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The Greek's Runaway Bride
The Greek's Runaway Bride
Re-read this classic romance by New York Times bestselling author Penny Jordan previously published as Island of the Dawn in 1983
Swept into a whirlwind marriage by powerful yet remote tycoon Leon Stephanides, Chloe fears she hasn't found the happy ending she longs for. So when his possessive stepsister comes between them, Chloe flees, believing she cannot compete for her husband's love.
But the Greek's pride cannot accept Chloe's desertion—he will reclaim her for their marriage bed! Leon plans to recapture the runaway by any means necessary, knowing that even if his innocent bride hates him, she can't deny how much she desires him…
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
30 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Penny Jordan
1,127 books668 followersPenelope Jones Halsall
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
April 11, 2017
You haven't read it, but you can probably ace this quiz:
Quiz: Island of the Dawn by Penny Jordan
True/False (5 pts)
1. A more accurate title of this story would be: Island of the Crazy People
2. Both the H/h believe the crazy half sister’s lies – every time.
3. The hero is Greek and therefore has his pride.
4. The heroine faints the first time she sees the hero again.
5. The hero demands an heir before he will divorce her.
6. He slaps her face and she slaps his.
7. They have hot sex on the H’s yacht
8. The heroine gets pregnant a second time and only realizes it after she flees.
9. There is a coincidental meeting with the family friend who gets the heroine to admit she still loves the H.
10. The hero tracks down the heroine after hearing second-hand her true feelings.
Multiple Choice (10pts)
1. The only sane people in this story are:
(A) The helicopter pilot
(B) The family who refused to let their son marry the half sister
(C) The novelist the heroine works for after leaving the H for the second time
(D) All of the above
2. The most egregious lies the H/h swallow from the half sister:
(A) The H and half sister are having an incestuous affair
(B) The h threw herself down the stairs and the sister tried to stop her
(C)The heroine married the H for his money
(D)All of the above
3. The heroine wears:
(A) A lavender and gray chiffon dress with lots of buttons that the hero helps her with
(B) A lemon triangle bikini that the hero unties
(C)A green silk nightgown that the hero tears
(D) All of the above
4. For a travelogue the H/h
(A) Visit a Greek pearl diver who owed the H a favor
(B) Visit a Shrine of Apollo
(C) Visit a taverna and watch Greek men dance
(D) All the above
5. The Half-sister:
(A) Runs away and has to be rescued from a sea cave
(B) Throws herself in front of a car.
(C) Admits all of her lies to the H before she dies.
(D) All of the above
Self-scoring: All are true. All are (D)
Bonus Points Essay: Explain your rating:
Example: I gave this two stars because Penny Jordan used an obviously mentally ill person as a flimsy conflict between the H/h. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief that anyone would swallow her lies. The sister was so OTT, that PJ had to kill her off because she didn’t know what else to do with her.
Quiz: Island of the Dawn by Penny Jordan
True/False (5 pts)
1. A more accurate title of this story would be: Island of the Crazy People
2. Both the H/h believe the crazy half sister’s lies – every time.
3. The hero is Greek and therefore has his pride.
4. The heroine faints the first time she sees the hero again.
5. The hero demands an heir before he will divorce her.
6. He slaps her face and she slaps his.
7. They have hot sex on the H’s yacht
8. The heroine gets pregnant a second time and only realizes it after she flees.
9. There is a coincidental meeting with the family friend who gets the heroine to admit she still loves the H.
10. The hero tracks down the heroine after hearing second-hand her true feelings.
Multiple Choice (10pts)
1. The only sane people in this story are:
(A) The helicopter pilot
(B) The family who refused to let their son marry the half sister
(C) The novelist the heroine works for after leaving the H for the second time
(D) All of the above
2. The most egregious lies the H/h swallow from the half sister:
(A) The H and half sister are having an incestuous affair
(B) The h threw herself down the stairs and the sister tried to stop her
(C)The heroine married the H for his money
(D)All of the above
3. The heroine wears:
(A) A lavender and gray chiffon dress with lots of buttons that the hero helps her with
(B) A lemon triangle bikini that the hero unties
(C)A green silk nightgown that the hero tears
(D) All of the above
4. For a travelogue the H/h
(A) Visit a Greek pearl diver who owed the H a favor
(B) Visit a Shrine of Apollo
(C) Visit a taverna and watch Greek men dance
(D) All the above
5. The Half-sister:
(A) Runs away and has to be rescued from a sea cave
(B) Throws herself in front of a car.
(C) Admits all of her lies to the H before she dies.
(D) All of the above
Self-scoring: All are true. All are (D)
Bonus Points Essay: Explain your rating:
Example: I gave this two stars because Penny Jordan used an obviously mentally ill person as a flimsy conflict between the H/h. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief that anyone would swallow her lies. The sister was so OTT, that PJ had to kill her off because she didn’t know what else to do with her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2021
For starters, the nation of Greece should consider a lawsuit for slander against Penny Jordan. I thought I would lose my lunch over this exchange between the H and his GREEK business associate.
This time I will give her something to prevent her from wanting to escape. It is amazing how a child will tame even the wildest woman.
“Bravo!” Alexandros cheered. “Now you are speaking like a true Greek, my friend.”
The only consolation I have is believing that the business associate's cold-as-ice wife kneed him later. Madame Kriticos is the ONLY one in this book with a lick of common sense. She has his Spawn of Satan little sister pegged as uncontrollable and spoiled, understatements of dramatic proportions. No coincidence that the Greek word kriticos is the source for critical.
The second issue is that these two are the dumbest pillocks in HPland. The H buys anything his evil little half-sister dishes out including that the heroine fell on purpose miscarry. Spawn of Satan (SoS) probably sold him the London Bridge, and he’s too stupid to find out it ended up in Arizona. Likewise, the h. She too buys whatever pigswallop SoS dishes out like Plus they are caught in flagrante delicto, not once, but twice by SoS. Lock. The. Door.
SoS’s behavior is so egregious and gigantically OVER THE TOP even by the worst of HP evil woman standards it is difficult to believe that even her big brother can’t see it, but I guess I have to look back at my the whole dumbest pillocks in HPland thing for that.
To get the nasty taste of this horror show out of my head, here is a pictorial review.
The hero will stop at nothing to get the heroine back
and….PREGNANT.
The heroine plays hard to get.
But ultimately his wooing pays off.
But Spawn of Satan with a BIG and very inappropriate crush on her big bro is unstoppable and interrupts at a crucial and awkward moment.
Guests arrive. The H hopes for an alliance between their sweet son and SoS, but SoS is a little off putting as she's rude to the nice Greek boy as she blatantly flirts with her b-r-o-t-h-e-r.
The H ends up taking hisvictim wife on his yacht for a romantic trip to impregnate her.
SoS goes missing, but is found. Unfortunately.
Stuff happens and the h leaves….at last…finally…whew…..
Except.
You guessed it.
The H swoops in with some good news. SoS has conveniently died of an “accident”. An accident?
Hmm, if this were a different kind of book the "accident" that kills SoS is awfully convenient. He is a Greek tycoon after all, and has already has his wife kidnapped, slapped, kidnapped, slapped, forcibly seduced and threatened ad nauseam not to mention the clingy SoS and her assertions of incest.
Or better yet...SoS isn't really dead and just waiting to spring up like a creature from the black lagoon.Heck, the title is even a horror title.
HEA?
This time I will give her something to prevent her from wanting to escape. It is amazing how a child will tame even the wildest woman.
“Bravo!” Alexandros cheered. “Now you are speaking like a true Greek, my friend.”
The only consolation I have is believing that the business associate's cold-as-ice wife kneed him later. Madame Kriticos is the ONLY one in this book with a lick of common sense. She has his Spawn of Satan little sister pegged as uncontrollable and spoiled, understatements of dramatic proportions. No coincidence that the Greek word kriticos is the source for critical.
The second issue is that these two are the dumbest pillocks in HPland. The H buys anything his evil little half-sister dishes out including that the heroine fell on purpose miscarry. Spawn of Satan (SoS) probably sold him the London Bridge, and he’s too stupid to find out it ended up in Arizona. Likewise, the h. She too buys whatever pigswallop SoS dishes out like Plus they are caught in flagrante delicto, not once, but twice by SoS. Lock. The. Door.
SoS’s behavior is so egregious and gigantically OVER THE TOP even by the worst of HP evil woman standards it is difficult to believe that even her big brother can’t see it, but I guess I have to look back at my the whole dumbest pillocks in HPland thing for that.
To get the nasty taste of this horror show out of my head, here is a pictorial review.
The hero will stop at nothing to get the heroine back
and….PREGNANT.
The heroine plays hard to get.
But ultimately his wooing pays off.
But Spawn of Satan with a BIG and very inappropriate crush on her big bro is unstoppable and interrupts at a crucial and awkward moment.
Guests arrive. The H hopes for an alliance between their sweet son and SoS, but SoS is a little off putting as she's rude to the nice Greek boy as she blatantly flirts with her b-r-o-t-h-e-r.
The H ends up taking his
SoS goes missing, but is found. Unfortunately.
Stuff happens and the h leaves….at last…finally…whew…..
Except.
You guessed it.
The H swoops in with some good news. SoS has conveniently died of an “accident”. An accident?
Hmm, if this were a different kind of book the "accident" that kills SoS is awfully convenient. He is a Greek tycoon after all, and has already has his wife kidnapped, slapped, kidnapped, slapped, forcibly seduced and threatened ad nauseam not to mention the clingy SoS and her assertions of incest.
Or better yet...SoS isn't really dead and just waiting to spring up like a creature from the black lagoon.Heck, the title is even a horror title.
HEA?
March 19, 2013
3.5 stars. (Edited to add another star. This was just too insane not to give credit where credit's due.)
Some serious spoilers here. This one takes the cake for bizarro. This little morsel is about a blonde model who gets swept off her feet by a Greek Tycoon who has this sister from hell, and I mean a seriously whacked sister. She's actually his half sister who boldly screams and confronts the h, telling her how the H only married her for a cover for their love affair and that she and the H has been doing the deed for the past two years. Well, wisely our h takes off like a bat out of hell because there's no way she's going to live with a man who's simultaneously having an incestuous affair with his sister right in the house.
We learn all about the first defection in flashbacks. The story actually opens with the h being deserted by friend with no money and passport while on vacation back in Greece. Come to find out it's all a diabolical plan two years in the making, made by our H to recapture the h. She ended up on the H's private island where he had built swanky mansion reminiscent of where they spent their honeymoon. When they reunite, he tells her of his plan to kidnap her and force her back into the marriage in order for her to breed him sons. But of course, he had to bring his sister with him.
This sister...I'm just speechless. The sister was very openly provocative towards the H all the way through. She is constantly throwing her incestuous affair in the h's face and telling her the H only wants her so she can give him a son. She bombards the h in confrontations telling her how much the H loves her and how only she can give the H what he needs, other than children. She refuses to have anything to do with anyone else. The sister is constantly in their face and dominating the H's time. She repeatedly has these tantrums which requires the H to carry her off bridal style. It's so bad even the guests make comments that there's something wrong with that relationship. Understandably the h knows she can't live with this person in her life and tries to talk to the H but every conversation is always interrupted or put off.
At one point the h was making for another escape, but the H outsmarted her by switching yachts (pshhh!) and actually had the good sense to stay away with just the h for a while. To tell the truth, I'm surprised the sister didn't show up on a dingy screeching and going on. I can't tell you really what happened while they were away on the boat because I just skimmed through because I needed to get back to the screaming sister.
I know it was full of pages of bonding and wonderful nights in port. And they were just in the middle of doing it one more time when the H gets another interruptive call about the sister (surprise!) Seems she ran away and he had to leave immediately, braving a deadly storm, to go find her.
All through this story, the h has been playing second fiddle to this little sister, so she's mad that they have to come back from their peaceful sail aboard the love boat just to look for her but she goes along with it with plans to talk to him, but of course there's always something more important. After said skank is found, the H&h are making out when the sister bursts in on them screeching "how can you be with her like that when I need you?" She had been in the hospital but checked herself out just so she could interrupt them at just the right moment again.
The h wakes up in the middle of the night and goes looking for the H. She finds him of course on the sister's bed with her and hears her saying "make her go away. It's me you love. Let it be just us again" while rubbing all over him.
Well, that was it for the h. She doesn't confront him then, she waits until the next morning and tells him that once and for all, she's out of there. They never did talk about the sister.
Two months goes by and she runs into the lady who visited the island, the one who told her to lose the sister. The h confesses her love for the H but not what was going on between the H and his sister. She is then served with divorce papers. When she shows up to finalize things, instead of it being the attorney, it's the H.
You have to know this story had a HEA but the ending was just too convenient. But at least the sister was out of the picture.
Some serious spoilers here. This one takes the cake for bizarro. This little morsel is about a blonde model who gets swept off her feet by a Greek Tycoon who has this sister from hell, and I mean a seriously whacked sister. She's actually his half sister who boldly screams and confronts the h, telling her how the H only married her for a cover for their love affair and that she and the H has been doing the deed for the past two years. Well, wisely our h takes off like a bat out of hell because there's no way she's going to live with a man who's simultaneously having an incestuous affair with his sister right in the house.
We learn all about the first defection in flashbacks. The story actually opens with the h being deserted by friend with no money and passport while on vacation back in Greece. Come to find out it's all a diabolical plan two years in the making, made by our H to recapture the h. She ended up on the H's private island where he had built swanky mansion reminiscent of where they spent their honeymoon. When they reunite, he tells her of his plan to kidnap her and force her back into the marriage in order for her to breed him sons. But of course, he had to bring his sister with him.
This sister...I'm just speechless. The sister was very openly provocative towards the H all the way through. She is constantly throwing her incestuous affair in the h's face and telling her the H only wants her so she can give him a son. She bombards the h in confrontations telling her how much the H loves her and how only she can give the H what he needs, other than children. She refuses to have anything to do with anyone else. The sister is constantly in their face and dominating the H's time. She repeatedly has these tantrums which requires the H to carry her off bridal style. It's so bad even the guests make comments that there's something wrong with that relationship. Understandably the h knows she can't live with this person in her life and tries to talk to the H but every conversation is always interrupted or put off.
At one point the h was making for another escape, but the H outsmarted her by switching yachts (pshhh!) and actually had the good sense to stay away with just the h for a while. To tell the truth, I'm surprised the sister didn't show up on a dingy screeching and going on. I can't tell you really what happened while they were away on the boat because I just skimmed through because I needed to get back to the screaming sister.
I know it was full of pages of bonding and wonderful nights in port. And they were just in the middle of doing it one more time when the H gets another interruptive call about the sister (surprise!) Seems she ran away and he had to leave immediately, braving a deadly storm, to go find her.
All through this story, the h has been playing second fiddle to this little sister, so she's mad that they have to come back from their peaceful sail aboard the love boat just to look for her but she goes along with it with plans to talk to him, but of course there's always something more important. After said skank is found, the H&h are making out when the sister bursts in on them screeching "how can you be with her like that when I need you?" She had been in the hospital but checked herself out just so she could interrupt them at just the right moment again.
The h wakes up in the middle of the night and goes looking for the H. She finds him of course on the sister's bed with her and hears her saying "make her go away. It's me you love. Let it be just us again" while rubbing all over him.
Well, that was it for the h. She doesn't confront him then, she waits until the next morning and tells him that once and for all, she's out of there. They never did talk about the sister.
Two months goes by and she runs into the lady who visited the island, the one who told her to lose the sister. The h confesses her love for the H but not what was going on between the H and his sister. She is then served with divorce papers. When she shows up to finalize things, instead of it being the attorney, it's the H.
You have to know this story had a HEA but the ending was just too convenient. But at least the sister was out of the picture.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2017
this is a PJ WTF book, srsly.
H has very devoted stepsister, (or half sister, the description varies,) she is so devoted and possessive that she regularly informs h, his wife, of their amazing and varied sex life, pushes the preggers h down steps so she miscarries and generally makes life a misery. H is frequently found in stepsister's room late at night looking extremely suspicious, H blackmails h into coming back and tries to force pregnancy.
Eventually h has enough and dumps his sorry butt again. H finally gets around to seeing her and tries to explain obsessive sick relationship away as now step sister is dead. I would not have had this guy on a platter draped in Cartier and Gold, srsly stupid H, remarkable doormatty h and no offspring of his should be allowed--ever.
H has very devoted stepsister, (or half sister, the description varies,) she is so devoted and possessive that she regularly informs h, his wife, of their amazing and varied sex life, pushes the preggers h down steps so she miscarries and generally makes life a misery. H is frequently found in stepsister's room late at night looking extremely suspicious, H blackmails h into coming back and tries to force pregnancy.
Eventually h has enough and dumps his sorry butt again. H finally gets around to seeing her and tries to explain obsessive sick relationship away as now step sister is dead. I would not have had this guy on a platter draped in Cartier and Gold, srsly stupid H, remarkable doormatty h and no offspring of his should be allowed--ever.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2020
Well,i certainly didn`t hate "Island of the Dawn".Its Penny Jordan after all,so despite some very irritating and stupid characters she do know how to make a romance come alive under her words.
Chloe Stephanides and Leon Stephanides are a estranged married couple who haven`t seen each other for 2 years.Chloe left Leon,thinking he had an affair with his half-sister Marisa..thinking he had only married her to conceal his affair with her to the public.While this happens Marisa have fed Leon so many lies that he out of pride stops himself from going after her.2 years have gone by,and he is sick of pining after her..so he thinks of a devious plan to take her back.What he does is kidnapping Chloe and taking her to the exotic Eons in Greek called Island of the Dawn.
Penny Jordan have done very great angsty stories between married couples before,one example is "Shadow Marriage" but "Island of the Dawn" was much poorer executed when it came to the plot and characterization.Leon was supposed to be this eccentric greek alpha-male but had to put up with the bratty behaviour of Marisa instead of putting her in her place.And he never choose to believe in Chloe his own wife,and even thought that she had killed her own unborn child!WTF?The scene where he slaps Chloe for that psycho bitch made me scream out ASS-HOLE loud with anger!!And don`t let me speak of Chloes stupidity,just Garghhhh she made me mad first already on the second page!Leon and Chloe never talked out their issues,and instead consorted to insulting each other and having him seduce her all the time!Well,i know this is the normal formula of Harlequin romances,but at least it was much more fitting and believable in "Shadow Marriage".
I would normally have given this 2 stars,which i think is a rating i never have given to any books by Penny Jordan.But i decided to add 1 more star just for the description of the exotic locales of Greek,the delicious food (i probably will never afford to buy) the great chemistry between the main-characters and the very romantic declaration of love by Leon in the end.That scene made me a little teary-eyed.
Chloe Stephanides and Leon Stephanides are a estranged married couple who haven`t seen each other for 2 years.Chloe left Leon,thinking he had an affair with his half-sister Marisa..thinking he had only married her to conceal his affair with her to the public.While this happens Marisa have fed Leon so many lies that he out of pride stops himself from going after her.2 years have gone by,and he is sick of pining after her..so he thinks of a devious plan to take her back.What he does is kidnapping Chloe and taking her to the exotic Eons in Greek called Island of the Dawn.
Penny Jordan have done very great angsty stories between married couples before,one example is "Shadow Marriage" but "Island of the Dawn" was much poorer executed when it came to the plot and characterization.Leon was supposed to be this eccentric greek alpha-male but had to put up with the bratty behaviour of Marisa instead of putting her in her place.And he never choose to believe in Chloe his own wife,and even thought that she had killed her own unborn child!WTF?The scene where he slaps Chloe for that psycho bitch made me scream out ASS-HOLE loud with anger!!And don`t let me speak of Chloes stupidity,just Garghhhh she made me mad first already on the second page!Leon and Chloe never talked out their issues,and instead consorted to insulting each other and having him seduce her all the time!Well,i know this is the normal formula of Harlequin romances,but at least it was much more fitting and believable in "Shadow Marriage".
I would normally have given this 2 stars,which i think is a rating i never have given to any books by Penny Jordan.But i decided to add 1 more star just for the description of the exotic locales of Greek,the delicious food (i probably will never afford to buy) the great chemistry between the main-characters and the very romantic declaration of love by Leon in the end.That scene made me a little teary-eyed.
October 14, 2016
This was a nice, super angsty romance read with an OW from hell. And I loved it. The ex model h Chloe is madly in love with her husband even after years of separation and ditto for her alpha male Greek tycoon husband Leon. The glitch where there should be plain sailing? The OW aka the H's precocious little half sister Marisa.
Now this Marisa was one busy young adult consumed with cooking up lies and plots to keep the H and h apart (including but not limited to throwing herself at the H at frequent intervals). And the really funny thing was, the h and H fell for her tall tales every time. And that to me made absolutely no sense. Sure, those undiscussed issues between them made for a lot of angst, but I couldn't help feeling that they wasted time apart when they could have just had a frank talk at some point and mutually agreed to send the conniving OW to a home for the mentally unstable.
Of course, they eventually did talk everything out but not before some truly dramatic scenes of anger (from both sides), intimidation(from H's side) and sex (by mutual consent). No forced seduction here, with the h melting into a puddle of mush each time the H reached for her (while she furiously fought against what he could make her feel - on the inside i.e.; lol).
Still. Nice read. three and a half stars!
Now this Marisa was one busy young adult consumed with cooking up lies and plots to keep the H and h apart (including but not limited to throwing herself at the H at frequent intervals). And the really funny thing was, the h and H fell for her tall tales every time. And that to me made absolutely no sense. Sure, those undiscussed issues between them made for a lot of angst, but I couldn't help feeling that they wasted time apart when they could have just had a frank talk at some point and mutually agreed to send the conniving OW to a home for the mentally unstable.
Of course, they eventually did talk everything out but not before some truly dramatic scenes of anger (from both sides), intimidation(from H's side) and sex (by mutual consent). No forced seduction here, with the h melting into a puddle of mush each time the H reached for her (while she furiously fought against what he could make her feel - on the inside i.e.; lol).
Still. Nice read. three and a half stars!
November 9, 2021
Really those two shouldn't have the right to vote.
They are too stupid to live.
The heroine, young and naive, married the greek billionaire and after some months, he took her to her home in Greece.
She was pregnant and happy, and there she met the H's half sister (yes, half sister, so they are related by blood) who told her she and the hero were lovers and the hero only married her to have children.
The heroine is horrified and believs her lies, and the sil pushes her from the stairs.
She falls and loses her child, and sil tells the hero she made it on purpose because she didn't want the hero's child.
The hero of course believes her and he and the heroine have a quarrel, where the heroine tells him the truth and he doesn't believe her, so she leaves.
Now, ok, H and h haven't known for long, but how stupid a person can be???
He believed that she threw herself from the stairs because she didn't want his child? Really??? Isn't a bit extreme?
And the heroine? How can you believe such a disgusting thing as her sil told her? That she and the hero were in love and were lovers???
No, that's madness.
Three years later.
The hero finds the heroine and forces her to be back to him, he wants her to give him the child she lost, and she is disgusted because she still believes he sleeps with his lil sis.
The crazy ow is still there and the hero is still protecting her and believing her. He even slaps the heroine when she tells him his sister pushed her.
The heroine tries to run away, but the hero doesn't want to let her go, and his sister is always around, throwing tantrums, behaving badly with every person around, threatening the heroine and he does nothing, nothing at all.
I wasn't fond of the heroine but I can understand that she found living with this crazy woman impossible. She was a danger in a literal sense.
And I can even understand she believed her lies because the hero was always coddling her and it's not normal, please.
In a revolting scene, the heroine and the hero are making out, when his sister gets in the room (no keys?) crying because she had a nightmare and asks the hero to sleep with her.
Really?
Like a 4 years old child??
And of course he goes.
So, eventually the heroine asks him to let her go, because she's fed up (and me too), and he accepts, even if he's in love with her.
I didn't like her very much but I can understand that she couldn't cope with the situation because the hero always was by his sister's side, and always would be.
Eventually he comes back to her (with his tail between his legs) and reveals her that his sister is dead.
She had a mental disorder and he was protecting her.
Really?
Ok, It was weird enough that the heroine believed they were lovers, but he, who knew that his sister was not mentally disturbed, he believed all her lies about the heroine?
She told him the heroine only married him for money, and that she didn't like to have sex with him and he believed her!
How much stupid is he?
I like books with misunderstandings, but they must be believable.
There were not.
Or else the main characters have even less sanity that the crazy ow.
They are too stupid to live.
The heroine, young and naive, married the greek billionaire and after some months, he took her to her home in Greece.
She was pregnant and happy, and there she met the H's half sister (yes, half sister, so they are related by blood) who told her she and the hero were lovers and the hero only married her to have children.
The heroine is horrified and believs her lies, and the sil pushes her from the stairs.
She falls and loses her child, and sil tells the hero she made it on purpose because she didn't want the hero's child.
The hero of course believes her and he and the heroine have a quarrel, where the heroine tells him the truth and he doesn't believe her, so she leaves.
Now, ok, H and h haven't known for long, but how stupid a person can be???
He believed that she threw herself from the stairs because she didn't want his child? Really??? Isn't a bit extreme?
And the heroine? How can you believe such a disgusting thing as her sil told her? That she and the hero were in love and were lovers???
No, that's madness.
Three years later.
The hero finds the heroine and forces her to be back to him, he wants her to give him the child she lost, and she is disgusted because she still believes he sleeps with his lil sis.
The crazy ow is still there and the hero is still protecting her and believing her. He even slaps the heroine when she tells him his sister pushed her.
The heroine tries to run away, but the hero doesn't want to let her go, and his sister is always around, throwing tantrums, behaving badly with every person around, threatening the heroine and he does nothing, nothing at all.
I wasn't fond of the heroine but I can understand that she found living with this crazy woman impossible. She was a danger in a literal sense.
And I can even understand she believed her lies because the hero was always coddling her and it's not normal, please.
In a revolting scene, the heroine and the hero are making out, when his sister gets in the room (no keys?) crying because she had a nightmare and asks the hero to sleep with her.
Really?
Like a 4 years old child??
And of course he goes.
So, eventually the heroine asks him to let her go, because she's fed up (and me too), and he accepts, even if he's in love with her.
I didn't like her very much but I can understand that she couldn't cope with the situation because the hero always was by his sister's side, and always would be.
Eventually he comes back to her (with his tail between his legs) and reveals her that his sister is dead.
She had a mental disorder and he was protecting her.
Really?
Ok, It was weird enough that the heroine believed they were lovers, but he, who knew that his sister was not mentally disturbed, he believed all her lies about the heroine?
She told him the heroine only married him for money, and that she didn't like to have sex with him and he believed her!
How much stupid is he?
I like books with misunderstandings, but they must be believable.
There were not.
Or else the main characters have even less sanity that the crazy ow.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2021
Thank God! That's what I thought when I read that the psychotic villainess and wannabe other woman had received the punishment she'd deserved, and in true dramatic fashion.
This was a simultaneously gripping and frustrating romance. Chloe and Leon were in love and recently reunited, but they believed their love remained unrequited so they gobbled up every damn lie Marisa, Leon's obviously CRAZY half-sister, fed them.
(Leon may have been her half-brother, but Marisa still fancied him and wasn't going to let that "little" detail, or the fact that he was in love with his estranged wife, Chloe, stop her from having him to herself.)
To say that I wanted to shake them both for allowing Marisa to manipulate them so easily would be an understatement! How she got away with her scheming amazed me because she was clearly missing somescrews mental stability. With that said there'd be no story if fictional characters were perfect, and, to be honest, not very fun to read about either, so I decided not to hold their stupidity against them—too much. 😂
When the HEA arrived I actually breathed a sigh of relief. It shouldn't have been in doubt because this is a romance after all, but the author really had me guessing at one point.
This was a simultaneously gripping and frustrating romance. Chloe and Leon were in love and recently reunited, but they believed their love remained unrequited so they gobbled up every damn lie Marisa, Leon's obviously CRAZY half-sister, fed them.
(Leon may have been her half-brother, but Marisa still fancied him and wasn't going to let that "little" detail, or the fact that he was in love with his estranged wife, Chloe, stop her from having him to herself.)
To say that I wanted to shake them both for allowing Marisa to manipulate them so easily would be an understatement! How she got away with her scheming amazed me because she was clearly missing some
When the HEA arrived I actually breathed a sigh of relief. It shouldn't have been in doubt because this is a romance after all, but the author really had me guessing at one point.
July 16, 2020
3.5 🌟
First of all, I have to say there were one thing that made me read this book apart from the plot, and it was the cover ;) I love this vintage Harlequin's covers, they are like ilustrated... I don't know. I love the heroine's makeup on the cover LOL. I am a fan of makeup too ;)
Now, Let's get to the point. I liked the story, it wasn't that bad. Yes! the heroine was kind of dumb and the hero was like a "cocktail" of jerk, caveman and stubborn etc. But alfa, in my opnion.
All in all, entertaining and angsty read. I will recommend it to someone who like crazy other ow (an stepsister in this case), a caveman and the beautiful but not the "strongest" heroine.
First of all, I have to say there were one thing that made me read this book apart from the plot, and it was the cover ;) I love this vintage Harlequin's covers, they are like ilustrated... I don't know. I love the heroine's makeup on the cover LOL. I am a fan of makeup too ;)
Now, Let's get to the point. I liked the story, it wasn't that bad. Yes! the heroine was kind of dumb and the hero was like a "cocktail" of jerk, caveman and stubborn etc. But alfa, in my opnion.
All in all, entertaining and angsty read. I will recommend it to someone who like crazy other ow (an stepsister in this case), a caveman and the beautiful but not the "strongest" heroine.
March 24, 2017
God I love the eighties. Only in the eighties could we spend the whole book wondering why the hero is letting his half sister be all possessive and believing her when she says bad things about the heroine. But wait, there's more.
According to Marisa, the hero has been loving her up since she was sixteen and only married the heroine to hide from the world this incestuous affair.
Chloe is a nice girl despite walking the runway in Paris and this is all a bit icky for her, but when Marisa pushed her down the stairs and causing a miscarriage it's the final straw.
Now Chloe is back, manipulated by the hero who is doing his best impersonation of traditional Greek male and demanding an heir. No heir, no escape. We, gentle readers, know that he is hoping that if he spends the time loving up the heroine and they have a baby, she will stay forever. He is even attempting to get rid of Marisa by marrying her off to a nice boy. But Marisa isn't playing.
It takes a big stretch to get over the icky parts of the plot, like the fact that Chloe still sleeps with Leon even when she is convinced he is playing hokey pokey with his sister. Luckily we are au fait with evil Other Woman lies and know that the little tramp is lying through her perfect teeth.
Apart from that, it was a good angsty read with Leon being all alpha male and the heroine desperately fighting her love for him despite knowing he is under the thrall of Marisa.
The ending was a bit sudden and the resolution with Marisa a little convenient, but I'm not asking for an Agatha Christie solution. I was happy with how it ended.
According to Marisa, the hero has been loving her up since she was sixteen and only married the heroine to hide from the world this incestuous affair.
Chloe is a nice girl despite walking the runway in Paris and this is all a bit icky for her, but when Marisa pushed her down the stairs and causing a miscarriage it's the final straw.
Now Chloe is back, manipulated by the hero who is doing his best impersonation of traditional Greek male and demanding an heir. No heir, no escape. We, gentle readers, know that he is hoping that if he spends the time loving up the heroine and they have a baby, she will stay forever. He is even attempting to get rid of Marisa by marrying her off to a nice boy. But Marisa isn't playing.
It takes a big stretch to get over the icky parts of the plot, like the fact that Chloe still sleeps with Leon even when she is convinced he is playing hokey pokey with his sister. Luckily we are au fait with evil Other Woman lies and know that the little tramp is lying through her perfect teeth.
Apart from that, it was a good angsty read with Leon being all alpha male and the heroine desperately fighting her love for him despite knowing he is under the thrall of Marisa.
The ending was a bit sudden and the resolution with Marisa a little convenient, but I'm not asking for an Agatha Christie solution. I was happy with how it ended.
November 2, 2017
Eh, it was okay. The writing itself was pretty good, but I dislike stories that hinge solely on the MCs not having a proper conversation because they're too proud, too stupid, too oblivious, too whatever. Chloe should have confronted Leon directly with what Marisa told her, or Leon should have explained about Marisa's unbalanced behavior when they were first married -- so much angst & stupidity & wife-beating & traitorous body action could've been avoided with basic common sense. Sure, I'm aware that one doesn't pick up HPs for their calm renderings of realism, but I can't respect (or even enjoy) characters who continually allow their own idiocy to provide the roadblocks. And while Chloe wasn't a bad heroine, per se, Leon was a douchebag & OW Marisa wasn't nefarious enough to offer much interest; rather, she was an obvious spoiled brat with issues that Leon should've addressed long before this book's timeframe.
I've said it before & I'll (likely :P) say it again: proper WTFery needs at least some *external* influences, not just a pair of uncommunicative knuckleheads being manipulated by a bratty villainess.
I've said it before & I'll (likely :P) say it again: proper WTFery needs at least some *external* influences, not just a pair of uncommunicative knuckleheads being manipulated by a bratty villainess.
May 29, 2024
روايه ممتعه مليئة بالرومانسية كعادة رواي��ت عبير
احب قراءة هذه الروايات بين وقت وآخر
وخاصة وقت الشتاء لها اجواءها الخاصه
بطلة القصة ليندا فتاة الانجليزيه كالعاده بريئة وقت في حب ليو المليونير اليوناني كالعاده ايضا
وبسبب خلاف بينها تهرب ليندا منه
وبعد مرور سنتين وفي اجازتها تقضيها في اليونان يجبرها ليو على العوده اليه وان يعيشاه حياة طبيعية كزوجين
ولكن كالعاده هناك من ينغص سعادتهما
روايه متوقعه لكنها مسليه
احب قراءة هذه الروايات بين وقت وآخر
وخاصة وقت الشتاء لها اجواءها الخاصه
بطلة القصة ليندا فتاة الانجليزيه كالعاده بريئة وقت في حب ليو المليونير اليوناني كالعاده ايضا
وبسبب خلاف بينها تهرب ليندا منه
وبعد مرور سنتين وفي اجازتها تقضيها في اليونان يجبرها ليو على العوده اليه وان يعيشاه حياة طبيعية كزوجين
ولكن كالعاده هناك من ينغص سعادتهما
روايه متوقعه لكنها مسليه
September 17, 2020
3 "NG but entertaining" Stars
This is a whacky tale of two bone-heads, and a screeching harpy. We have separations, incest allegations, fact checking failures, and ASSumptions galore. The plot is based solely on a misunderstanding as both mc’s blindly listen to an insane, tantrum-throwing wannabe OW. She (Marissa) acts so OTT nutty; that it goes beyond reason that no one questions her credibility. There’s not even a glimmer of seriousness here; parts are conflicting and confusing; and a lot doesn’t make sense… but it’s old-school HP, and in 1983 grown women were attacking each other for Cabbage Patch dolls... so maybe it was a little nutty out there. 🤷♀️ I had zero realistic “feels” it was purely surface soapy trash.
This is a whacky tale of two bone-heads, and a screeching harpy. We have separations, incest allegations, fact checking failures, and ASSumptions galore. The plot is based solely on a misunderstanding as both mc’s blindly listen to an insane, tantrum-throwing wannabe OW. She (Marissa) acts so OTT nutty; that it goes beyond reason that no one questions her credibility. There’s not even a glimmer of seriousness here; parts are conflicting and confusing; and a lot doesn’t make sense… but it’s old-school HP, and in 1983 grown women were attacking each other for Cabbage Patch dolls... so maybe it was a little nutty out there. 🤷♀️ I had zero realistic “feels” it was purely surface soapy trash.
September 23, 2014
OMG where to begin.... Leon was a disappointment, he would be playing the hero of the story...unfortunately he was miscast...lol. The story begins after the relationship between the main couple has ended and you discover all the things that went on as the story is told. Chloe is Leon's wife, they are separated after someone close to him harms her and maintains that she is his mistress and although I loathe a storyline where the heroine believes the B*tchy OW, this one as well as Leon's creepy behavior led credence to the story... Creepy factor between "mistress Marissa" and Leon is a 11.....
SPOLILERS
Marissa is his half sister, yes half they share a father.... she is psychotic in every way imaginable, she shoves Chloe down the stairs and causes a miscarriage, she dresses like a ho and acts worse, she is scandalous and everyone sees it but him. She has nightmares and comes to him dressed innappropriately and he goes with her, he believes every lie that vicious woman says, he chooses her over his wife every time and then is annoyed when she says a word against his sister. I do not believe that he was unaware of her....no one is that blind.... it was a nightmare to read and ended with no justice for Chloe at all... Leon was rather blase in how he behaved to her , justifying it.... Marissa was a monster, Leon a creepy moron and Chloe too young to end up in their mess.
SPOLILERS
Marissa is his half sister, yes half they share a father.... she is psychotic in every way imaginable, she shoves Chloe down the stairs and causes a miscarriage, she dresses like a ho and acts worse, she is scandalous and everyone sees it but him. She has nightmares and comes to him dressed innappropriately and he goes with her, he believes every lie that vicious woman says, he chooses her over his wife every time and then is annoyed when she says a word against his sister. I do not believe that he was unaware of her....no one is that blind.... it was a nightmare to read and ended with no justice for Chloe at all... Leon was rather blase in how he behaved to her , justifying it.... Marissa was a monster, Leon a creepy moron and Chloe too young to end up in their mess.
September 27, 2014
Good angsty story but hero and his crazy sister got on my nerves so much!
April 16, 2016
One of my favourite years for Penny Jordan’s writing, and, she doesn’t fail to provide lots of interesting material for study in this offering.
In this one, ‘Chloe’ goes on holiday with her friend ‘Derek’ from Accounts. Unfortunately for naive Chloe, Derek was thinking that they might be ‘friends with benefits’ on this holiday and after a row when she tells him this wasn’t at all what she has in mind, Derek goes home, abandoning Chloe on a Greek island without her passport or any of her travellers’ cheques (Derek’s taken them with him, the cad).
As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that Chloe has been married before (to the owner of a Greek shipping empire – which is fortunate, as there may be a chance she can cadge a lift home, but then turns out to be unfortunate as the Greek shipping magnate effectively kidnaps Chloe and holds her prisoner on ‘Eos’ ‘the Island of the Dawn’ of the title). ‘Leon’, the husband, then tells Chloe that he’s not letting her go until she’s given him a son. The story slowly emerges that Chloe left Leon (despite still being in love with him) after she was told by Leon’s deranged half-sister that they were having an incestuous affair. Of course, any sensible person would have checked the facts of this before abandoning their marriage, but not Chloe. She just hotfoots it back to England leaving Leon behind.
There then follows much heartfelt angst on the part of the heroine who still believes that Leon has unnatural feelings for his sister. The turning point in the text comes when Leon and Chloe leave the island and go out on his yacht, escaping the sister, and managing to turn the tide of fortune for their romance (although it’s not all plain sailing – if you’ll pardon the pun).
There are several things going on in the novel – first off, romantic heroines normally head to an island to escape the pollution and corrupting forces of society in order achieve their destiny. However, Jordan turns the literary tables in this novel and has to remove her heroine from the island (and out into the open ocean) before the romance can flourish. The theme of escapism is perfect, because this novel is all about that – Jordan in a clever moment even has the heroine envy her husband’s yacht (before she realises it is his): ‘A subdued mushroom glow illumined a cabin far more luxuriously appointed than any bedroom Chloe had ever seen in her life, and despite her shock she was still awed enough to register peach silk curtains matching the beautiful embroidered bedspread and stylish fitted furniture of a type she had only ever glimpsed enviously in prestige glossy magazines.’ (Loc. 1222). Being as ‘glossy magazines’ was precisely the method used by Jordan for her research and the fact that a lot of M&B readers would be reading the novel for precisely this type of glamour, this is a clever twist indeed. Chloe, with her husband’s yacht, is being awarded precisely the type of escapism the readers of these books demanded in the wealth and luxury he is able to provide for her. It is (in my opinion) a Shklovskyan moment of defamiliarisation and baring the device on the part of the author.
Jordan also subverts the romance in this novel by her judicious use of gardens. In many romantic novels (including Jordan’s 1998 ‘One Night in His Arms’) gardens are used as female spaces for the woman to be courted and loved as she desires. It’s where she takes control of the romance, and finds that the hero loves her after all. However, in this one, despite the hero wanting to walk with the heroine in the garden, she refuses to go with him; even lying to him to get out of it (the old ‘I’ve got a headache’ excuse). Similarly, the half-sister refuses her would-be lover by refusing to be romanced in the garden. As readers, we never get to see the garden (as we do in Jordan’s other novels) which is a prime indicator of the failed nature of the romance in this instance.
Further, we, as readers, are kept guessing right up to the end about the true emotions of the slightly forbidding character of ‘Leon’. Even in an unguarded moment, we are not permitted to see how things will go. Consider the following, as Leon, unobserved, watches Chloe sleep: ‘He watched the sleeping, vulnerable figure before him for several seconds, an unreadable expression on his face,...’ Even we don’t get to see his emotions (although, of course, it’s a Mills and Boon, so we do really know how he feels about her).
There are some great moments in the book which show that it was written in a hurry (I think Jordan wrote something like 9 novels for M&B in 1982, so she was really banging them out). For instance, Leon terrifies Chloe with the following: ‘Leon had already explaining [sic] that the yacht was an oceangoing vessel, capable of swift speed and complete with all the latest radar and technological devices. Chloe had shivered a little when he had described to her the fate suffered by some friends of his off Bermuda the previous summer. Their vessel had been hijacked and they had been cast adrift in an inflatable dinghy, from which they had been lucky to be rescued twelve hours later.
The authorities had been laconic in the face of their fear and anger. Such incidents were commonplace, and the stolen vessels were used for drug smuggling, and Leon’s friends had been told that they were lucky to be alive; many other people had been killed, or left to die slowly of thirst and starvation. Seeing Chloe shiver, Leon assured her that nothing similar was likely to happen to them.’ (Loc 1482). If it’s not going to happen, why tell her then? He tells her a similar horror story about a string of pearls he gives to her which are surely cursed by the fact that four people DIED diving for them, which would surely put anyone off wearing them (but not Chloe! She’s made of sterner stuff than that). In normal circumstances, you’d think that the boat hijack thing has been purposely introduced by the author to hint that this is probably what’s going to happen to Chloe, thus permitting the hero to rescue her and her to acknowledge his love for him (a familiar Jordan device, although she is just as likely to use a spider in the bath which the heroine requires saviour from as a boat hijacker). However, in this instance, there’s no time for a convenient kidnapper/pirate to turn up and Chloe has to make do with getting a bit wet in a storm instead during their return sailing trip.
Similarly, in a fantastic editorial error, during the same storm on board the yacht, Chloe dons a pair of jeans and a ‘serviceable blouse’ only to return from deck wearing a ‘thin dress’ which has got soaked through because she didn’t have anything warm to wear. Careless errors like this happen all the time in Jordan’s work, mainly because, like a lot of romantic novelists (18th century author Charlotte Smith springs to mind) she’s writing in a hurry probably because she needs the money.
The other great thing about this is that the hero is utterly convinced that Chloe is some kind of genius. He keeps calling her ‘clever Chloe’. Now I don’t know how any of Chloe’s story strikes anyone else, but ‘Clever Chloe’ is not how I’d describe her. ‘Credulous Chloe’ maybe (after swallowing that unlikely tale about the half-sister romance and abandoning the husband she loves because of it...)
Well, it’s a Mills and Boon, and all will come good in the end. Leon even admits his mistakes (he is a better person for acknowledging the love the heroine, as in all Mills and Boon books):
‘When Marisa told me you had only married me for my wealth I think I lost my mind for a short time. She deceived us both too easily, perhaps because neither of us had let the other see deep into our hearts.’
Admitting their mistakes, they also admit their love for each other, and go off to spend the rest of their happy lives, being fabulously wealthy and just fabulous together on Eos. The Universe has reasserted itself, and all’s right with the romantic world. Definitely a classic offering from Jordan. One of my favourites since I read the one where the heroine nearly got eaten by a giant octopus.
In this one, ‘Chloe’ goes on holiday with her friend ‘Derek’ from Accounts. Unfortunately for naive Chloe, Derek was thinking that they might be ‘friends with benefits’ on this holiday and after a row when she tells him this wasn’t at all what she has in mind, Derek goes home, abandoning Chloe on a Greek island without her passport or any of her travellers’ cheques (Derek’s taken them with him, the cad).
As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that Chloe has been married before (to the owner of a Greek shipping empire – which is fortunate, as there may be a chance she can cadge a lift home, but then turns out to be unfortunate as the Greek shipping magnate effectively kidnaps Chloe and holds her prisoner on ‘Eos’ ‘the Island of the Dawn’ of the title). ‘Leon’, the husband, then tells Chloe that he’s not letting her go until she’s given him a son. The story slowly emerges that Chloe left Leon (despite still being in love with him) after she was told by Leon’s deranged half-sister that they were having an incestuous affair. Of course, any sensible person would have checked the facts of this before abandoning their marriage, but not Chloe. She just hotfoots it back to England leaving Leon behind.
There then follows much heartfelt angst on the part of the heroine who still believes that Leon has unnatural feelings for his sister. The turning point in the text comes when Leon and Chloe leave the island and go out on his yacht, escaping the sister, and managing to turn the tide of fortune for their romance (although it’s not all plain sailing – if you’ll pardon the pun).
There are several things going on in the novel – first off, romantic heroines normally head to an island to escape the pollution and corrupting forces of society in order achieve their destiny. However, Jordan turns the literary tables in this novel and has to remove her heroine from the island (and out into the open ocean) before the romance can flourish. The theme of escapism is perfect, because this novel is all about that – Jordan in a clever moment even has the heroine envy her husband’s yacht (before she realises it is his): ‘A subdued mushroom glow illumined a cabin far more luxuriously appointed than any bedroom Chloe had ever seen in her life, and despite her shock she was still awed enough to register peach silk curtains matching the beautiful embroidered bedspread and stylish fitted furniture of a type she had only ever glimpsed enviously in prestige glossy magazines.’ (Loc. 1222). Being as ‘glossy magazines’ was precisely the method used by Jordan for her research and the fact that a lot of M&B readers would be reading the novel for precisely this type of glamour, this is a clever twist indeed. Chloe, with her husband’s yacht, is being awarded precisely the type of escapism the readers of these books demanded in the wealth and luxury he is able to provide for her. It is (in my opinion) a Shklovskyan moment of defamiliarisation and baring the device on the part of the author.
Jordan also subverts the romance in this novel by her judicious use of gardens. In many romantic novels (including Jordan’s 1998 ‘One Night in His Arms’) gardens are used as female spaces for the woman to be courted and loved as she desires. It’s where she takes control of the romance, and finds that the hero loves her after all. However, in this one, despite the hero wanting to walk with the heroine in the garden, she refuses to go with him; even lying to him to get out of it (the old ‘I’ve got a headache’ excuse). Similarly, the half-sister refuses her would-be lover by refusing to be romanced in the garden. As readers, we never get to see the garden (as we do in Jordan’s other novels) which is a prime indicator of the failed nature of the romance in this instance.
Further, we, as readers, are kept guessing right up to the end about the true emotions of the slightly forbidding character of ‘Leon’. Even in an unguarded moment, we are not permitted to see how things will go. Consider the following, as Leon, unobserved, watches Chloe sleep: ‘He watched the sleeping, vulnerable figure before him for several seconds, an unreadable expression on his face,...’ Even we don’t get to see his emotions (although, of course, it’s a Mills and Boon, so we do really know how he feels about her).
There are some great moments in the book which show that it was written in a hurry (I think Jordan wrote something like 9 novels for M&B in 1982, so she was really banging them out). For instance, Leon terrifies Chloe with the following: ‘Leon had already explaining [sic] that the yacht was an oceangoing vessel, capable of swift speed and complete with all the latest radar and technological devices. Chloe had shivered a little when he had described to her the fate suffered by some friends of his off Bermuda the previous summer. Their vessel had been hijacked and they had been cast adrift in an inflatable dinghy, from which they had been lucky to be rescued twelve hours later.
The authorities had been laconic in the face of their fear and anger. Such incidents were commonplace, and the stolen vessels were used for drug smuggling, and Leon’s friends had been told that they were lucky to be alive; many other people had been killed, or left to die slowly of thirst and starvation. Seeing Chloe shiver, Leon assured her that nothing similar was likely to happen to them.’ (Loc 1482). If it’s not going to happen, why tell her then? He tells her a similar horror story about a string of pearls he gives to her which are surely cursed by the fact that four people DIED diving for them, which would surely put anyone off wearing them (but not Chloe! She’s made of sterner stuff than that). In normal circumstances, you’d think that the boat hijack thing has been purposely introduced by the author to hint that this is probably what’s going to happen to Chloe, thus permitting the hero to rescue her and her to acknowledge his love for him (a familiar Jordan device, although she is just as likely to use a spider in the bath which the heroine requires saviour from as a boat hijacker). However, in this instance, there’s no time for a convenient kidnapper/pirate to turn up and Chloe has to make do with getting a bit wet in a storm instead during their return sailing trip.
Similarly, in a fantastic editorial error, during the same storm on board the yacht, Chloe dons a pair of jeans and a ‘serviceable blouse’ only to return from deck wearing a ‘thin dress’ which has got soaked through because she didn’t have anything warm to wear. Careless errors like this happen all the time in Jordan’s work, mainly because, like a lot of romantic novelists (18th century author Charlotte Smith springs to mind) she’s writing in a hurry probably because she needs the money.
The other great thing about this is that the hero is utterly convinced that Chloe is some kind of genius. He keeps calling her ‘clever Chloe’. Now I don’t know how any of Chloe’s story strikes anyone else, but ‘Clever Chloe’ is not how I’d describe her. ‘Credulous Chloe’ maybe (after swallowing that unlikely tale about the half-sister romance and abandoning the husband she loves because of it...)
Well, it’s a Mills and Boon, and all will come good in the end. Leon even admits his mistakes (he is a better person for acknowledging the love the heroine, as in all Mills and Boon books):
‘When Marisa told me you had only married me for my wealth I think I lost my mind for a short time. She deceived us both too easily, perhaps because neither of us had let the other see deep into our hearts.’
Admitting their mistakes, they also admit their love for each other, and go off to spend the rest of their happy lives, being fabulously wealthy and just fabulous together on Eos. The Universe has reasserted itself, and all’s right with the romantic world. Definitely a classic offering from Jordan. One of my favourites since I read the one where the heroine nearly got eaten by a giant octopus.
August 7, 2018
3 parts horror novel + 1 part romance = WTF did I just read??
March 12, 2020
Whoooooa Nelly, that sister was plum crazy! Like needs to be in a mental institution crazy. Couldn't really get behind the hero since he believed everything the sister said, when he had no proof, and when what was said contradicted the heroine's actions. He did some mental gymnastics to believe every single thing the sister said and that is just stupid and not worth rooting for. 'Oh I believe you now after another women mentioned something and my sister lost her shit!'.....thanks hero....youre a real great guy. Nope. Our poor heroine, is kidnapped, trapped, and stuck with the woman who KILLED her child and attempted to kill her....awesome. Glad she tried to leave, she didn't just sit down and accept the crazy going on around her. Wish the hero could have gained some brains but he didn't so I really don't think the heroine should have gotten back together with him(for the 3rd time!! by the way). Heroine could be a great single mom and never see this moron again. That would be a happy ever after I could get behind. Skip unless you want to read just a mess of stupid.
June 9, 2021
Foolishly she'd never stopped loving him...
Leon had swept the young and innocent Chloe into marriage, but there was no happy ending for them, for there would always be Marisa. Marisa, obsessive and possessive about her stepbrother, implied a relationship between them that could never be. She claimed a wife was only needed to disguise their sin.So Chloe, disgusted and confused, ran away. But a Greek's pride could not accept a wife's desertion, and he tricked her into returning. She hated and despised him-but could not deny she still wanted him.... (less)
Leon had swept the young and innocent Chloe into marriage, but there was no happy ending for them, for there would always be Marisa. Marisa, obsessive and possessive about her stepbrother, implied a relationship between them that could never be. She claimed a wife was only needed to disguise their sin.So Chloe, disgusted and confused, ran away. But a Greek's pride could not accept a wife's desertion, and he tricked her into returning. She hated and despised him-but could not deny she still wanted him.... (less)
December 28, 2017
109-حوريتي الجميلة
روايات عبير الجديدة
سجينة؟...أوه لا. هذا لا يمكنه أن يكون صحيحا.
أي سوء حظ دفعها للرحيل الى بحر ايجه مع صديق كديريك هذا.كان يجب على ليندا أن تحذر منه،كيف أمكنه أن يتركها هكذا بين يدي ليو ستيفانيدز.
لن تستسلم لهذا الرجل الذي كان قد تزوجها من أجل أهدافه الدنيئة.يجب أن تهرب...ولكن الى أين؟والى متى؟؟؟.
روايات عبير الجديدة
سجينة؟...أوه لا. هذا لا يمكنه أن يكون صحيحا.
أي سوء حظ دفعها للرحيل الى بحر ايجه مع صديق كديريك هذا.كان يجب على ليندا أن تحذر منه،كيف أمكنه أن يتركها هكذا بين يدي ليو ستيفانيدز.
لن تستسلم لهذا الرجل الذي كان قد تزوجها من أجل أهدافه الدنيئة.يجب أن تهرب...ولكن الى أين؟والى متى؟؟؟.
March 14, 2013
how could chloe love leon !? i don't get it. he treated her badly and even hit her. he even intended to force her to have sex but then did not have to do it because she was willing haha !! he disgusted me
February 15, 2017
Terrible, horrible! i can't believe I read it to the end.
July 2, 2023
"Island Of The Dawn" is the story of Chloe and Leon.
Read this if you want to hear long lectures on Greek pride, and how it allows hero to kidnap, demand a child and force himself on his wife. Our supposed careerwoman is a doormat, yes she escapes the first time round and then continues trying but ONE KISS and yes, her panties disintegrate.
We have an OTT psychotic sister in law, who's in love with the hero, keeps threatening the heroine, causes irreversible trauma and anguish to her and the hero basically believes his sister over her. AND THE END ISNT EVEN SATISFYING!
The only smart person was the sassy elderly friend but overall this is a must skip.
SWE
1.25/5
Read this if you want to hear long lectures on Greek pride, and how it allows hero to kidnap, demand a child and force himself on his wife. Our supposed careerwoman is a doormat, yes she escapes the first time round and then continues trying but ONE KISS and yes, her panties disintegrate.
We have an OTT psychotic sister in law, who's in love with the hero, keeps threatening the heroine, causes irreversible trauma and anguish to her and the hero basically believes his sister over her. AND THE END ISNT EVEN SATISFYING!
The only smart person was the sassy elderly friend but overall this is a must skip.
SWE
1.25/5
November 3, 2021
His half-sister Marisa was a lunatic and she had way too big a part in the book. Too many pages about what the lunatic says to the h, again and again. The h is the typical doormat.
And this H is awful that he wants the lunatic to marry some guy that she doesn’t want to marry. And also awful that he expects the h to put up with the lunatic and that he believes the lunatic over the h.
But other than the annoying lunatic, it was a good/okay read. The interaction between the h and H is very passionate and PJ is an excellent writer, so I’ll still give it three stars.
And this H is awful that he wants the lunatic to marry some guy that she doesn’t want to marry. And also awful that he expects the h to put up with the lunatic and that he believes the lunatic over the h.
But other than the annoying lunatic, it was a good/okay read. The interaction between the h and H is very passionate and PJ is an excellent writer, so I’ll still give it three stars.
July 12, 2020
This is an awesome old school Harlequin romance. It's got EVERYTHING. Insane OR who is his sister, violent and jealous hero, kidnapping, private islands, yachts and a heroine who is, of course, a model.
You can't go wrong.
You can't go wrong.
not-interested-in-reading
July 4, 2022Did Not Read. Refuse to Read. Not My Cuppa. Reviews Say NO! Just too icky-fied.
From the viewpoint of one reviewer, the "hero" waited until his half-sister was dead before he told the heroine he loved her. Umm...okay. That was convenient timing, IMHO.
From the viewpoint of one reviewer, the "hero" waited until his half-sister was dead before he told the heroine he loved her. Umm...okay. That was convenient timing, IMHO.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2019
2.5 stars
June 15, 2019
I have met a lot of stupid people in my journey through Harleyland but Leon and Chloe both take the prize for stupid. It got to a point where I seriously just wanted to punch both of them.
July 22, 2019
Not quite your typical romance, what it lacked in the storyline, it made up for with the characters. A nice easy read.
March 26, 2020
There actually isn't cheating but there is a psycho step-sister.
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