Lynne Graham (1)Reseñas

Hero was an abusive douche.

The hero should have done so much more groveling and also gone to classes on consent. No is a full answer. Romance really has to move away from the trope of "your no is not valid unless you can give me a list of reasons I agree with".

2.5*

Can't and won't be having a baby with any other man other than your husband. Absolutely no divorce. :D love this story and the way the characters make the story feel alive.

Intriguing and beautiful love story. Love it.

I love the characters and the story they spoke. The author did a very good job in getting her character take the reader on a journey filled with romance. Good read.

was very lovely...liked how a rich man can grow to love a poor girl just given chance.

I sat upon my bed and basked in the rugged journey of these characters. Oh the tragedy of romance. But in the end, it was pleasing to find that both characters still loved each other and worked hard at making things work. Interesting read.

At first I was wondering what kind of man was this sheikh, then as I continued reading, I was fascinated by just how manipulative he could be and how determined he was to capture the woman he wanted most. As a helpless romantic, I found this book to be interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

Interesting story, intriguing characters and circumstances

Noioso, lento e anche piuttosto insensato con due protagonisti che, nonostante siano nel pieno di un divorzio non facile, non fanno altro che finire a letto insieme.
Troppe descrizioni minuziose di amplessi fantastici per una storia che non è riuscita a catturarmi in alcun modo.

To be fair, I am not huge on contemporary/billionaire romance; I just picked this up because it's on the "heroine wrongly accused by hero" list and I was hoping for angst and groveling. There is neither. There is some great potential angst that doesn't get utilized, and then a series of inconsistent, confusing, implausible exchanges between the hero and heroine. The plot is contrived and the romance seems random. Oh well. (1.5 stars)

I want to stab this book with knives! Then I want to rip out the last 50 pages and burn them and when they are nothing but ash, stomp them into oozing black mud.

There are going to be spoilers and I'm not going to black them out so don't come crying to me if you read further.

I was really liking this book. It wasn't one of those where they've already broken up and the author goes back to tell their story or tells of them getting back together. It starts at the beginning of their relationship and tells the whole thing. About half way through, they break up when the hero, Atreus, tells her, Lindy, that “I don't want a child with you.” Oh burn. And then he tells her she is his mistress and she isn't good enough for him to marry. Double, triple burn. He goes on and on with the whole with the whole cold sneering condescending thing.

He decides he doesn't want to see her anymore so he tells his estate manager that he'd like her to move then denies having anything to do with it when she gets evicted.

When he finds out she's pregnant, he tries to get her to sign a paper saying the child isn't his. When he finally decides to believe her, he withholds sex in order to get her to marry him. That's not cool especially when he smirked about it.

At their wedding, he sees no reason that the woman he hooked up with while they were apart shouldn't be there and why he shouldn't dance with her twice. On their wedding night, he admits that he has brought the other woman to this same island house and doesn't feel the need to tell the heroine that it was years ago when they were teenagers attending a party then he wonders why Lindy won't sleep with him. Then he decides she owes him an apology and keeps refusing to sleep with her. When she finally apologizes, for which total weakass lameness I will not forgive her, Atreus tells Lindy that he never slept with the other woman. I'm thinking at least that's good. But no, he didn't sleep with the other woman not because he couldn't bring himself to be with anyone but Lindy but rather because he knew if he did, the other woman would "get her hopes up". Full of yourself much?

He does finally admit that it had been a mistake to let her go and that he had missed her. Too damn little. Too damn late. And to top it off, Lindy tells him it was her own fault for pressuring him. OMG fire coming out of my ears!

I could have accepted all this asshatery if only the hero had realized he was the worst dick in romance land and grovelled until he had road rash on his chin.

This was a very well written book. The story was tight and the plot was well developed and made total sense. There was drama but no drama for drama's sake. The hero, Alex, loves his secretary Sara, and the minute she breaks her engagement to another man he swoops in and hustles her into marriage. He had some real asshatty moments but what was cool was that eventually the heroine figured out that he had a pattern and she called him on it. That was one of the examples of why the book was so well written. You could look back and see along with the heroine that his asshat moments were always of the same type and they were something that totally made sense that a man would feel and his reaction was very realistic.

The heroine was not at all a spineless wimp as is often the case with LG. Sure she was unable to deny him sexually but she stood up for herself on all other counts and really had him dancing to her tune most of the time. She made her share of mistakes in the relationship too but they were well written mistakes and made sense.

Even though the book was written totally in her POV you could easily tell what was going on with the hero. You knew all along that he loved her.

The ending surprised me in a good way. I thought huh? really? I totally didn't expect something that happened there. The ending was not rushed and every emotion was played out and discussed. Loved it and highly recommend it.

Pretty middle of the road read. Not as good as LG's older titles. There was too much sex. Not saying that as a prude but I would rather have more story. Are the editors telling the HP authors to put more sex in? There was also a lot of rolling around in the characters' heads. So much thinking so little doing. 218 pages that felt like 75. Hmm.

I occasionally come across an older LG that I haven't read This one was pretty good. The guy did technically cheat even though they had an arranged unconsummated marriage. I didn't really care for that even though it would have been unrealistic to have expected anything else. All of the plot elements were pretty well thought out here. The reason for the unconsummated marriage was one of the better ones I've read. And the way the hero was so monofocused on the heroine once that was cleared up was fun. He was never an ass to her outside of his way of convincing her to try the marriage for real. And you as the reader of course knew he was all bluff. So if you like LG, you'll like this one if you can accept the cheating.

Nice mistress read. This one had some strong elements.

The story starts as these two meet each other. The attraction is there and they know a relationship will start. Then the book skips ahead 2 years to where the heroine starts to have doubts. So no annoying flashbacks.

When the heroine is accused of cheating, she tries her hardest to explain and make the hero listen to the truth. She seems realistic in that she is vulnerable to him but not to the point of being a ninny. Still I think it's realistic that she is so overwrought about this guy. Women do get that way and can be really silly about men. She tells him about the baby and stands up for herself throughout.

The hero is a jerk to her, but I never felt he was nasty for the sake of being nasty. He was hurt and striking back most of the time when he lashed out and said something. Other times I think he was written realistically as a man so used to being rich and sucked up to that he couldn't even conceive that he was being a jerk. He does show his vulnerability to her also and really can't stay away from her. I think he did do a pretty good job grovelling afterwards and trying to accept whatever she dishes out.

So if you like mistress reads then give this a try.

This is really a 2 star read. I guess I gave it the other star because it's Lynne Graham and she's a favorite of mine. This book ultimately lacked conflict. I am reading this series but this was the weakest of the three so far. The reason that the heroine was so bitter and all was just not real realistic. I felt like everything was sort of checked off of a list. So pretty formulaic. The heroes actions don't make much sense either.

Still, I am looking forward to the fourth and final sister's book.

I enjoyed this one where the hero is the one who is not real sure what is going on. He married her in good faith and was looking forward to their making a life together but she wasn't all in at first and was just looking for a way to get out from under her father's control. He was very accepting and forgiving of all of the stuff she got up to. I liked how he protected her and stood up for her. Like one scene before they are married where her father raises his hand to her.

If you lay one finger on her, I swear I'll kill you!" Alexio thundered with raw aggression more than equal to his host's.

She was a bit ditsy, which I enjoy occasionally and he just accepted and indulged her. The ending was sweet.

I would like to look up and read the rest of the sisters' stories.

So I realized I'd never finished this little sisters series. This one was about 100 pages longer than an HP. But like another reviewer said it didn't really take advantage of the extra pages. It really just gave me time to dislike the heroine more. I really disliked her which is rare for me in Harlequinlandia. She was so stupid. I would have liked her a lot better if she had visited him in prison. She breaks up with him on the say so of her evil stepsister who she KNOWS wants her fiance and who has always hated her. What's up with all these heroines who never just go to the guy she thinks is cheating on her and say "WTH?" So leaving that aside I'd a thought she could have thought Oh no! He cheated on me but I still love him and he's in trouble! I'll at least check in." And then to have the audacity 5 years later to be pissed that he'd never reached out to her while he was in jail after having been dumped and ignored with no explanations? What the hell was he thinking to take her back at all? This is one instance where the hero really should have slept with her for revenge and to get what she'd refused to give him 5 years ago and then dumped her ass.

But then blah blah blah they loved each other and made it through that. The sister reunion was lame. The story with the castle was underwhelming. Where was his eventual learning about and appreciation of the business plan that really was an interesting element? That was weird that the author left it out. She sure had time to put it in.

Worst of all though is the situation with Miles. She needed to explain why she cared for Miles and that he had been the only one who had treated her well growing up. And he needed to take that into account and try to ease her into the suspicions that he had. Mostly though and this is the big one she needed to remember the forsaking all others part of the wedding vows. This was not a hero who was trying to shut off all her access to friends and family as abusers sometimes do. This was a man who had been unjustly put in jail. Who she knew blamed her hateful family. Who she knew had never really been loved by his family. Who she had already done wrong over the breaking of the engagement. Who was begging her not to go see Miles. Who was begging her to put him first and she went anyway. Bitch. I hated her. And out of the clear blue sky the author has her say "I was trying not to be a doormat" Had she been acting like a doormat at all throughout the book? Had this idea ever come up at all? Nope, Nope Nopity nope.

I'm giving this one star for the hero who somehow managed to love this *&^$* chick. He deserved better.

I really enjoyed this one. Mostly I think because it was different. The hero was a jerk throughout the whole story in what I felt was a very realistic way. There are some guys out there who are so full of themselves and oblivious that they believe that they are perfectly justified in tossing a bone to the heroine occasionally and going about their merry way is acceptable. It was nice to see a hero who wasn't all "You've had my secret baby and now you MUST marry me even though I despise you. The heroine was pretty realistic to in expecting more from the hero then getting her feelings hurt as the guy back peddles away. She was still a pretty strong character though. When she realizes the hero is offering her at most a fourth a loaf she doesn't put up with it. I liked that there were moments when the hero was made to realize what a jerk he'd been. I also greatly enjoy books where the characters knew each other when they were young. No insta love here.

So if you have a tolerance for less than perfect heroes this one might work for you.

So meh.
This was a pleasant story of two nice people falling in love. Wonderful in real life, not so good in an HP. This is not why I read these books. I want drama and angst! Asshatery and groveling! There was literally NO conflict.
I think I’ll go browsing back in my vintage stock of HPs.

Maybe a 3-1/2. This was a sweet pleasant book. There was some conflict but it wasn't high tension. The hero used the heroine but knew pretty much right off the batt that he'd done wrong. The heroine wasn't a doormat. She was just a trusting naive girl who was in over her head with an attractive man. But she gave him what for when she found out that he'd set her up. The accidental pregnancy was well handled and the two of them didn't fall right into each others' arms but they were fairly rational about their situation. I liked that the hero was very protective of her. Not an deep book, sweet readable fluff.

Three stars probably because it is LG. She is always a competent writer. This was basically fluff. At least the family she was 'hoing herself out for was worthwhile here. I don't know, this was just pretty same ol' same ol'. Not a lot of angst or conflict. Sometimes I think this type of book suffers a bit when there is too much POV from the hero. It's hard to buy into the asshat hero if you can see him thinking. His motivations for example to get her off the island were weak and his actions silly. hmm...

Read this one and totally forgot it. Must not have been that good.