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Echoes Of The Past

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She'd always intended to make amends someday

Now that day had dawned sooner than she'd expected. And Jared Faulkner was demanding a reckoning.

Purdey wasn't proud of the way she'd treated Jared in the past, even though at the time she could see no real alternative.

But it was a fearful price Jared wanted to extract from her-far greater than she'd expected to pay. And just as before she could see no other way out. Jared had her in his power and could so easily crush her....

265 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

4 people are currently reading
188 people want to read

About the author

Sally Wentworth

106 books94 followers
Doreen was born on 1936 or 1937 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She married Donald Alfred Hornsblow, with whom she has a son Keith, in 1968. The family lived in Braughing, England.

Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.

Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.

Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for boogenhagen.
1,993 reviews887 followers
February 6, 2018
Re Echoes of the Past - Sally Wentworth does all out OTT wrecki drama and this one is no exception. Again we are back to SW's favorite trope of Revenge, but this time it is the H who wants revenge for his own mistake. Tho of course Rule #1 - it is always the h's fault - is heavily emphasized and expounded upon by one of the nastiest, meanest H's HPlandia has seen in a loong time - not since the last Margaret Pargeter at least, and none of MP's H EVER used such language.

The book opens with the h being 19 and working in a casino after her father died and her little brother was born prematurely and blind. There is the HP Gold Standard American operation available to help him regain his sight, but the US doesn't take the NHS and so the h and her mother are working themselves to the bone to get the money somehow.

The h is also casually dating a young nobleman who will be a Duke and his family is extremely worried about the h being a possible future duchess. The H is dispatched to set things straight with regards to the h's non-status in a future Duke's live and in that classic subtrope of insta love displaced into extreme hostile aggression - the H offers the h money to get out of town and sign an agreement not to see the future Duke again.

The h, insulted that the H accosted her and then called her a tart and a bargain basement box girl, (he did not even accord her penthouse popsie status,) tells him her price is £35,000 and with that sum in hand a roofie kiss or two is exchanged and the h signs the non-contact agreement and departs the H's life - she thinks for good. Four years on and the h has graduated college and become a marketing manager for a group of hotels. Little brother is seeing the world in color and mum doesn't have to work so hard and there are nice and eligible potential dating partners in her new job. The h is good at it too, and all ready to do a big presentation to the board of directors.

When guess who happens to be one of those directors? Now this is a no brainer, but it is the H of course, and this time he mistakes her dressed for success image as a promotion from bargain basement box girl to exclusive lady on call to any penthouse suite - he tries to throw her out, but the h threatens a scene and he backs off. They meet again over her big presentation and while it is a success, it doesn't take our hostile passive Angry Alpha long to show up with threats and harassment in equal measure. Once again the h gallantly fends him off.

PJ would be mortified and appalled at the amount of harassment and chasing and punishing kisses that happen next - needless to say the h isn't getting her extra hour off every week to get her hair done. (I felt like one of the motherly secondary characters should have jumped books and given the h a number for the H of PJ's Free Spirit, this h would have gotten much nicer job perks.) But as the borders of HPlandia are mutable but not transferable, the h winds up in Jersey with the H and of course the forced seduction occurs. The lurve club mojo is on triple time, cause now the h is in love and it is utterly hopeless.

There is a small reprieve in the aftermath of the expansion of that fatal attraction, the H starts to think he might have been wrong about the h - especially when he sees how the manager of the hotel reacts to the h when he thinks she is nothing more than the H's piece on the side when in actually she gets promoted to be the project manager.

That temporary lull is blasted again in the H's overwhelming wrath when the future Duke shows up to see the h again and the h doesn't get a chance to explain what she wanted the H's money for. The H is thinking the h used the money to try and scam more rich men and then he thinks she violated the agreement not to contact the future Duke.

There are more threats and accusations and a very dog in the manger attitude from the H and the future Duke and another guy that the h was kinda mildly interested in. In fact the sexism in this one is truly overwhelming as there isn't one male character except the h's little brother that seems to have ANY common courtesy or decency - the other's all seem to think that cause the h smiles at them, she wants to be groped, kissed, pawed and seduced.

