الأخلاص يجعل الأنسان يسير بحياته ومواقفه أحيانا الى درجة التضحية بالذات دونا الوردة البيضاء , الآتية من بلاد الضباب الى ايطاليا , للعمل كسكرتيرة للمثلة المشهورة سيرافينا نيري , تلتقي في روما رجلا غامضا , يعلق في أذنه ( خاتم الأنتقام ) , لفّها بسحرة الصقلي......كلّمها عن الأسرار وهي لا تعرف عنه شيئا حتى اسمه بل تخاف منه فتقرر محوه من فكرها. ريك لورديتي يعمل حارسا شخصيا للمثلة سيرافينا , مخلص لها لدرجة الموت , ضحّى بشبابه من أجل حمايتها , بينهما أسرار لا تستطيع دونا كشفها , علاقتهما غريبة ومشبوهة , حتى أدوني ابن سيرافينا يكره ريك ويخاف منه , تقرر دونا الرحيل والهرب , فهو ليس لها.... بل لسيرافينا التي تكبّله بالسلاسل , لكن ريك يمنعها من الرحيل , وتأتي يد الحب لتنزع الأقنعة... ويبزغ فجر جديد على قرارات دونا.
Violet Winspear was born on 28 April 1928 in London, England. She worked in a factory since 1942, when in 1961 she sold her first romance novels to Mills & Boon. In 1963, she became a full-time writer. She wrote from her home in the south-east England, that she never left, but she meticulously researched her far-flung settings at the local library. She never married, and had no children, but she inspired her nephew Jonathan to write. Violet died at January 1989 after a long battle with cancer.
She said: "The real aim of romance is to provide escape and entertainment", but she created a maelstrom when in 1970 she commented: "I get my heroes so that they're lean and hard muscled and mocking and sardonic and tough and tigerish and single, of course. Oh and they've got to be rich and then I make it that they're only cynical and smooth on the surface. But underneath they're well, you know, sort of lost and lonely. In need of love but, when roused, capable of breathtaking passion and potency. Most of my heroes, well all of them really, are like that. They frighten but fascinate. They must be the sort of men who are capable of rape: men it's dangerous to be alone in the room with." The comment, that they were 'capable of rape' caused uproar and lead to her receiving hate mail. Interestingly, she railed against the work of authors such as Harold Robbins. Winspear's forte was creating and sustaining sexual tension between her characters while building fantastic worlds.
One night in Rome Donna Lovelace's life suddenly changed. That night she fell in love with a mysterious stranger.
But Rick Lordetti was a hired bodyguard, and he already belonged to her new employer, Serafina Neri, the beautiful retired actress who'd engaged Donna to help in writing her memoirs.
Convinced that Rick was more than a bodyguard to Serafina and had fathered Serafina's son, Adone, Donna resolved to forget him. But as Rick said, "When night falls and the stars take shape again, we are inclined to forget our resolutions"
This is a book that I read in my Grandmothers house so immersed in my first romance. The story was such a string story with amazing characters. If you like a good old fashioned awesome romance, this is the book for you. rediscover what romance was.
This was better than the last couple of books I've read by Violet Winspear. I didn't expect the end result but the whole novel seems kind of stupid once you've read it. The conclusion is like okay, so why is the hero giving up his life for his sister.. I was kind of like 'Shit! I just wasted all that time reading a novel which in the end had absolutely no meaning.' It really doesn't. Kind of ticked me off.
رواية قديمة لقيتها فى علبة تحت السرير ورقها لونه بنى من كتر ما قدم مكتوب سعرها جنية ..حسيت انها اثار كان لازم اقراها...شيقة فى الاسلوب بس مش محبوكة مكنش لازم نهايه سعيده نهايه حزينه بس منطقيه كانت تبقى احسن كان ممكن تبقى اطول و فيها حكايه اكتر حسيت الكاتبه كسلت فى الاخر و قامت قافلاها فى اخر 3 صفحات مره واحده منغير ما تستغل ان كان فى ماتريال لقصه افضل الشخصيات كلها جذابه ما عدا سيريانا الشخصيه سطحيه و مش مقنعه..المهم هقرا تانى لفيوليت ونسبر :D
The premise and plot was intriguing. How Donna and Rick met that night in Rome and had that instant and soul-deep connection. ..it's almost like they were destined for each other!
Adone and Serafina were terrible...both utterly spoilt like children. Based on what people all think, that Rick was Serafina's lover and not just his bodyguard, it wasn't too far a leap to guess Rick was also Adone's father! What a horror for Donna!
Serafina's age, Adone's age and when she got married didn't add up in the beginning but major spoilers below will reveal all.
The angst when Rick told Donna he could never leave Serafina for her...yet they couldn't part just yet even after Adone's unforgivable attack. Good old Donna gave him a well placed kick!
To be honest I wosh Donna had been more firm with Adone, instead of letting her sympathies kead him on...going out with him and letting him touch her no matter how casually. She got to be firm in her NO and nean them otherwise the guys wouldn't take her seriously and think she's playing coy!
Written back in the 70s the male chauvinism came through the author's own views...yet paradoxically her female leads try to assert their independence and career mindedness.
***MAJOR SPOILERS***
Rick was Serafina's brother! Ehen the mafiaso had killed their mother they had raped the beautiful 15 year old Serafina and left her for dead! Adone was 25 and so Serafina was 41 as per Donna's dad had said. The official info was she had married at 18 to a much older nan was just false. ..a cover to give her a chance in the film industry.
The ending was rather unbelievable but it sure was convenient! I wish we had been able to attend the small town Italian wedding...life in the villa was really not the real world.
The most likable part of this book is the poignancy and the inevitability that the leads feel when drawn towards each other. Right from their first chance meeting in Rome.
An honorable Italian hero who loves the dewy , lovely English girl. But cant have her. She loves him all the more because of his scruples towards her and his commitment to his duty.
What is this duty which prevents their union you may ask. Now that's the biggest loop hole in the story. Its just that the hero is responsible for a sister with a terrible past. So he feels obliged to care for her and live with her. But the weird thing this, why pretend to be her bodyguard / secret lover and care for her ?? Whats wrong with brothers caring for sisters !
Throw into this not very logical problem, a grown up son of the sister. And predictably he falls for the heroine too. Now, how old is the hero exactly ? His sister has a son of marriageable age, so it does make the hero a rather oldish uncle.
In spite of these glaring misses, the hero and his respect and unconditional love for the heroine does strike a cord.
M&B reading is more about die hard romance than sense and logic. So 3 stars :)