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An Elusive Mistress
Not that I care! she tried to tell herself
At nineteen, Hillary had been a little girl trying to keep up with a husband light years ahead of her. When the marriage ended, she built a wall around the memory of Clive Eastman.
Six years later, Hillary had grown up. She had made a name as Brisbane's foremost interior designer, and she had found a man she thought she could share her life with.
Then Clive returned. And one chance meeting was all it took to reawaken feelings Hillary thought she'd succeeded in hiding.
At nineteen, Hillary had been a little girl trying to keep up with a husband light years ahead of her. When the marriage ended, she built a wall around the memory of Clive Eastman.
Six years later, Hillary had grown up. She had made a name as Brisbane's foremost interior designer, and she had found a man she thought she could share her life with.
Then Clive returned. And one chance meeting was all it took to reawaken feelings Hillary thought she'd succeeded in hiding.
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1986
5 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Lindsay Armstrong
319 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 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 24, 2016
Re An Elusive Mistress - this book is one Hot Mess of complications, an H who needs a mega-sized whack or fifty with the super skillet, and an h who really grows and matures and makes the book readable. The H has his moments too, but I still wanted to whack him for a lot of the book. Be prepared for the usual voluminous LA inner monologues and a very complex plot that LA somehow manages to make comprehensible by the end.
Most of this story is conveyed via inner monologue so I am giving the nutshell version of the plot below.
The h, a very successful interior designer and shop owner, is engaged to an upcoming politician and pretty happy about her place in life. Then her ex husband, the H, a violin virtuoso and womanizer extraordinaire shows up to throw a spanner in the works by insulting the h's fiance, his parents and everyone else in sight.
The h was really young and innocent when she married the H and her mother was incredibly interfering. The H told her he was having an affair, (which is a bit debatable as he also wrote her aunt regularly for six years to check up on the h as he was really concerned,) so she would divorce him. He also told her he had only ever married her to irk her mum who had been warning him off, so essentially he married the h out of spite and he was bored.
The mum is dead now and the h is trying to come terms with very interfering in laws of her potential new husband. She finds she still loves the H but thinks it is time to move on, though she isn't sure she will make a good political wife and she really doesn't like her fiance's manipulative father. The fiance's mother also questions her pretty closely about her motivations for marrying the fiance and suggests that they might not be a good long term match cause the h is too dominating.
When she winds up in bed with the H, this makes her realize she would be cheating the fiance so she decides to break it off with him. The H is at a low point himself, because he can't play the violin anymore due to injury - he will have to find a new line of work. This doesn't stop him from creating all kinds of chaos in another social situation with the h and her prospective in-laws and the outcome is that they go their separate ways after the H tells her to find another man that combines the qualities of the H and the fiance and the fiance's mum has a heart attack.
After the h breaks the engagement and six months goes by, the H's agent shows up and asks the h to try and break up the H's new engagement - just as the H did for her. She thinks about it, but she backs off after meeting the H's fiance and fighting with the H later that day and goes on alone. She is actually doing okay, until she reads the paper and finds that the H's new fiance is now marrying someone else. She winds up crying in the garden alone.
Then the H shows up and explains that the fiance dumped him. He is trying to be done with messing up and hurting other people and if the H will marry him again, he loves and has always loved only her. There is a pretty decent grovel where the H swears eternal devotion and most likely fidelity and HEA.
I liked this one, but it is angsty and very drawn out with internal monologues and flashbacks and the back and forth between all the characters. The h is the real bonus in this book, her maturation and understanding of her life is done very, very well. Still, if you have the patience, give this one a try and remember to bring a big skillet.
Most of this story is conveyed via inner monologue so I am giving the nutshell version of the plot below.
The h, a very successful interior designer and shop owner, is engaged to an upcoming politician and pretty happy about her place in life. Then her ex husband, the H, a violin virtuoso and womanizer extraordinaire shows up to throw a spanner in the works by insulting the h's fiance, his parents and everyone else in sight.
The h was really young and innocent when she married the H and her mother was incredibly interfering. The H told her he was having an affair, (which is a bit debatable as he also wrote her aunt regularly for six years to check up on the h as he was really concerned,) so she would divorce him. He also told her he had only ever married her to irk her mum who had been warning him off, so essentially he married the h out of spite and he was bored.
The mum is dead now and the h is trying to come terms with very interfering in laws of her potential new husband. She finds she still loves the H but thinks it is time to move on, though she isn't sure she will make a good political wife and she really doesn't like her fiance's manipulative father. The fiance's mother also questions her pretty closely about her motivations for marrying the fiance and suggests that they might not be a good long term match cause the h is too dominating.
When she winds up in bed with the H, this makes her realize she would be cheating the fiance so she decides to break it off with him. The H is at a low point himself, because he can't play the violin anymore due to injury - he will have to find a new line of work. This doesn't stop him from creating all kinds of chaos in another social situation with the h and her prospective in-laws and the outcome is that they go their separate ways after the H tells her to find another man that combines the qualities of the H and the fiance and the fiance's mum has a heart attack.
After the h breaks the engagement and six months goes by, the H's agent shows up and asks the h to try and break up the H's new engagement - just as the H did for her. She thinks about it, but she backs off after meeting the H's fiance and fighting with the H later that day and goes on alone. She is actually doing okay, until she reads the paper and finds that the H's new fiance is now marrying someone else. She winds up crying in the garden alone.
Then the H shows up and explains that the fiance dumped him. He is trying to be done with messing up and hurting other people and if the H will marry him again, he loves and has always loved only her. There is a pretty decent grovel where the H swears eternal devotion and most likely fidelity and HEA.
I liked this one, but it is angsty and very drawn out with internal monologues and flashbacks and the back and forth between all the characters. The h is the real bonus in this book, her maturation and understanding of her life is done very, very well. Still, if you have the patience, give this one a try and remember to bring a big skillet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2016
A second chance story between a volatile violinist hero and a very young (18) shy hotel receptionist heroine who marry and divorce for the wrong reasons. The story opens six years later when the interior designer and business owner heroine has her engagement announced to the son of a prominent politician. The hero introduces himself as the "man who broke her in" and creates quite the scene.
Both the H/h are stubborn, impulsive people, which turns out to be a strength as the story unfolds. The hero is convinced the heroine is marrying the fiance to spite his father - much as he married the heroine to spite her mother. After they have pity sex because his violinist career is washed up from an injury, the heroine realizes he's right and she can't marry the son of the politician.
The hero goes away to start a horse farm (and to leave the heroine in peace to find Mr. Right). He becomes engaged to a "hard, beautiful woman." The H's agent, who knows all, wants the heroine to do the hero a favor and break it up. Impulsively, she drives to his horse farm, but the H is not there. In a matter of hours the H is on her doorstep demanding to know what she was doing. The h confesses to wanting to break up his engagement.
Nothing comes of this until six months later. She sees her ex-fiance at the mall and he is now happy again with another girl. Then she reads in the paper that the H's fiance married someone else.
H shows up and confesses he only got engaged to keep from hurting her. He's still not sure if he's Mr. Right, but he didn't want to break off his other engagement and have that on the heroine's conscience. Heroine really doesn't care. She has grown and matured and knows he's the only one for her.
So the impulsiveness brought them together the first time and kept them from marrying the wrong person the second time. The stubbornness? They just couldn't quit each other. Hero was horrible, horrible at the beginning and he was a terrible husband. I didn't see how LA could win me over, but by the end I was convinced they loved each other and that now they've both grown up enough to stay married.
Both the H/h are stubborn, impulsive people, which turns out to be a strength as the story unfolds. The hero is convinced the heroine is marrying the fiance to spite his father - much as he married the heroine to spite her mother. After they have pity sex because his violinist career is washed up from an injury, the heroine realizes he's right and she can't marry the son of the politician.
The hero goes away to start a horse farm (and to leave the heroine in peace to find Mr. Right). He becomes engaged to a "hard, beautiful woman." The H's agent, who knows all, wants the heroine to do the hero a favor and break it up. Impulsively, she drives to his horse farm, but the H is not there. In a matter of hours the H is on her doorstep demanding to know what she was doing. The h confesses to wanting to break up his engagement.
Nothing comes of this until six months later. She sees her ex-fiance at the mall and he is now happy again with another girl. Then she reads in the paper that the H's fiance married someone else.
H shows up and confesses he only got engaged to keep from hurting her. He's still not sure if he's Mr. Right, but he didn't want to break off his other engagement and have that on the heroine's conscience. Heroine really doesn't care. She has grown and matured and knows he's the only one for her.
So the impulsiveness brought them together the first time and kept them from marrying the wrong person the second time. The stubbornness? They just couldn't quit each other. Hero was horrible, horrible at the beginning and he was a terrible husband. I didn't see how LA could win me over, but by the end I was convinced they loved each other and that now they've both grown up enough to stay married.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2025
На изтрещелите арлекински бабки винаги може да се разчита по празници 🤣 То бива неразбирателство и липса на комуникация, но тук случаят е патологичен - и чак трогателен 🤣 Понеже и двамата герои имат нужда от смяна на главата, се получи симпатично… Добре, че им отне само някакви си седем години да се разберат най-накрая.
3,5⭐️
3,5⭐️
May 11, 2023
Well this one was...complicated. I'm not sure I could say that I enjoyed it, although it was a compelling enough read. He's a concert violinist called Clive. No shade to anyone who loves a Clive but that name's a romantic non-starter for me (makes me think of the man who played Corporal Jones in Dads Army). He married the h, Hillary when she was a very, very young receptionist at the big Brisbane hotel he stayed in. They soon divorced. He has the artistic temperament and she had a lot of growing up to do. Her overbearing mother is now dead and she's newly engaged to a pleasant wannabe politician who also has overbearing parent trouble. As the story unfolds it's all very self-sacrificing and pretty nuts. She does sleep with the H again, while wearing the fiance's ring, if you're the sort who needs advance warning of such things. It wasn't either of their finest hours tbf. An indicator that they are probably better off together than spoiling another couple.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2012
Wow. Talk about a knight in shining armor- NOT. This is one messed-up charmer of a hero. First he marries the nineteen year-old heroine just to spite her mother for telling him some home truths and telling him to stay away from her daughter. That's not just charming but really mature, especially when the hero himself says he is almost old enough to be heroine's father. The hero also threatens to throw the manager of the hotel out the window for having made his stupid shirt disappear- when the whole time the hero himself had misplaced it by crunching it up in his suitcase. Then he divorces her because, according to him, the tug of war between her mother and him was tearing the heroine apart and it was his way of being kind to her after marrying her out of spite. Then when the heroine finally has her life together and is engaged to a man who loves her, our lovely hero shows up and humiliates the heroine in front of her fiancee and her future in-laws quite publicly at a party. Then our prince realizes it's now too late even though he loves the heroine because he's hurt her so much and therefore, in his infinite wisdom and serial marry whoever for my own shallow purposes no matter how much I end up hurting other people, gets engaged to another woman just to make sure he doesn't go back to the heroine and hurts her again. HUH? So it's okay to continue the cycle of hurting innocent women for your own selfish purpose? That is messed-up on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin. Not to mention that the hero is an artiste with all the charm and the temperament expected of one. He is supposedly a brilliant violinist.
This one has so many merry-go-rounds in terms of who is engaged to whom and who breaks-up with whom that I was left confused and dizzy. Towards the end of the book, the hero tells the heroine that she is better off with a man who embodies elements of both her former fiancee and the hero, a man who will love her and whom she will love with no second thoughts to anybody else. Boy he was right. There were so many such potential characters that were introduced in the book that I though it would have been fitting for the heroine to have actually ended-up with a totally unrelated person. That would have been a good ending.
Despite all the things above that would have made this book a wallbanger for me, I managed to read through the whole book. That's quite a fete for me because normally I would have quit reading. But despite the long-winded internal monologues, this book actually kept me interested. I was interested in the heroine's character development and how she matured and came full circle to realize that all is not black and white and to forgive the hero. To his credit, he did seem to deeply regret his callousness towards the heroine and corresponded with the heroine's aunt over the six years of separation to keep abreast of the heroine's well-being.
In the end it was worth reading to see love develop between two very flawed people. It is clear even to the characters that the HEA won't be all smooth sailing either given that our hero is such a charmer. But at least we know that the heroine is mature enough now to know what she's getting into and both the hero and heroine have made so many mistakes that they have regretted that one can hope that they finally emerge as better, if still flawed, people.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2021
Note to self: do not ever reread.
Others have thoroughly reviewed the plot, so just a few notes. He was a bad-tempered slut... every time something would happen, he’d go sleep with someone different. He married her to spite her mother and then told the heroine he cheated on her to get out of the marriage. He even got engaged to someone else to run away from being with her. (WTH... why?) His emotional immaturity led him to turn away from her every single time something cropped up.
She was interesting in her growth and development but... So. Many. Inner. Monologues.
They might belong together or he’ll cheat on her repeatedly (he warned her that in some ways he’d never change...). I should give it one star, but must be tacking on another because I kept reading to see if they were EVER going to get together. Annoyingly, it wasn’t worth waiting for because there is no “I love you” from him... just a comparison of her vs. all the other lovers he’s had.
TLDR: I shouldn’t have wasted my time on this non-romance book. (less)
Others have thoroughly reviewed the plot, so just a few notes. He was a bad-tempered slut... every time something would happen, he’d go sleep with someone different. He married her to spite her mother and then told the heroine he cheated on her to get out of the marriage. He even got engaged to someone else to run away from being with her. (WTH... why?) His emotional immaturity led him to turn away from her every single time something cropped up.
She was interesting in her growth and development but... So. Many. Inner. Monologues.
They might belong together or he’ll cheat on her repeatedly (he warned her that in some ways he’d never change...). I should give it one star, but must be tacking on another because I kept reading to see if they were EVER going to get together. Annoyingly, it wasn’t worth waiting for because there is no “I love you” from him... just a comparison of her vs. all the other lovers he’s had.
TLDR: I shouldn’t have wasted my time on this non-romance book. (less)
October 24, 2011
As there's no synopsis thought I'd copy this from back of book.
Not that I care! she tried to tell herself
At nineteen, Hillary had been a little girl trying to keep up with a husband light years ahead of her. When the marriage ended, she built a wall around the memory of Clive Eastman.
Six years later, Hillary had grown up. She had made a name as Brisbane's foremost interior designer, and she had found a man she thought she could share her life with.
Then Clive returned. And one chance meeting was all it took to reawaken feelings Hillary thought she'd succeeded in hiding.
I actually liked this book. I generally like Lindsay Armstrong. but I liked this one better than most. It seemed to have a different style than most of her other books. There was quite a bit of internal dialogue and introspection but I wasn't annoyed with it, I thought it added to the character development.
Not that I care! she tried to tell herself
At nineteen, Hillary had been a little girl trying to keep up with a husband light years ahead of her. When the marriage ended, she built a wall around the memory of Clive Eastman.
Six years later, Hillary had grown up. She had made a name as Brisbane's foremost interior designer, and she had found a man she thought she could share her life with.
Then Clive returned. And one chance meeting was all it took to reawaken feelings Hillary thought she'd succeeded in hiding.
I actually liked this book. I generally like Lindsay Armstrong. but I liked this one better than most. It seemed to have a different style than most of her other books. There was quite a bit of internal dialogue and introspection but I wasn't annoyed with it, I thought it added to the character development.
June 27, 2016
This reminded me of LA's Saved From Sin( which I really liked). This author is very hit or miss for me but this ended up being well worth the read. The character development and growth of the h was really well portrayed and though some of the H's actions were questionable, he did seem to genuinely care about the heroine's well being. Part of me hated that he didn't make the decision to break up with his new fiance himself instead of running back to the heroine once he'd been dumped but I could get over it. Overall, a really good book if you enjoy LA's writing style (drawn out angst and lots if inner monologue) and a much more likeable heroine than you usually get from an HP.
November 5, 2025
The h and H are divorced and she is engaged to be married to another man when the book starts. The h and H were both awful. The h cheats on her fiancé with the H.
February 9, 2026
I get a little tired of stories where the H and h are promoted to God and Goddess status: he's a violin virtuoso, an aspiring author who's guaranteed to be a best-selling one, and apparently on his way to being a champion horse breeder. The h manages, in just a few short years, to run a very successful antique shop and becomes somewhat of an expert on antiques, as well as having such a remarkable talent for decorating that soon wealthy, famous people (including movie celebrities) are vying for her services, articles are written about her, a restaurant gets named for her!
OH, COME ON!!! I've said it before and I'll say I again: DON'T INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE!!!
Okay, I vented! As for the story. it's one of those with more introspection than action, and (like those old historical romance novels from the 70's) the H and h spend more time apart than together. In fact, she spends a lot more time with the OM and (though it happens off scene), it's the same for the H and the OW. So, it's hard to work up much feeling for them as a couple and it's made worse by the author doing way too many start-and-stop, "one step forward, two steps back" with them, to the point where when they (finally) get their HEA, you no longer really care, and really doubt they'll get it. More like another divorce somewhere down the line.
The h had a lot of issues stemming from her pathologically over possessive mother, which pretty much tanked her marriage to the H, who should have known better than to marry a 19-year-old when he was quite a bit older (didn't say the age difference but I'm guessing he was in his early thirties) and very jaded. It was one of those marriages that consisted mainly of sex, but because it was so good they forgot the bad stuff for a time, until it became impossible.
But for the H to marry her in part to spite her mother (and her crap opinion of him), expect her to cope with his celebrity lifestyle when she was only just learning to stand on her own two feet and was still shy and insecure, and then to make her think he cheated on her so she'd want to end their marriage (for her own good, of course) was just plain STUPID!!!!
And so was the way he acted at the public announcement of her engagement to the OM; the things he said deserved the champagne the h flung on his face, but what he really needed was a bar of soap in his mouth!
This was one case where I could understand the h repressing her feelings for the H and trying to get on with her life by getting engaged to the OM and convincing herself she loved him, but the fact that she kept putting off sleeping with him (not to mention her reluctance to set a wedding date) should have told her something.
And this book is full of toxic relatives: the OM's father was domineering, selfish, opinionated and a real hypocrite, as he berated the H for his immoral behavior (he had quite a rep for sleeping around) when meanwhile he had cheated on his wife with more than one woman! She was one of those long-suffering martyrs, who had the good sense (I guess) to have a heart attack when things got really overwhelming and this made her jerk hubby finally come to his senses.
What a pair! And it took FOREVER for the OM to stand up to Daddy, despite being 34 years old! Unbelievable!
Even the h's aunt was no prize, keeping it secret that she and the H had been in touch ever since the divorce and not letting the h know that the H had been keeping tabs on her, and returned because they both thought she was making a mistake in planning to marry the OM.
Just too much!
The h was no prize, as she ends up sleeping with the H while still engaged to the OM! And was still planning to marry him for a time after that (making all kinds of excuses as to why she and the H hit the sheets, not ready to accept the truth), hoping he'd forgive her. (WTF!!!) Even if she hadn't cheated, she was still WRONG to stay engaged to him when she had all these conflicting feelings for the H, assuring the OM that he meant nothing to her anymore. (Yeah, right!)
Thank goodness the OM got his balls out of cold storage, broke things off with her, broke away from his father's stranglehold and found a woman who really loved him, for a HEA of his own!
The H was no better, getting engaged himself, trying to ignore his feelings for the h, and planning a life with someone else who was very different from her (big surprise) in an effort to forget. Good thing the OW came to her senses and dumped him for another guy!
And here's another thought: if the H had always loved the h (and I'm dubious about that) and believed that she had been too young and sheltered when they got married, then how come he never tried to get back in touch with her after three or four years, after her mother died and she started her career and grew up and got confidence? Why did he let a few more years go by, until she was ready to make a life with someone else? Whether or not she was choosing the wrong man, I don't think he had the right to disrupt her life, when she had been (to use that saying) single as a pringle for several years before that? At one point in the story, she told him he doesn't want her but doesn't want anyone else to have her either; that statement seems to fit him.
Ironically, when the chips were really down at times (like when her grandfather died and when injuries tom his hand tanked his concert career) they were both there for each other, giving comfort and a shoulder to cry on. They should have extended those feelings of closeness and caring into everyday life, instead of keeping them bottled up.
This couple had so many psychological issues that they should have reconciled on a psychiatrist's couch!
Enough said!
OH, COME ON!!! I've said it before and I'll say I again: DON'T INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE!!!
Okay, I vented! As for the story. it's one of those with more introspection than action, and (like those old historical romance novels from the 70's) the H and h spend more time apart than together. In fact, she spends a lot more time with the OM and (though it happens off scene), it's the same for the H and the OW. So, it's hard to work up much feeling for them as a couple and it's made worse by the author doing way too many start-and-stop, "one step forward, two steps back" with them, to the point where when they (finally) get their HEA, you no longer really care, and really doubt they'll get it. More like another divorce somewhere down the line.
The h had a lot of issues stemming from her pathologically over possessive mother, which pretty much tanked her marriage to the H, who should have known better than to marry a 19-year-old when he was quite a bit older (didn't say the age difference but I'm guessing he was in his early thirties) and very jaded. It was one of those marriages that consisted mainly of sex, but because it was so good they forgot the bad stuff for a time, until it became impossible.
But for the H to marry her in part to spite her mother (and her crap opinion of him), expect her to cope with his celebrity lifestyle when she was only just learning to stand on her own two feet and was still shy and insecure, and then to make her think he cheated on her so she'd want to end their marriage (for her own good, of course) was just plain STUPID!!!!
And so was the way he acted at the public announcement of her engagement to the OM; the things he said deserved the champagne the h flung on his face, but what he really needed was a bar of soap in his mouth!
This was one case where I could understand the h repressing her feelings for the H and trying to get on with her life by getting engaged to the OM and convincing herself she loved him, but the fact that she kept putting off sleeping with him (not to mention her reluctance to set a wedding date) should have told her something.
And this book is full of toxic relatives: the OM's father was domineering, selfish, opinionated and a real hypocrite, as he berated the H for his immoral behavior (he had quite a rep for sleeping around) when meanwhile he had cheated on his wife with more than one woman! She was one of those long-suffering martyrs, who had the good sense (I guess) to have a heart attack when things got really overwhelming and this made her jerk hubby finally come to his senses.
What a pair! And it took FOREVER for the OM to stand up to Daddy, despite being 34 years old! Unbelievable!
Even the h's aunt was no prize, keeping it secret that she and the H had been in touch ever since the divorce and not letting the h know that the H had been keeping tabs on her, and returned because they both thought she was making a mistake in planning to marry the OM.
Just too much!
The h was no prize, as she ends up sleeping with the H while still engaged to the OM! And was still planning to marry him for a time after that (making all kinds of excuses as to why she and the H hit the sheets, not ready to accept the truth), hoping he'd forgive her. (WTF!!!) Even if she hadn't cheated, she was still WRONG to stay engaged to him when she had all these conflicting feelings for the H, assuring the OM that he meant nothing to her anymore. (Yeah, right!)
Thank goodness the OM got his balls out of cold storage, broke things off with her, broke away from his father's stranglehold and found a woman who really loved him, for a HEA of his own!
The H was no better, getting engaged himself, trying to ignore his feelings for the h, and planning a life with someone else who was very different from her (big surprise) in an effort to forget. Good thing the OW came to her senses and dumped him for another guy!
And here's another thought: if the H had always loved the h (and I'm dubious about that) and believed that she had been too young and sheltered when they got married, then how come he never tried to get back in touch with her after three or four years, after her mother died and she started her career and grew up and got confidence? Why did he let a few more years go by, until she was ready to make a life with someone else? Whether or not she was choosing the wrong man, I don't think he had the right to disrupt her life, when she had been (to use that saying) single as a pringle for several years before that? At one point in the story, she told him he doesn't want her but doesn't want anyone else to have her either; that statement seems to fit him.
Ironically, when the chips were really down at times (like when her grandfather died and when injuries tom his hand tanked his concert career) they were both there for each other, giving comfort and a shoulder to cry on. They should have extended those feelings of closeness and caring into everyday life, instead of keeping them bottled up.
This couple had so many psychological issues that they should have reconciled on a psychiatrist's couch!
Enough said!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2019
Not that I care! she tried to tell herself
At nineteen, Hillary had been a little girl trying to keep up with a husband light years ahead of her. When the marriage ended, she built a wall around the memory of Clive Eastman.
Six years later, Hillary had grown up. She had made a name as Brisbane's foremost interior designer, and she had found a man she thought she could share her life with.
Then Clive returned. And one chance meeting was all it took to reawaken feelings Hillary thought she'd succeeded in hiding.
At nineteen, Hillary had been a little girl trying to keep up with a husband light years ahead of her. When the marriage ended, she built a wall around the memory of Clive Eastman.
Six years later, Hillary had grown up. She had made a name as Brisbane's foremost interior designer, and she had found a man she thought she could share her life with.
Then Clive returned. And one chance meeting was all it took to reawaken feelings Hillary thought she'd succeeded in hiding.
October 28, 2025
Vintage Love Story 1986:
A labyrinth of a love story. A well written plot from the innocence of how Hero and Heroine met and through the maze that these two characters wove themselves into. Readers ride with the Heroine as she navigates through her heartaches and wonder will Heroine ever get over it and move on or remain without her one true love. At the end the reader asks, Does one have to be cruel to love? The writer certainly made Hero with all his strengths and failures forgivable for what he made Heroine go through for like a well written romance everything stems from true love. With the happy outcome from all the struggles and difficulties of Hero and Heroine, the reader finally sighs and quotes the famous “All’s Well that Ends Well.”
CYA’58
A labyrinth of a love story. A well written plot from the innocence of how Hero and Heroine met and through the maze that these two characters wove themselves into. Readers ride with the Heroine as she navigates through her heartaches and wonder will Heroine ever get over it and move on or remain without her one true love. At the end the reader asks, Does one have to be cruel to love? The writer certainly made Hero with all his strengths and failures forgivable for what he made Heroine go through for like a well written romance everything stems from true love. With the happy outcome from all the struggles and difficulties of Hero and Heroine, the reader finally sighs and quotes the famous “All’s Well that Ends Well.”
CYA’58
December 28, 2017
265-عاشقة حائرة
روايات عبير الجديدة
بالرغم من كل الجهود لمنعها اصرت هيلاري على زواج من راب ساندرز الوسيم الصبور الذي يحبها كثيراً.
كانت تتمنى لو ان والديه مختلفان خاصة ان اباه الطموح الاناني الذي يجعلها متوترة دائما .
اي حق لديه لينتقذ زواجها السابق من كليف ويعاملها وكأنه عار على العائلة تلك العلاقة انتهت واصبحت في ماضي هيلاري, ومايهمها الآن هو راي ومستقبلها كمصممة ديكور , ولن يستطيع احد ان يقنعه بغير ذلك سوى ...
روايات عبير الجديدة
بالرغم من كل الجهود لمنعها اصرت هيلاري على زواج من راب ساندرز الوسيم الصبور الذي يحبها كثيراً.
كانت تتمنى لو ان والديه مختلفان خاصة ان اباه الطموح الاناني الذي يجعلها متوترة دائما .
اي حق لديه لينتقذ زواجها السابق من كليف ويعاملها وكأنه عار على العائلة تلك العلاقة انتهت واصبحت في ماضي هيلاري, ومايهمها الآن هو راي ومستقبلها كمصممة ديكور , ولن يستطيع احد ان يقنعه بغير ذلك سوى ...
April 9, 2023
Not truly four stars but rounding up because h and H are complex, complicated people who manage to be real. That’s a good writer!
H lied to her when he pushed for divorce. He claimed he married her to spite her mom, that may have been the trigger but he actually married h because he loved her. Both her aunt and his agent saw it, not sure H did, at least not for several years.
H lied to her when he pushed for divorce. He claimed he married her to spite her mom, that may have been the trigger but he actually married h because he loved her. Both her aunt and his agent saw it, not sure H did, at least not for several years.
June 16, 2019
Second chance vintage! Very emotional! A sacrifice and a huge misunderstanding almost repelled this couple. Breaking all barriers they found their love, the second time around. Cannot say I loved it but I didn't hate it either.
March 3, 2021
3,5 stars
October 5, 2024
I thought the idea of the H being a tall, sexy violinist kind of hilarious! The h annoyed me, she was constantly crying!
August 27, 2025
Forgot the book and re-read recently. Didnt like it at all this time.
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