What do you think?
Rate this book
This Time, Forever #3
The Strength of Desire
THIS TIME, FOREVER
The truth will out!
The first time: Hope had always been strongly attracted to Guy, but she did the right thing and turned her back on him ...until that fateful weekend, when their desire boiled over.
In-between times: Hope tried to put her short-lived, misguided affair with Guy behind her, and be a good mother to her daughter, Maxine.
This time: The death of Hope's ex-husband. Jack, has brought Guy, his younger brother, back into her life. Hope is left with two legacies: one is the startling contents of Jack's will, the other is the need to confess the truth--that Maxine is not Guy's niece, but his daughter ....
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 9, 1995
7 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 19, 2018
Re The Strength of Desire - Alison Fraser does the third book of the This Time Forever Series and takes a shot at that favorite AM trope of keepin' it all in the family.
Part of the strength of this book is that there is a really excellent build up to the big reveal and there are several strategically placed flashbacks that enhance the tension.
It is fairly easy to figure out what is going to happen before we actually get to the flashbacks, but what keeps the story moving forward is how each flashback exponentially increases the angsty drama and pushes the plot forward in the story's present.
This technique makes things really hard to spoilerize tho. So for HP Voyagers who might want to know, I am just going to info dump the back story and then move on the present part were all the drama happens.
The h and H meet when she is 17, almost 18 and he is 28. The occasion is the h, who just lost her music producer father to cancer, is marrying the H's rock star brother. The H is antagonistic because his brother is 6 yrs older than him and is not the most stable or faithful guy on the planet.
The H makes some snarky cradle robbing comments in French to his brother, the h understands French very well and delivers her own verbal smackdown every time the H makes another condescending innuendo to her.
The h goes ahead and marries the rock star brother, but when she gets pregnant she is not up to the rock star touring lifestyle, so her BFF goes on tour with her husband and the h goes to the H and his mother's family home in Cornwall.
Sadly the h experiences a still birth about six weeks before her baby is due with only the H to help her during the process. She recovers and the H is pretty nice to her in her grieving, but as soon as the h rejoins her husband on tour, she collapses again and has to go back to Cornwall.
While in Cornwall for the second recovery, the h and H become good friends. Then the BFF writes the h about how sorry the BFF is for having an affair with the h's rock star husband and the emotionally devastated and betrayed h has a rebound weekend lurve club moment with the H.
The h is in love and the H claims he wants to be with her, but as soon as the rock star husband shows up and the H sees them together, he pushes the h away. (Which was very awkward, as the h tries to talk to the H and he tells her she was a pump and dump and their big thing meant nothing.)
The h is very hurt and feels used and abused by both men. She is also pregnant again, a very unexpected happening after the stillbirth of her son, but the Lurve Force Motilator Mojo is strong and the h is going to have the H's child. She has a little girl this time, but the h also learns that she will not be able to have anymore.
However both the rock star husband the h is divorcing and the H believe the baby is the rock star's. Since the rock star lied and claimed the H told him to pay the h as low a settlement as possible and no child support, the h has been doing all the child raising both financially and emotionally for the last 12 years on her own.
Eventually the h did have to tell the rock star that her daughter wasn't his. (The man kept breaking his promises to visit the child and mucking her around and the h was tired of her daughter's heartbreak and her thinking it was her fault.)
The h told the guy he wasn't the father and had no rights and needed to stay out of their lives. The rock star threw a fit when he figured out his brother was the daddy, conveniently forgetting that he had been cheating on the h from day one and that when the h slept with his brother, she was already determined on divorce.
When the story starts, the h hears that her rock star ex is dead in a car crash. The h's daughter is 12 going on a snarky thirty and there is some teenage angst and drama. The H shows up soon after, to invite the daughter to the rock star's funeral.
There is also the question of a codicil to the rock star's will. His girlfriend at the time he died gets what money he had, but he left the h his share of his and the H's family home in Cornwall, provided she lives there for 6 months.
The h isn't too enthused about this deal because that means that she has to live in the same house as the H. She tries to refuse, but the H points out that if she will accept the terms of the will and live there for the time specified, the H will also leave his half of the house to the h's daughter.
The H doesn't plan to marry or have children, so this means that the h's daughter will eventually have a very pricey house and some financial security. The h is still physically affected by the H and she hates that, but she does want her daughter to have a better life than she does and so we all move down to Cornwall.
The H and h bicker a lot as a cover for the Simmering Lurve Club Mojo and the h's daughter is a very bolshie teenager. The daughter and the H establish a great relationship and the H is doing his best to make sure the h has a lot of ties to stick around the place, even after the six months are up.
The h doesn't see that tho, and when the inevitable OW makes her appearance, the h is all about pushing the H off on to her and even goes so far as to send her daughter, the H and the OW all off together on a cruise around the Greek Isles.
(It doesn't help that the H is playing the OW drama up for all his worth to get a rise out of the h.)
The h is still carrying some really bitter wounds from the mess her life became 13 years earlier and the H is honestly just as bad. He goes out of his way to be subversively sarcastic and nasty and then he gets mad because the h isn't falling into his arms and he turns into a berating bully.
He tells the h several times that he has no plans for children and denies that he even wants them, then he yells at the h for denying him his fatherhood when she finally tells him that her daughter is also his.
He also lets the h believe he is marrying the OW, when he only dated her a few times and then he gets mad because the h doesn't fall to her knees to beg for his attention.
Eventually it gets so bad that the h is wiling to let her daughter live in Cornwall with the H to go to school and she will live in London where she earns a living writing jingles for commercials and the H realizes he is going to have to come clean.
After a few more h baiting moments interspersed with some roofie kissing and threats of rape, the H and h finally declare their love, have a big love club event and go to tell the delighted daughter they are getting married for the HEA.
This one was well done in the build up and the tension, but the separation and the H's sly, juvenile behavior pull the story down. The h should have told the H about her daughter much earlier, but considering how the H was totally non-supportive of the h after seducing her at a vulnerable moment, I did not blame her too much.
The H's continual competition with his brother pretty much overrode any feelings he had for the h. I did believe he loved her or at least was obsessed with his own brand of Treacherous Body Syndrome, but he never really fought for her when his brother was alive and he was the one that was 11 years older, he should have acted like an adult and clearly hashed things out with the h.
She even goes to him twice at each relationship crisis moment and he still won't come off his high horse until the h pretty much throws in the towel completely.
So overall, while the drama and angst on this one are very well done, the H and h's adolescent behaviors are enough to knock this one down to a very ordinary HPlandia outing.
Part of the strength of this book is that there is a really excellent build up to the big reveal and there are several strategically placed flashbacks that enhance the tension.
It is fairly easy to figure out what is going to happen before we actually get to the flashbacks, but what keeps the story moving forward is how each flashback exponentially increases the angsty drama and pushes the plot forward in the story's present.
This technique makes things really hard to spoilerize tho. So for HP Voyagers who might want to know, I am just going to info dump the back story and then move on the present part were all the drama happens.
The h and H meet when she is 17, almost 18 and he is 28. The occasion is the h, who just lost her music producer father to cancer, is marrying the H's rock star brother. The H is antagonistic because his brother is 6 yrs older than him and is not the most stable or faithful guy on the planet.
The H makes some snarky cradle robbing comments in French to his brother, the h understands French very well and delivers her own verbal smackdown every time the H makes another condescending innuendo to her.
The h goes ahead and marries the rock star brother, but when she gets pregnant she is not up to the rock star touring lifestyle, so her BFF goes on tour with her husband and the h goes to the H and his mother's family home in Cornwall.
Sadly the h experiences a still birth about six weeks before her baby is due with only the H to help her during the process. She recovers and the H is pretty nice to her in her grieving, but as soon as the h rejoins her husband on tour, she collapses again and has to go back to Cornwall.
While in Cornwall for the second recovery, the h and H become good friends. Then the BFF writes the h about how sorry the BFF is for having an affair with the h's rock star husband and the emotionally devastated and betrayed h has a rebound weekend lurve club moment with the H.
The h is in love and the H claims he wants to be with her, but as soon as the rock star husband shows up and the H sees them together, he pushes the h away. (Which was very awkward, as the h tries to talk to the H and he tells her she was a pump and dump and their big thing meant nothing.)
The h is very hurt and feels used and abused by both men. She is also pregnant again, a very unexpected happening after the stillbirth of her son, but the Lurve Force Motilator Mojo is strong and the h is going to have the H's child. She has a little girl this time, but the h also learns that she will not be able to have anymore.
However both the rock star husband the h is divorcing and the H believe the baby is the rock star's. Since the rock star lied and claimed the H told him to pay the h as low a settlement as possible and no child support, the h has been doing all the child raising both financially and emotionally for the last 12 years on her own.
Eventually the h did have to tell the rock star that her daughter wasn't his. (The man kept breaking his promises to visit the child and mucking her around and the h was tired of her daughter's heartbreak and her thinking it was her fault.)
The h told the guy he wasn't the father and had no rights and needed to stay out of their lives. The rock star threw a fit when he figured out his brother was the daddy, conveniently forgetting that he had been cheating on the h from day one and that when the h slept with his brother, she was already determined on divorce.
When the story starts, the h hears that her rock star ex is dead in a car crash. The h's daughter is 12 going on a snarky thirty and there is some teenage angst and drama. The H shows up soon after, to invite the daughter to the rock star's funeral.
There is also the question of a codicil to the rock star's will. His girlfriend at the time he died gets what money he had, but he left the h his share of his and the H's family home in Cornwall, provided she lives there for 6 months.
The h isn't too enthused about this deal because that means that she has to live in the same house as the H. She tries to refuse, but the H points out that if she will accept the terms of the will and live there for the time specified, the H will also leave his half of the house to the h's daughter.
The H doesn't plan to marry or have children, so this means that the h's daughter will eventually have a very pricey house and some financial security. The h is still physically affected by the H and she hates that, but she does want her daughter to have a better life than she does and so we all move down to Cornwall.
The H and h bicker a lot as a cover for the Simmering Lurve Club Mojo and the h's daughter is a very bolshie teenager. The daughter and the H establish a great relationship and the H is doing his best to make sure the h has a lot of ties to stick around the place, even after the six months are up.
The h doesn't see that tho, and when the inevitable OW makes her appearance, the h is all about pushing the H off on to her and even goes so far as to send her daughter, the H and the OW all off together on a cruise around the Greek Isles.
(It doesn't help that the H is playing the OW drama up for all his worth to get a rise out of the h.)
The h is still carrying some really bitter wounds from the mess her life became 13 years earlier and the H is honestly just as bad. He goes out of his way to be subversively sarcastic and nasty and then he gets mad because the h isn't falling into his arms and he turns into a berating bully.
He tells the h several times that he has no plans for children and denies that he even wants them, then he yells at the h for denying him his fatherhood when she finally tells him that her daughter is also his.
He also lets the h believe he is marrying the OW, when he only dated her a few times and then he gets mad because the h doesn't fall to her knees to beg for his attention.
Eventually it gets so bad that the h is wiling to let her daughter live in Cornwall with the H to go to school and she will live in London where she earns a living writing jingles for commercials and the H realizes he is going to have to come clean.
After a few more h baiting moments interspersed with some roofie kissing and threats of rape, the H and h finally declare their love, have a big love club event and go to tell the delighted daughter they are getting married for the HEA.
This one was well done in the build up and the tension, but the separation and the H's sly, juvenile behavior pull the story down. The h should have told the H about her daughter much earlier, but considering how the H was totally non-supportive of the h after seducing her at a vulnerable moment, I did not blame her too much.
The H's continual competition with his brother pretty much overrode any feelings he had for the h. I did believe he loved her or at least was obsessed with his own brand of Treacherous Body Syndrome, but he never really fought for her when his brother was alive and he was the one that was 11 years older, he should have acted like an adult and clearly hashed things out with the h.
She even goes to him twice at each relationship crisis moment and he still won't come off his high horse until the h pretty much throws in the towel completely.
So overall, while the drama and angst on this one are very well done, the H and h's adolescent behaviors are enough to knock this one down to a very ordinary HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2011
Rating: 4.5
Is this a harlequin book for real? Could have fooled me for being a full length stand-alone novel. A quite successful one, too. It reads almost like Lisa Kleypas' Sugar Daddy. I am not joking. Very retrospective and sometimes pensive in tone.
In fact, it'd be a first class selection for a book club read due to the human study and various aspects which can evoke various responses from different people. There's not a lot of humor in this one but I still liked it for the character development and for keeping my interest despite a theme which I despise.
The perfect song for the story: here (mashup) and here (original w/ video)
Is this a harlequin book for real? Could have fooled me for being a full length stand-alone novel. A quite successful one, too. It reads almost like Lisa Kleypas' Sugar Daddy. I am not joking. Very retrospective and sometimes pensive in tone.
In fact, it'd be a first class selection for a book club read due to the human study and various aspects which can evoke various responses from different people. There's not a lot of humor in this one but I still liked it for the character development and for keeping my interest despite a theme which I despise.
The perfect song for the story: here (mashup) and here (original w/ video)
May 30, 2012
This is an incredibly well done love story that spans 10 years of hurt, betrayal and misunderstandings. This is not your typical category romance with predictable plots, tropes and misguided heroes and heroines. This book has incredible depth and inner reflections that you find in other types of full length well developed novels.
This is my first book by Alison Fraser and I will seek out more of her work.
This is my first book by Alison Fraser and I will seek out more of her work.
August 19, 2022
“The Strength of Desire” is the second chance romance between Hope and Guy.
Our very young heroine Hope is taken into wings of her flamboyant husband Jack. However their marriage is filled with trials and tribulations.. and his infidelity. When she suffers a heartbreaking loss, she finds support and solace in his younger brother Guy. However circumstances lead to her divorcing Jack, but carrying Guy’s baby.
12 years pass, and Jack dies, leaving some property to his young daughter Maxine. The stipulation, she must come and stay six months in Cornwall.. with Guy.
Old attraction reignites, truths are eventually revealed and they finally get their HEA.
Angsty, messy and enjoyable!
Unsafe
3/5
Our very young heroine Hope is taken into wings of her flamboyant husband Jack. However their marriage is filled with trials and tribulations.. and his infidelity. When she suffers a heartbreaking loss, she finds support and solace in his younger brother Guy. However circumstances lead to her divorcing Jack, but carrying Guy’s baby.
12 years pass, and Jack dies, leaving some property to his young daughter Maxine. The stipulation, she must come and stay six months in Cornwall.. with Guy.
Old attraction reignites, truths are eventually revealed and they finally get their HEA.
Angsty, messy and enjoyable!
Unsafe
3/5
February 25, 2017
Another one down, it's official: I really like this author! However, I preferred the other 2 books of hers that I've read over this one. In this one, the heroine persisted in thinking the worst of the Hero for much, much too long (13 years and 95% of the book).
The story's a bit twisted. The heroine is married to the brother and near the end of her marriage, she and the Hero sleep together. So yeah, adultery with her husband's brother. Granted, the husband's had numerous affairs and she's just found out and has agreed to run away with the Hero, but it's still cheating.
It's not hard to figure out the rest of the story. I don't think I'm spoiling anything, because it's all quite obvious. Her twelve-year-old daughter, believed to be her ex-husband's, is the Hero's. The Hero has been in love with the heroine from the beginning. She lives in denial of everything and sullenly, shrewishly rejects all his advances til the bitter end when their mutual misunderstandings are revealed.
I don't like the plot and don't like the heroine. She had too much of the delusional, over-suspicious insecurity that plagues so many HP heroines. I liked the writing though, and liked the Hero very much as well, so overall I enjoyed the book.
The story's a bit twisted. The heroine is married to the brother and near the end of her marriage, she and the Hero sleep together. So yeah, adultery with her husband's brother. Granted, the husband's had numerous affairs and she's just found out and has agreed to run away with the Hero, but it's still cheating.
It's not hard to figure out the rest of the story. I don't think I'm spoiling anything, because it's all quite obvious. Her twelve-year-old daughter, believed to be her ex-husband's, is the Hero's. The Hero has been in love with the heroine from the beginning. She lives in denial of everything and sullenly, shrewishly rejects all his advances til the bitter end when their mutual misunderstandings are revealed.
I don't like the plot and don't like the heroine. She had too much of the delusional, over-suspicious insecurity that plagues so many HP heroines. I liked the writing though, and liked the Hero very much as well, so overall I enjoyed the book.
February 15, 2018
The Strength of Desire is the ninth romance novel by British author, Alison Fraser. Hope Gardener has been single-handedly bringing up her daughter Maxine for all of her twelve years. Hope’s ex-husband Jack Delacroix was too busy being a rock star on tour to have much to do with Maxine, or provide for her financially. When he did appear, he would inevitably disappoint her. But now Hope’s heard that Jack has died, and Jack’s younger brother, Guy has turned up on her doorstep to tell her about her inheritance. Hope wants nothing to do with Guy: she learned her lesson thirteen years ago when she opened her heart to a man who apparently only wanted her body. Nor does she want anything from Jack. But is it fair to deprive Maxine of a legacy that will make her future brighter?
Guy and Hope are a pair who spend every moment that they’re not fiercely kissing each other, glaring, snarling and shouting at each other. And, boy, are they good at putting each other down. Assumptions and misunderstandings and a bit of malice from an older brother mean thirteen years of enmity that finally, finally resolve into a happy ending. Not Fraser’s best, but still quite a good read.
Guy and Hope are a pair who spend every moment that they’re not fiercely kissing each other, glaring, snarling and shouting at each other. And, boy, are they good at putting each other down. Assumptions and misunderstandings and a bit of malice from an older brother mean thirteen years of enmity that finally, finally resolve into a happy ending. Not Fraser’s best, but still quite a good read.
January 13, 2022
Another great one by AF but I feel that the writer is setting a typecast with an h who is mute. These were my feels in my last AF book and it got worse in this one! A powerful and extremely angsty tale of lost love that could’ve easily been reclaimed had the woman picked up her spine and her lost tongue.
Hope as a young teenager gets involved and then married to a famous singer. He takes her to meet the family and she meets his brother who is clearly unhappy of their reunion and tells Hope in enough words and gestures to save her life while she can. Hope hates him at first sight but gets married anyways to his brother.
Now starts a dilapidating relationship where the pop star husband is never home and Hope is lonely and pregnant with no home of her own. The only man to her rescue, the man who gives her comfort and holds her while she’s breaking apart is the brother, the H.
This goes on as a train wreck where Hope is young and keeps going back to her husband where he pacifies her with more lies until she can’t take it anymore. They part and now currently it’s been over a decade when now the ex-husband has died. And so after a decade or so, Hope is made to meet his brother .. the man who was actually always there for her and someone she never stopped hating or loving.
This was a beautiful sad tale of so many things going wrong that didn’t have to if only the h and H could say the right thing at the right time. They both hold their peace and never realize what damage they incur and carry with them all their lives.
Hope also has a daughter whom I loved btw. She’s outspoken in a sweet way and is a much needed friend and sometimes a better decision maker than her young mother. Won’t talk of many spoilers here but this was a memorable one. I wish Hope could’ve talked it straight with this man earlier in her life and gotten faster to her HEA without so many years of heart break and despair.
Hope as a young teenager gets involved and then married to a famous singer. He takes her to meet the family and she meets his brother who is clearly unhappy of their reunion and tells Hope in enough words and gestures to save her life while she can. Hope hates him at first sight but gets married anyways to his brother.
Now starts a dilapidating relationship where the pop star husband is never home and Hope is lonely and pregnant with no home of her own. The only man to her rescue, the man who gives her comfort and holds her while she’s breaking apart is the brother, the H.
This goes on as a train wreck where Hope is young and keeps going back to her husband where he pacifies her with more lies until she can’t take it anymore. They part and now currently it’s been over a decade when now the ex-husband has died. And so after a decade or so, Hope is made to meet his brother .. the man who was actually always there for her and someone she never stopped hating or loving.
This was a beautiful sad tale of so many things going wrong that didn’t have to if only the h and H could say the right thing at the right time. They both hold their peace and never realize what damage they incur and carry with them all their lives.
Hope also has a daughter whom I loved btw. She’s outspoken in a sweet way and is a much needed friend and sometimes a better decision maker than her young mother. Won’t talk of many spoilers here but this was a memorable one. I wish Hope could’ve talked it straight with this man earlier in her life and gotten faster to her HEA without so many years of heart break and despair.
December 17, 2022
This h, Hope should be awarded the VC for services to celibacy. 13 years between her first time (but not her First Time) with the H, Guy and the next, with nary another in between. Granted she was solo parenting the outcome of this encounter which depletes anybody's headspace and energy but even so. Her entire 20s. As one of the lines - and major plot really - asserts "so many wasted years."
Glibness aside, this really was poignant. It's a one woman two brothers story, to which I am (along with one woman two best friends) very partial. The h begins her 'family affair' (unusually) with the older brother, singing star Jack Delacroix, when she is only 17. The younger brother, Guy (don't worry, he's younger but is bigger, broader and more mature) is introduced to her when Jack wants him to meet his new fiancee. Guy immediately declares, in French, Are you mad? She's just a child. Jack, it transpires, has a penchant for young girls and it's his infidelity, abandonment, selfishness and all round fecklessness which eventually drives Guy and Hope together.
Their second coming together, after Jack's death, many years after Hope and Jack divorced, is occasioned by a codicil in Jack's will, reuniting them in the Cornish family home with the 12 year old Maxine along for added poignancy.
It's well written and moving without being nauseating. Enjoyed it a lot.
Glibness aside, this really was poignant. It's a one woman two brothers story, to which I am (along with one woman two best friends) very partial. The h begins her 'family affair' (unusually) with the older brother, singing star Jack Delacroix, when she is only 17. The younger brother, Guy (don't worry, he's younger but is bigger, broader and more mature) is introduced to her when Jack wants him to meet his new fiancee. Guy immediately declares, in French, Are you mad? She's just a child. Jack, it transpires, has a penchant for young girls and it's his infidelity, abandonment, selfishness and all round fecklessness which eventually drives Guy and Hope together.
Their second coming together, after Jack's death, many years after Hope and Jack divorced, is occasioned by a codicil in Jack's will, reuniting them in the Cornish family home with the 12 year old Maxine along for added poignancy.
It's well written and moving without being nauseating. Enjoyed it a lot.
September 20, 2012
Maybe 4.5 stars. This was very well-done, with plenty of angst. Very likable characters. I guess the reason it wasn't 5 stars had to do with my own personal preferences -- I just don't like reunion stories where the gap is this long (here I think it was 13 years). It's just so much wasted time, and you lose the fantasy of the absolutely perfect HEA (because the hero can't get back those 13 years of his daughter's childhood). It could have been greatly ameliorated if . Overall though, a very nice read.
August 28, 2025
Very very young girl is picked up by pop star and married. His younger lawyer brother is upset by it. There’s some feeling between the younger brother and heroine. Pop star dumps heroine when pregnant in the ancient family home with his mother and brother. Heroine miscarries. Finds out husband is cheating. Sleeps with brother in law. Has a child. Thirteen years later ex husband dies. The brother in law is part owner of ancient pile she inherits. Blundering around by all. Final denouement. The last three chapters were very confused.
I did not like the heroine. She was too weak spiritually. No spine.
Oh and the daughter of heroine was also hero’s daughter.
A sordid and sad tale. Still better than many written today.
So that’s my review.
I did not like the heroine. She was too weak spiritually. No spine.
Oh and the daughter of heroine was also hero’s daughter.
A sordid and sad tale. Still better than many written today.
So that’s my review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2017
The heroine was a real bit.ch I hated her all through the story.She didint deserved the hero imo.
February 5, 2021
I found myself very annoyed of the h. I didn't mind or judge her too harshly for sleeping with her brother in law while she was still married. Yes, it was wrong and she was legally married. However, her husband had been absent for months, cheated on her (with her friend), and the relationship was basically over. Meanwhile, the H was there for her and cared for her. He was a champ. The breakdown of their short lived love affair was due to her complete lack of backbone. At the first moment she needed to take a stand, she crumbled.
I also think her keeping her child's paternity a secret for 12 years was unforgivable. She did not have a good reason for robbing her child of a father and robbing the H the opportunity to be a father. She is so weak that her daughter disrespects her openly the entire book. Even to the point that she tells her mother she'd rather stay in Cornwall than return to London when the h threatens to run away like she has from everything in her life. HP has an abundance of doormats but this h may be one of the worst.
I also think her keeping her child's paternity a secret for 12 years was unforgivable. She did not have a good reason for robbing her child of a father and robbing the H the opportunity to be a father. She is so weak that her daughter disrespects her openly the entire book. Even to the point that she tells her mother she'd rather stay in Cornwall than return to London when the h threatens to run away like she has from everything in her life. HP has an abundance of doormats but this h may be one of the worst.
April 23, 2020
The Strength of Desire
This author deals a lot with infidelity. This is not the first book which I have read about one or both characters not keeping the cows of matrimony. I am not a prude just that is not a story I like reading. She married his older brother when she was young. There was a seventeen years difference. He was off making musical career and was never faithful. And after finding out she ended up sleeping with his younger brother. They tried to make the marriage work but it ended in divorce when she finds out that she was pregnant again. She has raised her daughter alone. The younger brother comes back into the picture years later. Now what happens next is the rest of the story. Who is the girls father? What was the reason he wasn't told?
This author deals a lot with infidelity. This is not the first book which I have read about one or both characters not keeping the cows of matrimony. I am not a prude just that is not a story I like reading. She married his older brother when she was young. There was a seventeen years difference. He was off making musical career and was never faithful. And after finding out she ended up sleeping with his younger brother. They tried to make the marriage work but it ended in divorce when she finds out that she was pregnant again. She has raised her daughter alone. The younger brother comes back into the picture years later. Now what happens next is the rest of the story. Who is the girls father? What was the reason he wasn't told?
May 15, 2023
I loved the independent, strong-willed and proud heroine. She grated on my nerves sometimes but I related to her more often than not. I think if there were more glimpses of Guy’s love for her, instead of just his lust, I’d enjoy the story more. Overall, 3.5⭐️ because its still one of my favourite tropes.
September 4, 2022
This was so heart wrenching due to the waste of so many years! I wish the author had made it a shorter separation. I have to say the picture on cover looks like h has gray hair!! She was 32 and blond!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2024
A complete novel. Both h and H were mixed up, both wanted the other to kick off the husband confrontation, both told lies claiming sex vs love.
Daughter is a real person, not a plot point, book has gorgeous setting.
Daughter is a real person, not a plot point, book has gorgeous setting.
Read
January 23, 2018La Fuerza Del Deseo (Spanish Version)
November 17, 2011
Loved it!It is an intense emotional story of two people who love each other deeply but cause of their pride & anger they lost so many years of to be together,the story developed really well with all the flashbacks giving us insights about how Guy-Hope met,how the tragedy brought them together,then it slowly developed into friendship to love and then "Big Misunderstanding"leading to seperation.The intense pain-anger-hurt-tension-passion-secrets-lies glued me to the story.After so many secrets and hurdles FINALLY they both realize what had happened and how the misunderstanding developed,Hope asks forgiveness and Guy gives it and this time after 13 years they have their HEA
Overall a very good read,keeper for me
Recommend it
Overall a very good read,keeper for me
Recommend it
August 10, 2016
Another story typical of the author-Story full of misunderstandings that could easily be resolved if characters trusted each other and not behaving as stubborn teenagers. The hero proclaimed to be in love with heroine and was old enough to behave better.
July 20, 2013
review to come
August 21, 2012
It was okay but i can't erase the awesomeness of my 5* book i recently read
August 16, 2014
Loved the book but did not like the heroine, I couldnt get behind her tantrums or the major fact that she.....oh hell read the book :p
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews