What do you think?
Rate this book
Only Forever
Determined to meet the beautiful television personality Vanessa Lawrence, Nick DeAngelo successfully wins her heart, but their budding romance is threatened when Vanessa learns Nick's role in a devastating incident from her past. Reissue.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
206 people are currently reading
441 people want to read
About the author
Linda Lael Miller
552 books3,218 followersThe daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West. Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a spacious property outside Spokane.
Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, mysteries and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Long a passionate Civil War buff, Linda has studied the era avidly for almost thirty years. She has read literally hundreds of books on the subject, explored numerous battlegrounds and made many visits to her favorite, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she has witnessed re-enactments of the legendary clash between North and South. Linda explores that turbulent time in The Yankee Widow, a May 7, 2019 MIRA Books hardcover, also available in digital and audiobook formats.
Dedicated to helping others, “The First Lady of the West” personally financed fifteen years of her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women, which she awarded to women 25 years and older who were seeking to improve their lot in life through education. She anticipates that her next charitable endeavors will benefit four-legged critters.
More information about Linda and her novels is available at www.lindalaelmiller.com, on Facebook and from Nancy Berland Public Relations, nancy@nancyberland.com, 405-206-4748.
Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, mysteries and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Long a passionate Civil War buff, Linda has studied the era avidly for almost thirty years. She has read literally hundreds of books on the subject, explored numerous battlegrounds and made many visits to her favorite, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she has witnessed re-enactments of the legendary clash between North and South. Linda explores that turbulent time in The Yankee Widow, a May 7, 2019 MIRA Books hardcover, also available in digital and audiobook formats.
Dedicated to helping others, “The First Lady of the West” personally financed fifteen years of her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women, which she awarded to women 25 years and older who were seeking to improve their lot in life through education. She anticipates that her next charitable endeavors will benefit four-legged critters.
More information about Linda and her novels is available at www.lindalaelmiller.com, on Facebook and from Nancy Berland Public Relations, nancy@nancyberland.com, 405-206-4748.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
April 10, 2014
As far as Vanessa Lawrence is concerned, jocks are bad news. Once married to one of baseball's superstars, she's coped with betrayal, divorce and the tabloids. She's worked hard to establish her career, and now her ex-husband's tell-all autobiography threatens to destroy everything she's achieved.
When ex-football hero Nick DeAngelo takes to the playing field that was once her heart, Vanessa's not about to let another sports-crazed womanizer ruin her life. But Nick's not prepared to let Vanessa get away. Instead, he tackles her stubborn pride, her obnoxious ex and the gossip columns head-on. Because the day he saw Vanessa, he knew he'd found his destiny....
The characters were real, believable and made you want to take sides. Written as someone who knew what this hurt was like. Once i started, i couldn't put it down. 5 stars.
When ex-football hero Nick DeAngelo takes to the playing field that was once her heart, Vanessa's not about to let another sports-crazed womanizer ruin her life. But Nick's not prepared to let Vanessa get away. Instead, he tackles her stubborn pride, her obnoxious ex and the gossip columns head-on. Because the day he saw Vanessa, he knew he'd found his destiny....
The characters were real, believable and made you want to take sides. Written as someone who knew what this hurt was like. Once i started, i couldn't put it down. 5 stars.
January 23, 2019
But what happened to the cat?
July 7, 2017
Yikes! I own several LLM books but this is the first one I have read. Hopefully they aren't all as poorly written as this book. The plot is stale. The lead h character wavers constantly and has the backbone of a spaghetti noodle. I expected more from this author. As of today I've put a hold on purchasing any new LLM books until I can read a couple more I already own.
March 26, 2023
Vanessa is a hostess on a popular home shopping network. Nick is a restauranteur and former football star. When Nick is sick, he turns on the television and sees Vanessa and is smitten. His best friend is her boss. Her best friend is her boss' wife. The couple try to set up Nick and Vanessa. Both are attracted but come with baggage in the trust department. Vanessa's ex-husband is trying to get her to help him promote his book which makes Vanessa look bad. She keeps comparing Nick to her ex. Will it work? Will it keep them apart? Will love find a way?
I enjoyed this story. I liked Vanessa and Nick. Her ex, Parker, was a total heel. He does whatever he can to hurt Vanessa. She's well rid of him. Nick does not tell her the whole story about his marriage. I can understand why he did not but I also see her side of the trust issue. I could also understand why she felt confused with Nick's behavior at times--says one thing, acts the opposite. I hoped they would work it out. Naturally, they did so I got my happy ending.
I enjoyed this story. I liked Vanessa and Nick. Her ex, Parker, was a total heel. He does whatever he can to hurt Vanessa. She's well rid of him. Nick does not tell her the whole story about his marriage. I can understand why he did not but I also see her side of the trust issue. I could also understand why she felt confused with Nick's behavior at times--says one thing, acts the opposite. I hoped they would work it out. Naturally, they did so I got my happy ending.
February 12, 2018
This was not so good. Vanessa was always playing hot and cold to Nick, while he patiently waited for her to be on the hot side. She was constantly comparing him to her her ex-husband, even though he was the complete opposite. Her ex was lying to her, and even though she admitted that he lied in the past, she believed him whole-heartedly when it came to lies about Nick. There was no character development, and no relationship development. There was lust, hot and cold actions, lust, hot and cold actions, then finally marriage. There was no substance between them. Vanessa hated when Nick took the reins so to speak and make plans, but it was okay when she did that. This one was very flat for me, too many problems. The bad far outweighed the good.
May 3, 2019
Reissue of 1995 romance and it shows it age. Okay characters. Okay story. Just didn’t do anything for me.
3 stars
3 stars
July 25, 2017
Really disappointed that this book gave me a headache and put me in a slump when I was ganna attempt the booktube challenge. I guess I'll be a day late
July 8, 2013
I had read one other LLM short novel and was not impressed, but she gets so many good reviews I wanted to give her writing another try. Sadly, this book left a worse impression on me than the first and I had to force myself to finish it.
My biggest complaint is with Vanessa, the female protagonist. She was shallow, wishy-washy, did not know her own mind, basically, a drama queen with no backbone. Her back story is she was married to an arrogant, lying, cheating famous athlete and was too hurt by this to date or make any type of commitment because of it. However, she let's her friends manipulate her into a blind date (not the first time apparently), let's Nick bowl her over into accepting to spend the next day with him, let's him strip her down for everything but intercourse (while bragging he's not the type to pressure her for sex she isn't ready for). She also let's her ex-husband push her into several things she doesn't want and even her cousin who supposedly cares so much for her. Pretty much every person in her life , including herself, completely ignores what she says she wants and she caves EVERY TIME. Oh, and towards the end she admits she fell in love with Nick the night she met - mostly his good looks.
Nick fell for Vanessa watching her on the shopping channel, her beauty of course, and proceeded to pursue her because he was in love. Here's where I say, initial chemistry is one thing, but for me to believe it the writer has to sell it. I didn't see it or feel the connection between Nick and Vanessa beyond that of an attractive first date. There was never a scene I would consider a romantic moment between the two.
Parker, the self-centered, manipulative ex-husband was the most real and believable character in the story.
And speaking of believable, too many things that just would not go down as explained. But I'll narrow it to one, and yes it's a spoiler.:
Vanessa doesn't renew her contract with Midas network, accepts a talk show host contract at a station in San Francisco, sells her home, then decides days before her first day on the new job to back out and instead accepts a similar position with a station in Seattle. As if she wouldn't be legally bound to a contract.
Fiction is fiction, I know, but some things should be realistic. Most of this story was just so unrealistic in how it played out I could never buy into it. Very disappointing read. I give it 1-1/2 stars. Absolutely my last LLM read.
My biggest complaint is with Vanessa, the female protagonist. She was shallow, wishy-washy, did not know her own mind, basically, a drama queen with no backbone. Her back story is she was married to an arrogant, lying, cheating famous athlete and was too hurt by this to date or make any type of commitment because of it. However, she let's her friends manipulate her into a blind date (not the first time apparently), let's Nick bowl her over into accepting to spend the next day with him, let's him strip her down for everything but intercourse (while bragging he's not the type to pressure her for sex she isn't ready for). She also let's her ex-husband push her into several things she doesn't want and even her cousin who supposedly cares so much for her. Pretty much every person in her life , including herself, completely ignores what she says she wants and she caves EVERY TIME. Oh, and towards the end she admits she fell in love with Nick the night she met - mostly his good looks.
Nick fell for Vanessa watching her on the shopping channel, her beauty of course, and proceeded to pursue her because he was in love. Here's where I say, initial chemistry is one thing, but for me to believe it the writer has to sell it. I didn't see it or feel the connection between Nick and Vanessa beyond that of an attractive first date. There was never a scene I would consider a romantic moment between the two.
Parker, the self-centered, manipulative ex-husband was the most real and believable character in the story.
And speaking of believable, too many things that just would not go down as explained. But I'll narrow it to one, and yes it's a spoiler.:
Vanessa doesn't renew her contract with Midas network, accepts a talk show host contract at a station in San Francisco, sells her home, then decides days before her first day on the new job to back out and instead accepts a similar position with a station in Seattle. As if she wouldn't be legally bound to a contract.
Fiction is fiction, I know, but some things should be realistic. Most of this story was just so unrealistic in how it played out I could never buy into it. Very disappointing read. I give it 1-1/2 stars. Absolutely my last LLM read.
July 10, 2013
This is my first book by Linda Lael Miller, and I daresay my last.
The characters are inconsistent and the pacing is bad. We have Vanessa who tries to act tough but caves to everyone, including the ex-husband. She doesn't want to get to know Nick because he's an ex-pro athlete with a history of womanizing, but then she has a heated sexual encounter with him less than 24 hours after meeting him. He gets frustrated with her because she's pushing him away while admitting that they don't know each other well enough. And yet he continually tries to earn her trust by using the same tactics her ex-husband used on her and pressuring her for sex. Then he has the audacity to make her out to be the bad guy. There wasn't much about these characters that I liked.
This was not a new title by this author, but rather a reissue of something written in the 1980s, which explained the awful fashion choices of Vanessa and the sex scenes were almost laughably funny with the descriptions. Luckily I skimmed the rest. You're read one sex scene and you've read them all.
The writing wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't good enough to save this book from a dismal review.
The characters are inconsistent and the pacing is bad. We have Vanessa who tries to act tough but caves to everyone, including the ex-husband. She doesn't want to get to know Nick because he's an ex-pro athlete with a history of womanizing, but then she has a heated sexual encounter with him less than 24 hours after meeting him. He gets frustrated with her because she's pushing him away while admitting that they don't know each other well enough. And yet he continually tries to earn her trust by using the same tactics her ex-husband used on her and pressuring her for sex. Then he has the audacity to make her out to be the bad guy. There wasn't much about these characters that I liked.
This was not a new title by this author, but rather a reissue of something written in the 1980s, which explained the awful fashion choices of Vanessa and the sex scenes were almost laughably funny with the descriptions. Luckily I skimmed the rest. You're read one sex scene and you've read them all.
The writing wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't good enough to save this book from a dismal review.
March 5, 2012
well, this was definitely a fun ride! The complications that any previous relationship does cast shadows over current and future relationships, even as we try to separate them. I was intrigued by the desire and patience shown by D'Angelo and thoroughly unsurprised by the sabotage by Parker. Very relatable and well written. What a solution to such a tumultuous beginning! And how brave that they decided to overcome the drama of their pasts.
December 1, 2011
Linda Lael Miller tells it like it is when she writes of love and fear that the new man might be like the old one. A good yarn.
February 14, 2014
Great book. enjoyed the story line that kept changing until the end.
March 6, 2013
Really enjoyed reading this book. Could not put it down.
September 3, 2013
I really liked this book. I think the older books that Linda wrote are good to read because it gives you a sense of how her writing style changes etc. She is really awesome.
November 8, 2024
Two novels, Only Forever by Linda Lael Miller (I'm a fan) and Thunderbolt Over Texas by Barbara Dunlop (first read by this author)
Only Forever - Vanessa Lawrence married the wrong man, a lying, manipulative philanderer. She had no intention of making herself that vulnerable again. Now the bastard is writing a tell-all biography, including his "take" on their marriage. She now works on a shopping channel, where she is seen by Nick DeAngelo, and he's instantly fascinated. Her boss, Paul Harmon, is a friend, so he asks for an introduction.
Only Forever - Vanessa Lawrence married the wrong man, a lying, manipulative philanderer. She had no intention of making herself that vulnerable again. Now the bastard is writing a tell-all biography, including his "take" on their marriage. She now works on a shopping channel, where she is seen by Nick DeAngelo, and he's instantly fascinated. Her boss, Paul Harmon, is a friend, so he asks for an introduction.
July 9, 2017
I like Linda Lael Miller's work very much overall, but this 1989 reprint was very dated and the h cried a lot. I skimmed the last 1/3.
May 28, 2018
I really wanted to like this but the story was flat and characters and situations ranging from unbelieving to annoying
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2018
It was okay. Too much fighting and not enough reconciliation. It just dragged on a little too much.
November 11, 2019
I always enjoy reading Linda Lael Miller's books.
July 26, 2020
Too much to finish.
library
July 30, 20210
August 29, 2022
Honestly the relationship was a little weird between the main character and love interest. Overall it wasn’t bad, it was just a little funny.
August 29, 2022
S++ DNF Vanessa was so annoying, I am certainly no feminist, but this is not an example of a healthy relationship. It was just a straight up stereotypical harlequin novel to me.
May 1, 2012
This book was just mildly entertaining. Although the story held my attention throughout the whole book, the writing was a little dry and predictable. Vanessa was too much of a drama queen, and I got the impression that the "problems" Nick and Vanessa faced were not true trials that could really make or break a relationship. Sure, Vanessa does not want to fall in love with another jock, but even so she automatically fell for Nick after one night of passion. I felt the characters were very shallow and just going through the motions to move the story along. Nick was a very gentle and caring man who knew that he wanted marriage and a family. It just seemed like to me that Vanessa fell in love with Nick so fast after being recently divorced, that it was not believable. This book was just okay, and that's about all I can give it credit for.
February 27, 2013
I picked up this book believing it was a new release. Foolish me, I was in a hurry at the library, and didn't look to closely it was originally written in 1989. Obviously an earlier work. It lacked in so many areas I started skipping everything but the dialog and I could barely stand that. There wasn't anything redeeming in Vanessa character. I just couldn't stand her. Nick was barely intriguing. Ok all admit it I didn't even care how they got together because I thought Nick would be such a tool to even want her sorry butt anyway. I never felt the connection, and when they started professing their love to each other it was just plain ridiculous. Sorry can't recommend. But I still love Linda Lael Miller, just not this.
October 7, 2011
This was an okay book. I could tell it was one of her earlier books, as the characters didn't really do much for me. Nick was ok. He had mostly given up the party scene, and was a responsible business owner now. I didn't really care for the fact that he kept rushing her into bed, even though she kept trying to tell him she wasn't ready. He would simply seduce her into it. Vanessa was the one that really bothered me. Even with the amount of time they spent together, she just wouldn't believe he wasn't just like her ex. I was glad to see them get together in the end, but this one was just kind of frustrating.
August 8, 2017
This book was originally published in 1989.
I understand the old story of boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. But this story was too much waffling. I couldn't count how many time they split up and got back together that I finally started skimming through the book.
Luckily, I only spent 21¢ on this book so it wasn't a compete loss.
Update, 07/09/17
Ugh, why did I purchase this again? Amazon republished the book so it isn't the same one I purchased before. It was only 99¢ but...
It took me several chapters before I remembered reading before. I didn't waste anymore time.
Why Nick would even want Vanessa with her running so hot and cold I will never understand.
I understand the old story of boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. But this story was too much waffling. I couldn't count how many time they split up and got back together that I finally started skimming through the book.
Luckily, I only spent 21¢ on this book so it wasn't a compete loss.
Update, 07/09/17
Ugh, why did I purchase this again? Amazon republished the book so it isn't the same one I purchased before. It was only 99¢ but...
It took me several chapters before I remembered reading before. I didn't waste anymore time.
Why Nick would even want Vanessa with her running so hot and cold I will never understand.
July 11, 2013
Mais Que Desejo.
Linda Lael Miller.
H.C. Primeiros Sucessos 26.
2012.
Sou fã da Linda L. Miller, mas acho que ela deve se ater aos cowboys bonzinhos e aos mal intencionados e ponto. Nada de mexer com esses italianos machistas e arrogantes.
Pelo amor de Deus!!!
Vou reiterar, tenho pavor incoerente em relação a italianos, espanhóis e membros da realeza.
Por esse motivo não consigo ler com imparcialidade todo e qualquer livro que tenha os mencionáveis a cima descrito.
Mas se você gosta destes tipos ou especificamente de italianos arrogantes.
Com certeza você vai se derreter com esse livro e que Deus ajude a sua insanidade.
Tô preocupada com você, cuidado!!!
Linda Lael Miller.
H.C. Primeiros Sucessos 26.
2012.
Sou fã da Linda L. Miller, mas acho que ela deve se ater aos cowboys bonzinhos e aos mal intencionados e ponto. Nada de mexer com esses italianos machistas e arrogantes.
Pelo amor de Deus!!!
Vou reiterar, tenho pavor incoerente em relação a italianos, espanhóis e membros da realeza.
Por esse motivo não consigo ler com imparcialidade todo e qualquer livro que tenha os mencionáveis a cima descrito.
Mas se você gosta destes tipos ou especificamente de italianos arrogantes.
Com certeza você vai se derreter com esse livro e que Deus ajude a sua insanidade.
Tô preocupada com você, cuidado!!!
May 2, 2013
Vanessa Lawrence had recently divorced her star baseball player husband because he was unfaithful. When she meets ex-football player Nick DeAngelo she has trouble believing that he would be any more faithful than her ex. In this story, Vanessa goes back and forth between believing and not believing Nick that it is hard to understand exactly why she finally decided that she could trust him. This is an early novel from LLM and shows a lot of the elements that make her later work such a joy to read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews