Carole MortimerRezensionen

Alexandra (who is 17) doesn’t get on with her sister Gail’s brother-in-law, Dominic (34, who has a current affairs tv program and is sent to dangerous places to cover stories). Alexandra wants to marry her young boyfriend Roger but Dominic is opposed to it (due to a bad marriage of his own when he was young). Eventually Alexandra and Dominic become attracted to each other…

I didn’t find Alexandra and Dominic a convincing couple. The age difference was very obvious, especially due to her immature behavior, and temper tantrums. I couldn’t imagine worldly Dominic seriously interested in her, especially when he could have any woman he wanted. Though, he did act like a jerk at times. I usually enjoy Carole Mortimer’s books, but I didn’t care for this one.

Romance

I really enjoy the tension provided by the social constraints in romantic fiction set in the "historical" British upper classes, and this was no exception. I also really like when men in romantic fiction share their inner world. I will be reading more in this series.

3 stories in 1; beginning with Marcus Wilding Duke of Pleasure, the one of the three I hadn't read before. Lady Juliana Armitage is on a mission to discover if she can be a sexual being, she selects the notorious Marcus Wilding to teach her and sparks fly.

When Zacheary Black, Duke of Hawskmere finds a veiled woman in his carriage he discovers that she knows something he needs to know and he's not sure he can trust her. She ran away from him before...

Lady Georgianna Lancaster has made bad decisions in her past but she's trying to grab a chance to change things and make her future a better one.

Pretty predictable but entertaining.

Darian Hunter is somewhat intrigued by Mariah Beecham, particularly as his brother is apparently paying court to her. He's even more intrigued when she comes to his rescue when he faints (yes he faints at her feet!) because she is annoyed and pushes him, causing his wound, from the previous book, to split it's stitches. When his spymaster reveals that they are both working for him and that he needs to find who is passing information to the french, and plotting an assassination, he is even more intrigued, they have to play the part of a couple at a debauched house party. They're starting to find this easier and easier as time goes on, will they be too distracted by each other to do the job?

Not for the prudish, this features a fair bit of sex, both described and implied, I found it a fun read with some entertaining characters who worked well together and had good chemistry. I really liked Mariah, she really didn't let him away with much.

A re-read wasn't bad but it felt a bit sameish when read in sequence and the heroes tend to override what the women say, a lot. As a post-Christmas read, while I was ill, it was just what the doctor ordered, light non-demanding and fun.

Really more of a 2.5

Carole Mortimer, much like [a:Carol Grace|191815|Carol Grace|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1340296016p2/191815.jpg] or [a:Liz Fielding|117065|Liz Fielding|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1315588961p2/117065.jpg], is one of the few Harlequin contemporary authors I will give a shot to with virtually no research into the book/story. Past experience has proven I will enjoy, if not love, a book by one of those three ladies with an almost 100% certainty.

I picked this up at a book sale, at some point or other, because it had "twins", "secrets" and "Christmas" involved in it. For the most part it didn't let me down. At under 200pgs, and obviously following at least one of the Harlequin Romance Book Formula Outlines, much of what I wanted from it wasn't feasible.

For instance while we know that Meg is at odds with her family, its not til the last third (when she actually ARRIVES at her family's home) that we get a real feel for that tension. For the other two thirds the book was centered squarely around Meg & Jed's mutual (though reluctant) attraction, Jed's reluctance to involve himself (and failing horribly at that) and Jed's own secret. I felt that didn't give us enough time to really build steam with the secrets of Meg's family. This book is MAYBE a week long time wise, but even that's doubtful (I think its more like four days). Not only does Meg & Jed fall into (reluctant) love, but also all the problems of Meg's family are just..laid out in the open and more or less mended.

Reasons for her mother Lydia's aloofness towards Meg & Sonia? Resolved.
Reasons for the estrangement between Meg & Sonia (her twin)? Resolved.
Reasons for Meg's fear about seeing Sonia again? Resolved.
Reasons Jed and Meg shouldn't be together? Resolved.

The last ten pages was literally like a checklist that Mortimer went through--it felt like she suddenly realized she needed to fit in Jed's epiphany for his feelings, Meg's epiphany AND resignation to Jed's leaving forever, Meg & Sonia making up, Meg's real fear coming, Lydia's problems coming out...so as a result who those people were (David, Sonia, Sonia's husband Jeremy, Lydia) got shafted and info-dumps occurred. If it wasn't for the fact Sonia told us that her and her husband were terrifically happy together I would have never know it (she kept flirting with Jed). Meg briefly talks about her father "being different somehow", but doesn't elaborate. Sonia claims she wants Meg to be happy but at least twice mentions she doesn't want her telling Jed the "truth" and is frustrated by how much Meg could have told him (she essentially wants Meg to be happy, but wants her to continue to lie to any future significant other. A secret Sonia is terrified of Jeremy finding out about and leaving her over).

Also the fact that Jed was an author with writer's block felt so...contrived. Or rather his being a best selling author felt contrived and barely necessary to the plot except as a "aha! moment" later on when they meet Meg's family. He could have literally been any other kind of millionaire with pretty much the same effect (was it plot necessary to have him be a best selling household name? Yeah it made for some diverting moments when this or that person asked him about his next book he was having trouble writing, but it meant little in the long run).

So in the end while I was entertained reading this book it didn't necessarily rock my socks off.

Nineteen-year-old Suzanne Hammond (from Manchester) accompanies her step-mother Celeste on a trip to London. Suzanne hasn’t seen much of the world and is looking forward this vacation. Celeste, who Suzanne never got on with, is looking for a rich husband since Suzanne’s father (Celeste’s husband) died three years ago. While staying at the hotel, Suzanne meets handsome Vidal Martino and thinks she could fall for him. But later, when she meets Vidal’s older brother (thirty-seven-year-old Cesare Martino) she discovers he is the man for her. But, to her dismay, her beautiful step-mother is also interested in Cesare...

I really enjoyed this old Harlequin Presents from 1979. I got a kick out of the heroine at times, with her fiery retorts to the hero. Tall, silver-blond, and handsome Cesare was a charming and debonair hero. I liked the London setting. Suzanne’s selfish step-mother had a secondary romance in the story and mellowed out towards the end.

This was a fun, romantic read by Carole Mortimer.

Mistaken Identity/ Identical Twins. A bit dated in places ( published in 1982) and I never warmed to the hero Dominic, other than that It was a quick fun read.

This started at a 3, and lowered by half stars (first rounding up and then rounding down) all the way to a 1. It's just pretty poor. It's as shallow as a puddle, I don't buy any of it, the characters are utter fools, and I'm happy it's over. I've liked other books by this author, but this is my least favorite of the 16 I've read.

God, I cannot do this. The dude is 35 and the GIRL is 17. What the actual fuck. When I started this and the girl is shown to be 17 years old, I was like, ew, ok, maybe this is one of those they-spend-10-years-apart-and-meet-again-WHEN-SHE-IS-A-GROWN-PERSON, but nope, she is 17 the whole time.

I realize that this was published in 1980, but guess what? I DON'T CARE. This shit is gross and harmful.

hm.

Well, the ending is quite abrupt. There isn't nearly enough development, and I can't figure out why its a HP ....

This had a bunch of my favorite elements, but was just a bit too short to pull off convincingly. The entire romance occurs over 3 or 4 days. While I understand the rush that comes with such a low page count, I still have a hard time suspending my disbelief at a hardened rake falling in love with a plain widow so abruptly. This is a bit closer to erotica than romance in some ways, in that sex seems to be used as a shortcut to intimacy (which is a terrible message, but I digress). I am definitely happy with the read - it catered too well to too many of my favorite tropes for me not to enjoy it - but there was one bit from the epilogue that made me lol: Bea, who was married to her fertile husband for 5 years but never conceived, winds up getting pregnant. “The doctor did not seem at all surprised when she explained the situation to him, assured her that it was sometimes the case in an unhappy marriage, and that her body had somehow rejected carrying the child of a man she did not love.” WHAT?!?! Seriously, come on, that is just ridiculous. (3.5 stars)

Eighteen-year-old heroine (Clare Anderson) meets thirty-four-year-old famous actor-hero (Rourke Somerville) and falls in love with him. But Clare’s sexy actress-mother wants Rourke all for herself so she splits them up. Five years later Clare is now a popular actress and is about to do a film on a ship/hotel called the “Queen Mary” in Long Beach, California. To Clare’s shock and dismay, Rourke is acting/directing the picture. How will she go through with it when she still has feelings for Rourke?

I liked the unusual setting, filming the movie aboard the Queen Mary. I didn’t really care for the heroine that much, she was a bit on the cold side. And she spent too much time with other men in the story and not enough time with the hero. Rourke was an obsessed alpha-male and he did have his jealous moments, which I enjoyed. The book sometimes seemed slightly sleazy, with the Hollywood-type parties Clare’s mother threw, and mother and daughter both sexually interested in Rourke… This was just an okay read, I usually enjoy Carole Mortimer’s books much more.

Okay. Liked the storyline but the book lacked an immediacy that kept it from being as angsty as it could have been.

yeah no real reason for him to have left her. His explanations were specious at best. Really they were downright stupid.

Decent. The conflict/climax at the end was kinda muddled.

First time reading a romance where the hero had the same name as my husband. First off the premise was a bit weak. There was no reason that the hero should think that the heroine was a gold digger. I think most 30 year old men would be aware of what's going on when a 17-18 year old girl comes on to him all the time. I mean he could have been annoyed by her crush or whatever but assuming she was after his money with no more basis than what was provided was weak.

After they meet again 5 years later I enjoyed the story. I liked the way they could not keep their hands off each other and the hero was led around by his manly bits just as much as the heroine was by her lady bits. I like to see that equality there. They had believable chemistry. The hero was confused by his feelings for her but you could clearly see him falling.

The situation with his daughter by his first wife was well done.

Enjoyable pretty much all around.

I loved it for the crazy. The story hung together just enough to keep my disbelief at bay. He was pretty whackadoodle so he worked for me. She was a poor innocent who just couldn’t resist him. The ending though, now that was different. That’s why I’m putting it on my good grovel shelf.

I could totally see this redone as a modern contemporary or even new adult.

Decent book with some OTT actions and some loose plotting but a decent oldie. I did appreciate the ending. Unlike many HPs the ending was quite hefty and satisfying. Although he did wait until after they were married to tell her he loved her. I could see this one rewritten and updated in the style of rockstar romances which are popular nowadays.

I'm going with 4 stars for the crazy of it all. There was this totally clueless hero who couldn't understand that maybe some woman just didn't want him. There was a nice heroine who kept saying no until she finally just said F*** it and decided since he wouldn't leave her alone she'd just get some long overdue revenge on the hero and then there was the hero crying at the end. That's different.

I found it rather unbelievable that the hero thought this 21 year old girl that he's known for 2 years was such a loose woman. I mean, he didn't see her acting slutty. The only thing he saw was her have a 8 month relationship with one man. He was pretty nasty to her for no real reason. It was pretty readable though if you overlooked that and/or enjoy the old school asshatery. Gotta admit, I kinda do. That's why I read these things obviously. And then at the end a bunch weird random stuff came out of left field. I would have liked those elements had they been introduced earlier in the book.

I'm giving this 4 stars for the old school factor. The heroine is much younger than the hero but that was very common for the time it was written, although just on the tag end of that era in romance. So it was mentioned but wasn't a huge issue. Still I did feel that the heroine was written fairly convincingly as young. The best part was really her feisty character. It wasn't put on at all and the hero just had to learn to deal. I didn't like the hero as well. It did bother me that he slapped her twice but I can deal with that in the crazy old school arena. It just adds to the crazy. What bothered me the most is that he squeezed her breast on purpose to hurt her and admitted that he wanted to hurt her. Then he got all furious that she scratched his chest and drew blood. How dare she defend herself?! And she was all contrite but he never felt a speck of remorse other than offering to kiss the bruises which just seems creepy 'cuz old man trying to talk the teenager out of her top.

She did manage to lead him a dance though and the ending was drawn out enough to satisfy. And he was pretty up front about how he had fallen for her at first sight and tried absolutely everything he could think of to win her. Except kindness of course but I really don't see that she would have responded well to that. She would have walked all over a beta hero. So without the breast mauling I might have given it another star.

I finished this but I really didn't like the heroine. She was just too bitchy and fought the hero too hard for basically no reason.

This was different. The heroine was the hero's gardener but neither of them know it when they meet. She is very frank and determined to be with him. He is determined to have her but not of course to love her. The first half is very amusing as she has his head spinning. The back half is more somber as you realize why he is the way he is. But her tenacity pays off. Interesting and different. Enjoyable.

Don't know why I haven't reviewed this before. This was a reread for me. Lovely angsty hidden identity story. The plot, once you have your willing suspension of disbelief in place, is beautifully done. The heroine has been divorced and had her child taken from her. After convenient accident and plastic surgery she returns to get to know her son as a stranger. Consequently of course, she also gets to know her husband again and they fall in love again. Of course it is an HP after all. Loved both the hero and the heroine. You could really see that he had loved her all along.

I really enjoyed this one. Lots of OTT angsty HP goodness. Hero's reasons for staying in his bad marriage were a little weak but hey, my willing suspension of disbelief is pretty liberal when it comes to HPs. The ending wasn't as strong mostly because the angst factor wasn't as high and the book took a bit of an ordinary turn.