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The Australian Tycoon's Proposal
Bronte's had enough of rich, ruthless men - she just narrowly escaped marrying one! Now she's wary of all men, especially when six feet two inches of pure Australian male arrives on her doorstep with a business proposal . . . The chemistry between her and tycoon Steven Randolph is explosive - Bronte finds him impossible to resist, and begins to dream of a future together . . . Only then does she discover Steven is not all he seems.
- GenresRomanceHarlequin Romance
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Margaret Way
617 books165 followersMargaret Way was born and educated in the river city of Brisbane, Australia. Before her marriage she was a well-known pianist, teacher, vocal coach and accompanist, but her hectic musical career came to a halt when her son was born and the demands of motherhood dictated a change of pace.
On a fortuitous impulse she decided to try her hand at romance writing and was thrilled when Mills & Boon accepted her first effort, Time of the Jacaranda, which they published less than a year later in 1970; a feat that brought tears to her father's eyes. Some seventy odd books have followed resulting in a loyal readership whose letters provide a source of support and encouragement. A driving force in all her writing has been the promotion of her much loved country, Australia. She delights in bringing it alive for her readers; its people, way of life, environment, flora and fauna. Her efforts so far have not excited official recognition, but she expects one day she will be awarded the "Order of Australia."
Her interests remain with the arts. She still plays the piano seriously, but her "top Cs" have gone. She is still addicted to collecting antiques and paintings and browsing through galleries. She now lives within sight and sound of beautiful Moreton Bay and its islands, inspiration for some of her books. Her house is full of books, spectacular plants, Chinese screens and pots. She is devoted to her garden and spends much time "directing the design and digging and providing cold drinks and chocolates."
On a fortuitous impulse she decided to try her hand at romance writing and was thrilled when Mills & Boon accepted her first effort, Time of the Jacaranda, which they published less than a year later in 1970; a feat that brought tears to her father's eyes. Some seventy odd books have followed resulting in a loyal readership whose letters provide a source of support and encouragement. A driving force in all her writing has been the promotion of her much loved country, Australia. She delights in bringing it alive for her readers; its people, way of life, environment, flora and fauna. Her efforts so far have not excited official recognition, but she expects one day she will be awarded the "Order of Australia."
Her interests remain with the arts. She still plays the piano seriously, but her "top Cs" have gone. She is still addicted to collecting antiques and paintings and browsing through galleries. She now lives within sight and sound of beautiful Moreton Bay and its islands, inspiration for some of her books. Her house is full of books, spectacular plants, Chinese screens and pots. She is devoted to her garden and spends much time "directing the design and digging and providing cold drinks and chocolates."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 21, 2020
This was a hot mess of a story, with tacky plot points and cringey, racistish characterizations of the OW, which, given its 2004 publication date, I find hard to forgive.
The heroine is a poor, little, not-so-rich girl who has just jilted her fiancé and returned home to the Australian wilds to her great-aunt, the only mother she has ever known. Her own mother neglected her and emotionally undermined her all her life. She catered exclusively to her rich husband, heroine’s stepfather, a mean s.o.b. who makes life a terrorizing ordeal for everyone who happens in his path. Heroine’s mother and stepfather both disown her after she walks out on her fiancé, which they had handpicked for her as the picture perfect, wealthy heir, husband.
The heroine meets her great aunt’s newfound friend, a young man just OOZING with charm, who is helping her renovate her hoarders’ nightmare of a mansion. Heroine is immediately suspicious of him as someone trying to take advantage of an old woman and swindle her out of her home and possessions. After all, her great aunt ain’t hoarding toilet paper but priceless antiques inherited from generations of ancestors, and the vast tract of land she owns is prime real estate and a developer’s dream.
Hero is immediately smitten with heroine but while he seems to know all about her and her family and fiancé drama, he is very tight-lipped about his own background, despite heroine’s constant probing. He is shady both about his family background and about his supposedly platonic relationship with his longtime partner, which brings us to the OW of this story.
Now, MW has written some of the most colorful, deranged, homicidal, whacked out, train wreck OWs in the history of Harlequin. Her description of the OW in this story, in contrast, is very subdued. Apart from some passive-aggressive warning off comments to the heroine, she doesn’t really add much to the story. But it did bother me that after making the choice of making her a woman born in Singapore and raised in Thailand, the author proceeds to have the heroine make some stereotypical remarks about her, such as how ageless she looks, she might be in her twenties or her seventies, etc. The OW’s characterization reeked of old Hollywood stereotypes of Asian women as inscrutable dragon ladies, showing a sweet, submissive face in one situation, while treacherously working behind the scenes to achieve some mischief. Something about the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth and took me out of the story.
I also have to add that I didn’t believe hero’s protestations that he NEVER had any romantic involvement with OW or that they remained platonic business partners and friends only. OW’s revelation that hero confided troubling family secrets to her, the same ones he actively kept from sharing with heroine despite her repeated inquiries, cinched it for me, as did the fact that hero was a proven liar.
It is eventually revealed that hero totally did lie to the heroine, and she was instinctively correct in mistrusting him. Starting with his real name and identity, he pretty much lied by omission about everything. Turns out he is the cousin of the heroine’s jilted fiancé. Years ago, he became estranged from his father and took up his mother’s maiden name. That’s why he knew so much about heroine and her drama, but he chose to play dumb, probably because he thought he couldn’t get her into bed if she knew his real connection to her and her ex-fiancé.
The fact that heroine goes from one cousin to the other for her HEA is a tsunami of tackiness as is the last minute revelation that heroine’s deadbeat, gold digging hall of famer mother also lied to everyone for years about the paternity of heroine’s half-brother. After years of neglect and letting her husband abuse both her children just so she could wear designer clothes and hob knob with the creme de la creme, it was nauseating to see her children forgive her immediately and all but sing kumbaya to her across the Christmas banquet table for the epilogue.
This was pretty horrible on all fronts, what a waste of time :(
The heroine is a poor, little, not-so-rich girl who has just jilted her fiancé and returned home to the Australian wilds to her great-aunt, the only mother she has ever known. Her own mother neglected her and emotionally undermined her all her life. She catered exclusively to her rich husband, heroine’s stepfather, a mean s.o.b. who makes life a terrorizing ordeal for everyone who happens in his path. Heroine’s mother and stepfather both disown her after she walks out on her fiancé, which they had handpicked for her as the picture perfect, wealthy heir, husband.
The heroine meets her great aunt’s newfound friend, a young man just OOZING with charm, who is helping her renovate her hoarders’ nightmare of a mansion. Heroine is immediately suspicious of him as someone trying to take advantage of an old woman and swindle her out of her home and possessions. After all, her great aunt ain’t hoarding toilet paper but priceless antiques inherited from generations of ancestors, and the vast tract of land she owns is prime real estate and a developer’s dream.
Hero is immediately smitten with heroine but while he seems to know all about her and her family and fiancé drama, he is very tight-lipped about his own background, despite heroine’s constant probing. He is shady both about his family background and about his supposedly platonic relationship with his longtime partner, which brings us to the OW of this story.
Now, MW has written some of the most colorful, deranged, homicidal, whacked out, train wreck OWs in the history of Harlequin. Her description of the OW in this story, in contrast, is very subdued. Apart from some passive-aggressive warning off comments to the heroine, she doesn’t really add much to the story. But it did bother me that after making the choice of making her a woman born in Singapore and raised in Thailand, the author proceeds to have the heroine make some stereotypical remarks about her, such as how ageless she looks, she might be in her twenties or her seventies, etc. The OW’s characterization reeked of old Hollywood stereotypes of Asian women as inscrutable dragon ladies, showing a sweet, submissive face in one situation, while treacherously working behind the scenes to achieve some mischief. Something about the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth and took me out of the story.
I also have to add that I didn’t believe hero’s protestations that he NEVER had any romantic involvement with OW or that they remained platonic business partners and friends only. OW’s revelation that hero confided troubling family secrets to her, the same ones he actively kept from sharing with heroine despite her repeated inquiries, cinched it for me, as did the fact that hero was a proven liar.
