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Out of Wedlock
Could she ever trust in love again?
Ashley MacCulloch had to hide her true feelings. After all, David had failed her miserably, and her own parents had turned against her when she'd decided to continue her pregnancy alone.
She made a new life for herself and her baby in rural Nova Scotia and became accustomed to the disapproval she encountered. So she was completely taken aback by Michael Gault's reactions....
Michael condemned Ashley, not for the decisions she'd been left alone to make, but for running away from love now that someone was so obviously on her side.
Ashley MacCulloch had to hide her true feelings. After all, David had failed her miserably, and her own parents had turned against her when she'd decided to continue her pregnancy alone.
She made a new life for herself and her baby in rural Nova Scotia and became accustomed to the disapproval she encountered. So she was completely taken aback by Michael Gault's reactions....
Michael condemned Ashley, not for the decisions she'd been left alone to make, but for running away from love now that someone was so obviously on her side.
190 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1985
About the author
Sandra Field
214 books35 followersJill MacLean was born on 1941 in England, UK. In 1950, her family moved to Nova Scotia, Canada.
After receiving her Bachelor of Science with honours from Dalhousie University, she married. She worked at the Fisheries Research Board until her daughter was born. Following the birth of her son, she was employed by the pathology laboratory of Sydney City Hospital and the biology department of Mount Allison University. More recently, she completed a Masters in Theological Studies at the Atlantic School of Theology; her thesis juxtaposed Hebrew concepts of chaos in the book of Job with modern chaos theory.
When her husband joined the Armed Forces as a chaplain, she had to stop working. They moved three times in the first 18 months, the last move was to Prince Edward Island. By then her children were in school; she couldn't get a job; and at the local bridge club, she kept forgetting not to trump her partner's ace.
However, she had always loved to read, fascinated by the lure of being drawn into the other world of the story. So one day she bought a dozen Harlequin novels, read and analyzed them, then sat down and wrote one. Her first book, To Trust My Love, typed with four fingers, was published in 1974 as Sandra Field (she believes she's curiously the first Canadian to write for Harlequin). During the four years she lived in Prince Edward Island, she researched an 18th century French settlement located near present-day Brudenell, resulting in a historical book, Jean Pierre Roma, published in 1977 under her real name. She also started to write in collaboration with other Martimer writer under the pseudonym Jan MacLean. She also used to singed her novels the pseudonym of Jocelyn Haley. Her pseudonyms was an attempt to prevent the congregation from finding out what the chaplain's wife was up to in her spare time.
Before she turned 40, her life was changed, she had lost three of the most important women in her life: her mother and sister to illness, and her seventeen-year-old daughter to a car accident, and she separated from her husband in 1976. One of the lasting legacies of the grief caused by these losses has been the idea that it is impossible and undesirable to live every waking moment in the knowledge that loss can strike at any time.
She's been very fortunate for years to be able to combine a love of travel (particularly to the north - she doesn't do heat well) with her writing, by describing settings that most people will probably never visit. And there's always the challenge of making the heroine's long underwear sound romantic. Her novels has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Yugoslavian, Japanese... and sold in more than 90 countries. Her first collection of poetry, The Brevity of Red, was published in 2003. When her nine-years-old grandson, Stuart, asked him a book for him, she wrote her first Children's book and decided continued writing this type of books.
Jill now lives in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and she's lived most of her life in the Maritimes of Canada, within reach of the sea. Kayaking and canoeing, hiking and gardening, listening to music and reading are all sources of great pleasure. But best of all are good friends, some going back to high-school days, and her family. In Newfoundland, she has a beautiful daughter-in-law and the two most delightful, handsome, and intelligent grandchildren in the world (of course!).
After receiving her Bachelor of Science with honours from Dalhousie University, she married. She worked at the Fisheries Research Board until her daughter was born. Following the birth of her son, she was employed by the pathology laboratory of Sydney City Hospital and the biology department of Mount Allison University. More recently, she completed a Masters in Theological Studies at the Atlantic School of Theology; her thesis juxtaposed Hebrew concepts of chaos in the book of Job with modern chaos theory.
When her husband joined the Armed Forces as a chaplain, she had to stop working. They moved three times in the first 18 months, the last move was to Prince Edward Island. By then her children were in school; she couldn't get a job; and at the local bridge club, she kept forgetting not to trump her partner's ace.
However, she had always loved to read, fascinated by the lure of being drawn into the other world of the story. So one day she bought a dozen Harlequin novels, read and analyzed them, then sat down and wrote one. Her first book, To Trust My Love, typed with four fingers, was published in 1974 as Sandra Field (she believes she's curiously the first Canadian to write for Harlequin). During the four years she lived in Prince Edward Island, she researched an 18th century French settlement located near present-day Brudenell, resulting in a historical book, Jean Pierre Roma, published in 1977 under her real name. She also started to write in collaboration with other Martimer writer under the pseudonym Jan MacLean. She also used to singed her novels the pseudonym of Jocelyn Haley. Her pseudonyms was an attempt to prevent the congregation from finding out what the chaplain's wife was up to in her spare time.
Before she turned 40, her life was changed, she had lost three of the most important women in her life: her mother and sister to illness, and her seventeen-year-old daughter to a car accident, and she separated from her husband in 1976. One of the lasting legacies of the grief caused by these losses has been the idea that it is impossible and undesirable to live every waking moment in the knowledge that loss can strike at any time.
She's been very fortunate for years to be able to combine a love of travel (particularly to the north - she doesn't do heat well) with her writing, by describing settings that most people will probably never visit. And there's always the challenge of making the heroine's long underwear sound romantic. Her novels has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Yugoslavian, Japanese... and sold in more than 90 countries. Her first collection of poetry, The Brevity of Red, was published in 2003. When her nine-years-old grandson, Stuart, asked him a book for him, she wrote her first Children's book and decided continued writing this type of books.
Jill now lives in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and she's lived most of her life in the Maritimes of Canada, within reach of the sea. Kayaking and canoeing, hiking and gardening, listening to music and reading are all sources of great pleasure. But best of all are good friends, some going back to high-school days, and her family. In Newfoundland, she has a beautiful daughter-in-law and the two most delightful, handsome, and intelligent grandchildren in the world (of course!).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 18, 2015
RE Out of the Wedlock - Where KvdZ's Staying Close told the story of the internal aspects of unwed mumhood and the focus was on an h in a liberal town trying to decide the best option for herself and her child. Sandra Field's Out of Wedlock is externally focused, this story deals with a more conservative perception of single mumhood and I do wonder about what editor chose to publish these two books back to back. The contrast between the two is vivid and HPlandia isn't usually so obvious.
They are basically opposite sides of the coinage of a mum deciding to keep a baby with no father. They both also have the distinction of an h with very limited physical experience (HPlandia rule #1 - all virgin's get preggers on the first go,) who meet H's who actively pursue and want to play the father role.
While there are a ton of secret babies in HPlandia (so much so that these kids probably have their own social media site) - there are relatively few books with near virgin mum's who willingly had physical intimacy with a man NOT the H, and now have to deal with single mum status. (Penny Jordan does single mum's as well, but her books are pretty much always either rape victims or separated or divorced or widowed women.)
This book starts out with the H on his way to his sheep farm in rural Nova Scotia in a bad storm and the car he is driving starts acting up. The H freely admits he has no clue about cars and pulls into a local service station to get some help. He finds what appears to be a young man working but when he pulls the concealing cap off of the person, it turns out to be a very lovely young lady. The h is the mechanic that is going to fix his car.
The H winds up staying the night with the h, her grandfather and her 6mo baby girl. Apparently even HPLandia's weird quantum rules can't help the multi-universal fact that when your car breaks down in a bad storm, the mechanic is going to have to order the part from another town and so you may as well make yourself at home for awhile.
The h and H have a verbally combative relationship right from the start - I could see why from both sides. The h is VERY defensive about her single mum status and the H thinks she is just plain rude cause she ignores him a lot. The h ignores people because they snub her, so it is a vicious circle in a way. (Plus I would be pretty irked too if some unknown man ripped my cap of my head without so much as an introduction.)
Gradually the H and h become friendlier and with a ton of manipulation by the GF (who was the only one to help the h after the pregnancy,) the H is eventually able to get the h to go out with him. Then all sorts of interesting things start to happen. The H has a badly injured leg and he limps a lot and is quite self-conscious about it. The h and her GF own the service station, which the h runs and they start getting threats from a greedy business developer who wants to force them to sell. The threats are specifically targeted on the h and her married non-status and there are threats to the baby as well.
The bad guy who wants the station also warns the h about the H, he was a narcotics cop and supposedly was fired for unethical behavior. The h doesn't believe the bad guy cause he IS the bad guy, but the H doesn't talk much about himself either. It is gradually revealed that the H was a narc cop, but he was shot in the knee by drug dealers and left to die. (He wasn't fired, he was retired) He recovered but couldn't work anymore, and he had family money, so he bought a Nova Scotia sheep farm and set up a halfway house situation for young men who had no home but foster care wasn't working out for them and they had trouble with the law.
Because of his experience with helping troubled boys, he is also able to help the troubled h. There is some prejudice against her in the little town she lives in, but most people think she is a nice young lady taking care of her family - the h's realization that a lot of people aren't judging her at all is helped along when she begins teaching a troubled young man about engine repair and becomes a sort of mentor to him. The H is falling more and more in love and wants to marry her but the h is very, very wary of relationships.
The bio dad was pretty much a faithless jerk who dumped her when she wouldn't terminate the pregnancy. She did not like the physical aspects of the relationship and she thinks she is frigid as well. Plus she has the evil business guy sending a nasty bully to try and force her to sell. He physically assaults her and threatens her child. The H eventually figures out what is going on and begins to sort out that situation.
The h helps the H when she is visiting the farm and the young man she is mentoring runs away, she finally finds him in a rock cleft in a bad snow storm and she keeps him safe until the H and help arrive. She then tends the H when he re-injures his knee and helps HIM overcome his insecurity and frustration over the limitations of his injury.
The H wants more from the h, he loves her and keeps pushing her, she keeps saying no and so the H backs off. The h figures out she loves him back, but before she can throw herself into the H's arms, the evil guy and his Igor kidnap her. The H was running to the station to throw himself into HER arm's after she called and figures out what is going on.
The H and grandfather rescue the h from assault by the Igor henchman, then the H makes the evil bad guy sorry and so that part is sorted. After the drama is settled, the h corners the H and demands that he take her to bed to ensure she isn't frigid. The H happily complies and mutual ecstasy is achieved, so the h calls the GF in the middle of the night to drag him over for a wedding.
There was a LOT of bickering in this book and they both pushed each other pretty hard about their insecurities - so if continual baiting broken by passionate longing bugs you, stay away from this one. The evil guy service station suspense was fairly well done, but the real prize in this book is the h's evolution from a bitter, suspicious girl into a pretty nice person. Her evolving relationship with the young man and the H are worth the effort to read this one, and I also confess to being impressed SF did some decent research into actual engine repair and maintenance.
Overall a nice read and a very interesting contrast to the previous HP Staying Close - the way two different writers handle the same trope is a pretty good reason to give this one a go if you run across it and both books were more real world realistic than the usual HP lineup.
They are basically opposite sides of the coinage of a mum deciding to keep a baby with no father. They both also have the distinction of an h with very limited physical experience (HPlandia rule #1 - all virgin's get preggers on the first go,) who meet H's who actively pursue and want to play the father role.
While there are a ton of secret babies in HPlandia (so much so that these kids probably have their own social media site) - there are relatively few books with near virgin mum's who willingly had physical intimacy with a man NOT the H, and now have to deal with single mum status. (Penny Jordan does single mum's as well, but her books are pretty much always either rape victims or separated or divorced or widowed women.)
This book starts out with the H on his way to his sheep farm in rural Nova Scotia in a bad storm and the car he is driving starts acting up. The H freely admits he has no clue about cars and pulls into a local service station to get some help. He finds what appears to be a young man working but when he pulls the concealing cap off of the person, it turns out to be a very lovely young lady. The h is the mechanic that is going to fix his car.
The H winds up staying the night with the h, her grandfather and her 6mo baby girl. Apparently even HPLandia's weird quantum rules can't help the multi-universal fact that when your car breaks down in a bad storm, the mechanic is going to have to order the part from another town and so you may as well make yourself at home for awhile.
The h and H have a verbally combative relationship right from the start - I could see why from both sides. The h is VERY defensive about her single mum status and the H thinks she is just plain rude cause she ignores him a lot. The h ignores people because they snub her, so it is a vicious circle in a way. (Plus I would be pretty irked too if some unknown man ripped my cap of my head without so much as an introduction.)
Gradually the H and h become friendlier and with a ton of manipulation by the GF (who was the only one to help the h after the pregnancy,) the H is eventually able to get the h to go out with him. Then all sorts of interesting things start to happen. The H has a badly injured leg and he limps a lot and is quite self-conscious about it. The h and her GF own the service station, which the h runs and they start getting threats from a greedy business developer who wants to force them to sell. The threats are specifically targeted on the h and her married non-status and there are threats to the baby as well.
The bad guy who wants the station also warns the h about the H, he was a narcotics cop and supposedly was fired for unethical behavior. The h doesn't believe the bad guy cause he IS the bad guy, but the H doesn't talk much about himself either. It is gradually revealed that the H was a narc cop, but he was shot in the knee by drug dealers and left to die. (He wasn't fired, he was retired) He recovered but couldn't work anymore, and he had family money, so he bought a Nova Scotia sheep farm and set up a halfway house situation for young men who had no home but foster care wasn't working out for them and they had trouble with the law.
Because of his experience with helping troubled boys, he is also able to help the troubled h. There is some prejudice against her in the little town she lives in, but most people think she is a nice young lady taking care of her family - the h's realization that a lot of people aren't judging her at all is helped along when she begins teaching a troubled young man about engine repair and becomes a sort of mentor to him. The H is falling more and more in love and wants to marry her but the h is very, very wary of relationships.
The bio dad was pretty much a faithless jerk who dumped her when she wouldn't terminate the pregnancy. She did not like the physical aspects of the relationship and she thinks she is frigid as well. Plus she has the evil business guy sending a nasty bully to try and force her to sell. He physically assaults her and threatens her child. The H eventually figures out what is going on and begins to sort out that situation.
The h helps the H when she is visiting the farm and the young man she is mentoring runs away, she finally finds him in a rock cleft in a bad snow storm and she keeps him safe until the H and help arrive. She then tends the H when he re-injures his knee and helps HIM overcome his insecurity and frustration over the limitations of his injury.
The H wants more from the h, he loves her and keeps pushing her, she keeps saying no and so the H backs off. The h figures out she loves him back, but before she can throw herself into the H's arms, the evil guy and his Igor kidnap her. The H was running to the station to throw himself into HER arm's after she called and figures out what is going on.
The H and grandfather rescue the h from assault by the Igor henchman, then the H makes the evil bad guy sorry and so that part is sorted. After the drama is settled, the h corners the H and demands that he take her to bed to ensure she isn't frigid. The H happily complies and mutual ecstasy is achieved, so the h calls the GF in the middle of the night to drag him over for a wedding.
There was a LOT of bickering in this book and they both pushed each other pretty hard about their insecurities - so if continual baiting broken by passionate longing bugs you, stay away from this one. The evil guy service station suspense was fairly well done, but the real prize in this book is the h's evolution from a bitter, suspicious girl into a pretty nice person. Her evolving relationship with the young man and the H are worth the effort to read this one, and I also confess to being impressed SF did some decent research into actual engine repair and maintenance.
Overall a nice read and a very interesting contrast to the previous HP Staying Close - the way two different writers handle the same trope is a pretty good reason to give this one a go if you run across it and both books were more real world realistic than the usual HP lineup.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2022
It surprises me, though it should not how different vintage Harlequins are to modern day stories.
Stories written 30+ years ago while have a theme of male arrogance the you-Jane, me-Tarzan complex I call it, and he dynamics do change.
The twists and turns of the plot made almost a romantic suspense and did not shy away from violence or surprisingly a bit of steam (not the first time in a vintage HQN)
With awesome characters both main and supporting, a few snickers and cute kids; I really enjoyed this book.
It’s really too bad that the older Harlequins don’t provide Epilogues.
Stories written 30+ years ago while have a theme of male arrogance the you-Jane, me-Tarzan complex I call it, and he dynamics do change.
The twists and turns of the plot made almost a romantic suspense and did not shy away from violence or surprisingly a bit of steam (not the first time in a vintage HQN)
With awesome characters both main and supporting, a few snickers and cute kids; I really enjoyed this book.
It’s really too bad that the older Harlequins don’t provide Epilogues.
January 12, 2024
I seriously loved this one! I was so emotionally invested in Ashley's story, in her struggle as a single mother in a society that judged and shamed her, that she had a job as a mechanic as a time when women just didn't do that, for her reluctance to trust men and trust in love, and in general for being brave and honest and amazing.
I loved Sandra Field's writing, and will def be checking out her other works.
I loved Sandra Field's writing, and will def be checking out her other works.
November 9, 2023
Pretty progressive for its time, and for a book that shares a brand reputation of over-cocky “heroes” that more or less sexually assault the heroine until she submits, it’s nice to finally see a Harlequin portray an actual hero who respects the woman and doesn’t just bowl her over with (toxic) masculinity.
March 11, 2011
Now I am a BIG fan of HP but this one is BORING...No tension, nothing....
December 7, 2016
Star Rating: ★★½☆☆
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July 4, 2018Could she ever trust in love again?
Ashley MacCulloch had to hide her true feelings. After all, David had failed her miserably, and her own parents had turned against her when she'd decided to continue her pregnancy alone.
She made a new life for herself and her baby in rural Nova Scotia and became accustomed to the disapproval she encountered. So she was completely taken aback by Michael Gault's reactions....
Michael condemned Ashley, not for the decisions she'd been left alone to make, but for running away from love now that someone was so obviously on her side.
Ashley MacCulloch had to hide her true feelings. After all, David had failed her miserably, and her own parents had turned against her when she'd decided to continue her pregnancy alone.
She made a new life for herself and her baby in rural Nova Scotia and became accustomed to the disapproval she encountered. So she was completely taken aback by Michael Gault's reactions....
Michael condemned Ashley, not for the decisions she'd been left alone to make, but for running away from love now that someone was so obviously on her side.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews