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THE HIRED FIANCEE
THE HIRED FIANCEE by Lindsay Armstrong released on Oct 25, 2004 is available now for purchase.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Lindsay Armstrong
320 books92 followersGillian Smith (alias Lindsay Armstrong) was born in South Africa. She grew up with three ambitions: to become a writer, to travel the world, and to be a game ranger. She didn't achieve the last one, but her fascination for wildlife and that special something about Africa and its big game still remains with her. When she went to work it was in travel, at an agency and an airline, and this started her on the road to seeing the world.
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 26, 2026
Tycoon hero makes a deal with the advertising executive heroine to pose as his fiancée for a week. He needs to have a buffer against his ex-wife because she has been invited to his sister’s upcoming wedding and his own mother, sister and godmother, have all taken the ex’ side during their divorce and want to see them get back together.
What his relatives don’t know is that the ex wife is a gold digging hall of famer who trapped him into marriage so she could get him to bail out her bankrupt family. He agreed to bail out the in-laws in exchange for a divorce, and promised to never say a bad word about her. Wife took the deal and took herself off for a few years.
So now, Hero and fake fiancée arrive at his family estate and lo and behold ex wife is there, invited by the bride, the bride’s mother, and the hero’s dragon godmother. Everyone is seething that hero brought this “rent-a-girl” instead of getting back together with his ex wife like they want. Heroine is quite feisty and does come up with some good comebacks to their catty remarks, earning their grudging admiration. But she is also kind of a dingbat and her airhead ways got on my nerves.
As the heroine is playing up her role and showing off her sixty-thousand dollar diamond engagement ring at the family parties, the hero’s irked ex wife begins to flirt heavily with hero’s younger brother. Hero gets really cranky about this and instead of telling off his ex, he takes out his temper on heroine. Heroine decides that hero has never really gotten over his ex wife despite what she did, and that the two of them will continue to love each other but let their pride come between them, making this a torturous cycle. She decides to “steal” hero’s younger brother so that the hero and his ex-wife can reconcile. Her idea is to make a total exhibition of herself on the dance floor at a pre-wedding festivity, before the horrified hero and his entire family.
As you can imagine, this does not go well with the hero, who retaliates with mucho slut-shaming and an attempted rape. Heroine is SHOCKED that hero has taken her flirting with the younger brother “the wrong way” LOL. The attempted rape ends up in a dubiously consented seduction because dingbat heroine is so in luuuurrrve, she can’t resist him despite all the slut-shaming and asshattery. When the younger brother comes knocking on heroine’s door at 1:30 am that same night while she and hero are still in bed, hero grows angry again and doubles up on the slut-shaming. The heroine leaves in utter humiliation, to the satisfaction of hero’s family.
The story ends with the hero showing up at heroine’s house weeks after they parted, demanding marriage because he suspects she is pregnant. She assures him she’s not pregnant and he confesses he is disappointed because he was hoping this would be a chance to get back together. He no longer believes she is a tramp, apparently because his mommy and brother dearest told him she is a good girl after all. What???? He finally kicked the ex wife to the curb when he realized he has fallen in love with heroine. How did he come to his epiphany? Because when his brother was flirting with the ex-wife, all he could feel was disgust, but when he was flirting with the heroine, he was so consumed with jealousy he wanted to kill them both!
Who says romance is dead???
What his relatives don’t know is that the ex wife is a gold digging hall of famer who trapped him into marriage so she could get him to bail out her bankrupt family. He agreed to bail out the in-laws in exchange for a divorce, and promised to never say a bad word about her. Wife took the deal and took herself off for a few years.
So now, Hero and fake fiancée arrive at his family estate and lo and behold ex wife is there, invited by the bride, the bride’s mother, and the hero’s dragon godmother. Everyone is seething that hero brought this “rent-a-girl” instead of getting back together with his ex wife like they want. Heroine is quite feisty and does come up with some good comebacks to their catty remarks, earning their grudging admiration. But she is also kind of a dingbat and her airhead ways got on my nerves.
As the heroine is playing up her role and showing off her sixty-thousand dollar diamond engagement ring at the family parties, the hero’s irked ex wife begins to flirt heavily with hero’s younger brother. Hero gets really cranky about this and instead of telling off his ex, he takes out his temper on heroine. Heroine decides that hero has never really gotten over his ex wife despite what she did, and that the two of them will continue to love each other but let their pride come between them, making this a torturous cycle. She decides to “steal” hero’s younger brother so that the hero and his ex-wife can reconcile. Her idea is to make a total exhibition of herself on the dance floor at a pre-wedding festivity, before the horrified hero and his entire family.
As you can imagine, this does not go well with the hero, who retaliates with mucho slut-shaming and an attempted rape. Heroine is SHOCKED that hero has taken her flirting with the younger brother “the wrong way” LOL. The attempted rape ends up in a dubiously consented seduction because dingbat heroine is so in luuuurrrve, she can’t resist him despite all the slut-shaming and asshattery. When the younger brother comes knocking on heroine’s door at 1:30 am that same night while she and hero are still in bed, hero grows angry again and doubles up on the slut-shaming. The heroine leaves in utter humiliation, to the satisfaction of hero’s family.
