No Gentle Possession by Anne Mather
Rating: 
Published: 1974
Illustrator: Don Sinclair
Imprint or Line: Harlequin Presents #105
Published by: Harlequin
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 188
Format: eBook
Buy on: Amazon, AbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader
The Book
Anne Mather‘s No Gentle Possession consists of two plot points she’s employed many times: the tropes of separated lovers and the hero and heroine cheating on their spouses/partners to be together.
The Plot
Well, in this book, it wasn’t so much a case of separated lovers as two people who briefly dated in the past. The heroine broke it off with the hero when she thought his relationship with his young stepmother was a bit too close for comfort and creepy.
Karen Sinclair likes her life just how it is. She has a job and a boyfriend and lives in a nice little town. Sure she’s not wealthy like some other families in town, but she’s happy. What more could she ask for?
To her shock, she bumps into Alexis Whitney, who is from a well-heeled family. She’d been involved with him years earlier and never forgot him. For Alexis, however, their relationship hadn’t been significant (they didn’t have sex), so he doesn’t even remember Karen at all.
Karen’s pride is a bit wounded, although she tries to put on a brave face. While Alexis may not recall their time together, he seeks to remedy that by starting a new relationship. So he begins pursuit of Karen, which baffles and insults her while intriguing her at the same time.
But she has that steady boyfriend who’s a better suit for her than the love-them-and-leave-them type.
Besides, Alexis’s stepmother is still in the picture and still seems to have an unseemingly interest in him.
Nevertheless, Alexis always seems to be wherever she goes, and soon enough, Karen is having those old feelings for him. Despite her commitment to her current boyfriend, she finds it hard to resist Alexis’s aggressive passes at her.
I sort of wanted to give Karen a good kick in the rear to get her to wake up; she’s so inconsistent in her feelings. Even so, I like Alexis as a hero. He was an arrogant douchebag, but an arrogant douchebag with style and charisma.
Ivory Soap Fun Fact
No Gentle Possession was—like many other Harlequins—offered free with the purchase of dish detergent. Advertising during the glory days of the great soap opera and romance novels era was innovatively creative.
Anne Mather must have been the bomb back in the 1970s and early 1980s. Her books were often reprinted to great success.
One of her Harlequins, Leopard in the Snow, was made into a movie starring Mr. 2001 Space Odyssey cutie, Keir Dullea. Despite being a box-office failure, the fact this little category romance had various runs before being adapted by a film studio and made into a major motion picture was not to be forgotten by Hollywood.
Final Analysis of No Gentle Possession
Anne Mather was one of Harlequin Presents most popular authors, especially in the line’s early years. Her books rarely ever disappointed.
No Gentle Possession is a good oldie romance. There are a few loose ends with the stepmother, and the conclusion is a bit abrupt, but all in all, I liked this one.
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| Overall: | 3.9 |
Synopsis
Karen Sinclair was deeply ashamed of her brief, inglorious love affair with Alexis Whitney seven years earlier. Since then she’d settled down—with an interesting job and a steady boyfriend.
Everything was so calm and pleasant that when Alexis unexpectedly came back into her life, Karen was shocked to realize she still found him disturbingly attractive.
But Alexis hadn’t been the least bit interested in marraige all those years ago. And with his beautiful stepmother, Michelle, around, why should he be interested now…?
No Gentle Possession by Anne Mather