Customer Reviews

Sarah's Child (Hqn Romance)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

This book was first published in 1985, and at times it will seem a bit dated. Even though there are exceptions, the idea of the career oriented secretary starting an affair with the hard driving executive has sort of faded out in these times of sexual harrassment and hostile work environments. Nevertheless, if you consider it a bit of a period piece, you'll find this a delightful read. Rome is a sexy, aggressive business man who tragically lost his wife and two young sons in a car crash. A couple of years later he is still deeply grieving, but circumstances force him to spend some time with Sarah, his wife's former best friend and a beautiful co-worker that he has always found attractive. Sarah has long carried a secret torch for Rome, and despite her reservations she is privately thrilled when Rome starts pursing her. Rome obviously has some deep emotional issues to address, and Sarah's patient understanding and loving support allow him to work out those issues. At the same time, Rome's forceful personality help push her out of her cool reserve. The biggest hurdle facing them is that Sarah would love to have Rome's baby, but he is unable to tolerate the thought of another child. There's not much plot here, but the relationship is very intense and manages to carry the book quite nicely on its own. A very satisfying book that you can read again and again.

I'm a big Linda Howard fan. But I found myself very unsatisfied with Sarah's child. While the plot was okay, I found Rome's complete self-absorbtion to be a real turn-off. And while I liked Sarah for standing for her convictions in some parts of the book, I kept waiting for her to call Rome on being the selfish jerk he was. I was really disappointed in this book and glad that I checked it out from the Library rather than buying it.

In the real world a woman would give Rome a kick in ****. The man doesn't make an effort to change until he is forced into a situation. He says he loves her, but then again I didn't see love, only a whole lot of lust. And if my husband lusted after a woman when he was married to me, it would be just as bad as adultery. Sorry Linda Howard but women shouldn't be treated as doormats, especially in books. It happens often enough in the real world.

I love Linda Howard but I hated this book! You have Rome who only marries Sarah so he can have regular sex. He treats her like a hooker (except she doesn't get paid), coming to "her" room, then leaving when he's done.

When she gets pregnant (his fault more than hers) he wants her to get an abortion. A man who lost two children to a terrible accident wants to intentionally get rid of another one? While she's pregnant he won't go near her after she starts to show and never does one kind thing for her. Doesn't rub her back, fix her meals, just basically ignores her. Leaves her to give birth to HIS child alone. Then she is so spineless that she lets him climb back into "her" bed afterwards. Worse, she allows him to put her in a position where she hides her child while he pretends it doesn't exist. What kind of mother is she?What kind of creature is he?

These are two of the worst characters I've ever read. She is a total wimp and he is a cold-hearted jerk!

I love just about everything by Linda Howard, but as we all know there are exceptions to every rule. Sarah is a seemingly intelligent woman, why she would ever put up with the verbal, mental, and emotional abuse is beyond me. But of course I can't fathom why she married the damned man in the first place. Rome is nothing more than a self absorbed spoiled brat who needs to be brought down a few notches. And Sarah, ooh Sarah. She apparently has self esteem issues and needs the help of a good head doctor.

Okay, picture this if you will. Sarah is in love with her best friend Diane's husband, Rome. One night in a very bad car accident, Diane dies along with her two sons. Both Sarah and Rome are devastated. Diane was like a sister to Sarah (even though she lusts after the woman's husband, some sister.) and poor Rome lost his perfect wife and children (even though he lusted after Sarah while his wife was still living and breathing, the dog!). One night while consoling each other Rome and Sarah have sex. No, they did not make love. Homeboy took her virginity on the floor no less! Be she didn't regret any of it because she was saving herself for him anyway (OH PLEASE!). Rome decides that his pride will not let him walk away from her and he must marry her to make things right. He just couldn't bring himself to treat Diane's best friend so horribly (then he shouldn't have had sex with her in the first place!). When she disagrees, he bullies her into saying yes and then tells her she needs to quit her job. It wouldn't look right, them working for the same company and all (can anyone say control freak?). Sara ends up pregnant, trust me when I say it is all Rome's fault. Rome refuses to accept the child because no baby will ever replace his dead sons (Well duh!). So Sara literally turns her world upside down to accommodate her warden, I mean husband and all she gets is ridiculed and told how perfect and wonderful Diane was and how she will never measure up.

If you like to see women treated like a sub-human species only put on this earth to cater to a Neanderthal's whims, then this book is for you! If you are like me and like to see equality between hero and heroine, then save your money or try Mr. Perfect or Son of the Morning. Both have strong women who can handle anything thrown their way, including their men.

I have read a few other Linda Howard's books, infact "After The Night" is one of my favorites but this one was garbage. The characters were extrememly unlikable. I had to force myself to even finish this book. It seems there really wasn't much to the story except for them fighting or having sex which was basically all the relationship was based on. The lead character was such a jerk that I didn't even want Sarah to end up with him. I was hoping she would grow a backbone and leave him. What woman would stay with a man like this, especially after she becomes pregnant and he wants nothing to do with her or the baby. He supposedly loves her yet he leaves her to deal with the entire pregnancy herself. Get real! No woman would stand for this. Oh and the whole "you can have the baby but keep it away from me" uhh yeah right. That would work for awhile maybe but what happens when that child gets old enough to want its father? Is he gonna turn his shoulder to it? Would she stand for him to hurt her baby that way? I found myself angry and stressed out through the entire story. This is one of the worst books I think I have ever read.

Rome is the most pathetic excuse for a "hero" that Howard has ever written.

Whine, whine, whine. "I have been hurt. Oh, poor me. No one in the history of the world has ever been hurt like I have. Everyone must spend the rest of their lives making certain that I never have to suffer again."

One question, Rome: If you were so damn certain that you NEVER wanted to have a child again, then WHY didn't you get a vasectomy, you selfish moron?

Instead, you put all the responsibility off on the woman you married because you wanted regular sex.

Pig.

Not that Sarah's much better. Lusting after your best friend's husband? Saving your virginity for him? Allowing him to ignore YOUR precious child?

What if Rome never "saw the light"? How long was Sarah going to stay with a man who would mentally and emotionally abuse her baby?

I read this book long ago but I still remember how I hated this book. This was the second Linda Howard book that I hated with a vengeance (the other was 'Independent Wife'). This book seems to be one of those 'hate it' or 'love it' books and it shows Linda Howard's writing ability to be able to pull off that kind of emotional reaction from her readers. In this book, Linda Howard asked a question of "How long should we allow ourselves to grieve?". The grieving person in this book was Rome. Unfortunately I could not find myself sympathize with Rome at all because throughout the book his treatment to Sarah left me cold. Rome was cold, selfish, and all he cared about was sex with Sarah without giving any thought to her needs. Thank God I didn't start Linda Howard with this book or I wouldn't have continued reading her books to this day.

This goes on the top 10 worst book I ever read list. Roman, our Neanderthal-like non-hero, and Sara, our pathetic spineless non-heroine, decide upon a marriage of convenience. Roman receives sex and someone who worships the ground at his feet. Sarah receives emotional abuse and a selfish, whiner of a husband. Whoo-hoo! What a deal! The story moves along as such; Roman treats Sarah like dirt, and she takes it. Sarah gets pregnant. Roman orders her to abort, but she forgives him (not that he's apologizing mind you). Roman ignores her, and she takes it. Sarah informs him that she loves him soooo much she just can't abort, but won't he stay and screw her so she can take care of him? That's about it, except for him constantly comparing Sarah to his dead wife, and finding her coming up short every time. Actually they aren't a bad couple, they probably deserve one another. As characters they are both worthless, just like this book. Worthless.

This romance novel has always stayed in my head because of the terrible story, the unbelievably obnoxious hero & heroine, and the ludicrous situations that result from their union. The man is "grieving" his dead wife & chidren and decides that her best friend will make a good substitute instead of the inflatable doll he currently has (just made that part up, folks!). She is a total spineless jerk and lets him call all the shots in the relationship. When she gets pregnant, he totally refuses to participate in the pregnancy or birth because of his "grief" and dumps all the responsibility for the situation on her shoulders. She supposedly keeps the baby out of his sight (this is so unbelievable that the author must have never been awakened out of a deep sleep in the middle of the night by a sick or hungry child!) and the scene where he finally "accepts" the child is truly nauseating! I would like to run over him with a steam shovel, introduce her to Dr. Phil and take the baby to raise in a stable home with a real woman to rolemodel for her rather than the human jellyfish she is born to!