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woman hater palmer

Category Romance Review: Woman Hater by Diana Palmer

category romance
Woman Hater by Diana Palmer
Rating: three-stars
Published: 1987
Illustrator: TBD
Imprint or Line: Silhouette Romance #532
Published by: Silhouette
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 188
Format: eBook, Paperback
Buy on: AmazonAbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader


Category Romance Review: Woman Hater by Diana Palmer

SPOILER FREE REVIEW 😊

The Book

Woman Hater (what a title!) by Diana Palmer is a 1987 Silhouette Romance that seems to be typical of the author’s style. The heroine is a young virgin, escaping from a tragic past. The hero is a macho, “alpha-male” who was also burned by the past. He is an unabashed “woman-hater.”

The Plot

Nicole White is a secretary at a prominent Chicago firm. She comes from a well-heeled family from Kentucky, blue-bloods to the core, plus cold and unloving. Her parents’ marriage was unhappy. Her father was a serial adulterer. When Nicole decided to cut contact with her family, her fiance dumped her. Then he got engaged to another prominent heiress, breaking Nicole’s heart in the process.

Distraught, Nicole has now moved to the big city to start over. Currently, her boss is suffering from an ulcer. The doctor recommends relaxation for a month. As he still has business matters to attend to, he requires the services of his secretary. So Nicole accompanies her boss to his family ranch in Montana.

There she meets Winthrop Christopher, her boss’s brother. Winthrop is a hairy-chested, cigarette-smoking cowboy stud who makes the virginal Nicole quiver with desire.

Regardless, he can’t deny his attraction to sweet Nicole. He pursues her even as he spurns her.

Years ago, Winthrop was in a car accident and almost lost his leg. His beautiful girlfriend summarily dumped him rather than deal with a disabled partner. Embittered by the past, Winthrop makes no bones about being a “woman-hater.”

Winthrop doesn’t trust women, and he knows Nicole has secrets. Her great sin? She denies her wealthy roots and lies to Winthrop when he asks her if she’s related to the wealthy Whites of Lexington. Winthrop and Nicole are drawn inexorably together, but when Winthrop discovers Nicole’s “treachery,” he dismisses her as having no honor, like all other women.

Will Winthrop realize that women–Nicole in particular–aren’t to be despised?

He groaned her name as he bent, his mouth so tender, so exquisitely gentle with hers that tears ran hotly down her cheeks. He was the world, and everything in it. She loved him so.

Final Analysis of Woman Hater

Woman Hater was my second foray into the world of Diana Palmer. I appreciated this one more than the other Palmer I read, Nelson’s Brand. The heroes in both books were manly caricatures who thought they ruled the roost. They kept their heroines at arm’s length, even as they lusted after them. Thankfully Winthrop wasn’t as emo as Gene Nelson. I can’t stand a whiny hero. Although Winthrop had his dark moments, overall, an allure about him made him intriguing.

Nicole’s issues with her family come to a head, and she deals with her insecurities. Of course, love wins out in the end. Together Winthrop and Nicole are healed through its power.

I wouldn’t consider Woman Hater exceptional, although it was a solid read. The emotional connection between the main characters was a nice touch. I can see why Palmer has millions of fans, using a tried and true formula that sells.

Rating Report Card
Plot
3
Characters
3.5
Writing
3
Chemistry
3
Fun Factor
3.5
Cover
3
Overall: 3.2

Synopsis:

Everyone in Nicole White’s office knew their boss’s mysterious older brother kept away from women at all costs. After being burned in the past, brooding Winthrop Christopher was now twice shy, to say the least. So when Nicole traveled to Winthrop’s Montana home, she was prepared for a standoffish host…and instead found the most intriguing man she’d ever met.

After his ex-fiancée left him high and dry, Winthrop refused to give any woman the time of day. Despite his determination to keep young Nicki at bay, however, this Montana man unexpectedly found himself desiring love again. Could Winthrop learn to put aside his deep-seated mistrust and learn to love the innocent beauty who stole his heart? 

WOMAN HATER by Diana Palmer
the other woman

Category Romance Review: The Other Woman by Candace Schuler

Synopsis:

THE LATEST FROM THE TABLOIDS… SOAP STAR SNARES MOVIE MOGUL

Tara Charming-TV’s sexiest seductress and star of the new movie The Promise-has hooked her claws into Gage Kingston of the legendary moviemaking family. Insiders reveal the studio is irate that the movie’s behind schedule. . .all because the lovers spend more time in each other’s trailer than on the set!

Is this a match made in Hollywood heaven? A close friend reveals, “Gage vowed to avoid actresses ever since his ex-wife. It’s hard to believe he’s fallen for Tara. She’s got a reputation for doing whatever it takes to get ahead.” Of course, Tara has had her share of heartache, too. Pregnant at seventeen, she was left to cope on her own. But her track record proves she’s no pushover now.

Can these two tinsel-town heartbreakers possibly be in love–or is it mutual use and abuse? Turn to our inside story for the full scoop.

Hollywood Dynasty

THE OTHER WOMAN by CANDACE SCHULER

Reviewed by Blue Falcon

MILD SPOILERS 😉

The Book and Characters

This review is of The Other Woman by Candace Schuler, book #1 in the “Hollywood Dynasty” series. (Harlequin Temptation #451, July 1993).

Series overview: “Hollywood Dynasty” focuses on three siblings, children of a legendary Hollywood couple, as they make their names in the same industry that made their parents famous.

Heroine: Tara Channing, 25. Strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes. Actress.

Hero: Gage Kingston. 30. Dark brown hair, amber eyes. Cinematographer.

The Plot

The Other Woman begins in Montana, on the set of a movie, “The Promise.” A love scene is being filmed featuring two of Hollywood’s top sex symbols, actress Tara Channing, the book’s heroine, and actor Pierce Kingston. Also in attendance is Pierce’s brother, cinematographer Gage Kingston, the hero.

Tara and Gage become lovers, but both are unwilling to share more than their bodies. They later learn, however, that passion without protection has consequences. Gage gets Tara pregnant, and they break up.

In the end, Tara and Gage realize they truly do love each other. Tara has her baby–a son–and gives up her acting career.

She and Gage marry and have their Happily Ever After.

Upside

The best part of The Other Woman for me by far is Tara. Depending on your point of view, she is blessed–or cursed with a Playboy Playmate’s looks and body. Looking like that, however, means that males–I can’t call them men–only view Tara as a sex object. She is, however, a woman of depth and character shaped by her life, which we learn about. Tara is a very easy heroine to like and root for.

Downside

Although Gage is not the actor in the family–his siblings are and were–he is a player here in three parts. In the first part of the book, he is a horn dog. During the second, he is Tara’s lover and an angry man. In the third part, he finally realizes he truly loves Tara and wants her for his wife and forever love. While I understood Gage’s reasons for being a jerk in the first two-thirds of the book, that doesn’t make it okay or him completely likable. Beyond Tara, there isn’t a whole lot of depth.

Sex

A few love scenes between Tara and Gage. They generate some heat, but not an inferno.

Violence

The only violence is “movie violence,” which is described in the book.

Bottom Line on The Other Woman

Readers who like to know what goes on behind the scenes of television and movies and were fans of early 1990s entertainment may find a lot to like here. Still, Candace Schuler’s The Other Woman and the “Hollywood Dynasty” series as a whole may not appeal to readers who don’t fall into those categories.

Locations: A movie set in Montana. Los Angeles, California.

Tropes: Actress. Cinematographer. Movie making

2.84 Stars