Buying Options
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Love, Now and Then Kindle Edition
Margaret Lynette Sharp (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
- Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 1 million more titles $3.49 to buy - Paperback
$12.95
Previously published as 'Of Love and Secrets' and 'Uncertain Love', this compilation by award-winning Australian author Margaret Lynette Sharp promises to be a compelling page-turner for lovers of sweet romance.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateFebruary 24, 2016
- Reading age15 - 18 years
- Grade level10 - 12
- File size3675 KB
Editorial Reviews
Review
Reeling from her breakup with boyfriend James, eighteen-year-old Jenny is heartbroken and goes out of her way to avoid him at all costs. Jenny's mother, Vicki, puts their romance down to having been nothing more than puppy love, causing much tension in the house. When invited to a friend's party, Jenny accepts the invitation and attends. At the party, Jenny meets Richard who is in his early twenties, independent and drives his own car. Richard takes Jenny home after the party and it isn't long before the two become inseparable, with Jenny staying out later as each night passes. Vicki constantly criticizes Jenny and puts Richard down, driving Jenny's self-esteem into the ground. After Richard finds a roommate (who happens to be female) to share his flat in order to cut down on his expenses, Vicki tries even harder to drive a wedge between Jenny and Richard, but only succeeds in pushing Jenny even further away. Jenny's father, John, takes quite a shine to Richard, as the two share a passion for photography. When Richard receives a job offer in Melbourne, Vicki almost suffocates Jenny with her snide remarks about what a pig Richard is for dumping her so unceremoniously. Unable to leave Sydney due to her studies, Jenny is distraught and starts to believe her mother's insults... until Richard proposes. With her whole future now entirely in her own hands, little does Jenny know that the engagement ring on her finger is about to bring about a shock revelation which shakes her whole world.
So much suspense! Never has a book had me questioning a man's motives as much as Margaret Lynette Sharp's romantic tale. As much as I loathed Jenny's mother for being so cruel to her daughter and crushing her spirits, I couldn't help but wonder when Jenny would fall for her mother's lies, go back to James or even be assaulted by her new love, whether physically or verbally. For the entire duration of the story, I waited for something terrible, as I knew Vicki to be the I-told-you-so type of person who is relentless in being a control freak and hurting others' feelings. Jenny's parents are definitely opposites, but they say opposites attract. Regardless, I could not find a single reason anybody would fall in love with somebody so cold and heartless. All in all, however, I very much enjoyed the direction in which Of Love and Secrets travelled, including the shock ending, which readers will need to discover for themselves. I recommend Of Love and Secrets to readers who enjoy a good romance which tugs at every different emotion, before making you crave what is in store, should a sequel come along - which I would also very much look forward to reading.
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B01C6PGR8A
- Publisher : Margaret Lynette Sharp (February 24, 2016)
- Publication date : February 24, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 3675 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 202 pages
- Lending : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,967,169 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #15,908 in Romance Anthologies (Kindle Store)
- #17,200 in Romance Collections & Anthologies
- #20,158 in Romance Anthologies (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

My name is Margaret Lynette Sharp, and I'm the wife of the creator of the Grand Organ in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, Ronald Sharp B.E.M. I'm proud to say that I've won two literary awards - one each at the 2014 and 2015 Short Story Writing Competition held as part of the Hurstville ( in suburban Sydney, Australia) Discovery Festival of Community Arts.
These stories have been published in prizewinners' anthologies, 'Write Out Loud' and 'The Art of Writing'.
My first venture into Jane Austen fan fiction resulted in the best-selling 'Longbourn Revisited'.
Next came the well-reviewed title, 'An Encounter at Longbourn', followed by 'A Party at Longbourn', 'And from Longbourn, A Wedding Comes,' and 'Much Ado at Longbourn'. Recently, these five stories were combined, forming the novel-length 'From Longbourn, With Love'.. To date, I have sixty-two published eBooks, and some of these are also available as paperbacks.
I grew up in an inner city suburb of Sydney, moving to a pleasant, tree-filled outer suburb at the age of ten. Ron and I currently live in this same house, a small Federation brick and tile home.
I'm thankful that we live near a river that has a large, netted swimming baths. I love to swim, and I've been a member of the local swimming club for well over thirty years. Our little white rescue dog, Chicki, comes with me and waits patiently while I enjoy the water. Afterwards comes her reward - a walk beside the river, and a chance to play on a little, sandy beach. Who knows what doggy friends she'll find there...
Back to my life story...
I cared for my elderly mother until her death eighteen years ago, and shortly afterwards met and later married Ron. He has encouraged all my interests, and has turned his hand to editing books that I have written.
Together we have published six volumes: a series of four books of Short Stories entitled 25 Stories of Life and Love in Australia, A Taste of Life and Love in Australia, The Essence of Life and Love in Australia, and Reflections of Life and Love in Australia; a non-fiction, semi-humorous volume entitled 60 Questions, Insights and Reminiscences; and the latest, Long and Short Australian Stories. All these are highly readable and, I firmly believe, most entertaining.
'A Taste of Life and Love in Australia' was reviewed in April 2012 by Australian author Jenny Schwartz, and she rated it five stars, and pointed to its humanity and Australian flavour. So review wise, I'm off to a wonderful start!
Since writing the above, we've published another collection of Short Stories and vignettes: 'Encore'. It has been very favourably reviewed by Goodreads members Mark and Brenda.
Shortly afterwards my first novella , Amelia's Call, was published, and has been favourably reviewed by a number of people.
My second novella, the romantic 'Michaela Betrayed', was released in 2013, and has also received some lovely reviews. This book includes a bonus of selected Short Stories and vignettes.
Another release was a short, romantic work, 'Lauren Played'.
Next came the romantic 'Love, Desire and Betrayal', which has reached #1 in Australian and Oceanian Literature (Amazon Kindle Paid).
Additional titles include 'Of Love and Secrets', 'Sisters and Rivals', 'Whatever It Takes' 'Romance, 50's Style', 'Uncertain Love', 'Love, Now and Then' and 'Love Denied'.
Over the few years I've had the honour of being a guest on the blogs of writers Tracey Alley, Rachael Johns, Nicole Alexander, Faith Mortimer, Pankaj Goyal and Sarah Jane Butfield.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Uncertain Love:
This is a story about that most essential element in any relationship, *trust*, and the turmoil felt by the heroine, Amanda, when she finds herself compelled to reevaluate her perceptions of someone she has come to trust very closely. Up until now, Kevin, her boyfriend, has increasingly stirred in her the kind of deep affection and trust that she associates with finding that elusive person: "The One." But seeds of suspicion have begun to spring in the flower bed of her seemingly perfect relationship -- something seems "not quite right" -- and not knowing whom to "trust" with her feelings, she confides her misgivings to someone who is little more than a stranger, and with consequences that she may not begin to foresee, but that will engage both her and the reader fully in a web of conflict and dangerous realizations.
Of Love and Secrets:
I think that, in order truly to become invested in a novel, you need a character to love or to hate. Jenny, the protagonist of Sharp's latest and best work, is extraordinarily likeable.
You'll *hate* Jenny's mother. It takes some considerable measure of literary skill to conjure up a character you'll so much want to loathe -- whom you'll so much enjoy detesting -- and Sharp, who has matured from a writer of delicately poetic vignettes into a thoroughly engaging (and even more eloquent) novelist, unquestionably has it.
Jenny's and Richard's romance is tentative, then intense, then (to Jenny's perception) sporadic and unreliable, but throughout, it's clear to the reader that it's all authentic, and when Richard wants to commit and move with her to forge a very promising life in a distant city -- the promise not only of love and a life, but *oxygen* to a young woman literally asphyxiated in the nest of her mother's making (past the point of normal separation), then the question is whether she'll take the offer. Or suffocate. You'll be captivated by the story, strongly involved with the characters (and Jenny is particularly endearing), and swept to the conclusion, which also offers a revelation and a twist. But no further spoilers here. The book will appeal both to a YA romance and a more general literary audience.
When I need a break from my busy schedule, I like reading something positive, yet romantic enough to make my day. Thus I enjoy reading Margaret Lynette Sharp. Her sweet romances are reminiscent of times when the world was less chaotic and life was still going to be okay the next day, because folks fell in love, despite life’s many ups-and-downs, settled down and as far as I’m concerned, lived happily ever after.
Story One: Jenny and Richard’s romance is taken from “Of Love and Secrets”. This is the link to (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Secrets-Margaret-Lynette-Sharp-ebook/dp/B00RURJWFU/), should you wish to read the whole book, not just this one story as it appears in this two-story anthology, “Love, Then and Now”.
This is an interesting YA story written in the first person – in this instance starting adult life and its challenges as seen and described through the eyes of 18-year-old Jenny – a distinct, perhaps atypical main character, trying to find her feet in an as yet, undiscovered, adult world. The author weaves an artful tale of Jenny’s ups and downs when it comes to surviving the break-up of her first romance and dealing with a most antagonistic mother (who has her own demons to fight and in her quest to do the best for her daughter Jenny, often does just the opposite). Jenny has to make a success of college life and faces the challenges of a brand-new romance with Richard, who has an interesting past.
http://www.amazon.com/Uncertain-Love-Margaret-Lynette-Sharp-ebook/dp/B01BL5ECJ2/
This second story takes the reader into the thoughts of a young 21-year old girl who’s uncertain of her feelings for Kevin - someone she's known for a long time. His family is status conscious and wealthy. This fact in itself makes her feel unworthy of him - just being a legal secretary - because his family are architects and more.
At a turning-point in her life, she goes for a milkshake with her school friend, Sally and at Sam's Milk bar, she meets Todd. They hit it off and she finds it easy to talk to him. They have much in common - their love of music and singing - for example. Where will their friendship go? The plot weaves a masterful tale of uncertainty, highs and lows in Amanda's life and a nagging mother, which leads to a few life-changing decisions.
The author has a way with words, for example, "A tsunami of self-consciousness overwhelmed me ..." and her short descriptions of the beach, the calming effect of the sun, rustling wind in a woodland, help to set the scene for good, believable dialogue.
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology and sighed with contentment when I finished reading it. Another positive for me is that the author has a very natural writing style, uses natural, easy flowing dialogue and develops true to life scenarios into a delightful romantic tale. If you're looking for a clean, romantic read and a respite in your busy schedule, I’m sure you’ll enjoy “Love, Then and Now”!
Top reviews from other countries

When I need a break from my busy schedule, I like reading something positive, yet romantic enough to make my day. Thus I enjoy reading Margaret Lynette Sharp. Her sweet romances are reminiscent of times when the world was less chaotic and life was still going to be okay the next day, because folks fell in love, despite life’s many ups-and-downs, settled down and as far as I’m concerned, lived happily ever after.
Story One: Jenny and Richard’s romance is taken from “Of Love and Secrets”. This is the link to (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Secrets-Margaret-Lynette-Sharp-ebook/dp/B00RURJWFU/), should you wish to read the whole book, not just this one story as it appears in this two-story anthology, “Love, Then and Now”.
This is an interesting YA story written in the first person – in this instance starting adult life and its challenges as seen and described through the eyes of 18-year-old Jenny – a distinct, perhaps atypical main character, trying to find her feet in an as yet, undiscovered, adult world. The author weaves an artful tale of Jenny’s ups and downs when it comes to surviving the break-up of her first romance and dealing with a most antagonistic mother (who has her own demons to fight and in her quest to do the best for her daughter Jenny, often does just the opposite). Jenny has to make a success of college life and faces the challenges of a brand-new romance with Richard, who has an interesting past.
http://www.amazon.com/Uncertain-Love-Margaret-Lynette-Sharp-ebook/dp/B01BL5ECJ2/
This second story takes the reader into the thoughts of a young 21-year old girl who’s uncertain of her feelings for Kevin - someone she's known for a long time. His family is status conscious and wealthy. This fact in itself makes her feel unworthy of him - just being a legal secretary - because his family are architects and more.
At a turning-point in her life, she goes for a milkshake with her school friend, Sally and at Sam's Milk bar, she meets Todd. They hit it off and she finds it easy to talk to him. They have much in common - their love of music and singing - for example. Where will their friendship go? The plot weaves a masterful tale of uncertainty, highs and lows in Amanda's life and a nagging mother, which leads to a few life-changing decisions.
The author has a way with words, for example, "A tsunami of self-consciousness overwhelmed me ..." and her short descriptions of the beach, the calming effect of the sun, rustling wind in a woodland, help to set the scene for good, believable dialogue.
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology and sighed with contentment when I finished reading it. Another positive for me is that the author has a very natural writing style, uses natural, easy flowing dialogue and develops true to life scenarios into a delightful romantic tale. If you're looking for a clean, romantic read and a respite in your busy schedule, I’m sure you’ll enjoy “Love, Then and Now”!