What do you think?
Rate this book
The Timber Baron's Virgin Bride
Wife by contractRachel Moore has been in love with dark-hearted tycoon Bryn Donovan for years – ever since they shared one illicit night together. But Rachel is only the hired help… Little does she know, she’s Bryn’s chosen bride! Rachel’s overjoyed – until she discovers the millionaire’s proposal is a convenient one.She knows he must continue the Donovan dynasty, and, believing she can’t give him a child, Rachel flees. But Bryn will not rest until he finds her and demands what is rightfully his!
186 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
11 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Daphne Clair
124 books64 followersDahpne Clair is one of many pseudonyms of Daphne de Jong, a New Zealand writer who also uses the names Laurie Bright, Claire Lorel and Clarissa Garland. She is the winner of the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award and has been a finalist for the Romance Writers of America Rita Award more than once.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
Daphne Clair de Jong decided to be a writer when she was eight years old and won her first literary prize for a school essay. Her first short story was published when she was sixteen and she's been writing and publishing ever since. Nowadays she earns her living from writing, something her well-meaning teachers and guidance counsellors warned her she would never achieve in New Zealand. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and a collection of them was presented in Crossing the Bar, published by David Ling, where they garnered wide praise.
In 1976, Daphne's first full-length romantic novel was published by Mills & Boon as Return to Love. Since then she has produced a steady output of romance set in New Zealand, occasionally Australia or on imaginary Pacific islands. As Laurey Bright she also writes for Silhouette Books. Her romances often appear on American stores' romance best-seller lists and she has been a Rita contest finalist, as well as winning and being placed in several other romance writing contests. Her other writing includes non-fiction, poetry and long historical fiction, She also is an active defender of the ideology of Feminists for Life, and she has written articles about it.
Since then she has won other literary prizes both in her native New Zealand and other countries. These include the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, with Dying Light, a story about Alzheimer's Disease, which was filmed by Robyn Murphy Productions and shown at film festivals in several countries. (Starring Sara McLeod, Sam's wife in Lord of the Rings).
Daphne is often asked to tutor courses in creative writing, and with Robyn Donald she teachs romance writing weekend courses in her home in the "winterless north" of in New Zealand. Daphne lives with her Netherlands-born husband in a farmlet, grazing livestock, growing their own fruit and vegetables and making their large home available to other writers as a centre for writers' workshops and retreats. Their five children, one of them an orphan from Hong Kong, have left home but drift back at irregular intervals. She enjoys cooking special meals but her cake-making is limited to three never-fail recipes. Her children maintain they have no memory of her baking for them except on birthdays, when she would produce, on request, cakes shaped into trains, clowns, fairytale houses and, once, even a windmill, in deference to their Dutch heritage from their father.
Daphne frequently makes and breaks resolutions to indulge in some hearty outdoor activity, and loves to sniff strong black coffee but never drinks it. After a day at her desk she will happily watch re-runs of favourite TV shows. Usually she goes to bed early with a book which may be anything from a paperback romance or suspense novel to history, sociology or literary theory.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 21, 2015
Rachel is 27 and does history. She did history for years over in the US, and is back to do history in New Zealand, but until her university teaching job starts, she needs a fill in job. So her mum organises for her to research and write a family history for Lady Donovan. Rachel’s parents were once caretakers at the Donovan estate, so Rachel grew up there. She has A Past with 34 year old Bryn.
When she was 17 Rachel had a huge crush on Bryn. A couple of weeks before she and her family were due to leave the Donovan estate, she sneaked out to the Donovan summerhouse, and Bryn was there, getting drunk on a six pack. She was in her nightie, he’d just broken up with his cheating girlfriend. Rachel and Bryn have An Encounter. It is the Summerhouse Incident. It completely blights Rachel’s sexual awakening.
