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The Big Event #6
Marriage Make-up
Penny Jordan needs no introduction as arguably the most recognisable name writing for Mills & Boon. We have celebrated her wonderful writing with a special collection, many of which for the first time in eBook format and all available right now. Beneath the shadows of the past… Abbie Howard has never forgiven her husband for walking out on their marriage before their child was even born. But now, on the eve of her daughter’s wedding, she must find the courage to face Sam Howard once again. Sam knows that Abbie’s child can’t be his. But when a wedding invitation arrives curiosity drags him back to the wife he’s sworn he’ll never see again. And now, having met his ‘daughter’, doubts crack the icy-cold determination that has kept him away. When Abbie and Sam are face to face, the embers of their long-ago passion flare into life – but can Abbie ever overcome the hurts of the past to remake their marriage?
210 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1998
29 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Penny Jordan
1,127 books670 followersPenelope Jones Halsall
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 15, 2019
Re Marriage Make Up - Penny Jordan does the second book on the HP side of The Big Event series.
This one is difficult, PJ gets some extremely Real World emotions into this one and it makes for uncomfortable reading at times.
The premise on this is that the Rainbow Bright and unicorn petting h fell in love with a junior lecturer at uni when she was 20 and as naive as a baby hedgehog. The 26 year old H acted like he was mature, but in reality he was just as emotionally unstable as the h.
They had a whirlwind romance and the most momentous, rapturous unicorn banishing consummation in all of HPlandia, then they got married.
In true PJ style, the h and H were both appalled at the thought of children in less developed nations starving and declared that it was wrong to bring children into such a sad situation.
The H took the h's hypothesizing more literally than what she actually meant it. He was too besotted to realize that this h has domestic engineer and mother written all over her and thus he failed to tell her that while he was doing Peace Corp type projects in India, he had a vasectomy.
(Word to the HP H's here, when you are in HPlandia India and decide to get a vasectomy in a basic medical care free clinic, get a second opinion on the effectiveness once you have access to the GB NHP.)
Two months into the honeymoon of love and purple passion bliss, the h's job as an HP h is fulfilled and she announces her impending stork visit.
The H steps up to do his HP H job and promptly and EXTREMELY nastily denounces the h as a fake Madonna/tart who probably wasn't a virgin and jumped into bed with her old male friend as soon as his back was turned and he bought her the marital home.
The H calls her a tart, a gold digger and figures she is probably tarting it on the uni quad cause she is so eager to climb the tower of power so often. Our sweet little h is absolutely shocked, she has no idear who this Mr. Hyde person is and then the H drops his big bombshell, he had a vasectomy.
The h is still reeling the from the full page verbal tear down, but manages to question why on earth the H would rush her into marriage without revealing such a big personal issue. The H gets nastier in his attack and the h is crying and hurt and has no more self-protection than a kitten in Battle Toads.
As the H gets meaner, the h pulls herself together, packs her bags and walks out. She files for divorce, gets an order of protection to keep the H away and tells him to take his house and his cash and shove it.
Then she sets about learning to support herself and coddle her darling child in a world of love. Twenty two years later, the daughter is getting married and our h is doing well financially, but the ungrateful gold digger daughter wants a big wedding and her devoted, pedantic, smug prig fiance is all about finding the man and bringing him back into everybody's lives.
So the H returns and the spoilt cow of a daughter, who knows quite well that the h doesn't like her ex husband, gives him the keys to her mother's house - so the h can be bullied into accepting a man who abdicated responsibility for 22 years because he will buy the newlyweds a house and pay for a high society wedding.
(The h has her own staffing service, but the daughter's fiance's family is very traditional and pretty wealthy. The fiance's family looks down on the h for being a business owner and a single mother and the mother of the groom is the managing meddling type.
The daughter is desperate to be accepted into the fiance's family, so she starts to disparage the h and all of her hard work and the h gets the blame for refusing to let her daughter 'fly the nest' and become an adult.
Which was mushroom fertilizer, because the h wanted the h to finish her education so the girl would be able to support herself, but she made no objection to the snotty couple moving in together and this brat child had no regard for her mother as anything but a servant to cater to her needs.
What the daughter really wants her new found dad for is his money. He can buy the house and pay for the fancy wedding the groom's mother is insisting they have. I felt for the h on this, because the way the H denounced the h was plain abusive and this h read her Maya Angelou, when the H showed her who he really was, she believed him the first time and got out.)
As the H ambushes the h in her own home, the treacherous body syndrome starts to kick in, tho the h fights it off as best she can. The h's misery is deepened, as of course the h is soon rejected by the daughter, the groom and the groom's family.
(The H is treated as the best thing since sliced bread because twenty two years earlier, his motilators hit the target and he finally got around to coming back. He is even invited to parties by the groom's family that the h is not welcome at.
The H claims he felt too unworthy to return sooner and talk to the h about what went wrong and to be fair, the h refused to talk to him at all before the divorce. But in all honesty, the H's long term absence was really suspect and the way he threw money around to buy his daughter's affection felt pretty manipulative.)
The h does her have her own bad behavior, she is one of PJ's sensitive neurotic h's. But the h still has the treacherous body syndrome for the H and the roofie kisses soon lead to more boudoir events. Which the brat daughter decides to bust in on and then the H and h are forced to pretend they are reuniting because the little brat spread the news ALL around the town.
There is a big meeting between the families while looking a the newlyweds new house, where PJ piles on the h punishment by having both the groom's mother and the h's daughter treat the h like she is the lowest kind of tart for not wearing a bra under her jacket and then they fawn all over the H because he implies that he and the h are remarrying.
We get more of the bratty daughter taking another turn at throwing a tantrum that the h might have another focus in her life besides catering to the kid's whims and the H has to step up and play at the stern father, telling his bratty kid off.
This leads to the mother/daughter reconciliation scene and the H uses his fatherly discipline moment to make a big speech about being sorry for his actions in the past and how his great love for the h means he trusts her to do no wrong.
The h is shocked by the depth of the H's sincerity and the reader may be a bit gobsmacked too, because the H makes this speech to the daughter, avoiding eye contact with the h.
Now that the h has reestablished harmony with her kid, the H and h take a moment to re-make their true love vows.
The two of them remarry and PJ even throws in a little mother of the groom reconciliation with the h, (the other mother was intimidated by the h's business prowess and confidence.) We leave the H and h attending the brat child's wedding and every one is happy at last for another pink sparkly HPlandia PJ HEA.
This one irks me a bit, cause while the h definitely had some really neurotic moments, I was on her side of the equation. The H was just a wuss and a bit of a slime slurper, tho I tolerated him because it was strongly implied that he too had been celibate for twenty two years and carrying a torch for the equally celibate h.
It was the daughter and the mother of the groom that totally irked me on this and I wasn't a big fan of the priggish groom to be either. The h was wrong to try and stop the adult daughter from meeting the H, but I am backing her to the hilt on refusing to have anything to do with him in the first part of her daughter's life.
I do not care HOW sorry someone is for what they said in the heat of passion, this H went beyond having a ranty moment, he was abusive and it was such a massive turn around from his prior behavior that it was a huge red flag.
Plus there is the whole twenty two year thing going on and that was just too long when you claim you want to be a father. He was listed on the birth certificate, so he had legal rights and even once a month or once a year would have showed a little initiative on his part.
Also, the intensity of the h's inner reactions to the H may lead an HP voyager to believe that the h tried to make her daughter hate her father. I did not get that vibe, the h made no secret of her pain to her friends, but I think she tried very hard to hide it from her child.
The h mainly wanted to protect her daughter from the damage of being rejected by her father, so the h was careful to explain the situation as best as she could, but I really don't think she had terrible ranty moments about it - the daughter was too eager to find her father and all too eager to dip into his cash reserve.
This book ranks a five on the epic trainwreck emo drama scale and a two on the actual reconciliation romance part. Because we do get some really great romance when the H and h initially meet in the first two chapters, I give this one a three - which is about average for a PJ angstfest, emotional almost real word HP drama.
This one is difficult, PJ gets some extremely Real World emotions into this one and it makes for uncomfortable reading at times.
The premise on this is that the Rainbow Bright and unicorn petting h fell in love with a junior lecturer at uni when she was 20 and as naive as a baby hedgehog. The 26 year old H acted like he was mature, but in reality he was just as emotionally unstable as the h.
They had a whirlwind romance and the most momentous, rapturous unicorn banishing consummation in all of HPlandia, then they got married.
In true PJ style, the h and H were both appalled at the thought of children in less developed nations starving and declared that it was wrong to bring children into such a sad situation.
The H took the h's hypothesizing more literally than what she actually meant it. He was too besotted to realize that this h has domestic engineer and mother written all over her and thus he failed to tell her that while he was doing Peace Corp type projects in India, he had a vasectomy.
(Word to the HP H's here, when you are in HPlandia India and decide to get a vasectomy in a basic medical care free clinic, get a second opinion on the effectiveness once you have access to the GB NHP.)
Two months into the honeymoon of love and purple passion bliss, the h's job as an HP h is fulfilled and she announces her impending stork visit.
The H steps up to do his HP H job and promptly and EXTREMELY nastily denounces the h as a fake Madonna/tart who probably wasn't a virgin and jumped into bed with her old male friend as soon as his back was turned and he bought her the marital home.
The H calls her a tart, a gold digger and figures she is probably tarting it on the uni quad cause she is so eager to climb the tower of power so often. Our sweet little h is absolutely shocked, she has no idear who this Mr. Hyde person is and then the H drops his big bombshell, he had a vasectomy.
The h is still reeling the from the full page verbal tear down, but manages to question why on earth the H would rush her into marriage without revealing such a big personal issue. The H gets nastier in his attack and the h is crying and hurt and has no more self-protection than a kitten in Battle Toads.
As the H gets meaner, the h pulls herself together, packs her bags and walks out. She files for divorce, gets an order of protection to keep the H away and tells him to take his house and his cash and shove it.
Then she sets about learning to support herself and coddle her darling child in a world of love. Twenty two years later, the daughter is getting married and our h is doing well financially, but the ungrateful gold digger daughter wants a big wedding and her devoted, pedantic, smug prig fiance is all about finding the man and bringing him back into everybody's lives.
So the H returns and the spoilt cow of a daughter, who knows quite well that the h doesn't like her ex husband, gives him the keys to her mother's house - so the h can be bullied into accepting a man who abdicated responsibility for 22 years because he will buy the newlyweds a house and pay for a high society wedding.
(The h has her own staffing service, but the daughter's fiance's family is very traditional and pretty wealthy. The fiance's family looks down on the h for being a business owner and a single mother and the mother of the groom is the managing meddling type.
The daughter is desperate to be accepted into the fiance's family, so she starts to disparage the h and all of her hard work and the h gets the blame for refusing to let her daughter 'fly the nest' and become an adult.
Which was mushroom fertilizer, because the h wanted the h to finish her education so the girl would be able to support herself, but she made no objection to the snotty couple moving in together and this brat child had no regard for her mother as anything but a servant to cater to her needs.
What the daughter really wants her new found dad for is his money. He can buy the house and pay for the fancy wedding the groom's mother is insisting they have. I felt for the h on this, because the way the H denounced the h was plain abusive and this h read her Maya Angelou, when the H showed her who he really was, she believed him the first time and got out.)
As the H ambushes the h in her own home, the treacherous body syndrome starts to kick in, tho the h fights it off as best she can. The h's misery is deepened, as of course the h is soon rejected by the daughter, the groom and the groom's family.
(The H is treated as the best thing since sliced bread because twenty two years earlier, his motilators hit the target and he finally got around to coming back. He is even invited to parties by the groom's family that the h is not welcome at.
The H claims he felt too unworthy to return sooner and talk to the h about what went wrong and to be fair, the h refused to talk to him at all before the divorce. But in all honesty, the H's long term absence was really suspect and the way he threw money around to buy his daughter's affection felt pretty manipulative.)
The h does her have her own bad behavior, she is one of PJ's sensitive neurotic h's. But the h still has the treacherous body syndrome for the H and the roofie kisses soon lead to more boudoir events. Which the brat daughter decides to bust in on and then the H and h are forced to pretend they are reuniting because the little brat spread the news ALL around the town.
There is a big meeting between the families while looking a the newlyweds new house, where PJ piles on the h punishment by having both the groom's mother and the h's daughter treat the h like she is the lowest kind of tart for not wearing a bra under her jacket and then they fawn all over the H because he implies that he and the h are remarrying.
We get more of the bratty daughter taking another turn at throwing a tantrum that the h might have another focus in her life besides catering to the kid's whims and the H has to step up and play at the stern father, telling his bratty kid off.
This leads to the mother/daughter reconciliation scene and the H uses his fatherly discipline moment to make a big speech about being sorry for his actions in the past and how his great love for the h means he trusts her to do no wrong.
The h is shocked by the depth of the H's sincerity and the reader may be a bit gobsmacked too, because the H makes this speech to the daughter, avoiding eye contact with the h.
Now that the h has reestablished harmony with her kid, the H and h take a moment to re-make their true love vows.
The two of them remarry and PJ even throws in a little mother of the groom reconciliation with the h, (the other mother was intimidated by the h's business prowess and confidence.) We leave the H and h attending the brat child's wedding and every one is happy at last for another pink sparkly HPlandia PJ HEA.
This one irks me a bit, cause while the h definitely had some really neurotic moments, I was on her side of the equation. The H was just a wuss and a bit of a slime slurper, tho I tolerated him because it was strongly implied that he too had been celibate for twenty two years and carrying a torch for the equally celibate h.
It was the daughter and the mother of the groom that totally irked me on this and I wasn't a big fan of the priggish groom to be either. The h was wrong to try and stop the adult daughter from meeting the H, but I am backing her to the hilt on refusing to have anything to do with him in the first part of her daughter's life.
I do not care HOW sorry someone is for what they said in the heat of passion, this H went beyond having a ranty moment, he was abusive and it was such a massive turn around from his prior behavior that it was a huge red flag.
Plus there is the whole twenty two year thing going on and that was just too long when you claim you want to be a father. He was listed on the birth certificate, so he had legal rights and even once a month or once a year would have showed a little initiative on his part.
Also, the intensity of the h's inner reactions to the H may lead an HP voyager to believe that the h tried to make her daughter hate her father. I did not get that vibe, the h made no secret of her pain to her friends, but I think she tried very hard to hide it from her child.
The h mainly wanted to protect her daughter from the damage of being rejected by her father, so the h was careful to explain the situation as best as she could, but I really don't think she had terrible ranty moments about it - the daughter was too eager to find her father and all too eager to dip into his cash reserve.
This book ranks a five on the epic trainwreck emo drama scale and a two on the actual reconciliation romance part. Because we do get some really great romance when the H and h initially meet in the first two chapters, I give this one a three - which is about average for a PJ angstfest, emotional almost real word HP drama.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2019
I enjoyed this because PJ brings all the icky angsty feels of the heroine, but she never really sold me on the romance, tbh.
H/h met when h was 20 and hero was 26. She thought he was a fellow university student. Turns out he has a Phd from Harvard (rolls eyes) and is a lecturer. They have whirlwind romance and marry after 3 months. They are married for two months when the heroine announces her pregnancy.
That’s when the hero announces his vasectomy and thinks the heroine must be sleeping around. Heroine is beyond hurt and angry and leaves him on the spot.
Fast forward 22 years. Heroine’s daughter is getting married and the daughter’s fiancé thought it would be a good idea to seek out the estranged father who has been hiding in Australia all of this time. Turns out the heroine’s bedtime stories of a rejecting father didn’t deter the daughter from wanting to meet him.
So H is back and wanting to make up. There is a lot of pressure for the H/h to reconcile before the wedding so everyone can be happy.
