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Wildest Hearts
by
Annie Lyncroft knew her scheme was outrageous. She'd come to the elegant penthouse to meet Oliver Rain, the richest and possibly the most dangerous man in the Pacific Northwest. Annie needed this sensual, secretive corporate maverick for what she was about to propose. Marriage!
With her brother Danny missing after a mysterious plane crash, Annie is struggling to protect ...more
With her brother Danny missing after a mysterious plane crash, Annie is struggling to protect ...more
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Paperback, 376 pages
Published
April 1993
by Pocket Books
(first published 1993)
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First, may I say, this was such a 1990s romance. It was only my second Krentz book and I wasn’t too impressed with the first one I read. But I heard so many good things about this story that I had to give this author another go. And I am glad I did.
Oliver Rain was a rich uber-alpha male with control issues. He wore his hair pulled back in a ponytail, had a zen garden and performed yoga daily. He also had a serious problem with trust: no close friends, just acquaintances. Oliver took care of his ...more
Oliver Rain was a rich uber-alpha male with control issues. He wore his hair pulled back in a ponytail, had a zen garden and performed yoga daily. He also had a serious problem with trust: no close friends, just acquaintances. Oliver took care of his ...more

This is another warm, relaxing bath of a romance from this author.
It’s JAK’s usual mismatched pair with strong sexual chemistry and a mystery to solve. The mystery? Heroine’s brother’s plane is missing and so is he. His computer software company is in peril. The heroine is the only other stock-owner and is now responsible. Heroine decides her brother’s friend and mentor should become part of the family and marry her in a marriage of convenience. He can manage the company and calm creditors and ...more
It’s JAK’s usual mismatched pair with strong sexual chemistry and a mystery to solve. The mystery? Heroine’s brother’s plane is missing and so is he. His computer software company is in peril. The heroine is the only other stock-owner and is now responsible. Heroine decides her brother’s friend and mentor should become part of the family and marry her in a marriage of convenience. He can manage the company and calm creditors and ...more

Feb 01, 2016
Jane Stewart
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-romance-with-suspense
3 stars. A bit too syrupy - but ok if you’re in the mood for that kind of escape.
The heroine Annie was too much of a Mary Sue for me - too perfect. From the beginning she tells wealthy man Oliver how he needs to improve his communication skills. She treats him the way a mother would. She insists that he keep her involved in everything even though she is out of her league in his high tech business world. Annie owns a shop selling artsy and decorative things for the home.
The plot about Annie’s ...more
The heroine Annie was too much of a Mary Sue for me - too perfect. From the beginning she tells wealthy man Oliver how he needs to improve his communication skills. She treats him the way a mother would. She insists that he keep her involved in everything even though she is out of her league in his high tech business world. Annie owns a shop selling artsy and decorative things for the home.
The plot about Annie’s ...more

The theme of a contemporary marriage of convenience was delightfully explored by Jayne Ann Krentz in Wildest Hearts. ”Annie are you by any chance proposing to me?” LOL!
When Annie Lyncroft’s brother is lost and presumed dead in a plane crash, she needs someone to help save her brother’s company. Proposing to Oliver Rain seemed like the only thing she could do. This serves Oliver ends very well, but he intends to make their marriage the real thing.
I loved Annie and Oliver. Despite his quirky ...more
When Annie Lyncroft’s brother is lost and presumed dead in a plane crash, she needs someone to help save her brother’s company. Proposing to Oliver Rain seemed like the only thing she could do. This serves Oliver ends very well, but he intends to make their marriage the real thing.
I loved Annie and Oliver. Despite his quirky ...more

I'm not quite sure what I should say about this one.
So, we have Annie and Oliver. These two get married just so that Oliver can control a particular company, that belongs to her brother. Daniel, Annie's brother, went missing days ago, and now all his creditors are after the company. The only way to save it, according to Annie, is that she gets married, so that half of her shares go to her husband. Annie is sure that Daniel is alive, and plans to get a divorce as soon as her brother comes back ...more
So, we have Annie and Oliver. These two get married just so that Oliver can control a particular company, that belongs to her brother. Daniel, Annie's brother, went missing days ago, and now all his creditors are after the company. The only way to save it, according to Annie, is that she gets married, so that half of her shares go to her husband. Annie is sure that Daniel is alive, and plans to get a divorce as soon as her brother comes back ...more

Actually, until last part, I would give it 2.5 point but I liked last part with both suspense and romance.
It was an old, classic suspense and its hero, Olive, reminded me Shibumi's hero very much. Although, Shibumi's hero is really very eccentric and has been well characterized. On the other hand, imo, because of he has not been characterized that well, he seems a bit exaggerated. I don't like to read when author tells and tells about some major characterization about hero or heroine but we ...more
It was an old, classic suspense and its hero, Olive, reminded me Shibumi's hero very much. Although, Shibumi's hero is really very eccentric and has been well characterized. On the other hand, imo, because of he has not been characterized that well, he seems a bit exaggerated. I don't like to read when author tells and tells about some major characterization about hero or heroine but we ...more

God, this is the worst book I've had the misfortune to read. I hated the heroine, who has a full blown God complex and thinks everyone she meets needs rescuing. The hero is a complete doormat who was in love with Annie. Beta is not a good enough word for him.
Wouldn't recommend this crap to my worst enemy.
Oh yeah, another thing - the author tries to create sympathy for a gold digger step mom who was sleeping with other men on the side - there's justification and finally sympathy and forgiveness ...more
Wouldn't recommend this crap to my worst enemy.
Oh yeah, another thing - the author tries to create sympathy for a gold digger step mom who was sleeping with other men on the side - there's justification and finally sympathy and forgiveness ...more

Although Wildest Hearts was of average length for a romance novel, the plot still felt rushed.
Annie and Oliver's relationship goes from non-existent to "I'm in love with him" in the space of three days during which they hardly spent any time together. It's not unusual in a romance novel for things to progress rather quickly, but in most cases the hero and heroine are inseparable and their time together is filled with romantic tension and smoldering gazes, etc. In this book Annie and Oliver marry ...more
Annie and Oliver's relationship goes from non-existent to "I'm in love with him" in the space of three days during which they hardly spent any time together. It's not unusual in a romance novel for things to progress rather quickly, but in most cases the hero and heroine are inseparable and their time together is filled with romantic tension and smoldering gazes, etc. In this book Annie and Oliver marry ...more

This book ties with The Waiting Game as my favorite Jayne Ann Krentz, with Wildest Hearts slighly ahead. It is quinessential Krentz at her best. First she turns a geeky type hero with a geeky name (Oliver) and turns him into a sexy, go for broke chameleon and we the reader discovers several chapters into the book that the guy is like James Bond. You have the quirky heroine (a wonderful Krentz trademark) and you have the perfect couple. She transforms her man into this great to die for guy
...more

why do i have the feeling that this was EL James's inspiration for her over-hyped trilogy?!?! >.<
oh right, because i wanted to slap annie the way I wanted to slap James's anna! T_T
nah!
seriously, the hero & heroine in this book feels like the original grey and anna (respectively)
mysterious but weird, eye-candy billionaire with paranoia and stalker-tendency... ring a bell anyone?! urrgh. next!
oh right, because i wanted to slap annie the way I wanted to slap James's anna! T_T
nah!
seriously, the hero & heroine in this book feels like the original grey and anna (respectively)
mysterious but weird, eye-candy billionaire with paranoia and stalker-tendency... ring a bell anyone?! urrgh. next!

hoarder challenge: #26 random book from my bookshelf
So this one sat on my bookshelf for a while b/c I just couldn’t remember if I’d read it or not so I kept picking it up and putting it down. I decided to read it as I wanted something light after finishing a heavier themed book. (even if it was a reread which it turned out not to be)
The reason this seemed so familiar was that it sort of was.
I do like Krentz as well as her Amanda Quick alias. And yes they can be formulaic in their stories.
But ...more
So this one sat on my bookshelf for a while b/c I just couldn’t remember if I’d read it or not so I kept picking it up and putting it down. I decided to read it as I wanted something light after finishing a heavier themed book. (even if it was a reread which it turned out not to be)
The reason this seemed so familiar was that it sort of was.
I do like Krentz as well as her Amanda Quick alias. And yes they can be formulaic in their stories.
But ...more

A MAZING
COMPLETELY ADORED THE CHARACTERS
AND THE PLOT
AND THE TWIST
AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN ...more
COMPLETELY ADORED THE CHARACTERS
AND THE PLOT
AND THE TWIST
AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN ...more

This book is so much like Perfect Partners it's easy to confuse the two, but that one's better. Our heroine, Annie, owns a quirky decorating store and her brother, head of a rising electronics firm, has disappeared while flying over the ocean. She and the brother's fiancé believe he's still alive but everyone else assumes he's dead and the company is in trouble. Annie's solution is to get Oliver Rain to marry her so everyone will think he's taking over the company and keep it afloat until her
...more

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
First published: 1993
Length: 5946 kindle locations.
Setting: Contemporary, Seattle.
Sex: Explicit. Reasonably frequent.
Hero: Entrepeneur.
Heroine: Owns a small business.
Nice premise. Good story. Good characters. Marriage of convenience in a contemporary setting.
But.
Not enough grovel from the Grey-like Oliver.
Too much bending and bottomless cheer from "Polly-Annie".
Story took an unlikely arc with an unsatisfactory BadGuy and too-tidy ending.
It is of it's time (early-90s) as ...more
First published: 1993
Length: 5946 kindle locations.
Setting: Contemporary, Seattle.
Sex: Explicit. Reasonably frequent.
Hero: Entrepeneur.
Heroine: Owns a small business.
Nice premise. Good story. Good characters. Marriage of convenience in a contemporary setting.
But.
Not enough grovel from the Grey-like Oliver.
Too much bending and bottomless cheer from "Polly-Annie".
Story took an unlikely arc with an unsatisfactory BadGuy and too-tidy ending.
It is of it's time (early-90s) as ...more

3.5*
Another Krentz book that I won't pick apart, but just enjoy. While the suspense plot was recycled from an earlier JAK book, the main characters weren't. Oliver is the ruthless businessman and autocratic ruler of his family that he seems. While Annie sparks some self-evaluation in him, it's slow and painful, and therefore more believable than most books with this device. Annie is perhaps a little too "good," but I enjoyed her efforts to thwart Oliver's draconian plans. I especially enjoyed ...more
Another Krentz book that I won't pick apart, but just enjoy. While the suspense plot was recycled from an earlier JAK book, the main characters weren't. Oliver is the ruthless businessman and autocratic ruler of his family that he seems. While Annie sparks some self-evaluation in him, it's slow and painful, and therefore more believable than most books with this device. Annie is perhaps a little too "good," but I enjoyed her efforts to thwart Oliver's draconian plans. I especially enjoyed ...more

I really did not enjoy this one. Was kinda disappointed. Since I love Amanda Quick's regency romances.
Annie was annoying as hell...I love Ms.Quick's heroines, so this was disappointing. She was sooooo unnaturally cheery and optimistic. She bulldozed over anything to get her way! I mean it was a bit much, and it was even more ridiculous that Oliver put up with it. Oliver was not anywhere near as likable as her regency period heroes either. His weird control thing was honestly a bit overdone. ...more
Annie was annoying as hell...I love Ms.Quick's heroines, so this was disappointing. She was sooooo unnaturally cheery and optimistic. She bulldozed over anything to get her way! I mean it was a bit much, and it was even more ridiculous that Oliver put up with it. Oliver was not anywhere near as likable as her regency period heroes either. His weird control thing was honestly a bit overdone. ...more

A good little eccentric book. A love story started from a wicked business proposal.
A peculiar, stoic, ruthless self-millionare business tycoon meets a sweet, independent, busy-body lady who owned a queer collections of designs.
They are both weird, Oliver with his manmade rainforest located on the rooftop and his infamous anti-social side, and Annie with her elephant pink toenails that is still occupying on the store and her Saint-Theresa-broken-cases-charity. She really tries to sell the ...more
A peculiar, stoic, ruthless self-millionare business tycoon meets a sweet, independent, busy-body lady who owned a queer collections of designs.
They are both weird, Oliver with his manmade rainforest located on the rooftop and his infamous anti-social side, and Annie with her elephant pink toenails that is still occupying on the store and her Saint-Theresa-broken-cases-charity. She really tries to sell the ...more

OK. I will say one thing...I'm going out this weekend and buying a fern.
That's about all this book compelled me to do. It was just okay. No other way to say it.
The characters were okay.
The sex was okay...there was that one scene with the scarves, though.
The dialogue was okay...we GET IT, no one understand him. Jeez.
Overall, it was okay.
I found this book on a table at my local YMCA, and I am okay with that. I shall return it promptly for some other person to read.
That's about all this book compelled me to do. It was just okay. No other way to say it.
The characters were okay.
The sex was okay...there was that one scene with the scarves, though.
The dialogue was okay...we GET IT, no one understand him. Jeez.
Overall, it was okay.
I found this book on a table at my local YMCA, and I am okay with that. I shall return it promptly for some other person to read.

Jan 14, 2010
Mollie *scoutrmom*
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
fans of contemporary romance
Shelves:
romance,
read-in-2011
Take a wacky, impulsive heroine, mix with a brooding macho business shark who is closed off from his feelings, stir well. Jayne Ann Krentz does it best. No one else could give her hero the dorky name of Oliver and make us lust for him in spite of it.

An earlier JAK that I liked when I first read decades ago, but has some moderately annoying bits now that I’m older. Annie’s naïveté is unbelievable for her age - she is frequently oblivious to why Oliver is angry with her, when she deliberately did something to thwart his plans. It’s not that I agree he should be angry, but it’s not as if she acted without knowing what she was doing. Oliver also is too heavy handed in his dealings - he’s a complete despot with his family and business. However,
...more

When Daniel Lyncroft, the head of Lyncroft Unlimited, disappeared in a plane crash some time ago. His creditors are getting restless but his sister Annie doesn't want to sell his company; she knows that he is alive. So she's pulling her nuclear option, contacting his former employer, Oliver Rain. Everyone knows that he not pulled his own family's company from the brink of disaster several years ago, he multiplied their fortunes by quite a bit. He's invested in Daniel's company so it's in his
...more

This was a very good book. It was about a missing brother and how his sister Annie Lyncroft has to run his high-tech company. Annie goes to her brothers biggest investor, Oliver Rain, to get him to help her run it. To that end she proposes a marriage that is strictly professional. There is a lot of tension between Annie and Oliver and there are other investors who do not like the fact that they are running the company and don't trust her to do a good job. Kept my interest right from the very
...more

The story is set in the Pacific Northwest.
Krentz's suspense-mystery begins with the disappearance of Daniel Lyncroft, a tech
genius and Annie's older brother.
Krentz's uses the classic "Marriage of Convenience," in a modern setting.
I found out about this title from a fan, who mentioned that Annie and Oliver's names
in: "The Girl Who Knew too Much," were used before.
Krentz's suspense-mystery begins with the disappearance of Daniel Lyncroft, a tech
genius and Annie's older brother.
Krentz's uses the classic "Marriage of Convenience," in a modern setting.
I found out about this title from a fan, who mentioned that Annie and Oliver's names
in: "The Girl Who Knew too Much," were used before.

it was a very nice novel. I started reading it in passing and I did not drop it until I finished the whole book. I enjoyed how Annie was not afraid to change Oliver and you could just see how much OLIVER loved her enough to become nicer. I loved their loyalty, honesty, and trust. highly recommended.
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Goodreads Librari...: Please add Narrator to Audiobook | 2 | 15 | Apr 02, 2013 01:46AM | |
Jayne Ann Krentz ...: Wildest Hearts (1993) | 1 | 2 | Sep 27, 2012 12:55PM |
The author of over 50 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.
She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters ...more
She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters ...more
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