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Taken On Trust
Lyn couldn't tell what he was thinking
That was the trouble. Despite their initial conflict, it hadn't taken Lyn long to realize that Morgan French was the only man in the world for her.
What Lyn wanted she usually got and this time was no exception. But Morgan was infuriatingly enigmatic about his feelings for her. And his question--"We'd better get married then, hadn't we?"--was disappointingly casual.
Was he only marrying her because of her wealthy background, Lyn wondered. Or did he really love her?
That was the trouble. Despite their initial conflict, it hadn't taken Lyn long to realize that Morgan French was the only man in the world for her.
What Lyn wanted she usually got and this time was no exception. But Morgan was infuriatingly enigmatic about his feelings for her. And his question--"We'd better get married then, hadn't we?"--was disappointingly casual.
Was he only marrying her because of her wealthy background, Lyn wondered. Or did he really love her?
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Sally Wentworth
108 books95 followersDoreen was born on 1936 or 1937 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She married Donald Alfred Hornsblow, with whom she has a son Keith, in 1968. The family lived in Braughing, England.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 27, 2017
Re Taken on Trust - Sally Wentworth is on the crazy train to HPlandia with this one, she goes whacktastically over the top and all I can say is, Fasten your seat belts, grab your Captain and get those Keebler Elves to work overtime. This one is a dramatic trainwreck you won't be able to look away from.
The story starts on an Israeli Kibbutz. The h notices a vintage Rolls Royce pull up and gets an uneasy feeling about it, she is right to be uneasy. The man driving it has been sent by her father to collect her and bring her home. Now technically, the h is 20 yrs old. But she is a bit spoiled and a bit willful, so the very handsome man who comes to get her manages to successfully bully her into returning to England.
The man brought a letter from her father and as the h reads it, we get the backstory on the situation. The h's parents were married for 25 years when her business tycoon father came home one day and told her mother he met a 29 yr old and he was getting a divorce. The h's mother fell apart, the h had her own feelings of abandonment and betrayal and the upshot was her parent's divorced and the h and her mother had to leave the family home because it was her father's ancestral house. The h is very, very, very angry. Especially when her father tries to shove his tart down her throat and wants her to come live with them.
That is a big problem for the h, for one she can't believe her parents are divorced. For two, the betrayal wasn't only of her mother, in a very real sense the h was betrayed too. Her father is weird. He is controlling to the point of he doesn't even want her to work or go school for a career, even when she suggests it and yet he seems determined that she accept his tart and become her BFF after he married her. The h has a sense of morality and in her morality, people who make promises don't break them and father's don't cheat.
The h's mother takes herself off on a world cruise and the h has a bratty moment and goes to a kibbutz, where she has been for the last six months until the H comes to find her. While the h is kibbutzing, the h's mother marries an Australian she met on the cruise and so she is mostly off stage, wandering around Australia for most of the book. The h is a bit put out that no one seems to care about her enough to find her, but the H talks fast enough and she is interested in him enough that they go back to England together.
Since the H has to transport the vintage Rolls back to England and he is attracted to the h, they take the boat back and the voyage takes a few weeks. The H and h become lovers and the H attempts to bring the h around to her father's new marriage, the h is adamant that she wants nothing to do with the tramp. I kinda thought maybe the h was just being a might too bratty, but then the H and h decide to get married. (The first part of the book is them bopping like bunnies on Viagra and the h is totally overwhelmed. The H is very non committal, but he suggests marriage and the h agrees because she is just so in love.)
They return to England. The h meets up with her father, but still refuses to accept his new wife and she makes it very clear that she doesn't want the wife at the big wedding her father is insisting she have. (She is really excited about marrying the man she loves too, but I wouldn't call her a bridezilla exactly.) The father tries to object but the h is firm, her mother will be there and the h doesn't want her father's mistress flaunting it all over herself and her mother.
We get a little more info on the H too, tho the h has some worries cause he is acting very diffident and distracted and he has never said he loves her. The h, who has been told her whole life that the only success for a man is to be a big business tycoon, finds out the H used to be a stockbroker, but dropped out because he was high up on the food chain and a crisis hit and he did not like having to lay people off. The H claims he wants to run a farm instead, the h doesn't think a farm is really her thing, but her father has an answer for that. The h's father offers the H a directorship and the H agrees to take the position, the H's father also buys the h a nice flat for them to live in.
The h is on cloud nine, with the only worry is that there is something off about the H, but when she questions him, he just lurves her up and then wanders off and the h doesn't know where he goes or what he does. However, she is confident that her love will solve everything, so she decides to trust. Then the day of the wedding arrives, the h and her father had a big argument about the new wife attending the day before and the h is adamant that she does not. According to her father, his new wife is furious and giving him a hard time. The h doesn't care, for her it is a family event and her father's mistress is not family.
The h and her father get ready to walk down the isle, but her father won't look at her and when the h looks among the guests, she sees her father's new wife sitting on the groom's side of the aisle. The h stops the bridal procession and has the wife escorted out.
( A bit of bad behavior, but this h is immature and honestly I was puzzled at the father's insistence and the wife's insistence that the h be their best buddy. It was almost like the father was determined to have the h validate his marriage and his wife. I felt that the father needed the h's wholehearted approval and he was going to do whatever he had to do to force it out of her. Which makes me wonder about these people's parenting skills, I mean her dad cheated on her mum, the h had to try and support her very bitter and angry mother through a divorce when she had no back up of her own and was very much floundering.
Then her mother just goes off - which I understood and the h honestly believes that her mum and new hubby are in love, but the mother has effectively removed herself from the h's life and increased her sense of abandonment. This h is 20 yrs old and father tries to treat her like she is ten one minute and then like she is his disapproving mother the next.
Now presumably the h was taught that cheating is wrong and the father does insist that the h keep her promises, so why on earth would any decent parent force his mistress on his kid who sees the woman as destroying their home? And why would any mature woman who 'just happened to fall in love' with a married man be so determined to force her presence on the very hostile and resentful kid? The h calls the woman a gold digger tart, and at first I thought she was just being bratty, but then the real drama starts and I had to have a big rethink.)
So the h has the father's tart wife thrown out, the wedding proceeds and the h is in love and happy to be married. The H is upset, but the h was really clear that the woman wasn't invited and they wind up having a roofie kissing moment. The h goes to change and the father's wife walks in.
The woman starts by saying that she picked the H to go get the h from Israel and that the h's father offered him $250,000.00 pounds, a flat and a car to marry the h for six months. The wife says it was to get the h off their backs, which made no sense at all, because the h has pretty much been ignoring the father and his wife except for a few brief meetings over lunch with her father. She also tells the h that the H doesn't even like her and did not want to marry her, but he is being well paid and that she, the wife picked the H out.
The h calls her a liar and the woman tells her to check the H's inside jacket pocket. The h finds the H and he does indeed have a check and then she finds out that the H is the father's wife's cousin and the woman did indeed set the h up. But the H claims that he was going to tear up the check. The h is totally devastated, but she holds it together and the H forces her to leave with him on their honeymoon. The father's wife is at the airport to see them off and the h knows that if she backs out of going off with the H, either he or the wife will spread the story of the two hour marriage and the paparazzi will have a field day.
The honeymoon doesn't go well at all, even tho the H tears the check up and claims he doesn't wan the father's job offer. The h is devastated and heartbroken and really, really, really furious. The h basically ignores the H for the week and on the last day the H claims that her father wanted to see the h married and that he was the lucky candidate.
He rants on and on about how selfish she is and accuses her of being jealous that her father loves his new wife more than her and that she was self-centeredly trying to break her father's new marriage up by going to the kibbutz. Supposedly her father and his wife knew where she was the whole time and the wife continually complained to the H about how selfish and bratty the h was. (Which is kinda weird, because the h did her best to avoid her father except for a few lunch meets until her mother went on the cruise.) Something happened, the H doesn't say what, that made the father ask the H to go retrieve the h.
Then the H tells her fell in love with her, after he had seen her picture and got to know her a bit. Which the h absolutely doesn't believe because this H has actively avoided even mentioning the world love. But anyways, the H claims he loved her and then H claims that her father's wife hates her but really did not mean to break them up as the h's father really wants her married. (Which i completely did not buy, because what the woman did is guaranteed to cause a divorce.)
The h doesn't believe that either, she tells the H that she will tell her father about this and he will finally see what a gold digger the woman is. The H does NOT deny that the wife is using the father, but the H tells her that the wife wants her father happy because she is pregnant and the H threatens the h that if she says anything to the father about what the wife did, he will make her look hysterical and also tell her father that pregnant women do crazy things and that the h is just being evil.
The h doesn't know what to think, but the H declares they are through and he wanders off and the h goes back to London. She gets herself a job and starts taking classes and she wonders if she made a mistake to believe her father's wife. She calls her father, but he won't talk to her and several months go by. The h gets herself a better job and she doesn't get a letter requesting a divorce, she doesn't date either and then her father's housekeeper calls. The h hasn't talked to the H, her father or her mother in all this time, but the housekeeper is hysterical cause her father had some kind of accident in Tenerife with his wife.
The h finds out her 47 yr old father had a heart attack and crashed the car he and his wife were in. Apparently this is his second heart attack, the first one occurred while the h was in Israel and that is why her father wanted her home. The h goes to Tenerife. The father is in intensive care and his wife is in the hospital too. The accident set off her labor and the h ends up helping her through it.
The h figures out that the H was supposed to be the solution to the father's issues of taking care of his daughter and finding someone to run his business empire. The wife says the father would have gotten a divorce years ago except he wanted the h to be close to adulthood before he left. (Which makes me wonder just how long the affair with his new wife has been going on and also just who exactly is the father of the baby, as well as why he has lied to the h for so long and why we never hear any of this from the father.)
The h has to help care for the wife and baby and her father when they all go back to England. Apparently her father always wanted a son, so the h realizes that she has been replaced, but she really doesn't react to that little bombshell. The wife does say she is sorry that she broke up the H and h, but the h tells her she deserved it. The h has some mopey moments cause she still loves the H, but she has a lot to do sorting all the invalids out. Then the H shows up and claims that he was only giving her time to sort her own self out, he has bought a farm and he loves her so he wants her to become a farmer's wife. The h loves him, so she says yes and they plan to redo their wedding night for the HEA.
This one was really strange in the dynamics between the characters. The H, aside from being a perpetual lurve club machine, doesn't seem to be that interested in the h. The h is certainly not the farm wife type and I rather thought that with her job and getting promotions and going to school that SW was planning on having the h become a tycoon on a vengeance trip herself.
The father of the h is most interesting in particular. Supposedly he lies to the h for years and even buys her a husband so she will be happy, but in the end it was more to get a successor for himself until his heir could grow up. The h was smart and had aptitude, so I don't understand why the father did not let her get an education and hire her to run things. I REALLY don't get why the father was so adamant the h buddy up with his tart wife, except that he needed the h as the sweetener to get the H to watch the company pot. Seems like the h isn't the only selfish person here.
Just why did the wife and the H go behind the h's back like that? I would think that if the H really did love the h as he claimed, when the h said she did not want the woman at the wedding, the H would have said she is my cousin and pretty much my only family, so shut up and bear it. Instead they both hide their relationship from her and why did the H know the woman was preggers before anyone else did? Plus why was the wife so insistent she be at the wedding? I mean, really if the animosity is that bad, claim morning sickness and stay home. But be sure to have the h's father announce it to all and sundry and get one over on the h that way. I could see the announcement at the wedding reception now, it would have been a much more effective way to humiliate the h.
Plus why doesn't the H ever defend his cousin? The h is pretty adamant the woman is a using gold digger and the H never denies it. He just tells the h she is jealous, but there again, if the woman you love is berating your family, don't you say something? I also want to know how the father, with multiple heart attacks AFTER he marries the lady, was able to sire a child when he and he h's mother were married for 25 years and never did? That whole situation was just too vague and the father never clarifies any of this, he just lies to the h a lot.
This one was very frustrating, while high on the drama scale, there was too much that did not make sense. The h just pretty much gives up at the end and that character switch came at the last ten pages of the book. It was a complete reversal of the h's persona and while initially I thought the h was just having an immature adjustment moment and she was really volatile, ultimately I have to conclude she really wasn't wrong in her assessment of the situation. Her father is a slime swiller hooked up to a gold digging tart, the H needed a lot of money and the h is the means to get his share while the tart wife gets hers. The minute the h's father kicks it, the H will file for divorce and claim the h's share of her father's estate and then he and the cousin will wander off together into the HP mist.
I couldn't buy the HEA here, so that makes this one a loser in the HP adventure stakes. The drama was way over the top, but it was an obvious filler for a very poor plot. This one is highly dependent on the reader's taste for outrageous drama and a willingness to overlook some really big plot holes and accept that this h is lied to, deceived and manipulated into acceptant exhaustion for a very suspect HP HEA. As always HP tolerance mileage varies, I just wasn't enjoying the ride on this one but others may have more fun than I did and have better luck here.
The story starts on an Israeli Kibbutz. The h notices a vintage Rolls Royce pull up and gets an uneasy feeling about it, she is right to be uneasy. The man driving it has been sent by her father to collect her and bring her home. Now technically, the h is 20 yrs old. But she is a bit spoiled and a bit willful, so the very handsome man who comes to get her manages to successfully bully her into returning to England.
The man brought a letter from her father and as the h reads it, we get the backstory on the situation. The h's parents were married for 25 years when her business tycoon father came home one day and told her mother he met a 29 yr old and he was getting a divorce. The h's mother fell apart, the h had her own feelings of abandonment and betrayal and the upshot was her parent's divorced and the h and her mother had to leave the family home because it was her father's ancestral house. The h is very, very, very angry. Especially when her father tries to shove his tart down her throat and wants her to come live with them.
That is a big problem for the h, for one she can't believe her parents are divorced. For two, the betrayal wasn't only of her mother, in a very real sense the h was betrayed too. Her father is weird. He is controlling to the point of he doesn't even want her to work or go school for a career, even when she suggests it and yet he seems determined that she accept his tart and become her BFF after he married her. The h has a sense of morality and in her morality, people who make promises don't break them and father's don't cheat.
The h's mother takes herself off on a world cruise and the h has a bratty moment and goes to a kibbutz, where she has been for the last six months until the H comes to find her. While the h is kibbutzing, the h's mother marries an Australian she met on the cruise and so she is mostly off stage, wandering around Australia for most of the book. The h is a bit put out that no one seems to care about her enough to find her, but the H talks fast enough and she is interested in him enough that they go back to England together.
Since the H has to transport the vintage Rolls back to England and he is attracted to the h, they take the boat back and the voyage takes a few weeks. The H and h become lovers and the H attempts to bring the h around to her father's new marriage, the h is adamant that she wants nothing to do with the tramp. I kinda thought maybe the h was just being a might too bratty, but then the H and h decide to get married. (The first part of the book is them bopping like bunnies on Viagra and the h is totally overwhelmed. The H is very non committal, but he suggests marriage and the h agrees because she is just so in love.)
They return to England. The h meets up with her father, but still refuses to accept his new wife and she makes it very clear that she doesn't want the wife at the big wedding her father is insisting she have. (She is really excited about marrying the man she loves too, but I wouldn't call her a bridezilla exactly.) The father tries to object but the h is firm, her mother will be there and the h doesn't want her father's mistress flaunting it all over herself and her mother.
We get a little more info on the H too, tho the h has some worries cause he is acting very diffident and distracted and he has never said he loves her. The h, who has been told her whole life that the only success for a man is to be a big business tycoon, finds out the H used to be a stockbroker, but dropped out because he was high up on the food chain and a crisis hit and he did not like having to lay people off. The H claims he wants to run a farm instead, the h doesn't think a farm is really her thing, but her father has an answer for that. The h's father offers the H a directorship and the H agrees to take the position, the H's father also buys the h a nice flat for them to live in.
The h is on cloud nine, with the only worry is that there is something off about the H, but when she questions him, he just lurves her up and then wanders off and the h doesn't know where he goes or what he does. However, she is confident that her love will solve everything, so she decides to trust. Then the day of the wedding arrives, the h and her father had a big argument about the new wife attending the day before and the h is adamant that she does not. According to her father, his new wife is furious and giving him a hard time. The h doesn't care, for her it is a family event and her father's mistress is not family.
The h and her father get ready to walk down the isle, but her father won't look at her and when the h looks among the guests, she sees her father's new wife sitting on the groom's side of the aisle. The h stops the bridal procession and has the wife escorted out.
( A bit of bad behavior, but this h is immature and honestly I was puzzled at the father's insistence and the wife's insistence that the h be their best buddy. It was almost like the father was determined to have the h validate his marriage and his wife. I felt that the father needed the h's wholehearted approval and he was going to do whatever he had to do to force it out of her. Which makes me wonder about these people's parenting skills, I mean her dad cheated on her mum, the h had to try and support her very bitter and angry mother through a divorce when she had no back up of her own and was very much floundering.
Then her mother just goes off - which I understood and the h honestly believes that her mum and new hubby are in love, but the mother has effectively removed herself from the h's life and increased her sense of abandonment. This h is 20 yrs old and father tries to treat her like she is ten one minute and then like she is his disapproving mother the next.
Now presumably the h was taught that cheating is wrong and the father does insist that the h keep her promises, so why on earth would any decent parent force his mistress on his kid who sees the woman as destroying their home? And why would any mature woman who 'just happened to fall in love' with a married man be so determined to force her presence on the very hostile and resentful kid? The h calls the woman a gold digger tart, and at first I thought she was just being bratty, but then the real drama starts and I had to have a big rethink.)
So the h has the father's tart wife thrown out, the wedding proceeds and the h is in love and happy to be married. The H is upset, but the h was really clear that the woman wasn't invited and they wind up having a roofie kissing moment. The h goes to change and the father's wife walks in.
The woman starts by saying that she picked the H to go get the h from Israel and that the h's father offered him $250,000.00 pounds, a flat and a car to marry the h for six months. The wife says it was to get the h off their backs, which made no sense at all, because the h has pretty much been ignoring the father and his wife except for a few brief meetings over lunch with her father. She also tells the h that the H doesn't even like her and did not want to marry her, but he is being well paid and that she, the wife picked the H out.
The h calls her a liar and the woman tells her to check the H's inside jacket pocket. The h finds the H and he does indeed have a check and then she finds out that the H is the father's wife's cousin and the woman did indeed set the h up. But the H claims that he was going to tear up the check. The h is totally devastated, but she holds it together and the H forces her to leave with him on their honeymoon. The father's wife is at the airport to see them off and the h knows that if she backs out of going off with the H, either he or the wife will spread the story of the two hour marriage and the paparazzi will have a field day.
The honeymoon doesn't go well at all, even tho the H tears the check up and claims he doesn't wan the father's job offer. The h is devastated and heartbroken and really, really, really furious. The h basically ignores the H for the week and on the last day the H claims that her father wanted to see the h married and that he was the lucky candidate.
He rants on and on about how selfish she is and accuses her of being jealous that her father loves his new wife more than her and that she was self-centeredly trying to break her father's new marriage up by going to the kibbutz. Supposedly her father and his wife knew where she was the whole time and the wife continually complained to the H about how selfish and bratty the h was. (Which is kinda weird, because the h did her best to avoid her father except for a few lunch meets until her mother went on the cruise.) Something happened, the H doesn't say what, that made the father ask the H to go retrieve the h.
Then the H tells her fell in love with her, after he had seen her picture and got to know her a bit. Which the h absolutely doesn't believe because this H has actively avoided even mentioning the world love. But anyways, the H claims he loved her and then H claims that her father's wife hates her but really did not mean to break them up as the h's father really wants her married. (Which i completely did not buy, because what the woman did is guaranteed to cause a divorce.)
The h doesn't believe that either, she tells the H that she will tell her father about this and he will finally see what a gold digger the woman is. The H does NOT deny that the wife is using the father, but the H tells her that the wife wants her father happy because she is pregnant and the H threatens the h that if she says anything to the father about what the wife did, he will make her look hysterical and also tell her father that pregnant women do crazy things and that the h is just being evil.
The h doesn't know what to think, but the H declares they are through and he wanders off and the h goes back to London. She gets herself a job and starts taking classes and she wonders if she made a mistake to believe her father's wife. She calls her father, but he won't talk to her and several months go by. The h gets herself a better job and she doesn't get a letter requesting a divorce, she doesn't date either and then her father's housekeeper calls. The h hasn't talked to the H, her father or her mother in all this time, but the housekeeper is hysterical cause her father had some kind of accident in Tenerife with his wife.
The h finds out her 47 yr old father had a heart attack and crashed the car he and his wife were in. Apparently this is his second heart attack, the first one occurred while the h was in Israel and that is why her father wanted her home. The h goes to Tenerife. The father is in intensive care and his wife is in the hospital too. The accident set off her labor and the h ends up helping her through it.
The h figures out that the H was supposed to be the solution to the father's issues of taking care of his daughter and finding someone to run his business empire. The wife says the father would have gotten a divorce years ago except he wanted the h to be close to adulthood before he left. (Which makes me wonder just how long the affair with his new wife has been going on and also just who exactly is the father of the baby, as well as why he has lied to the h for so long and why we never hear any of this from the father.)
The h has to help care for the wife and baby and her father when they all go back to England. Apparently her father always wanted a son, so the h realizes that she has been replaced, but she really doesn't react to that little bombshell. The wife does say she is sorry that she broke up the H and h, but the h tells her she deserved it. The h has some mopey moments cause she still loves the H, but she has a lot to do sorting all the invalids out. Then the H shows up and claims that he was only giving her time to sort her own self out, he has bought a farm and he loves her so he wants her to become a farmer's wife. The h loves him, so she says yes and they plan to redo their wedding night for the HEA.
This one was really strange in the dynamics between the characters. The H, aside from being a perpetual lurve club machine, doesn't seem to be that interested in the h. The h is certainly not the farm wife type and I rather thought that with her job and getting promotions and going to school that SW was planning on having the h become a tycoon on a vengeance trip herself.
The father of the h is most interesting in particular. Supposedly he lies to the h for years and even buys her a husband so she will be happy, but in the end it was more to get a successor for himself until his heir could grow up. The h was smart and had aptitude, so I don't understand why the father did not let her get an education and hire her to run things. I REALLY don't get why the father was so adamant the h buddy up with his tart wife, except that he needed the h as the sweetener to get the H to watch the company pot. Seems like the h isn't the only selfish person here.
Just why did the wife and the H go behind the h's back like that? I would think that if the H really did love the h as he claimed, when the h said she did not want the woman at the wedding, the H would have said she is my cousin and pretty much my only family, so shut up and bear it. Instead they both hide their relationship from her and why did the H know the woman was preggers before anyone else did? Plus why was the wife so insistent she be at the wedding? I mean, really if the animosity is that bad, claim morning sickness and stay home. But be sure to have the h's father announce it to all and sundry and get one over on the h that way. I could see the announcement at the wedding reception now, it would have been a much more effective way to humiliate the h.
Plus why doesn't the H ever defend his cousin? The h is pretty adamant the woman is a using gold digger and the H never denies it. He just tells the h she is jealous, but there again, if the woman you love is berating your family, don't you say something? I also want to know how the father, with multiple heart attacks AFTER he marries the lady, was able to sire a child when he and he h's mother were married for 25 years and never did? That whole situation was just too vague and the father never clarifies any of this, he just lies to the h a lot.
This one was very frustrating, while high on the drama scale, there was too much that did not make sense. The h just pretty much gives up at the end and that character switch came at the last ten pages of the book. It was a complete reversal of the h's persona and while initially I thought the h was just having an immature adjustment moment and she was really volatile, ultimately I have to conclude she really wasn't wrong in her assessment of the situation. Her father is a slime swiller hooked up to a gold digging tart, the H needed a lot of money and the h is the means to get his share while the tart wife gets hers. The minute the h's father kicks it, the H will file for divorce and claim the h's share of her father's estate and then he and the cousin will wander off together into the HP mist.
I couldn't buy the HEA here, so that makes this one a loser in the HP adventure stakes. The drama was way over the top, but it was an obvious filler for a very poor plot. This one is highly dependent on the reader's taste for outrageous drama and a willingness to overlook some really big plot holes and accept that this h is lied to, deceived and manipulated into acceptant exhaustion for a very suspect HP HEA. As always HP tolerance mileage varies, I just wasn't enjoying the ride on this one but others may have more fun than I did and have better luck here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2021
I enjoyed the crazy in this one.
All the characters are awful, but I ended up feeling sympathetic/sorry for the heroine. Her parents put their own drama above her. The hero (who was paid to collect her from a Kibbutz in Israel) never seemed to like her – even if he said he was attracted from the moment he saw her photograph.
Plus, there was that marrying for revenge/teach her a lesson . .
Heroine's happy ending is that everyone will tolerate her, while taking second place to her infant half-sibling.
Still, I couldn't stop reading. Plenty of angst and drama. Boogenhagen has all the details.
All the characters are awful, but I ended up feeling sympathetic/sorry for the heroine. Her parents put their own drama above her. The hero (who was paid to collect her from a Kibbutz in Israel) never seemed to like her – even if he said he was attracted from the moment he saw her photograph.
Plus, there was that marrying for revenge/teach her a lesson . .
Heroine's happy ending is that everyone will tolerate her, while taking second place to her infant half-sibling.
Still, I couldn't stop reading. Plenty of angst and drama. Boogenhagen has all the details.
March 16, 2023
This was different.
The heroine is portrayed as a spoiled selfish young woman that hates her stepmother and is angry with her father because he dumped her mother after 25 years of marriage because of a woman half his age.
The author convey that she shouldn’t be angry at all, she shouldn’t resent this young woman because her father - her very rich father- dumped her mother to marry her, and she should accept happily the fact, not siding with her mother who suffered very much for being dumped, instead accepting to live with his father and his new ho… ehem- wife.
The heroine is- in the author’s mind- very selfish and childish because she left her father’s house and went to live in a kibbutz for almost a year- without asking one penny to her father, mind- so when a stranger, a very charming stranger, comes and basically forces her to go back to her father because he wants her there, she accepts reluctantly (still being a bitch isn’t she) and during the month they spent together she falls in love with the man.
There’s something strange here, who’s this man who is in charge of the heroine and has to take her back to her father?
And why her father is happy that she seems in love with him?
The hero confesses he’s a dropout that doesn’t know what to do with his life, and after spending years in business, is thinking of completely changing his lifestyle, for example working in his own farm.
The heroine, who’s a rich daddy’s girl, would prefer him to stay in business, and the hero eventually accepts a job in her father’s company.
He proposes and eventually they get married.
There’s still the issue with the stepmother.
The heroine is unable to accept the woman, and her father keeps pushing her down the heroine’s throat.
The heroine asks him not to take ow to her wedding and her father is really upset and disappointed.
In the meantime her mother has remarried and is happy with another man, and the heroine is faced with the fact that her parents marriage has been on the rocks for years.
Still, the heroine harbor a grudge to her stepmother since her father left his family to be with her.
On the wedding day her stepmother is in church near the hero and the heroine has her removed.
The woman afterwards tells the heroine that her father bought the hero to get rid of her and to persuade him to marry her.
This completely destroys the heroine and after a nightmarish honeymoon she and the hero separate.
I hoped that karma did its job when her father and wife ( the bitch is pregnant) have a bad accident because the man has a heart attack, sadly none of them dies and the heroine is forced to take care of them, and of her half brother too when he’s born.
Eventually the hero comes back and tells her he loves her and was waiting for her to overcome her anger issues to him and to her father.
Oh by the way he’s the stepmother’s cousin, so he’s always oh her side.
I think I hated this pov, but I’m not sure that the author meant it, I think this is another of her paradox books, where absurd and unacceptable things seem to be normal and the reader is completely unbalanced.
The heroine was completely right in her anger to a father who dumped his family after 25 years for a much younger model and was so uncaring to ask his daughter to live with him, and as if it was not enough, he had the bad taste to get his younger wife pregnant.
The daughter took the brunt of it because she saw her mother suffering because of those two.
The father was a real bastard sob, since he was really ready to pay the hero to marry- and to get out of his hair- the heroine.
Such a father.
Even on her wedding day this paragon of man didn’t respect her wish not to see her stepmother.
After all, all the heroine asked to her father was to meet him without his wife.
It wasn’t too big a sacrifice.
Actions have consequences and when her father decided to ruin his marriage because of another woman he should have predicted that not every member of his family would be happy with its his choice. His action, his consequences.
While the hero, that thought her spoiled and selfish, was ready to defend his cousin/ ow, when she basically destroyed their marriage. Because well the heroine hated her and so she deserved that she ruined her marriage.
I would like to ask this woman, who surely married a man twice her age because she loved him and not because he was a billionaire, it there weren’t any unmarried men available when she decided to ruin a family.
Oh how I wish she and her child had died in the car accident.
I think that everyone here was awful to the heroine and never tried to understand her pov, the pov of a daughter that sees her family going into pieces because of another woman.
They all should have been more patient with her and eventually, maybe, she would have accepted the new situation.
But I’m not sure that the author liked these people.
I suspect she very willingly and consciously described an awful and selfish couple of parents, and evil stepmother and the poor abused heroine that had to cope with all of them.
After all SW is a very clever and smart writer, and her books are really unpredictable. I think she hated everyone and she saw the heroine as a victim that had, eventually, to accept the facts as they were because she couldn’t change them. A sad lesson of life.
But I liked the book because it was angsty and fast paced.
The heroine is portrayed as a spoiled selfish young woman that hates her stepmother and is angry with her father because he dumped her mother after 25 years of marriage because of a woman half his age.
The author convey that she shouldn’t be angry at all, she shouldn’t resent this young woman because her father - her very rich father- dumped her mother to marry her, and she should accept happily the fact, not siding with her mother who suffered very much for being dumped, instead accepting to live with his father and his new ho… ehem- wife.
The heroine is- in the author’s mind- very selfish and childish because she left her father’s house and went to live in a kibbutz for almost a year- without asking one penny to her father, mind- so when a stranger, a very charming stranger, comes and basically forces her to go back to her father because he wants her there, she accepts reluctantly (still being a bitch isn’t she) and during the month they spent together she falls in love with the man.
There’s something strange here, who’s this man who is in charge of the heroine and has to take her back to her father?
And why her father is happy that she seems in love with him?
The hero confesses he’s a dropout that doesn’t know what to do with his life, and after spending years in business, is thinking of completely changing his lifestyle, for example working in his own farm.
The heroine, who’s a rich daddy’s girl, would prefer him to stay in business, and the hero eventually accepts a job in her father’s company.
He proposes and eventually they get married.
There’s still the issue with the stepmother.
The heroine is unable to accept the woman, and her father keeps pushing her down the heroine’s throat.
The heroine asks him not to take ow to her wedding and her father is really upset and disappointed.
In the meantime her mother has remarried and is happy with another man, and the heroine is faced with the fact that her parents marriage has been on the rocks for years.
Still, the heroine harbor a grudge to her stepmother since her father left his family to be with her.
On the wedding day her stepmother is in church near the hero and the heroine has her removed.
The woman afterwards tells the heroine that her father bought the hero to get rid of her and to persuade him to marry her.
This completely destroys the heroine and after a nightmarish honeymoon she and the hero separate.
I hoped that karma did its job when her father and wife ( the bitch is pregnant) have a bad accident because the man has a heart attack, sadly none of them dies and the heroine is forced to take care of them, and of her half brother too when he’s born.
Eventually the hero comes back and tells her he loves her and was waiting for her to overcome her anger issues to him and to her father.
Oh by the way he’s the stepmother’s cousin, so he’s always oh her side.
I think I hated this pov, but I’m not sure that the author meant it, I think this is another of her paradox books, where absurd and unacceptable things seem to be normal and the reader is completely unbalanced.
The heroine was completely right in her anger to a father who dumped his family after 25 years for a much younger model and was so uncaring to ask his daughter to live with him, and as if it was not enough, he had the bad taste to get his younger wife pregnant.
The daughter took the brunt of it because she saw her mother suffering because of those two.
The father was a real bastard sob, since he was really ready to pay the hero to marry- and to get out of his hair- the heroine.
Such a father.
Even on her wedding day this paragon of man didn’t respect her wish not to see her stepmother.
After all, all the heroine asked to her father was to meet him without his wife.
It wasn’t too big a sacrifice.
Actions have consequences and when her father decided to ruin his marriage because of another woman he should have predicted that not every member of his family would be happy with its his choice. His action, his consequences.
While the hero, that thought her spoiled and selfish, was ready to defend his cousin/ ow, when she basically destroyed their marriage. Because well the heroine hated her and so she deserved that she ruined her marriage.
I would like to ask this woman, who surely married a man twice her age because she loved him and not because he was a billionaire, it there weren’t any unmarried men available when she decided to ruin a family.
Oh how I wish she and her child had died in the car accident.
I think that everyone here was awful to the heroine and never tried to understand her pov, the pov of a daughter that sees her family going into pieces because of another woman.
They all should have been more patient with her and eventually, maybe, she would have accepted the new situation.
But I’m not sure that the author liked these people.
I suspect she very willingly and consciously described an awful and selfish couple of parents, and evil stepmother and the poor abused heroine that had to cope with all of them.
After all SW is a very clever and smart writer, and her books are really unpredictable. I think she hated everyone and she saw the heroine as a victim that had, eventually, to accept the facts as they were because she couldn’t change them. A sad lesson of life.
But I liked the book because it was angsty and fast paced.
June 8, 2021
Lyn couldn't tell what he was thinking
That was the trouble. Despite their initial conflict, it hadn't taken Lyn long to realize that Morgan French was the only man in the world for her.
What Lyn wanted she usually got and this time was no exception. But Morgan was infuriatingly enigmatic about his feelings for her. And his question--"We'd better get married then, hadn't we?"--was disappointingly casual.
Was he only marrying her because of her wealthy background, Lyn wondered. Or did he really love her?
That was the trouble. Despite their initial conflict, it hadn't taken Lyn long to realize that Morgan French was the only man in the world for her.
What Lyn wanted she usually got and this time was no exception. But Morgan was infuriatingly enigmatic about his feelings for her. And his question--"We'd better get married then, hadn't we?"--was disappointingly casual.
Was he only marrying her because of her wealthy background, Lyn wondered. Or did he really love her?
February 25, 2025
Did not hold my attention. She was a brat but understandably so. I have known worse adult children who threw such tantrums that their widowed parents never remarried.
March 16, 2026
As horribly immature, selfish, spoiled, and stupid as the heroine was in this one, she still didn't deserve the horrible, gaslighting, manipulative, disgusting treatment by her father, stepmother, and her husband, the so-called hero of this piece.
The story begins as the hero shows up at a kibbutz in Israel in search of the heroine, who has fled there in a fit of pique, after her parents divorced. She actually went there thinking her parents would wring their hands and worry about her and come after her begging on their knees. The reality is that her father is busy with his young, new, second wife, and her mom, after the initial heartbreak, has recovered swiftly and remarried an Australian, and now she is off on an endless honeymoon Down Under. But now, her father has sent this attractive "business associate" to retrieve her and bring her back home to London, England. The heroine has no education, no jobs, and no skills, not even a home of her own. She has been living all her life in ye olde manor, getting a generous monthly allowance from her father. Now, she refuses to live under the same roof as her stepmother, whom she blames for having been the cause of her parents' breakup.
Nevertheless, the hero kind of forces her hand, getting her kicked out from the kibbutz, and then sticking her on a ship that will take a month to navigate its way from the Middle-East to England, instead of a quick airplane ride. Heroine makes a token attempt to escape but it’s not long before the vapid, bird-brained young woman is in lust with the hero, then thinks she is in love. The hero seems to reciprocate the physical attraction. They start an affair. The heroine tells him she loves him but he never tells her he loves her although he uses terms like caring etc. They have a few arguments about her needing to accept her stepmother for the sake of family peace, which she stubbornly refuses. She has a real hatred for the stepmom.
They eventually get back to England. Her father seems happy to see her and even happier that she and the hero are seemingly in love. When the hero proposes, the heroine is ecstatic. She knows she loves him more than he does, he still has not said the L word, he is somewhat distant and cryptic, and she is terrified that she will lose him to another woman unless she locks him down. So they hurriedly plan the wedding and the heroine is very adamant that stepmom is not allowed to be at the ceremony or reception, despite the fact that her father is paying for the whole shebang.
Of course, stepmom dearest does show up at the church and instead of taking the high road, the heroine has her kicked out in front of everyone, including her mortified father. The stepmom vows to make her pay for it and she does. Before they leave for the honeymoon, the stepmom corners her and tells her that the hero is none other than her cousin, she is the one who introduced him to heroine's father, and they all set him up to make the stupid heroine fall in love with him and marry to get her off their back. Heroine's father sweetened the pot by paying him an extravagant sum if the marriage would last a minimum of six months lmao. Old dad didn't have much faith in his daughter did he?
The heroine confronts her husband and not only does he not deny it, she finds the check from her father in his jacket pocket, just like dear stepmama said. The heroine is spitting angry and their ensuing wedding night and honeymoon is a nightmare of recriminations and arguing. The hero gets fed up and finally tells her that she is a little schoolgirl who is not mature enough to have a marriage, and she never really loved him or even knew him if she takes the lies of her stepmom who hates her over him. Upon return to England, they separate. The heroine mopes but then pulls herself together, getting a job for the first time in her life as well as taking evening business courses, in order to cut the financial ties from her father, who seems to have disowned her anyway.
The Deus Ex Machina that pulls all these toxic individuals together is a car accident wherein heroine's dad has a heart attack and the pregnant stepmama goes into premature labor. Heroine is called to their sick bed and transforms into Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, and Mary Poppins. There is a truce of some sort with Stepmama and heroine loves her baby brother. The hero shows up on ye olde manor's doorstep and reconciles with the heroine. He wanted to tell her that he was the stepmother’s cousin but she refused to talk about her. He had always wanted to tell her he loves her but was saving it for their wedding night. He had wanted to rip the check given by her father but did not want to cause a scene at the wedding, he was going to rip it up later. He has never been interested in her family money, he just wanted a simple life as a farmer. He has bought the farm and is waiting for her to return there with him so they can start their married life fresh.
The heroine swallows all this bullshit. I felt sorry for her. These people conspired against her, had contempt for her, shattered all her illusions, and ruined her memories of her wedding and honeymoon forever. She was an unpleasant spoiled brat yes, but I think left to her own devices, she would have eventually matured and made a life for herself, as she showed when her husband left her. She didn’t crumble, she looked like she was on a good path to becoming independent. Now, after all this, she had to be the bigger person and kowtow to a woman who honestly did the unforgivable not once, being her father’s affair partner and then egging him on to break up his family, but twice, cruelly breaking up her stepdaughter’s marriage, going as far as showing up to their wedding night hotel to gloat over the depressed heroine. She also seems to have a very suss relationship with her “cousin,” because in the midst of her tirade against the heroine, stepmama went on and on about how the hero confided in her that the heroine was so boring in bed. Was this their pillow talk? Yuck.
As for her father, he abandoned her, took his wife’s side against her, and then, we find out that all along he had wanted a son, and now that his wife has given him one, he is truly done with his daughter. The zero hero of this piece seemed to me to be a total gold digger like his cousin, albeit with a modicum of remorse which showed in his obvious shame and reluctance to keep deceiving the heroine, until it all blew up in his face, and then he went into Epic Gaslighting Mode. Honestly, he, his “cousin,” and the father all deserved to have bought the farm :(
The story begins as the hero shows up at a kibbutz in Israel in search of the heroine, who has fled there in a fit of pique, after her parents divorced. She actually went there thinking her parents would wring their hands and worry about her and come after her begging on their knees. The reality is that her father is busy with his young, new, second wife, and her mom, after the initial heartbreak, has recovered swiftly and remarried an Australian, and now she is off on an endless honeymoon Down Under. But now, her father has sent this attractive "business associate" to retrieve her and bring her back home to London, England. The heroine has no education, no jobs, and no skills, not even a home of her own. She has been living all her life in ye olde manor, getting a generous monthly allowance from her father. Now, she refuses to live under the same roof as her stepmother, whom she blames for having been the cause of her parents' breakup.
Nevertheless, the hero kind of forces her hand, getting her kicked out from the kibbutz, and then sticking her on a ship that will take a month to navigate its way from the Middle-East to England, instead of a quick airplane ride. Heroine makes a token attempt to escape but it’s not long before the vapid, bird-brained young woman is in lust with the hero, then thinks she is in love. The hero seems to reciprocate the physical attraction. They start an affair. The heroine tells him she loves him but he never tells her he loves her although he uses terms like caring etc. They have a few arguments about her needing to accept her stepmother for the sake of family peace, which she stubbornly refuses. She has a real hatred for the stepmom.
They eventually get back to England. Her father seems happy to see her and even happier that she and the hero are seemingly in love. When the hero proposes, the heroine is ecstatic. She knows she loves him more than he does, he still has not said the L word, he is somewhat distant and cryptic, and she is terrified that she will lose him to another woman unless she locks him down. So they hurriedly plan the wedding and the heroine is very adamant that stepmom is not allowed to be at the ceremony or reception, despite the fact that her father is paying for the whole shebang.
Of course, stepmom dearest does show up at the church and instead of taking the high road, the heroine has her kicked out in front of everyone, including her mortified father. The stepmom vows to make her pay for it and she does. Before they leave for the honeymoon, the stepmom corners her and tells her that the hero is none other than her cousin, she is the one who introduced him to heroine's father, and they all set him up to make the stupid heroine fall in love with him and marry to get her off their back. Heroine's father sweetened the pot by paying him an extravagant sum if the marriage would last a minimum of six months lmao. Old dad didn't have much faith in his daughter did he?
The heroine confronts her husband and not only does he not deny it, she finds the check from her father in his jacket pocket, just like dear stepmama said. The heroine is spitting angry and their ensuing wedding night and honeymoon is a nightmare of recriminations and arguing. The hero gets fed up and finally tells her that she is a little schoolgirl who is not mature enough to have a marriage, and she never really loved him or even knew him if she takes the lies of her stepmom who hates her over him. Upon return to England, they separate. The heroine mopes but then pulls herself together, getting a job for the first time in her life as well as taking evening business courses, in order to cut the financial ties from her father, who seems to have disowned her anyway.
The Deus Ex Machina that pulls all these toxic individuals together is a car accident wherein heroine's dad has a heart attack and the pregnant stepmama goes into premature labor. Heroine is called to their sick bed and transforms into Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, and Mary Poppins. There is a truce of some sort with Stepmama and heroine loves her baby brother. The hero shows up on ye olde manor's doorstep and reconciles with the heroine. He wanted to tell her that he was the stepmother’s cousin but she refused to talk about her. He had always wanted to tell her he loves her but was saving it for their wedding night. He had wanted to rip the check given by her father but did not want to cause a scene at the wedding, he was going to rip it up later. He has never been interested in her family money, he just wanted a simple life as a farmer. He has bought the farm and is waiting for her to return there with him so they can start their married life fresh.
The heroine swallows all this bullshit. I felt sorry for her. These people conspired against her, had contempt for her, shattered all her illusions, and ruined her memories of her wedding and honeymoon forever. She was an unpleasant spoiled brat yes, but I think left to her own devices, she would have eventually matured and made a life for herself, as she showed when her husband left her. She didn’t crumble, she looked like she was on a good path to becoming independent. Now, after all this, she had to be the bigger person and kowtow to a woman who honestly did the unforgivable not once, being her father’s affair partner and then egging him on to break up his family, but twice, cruelly breaking up her stepdaughter’s marriage, going as far as showing up to their wedding night hotel to gloat over the depressed heroine. She also seems to have a very suss relationship with her “cousin,” because in the midst of her tirade against the heroine, stepmama went on and on about how the hero confided in her that the heroine was so boring in bed. Was this their pillow talk? Yuck.
As for her father, he abandoned her, took his wife’s side against her, and then, we find out that all along he had wanted a son, and now that his wife has given him one, he is truly done with his daughter. The zero hero of this piece seemed to me to be a total gold digger like his cousin, albeit with a modicum of remorse which showed in his obvious shame and reluctance to keep deceiving the heroine, until it all blew up in his face, and then he went into Epic Gaslighting Mode. Honestly, he, his “cousin,” and the father all deserved to have bought the farm :(
July 25, 2024
Stubborn, jealous, immature little rich girl Lyn can't forgive her father for being unfaithful and leaving her mother for a younger model (nasty piece of work Claire.) This would have felt more understandable if said mother hadn't seemed terribly bothered and hadn't swiftly wed a rugged, rich Australian and left her aggrieved daughter to it. So the h was definitely a bit of a brat. (And I'll be glad when that expression vanishes from the discourse. Sick of it already). Cue self pitying stay on a kibbutz (in the 70s and 80s this was a harmless travelling thing done by many and God do I wish it was still the 70s and 80s). H, Morgan, elusive rugged type is despatched to bring her home while bringing a classic Rolls Royce back via sea. This turns out to be a month long voyage where the two of them get it on. She falls like a ton whereas he never says the 3 magic words despite the epic sex. Consequently when they are somewhat rushed into marriage by her father, she lacks the confidence when confronted by bitch stepmother who tells her Morgan is being paid to marry her. It was all quite angsty although no one was especially likeable and the ending felt very abrupt.
October 2, 2021
This was a quick read which means it kept me interested. There was an underlying mystery to it that kept me guessing. I didn't like the h much. I would have felt the same way about the Woman her father married. I would have disconnected from daddy's purse strings at that point, though I suppose a Kibbutz isn't too expensive! I do think h had a right to not have this woman at her wedding. It was wrong of H to not own up to the secrets behind him hauling her home. The only redeeming aspect was the h getting a job and taking night courses.
May 29, 2024
4,5 stars. There was a suspense in the first half of the book which kept me reading. And then at their wedding and after the wedding all gloves came off.
I love that she had a backbone (very rare for a HP h) and that she made him suffer at first. I was rooting for her because I could understand the reasons for her rage.
I hated the last 20 pages in which the h suddenly changes her tune and starts becoming a serving martyr. That’s why it’s not 5 stars. She should have kept her backbone and her rage.
This is from 1990. The HP’s from the 80’s and 90’s really are the best.
I love that she had a backbone (very rare for a HP h) and that she made him suffer at first. I was rooting for her because I could understand the reasons for her rage.
I hated the last 20 pages in which the h suddenly changes her tune and starts becoming a serving martyr. That’s why it’s not 5 stars. She should have kept her backbone and her rage.
This is from 1990. The HP’s from the 80’s and 90’s really are the best.
January 16, 2021
I wanted to smack her a few time but the story was intense and compelling. The cover picture is great; he looks wonderful!
I've mixed feelings on her abhorrence of step-mom. Cheating is nasty and step-mom was having affair while dear old dad was married to heroine's mother. Ick. She still could have been gracious about step-mom coming to her wedding, or at least when step-mom gate crashed she could have ignored it.
I've mixed feelings on her abhorrence of step-mom. Cheating is nasty and step-mom was having affair while dear old dad was married to heroine's mother. Ick. She still could have been gracious about step-mom coming to her wedding, or at least when step-mom gate crashed she could have ignored it.
June 20, 2019
Wonderful old fashion love story
August 28, 2016
Morgan me desagrado un montón, pero que patán y su prima peor, arruinar un día tan especial, en serio que no hay derecho :C
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