What do you think?
Rate this book
Kiss By Candlelight
A Kiss By Candlelight by Joanna Mansell released on Nov 23, 1990 is available now for purchase.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1990
38 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 31, 2017
Re A Kiss By Candlelight - Joanna Mansell takes us to the lighter side of HPlandia and brings us one of the few h's who is working for a rich, Alpha, attractive boss who does NOT fall in love with him. In fact, while the h is the epitome of a calm, collected, organized personal assistant, she thinks her boss has a nasty temper, (and he does, he starts the book with a tantrum,) and she knows he is a widower who is still mired in grief over his dead wife. The h just isn't interested in anything but a really big paycheck and her nice, placid life.
She does like the boss tho and so when he asks her to nursemaid his younger roving war reporter brother who recently got blown up while on assignment and is still a bit unsettled, the h warily accepts for the two weeks the boss will be out of England on a business trip. The boss assures her that no serious nursing skill is required, his brother just needs someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he takes his medicine properly. The h definitely gets the vibes that all is not well between the two of them, but she resigns herself to nursemaiding anyways.
Good thing the h is so determined to keep her nursemaid promises, cause it is dislike at first sight between the younger brother and the h. She thinks he is a perennial adrenaline junkie lady lurvin' bachelor and he thinks she is prudish, uptight starchy maiden intent on snaffling her boss. As the two continue to occupy the same space and the banter ceases to be so caustic, they gradually come to more than tolerate each other's presence.
JM brings them believably closer together via a really dumb blonde wanna be OW that the H has to get rid of because he under Dr. orders to not 'exert' himself and the h's utter black humor when the h gets to tell the snobby wanna be off when she expects the h to wait on her. The H manages to bully/blackmail the h into driving him down to his private retreat house in Cornwall and there is a lot of funny h verbiage when she realizes the H's sanctuary is on an isolated island in the Celtic sea and the h doesn't do islands or roughing it and outhouses just aren't her thing.
Of course they get stranded there as a big storm rolls in. And of course there are roofie kisses and cuddlings up for mutual warmth during the overnight sleeps. All they have for a light source is candles, so that is where the title comes in as the H builds up his tolerance to exertion. But the H is still in recovery and under a no-exertion edict, so nothing really seductive beyond kissing happens.
We do find out why the H and his brother are estranged tho. The H's brother believes his dead wife had an affair with the H - in fact he thinks the H seduced his wife and she was just a helpless innocent led astray by the wicked H.
The h doesn't believe that story for a moment, and we learn that the wife was a seekrit gambler and too ashamed and scared to have her husband, the h's boss, see her as anything other than perfect and therefore she lies to him. She got into big debt trouble with ruthless people and so the H gave her his share of the family inheritance to pay off her loan sharks and never told his brother the real story out of kindness after she died.
The H's brother believes the H is a wife seducing spendthrift and this is one of the few vintage HP's were the H is not uber rich, he really does have to work for a living. (Not to worry tho, JM gives him a generous roving war correspondent salary and is busy establishing his book publishing career over the course of the story.)
Eventually the H's brother returns and finds the H and h in a somewhat compromising situation, he hits the H hard on the jaw and knocks the light of love into the H's head. The h manages to get the H and his brother to talk to each other when she blurts out the truth about the boss's dead wife and then the h has to decide if she wants to keep working for the H's brother. She figures the H is too cagey a bachelor to ever really settle down, but she loves him anyways.
The h goes into work after a few days off to make her big choice, but it is the H who greets her. He declares mad passionate love because he loves the way she bosses him and organizes him around. As the h is an only child of older parents, the h warns him that he will have to endure a big but fast wedding and that her parents won't approve of him at all.
The H claims he will charm them silly and the h remarks that she can't wait to see his charm for herself - seeing as it has been distinctly missing up to this point, but she loves the H anyways. The HEA is big wedding plans and mutual lurved-upness while the H does his final journalistic assignments in the Far East and is taking the h with him for a true ride off into the sunset HPlandia HEA.
This one was cute and if you like Patricia Wilson's snarky h types, this is kinda like PW lite. The h has some really funny lines and the H was no slouch on the witty banter. The relationship development was fast, but believable and the HEA was pretty cute. You could do a lot worse for an entertaining HP outing.
She does like the boss tho and so when he asks her to nursemaid his younger roving war reporter brother who recently got blown up while on assignment and is still a bit unsettled, the h warily accepts for the two weeks the boss will be out of England on a business trip. The boss assures her that no serious nursing skill is required, his brother just needs someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he takes his medicine properly. The h definitely gets the vibes that all is not well between the two of them, but she resigns herself to nursemaiding anyways.
Good thing the h is so determined to keep her nursemaid promises, cause it is dislike at first sight between the younger brother and the h. She thinks he is a perennial adrenaline junkie lady lurvin' bachelor and he thinks she is prudish, uptight starchy maiden intent on snaffling her boss. As the two continue to occupy the same space and the banter ceases to be so caustic, they gradually come to more than tolerate each other's presence.
JM brings them believably closer together via a really dumb blonde wanna be OW that the H has to get rid of because he under Dr. orders to not 'exert' himself and the h's utter black humor when the h gets to tell the snobby wanna be off when she expects the h to wait on her. The H manages to bully/blackmail the h into driving him down to his private retreat house in Cornwall and there is a lot of funny h verbiage when she realizes the H's sanctuary is on an isolated island in the Celtic sea and the h doesn't do islands or roughing it and outhouses just aren't her thing.
Of course they get stranded there as a big storm rolls in. And of course there are roofie kisses and cuddlings up for mutual warmth during the overnight sleeps. All they have for a light source is candles, so that is where the title comes in as the H builds up his tolerance to exertion. But the H is still in recovery and under a no-exertion edict, so nothing really seductive beyond kissing happens.
We do find out why the H and his brother are estranged tho. The H's brother believes his dead wife had an affair with the H - in fact he thinks the H seduced his wife and she was just a helpless innocent led astray by the wicked H.
The h doesn't believe that story for a moment, and we learn that the wife was a seekrit gambler and too ashamed and scared to have her husband, the h's boss, see her as anything other than perfect and therefore she lies to him. She got into big debt trouble with ruthless people and so the H gave her his share of the family inheritance to pay off her loan sharks and never told his brother the real story out of kindness after she died.
The H's brother believes the H is a wife seducing spendthrift and this is one of the few vintage HP's were the H is not uber rich, he really does have to work for a living. (Not to worry tho, JM gives him a generous roving war correspondent salary and is busy establishing his book publishing career over the course of the story.)
Eventually the H's brother returns and finds the H and h in a somewhat compromising situation, he hits the H hard on the jaw and knocks the light of love into the H's head. The h manages to get the H and his brother to talk to each other when she blurts out the truth about the boss's dead wife and then the h has to decide if she wants to keep working for the H's brother. She figures the H is too cagey a bachelor to ever really settle down, but she loves him anyways.
The h goes into work after a few days off to make her big choice, but it is the H who greets her. He declares mad passionate love because he loves the way she bosses him and organizes him around. As the h is an only child of older parents, the h warns him that he will have to endure a big but fast wedding and that her parents won't approve of him at all.
The H claims he will charm them silly and the h remarks that she can't wait to see his charm for herself - seeing as it has been distinctly missing up to this point, but she loves the H anyways. The HEA is big wedding plans and mutual lurved-upness while the H does his final journalistic assignments in the Far East and is taking the h with him for a true ride off into the sunset HPlandia HEA.
This one was cute and if you like Patricia Wilson's snarky h types, this is kinda like PW lite. The h has some really funny lines and the H was no slouch on the witty banter. The relationship development was fast, but believable and the HEA was pretty cute. You could do a lot worse for an entertaining HP outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2017
Mediocre 3.5
A pleasant story but it could have been better .
A pleasant story but it could have been better .
doubtful-because-not-v
November 13, 2019I'm a personal secretary, not a nursemaid."
That was Cathryn's immediate reaction when her boss, Sir Charles Marchant, asked her to look after his injured brother for a couple of weeks.
She soon found herself regretting that she'd let herself be talked into it. Sir Charles' warning that Nicholas was an impossible patient proved to be something of an understatement.
Perhaps he should also have warned her that despite his bad temper and cutting tongue, Nicholas was a very attractive man...
That was Cathryn's immediate reaction when her boss, Sir Charles Marchant, asked her to look after his injured brother for a couple of weeks.
She soon found herself regretting that she'd let herself be talked into it. Sir Charles' warning that Nicholas was an impossible patient proved to be something of an understatement.
Perhaps he should also have warned her that despite his bad temper and cutting tongue, Nicholas was a very attractive man...
August 14, 2023
Twist and turns…just a few days to fall in love with an invalid. Damn a renowned acclaimed bachelor who just wants to fuck with no attachment, the brother who sees him as a responsibility with a feud and a secretary who gave her word to nurse him to health makes one hell of turns with patching up old feuds and falling in love to realizations of a future ahead. It’s a good novel to pass time
December 23, 2024
HEA did not convince me that it was true, lifelong commitment but story was still good. Author tends to write more complex HPs than some with people who combine virtues with black flaws, pacing a tad slow.
January 27, 2018
No surprises but an enjoyable read. 3.5 stars
April 30, 2021
2.5 stars
September 10, 2013
It was decent enough, i just wished there was a bit more passion between hero and heroine.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews