Michelle Reid's 1st HP ever, back in 1988. And it's not a comfortable romance due to:
#1. Lots of turbulent emot**Major SPOILERS under Sexual History**
Michelle Reid's 1st HP ever, back in 1988. And it's not a comfortable romance due to:
#1. Lots of turbulent emotion, sexual tension, and secrets. The book starts right away with h breaking up her secret affair with her boss H, who's both clueless and upset about it. The whole book felt dramatic and messy, as reflected by H and h's emotional mess. Definitely not a boring read.
#2. Both characters were not the most likable but weren’t totally horrible either. h was understandably bitter and resentful over her unrequited love for H. Yet accepted responsibility for her choices (including messing up on her birth control pills) since H was clear about keeping their affair limited to after-work and a secret.
Interesting character progression for h to start out as a shy quiet virgin to becoming more passive-aggressive about being a secret mistress to her boss H. Then, to progress even more to her being frank and cutting to H about being his dirty little secret/his lack of interest in her aside from sex/and his emotional cheating on her by dating another woman the weekend h couldn’t make their date.
H was harder to get to know for most of the book, aside from his obvious clueless-ness when it came to h and romance in general. He was a player who was frank re: his sex-only interest in women he dated. So, his keeping h for 5 months and even him hiring her knowing he was very attracted to her made h different than other women. But this wasn’t obvious until his ending confession. As a result, H just appeared cold, controlling, and even potentially abusive when he got mad enough (I.e., he almost slapped/hit h after she told him about her accidental pregnancy but she was saved by fainting). Wished that H showed his vulnerable side much earlier than his confession @ the end.
#3. H's cheating on h was ambiguous. His dating another woman before their breakup made H look worse, despite him saying he never touched her. Wished his reasons for dating OW was made apparent or hinted at way before the ending.
#4. Romance progression was iffy. Their romance was iffy until H finally opened up @ the end. Liked that h didn’t pursue him and made him work for their relationship and confronted him on his lack of care for her/interest in getting to know her/cheating on her by taking out another woman for dinner/wanting to marry her only for their baby’s sake.
Sexual History: 20yo h was de-virginized by her boss H, when she agreed to have an affair with him a few weeks after he upgraded her to be his secretary. Their affair occurred in her apartment since H kept firm boundaries about their workplace and his apartment. In their 5-month affair, he never invited her to his apartment nor offered to drive her to work with him since both came from her apartment or date her publicly.
]34yo H was known as a workaholic womanizer who liked to keep things in order. He’s known to never mix business with pleasure. So, him hiring h as his secretary with the intention of having an affair with her was a 1st for him. As well as his maintaining an exclusive relationship with her for 5 months until his dinner date with another woman. He told h that he dated OW to keep himself back under control since he began realizing that h meant a lot to him than just a usual sexual affair. Very possible that during the 6-7 months after he’d been trying to get resistant h back that he went out with 4 other women per h’s casual mention of it to try to move on from h. But H said that he “(hasn't) touched any other woman with any intimacy since (h). (He didn't) even want them—which was a shock to (his) system”:...more
See, this is why I have to write a review after reading a book. I forget most of the book's details and whether**Major SPOILERS under Sexual History**
See, this is why I have to write a review after reading a book. I forget most of the book's details and whether or not I liked it, if I don't note it down ASAP. I read this book for the 1st time about 1 month ago but forgot to write my notes down. So, when I re-read this last night, the fuzz in my brain connected and I began remembering the gist of the book.
The emotional and sexual chemistry was explosive. And the 2nd-change romance angsty and well-developed, I re-read the whole book. I didn't even skip any pages. I must've liked it too the 1st time!
Due to: #1. Angsty and emotional Lots of angst from h’s pain due to: #1. being constantly left by H for his studies/work while preggo @ his disapproving Greek family’s mansion and esp after their 3yo son’s funeral
#2. not hearing from him until they see each other by accident 5 years later
#3. catching him asleep in bed half-naked with another woman
Also angsty from H's pain from being told 5 years ago that h didn’t want to talk to him by phone nor see him, when he went after her a couple weeks after the funeral.
#2. Likable characters and good character growth Liked h's somewhat-funny and sometimes self-deprecating POV. Liked that their character weaknesses were shown and some progress made in the last 5 years but neither were perfect. h grew from being shy and quiet 5 years before to now having some gumption to call H a "low-down faithless rat".
H showed some maturity too to now admit to being a wimp of a husband before. Loved how now-dominating H showed his vulnerable side, when he confessed about his irresponsibility as a husband and father and how he's undeserving of h.
#3. romantic Loved that both privately showed their loyalty and love for each other in the past 5 years, despite each thinking the other had moved in with others. Liked that h was kinda clueless to flaunt her attractive boss in public as her unconscious passive-aggressiveness towards H. As hurt & angry as she was with H during their separation, her heart was still loyal to him.
Sexual History: h was 17yo virgin when 22yo H smexxed her a few weeks, after they 1st saw each other & H started pursuing her.
NO info on H’s other previous GFs/lovers.
Both got married coz h got preggo soon after they started smexxing but separated 3 years later, after both left the island @ different times after their 2yo son’s funeral from his accidental fall from a cliff. 22yo H blamed himself for their son's accidental death coz he failed to fulfill his promise to spend time with h and their son that day due to over-working. So, he left h and his family right after the funeral.
After 2 weeks of being left alone with his still-disapproving family who encouraged her even more to leave H, she went to her parents' home in London. Unbeknownst to H, h's parents soon had her admitted to a mental facility due to her overwhelming grief but refused to let H know about h. Around that time, H went to h's parents house to see her. But her parents told him h wanted nothing to do with him and didn't want to see him or talk to him on the phone, after his numerous phone calls to her. So, he started drinking to drown his sorrows. Six weeks after their son's funeral, h came back to their apartment to see H and work things out with him. But instead h found him sleeping in their apt bed half-naked next to another woman (OW) so she quietly left. When h finally confronts H about OW, H later tells her OW was his tough cousin who was only there to help sober him up and forced him to wash up. However, OW ended up having to help drunk H out of the bathroom into his bed, when he started crying about h and their deceased son. H cried himself to sleep with his cousin OW hugging him and falling asleep this way too.
The fact is both H and h were celibate since they last smexxed 5 years ago. They both publicly appeared with other people—h with her good-looking boss @ who’s estate she lived in & who she often was seen accompanying @ parties dressed in slinky dresses and H with different celeb women @ social events. H confessed that he couldn’t muster any sexual interest in any other woman since he still loved h, despite him thinking she'd moved on with her boss. H was only sexually voracious with her then and now....more
The BAD: #1. 18yo college-freshman virgin h's out-of-character behavior It didn't fit h's character to let her BFF talk her into se3.5-star **SPOILERS**
The BAD: #1. 18yo college-freshman virgin h's out-of-character behavior It didn't fit h's character to let her BFF talk her into selling her virginity to afford school and dorm. Her BFF talked to her about it and, in ONLY a few minutes, h agreed to sell her body for school money. It didn't make sense to go against her usual caution and reservations and make such a huge decision like this without giving up much thought or time.
The GOOD: #1. liked h's character for the most part (serious about school, quiet, reserved)
#2. liked that h reverted back to her usual character after her ONS with 30yo stranger H When she realized that H was her new art professor, she avoided him as much as possible because she didn’t want to jeopardize his job or her schooling.
#3. Good emotionality/S tension/detailed S scenes Her avoidance helped give some tension in their romance and give her more character depth. It also drove H to stalk her from a distance since he wanted to see her and protect her despite her avoiding him. Liked how this created a more even power play in their relationship so their epilogue 5 years later made sense—with h finishing college and H&h now married with their 1st baby on the way and both becoming successful in their art.
#4. loved H’s stalkery-obsession with his student h
#5. liked that H wasn’t a sleaze or a manho He had strong reservations about smexxing an escort despite his friend gifting it to him to break his celibacy streak and even more so when he sees shy escort h. He kept giving her a clear “out” to just leave and not be obligated to smex him, despite her already being paid to do so. He did eventually give in and smexxed her, after she told him she felt hurt and embarrassed that he didn't want her.
Sexual History: 18yo h had never been kissed or dated any guy due to being shifted in various foster homes and busy with school. 30yo H was her 1st and only everything (i.e., kiss, oral, sex). No info on H’s past Gfs or lovers. Only that he’d been celibate awhile when his friend asked him, which shows that he wasn’t so sex-led....more
4.5-star ***Major SPOILERS under Sexual History***
Made me cry a few times, especially in book2 due to H and h’s big misunderstandings re: each other’4.5-star ***Major SPOILERS under Sexual History***
Made me cry a few times, especially in book2 due to H and h’s big misunderstandings re: each other’s motives of being in their relationship and the great sacrifices they made for each other. Good emotional pull and character development. Lots of angsty moments.
Good char and char dev/rom and rom dev/sexual and emotional chemistry that were woven in well in plenty of Sex scenes. 36yo mafia loan-shark H was an anti-villain with his cold-hearted manipulations/bullying/threatening of 23yo vet asst. h. But his sometimes out-of-control feelings and actions towards h belied his true feelings for her. He became uncharacteristically open about his caring for h to the point of shunning his family and mafia life just to protect her. Loved H’s OTT possessive-protective jealous-dominant obsessive alpha-ness with h. h had a wonderful character with her mix of innocence and grit/kindness and firmness/practicality and hope. She kept rising above such trials with her general attitude. I admired her character.
Sexual History: 23yo h was not a virgin with 37yo H. She was raped and beat up by an unknown man who was with 5 others in the room when she was 13 but she had her eyes closed the whole time. It wasn’t until book2 that the video H’s cruel mom told her to watch that she found out it was H’s father who raped her. (They thought she was dead in the alley they left her but her beloved older bro found her and her family secretly tended to her. h’s mafia-linked father blackmailed H’s father with a video of the rape in exchange for leaving his family alone. But a car accident 2 years later killed h’s father & disabled her brother with brain damage. Soon after the accident, her mom died and h became the caretaker & breadwinner of her and her disabled brother. Unbeknownst to h, H’s father hired his goons to lightly protect h and her brother and had made a deal with her father before that instead of her marrying the man her father was going to bethrothed her to she was going to marry H instead. However, H’s mom didn’t want that and, after H’s father died, she derailed the arranged marriage to H and began her plan to put h & her brother in their debt so she could kill them for not paying.)
Due to the crime & poverty of their ghetto town, h was forced to pay for her brother’s debt with forced-BJs by a Zulu guy. She always spat his spunk out of her mouth right after. No other sexual stuff with him. Since her rape @ 13, she had never dated and was too busy trying to survive in their town and doing what she can to get her and her bro out of the town (i.e., taking vet classes, working at a vet clinic). She let H oral her before she later begged him to smex her.
36yo H was divorced from his 16yo daughter's mom, who he thought he loved when they got married when both were age 19. But he found out that she was repulsed by him and married him for money. She also couldn’t stand being pregnant and was a neglectful mother. They divorced within a couple years. He had many lovers after because he made it his goal to be a connoisseur of women’s pleasure. He didn’t think any woman would want to be with him due to his gruesome facial scars and limp.
Since meeting h that 1st time, he was captivated by her and stopped his mom's plan from killing h and her brother. So, he made her their live-in maid and his lover in exchange for their lives. It took him weeks to finally smex h since he just focused on her pleasure. Yet he didn’t want any other woman to satisfy him, including his most current lover who came to visit him at his house and tried to seduce him. His decision to delay sex with h was also because he believed her to be a virgin and he viewed himself as too monstrous/ugly to break someone pure like h. He actually told 1 of his goons to take h on a nice date and smex her. Then, he asked his other goon to tie him up in the basement and not unlock him until dawn so he wouldn’t go back on his plan to have OM smex h 1st. Fortunately, nothing happened. Before they finally smexxed, h's confession of being raped made H slow things down their first time together.
When they were separated for 10 months after h left him, both were celibate and not interested in others. H’s plan after his massive surgeries was to secretly stalk h and their son since he didn’t think h would ever take him back....more
1. H and h's romance got deeper with more setbacks and 4.5-star **SPOILERS are on my review of the full duet.**
Loved it! Even better than book1 since:
1. H and h's romance got deeper with more setbacks and revealed secrets.
2. H's character growth due to his love for h changed even his job and family choices.
3. h's huge setbacks made her even stronger but not in a way that emasculated H. More in a way that made her stronger and a better partner for this already-strong H.
4. Full of emotion and angst. Some secrets were heart-breaking.
5. HEA with epilogue years later with their young kids. And the villains got their due.
Good writing of realistic marriage matters 2 years after a whirlwind marriage of a couple who’s romanc***Major SPOILERS under PLOT & Sexual History***
Good writing of realistic marriage matters 2 years after a whirlwind marriage of a couple who’s romance is desire-based and lacked open communication.
Liked the point Lamb made for a 1979 HP that a woman can be in love with her husband yet still feel some attraction to other men. Also quite advanced of Lamb to show the more darker side of sex with h liking H’s roughness with her although H was the 1 who felt bad about it but wish it was addressed again @ the end when they reunited as either a mutual part of their sex life or H resolving his jealousy issues. Liked H’s jealous-posessiveness over h but not how rape-y and violent & accusing he was with her. Lacked character growth since no satisfying resolution by the end & h’s view of H softening up because he looked at their baby with love was not good enough indicator of his change. Good pacing/S chem/emo.
PLOT: @1%--H&h already distant in the last 6 months during their 2-yr marriage after a whirlwind courtship/@10% h sees H kissing his coworker after she overhears him mentioning his marriage frustrations with OW @15%--h stays at her old friend’s place & sees her male friend OM again since more than 2 years ago @23%-- H is greeted by OM when he comes for h & punches OM after accusing h of adultery/@30% H catches h packing at their house & rapes her after she tells H she wants a divorce & lies to him re: OM being her lover since he won’t believe her denials about OM not being her lover (h tells him “no” but he meant to “have her” anyway) @35%-- h moves in with her BFF & takes the acting job offer that OM pulled strings for her @47%-- h makes out with OM & seriously considered sleeping with him due to their sex chemistry but reconsiders after OW advises her to not divorce H yet due to his potential judge upgrade & tells h that she was only H’s confidant & have never had an affair with him @60%-- h&H openly talk about their issues including H’s jealous obsession over h & h’s sexual attraction to OM and H agreed to move to London & let h pursue acting while h assures H that she will only be friends with OM & she frankly tells OM of it @80%-- they smex but roughly due to H’s jealousy over OM coming over their house while he was away & H accusing h of cheating on him despite h denying it but h liked it rough and told H that after they got done smexxing & H was apologetic over how aggressive & out of control he became with h then told H he wanted a separation to figure out his lack of control & jealousy when it came to h @82%--h moves in with her BFF while getting acting jobs & going back to her friendship with h and soon learns that she’s preggo from H’s rape months ago @91%--@ending months later with h giving birth to their baby girl & she’s surprised at how H seems to taken with their daughter & has become softer overall like the man she fell in love with when they met.
Sexual History: 23yo theatre-actress h was a virgin when she married 36yo British lawyer H 2 years ago after a brief & passionate courtship. She & H had a sexually satisfying marriage until she miscarried from the pregnancy she pushed for after he explicitly told her he didn’t want kids but she thought having a baby would help her not feel so bored with her new life as a housewife. H raped her after she told him she wanted a divorce, after she witnessed what she appeared to be H kissing his coworker OW. About 1 week or so after she left H to stay at her BFF’s place, she let OM kiss her & she was quite turned on by him and considered sleeping with him that night of the party if not for H showing up there too. No info on H”s sexual or dating past but that he had many female admirers. He’d only been with h since they met and he’d been secretly very obsessed with her. He didn’t kiss OW....more
Almost-DNFed @ 3% coz 20yo h sounded like a spoiled brat as she related why she left home 1.5 years ago. But by 5% sh**SPOILERS under Sexual History**
Almost-DNFed @ 3% coz 20yo h sounded like a spoiled brat as she related why she left home 1.5 years ago. But by 5% showed that she’d changed & was regretful and embarrassed with how she behaved before.
Much more character/emotional/romantic depth than Pargeter's Substitute Bride. The contrast between H&h’s characters & relationship 1.5 years before and the present time were intriguing and understandable. h’s POV was full of regret and humility but still had moments of determination and impulsiveness but more seasoned than how she used to be. Still, h showed her naivete and immaturity. So, her character change in 1.5 years based on experiencing life outside her rich father’s pampering (i.e., she worked as a nanny & housekeeper for free to help a struggling widow, she asked for and gave all the money she got from her father in order to help another lady) was believable and consistent. H's change from being open/vulnerable/patient about his interest in h into a cynical/mistrusting/and guarded one was understandable.
Loved when 35yo H’s OTT obsession and jealous-possessiveness would come out despite him trying to hide it from now-20yo h through his cruel and frank words and actions. Loved how H took then-18yo h’s rudeness and insulting misjudgments of him as a social climber and unwelcome replacement in her father’s business with patience and kindness. H wasn’t a total bully as he also showed moments of tenderness and care for h especially when she got sick. And his bullying her was about him believing she was promiscuous with other men but won’t give him the time of day. So, his bullying showed his hurt re: his unreciprocated feelings/desire for her.
Really liked the combo of humor/angst/frustrations from H&h. Good sexual tension as H&h both tried to resist their desire for each other as they dealt with their emotional 1-upmanship. Sex scenes were good and had good enough detail to crank up the heat for a 1983 Harlequin book.
Sexual History: 20yo h was a virgin with 35yo H, her dad's new business partner. She's beautiful and popular with men so dated a lot, especially during her rebellious few months of partying after her father let H live in their estate with before she suddenly left home. Aside from some kisses from only select few since she couldn’t stand being touched by most, there was 1 incident when she let a date do more than kiss since she was in some early state of undress when H rescued her from her amorous date. During her 1.5-year away from home, she didn’t date and was busy helping with her landlady’s household. When she was forcibly engaged to H around 70%, she allowed an old date who came by to declare his intentions kiss her a brief goodbye. She allowed the kiss and kissed him back too as a form of rebellion against H. When H devirginized her, it started out as somewhat forced (based on his anger towards her seeing that old date and another man that he forbid her to see again) but she wanted H and willingly participated in her devirginizing. But the pain from H’s first thrust and his shock that he totally misjudged her as promiscuous caused H to stop their smexxing and she sorta fainted.
H was popular with women and had lovers before but no one significant. He became celibate since he insta-loved h @ 1st sight 1.5 years ago. He tried to date other women when h left home but no one could stop his obsession with h....more
Reads like an improved version of James' Devil's Advocate (written 3 years before this in 1984). Even the Hero's name is the same4.5-star **SPOILERS**
Reads like an improved version of James' Devil's Advocate (written 3 years before this in 1984). Even the Hero's name is the same! It's as if James realized what was missing in Devil's Advocate and put all the improvements in this book. And it worked. This one has a tighter & better-written amnesia romance story. Better romance/romance development. Better character and character development. Even the sex scenes were better and more descriptive (lots of breast play).
For an improved version of Devil's Advocate, the story wasn't the same. This one's unpredictable & angsty. I liked the mystery of h’s amnesia & how we get to see her fuzziness/confusion/frustration/unresponsiveness as H tries to help her regain her lost memory from the last 5 years since the car accident. Angsty from H’s desperation to make h remember him/their romance by taking her to places & doing things that they did in the past to shake her memory but most of the time she couldn’t remember anything & he would try to be nonchalant in his disappointment. Loved former barrister & ex-con 30yo H’s angry obsession with h & his trying to hide his desperation over her not remembering him. Loved H’s sacrifices for h including going to prison for 2 years for falsely agreeing that he kidnapped & raped h per her stepfather’s & his brother’s schemes because he thought that h cheated on him with his brother per his brother’s lies & life was no longer worth living since h’s stepfather wouldn’t let H see her even after her accident. Really liked the full explanation of H&h’s misunderstandings in the end.
Sexual History: 19yo h was a virgin with 25yo H when they secretly eloped 5 years ago before her car accident. She didn’t date anyone in the next 5 years mostly because her stepfather tried to cloister her at the house he moved them to after her car accident and she took care of him during his illness until his death. No info on H’s previous relationships before h but he’d been in love with her since they were kids. H seemed to be celibate during their 5-year separation since he was in prison the 1st 2 years and was bent on planning revenge against h & her stepfather....more
If it wasn't for the grooming bits and not giving h a college trial period, I'd rate this higher. But it IS a Jessa Kane plus Alexa Riley **SPOILERS**
If it wasn't for the grooming bits and not giving h a college trial period, I'd rate this higher. But it IS a Jessa Kane plus Alexa Riley novella so...
THE GOOD: 1. Smutty & sweet romance I liked secretly-obsessed 35yo Russian hitman H who’d been the bodyguard of18yo sheltered flirty college-bound virgin h since she was 13yo after her mom died. H had been biding his time until his 5-year contract agreement with h’s politician father was done before he claimed h sexually and officially as his wife. She thought her desire for H was 1-sided since she did all she could to flirt and seduce him but H was often non-responsive. Sometimes she’d see quick glimpses of something in his eyes/face but H was quick to mask it.
2. Good straightforward romance/rom dev/S chem/hot detailed bareback S scenes with breeding intent.
3. Likable chars and character development Mostly from H&h finally honestly talking about their feelings and plans for each other. Like that h didn’t easily give in to H when it came to her college plans. She wasn’t a doormat and gave him some sass, which he tried to tamp down but ultimately supported since it was part of h’s character.
MEH or the BAD: 1. As much as I liked H’s OTT obsession and possessive protective claims towards h, it had some grooming sense to it. H admitted to wanting h since they 1st met when she was 13yo and he was 30yo. It's not so much the huge age-gap but h's initial age, when H started wanting her/taking care of her/and planning to claim her. H became responsible for taking care of h due to her neglectful and busy father, including buying her clothes and feeding her. So, her calling him “Uncle” was true in a way since H became a father-figure to her and both even said so.
2. It would’ve felt less groom-y if H gave h at least 1 week (or better yet 1 month) to attend college on her own (or even at least with him watching her in the background) to give her the freedom she wanted to experience as a young adult. And to prove to herself and to us readers that her feelings for H was truly due to an adult love and not some kind of transference of child-father gratitude with some mix of sexual attraction.
Sexual History: 18yo homeschooled virgin h had never been kissed or touched sexually by anyone other than H. She was sheltered by her wealthy politician father since her mom’s death 5 years ago. Her father assigned H to protect h, especially from male admirers including from H himself. She had desired H since she was 16 and accidentally walked in on him showering and self-pleasuring there. She flirted and tried to seduce him by sitting on his lap and wearing sexy clothing for him since. But H was self-controlled to not fall for it. H was persistent and loyal to his 5-year contract with her father. He subverted his desire for her all these years by getting her named tattooed all over his body/masturbating/secretly having her dream house constructed/and making plans to get her wed and bred by him on the very 1st day after his contract with her father expired. H was not a virgin but have been celibate for 5 years ever since he met h. No other woman would do for him....more
DNF @ 34% after H&h's 1st sex scene. I was ready to DNF around 13% but I continued on to see if it'd get better. But **SPOILERS under Sexual History**
DNF @ 34% after H&h's 1st sex scene. I was ready to DNF around 13% but I continued on to see if it'd get better. But found myself getting sleepy and bored every time I'd pick it back up.
First 2 chapters were promising but didn't like h's character and H was only meh. Wealthy Scottish virgin h was a know-it-all virago/harridan type of heroine I don't like. Chapters 3 & on goes back & forth from present to 3.5 years ago, when H&h first met. h was a little general who managed her Scottish properties with acumen and organization. She was very much a business woman in their 19th-century UK world. She was much wealthier and more alpha than H.
H was beta when he met h 3.5 years ago and not quite as beta in the present time and more mysterious. However, he secretly blamed h for part of his torturous years of being kidnapped in a convict ship to Australia. He kept secretly whining & complaining in his POV that h should've reported him missing to the authorities and not have gone back to Scotland, even though he acknowledged that she had no way of knowing that he was abducted. She thought that he abandoned her to travel the world (due to the huge withdrawals from her bank account & her witnessing him walking out of their honeymoon ship after their wedding) or dead (as H's cousin insisted H was). He was miffed that she didn't search the world for him but instead went back to Scotland.
Overall writing was ok. I've enjoyed most Duran books I've read, such as The Duke of Shadows, Fool Me Twice, and A Lady's Lesson in Scandal. But the S chemistry, emotional chemistry, and romance was just lacking in this one. The only sex scene I read was awkward and unexciting and summed up my overall reading experience of this book. So, I stopped.
Sexual History: No idea if early-20s virgin h was kissed by any OM before meeting H. She was attracted to H and was turned on by him and looked forward to their wedding night. But he disappeared before then, after she saw him walking out of their honeymoon ship and never contacted her by letter or messenger the next 3.5 years. When she found out he was back in London the last 8 months, she stormed into the London house he bought with her money and insisted he get her pregnant with an heir since she didn't want her family inheritance to pass on to some relative. H wanted them to have separate residences and lives in general since he secretly wanted to spare her the knowledge of his kidnapping & torture. He did agree to having sex with her to give her the baby she wanted. But H insisted that they have sex with her blindfolded and her hands bound since he didn't want her seeing the scars concealed with his clothing. She agreed and H devirginized her in that manner. He only lasted a few pumps before he orgasmed since he was still very attracted to her and he'd been celibate since meeting her.
H was sexually experienced and likely with prostitutes. No mention of mistresses. When he came back to London, there were plenty of willing women (prostitutes?) around but he coudln't stand being touched by them and had no sexual desires due to his PTSD from his kidnapping-torture. But seeing her again revived his sexuality....more
Immediate steamroll Just seconds after they bump into each other @3%, 32yo car-workshop owner H is already “mine”-claiming strange3.5-star **SPOILERS**
Immediate steamroll Just seconds after they bump into each other @3%, 32yo car-workshop owner H is already “mine”-claiming stranger, 24yo paralegal h. Then kissed her, after saying something like 3 words to her. He was so OTT cavemanish with h & so immediately sure that she was "the One". It was hilarious! Loved the romantic ridiculousness of his insta-love for her and her reactions to him. She was understandably shocked by his instant intensity & runs away from him to her new office to report his assault of her. Due to his family's legendary insta-love history in their Montana small town, no cops were called.
4-star for H's character H was a known player & charmer in their town. He was also responsible and caring with his family. Loved how H became so into h because he'd never been like that with any other woman. And he kept proving that it wasn't temporary. He was relentless in his charming but insistent pursuit to get h & her 6-month-old daughter (conceived via in-vitro) to move in with him ASAP. It was a battle of wills since h wasn't that easily persuaded & resisted him. But he'd laugh off her attempts since he was so certain for both of them. So, by day3, she let him smex her. His chasing her didn't feel creepy or cruel. Nor her quick consenting to him seem cheap or weak. He was attuned to her needs/wants & showed it. It also helped that he welcomed her and her baby into his big rowdy family and she was able to see how trustworthy & caring H generally was. By day7 (@55%), he managed to get her & her baby moved in with him.
3-star for h's character She was likable too with her mix of sass & quiet caution, niceness & feistiness. Just didn't like that she became romantically jaded due to empty promises of her past boyfriends.
Like a novella but longer What I find different about Weir's books so far (this is my 4th Weir read) is it's smutty-novella feel but with longer pages so we get more explanation, time, and discussion with H&h. As a result, the insta-love is more fully fleshed-out and realistic questions/issues around it are better handled. Both were able to delve into h's trust issues and H's manwhore past better. @ the end/epilogue, their quickie wedding & h's inevitable pregnancy didn't seem so impulsive and their HEA is more believable.
Sexual History: 24yo h had past BFs, including her last college-football BF of about 2 years in her latter college years who she caught cheating on her. She's drawn to “alphaholes” than nice guys & some have declared their love & deep interest in her but eventually ended their affair for some reason. After her last BF, she had no-strings sexual hookups with men she'd meet @ bars & clubs. She'd been celibate for about 18months since before her surrogate pregnancy. Her best friend (BFF) was infertile & really wanted to have a baby with her husband. So, she begged h to donate her eggs and be a surrogate for their baby. But a few weeks into h's surrogate pregnancy, her BFF & her soon-to-be-ex husband insisted that h get an abortion since they were now divorcing. h's BFF had caught her hubby cheating on a woman who was also now preggo with his child. Since then, h's BFF and her hubby no longer wanted h's baby.
Not sure if H ever had a serious GF. He's a known player in their small Montana town just like his 6 brothers. He had a weekly rotation of no-strings hookups with several women, many he met at their local bar & who he'd smex at his bachelor-pad apartment over his workshop. From another book, he had 3 different lovers who had alloted days of the week slots he'd hookup with. One of his hookups (OW) became obsessed with him & tried to get pregnant by him by poking holes in his condoms. He dropped her after that & became celibate since 1 year ago. He'd always used a condom (mostly 2 at a time) with all his lovers so h is the 1st one he's smexxed bareback. First time H&h smexxed was 2 days after they met @ 36% & bareback every time since he was clear about his intent to breed her with lots of babies....more
What made this book better than the other 4 Keeland books I read this past week was this H was more persistent, sta***SPOILERS under Sexual History***
What made this book better than the other 4 Keeland books I read this past week was this H was more persistent, stalkery obsessed, and fought for H, even when he'd respect the choice she made to not be with him openly or at all. Loved that only h brought the OTT jealous-possesive stalker side of this alpha-dominant H:
@12% H's jealous-possessive obsession with h already palpable & he begins to manipulate the reality-TV dating show of his bro so the bachelor OM doesn't get to spend much alone time with h & sets OM up with another contestant OM's also interested in
@17% H's already showing his assertiveness/persistence with h & big part of what creates their S tension as h gets turned on by it all yet not really yielding to him due to her caution & secrets & makes their 1st kiss @ 20% so hot
@23% their 2nd kiss was even hotter coz H got super-jealous/possessive-claiming (after he watched a video his reality-TV-producer bro was showing to the crew of h & bachelor-OM kissing before she met H) so asked h if she felt the same way kissing OM as she kissed H & then told h that he didn't care re: her breaking the show's rules (re: dating others aside from bachelor OM while still taping the show) because he wanted to spend time with her.
@25% she tells H that she can't quit the dating show & just date him coz she needs to win the $250K final-winner reward in the next 7 weeks & H reluctantly lets her go.
@27% H obsessively reviews the daily videotapes of h with bachelor-OM after h told him she can't date him due to the TV show rules & disgusted with himself for being her stalker but still can't stop
However, H did cave in & did the usual it's-better-if-she's-not-with-me breakup reason that Keeland's Heroes typically decides for h. It sounds sweet but it's frustrating, especially when he or h end up dating/kissing another person. Gah! But it makes for some angst.
Good pacing/emo/rom/chars. Good emo-involvement & depth with some tears when they reunited after 20s physical-therapy student h found out why movie-company CEO H really broke up with her. Good emo- & S-tension due to their secret affair while h was still taping the reality-TV show.
Probably the most likable characters of my 5 current Keeland reads. Really liked honest/kind/simple h who was both sexy but didn't make a big deal of it and who was set on righting the wrongs of her family to the extent of sacrificing her own happiness but she wasn't a doormat about it. Also liked H who was alpha-dominant yet still considerate & sweet. He was un-apologetically bossy but not in a controlling selfish manner. He just knew what he wanted & went for it. He backed off to respect the choice h made re: the importance of her financially supporting her family with her TV winnings. Yet he'd still repeat his offer to just give her the money & help her family financially to get her to change her mind.
Sexual History: Early-20s h had lovers & probably BFs before the car accident 5 years ago that paralyzed her 14yo brother. Since then & especially her father's death 2 years ago, she'd been too busy working to help her family's great financial debts & helping with her brother & mom's medical needs. She was attracted to & passionately kissed the bachelor (OM) before meeting H. After meeting H she only let OM kiss her by accident or she'd turn her head away from him. She still thought he was attractive but her heart was only for H, even after she saw the actress at his house & after he broke up with her.
H was a selective player who was only interested in women for sex due to his busy work schedule & work interest. h was the only 1 he was ever interested in cuddling & laying around in bed for after sex. He manipulated things with the actress (OW) who'd been pressuring him for sex to show up at his house when he was in the shower & when h was due to come by so h would think she'd caught them in the act so she'd have no problem breaking up with him. It worked but he was miserable & heartbroken when he saw the TV taping of h going into the honeymoon suite for the night with OM. But he sacrificed his happiness to give h the chance to win the TV prize for her family as she wanted. They were both celibate for the 5-6weeks they were apart. OM became a friend to both of them & helped them get back together after h used their Honeymoon-Suite night to tell OM about her romance with H & after OM overheard H's sleazy bro drunkenly talk about his video blackmail of H&h. H had never smexxed OW. He went on 1 date with her & called an early night, when he realized how crazy clingy she was....more
SOME PLOT: 29yo corporate-lawyer h had a secret romance with 31yo ex-con investor H, when she taught a class for 6 months @ a high-end pri**SPOILERS**
SOME PLOT: 29yo corporate-lawyer h had a secret romance with 31yo ex-con investor H, when she taught a class for 6 months @ a high-end prison (due to her firm's punishment for breaking client-attorney confidentiality) where she met H was who serving his 3-year sentence due to investment fraud. For the next year after, she became his weekly visitor & penpal until she accidentally found out from the prison log that he was married & his wife (OW) just visited. He married his business partner OW during a drunken business trip & decided to stay married to her the next 2 years out of convenience. But, during his prison sentence, he found out that she set him up for the fraud scheme with the man she'd been secretly-involved with before marrying H. So, H was already annulling his marriage to OW before h found out.
MEH or the BAD: 1. Disliked that H deceived 29yo corporate-lawyer h re: being married. Didn't make sense why he'd keep that a big secret during the 18 months they were secretly dating when H was in prison since he was already having it annulled & it was a marriage of convenience. 2. Disliked that H stayed married to OW for 2 years after their impromptu drunken wedding. He even had bareback sex with her since she got preggo around the time he was about to go to jail. But OW didn't tell him about her pregnancy or about their daughter until 3 years later, when she was close to dying from cancer. So by 50%, there were 2 big romance blocks:
#1. get h to trust him again after she left him for not telling her during their 18 months together re: being married #2. finding out that H now had a 3yo daughter from OW he didn't know about & that he'd be in full custody of when OW soon dies from cancer.
3. Disliked that H broke up with h as a self-sacrifice for her happiness, after reading her diary pro-con list that he thought was about him which included not wanting to have kids & not being dependable. He didn't even try to fight for her and their romance. He just wimped out as a martyr. Which is a nice thing to do but I like my Heroes more assertive & persistently fighting to be with h.
The GOOD: 1. Good emo-involvement & emo chemistry with humor & some angst from H's past romance as typical of Keeland. 2. Good romance/romance dev/S chem/detailed bareback S scenes. 3. Likable characters & good character development, esp charming workaholic playboy investor ex-con H who showed patience & vulnerability in his attempt to woo h to give him a 2nd chance. I was skeptical re: whether his intent towards was just a matter of pride or power coz she left him 1 year ago. But @44%, H's char growth & his love for heroine & serious intent to get her back at any cost became believable.
Sexual History: 29yo h had BFs before & experienced a couple ONS in college. She was celibate for almost 3 years until she & H finally smexxed @ their 2nd-chance. She & H didn't smex during their 18-month romance while he was in prison. Her celibacy continued until she saw him again about 1 year after she left him. When H came back in her life 1 year later, h had already dated her co-worker 2x and called him her BF but had only kissed him & no sex yet. She broke up with him after their 3rd date since she decided to give H another chance. H was celibate for “more than 3 years” so before he went to prison & likely during the court trial. He did smex his wife then at least a month or so before then since she got pregnant but didn't tell him until their daughter was 3 years old & she was dying of cancer. He said that he stayed celibate because he wanted to be with h only & not other women who wanted him too....more
MEH or the BAD: Half-star off due to how long H&h's animosity & misunderstandings lasted. There could've been m4.5-star ***SPOILERS @ Sexual History***
MEH or the BAD: Half-star off due to how long H&h's animosity & misunderstandings lasted. There could've been more angst & deeper emotional pull, if shown each other's despair & longing for the other during the years their relationship suddenly changed & the misunderstandings that kept building.
The GOOD: Still unpredictable & fast-paced as book1. So, when 1 mystery is revealed a new set unveils until the big reveals towards the end. I liked being taken aback by the new mysteries & reveals. Good emo-involvement & emo-depth with me unexpectedly teary-eyed towards the end with H&h's love declaration for each other, some angst but not heavy angst. Good rom dev/char dev. Good S chem & bareback S details with h on birth control & with H&h only oraling each other in 1st 50% coz of H's wrestling between his loyalty to his deceased sister & his strong feelings for h.
Good character development. Really liked h's character in her practical survival mentality. She battled with depression and suicidal thoughts but she never played the victim. She got herself out of it with a sense of purpose & new courage. She was funny and sexy. Simple yet complicated but opted for simplicity & honesty. Loved that she learned valuable lessons from her major trials like getting repeatedly harmed. And put them to use.
H's character is more visible & fleshed-out in book2 with his ongoing obsession with h & his wrestling with his loyalty with his sister & inability to fatally harm h. Loved H's OTT stalkery obsession & jealous-possessive alpha-dominance with h. Even when he hated her & planned to kill her, he couldn't control his attraction & fascination with h. Especially after her amnesia, when she started acting & talking like the real her and without her pre-amnesia controlled facade. Loved that he couldn't get attracted to any other girl/woman ever since he was 12 and was suddenly felt connected to the back-from-kidnapping 12yo h.
Loved that the writing made it clear that H wasn't attracted at all to h's identical sister and he suddenly had a special connection/attraction to the switched sister h. Love that it was repeatedly clarified towards the last 60% of bk2 that H&h were each other's only lovers (kiss/sexual touch/oral/anal/intercourse). Loved their raw & rough sex and how both were mutually into it. Loved the 5-year epilogue with H&h married months after h & her twin sister was finally reunited & the mafia villain killed & everything explained. Loved that both went on to build their lives together with career & all and now want to start having kids together.
Sexual History: 18yo/Almost-18yo h deliberately gave her virginity to her MOC-fiance 18yo H without him knowing that she knew it was him she was smexxing in the dark at an outdoor party. He thought that she just smexxed him as some random stranger she picked out in the dark & that she'd been cheating on him with other men (while she won't even let him kiss or touch him since they got engaged when they were 15yo due to their father's inheritance-arrangement. Because h was actually Rai since she & her twin sister Reina switched places like Parent Trap movie when they 1st met when both were 12yo when their mom whom h was raised with kidnapped h's twin sister from their Dad so they can all escape together but they were found out and her mom was killed and both sisters switched so h got to know their Dad & live a stable life instead of always being on the run. So the overbearing head-cheerleader with her perfect make-up & trendy wear was actually her very own life as "Reina". It was a pretend persona to ward-off emotional attachments with people she actually did like since she was only borrowing her sister's identity & was waiting on the day she & her sister would switch back.) since he caught a teacher saying her name while being BJ-ed under his classroom desk. What H didn't know was that it was actually his younger sister who was BJ-ing the teacher, who she told to call her h's name during their sex-play as part of her scheme to ruin H&h's romance.
H's younger sister was actually the major culprit in their misunderstandings in high school as well as the dares other people got involved in & was blamed on h. His sister set things up so both would think the other was cheating on them (i.e., H told to go to the classroom to catch the teacher calling h's name while being BJ-ed, h finding somebody's bra in H's gym bag, h's sister with the maid's son's assistance started a tell-all school Instagram account to spread gossip & incriminating photos). His younger sister had mental issues since their mom's death when H was 10yo. H and h had been taking his sister under their wing since H's Dad was always working. They didn't know that she had a secret psychotic hatred towards both of them and would play the weak victim in front of them while progressively sabotaging their romance since she wanted them to be as miserable as her. So, @ her final sabotage, she told H that h had been secretly demeaning her all this time before she jumped to death with an "I'm sorry". And it worked. It caused H to hate h & leave her for Oxford in the next 3 years. And made h even lonelier and more of a tighter emotional robot than she already was.
Every Halloween night after their 1st time smexxing (both H&h were both virgins with each other with both thinking the other had already smexxed others) they would have a masked sex rendezvous they set up on Instagram messaging. Before her amnesia, h knew all along it was H who was the anonymous "Cloud003" account but H thought she was just sexting a masked stranger. Despite that, H would fly back to their town from Oxford each Halloween just to smex h. She didn't let him know she knew his masked identity because it provided her with anonymity and freedom to fully express her suppressed feelings/desire for him, who she knew hated her & blamed her for his sister's suicide. After her amnesia, h didn't remember who Cloud003's real identity was & thought it was their maid's adult son who was the account-holder & who she had a secret affair with. She responded to the current Instagram messages to express her confusion & emotions, viewing the maid's son Cloud003 as her friend. She also thought she had been cheating on H & unsure if she'd ever smexxed H.
Before 59% in bk2, H would only go as far as oraling h several times until she'd fall asleep & then he'd sleep elsewhere. @59% H&h finally smex including anal but would still not sleep next to h. Later as both their feelings get stronger & h gradually remembers more, he ends up sleeping with her. ...more
Felt sorry for 38yo H who was obsessed with his wife & former employee, 23yo h. She was blase about him and 2.5-star **SPOILERS under Sexual History**
Felt sorry for 38yo H who was obsessed with his wife & former employee, 23yo h. She was blase about him and overall emotionally-flat until she had a baby. She was much more loving towards their son than the Hero. She likely would have kept on living with their son without ever seeing Hero or informing him about their son. Their 2nd chance was slightly better since she seemed to be more emotionally awake & firmer in her identity and verbalized things with H. But their love still seemed quite 1-sided. Possible HEA only due to H's patient & great love for h.
Sexual History: 19yo h was a virgin when she married H after only a few weeks of dating him. She was so quiet and shy that she didn't seem to have dated anyone. H was a known player and told h that women were just a way to relax fro him but no one significant ever until h. He was taken by h @ 1st sight and would try to see her at work but she didn't seem to notice him while he couldn't stop thinking of her & finally approached her at a company party later. She left H 3 years ago because she thought he was having an affair with an ex-GF based on a magazine photo but never talked to him about it. She just left that same night & didn't contact H at all. H looked hired PIs to search for her but couldn't find her. Both were celibate during their 3 years apart....more
Slow-burn romance but developed well coz we get to know them from the day h was born & H was 6yo. Liked that H clear **SPOILERS after sexual history**
Slow-burn romance but developed well coz we get to know them from the day h was born & H was 6yo. Liked that H clear from the beginning that he was not h's brother but a close family friend. Others including h were not as clear about it. Good emo with some angst that brought some tears around 70%. Good S tension. Hot detailed bareback S scenes from 65%. H not that alpha but loved how obsessed he became with h.
Sexual history: 18yo virgin h had never been on a date but did kiss other boys in high school during parties. But none could come close to how she felt for H so 24yo H became her 1st & only lover. After they smexxed, she kissed OM once as her way of trying to move on from H but couldn't stand OM's sloppy kisses so stopped.
Very likely that h was H's only other lover, after his ex-GF who he was on-off with for 9 years since he was 12yo. He had 2 periods of celibacy due to h. First time was after he smexxed his ex-GF 1 last time, after 17yo h just kissed him due to a friend's dare that night during her Prom. He went to his ex-GF's house after to smex her to try to purge his feelings of self-disgust & great desire for h. After he & his ex-GF smexxed, his ex-GF confronted him on his feelings for h. Then, he became celibate for 2 years. But he did kiss a female coworker (OW) towards the end of that 1st celibacy. He & h was increasingly dancing around their sexual chemistry while resisting their attraction. So h encouraged him to date OW to help them get out of their taboo relationship. He went to OW's house right after & kissed her but she stopped him from going further. Soon after that, 25yo H and 19yo h finally smexxed the 1st time.
His 2nd period celibacy happened after h's Dad walked in on them naked on H's bed. Since they started smexxing, they carried on with their secret affair for weeks. Her dad demanded that she move to NYC. They all agreed (H, h, and her parents) that would be a healthy move for her so she could focus on her dance career & see if her feelings for H would change with time and distance. So, H became celibate again for the next 2 years. She was also celibate during their time apart....more
Ordinarily, I wouldn't rate books a 4-star with tropes like this: --dead wife H loved --H's dead wife was h's beloved stepsister --H's wife died only 1 Ordinarily, I wouldn't rate books a 4-star with tropes like this: --dead wife H loved --H's dead wife was h's beloved stepsister --H's wife died only 1 year ago through suicide and he was still reeling from it --H became impotent due to his wife and still dealing with it with h --H almost-cheated on his wife with OW the night his wife committed suicide --non-virgin h wasn't as beautiful as H's dead wife and part of why her ex-BF dumped her
BUT... **SPOILERS**
Good emo- and S-tension. Well-developed realistic romance. Good-enough sex scenes. Likable characters & character growth, although we know more about h since all book is in her 3rd-person POV. We only know H from his non-verbals/actions/words. Angsty moments got me teary-eyed a couple times, especially when h told her stepmom that she wanted H to love her & not just for her to love H who went through a lot due to her stepsister's suicide. Liked 25yo h's simplicity/practicality/candidness & inner strength. Liked how she was honest with herself about being in love with H who was still dealing with her sister's suicide & their brief complicated marriage. Liked that h was strong enough to leave & give herself the distance she needed from H & didn't come back for another year. Liked how she didn't wallow in self-pity but managed her heartbreak & disappointment with honesty & being productive with her work & travels.
30s(?) NZ ranch-owner H's character was likable too & sad that he was put through an emotional ringer during his 10-month marriage to h's stepsister, who acted out her sexual-emotional issues from being sexually molested by her own father as a kid by witholding sex from H while crying or acting seductive. And H had no clue about her sexual molestation (h didn't either until towards the end, when her stepmother finally told her about the incest & her ex-husband going to jail for it around the time she married h's father). So, after many months of that & his wife denying anything wrong with her, he began to hate her, had rape dreams about her, & became impotent. His impotence lasted through with h & was quite angsty. Really liked H's tortured alpha-dominant character. How he tried to control his desires & feelings for h but it leaked through at times, when she was near. Even h's stepmother noticed how much H watched h. Loved his admission of his fantasies of her & that he loved her more than anyone ever. That was believable. What was heartbreaking but realistic was how he was still careful during sex with h due to his trauma with his wife. h had to remind H that she was not her stepsister during intimacy at the end. And that she can handle what he can dish out sexually with her. It'd have been more satisfying to have an epilogue years later, showing H completely free sexually & emotionally for his traumatic marriage to h's sister.
Sexual History: 25yo h had 1 other lover aside from H. When she was 19yo, she was in lust with her BF, who devirginized her and who she enjoyed sex with. Months later, he broke up with her while pointing at her defects and comparing her to his ex-GF, who he reconnected with. She became wary of men & spent the next 6 years working as a traveling cook. Seeing H made her feel similar physical desires as her ex-BF and made her see that she never loved her ex-BF. She tried to resist her attraction to H by being very cut & dried with him. But a couple of shared kisses and 1 instance of him touching her to orgasm cut down on her resistances. His telling her he was impotent didn't turn her off and only made her smex him minutes after. Once they were done though, she was upset with him since he was obviously not impotent with her and thought he lied & used impotence as his ploy to get her to smex him. So, she left him that very night to her parent's house. He called her there to tell her to inform him if she was pregnant. She soon left for 1 year of traveling work. When she came back to her parents house the next year, she saw H at a party with OW.
H married h's older stepsister for love 1 month after they met. During their 10 month marriage, they never had sex since his wife would cry & complain about sex. They also slept in separate bedrooms. She denied being raped and he thought she may have been a virgin. Until she was diagnosed with chlamydia(she had many lovers before H) and her doctor told her she was infertile. She wanted to have kids through in-vitro but H nixed it since he was offended by her wanting kids but without having sex with him. He tried being sensitive to her & discussing things with her re: sex but her crying and then acting seductive & little-girlish plus his rape dreams of her resulted in his impotence. He began to hate her & tried to fix his impotence by making out with OW the night, when he was away the night his wife committed suicide. Even though he didn't physically cheat on his wife, he admitted to having intent & felt bad about that. When h came along, he was able to feel physical excitement and able to kiss & touch her passionately. But he still couldn't get it up until that 1st instance when she went on top of him & smexxed him. During their 1-yr separation, no info on whether he was celibate since he was still in contact with OW. He told h he loved her @ 1st sight but no actual info on his celibacy. He had to work though his feelings & issues re: his deceased wife and the news about her being molested by her own father during his year apart from h. I'd like to think that he didn't experiment with OW re: his lack of erectile dysfunction when h was away for 1 year....more
3.5-star **SPOILERS** Re-read the 1st 50% 3x since I kept getting distracted. And I wanted to recapture the feels. Too bad the pacing & drama waned by 3.5-star **SPOILERS** Re-read the 1st 50% 3x since I kept getting distracted. And I wanted to recapture the feels. Too bad the pacing & drama waned by about 70%
The GOOD: Good emo depth & emo involvement. Lots of non-verbal understanding/communication between H&h. Dual 3rd-person POVs so we know their thoughts. Loved that they started frankly about their marriage and why they agreed to their arranged marriage 1 year ago in the 1st place. Their Big Misunderstandings came from their lack of discussing these matters from the get-go. They (especially h) just let their marriage falter without telling each other what they truly thought or wanted. So, she was very susceptible to 4 months of H's conniving cousin's lies re: H cheating on her & H only wanting her to bear his son, when she was 5 months pregnant until she went into labor since H left her in London during those 4 months while he was back in Italy.
Good char dev with 23yo quiet & docile wife h transforming into a more open/frank/& assertive woman who told H she wasn't fine with their marriage state. It shocked arrogant 30yo Italian businessman H from his complacency about her & their marriage. It's what transformed him into a more considerate and involved husband, who realized he really didn't know his own wife and genuinely wanted to. Her threats to leave H also shook out his hidden longings & feelings for h. Loved that H took a firm stand for h & their son against his own family, who he'd been championing & supporting since he was a kid. Loved that he finally put h 1st and showed her & others how much she mattered to him as a partner & wife.
MEH or the BAD: Aside from their mutual sexual attraction, I didn't care for their meh feelings for each other for 1 year (until she gave birth to their son). Both didn't seem to have a strong love for the other, except for loyalty because they were married. Even H's grandfather noticed that h didn't love him yet and this was after they came back from London with their newborn son. H also went weeks/months without not seeing or missing his increasingly-pregnant wife h in London because he was too busy with work. The strong emotional parts in their interactions happened after h had their baby. It's a slow-burn romance emotionally because sex was not their problem. Before she had their baby, they didn't really delve into how they truly felt for the other. They also didn't know each other much and only shared/asked about their upbringing and past after the baby. The 1st 70% was dramatic and had some angsty moments. But pacing & excitement waned a bit after when H&h agreed to work things out but both kinda slow at admitting their love for each other.
Sexual History: 22yo virgin h had kissed other men but nothing more. She had a brief stint of rebellion while in boarding school with parties & sneaking out but it completely stopped after she was drugged during a party but a school staff's appearance blocked any further danger. And h had to get her stomach pumped at the hospital and that was the end of her teen rebellion. She went back to being an obedient daughter to her demanding but neglectful wealthy Italian parents. She was supposed to be in an arranged marriage to H's sneaky cousin as arranged by her father & H's cousin. But H asked for her hand the night she met both of them. H had “light-hearted” relationships with others but he didn't want any serious commitments since he didn't like being out of control. He liked that h was fine with an arranged marriage to a stranger and she wanted to have children more than a career. Getting her to marry him instead of his cousin also took care of his cousin's potential financial threat to H's inheritance of their vast family business. ...more
PLOT...18yo media-consultant h gets kidnapped from her bedroom by her stalker of 6 months, early-30s(?) ex-con bank-robbADDED (3/11/22): Plot 3.5-star
PLOT...18yo media-consultant h gets kidnapped from her bedroom by her stalker of 6 months, early-30s(?) ex-con bank-robber H. H's original plan was to use stranger h as a distraction for their major & final heist. But seeing her picture from the 1st time immediately changed his mind. She was still going to be his heist-team's bait but he planned on keeping her for himself forever. He kept her chained in an abandoned hospital room, knowing that her fear of haunted places, the dark, and storms and various other fears would keep her from running away and encourage her to run to him. After 1 month of being drugged and conditioned to depend on H, H finally smexxes her and then drops her off in a public place to distract the police and the public as a way to sneak into the bank nearby to steal millions. She wakes up in a hospital with the FBI and her male roommate-friend questioning her about her captor. But she won't tell about H since she loves him and trusts in his promise to come back for her. Five months later, H finally finds her in the newest location with another identity that the witness-protection program provided h & her BFF. Epilogue 2 months later with H&h are now engaged or married and living in Alaska with h's BFF living nearby.
Better rom/rom dev/chars/char dev than Cruel Lies. This late-20s/early 30s ex-con bank-robber H was also controlling, manipulative & turned-on about hurting 18yo virgin h in a BDSM-y kind of way. Unlike Cruel Lies, this h reciprocated and liked his physical punishment of her (i.e., spankings, rough sexual handling of her). So, the detailed sex scenes were steamy & more enjoyable to read. The 1st sex scene also happened sooner in this book (around 60%).
The biggest difference between the romance & characterization of this H from Cruel Lies is this H's stalkery-obsession with h was more romantic. This H was also more emotionally vulnerable to h and less emotionally manipulative of h. He also wasn't a sex-driven guy and had been celibate for awhile while the other H's sexual habits & history remained a mystery. So, this H's obsession with h at 1st-sight was special & his handling of her was kinder & protective than the other book's H. He was jealous & possessive over her, even among his teammates. He didn't want her hurt by anyone or anything but him. Like the other book's H, this H demanded her obedience & submission to him or risk punishment. But unlike the other H, this H was gentler with her and punished her more by leaving her alone. It worked because it made her whine and cry for him since she was scared of being left alone and other fears.
This h was more phobic & clingy than the other book's h. Using her many fears to condition her to depend on H & see him as her rescuer was easier than the more-independent h of the other book. This h wasn't a total robot though. She did fall in love with H and the 5 months of their separation didn't change that. The combination of therapy, her friend's telling her she couldn't love somebody who kidnapped her & hurt her, and being in FBI's witness-protection program didn't wear down her love for H. It's this aspect which made their romance and characterization better than Cruel Lies.
Emotionally-involving writing, which helped with the creep factor & overall discomfort about this couple's Captor-kidnapped romance and characterization. Definitely a dark romance with a dubious-consent theme. Although h did fall in love with H, the chance/danger of him physically hurting her if she disobeys him later in their marriage is very possible. It's a read that left me uncomfortable for h's overall well-being at the end. He did love her. But the conditional nature of their relationship and his violent tendencies even towards her can't make me rate this novella higher.
Sexual History: 18yo virgin h had never dated nor kissed anyone likely due to her many fears. H had sex before but was not sex-driven, unlike his teammates. When they would have a heist-victory celebration, H never joined their booze-fest and women-fest parties. He preferred the high of planning their next bank heist. He'd been celibate for awhile but no info on how long. He wasn't 1 to masturbate that much either. But he'd been masturbating a lot since seeing h's photo 6 months ago and stalking her since....more
My lowest-rated Kat Austen book. I loved 3 of her 5. But this 1, not much.
MEH or the BAD: **SPOILERS** Meh overall. Predictable & lackluster romance/paMy lowest-rated Kat Austen book. I loved 3 of her 5. But this 1, not much.
MEH or the BAD: **SPOILERS** Meh overall. Predictable & lackluster romance/pacing/Sexual chemistry/detailed bareback Sex. Mostly due to 25yo virgin h declaring to mid-late 20s H that he'd always been the only “One” for her, after she reunited with him. But it's mostly talk, except for not having sex yet. During their 8-year separation, she actually didn't wait for H (like he did with her). She dated various men over the years & had a much-older composer BF for the past 2 years. It's either her character was portrayed inconsistently (coz she acted/talked to her friend like she was sexually disinterested or so innocent yet she was secretly quite sexual). Or her love for H was immature & not as deep as virgin-H's love for her. She easily switched from feeling deeply hurt by him for years to suddenly humping his leg like a horndog that she was, after he told her that he did look for her & more in the last 8 years.
Unbelievable for h to remain a virgin. And here's why: #1.) she thought H was gone from her life forever, #2.) she was so horny to self-pleasure at least 2x a day, #3.) she had a BF for 2 years that she'd break up with & take back again, & #4.) she dated other men. Didn't like how h was so sexually aggressive & seemed like she sex was more important to her than really considering the great sacrifices H made for her by staying true to his promises 8 years ago. Didn't like that H was too nice & patient to wait for h to find him. Kinda beta of him to not openly pursue her or even manipulate events so she won't date any OM in the 5 years since he tracked her down. Instead he just planned to reunite with her & waited for her while talking to his bandmates about her & looking at their picture together. He was the romantic of the couple & h more the sexual aggressor.
The GOOD: Loved H's obsession with & devotion to h to go to each of her recitals & leaving her be with her life including having a BF. Loved his self-sacrifices for her. Since her parents forced her to move out of Boston for California after they were caught in her bedroom 8 years ago, he went to CA to look for her but didn't know where she was. He became homeless and continued to search for her. Upon finding her 3 years later, he saw that he wasn't worthy enough to be with her so worked hard & later became a successful musician. He stayed true & celibate for her without her knowledge. He let her live her life in college while planning to reunite with her when he felt more worthy financially/etc of her. Hot bareback sex scenes.
Sexual history—25yo virgin h had gone on many dates & had a BF of 2 years but no info on what she's done sexually without sex. H also a virgin and no mention of whether he ever dated any other woman. His bandmates & bodyguards attested that h is the 1st woman H has allowed in his tour bus & his house & bedroom is filled with photos of her & him from the past....more
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