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South from Sounion
Lucia didn't like and didn't trust her sister's boyfriend Nicholas Curzon from the first moment she met him--and it was with much misgiving that she agreed to ac-company the pair of them on a holiday to Greece.
But as her distrust of Nicholas increased, so, alas, did her unwilling attraction to him . .
But as her distrust of Nicholas increased, so, alas, did her unwilling attraction to him . .
- GenresHarlequin Romance
187 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Anne Weale
224 books49 followersJay Blakeney
aka Anne Weale, Andrea Blake
Jay Blakeney was born on Juny 20, 1929. Her great-grandfather was a well-known writer on moral theology, so perhaps she inherited her writing gene from him. She was "talking stories" to herself long before she could read. When she was still at school, she sold her first short stories to a woman's magazine and she feels she was destined to write. Decided to became a writer, she started writing for newspapers and magazines.
At 21, Jay was a newspaper reporter with a career plan, but the man she was wildly in love with announced that he was off to the other side of the world. He thought they should either marry or say goodbye. She always believed that true love could last a lifetime, and she felt that wonderful men were much harder to find than good jobs, so she put her career on hold. What a wise decision it was! She felt that new young women seem less inclined to risk everything for love than her generation.
Together they traveled the world. If she hadn't spent part of her bridal year living on the edge of a jungle in Malaysia, she might never have become a romance writer. That isolated house, and the perils of the state of emergency that existed in the country at that time, gave her a background and plot ideally suited to a genre she had never read until she came across some romances in the library of a country club they sometimes visited. She can write about love with the even stronger conviction that comes from experience.
When they returned to Europe, Jay resumed her career as a journalist, writing her first romance in her spare time. She sold her first novel as Anne Weale to Mills and Boon in 1955 at the age of 24. At 30, with seven books published, she "retired" to have a baby and become a full-time writer. She raised a delightful son, David, who is as adventurous as his father. Her husband and son have even climbed in the Andes and the Himalayas, giving her lots of ideas for stories. When she retired from reporting, her fiction income -- a combination of amounts earned as a Mills & Boon author and writing for magazines such as Woman's Illustrated, which serialized the work of authors -- exceed 1,000 pounds a year.
She was a founding member of the The Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2002 she published her last novel, in total, she wrote 88 novels. She also wrote under the pseudonym Andrea Blake. She loved setting her novels in exotic parts of the world, but specially in The Caribbean and in her beloved Spain. Since 1989, Jay spent most of the winter months in a very small "pueblo" in the backwoods of Spain. During years, she visited some villages, and from each she have borrowed some feature - a fountain, a street, a plaza, a picturesque old house - to create some places like Valdecarrasca, that is wholly imaginary and yet typical of the part of rural Spain she knew best. She loved walking, reading, sketching, sewing (curtains and slipcovers) and doing needlepoint, gardening, entertaining friends, visiting art galleries and museums, writing letters, surfing the Net, traveling in search of exciting locations for future books, eating delicious food and drinking good wine, cataloguing her books.
She wrote a regular website review column for The Bookseller from 1998 to 2004, before starting her own blog Bookworm on the Net. At the time of her death, on October 24, 2007, she was working on her autobiography "88 Heroes... 1 Mr. Right".
aka Anne Weale, Andrea Blake
Jay Blakeney was born on Juny 20, 1929. Her great-grandfather was a well-known writer on moral theology, so perhaps she inherited her writing gene from him. She was "talking stories" to herself long before she could read. When she was still at school, she sold her first short stories to a woman's magazine and she feels she was destined to write. Decided to became a writer, she started writing for newspapers and magazines.
At 21, Jay was a newspaper reporter with a career plan, but the man she was wildly in love with announced that he was off to the other side of the world. He thought they should either marry or say goodbye. She always believed that true love could last a lifetime, and she felt that wonderful men were much harder to find than good jobs, so she put her career on hold. What a wise decision it was! She felt that new young women seem less inclined to risk everything for love than her generation.
Together they traveled the world. If she hadn't spent part of her bridal year living on the edge of a jungle in Malaysia, she might never have become a romance writer. That isolated house, and the perils of the state of emergency that existed in the country at that time, gave her a background and plot ideally suited to a genre she had never read until she came across some romances in the library of a country club they sometimes visited. She can write about love with the even stronger conviction that comes from experience.
When they returned to Europe, Jay resumed her career as a journalist, writing her first romance in her spare time. She sold her first novel as Anne Weale to Mills and Boon in 1955 at the age of 24. At 30, with seven books published, she "retired" to have a baby and become a full-time writer. She raised a delightful son, David, who is as adventurous as his father. Her husband and son have even climbed in the Andes and the Himalayas, giving her lots of ideas for stories. When she retired from reporting, her fiction income -- a combination of amounts earned as a Mills & Boon author and writing for magazines such as Woman's Illustrated, which serialized the work of authors -- exceed 1,000 pounds a year.
She was a founding member of the The Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2002 she published her last novel, in total, she wrote 88 novels. She also wrote under the pseudonym Andrea Blake. She loved setting her novels in exotic parts of the world, but specially in The Caribbean and in her beloved Spain. Since 1989, Jay spent most of the winter months in a very small "pueblo" in the backwoods of Spain. During years, she visited some villages, and from each she have borrowed some feature - a fountain, a street, a plaza, a picturesque old house - to create some places like Valdecarrasca, that is wholly imaginary and yet typical of the part of rural Spain she knew best. She loved walking, reading, sketching, sewing (curtains and slipcovers) and doing needlepoint, gardening, entertaining friends, visiting art galleries and museums, writing letters, surfing the Net, traveling in search of exciting locations for future books, eating delicious food and drinking good wine, cataloguing her books.
She wrote a regular website review column for The Bookseller from 1998 to 2004, before starting her own blog Bookworm on the Net. At the time of her death, on October 24, 2007, she was working on her autobiography "88 Heroes... 1 Mr. Right".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 5, 2018
It all seemed like a setup for one of those novels I hate: doormat h takes care of selfish, "prettier" sister. Sister attracts Mediterranean playboy, they all go on a cruise/vacation and the h pines after H while he plays mind games and eventually rewards the h for her devotion by generously deciding to marry her. Maybe the H would even throw in something about how the sister was prettier, but that he was tired of flashy beauties and referred a quieter, more modest woman as a wife.
So I almost wasn't going to read it, but for some reason Sounion kept reminding me of Onion, which made me think of Funyuns, so I had a feeling this book might be unintentionally funny.
There are occasionally funny moments, like this one when the h is thinking about OM#1:
So, there was some mild humor, but it wasn't Funyun-level funny. BUT it also wasn't all about the doormat h being insulted and dismissed by all and sundry. It was actually quite cute.
So I almost wasn't going to read it, but for some reason Sounion kept reminding me of Onion, which made me think of Funyuns, so I had a feeling this book might be unintentionally funny.
There are occasionally funny moments, like this one when the h is thinking about OM#1:
So, there was some mild humor, but it wasn't Funyun-level funny. BUT it also wasn't all about the doormat h being insulted and dismissed by all and sundry. It was actually quite cute.
February 13, 2024
EN: Got it from my hometown local library just because I saw it had Sunion in the title and I know where it is and how it looks. I read it in one round while sipping my coffee.
It is a simple written, romance between an older sister who falls in love with the guy she believes her younger sister wants to marry. Everything gets more complicate in a vacation on an island in Greece for Easter. But things clear when going back to Athens.
RO:
Am luat cartea de la biblioteca locală din orașul meu natal doar pentru că am văzut că avea Sunion în titlu și știu unde este și cum arată acest templu. Am citit-o într-o rundă în timp ce mi-am savurat cafeaua.
Este o poveste de dragoste scrisa simplistic între o soră mai mare care se îndrăgostește de tipul cu care crede că sora ei mai mică vrea să se căsătorească. Totul se complică într-o vacanță pe o insulă din Grecia de Paște. Dar lucrurile se clarifica când se întorc in Atena.
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"Cataloghezi prea repede oamenii. Nimeni nu e facut dintr-o singura bucata."
"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" Virgiliu Eneida. Fereste-te de greci chiar daca iti aduc daruri.
It is a simple written, romance between an older sister who falls in love with the guy she believes her younger sister wants to marry. Everything gets more complicate in a vacation on an island in Greece for Easter. But things clear when going back to Athens.
RO:
Am luat cartea de la biblioteca locală din orașul meu natal doar pentru că am văzut că avea Sunion în titlu și știu unde este și cum arată acest templu. Am citit-o într-o rundă în timp ce mi-am savurat cafeaua.
Este o poveste de dragoste scrisa simplistic între o soră mai mare care se îndrăgostește de tipul cu care crede că sora ei mai mică vrea să se căsătorească. Totul se complică într-o vacanță pe o insulă din Grecia de Paște. Dar lucrurile se clarifica când se întorc in Atena.
--------
"Cataloghezi prea repede oamenii. Nimeni nu e facut dintr-o singura bucata."
"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" Virgiliu Eneida. Fereste-te de greci chiar daca iti aduc daruri.
August 8, 2024
Though written without the hero's POV, Ms. Weale cleverly hints just how smitten he has become with the clueless heroine. From their first meeting, (when Lucia walks in on Nico kissing her younger sister passionately) there is little doubt there are going to be sparks between them. Cathy is a spoiled gold-digger and she doesn't hide that she's only into Nico for his money from Lucia, who is appalled. But neither girl are aware that Nico knows this about Cathy, and that he too is playing a bit of a role. He's using Cathy to get close to Lucia. The fact that Lucia constantly misjudges his character as dishonourable, is a challenge he's finding tougher than he anticipated.
This was a delightful romance. One for the keeper shelf.
This was a delightful romance. One for the keeper shelf.
pback-to-read
April 8, 2023Lucia didn't like and didn't trust her sister's boyfriend Nicholas Curzon from the first moment she met him--and it was with much misgiving that she agreed to ac-company the pair of them on a holiday to Greece.
But as her distrust of Nicholas increased, so, alas, did her unwilling attraction to him
But as her distrust of Nicholas increased, so, alas, did her unwilling attraction to him
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews