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Forbidden! #9
The Heat of Passion
Untouched...
Six years ago, Jessica Amory made the worst mistake of her life. The prospect of being Carlo Saracini's mistress was just too hot for her to handle, so she opted for the safety of marriage to Simon instead.
Now Jessica is a widow and faced with the unthinkable: she needs Carlo's help or her father will go to jail. Carlo is suggesting a deal that will give him what he's always wanted - Jessica, in his bed for three months! But Jessica can't give in to Carlo's demands; to let him possess her body and soul will be to give him the ultimate revenge...because he will discover that, even after years of marriage, she is still a virgin!
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
180 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Lynne Graham
1,785 books1,456 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Lynne Graham was born on July 30, 1956 of Irish-Scottish parentage. She has livedin Northern Ireland all her life. She grew up in a seaside village with herbrother. She learnt to read at the age of 3, and haven't stopped since then.
Lynne first met her husband when she was 14. At 15, she wrote her firstbook, but it was rejected everywhere. Lynne married after she completed adegree at Edinburgh University. She started writing again when she was athome with her first child. It took several attempts before she sold herfirst book in 1987 and the delight of seeing that first book for sale in thelocal newsagents has never been forgotten. Now, there are over 10 million ofher books in print worldwide.
Lynne always wanted a large family and has five children. Her eldest and heronly natural child is 19 and currently at university. Her other fourchildren, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted. She has two9-year-olds adopted from Sri Lanka and a 5- and a 3-year-old adopted fromGuatemala. In Lynne's home, there is a rich and diverse cultural mix, whichadds a whole extra dimension of interest and discovery to family life. Thefamily lives in a country house surrounded by a woodland garden, which iswonderfully private. The family has two pets. Thomas, a very large andaffectionate black cat, bosses the dog and hunts rabbits. The dog is Daisy,an adorable but not very bright white West Highland terrier, who loves beingchased by the cat. At night, dog and cat sleep together in front of thekitchen stove. Lynne loves gardening, cooking, collects everything from oldtoys to rock specimens and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.
Lynne Graham was born on July 30, 1956 of Irish-Scottish parentage. She has livedin Northern Ireland all her life. She grew up in a seaside village with herbrother. She learnt to read at the age of 3, and haven't stopped since then.
Lynne first met her husband when she was 14. At 15, she wrote her firstbook, but it was rejected everywhere. Lynne married after she completed adegree at Edinburgh University. She started writing again when she was athome with her first child. It took several attempts before she sold herfirst book in 1987 and the delight of seeing that first book for sale in thelocal newsagents has never been forgotten. Now, there are over 10 million ofher books in print worldwide.
Lynne always wanted a large family and has five children. Her eldest and heronly natural child is 19 and currently at university. Her other fourchildren, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted. She has two9-year-olds adopted from Sri Lanka and a 5- and a 3-year-old adopted fromGuatemala. In Lynne's home, there is a rich and diverse cultural mix, whichadds a whole extra dimension of interest and discovery to family life. Thefamily lives in a country house surrounded by a woodland garden, which iswonderfully private. The family has two pets. Thomas, a very large andaffectionate black cat, bosses the dog and hunts rabbits. The dog is Daisy,an adorable but not very bright white West Highland terrier, who loves beingchased by the cat. At night, dog and cat sleep together in front of thekitchen stove. Lynne loves gardening, cooking, collects everything from oldtoys to rock specimens and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
May 3, 2022
An obsessed hero who fell for the h at first sight. A heroine who married another man. Six years later a father who embezzled from the hero's company and a widowed heroine who can erase her father's debt.
That's just the opening. Woven into the action we have the heroine's tragic backstory:
As part of the blackmail plot, the heroine must pretend to be his fiance when they visit the H's Howard Hughes-type father in the Caribbean. There we have the H's father's 4th wife making passes at the H.
Then we hear the hero's dark secret:
There are a lot of false starts and stops.
Lots of drama in this. The hero did act badly - but the heroine was so secretive that it's easy to see how all the misunderstandings came about. Hero was obsessed with the heroine and it was fun to watch him try to figure her out.
That's just the opening. Woven into the action we have the heroine's tragic backstory:
As part of the blackmail plot, the heroine must pretend to be his fiance when they visit the H's Howard Hughes-type father in the Caribbean. There we have the H's father's 4th wife making passes at the H.
Then we hear the hero's dark secret:
There are a lot of false starts and stops.
Lots of drama in this. The hero did act badly - but the heroine was so secretive that it's easy to see how all the misunderstandings came about. Hero was obsessed with the heroine and it was fun to watch him try to figure her out.
December 30, 2018
Re The Heat of Passion - tho Lynne Graham actually published this in 1995 on the M&B side of things, it doesn't show up in HPlandia until 1997, which means it isn't as polished as LG's later offerings for this time period. This is book nine of the Forbidden series.
This is a story about a 26 yr widowed virgin who is forced to give into the Greek/Italian H's blackmail when her father makes a suicide attempt because he was caught with his hands in the company till.
The h has had the very classic LG terrible childhood. Her mother was a promiscuous tart and her weak father was so in thrall that he ignored all the signs and pretended everything was fine. The h's only friend was her next door neighbor.
He was a young man who encouraged the h to keep silent about her mother's antics, even tho it made the h a pariah in her very small town. When the h was 18, her BFF neighbor boy proposed. The h, thinking that their friendship was a better basis for marriage than her mother's unbridled lusts and continual tirades at her father, was overjoyed and accepted.
The h is determined to be nothing like her easy, sleazy mother and represses any hint of her more passionate nature. But when the h turns 20 and her wedding is a few weeks away, she goes to London and almost gets run over by a very wealthy playboy's car.
The man takes one look at the h and decides that she is his. The h is fiercely loyal and determined to remain true to her fiance BFF next door. The H is only offering a 'travelling tart position', as the h calls it, and she cannot believe that the obsessed, entitled and arrogant nematode is actually convinced that she will dump her fiance for him.
The H manages to insinuate his way into the h's life via her father's poorly run business. The h's mother is all about trying to pimp the h out like a tart for sale and the h is still resisting. Then the H actually buys her father's business and makes the h feel at fault for not leaping on the travelling bed services for hire offer.
