The Argentine Lover

STORY BRIEF: Juan is from Argentina. He is cultured and educated. He came to the U.S. to play professional polo for awhile with plans to return to Argentina and marry his fiancée Rosa later. Rennie's father died early and her mother raised her alone without much money. Before Rennie was born, her mother won a silver medal in the Olympics, show jumping with her horse. Rennie learned to ride from her mother. Rennie gets a job as a groom in the stables for Juan's polo team. Rennie and Juan have a physical attraction to each other that they can't seem to avoid. REVIEWER'S OPINION: There was almost "no pondering in the minds" in this story, which is a positive. Action and events moved along at quite a clip. I loved the characters, the self discovery journeys and the loving endings. I learned a lot about the polo community that I didn't know before - very different from other sports. Since the author is married to a professional polo player in real life, I assume the polo information is accurate. I loved Rennie's attitude throughout the story. She was good, sensitive, loving and brave. She fell in love with Juan early on and knew he didn't love her. She hung in there planning to do her best and hoping he would learn to love her. Too many other romance novels have a person loving someone but not pursuing it because they "fear they might get hurt." I usually don't enjoy that type of conflict. I loved that Rennie was brave enough to follow her heart and try anyway even though she was experiencing some hurt. As the story progresses her wonderful qualities start showing. Juan was a reluctant lover. If Juan had been a perfect guy, the story would have been too sweet. But his reluctance and personality gave the relationship some interesting imbalance. Rennie grew up poor and poorly educated. At one point, Juan resented her lack of education. What she did after that caused tears in my eyes. Instead of sulking, she pleasantly surprised me by doing two things. I was also touched by her desire and actions so Juan wouldn't have to spend money on her. I also enjoyed some of the other characters and their actions as well: Arnaud, Marilyn and Rupert. DATA: Story length: 203 pages. Sexual language: strong with rear door activity, ff, and ménage a trios (ffm). Number of sex scenes: 14. Total number of sex scene pages: 35. Setting: current day Palm Beach, Florida, England, France and Wales. Copyright: 2003. Genre: contemporary romance. OTHER BOOKS: To date, I've read the following Samantha Winston books. 5 stars. The Argentine Lover. Copyrt 2003. Review Date: 12/19/08. 4 stars. Darla's Valentine (in anthology Fever-Hot Dreams). Copyrt 2003. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 5/17/08. 4 stars. The Phallas From Dallas (in anthology Lady Jaided's Sexy Smiles). Copyrt 2003. My 2 star review for the anthology was posted 12/20/08. This story was co-authored by Ciarra Sims. 3 stars. My Fair Pixie (in anthology Lady Jaid