Books like The Japanese Screen
The Japanese Screen by Anne Mather reads as dramatic, intense. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.
What The Japanese Screen is like to read
A whirlwind London romance curdles into a governess's nightmare when she discovers her lost lover is a married father — a classic Mather setup of forbidden feeling and impossible circumstance. Best for: readers who love vintage category romance with dramatic reveals and forbidden-love agony.
Sleeping Desire
Charlotte Lamb · 1985
A category-romance melodrama built on amnesia and a suspected conspiracy of loved ones — emotional, dialogue-driven, and firmly in the Harlequin Presents register.
Forbidden Surrender
Carole Mortimer · 1982
A category-romance emotional tangle: a young woman discovers a long-lost sister only to find she has fallen for that sister's fiancé, turning family reunion into quiet heartbreak.
Stormspell
Anne Mather · 1982
A category-romance sweep from a storm-lashed Caribbean island to a lonely London aftermath, driven by an obsessive attraction the heroine can't shake even knowing her lover belongs to another.
An Unbreakable Bond
Robyn Donald · 1986
A category-romance clash of contempt and desire, with a New Zealand estate dispute forcing the heroine to choose between her own happiness and setting the record straight.
Darling infidel
Violet Winspear · 1976
A classic mid-century category romance built on antagonism curdling into longing, with a rival woman raising the stakes.
No Alternative
Margaret Way · 1983
A coerced-remarriage melodrama built on blackmail, wounded pride, and a rival mistress — the tension comes from a heroine trapped in a marriage she can't escape with a husband she can't trust.
Exorcism
Penny Jordan · 1985
A charged reunion romance built on old wounds and forced proximity in a Caribbean setting — emotional, tense, and driven by unresolved desire rather than plot twists.
A Lingering Melody
Patricia Wilson · 1987
A category-romance reunion with a secret-baby hook: an emotionally charged reencounter with a former lover turned cold, thickened by the heroine's hidden truth about her twins.
The Iron Man
Kay Thorpe · 1974
A 1970s Harlequin-style romance where a worried fiancée follows her missing partner to West Africa and clashes with a domineering stranger whose contempt masks attraction.
Culpa mía
Mercedes Ron · 2014
A propulsive stepsibling enemies-to-lovers pulled between glittery L.
The Spanish Groom
Lynne Graham · 1999
A fast, tropey category romance built on a fake-engagement-turned-real-marriage with a hidden pregnancy twist — glossy wish-fulfillment with a wealthy hero and a virginal heroine.
Devil and the Deep Sea
Sara Craven · 1988
A high-pressure category romance built on coercion and rescue: a desperate heroine strikes a bargain with a dangerous man to escape a worse fate, and the sexual charge sits uneasily beside the power imbalance.
About The Japanese Screen — what the genome says
How spicy is The Japanese Screen?
Low heat — mostly fade-to-black.
Who is The Japanese Screen for?
readers who love vintage category romance with dramatic reveals and forbidden-love agony
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