on both sides. This really seems like a “you love it or hate it” sort of story... or maybe even both.
I liked that we got to see it from both angles. It was a difficult situation, because both characters came from a background that left them so trigger happy that when it came to the other, all good sense left them. I mean, she jumped to the defense of the IT guy charged with telling secrets with all this good advice about hearing him out, verifying the truth and understanding he’s shy and easily intimidated and all, but she’s more than ready to jump to conclusions without discussion or investigation when it’s her own husband. He himself recognized his desire for revenge came from how much he felt hurt about being betrayed, but never thought to question that HER overreaction could stem from the depth of her hurt. And it wasn’t even ignorance on his part! He knew exactly what put her over the edge, but rather than try to straighten it out he locked her out - figuratively and literally.
The big lesson here comes back to communication - clearly they didn’t do enough of it! They knew each other well in a business sense, and I commend her for wanting to wait until marriage and him respecting that, but they still managed to circumvent the whole reason you are supposed to wait... to build a stable, intimate emotional relationship BEFORE complicating it with the hormonally driven intimacy of sex. Even though they knew each other professionally, they never got to know each other emotionally before getting married, and so true trust wasn’t there on either side, nor was the understanding of why. THAT is what they actually developed - after the fact, when he had them refraining from sex - during her memory loss. They started building that stable intimate emotional relationship they were missing.
So, in many ways it was somewhat believable, and I’m glad to see it worked out, but it still left me unsettled. I mean, this is the guy who planned to pretend to love her, to support her, to re-woo her while he arranged the escalation of a limited person boardroom humiliation (knowing what instigated it!) to a world wide humiliation on a woman who he had every hope would NOT have recovered her memory by then. Frankly, that is a level of cruelty that is just unprecedented, even in the Harlequin world. That he realized his mistakes great, but someone capable of that degree of cruelty scares me.
Argh! That has to be one of the most frustrating questions. And this one was even worse!
ML: Why didn't you tell me?
FL: I tried, but you wouldn't talk to me.
ML: If you really wanted to tell me you would have found a way.
FL: I DID try to tell you! I even went by your house and you were already in America with your new girlfriend.
ML: Oh, that was a lie. There was no girlfriend. I went to America for brain surgery.
FL: What? Why didn't you tell me?
ML: Well, I didn't want you to worry. I was going to come back to you when I recovered, but after the surgery I almost died and was in a coma for 3 weeks.
FL: Oh, that's serious. So why didn't you tell me when you got back?
ML: I figured you had moved on with your life, but I couldn't forget you, so I decided I was going to get you back by hook or by crook.
FL: So, let me get this straight... I tried to call you for 2 weeks and you wouldn't pick up, because you left for another country with no way for me to get ahold of you and told them to tell me you had a new girlfriend (you couldn't have said you went for a business trip or something like that?), you had brain surgery, nearly died and were in a coma for 3 weeks, then never let me know when you came back, and you're telling me I could have gotten a hold of you if I really wanted to?
ML: If you'd told me, my family and I wouldn't have missed the first year and a half of my daughter's life. That was so selfish of you. I'm so hurt by your selfishness that I don't even feel like I need to apologize for how I ruined your dream or for how I hurt you... then OR now. You should have told me.
Granted, she could have also sent a letter which MIGHT have been waiting for him when he got back, so she didn't exhaust all her possibilities. If she'd been told in America with his fiancee, I might have understood her backing off and not trying other methods, but I don't think 'new girlfriend' is enough of a reason (beyond emotional write off) to let him off the hook. That said, just once, I'd like to see the ML say, "Did you try to get a hold of me? Of course you did. You probably even told my people how important it was, but I'd told people to block any contact from you. I can't believe how stupid I was. I deprived myself of so much."
Granted we are dealing with many different authors, but its frustrating when one of the main messages
Harlequin's promote flys in the face of RL statistics. So many times it is accurately pointed out in other stories that you can have sex without love, so its a disappointment when you have a story like this, that has a good foundation, and the ML goes off in the worst possible direction and uses sex to prove to a insecure 'housewife' that he loves her. There is no wonder she took the message she did from his 'wham, bam, goodbye' and then to prove he loves her, he does it again without the goodbye, and that's the problem.
