Customer Reviews

Taken: The Spaniard's Virgin (Harlequin Presents)

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

 

 

Lucy Monroe delivers another heartfelt and loving story in Taken: The Spaniard's Virgin.

Model Amber Taylor's career is finally shifting into high gear. On a photo shoot she meets businessman Miguel Mendez. Amber had lived a relatively low-key life and her meeting with Miguel changes everything. He makes her think and feel things that are new and exciting for her.

This American beauty intrigued Miguel Mendez. Her innocence attracts him like no other woman. Miguel proposes that they enjoy each other's company until Amber has to return home. When Amber asker for more Miguel cruelly turns her away. But he soon realizes he has lost a love of a lifetime.

Amber's life is in turmoil, what she believed all her life about her parents is a lie. She has a father and a twin sister she never knew about. When she has an accident she is devastated to find out she was pregnant and has lost the baby.

Miguel comes to America to beg for her forgiveness. Can Amber forgive Miguel, will she be able to let go of all the pain and take a 2nd chance?

Taken: The Spaniard's Virgin is another gem by Lucy Monroe. She really can weave a full-bodied tale in a short format. Each book she writes makes me want to read more and more.

This book blew me away, it's that powerful. From the moment they met at Amber Taylor's photo shoot they are both captivated by each other. Miguel Mendez was so taken with Amber's beauty he knew he had to spend as much time as he could with her and Amber felt the same way. Miguel knows in a couple of weeks he needs to leave for Prague and wants to make the most of their time together so he asks Amber to stay in his home. This attraction between them is a highly "charged" but Amber is very willing to become involved with Miguel; however, she's hiding a secret......she's never been with a man!

Their love story was emotional and explosive and will have you turning the pages and weeping along the way. There are a few twists and turns and I promise you won't be sorry you've taken the journey with Amber and Miguel.

Amber Taylor was on a modeling assignment in Barcelona, Spain. She was hawking cell phones with her barely clad, perfectly toned body and what a near naked woman has to do with selling cell phones, no one knows, but hey, it landed the attention of gazillionaire Miguel Menendez, so obviously it works. Business tycoon and jaded Romeo, Miguel knew there was something different about Amber. The modeling world should have turned her as jaded as him and even though he tries to tell himself differently, he can't help but respond to her glowing innocence. He sweeps her off her feet and the two engage in a sensuous love affair where he initiates Amber in the joys of lovemaking. They indulge in a two week affair but afterwards he decides he must do the right thing and cut her loose. Miguel doesn't believe their newfound love will be able to overcome their busy schedules so even though he knows he's breaking her heart, he walks away. Too late, he discovers that he can't live without her, but will he be able to convince Amber of his love and devotion?

This started out pretty good. It was a fun and certainly passionate beginning to Amber and Miguel's romance, but during the middle part of the book I was kind of making hurry up motions. It seemed to flounder in the middle and I was getting bored. Then Lucy Monroe kicked it into high gear and I could only read on with a kind of sick fascination as this emotional rollercoaster started doing loop de loops. Wow. I wasn't expecting any of this. But I should have. Within the first couple of pages Lucy Monroe is setting up Amber's personality and explaining what kind of woman she was. Plus, she was way over her head with Miguel so the aftermath was only to be expected.

Since Miguel is not present for all the turmoil in Amber's life after he dumped her via telephone, (what a spineless jerk) I did not like him. Ugh. He is not my idea of a knight in shining armor, as he hides out in Prague, presumably pining away for her. He needed to grovel A LOT more for me to have let him back into my life. Some women fall in love hard and fast and love only once and obviously Amber is one of them. This was an interesting read and certainly different, but a little too much like a sick soap opera for me to have enjoyed it.

The other reviewers have given a wonderful account of this Lucy Monroe story. Amber and Miguel have such a beautiful love story that Monroe conveys with such eloquence and depth that it tore at the heart strings.

From the backcover:
"Underneath civilization's veneer, he was a predator at heart."
Amber Taylor looked innocent...and that interested Spanish billionaire Miguel Menendez. But as a model - she sold her innocence every day.
The seduction was relentless....Miguel's Mediterranean charm made Amber feel beautiful for the first time in her life.
It was supposed to be quick fling with a top model. But now Miguel had taken the most precious gift of all - her innocence!

[[ASIN:037312s6441 Taken: The Spaniard's Virgin (Harlequin Presents)]] This book had me invested emotionally in what happened to these characters. At one point I reminded myself it was fiction and not real life--the writer lures you into the lives of the characters and you believe the emotions they feel. But, I'd give it a 4.5 if I could, knocking off 1/2 a point only because too much writing was wasted on the sex scenes. This is just a personal prefence...i don't think being that graphic makes a romance work for me and i think too often good writers hide behind that as opposed to taking the time to develop more interesting avenues. Also I think it removes the mystery old fashioned romance writers kept that our modern romance writers do not (Jane Austin). That said, I loved this couple..even more than Amber's twin's story (Elie's romance with Sandor). Elie's story was good too, but this romance between Amber and Miquel was even better. It did not disappoint--in fact it was a pleasant surprise. Not sure about the cursing in Chinese part though (didn't really add anything) and seemed odd that a Spaniard would not curse in Spanish. Still, I say this is a must buy.

Miguel is a jerk and no one's idea of a hero- least of all mine. The model got sick couldn't eat after he dumped her- she's a model they don't eat anyway!! The story was lame I was disappointed because I love Lucy Monroe books. This story was not for me. It had a good ending but I feel Miguel was a cold fish- not Latin like at all.