Return to Santa Flores: A Classic Love Story

Santa Flores

by Iris Johansen

#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen offers readers a classic tale of a love that seems impossible—and a hunger that is undeniable.
 
Jenny Cashman longs to escape the refined, rarified air of her exclusive Swiss education. At nineteen, she’s desperate for independence—and to once again see the man she loves. So she sells her belongings, leaves Europe, and heads to Las Vegas. The sight of Steve Jason’s newest palatial hotel and casino thrills Jenny—but not as much as the sight of the man himself. Steve came to her rescue after her father died, paying for her years of expensive schooling. Now, she must convince him that she’s old enough to make her own decisions . . . including about her passion for him.
 
Steve Jason is a powerful mogul, a man who came from nothing and made a name for himself in the industry before he was thirty years old. He takes great care to keep all emotional involvement with others to a bare minimum—with only one exception. Jenny has always been incredibly important to him. But how can he keep her safe when she seems oblivious to her own stunning beauty and the reactions she gets from other men? It will take all of Steve’s resolve to protect her—especially from his own desires.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin, Loveswept, Friends To Lovers, Marriage Of Convenience

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 28, 1984

About the author

Iris Johansen is a New York Times bestselling author. She began her writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success.

She lives in Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.

IRIS JOHANSEN is The New York Times bestselling author of Night and Day, Hide Away, Shadow Play, Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, and more. And with her son, Roy Johansen, she has coauthored Night Watch, The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.

http://www.irisjohansen.com

Reviews

[Chantal ❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this was an epic book with great story line.

The author wrote Steve's struggle with his changing emotions towards his ward Jenny in a convincing way.
You could really feel his inner struggle!

Jenny was sweet and innocent but she always loved him and wanted to be a part of his life.
I am so glad that he was respectfully resisting her advances for a long time.
However, he does reach a breaking point!
After all, he is a man!

I loved the ending and that she was strong enough not to settle for half of a relationship. The ending was great, nonetheless, I wished it had had an epilogue.

Also, This author has more books in this series so I will be searching for those now.

What an expected find and a really fantastic book.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty-year-old hotel and casino owner Steve Jason first meets Jenny Cashman when she is eleven. She is staying at one of his hotels with her gambling father. They become friends, and Steve soon finds out her father is neglectful and abuses her. Before he can do anything to help her Jenny's father dies of a heart attack. Steve becomes her guardian and eventually Jenny goes to school in Switzerland. The story resumes some years later when Jenny returns at nineteen and wants to start life on her own, get a job, and stop being dependent on Steve. Jenny was a likable but naive heroine who kept getting into one scrape after another and Steve would have to keep coming to her rescue! I also liked handsome, blond, blue-eyed Steve. I liked how protective he was of Jenny and how he cared for her. This was a wonderful romance with a lot of ingredients that I like in a book: a jealous and possessive hero, a likable heroine, some over the top melodrama, and nice locations.

Previously released as a Loveswept romance from 1984.

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, my. Lolita is cast as the seducer in this May-December romance. The Santa Flores of the title is a hotel in Las Vegas that is dressed up in full 80s regalia. Our teenaged heroine, ward to the hotel magnate hero, is bent on seducing her guardian. He is equally intent on saving her from lustful clutches. LoL. We know where this is going...

Still, as trash goes, this did the trick :)

[Aayesha · Rating 1 out of 5]

OH MY GOD this heroine takes immaturity and stupidity TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL. I can't believe the senselessness of the heroine and GOD, I HATED HER SO MUCH!!!!



She claims that she wants to learn the ways of the world and be experienced and independent but she can't even TELL THE BAD GUYS FROM THE GOOD GUYS ON HER OWN!!! She not only has one but TWO bad almost-rape incidences, ONE AFTER THE OTHER. You'd think she'd have learned not to go off alone with a leering guy, wouldn't you? BUT NO, SHE DOESN'T!!! THAT'S HOW DUMB SHE IS!



That's not the only objection I have. I also found it a little unbelievable how the author made (almost) all the men in the story trip over their feet running after her, because she was so desirable.



Like seriously? You're not even going to try to put some semblance of realisticness in your novel?


Okay so back to the heroine. While I admire a woman who does all that is in her power to get her man, I do not condone deception of any kind. And what she does, using another man to try and get her own husband jealous, wearing provocative clothes and going with said man into his hotel room and allowing him to TOUCH her, goes way beyond the definition of 'deception'. It's underhanded, demeaning and utterly immoral. I really, really hated the heroine (her names evades me at the moment) for it. In fact, I hated her throughout most of the book, till the freakin' END.



As for the hero, I liked him. I would have totally understood if he'd chucked her into the sea. Totally.



In fact, I see something strangely satisfying at that ending...




Now the stuff that I would have liked in the novel had I not hated the stupidly naive heroine so much:

1. The age difference. I love love love novels in which the heroes are a great deal older than the heroines, where the heroes are all tired of the world and cynical and the heroines are young and fresh and utterly charming.

2. The ward/guardian theme. Totally gets me every time.

3. The fact that she's loved him from the beginning. Ever since she was a child, in fact.

4. The other fact that he's also always secretly loved her too.

5. Okay, I think that pretty much sums up what I liked about it. It was otherwise an awful read, a waste of time. Oh well, at least the number of my 'read' books increases. *smirk*

[bookjunkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't get the whole silk pajamas thing, is that something people wear when hosting dinner parties? Maybe there's another meaning for "pajamas" that I'm not aware of, but anyway this book was fun fun fun. Guardian-ward, two lonely souls, older man trying to keep his hands off the young innocent heroine who makes a three-step plan to seduce him. Add in a helpful rock star singer, fatherly cook, well-meaning taxi driver, sleazy motel, and you're in for a good time.

[Azet · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Return to Santa Flores" is my very first book by this author.I have been recommended this book by many of my GR-friends, especially a dear GR-friend of mine Diya, thank you!

This is a very beautiful love-story where Iris Johansen takes the guardian-ward trope to a whole new another level. I enjoyed every word of it!
The undeniable love between Jenny Cashman and her irresistible and possessive guardian Steve Jason was such a forthcoming delight that i totally swooned. When i knew of Steve´s aversions to claim Jenny and the reasons behind it, it made me shed some tears. Oh but he loved her in a way no man can love a woman,and it was so stunning to watch. He is a total delicious hero with his sexy Apollo-looks, his hard-core passion and nature in his manipulative ways, his total devotion and obsessiveness when it came to Jenny!(so sexy!).He was a total and MADLY jealous and besotted with his Jenny..and how i cheered for her when she came up with her seduction plans after their marriage..i was like HELL GO GIRL!

...and he does surrender finally..how could he not when he simply can`t live without her!
I love both Jenny and Steve...their romance totally perfection! A Incredible Keeper my friends! Don`t miss this book out!

[Jacqueline J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat different in that the story starts when the heroine is 11 and the hero is 30. They become friends and when her dad dies, the h becomes the hero's ward. Time skips ahead to where the heroine is 19 and comes home from finishing school. She gets in all kinds of trouble and the hero marries her to keep her out of trouble. But she sets out to seduce him. The story would have been stronger if it had been written as if she was always romantically in love with him and had come home to get him. But it seemed as if she had come home to get a job and the whole falling for him thing seemed a bit out of the blue.

I'm giving it four stars for the start and the silly antics.

[Diya✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a ride! This was great book loved the lead character this was full of drama and it was beautiful story about guardian falling for his ward. This was the first book I read by Iris Johansen and I loved this. A keeper for me just wished it had a epilogue!

[♡︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously what were they thinking in the 80s?? i wasn’t born yet and i’d like to know if it’s the 80s and this kind of behavior was normal or it’s just this author cos every book of hers i’ve read has been so damn weird and problematic. Case in point: hero saying “i deliberately r*ped you.” and heroine replying with something along the lines of “no you didn’t really because i had been trying to seduce you like a whole week before so your loss of control isn’t your fault.” um ma’am???!!! she was such a pick-me i can’t even😭.

i should self-flagellate for even liking this story at all because don’t even get me started on him falling in love with her when she was 11 and him 30💀. like wth. i get the whole lolita vibe but seriously was this normal in the 80s?


all of this aside, i gave it 4 stars because i was really entertained. it had a good pace and good storytelling lol. it was definitely a little bit spicy.

[Sapheron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I just say, I loved this book

[*CJ* · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Return to Santa Flores” is the story of Jenny and Steve.

Steve,30 is the owner of the Santa Flores hotel chain. A ruthless, cynical man used to solitude, his life is changed when a 11 year old innocent Jenny meets him while her father gambles away everything. As he passes away in a freak accident, Steve takes her guardianship.
Many years later, Jenny is 19 and returns to Las Vegas to claim independence and earn her own living. Meeting Steve again, she realizes her feelings have changed, but he continues to treat her like a protector guardian..

There’s a series of ridic rape attempts (by every man), angst, mockery of a marriage and insane jealousy schemes. I couldn’t believe the route this book took and ultimately became a mess in itself, because the motel scene in the end was so absurd I was laughing my ass off.
Both were extremely exasperating- and the ending was sudden. I wish the hero understood the heroine more, and treated her less like a baby/ward and more a wife/ adult.

Unsafe by definition/SWE
2/5

[All About Romance · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a lovely treasure!!I absolutely adored this book.when I stared reading I thought it will be the usual guardian and ward story with push-pull elements,instead it turned out to be a beautiful story describing a relation between the hero and heroine from the time she was an innocent girl till she became a woman.Steve genuinely loved jenny though she put him through hell.it was a delight to watch such a formidable and aloof man bewitched by a young innocent .Steve loved Jenny so much that he was ready to sacrifice his love for her to give her a better future !he was just dreamy!well the heroine was stubborn and feisty but adorable .also I think the secondary characters in this book were hilarious especially Rex and mike.I desperately wanted an epilogue as I wanted to see what new troubles jenny created for poor Steve.overall reading this book was a delight.hoping to uncover more treasures from this author !

[Daisy Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure why this popped up on my timeline but I am glad that it did. I've read a couple of this authors books before and rather enjoyed them, this was no exception.

Why the 3 star rating you ask? I was ever so slightly appalled that the H in essence adopted the h and became her father figure. The fact that they fall in love gives me a little bit of an ick feeling that its all a bit close to home.

The h is the one that goes all out to capture the H in this one and he does a pretty terrible job or trying to resist, he makes rather a mess of the whole situation and he is lucky he got his lady in the end. His jealous possessive tendencies won out.

There were a couple of OM, some worse than others but it looks like the nicer one gets a sequel and a h of his own so I will have to track that down and see how it lives up and where the H and h of this one are. All in all not a bad outing

[seton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out well with their first meeting but since older man/ 19 yr old virgin, guardian-ward romances dont do anything for me, it sorta petered out for me. I didnt find the transition from a brother-sister relationship to passionate love all that believable and I grew tired of the heroine's immaturity and propensity to get into trouble.

This is the first of two connected bks and the spinoff is No Red Roses.

[Noël Cades · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book 5-stars for sheer absurdity. If you can suspend your disbelief and want to be taken on a completely implausible (and thankfully brief) ride of a bit of 1980s sex and glamour, then by all means give Return to Flores a go.

Let's just look at some of the book's issues:

1. It's set in 1984. Were it set in 1964, the Jurassic depictions of women and male/female relations may have been more believable. But it's the 1980s: Jackie Collins, shoulder pads, career women. Women are no longer considered infants-under-male-protection by the age of nineteen. Yes - you read that correctly - nineteen.

