What do you think?
Rate this book
The love conspiracy
The uncertainty was unnerving.
Kat had cheerfully accepted her friend Todd's invitation to stay at the family home for the weekend -- during which his Uncle Daniel was to announce his engagement.
Only slowly did it dawn on Kat that she was the pawn in another game altogether. A game complicated by the incandescent flame that erupted between herself and Daniel Bishop.
His eyes were dangerous, the curve of his mouth a threat -- but of what? Kat wasn't sure. For Daniel's cool, cultured facade covered the soul of a ruthless buccaneer.
Kat had cheerfully accepted her friend Todd's invitation to stay at the family home for the weekend -- during which his Uncle Daniel was to announce his engagement.
Only slowly did it dawn on Kat that she was the pawn in another game altogether. A game complicated by the incandescent flame that erupted between herself and Daniel Bishop.
His eyes were dangerous, the curve of his mouth a threat -- but of what? Kat wasn't sure. For Daniel's cool, cultured facade covered the soul of a ruthless buccaneer.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Susan Napier
141 books153 followersPerhaps being born on Valentine’s Day was an omen that Susan Napier would become a romance writer. This New Zealand author has written over 30 Mills & Boon category romances since 1984. Napier and her husband Tony Potter met when they both worked at the Auckland Star newspaper. After they married, she left the newspaper to work for a film company where she learned the art of dialogue. After the birth of her sons, Simon and Ben, she was a freelance scriptwriter for documentaries. It was soon after that she decided to try her hand at writing the romance fiction she dearly loved.
She and her husband still live in the home they bought in Auckland shortly after their marriage.
She and her husband still live in the home they bought in Auckland shortly after their marriage.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
May 19, 2024
Oh, this could have been a five star read if it had stopped about 2/3 of the way through. The last third was disappointing, so I had to knock a star off.
The first part (the conspiracy) where the actress heroine unwittingly walks into a bit of rich folks family drama is very funny and the sparks fly between the H/h. The h's friend asks her to pretend to be engaged to him, act outrageous, and upset the family so much that they will be relieved when he presents his real fiance after ditching the h. The heroine is not thrilled, but she has her pride and thinks it would fun to ruffle a few feathers.
It's the friend's uncle who is the banker hero - and the heroine (and this reader) had to change our minds about him as we learned more about him. His backstory (not tragic - just a hint of his wild side) and his sexy talk really rounded out his character and showed his compatibility with the heroine.
It all goes swimmingly until
If you want a fun story. Read the first two thirds - and then block out the rest.
The first part (the conspiracy) where the actress heroine unwittingly walks into a bit of rich folks family drama is very funny and the sparks fly between the H/h. The h's friend asks her to pretend to be engaged to him, act outrageous, and upset the family so much that they will be relieved when he presents his real fiance after ditching the h. The heroine is not thrilled, but she has her pride and thinks it would fun to ruffle a few feathers.
It's the friend's uncle who is the banker hero - and the heroine (and this reader) had to change our minds about him as we learned more about him. His backstory (not tragic - just a hint of his wild side) and his sexy talk really rounded out his character and showed his compatibility with the heroine.
It all goes swimmingly until
If you want a fun story. Read the first two thirds - and then block out the rest.
February 6, 2017
Chapter 4. I was not expecting that. Wow. Unsettling.
Okay. Not your usual Susan Napier. Went in to this as I thought it would be lighthearted. Um, nope.
Kat's new boy friend, not boyfriend, asks her to visit his uptight snobbish New Zealand family. Unbeknownst to her, he's told them she's his fiancee. Kat is an actress as well as an orphan so she's beyond the pale to this upper crust family. That's fine for the friend as he tells her about his ploy AFTER she gets there. He wants Kat to play his fiancee so when he brings in the real thing the new one will look good in comparison to the nightmare that is the h. Okay, so that's not insulting at all.
If this isn't bad enough the snootiest grandmother from HELL and a seemingly uptight uncle who has scary depths as an H are waiting to put her through her paces.
The h is a little bit of a wild card: she's 6' tall, very secure in her body and place in life, and a virgin. Once the h hears about the friend's dilemma and sees how cold Grandma is she throws herself into he role, and the family thinks she is a stripteasing gold-digger of the first order that doesn't know a soup spoon from a fish fork.
At Daniel's, our H, engagement's party the next night, yes the H's engagement party, Kat turns the tables and comes down dressed in simple solid black and overwhelms the crowd. The H is furious because she's subtly mimicking the haughty grandmother, and he hears from fellow uptight, respected sticks how awesome the Kat's one woman show is. Not a striptease after all, but a serious condemnation of how low women will lower themselves to have a man. Um, the h should have taken this as a cautionary tale 'cause things go south. At least for me they did. Anyway, Daniel feels like she's made a fool of him. He is, of course, engaged to the haughty, cold stick that will eventually turn into his grandmother.
Passion explodes between the two main characters, and Daniel is not really a sycophantic son with no personality or concept of emotional freedom. He sowed his wild oats in a big way when he was younger: everything from wolfing it up on Wall Street, embracing the bohemian art scene in Europe with the apparently alluring but slutty love of his life, and painting. Kat and Daniel end up in an affair, and du du dummm, he's still engaged. Yes, the fiancee is a cold, stuck up stick, BUT HE'S STILL ENGAGED.
After they have sex for the first time Daniel tells Kat, among other things,
I wonder?' he asked, still with deadly softness, as he surveyed her trembling body, still bearing the marks of his possession. 'Was I supposed to be so overcome with guilt at the besmirching of your innocence that I begged for the honour of your pure hand in marriage? Or was I merely supposed to be so intoxicated by your charms that I'd blindly let you wreck the rest of my life?
then...
'So we're going to gorge ourselves, Kathleen, until we've stripped the tree. But from here on in I make the rules. Understand, I won't allow you to control me with sex or guilt. Outside this bedroom you have no influence over me. When and whom I marry is no business of yours, or my family's. I shall do as I please in my own time, in my own way.
Be still my heart, you romantic you. Up until now, Kat has displayed a great sense of self-worth. Up until now. Did she get up and walk out? No. Did she slap his big, fat cruel face? No. She continued with the affair.
This all started out as a lighthearted romp with a masquerade to save the boy friend trumped by another ploy set up by part to save Daniel from the path to senior stuffiness. Kat embraces her job to school the stuffy New Zealand hotsy totsy crowd with a tad too much enthusiasm and meets the wall known as Daniel. Daniel was a scary, scary hero. He inner monologues about taking her from his nephew well before he knows she's a setup; he takes her from the nephew; he treats her like a mistress, and cheats on his convenient and socially superior fiancee.
I am still giving it three stars because despite my discomfort it was well done within the context of a Harlequin, but I don't anticipate a HEA here.
