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My Review:Title: The De Santis Marriage
Author: Michelle Reid
Published by: Harlequin Presents
Release Date: September 1, 2008
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 Bookish Resolutions Presents, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:Italian tycoon Luciano De Santis is breathtaking in every way: he has power, success, and a devastating effect on women.
Now Luc needs a bride and he's decided that ordinary Lizzy Hadley will be his wife! He's set his trap and blackmailed her, and he knows she can't refuse him. But there's one condition Luc fails to mention; as his wife, Lizzy must produce an heir!
2 stars — I only read this whole thing because I thought it might be like those Harlequins where there’s a payoff of growth and misunderstanding at the end. As you can see by my rating, that was not the case.
The characters were both pretty shitty IMO. I started getting icky feelings right from the start when I realized the hero was currently engaged to her best friend. Making the friend a bit of a bitch and a villain is no longer okay with me. I kind of hoped that she had set it up from the beginning knowing Lizzy and Luc had chemistry, especially since it was arranged on her end…but nope.
Lizzy was both spineless with her loved ones, and passionate to the point of meanness with Luc. Some of the things she spat out at him didn’t even make sense, and I didn’t understand why she felt that was okay.
Luc was a Dick with a capital d. I kept waiting to learn she just hadn’t understood him, but wow…some of the things he said to her, how he took out his mood on her? Nope nope nope.
And yeah, I guess they had good chemistry, but so what? Where was the supposed love?? Ugh. At least I don’t think this one was a reread, otherwise I really wouldn’t understand why I kept it.
And as per usual with these older Harlequins and my new woke self — the alpha thing was over the top and I was uncomfortable about the…not exactly forcing, but not exactly consensual nature of things. I get that that can be a fantasy for many, and more power to you. I just can’t not see it anymore, you know?
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