The h marries her fiance, but one instance troubles her heart. She went to confront the H over buying her father's company, when the last she knew, the H was only offering additional financing and some management advice.
The ensuing confrontation leads to a roofie kissing almost passion moment, in the very same upscale hotel that her mother had been kicked out of for solicitation. The h managed to evade the H's clutches and when he confronted her at her own wedding, the extremely thwarted and angry H vowed revenge.
Now the H's vow has come due and the h dully accepts that she will have to sacrifice herself to save some semblance of a life for her father. She agrees to the H's offer of giving her father a new job if she will sleep with him and pretend to be the H's fiancee in front of his estranged father.
This panics the h to a certain extent, mainly because she is still petting unicorns. We learn that after the lapse with the H, the h went to her BFF fiance and told him everything. He forgave her and refused to cancel the wedding.
But instead of a wedding night, the new husband got drunk instead and refused to sleep with the h. This caused her a lot of damage, because the husband slime swiller let her believe it was her confession about the H that put him off and this went on for months.
Eventually, when the h was ready to call it a day, the fiance confessed that he had no sex drive, but people were saying he was gay and therefore he married the h to hide behind. They managed to continue their friendship until he became ill with leukemia, the h nursed him until he eventually died.
The h is very protective of her marriage, not because it was such a great love for her, but because her BFF for many years was the only confidant and comfort she had and every time the H brings him up, he says something nasty and hideous about him. Plus, it really isn't the H's business, even if she did resist the H to marry him.
After the obligatory makeover, clothes shopping and diamond ring, the H and h take off for his father's private island in the Turks and Caicos. The h and H's interactions are fraught with back and forth arguments and debates.
It boils down to the H makes these wild statements in the throws of his emotional fits and the h, thinking he is the lowest manipulative primitive snot snarfer on the planet, (tho the H claims he isn't primitive, he is Greek,) believes the H and his excited utterances.
For example, the h did not tell the H about her father's suicide attempt. The family doctor explained it was depression after her mother's death that led to his gambling and embezzling.
(The h's mother divorced the h's father as soon as the H bought the father's firm, the father always thought she would return when the money ran out, but then she died and it sent him over the edge. He started gambling and then embezzled to hide it and then he got caught.)
The h, rightly figuring that the H was only interested in her father's embezzling because it gave him a hold over the h, never mentioned her father's crisis because she was sure the H would not give a damn.
In that respect she was wrong, the H was pretty horrified about the state of the father's mental health. He berates the h and gets irked because she thinks so badly about him.
(However, he doesn't offer to let her out of their bargain, so the h was probably more cognizant of his lack of morals than LG wanted us to believe.)
On the plane to see the H's father, who is one of the world's richest men, a notorious womanizer and currently dying, the h smells perfume on the H and gets upset. The H goes into this huge spiel about how he and one of his assistants had sex in multiple positions all over the place.
The h is so appalled and jealous that she throws up, unfortunately missing the H. Then he explains that he was joking, he was in the store buying the h perfume and a salesgirl sprayed him. Since it was Obsession, it was not coming off until it wore off a few days later.
The H gets really freaked out. He finally gets a clue that this h takes what he says as verbatim and has no allowances for poetic license when he flies off the handle. He flies off the handle a lot and this only increased the dramatic tension, (plus it gave me a headache too.)
We finally get to the H's father's house and the reason the H dragged the h along pops up. His father is married to a tarty gold digger OW about forty years younger than him and she has her sights firmly set upon having the H. Apparently the H's father got smarter in his old age and made her sign a prenup where she gets nothing and she isn't in the will either.
Right away the OW starts in on the h and the h doesn't know what to think. By now the H and h have banished all unicorns forever and the H has no clue the h was even acquainted with them. As the days and nights pass, we get a purple passion moment in the lift and the h reveals some of her past, but she still shies away from explaining her marriage.
Until the H's father demands a wedding. The h is NOT keen, but the H, seeing his chance, is all about pushing it through. It comes out via the stepmother OW about the h's first marriage and finally all is explained.
The H is gradually getting better about acknowledging that he really messed up in his arrogance six years earlier. He also explains that he and his father were estranged for years because when the H was 23 and in love and brought his fiancee home to meet his family, his father slept with her.
The h is genuinely horrified and feels sorry for the H. Then she figures out she is in love with him. They have one night of married love and then the H's father dies.
The h is left pretty much alone with the OW and the woman is full of spite and lies, which the h halfway believes because the H sure isn't explaining much and the H makes a habit of getting even for slights in his past.
It all heads south when the H and h argue over the OW, the h rejects the H and he tells her he will go find someone else. Later that night, the h finds the H and OW asleep on the couch in the library, cuddled up together.
The h leaves the H and tries to put her life back together. She meets up with her father but doesn't mention the H's probably infidelity, she is pretty sure her father would tell her that is no excuse to break up a marriage.
The H manages to track the h down via her father meeting her and having her followed. Then he shows up with a videotape. The H is a jerk at first, but he isn't winning the h over by bullying her, so he shows her the tape.
There were security cameras all over the H's father's house. They show the H sleeping on the couch by himself and the OW showed up and snuggled up. Then the h found them and dumped the H and he claims right after that he threw the OW out, tho he handed the OW a pay off check first and put the fear of brimstone into her.
The H apologizes for his past behavior one more time, he claims he made the h pay for his first fiancee's bad behavior. Then he confesses he loves the h and that her rejecting him six years earlier really hurt his feelings.
The h is just as madly in love back, so she avows True Love Forever and they are going on a honeymoon, selling off a lot of the H's father's business and finding a lift for more purple passion for a sweet little HEA.
This one was good, but there were some things that bugged me. The H was an utter idiot. Granted, he was an obsessed idiot, but still. He tried so hard to buy the h and she refused and refused and refused and he couldn't figure it out when she spelled out to him that she wasn't for sale and he still threw a temper tantrum.
I also did not like how LG had the h continually doubting herself. LG does do this in later books when she has the h consider a different point of view, but in this one, the h does it every single time they bicker and it was overkill.
Mainly because what young girl is ever going to dump her marriage and plans, to someone she really believes she is in love with, because some nematode offered her a penthouse popsie short duration contract? It wasn't a reasonable expectation and the H should have been smart enough to realize that and even in HPlandia, LG was pushing credibility there.
It isn't a bad story tho and the H was deliciously obsessed and stalkerific, I just thought it lacked a better execution. Still a sorta not as good LG is better than many other HP outings and no one is going to run screaming if they read it.
This is a story about a 26 yr widowed virgin who is forced to give into the Greek/Italian H's blackmail when her father makes a suicide attempt because he was caught with his hands in the company till.
The h has had the very classic LG terrible childhood. Her mother was a promiscuous tart and her weak father was so in thrall that he ignored all the signs and pretended everything was fine. The h's only friend was her next door neighbor.
He was a young man who encouraged the h to keep silent about her mother's antics, even tho it made the h a pariah in her very small town. When the h was 18, her BFF neighbor boy proposed. The h, thinking that their friendship was a better basis for marriage than her mother's unbridled lusts and continual tirades at her father, was overjoyed and accepted.
The h is determined to be nothing like her easy, sleazy mother and represses any hint of her more passionate nature. But when the h turns 20 and her wedding is a few weeks away, she goes to London and almost gets run over by a very wealthy playboy's car.
The man takes one look at the h and decides that she is his. The h is fiercely loyal and determined to remain true to her fiance BFF next door. The H is only offering a 'travelling tart position', as the h calls it, and she cannot believe that the obsessed, entitled and arrogant nematode is actually convinced that she will dump her fiance for him.
The H manages to insinuate his way into the h's life via her father's poorly run business. The h's mother is all about trying to pimp the h out like a tart for sale and the h is still resisting. Then the H actually buys her father's business and makes the h feel at fault for not leaping on the travelling bed services for hire offer.
The h marries her fiance, but one instance troubles her heart. She went to confront the H over buying her father's company, when the last she knew, the H was only offering additional financing and some management advice.
The ensuing confrontation leads to a roofie kissing almost passion moment, in the very same upscale hotel that her mother had been kicked out of for solicitation. The h managed to evade the H's clutches and when he confronted her at her own wedding, the extremely thwarted and angry H vowed revenge.
Now the H's vow has come due and the h dully accepts that she will have to sacrifice herself to save some semblance of a life for her father. She agrees to the H's offer of giving her father a new job if she will sleep with him and pretend to be the H's fiancee in front of his estranged father.
This panics the h to a certain extent, mainly because she is still petting unicorns. We learn that after the lapse with the H, the h went to her BFF fiance and told him everything. He forgave her and refused to cancel the wedding.
But instead of a wedding night, the new husband got drunk instead and refused to sleep with the h. This caused her a lot of damage, because the husband slime swiller let her believe it was her confession about the H that put him off and this went on for months.
Eventually, when the h was ready to call it a day, the fiance confessed that he had no sex drive, but people were saying he was gay and therefore he married the h to hide behind. They managed to continue their friendship until he became ill with leukemia, the h nursed him until he eventually died.
The h is very protective of her marriage, not because it was such a great love for her, but because her BFF for many years was the only confidant and comfort she had and every time the H brings him up, he says something nasty and hideous about him. Plus, it really isn't the H's business, even if she did resist the H to marry him.
After the obligatory makeover, clothes shopping and diamond ring, the H and h take off for his father's private island in the Turks and Caicos. The h and H's interactions are fraught with back and forth arguments and debates.
It boils down to the H makes these wild statements in the throws of his emotional fits and the h, thinking he is the lowest manipulative primitive snot snarfer on the planet, (tho the H claims he isn't primitive, he is Greek,) believes the H and his excited utterances.
For example, the h did not tell the H about her father's suicide attempt. The family doctor explained it was depression after her mother's death that led to his gambling and embezzling.
(The h's mother divorced the h's father as soon as the H bought the father's firm, the father always thought she would return when the money ran out, but then she died and it sent him over the edge. He started gambling and then embezzled to hide it and then he got caught.)
The h, rightly figuring that the H was only interested in her father's embezzling because it gave him a hold over the h, never mentioned her father's crisis because she was sure the H would not give a damn.
In that respect she was wrong, the H was pretty horrified about the state of the father's mental health. He berates the h and gets irked because she thinks so badly about him.
(However, he doesn't offer to let her out of their bargain, so the h was probably more cognizant of his lack of morals than LG wanted us to believe.)
On the plane to see the H's father, who is one of the world's richest men, a notorious womanizer and currently dying, the h smells perfume on the H and gets upset. The H goes into this huge spiel about how he and one of his assistants had sex in multiple positions all over the place.
The h is so appalled and jealous that she throws up, unfortunately missing the H. Then he explains that he was joking, he was in the store buying the h perfume and a salesgirl sprayed him. Since it was Obsession, it was not coming off until it wore off a few days later.
The H gets really freaked out. He finally gets a clue that this h takes what he says as verbatim and has no allowances for poetic license when he flies off the handle. He flies off the handle a lot and this only increased the dramatic tension, (plus it gave me a headache too.)
We finally get to the H's father's house and the reason the H dragged the h along pops up. His father is married to a tarty gold digger OW about forty years younger than him and she has her sights firmly set upon having the H. Apparently the H's father got smarter in his old age and made her sign a prenup where she gets nothing and she isn't in the will either.
Right away the OW starts in on the h and the h doesn't know what to think. By now the H and h have banished all unicorns forever and the H has no clue the h was even acquainted with them. As the days and nights pass, we get a purple passion moment in the lift and the h reveals some of her past, but she still shies away from explaining her marriage.
Until the H's father demands a wedding. The h is NOT keen, but the H, seeing his chance, is all about pushing it through. It comes out via the stepmother OW about the h's first marriage and finally all is explained.
The H is gradually getting better about acknowledging that he really messed up in his arrogance six years earlier. He also explains that he and his father were estranged for years because when the H was 23 and in love and brought his fiancee home to meet his family, his father slept with her.
The h is genuinely horrified and feels sorry for the H. Then she figures out she is in love with him. They have one night of married love and then the H's father dies.
The h is left pretty much alone with the OW and the woman is full of spite and lies, which the h halfway believes because the H sure isn't explaining much and the H makes a habit of getting even for slights in his past.
It all heads south when the H and h argue over the OW, the h rejects the H and he tells her he will go find someone else. Later that night, the h finds the H and OW asleep on the couch in the library, cuddled up together.
The h leaves the H and tries to put her life back together. She meets up with her father but doesn't mention the H's probably infidelity, she is pretty sure her father would tell her that is no excuse to break up a marriage.
The H manages to track the h down via her father meeting her and having her followed. Then he shows up with a videotape. The H is a jerk at first, but he isn't winning the h over by bullying her, so he shows her the tape.
There were security cameras all over the H's father's house. They show the H sleeping on the couch by himself and the OW showed up and snuggled up. Then the h found them and dumped the H and he claims right after that he threw the OW out, tho he handed the OW a pay off check first and put the fear of brimstone into her.
The H apologizes for his past behavior one more time, he claims he made the h pay for his first fiancee's bad behavior. Then he confesses he loves the h and that her rejecting him six years earlier really hurt his feelings.
The h is just as madly in love back, so she avows True Love Forever and they are going on a honeymoon, selling off a lot of the H's father's business and finding a lift for more purple passion for a sweet little HEA.
This one was good, but there were some things that bugged me. The H was an utter idiot. Granted, he was an obsessed idiot, but still. He tried so hard to buy the h and she refused and refused and refused and he couldn't figure it out when she spelled out to him that she wasn't for sale and he still threw a temper tantrum.
I also did not like how LG had the h continually doubting herself. LG does do this in later books when she has the h consider a different point of view, but in this one, the h does it every single time they bicker and it was overkill.
Mainly because what young girl is ever going to dump her marriage and plans, to someone she really believes she is in love with, because some nematode offered her a penthouse popsie short duration contract? It wasn't a reasonable expectation and the H should have been smart enough to realize that and even in HPlandia, LG was pushing credibility there.
It isn't a bad story tho and the H was deliciously obsessed and stalkerific, I just thought it lacked a better execution. Still a sorta not as good LG is better than many other HP outings and no one is going to run screaming if they read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2016
Not a couple you would want to hang out with. Toxic.
Five years ago Carlo met Jessica, correction almost runs her down and falls into insta-lust with her. Unfortunately for him (and her), she is engaged to her longtime vanilla BF. Carlo pursues her anyway infiltrating her life through her dad's business. H and h have a passionate clinch that results in her running from him and the H stalking her at the wedding.
It's now five years later, and the fallout is her promiscuous slut of a mother has left them, dad embezzled from the biz, and the vanilla BF husband has died. Carlo swoops in with fake fiancee proposal with fringe benefits.
The toxic two swoop off to the Turks & Caicos where they meet Carlo' manipulative dad and his EW latest wife. After multiple passionate clinches they finally have cataclysmic sex. The dad dies, finally, and the evil OW goes back to the old homestead to make more trouble since her pre-nup was ironclad.
This couple was exhausting. Carlo raises the whole concept of arrogant ass-hat to an exponential level. It's not just enough that he is Italian or Greek, no he is BOTH. No wonder he's so full go alpha romero hormones. Jessica is a buttoned up virgin because her mother was so completely not.
Carlo isn't mean so much as arrogant. Potentially a four star, but the interaction between the two MC's was more contentious than banter.
Five years ago Carlo met Jessica, correction almost runs her down and falls into insta-lust with her. Unfortunately for him (and her), she is engaged to her longtime vanilla BF. Carlo pursues her anyway infiltrating her life through her dad's business. H and h have a passionate clinch that results in her running from him and the H stalking her at the wedding.
It's now five years later, and the fallout is her promiscuous slut of a mother has left them, dad embezzled from the biz, and the vanilla BF husband has died. Carlo swoops in with fake fiancee proposal with fringe benefits.
The toxic two swoop off to the Turks & Caicos where they meet Carlo' manipulative dad and his EW latest wife. After multiple passionate clinches they finally have cataclysmic sex. The dad dies, finally, and the evil OW goes back to the old homestead to make more trouble since her pre-nup was ironclad.
This couple was exhausting. Carlo raises the whole concept of arrogant ass-hat to an exponential level. It's not just enough that he is Italian or Greek, no he is BOTH. No wonder he's so full go alpha romero hormones. Jessica is a buttoned up virgin because her mother was so completely not.
Carlo isn't mean so much as arrogant. Potentially a four star, but the interaction between the two MC's was more contentious than banter.
May 3, 2022
First reading: 2009
Original review: 2015
I LOVE this book! Specially the hero, he is very alfa-male ☺️
Reread
October 10th/2020
I still love it, but again, I missed the epilogue 🤷🏻♀️
Original review: 2015
I LOVE this book! Specially the hero, he is very alfa-male ☺️
Reread
October 10th/2020
I still love it, but again, I missed the epilogue 🤷🏻♀️
December 10, 2018
If you had truly loved him, I would have been without power. The power I had you gave me...
... I would have been your lover, your soul, your survival,’ Carlo gritted, and the anger was there, the anger she had feared, suddenly flaring up at her without warning in a blazing wall of antagonism that made her step back.
Jessica always wanted to be with her childhood friend. When they grew up, he proposed and she accepted straight away. Jessica did not want to be like her mother who was an unfaithful cow.
So, she had vowed that she would never betray her fiancé’s trust.
Suddenly mysterious Carlo appears in her life a few days before she gets married and he is completely honest with her from the beginning. He wants her and he doesn't care that she is engaged.
One night, Jessica and Carlo almost became lovers, but Jessica chose her childhood sweetheart instead and she proceeds with the security and the stability of the marriage to the man that she knows all her life.
Six years later Jessica is a widow and still a virgin (!!!) and Carlo is very much bitter and angry with her.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Jessica needs his help to save her father. So, the two almost ex-lovers will meet again. It is time now to exploit the insecurities that both have and finally become lovers.
