Bitter Enchantment Yvonne Whittal Pdf
'There is one way - you must marry me.' Melanie could hardly believe she'd heard Jason Kerr correctly. Her father's death had left Melanie and her grandmother without much money, but they had hoped to manage. Then Melanie learned of the outstanding loan from Jason Kerr. Now, to regain his money, he proposed to sell the collateral Melanie's father had given him-their beloved 'There is one way - you must marry me.' Melanie could hardly believe she'd heard Jason Kerr correctly.
East to Barryvale (1975); The Slender Thread (1976); Devil's Gateway (1977); Price of Happiness (1977); Where Seagulls Cry (1977); Handful of Stardust (1977); Magic of the Baobab (1978); Scars of Yesterday (1978); Broken Link (1978); Beloved Benefactor (1978); Love Is Eternal (1978); Bitter Enchantment (1979). Bitter Enchantment has 77 ratings and 15 reviews. StMargarets said: 4.5 stars rounded up. This is one of my favorite Yvonne Whittals. It has all of the i. StMargarets said: 4.5 stars rounded up. This is one of my favorite Yvonne Whittals. It has all of the i.
Her father's death had left Melanie and her grandmother without much money, but they had hoped to manage. Then Melanie learned of the outstanding loan from Jason Kerr. Now, to regain his money, he proposed to sell the collateral Melanie's father had given him-their beloved family home. Melanie knew the shock would kill her grandmother, but to agree to Jason's proposition seemed unthinkable. Was there another way? This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, 4.5 stars rounded up.
This is one of my favorite Yvonne Whittals. It has all of the intensity and angst of a forced marriage story with a pesky OW and a persistent OM, but without the verbal and physical abuse of some of her other alpha heroes. Hero sees heroine at her father's funeral and is instantly attracted. He knows she's a nice girl and a virgin, so the only way he's going to have her is to marry her.
Luckily, her dead dad owed him a ton of money so he can save all of that courtship time 4.5 stars rounded up. This is one of my favorite Yvonne Whittals. It has all of the intensity and angst of a forced marriage story with a pesky OW and a persistent OM, but without the verbal and physical abuse of some of her other alpha heroes.
Hero sees heroine at her father's funeral and is instantly attracted. He knows she's a nice girl and a virgin, so the only way he's going to have her is to marry her. Luckily, her dead dad owed him a ton of money so he can save all of that courtship time by forcing her into marriage. This way Granny gets to stay in the stately home the dad put up for collateral, and the hero will have the heroine in his bed. Win-win for everyone but the heroine. The heroine is attracted to the hero, but she's nervous about sex.
On her wedding day she gets a call from the hero's mistress warning her that she is going to break up their marriage. They go to a chalet in the South African mountains and the hero loses his patience with the heroine when on their wedding night the heroine shows her nervousness. He doesn't force her, though. He does call her a coward and says he's going to go back to his mistress.
The next day he has a change of heart and says he'll give her time. They spend a week hiking and playing house. There is a lion head on the wall that the hero killed with a knife after it was wounded by a careless hunter. (That's not Freudian - not at all) The heroine has a thing about the hero's hands - a nice indicator of sexual attraction without being too overt. They jog along together with occasional blow-ups, usually caused by the heroine not wanting to take money or cars or anything from the hero - or if the OM or OW cross their paths.
They eventually have sex after the hero, seeing the h with her pathetic OM, storms to his mistress and realizes that he can't touch her - he only wants the heroine. He apologizes for his harsh words about the OM and the heroine - after a long night wondering where the hero was - is so glad to have him back and unsullied by the OW that she finally succumbs to those hands. Sex doesn't solve everything, though.
The h wants to be loved. After Granny dies the heroine offers to sell the house so the loan is paid off. Then she will leave so he can have his freedom again. Hero is having none of that. Good thing because the heroine is pregnant.
There's a nice little epilogue where a business collegue observes how happy they are in their remodeld manor house. This one packed a punch!!!
The heroine is about to lose everything since her late father made some seriously bad investments. She is left alone to take care of grandma, living together on their much loved family estate. Even though she is now penniless, she believe she can keep things afloat knowing that the house is clear of any mortgages.
Unfortunately, she finds out that her father borrowed heavily from the hero, using the estate as collateral. Of course, hero blackmails her into marriag Wow. This one packed a punch!!!
The heroine is about to lose everything since her late father made some seriously bad investments. She is left alone to take care of grandma, living together on their much loved family estate.
Even though she is now penniless, she believe she can keep things afloat knowing that the house is clear of any mortgages. Unfortunately, she finds out that her father borrowed heavily from the hero, using the estate as collateral. Of course, hero blackmails her into marriage with the understanding that they divorce once he tires of her. This arrangement allows for grandma to live her final days in peace, and heroine to retire to perform her wifely duties. (It's funny how women were expected to quit when they married) Problem is there is the evil OW lurking at every corner, anxiously waiting to get her claws into hero. In fact, hero admits to going to her apartment after one of their passionate rows.
Of course, he can't bring himself to do the deed, but we don't know that. Neither does the heroine, especially when other woman drops off his cigarette lighter the next day. In spite of the hero's asshat ways, I really enjoyed this book. My only regret is that the heroine was too easily manipulated by her love for the hero.
I felt the author brought that on a little too quickly for it to be credible. After all, outside of his gorgeous looks and pheromones, he didn't have much else going for him. I also didn't care for the fact that he was always stepping out with OW.whether on a balcony at a party, or to lunch, or the final premeditated tryst with the sole intent of sleeping with her. This lessened him in my mind and I never quite bought off on the fact that they didn't do the deed. I thought the heroine was a bit naive in that regard. A few harsh words and some stark actions from the heroine.would have made this 10 stars. But alas, this was written in 1979.so I know I am asking for a bit much.
If you are into those WTF angst driven reads, this one just might appeal to you! This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, This will thrill fans of vintage, angsty HPs where the so-called hero is an asshat of Herculean proportions and puts the heroine through the ringer before their HEA.
I myself am not averse to anti-heroes by any means but when they are paired up with spineless jellyfish heroines, I find the experience more barftastic than satisfying. Here, our ruthless, manwhoring, blackmailer of virgins is aghast that his bride is less than enthusiastic about consummating their essentially business marriage contr This will thrill fans of vintage, angsty HPs where the so-called hero is an asshat of Herculean proportions and puts the heroine through the ringer before their HEA.
I myself am not averse to anti-heroes by any means but when they are paired up with spineless jellyfish heroines, I find the experience more barftastic than satisfying. Here, our ruthless, manwhoring, blackmailer of virgins is aghast that his bride is less than enthusiastic about consummating their essentially business marriage contract when he has made it clear that he only put a ring on it because he wants to amuse himself for a couple of months before tiring of her. I mean, what's not to spark the fires of lust and passion when confronted with a husband who tells you: 'I've certainly picked a loser this time.If there's anything I can't stand, then it's a frigid woman, and God only knows what I saw in you. You're a fake, Melanie; a fake and a fraud.once we've returned to Johannesburg, I shall continue to live my life as before. In the eyes of the law, you will be my wife, but don't expect any consideration from me. I shall seek my pleasures elsewhere, regardless of what you, and others, may think.'
What does the heroine do? The next morning, she dutifully packs him a picnic lunch, apologizes to him (!) and asks him to give her a second chance as she needs a little time to adjust to being raped by an unfeeling brute made love to by her husband. I mean, with doormat heroines like this, who needs big-fat-jerk heroes? They have more masochistic, self-flagellating tendencies than any jerk could even dream up to hurt them!
More of his priceless seduction techniques: 'My God! If there's one thing that doesn't appeal to me, it's making love to a woman who's weeping at the thought of losing her virginity.' Which, granted, is not an appealing little picture but what he fails to mention is that he was in the process of brutally raping her when she burst into tears at his rough handling. What a prize, this guy! After they finally have hate sex make love, he ponders out loud how long it will be before he tires of her. A few months, maybe a year, but you'll have to be something exceptional to last longer than that.' Yeah, cause don't forget how exceptional HE is.
I also absolutely loved how the hero dangled the OW shamelessly in front of his wife at every opportunity. They were forever going to lunch or disappearing FOR HOURS in shadowy gardens during parties and the excuse the hero had at the conclusion of the book for all that was that he was just trying to convey to the OW that their affair was well and truly over. The heroine lapped this up though. His grovel at the end was pretty good and anybody who knows my reading tastes knows how much I appreciate a good grovel BUT honestly, I could not get over the fact of what a wimp the heroine was. She really needed a bit more pepper, like one of Charlotte Lamb's more fiery heroines, to even the imbalance in this story.
The story is definitely good for a laugh if you are into ironic, detached reading of one of these gloriously awful, non p.c. HPs but I doubt that you could find any genuine emotional connection to the characters of the story.
3.5 stars The story is about a forced marriage by means of blackmail because like many other similar plots, he was physically attracted to her but he couldn't have her in any other way and since getting a divorce was so easy, he decided why not. He was arrogant and cruel but not sadistic, a very common characteristic we see a lot in the romance novel's lead male of the time. After her terrified, initial reaction on their wedding night, he did end up waiting for her to get to know 3.5 stars The story is about a forced marriage by means of blackmail because like many other similar plots, he was physically attracted to her but he couldn't have her in any other way and since getting a divorce was so easy, he decided why not. He was arrogant and cruel but not sadistic, a very common characteristic we see a lot in the romance novel's lead male of the time. After her terrified, initial reaction on their wedding night, he did end up waiting for her to get to know him and become comfortable in her new role as his wife before consummating their marriage. He was kind to her grand mother, the person who raised her. She had class; something you can't buy.
She had his back from the very start, kept her conversations with his old mistress to herself, never made a demand of his money or time, kept her pregnancy a secret because she didn't want to force him into staying in a marriage once his lust was exhausted. I am going to take a star and half out since he did run back to the OW at one point and even though he didn't sleep with the bitch, the intention was there as he later on confessed. Furthermore, he was dangling the OW in front of his wife and everyone else for months, even after he was sleeping with his wife every night.
It was to the point that not only people they socialized with gossiped about it but the media were having a trashfest with the stories related to his actions. That shows me he had no respect for his wife or for himself and he didn't care about hurting others such as his wife or her very ill grandmother. He also never apologized for being found in the arm of the OW when his wife entered his office to tell him about her grand mother's death the night before. Saying I was going to have lunch with my old mistress to set her straight is contradictory to being found with the OW in his arm and their lips glued together. He just didn't say anything about it. He could have said, the OW initiated the action and he was caught off guard and he was trying to get her off him.
But nada, nothing was said about it. It was just pushed under the rug like his disappearances to the darkness of the gardens with the OW during every single function all three attended. A nice, angsty read. It however took me sometime to get into it mainly because it took me some time to warm up to Melanie.
I felt there was a sort of cool detachment in her. Which is why, I didn't feel her love until much, much later than when she'd claimed to love Jason. Jason was okay. Although, he was harsh on the wedding night to her, seeing that she was not ready to consummate the marriage, he gave her time to come around. I only wish he hadn't given his ex-mistress, Delia, so much freedom A nice, angsty read. It however took me sometime to get into it mainly because it took me some time to warm up to Melanie. I felt there was a sort of cool detachment in her.
Which is why, I didn't feel her love until much, much later than when she'd claimed to love Jason. Jason was okay. Although, he was harsh on the wedding night to her, seeing that she was not ready to consummate the marriage, he gave her time to come around. I only wish he hadn't given his ex-mistress, Delia, so much freedom to cling to him and told her off much earlier on. I didn't like that he had Delia's arms around his neck when Melanie goes to his office to tell him about her grandmother passing away, but he did piss Delia off when he tells her harshly to leave the office because he wanted to be with his wife.
It's been years since I'd first read this book, yet I immediately remembered this scene and the one where Delia brings Jason's lighter to Melanie telling her he'd left it when he was at her place the previous night. Overall, it was a nice read. I read this book more than 20 years ago (I was probably 12 - 14 years old). I remember that I loved the book.
Last night I read it again as I felt nostalgic and I was curious whether I would still like it 20 years later. Well I still liked it! I noticed this time though that I was much more critical and judgmental lol. SPOILERS BELOW. This book was written in 1979 so naturally its kind of un-PC as usual.
We do not get to hear the hero's perspective. Hero is the usual controlling, bos 3.75 stars. I read this book more than 20 years ago (I was probably 12 - 14 years old). I remember that I loved the book. Last night I read it again as I felt nostalgic and I was curious whether I would still like it 20 years later. Well I still liked it!
I noticed this time though that I was much more critical and judgmental lol. SPOILERS BELOW. This book was written in 1979 so naturally its kind of un-PC as usual. We do not get to hear the hero's perspective. Hero is the usual controlling, bossy and blackmailing type of person. Heroine is the fresh, virginal and beautiful sacrificial lamb but she does have some fire and backbone to her which I liked. There's the requisite OM though he doesn't show up that much and the horrible OW that (good grief) shows up too much!
Initially I was REALLY pissed off at the hero because more than halfway through the book he seemed to still be dealing with the OW but thankfully we find out no he doesn't anymore or couldn't anymore. But hero still pissed me off that he was going to/attempted to. Thankfully, hero did a tiny bit grovelling/suffered a but (yay) and I liked the epilogue and I thought it was a sweet ending.
What you may like: 1. Hero 'fell in love' with the heroine first 2. Heroine is a virgin 3. Heroine has some backbone 4. Hero is handsome and rich What you might not like: 1. Hero blackmails the heroine 2.
Hero is extremely controlling, bossy and manipulative 3. Hero had a mistress (although he doesn't have relations with her anymore after he meets the heroine although he ran to her and had the intention to when heroine rebuffed him ugh but he said he couldn't do it (yeah yeah you arse!) 4. OW is such a pain in the arse and keeps showing up. But i guess i've been spoiled ytd. I still loved it though. Jason was actually nice bcoz he did give melanie time 2 adapt 2 her situation.
I mean he did not force her 2 become his wife in the real sense before a lot of time. Again he was nice but not nice bcoz i did not like the fact dat he went 2 delia on one night.wid the very intention of having mind-blowing sex. Granted he was very upset. But if each time ders a quarrel, his solution is adultery.the marriage h gud one! But i guess i've been spoiled ytd.
I still loved it though. Jason was actually nice bcoz he did give melanie time 2 adapt 2 her situation. I mean he did not force her 2 become his wife in the real sense before a lot of time. Again he was nice but not nice bcoz i did not like the fact dat he went 2 delia on one night.wid the very intention of having mind-blowing sex.
Granted he was very upset. But if each time ders a quarrel, his solution is adultery.the marriage has no great chance of survival. The hero from the devil's pawn was hateful 2 death, a savage n ruthless beast but still when he went 2 OW, it was only 2 teach heroine a lesson but he did not intend 2 do the act itself. Lol, as i told u i'm spoiled 4 other books:P neway thanks Onu, this was still very enjoyable:D. Typical Whittal novel consist of: Hero - usually controlling, bossy, manipulative, abusive and blackmailing type of person (arse).
Heroine - fresh, virginal and beautiful sacrificial lamb (this one does have some fire and backbone to her) Parent or sibling that heroine makes a sacrifice for (and eventually puts up with hero's bs) Other male - There is a weak chaacter that didnt manage to cause a lot of angst, though he doesn't show up that much Other woman - oh, and aint this one a nasty one (good Typical Whittal novel consist of: Hero - usually controlling, bossy, manipulative, abusive and blackmailing type of person (arse). Heroine - fresh, virginal and beautiful sacrificial lamb (this one does have some fire and backbone to her) Parent or sibling that heroine makes a sacrifice for (and eventually puts up with hero's bs) Other male - There is a weak chaacter that didnt manage to cause a lot of angst, though he doesn't show up that much Other woman - oh, and aint this one a nasty one (good lord) that shows up too much and just makes you wanna slap her and the hero Plot that makes you REALLY pissed off at: 1) the hero when more than halfway through the book he seemes to still be dealing with the horrible bitch. Even though at the end he fesses up that he 'couldnt' (aaahhh.yeah right), but he was still going/attempt to have an affair with her (an eye roll) 2) the heroine for putting up with his bs There was some suffering and grovelling and a nice epilogue.
For a change:) Yay.
About the Book 'There is one way you must marry me.' Melanie could hardly believe she'd heard Jason Kerr correctly. Her father's death had left Melanie and her grandmother without much money, but they had hoped to manage.
Yvonne Whittal
Then Melanie learned of the outstanding loan from Jason Kerr. Now, to regain his money, he proposed to sell the collateral Melanie's father had given him their beloved family home. Melanie knew the shock would kill her grandmother, but to agree to Jason's proposition seemed unthinkable. Was there another way?