A CONVENIENT WIFE

by Sara Wood

Millionaire Blake Bellamie's just discovered he's not the legitimate heir to Cranford, the grand estate that is everything to him.

Nicole Vaseux is the rightful owner. The attraction between her and Blake is instant and so begins a passionate affair that culminates with a whirlwind marriage proposal!

But it's only after she's accepted that Nicole discovers the truth about Blake's paternity. Has she just agreed to become a convenient wife?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Presents

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

Sara Wood was born in England. She has wonderful memories of her childhood. Her parents were desperately poor but their devotion to family life gave her a feeling of great security. Sara's father was one of four fostered children and never knew his parents, hence his joy with his own family. Birthday parties were sensational her father would perform brilliantly as a Chinese magician or a clown or invent hilarious games and treasure hunts. From him she learnt that working hard brought many rewards, especially self-respect. During her degree course she met her husband, a kind, thoughtful, attentive man who is her friend and soulmate. At 21, she married and had her first son at 22. Now she has another three children. She loved teaching in Sussex which she did for twelve years.

Her switch into writing came about in a peculiar way. Richie, her elder son, had always been nuts about natural history and had a huge collection of animal skulls. At the age of fifteen he decided he'd write an information book about collecting. Heinemann and Pan, prestigious publishers, eagerly fell on the book and when it was published it won the famous Times Information Book award. Interviews, TV and magazine articles followed. Encouraged by his success, she thought she could write too and had several information books for children published. Then she saw Charlotte Lamb being wined and dined by Mills & Boon on a television programme and decided she could do Charlotte's job! But she'd rarely read fiction before, so she bought twenty books and analysed them carefully, then wrote one of her own. Amazingly it was accepted and she began writing full time.

Sara and her husband moved to a small country estate in Cornwall which was a paradise. Her sons visited often; Richie being married to Heidi and with two daughters; Simon rushing in after some danger- filled action in Alaska or Hawaii etc, protecting the environment with Greenpeace. Sara qualified as a homeopath, caring for the health of her family and friends. But Paradise is always fleeting. Sara's husband became seriously ill and it was clear that they had to move somewhere less demanding on time and effort. After a nightmare year of worrying about him, nursing and watching him like a hawk, she was relieved when they'd sold up and moved back to Sussex. Their current house is large and thatched and sits in the pretty rolling downs with wonderful walks and views all around. They live nearer to the boys (men!) and see them often. Richie and Heidi are expecting another baby, Simon has a baby son and a new, dangerous, passion flinging himself off mountains (paragliding). The three hills nearby frequently entice him down. She adores seeing her family (mother, mother-in-law too) around the table at Christmas. Sara feels fortunate that although she's had tough times and has sometimes been desperately unhappy, she is now surrounded by love and feels she can weather any storm to come.

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book began well, though perhaps a little old-fashioned. To say a Harlequin Presents novel is old fashioned is probably redundant, but this one seemed especially so with its Lord-of-the-Manor-worried-about-his-legitimacy plot. The author's default writing style is Overwrought--anguish and ecstasy abound, which can get a little tiresome. And it seemed excessive, also, that there are two kids in the picture--both the hero and the heroine have children from previous marriages (the heroine's is a seven-month-old baby, no less). I suppose that was a necessary device to lend emotional weight to the question of who is the legitimate heir to Cranford (where have I heard that name before?) but I'm not a big fan of children in romance novels. And speaking of romance, it happened awfully fast. I'm all for love at first sight, but when the heroine reflects that she loves the hero "enough to give him space" two days after they meet, I get a little skeptical. But my biggest problem with the novel was the ending. The author relied on coincidence and misunderstandings to create her crisis moment and she also descended into some pretty broad ethnic stereotyping to round it all out. Overall, this was not a success for me.

[RJC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one. Quite good.