2.75 stars Despite the fact that I really liked the last HQ presents I read (Blackmailed Into Marriage), this book and a couple others I have read in the past, lead me to believe that this Harlequin brand isn't for me. I just can't get past the whole billionaire playboy suddenly -- after years of sleeping with an endless parade of gorgeous women -- suddenly feels something special about this one woman, the heroine. It just isn't believable. Unless.....those 100s of women really were God-awful people, and yikes, if that is true, I am not sure what that would indicate about womankind. Anyway, the man-whore trope not withstanding, the plot and relationship development were just so-so. My favorite part was when Selene goes to a dinner party at Stefan's and gets drunk. She was pretty freaking adorable and the dialogue was snappy.The next time I try a Harlequin, I am going to try another brand of theirs, perhaps just HQ romance. 4 1/2 Stars ~ Growing up on an isolated Greek island with a controlling abusive father, Selene struggles to find an escape for her and her mother. While her father is away and with the help of nuns from a neighbouring island, Selene is able to leave and she goes to the only man she's confident will help her. Stefan's family had been ruined by Selene's father and as he grew into a man and built his own dynasty they became sworn enemies. When Selene turns up at his office dressed as a nun and asks for his backing in her business venture, he's flabbergasted. Selene knows she has a viable business and with Stefan's backing and knowledge she can build a life for her and her mother. Stefan had befriended her once when she was 17, and after a lifetime of always being on the outside watching, Selene's honed instincts had told her that he was a man she could trust. She'd remembered him as tremendously handsome and he'd told her that she should look him up in five years. Now with the passing of time, she finds him just as devastatingly attractive and she lets him know it. Stefan's impressed with her business plan and agrees to back her, and then with her encouragement proceeds to sweep her off her feet. A party, champagne, and a daring new dress, and Selene is living her dream on the arm of the handsomest man she's ever met. Giving herself freely to Stefan has also been part of her dream, but in the morning when she sees the press photo of herself in Stefan's arms she realizes that he's just like her father. He's used her to get back at his enemy. And worst of all, she knows that if her father sees the photo before she can return to the island and get her mother, they will both suffer terribly and it will be impossible to ever leave. Stefan doesn't understand why Selene is feeling betrayed, press photos of him are common, but cold realization comes when he remembers how brutal her father could be, explaining the terror in Selene's eyes. Selene is a truly refreshing heroine and there were moments I laughed out loud at her charming and open expressions of delight. She enchants Stefan with her innocent optimism and her surprising candor. He protests adorably when Selene calls him her hero and that she knows that he's a good man that she can trust. He's shocked at how easily she sees below his surface and it unnerves him. When he realizes how his own callous lifestyle has brought danger to her, he races to her rescue. This lovestory is so wonderfully written. It swept me along, eager to read what would happen next. I'm sure I'll be enjoying this keeper again and again
Do You like book U Zagrljaju Neprijatelja (2014)?
DNFIf she said "hot guy" one more time, I was gonna lose it. Ugh.
—Doris
I like reading Sarah Morgan. It was a quick read.
—danstevo
