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A Honeyed Seduction
SINFULLY SWEET... — Chelsea knew at a glance that Quinn Ryder liked games - especially those played with women. So who better to join her in a charade to convince her boss that she was engaged and not up for grabs? — But things got out of hand, Chelsea had no clue that she'd "nabbed" one of the world's most eligible bachelors. Quinn was very willi... more »ng to play along. But he had a few rules of his own. And a very dangerous way of ignoring the No Trepassing sign protecting Chelsea's heart.
192 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1992
About the author
Diana Hamilton
304 books76 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.
She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.
Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.
In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.
Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin
Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.
She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.
Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.
In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.
Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 11, 2013
A Honeyed Seduction seemed to mirror another Harlequin Presents I recently read in the same weekend, which is a very cool coincidence. Like the heroine in the other book, Chelsea is the product of divorced parents who had a bad marriage. She has avoided emotional and physical entanglements, and has focused on her career. Unlike the other heroine, she knows that a sexual relationship without emotional involvement wouldn't work for her. In this novel, Quinn is another hero who is pursuing a reluctant heroine. In this case, the dynamic turns out very differently.
Chelsea's boss is sexually harassing her. In order to get recommended for a promotion, she has to sleep with him. Chelsea seizes on the idea of getting her neighbor, Quinn (who as far as she knows is the rich, aimless playboy son of the billionaire Ryder Gem empire), to pretend to be her fiance'. Quinn agrees, but he starts being very touchy feely at the public function they are both attending, so the word gets out in a big way about their engagement. As a result, Quinn manipulates Chelsea into agreeing to be engaged publicly for a lot longer than she wanted and going to stay at his family home for two weeks. He claims he is using the engagement to discourage a girlfriend who is trying to get him to marry her.
Chelsea is clearly in over her head. She has plenty of feelings towards Quinn. He's attractive and sexy, and deep down, she is not immune to him. He comes on pretty strongly. He is actually quite predatory. For Chelsea, that's an issue, because she doesn't want sex without a commitment, and she doesn't want to be married. And the more time she spends with Quinn, it's getting harder to say no to his appeal and to keep from falling in love.
I can't really say why I gave this book four stars. I think I just felt more enjoyment as I read than the other books I read this weekend. I liked Chelsea a lot. I could understand where she was coming from. Quinn acted a little too much like a billionaire playboy for my tastes, even though he was actually hard-working and had in fact, saved their company. He lived down to the ideas that Chelsea had of him, which was unfortunate, because that made her more wary of him emotionally. I think that Quinn should have been more honest about his feelings, and Chelsea would have trusted him more and have been more willing to go with her feelings towards him. Instead, he was playing along with her ideas, and that made him seem kind of like the oily playboy type, think young Hugh Hefner (gag!). That rubbed me the wrong way, and that would have been a turnoff for me if I was Chelsea. On a lighter note, it was amusing how he was always trying to undress Chelsea. A recurring motif of this novel.
Maybe this book was a little more fun and I needed a fun read when I read it. Maybe that's why it feels more like a four star read to me. Plus, I do like the whole pretend engagement/lovers storyline. It's a good opportunity for the characters to spend time together and fall in love. I can't seem to talk myself out of the four star rating, so I'll leave it be. A good, quick, entertaining story when I needed it.
Chelsea's boss is sexually harassing her. In order to get recommended for a promotion, she has to sleep with him. Chelsea seizes on the idea of getting her neighbor, Quinn (who as far as she knows is the rich, aimless playboy son of the billionaire Ryder Gem empire), to pretend to be her fiance'. Quinn agrees, but he starts being very touchy feely at the public function they are both attending, so the word gets out in a big way about their engagement. As a result, Quinn manipulates Chelsea into agreeing to be engaged publicly for a lot longer than she wanted and going to stay at his family home for two weeks. He claims he is using the engagement to discourage a girlfriend who is trying to get him to marry her.
Chelsea is clearly in over her head. She has plenty of feelings towards Quinn. He's attractive and sexy, and deep down, she is not immune to him. He comes on pretty strongly. He is actually quite predatory. For Chelsea, that's an issue, because she doesn't want sex without a commitment, and she doesn't want to be married. And the more time she spends with Quinn, it's getting harder to say no to his appeal and to keep from falling in love.
I can't really say why I gave this book four stars. I think I just felt more enjoyment as I read than the other books I read this weekend. I liked Chelsea a lot. I could understand where she was coming from. Quinn acted a little too much like a billionaire playboy for my tastes, even though he was actually hard-working and had in fact, saved their company. He lived down to the ideas that Chelsea had of him, which was unfortunate, because that made her more wary of him emotionally. I think that Quinn should have been more honest about his feelings, and Chelsea would have trusted him more and have been more willing to go with her feelings towards him. Instead, he was playing along with her ideas, and that made him seem kind of like the oily playboy type, think young Hugh Hefner (gag!). That rubbed me the wrong way, and that would have been a turnoff for me if I was Chelsea. On a lighter note, it was amusing how he was always trying to undress Chelsea. A recurring motif of this novel.
Maybe this book was a little more fun and I needed a fun read when I read it. Maybe that's why it feels more like a four star read to me. Plus, I do like the whole pretend engagement/lovers storyline. It's a good opportunity for the characters to spend time together and fall in love. I can't seem to talk myself out of the four star rating, so I'll leave it be. A good, quick, entertaining story when I needed it.
November 3, 2021
The GOOD:
Decent romance mostly made so by charming & self-assured playboy business-owner 36yo H's persistent manipulations to get h to soften up to him.
h was likable overall, although for the 1st 50% she was very intent on maintaining her usual level-headedness & self-control when it came to men & romance and go back to her career-focus. After 50% she began to realize & slowly accept that she was attracted to H but had to fight to keep herself distant from H because she didn't want to succumb to his charm & attractiveness and just be his short-term lover. H's character was more likable and down-to-earth and liked his creative ways to get close to h & for h to get to know him better, including inviting her to his country house & letting her spend time with his mother. Liked how he fell in love with her when they 1st met and didn't let her prickliness keep her from him. Loved his persistence yet he gave her the space she needed during the multiple times she'd run away from him, when things get heated up between them sexually. Yet he'd come back with a new tactic to get her back with him again.
MEH or the BAD:
Book was mostly based on self-controlled & cautious hard-working TV-director's assistant 26yo h's POV which was sometimes funny & sometimes annoying due to her prissy defensiveness & conflicting emotions & thoughts about H. Average pacing. Ave-good sexual chemistry. Has more detailed foreplay scenes (i.e., kissing, breast play) than Hamilton's usual. Hinted-at S scene at the end. Average-good emotionality with some angst from h's realization that she loved H but that he only wanted her physically & short-term coz he was more into his ex-GF (who she finds out towards the end is really H's younger sis).
Sexual History:
Virgin h had a fiance OM when she was 18yo when she believed OM's "I love you"s only to be told later when she refused his sexual advances that he only agreed to marry her so she'll have sex with him & she'd been very wary & more mistrustful of men ever since . H was engaged to an older woman OW when he was in his 20s but she dropped him for a richer older man. He became cynical of women's intentions but likely had casual lovers. OW wanted H back later, when he became rich from his hard work at their family business.
Decent romance mostly made so by charming & self-assured playboy business-owner 36yo H's persistent manipulations to get h to soften up to him.
h was likable overall, although for the 1st 50% she was very intent on maintaining her usual level-headedness & self-control when it came to men & romance and go back to her career-focus. After 50% she began to realize & slowly accept that she was attracted to H but had to fight to keep herself distant from H because she didn't want to succumb to his charm & attractiveness and just be his short-term lover. H's character was more likable and down-to-earth and liked his creative ways to get close to h & for h to get to know him better, including inviting her to his country house & letting her spend time with his mother. Liked how he fell in love with her when they 1st met and didn't let her prickliness keep her from him. Loved his persistence yet he gave her the space she needed during the multiple times she'd run away from him, when things get heated up between them sexually. Yet he'd come back with a new tactic to get her back with him again.
MEH or the BAD:
Book was mostly based on self-controlled & cautious hard-working TV-director's assistant 26yo h's POV which was sometimes funny & sometimes annoying due to her prissy defensiveness & conflicting emotions & thoughts about H. Average pacing. Ave-good sexual chemistry. Has more detailed foreplay scenes (i.e., kissing, breast play) than Hamilton's usual. Hinted-at S scene at the end. Average-good emotionality with some angst from h's realization that she loved H but that he only wanted her physically & short-term coz he was more into his ex-GF (who she finds out towards the end is really H's younger sis).
Sexual History:
Virgin h had a fiance OM when she was 18yo when she believed OM's "I love you"s only to be told later when she refused his sexual advances that he only agreed to marry her so she'll have sex with him & she'd been very wary & more mistrustful of men ever since . H was engaged to an older woman OW when he was in his 20s but she dropped him for a richer older man. He became cynical of women's intentions but likely had casual lovers. OW wanted H back later, when he became rich from his hard work at their family business.
March 8, 2018
Re A Honeyed Seduction - Diana Hamilton lets the drama run free on this one.
The h is a very controlled, professional advertising executive. She doesn't do relationships, she tries very hard to keep her life orderly and calm and she doesn't do much with the male of the species. Her parents has a very bitter marriage with lots of fighting and fury and eventually divorced.
The h's sister fell in love and got married and then things went south for her and she just got divorced after a ton of misery when the book opens. So it reinforces the h's opinion that men are slime and she needs to avoid them like radiation.
Unfortunately her boss tells her she has to sleep with him if she wants the big promotion. The h isn't a whistle blower, she refuses to pursue sexual harassment charges, instead she sees the upstairs penthouse neighbor from her apartment building at a party and asks him to pretend to be her fiance to scare her boss off.
The h is pretty disapproving of the upstairs neighbor, he seems to like frequent trips to the lady buffet, but he agrees to help her because he claims an old girlfriend is becoming the best limpet in London and he wants to scrape her off. He claims that if the limpet lady realizes that he is madly in love with another woman, she will give up her quest for matrimony and access to a large bank account and go away.
The H claims that all women are really only looking for the nearest cash dispensary who happens to look decent in a three piece suit. He says he doesn't want to marry anyone, they only want his money and while he doesn't object to the occasional gift of sparkly jewelry or a nice dinner out, he expects to be physically rewarded for his extravagant gestures.
Therefore pretending to be engaged to the h is perfect for him, he can slough the ex off and help the h out at the same time. The h means for it to be a very short engagement, a one night stand of a couple-like appearance to put her boss off. But the H manages to get the news of the engagement into the tabloids and then blackmail the h into several weeks of staying at his mother's or else he will spill the beans to the h's boss.
So bickering and fighting all the way and trying hard to pretend the H's roofie kisses don't affect her, the h agrees to the charade and gets dumped with the H's mother. In the meanwhile her mum marries an Italian guy and the h is upset because she is unhappy at her mother's supposed desertion and her sister decides to reconcile and remarry her husband.
The h is feeling the HP Lurve Mojo force, but she thinks the H's is maxim is that the only way to get over one woman is to get another one under him and she doesn't do casual affairs - she also has an aversion to marriage. So we are left with pages and pages of unrequited lust and the H doing his best seduction moves on the h.
But he only gets so far and then the h rejects him, so the H storms off in deep ire, (he wanders off for weeks a few times during the story) and he calls the h the usual mercenary tease. Finally it looks like the h is going to make a stab at a relationship with the H.
But when she decides to make her move at a charity ball she attended with the H, she notices that he seems to be involved with a beautiful but wild society belle type and going by the name the woman is called, she believes it is the H's ex flame.
She also believes that the H is really in love with the ex, but having a hard time actualizing his feelings. The h is hurt, but she decides she loves him enough to let him go and then she finds his ex-fling in his apartment wearing his shirt, looking like she just stumbled out of bed and the h knows her love is doomed and hands the woman her ring, asking the lady to give the ring back to the H.
We get huge mopey moments and the h is trying to re-focus on her job. She is selling her flat and considering a new job outside of London, she can't stand to be around to see the H and his reunited love. A few more weeks go by and then the h gets summoned to the big Head Honcho's office.
She thinks she might have gotten the promotion, but when she gets to the big boss's office, the H is the one greeting her. He tells her he bought the company and the h can have the promotion if she is willing to abide by his conditions. The h instantly leaps to the conclusion that the H is going to demand sex and she tells him off and resigns.
The H follows her as she is storming out of the building and when he knocks her personal items from her desk all over the floor of the lobby, the h starts lecturing him on his love for his other woman. The H goes on and on about how he loves her jealousy. Then the H drags the h back to his penthouse and we find out that the OW is actually his younger sister.
She was running wild and doing silly things and the H wanted her to straighten up, unfortunately when he made up the story about the limpet girlfriend, he used his little sister's old nickname. The h heard the sister called by her old nickname at the ball and assumed she was witnessing a reconciliation.
The H explains that he lied about there being a limpet ex flame to scrape off. He really took one look at the h when she asked for his help the first time and decided he wanted her. Then she kept refusing to sleep with him and so he chased until he caught her. Somehow all this chasing and seduction attempts made him fall in love with her and now she loves him back.
So the h can have her choice of marriage and her big promotion or marriage, country living and babies - either way she is marrying him whether she likes it or not.
(We also learn that there was a lady who burned him in the past and dumped him cause his family firm wasn't at it's best, but he met her a few years after she dumped him and married a richer old guy. The H then realized the lady completely turned him off and he never met anyone until the h that really interested him. Which does leave the question that the H is only so determined to get the h because she leads him on a pretty lengthy chase.)
So there is no old flame haunting his memories and the h really believes he loves her. Finally we leave them lurving it up and planning the wedding for the big dramarama HEA.
This one wasn't terrible, but the drama and the rejection by the h and the refusal of the H to act any way other than a taster at the lady buffet really dragged this one out. I got the sense that DH was trying to extend the back and forth push/pull for as long as she could because the story page count was running low and she needed some angsty drama filler to fluff this one to an acceptable length.
The h was too crankily negative about relationships and the H was too elusive and lying about his pretend playboy ways until literally the last three pages of the book. So it was hard to see this as anything other than a quick little dramafest and a mediocre HPlandia outing.
The h is a very controlled, professional advertising executive. She doesn't do relationships, she tries very hard to keep her life orderly and calm and she doesn't do much with the male of the species. Her parents has a very bitter marriage with lots of fighting and fury and eventually divorced.
The h's sister fell in love and got married and then things went south for her and she just got divorced after a ton of misery when the book opens. So it reinforces the h's opinion that men are slime and she needs to avoid them like radiation.
Unfortunately her boss tells her she has to sleep with him if she wants the big promotion. The h isn't a whistle blower, she refuses to pursue sexual harassment charges, instead she sees the upstairs penthouse neighbor from her apartment building at a party and asks him to pretend to be her fiance to scare her boss off.
The h is pretty disapproving of the upstairs neighbor, he seems to like frequent trips to the lady buffet, but he agrees to help her because he claims an old girlfriend is becoming the best limpet in London and he wants to scrape her off. He claims that if the limpet lady realizes that he is madly in love with another woman, she will give up her quest for matrimony and access to a large bank account and go away.
The H claims that all women are really only looking for the nearest cash dispensary who happens to look decent in a three piece suit. He says he doesn't want to marry anyone, they only want his money and while he doesn't object to the occasional gift of sparkly jewelry or a nice dinner out, he expects to be physically rewarded for his extravagant gestures.
Therefore pretending to be engaged to the h is perfect for him, he can slough the ex off and help the h out at the same time. The h means for it to be a very short engagement, a one night stand of a couple-like appearance to put her boss off. But the H manages to get the news of the engagement into the tabloids and then blackmail the h into several weeks of staying at his mother's or else he will spill the beans to the h's boss.
So bickering and fighting all the way and trying hard to pretend the H's roofie kisses don't affect her, the h agrees to the charade and gets dumped with the H's mother. In the meanwhile her mum marries an Italian guy and the h is upset because she is unhappy at her mother's supposed desertion and her sister decides to reconcile and remarry her husband.
The h is feeling the HP Lurve Mojo force, but she thinks the H's is maxim is that the only way to get over one woman is to get another one under him and she doesn't do casual affairs - she also has an aversion to marriage. So we are left with pages and pages of unrequited lust and the H doing his best seduction moves on the h.
But he only gets so far and then the h rejects him, so the H storms off in deep ire, (he wanders off for weeks a few times during the story) and he calls the h the usual mercenary tease. Finally it looks like the h is going to make a stab at a relationship with the H.
But when she decides to make her move at a charity ball she attended with the H, she notices that he seems to be involved with a beautiful but wild society belle type and going by the name the woman is called, she believes it is the H's ex flame.
She also believes that the H is really in love with the ex, but having a hard time actualizing his feelings. The h is hurt, but she decides she loves him enough to let him go and then she finds his ex-fling in his apartment wearing his shirt, looking like she just stumbled out of bed and the h knows her love is doomed and hands the woman her ring, asking the lady to give the ring back to the H.
We get huge mopey moments and the h is trying to re-focus on her job. She is selling her flat and considering a new job outside of London, she can't stand to be around to see the H and his reunited love. A few more weeks go by and then the h gets summoned to the big Head Honcho's office.
She thinks she might have gotten the promotion, but when she gets to the big boss's office, the H is the one greeting her. He tells her he bought the company and the h can have the promotion if she is willing to abide by his conditions. The h instantly leaps to the conclusion that the H is going to demand sex and she tells him off and resigns.
The H follows her as she is storming out of the building and when he knocks her personal items from her desk all over the floor of the lobby, the h starts lecturing him on his love for his other woman. The H goes on and on about how he loves her jealousy. Then the H drags the h back to his penthouse and we find out that the OW is actually his younger sister.
She was running wild and doing silly things and the H wanted her to straighten up, unfortunately when he made up the story about the limpet girlfriend, he used his little sister's old nickname. The h heard the sister called by her old nickname at the ball and assumed she was witnessing a reconciliation.
The H explains that he lied about there being a limpet ex flame to scrape off. He really took one look at the h when she asked for his help the first time and decided he wanted her. Then she kept refusing to sleep with him and so he chased until he caught her. Somehow all this chasing and seduction attempts made him fall in love with her and now she loves him back.
So the h can have her choice of marriage and her big promotion or marriage, country living and babies - either way she is marrying him whether she likes it or not.
(We also learn that there was a lady who burned him in the past and dumped him cause his family firm wasn't at it's best, but he met her a few years after she dumped him and married a richer old guy. The H then realized the lady completely turned him off and he never met anyone until the h that really interested him. Which does leave the question that the H is only so determined to get the h because she leads him on a pretty lengthy chase.)
So there is no old flame haunting his memories and the h really believes he loves her. Finally we leave them lurving it up and planning the wedding for the big dramarama HEA.
This one wasn't terrible, but the drama and the rejection by the h and the refusal of the H to act any way other than a taster at the lady buffet really dragged this one out. I got the sense that DH was trying to extend the back and forth push/pull for as long as she could because the story page count was running low and she needed some angsty drama filler to fluff this one to an acceptable length.
The h was too crankily negative about relationships and the H was too elusive and lying about his pretend playboy ways until literally the last three pages of the book. So it was hard to see this as anything other than a quick little dramafest and a mediocre HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2020
SINFULLY SWEET... — Chelsea knew at a glance that Quinn Ryder liked games - especially those played with women. So who better to join her in a charade to convince her boss that she was engaged and not up for grabs? — But things got out of hand, Chelsea had no clue that she'd "nabbed" one of the world's most eligible bachelors. Quinn was very willi... more »ng to play along. But he had a few rules of his own. And a very dangerous way of ignoring the No Trepassing sign protecting Chelsea's heart.
May 1, 2024
This had its moments, player Quinn was a pretty hot H, but Chelsea, the advertising exec with a chip about men and a career orientated life was a bit of a mixed bag. The story was built around deceit, blackmail and daft misunderstanding. There was good sexual tension but a lot of time apart. I remain unhappy with the blackmail part, even though he was supposedly bluffing. I think the loyalty and affection of his mum and sister was supposed to reinforce his good character but that bit was more telling than showing. Anyhow, readable.
August 19, 2012
This book caught my eyes as i strolled past the computer desk at my in- laws. it belonged to my mother in-law and she recommended it. it was enticing and suspenseful. i enjoyed it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2017
It would have been a 4-star read because it started off so well. I liked the heroine, she was an accomplished, successful woman who had bought her own flat in an upscale building. The H is a rich tycoon who lives in the penthouse of the same building. They know each other and share a casual acquaintanceship, the heroine is under the impression that the H is a playboy.
The heroine's boss is sexually harassing her, so she enlists the help of the H when she sees him at a party. She wants her boss to think she is engaged to a younger, jealous man in the hopes that the boss will back off. However, the H is a bit too enthusiastic about the scheme and announces to the whole room that they are engaged. It turns out he is an eligible bachelor so the press gets wind of it and it gets headlined.
The relationship could have developed so nicely from that point on, but unfortunately, in this story, it just starts to go downhill. Though they are attracted to each other and the heroine desperately holds on to her virginity. They are both opposed to marriage, but she won't start an affair with the H despite their attraction. The H leaves her for a week, in his house with his mother! What!!!
Anyway, when he does call her again, he blackmails her into going out with him and continue their engagement charade. At one point she sees him dancing with someone she thinks is the OW so she runs out on him. They get into a row and he leaves. Next morning she goes up to his place (its very convenient as they live in the same building) and is greeted by the OW, sleepy eyed and wearing one of his shirts so she gives her the ring with a goodbye message for the H.
The H leaves her alone again for a few weeks AGAIN. For the most part, the H acts like a spoiled brat in a tantrum. Again a lot of arguing until they clear up some important matters. Like the OW is really his sister. Like he stayed away for a few weeks to buy her agency so he could give her everything she wanted, including the promotion she was aiming for in the firm blah blah blah, he was hurt by an older woman when he was young blah blah...
Anyway it just didn't do it for me,and it could have been so much better.
The heroine's boss is sexually harassing her, so she enlists the help of the H when she sees him at a party. She wants her boss to think she is engaged to a younger, jealous man in the hopes that the boss will back off. However, the H is a bit too enthusiastic about the scheme and announces to the whole room that they are engaged. It turns out he is an eligible bachelor so the press gets wind of it and it gets headlined.
The relationship could have developed so nicely from that point on, but unfortunately, in this story, it just starts to go downhill. Though they are attracted to each other and the heroine desperately holds on to her virginity. They are both opposed to marriage, but she won't start an affair with the H despite their attraction. The H leaves her for a week, in his house with his mother! What!!!
Anyway, when he does call her again, he blackmails her into going out with him and continue their engagement charade. At one point she sees him dancing with someone she thinks is the OW so she runs out on him. They get into a row and he leaves. Next morning she goes up to his place (its very convenient as they live in the same building) and is greeted by the OW, sleepy eyed and wearing one of his shirts so she gives her the ring with a goodbye message for the H.
The H leaves her alone again for a few weeks AGAIN. For the most part, the H acts like a spoiled brat in a tantrum. Again a lot of arguing until they clear up some important matters. Like the OW is really his sister. Like he stayed away for a few weeks to buy her agency so he could give her everything she wanted, including the promotion she was aiming for in the firm blah blah blah, he was hurt by an older woman when he was young blah blah...
Anyway it just didn't do it for me,and it could have been so much better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2024
It was difficult to read the hero's intentions until about the middle when Ms. Hamilton uses Quinn's mother to enlighten Chelsea a bit about her son. Quinn and Chelsea spark off each other throughout the book. I almost gave up on Chelsea, wondering what would finally make her realize she was in love. Their journey to HEA was a bouncy one.
December 29, 2022
100% definitely not my cup of tea. I just-no. I’m too used to slow burn, enemies to lovers and this was just not it. Just not for me.
On the upside there was a chance to win a trip to Italy but the last entry was in 1992 so I’ve missed the mark there.
On the upside there was a chance to win a trip to Italy but the last entry was in 1992 so I’ve missed the mark there.
February 18, 2023
Uhhhh...sure. A lot of drama set up for this book but then stalls completely. Heroine is rightfully hesitant about relationships and marriage but the hero just won't leave her alone until she gives in...the end. Dull, skip.
September 1, 2023
Boring, had to work to finish.
June 10, 2015
This was a great quick read. The heroine a bit too acrid for my liking. Some of it was a little dated with unwanted attention in wk place. I wished the Heroine had told him off. Good hero not mean or spiteful.
July 3, 2008
I immediately hated the heroine who is so ignorant, self-involved, and judgemental that it's just too unbelieveable anyone would find her attractive.
December 14, 2014
this was awful, tedious! chelsea did not know what she wanted. she does not do casual relationships, nor permanent ones. laughable! as for quin, he was in love wid her, yet behaved like a moron!
September 2, 2016
2.5 stars!
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