Dear Ms. Reid,
This time the dark, oh so handsome hero of your book is, no surprises here, a Spaniard. But the heroine is the same pale, blonde, slim though curvaceous, Englishwoman I’ve seen in the two other books of yours I’ve read. Again, the hero is a wildly successful businessman, rich beyond belief. The heroine is kind of just there, really. Though she has impeccable lineage and breeding. Your characters live in wealthy, fast paced, jet set places and this time it’s Marbella and the castelo that our hero has just inherited along with the title of Conde.
Seven years ago, Caroline and Luiz had fallen in love and lust but her father’s compulsive gambling and lies had torn them apart. Now, Luiz is out for his revenge and determined to make Caroline his. Using her father’s new debts, his old debts and their mortgaged estate, he blackmails Caroline into a marriage agreement. But what he hides from her is the dark secrets of his family’s past and the role she has to play to resolve them.
Your characters love deeply but can hurt each other with the same degree of passion. Reading these books is like snacking on potato chips. Not the best food in the world but I just can’t stop myself. The heroes are mainly Alphas while the heroines do tend to lack a bit in the backbone department. When noble Caroline sacrifices herself for daddy and estate, I wanted to yell at her to let the old bastard get what his gambling addiction had brought down on his own head.
But since, as usual, one touch from the hero’s little finger is enough to reduce Caroline to quivering jelly and to finally get her to admit that she truly loves Luiz with her heart and soul and only wants to be with
him, she’s able to justify agreeing to the terms of the bargain. And, of course, Luiz truly, deeply loves Caroline even if he does act like a cold little sh*t to her for a long time.
Really these books are the late 20th and early 21st century equivalents of the older style tycoon hero marrying the little woman who’ll happily settle down and spend, spend, spend his money in the obscenely
wealthy world of the mega rich. Private helicopters, luxury cars, beautiful clothes, fantastic houses, it’s Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in print. C+ just cause it’s almost exactly like the last book of yours I read.
~Jayne
Oh I swear, I will never again touch a Michelle Reid book. Some time ago I read 15 of her titles consecutively. The hero is always beyond nabob rich, the heroine is blond, slim, feisty (doesn’t that say it all?) and a doormat. I rated this book F, F, FFFFF. I absolutely hate heroines who sacrifize themselves on the altar of martyrdom.
Holy sh-
That bad, huh.
Note to self: don’t read this book. Oh. Wait. I don’t really read series romance anymore. Heh.
I made the mistake to buy a lot of series romances on ebay.com. Stressed because my TBR pile was a mile high I decided to takle the series romances. Let me say this, I am cured for all eternety. With the exception of Susan Napier, who was written actually some keepers (IMO) I will never ever touch any romances published by Silhouete … and/or Harlequin … again. Upon my life!!! LOL
WOW, 15 in a row?! 3 in a row kind of cured me. I might try to read another one in a year or so but not before then. And the titles….I see them at Fictionwise all the time now and they’re almost worse than the amnesiac, pregnant women with their millionaire cowboy daddies.
LOL Keishon. Every now and then I come across a series gem but they’re few and very far between. I don’t know what’s worse—single title covers or series names.
A Spaniard named Luiz with a z? If you’re going to write a hero with a certain nationality, the least you can do is check his name is written right!
Hey Jayne, normally I can tell yours and Jayne’s reviews apart. I usually play a game of ‘Which Dear Author blogger wrote this review@ and generally I get it right. Not this time, I thought this was definitely Jane’s, lol!
I think our equivalent of your HQN Presents, is the Mills and Boon Tender Romance. These books have to be the driest romance books ever, and all the Spanish/Greek/Italian heroes have to be amongst the most irritating heroes within the genre.
Erm, that second Jayne was meant to be Jane.
I’ve always found it kind of fascinating, though, that the genre gives us so many books with heroes from certain cultural backgrounds that in real life might not be considered so romantic. For example, what’s up with all those sheikh Romances? Are all the readers who love them similarly accepting of real-life people from those backgrounds/nationalities?
Yep, I can read and enjoy some historical books with these heroes but no way would I read a contemporary. I’ve heard of too many real life tragedies.