Anna C. (achen) -
Helpful Score: 3
I often like this author but I hated this book. Here are just some of the complaints I have:
Shannay left Marcello four years ago because his aunt and a socialite ex-lover kept insinuating that he was unfaithful to her. The most detail given is in the excerpt: "Seemingly irrefutable proof of Marcello's infidelity just twenty months after their marriage was the ultimate betrayal" The reader never finds out what the "proof" was that breaks her trust. Plus, it's implied that Marcello just brushes her concerns aside and didn't tell his aunt and the ex to back off.
Shannay claims that the reason she never filed for divorce during those 4 years was because she didn't want any contact with him. That explanation really bothers me because if she really wanted to break ties with him, wouldn't she have wanted to end their marriage?
The man is an alpha male cardboard cutout who rides roughshod over the woman but that's okay because she's not putting up much of a fight. The woman barely puts up a modicum of resistance when the man starts to seduce her even when she thinks that it's just an act of revenge on his part. I think the author was trying to show their physical chemistry but it just made the woman seem weak-willed.
The secondary characters are fairly cookie cutter and are only in there to force the plot along. Like the adorable daughter or the beautiful, sexy rival who's now married but still wants her man, there's nothing new here. Except for when Shannay goes shopping with the aunt who still dislikes her because that woman has an impeccable sense of fashion.
Even at the end of the book, I didn't really feel the main characters loved each other and their trust issues were never truly resolved. This book is another "I hate you but I love you" that's often seen but rarely pulled off in the romance genre. It fell flat for me.
(This is copied from my Amazon.com review)
Shannay left Marcello four years ago because his aunt and a socialite ex-lover kept insinuating that he was unfaithful to her. The most detail given is in the excerpt: "Seemingly irrefutable proof of Marcello's infidelity just twenty months after their marriage was the ultimate betrayal" The reader never finds out what the "proof" was that breaks her trust. Plus, it's implied that Marcello just brushes her concerns aside and didn't tell his aunt and the ex to back off.
Shannay claims that the reason she never filed for divorce during those 4 years was because she didn't want any contact with him. That explanation really bothers me because if she really wanted to break ties with him, wouldn't she have wanted to end their marriage?
The man is an alpha male cardboard cutout who rides roughshod over the woman but that's okay because she's not putting up much of a fight. The woman barely puts up a modicum of resistance when the man starts to seduce her even when she thinks that it's just an act of revenge on his part. I think the author was trying to show their physical chemistry but it just made the woman seem weak-willed.
The secondary characters are fairly cookie cutter and are only in there to force the plot along. Like the adorable daughter or the beautiful, sexy rival who's now married but still wants her man, there's nothing new here. Except for when Shannay goes shopping with the aunt who still dislikes her because that woman has an impeccable sense of fashion.
Even at the end of the book, I didn't really feel the main characters loved each other and their trust issues were never truly resolved. This book is another "I hate you but I love you" that's often seen but rarely pulled off in the romance genre. It fell flat for me.
(This is copied from my Amazon.com review)
