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Once In A Lifetime
A moment of madness.
That's all it had taken Agnes to fall for Alexander Brandon, a man she'd met while vacationing in the Scottish Highlands.
It would have been hard not to have been attracted to Alexander -- he was handsome, witty, caring and had a sense of humor that coincided almost exactly with hers. For once, Agnes threw caution to the wind and let herself fall in love. She was thrilled when it seemed that he cared.
Back in Edinburgh, back in familiar surroundings, Agnes began to have her first serious doubts -- about Alexander's sincerity and his motives. Was it possible that he'd only wanted a holiday romance?
That's all it had taken Agnes to fall for Alexander Brandon, a man she'd met while vacationing in the Scottish Highlands.
It would have been hard not to have been attracted to Alexander -- he was handsome, witty, caring and had a sense of humor that coincided almost exactly with hers. For once, Agnes threw caution to the wind and let herself fall in love. She was thrilled when it seemed that he cared.
Back in Edinburgh, back in familiar surroundings, Agnes began to have her first serious doubts -- about Alexander's sincerity and his motives. Was it possible that he'd only wanted a holiday romance?
186 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 7, 2017
Re Once in a Lifetime - this is Jacqueline Gilbert's last foray into HRtopia and HPlandia - this is her fourth HP. JG was well into her late seventies or early eighties by this point and she had written 12 M&B's in her retirement - writing truly was her second career as she did not start until her late fifties or early sixties. Ms. Gilbert was old skool and it was impolite to ask a lady's age, so we don't have a lot of info about that.
However every single one of her books was carefully and thoughtfully crafted little delights of romantic art. Her books are NEVER overly dramatic or anything close to resembling a trainwreck. Her heroes and heroines are thoughtful, mature, well rounded people who probably act too normal to really be considered true HPlandia denizens.
I suspect that JG was a big fan of the pre WWII M & B romance, cause this story has all the tone and style of one of those long, stately slow burn courtship romances that were so popular with the ladies before the big onslaught of the war.
Nothing much happens in this book really. We have the h, a twenty something interior designer who is English in nationality but Scottish in her heart, taking her annual September time off for a stint in the Scottish countryside and staying at her childhood cottage on the local estate.
We have the H, an enigmatic Canadian who is renting the local estate's dower house for a holiday period and the h and he first meet when she has car trouble with her Morgan and she flags the H down. Banter ensues and a bit of h embarrassment when she realizes that her petrol gauge is stuck and she is out of gas.
The H helps her out with a litre of petrol and soon the h finds out that the H is her closest neighbor. The cottage the h owns is a typical Scottish but n' ben and it has no shower, the best the h can do for showering is the local falls on the nearby river. She meets the H again as she is taking her freezing morning naked 2 minute water fall dip and the H was happening by after fishing.
The two share a nice little riverside trout feast and the h, tho embarrassed by her initial lack of clothes, invites the H back to her little cottage for coffee. Then her bees are swarming and so she conscripts the H's help to move them into a new hive.
There is several more little Scottish countryside happenings, including some stag hunting and some rare white heather (which means true love if you find it wild) sightings. When the h is invited along with the other locals over to the H's temporary holiday abode for dinner, we meet the H's younger merchant banker brother, find out the H is a physician with an aptitude for genetic research and we meet what might be the OW, who claims to be an old family freind.
The H and h grow more interested in each other and by the time the holiday is over, they resolve to meet in Edinburgh, where they both live and they soon become lovers off page. Then to keep the dramatic interest going, the h finds out that it is the H's merchant banking empire that is trying to get her to move out of her very convenient office space/home.
The h actually had decided to move to new premises after repeated badgering by the H's family firm who now owns the building she lives in, but the H had encouraged her to move and now that whole situation is a bit suspect as this information is relayed via the OW, who is conveniently lounging around the H's house while he showers.
Since the H has been very reticent the entire book about revealing information about himself and what we know of him actually comes from his younger brother - who also claims the H and the OW might be a thing, the h loses her temper and tells the H off and decides that his firm can stuff themselves over her letting go of her lease early.
A few mopey moments later, the h goes ahead and signs the lease revocation after the H explains that he was never involved with the OW, who is the daughter of old family friends and was trying to stir the pot, and that he really had no clue that the h was the tenant the family firm was trying to remove. Mainly cause the H is a medical researcher and a lecturer and only found out about the tenancy issue when his little brother burst in on him and the h in bed earlier that day.
So the h thinks about that and the explanation seems reasonable, but the H has moved into new premises of her own, so she can't get him on the phone or find him to reconcile. Then the H has a big bowl of white heather for true love delivered to the h and the h gets a call to meet her client's for a drink for a house she has just redesigned.
The h goes to the house, while getting her lawyer friend to hunt the H down, and the first thing she sees is another bowl of white heather. The client house is actually the H's, he was trying to surprise the h and they reunite with a joyful re-consummation of their love and decide to elope and have a seekrit location honeymoon as the H's parents have just popped in for a cute HEA.
This one is comparable to a long perambulation among fall leaves in a quiet forest. It is slow, languid and just a nice day at the HP office with a lovely little tranquil pool for happy basking in the glow of a sweet HEA by the end.
When you want to leave behind the drama and experience a true Vintage-era romance, this is the one to look for. With that said, we now sadly bid a very sorrowful farewell to a not well known, but really excellent HP/HR writer.
However every single one of her books was carefully and thoughtfully crafted little delights of romantic art. Her books are NEVER overly dramatic or anything close to resembling a trainwreck. Her heroes and heroines are thoughtful, mature, well rounded people who probably act too normal to really be considered true HPlandia denizens.
I suspect that JG was a big fan of the pre WWII M & B romance, cause this story has all the tone and style of one of those long, stately slow burn courtship romances that were so popular with the ladies before the big onslaught of the war.
Nothing much happens in this book really. We have the h, a twenty something interior designer who is English in nationality but Scottish in her heart, taking her annual September time off for a stint in the Scottish countryside and staying at her childhood cottage on the local estate.
We have the H, an enigmatic Canadian who is renting the local estate's dower house for a holiday period and the h and he first meet when she has car trouble with her Morgan and she flags the H down. Banter ensues and a bit of h embarrassment when she realizes that her petrol gauge is stuck and she is out of gas.
The H helps her out with a litre of petrol and soon the h finds out that the H is her closest neighbor. The cottage the h owns is a typical Scottish but n' ben and it has no shower, the best the h can do for showering is the local falls on the nearby river. She meets the H again as she is taking her freezing morning naked 2 minute water fall dip and the H was happening by after fishing.
The two share a nice little riverside trout feast and the h, tho embarrassed by her initial lack of clothes, invites the H back to her little cottage for coffee. Then her bees are swarming and so she conscripts the H's help to move them into a new hive.
There is several more little Scottish countryside happenings, including some stag hunting and some rare white heather (which means true love if you find it wild) sightings. When the h is invited along with the other locals over to the H's temporary holiday abode for dinner, we meet the H's younger merchant banker brother, find out the H is a physician with an aptitude for genetic research and we meet what might be the OW, who claims to be an old family freind.
The H and h grow more interested in each other and by the time the holiday is over, they resolve to meet in Edinburgh, where they both live and they soon become lovers off page. Then to keep the dramatic interest going, the h finds out that it is the H's merchant banking empire that is trying to get her to move out of her very convenient office space/home.
The h actually had decided to move to new premises after repeated badgering by the H's family firm who now owns the building she lives in, but the H had encouraged her to move and now that whole situation is a bit suspect as this information is relayed via the OW, who is conveniently lounging around the H's house while he showers.
Since the H has been very reticent the entire book about revealing information about himself and what we know of him actually comes from his younger brother - who also claims the H and the OW might be a thing, the h loses her temper and tells the H off and decides that his firm can stuff themselves over her letting go of her lease early.
A few mopey moments later, the h goes ahead and signs the lease revocation after the H explains that he was never involved with the OW, who is the daughter of old family friends and was trying to stir the pot, and that he really had no clue that the h was the tenant the family firm was trying to remove. Mainly cause the H is a medical researcher and a lecturer and only found out about the tenancy issue when his little brother burst in on him and the h in bed earlier that day.
So the h thinks about that and the explanation seems reasonable, but the H has moved into new premises of her own, so she can't get him on the phone or find him to reconcile. Then the H has a big bowl of white heather for true love delivered to the h and the h gets a call to meet her client's for a drink for a house she has just redesigned.
The h goes to the house, while getting her lawyer friend to hunt the H down, and the first thing she sees is another bowl of white heather. The client house is actually the H's, he was trying to surprise the h and they reunite with a joyful re-consummation of their love and decide to elope and have a seekrit location honeymoon as the H's parents have just popped in for a cute HEA.
This one is comparable to a long perambulation among fall leaves in a quiet forest. It is slow, languid and just a nice day at the HP office with a lovely little tranquil pool for happy basking in the glow of a sweet HEA by the end.
When you want to leave behind the drama and experience a true Vintage-era romance, this is the one to look for. With that said, we now sadly bid a very sorrowful farewell to a not well known, but really excellent HP/HR writer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2023
3.5
I seem to have had a talent today, for rather liking romances that others have found lacking. Taste is such a personal thing. In this story, I'm fond of the mature, witty writing style and indeed, the mature, witty H Alex, a Canadian doctor from a merchant banking family. He meets our h, interior designer Agnes, when her Morgan breaks down en route to her beloved Scottish holiday home. These two seem a very good match. The H's brother Barny, turns up and the h's childhood holiday friends (the Laird and a female cousin) are also thrown into the mix. There is an OW but it's low angst and low stakes and I heaved a happy sigh at the end.
I seem to have had a talent today, for rather liking romances that others have found lacking. Taste is such a personal thing. In this story, I'm fond of the mature, witty writing style and indeed, the mature, witty H Alex, a Canadian doctor from a merchant banking family. He meets our h, interior designer Agnes, when her Morgan breaks down en route to her beloved Scottish holiday home. These two seem a very good match. The H's brother Barny, turns up and the h's childhood holiday friends (the Laird and a female cousin) are also thrown into the mix. There is an OW but it's low angst and low stakes and I heaved a happy sigh at the end.
November 10, 2017
Available on Open library.
A sweet tender romance, a little bit boring, but it gets 3-stars anyway because I like how the author does her characters. Both are normal, level-headed and lovely. I particularly liked their sense of humor and how they could laugh with each other. This element of the story made me truly believe that the couple were falling in love. That heady, happy feeling was well done.
A sweet tender romance, a little bit boring, but it gets 3-stars anyway because I like how the author does her characters. Both are normal, level-headed and lovely. I particularly liked their sense of humor and how they could laugh with each other. This element of the story made me truly believe that the couple were falling in love. That heady, happy feeling was well done.
abrierto-to-read-hr-other
August 11, 2021A moment of madness.
That's all it had taken Agnes to fall for Alexander Brandon, a man she'd met while vacationing in the Scottish Highlands.
It would have been hard not to have been attracted to Alexander -- he was handsome, witty, caring and had a sense of humor that coincided almost exactly with hers. For once, Agnes threw caution to the wind and let herself fall in love. She was thrilled when it seemed that he cared.
Back in Edinburgh, back in familiar surroundings, Agnes began to have her first serious doubts -- about Alexander's sincerity and his motives. Was it possible that he'd only wanted a holiday romance?
That's all it had taken Agnes to fall for Alexander Brandon, a man she'd met while vacationing in the Scottish Highlands.
It would have been hard not to have been attracted to Alexander -- he was handsome, witty, caring and had a sense of humor that coincided almost exactly with hers. For once, Agnes threw caution to the wind and let herself fall in love. She was thrilled when it seemed that he cared.
Back in Edinburgh, back in familiar surroundings, Agnes began to have her first serious doubts -- about Alexander's sincerity and his motives. Was it possible that he'd only wanted a holiday romance?
November 3, 2021
Too predictable. Meet cute, H rescues h when she forgot to fill gas in her tank. There is an other woman who is desperately trying to hook H. H pretends to be a simple guy but is a doctor and a wealthy board of director of his family merchant bank in addition. A brother who is likeable and the h has a bumbling suitor. After a misunderstanding there is HEA.
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December 1, 2023I’ve no clue, honestly…
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews