‘I didn’t know I could feel like this…’
His scorching gaze welded to hers. ‘Not everyone can. Your passion matches mine.’

The Greek’s Chosen Wife by Lynne Graham, first published in 2006, is an emotionally charged novel that leaves the reader hooked from the onset. If you are like myself and love the high intense variety of romances filled with angst, then you would find the story of Prudence Demakis and Nikolos Angelis a captivating and enthralling read.

Prudence is just nineteen years old when her emotionally distant and cold grandfather forces her into a marriage of convenience with Nikolos, who is just a twenty-two year old university student himself. Known for his arrogance and womanizing ways even then, along with the weight of his family’s expectations which he chafes at, Nikolos initially views Prudence as an inconvenient burden—unattractive and beneath his standards. While Prudence is in love with Nikolos, any dreams of the rose-tinted variety are dashed with a disastrous wedding night, followed by eight years of separate lives.

Prudence finds her solace in running an animal sanctuary, and as time heals her wounds over Nikolos and his rejection, Prudence decides it is time for her to move forward in her life and have a baby. When Nikolos is faced with the ego bruising knowledge that his wife is seeking a divorce from him to pursue her own dreams of achieving motherhood, Nikolos rejects this notion just as vehemently as he initially rejected the very idea of marriage to Prudence. Thus begins the fraught journey that these two take towards their happily ever after, with misunderstandings and past hurts forcing them to jarring stops along the way.

Ms. Graham does a marvelous job of navigating the intricacies between Prudence and Nikolos, in revealing their vulnerabilities and exposing the raw intensity of their burgeoning attraction. Their journey from adversaries to reluctant allies, and finally to passionate lovers, is a testament to Ms. Graham’s skill in crafting deeply nuanced characters and compelling relationships.

I loved how Prudence evolved from a woman defined by the perception of others who were unkind to her to becoming a formidable force in her own right. Her ability to stand up for herself and her self-possession were admirable, especially in the face of the forceful character that is Nikolos.

Nikolos himself has some growing up to do as the story progresses, which includes putting his own ego aside to understand the true rarity in finding someone who accepts you as you are, no questions asked. As always, Ms. Graham manages to paint the vividness of love and how it has the ability to transform even the hardest of hearts and smash through the most powerful of egos. I loved Nikolos because he was willing to fight for Prudence and what their marriage, even if it meant going against Prudence herself.

Recommended for fans of romances featuring themes of unrequited love and marriages of convenience. Ms. Graham does these tropes great justice!

Final Verdict: The Greek’s Chosen Wife delivers a compelling read brimming with sizzling sensuality and poignancy of love’s complexities, making this book a must-read for fans of emotional and character-driven romance!

Favorite Quotes

Nik reached for her with sure, steady hands and she let him ease her closer. Her heart was pounding behind her ribcage. Her brain was telling her to back away, laugh it off and extricate herself with style. There was just one problem: she didn’t want to. A little voice had swum up from her subconscious to tell her that it was all right and perfectly acceptable to be curious about how it would feel if he held her close.
‘I may be no good at the romantic angle…but I excel in other fields,’ Nik purred.

‘This is not how it was meant to be between us,’ Nik intoned, almost crushing the life from her fingers.
Moisture shone in her eyes and slid down her cheeks. Nik groaned out loud. ‘Don’t…’
She gulped. ‘I’m sorry…go!’
‘No…’ Nik lowered his handsome dark head to kiss the tear from her smooth cheek. She had the scent of a peach: warm and ripe and ready to eat. For a fraction of a second he hesitated and then, recognising his moment, he went for it with all the ruthless, single-minded purpose which his business competitors feared.
Astonishment shrilled through Prudence when Nik captured her lips with a hungry urgency that rocked her down to her toes.

A heavy pulse of need had started to pound in her pelvis. She leant back into the support of his arm, her fingers spearing into the ebony depths of his hair. He flipped loose the hooks holding the satin cups in place, letting her firm, full breasts spill free.
‘You are magnificent,’ Nik told her raggedly, surveying the pouting silken swells with reverent appreciation and capturing the hands that she instinctively raised to cover herself from him. ‘No, don’t you dare try to hide yourself.’

‘Will I be the first?’ Nik husked, coiling back from her to strip off his trousers.
With difficulty she focused on him and she was shaken by her desire to tell him that no, he would not be, even if it would be the most awful lie.
As the silence lengthened, tension screamed through Nik’s big, powerful frame: had she been with someone else?
Her gaze locked to his lean darkly handsome face and her heartbeat raced. She discovered she could not lie to him on that score. ‘Yes…’

The silence lay thick. She met brilliant dark golden eyes and was suddenly impossibly aware of every inch of her all too female body and of every tiny breath that she drew. She straightened her back in an effort to ease the tingling sensitivity of her breasts.
Bracing long brown fingers on the wall to one side of her head, Nik angled his proud dark head down to press a light, teasing kiss to the corner of her mouth. With a low-pitched gasp, she turned her head to blindly seek more direct contact. His breath fanning her cheek, he toyed with the soft fullness of her lower lip, rimming the upper with an erotic dart of his tongue.

‘I like this sudden need to rip my clothes off,’ Nik confided, hot eyes melded to her.
Although her face was burning, Prudence had not lost her resolve. Rising onto her knees, she helped him out of his jacket and embarked on his shirt buttons with fingers that felt mortifyingly clumsy. ‘
But maybe it’s a little less practised than what you’re used to—’
Disconcerted by that comment, Nik closed his hand over hers. ‘Don’t undervalue what I have with you. This is different for me.’
Wanting to believe that but afraid to, Prudence hesitated momentarily. ‘Is it?’
‘Of course it is…’ Nik covered her lips with an unexpected tenderness.

A dark flush scoring his hard cheekbones, stunning eyes glittering, Nik undid the halter-neck of her dress and slowly drew the opulent fabric down to release her full curves from the shaped bodice.
‘You’re gorgeous,’ he said thickly.
Entranced by her creamy breasts and the distended rosy buds awaiting his attention, he pressed her back against the pillows. Smoothly extracting her from the gown round her hips, he tossed it aside.
He bent over her with a husky sound of satisfaction to let his lips toy with a pouting pink nipple. Heat burst low in her pelvis and tensed her hips and an ache that was almost painful began to stir.

‘Nik,’ she whispered below the passionate onslaught of his hungry mouth, fingers spreading against the warm, muscular wall of his hard torso. ‘When I look at you—’
‘Don’t just look… touch,’ Nik urged, hungry golden eyes striking hers as he carried her hand down over his flat stomach to the aggressive jut of his bold erection.
Involuntarily she froze. ‘I don’t know how—’
‘But I know…’ a provocative smile slashed his handsome mouth ‘…and I intend to enjoy teaching you.’

Her entire being, her every breath, seemed to ride on his slightest touch. Her heartbeat raced and she writhed and moaned, all control vanquished by the fierce need that made her ache. She wanted him, and she wanted and she wanted until the wanting was a frantic and ferocious craving that hurt.
Only then did he plunge into her with a single thrust of possession that jolted her with intense erotic sensation. That very intensity overwhelmed her. His hands closed to her thighs to raise her so that he could sink deeper into her tight passage. Hot, drugging pleasure engulfed her and it went on and on and on. Wild sobs of excitement escaped her. Her unbearably tense body craved release from the passionate torment of his driving rhythm. The tension built and built and then finally spilt over.

He tumbled her back on the bed. Scorching golden eyes raked her with sensual ferocity. ‘I can’t wait…’
‘Take your shirt off…’
He hauled it off with such violence that buttons went flying.
Prudence feasted her eyes on him, wondered if she could wait until he got the rest of his clothes off and decided that she couldn’t. She opened her arms, arched her spine and shifted her hips in silent invitation.
His burning gaze flared with white-hot desire. ‘You tease…’ he ground out helplessly, coming down to her with flattering impatience, all fire, hunger and aggressive masculine energy.

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