An Offer She Can't Refuse

by Emma Darcy

She's got the one thing he wants - the Zavros heir Magazines regularly devote gossip column inches to Greek magnate Ari Zavros and the supermodels gracing his arm - and his bed - each week! Tina Savalas is nothing like Ari's usual playmates, but this ordinary girl hides the most scandalous secret of all: four years ago her red-hot fling with Ari left her pregnant...Her bombshell revealed, Ari can see only one solution: the innocent Tina is perfect for the role of Good Greek Wife...And it seems marriage into the Zavros family isn't a choice - it's a command!

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Audiobook, Second Chance

Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Emma Darcy is the pseudonym created by the married writing team of Wendy (1940-2020) and Frank Brennan (1936-1995). Their life journey has taken as many twists and turns as the characters in their stories, whose international popularity has resulted in over sixty-million book sales. With more than a hundred titles, Emma Darcy appeared regularly on the Waldenbooks bestseller lists in the U.S.A. and in the Nielson BookScan Top 100 chart in the U.K.

Wendy was born 28 November 1940 in Australia. Her sister was the novelist Maureen Mary (Miranda Lee). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. She obtained an Honours degree in Latin and initially worked as a high school English/French teacher. She married Frank Brennan, an Australian businessman born in 1936. She changed careers to computer programming before marriage and motherhood settled her into a community life. She was reputedly the first woman computer programmer in the southern hemisphere.

As voracious readers, the step to writing their own books seemed a natural progression and the challenge of creating exciting stories was soon highly addictive. They were published since 1983. In 1993, for the Emma Darcy pseudonym's 10th anniversary, they created the "Emma Darcy Award Contest" to encourage authors to finish their manuscripts. After the death of Frank Brennan in 1995, Wendy wrotes books on her own. She lived in a beachside property on the central coast of New South Wales, and liked to travel extensively to research settings and increase her experience of places and people.

Wendy Brennan passed away on December 21, 2020. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, writer Miranda Lee.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder what ED could have done with this scenario if she hadn’t been hamstrung by the current editorial guidelines. There was plenty to explore about trust and forgiveness, but those issues were glossed over to focus on the H/h’s sex life.

*sigh*

The premise: 18 year-old Greek-Australian virgin heroine is seduced and then dumped after a summer affair with a wealthy Greek playboy. He said all the words of love and didn’t mean any of them.

Heroine finds herself pregnant and the “bad” girl of her traditional family. She has been a single mother for five years when she sees the hero (dining with his latest gf) at a luxury hotel in Dubai. The heroine, her now-widowed mother and son have stopped in Dubai on their way to Greece for the wedding of the heroine’s sister.

Hero recognizes the heroine and tries to chat her up as if nothing happened. She blurts out that her son is his and flees –

Only to see that the hero is the best man at his cousin’s wedding to her sister.

The next section of the story describes how the hero bonds with his child and basically forces the heroine to marry him. The heroine holds out, nursing her grievances, but she can see how happy her son is and how clueless the hero was/is about her feelings.

The hero really doesn’t berate the heroine for keeping his son from him out of spite – it gave him five more playboy years, after all. And the hero really doesn’t apologize for taking her virginity or derailing her life. To him, she really was a sex toy and now he’s patting himself on his back for doing the “right thing.” Time should have healed these wounds, since his wounds were healed from an intense affair he had at 18 (not with the heroine).

They marry. The heroine falls pregnant again and wonders if the hero is going to stay faithful. Then she is in a car accident, is in a coma for six weeks and has her daughter by Cesarean. It’s only after her near-death experience that the hero realizes he loves the heroine.

*sigh*

Total cop-out. But– how else was ED going to plausibly get anything through this light-weight’s head? The hero was truly a shallow bunny and stayed that way until the bitter end.

I wish ED had explored the idea of commitment within marriage more – rather than waste page time on unnecessary sex scenes. That they were compatible in bed was never an issue. That the heroine couldn’t trust him as far as she could throw him was the problem and it was never resolved to my liking.

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed emotions about this book, so I'm giving it a middle of the road rating of 3 stars.

* I didn't like that the hero thought it was okay to seduce a young, naive, 18 year old girl who happened to be raised in a very traditional culture (his culture) then justifies dumping her because he feels its time to go off and live his own life. It would have been more forgivable, if she had been older and more experienced. But she wasn't, and the heroes actions were wrong on many levels. His justification that he left her "broken in" to enjoy sex with other men, was just gross. Even though, he did backflips to correct his past mistakes, they always felt artificial to me and done only for the sake of his son. Normally, I don't believe in keeping a baby secret from the father, but I could see why she chose not to have him in her son's life. I think it was more than just being pissed or feeling betrayed. I believe she judged his character and found him morally bankrupt. I agree with her. He was a loser, and I can understand a mother wanting to protect her son from a loser.

* I think neither one married for love. They married because they were still sexually compatible and it was the easiest way out of a difficult situation. She was too hurt from the past and he just didn't know what real love was. People marry for much less, but it's not romantic. I guess it's foolish to expect romance in your category romance.

* I do think they both came to love each other, but I didn't like that the actual love story got trivialized to one chapter and that it took a tragic accident to bring about the HEA. That seemed like a convenient "cop out" by the author.

* I thought the author did a great job in writing the heroine's feelings and turmoil, but their passion for each other felt awkward. Which I guess is understandable given the hero was really a douche-bag.

* In spite of my negative comments, I liked the story. I liked the secondary characters. They were well developed. I kept turning the pages (without a whole lot of eye-rolling).

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really disliked this story. I'm not a real fan of secret baby stories that have no good reason for the secret, and this story absolutely failed at having a good reason for Tina to keep her secret. Ari courted Tina, took her virginity,

and then he moved on to greener pastures and Tina was left devastated and pissed. That part I normally like in stories, but it wasn't fleshed out enough to be angsty. Wish there had been more focus on her heartbreak when he walked away from her. But then after Ari has left her, Tina discovers she's pregnant, and Tina decides "Ari doesn't get to know about this kid."

Tina raises their child to the age of 5, never intending to let Ari know he's a father. This is NOT COOL at all. Then when they meet up again, in a scenario of way too many coincidences, Ari realizes Tina's child is his child too, and he's perfectly fine with it. He's not pissed he wasn't told about the child, he's just all mellow. Then he tells his parents and they are mellow as hell about it too.

NONE of this part of the story line felt genuine. If my son suddenly found out he had a 5 year old that he'd never been told about, I'd have been pissed as hell on his behalf and mine for us losing out on those awesome first years with this kiddo. Tina is bitchy and snippety through most of the story after reuniting with Ari, and she's so unlikable because of her actions. I get that she's pissed that he screwed her then dumped her, but her holding the kid hostage as payback was wrong. If anyone had the reason to be pissy it was Ari, but nope, he just wants to marry her and throw money at her until she's greedy enough to want him back.

She's basically a virtual stranger after all these years, who is all prickly and hard to be around. I never really warmed up to Ari either. Nothing in this story worked for me. I truly wish I had the time I spent reading it back again.

[KatieV · Rating 1 out of 5]

ETA - reread 6/2015. I wanted to see if I could feel the love the H had for the heroine and no, I felt it even less. So, I dropped this a star. This book makes me sad because I want the h to be loved for herself and I think the author did a good job of conveying her angst.

On re-read I'm even more convinced that she was just a convenience in every way who was elevated to wife via having the H's child and therefore gained a position of respect/affection due to that. Maybe it's cultural and I'm not trying to knock another culture, but in my world (America) and probably the heroine's world (Australia) we are very individualistic and want to be loved for who we are, not as the 'mother of his children' or for family honor, etc. I just couldn't get past that hurdle. To me, this would have been good if the secret child had been kept secret for a while longer and he'd either sought her out for herself or at least pursued her after the chance meeting without knowing about the kid.

--- Original Review --

Was going to give this 3, but decided if I'd read it, I probably would have skimmed a lot. It is hard to review audio books in a way. I have a sneaking suspicion that I tend to rate them a 1/2 star to a star higher in some cases. If the narrator is decent it can make even a mediocre book more enjoyable. On the flip side it can ruin a good book if they are horrible. In this case, I thought the narrator did a pretty good job. The hero and his family were Greek and the heroine was Australian (although her parents were Greek). I'm not an expert on an Australian accent, but the heroine at least sounded believable. The hero's voice wasn't outstanding, but not unbearable or grating to me. It has to be hard to voice the opposite sex, so I tend to give some leeway there.

The hero first met the heroine when she was only 18 and doing a modeling job for a wine company. He had come to Australia on business and seduced the virgin h into a 3 month affair. His age was never mentioned (that I recall) but I got the feeling he was quite a bit older and definitely far more experienced. He was at a point in his life where he was playing the field and basically had a great time with the heroine while he was in Australia, but when it was time for him to leave, he left - on what were in his arrogant, male mind "good terms". In reality he broke Christina's heart. She fell for all his charm and BS 'you're special' talk. She may have moved on, however, if it hadn't been for her pregnancy, which she never told him about due to pride and hurt feelings.

Six years later (the book description is wrong, it was 6 years not 4 - seems like they'd get that right):

Ari is older and finally taking his father's badgering about settling down and having a family more seriously. However, he just can't find the right woman. None of the long line of heiresses and society women he's been dating come up to par. He's taken the latest 'lucky girl' on a business trip to Dubai with him when he just happens to encounter Christina again. She is with her mother and young son and they have stopped over in Dubai to see the sights on their way from Australia to Greece where they will be attending her sister's wedding.

At this point the snobby woman he's with is on Ari's last nerve and when he hears the Australian accents coming from the next table he is reminded of Christina and all his "fond memories" of her. When he realizes it is actually her, he's thrilled and all about remaking her acquaintance. He doesn't even bother to hide that from the woman he's with when he jumps up and practically drools all over her.

Christina wants nothing to do with him. She's angry and bitter. On a whim she blurts out that her child is his, because she's so incensed that he's turning his schmoozy charm on her again right in front of his date. He is shocked speechless and she takes the opportunity to make a quick exit and pray he won't come looking for her.

Of course he plans to find her. Turns out this is a great situation for him. Here he is looking for a suitable wife and viola here's this beautiful woman he'd had such a great time with years earlier AND she already has his son and heir. Plus her family is Greek and she was a virgin when they met and he's pretty sure she's never moved on.... everything is so very convenient for him. And to make it even easier he doesn't even have to go Down Under to find her. As it turns out, her sister is marrying his cousin on the Greek island where his family lives.

So, I'm sure everyone can see where this is headed. A marriage of convenience and lust on the H's side, while the heroine secretly still loves the H and tries to guard herself from him. It is notable that he wasn't furious about her hiding the child from him. So it wasn't the typical blackmail plot. It was more of an emotional blackmail where he convinces her she'd be doing the best thing for their son and he'll do anything to make her happy. He is very loyal and a good husband, but the heroine is always waiting for him to fall in love with someone else and leave since he claims not to believe in love.

They are married for probably a year before he realizes he loves her and has loved her for some time. Probably more realistic, but that's not what I read HPs for. I suppose what bothered me the most is that he wasn't pining for her those 6 years. She was a "fond memory". He says no one else had ever satisfied him the way she did, but he doesn't seem to really remember her until he's faced with her again. And he never groveled. He does say he's sorry if he led her to believe their relationship was more serious than it was and he does let her snipe at him for payback. But, to his mind all she had to do was tell him she was pregnant and he would have (after DNA testing) married her and they'd have been living happily all these years. He's pretty dense and slow when it comes to recognizing the damage he's caused.

Very disappointing. I can buy that he did fall in love with her, but it wasn't very romantic to my mind.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am hating this book. Maybe because it's about a deceptive, selfish hero who seduces a virgin and then dumps her to go off with 5 years of sleeping with women while in a formulaic way she never shows interest in another man even though she realizes "hero" just used her for 3 months as a sex toy and lied about her being special. He admits in his head that he staged a whole manipulative seduction. And even though Ari deceived Tina, he's proud of himself for started her off on a sexual life that he assumes will be good for her. But later he contradicts this by thinking that he was almost certainly her only lover. So he knows he was screwing up her life. But never checks how she is doing once he dumps her without warning. Or connects his own disillusionment at being used at 18 with his own wrongdoing in seducing an innocent 18 year old himself. Hero never tells her it's a temporary fling..until he calls it a charming episode on his way out. so he's a manipulator. She's seriously dysfunctional and disturbed not to have moved on from such a meaningless encounter when she discovers it was a lie and not love.

Or maybe the purple prose "She’d been putty in his hands once, a beautiful rosebud of a girl whose petals he had gradually unfurled, bringing her to full glorious bloom." Gross. And there is more, so many hideous lines, as if in a bad, formulaic parody. Or maybe it's hero thinking of the uses he puts another woman's mouth to at the start of the book. I loathe both characters and don't even want them to find happiness together. Ari is a poor quality person and not marriage material.

Only good thing was hero offering up a fidelity commitment where heroine would get sole custody if he cheats. But then he insists she prove she'll put out for him with a one night test. So he's not willing to earn her trust even though he's the one who wronged her. Yuk. I would never marry such a creep who went from me to other women, he never really grovels for his cruelty. He clearly seeks to marry her for the child and I don't believe he really loves her for herself and will be faithful when the children are grown. He even thinks of infidelity as an option when he worries if she won't put out for him. Tacked on scene that contrives to have hero realize his love just rang false, although I accept that her death would be more than "inconvenient", there is huge emphasis on her status as mother to his children making her special. then heroine does something totally gullible that no man who'd protected himself with a prenup would do.

[Jena]

MCs had a ONS (with a secret baby), and not a 3 months relationship.
Mtve41 has all the spoilers!



********

Self note avoid. Asshole H.

He has sex with the virgin h for 3 months, then dumps her so he and she can have sex with other people. …for 5 years.

[*CJ* · Rating 4 out of 5]

"An Offer She Can't Refuse" is the story of Tina and Ari.

Honestly, this was kinda endearing!

