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Bright River
REUNITEDThe town of Bright River held too many sad memories for Jessica Portman. She'd returned for one reason--to oversee the takeover of her ailing father's mill by a rival company. She intended to finalize the deal and return to Italy.Then she met the owner of J.C. Enterprises, Jack Chabrol--the boy she'd left behind. Only Jack was no longer a boy; he was a man--a man bent on revenge. He had never forgiven Jessica for leaving him to marry someone else, nor had he forgotten the love they'd once shared. Jack was determined to possess Jessica, and she had only one defense against his her love.
Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1987
23 people want to read
About the author
Doreen Owens Malek
80 books66 followersaka Faye Morgan
{From Amazon} "I am Doreen Owens Malek, author of over forty books and lifelong fan of romantic fiction. I live in PA with my husband and college student daughter, a mini dachshund and a sun conyer parrot. I would like to tell you a little about myself.
I came to writing by a circuitous route, starting out as an avid reader of JANE EYRE and WUTHERING HEIGHTS and GONE WITH THE WIND and REBECCA and any other similarly themed books I could find. I first worked as a teacher and then graduated from law school when I desired a more lucrative and independent career. I had always been discouraged from pursuing a writing career by the volatile nature of the business and the relatively poor chance for success. But the realization that I needed a focus for the future encouraged me to do what I had always wanted to do. I sold my fledgling novel to the first editor who read it, and I have been writing ever since. I have written all types of books for all types of people, but my favorite literary pursuit is and always has been romance. Nothing is as rewarding as hearing from my readers, so please use my website to communicate your thoughts and criticisms, as I am always eager to learn from you.
A romance novel rarely disappoints me: in an uncertain world filled with tragedy and sadness, reading about an appealing woman finding a strong man to love her and share her life is the perfect escape. I like to read and write stories in which the main characters overcome obstacles to get together, and then stay together because their mutual devotion cannot be denied no matter what else is happening around them. They always HELP each other and reinforce the quaint but enduring notion that love conquers all - at least in the fictional universe of my imagination. So pull up a chair and take down a book- or pick up a Kindle- and join me in a world where the heroes are tough and headstrong but never boorish and the heroines are feminine and sympathetic but never helpless."
{From Amazon} "I am Doreen Owens Malek, author of over forty books and lifelong fan of romantic fiction. I live in PA with my husband and college student daughter, a mini dachshund and a sun conyer parrot. I would like to tell you a little about myself.
I came to writing by a circuitous route, starting out as an avid reader of JANE EYRE and WUTHERING HEIGHTS and GONE WITH THE WIND and REBECCA and any other similarly themed books I could find. I first worked as a teacher and then graduated from law school when I desired a more lucrative and independent career. I had always been discouraged from pursuing a writing career by the volatile nature of the business and the relatively poor chance for success. But the realization that I needed a focus for the future encouraged me to do what I had always wanted to do. I sold my fledgling novel to the first editor who read it, and I have been writing ever since. I have written all types of books for all types of people, but my favorite literary pursuit is and always has been romance. Nothing is as rewarding as hearing from my readers, so please use my website to communicate your thoughts and criticisms, as I am always eager to learn from you.
A romance novel rarely disappoints me: in an uncertain world filled with tragedy and sadness, reading about an appealing woman finding a strong man to love her and share her life is the perfect escape. I like to read and write stories in which the main characters overcome obstacles to get together, and then stay together because their mutual devotion cannot be denied no matter what else is happening around them. They always HELP each other and reinforce the quaint but enduring notion that love conquers all - at least in the fictional universe of my imagination. So pull up a chair and take down a book- or pick up a Kindle- and join me in a world where the heroes are tough and headstrong but never boorish and the heroines are feminine and sympathetic but never helpless."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 13, 2012
This was definitely a bittersweet book once all the known fact are out in the open. I was really emotionally drawn into this book and it was like a current pulling me closer and closer to the end.
The heroine and hero get pregnant but the heroine is underage so her father ships her off to New York to marry a man who is not the baby's father. After she tragically miscarries, she divorces her now husband and goes abroad to run away from all the memories eating at her. Meanwhile our hero is back in their home town destroying everything he touches, until our heroine is called back to the home town. When our heroine arrives she meets the hero again and knows she still loves him passionately despite everything but he thinks, thanks to her father that she ran off to marry another man. When he blackmails her into an ultimatum she accepts and marries him. Eventually secrets and lies have to come out though, nothing can stay hidden forever!
The heroine and hero get pregnant but the heroine is underage so her father ships her off to New York to marry a man who is not the baby's father. After she tragically miscarries, she divorces her now husband and goes abroad to run away from all the memories eating at her. Meanwhile our hero is back in their home town destroying everything he touches, until our heroine is called back to the home town. When our heroine arrives she meets the hero again and knows she still loves him passionately despite everything but he thinks, thanks to her father that she ran off to marry another man. When he blackmails her into an ultimatum she accepts and marries him. Eventually secrets and lies have to come out though, nothing can stay hidden forever!
September 18, 2021
Με μια λέξη ΥΠΕΡΟΧΟ!!
Πνιγεσαι από το συναίσθημα!
Πνιγεσαι από το συναίσθημα!
Want to Read
April 9, 2012New Title: "An Indecent Marriage" free 4/9/12.
