October 23rd, 2009 — 2 Stars, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Executive, Gentry, Great Britain, Housekeeper/Maid, J-L, Mistress or Courtesan
This is about another plain Jane like yesterday’s book. Her name however is Jessica and she’s the cleaning lady at the hero’s office. She works on his floor and makes his office ready for the next day. Since he works late hours they run into each other often.
Later in the novel we learn that before the novel started the hero would use Jessica as a sounding board and sometimes he even took her advice. Jessica finds these moments the most intimate of her time spent with him – and this is after they’ve slept together!
The hero comes up with a crazy insane idea that if he arrives to parties already spoken for, perhaps his friends won’t attempt to hook him up. He gets Jessica to be his fake girlfriend and then his real mistress. She agrees figuring she’ll never have another chance with a man like him or Salvatore himself. Overtime she realizes being a mistress is very cheapening especially as she’s falling in love with him.
When he tells her he can’t possibly marry her because she wasn’t a maid as she had sexually relations with at least one other guy. He then proceeds to tell her that the woman will marry will be a virgin and Sicilian. It really just confirms what she already knew but it was very unromantic to say the least.
This novel wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very good. There were a lot of plot elements that cold have been exploited. I felt like the author dropped them in and then decided to forget about them. For instance, Jessica’s roommate was very jealous about Jessica’s new position as Salvatore’s mistress. Then there was the selling of the diamond bracelet he gave her, the blowup was big but read very inauthentic.
Rating: 2 Stars
Buy: Bought For The Sicilian Billionaire's Bed 
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October 22nd, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, Book Review, Category, Cinderella, Contemporary, Dukes and Earls, Farming, Governess / Companion, South America, V-Z, Virgin Heroine
I would never pick this book up in a secondhand bookstore because the title is strange and the cover is weirder. No wonder Harlequin puts the money and effort into consumer research. It’s all about pretty covers and catchy titles!
The romance takes place in Brazil with references to England and Portugal. Goldenhawk is the name of the hero’s best estate.
The heroine is a very plain girl. Her name is Jaine, appropriate for the phrase plain Jane. Quite often in the novel she is mistaken as a boy. I wanted to jump into the novel and tell her to grow her hair longer and wear less concealing clothes because it’s obvious she’s plain only so much as her aunt and cousin made her so.
Jaine is basically an indentured servant to her cousin and aunt. She’s an orphan and poor relation. Jaine is sent off to take the wrath of the hero as her cousin and aunt depart days before the cousin’s wedding to Pedro de Ros Zanto, a very wealthy landowner and a Duque.
Pedro is amused and determined to hire Jaine out from under her aunt. He promises a life outside of the colorless drab world she’s in and enough money to make it lucrative. Jaine accepts and becomes his son’s companion and caretaker. The son, quite frankly, reads as an excuse for her presence because even with his disability the boy never really makes a big splash or seems to have purpose.
The story is very chaste. We never see anything beyond some passionate kisses. It ends in a bittersweet way similar to Sound of Music. They’re together, but they’re leaving a lot behind in their effort to make it to safety.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy: The Girl At Goldenhawk
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