Tag Archive | harlequin romance

Why being pregnant with amnesia is so romantic


The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress (Silhouette Desire) ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Chrysander Anetakis is a Greek hotel magnate who found out his former mistress is pregnant and she has amnesia. While he does not forgive her for betraying his trust and selling company secrets, he wants his child. So since she does not remember anything, he does not tell her that they broke up months ago. Instead he tells her that she is his fiancée. Now he has to pretend they were happy before the “accident” that caused her amnesia.

Marley is pregnant and scared. There is a stranger named Chrysander Anetakis telling her that they are engaged. While she cannot remember anything besides her name, she has a feeling in her gut that there is something not quite right about their relationship.

Opinion

This is not the first time that I have read of the hero using amnesia as a reset for the relationship. I do not understand why though because they act as if the amnesia is not going to eventually be cleared. Once that happens, the woman/love interest discounts everything up until that point as a lie.

As a side thought: Chrysander was grimy for sleeping with Marley when he was supposed to be disgusted with her.

For that in itself, he should have come clean.

It bothered me that Chrysander had niggling doubts about Marley’s guilt, but he did nothing to try to investigate what else could prove her guilt or innocence. He thought that “Marley’s eyes looked innocent,” but he refused to acknowledge the potential truth in that. Then when he actually thought about it, it took 2 seconds for him to identify the culprit. The villain confessed in even less time.

It was as if Chrysander was saying, “Even though you were savvy enough to devise a plot that implicated my girlfriend, let me trick you into confessing to orchestrating the company sabotage that cost me and brothers billions of dollars.”

The villain was like, “Ooops My bad”.

I did like that Marley tried to be as perceptive as possible to figure out her situation. She was suspicious and she had every right to be. Kudos to her for calling out Chrysander on his bi-polar behavior. He was trying to act loving but be standoffish at the same time.

Chrysander’s response “Don’t mistake my hesitation for disinterest” made no sense though.

No wonder she was confused.

While she did not have anywhere to go, I like that she did not ignore what her subconscious was trying to tell her.

The more he talked, the less desirous she was for marriage.”

When she her memory came back and she remember the truth, her breakdown was so painful. I knew it was coming but it hurt me to read about it and I have never been pregnant.

Random question that has been bugging me the entire book: How did she understand his Greek endearing expressions with her amnesia if it was the first he used them?

 

In the end, I think that she forgave too quickly considering all that she had been through. Truth be known, I am probably too vindictive. While Maya Banks’ pregnant heroine has to suffer a lot of trauma, the reader infers that the hero is suitably chastened to put the love of his life on a pedestal and never let anything else happen to her ever again.

Overall, The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress was okay. All is well that ends well, I suppose. This is not a life-changing, in-depth novel that will solve the problems of the world. It is a time filler. If you need something to read with characters that are not over-the-top annoying, this fits that bill.

 

I don’t recommend rebound romances in real life

The Rebound Guy (Harlequin Kiss) ♥♥♥


The premise of this story is that a cancer survivor whose ex-husband was a philanderer falls for a guy who is a known player. Kelly is not looking for a relationship because she knows how much she can be hurt. Jason is of the opinion that life is a game. Or at least that is the way it seems from the way he treats his women. While she is trying to protect herself from his charms, he is struggling not to flirt openly with her.

Despite all that she has went through by surviving cancer and getting over the fact that her first husband left her in her moment of need, she still tries to remain positive. And this is part of the reason she entertains a possible fling because her well-intentioned sister-in-law wants her to have a little fun.  But this does not mean that she’s going to leave herself open for another man to break her heart. Jason has to convince Kelly that he is worthy of the risk. Because of the seeming similarities between him and her ex-husband, she had every right to be cautious. I was glad she was suspicious of him from the beginning.

For part of the book, Jason had several affairs with nameless women while he casually flirted with her as they worked together. That did little to engender me to his character. Why should love come easy for him? He always had been love-them-and-leave-them. Now that he wants a relationship, everything is supposed to fall into place? I do not think so.

Overall, it was an okay story. For most of the book I did not like Jason too much. I am not used to reading book in which the hero is sleeping around in the time he is talking to his love interest. I have a weird morality that guides what is acceptable behavior for romance novel heroes and heroines. For me, his behavior: NOT ACCEPTABLE. In contrast, I thought that Kelly deserved happiness in her life. I was rooting for her happy ending since she had a hard life with more than her fair share of heartbreak.

I recommend The Rebound Guy (Harlequin Kiss) if you are looking for something to read during a relaxing afternoon or vacation. The book can be finished in a couple of hours.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The divorce party is neither a party or a divorce- Discuss!


The Divorce Party (Harlequin Presents) – ♥♥♥♥

Lilly wants a divorce. Riccardo is of the opinion that they are married and should just work out whatever problems they have. He has the right idea but with all the tact of a bull in a china shop. Needless to say, Lilly does not take too well to being railroaded.

I thought another name for this book could have been: Billionaire Romance – The rest of the story.

The sequel to the fairytale romance is called reality. He uses his money to wine, dine and sweep this girl off of her feet. Then daily life sits in. It is not all about wining and dining when he has to go to work. He might be the CEO of a successful billion dollar company, but it will not stay that way unless he goes into the office.

Sometimes it seems that love is not enough. Lilly and Riccardo had a whirlwind romance.

However, when it is time to live normal life, they have problems.

Plus, both of the characters had internal issues that they needed to resolve before there could be success in the marriage. In short, two people from dysfunctional families will experience some form of culture shock in what they consider to be a “healthy relationship”. Just because two people fall madly in love, this does not necessarily mean they will have a happy ever after ending.

The characters to this story were not one-dimensional. Lilly’s insecurities and Riccardo’s imperfections cause their personalities to the leap off of the page as if they were real people. Both had preconceived notions of what they thought the relationship would be like, but their partner did not meet their expectations. Since Riccardo was extremely arrogant, he did not question the fact that his will would always be done in the relationship.

The question was not if he loved her, it was could keep her?

They might love each other, but are they right for each other?

I loved The Divorce Party (Harlequin Presents) because it validates all the things that I have been saying about some of the love at first sight romance stories. The two people need to have a connection and a lot of common ground. A torrid love affair in which they spend more time in the bed than they do actually talking to each other means they’re probably not going to be together for very long.

 

The Divorce Party (Harlequin Presents) was a great story with great emotional characters. Buy this book!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Italian Stolen Bride review

The Italian’s Stolen Bride (Harlequin Presents)

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The story begins with a deathbed confession from Luc’s brother revealing secret family sins. Being from the old country, Maurizio thought his son Luc was better off without Skye and needed to marry someone who was better suited. He used his money and power, while enlisting the help of his other son Roberto, to effectively separate Luc and Skye.

Now that Luc knows the truth, he is not going to let his second chance at happiness elude him. As for Skye, the victim and pawn in the disfunctional wealthy family’s manipulation, she wants nothing to do with Luc or his family. If it were not for her son, she could have probably made that happen. Since Luc has rights to Matteo as his father, she had to weigh what was best for her son, even if it means trying to fight the feelings of love for the man that hurt her 6 years ago.

I liked this story because it was about true love fighting against all odds to be together. The conflict in Luc’s family was so real. He was determined to be with the woman that he loved. Skye was not going to let her man give up his family for her without first trying to make peace.

The characters are working to resolve feelings of bitterness and mistrust in order to find true happiness.

To sum up Italian’s Stolen Bride, it is about family, acceptance, redemption, and love. Have I said how much I liked this story? Sigh…

Click The Italian’s Stolen Bride (Harlequin Presents) buy on Amazon