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Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but lacking the suspense it promised.
Review: Heroine: tall, plump/voluptuous Interior decorator Lacey Holbrook is in trouble, and she's ready to call in an old favor to get out of it. She fully expected the Merlin family to make good on her request for a "suitable" man to assist her, but was stunned to see the heir to the empire himself standing at the door of her trendy L.A. apartment. Jed Merlin had changed. No longer the clean-cut young man she worshipped with adolescent eyes, this shaggy denim-clad stranger hardly seems like the CEO of a major corporation, and certainly not the answer to her predicament! Jed Merlin rang the bell expecting to help out an old family friend, but the cool, collected woman who answered the door was nothing like the little girl he so fondly recalled proposing marriage to him, citing it as a merger between their two family businesses. Irritated with the way Lacey is intent on playing Pygmalion and pigeon-holing him into her idea of an urbane male, Jed sets out to show Lacey what a real man is made out of, turning the voluptuous beauty and her ideals on their ear. What worked for me: I always get a kick out of reading older contemporaries because they are frozen in time. This story has the heroine sporting an easy-care Dorothy Hamill 'do and a silk jumpsuit, which I recall was all the rage way back when the wardrobe on "Charlie's Angels" was considered the cutting edge of chic fashion. Though her appearance was brief, there is a secondary character, a writer of bodice rippers, who provides some tongue-in-cheek humor about the romance genre in general. It's nice to see an author who has a sense of humor about her line of work. I thought Jed was fairly well-drawn for such a short novel, and I definitely could see myself chatting comfortably with him at a party. Size-wise Lacey was heavier than was "in" for L.A. in the late 70s/early 80s, and felt self-conscious about her height around men under 6'. What didn't work for me: I hate to say it, but I really didn't like Lacey. I couldn't break my initial impression of her as a controlling ice-queen because it took her so long to thaw out. The story hinted at Lacey being in danger, but with the exception of one scene the reader never feels it. "Spellbound" just didn't deliver the suspense it seemed to promise. Overall: A solid read, but it may be difficult to track down this older title. Warning, there are some steamy scenes in this story. If you liked "Spellbound" you might also enjoy "His Seductive Revenge", "The Bridesmaid's Reward", "Carried Away", or "His E-mail Order Wife".
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but lacking the suspense it promised.
Review: Heroine: tall, plump/voluptuous Interior decorator Lacey Holbrook is in trouble, and she's ready to call in an old favor to get out of it. She fully expected the Merlin family to make good on her request for a "suitable" man to assist her, but was stunned to see the heir to the empire himself standing at the door of her trendy L.A. apartment. Jed Merlin had changed. No longer the clean-cut young man she worshipped with adolescent eyes, this shaggy denim-clad stranger hardly seems like the CEO of a major corporation, and certainly not the answer to her predicament! Jed Merlin rang the bell expecting to help out an old family friend, but the cool, collected woman who answered the door was nothing like the little girl he so fondly recalled proposing marriage to him, citing it as a merger between their two family businesses. Irritated with the way Lacey is intent on playing Pygmalion and pigeon-holing him into her idea of an urbane male, Jed sets out to show Lacey what a real man is made out of, turning the voluptuous beauty and her ideals on their ear. What worked for me: I always get a kick out of reading older contemporaries because they are frozen in time. This story has the heroine sporting an easy-care Dorothy Hamill 'do and a silk jumpsuit, which I recall was all the rage way back when the wardrobe on "Charlie's Angels" was considered the cutting edge of chic fashion. Though her appearance was brief, there is a secondary character, a writer of bodice rippers, who provides some tongue-in-cheek humor about the romance genre in general. It's nice to see an author who has a sense of humor about her line of work. I thought Jed was fairly well-drawn for such a short novel, and I definitely could see myself chatting comfortably with him at a party. Size-wise Lacey was heavier than was "in" for L.A. in the late 70s/early 80s, and felt self-conscious about her height around men under 6'. What didn't work for me: I hate to say it, but I really didn't like Lacey. I couldn't break my initial impression of her as a controlling ice-queen because it took her so long to thaw out. The story hinted at Lacey being in danger, but with the exception of one scene the reader never feels it. "Spellbound" just didn't deliver the suspense it seemed to promise. Overall: A solid read, but it may be difficult to track down this older title. Warning, there are some steamy scenes in this story. If you liked "Spellbound" you might also enjoy "His Seductive Revenge", "The Bridesmaid's Reward", "Carried Away", or "His E-mail Order Wife".
Rating:
Summary: Hot and steamy romance - published November 1982
Review: Lacey Holbrook has gotten herself into dangerous trouble with a brief affair with a man who appears to be connected with the criminal sector. She schemes to have the man break off the affair when he finds out she has a supposed lover (sent to her by old family friends - the Merlin family who have an outstanding debt owing to her deceased father). But the man who comes to repay the debt is the son Jed Merlin, a man she thought herself in love with at the age of thirteen. Attraction and romance quickly develops between them. Jayne Castle's romance stories have matured from the earlier ones in the series. Her plot line is actually realistic. Although the story line promises romantic suspense, Castle hasn't quite reached the stage in her writing career to develop it. Other than a brief car chase, there is little tension or suspense, and we never meet the criminal man himself. Still the love scenes with Jed are hot and steamy, and Castle keeps the pace racing. A nice page turner.
Rating:
Summary: Hot and steamy romance - published November 1982
Review: Lacey Holbrook has gotten herself into dangerous trouble with a brief affair with a man who appears to be connected with the criminal sector. She schemes to have the man break off the affair when he finds out she has a supposed lover (sent to her by old family friends - the Merlin family who have an outstanding debt owing to her deceased father). But the man who comes to repay the debt is the son Jed Merlin, a man she thought herself in love with at the age of thirteen. Attraction and romance quickly develops between them. Jayne Castle's romance stories have matured from the earlier ones in the series. Her plot line is actually realistic. Although the story line promises romantic suspense, Castle hasn't quite reached the stage in her writing career to develop it. Other than a brief car chase, there is little tension or suspense, and we never meet the criminal man himself. Still the love scenes with Jed are hot and steamy, and Castle keeps the pace racing. A nice page turner.
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