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Abigail Haley had been blindsided -- first by Rolf's car, then by his animal magnetism. His job offer would allow her to stay in Lucerne longer than her meager finances would permit -- but his condition of a 'false engagement' toyed with much more than her sensibilities!
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Lilian Peake
132 books69 followersLilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.
Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.
Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.
Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.
Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 5, 2018
Re No Promise of Love - Lilian Peake's last HPlandia outing (she will have two published in HPsubscriptoria but her last Carmichael's Return was published posthumously,) is fittingly made in the eleventh of the twelve Postcards From Europe Series.
LP is taking us to Lucerne, Switzerland and judging by how many stories LP set there over the course of her writing life, there is no one more qualified to give us the guided tour. Grab your google images for this one HP voyagers, it is going to be a beautiful outing.
The book opens with our secretary h being made redundant at her job in England. A young Swiss man who has a crush on her and lives in her flat complex offers her a fully paid vacation to visit his family in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The h decides to accept his offer, tho she repeatedly warns the young man that she is ONLY his friend and he is not to get idears about a romance between them. The h recently really liked another young man in her office, but he liked another girl more, so that was the end of that. The h is at a low point in her life and she got a nice severance pay out, so she needs a little breather before getting on with her life.
The young Swiss man is fine with the h being friends only, or at least he says he is, but he warns the h to avoid falling in love with his emotionally unavailable older brother, who was badly burned by a woman who dumped him for a richer man and now hates all the ladies except for their more basic physical urge uses.
The h assures the young Swiss that she isn't interested in misogynistic womanizers who think a girl's curves are all she has to recommend her and it is off to Switzerland we go. When we get there, we learn that the young Swiss comes from an extremely wealthy family. They own the very pricey hotel that the h and he will be staying in while the family manse is being renovated.
(The h wanted to find a less expensive place to stay, she can't afford the hotel rates for more than a day or so, but her young Swiss friend tells her not to worry, his older brother can find her a job or she can stay there as a family guest. The older brother now runs both his engineering firm and the family hotel conglomerate, his father is retired.)
The h agrees to stay in the hotel if the older brother can find her some kind of job. Then we meet the young Swiss's sister, who is his twin, and it turns out she is a budding fashion designer with a huge crush on a concert pianist. We finally meet the older brother, who is destined to be the H, after the h goes out sightseeing and manages to walk in front of his car.
There is a big crash and the H's entire family blames him for hitting the h and knocking her down, even tho she freely admits she is at fault. The H can't seem to stay away from the h either, especially not after he gets a glimpse of her very lovely curves while his younger sister is kitting her out in high fashion.
The h is feeling the funny prickling of the Love Force Mojo in her knees when the H approaches her, but she is still determined to earn her way and not leech off the H or his more than generous family. So the H offers the h a job typing up his retired father's manuscript on Swiss wines.
The only catch is that the h has no work permit, so she has to pretend to be engaged to the H and keep it as a family seekrit. The H gives the h his mother's engagement ring and tells her there is No Promise of Love with that gift. The h promises to treasure the family heirloom, even tho it isn't particularly valuable.
We learn about Switzerland and it's various industries as the h and H make forays for potential hotel additions and from the h typing up the father's manuscript. The H also does a great job of showing the h around Lucerne and the food porn in this would make Charlotte Lamb rush to her keyboard in an orgy of French menu compilations in retaliation.
There is one little fly in the ointment tho, the H is in the clutches of an OW that the family hates. She is a big English financial journalist and she warned the H about a big takeover attempt on one of his companies. The family is worried the H will get caught in the OW's web, even tho he is making full on Lurve Mojo moves on the h and eventually succeeds, (mainly cause he keeps stealing the key to her hotel room and letting himself in while she is in the shower and he roofie kisses her a LOT.)
The h is by now madly in love with the H, but he is still singing the "No Promises of Love" song, even as he is jealous that his little brother still keeps trying it on with the h. (Tho the young Swiss is equally interested in one of his sister's assistants too, so there was no real competition for the H, but he couldn't see it.)
Eventually the fashion designing sister decides she has to take a firmer hand in things, after she meets her dream piano concertist and they start to develop a relationship. She cons the h into modeling her pièce de résistance wedding dress for her big fashion show on the grounds of the family manse. While the h is on the runway in the dress, the sister announces her engagement to her older brother, the H, but she announces it in Swiss German, which the h doesn't know, so the h has no idear what is going on .
The OW is hanging all over the H at the big fashion show and the sister serves her up nicely when she announces the big engagement, in fact the OW winds up crying and running away. (Which I have to admit was a pretty decent comeuppance for a malicious OW for once.) The H is NOT happy about this at ALL.
The H gets the h off by herself and starts berating her for making a private agreement public because she is such a gold digger and so anxious for his wealth. The h isn't taking that lying down, so she dumps his fancy gifts and his Rolex and leaves the next day. She finds work as a pianist in a little cafe and when some young men start harassing her one night about a week later, the H suddenly appears to run them off.
He missed the h and his whole family, including his father, admited to being in on the engagement announcement plot to get him away from the OW. They all confirm the h was as clueless as he was and now the H had to storm around looking for the h, cause she is his and he loves her and he never slept with or really dated the OW, she just chased after him a lot.
The H offers the h the very nice Rolex she refused and offers her a bigger diamond engagement ring, but she wants to keep his mother's ring, it is a pearl with a ruby and the H claims that she too is a pearl of great price and more precious than rubies as he sweeps her off to make wedding plans for the big HEA.
This one was well done and the travelogue and guide book at the back are excellent, as usual. This was definitely a lighter side LP book. The H was only a little bullying and nothing like some of the H's LP has created in the past. (The addition of pre-marital love clubbing to HPlandia really helped LP out, because she was able to give her H's an outlet for all their pent up voracious yearning for their h's and it really showed in the H's attitude here.)
LP had a very long career with HQN, she wrote 64 books over 25 years. She started with Mills and Boon when she was 47 in 1971 and kept writing for them up until the very end in 1997. Her H's are notorious in HPlandia and when you need drama and angst, her back list is always a go to.
Her last HP outing, with all the wonderful travelogue and her hallmark love triangle and masterful H, is a very fitting tribute to a long career. Vale and farewell Lilian Peake, your books made an indelible mark on the landscape of HPlandia and your name is written on it's mighty pillars in gold, never to be forgotten as long as HPlandia shall endure.
LP is taking us to Lucerne, Switzerland and judging by how many stories LP set there over the course of her writing life, there is no one more qualified to give us the guided tour. Grab your google images for this one HP voyagers, it is going to be a beautiful outing.
The book opens with our secretary h being made redundant at her job in England. A young Swiss man who has a crush on her and lives in her flat complex offers her a fully paid vacation to visit his family in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The h decides to accept his offer, tho she repeatedly warns the young man that she is ONLY his friend and he is not to get idears about a romance between them. The h recently really liked another young man in her office, but he liked another girl more, so that was the end of that. The h is at a low point in her life and she got a nice severance pay out, so she needs a little breather before getting on with her life.
The young Swiss man is fine with the h being friends only, or at least he says he is, but he warns the h to avoid falling in love with his emotionally unavailable older brother, who was badly burned by a woman who dumped him for a richer man and now hates all the ladies except for their more basic physical urge uses.
The h assures the young Swiss that she isn't interested in misogynistic womanizers who think a girl's curves are all she has to recommend her and it is off to Switzerland we go. When we get there, we learn that the young Swiss comes from an extremely wealthy family. They own the very pricey hotel that the h and he will be staying in while the family manse is being renovated.
(The h wanted to find a less expensive place to stay, she can't afford the hotel rates for more than a day or so, but her young Swiss friend tells her not to worry, his older brother can find her a job or she can stay there as a family guest. The older brother now runs both his engineering firm and the family hotel conglomerate, his father is retired.)
The h agrees to stay in the hotel if the older brother can find her some kind of job. Then we meet the young Swiss's sister, who is his twin, and it turns out she is a budding fashion designer with a huge crush on a concert pianist. We finally meet the older brother, who is destined to be the H, after the h goes out sightseeing and manages to walk in front of his car.
There is a big crash and the H's entire family blames him for hitting the h and knocking her down, even tho she freely admits she is at fault. The H can't seem to stay away from the h either, especially not after he gets a glimpse of her very lovely curves while his younger sister is kitting her out in high fashion.
The h is feeling the funny prickling of the Love Force Mojo in her knees when the H approaches her, but she is still determined to earn her way and not leech off the H or his more than generous family. So the H offers the h a job typing up his retired father's manuscript on Swiss wines.
The only catch is that the h has no work permit, so she has to pretend to be engaged to the H and keep it as a family seekrit. The H gives the h his mother's engagement ring and tells her there is No Promise of Love with that gift. The h promises to treasure the family heirloom, even tho it isn't particularly valuable.
We learn about Switzerland and it's various industries as the h and H make forays for potential hotel additions and from the h typing up the father's manuscript. The H also does a great job of showing the h around Lucerne and the food porn in this would make Charlotte Lamb rush to her keyboard in an orgy of French menu compilations in retaliation.
There is one little fly in the ointment tho, the H is in the clutches of an OW that the family hates. She is a big English financial journalist and she warned the H about a big takeover attempt on one of his companies. The family is worried the H will get caught in the OW's web, even tho he is making full on Lurve Mojo moves on the h and eventually succeeds, (mainly cause he keeps stealing the key to her hotel room and letting himself in while she is in the shower and he roofie kisses her a LOT.)
The h is by now madly in love with the H, but he is still singing the "No Promises of Love" song, even as he is jealous that his little brother still keeps trying it on with the h. (Tho the young Swiss is equally interested in one of his sister's assistants too, so there was no real competition for the H, but he couldn't see it.)
Eventually the fashion designing sister decides she has to take a firmer hand in things, after she meets her dream piano concertist and they start to develop a relationship. She cons the h into modeling her pièce de résistance wedding dress for her big fashion show on the grounds of the family manse. While the h is on the runway in the dress, the sister announces her engagement to her older brother, the H, but she announces it in Swiss German, which the h doesn't know, so the h has no idear what is going on .
The OW is hanging all over the H at the big fashion show and the sister serves her up nicely when she announces the big engagement, in fact the OW winds up crying and running away. (Which I have to admit was a pretty decent comeuppance for a malicious OW for once.) The H is NOT happy about this at ALL.
The H gets the h off by herself and starts berating her for making a private agreement public because she is such a gold digger and so anxious for his wealth. The h isn't taking that lying down, so she dumps his fancy gifts and his Rolex and leaves the next day. She finds work as a pianist in a little cafe and when some young men start harassing her one night about a week later, the H suddenly appears to run them off.
He missed the h and his whole family, including his father, admited to being in on the engagement announcement plot to get him away from the OW. They all confirm the h was as clueless as he was and now the H had to storm around looking for the h, cause she is his and he loves her and he never slept with or really dated the OW, she just chased after him a lot.
The H offers the h the very nice Rolex she refused and offers her a bigger diamond engagement ring, but she wants to keep his mother's ring, it is a pearl with a ruby and the H claims that she too is a pearl of great price and more precious than rubies as he sweeps her off to make wedding plans for the big HEA.
This one was well done and the travelogue and guide book at the back are excellent, as usual. This was definitely a lighter side LP book. The H was only a little bullying and nothing like some of the H's LP has created in the past. (The addition of pre-marital love clubbing to HPlandia really helped LP out, because she was able to give her H's an outlet for all their pent up voracious yearning for their h's and it really showed in the H's attitude here.)
LP had a very long career with HQN, she wrote 64 books over 25 years. She started with Mills and Boon when she was 47 in 1971 and kept writing for them up until the very end in 1997. Her H's are notorious in HPlandia and when you need drama and angst, her back list is always a go to.
Her last HP outing, with all the wonderful travelogue and her hallmark love triangle and masterful H, is a very fitting tribute to a long career. Vale and farewell Lilian Peake, your books made an indelible mark on the landscape of HPlandia and your name is written on it's mighty pillars in gold, never to be forgotten as long as HPlandia shall endure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2023
I have already wanted to visit Lucerne and after reading this silliness, the next Switzerland journey will include there.
July 26, 2017
"No Promise of Love" is the story of Abigail and Rolf.
I was so excited to find this book in my local store as the reviews were amazing and the book seemed just my cup of tea.
Basically Abigail moves to Switzerland with her friend Raymond, pretending to be his girlfriend- until she's hit by a car belonging to his older brother Rolf.
There is instant attraction, and he convinces her to be his "name only" fiancée, and we know how rest of the story goes.
I liked the chemistry between the leads- but there was a LOT of back and forth. The heroine has multiple instances where she simultaneous kisses both the H and his brother, and many of them where the H abandons the h for OW Laura.
We also have a conspiring sister, supportive dad, some running away and angst before implied HEA.
Overall, liked it in few pieces.
Safe with exceptions
3.25/5
Ps. I'm assuming the h is a virgin but I don't know (it's hinted though)
Also I kept reading the hero's name as ROFL which was stupid but funny.
I was so excited to find this book in my local store as the reviews were amazing and the book seemed just my cup of tea.
Basically Abigail moves to Switzerland with her friend Raymond, pretending to be his girlfriend- until she's hit by a car belonging to his older brother Rolf.
There is instant attraction, and he convinces her to be his "name only" fiancée, and we know how rest of the story goes.
I liked the chemistry between the leads- but there was a LOT of back and forth. The heroine has multiple instances where she simultaneous kisses both the H and his brother, and many of them where the H abandons the h for OW Laura.
We also have a conspiring sister, supportive dad, some running away and angst before implied HEA.
Overall, liked it in few pieces.
Safe with exceptions
3.25/5
Ps. I'm assuming the h is a virgin but I don't know (it's hinted though)
Also I kept reading the hero's name as ROFL which was stupid but funny.
July 4, 2018
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland
No Promise Of Love is by far my favorite Lilian Peake book ... so far.
It’s a story that tells of Abigail, who loses her job and takes up her roommate, Raymond’s offer to come to his family in Lucerne for a holiday.
When she gets there she get knocked down by a car driven by her friend’s brother, Rolf. Rolf is stern and unapproachable. He takes her to the hotel where the family is temporarily living and gets blamed for hurting her. Abigail tries to explain that the it was her fault that the accident happened, but no one listened.
Not wanting to take advantage of the family’s hospitality, she asks for a job so she can pay for her room and meals. She can’t work without proper documentation, so Rolf comes up with a proposition; become his pretend fiancée and she becomes family. This will allow her to work for his father, transferring his handwritten book manuscript onto a computer.
Abby agrees and they become “pretend engaged”. While this is all happening, Raymond, keeps trying to win Abby over to his side. He’s likes her and wants more of a relationship and refers to her as his girlfriend, but you never really believe that it’s real for him.
There is also Marina, the sister who is a fabulous fashion designer. She is also matchmaking with Abby and Rolf. She hates the OW in Rolf’s life, Laura, so she will do anything to get Laura away from her brother. And boy does she ever! The end of the book’s drama is all thanks to Marina’s deviousness.
Abby was a great character. A bit immature, but she held her own against Rolf. He was very much an alpha male; arrogant, headstrong, self contained, and sexy. Kudos to her for standing up to him and resisting him for as long as she did.
My favorite bits in the book were the beautifully written parts about Lucerne. Reading this truly was taking an armchair vacation. Google and Lilian Peake took me on a lovely tour of Lucerne in the space of a few hours. This alone made this book one of my favorites. It’s also a book that I will read again. I truly enjoyed it.
No Promise Of Love is by far my favorite Lilian Peake book ... so far.
It’s a story that tells of Abigail, who loses her job and takes up her roommate, Raymond’s offer to come to his family in Lucerne for a holiday.
When she gets there she get knocked down by a car driven by her friend’s brother, Rolf. Rolf is stern and unapproachable. He takes her to the hotel where the family is temporarily living and gets blamed for hurting her. Abigail tries to explain that the it was her fault that the accident happened, but no one listened.
Not wanting to take advantage of the family’s hospitality, she asks for a job so she can pay for her room and meals. She can’t work without proper documentation, so Rolf comes up with a proposition; become his pretend fiancée and she becomes family. This will allow her to work for his father, transferring his handwritten book manuscript onto a computer.
Abby agrees and they become “pretend engaged”. While this is all happening, Raymond, keeps trying to win Abby over to his side. He’s likes her and wants more of a relationship and refers to her as his girlfriend, but you never really believe that it’s real for him.
There is also Marina, the sister who is a fabulous fashion designer. She is also matchmaking with Abby and Rolf. She hates the OW in Rolf’s life, Laura, so she will do anything to get Laura away from her brother. And boy does she ever! The end of the book’s drama is all thanks to Marina’s deviousness.
Abby was a great character. A bit immature, but she held her own against Rolf. He was very much an alpha male; arrogant, headstrong, self contained, and sexy. Kudos to her for standing up to him and resisting him for as long as she did.
My favorite bits in the book were the beautifully written parts about Lucerne. Reading this truly was taking an armchair vacation. Google and Lilian Peake took me on a lovely tour of Lucerne in the space of a few hours. This alone made this book one of my favorites. It’s also a book that I will read again. I truly enjoyed it.
December 8, 2015
It's a favorite book that i've read and reread and it's still gets me. It's light and fluffy but oh so irresistible. The hero's siblings are really fun. Abigail's character is flawless. I want to be her and marry into his family. His siblings were darlings. They teased him provided provocation to make for a firework display of their sizzling chemistry.
December 26, 2016
it was preposterous dat they fell in love within days of meeting each other. i did not feel any chemistry between Rolf and Abigail. hence the two stars, though i have to admit i found the story interesting.
March 22, 2022
This h has joined a really high-maintenance family!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2020
Abigail Hailey, recently fired from her job, takes up her house-mate's offer of a vacation in Switzerland at his expense (actually staying with his family). She and Raymond have a nice friendship with the occasinoal kiss as he's constantly trying to get her to agree to go out with him...but Abigail admits she doesn't feel much for him but friendship. When they get to Raymond's family hotel, Abigail begins to feel uncomfortable at taking on such luxuries for free and insists on getting a job or somehow earning her keep. Raymond promises to get his older, much more cynical brother on the case for that, since he runs everything for the family (and apparently owes her now that he's accidentally run her down with his car). He also warns her against falling for older brother, Rolf, because he's cynical, disdains women for wanting his money and position, he's womanizing and he wants nothing to do with commitment after being hurt by a gold-digging woman. But when Abigail finally meets Rolf, it's lights out for her - she's attracted and unable to resist his seductions, even though she knows he's got another lady friend and she knows there's nothing but heartbreak in it for her. Rolf finds her the job and shows her about town, continuing his seductive practices, while Abigail fears she may be the only one in this doomed relationship to actually be in love.
Loved the travelogue...and I admit, I had to look up what a funicular was. And since I was getting confused about their traveling to the hotel via funicular I ended up looking at google images for Luzern and now I need to go...and stay in the hotel on the cliffside...and visit everything these people did. Oh yeah, and the story was pretty good too. It's not very fast-paced, as Abigail doesn't do much beside lament about her doomed love for Rolf, succumb to his out-of-the-blue kisses and passionate moments (and the angst is in her fight against giving in because she knows Rolf doesn't want more than an affair) and travel about the city doing travelly like tourist stuff. The back and forth relationship between Rolf and Abigail is pretty interesting, but I really liked the relaxed and fun friendship she shared with Martina, and to a lesser degree Raymond. Don't get me wrong, I liked Raymond well enough and his quasi-pursuit of Abigail was lighthearted and pretty much pressure free, but I couldn't help feel that Abigail needed to set him straight instead of sending him mixed messages - she keeps insisting they're just friends and only friends, but then she romantically kisses him good night to avoid hurting his feelings.
This of course sets off my least favorite part of this story...the jealousy and game playing between Abigail and Rolf. Both of them more or less use OM/OW to spark jealousy and interest in the other. Abigail uses Raymond repeatedly to make Rolf jealous and even though we don't get his POV and know for sure what he's up to, I suspect Rolf was using his lady friend Laura Marchant in the same way. And so they both just keep getting angry and resentful at the other instead of actually talking it out...which drags out the angst quite delightfully, but frustrates me. And this is probably why Rolf (who supposedly is desperately in love with Abigail) doesn't just tell her that he's not involved with Laura, even though Abigail keeps getting bristly at the fact that he spends so much time with her. I did also find the end conflict to be pretty interesting. Abigail unwittingly gets roped into a public announcement of an engagement to Rolf and he accuses her of manipulating for his money and position - so she FINALLY finds herself some backbone, shuts him down in an beautiful smackdown and takes off. I just wish it'd seemed like Rolf had suffered more in trying to locate her or something. But ultimately a good solid story...with beautiful Swiss travel descriptions.
Loved the travelogue...and I admit, I had to look up what a funicular was. And since I was getting confused about their traveling to the hotel via funicular I ended up looking at google images for Luzern and now I need to go...and stay in the hotel on the cliffside...and visit everything these people did. Oh yeah, and the story was pretty good too. It's not very fast-paced, as Abigail doesn't do much beside lament about her doomed love for Rolf, succumb to his out-of-the-blue kisses and passionate moments (and the angst is in her fight against giving in because she knows Rolf doesn't want more than an affair) and travel about the city doing travelly like tourist stuff. The back and forth relationship between Rolf and Abigail is pretty interesting, but I really liked the relaxed and fun friendship she shared with Martina, and to a lesser degree Raymond. Don't get me wrong, I liked Raymond well enough and his quasi-pursuit of Abigail was lighthearted and pretty much pressure free, but I couldn't help feel that Abigail needed to set him straight instead of sending him mixed messages - she keeps insisting they're just friends and only friends, but then she romantically kisses him good night to avoid hurting his feelings.
This of course sets off my least favorite part of this story...the jealousy and game playing between Abigail and Rolf. Both of them more or less use OM/OW to spark jealousy and interest in the other. Abigail uses Raymond repeatedly to make Rolf jealous and even though we don't get his POV and know for sure what he's up to, I suspect Rolf was using his lady friend Laura Marchant in the same way. And so they both just keep getting angry and resentful at the other instead of actually talking it out...which drags out the angst quite delightfully, but frustrates me. And this is probably why Rolf (who supposedly is desperately in love with Abigail) doesn't just tell her that he's not involved with Laura, even though Abigail keeps getting bristly at the fact that he spends so much time with her. I did also find the end conflict to be pretty interesting. Abigail unwittingly gets roped into a public announcement of an engagement to Rolf and he accuses her of manipulating for his money and position - so she FINALLY finds herself some backbone, shuts him down in an beautiful smackdown and takes off. I just wish it'd seemed like Rolf had suffered more in trying to locate her or something. But ultimately a good solid story...with beautiful Swiss travel descriptions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2022
Abigail Haley had been blindsided -- first by Rolf's car, then by his animal magnetism. His job offer would allow her to stay in Lucerne longer than her meager finances would permit -- but his condition of a 'false engagement' toyed with much more than her sensibilities!
March 14, 2023
Another entry from a giant box of Harlequins, I made it about thirty pages in before giving up in disgust. Well, perhaps "disgust" is a strong word. Our heroine, Abigail, is introduced as a secretary and summarily dismissed from her job in as boring a way as possible (her boss is retiring), and then suddenly she's agreeing to go to Switzerland with one of the guys she shares an apartment with, and he's insisting that he's going to pay for everything and she's weakly protesting that no, she couldn't possibly (but then allowing him to pay for everything), and he's announcing to his older brother that she's his girlfriend and she's weakly protesting no, she totally isn't (but still hanging out with him in a hotel which his family owns and allowing him to pay for everything), and then she wanders around outside and steps off the curb directly into the path of a car, which hits her, and turns out to be driven by the older brother, and when she regains consciousness and he expresses his desire to get medical treatment for her shouts at him that no, never, she knows he thinks he's a gold-digger and she will absolutely not be seen by a doctor and thereby prove him right. This is not a side effect of concussion; this is what she considers to be perfectly reasonable behavior.
In between all of this, we are treated to travelogues about Switzerland in what, let's be real, I must assume belong to Cassie Edwards-style asides, in which Peake decided that if it comes from a tourist brochure and she puts the text in dialogue form it's totally not plagiarism. Okay, I have no idea if she wrote the text herself, but the tourist text and its integration into the book is almost unbearably clunky: "Did you know," Raymond said, "that we German-speaking Swiss call the potato the Erdopfel, the earth apple? And that we do wonderful things with it? And that when, nearly a hundred years ago, a man called Dr. Bircher-Benner opened a private clinic in Zurich he liked the nutritional value of the orchard apple so much that he added the whole fruit, grated, with the core, pips and skin, along with nuts and berries, to milk?" Raymond, of course, is the emotionally stunted spoiled man-child would-be-boyfriend (unlike his hunky, disapproving older brother Rolf who is the hero and not, despite what my fellow Millennials may be imagining, a dog who plays the keyboards). This is absolutely a good use of Raymond's time as he attempts to seduce the heroine with muesli and Swiss scenery, and totally what a rich international playboy would say.
Shorter version: I just wasn't getting anything out of this that led me to continue.
In between all of this, we are treated to travelogues about Switzerland in what, let's be real, I must assume belong to Cassie Edwards-style asides, in which Peake decided that if it comes from a tourist brochure and she puts the text in dialogue form it's totally not plagiarism. Okay, I have no idea if she wrote the text herself, but the tourist text and its integration into the book is almost unbearably clunky: "Did you know," Raymond said, "that we German-speaking Swiss call the potato the Erdopfel, the earth apple? And that we do wonderful things with it? And that when, nearly a hundred years ago, a man called Dr. Bircher-Benner opened a private clinic in Zurich he liked the nutritional value of the orchard apple so much that he added the whole fruit, grated, with the core, pips and skin, along with nuts and berries, to milk?" Raymond, of course, is the emotionally stunted spoiled man-child would-be-boyfriend (unlike his hunky, disapproving older brother Rolf who is the hero and not, despite what my fellow Millennials may be imagining, a dog who plays the keyboards). This is absolutely a good use of Raymond's time as he attempts to seduce the heroine with muesli and Swiss scenery, and totally what a rich international playboy would say.
Shorter version: I just wasn't getting anything out of this that led me to continue.
March 29, 2024
Ooh I like a Swiss setting and a Swiss or teutonic H and Rolf does not disappoint. Bonus point for the h, Abigail, having been invited to the family hotel in Lucerne by the younger brother so there is a wholesome (ie jealous without reason) brothers dynamic to add extra bite to the explosive physical chemistry between h and H. I was a bit surprised at such relatively early on page consummation, but in a good way. Let us draw a veil over him using a pass key to get into her room and accost her in the shower and accept the fantasy rather than scream wtaf mate. The whole family, including the dress designer sister and retired dad writing a book about wine, take her to their hearts. The OW is a typical cow. I like the cadence of the language. LP made them seem very Swiss!
September 16, 2017
I would give it six stars if I could. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Both the Hero and the heroine were both lovable, as well as the secondary characters. After reading, Lilian Peake, has definitely convince me to visit Lucerne in Switzerland. Definitely recommend.
October 20, 2022
2+
Friend stack.
Hit me as akin to a Lesser Steele, but not as good to me as a Steele, lesser or not. Perhaps unfair to Peake, but then reading is a subjective game and so it goes.
Steele because this one is a "love just because / compulsion" meets a clanger. The leads go at each other, hot and cold, but can't stay away no matter what. There's more sexual activity than Steele usually goes into, but a lot of the dynamic is similar. Including the family making up the majority of secondary characters and acting in ways that make you go wait, whomst behaves like this and discusses things in so urbane, droll, and careless ways to family about such intimate things?
Maybe families I don't know (or haven't revealed to me), lol. But they're all so melodramatic.
Rolf could easily have explained about Laura (the would-be other woman). That he continued not to was really grating, made worse that he waved her away as a complete nonentity at the end. He wasn't even using Laura to try and make Abby jealous! Aha.
Abby is a bit of a wet noodle, flopping this way and that depending on, basically, what Rolf is demanding of her at any given time. And also somehow too soft-hearted (?) to tell a would-be suitor (Rolf's younger borther) interested in her to scram so she allows his kisses in front of Rolf instead -- and again, not even with the motivation to make Rolf jealous!
They do have cracking chemistry so I figure the rest of their lives together will be blissful in one way or another, at least. And I guess the whole family--Rolf, brother, sister, dad, and then Abby plus a random concert pianist--are gonna live in the hillside mansion and continue their strange, very familiar, familial banter as Rolf and Abby charge into their HEA. And good for all of them.
Switzerland sounds lovely, however.
Friend stack.
Hit me as akin to a Lesser Steele, but not as good to me as a Steele, lesser or not. Perhaps unfair to Peake, but then reading is a subjective game and so it goes.
Steele because this one is a "love just because / compulsion" meets a clanger. The leads go at each other, hot and cold, but can't stay away no matter what. There's more sexual activity than Steele usually goes into, but a lot of the dynamic is similar. Including the family making up the majority of secondary characters and acting in ways that make you go wait, whomst behaves like this and discusses things in so urbane, droll, and careless ways to family about such intimate things?
Maybe families I don't know (or haven't revealed to me), lol. But they're all so melodramatic.
Rolf could easily have explained about Laura (the would-be other woman). That he continued not to was really grating, made worse that he waved her away as a complete nonentity at the end. He wasn't even using Laura to try and make Abby jealous! Aha.
Abby is a bit of a wet noodle, flopping this way and that depending on, basically, what Rolf is demanding of her at any given time. And also somehow too soft-hearted (?) to tell a would-be suitor (Rolf's younger borther) interested in her to scram so she allows his kisses in front of Rolf instead -- and again, not even with the motivation to make Rolf jealous!
They do have cracking chemistry so I figure the rest of their lives together will be blissful in one way or another, at least. And I guess the whole family--Rolf, brother, sister, dad, and then Abby plus a random concert pianist--are gonna live in the hillside mansion and continue their strange, very familiar, familial banter as Rolf and Abby charge into their HEA. And good for all of them.
Switzerland sounds lovely, however.
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June 28, 2025برخلاف رویای روی تپه که به بوسه ختم میشه این کتاب از بوسه شروع میشه :)
کمی صحنههای جنسی داره کتاب
کمی صحنههای جنسی داره کتاب
November 3, 2010
I really liked this with two small exceptions. First of all, the reason for the fake engagement is silly. And, if for the reasons given, the it can't be for family knowledge only. That aside, the other thing that bothers me is the other woman. The reasons surrounding her, that the couple in question never mention her until the end but everyone else talks about her, and his eventual explanation. I did enjoy the romance between the couple and was willing to overlook the above objections but wish they weren't there to complicate and confuse the novel.
August 3, 2018
Re-Read for my Around the World in 80 Books Challenge. A delightful read. Good reading in bed when you are ill book.
December 4, 2023
I don't care what others say but I really liked this book. I read this many years back in my teens thinking it's another boring harlequin but I loved it.
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June 18, 2018Abigail Haley had been blindsided -- first by Rolf's car, then by his animal magnetism. His job offer would allow her to stay in Lucerne longer than her meager finances would permit -- but his condition of a 'false engagement' toyed with much more than her sensibilities!
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