Second Love [Hardcover]

Judith Gould (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

Continuing the saga begun in Love-Makers and Texas Born, Judith Gould weaves a glittering web of intrigue and passion with the sizzling new Second Love. Dorothy-Anne Hale-Cantwell stands on top of the world. The crown jewel in her prestigious luxury hotel chain is at last completed in San Francisco. The city's most important and fashionable people are basking in the radiance of the San Francisco Palace's gala opening. When her beloved husband, Freddie arrives from Colorado, her evening--and her life--will be complete. But twin blows strike almost simultaneously. News flashes through the hotel that a mysterious, heavily financed consortium is making a hostile takeover bid for the Hale chain. Then comes the devastating revelation that Freddie is dead in the crash of his private jet. Into the maelstrom that Dorothy-Anne's life has become strides Hunt Winslow, the dashing would-be new Governor of the State of California. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Hunt senses in Dorothy-Anne a romantic kinship fueled by an electric chemistry, and he is determined to win her, no matter the price his bitter wife may demand, no matter the cost to his own ambitions. The pressure is enormous, the stakes are high. Everything Dorothy-Anne has worked for seems to be crumbling around her. Even her closest allies may be treacherous enemies. Can she risk her empire and her heart by pursuing a second love?

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Gould's saga of the Hale family (Love Makers, Dutton, 1986; Texas Born, Dutton, 1992) continues with granddaughter Dorothy-Anne Hale-Cantwell presiding over the famous Hale companies, which include an international chain of hotels and resorts, an airlines reservations service, and an airlines catering operation. Dorothy-Anne and her husband, Freddie, have it all?fulfillment in work and in family?until suddenly Dorothy-Anne's world is torn apart by Freddie's death in an airplane crash. Thus begins a chain of events in which Dorothy-Anne must use her managerial skills, business savvy, and courage to save her family and her business from the Asian consortium that will stop at nothing to gain control of the Hale companies for the purposes of money laundering. Along the way, a "second love" finds Dorothy-Anne. A fast-paced, character-rich story of good vs. evil; recommended for popular collections.
-?Annelle R. Huggins, Memphis State Univ. Libs., Tenn.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Gould continues in the Sidney Sheldon tradition, this time with echoes of Windmills of the Gods: a widowed heroine, a hit- woman, and a group of ominously foreign bad guys. Dorothy-Anne Hale-Cantwell (from Love-Makers, not reviewed) is a 31-year-old billionairess who owns and oversees the Hale hotel and travel empire--with hypersumptuous hotels all over the world and a fantasy island being built south of Puerto Rico. Dorothy-Anne is so rich, thin, gorgeous, and successful that, perhaps to win the sympathies of readers, Gould makes her a really nice person to boot--and visits upon her the sufferings of a female Job. The story begins with this heroine losing her husband in a plane crash, her baby through a miscarriage, and her entire set of reproductive organs to cancer. Meanwhile, a coven of Asian gangsters (Honorable Ox, Honorable Rooster, Honorable Dragon, et al.) schemes to take over her business in order to launder their drug money. And so, to sabotage her, they plant Legionnaires' disease in one Hale hotel and salmonella bacteria in another. Having damaged the sources of Dorothy-Anne's income, they plan to call in her outstanding loans, which they've purchased, and commandeer her empire. Help comes from: her own smarts; the support of her extended family, including three children; p.r. chief and best friend Venetia; and new, eponymous ``second love,'' none other than Mr. Huntington Netherland Winslow III, a movie-star handsome, fabulously wealthy California state senator. One complication, though, is Hunt's alcoholic wife, who takes up with a sexy con-man and plans to kill off both her hubby and his domineering mother. Gould's fourth hardcover (Too Damn Rich, 1992, etc.) is one of her sillier offerings, with lots of explicit sex mixing pain with pleasure, and orgasms with visions of flower gardens, like clich‚s in ecstasy. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 549 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First edition (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052593930X
• ISBN-13: 978-0525939306
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,304,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suspensful and Intriging, November 26, 1998

By 

Ashtin Enterprises/mysteries4you/books4you (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Love (Paperback)

This story is the 3rd novel of a trilogy, which I must now read the 1st. Not usually into romantic and love novels, but this story intrigued me by Dorothy-Anne's (main character) husband gone missing on their most important night and then we get into the Asian Cartel which are secretly meeting to end Dorothy-Anne's reign as the Queen of the Hotel empire. In the meantime, we are introduced to Moma Rosa and her eatery and into the Chinese lifestyle and traditions. Where do they all intervine and where the heck does a hotel empire come into this? Then enters Senator Hunt Winslow Netherland 111 (you can almost image how gorgeous this man is!) and his boozer wife Gloria. The plot thickens as we wait for some news of Freddy and the plane crash and in the meantime the Asian cartel are having their meetings. As Dorothy-Anne's hotels are infected by bacterias and called in bank loans, we are still routing for Dorothy-Anne even though she is a very powerful woman with everything anyone would ever want. You don't feel jealous or want to wish her bad. She really is a NICE and good woman who cares about her guests and friends. Toward the end is some surprises so I won't give anything away but if you are looking for a good suspense and who dunn-it novel without the gore pick this up and enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars light-hearted entertainment in the tradition of Dynasty, December 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Second Love (Hardcover)

Tonight is the night that wealthy Dorothy Anne Hale-Cantwell (see TEXAS BORN for her initial appearance) has waited for all her life. Happily married to Freddie Cantwell, she has reached the epitome of her business dreams with the opening of the San Francisco Palace, a glittering hotel that stands out and above the cityís skyline. However, Anne's dreams soon turns into her worst nightmare as Freddie's helicopter crashes, killing her beloved partner.

Other incidents hit Anne and her hotel chain. An unknown Asian cartel has bought out her bank loans and is putting pressure for prompt payment without renewal. Two of the Hale luxury chain suddenly suffer strange bacterial outbreaks. Anne turns to California Senator Huntington Netherland Winslow III, who has been comforting the widow, for help. The two soon realize that a drug ring wants to use the Hale hotel chain as their port of entry around the world. As love blossoms between the two upper crust Californians, they risk their lives to stop a nefarious foreign plot to sell heroin out of the Hale hotel consortium.

Readers who can ignore a soap opera type story line that is filled with international intrigue, interesting locations around the globe, and a Venus-hot romance will love Judith Gouldís latest tale, SECOND LOVE. Though the plot suffers from too much secondary intrigue without full development of the primary suspense line (perhaps a Pert Chart could have helped keep the primary path moving forward), readers will enjoy the stylish locations of the rich and famous, the sizzling sex, and the nefarious schemes of a moneyed international underworld.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second Love, February 27, 2000

By 

B Newington "audiofile" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Love (Paperback)

I enjoyed the book very much, the problem came at the end. I felt the author was tired of writing the book and rushed the final chapters. I also found a few spots where the clues didn't jive. But I do look for these. Otherwise I truly enjoyed the book.