Sister To Meryl

by Nerina Hillard

Christine felt very strong about Julian Galveston, who appeared to have nothing better to do with his time then break up her sister's marriage. So Christine decided to tackle him on the subject — and found herself getting into very deep waters.

Genres: Harlequin Romance, Harlequin

186 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[boogenhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Busybody h meddles in spoiled little sister's conniving manipulation to abandon husband and chase after supposed playboy H.

The H is totally not interested in little sis but sees a great way to get the h, and thus a surprisingly good story of run and chase romance begins.

The h grows up, the little sis learns a lesson and the H was truly a nice guy with an undeserved reputation.

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favourite story by Nerina Hilliard who only wrote eight books before her early death.

The hero, Julian Galveston is a notable rake and threatening Meryl's marriage. Christine is determined to save her sister from this wicked seducer and confronts him.

He is not at all what she expected and he proposes a surprising bargain to save Meryl. But Christine cheats him and so begins a story as full of angst as you could wish.

Julian is a classic tortured hero who suffers intensely through the book and Christine almost loses everything through her blind prejudice and rose coloured glasses concerning her foolish sister.

I've read this book several times. It is dated, written in the fifties but the emotion of the story holds up well.

[MissKitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very compelling read. The heroine loathes the Hero since she believes in his badboy reputation and that he is out to destroy her sister’s marriage. So she dates him out of revenge and to keep him away from the sister.

Why she wanted to bother to save her spoiled sister’s marriage is beyond me. And I agree with her friend in the book, when she asked why it wasn’t up to the feckless husband of the sister to save their marriage instead of the heroine? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway its the bargain the Hero forces out of her so that he wouldnt make good on his threat to date the sister. It doesnt enamour him to the heroine and later in the book he explains that she wouldnt have believed anything different anyway. So they date for some weeks. As soon as feckless husband takes spoiled sister back, the heroine drops the Hero like a hot potato, by pretending to be engaged to an old boyfriend! The Hero threatens dire consequences, he lures the sister away yet again. And of course the little whore goes running to him. The heroine once again promises feckless brother in law that she will save his marriage since she knows its really her the Hero wants.

Back to the Hero she goes and he makes her marry him. Sadly the sister is dispatched off page, so we didn’t see her humiliation. By this point, the readers and some of the heroine’s friends speculate that the Hero is in love with her, why else would he go to such lengths. The heroine has blinders though.

She manages to escape from him after the wedding and lives w her friends for a couple of months but he finds her and hauls her off to his country estate where they have a dubcon night of sex. The next morning he leaves for brazil, on an expedition (he is an archeologist) so the heroine goes back to her friends and resumes her life, but she is now sad as she has realized that she loves him.

A few months pass when she is visited by the aunt of the Hero telling her he has been injured and is calling for her. So she flies to Brazil. The Hero is in hospital and has amnesia, but apparently can recognize love since he clings to her and seems relieved when she says she is his wife. He gets better fast and they resume their marriage. They go on a second honeymoon for a few months , and build new memories since the Hero still has amnesia.

All is still well when they arrive back. The heroine goes shopping when she runs into the old boyfriend and they have coffee together. The Hero catches them out and apparently this is the catalyst to his regaining his memories.

Suffice it to say they have a few angsty moments because of this, but it didint last too long and they get their happy ever after. In the epilouge the sister writes a letter that she was one who chased the hero, but now she and her husband have resolved their problems and she hopes the heroine forgives her. Bleh, husband should have ditched her after the second time. 🙄

Available on open library.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is very cute. The H is actually a doll (classic reformed rake), while the h? Let's just say, to paraphrase Boogenhagen, let's be happy the H is happy.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite by this author. He’s a philanderer and she’s a martyr to her sister. Both are underhand. Not really my sort of thing.

[Kitcatscratch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly clean and inoffensive. Simply written and a quick time killer

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one from Nerina Hilliard with a less beautiful sister heroine (25) who sees only good in her better looking and rather vile sister (22). Lil sis is married to a handsome, rich guy who is mad about her, but wants to have sex with the hero (30s), and he to some extent leads her on. The heroine, when she hears that the sister has left her husband, goes to the philanderer's house and he gets a bolt from the blue and falls for our rather pushy heroine. He uses her wish to keep him apart from the sister to try to get her to fall for him - but he doesn't do himself any favours and any time he gets angry, he cuts off his nose to spite his face. When the heroine gives him some home truths, he seeks the sister out and tells her he is taking her away to Brazil with him, knowing that this would bring the heroine back in line. But it's not a very nice thing to do, is it? They marry, but she abandons him on the wedding day and when he finds her four months later, he takes her off and in a fit of anger they sleep together. He leaves the next morning for Brazil and another four months pass, until his aunt comes to her that he's been injured and asking for her. Our hard done by hero now has amnesia and is a more gentle version of himself. We learn that his former fiancée had made him bitter, especially after growing up with a sl*t mother as well, and since then he has used and left women. I think we are supposed to feel sorry for him, but he's just a playboy with an interest in archaeology - nothing special. Just because he has finally fallen in love it doesn't make 10/15 years of bad living excusable. Anyway, they marry again and this time have a honeymoon. The heroine has finally realised that she is in love. The HEA comes when he sees her holding the OM's hand and his amnesia is cured.
I understand why some people like this, as he is besotted, but both of them are rather dull and self-satisfied. This is the last of the eight books that this author wrote that I have read, and is probably the third best one. I would recommend her first book - Nurse Carol's Secret, as the heroine is much better developed.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. I liked the scenario, liked both the characters, especially Julian, and I found the push and pull between Julian and Christine to be well portrayed. The reader can see his sincerity, even as we understand her doubts about him.

Where it ran off the rails for me was when the betrayals started. He uses her sister Meryl to manipulate her with little thought to how this will affect Meryl and her husband—which is quite bad enough. But his lousy behavior pales in comparison to Christine climbing out a window at their wedding reception and disappearing. She justifies it to herself with the excuse that she promised to marry him but didn't say anything about living with him—which is about as valid as having your fingers crossed behind your back for negating a promise. So she goes through with the ceremony and abandons him at the reception, leaving him with a roomful of friends and family and a locked door with no bride behind it. The discovery of her desertion happens off the page, but it isn't hard to imagine the humiliation and awkwardness that ensued. Equally stupid and cruel was the birthday card that she "accidentally" sends to him that alerts him to her whereabouts.

From there, the plot completely broken, the author throws in anything and everything including more betrayals, more desertions, poison darts in the Brazilian jungle, amnesia, and an ending that drags on for what seemed like 20 pages after the HEA had been achieved. Too bad. Could have been good.

[Christine]

I GAVE THIS 5 STARS BUT GOODREADS KEEPS REMOVING THE RATING

I might need to stop partway and finish after I gather my thoughts.
After reading the posted reviews I was not sure what to expect from this book. So I was prepared for the plot but also surprised how good the story was.

There were characters I really liked and characters I did not. Meryl was one I had no use for, though I partly blame her mother (not in the book) And her sister (Christine - that's a good name LOL) for spoiling her so badly she expected that same entitlement from everyone else as she went through life and her husband (Roger) continued the spoiling and reiterating her feelings of entitlement. I also had less then apathetic feelings about Roger. It was mentioned the book he was spineless and I agree.

Right from the beginning I had two thoughts:

1) Meryl was the author of her problems
2) Christine should have kept her nose out of her sister's marriage.

I picked up right away that there was more going on with main male character (Julian) as I figured there was more to his reputation and more to his feelings for Christine. Unfortunately Christine was so blinded by loyalty to her sister she refused to see the truth until those rose coloured glasses were removed.

I really enjoyed this one. It is 8ntense so I don't think it will be a re-read but definitely one I would recommend.

[Live2Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I wonder why a book is name the way it is...like seriously? That’s the best you can do?! I guess you shouldn’t judge a book by its title either. A much slower pace book but heavily packed with goodies, great storyline & well developed characters. Hero/heroine who are true to self, who never really stray too far from their original mold, especially the heroine. She was one daring lady! Time span was perfect & I always appreciate authors who expand/explore their story a little bit more than those authors who only write one driven plot & dragging it for 180 pages long. My only complaint is that meanwhile there are some angst, it’s low on emotional angst. Some, intense, emotional angst would’ve been nice. Btw, when you read this book, you will end up wanting to strangle the sister. She’s a fickle one!

[Ellyn (Mrs. Darcy in my Dreams) · Rating 3 out of 5]

No reason to go to the lengths the h did to help fix her sister's marriage. The BIL was a spineless wimp who couldn't fight for his wife or have some pride and tell her to not let the door hit her on the way out!! He took her back twice! The h in this book was OTT distrustful, only going by word of spoiled sister.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this book several times since I first read it in 1977 the date of it being republished. At the time I was not aware of this and presumed it was a new book. I had no awareness that the author had died in 1960 from breast cancer. This was one of my own but the cover was different to the one shown with a pink cover I think. Yes it is dated, written in the fifties, published after her death but the emotion of the story holds up well by the standards of the day I read it in the 1970s.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote a much longer review with plenty of spoilers here: https://www.morebooksthantime.com/sis...

Wow. Perfectly clean, intense, rich character development, well-done, interesting minor characters. Loved this.

This was one of those “if you liked Maggy by Sara Seale you’ll like” goodreads recommendations. Excellent choice.