Never Go Back

by Margaret Pargeter

Harlequin Romance paperback #2112

Genres: Harlequin Romance, Romance, Harlequin

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Margaret Pargeter was a popular writer of 50 romance novels in Mills & Boon from 1975 to 1986.

Reviews

[Leona · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother reading this one unless you like heroines that have absolutely nothing going for them except their looks. This was one cold, stupid, selfish woman that only saw the world through her own distorted lenses. To make matters worse, her family (brother and sister) were even more horrible.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what the hero saw in her. This was a total waste of time reading.

[Toni-Lea Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMG what a train wreck of a family. I kinda want Guy to run for the hills but I guess you like who you like. I feel like there's still a lot of issues left to be addressed. For example... if Celia's siblings (Robin and Lucy) make a decent wage where does all the money go? Why is the house rundown? There's no great character change between Robin and Lucy by the end of the book. They both still seem to be shady characters. I'm still waiting on an extensive explanation behind how Guy acquired the store and why Celia has a completely different story on how it happened?

It was a decent read because I enjoy reading old school Mararet Pargeter. Minus two stars because the heroine was just insipid and simpleminded. I never understood the 'I hate him on sight without any logical reasoning' trope and 'even when logical reasoning is provided I'll still act like an idiot'.

[BooksieRatsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing style: 5 stars
Plot: 2 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Heroine: 1 star
Overall: 3 stars

It's blatantly obvious from the get go that the H is besotted with the h. But she's one of the most spoilt, childish, irritating, tstl and thick-headed heroines I've ever come across. She's always jumping to the wrong conclusions about the hero and putting a negative slant on all his clear-as-a-day good behaviour. She slaps the hero for no reason in the beginning. Then there's one scene towards the end where the hero slaps her, albeit lightly, to snap her out of her never-ending hysteria. I'm not a big fan of uncalled for slaps/hits, regardless of gender (yes, I'm all for an egalitarian's view of equal rights). But believe me, the h asked for it several times over the course of the book with her annoying insults. I'd say she got away lightly with that light little slap.

[RomLibrary · Rating 2 out of 5]

For years Celia had longed to meet someone special, one particular man she could love to distraction. But...Guy Ryland? Guy Ryland-the man who had bought out her father, who had forced her to leave home, whom she had hated for so long. She wondered what he'd meant when he said, "It won't make any difference. It will be all the same in the end." It was as if he'd mapped out a campaign, his victory over her a foregone conclusion!

[Grrrrace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hysterical, snooty h hates the H, who bought her father's Manchester dept store and permits the h's entire family (including the trusty retainer housekeeper) to keep working for him because love. The h's constant abuse of the H, when she's not succumbing helplessly to his sometime-punishing kisses, gets tiresome quickly. Very dated and forgettable one from MP.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

Romance consists of a chance meeting where she insults him, enigmatic threats from him, siblings that fear to get fired yet refuse to work. Didn’t feel like anything much and author’s writing style is overly complex without saying much.

I kept wanting her to ask him what he meant by "same in the end". What end? Of course that would have cut the book to just a couple chapters.
This is more like 2 1/2 stars as it's a decent read and I didn't feel like dropping it every few pages.