A typical HQN plot, where the hero finds out the heroine had his kid, and goes around to get his family. But instead of the typical blame game, we have a earnest hero who admits that he genuinely had a ONS without expectations with the heroine, and never expects there to be repercussions. When he does discover he left her pregnant, he genuinely feels bad about it and tries to make things right. This includes admitting his mistake, wooing his to be wife and kid, acknowledging their attraction, giving her all the rights to the kid, and slowly seducing his lover. I love when the story has a hero who completely understood his fault, did not play blame games, and technically did not sleep around because he had forgotten about the heroine after their interlude. Charming read!

Unsafe
4/5

[Kace | The Booknerd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure if I like it or not. Don't get me wrong, the book is not that bad, but not good either. I kind of like the whole wooing thing the hero did to convince the heroine. And I'm so glad that the heroine didn't give up her resolve not to be involved with the hero easily. She had a backbone, and I liked that very much. And I adored little Theo. 

What I didn't like was the way the hero acted. He didn't actually grovel. He even thought of cheating if the heroine couldn't satisfy him or continued being cold toward him. It was never mentioned even once that his feelings for her changed. It was undeniable that he only wanted to marry her for their son.

And if it weren't for the accident, we would never know that the hero actually loves her... And even though the declaration of his love wasn't compelling... Their entire relationship was rushed and felt forced. 

[🐝 Shaz 🐝 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second chance romance 3.5

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ari and Tina had a brief afair that ended with Tina pregnant, alone and heartbroken. Six years later they meet again and when Aris learns about his son he wants them to become a real family so he offers her marriage. Tina wants to accept his offer of marriage but she is scared the past will repeat itself.

I adored this book. I loved both hero and heroine. Their chemistry was insane and little Theo was adorable. The final chapter with Tina having their daughter and lying in a coma broke my heart but made their HEA so much sweeter! By far my favorite Emma Darcy book!

[Fanniny Moreno Zavaleta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like secret babies unless there's a really good reason for the secrecy but I didn't find it here.
There were times I didn't like Ari. And there were times I cheered for Tina but others I didn't like her.

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh.
I never thought I would say this, but it could have used a little more angst.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heroine Tina is on her way to her sister's wedding with her mother and son, and she is shocked to run into Ari, the hero. Six years ago, Tina and Ari had a fling, which meant much more to Tina and she was left heartbroken when Ari ended it saying it meant nothing to him. She was also left pregnant and made the decision to raise her son Theo alone. When Ari learns about Theo he knows her wants to be a part of his son's life, and the best way is for him and Tina to be married. However, Tina refuses as she knows all about Ari's lack of staying power and will not put herself, or her son, in that position. Ari tries to manipulate Tina into agreeing, and the more time he spends with her the more he sees how perfect she is for him, and that he was a fool to let her go. Eventually, Ari realises that manipulation will not work with Tina, and instead he offers her a deal that would mean complete security for her should their marriage not work out. Tina is tempted, but worried that she will end up heartbroken again. Although she can't deny or ignore the desire that is still between them.

This is a very strange book, and I'm not quite sure if I liked it or not. I didn't really believe the love story between the hero and heroine, it felt a little forced. The hero, in my opinion, is a bit of a dick. He is too manipulative, and acted like he never did anything wrong. Plus it was never very far from his mind that if their marriage turned sour, or if the heroine couldn't satisfying him, then he could cheat - that is not what I want to read from a hero. I liked the heroine though, she had a backbone, thank goodness.
The closing chapters took place over a period of a year, yet so much happened that it ended up feeling very rushed and rather odd. I wonder if the book should have started at this point and these events being the main focus of the book...

Not a great book, but quick to read and OK.


Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[Booklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful sweet quick read enjoyed it very much,adored Ari-Tina,what really made book so good was how importance of family shown,Ari is totally a family man will do anything for his family,an experience had left him cynical when it comes to Love but as stort progresses we see Ari repeated the same mistake that happened to him,once he realizes it he regrets it and does everything to win Tina back.Absolutely loved the way their relation blossoms and surpass all the hurdles and they get their HEA.

Recommend it

[atomickitten · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars?

I'm sorry but why couldn't she refuse that offer again?



I honestly got bored quickly but somehow managed to finish.
But I didn't like it.
The heroine was waaaaaay too bitter and way too dumb, the hero was kinda meh, the romance was non-existent and the only thing that kept me going was the anticipation for some dirty business.
And when that finally happened, I must admit it didn't check any of my boxes, either.



And with all the characters rambling about the heroine's son speaking with the Australian accent, I gotta admit I was more than disappointed with the audiobook because there was no Crocodile Dundee for me even for 5 seconds. :/



All in all, it was a second chance relationship after a summer fling with a secret baby and when the hero finds out he has a son, he automatically asks the heroine to marry her.

Why should she refuse?

Because they had nothing going on, hadn't seen each other for years and their whole relationship was purely based on the fact that they had a kid out of wedlock.
But you know, she loved him and she was pretty dumb so they got their HEA.

I did like the ending, though.
But it was one of those 'too little, too late' situations to make it up for the rest.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed the setting. The majority of romance novels are set in the big three time periods/locations; Regency England, the American West, or present-day America. So it was nice to step out of those zones for a change and I'll probably look for other books by this author just for the international setting.

Unfortunately the story itself didn't really do it for me. The pacing was off, I didn't believe the romance and nothing was brought to a satisfying conclusion.



The basic plot is that six years ago Tina was a naive and innocent 18-year-old Australian girl just starting out on her modeling career. Ari was an older (but it's never revealed just how MUCH older) rich playboy who came to town for his family's wine business. He then proceeded to seduce Tina with fancy dinners and talk about how special she was, and of course rock her world in the bedroom, until she was hopelessly in love with him. Once his business was concluded three months later, he bid her farewell without a backward glance, pausing only to thank her for the "charming episode".

I really wish the author had given us more details on how this breakup went down because it would have told us a lot. When Ari and Tina meet up six years later, Ari is apparently flabbergasted to find that Tina holds a grudge against him. How could he possibly have been clueless to how badly he crushed her? What could possibly have occurred in that breakup for him to not have understood how terribly he'd hurt her? I mean, did he break up with her answering machine or something? Did she just sit there silently as he bid her farewell and never cry or give any indication that she was hurt? It's impossible to believe that he sat through a breakup with her and never caught a clue.

And what's worse, not only does he claim to have no idea she was left with a broken heart, he has actually spent the last six years patting himself on the back for being such a "gentle and attentive" lover for her first introduction into sex. He feels like he did her a favor by taking her virginity and cultivating passion within her so that after he left she could go on to have, in his mind, "many, many lovers". Seriously dude? Are you really THAT much of a blind, egotist?? Really that far out of touch with reality? It felt like he was projecting things on to her personality that didn't fit. That because HE liked to sleep around with dozens, possibly hundreds of women, he projected that same attitude onto Tina, even though it in no way matched the personality she'd shown him while they were together. All so he could justify his actions to himself.

And aside from the breakup scene, I would have liked more information on the three months they'd spent together. Did Ari deliberately keep it from Tina that he only planned to spend three months with her before moving on? Tina certainly acts like she was unaware of that fact, but at the same time, she never accuses him of making false promises to her. So what exactly happened? Did he just never mention his future plans and allowed her to believe whatever she wanted to believe? If so, that's pretty slimy and again makes it really, really hard to believe that he didn't realize he was breaking her heart. It's one thing to have a fling with a worldly, experienced woman who understands that they're both just having fun. It's entirely different to seduce a naive virgin and yet expect her to somehow magically understand and happily accept that it's just a temporary thing to pass the time. A man who fancies himself as much an expert on women as Ari does should have easily seen that Tina's lack of experience would make her take the relationship more seriously.

I never really felt like Ari realized how badly he'd behaved. He did apologize for it, but his words and actions didn't carry any real weight to them. As Tina said over and over in her inner monologue, everything Ari did was calculated to achieve what he wanted. And once he decided he wanted her to marry him, he said what he thought needed to be said in order to win her over. There's never a sense that he had that "OMG, how could I have been so cruel?" revelation, it was all a calmly calculated tactic to break down her resistance.

It was especially difficult to sympathize with Ari's treatment of Tina when we learned near the end of the book that when HE was 18, he'd been used by an older woman for a "charming episode" and then cast aside. That he'd been the one hopelessly in love and then left with a broken heart. I thought that when Tina pointed out the unbelievable number of similarities between what happened to him and what he in turn did to her, that the light bulb would FINALLY come on for Ari. That he'd finally, finally see things as they'd been and recognize how despicably he'd behaved. But no, he's too arrogant for that. Instead he waves this away by saying that the situations were different because the woman who'd led him on was engaged to someone else whereas Ari had not been engaged when he seduced Tina. Right, totally different. I think we were supposed to sympathize with Ari because this early heartbreak in his life turned him off of love and long-term relationships and we're thus supposed to blame it for all his callous, playboy ways, but that's not how it comes across. Maybe if the two scenarios weren't so completely identical that would have happened, but since Ari inflicted the exact same heartbreak onto Tina without a second thought, it makes him seem like an emotionless monster more than a wounded soul.

Moving on, when Ari left Tina six years ago, she was unknowingly pregnant with his child. She deliberately didn't contact him to let him know because she didn't want him to come back for the baby when he clearly didn't want her. And Tina worries that Ari and his incredibly wealthy family will just swoop in and take Theo from her and she won't be able to do anything to stop it. Fate, however, conspires to bring them together again and they unexpectedly cross paths in Dubai. I didn't really like this scene. As much as I sympathized with Tina after the way Ari treated her, her behavior in Dubai was irrational and self-defeating. Despite doing everything she could to keep Ari from finding out about his son up to that point, at their very first meeting she throws it in his face just to shock him. She knows full well that doing this will cause endless problems but she does it anyway.

Fate conspires again to throw them together at her sister's wedding to Ari's cousin, but by then the damage had already been done. Even if the sister's wedding hadn't occurred, Ari would have come after his son because of Tina's big fat mouth. For almost the entire rest of the book we see Ari manipulating situations so that Tina is forced to let him spend time with his son and then she spends all her time angsting about Ari's motivations. One of the other reviewers mentioned that they felt the book was skewed in Ari's favor and I agree. Although Tina had every right to distrust Ari and feel anger towards him, both for his previous treatment of her and the way he was manipulating her into a corner with regards to custody of their son, the way the book was written, Ari comes off as patient and reasonable while Tina seems whiny, spiteful, stubborn and insecure. The result was that I didn't really like either character.

About 95% of the book is spent on this angsting period and then when they finally get married, we zip through a year of their life together within a few paragraphs. It doesn't do anything to show us how the relationship has grown, or if it grew at all. And then something unexpected happens and Ari suddenly realizes he loves Tina. It wasn't a revelation he came to through their year of marriage, it took this outside event to make him admit it to himself. Tina has, apparently, not made any progress in the last year either, because when Ari does confess his love, she doesn't know whether or not to believe him because there's still no trust between them. She depends on the assessment of strangers to reassure her that Ari is being genuine.

Oh and I found it very distracting and the opposite of romantic that during their big sex scene Ari kept stopping in the middle of what he was doing to ask questions about their son. I.e. when he was touching her breasts, he asked if she breastfed the baby. When he got to her stomach, he asked if she'd had a hard labor. And when he got to her lady parts, it was described as being "the place where his son came out." Ick. Not only was it creepy in the extreme, all it did was reinforce Tina's worst fear; that Ari didn't really care about her other than that she was the mother of his child. If the man can't focus on her alone while they're having sex, then yes, I'd say he just cares about the kid.

Overall it was just not that satisfying of a read. Despite the author's attempts to make Ari out to be a nice guy, he was a douchebag player who never really accepted responsibility for his behavior. And although Tina had a perfectly valid reason for distrusting Ari, her constant insecurities and whining made her difficult to like as well. They got married for all the wrong reasons and their relationship never evolved past that point. The magical "I love you's" at the end seemed completely without justification.

[Mtve41 · Rating 1 out of 5]

A strange book to review. And including my personal biases towards models and actresses, this had to be a total fail. Sorry but models, in my twisted brain can’t fit into a submissive homebody ideal HP wife role. The writer forces all of her feminist load here (which is personal to everyone) but a total misfit in an HP.

Tina is young and holding on to her v-card when she briefly meets the H and they have a ONS followed by a pregnancy. Of course the H has taken off by then because really this was a ONS. Tina was off to her career start and the H was most likely making a pit stop at some airport location. They do NOT have a relationship beyond this to hold all that anger inside and be complaining of a pregnancy that you were a willing participant in.

The h and H meet again briefly and he finds out about this baby who’s now a 5 year old. With the h’s sister marrying into the H’s family, they meet again and the H tells his parents and family about his son and how he wishes to marry the h and make every thing right.

And that was distasteful beyond words when the H tells his father (Greek at that ) that the h was a virgin when he took her.

The H was beta and so was his entire wealthy Greek family. There are no threats or burning chemistry between the h and H.

Boring and more of a business transaction interaction between the mcs. The h was beyond bitchy and clawy in a bad way. She was forever pissed off with no soft or tender bones inside of her. No virginal vibes (given the ONS was her one and only) or bashfulness towards the H. Instead the H had way more class and manners and wanted to truly work on what he’d missed out at.

The h lives on her own managing her late father’s restaurant and has short cropped hair and wants it notarized on paper that her another chance at HEA would be perfect. The man would always come home to her and there’d be no set backs. While all the h brings to the marriage table is aggression and vile contemptible ingratitude to her husband. The writer tried and failed to push all this up your throat.

[TheMadHatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating 1.5 stars

I had just finished reading an article from a popular author bagging people who give bad reviews. Along the lines of one should only review if giving a five star rating. You have no idea how much I have had to bite my tongue in not responding as that is so "stepford" and PC to the max it is not funny. Personally, I am VERY VERY skeptical of any book that only gets 4 or 5 star ratings (especially if there are not many reviews) because let's face it "you can't please all the people all the time" and if you can, then you are either buying reviews or getting family members and friends to review your work. Authors should not be afraid of reading constructive criticism. They don't need to agree with it - as again some books, pieces of art, movies will not appeal to certain people for no fault at all besides personal taste. However, reviews (including us amateurs) need to keep it constructive....so here goes.

There is a certain expectation with these formula books. Couple meet. Couple have obstacle in path. Couple end up happily ever after. We pick these books up because this is what we need. I have come off some heavy books and I want a pick me up. I wanted to go into my happy reading place. However, given the cheesy formula nature of these books they are never going to be 5 star reading.

I remember being given my first M&B book by my mother when I was just out of school and I remember reading Emma Darcy. She has been around for over 20 years writing these books and to me I think it shows in the male lead. I actually had to flick to the cover to make sure it was not an old book. He was straight out of the 70s. I hated him. He was arrogant, but not in the "alpha" protective way that we love in 2012 but in that I am Tarzan you are Jane so sit down and shut up and do as I say. The relationship felt cold to me. There was none of this "I loved you all along". Nope. She was just a summer fling for him and never made any further impact. The sex scene was bla (him making comments about what a lucky son he had because he got to breast feed....???). I never like the "secret child" story and that mixed with a very unlikeable male character and the whole thing was a non-event. The writing was fine. However, characters are everything to me. I am sure that there are people out these who will love this one, I just was not one of them.

[Daisy Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit meh for me and I debated whether to give it 2 or 3 stars.

Our H knocked up our h when she was 18 and not knowing dumps her and gets on with his life of making money and dating, no angst or betrayal in sight.

Move forward a few years and they " bump" into each other in an airport setting and she tells him her kid is his. Still no drama he talks her into a MOC and 1 year later she's preggers again and in a bad accident H realises he loves the h and if she dies he will never get over it.

Extra star for dragging out the accident storyline and showing her confusion and shaved head I hate it when h's wake up a day later and all is well and they're pale but still pretty with superficial wounds. Although she's been in love all along I just didn't like the fact the H only started to care after they got married he never really suffered and could have just as easily fallen in love with any of his dates tbh she wasn't special to him at all other than having his child

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Tina met Ari again, she was clearly in shock. After six long years she hasn't saw him. Not when he walked out of her life with barely a goodbye and not when she gave birth to their son Theo but things are going to change now. Ari was both he and Theo, he doesn't know it yet but he loves them both DESPERATELY! So he will do anything to have her and Theo. Tina is scared, she was left alone pregnant and struggling with her life and that of her sons. Now that Ari is back, she's doing everything to avoid him.

So when they finally get together what happens? Tina is hit by a truck while riding in a cab and now she's in a coma and might never get back to Ari.

This book is about realizing. Realizing you love someone. Realizing that some people have a hard time forgiving. Realizing that sometimes, everything will be all right, if only you try.

[Alexis-Morgan Roark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I DO NOT like the "secret baby" plot device as a general rule. Rarely was the secret a valid one kept from the father as in this case. TSTL

Anyway, the hero took it well as did his family.

What I liked about this book was that the hero admitted he messed up once he looked at things from the heroine's perspective. You almost get the sense that he wasn't entirely comfortable breaking things off the first time but he had rationalized himself into the decision. It wasn't hard to like him despite his occasional excursions to the land of the HP Jerkwad Alpha Hero.

[Ana Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

And I here thinking that this book had been written in the belated century by a misogynist and disgusting man! But no !!! It was written by a woman and published in the year 2012 !!! This is a bad taste joke, right ????

[Anuradha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title and blurb don't do justice to the story at all.

The actual story is a piece of reality , stark and painful. Of course it tries to pack some sex scenes and bare minimum romance into it.

But the basic premise is of an 18 year old innocent getting pregnant by a "I am not serious about you" rich guy. There is nothing romantic or lovely about this situation.

So the author sticks to reality. The girl has over come family recriminations, prejudices with great struggle. Built a successful life for herself and her adorable 5 year old. So when the hero resurfaces she doesn't care a damn. Just feels resentment and bitterness towards him.

To be fair to the hero, he dint know the condom failed !! And the girl dint trust him with news of her pregnancy. So he is not really guilty of deserting a pregnant girl, just not loving her the first time.

The entire story is about the hero getting her to believe in him when they meet years later. Believe him enough to marry him and entrust her life and her child's life to him. Which she does eventually.

Serious stuff, good read though. 4 stars.

[Cheesecake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tina and Ari. I wanted to give this one 4 stars, but ultimately I wasn't feeling the love on his part. Their love started 6 years ago when he basically seduced 18 year old Tina and had a brief affair with her, thinking that she understood 'the rules'. He wines and dines her and says sweet nothings for a month, then says, well it's been fun but I'm off to greener pastures... After he leaves she finds she is pregnant. I don't usually agree with the heroine keeping it secret, but I can understand her fears that someone so uncaring of anothers' feelings might not be good father material. So this is the hole Ari has to dig himself out of to earn her love back (and convince the reader of it). He obviously didn't care much for her to start with other than a fond memory. They meet by accident and she is so incensed by his laid back greeting, completely oblivious of how he hurt her, that she blurts out that her son is also his... then promptly leaves. Of course Ari finds her again, and he is of an age where he was planning to get married anyways. (roll my eyes). The back and forth between the two was well done and Tina was no doormat. She laid it out plainly for him so he could understand how he'd hurt her, using his own past to help him see things from her perspective. Ari does grow close to her and does (after a while) understand how he hurt her. But I can't say I actually felt him falling in love with her. He would be a devoted and faithful husband, even a good husband. I think he is basically a good person, but I just didn't see that she couldn't have been another woman he happened to get pregnant and it would have made any difference. I want the H to really look at the h and see her in a new light. I want him to feel remorse for ever hurting her... I don't want a near death experience to bring on the ILY declarations... Ah well.
The reader, Nicolette McKensie did a good job.

[MissKitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this one, it's a bit different. The H and h had an affair when she was 18, but since H wasn't ready for marriage he broke it off. Many reviewers didn't like him because of this, but I didn't have a problem with it since many times in life it's exactly how it happens. H doesn't know that the h was pregnant and she never contacted him about this fact.

When they meet again, The H is at a time in his life where he is ready to settle down. He is actually quite excited when he meets her again. When he finds out he has a son, unlike in other books, where the H gets all vengeful, he is quite happy to be a father and actively pursues the heroine to convince her to marry him. He really wants their marriage to work and for them to have a good happy life together.

Quite a few details surface and there is a catalyst event in the end that brings out their mutual confessions of love. They get their hard won happy ever after and it was quite charming.

[Celeste · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needed fluff so I picked this up. Judging by the well dressed people on the cover I didn’t realize that the book would seem like it was written in the 70’s or 80’s.

Im not going to go into what the blurb already tell you, suffice to say this was the least romantic romance book I’ve read. To summarize, a guy has a fling with a girl who he gets preggers without knowing, then sees her years later and finds out he has a son, then wants to marry her because he wants his son and she’s still hot, then only realizes he loves her a year after they’ve been married once he thinks he might lose her.

Idiot.

[Marion Marchetto · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mostly clean, second chance love story. Ari Zavros spent some time in Australia on business and while there took up with young, hopeful model Tina Savalas. She fell hard; believing that he loved her, she gave him her virginity. Ari saw Tina as a charming interlude in his life and when his business was completed, he said goodbye and left, thinking never to see her again. Imagine his surprise when six years later, as he and his current squeeze – the internationally acclaimed model Veronique – are having tea in Dubai he spots Tina, her mother, and a young boy. Fed up with Veronique, he greets Tina. She’s so upset with seeing him that she lets it slip that the young boy, Theo, is Ari’s son. So what’s a guy to do? With his parents pressuring him to marry, and with the passage of time changing Ari’s outlook on life, he decides to marry Tina and claim his son. But he’ll have to breach the barriers that Tina has built around her heart and her family.

I found this story to be well written and expansive in that it took us to several locales. However, the hero – Ari – was a very shallow person. Seemed like he did everything because he felt he had to. Couldn’t get into whatever emotion(s) he was trying to sell. Tina kept trying to protect her heart as well as her son but in the end she succumbs. Would have liked it if she’d have taken the guy to her bed and then rejected him as he did her six years earlier.

The characters of Theo, the young boy, was refreshing and honest. The Zavros family seemed manipulative, trying to buy their grandson’s love. Overall a fast, easy read.

[Shatarupa Dhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very apt title. Oh, I love M&B's where both the sides have families, especially the over thinking, often delusional elders.

'Tina barely stopped herself from rolling her own eyes at what was obviously some romantic delusion. Gorgeous man-unmarried daughter-Greek island in the sun.'

Christina's mother is quite the woman!

But...erm...what did I just read!?! A sex test, seriously!?! Where, from the beginning, there wasn't an iota of chemistry between Ari and Christina? Ugh. And almost nearing the end, does their relation make a bit of sense, but the ending is rushed.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Offer She Can't Refuse

This was a second chance love story. He had gone to Australia for a fact finding mission for his family. He met her and ended up having an affair. But after three months he left her with a bit of memory that he hadn't figured on. Now six years later they see each other in Dubai. She doesn't figure that she will ever see him again and lets slip that they have a child. Not the rest of the storyline is how he manipulated her and how that ends up with their son knowing he has a father.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one for a category in the SBTB challenge. It worked for Australia Day since the author is Australian.

It was okay. I wasn't drawn into the story, but I tend to prefer paranormal or urban fantasy. Contemporary romance really has to be fairly well written and more polished for me to find it really appealing. That said I might try another book by Emma Darcy.