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Dream Hero
He'd taken advantage of her innocence!
Television star Bryce Cameron had deliberately misled Caitlin and, because she was a novice reporter, the pretense had almost cost her her career!
He'd pretended to be Slattery, the devastatingly amoral detective he played on the screen-and she'd believed him.
"Slattery is a figment of the imagination, he tried to convince her when they met again. "And I'm me." Nevertheless, his sexual charisma was just as potent in real life as in fantasy. And Caitlin, although she found him difficult to resist, had no intention of becoming just another "Slattery" conquest.
Television star Bryce Cameron had deliberately misled Caitlin and, because she was a novice reporter, the pretense had almost cost her her career!
He'd pretended to be Slattery, the devastatingly amoral detective he played on the screen-and she'd believed him.
"Slattery is a figment of the imagination, he tried to convince her when they met again. "And I'm me." Nevertheless, his sexual charisma was just as potent in real life as in fantasy. And Caitlin, although she found him difficult to resist, had no intention of becoming just another "Slattery" conquest.
- GenresHarlequin Presents
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 5, 2021
This one was lovely, I don’t know why the ratings are so low, I quite enjoyed this book.
The heroine, a newbie journalist is assigned to interview a top TV star who plays a sort of James Bond type character. She was supposed to accompany her boss, but the boss called in sick, so she meets the celebrity alone. Upon meeting him, she is a bit star struck and gets flustered so she calls him the character’s name instead of his own name. This puts the actor in a bad mood. He sees her inexperience and decides to play a trick on her. During the whole interview he acts and answers as the fictional character would. The heroine is too thick to catch on and even thanks him profusely at the end. The Hero seems a bit remorseful and tells her to check with her boss before publishing anything.
The heroine happily writes up her interview and she is very pleased with it, thinking she has written a masterpiece. It’s a good thing her boss finally checks it and shows her all the falsehoods that are based on the show and not the person. The heroine would have been totally humiliated or even fired if her piece had been printed. Good thing the boss is a nice lady and helps her out.
Ever since then she has resented him. A few weeks later, the actor Hero runs into her at the theatre and he attempts to apologise. She does not forgive him and thinks he is nothing but a louse to have pulled such a nasty trick on her.
It’s been a couple of years, the heroine is a much more seasoned journalist and has acquired some sophistication. She is spending time in the country visiting an uncle and thinking over her relationship with a long time casual boyfriend when she runs into the Hero again. The TV crew is doing some location filming in the town. The local newspaper asks her to do a piece on the Hero. She accepts since she wants to write a revenge piece on him. The Hero is actually quite happy to see her, he seems very attracted to her but she can’t tell whether he is really interested or if he is merely acting “in that playboy character role". The Hero seems quite adamant that he is different from the character and in fact he reveals to her “off the record” that he wants to quit the show. They share some passionate kisses, but they get interrupted and the heroine leaves.
Since the Hero is a celebrity he has been asked to open the local country fair. The heroine is once again there to cover the event. This time the Hero seem angry when he sees her. His plans to quit the show have been leaked to the press and, since she is the only journalist he revealed it to, he assumes she betrayed him. To pay her back, he makes the whole town think they are having an affair. The heroine, tries to defend herself, but when he doesn’t believe her, she gives up. Though she is annoyed, she doesn’t make a big deal of it. They share more passionate kisses back in his room. Though the Hero is trying to punish her, he is never mean and generally acts like he really likes her. The “punishing” was more an excuse to keep her with him. In fact he asks her for a dinner date but she refuses. Her excuse is that her actress cousin is arriving,
The Hero offers to accompany her and pick up the cousin. Naturally, her beautiful actress cousin wastes no time flirting with the Hero. She also wants to audition for a part in the TV series. When the Hero repeats his offer for a dinner date, the cousin gladly accepts for the both of them. However, that night the heroine, feeling slightly jealous, not wanting to be a third wheel, pretends to be sick. The Hero is undaunted and goes up to her room to check on her. There is a funny scene, since both of them know the heroine is faking, the Hero repeatedly asks the cousin (in all her date finery) to bring up food and drink for the heroine, both of them having fun at her expense. The cousin then casually reveals that there is a boyfriend patiently waiting for the heroine in London, and the Hero seem annoyed with this and leaves with the cousin. The next morning, the cousin implies that she had a one night stand with the Hero. The heroine is upset so she hot foots it back to London.
She leaves her phone off the hook, to prevent certain people from calling. She does break it off finally with her boyfriend, and gets back to work. Her cousin also returns to London and reveals that the Hero has been trying to get in touch with her. He even accuses the cousin of giving him the wrong number since the phone line is always engaged.
Once again, her boss wants another interview with the Hero. She tries to refuse but a job is a job. So she goes off to the Seychelles, where they are filming, to get the interview. She meets a cute guy on the plane who wants to date her. However, when she see the Hero, he is totally happy. He missed her and pulled strings with her boss so she would be assigned to interview him.
The Hero contrives to make her spend the day with him and we get a nice travelogue about the island. They have some passionate moments together and the Hero confesses his love. The heroine also realises she loves him and they go back to her hotel and have a wonderful night together. The Hero has to leave though because he still has filming the next day.
The heroine decides to join the cute guy she met for some more island touring, they encounter the film crew and cute guy want to check it out. But the producer is extremely rude and almost throws them out. She sees the Hero and thinks he will accommodate them but he also asks her to leave. Feeling hurt and humiliated, the heroine leaves with the cute guy. That night she dresses provocatively and goes to a disco with the cute guy. The Hero shows up and wants to explain and talk to her but she locks herself in her room and refuses to listen to him.
The next day, she realises that she still needs to do the interview, so she calls his hotel, only to be told that he has had an accident and is in hospital. Finally he is brought back to his hotel so she visits him there. He was not hurt badly, he just fell off a step while arguing w the producer and sprained his ankle.
Explanations finally come out. He was arguing with the producer because he found out that he was very rude to the heroine. Though he really didn’t want her at the set because he didn’t want her to see him in his playboy character mode. He wants to marry her and thought she may reject him in that character. BTW he also finds out that it was the producer who spilled the beans on his retirement.
The heroine is quite happy to marry him and his real persona (he wants to retire and be an auto mechanic 😏) Hero is happy that she now knows his real self..
This one was nice, the heroine was not a wimpy doormat and gave as good as she got. The characters had good chemistry and they always had good banter between them.
Trigger warning:
Some racist terms used.
The heroine, a newbie journalist is assigned to interview a top TV star who plays a sort of James Bond type character. She was supposed to accompany her boss, but the boss called in sick, so she meets the celebrity alone. Upon meeting him, she is a bit star struck and gets flustered so she calls him the character’s name instead of his own name. This puts the actor in a bad mood. He sees her inexperience and decides to play a trick on her. During the whole interview he acts and answers as the fictional character would. The heroine is too thick to catch on and even thanks him profusely at the end. The Hero seems a bit remorseful and tells her to check with her boss before publishing anything.
The heroine happily writes up her interview and she is very pleased with it, thinking she has written a masterpiece. It’s a good thing her boss finally checks it and shows her all the falsehoods that are based on the show and not the person. The heroine would have been totally humiliated or even fired if her piece had been printed. Good thing the boss is a nice lady and helps her out.
Ever since then she has resented him. A few weeks later, the actor Hero runs into her at the theatre and he attempts to apologise. She does not forgive him and thinks he is nothing but a louse to have pulled such a nasty trick on her.
It’s been a couple of years, the heroine is a much more seasoned journalist and has acquired some sophistication. She is spending time in the country visiting an uncle and thinking over her relationship with a long time casual boyfriend when she runs into the Hero again. The TV crew is doing some location filming in the town. The local newspaper asks her to do a piece on the Hero. She accepts since she wants to write a revenge piece on him. The Hero is actually quite happy to see her, he seems very attracted to her but she can’t tell whether he is really interested or if he is merely acting “in that playboy character role". The Hero seems quite adamant that he is different from the character and in fact he reveals to her “off the record” that he wants to quit the show. They share some passionate kisses, but they get interrupted and the heroine leaves.
Since the Hero is a celebrity he has been asked to open the local country fair. The heroine is once again there to cover the event. This time the Hero seem angry when he sees her. His plans to quit the show have been leaked to the press and, since she is the only journalist he revealed it to, he assumes she betrayed him. To pay her back, he makes the whole town think they are having an affair. The heroine, tries to defend herself, but when he doesn’t believe her, she gives up. Though she is annoyed, she doesn’t make a big deal of it. They share more passionate kisses back in his room. Though the Hero is trying to punish her, he is never mean and generally acts like he really likes her. The “punishing” was more an excuse to keep her with him. In fact he asks her for a dinner date but she refuses. Her excuse is that her actress cousin is arriving,
The Hero offers to accompany her and pick up the cousin. Naturally, her beautiful actress cousin wastes no time flirting with the Hero. She also wants to audition for a part in the TV series. When the Hero repeats his offer for a dinner date, the cousin gladly accepts for the both of them. However, that night the heroine, feeling slightly jealous, not wanting to be a third wheel, pretends to be sick. The Hero is undaunted and goes up to her room to check on her. There is a funny scene, since both of them know the heroine is faking, the Hero repeatedly asks the cousin (in all her date finery) to bring up food and drink for the heroine, both of them having fun at her expense. The cousin then casually reveals that there is a boyfriend patiently waiting for the heroine in London, and the Hero seem annoyed with this and leaves with the cousin. The next morning, the cousin implies that she had a one night stand with the Hero. The heroine is upset so she hot foots it back to London.
She leaves her phone off the hook, to prevent certain people from calling. She does break it off finally with her boyfriend, and gets back to work. Her cousin also returns to London and reveals that the Hero has been trying to get in touch with her. He even accuses the cousin of giving him the wrong number since the phone line is always engaged.
Once again, her boss wants another interview with the Hero. She tries to refuse but a job is a job. So she goes off to the Seychelles, where they are filming, to get the interview. She meets a cute guy on the plane who wants to date her. However, when she see the Hero, he is totally happy. He missed her and pulled strings with her boss so she would be assigned to interview him.
The Hero contrives to make her spend the day with him and we get a nice travelogue about the island. They have some passionate moments together and the Hero confesses his love. The heroine also realises she loves him and they go back to her hotel and have a wonderful night together. The Hero has to leave though because he still has filming the next day.
The heroine decides to join the cute guy she met for some more island touring, they encounter the film crew and cute guy want to check it out. But the producer is extremely rude and almost throws them out. She sees the Hero and thinks he will accommodate them but he also asks her to leave. Feeling hurt and humiliated, the heroine leaves with the cute guy. That night she dresses provocatively and goes to a disco with the cute guy. The Hero shows up and wants to explain and talk to her but she locks herself in her room and refuses to listen to him.
The next day, she realises that she still needs to do the interview, so she calls his hotel, only to be told that he has had an accident and is in hospital. Finally he is brought back to his hotel so she visits him there. He was not hurt badly, he just fell off a step while arguing w the producer and sprained his ankle.
Explanations finally come out. He was arguing with the producer because he found out that he was very rude to the heroine. Though he really didn’t want her at the set because he didn’t want her to see him in his playboy character mode. He wants to marry her and thought she may reject him in that character. BTW he also finds out that it was the producer who spilled the beans on his retirement.
The heroine is quite happy to marry him and his real persona (he wants to retire and be an auto mechanic 😏) Hero is happy that she now knows his real self..
This one was nice, the heroine was not a wimpy doormat and gave as good as she got. The characters had good chemistry and they always had good banter between them.
Trigger warning:
Some racist terms used.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2013
2 Stars ~ Caitlin is a young journalist with a very popular society magazine. Her first solo interview had been two years ago, of the then new television heartthrob of the hit private eye series. Bryce took advantage of her inexperience and instead of presenting himself, the actor, he presented the character he played, the arrogant womanizer. And Caitlin fell for it all and the story she wrote was pure garbage, and would have been the end of her career had it been published. Now taking a leave from the magazine, she's in her home town taking care of her uncle as he recuperates from a mild stroke. She's earned herself a reputation as a very thorough interviewer and the local paper asks her to freelance a few articles. One happens to be with Bryce, whose television team is in the area filming the last episodes of the series. Bryce remembers what he'd done to Caitlin and he wants to make amends. But Caitlin confuses his attentions as once again the womanizing character he plays and she fights off every attempt he makes to get close to her. His persistence pays off, and slowly Caitlin sees the real Bryce and falls in love with him, only to be accused of leaking news to the press about something Bryce had given to her under confidence.
I think understand what Ms. Oldfield was doing with this story. She was trying to show how Bryce's character was so charismatic that the public couldn't see Bryce the man, which Bryce resented terribly. Caitlin is confused at first by the character, but she slowly is able to recognize when Bryce is totally himself. There are quite a few conflicts thrown in that add to all this confusion. I found myself a distracted reader with this story, and wanted to skim over sections to get over parts that just didn't seem to fit. This is Ms. Oldfield's debut, and thankfully she has a pleasant writing voice, so I think I'll try another of her stories. Unfortunately, this her first, seemed too confusing.
I think understand what Ms. Oldfield was doing with this story. She was trying to show how Bryce's character was so charismatic that the public couldn't see Bryce the man, which Bryce resented terribly. Caitlin is confused at first by the character, but she slowly is able to recognize when Bryce is totally himself. There are quite a few conflicts thrown in that add to all this confusion. I found myself a distracted reader with this story, and wanted to skim over sections to get over parts that just didn't seem to fit. This is Ms. Oldfield's debut, and thankfully she has a pleasant writing voice, so I think I'll try another of her stories. Unfortunately, this her first, seemed too confusing.
April 30, 2019
I was almost in the mood to give this story a 5 star rating ! Wonder why it has a poor rating from the sisterhood ?!?!?
First thing that impressed me is the cliché in characters but not in their setting. As the title suggests, the guy is a popular star. Not from the movies but a bond like action television series.
The crux of the conflict in the story is very real, believable. The bond like dashing heart throb hero image becomes larger than life and threatens to swallow the poor guy's real personality !!
So much so that the heroine, a naive trusting journalist gets conned by the 'love them and leave them' character trait. And so is unable to trust him with her heart. While in reality the guy is quite down to earth, warm hearted and conscientious.
The story is about how she learns to distinguish between the reel and the real guy. And how he decides that its time to leave behind the super stardom and take up a more real profession. He always wanted to a car mechanic !!!!!
Sweet but passionate chemistry between the two leads. A harmless OM and OW to add spice.
Good story telling. Not the regular jaded stuff we read and forget. Definitely 4 stars.
First thing that impressed me is the cliché in characters but not in their setting. As the title suggests, the guy is a popular star. Not from the movies but a bond like action television series.
The crux of the conflict in the story is very real, believable. The bond like dashing heart throb hero image becomes larger than life and threatens to swallow the poor guy's real personality !!
So much so that the heroine, a naive trusting journalist gets conned by the 'love them and leave them' character trait. And so is unable to trust him with her heart. While in reality the guy is quite down to earth, warm hearted and conscientious.
The story is about how she learns to distinguish between the reel and the real guy. And how he decides that its time to leave behind the super stardom and take up a more real profession. He always wanted to a car mechanic !!!!!
Sweet but passionate chemistry between the two leads. A harmless OM and OW to add spice.
Good story telling. Not the regular jaded stuff we read and forget. Definitely 4 stars.
April 2, 2012
Strong-ish heroine with a proper job and such who's also ambitious. Book's a good lesson for all obsessed with the celebrity lifestyles.
not-for-me
May 27, 2020He'd taken advantage of her innocence!
Television star Bryce Cameron had deliberately misled Caitlin and, because she was a novice reporter, the pretense had almost cost her her career!
He'd pretended to be Slattery, the devastatingly amoral detective he played on the screen-and she'd believed him.
"Slattery is a figment of the imagination, he tried to convince her when they met again. "And I'm me." Nevertheless, his sexual charisma was just as potent in real life as in fantasy. And Caitlin, although she found him difficult to resist, had no intention of becoming just another "Slattery" conquest.
Television star Bryce Cameron had deliberately misled Caitlin and, because she was a novice reporter, the pretense had almost cost her her career!
He'd pretended to be Slattery, the devastatingly amoral detective he played on the screen-and she'd believed him.
"Slattery is a figment of the imagination, he tried to convince her when they met again. "And I'm me." Nevertheless, his sexual charisma was just as potent in real life as in fantasy. And Caitlin, although she found him difficult to resist, had no intention of becoming just another "Slattery" conquest.
January 7, 2026
Not bad! Great banter and fun storyline. The writing felt fresh too. There were a couple things that were dated to me, slightly misogynistic (he called her a bitch a few times and was really grabby and possessive but this book was written in the early 80s and the female character seemed to enjoy it so whatever).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews