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Soul Ties
At some time, in some place, they had met—and loved.
Lauren had never set eyes on Joel Rockwell, but she recognized him instantly when they met in Indonesia. Everything about him was familiar, from his sense of humor to his favorite piece of music.
She couldn't explain it. How could she possibly feel these strong bonds with a man she barely knew?
And what point was there in loving him when he was engaged to another woman?
Lauren had never set eyes on Joel Rockwell, but she recognized him instantly when they met in Indonesia. Everything about him was familiar, from his sense of humor to his favorite piece of music.
She couldn't explain it. How could she possibly feel these strong bonds with a man she barely knew?
And what point was there in loving him when he was engaged to another woman?
- GenresHarlequin RomanceRomance
191 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1984
21 people want to read
About the author
Karen van der Zee
94 books39 followersI always wanted to write, ever since I was a child growing up in Holland. I was a dreamer, reading books and making up my own stories. I had notebooks full of stories which I illustrated with crayon drawings. My brothers burned the notebooks in the attic one day, fortunately not burning down the house. They don’t remember this now, but I do!
I also always wanted to travel. Holland is very flat and I wanted to see mountains and coconut palms and tropical beaches and deserts. I wanted to meet interesting people and learn about different cultures and see how people lived their daily lives. And then I wanted to write adventurous stories set in these exotic places
I got lucky and fell in love with a globetrotting American. I met him in Amsterdam, he asked me to marry him in Rome, and we tied the knot in a ten-minute ceremony in Kenya, East Africa, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Some wedding that was! Not the stuff of romantic dreams, but really good for a laugh.
After Kenya we lived in the States for a while, then four years in Ghana, West Africa where not only our first daughter was born, but my first Mills & Boon romance as well. It took me a year to write, which is three months longer than it takes to have a baby. It was set in Ghana, and I called it SWEET NOT ALWAYS, a slogan found on a big colorfully decorated truck that transported people, goods, and live chickens.
I continued writing romances and loved the creativity of it, although it was, and is, never easy. Later we also lived in Indonesia, Ramallah (Palestine), then another three years in Ghana, and most recently six years in Armenia, which lies east of Turkey and north of Iran. Along the way we acquired a couple more kids, so now we have three.
I’ve written over thirty books now, many set in exotic locations such as Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Java, Kenya and Ghana, as well as Holland and the US. Writing as Mona van Wieren, I received a RITA for a Silhouette Romance entitled RHAPSODY IN BLOOM.
I love the challenge of living in a foreign country where the food is different, the people interesting and life gives me endless inspiration for my writing. So, I’ll just keep going for a while.
I also always wanted to travel. Holland is very flat and I wanted to see mountains and coconut palms and tropical beaches and deserts. I wanted to meet interesting people and learn about different cultures and see how people lived their daily lives. And then I wanted to write adventurous stories set in these exotic places
I got lucky and fell in love with a globetrotting American. I met him in Amsterdam, he asked me to marry him in Rome, and we tied the knot in a ten-minute ceremony in Kenya, East Africa, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Some wedding that was! Not the stuff of romantic dreams, but really good for a laugh.
After Kenya we lived in the States for a while, then four years in Ghana, West Africa where not only our first daughter was born, but my first Mills & Boon romance as well. It took me a year to write, which is three months longer than it takes to have a baby. It was set in Ghana, and I called it SWEET NOT ALWAYS, a slogan found on a big colorfully decorated truck that transported people, goods, and live chickens.
I continued writing romances and loved the creativity of it, although it was, and is, never easy. Later we also lived in Indonesia, Ramallah (Palestine), then another three years in Ghana, and most recently six years in Armenia, which lies east of Turkey and north of Iran. Along the way we acquired a couple more kids, so now we have three.
I’ve written over thirty books now, many set in exotic locations such as Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Java, Kenya and Ghana, as well as Holland and the US. Writing as Mona van Wieren, I received a RITA for a Silhouette Romance entitled RHAPSODY IN BLOOM.
I love the challenge of living in a foreign country where the food is different, the people interesting and life gives me endless inspiration for my writing. So, I’ll just keep going for a while.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 12, 2011
Hoooo boy.... everytime heroine starts drinking, I just cringed cuz her tearducts do splits @ an alarming rate & her eyes pee like there's no tomorrow. Exactly how many eyebag concealers does she carry ? H/h are polar opposites. She's so emotional... he'so emotionless. Death by cashew nut woulda made it more dwamatic. Where's Mrs. Doubtfire when needed ? Heroine spends the majority of the book feeling blue & her self-triggered melancholy & depression made me wanna give her my shrink's card. The romance took a backseat to the scenic view. Prolly the worst reincarnation theme in HPlandia. Not cohesive. The ending was a cop out. Heroine mopes around, moons over stoic hero, turns into a nervous wreck when hero's in the vicinity, daydreams @ odd moments, just came across like a lifeless doll running on rusty battery. Prolly consumes too much krupuk, teh botol & pollution-diluted water. I really wouldn't have been surprised if hero turned out to be heroine's figment of imagination.... or it was just her wet dream. Hands down, the soggiest heroine evah read... much like Maya Banks's wet chow mein.
ETA from bk-club :
- How would you grade/rate the book?
3*, an over-inflated rating just ‘cuz I luv moist trainwrecks & humid locales that are portrayed authentically, not just as transparent background. Romance-wise, it’s actually a whopping 1* ‘cuz it’s pretty much all in her cloudy head, a lopsided affair. She seemed to be constantly chasing after an illusion, just ‘cuz she had the weird vibes she’d known him before even tho’ she couldn’t point her finger to it.
-Did you like the hero? The heroine? How was the plot?
Hero = what hero ? He barely made a ripple in my radar, merely serves as an in-and-out prop on the storyboard. What li’l interaction H/h had could be lumped in a stamp. Not even meaningful interaction to warrant a qualitative analysis on their relationship. When H/h finally get it on, it was written so vaguely, for a sec I thought it’s just anotha dreamy fantasy of hers. He operates w/ “outta sight – outta mind” attitude towards Lauren & we’re supposed to believe @ the end that it’s all ‘cuz he’s introverted. He’s still a blank canvas to me when I reached the last line.
Heroine = Really needs to put a lid on her leaky waterpot. Good grief, the amount of tears she sheds from cover to cover coulda filled up an ocean. She steam-cooks her own mind & gets herself riled up so effortlessly that external circumstances were not needed as trigger. There’s a major glitz in her mental toughness. She’s so morose, manic-depressive, insecure, whiny, high-strung that I dunno how anybody could stand her. Heck it’s not surprising that Joel gives her the cold shoulder everytime they bump into each other. She’s more clingy than a wet T-shirt. She over-reacts & is so hypersensitive that it’s imperative to have mental Benadryl @ all times. @ her age, she’s so ill-equipped to cope w/ adversities. A total milksop who humiliates herself in crunchy situations, amazing she still does social rounds.
Classic HP moments :
- Near-death by meandering cashew nut. Death by chipmunk in my recent read was more entertaining tho’, nuffink will evah beat that classic method
- Fork-tongued viper makes heroine’s life a living hell
- Chauvinistic boss gets a verbal slapdown
Plot = It bears repeating that this is not a romance.
-What did you think of the paranormal aspects in the story?
Poorly structured.
-Did you enjoy the Indonesia setting?
Sure. It’s a platform to showcase the tourist-friendly aspects of the locale, exotic cuisine & also raise awareness on the real-life, conscience-prodding poverty & seedy side of cheap labor. Made me think twice ‘bout buying Indo-made products ‘cuz all the profits go straight to deep-pocketed conglomerates.
-What would you change to make the story better?
*** Lose the PNR angle, make it a straight4ward luv affair between 2 wanderers in foreign country.
*** I’ve nevah read a powder keg who cries a river like Lauren. She cries, cries some more, cries herself to sleep, 2nd-guesses herself all the time. Shoulda kissed hero buhbye @ 1st brush-off.
*** Snip the heroine’s non-stop mental whimpering, pissing & moaning ‘bout everything & everyone under the sun
*** Why, oh why, was the prose laden w/ the word “WHY” & a gazillion question marks ????
-Have you read KVDZ before? Would you read her again?
A toss-up.
ETA from bk-club :
- How would you grade/rate the book?
3*, an over-inflated rating just ‘cuz I luv moist trainwrecks & humid locales that are portrayed authentically, not just as transparent background. Romance-wise, it’s actually a whopping 1* ‘cuz it’s pretty much all in her cloudy head, a lopsided affair. She seemed to be constantly chasing after an illusion, just ‘cuz she had the weird vibes she’d known him before even tho’ she couldn’t point her finger to it.
-Did you like the hero? The heroine? How was the plot?
Hero = what hero ? He barely made a ripple in my radar, merely serves as an in-and-out prop on the storyboard. What li’l interaction H/h had could be lumped in a stamp. Not even meaningful interaction to warrant a qualitative analysis on their relationship. When H/h finally get it on, it was written so vaguely, for a sec I thought it’s just anotha dreamy fantasy of hers. He operates w/ “outta sight – outta mind” attitude towards Lauren & we’re supposed to believe @ the end that it’s all ‘cuz he’s introverted. He’s still a blank canvas to me when I reached the last line.
Heroine = Really needs to put a lid on her leaky waterpot. Good grief, the amount of tears she sheds from cover to cover coulda filled up an ocean. She steam-cooks her own mind & gets herself riled up so effortlessly that external circumstances were not needed as trigger. There’s a major glitz in her mental toughness. She’s so morose, manic-depressive, insecure, whiny, high-strung that I dunno how anybody could stand her. Heck it’s not surprising that Joel gives her the cold shoulder everytime they bump into each other. She’s more clingy than a wet T-shirt. She over-reacts & is so hypersensitive that it’s imperative to have mental Benadryl @ all times. @ her age, she’s so ill-equipped to cope w/ adversities. A total milksop who humiliates herself in crunchy situations, amazing she still does social rounds.
Classic HP moments :
- Near-death by meandering cashew nut. Death by chipmunk in my recent read was more entertaining tho’, nuffink will evah beat that classic method
- Fork-tongued viper makes heroine’s life a living hell
- Chauvinistic boss gets a verbal slapdown
Plot = It bears repeating that this is not a romance.
-What did you think of the paranormal aspects in the story?
Poorly structured.
-Did you enjoy the Indonesia setting?
Sure. It’s a platform to showcase the tourist-friendly aspects of the locale, exotic cuisine & also raise awareness on the real-life, conscience-prodding poverty & seedy side of cheap labor. Made me think twice ‘bout buying Indo-made products ‘cuz all the profits go straight to deep-pocketed conglomerates.
-What would you change to make the story better?
*** Lose the PNR angle, make it a straight4ward luv affair between 2 wanderers in foreign country.
*** I’ve nevah read a powder keg who cries a river like Lauren. She cries, cries some more, cries herself to sleep, 2nd-guesses herself all the time. Shoulda kissed hero buhbye @ 1st brush-off.
*** Snip the heroine’s non-stop mental whimpering, pissing & moaning ‘bout everything & everyone under the sun
*** Why, oh why, was the prose laden w/ the word “WHY” & a gazillion question marks ????
-Have you read KVDZ before? Would you read her again?
A toss-up.
September 7, 2014
Laughably awful, even for a Harlequin. The heroine is wetter than an old dishrag and hero is an emotionless idiot. Together they don't make half a useful person. There is no discernable plot and the doesn't really end, it just quits. Somewhere there is writer who refuses to own up to writing this book, and an editor who was looking for a new job shortly after publication.
April 16, 2025
A bit woo woo, but I liked the Java setting and he has some nice things to say at the end. KVDZ also describes intense emotions so well, even when you get frustrated with them!
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
January 13, 2011
Again, I read this years and years ago. So, I think that it says something about the writing that I still remember a little of the plot. These two people have very brief glimpses, that make them wonder at different times if they are looking into thier past lives, this book flowed so well for me years ago. I could really believe in past life experiences. Which I don't at all but it was so well written. I could also believe in love - after reading what I remember as a heart warming little book- which I may be more skeptical about than past lives, lol.
Anyway, this was wonderful then and I would read it again now if I had it.
Anyway, this was wonderful then and I would read it again now if I had it.
May 9, 2011
What a bad book. I cannot relate with the h, who spends half of the book imagining in her head things about a man she thinks she knows but she doesn't know anything about him, anything at all! Half of the book she's doing those movies in her head and he doesn't care for her at all. She's always depressed, sad, when she meets him it's embarassing what she does, what she feels for a man totally unknown to her except this feeling she had she had known him from before. No passion, no feelings at all for me, just a sort of little case for a shrink.
Didn't like it.
Didn't like it.
not-for-me
May 23, 2022At some time, in some place, they had met—and loved.
Lauren had never set eyes on Joel Rockwell, but she recognized him instantly when they met in Indonesia. Everything about him was familiar, from his sense of humor to his favorite piece of music.
She couldn't explain it. How could she possibly feel these strong bonds with a man she barely knew?
And what point was there in loving him when he was engaged to another woman?
Lauren had never set eyes on Joel Rockwell, but she recognized him instantly when they met in Indonesia. Everything about him was familiar, from his sense of humor to his favorite piece of music.
She couldn't explain it. How could she possibly feel these strong bonds with a man she barely knew?
And what point was there in loving him when he was engaged to another woman?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews