I very much enjoyed this book despite the exceedingly silly and implausible plot. Samantha goes to stay with an old schoolfriend in the family’s Austrian schloss, and ends up in a bizarre fake engagement with her brother Stephan. The reason? There are two. The first is that because Samantha has overheard Stephan slagging her off, […]
Read MoreAuthor: noelcades
Storm in Paradise by Judith Worthy
Who the hell wears tights on the Great Barrier Reef? The temperature never falls below 23c/74F even in midwinter. We have here an Australian Mills & Boon “Medical Romance” where the heroine, Nicole Gardiner, in her silky “bare leg” tights, is a nurse on a resort island and the hero, Dr Sloan Reilly, is a […]
Read MoreDangerous Enchantment by Anne Mather
Possibly the most outrageously hideous outfit ever is to be found in Dangerous Enchantment (1969): She had dressed with care in a new Crimplene two-piece of a delicious shade of salmon pink. The flared skirt was calf-length while the short jacket was double-breasted and scalloped on the neckline. With it she wore her double string […]
Read MoreCaroline by Anne Mather
Caroline is the first book that Anne Mather wrote, in 1965 when she was just 19. While her talent is already apparent, it’s a very naive work in many ways. 17-year-old Caroline has lunch and a dinner date (yes – literally just two dates) with her handsome boss 39-year-old Adam Steinbeck. After this briefest of […]
Read MoreChase a Green Shadow by Anne Mather
Three things irked me about the hero in Chase a Green Shadow: 37-ish Welsh writer Hywel, who’s paired with 17-year-old Tamsyn. The first is that his name – Hywel Benedict – sounds just like the actor Hywel Bennet (also Welsh) He’s described looking just like Welsh singer Tom Jones, all dark and hairy with massive […]
Read MoreForbidden Love by Karen Robards
Forbidden Love is a pure, unadulterated bodice-ripper – in the most literal sense – from start to finish. If that’s what you’re after, and you’re happy with an alpha sexually aggressive hero, then this one will hit the spot. Our heroine is 17-year-old violet-eyed Megan and our hero is her 42-year-old guardian, Justin Brant, sixth […]
Read MoreSea Fever by Anne Weale
Sea Fever is an excellent book. It’s a truly lovely and believable romance, between orphan Evangeline “Angel” Dorset, 17-years-old when the book begins, and 33-year merchant banker Charles Thetford. Angel’s grandfather has just died on their yacht in Bali, and she seeks help from the first group of people she finds, which turns out to […]
Read MoreWipe Away the Tears by Patricia Lake
Wipe Away the Tears features 19-year-old Jassy (the name irritated the hell out of me, and it occurs 508 times in the book) falling in insta-lust with wealthy business magnate 36-year-old Max. Her controlling stepfather wants her to marry his business partner’s son René, but Jassy doesn’t want to. But she’s so damn weak she […]
Read MoreHaunted Dreams by Charlotte Lamb
Haunted Dreams is an absolute scorcher of a vintage age-gap romance, with 20-year-old virgin heroine Emilie and 40-year-old ultra-alpha man-of-the-world business tycoon/banker Ambrose Kerr. First published in 1995, it feels much more like a 1970s/early 1980s romance novel. There’s insta-lust/attraction between the pair, rather poetically described on the hero’s side. He felt a strange stirring […]
Read MoreLove in the Afternoon by Claude Anet
I was curious to read this 1920 novel having seen the Audrey Hepburn/Gary Cooper film that was based on it. The original novel, in French, is titled: Ariane, jeune fille russe (Ariane, young Russian girl). The translated English novel has the same title as the film, Love in the Afternoon. The heroine is a young […]
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