to make the BB feel secure. The h decides to tell the H the truth about her deception and then tell her Other BFF about her feelings, but the BB has to go into hospital with appendicitis, so we all rush off to hospital.
The OM convinces the H that if he leaves the blonde bimbo with the OM in attendance, it may break the BB's obsession with him. So the H and h head back to the mainland and then the H gets called off to the conglomerate's Hawaii hotel before the h can confess her duplicity. (However the OM's plan works and the BB and the OM are soon engaged and in Australia, happy together.)
The h has a huge mopey moment and never hears from the H for a week. Then her Other BFF calls up and announces that she and the H are getting married and honeymooning in Hawaii. The h is devastated, tho it is clear that the Other BFF thinks her fiance was taking time to sort his head out instead of plucking other flowers for his bouquet.
The h crams all her work into the next week or so, intent on getting back to London as soon as she can. She is ducking the H's frequent calls, until he shows up on the day she is to leave and the h reveals her deception and her leading him on to give him a taste of his own tactics and then the h accuses him of lying to her by proposing marriage to get her into bed.
The H claims that is exactly what he was doing and the h caught him out. The h tells him she isn't really interested in him and had to fake it and they both go their separate ways, the h back to London and the H presumably back to his new wife, the h's Other BFF.
The h has major London mopey moments, but manages to pick up another OM to squire her about. One night the h opens her door to see the H waiting on her doorstep. He starts to talk about their relationship, but the h's male roommate is there and the h lets the H believe they are lovers and not just partners who shared buying a big flat with another girl.
The H leaves in a huff and the h's Other BFF calls. She wants the h to meet her new husband and the h is panicking, cause she just saw the BFF's new husband off and now she is going to have to pretend she doesn't know him to hide his deviousness from her Other BFF. So the h goes to her Other BFF's for dinner, but the BFF's new husband isn't the H. The BFF's husband is the H's cousin and they share the same name.
The h is in a quandary now. She knows the H was probably telling the truth all along, but she was intent on paying him back and then falling in love with him and then telling him off again, so she figures her love is doomed. But then the Other BFF invites the h to her belated wedding reception four weeks later and the H shows up with yet another woman, wearing a huge engagement ring.
The other BFF innocently reveals that she had told the h all about how horrible her now husband was to her and the H quickly realizes that the h thought the H was the errant fiance. He drags the h off to a room, where the h has to apologize again cause the lady the H came in with is his engaged to a different doctor cousin, and the two of them finally declare their big mutual love and have their big lurve club fade to black moment.
The replete h and H decide that they will marry now and the h decides she will have to get dressed and go tell her Other BFF that she and the H are sorry to have missed the cake cutting and bouquet tossing, but they will be the next true love HEA.
This one was well written, but I am just not a fan of this trope. I wasn't really sure how this was going to work out for the two of them, because the h did not act like herself for 98.5% of the book and her behavior seemed to be the big attraction for the H. That uncertainty really makes for a dubious HEA, but overall this a pretty standard day at the RL HPlandia office.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2022
Marley meets her new boss and is instantly smitten until she's told he's a ruthless womaniser who has ditched her best friend. When the boss takes her for a Thai she doesn't correct him. She's about to teach him a lesson while pretending to be a traditional docile female.
February 6, 2023
A h trying to seek revenge for what she thinks the H did to her friend.
It was amusing that she pretended to be a traditional Thai woman and that she lets him wait. Her great grandmother was Thai. I like that she is not the stereotype blonde h and that he is so besotted.
It was amusing that she pretended to be a traditional Thai woman and that she lets him wait. Her great grandmother was Thai. I like that she is not the stereotype blonde h and that he is so besotted.
January 28, 2021
Good but a little silly.
January 18, 2015
A very cute story, amusing at parts. Marly thinks Alex deceived and betrayed her friend so she wants to give him a dose of his own medicine by making him fall in love with her. Well he does, but they both fall in love and it becomes a dilemma since she isn't being honest with him. The betrayal of the friend turns out to a a big misunderstanding but it's resolved in the end. I like how Alex was so besotted over Marly.
hq-to-read
March 24, 2018A marriage proposal -- Italian-style!
Beth was left breathless when gorgeous Italian tycoon Dex Giordanni proposed marriage--within days of meeting her! But then she overheard a conversation that chilled her: Dex wanted to wed her to settle a family score.
Beth prepared herself to end their engagement--how could she ham born so naive as to think Dex was really interested in a virgin like her? But Dex didn't take no for an answer. If a diamond ring couldn't seduce her to the altar, then he would! (less)
Beth was left breathless when gorgeous Italian tycoon Dex Giordanni proposed marriage--within days of meeting her! But then she overheard a conversation that chilled her: Dex wanted to wed her to settle a family score.
Beth prepared herself to end their engagement--how could she ham born so naive as to think Dex was really interested in a virgin like her? But Dex didn't take no for an answer. If a diamond ring couldn't seduce her to the altar, then he would! (less)
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