365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #139

Broken Destiny - Sally Wentworth
Mills and Boon Romance
Mills and Boon, 1991
ISBN: 9780263770148





My rating




From the back cover:

"Jancy's world lay in ruins...
She was just twenty-three--and she had cancer. Her successful modeling career would be over now. As would her engagement to Duncan.
Duncan. He was an honorable man and would no doubt refuse to call off their marriage. But you couldn't expect a man to love someone who was only half the woman he'd desired. And if she couldn't have Duncan's love, she certainly didn't want his pity.
So Jancy ran away to Yorkshire and hoped that Duncan would forget her. She soon realized, however, that Duncan wasn't the type to let go quite so easily..."


Another oldie found on my bookshelf, and an enjoyable read.

When the hero Duncan and the heroine Jancy meet at a party they are immediately drawn to one another. They begin dating, which quickly leads to them falling in love and to Duncan proposing. Jancy couldn't be happier but all this comes crashing down when Jancy is diagnosed with breast cancer and informed that she needs a mastectomy on her left breast. Jancy is devastated and with Duncan away on a business trip she has no one to turn too. She begins to realise that her entire life will change and she can no longer work as a model. She also realises that she doesn't want to burden Duncan with her illness, so she goes ahead with the operation without telling him then packs up her life and moves away leaving a note for Duncan saying their relationship is over as she has met someone else. As the months go by she begins to feel better but struggles to get used to what she sees as her deformed body, and misses Duncan terribly. She knows that he has been looking for her and that he is angry, but she doesn't expect him to find her. She is shocked when he turns up and refuses to leave until he gets an explanation, but Jancy is too scared to tell him the truth.

This is a very emotional book, and at times tough to read. It deals with the cancer plot with sensitivity and a very refreshing honesty. The fact that the heroine's main worry about losing a breast was that she would 'feel' less of a woman is, on the surface, very shallow but something that I honestly think many women would feel, I appreciated the frankness of it. The book is well thought out and wonderfully written. However, I found it very slow to begin with and it only really hit it's stride when the illness was discovered. I also think this lacked a little depth from the hero's side, it would have benefited from including his point of view.

This is a really enjoyable read though, and I would recommend having tissues on hand when reading!

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