| Title | : | The Blackmail Baby |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0373122470 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780373122479 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 192 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 2002 |
He was her deceased father's business partner, and she had loved him all her life. But shortly after the wedding ceremony, Imogen uncovered a truth about Dracco that sent her fleeing…all the way to Rio de Janeiro!
Four years later Imogen needed money. Badly. But when she returned to Dracco's London home, she received an offer that was nothing less than shocking. Dracco would pay her one million pounds to stay and be his wife…and another million if she agreed to have his baby! On the surface, Imogen seemed to be getting what she wanted— the money she urgently needed, a family she longed for and the man she desperately loved. But at what cost?
The Blackmail Baby Reviews
-
May/December, runaway bride, epic series of misunderstandings that hinge on the way a question and answer were worded right after their wedding ceremony.
Now, four years later, the h is back and wanting her inheritance so she can give it away to the orphans in Rio. She has been living there and helping the nuns while she licked her wounds. The hero sees his chance for reconciliation and blackmails her into baby-making for 2 million pounds to be given directly to the nuns.
Heroine agrees. They move into her childhood home and begin a physical relationship. Since we get the hero's point of view we understand why he isn't confident that this is the path to winning the h's love. The heroine has problems of her own. The evil stepmother is still around insinuating she's having an affair with the hero.
When the heroine finally gets around to telling the hero what lies the step mother told on their wedding day, the hero has to rush off to save the orphanage land from speculators and doesn't stick around to clear up the heroine's misinformation. Taking his lack of denial as confirmation, the pregnant heroine bolts for the airport.
Hero realizes his tactical error when he returns home and finds it empty. Heroine changes her mind when she sees a child saying goodbye to her father at the airport and realizes she doesn't want to do that to her child. They finally clear up the misunderstandings. HEA.
Just a nice PJ story. The hero was besotted and the heroine too young and naive to see it. I was glad she elected to do something with her life and help others when she left the hero.
PJ checklist:
Sponging - 0
Quivering - 0
Fainting - 1 -
Another classic by the flawless Penny Jordan. New Harlequin *debut authors cough cough* could take a lesson from her.
Imogen is a naive innocent teenager. She has a huge crush on her father's protégé Dracco. She is pining for him, she worships and adores him.What she doesn't know is that Dracco adores her as well. He knows he can't have her cause she is so young but he can't stop loving her. Plus Imogen's father makes him promise to keep this love a secret until Imogen matures and is ready for a relationship.
When she is 18 her father dies and Dracco proposes marriage as the only way to protect her and her inheritance. On the day of her wedding her liar scheming stepmother Lisa tells her that she and Dracco are having an affair. Our naive heroine believes her and runs away to Rio.
Four years later heroine, who is a now a charity worker and works with nuns, wants her inheritance back so as to donate it to a charity for street children in Rio. Dracco is willing to give her the money but only if she agrees to remain his wife and have his baby. Imogen accepts but things get complicated when her evil stepmother is back to seduce Dracco and Imogen finds out she is pregnant.
Wonderful love story. I adored both characters. Heroine has old fashioned values and she is a dreamer. She never stopped loving her husband and she can't let him go. Hero is also smitten and obsessed with Imogen. There isn't anything he wouldn't do for her! And guess what both H/h respect their marriage vows and they actually remain faithful to each other. Groundbreaking!
Loved the epilogue and Dracco's gift to baby Alexander. He has a heart of gold and so does the heroine! Heartwarming romance! -
Re The Blackmail Baby - Penny Jordan brings us a huge misunderstanding causes newlywed bride to run out on her wedding day, leaving her H to wonder about things.
PJ uses the classic Evil Stepmother OW trope here. The Evil Bovine Snot Tart OW tells the h that she and the H have been lurvin' it up and the h is only being wed for her inheritance - the ESOW claims the H loves someone else.
Four years on, the h needs her inheritance money to support an orphanage and the H will give it to her if she will come back and be his baby mama/wife.
The h still thinks the H is in love with her evil stepmum, but really he is still seekritly in love with her. PJ Drama and Pining happens, along with the usual lurve club mojo purple passion explosions.
Eventually the h gets preggers, the evil stepmom is sent off to meet elderly pet food billionaires and the H finally gets around to declaring his True Love for the big HEA.
So this is the usual day at the PJ HPlandia office and for the most part, it is an okay HP outing. -
Okay thtis story made me want to scream. The heroine is such an idiot and believed her evil stepmother and ran away on the day of her wedding. She was gone two years living in a convent and I felt so sorry for the H. I don't say that very much but he really deserved better. He loved her so much he waited for her to come back and watched over her from afar. When she came back, his loving personality went into hibernation and he became Dr. Jekyll, or wait is that Mr. Hyde? Whatever it was it sucked big time. Instead of commnicating with her and telling her how much he loved her, he blackmailed her into having a baby with him. At this point, I was ready to throw the Kindle and just dnf it but I persisted. And then after they make love and she declares her love for him, Mr. Hyde, or wait is that Dr. Jekyll, tells her it was just sex and not love. OMG. I was like where did that come from? It just went down hill from then on. At page 171 I realized they were both total morons. When the almost explanation was happening he gets a call and leaves saying we will talk and then it takes 17 more pages (because Harlequin Present Paperbacks are always around 188 pages of course) for us to get the HEA and the final explanation. Of course she is pregnant and they all live Happily Ever After. I just hope the baby isn't in the parents end of the gene pool. What idiots they were!!!! I gave it two stars because he was celibate and they mentioned a convent. I love those things.
-
Rating: 2 stars
Not one of PJ's best efforts. The h was weak-minded, naive and childish and under no circumstances could I understand what the H saw in her. One of those types when things go wrong, her first reaction is to run away and not talk it out. In very Lynne Graham fashion, there's a vile relative doubling as an OW throwing shade all over the possible romance between the H and the h. Why the h willingly believes a woman who never liked her is beyond me. Of course, the angst that ensues is rife with misunderstandings galore that become tiresome. Finally, the reason why the H "woos" the h into coming back after she stupidly runs away on her wedding day (why not run away BEFORE the wedding?) is lamer than a duck a la orange post-Christmas. The H should not have allowed a dead man to ruin his life. Or just told the h to grow up and the OW that if she didn't leave him and his wife alone, he was going to file harassment charges and use that to cut her off.
I forced my way to the ending, got through it and was glad to be done. Hence, the reason it took so long for me to finish. Can't say if this one had potential to be improved or what. -
I enjoyed this but thought the reason for the original misunderstanding, and therefore the main conflict, was a bit flimsy.
Imogene's missing-a-gene actions on the day of her wedding seemed irresponsible and, well, dumb considering the circumstances (I still liked her overall though).
As for Dracco he was great. A smitten hero is a wonderful hero! -
Dracco is definitely the sweetest character. He will give some breathing space to Imogen to grow up and understand his feelings.
He definitely has made many mistakes but they don't compare to Imogen's naivety.
All the misunderstanding will be clear in the end when a baby is already on his way. -
The Blackmail Baby is your typical read where both the hero and the heroine are in love with each other but are too afraid to say it. But in this book, it's pretty much understandable, especially on the hero's side. Dracco was a lot older than Imogen. And he also promised his mentor and Imo's father that he would wait for her to be ready and that his feelings would never change, no matter how long it took. And it took him four long, lonely years.
Draco's swoon-worthy hero. He's a perfect combination of alpha and domineering and sweet and protective. He's willing to do anything to have her in his life, even if it means blackmailing her. And as for our heroine, Imo, I couldn't blame her for running away after thinking that Dracco loves another woman and that he's only marrying her for financial gain. I guess they needed the time to be away from each other, especially Imogen. She needs to grow up first and experience life.
Seeing these two trying to give their marriage a second chance, despite all the drama, was truly a wonderful and satisfying read. -
Very emotional, it made cry a lot. I need to reread it ;)
-
Couldn’t be stuffed making a new shelf.
Hero was insanely sweet. Then he wasn’t.
How do they make millions while sharing one brain cell with other dense billionaires is a mystery yet to be solved. Poirot was born in the wrong century. -
Perhaps unpopular opinion but can’t rate it higher than two stars. The story was very comfort-reading genre but the book didn’t deliver it that way. I felt I was on a wild goose chase. The misunderstandings piled up so much that if it was real life and I knew the h or H, I’d possibly shoot them.
Do people really let life pass by with such a HUGE elephant standing in the middle of their lives..? I wonder if such nuisance also contributes to the divorce ratio. If the writer was perhaps talking about a time when you used a telegram, then I’d be more accepting of this plot.
The h has been carrying young teenage love for her father’s protege/business partner for a long time. The father suddenly passes away and said man, the H, proposes marriage to the h to keep an eye on her. And then, in the middle of all this, the h runs away. Given that her father had asked of the H to not woo her until she’s old enough, I fail to see how this runaway bride managed to survive on her own in a new country where she didn’t even know the local language.
What follows is a smorgasbord of accumulating assumptions because in this book, NO ONE IS EVEN CLARIFYING ANYTHING TO ANYONE. They start a conversation where the other person shuts up and shuns the person talking. The end result: nobody knows the truth and no one even stops to talk about it FOR A MINUTE.
I could scream bloody murder and it still wouldn’t calm my frustration. A bunch of fools the h and the H to let years go by without following up on each other on why who did what. Guess I don’t make sense anymore. Just like the book I read! Spare yourself this trouble imo.
I also felt the H was a beta. Ima only mostly just like alphas. -
“The Blackmail Baby” is the story of Imogen and Dracco.
So, the trope is
-A super naive and tstl heroine
-An angry and dominant hero
-Crazy stepmother
And I think you can guess the rest of the plot?
I mean why do I torture myself with the Harlequins, only my psychiatrists knows- but they are my guilty pleasure even though most ones like these give me heartburn.
rant
Who listens to bitch of a stepmother and runs away from love of their life? Who says I’m mad about you but the minute the heroine asks, oh no it’s just sex? WHY WAS EVERYONE LISTENING TO LISA THE EVIL CRAZY BITCH? Why is nobody behaving like an adult?
That being said, I give this the stars because
1. Dual POV
2. Hero in love
3. They respected their marriage vows during separation
Safe
1.5/5 -
Meh. The misunderstanding that the whole book was based on was just silly.
-
Wow what an awesome story. He was jealous and loving. I can't believe she could not tell he was crazy about her. Come on did he have to wear a sign? Sweet and loving.
-
I have enjoyed all books i read by Penny Jordan,but "Falcon`s Prey" and "Shadow Marriage" are my all time favourites by her because they have the powerful epic element of romance...
whilst "The Blackmail Baby" missed it.
But i love the romance in this one and the strong characters.Imogen and Dracco are both strong-willed characters who both love each other with a passion,while also hiding it throughout the story.
'You know why, I had promised your father, and I agreed with everything he had said. You were too young. I knew for your own sake I had to let you go. Not that I ever really did,' he admitted. 'I kept tabs on you the whole time you were in Rio, and when you came back---'
'You rejected me when I tried to tell you I loved you,' Imogen interrupted him sadly.
'Imo, I hated myself for the way I'd forced you into my bed, and because I wanted so much more from you than just sex. Too much more,' he groaned. 'Everything, all of you, just as I wanted you to accept and love all of me.'
The sexual tension is all around between them,but i so wish Imogen hadn`t misunderstood him on their wedding day four years ago.Dracco doesn`t behave cruelly towards the heroine like most PJ heroes are,he did blackmail her,but all he was doing was to fight for her,and make her love him.
They undenyably loved each other and i was so happy when ALL the misunderstandings were finally cleared and they had their HEA! -
3.75 Stars
-
Possibly her worst book. I mean it's so ridiculous even I can't forgive it.
-
A Penny Jordan classic that I read ages ago. Upon re-reading I realized that I could sum up this book in one word "angst".
Imogen and Dracco have loved each other for ever. But due to a misunderstanding and a promise Dracco made to her father, they each believed that the other did not love them.
Four years and a lot of angst later, a simple conversation between them clears up all the misunderstanding and brings the truth to light.
A great, painful story whose moral is that couples should communicate with each other!!!
Thank you Penny Jordan for that wonderful life lesson and you are missed. -
قلب فوق البركان / بيني جوردان
مليونا جنيه لتعود إلى حياته وتنجب له طفلاً. كان حلم حياة ايموجين منذ أربع سنوات أن تصبح عروس دراكو بارينغتين، ولكن صدمة صاعقة في يوم زفافها غيرت كل شيء.. فهربت من الكنيسة.. ومن حياة عريسها!
لم تكن تريد أن تراه نهائياً، ولكنها بعد أربع سنوات احتاجت إلي المال، فلجأت ايموجين إلى زوجها البالغ الثراء... وكان الإذلال الذي أخضعها له دراكو فوق تصورها: لقد عرض عليها مليون جنيه إذا عادت إليه، ومليوناً آخر إذا ولدت له طفلاً! -
Within the first few pages of this book, my expression changed from -_- to m(_ _)m and I slowly sank through the floor into HELL the more I progressed through the story.
I can't find a single redeeming thing to say about this book.
It was terrible. -
great love story from the great penny Jordan.
-
I adore the work of Penny Jordan, but even I'm willing to admit she had her off moments, and this offering from 2002 was clearly written in one of them.
The premise is as follows: Imogen - our heroine - is getting married to Dracco, her father's junior partner, upon the death of her father. However, her jealous step-mother tells Imogen that she's having an affair with Dracco and he is only marrying her for the controlling interest in the company. Imogen, who spends most of the novel providing the reader with incontrovertible proof that she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, believes her and runs away from her own wedding. However, she does this (& this is an important point to note) after she has married Dracco and secured him. She really is that manipulative.
After spending four years in Rio working with street orphans, Imo decides to return to get her inheritance back. Dracco bribes her into staying with him by the promise of £1m when she sleeps with him and £1m when she has his baby for the shelter in Rio. Yes, it's bonkers and anyone else would have said "no thanks, I'll go and do a stint with a collection tin instead", but not Imogen - it's pretty clear by this point that she wants him for herself and so she agrees to the deal. Imogen and Dracco from thereon spend the entire novel manipulating each other, openly lying to each other (& themselves) and making each other miserable. Their motivations are so dubious that Jordan is forced to do something she hardly ever did and write an extended section from the hero's point of view, just to try and excuse his awful behaviour in the eyes of the reader. Her portrayal of Imogen seems flawed - it's obvious she's lying to herself and Dracco, but Jordan (uncharacteristically) doesn't do it that well on this occasion and the heroine ends up being just unlikeable and charmless.
The thing wouldn't be so painful to read if Imogen wasn't such a dozy cow and Dracco didn't spend his entire time running around after her (I'm not sure how he has achieved such immense wealth, as she is very demanding!)
Anyway, it's a Mills and Boon, so there's a happy ending on the cards - if you call poor old Dracco being stuck with Imogen and multiple offspring a happy ending. After spending 184 pages with her foolishness, I did wonder. -
The woman is stupid and gullible and naive (as in most Harlequin novels).
The man is a dream come true. He has been there for her for years. He has bought her parental home as a wedding gift to her. He does not even get a “Thank you” from the woman. He has stood by her when she was younger.
The man is smitten. He gets jealous when the woman hugs a restaurant owner she has known for years.
The woman says mean things to him like she will never ever feel desire for him. She only believes what her evil stepmother has said about him. Her stepmother has always been mean to her and he has always been good to her. She is so stupid.
She left him at the wedding day because she believed what her stepmother said. She never confronted him, she gave him the chance to give an explanation for what her stepmother had said.
And even after 4 years when she comes back, he still knows all about her favourite foods and all her anxieties and everything. He takes her to her favourite Italian restaurant.
Men like this man are the reason why women like me read Harlequin. He deserves a better woman. -
I read it in both English and Arabic and I liked it better in English because it showed the emotions in their fullest.
Imogen married Draco out of love, but discovered he married her for money and so she ran away. He later locates her and demands she gives him a child!
The reader is left with no doubt of their mutual love for each other from the way they reach. It's intense and full of heart felt moments. A recommended read. -
The misunderstanding was too unbelievable. Yes, the age difference was a little creepy but she went from being obsessed with him to abandoning him outside the church and didnt stop to break any windows or burn any clothes on her way out the door. Then she comes back and seems oblivious to how inane their breakup us for most of the book is before she's overcome by her aching breasts. LOL. I read it because I couldnt stop 🤣
-
2.5 stars⭐️⭐️😩 I was very disappointed in this book mainly because all the potential angst was taken away due to the H's POV and internal dialogue!! I then noticed the copyright was 2002 and it made sense. There was also the "squick" factor of falling in love with her when she was 15. I basically skimmed most of the book.
-
Susposedly the couple loved each other before marriage? When? Where? We got none of that. What about the psycho stepmother? What made her awful? What was her reasoning for being a lying bitch? What punishment did she receive? None. Grrr. Book is frustrating.
