Customer Reviews

Husband On Trust (Presents Passion) (Passion, 2088)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A whirlwind romance and a glorious honeymoon makes the crash of dreams even harder to bear when Lisa Solomos overhears her husband Alex discussing the control of Lisa's family business with her greedy stepbrother. This shock, added to the late night entry of Alex's former mistress into their apartment, destroys Lisa's trust in her husband. The ultimate betrayal comes when Lisa discovers that her Greek husband doesn't believe in love. Divorce is out of the question after Alex threatens to destroy her family if she leaves.

As with many earlier romances, a little communication could solve most of the problems. This doesn't mean HUSBAND ON TRUST is a bad read, because it isn't. Just be prepared for some aggravation.

Except for the nice wrap-up ending, I didn't see anything else worth reading about this book.... The "hero"'s very recent ex-mistress breaking into the newly weds' residence? Come on, let's try making some sense even if this is just a work of fiction!

I liked Lisa and Alex. They seemed to really care about each other. There were some instances of misunderstanding in this book, as there always is, but they were kind of funny and well drawn. I think that the whole explanation for Lisa not asking Alex about what she overheard was well thought out and explained.

Lisa had overheard Alex and her nasty step brother plotting, so of course she thinks the worst. She even comes up with plausible explanations for her thoughts. I liked that she even explained why she couldn't ask him right off. She needed to see where things were going and how they would play out but at least she was aware of the situation. It didn't look good for Alex though. Then of course you have the ex-mistress coming in that night at the apartment. It was funny how Alex turned it around and blamed Lisa for the ex trying to climb in bed with him. He told her if she had been in the bed then the ex wouldn't have tried that. (side not here: the ex invited Lisa to join them in the bed! So I don't think Lisa's presence would have deterred the ex.) She went to get a drink because she couldn't sleep then the ex had come in and she followed her to the bedroom. I think she wanted to see how that went too. After all she was already questioning her trust in Alex, but she couldn't very well tell him that, not yet. Alex laughed at her and told her to forget about the ex trying to get into his bed, blah, blah, blah. He didn't think it was a big deal and she actually didn't think it was either. But then she goes to a hotel to meet a "friend" and Alex had followed her. He goes off! He demands her trust but he sees her with another man and he immediately sees red. I'm sorry but it was certainly funny . . . pot meet kettle!! He tosses her out after some nice things that he spouts off, files for divorce, and tells her he never wants to set eyes on her again. Granted she should have told him about the friend and in a way it was a betrayal but the fact that he jumped to all the wrong conclusions after giving her a hard time with the ex climbing into his bed. . . . Of course they meet up again before the divorce is final and he lays it all on the line for her. I really, really liked the way that he did NOT blame his parents and make excuses for his non-belief in love because of them, nope, instead he believes that since he had reached the age of thirty-five and hadn't experienced the emotion he was convinced it didn't exist.

Well, I did enjoy the book, despite the fact that the hero acts like a jerk and the heroine needs to take a class in basic communication skills ... Jacqueline Baird does a good job of setting up her characters, and I found their passion very believable. I do agree with the previous review that the continual lack of any straightforward communication between the hero and heroine is frustrating. We know it will all be resolved in the end, but still ... you just want to grab them both and butt their heads together! For me, a satisfying romance ultimately comes down to the hero ... and despite the fact that he is a pain, the hero in this story is so yummy that no matter what he did, I'm convinced that I would have forgiven him too! Thus, I rate this one four stars.

Description from the book back cover:

Gorgeous entrepreneur Alex Solomos has transformed Lisa Lawson's life. In the seven weeks since their whirlwind wedding her confidence and happiness, both in and out of the bedroom, have grown enormously. But Lisa finds she can't shake some nagging doubts about her husband. Attentive as Alex is, there are parts of his professional and personal life he insists on keeping from her. She tells herself she's being foolish, until she makes two shocking discoveries in one night ...

GREEK TYCOONS: Men who have everything - except a bride!

Passionate Betrayal by Jacqueline Baird
Harlequin Presents #1431 - February 1992

She'd been a naïve seventeen year old, named Goldie Brown when she fell in love with Rayner Millard whose father allowed the hippie trailers to stay on his farm. Her parents had camped on the farm, so close to Stonehenge, each summer. That year the peace movement had drawn more attention and a definite police presence. And on the eve of the summer's solstice, she gave all her love to him and it ended in her humiliation and his arrest. She'd never known what had happened after that night as her mother had whisked her off to France. Shortly after her mother introduced her to her French family, her parents had died in a landslide in Turkey. And now, the passionate girl who had been Goldie has become the shy and reclusive Marie Doumerque. It's seven years later, and the last person she expects her grandfather to bring to their Chateau is Rayner. But it's him, and though he keeps the secret of their past, he pursues her relentlessly. Believing that he loves her, Marie is ecstatic when he proposes marriage, but on their wedding night after passionate lovemaking, she learns that he has married her for justice. Rayner brutally tells her what had happened upon his arrest; he'd been charged with rape and had spent three months in prison before he was finally released. The stigma of the charge had stuck to his family name and he'd had to leave the family farm. When Marie insists that she cannot stay married to him, Rayner threatens to tell her ailing grandfather all the details of her past, and even exaggerate for good measure. And Rayner also insists she will be his wife in all ways, proving to her that her body wants him. So begins a bitter and loveless marriage.

The Marie at the beginning of the book is almost the same naïve seventeen year old who had given Rayner her virginity. She may have aged but she had kept herself repressed and reclusive. Slowly every innocent illusion she had held is striped from her and she is bitterly introduced to her new "reality". She comes out strong but without the innocence that Rayner had always held dear. Rayner is a man in his own torment, and though he is absolutely brutal sometimes in his treatment of Marie, he has regret and attempts to make their marriage work. There is love in Rayner but he'd buried it when he had thought Marie had died with her parents. With all the mistakes and guilt over the past, neither seems to know how to move forward. There are several black moments in this book, as Marie wakes up to reality, but the final black moment is written with an emotional intensity that will pull at your heart. Rayner lives a personal hell as he realizes that he'd forever destroyed the innocent woman who had loved him with all of herself. Though this book is written from Marie's point of view, I'm glad Ms. Baird kept showing us hints of Rayner's own vulnerabilities. If a reader misses those glimpses, they may find Rayner a brute and not very likeable. This is a story of star-crossed lovers who both have to overcome the traumas of their youth

Avid romance novel reader. The plot is not well developed, and the characters are not engaging. An okay read, but not one of the best.