March 22, 2026
Subsequently published as An Indecent Marriage.
This was a pretty good melodrama. Poor boy and rich girl were teenage sweethearts. Rich girl’s snobby, tyrannical father drove them apart for ten years. He forced his daughter to break her sweetheart’s heart and enter into a sham marriage with another “suitable” man or else he would press charges against the hero for statutory rape (he was over 18, she was four months under 18). Heroine left town and eventually left the country, never to return for 10 years.
For 10 years, the hero planned his cold dish of revenge. He got an education and started a lucrative business, which he used to drive the heroine’s father bankrupt. The father had a stroke from the stress.
The heroine, who divorced her first sham husband years ago, is forced to return to town to deal with her sick father, their debts, and the fate of her younger sister. The hero blackmails her into a marriage of convenience or rather sexvenience. They have a volcanic connection in bed but the hero freezes her out when they are out of it. He treats her as callously as he thinks she has done to him in the past, dumping the poor boy she had been slumming with for marriage with a blue blood.
Eventually though, heroine’s patience, sweetness, and dignity tear down the walls he has taken years to build. He realizes his plan of revenge backfired on him, he is more miserable than ever, he still loves the heroine, and he feels horribly guilty about how he has been treating her. The heroine, realizing that he is finally ready to listen, tells him the truth. She was young, scared, pregnant with his baby and her father was threatening to put him in jail for statutory rape. He had every official in the small town in his pocket. She had no doubt that he would ruin hero’s life as well as his parents and all the younger siblings. So she married the other guy on paper only, and divorced him after she unfortunately miscarried the baby.
She left the country because she was so hurt and disgusted with her father, she wanted to get away as far as possible from him. She figured that the hero, who went to college on a football scholarship, would forget about her and eventually meet someone else and find happiness. She herself never even saw another man, she just busied herself with her career and was content with her independence. Until she had to return home to deal with the mess that the hero’s corporate takeover had caused. When he hears all this, the hero cries! She comforts him and tells him to stop blaming himself. They never stopped loving each other and now they can have their happily ever after.
Overall I liked it. I especially liked the cute detail of making the hero a French-Canadian. I thought the author did a really good job of painting the suffocating atmosphere of a small town and how the old boys club is such a terror to deal with for the town’s most vulnerable folks. The heroine was virtuous without resorting to being a Mary Sue. The hero was not cruel enough to bring real angst to this story. You just knew he was a big soft furry labubu underneath all the grandstanding. So perhaps this is where the story lacked some spice. Still, an enjoyable read from a compelling storyteller.
This was a pretty good melodrama. Poor boy and rich girl were teenage sweethearts. Rich girl’s snobby, tyrannical father drove them apart for ten years. He forced his daughter to break her sweetheart’s heart and enter into a sham marriage with another “suitable” man or else he would press charges against the hero for statutory rape (he was over 18, she was four months under 18). Heroine left town and eventually left the country, never to return for 10 years.
For 10 years, the hero planned his cold dish of revenge. He got an education and started a lucrative business, which he used to drive the heroine’s father bankrupt. The father had a stroke from the stress.
The heroine, who divorced her first sham husband years ago, is forced to return to town to deal with her sick father, their debts, and the fate of her younger sister. The hero blackmails her into a marriage of convenience or rather sexvenience. They have a volcanic connection in bed but the hero freezes her out when they are out of it. He treats her as callously as he thinks she has done to him in the past, dumping the poor boy she had been slumming with for marriage with a blue blood.
Eventually though, heroine’s patience, sweetness, and dignity tear down the walls he has taken years to build. He realizes his plan of revenge backfired on him, he is more miserable than ever, he still loves the heroine, and he feels horribly guilty about how he has been treating her. The heroine, realizing that he is finally ready to listen, tells him the truth. She was young, scared, pregnant with his baby and her father was threatening to put him in jail for statutory rape. He had every official in the small town in his pocket. She had no doubt that he would ruin hero’s life as well as his parents and all the younger siblings. So she married the other guy on paper only, and divorced him after she unfortunately miscarried the baby.
She left the country because she was so hurt and disgusted with her father, she wanted to get away as far as possible from him. She figured that the hero, who went to college on a football scholarship, would forget about her and eventually meet someone else and find happiness. She herself never even saw another man, she just busied herself with her career and was content with her independence. Until she had to return home to deal with the mess that the hero’s corporate takeover had caused. When he hears all this, the hero cries! She comforts him and tells him to stop blaming himself. They never stopped loving each other and now they can have their happily ever after.
Overall I liked it. I especially liked the cute detail of making the hero a French-Canadian. I thought the author did a really good job of painting the suffocating atmosphere of a small town and how the old boys club is such a terror to deal with for the town’s most vulnerable folks. The heroine was virtuous without resorting to being a Mary Sue. The hero was not cruel enough to bring real angst to this story. You just knew he was a big soft furry labubu underneath all the grandstanding. So perhaps this is where the story lacked some spice. Still, an enjoyable read from a compelling storyteller.
March 20, 2010
This story features one of my favorite themes: The forced marriage. The hero, a man from the wrong side of town, was rejected some years ago by the wealthy Heroine. He is back and fortunes are now reversed. Since I love the tension and 'suspense' of 'forced marriage' I loved this story.
April 21, 2012
Titre vf: Par amour pour toi
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews