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A Frozen Fire
The marriage of Helen and Paul Eastwood had been a farce. When Mark Eliot appeared in her life, she doubted the loyalty and affection she had for her husband would be enough to reject the love that Mark offered.
192 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 1980
About the author
Charlotte Lamb
262 books316 followersSheila Ann Mary Coates Holland
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy
Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy
Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 6, 2017
The beauty had not so much gone as suffered a sea change—having been transmuted into an ageless appeal which would only deepen with time. This is how Mark will look as he grows old, Helen thought, and was so deeply struck by the realisation that she stared in startled surprise. Paul, when he aged, would lose the golden mask he showed the world. Mark's beauty came from within and would increase. She wondered what on earth Paul would be like when he lost his male beauty. The selfish shallow nature would show then, rising like a disturbing scum to the surface of his features.
How do you rate a book where the writing is riveting, almost flawless; where the psychology behind the very damaged characters is so vivid that you find yourself reminiscing about people in your life who fit those criteria exactly; where you can't put down the book and have to turn the pages avidly, even as the content fills you with loathing.
The answer, for me, is that I base my rating on my positive emotional response to the romance. If, at the end of the book, I love the characters like they are friends that I got to know on a short journey together, if I don't want to let go of the characters at the end, if I find myself imagining a rosy epilogue, if I put it down as a must re-read that will lift me out of my next slump, I will give the book a high rating.
If, on the other hand, as is the case here, I shudder at the thought of returning inside the head of the narrator of this tale; if not only the content of the book left me nauseated but the ending depressed me too; if I wished I had never stumbled upon the dark, tragic fictional bubble that the author created so realistically, then I am going to rate accordingly, no matter how much, objectively, I can find the book to be masterfully written.
I have said before how many of the Lamb books are ironic, winking-at-the-reader, parodies. Others are light-hearted, romantic farces. Many are the over-the-top, sensual, angsty reads that Harlequins are the most known for. And then there are books like Frozen Fire in which you sense the author's quasi-autobiographical, raw, confessional feelings masked behind the characters and plot.
The description of the blindly, stiflingly uncaring mother, the abusive, sadistic, and in his own way, truly sick and helpless child-husband, the martyr heroine caught in a hell of her own making, all make me shudder at the thought of real life inspiration that the author may have dug through to exorcise her demons on the page.
These themes are ones that often show up through her books in one form or other but here, the bleakness here reigns supreme, with really no or very little lightheartedness, aside from the comic styling of a dog, which seem out of place, in the otherwise dreary, dark story. Even the weather, with its constant clouds, whipping winds, and rainfalls and the seasons, since the story takes place in fall and winter, contribute to the atmosphere of gloom.
Kiddos, if you are looking for something to cheer you up, allow you to escape into the world of yacht-sailing Greek tycoons and ugly-duckling Little Orphan Annies who transform, by sheer pluck, into royalty overnight, this ain't the book for you. But if you want a gorgeous yet miserable reading experience, you will definitely be in for a wallop with A Frozen Fire.
How do you rate a book where the writing is riveting, almost flawless; where the psychology behind the very damaged characters is so vivid that you find yourself reminiscing about people in your life who fit those criteria exactly; where you can't put down the book and have to turn the pages avidly, even as the content fills you with loathing.
The answer, for me, is that I base my rating on my positive emotional response to the romance. If, at the end of the book, I love the characters like they are friends that I got to know on a short journey together, if I don't want to let go of the characters at the end, if I find myself imagining a rosy epilogue, if I put it down as a must re-read that will lift me out of my next slump, I will give the book a high rating.
If, on the other hand, as is the case here, I shudder at the thought of returning inside the head of the narrator of this tale; if not only the content of the book left me nauseated but the ending depressed me too; if I wished I had never stumbled upon the dark, tragic fictional bubble that the author created so realistically, then I am going to rate accordingly, no matter how much, objectively, I can find the book to be masterfully written.
I have said before how many of the Lamb books are ironic, winking-at-the-reader, parodies. Others are light-hearted, romantic farces. Many are the over-the-top, sensual, angsty reads that Harlequins are the most known for. And then there are books like Frozen Fire in which you sense the author's quasi-autobiographical, raw, confessional feelings masked behind the characters and plot.
The description of the blindly, stiflingly uncaring mother, the abusive, sadistic, and in his own way, truly sick and helpless child-husband, the martyr heroine caught in a hell of her own making, all make me shudder at the thought of real life inspiration that the author may have dug through to exorcise her demons on the page.
These themes are ones that often show up through her books in one form or other but here, the bleakness here reigns supreme, with really no or very little lightheartedness, aside from the comic styling of a dog, which seem out of place, in the otherwise dreary, dark story. Even the weather, with its constant clouds, whipping winds, and rainfalls and the seasons, since the story takes place in fall and winter, contribute to the atmosphere of gloom.
Kiddos, if you are looking for something to cheer you up, allow you to escape into the world of yacht-sailing Greek tycoons and ugly-duckling Little Orphan Annies who transform, by sheer pluck, into royalty overnight, this ain't the book for you. But if you want a gorgeous yet miserable reading experience, you will definitely be in for a wallop with A Frozen Fire.
September 27, 2016
There is no school like old skool.
What we need here are three 2' by 4's. The main one for the weasly yet attractive cheating SOB of a husband to the h as well as one each for the h and the H. Ye gods, this chick can't catch a break.
Oh, for the love of God, this woman is not a doormat. Nope, she is a grade martyr getting fast-tracked for sainthood.
FINAL UPDATE:
I should take my generous 3 stars and leave for crying out loud.
I started with a solid three star, possible four star old school Harlequin. The h and her husband have been married for a couple of years and he has cheated for a looooonnnnggg time. She is over it, and they have not had marital relationships for over a year. So, basically, she's a smart cookie, but is bound to the marriage because she made vows although she has no hope of it getting any better. The happy couple have now moved to Yorkshire for yet another new start due to his predilection to have sex with anything that moves.
The jackass husband apparently hits anything. He's even stupid enough to make the moves on his boss's younger sister. The h eventually puts the kibosh by very sweetly explaining to the girl that she is not the first nor the last in her husband's harem.
The h is not a stupid woman on the surface. She knows her husband for the infantile lech that he is. However, she:
1) Takes on a job with the H, and lets her husband take the money to fund his other lifestyle aka women and drinking.
2) Refuses to leave her husband because she feels he needs her.
3. Knows the marriage has no hope
Bottom line, the loser keeps upping the ante on infidelity, while in another hemisphere, the H and h's attraction develops into passionate but unrequited love. Sadly, the h can not pull the trigger on the failed, empty, sad and lonely marriage. Even Pope John Paul II, pope in 197, would have dissolved this union.
The bad, in addition to adultery: Her husband is rarely home, occasionally threatens forcible relations aka rape, buys Christmas presents for other women, flirts overtly, and is NOT HOME at Christmas at all, ever.
Geez, where do I go from here.
There is so much angsty goodness, but the story totally implodes at the end. It implodes so completely I hardly know what to say. No spoilers here, but frickin' A, there has to be a violation of Harlequin canon over this ending. Never has a Harlequin ended thusly, CHARLOTTE LAMB.
So, bottom line, I am reluctantly keeping the 3 star rating as they are some Harlequin masochists that will put this in a dish and put chocolate sauce on top. For me, ...I am so confused! It had so much potential.
What we need here are three 2' by 4's. The main one for the weasly yet attractive cheating SOB of a husband to the h as well as one each for the h and the H. Ye gods, this chick can't catch a break.
Oh, for the love of God, this woman is not a doormat. Nope, she is a grade martyr getting fast-tracked for sainthood.
FINAL UPDATE:
I should take my generous 3 stars and leave for crying out loud.
I started with a solid three star, possible four star old school Harlequin. The h and her husband have been married for a couple of years and he has cheated for a looooonnnnggg time. She is over it, and they have not had marital relationships for over a year. So, basically, she's a smart cookie, but is bound to the marriage because she made vows although she has no hope of it getting any better. The happy couple have now moved to Yorkshire for yet another new start due to his predilection to have sex with anything that moves.
The jackass husband apparently hits anything. He's even stupid enough to make the moves on his boss's younger sister. The h eventually puts the kibosh by very sweetly explaining to the girl that she is not the first nor the last in her husband's harem.
The h is not a stupid woman on the surface. She knows her husband for the infantile lech that he is. However, she:
1) Takes on a job with the H, and lets her husband take the money to fund his other lifestyle aka women and drinking.
2) Refuses to leave her husband because she feels he needs her.
3. Knows the marriage has no hope
Bottom line, the loser keeps upping the ante on infidelity, while in another hemisphere, the H and h's attraction develops into passionate but unrequited love. Sadly, the h can not pull the trigger on the failed, empty, sad and lonely marriage. Even Pope John Paul II, pope in 197, would have dissolved this union.
The bad, in addition to adultery: Her husband is rarely home, occasionally threatens forcible relations aka rape, buys Christmas presents for other women, flirts overtly, and is NOT HOME at Christmas at all, ever.
Geez, where do I go from here.
There is so much angsty goodness, but the story totally implodes at the end. It implodes so completely I hardly know what to say. No spoilers here, but frickin' A, there has to be a violation of Harlequin canon over this ending. Never has a Harlequin ended thusly, CHARLOTTE LAMB.
So, bottom line, I am reluctantly keeping the 3 star rating as they are some Harlequin masochists that will put this in a dish and put chocolate sauce on top. For me, ...I am so confused! It had so much potential.
June 24, 2017
Frozen Fire was one of the strangest HPs I've ever read. It's not Charlotte Lamb's worst, by any means; actually it's quite well-written and if it was a two part story I would have loved it. But as it stands, the book focuses way too much on Helen's relationship with her husband and not with the hero.
Helen has been married to Paul for many years and he's cheated on her time and time again. They've had to move various times whenever his affairs caused too much trouble. So here they are again, in a new town with a new job for Paul, and Helen is sticking around but she she's not sleeping with her husband. Still, she's faithful to Paul even if he isn't, because she's the kind of person who keeps her vows even though her husband doesn't. Plus he's super, super hot. That's it. The man treats her like crap, but he's SO good looking she won't divorce him.
Enter Paul's boss, Mark. There is a strong attraction present, and when Mark realizes what's going on in Helen's marriage, he pursues her with a vengeance. Mark's a great character: a wonderful man who's dominant, but sensitive. But he's always on the fringes. Paul is the main guy in this story.
It was unsettling how Helen so was committed to her terrible marriage. She was the ultimate martyr and refused to divorce her adulterous, emotionally abusive husband. But it's the end that's REALLY bizarre.
***MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS***
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*
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*
That's the grand finale to Helen and Mark's love story? What an awful way to end a romance novel!
Nevertheless, the book did keep my interest and I rate it a tepid three stars because of the wonderful hero and the unusual circumstances surrounding the love story, even if it's not handled in the most creative manner.
3 stars
Helen has been married to Paul for many years and he's cheated on her time and time again. They've had to move various times whenever his affairs caused too much trouble. So here they are again, in a new town with a new job for Paul, and Helen is sticking around but she she's not sleeping with her husband. Still, she's faithful to Paul even if he isn't, because she's the kind of person who keeps her vows even though her husband doesn't. Plus he's super, super hot. That's it. The man treats her like crap, but he's SO good looking she won't divorce him.
Enter Paul's boss, Mark. There is a strong attraction present, and when Mark realizes what's going on in Helen's marriage, he pursues her with a vengeance. Mark's a great character: a wonderful man who's dominant, but sensitive. But he's always on the fringes. Paul is the main guy in this story.
It was unsettling how Helen so was committed to her terrible marriage. She was the ultimate martyr and refused to divorce her adulterous, emotionally abusive husband. But it's the end that's REALLY bizarre.
***MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS***
*
*
*
*
*
That's the grand finale to Helen and Mark's love story? What an awful way to end a romance novel!
Nevertheless, the book did keep my interest and I rate it a tepid three stars because of the wonderful hero and the unusual circumstances surrounding the love story, even if it's not handled in the most creative manner.
3 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2021
Holy cow, what the heck just happened?? Karma, the end!
Only Charlotte Lamb could pull this off.
5 stars for the WTF ending.
ETA: The above was posted in the afterglow of one crazy ending, having said that, the writing is 5 stars but the story itself is only 2 stars. The wife takes marriage martyrdom to a new low. I’m leaving it at 5 stars, because, yes, she went there.😆🐎😆
Only Charlotte Lamb could pull this off.
5 stars for the WTF ending.
ETA: The above was posted in the afterglow of one crazy ending, having said that, the writing is 5 stars but the story itself is only 2 stars. The wife takes marriage martyrdom to a new low. I’m leaving it at 5 stars, because, yes, she went there.😆🐎😆
June 9, 2017
Really strange book. For most of the first half it was quite an acceptable, enjoyable HP from good ol' Charlotte Lamb, with your typical beautiful, heroic martyr heroine locked in a loveless marriage to a selfish man-child whilst pining in love for her boss, who's also madly in love with her. Just your usual angsty setup, with surprisingly deep commentary on psychology and unhappy relationships. It definitely started to drag after all the players and setup were well established, and my patience meter was running on fumes with the whole I-can't-divorce-him theme song running on replay for so long...
And then WHAT?!? Wait what just happened? Huh? Wtf? Who? Wha-? ¿Qué?
If you like endings, this isn't the book for you. It was basically like, here is a story and then it
And then WHAT?!? Wait what just happened? Huh? Wtf? Who? Wha-? ¿Qué?
If you like endings, this isn't the book for you. It was basically like, here is a story and then it
November 18, 2016
Beautiful 24 years old h married to a selfish, gorgeous serial adulterer. The story starts with h driving to a small town in Yorkshire shortly after her mother has passed away. She was thinking about her marriage of 3 years, the three moves they had to have due to her husband's infidelity and scandal, the leftover money from her inheritance after paying her husband's debt to his last mistress husband and how she was going to use it to divorce him if things have not changed. We learn she has not slept with him for over a year but she was reluctant to leave him. There was a good looking guy on a horseback on the road, they had few words...she gets to the cottage which was provided by the company and learns her husband who has been there only for 6 weeks has already established a reputation, she also notices her husband heavy drinking habit.
Her husband was not only an alcoholic but he grabbed her few times late at night and threaten to take what she was not offering.
The man on the horse happened to be her husband's boss and because her husband was spending all the money on his entertainment she started working for him as his secretary. They had an emotional affair with some heavy handed touching with her boss.
Even though she was in love with her boss, she didn't want to leave her husband. She felt her role has changed and her husband loved her like a spoiled child loves his mother. She felt he needed her. Only ten pages before the end, she decided she was going to go to London and get a divorce but there was an abrupt ending and her reason to go to London was no longer there.
Her husband was not only an alcoholic but he grabbed her few times late at night and threaten to take what she was not offering.
The man on the horse happened to be her husband's boss and because her husband was spending all the money on his entertainment she started working for him as his secretary. They had an emotional affair with some heavy handed touching with her boss.
Even though she was in love with her boss, she didn't want to leave her husband. She felt her role has changed and her husband loved her like a spoiled child loves his mother. She felt he needed her. Only ten pages before the end, she decided she was going to go to London and get a divorce but there was an abrupt ending and her reason to go to London was no longer there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2016
I don't know whether my novel was incomplete or not but that was the weirdest ending ever to a novel. The death of Paul most certainly saved the heroine from getting a divorce though.
December 29, 2024
This one is rather different amongst Charlotte Lamb’s harlequin romance collection. It’s not that the explosive romance between the married heroine Helen Eastwood and her charming manly boss , the hero Mark Eliot was any unique, but rather it was her complex and toxic relationship with her husband of three years Paul Eastwood,the rather selfishly weak and coldly beautiful villain in this story.
July 19, 2020
Charlotte Lamb is an outstanding writer, but I hated this book. The woman was such a martyr and doormat. Her husband cheated on her and was abusive, but when he went away for a week she redecorated his room and made it cosy. And although she knew she was in love with another man, when her cheating husband tried to make love to her, she would have gone all the way with her husband, wasn’t it for the fact that he couldn’t do it at the last moment. The ending was really weird and disturbing. I couldn’t understand the woman at all that she stayed with her husband and I have no sympathy at all for her. She just looks stupid and idiot to stay married while the guy she loves begs her to come to him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2015
Wtf!!!! Did I miss something here!!??? I was so confused! It was a love story or sorry? You should be ashamed of this book Charlotte! It was so so confusing.
March 23, 2018
Too much lingering in inconsequential things at the beginning, so ending is abrupt as if author didn't have any more page allotment left to write any longer.
It didn't make sense why Helen tried to leave her cheating husband before but was so insistent on staying after she fell in love with Mark. You would think she had more reason for divorce.
Also door bells ringing like some authors depict "official sounding" or "chiming angrily" and with so on "feelings"(!) make me laugh.
It didn't make sense why Helen tried to leave her cheating husband before but was so insistent on staying after she fell in love with Mark. You would think she had more reason for divorce.
Also door bells ringing like some authors depict "official sounding" or "chiming angrily" and with so on "feelings"(!) make me laugh.
July 1, 2013
Well! I have now been procrastinating from Goodreads for a year-and-a-half! I kept putting it on my to-do list, and kept... Well, I'm sure my fellow procrastinators know how it goes. In any event, I plan to update my list, and have accepted all overdue friend-requests. Please accept my apologies.
(Mild spoilers follow)
As for this book, I suppose I had better review it. (I knew of no other way to make a public apology on this website, so I thought I should do it in a review of my most-recently-read book!) 'Twill not be spectacular, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
*** 1/2 out of *****. I knew that I was supposed to dislike Paul (the heroine's philandering, spoiled, childish husband), but, perhaps because of a streak of perversity in my nature which makes me wish to like any character that an author intends for me to hate -- love-rivals in particular -- I found myself rather hoping that she would stay with him. He rather reminds me of another blond, boyishly-beautiful love-rival -- whatever-his-forename-was Forbes (was he also a Paul?), the leading man in the film and the heroine's costar in Brand of Possession (although I was strangely free of my usual desire to like him), although he's nine years younger, at thirty-four. To Mrs. Lamb's credit, she does not make him as black as night. Heavens, some (nay, quite a few) of her heroes have done much more foul and nefarious things -- although the hero in this book is levelheaded, and a nice man -- as I mentioned in my review of Frustration, Lamb-heroes do tend to have bats in the belfry, and cross that fine line between "alpha male" and "sociopath". I tend to agree with other readers that such heroes belong in bodice-rippers, not contemporaries. There are exceptions in her late-70s/early-80s canon, of course, but honestly: "pussycat -- call the police."
The uncertainty -- which one would the heroine end up with? -- helped to interest me in this book. I like a little mystery about that in a Harlequin/Mills & Boon from time-to-time -- it helps to keep things from becoming too dull and predictable. Despite the husband's infidelity, I was at least a little uncertain about this, for her relationship with him, however stormy, did have its sweet moments, and I have read at least one book where an adulterous husband mended his ways (Jake Howard's Wife) -- or it transpired that she had been mistaken about his true nature all along (Duel for Happiness -- although that was a Mystique novel, which were translated and published by the same company, but follow a different formula). These older books, at least, appear to have a taboo about actually breaking up a marriage -- the spouse usually has to die (usually).
Well, this review ended up being quite long! I do hope that it's adequate.
(Mild spoilers follow)
As for this book, I suppose I had better review it. (I knew of no other way to make a public apology on this website, so I thought I should do it in a review of my most-recently-read book!) 'Twill not be spectacular, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
*** 1/2 out of *****. I knew that I was supposed to dislike Paul (the heroine's philandering, spoiled, childish husband), but, perhaps because of a streak of perversity in my nature which makes me wish to like any character that an author intends for me to hate -- love-rivals in particular -- I found myself rather hoping that she would stay with him. He rather reminds me of another blond, boyishly-beautiful love-rival -- whatever-his-forename-was Forbes (was he also a Paul?), the leading man in the film and the heroine's costar in Brand of Possession (although I was strangely free of my usual desire to like him), although he's nine years younger, at thirty-four. To Mrs. Lamb's credit, she does not make him as black as night. Heavens, some (nay, quite a few) of her heroes have done much more foul and nefarious things -- although the hero in this book is levelheaded, and a nice man -- as I mentioned in my review of Frustration, Lamb-heroes do tend to have bats in the belfry, and cross that fine line between "alpha male" and "sociopath". I tend to agree with other readers that such heroes belong in bodice-rippers, not contemporaries. There are exceptions in her late-70s/early-80s canon, of course, but honestly: "pussycat -- call the police."
The uncertainty -- which one would the heroine end up with? -- helped to interest me in this book. I like a little mystery about that in a Harlequin/Mills & Boon from time-to-time -- it helps to keep things from becoming too dull and predictable. Despite the husband's infidelity, I was at least a little uncertain about this, for her relationship with him, however stormy, did have its sweet moments, and I have read at least one book where an adulterous husband mended his ways (Jake Howard's Wife) -- or it transpired that she had been mistaken about his true nature all along (Duel for Happiness -- although that was a Mystique novel, which were translated and published by the same company, but follow a different formula). These older books, at least, appear to have a taboo about actually breaking up a marriage -- the spouse usually has to die (usually).
Well, this review ended up being quite long! I do hope that it's adequate.
April 24, 2015
I hated it! The h is so pathetic and stupid I wanted to slap her myself...she was a spineless, jealous martyr.
June 8, 2023
"Faced with the actual problem of divorcing Paul, she always stumbled like a child in the dark, having no hand to guide her, no certainty to tell her she was acting unwisely"
JFC, her husband is a waster, a serial (and prolific) adulterer, free with his choking and rape threats. The H is a hard working, wealthy hunk, rock to his wider family and patently in love with her - he declares it more than once. I'm not sure whether semaphore, sign language or braille would make this situation any clearer to this ridiculous martyred h, Helen. There's nobility, honour and ethics and then there's the kind of self denial and self sacrifice that's just pathological. She needs therapy, never mind a hea. Mark, she does not deserve you.
Thoughts and prayers with all those generations of dependent women who had to put up with marriages like that. They were everywhere when I was a kid. I guess they still exist, but you'd like to hope things are moving on.
Anyway, compellingly written but if you can read this without biting lumps out of the furniture, well, we might need to talk. Incidentally, also the most weirdly abrupt ending I've ever seen in a HP. As if she got to the maximum word count and put her pen down!
JFC, her husband is a waster, a serial (and prolific) adulterer, free with his choking and rape threats. The H is a hard working, wealthy hunk, rock to his wider family and patently in love with her - he declares it more than once. I'm not sure whether semaphore, sign language or braille would make this situation any clearer to this ridiculous martyred h, Helen. There's nobility, honour and ethics and then there's the kind of self denial and self sacrifice that's just pathological. She needs therapy, never mind a hea. Mark, she does not deserve you.
Thoughts and prayers with all those generations of dependent women who had to put up with marriages like that. They were everywhere when I was a kid. I guess they still exist, but you'd like to hope things are moving on.
Anyway, compellingly written but if you can read this without biting lumps out of the furniture, well, we might need to talk. Incidentally, also the most weirdly abrupt ending I've ever seen in a HP. As if she got to the maximum word count and put her pen down!
February 9, 2021
Stark, compelling read. A work of beautiful writing produced by a keen thinker and great writer.
But as many other reviewers, especially Naksed have pointed out, its not really worth a re-read. Nobody would willingly re-enter this emotional minefield.
A love story that ends with the heroine crying over the scum bag husband's dead body while the hero looks on sombrely !
Very corrosive relationship between the heroine and her perpetually erring husband. Been married for 3 years, she was young and foolish at 21. Fell for his easy charm. Now he is on a non-stop joy ride of girls, cars, drink and merry making. While she plays his mother, housekeeper, guardian with stoic acceptance.
But no, you cant write her off as a spineless doormat. She is strong, financially independent, knows her husband for exactly what he is. She pities him and feels responsible for him, almost like a parent. As a reader, I can easily dismiss this reaction as pathetic hogwash. But there are plenty of women out there who put up with abusive relationships for even weirder reasons.
Only thing she draws a line at is the physical part. She doesn't love him, so she sees no meaning in making love with him.
Now after yet another transfer because of his scandalous affairs, they arrive to make another new start at a distant Yorkshire town. The hero is the boss man in town. The heroine works as his secretary, the lousy husband works as a charmer salesman.
The hero is watching the horrible marriage playing out between the girl and her scum bag husband. He is attracted to her right from the start, but goes about showing it in a very dignified way. She is very cagey about receiving his advances and admiration. But in her mind, she knows the hero has stolen her heart. She doesn't say it in words, because its against her moral code. But he gets the message a little later in the tale.
There is a profound chemistry between the hero and the anguished secretary. They work in perfect tandem professionally. Their mental wavelengths are in tune. Their brief uncontrolled lapses into a bit of physical intimacy is explosive. But everything is kept under a tight leash. Until the very end, when she finally decides enough is enough. She has to let go of the husband, however messy and complicated the process may be.
That's when the final dramatic scene occurs. When the husband comes charging at them both on a wild horse, with a satanic thirst for revenge. He misses and falls to his own death. So for all practical purposes, he engineers a smooth HEA by dying on spot.
None of the real world complexities are brushed under the carpet. The hero's family struggles to come to terms with his choice. But they do, admirably well in the end. The heroine is preparing herself mentally for the divorce process being long drawn and potentially scandalous. The hero is a normal working man, with a normal family and normal weak moments.
A lot of realism, in a fictional story. That's what stands out in this story.
Did I feel nice and happy after reading ? Hell, no !!! But do I regret reading it? Certainly not.
But as many other reviewers, especially Naksed have pointed out, its not really worth a re-read. Nobody would willingly re-enter this emotional minefield.
A love story that ends with the heroine crying over the scum bag husband's dead body while the hero looks on sombrely !
Very corrosive relationship between the heroine and her perpetually erring husband. Been married for 3 years, she was young and foolish at 21. Fell for his easy charm. Now he is on a non-stop joy ride of girls, cars, drink and merry making. While she plays his mother, housekeeper, guardian with stoic acceptance.
But no, you cant write her off as a spineless doormat. She is strong, financially independent, knows her husband for exactly what he is. She pities him and feels responsible for him, almost like a parent. As a reader, I can easily dismiss this reaction as pathetic hogwash. But there are plenty of women out there who put up with abusive relationships for even weirder reasons.
Only thing she draws a line at is the physical part. She doesn't love him, so she sees no meaning in making love with him.
Now after yet another transfer because of his scandalous affairs, they arrive to make another new start at a distant Yorkshire town. The hero is the boss man in town. The heroine works as his secretary, the lousy husband works as a charmer salesman.
The hero is watching the horrible marriage playing out between the girl and her scum bag husband. He is attracted to her right from the start, but goes about showing it in a very dignified way. She is very cagey about receiving his advances and admiration. But in her mind, she knows the hero has stolen her heart. She doesn't say it in words, because its against her moral code. But he gets the message a little later in the tale.
There is a profound chemistry between the hero and the anguished secretary. They work in perfect tandem professionally. Their mental wavelengths are in tune. Their brief uncontrolled lapses into a bit of physical intimacy is explosive. But everything is kept under a tight leash. Until the very end, when she finally decides enough is enough. She has to let go of the husband, however messy and complicated the process may be.
That's when the final dramatic scene occurs. When the husband comes charging at them both on a wild horse, with a satanic thirst for revenge. He misses and falls to his own death. So for all practical purposes, he engineers a smooth HEA by dying on spot.
None of the real world complexities are brushed under the carpet. The hero's family struggles to come to terms with his choice. But they do, admirably well in the end. The heroine is preparing herself mentally for the divorce process being long drawn and potentially scandalous. The hero is a normal working man, with a normal family and normal weak moments.
A lot of realism, in a fictional story. That's what stands out in this story.
Did I feel nice and happy after reading ? Hell, no !!! But do I regret reading it? Certainly not.
July 26, 2018
This book doesn't have an ending..... ok it does but if this had been written today there would have been a second part because it ended on a cliffhanger.
H was okish, h was a pushover.... I could empathise with her but this is a book of its time as her ideas about staying in a marriage that is abuseful, degrading and demeaning because she doesn't believe in divorce, a concept that is thankfully reduced today (Though still around)
H was okish, h was a pushover.... I could empathise with her but this is a book of its time as her ideas about staying in a marriage that is abuseful, degrading and demeaning because she doesn't believe in divorce, a concept that is thankfully reduced today (Though still around)
August 29, 2021
Is this romance?! Cause the heroine is just an abused and battered wife. And the read really doesn't want her to be with anyone until she leaves and is able to heal herself. The hero should be trying to get the heroine to start over and help her escape. The heroine is frustrating but I bet people who know women stuck in terrible relationships can relate. Skip, not deep and not romantic.
January 14, 2018
I was frustrated with Helen throughout this entire book D: I was in awe of how she put up with the constant abuse/ill treatment from Paul. I'm glad he got what he deserved in the end!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
can-wait-not-now
February 4, 2021Mother of all abrupt/unfinished endings. This one really takes the cake. Divorce by death?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2022
This was a ride! Loving these vintage categories
December 1, 2025
Well, this book is sure something. It's another of Charlotte's stunners from the late 1970s/early 1980s. I read it probably a year or two after its original publication, and have picked it up for a re-read every few years since. As a teenager, I wasn't self-aware enough to really get the impact and sheer wtf-ery of this supposed romance. But later on, oh yes.
In summary, Helen is married to Paul, an immature, narcissistic and destructive man-child with exceedingly poor impulse control. He's ruined their lives multiple times, lost yet another job and can't stay away from other women. As the story opens, they have relocated yet again to start over. Helen gets a job at the Yorkshire company where Paul works as the new salesman on the scene. She falls in love with her boss, Mark, who falls in love with her as well. He is a warm, kind, responsible, mature and very handsome man. But Helen is well aware that Paul cannot function without her as his human prop. She's unable to break away and leave Paul stranded, knowing his underlying mental illness, even at the cost of her own welfare. But Mark is a powerful temptation. He's Paul's opposite. He has a large, warm family who clearly think highly of Helen. He's everything Helen wants and needs.
The ending just about beggars belief. It's very abrupt. It's shocking to the nth degree. And in no way does it remotely resemble the M&B/Harlequin publisher-mandated happy ending of any category romance. Since I read this 45 years ago, I have asked myself, how did the editors let CL write this shocking ending and leave it published as-is with no further explanation or assurance that Mark and Helen do in fact get their HEA?
***Spoilers***
At the end, following a warm and happy family Christmas that Mark has forced Helen to join after Paul has once again taken off with no explanation (probably to be with yet another mistress), Mark and Helen are out walking. Paul is nearby on horseback, sees them together, recognizes they are in love, and in a jealous rage, tries to run Mark down. Instead, he is thrown off his horse, hits his head and dies. And that's it. In the last line, Helen hangs her head in her hands and weeps for the destruction of Paul's sad, useless life.
Well, as everyone says, Charlotte Lamb spent years of her writing career making points about difficult issues, taking risks in making social commentary through her books and being just about the best romance writer out there. I can't find it in me to hate this book. I loved the love story. I had a lot of sympathy for Helen, but I really loved Mark, who is described as just about the perfect man you want to be your boyfriend or husband.
This is such a risky book for CL to have written, because of the subject matter, because of that shocking, astounding ending. For the reader the book is sad and probably disheartening. It absolutely isn't a happy or joyful experience. But I still feel privileged to be its audience and I applaud, applaud, applaud what CL was trying to say.
In summary, Helen is married to Paul, an immature, narcissistic and destructive man-child with exceedingly poor impulse control. He's ruined their lives multiple times, lost yet another job and can't stay away from other women. As the story opens, they have relocated yet again to start over. Helen gets a job at the Yorkshire company where Paul works as the new salesman on the scene. She falls in love with her boss, Mark, who falls in love with her as well. He is a warm, kind, responsible, mature and very handsome man. But Helen is well aware that Paul cannot function without her as his human prop. She's unable to break away and leave Paul stranded, knowing his underlying mental illness, even at the cost of her own welfare. But Mark is a powerful temptation. He's Paul's opposite. He has a large, warm family who clearly think highly of Helen. He's everything Helen wants and needs.
The ending just about beggars belief. It's very abrupt. It's shocking to the nth degree. And in no way does it remotely resemble the M&B/Harlequin publisher-mandated happy ending of any category romance. Since I read this 45 years ago, I have asked myself, how did the editors let CL write this shocking ending and leave it published as-is with no further explanation or assurance that Mark and Helen do in fact get their HEA?
***Spoilers***
At the end, following a warm and happy family Christmas that Mark has forced Helen to join after Paul has once again taken off with no explanation (probably to be with yet another mistress), Mark and Helen are out walking. Paul is nearby on horseback, sees them together, recognizes they are in love, and in a jealous rage, tries to run Mark down. Instead, he is thrown off his horse, hits his head and dies. And that's it. In the last line, Helen hangs her head in her hands and weeps for the destruction of Paul's sad, useless life.
Well, as everyone says, Charlotte Lamb spent years of her writing career making points about difficult issues, taking risks in making social commentary through her books and being just about the best romance writer out there. I can't find it in me to hate this book. I loved the love story. I had a lot of sympathy for Helen, but I really loved Mark, who is described as just about the perfect man you want to be your boyfriend or husband.
This is such a risky book for CL to have written, because of the subject matter, because of that shocking, astounding ending. For the reader the book is sad and probably disheartening. It absolutely isn't a happy or joyful experience. But I still feel privileged to be its audience and I applaud, applaud, applaud what CL was trying to say.
December 14, 2014
this was an enjoyable read but what i reproached the author is the heroine's illogical attachment to paul. she was pathetic! yet, mark fell for her. i also felt like they wanted to have sex but dats not necessarily falling in love.
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