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The Japanese Screen
192 pages
A sun-drenched, high-angst vintage romance where past betrayals and simmering passions collide in a sprawling Spanish villa.
What it feels like
Reading this vintage romance feels like stepping into a beautifully melodramatic soap opera set against the sun-drenched, oppressive heat of a Spanish estate. The pacing is brisk, pulling you quickly from the initial shock of a sudden heartbreak in London straight into a claustrophobic crucible of forced proximity abroad. The mood is thick with unresolved tension, simmering resentment, and undeniable passion, wrapping the reader in an atmosphere of emotional turbulence. The prose is characteristically heightened, leaning into the dramatic flair and intense internal monologues typical of classic category romance. It is a perfect, indulgent escape for readers who love the angst of secret marriages, the classic governess trope, and the undeniable pull of forbidden, second-chance love.
- Mood
- tense
- emotionally turbulent
- sun-drenched
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- melodramatic
- earnest
- angsty
- passionate
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- betrayal and forgiveness · forbidden love · hidden secrets · forced proximity · power imbalances
- The writing
- The prose is emotionally heightened and vividly descriptive, leaning into the dramatic flair characteristic of vintage category romance.
- The arc
- The journey moves from the crushing shock of sudden heartbreak into a tense, simmering crucible of forced proximity, culminating in passionate, hard-won reconciliation.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave the high-angst, soap-operatic drama and exotic locales of classic vintage Harlequin romances will devour this.
Content notes
- infidelity themes
- power imbalance
- emotional manipulation
About the book
Susannah had met Fernando Cuevas in London, and in a whirlwind romance had fallen wildly and irrevocably in love with him. She could hardly believe it when Fernando, on what seemed to be an unconvincing excuse, ended it all, and disappeared out of her life as quickly as he had come into it. The only thing to do, Susannah decided, was to make a new life for herself, so she took a job as governess to a young Spanish girl which would take her to live in Spain for a while. She was horrified, on arriving at her destination, to realise that the child was Fernando’s child; that he was very much married; and that she was going to meet him again at any moment. What was she to do now?
Description from Open Library.
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