The story ends with the hero showing up at heroine’s house weeks after they parted, demanding marriage because he suspects she is pregnant. She assures him she’s not pregnant and he confesses he is disappointed because he was hoping this would be a chance to get back together. He no longer believes she is a tramp, apparently because his mommy and brother dearest told him she is a good girl after all. What???? He finally kicked the ex wife to the curb when he realized he has fallen in love with heroine. How did he come to his epiphany? Because when his brother was flirting with the ex-wife, all he could feel was disgust, but when he was flirting with the heroine, he was so consumed with jealousy he wanted to kill them both!
Who says romance is dead???
June 27, 2021
The sexism is strong with this one.
And hate to say it, but the heroine is an idiot both professionally and personally.
https://gfycat.com/bravemenacinggerenuk
What should have been madcap mayhem just derailed into irritating idiocy.
Naksed says it best…
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Apparently looking at the ratings the other reviews agree, but they are in Indonesian and I can't read them.
And just because it's cool, and I love the Avengers.
And hate to say it, but the heroine is an idiot both professionally and personally.
https://gfycat.com/bravemenacinggerenuk
What should have been madcap mayhem just derailed into irritating idiocy.
Naksed says it best…
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Apparently looking at the ratings the other reviews agree, but they are in Indonesian and I can't read them.
And just because it's cool, and I love the Avengers.
August 31, 2023
This had a bit of a Susan Napier vibe, I think possibly because the h, Vivian, reminded me of some of her accident prone slightly unprofessional professional hs. They first meet when she's pitching him an ad campaign in her stockinged feet because she left her stilettos in the lift. There was a bit of humour although the H, Lleyton, was lacking in that regard and teetered on the brink of asshattery a little too often. He certainly played it cool, although he was good at soothing her when her phobias kicked in. I'm never mad keen on the intermingling of business with pleasure and the concomitant blurred lines. Possibly because we've had a long, hard fight to keep sex and sexual politics out of the workplace and we aren't there yet. It's one area where I'm uncomfortable with romance muddying the waters, because it's still real life not fantasy and I'd rather not encourage it. Oddly, I can take it in really vintage vintage (boss/secretary etc) because it feels historic. This one felt more modern - she was junior partner in an ad agency and a successful career woman - so it feels a bit more Harvey W. Anyhow, the OW is an ex-wife, the OM the Hs pony-tailed younger brother so there's ample opportunity for jealousy. It was ok but not a typical LA.
July 5, 2026
Riktigt katastrofal. Avskyr att jag ens läst den. Vanligtvis med denna typ av budget-romanser brukar jag i alla fall kunna underhållas av att de är lite sådär halvdåliga, men det gick inte ens att göra det här. Den var rent igenom suspekt.
Karaktärerna va ytliga och outvecklade. Vivian var patetisk, och det finns få karaktäriseringar utöver "liten, petite och inte som alla andra" som äcklar mig mer. Och då ska vi inte ens prata om Michael, grabben är en walking red flag. Oerhört sus, manipulativ och i allmänhet både en dålig partner och en dålig person.
0/10, do not recommend. Jag fortsatte läsa den efter att den fått ligga halvläst i drygt ett år och jag ångrar mina val. Boken gjorde mig enbart frustrerad, och inte på ett bra sätt.
Karaktärerna va ytliga och outvecklade. Vivian var patetisk, och det finns få karaktäriseringar utöver "liten, petite och inte som alla andra" som äcklar mig mer. Och då ska vi inte ens prata om Michael, grabben är en walking red flag. Oerhört sus, manipulativ och i allmänhet både en dålig partner och en dålig person.
0/10, do not recommend. Jag fortsatte läsa den efter att den fått ligga halvläst i drygt ett år och jag ångrar mina val. Boken gjorde mig enbart frustrerad, och inte på ett bra sätt.
August 23, 2008
Vivian sangat menginginkan iklan produk anggur Clover untuk menyelamatkan perusahannnya dari kebangkrutan. Lleyton memberikan jalan keluar bila Vivian mau menjadi tunangannya selama seminggu.Dan Vivian pun menerimanya dengan terpaksa.
Tapi pertunangan pura pura itu mulai berubah jadi sungguhan ketika Vivian mulai merasakan getaran di hatinya.
Bahkan ketika Lleyton mengajaknya ke Harvest Moon untuk bertemu dengan keluarga dan mantan istrinya di Virginia, Vivian pun tak gentar.
Lleyton yang tiba tiba cemburu pada adiknya Ralph dan menyangka Vivian memanfaatkannnya dan Ralph supaya Vivian bisa mendapatkan anggur Clover.
Rasa sakit hati karena dituduh seperti itu, Vivian pun pergi dari Harvest moon dan dari kehidupan Lleyton untuk selamanya...
Tapi pertunangan pura pura itu mulai berubah jadi sungguhan ketika Vivian mulai merasakan getaran di hatinya.
Bahkan ketika Lleyton mengajaknya ke Harvest Moon untuk bertemu dengan keluarga dan mantan istrinya di Virginia, Vivian pun tak gentar.
Lleyton yang tiba tiba cemburu pada adiknya Ralph dan menyangka Vivian memanfaatkannnya dan Ralph supaya Vivian bisa mendapatkan anggur Clover.
Rasa sakit hati karena dituduh seperti itu, Vivian pun pergi dari Harvest moon dan dari kehidupan Lleyton untuk selamanya...
November 5, 2014
Yaaa sekali lagi mungkin lagi gak dalam mood ingin baca yang bertipe harlequin seperti ini, dan saya sebenarnya agak gak mengerti gitu sama jalan ceritanya jadi it was ok aja. Jadi pengen main Harvest Moon lagi...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews