Flash Point

by Jane Donnelly

He was actually trying to bribe her!

Liam Sherrard really believed that Carly was after his aunt's money. She was incensed when he even offered to recompense her if she'd refuse the old lady's invitation to visit their chateau in Brittany!

"Why?" Carly taunted him. "Are you afraid she might change her will? Name me instead of you?"

Carly was no gold digger. But if Liam Sherrard chose to see her as one--she'd certainly give him a run for his money!

Genres: Enemies To Lovers, Romance, Harlequin Romance, Contemporary Romance, Category Romance, Mills and Boon

187 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 1981

About the author

Jane Donnelly began earning her living as a writer as a teenage reporter. When she married the editor of the newspaper she freelanced for women's mags for a while. After she was widowed she and her 5 year old daughter moved to Lancashire. She turned to writing fiction to make a living while still caring for her daughter, she sold her first Mills & Boon romance novel as a hard-up singleparent in 1965. She wrote over 60 romance novels for Mills & Boon until 2000. Now she lives in a roses-round-the door cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon, with four dogs and assorted rescued animals. Besides writing she enjoys travelling, swimming, walking and the company of friends.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like when the hero is convinced the heroine is a gold digger who digs, is attracted to her against his will, and keeps slipping up in his quest to be mean her, so that he doubles down in meanness until he can't take it anymore and must express his true feelings. That's the exact trajectory of this hero with this heroine, except the his true feelings come out on the very last two pages and I wanted more. But nope. Page 187 and we're done.

So - the orphaned heroine - is a beautiful dressmaker who lives with a widow and her young son. The widow runs a dress shop and it's here that the heroine meets the hero's grandmother. She thinks the grandmother must be lonely and poor, so she agrees to attend her birthday party in a nearby town. Imagine the heroine's surprise when she finds out that the grandmother is wealthy and far from lonely as she has two eligible bachelor grandsons doting on her.

The Nice Brother immediately starts flirting and the heroine is having a lovely time until the hero shows up. The heroine is immediately thrust back to the most humiliating day of her life. Seems the hero is a lawyer and his buddy barrister was tasked with defending the heroine's boyfriend in court. Bf was stealing and his excuse was that the heroine was greedy and grasping and robbing was the only way he could keep her happy. The hero (and the jury) believed this defense and the Bf got a light sentence. To add insult to injury, the Bf sentthe heroine a letter blaming her for everything and now the heroine doesn't trust men.

The hero immediately threatens her to not accept his grandmother's invitation to their estate in France, but this brings out the contrary streak in the heroine and she accepts. (Plus she's hoping one of the family would invest in her friend's shop). The grandmother has an agenda of her own, wanting the heroine to marry the Nice Brother - and she turns pale and dizzy when things aren't going her way. The heroine doesn't keep her notorious past a secret - she tells both Nice Brother and the grandmother all about it.

The heroine and hero have great chemistry - when the hero forgets to be mean. There are some lovely set pieces at the manor house in France which didn't feel like a travelogue - just the heroine's enjoyment of a lovely holiday.

It all works out, of course, although the hero does not spare the Nice Brother's feelings. I wish there had been more falling action after the hero's declaration When he saw her in court he believed any man would rob for her, but now the he knows her, he realized he would not only rob for her, but murder too. Instead of murder, he bought a house for her. Let's get married. HEA - but it's a Harlequin and it's 187 pages - no exceptions.

[Grrrrace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one—the heroine is one of Jane Donnelly’s sparkier, confident models, and the hero is a bit more overtly alpha, with the romance between them set against a lovely backdrop of a chateau in Brittany. Carly is a dressmaker who works in friend’s shop and lives with the widowed friend and her son. She’s gorgeous and outgoing and popular with the boys, but keeps it lighthearted because of a past relationship: When Carly was younger she dated a college boy who showered her with gifts, and she assumed he was rich (and quite liked the attention—she grew up in an orphanage and was a bit swept off her feet by his regard), but it turned out he was a thief. He blamed her, and she had a traumatic time in court as a witness being cross-examined by his attorney.

Carly is one of the world’s kind hearts, and when an elderly woman is faint in front of their shop, she brings her in for a cup of tea and some company. The lady comes around occasionally, and invites Carly to her birthday party. Expecting a bedsit and a few old ladies, she is surprised to arrive at a lovely and luxurious Georgian flat, where a very elegant party is underway. She meets the lady's, Madame Corbe’s, two nephews: the friendly and charming Roland, whom she likes, and his elegant and coldly handsome older brother, Liam, who she immediately feels an antipathy and an attraction toward.

Liam makes it clear he doesn’t like her. Madame Corbe invites Carly to their chateau in Brittany for a vacation, and she originally intends to refused politely, but then Liam warns her off/tries to buy her off, treating her like a gold digger. They almost come to blows (she tries to slap him and he holds her off and says he'll knock her down if she does). She’s angry and decides she’ll go to spite him. She reminds Madame Corbe of the granddaughter who had died in her 20s, and Liam thinks his aunt is trying to fill that empty hole in her life with Carly, but Carly tells him she has no intention of playing along with that fantasy.

She remembers Liam from the trial. He was not the thieving boyfriend’s lawyer, but a friend of his was, and Liam had watched from the gallery. Carly never forgot his face looking down at her, judging her. He remembers her too, and it adds to his assumption that she’s conniving and mercenary. They clash, but there’s a strong chemistry between them.

He is on her flight to Brittany and tells her he’ll be watching her closely. They are to drive together to the chateau, which is pretty far away, so they’ll stay overnight in a small town on the way (separate rooms, lovely auberge). As she spends time with him over the next couple of days, she finds herself very drawn to him physically and finds herself liking him more and more as they both let down their defenses and get to know one another. She explains about the thieving boyfriend and tells him she’s not a taker, she isn’t going to take anything from his aunt, and he seems to believe her, and they enjoy one another’s company, and the chemistry and liking between them grows. She considers sleeping with him (because Jane Donnelly’s heroines are not hung up about sex, and are often not virgins although they're not promiscuous either--I have yet to come across a slut-shaming hero in a Donnelly book; they accept that adult women have sex and it's no big deal, and it's a refreshing change from most vintage alphas). She decides against it when something he says makes her think he still has a few reservations about her.

The chateau is beautiful, and she enjoys her time there. The brothers spent many holidays there growing up, with their cousin who died. Carly likes Roland as a friend, but it’s Liam who has her enraptured—she knows she’s falling in love with him and is hopeful they can have something together since he seems to have reversed his opinion of her. There's not much physical contact other than handholding and an underwater kiss, but the sexual tension is ramped up skillfully despite the "clean" approach of this novel.

Madame Corbe continues to try to play matchmaker with Roland and Carly, and at one point Roland asks her to consider staying to get to know him and possibly marry him in future. Liam overhears it and tells his brother that he and Carly are lovers and have been since they arrived in Brittany. Carly is mortified and angry, and even more upset when Madame Corbe seems to be thinking that she and Liam might have a go at marriage. Carly tells her fiercely that the idea of her marrying Liam is obscene—and it is to her, because she is very much in love with him at this point and sure he doesn’t feel the same.

Liam overhears her. She is leaving the next day. Roland, wanting a bit of revenge, tells her it’s just as well—Liam’s old girlfriend will be arriving the day after and will be sharing his room.
Carly is lovesick and finding the future quite bleak. She packs for her departure the next day and goes to take a shower, and Liam is waiting for her in her room when she gets back. They talk (as Donnelly heroes and heroines often do, clearing up misunderstandings not just at the end of the book, but during--yes, that's right, they explain things and talk things through, it's crazy!), and he tells her he’s in love with her and wants to marry her and it’s been a long time since he thought she was any kind of opportunist. He tells her that when he first saw her in the courtroom years before, he was struck by her (as she was by him) and thought she was a woman a man would do anything to have. He told his brother that they were lovers because he felt like they were and have always been lovers, a feeling she shares. Avowals of love and a HEA that is believable and lovely.

One of my favorite Donnelly books, with a hero and heroine who are well-matched and fall believably in love as they get to know one another, who talk to one another to clear up misconceptions, and who find that along with a blazing passion for one another they are suited in every way. There’s a nice little legend about the winged lions at the gates of the chateau that gets turned around—our heroine is no meek virgin who needs to be saved from the pirates; her friend’s little son writes that he wants the lions to bring the girl back to the pirate that she left lonely when she fled, and so they do. The book closes with the hero and heroine finally about to go to bed together consummate their love, a wedding in their near future, and a very nicely done HEA.

[Anuradha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars really. Jane Donnelly is a new find for me. And I have read up a couple of her books in succession. Good, sometimes very good stuff she churns out.

In this one, the girl is a dress maker, orphan, lives with her widow friend and her kiddo. A simple act of kindness towards an old lady one day leads to a firm friendship. Initially our good samaritan heroine doesn't know that the old lady is loaded, and far from helpless. She has 2 extremely eligible bachelor grandsons doting on her !!!

The old lady wants our girl to visit her in France for a holiday. Wow, now that's a fortuitous friendship ;)) While grand son #1 is the gregarious amenable type, grand son #2 is your typical brooding suspicious guy, the hero of course.

Just a lot of time spent in the company of the two guys, some parties, some adventurous trips, some accusations of gold digging by the hero. Our girl is spirited , she fights back. Of course sparks are flying during these fights.

Finally, the hero decides that the girl is a rare gem, an honest little soul. So that's enough reason to drop the existing women in his waiting list. He takes back his suspicions, and charms the girl into a nice confession and HEA.

Ok read, ok story, ok writing.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fairly typical of many of Jane Donnelly's set-ups: The hero is wealthy and well-connected. He's super good at what he does. The heroine has a life made up of a skill she's good at (sewing, in this case), and friends, rather than family. She also has a shady past, through no fault of her own.

The latter, of course, causes the hero to misjudge her. To him, she must be a greedy and dishonest person, out for the main chance, able to use her charms to manipulate and exploit people.

This, as I mentioned, is not unusual in the author's books. And I'm fine with this formula, generally. However, it took so long for the hero to come around, and so long for the main couple to have interactions that weren't so prickly, that it was a less enjoyable version of the formula than some of the others.

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

He was actually trying to bribe her!

Liam Sherrard really believed that Carly was after his aunt's money. She was incensed when he even offered to recompense her if she'd refuse the old lady's invitation to visit their chateau in Brittany!

"Why?" Carly taunted him. "Are you afraid she might change her will? Name me instead of you?"

Carly was no gold digger. But if Liam Sherrard chose to see her as one--she'd certainly give him a run for his money!

[Myrna · Rating 2 out of 5]

'When I first saw you you were in the witness stand, being questioned about the gifts and money you've had from Gerald Collett. I thought then that I could understand how he'd arrived where he was. You were a girl a man might do most things for, short of murder.
I've changed my mind since I met you again. I do know I've no reservations now. I'd murder for you.'

An older lady takes a fancy to Carly who is an orphan and has no family. The lady says she reminds her of the grandaughter who died of pneumonia many years ago. She invites Carly to France. If it wasn't for her very pleasant nephew Roland and her very unpleasant nephew Liam Carly might have refused the invitation.
Liam is a barrister and was at the trial of Carly's boyfriend. He firmly believes she's a gold digger.

[Feeling-bookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much drama and too much antagonism to start with. Everything I like about this author's work is there, but it didn't come together as well as it has in other books.

[Oana · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5 stele. Predictibila, ușor iritanta uneori, fără substanță.

[SassyLeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars typical old HP tropes but well done

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spring is sprung. Time for a little romance in my life. It's a typical Harlequin and ended like they always do. They lived happily ever after!