Helen BrooksReseñas

This is a very absorbing book, evoking so many different emotions, and to end there were tear. I genuinely haven't been able to put the book down until finished (within 2 days, needed to go to work in between reading!).

Reference

Bride at Bellfield Mill by Penny Jordan

In 1903 young widow Marianne Brown respects the dying wish of her late husband Milo and takes his baby son to Bellfield Mill, Lancashire, the place where Milo was born. Once there she meets the stern Master of Bellfield (Heywood Denshaw) owner of the mill. Eventually she acquires the job as housekeeper. They become attracted to each other when Heywood becomes ill and she nurses him back to health.

This was an enjoyable read. I really liked Marianne, she was a sweet and caring heroine. Heywood was quite angry and unlikable at the beginning of the story, but he got more likable as the story progressed. The romance seemed to move fast towards the end of the book and they went from dislike to love quite quickly. I enjoyed the secrets/mystery surrounding Marianne and the baby. There was no Christmas in the book until the end.

A Family for Hawthorn Farm by Helen Brooks

In 1899, young, overworked, and poor Connie Summers goes home from work one day and collapses on the street from pleurisy. Her friendly neighbor and a kind gentleman (wealthy farmer Luke Hudson) come to her rescue. Connie is anxious to get home to her sister and brothers (their parents passed away). When Luke sees how hard-up Connie and her young siblings are he takes them to his farm to live in a cottage and offers Connie a job (when she is better). Connie gratefully accepts. Connie gets to know her neighbors and really gets on with Luke’s mother, whom she ends up taking care of when she becomes ill. But what will Connie do about the attraction she has for Luke…

This was a sweet romance. I liked Connie, she was very brave and a hard worker, trying to keep her family together and out of the workhouse. I also liked Luke, though he had his surly moments. I liked how Connie and Luke’s mother grew close. I enjoyed the dramatic part when Connie and her siblings joined some other village youngsters for a bonfire and skating at the lake and what followed. Connie’s brother and another boy fell through the ice and Connie ended up trying to rescue them and fell in herself. I enjoyed the romantic Christmas Eve conclusion.

Tilly of Tap House by Carol Wood

Nurse Tilly Dainty works at Tap House surgery in 1920’s East London with elderly Dr. Tapper. When Dr. Tapper becomes ill his doctor nephew (Harry Fleet) steps in to temporarily take over his duties. Tilly and Harry become attracted to each other, but eventually Harry’s pretty lady friend (snobbish nurse Rosalind Darraway) comes to help out at Tap House. Will Harry marry Rosalind and move to the country to practice medicine, or stay at Tap House with Tilly, whom he is growing to love.

I also really enjoyed this story. I’ve never read anything by this author and I found the story interesting. I liked a lot of the characters. Tilly was a good heroine and I liked how she looked out for three orphans that she had staying at Tap House with her. Harry was a fine hero. I loved the sweet and uplifting ending.

An entertaining and heartwarming anthology. I found each story charming, even though I wish there was more Christmas in some of the stories.

Thirty-two-year-old heroine Gina Leighton decides to leave her job of eleven years (as a secretary) in a small Yorkshire town and plans to move to London after she falls for her boss’s son (thirty-three-year-old hero Harry Breedon) who is now working with his father at their company, Breedon and Son. Gina realizes that Harry will never see her as anything but a friend. So, a change of scenery is what she thinks she needs. But will everything work out as she plans it?

This was a very sweet romance. I liked both the hero and the heroine. I particularly enjoyed the part when Gina and Harry find four abandoned puppies in a box at night by the roadside and decide to take care of them. Harry eventually decides to keep them. I also liked Harry’s jealous moments concerning Gina’s supposed boyfriend, especially, unknown to him, the man he is jealous of is himself!

A lovely read by Helen Brooks.

I've had this book on my bookshelf for quite some time and after finishing a series of 23 books that I just completed decided to pick it up! And it packs a punch! This book has only 2 reviews on goodreads so far which after completing it, makes me wonder why? This is the first book of Rita Bradshaw that I have read and if her other books are like this, I can see myself getting them all.

Hope and her sister Constance are orphaned and end up being rasied by their aunt and uncle in poverty in the East End of Sunderland. Previously she had been living in Hartlepool with her parents living a quiet sheltered existence. Her dad dies at sea and her mother dies in childbirth. She loves her aunt and uncle, they are good respectable folk. Hope then meets Daniel when she is 17. Daniel is 21 and come from a very well off family, living in a grand house and has attended university. The have several dates in which Daniel doesn't try it on with Hope. But Hope knows that he likes her very much as she does Daniel. But Daniel is catholic wih cash and Hope isn't Catholic and very poor. They soon realise they are in love and prepare to meet each other's families. They are both nervous. Hope's family is supportive of their relationship however Daniel's family think that Hope is after money and as she is not Catholic, they are very against the relationship. Daniel's father Abe owns a business and has the say of what happens in the family.

They decide to marry in secret with the support of Hope's family and move out to make it on their own. Daniel's family are very against the relationship and Abe decides that he won't support Daniel financially at all. Soon Hope falls pregnant and Daniel who is out of work goes to work for his father who although he doesn't like Hope lets his son work for him. Abe is very controlling and Hope doesn't like the idea but with her pregancy there's not much else they can do to make ends meet.
Soon they have twins and although life is difficult they try to make things work. They remain very much in love. However Hope has suspicions about the family business and about Abe. Daniel doesn't see it though and thinks that Hope just doesn't like his dad.

Things become difficult for them both, with family secrets and the war. Will Hope and Daniel make it through? Are the suspicions true. This book kept me entertained until the end.
I found it well written, entertaining and throughly enjoyable. This is not my usually genre of book but I just loved it so much. You get a real feel for the characters and the times and situations that they are going through. Not all is as it seems.
Overall a 5/5 for me. I book I just couldn't put down.

Melody James (who's 27) has just been released from the hospital after being there for three months following an accident (she accidentally stepped in front of a lorry/truck and damaged her spine and legs.) She was a dancer and now her dancing career is over. Waiting for her outside is her husband, Zeke (38), ready to take her back home. But it seems she doesn't want to go home. She's been telling Zeke she wants a divorce. But Zeke won't take no for an answer concerning their marriage and he's about to persuade her otherwise.

Melody wanted to be a dancer most of her life. She had a lonely childhood and was raised by her Grandmother. Melody's mother died when she was young and she never knew her father. Melody met Zeke at one of his auditions. Zeke is an entrepreneur and is known as a king of the show-business world. They married soon after and everything was fine until the accident.

I totally loved Zeke, he was wonderful, my kind of hero! But sometimes Melody got on my nerves. She dwelled way too much on her condition. Every other page she was thinking and moping about it. She now has some scars on her legs, walks with a limp, and can't dance anymore. She's convinced Zeke will eventually dump her because she no longer has her "supple dancer's body". I understand she had problems, and also her Grandmother gave her some bad views on men (Grandma's own marriage/husband wasn't great) but I thought Melody should have counted her blessings with her loving, patient, and caring husband Zeke. He was a real dreamboat---tall, dark, rich, handsome, smart, and totally devoted to her---why complain when you have that waiting for you at home? And she could still walk, things could have been worse. I felt sorry for Zeke because she caused him alot of pain and suffering and never thought of his feelings. She was too caught up in herself. I did like the part when Zeke and Melody built the snowmen in the courtyard of the hotel they were staying at.

I thought I would have liked this book more than I did since I love stories with besotted heroes, and I've enjoyed all the other Helen Brooks books I've read, but the heroine was disappointing and brought the book down for me.

The beginning starts out interesting. The heroine's family doesn't treat her well but she's aware of it. The hero's kisses are forceful(?) and take the heroine by surprise, but the reader knows that the hero does that because he loves her so the reader can consent to that. And even if the heroine makes repeated unfound accusations of the hero, they actually communicate to clear them up whether the heroine believes him or not. But towards the end of the book, when the heroine is too afraid to love, and the hero acts so cold towards her, the story falls into old and tired territory.

The heroine's sister is such a caricature. How can a father fail to love his children?½

Acute romance. I understood Holly's issues, but i was hoping that she would work it out earlier in the book, by opening up or talking to a psychologist because I see there being problems later on.

While a good story when considered in a vacuum, the fact that it was the exact same story as "The Billionaire's Marriage Mission" really ruined the stories for me. I mean, divorcee left destitute by two-timing ex-husband is similar enough. To have both heroines' parents die premature accidental deaths as well is just too much. The same meet cute, the same "I don't want to have sex and fall in love with you because my ex-husband ruined me on men" prevarication, it was the same story with the names changed.

While a good story when considered in a vacuum, the fact that it was the exact same story as "His Christmas Bride" really ruined the stories for me. I mean, divorcee left destitute by two-timing ex-husband is similar enough. To have both heroines' parents die premature accidental deaths as well is just too much. The same meet cute, the same "I don't want to have sex and fall in love with you because my ex-husband ruined me on men" prevarication, it was the same story with the names changed.

While I normally look to Helen Brooks' books as lite fare, even this was a bit too much for me. I kept waiting for the heroine to grow a backbone, and while I like alpha males, the hero crossed the line into domineering and annoying. While I've often had moments where I've wanted to slap sense into a main character, this is the first book where I felt every single darn character introduced needed that treatment.