Book Description
"If you really loved me..."
"After all I've done for you..."
"How can you be so selfish..."
Do any of the above sound familiar? They're all examples of emotional blackmail, a powerful form of manipulation in which people close to us threaten to punish us for not doing what they want. Emotional blackmailers know how much we value our relationships with them. They know our vulnerabilities and our deepest secrets. They are our mothers, our partners, our bosses and coworkers, our friends and our lovers. And no matter how much they care about us, they use this intimate knowledge to give themselves the payoff they want: our compliance.
Susan Forward knows what pushes our hot buttons. Just as John Gray illuminates the communications gap between the sexes in Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, and Harriet Lerner describes an intricate dynamic in The Dance of Anger, so Susan Forward presents the anatomy of a relationship damaged by manipulation, and gives readers an arsenal of tools to fight back. In her clear, no-nonsense style, Forward provides powerful, practical strategies for blackmail targets, including checklists, practice scenarios and concrete communications techniques that will strengthen relationships and break the blackmail cycle for good.
Customer Reviews:
If you keep asking yourself, whadd'id I do? and walking on eggshells, this book is for YOU!.......2007-10-04
This book was recommended by a close friend who'd been listening to my "what happened?" tales of confusion and she recognized the syndrome instantly. "Emotional Blackmail". Just the title itself is helpful before the book even arrives at your door. Granted, it's very important to examine what part you may well be playing in this weird dance, however it's presenting itself in your life. BUT, you know, it just MIGHT NOT be about YOU!!! I do wish this book went further to include other relationships (such as the one pertinent to my dilemma with an adult step-son), however, it's so well done that you can extrapolate and employ various strategies to help straighten out your head and heart instead of going around miserable all the time wondering my personal mantra of "whadd'id I do?". And I'm a COUNSELOR! You know, you can be just too close to situations in your own life and this book will help you unravel some really common ones. Do yourself a favor. Take a deep breath, relax that knot in your stomach, and get this book. Then read it and get yourself FREE. Yow, it's a subtle thing to get tangled in!
Overwhelmingly Helpful!.......2007-07-19
I bought this book a few months ago. I read it in a single night. It was so amazing; it felt like I was reading about my life and my family members! This book helped me to identify the different types of control and manipulation people use and how to break free from the vicious cycle. I used this book along with "If you had controlling parents" by Dan Neuharth, to get out of the destructive and dysfunctional cycle that my family was in the middle of. I highly recomend both of these books! This particular book works for any controlling and manipulative relationship you might be in---there are lots of stories with examples form real people's lives.
Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!.......2007-07-05
A great book, I would love to get in touch with the author to thank her for being part of my emotional healing after leaving an extremely abusive church. Does anybody know her email?
I felt like face to face with Susan, she was right there, present all along the way. Easy to read, easy to understand the principles of blackmailing and warm guiding through the healing process.
I recommend this book for any person who feels weak and frustrated when yielding to pressure. But please, don't read it quickly. Give it time to transform you, chew the information and take time for the exercises!People of the LieThe Road Less Travelled (Arrow New-Age)
Thank you Susan!
You can any time get more info at tabara.kairos@gmail.com
good book.......2007-05-09
Very good book. Hit right on the money for what I've experienced in terms of emotional blackmail. Very useful. Just reinforced my decision to exit a relationship for the very reasons this book discusses; enduring persistent pressure from narcisistic partners trying to manipulate you into actions and behaviors for their own interests, with little regard for your own. If you even remotely identify with the title of this book, then it would be worthwhile to read it and then implement the corrective steps to get past the subtle blackmailers in your own life, and stop enabling them to press you into making poor personal decisions.
Emotional Backmail.......2007-01-30
Excellent book on disfunctional relationships. Especially informative when having to deal with Family relations that exhibit the use of FEAR, Obligation or Guilt to achieve their desired results
Average customer rating:
- A Timely Book on Oil Conspiracy and Political Intrigue
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The Gambit
Gary Nunnally
Manufacturer: Mill City Press, Inc.
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1934248045 |
Product Description
Terrorism for profit. In The Gambit, terrorist events are "engineered" to spike global oil markets for personal profit and political and strategic goals. The audacious manipulation of events soon spirals oil prices out of control, undermining economies and the reelection prospects of a U.S. president, co-opted by the actions of the conspiracy underway. A conspiracy led by a wealthy Saudi prince who has the goods on the occupant of the White House; a conspiracy operating under the cover of shadowy militant groups, seducing a Houston oilman to subjecting his own company to terrorist assault. Tipped off by a mysterious Lebanese banker, the U.S. mounts a furious effort to thwart the operation. But, it becomes eerily apparent that the President's first priority is to terminate the banker at all costs. Hastings, the top American intelligence official, acting against orders, desperately attempts to keep the banker alive long enough to understand the full dimensions of the treachery underway, culminating in the truth about the Prince and President dumped upon an unsuspecting electorate in the closing days of the election. The Gambit's wild ride through scheming oil traders, unstable markets, political blackmail, desperation and greed produces an uncomfortable premise: to what extent has the conspiracy already occurred?
Customer Reviews:
A Timely Book on Oil Conspiracy and Political Intrigue.......2007-08-29
Reading Gary Nunnally's book, The Gambit, has been an eyeopening experience for me, and I mean that quite literally. You see, I know Gary, but I had no idea he could write so well, or that he had such a background that he could write a book so knowledgeable about the world pertaining to the petroleum industry. I say this not to categorize him, but to emphasize the many sides to a thinking man, who has learned so much from the industry he writes about. And he writes beautifully, describing for us the very real world, and those characters in it we know so little about, but that we get to know, good and bad, within these pages.
Intrigue! Worldwide economic conspiracy via manipulated oil prices! Political blackmail! Greed! From the lowest facets of society to the highest levels of the free world. This book takes us on a fascinating journey through the minds of those who "can and could" do us harm for their own gain. In the end, they don't succeed in bringing down the economy, but the loopholes are obvious. It is a "must read" for those of us who know so little about how fragile our economy can be when the "terrorists", in this case the wealthy worldwide oil traders, begin their work. Is there an answer? Vigilance, awareness, and books like this!
Customer Reviews:
The Blackmail Baby by Penny Jordan (Large Print Hardcover).......2006-07-25
Description from the book back cover:
Imogen had wanted nothing more than to be Dracco Barrington's bride. But a shocking revelation on their wedding day changed everything! She ran down the church steps ... and right out of her brand-new husband's life. She thought she would never see him again. But four years later Imogen needs money, and super-rich Dracco makes an outrageous proposal. One million pounds if she returns to him and shares his bed - and a million more when she gives birth to his child!
Sharp-swift story, delightful couple!.......2003-08-27
Imogen wanted more than anythign to be Dracco's bride. Yet a shocking revelation on their wedding day caused her to run off, leaving behind her brand-new husband. A few years later, Dracco learns the Imogen is in dire need for funds, and pitches a deal.
He'll give her a million dollars to come back to him--and a million more to bare his child.
this book is absoluly awesome!.......2002-07-19
This book is one of the best Harlequine books I've read. There was parts that drove me nuts, near the ending of the book, I kind of got frustrated, knowing Dracco's feelings and knowing Imo's feelings.but all in all I loved this book. You should totally give it a chance.
Customer Reviews:
Legally His by Catherine George (Large Print Harlequin).......2006-06-17
Description from the book back cover:
Does loyalty to her family mean she can never be legally his? ... Mr. Smith? As the estate administrator at Highfield Hall, Sophie Marlow sets about ensuring that this latest arrival has a pleasant stay. Until she finds that she's dealing with Jago Smith, who makes no bones about his attraction to her. Sophie's friends and colleagues can't understand why she doesn't succumb to Jago's seduction. However, Sophie feels she has a very good reason not to: far from being Mr. Right, he is Jago Langham-Smith, the barrister who failed to save her brother from a prison sentence. But as Sophie is about to discover, if blood is thicker than water, then passion is stronger still ...
Customer Reviews:
A winner from Sara Craven.......2007-08-24
Unusually, this Harlequin romance opens with the hero's point of view. He's an Italian count; in bed in his apartment in Rome with a married lady, and already regretting his entanglement. Then, his wicked witch of an aunt arrives on his doorstep, and makes him regret it even more. She blackmails him into helping her break up a most unsuitable romance between her son and an English girl. Her son will be arriving in Italy soon with the little money-grubbing tart, and Auntie intends for the hero to seduce the heroine away from her son, or else she'll reveal the hero's affair to the married lady's husband -- who's a friend of the hero's, no less.
What Auntie doesn't know is that the heroine, Laura is in Italy under false pretences: she only agreed to play at being the son's fiancee in order to help him escape an arranged marriage, and more importantly to earn a bit of money.
After wading through some subpar Harlequins, I really appreciated this setup; it showed more imagination than the average "hero somehow manipulates heroine to sleep with him to save her father/brother/family from ruin", typical Harlequin plot. Also, one of the story's strengths is that the viewpoint of the hero is given equal time with the POV of the heroine; he's as conflicted as she is about their mutual attraction, and it gives balance and depth to the story to see the hero's inner conflict together with the heroine's. Again, this makes for an untypical Harlequin.
The characters are well-rounded, although the heroine is just a wee bit tarred with martyrdom's brush (can't have a Harlequin without that!) but fortunately just a little. But the book is not without humor (the blackmailing aunt and her slimy son are a hoot), and the story really moves along, propelled by sex appeal and the above-average plot. A solid, well-constructed Harlequin, with an (ultimately) sincere, sexy hero, and a heroine I for once don't want to clock over the head. Thank you, Sara Craven; this is a Harlequin I thoroughly enjoyed and want to keep.
Book Description
What really happened to the billions of dollars worth of gold seized by Nazi Germany? What role did the Swiss government play and what are the implications of neutrality during wartime? The author addresses these questions, presents the case for and against Switzerland, and applies the lessons learned from World War II to the broader issue of companies--and countries--profiting during wartime.
Customer Reviews:
The Extortion and Slander of Switzerland.......2005-04-24
~Between the Alps & A Hard Place: Switzerland in World War II and Moral Blackmail Today~ is a energetic defense of the Swiss and their role as a non-belligerent neutral power in WWII. This thorough and well-documented book challenges the myth of Swiss collaboration with the Nazis and charges the Clinton Administration for obfuscation of historical fact and betraying the national interest. With the precision of a veteran intelligence analyst, the respected Angello Codevilla offers an accurate assessment of Switzerland's geostrategic situation with a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on economics, political, and military considerations for the tiny alpine nation before and during WWII. Codevilla's opening chapter `Pseudo-Event versus Reality' chronicles the smear and extortion campaign against the Swiss by U.S. politicians and activists like liquor magnate Edgar Bronfman. Codevilla elaborates how the Swiss were berated and demonised. He describes how the Swiss banks operating in New York became the target of a political game of state-sponsored legal plunder with the help of former Sen. D'Amato (R-NY), the Democratic Party machine in NYC and the Clinton Administration. They staged a media sideshow in the U.S. Senate and talked of economic sanctions with contrived evidence in an effort to fleece the Swiss. Their campaign of moral blackmail succeeded. Codevilla meticulously documents the $1.25 billion shakedown of Swiss banks operating in America. He records how the anti-Swiss campaign failed to produce any substantive evidence to substantiate its shocking claims. Moreover, he makes light of how U.S. foreign policy can be bought by powerful lobbying groups. "Compromising America's standing in the world by franchising foreign policy to interest groups has become all too commonplace," notes Codevilla. This exposé makes light of the disgraceful selling of foreign policy for selfish political gain. As political payoffs and domestic prerogatives of private interests are being entertained, vital national interests are swept to the sidelines. Historical reality has been besmirched and the Swiss are erroneously and shamefully accused of supporting Nazi Germany and sharing culpability for the Holocaust. The settlement resulted in a mad scramble at the money trough for a cut of the $1.2 billion. The massive extortion ended up enriching Bronfman constituencies and lawyers far more than it did any remaining Holocaust survivors.
Foremost, the vast majority of the Swiss populace, even in the German-speaking regions, hoped for Allied victory. The fear of a Nazi invasion was a legitimate concern of the Swiss. Codevilla captures the excellence of Swiss military preparedness given their circumstances and limited resources. Switzerland is widely known as a mountainous country atop the Alps. The Swiss deterred Nazi aggression by keeping their country more valuable to the Germans as free nation than a conquered one. Switzerland has its back to the Alps and is well protected from the south and east, but was vulnerable to invasion from the north on an open plateau and the northwest through the Rhone Valley. The Swiss recognised their weaknesses, and as such planned accordingly. They supplied and fortified a huge military redoubt in the rugged mountainous country in the south. The underdog Swiss accepted Germany's military prowess, and defined their defense measures so as to make war against the Swiss a long and costly affair. Their plans were to hold off any invasion as long as possible with vehement resistance with border troops. If guerilla warfare ensued than productive assets, bridges, and roads would be sabotaged. No doubt, such resistance would buoy the aggressiveness of the invader, but the Swiss were adamant in their plans to vehemently resist an aggressor. The Swiss had a well-supplied military redoubt in the south where the bulk of the military was stationed and the remnant. The redoubt was a veritable fortress with earthworks, trenches, tunnels, AA guns, and machine guns. If attacked, the underdog Swiss planned to exploit the terrain (i.e. towering mountains, narrow passes) to harness every possible tactical advantage in much the same way the as the beleaguered Spartans did at Thermopylae. Codevilla chronicles their military preparations and strategic considerations with incisive detail. Even Hitler deemed an excursion into Switzerland as vain because of its well-armed militia and military preparedness.
The Swiss recognised that military power is requisite at the table of diplomacy and international relations. Codevilla makes light of intriguing details about how the Swiss stood their ground against Nazi encroachment and how Swiss military preparedness actually discouraged Nazi invasion:
1. The Swiss enjoy the distinction of being a well-armed populace. Prohibition of firearms to the great multitude of Swiss is an unthinkable as it is to most Americans. All males most render service in the Swiss militia and they keep a state-issued rifle at home. The Swiss military tradition is strong, and historically Swiss mercenaries are among the most coveted.
2. Unlike neighboring Austria, the Swiss dealt with Nazi fronts and political sympathisers in much the same way as America dealt with fascists and communists during the time. They were treated as subversives, and quite a few organisations were shut down, and jailed for espionage and sedition.
3. Before and during the war, the Swiss press regularly condemned Hitler and insulted him in his own language. In the 1930s, when the Third Reich tried to initiate agreements with surrounding German-speaking countries to keep their newspapers "friendly," only the Swiss said no. The Swiss foreign minister reminded the Germans that the Swiss press was not an instrument of government and as such they could make no commitments regarding the press.
4. While Switzerland's role as a neutral prevented her from harboring refugees under legal auspices, Swiss citizens covertly aided Jewish refugees and helped quite a number make their way into Switzerland.
5. In devising a plan of Swiss defense, Swiss General Henri Guisan established a well-understood decorum that if Switzerland were invaded that every man was to fight as long as he had ammunition or a bayonet. Surrender was not a viable option.
6. Some 328 modern Swiss fighters including Messerschmitt 109s and 202 C36 bombers were based in the fortified region. Much of the Swiss air force was securely hangered in tunnels and most of the nation's anti-aircraft guns strategically placed. The idea was to maintain air superiority over the southern fortress which could have effectively countered Nazi paratroop infiltration.
7. The Swiss would have thwarted traffic through the St. Gotthard and Simplon tunnels and simply blown them off if necessary. It was readily apparent that the strategic tunnels, roadways connecting to Italy would have been controlled by the Swiss resistance and were susceptible to sabotage if the Axis were to invade.
8. To lessen Swiss dependence upon Germany for food, the Swiss adopted the plan of agronomist Friedrich Wahlen to plant every arable plot of soil in the country, which effectuated an autarkic agricultural policy. Though parts of the nation had rationing during the war, the rations were never below 2,400 calories per day.
9. The Swiss had a near monopoly on the high-tech jewel bearings for aircraft navigation. And even after German embargos, select Swiss manufacturers managed to continue the trade through smugglers and intermediary countries which helped the Allied war effort.
10. Under U.S. statute during the war, a great deal of property including that of Jews in Nazi Germany was requisitioned by the U.S. government. In all reality, the U.S. appropriated way more unclaimed Jewish property than Switzerland. In many cases, unclaimed property was simply escheated to the U.S. of some state government for lack of a will.
Codevilla explains the art of realpolitk, and he credits the Swiss for their shrewd diplomacy and military preparations given their dire circumstances. Codevilla further explains the economic and political warfare that both the Axis and the Allies played against the small alpine country. Switzerland was indeed between a rock and a hard place but made the best of a bad situation and made the best of its geo-strategic situation. The Swiss reacted accordingly by ratcheting up their willingness to resist Nazi strong arm tactics by 1943 and would not submit to their trade demands.
With a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors still living, it is not clear how much of the settlements went to them. Bronfmann's cohorts, writers, and lawyers managed to come ahead though, as well as a rubber-stamp artist that happened to read a book on Swiss gold transactions for a $5,000 fee. The Swiss government made a separate payoff in Europe of $200 million to the WJC. Thereafter, the press told of Holocaust survivors lamenting that no payments were forthcoming. It turns out the WJC only disbursed 10% of those funds received. It had become readily apparent that politically-connected organisations were the chief beneficiaries of this fleecing campaign and the Swiss people were the victims and their honor was impugned. The event led neoconservative columnist Charles Krauthammer to characterise the incident as "the worst of racial hustling and class action opportunism in the United States." Even ADL chair Abe Foxman lamented that the claimants were making "an industry on the memory of the victims." This book carries the endorsement of former CIA chief and Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger. Quite a few historians and no doubt much of the Swiss populace are very much cognizant of the blatant hypocrisy of 'moral complacency' or 'aiding and abetting' accusations coming out of America and bombarded at the Swiss. Given that a substantial number Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany were turned away at American ports and left in limbo at sea, the Swiss can rightly retort Tu que que or as Jesus Christ would say, "first cast the plank out of your own eye before you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
An excellent opposing view to popular ideas.......2003-05-04
An excellent book, made more believeable by polling the recollections of those I know who lived through the WWII period.
A Real Look at Switzerland.......2002-09-06
This is an excellent book for setting straight the misleading publicity Switzerland suffered during the unfortunate turmoil about reparations begun by a well known U.S. Senator. Although his intentions may have been good, the newspapers did a public disservice to a country which during World War II was, besides the U.S., the only other democracy in the world.
Yet another shameful Clinton episode.......2002-08-20
After nearly two centuries of honoring her as a noble "sister republic," the United States suddenly turned on Switzerland in the late 1990s and all but named the Swiss the last surviving remnant of Hitler's Third Reich. Though the episode has largely passed from view today, the stench of "collaborated with the Nazis" still attaches to Switzerland's name in key parts of American media and culture. Angelo M. Codevilla gets to the bottom of this shameful episode in American history, and reveals what was really at stake and who stood to gain from it all.
As Codevilla shows, the anti-Swiss spasm in Congress and the media wasn't generated by any new facts or sudden revelations (despite what then-Senator Al D'Amato claimed at the time), but rather by domestic US political concerns and the Clinton Administration's typical desire to pay off wealthy campaign contributors. I suppose that, as a taxpayer, I should be relieved that for once, the money-grubbers set their sights on someone other than working Americans to be their easy-money cash cow. Like D'Amato, this whole sordid story makes me ashamed of my country -- but not for the same reason he gave.
Codevilla gives us chapter-and-verse of how the Clinton Administration put itself to work supporting campaign contributors' efforts to extort money, not from Swiss banks to give to Holocaust survivors, but rather from Swiss taxpayers to pour into their own tax-exempt foundations. He details the anti-Swiss game plan: dig up old and discredited arguments, rejected policy recommendations, and propaganda from American and Swiss left-wingers; clothe yourself in moral righteousness; wave the bloody shirt (Codevilla quotes one, "I speak to you today on behalf of the Jewish people. With reverence, I also speak to you on behalf of the six million who cannot speak for themselves."); employ sympathetic media and politicians to recycle your theories into "history" and your accusations into "proof;" and then watch the money pour in from the victims of your moral blackmail.
At the same time, this title is a fine work of history, as Codevilla reveals what was really going on in Switzerland during the war. Political, military, and economic strategies are all analyzed, and the reader is drawn into Switzerland's wartime dilemma: how to stand up to evil while at the same time preserving its own freedom. D'Amato and others might have preferred that the Swiss allow themselves to be overrun by the Nazis rather than make the (relatively few) compromises they did in order to keep the wolf on the other side of the door. But certainly, it's easier to argue that today than it was sixty years ago. In all, as Codevilla makes amply clear, Switzerland acted far more honorably in the desperate 1940s than America did in the cushy and comfortable 1990s. We owe the Swiss nation and people an apology.
Shameful.......2002-08-12
BETWEEN THE ALPS AND A HARD PLACE sets the record straight regarding the myth of Swiss collaboration with the Nazis during WWII. The book is crammed full of facts explaining the amazing survival of this small democratic nation surrounded by totalitarian warlords. As an American I am deeply ashamed of the strong-arm extra-legal processes employed by the World Jewish Council, the Clinton Administration, and the Democratic Party to wring 1.2 billion dollars from Swiss banks--nothing short of protection money, or as the Swiss referred to it, a legally required bribe. The one-sided, incomplete, and (bad) coverage of this episode in the American media at the time leaves me with even less faith in their objectivity and competence.
I wish there were someone in Washington with the moral courage to undo this wrong, repay the billions, bring the corrupt American officials to justice, and APOLOGIZE to our long-time most democratic friend, Switzerland.
An entertaining, well written, and highly educational book!
Customer Reviews:
*****!.......2007-09-07
This was an unbelievable story. I just couldnt put it down!
Cara had a lot of problems. Problems she couldnt deal with so she did what many people do. Put up a wall, a front, put her gaurd way way up, how ever you want to say it, she did it.
But Byron manages to pull that wall down and it's amazing!
I dont want to say anything because I want you to read it!
Good read.......2005-09-30
Back cover:
Baby by blackmail! Millionaire tycoon Byron Rockcliffe storms back into Cara's life, even though their marriage is long finished. Knowing that Cara's design business is on the verge of collapse, Byron offers to save her from financial ruin by giving her the contract of a lifetime. Although he says his proposal comes with no strings, there's a catch: he's not just looking for an interior designer to complete his luxury-he wants Cara to furnish him with a baby...
Comments:
This book had a heroine with A LOT of emotional baggage which was the driving force throughout the entire book. Byron swept Cara off her feet in a whirlwind relationship and after a couple of months their relationship/marriage began to fall apart. Cara felt that Byron's family was too involved in their life and then believed that he was having an affair with a close family friend. Rather than come between them she leaves Byron and goes back home to her mother. As it turns out, the root to all of Cara's low self-esteem and low self worth stems from her good for nothing mother. Since day one Cara's mother has blamed her for everything that's gone wrong in her life. She blames Cara for her husband's death and them for the tragic accident that leaves her crippled and dependent. So, up until the time her mother dies Cara has been living a miserable existence. Then enters Byron. He wants a baby and Cara is the person to be the mother of is child. He wants them to remarry and start again. However, the trip to a loving relationship is met with a lot of obstacles. My main problem is that at the end of the book Cara realizes her self worth all of a sudden and let's the past go (Another reviewer stated this also). She never talked about her feelings to anyone so that's why I was a bit confused as to where this surge of self worth came from. But overall, this book takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Pretty good for a new author.
Deeper then your average Presents........2005-09-29
Unlike the other review, I didn't find the heroine Cara whinny, just locker within herself. She was trying hopelessly to not fall apart at the seams and to do that she had to lock herself way from anything that could hurt her. Including the man who loves her.
Byron, comes from an overpoweringly close knit family and can not understand that Cara can not cope with it. He tries hard to make her come out of her shell, unsuccessfully. I agree that the book was too short and could only have been better in a longer story. But in the time alotted I did enjoy the story, felt for the characters, cried with Cara at one point, and then cheered for the ending.
To me that amounts to 4 stars. There was a lot of growth in the characters, even if some of that growth was forced at the end.
Enjoyable quick read.
An OK read.......2005-05-05
First, I like Melanie Milburne, so I was disappointed with this effort. She tries to deal with the effects of emotional abuse, but the heroine just comes across as a whiner. This needed to be a longer book to explore the issue, its effects, and how the heroine overcomes the abuse - not just a blinding epiphany that she needs to grow up and put her past behind her. I couldn't see how the hero had, in a four-month relationship, seen any good side to her - I wanted him to move on and find someone else. Even at the end, MM did not convince me the two had overcome their past and differences and that their future would be a happy ever after.
Average customer rating:
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Blackmail
Penny Jordan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0373630654 |
Customer Reviews:
From the back cover.......2007-02-04
A temporary marriage?
Gilles Chauvigny blackmailed Lee into marriage for no other reason than that he wanted to get rid of his mistress, once and for all. To Lee's relief, like all of Gilles' arrangements with women, would be strictly temporary.
But after the wedding things began to change. Lee soon realized that she'd fallen head over heels in love with her husband. Did she have reason to hope that their temporary marriage could ever turn into a permanent one?
Customer Reviews:
Richly detailed love story!.......2006-06-03
THE MARRIED MISTRESS is a gloriously textured, richly detailed love story. Kate Walker's seductively sensual writing style is woven with vivid images and an emotional intensity that makes it very difficult to put the book down.
A wonderful novel penned by a writer of great skill, THE MARRIED MISTRESS is not to be missed!
~ Leena Hyat, Senior Editor, The Best Reviews
Explosive, Powerful and Very Passionate! Bravo Kate Walker.......2006-03-07
BRAVO, Kate Walker! The Married Mistress was a passionate and intense love story, one I shall remember for a longtime. This story of Damon and Sarah gripped my heart like no other. Each chapter is so compelling, I couldn't put it down. Again, BRAVO!
Its amazing how one little statement from a father can ruin a marriage! Damon's father had one thing in mind, to get some land for his hotels and marry his son off to a friend's daughter. Little did he know that his son while bargaining for this land would fall in-love and marry the lovely Sarah in secret. However, when Damon's father plants in seed in Sarah's mind that Damon has always wanted to marry Eugenia, Sarah leaves Greece and heads for London.
Six months later, Damon is still tormented by his feelings for his wife and goes to London to convince her to return home with him. What he finds when he gets there is explosive. From that moment on, I was trapped and had to read it from beginning to end.
This is such a powerful and explosive love story. Just wonderful, one I'll read over and over again.
BACK COVER:
Gorgeous Greek tycoon Damon Nicolaides is always in the news...so when the paparazzi get a tip-off about his new mistress, they come banging on her door!
Actually, Sarah and Damon were married a year ago! Sarah left him, thinking their marriage was a lie. Now Damon's come back to claim the wife he truly loves. But first he must protect her from the press by pretending that Sarah is merely his mistress...and to do that, he tells her, they'll have to make their love affair real!
Customer Reviews:
bedded by blackmail.......2006-07-24
it was far more interestng than many of the romance stories i have read. the characters were more probable and the interaction of the main characters was intense at times.
2 stars for story + 1 star for the author's talent.......2005-04-13
I broke my sacred rule (if I read 2 bad books by an author I don't read her/him anymore) to give Julia James another chance...She wrote 2 pretty good first novels, then two horrible ones, but I couldn't resist trying the ridiculously titled "Bedded by Blackmail" thanks to the memory of the first two good books. So I broke my sacred rule!
Anyway -- This one is not as terrible as the last two, thank goodness. There's plenty of Harlequin-romance stereotypical behavior and characters...(don't Englishmen ever want to protest about being portrayed as wimpy and sexually clueless in these Harlequin romances?) Yet, there's a slightly deeper subtext Ms. James gives these characters which makes the story enjoyable and a good read.
Portia, the heroine, is a blonde, fragile English flower who's never experienced good sex (characteristics typical of a Harlequin heroine) and Diego, the obligatory Latin multi-millionaire who's the answer to a maiden's prayer (also typical of the Harlequin-formula hero) have a somewhat deeper layer than the superficial gloss. She's been honestly damaged by her only sexual experience with a clumsy English boyfriend into thinking of herself as frigid, avoiding any men who could possibly break that belief; he's been damaged by a childhood in the slums, losing his parents and clawing his way to the top...Well, it sounds corny, and it probably is, but Ms. James makes it work.
I still think Ms. James is a better writer than the Harlequin formula is allowing her to be, so I awarded one star for that. I'm hoping she'll write something really memorable, outside of that box, someday.
Books:
- Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen (Michael Wiese Productions)
- Freddie Mercury
- Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Hole's Human Anatomy & Physiology with OLC Bind-In Card
- Hope Rising: Stories from the Ranch of Rescued Dreams
- How to Talk Jewish
- I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems
- With Pen and Saber: The Letters and Diaries of J.E.B. Stuart's Staff Officers
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching
- Can I Keep My Jersey
- Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges
- Electrical Control for Machines, 6E
- Workers Compensation Insurance Pricing: Current Programs and Proposed Reforms
- Income Distribution: Harwood Fundamentals of Applied Economics
Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life
Why Is It Always About You? : The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism
In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People
Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up's Guide to Getting over Narcissistic Parents
Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry
