Bound by Contract

by Carole Mortimer

Forced together – day and night Oscar–winning film director Gideon Byrne has found the perfect unknown actress to star in his next film: beautiful, talented Madison McGuire.... Madison is bound by contract to work – and live! – with the director for the next eight months! How will she keep her true identity a secret for so long? She knows Gideon will sack her if he finds out, but she's also irresistibly attracted to him – ever since their first steamy kiss....

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Fiction

165 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

I have written almost 250 romance novels in contemporary and Regency.

I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.

I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man

Reviews

[Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Once upon a time our heroine' s mother met the hero's father. She refused to have an affair with him because he was married. He left his wife for her, and still she refused him because he was now 'divorced' and her religion didn't approve of divorce. She started seeing heroine's father but still slept with the hero's father. And had his baby.

Many years later hero meets and falls in love with his half-brother's half-sister.

All I can say is, ick.

[MJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
The h is an unknown actress who has been cast in the H's new movie. I liked the premise of the book and their careers. Sadly, the book takes place before filming and their developing relationship moves at supersonic speed from fighting their attraction to family drama within days. Very little tension and angst and no love scenes.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last part was the only time I didn't have to force myself to turn the page, although it was still ridiculous. Melodramatic insta-love with a controlling creep, oy vey.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gideon Byrne has found the perfect unknown actress to star in his next movie, Madison McGuire

[Celeste Duque · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book of the Byrne Brothers family story. Another Chick Lit book worth reading.
The second book of Byrne Brothers is The Secret Virgin.

[Di · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel a could be woken up from sleep given a page randomly and tell you if Mortimer wrote it.
What's with these women falling in love soooooo fast. C'mon they don't even know each other. Maybe I'm a cynic but the plot was so lame.
Also I know I'm reiterating this but her range of vocabulary is pretty limited.

[Pravana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Connected book
The Secret Virgin

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

whoa whoa WHOA...too much stuffed into this. Skip nothing makes sense.

[Roub · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was too light, nthg much happening n they were in love ! i was especially shocked by madison's sudden insight dat she was in love wid gideon. i was like what !? hate at 1st sight, love in a few days lol !? add 2 dat she had emotional baggage; she was just out of a relationship n needing some serious TLC according 2 edgar(her godfather). yet here she was, very much in love wid gideon !? then at the end, too much drama !as if the author had just remembered some drama was required n packed in all at one go lol:p instead of sounding plausible, it was ridiculous ! gideon, a man of 38, still not over the fact dat his dad fell in love wid another woman n divorced his mum !? as a kid, it's normal 2 be angry n traumatised. however he's now an adult man n knows the way of life.lust,love n passion n all or atleast i thought he knew LOL

[Booked · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forced together -- day and night

Oscar-winning film director Gideon Byrne has found the perfect unknown actress to star in his next film: beautiful, talented Madison McGuire....

Madison is bound by contract to work -- and live! -- with the director for the next eight months! How will she keep her true identity a secret for so long? She knows Gideon will sack her if he finds out, but she's also irresistibly attracted to him -- ever since their first steamy kiss....

[RomLibrary]

Oscar-winning film director Gideon Byrne has found the perfect unknown actress to star in his next film: beautiful, talented Madison McGuire…
Madison is bound by contract to work— and live!— with the director for the next eight months! How will she keep her true identity a secret for so long? She knows Gideon will sack her if he finds out, but she’ s so irresistibly attracted to him— ever since their first steamy kiss…

[NatalyaVqs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of it was uneventful but towards the end the drama got very good. The cause of the drama was a bit silly, since the events that caused grief happened when the protagonist was 6 and now he was 38, so surely he had some time to get over childhood trauma, but the way the drama was presented with all the twists was engaging.

[Tory Michaels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not my favorite Mortimer book. No one can bat a 1000, but bleh. This just really didn't work for me, and I think one of the primary reasons was the huge age gap (16 years) between hero & heroine. Maybe if she'd been a little older, the 16 years wouldn't have felt as squicky, but at 22 and 38...yeah, really icked me a lot.

[Emelie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had potential, it really did. But the ending just ruined it for me. To me, it seemed as tough the author wanted to wrap things up quickly, and disregarded everything logical about the psychology of the characters. Which basically made my rating for this book plummet.

[Ashima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it..!!

[Elektragedia · Rating 2 out of 5]

creo que les estoy dando duro a mía harlequines, pero esta historia FIE o mejor dicho la sentir forzada

[Averi Nunies · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fanciful delight relating to stardom and being found by an award winning direct. The story is fair and has a good flow and line-up of characters. I found it way to unbelievable. It was too hard to visualize the events because they seemed a little to drawn out, and in perfection. The main supporting character seemed to be to egotistical and unhuman for the love affair brought to light in this book. The unfathomable layout of the events, and the reasoning is just a little to far fetched for my liking. I again must indicate my harsh treatment of the Romance novels because again it too seems to be without a human feasibility to happen.