Well done, Ms. Napier, frightening, but well done
Okay. Not your usual Susan Napier. Went in to this as I thought it would be lighthearted. Um, nope.
Kat's new boy friend, not boyfriend, asks her to visit his uptight snobbish New Zealand family. Unbeknownst to her, he's told them she's his fiancee. Kat is an actress as well as an orphan so she's beyond the pale to this upper crust family. That's fine for the friend as he tells her about his ploy AFTER she gets there. He wants Kat to play his fiancee so when he brings in the real thing the new one will look good in comparison to the nightmare that is the h. Okay, so that's not insulting at all.
If this isn't bad enough the snootiest grandmother from HELL and a seemingly uptight uncle who has scary depths as an H are waiting to put her through her paces.
The h is a little bit of a wild card: she's 6' tall, very secure in her body and place in life, and a virgin. Once the h hears about the friend's dilemma and sees how cold Grandma is she throws herself into he role, and the family thinks she is a stripteasing gold-digger of the first order that doesn't know a soup spoon from a fish fork.
At Daniel's, our H, engagement's party the next night, yes the H's engagement party, Kat turns the tables and comes down dressed in simple solid black and overwhelms the crowd. The H is furious because she's subtly mimicking the haughty grandmother, and he hears from fellow uptight, respected sticks how awesome the Kat's one woman show is. Not a striptease after all, but a serious condemnation of how low women will lower themselves to have a man. Um, the h should have taken this as a cautionary tale 'cause things go south. At least for me they did. Anyway, Daniel feels like she's made a fool of him. He is, of course, engaged to the haughty, cold stick that will eventually turn into his grandmother.
Passion explodes between the two main characters, and Daniel is not really a sycophantic son with no personality or concept of emotional freedom. He sowed his wild oats in a big way when he was younger: everything from wolfing it up on Wall Street, embracing the bohemian art scene in Europe with the apparently alluring but slutty love of his life, and painting. Kat and Daniel end up in an affair, and du du dummm, he's still engaged. Yes, the fiancee is a cold, stuck up stick, BUT HE'S STILL ENGAGED.
After they have sex for the first time Daniel tells Kat, among other things,
I wonder?' he asked, still with deadly softness, as he surveyed her trembling body, still bearing the marks of his possession. 'Was I supposed to be so overcome with guilt at the besmirching of your innocence that I begged for the honour of your pure hand in marriage? Or was I merely supposed to be so intoxicated by your charms that I'd blindly let you wreck the rest of my life?
then...
'So we're going to gorge ourselves, Kathleen, until we've stripped the tree. But from here on in I make the rules. Understand, I won't allow you to control me with sex or guilt. Outside this bedroom you have no influence over me. When and whom I marry is no business of yours, or my family's. I shall do as I please in my own time, in my own way.
Be still my heart, you romantic you. Up until now, Kat has displayed a great sense of self-worth. Up until now. Did she get up and walk out? No. Did she slap his big, fat cruel face? No. She continued with the affair.
This all started out as a lighthearted romp with a masquerade to save the boy friend trumped by another ploy set up by part to save Daniel from the path to senior stuffiness. Kat embraces her job to school the stuffy New Zealand hotsy totsy crowd with a tad too much enthusiasm and meets the wall known as Daniel. Daniel was a scary, scary hero. He inner monologues about taking her from his nephew well before he knows she's a setup; he takes her from the nephew; he treats her like a mistress, and cheats on his convenient and socially superior fiancee.
I am still giving it three stars because despite my discomfort it was well done within the context of a Harlequin, but I don't anticipate a HEA here.
Well done, Ms. Napier, frightening, but well done
March 13, 2017
Re The Love Conspiracy - Welp, if the last Anne Mather did not squick you out, just wait! Susan Napier will! We start with a tart with a heart fake fiancee deception and move on to the utter degradation of the h by the end of the book.
Huge warning here, the h winds up cheating with the H - he is engaged for all of the book to another woman and the h goes along with it, thinking she will win his love in the end. Whether she does or if this is really an HEA I leave up to you, but here is how the story goes.
The 23yr old h is conned into a family weekend with one of her male friends, she is currently an actress in a one woman show that features social commentary based upon a mild strip on the stage, the h is also a brilliant mimic - think comedy sketches on Saturday Night Live. She actually has a variety of jobs like working at a restaurant and since she is an orphan raised by the state, she is still finding her way about career-wise. The h is also very self confident and six feet tall, she supposedly has learned the hard way that self respect comes from within, no matter what the rest of the world thinks.
The book actually opens with the H's POV, (and to my mind we get too much of it in the first part of this HP outing and way too little of it in the last half, this is a plot device of course.)
The H is the chief banker of a family international banking empire and he is controlled, sardonic and enigmatic but he supposedly has a well-tamed wild streak that he has stifled in order to take over when his father and older brother died. He has the controlling martinet mother from the nether regions and she has arranged a marriage for him to a woman who is the carbon copy of her soon-to-be Witch Queen mother in law's shallow and manipulative snobbery and brittle societal facade and likewise the fiancee melds nicely with the mechanical, efficient, superficial politeness of the H.
( In real world terms, this H is borderline sociopathic. He ostensibly has a wild past where he painted and made millions on Wall Street while he was haunting Harvard, but his inner thoughts - especially of the h- are the thoughts of a predator who is cutting out a victim and that perspective of him really doesn't change much over the entire book. He got ditched by a bohemian woman he supposedly loved in his youth, so there is the element of wanting to destroy what he failed to hold onto. He sees the h as trash and trash she will remain, even tho he doesn't mind getting his hands and other body parts a little dirty. )
Now that we have the backstory out of the way, the h arrives with her friend for the family weekend. What the friend failed to inform her of was that he told his family the h was his fiancee. He tells the h that he has another girlfriend who is a nice, sweet middle-class ordinary girl and he wants the h to be outrageous to his family so that when he fake dumps the h and introduces the other girl, the family will be so thankful they will embrace the new girl with open arms.
The h doesn't like this too much, she has wondered why Fake boy was hanging around so often cause they have little in common. They really only met a few months earlier and she considers him a very casual acquaintance - but she doesn't seem to comprehend that Fake boy seems to think she is trash too, and that is why he wants her in his home to leave a false slime trail so to speak.
Fake boy's Grandmother - the H's Militant Witch Queen Mother- does all she can to make the h feel unwanted and unwelcome. Then the h overhears the family discussing her and the terms aren't flattering at all. So the h hams it up and it is fairly funny how she does gold-digger tart one night and then the Angelic Madonna Awaiting the Child societal queen the next night. The H gets angry with her for mimicking his mother - he sees it as the h doing a send up and the whole time he and the h have been verbally sparring with heavy innuendo. They have a big blow out confrontation where she hits the H and he hits her back and then it is on with the roofie kisses.
The h loses that battle, but they get interrupted by Fake boy and his Mouse Mother, (Fake boy is the H's nephew, Mouse Mother is his sister in law,) so the h goes off to bed. She is ready to go home but can't cause her house has drain problems and she has no place to stay. So she winds up staying at the H and Fake boy's family pile.
There is more back and forth with the h showing up the Next Generation of the Borgia's Family in various locals (like accidentally dropping chocolate covered raisins to the chairs below the box at the opera and the h going shopping with the H's sister and sister in law and spending tons of money, to the H's enormous fury.) Then after the h is attacked by a drunken customer at work, the H attacks her in the kitchen and in the aftermath the truth comes out.
Fake Boy, his mother and the H's sister have all been conspiring to throw the H and h together. Fake boy has no seekrit fiancee, they wanted to mess up the Witch Queen's head and toss the H a tempting juicy bone. They know the H likes the tarty types and they figured the h was just the kind of trampy tart to get him to rethink his engagement. Plus they wanted to shake up the family dynamics and they figured the h, who has a soft heart for a sob story, wouldn't mind being treated like trash and they still want to be friends, if they can meet the h outside the normal social scene and not get too mucky with it.
What they don't consider here is the H is quite capable of having his cake and eating it too, to the point where even his fiance knows that the H is piking the h, but she doesn't care cause the h is his dirty little secret and he still squires the fiancee all over the place.
Sadly, the h's degradation ramps up here, cause not only does she not leave these societal sharks, she becomes the H's lover. Even tho he assures her she is good for nothing but a poke with his mighty lance of lust. This continues for several months until the fiancee walks in on them when they are lurvin' it up and the h realizes that she really has made herself trash and the H will never marry her.
Of course by now the H has several times berated her for not feeling sorry for his Witch Queen mother and done his best to ruin whatever self respect she had, and now he tries to guilt her into clinging like a limpet when she finally gets her head on straight and leaves. He mockingly tells her he loves her and she needs to trust him. The h doesn't believe it, (probably because he isn't sincere, he is throwing the h out to help his fiancee and he has never in word, deed or POV entertained the thought that the h is good for anything more than a romp,) so she leaves.
Then she has mopey moments, gets a job in a financial house and finds out she is preggers. The deus ex machina is the h gets a wedding invitation and she thinks the H is announcing his marriage to his fiancee. She also gets some hot property company shares as a payoff from the H. So she decks herself out in young urban professional attire to go tackle the H. She is keeping the shares, cause baby's are expensive. After a over-hyped hysterical (and not in a funny way,) scene in the H's office where the h threatens to ruin the H's wedding with a big her being his mistress announcement, (an idea SN will execute several books from now,) the real story comes out. The h did not read the invitation, it is the H's sister in law that is getting married.
The H planned to marry the fiancee, up until the last chapter of the book. He then decided not to, but was keeping up the front because the fiancee was too inept to either fight for her own place in her father's business or go out and get a job with someone else. The H felt he owed it to the woman to help her get on her father's board of directors, but that is accomplished now and since the h is having his baby, he wants to marry her and continue inflicting his treacherous family and obnoxious mother on her. The h stupidly agrees instead of running like mad and that is the HEA.
This book is well written, and parts are really, really funny. However the underlying dynamics and the h is pimped out and treated as less than worthy of respect by every single family member in this book is just too much for my tastes. The fact that the H rattles on about trusting him when he has been lying through his teeth is another reason to doubt this book. He is definitely his Witch Queen Mother's son and I did not see an HEA here, but it was a fascinating character study of a man who is seriously messed up and determined to make a similar woman pay for the supposed sins of a woman that he failed to hold on to.
The h, well I don't think much of an HP h who sleeps around with an engaged guy. Ironically her stage show was about a woman degrading herself for any type of affection and it is really sad to me to see that exact story line play out over the course of the story with this h.
She starts out strong and then just devolves into a pathetic doormat by the end. I actually could have gotten over the sleeping with the engaged guy, mainly because she was young and we all are stupid when we are young, but to fall at his feet in the end and agree to live with the H and his family and continue the degradation was just too much nausea inducing fertilizer for me to really feel confident about this HP venture.
Still this book gets a lot of high marks and it is very well written, it is certainly not the common HPlandia outing and well worth the time to read and make your own conclusions.
Huge warning here, the h winds up cheating with the H - he is engaged for all of the book to another woman and the h goes along with it, thinking she will win his love in the end. Whether she does or if this is really an HEA I leave up to you, but here is how the story goes.
The 23yr old h is conned into a family weekend with one of her male friends, she is currently an actress in a one woman show that features social commentary based upon a mild strip on the stage, the h is also a brilliant mimic - think comedy sketches on Saturday Night Live. She actually has a variety of jobs like working at a restaurant and since she is an orphan raised by the state, she is still finding her way about career-wise. The h is also very self confident and six feet tall, she supposedly has learned the hard way that self respect comes from within, no matter what the rest of the world thinks.
The book actually opens with the H's POV, (and to my mind we get too much of it in the first part of this HP outing and way too little of it in the last half, this is a plot device of course.)
The H is the chief banker of a family international banking empire and he is controlled, sardonic and enigmatic but he supposedly has a well-tamed wild streak that he has stifled in order to take over when his father and older brother died. He has the controlling martinet mother from the nether regions and she has arranged a marriage for him to a woman who is the carbon copy of her soon-to-be Witch Queen mother in law's shallow and manipulative snobbery and brittle societal facade and likewise the fiancee melds nicely with the mechanical, efficient, superficial politeness of the H.
( In real world terms, this H is borderline sociopathic. He ostensibly has a wild past where he painted and made millions on Wall Street while he was haunting Harvard, but his inner thoughts - especially of the h- are the thoughts of a predator who is cutting out a victim and that perspective of him really doesn't change much over the entire book. He got ditched by a bohemian woman he supposedly loved in his youth, so there is the element of wanting to destroy what he failed to hold onto. He sees the h as trash and trash she will remain, even tho he doesn't mind getting his hands and other body parts a little dirty. )
Now that we have the backstory out of the way, the h arrives with her friend for the family weekend. What the friend failed to inform her of was that he told his family the h was his fiancee. He tells the h that he has another girlfriend who is a nice, sweet middle-class ordinary girl and he wants the h to be outrageous to his family so that when he fake dumps the h and introduces the other girl, the family will be so thankful they will embrace the new girl with open arms.
The h doesn't like this too much, she has wondered why Fake boy was hanging around so often cause they have little in common. They really only met a few months earlier and she considers him a very casual acquaintance - but she doesn't seem to comprehend that Fake boy seems to think she is trash too, and that is why he wants her in his home to leave a false slime trail so to speak.
Fake boy's Grandmother - the H's Militant Witch Queen Mother- does all she can to make the h feel unwanted and unwelcome. Then the h overhears the family discussing her and the terms aren't flattering at all. So the h hams it up and it is fairly funny how she does gold-digger tart one night and then the Angelic Madonna Awaiting the Child societal queen the next night. The H gets angry with her for mimicking his mother - he sees it as the h doing a send up and the whole time he and the h have been verbally sparring with heavy innuendo. They have a big blow out confrontation where she hits the H and he hits her back and then it is on with the roofie kisses.
The h loses that battle, but they get interrupted by Fake boy and his Mouse Mother, (Fake boy is the H's nephew, Mouse Mother is his sister in law,) so the h goes off to bed. She is ready to go home but can't cause her house has drain problems and she has no place to stay. So she winds up staying at the H and Fake boy's family pile.
There is more back and forth with the h showing up the Next Generation of the Borgia's Family in various locals (like accidentally dropping chocolate covered raisins to the chairs below the box at the opera and the h going shopping with the H's sister and sister in law and spending tons of money, to the H's enormous fury.) Then after the h is attacked by a drunken customer at work, the H attacks her in the kitchen and in the aftermath the truth comes out.
Fake Boy, his mother and the H's sister have all been conspiring to throw the H and h together. Fake boy has no seekrit fiancee, they wanted to mess up the Witch Queen's head and toss the H a tempting juicy bone. They know the H likes the tarty types and they figured the h was just the kind of trampy tart to get him to rethink his engagement. Plus they wanted to shake up the family dynamics and they figured the h, who has a soft heart for a sob story, wouldn't mind being treated like trash and they still want to be friends, if they can meet the h outside the normal social scene and not get too mucky with it.
What they don't consider here is the H is quite capable of having his cake and eating it too, to the point where even his fiance knows that the H is piking the h, but she doesn't care cause the h is his dirty little secret and he still squires the fiancee all over the place.
Sadly, the h's degradation ramps up here, cause not only does she not leave these societal sharks, she becomes the H's lover. Even tho he assures her she is good for nothing but a poke with his mighty lance of lust. This continues for several months until the fiancee walks in on them when they are lurvin' it up and the h realizes that she really has made herself trash and the H will never marry her.
Of course by now the H has several times berated her for not feeling sorry for his Witch Queen mother and done his best to ruin whatever self respect she had, and now he tries to guilt her into clinging like a limpet when she finally gets her head on straight and leaves. He mockingly tells her he loves her and she needs to trust him. The h doesn't believe it, (probably because he isn't sincere, he is throwing the h out to help his fiancee and he has never in word, deed or POV entertained the thought that the h is good for anything more than a romp,) so she leaves.
Then she has mopey moments, gets a job in a financial house and finds out she is preggers. The deus ex machina is the h gets a wedding invitation and she thinks the H is announcing his marriage to his fiancee. She also gets some hot property company shares as a payoff from the H. So she decks herself out in young urban professional attire to go tackle the H. She is keeping the shares, cause baby's are expensive. After a over-hyped hysterical (and not in a funny way,) scene in the H's office where the h threatens to ruin the H's wedding with a big her being his mistress announcement, (an idea SN will execute several books from now,) the real story comes out. The h did not read the invitation, it is the H's sister in law that is getting married.
The H planned to marry the fiancee, up until the last chapter of the book. He then decided not to, but was keeping up the front because the fiancee was too inept to either fight for her own place in her father's business or go out and get a job with someone else. The H felt he owed it to the woman to help her get on her father's board of directors, but that is accomplished now and since the h is having his baby, he wants to marry her and continue inflicting his treacherous family and obnoxious mother on her. The h stupidly agrees instead of running like mad and that is the HEA.
This book is well written, and parts are really, really funny. However the underlying dynamics and the h is pimped out and treated as less than worthy of respect by every single family member in this book is just too much for my tastes. The fact that the H rattles on about trusting him when he has been lying through his teeth is another reason to doubt this book. He is definitely his Witch Queen Mother's son and I did not see an HEA here, but it was a fascinating character study of a man who is seriously messed up and determined to make a similar woman pay for the supposed sins of a woman that he failed to hold on to.
The h, well I don't think much of an HP h who sleeps around with an engaged guy. Ironically her stage show was about a woman degrading herself for any type of affection and it is really sad to me to see that exact story line play out over the course of the story with this h.
She starts out strong and then just devolves into a pathetic doormat by the end. I actually could have gotten over the sleeping with the engaged guy, mainly because she was young and we all are stupid when we are young, but to fall at his feet in the end and agree to live with the H and his family and continue the degradation was just too much nausea inducing fertilizer for me to really feel confident about this HP venture.
Still this book gets a lot of high marks and it is very well written, it is certainly not the common HPlandia outing and well worth the time to read and make your own conclusions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2012
This is a somewhat entertaining read....The first half of the book was quite delightful, but the second half was rather disappointing.
Daniel and Kat meet, when his nephew Todd brings her to the family estate for a weekend engagement party. Daniel is announcing his engagement to Clarissa, a long time family friend and business acquaintance. Of course the sparks fly, because Kat is beautiful, witty, and the exact opposite of what he, or his mother, are looking for in a wife. The whole first half is very light and amusing, almost to the point of screwball comedy, and I found myself laughing quite a bit. Also, the chemistry between Dan and Kat is priceless.
But then, things started to go downhill for me. First of all, Kat realizes that she has been brought to the house under false pretenses as a decoy to coax Daniel away from his fiancee. It turns out thatTodd, his mother and Daniel's sister think that Clarissa is too cold for Daniel and he deserves to find passionate love with someone like Kat. The fact, that Kat accepted being used by these 3 musketeers and agreed to carry on with the duplicity of breaking the couple up, just lessened her as a person. With this decision, Kat became the OW, and I started to lose interest. I felt like she really didn't deserve the HEA.
Something I find that I don't like with SN books is the logic of her heroines. She makes them out to be tall, tough and savvy. Yet their actions and decisions are very flawed and sometimes childish. I know SN tries to put it all under the guise of being passionate and temperamental. But, for me it doesn't work.. At that point, I find the dialogue and the interaction becomes jarring and unsettling.
Daniel and Kat meet, when his nephew Todd brings her to the family estate for a weekend engagement party. Daniel is announcing his engagement to Clarissa, a long time family friend and business acquaintance. Of course the sparks fly, because Kat is beautiful, witty, and the exact opposite of what he, or his mother, are looking for in a wife. The whole first half is very light and amusing, almost to the point of screwball comedy, and I found myself laughing quite a bit. Also, the chemistry between Dan and Kat is priceless.
But then, things started to go downhill for me. First of all, Kat realizes that she has been brought to the house under false pretenses as a decoy to coax Daniel away from his fiancee. It turns out thatTodd, his mother and Daniel's sister think that Clarissa is too cold for Daniel and he deserves to find passionate love with someone like Kat. The fact, that Kat accepted being used by these 3 musketeers and agreed to carry on with the duplicity of breaking the couple up, just lessened her as a person. With this decision, Kat became the OW, and I started to lose interest. I felt like she really didn't deserve the HEA.
Something I find that I don't like with SN books is the logic of her heroines. She makes them out to be tall, tough and savvy. Yet their actions and decisions are very flawed and sometimes childish. I know SN tries to put it all under the guise of being passionate and temperamental. But, for me it doesn't work.. At that point, I find the dialogue and the interaction becomes jarring and unsettling.
January 19, 2017
The first 75% of this book was 5 stars. It lost a bit in the overly complex shenanigans in the last few chapters. Still a totally fun read!
September 8, 2018
It was very funny and to the end there was little angst. If H had explained why engagement had to continue for a time, i could have given 5 stars.
November 17, 2021
This book was a cuddle.
Cute and sweet and funny.
I loved the heroine, one of my favourite.
Not so the hero, who was overshadowed by the gorgeous and very smart heroine.
The heroine is an actress who pretends to be engaged to one of her friends, a rich young man, because he's tired of his granny's matchmaking attempts.
He invites her at his uncle's engagement party.
She behaves like a vulgar gold-digger, shocking both his grandmother and his uncle.
But his uncle, the hero, is also attracted and fascinated by her, since she's a very beautiful and sexy woman, and just at his engagement party he kisses her and mauls her.
The hero tries repeatedly to seduce her, and eventually she gives up, and he asks her to be his mistress, but she refuses and tells him that she will be his lover, his equal.
Unfortunately one night, while she's at the hero's flat, his fiancee finds them together and,even if she's not at all annoyed to find her and her fiance together, the heroine realizes she can't go on like that anymore, because she loves him but he doesn't and she leaves the hero.
Eventually the hero explains her that after meeting the heroine he decided not to marry his fiancee anymore but he accepted to go on with their engagement until she was able to have her place in her father's company.
He coulnd't tell the heroine because he promised not to tell anybody.
The book was ok, I liked the heroine, such a smart and proud woman, beautiful and bright, while the hero was not convincing.
Actually he cheated on his fiancee because he kissed and mauled the heroine from the very first day they met, and it's not very clear if he had already decided not to marry his fiancee.
It seems to me that the hero was a weak man, who accepted to be manipulated by his grandmother first and then by his fiancee, and was not so willing to go out of his confort zone.
Cheating is bad even if he didn't love and never had sex with his fiancee.
A commitment is a commitment, he wasn't honest with both women.
Cute and sweet and funny.
I loved the heroine, one of my favourite.
Not so the hero, who was overshadowed by the gorgeous and very smart heroine.
The heroine is an actress who pretends to be engaged to one of her friends, a rich young man, because he's tired of his granny's matchmaking attempts.
He invites her at his uncle's engagement party.
She behaves like a vulgar gold-digger, shocking both his grandmother and his uncle.
But his uncle, the hero, is also attracted and fascinated by her, since she's a very beautiful and sexy woman, and just at his engagement party he kisses her and mauls her.
The hero tries repeatedly to seduce her, and eventually she gives up, and he asks her to be his mistress, but she refuses and tells him that she will be his lover, his equal.
Unfortunately one night, while she's at the hero's flat, his fiancee finds them together and,even if she's not at all annoyed to find her and her fiance together, the heroine realizes she can't go on like that anymore, because she loves him but he doesn't and she leaves the hero.
Eventually the hero explains her that after meeting the heroine he decided not to marry his fiancee anymore but he accepted to go on with their engagement until she was able to have her place in her father's company.
He coulnd't tell the heroine because he promised not to tell anybody.
The book was ok, I liked the heroine, such a smart and proud woman, beautiful and bright, while the hero was not convincing.
Actually he cheated on his fiancee because he kissed and mauled the heroine from the very first day they met, and it's not very clear if he had already decided not to marry his fiancee.
It seems to me that the hero was a weak man, who accepted to be manipulated by his grandmother first and then by his fiancee, and was not so willing to go out of his confort zone.
Cheating is bad even if he didn't love and never had sex with his fiancee.
A commitment is a commitment, he wasn't honest with both women.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2021
Very smart dialogue with entertaining monologuing by both the heroine and the hero.
September 8, 2019
If it were appropriate to rate a book for a single scene, I would give The Love Conspiracy four stars for the scene in the penultimate chapter where
The scene is chock full of angst and hidden agendas and comeuppance for the presumptuous heroine and -- differently -- for the arrogant hero. I love it.
But a book is more than its best scene, and in this case, Napier squanders her achievement by having the heroine do the running in the end. She shows up at the hero's office and pitches an embarrassing emotional scene because she hadn't bothered to read the names of the bride and groom on the wedding invitation she'd been sent (thinking she had callously been invited to the wedding of the hero and his fiancée). Seriously? She got dressed in her finest battle gear. She took a taxi. She steeled herself for a confrontation in front of the erstwhile fiancée and her stuffy father. But she never bothered to READ THE INVITATION? What an embarrassment for all womankind.
It's made even worse by the fact that she doesn't yet know the truth of the engagement, so she's chasing after a supposedly engaged man even after getting burnt by her assumptions during their affair. I didn't disdain the heroine for being the OW during the affair (she was, in her mind, trying to rescue him), but going after another woman's man a second time is too much even for me.
Napier loves her hideously smug heroes too much to make them grovel (see also: Mistress of the Groom).
The scene is chock full of angst and hidden agendas and comeuppance for the presumptuous heroine and -- differently -- for the arrogant hero. I love it.
But a book is more than its best scene, and in this case, Napier squanders her achievement by having the heroine do the running in the end. She shows up at the hero's office and pitches an embarrassing emotional scene because she hadn't bothered to read the names of the bride and groom on the wedding invitation she'd been sent (thinking she had callously been invited to the wedding of the hero and his fiancée). Seriously? She got dressed in her finest battle gear. She took a taxi. She steeled herself for a confrontation in front of the erstwhile fiancée and her stuffy father. But she never bothered to READ THE INVITATION? What an embarrassment for all womankind.
It's made even worse by the fact that she doesn't yet know the truth of the engagement, so she's chasing after a supposedly engaged man even after getting burnt by her assumptions during their affair. I didn't disdain the heroine for being the OW during the affair (she was, in her mind, trying to rescue him), but going after another woman's man a second time is too much even for me.
Napier loves her hideously smug heroes too much to make them grovel (see also: Mistress of the Groom).
June 10, 2015
This book is nice if you like comedy. I need melodrama when I read a HP.
July 31, 2011
Wonderful read,Daniel-Kat both are perfect match for each other,adored Kat such a strong woman,never takes anyone's crap and gives it back to whoever messes with her,but she got manipulated by others
Todd wanted to smack him for his selfish reason he said such things about Kat but then cause of it Kat-Daniel met that is why i forgive him
Overall a wonderful read
Recommend it
Todd wanted to smack him for his selfish reason he said such things about Kat but then cause of it Kat-Daniel met that is why i forgive him
Overall a wonderful read
Recommend it
April 27, 2022
I've re-read (again). No one cheers me up like Susan Napier. The definition of "rollicking ", no mean feat or frequent occurrence in a HP. The h is a talented, exuberant type and the H is, on the surface only, a stiff banker type. It's amusing, entertaining and with good sexual chemistry. The plot, as ever, is a willing suspension of belief thing but I'm just here for the ride. Fun.
October 28, 2018
Daniel met Kat when his nephew, Todd brought her home for Daniel's engagement as his fake fiancee. Unknown to both Kat and Daniel they were set up by friends and family. Everyone thought Kat was the woman to 'break the dormancy' in Daniel's personal life and she was ideal and suitable for him . Kat was a red head, she was volatile, feisty and a proud heroine. She matched angst with angst and she gave as good as she got. The matchmaking did work, they fought each other with instant dislike then it evolved to passion. These two characters crossed word swords that were meant to cut deep and painful. The even exchange blows or near so. It was invigorating and exhilarating for them both...even when Daniel discover her innocence.
They fought and misunderstood each other that she walked out on him when he confessed his love she didn't believe him nor trusted him which later she regret. In the midist of discovering her pregnancy and receiving a wedding invitation sent her chasing after him threatening revenge and they argued until with patience and serenity Daniel explained it all. She shocked him with her pregnancy and all ended well. Sigh.....I loved they volatile relationship and they fought against each other and they fought to get to each other....such great Passion!
They fought and misunderstood each other that she walked out on him when he confessed his love she didn't believe him nor trusted him which later she regret. In the midist of discovering her pregnancy and receiving a wedding invitation sent her chasing after him threatening revenge and they argued until with patience and serenity Daniel explained it all. She shocked him with her pregnancy and all ended well. Sigh.....I loved they volatile relationship and they fought against each other and they fought to get to each other....such great Passion!
May 13, 2012
This one was pretty enjoyable. The plot could have been tightened up just a bit especially in the second half. The heroine here was different in that she was an actress and was basically playing a part to fool the hero. This part was fun and well written. She was strong here. The second half was a bit more problematic for me since she agrees to be the hero's mistress which didn't really ring true to the very strong person she was in the first half of the book. And for you readers who hate cheating. There was cheating going on here. But maybe that's just me. Anyway worth the read.
Read
December 16, 2015الراقصة و الارستقراطي
عبير الجديدة " سوزان بيكر"
الملخص :
قبلت "كات" بفرحة دعوة صديقها "تود" بن تقضي عطلة نهاية الاسبوع في منزل العائلة ... و التي في اثنائها ستعلن خطبة عمه "دانيال" و بالتدريج بدا يتضح لها انها كانت بيدقا في لعبة زادت تعقيدا بما اشتعل بينها و بين "دانيال بيشوب"
كانت عيناه خطيرتين فيهما تهديد - و لكن بماذا ؟
لم تكن متاكدة فتحت الواجهة الباردة المثقفة كان يكمن قرصان عديم الرحمة
she is the OW in this story :(
عبير الجديدة " سوزان بيكر"
الملخص :
قبلت "كات" بفرحة دعوة صديقها "تود" بن تقضي عطلة نهاية الاسبوع في منزل العائلة ... و التي في اثنائها ستعلن خطبة عمه "دانيال" و بالتدريج بدا يتضح لها انها كانت بيدقا في لعبة زادت تعقيدا بما اشتعل بينها و بين "دانيال بيشوب"
كانت عيناه خطيرتين فيهما تهديد - و لكن بماذا ؟
لم تكن متاكدة فتحت الواجهة الباردة المثقفة كان يكمن قرصان عديم الرحمة
she is the OW in this story :(
August 29, 2017
"The Love Conspiracy" is the story of Daniel and Kat, and what an amazingly fantastic read.
Kat is a stage artist, who is asked by her friend Todd to come to his aristocratic home and pretend to be his fiancée- so he can soften his family towards his love Anna. While scandalizing his holier than thou relatives, she never expects to run into his Uncle Daniel, who turns out to be a wild card.
I LOVED the wild crazy antics of the h and the witty banter between the h and H. It was so much fun when she infuriates their snooty personas, and the chemistry between Daniel and Kat is sizzling.
All was well until in the last 1/4- when she decides to become his mistress, even when he's committed to marry ow. And then the whole drama was just infuriating.
In summary, the book just went downhill in the end 30%.
Safe
3.25/5
Kat is a stage artist, who is asked by her friend Todd to come to his aristocratic home and pretend to be his fiancée- so he can soften his family towards his love Anna. While scandalizing his holier than thou relatives, she never expects to run into his Uncle Daniel, who turns out to be a wild card.
I LOVED the wild crazy antics of the h and the witty banter between the h and H. It was so much fun when she infuriates their snooty personas, and the chemistry between Daniel and Kat is sizzling.
All was well until in the last 1/4- when she decides to become his mistress, even when he's committed to marry ow. And then the whole drama was just infuriating.
In summary, the book just went downhill in the end 30%.
Safe
3.25/5
June 1, 2020
One of my favourites by Susan Napier whom I have read since she was first published by Mills & Boon (UK). An enjoyable read and likeable characters.
SYNOPSIS:
The uncertainty was unnerving.
Kat had cheerfully accepted her friend Todd's invitation to stay at the family home for the weekend -- during which his Uncle Daniel was to announce his engagement.
Only slowly did it dawn on Kat that she was the pawn in another game altogether. A game complicated by the incandescent flame that erupted between herself and Daniel Bishop.
His eyes were dangerous, the curve of his mouth a threat -- but of what? Kat wasn't sure. For Daniel's cool, cultured facade covered the soul of a ruthless buccaneer.
SYNOPSIS:
The uncertainty was unnerving.
Kat had cheerfully accepted her friend Todd's invitation to stay at the family home for the weekend -- during which his Uncle Daniel was to announce his engagement.
Only slowly did it dawn on Kat that she was the pawn in another game altogether. A game complicated by the incandescent flame that erupted between herself and Daniel Bishop.
His eyes were dangerous, the curve of his mouth a threat -- but of what? Kat wasn't sure. For Daniel's cool, cultured facade covered the soul of a ruthless buccaneer.
April 30, 2012
Hero and heroine meet when the heroine is faking an engagement to the heroes brother. Eventually the hero falls in love with her, making her his mistress. The hero and heroine both have a secret though, they are both in love with each other. However their pride is standing in the way of something beautiful, can they both let it go?
Honestly, the book was kind of hilarious some times. I found myself enjoying the book moe and more. A red heads temper is quite an amazing thing!
Honestly, the book was kind of hilarious some times. I found myself enjoying the book moe and more. A red heads temper is quite an amazing thing!
Read
March 9, 2021I opened this book somewhere in the middle. It was a scene in which the H gets angry because the h has bought 16 pairs of Italian shoes and 3 fur coats. She did it only to annoy him. So incredibly childish. And she could have bought something else than fur.
I am now hesitating if I even want to read this book with such a childish h. I’ve read one scene and I already can’t stand her. But I see this book gets good reviews, so maybe I’ll read.
I am now hesitating if I even want to read this book with such a childish h. I’ve read one scene and I already can’t stand her. But I see this book gets good reviews, so maybe I’ll read.
March 11, 2014
A pretty enjoyable, well written romance.
Read
February 23, 2026The first half was madcap and funny and very like ‘Something in the Wind’ (or maybe Irene Dunne’s impersonation of a showgirl in ‘The Awful Truth’) with an undercurrent of spice.
Napier writes beautifully but this definitely has several moments that are firmly of their time and not easy to read now. And the last third (where she is essentially his mistress - and they both have “reasons” they don’t share) is rough.
Some amazing chapter endings.
They slap each other!
It is interesting to see POV flip back and forth.
The hero makes some horrendous decisions but at least explains them all in then end 😬
It is dedicated to her sons!
The arts.
Hero is a banker but is secretly still an artist.
Heroine is an actor/mimic/playwright. She is also 6ft tall!
Napier writes beautifully but this definitely has several moments that are firmly of their time and not easy to read now. And the last third (where she is essentially his mistress - and they both have “reasons” they don’t share) is rough.
Some amazing chapter endings.
They slap each other!
It is interesting to see POV flip back and forth.
The hero makes some horrendous decisions but at least explains them all in then end 😬
It is dedicated to her sons!
The arts.
Hero is a banker but is secretly still an artist.
Heroine is an actor/mimic/playwright. She is also 6ft tall!
September 1, 2022
It was really good i liked it very much. I wish it would be a series, and the second book would be Clarissa's story. I kinda liked here too, not a typical OW.:)
The H and H were great together.
The H and H were great together.
August 13, 2023
3.5 stars I guess...there's some great melodrama and some humor, but I didn't really want the main characters to end up together. The heroine is great -- she's bold and confident, but also has some believable weaknesses -- but the hero is a smug, self-satisfied ass who doesn't get sufficiently humbled by the narrative. The heroine is the one who gets humbled, which makes the HEA feel a bit sad.
January 19, 2013
Really fun one. The heroine was really likable -- someone we'd all like to be. As usual with Susan Napier, sometimes I wish there were a few more sex scenes later in the book (she tends to get them over with early on), but all in all a great read.
Edited to add:
I re-read this recently, and I really love this story! 5 stars for a second read too. The sparks between the hero and heroine are great. So much tension in this story and the resolution is very satisfying.
I do agree that it is too bad the heroine basically agreed to cheat on the hero's fiancee -- something you have to be able to overlook to enjoy the story -- but of course it all turned out alright in the end.
Edited to add:
I re-read this recently, and I really love this story! 5 stars for a second read too. The sparks between the hero and heroine are great. So much tension in this story and the resolution is very satisfying.
I do agree that it is too bad the heroine basically agreed to cheat on the hero's fiancee -- something you have to be able to overlook to enjoy the story -- but of course it all turned out alright in the end.
April 15, 2021
The uncertainty was unnerving.
Kat had cheerfully accepted her friend Todd's invitation to stay at the family home for the weekend -- during which his Uncle Daniel was to announce his engagement.
Only slowly did it dawn on Kat that she was the pawn in another game altogether. A game complicated by the incandescent flame that erupted between herself and Daniel Bishop.
His eyes were dangerous, the curve of his mouth a threat -- but of what? Kat wasn't sure. For Daniel's cool, cultured façade covered the soul of a ruthless buccaneer
Kat had cheerfully accepted her friend Todd's invitation to stay at the family home for the weekend -- during which his Uncle Daniel was to announce his engagement.
Only slowly did it dawn on Kat that she was the pawn in another game altogether. A game complicated by the incandescent flame that erupted between herself and Daniel Bishop.
His eyes were dangerous, the curve of his mouth a threat -- but of what? Kat wasn't sure. For Daniel's cool, cultured façade covered the soul of a ruthless buccaneer
October 12, 2018
Kat estava perfeita fingindo-se de mulher vulgar. E fez tudo para escandalizar os arrogantes Bishop. Ela só não contava com o enigmático Daniel Bishop, que era lindo e perturbador e a desprezava. E ele, para afastá-la do sobrinho decide dar-lhe uma lição que nunca esqueceria. Será que eles chegariam a um acordo em que o amor sairia vencedor?
Amei o Daniel, carismático, um tantinho preconceituoso, mas ele precisava de uma lição e de alguém como Kat.
Amei o Daniel, carismático, um tantinho preconceituoso, mas ele precisava de uma lição e de alguém como Kat.
December 5, 2025
Loved this one! Rounded up from 4.5 stars as it's not classic literature, just fun.
The heroine is a working-class actress who has a one-woman show/play depicting women's issues in which she at one point wears like a negligee or something similar (this is important later). She's also an excellent mimic and her show is gaining ground in prestigious art circles. She lives a somewhat bohemian lifestyle, sharing a very large flat/home with several other artist of both sexes. She's a tall, gorgeous, hourglass-shaped redhead with lots of moxie. Like, LOTS of moxie.
Anyhow, a newish younger friend from the upper, privileged, old-money class, "OM" (not really but he sort of serves as such) invites her to his family's house for a weekend. When she gets there, she discovers that he's told his family, namely his mother and grandmother, that he and h are engaged to be married, and boy are they pissed. Grandmother especially is godawful, and keeps calling the h a "stripper" because of her stage role.
Heroine had no idea of this alleged engagement and thought she'd just been invited on a weekend to relax, so she confronts the OM and he says, well, he wants to marry this other woman, "Bella", and he had this plan to show off h to his family, then "break it off", so that they'll be softened up for Bella, who is also working class, but way more conventional and sweet than the h is and would be "eaten up" by his grandmother.
Heroine is angry, but decides to go along with the plan, and picks a nice OTT gold-digger bimbo persona and flies with it, and it's hilarious and satisfying the way she puts noses out of joint. At dinner the first evening she meets the H, who is the uncle of the OM and the now-head of the family. He is a stuffy and conventional banker (apparently), but while making every attempt to get rid of the h, he is also intrigued by her and sparks fly all over the place.
That's pretty much the setup, but this book is a delight throughout, and the HEA is satisfying and sweet.
No notes on this one. XD
EDIT: Oh a couple of things forgotten: As is usual, plot magic makes it so the h stays at least 2-3 weeks longer at the H's family estate.
Also I did have 1 note, which is that I didn't like the fact that the h capitulated the way she did in their relationship before the final Big Breakup before the get-together. IMO she should have held out the entire time, but ah well.
The heroine is a working-class actress who has a one-woman show/play depicting women's issues in which she at one point wears like a negligee or something similar (this is important later). She's also an excellent mimic and her show is gaining ground in prestigious art circles. She lives a somewhat bohemian lifestyle, sharing a very large flat/home with several other artist of both sexes. She's a tall, gorgeous, hourglass-shaped redhead with lots of moxie. Like, LOTS of moxie.
Anyhow, a newish younger friend from the upper, privileged, old-money class, "OM" (not really but he sort of serves as such) invites her to his family's house for a weekend. When she gets there, she discovers that he's told his family, namely his mother and grandmother, that he and h are engaged to be married, and boy are they pissed. Grandmother especially is godawful, and keeps calling the h a "stripper" because of her stage role.
Heroine had no idea of this alleged engagement and thought she'd just been invited on a weekend to relax, so she confronts the OM and he says, well, he wants to marry this other woman, "Bella", and he had this plan to show off h to his family, then "break it off", so that they'll be softened up for Bella, who is also working class, but way more conventional and sweet than the h is and would be "eaten up" by his grandmother.
Heroine is angry, but decides to go along with the plan, and picks a nice OTT gold-digger bimbo persona and flies with it, and it's hilarious and satisfying the way she puts noses out of joint. At dinner the first evening she meets the H, who is the uncle of the OM and the now-head of the family. He is a stuffy and conventional banker (apparently), but while making every attempt to get rid of the h, he is also intrigued by her and sparks fly all over the place.
That's pretty much the setup, but this book is a delight throughout, and the HEA is satisfying and sweet.
No notes on this one. XD
EDIT: Oh a couple of things forgotten: As is usual, plot magic makes it so the h stays at least 2-3 weeks longer at the H's family estate.
Also I did have 1 note, which is that I didn't like the fact that the h capitulated the way she did in their relationship before the final Big Breakup before the get-together. IMO she should have held out the entire time, but ah well.
December 29, 2021
I binged three Susan Napier books in basically three days and this is where I stopped. The Love Conspiracy is not a bad book at all but it got too much for me. The first half was really appealing for me, there is a great confrontation scene next to the pool that tickled the right bone in me, but the second half turns into very very Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice and Benedict with machinations and conspiracies coming to light from all fronts.
Too much got crammed in here I think, especially with the sexual assault, virgin heroine and surprise baby popping up its head in the last third whilst the Shakespearean comedy drama bloomed and conquered. The whole story is very 90's regarding the other woman (who is the fiancé of the hero, so be aware of cheating if that is a trigger for you) being a career woman not let to the handles by her father and the heroine being an actress with her one woman show that combines her societal commentary with erotica in stripping down to her underwear. The pop in of basically everything you can imagine (not in a bad way tbh just too much in too little space) destroyed my enjoyment. The financial genius hero is a secret hedonist painter at heart is not a bad premise but let's just stay at the hedonist part and ignore the painter angle.
I am giving this three stars because the first part was engaging for me and I appreciate the set-up and characters, but this was just too much for me. If you like the classic comedy drama with false setups and a happily ever after, go for this one because the whole Shakespearean angle is well played. My real complaint is how the sideline shitshow took away from the good parts in the second half.
Of course, they live happily ever after.
Too much got crammed in here I think, especially with the sexual assault, virgin heroine and surprise baby popping up its head in the last third whilst the Shakespearean comedy drama bloomed and conquered. The whole story is very 90's regarding the other woman (who is the fiancé of the hero, so be aware of cheating if that is a trigger for you) being a career woman not let to the handles by her father and the heroine being an actress with her one woman show that combines her societal commentary with erotica in stripping down to her underwear. The pop in of basically everything you can imagine (not in a bad way tbh just too much in too little space) destroyed my enjoyment. The financial genius hero is a secret hedonist painter at heart is not a bad premise but let's just stay at the hedonist part and ignore the painter angle.
I am giving this three stars because the first part was engaging for me and I appreciate the set-up and characters, but this was just too much for me. If you like the classic comedy drama with false setups and a happily ever after, go for this one because the whole Shakespearean angle is well played. My real complaint is how the sideline shitshow took away from the good parts in the second half.
Of course, they live happily ever after.
April 29, 2025
This was pretty good, if annoying at times. The H and h were both entertaining, though at times they each got on my nerves. (I was glad when they hit each other, it saved me the trouble, of doing it!) It gets annoying when the authors make the MC too over-the-top: the H was once a rebel, now a highly successful businessman who saved the family empire, and he's also a very talented artist. The h is a talented actress who (if she had the drive) could easily be a star; she's also an excellent mimic (she can verbally impersonate just about anyone) and has a natural talent for investing, as well! They're both just too good to be true!! And that can get on one's nerves!
Aside from that, I liked their story, but I COULD NOT STAND THE H'S FAMILY! They played games with both the H and the h, manipulating them both, making them part of a scheme that was supposed to save the H from marriage with the OW (using the h as bait), while the h unwittingly became a part of the scheme, thinking she was helping out the OM, who was also the H's nephew. it was all so silly!
Still, it's worth reading.
Aside from that, I liked their story, but I COULD NOT STAND THE H'S FAMILY! They played games with both the H and the h, manipulating them both, making them part of a scheme that was supposed to save the H from marriage with the OW (using the h as bait), while the h unwittingly became a part of the scheme, thinking she was helping out the OM, who was also the H's nephew. it was all so silly!
Still, it's worth reading.
June 26, 2017
Wow. There are some serious character assassinations on this hero that are unfair and in my opinion just totally wrong. Did we read the same book? Yes, he had a fiancée for the whole book, but the heroine knew. Also, it wasn't fucking REAL. Granted we didn't know that at the end, but the heroine knew the whole time that he had a fiancée and she was taking what she could get while she could get it. He never lied to her about the fiancée, except for the fact that it was based on a business deal and he never intended to follow through with it AFTER he met the heroine. That's all he lied about.
And for his jerkiness to her, well, it's an HP, what the fuck do you expect? And I've read worse. And this heroine took it in stride, and he stopped being an ass pretty quickly.
My star rating only went down in this because of all the backhanded matchmaking. It was all over the place and too heavily contrived and with too many players on the field.
And for his jerkiness to her, well, it's an HP, what the fuck do you expect? And I've read worse. And this heroine took it in stride, and he stopped being an ass pretty quickly.
My star rating only went down in this because of all the backhanded matchmaking. It was all over the place and too heavily contrived and with too many players on the field.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews