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Sweet Enemy

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Under His Spell

Sparring Partners

Wholesome Maggie Kirk had always been wary of commanding cowboy Clint Raygen. So if her best friend's forbidding older brother rubbed her the wrong way, how come she'd chosen his ranch to recover from a broken heart? She knew the dangers that her foe posed . . . yet every time she crossed paths with the hard-edged cattle rancher, her pulse would race out of control. Maggie secretly dreamed of awakening to womanhood in Clint's powerful embrace . . . but did these sweet enemies have a shot at becoming lifelong lovers?

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

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About the author

Diana Palmer

929 books3,036 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Diana Palmer is a pseudonym for author Susan Kyle.

(1)romance author
Susan Eloise Spaeth was born on 11 December 1946 in Cuthbert, Georgia, USA. She was the eldest daughter of Maggie Eloise Cliatt, a nurse and also journalist, and William Olin Spaeth, a college professor. Her mother was part of the women's liberation movement many years before it became fashionable. Her best friends are her mother and her sister, Dannis Spaeth (Cole), who now has two daughters, Amanda Belle Hofstetter and Maggie and lives in Utah. Susan grew up reading Zane Grey and fell in love with cowboys. Susan is a former newspaper reporter, with sixteen years experience on both daily and weekly newspapers. Since 1972, she has been married to James Kyle and have since settled down in Cornelia, Georgia, where she started to write romance novels. Susan and her husband have one son, Blayne Edward, born in 1980.

She began selling romances in 1979 as Diana Palmer. She also used the pseudonyms Diana Blayne and Katy Currie, and her married name: Susan Kyle. Now, she has over 40 million copies of her books in print, which have been translated and published around the world. She is listed in numerous publications, including Contemporary Authors by Gale Research, Inc., Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers by St. James Press, The Writers Directory by St. James Press, the International Who's Who of Authors and Writers by Meirose Press, Ltd., and Love's Leading Ladies by Kathryn Falk. Her awards include seven Waldenbooks national sales awards, four B. Dalton national sales awards, two Bookrak national sales awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for series storytelling from Romantic Times, several Affaire de Coeur awards, and two regional RWA awards.

Inspired by her husband, who quit a blue-collar manufacturing job to return to school and get his diploma in computer programming, Susan herself went back to college as a day student at the age of 45. In 1995, she graduated summa cum laude from Piedmont College, Demorest, GA, with a major in history and a double minor in archaeology and Spanish. She was named to two honor societies (the Torch Club and Alpha Chi), and was named to the National Dean's List. In addition to her writing projects, she is currently working on her master's degree in history at California State University. She hopes to specialize in Native American studies. She is a member of the Native American Rights Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Cattlemen's Association, the Archaeological Institute of Amenca, the Planetary Society, The Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Sheriff's Association, and numerous conservation and charitable organizations. Her hobbies include gardening, archaeology, anthropology, iguanas, astronomy and music.

In 1998, her husband retired from his own computer business and now pursues skeet shooting medals in local, state, national and international competition. They love riding around and looking at the countryside, watching sci-fi on TV and at the movies, just talking and eating out.

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5 stars
368 (36%)
4 stars
299 (29%)
3 stars
247 (24%)
2 stars
79 (7%)
1 star
22 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,645 reviews622 followers
July 24, 2018
To quote Danielle the Book Huntress, This is by far the meanest Diana Palmer hero, and that's saying something. He's a real sunavabitch.



Here are a few of the more charming things he says to the stick heroine who has all the personality of said stick.

I still say a woman’s got only one use to a man, and I think you know what I’m talking about.”

“You make me conceited, little girl,” he replied sharply. “My God, if you’d reacted to your poor fool of a fiancé the way you react to me physically, you’d still be engaged!”


What eventually drives her away if only for a few days is after he kisses her and she succumbs.


His hands contracted on her waist as he suddenly thrust her roughly away. A cold, merciless smile tugged at his mouth. “And that, Miss Kirk, evens the score. You wanted something to be ashamed of. You’ve got it!”

He lit a cigarette calmly, his narrow eyes flicking her stunned expression as he snapped the lighter shut and pocketed it. “You’ve been following me around like a damned pet dog since you were about eight years old,” he remarked. “For future reference, I’m tired of it. I won’t be a stand-in for a jilting fiancé, or a balm for a broken heart. From now on, if you want to be made love to, look in some other direction. I’m tired of giving you lessons.”


The heroine is best friends with the H's little sister and is much younger and has had a crush on him for years. When she was 17 he crushed her crush brutally. Since then she was engaged to a serial cheater and found out about him two days before the wedding. The H taunts her about it a lot.

She's come to the ranch, Florida this time, to be secretary to the typical hair chested DP ape/hero although as Danielle said, he's a groundbreaker. Mean as spit just to hide how much he loves her. Okay.

Just keep saying 1979, 1979, 1979. Nope, didn't help me either.

As if all his SOB-ness wasn't bad enough, the h is knocked out AND hit by a car, almost dies and is paralyzed for a while. On top of that, she has tickets to go on an archaeological cruise - first class no less, and we all know the SOB isn't going to let her off the ranch once he gets her. This early DP dropped that thread and failed to even have the evil OW make an appearance except when mentioned in passing.

The best character dies anyway.
Profile Image for  Danielle The Book Huntress .
2,724 reviews6,478 followers
August 18, 2009
This is by far the meanest Diana Palmer hero, and that's saying something. I wanted to get out my extra-large titanium shovel to brain this jive turkey with. I don't think I've ever given a Diana Palmer book a C and hope never to again, other than this book, which is a C-. My dream ending would be for Maggie to walk into the sunset with a better man, and certainly not Clint.

I love you Diana Palmer, so I'll forgive you for this one that you wrote earlier on in your career.
Profile Image for Simona.
180 reviews61 followers
July 27, 2018
One thing sorely missing from these earlier works of Palmer are consummation scenes and baby-filled epilogues. Angst, asshole heroes and sweet virgin heroines are there which always makes her books a 4star for me.
Profile Image for Ana M. Román.
655 reviews92 followers
January 22, 2019
Necesitaba un respiro y las historias de Diana Palmer siempre son una buena opción: breves y sin sobresaltos. Ideales para cuando necesito darme un descanso a mí y a mi cabeza.

Sin embargo, hay veces que no entiendo cómo me pueden gustar tanto. Especialmente con la afición que tiene de darles a sus protagonistas femeninas cero amor propio.

Sigo esperando un libro suyo en que el protagonista tenga que pedir perdón como es debido, uno en el que ella después de lo mal que la trata no se le tire al cuello sin más. Uno en el que él también sude un poco por su final feliz en lugar de dicarse a pisotear a la mujer que dice amar. Y no importa lo mucho que se tema al compromiso, eso no da derecho a tratar a la otra persona como un felpudo.

Aún así esta autora seguirá siendo mi pequeño placer culpable.
Profile Image for Kat.
193 reviews9 followers
April 16, 2014
Yes Diana Palmer books can be a little repetitive at times but I really love her stuff. Call me crazy or it could be the fact that I haven't read anything by her in months but I loved this story. Its nice to take a break from all the vampire romance and murder mystery novels and read something like this. I really don't understand why people are being so harsh about this book. It was written in 1979. Thank about it people. That's 32 years ago. If you went back in time just ten or fifteen years the world would be a whole different place and a lot more constricting in ways.

No sex scene? Big deal. If that's all you wanted then you probably should be reading erotica instead. And the definition of ROMANCE NOVELS varies person to person. You don't normally choose who you love and sometimes the person you fall in love with is a jerk. So naturally some women would decide that they are going to be the one to change him. That he is going to eventually fall for her and everything will be okay. That is what happens in this novel. Its a good book and definitely worth having if your a Diana Palmer collector.
Profile Image for Alexis-Morgan Roark.
Author 3 books458 followers
May 8, 2011
Well, heck. This guy was a jerk, supreme, but damn he is one alpa male. The jerk!

What you would expect in the genre during the 80s and from an earlier Diana Palmer: virginal heroine; alpha jerk hero who despises women but has secretly loved the younger heroine since she was even younger yet has NO problems sleeping with beautiful women while he works out his commitment/fear of the "L"-word issues. The "other" L-word. Think 80s not 2000s.

It was kinda funny!

A fast, fun, sensual (no sex scenes!) read complete with jealousy, vixens somewhat vying for the hero's attention, the mandatory best friend and older female who have watched the couple from the beginning and just known there was something ther.
Profile Image for S.
1,032 reviews22 followers
September 17, 2022
I liked this one. Hero was super annoyed, and oppressive. He was also overbearing - a total pushover and 100% alpha. He liked to torture and tease the heroine relentlessly; saying all the nasty things to her and hurting her in the process. He behaved atrociously - kissing her and then calling her awful things. Actually, the whole story was about that, until the second last page where he confessed his love for her. If you could stand the Hero's antics (literally for the duration of the book), then you'd like this one.
The heroine, on the other hand, couldn't do anything for the life of her. She was too besotted by the Hero to stand up for herself. Okay, okay, okay, she did leave him one time and got into an accident so that could be considered as standing up for herself, I guess. But that's about it. The rest of the book, she seemed weak.
Having said that, the Hero explained why he behaved the way he did since she was seventeen at the end. It's because he's been in love with her since then.
Profile Image for Daisy Daisy.
692 reviews40 followers
July 24, 2018
Oh My Gosh.
I too can't say I wasn't warned and when I saw Vintages review I immediately had to find this and read it to find out how bad it was.
Jesus take the wheel the H was definitely mean as HELL. What a horrible man the h was pretty doormatty despite constantly battling him I would have respected her more if she wasn't such a wuss. I'd also like to know what made her throw a baseball bat at him when they were kids because that is a pretty violent reaction - she might have been better saving the bat for when she was more grown and going slightly Negan on his head. Not full on Glen/Negan but just enough to knock some sense into the dumb ass.
I was more curious about the affinity she felt with the OM Duke. He seemed like a hell of a character and someone quite soulmatey for the h. DP went slightly paranormal here hinting at a past life for the pair. Karma would have been her not surviving her accident and meeting the OM in the next life seeing as DP had killed him off.
We can only hope that the h is happy with the chainsmoking H who keeps kissing her with his "ashtray breath" that DP tries to kindly pass off as smokey!
TEAM OM DUKE AND AFTERLIFE/REINCARNATION!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kay.
1,906 reviews122 followers
March 1, 2012
Another emotional roller coaster ride! Maggie's loved her best friend's brother since she was a child who stuck to him like glue. Clint adored the child, but when the child was becoming a woman, he became uncomfortable with her adoration. Scaring her away was easy, and becoming enemies proved the best way to stay at arms length. At Clint's sister's waggling, Clint agrees to let Maggie stay at the ranch while she heal a broken heart. Sparking Maggie to life comes easy to Clint but dealing with his own feelings proves another matter. There are some deeply emotional moments where Clint is almost hateable, but as all great heroes do, he redeems himself wonderfully.
Profile Image for Kace | The Booknerd .
1,377 reviews68 followers
September 13, 2021
I liked it. Ms. Palmer's books can be a little repetitive at times, but I can't get enough of them. I'm a sucker for the older hero/younger heroine trope and that both of them dealing with a love/hate internal struggle.

I love it when they fight, and maybe it’s because it’s a passionate emotion of some kind and I know buried behind that anger or frustration or whatever is the deep love they have for each other. But the ending was rushed. I wanted an epilogue, but I know that Ms. Palmer rarely, or I say, never writes an epilogue.
Profile Image for amanda s..
3,062 reviews95 followers
May 24, 2013
I kind of like it. :)

Maggie and Clint's like cat and mouse. They've been fighting and arguing since forever. But after Maggie's engagement is being hold because cheating fiancé, she's forced to go back to her hometown and meet Clint. But then her feeling's bloom. And towards Clint.

I like it. Mostly because the angst and the way Clint treated Maggie. I always love that kind of relationship. :)

Especially when he hurts her feeling. Gah! I loved it. :)
Profile Image for Charlie-Dee.
375 reviews
June 12, 2014
I love quick and easy romance novels. I usually read them when I'm in a slump and picked this one up this morning. Really cute story about a girl and her best friends brother. Really fast paced and has definitely made me want to read some others like it.
Profile Image for GuisBell.
1,299 reviews31 followers
March 30, 2021
Clint es un niñato, hace todo porque no esta preparado para una vida al de Maggie, ella más madura que él, sabe lo que quiere y fue doloroso de leer como sufrió intentando alejarse, ese hombre es sumamente despreciable. Uy que ganas de matarlo.
January 28, 2020
Men can be so blind

4 star rating, good entertainment, love the characters,I like when a very stubborn make opens his eyes and admits to his own feelings towards the woman he loves.
Profile Image for Asteria.
163 reviews13 followers
April 11, 2021
Rating: 2.5 stars

Well the title is definitely misleading. This had a lot of push and pull and most of it contributed by the ML. I could understand his reason for trying to stay away from the FL not just in the past but over the course of the story but I could not understand was the ML constantly humiliating her. It was like he was punishing her for having no control on himself.

ML knew that the FL was innocent with no experience and each time she shied away when things got intense he would pass cruel remarks and question her desirability as a woman. He weaponized her response to him to constantly degrade her. I really don't know why the FL accepted him in the end.

Profile Image for Bea Tea.
920 reviews
September 16, 2023
Tedious, irritating. The H in this one is a complete tool who loves the smell of his own farts. The h is a spineless blob who wafts about the place like a sad ghost, yearning, yearning after this dude who treats her like shit. They bicker like a pair of dumb babies, which is the 'hook' of the book I guess but it was honestly rather annoying.

I was so disinterested in these two I skipped the sex scene at the end, just sort of breezed over it. No matter how turgid a DP book is you can rely on her for some red hot spice, but meh, here I was just bored and keen to finish.
Profile Image for Fran Alsaud.
806 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2021
Ella está enamorada de él y este nunca la quiso. Ella es una adulta y el tipo la trata todo el tiempo mal, sin embargo, acepta ir a trabajar con él como su secretaria estando de vacaciones. La sigue torturando y humillando esas dos semanas que estuvo allí. Solo porque ella tuvo un accidente reacciona y la ayuda, la cuida. El hombre le dijo que la amaba desde hacía tres años, menos mal, si no la hubiera tratado peor, supongo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Katy Mathews.
195 reviews1 follower
December 24, 2023
Maggie and Clint

I love Diana Palmer as always. I must, if a book shelf full of her books, hardback and paperback included, from floor to ceiling counts. Sweet Enemy is no different: Intriguing characters, storyline, and well written. Plenty of longing and angst leading finally to the promised HEA.
Profile Image for CANDEN333.
173 reviews
August 10, 2024
First the good: I couldn’t put it down! It’s definitely nail biting!
But I was torn. The H is the devil himself! He’s definitely in need of therapy. The h is 20 going on 14. They fight constantly!! I kept having fantasies while reading that she actually left the guy and met someone else it was that bad!
Glad I’m not the only one who liked the character Duke sooo much more than the H!
Profile Image for Vicki.
1,631 reviews
June 23, 2017
I liked this story but the male MC at times was a real b___hole. He teased and tormented Maggie all the time. He did have a big age split between him and Maggie. She has been in love with Clint forever. They do have a HEA but it is a long and painful road to get there.
124 reviews
December 23, 2021
Sad, Sweet, Sensual, Sexy Cowboy Love Story!

This book will take your emotions on a roller coaster ride! It's a very lonely longing heart wrenching wonderful love story! Add it to your eBook Library
76 reviews
October 14, 2024
Dosyć regularnie sięgam po utwory autorstwa Diany Palmer.
Czy kolejny romans jej pióra pod tytułem „Uwierzyć w miłość” był wart by poświęcić mu czas?
Tradycyjnie zapraszam do zapoznania się z moją opinią…
https://taka-jest-agata.blogspot.com/...

882 reviews2 followers
May 14, 2019
Another good story from Diana Palmer. I enjoyed Maggie and Clint's story. Glad they finally got a Happy ever after.
Profile Image for Rogetwhi.
1,208 reviews11 followers
August 23, 2019
I like the cruel hero trope but this guy wasn’t even nice to her until the last few pages!!!
Profile Image for ReadToBreathe.
859 reviews29 followers
September 21, 2019
2 Stars
The hero in this book didn't deserve a happy ending because he was a mean as**ole
Profile Image for Hessa.
4 reviews
Read
May 12, 2022
قصه جميله نزلت بالعربيه بأسم عيون ادمتها الدموع كرهت البطل في اغلب الروايه
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews

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