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Hills of Home #2
Season of Forgetfulness
Hired by telegram—and by mistake
Valancy Adam-Smith had never even heard of novelist Godfrey Carmichael when she applied by wire for the job as his secretary. So his fury when he discovered "V. Adam-Smith" was female both startled and intrigued her.
Who were the women who had so bitterly disillusioned him?
And why, Valancy wondered, should it matter to her that Godfrey's former fiancée had returned to New Zealand, obviously hoping for a reconciliation.
Valancy Adam-Smith had never even heard of novelist Godfrey Carmichael when she applied by wire for the job as his secretary. So his fury when he discovered "V. Adam-Smith" was female both startled and intrigued her.
Who were the women who had so bitterly disillusioned him?
And why, Valancy wondered, should it matter to her that Godfrey's former fiancée had returned to New Zealand, obviously hoping for a reconciliation.
- GenresRomanceHarlequin Romance
188 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Essie Summers
106 books54 followersEssie Summers was a New Zealand author who wrote so vividly of the people and landscape of her native country that she was offered The Order Of the British Empire for her contributions to New Zealand tourism.
Ethel Snelson Summers was born on on July 24, 1912 to a newly-emigrated couple, Ethel Snelson and Edwin Summers, situated in Bordesley Street in Christchurch, Essie was always proud of both her British heritage and her New Zealand citizenship. Both her parents were exceptional storytellers, and this, combined with her early introduction to the Anne of Green Gables stories, engendered in her a life-long fascination with the craft of writing and the colorful legacy of pioneers everywhere.
Leaving school at 14 when her father's butcher shop experienced financial difficulties, she worked for a number of years in draper's shops and later turned her experiences to good use in writing the romantic novels for which she became famous.
She met her husband-to-be William Flett when she was only 13 years old, but it was 13 years before she consented to marry him. A minister's wife and the mother of two, William and Elizabeth, she still found many opportunities to pen short stories, poetry and newspaper columns before embarking on her first novel, which sold to the firm of Mills & Boon in 1956.
Summers died in Taradale, Hawkes Bay on the August 27, 1998.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/...
Ethel Snelson Summers was born on on July 24, 1912 to a newly-emigrated couple, Ethel Snelson and Edwin Summers, situated in Bordesley Street in Christchurch, Essie was always proud of both her British heritage and her New Zealand citizenship. Both her parents were exceptional storytellers, and this, combined with her early introduction to the Anne of Green Gables stories, engendered in her a life-long fascination with the craft of writing and the colorful legacy of pioneers everywhere.
Leaving school at 14 when her father's butcher shop experienced financial difficulties, she worked for a number of years in draper's shops and later turned her experiences to good use in writing the romantic novels for which she became famous.
She met her husband-to-be William Flett when she was only 13 years old, but it was 13 years before she consented to marry him. A minister's wife and the mother of two, William and Elizabeth, she still found many opportunities to pen short stories, poetry and newspaper columns before embarking on her first novel, which sold to the firm of Mills & Boon in 1956.
Summers died in Taradale, Hawkes Bay on the August 27, 1998.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 9, 2017
I should have liked this story more. This is classic Essie Summers:
There’s a saintly heroine who refused to be bitter or show her hurt about being jilted. She’s loves to work long hours as a secretary to the writer hero and then do yard work or help the hero achieve his dreams of restoring his family homestead. She does this all while thinking the hero will get back with the OW who jilted him.
The hero is a Renaissance man. He’s a farmer, a writer of lucrative NZ pioneer stories, a designer of gardens, a protector of trees, who often quotes passages from Shakespeare.
There are long, long, long passages about the intrepid pioneers who settled NZ. Everyone – the main characters, the minor characters - all have an amusing or poignant anecdotes about one of their noble ancestors. That the Maori lived there then and now never seems to cross their minds.
Most Essie Summers’ New Zealanders can spout poetry from memory. Take this bit of poetry that the heroine’s boss spouts at her when she decides to leave the publishing company because her ex is coming back to work at their branch.
Sweet is the season of forgetfulness
Succeeding thus the passion and the pain
The healing time, the quiet time of pausing
Till, in God’s wisdom, you will love again.
Her boss wrote it when he was jilted. He published it anonymously, but he wants the h to know there is hope. This also applies to the hero – so we have an obvious theme going here. This passage is quoted twice just to make sure the reader gets it.
I don’t know. I think I’ve just read too much of this before from this author. Or maybe these characters are a little too perfect? Betty Neels writes the same story over and over but her heroines can be sarcastic and snarky – no matter how downtrodden they are.
There are likable elements of this story. Here’s the plot: The hero wants a male secretary because his former secretary tried to put the moves on him and his fiancé thought he was cheating on her. The heroine signs her name with her first initial, so it seems as if she is a man applying. Never mind though, the hero’s aunt who offered her the job had set this up with the heroine’s aunt beforehand because they wanted the jilted H/h to get together. When the hero returns from his research trip to Canada, the heroine is already installed, has done all the secretarial work, and is painting an outbuilding.
Of course the hero is going to keep her on.
There’s a subplot about pulling up stumps so the hero can have his garden. They go to a Shakespeare play together. The heroine’s master builder father is consulted about how to make the front of the homestead look better. The hero sets up a fake engagement with the heroine so that the mother of the OM who jilted her is reassured that the heroine is happy and not alone. Everyone is so *nice * including the OW who dumped the hero. She returns to tell him sorry and that she never really believed that he cheated on her – she just didn’t want to live in the back of beyond. (Hero got a lucky break – she probably didn’t love pioneer stories, either).
The heroine’s name is Valancy. It’s well known that Essie Summers loved LM Montgomery’s work, but I didn’t see a bit of the Valancy from The Blue Castlein this Valancy at least not in personality. In theme – perhaps. Both Valancys had dreamed of a perfect home and both ended up with writer husbands.
Like I said, I should have liked this story more. Maybe it was my mood - but it was chore to read - I won’t lie.
There’s a saintly heroine who refused to be bitter or show her hurt about being jilted. She’s loves to work long hours as a secretary to the writer hero and then do yard work or help the hero achieve his dreams of restoring his family homestead. She does this all while thinking the hero will get back with the OW who jilted him.
The hero is a Renaissance man. He’s a farmer, a writer of lucrative NZ pioneer stories, a designer of gardens, a protector of trees, who often quotes passages from Shakespeare.
There are long, long, long passages about the intrepid pioneers who settled NZ. Everyone – the main characters, the minor characters - all have an amusing or poignant anecdotes about one of their noble ancestors. That the Maori lived there then and now never seems to cross their minds.
Most Essie Summers’ New Zealanders can spout poetry from memory. Take this bit of poetry that the heroine’s boss spouts at her when she decides to leave the publishing company because her ex is coming back to work at their branch.
Sweet is the season of forgetfulness
Succeeding thus the passion and the pain
The healing time, the quiet time of pausing
Till, in God’s wisdom, you will love again.
Her boss wrote it when he was jilted. He published it anonymously, but he wants the h to know there is hope. This also applies to the hero – so we have an obvious theme going here. This passage is quoted twice just to make sure the reader gets it.
I don’t know. I think I’ve just read too much of this before from this author. Or maybe these characters are a little too perfect? Betty Neels writes the same story over and over but her heroines can be sarcastic and snarky – no matter how downtrodden they are.
There are likable elements of this story. Here’s the plot: The hero wants a male secretary because his former secretary tried to put the moves on him and his fiancé thought he was cheating on her. The heroine signs her name with her first initial, so it seems as if she is a man applying. Never mind though, the hero’s aunt who offered her the job had set this up with the heroine’s aunt beforehand because they wanted the jilted H/h to get together. When the hero returns from his research trip to Canada, the heroine is already installed, has done all the secretarial work, and is painting an outbuilding.
Of course the hero is going to keep her on.
There’s a subplot about pulling up stumps so the hero can have his garden. They go to a Shakespeare play together. The heroine’s master builder father is consulted about how to make the front of the homestead look better. The hero sets up a fake engagement with the heroine so that the mother of the OM who jilted her is reassured that the heroine is happy and not alone. Everyone is so *nice * including the OW who dumped the hero. She returns to tell him sorry and that she never really believed that he cheated on her – she just didn’t want to live in the back of beyond. (Hero got a lucky break – she probably didn’t love pioneer stories, either).
The heroine’s name is Valancy. It’s well known that Essie Summers loved LM Montgomery’s work, but I didn’t see a bit of the Valancy from The Blue Castlein this Valancy at least not in personality. In theme – perhaps. Both Valancys had dreamed of a perfect home and both ended up with writer husbands.
Like I said, I should have liked this story more. Maybe it was my mood - but it was chore to read - I won’t lie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2013
This is a later story about Valancy Adam-Smith who gets a job with author Godfrey Carmichael through the machinations of his aunt and hers.
Godfrey wanted a male secretary after his last one smashed up his engagement.
Valancy needed to get away from home after her ex-fiance fell in love and married another woman. It was complicated by the fact that they grew up as neighbours with his mother close friends with Valancy's family.
The relationship grows quickly but Valancy is a little obtuse, seeing Godfrey's interest as for the sake of begetting heirs for the family property after losing the love of his life.
A pretend engagement to sooth the concern's of the ex-fiance's mother complicates matters and gives Godfrey plenty of opportunity to show they have chemistry.
A sweet read with the usual extended cast of characters and a scenic tour of parts of New Zealand.
Godfrey wanted a male secretary after his last one smashed up his engagement.
Valancy needed to get away from home after her ex-fiance fell in love and married another woman. It was complicated by the fact that they grew up as neighbours with his mother close friends with Valancy's family.
The relationship grows quickly but Valancy is a little obtuse, seeing Godfrey's interest as for the sake of begetting heirs for the family property after losing the love of his life.
A pretend engagement to sooth the concern's of the ex-fiance's mother complicates matters and gives Godfrey plenty of opportunity to show they have chemistry.
A sweet read with the usual extended cast of characters and a scenic tour of parts of New Zealand.
November 18, 2013
How I love good-natured plotting relatives in fictions! Both main characters were jilted by their fiances so the aunts who happened to be old classmates decided to set them up. A light read.
August 26, 2018
In some ways this is a Comedy of Errors, though All's Well that Ends Well. Although neither knows it, their beloved great-aunts, recently reunited, plot to bring together Godfrey and Valancy. Both of them have suffered disappointments in love. Godfrey is disillusioned by women, while Valancy needs to get away and make a new start. So, while he is away on a research trip, she takes a job as his secretary, despite the fact that he wanted a man for the job. Once he returns, and they settle their differences, Valancy is determined to help him in any way she can — even if it means further heartbreak for her. Very quick, enjoyable read, with the requisite HEA. Recommended.
September 20, 2020
Very nice - pleasant light read, set in Sth NZ
September 2, 2023
I always enjoy Essie Summers for a fluffy, clean romance.
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April 26, 2018To get away from the hurt and humiliation of seeing her ex-fiance married to another girl, Valancy had gone off to work as a secretary to the author Godfrey Carmichael, who was also embittered by the break-up of his engagement to the gentle Kathleen. The treatment worked, even better than Valancy had though it might, and she found herself forgetting Justin in her new love for Godfrey. And then Godfrey suggested she marry him - but only, Valancy knew too well, because he thought she was suitable. Could she coldbloodedly marry a man who was so obviously hankering after someone else?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews