Her Ruthless Italian Boss (Harlequin Presents Extra) [Mass Market Paperback]

Christina Hollis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harlequin Presents Extra | Publication Date: February 10, 2009

Expecting the boss’s baby…

Beth Woodbury thinks she’s put the past behind her. Until she discovers her new boss is ruthless Italian Luca Francesco! Beth has to beg his forgiveness for the past. She needs this job! Luca lets her stay on one condition: she’ll assist him in the day – and warm his bed at night! And this time there’ll be no talk of marriage…or babies…

But soon Beth is pregnant – with her formidable boss’s heir!

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373527071
• ISBN-13: 978-0373527076
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Series > Harlequin Presents

More About the Author

Christina Hollis was born in Somerset, England and was the elder of two children. The Careers department at school gave her the stark choice between nursing and teaching, but both options called for more years of study. All she wanted to do was use her imagination and write, so she escaped from school to get a job in the financial sector.
She worked briefly in Marketing, but 'Numbers tend to dance in my head, but not exactly like sugar plums! My job was all about figures, and used more spreadsheets than I felt happy with,' she says now. Around this time, she met her husband on a blind date. They lived in the city for convenience, but both wanted to get away to the peace and quiet of the countryside. After they moved out to rural Gloucestershire, Christina began writing full time about their life in the country. Producing articles and photographs for national magazines about their exploits keeping chickens, geese, pigs and growing their own fruit and vegetables by day, by night she was working on full-length fiction.
Christina has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil, and reading for almost as long. Her grandfather and father were both avid readers, and so is her husband, so she has always been surrounded by books. Writing fiction was a natural progression from her magazine work. In 1990 her first full length novel, Knight's Pawn, was published by Harlequin Mills and Boon under the pen name Polly Forrester. After a career break to devote time to raising a family of her own, she joined respected poet Paul Groves' creative writing course to explore other avenues. Here she discovered the art of the short story, and was encouraged to try writing contemporary romance. After several drafts and some revisions, her first Mills and Boon Modern Romance, The Italian Billionaire's Virgin was published in 2007. Her books have appeared in lists of best sellers all over the world.
'As well as romantic conflict, I like my books to capture the countryside in all its moods,' she says. 'Reading can take you to a completely different place and time. That's my idea of luxury - the chance to escape from the pressures of everyday life.'

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the Best I have Read, April 6, 2010

By 

C. J. Olsen (Puyallup, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Her Ruthless Italian Boss (Harlequin Presents Extra) (Kindle Edition)

Once again, the title author must not have read the book. The boss may be Italian, but he is far from ruthless. So much for trying to guess a plot line from the title. I agree with Reading RN that the review by Marilyn Shoemaker is about a whole different book. I do not agree that the book was absolutely terrible, but it definitely is no where near a great romance novel. The story line is just not believable. Lucas Francisco is portrayed as a maimed soldier with no resources who inherits an art business on its last legs and within 5 years becomes a self made billionaire so well known and respected that he has become a world wide icon in the art world. Come on now, that is totally unbelievable, even for a romance novel!

The story line has very little to recommend it and could easily have been put together with romance boilerplate slightly modified to change the names of the characters. The attempts to give Beth and Luca any kind of depth of character fell far short for me. In short, the book contains shallow characters with a story line lacking any resemblance to reality. Only two stars for this one.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Other review on wrong book, August 28, 2009

By 

Reading RN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her Ruthless Italian Boss (Harlequin Presents Extra) (Kindle Edition)

The other review is glowing, but it is about a whole different book! This book was absolutely terrible. Not just a bit terrible, but absolutely horrible. The main character was a whiny self involved woman with no back bone, who's main purpose in life is to get back with the man that she has always loved. The accidently meet up again when she realizes that she's working for him. If she is so desperate, how come she hasn't contacted him b/f this? There are pieces of the backstory, but it's spread out so thin, good luck trying to figure out what happened in the past. (Something about a mutual friend who was jealous, and a wedding ultimatum?) I got half way through it, listening to her secretly hope that he would fall back in love with her and was so disgusted that i returned the book! There are much better Harlequin books out there, so don't waste your time on this one!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cinderella Love Story, May 1, 2009

By 

Marilyn Shoemaker (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her Ruthless Italian Boss (Harlequin Presents Extra) (Mass Market Paperback)

Most definitely a Cinderella story literally from rags to wealth beyond imagine for Lucy Abbott and her daughter Chloe. Add revenge, desire and mystery; it's an incredible love story and journey as wonderfully written by author Jennie Lucas.

For most of her life Lucy and her mother lived from payday to payday and moved from town to town. Her mother died at an early age leaving Lucy to survive in foster care. Now on top of everything else, Lucy finds herself nearly destitute trying to support herself and an infant. She's working at a gas station convenience store, with a letch for a boss, working more than one job just to support them. On top of everything else, the father of her child denies his paternity and wants nothing to do with either of them.

Lucy is determined to provide and care for Chloe and will go to any lengths to do so. As one will learn she is a woman of honour and extreme strength and wants the family she never experienced for her daughter and herself. A father for Chloe is at the top of her list since she never knew her own father nor experienced the warmth of family.

The handsome and wealthy Prince Maximo has a grudge and seeks revenge. He returns to the US and has a plan, one in which will benefit him in a business sense but it all revolves around Lucy. He sits waiting to make his move, gets Lucy fired from her job, takes Lucy and Chloe to his hotel and in the end forces Lucy to sign documents with the pretence she will get revenge from her daughter's father. He takes them with him to his palace in Italy and guarantees her security and financial support in return for the signed documents. Unknown to her, she is giving up more than she's aware and you will be shocked to learn the truth.

The Italian Prince, Wedlocked Wife is an amazing love story full of lust, lies, deceit and revenge. It's also about healing, coming home and the true lessons that money isn't everything. Maximo with his blindness for revenge softens when he actually gets to know Lucy and Chloe. He is brought to his knees and your heart will melt when you read how love creeps into his heart. Jennie Lucas's talent shines through in this very intense and beautiful love story!