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The Dysarts #1
A Vengeful Reunion
He'll get his answer -- by revenge!
Leonie Dysart has been working abroad since breaking her engagement to handsome property developer Jonah Savage. But she misses her large, lively family.
Leonie returns for her brother's 21st birthday -- and meets Jonah! He's determined to know why she jilted him seven years ago. Secretly Leonie's still in love with Jonah. But does the physical attraction that continues to flare between them mean that Jonah shares her feelings, or is it all part of his plan for revenge?
Leonie Dysart has been working abroad since breaking her engagement to handsome property developer Jonah Savage. But she misses her large, lively family.
Leonie returns for her brother's 21st birthday -- and meets Jonah! He's determined to know why she jilted him seven years ago. Secretly Leonie's still in love with Jonah. But does the physical attraction that continues to flare between them mean that Jonah shares her feelings, or is it all part of his plan for revenge?
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
About the author
Catherine George
445 books73 followersDeirdre Matthews was born in a village on the Welsh-English border, where the public library featured largely in her life. Her mother, who looked upon literature as a basic necessity of life, fervently encouraged her passion for reading, little knowing it would one day motivate her daughter into writing her first novel.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 8, 2025
Terrible heroine who didn't deserve her happily ever after ending!
Stupid, self-centered, suspicious, self-righteous, selfish, CG left no "s" words alone when creating the protagonist of this sad, sad tale. I felt equally sorry for the hero and the OM in this case. The heroine rides roughshod over both of them. She loves to be judge, jury, and executioner. I see a divorce in a couple of years!
When this stupid woman overhears a conversation between her fiance and her aunt, in a scene straight out of a Jack-Chrissy-Janet-Mr. Furley qui pro quo, she immediately assumes her twenty-something fiance and her two-decades-older aunt are having an affair and conceived a child together. She freezes out fiance, aunt, and her own extended family, and hightails it to another country for seven years, where she damn well should have remained instead of coming back home to ruin the hero's life all over again.
She broke her fiance's heart. He suffered for seven years over NOTHING, over her stupidity and lack of trust, her judgmental, holier than thou, insufferable attitude, and her poor math skills, taking 2 and 2 and making 5.
If that wasn't enough, she strung a sexy Italian boyfriend along too in her miserable fiasco. She was on the verge of getting engaged to him when she reunited with hero back home, brazenly forgot about her Italian boyfriend, cheated on him, then dumped him in a most humiliating manner by springing her engagement ring on him when he came for a visit as they had planned. This woman is truly a piece of work!
I also LOVE the big whopper she fed to the hero that she stayed celibate for seven years including with Mr. Sexy Italiano. Yeah right!
As Judge Judy would say, I'm an ecumenical judge so when it comes to bad behavior from HPlandia protagonists, I don't go easy on heroines. If it were up to me, I'd lock up this basic bitch and throw away the key :(
Stupid, self-centered, suspicious, self-righteous, selfish, CG left no "s" words alone when creating the protagonist of this sad, sad tale. I felt equally sorry for the hero and the OM in this case. The heroine rides roughshod over both of them. She loves to be judge, jury, and executioner. I see a divorce in a couple of years!
When this stupid woman overhears a conversation between her fiance and her aunt, in a scene straight out of a Jack-Chrissy-Janet-Mr. Furley qui pro quo, she immediately assumes her twenty-something fiance and her two-decades-older aunt are having an affair and conceived a child together. She freezes out fiance, aunt, and her own extended family, and hightails it to another country for seven years, where she damn well should have remained instead of coming back home to ruin the hero's life all over again.
She broke her fiance's heart. He suffered for seven years over NOTHING, over her stupidity and lack of trust, her judgmental, holier than thou, insufferable attitude, and her poor math skills, taking 2 and 2 and making 5.
If that wasn't enough, she strung a sexy Italian boyfriend along too in her miserable fiasco. She was on the verge of getting engaged to him when she reunited with hero back home, brazenly forgot about her Italian boyfriend, cheated on him, then dumped him in a most humiliating manner by springing her engagement ring on him when he came for a visit as they had planned. This woman is truly a piece of work!
I also LOVE the big whopper she fed to the hero that she stayed celibate for seven years including with Mr. Sexy Italiano. Yeah right!
As Judge Judy would say, I'm an ecumenical judge so when it comes to bad behavior from HPlandia protagonists, I don't go easy on heroines. If it were up to me, I'd lock up this basic bitch and throw away the key :(
June 23, 2017
What worked for me :
1 I liked the lead pair - Leo & Jonah. They were civilzed in public and didn't hold back in private. Their strong attraction and connection was obvious. They shared a past, lots of memories and a sweet friendship.
2 I liked Leo's family and the adorable dog.
3 Catherine George's writing - It always draws me in.
What didn't work for me :
1 The Big Misunderstanding
The thing that drove Leo away could have been explained easily. So easily. This was frustrating.
2 Time spent apart
I hate it when a couple has to stay apart for no good reason. These two stayed away for 7 years and the reason, circumstances dont justify the time wasted.