But the H is the only one who decides he needs another forced seduction after calling her the Tart of Babylon and all of Europe and the British Isles. He offers £10,000 to be his tart in the dark but the h is truly outraged and angrily refuses. Forced seductioning occurs again and tho the h whispers her true love, the h wakes up alone, discarded like the dirty rag the H has accused her of being.

Mopey moments ensue. The h is in love, but she is also disgusted. So when her mum marries the only other nice man in the book - who turns out to be the little brother's Scoutmaster- the h and the mum have enough money to pay the H his £35,000 back. She sends an anonymous bank draft and resigns from her position. She heads home to mum and while she and the little bro are boding and mum and the Scoutmaster are on honeymoon, the H shows up.

He has been searching for the h desperately and he tears up the money order until the h confesses she sent it. Then the H asks why did she not tell him what she needed the money for - lil bro had been filling the H in on HP Gold Standard American operations. The H claims he is sorry and that he never left the h that last morning, he was only pondering life in the garden but when he went to find the h she was gone. Now he wants the h to forgive him, then he asks her why she has never married.

It is a pretty satisfying moment in a very bleak book when the h explains that she couldn't marry anybody when she owed him £35,000. The H asks her to marry him and she firmly refuses, because after all he is being an utter hypocrite in wanting to marry her now that he knows the money was for a good cause. The H claims he loves her, but she sends him off. Tho the H vows "He will be back", the h eludes his attentions.

A week or so later the h has replaced the bank draft into her account and bought herself a nice evening gown. She has an invitation to the future Duke's birthday party and she gets all gussied up to go confront the H. When he swoops down to twirl her away, more mocking words are exchanged before the h issues her one and only invitation - will the H marry her and love her all her life. The H avows eternal love and devotion -or at least until she marries him and fatally poisons his cognac to better enjoy his wealth and a variety of tempting young men. Because if any H could make a good girl go bad, this one is it- and they twirl into the sunset for a big HEA.

This one is a trainwreck avalanche extraordinaire and should be read for the drama whackiness alone. I don't promise HEA believability here AT ALL - but you will have many happy hours contemplating if she really does eventually do this H in an act of EPIC REVENGE for a truly suspenseful SW venture into the murkier shores of HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for KatieV.
710 reviews499 followers
October 17, 2015
Yay! I finally broke my HP dry streak.

If you're in the mood for a snobby alpha hero behaving badly who gets a pretty fair comeuppance from the horribly misjudged and mistreated virgin, this is a great one.

Perdita (Perdy) is 19 when the book opens. Her life had taken a big turn 8 years before when her father had died in a car accident. Her pregnant mother then delivered prematurely and the child was blind. She and her mom had to deal with reduced circumstance and sacrifice a lot to send the brother to a special school for the blind and then find out there's a miracle surgery in America (isn't there always in HPLand?)

Perdy splits her time between college by day and working in a casino at night saving almost all her $ for her brother's operation. She happens to meet a nice guy a few years older who's a Viscount and will eventually be a Duke. Truly, she just likes him as a friend. He claims to love her though. She tells him she's not in for anything serious, but he persists. She lets it go on as long as it doesn't go farther than kissing and the occasional weekend out. Plus she appreciates that he comes to the casino each night and drives her home to her sketchy neighborhood where she lives in desperate poverty while she saves for the operation.

The snobby fam finds out their darling boy is seeing some tart who works in a casino and alpha snob, Uncle Jared, appoints himself to be the one to get rid of the conniving slut, Perdy. There's a lot of seething sexual tension between the two immediately and this just pisses Jared off even more. He is horribly insulting - in the way only a old school Harley hero can be - first he gets her fired and then offers to pay her off to dump his nephew and leave town. In a temper she demands 35K pound, thinking it an outrageous sum that will just make him angry (it's also the exact $ needed for the surgery). He agrees and she's so mad and desperate now that the job's gone, she takes it.

4 years later, Perdy has finished college and is doing well in her career. Of course, she's been scrimping and saving every extra penny to pay back Jared like a good little HP heroine. One day she plans to send him a bank draft and will now her pride will be salvaged.

She lands a great new job she loves and guess who is on the board of directors?

Lots of crazy and on-the-job sexual harassment ensues. Jared alternates between wanting the h and insulting her. Still, I think Wentworth did a good job of showing clues to his confused feelings strictly through the heroine's eyes. This is a well done limited 3rd person POV. We have to figure out the H through his actions, facial expressions, etc. It's obvious that he has something for her and is fighting it... until he stops trying to fight it and decides to go for it and try to get her in bed.

Perdy gives as good as she gets though and she doesn't make it easy for him.

Recommended for fans of old school Harleys.
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,226 reviews634 followers
March 12, 2017
Wonderful story of a 19 year-old heroine who takes the money and runs after the hero offers her 35,000 pounds to leave his nephew alone. Heroine gives the money to her young blind brother so he can have surgery.

Fast-forward a few years - heroine has graduated from university and is starting up the career ladder in the hotel industry. She is squirreling away money to pay back the hero and living like a nun. Enter hero who is on the board of directors who wants her fired as revenge for . . . taking his money? Making him desire her? Never forgetting about her? All of the above.

But - heroine is good at her job, wows the board with her proposal - so the hero can't get her fired. Instead, he can threaten her if she talks to OM#1 and OM#2 (his nephew - who is back and still in love with the h).

A business trip to the Isle of Jersey with the H turns into a forced seduction and lots of angst for the h.

From there the H has to reassess what happened in the past and why the h needed money, what he knows about the h now, and most importantly, what he feels about the h. It's the hero who has to change in this one and it's delightful to watch.

The heroine is strong throughout and you just know she will always give the H a run for his money long after they are married.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,715 reviews721 followers
March 24, 2017
I'm exhausted. I honestly don't know how to rate this one. 1 star, 4 star, wimpy average at 3.

The hero is a cruel, sadistic, nasty man and not in a good way. He says some of the cruelest things I've read in a Harlequin. Purdey, the heroine, is pretty good at dishing it out, but, please girl, why did you fall in love with this guy?

Purdey is working as a croupier to save up for her little brother's eye surgery, or he'll go blind. Apparently medical care IS better in the States as the family needs the surgery available here. He Who Must Not Be Named swoops in to save his nephew who has a crush on Purdey who must be a gold-digger. The slut-shaming is almost instantaneous, literally. He tries to warn her off which she laughs off then he offers to pay her off. Purdey is enraged and outraged and asks for $35,000 pounds which is a lot of money. It's an ugly scene as he puts the moves on her and her betraying body...betrays her. It's gross. They throw some more insults at each other, and he leaves.

Three or four years later Purdey has her fancy new degree and is the only woman executive with a hotel group. Much is written about the dangers of being a woman in the workplace, and how Purdey will handle a potentially sexist environment. Lo and behold, guess who's the financial guy? The slut-shamer, and he is relentless.

The heroine holds hard against his threats, emotional and physical intimidation as long as she can. She ultimately falls for the magic p, and she's as disgusted with herself as I was. He is over the top in lust and besotted, but not too nice about it. He even finds a way to belittle her lack of experience as a weapon she uses against men.

Sally Wentworth must have been in a really bad mood the week she wrote this as there are few emotional survivors in this one. I need to take a look at SW other books because I don't recall them being this OTT and harsh.

I really liked the heroine for the most part as she's smart, can hold her own in business and against her evil H. She manages to torture him a little at the end, but not as much as he deserved.

Postscript.

Okay, took a look at some of SW other books, and apparently torture is her go to method of wooing the little ones.
Profile Image for KC.
527 reviews21 followers
November 24, 2018
4.5 stars

There are asshole heroes and then there are ASSHOLE heroes! Jared fits the latter category perfectly. He was so mean and rude to Purdey; calling her a little bitch, gold-digging slut, and con artist (not all in one sitting though, thankfully). Jared acted like such an ass, but I loved it because I could see how much he wanted Purdey even though he didn't want to. Hehe.

The two possessed strong chemistry which resulted in some delightful banter. Purdey, of course, only responded with antagonism in order to deal with Jared's hostility. I loved how she stood up to Jared and gave as good as she got. It was impressive because when they had their first confrontation Purdey was only 19 to Jared's 30-31 years of age, a poor "nobody" to his wealthy and powerful banker essentially. I also loved how Purdey held on to her standards by not readily forgiving Jared for the torment he put her through.

In my eyes, Jared redeemed himself enough to earn his HEA with Purdey. I liked how he decided to marry her before he discovered the truth behind the use of the payoff money. He really did love Purdey in spite of his misconceptions and misgivings.

The only thing that disappointed me were the love scenes. They were briefly mentioned in retrospect which lessened their impact. This book could have been a 5-star read if they had been better executed.

A good read nonetheless!
Profile Image for *CJ*.
5,106 reviews626 followers
February 1, 2020
"Echoes of the Past" is the story of Purdie and Jared.

Our book begins in the past, where the h is working a blue collar job to support her sick brother and poor mother. She befriends the OM, who turns out to be the H's nephew. The H ofcourse immediately accuses her of being a gold-digging slut and tries to buy her off so she gets out of his nephew's life. She is enraged, but circumstances force her to accept a deal.
Years later, she is on the way to become a successful businesswoman when the H re-enters her life, filled with blackmail and accusations. There is loads of back and forth as well as OM drama, and the h is stuck between three crazy men. Anyways, after much needed confessions, the book ends.

I found this an OK read. The h was really passive, and I think she could have solved many problems by using her brain as well as her vocal cords. Annoyed me tbh.

SWE
2/5
Profile Image for Chantal ❤️.
1,361 reviews913 followers
March 6, 2016
Well if I was her I would have had a restraining order against him. He goes into her room in the night forces himself on her...omg what kind of an asshole does that??? if she had a chance it was a snowball chance in hell. I did not like him at all. He was the one who gave her the money and offered it to her, then the bastard then makes her pay for it over and over. He wants to get her in bed not because he loves and respects her but for revenge and lust. It would have been ok to me if he had been less illegal about it. I hated him until the end.
Profile Image for Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves.
1,461 reviews18 followers
December 3, 2018
Solid 4 never-a-boring-moment stars!
The blurb is all wrong. She didn't do anything to him - just took advantage of his supreme arrogance/stupidity- just as he deserved!
The H is the usual misogynistic A-hole with a god complex of period HPs!
I like the h - she comes across as sorted and strong and definitely a survivor. No wimpy doormat here. I approve of all her actions - her acquiescence to the noncon/rape being the only exception.
Profile Image for SandraIsAMoodyCowWhenSheCan'tRead.
93 reviews54 followers
May 26, 2017
Not bad. If you're looking for angst, twists and turns with a believable, highly independent, smart heroine with a heart of gold, not to mention an alpha-male hero who turns from arrogant asshole to humbled hero, this is the one. Couldn't understand what he felt she owed him though. Seemed like a sound business arrangement to me: he paid her to stop seeing his nephew and that's what she did. But writing was good enough for me to forgive some obvious flaws. Also didn't like that the nephew seemed to have gotten a rough deal from this especially when he seemed to be a dececnt enough guy. Ending was a little abrupt and awkward but sometimes it's about the journey not the destination and purely for escapism, this did the trick for me.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
February 22, 2016
intense, passionate, full of angst! old school harlequin presents at its best!
Profile Image for Aou .
2,047 reviews215 followers
February 23, 2019
4,5 stars for my deliciously awful hero and sweet heroine who had a backbone and made the jerk grovel little bit.
Profile Image for Roub.
1,112 reviews63 followers
October 17, 2015
dats how fairy tales shud be like! from rags to riches, the heroine had her brand of magic when jared faulkner proposed her 35000pounds to stop seeing his nephew! i remember reading dat book as a teenager but i did not remember the book's name. so it was a pleasure to read it again, after like ten years! to come back to the story, purdey was stunning and she turned heads wherever she went. jared was no exception to this! yet, he thought he was different from the other besotted fools bcoz he saw clearly in her game. he was harsh, nasty and even brutal towards her. but this also hid much suppressed passion ! these two burned the sheets! they had dat kinda chemistry ! purdey was feisty, she made him sweat, and never gave in willingly to him. she actually tamed him as, before finding out the truth, he actually decided to marry her. my favourite moment was when he had the guts to ask her price to be his slut and she threw her glass of champagne in his face and told him to get out! he got back at her by fucking her hard! very intense and awesome! not to be missed!
Profile Image for Leona.
1,772 reviews18 followers
October 15, 2015
2.5 stars

This could have been 5 stars, but the ending just closed too quickly and the hero did not suffer enough. But, there were some absolutely incredible scenes.
Profile Image for iamGamz.
1,549 reviews51 followers
March 30, 2017
A delightfully dark and intense book.

The hero is an over the top alpha. The heroine, a traditional innocent HP but with a heavy dash of sass thrown in.

The H met the h 4 years earlier when she was pseudo-dating his nephew. He automatically assumed that she was a trampy gold digger out for all she could get. So he bribes her to get her out of his nephew's life. The h needs money for her little brother's surgery so she accepts and confirms the H worst belief of her.

Four years later the h has landed her dream job only to find the H in the Board of Directors. He proceeds to make her life a living hell every chance he gets as payback for her demanding more money from his 4 years earlier.

His abuse and mistreatment of her co tiniest throughout the majority of the book. That man is an idiot! The h fights back every chance she can but the chemistry between them makes it hard for her to resist. She soon finds herself in deeper that she ever expected.

I enjoyed the heck out of this book and can highly recommend it. If you're thinking of reading it, do it!!
Profile Image for Megzy.
1,193 reviews70 followers
January 16, 2016
He was like the scum at the bottom of a pond at the beginning of the story so he had no other way but to go up and improve. But boy, the transformation took FOREVER.

I loved Purdey. You don't meet a lot of girls like her in this day and age in romance novels. I loved that she lived a little better than hands to mouth basically and saved all her money to pay him back.
Profile Image for Azet.
1,095 reviews284 followers
March 14, 2020
We find a very fine love-story with high-light angst in the cat-mouse game between the hard-working and beautiful Purdey Bruce and the dark and cynical Tycoon Jared Faulkner. A hot kiss sealed their fate and they have never forgotten each other and watching Jared fend off Purdey`s suitors were a hilarious sight to watch. In all his cynism he treats Purdey like a slut and insults her terribly all the while longing for her against his will.

They both can`t resist each other...and many misunderstandings cause of jealousy becomes a barrier to their romance. But in the end our hero Jared had to work for Purdey`s forgiveness, and i L.O.V.E.D it.! "Echoes of the Past" has come to be one of the best Keeper`s by Sally Wentworth.!
455 reviews158 followers
January 3, 2017
Oh my.

I've read a lot of HPs in my time, and even more romance novels. Not all authors are created equal. There are those who excel at plot. There are those who excel at research and setting. There are those who are excellent at creating believable characters complete with backgrounds and drama. And there are those who are great writers.

Some, like Lynne Graham, are the Twilight writers. I don't say this to denigrate Twilight. C'mon, it takes a certain amount of brass to carry on such a long drawn-out love triangle through that many books. Without sex. Lynne Graham churns out masses of HPs all drawn to the same characters. She's now 60, and man, I wish she would stop writing sex scenes, because they are abhorrent to wade through. Her sex scenes are numerous and repetitive. There's a lot of fierce plunging, which makes me cringe. But her books are always heavy on the romance: most of her heroes are men who have been in love with the heroine since prehistoric days and every cheek crease and grim glance reflect this. She's by no means the best writer in the business; as I've said before, her repetitive adjectives and adverbs are slightly cringeworthy.

But Sally Wentworth. Now, not all of her books are great. But every so often, I run across one of hers that's so fast-paced and action-packed that all you can do is smack your lips and drool:

Purdey is a 19y/o girl who works at a casino seven nights a week and goes to college simultaneously, mostly to help her mom earn money for Purdey's brother, who was premature and blind as a result. A costly procedure is now available for him, but runs to the amount of 65,000 pounds. Purdey is a mature, practical girl because of the trials in her life, and dates, very casually, a 21y/o Alex Nash who came to the casino one night with his friends and fell for Purdey. Alex is the grandson of a Lord Nash and will in turn inherit wealth and holdings. He is a fun, innocent, sweet guy that Purdey likes but is not in love with. One night Alex's uncle, 31y/o Jared, comes into the casino, apparently with friends but also at Alex's mother's behest to check up on Alex. He takes one look at the heavily made-up (club rules) Purdey and instantly classifies her as Grade A gold-digger. Ergo, he sets in place a plan to get rid of her ASAP. He tries to buy her off with 2000 pounds, and when that doesn't work, gets her fired from work. Then, a really angry Purdey decides to make him really sweat for it and raises the amount to 65,000 pounds. That, of course makes him really think lowly of her, but she gets the money and she does as he asks and leaves. There ends chapter 1.

Most authors would drag out that bit for any number of chapters, but good ol' Sally Wentworth's not one of those authors.

Chapter 2 picks up when Purdey has graduated from college and is the first female junior executive at her company, a hotel conglomerate. She is being chatted up by a flirty executive when she feels her thumbs pricking, and soon enough, the villain reappears in her life. It's Jared, and he's there to make sure she's not out to extort money out of anyone else. He thinks badly of her and wants to know why she's at the hotel. By the next day, though, their chance meeting is revealed to be a worse blow for Purdey: Jared's one of the finance directors of her company, and she had to give a report the next day to the higher-ups.

Shenanigans ensue. Purdey tries hard to stay out of his way. Unlike other HP heroines, she seems to actually have a job and comes up with proposals and needs to follow through on them. Like most of Sally Wentworth's heroines, she's intelligent, spirited but not bad-tempered. She knows when she's beaten and doesn't keep hitting her head against a brick wall. And like most of SW's books, it's a well-done third-person limited and there are glimpses into the hero's state of mind - confusion and bewilderment. Sally Wentworth isn't one for long, drawn-out, purple sex scenes, thank goodness.

There was a good rejection punch-in-the-nose from Purdey to Jared, and then she turns the tables around and asks him to marry her when she felt like it. Good for you, awesome heroine you. Per SW MO, there's not a prolonged grovel scene: she's fast-paced even to the finish. As soon as the conflict's resolved, the book's finished. For me, a well-done book doesn't need excessive rehashing.
Profile Image for JillyB.
805 reviews72 followers
August 5, 2021
In all fairness, had I not just read two really fabulous stories that I rated 4 and 5, this might have gotten a 4 from me. However, it failed to capture what the other 2 books did for me so I rated it a 3. I am sure I will reread it someday, but I will make sure it doesn’t have such stiff competition.

Basically, when our h was 19 working at a roulette wheel, she was seeing a very wealthy young man(Alex) 21. For her it was friendship, for him it was love. (Unwanted affections happen to her a lot!) She jokingly said when he turns 25 if he still loves her they can marry then. He tells everyone they are engaged. Alex’s mother is troubled by this and calls on the uncle to assist.



He has already met the h and made his assumptions about her. He barges into her apartment. He kisses her and forces a response from her(of course she has never experienced something like this before) Then he offers to pay her off. Our h accepts a 35,000 pound pay out to refuse seeing the nephew ever again.


Yes readers it is true. Don’t fret though. She wants the money for a virtuous reason(no silicone for this h) and plans to pay it back some day. So she moves on with her life. Goes to college. Sends money to her mom and brother. Saves money for repayment. Then gets a great job working for company specializing in resorts etc. She is the first female executive. Of course she ends up crossing paths with the H. He still believes her to be a tarty mctartlet. (Until he realizes she is not!) Even after he discovers this, he still thinks she is just a really good player. Yet, he too was affected by their kiss 4 years earlier and this pisses him off!



It’s obvious to the reader he is possessive of her and easily jealous.

The story continues and we do get to see that the h and H have a lot in common. What is great about the h is she stays pretty strong throughout. She makes the hero work for the HEA and in the end she takes control.



For a better review of this book check out Stmargarets: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...?
book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Or Boogenhagen’s https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Or.

Vintage’s https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Profile Image for Debby.
1,389 reviews25 followers
July 5, 2022
She kissed his nephew, she kissed his colleague and then she kissed the H. It was a bit too much. A bit yuckie.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,949 reviews301 followers
January 19, 2022
Purdey was the heroine's name.
I coulnd't get past it.
Actually her name is Perdita and it was much better than Purdey.
The heroine is the hero's nephew's friend and the hero thinks she's a gold digger who wants to trap him.
She's a very young working girl who tries to make money to help her younger brother having surgery for his eyes.
She's not really interested in the hero's nephew, and even if he's infatuated she hasn't any intention to marry him.
The hero is a bully and have her fired from her job, then offers her money to disappear from his nephew's life.
She's furious but decides to accepts the money that would be useful for her brother's surgery.
She disappears.
Some year later she's a successful woman who works in hospitality and guess who's one of her new bosses? The hero.
She thinks he will fire her as soon as he sees her, but thank god there are other members of the board that thinks she's a valuable employer.
He sees her with another young rich man, and he thinks she's out for the kill.
Of course she's not, but the hero is prejudiced and he also wants revenge.
That really baffled me.
Revenge for what?
He offered her money, she accepted then disappeared as she was requested, so what is she guilty of?
They have to travel together and he basically seduces her, but even if he finds out she was still a virgin, he doesn't propose.
Then enter his nephew.
Who, after all these years still hasn't forgotten her and he proposes her. The hero of course arrives when he is proposing and, thinking she's still in love with om, he tells his nephew they had sex together.
The heroine doesn't care, she's tired of all those pitiful excuses of men she has around, and rejects both men.
The hero follows her to her house and seduces her once again.
The day after the heroine leaves and goes back to her parents' house.
She really moves on, she finds another job, she gives the hero his money back and she forget about the him.
After some months the hero is back again, he found out she sent him the money back and he knows why she needed his money.
He tries to win her back but thank god she refuses to take him back. Thank you sir, but no sir.
Of course in the end she has mercy on him and she accepts his proposal. Marriage proposal this time.
Nice reading, quite angsty and with a dumb hero who is prejudiced from the start and misunderstands all about the heroine, and a heroine who's not a pushover in the end, even if she suffers from the usual TBS.
I loved that she didn't capitulate immediately in the end.
Profile Image for DamsonDreamer.
636 reviews11 followers
June 21, 2023
Possibly a 3.5. Palate cleansing old school romance after something more modern. Certainly delivers on the batshit cruel H - Jared, uncle of the young swain panting after our lighthearted reluctant croupier Purdey as the story begins. She accepts his offer of money to leave the youngster alone (she had never intended to marry him in the first place!) because she and her mother are desperate and working their fingers to the bone to pay for an operation to cure her little brother's blindness. Obviously they have an instalust contemptuous then passionate kiss which both will remember forever and then she goes off to get a degree and forget all her bodily desires and become an executive and he goes back to the money making and presumably bedding anyone he fancies.
They meet up again when she's the new - and only female - executive in a hotel business he has a financial interest in. Jeez the overt sexism and woman as piece of meat that was the workplace in those days. Anyhow, although she's a tough cookie, stands up to him and gives as good as she gets, she naturally succumbs to his desperate desire to bed her (and fights to remain passive and unresponsive all through. I dunno. I figure if you've got to that point you might as well go all in?) It's fairly angsty, typically nuts but well paced and well written.
Profile Image for Tapa in lovezone.
549 reviews
February 2, 2020
H : Crazy Cruel Hero. He is mad for the h but doesn’t say it because he thinks she is a gold digger. Circumstances are also such that the h looks like one. But he is very rude to her. Even his lovemaking is rude. There was never sweetness from him to her. But he was physically attracted to her.

h : I don’t know why she didn’t say to the H why she took money from him before. Yes maybe he wouldn’t have believed her but still she could have lessened the overlong drama. Also I didn’t like her behavior with the OMs. She didn’t loved any of the other guys then why the hell did she spend time with them. Of course then it looked wrong.

OW : Thankfully none.

OM : Not just one but two. And I just want to tell that I love OM dramas. I love them. I actually enjoyed when the H used to catch the h with OMs. Lol. Every guy just loved the h.

OVERALL : Good angsty read. Lot of drama was stretching a bit too long. I just wanted both the idiots to confess their feelings but lot of unnecessary drama was there. I just didn’t understand why the h kept on taking the bullshit from the H. She even didn’t clear when he wrongly accused her. That was so not done.
But anyways overall it was good read if you are looking for angsty love hate drama.
Profile Image for Ezzo.
61 reviews
April 7, 2025
She was kissed by too many people from my taste.

I don’t know why most reviews hated the hero .. i mean what was he supposed to think , she was using his nephew and she accepted money to stop talking to him .
My problem with him was that his insults were recycled and it got boring.
Back to the h.. so she did not love alex - the nephew- did not want to be in relationship with him BUT she let him wait for her and drive her home every night and kiss her .. but that is okay you know she was keeping him at arm’s length 🙄.
Then comes simone .. she doesn’t want to date him and she is all into the hero .. but then she goes out with him and lets him kiss her , cause you know he insisted 🙄🙄
Then the hero , kisses her and has sex with her but that is okay cause she did not touch him, she orgasmed but kept her dignity by not touching him 🙄🙄🙄

Boring AF.. even the angst is Boring .
478 reviews4 followers
March 14, 2021
The writing was good. The H was awful in the beginning but I could understand why he thought the heroine was a men eater. She was stringing men along. She knew that Alex was pretty serious about her so it wasn’t OK to toy with him. He was young and immature but that doesn’t excuse her in my opinion. I know the author explains the circumstances but the fact remains that she took advantage of the situation. There was of course a noble cause so no one can blame her. She met H again in different circumstances. The book kept my interest. I usually don’t like OM in the plot. Here I had two. Then after all that happened with the H she started to date Alex again... I had enough of that drama.
442 reviews4 followers
May 17, 2023
Don't know how to rate this book. It goes from good to awful and back to good in mere seconds.

I love the fact that the h takes the money. Why shouldn't she? Her brother desperately needs the operation, some odious man is willing to pay her 35000 to stay away from his nephew and refuse to marry him. She has no plans of marrying and understands that sooner or later she has to leave her friend.

I love the fact that she goes back to college and gets to the top of the ladder with some ambitious plans.

I hate the fact that her professionalism and dedication practically flee when she meets the odious H again.
The H is puke-worthy.
Profile Image for Last Chance Saloon.
787 reviews14 followers
March 12, 2024
Another unpleasant hero. I just don't understand how Sally Wentworth can get it so right and then so wrong??
Details given in other reviews. It's not awful, and I liked how he grovelled at the end and she kept him waiting, but the heroine was wrong to take the money (whatever the reason) and should be more understanding of why he was so angry. At the same time, he more than coerces her, and I didn't believe they had much in common apart from lust.
Not a keeper.
Profile Image for Suzanne .
451 reviews3 followers
May 22, 2017
well he was truly a bastard ...but it was very good.
If the ending had been longer I would have given it 5 stars
228 reviews2 followers
Read
November 28, 2019
The story was ok but was written in an unattractive way.
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