A Moment in Time (Paperback)

by Judith Gould (Author) "Valerie looked out across the gray stone terrace toward the hills in the distance, watching as the last sliver of the summer's blood-orange sun slipped..." (more)
Key Phrases: Puff Puppy, Storm Warning, Palm Beach (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
"Don't take the ring!" you want to shout, when slithery Teddy de Mornay offers a humongous canary diamond to Valerie Rochelle. Valerie not only had the democratic good taste to drop the "de la" from her own name when she added "Doctor of Veterinary Medicine," she's also a woman of character tender yet tough, loyal and fearless. Alas, Teddy's romantic persistence, backed by a libido that doesn't quit, is persuasive. Then Valerie's pager intrudes: a horse has been taken ill at the mysterious estate called Stonelair, and the plucky vet drives off alone through the dark, twisty landscape. (The cinematic locale of this sudsy romance-thriller, never specified, is a rich Eastern seaboard community with lush scenery, vast mansions and prosperous farms.) It isn't only the stallion Storm Warning that needs healing, however. Laird of the manor Wyndym Ashley Conrad, who was dragged across a field in a polo accident, is scarred body and soul. Before Valerie and Wyn can have their happy ending (this time she gets a green diamond, to match her eyes), they have to do battle with the cocaine-fueled greed of his separated wife, Arielle; the perfidy of major domo Santo Ducci; and the crazed jealousy of one of Valerie's associates, whose rage drives her to murder several beloved pets under Valerie's care. Plausible? Subtle? Inventive? None of the above. But bestselling Gould (Time to Say Good-Bye) knows what makes a yummy, lo-cal summer salad: snaky evil defeated by redemptive true love with lots of hot un-dressing as the thunder crashes.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Wealth and lineage have never been enough for Valerie Rochelle. Denigrated for her shyness as a child, she's found happiness, much to her society mother's bewilderment, working as a veterinarian in upstate New York. When Teddy, an old family friend, proposes, her mother is ecstatic, but Valerie is less than thrilled. Nonetheless, she accepts, but her reluctance is exacerbated when she pays a house call to the mysterious Stonelair estate to tend to an ailing horse. She and the estate's new owner, Wyn Conrad, connect on a level that she and Teddy never reach, and she learns that he's a former polo enthusiast who was severely injured in a match and has been a recluse ever since. Telling her mother and fiance that the engagement is off is the least of the lovers' worries as bad things happen to Valerie's friends and a plot against Wyn unfolds. Gould's steamy tale about the lives of the rich and troubled is perfect for a read on the beach. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Signet (July 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451206533
• ISBN-13: 978-0451206534
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,826,610 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beauty and the Beast. 2001, August 30, 2001

By	Affaire de Coeur (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Moment in Time (Hardcover)

Although born into a wealthy family, Valerie Rochelle has always been a rebel. She refuses to fit into the blue-blood world her mother rules. The only thing she has ever done that her mother approves of is to become engaged to Teddy de Mornay.
Rumors about Wyn Conrad, the owner of the Stonelair, have been circulating for months. Once an international playboy, Wyn dropped out of the public eye when an accident left scars over ninety percent of his body. Much to her mother's distress, Valerie is a successful veterinarian. Shortly after agreeing to marry Teddy, Valerie gets a call in the middle of the night and makes an emergency visit Wyn's estate. Almost from the moment Valerie slipped Teddy's engagement ring on her finger, she'd been having seconds thoughts. But it isn't until she meets and falls in love with Wyn that she realizes she never loved Teddy. Secret plots are brewing. Several people don't want to see Wyn and Valerie together, and one person is willing to commit murder to keep them apart.
Judith Gould applies complex characters, steamy sex scenes, and a fast moving plot, to a popular premise. A modern day Beauty and the Beast, A Moment In Time is sure to please her many fans.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars too much raunchy sex, not enough of anything else, April 15, 2005

By	E. Bond "tx reader" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Moment in Time (Hardcover)

This was my first Judith Gould book, and I won't try her again if this is her style.

The problem: The book did not deal NEAR enough with the main characters, Val and Wyn - and had way too much dirty, drug-induced sub-plot sex going on between all the other characters. Who cares?!! I do not want to read the detailed sex lives of all the villians in the book! I want to hear about the main characters. I was half-way through the book before the 'hero' and 'heroine' even kissed! But I had read at least 4 sex scenes by then. I felt like I was reading porn at some points.

What I read of Val and Wyn - I liked - but there needed to be way more about them, way more love, more plot, etc. Just cut the first 150 or so pages and start where Val and Wyn first meet - then add 200 pages or so in the middle developing their characters and their love story. Then you'd have a good book.

I wish I would have checked it out at the library instead of buying it . . .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lost this book, found it recently, wish it had stayed lost, November 12, 2003

By A Customer

I picked this book up a while back, but lost it in a pile of boxes when I moved last year. I found it recently while I was taking a sick day from work; I wish it had stayed lost.

I know that these romance thrillers tend to have rather unrealistic plots, but this novel has a plot that defies even the most flexible of minds. There is no thrill in this thriller - I just plodded through the book, hoping that something would rescue it from mediocrity, but no such luck.

I was also hoping that I would care about what would happen to the characters in the story. The characters , however, have no depth whatsoever, so I did not want to cheer on any of them. A bad plot can sometimes be rescued by characters that the reader feels some connection with; in this case, bad plot and bad characters make the reading tedious.

This book is better used as a doorstop.