True Colors

Rating:
Summary: Diana Disappoints
Review: After spending 1/3 of the book reading over and over again about how the leads split years ago, I couldn't take it anymore. The characters were all shallow. It just doesn't work.

Rating:
Summary: Makes Your Heart Pound!
Review: I knew this book would be good because it was written by Diana Palmer(okay, maybe I'm being a bit biased)Yet I didn't expect to not be able to put down the book and that my heart was pounding with each turn of the page.
"True Colors" is filled with a lot of emotion. You read as Meredith Ashe grows from a naive girl to a strong women. Unfortunatley her strength is geared towards revenge on Cy Harden, the father of her child. She plans to punish him for the past by taking over his company.
Cy, who had no idea he had fathered a child, too late realizes how he had been manipulated by his mother into thinking that Meredith had betrayed him. And seeing her after all these years, Cy still has a need for her, but is it just a physical need or a need born of love?
Yet when everyones true color is out in the open would it be enough to save the love between Cy and Meredith?
You won't want to put down this book till the very end, even then, you'll want to go back to read it again. I hope you get a copy of this and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly done
Review: I like DP, but this was a major disappointment. Sometimes I think it's just my mood when reading, but not this time. Literally forced myself to finish this book. That's why it got 2** -- it was one that I could finish!

Rating:
Summary: The hero is despicable.
Review: I thought this book started out well. The plot set up is terrific The heroine is strong, likeable, and smart, and her back story is great. When the hero is introduced he smokes, wears conservative 3 piece suits, and a cream stetson. Ick. At least put him in jeans and a stetson. At least that's sexy. Nonetheless, I thought perhaps he had promise and was going to be misunderstood. He is clearly sexually obsessed with the heroine and hates himself for it. But his obsession never gets much past sex and he soon shows himself to be a pretty despicable, stupid, uninteresting, sexist boor. He cruelly insults the heroine at every opportunity and after awhile you can't believe someone of her caliber could feel anything for this man. He's certainly no catch. In fact, almost any other male in the book (her late-husband, or Mr. Smith) is 100x more likeable than him. I know other reviewers said the author sets up well the reasons he is like this, but I found him so unlikeable, 1-dimensional and disrespectful of the heroine that I didn't care one wit about him at all and found myself hoping the heroine wouldn't end up with him.

Also about 3/4 of the way through the book, when the hero is recovering from an accident, it really starts to drag. However, the boardroom scenes are great, especially when she reveals herself to be the CEO of the company that just took his down. Loved that.

This is just a case where you have a greaat plot, a good set-up, and an intriguing heroine, but the hero is beneath her and rather yucky, so it sort of ruins the fun.

Rating:
Summary: MRozeen100's Review of True Colors
Review: Meredith Ashe returned to Billings, Montana, a great deal wiser and much richer than the scared, pregnant teenager she had been six years before. She was now "Kip" Tennison, the sophisticated savvy widow of millionaire Henry Tennison and heir to his multi-national corporation. Meredith intended to keep her past, and her her future plans - a secret. Cy Hardin, the man who had taught her passion but left her without love, was never to know that they had had a child. Nor was he to know that Meredith was buying out his company until it was too late. What Meredith could't predict was the way she would fall for Cy all over again. And how she would discover the true colors of vengeance and love... This is an excellently written book of love, and teaches us a lot of the motivations of people's hearts, and what a beautiful outcome. Diana Palmer/Susan Kyle at her best.

Rating:
Summary: fine boardroom romance
Review: Six years ago, pregnant teenager Meredith Ashe is run out of Billings, Montana by Myrna, the mother of her lover Cy Harden. Myrna paid Tony Tanksley to rob her family safe and accuse his lover Meredith as his accomplice. Cy believed his mother and Tony over his girlfriend. Meredith refused to take any money from the Hardens and returned Cy's gifts to Myrna.

Multi-millionaire businessman Henry Tennison meets a distraught Meredith wandering Chicago and takes her under his wings. The lonely older man eventually marries Meredith and raises her son Blake as his own. He taught her how to wisely invest, but not too long ago Henry died.

Needing mineral rights that Cy `s firm owns and to sell her recently deceased aunt's home, Meredith returns to Billings. The attraction between her and Cy remains heated and guilt racked Myrna knows she did wrong. However, Meredith is not a frightened teen, but is a confident woman who informs Myrna her price to leave town is the truth. As she works a hostile takeover, her brother-in-law Don spins a double cross and Cy realizes something is not right between the two women he loves. All comes to a head when Myrna faints upon seeing Blake.

Though having a Falcon Crest and Dallas feel to the plot, fans will appreciate this fine boardroom romance as the lead couple remains in love yet neither trust the other because Cy chose his mother's "truth" over his beloved's contention. Though Don seems foolish in his power grab to eliminate his highly regarded by the board sister-in-law that could cost his company millions, fans of second chance at love soap opera romances will enjoy this fine tale of revenge.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Overall, I liked it.
Review: The premise of Meredith's revenge was intriguing and unlike other Diana Palmer books. I found her character strong, smart and entirely too forgiving of Cy and his mother, Myrna. The boardroom scenes were great even though the plot did drag quite a bit at times. The only real fly in the ointment was that oaf of a hero, Cy Harden. What a sexist pig! He insults Meredith at every turn and yet she practically pants whenever he touches her. I couldn't figure out why someone like her would want him. He was definitely beneath her. In fact, my mind kept wandering to her late husband, Henry Tennison. Too bad he died. Even the bodyguard, Mr. Smith, had lots of promise. Both of these characters were more manly than the juvenile Cy Harden. I guess Diana Palmer likes her heroes flawed. This man certainly was. I have a hard time picturing a truly happily ever after for this couple.

Rating:
Summary: Mentally Abusive Hero
Review: There is absolutely nothing likeable about the hero! At first, I was just disappointed with the characterization, but the more I thought about it, the madder I got. I cannot find one reason why Meredith loved Cy. It's one thing to be stupid at 18, but for her to be such a smart businesswoman and still accept insulting, mentally abusive behavior from anyone, let alone her "love" certainly sends the wrong message to women. In the author's own words, Cy treated her like a "Saturday night pickup without tenderness or respect" and was always "rough" with her sexually (even when she was a virgin), they never talked so they didn't really know each other, he never really took her anywhere, he always insulted her and thought she was beneath him, so WHY did she love Cy? Why should it be acceptable behavior to constantly insult and belittle any human being, let alone someone you're supposed to "love"? Why should someone want to read about a hero that blames everyone but himself for his bad behavior? Everyone should be accountable for his/her own actions and I'd rather read about a hero/heroine that rises above their background, not find excuses for it! I hope that someone with poor self-confidence or young women don't read this and think that it's okay to be treated like Meredith.... mentally abused.

Rating:
Summary: Same old, same old...
Review: This book was originally written in 1991, and I recall reading that Ms. Palmer had re-worked some sections to bring them more up to date. Huh? Here's one of my favorites. Following a sexual encounter with Meredith, Cy stated that he didn't use condoms because "These days, women are more liberated then men." and he continues "I don't have to worry about precautions, as a rule." Apparently, Ms. Palmer's characters come from a world without AIDS and other STDs.

I had great difficulty in believing that a 23-year old woman with a high school education could be the powerful head of a multinational company. Otherwise, the book followed the SPF (Standard Palmer Formula): abusive male, virginal-type woman, transparent plot twists, and they live happily ever after (after the reader slogs through 400 pages).

Rating:
Summary: Not bad.
Review: This is the first book by Diana palmer that I have read. I liked it. It was deep and full of emotion, secrets and lots of feeling. I was not sure what to expect. Cy was an interesting hero. I thought he was really kinda mean at first, but its more that you have to get to know him and then you see why he is the way he is. Meridith was a strong heroine. She held her own and did not take Cy's stuff. She gave as good as she got. I liked it. The plot was good and considering that it was a board room book it kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what was going to happen at Tennison International, what Don is up to and with all the secrets between Cy, Meridith and Myrna, well, they all come out. You get to follow along and go for the same ride that all the characters go on. Mr. Smith was also very likeable. I liked him. I once read that Diana Palmer writes about "hard" men. That she does. Normally that is how I like them. Cy was just a little harder then I liked at times, but he was just as charming.