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Element Of Risk
Mills & Boon Sexy series delivers what you love in contemporary romance - glamour and scandal in exotic locations…
"I thought I was rid of you why the hell did you have to come back?"
It was eleven years two lifetimes ago since Perdita Gladstone and Luke Dennison had met last. Now the legacy of their shared past required another encounter. Perdita was no longer a gawky girl, but an assured woman with an international career. But did she have the confidence to handle a man like Luke, who made it clear that her reappearance in his life was not a welcome one?
"Robyn Donald captures passion in its rawest form, mixes it with a sit-up-and-take-notice storyline, and features enticing characters guaranteed to knock your socks off."
Romantic Times
It was eleven years two lifetimes ago since Perdita Gladstone and Luke Dennison had met last. Now the legacy of their shared past required another encounter. Perdita was no longer a gawky girl, but an assured woman with an international career. But did she have the confidence to handle a man like Luke, who made it clear that her reappearance in his life was not a welcome one?
"Robyn Donald captures passion in its rawest form, mixes it with a sit-up-and-take-notice storyline, and features enticing characters guaranteed to knock your socks off."
Romantic Times
168 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1994
15 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Robyn Donald
445 books144 followersRobyn Elaine Donald was born on 14 August 1940 in Northland, New Zealand. She was the oldest child in her family, and as a child, she thrilled her four sisters and one brother with bloodcurdling adventure tales, usually very like the latest book she'd borrowed from the library.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
August 19, 2021
This book contains my favourite trope ever... but of course... g✨r✨o✨o✨m✨i✨n✨g✨. 🤡🥰🤡
I might have read quite a few books that feature grooming, at some dark point of my life no more no less, BUT GOD IS A WOMAN, grooming in this book is truly something else, since it's performed by
the hero's wife.
Being infertile, she thought it would be a great idea to sedate her young, 17 year-old cousin and organise the whole scheme in such a manner that the girl gets pregnant by her husband 😭😭🤚🏻 and later she nonchalantly adopts the child and covers all the tracks.
THE IRONY OF THE HERO ADOPTING HIS OWN CHILDREN without any trace of a clue. 🤡🚬
Building a happy family by the means of playing God and ruining your kin's life along the way? Wife goals. 🥰🥰🥰 Another Harlequin Presents that makes perfect sense, does it not.
Ms. Lamb is truly a lamb in comparison to this amazing woman... Ms. Donald. My endless, all-consuming respect for her brain that comes up with absolutely invalid plot lines that I cannot take my eyes off.
And then he thrust her from him and said jaggedly, ‘Get the hell out of here, you lying, promiscuous little slut. I don’t ever want to see you again.’
Swoonworthy.
P. S. One tiny complaint, though 🤡: the whole situation was pretty obvious from the start, I'm not sure whether I'm that smart 🤡 or it was meant for us to guess who the evil little whore of the book is right off the bat. The clues were too transparent to leave me biting my nails and I'd enjoy it more if the revelation was as unexpected for me as it was for the protagonists. Suffice it say, the angst got me craving for even more angst (never enough of that adorable little companion of vintage books), regardless of the lack of intrigue.
Down the rabbit hole we go. 🤤
I might have read quite a few books that feature grooming, at some dark point of my life no more no less, BUT GOD IS A WOMAN, grooming in this book is truly something else, since it's performed by
the hero's wife.
Being infertile, she thought it would be a great idea to sedate her young, 17 year-old cousin and organise the whole scheme in such a manner that the girl gets pregnant by her husband 😭😭🤚🏻 and later she nonchalantly adopts the child and covers all the tracks.
THE IRONY OF THE HERO ADOPTING HIS OWN CHILDREN without any trace of a clue. 🤡🚬
Building a happy family by the means of playing God and ruining your kin's life along the way? Wife goals. 🥰🥰🥰 Another Harlequin Presents that makes perfect sense, does it not.
Ms. Lamb is truly a lamb in comparison to this amazing woman... Ms. Donald. My endless, all-consuming respect for her brain that comes up with absolutely invalid plot lines that I cannot take my eyes off.
And then he thrust her from him and said jaggedly, ‘Get the hell out of here, you lying, promiscuous little slut. I don’t ever want to see you again.’
Swoonworthy.
P. S. One tiny complaint, though 🤡: the whole situation was pretty obvious from the start, I'm not sure whether I'm that smart 🤡 or it was meant for us to guess who the evil little whore of the book is right off the bat. The clues were too transparent to leave me biting my nails and I'd enjoy it more if the revelation was as unexpected for me as it was for the protagonists. Suffice it say, the angst got me craving for even more angst (never enough of that adorable little companion of vintage books), regardless of the lack of intrigue.
Down the rabbit hole we go. 🤤
October 18, 2022
Wow - Robyn Donald pulled off "the bed trick"(hero has sex with a woman in his bed, thinking it's his wife - but it's the heroine) resulting in the birth of twins. Heroine gives children up for adoption (she's 17) and becomes a super model. Now eleven years later, the heroine returns to NZ after hiring a private detective to find her babies. Surprise! The hero and his wife adopted them. Wife has now died from cancer, and hero has just learned that these babies are the result of his one night with the heroine.
Now, how is all this going to work out? Can the reader forgive the heroine for her mistake of giving into her crush? Can the reader forgive the hero for taking the virginity of a 17 year-old girl who lives in his house. (Heroine and wife are cousins)? Can the reader live through the angst of this heroine who just wants to see the precious daughters she had to give up? Well, this reader forgave both of them - although I have more issues with the hero because - hello - 17? The way he booted her out was horrible. Not only did this reader survive the angst, this reader *revealed* in the grade A, prime cut angst of unrequited romantic love and unrequited mother love. *happy sigh*
And as a side-note, Robyn Donald did a great job capturing ten year-old girls - childlike in some ways, but also thoughtlessly lippy and challenging the adults around them.
This was a very strong heroine who had a good grasp on her own emotions, needs and failings.
The way RD resolved the past events worked beautifully. H/h were not completely blameless, but other forces were at work. At the resolution, the Hero explained his feelings to my (and the heroine's) satisfaction. There's an epilogue that shows the heroine was right to trust him.
Now, how is all this going to work out? Can the reader forgive the heroine for her mistake of giving into her crush? Can the reader forgive the hero for taking the virginity of a 17 year-old girl who lives in his house. (Heroine and wife are cousins)? Can the reader live through the angst of this heroine who just wants to see the precious daughters she had to give up? Well, this reader forgave both of them - although I have more issues with the hero because - hello - 17? The way he booted her out was horrible. Not only did this reader survive the angst, this reader *revealed* in the grade A, prime cut angst of unrequited romantic love and unrequited mother love. *happy sigh*
And as a side-note, Robyn Donald did a great job capturing ten year-old girls - childlike in some ways, but also thoughtlessly lippy and challenging the adults around them.
This was a very strong heroine who had a good grasp on her own emotions, needs and failings.
The way RD resolved the past events worked beautifully. H/h were not completely blameless, but other forces were at work. At the resolution, the Hero explained his feelings to my (and the heroine's) satisfaction. There's an epilogue that shows the heroine was right to trust him.
September 16, 2018
Re Element of Risk - Robyn Donald takes us on another Culticly Whacktastic HPlandia outing.
In a role reversal of Smoke in the Wind, RD gives us an h who is the OW to her married cousin when she inadvertently gets lurved up by the cousin's husband H.
So be warned, the premise of this book is based on the H's adultery with the h who is NOT his wife.
The h is the daughter of a woman who had an affair with a married man and then raised the h by herself when the married man went back to his wife. Because the h's mother had to work a lot and resented the h's arrival, the h was a very lonely and forlorn child.
Her older cousin eventually offered to have the h stay with her and her husband on the husband's Family Estate. The cousin was 24 yrs old to the H's 21 when they married and the H was about 24 when the mistaken identity boudoir bounce took place.
The h had just turned 17 and was visiting the cousin and the H. The H was out of town, the cousin had an overnight errand to do and the cousin told the h to take a sleeping pill and sleep in the marital bed because there was a phone next to it while she was alone in the house.
The h did as she was told and then the H came home unexpectedly, as he never got the message to stay at his hotel. Between the h's drugged awareness and the H's inability to tell the difference between his wife and a 17 yr old girl, unicorn grooming licenses are revoked without the h's full enjoyment of the process.
When the mistake is discovered, the H immediately blames the h for being a tramp and banishes the h from his home. The h soon turns up preggers with twins, but tells no one and her angry mother puts the h into a nursing home for the duration.
The h has to give her beloved babies up for adoption and soon gets herself a modeling contract out of the country. She spends the next ten years becoming a modeling superstar, feeling horribly guilty and writing letters to her beloved cousin, who seemed to be the only one who cared about her, but never getting an answer.
When the book opens, the h has been out of New Zealand for eleven years. She is on the verge of modeling retirement and she has also hired an investigator to track down her adopted daughters. She wants to know that they are happy and cared for before she figures out if her passion for landscape design is going to be her next career.
To her very great shock, the investigator calls her and explains that someone seriously tampered with the adoption records of her daughters. Then he shocks her further when he reveals that her beloved cousin is dead from cancer and has been for a year and half and that her cousin and the H were the twin's adoptive parents.
The h realizes that there has been a HUGE betrayal. Here she has been feeling guilty and ashamed for years because the H kicked her out like she deliberately seduced him, when all the time it seems she was drugged and manipulated to provide a breeding womb for her cousin and the H.
The h decides she is going to meet her children and see for herself that they are okay. So she writes the H a letter telling him she is the twin's mother and we all go off to confront the H. He is NOT happy to see the h, he thinks she is a Trampy Tart based on the beloved cousin's gossip column news over the years and the h is seriously angry herself.
She is also becoming very aware that she has never gotten over crush or her physical attraction to the H. Even tho she was in a consummated relationship with another man until she broke it off cause she couldn't respond to him, the h has never found anyone else to be compatible with her chemistry except for the H.
The H gets no pov in this, but in the initial confrontation, he throws the h's gossip column rumors and her supposedly homewrecking mother's behavior in the h's face and tries to tell her she can't see her daughters.
(The mother was a homewrecker according to the beloved perfect cousin, the h has a differing opinion of the subject, but it is here that we start to see that maybe the beloved cousin wasn't so lovable after all.)
The h keeps her calmness tho and after signing an agreement for limited visiting privileges with the H's lawyer, she finally meets her daughters. She also has to face the fact that the attraction hasn't died out for the H either.
There is roofie kisses and a huge admission from the H that he wanted her at 17 and that when he started lurvin' her up all those years ago and realized his mistake, he did not stop because he did not want to.
(Which given the h's drugged state, pretty much makes the initial encounter borderline rape - tho RD claims the h had a crush on him and so did not stop him.)
After a few more heated conversations and the h wrecking her car in a ditch, the slightly injured h is living at the H's family homestead. Getting to know her girls and soon also having Purple Passion Moments with the H.
The h is also more and more suspicious that the whole series of events 11 years earlier was a big set up. The h learns that the beloved cousin was unable to have children.
So the h believes that the H, desperate to give the woman he loved so much a family that was actually related to her, set the whole drugged seduction up and then sent the cousin to the h's nursing home to visit her and then plotted to steal her babies.
The H denies that he set her up, but he is strangely non believable when he denies that he knew she was the twins mother. When the h reasons out various coincidences that really weren't all those years ago, the H gives a weak denial and then pushes the h to marry him.
The h refuses at first, she wants a marriage based on mutual love and not blazing lust, plus she doesn't want to live in the shadow of her 'perfect' cousin. But then the H almost gets shot by some pigeon poachers and the h changes her mind. Since the twins are happy to have her around and the h is shaping up to be a good mother, she and the H marry.
The h believes she is doomed to sloppy seconds and to jealously bear unrequited love for the H, but then she finds a letter from the not so beloved cousin addressed to herself and hidden in a photo album and the fertilizer really hits the fan.
The beloved cousin's sweet and kind exterior hid a cesspool sub sewer snarfing pit of slime snot personality behind it. The letter from the cousin to the h tells the h that the cousin plotted to have the H impregnate her and that was done with the H's full knowledge and cooperation.
The letter goes on to tell the h that she was a nothing person until the cousin taught her how to be civilized and that the cousin hates that she got a modeling lifestyle and fiercely resents that the cousin is dying and the h will live and marry the H.
The cousin further rubs it in about how she got the h's kids and that the cousin is the one who made them and shaped them and that the h will always be forever second best. The h is furious and even tho she loves the H, she cannot help but wonder just how complicit he was in all of this.
There is a very tense confrontation and the h eventually chooses to believe the H. The H claims that the cousin was mentally ill, she had a deep seated need for perfection and she went to elaborate lengths to appear to be perfect at all times.
Not being able to have children was huge for her, so she used her contacts to adopt the h's daughters, but the H is reasonably sure that the cousin was a good mother and probably forgot all that she did to be able to adopt them.
The h, knowing that to disbelieve the H will end their marriage and her contact with the twins, accepts the H's denial of culpability and then the H tells her he will never lie to her again. Finally the H confesses that he is madly in love with her and has been attracted to her for eleven years.
The h smacks him upside the head for not telling her sooner and confesses her love back. The h and H finally unite in happy wedded bliss and the H claims that the cousin only married him because he fit her profile for the 'perfect husband image' in her quest for a perfect life. The H claims he loved the cousin, but it was puppy love and that the h is the real love of his life.
We get a little epilogue where the twins figure out the h is their mother and the h explains that it was all a big 'bed for the night' mistake and then we see the family four years later. The h has met her bio father and has a cordial relationship, he apologizes for abandoning her for the first part of her life.
The h and H have had a set of male twins, the daughters are happy, the h is a popular landscape designer and everyone can see the deep love and commitment between the H and h. RD leaves us with the sun shinning down upon the happy family, banishing the sadly mentally ill cousin and her resulting shadows to the mists of HPlandia and very believable HEA.
This book is extremely well done and RD's reveal of who is really the villain is magnificent. The build up to the cousin's denouement is subtly alluded to as the story builds, which makes the h more and more likable as it becomes clear that she was the victim of a very nefarious plot.
The H's knowledge of events is somewhat more dubious. (I think he knew the h was the twin's mother, at least he did by the time the cousin died. I kinda think maybe even earlier, cause I totally saw him confessing his mistake to his wife after he banished the h.)
But since this is ultimately a story about the h claiming her lost family and finding her place in it, RD turns that dubious motivation into a win and it is clear by the end that the H is mad about the h and they are truly in love and devoted.
Plus there is also that sense of justice that for once a bovine gutter slob of a female villain got her just desserts with a long, slow, torturous death and that is enough to put this on the HP required reading list and guarantee a most unusual, but strangely satisfying HPlandia outing.
In a role reversal of Smoke in the Wind, RD gives us an h who is the OW to her married cousin when she inadvertently gets lurved up by the cousin's husband H.
So be warned, the premise of this book is based on the H's adultery with the h who is NOT his wife.
The h is the daughter of a woman who had an affair with a married man and then raised the h by herself when the married man went back to his wife. Because the h's mother had to work a lot and resented the h's arrival, the h was a very lonely and forlorn child.
Her older cousin eventually offered to have the h stay with her and her husband on the husband's Family Estate. The cousin was 24 yrs old to the H's 21 when they married and the H was about 24 when the mistaken identity boudoir bounce took place.
The h had just turned 17 and was visiting the cousin and the H. The H was out of town, the cousin had an overnight errand to do and the cousin told the h to take a sleeping pill and sleep in the marital bed because there was a phone next to it while she was alone in the house.
The h did as she was told and then the H came home unexpectedly, as he never got the message to stay at his hotel. Between the h's drugged awareness and the H's inability to tell the difference between his wife and a 17 yr old girl, unicorn grooming licenses are revoked without the h's full enjoyment of the process.
When the mistake is discovered, the H immediately blames the h for being a tramp and banishes the h from his home. The h soon turns up preggers with twins, but tells no one and her angry mother puts the h into a nursing home for the duration.
The h has to give her beloved babies up for adoption and soon gets herself a modeling contract out of the country. She spends the next ten years becoming a modeling superstar, feeling horribly guilty and writing letters to her beloved cousin, who seemed to be the only one who cared about her, but never getting an answer.
When the book opens, the h has been out of New Zealand for eleven years. She is on the verge of modeling retirement and she has also hired an investigator to track down her adopted daughters. She wants to know that they are happy and cared for before she figures out if her passion for landscape design is going to be her next career.
To her very great shock, the investigator calls her and explains that someone seriously tampered with the adoption records of her daughters. Then he shocks her further when he reveals that her beloved cousin is dead from cancer and has been for a year and half and that her cousin and the H were the twin's adoptive parents.
The h realizes that there has been a HUGE betrayal. Here she has been feeling guilty and ashamed for years because the H kicked her out like she deliberately seduced him, when all the time it seems she was drugged and manipulated to provide a breeding womb for her cousin and the H.
The h decides she is going to meet her children and see for herself that they are okay. So she writes the H a letter telling him she is the twin's mother and we all go off to confront the H. He is NOT happy to see the h, he thinks she is a Trampy Tart based on the beloved cousin's gossip column news over the years and the h is seriously angry herself.
She is also becoming very aware that she has never gotten over crush or her physical attraction to the H. Even tho she was in a consummated relationship with another man until she broke it off cause she couldn't respond to him, the h has never found anyone else to be compatible with her chemistry except for the H.
The H gets no pov in this, but in the initial confrontation, he throws the h's gossip column rumors and her supposedly homewrecking mother's behavior in the h's face and tries to tell her she can't see her daughters.
(The mother was a homewrecker according to the beloved perfect cousin, the h has a differing opinion of the subject, but it is here that we start to see that maybe the beloved cousin wasn't so lovable after all.)
The h keeps her calmness tho and after signing an agreement for limited visiting privileges with the H's lawyer, she finally meets her daughters. She also has to face the fact that the attraction hasn't died out for the H either.
There is roofie kisses and a huge admission from the H that he wanted her at 17 and that when he started lurvin' her up all those years ago and realized his mistake, he did not stop because he did not want to.
(Which given the h's drugged state, pretty much makes the initial encounter borderline rape - tho RD claims the h had a crush on him and so did not stop him.)
After a few more heated conversations and the h wrecking her car in a ditch, the slightly injured h is living at the H's family homestead. Getting to know her girls and soon also having Purple Passion Moments with the H.
The h is also more and more suspicious that the whole series of events 11 years earlier was a big set up. The h learns that the beloved cousin was unable to have children.
So the h believes that the H, desperate to give the woman he loved so much a family that was actually related to her, set the whole drugged seduction up and then sent the cousin to the h's nursing home to visit her and then plotted to steal her babies.
The H denies that he set her up, but he is strangely non believable when he denies that he knew she was the twins mother. When the h reasons out various coincidences that really weren't all those years ago, the H gives a weak denial and then pushes the h to marry him.
The h refuses at first, she wants a marriage based on mutual love and not blazing lust, plus she doesn't want to live in the shadow of her 'perfect' cousin. But then the H almost gets shot by some pigeon poachers and the h changes her mind. Since the twins are happy to have her around and the h is shaping up to be a good mother, she and the H marry.
The h believes she is doomed to sloppy seconds and to jealously bear unrequited love for the H, but then she finds a letter from the not so beloved cousin addressed to herself and hidden in a photo album and the fertilizer really hits the fan.
The beloved cousin's sweet and kind exterior hid a cesspool sub sewer snarfing pit of slime snot personality behind it. The letter from the cousin to the h tells the h that the cousin plotted to have the H impregnate her and that was done with the H's full knowledge and cooperation.
The letter goes on to tell the h that she was a nothing person until the cousin taught her how to be civilized and that the cousin hates that she got a modeling lifestyle and fiercely resents that the cousin is dying and the h will live and marry the H.
The cousin further rubs it in about how she got the h's kids and that the cousin is the one who made them and shaped them and that the h will always be forever second best. The h is furious and even tho she loves the H, she cannot help but wonder just how complicit he was in all of this.
There is a very tense confrontation and the h eventually chooses to believe the H. The H claims that the cousin was mentally ill, she had a deep seated need for perfection and she went to elaborate lengths to appear to be perfect at all times.
Not being able to have children was huge for her, so she used her contacts to adopt the h's daughters, but the H is reasonably sure that the cousin was a good mother and probably forgot all that she did to be able to adopt them.
The h, knowing that to disbelieve the H will end their marriage and her contact with the twins, accepts the H's denial of culpability and then the H tells her he will never lie to her again. Finally the H confesses that he is madly in love with her and has been attracted to her for eleven years.
The h smacks him upside the head for not telling her sooner and confesses her love back. The h and H finally unite in happy wedded bliss and the H claims that the cousin only married him because he fit her profile for the 'perfect husband image' in her quest for a perfect life. The H claims he loved the cousin, but it was puppy love and that the h is the real love of his life.
We get a little epilogue where the twins figure out the h is their mother and the h explains that it was all a big 'bed for the night' mistake and then we see the family four years later. The h has met her bio father and has a cordial relationship, he apologizes for abandoning her for the first part of her life.
The h and H have had a set of male twins, the daughters are happy, the h is a popular landscape designer and everyone can see the deep love and commitment between the H and h. RD leaves us with the sun shinning down upon the happy family, banishing the sadly mentally ill cousin and her resulting shadows to the mists of HPlandia and very believable HEA.
This book is extremely well done and RD's reveal of who is really the villain is magnificent. The build up to the cousin's denouement is subtly alluded to as the story builds, which makes the h more and more likable as it becomes clear that she was the victim of a very nefarious plot.
The H's knowledge of events is somewhat more dubious. (I think he knew the h was the twin's mother, at least he did by the time the cousin died. I kinda think maybe even earlier, cause I totally saw him confessing his mistake to his wife after he banished the h.)
But since this is ultimately a story about the h claiming her lost family and finding her place in it, RD turns that dubious motivation into a win and it is clear by the end that the H is mad about the h and they are truly in love and devoted.
Plus there is also that sense of justice that for once a bovine gutter slob of a female villain got her just desserts with a long, slow, torturous death and that is enough to put this on the HP required reading list and guarantee a most unusual, but strangely satisfying HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 10, 2021
November 10, 2021
No, did not re-read this and have absolutely no desire to, but after reading Raffaella's review realized I needed to add "rape" to my tags. No, the hero doesn't rape her technically, but
August 29
Well, so far our vintage Harley hero is acting true to form: arm twisting, clenched teeth threats and yo' is a ho.
Okay. Done and ick.
The h is 28 and winding down her career as The Adventurous Woman model. Ten years earlier, while staying at her beloved (female) cousin's house, she inadvertently slept with her cousin's husband. How do you accidentally sleep with someone? You sleep in their bed after taking a sleeping pill, and it's really, really dark. Okay, what we have here is a humongous suspension of disbelief as how do you explain the other side of the equation, the husband mistaking a 6 foot tall 17 year old for his wife. Sorry, this is a Harley and realism has no place here.
The h is back because, of course, she got pregnant the night she lost her virginity while sen-comatose and had, not one, but two girls that just happened to get adopted by her cousin and husband. The cousin has since died of cancer. The h is back to make sure her girls are doing well. They are.
The H is not happy to see her, but ends up giving her punishing kisses. MOC and more angst ensues.
Please DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
Characters behaving badly.
No, did not re-read this and have absolutely no desire to, but after reading Raffaella's review realized I needed to add "rape" to my tags. No, the hero doesn't rape her technically, but
August 29
Well, so far our vintage Harley hero is acting true to form: arm twisting, clenched teeth threats and yo' is a ho.
Okay. Done and ick.
The h is 28 and winding down her career as The Adventurous Woman model. Ten years earlier, while staying at her beloved (female) cousin's house, she inadvertently slept with her cousin's husband. How do you accidentally sleep with someone? You sleep in their bed after taking a sleeping pill, and it's really, really dark. Okay, what we have here is a humongous suspension of disbelief as how do you explain the other side of the equation, the husband mistaking a 6 foot tall 17 year old for his wife. Sorry, this is a Harley and realism has no place here.
The h is back because, of course, she got pregnant the night she lost her virginity while sen-comatose and had, not one, but two girls that just happened to get adopted by her cousin and husband. The cousin has since died of cancer. The h is back to make sure her girls are doing well. They are.
The H is not happy to see her, but ends up giving her punishing kisses. MOC and more angst ensues.
Please DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
Characters behaving badly.
July 19, 2017
Trust Ms Donald to give an angsty heartwringing story...Although the h Perdita has a traumatic past but she l has built an amazing life for herself as a leading supermodel since past 11 years...the story begins as she is wrapping up her career as a model and retiring.. a private investigator hired by her calls up to give her an information which shatters her up and she decides to go back to NZ to confront somebody.Now the backstory being ...she has slept inadvertently with the married H at 17(she is semi drugged n he thinks she is his wife!) anyways the H runs her outa town n his life while she ends up preggers with twin girls...she gives them up for adoption and goes to become a supermodel.. n now after all these years she yearns to see her girls and the PI is calling up to tell the name of adopting family and shockers it is the H n his wife n she understandably shocked n feels he has fooled her out of her kids' lives...anyways the wife is dead. The wife was a cousin of her mom..n a loving and stabilising presence when the h was growing up. Obviously now the H reluctantly agrees for her to meet with the girls once as a stranger but tells her to stay out of their lives...circumstances being such that she ends up spending longer time with them and they get married too...meanwhile lots of suspicious past events are revealed to the h making her think the H knowingly slept with her and made her pregnant as his beloved wife was infertile .. in the end it is revealed that the wife was of course not as sweet and benign as everyone believed but a manipulative machiavelli who in a very far fetched manner made all this 'happen'!
Perdita is a complete grace under fire throughout the story...n you feel for her. she deals very objectively with the continuing 'presence' of the dead wife in the house and in the hearts of the H n her daughters.The girls are lovely and accepting-and she credits their 'mother' for a good upbringing and even in the end she doesnt undermine her memory for the daughters who continue to call her Perdita till the end.The H is complete Robyn Donald piece of work but not as bad a few of her others!
Perdita is a complete grace under fire throughout the story...n you feel for her. she deals very objectively with the continuing 'presence' of the dead wife in the house and in the hearts of the H n her daughters.The girls are lovely and accepting-and she credits their 'mother' for a good upbringing and even in the end she doesnt undermine her memory for the daughters who continue to call her Perdita till the end.The H is complete Robyn Donald piece of work but not as bad a few of her others!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2018
LOL! What the hell? This was some crazy, crazy stuff. Only in HPLandia. I am sure either Boogenhagen or St. Margarets have spoiled this wonderfully already, so I'll just say 'what the hell?'. This is required reading. Definitely proves that HPLandia is a universe all to itself where our earth logic has little meaning. Gloriously angsty, crazy, soapy mess.
August 30, 2022
Robyn Donald has never been my to-go favourite Harlequin author since i remember only reading one title by her, but "Element of Risk" has been on my TBR for ages and recommended by many readers. This one is notorious for its crazy, trainwrecky and controversial plot. I mean it was so crazy i had to stop my mouth from gawking in horrifying shock all the time. In all honesty, this was a well done romance as well despite our main-characters,the retired model Perdita Gladstone and the rich businessman Luke Dennison reuniting in the worst circumstances caused by a mistake eleven years prior to this. I felt Luke`s tormented emotions over Perdita`s return. Despite his anger and hatred (that seemed mostly directed at himself) he was mentioning her "supposed" past lovers with bitterness to often that it was obvious how her modelling career had infuriated and made him jealous of her to no end in all the eleven years they did not see each other,LOL.
November 3, 2021
Really, the devious mind of this author.
The story is pure insanity.
The young heroine, with a difficult familiar situation, lived with her cousin, a woman married to a younger man (only two years younger) who took care of her better than her mother.
When she was 17 her cousin went away for some days, and asked her to sleep in her bedroom (???) and to take two sleeping pills, so she would feel safer (eh?).
The hero was not at home too.
While the heroine was sleeping half drugged in their bed, the hero came home late at night and went to bed tired and a little high with a couple of drinks and made love to her thinking she was his wife (really? serious?)
When he found out she was not his wife he was furious, thought she deceived him and sent her back to her dysfunctional mother.
What a lord. What a gentleman.
Of course she got preggars and her mother sent her to a nursing house, where, as the fairy godmother, her cousin found her and took care of her until she had her babies (two girls) and gave them to adoption.
Guess who adopted them?
But her cousin of course.
And neither the heroine and the pig hero knew about it.
The heroine didn't tell the hero she was pregnant because he's been cruel to her and because she didn't want to hurt her cousin, who was like a mother to her.
So we all understand that the cousin was an evil conniving bitch who exploited a teenager who was under her care because she couldn't have children.
She deserves what happened to her 10 years later.
Nowadays maybe she could also try a politically correct choice: she could simply asks the heroine to be a surrogate mother for her and her husband, with the consent of both. I think the heroine, loving her as she did, would have surely accepted.
But then we wouldn't have this book to read...
Ten years later she's dead and the heroine, who tried for years to know where were her children, is back to the hero and asks to know them.
Of course the hero is (still) insanely attracted to her and even blaming her for what she did (he thinks she wanted to have sex with him and planned the whole bed scene) he asks her to marry him, so she could be with their children (and have other children)
Only in the end the heroine finds out a letter (a sort of diary) where her cousin tells the whole story, including the hero's complicity.
The hero wasn't guilty of course, and it seems he didn't know the children were his until years later.
He only thought it was a coincidence that they were his children, even if he recognizes that his wife was a lil unstable for some time because she couldn't have children.
Yeah, right.
They are all happy in the end, they can have various sets of twins (that the heroine seems to be very good at producing) and all is well.
Right?
No!
Happy my a**!!!
-The cousin was a crazy evil bitch. She plotted everything with a cold and sharp mind that unfortunately sometimes is typical of people suffering from delusions. She exploited the young and vulnerable teenager who was a guest in her house and she also used his husband's attraction to the heroine for her own purpose, that was to have a child. She didn't love anyone. Not the heroine, not the hero and not the children. She was only a person with a purpose, that was to have a perfect family.
Never mind who suffered in the process, they were all casualties to her ruthless purpose.
She's the psychopath here.
The sad thing is that the hero was quite aware of her insanity and he accepted that fact as if normal.
But it was not!
And what about their night together?
Are we to believe he was unable to tell his wife from another woman?
Man, you cannot be serious!
He understood immediately whom he was having sex with, and he didn't stop because he was guilty of lusting after her for months, and eventually, as the coward he is, he blamed the heroine, who was clearly drugged and not herself, and he sent her away knowing she didn't have a stable family, and because he felt guilty, he blamed the victim. Yes, we know everything about it, don't we.
I didn't like this hero, a weak and coward man who didn't even try to get in touch with the teenager heroine after the fact, leaving her to herself and to deal with the consequence of his lust, while he kept going on with his lousy life in his little ordinary world inside his confort zone.
A man I don't appreciate.
But I appreciate the method the author uses to deal with all her evil ow: she kills them, but first they have to be sick, and to suffer for what they did, so the evil ow cousin dies after suffering a lot and knowing very well that after her death the heroine and the hero will be together and will have other children and they will be happily in love because, as the hero says (coward as usual) in the end to the heroine, she is the true love of his life, not his late wife.
Really, a challanging book.
The story is pure insanity.
The young heroine, with a difficult familiar situation, lived with her cousin, a woman married to a younger man (only two years younger) who took care of her better than her mother.
When she was 17 her cousin went away for some days, and asked her to sleep in her bedroom (???) and to take two sleeping pills, so she would feel safer (eh?).
The hero was not at home too.
While the heroine was sleeping half drugged in their bed, the hero came home late at night and went to bed tired and a little high with a couple of drinks and made love to her thinking she was his wife (really? serious?)
When he found out she was not his wife he was furious, thought she deceived him and sent her back to her dysfunctional mother.
What a lord. What a gentleman.
Of course she got preggars and her mother sent her to a nursing house, where, as the fairy godmother, her cousin found her and took care of her until she had her babies (two girls) and gave them to adoption.
Guess who adopted them?
But her cousin of course.
And neither the heroine and the pig hero knew about it.
The heroine didn't tell the hero she was pregnant because he's been cruel to her and because she didn't want to hurt her cousin, who was like a mother to her.
So we all understand that the cousin was an evil conniving bitch who exploited a teenager who was under her care because she couldn't have children.
She deserves what happened to her 10 years later.
Nowadays maybe she could also try a politically correct choice: she could simply asks the heroine to be a surrogate mother for her and her husband, with the consent of both. I think the heroine, loving her as she did, would have surely accepted.
But then we wouldn't have this book to read...
Ten years later she's dead and the heroine, who tried for years to know where were her children, is back to the hero and asks to know them.
Of course the hero is (still) insanely attracted to her and even blaming her for what she did (he thinks she wanted to have sex with him and planned the whole bed scene) he asks her to marry him, so she could be with their children (and have other children)
Only in the end the heroine finds out a letter (a sort of diary) where her cousin tells the whole story, including the hero's complicity.
The hero wasn't guilty of course, and it seems he didn't know the children were his until years later.
He only thought it was a coincidence that they were his children, even if he recognizes that his wife was a lil unstable for some time because she couldn't have children.
Yeah, right.
They are all happy in the end, they can have various sets of twins (that the heroine seems to be very good at producing) and all is well.
Right?
No!
Happy my a**!!!
-The cousin was a crazy evil bitch. She plotted everything with a cold and sharp mind that unfortunately sometimes is typical of people suffering from delusions. She exploited the young and vulnerable teenager who was a guest in her house and she also used his husband's attraction to the heroine for her own purpose, that was to have a child. She didn't love anyone. Not the heroine, not the hero and not the children. She was only a person with a purpose, that was to have a perfect family.
Never mind who suffered in the process, they were all casualties to her ruthless purpose.
She's the psychopath here.
The sad thing is that the hero was quite aware of her insanity and he accepted that fact as if normal.
But it was not!
And what about their night together?
Are we to believe he was unable to tell his wife from another woman?
Man, you cannot be serious!
He understood immediately whom he was having sex with, and he didn't stop because he was guilty of lusting after her for months, and eventually, as the coward he is, he blamed the heroine, who was clearly drugged and not herself, and he sent her away knowing she didn't have a stable family, and because he felt guilty, he blamed the victim. Yes, we know everything about it, don't we.
I didn't like this hero, a weak and coward man who didn't even try to get in touch with the teenager heroine after the fact, leaving her to herself and to deal with the consequence of his lust, while he kept going on with his lousy life in his little ordinary world inside his confort zone.
A man I don't appreciate.
But I appreciate the method the author uses to deal with all her evil ow: she kills them, but first they have to be sick, and to suffer for what they did, so the evil ow cousin dies after suffering a lot and knowing very well that after her death the heroine and the hero will be together and will have other children and they will be happily in love because, as the hero says (coward as usual) in the end to the heroine, she is the true love of his life, not his late wife.
Really, a challanging book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2022
I picked this up because upon discussing Smoke in the Wind (SitW) with my friend; she said this was sort of the opposite. (with h getting with her cousin’s man) A lot of my GR friends love this one, but I was left feeling fairly similar to SitW. It was ok, but I needed more for it to be great.
Perdita has a crappy home life with her nasty mom. She finds solace in staying with her older cousin Natalie and her husband Luke. She grows up spending most of her free time at their ranch mooning over Luke until a Goldilocks moment with a sleeping pill leads her to have sex with him. She ends up kicked out and preggers, but eventually becomes a famous model. The book picks up 11 or so years later with Perdita finally tracking down the twins she gave up for adoption.
The first fail for me was the way Perdita acted when she first approached Luke. Now it was pretty obvious where the story would go, but at that point we only know that he and Natalie adopted the twins. The way that she forces her way in demanding to see them, threatening to go to the press, then refusing to leave rubbed me a bit. She had no legal rights to do anything, and never would’ve acted that way with a stranger, so I had zero issues with the way Luke treated her. I’d have told her to go scratch too. IMO, it would've generated more angst had she came in sad and heartbroken rather than aggressive. This was exasperated when after chapters of her whining, demanding and crying about being in her girl’s life, she rejects the solution when it’s presented. I understood her hesitation, but we ended up in the exact same place after more chapters of the same crap.
The second was the unveiling of the “catalyst” for the romp took WAY too long to happen. Then when it did, there was hardly any fallout. Plus, it didn’t really make sense to me. How would the letter ever be discovered, and what was the point in naming a co-conspirator? And why was said co-conspirator not seething with rage?
My biggest issue was I just didn’t feel or understand the love. IMO, it wasn’t explained or developed how after being in love with his wife for another decade that upon seeing her, it suddenly morphed into epic love. Lust I understood, but it was hard to get onboard the lovetrain. The epilogue helped, but this would’ve worked better for me if everything came to a head before the last chapter, and we had more time for the love to grow. The fact that he didn’t really show any anger towards Natalie’s action didn’t make me feel great either.
Bottom Line- I didn’t love this one. Much like SitW, I felt like the relationship was sex based, and didn’t “feel” the H’s affection until quite late in the book, and then it felt forced. It was also messy for me, I didn’t like how much Natalie lingered, or how after her machinations were exposed that no real negative feelings were directed towards her by Luke. It didn’t sit right that he loved her (hell EVERYONE loved her so much) I wanted her firmly in the villain lane making everyone miserable.
Perdita has a crappy home life with her nasty mom. She finds solace in staying with her older cousin Natalie and her husband Luke. She grows up spending most of her free time at their ranch mooning over Luke until a Goldilocks moment with a sleeping pill leads her to have sex with him. She ends up kicked out and preggers, but eventually becomes a famous model. The book picks up 11 or so years later with Perdita finally tracking down the twins she gave up for adoption.
The first fail for me was the way Perdita acted when she first approached Luke. Now it was pretty obvious where the story would go, but at that point we only know that he and Natalie adopted the twins. The way that she forces her way in demanding to see them, threatening to go to the press, then refusing to leave rubbed me a bit. She had no legal rights to do anything, and never would’ve acted that way with a stranger, so I had zero issues with the way Luke treated her. I’d have told her to go scratch too. IMO, it would've generated more angst had she came in sad and heartbroken rather than aggressive. This was exasperated when after chapters of her whining, demanding and crying about being in her girl’s life, she rejects the solution when it’s presented. I understood her hesitation, but we ended up in the exact same place after more chapters of the same crap.
The second was the unveiling of the “catalyst” for the romp took WAY too long to happen. Then when it did, there was hardly any fallout. Plus, it didn’t really make sense to me. How would the letter ever be discovered, and what was the point in naming a co-conspirator? And why was said co-conspirator not seething with rage?
My biggest issue was I just didn’t feel or understand the love. IMO, it wasn’t explained or developed how after being in love with his wife for another decade that upon seeing her, it suddenly morphed into epic love. Lust I understood, but it was hard to get onboard the lovetrain. The epilogue helped, but this would’ve worked better for me if everything came to a head before the last chapter, and we had more time for the love to grow. The fact that he didn’t really show any anger towards Natalie’s action didn’t make me feel great either.
Bottom Line- I didn’t love this one. Much like SitW, I felt like the relationship was sex based, and didn’t “feel” the H’s affection until quite late in the book, and then it felt forced. It was also messy for me, I didn’t like how much Natalie lingered, or how after her machinations were exposed that no real negative feelings were directed towards her by Luke. It didn’t sit right that he loved her (hell EVERYONE loved her so much) I wanted her firmly in the villain lane making everyone miserable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2018
2.5 stars.
This book is a new definition of rape, cheating, and deception.....
The Hero was a typical HP Hero- Alpha, mean and everything. The whole sex scene which was the major twist of the book is so unbelievable that it makes no sense at all. And I don't want to start about the evil women who made me think about the morality of women.
Above all this, I liked the heroine. She was 17 years of girl when she suffers a major drawback in her life but what I admire about her is that she moves on and made a very successful career for herself. She is a rich woman now and does as she please. Her wanting to meet her girls was very natural. But I just couldn't stomach the fact that, her girls didn't call her mother while knowing the whole truth. They called her by her name. Maybe, in the end, she was blissfully happy but She doesn't deserve this shit.
Check some of the details reviews 👇
boogenhagen's Reviews
StMargarets's Reviews
Vintage's review
This book is a new definition of rape, cheating, and deception.....
The Hero was a typical HP Hero- Alpha, mean and everything. The whole sex scene which was the major twist of the book is so unbelievable that it makes no sense at all. And I don't want to start about the evil women who made me think about the morality of women.
Above all this, I liked the heroine. She was 17 years of girl when she suffers a major drawback in her life but what I admire about her is that she moves on and made a very successful career for herself. She is a rich woman now and does as she please. Her wanting to meet her girls was very natural. But I just couldn't stomach the fact that, her girls didn't call her mother while knowing the whole truth. They called her by her name. Maybe, in the end, she was blissfully happy but She doesn't deserve this shit.
Check some of the details reviews 👇
boogenhagen's Reviews
StMargarets's Reviews
Vintage's review
September 29, 2017
This was kind of crazy in a good way, but fell short in the crazy-good department. The sensational plotline reeled me in. Sadly, I wasn't all that impressed with Luke who didn't seem to love Perdita as much as she loved him. I felt his late wife had a greater hold over him than Perdita ever would.
July 25, 2015
**Disclaimer: This book does involve past adultery between the lead characters. I pretty much hate adultery in romance novels. I avoid those storylines when I can. But this sounded very interesting, and the adultery does seem to fall into the accidental category, if that can be said about marital cheating. One of the reasons I rated this four stars is because Donald takes this novel to deep waters. What you think you know about the characters gets turned on its ear before everything is over. And initially, while one might tend to think of the wife as the victim, you will find out soon that it's not the case at all. Perdita is a strong woman, and I loved seeing that she went from vulnerable teenager to independent, self-actualized mature woman with her own life and her own finances. She goes back to confront Luke and to get acquainted on her own terms, willing to tangle with Luke in order to have the chance to know her children.
I liked this book quite a bit. I think the strength of it was that the author really allowed the reader to walk in Perdita's shoes. That was hugely crucial, considering that she's effectively an adulteress. And while I hate adultery, I couldn't judge her or even Luke for that matter. I'm not saying that I'm sanguine about the situation. But by the end of the book, I had to come to terms with everything. I won't spoil, but the deceased wife definitely doesn't come out of this looking like a martyr or smelling like roses. Luke did annoy me quite a bit, but he grew on me by the end of the book. He was as much as a victim as Perdita was, and he did really care about his children, loved his wife, and much to his chagrin, loved Perdita. There were a lot of ugly words thrown at Perdita, considering that she was underage (at least according to my standards--16-17) when it happened, but she held her own, and Luke wasn't really as much of a b*stard as he could have been (especially by old school Robyn Donald standards).
The dynamic with the twins was interesting, as Perdita got to know them, and they got to know her. The ending was a bit weird with what happens, but that's just me.
I give this four stars because it meets my criteria for a very good Harlequin Presents: well written, angsty, dramatic, likable heroine, intense storyline. I wanted to keep reading and I wasn't in a hurry to finish it. It's a plus that the hero has to admit his love for Perdita fairly sooner than usual in these books.
This is on Kindle (and that's the format I read). It's worth checking out as long as adultery of any kind isn't completely a no-no for a reader. Normally I pass it by, but this was a good book and the adultery wasn't rationalized or dismissed as immaterial.
I liked this book quite a bit. I think the strength of it was that the author really allowed the reader to walk in Perdita's shoes. That was hugely crucial, considering that she's effectively an adulteress. And while I hate adultery, I couldn't judge her or even Luke for that matter. I'm not saying that I'm sanguine about the situation. But by the end of the book, I had to come to terms with everything. I won't spoil, but the deceased wife definitely doesn't come out of this looking like a martyr or smelling like roses. Luke did annoy me quite a bit, but he grew on me by the end of the book. He was as much as a victim as Perdita was, and he did really care about his children, loved his wife, and much to his chagrin, loved Perdita. There were a lot of ugly words thrown at Perdita, considering that she was underage (at least according to my standards--16-17) when it happened, but she held her own, and Luke wasn't really as much of a b*stard as he could have been (especially by old school Robyn Donald standards).
The dynamic with the twins was interesting, as Perdita got to know them, and they got to know her. The ending was a bit weird with what happens, but that's just me.
I give this four stars because it meets my criteria for a very good Harlequin Presents: well written, angsty, dramatic, likable heroine, intense storyline. I wanted to keep reading and I wasn't in a hurry to finish it. It's a plus that the hero has to admit his love for Perdita fairly sooner than usual in these books.
This is on Kindle (and that's the format I read). It's worth checking out as long as adultery of any kind isn't completely a no-no for a reader. Normally I pass it by, but this was a good book and the adultery wasn't rationalized or dismissed as immaterial.
avoid
July 16, 2017This is taking rape and abuse to a brand new level.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Then heroine was second best to both the hero and the kids who referred to the cousin as mother and her as Perdita till the end. She doesn't deserve this shit!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Then heroine was second best to both the hero and the kids who referred to the cousin as mother and her as Perdita till the end. She doesn't deserve this shit!
August 22, 2018
Great book almost tragic my heart was torn with all the manipulations. Definitely a unique story! Give it a try if you not read it yet.
May 2, 2022
Rating: **4 stars**
Makes me really question my sanity to love books with such ott situations and drama but who cares?!
This book showed how some next level conspiracy and nefarious intentions can do wonders for attaining a HEA for the destined couple.
I loved the FL who is a unicorn in the M&B land, someone who is a total goner for the ML but can rise above her primitive desires to realize there is a presence of a complex organ up there which can assist her back to earth. Putting this aspect aside I liked her overall.
The ML is a typical broody, mean, rough-handling man who hides his needs for the FL by keeping a stoic face throughout but comes through towards the end to show how utterly devoted and in love he is.
Genuinely enjoyed a Harlequin after a long time.
Makes me really question my sanity to love books with such ott situations and drama but who cares?!
This book showed how some next level conspiracy and nefarious intentions can do wonders for attaining a HEA for the destined couple.
I loved the FL who is a unicorn in the M&B land, someone who is a total goner for the ML but can rise above her primitive desires to realize there is a presence of a complex organ up there which can assist her back to earth. Putting this aspect aside I liked her overall.
The ML is a typical broody, mean, rough-handling man who hides his needs for the FL by keeping a stoic face throughout but comes through towards the end to show how utterly devoted and in love he is.
Genuinely enjoyed a Harlequin after a long time.
February 3, 2012
Robyn Donald can be counted on for a pretty good emotional story, and this one delivers. The premise is of a reunion after a long period of time, and it turns out there's a fair bit of a secret between them. It's kind of an interesting twist on the usual secret baby plot, but the foundation for the drama is pretty ugly, especially since the explanation for the 'mix up' mentioned in the spoiler is pretty implausible, and I really wasn't in the end convinced that people who have ethics would so completely get past that, or that the children, when everything was explained to them, would be completely ok with the story, either.
People who are dead-set against any infidelity at all in a romance should probably avoid this one.
People who are dead-set against any infidelity at all in a romance should probably avoid this one.
July 15, 2017
I loves harlequin 90's! Less generics story lines! This one is very good, the deceitful of the villain is so incredible! I like the heroine, pity the hero very reserve. But in all is a very good read!
July 24, 2025
Robyn Donald has outdone herself here; WTF factor in this book is at the maximum level. It deserves five stars but I didn’t feel comfortable with how heroine was treated and even over the top happiest ever end didn’t erase that bitter aftertaste.
April 16, 2021
I thought I was rid of you why the hell did you have to come back?"
It was eleven years--two lifetimes ago--since Perdita Gladstone and Luke Dennison had met last. Now the legacy of their shared past required another encounter. Perdita was no longer a gawky girl, but an assured woman with an international career. But did she have the confidence to handle a man like Luke, who made it clear that her reappearance in his life was not a welcome one?
It was eleven years--two lifetimes ago--since Perdita Gladstone and Luke Dennison had met last. Now the legacy of their shared past required another encounter. Perdita was no longer a gawky girl, but an assured woman with an international career. But did she have the confidence to handle a man like Luke, who made it clear that her reappearance in his life was not a welcome one?
October 24, 2018
CRAZY!, I THINK, I'LL TAKE A BREAK FROM READING HP FOR AWHILE that level of crazy
February 11, 2019
Damn, that was one crazy ass book! I loved all the angsty drama. Although I’m pretty sure I saw the basic premise on an episode of Jerry Springer one time.
September 13, 2021
It was angsty alright. The plot twist was as transparent as a ZEISS lens, but no hard feelings there.
March 15, 2025
One more thing. I’m posting this on 9th November.
I hate the way Robyn Donald treats dogs in her books. It upset me terribly the way Bess was treated by the author and the two main characters too.
*************************************
The heroine has a sophisticated cousin who is older and the heroine loves this woman. The cousin is married to a rich station owner in New Zealand who is a few years younger than her.
Anyway. Heroine visits said cousin during holidays. When she’s 17 she visits and is totally besotted with cousin’s husband. He is in lust with her too. The impression is that he won’t ever act on that lust.
The cousin is getting deranged by her childlessness and sets up her husband and cousin (heroine) to have sex with each other.
Twins result. Heroine gives them up. The cousin takes them home.
Ten years later the cousin is dead and heroine has found out her twin daughters were with the cousin and hero all these years.
And going forward from there.
Happy end.
Almost five stars except that we never got to know hero’s POV
I took away one star because the hero did not come across well.
Apparently he had a drink and went to bed where the heroine’s cousin had set the poor girl up. She had told her you sleep in our bed tonight because we will both be out and take a sleeping pill or two because reasons.
Apparently the hero thought it was his wife and by the time he realised he did not wish to stop.
Afterwards he threw her out of the house after telling her it was all her fault and told her never to darken their doors again.
We never found out how the hero felt about his wife. He says he loved her. But he tells heroine throw her photo in the family room and his room away. He suggests his wife was deranged.
So he was in love with his wife and was sleeping with her. Then wife conveniently died and the heroine turned up so now he wanted heroine because apparently he had always been in lust with her?
He wasn’t dishonourable. But he wasn’t exactly honourable.
The author missed the chance to explore the terrible aspects of the heroine’s life. We are told the girl’s mother did not love her. The cousin was very affectionate to her and took her under her wing. Calling her to visit every holiday.
The suffering the heroine went through with the babies is glossed through.
The relationship with the heroine and her daughters has not been explored well enough. How did the love deepen? How did they realise she is their mother.
The fact that she tells them both the circumstances of their conception was disgusting.
The idea was good. The story kept me hooked throughout.
But as I said. I could not get an in depth understanding of hero and heroine and their motivations.
Not the way I would have written it.
I hate the way Robyn Donald treats dogs in her books. It upset me terribly the way Bess was treated by the author and the two main characters too.
*************************************
The heroine has a sophisticated cousin who is older and the heroine loves this woman. The cousin is married to a rich station owner in New Zealand who is a few years younger than her.
Anyway. Heroine visits said cousin during holidays. When she’s 17 she visits and is totally besotted with cousin’s husband. He is in lust with her too. The impression is that he won’t ever act on that lust.
The cousin is getting deranged by her childlessness and sets up her husband and cousin (heroine) to have sex with each other.
Twins result. Heroine gives them up. The cousin takes them home.
Ten years later the cousin is dead and heroine has found out her twin daughters were with the cousin and hero all these years.
And going forward from there.
Happy end.
Almost five stars except that we never got to know hero’s POV
I took away one star because the hero did not come across well.
Apparently he had a drink and went to bed where the heroine’s cousin had set the poor girl up. She had told her you sleep in our bed tonight because we will both be out and take a sleeping pill or two because reasons.
Apparently the hero thought it was his wife and by the time he realised he did not wish to stop.
Afterwards he threw her out of the house after telling her it was all her fault and told her never to darken their doors again.
We never found out how the hero felt about his wife. He says he loved her. But he tells heroine throw her photo in the family room and his room away. He suggests his wife was deranged.
So he was in love with his wife and was sleeping with her. Then wife conveniently died and the heroine turned up so now he wanted heroine because apparently he had always been in lust with her?
He wasn’t dishonourable. But he wasn’t exactly honourable.
The author missed the chance to explore the terrible aspects of the heroine’s life. We are told the girl’s mother did not love her. The cousin was very affectionate to her and took her under her wing. Calling her to visit every holiday.
The suffering the heroine went through with the babies is glossed through.
The relationship with the heroine and her daughters has not been explored well enough. How did the love deepen? How did they realise she is their mother.
The fact that she tells them both the circumstances of their conception was disgusting.
The idea was good. The story kept me hooked throughout.
But as I said. I could not get an in depth understanding of hero and heroine and their motivations.
Not the way I would have written it.
July 16, 2019
عنصر الخطر لروبن دونالدز
Such a weird story about a teenage girl infatuated with her cousin's husband, where the wife decided to play the handmaid's tale card and let the girl and her husband sleep together to have a baby!
Such a weird story about a teenage girl infatuated with her cousin's husband, where the wife decided to play the handmaid's tale card and let the girl and her husband sleep together to have a baby!
September 6, 2024
Отлична находка от ерата на лудите бабки ❤️
March 22, 2019
It was OK but I knew what had happened in the past very early on so wasn't surprised once it was revealed. I didn't feel the love between the H&H but for once the hero wasn't a mean bastard!
October 19, 2021
The more I read Robyn Donald, the more I realize that there is some sort of perverse part of my brain. This book is all sorts of crazy.
I love it all. I don’t pick up a RD book because I am looking for a sweet fluffy romance.
Nope, I am looking for carnage.
So here is the premise, then I am going to defer the rest to the experts who have covered the story well in their own reviews!
The heroine, sleeps with the hero when she is 17. She becomes pregnant with twins and gives them up for adoption. (So sad, so tragic, but that is not the whole story!)
The hero was married to her cousin at the time of the impregnation. He thought he was making love to his wife, because the 6 ft virgin heroine was sleeping the couple’s bed. The h has had a crush on the H since she was 14. The h didn’t stop it. The H “soldiered” on. Upon completion, he was so ashamed of what he had done, that he kicked the h out of the house.
About 5 years ago, the h started looking for her babies. It was very hard. Paperwork was all askew. It is now 10 years, and the h has discovered that her twins were unknowingly adopted by the H and her cousin(who could not get pregnant). The cousin is dead, and the h is off to meet the hero who has their daughters. This is how our story opens. It is now RD’s job to weave a romance out of this mess. She has a very convincing HEA. This story should probably be read without any spoilers. I couldn’t help myself and had to read some.
For more details on the story I recommend checking out Stmargarets review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For details with spoilers check out Boogenhagen: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For a 2 star well written review of the story with its faults, check out Vintage: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This story will not be for everyone. But if you like a bunch of wtf***ery with your romance this one should do the trick!
I love it all. I don’t pick up a RD book because I am looking for a sweet fluffy romance.
Nope, I am looking for carnage.
So here is the premise, then I am going to defer the rest to the experts who have covered the story well in their own reviews!
The heroine, sleeps with the hero when she is 17. She becomes pregnant with twins and gives them up for adoption. (So sad, so tragic, but that is not the whole story!)
The hero was married to her cousin at the time of the impregnation. He thought he was making love to his wife, because the 6 ft virgin heroine was sleeping the couple’s bed. The h has had a crush on the H since she was 14. The h didn’t stop it. The H “soldiered” on. Upon completion, he was so ashamed of what he had done, that he kicked the h out of the house.
About 5 years ago, the h started looking for her babies. It was very hard. Paperwork was all askew. It is now 10 years, and the h has discovered that her twins were unknowingly adopted by the H and her cousin(who could not get pregnant). The cousin is dead, and the h is off to meet the hero who has their daughters. This is how our story opens. It is now RD’s job to weave a romance out of this mess. She has a very convincing HEA. This story should probably be read without any spoilers. I couldn’t help myself and had to read some.
For more details on the story I recommend checking out Stmargarets review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For details with spoilers check out Boogenhagen: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For a 2 star well written review of the story with its faults, check out Vintage: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This story will not be for everyone. But if you like a bunch of wtf***ery with your romance this one should do the trick!
June 6, 2015
This was a really fun old skool HQ.
Right from page one, I was pulled in to the story.. Both the H and the h struggle with a lot of mixed feelings. The h feels guilty for what happened in the past, but is also devastated by the loss of her children. While the sexual tension is smoldering, she still struggles with jealousy and resentment, toward both the H and his wife, because they lived what looks like a perfect life, loving and raising her children, while she was cast adrift, alone in the world. The H is also swamped with guilt, and still bitter toward the h, who he partly blames for his shame. As much as the H tries to be cold and remote, it is obvious almost for the beginning that he is desperate for the h.
I loved this book mostly because of the h. She may have been the classic naive 17 year old virgin in the past, but when she shows up on the scene again she is very much a polished adult. She doesn't do the ice mask that most authors reach for when writing a collected h, but rather manages to appear mature without being bitchy or cold. She doesnt let the H push her around, she strands up for herself and doesn't let him crack her composure. However it's also obvious to both the reader and the H how much the h loves and has missed her girls, and those moments were especially touching.
All in all, a great afternoon read :)
Right from page one, I was pulled in to the story.. Both the H and the h struggle with a lot of mixed feelings. The h feels guilty for what happened in the past, but is also devastated by the loss of her children. While the sexual tension is smoldering, she still struggles with jealousy and resentment, toward both the H and his wife, because they lived what looks like a perfect life, loving and raising her children, while she was cast adrift, alone in the world. The H is also swamped with guilt, and still bitter toward the h, who he partly blames for his shame. As much as the H tries to be cold and remote, it is obvious almost for the beginning that he is desperate for the h.
I loved this book mostly because of the h. She may have been the classic naive 17 year old virgin in the past, but when she shows up on the scene again she is very much a polished adult. She doesn't do the ice mask that most authors reach for when writing a collected h, but rather manages to appear mature without being bitchy or cold. She doesnt let the H push her around, she strands up for herself and doesn't let him crack her composure. However it's also obvious to both the reader and the H how much the h loves and has missed her girls, and those moments were especially touching.
All in all, a great afternoon read :)
December 6, 2022
Initial rating 4* - Wow what a roller coaster of a read. To pull off such a level of crazy goes to show the skill in writing. This pulled me in from the get go and the grip didn't lighten till the end. This lost a star for the ending which I found unsettling and somewhat unsatisfactory. My sense of justice wasn't served as the H had had a good marriage with his wife and the h had been served a large slice of misery. The wife was shown to be pretty malicious and yet the H almost shrugged it off and the love declaration...did he suggest he loved her for 10 years? That didn't make sense, it was better to have left it at attracted then and grown to love you now. yeh, muddled me.
*on re-read 3*. The initial angst is good but somehow it didn't come together in the end. Points above still valid.
Read
March 1, 2020.....I’m sorry WHAT?!!! This was nuts. Bonkers. Heroine just needs to walk away cause whoa. Hero is nothing but a huge jerk to the heroine the entire time, said mean things, blamed her for everything, and then is mad SHE doesn’t believe him after the shit be pulled. Why does no one care that the dead wife is a fucking psycho? The hero in the end kinda shrugs his shoulders “ah that was wife” :o nope fuck no. He did nothing but blame the heroine for the past then go “I couldn’t fight it I was mad at myself”....when? When was that cause we didn’t see it! Called the heroine a bitch, a slut and claimed she had lovers for days. Yeah no, this is a hot hot mess. And unless you like horrible heroes, insane plots, and a twittering heroine SKIP.
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