Sex is physical. Yes, it is intimate, but it is physically intimate. It is not a deep, intimate emotional relationship. It’s not the kind of relationship that can keep you together when things get tough. If your relationship is based on showing love through sex, what happens when sex is not an option? That is one reason why RL statistics show the people who waited have longer, more satisfying marriages. They have built their relationships on something deeper and more stable. For them, sex is icing on the cake... it is something that makes an already good thing better.
In a story like this, it ends up being a disappointment because Elliot seemed like a really intelligent man... one who would really have the best interests of his future wife at heart and would want to secure her heart before he secured her body. If he waited as long as he has, I think he could have managed to wait a little longer. By the end of the story, she has taken great strides to overcome her insecurity, but that is not something that is going to disappear overnight, and if his method (as this book would seem to indicate this is his MO) is to take her to bed to prove his love every time it rears its ugly head, and something happens that they can't.... Scarey thought. its a little late at that point to be scrambling to find new ways to express love that are as emotionally satisfying as the method she has been conditioned to expect. I'm not saying its impossible, but I'm saying it is going to be rough, and the marriage might not survive. So much better, when you enter marriage, to be secure in the knowledge your relationship is strong and stable, and THEN add the further intimacy of showing it in a physical way. Had the story taken that tact, IMO it would have been more emotionally satisfying. As things stand, while I don't doubt he loves her, we never really see him pursuing her heart.
and a refreshing one at that. This is the first Harlequin I've read where not one, but BOTH leads were virgins! And it was the GUY who was saving himself for his wife! That was a rather novel change. I do kinda wonder how she found out about her problem. That's not an issue you just know you have, but certain medical procedures can reveal it, so maybe.... I just thought this aspect of the story was very sweet, and wish there were more like it.
I rather dislike the 'my parents died early' excuse. Granted that would have a lasting mark on a child, and growing up in a more clinical environment without loving examples might make things difficult, but it just doesn't make sense to dump the girl you think you love because you perceive she's keeping you at arms length emotionally, and then be upst when she leaves. I mean, did he ever even broached the marriage or 'dreams for the future' subject with her? How is it that these multimillionaire businessmen know how to plan a business or takeover from scratch, but don't even consider having a plan for their life or think it worthwhile to plan a 'take over' for the heart of the woman they love? Its like he gave up without trying. He sure was quick to say he could learn to be a father! Did it not ever occur to him to learn 'how to make a woman fall in love with you'? If he had tried in the slightest, it clearly would have been a short fall, but he didn't.
I can understand the psychology of trying to make her the villan initially. It was how he protected his heart. I understand her twice shy defensivness Honestly, their behaviour wasn't wholly illogical at that point, and there was normal, if a bit twisted, progression after they met again, but there was a reason! HE HAD A PLAN. He didn't do any research, and his plan was rather questionable, but he did have a plan! Why didn't he do that (have a plan; hopefully not THAT plan) in the first place. That’s what often ruins these sorts of stories for me - a logic lack at the foundation. These are smart men who can think logically and critically in high stress situations every day, but when a girl they are attracted to is involved, they loose all their acumen and fall susceptible the the most negative pcycosises. In stories like this, there are so many sources out there on love and romance. This hero knew his upbringing left him lacking and let his girl slip away (or in this case outright dumped her) without even trying to educate himself and/or enact a plan. It just doesn't make sense.
(Honestly, I think that, initself, could make a pretty cute romance. A hero who knows he's lacking and starts reading books and romance novels to try and make plans to get the girl he loves to fall for him. Of course, not every plan will work, but when she finally figures out the lengths he's going to, she will be attracted to his sincerity and give him a chance.)
This story was, like, how many negative plot threads can we weave into one story and still give it a happy ending.
This one story. The plot threads are hideous.
I accidently posted 'Frankly, I loved this story!' prematurely, and when I posted my finished post, it appeared to edit my previous post so I thought I had discovered a new feature. Sadly, after I fixed a few typos and refreshed all three posts showed up. I apologize!
Others may not agree, but I don't think women have a right to kill an inconvenient baby. I'm pro-choice in the regard that you have the choice to engage in sex before marriage or not, but if you choose the former, you are also accountable for the consequences of your actions. There are enough people desperate to adopt a newborn, a woman doesn't need to be responsible past the birth if she doesn't want to be (on top of that, there are more medical risks associated with prematurely terminating a pregnancy than there are with carrying to term). So that said, I really appreciated that the hero was willing to fight for his child's life when their choices resulted in a pregnancy.
The second thing I appreciated was that not only was the heroine saving herself for marriage, but she was able to give good and valid reasons why. The fact is real life shows that the marriages of those who wait are statistically longer, for the reasons she gave. Relationships that become close before physical intimacy are stronger.
The third thing I appreciated was that after hearing the heroine's intent to wait until after marriage, the hero didn't decide she was a challenge to overcome, but rather he respected her not only to the point of refusing an opportunity in the story, but purposed to her by announcing he was willing accept her 'love waits' challenge.
I did find it funny that considering how badly his backstory scarred him, that he continued to be a playboy, and it is one of the things that always annoyed me is its perfectly acceptable for a guy to be a playboy, but if they even think a girl is acting similarly she's usually considered loose or a floozy. That's a long standing peeve of mine, but despite that I enjoyed this story a lot.
Others may not agree, but I don't think women have a right to kill an inconvenient baby. I'm pro-choice in the regard that you have the choice to engage in sex before marriage or not, but if you choose the former, you are also accountable for the consequences of your actions. There are enough people desperate to adopt a newborn, a woman doesn't need to be responsible past the birth if she doesn't want to be (on top of that, there are more medical risks associated with prematurely terminating a pregnancy than there are to carrying to term). So that said, I really appreciated that the hero was willing to fight for his child's life when their choices resulted in a pregnancy.
The second thing I appreciated was that not only was the heroine saving herself for marriage, but she was able to give good and valid reasons why. The fact is real life shows that the marriages of those who wait are statistically longer, for the reasons she gave. Relationships that become close before physical intimacy are stronger.
The third thing I appreciated was that after hearing the heroine's intent to wait until after marriage, the hero didn't decide she was a challenge to overcome, but rather he respected her not only to the point of refusing an opportunity in the story, but purposed to her by announcing he was willing accept her 'love waits' challenge.
I did find it funny that considering how badly his backstory scarred him, that he continued to be a playboy, and it is one of the things that always annoyed me is its perfectly acceptable for a guy to be a playboy, but if they even think a girl is acting similarly she's usually considered loose or a floozy. That's a long standing peeve of mine, but despite that I enjoyed this story a lot.
I have some questions, are you a woman, have you given birth, do you take care of children? I just want to know because I've never had a chance to ask a Pro-choicer these questions.
I have three, two still at home, one married. I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have, but double check to make sure you read what I said ;). I wasn’t defining a PC form of pro-choice there. :) Politics would define me as Pro-Life.
Omg, you are strong. I read what you said and I agree with it completely and I only wanted to know those facts because you seemed very experienced in your response to this story.
God does have a great deal to do with it :). It’s an accumulation of years of determining my beliefs on the subject that has been gleaned from the Bible, listening to Christian radio (CSN Radio Network is one), watching videos, reading articles, talking to a few women who did and regretted it (you don’t hear much about it, but later regret can be a HUGE weight to bear), and even a Pro-Life billboard I saw recently that stated there are 2 million families out there wanting to adopt a newborn. But if you have specific questions, I’m glad to help. Refreshing myself of facts is always a good thing.
No, that was all. Thank you for your time and facts!
Glad to help. :)
The page format of many of these Harlequins is identical to those one the website RomanceComics. com where they sell everything as one-shots (unless it was released as a part 1 & part 2). Prices range from an occasional $.99 to $5.99 for one-shots, to more for bundles. I'm reasonably sure this isn't a partnership, but as they have 1000s of titles, I hope they don't mind the few that end up here, however it happens. I've have been wondering if the chapter bit has something to do with the uploader's device's memory or something, because its not chapterized that way on RomanceComics website.
Hmm... this was supposed to be a reply @MeowKatt in the topic "Okay... again...", but it didn't work as intended .