Sudden Fire By Elizabeth Oldfield

Summary ´ eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB ☆ Elizabeth Oldfield

This is an older romance novel but I still throughly enjoyed the story. It's part of the Postcards from Europe series and this novel is set in Portugal. A bit of Formula One racing is thrown in as well. Sudden Fire This was a nice, warm and cosy read. As always with Harlequin things sorted themselves out in the end.
This fulfilled one of my books set in Europe for the Armchair Traveller Challenge ! Sudden Fire

Sudden Fire by Elizabeth Oldfield released on Jun 24, 1994 is available now for purchase. Sudden Fire

O in my A-Z romance read-a-thon.

It was fine, but I struggled to really get into it as I hate liars and this book is full of people telling lies, hiding the truth and being altogether deceptive. I just can't cheer for an h who lies about so many things, or joins in with other peoples lies - big lies and casual lies - to make her life easier. No thanks. Sudden Fire Years earlier, Ashley was catching up with her foster brother on the Formula One racing circuit when she met Vitor D’Arcos. Sparks flew, but he had a girlfriend and her foster brother, Simon, was telling everyone that he was dating her, much to her chagrin, so Vitor kinda thought she was taken. But then the passion overflowed between them and Ashley and Vitor make love...and immediately afterwards he tells her he can’t have a relationship. So Ashley, feeling used, says it was nothing and tries to move on. But she turns up pregnant, which Simon figures out (along with who the father is). But then he dies in a fiery racing crash and it’s Vitor who is accusing her of killing Simon, telling him of her pregnancy and his impending fatherhood and causing his concentration to lapse. So, Ashley, heart-broken and having not told Vitor that HE is the father, walks away. 2 years later, Ashley is living in Portugal when Vitor shows up. Ashley panics thinking he’s learned about their son, Thomas, but it turns out he’s interested in buying her land, since he’s now a real estate developer. Vitor does meet Thomas, but still believes he’s Simon’s son. Ashley manages to scoot Vitor out of there (not without getting a kiss), but he shows up again and again, managing to seduce Ashley back into his sphere of influence. But she’s reminded that she still has a huge secret from him and he still believes she was responsible for Simon’s death. Then, he overhears her talking to herself (actually to a sleeping Thomas) and her secret is out. He insists on marriage. But Ashley isn’t so sure she can go through with a sham marriage with a man who doesn’t love her, especially when she’s fallen for him so completely again.

This was actually quite enjoyable, as reading a romance without OTT drama and with some mature, down-to-earth characters. The focus here is on a big misunderstanding (and several little ones) which nobody thinks to get out into the open, but they aren’t over-emotional about any of it. I wasn’t a huge fan of how this starts in the present and then flashes back to what happened in the past and then back to the present again...I maybe would have prefered a chapter or two of what happened in the past and then flash forward to the present. But it wasn’t hard to follow or anything, so whatevs. I really liked Ashley - she was still affected by her attraction to Vitor, but didn’t lose her backbone or anything when he wanted something. I especially love how she put her foot down with the whole marriage thing in order to hash out the misunderstandings between them. Nor is she toxically bitter about how things turned out with Vitor - she has a healthy fear of him finding out about Thomas and what he might do, but she doesn’t hate him (which is evident in the fact that she treats him decently, even though she wants him gone). Ahd the fact that Vitor doesn’t throw out the custody card adn acknowledges that he would never remove his son from his happy situation out of spite, really made me happy (especially after reading one in which the hero is perfectly happy to do just that). I like reading about calm, rational people dealing with their not so calm, sometimes irrational feelings. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy whacktastic train wrecks as well and angst is practically my life-blood in romance, but sometimes you need a lower-angst type of story. This still had a sufficient amount of angst, but not the nerve-wracking kind. These two were a delight to read about.
Sudden Fire My thoughts are pretty much summed up withMaura and Boogenhagen’s reviews. An enjoyable read, especially on a cold winter’s day! Sudden Fire Re Sudden Fire - Elizabeth Oldfield's second contribution to the Postcards From Europe Series is a lovely trip to the beaches of the Algarve in Portugal.

Specifically we are going to hang with the very nice and fairly non-dramatic h in Praia do Carvoeiro (in English that would be the coal merchant's beach.) Since the Algarve has a very long tradition of sea-faring and at one point was the trade crossroads between Africa and Europe, it makes sense that the little town would have a semi-mercantile name. But it sounds so much more interesting in Portuguese.

Actually tho, the h is 27 and English. Prior to the start of the story, she was company director for a big home design firm. She and parents were the only family for several years for a young man whom they fostered after his own family imploded.

Eventually the young man became a Formula One race car driver and he invited the h to come see his races, when she could get the time off work. The h's foster brother never told anyone he worked with on his racing team about his past fostering, so when the h shows up to support him in his new race driver role, the foster brother lets everyone think the h is his girlfriend.

That creates some tension for the h, because the other driver on the racing team is a very Handsome Portuguese Champion Race Driver and the h feels that old Lurve Force Mojo Tingle when their eyes meet when the h is climbing over a fence to find the chocolate vending machine. (Her foster brother forgot he was supposed to take her for lunch.)

The h and H have a lovely lunch together, the h's grandfather has a house in the Lagoa municipality of the Algarve and the h is a frequent visitor and has been for years. So the two of them converse in Portuguese and talk about all manner of things, while trying to ignore the zinging Lurve Mojo Sparks flying between them.

The H actually has a live in girlfriend and of course he believes the h is the foster brother's significant other. The h just thinks the H isn't that interested and the attraction is all on her side. That changes a few months later when the h happens to be in Portugal and the racing team is there too and the foster brother takes the h as his plus one to the H's mother's annual racing lunch.

As HP deus ex machina moves go, the H's matchmaking mum gets him to give the h a ride back to her hotel after the lunch is over. There is car trouble along the way when they run out of gas and as the h and H are walking to the village gas station, it starts to rain.

They wind up in an old barn and while they are waiting for the storm to pass, the two of them managed to create a big love storm of their own. After they both recover their senses and get their wits back on, the H claims that he can't get involved with anything right then.

So the completely overwhelmed h thinks she was a pump and dump and recalling a local legend that the H's mother told her over lunch, she tells the H that the entire fiery passion filled lurve club experience was nothing of consequence. The h goes back to England, wondering why she fell for a latent slime slurper.

(The h was not doing any unicorn grooming in this, she had a boyfriend relationship in college, but that was her only experience.)

The h goes back to her job and some time passes. The h eventually ends up in Australia on business at the same time that the racing team is there and the foster brother is having the press print articles that the h is his girlfriend. The h is angry about that, because she is NOT his girlfriend and she believes the foster brother is doing this out of insecurity.

The foster brother is really, really competitive and he is all out to get one over on the H. Since the H has a model type girlfriend, the h believes that the foster brother is claiming she is his girlfriend because the h is not only beautiful, but a company director and all of this is done by the foster brother to make him appear to be higher on the hot girlfriend social status scale and to hide his childhood family problems.

The h is also pregnant and somehow the foster brother figures it out and figures out who the daddy is. (The h finally admits it, but the foster brother figured it out himself and inquistioned her.) The h goes to the foster brother's race the next day and the young man pulls a risky passing move on the H, wrecks his car and as the H is trying to rescue him, the car bursts into flames and the h's foster brother dies.

The h goes rushing to the foster brother, she doesn't know about the fire after the wreck, and the H is there waiting. He takes the h to his trailer, accuses her of being pregnant and then accuses the h of deliberately telling the foster brother about the baby before the race. The h is trying to follow what the H is saying, but then the H accuses her of being three months pregnant and forcing her foster brother to propose marraige.

The h goes into more shock when the H flat out tells the h that she is a murderer, because her little stork announcement caused her foster brother to lose his concentration and pull a highly risky passing move and that she is the one who caused the young man to die.

The h figures the H has lost his mind and she certainly isn't going to try and sort the situation right then, the H is still bleeding all over the place from his rescue attempt. Besides, it isn't everyday that she gets accused of murder and she can't figure out why her foster brother would claim that the baby was his or that he was going to marry her.

(Later we learn that the foster brother was seekritly in love with the h, tho the h did not return that romantic love.)

So flashback portion of the story over, the book actually opens when the h's son is 15 months old and the h has resigned her company director position, taken up painting custom azulejo tiles - which Portugal is famous for as we see in the Church of São Lourenço in Almancil- and is currently living in her grandfather's old Portuguese farmhouse. She inherited it.

Things are going along peachy keen and the h's son is a maniac for toy cars. He loves big cars and loves to ride in them, the h is sure he is getting that from his father. There are only two dark spots on her horizons. The first is that one of the builders she does custom tiles for is a Norwegian guy who keeps trying to put the moves on the h and she has to keep putting him off without losing his business referrals, which can get a little sticky.

The other is that the land around h's little house was bought by a developer who wants to build a water park. Then the h finds out that the water park developer went bankrupt and the h gets the shock of her life when the new property developer shows up at her house and it is the H.

He retired from racing to devote more time to his construction company and he was not looking for the h at all really. He came to her house because he wants to buy it and make it a club house area for his new housing project. The h doesn't want to sell, but from past experience she knows the H could make her life difficult, so she plays sorta nice and polite while he tries to convince her to sell out to him.

The H keeps showing up to talk to the h in between his tri-continent business trips and the h is surprised by how well he and her son get along. The H also hints that he wouldn't mind getting a lot closer to the h as well, but she believes that he thinks she is a good time girl on the make and so she fights the attraction.

The h knows she needs to tell the H that her son is also his, but she is worried about being in a foreign country and getting into a custody battle with the H, who is now really wealthy and would have a lot more influence with the courts. While she is trying to figure out what to do and how to tell the H, the H overhears her talking to her sleeping son about her dilemma and the cat is out the bag.

The H is angry at first, but then he quickly cools off when the h explains about her foster brother. The H explains that he broke up with his live in girlfriend, who only wanted a meal ticket, the day after he and the h had their purple passion moment.

He also tells the h that he meant that he couldn't sort things out with her during the racing season, not that he had a one and done moment. The H convinces the the h to bring their son to meet his grandma, the H's mum, and he also tells his mother that he and the h are getting married.

The h doesn't want to marry the H and then have to get a divorce a few months later. She knows the H wants to legitimize her child, but the h is still in love with the H and she isn't sure that a marriage and a divorce are the right thing to do.

Over the weekend the H can't keep his hands off the h and she is getting mad about it. Finally she confronts the H about his gropey hands and the H admits that he can't help himself. He loves the h.

Once the H figured out that the foster brother had lied and schemed because he was jealous of the H and that the foster brother caused his own wreck out of sheer competitive drive, he knew that he had totally sunk his own boat with the virtuous h and that he was going to have to be sorta sneaky to win the h back.

So he coerced the h to his mum's house and got her to agree to a fake engagement. But he gave the h his family's 'this is my soulmate' engagement ring and he was never going to give her a divorce. The h is relieved, cause she loves the H back and they have a bliss filled boudoir reunion and plan for a wedding, with a sun-filled life on the Algarve and another baby in a year or two, for the nicely done HEA.

This one was good and pretty low angst even tho it relies on the big misunderstanding trope - the big confusion and obfuscation was very well done. There was a lot of interesting Portugal things and the travelogue was nicely woven in.

Trigger Warning -Scary Spider Alert

The only part I did not like was when the H killed a tarantula who got to close to their son, mainly cause tarantulas are great spiders to have around and eat scorpions and cockroaches.

(Also, if you see one wandering around, it is probably a male and looking for the love of his life. So if you hurt it, you are ruining a poor tarantula's big chance at romance. Just don't pick them up, their bite hurts if they get scared and they can stick little barbs that irritate in your skin, but really they are fairly shy and very helpful in keeping pests down.)

Overall tho, this was a great time on the beach and wandering the Algarve. The H and h were grown-ups and their romance was pretty convincing with a great HEA. So give this one a go when you need a relaxing trip to HPlandia. And do the googles on the places named in the story too, the Algar Seco is absolutely stunning. Sudden Fire A decent enough old HP. Nothing that really stands out though. The hero just missed being an ass and the heroine had a fairly sturdy spine. There was a secret baby with little to no justification. It wasn't particularly angsty. Some of the heroine's dialog came out of the blue. When discussing why she didn't tell the hero about the baby earlier she said that when the hero had found out about the baby he proceeded to hate her. I don't know where she got that idea. He showed no signs of being anything but a bit surprised and a little angry. She hadn't even thought at the time 'gosh he seems to hate me.' Nothing. I think she was just spouting lines that the author felt should be in there 'cuz it was a secret baby. The whole thing was sort of low key. It was about Portugal where I was a foreign exchange student 'lo these many years ago though so that was a plus. Sudden Fire