Now that kind of pressure cooker makes for great angst – but also adds to implausibility of an HEA, imo.
Instead of a plot overview (Boogenhagen has all the spoilers) I’ll do a relationship analysis to sum up my thoughts:
Mother/Daughter relationship:
Heroine
Bitter control freak single mom objected to her daughter’s wedding before the hero ever showed up. She is afraid her daughter will have her heart broken like she did. She very protective and heroic in her efforts to give her daughter everything – but she’s toxic in such large concentrations.
Daughter
Has to throw tantrums for the heroine to really listen to her. She has been the heroine’s focus her whole life and is now trying to break free. She doesn’t know how to do this and she takes her cues from her mama’s boy fiancé.
Reviewer: This mother/daughter dynamic is the best part of the story. Children will drive a stake through your heart at times. It’s part of parenthood. But you have to accept that separation is part of growing up and the daughter must do this if she is going to be her own person. The two are so enmeshed, that it is inevitable they will hurt each other as they go through the separation process. Daughter could have been less bratty. Heroine could have been more gracious – but that’s asking a lot of these characters.
H/h relationship:
Heroine
Has been hanging on to her anger for 22 years. That’s been her fuel to become independent and live her life. But the tank is getting low now that her daughter is leaving home. Her focus is gone. She is angry and afraid of being vulnerable again.
Hero
He’s an idiot and there’s no way to dress him up as an alpha male for not returning to his family when he knew the truth. In the story he is the safety valve and bridge between the daughter and the heroine. He has no other personality outside of heroine worship during sex scenes and in flashbacks.
Reviewer:
These two had nothing in common and had spent very little time together in the past and even in the present – as they spend a few days together before they are in bed. Sex seems to be the only glue holding them together. Hero asks forgiveness several times and seems ready to step up for his beating. By the end of the story he has stepped into the daughter’s shoes of being the heroine’s intense focus. They were both ridiculous and I can understand why everyone else on the planet left them alone to be celibate for 22 years.
In-laws – Fiancé and his family vs. heroine
Heroine
Is rightly concerned about the fiance’s influence on her daughter, his family’s materialism and need to present a conventional facade. She doesn’t deserve their criticism for flirting or not wearing a bra or not having a husband so the names on the wedding invitation will balance.
In-laws
Have nothing to recommend them – nothing – they are awful characters.
Reviewer
Hero saved the day for the heroine. She would have lost her daughter to these vultures (at least for a few years until the scales fell from her eyes). I say this because the daughter was looking for allies to help her break away from her mother and she found them in the highly critical mother-in-law and fiancé. The heroine was trying to be gracious, but the daughter couldn’t see it. She’s so used to being enmeshed with someone that she jumped from heroine to new family. With the father back in the picture, the daughter can safely step away from her mother without guilt and knowing her mother will now let her go.
The heroine was such a formidable character that her bitterness spurred all kinds of bad behavior from the other characters. It was fascinating to read but it didn’t help me like any of them.
So if you’re interested in mother dynamics, you might like this one. (Or it might trigger you hard). Don’t bother reading for the romance, it’s a snoozer.
H/h met when h was 20 and hero was 26. She thought he was a fellow university student. Turns out he has a Phd from Harvard (rolls eyes) and is a lecturer. They have whirlwind romance and marry after 3 months. They are married for two months when the heroine announces her pregnancy.
That’s when the hero announces his vasectomy and thinks the heroine must be sleeping around. Heroine is beyond hurt and angry and leaves him on the spot.
Fast forward 22 years. Heroine’s daughter is getting married and the daughter’s fiancé thought it would be a good idea to seek out the estranged father who has been hiding in Australia all of this time. Turns out the heroine’s bedtime stories of a rejecting father didn’t deter the daughter from wanting to meet him.
So H is back and wanting to make up. There is a lot of pressure for the H/h to reconcile before the wedding so everyone can be happy.
Now that kind of pressure cooker makes for great angst – but also adds to implausibility of an HEA, imo.
Instead of a plot overview (Boogenhagen has all the spoilers) I’ll do a relationship analysis to sum up my thoughts:
Mother/Daughter relationship:
Heroine
Bitter control freak single mom objected to her daughter’s wedding before the hero ever showed up. She is afraid her daughter will have her heart broken like she did. She very protective and heroic in her efforts to give her daughter everything – but she’s toxic in such large concentrations.
Daughter
Has to throw tantrums for the heroine to really listen to her. She has been the heroine’s focus her whole life and is now trying to break free. She doesn’t know how to do this and she takes her cues from her mama’s boy fiancé.
Reviewer: This mother/daughter dynamic is the best part of the story. Children will drive a stake through your heart at times. It’s part of parenthood. But you have to accept that separation is part of growing up and the daughter must do this if she is going to be her own person. The two are so enmeshed, that it is inevitable they will hurt each other as they go through the separation process. Daughter could have been less bratty. Heroine could have been more gracious – but that’s asking a lot of these characters.
H/h relationship:
Heroine
Has been hanging on to her anger for 22 years. That’s been her fuel to become independent and live her life. But the tank is getting low now that her daughter is leaving home. Her focus is gone. She is angry and afraid of being vulnerable again.
Hero
He’s an idiot and there’s no way to dress him up as an alpha male for not returning to his family when he knew the truth. In the story he is the safety valve and bridge between the daughter and the heroine. He has no other personality outside of heroine worship during sex scenes and in flashbacks.
Reviewer:
These two had nothing in common and had spent very little time together in the past and even in the present – as they spend a few days together before they are in bed. Sex seems to be the only glue holding them together. Hero asks forgiveness several times and seems ready to step up for his beating. By the end of the story he has stepped into the daughter’s shoes of being the heroine’s intense focus. They were both ridiculous and I can understand why everyone else on the planet left them alone to be celibate for 22 years.
In-laws – Fiancé and his family vs. heroine
Heroine
Is rightly concerned about the fiance’s influence on her daughter, his family’s materialism and need to present a conventional facade. She doesn’t deserve their criticism for flirting or not wearing a bra or not having a husband so the names on the wedding invitation will balance.
In-laws
Have nothing to recommend them – nothing – they are awful characters.
Reviewer
Hero saved the day for the heroine. She would have lost her daughter to these vultures (at least for a few years until the scales fell from her eyes). I say this because the daughter was looking for allies to help her break away from her mother and she found them in the highly critical mother-in-law and fiancé. The heroine was trying to be gracious, but the daughter couldn’t see it. She’s so used to being enmeshed with someone that she jumped from heroine to new family. With the father back in the picture, the daughter can safely step away from her mother without guilt and knowing her mother will now let her go.
The heroine was such a formidable character that her bitterness spurred all kinds of bad behavior from the other characters. It was fascinating to read but it didn’t help me like any of them.
So if you’re interested in mother dynamics, you might like this one. (Or it might trigger you hard). Don’t bother reading for the romance, it’s a snoozer.
June 3, 2017
This seems to be Penny Jordan's cautionary tale to lovers to communicate. Sam, the "hero", is a weak-spined character who inadvertently destroys his marriage by withholding crucial information about himself from his new wife, Abbie. That bad decision then leads him to a false conclusion about her, and they divorce. Soon after that Sam realizes he's made a mistake, but for his own reasons is reluctant to restore his broken relationship with Abbie.
Abbie is still bitter and hurt when Sam finally returns attempting to reconcile with her—22 years later AND only after being prodded to do so! I thought Sam's explanation for not returning sooner was super lame. He really gave up too easily when he should have fought harder for his relationship with Abbie. But then there'd be no story if Sam had made all the right decisions at the right time.
Sam does end up apologizing to Abbie for not believing and trusting in her all those years ago. Abbie forgives Sam and takes him back. In real life, I don't think Sam would be able to win Abbie back as smoothly as he did. The story works if one can suspend their disbelief (and anger at Sam). I ended up rating this 3 stars because I was oddly entertained by the WTF wackiness of it all.
Abbie is still bitter and hurt when Sam finally returns attempting to reconcile with her—22 years later AND only after being prodded to do so! I thought Sam's explanation for not returning sooner was super lame. He really gave up too easily when he should have fought harder for his relationship with Abbie. But then there'd be no story if Sam had made all the right decisions at the right time.
Sam does end up apologizing to Abbie for not believing and trusting in her all those years ago. Abbie forgives Sam and takes him back. In real life, I don't think Sam would be able to win Abbie back as smoothly as he did. The story works if one can suspend their disbelief (and anger at Sam). I ended up rating this 3 stars because I was oddly entertained by the WTF wackiness of it all.
November 10, 2016
A hot mess. Drink while reading.
February 1, 2015
I'm giving this one 2 and a half stars..
Basic plot - H/h meet, fall in love and get married. h discovers she's pregnant but H doesn't believe it's his. They divorce and the story picks up 23 years later when their daughter is getting married and wants to meet her father.
Why only 2 1/2 stars? The characters. The H/h were both really flawed and I found it difficult to like them.
The h is a very bitter mistrustful woman. She totally cut all contact with the H after the "big fight" and even refused to accept any alimony, even if that meant working 3 jobs and leaving her baby all day with sitters. She also was brutally "honest" with her daughter about why her father isn't in her life. I don't really care how "mature" someone is, having their mom tell them their dad never wanted them is not something anyone should hear.
The H, is not much of a Hero. Hes pitiful. After "the big fight' he tries to contact the h only a few times through other people, but quickly gives up and flees the country. At some point he realizes the baby is in fact his child, but he never grows enough of a backbone to face his mistakes and the h anger. Instead he waits in a different country pining for his family and hoping at some point one of them will contact him. O.o I like alpha ,take charge heros but this guy wasn't even a beta, he reminds me more of a kicked puppy, on his belly the whole story waiting for the h to pay him some attention.
So bitter h and cowardly H who allow their own pain/anger to rob their child of a parent and leave a big gaping painful wound for her that she only heals when the man she loves steps up to help her, just aren't likeable characters to me.
Basic plot - H/h meet, fall in love and get married. h discovers she's pregnant but H doesn't believe it's his. They divorce and the story picks up 23 years later when their daughter is getting married and wants to meet her father.
Why only 2 1/2 stars? The characters. The H/h were both really flawed and I found it difficult to like them.
The h is a very bitter mistrustful woman. She totally cut all contact with the H after the "big fight" and even refused to accept any alimony, even if that meant working 3 jobs and leaving her baby all day with sitters. She also was brutally "honest" with her daughter about why her father isn't in her life. I don't really care how "mature" someone is, having their mom tell them their dad never wanted them is not something anyone should hear.
The H, is not much of a Hero. Hes pitiful. After "the big fight' he tries to contact the h only a few times through other people, but quickly gives up and flees the country. At some point he realizes the baby is in fact his child, but he never grows enough of a backbone to face his mistakes and the h anger. Instead he waits in a different country pining for his family and hoping at some point one of them will contact him. O.o I like alpha ,take charge heros but this guy wasn't even a beta, he reminds me more of a kicked puppy, on his belly the whole story waiting for the h to pay him some attention.
So bitter h and cowardly H who allow their own pain/anger to rob their child of a parent and leave a big gaping painful wound for her that she only heals when the man she loves steps up to help her, just aren't likeable characters to me.
July 24, 2012
Grade: FFFFFFFF
Yuuuuck!! How could Penny Jordan EVER write this junk???? How old was she when she did? Seven? Hideousness, pure hideousness!
Yuuuuck!! How could Penny Jordan EVER write this junk???? How old was she when she did? Seven? Hideousness, pure hideousness!
May 20, 2021
2 ⭐⭐ - Meh!
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She was celibate for more than 20 years! Zero arrived and her libido woke up and Zeroine has already spread her legs for him. The daughter accepted the return of the fleeing father without question and treated him as a prodigal son. I was pissed off!
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She was celibate for more than 20 years! Zero arrived and her libido woke up and Zeroine has already spread her legs for him. The daughter accepted the return of the fleeing father without question and treated him as a prodigal son. I was pissed off!
He had told her he loved her, that he would always love her, that he would never hurt her, but he had lied to her and she had believed him.
You might have fancied passing yourself off to me and the rest of the world as an innocent young madonna, but what you actually are is little better than a whore, passing off her bastard child on someone else—or, rather, trying to. Unfortunately for you it’s just not going to work.
‘It isn’t just our child’s right to your love and protection as its father that you’ve just destroyed, Sam, it’s everything else as well. My trust…my faith…my love… But do you know what hurts me most of all?’ she asked him, her eyes glittering with the tears she was too proud to allow to fall. ‘What hurts me most isn’t the cruel things you’ve said about me…the lies… What hurts me most is that you’ve never even stopped to ask yourself if you could be wrong…if you could have made a mistake…if there could be some way—’
October 21, 2021
They haven’t seen each other for 22 (!!) years. The h is 43 years old now. The h and H meet again because their daughter is getting married. He thought she was pregnant by another man, that’s why they broke up 22 years ago. She was a virgin when they met.
But 22 years separated! That’s way too long. What a waste of time. That’s why it’s 4 stars and not 5 stars. Because such a ridiculous long separation takes away from the romance. What was PJ thinking writing about a 22 year separation. Such a shame for this great classic HP.
Anyway, he is very passionate and the steamy scenes are hot, hot, hot.
But 22 years separated! That’s way too long. What a waste of time. That’s why it’s 4 stars and not 5 stars. Because such a ridiculous long separation takes away from the romance. What was PJ thinking writing about a 22 year separation. Such a shame for this great classic HP.
Anyway, he is very passionate and the steamy scenes are hot, hot, hot.
June 4, 2022
This was a solid 3 star for me. I would have liked it to have been higher, but the 22+ years of separation bothered me as well as the daughter and her future in-laws! I will say that PJ knows how to put in the emotional angst with a good dose of passion between her characters. Boogenhagen gives a complete overview of the story here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And I loved Stmargarets review on the relationships between the characters here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There are other reviews that go into the plot and some of my comments will better understood after reading the story.
So here I go:
The good news: it sounds as both of our lovers have been celibate during their 22+ year separation which makes for some very explosive love scenes when they get back together. Like several pages and without the graphic descriptions of male/female genitalia.
The bad news: They were separated for 22+ years. She is now 43 and he is 49. Now, I understand why she wasn’t eager to reach out to him, but seriously once he came down off his high horse and realized he was wrong he should have gone after his supposed love of his live and child. Instead he sentenced himself to self purgatory. When he first accused the h of all sorts of deeds 22 years ago I think she stated it best when she said: “What hurts me most is that you’ve never even stopped to ask yourself if you could be wrong...if you could have made a mistake. ..if there could be some way—’” More than half of the HP’s out there wouldn’t make it to print if the characters would stop and run that little nugget through their brains.
The Good news: The h stood on her own two feet with minimal help from others, worked jobs, and became very successful all while raising a daughter.
The bad news: We are led to believe that the daughter turned out to be a confident young lady due to her mom’s upbringing and she probably is. Unfortunately, she comes off as a spoiled brat. I get she wants to know her dad, but seriously she accepted her dad without any qualms whatsoever. Between her, her fiancé, and her future in-laws, they made the h feel like she was some sort of pariah. Oh at the end of the book the overwrought daughter gets a taken down by her dad and ends up expressing her feelings to her mom. The mom/daughter relationship is saved. In addition to this the overbearing future MIL and the h start to get along as well.
So, I do believe that the h and H will have an HEA. I am not confident the daughter will be as lucky. I am sure her fiancé Stuart loves her, but he seems a little bit tied to his mom’s apron strings. It really would be best if they found a house farther away. Not much is mentioned of the future FIL, but you can bet he is one of those: “Yes, Dear” Types. No I don’t care how PJ tried to spin the MIL at the end, she is going to stick her nose in her son’s life and it will strain his marriage to the h’s daughter.
Maybe with any luck the h’s 43 year old eggs and the H’s botched vasectomy will result in another miracle child. On the other hand, the H wanted to be a writer. Maybe instead he and the h will travel to exotic places working off their sexual drought so they won’t be easily available every time their daughter has an issue.
Cuteness: One scene I thought was cute in the book was when the h was convinced not to wear a bra by the H. It was another well done sexy scene and the h was rather shy and turned on about the whole thing. They end up meeting up with the in-laws to look at their children’s future house, and you can bet that George the future fil was very happy when he offered to take off the h’s jacket. Of course this didn’t endear her with the future MIL! 😂
And I loved Stmargarets review on the relationships between the characters here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There are other reviews that go into the plot and some of my comments will better understood after reading the story.
So here I go:
The good news: it sounds as both of our lovers have been celibate during their 22+ year separation which makes for some very explosive love scenes when they get back together. Like several pages and without the graphic descriptions of male/female genitalia.
The bad news: They were separated for 22+ years. She is now 43 and he is 49. Now, I understand why she wasn’t eager to reach out to him, but seriously once he came down off his high horse and realized he was wrong he should have gone after his supposed love of his live and child. Instead he sentenced himself to self purgatory. When he first accused the h of all sorts of deeds 22 years ago I think she stated it best when she said: “What hurts me most is that you’ve never even stopped to ask yourself if you could be wrong...if you could have made a mistake. ..if there could be some way—’” More than half of the HP’s out there wouldn’t make it to print if the characters would stop and run that little nugget through their brains.
The Good news: The h stood on her own two feet with minimal help from others, worked jobs, and became very successful all while raising a daughter.
The bad news: We are led to believe that the daughter turned out to be a confident young lady due to her mom’s upbringing and she probably is. Unfortunately, she comes off as a spoiled brat. I get she wants to know her dad, but seriously she accepted her dad without any qualms whatsoever. Between her, her fiancé, and her future in-laws, they made the h feel like she was some sort of pariah. Oh at the end of the book the overwrought daughter gets a taken down by her dad and ends up expressing her feelings to her mom. The mom/daughter relationship is saved. In addition to this the overbearing future MIL and the h start to get along as well.
So, I do believe that the h and H will have an HEA. I am not confident the daughter will be as lucky. I am sure her fiancé Stuart loves her, but he seems a little bit tied to his mom’s apron strings. It really would be best if they found a house farther away. Not much is mentioned of the future FIL, but you can bet he is one of those: “Yes, Dear” Types. No I don’t care how PJ tried to spin the MIL at the end, she is going to stick her nose in her son’s life and it will strain his marriage to the h’s daughter.
Maybe with any luck the h’s 43 year old eggs and the H’s botched vasectomy will result in another miracle child. On the other hand, the H wanted to be a writer. Maybe instead he and the h will travel to exotic places working off their sexual drought so they won’t be easily available every time their daughter has an issue.
Cuteness: One scene I thought was cute in the book was when the h was convinced not to wear a bra by the H. It was another well done sexy scene and the h was rather shy and turned on about the whole thing. They end up meeting up with the in-laws to look at their children’s future house, and you can bet that George the future fil was very happy when he offered to take off the h’s jacket. Of course this didn’t endear her with the future MIL! 😂
August 7, 2022
This story was just lame.
After a second look at it my opinion hasn't changed. Should've just checked my opinion for the first and not tried reading it again.
After a second look at it my opinion hasn't changed. Should've just checked my opinion for the first and not tried reading it again.
June 3, 2020
It was alright if a little bit unbelievable - that a couple broken up would rejoin twenty years later, and more astoundingly, had not moved on at all in the time. Twenty years spent moping over each other in lonely beds? No wonder when they finally met again they couldn't keep their hands off each other.
June 23, 2021
It’s very difficult for me to give a book one star.
I would have probably given it two stars but I reduced one star for the negative portrayal of India.
This is the impression that the author gives us about India -
1) India is filled with poor, hungry and malnourished children.
2) Any medical treatment / surgery done in India is doomed to be a failure.
*Me gnashing my teeth here*
I would have probably given it two stars but I reduced one star for the negative portrayal of India.
This is the impression that the author gives us about India -
1) India is filled with poor, hungry and malnourished children.
2) Any medical treatment / surgery done in India is doomed to be a failure.
*Me gnashing my teeth here*
June 28, 2018
So many unanswered questions. Loved the main characters being over 40. It was a nice change from Tall, Gorgeously Handsome, very very Rich, arrogant and pushy males. Sam was tall, dark, handsome and still in love with his wife even though they had been divorced for over 20 years. The daughter was just a spoiled brat - how dare she treat and speak to her mother like that. The ex-husband I could understand. He wanted to sort things out from the start but how could he when she wouldn't have anything to do with him. Of course he assumed that she had had a affair when he had had a vasectomy. She was very young and very hurt. The, soon to be, son in law was disrespectful towards his future mother in law. Yes, what he did was for love but he should have considered the fact that her mother had done what she had done and he didn't know all the facts.
July 25, 2019
A lazy Sunday afternoon read...just enjoy it
A book to read when you want to relax on a lazy holiday break.
Loved Abbie ,should have been more thoughts from Sam.
A book to read when you want to relax on a lazy holiday break.
Loved Abbie ,should have been more thoughts from Sam.
November 26, 2024
I read this because the MCs were both over 40 and I think that's great and unfortunately very rare for a romance. But ...
Ugh. He marries her without telling her he's had a vasectomy then when she gets pregnant he tells her it can't possibly be his child and calls her a whore. Funnily enough she leaves him. Makes a couple of half-hearted attempts to see her and then clears off to Australia. 22 years later he turns up just when when their daughter is getting married as over the years he has accepted that she is his child but did nothing about it.
Was the heroine intractable yes but I can't say I blame her. Her daughter behaves like a nitwit and cannot seem to understand why her mother is so upset and angry, especially when the stupid girl gives him the keys to her mother's house and rambles on and on about how wonderful Daddy is, and how well he gets on with her fiance and how they're including him in lots of things she isn't invited to. The daughter behaves in rather childish and judgmental manner and even says at one point that she thinks her father might have had reason to doubt his wife wife's fidelity! I wasn't that keen on the hero but the daughter was far worse.
I skim read this book and it's just as well. I absolutely hated it.
Ugh. He marries her without telling her he's had a vasectomy then when she gets pregnant he tells her it can't possibly be his child and calls her a whore. Funnily enough she leaves him. Makes a couple of half-hearted attempts to see her and then clears off to Australia. 22 years later he turns up just when when their daughter is getting married as over the years he has accepted that she is his child but did nothing about it.
Was the heroine intractable yes but I can't say I blame her. Her daughter behaves like a nitwit and cannot seem to understand why her mother is so upset and angry, especially when the stupid girl gives him the keys to her mother's house and rambles on and on about how wonderful Daddy is, and how well he gets on with her fiance and how they're including him in lots of things she isn't invited to. The daughter behaves in rather childish and judgmental manner and even says at one point that she thinks her father might have had reason to doubt his wife wife's fidelity! I wasn't that keen on the hero but the daughter was far worse.
I skim read this book and it's just as well. I absolutely hated it.
November 2, 2023
Another book where the heroine is fine and almost everyone is trash! Loved how the heroine handled her betrayal, ✌🏻 “never speak to me again!”. And everyone afterwards tries to make her feel bad about protecting herself and her child. Hate the daughter’s fiancé, fiancé’s family, and the daughter by the end! Just being mean! “Wow you are a hoe mom! Guess dad was right thinking I wasn’t his!” ANNNND goodbye, good luck with your crap husband and in-laws! You are on your own you brat! But the hero if he DID feel bad, why didn’t he make an effort to be a FATHER?! Oh right he sucked and showed up after his kid is grown. Ugh I say skip, cause you’ll hate that the heroine is stuck with these losers forever.
February 22, 2020
Is that the book:
Why have you come here ?Abbie demanded.
I came here because I learned that someone from England was making inquiries about me ,Sam told her promptly, " and ask for what I want ,I don't think it would be very good idea if I answer that question right now. You aren't in the mood to hear what I have to say".
I'll never be in the right mood to listen to anything you have to say other than 'goodbye ', Abbie told him bitterly . And I've already heard you say that.
No, Abbie, you haven't, he corrected her. "You were the one who said goodbye to me.
Abbie stared at him.
Because you'd accused me of trying to pass another man child off as yours....
Why have you come here ?Abbie demanded.
I came here because I learned that someone from England was making inquiries about me ,Sam told her promptly, " and ask for what I want ,I don't think it would be very good idea if I answer that question right now. You aren't in the mood to hear what I have to say".
I'll never be in the right mood to listen to anything you have to say other than 'goodbye ', Abbie told him bitterly . And I've already heard you say that.
No, Abbie, you haven't, he corrected her. "You were the one who said goodbye to me.
Abbie stared at him.
Because you'd accused me of trying to pass another man child off as yours....
May 18, 2021
I really need to rant, this book was a bumbling mess, one of the worse 1-hour I have ever spent, I believe in redemption arc and all that it comes with, but the sheer number of disgusting dialogue between all parties made me want to puke, I definitely won’t recommend this, I love reading HEA but the the ending made me angry.
May 1, 2021
2.5*
September 29, 2020
Twenty two years before Abbie and Sam married. She became pregnant. He accused her of infidelity, he had had a vasectomy. They divorced. Now their daughter is set to be married and she wants her father there. This was a very sad story to read (I read it several times) and still feel the angst that Abbie felt. Sam is back and wants Abbie. My opinion is that he should have never left. But I did not write the story. This is their story of second chance love. As I stated I have read it several times before posting a review. I would give it a 3.5 star if possible here. Sam got away with not being there for Abbie and their daughter, I think he got off too easy. JMHO.
December 22, 2014
This was just ok. Not one of her better ones.
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June 25, 2018Return of her husband...
Abbie Howard would do everything to make her daughter's wedding special. Everything, except allow Cathy the one thing she most desired - to meet the father who'd walked away from his marriage before his baby was even born.
But Sam Howard wasn't to be kept away. His attraction was as devastating as ever and Abbie was tempted to forgive and make up. But could she ever forget that he'd accused her of conceiving another man's child?
Abbie Howard would do everything to make her daughter's wedding special. Everything, except allow Cathy the one thing she most desired - to meet the father who'd walked away from his marriage before his baby was even born.
But Sam Howard wasn't to be kept away. His attraction was as devastating as ever and Abbie was tempted to forgive and make up. But could she ever forget that he'd accused her of conceiving another man's child?
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