Please ignore the unromantic maths at work but 7 years over a misunderstanding doesn't add up.
Why didn't she confront him?
If he loved her so much, why didn't he follow her?
Characters in Mills and Boon are obsessed with their evil plans but resist the idea of making things right.
1 I liked the lead pair - Leo & Jonah. They were civilzed in public and didn't hold back in private. Their strong attraction and connection was obvious. They shared a past, lots of memories and a sweet friendship.
2 I liked Leo's family and the adorable dog.
3 Catherine George's writing - It always draws me in.
What didn't work for me :
1 The Big Misunderstanding
The thing that drove Leo away could have been explained easily. So easily. This was frustrating.
2 Time spent apart
I hate it when a couple has to stay apart for no good reason. These two stayed away for 7 years and the reason, circumstances dont justify the time wasted.
Please ignore the unromantic maths at work but 7 years over a misunderstanding doesn't add up.
Why didn't she confront him?
If he loved her so much, why didn't he follow her?
Characters in Mills and Boon are obsessed with their evil plans but resist the idea of making things right.
February 27, 2018
This reminded me of a Penny Jordan story. Heroine jilted the hero seven years before because Heroine moved to Italy to teach and rarely visits.
It's her brother's birthday so the heroine returns for his party and runs into the hero on the train. Seems he's staying at the estate next door making plans for a development. He doesn't know why the heroine ditched him seven years ago and he wants to know why. Heroine won't tell him.
It eventually comes out when the hero is looking over some deeds and there is a discrepancy with the border. If heroine will tell why she ditched him, he won't charge her father for being on his company's land. Heroine does and hero gives her the true story.
That's in chapter seven - the rest of the story is the H/h coming to terms with their separation and what they want to do now.
I really wasn't too impressed with the heroine. She jumped to conclusions. She wouldn't talk to anyone and she caused a lot of heartache. I felt bad for Roberto - her bf in Italy - as well. She treated him terribly. For once, I'm glad the hero had sexual partners during their long separation and the heroine didn't. He didn't deserve what she put him through.
This is part of a series about the heroine's family. There are a lot of English Countryside delights that add to the enjoyment.
It's her brother's birthday so the heroine returns for his party and runs into the hero on the train. Seems he's staying at the estate next door making plans for a development. He doesn't know why the heroine ditched him seven years ago and he wants to know why. Heroine won't tell him.
It eventually comes out when the hero is looking over some deeds and there is a discrepancy with the border. If heroine will tell why she ditched him, he won't charge her father for being on his company's land. Heroine does and hero gives her the true story.
That's in chapter seven - the rest of the story is the H/h coming to terms with their separation and what they want to do now.
I really wasn't too impressed with the heroine. She jumped to conclusions. She wouldn't talk to anyone and she caused a lot of heartache. I felt bad for Roberto - her bf in Italy - as well. She treated him terribly. For once, I'm glad the hero had sexual partners during their long separation and the heroine didn't. He didn't deserve what she put him through.
This is part of a series about the heroine's family. There are a lot of English Countryside delights that add to the enjoyment.
January 27, 2020
2 ⭐⭐ - Meh!
November 11, 2011
I actually liked this pretty well. It reminds me of some older Penny Jordan's with a long-lost lover theme. It dragged on a bit and the ending was surprisingly long for an HP -- I kept expecting some last minute fight or something (there sort of was, but it wasn't that exciting). Anyway, pretty decent story and I liked that you could tell the hero loved the heroine and was willing to forgive her the whole time.
hq-to-read
November 5, 2019He'll get his answer -- by revenge!
Leonie Dysart has been working abroad since breaking her engagement to handsome property developer Jonah Savage. But she misses her large, lively family.
Leonie returns for her brother's 21st birthday -- and meets Jonah! He's determined to know why she jilted him seven years ago. Secretly Leonie's still in love with Jonah. But does the physical attraction that continues to flare between them mean that Jonah shares her feelings, or is it all part of his plan for revenge?
Leonie Dysart has been working abroad since breaking her engagement to handsome property developer Jonah Savage. But she misses her large, lively family.
Leonie returns for her brother's 21st birthday -- and meets Jonah! He's determined to know why she jilted him seven years ago. Secretly Leonie's still in love with Jonah. But does the physical attraction that continues to flare between them mean that Jonah shares her feelings, or is it all part of his plan for revenge?
July 24, 2017
A Vengeful Reunion
Leonie was engaged to Jonah seven years ago. When she came across him and another talking about a baby, she thought was his. She left him. Secrets in a family have lasting affects non good until they come to light. Now she is back and Jonah wants answers for her departure.
Leonie was engaged to Jonah seven years ago. When she came across him and another talking about a baby, she thought was his. She left him. Secrets in a family have lasting affects non good until they come to light. Now she is back and Jonah wants answers for her departure.
December 15, 2019
The characters in this story don't behave like actual people. Or if they do, like no human I've ever had to suffer experiencing personally. What wildly superficial and fragile idiots.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews