Customer Reviews

The Unfaithful Wife (Romance)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Did i read the same book?! I'm only rating this a one because their isn't a 'straight to scrap heap category'

For those of you haven't read the Unfaithful Wife - STEER CLEAR - i can't see anything redeeming about this book, the heroine is a candidate for a Women's Refuge..

- the H had slept with other women when he married the h, he basically left her in exile to live an empty life with him for five years, during this time she had to put up with snide looks from colleagues at his dinners and she didn't know what she had done. When she actually thinks she's in love with someone else (of course she isn't and doesn't sleep with him) - he forces her into a physical relationship - now that he (His Lordship) is ready to be married to her. There is no grovelling from him (even though i still wouldn't have liked him) he constantly tells her he knows she loves him and still treats her like crap - at the end she finds out it was because her father had blackmailed him into it. His excuse for sleeping with other women and not her - well - he didn't want to sleep with her and cheat on her. He never even spoke to her about why he was that way with her and the author just created a wimp for him to use as a bashing board.

An opinion you may have is that because they didn't consumate their marriage it wasn't really infidelity on his part - (the marriage taking place wasn't enough....) now okay fine the 'sleeping with other women' is enough to put me off in itself but the fact that he put the woman he so-called loved (during all that time) in a position where she had to take the humiliation and innuendos from his guests during those five LONG years - makes it even worse (is this a man you could like? can he really be that cruel and not see it?) and then this H had the gall to feel enraged when pictures of her and this other man were nearly printed in the paper. The author then tries to give the impression that his affairs were discreet and just hinted at by his guests, he doesn't even so much as open his mouth to grovel for her at the end - and then the author or Harlequin - rub salt on the wound by friggin thinking of THAT TITLE!

- it really was the most awful book - just in case i didn't give you that idea..!

This was the first by Lynne Graham that I ever read. I immediateley began searching for more! From the very beginning I was enthralled by Leigh (the heroine)and Nik,the sexy Greek husband she fell for the moment she saw him!
At seventeen, Leigh marries Nik Andreakis thinking that he is marrying her for shares in her father's shipping line. Five years pass and Leigh, now in love with another man, decides it's time for a divorce. After all, thier marriage isn't a real one and he lives the adulturer's dream existence. Leigh then finds that there never were any shipping shares...and after five years, Nik has other ideas for this marriage than divorce...

The hero is a rich, suave, handsome and gorgeous hunk and the heroine ( as always in Lynne Graham's books) is a sweet, beautiful and wimpy virgin. There is a misunderstanding which prevents the hero from openly admitting his love for her and instead, treating her with cold disdain because he hates the idea of being forced into marriage with the heroine although he's in love with her. The chemistry between them is actually very strong and there is great sexual tension. Later, the love scenes are very passionate. The plot is more refreshing and credible than the writer's other stories and mosre satisfying.

The female is not exactly stupid but she most certainly is naive. For five years she is trapped in a loveless marriage and after her father dies she meets a man who claims to love her. Her husband is simply an arrogant so and so and really has no idea how to emotionally deal with people. His wife has never known love, since her father was also emotionally distant and she was very sheltered.

Once her father dies she finally finds out the truth behind her marriage, her husband was blackmailed into it. Nick (the husband) is not particularly pleasant when he tells her the truth. The result is that she realizes that there is no reason for her to stay and she can finally leave and be with a man that actually loves her. Before she has an opportunity to tell her husband he overhears her on the phone with her boyfriend and freaks out. What follows is the story of a man too afraid to say how he really feels as his wife struggles to leave him. Essentially he emotionally blackmails her into staying with him and uses an untimely bout of flu as an excuse to basically kidnap her. She in turn starts to feel for him again but is too weary to take anything he says or does at face value.

Some people felt the end was rushed but since this is a Harlequin they only had so much space to use and I thought it was a well written emotionally charged scene with some well earned begging thrown in.

I guess everyone has their own point of view. I really just can't understand the positives. The Heroine was totally innocent and the Hero/if you can call him that treated her like crap. She fell in Love with him when she was 17 and she thought he loved her too when they married, but he just ignored her and went off with other women which when she had to go to all the formal dinners etc, everyone knew about, she was totally humiliated and pitied for 5 years while he treated her like that, all the while knowing that she loved him. I don't know anyone who would suffer that kind of abuse because that's what it is mental and emotional abuse. Okay he was blackmailed by her father into marriage, but that wasn't her fault, it was her fathers and she suffered for 5 years for that, what did he suffer????? When her father died he told her that he was blackmailed into marriage. She thought she had found someone who loved her and was going to treat her with respect, Hero told her he was just a gold digger which he was, she tried to leave him because she just wanted/needed some pride something of her own. He kidnapped her flaunted his ex in front of her and told her it was her decision to stay or leave so she left. During that time she was trying to help him feal free of blackmail to help him which she does in the end. In the end he tells her that he has loved her all this time, but he hasn't had his chance to play the field with all the women out there, and he wanted her waiting for him when he was finished sleeping with all those women. I really can't remember weather he did say sorry, I know she did constantly for what I really have know idea. In the end he goes to her bedsit with a bunch of flowers and tells her how many women he slept with over the years saying that he loves her, to me that's a huge WTF moment because that's the end, they get back together, that's his excuse, he didn't want to marry her and wanted to sleep with other women so he did and humiliated her for 5 years though he still loved her and wanted her to be there waiting for him like frozen in time for when he was finished sleeping with these women, and she's supposed to love him, I really, really don't think so. The man is the biggest A definatly not a hero. I can't tell you how much I disliked this book.

The Unfaithful Wife by Lynne Graham
Harlequin Presents # 1779 - December 1995

It was love for 17-year-old Leah; from the moment she first laid eyes on 25-year-old Nik Andreakis. She's shamed when she discovers her father has offered shares in his shipping lines as a dowry for Nik to marry her. And when they marry shortly after her 17th birthday, Nik immediately sets her up in a London townhouse and proceeds to ignore her, continuing on with his life as if she doesn't exist; their marriage unconsummated. Five years later when Leah's father passes away, Nik reveals that there were no shipping shares, that he had been blackmailed into marrying her and he is determined to find the evidence that threatens his family. When Leah's interest in another man comes to his attention, Nik refuses to grant her a divorce and decides it's time for their marriage to become real.

The circumstances that forced their marriage were intolerable for Nik, and this made him understandably bitter. And yet somehow he thought that when he was ready to start their marriage, Leah's innocent love would still be there. What an awakening! Ms. Graham writes Leah as an naive woman who is finally seeing her own naiveté and who quickly learns to hold her own. She becomes a woman to be reckoned with. The confrontations are heated; the love scenes are passionate; and Nik is adorable when he is eating crow :D

the book wasn't that great , i mean lynne graham did write good books than this one , i didn't like that nick her husband ignored her for 5 years because her father blackmailed him into this marriage and in the same time he loved her at first sight !! how come !!and he cheats on her because she was 17 years old when he married her and he didn't want to consume the marriage only after 5 years .... she should be a nun !!!so i feel that nick character was complicated .... do not recommend this book that much.

At 17, Leah receives her one and only gift from her father: a husband -- Nik. Nik is a young, fiery, ascending Greek tycoon; Leah fell for him at first sight, and gushed to Daddy; Daddy thought a marriage like that would make him proud, hence the gift.

Fast-forward 5 years: Nik's been fooling around quite a bit, Leah's still ignored in her wing of the house, Daddy's just passed away. Nik turns plain rotten and abusive. Leah, already on her way out, wants a divorce. Those are the first 30 pages, and if you can handle them, the book from here on is great. If you can't, then try "The Greek's Chosen Wife" by the same L. Graham, same basic plot, minus the abuse.

This is a book where the heroine and hero mature tremendously, and personally, I like that very much. You'll see several reviews commenting on Nik's shallow defense of his behavior. The point is, that's the defense he offers in the beginning of the book, and that's how shallow he is at that point. While Leah has already found her feet during those years of marriage, Nik grows from this point throughout the book up to where he reaches "adorable and humbled" status, and I like that.

Here's my favorite excerpt from the book: about 2/3 through the book, they're in the limo heading towards Nik's residence in Athens; the ride seems to be taking quite some time. Leah's drinking the second orange juice glass that Nik offered her, and they have a heart-to-heart, enlightening conversation. The last sentences crack me up every time I read them.

[he kisses her] "Then abruptly he broke the connection and leant his brow against hers.
'I am a sneaky, slippery, devious bastard', he mumbled thickly, his breath fanning her cheek. 'I am everything you ever called me and right now I would give ten years of my life to make love to you. I'm in agony...'
'But?' She sensed the 'but' coming.
'There was vodka in your drink. You're plastered, Leah.'
'Oh.'
'It was a disgusting thing to do but I was desperate to make you talk... make you relax. Also, the car has been driving round in circles. Please forgive me.'"

It was a back in the day but i liked it its the typical Lynne Graham book
love or hate... and I LOVED IT

The hero is forced into marrying The heroine, but the heroine does not know this. The story begans five years into the future, the heroine barley sees her husband and doesn't know why he is always cold to her. The heroine is tired of her marriage and is ready to move on with another man whom she thinks she's in love with. All of a sudden her husband wants to see her and she soons finds out why he has been so cold to her through out their marriage. The husband then informs her that he is now ready to be married while she want's a divorce. I loved this story very much and I love how the husband can't let go of his wife and owns up to his mistakes.