Frozen Enchantment

by Jessica Steele

It was the chance of a lifetime

Any ambitious secretary like Jolene would seize the opportunity to accompany the big boss on a wide-ranging business trip to the Soviet Union.

However, impressing Cheyne Templeton with her sterling qualities was another matter. He'd already made up his mind what kind of girl he thought she was. And it was far from the truth.

Jolene could find no way to convince him that he was wrong. Nor could she convince herself that his opinion didn't matter...

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance

189 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Jessica Steele was born on May 9, 1933 in the elegant Warwickshire town of Royal Leamington Spa. She has two super brothers, Colin and George, and a lovely sister, Elizabeth. She was a delicate child and missed a lot of school. In fact, she left school at aged 14, when she was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. At 16, she started work as a junior clerk. In 1967, Jessica married with her husband, Peter and within a very short space of time they had moved from her hometown to the lovely area where they now live. Their house is built into the side of a hill, and has beautiful views over more hills and valleys. Her brothers and her sister are very close and she has plenty of nephews and nieces to make up for the fact that she and her husband have no children of their own. Both she and her husband are more than a little dog-oriented, and their current dog is a Staffordshire bull terrier named Florence. Florence is gorgeous. She loves everybody but, since she is 40 pounds of dynamite and would hurl her boisterous self at everyone she meets - given half a chance - she has to be restrained (as much as possible). She is fun.

Her husband spurred Jessica on to her writing career, giving her every support while she did what she considers her five-year apprenticeship (the rejection years) while learning how to write. She published her first books in 1979. Jessica has tried using a typewriter, but it just doesn't work for her. She is much happier writing in longhand, and in actual fact has a dozen or so fountain pens filled and ready to go at the start of any one session. A friend has a secretarial agency and, after deciphering Jessica's writing, returns an immaculately typed manuscript. To gain authentic background for her books, she has travelled and researched in Greece, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Hong Kong, China and Japan.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secretary Jolene Draper gets a chance to travel to Russia for a few weeks on business. The only problem is her boss (Cheyne Templeton), who mistakenly thinks she is attracted to married men. How will she convince him he is wrong, especially when she is beginning to fall for him?

This was an entertaining story. Heroine (Jolene) was sweet and nice. The hero (Cheyne) was an idiot at times, jumping to wrong conclusions about Jolene, and he had his jealous moments. But I liked him by the end. I enjoyed the Russia setting, the villages/cities they visited, and their trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Another good read by Jessica Steele.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was weirdly boring. And when they unravel the drama at the end, they basically retell THE ENTIRE STORY, SCENE BY SCENE, and explain EVERY. SINGLE. THING. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😩. It wasn’t even all that interesting the first time around.

[QueenT · Rating 1 out of 5]

Barely finished it. The events followed pretty much the same pattern until the final confession scene: H is the chairman of the company where h is a secretary. He thinks she's an immoral woman who is after married men due to a misunderstanding. With his own secretary unavailable, he ends up taking the h along to Russia for a business trip. The entire book felt like a repeat of the same events: daylong meetings, h typing out notes, meals at the hotel with H and engineers, H giving h late assignment to avoid her spending time with the other engineers. This lasted around 3 weeks until they return to England and the H suddenly confesses his love and proposes.

A lot of the scenes were boring and overly descriptive, I ended up skipping a lot to find some dialogue. Too bad. I was hoping for a good workplace romance story and this was not it.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hero was kind of a jerk, when they explain everything in the end, it made me feel better about the novel as a whole. I did enjoy most of it and feel sorry that Viktor never got what he was looking for though.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet secretary heroine (22) is blond and beautiful, and so keeps being hit upon in the workplace by men who only see her looks.
Workaholic and domineering big boss hero (37) keeps her working in the USSR so that men cannot spend time with her, but is in denial for the reason why.
She falls for him early and gets a bit soppy.
He takes a little longer.
Decent foreign location + workplace romance which could have been more enjoyable, but was not bad.
3 stars

[RomLibrary]

It was the chance of a lifetime

Any ambitious secretary like Jolene would seize the opportunity to accompany the big boss on a wide-ranging business trip to the Soviet Union.

However, impressing Cheyne Templeton with her sterling qualities was another matter. He'd already made up his mind what kind of girl he thought she was. And it was far from the truth.

Jolene could find no way to convince him that he was wrong. Nor could she convince herself that his opinion didn't matter... (less)

[Lexie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is part of the books I inherited from my grandmother after she died. As a teen she would lend me volumes of Harlequin novels--from the 70's/80's/90's--because they interested me. I'm fairly certain I didn't read this one as a teen, or if I did I must have not enjoyed it at all because it was all surprises for me.

First I want to say I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous Steele I read BEYOND HER CONTROL. This was much more typical Harlequin then BEYOND with the male lead Cheyene banging his chest and blaming the female lead, Jolene that its all her fault he can't concentrate on his super important business meetings. He's too jealous of how friendly she is with everyone. Too effortlessly distracting with her blonde and sparkling green eyes. Why couldn't she tell he was desperately in the throes of love for her by his barbaric and rude treatment at every turn? Wasn't it obvious by how bi-polar he was that he was madly in love with her?

:rolls eyes:

I will give Steele credit, she gave Jolene a trauma in her past that gave her character some depth. I wasn't as keen on how she used that trauma to put an obstacle in the couple's path and start the 'Oh he must not really care!' shenanigan's that seem to be so popular in the Harlequin formula.

I was also a bit put out with how quickly, and frequently, Jolene jumped to the conclusion that despite the glowing recommendations, excellent above par work she does and her impeccable everything the only reason she would be slated fro a promotion was because Cheyene wanted to get her into bed. I wanted to shake her and be like 'obviously Jolene he just complimented your work for five minutes straight just to entice you into bed for the promotion'.

However I still liked this better then THAI SILK (by Anne Weale) because Steele handled the Russian backdrop well and made the country seem much more inviting then most books I've read. Steele paints an enchanting landscape for a bunch of Russian towns who's names I couldnt' say or spell to save my life. Except St. Nicholas' Village--I really want to visit that now.

[Tuba Özkat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Her Jessica Steele kitabını olduğu gibi bunu da of zaman geçsin diye okudum. Yine hepsinde olduğu gibi adam güçlü, zengin ve yakışıklı, kızsa onun yancısı modundaydı... Yani adam patronsa kız sekreter, adam pilotsa kız hostes, doktorsa hemşire böyle gidiyor. Yine de bayaa Steele romanı okumuşumdur. Sonunda tüm olayı özetlemesinden ve kitabın ortasında ve saçma bir olayın göbeğindeyken 'İşte o an anladı, deli gibi aşık olmuştu." cümlesi de tırlatmak için yeterli sebep :D Ama bol bol kahkaha atıyorum o kısımlarda:D

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it made me laugh?

[Canan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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