While ‘virgin bride’ is right there in the title, I wasn’t really paying attention to the state of Rachel’s hymen as the events of the story unfold. This meant it took me a while to realise what the Summerhouse Incident was all about. I wasn’t paying much attention to timber baron either, it seemed ridiculously old fashioned. There are a number of other old-fashioned elements in this book that lets me know that Daphne Clair may have some rather set ideas on the universality of the tastes and mores of 27-34 year olds. ‘Come into the garden, Maud,’ Bryn says to Daphne at one stage, inviting her out to not look at the summerhouse. That he quotes Tennyson, and Rachel knows the quote, is a pretty good indication that if there hadn’t been mentions of internet, this book could have been set 50 years ago.
Actually, the whole plot of arriving at a big country house, even one that’s now mostly surrounded by surburbia, to write a family history seems wasted on a book that has too few gothic elements. All the characters, with the exception of the heroine, are nice, normal people. Rachel is a bit crazy.
Rachel takes the job and moves in with Bryn’s mum. Bryn’s dad died about a year ago, and Bryn’s mum hasn’t been getting out much, and Bryn is worried about her health. He’s a good son and visits home at least once every week. Naturally, now that Rachel is there, he’ll be hanging around the place a lot more often.
Rachel is slightly gothic about the Summerhouse Incident. She is Ada Doom levels obsessed with the place. Something wonderfully nasty happened there. She stares fixedly at it when she walks about the garden alone, and refuses to look at it when she walks around the garden with Bryn. She tortures herself with imaginings of Bryn taking his current girlfriend into the summerhouse for a bit of nookie, because the summerhouse is Rachel’s special horrible place. It must never be looked at head on, approached, or entered. It’s all ghosts of love that could never be.
At the beginning of the book, Bryn has a girlfriend. He’s sort of into her, and she comes across as a pretty nice person, even through Rachel’s lens of intense jealousy. The girlfriend has been offered a cool job with a fashion mag in Australia, and on one of their garden walks Bryn asks Rachel if she thinks he should ask the girlfriend to stay. Rachel, seething with rage, tells him that if you love someone, set them free.
The girlfriend pops off to Australia, and Bryn tells Rachel he’s taken her advice. Rachel immediately takes this to mean that Bryn is nursing a broken heart and is still hopeful that the girlfriend will someday return. Or, that he’ll eventually find some other equally beautiful classy woman to marry. Bryn asks Rachel out to a ball, and then they date and date and date. Seriously, there is a lot of dating in this book. Bryn will take Rachel to business functions, and then take her out to dinner to ‘make up for it.’ Rachel is still convinced that she’s Bryn’s fall back plan until someone better comes along.
So there’s Rachel, being all glum about how she has these really nice outings with Bryn and she’s totally in love with him, but he must never know, and then Bryn blindsides her with a proposal. The fiend! ‘I love you Rachel,’ Bryn says. He may also have said something about wanting to spend the rest of his life with her, but it doesn’t matter. What Rachel hears is: ‘my mum’s getting on and wants grand kids, and she likes you. I taught you to swim and I know you’re a nice person.’
So Rachel makes the usual heroine choice of following her heart sorrowfully knowing that she’ll never have what she really wants. It’s all very gloomy.
I liked Bryn. I would completely disagree with the blurb description of him as dark hearted. I don't think even Rachel, in full Summerhouse Incident mode, would go that far. He is completely decent and normal. He was clearly a stable grownup who’d made a few mistakes along the way, but was a genuinely good person who wanted a loving family. He gets a bit of viewpoint in the story, but not enough, because the whole plot has to serve Rachel’s insanity.
I may have missed something along the way, but I couldn’t work out Rachel at all. Partly, I think that this is because the Summerhouse Incident is a confusing mess. There’s this underlying implication that it was almost not-quite sexual assault. Bryn is a fundamentally decent guy, so the Summerhouse Incident can’t quite be presented as completely dark. Rachel has continued to be in love with Bryn through the whole thing and beyond. She chooses to be cool and pretend that it was nothing. It wasn’t.
Bryn has the guilts over it because coming on to a 17 year old when you’re an adult, and you’ve known that 17 year old since she was a child and you taught her to swim, is pretty inexcusable. He also has the sorry-not-sorries over how turned on he was then, and how turned on he still is by Rachel. He’s determined to be an adult about it. This is delightfully unusual, but the completely wrong strategy with Rachel.
Rachel has messier feelings about the whole thing. She was a bit scared by the Summerhouse Incident, but she also seems to be emotionally scarred over how it ended. In ten years, she’s never found another guy remotely interesting. She seems to view her looks as some kind of attractiveness dead zone. The fact that Bryn doesn’t push her into sex when she’s clearly been uncomfortable with his past overtures is interpreted as a sign that he doesn’t feel for her what she wants him to feel. She wants passion. She wants to be in love. I can feel sorry for her, but she also makes me impatient because the entire plot of the romance, and this is a romance that covers a fairly lengthy time period, is all her missed opportunities. I think perhaps I’m judging her unfairly because I can see how this would be difficult – she’s 27, has loved Bryn all her life, has never had another relationship, so of course she’s going to mess it all up. I think what got to me was that she was just so gloomy. And then, when she isn’t miserable enough, she does things that make her more miserable. I think she needed help.
Daphne Clair does a good job on Rachel’s misery which made the payoff sweet, but I couldn’t help wishing that someone had sat Rachel down a lot earlier in the piece and told her to get over herself.
September 11, 2018
Location: New Zealand 🇳🇿
This is one of this books that leaves you asking “what the hell did I just read?”
So the Bryn, the H and Rachael, the h have known each other for most of their lives. Her parents worked for his but she and her brothers were given mostly free rein of their estate. As she grew up she developed a crush on him. When she was seventeen there was an incident involving a drunk H. Her family moved out of the area shortly later and they never saw each other again.
Ten years later she’s hired by his mother to research the family history and write a book. She and Bryn are still attracted to each other. But he’s dating someone else and she’s just there for a short time to do a job.
So they kinda have a relationship, but she is so insecure about her relationship with him that she second guesses everything. It was tedious. Then out of the freaking blue he proposes. I knew he liked her cause of their shared childhood, but marriage? There was no real passion between them to bring us to that at that point in the book.
So they get married and she’s still got hang ups. They finally have the most boring sex ever on their honeymoon. The book fast forwards a year in the span of a couple sentences. She is now panicking cause - no baby. She wants one and can’t get pregnant. Goes to the doctor and learns that she can’t have one.
Does she do the rational thing and discusses with her husband? Nah! This chick tells him she found another man and wants a divorce. WTH?! So she has one more tumble with hubby and runs off while he’s asleep.
Months later he finally catches up to her and finds her living alone and pregnant in a grotty flat. He tells her he loves her, is in love with her and wants her back. She tells him the baby is his and then explains her dumb ass reason for leaving.
I swear I was ok with the mediocrity of the book until she decided that leaving her husband was the best option. After that, I was done!
This book annoyed me more than it entertained me. The only redeeming chars was Pearl, Bryan’s mother. She had her own issues and slowly overcame them throughout the book. She was sweet and fun. The h was an idiot and the H was an even bigger one for justifying the h’s stupidity.
A pair of idiots!
This is one of this books that leaves you asking “what the hell did I just read?”
So the Bryn, the H and Rachael, the h have known each other for most of their lives. Her parents worked for his but she and her brothers were given mostly free rein of their estate. As she grew up she developed a crush on him. When she was seventeen there was an incident involving a drunk H. Her family moved out of the area shortly later and they never saw each other again.
Ten years later she’s hired by his mother to research the family history and write a book. She and Bryn are still attracted to each other. But he’s dating someone else and she’s just there for a short time to do a job.
So they kinda have a relationship, but she is so insecure about her relationship with him that she second guesses everything. It was tedious. Then out of the freaking blue he proposes. I knew he liked her cause of their shared childhood, but marriage? There was no real passion between them to bring us to that at that point in the book.
So they get married and she’s still got hang ups. They finally have the most boring sex ever on their honeymoon. The book fast forwards a year in the span of a couple sentences. She is now panicking cause - no baby. She wants one and can’t get pregnant. Goes to the doctor and learns that she can’t have one.
Does she do the rational thing and discusses with her husband? Nah! This chick tells him she found another man and wants a divorce. WTH?! So she has one more tumble with hubby and runs off while he’s asleep.
Months later he finally catches up to her and finds her living alone and pregnant in a grotty flat. He tells her he loves her, is in love with her and wants her back. She tells him the baby is his and then explains her dumb ass reason for leaving.
I swear I was ok with the mediocrity of the book until she decided that leaving her husband was the best option. After that, I was done!
This book annoyed me more than it entertained me. The only redeeming chars was Pearl, Bryan’s mother. She had her own issues and slowly overcame them throughout the book. She was sweet and fun. The h was an idiot and the H was an even bigger one for justifying the h’s stupidity.
A pair of idiots!
October 2, 2013
This book just didn't do for me, not at all, and I found it almost hard to get through, which never happens to me when I have read Harlequin Presents in the past, and I have read a lot of them. Usually if I don't like a Presents I might do an eye roll or just like be "oh please", but I can usually get through them being that they are so short and just are easy reads, but this one just stalled for especially in the beginning.
For one I didn't feel the chemistry between the pair, not at all. There was absolutely no heat that smoldered off the pages like these types of books usually do. Instead, it was kind of ho hum, kind of boring, and not really packing an emotional punch. I just didn't believe the attraction between the two or the they had feelings of each other. And I just didn't believe that Bryn all of a sudden had feelings for her and wanted to marry her all of sudden. It just wasn't there and hadn't really seen any development the lead up to that point and where I could actually see the feelings changing and growing as the book progressed, which I like to see in these series. And I couldn't really see them fall in love or even felt the love in.
Also there wasn't really good sexual tension between them which is what Presents books should do and make us want to see more from the couple, and want them to be together badly, making the reader practically salivate for the big love scene. That wasn't in this book, in fact I didn't feel the tension between them at all, and wasn't salivating for the love scene so much, which would have shown the development in their relationship and how it was growing and changing as the book went along. But you need the tension so we as readers can believe the passion between the pair and want see their passion on the pages. And that's need in a great romance book the tension and the passion so we as reader believe that they are falling in love. It just wasn't there.
I think a big reason that I didn't feel the love in the book or didn't believe it was because I felt like a lot was told instead of shown especially the development of their relationship. There were just lots of summaries throughout and lots of time had passed from the beginning of the book to the end. Things were shown here and there, but then there were things that were just summarized in little paragraphs about what happened in their relationship, and I didn't like that. For example on one page Bryn and Rachel were on their honeymoon just having their marriage consummated and then like two pages later it was their year anniversary and they were trying a baby, but it hadn't happened yet. So, we as the reader were missing all that time period and how things were going in their marriage and just showing through actions how much they truly did love each other and had this deep connection. But we didn't see that instead we jump ahead and come to the next obstacle, which just was kind thrown in there to cause a rift between them near the end. At I was unprepared for the complication at all and was like "Where did this come from" all of sudden and why was it in there. But then again I was questioning the genuineness of their relationship for all the book.
I didn't really like Rachel either especially what she did in the end to poor Bryn by telling him this huge lie so he would understand why she wanted their relationship to end. I understand what her thought process was because she knew she couldn't give him what he always wanted (a family)and she wanted him to be happy, but the way she went about was so totally wrong. Now granted this has happened in other Presents in the pasts and is in fact a popular theme, lying to the hero about not wanting to be with him because she can't have children, which was all he ever wanted in his life so she sacrifices her happiness for his by giving him up. And those themes have never bothered me in the past, I guess because I could more or less see the torture the heroine was going through when telling the hero this and could actually see her heart break as she did so and I hurt for both of them in the process and I hope they would find their way back to each other (and they always do), but usually like I said I felt for the heroine and even though I thought she was crazy to let the love of her life without talking to him, I kind of understood why she did. But with Rachel that was not the case at all, and I just thought she was nuts and cruel when she told the hero that there was someone else that she fell in love with and that was the reason she wanted to divorce him and set him free because she couldn't have children. I don't know what the heck she was thinking about telling him about loving another man, but that was just wrong on so many levels that it wasn't even funny, and I really didn't like her for it, and made me not like this book even more. Why didn't she tell Bryn what was going on instead of putting them both through that torture especially Bryn who was thinking the worse the entire time. And on top of that, it happened at the very end, which just made feel like it was thrown in there just so it would add another few pages to the book and have the hero coming running after her. I don't think he was really necessary to have it in there or at least prepare us earlier that it was coming instead of just smacking us in the head suddenly, making me feel like it was out of place and it didn't belong. Then it was a moot point anyway because she got pregnant anyway with Bryn's baby, so what was the point of it all? It didn't work.
In fact for me the entire book didn't work, and the only reason that I gave the book two stars instead of the one was because there were a few promising scenes in the book like their honeymoon scenes and even when he asked her to marry him, and I also started liking Bryn more towards the end when he decided he wanted to be with her but other that this book wasn't really a highlight for me. I felt there were just too many summaries and less showing the scenes between the couple showing their growing love and passion for one another, there was no real no development for me, at least showing wise, instead it was just told to us. There were also unnecessary things that were thrown in there I felt like the addition of Kinzi and Samantha, I didn't get the point why they were in there. The only reason they should have been there was to cause trouble for the couple, but that wasn't the case here. They were just kind of there, but there was no real purpose to them and could have easily been eliminated from the text and they wouldn't have been missed. I think too the conflict wasn't really clear or the story wasn't sure where it was going to make this a strong story.
It just wasn't a great love story for me because the relationship development just wasn't there or believable at all and I couldn't really root for them because I didn't believe it. And even though these book are pure fantasy, fiction that would probably not happen in real life, I still want to see it and believe it, and when I don't see or believe it, it makes a great disappointment, which is a shame because I do love a great love story and I love these types of book, which are meant to be light and fun, and this one wasn't so much. I wanted to see more love than I was getting instead of being told that this and this and this happened for paragraph after paragraph, which doesn't do well in this genre.
I was majorly disappointed in this book and definitely wasn't my favorite Presents, but this one book will not stop me from reading more Presents in the future because I love me some Presents book, which are fun, loving, light, passionate, and full of hot alpha males that any woman could easily fall in love with. So, this book hasn't sour me on these books, and I don't think one book could ever do that, and even if I don't love every single Presents I am reading at the time, it still won't stop me from reading them in the future. Just like this one won't do even though I really didn't like it that much.
For one I didn't feel the chemistry between the pair, not at all. There was absolutely no heat that smoldered off the pages like these types of books usually do. Instead, it was kind of ho hum, kind of boring, and not really packing an emotional punch. I just didn't believe the attraction between the two or the they had feelings of each other. And I just didn't believe that Bryn all of a sudden had feelings for her and wanted to marry her all of sudden. It just wasn't there and hadn't really seen any development the lead up to that point and where I could actually see the feelings changing and growing as the book progressed, which I like to see in these series. And I couldn't really see them fall in love or even felt the love in.
Also there wasn't really good sexual tension between them which is what Presents books should do and make us want to see more from the couple, and want them to be together badly, making the reader practically salivate for the big love scene. That wasn't in this book, in fact I didn't feel the tension between them at all, and wasn't salivating for the love scene so much, which would have shown the development in their relationship and how it was growing and changing as the book went along. But you need the tension so we as readers can believe the passion between the pair and want see their passion on the pages. And that's need in a great romance book the tension and the passion so we as reader believe that they are falling in love. It just wasn't there.
I think a big reason that I didn't feel the love in the book or didn't believe it was because I felt like a lot was told instead of shown especially the development of their relationship. There were just lots of summaries throughout and lots of time had passed from the beginning of the book to the end. Things were shown here and there, but then there were things that were just summarized in little paragraphs about what happened in their relationship, and I didn't like that. For example on one page Bryn and Rachel were on their honeymoon just having their marriage consummated and then like two pages later it was their year anniversary and they were trying a baby, but it hadn't happened yet. So, we as the reader were missing all that time period and how things were going in their marriage and just showing through actions how much they truly did love each other and had this deep connection. But we didn't see that instead we jump ahead and come to the next obstacle, which just was kind thrown in there to cause a rift between them near the end. At I was unprepared for the complication at all and was like "Where did this come from" all of sudden and why was it in there. But then again I was questioning the genuineness of their relationship for all the book.
I didn't really like Rachel either especially what she did in the end to poor Bryn by telling him this huge lie so he would understand why she wanted their relationship to end. I understand what her thought process was because she knew she couldn't give him what he always wanted (a family)and she wanted him to be happy, but the way she went about was so totally wrong. Now granted this has happened in other Presents in the pasts and is in fact a popular theme, lying to the hero about not wanting to be with him because she can't have children, which was all he ever wanted in his life so she sacrifices her happiness for his by giving him up. And those themes have never bothered me in the past, I guess because I could more or less see the torture the heroine was going through when telling the hero this and could actually see her heart break as she did so and I hurt for both of them in the process and I hope they would find their way back to each other (and they always do), but usually like I said I felt for the heroine and even though I thought she was crazy to let the love of her life without talking to him, I kind of understood why she did. But with Rachel that was not the case at all, and I just thought she was nuts and cruel when she told the hero that there was someone else that she fell in love with and that was the reason she wanted to divorce him and set him free because she couldn't have children. I don't know what the heck she was thinking about telling him about loving another man, but that was just wrong on so many levels that it wasn't even funny, and I really didn't like her for it, and made me not like this book even more. Why didn't she tell Bryn what was going on instead of putting them both through that torture especially Bryn who was thinking the worse the entire time. And on top of that, it happened at the very end, which just made feel like it was thrown in there just so it would add another few pages to the book and have the hero coming running after her. I don't think he was really necessary to have it in there or at least prepare us earlier that it was coming instead of just smacking us in the head suddenly, making me feel like it was out of place and it didn't belong. Then it was a moot point anyway because she got pregnant anyway with Bryn's baby, so what was the point of it all? It didn't work.
In fact for me the entire book didn't work, and the only reason that I gave the book two stars instead of the one was because there were a few promising scenes in the book like their honeymoon scenes and even when he asked her to marry him, and I also started liking Bryn more towards the end when he decided he wanted to be with her but other that this book wasn't really a highlight for me. I felt there were just too many summaries and less showing the scenes between the couple showing their growing love and passion for one another, there was no real no development for me, at least showing wise, instead it was just told to us. There were also unnecessary things that were thrown in there I felt like the addition of Kinzi and Samantha, I didn't get the point why they were in there. The only reason they should have been there was to cause trouble for the couple, but that wasn't the case here. They were just kind of there, but there was no real purpose to them and could have easily been eliminated from the text and they wouldn't have been missed. I think too the conflict wasn't really clear or the story wasn't sure where it was going to make this a strong story.
It just wasn't a great love story for me because the relationship development just wasn't there or believable at all and I couldn't really root for them because I didn't believe it. And even though these book are pure fantasy, fiction that would probably not happen in real life, I still want to see it and believe it, and when I don't see or believe it, it makes a great disappointment, which is a shame because I do love a great love story and I love these types of book, which are meant to be light and fun, and this one wasn't so much. I wanted to see more love than I was getting instead of being told that this and this and this happened for paragraph after paragraph, which doesn't do well in this genre.
I was majorly disappointed in this book and definitely wasn't my favorite Presents, but this one book will not stop me from reading more Presents in the future because I love me some Presents book, which are fun, loving, light, passionate, and full of hot alpha males that any woman could easily fall in love with. So, this book hasn't sour me on these books, and I don't think one book could ever do that, and even if I don't love every single Presents I am reading at the time, it still won't stop me from reading them in the future. Just like this one won't do even though I really didn't like it that much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2019
Rachel Moore has been in love with dark-hearted tycoon Bryn Donovan for years—ever since they shared one illicit night together. But Rachel is only the hired help….
Now Bryn has chosen her as his bride! Rachel is overjoyed—until she discovers the billionaire's proposal is a convenient one. She knows he must continue the Donovan dynasty and, believing she can't give him a child, Rachel flees. But Bryn will not rest until he finds her and demands what is rightfully his
Now Bryn has chosen her as his bride! Rachel is overjoyed—until she discovers the billionaire's proposal is a convenient one. She knows he must continue the Donovan dynasty and, believing she can't give him a child, Rachel flees. But Bryn will not rest until he finds her and demands what is rightfully his
April 26, 2013
Reasonably pleasant characters, but they didn't really grab me as especially interesting. The plot plods along really slowly until about 3/4 of the way, then all the real action Nothing too original, and the pacing is crazy.
March 22, 2022
The pacing on this one is so weird. We start out with the heroine and hero both preoccupied with "an incident" which happened when the heroine was a teenager and the hero was drunk; they're ten years older now and a romance eventually develops, although the grownup-love part comes out of nowhere; then suddenly the hero is denouncing IVF, they're married, the heroine is getting an infertility diagnosis and claiming an affair to get the hero to give her a divorce, and the hero is showing up at the heroine's door to find her pregnant but not planning to tell the hero because... she might still have a miscarriage? It's unexpected and pretty weird.
Honestly I have issues with the category novels which tackle infertility while still ending with miracle babies and this one was particularly egregious, because we go straight from "infertile" to "third trimester secret pregnant!", like literally you turn the page from the heroine weeping quietly to herself after her doctor's appointment and the hero is staring at the heroine looking wildly pregnant. If you're going to address infertility in clinical terms like, at all, treating it so cavalierly is more than a little gross. The pacing alone would have put this at two stars - it reads like the author had a page count so just kept piling on the drama - but this took it down to one.
Honestly I have issues with the category novels which tackle infertility while still ending with miracle babies and this one was particularly egregious, because we go straight from "infertile" to "third trimester secret pregnant!", like literally you turn the page from the heroine weeping quietly to herself after her doctor's appointment and the hero is staring at the heroine looking wildly pregnant. If you're going to address infertility in clinical terms like, at all, treating it so cavalierly is more than a little gross. The pacing alone would have put this at two stars - it reads like the author had a page count so just kept piling on the drama - but this took it down to one.
July 18, 2020
Not good, this book was boring and didn't really care for either character. I don't like that the H is dating another woman and contemplating getting engaged to her (I get it's not cheating or anything but I don't need to read that in my fiction). Ending was really bad and stupid. P.
July 7, 2018
A reasonable story but a bit dull. The ending was strange. OK but strange.
January 21, 2020
Was slow until the last few chapters when it picked up enough for me to give it a 3.5
November 22, 2020
Good, not great, too many misunderstandings that could clear up with some straight talk.
July 1, 2011
A little story about a school girl's crush that becomes something real when she is a woman. I respect that nothing *ahem* happens when she is 17 but I have a hard time swallowing that she stays a virgin until she is 27. That said, I have a childhood friend that waited for the 'one' and it only happened when they were 30, so it does happen. Some people have really high expectations and I totally respect that since I have the patience of a newborn baby (i.e. none).
There aren't many hot scenes, but it was a sweet romantic read.
There aren't many hot scenes, but it was a sweet romantic read.
Read
February 18, 2013I can't even rate it...it's a typical Harlequin Romance...I got the book for free and the only reason I read it was because it was at my parents and I was at my parents and it was the only book available for me to read and I desperately wanted something to read. It is what it is...a sappy romance...that said at least it entertained me for a couple hours. Now back to reality :-P
July 9, 2011
It was very slow and I didnt really feel any connection between the H/H. The whole story was just too polite for my tastes. In my opinion it was too 'fluffy' to be in Harlequins Presents range of books and would have expected it to be in the staid romance ranges.
May 17, 2009
Enjoyed this romance, light hearted and up to the usual high standard of Daphne Clair. Ms Clair took the old rags to riches concept and put an original twist on it.
October 12, 2013
Likeable characters, believable plot, actually got quite absorbed with the story. Fell a little flat and rushed right at the end, but all in all a good Presents book.
March 4, 2014
solo por que hay un problema medico, si se que mi mente esta retorcida, y de verdad ame el libro es un 5
July 15, 2015
Rating: 4 stars
July 7, 2017
I don't know why, but it feels like Daphne Clairs older books have more heart, more drama. These newer books are all just meh. Nothing really happens.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews