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Madrona Island
Lee had waited a long time for revenge
Seven years ago Lee had been a starry-eyed eighteen-year-old who foolishly thought that if she loved and wanted to marry Kelsey Roberts, he must feel the same.
That he was already married came as a great shock to Lee; that she was pregnant--an even greater one!
Over the years things had worked themselves out. Now Lee was a very successful businesswoman, in a perfect position to strike back. The trouble was that Kelsey didn't even remember her existence!
Seven years ago Lee had been a starry-eyed eighteen-year-old who foolishly thought that if she loved and wanted to marry Kelsey Roberts, he must feel the same.
That he was already married came as a great shock to Lee; that she was pregnant--an even greater one!
Over the years things had worked themselves out. Now Lee was a very successful businesswoman, in a perfect position to strike back. The trouble was that Kelsey didn't even remember her existence!
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Elizabeth Graham
115 books11 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Elizabeth Graham (1):
E. Schattner wrote as Elizabeth Graham and Emma Church.
Elizabeth Graham (1):
E. Schattner wrote as Elizabeth Graham and Emma Church.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 13, 2012
This author is a good writer. The locations are interesting and beautifully described and the characters well developed but I have a major problem with the theme.
The heroine, Lee, at age 18 fell totally in love with the H, Kelsey. He wined and dined her and eventually took her innocence and she was happy because she knew this was the man she would marry. However, the next morning when she wakes up alone in his hotel room to his sister in law demanding that she wake up and leave. She tells Lee that he is married and his wife is at home in Seattle. She implies that Kelsey frequently has one night stands but that they don't mean anything.
She leaves devastated but not believing. When he calls she asks and he admits it's true he is married but wants to explain but she won't talk to him. Later she finds out she's pregnant and marries her boss who is in his 60's. It is purely a platonic marriage to provide security and a name for her baby. She miscarries at about 4 months.
Since that time she has lived for work and the company her husband left her a few years later. She's become a very powerful and respected business woman in San Francisco. The H has contacted her business wanting to involve her in a business deal. She presumes he doesn't know who she is and decides that she will meet with him to extract revenge. She meets with him on his private Island on Puget Sound and it appears that he doesn't recognize her. She's told that he had an accident a year ago which killed his wife and caused him to have blanks in his memory. She decides to play along, not sure what to do. Obviously you can't get revenge if the other person doesn't remember you. He persues her and the attraction is strong but the h is torn with feelings of anger and distrust.
In the end the H does a fair grovel and we have HEA.
My problem is I can't admire an H that enters a relationship while still married, especially when the target of his pursuit is 18 years old, and even more so when he doesn't tell her he is married. I don't care how strong the attraction, how strong the desire, how bad his marriage was, how he couldn't get a divorce or that he really cares about her...I just can't get the bad taste out of my mouth.
The heroine, Lee, at age 18 fell totally in love with the H, Kelsey. He wined and dined her and eventually took her innocence and she was happy because she knew this was the man she would marry. However, the next morning when she wakes up alone in his hotel room to his sister in law demanding that she wake up and leave. She tells Lee that he is married and his wife is at home in Seattle. She implies that Kelsey frequently has one night stands but that they don't mean anything.
She leaves devastated but not believing. When he calls she asks and he admits it's true he is married but wants to explain but she won't talk to him. Later she finds out she's pregnant and marries her boss who is in his 60's. It is purely a platonic marriage to provide security and a name for her baby. She miscarries at about 4 months.
Since that time she has lived for work and the company her husband left her a few years later. She's become a very powerful and respected business woman in San Francisco. The H has contacted her business wanting to involve her in a business deal. She presumes he doesn't know who she is and decides that she will meet with him to extract revenge. She meets with him on his private Island on Puget Sound and it appears that he doesn't recognize her. She's told that he had an accident a year ago which killed his wife and caused him to have blanks in his memory. She decides to play along, not sure what to do. Obviously you can't get revenge if the other person doesn't remember you. He persues her and the attraction is strong but the h is torn with feelings of anger and distrust.
In the end the H does a fair grovel and we have HEA.
My problem is I can't admire an H that enters a relationship while still married, especially when the target of his pursuit is 18 years old, and even more so when he doesn't tell her he is married. I don't care how strong the attraction, how strong the desire, how bad his marriage was, how he couldn't get a divorce or that he really cares about her...I just can't get the bad taste out of my mouth.
January 20, 2024
it is an "ok" story but the fact is that the Hero HAS commited adultery with the heroine....so if that is digestible, i would say that the heroine was likeable as an independent successful business woman but she has to make a decision about choosing security or passionate love in marriage and the Hero makes her realize that she loves him. There is alot of business talk and participation of secondary characters in this one..
August 15, 2023
Another book that stats out promising and ends up lacking way too much. When you find yourself more interested in the secondary couple, an airhead blonde and a member of the mob (and, being Italian American, I do NOT appreciate giving the guy an Italian surname, reinforcing the stereotype that all mob members are Italian!!), that tells you something about the H and h, and it's not very promising.
Kelsey was a jerk to stay in a marriage to an unstable woman, who married him for his money, cheated on him and kept threatening to kill herself if he divorced her. It's amazing that a guy with balls the size of raisins could manage to seduce and impregnate an innocent 18-year-old, though he cowardly kept his married state a secret. (Talk about a jerk! It doesn't say how old he was, but I'll bet he was around 30, with no business seducing a teenager!) Once she found out his married state, she refused to speak to him (he called, with all the usual BS excuses) and turned from a sweet innocent dreamer to a bitter iceberg, whose whole life became the financial empire she took over when her elderly husband croaked. She was preggers, and married her late father's friend, who she worked for as a secretary, and who thought of her as the daughter he never had (so why didn't Gramps adopt her, since he never slept with her, she lost the baby and they lived platonically, while he turned her into a business mogul, so that, at 25, with no college or business school education, she was capable of wheeling and dealing and playing in the big leagues, and if you believe that, then I guess you're part owner of the Brooklyn Bridge.
I won't go into all the details, but when she comes across Kelsey again, she determines to have her revenge, but soon the Ice Princess finds herself melting, and realizing she still loves him, even though he apparently doesn't remember her, due to the effects of a car accident that killed his wife. He has no recollection of their night of passion. Or does he????
The book took heavy themes and made them too light, too much time wasted with dumb dialog, love scenes that end up nowhere, and an interesting turn of events that make Ms. Airhead and Mr. Mobster more real and likeable, but then it's cut off and they're out of the story. The HEA is too quick, too lacking in depth, and too phony.
I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this one.
Kelsey was a jerk to stay in a marriage to an unstable woman, who married him for his money, cheated on him and kept threatening to kill herself if he divorced her. It's amazing that a guy with balls the size of raisins could manage to seduce and impregnate an innocent 18-year-old, though he cowardly kept his married state a secret. (Talk about a jerk! It doesn't say how old he was, but I'll bet he was around 30, with no business seducing a teenager!) Once she found out his married state, she refused to speak to him (he called, with all the usual BS excuses) and turned from a sweet innocent dreamer to a bitter iceberg, whose whole life became the financial empire she took over when her elderly husband croaked. She was preggers, and married her late father's friend, who she worked for as a secretary, and who thought of her as the daughter he never had (so why didn't Gramps adopt her, since he never slept with her, she lost the baby and they lived platonically, while he turned her into a business mogul, so that, at 25, with no college or business school education, she was capable of wheeling and dealing and playing in the big leagues, and if you believe that, then I guess you're part owner of the Brooklyn Bridge.
I won't go into all the details, but when she comes across Kelsey again, she determines to have her revenge, but soon the Ice Princess finds herself melting, and realizing she still loves him, even though he apparently doesn't remember her, due to the effects of a car accident that killed his wife. He has no recollection of their night of passion. Or does he????
The book took heavy themes and made them too light, too much time wasted with dumb dialog, love scenes that end up nowhere, and an interesting turn of events that make Ms. Airhead and Mr. Mobster more real and likeable, but then it's cut off and they're out of the story. The HEA is too quick, too lacking in depth, and too phony.
I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this one.
January 2, 2026
This was not a bad read, but it does involve an OW and the H being married to OW when he and the h first meet, which is in the blurb.
The H wasn't fake-married or anything- he really did kinda seduce the h when she was a teenager and he was married. She found out he was married, and when she confronted him, he gave the whole "let me explain" thing and instead of being an idiot, she hung up on him. Of course, in THIS story it turns out that would have saved her a lot of grief, although I'm still iffy on the H because when you're planning on getting a divorce, but then you change your mind because the teenager you fell in love with and then banged dumped you and married someone else after she found out you were married, were you ever actually that serious about divorce?
Like, if he were that serious, he surely could have pushed matters and let her know before she found out she was preggers and married someone else. Just, yeah. (she lost the baby at 4 months, so miscarriage warning)
Anyway, the bulk of the book takes place some 7 years later and involves the h, having taken over her late husband's business holdings, agreeing to visit the now-widowed H's private island near Vancouver for a business deal he wants to work around with a mafia dude. ... yeah.
She's decided to get revenge on the H for his seduction of her by faking him out, then backing out of the business deal at the end because he needs her money to pull it off. Then she finds out he apparently has some memory loss from the car wreck that killed his wife, and does not seem to remember her. So she starts feeling bad about her plan, and the H is clearly into her, and she's drawn to him but feels like he's a good-for-nothing adulterating teen seducer (I mean... he kinda is), and it goes on.
It's actually a decent read in spite of the way it sounds if you're in the mood for angst and regrets and tears and whatnot.
It's sweet at the end. Although it does end even more abruptly than most vintage romances. Seems to be a theme with this author.
The H wasn't fake-married or anything- he really did kinda seduce the h when she was a teenager and he was married. She found out he was married, and when she confronted him, he gave the whole "let me explain" thing and instead of being an idiot, she hung up on him. Of course, in THIS story it turns out that would have saved her a lot of grief, although I'm still iffy on the H because when you're planning on getting a divorce, but then you change your mind because the teenager you fell in love with and then banged dumped you and married someone else after she found out you were married, were you ever actually that serious about divorce?
Like, if he were that serious, he surely could have pushed matters and let her know before she found out she was preggers and married someone else. Just, yeah. (she lost the baby at 4 months, so miscarriage warning)
Anyway, the bulk of the book takes place some 7 years later and involves the h, having taken over her late husband's business holdings, agreeing to visit the now-widowed H's private island near Vancouver for a business deal he wants to work around with a mafia dude. ... yeah.
She's decided to get revenge on the H for his seduction of her by faking him out, then backing out of the business deal at the end because he needs her money to pull it off. Then she finds out he apparently has some memory loss from the car wreck that killed his wife, and does not seem to remember her. So she starts feeling bad about her plan, and the H is clearly into her, and she's drawn to him but feels like he's a good-for-nothing adulterating teen seducer (I mean... he kinda is), and it goes on.
It's actually a decent read in spite of the way it sounds if you're in the mood for angst and regrets and tears and whatnot.
It's sweet at the end. Although it does end even more abruptly than most vintage romances. Seems to be a theme with this author.
April 26, 2022
البطل خائن وكاذب وعلاقته مع البطلة مالها اي مبرر
June 27, 2024
Pretty boring M&B but I enjoyed the little sprinkling of 80's feminism in here.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews