Penny JordanReseñas

Ye Gods.

This is about as classic Harlequin trope fest as you can get.

Carrie - I love you!
Luc - let us sleep together!
Old Lady - here's money he doesn't want you.
Carrie - How could I be so naive??

Rinse, wash, repeat. I swear Carrie's feelings back pedal no less then five times because she DOES NOT COMMUNICATE and for a highly renowned mid-20s economics journalist she was awfully uncaring that the King wanted to, ya know, take care of kingdom business.

Introduction of an unknown perfect lookalike? Yep.
"I have always loved you!" Yep.
"You treated me so differently!" Yep.

So you can see, they missed NO TRICKS.

Art was pretty, but the story fell flat since like other Harlequin standard romances it had only the barest outline for the setting and little to no real embellishment of characters.

Marriage of convenience story between heroine (Lissa) who lost her sister, and hero (Joel) who lost his brother, (both in a plane accident) for the sake of the late couple’s orphaned children. I really enjoyed this story. I liked Joel, he was romantic, kind, thoughtful, and caring to the children. I also liked Lissa, who was wrongfully labelled promiscuous some years ago from her parents (which Joel wrongfully believed) after she was caught in a compromising situation with a boy at a party. But all the misunderstandings are cleared up by the end of the book.

Another lovely read by Penny Jordan.

This GN isn't long, but it's still too long.½

Mistress to Her Husband
3 Stars

Arriving at work one morning, Kate Vincent is shocked to learn that her new boss in none other than Sean Howard, her ex-husband and the man who broke her heart. Sean is just as surprised, but soon comes to realize that his love for Kate has never died, and one touch is all it takes for their passion to be re-ignited. Can their renewed connection withstand the secrets of the past?

Despite the trappings of the 21st century and a more risqué writing style, the characters and storyline are still typical of a 1980s category romance replete with familiar tropes such as the forced seduction and secret baby.

Kate is a proud and independent single mother, nothing new in this day and age, yet she is constantly being chastised by others for her lifestyle, and feels guilty for not being a stay-at-home mom. Seriously?! The book was originally published in 2004, so why has the author reverted to outdated concepts of a woman’s place in society?

Sean is also a throwback to the 1980s borderline abusive and judgmental hero. His actions, both past and present, are inexcusable and one never gets the impression that he truly regrets his behavior. That said, his interactions with little Ollie are sweet and his willingness to love and accept a child he believes is another man’s son is one of his more redeeming qualities.

The book’s main saving grace is the chemistry between Kate and Sean, which is rather steamy for this genre.

All in all, not a bad read despite its shortcomings and the terrible title, which is completely irrelevant to the plot.

2.5*

A super cute story and something a bit different for a Harlequin Presents. I absolutely loved that the dog (the adorable and mischievous English Setter Ben), had such a major role in this. He completely stole the show and the book. A really fun read.

Marriage of convenience story with heroine Rosy Wyndham (who is 21) marrying hero Guard Jamieson (35) in order to save her late grandfather’s beloved home (Queen’s Meadow) from falling into the unsavory hands of her father’s cousin, Edward.

This was a fast and easy read. Guard was a wonderful hero, who has been smitten with Rosy for years. Rosy was overly naïve at times. I really enjoyed the story as the romance developed, and Guard’s jealous moments. Another great read by Penny Jordan.

Holly and Robert were young lovers. Holly thought their love would last forever, but eventually Robert told her he had to go and make his way in the world. Years later Robert returns, realizing his mistake. Will Holly give him a second chance?

I’m not crazy about books where the hero leaves the heroine, especially if he supposedly loves her. But I really enjoyed this romance. Robert realized his mistake and went out of his way to win Holly back. He was quite a besotted hero, and they both remained celibate for over a decade, so they obviously were made for each other.

Another terrific read by Penny Jordan.

This book was written in 1982. It’s yet another example of the difference between older HPs and the new stuff. There was a lot on plot. Not two or three super long scenes complete with super long sex scenes plus a whole bunch of introspection which is what current HPs consist of. “Action people, action is what we like.”

So this book has a kidnapping followed by escape through the jungle plus a couple of months of fairly angsty (for the heroine anyway) meetings before the HEA. The whole thing held together pretty well and was a nice vintage HP read.

Not a great book. Took too long for H/h to meet. Hero too involved with thOW his stepsister. Just not real riveting.

Pretty blah read. Not a real solid reason for the secret baby. I don't mind that trope as long as there is a good reason for it but as others have mentioned the heroine misunderstood something she saw, neglected to confront the hero about it and the hero just went off with his tail between his legs. For 10 years.

The story involves breeding a super secret new kind of sheep which has to be approved by the government somehow. Pretty sure that's now how it works although I understand the quarantine aspect of it all. In fact I'm not sure enough precautions were taken considering how devastating some of these diseases can be.

Beta hero and stupid cruel heroine. Two stars for the cute daughter who is more really than just a plot moppet.

This author is hit or miss for me but I liked this one. First off not a made up country yeah! Second there was actual thought given to the cultural differences between east and west and whether a marriage would work. Plenty of scenes between the hero and heroine. Lots of OTT punishing kisses. Satisfying HP.

Just okay. Way too much introspection. As I said in my update as I was reading there would be a couple of lines of action or dialog followed by 6 pages of rolling around in their thoughts. Both of them were written this way. Plus the hero was an idiot when he finds out that her sons were born 6 months after they split up he immediately assumes she was cheating on him with a man who was 70 years old and not as rich as he himself. WTF? Any one who wasn't an idiot would have immediately realized they were his kids. Oh well. It passed the time and wasn't absolutely horrible. Although more than likely if I hadn't purchased it, say I had checked it out of the library, I would not have stuck with it.

Interesting twist to the secret baby story. In this case the woman got pregnant as a result of a date rape by the hero's brother who is now dead. The hero finds the girl to make amends and of course, love ensues. Pretty fun story, with the added element of a possessive stalkerific step brother to round things out.

Pretty decent HP. I would have enjoyed it more had the hero been a little more, I don't know, ballsy? He had loved this girl since she was 18 but after getting his kiss rejected at that time he never tried to pursue her so of course she still thought he didn't like her.

I think this must have been written by a melodramatic 13 year old and PJ just let her publish under her name. It lept around from unbelievable situation to unbelievable situation. First of all the hero and heroine didn't meet until page 63 which is totally unacceptable in a 189 page romance novel. Even in 1982 that must have been obvious. The heroine was an absolute ignorant ninny. The hero was a mustache twirling insane man child. The first time he meets her in his uncle the sheikh's house, he unbuttons this 20 year old stranger's dress and gropes and kisses her breasts? WTF? These two deserved each other I guess. She decided on hearsay that he was the worst kind of playboy and when she meets him, insults him and then when he gropes her she trembles too much to fight back. Then there is the drugging and forced marriage and wedding night rape that she turns out to enjoy. I know, it sounds like an interesting trainwreck but trust me it is so poorly written and so poorly plotted and the characterizations are so poorly realized that you can't even enjoy the rubbernecking.

Decent enough although rather unbelievable. It's amnesia and you all know I'm an amnesia junkie. The heroine was too saccharine sweet and super loving while she had amnesia. It just wasn't real realistic that she would leap to the conclusion that the person who took her to the hospital was her lover. Still a fairly fun little read but not real memorable or rereadable.

5 HP stars Liked it just as well on the reread.

This book was very different and is frankly the best one I've read from Penny Jordan. It is the story of a woman who was raped as a teenager but who never told anyone and so she never got over it. Unlike most HPs where the author glosses over the fact that the heroine should have had therapy, here the heroine acknowledges that she should have gone to some but was too afraid to tell anyone what had happened. Of course the only other person who knows what happened is the hero. He is the cousin of the rapist and came upon them just after the fact when the heroine was lying dazed and so he doesn't know that is was rape but thinks it was consensual and that the heroine loved his cousin. The heroine however thinks that the hero despises her for being a 'ho.

All that is slightly different but the thing that makes this book shine is that a lot of the story was told from the hero's POV. You learn very quickly that the hero has loved her all along. When in his POV you see him trying his best to always do things right for her and help her and love her. Especially once he figures out that the heroine does not love his cousin. Then it is all about how he can make her fall in love with him.

If you love different HPs then you definitely need to read this one. It is one of those jewels in the HP world that keeps you slogging away through the dross in hopes of finding the treasure.

Sweet romance with a hero who has loved the heroine for years. He was pretty beta and should have fessed up to his love earlier. But then there wouldn't have been much of a book right? Not a lot of angst but no real stupidity either. Fun read.

First story was really maybe a 2 at most. The hero was just stupid and unseeing which was just sloppy writing on the part of the author. Like she didn't try hard enough to set up motivations and situations where the hero's feelings and assumptions about the heroine would have been more believable.

I really enjoyed His Darling Valentine much more. Poor guy was trying to secretly woo his secretary and kept crashing and burning. It was cute and fit the short story format perfectly as it took place all in just one day.

Hero was pretty much an ass. This story revolves around a prince who can't marry his divorced mistress. He refuses to recognize that he loves her. So he is planning to leave her behind and return to rule his kingdom and eventually marry a princess. Nothing really new here. Biggest problem for me was he was the heir to the richest kingdom in the world but managed to live incognito for nearly 20 years? Not buying it.

Man this book was bad. It was weird and awkward to watch this vintage HP author try to write a sexed up book. I pretty much cringed throughout the last half of the book. The hero and heroine had some modern sexy times but the author totally failed on the bed room talk. His words would have had me laughing at him and her sex talk made me think she was demented. Most of it was not even shown but rather told after the fact. Ick!

Then to be even more topical she threw in a scene with a date rape drug. That was just out of place and unbelievable the way it was set up. Not to mention it was totally unnecessary to the plot and seemed to belong in another book.

Nope even though PJ is not normally one of my favorite HP authors she's never been this bad before.

Reread for me. Didn't find it as annoying this time around.

Found this one pretty purple prosy. I typically enjoy this trope but not so much here. The love scenes were oddly long, too wordy and way too repetitive.

There was nothing new added to the poor girl trying to raise her niece/nephew in poverty who is swept away by the child's dead father's wealthy family trope.

I know many people love this author but she never really shines for me.

3-1/2 stars
This was one of those books that I enjoyed but wanted to edit as I went along. The heroine's actions for example. She overreacted to the hero's actions and kept saying words to the effect that "you devastated me by rejecting me sexually" when in fact he had said "now is not the time, you seem to be making a knee jerk reaction to finding your fiance in bed with another woman, let's talk about this." Not really the same thing. So either have her react to what he actually said or have him be more brutal and cutting to her. It's not as if HP heroes haven't been brutal before about young girls, she is 18 here, coming on to them.

But ignoring that it was fun. Especially knowing that the hero totally made up his blackmail scheme to get her to marry him 5 years later.

That was pretty much a big ol' helping of crazy. PJ is not my favorite HP author but I'm in the mood to read some vintage stuff so...

Anyhoo, the hero has a reslistic response to her at first. He is suspicious that she has only come for her inheritance and didn't bother to come see her father while he was alive. Once he finds out that she had been told all her life that her father was dead and didn't find out about him until after he died, Jaime instantly fell in love with her. I mean instantly! This was the worst case of insta love I've ever read. "You're not a gold digging 'ho? Then I love you!"

Of course she suspected him of not really loving her. What rational woman wouldn't? So when the evil OW feeds her a line of course she believes. Still that was right at the end and was resolved quickly. All in all, crazy but readable.