Master of the House

by Lilian Peake

One rash promise changed her life

All woman are the same," Alaric Stoddart told her firmly. "They're after two things only--money and marriage, in that order."

It was an unpleasant welcome for Petra Bain on the eve of starting her new job as a guide in the historic Stoddart mansion.

Particularly as she was not after the Stoddart money, and she would not have married the arrogant, autocratic master of the house if he had been the last man on earth.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

186 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Lilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.

Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.

Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this novel was a HUGE miss !

The heroine, Petra, had been dating the H's younger brother before she met the H. To be honest, I found that relationship ( between Petra and the H's brother ) a bit weird because they spent a lot of time kissing and making out but the heroine always claimed that she wasn't serious about him.

The H Alaric also kept repeating, throughout the story, that he had a steady girlfriend called Yvette. That was very icky. His relatives were comfortable with the fact that Yvette was his steady, long term girlfriend yet there were indications that that didn't stop him ( the H ) from having his occasional flings with women on the side.

Both MC's seemed to lack chemistry and the H didn't even appear to be jealous, for the first 50% of the story, that Petra and his brother had been dating each other. I don't like it when H's take such a long time to become jealous of other men paying attention to the heroine. Alaric seemed more concerned that Petra was an actress ( an unsuccessful, struggling actress ) who was therefore unsuitable for his brother.

Too much of the story was spent on extraneous details about the H's family estate, which was this huge stately home; the H's father was a Baronet and the H was the heir. I just couldn't get involved with this story at all. It seemed to drag on and on in a monotonous manner. The author attempted to inject some trainwrecky drama in the final quarter by including a sudden engagement between the MC's. However, even that left a bad taste in my mouth because the H acted like a obnoxious jerk when he not only invited the OW Yvette but proceeded to flirt, and spend time in his bedroom, with her while he ignored the heroine. It seemed just stupid, tasteless and pointless. The minor characters, like the H's younger sister and her boyfriend, were also annoying. This didn't seem like a novel written by Lilian Peake - except for the H being a major asshole. It was just too boring for long stretches. And, to make things worse, the MC's were both clueless and kept arguing over dumb boring shit. They were never on the same page at the same time, their on/off engagement status was confusing to me and their temporary separation was even more pointless.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hero of this story, Alaric, has to be one of the most domineering alpha-males of vintage Harlequin memory....

...I adored him at age 15.

...I'd smack him upside the head if he were a real man today.

[Margo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very LP. She has no spine, he is nearly sociopathic.

[RomLibrary]

One rash promise changed her life

All woman are the same," Alaric Stoddart told her firmly. "They're after two things only--money and marriage, in that order."

It was an unpleasant welcome for Petra Bain on the eve of starting her new job as a guide in the historic Stoddart mansion.

Particularly as she was not after the Stoddart money, and she would not have married the arrogant, autocratic master of the house if he had been the last man on earth.

[Myrna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very bad actress meets the rich heir while being his brother's so-called girlfriend

Petra is an impoverished actress who agrees to become a guide on her fellow actor's estate only to be informed by his older disagreeable brother that there's no such vacancy.
Soon an announcemnet in the newspaper states that she's engaged to the heir of the estate.

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ridiculous farce involving a love triangle between a hopelessly bad actress and two aristocratic brothers who are fighting over her, a fake engagement, an ancestral manor house complete with historical legends, and an OW named Lady Yvette who pops up every minute like a skanky Jack in the box.

[Rachel Triska · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hard book to rate.....
I shall start by saying that this is my all-time favourite sick-day-book. The writing style is easy to read and the plot flows very smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that you needn't a great deal of brain-power in order to keep up with it. I vividly remember my second reading of this novel, in which I realised that I'd accidently skipped a chapter..... and it hadn't mattered one iota to the story-line.
This novel is full of clichés and been-there-done-that plot twists; but they are so well done that you find yourself not really caring! A lovely, light-hearted novel that is still suitable for younger folks.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst the characters would not fit well in 21st century gender politics if you can read this without today's sensibility. I first read this around 1978 age 12/13. I really enjoyed this the first time I read it. The relationship is a bit fraught and the male character rather cruel and dominant which is pretty much Lilian Peake's speciality.