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77 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fairy tale of corporate takeovers & romance - Howard style, August 18, 2003
This is a fairy tale contemporary romance novel. It is a story of a secretary who has a "dream man" enter her life demanding a relationship with her. It seems too good to believe and the heroine fights her attraction to this unlikely admirer. Her second sense turns out to be right - he does just use her - but he has fallen for her in the process and will not lose her. Max Conroy is a striking, rich, very sexy, and handsome man with English nobility heritage living in the States. He works for a conglomerate, Spencer-Nyle, and his specialty is corporate takeovers. As the corporate giant plans it's next takeover, Bronson Alloys of Houston, Texas, they discuss possible hidden assets in Bronson that could impede the planned buyout. In an attempt to discover these possible assets, Spencer-Nyle sends Max Conroy to Houston for some undercover work. He is to meet Claire Westerbrook, the secretary to the president of Bronson Alloys, and charm her, date her, obtain her trust, and ascertain the inside knowledge needed to prepare the conglomerate for Bronson's buyout. You see - Claire is considered the weak link in the company. Clair Westerbrook is a beautiful and very pleasant woman who doesn't see herself as such. Five years earlier, she had suffered through a painful divorce from her wealthy, handsome husband, Jeff. Jeff had not been faithful to Claire and left her for another woman. The past five years Claire has built walls of protection around her soul and heart. She has not dated and has schooled herself well in hiding her emotions. She carries a very cool look in her eyes now that gives away nothing - she becomes distant and icy should someone attempt to discover her inner thoughts. It is this woman that Max meets, within the first few pages of the book, at a party he discovered she would attend. Max is the type of guy that ladies love and he has never failed at winning a woman he wants. He is convinced that he can easily strike up a relationship with Claire. After all - he believes she is kind and fairly naive. But she is not stupid. She knows Max's type - she was once married to a man like him - and wants nothing to do with Max. He quickly discovers that she will not warm to him. Her cool stare and his inability to read her really annoys him. But she has access to all Max Conroy wants to uncover and Max is determined to not fail in obtaining this information. He disregards her attempts to ignore and snub him and he begins to move in closer. Over the next few days, Max and Claire play a game in which Max pursues Claire and Claire attempts to refuse him. She just doesn't trust him. Why would such a handsome, classy guy relentlessly pursue her? This is romance writing and therefore we know that Max and Claire eventually get together. Innocently and certainly unknowingly, Claire provides Max with the information he seeks. What follows afterwards is the meat of the book. Claire is broken hearted and immensely disillusioned as she discovers Max has used her. However, the joke is on Max. He has fallen for Claire and is determined to work out this little (hah!) problem between them.
Almost Forever is a story about a romance between Max and Claire. Max has certainly lived a charmed life. He has pretty much gotten what he wanted in life until Claire discovers his deception. She is much stronger than Max anticipated and he has some major groveling to do. There are only two or three sensual scenes but are true to Linda Howard's style and rate about a 4.0 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). Even with Claire's protestations and Max's manipulations, the two shared some intense chemistry for one another throughout most of the book. Although this is not the best Linda Howard book I have read, it certainly was enjoyable and satisfying. As is also typical of Howard?s writing, Max is a very alpha hero and Claire is a pleasant heroine who is not shy of confrontation. It is light reading and as mentioned before - has a fairy tale ending. Sometimes it is nice to just sit down and read a book that will delight you and make you wish there were a few more fairy tales in life.
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65 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I am starting to doubt amazon reviewers, November 20, 2005
I get so frustrated when I base my choice of purchase on Amazon's public reviews and it ends up completely the opposite of what the reviews reflected-especially when it comes to romance novels. Most of my orders on Amazon have been 80% romance novels and frankly I am starting to doubt if these reviewers know what constitutes as a bad, good, or an incredible romance story.
This was an incredible romance story and the best Linda Howard I have read so far (I have not read all of them but I have read a lot of her books).
I am an old-fashioned romance fan: I love a deep, heart-wrenching story that clings with you for a long time and makes you want to read the book again and again; I want deep, complex, and real characters with real human problems that plague the opposite sexes into heart stopping moments of intense emotions. I melt with hot and steamy sex scenes that add to the layers of complexity to the hero and heroine's turmoil and joy. And I feel Howard gave me that in Almost Forever and more.
Other than Judith Mcnaught's novels, I hardly ever get that heart-aching feeling every time the hero and heroine come into contact with each other- verbally, mentally, physically, or emotionally. However, Howard succeeded in doing exactly that in this novel and I really cannot ask for anything more.
I get so tired from these crazy so-called romances that are inundated by pathetic suspense story lines, laugh-out-loud antics that diminish the romance so completely you become more interested in the comedy, side characters that become more interesting than the main characters or become frustrated in reading these unimportant characters in the first place, gratuitous sex scenes to fill the pages or hardly enough sex scenes that leave you irritated; and most of all I am tired of dungeons and dragons, witches and warlocks, vampires and immortals, aliens and alien planets....you get my point.
If you share my opinion, pick up this book and do not bother with the paltry review this wonderful novel undeservedly received. The plot is pretty simple: Max is hired as an undercover "spy" from the company he works for in order to find out if the small business company they are interested in taking over is being threatened by a foreign take-over. Claire happens to be the boss's secretary in that small company and Max is assigned to get to know her in order to obtain valuable information. But do not be fooled by the premise, this novel is 90% character based and Claire was one of the most realistically portrayed heroine I have ever read with real insecurities and vulnerabilities that are reflected in so many women in real relationships that are not covered up by temper tantrums and ridiculous verbal abuse- like so many other heroines are portrayed these days.
Forget the reviews and PICK THIS UP TODAY!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You'll want to Read this AGAIN AND AGAIN...But, August 21, 2002
By A Customer
YES, Sorry there is a But! First, For the most part, I loved this story. Max was "just doing his job" but in doing it he devastates Claire. She (of course) is in love with him. He's lied to her and in the beginning she handles his presence (after finding out who he really is) with professional coolness. He deserves it and she does it well. BUT (yes, here's the But) when she moves, he MOVES right into her life again and SHE LETS HIM. Now You and I both know if a guy did what he did (unless you have very little self worth) there is no way you would go out with him OR to bed with him (at least so SOON after the initial hurt and without A LOT OF CONVERSATION). And he just figured he could get her to see that what he did was JUST HIS JOB. Ugh. This is the only aspect of this book that I had a problem with. Just my opinion. I even liked how the story continues in England when you find out more about Max that was never mentioned before. I know it may not sound like it but this is one of my favorite Linda Howard books (next to After the Night--this one will burn your fingers and Kill and Tell). Its worth reading.
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