Caribbean Confusion

by Mary Lyons

Harlequin #673

Genres: Harlequin Presents, Harlequin

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Mary-Jo Wormell, whose nom de plume is Mary Lyons, was a popular British writer of over 40 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1983 to 2001. She was also a Conservative Party parlimentary candidate.

Reviews

[Melinda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disgusting. Bad marriage given as excuse to rationalize adultery.

[willaful]

Jane Eyre HP style.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

The h is 24 year old Annabel. When the book begins she has just gotten a job as governess on Barbados. To the 7 year old niece of a Lord Lister. But it turns out that Lord Lister is the H, 32 year old Hugh Grey. They were in a relationship 2 years ago till the h found out the H was married. She met him when she worked at a auction house after just finishing university. He wanted to sell a painting and saw her and he basically kidnapped her to dinner. They start dating and after a while Hugh takes her away for a weekend at a cottage and they make love (the h is a virgin if you were wondering). When they get home they go to a club and the next day there is a picture in the paper of them at the club and the article questions who the girl with Hugh is and that it is certainly not his, Duhh duhh DUHHH, wife!
Needless to say the h is devastated. At the same time she gets a message from her father that her mother is dying from cancer and she leaves without seeing the H again. Fast forward 2 years and the h has lost both her parents and has worked as a teacher for the last 2 years. The H is now a widower but seems to have a bitchy girlfriend.
I was expecting drama and angst. What I got was a boring travel log and good dose of plot moppet (the moppet was actually pretty cute) There is some forceful kisses and brooding glances from the H but not much else.
After some boring events we get to explanations and a HEA. The H found out that his wife was a heroin addict on their honeymoon and he couldn't touch her after that. (The story doesn't divulge how long they were married). Then he met the h and fell in love. When she disappear he looked for her but couldn't find her. The wife died of blood poisoning from a dirty needle. His sibling died and he becomes guardian to his niece.
If you hoped for a celibate H during the separation you will be disappointed. I interpret the story as he had a real relationship with the OW but stopped seeing her alone when he met the h again.
There was no heat or heart int this story. It is definitely not for those who dislike a cheating H. I didn't really mind it so much in this story since I have a pretty high threshold for my Heros.
One other thing that irked me was that the servants talked like people in the 1930s thought black people talked in the 1800..
one mehh star

[RomLibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

All a new life offered was old heartache

Hugh Grey had seduced Annabel with consummate skill in London. She had fled, humiliated, when she discovered he was married.

In Barbados two years later she hoped to escape the past. The last man she expected or wanted to find herself working for was Hugh himself, now unmarried, and still pursuing and pursued by beautiful women.

She didn't know if she loved or hated him, and watching the progress of his affairs only deepened her painful confusion....

[ANGELIA · Rating 1 out of 5]

It should be called "Caribbean Garbage". We have a bitter, angry H, an "I hate you; I want you; I love you; No, I HATE you" h, an annoying OW, a boring OM, a precocious, irritating kid who makes fools out of the adults (not to difficult a feat, considering this bunch), and assorted misunderstandings, hurt pride, feigned indifference, drugs, deaths, etc. A whole lot of melodrama, and a whole lot of nonsense!

It all could have been avoided if the H had been honest with the h in the first place!

BTW: I can't understand why some reviewers call the H a cheater. If they meant during his unfortunate first marriage, his wife was an addict who slept with any guy who could get her a fix (and they were "in name only" for a long time). If they meant cheating on the h, they weren't married when she left him (thinking she had a good reason) and he thought he'd never see her again, so how is his getting another girlfriend cheating??? The H is a man, not a saint.

Instead of cheater, call him a nincompoop, just like everyone else in this time waster.

[Pravana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Old Skool.
No Hero POV.
As Boogie would say a classic case of Be-happy-the-heroine-is-happy.
Should have stopped reading the book when I found out that the Hero was married when he seduced the Heroine.
The inherited child Tasmin has a talent for mimicking others voices and is very precocious

[More Books Than Time · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull and he was committing adultery anyway you look at it and made her a guilty party

[Νίνα Δοδούδη · Rating 4 out of 5]

" Όταν η μοίρα προστάζει "- Μαίρη Λάιονς , Χρυσό 186, έτος έκδοσης: 1983

Η Άναμπελ δεν μπορεί να ξεχάσει τον Χιου Γκρέυ, αν και έχουν περάσει δυο χρόνια από το χωρισμό τους. Γι' αυτό, μόλις της παρουσιάζεται μια δουλειά στο νησί Μπαρμπάντος, τη δέχεται γιατί πιστεύει ότι είναι ευκαιρία να ξαναρχίσει τη ζωή της. Φτάνοντας όμως εκεί, ανακαλύπτει πως εργοδότης της είναι ο Χιου, ο οποίος μάλιστα έχει αρραβωνιαστεί. Με τη συμπεριφορά του, της δείχνει ότι την ποθεί κι η Άναμπελ φοβάται πώς θα πληγωθεί για δεύτερη φορά, γιατί εκείνο που αποζητά απεγνωσμένα η καρδιά της, είναι η αγάπη κι όχι ο τυφλός πόθος.
ΜΟΥ ΑΡΕΣΕ ΠΟΛΎ!!!!

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just terrible. The heroine is so boring and so stupid, the hero is an adulterer and a posh twit with no redeeming qualities and the side characters excruciatingly two dimensional cliches.