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love lies sleeping
Love Lies Sleeping by Catherine George released on Aug 25, 1987 is available now for purchase.
- GenresHarlequin Presents
Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Catherine George
449 books73 followersDeirdre Matthews was born in a village on the Welsh-English border, where the public library featured largely in her life. Her mother, who looked upon literature as a basic necessity of life, fervently encouraged her passion for reading, little knowing it would one day motivate her daughter into writing her first novel.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 22, 2016
Re Love Lies Sleeping - the title on this one refers to an effigy of a dead Royalist ancestor of the H's who is entombed in the family estate chapel. It is an unusual motif for a romance to say the least and especially for HPlandia.
The h is a 22 yr old archivist who has recently graduated and is desperately looking for an archival job. She is temporarily making ends meet by au pairing for friends of the H's and through them gets an introduction to our erstwhile English gentry H.
The H is the owner of a lovely little Restoration period estate that he is really attached to. Because he inherited the property when his father died but will not inherit the family fortune until he marries and produces a son, the H is having to get creative on ways to raise enough income to care for the place. The central heating is a bit wonky, the plaster needs refinishing and since all repairs have to be in period, it gets a bit pricey keeping the place in working order.
He hires the h for cut rate wages and board to organize a document display in keeping with the Royalist Restoration period of the house's public rooms. The H has summer tours through parts of the house to earn extra income aside from his property purveyance business. The h is so excited to get her hands on a full attic's worth of centuries of documents she can hardly stand it. Even thoughts of her engagement to the boy next door currently working as an accountant in Edinburgh don't raise her pulse as much as the sight of all those lovely uncatalogued documents complete with cobwebs and woodlice.
The H, suitably charmed by her enthusiasm and kittenish good looks, is more than happy to have her in his attic, or his library or his private rooms - if she is so inclined. It seems our poor H is locally known for his lack of luck in inducing a lady to the altar. He was engaged to marry once - the common gossip is that he has to marry to inherit his father's large portfolio, but alas the maiden he wooed threw him over for an old billionaire and so the H has remained marriage free ever since. The h is sincerely sorry for his loss, but since she has wedding plans of her own, she isn't in any place to be able to help him.
(Not to worry tho, we are in HPlandia and we know a little thing like an engagement to someone else isn't going to keep our H and h from true lurve. That comes much later in this tale tho.)
To start with the h is happily delving into mouse dropping laden documents and since the H has forbidden her to work in the attic after 1pm, the h has the H's loyal retainer carry a large trunk of documents down to the secondary scholarly alcove which is the library. The loyal retainer accidentally bangs the trunk on the way down the stars and while delving through the contents, the h discovers the diary of the wife of the Royalist ancestor whose unusual effigy is of a man lying on his side with his head in his arms apparently asleep and a face down book beside him.
The local story behind this effigy is that the man's wife went into the garden one day after the man returned from fighting for the Restoration of Charles II and found him dead on his side, looking like he had only fallen asleep with book resting on the grass next to him.
Well that is an unusual story to say the least, as the H's ancestor wasn't that old and what was even more curious is the effigy of the pose the widow had hurriedly commissioned for the man's tomb and then had surrounded by an iron fence. In the 17th century, an iron fence around a tomb in a chapel indicated that the death of the occupant may have been a suicide. Apparently side sleeping men with books isn't a common tomb decoration.
Anyway,s the effigy was enough to make the church a tourist attraction for several years, until a little old lady fell asleep in the vestry of the chapel and swore that the effigy woke up, went around the iron fencing that surrounded his tomb and started walking towards her. This bit of ghostly lore brought even more visitors, until the H decided that the influx of thrill seekers was too overwhelming and closed the chapel to any one but family.
He takes the h to see the tomb, and she seems to have a strange fascination with it and the story of the man's death. It appears her archival instincts are right on target. Cause after deciphering the wife's diary, the h discovers that while the H's ancestor was off fighting for King and country, the wife was having an affair with the local doctor under the guise of care for her sickly son.
The doctor gave the wife poison to give to her husband and the wife administered it in a jug of ale while the man was reading in the garden. She went back later and found the poison had done it's deadly job, but then she had to rearrange the man into a more sleep-like position cause apparently death by Restoration (late Renaissance period) poison was a very ugly prospect to look upon.
Further research by the h shows that the wife's maidservant was most likely blackmailing the wife's physician lover - he killed himself less than a year after the husband's death and never married the wife. The maid herself dies mysteriously a short time later and then the wife dies a short while after that. The h even finds the book the man was reading while his wife was poisoning him - the archive records show only two new books being purchased during this time and one of them has grass stains on two pages.
The H is awed by the h's powers of archivery, the h figures all of this out in her first few days on the job. (Not that the H wants any of this publicized really, even if it was 300 years earlier, it is still family and nice English gentry don't air their murderous forefather's dirty laundry. It would have been fine had the ancestors killed a legion of his own men in legitimate combat, but sneaky poisons are in extremely Bad Taste. )
The h doesn't care tho, it was fun to research all that and the grass stained book will make a lovely little example of Restoration Literature for the new muniment room (which used to be the coffin room where they waked dead bodies before they buried them.) Besides the h is a Very Properly Brought Up Young Lady and even has the official approval of the H's Loyal Retainer's, especially the Loyal Retainer Mrs. Bates who used to be the H's nanny and now is his Loyal Retainer Housekeeper -- Bates the Loyal Retainer Majordomo is all the live in help that is left of the once fully staffed estate.
After the excitement of discovery dies down and the h and H have established a cozy little friendship, Christmas rolls around and the h reluctantly takes off her document gloves to return to her family home and the charms of her long distance fiance.
The h's widowed father has recently remarried and the h is looking forward to seeing her fiance and furthering her relationship with her new stepmother. The h goes home to find the happy news that her dad is going to be a new dad with the lovely stepmum but the very upsetting news that long distance boy has replaced the h with a model that is a little closer to his domicile in Scotland, he is getting engaged to his boss's daughter.
The jilted h puts a happy Christmas face on for a bit, but flees back to the comfort of her archives over the New Year. Whilst waiting out the holiday cheer so she can get on with things, the H winds up coming home smashed one night and h and the H indulge in some firework worthy kissing to welcome in the turn of the year.
The H and h happily continue their mutual friendship and the H explains that his prior fiancee dumped him cause he has to have a son to inherit his father's money. She was fine with being engaged to the H while she thought all she had to do was get hitched to get rich - but she balked at the thought of having to leap into child bearing too - the son condition is not commonly known. The H is a bit bitter that the fiancee dumped him at the thought of having his son and married a wealthy older man, and then the H saw the couple's birth announcement of a boy barely a year later.
The h is suitably sympathetic, and decides to cheer the H up with little display cards for the various exhibits she has set up from the archives all done in fine copperplate calligraphy that is time period appropriate. The h gets a nasty little shock when the photographer/reporter for local paper shows up to do a bit about the opening of the house for summer tours and the new archival muniment room. The reporter kinda bullies his way into a tour of the closed family chapel as well and then earns a brisk dressing down by the h when he snags pictures of the unusual effigy. The h kicks him off the estate and has a little fit of temper.
That is nothing compared to the H's display of outraged ire when the photos of the effigy and the h appear in a daily national tabloid with suitably scandalous aspersions being made. The H yells at the h, who had no idea that the reporter wasn't the one the H had mentioned was doing the story. She is even more hurt when the H yells at her for letting him in the chapel when the Loyal Retainer Housekeeper had told her the H said she was to show the guy around. The h tells the H off for his mean behavior and then she quits.
The H manages to choke back his rage enough to tell her that she has to work out a month's leave before she can go and the h resolves to keep herself in the attic. Later on the H humbly brings her dinner on a tray in her room at the Loyal Retainer's cottage and apologizes for his atrocious temper.
He is desolate at the thought of her leaving him and since she now has no prior engagements and the H doesn't have the money to get the leading on the roof repaired, he wonders if she would agree to being his wife. They already know their kisses set off explosions and the h had already indicated that she wanted children, they both are young and healthy and the h could archive to her heart's content cause there is still two and half centuries of documents to sort and the H could save on the salary.
The only thing the H requests is the h turn him down if she is still stuck on the former fiance, he really doesn't fancy the h, him and the memory of another man all boudoir bouncing together. The h thinks about the H's request and their friendship and all the dropping covered records just waiting to be explored and since she also received an invitation to the ex-fiance's rapidly approaching wedding, she decides being Mrs. H would be a grand idear. So they marry in a nice little local gentry picture perfect wedding and the attempt for the heir begins.
The H wisely gets the h tipsy on a bit of brandy, as the h isn't precisely a virgin but near enough to have a bit of nerves. Things go bodaciously well in the lurve clubing event and it looks like our thoroughly nice couple are all set up for connubial bliss with a lot of power rides.
Until the h sleepily calls the H by her ex-fiance's name when she wakes up disorientated and the H goes from amiable friendly lover to spawn of the demon Asmodeus in less than 60 seconds. He angrily demands an explanation from the h and when that doesn't satisfy his savage temper, he turns into a conquering Royalist ravisher and continues to ravish the h nightly while demanding the same explanations every morning and then establishing the Great Ice Wall of Antarctica between them the rest of the time.
The h has no small amount of temper herself, and acidly points out that she had only been with her FIANCE a time or two. Something that was really no business of the H's. While he had made multiple points prior to their marriage of how compatible he and his former fiancee were in bed - supposedly it was the only place they were. Her calling the H by her ex's name was a startled reaction to unfamiliar surroundings and the ex was the ONLY man she had really ever been intimate with in that regard - unlike the H who has pages of news column dedicated to HIS exploits.
The estrangement between them goes on for several weeks and the h begins to sleepwalk. A hold over habit from her childhood, she used to sleepwalk when she was upset at night after her mum died and now she is upset because she figured out she was in love with the H, but he won't accept her apologies or explanations and his icy daytime treatment is relentless.
The h manages to get herself locked in the chapel with the effigy one night while the H is out on business and by the time the H finds her, she has twisted her ankle and sleepwalked herself to the iron fence surrounding the H's Royalist ancestor's tomb and is hanging on to that fence for dear life.
The H wakes her and carries her off to the house where he explains that he thought she had left him over his bad behavior - he was panicked and he knew his behavior for the last month was wrong but he was so jealous of her ex that he just couldn't help himself. The h points out that she hardly would have left without packing her clothes and the H responds that he was so frantic, he just did not notice.
He swears eternal love and he will work on the jealousy, but the h is delighted by the H's extreme ire cause it proves he really, really loves her as much as she loves him. The H admits he was even jealous of his ancestor cause the h seems to be so enchanted with him and his effigy. But the h confesses she only likes it cause it looks like the H and after her sleepwalking experience, the effigy isn't all that appealing. She insists that the H will have to hold her very tightly in his arms at night to prevent further sleepwalking incidents. They happily resume their practice for the heir activities and the HEA epilogue is a christening for the new son and heir with a freshly leaded roof and guaranteed continual functioning of the house's central heating.
This one is a very unusual HP outing, with the light fluffiness of the H and h's verbal bantering intertwined with a very dark tale of murder, thwarted love and the creepy effigy that really adds a sinister eerie undertone to the overall romance. That darkness is further enhanced by the H's complete transformation in behavior in the last third of the book. The sinister side story also lends a very Gothic tone and feel to what starts out as a fluffy little romance and becomes something quite different by the end.
This may not be everyone's cuppa and the H's change in behavior could be construed as a bit worrisome for the future well being of the h and potential heirs. But the h, for all her kittenish charm, is quite capable of holding her own without resorting to childishness or drama and it is the unusual twists that this book takes that elevate from an ordinary category to a really interesting tale of HPlandia.
The h is a 22 yr old archivist who has recently graduated and is desperately looking for an archival job. She is temporarily making ends meet by au pairing for friends of the H's and through them gets an introduction to our erstwhile English gentry H.
The H is the owner of a lovely little Restoration period estate that he is really attached to. Because he inherited the property when his father died but will not inherit the family fortune until he marries and produces a son, the H is having to get creative on ways to raise enough income to care for the place. The central heating is a bit wonky, the plaster needs refinishing and since all repairs have to be in period, it gets a bit pricey keeping the place in working order.
He hires the h for cut rate wages and board to organize a document display in keeping with the Royalist Restoration period of the house's public rooms. The H has summer tours through parts of the house to earn extra income aside from his property purveyance business. The h is so excited to get her hands on a full attic's worth of centuries of documents she can hardly stand it. Even thoughts of her engagement to the boy next door currently working as an accountant in Edinburgh don't raise her pulse as much as the sight of all those lovely uncatalogued documents complete with cobwebs and woodlice.
The H, suitably charmed by her enthusiasm and kittenish good looks, is more than happy to have her in his attic, or his library or his private rooms - if she is so inclined. It seems our poor H is locally known for his lack of luck in inducing a lady to the altar. He was engaged to marry once - the common gossip is that he has to marry to inherit his father's large portfolio, but alas the maiden he wooed threw him over for an old billionaire and so the H has remained marriage free ever since. The h is sincerely sorry for his loss, but since she has wedding plans of her own, she isn't in any place to be able to help him.
(Not to worry tho, we are in HPlandia and we know a little thing like an engagement to someone else isn't going to keep our H and h from true lurve. That comes much later in this tale tho.)
To start with the h is happily delving into mouse dropping laden documents and since the H has forbidden her to work in the attic after 1pm, the h has the H's loyal retainer carry a large trunk of documents down to the secondary scholarly alcove which is the library. The loyal retainer accidentally bangs the trunk on the way down the stars and while delving through the contents, the h discovers the diary of the wife of the Royalist ancestor whose unusual effigy is of a man lying on his side with his head in his arms apparently asleep and a face down book beside him.
The local story behind this effigy is that the man's wife went into the garden one day after the man returned from fighting for the Restoration of Charles II and found him dead on his side, looking like he had only fallen asleep with book resting on the grass next to him.
Well that is an unusual story to say the least, as the H's ancestor wasn't that old and what was even more curious is the effigy of the pose the widow had hurriedly commissioned for the man's tomb and then had surrounded by an iron fence. In the 17th century, an iron fence around a tomb in a chapel indicated that the death of the occupant may have been a suicide. Apparently side sleeping men with books isn't a common tomb decoration.
Anyway,s the effigy was enough to make the church a tourist attraction for several years, until a little old lady fell asleep in the vestry of the chapel and swore that the effigy woke up, went around the iron fencing that surrounded his tomb and started walking towards her. This bit of ghostly lore brought even more visitors, until the H decided that the influx of thrill seekers was too overwhelming and closed the chapel to any one but family.
He takes the h to see the tomb, and she seems to have a strange fascination with it and the story of the man's death. It appears her archival instincts are right on target. Cause after deciphering the wife's diary, the h discovers that while the H's ancestor was off fighting for King and country, the wife was having an affair with the local doctor under the guise of care for her sickly son.
The doctor gave the wife poison to give to her husband and the wife administered it in a jug of ale while the man was reading in the garden. She went back later and found the poison had done it's deadly job, but then she had to rearrange the man into a more sleep-like position cause apparently death by Restoration (late Renaissance period) poison was a very ugly prospect to look upon.
Further research by the h shows that the wife's maidservant was most likely blackmailing the wife's physician lover - he killed himself less than a year after the husband's death and never married the wife. The maid herself dies mysteriously a short time later and then the wife dies a short while after that. The h even finds the book the man was reading while his wife was poisoning him - the archive records show only two new books being purchased during this time and one of them has grass stains on two pages.
The H is awed by the h's powers of archivery, the h figures all of this out in her first few days on the job. (Not that the H wants any of this publicized really, even if it was 300 years earlier, it is still family and nice English gentry don't air their murderous forefather's dirty laundry. It would have been fine had the ancestors killed a legion of his own men in legitimate combat, but sneaky poisons are in extremely Bad Taste. )
The h doesn't care tho, it was fun to research all that and the grass stained book will make a lovely little example of Restoration Literature for the new muniment room (which used to be the coffin room where they waked dead bodies before they buried them.) Besides the h is a Very Properly Brought Up Young Lady and even has the official approval of the H's Loyal Retainer's, especially the Loyal Retainer Mrs. Bates who used to be the H's nanny and now is his Loyal Retainer Housekeeper -- Bates the Loyal Retainer Majordomo is all the live in help that is left of the once fully staffed estate.
After the excitement of discovery dies down and the h and H have established a cozy little friendship, Christmas rolls around and the h reluctantly takes off her document gloves to return to her family home and the charms of her long distance fiance.
The h's widowed father has recently remarried and the h is looking forward to seeing her fiance and furthering her relationship with her new stepmother. The h goes home to find the happy news that her dad is going to be a new dad with the lovely stepmum but the very upsetting news that long distance boy has replaced the h with a model that is a little closer to his domicile in Scotland, he is getting engaged to his boss's daughter.
The jilted h puts a happy Christmas face on for a bit, but flees back to the comfort of her archives over the New Year. Whilst waiting out the holiday cheer so she can get on with things, the H winds up coming home smashed one night and h and the H indulge in some firework worthy kissing to welcome in the turn of the year.
The H and h happily continue their mutual friendship and the H explains that his prior fiancee dumped him cause he has to have a son to inherit his father's money. She was fine with being engaged to the H while she thought all she had to do was get hitched to get rich - but she balked at the thought of having to leap into child bearing too - the son condition is not commonly known. The H is a bit bitter that the fiancee dumped him at the thought of having his son and married a wealthy older man, and then the H saw the couple's birth announcement of a boy barely a year later.
The h is suitably sympathetic, and decides to cheer the H up with little display cards for the various exhibits she has set up from the archives all done in fine copperplate calligraphy that is time period appropriate. The h gets a nasty little shock when the photographer/reporter for local paper shows up to do a bit about the opening of the house for summer tours and the new archival muniment room. The reporter kinda bullies his way into a tour of the closed family chapel as well and then earns a brisk dressing down by the h when he snags pictures of the unusual effigy. The h kicks him off the estate and has a little fit of temper.
That is nothing compared to the H's display of outraged ire when the photos of the effigy and the h appear in a daily national tabloid with suitably scandalous aspersions being made. The H yells at the h, who had no idea that the reporter wasn't the one the H had mentioned was doing the story. She is even more hurt when the H yells at her for letting him in the chapel when the Loyal Retainer Housekeeper had told her the H said she was to show the guy around. The h tells the H off for his mean behavior and then she quits.
The H manages to choke back his rage enough to tell her that she has to work out a month's leave before she can go and the h resolves to keep herself in the attic. Later on the H humbly brings her dinner on a tray in her room at the Loyal Retainer's cottage and apologizes for his atrocious temper.
He is desolate at the thought of her leaving him and since she now has no prior engagements and the H doesn't have the money to get the leading on the roof repaired, he wonders if she would agree to being his wife. They already know their kisses set off explosions and the h had already indicated that she wanted children, they both are young and healthy and the h could archive to her heart's content cause there is still two and half centuries of documents to sort and the H could save on the salary.
The only thing the H requests is the h turn him down if she is still stuck on the former fiance, he really doesn't fancy the h, him and the memory of another man all boudoir bouncing together. The h thinks about the H's request and their friendship and all the dropping covered records just waiting to be explored and since she also received an invitation to the ex-fiance's rapidly approaching wedding, she decides being Mrs. H would be a grand idear. So they marry in a nice little local gentry picture perfect wedding and the attempt for the heir begins.
The H wisely gets the h tipsy on a bit of brandy, as the h isn't precisely a virgin but near enough to have a bit of nerves. Things go bodaciously well in the lurve clubing event and it looks like our thoroughly nice couple are all set up for connubial bliss with a lot of power rides.
Until the h sleepily calls the H by her ex-fiance's name when she wakes up disorientated and the H goes from amiable friendly lover to spawn of the demon Asmodeus in less than 60 seconds. He angrily demands an explanation from the h and when that doesn't satisfy his savage temper, he turns into a conquering Royalist ravisher and continues to ravish the h nightly while demanding the same explanations every morning and then establishing the Great Ice Wall of Antarctica between them the rest of the time.
The h has no small amount of temper herself, and acidly points out that she had only been with her FIANCE a time or two. Something that was really no business of the H's. While he had made multiple points prior to their marriage of how compatible he and his former fiancee were in bed - supposedly it was the only place they were. Her calling the H by her ex's name was a startled reaction to unfamiliar surroundings and the ex was the ONLY man she had really ever been intimate with in that regard - unlike the H who has pages of news column dedicated to HIS exploits.
The estrangement between them goes on for several weeks and the h begins to sleepwalk. A hold over habit from her childhood, she used to sleepwalk when she was upset at night after her mum died and now she is upset because she figured out she was in love with the H, but he won't accept her apologies or explanations and his icy daytime treatment is relentless.
The h manages to get herself locked in the chapel with the effigy one night while the H is out on business and by the time the H finds her, she has twisted her ankle and sleepwalked herself to the iron fence surrounding the H's Royalist ancestor's tomb and is hanging on to that fence for dear life.
The H wakes her and carries her off to the house where he explains that he thought she had left him over his bad behavior - he was panicked and he knew his behavior for the last month was wrong but he was so jealous of her ex that he just couldn't help himself. The h points out that she hardly would have left without packing her clothes and the H responds that he was so frantic, he just did not notice.
He swears eternal love and he will work on the jealousy, but the h is delighted by the H's extreme ire cause it proves he really, really loves her as much as she loves him. The H admits he was even jealous of his ancestor cause the h seems to be so enchanted with him and his effigy. But the h confesses she only likes it cause it looks like the H and after her sleepwalking experience, the effigy isn't all that appealing. She insists that the H will have to hold her very tightly in his arms at night to prevent further sleepwalking incidents. They happily resume their practice for the heir activities and the HEA epilogue is a christening for the new son and heir with a freshly leaded roof and guaranteed continual functioning of the house's central heating.
This one is a very unusual HP outing, with the light fluffiness of the H and h's verbal bantering intertwined with a very dark tale of murder, thwarted love and the creepy effigy that really adds a sinister eerie undertone to the overall romance. That darkness is further enhanced by the H's complete transformation in behavior in the last third of the book. The sinister side story also lends a very Gothic tone and feel to what starts out as a fluffy little romance and becomes something quite different by the end.
This may not be everyone's cuppa and the H's change in behavior could be construed as a bit worrisome for the future well being of the h and potential heirs. But the h, for all her kittenish charm, is quite capable of holding her own without resorting to childishness or drama and it is the unusual twists that this book takes that elevate from an ordinary category to a really interesting tale of HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2025
For a detailed synopsis and analysis of the plot, don't look any further than Boogenhagen's review.
As for me, I can only say that the hero is a donkey's butt. On the other hand, the heroine was pretty great. She had great detective skills, uncovering a centuries-old murder mystery involving hero's aristocratic ancestors during the English Civil War. And you know how I like those sleuthy heroines. Another one who could have taught a class or two at the Detective Latoya Jackson Online Correspondence School for Private Investigation
:-)
As for me, I can only say that the hero is a donkey's butt. On the other hand, the heroine was pretty great. She had great detective skills, uncovering a centuries-old murder mystery involving hero's aristocratic ancestors during the English Civil War. And you know how I like those sleuthy heroines. Another one who could have taught a class or two at the Detective Latoya Jackson Online Correspondence School for Private Investigation
:-)
February 19, 2015
4 Stars ~ Ms. George has a warm sense of humour that sets a lovely lighter tone for some of her books. In this one, Frances is a 22 yr old woman who having just graduated university with her English degree, has landed an interview with Harry, the heir of Curthroy Court. Harry's looking for an archivist who is prepared to take up residence while preparing the family 300 year old records for public display. When Harry's father died, he'd left a stipulation in his will that while Harry inherits the family estate immediately, he doesn't inherit the wealth until he marries and produces a son. These conditions have put a terrible strain on Harry, as he tries desperately to hold on to the home he loves. As Frances becomes more and more enthralled in Harry's family history, they discover a chemistry between them. And so Harry proposes marriage and a secure future should Frances bless him with a son. His only request is that Frances not bring the memory of her ex-fiance with her to their bed, and he too will never again mention the woman who had jilted him just days before they were to be married.
I thoroughly enjoy the books written by Catherine George. She creates such likable main characters, that you soon want to be friends with. Frances and Harry as so well suited Both have a sense of fun about them, but fully accept and live in a real world. Harry's quite smitten with Frances, and also quite jealous, though he keeps that jealousy well hidden until the end of the book. Frances realizes she's fallen in love with her husband on their wedding day, and after sharing an evening of earth shattering lovemaking, she falls asleep and while dreaming she makes the blunder of whispering her ex-fiance's name, and Harry hears her and sets out to wipe that name from her memory. Over the next months, they present a happy face to those around them, but on their own Harry refuses to warm to her except in the bed they share to produce a son. Of course, when Harry thinks he's lost Frances there's a lovely little grovel and a most satisfying HEA.
I thoroughly enjoy the books written by Catherine George. She creates such likable main characters, that you soon want to be friends with. Frances and Harry as so well suited Both have a sense of fun about them, but fully accept and live in a real world. Harry's quite smitten with Frances, and also quite jealous, though he keeps that jealousy well hidden until the end of the book. Frances realizes she's fallen in love with her husband on their wedding day, and after sharing an evening of earth shattering lovemaking, she falls asleep and while dreaming she makes the blunder of whispering her ex-fiance's name, and Harry hears her and sets out to wipe that name from her memory. Over the next months, they present a happy face to those around them, but on their own Harry refuses to warm to her except in the bed they share to produce a son. Of course, when Harry thinks he's lost Frances there's a lovely little grovel and a most satisfying HEA.
November 9, 2020
3.5 stars
October 13, 2022
Not too high in romance but still a nice read. There was no alpha hero in this one (beta hero, the ones i don't enjoy reading) but i liked the heroine for her pride and self respect. Both the leads have different love interests and come together for the sake of convenience... The book largely deals with the family history of the Curthoys and it was a bit different because CG was giving it a gothic shade by intertwining the past with the present. The heroine is obessed with the Hs Ancestor Hal who was the heroic warrior for the King and was mudered by his wife and there are spooky stories associated with their burial sites. Anyhow, it was a bit slow but the ending was nice. a light read, no angst.
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June 28, 2018She was thrilled at the prospect
Frances had a passion for history, and delving into the family archives of the aristocratic Curthoys would be pure pleasure. And, working for Harry Curthoys fulfilled a childhood fantasy. Hadn't she once worshipped from afar the dashing young lord?
But Frances was no longer a silly schoolgirl. She was mature, levelheaded and engaged to a wonderful man. And Harry, too, had changed. He had become jaded and, why, he wasn't even particularly good-looking! He couldn't compare to her handsome fiance.
Soon, though, to her rather guilty surprise, she found this was not entirely the truth...
Frances had a passion for history, and delving into the family archives of the aristocratic Curthoys would be pure pleasure. And, working for Harry Curthoys fulfilled a childhood fantasy. Hadn't she once worshipped from afar the dashing young lord?
But Frances was no longer a silly schoolgirl. She was mature, levelheaded and engaged to a wonderful man. And Harry, too, had changed. He had become jaded and, why, he wasn't even particularly good-looking! He couldn't compare to her handsome fiance.
Soon, though, to her rather guilty surprise, she found this was not entirely the truth...
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