Customer Reviews

The Italian's Blackmailed Mistress (Modern Romance)

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

 

 

I had a very difficult time liking the leading characters of this novel. Mega rich Max Quintano is controlling and manipulative and heroine Sophie is irrational and has the terrible habit of jumping to conclusions.

These two meet when Sophie is a mere nineteen year old and working a summer in Sicily at Max's hotel. He is drawn to the teenager and before you know it they have an affair. He asks her to marry him and initially Sophie agrees as she is totally head over heels in love. Their engagement lasts all of one day because Sophie calls it off when she overhears a conversation between Max and his step-sister. She draws all kinds of wrong conclusions from not only snippets of a conversation but also from the rumor mill and tabloid magazines about Max. She never even tries to clear up misunderstandings between her and Max.

Seven years later the two see each other again except now they both despise each other. Max does have the upper hand on Sophie and forces her into being his mistress to pay off her father's debts to his company. Sophie agrees. The two have a typical I-hate-you-but-want-you relationship. Meaningful communication does not exist between them. This entire novel is based on Sophie's incorrect assumptions about Max. These could have been dealt with pretty easily and I wondered at Sophie's immaturity not only at nineteen but at twenty-six.

OK i love this book, WARNING though if you like the whole being blackmail concept then this is for you but if you don't like the female to be too controlling by the man then this isn't for you

The plot is base on one big misunderstanding (aren't they all)but the author takes us on a ride with these two characters and she really tease us and gave us some good love scenes that i have read in a while in a harlequin presents book

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

You really expect me to sleep with you to pay my father's debt?"

Italian magnate Max Quintano knew exactly how to get his way...by blackmailing Sophie into becoming his mistress.

"Sleep is not what I have in mind."

Sophie will do anything to prevent her family's ruin -- even if it means living in Max's luxurious Venetian palazzo -- and being beholden to him...and will be until she discovers exactly why he hates her so much....

Heroine had a very brief affair with Hero when she was 19. She is now being blackmailed by him to be his mistress as payback for for her supposed callousness with him 7 yrs ago & his clearing her dad's huge debts in the present. Heroine is confused about why he feels this way. She feels she's the one wronged, after overhearing a part of his conversation with his stepsister about their secret r/s with each other. She reluctantly agrees to be his mistress for the sake of her young half-brother. As they spend time together, they begin to discover that they may have thought wrongly about the other.

Like other Baird books, this one did well to involve my emotions. Quick read. Romance, sexual chemistry, & love scenes were good. I liked the character development as well, although it could've been improved. Although both characters jumped to conclusions without confronting the other, it was understandable given other factors in their life at that time including heroine's immaturity & Hero's just finding out about his cancer. I wish Hero groveled more since he was mean with heroine at times & hypocritically judged her as a slut. One thing that Baird does to interfere with what-could've-been-better groveling by Hero is having her heroine cut hero off with "you don't have to explain" or the quick "i forgive you" or some other distraction. Grrr. In any case, this was a decent overall read.

Recommended.