Priceless [Paperback]

Christina Dodd (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; First HarperCollins Special Paperback Printing Edition edition (1998)
• ASIN: B000OF13U2
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Chat with Christina via Facebook and Twitter, and even better, join her mailing list to have her news delivered right to your inbox! http://christinadodd.com/lists/?p=subscribe

Readers become writers, and Christina Dodd has always been a reader. She reads everything, but because she loves humor, she likes romance best.

A woman wants things like world peace, a clean house, and a deep and meaningful relationship based on mutual understanding and love. A man wants things like a Craftsman router with attachments, undisputed control of the TV remote, and a red Corvette which will miraculously make his bald spot disappear. So when Christina's first daughter was born, she told her husband she was going to quit work and write a book. It was a good time to start a new career, because how much trouble could one little infant be?

Ha! It took ten years, two children and three completed manuscripts before her first novel, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, was published. In the twenty-two years since, her novels have been translated into 25 languages, won Romance Writers of America's prestigious Golden Heart and RITA Awards and been called the year's best by Library Journal. Christina Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle (11/18/05, # 13 Down: Romance Novelist named Christina.) Publishers Weekly praises her style that 'showcases Dodd's easy, addictive charm and steamy storytelling.'

Christina's 2011 releases include TAKEN BY THE PRINCE, #9 in the Governess Brides series, and in the tradition of Nora Roberts, a new romantic suspense series starting with SECRETS OF BELLA TERRA and REVENGE AT BELLA TERRA.

Christina Dodd is married to a man with all his hair and no Corvette, but many Craftsman tools.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful, awful, awful!, February 25, 2008

By 

VLH - See all my reviews

This review is from: Priceless (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read almost every Christina Dodd book she's written, and in my opinion this is the first one that deserves less than 3.5 stars. It is terrible! As did many others, I hung in until the end because I kept assuming that somehow it would get better. It didn't. My two main complaints: convoluted writing (I mean, some of what she writes is sooooo confusing) and poor editing.

However, it deserves one star because in my opinion, the story itself had potential -- though it is rather bizarre -- but the book is just too difficult to wade through. Don't waste your money - - just about any of her other books are much better.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Priceless by Christina Dodd, October 31, 2002

By 

Jody L. Schoth (Katy, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Priceless (Mass Market Paperback)

I never could get into this book very much... the characters just weren't interesting enough. Though the book had a good plot, it seemed too rushed at times and way too slow at others. When Bronwyn is betrothed to Adam Keane, she only hopes he is a nice man... not even her one request could be fulfilled here, when she meets him and sees how shunned he is by the woman he describes as "ugly" and plain. As Bronwyn turns from the ugly duckling she once was, she begins to gain his attention... only who would want the attention from such a cruel and insensitve man? The only time Adam Keane is kind is when his whole world falls apart, and he is vulnerable and needs help from others. I found the characters quite shallow, with very little changes in their characters by the last page. Also it was a little overdone on the topic that it is shameful for a woman of this time frame to be intelligent or clever - and the author's continuous examples just got tiresome. Although I finished this book, it took great effort and I'm not real sure I can sit through another Christina Dodd book in the future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Headstrong and heartless, February 10, 2008

By 

Helen Hancox "Auntie Helen" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Priceless (Mass Market Paperback)

Bronwyn Edana is the ugly duckling amongst a string of beautiful sisters, equally hamstrung by her intelligence and learning. When her parents arrange a marriage with Adam Keane, the rather gruff and unfriendly nobleman, she finds her lack of beauty and social approbation very difficult. She overhears Adam telling his friend that she is a disappointment compared to her younger sister Olivia and decides to run away, to stay with a French lady in a salon with whom she had previously had some dealings. Adam comes after her, trying to woo her through seduction as he had long ago decided that there was far more to Bronwyn than others realised. However whilst he is in London a big investment scheme begins to go belly-up and he is blamed whilst the real culprit, a man who is counterfeiting documents, is preparing to assassinate an important figure in the government. Adam has to get to the bottom of the counterfeiting scheme, win back Bronwyn and extricate himself from a second engagement to Bronwyn's sister Olivia.

The book was rather disappointing. Both Bronwyn and Adam felt rather loose in their characterisation with descriptions given of their behaviour which seemed strangely changeable. Adam's behaviour as a nobleman towards a gentlewoman was pretty bad and Bronwyn's behaviour was completely inappropriate for her station. The villain was a pantomime-type baddie, even down to his baldness and pock-marked face. The dialogue and behaviour of the characters was inaccurate for this historical period, particularly as people spoke with modern-day American word forms rather than 19th century English ones. The love story didn't seem much about love and the occasional touches of violence by the hero were unappealing. The South Sea Company plot had some promise but was rather simplistic overall. The book was rather a wasted opportunity and its underlying message, that all men are faithless and women end up in love with them despite their better instincts, wasn't very encouraging.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008