Elements of Chance
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- 6,99 €
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- 6,99 €
Publisher Description
A woman of desire, a legacy of deceit, a fortune worth killing for. An opulent intricate, sizzling novel, Elements of Chance fulfils ever woman’s fantasy.
Hauntingly beautiful, talented pianist Valerie Penn is one of the world’s wealthiest women, the pampered wife of banker Victor Penn, and the mother of their two children. Her life is a whirl of private jets; charity balls; mansions in London, New York, Paris and Beverly Hills; priceless antiques; endless passionate love; and gifts beyond imagining … a stunning diamond necklace “just because it’s Tuesday and I love you.”
But the mystery of her past continues to haunt Valerie. who is she and who are her real parents? A shy, silver-haired child, she was lovingly raised by a couple in Hollywood. But her real mother, the beautiful starlet, remains a mystery. Why did she leave Valerie, and is she still alive?
Anything Valerie wants is hers for the asking until Victor disappears in a mysterious plane crash. Suddenly torn from her privileged world, Valerie faces the hostility of the Penn family and finds herself caught in a web of rivalries, betrayal and murder. Alone for the first time, she brilliantly creates her own business and, once again, is part of the glittering world of the influential and famous, this time on her own terms … through her own effort. Finally believing Victor to be dead, Valerie is about to remarry when her fiancé is murdered and her son is kidnapped, driving her to find the answers to the mysteries still clouding her life.
As she unravels the intrigues of the powerful Penn family, Valerie’s search brings her to the steaming jungles of South America, where she faces her past and opens the door to a new future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The plot of this massive first novel has many familiar bestseller ingredients. Valerie, a beautiful gifted pianist, learns she's adopted when leaving California on a scholarship to study in London, where she meets vital, sexy, handsome Victor, some years older than she, who refuses to consummate their love until they wed. Obsessed by Victor, Valerie finds marriage to him is a whirlwind of jet-set life, riches beyond credibility and frequent, detailed sex. After Victor apparently dies in a plane crash, Valerie (who doesn't know how to call out for pizza) has to support herself, and becomes a rich and famous entrepreneur. Then, she discovers that Victor courted and married her knowing she was the child of his elder brother Raymond. When the two men who woo her are mysteriously killed and her son is kidnapped, Valerie is convinced Victor is behind it all and sets out to find him. The narrative gallops along, but the novel is all surface, tiresomely repetitious in detailed descriptions of ostentatiously expensive possessions. Wilkins is bound to do better next time if she leaves out the trimmings and sticks to the meat of the matter.