... I would have been your lover, your soul, your survival,’ Carlo gritted, and the anger was there, the anger she had feared, suddenly flaring up at her without warning in a blazing wall of antagonism that made her step back.
Jessica always wanted to be with her childhood friend. When they grew up, he proposed and she accepted straight away. Jessica did not want to be like her mother who was an unfaithful cow.
So, she had vowed that she would never betray her fiancé’s trust.
Suddenly mysterious Carlo appears in her life a few days before she gets married and he is completely honest with her from the beginning. He wants her and he doesn't care that she is engaged.
One night, Jessica and Carlo almost became lovers, but Jessica chose her childhood sweetheart instead and she proceeds with the security and the stability of the marriage to the man that she knows all her life.
Six years later Jessica is a widow and still a virgin (!!!) and Carlo is very much bitter and angry with her.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Jessica needs his help to save her father. So, the two almost ex-lovers will meet again. It is time now to exploit the insecurities that both have and finally become lovers.
February 11, 2014
Jessica is in love with her childhood sweetheart Simon and about to marry him. That’s when she meets Carlo our sexy alpha hero and she is deeply attracted to him. Jessica is afraid of the passion and lust he evokes in her so she rejects him and marries Simon instead. Six years later Jessica is a widow and need’s Carlo’s help. Carlo will help her but only if she pretends to be his fiancé.
Another fantastic read by the very talented LG. My emotions were all over the place within this story! You have the feisty but vulnerable and insecure heroine and the arrogant but smitten hero. Also you have the evil OW who is hero’s sexy stepmother and the OM who is heroine’s dead husband. Both Jessica and Carlo are jealous, possessive and desperately in love with each other. Forbidden love, lots of passion and tension between the main couple, swoon worthy loves scenes, warm heroine and a sexy dominating hero. 5 stars!!!
Another fantastic read by the very talented LG. My emotions were all over the place within this story! You have the feisty but vulnerable and insecure heroine and the arrogant but smitten hero. Also you have the evil OW who is hero’s sexy stepmother and the OM who is heroine’s dead husband. Both Jessica and Carlo are jealous, possessive and desperately in love with each other. Forbidden love, lots of passion and tension between the main couple, swoon worthy loves scenes, warm heroine and a sexy dominating hero. 5 stars!!!
June 20, 2021
Oh my, this was one of LG old, there are all her favorite tropes:
- virgin heroine
- sob hero
- wannabe ow
-blackmailing to save heroine’s Ill parent
-MOC which is not MOC but true love marriage But none of them know
-tons of misunderstandings
Heroine was engaged with her bf and about to marry him when she met the hero. Hero proposes her to stay with him and to leave her fiancé, not marriage though. She refuses and marry her fiancé. No sex during her years long marriage because the husband is impotent (or gay? Not explained) then she is a widow and the hero blackmails her: she’ll pretend to be his fiancée with his father and his mother in law, a young gold digger who wants only to tup the hero. Tacky. Then sex and revelations happens and they get married to make the old man happy. The ow is always around. The heroine runs away because thinks the hero is cheating on her with ow. Then he’s back and reveals that he sent away the ow because he only wants and loves the heroine. Here we have the usual old style desperate martyr heroine. A woman so stupid and without backbone that she is victim of everyone and doesn’t know how to stand for herself. So everyone exploits her, the hero too. When he asks her to leave her fiancé and become his lover she was twenty and she was naive, with a nymphomaniac mother who was not an example for her. Of course she refused the hero, but since he was an obsessed psycho narcissist and couldn’t take a no for an answer he’s back for revenge years later, after she spent years nursing her husband, a man who betrayed her not telling her he couldn’t perform. And she sacrifices herself again to save her father. I can’t say I’m fond of a woman like this, she was a coward and has no self respect. Ah and of course we have a typical double standard situation with the heroine who doesn’t have sex for years while the hero slept around as much as he can. But it was an entertaining book, so anachronistic, with the heroine feeling sick when the hero tells her about a threesome he had ( and it’s a joke). I laughed all the way, I really couldn’t feel sorry for her. She deserved in her utter stupidity a man like the hero, crass, tacky and mean.
- virgin heroine
- sob hero
- wannabe ow
-blackmailing to save heroine’s Ill parent
-MOC which is not MOC but true love marriage But none of them know
-tons of misunderstandings
Heroine was engaged with her bf and about to marry him when she met the hero. Hero proposes her to stay with him and to leave her fiancé, not marriage though. She refuses and marry her fiancé. No sex during her years long marriage because the husband is impotent (or gay? Not explained) then she is a widow and the hero blackmails her: she’ll pretend to be his fiancée with his father and his mother in law, a young gold digger who wants only to tup the hero. Tacky. Then sex and revelations happens and they get married to make the old man happy. The ow is always around. The heroine runs away because thinks the hero is cheating on her with ow. Then he’s back and reveals that he sent away the ow because he only wants and loves the heroine. Here we have the usual old style desperate martyr heroine. A woman so stupid and without backbone that she is victim of everyone and doesn’t know how to stand for herself. So everyone exploits her, the hero too. When he asks her to leave her fiancé and become his lover she was twenty and she was naive, with a nymphomaniac mother who was not an example for her. Of course she refused the hero, but since he was an obsessed psycho narcissist and couldn’t take a no for an answer he’s back for revenge years later, after she spent years nursing her husband, a man who betrayed her not telling her he couldn’t perform. And she sacrifices herself again to save her father. I can’t say I’m fond of a woman like this, she was a coward and has no self respect. Ah and of course we have a typical double standard situation with the heroine who doesn’t have sex for years while the hero slept around as much as he can. But it was an entertaining book, so anachronistic, with the heroine feeling sick when the hero tells her about a threesome he had ( and it’s a joke). I laughed all the way, I really couldn’t feel sorry for her. She deserved in her utter stupidity a man like the hero, crass, tacky and mean.
May 9, 2022
I love me a stalkerific, obsessed hero in fiction, and this delivered. I'm also dancing a little jig because there were no rage-inducing loathsome relatives, no ONS, no instant unplanned pregnancy and no secret baby. Woohoo. An epilogue would have been the icing on the cake.
May 30, 2016
This is an intense book. Jessica had very good reason to resist Carlo the first time around. With the terrible examples at relationships that her parents set and her mother's promiscuous behavior, she was deathly afraid of the sexual attraction she felt for Carlo. Besides, she was engaged. Carlo was arrogant as only a young man could be. He thought that he could crook a finger at Jessica and she would drop everything to be with him. But I think that he wouldn't have respected her if she did. I liked that while Carlo does act like a jerk, he isn't a bad person. He acts out of hurt and determination, and the fact that he fell like a ton of bricks for Jessica and never got over her. It's clear that both Jessica and Carlo have damaged family relationships and that makes it hard to trust in future relationships. You can therefore sympathize with both of them.
I love jealous heroes, so I really liked how he was so jealous of her marriage to another man. He didn't even want to call her by her married name. I could tell it was because he had always loved Jessica, even if he didn't realize it.
I liked that although I had read this before, it felt like I was reading it again for the first time. All the emotions were fresh and intense. A nice one to read when you want an HP escape.
I love jealous heroes, so I really liked how he was so jealous of her marriage to another man. He didn't even want to call her by her married name. I could tell it was because he had always loved Jessica, even if he didn't realize it.
I liked that although I had read this before, it felt like I was reading it again for the first time. All the emotions were fresh and intense. A nice one to read when you want an HP escape.
October 7, 2016
I think I might like this better in another mood so I'll probably give it another go round after while. High emotion, high drama. I found the hero a little to much to bear this time and generally LG's heroes suit me just fine. Although some...Greek Tycoon, Inexperienced Mistress!!! and Just wasn't in the mood I guess.
December 26, 2018
Extra star is positive discrimination for LG. :)
May 4, 2022
I try to avoid Lynne Graham’s 21st century HP’s because they are all the same. It’s like they were all made in a factory.
If you’ve read one modern Lynne Graham HP, you’ve read them all: the blonde h goes at it with the H the same day or the day after she has met him (so no besotted H there, just a horny H), unplanned pregnancy, secret baby, bla bla.
Lynne Graham is obsessed with unplanned pregnancies. Her modern 21st century H’s only want a committed relationship with the h after they’ve discovered they have a child with her.
Very unromantic imo because his love is not about the h herself. It’s about the baby.
This isn’t a 21st century HP. It’s from 1995. Before Lynne Graham went into factory-mode.
And that makes all the difference. This book feels like Lynne Graham has thought about it, it feels authentic, not from a factory. So a good 4 stars.
If you’ve read one modern Lynne Graham HP, you’ve read them all: the blonde h goes at it with the H the same day or the day after she has met him (so no besotted H there, just a horny H), unplanned pregnancy, secret baby, bla bla.
Lynne Graham is obsessed with unplanned pregnancies. Her modern 21st century H’s only want a committed relationship with the h after they’ve discovered they have a child with her.
Very unromantic imo because his love is not about the h herself. It’s about the baby.
This isn’t a 21st century HP. It’s from 1995. Before Lynne Graham went into factory-mode.
And that makes all the difference. This book feels like Lynne Graham has thought about it, it feels authentic, not from a factory. So a good 4 stars.
June 22, 2024
I just reread this again and the heroine totally totally totally annoyed me! She was so aggravating. So was he though. Very egotistical asshole and I didn't trust him either. But the heroine just was awful. She punished him for her rotten marriage to the other guy. She made the choice. He was very angry with her and now he can blackmail her and get revenge at the same time! Plus he can bed her which is all it really was. She was a virgin of course because her husband was impotent. For six years. So celibate heroine and non celibate hero again. I understand that she married someone else so it didn't bother me as usual. And his Fathers wife and her OW drama just made me mad. He was never with her but she did see them sleeping together. I was glad he brought the VHS tapes To show her the proof he was innocent. That kind of dated the story but I still love my Harlequins. This one not so much. You could see the hero was besotted but she was just too much of a shrew for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2018
Jessica conoce a Carlo a pocos días de casarse con un amigo de toda la vida y él revoluciona su mundo sin demasiadas garantías. No le promete nada serio y aclara que es algo pasajero porque él no se compromete, y ella, que viene de una niñez traumática con su madre promiscua, decide ir por lo seguro, lo deja y se casa con otro.
Al principio eso me molestó, pero ahora que volví a leer tiene más razón, aunque como toda novela romántica de Lynne Graham, le da un giro que te hace perdonar el pasado y leer se disfruta mucho.
Al principio eso me molestó, pero ahora que volví a leer tiene más razón, aunque como toda novela romántica de Lynne Graham, le da un giro que te hace perdonar el pasado y leer se disfruta mucho.
August 11, 2019
"The Heat of Passion" is the story of Jessica and Carlo.
Well, this was hella enjoyable!!
This one had:
-A crazy, jealous obsessed hero
-An impulsive heroine who is wary of her passionate nature and the hero's lust
-A set of messed up parents who've left lasting scars
-Psycho meddling OW
-Secretive dead husbands
-Insane possessiveness and love
-Loads of drama and miscommunications
-Eventual confessions ending in a sweet HEA
Honestly, this would have had a higher rating if the heroine JUST confessed and talked to the hero, instead of judging him wrongly EVERY single time and running from him like a mice. I loved how cray the hero was about her, he was definitely the type of hero I can get behind.
SWE
3.5/5
Well, this was hella enjoyable!!
This one had:
-A crazy, jealous obsessed hero
-An impulsive heroine who is wary of her passionate nature and the hero's lust
-A set of messed up parents who've left lasting scars
-Psycho meddling OW
-Secretive dead husbands
-Insane possessiveness and love
-Loads of drama and miscommunications
-Eventual confessions ending in a sweet HEA
Honestly, this would have had a higher rating if the heroine JUST confessed and talked to the hero, instead of judging him wrongly EVERY single time and running from him like a mice. I loved how cray the hero was about her, he was definitely the type of hero I can get behind.
SWE
3.5/5
March 29, 2023
Yep. Carlos hits the spot. Ruthless jealous possessive hero for the win! 😍😍😍😍
The only downside for me was that he allowed the h’s marriage to happen in the first place. At one point he yells, enraged, “I should have kidnapped you 6 years ago.” I couldn’t agree more, buddy. 🤷🏼♀️😈🤣
The only downside for me was that he allowed the h’s marriage to happen in the first place. At one point he yells, enraged, “I should have kidnapped you 6 years ago.” I couldn’t agree more, buddy. 🤷🏼♀️😈🤣
November 11, 2011
Pretty good -- good emotion and angst, kind of a meandering plot though. The characters felt overly schizo with their reactions to each other, blowing hot and cold. Common in HPs, but more noticeable to me in this one for some reason. And
June 14, 2021
Didn’t believe the hero’s love, and I felt like he was attracted to the ow ( his sexy step mom), even though he said he was repulsed by her. Why was he constantly looking at her then, why was he so angry when he found the ow with another man? Didn’t make sense, that was never cleared up.
Didn’t like this story, wasn’t believable, because we’re told, instead of shown.
Didn’t like this story, wasn’t believable, because we’re told, instead of shown.
September 26, 2019
These! People! Are! So! Dramatic!
At one point, the heroine actually gasps out the sentence, "I'm not going through with the wedding!" Getting that many words out in a single whoosh of air is some pretty tremendous breath control.
Suffice to say, I wasn't a fan of it. Carlos and Jessica meet when she's twenty, and she falls into the path of his car. Relieved he hasn't run over a pedestrian, and also remarkably horny, Carlos offers Jessica the chance to travel with him and fuck him, with no strings attached! She's engaged, so she says no thanks, which is grounds for a volcanic tantrum, according to Carlos. Indeed, six years later, he tells her he should have just killed her for "betraying" him like that.
So staying with your fiance rather than running off with a millionaire is worth the death penalty these days? Good to know, drama queen.
When Jessica's father develops aplot device gambling habit, and steals from Carlos' company, the latter offers Jessica a deal - if she pretends to be his wife for three months, he won't prosecute her dear old Dad. Riddled with all kinds of self-hate and slut-shamey guilt, Jessica accepts, and that's when the fun begins.
Neither of them can go more than 3.67 seconds without freaking out over one thing or another. Jessica is a dumb bunny, believing everything she's told, by literally anyone. Carlos is a spoiled toddler, more liable to throw his toys and break them rather than just calm the fuck down for once. He's also astonishingly self-important, considering his past behaviour. For instance, when he finds out that Jessica's father tried to commit suicide over his thievery, he's just FURIOUS that she didn't tell him. Him! Who is so understanding! About Everything! Except NOT AT ALL!
Basically, it's a clusterfuck and not even an entertaining one. Normally I don't mind a Harlequin alpha-male but he was a disaster of a garbage fire, and quite frankly, they didn't even seem to like each other all that much.
Just fuck and get on with your lives, you two. This ain't going to end well.
At one point, the heroine actually gasps out the sentence, "I'm not going through with the wedding!" Getting that many words out in a single whoosh of air is some pretty tremendous breath control.
Suffice to say, I wasn't a fan of it. Carlos and Jessica meet when she's twenty, and she falls into the path of his car. Relieved he hasn't run over a pedestrian, and also remarkably horny, Carlos offers Jessica the chance to travel with him and fuck him, with no strings attached! She's engaged, so she says no thanks, which is grounds for a volcanic tantrum, according to Carlos. Indeed, six years later, he tells her he should have just killed her for "betraying" him like that.
So staying with your fiance rather than running off with a millionaire is worth the death penalty these days? Good to know, drama queen.
When Jessica's father develops a
Neither of them can go more than 3.67 seconds without freaking out over one thing or another. Jessica is a dumb bunny, believing everything she's told, by literally anyone. Carlos is a spoiled toddler, more liable to throw his toys and break them rather than just calm the fuck down for once. He's also astonishingly self-important, considering his past behaviour. For instance, when he finds out that Jessica's father tried to commit suicide over his thievery, he's just FURIOUS that she didn't tell him. Him! Who is so understanding! About Everything! Except NOT AT ALL!
Basically, it's a clusterfuck and not even an entertaining one. Normally I don't mind a Harlequin alpha-male but he was a disaster of a garbage fire, and quite frankly, they didn't even seem to like each other all that much.
Just fuck and get on with your lives, you two. This ain't going to end well.
July 25, 2021
A pretty frustrating and incredulous tale of all that could go wrong in your life. Jessica made to the list of the most hated h that I’ve come across. In the entire book she’s either telling the H to shut up or she walks off in a cloud of unjust loud anger.
Really. It is just oh so repulsive to have a dream boat of a wealthy man put out his life for you and adore you like you’re the best thing that could ever happen to him!
Please refer to my friends’s reviews for whatever version you prefer to stick with. Personally this was an epic fail.
Jessica couldn’t decide if she loved her ex husband for what he didn’t do for her or what she did do for him. There was absolutely no standing ground for her screaming and screeching and crying bloody murder for choosing to sacrifice her life at her own will. I could not come to terms with whatever stick was up her end.
The H was alpha and perfect. What a waste of misplaced loyalties and love at first sight. Hateful woman.
Really. It is just oh so repulsive to have a dream boat of a wealthy man put out his life for you and adore you like you’re the best thing that could ever happen to him!
Please refer to my friends’s reviews for whatever version you prefer to stick with. Personally this was an epic fail.
Jessica couldn’t decide if she loved her ex husband for what he didn’t do for her or what she did do for him. There was absolutely no standing ground for her screaming and screeching and crying bloody murder for choosing to sacrifice her life at her own will. I could not come to terms with whatever stick was up her end.
The H was alpha and perfect. What a waste of misplaced loyalties and love at first sight. Hateful woman.
August 3, 2021
Untouched...
Six years ago, Jessica Amory made the worst mistake of her life. The prospect of being Carlo Saracini's mistress was just too hot for her to handle, so she opted for the safety of marriage to Simon instead.
Now Jessica is a widow and faced with the unthinkable: she needs Carlo's help or her father will go to jail. Carlo is suggesting a deal that will give him what he's always wanted - Jessica, in his bed for three months! But Jessica can't give in to Carlo's demands; to let him possess her body and soul will be to give him the ultimate revenge...because he will discover that, even after years of marriage, she is still a virgin!
