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Substitute Wife
He must never guess her true feelings.
As far as Adam was concerned, their marriage was a businesslike arrangement. Both had suffered the pain of rejection, and both had vowed to avoid any future emotional ties or commitment.
"Our marriage stands a better chance of succeeding than one blinded by passion, " he had claimed, and his logic had convinced Julia.
But somewhere along the way she fell in love with him and, knowing he could never return her feelings, was forced to act out a role that contradicted her loving nature.
As far as Adam was concerned, their marriage was a businesslike arrangement. Both had suffered the pain of rejection, and both had vowed to avoid any future emotional ties or commitment.
"Our marriage stands a better chance of succeeding than one blinded by passion, " he had claimed, and his logic had convinced Julia.
But somewhere along the way she fell in love with him and, knowing he could never return her feelings, was forced to act out a role that contradicted her loving nature.
186 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1982
About the author
Rachel Lindsay
66 books64 followersRachel Lindsay is the pen name of an author who also published as Roberta Leigh, Janey Scott, and Rozella Lake. See the "Roberta Leigh" entry for full biographical information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
August 16, 2017
This story was also published under the title Second Best Wife. So I’m issuing Vintage a Second Best Wife challenge in hopes of another fine review/rant. Read if you dare if only to see just what a wacked-out moral compass this H/h had.
The premise: H is an international lawyer. Heroine has been his robot secretary for four years. The hero has been having an adulterous affair with his client’s wife for several months. The client has finally died and the wife will be free to marry the hero, who is obsessed.
The client knew what his wife was up to so his will stipulated that in order to inherit his estate she would have to stay unmarried for four years. Hero balks at this – he’s 36 and wants children and he doesn’t want to be 40 to start having them. OW offers to shack up and have illegitimate children, but the hero breaks it off.
Robot heroine finds herself engaged to a Dry Stick who is going to Canada for a promotion and will have his robot follow when he is established. Dry stick worries that Robot is too beautiful for him (she’s a smokin’ hot redhead) and wishes she could wear the veil rather than have other men look at her. Robot thinks this is kind of weird, but she has typing to do and doesn’t let it bother her.
The only time Robot shows signs of humanity is when Dry Stick sends her a “Dear John” letter from Canada. He found a Canadian Mouse to marry. Robot doesn’t turn up for work and hero feels bad for her because he just broke up with his adulteress. When he is invite to the opera and it’s assumed he’ll bring Adulteress, he decides to take the Robot instead. He wants the Adulteress to feel jealous and maybe she’ll change her mind about marrying him. The Robot shows up in a colourful dress and her hair down and the hero realizes he missed an opportunity to chase her around his desk all of these years.
One thing leads to another and the H/h marry. The hero wants kids and the Robot is programmed to obey him or something. It was all so weak. The hero does tell the heroine he won’t cheat once he’s married. It was his prerogative to be a playboy while single. He conveniently dismisses the idea of emotionally cheating by marrying the heroine while still in love with Adulteress.
They go for a month-long honeymoon in India, but the heroine doesn’t want to have sex with him yet. They move in to his house and the heroine amuses herself by renovating a breakfast room, shopping, and listening to the office gossip with her fellow secretary. Seems the Adulteress is dropping in on the hero all the time. The hero asks the Robot to throw a dinner party and invite the Adulteress so everyone will know he’s over her. Robot goes ahead with the dinner party.
At this point she kind of cares about the Adulteress, but she hasn’t been programmed to love yet. Sure, the Dry Stick is back (it didn’t work out with mouse). But now she’s see the hero is a better deal (and taller). The heroine only realizes she loves the hero when he forcibly seduces her. His jealously gets the best of him when he sees her with Dry Stick. She continues to let him in her bed, but doesn’t respond because she doesn’t want to give her feelings away.
RL totally whiffed the angst here because we get the hero’s thoughts instead of the heroine’s. He’s full of remorse for forcing her, but just can’t quit his Robot. Now he realizes he loves the heroine and finds he has a stalkerific OW on his hands. He tries to make amends by getting the heroine a cat named Princess – but this storyline goes no where – since Princess is never mentioned again – not even when she is contemplating leaving the hero.
The hero works more and more. The Robot spends more and more time with Dry Stick. The Adulteress follows the hero to Rome.
Meanwhile, heroine is pregnant. She hopes this will bring them together, but hero nobly decides to let her go so she can marry Dry Stick. He will put her happiness over his own. Heroine has a few days while he’s gone to find a new place. Heroine happens to run into H’s friend (the guy with the opera tickets) and finds out why hero is so hung up on public appearances and getting ahead. (Evil grandfather). She decides to stay. When H returns they each declare their love. Heroine is now a real woman and not a robot and will respond to the H in bed.
I’m sure the H/h’s offspring will be a Benadryl kid* - if their treatment of the cat is any indication. The bones of this story are good – but the characters are all pretty horrible and the H/h seem to spend just as much time with the OW and OM than they do with each other. I hate when married h’s go off with other men – even if it’s just dinner. No – just no. The hero had his own moral code which involved a lot of mental contortions to think adultery was okay, but he had to break it off when the OW didn't want to be made an honest woman. This is not real life, thank goodness.
*A kid who conveniently sleeps or finds another occupation while the H/h do their H/h stuff.
The premise: H is an international lawyer. Heroine has been his robot secretary for four years. The hero has been having an adulterous affair with his client’s wife for several months. The client has finally died and the wife will be free to marry the hero, who is obsessed.
The client knew what his wife was up to so his will stipulated that in order to inherit his estate she would have to stay unmarried for four years. Hero balks at this – he’s 36 and wants children and he doesn’t want to be 40 to start having them. OW offers to shack up and have illegitimate children, but the hero breaks it off.
Robot heroine finds herself engaged to a Dry Stick who is going to Canada for a promotion and will have his robot follow when he is established. Dry stick worries that Robot is too beautiful for him (she’s a smokin’ hot redhead) and wishes she could wear the veil rather than have other men look at her. Robot thinks this is kind of weird, but she has typing to do and doesn’t let it bother her.
The only time Robot shows signs of humanity is when Dry Stick sends her a “Dear John” letter from Canada. He found a Canadian Mouse to marry. Robot doesn’t turn up for work and hero feels bad for her because he just broke up with his adulteress. When he is invite to the opera and it’s assumed he’ll bring Adulteress, he decides to take the Robot instead. He wants the Adulteress to feel jealous and maybe she’ll change her mind about marrying him. The Robot shows up in a colourful dress and her hair down and the hero realizes he missed an opportunity to chase her around his desk all of these years.
One thing leads to another and the H/h marry. The hero wants kids and the Robot is programmed to obey him or something. It was all so weak. The hero does tell the heroine he won’t cheat once he’s married. It was his prerogative to be a playboy while single. He conveniently dismisses the idea of emotionally cheating by marrying the heroine while still in love with Adulteress.
They go for a month-long honeymoon in India, but the heroine doesn’t want to have sex with him yet. They move in to his house and the heroine amuses herself by renovating a breakfast room, shopping, and listening to the office gossip with her fellow secretary. Seems the Adulteress is dropping in on the hero all the time. The hero asks the Robot to throw a dinner party and invite the Adulteress so everyone will know he’s over her. Robot goes ahead with the dinner party.
At this point she kind of cares about the Adulteress, but she hasn’t been programmed to love yet. Sure, the Dry Stick is back (it didn’t work out with mouse). But now she’s see the hero is a better deal (and taller). The heroine only realizes she loves the hero when he forcibly seduces her. His jealously gets the best of him when he sees her with Dry Stick. She continues to let him in her bed, but doesn’t respond because she doesn’t want to give her feelings away.
RL totally whiffed the angst here because we get the hero’s thoughts instead of the heroine’s. He’s full of remorse for forcing her, but just can’t quit his Robot. Now he realizes he loves the heroine and finds he has a stalkerific OW on his hands. He tries to make amends by getting the heroine a cat named Princess – but this storyline goes no where – since Princess is never mentioned again – not even when she is contemplating leaving the hero.
The hero works more and more. The Robot spends more and more time with Dry Stick. The Adulteress follows the hero to Rome.
Meanwhile, heroine is pregnant. She hopes this will bring them together, but hero nobly decides to let her go so she can marry Dry Stick. He will put her happiness over his own. Heroine has a few days while he’s gone to find a new place. Heroine happens to run into H’s friend (the guy with the opera tickets) and finds out why hero is so hung up on public appearances and getting ahead. (Evil grandfather). She decides to stay. When H returns they each declare their love. Heroine is now a real woman and not a robot and will respond to the H in bed.
I’m sure the H/h’s offspring will be a Benadryl kid* - if their treatment of the cat is any indication. The bones of this story are good – but the characters are all pretty horrible and the H/h seem to spend just as much time with the OW and OM than they do with each other. I hate when married h’s go off with other men – even if it’s just dinner. No – just no. The hero had his own moral code which involved a lot of mental contortions to think adultery was okay, but he had to break it off when the OW didn't want to be made an honest woman. This is not real life, thank goodness.
*A kid who conveniently sleeps or finds another occupation while the H/h do their H/h stuff.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2018
This is yet another one of my less than stellar memories. Where does one start with this ?
Here goes:
I hated the H Adam. He was so p****y whipped by his married mistress Erica. It was so distasteful. The guy is a lawyer and he has been having an affair with this tall really skinny blonde called Erica Dukes. She was married to a really old man who is also a millionaire. Erica's the queen of gold diggers but Adam still loves the mercenary bitch. It sucks to read about a H who has no pride that he would settle for sloppy seconds knowing full well that she's gonna return to kiss and cuddle up to her sugar granddaddy. The novel opens with news that the sugar granddaddy has died so the gold digger is now gonna be free to marry the H. Somebody hand me a barf bag please...
What I hated most about Adam was the fact that he always knew how much Erica loved money but he still adored the tramp. Well, love is indeed blind - or in his case, lacking in logic and common decency. I laughed so hard when Erica basically rejected his marriage proposal because her ancient dead husband had stated in his will that she will lose her inheritance if she married before 3 years. Erica really showed Adam that ( and I am gonna put this in an economist's jargon because it seems so apt for a gold digger ) he was her "opportunity cost." Adam's pride was dented by this but unfortunately his feelings for the greedy tart didn't go away. He then comes up with a plan to marry his secretary Julia ( the heroine ) just to say "checkmate" to Erica. Whatever. I hated Julia too, so I didn't even feel sorry for her.
Julia's really stupid. She was engaged to this stuffy prig called Roy who controlled her clothing choices and how much make up she wore ( or didn't wear as was the case ). What kind of woman allows a man to dictate her wardrobe ? I should think that as long as her panty line, butt cheeks and nipples aren't showing then she's good to go. Roy was so insecure it was funny. At the start of the story Julia got dumped by Roy because he went to work in Canada and his penis happened to find itself inside some Canadian woman's vagina. I figured stuffy old Roy was probably a virgin and so he got all obsessed with his first foray into sex and dumped poor Julia.
This dumbfest continued with Adam and Julia getting married. Julia gets a make over and we have the old theme of the plain duckling syndrome where the H sees suddenly that she's a beauty. Sigh...
The marriage is platonic for the most of the novel and the MC's even go to India for a honeymoon and we are given little snippets of information about them on a little house boat in Kashmir. That part was more interesting than the non romance between Adam and Julia. When they return to England, Julia is a lady of leisure since she can no longer work as a mere secretary to her husband. Erica is still omnipresent and making trouble. Adam even has the audacity to tell Julia that she must invite the skinny witch to a dinner party. Wtf ? It seemed as if Adam spent more time trying to play his game of one upmanship with Erica; his efforts to prove that he had moved on were kinda lame because he took too long to tell Erica to get the F out of his face. I really was getting fed up of all the nice polite interaction among this sordid threesome. Seriously.
Then Roy's ass gets dumped by his lover in Canada ( probably because he had a pencil dick and sucked in bed. Or maybe the real problem was that he didn't "suck" in bed. Lol. Who knows ? More importantly, who the F cares at this point ? ). Then I think Adam forces himself on Julia. It appears to be a rape/seduction situation but I think the scene faded to black and I can't be bothered to go double check. The relationship between the MC's worsen for a while and Julia starts hanging out with Roy again because Adam still hasn't told Erica to F off. All these characters seemed more concerned with trying to one up each other. Julia realizes she's fallen in love with Adam and then the latter apparently starts to love her too. Adam's so called love only started happening around the 80% marker of the story line so that was lame as well. Erica, who had been hounding Adam, realizes that he loves Julia and she tries to interfere by being spiteful to the heroine. Then what ? Oh yeah. Adam goes ballistic with jealousy over Julia's friendship with the irritating Roy. Then blah blah blah happens and the MC's declare their love. The end. This is definitely never going to be on my "re read" list and Adam wasn't really a sexy hero in my opinion. I think Rachel Lindsay's heroes are always a little lacking in the oomph hunky alpha male department.
Before I forget, this book was published under another title as well: Substitute Wife.
Here goes:
I hated the H Adam. He was so p****y whipped by his married mistress Erica. It was so distasteful. The guy is a lawyer and he has been having an affair with this tall really skinny blonde called Erica Dukes. She was married to a really old man who is also a millionaire. Erica's the queen of gold diggers but Adam still loves the mercenary bitch. It sucks to read about a H who has no pride that he would settle for sloppy seconds knowing full well that she's gonna return to kiss and cuddle up to her sugar granddaddy. The novel opens with news that the sugar granddaddy has died so the gold digger is now gonna be free to marry the H. Somebody hand me a barf bag please...
What I hated most about Adam was the fact that he always knew how much Erica loved money but he still adored the tramp. Well, love is indeed blind - or in his case, lacking in logic and common decency. I laughed so hard when Erica basically rejected his marriage proposal because her ancient dead husband had stated in his will that she will lose her inheritance if she married before 3 years. Erica really showed Adam that ( and I am gonna put this in an economist's jargon because it seems so apt for a gold digger ) he was her "opportunity cost." Adam's pride was dented by this but unfortunately his feelings for the greedy tart didn't go away. He then comes up with a plan to marry his secretary Julia ( the heroine ) just to say "checkmate" to Erica. Whatever. I hated Julia too, so I didn't even feel sorry for her.
Julia's really stupid. She was engaged to this stuffy prig called Roy who controlled her clothing choices and how much make up she wore ( or didn't wear as was the case ). What kind of woman allows a man to dictate her wardrobe ? I should think that as long as her panty line, butt cheeks and nipples aren't showing then she's good to go. Roy was so insecure it was funny. At the start of the story Julia got dumped by Roy because he went to work in Canada and his penis happened to find itself inside some Canadian woman's vagina. I figured stuffy old Roy was probably a virgin and so he got all obsessed with his first foray into sex and dumped poor Julia.
This dumbfest continued with Adam and Julia getting married. Julia gets a make over and we have the old theme of the plain duckling syndrome where the H sees suddenly that she's a beauty. Sigh...
The marriage is platonic for the most of the novel and the MC's even go to India for a honeymoon and we are given little snippets of information about them on a little house boat in Kashmir. That part was more interesting than the non romance between Adam and Julia. When they return to England, Julia is a lady of leisure since she can no longer work as a mere secretary to her husband. Erica is still omnipresent and making trouble. Adam even has the audacity to tell Julia that she must invite the skinny witch to a dinner party. Wtf ? It seemed as if Adam spent more time trying to play his game of one upmanship with Erica; his efforts to prove that he had moved on were kinda lame because he took too long to tell Erica to get the F out of his face. I really was getting fed up of all the nice polite interaction among this sordid threesome. Seriously.
Then Roy's ass gets dumped by his lover in Canada ( probably because he had a pencil dick and sucked in bed. Or maybe the real problem was that he didn't "suck" in bed. Lol. Who knows ? More importantly, who the F cares at this point ? ). Then I think Adam forces himself on Julia. It appears to be a rape/seduction situation but I think the scene faded to black and I can't be bothered to go double check. The relationship between the MC's worsen for a while and Julia starts hanging out with Roy again because Adam still hasn't told Erica to F off. All these characters seemed more concerned with trying to one up each other. Julia realizes she's fallen in love with Adam and then the latter apparently starts to love her too. Adam's so called love only started happening around the 80% marker of the story line so that was lame as well. Erica, who had been hounding Adam, realizes that he loves Julia and she tries to interfere by being spiteful to the heroine. Then what ? Oh yeah. Adam goes ballistic with jealousy over Julia's friendship with the irritating Roy. Then blah blah blah happens and the MC's declare their love. The end. This is definitely never going to be on my "re read" list and Adam wasn't really a sexy hero in my opinion. I think Rachel Lindsay's heroes are always a little lacking in the oomph hunky alpha male department.
Before I forget, this book was published under another title as well: Substitute Wife.
July 7, 2010
Be careful what you wish for. When a person makes decisions without considering the emotional cost of those decisions, they usually backfire. Such was the case with Adam's decision to marry his secretary, Julia. He was trying to show his lover that he wasn't her whipping boy, content to continue in their affair indefinitely so she could get her inheritance as dictated by her late husband's will. Julia was dealing with her own hurt feelings after she was dumped by her fiance shortly after he took a job in Canada. She had no expectations for her marriage to Adam, and she didn't want a love match anyway. However, they both end up falling in love, and are afraid to show their feelings for each other.
This was a subtle book, with a lot of intense undercurrents. I was kind of surprised that the hero had been having an affair with a married woman. And how she was willing to live with him and even have children with him out of marriage for the time period until her husband's will allowed her to marry. This was written in the early 80s, and it is a Harlequin--so that was an eye-opener. But, the way that the author deals with these unconventional aspects is so matter-of-fact, it doesn't really come off as risque. I liked that the heroine is the more self-controlled out of the couple. The hero isn't a lit fuse, but he does let emotions dictate his behavior to a larger extent than Julia does. He truly is susceptible to his ex-lover for a significant part of this book, although he doesn't cheat on Julia. It was nice to see how he realizes that his feelings towards Julia are much more right and intense than his feelings for his sex-girlfriend were. There's a bit of his POV, but his actions towards Julia reveal when he falls in love with her, outside of his POV. Of course, Julia is oblivious, thinking that she's just a mere substitute for the woman that Adam truly wants. Her father was a womanizer who continually left her mother and made her life miserable, so she has no faith in a strong emotional attachment to a man, especially one who is dynamic and virile, like Adam. However, she falls deeply in love with him, even knowing it's the worst thing she could do. Finally, she gets the epiphany that makes her want to fight for his love. Will it be too late? Of course not. This is Harlequin, where the endings are always happy. And I'm always glad for it. Recommended to readers who enjoy vintage books.
This was a subtle book, with a lot of intense undercurrents. I was kind of surprised that the hero had been having an affair with a married woman. And how she was willing to live with him and even have children with him out of marriage for the time period until her husband's will allowed her to marry. This was written in the early 80s, and it is a Harlequin--so that was an eye-opener. But, the way that the author deals with these unconventional aspects is so matter-of-fact, it doesn't really come off as risque. I liked that the heroine is the more self-controlled out of the couple. The hero isn't a lit fuse, but he does let emotions dictate his behavior to a larger extent than Julia does. He truly is susceptible to his ex-lover for a significant part of this book, although he doesn't cheat on Julia. It was nice to see how he realizes that his feelings towards Julia are much more right and intense than his feelings for his sex-girlfriend were. There's a bit of his POV, but his actions towards Julia reveal when he falls in love with her, outside of his POV. Of course, Julia is oblivious, thinking that she's just a mere substitute for the woman that Adam truly wants. Her father was a womanizer who continually left her mother and made her life miserable, so she has no faith in a strong emotional attachment to a man, especially one who is dynamic and virile, like Adam. However, she falls deeply in love with him, even knowing it's the worst thing she could do. Finally, she gets the epiphany that makes her want to fight for his love. Will it be too late? Of course not. This is Harlequin, where the endings are always happy. And I'm always glad for it. Recommended to readers who enjoy vintage books.
October 16, 2012
This was published in 1982..under two different titles, Second Best Wife and Substitute Wife. Whichever copy you can get your hands on, I highly recommend giving this one a try. This is one of those traditional older HP's that have made category romances so popular. Yet it is also has some refreshing elements to it, that make it stand out.
Adam and Julia work together. She has been his faithful secretary for four years. Adam has been madly in love with OW, who happens to be the wife of a respected client. When said client suddenly dies, Adam proposes marriage only to be told that he must wait four years to marry her because hubby has left a "Will" stipulating wife loses everything ($3M pounds) if she marries within four years. Seems hubby wasn't so cool about their affair after all. Julia, on the other hand, has just been jilted by her fiancé and is devastated to find herself alone. Adam decides since OW thinks money is more important than him, he needs to move on with his life. He proposes to Julia...since they admire and respect each other. After all, this is more than most happy couples have to start with. Who needs love?
What happens next is a very interesting journey. You definitely get lots of Adam's POV and you see both of them committed to a marriage while still in love with someone else. It becomes a journey of realization and it is fraught with potholes and pitfalls along the way.
I actually found that Adam's POV made a tremendous difference to the story. Normally, I would have found him not worthy of hero, yet the author penned a great character. Having the story told mostly from his point of view was a different experience. I actually found myself liking him better than the heroine, who sometimes came off a little immature and selfish.
I must warn you that there is some nonconsensual marital relations in the book, that might turn some readers off.
Adam and Julia work together. She has been his faithful secretary for four years. Adam has been madly in love with OW, who happens to be the wife of a respected client. When said client suddenly dies, Adam proposes marriage only to be told that he must wait four years to marry her because hubby has left a "Will" stipulating wife loses everything ($3M pounds) if she marries within four years. Seems hubby wasn't so cool about their affair after all. Julia, on the other hand, has just been jilted by her fiancé and is devastated to find herself alone. Adam decides since OW thinks money is more important than him, he needs to move on with his life. He proposes to Julia...since they admire and respect each other. After all, this is more than most happy couples have to start with. Who needs love?
What happens next is a very interesting journey. You definitely get lots of Adam's POV and you see both of them committed to a marriage while still in love with someone else. It becomes a journey of realization and it is fraught with potholes and pitfalls along the way.
I actually found that Adam's POV made a tremendous difference to the story. Normally, I would have found him not worthy of hero, yet the author penned a great character. Having the story told mostly from his point of view was a different experience. I actually found myself liking him better than the heroine, who sometimes came off a little immature and selfish.
I must warn you that there is some nonconsensual marital relations in the book, that might turn some readers off.
January 26, 2016
35 yr old lawyer enters into a MOC with his 23 yr old secretary after the woman he loves refuses to marry him.
The book was all misunderstandings and bickering. As Danny Glover liked to say in Lethal Weapon - "I'm too old for this shit." I found BOTH H/h unlikable in their immaturity and self-absorbtion.
Rating: 2.5
Sensuality: PG
Tags: OW, OM, MOC, Older man (12 yrs), Dubious consent
The book was all misunderstandings and bickering. As Danny Glover liked to say in Lethal Weapon - "I'm too old for this shit." I found BOTH H/h unlikable in their immaturity and self-absorbtion.
Rating: 2.5
Sensuality: PG
Tags: OW, OM, MOC, Older man (12 yrs), Dubious consent
November 3, 2011
This was a good read,adored Julia-Adam,liked the way their MOC slowly blossoms into MOL(Marriage Of Love) yet the fear of rejection and their exes hovering around they keep their feeling to themselves leading to misunderstandings,Julia comes to know about Adam's childhood and she takes her chance and stays,Adam was surprised to see Julia still there but then they talk and confess their feelings and have their HEA
Recommend it
Recommend it
May 21, 2017
Slow book plus cold heroine.
January 27, 2016
I found this book terribly dry and telly not showy. It was slow and not real interesting. The heroine needed a knock upside the head. She had her mind made up and refused to change it. Not to mention her whole hesitation to sleep with him was sort of dumb. She was married to him and it's not like she didn't love him or that she found him repulsive. Hmm... I guess I didn't like it much.
January 7, 2015
The hero was a hypocrite; having a long affair with his friend and clients wife, then giving her /mistress a long speech about upholding the values of marriage...wtf! Also, you work closely with someone for 3 years and never see her as more than a 'shadow', but suddenly when her hair is down and she has mascara on you notice that she is a drop-dead beauty.
Not to mention all his thoughts contradicting his actions - come to me when you are ready to make this a real marriage - sorry I raped you, I couldn't resist, it won't happen again...but it does.
Not to mention all his thoughts contradicting his actions - come to me when you are ready to make this a real marriage - sorry I raped you, I couldn't resist, it won't happen again...but it does.
August 10, 2017
The story of two people scorned in love, entering a marriage of convenience only to find themselves in love with each other but unable to confess it. I liked how the characters were portrayed, where they become friends falling in love. I found Julia to be a very admirable heroine who refused to stand on the side lines and tolerate everything wordlessly. She is assertive enough to challenge Adam when she feels that he is wrong. This is something that most heroines in the old harlequins lack.
I liked Adam, which came as a shock because firstly he is in love with another woman and then he does something that under any other circumstance would have made me despise him. I think his POV helped me get an insight into his mind and made me want to believe that what happens is the result of the intensity of emotions they both feel which leaves them raw. I found myself actually rooting for Adam. His guilt over the cruelty of his behaviour towards Julia does redeem him a little in that aspect. I rather presume that Adam just didn’t know how else to show his love, and from his POV one can deduce as much that he wasn’t the sort to take advantage if he had seen another course of action.
Also, the author gives a very accurate description of India, especially the houseboat in Kashmir. It brought back my memories of Kashmir. A recommended book for harlequin lovers.
I liked Adam, which came as a shock because firstly he is in love with another woman and then he does something that under any other circumstance would have made me despise him. I think his POV helped me get an insight into his mind and made me want to believe that what happens is the result of the intensity of emotions they both feel which leaves them raw. I found myself actually rooting for Adam. His guilt over the cruelty of his behaviour towards Julia does redeem him a little in that aspect. I rather presume that Adam just didn’t know how else to show his love, and from his POV one can deduce as much that he wasn’t the sort to take advantage if he had seen another course of action.
Also, the author gives a very accurate description of India, especially the houseboat in Kashmir. It brought back my memories of Kashmir. A recommended book for harlequin lovers.
October 25, 2012
What I really liked about this book was how human the hero was. We're all used to the regular HP H's flaws, but this one seemed a bit more regular whilst still being prideful to the point of near destruction. Thanks Leona for the rec, I think I'm going to find more Rachel Lindsay's now.
March 20, 2015
emotional cheating
June 6, 2024
This one mostly notable for a disappearing Burmese cat called Princess (gifted from H to h then never mentioned again. I guess because this pair already had staff to be staff for it) and also for a baked potato in the microwave only taking 6 minutes. 6 minutes! Amazing new technology 😂 That aside these two were a couple of queer fishes with somewhat dodgy moral compasses. Adam, a corporate lawyer, had been in an obsessive adulterous relationship with a gold digger type whose husband cleverly stuck a clause in his will depriving her of his millions if she married within 4 years. She's fine to live over the brush but Adam's pride sees him bin her off and propose to his secretary, the mouse/Titian Goddess (she apparently scrubs up really well) Julia, herself recently jilted by Roy who's found a new love while over in Canada. The OM and OW keep popping up like a whack a mole and also offputting was the non consensual sex where she refuses to respond (fair enough) but he keeps hammering away night after night hoping for a love declaration while she still thinks he loves Erica. It wasn't a whole lot of fun tbh but she writes well.
no-thank-you
March 21, 2023Did Not Read. Refuse to Read. Not My Cuppa. ("Hero" had an affair with his client's wife.) If a man (or woman) has no problem having an affair with a married woman (or man), but then refuses to marry that person when their spouse dies because they don't want to wait years for them (a stupid will stated the widow had to stay unmarried for several years before she could marry again, but the "hero" of the book didn't want to wait to have kids, so he chose to marry the secretary "heroine" instead), doesn't it figure that somewhere along the way, that person who cheated might cheat again? This was such a stupid storyline. Definitely not someone I'd place in the role of either a "hero" or "heroine" of a story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2012
I enjoyed this one fairly well, though I never love plot lines that have the hero thinking he's in love with another woman (at least here the hero realized reasonably early on that he wasn't in love with the OW). I also wish the heroine had enjoyed at least some of the sex with the hero -- of course the book implies that she was purposefully holding back, but that means we never get to hear about any mutually enjoyable sex between them. Overall though, an angsty read with a satisfying conclusion.
August 1, 2026
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
I’ve recently read several Rachel Lindsay books and enjoyed them all, so Second Best Wife was a major disappointment. This is the first one I found boring and frustrating. The tension fizzled out badly in the second half, the romance didn’t develop emotionally in the right way, and the characters became increasingly unlikable. Julia, in particular, suddenly became difficult to sympathise with near the end. I skimmed much of the latter half, and it never improved for me.
Lindsay writes well, and plenty happens, so the book shouldn’t be boring in theory. Perhaps it simply clashed with my tastes and I took against it.
The book follows 24-year-old Julia and Adam, a successful lawyer. Julia is Adam’s secretary, and both are involved with other people.
Adam is having an affair with Erica, a beautiful, charming woman married to a much older, extremely wealthy client of his. The marriage is effectively over, and Erica’s husband knows she has lovers and appears to accept it. Adam is besotted with Erica because she blows hot and cold, keeping him fascinated and physically desperate for her.
Julia is engaged to Roy. She seems more passionately interested in him than he is in her, although he is jealous of her beauty and other men noticing her. Julia is naturally beautiful, with red hair, but hides it with plain clothes and no makeup to avoid upsetting him.
Her parents had a troubled marriage. Her father repeatedly cheated, and her mother always took him back. Julia therefore wants a steady, faithful husband. Roy seems safe and dependable and insists on no sex before marriage. Whenever Julia tries to become physically closer, he withdraws and says they should wait.
I initially found the setup intriguing, especially Adam’s devotion to an unsuitable woman. Julia knows about the affair, as does most of Adam’s social circle. She thinks Erica is cold and self-serving and suspects Adam will be disappointed, but she doesn’t care much because she sees him only as her boss and believes herself in love with Roy.
However, her feelings for Roy never seem as deep as Adam’s for Erica. Adam and Erica have a fully consummated relationship, whereas Julia’s engagement feels emotionally muted. Julia thinks she loves Roy, but it never feels especially convincing.
At the start, 2 things happen. Erica’s husband dies, and Adam immediately rushes to her side. However, the husband has left Erica his £3 million estate—equivalent to perhaps £50 mil today—only if she remains unmarried for 4 years.
Despite apparently accepting her lovers while alive, he has chosen to control her after death. Adam is furious when Erica decides she wants the inheritance and asks him to wait.
Adam doesn’t want the dead husband retaining power over them. He says he can support Erica very easily even if he's not as rich, and doesn’t want her waiting around for another man’s money. He’s already in his mid-30s and doesn’t want to be nearly 40 before having children.
Erica suggests having children before marriage. This is a major concession for her because she cares about social respectability. She says she loves him, thinks the money would benefit them and asks him to wait.
Adam responds with an angry lecture about his personal moral and ethical beliefs. Marriage is a fundamental pillar of society etc and reflects wider values etc, I don't want illegitimate kids etc.
This set the wrong tone for me as it seemed like a tantrum about his power over her and his ego. The story treats Erica as a cold, money-grubbing woman merely because she wants financial independence. It reflects the era’s idea that a woman should depend on her husband and becomes morally suspect once she has her own choices.
Adam insists Erica is choosing money over love, but I didn’t find it that simple. She would be surrendering a vast fortune and her independence to rely upon a known ladies’ man. How can she be certain she’ll always be able to depend on him?
Erica would give up everything for Adam, while he sacrifices nothing for her. Yet he condemns her for wanting money that is legally hers after years married to the old man.
Adam then declares that if Erica won’t marry him, he’ll marry someone else. Partly, he knows she can twist him around her finger whenever they’re physically close, so he decides that marrying another woman is the only way to break her hold over him.
I thought his thinking was worse than hers. He calls Erica a gold digger for wanting her inheritance, then plans to marry another woman out of spite and trap that woman in a loveless marriage. His decision is entirely about ego and what people will think of him.
This left a bad taste in my mouth and made me doubt I would ever like him.
Meanwhile, the other inciting incident at the start is the Julia's Roy is transferred to Canada by his job. Instead of passionately asking Julia to come with him, he says he needs time to settle into his job and become accustomed to his boss before they marry. Julia is disappointed because she wants him to say he loves her, will miss her and needs her there as soon as possible.
Shortly after arriving, Roy announces that he has met someone else, loves her and intends to marry her. Julia is devastated and betrayed.
Adam and Julia have therefore been abandoned at roughly the same time.
Adam has never viewed Julia as anything but his secretary. However, after threatening to marry someone else if Erica refuses him, he feels obliged to follow through.
A client invites him to the theatre and asks whether he’s bringing Erica. Adam wants to spite her but has given up his former girlfriends and can’t find another date at short notice. Office gossip has told him that Julia was dumped, so he decides they’re in the same position and offers her a night out.
Julia agrees. She wears flattering clothes, makeup and styles her hair, revealing the beauty she usually hides. Adam is pleasantly shocked, although he remains in love with Erica. He is simply pleased to take a beautiful woman out where Erica may hear about it.
Then the conditions of Erica’s inheritance reach the newspapers. Adam fears public humiliation because everyone will know Erica rejected him for her dead husband’s money.
He decides to marry Julia and claim that they’ve been having a secret affair. He can say he used Erica to conceal the relationship, but now he and Julia are marrying for love.
Adam proposes a practical marriage. They’ve both been rejected, both want children eventually, and could build a satisfactory life without the destructive complications of love.
Julia initially refuses but is still furious and hurt over Roy. Eventually, she talks herself into accepting.
At this point, Adam began growing on me slightly. He had seemed controlling and misogynistic, but he was also wounded, vulnerable and humiliated. He genuinely loved Erica and had been hurt. Julia also had my sympathy because Roy had discarded her, and she didn’t initially seem like a doormat.
Unfortunately, the book went downhill once they married.
The story resumes after several weeks of honeymooning in India. Adam apparently tried to consummate the marriage on their wedding night, but Julia reacted like a frightened, prudish virgin, so he respected her refusal. Before marrying, they had discussed waiting perhaps 3 months before beginning a real sexual relationship, which means he had already tried to move things forward.
They settle into a form of friendship. Adam works long hours, while Julia has little to occupy her in the house. He makes an effort to come home for dinner, and they develop some companionship.
Because we sometimes get Adam’s perspective, we know he remains obsessed with Erica. She constantly occupies his thoughts. He recognises that Julia is beautiful but repeatedly thinks he would still choose Erica.
Adam treats Julia well, but Julia knows he expects a real marriage soon. She feels time running out because she doesn’t want sex without love. To her, it would be empty.
Adam asks her to hold a dinner party and invite Erica because excluding her would look conspicuous. Julia is displeased. At the party, Erica corners Adam privately, and Julia must watch her husband disappear with his former lover.
After the party, Adam tries to kiss Julia. The thought of him having been alone with Erica makes Julia turn cold.
A major undercurrent of the marriage at first is Adam wanting to push things forward to a "real marriage" while arrogantly assuming it would be convenient if Julia fell in love with him. He has no intention of loving her, but her love would make the marriage easier for him to manage. This arrogance promised some delicious angst.
SPOILERS
Instead, they maintain an incresingly uneasy friendship.
Several weeks or months into the marriage, Julia unexpectedly meets Roy, who has returned from Canada. She is already unhappy because Adam and Erica have increasingly occupied her thoughts. Adam has attended "business" dinners with Erica, and Julia resents sitting at home as the dutiful wife while he goes out.
Adam has gone to another late dinner, although he assures Julia it isn’t with Erica. Feeling resentful, Julia goes out and encounters Roy.
Roy invites her to dinner. He regrets ending their engagement because both the Canadian job and his new fiancée failed. His employers weren’t impressed with him, nor was the other woman. Now he tells Julia how wonderful she looks and claims losing her was his greatest mistake. He would take her back immediately if her marriage were unhappy.
Julia insists her marriage is happy, although only because she and Adam agreed to present it that way.
She returns home late and finds Adam furious. He came back hours earlier with a client he hoped to introduce to his wife, only to discover she was gone. He has spent hours wondering where she was and is clearly jealous.
Their argument leads Adam to break his promise not to pressure her sexually. He forces himself on her insistently but "gently". As he kisses her, Julia has the revelation she has fallen in love with him and is horrfied at the power thia gives him over her, and immediately resolves to never let her love show. She submits to his attentions but lies beneath him like a passive cold doll and lets it happen.
The next morning, Adam is appalled by his behaviour. He realises he has fallen in love with her and believes she will hate him for what he did.
This is where the story collapsed for me.
All meaningful conflict disappears because both are now in love but refuse to communicate. Adam thinks Julia won’t believe he suddenly loves her after repeatedly declaring his love for Erica. Julia fears he will exploit her feelings because he already holds most of the power.
In reality, Julia’s anger after being forced would be understandable. However, because the story shifts into Adam’s viewpoint again, her behaviour in the aftermath comes across as spiteful, petulant and deliberately cruel.
He apologises, confesses his love. She disbelieves him, makes bitchy remarks and becomes difficult to sympathise with as a character, even though her situation deserves sympathy.
Julia had already risked appearing cold at the beginning because of her unconvincing engagement to Roy and complete indifference towards Adam. Now she becomes a cold, game-playing, sulky liar. Partially made worse because the author never gives her any personality or hobbies or passions of her own to display worthiness.
Going forward, Adam’s only (stupid) idea is to gently seduce her, hoping physical closeness will awaken her feelings. Julia enjoys it but deliberately lies motionless and refuses to show any response. I don't usually mind this trope if the heroine is sympathetic enough, but Julia had become unlikable.
Her passive resistance began to resemble a martyr complex. She should either tell him why she doesn’t want this or confront the situation directly. Instead, she participates while silently punishing both of them. I couldn’t admire the way she chose to behave. Also, body betrayal would have created more sympathy for her here because of the usual shame and regret in the aftermath, but instead she seemed like an icicle.
Erica then begins turning up at Adam’s office and tries to persuade him to manage her husband’s estate, so he sometimes has legitimate reasons to see her. A former colleague and friend of Julia’s also enjoys gossip and stirring trouble. Julia repeatedly invites this woman to the house despite knowing she’s jealous and deliberately feeds her suspicions about Adam and Erica.
Whenever Adam travels for business and Erica arranges to visit the same place, Julia assumes they’re meeting. She retaliates by using Roy.
Their first meeting was accidental, but afterwards Julia deliberately phones Roy, invites him to Adam’s house and goes dancing and dining with him. Roy clearly still wants her, while she feels nothing for him. She uses him simply to soothe her pride and provoke Adam.
This made her look malicious, spoiled and spiteful.
Adam gradually realises that taking Julia to bed isn’t bringing them closer. Nothing he tries seems to awaken any feeling in her, so he eventually withdraws emotionally. Julia responds by continuing to see Roy because she’s bored and resentful.
By this point, all the characters looked bad.
The book then meanders into a pregnancy plot. Adam gives up and decides to spend time in America. Julia encounters Erica, but none of these developments creates much drama.
Adam actually told Julia after their first night together that he was sorry and had acted that way because he’d fallen in love with her. Julia refused to believe him.
He no longer knows what else to try, so he distances himself. When he finally decides to tell her everything, he sees her with Roy and concludes that Roy is the man she truly wants. He considers letting her go because he thinks it may be the only way to make her happy.
Julia believes Adam is waiting for Erica’s 4 years to end and will eventually return to her. She even suspects he wants Erica now and accepts that their marriage may be over.
When Julia discovers she’s pregnant, she plans to buy an expensive country cottage—with Adam paying for it—and raise the baby there alone. Once again, she sinks into self-pity instead of addressing the situation honestly.
The resolution comes when Julia encounters Erica. Erica bitterly says she offered to surrender the inheritance if Adam would take her back, but he rejected her. She assumes Julia must be delighted.
Julia finally wonders why Adam refused Erica if he doesn’t love his wife. She confronts him, they talk, and discover that they love each other.
The entire second half was a mess for me. It replaced genuine romantic conflict with prolonged miscommunication, manipulation and self-pity. Nobody emerged looking admirable, and Julia’s bad behaviour was repeatedly framed through her own suffering rather than being meaningfully challenged.
I found it hard to finish and eventually skimmed. The ending didn’t reward the effort.
I could easily have skipped this book. I’ll still read more Rachel Lindsay because I loved nearly all the other 3 or 4 books of hers I’ve recently tried. However, I now know that if another one starts going badly, I should probably abandon it rather than hoping it will recover.
Second Best Wife gets 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. It’s competently written and contains plenty of incident, but its initial promise dissolved into an emotionally unsatisfying romance populated by increasingly unlikable people.
I’ve recently read several Rachel Lindsay books and enjoyed them all, so Second Best Wife was a major disappointment. This is the first one I found boring and frustrating. The tension fizzled out badly in the second half, the romance didn’t develop emotionally in the right way, and the characters became increasingly unlikable. Julia, in particular, suddenly became difficult to sympathise with near the end. I skimmed much of the latter half, and it never improved for me.
Lindsay writes well, and plenty happens, so the book shouldn’t be boring in theory. Perhaps it simply clashed with my tastes and I took against it.
The book follows 24-year-old Julia and Adam, a successful lawyer. Julia is Adam’s secretary, and both are involved with other people.
Adam is having an affair with Erica, a beautiful, charming woman married to a much older, extremely wealthy client of his. The marriage is effectively over, and Erica’s husband knows she has lovers and appears to accept it. Adam is besotted with Erica because she blows hot and cold, keeping him fascinated and physically desperate for her.
Julia is engaged to Roy. She seems more passionately interested in him than he is in her, although he is jealous of her beauty and other men noticing her. Julia is naturally beautiful, with red hair, but hides it with plain clothes and no makeup to avoid upsetting him.
Her parents had a troubled marriage. Her father repeatedly cheated, and her mother always took him back. Julia therefore wants a steady, faithful husband. Roy seems safe and dependable and insists on no sex before marriage. Whenever Julia tries to become physically closer, he withdraws and says they should wait.
I initially found the setup intriguing, especially Adam’s devotion to an unsuitable woman. Julia knows about the affair, as does most of Adam’s social circle. She thinks Erica is cold and self-serving and suspects Adam will be disappointed, but she doesn’t care much because she sees him only as her boss and believes herself in love with Roy.
However, her feelings for Roy never seem as deep as Adam’s for Erica. Adam and Erica have a fully consummated relationship, whereas Julia’s engagement feels emotionally muted. Julia thinks she loves Roy, but it never feels especially convincing.
At the start, 2 things happen. Erica’s husband dies, and Adam immediately rushes to her side. However, the husband has left Erica his £3 million estate—equivalent to perhaps £50 mil today—only if she remains unmarried for 4 years.
Despite apparently accepting her lovers while alive, he has chosen to control her after death. Adam is furious when Erica decides she wants the inheritance and asks him to wait.
Adam doesn’t want the dead husband retaining power over them. He says he can support Erica very easily even if he's not as rich, and doesn’t want her waiting around for another man’s money. He’s already in his mid-30s and doesn’t want to be nearly 40 before having children.
Erica suggests having children before marriage. This is a major concession for her because she cares about social respectability. She says she loves him, thinks the money would benefit them and asks him to wait.
Adam responds with an angry lecture about his personal moral and ethical beliefs. Marriage is a fundamental pillar of society etc and reflects wider values etc, I don't want illegitimate kids etc.
This set the wrong tone for me as it seemed like a tantrum about his power over her and his ego. The story treats Erica as a cold, money-grubbing woman merely because she wants financial independence. It reflects the era’s idea that a woman should depend on her husband and becomes morally suspect once she has her own choices.
Adam insists Erica is choosing money over love, but I didn’t find it that simple. She would be surrendering a vast fortune and her independence to rely upon a known ladies’ man. How can she be certain she’ll always be able to depend on him?
Erica would give up everything for Adam, while he sacrifices nothing for her. Yet he condemns her for wanting money that is legally hers after years married to the old man.
Adam then declares that if Erica won’t marry him, he’ll marry someone else. Partly, he knows she can twist him around her finger whenever they’re physically close, so he decides that marrying another woman is the only way to break her hold over him.
I thought his thinking was worse than hers. He calls Erica a gold digger for wanting her inheritance, then plans to marry another woman out of spite and trap that woman in a loveless marriage. His decision is entirely about ego and what people will think of him.
This left a bad taste in my mouth and made me doubt I would ever like him.
Meanwhile, the other inciting incident at the start is the Julia's Roy is transferred to Canada by his job. Instead of passionately asking Julia to come with him, he says he needs time to settle into his job and become accustomed to his boss before they marry. Julia is disappointed because she wants him to say he loves her, will miss her and needs her there as soon as possible.
Shortly after arriving, Roy announces that he has met someone else, loves her and intends to marry her. Julia is devastated and betrayed.
Adam and Julia have therefore been abandoned at roughly the same time.
Adam has never viewed Julia as anything but his secretary. However, after threatening to marry someone else if Erica refuses him, he feels obliged to follow through.
A client invites him to the theatre and asks whether he’s bringing Erica. Adam wants to spite her but has given up his former girlfriends and can’t find another date at short notice. Office gossip has told him that Julia was dumped, so he decides they’re in the same position and offers her a night out.
Julia agrees. She wears flattering clothes, makeup and styles her hair, revealing the beauty she usually hides. Adam is pleasantly shocked, although he remains in love with Erica. He is simply pleased to take a beautiful woman out where Erica may hear about it.
Then the conditions of Erica’s inheritance reach the newspapers. Adam fears public humiliation because everyone will know Erica rejected him for her dead husband’s money.
He decides to marry Julia and claim that they’ve been having a secret affair. He can say he used Erica to conceal the relationship, but now he and Julia are marrying for love.
Adam proposes a practical marriage. They’ve both been rejected, both want children eventually, and could build a satisfactory life without the destructive complications of love.
Julia initially refuses but is still furious and hurt over Roy. Eventually, she talks herself into accepting.
At this point, Adam began growing on me slightly. He had seemed controlling and misogynistic, but he was also wounded, vulnerable and humiliated. He genuinely loved Erica and had been hurt. Julia also had my sympathy because Roy had discarded her, and she didn’t initially seem like a doormat.
Unfortunately, the book went downhill once they married.
The story resumes after several weeks of honeymooning in India. Adam apparently tried to consummate the marriage on their wedding night, but Julia reacted like a frightened, prudish virgin, so he respected her refusal. Before marrying, they had discussed waiting perhaps 3 months before beginning a real sexual relationship, which means he had already tried to move things forward.
They settle into a form of friendship. Adam works long hours, while Julia has little to occupy her in the house. He makes an effort to come home for dinner, and they develop some companionship.
Because we sometimes get Adam’s perspective, we know he remains obsessed with Erica. She constantly occupies his thoughts. He recognises that Julia is beautiful but repeatedly thinks he would still choose Erica.
Adam treats Julia well, but Julia knows he expects a real marriage soon. She feels time running out because she doesn’t want sex without love. To her, it would be empty.
Adam asks her to hold a dinner party and invite Erica because excluding her would look conspicuous. Julia is displeased. At the party, Erica corners Adam privately, and Julia must watch her husband disappear with his former lover.
After the party, Adam tries to kiss Julia. The thought of him having been alone with Erica makes Julia turn cold.
A major undercurrent of the marriage at first is Adam wanting to push things forward to a "real marriage" while arrogantly assuming it would be convenient if Julia fell in love with him. He has no intention of loving her, but her love would make the marriage easier for him to manage. This arrogance promised some delicious angst.
SPOILERS
Instead, they maintain an incresingly uneasy friendship.
Several weeks or months into the marriage, Julia unexpectedly meets Roy, who has returned from Canada. She is already unhappy because Adam and Erica have increasingly occupied her thoughts. Adam has attended "business" dinners with Erica, and Julia resents sitting at home as the dutiful wife while he goes out.
Adam has gone to another late dinner, although he assures Julia it isn’t with Erica. Feeling resentful, Julia goes out and encounters Roy.
Roy invites her to dinner. He regrets ending their engagement because both the Canadian job and his new fiancée failed. His employers weren’t impressed with him, nor was the other woman. Now he tells Julia how wonderful she looks and claims losing her was his greatest mistake. He would take her back immediately if her marriage were unhappy.
Julia insists her marriage is happy, although only because she and Adam agreed to present it that way.
She returns home late and finds Adam furious. He came back hours earlier with a client he hoped to introduce to his wife, only to discover she was gone. He has spent hours wondering where she was and is clearly jealous.
Their argument leads Adam to break his promise not to pressure her sexually. He forces himself on her insistently but "gently". As he kisses her, Julia has the revelation she has fallen in love with him and is horrfied at the power thia gives him over her, and immediately resolves to never let her love show. She submits to his attentions but lies beneath him like a passive cold doll and lets it happen.
The next morning, Adam is appalled by his behaviour. He realises he has fallen in love with her and believes she will hate him for what he did.
This is where the story collapsed for me.
All meaningful conflict disappears because both are now in love but refuse to communicate. Adam thinks Julia won’t believe he suddenly loves her after repeatedly declaring his love for Erica. Julia fears he will exploit her feelings because he already holds most of the power.
In reality, Julia’s anger after being forced would be understandable. However, because the story shifts into Adam’s viewpoint again, her behaviour in the aftermath comes across as spiteful, petulant and deliberately cruel.
He apologises, confesses his love. She disbelieves him, makes bitchy remarks and becomes difficult to sympathise with as a character, even though her situation deserves sympathy.
Julia had already risked appearing cold at the beginning because of her unconvincing engagement to Roy and complete indifference towards Adam. Now she becomes a cold, game-playing, sulky liar. Partially made worse because the author never gives her any personality or hobbies or passions of her own to display worthiness.
Going forward, Adam’s only (stupid) idea is to gently seduce her, hoping physical closeness will awaken her feelings. Julia enjoys it but deliberately lies motionless and refuses to show any response. I don't usually mind this trope if the heroine is sympathetic enough, but Julia had become unlikable.
Her passive resistance began to resemble a martyr complex. She should either tell him why she doesn’t want this or confront the situation directly. Instead, she participates while silently punishing both of them. I couldn’t admire the way she chose to behave. Also, body betrayal would have created more sympathy for her here because of the usual shame and regret in the aftermath, but instead she seemed like an icicle.
Erica then begins turning up at Adam’s office and tries to persuade him to manage her husband’s estate, so he sometimes has legitimate reasons to see her. A former colleague and friend of Julia’s also enjoys gossip and stirring trouble. Julia repeatedly invites this woman to the house despite knowing she’s jealous and deliberately feeds her suspicions about Adam and Erica.
Whenever Adam travels for business and Erica arranges to visit the same place, Julia assumes they’re meeting. She retaliates by using Roy.
Their first meeting was accidental, but afterwards Julia deliberately phones Roy, invites him to Adam’s house and goes dancing and dining with him. Roy clearly still wants her, while she feels nothing for him. She uses him simply to soothe her pride and provoke Adam.
This made her look malicious, spoiled and spiteful.
Adam gradually realises that taking Julia to bed isn’t bringing them closer. Nothing he tries seems to awaken any feeling in her, so he eventually withdraws emotionally. Julia responds by continuing to see Roy because she’s bored and resentful.
By this point, all the characters looked bad.
The book then meanders into a pregnancy plot. Adam gives up and decides to spend time in America. Julia encounters Erica, but none of these developments creates much drama.
Adam actually told Julia after their first night together that he was sorry and had acted that way because he’d fallen in love with her. Julia refused to believe him.
He no longer knows what else to try, so he distances himself. When he finally decides to tell her everything, he sees her with Roy and concludes that Roy is the man she truly wants. He considers letting her go because he thinks it may be the only way to make her happy.
Julia believes Adam is waiting for Erica’s 4 years to end and will eventually return to her. She even suspects he wants Erica now and accepts that their marriage may be over.
When Julia discovers she’s pregnant, she plans to buy an expensive country cottage—with Adam paying for it—and raise the baby there alone. Once again, she sinks into self-pity instead of addressing the situation honestly.
The resolution comes when Julia encounters Erica. Erica bitterly says she offered to surrender the inheritance if Adam would take her back, but he rejected her. She assumes Julia must be delighted.
Julia finally wonders why Adam refused Erica if he doesn’t love his wife. She confronts him, they talk, and discover that they love each other.
The entire second half was a mess for me. It replaced genuine romantic conflict with prolonged miscommunication, manipulation and self-pity. Nobody emerged looking admirable, and Julia’s bad behaviour was repeatedly framed through her own suffering rather than being meaningfully challenged.
I found it hard to finish and eventually skimmed. The ending didn’t reward the effort.
I could easily have skipped this book. I’ll still read more Rachel Lindsay because I loved nearly all the other 3 or 4 books of hers I’ve recently tried. However, I now know that if another one starts going badly, I should probably abandon it rather than hoping it will recover.
Second Best Wife gets 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. It’s competently written and contains plenty of incident, but its initial promise dissolved into an emotionally unsatisfying romance populated by increasingly unlikable people.
August 15, 2023
3.00 Stars
This H is the carbon copy of the H in Temporary Wife by Roberta Leigh aka Rachel Lindsay and the book also are similar to Secretary Wife also by Rachel Lindsay. There is no surprise that the hero is a week wimp twisted by the OW's little finger like all her Hs are. They always have love/obsession for the gold-digger sluts of the OWs no matter what, and they always knew that the OWs are greedy and evil but still love/obsess them. And the tepid love that they felt for the heroines is always almost in the end of the book, at least in this book he found out that he loved the h about 2/3 of the book almost at the same time that the h found out, but I don't believe in his thoughts that what he felt for the h is more than he felt for the OW, past books are a prime example, that he found out after raped/forced, suddenly that what he felt for the h makes what he felt for the OW was paltry annd shallow is not credible after the way he was obsessed for the OW and loved her even with her evil ways and a heart of gold-digger. If the h wasn't really a good beautiful girl with a heart of gold he wouldn't want her besides taking her body while he loved the OW with all her flaws, the truly shows that the Hs loved the OWs much more. That took him more than 4 years to see what kind of girl she is after the makeover and after that the OW didn't want to get married to him. If she married him he would continue worshipping and loving the cow until the very end, the qualities that the h have he didn't matter to him before instead he much preferred an adulterous slut gold-digger. To me as a reader, that the Hs always loves the OWs regards their flaws makes them weak and shallow and they deserved the OWs. The author's heroines are also second best or worst. The only positive thing in her books are that some of her heroines are strong but I also thought that RL always hate her hs but love her OW, if she could write the OW as hs I bet she would. The power/hold that the OWs have over the Hs are always strong and powerful. RL's Hs besides being a wimp and weak, even one of them was a alpha ( Business Affair) was weak and wimp towards the OW for whom he lusts and have deep feelings and he is an hypocrite in all the book when he also pursued the h at the same time because he loved the h (one of the few books of RL that the H had earlier feelings for the h), in that one, what kind of shallow and hypocrite love is that if in 99% of the book he was sleeping with the OW and was marrying her until he found out that the she was a cheater, even then he didn't believe the OM and the punched the OM because of the OW and not because the h, Hello? This just shows that they only truly care about the OW in Rachel Lindsay/Roberta Leigh's universe.
That he started to see the h as attractive after the makeover, just shows that he is blind and shallow, even the OM knew she was hot, hence why he is always controlling what she wears. After he raped/forced the h, even if he thought he loved the h, he himself said he felt that he was having sex with a doll, I recuse the use to call love. How can I believe that he truly desired her after this, when RL's heroes are easily aroused by the memory or by the scent of the OWs, they don't have even one tenth of desire/attraction for the hs and certainly they don't get aroused just by the memory and scent of the hs. He acknowledge there wasn't a shared ecstsay, and tenderness after the passion, only his only release and passion spent, that shows that what he had with the OW is much more intense with ecstasy and tenderness and love.
The only difference in these story, is that the OW accepted to have children, illegitimate children, most of the OWs won't have children because they will alter their figure.
This H is the carbon copy of the H in Temporary Wife by Roberta Leigh aka Rachel Lindsay and the book also are similar to Secretary Wife also by Rachel Lindsay. There is no surprise that the hero is a week wimp twisted by the OW's little finger like all her Hs are. They always have love/obsession for the gold-digger sluts of the OWs no matter what, and they always knew that the OWs are greedy and evil but still love/obsess them. And the tepid love that they felt for the heroines is always almost in the end of the book, at least in this book he found out that he loved the h about 2/3 of the book almost at the same time that the h found out, but I don't believe in his thoughts that what he felt for the h is more than he felt for the OW, past books are a prime example, that he found out after raped/forced, suddenly that what he felt for the h makes what he felt for the OW was paltry annd shallow is not credible after the way he was obsessed for the OW and loved her even with her evil ways and a heart of gold-digger. If the h wasn't really a good beautiful girl with a heart of gold he wouldn't want her besides taking her body while he loved the OW with all her flaws, the truly shows that the Hs loved the OWs much more. That took him more than 4 years to see what kind of girl she is after the makeover and after that the OW didn't want to get married to him. If she married him he would continue worshipping and loving the cow until the very end, the qualities that the h have he didn't matter to him before instead he much preferred an adulterous slut gold-digger. To me as a reader, that the Hs always loves the OWs regards their flaws makes them weak and shallow and they deserved the OWs. The author's heroines are also second best or worst. The only positive thing in her books are that some of her heroines are strong but I also thought that RL always hate her hs but love her OW, if she could write the OW as hs I bet she would. The power/hold that the OWs have over the Hs are always strong and powerful. RL's Hs besides being a wimp and weak, even one of them was a alpha ( Business Affair) was weak and wimp towards the OW for whom he lusts and have deep feelings and he is an hypocrite in all the book when he also pursued the h at the same time because he loved the h (one of the few books of RL that the H had earlier feelings for the h), in that one, what kind of shallow and hypocrite love is that if in 99% of the book he was sleeping with the OW and was marrying her until he found out that the she was a cheater, even then he didn't believe the OM and the punched the OM because of the OW and not because the h, Hello? This just shows that they only truly care about the OW in Rachel Lindsay/Roberta Leigh's universe.
That he started to see the h as attractive after the makeover, just shows that he is blind and shallow, even the OM knew she was hot, hence why he is always controlling what she wears. After he raped/forced the h, even if he thought he loved the h, he himself said he felt that he was having sex with a doll, I recuse the use to call love. How can I believe that he truly desired her after this, when RL's heroes are easily aroused by the memory or by the scent of the OWs, they don't have even one tenth of desire/attraction for the hs and certainly they don't get aroused just by the memory and scent of the hs. He acknowledge there wasn't a shared ecstsay, and tenderness after the passion, only his only release and passion spent, that shows that what he had with the OW is much more intense with ecstasy and tenderness and love.
The only difference in these story, is that the OW accepted to have children, illegitimate children, most of the OWs won't have children because they will alter their figure.
November 22, 2023
This is another version of the author's much better Temporary Wife written under her other nom de plume Roberta Leigh. A man is hopelessly in love with a married golddigging hall of famer and waiting patiently for her decrepit old husband to die. But SUPRISE, SURPRISE! Once he croaks, it turns out that his will forbids his merry widow to marry for at least 4 years after his demise. Nice joke from beyond the grave for the cuckold husband, glad he had the last laugh. The merry widow doesn't want to give up her millions, so she suggests they continue to shag without strings but the petty hero wanted marriage so he gets into a snit and decides to propose to his mousy secretary as revenge.
Of course the mousy secretary, the heroine of the piece, is actually a luscious redhead bombshell who was simply hiding all her spice under dull clothes and a tight bun, as many heroines of the genre and the era did, to great hilarity. It isn't long before her husband of convenience salivates over his wife and forgets the merry widow. Unfortunately, like many of the heroes of the era, he decides to force himself on his wife (who is Seekretly in love with him but thinks he is just using her hot bod as a stand in for the merry widow) hoping with great logic that his magic penis will make her fall in love with him too. Many Great Big Terrible Misunderstandings later, some of them engineered by the merry widow, some by a limp lettuce leaf OM, the husband and wife finally confess their true feelings and to put a cherry on top, a baby is soon to complete their happiness.
It was a pretty good story, led by a heroine with backbone, very well-written world building and some fun dialogues. However, I did not rate it as high as Temporary Wife which was the superior book because of its wry humor and the fact that the hero finally told off the OW on page in a rather humiliating scene and groveled to his wife a lot whereas here the hero was too wishy washy with the OW and too easily gave up on his wife. The dual POVs did not help matters because the scenes where he is physically comparing his wife and his ex-mistress were truly barftastic. I am happy that he came to his senses at the end and did suffer a lot for his unrequited love, and I am happy that the heroine is happy. But read Temporary Wife, it is the better version of this story :)
Of course the mousy secretary, the heroine of the piece, is actually a luscious redhead bombshell who was simply hiding all her spice under dull clothes and a tight bun, as many heroines of the genre and the era did, to great hilarity. It isn't long before her husband of convenience salivates over his wife and forgets the merry widow. Unfortunately, like many of the heroes of the era, he decides to force himself on his wife (who is Seekretly in love with him but thinks he is just using her hot bod as a stand in for the merry widow) hoping with great logic that his magic penis will make her fall in love with him too. Many Great Big Terrible Misunderstandings later, some of them engineered by the merry widow, some by a limp lettuce leaf OM, the husband and wife finally confess their true feelings and to put a cherry on top, a baby is soon to complete their happiness.
It was a pretty good story, led by a heroine with backbone, very well-written world building and some fun dialogues. However, I did not rate it as high as Temporary Wife which was the superior book because of its wry humor and the fact that the hero finally told off the OW on page in a rather humiliating scene and groveled to his wife a lot whereas here the hero was too wishy washy with the OW and too easily gave up on his wife. The dual POVs did not help matters because the scenes where he is physically comparing his wife and his ex-mistress were truly barftastic. I am happy that he came to his senses at the end and did suffer a lot for his unrequited love, and I am happy that the heroine is happy. But read Temporary Wife, it is the better version of this story :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2025
Neither the h or H were appealing main characters.
A immediate turn-off was the fact that the hero had no qualms - ever - about his affair with the OW while her husband, his client, was still alive. He repeatedly self-justified his morally dubious behaviour as ok because the OW’s marriage had broken down. Once his client was dead, the H wanted to immediately marry the OW (no living in sin!), primarily because a) what will his friends think if they don’t and b) he didn’t want to wait too long to have kids. Yet, one presumes that he wouldn’t have objected to continuing their adulterous relationship kid-free if the old bugger hadn’t died, so hmm?
The H can be characterized as a petulant, emotionally-stunted man-child. The kicker - once married, he rapes the virgin h because he is in a fit of jealousy that she went to dinner with her ex. Is he remorseful? Yes, but in a continuation of his ever-twisted logic, the H decides he can’t give up sex and will go on forcing himself on her. This, he reasons, is ok since he will ensure he is pleasuring her and is thereby demonstrating how much he loves her. Oy ve.
As to the h, I initially liked how she was outspoken and willing to take the H to task. However, as the book went on, she often crossed the line into downright meanness. Plus, for someone who kept bemoaning how bored she was and intended to get a job/learn the law, all she did was shop for expensive clothes and redecorate rooms. Finally, I hate the h’s absurd logic of ‘ I love him so much, but he doesn’t love me, ergo I must leave him and keep our baby a secret’, a prevalent trope in these 80s/90s harlequins.
Again, not the most endearing of couples….
A immediate turn-off was the fact that the hero had no qualms - ever - about his affair with the OW while her husband, his client, was still alive. He repeatedly self-justified his morally dubious behaviour as ok because the OW’s marriage had broken down. Once his client was dead, the H wanted to immediately marry the OW (no living in sin!), primarily because a) what will his friends think if they don’t and b) he didn’t want to wait too long to have kids. Yet, one presumes that he wouldn’t have objected to continuing their adulterous relationship kid-free if the old bugger hadn’t died, so hmm?
The H can be characterized as a petulant, emotionally-stunted man-child. The kicker - once married, he rapes the virgin h because he is in a fit of jealousy that she went to dinner with her ex. Is he remorseful? Yes, but in a continuation of his ever-twisted logic, the H decides he can’t give up sex and will go on forcing himself on her. This, he reasons, is ok since he will ensure he is pleasuring her and is thereby demonstrating how much he loves her. Oy ve.
As to the h, I initially liked how she was outspoken and willing to take the H to task. However, as the book went on, she often crossed the line into downright meanness. Plus, for someone who kept bemoaning how bored she was and intended to get a job/learn the law, all she did was shop for expensive clothes and redecorate rooms. Finally, I hate the h’s absurd logic of ‘ I love him so much, but he doesn’t love me, ergo I must leave him and keep our baby a secret’, a prevalent trope in these 80s/90s harlequins.
Again, not the most endearing of couples….
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2023
Very well, I'm a slave to this trope, I know, I know. I couldn't help comparing it to other books with the same theme. Maybe it's close to Magnolia or Temporary Wife. The H's pov is truly a delightful addition. Usually, I tend to cheer whenever the H gets punished for his sin. In this book, I cheer whenever the h gets punished for her pettiness. DAMN WHAT AN UNYIELDING SHREW. I know it was her trauma at first, but she just carried it to a different level, so it became totally different things. Talk about insecurities and distrust. And the gal said that the H didn't know what love truly was while, she too, was blind as a bat...... Well, that is the usual vicious circle. I thought the book was okay, but maybe I like it more than that. I have never bothered to write a long review before.
May 25, 2020
Adam and Julia decided to get married because both of them were jilted by their betrothed. Both belive the other is in love with other people and don't let their relationship grow. And so it goes until everything explodes, they decide to get divorced but Julia discover that she's pregnant and that he refused to marry his old flame. So when he comes back from a trip to New York, she is still at home and speaks up.
This author is really old fashioned and conservative. All her heroines are virgins and divorce takes 2 years. Oh, and the secretary writes on a typewriter instead of in a computer.
This author is really old fashioned and conservative. All her heroines are virgins and divorce takes 2 years. Oh, and the secretary writes on a typewriter instead of in a computer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2021
Too much OM and OW drama. She had gone into this marriage with her eyes open and still complain a lot. She is the one often talk about the OW than the hero. Heroine is a good for nothing, brooding bitch whose goal is to make hero life miserable.
January 28, 2018
Quick angsty old school read.
July 24, 2019
For a story where the other woman featured so prominently, there was almost no angst but it was still a decent read.
January 12, 2020
This was a pretty decent read, but I got annoyed towards the end by their lack of communication. I almost wished for more drama so that they could argue more and maybe let it all out sooner.
September 20, 2020
Can anyone explain the sexual dynamic between the hero and heroine to me? I just finished this book and I'm so confused. Did she enjoy it or not?
November 10, 2020
It meanders too much into boring stuff.
April 18, 2021
One of my favorite harlequin's ever since I first read it in high school. The female on the cover always stood out in my memory. I'll keep this book in my collection forever.
December 8, 2022
Very easy read, definitely dated, but I’m a sucker for the fake/pretend relationship trope, and this is kind of a that and the convenience marriage trope blended together.
August 9, 2023
One of my old faves mills and boon
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