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My Review:Title: Wanted: Mistress and Mother
Author: Carol Marinelli
Published by: Harlequin Presents
Release Date: March 1, 2007
Format: Paperback
Pages: 186
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Bookish Resolutions Presents, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring
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My rating:
Blurb:AT THE ITALIAN'S BECK AND CALL ...
When ruthless Italian barrister Dante Costello hires Matilda Hamilton, he sees an opportunity. Matilda's job is to create a magical garden, in the hope it will help Dante's troubled little girl. However, since attraction between them is hot and intense, why not take Matilda as his mistress, as well?
Dante has always kept his emotions firmly under wraps when it comes to relationships. But this time will he succeed when his desire for Matilda is pushing him to the edge of control?
3 stars — Wow, I really have changed. I know I read this, and kept it last time. It wasn’t bad, and I’m wavering about going with 3.5 stars, but I’m in a bad mood, so this is what you get.
In some ways it was a very typical Presents. Arrogant, kind of a dick hero. Meek, insecure heroine. There was some nuance at least. Matilda had moments where she stood up for herself and was more than I expected. And Dante had the rarest moments of depth and heart (stress on the rare).
I was frustrated with how callous Dante could be, without much apology. I mean, yeah, there were mitigating circumstances, but…it wasn’t enough for 2022 Lenore.
The story with his daughter was somewhat interesting, but given the title of the book, I expected her to appear in the story more.
There was chemistry, even if sometimes it made me feel uncomfortable — again, I’ve changed. But they did have a connection.
The romance/relationship was fast, which is pretty typical of Presents as well.
That sums it up — typical. *shrugs* At this point I’m reading them so that I can get rid of them…and hopefully weed out a few that are legitimate gems that stand the test of time for me.
My Review:Title: Spanish Doctor, Pregnant Nurse
Author: Carol Marinelli
Published by: Harlequin Presents
Release Date: October 14, 2008
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Bookish Resolutions Presents, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:One gorgeous Spanish doctor...
Cool, commanding Dr. Ciro Delgato is the new doctor temporarily working alongside nurse Harriet Farrell, and he wastes no time in making sure she's at his beck and call--day and night!One very unexpected baby...
The passion they share is explosive, yet knowing Ciro will end their relationship when he has to leave, Harriet's determined he'll never find out she's pregnant with his baby! But her secret gets out, and Ciro will do anything to keep her firmly at his side!
3 stars — Well bummer. This one was actually going a bit better. It had its flaws, but I was leaning towards 3.5 rounded up, maybe even 4 stars. And then it went downhill at the end. Boo. Ah well.
So here’s the thing. The blurb does not give a great introduction to this book. For one: when the book starts, and when our MCs meet, Harriet is married. I mean, sure, her marriage is basically over, but it’s been so long since I first read it, I completely forgot and was thrown. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it didn’t cross my cheating boundaries (which is a button issue with me). And besides all that, the baby stuff? Happens way at the end. It sounds like it’s going to be this big part of the plot, and while it was part of what tanked the book for me, it really didn’t happen until the end. I don’t know why I’m explaining all this, I just hate when blurbs are misleading.
ANYWAYS. So at first I appreciated Harriet. She’s dealing with some complicated stuff right from the start of the book, but I could feel how dedicated she was to her job, and I admired her as a nurse. She rubbed me wrong with her stubbornness about her own health, and how hypocritical she was about that, but it was a flaw I could forgive — made her more human, you know? BUT. But. Her stubbornness and hardheadedness just ramped up until I couldn’t take it anymore and lost my respect. She was so wrapped up in her own head, she made assumptions left right and center, and ultimately tanked her relationship with Ciro. If it had just happened once or twice and she learned from it, I probably would feel a little differently. But it ultimately led to her initially choosing to keep her pregnancy a secret for NO REASONABLE REASON, and I was done.
Ciro was pretty solid. The problem, inevitably, is that we didn’t get ANYTHING from his POV. Which, I always prefer dual POV. I don’t know if that was to further the miscommunication plot, but it was a shame. I could tell that he was being misunderstood though, and I was sad about that. He had his moments of jumping to conclusions, but in general he was a hero I could root for.
The one other thing I really enjoyed about this story were the moments in the ER where they were working together to help someone. There were sort of 3 separate stories, and I was kind of hooked in those moments.
Welp, at least I can get rid of this book too! But I’m glad I’ve got some other books to read before I try another book by Ms. Marinelli. I could see what drew me to her books 15 years ago, but I’m not sure my tolerance for the rest is high enough.
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