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Rendezvous In Rio
There were faults on both sides
And in time Christa had to admit that perhaps Jeff wasn't entirely to blame for the breakdown of their marriage.
That's when she'd rushed back to England with their son, Marcus--feeling that as in the past Jefferson Barssi had ridden roughshod over her feelings.
Now, she was willing to return to Brazil for the possibility of a reconciliation. If only she could be sure that's really what Jeff had in mind and that he wasn't planning simply to use her for purposes of his own!
And in time Christa had to admit that perhaps Jeff wasn't entirely to blame for the breakdown of their marriage.
That's when she'd rushed back to England with their son, Marcus--feeling that as in the past Jefferson Barssi had ridden roughshod over her feelings.
Now, she was willing to return to Brazil for the possibility of a reconciliation. If only she could be sure that's really what Jeff had in mind and that he wasn't planning simply to use her for purposes of his own!
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First published June 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 10, 2017
Awww - this was just a nice story with two likable characters who married in haste and forgot to talk to each other. Their misunderstandings - for once in an HP novel - are understandable and forgivable.
Hero was trying to be loyal to his terminally ill father by keeping his cancer a secret, thus making some of his actions incomprehensible to the heroine. Heroine was trying to work everything out in her own mind, based on false allegations by her s-n-l and never bothered to ask the hero straight out why he married her, etc. . .
The hero is such a guy in this story (as opposed to an alpha). Case in point, he really, really wants to have sex with the heroine and he doesn't hide his desperation or claim he can make her melt by his mere caress. He also acknowledges that kidnapping his 19 month-old son was a stupid move and he's made all kinds of mistakes. That the hero cries first when he thinks their relationship is over (based on misinterpreting the h's plea to "talk.") is a lovely touch and really show just how much the h and his child mean to him.
My only quibble was the 19 month-old boy who is so verbal he speaks in complete sentences and goes off on his own to make a friend. Um. No. That's not human child development. Maybe he's one of those Twilight babies who grows fast?
Hero was trying to be loyal to his terminally ill father by keeping his cancer a secret, thus making some of his actions incomprehensible to the heroine. Heroine was trying to work everything out in her own mind, based on false allegations by her s-n-l and never bothered to ask the hero straight out why he married her, etc. . .
The hero is such a guy in this story (as opposed to an alpha). Case in point, he really, really wants to have sex with the heroine and he doesn't hide his desperation or claim he can make her melt by his mere caress. He also acknowledges that kidnapping his 19 month-old son was a stupid move and he's made all kinds of mistakes. That the hero cries first when he thinks their relationship is over (based on misinterpreting the h's plea to "talk.") is a lovely touch and really show just how much the h and his child mean to him.
My only quibble was the 19 month-old boy who is so verbal he speaks in complete sentences and goes off on his own to make a friend. Um. No. That's not human child development. Maybe he's one of those Twilight babies who grows fast?
December 23, 2017
3.5 stars!
What's better than hero grovelling on their knees = macho hero's wife finding them under their blanket sobbing their heart out!
Poor guy!
Even though she suffered for the two weeks as well, I think it served him right to stew for two weeks for kidnapping the kid! How cruel and thick headed can one get?!
On top of that this one also has concrete skull!
She says talk, he hears divorce!
Men!
What's better than hero grovelling on their knees = macho hero's wife finding them under their blanket sobbing their heart out!
Poor guy!
Even though she suffered for the two weeks as well, I think it served him right to stew for two weeks for kidnapping the kid! How cruel and thick headed can one get?!
On top of that this one also has concrete skull!
She says talk, he hears divorce!
Men!
May 1, 2017
Re Rendezvous in Rio - Elizabeth Oldfield does the marriage in trouble trope with an h who impulsively married a Brazilian who was looking to make a deal with her father's conglomerate.
After being rushed into marriage, pregnancy and an overbearing mother in law, the h decided to remove herself and her child back to England after her husband refuses to find them their own home in Rio.
The h never meant for the separation to be permanent, but her son became ill during their stay and the H wasn't being very communicative about the home situation, so the h has been in England for six months when the story opens. The H shows up for a visit, but actually kidnaps their son back to Rio instead, forcing the h to follow. The h is starting to worry about the entire situation when the H requests that they pretend their marriage is going great, cause his father and the head of the family firm has cancer and is on his way out.
The h has been forced to take a hard look at what exactly is going on in her marriage and now she has the added threat of being on the H's home turf without her son's passport, she is terrified the H really wants a divorce and is looking to keep her son. The situation isn't helped by the snide innuendos of her sister in law, who is convinced the H only married the h because he wanted a stake in her father's huge conglomerate.
There isn't a lot of action in this one, but there is a ton of dialog as the h manages to pick her way through the minefield of her marriage, the H's overly involved family and make a stand for her own assertion of authority over her life and her son. That the h manages to do so with remarkably little drama but tremendous personality and character is one of the highlights of this book.
The h has done some maturing during the time she has been away and when she steps back into the complicated dynamics of the H's family and their business, she handles the whole thing with a lot of class. When she was in the H's parent's home before, she did not speak Portuguese, so it was easy for her mother in law to run roughshod over the h's parenting attempts because the mother in law was her only bridge of communication with the people involved in her child's welfare. Now that that barrier has been breached, the h is able to assert her motherly authority much more effectively and it makes a huge difference in how she perceives the situation and her marriage.
The H slowly starts to see where he was always busy with business and how much of a smotherer his well-intentioned but very overbearingly maternal mother really is and also gradually starts to see why the h was so insistent that when he failed to communicate, she was leaving his hiney.
Eventually it comes to pass that the H manages to become the director of the family firm, a slot that was slated for his older brother and the snide innuendos of the sister in law are aired in front of everyone. The H also moves mountains to get his wife and child their own home. The sister in law is touted as being a frustrated mother who has fears of infertility and that situation is resolved when she finally agrees to adopt children but finds out she is pregnant.
The H and h resolve their drama when they get their own home and then the H realizes that the h believed that he married her to ensure the father's business. He finally admits that the deal was made before he proposed, but there is a certain amount of residual angst when the H admits that her father wants him to move back to England and run the big conglomerate when he retires.
The sister in law also hinted that the H was having an affair with his secretary, but the H was actually visiting the secretary's house because her beloved husband suddenly died and her sister moved in with her young son and the H was visiting the boy cause he missed his own son. The H realizes that he couldn't have done more to antagonize the h when he snatched his son away. By the time the dialog gets around to his big confession of how he messed everything up, the H is thinking the h is really going to divorce him, so he has a huge mopey crying moment - it was an unusual moment for an HP H, but it works.
The h explains about her frustration in living with his parents and his lack of communication about anything but boudoir bouncing and then admits that their son got really ill while in England and she did not want to return to Rio until he was totally well again, rather that than be accused of bad parenting by the H's mother.
The H also explains that he was afraid he might be sterile, his brother obviously had some problems and his parents had problems too, so he rushed the h into preggerness and he sorta feels bad about that. The h is very forgiving, but I also can't help but speculate that there is a good chance the H will be in England running her dad's business and in England she has a much stronger position for custody. So while the h loves her husband, and he is mainly convincing that he loves her, she is also not an airhead and is strong enough in character to wait the time in Rio out. (This is never overtly stated, but the h is pretty enthusiastic when the H says he would do it and she was definitely smart enough to keep that at the back of her mind, if this marriage deal went south.)
We leave the story with the H and h staying married and having the christening of their second child. The sister in law is preggers and the h is fairly happy, the H has taken over the family firm as it's head and the h's father in law has passed away. Since at no time was anybody portrayed a seriously evil or OTT person, it is a mellow but sort bittersweet ending to this HP outing.
Overall this is an intensely character driven book. The h is pretty great, but very low key in how she handles the typical tropes of HPlandia-- the potential OW, the domineering H, the interfering family and the impulse to leap to conclusions rather than actually see and assess what is going on around her. For that reason it is a good read, but there is almost no drama except at the beginning and this is not one to pick up when you want an angstfest full of emo trauma excuse to eat a bunch of cookies.
After being rushed into marriage, pregnancy and an overbearing mother in law, the h decided to remove herself and her child back to England after her husband refuses to find them their own home in Rio.
The h never meant for the separation to be permanent, but her son became ill during their stay and the H wasn't being very communicative about the home situation, so the h has been in England for six months when the story opens. The H shows up for a visit, but actually kidnaps their son back to Rio instead, forcing the h to follow. The h is starting to worry about the entire situation when the H requests that they pretend their marriage is going great, cause his father and the head of the family firm has cancer and is on his way out.
The h has been forced to take a hard look at what exactly is going on in her marriage and now she has the added threat of being on the H's home turf without her son's passport, she is terrified the H really wants a divorce and is looking to keep her son. The situation isn't helped by the snide innuendos of her sister in law, who is convinced the H only married the h because he wanted a stake in her father's huge conglomerate.
There isn't a lot of action in this one, but there is a ton of dialog as the h manages to pick her way through the minefield of her marriage, the H's overly involved family and make a stand for her own assertion of authority over her life and her son. That the h manages to do so with remarkably little drama but tremendous personality and character is one of the highlights of this book.
The h has done some maturing during the time she has been away and when she steps back into the complicated dynamics of the H's family and their business, she handles the whole thing with a lot of class. When she was in the H's parent's home before, she did not speak Portuguese, so it was easy for her mother in law to run roughshod over the h's parenting attempts because the mother in law was her only bridge of communication with the people involved in her child's welfare. Now that that barrier has been breached, the h is able to assert her motherly authority much more effectively and it makes a huge difference in how she perceives the situation and her marriage.
The H slowly starts to see where he was always busy with business and how much of a smotherer his well-intentioned but very overbearingly maternal mother really is and also gradually starts to see why the h was so insistent that when he failed to communicate, she was leaving his hiney.
Eventually it comes to pass that the H manages to become the director of the family firm, a slot that was slated for his older brother and the snide innuendos of the sister in law are aired in front of everyone. The H also moves mountains to get his wife and child their own home. The sister in law is touted as being a frustrated mother who has fears of infertility and that situation is resolved when she finally agrees to adopt children but finds out she is pregnant.
The H and h resolve their drama when they get their own home and then the H realizes that the h believed that he married her to ensure the father's business. He finally admits that the deal was made before he proposed, but there is a certain amount of residual angst when the H admits that her father wants him to move back to England and run the big conglomerate when he retires.
The sister in law also hinted that the H was having an affair with his secretary, but the H was actually visiting the secretary's house because her beloved husband suddenly died and her sister moved in with her young son and the H was visiting the boy cause he missed his own son. The H realizes that he couldn't have done more to antagonize the h when he snatched his son away. By the time the dialog gets around to his big confession of how he messed everything up, the H is thinking the h is really going to divorce him, so he has a huge mopey crying moment - it was an unusual moment for an HP H, but it works.
The h explains about her frustration in living with his parents and his lack of communication about anything but boudoir bouncing and then admits that their son got really ill while in England and she did not want to return to Rio until he was totally well again, rather that than be accused of bad parenting by the H's mother.
The H also explains that he was afraid he might be sterile, his brother obviously had some problems and his parents had problems too, so he rushed the h into preggerness and he sorta feels bad about that. The h is very forgiving, but I also can't help but speculate that there is a good chance the H will be in England running her dad's business and in England she has a much stronger position for custody. So while the h loves her husband, and he is mainly convincing that he loves her, she is also not an airhead and is strong enough in character to wait the time in Rio out. (This is never overtly stated, but the h is pretty enthusiastic when the H says he would do it and she was definitely smart enough to keep that at the back of her mind, if this marriage deal went south.)
We leave the story with the H and h staying married and having the christening of their second child. The sister in law is preggers and the h is fairly happy, the H has taken over the family firm as it's head and the h's father in law has passed away. Since at no time was anybody portrayed a seriously evil or OTT person, it is a mellow but sort bittersweet ending to this HP outing.
Overall this is an intensely character driven book. The h is pretty great, but very low key in how she handles the typical tropes of HPlandia-- the potential OW, the domineering H, the interfering family and the impulse to leap to conclusions rather than actually see and assess what is going on around her. For that reason it is a good read, but there is almost no drama except at the beginning and this is not one to pick up when you want an angstfest full of emo trauma excuse to eat a bunch of cookies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2025
I, surprisingly, didn’t hate this. It certainly had its faults, most of them layered in misogyny, but I’ll just blame it on the time and try not to think about it too deeply. I enjoyed the concept and it was a pretty smooth and easy read. Had the main characters had one proper, adult conversation, the entire thing could have been avoided but that’s neither here nor there.
January 6, 2018
3.5 stars
November 17, 2025
What a couple of jerks! The H doesn't confide in the h, keeps things from her (like his father being terminally ill, even though it's her father-in-law), he kept making excuses to not get their own place (at the time because of his father), would tell her to look herself for one and rejected every place she looked at, then chose one they both liked and changed his mind right before they were to sign the papers! With no explanation! He never talked much to her or spent much time with her. Yes, he was working hard but he knew she had trouble with the language barrier (He's Brazilian and she was learning Portuguese), his domineering father and expected "my way or the highway" and he expected her to go along with that, and he insisted they were to have a baby right away, birth control was out and he got her pregnant after only being married two months, with no real time for her to adjust to her new life or to just be a wife, she already has to be a mother.
Also, the H put business before everything, even her and their son, which was how her tycoon father had treated her all her life, so it was an "out of the frying pan" situation.
So, she was ripe for all the accusations her self-centered sister-in-law (the H's brother's wife) made about the real reason for her whirlwind marriage, that it was part of a business deal between the H and the h's father.
No wonder she left to go back to England, despite loving Brazil and not having a close relationship with her father.
To her credit, she didn't sneak off like so many cowardly h's but told him she was leaving. And she didn't pull a selfish disappearing act or try to keep their son away from him. He visited in the six m months they were apart and she wanted to work things out but wasn't sure how.
However, she had her faults as well. She didn't think about the grandparents who adored their only grandchild, especially her mother-in-law who missed him so much. Little Marcus lived with them since he was born and at barely a year old, he's abruptly taken away from them. No matter how upset she was at the H, she was also selfish to do that.
And the faults on both sides continue. The H wanted her back in Brazil, so when he visits to see Marcus, he supposedly takes him to the playground but actually takes him to the airport, calls the h and tells her he's taking him home to Brazil and she can follow on the next flight, leaving her no choice, naturally. Then when he (finally) tells her about his father and how he wants them back together before he dies, the H makes it sound like that's the only reason besides their son that he wants her back. But he also makes it clear that he's horny and ready to get naked and wouldn't mind making another baby. OH, COME ON!! Just what a troubled marriage needs, another baby! Or maybe I should say another weapon to use against each other, like they did with their son?
The h, meanwhile, wants to assert herself, which is only right, but then she starts getting "my way or the highway" too, as if to make up for having everything his way, now the H is supposed to do everything her way. Also, she's a bit of a misandrist, probably stemming from her daddy issues with her cold, "business before people" father. She resents the domineering attitude of her father-in-law and sympathizes with her mother-in-law, but when her equally domineering sister-in-law doesn't treat her husband any better, she blames her brother-in-law for being weak, like he deserves bad treatment. So, if a man's a crap husband it's his fault and if a woman's a crap wife it's also his fault! Doesn't sound fair to me.
Too many women have this "men are terrible no matter what" attitude, then they wonder why so many men go MGTOW. Well, DUH!
The real problem is, they ignored from the start their differences (language, culture, etc.) and got married way too fast because they couldn't wait to get naked! Marry for orgasms, repent while you masturbate!
I stopped reading, because I didn't like either of them and couldn't care less if they got back together or both dropped dead. Little Marcus would be better off without them.
Also, the H put business before everything, even her and their son, which was how her tycoon father had treated her all her life, so it was an "out of the frying pan" situation.
So, she was ripe for all the accusations her self-centered sister-in-law (the H's brother's wife) made about the real reason for her whirlwind marriage, that it was part of a business deal between the H and the h's father.
No wonder she left to go back to England, despite loving Brazil and not having a close relationship with her father.
To her credit, she didn't sneak off like so many cowardly h's but told him she was leaving. And she didn't pull a selfish disappearing act or try to keep their son away from him. He visited in the six m months they were apart and she wanted to work things out but wasn't sure how.
However, she had her faults as well. She didn't think about the grandparents who adored their only grandchild, especially her mother-in-law who missed him so much. Little Marcus lived with them since he was born and at barely a year old, he's abruptly taken away from them. No matter how upset she was at the H, she was also selfish to do that.
And the faults on both sides continue. The H wanted her back in Brazil, so when he visits to see Marcus, he supposedly takes him to the playground but actually takes him to the airport, calls the h and tells her he's taking him home to Brazil and she can follow on the next flight, leaving her no choice, naturally. Then when he (finally) tells her about his father and how he wants them back together before he dies, the H makes it sound like that's the only reason besides their son that he wants her back. But he also makes it clear that he's horny and ready to get naked and wouldn't mind making another baby. OH, COME ON!! Just what a troubled marriage needs, another baby! Or maybe I should say another weapon to use against each other, like they did with their son?
The h, meanwhile, wants to assert herself, which is only right, but then she starts getting "my way or the highway" too, as if to make up for having everything his way, now the H is supposed to do everything her way. Also, she's a bit of a misandrist, probably stemming from her daddy issues with her cold, "business before people" father. She resents the domineering attitude of her father-in-law and sympathizes with her mother-in-law, but when her equally domineering sister-in-law doesn't treat her husband any better, she blames her brother-in-law for being weak, like he deserves bad treatment. So, if a man's a crap husband it's his fault and if a woman's a crap wife it's also his fault! Doesn't sound fair to me.
Too many women have this "men are terrible no matter what" attitude, then they wonder why so many men go MGTOW. Well, DUH!
The real problem is, they ignored from the start their differences (language, culture, etc.) and got married way too fast because they couldn't wait to get naked! Marry for orgasms, repent while you masturbate!
I stopped reading, because I didn't like either of them and couldn't care less if they got back together or both dropped dead. Little Marcus would be better off without them.
February 4, 2022
Christa and Jeff married and had a child. They lived in Rio but when his family interfered she took their son back to England for awhile. She ended up stay longer than expected. He came and took their son back to Rio. She follows. Can these two reconcile after the way she was treated by his family? Is he willing to see the harm that was done to her? This is an old book in HP so the characters are different than the modern way of dealing with the problems. I have read this book several times and will reread it again.
May 11, 2024
Not a fan. Everyone is pulling the strings around the heroine, she has no idea what is true or what to believe! That she was calm and reasonable is far more than what I woulda been doing. Skip, not a good time.
abrierto-to-read-hr-other
February 9, 2021There were faults on both sides
And in time Christa had to admit that perhaps Jeff wasn't entirely to blame for the breakdown of their marriage.
That's when she'd rushed back to England with their son, Marcus--feeling that as in the past Jefferson Barssi had ridden roughshod over her feelings.
Now, she was willing to return to Brazil for the possibility of a reconciliation. If only she could be sure that's really what Jeff had in mind and that he wasn't planning simply to use her for purposes of his own!
And in time Christa had to admit that perhaps Jeff wasn't entirely to blame for the breakdown of their marriage.
That's when she'd rushed back to England with their son, Marcus--feeling that as in the past Jefferson Barssi had ridden roughshod over her feelings.
Now, she was willing to return to Brazil for the possibility of a reconciliation. If only she could be sure that's really what Jeff had in mind and that he wasn't planning simply to use her for purposes of his own!
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