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A Passionate Awakening
Read this classic romance by New York Times bestselling author Penny Jordan, now available for the first time in e-book! Originally published as Force of Feeling in 1988.
Unleashing her hidden desire
A searing passion left Campion crushed by a cruel hand. And since that devastating experience, she has closed out that side of her nature. Now she's being forced to confront it once again.
Her literary agent, the shockingly sensual Guy French, declares her historical novels well written--but flat and lifeless. He demands she add passion. So Campion retreats to a remote cottage in Wales hoping inspiration will come.
Only she soon discovers Guy will be there too...and his plans of seduction promise to be very inspiring indeed!
Unleashing her hidden desire
A searing passion left Campion crushed by a cruel hand. And since that devastating experience, she has closed out that side of her nature. Now she's being forced to confront it once again.
Her literary agent, the shockingly sensual Guy French, declares her historical novels well written--but flat and lifeless. He demands she add passion. So Campion retreats to a remote cottage in Wales hoping inspiration will come.
Only she soon discovers Guy will be there too...and his plans of seduction promise to be very inspiring indeed!
155 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1989
11 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Penny Jordan
1,131 books672 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 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 7, 2018
It's always interesting to see how a writer writes about writing. This heroine is an author of historical novels and she's having trouble writing the romantic subplot.
Why? Because she has created a beautiful and spirited heroine and can't relate to her at all.
Why? Because she fell for a guy at 19, married him, and then was brutally dumped when he couldn't get his hands on her parents' money. Her self-esteem is non-existent.
Enter her new literary agent, our hero. He's a wealthy hunky self-made guy. A nurturing alpha who is determined to help the heroine finish the novel.
He beats her to the empty cottage in Wales that is used as a writer's retreat. Heroine is not happy to see him. Eventually the sexual healing cause the word count to flow.
H/h then have to go their separate ways because of the h's book tour. Misunderstanding ensue and hero thinks heroine is having an affair (!) because she's no longer wearing beige and she is seen in the company of a man. *rolls eyes*
Hero's sisters actually get the now-pregnant-with-twins heroine back with the hero for the HEA.
If you like the forced intimacy of a remote cottage trope, you might like this one. The self-esteem/writing connection was kind of interesting, but not all that realistic. I doubt any romance novelist thinks they *have* to have a hunky male making them eggs* each day in order to write, but it would be a nice perk. :)
*a hunky guy making me coffee on the other hand . . .
Why? Because she has created a beautiful and spirited heroine and can't relate to her at all.
Why? Because she fell for a guy at 19, married him, and then was brutally dumped when he couldn't get his hands on her parents' money. Her self-esteem is non-existent.
Enter her new literary agent, our hero. He's a wealthy hunky self-made guy. A nurturing alpha who is determined to help the heroine finish the novel.
He beats her to the empty cottage in Wales that is used as a writer's retreat. Heroine is not happy to see him. Eventually the sexual healing cause the word count to flow.
H/h then have to go their separate ways because of the h's book tour. Misunderstanding ensue and hero thinks heroine is having an affair (!) because she's no longer wearing beige and she is seen in the company of a man. *rolls eyes*
Hero's sisters actually get the now-pregnant-with-twins heroine back with the hero for the HEA.
If you like the forced intimacy of a remote cottage trope, you might like this one. The self-esteem/writing connection was kind of interesting, but not all that realistic. I doubt any romance novelist thinks they *have* to have a hunky male making them eggs* each day in order to write, but it would be a nice perk. :)
*a hunky guy making me coffee on the other hand . . .
December 20, 2016
Re Force of Feeling - PJ brings us an introvert, shy writer h who has a new agent H determined to force more passion into her books, even if he has to drag her into bed to do it.
The background for this h is the usual PJ orphan of distant parents. For the added angst bonus, (and to convince the h of her complete undesirability to anyone but a man wearing a bag over his head at the bottom of a closed up dark mine who hasn't felt a woman in 20 years,) the h was married at 19 to her first lover. He was a cad seducer type and only married her to get her parents to fork over a ton of money. They refused, he vilely and viciously berated the h and her lack of boudoir skills in front of them and he was promptly sent to the hinterland mists of HPlandia - vile slime slurping seducer role successfully completed. The h's father got the marriage annulled and then conveniently passed to the next plane of existence, taking his wife with him.
The h, now thoroughly indoctrinated with her frigidity and undesirableness - to the point where even amoebas have more personal self esteem- promptly disperses the large inheritance she was left to various charities. Thus proving she is a nice, pure, and virtuous PJ h. Then sets about on a historical novel career. But her regular agent is sick when the book opens, and she has a contract for a bodice ripper to make Rosemary Rodgers blush. Her agent substitute is the H, and he is a big hit at the lurvely lady HP buffet. He is pushing the h to write better, cause her first effort got the paper shredder and the deadline for publication is nigh.
In desperation and because the h has to hide her unattractive, dun clothed self from inflicting pain upon the rest of us, the h takes herself off to her regular agent's isolated cottage to rework her manuscript as best she can before giving up in frigid and sterile defeat.
But the H is there waiting and we get seven chapters of the h insisting she is hideous and unapproachable in the gropey/handsy sense and the H trying to figure out what is up with this highly neurotic lady. There is some vivid h dreams caused by the H's manly male presence in the next room and a long discussion about cooking eggs - the h can't cook them and the H is an egg frying master.
The writing is improving, but the tension is high and after a particularly awkward h soliloquy regarding her undesirableness and unattractiveness and neuter status, the h flings herself out the door for a long walk and winds ups falling down the rockface when the cliff collapses beneath her.
The H gallantly rescues her by taking off his pants to use as a tether to haul her up off the cliff and that was all it took. The h is now officially in love, tho she makes no announcement. The H carries her back to the cottage clad only in a sweater, socks and tidy whities and the two start bopping like bunnies for the big composition exposition. The h's word count is exponential to the amount of lovin' in her oven and the H is happy the book is finally being written to the required specification.
After a chapter of bopping and bouncing and H jealousy cause the h is dressing like a person instead of a potato sack imitation, the h has to take off on a pre-arranged book tour. Since the H is an known taster at the tap room of lady lurve, the h has a lot of mopey moments cause she figures he moved onto the next tap.
The h is on tour and feeling ill when her local companion escorts her to her room. She had a visitor while the local gent was tucking her sick self up - but she thinks it was just a reporter who left when her illness was reported. It was actually the H. He saw the local good Samaritan go into he h's room and instantly assumed that a woman who had been frigid for ten years was doing some tap sampling of her own. The H runs off to America, where he does't have to watch the tapping, and the h thinks the H just abandoned her after he got the book out of her.
Another little complication ensues when the h finds she is preggers. The h is happy cause at least she will have a memento of her big love affair. But there is some physical instability and illness that makes the h's BFF drag her back to her home to help the h out. Conveniently the house is right up the road to the H's sister's house, so there is a brief H/h meet up at the h's friends annual Christmas party.
The h overhears the blonde who accompanied the H to the party (along with his sister,) exclaiming that the H must have been desperate for the book to actually go to bed with the h to get it. The h is totally humiliated and then she sees the H. Naturally no one will actually talk to each other about what really happened or even have a really good ranty moment, and the H runs back to America cause the h lies and says she is with someone else so she doesn't look like a pining limpet.
The h's pregnancy develops and she is out and about and passing out, right in front of the H's sister's house. The sister rushes out to yell at the h for treating her brother so badly, then cottons on to the fact that h is preggers with her brother's kid. The sister is all for pimping the h out (in new twist to the trope, we have the H's family pimping h's out,) but the sister's husband has the most common sense in all of PJ's HPlandia and tells his wife to stop it and not meddle. He comments that maybe the H doesn't want a kid right at the moment - either way it isn't any of the sister's business, and the H and h need to work things out for themselves.
(I do think that was a shinning PJ moment right there, tho nobody listened to him. He tried to inject a note of sanity into the whole angst tossed situation. Too bad we did not get more of him and I can only think PJ was smoking some serious stuff when she wrote it, cause it was definitely not fitting in with the rest of the drama.)
Eventually the H's sisters can't take it anymore. They fire a telegraph off to the H, citing a family emergency and he comes rushing home. Only to be informed of his impending daddyhood -Surprise, it is twins! - and the h installed in a cozy little cottage.
The H rushes over, they both declare undying love and then figure out the big misunderstanding. The H did not sleep with her for a book, (well mostly not anyways,) and the h was ill and not tapping a new brew. They marry and decide to buy a bigger bed - cause the single the h has barely fits two and certainly not four. The h delivers cute baby boys and the H's sisters plan a revolt because they all have boys and the Pimp Sis duo wanted girls, they plan to force the H and h to consummate until they get some for the big PJ HEA.
This one isn't PJ's best. The h's obstinacy in thinking she has all the pulling power of a manky turnip goes on way, way too long and then the "Oh I love him," moment happens in two sentences. It makes for a bit of awkward reading. Then the big misunderstanding and separation goes on even longer and the whole byplay between the sister and hubby seems to be some added filler with a strange note of common sense in an otherwise nonsensical book. Still the HEA is nice and believable and I was happy to see them together in the end.
This one should probably be reserved for days when you want to do a drinking game based on the h's self derogatory comments -- only a half or a quarter of a shot for every time she does it, otherwise you will pass out by chapter two-- or if you are a Serious PJ fan and need to complete the backlist. Everyone else can probably safely skip this and find more entertaining outings in HPlandia and certainly better PJ ventures.
The background for this h is the usual PJ orphan of distant parents. For the added angst bonus, (and to convince the h of her complete undesirability to anyone but a man wearing a bag over his head at the bottom of a closed up dark mine who hasn't felt a woman in 20 years,) the h was married at 19 to her first lover. He was a cad seducer type and only married her to get her parents to fork over a ton of money. They refused, he vilely and viciously berated the h and her lack of boudoir skills in front of them and he was promptly sent to the hinterland mists of HPlandia - vile slime slurping seducer role successfully completed. The h's father got the marriage annulled and then conveniently passed to the next plane of existence, taking his wife with him.
The h, now thoroughly indoctrinated with her frigidity and undesirableness - to the point where even amoebas have more personal self esteem- promptly disperses the large inheritance she was left to various charities. Thus proving she is a nice, pure, and virtuous PJ h. Then sets about on a historical novel career. But her regular agent is sick when the book opens, and she has a contract for a bodice ripper to make Rosemary Rodgers blush. Her agent substitute is the H, and he is a big hit at the lurvely lady HP buffet. He is pushing the h to write better, cause her first effort got the paper shredder and the deadline for publication is nigh.
In desperation and because the h has to hide her unattractive, dun clothed self from inflicting pain upon the rest of us, the h takes herself off to her regular agent's isolated cottage to rework her manuscript as best she can before giving up in frigid and sterile defeat.
But the H is there waiting and we get seven chapters of the h insisting she is hideous and unapproachable in the gropey/handsy sense and the H trying to figure out what is up with this highly neurotic lady. There is some vivid h dreams caused by the H's manly male presence in the next room and a long discussion about cooking eggs - the h can't cook them and the H is an egg frying master.
The writing is improving, but the tension is high and after a particularly awkward h soliloquy regarding her undesirableness and unattractiveness and neuter status, the h flings herself out the door for a long walk and winds ups falling down the rockface when the cliff collapses beneath her.
The H gallantly rescues her by taking off his pants to use as a tether to haul her up off the cliff and that was all it took. The h is now officially in love, tho she makes no announcement. The H carries her back to the cottage clad only in a sweater, socks and tidy whities and the two start bopping like bunnies for the big composition exposition. The h's word count is exponential to the amount of lovin' in her oven and the H is happy the book is finally being written to the required specification.
After a chapter of bopping and bouncing and H jealousy cause the h is dressing like a person instead of a potato sack imitation, the h has to take off on a pre-arranged book tour. Since the H is an known taster at the tap room of lady lurve, the h has a lot of mopey moments cause she figures he moved onto the next tap.
The h is on tour and feeling ill when her local companion escorts her to her room. She had a visitor while the local gent was tucking her sick self up - but she thinks it was just a reporter who left when her illness was reported. It was actually the H. He saw the local good Samaritan go into he h's room and instantly assumed that a woman who had been frigid for ten years was doing some tap sampling of her own. The H runs off to America, where he does't have to watch the tapping, and the h thinks the H just abandoned her after he got the book out of her.
Another little complication ensues when the h finds she is preggers. The h is happy cause at least she will have a memento of her big love affair. But there is some physical instability and illness that makes the h's BFF drag her back to her home to help the h out. Conveniently the house is right up the road to the H's sister's house, so there is a brief H/h meet up at the h's friends annual Christmas party.
The h overhears the blonde who accompanied the H to the party (along with his sister,) exclaiming that the H must have been desperate for the book to actually go to bed with the h to get it. The h is totally humiliated and then she sees the H. Naturally no one will actually talk to each other about what really happened or even have a really good ranty moment, and the H runs back to America cause the h lies and says she is with someone else so she doesn't look like a pining limpet.
The h's pregnancy develops and she is out and about and passing out, right in front of the H's sister's house. The sister rushes out to yell at the h for treating her brother so badly, then cottons on to the fact that h is preggers with her brother's kid. The sister is all for pimping the h out (in new twist to the trope, we have the H's family pimping h's out,) but the sister's husband has the most common sense in all of PJ's HPlandia and tells his wife to stop it and not meddle. He comments that maybe the H doesn't want a kid right at the moment - either way it isn't any of the sister's business, and the H and h need to work things out for themselves.
(I do think that was a shinning PJ moment right there, tho nobody listened to him. He tried to inject a note of sanity into the whole angst tossed situation. Too bad we did not get more of him and I can only think PJ was smoking some serious stuff when she wrote it, cause it was definitely not fitting in with the rest of the drama.)
Eventually the H's sisters can't take it anymore. They fire a telegraph off to the H, citing a family emergency and he comes rushing home. Only to be informed of his impending daddyhood -Surprise, it is twins! - and the h installed in a cozy little cottage.
The H rushes over, they both declare undying love and then figure out the big misunderstanding. The H did not sleep with her for a book, (well mostly not anyways,) and the h was ill and not tapping a new brew. They marry and decide to buy a bigger bed - cause the single the h has barely fits two and certainly not four. The h delivers cute baby boys and the H's sisters plan a revolt because they all have boys and the Pimp Sis duo wanted girls, they plan to force the H and h to consummate until they get some for the big PJ HEA.
This one isn't PJ's best. The h's obstinacy in thinking she has all the pulling power of a manky turnip goes on way, way too long and then the "Oh I love him," moment happens in two sentences. It makes for a bit of awkward reading. Then the big misunderstanding and separation goes on even longer and the whole byplay between the sister and hubby seems to be some added filler with a strange note of common sense in an otherwise nonsensical book. Still the HEA is nice and believable and I was happy to see them together in the end.
This one should probably be reserved for days when you want to do a drinking game based on the h's self derogatory comments -- only a half or a quarter of a shot for every time she does it, otherwise you will pass out by chapter two-- or if you are a Serious PJ fan and need to complete the backlist. Everyone else can probably safely skip this and find more entertaining outings in HPlandia and certainly better PJ ventures.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2021
"Force Of Feeling" is the story of Campion and Guy.
A wonderful story with our heroine, who is a repressed author and her agent, the smitten hero. When he challenges her to change the rather bland story she's writing, the heroine runs away only to be trapped in a house with him far from home. Ofcourse, slowly he pulls her out of her shell, making her acknowledge her painful past and they fall in love. It wouldn't be a HQN romance without un-necessary misunderstandings, but everything resolves and the book ends in a very sweet HEA.
Angsty, erotic with likable characters.
SWE
2.5/5
A wonderful story with our heroine, who is a repressed author and her agent, the smitten hero. When he challenges her to change the rather bland story she's writing, the heroine runs away only to be trapped in a house with him far from home. Ofcourse, slowly he pulls her out of her shell, making her acknowledge her painful past and they fall in love. It wouldn't be a HQN romance without un-necessary misunderstandings, but everything resolves and the book ends in a very sweet HEA.
Angsty, erotic with likable characters.
SWE
2.5/5
September 24, 2017
Angsty and passionate I loved it. I didn't like that heroine kept her pregnancy a secret but her fears and insecurities felt real because of her ex asshole husband. So cute they had twin boys!
January 9, 2019
A book with a slow start but it picked up once the relationship between the H and h became less antagonistic.
The h had no self esteem or self confidence because of how she was treated by her mistake of an ex. She was young and lonely when she met her ex and he tricked her into sex and marriage with the goal of getting her parents wealth. When that didn’t work out, he decimated the h with such viciousness that it left her scarred for years.
Enter the H who has to work with a woman terrified of men, of herself and of feelings. He had a lot to overcome. But he did so and the h found her femininity for the first time in her life. But, years and years or ingrained self doubt and self loathing leaves her insecure. And that leads to the separation between them.
I wasn’t sure if I would like this book at the beginning, but as the story developed and the H slowly coaxed the h out of her hermit shell, I realized that I really did like it.
The h’s blossoming into her womanhood and femininity was handled so beautifully by the author. She didn’t make it unrealistically easy. The H had to work his butt off for every step forward while the h fought him every inch of the way.
My favorite characters are Meg, the H’s sister and the h’s best friend, Lucy. They brought lightness and humor into a very heavy, emotional story.
I enjoyed this book and am glad that I didn’t ditch it and kept on reading.
The h had no self esteem or self confidence because of how she was treated by her mistake of an ex. She was young and lonely when she met her ex and he tricked her into sex and marriage with the goal of getting her parents wealth. When that didn’t work out, he decimated the h with such viciousness that it left her scarred for years.
Enter the H who has to work with a woman terrified of men, of herself and of feelings. He had a lot to overcome. But he did so and the h found her femininity for the first time in her life. But, years and years or ingrained self doubt and self loathing leaves her insecure. And that leads to the separation between them.
I wasn’t sure if I would like this book at the beginning, but as the story developed and the H slowly coaxed the h out of her hermit shell, I realized that I really did like it.
The h’s blossoming into her womanhood and femininity was handled so beautifully by the author. She didn’t make it unrealistically easy. The H had to work his butt off for every step forward while the h fought him every inch of the way.
My favorite characters are Meg, the H’s sister and the h’s best friend, Lucy. They brought lightness and humor into a very heavy, emotional story.
I enjoyed this book and am glad that I didn’t ditch it and kept on reading.
November 5, 2011
Not bad. Seemed too long -- the ending dragged out. Not really believable that a woman would have no idea she was attractive and yet be very attractive. Still, not terrible, it did draw me in somewhat.
September 5, 2012
This novel was WAY too long, not in pages necessarily but in memory I guess you could say. I found that it dragged on and on, especially the ending. I personally wouldn't read it again.
March 11, 2025
Naughty, naughty Ms. Jordan, asking us to skip over the HUGE plot hole of her 1980s romance Force of Feeling in order to get us to the Happily-Ever-After conclusion. Well, I didn't buy it.
I initially enjoyed this book, starring a heroine who is an author of historical fiction novels. I don't know why but I just love heroines who are in the arts: writers, actresses, painters, or singers (except for opera singers, they are my pet peeve). It is nice to read about them caring about something other than pining away for the hero, and I always root for them to achieve their professional dream.
The first half of the book takes place at an isolated cottage in Wales in the winter, where the Londoner heroine is taking refuge from her mansplaining, insufferable, know-it-all agent (the hero). The agent has been bullying her to put more sex into her novel. She is loathe to turn her seriously researched historical fiction into a bodice-ripper but she apparently did not read the fine lines of her latest contract with her publisher and thus finds herself forced to abide by the agent's directive or lose her contract altogether.
The heroine's difficulty in writing about sex does not stem from prudishness but from a catastrophic, traumatic, quickie marriage made when she was a wide-eyed, innocent teenager, to an unscrupulous gold digger. When her wealthy parents did not cough up the money that the gold digging husband was aiming for, he turned on the heroine and vomited out the most atrocious insults about her frigidity, sexlessness, unattractiveness etc and left in a huff. The marriage was annulled and the heroine has since then become completely closed off to any romantic relationships with men. She believed and still believes every word that the rat first husband spewed out.
The hero is intrigued by the heroine and thinks he can push her into letting go of her inhibitions and make the needed revisions to her manuscript. To heroine's horror, he shows up at the cottage and decides to stay there. While their relationship starts off as being very contentious, they manage to gradually thaw out. The hero does not seem like the big, fat bully that the heroine initially pegged him as. He actually has no qualms about taking over housekeeping duties at the house, feeding the heroine delicious meals taught to him by his mom, and being actually positive and encouraging to her both in her work and on a more personal level. Things come to a head when heroine almost dies in a fall off a cliff (*sigh*) and the hero rescues her quite hilariously by taking off his jeans and using them as a rope to pull her up. I am sorry but that image was so funny.
The life and death episode has both the h and H's adrenaline pumping and the two of them finally consummate the sexual tension that has been plaguing them since the beginning of their relationship. Follows a brief honeymoon period where the heroine becomes happy and in love, and starts to believe finally that she is not some repelling troll like her first rat husband told her she was. She even confides in the hero what the rat did to her and the hero is very sympathetic. He takes great effort to convince her that not all men are the same and he certainly does not want to be categorized like the rat, he is different, he is so attracted to her etc. Nevertheless, the hero never once mentions the "L" word. He does not even make any concrete plans to see each other once they return to London, not even to invite her to spend Christmas with him even though it is days away. The heroine resigns herself that this was a holiday fling and that the hero will be returning to his buxom, bombshell girlfriends once they return to London.
And this is where PJ lost me because this was a huge, gaping plot hole that she never satisfactorily resolved. Knowing all the insecurities the heroine had, and knowing that he is in love with her, why would the hero act so much against type and knowingly hurt the heroine in this way? As one of the minor characters states, he knew all the time where she was and could have picked up the phone to make a simple phone call to reassure her but didn't. PJ completely lost the plot at this point and lost this reader as well.
The rest of the story is a series of Great Big Terrible Misunderstandings, none of which could have worked to keep the lovers apart if the author had not contrived to have the hero, inexplicably and totally against his personality and motivation thus far, dump the heroine so brutally and completely after they had shared such an intense love affair.
The heroine goes into a decline, losing weight, feeling dizzy and nauseous all the time, and she is so distraught by the hero ghosting her that she doesn't put 2 and 2 together until much later: She is pregnant! One night at dinner with a bookstore owner who has arranged to have a book signing for her new novel, she gets so sick that he has to help her to her hotel room and tuck her in bed. Naturally, he leaves the door open just in time for the hero, who supposedly wanted to "surprise" her, to arrive and misinterpret the scene, unbeknownst to the heroine (another *sigh*).
Later, her best friend, who is worried about her, sneakily invites hero and his sister to her Christmas party. The heroine is horrified to see the hero and runs to hide in a stairwell only to overhear his sister and the hero's date gossip about her and her short-lived affair with the hero. The date cackles that the hero had to force himself to isolate at a dilapidated cottage in Wales and bed the dowdy heroine under duress from his boss, who told him that he was about to fire the heroine if she could not make the book sexier. (Minor plot hole number 2: why would the hero ever make the details of his dalliance with the heroine known to his sister and/or his date if it meant anything special to him. The sister and the date knew way too much. I don't buy it.)
The heroine is understandably devastated that the hero was using her as a means to an end, just like her rat first husband. When hero corners her at the party, not knowing what she has just overheard, she is so hurt that she implies she has moved on with another man. The hero reacts by simply leaving England for the US, where he helps out another author who is having his book turned into a Hollywood movie. That's it, he never fights for her, pursues her, asks any questions, nothing. Unfortunately, in her quest to pile on the misunderstandings and create angst, the author completely strips the hero of any of his good qualities that he had shown in the beginning of the book: being assertive, honest, straightforward, determined, besotted, and Alpha. The author has undermined her male protagonist so much that it is his two bully sisters who engineer the reunion and reconciliation of the hero and the heroine.
Not even the news that the heroine got married to hero and gave birth to a set of twins could redress how horribly the story went in the second half. This was a turkey for me :(
I initially enjoyed this book, starring a heroine who is an author of historical fiction novels. I don't know why but I just love heroines who are in the arts: writers, actresses, painters, or singers (except for opera singers, they are my pet peeve). It is nice to read about them caring about something other than pining away for the hero, and I always root for them to achieve their professional dream.
The first half of the book takes place at an isolated cottage in Wales in the winter, where the Londoner heroine is taking refuge from her mansplaining, insufferable, know-it-all agent (the hero). The agent has been bullying her to put more sex into her novel. She is loathe to turn her seriously researched historical fiction into a bodice-ripper but she apparently did not read the fine lines of her latest contract with her publisher and thus finds herself forced to abide by the agent's directive or lose her contract altogether.
The heroine's difficulty in writing about sex does not stem from prudishness but from a catastrophic, traumatic, quickie marriage made when she was a wide-eyed, innocent teenager, to an unscrupulous gold digger. When her wealthy parents did not cough up the money that the gold digging husband was aiming for, he turned on the heroine and vomited out the most atrocious insults about her frigidity, sexlessness, unattractiveness etc and left in a huff. The marriage was annulled and the heroine has since then become completely closed off to any romantic relationships with men. She believed and still believes every word that the rat first husband spewed out.
The hero is intrigued by the heroine and thinks he can push her into letting go of her inhibitions and make the needed revisions to her manuscript. To heroine's horror, he shows up at the cottage and decides to stay there. While their relationship starts off as being very contentious, they manage to gradually thaw out. The hero does not seem like the big, fat bully that the heroine initially pegged him as. He actually has no qualms about taking over housekeeping duties at the house, feeding the heroine delicious meals taught to him by his mom, and being actually positive and encouraging to her both in her work and on a more personal level. Things come to a head when heroine almost dies in a fall off a cliff (*sigh*) and the hero rescues her quite hilariously by taking off his jeans and using them as a rope to pull her up. I am sorry but that image was so funny.
The life and death episode has both the h and H's adrenaline pumping and the two of them finally consummate the sexual tension that has been plaguing them since the beginning of their relationship. Follows a brief honeymoon period where the heroine becomes happy and in love, and starts to believe finally that she is not some repelling troll like her first rat husband told her she was. She even confides in the hero what the rat did to her and the hero is very sympathetic. He takes great effort to convince her that not all men are the same and he certainly does not want to be categorized like the rat, he is different, he is so attracted to her etc. Nevertheless, the hero never once mentions the "L" word. He does not even make any concrete plans to see each other once they return to London, not even to invite her to spend Christmas with him even though it is days away. The heroine resigns herself that this was a holiday fling and that the hero will be returning to his buxom, bombshell girlfriends once they return to London.
And this is where PJ lost me because this was a huge, gaping plot hole that she never satisfactorily resolved. Knowing all the insecurities the heroine had, and knowing that he is in love with her, why would the hero act so much against type and knowingly hurt the heroine in this way? As one of the minor characters states, he knew all the time where she was and could have picked up the phone to make a simple phone call to reassure her but didn't. PJ completely lost the plot at this point and lost this reader as well.
The rest of the story is a series of Great Big Terrible Misunderstandings, none of which could have worked to keep the lovers apart if the author had not contrived to have the hero, inexplicably and totally against his personality and motivation thus far, dump the heroine so brutally and completely after they had shared such an intense love affair.
The heroine goes into a decline, losing weight, feeling dizzy and nauseous all the time, and she is so distraught by the hero ghosting her that she doesn't put 2 and 2 together until much later: She is pregnant! One night at dinner with a bookstore owner who has arranged to have a book signing for her new novel, she gets so sick that he has to help her to her hotel room and tuck her in bed. Naturally, he leaves the door open just in time for the hero, who supposedly wanted to "surprise" her, to arrive and misinterpret the scene, unbeknownst to the heroine (another *sigh*).
Later, her best friend, who is worried about her, sneakily invites hero and his sister to her Christmas party. The heroine is horrified to see the hero and runs to hide in a stairwell only to overhear his sister and the hero's date gossip about her and her short-lived affair with the hero. The date cackles that the hero had to force himself to isolate at a dilapidated cottage in Wales and bed the dowdy heroine under duress from his boss, who told him that he was about to fire the heroine if she could not make the book sexier. (Minor plot hole number 2: why would the hero ever make the details of his dalliance with the heroine known to his sister and/or his date if it meant anything special to him. The sister and the date knew way too much. I don't buy it.)
The heroine is understandably devastated that the hero was using her as a means to an end, just like her rat first husband. When hero corners her at the party, not knowing what she has just overheard, she is so hurt that she implies she has moved on with another man. The hero reacts by simply leaving England for the US, where he helps out another author who is having his book turned into a Hollywood movie. That's it, he never fights for her, pursues her, asks any questions, nothing. Unfortunately, in her quest to pile on the misunderstandings and create angst, the author completely strips the hero of any of his good qualities that he had shown in the beginning of the book: being assertive, honest, straightforward, determined, besotted, and Alpha. The author has undermined her male protagonist so much that it is his two bully sisters who engineer the reunion and reconciliation of the hero and the heroine.
Not even the news that the heroine got married to hero and gave birth to a set of twins could redress how horribly the story went in the second half. This was a turkey for me :(
September 9, 2022
Penny Jordan writes many heroines who are convinced no man could ever love or even want or like them and who then try to create self-fulfilling prophecies by wearing beige and keeping emotionally distant. Sometimes this works (Taken Over) but usually we have too many pages of h wavering between self pity, fear, shyness, determination and a hearty dislike of herself and the H. Unfortunately this story has the too much oh-my problem x in fact h even belabors the point to H several times.
Still a good read with good characters especially H although why he didn’t confront h when he thought she had picked up a guy a week after they parted is a minus for him.
Still a good read with good characters especially H although why he didn’t confront h when he thought she had picked up a guy a week after they parted is a minus for him.
doubtful-because-not-v
June 5, 2020A searing passion left her scarred...
And since that devastating experience, when Campion had been like a newly opened flower crushed by a cruel hand, she had closed out that side of her nature.
Now she was being forced to reopen it. Her literary agent, the frighteningly sensual Guy French, declared her historical novels well written--but flat and lifeless. He demanded she add passion. So off she went to a remote cottage in Wales. Perhaps inspiration would come. Then she discovered Guy French would be there to see that it did...
And since that devastating experience, when Campion had been like a newly opened flower crushed by a cruel hand, she had closed out that side of her nature.
Now she was being forced to reopen it. Her literary agent, the frighteningly sensual Guy French, declared her historical novels well written--but flat and lifeless. He demanded she add passion. So off she went to a remote cottage in Wales. Perhaps inspiration would come. Then she discovered Guy French would be there to see that it did...
June 10, 2022
What a man, whatta man, whatta mighty good man.
February 9, 2020
2.5 niente di che
September 17, 2023
Quick nostalgic read.
July 25, 2024
Inicio bien, pero fue decayendo al final.
Siento que Guy estaba más enamorado de Ella que campion de el.
Me quedé esperando que ella le dijera que lo quería...😢😐
Calificación final: 3 estellas
Siento que Guy estaba más enamorado de Ella que campion de el.
Me quedé esperando que ella le dijera que lo quería...😢😐
Calificación final: 3 estellas
July 25, 2017
3.5 Here's another one I read when it was originally published as Force of Feeling in 1988. Believe it or not, my biggest problem with the book is the MC's name. Campion. I apologize if any of you love the name or it is a beloved family name, but every time I read it I was thrown from the story. Sighs.
So, speaking of Campion, she doesn't live up to her name, it means champion, and she was an emotional wreck. On top of that, her agent Guy seemed to also have his own set of issues. The last few chapters were very frustrating.
So, speaking of Campion, she doesn't live up to her name, it means champion, and she was an emotional wreck. On top of that, her agent Guy seemed to also have his own set of issues. The last few chapters were very frustrating.
July 14, 2015
The main character was a bit of a twit and not very credible.
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