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Sweet Illusion
Luke was arrogant and domineering and expected everyone to bow to his will. He was also one of the most attractive men that Marion had ever met, which didn't stop her giving as good as she got when Luke tried to ride roughshod over her. Of course, she didn't mean anything more to him than a particularly annoying colleague. He already had a woman in his life and clearly wasn't interest in Marion. Or was he?
- GenresHarlequin RomanceRomance
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 12, 2020
It's pretty clear that author Angela Carson found inspiration in the works of Mills & Boon medical romance favourite Betty Neels. In 'Sweet Illusion' we have a beautiful young nurse (admittedly she's widowed, which I'm not sure Neels did) and a half-Dutch, half-English big-shot Surgeon (very Neels).
The novel's hero, Luke Challoner, initially believes the heroine, an experienced nurse on his 'Flying Squad', is an unmarried mother who's 'created' a dead husband to shield her young son from an absentee father. From the heroine, Marion's, perspective the hero is a bit of a chauvinist pig - he'd wanted an all-male specialist medical team (on the basis that 'women will just go off and get pregnant') and makes no secret of the fact he would much prefer a male nurse on his Flying Squad.
A series of incidents, however, throw the protagonists together, and Big Surgeon begins to take an interest in Pretty Nurse. Luke takes Marion up in a helicopter to show here where a new bypass road will be built(?), coerces her into attending a medical conference in Holland with him and, most importantly, restores her son to health after he is injured by a runaway lorry. Marion, however, is unwilling to lose her heart again after the grief of widowhood and - despite having a relatively bad case of Treacherous Body Syndrome™ - resists Luke's romantic onslaught. Eventually, however, the heroine realises the hero isn't as much of a misogynist as she thought, and she's fallen for him.
After Marion's realisation, a mild misunderstanding (which in no way qualifies as the usual M&B/Harlequin Great Big Misunderstanding) about the presence of a beautiful Dutch model in Luke's manor house drives a mini-wedge between the protagonists. It's nothing though but a blink-and-you-miss-it blip before their HEA takes place. At the novel's end, Marion is destined to wear a giant diamond ring (Luke happens to be the scion of an Amsterdam diamond dealing family) and is intimating she and Luke will promptly create some siblings to keep her son company.
In summary, 'Sweet Illusion' is 'sweet' - if you like the type of story with pretty minimal tension, relatively gentle romance and only vague threats from OM/OW - you will probably enjoy the novel. I'm rating it a three-star vintage romance read.
The novel's hero, Luke Challoner, initially believes the heroine, an experienced nurse on his 'Flying Squad', is an unmarried mother who's 'created' a dead husband to shield her young son from an absentee father. From the heroine, Marion's, perspective the hero is a bit of a chauvinist pig - he'd wanted an all-male specialist medical team (on the basis that 'women will just go off and get pregnant') and makes no secret of the fact he would much prefer a male nurse on his Flying Squad.
A series of incidents, however, throw the protagonists together, and Big Surgeon begins to take an interest in Pretty Nurse. Luke takes Marion up in a helicopter to show here where a new bypass road will be built(?), coerces her into attending a medical conference in Holland with him and, most importantly, restores her son to health after he is injured by a runaway lorry. Marion, however, is unwilling to lose her heart again after the grief of widowhood and - despite having a relatively bad case of Treacherous Body Syndrome™ - resists Luke's romantic onslaught. Eventually, however, the heroine realises the hero isn't as much of a misogynist as she thought, and she's fallen for him.
After Marion's realisation, a mild misunderstanding (which in no way qualifies as the usual M&B/Harlequin Great Big Misunderstanding) about the presence of a beautiful Dutch model in Luke's manor house drives a mini-wedge between the protagonists. It's nothing though but a blink-and-you-miss-it blip before their HEA takes place. At the novel's end, Marion is destined to wear a giant diamond ring (Luke happens to be the scion of an Amsterdam diamond dealing family) and is intimating she and Luke will promptly create some siblings to keep her son company.
In summary, 'Sweet Illusion' is 'sweet' - if you like the type of story with pretty minimal tension, relatively gentle romance and only vague threats from OM/OW - you will probably enjoy the novel. I'm rating it a three-star vintage romance read.
July 11, 2022
It was bad. It was going ok until the last few pages.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews