Remember When you had first crush, the lengths one went tohide our feelings from others and our self (fooling no one)
Remember When you thought that a tall, dark handsome princewill come in white horse and will sweep you away with him to the land ofhappily ever after.
Remember When you walked with your love hand in hand feelingas if nothing exists, just the two of you.
Remember When , beautifully unfolds the simplestory of rich girl meets poor buy. Later that boy becomes rich and marries her…
Remember When is story of Diana Foster a beautiful rich girl runningsuccessfully a magazine and Cole Harrison, once a stable boy working forDiana’s friend, who has climbed the ladder of success and owns a group ofcompanies. Destiny brings them together and they get married and then realizetheir love.
How many times have we read this plot but hats off to JudithMcNaught for creating such a simple but sweet love story that my heart goeshu…un hu…un whenever I read it. As usual her characters are very strong, not only they are great looking but they are hardworking, value family and to top it all is “LOVE” so beautifully portrayed that Irecommend the romantic you to read the book. She is my favourite author and sofar I have enjoyed reading her. I prefer her to Danille Steele.
Story begins when Diana Houston is fourteen year old and herfather wakes her up to find out her reaction to his marrying Mary and bringerher new mother and her step sister Corey to stay with them. And we see howDiana helps her sister to adjust from a small little town to rich ways ofHouston family. We are introduced to Cole Harrison a stable boy of Diana’sfriend, who studies in collage. They meet whenever Diana and Correy go tofriends house to ride horses.
Cole and Diana were poles apart.
"Cole was blunt, reckless and earthy, Diana was resevered, cautious and hopelessly proper.
He was motorcycles and blue jeans and battered duffel bags, with a need to blaze his own trailsthrough life.
She was BMWs and prop gowns and matched luggage, with a needto stay on smooth, paved roads."
They were so different, yet they meet, and share a beautifulfriendship. Diana has crush on Cole but she hides it from him and Cole also hasspecial feelings for her.
The book then fast-forwards fifteen years (like ekta kapoorserialJ)and we meet Cole as the head of Unified multinational. Cole meets Diana againon a moonlit balcony at the White Orchid Charity Ball. Cole becomes her knightin shining armor and turns her nightmare of auction at Ball into anentertaining drama with Hollywood happy ending.
The episode is so well written that while reading it myheart was beating fast and I felt as if drama is happening right before myeyes. When Cole makes her the center of attraction, I end up saying “Great Jobman”.
Cole then offers a marriage of convenience to Diana, as theyboth need a spouse to save their respective businesses. He is forced to find awife and soon or see his uncle Cal’s share of business he’s spent yearsbuilding go to an undeserving relative. Diana who is now publisher of “FostersBeautiful Living” has been ditched by her fiancée, who marries and Italianmodel and didn’t have the courtesy to inform her. She comes to know about it intabloids.
Though the proposal seems cold and calculating and eventhough one might accept it as a practical solution to their pressing problem, what makes it engrossing is the way the episode unfolds, it shows the masterythat the author has over words, over situation. When Diana says yes to theproposal, “Diana’s remaining resistance suddenly collapsed. He was offeringher, personally and professionally, a safe haven for year… He was offering herhis protection…He was offering to rescue her from humiliation, anxiety andstress”. A feeling of being cherished is what makes the romance tick.
Their marriage in Las Vegas is so hilarious, Imagine Dianais fully drunk, she cries through her marriage, gambles and loses threethousand dollars and rings up the various news network channel to inform thatshe is married and then at the height of thirty thousand feet(they were flying!!) they make love. Author has done a great job.
The book is well written. The events are small but very aptand humorous; How Diana introduces Cole to her family and updates them abouttheir marriage of convenience. The press conference event is short but sweet .They finally decide that they are attracted to each other and so they wouldhave a real honeymoon at his uncle’s Cal ranch.
How they acknowledge their feelings and live happily afteris the rest of story. There is twist in the tale too, the suspense builds upregarding the investigation of Cole by Securities and Exchange commission forbuying a competitor cheaply. The storyis simple but well written. The other people in the book also make theirpresence felt, I fell in love with Cal Uncle, Correy, Diana’s grandparents.
I end my review with few excerpts from the book
Uncle Cal and Diana “Yesterday he was up at the housedriving everybody crazy about every little detail so it would be as nice foryou as it could be. He was giving a damned good imitation of a man who thoughta whole lot of his wife. I got really excited to meet you. Last night, hecouldn’t take his eyes off you. But I gotta tell you straight out. Diana Ididn’t get the idea that you shared his feelings. Yet this morning he’s wearinghis heart on his sleeve”… She turned her face to the elderly man who loved herhusband, too, and said without shame or pretense “Cole isn’t wearing his hearton his sleeve. That is my heart”
When Diana comes to know of the trial that her husband hasto face and he is not returning her calls. “She rehearsed a dozen openingspeeches on the flight there, all of them designed to let her stay and face histrouble together with him. She thought of pleading, of reasoning, of demanding.She’d considered trying tears to weaken his resistance. But when the moment wasfinally upon her, she couldn’t seem to begin. She took a step forward and sawhim stiffen with resistance the instant she spoke “Cole?” He didn’t even turnhis head or look at her “What are you doing out here”
“Praying”
Tears strung her eyes when she remembered the way he haddismissed the idea as the last resort of fools-dreamers who won’t face the factthat they cannot have something. “What are you praying for?”
“I’ve been praying for you”. He said in a hoarse whisper.