Scars Shall Fade

by Nerina Hilliard

The scar that marked Andrew Dalwin's face was a slight thing compared to the scar that a woman's fickleness had left on his heartand his feelings. How Trina Meriton overcame his suspicion and distrust and brought him back to happiness is told in a pleasant story, set in Australia. Is Trina Meriton the woman to give him back joy?

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Norma Kathleen Hemming was born on September 1928 in Ilford, Essex, England, UK., she migrated to Australia in 1948.

She wrote for local pulp magazine Thrills Incorporated and enthusiastically participated in the Australian fan scene. She was a founding member of the femme fan group Vertical Horizons, and wrote and acted for the SF theatrical group The Arcturian Players. She returned to international publishing in the late 1950s with stories in Nebula SF and New Worlds. She also wrote eight romance novels for Mills & Boon under the pseudonym of Nerina Hilliard, only one was published before her death, through these she had a long posthumous career, because her romances were published from 1958 to 1976, returning royalties to her estate for three decades. She passed away at the age of 31 of breast canceron 4 July 1960 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heroine plays Maria to Hero's Captain Von Trapp though she doesn't teach her brood of plot moppets about do-re-mi but about dance steps since she is a ballerina by profession.

Hero is badly scarred from a car accident nine years ago. His big fat floozy of a fiancee dumped him immediately and he has been a humorless, wrathful Lord Zeus ever since, as the children nickname him, hurling thunderbolts at anyone in his path, be it his relatives, his employees, or the entire feckless female race.

Heroine, having a strong spine, at least at the beginning, gives him quite a few hilarious set-downs, which was the most enjoyable and unfortunately short-lived part of the book. Eventually, her traitorous lady parts and quivering heart turn her into the standard leaky, spineless jelly blob.

A letter that flutters from her desk onto the ground below to be picked up and read by the hero gives way to a Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstanding and hero hurls more of his thunderbolts at her.

Another car accident, this time with the heroine as victim, sets things right.

Great first half, disappointing, predictable second half.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well that was depressing.
Heroine is 22/23, a ballet dancing AND an academic AND beautiful AND understanding AND…
Hero is a 2d cardboard cutout scarred man (30ish maybe) who falls for the honesty and beauty of the heroine, only to mistrust her at the first opportunity and have a total change in personality. The first half of the book is ok, but it drags. The hero behaves badly, the heroine becomes a wet blanket and when he returns (months later!) to see her, he apologies but never treats her with enough tenderness again. I think her friend had a better idea - third time lucky with a Norwegian dancer. This is my first time reading a book by this author, so maybe her style improves, but there is too much telling, and very little showing or setting a scene properly.

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this author's work. This was a very well written, engaging story with a wonderful heroine.

My only regret is that she forgave the hero too easily. For his own sake, he needed to earn back her love. Oh, darling, don't you realise that when a woman loves a man she forgives him anything?" she told him, smiling and crying at the same time.

I'm a firm believer that love between two people is always conditional. His actions were truly unforgivable so the book fell flat making it an average read versus the 5 stars it could have been had the author put some more content behind the reconciliation.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Stars ~ When Trina's grandfather dies, she's lost her last blood relative, and vulnerable for someone to love her, she falls in love with a man she latter discovers is married. Dennis pursues her relentlessly, proclaiming his devotion and that his wife is a cruel woman who will not grant him a divorce. Aware that she is vulnerable to his kisses, Trina decides she must get away from Sydney for awhile and make a change from the city ballet company she dances for to another one. So falling back on her various academic merits, she applies for a short term position of live in tutor for two sets of twins, recently orphaned and living with a guardian. The woman who interviews Trina turns her down because of her lack of experience, but then later calls her when all other applicants are unsuitable. Geraldine warns Trina that the children are rambunctious and apt to give her a rough time. She also warns Trina off her nephew, the children's guardian; that she needs to keep the children out of his way and she too must not get any romantic ideas towards Andrew. When she meets Andrew, she's shocked by a very fine white scar that runs down one side of his face. It's obvious that he's very self-conscious about the scar, and hides his vulnerability behind a cold, bitter mask. But Trina finds Andrew to be most attractive, in fact the scar only adds to his looks; and she finds herself wanting to see him smile. Andrew's rude arrogant attitude towards women puts Trina's back up, and she tells him a few home truths, forcing him to examine his feelings.

"That's just the trouble . . . that wretched scar." For just one moment she allowed herself to sound angry with him, but she at once regained her calm, even tone. "For a supposedly intelligent man, don't you think you're acting rather stupidly?" She gave him no time to reply to that, but went on quickly, "After all, it's only a scar and it doesn't even disfigure you." She shook her head, meeting an almost boyish, sulky disbelief on the dark face above her.. "I'm not making it up. It doesn't in the least disfigure you. In fact, you're probably the one man in a million who is better-looking with it. At a guess, I think you would probably have even been a little insipidly good-looking before it happened. Now you're starting to pity yourself...."

Her outburst brings Andrew out from behind his wall and slowly he sheds his bitterness. As the days pass, they fall in love and Andrew proposes. Trina's never been happier and admits to herself that what she had once felt for Dennis was only an infatuation. But their happiness comes swiftly to an end, when Andrew comes across a letter to Trina from a girl friend who had jokingly teased Trina to tame her beast of a boss and marry him for his riches. Of course, Andrew takes each word literally and he accuses Trina of being a gold digger.

I really liked both Trina and Andrew, even though Andrew treats Trina brutally and he doesn't grovel not near enough for reader satisfaction, Trina is far from a doormat, though her philosophy that "a woman in love will forgive her man of anything" is very old-fashioned and reminds us that this story was written in the early 60's. The kisses are sometimes punishing, but always passionate. These two are soul mates, and once they get all their petty misunderstandings out of the way, they have a very sweet HEA.

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the very first of Hilliard's book I read back in the 70's. I always remembered it fondly so was pleased to read it again recently. I still enjoyed it very much but have since read a couple of her other books I prefer.

Trina comes to work as a governess for Andrew Dalwin to escape from a romance with a man she belatedly discovered was married. Andrew is embittered after a failed romance and is concious of a disfiguring scar on his face.

They come to understand each other but Andrew's past makes him suspicious and his disfigurement makes him doubt his attraction so it is easy for misunderstandings to take root.

This is essentially a rather sweet story and a nice read.

[Anuradha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Just an ordinary , unremarkable book. The genre you may ask - the hero has a scar on his face and is thus moody and self pitying. Wonder why this particular theme finds so many authors' favor. Is it because we women like to see ourselves as saviors of these poor lost souls - the rich , scarred heroes !?!?

Nothing to really write about. She arrives, he sulks. Slowly she impresses and he flirts around. Then suddenly she loses his trust inevitably due to a misunderstanding, mostly involving an OM. He fumes, walks out. Then realizes the the girl is a gem and comes back crawling.

That's that. Nothing great, nothing bad either. 3 stars.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story with sympathetic, likable characters. Author does great job developing characters who then act in accordance with themselves. The only reason I gave this 4 stars and not 5 is that the romantic tension was in part told rather than shown and because there was a bit of "something bad is going to happen".

[أجمل زهرة · Rating 3 out of 5]

خطوات نحو اللهب من روايات عبير

[Keriboo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Nenya]

DNF, because I'm trying to not be masochistic... thought I'd give it a try, but, from what Kathy says (excerpt from her review below), this is only going to get worse from this point on. And the kind of behavior up ahead is not what I'm in the mood for right now :|.

Kathy
Jan 06, 2016
He was an utter ass to Trina the Ballerina based on a pretty flimsy thing - a half-joking letter he read from Marda the BFF - and refuses to believe Trina really loves him and pushes her away in really nasty demeaning ways. [ Marda told her to go after her woman-hating rich boss since Trina refused to live in sin with her beloved Dennis. Trina leaves after taking a lot of verbal/emotional abuse but still hoping Andrew will wake up and come after her. But he doesn't. Months (yes, months!) pass and it's not until Trina is injured in a car crash that he comes after her. And then, she just rolls over so easily when he finally (!) shows up. "Oh, darling, don't you realize that when a woman loves a man she forgives him anything?" WTF moment.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this novel after Nurse Carol's Secret and Sister to Meryl this was a favourite of mine by Nerina Hilliard. This cover was my original one and loved the story when I read this in 1976.