Forbidden Surrender by Carole Mortimer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This Plot is Just Too Crazy

FINAL DECISION: This plot was too crazy for me. The characters barely spent any time together before they were madly in love and the entire plot of Sara being in love with her twin’s fiance was not pleasant even though it worked out.

THE STORY: Sara Hamille, a model, comes to England after the death of her mother and stepfather. When people keep mistaking her for someone else, Sara discovers that she has a twin she never knew about. One of the people who keeps mistaking her for her twin is Dominic Thorne who mistakes Sara for his fiance. Sara discovers that the man she has fallen for belongs to her newly found sister.

OPINION: This plot is just insane. Unknown twins, lies, deceptions, and secrets all pervade this story. This book is so based on secrets and lies that I didn’t ever feel any connection with the characters. There are so many crazy situations that the characters are manipulated throughout the story. Then the resolution occurs so quickly that these characters never felt like they had anything real. This is instant attraction, instant lust, instant love. I couldn’t really understand what Sara and Dominic had between them — especially because Dominic spends most of the book engaged to Sara’s twin sister.

WORTH MENTIONING: This book was originally published as a category romance in the early 1980s.

CONNECTED BOOKS: FORBIDDEN SURRENDER is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 2 stars.

Velvet Promise by Carole Mortimer
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I Found This Book Disturbing In So Many Ways ***Spoiler Warning***

“But he didn’t really know her, or about the things that had happened in her life to make her a woman of strength and character, a woman who at only twenty-three was one of England’s most successful fashion designers while still managing to be what she loved best of all, an attentive and loving mother to Dani.”

FINAL DECISION: I could not like this book. The discussion and consequence of rape was too dated to be acceptable to me. In addition, for a woman who claims to be so strong, Willow felt entirely dominated by her rapist husband.

THE STORY: Willow Stewart is a fashion designer with a young daughter. Recently divorced, Willow has dark secret that is painful and shameful to her. When her ex-husband’s cousin, Jordan St. James begins to want to spend time with her, Willow knows that Jordan hasn’t forgiven her because he believes she trapped his cousin into marriage. Yet Jordan is attracted to Willow himself.

OPINION: This book fails on many levels. Willow was raped by her ex-husband in order to force her into marriage. The fact that she then tries to justify herself staying with him and wanting him to have a relationship with their daughter made me sick. Her justification of this behavior is that she didn’t want her daughter exposed has being the product of rape. But she wants her daughter to love a rapist as her father. In addition, she claims to be so strong from her past, but she folds immediately when her ex-husband begins to threaten her again. The truth is that Willow is weak and needs some serious therapy to deal with her violation. This subject is just too serious to be handled in a book of this length. The romance completely fails because Jordan doesn’t even know about the rape until the end and then everything is resolved in a couple of pages. For me, this is a book that might speak of the time it was written, but would never be acceptable today.

WORTH MENTIONING: I did appreciate that the hero and the villain’s parents believed Willow when the rape was revealed.

CONNECTED BOOKS: VELVET PROMISE is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 1 star.

Forgotten Lover by Carole Mortimer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Good Storyline, but Romance Feels Incomplete

“Why are you pretending you don’t know me?”

FINAL DECISION: This book has a good storyline and premise but the romance felt flat and incomplete because it was resolved too quickly and without any real emotion.

THE STORY: Velvet Dale is a model who comes to Florida to do a shoot. She is a widow with a young son. There she meets Jerard Daniels, a businessman, who is a widower with a daughter of his own. Jerard confronts Velvet with the fact that the two were lovers several years ago. Velvet does not remember Jerard because she suffered selective amnesia after the death of her husband. Now Jerard is telling Velvet that they were lovers and that she was unfaithful to her perfect fiance. And he doesn’t believe that she actually has amnesia.

OPINION: This book disappointed me because the story was progressing so well until the ending. I was engaged with the story, but the resolution came so quickly and without any real movement in the characters that it felt forced and unnatural. I realized that the problem was that there was no real depth to these characters. The best part of this book was the plot itself but the characters remained distant and unknowable. Because Velvet has amnesia, her true motivations are forever left unknown. Without the drama and emotion, this book left me feeling empty.

WORTH MENTIONING: This book was originally published in the 1980s as a category romance.

CONNECTED BOOKS: FORGOTTEN LOVER is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 2 stars.

Gypsy by Carole Mortimer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jealousy, Misunderstandings and Relationships Too Complicated to be Believed

FINAL DECISION: This book is well written and strongly compelling. There are so many twists and turns that I couldn’t believe so much could be packed into such a short book. Unfortunately, however, I didn’t buy the relationship between Shay and Lyon. There was too much anger and pain between them to be resolved so quickly.

THE STORY: Shay Flanagan aka as Gypsy was eighteen when she met and fell in love with Lyon Falconer. They began an affair that ended when Lyon ruthlessly told Shay that he would never divorce his wife for her. Shay left him and ended up married to Lyon’s youngest brother instead. Five years later, Shay’s husband has tragically died and Shay is pregnant. Lyon wants Shay back but she never intends to be vulnerable to Lyon again.

OPINION: This book is filled with angst and drama. In fact, Shay spends most of the book hating Lyon. Her strong emotions make it difficult to accept her quick change to love again. Unfortunately, this book is well written but probably too short for the complicated story. I thought everything about it was well written except that I didn’t believe how quickly Shay could forget the husband she so desperately loved to end up again with a man she claimed to hate for 80 percent of the book.

This isn’t a couple I will be thinking about for years despite the claims in the book that they have a romance for the ages.

WORTH MENTIONING: GYPSY was originally published as a category romance in the 1980s.

CONNECTED BOOKS: GYPSY is a standalone book.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3 stars.

First Love, Last Love by Carole Mortimer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Strong Writing But Dated Characterizations

FINAL DECISION: The writing of this story is strong and in its time it was right in the center of romance books, but not the ages of the heroine (17) and the hero (34) in the contemporary romance is just creepy.

THE STORY: Lauri Prescott is seventeen years old and just started a job in the typing pool. A run in with her boss, Alexander Blair creates sparks. The two agree that they will spend some time together in order that familiarity dampen their reaction to one another. Their story becomes more complicated because Lauri wants to keep their relationship a secret and there are many other secrets surrounding the two.

OPINION: This story is so well written that the dated elements stand out tremendously. I thought the characters were well written and the story was interesting. There are a a lot of secrets that are revealed throughout this story and the twists were fun to see. The romance story was more on the surface and did not dig deep into the emotions of the characters as would be more common in current romance books. The relationship between Alex and Lauri feels really dated. The age different is not as significant as the fact that Lauri is only seventeen. That just feels creepy to me in a contemporary romance. In addition, the discussion the two have where the hero makes a rape joke is just inappropriate. Ultimately, those issues bothered me and the rest of the book was not strong enough for me to overlook it.

WORTH MENTIONING: This book was first printed in the early 1980s as a category romance.

CONNECTED BOOKS: FIRST LOVE, LAST LOVE is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 2 stars.