Category / Endearing Heroine

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Wrong Bride by Catharina Maura

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: First Person, Dual
Series: The Windsors, #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Ares Windsor
Heroine: Raven Du Pont
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: October 15, 2022
Started On: November 25, 2022
Finished On: November 26, 2022

“Does no part of you want me even a little?” Her voice is soft, pleading, and her eyes are filled with an emotion I can’t quite describe.
“No,” I lie to her. “The friction from you moving on top of me made me hard, yeah, but I don’t want you, Raven. I’ll never want you. I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but you need to stop. Do you know how much your actions tonight would hurt your sister? Fuck, it’s hurting me, Rave.”

The Wrong Bride by Catharina Maura is the debut book in The Windsors series, first published in October of last year. Catharina Maura is a new-to-me author, having come across some of her books on Amazon from time to time. The Wrong Bride’s blurb promised the kind of story that I always hanker for, a marriage of convenience between the main protagonists of whom the heroine has been in love with the hero since forever.

Told in the first person from both the hero and heroine’s point of view, The Wrong Bride tells the story of 31 year old Ares Windsor as the hero and 21 year old Raven Du Pont as the heroine. When the story begins, Ares is engaged to be married to Raven’s older sister Hannah who is an actress in whose shadow Raven has always remained. Raven is a model herself, working hard to establish her own business. Raven is the neglected child in the Du Pont family, the one who always has to give in to Hannah’s needs and wants that takes precedence in the lives of her parents. Raven is more than willing to watch her sister get married to the man that she loves beyond anything else in this world, as Ares who considers her as a valuable friend and nothing more.

Ares is one of the six siblings of the Windsor family ruled by the matriarch that is their grandmother. The merger between the Du Pont and Windsor’s family sealed the deal when it comes to the arranged marriage between Hannah and Ares, with the wedding having been postponed multiple times because of Hannah’s busy filming schedule.

However, when Hannah calls off the wedding for the last time, citing her career to be more important to give into the demands of the terms of the arranged marriage, circumstances dictate that Raven take her place instead, something Raven fights till the last minute. While Raven makes it clear that she wants a real marriage and not half-hearted attempts at one, Ares proposes a marriage of convenience for the sake of fooling his grandmother, and promises Hannah that he would wait for her during a moment of weakness that overtakes his faculties.

Thus begins the rocky journey on which Ares and Raven embark upon as husband and wife. Hannah of course, makes things complicated by accusing Raven of trying to take her place, of trying to steal the man who rightfully belongs to her. For the marriage to be given a real chance, Ares would have to fight not only the demons that hound him but also that of Raven’s and convince her once and for all that for Ares, there is no one like Raven and there never would be.

As mentioned earlier, The Wrong Bride is a story that had a lot going for it, elements that would make it a stellar read. I found myself agonized on behalf of Raven for all the heartache and pain that she goes through, which is all well worth it in the end. There were points when the constant advance and retreat on the part of Ares and Raven gave me a whiplash and then there were those moments that I reveled in because Ares was adorable in his absolute cluelessness when it came to his possessiveness and jealousy regarding his wife.

I abhorred Hannah for the despicable way in which she treats both Raven and Ares, but in a way I understood that her sense of entitlement stemmed from parents who had danced to every single one of her tunes and never really fulfilled their responsibility of instilling values and discipline in Hannah. Raven in the shadow of Hannah, grew up to be the graceful one, the one with a backbone of steel and ambitions that made her choose a path that diverged from her family’s and gave her much needed independence.

There were moments that I felt truly frustrated with Raven for how she believes whatever that Hannah tell her to destroy the fragility of what was developing between Raven and Ares, but at the same time I understood that the emotional scars from such sheer neglect that had made Raven believe that she was never going to be good enough played a critical role in the way she reacts every single time.

Ares I believe, is the character that changes all of that, even when I wanted to slap him silly when his actions hurt Raven in a way that was unbearable. But then again, I recognized where Ares was coming from as well, having believed himself to be in love with Hannah for so long, never acknowledging his true feelings for Raven because he never let his heart move in that direction.

Ares is a man of honor in every sense, staying true to the course even when he could have taken undue advantage of the situations that arose at times. He would also have been well justified to do so, given the revelations towards the latter half of the novel. I loved Ares for his patience in dealing with Raven, in understanding the depth of her insecurities and working to make her understand and believe in him and their love. He deserves a medal for his forbearance even when it came to dealing with Hannah, the least deserving of such consideration in my opinion.

The coup de grace of the story was when Raven finally stood up for herself and cut off ties with the toxicity that was her family. I rooted for her big time and brought out the pom-poms at that point! The spice and heat between Raven and Ares was icing on the cake in the tale as it unfolded, and went a long way towards bridging the emotional gap between the two and giving Raven the needed confidence boost to believe in their love. The only thing I could have asked for was more angst – which I believe required Ares to be a bit colder than he actually was. Alas, one cannot have everything I suppose!

Recommended for the true romantics who love a good marriage of convenience story. This one is for you!

Final Verdict: The Wrong Bride by Catharina Maura is a truly remarkable tale that delivers the perfect balance of spice and romance with just the right touch of heartache to make it memorable!

Favorite Quotes

I pull her against me and thread one hand in her hair before tipping her head back to expose her neck. She gasps when I lower my lips to her ear, my teeth grazing over her earlobe. “This is how you posed with Tom Foster, wasn’t it? Tell me, my love, was he as hard as I am when he held you like this?”
I kiss her neck, my teeth grazing over her skin for a moment before I suck down, leaving a small mark. Raven’s breath hitches, and the way she pushes her chest against mine makes me fucking feral. Her hands thread through my hair, her grip tight.

“Do you truly want me? If we weren’t married, would you want me?”
He smiles and walks toward me, his stride confident and impatient. His arm wraps around my waist, and he pulls me into him, his lips finding mine with the same urgency he portrayed earlier. Ares groans as he kisses me, his hands moving over my body impatiently. I’m pushed against the wall, and his hand curls around my thigh as he hooks it around his hip.
I’m panting as he pulls his lips off mine to kiss my jaw, before placing them just below my ear, pressing a soft kiss to my neck that makes me shiver. “Is that enough of an answer, Raven? I want you so fucking badly that it hurts.”

I lower my lips to her neck, my teeth grazing over her skin before I suck down on it, marking her as mine. “I’m fucking obsessed with you,” I admit. “Every little thing you do, every smile, every sigh that leaves your lips. All of it.”
My hand delves underneath her dress, and I smirk when I realize she isn’t wearing underwear. “This,” I groan against her lips. “I love this about you. You always want me just as badly as I want you.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Morgan’s Hunter by Cate Beauman

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
POV: Third Person, Dual
Series: The Bodyguards of L.A. County, #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Hunter Phillips
Heroine: Morgan Elizabeth Taylor
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: October 09, 2012
Started On: November 19, 2022
Finished On: November 21, 2022

“Let go of me,” she said weakly as her heart pounded—but it wasn’t fear that made it race.
“Not yet,” he murmured, pulling her bottom lip between his teeth, nibbling gently, his gaze burning into hers. “I’m the only person around here who’ll be taking a bite out of you, Morgan. You remember that.”

I don’t quite recall how I came across Morgan’s Hunter by Cate Beauman, a new-to-me author that I wanted to try out. The first book in The Bodyguards of L.A. County, which has about eleven books published to-date, this is the story of 28 year old Hunter Phillips who becomes bodyguard to 26 year old Morgan Elizabeth Taylor, a story of opposites attract with a reluctant hero to boot!

Morgan is a wildlife biologist and socialite, whose idyllic existence is shattered when she receives a phone call that changes her life forever; that her research team had been found slaughtered. With no clues coming forth and the case growing colder by the day, Morgan is determined that she would get to the bottom of it, even if she has to go down to the location herself and find out what happened.

Knowing that Morgan is resolute about going, she is assigned a bodyguard from one of the best security firms in the country. Morgan gives in, more so to appease her father than anyone else, and finds herself saddled with a man who takes her breathe away and at the same time makes her grit her teeth from the need to say something that would bring him down a peg or two.

Hunter has no qualms about labeling Morgan as he sees her (through his prejudiced eyes), the altogether too beautiful but spoiled bitch (his words, not mine), whom he judges at first sight to his own detriment. Hunter has scars that has never truly healed from losing his best friend in Afghanistan, and he is dead set on remaining emotionally impervious to everyone he comes across, lest he has to put himself in a position of vulnerability all over again.

As a result, Hunter bristles at the sexual heat that ignites between him and Morgan from the start, an attraction that is so fierce that neither he nor Morgan is able to deny the strength of it which draws them together. Even as Hunter pulls back just as much as the orbit around Morgan reels him in, the more time he is forced to spend with Morgan, the more he realizes that in Morgan lies a woman of strength, beauty, brains, and the right touch of emotional vulnerability that he could definitely get on board with.

As the danger closes in on them and the story reaches its ultimate climax, revealing the villain to be someone too close to home for comfort, it is up to Hunter to decide whether he wants to fight to keep Morgan by his side as much as he fights to keep both of them alive during the mission, or walk away from the best thing that has ever happened to him in his lifetime.

I liked this story mostly because Hunter did not turn into an overly needy, clingy, and endearment pushing hero overnight. I so dislike romances where the hero is sold as someone who has emotional baggage, a reluctant hero, and resists getting close to anyone, and voila, by chapter two, he is totally into the heroine and calling her everything beautiful under the sun!

Hunter is a different breed, and he stays true to his convictions at the beginning, which begins to erode away bit by bit as he gets to know Morgan better, which is more realistic in my opinion. I liked Morgan too; she was feisty in a way that did not break the story but rather complemented what was unfolding and was exactly what Hunter needed. She knows when to push, when to give in, and when to walk away from something that is detrimental for her own good.

I must admit that some of the writing did feel a bit choppy and I did not appreciate the repetitive style by which it was reiterated over and over how sexy Morgan was, which I believe the readers got the memo of after the first two chapters. However, I am willing to overlook those bits because the story that unfolded was great in every other aspect. Just wish that the epilogue (which is published separately) was part of the book, which would have amped up the enjoyment factor that much more.

Recommend this for those who love romantic suspense novels set in the wilderness, with forced proximity playing its critical role in bringing two opposites together!

Final Verdict: The debut book in The Bodyguards of L.A. County starts out with a bang, bringing to readers two characters who seal the deal with the sizzle between them that scorches the pages through!

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple

by mvbookreviewer

Review: It Takes a Thief by Anne Stuart

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
POV: Third Person, Multiple
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Impeccably Demure Press
Hero: Ben Crawford (Nick the Butcher)
Heroine: Emma Louise Manchester
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: June 28, 2022
Started On: August 27, 2022
Finished On: November 06, 2022

“You aren’t going anywhere.”
She looked up at him. She knew tears were swimming in her eyes—he’d always been the only one who could make her cry. “Why not?”
“Because…” he said in a harassed voice. “Because…” He took a step toward her. “Because…” He caught her arms in a tight grip, pulling her against his hard body so suddenly that she let out a gasp. “Because of this.”

It Takes a Thief by Anne Stuart was one of the most highly anticipated novels for me in 2022 from an author who remains on my top shelf of go-to authors due to her exceptional flair for writing dark heroes that most romance readers don’t find affinity with.

I know that there are many authors of today who label themselves as writers of dark romance because their stories feature heroes from backgrounds such as the mafia. However, those authors don’t really live up to the hype and buzz that their books create amongst a wider audience. Heroes who are truly dark are written by authors like Ms. Stuart who captures in most of her books, the essence of what it means to be a villainous hero in its finest sense.

Published in June of 2022, told in the third person from the perspective of four characters, two main and two secondary, It Takes a Thief is a novel in a historical setting, featuring the story of how 23 year Emma Louise Manchester wins over the heart of her long lost step-brother Ben Crawford, aka Nick the Butcher.

It is unfortunate circumstances that reveals to Emma that her partner in crime up till she was eleven years old when Ben had been kicked out of the family home and seemingly lost to her forever, is in fact alive and thriving, albeit in a criminal setting. It is common knowledge that Ben is the leader of the Beggar’s Ken, of which the name itself signifies what the “organization” does.

Betrothed to a man not of her choosing as compensation for the gambling debts incurred by her brother, Emma was willing to bury her yearning for adventure and her belief in true love and happily ever after to become the dutiful wife of her betrothed. However, that single glimpse of Ben changes everything and Emma finds herself pursuing him with a newfound enthusiasm and fervor that makes a mockery of everything she is supposed to do.

Emma’s spirit for adventure and zest for everything to do with Ben, even when he tries (and fails spectacularly) to dissuade her, is the reason that Emma finally manages to pierce through the armor that Ben protects his heart and soul with. Ben believes that he is undeserving of a woman like Emma, even when he knows that her betrothed would destroy Emma’s spirit and heart if he were ever to truly claim her.

I must admit that for the very first time in a novel by Ms. Stuart, I was more enamored by the love that blooms between the secondary characters in the story, Molly O’Hanlon, better known as Red Molly who looks after the young ones at Beggars’ Ken and Thomas Alexander Campion, the man who pursues her, who wears her down bit by bit, and brings down the walls that she puts up with renewed strength every single day. Her back story was fascinating, and it was truly heartwarming when she found love in its truest form when she has always believed that she was of the undeserving.

I found that throughout the story, I was in a state of anticipation for that special something to happen between Emma and Ben which would give the novel the Anne Stuart factor, but alas. Nevertheless, because Ms. Stuart is such a stellar weaver of magical tales of love where one would least expects to find it, I enjoyed this little number and will continue to look forward to her announced publications in the future.

Recommended for fans of Anne Stuart and those who love romances in historical settings.

Final Verdict: It takes a thief like Emma’s undaunted spirit to win over the hardened heart and cynical soul of such as Ben’s. Ms. Stuart always delivers a rousing tale!

Favorite Quotes

The autumn sun was setting low, turning the chilly air even colder, when suddenly Campion took her arm and drew her into the shadows. She didn’t resist.
“Listen to me,” he said in a low, vibrant voice. “I can’t keep doing this to you. I’m driving you mad and I know it, and I’ve refused to listen to what you’ve told me over and over again. But I’ll listen now. You don’t want me; you don’t want anything to do with me. So be it. We’ll find Skittle, bring him back to the ken, and then I’ll leave you alone from now on.”
“Will you?” she said, her voice tremulous, and his eyes narrowed in the twilight. Before she realized what he was doing, he’d lifted his hands to cup her face, and his eyes were searching, questioning, as his thumbs stroked her cheeks.
“Molly?” he whispered. “Why are you crying?”
She couldn’t be. She’d shed all her tears for a lifetime, and she wasn’t ever going to cry over some damned man…
Whom she loved. “I don’t want you to leave me alone,” she said in a hoarse voice.
“Then tell me what you want from me. Because I have no earthly idea what it is.”
He was right, she was crying—she could feel the wetness on her cheeks, the sting of the cold wind against them. “Love,” she said. “I want your love.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Melissa and The Vicar by S.M. LaViolette

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Erotic Romance
POV: Third Person, Single
Series: The Seducers, #1
Publisher: Crooked Sixpence Press
Hero: Magnus Stynwyck
Heroine: Melissa Griffin
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: October 01, 2021
Started On: October 01, 2022
Finished On: October 02, 2022

She was glad nobody else could hear the noise she made.
To say he looked like a water god out of mythology was trite, but, oh, it was so very, very true.
He strode from the waves like some male version of The Birth of Venus. Or The Birth of Adonis or Zeus or one of those randy Greeks or Romans who was always getting his kit off at the drop of a hat.
Melissa realized she was sliding off the rock because she’d leaned forward so much and pushed herself back into her crack, briefly disgusted by her own avidity but quickly suppressing it.
He bent at the waist and slicked water from his legs with both hands.
She swallowed.

Believe it or not, it was the Grantchester series, starring a vicar (James Norton) who also moonlights as a detective in solving murder mysteries that made me read Melissa and The Vicar by S.M. LaViolette. It is an intriguing premise after all, the hero being a curate (an assistant to the vicar) whose fate is intertwined with that of a heroine who owns one of London’s most exclusive brothels.

First published in 2021 as the debut book in The Seducers series, Ms. LaViolette brings to readers the story of 24 year old Magnus Stynwyck and 29 year old Melissa Griffin, whose age difference might not have mattered all that much if not for the fact that Melissa’s lived reality makes her well beyond her years, unacceptable by society’s standards to lead a life that is considered respectable.

Melissa’s first encounter with Magnus comes as she moves to the village of New Bickford for a brief spell to recuperate and regain her zest for the business, as her rescuer from the vicious rooster in the village. For someone who has seen it and done it all, Melissa is awestruck by the beauty that is Magnus, who makes her feel shy and fidgety for the first time she can recall, something she had long forgotten along with the innocence of her youth.

Magnus has always known that he wanted to join the clergy when he grew up, the youngest of six brothers. His family had never understood why he wanted to take up the vocation, and he had long given up trying to convince them that this was his calling.

While Melissa finds herself enjoying the solitude and the sedate pace of life in the village, she is at the same time taken aback by how strongly she finds herself attracted to Magnus, which she knows in her heart is futile in every sense. For someone as well schooled in the art of seduction, Melissa finds her heart racing, her mind distracted, and her body reacting to the mere presence of Magnus and the charm that he wields on her heart without even trying.

Melissa’s plans to prevent her heart from breaking results in her fleeing after tasting the exquisiteness of what it means to surrender to what is between her Magnus. However, she never factors in the stubbornness that courses through Magnus which his doting mother claims to be her youngest son’s only sin. The steely determination behind the gentleness that is Magnus proves to be Melissa’s undoing, and give in she does, even with all her misgivings about them and what it would mean for Magnus, until she realizes that her past is very much part of her present, which could end up destroying not just what she has with Magnus, but her very existence in the process.

I thoroughly enjoyed and loved the heady experience of reading this novel. One thing that is always true for books by Ms. Spencer aka Ms. LaViolette is that every single story that she has written to-date has a solid tale to tell. The steam factor which she does so well only enhances the underlying story and gives it the edge and angst the stories deserve, and this is true for Melissa and the Vicar in every sense.

The great characterization of the story is what beguiled me the most, the different facets to both Melissa and Magnus which continues to surprise the reader at every turn. Melissa’s was by far the most intriguing, all the horror that she had lived through at the tender age of thirteen just being unreal. Her indomitable strength to persevere, to rise above, even when she continues to be at war with her own conscience about being the owner of the very brothel at which she had served, is a study of contrasts that really got to me. Melissa is a survivalist at heart, and I don’t think I can even begin to comprehend what it would do to anyone’s psychology to have survived the kind of trauma that she lived through.

Of Melissa and Magnus, the latter is the dreamer, the one who believes that everything would turn out alright and perhaps in his naivety, assumes that everyone would see Melissa as he does, and accept her into the fold with open arms. The most shocking truth about Melissa’s past as it unfolded is the reason this story stands out in such a remarkable way, and how Magnus seemed to shift and show us the different facets to his character which proved to be my undoing.

I loved Magnus for his gentleness, his stubbornness, his love for Melissa that was pure in every sense, his need for the woman who rocks his very existence out of its orbit, and the way he stands true to his convictions, even if it pains him to do so. There was no way on earth that Melissa could have resisted the force that was Magnus as unleashed, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

The ending was realistic, especially given Melissa’s profession and the stain it carries in society. The epilogue was lovely, and made me smile with joy from inside out. Definitely recommended!

Final Verdict: As Melissa puts it, Oh, Mr. Stanwyck, what a wonderful surprise you turned out to be! Top notch characterization makes this an instant page-turner!

Favorite Quotes

“This is wrong, Melissa.” He’d meant to sound firm, commanding—but it came out more of a question.
She gave a throaty chuckle, working her way down his jaw to his neck. “How can something so wonderful—between two people who love each other—be wrong?” Her lips pushed into his cravat and her mouth settled over his Adam’s apple. And then she bit him.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Cozakis Bride by Lynne Graham

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: Third Person, Single
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Nikos Cozakis
Heroine: Olympia Manoulis
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: January 01, 2000
Started On: September 02, 2022
Finished On: September 03, 2022

‘Are you insane?’ he questioned rawly. ‘You must be out of your mind to come to me like this! How could you think for one moment that I would marry an avaricious, brazen little tramp like you?’

The Cozakis Bride by Lynne Graham is one of those novels that swept me off my feet on a journey of angst, heat, and love of the kind that reaffirms my faith in my commitment to remain a romance reader for life. First published in 2000, Ms. Graham brings to readers the story of 29 year old Nikos Cozakis (Nik) and 27 year old Olympia Manoulis, whose entwined past ten years ago makes them the bitterest enemies.

If anyone had asked Olympia just an year ago if she would ever consider going back to Nik, the man who had left her heart and pride in tatters when she was just seventeen years old, quite naive and wholeheartedly in love with her fiance Nik, she would have probably told them to shoot themselves in the head. But circumstances force Olympia to do just that, where she is forced to “barter” herself in marriage in exchange for much needed medical treatment and security for her mother.

If Olympia resents Nik for what had happened a decade ago, Nik himself loathes the very existence of the woman who made a fool of himself and his family’s unsoiled reputation. The way Nik sees things, Olympia, his doe-eyed supposedly virginal bride-to-be had betrayed him in the worst way possible, and there is no way he was going to forgive or forget what happened, no matter how much he may lust after the woman he is going to be legally bound to as a husband.

Thus begins the battle of wills between Nik and Olympia being tied together in holy matrimony, each unwilling to look beyond the wounds that had scabbed over and never truly healed from that fateful night when everything had gone so horribly wrong. For Olympia, she had been judged and found guilty of a sin she had not committed, and for Nik it had been all too easy to believe what he was led to through machinations of those who had their own agenda.

What neither can deny is the flame that sizzles, burns, and roars to life whenever they are together, something that they are both helpless to turn away from. Nik may pretend that for him it is about getting what he wants out of Olympia, both in the short and long term. Olympia may likewise act as if the passion between them is inconsequential at best, but the truth is far from it.

I loved how The Cozakis Bride commandeered all my senses and did not let up from the minute I plunged into this heady tale. I adored the story for how it was chock-full of excitement from the get go, even when you are hyperventilating through scenes and wanting to slap some sense into Nik, and being gleeful about how all the feels knotted up my insides. There is nothing better that a romance reader can ask for than to be emotionally invested in a story, to feel as if you are going through train wreck, and yet still root for the main protagonists and their happily ever after.

There were times when Nik was unbelievably cruel in the story, times when I thought, boy, I hope this man has to grovel a lot to get the girl in the end. I must confess that I actually loved how cruel that Nik was at times because it showed the depth of his unresolved feelings towards the heroine. If Nik had not cared as much and if it was just his ego that had been bruised back then, the reactions from him would have been altogether very different. Nik made me fall in love with all that he is; from the sex-in-a-suit male specimen personified he is, to the ruthless side of him, and to the very vulnerable man that lies underneath all of that.

I loved Olympia for being feisty where needed, for being able to see how her naivety all those years back had played its role when those she had trusted had taken advantage of her, and for being self-aware and honest enough to face the ultimate truth when it came calling; that she loved Nik with everything she was and if she wanted a future that was worth living, it would have to be with Nik, and that fight she would for his love.

The fact that the story was told purely from the heroine’s perspective made it all that much better in my opinion. While Nik was quite the forceful character, seeing the shades of vulnerability on his part towards the end was enlightening and went a long way towards making this a well rounded romance.

Definitely recommend this gem to fans of Ms. Graham and fans of ruthless heroes with that core of vulnerability that we all love!

Final Verdict: The Queen of Harlequin romance seldom disappoints. Being older and better able to understand the complexities & nuances of human emotions makes this read all that more wonderful to the senses in every way that matters.

Favorite Quotes

‘You owe debts, and through me you will settle those debts.’
‘What are you t-talking about?’
‘What you did ten years ago cost your poor mother any hope of reconciliation with her father. What you did ten years ago savaged your grandfather. And what you did to me, you can find out the hard way,’ Nik concluded darkly.
Stabbed to the heart by that reminder about her mother, Olympia dropped her head, tears springing to her eyes. ‘It wasn’t my fault…what happened…I was set up—’
‘You’re embarrassing me,’ Nik slotted in with contempt. ‘Lies and fake shame are not going to protect you.’
‘You’re scaring me…’ Olympia condemned tearfully. ‘You are really scaring me!’

‘Let the light of reality in here. Ten years back, while you played Miss Prim and Proper Prude and brandished your innocence at every opportunity, I was in absolute agony…in the grip of overpowering lust and unable to do anything about it!’ Nik’s lean, powerful face hardened. ‘Did that give you a kick, Olympia?’
‘A…a kick?’ Eyes huge pools of enquiry, she stared back at him, struggling to absorb his assurance that he had found her sexually attractive in those days. That claim ran against everything she had ever believed, and she was paralysed by a sense of sheer disbelief.
‘You kept me in a constant state of arousal. I never slept after I was with you. My fantasies about what we were going to do when we got married even embarrassed me!’ Nik admitted grimly. ‘I wasn’t used to going without sex…it was torment; it was seriously painful.’

He came back to her with a driving kiss that consumed her. He was rough, and she had never known him rough before, and he excited her beyond belief. She was out of control, but so was he and she loved that. It answered the wildness leaping through her. He was hard and hot and full, and he sank into her tender welcoming flesh with a forceful maleness that made her sob out his name in ecstasy. Her back arched as the blinding excitement peaked on a shivering storming tide of mindless pleasure.
In the aftermath, she opened her eyes and blinked.
For a split-second, as Nik stared down at her, she saw a shell-shocked look in his stunning dark deepset eyes that could only have mirrored her own. Rolling off her without a word, he headed for the bathroom. She lay there immobile, struggling to breathe again, feeling ravished, feeling the sweet, heavy satiation of her own body with shattered recognition.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | eBooks

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Italian Billionaire’s Secretary Mistress by Sharon Kendrick

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: Third Person, Dual
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Riccardo Castellari
Heroine: Angie Patterson
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: January 01, 2009
Started On: August 28, 2022
Finished On: September 01, 2022

He certainly hadn’t wasted any time in driving home her real status! Flinging a load of mundane tasks at her even though they’d only just arrived. Angie picked up a brush and began to pull it through her wet hair. Well, the work could wait. She was through with being useful, doormat Angie. Angie who took just whatever Riccardo Castellari cared to chuck at her. Because she was slowly beginning to realise that Riccardo treated her the way he did because she let him!
And she wasn’t going to let him. Not any more.

The Italian Billionaire’s Secretary Mistress by Sharon Kendrick (I know it is a mouthful), first published in 2009, brings to readers the story of Riccardo Castellari and 27 year old Angie Patterson, the latter who has been in love with her boss Riccardo for the better part of the five years since she has been working for him in the capacity of a secretary.

However, Angie has decided that enough is enough and come New Year, she would tender her resignation after finding herself a new employment opportunity. Angie knows Riccardo unlike any other, his likes and dislikes, his family and their birthdays, how he is like when he is in pursuit of a new woman, and what it is like when he wants to end things when the affairs run their course.

She however, is the invisible secretary to the man who owns her heart, and the toll it takes on Angie has hit a point where she is unwilling to let it destroy her anymore, especially as time passes on and she is witness to societal pages bearing gossip of Riccardo’s newest liaisons with beautiful women, not to mention the role that she has to play when Riccardo is in pursuit.

Riccardo hires Angie based on her plain looks, so that she would not be a distraction nor harbor any illusions of grandeur when it comes to him. Over time, she has become the only person who could get away with teasing him, even be it occasionally, and the only one who can lay it down as it is to him. He does not particularly appreciate what his lethal good looks and sex appeal means when it comes to the fairer sex even though he benefits largely from the fact, the “burden” that he has to shoulder with countless women showering their unwanted attentions on him is not something he particularly wants.

Things take a turn when Riccardo carelessly gifts Angie a red dress after one of his trips to New York which changes the power dynamics between the two. Riccardo for the very first time is forced to take notice of the bombshell that Angie is, and the dynamite that she is to his senses is not something he recovers from henceforth.

Riccardo is honest to a fault when it comes to his archaic views on marriage, and the fact that he has no intention of tying himself down with a woman for a lifetime until he is well and ready and finds the virgin female he is looking for to school her in the art of seduction and lovemaking (solely for his benefit) and bear his children.

The affair that begins between Riccardo and Angie (if you could call it that), is one filled with moments of mirth, sheer disbelief on the part of Riccardo, and bliss and heartache for Angie whose tender emotions don’t stand a chance with Riccardo’s lethal sexuality unleashed on her. Riccardo resists at every turn from succumbing to the emotional aspect of his relationship with Angie, and that is where the angst factor comes from, giving the story the edge it deserves.

I loved both Angie and Riccardo; Angie because she realizes at one point that she is done being at the beck and call of Riccardo and so over being a doormat variety of heroine and stands up for herself, and Riccardo because he is totally clueless when it comes the havoc that Angie creates inside his heart when all is said and done.

The fact that Riccardo does the pursuing in the end is what sealed the deal for me – a rarity in romances these days, where every conflict is resolved before it becomes an issue, because everyone loves “healthy communicating adults” in a relationship. Well let me tell you, not so much when we want the drama associated with some levels of misunderstanding between a couple!

Recommended for fans of Sharon Kendrick, some of her books are to die for and this is one I enjoyed immensely!

Final Verdict: Riccardo and Angie are the perfect boss-secretary combo until a red dress changes all that. Blindsided heroes make for the best romance novels!

Favorite Quotes

He wanted her here—in his car—down some little Tuscan track! His furtive secretary lover.
Her body screaming its protest, Angie wrenched herself out of his arms. ‘Stop it,’ she whispered from between lips which felt swollen to twice their normal size. ‘Stop it right now.’
A nerve worked at his temple. ‘You don’t want me to stop it.’
Maybe her body didn’t—but her dignity demanded it. Or did he think he was just going to erode that too with his sexual mastery—the way he had chipped away at her heart?
‘Oh, yes, I do.’ Ineffectually, she pushed at the hard wall of his chest. ‘Do you really want me to turn up at your house and to meet your family with my cheeks all flushed and my hair awry—making it perfectly obvious what we’ve just been doing?’
‘They won’t care what you look like,’ he snapped insultingly.
‘I find that very hard to believe,’ she returned, enjoying the outrage on his face as she dared to stand up to him. ‘And even if they don’t care—then I most certainly will. I’m here as your secretary, remember? And there’s a certain standard to maintain—a decorum—which I don’t intend to compromise with a quick fumble in your car!’
‘A quick fumble?’ he echoed, outraged.
‘Well, what would you call it?’
‘You do not think that such an experience would be pleasurable?’
‘N-no.’ She was on less sure ground now. ‘I’m not saying that at all. You’re very good, as I’m sure enough people have told you. I’m just refusing to turn up to your house giving people ammunition to make negative judgements about me.’
Struggling to rein in his ragged breath and trying to ease the unbearable ache at his groin, Riccardo glared at her. This was no coy little game she was playing, he realised with dawning disbelief. She really meant it. Did she think that he would fall under her spell if she resisted him?
And yet he could not remember the last time a woman had spurned his sexual advances.
For a moment, an unwilling respect warred with his feelings of frustration—and then he moved away from her with an impatient click of his tongue and started up the car.
‘Riccardo—’
‘Don’t talk to me when I’m driving!’ he thundered.
‘But you’ve left the handbrake on.’

For a moment he sank into the feeling, revelling in the sensations which were whispering over his skin before he realised where he was—and then he swore softly in Italian.
‘Che ora e?’ he snapped, lifting his wrist to glance at his watch. He sat up, his face wreathed in anger. ‘Why the hell did you let me sleep?’
Dismayed, Angie stared at him. ‘Because you looked as if you needed to.’
Jumping out of bed, he grabbed his jeans and began to pull them on. ‘Madre di Dio!’ he exclaimed furiously. ‘You’ve certainly changed your tune! From worrying about what my brother might think of our behaviour—you switch to luring me into staying.’
‘I didn’t lure you!’
‘You covered me up with a duvet,’ he accused.
‘Is that such a heinous crime?’
It felt like a trap. A trap as seductive as those great big eyes of hers and her warm, soft body. He shook his head. ‘I don’t want to spend half the afternoon in your bedroom!’ he declared.
‘Then don’t! Nobody’s keeping you here. Go!’

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
POV: First Person, Dual
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Myles Sumner
Heroine: Taylor Bassey
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: June 06, 2022
Started On: August 19, 2022
Finished On: August 19, 2022

Based on appearances alone, this man might have just walked out of a criminal underworld. If the permanent scowl on his face didn’t scream villain, then the long, unkempt hair and poorly scrawled tattoos do the trick, as do the scars on his knuckles and the side of his neck.

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey is the kind of story that has you laughing one minute, swooning the next, and agonizing over what is coming, because you know that your heart is going to squeezed rather painfully and perhaps broken in a place or two before being fixed as the story plunges head on towards its climax.

Released in June of last year, though it has mystery-thriller elements as a major element of the story, this is still classic Ms. Bailey with the kind of characters that you root for, with the steam factor ramped up high! Told in the first person from the perspectives of both the hero, Myles Sumner, and the heroine, Taylor Bassey, the story begins with Taylor and her brother Jude traveling to a luxurious beach house for six days of vacation. Taylor, a second grade teacher who has always more or less being responsible for her younger brother by three years, has scrimped and saved through the years to finally go on her dream vacation.

However, all of that comes to a standstill when they discover a corpse in the rental house, and things certainly go awry, especially when the rough and tough looking Myles turns up in pursuit of the killer. Nothing prepares Taylor or Myles for the heat that they generate together even when Myles is being his obnoxious best, trying to keep Taylor at bay lest his control be tested.

Taylor however, is a woman on a mission, firstly to prove to herself (and perhaps her parents and brother) that she too has the bravery gene that runs through their family, and hunting for a killers seems like a fool-proof plan to prove that from where she stands. Gunning after Myles too falls into that category, because for the first time in her life Taylor feels as if she has met the type of man who would show her what she is missing, the type of man who would not be afraid to show her what it means to be handled with anything but kids gloves on in the bedroom, if only she could convince Myles of this sound plan as well.

For Myles who has done the marriage thing once and failed at it, knowing deep down that Taylor is the marrying kind means he plans on steering clear of her no matter how much she may tempt him otherwise, or how he knows deep in his soul that she is sort of, kind of, made for him. He also carries a wealth of guilt from his old job as a detective at Boston PD, and it has been three years since he has been making a living as a bounty hunter mainly just running from one location to the other to keep the pain and the memories that haunt at bay.

Taylor definitely wants what Myles can offer, but unless Myles is able to face the demons that plague him and comes to accept that he has what it takes to give someone precious like Taylor the ultimate happily ever after, there is no future for the two of them in the long run. The baggage which Myles carries and prevents him from seizing his own happiness plays its role in delivering the angst factor, which I loved!

I enjoyed this rom-com, mystery-suspense novel, so much so that I read this in one day, which is a rare happenstance nowadays. I loved both Taylor and Myles; Ms. Bailey can do no wrong in characterization and delivery of the steam factor, which was off the charts hot in this tight little number as well.

I was also intrigued by the side drama that was happening, which just leaves readers with tantalizing glimpses of Jude’s love-hate relationship with his best friend Dante, and Ms. Bailey announced this August that she would be releasing a novella with their story pretty soon, which I am pretty sure a lot of readers are anticipating.

The epilogue was in an essence the best thing about this novel. It gives you the laughter, heat, and swoons, all in one! Definitely recommended!

Final Verdict: She is a second grade teacher, the type you take home to meet your mother. He is a bounty hunter, rough around the edges and prefers solitariness. When these two collide, it is fireworks all the way through!

Favorite Quotes

It’s obvious that something happened. I took three wrong turns on the way home. I’ve been responding in one-word sentences, but now that I’ve processed—mostly—what happened, I need someone to confide in. “First there was some kissing.” No need to go into detail. I’m not even sure I could say what happened without sweating through my yoga pants, anyway. “Then we broke up even though we were never dating in the first place. We’ve been ending our non-existent relationship since we met, actually. It’s kind of our thing.”

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: My Professor by R.S. Grey

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: First Person, Dual
Series: Untitled Series, #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Jonathan Barclay
Heroine: Emelia Mercier
Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥
Published On: June 02, 2022
Started On: August 05, 2022
Finished On: August 06, 2022

It’s a hard thing to explain, to want to be treated like an equal most of the time but, occasionally, with the right person and in the right setting, to want the exact opposite. I want to be thrust up against the door of a bar bathroom and told what to do.

Needing something to rejuvenate me from the dumps I was in after the abysmal disappointment that my last read turned out to be, I needed a pick me up, something that would deliver me from my doldrums. I found the perfect antidote when I stumbled across My Professor by R.S. Grey, first released in June of 2022.

Told in the first person from dual perspectives, this is a May-December romance featuring 32 year old Jonathan Barclay as the hero and 21 year old Emelia Mercier as the heroine. When the story begins, Emelia is a student and Jonathan a professor, teaching History and Philosophy of Historic Preservation at the same university. Emelia’s enrollment in his class ends in disaster for various reasons, the push and pull factor between them being one behind Jonathan’s atrocious behavior when it comes to Emelia.

Four years on, with her master’s degree in architectural conservation from NYU, their paths cross once again when Emelia lands a job at Jonathan’s firm, Emelia mistakenly believing that Jonathan would not remember her. But she couldn’t be further from the truth as the same visceral attraction burns between them, this time around, hotter and far brighter than either of them perhaps anticipated, where each is drawn to the other like a moth to flame.

Emelia is by far the character with the most interesting background in the story, estranged from her family, with her mother having died earlier from cancer. She is alone in the world for the most part, and even if she were so inclined to seek her family out, the truth regarding her conception alone is enough to stop her from doing that.

I felt like this book had such promise which had me glued to the pages. The angst and build-up between Emelia and Jonathan were perfect up to a point. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with the power dynamic between a professor and his student, one that he wants desperately, a want that he schools himself not to show? He even goes as far as to ask her to drop his class, which she ends up doing, cutting off what was blossoming to life between them at that point.

The yearning on Jonathan’s part when seen through his eyes makes up for all the dickhead moves that he puts in place to keep Emelia at bay. But he certainly is not strong enough to douse his own sense of curiosity, want, and desire when it comes to Emelia, especially when he is closer to the truth on where she comes from than he anticipated. I also loved his relationship with his mother – that woman could ruffle his feathers unlike any other.

The tension between Emelia and Jonathan was out of this world, and this brings me to the most disappointing aspect of this novel; Ms. Grey failed to deliver on that extremely tightly wound tension which she built up so spectacularly. I feel that the story would have gained more nuance and helped cement the emotional connection between Emelia and Jonathan, had Ms. Grey taken these two through a series of illicit and forbidden encounters between them over the passage of time, which would have given depth to their connection as well.

It was taking the easy way out if you ask me, to bring that heady tension between Jonathan and Emelia to its ultimate and foregone conclusion towards the end of the book, failing also to focus on the submissive nature of Emelia when it comes to her sexual needs and desires, something that Jonathan was more than well equipped and ready to handle. I have one message for authors who tend to do that; don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time – building up the tension to ferocious levels and failing to deliver is impolite at best. And I am being polite here with my choice of words.

I also failed to see the emotional connection and spark between Emelia and Jonathan develop to levels that I wanted. I mean don’t get me wrong, they were both fabulous characters in their own right and I rooted for them big time. But at the same time, there were so many threads to the story that were taking place, that I felt that Emelia and Jonathan’s budding “romance” took a back seat when all was said and done. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading this little number and am thankful for the huge role it played in taking me out of my reading slump.

Recommended for fans of Ms. Grey and fans of May-December trope romances. This one had more professor vibes going for it than Hey, Mr. Marshall!

Final Verdict: It is a heady journey to witness the undoing of the tightly wound Professor Barclay, whose legendary control over his baser nature is torn to shreds at long last!

Favorite Quotes

“Look at me.”
My gaze sweeps to him instantly. My body is such a traitor where he’s concerned.
“The mistakes of the past…” He sniffs and looks away as if disgusted by himself. “They will not be repeated.”
I bite down on the inside of my cheek.
“Furthermore, outbursts like that one in the car will not be tolerated.”
“You goaded me,” I blurt out rudely.
Like a whip, his gaze lashes me. “You don’t know the meaning of goad.”

“You haven’t said anything about my dress, Professor Barclay.”
“You don’t want to hear my thoughts about you in that dress.”
Oh but I do. I really, really do.
“One word won’t hurt,” I say, smiling in innocence.
He opens the back door of the car and deposits me inside. His blue eyes are level with mine as he leans in to click my seat belt into place.
“Lethal.”
Then the door gets slammed, and I’m left alone in the back seat, blinking.

I take a baby step toward him. It’s barely anything, but it’s enough to feel intimate and wrong. If someone were to turn a corner and find us here, it wouldn’t look innocent.
I look him over, taking my time. “I like when you’re dressed like this. This suit fits you to a T. Your tie is done perfectly, your pocket square is folded neatly. You look so proper…” Knowing I’m playing with fire, I lift my finger to trail it down the center of his tie and my eyes follow, but then I pause and let my gaze flit back to his as the truth spills out. “Just like the professor I can’t stop fantasizing about.”
My words are kerosene.
He has me hauled back against the wall behind me so fast I almost whimper, and his hand reaches up to grab my chin in a punishing grip—a grip he knows I like.

“I pulled up the boy’s HR file. Should I send an email, have him fired on the spot?”
My body tenses in panic. “You wouldn’t. That’s cruel, and ridiculous. He did nothing wrong.”
“He made you smile,” he says, wistfully ensnared by my pout.
I narrow my eyes.
“Are you always this territorial?”
A beat passes.
“No.”
Then he bends down and kisses me.

“Tell me you love me,” he insists.
“I love you.”
The words slip from my mouth like they’ve waited there my whole life.
“Again,” he says haughtily.
“I love you,” I say, more emphatically this time, exasperated even. Don’t you see it? Can’t you feel it?
My spark lights his. What impatience I felt a moment ago he matches now, kiss for kiss, touch for touch.

Purchase Links: Amazon

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Contract Baby by Lynne Graham

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: Third Person, Dual
Series: The Husband Hunters, #3
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Raul Zaforteza
Heroine: Polly Johnson
Sensuality: 3
Published On: June 01, 1999
Started On: June 03, 2022
Finished On: June 03, 2022

‘She used my son as a bargaining chip to blackmail me into marriage!’

Contract Baby is the third and final book in The Husband Hunters series by Lynne Graham. First published in June of 1999, this is the story of 21 year old Polly Johnson, surrogate mother to 31 year old Raul Zaforteza’s child, a man who has sworn off the institution of marriage (even though he has never been married) and yet wants a child of his own.

When Polly disappears without a sign from Vermont where Raul had placed her during the first stages of her pregnancy, it is a furious Raul that seeks her out once again, determined that he would get access to his baby who is rightfully his. Raul’s fortune founded in gold and diamond mines is the result of his brilliance as a business tycoon, and as per gossip columns, wins awards on being a notorious womanizer as well.

When Raul finds her once again, it is a Polly that is in a predicament that she never thought possible; pregnant with a baby whom she thought was going to a couple whose dream she was going to fulfill. Polly finds herself in dire financial circumstances, and in no position to access what her godmother had left for her three goddaughters in her will without getting married, and keeping the home fires burning for at least a period of six months.

Raul finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place when Polly accuses him of being dishonest about the contract she signed, of which he had no knowledge of. With the British law being what it was regarding surrogacy, knowing that any judge would let the mother keep the child, if they were to believe that it was in the child’s best interests, Raul has no option but to force himself to agree to a marriage of convenience between himself and Polly, the only condition upon which Polly promises to accompany him to Venezuela.

It is an angst-ridden fest for these two as they traverse the treacherous world that Raul inhabits, with Polly being forced to confront the very present past of the man she had fallen in love with months ago. Polly is ill-equipped to deal with a man such as Raul, having grown up with a strictly religious father, and it was Polly that had paid the price for her mother’s infidelity which had resulted in her leaving when Polly was just seven years old. Polly’s father had ensured that she remained innocent, his tyrannical nature driving away even female friends, and she had no inclination of the strength of human desire when it comes to sexual wants and need until Raul strolled into her life.

Raul’s childhood made him abhor marriage, never wanting to give any woman that sort of power to dictate the terms of his life in any sense. All of that comes to head when he has to marry Polly, and it is an interesting journey to witness how Raul is brought to his very knees by the diminutive Polly who becomes his wife. It is rough going of course, which made for delicious reading experience, especially when coupled with the fiery desire that leaves both wanting more.

I believe that this would my favorite of the three installments in this series, because being the glutton for punishment that I am, I love a story that breaks and makes my heart, that infuriates and soothes me in equal doses. Contract Baby was such a story and I could not have asked for more. The only thing that would have made it all better? An epilogue to tie up the series which would have done wonders in my opinion.

I would recommend The Husband Hunter series for everyone who loves a good dose of angst-ridden romance! These three books certainly deliver on all fronts!

Final Verdict: She had dreams of marrying for love. He was determined that he never would, for any reason. Circumstances dictated otherwise. This a match made in angst-ridden heaven!

Favorite Quotes

‘But you wouldn’t want me to share your bed without all that idealistic love, commitment and permanency jazz… would you, querida?’ Raul breathed with sizzling golden eyes, watching her freeze in shock at that plunge into the more intimate and personal. ‘You see, what you want and what I want we can’t have, because we both want something different!’
Every scrap of colour drained from Polly’s face. ‘I don’t want you…like that,’ she framed jerkily.
Raul cast her a glittering appraisal that was all male and all-knowing. ‘Oh, yes, you do…that sexual hunger has been there between us from the moment we met.’

Bending, Raul slid his arm below her slim hips and lifted her unceremoniously up to his level, crushing her swelling breasts into the muscular wall of his chest. Her nostrils flared on the enervating, hot, husky male scent of him. Hard black eyes assailed hers and held them by pure force of personality. ‘You will not dictate terms to me. You will not demand empty and meaningless guarantees. A proper wife doesn’t put a price on her body!’
‘I…I wasn’t doing that—’
‘The marriage is on trial…I am not!’ Raul stressed forcefully. ‘I will not be judged on the basis of my past!’

His stunning eyes read the message in hers. He came down to her and kissed her breathless with a force of hunger that overwhelmed her own. ‘I feel wild…’ he groaned with a ragged laugh. ‘One more night watching you across the dining table and I would’ve pulled you under it!’
‘It didn’t show.’
‘Infierno…I get as hard as a rock just being in the same room with you,’ Raul growled rawly. ‘I don’t think I have ever been so frustrated in my life! I was tempted to take you into the stables earlier and..’ As her dark blue eyes widened in open shock at that series of blunt revelations, he compressed his lips, a dark rise of blood emphasising his cheekbones. ‘I just want you so much I can’t think of anything else right now.’

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Vengeful Husband by Lynne Graham

Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: Third Person, Dual
Series: The Husband Hunters, #2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Gianluca Fabrizio Raffacani
Heroine: Darcy Fielding
Sensuality: 3
Published On: December 25, 1998
Started On: June 02, 2022
Finished On: June 03, 2022

“Country woman seeks quiet, well-behaved and domesticated single male without close ties, 25-50, for short-term live-in employment. Absolute confidentiality guaranteed. No time-wasters, please.”

The Vengeful Husband is the second installment in The Husband Hunters series by Lynne Graham. It is rather obvious that having finished reading Married to the Mistress, the first book in the series, I just had to indulge myself in the rest.

First published in December of 1998, told in the third person from the point of view of both lead protagonists, this is the story of Darcy Fielding, one of the three goddaughters of Nancy Leeward for whom she leaves her estate behind on the condition that her goddaughters get married within the year and maintain the marriage at least for a period of six months.

Darcy, a single mother by then, responsible for her crumbling family estate which had been with the family for over four hundred years is in dire financial straits. Little does she know that the man she spent one passionate night with in Venice, 31 years old Gianluca Fabrizio Raffacani (Luca) has been trying to find her since, believing that she stole from him a very important family heirloom.

As luck would have it, Darcy who views herself as too plain to attract a potential husband, and who simply does not have time to find someone in the conventional manner plans to fulfill the condition of her godmother’s by advertising for one, something that plays along nicely with Luca’s plans.

Luca does not hold a very favorable opinion of Darcy when he finds her. However that does not make a hypocrite out of him to lie to himself about how much Darcy affects him unlike any other woman he has met before or since. Once the knot is tied, all bets are off, and thus starts the crazy journey these two embark on to their ultimate happily ever after.

This was just as fun and angsty in the good way kind of read as the first book was, with Darcy acting in the belief that someone like Luca would not find a plain woman like herself appealing on any level. Darcy suffers from low self esteem, owing mostly to her childhood, with a father who wanted a son that he never got to have, with a step mother who had been vicious to no end. The final nail in the coffin had been when Darcy’s fiance jilted her, which led to the encounter with Luca years back.

Luca is at first determined to get his family heirloom back, but he is not immune to Darcy’s appeal that had spellbound him the very first time they met. Needless to say there is drama of the variety that keeps the pages turning, sexual tension of the kind that is sharp and tangible and makes you sigh and moon over the perfection of their union, and love of the kind that neither wants to admit to, for fear that the other would not feel the same.

I had a slight problem with Daisy for keeping a certain “secret” to herself for the better part of the novel which lowered the rating from what it could have been otherwise. I guess I should not judge unless I have walked in her shoes, but I always find it a bit uncomfortable when female protagonists tend to lie or tell half truths about having conceived a child with the hero (unless they are abusive men who do not deserve to traumatize their child) – they have a right to know and what they choose to do with that knowledge is up to them.

Recommended for fans of the series, fans of combustible category romances, and fans of Lynne Graham.

Final Verdict: The Vengeful Husband delivers a myriad of emotions of the kind that leaves the reader satisfied on all counts. Lynne Graham is a master storyteller for that very reason!

Favorite Quotes

‘You burned me alive,’ Luca whispered mesmerically. ‘And you’re going to do that for me again…and again…and again until I don’t want you any more…is that understood?’

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | eBooks | HQ | Apple