Danielle's Reading Adventures

This is a guardian/ward romance, and it's a little twisted, I suppose. I must confess that I always feel a little kinky for liking this book. Oh, well. So this is how the story goes, Dinah came to live with Jason Devrel when her parents die. He sees her grow up, and plans to marry her when she gets old enough. In his mind, she is his. It doesn't even occur to him that she might want to move away and have her own life separate from him. I don't think Jason really realized that he fell in love with her as a child and the natural progression is to marry her as a woman. Dinah has feelings of hero worship and awe for her guardian, and it never occurs to her that he has marriage plans for him. In her mind, he's too far above her. When she has her coming of age party, she overhears women putting her down, and decides she doesn't want to live in the high class world that she doesn't fit in with her bookish nature, awkward looks, and her owl-eyed, glasses-wearing self. Jason comes in when she is packing and is livid that she is going to try to run away. For the first time in their relationship, he loses that cool, withdrawn demeanor that is typical for him. In his mind, she belongs to him. He shows her that physically. And Dinah is pretty traumatized. Afterwards, he feels remorse, but Dinah runs off. The book actually starts a few months after this incident on Halloween night. Jason finds Dinah working in a department store. It turns out he got her pregnant. He convinces her to come back home, and to marry him so that his heir can be legitimate. He promises he will let her go when the baby is born. This romance may not work for everyone. For one thing, it's a little kinky to seduce your guardian. And this book has rape, or forced seduction. It's not horribly done or wince-worthy to read. You really don't see anything, just that vague description that the older books give when there is a sensual moment. Winspear doesn't write like modern writers. There is an old fashioned feel to her writing. The sensuality is very mild, and more suggestive than anything. The relationship develops slowly, and there's that whole paternalistic vibe in Jason's treatment of Dinah.The reason why I like this book is because of the fact that Jason is a cold, withdrawn man who doesn't care about much of anything, but Dinah somehow comes into his lonely life and gives him life and inspires love in him. I really like romances where the hero is the one who's more in love than the heroine. He's not expecting to fall and love, but it hits him like a semi. And I must admit, there is something about the older Harlequin Presents that always gets to me. They are so dramatic and out there. I mean in real life, who has a rich guardian who's going to marry you when you come of age? Who gets a painter to come make a portrait of his wife? Only in the pages of a Harlequin Presents book.It's one of those books where the heroine doesn't fall head over heels first. It takes her a while to realize that she does love Jason, and that love had been hidden in her heart because of their relationship, and also because of the very cold, standoffish demeanor that Jason has. Plus she's holding a grudge that he got her pregnant and now she has to be married to him until the baby is born. At first she isn't too keen on being pregnant, but then she realizes when has a fall that she really does want the baby. In a way, it's kind of refreshing to have a heroine who is reluctant to be a wife and mother. Not all women are instantly maternal and have dreams of happy wifedom.While I don't defend what Jason did, and I thought Dinah was pretty immature and withdrawn, I like reading this book. The thing about fiction is that you don't always agree with what is done or what you read about, but at the same time, you can enjoy a book and get something out of reading it. This is one of those books. For that reason, it is a keeper for me.