Wonder and Wild Desire

by Jeanne Stephens

With her sister's death Carrie Franklin is faced with the awesome responsibility of raising her infant nephew, Mike. His father, a member of the wealthy Revell clan, earlier denied paternity. And only Carrie remains to support the child she loves--until she meets the powerful patriarch, Josh Revell.

Once Josh learns of Mike's existence he seeks custody, but Carrie loves Mike too much to surrender him to his arrogant uncle. Only one alternative is remotely feasible, ensuring that Carrie and Mike remain together: marriage to Josh. Yet can Carrie accept a marriage without love, even for the good of the child?

Genres: Romance

189 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1981

About the author

A pseudonym used by Jean Hager. AKA Leah Crane and Marlaine Kyle.

Reviews

[Debby]

The h’s too frequent tantrums became exhausting. She slaps him, she insults him numerous times.

She sleeps with him willingly and the morning after she accuses him of rape. She was annoying.

Another time she slips into his bed next to him, they make love and the next morning she was again having one of her tantrums.

And he isn’t an alpha male. He was nice to her. She wiped her feet on him.

[Margo]

Two and a half stars for this one. There is absolutely nothing surprising or original here, but if you like a plot moppet/MOC special, this might work for you. If you've been around the M&B block, you can tell the OW is a complete non-threat, and I don't think the H was using her to get the h jealous, either -- he just got angry that she was being mean to him and refused to answer.

[Fabiola GR]

A common plot in the harlequin world, a marriage of convenience that guarantees custody of the baby nephew, son of the heroine's sister and the H's brother...

The only difference here is that, under the pretense of saving his brother's reputation, they never tell the grandmother (the H's mother), who they go and live with, that the baby is biologically her grandson...

The heroine spends the entire book arguing with the H about nothing tactile and just overall acting childishly around him... It was hard for me to identify with her. The H was quite stubborn too and possibly not very likable, but he was right, she easily accepted the MOC and shouldn't be acting so infantile...
In the end, the impression I got is that she just wasn't able to hold a conversation with him like an adult. She wanted to feel loved and adored without loving back...

The book isn't badly written per se, but there isn't anything particularly good about it either.
I just didn't enjoy reading it very much.

[More Books Than Time]

This should have been a very enjoyable book with good characters and a tight plot. However, she resents and is bitter about H's brother rejecting her sister and refusing to acknowledge their child, and she resents H forcing her to marry him to keep her nephew. She can't get by the resentment in the first few days - very understandable but it makes for somewhat tedious reading.

H on the other hand is quite happy with his bargain except he wants to sleep with her now, not later, and he's obivious to the OW's machinations.

I'm not sure how an author can convey natural resentment and bitter feelings without a lot of whining or crabbing, but it would have been a much better book if she had been able to do so. Nonetheless I'll look for more by this author.