Frustration (Harlequin Presents, 339)

From the back cover: Would the past ruin her future? In the chaotic world of a London television network, Natalie struggled to rebuild her life- and grieved privately over the death of her beloved husband, Angus. When she was promoted to Jake Lang's production team, the whole network buzzed. Jake had hated Natalie ever since an unspeakably humiliating night she tried to forget. But Natalie knew that she was to have any kind of a future, she somehow had to make Jake believe that he was more than just a substitute for Angus. It wouldn't be easy! My Take: Okay as a few other reviewers have mentioned the hero in this book is abusive.He may one of Charlotte Lamb's most abusive heros bar the hero from another book whose tittle I can not remember at the moment. His abusive treatment of the heroine is because she hurt him badly during their first night togeather. Now the heroine's sister was more bossy than abusive. I think Charlotte Lamb was(RIP) one of the best HP writers in addition to Jacqueline Baird and Lynne Graham. I sometimes wonder about the heros in many of the earlier hp books. Many are very violent but the story were very well written in the 70's-80s. I wonder if many women during that time like men who were rough with them as art imatates life. If you like softer alpha types, read Violet Winspear's books as her hero are alpha but not overbearing alpha.

Frustration details Natalie and Jake's courtship. Poor Jake. Poor poor Jake. That Natalie is one cold mean lady. Just over a year since her first husband's death and Natalie is not only stringing along the usual tame boyfriend but is also giving Jake a really tough time. I do not call that being in grief. And as Jake points out Natalie knows exactly what she's doing to him. I mean she could have said 'No' to his job offer and meant it. But of course Natalie much prefers to torture the poor sap. Ah...the privileges of being beautiful. Jake has a fantastic one-liner in this story; 'Thank Angus for the use of his property.....etc' I wish I could write so well. I totally believed in their HEA once Nat got over the guilt of wanting sex again so soon after her first husband's demise. The skill of Ms Lamb is that as you read this novel your sympathies lie entirely with Natalie. (ps the sisters husband is a bit of a dish too) Great writing.

The previous review is excellent and funny in describing these older Harlequin Presents. With that said...I still love reading these older stories! They do have imaginative, often implausible plots, and a Harlequin Presents always delivers pure fantasy escapism with the requisite happy ending. I liked this Charlotte Lamb story for all the reasons that it is now non-PC, like the previous reviewer said. I like the hero domineering (but charming), he always seems to be years older than the virgin heroine and is always rich and a womanizer, and usually drives a Ferrari and is obsessively trying to deny is love for the heroine by being mean to her. Character development and POV of the hero were usually not present in these older Harlequins but there's usually a lot of tension, atmosphere and very inventive plots. Read these older Harlequins written by Charlotte Lamb, Anne Mather and my very favorite-Robyn Donald.

First, a caveat: I think that if today's readers are going to read the Harlequins that Charlotte Lamb wrote in the early 80s, it's important to take many of them with a huge grain of salt and realize that they are pure fantasy and not to be taken seriously in our much more PC world. I have to say that the behavior exhibited in these books by Charlotte Lamb's heroes from this era could have set back the issues of equality by decades. Many of her heroes were borderline psychotics, and no mistake. But--I do think they can be enjoyed for the fantasy and dramatic tension. I was about 15 when I started reading her books, and I think if I had been older and more worldly I doubt I would have found them quite so enthralling. Probably I would have been appalled. My mother knew I read them but assumed they were harmless because they were Harlequins. If she had leafed through "Temptation," for example, she would have been utterly horrified. :) In the more extreme books, Charlotte's heroes abducted the heroines, raped them, mentally tortured them, sexually harassed them, suffered from near-crazy levels of jealousy, were often 15-20 years older (and when the heroine is only 17 or 18 that's significant!)--stuff that will not fly in a sane world at all. But she sure could tell a great dramatic story with loads of sexual tension. I never read any of her books past the late 80s, and only one of her non-Harlequin novels. I never cared for the ones written after her publishers started making her write in a more PC fashion, because that incredible drama was just gone. I don't think that anyone could say Charlotte was a great writer, because she spent too much time describing the character traits of her protagonists rather than letting the action do the storytelling. But the sexual drama and tension...whew."Frustration" is one of the first Charlotte Lambs I ever read. The premise is that Natalie's husband has died, and she has gone to work at a British TV network as a secretary (most of Charlotte's heroines from that era were secretaries, alas). She goes to a party, where she meets a man who looks like her dead husband. She takes him home, fantasizing that he is her husband, and almost makes love with him. But she snaps out of it, and sends him away. Who does he turn out to be but an executive at the network! He engineers her transfer into his office, and sexually harrasses her until she realizes she is in love with him. His rotten behavior stems from his deep, dark and stormy love for her. I know, I know...but take with HUGE grain of salt, understand that in real life such behavior is not only illegal but very crazy, and it works. Just remember it's fantasy, kids.