Amita4ever's manga / #BEST(66)

This was a pretty good story. We have memory loss on top of a lot of the standard fair - corrupt relatives, assumptions, distrust, manipulation, hard feelings, secrets ( in this case, not just a hidden past, but whole secret lives and a marriage), and such (although we skipped the rival love interest), but none of them are overplayed. Instead there is just enough to keep the story tense and moving without bogging it down. Another thing I can appreciate is the baby was sired in wedlock, even if the hero doesn't remember. I thought it was a good story.

It was a well drawn, well told story up until we got a bed instead of a wedding. I gave it a 4 because it didn't let me down until, literally, the last few pages, but I would have loved it more if he had arranged for her to be brought to the chapel instead of the cottage.

This is one, strong, single-minded woman! Wow! There really isnt a lot of romance here - it's more like after his initial attraction, she makes herself unforgettable through sheer defiance. And I'm still not completely sure when she fell in love. Clearly there is attraction and it's very clear she respects him, but love? Obviously it flips at some point. I'm thinking when she learns her father's fate, she can finally stop fighting herself. The other thing I'm not sure about is how to judge the bed before vows. I don't like it, but its harder to condemn when dealing with the king of another culture who, we find out, has already decided you're his wife, even if he hasn't got around to telling you. In general, I enjoyed the story, even if it was drier than some, and I loved the art.

I really like this one. There are a few rough spots where things that could have been explained a bit better (I would like to think the letter had something to do with resolving the trust issue, but it doesn't say so) and the artist could have been consistent (thigh or leg? Make up your mind!), but overall, I thought it was a good one.

I was rather surprised. This is an outright honest-to-goodness, realistic romance. There are certain challenges real marriages hit. Certain years and certain life events can be triggers. Kids are a big one! The woman's body changes, rarely for the better. The parents get busy spending time with the kids and less time with each other. The guy may feel the need to provide more, after all, there are more mouths to feed and may start putting in a few more hours here and there. Mom, if she stays at home dealing with the kids all day, can become starved for grown-up conversation Dad may be too tired to provide when he comes home. Or if she works, Mom may still be responsible for a good number of the household chores like cooking and laundry on top of her job. Days can just get really full when kids are involved. The consequence is relationships that were once deliberate are easily taken for granted in the day to day flow of status quo, and guys are especially bad about not noticing it is happening. It's not that they don't care, it's just their needs are pretty basic. They get their satisfaction from providing for their family and making love to their wife, and if he's doing these two things, a man will generally feel like he's succeeding. The woman, on the other hand, is a primarily emotional being and needs to talk, connect, feel loved, and supported. Trouble is because it's foreign to his hardwiring, the man doesn't even notice something's missing from her point of view - just like the guy in this story! And when that starts to slide, the wife often starts to feel insecure - just like the gal in this story. That's real life and that's why I liked this story. It was so very nice to see very real-life problems come to a believably real-life happy ending, especially in this genre that is usually filled with the outrageous and the ridiculous.

For a story centered on bed before vows, it was actually pretty nice. The heroine inspires the hero to move beyond a real dark spot (rather literal) in his life, and when she finds out she's pregnant, he steps up to do the right thing and returns the favor. It's pretty sweet. There was one episode of the 'other woman' having her say, which exacerbates the heroine's shaky self-image, but unlike many Harlequin heroines, she finds her courage and doesn't run, even when her situation goes from questionable (in her mind) to worse. But the hero pulls through with statements of love to make most any woman envious. I really did like it, despite it using one of my least favorite plot devices.

I love the art and the story was heartwarming. The only thing that would have improved it for me was if they had waited. To a degree, I suppose it could be argued that it’s hard to apply real life statistics, which say bed before vows increases a marriages chances of failing, to contractual marriages of convenience since love and emotions are not at the foundation of the commitment, but I still think it wiser to wait. That being said, when did real life statistics have ANYTHING to do with Harlequins.

ONE SHOT- The story was cute, but the artist needs to brush up on the American military man. No member of any service would have hair like that while on active duty, and that uniform at the end was an utter disgrace.

SUMMARY: Shortly after signing a contract to exchange her record label for a hotel, April, a famous Jazz singer, is in a violent car crash. The driver, Jessie, with whom she had made the exchange, was killed. The other casualty was her memory, and now Jessie's brother, Seth, has arrived to contest the exchange. Not knowing why she traded away her label, she stubbornly refuses to trade it back until her memory returns, so asks Seth to take her to the hotel in hopes it might jog her memory. That is something Jessie's handsome brother is quite willing to do.

This has to be one of the best Harlequin I ever read. If you're one of those that likes the convoluted drama of OM /OW /manipulating families/ relationship wrecking misunderstandings and such, this one might not be for you, but if you like a straight forward romance of a man and a woman being thrown together by circumstances and developing a strong, lasting bond, then you should like this one. And best yet, this bond is not based on BBV (Bed Before Vows). Even better, the heroine knows WHY she doesn't want a marriage starting with BBV, and the hero, in spite of having been a playboy, respects/ loves her enough to honor her choice! (I wonder if there is a story out there where the desire to wait is two-sided?. It’d be nice if the hero weren’t always playboys. Contrary to Harlequin opinion, guys CAN control themselves) This is a marriage with a high likelihood of success, even based on RL statistics! We need more romances like this.