It is eventually revealed that hero totally did lie to the heroine, and she was instinctively correct in mistrusting him. Starting with his real name and identity, he pretty much lied by omission about everything. Turns out he is the cousin of the heroine’s jilted fiancé. Years ago, he became estranged from his father and took up his mother’s maiden name. That’s why he knew so much about heroine and her drama, but he chose to play dumb, probably because he thought he couldn’t get her into bed if she knew his real connection to her and her ex-fiancé.
The fact that heroine goes from one cousin to the other for her HEA is a tsunami of tackiness as is the last minute revelation that heroine’s deadbeat, gold digging hall of famer mother also lied to everyone for years about the paternity of heroine’s half-brother. After years of neglect and letting her husband abuse both her children just so she could wear designer clothes and hob knob with the creme de la creme, it was nauseating to see her children forgive her immediately and all but sing kumbaya to her across the Christmas banquet table for the epilogue.
This was pretty horrible on all fronts, what a waste of time :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2017
Insisto, no me gusta la forma de escribir de ésta autora. Las ideas están geniales, pero no su forma de escribir.
En este caso es de Bronte, una chica que vuelve a vivir con su tía que fue quien la crió y rescató de las manos de una madre descuidada que deja que le peguen a sus hijos. Allí se topa con Steve, el nuevo y atrayente socio de su tía al que ella trata con mucho recelo. Ha terminado con los hombres y él no es la excepción.
En este caso es de Bronte, una chica que vuelve a vivir con su tía que fue quien la crió y rescató de las manos de una madre descuidada que deja que le peguen a sus hijos. Allí se topa con Steve, el nuevo y atrayente socio de su tía al que ella trata con mucho recelo. Ha terminado con los hombres y él no es la excepción.
May 19, 2023
I enjoyed this Australian romance that was in my TBR pile. I bought this at a local library sale and I voluntarily chose to review this story. I gave a 4* rating. This is not for the under 18 readers. This story pulled me in quickly with the heroine's immediate anger and antagonism. Turns she had some reasons to feel that way. There is a little bit of action and some exploring of Australia. Lot of action toward the end and a real nice ending.
August 6, 2022
Entertaining but too wordy. She describes everything and I pass over a lot of pages.
I like margaret books but some are better than others. King County was perfect I liked the characters and it flowed were you didn't pass over pages
I like margaret books but some are better than others. King County was perfect I liked the characters and it flowed were you didn't pass over pages
March 3, 2018
Interesting story line. Steven is gorgeous. All of the characters have had a hard time but they have overcome. I would love to know the proper outcome of the case against the stepfather.
May 24, 2016
Not a bad story but not the best M&B book I've read. I liked Bronte but I found it hard at times to like Steven as I couldn't really get a sense of who the man was; whenever we got a glimpse into his thoughts, it was all about how hot he found Bronte. I was also a bit displeased with the ending as the whole thing felt a bit rushed to me. Still, it kept me entertained for a few bath times so I have to give it some merit.
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July 27, 2011When Bronte escapes to her childhood sanctuary, she is hard pressed to hide her feelings for Steven. As the sparks fly, she learns she must trust him to keep her and her family safe.
A very nice story.
A very nice story.
June 26, 2016
Um conto para adolescentes, com a pitada q.b. de namorico de Verão. Levezinho como um dia de sol e de ócio. Arrisco a aplicar o termo "naif".
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December 25, 2017Bronte's had enough of rich, ruthless men - she's just narrowly escaped marrying one! Now she's wary of all males, especially the six feet two inches of pure Australian male who arrives on her doorstep with a business proposal.
But the chemistry between her and tycoon Steven Randolph is explosive, and Bronte finds him impossible to resist. She even begins to dream of a future together. Only then does she discover Steven is not all he seems...
But the chemistry between her and tycoon Steven Randolph is explosive, and Bronte finds him impossible to resist. She even begins to dream of a future together. Only then does she discover Steven is not all he seems...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews