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The Older Man
Lines blur between friends and lovers in this breathtaking novel set Down Under from the author of A Perfect Marriage.
Grant, an older man, catches Rennie's eye in an Auckland bar and the sparks fly. But will their sparks catch fire? Grant can't seem to shake the other woman, Lorna, while Rennie can't seem to find her way around her childhood friend Kevin, and intrusive Larry can't seem to get Rennie off his mind. In this evocative portrayal of love in New Zealand, Laurey Bright will captivate you with her painstakingly romantic story of confused friends and lovers.
Grant, an older man, catches Rennie's eye in an Auckland bar and the sparks fly. But will their sparks catch fire? Grant can't seem to shake the other woman, Lorna, while Rennie can't seem to find her way around her childhood friend Kevin, and intrusive Larry can't seem to get Rennie off his mind. In this evocative portrayal of love in New Zealand, Laurey Bright will captivate you with her painstakingly romantic story of confused friends and lovers.
252 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1992
17 people are currently reading
284 people want to read
About the author
Laurey Bright
60 books37 followersLaurey Bright is another pen name of Daphne Clair.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 15, 2021
What an awful, unromantic story!
The so-called "hero" is the "older man" of the title of course. A widowed attorney pushing forty, he has no problems ruthlessly using the teenaged heroine to act as adrudge babysitter-therapist-housekeeper for his two small children, who have been traumatized by the recent, unexpected death of their mother.
The older hero is very attracted to the younger heroine, but he keeps fighting it. He alternatively gives her bruising, punishing kisses on the sly then forcefully rejects her with the vilest, self-serving justifications, everything from blaming her for being a shameless Lolita, to putting her firmly in her place as a paid employee, to derisively calling her infatuation an immature teenaged crush, to actually comparing her unfavorably to his departed wife, etc. Then he shows off his date from his law firm, an older, sophisticated woman that he hints will be the perfect wife and mother and has all the qualities that she, the young, inexperienced girl who has actually been raising his kids for him, is supposedly completely lacking.
The heroine may be only nineteen years old but she is intelligent, sensitive and mature beyond her years, an all-around genuinely nice and compassionate person. Her parents are both in the legal field and she has a solid family background with much love, attention, and affection heaped on her. It's only when it comes to this asshat that she turns into a spineless leaky jellyblob who actually considers dropping out of university to become a full time housekeeper for him, apparently content to feed on the crumbs of affection and sex he unwittingly drops on her between juggling his career and his dating life! Barf!
When, inevitably, he "comes back to her" after about a year of separation (during which she humbly still contacts him to get permission to see his children while he gives her a contemptuous cold shoulder), she pretty much lets him back into her life with nary a grovel.
I was so rooting against these two getting together. I mean, with all these supposed feelings he had for her, he was banging the other woman right until almost the very last day. Not to mention he is just a terribly arrogant, pompous, vile person to begin with. The only redeeming quality he had was convincing the heroine not to throw away her studies on his account.
The plot moppets in this story were extremely cute and endearing, and that's about the only nice thing I can say about the whole fiasco!
The so-called "hero" is the "older man" of the title of course. A widowed attorney pushing forty, he has no problems ruthlessly using the teenaged heroine to act as a
The older hero is very attracted to the younger heroine, but he keeps fighting it. He alternatively gives her bruising, punishing kisses on the sly then forcefully rejects her with the vilest, self-serving justifications, everything from blaming her for being a shameless Lolita, to putting her firmly in her place as a paid employee, to derisively calling her infatuation an immature teenaged crush, to actually comparing her unfavorably to his departed wife, etc. Then he shows off his date from his law firm, an older, sophisticated woman that he hints will be the perfect wife and mother and has all the qualities that she, the young, inexperienced girl who has actually been raising his kids for him, is supposedly completely lacking.
The heroine may be only nineteen years old but she is intelligent, sensitive and mature beyond her years, an all-around genuinely nice and compassionate person. Her parents are both in the legal field and she has a solid family background with much love, attention, and affection heaped on her. It's only when it comes to this asshat that she turns into a spineless leaky jellyblob who actually considers dropping out of university to become a full time housekeeper for him, apparently content to feed on the crumbs of affection and sex he unwittingly drops on her between juggling his career and his dating life! Barf!
When, inevitably, he "comes back to her" after about a year of separation (during which she humbly still contacts him to get permission to see his children while he gives her a contemptuous cold shoulder), she pretty much lets him back into her life with nary a grovel.
I was so rooting against these two getting together. I mean, with all these supposed feelings he had for her, he was banging the other woman right until almost the very last day. Not to mention he is just a terribly arrogant, pompous, vile person to begin with. The only redeeming quality he had was convincing the heroine not to throw away her studies on his account.
The plot moppets in this story were extremely cute and endearing, and that's about the only nice thing I can say about the whole fiasco!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2019
I just read this and it wasn't a bad book but it wasn't great either. The Hero was a total jerk. He really hurt Rennie, the h and I hated him for most of the book. He said that he and the OW were just friends, nothing else and I believe him but I just felt so angry with him for pushing her away. She was a little immature but I did know she really loved Grant. This would have made my teen heart get all aflutter. I loved the tragic heroine trope who had a broken heart and unrequited love. I got a little tired of it at my current age and I almost dnf'd it. Glad I didn't. It was worth the read. Not again but once was good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2012
Rating 3.5
I enjoyed this book, when the book starts the heroine thinks of the hero as a stuffy old man, while he kind of looks on her as a child and suffers from the wrong assumption that she is carrying a torch for Ethan(the hero from Guilty Passions), the heroine gets annoyed by his conclusions and decides to play full teenage angst to the hilt, which kind of gets out of hand when he learns the truth and they share a passionate kiss, which shocks them both but his reaction is not happy, as he tells her, he is twice her age, divorced with two kids.
Somehow things happen and his ex-wife dies making him a full-time dad from a weekend one and the kids who love her suddenly find her as the nanny. The heroine is studying to be a law student and find herself more & more intrigued by the hero who tells her that nothing will happen b/w them, she reminds him of his ex, who was ten years younger & a law student when she married him, the heroine is almost twenty and even more younger. He has no intention of getting hitched again, his ex was a kind of a perfectionist & their relationship strained.
The book takes place over the course of a year, despite strong feelings the hero doesn't act on them and sends her away telling her to live her life and they spend months apart, she turns 21, completing her degree and in the end it is him who has to do the chasing.
I enjoyed this book, when the book starts the heroine thinks of the hero as a stuffy old man, while he kind of looks on her as a child and suffers from the wrong assumption that she is carrying a torch for Ethan(the hero from Guilty Passions), the heroine gets annoyed by his conclusions and decides to play full teenage angst to the hilt, which kind of gets out of hand when he learns the truth and they share a passionate kiss, which shocks them both but his reaction is not happy, as he tells her, he is twice her age, divorced with two kids.
Somehow things happen and his ex-wife dies making him a full-time dad from a weekend one and the kids who love her suddenly find her as the nanny. The heroine is studying to be a law student and find herself more & more intrigued by the hero who tells her that nothing will happen b/w them, she reminds him of his ex, who was ten years younger & a law student when she married him, the heroine is almost twenty and even more younger. He has no intention of getting hitched again, his ex was a kind of a perfectionist & their relationship strained.
The book takes place over the course of a year, despite strong feelings the hero doesn't act on them and sends her away telling her to live her life and they spend months apart, she turns 21, completing her degree and in the end it is him who has to do the chasing.
December 5, 2018
Ugh, this is one of those books where you think it will not be realistic enough to bother you, but in fact the power differential between this couple was very disturbing, and I felt that the H was the type of man who will cause her to lose all of her self-esteem by the time they've been married for a few years.
January 29, 2024
This is my second book by this author and so far she always surprises me in a good way.
Two good hearted yet fallible people falling down the rabbit hole of love ; )
Rennie is a vivacious young women about to turn 20 who finds herself attracted to a friend of friend who is 35ish (Grant). Their interactions were fun because they weren't predictable and kept you guessing as a reader.
But things happen to push them together . I loved his kids. They were nicely portrayed and felt realistic for their ages (4 and 8). I never felt like his ex wife overshadowed their potential, but in the second half he brings in the OW. Now I felt Rennie's hurt. She wore her heart on her sleeve for this ingrate and because of their age difference he starts squiring around an OW much closer to his age. AND the OW is a nice person so you can't even hate her!
But something happens to Rennie to shake her joyous perspective on life and also ends up shaking some sense into Grant. But he finds that he's missed his window into her heart and must now prove she can trust him to keep her heart safe.
Really enjoyed this one, even if it wasn't an easy read like I was expecting.
Safety is fine.
Two good hearted yet fallible people falling down the rabbit hole of love ; )
Rennie is a vivacious young women about to turn 20 who finds herself attracted to a friend of friend who is 35ish (Grant). Their interactions were fun because they weren't predictable and kept you guessing as a reader.
But things happen to push them together . I loved his kids. They were nicely portrayed and felt realistic for their ages (4 and 8). I never felt like his ex wife overshadowed their potential, but in the second half he brings in the OW. Now I felt Rennie's hurt. She wore her heart on her sleeve for this ingrate and because of their age difference he starts squiring around an OW much closer to his age. AND the OW is a nice person so you can't even hate her!
But something happens to Rennie to shake her joyous perspective on life and also ends up shaking some sense into Grant. But he finds that he's missed his window into her heart and must now prove she can trust him to keep her heart safe.
Really enjoyed this one, even if it wasn't an easy read like I was expecting.
Safety is fine.
August 16, 2010
Was hoping for a 4 star book and parts of it were 4 star for me. But it just seemed soooo looong for a 252 page book. The book stretched over a two year period and there were quite a few lulls when it lost my interest only to pick up again in later chapters.
This was the first book I have read by Daphne Clair writing as Laurey Bright.
This was the first book I have read by Daphne Clair writing as Laurey Bright.
May 5, 2015
Uhmmm....... that was my reaction to the cover of the book when I first saw it. After reading the first thirty pages, I decided to read and search more books by this author in the college library. They have some collections of Mills and boons, Harlequin's and Silhouette special editions, Avon , etc.
Just a small review-
When you read the brief summary of the novel, you might misunderstand the story. There is absolutely nothing taboo or incest here , just a girl head over heels in love with a thirty five year old guy ( which is not my definition of old age ) There is drama, love, crush, obsession , fighting feelings , emotions but at the end sincere and innocent love which might make you cry midst. The stubborn handsome lawyer and widower Grant Morrison thinks Rennie Langwell just has a adolescent crush on him which will diminish with time, he refuses to take advantage of her feelings. He reckons her love for him would depreciate with time but it doesn't , he can't resist her but endeavours his best whereas Rennie who has never felt anything like this before, fights for her love, careful to keep her pride intact and heart unbroken. Rennie, also his children's nanny, stays most of the time at his house making it impossible for Grant to hide his attraction.
Love and lust bursts forth with flames, rekindled with passion and hunger that produces a destructive but beneficial fire.
I am the fairytale kind of girl so I loved this book!!! Its beautiful. The actor is AWESOME! even I am in love with that handsome OLD guy :p.
Just a small review-
When you read the brief summary of the novel, you might misunderstand the story. There is absolutely nothing taboo or incest here , just a girl head over heels in love with a thirty five year old guy ( which is not my definition of old age ) There is drama, love, crush, obsession , fighting feelings , emotions but at the end sincere and innocent love which might make you cry midst. The stubborn handsome lawyer and widower Grant Morrison thinks Rennie Langwell just has a adolescent crush on him which will diminish with time, he refuses to take advantage of her feelings. He reckons her love for him would depreciate with time but it doesn't , he can't resist her but endeavours his best whereas Rennie who has never felt anything like this before, fights for her love, careful to keep her pride intact and heart unbroken. Rennie, also his children's nanny, stays most of the time at his house making it impossible for Grant to hide his attraction.
Love and lust bursts forth with flames, rekindled with passion and hunger that produces a destructive but beneficial fire.
I am the fairytale kind of girl so I loved this book!!! Its beautiful. The actor is AWESOME! even I am in love with that handsome OLD guy :p.
May 18, 2016
Just be with her already!!! (lol), March 3, 2015
This review is from: The Older Man (Kindle Edition)
I second the motion of the previous reviewer I was waiting and waiting for the happy ever after and thank goodness it finally came LOL. I usually read harlequin romances so this one read a little different to me. But I did enjoy it. I felt the beginning/first part of the book was exciting and fast paced then it kind of went slow/slow paced/dragged a little just a bit then towards the end sort off like the climax and excitement and finally yay satisfaction and HEA :)
What you might like:
1. Heroine is smart, generous and strong and sometimes sassy
2. Heroine is a Virgin
3. Hero is a lawyer
What you might not like
1. Felt like Heroine was throwing herself at the hero
2. Hero Was divorced /has 2 kids
3. Hero kept fending off heroines advances towards him (lol)
This review is from: The Older Man (Kindle Edition)
I second the motion of the previous reviewer I was waiting and waiting for the happy ever after and thank goodness it finally came LOL. I usually read harlequin romances so this one read a little different to me. But I did enjoy it. I felt the beginning/first part of the book was exciting and fast paced then it kind of went slow/slow paced/dragged a little just a bit then towards the end sort off like the climax and excitement and finally yay satisfaction and HEA :)
What you might like:
1. Heroine is smart, generous and strong and sometimes sassy
2. Heroine is a Virgin
3. Hero is a lawyer
What you might not like
1. Felt like Heroine was throwing herself at the hero
2. Hero Was divorced /has 2 kids
3. Hero kept fending off heroines advances towards him (lol)
December 30, 2011
This book was alright... It kinda dragged during the first of the book so I ended up skipping a little bit, I picked back up about halfway through the book and it read a lot easier/faster.. I really wish there would have been more to the ending, maybe an epilogue or even a conversation to clear up some things.. Also the blurb on the back is wrong.. He's not a widower, he was divorced and later his wife died.. It wasnt bad, I liked both the h and the H but it just wasnt as good as I was hoping
November 5, 2018
Reread
June 18, 2014
So it sucks that I've basically been without the internet for a month or so. I know I enjoyed this book but I can't remember it well enough to give it an in depth review. I did appreciate that the age difference was treated as an honest issue. I do remember enjoying the heroine.
February 25, 2009
Spinoff of A Guilty Passion
March 10, 2016
I loveit
October 16, 2023
The Older Man gets five stars for some really great heat in the earlier chapters. You'll want to skim endless filler padding with the "cute kids". But the seduction/resistance scenes between Grant and Renee are really well done with some real steam and tension.
If you're familiar with the term "bangnanny" - older, separated/divorced male gets a young girlfriend barely out of her teens (or in them, as in here) and moves them in as a nanny-come-mistress, eventually trapping them with a baby of their own - then this does verge on that initially. However Grant adamantly refuses to seduce Renee, partly as he's wrapped up with guilt that he bang-nannied his first wife.
FirstWife was also a trainee lawyer, ten years younger than him, who gave up her career when she accidentally got pregnant and he "encouraged" (borderlined coerced) her to keep it. So you're probably not going to like Grant from his backstory. However the point of the book, I assume, is that he's changed.
FirstWife, whom he's already divorced from, conveniently drops dead early on. She literally drops dead - although off-screen - it's one of those convenient aneurysms-out-of-nowhere. Unfortunately this means the kids come to stay and take up pages and pages of filler. I don't mind kids personally but I find them intensely boring to read about in a Romance.
The ending of the book is disappointing. We skip forward yet another year or so, then there's all this trauma and Renee is a completely different character, and none of the sexy passion feels real anymore. I think she's possibly even less likely to continue with her career and even more likely just to end up a wife and stepmother to a bloke twice her age.
And the eventual sex scene is a massive anti-climax. Plus it's on a beach, right on the sand (which she's already tripped and "plunged onto") and his legs are already "harsh with sand" and once just winces at knowing where that sand's going to end up and how uncomfortable it's going to be.
However this book is definitely worth a read for the earlier romance/intimate scenes. They're some of the best I've read and the dynamic is very well done.
If you're familiar with the term "bangnanny" - older, separated/divorced male gets a young girlfriend barely out of her teens (or in them, as in here) and moves them in as a nanny-come-mistress, eventually trapping them with a baby of their own - then this does verge on that initially. However Grant adamantly refuses to seduce Renee, partly as he's wrapped up with guilt that he bang-nannied his first wife.
FirstWife was also a trainee lawyer, ten years younger than him, who gave up her career when she accidentally got pregnant and he "encouraged" (borderlined coerced) her to keep it. So you're probably not going to like Grant from his backstory. However the point of the book, I assume, is that he's changed.
FirstWife, whom he's already divorced from, conveniently drops dead early on. She literally drops dead - although off-screen - it's one of those convenient aneurysms-out-of-nowhere. Unfortunately this means the kids come to stay and take up pages and pages of filler. I don't mind kids personally but I find them intensely boring to read about in a Romance.
The ending of the book is disappointing. We skip forward yet another year or so, then there's all this trauma and Renee is a completely different character, and none of the sexy passion feels real anymore. I think she's possibly even less likely to continue with her career and even more likely just to end up a wife and stepmother to a bloke twice her age.
And the eventual sex scene is a massive anti-climax. Plus it's on a beach, right on the sand (which she's already tripped and "plunged onto") and his legs are already "harsh with sand" and once just winces at knowing where that sand's going to end up and how uncomfortable it's going to be.
However this book is definitely worth a read for the earlier romance/intimate scenes. They're some of the best I've read and the dynamic is very well done.
May 4, 2024
um toque de machismo que só um romance comum dos anos 90 pode proporcionar.
eu gostei só achei q o pp enrolou mt pra aceitar ficar com a pp mas td bem rolou um drama legal no final (senti falta de um epilogo
eu gostei só achei q o pp enrolou mt pra aceitar ficar com a pp mas td bem rolou um drama legal no final (senti falta de um epilogo
November 27, 2018
Not great, Bob!
December 4, 2021
Not really my type of story but enjoyable. Sometimes slow but the writing was good. The heroine was too young but could act mature.
January 29, 2024
A genuinely decent read.
February 13, 2013
I would have given jt 3 stars if it wasn't for the horrid ending. The rest of the story was beautiful.
January 22, 2014
A sequel to “Guilty Passion”.
August 25, 2020
Reread: 25-6 August 2020
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews