No Last Song

by Ann Charlton

She had made the wrong impression from the start

Briony couldn't blame Sydney-tycoon Stanford Barron for being surprised when she began working as his aunt's gardener. After all, the last time he'd seen her she'd been the lead guitarist in her brother's band.

It was natural for him to wonder which was the real Briony Wilde.

But wasn't he going a little too far when he accused her of stealing from his aunt?

Genres: Harlequin Romance, Harlequin

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Ann Charlton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and now lives in Brisbane. She traces the beginning of her writing to a childhood period when, in trying to avoid nightmares, she began telling herself a story, continued each night. She wanted to be a commercial artist but became a secretary. She wanted to play the piano but plays guitar instead, and she never planned to be a writer. Her professional writing began with a short-story contest. She published her first romance novel in 1984.

Now Ann writes every weekday, interspersed with looking after her family Tennis, sketching, reading, modern music and dancing are other interests. When both daughters have finished high school, Ann looks forward to travel and seeing new places. She would like to do more tapestry work and paint miniatures and has absolutely no plans to research a book in the Amazon or to learn to play the bouzouki. From time to time she abseils, which surprises her because she is afraid of heights.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heroine dressed in a Wonder Woman costume, singing and playing guitar for her brother’s band, notices a hot guy in a suit glaring at her.

Ann Charlton sure likes this kind of opening - the hero jumping to conclusions about the heroine’s morals and character based on what she is wearing, but still being violently attracted to her.

And that’s what happens here. Heroine is left behind by the band members when some yobs through rocks at the lighting system. Hero thinks heroine was responsible for the violence (!?) and manhandles her until she faints. Hero does feed her, but makes all sorts of slut shaming comments.

Heroine’s brother eventually returns to pick up the heroine and take her to the town where she has a job interview the next day. Heroine is tired of the big city and wants to try her luck in the country, as a gardener. She sleeps in the train station bathroom and is befriended by an older man who knows the lady who is seeking a gardener.

Heroine gets the job and settles down nicely.

By pure author machinations coincidence, the old lady is the hero’s auntie. Hero is suspicious of the heroine’s motives and thinks she’s there to rob her blind or something. It’s all pretty ridiculous.

Hero dials back the slut-shaming, thank goodness – but heroine has to put up with the old lady’s other relatives, the hero’s snobby friends, and her brother’s band mates who keep showing up at the wrong time to make the hero jealous.

The black moment is more silliness with the heroine being “framed” by one of the old lady’s relatives. She flees to Sydney, but the hero follows for an HEA.

This hero was obviously besotted, and it was fun to see him twisting in the wind – torn between his attraction to the heroine and fear that he was putting his family in danger by having her around. I enjoyed the heroine’s gardening efforts since I have the blackest of thumbs.

This was a fun little romp – not a lot of angst, since the heroine never stayed down for long.

[♡︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely dreamy.

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise. Heroine meets hero at a gig where she is performing in a "superwoman" costume that shows more skin than material.

Hero assumes she is a groupy and comes with all the associated baggage. I found it hard to warm up to him. He made too many mistakes for me to cheer for his happy ending. I would have preferred the heroine to end up with the younger brother.

Oh well, still enjoyable. I like this author's approach though at times, the protagonists can be so extreme that they "grate" on the nerves.

[DamsonDreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this. So many cliched scenes but so well done. The H Ford Barron was dreamy with his piercing blue eyes and his polo playing (actually polocrosse? Never heard of it but I was in imagined jodhpurs heaven when he chased after her on his horse). The h, Briony, first introduced to us (and him) playing guitar on stage in a wonderwoman costume, was down on her luck, accident prone and innocent. She gets a job gardening for his aunt and the cast of supporting characters adds diversion (and opportunity for jealousy) without detracting from the main love story. It was a lovely read.

[Roub · Rating 3 out of 5]

well in this one, the hero was determined to think the worst of the heroine! it was hilarious how ford jumped to wrong conclusions about briony! he had so many prejudices, supposedly based on his brother, stuart's bad experience wid a band! i found this a bit outstretched, i mean like over reaction on his part. it was ridicule how he got jealous of any man coming into contact wid briony! he overdid it in the jealousy depaertment. as for briony, she was lil cinderella personified, who discovered the pot of gold, if u get my meaning!lol. nice read though!

[RomLibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

She had made the wrong impression from the start

Briony couldn't blame Sydney-tycoon Stanford Barron for being surprised when she began working as his aunt's gardener. After all, the last time he'd seen her she'd been the lead guitarist in her brother's band.

It was natural for him to wonder which was the real Briony Wilde.

But wasn't he going a little too far when he accused her of stealing from his aunt? (less)

[Shreedevi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, very good.

[Nikki]

This plot is all over the place, couldn’t even finish.