2. I'm all for a bit of age-gap and ward/guardian, but it's downright creepy when he seems to have been so taken with her as an eleven-year-old child (has her picture painted in his bedroom), has been a "big brother" figure as she grows up, and later admits to barely being able to resist her once she's 17. Had he not seen her for eight years, then reencounters her as an adult woman, that might have been more palatable.

3. I'm also all for a bit of "ravishment" but literally every guy in this book (bar the chef who must be gay) is a terrifying predator. No kidding. There are FOUR different guys in this book who "have a go" at Jenny - from aggressively flirty to actual sexual assault (seriously: the heroine nearly gets raped twice, and that's excluding the hero's considerably dominant attentions).

4. You want a job? So you're quitting school at nineteen (who is still at high school at nineteen, by the way?) but you put all your money into a one-way ticket from Switzerland to your guardian's lavish Las Vegas casino resort, then live off free food, free accommodation, and a lavish designer wardrobe that your guardian arranges. How about going to London and actually getting a job as a waitress?

5. Suddenly he's decided to marry her to "protect" her. Then just as suddenly we find out it's only a marriage of convenience (wtf? a few pages previously he was all "Jenny, I've got to have you" as "he groaned and his hands worked frantically at the front zipper of her jeans") and he doesn't plan to consummate the union, but instead let her get an annulment later when she's grown up. Again, wtf, she's NINETEEN. It's not a normal right of passage for adult women to legally marry an ersatz male relative for a few years to protect their virginity. At least not in any reality I'm aware of.

6. Then of course they do consummate the marriage. By this stage you're so irritated with the pair of them that you couldn't really care less about what they do. Then it becomes all about how "he's not letting her get pregnant" and he's making gyno appointments for her.

7. She runs away again, to make her own way/get a job/whatever. She lasts no more than about two hours in a supposedly seedy sex motel before every. single. male. in the book (bar the two attempted-rapists) suddenly appears on the scene to "rescue" her. Truly, she is really is beyond pathetic.

8. Then they reunite, and it's all about having a baby. "Wouldn't you like to put your seed in me, and know that a part of you is growing inside me?" Well actually, Jenny, I wouldn't. Frankly I'm revulsed by the pair of you, but relieved to finally be on the last page.

Apologies for the massive amount of spoilers in this, but it's one of the most absurd books I've ever read. I'm still wondering if I've missed something. I regularly read historical romances where heroines are even younger, and they still manage to have courage, initiative and determination: Jenny has none of these.

[Madison ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was disappointing. The main character, Jenny, felt very naive and young throughout the novel and kept trying to assert her independence as an adult by doing things that really portrayed her as a child. She leaves her husband without a plan in what appears to be a desperate attempt for attention from him. Her scheme to make her husband jealous was another example of her immaturity and made reading this with her as the heroine very difficult to enjoy.

Jenny and Steve's relationship also felt forced. They were originally introduced as Jenny being a child ward of Steve and their relationship is established as father/daughter or older brother/younger sister. The transition from father/daughter to lovers wasn't as fully described and the whole time I felt that their relationship just reeked of "daddy issues" and was gross. Steve being more than twice the age of 19 year old Jenny further gave their relationship a yuck feel and her immaturity didn't help in eliminating the severe age gap or their original relationship of father/daughter.

Overall, just not a great book.

[amanda s. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well well well, what a crazy quick reading.

When Steve asked her to marry him, Jenny's flabbergasted. She's been in love with him practically since forever. The way Steve treated her always made her heart pound faster. But she wants him to her out of love, not protection only. Jenny wants Steve to treated her as a woman, not as a child he saved eight years ago..

One thing that bother me, Steve was thirty five when he met Jenny. And Jenny was eleven. You do the math. Yes, twenty four years gap between them, practically a generation.

But, the way Steve protect Jenny is soooo sweet I can't help but giggled all the way. I don't really like the ending though, could've been better. It's like you need to sneeze but you can't. Anticlimax.

Overall, this book's charming. Looking forward to read another book of its author. ;)

[Roub · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was an amazing read, not like any i've read before ! very hilarious n very intense emotions involved. it is a very delicate matter n i think the author handled it brilliantly! at first, they were friends, then guardian-ward n then ofc they were attracted 2 each other. i think it's a normal course of things bcoz they shared no blood relationship. ders bound 2 be attraction bet 2 persons so close especially as steve was still very attractive like a male Adonis n no father figure. about jenny, well time n again, it was mentioned she was not pretty. yet, all men fell 4 her !lol. she was nearly raped twice, so it's normal dat steve took such a drastic step as 2 trick her into marriage ! neway the book lost 1 star only boz she was still so very young n i cud not help but feel like steve was snatching the cradle !

[Bookfetish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel by Iris Johansen, I think because of two elements that appealed to me: The oh so romantic notion of guardian turns lover in Steve, as well as the absolutely delightfully naive Jenny. This was a lovely, romantic read, however my best ever Iris Johansen read is still " White Satin" . I actually ended up reading "Return to Santa Flores" because it reminded me of "White Satin", so I thought of giving it a try instead of re-reading "White Satin" for the umpteenth time and I'm glad I did!

[CasPerfitz~SLiTsReaD · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kinda a refreshing to read for a change... it reminds me when I use to read a lot of Barbara Cartland.. I enjoyed it pretty much. It was light, funny and Jenny's innocence is so endearing... Only complain is, it ended too soon... :)

[Anne - Books of My Heart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the romance authors have been re-releasing older books. This one is from 1984. It is dated as a romance novel. It isn't so much anything in the book but the attitudes. And it's not all that realistic. The characters are not wholly believable. It was a very quick read.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, I wish it'd been longer, I want to know what he said to Mike, and I want to see the reaction the guy's sister had to what he did to her brother, and their marriage!!! And I want it to be longer, because it was freaking good, I want more story!!!!

[Vicki Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ridiculous. You could tell it was written in the 80's. I can't believe they re-released it with a brand new cover and everything. Also, the description on the back of the book is nothing like the story itself! So misleading.

[Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Such crazy power differential and then a whole lot of almost-rape scenes. No.

[Kris Freestone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Iris Johansen's writing style beyond words. The first book I read of hers was a thick historical romance at fifteen. I prefer her crime/thriller novels over the early romance novels that established her.

The thing to keep in mind is that the world was different when this was published in 1984. I had to remind myself that the book and I are the same age. It unfolds like a modern day 'Daddy Long Legs' (which I loved growing up). It changes when a twenty year old heroine returns wanting to make her benefactor something far more. I won't spoil the plot. One thing rubbed me really wrong. She upsets Steve, who says he needs to be alone and have a drink or she'll 'experience' her 'first rape.' It ends up being consent but...still. Different world in 1984. People in the eighties accepted Luke and Laura's love story with a rape overlooked. It's been addressed since on the show and by Genie Francis.

Worth a read but remember when it was published.

[Amara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleh.

This had everything that usually makes a 4-5 star book for me. The guardian trope, therefore including the forbidden and age difference. The beginning was so beautiful. But we skipped over the part where he first realizes she's a woman. The we skip to the part where he forces her into an agreement that is pretty shitty. Then we go straight to her seduction phase. I usually like those phases in a story too, but this one, I just kept seeing a child. I just never saw where she wasn't a child, and where he wasn't just older, but wiser too. She was too immature for me to love this one.

Also, my step-dad's name is Steve...soo...*shudder*.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit to creepy to me! Raise the girl then make her yours at 19. OK I get it they are not related but the hero is much older and you raise the girl who is our heroine. The heroine is so immature at age 19. My biggest problem is she acted more mature at 11 years old than she did at 19. That is because Johansen has no ability to write children parts. In all her books kids are written as adults. Stay away from kids just write about adults!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Nadosha · Rating 3 out of 5]

when I will read a book that the Hero how pursue the heroine even when she is younger than him .
I prefer it if she left him for couple of years .so he will learn his lesson.

[°мαggιє° (っ⚈ᴥ⚈)っ™ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book will rot your brain but it is so so very amusing