Six years ago, Jessica Amory made the worst mistake of her life. The prospect of being Carlo Saracini's mistress was just too hot for her to handle, so she opted for the safety of marriage to Simon instead.
Now Jessica is a widow and faced with the unthinkable: she needs Carlo's help or her father will go to jail. Carlo is suggesting a deal that will give him what he's always wanted - Jessica, in his bed for three months! But Jessica can't give in to Carlo's demands; to let him possess her body and soul will be to give him the ultimate revenge...because he will discover that, even after years of marriage, she is still a virgin!
May 14, 2015
3.75/5
It was my pleasure to pick up this book. This was another one of those Lynne Graham's nice books.
It was my pleasure to pick up this book. This was another one of those Lynne Graham's nice books.
September 18, 2025
High-intensity, vintage HP romance from 1995
Jessica Amory first met Carlo Saracini six years ago, when he bought her father’s failing business. They were complete opposites. Jessica was a naïve young woman of 20, who had never held down a job, and Carlo was the worldly 27-year-old son of a billionaire, who was vigorously carving his own way to a huge personal fortune in the business world. At that time, Jessica was weeks away from her wedding to Simon, a man who had been her best friend since she was only 10 years old, and to whom she had been engaged for two years. Jessica grew up in a highly dysfunctional family. Her beautiful mother, Carole, was a promiscuous narcissist, and her father, Gerald, was so obsessed with Carole, he put up with her affairs without complaint, because he would do anything to keep her with him. Jessica was determined, at all costs, to avoid her mother’s terrible mistakes. Early on, she had decided that sexual passion was the cause of her mother’s downfall, and she wanted nothing to do with it. For that reason, she was relieved rather than concerned that Simon had never expected any more from her than a few chaste kisses in all their time together, or that she herself never desired anything more from him, because there were no sparks on either side in their relationship.
The instant Gerald received the money from Carlo for his business, Carole divorced him, snatched up the lion’s share of that money, and vanished, never to be seen again. Fortunately, Carlo left Jessica’s father in charge of his former business, so he had something to keep himself occupied in the midst of his tearing grief over losing Carole. Rather than leaving town after the deal was struck, Carlo hung around, because he was blazingly attracted to Jessica and determined to have her. The fact that she was engaged did not deter him at all. Unfortunately for Jessica’s image of herself as a loyal fiancée and a woman who had no interest in sex, she was as attracted to Carlo as he was to her. From the moment they met, the passion between them was a raging inferno, until one night they began kissing, got carried away, and had almost progressed to intercourse before a timely interruption saved Jessica from her “treacherous body.” After that frightening encounter, Jessica did not disagree with Carlo that her engagement would be at an end. But not because she shared Carlo’s assurance that she would break off her engagement with zero moral qualms in order to fly to Carlo’s side. Instead, Jessica believed that what she had done to Simon was so unforgivable, she deserved nothing less than to be summarily dumped. Instead, when she confessed her horrible transgression to Simon, he shocked her by declaring that he completely forgave her. He begged her to go through with their wedding, declaring that he desperately needed her by his side. Feeling far more of a sense of loyalty to a man she had loved for half of her life, compared to a man she had only known a handful of days, who made her feel sexual urges that terrified her and, above all, had made her no promises other than that she would be his temporary mistress, Jessica decided the only sane course of action would be to give up Carlo and return to Simon. To her relief, Carlo left town soon after, without making a scene. But unknown to Jessica, Carlo was experiencing a volcanic level of betrayal and humiliation that haunted him during all the subsequent years until he met her again.
Within days of giving in to Simon’s pathetic pleas, Jessica had strong reason to regret her choice. Her marriage was never consummated, and for several, guilt-wracked years, she could only assume—because Simon refused to talk to her about it—that it was because Simon had not, after all, forgiven her for her disloyalty with Carlo. Simon did nothing to dispel this belief and, being extremely slow on the uptake, it took Jessica several more years to wake up to the fact that Simon simply wasn’t sexually attracted to her. But before she could finally get some backbone and escape her sham of a marriage, Simon developed a fatal case of leukemia, and Jessica stayed on, nursing him for months, until he died a year ago.
What has finally brought Carlo back into Jessica’s life at the start of this story is an unexpected opportunity that falls into Carlo’s lap to get revenge upon Jessica. Four months prior, Gerald received word that Carole had died, and in a frenzy of misplaced grief, he went off the deep end, frequently getting drunk, gambling to excess, and embezzling from the company that Carlo bought from him years before in order to pay his gambling debts. When Carlo learns about both Jessica’s widowhood and Gerald’s theft, he arrives in town threatening to have Gerald prosecuted and jailed for his crime. As he accurately anticipated that she would, Jessica begs Carlo to spare Gerald. Carlo immediately offers her a cynical deal: he will let Gerald off the hook if she will pretend to be his fiancée for a few months. Unfortunately for Jessica’s personal moral code—which has not altered an iota during the past six years—it is obvious that uncommitted sex will be part of the unsavory bargain on offer.
This is a vintage HP romance from 1995 which contains a theme that is no longer included in modern HP romances, a heroine tricked into marriage by a closeted gay man who is using her, without her informed consent, as his “beard.” When LG wrote this plot of the virgin widow again in Virgin on Her Wedding Night from 2010, the reason she provided for the non-consummation of that heroine’s marriage was that her deceased husband thought her type of beauty was unattractive compared to the woman he actually loved, who had married another more wealthy man, but had continued having an affair with the heroine’s husband. Her husband had also been working at her parents’ business and had basically run it into the ground due to a combination of incompetence and theft. In both plots, the virgin widow is blackmailed into being the hero’s mistress in order to save her father’s business.
In addition, unlike LG’s more recent novels, there is almost no time spent in the hero’s thoughts, and there is no epilogue showing the romantic protagonists living out a blissful HEA in this or any of her other, early novels from the late 80s up to the mid-90s. In fact, the lovers are viciously at odds up until the last 5-6 pages, at which point those novels abruptly end.
Fans of classic, HP romances from the “bad old days” of harsh, Alpha heroes will definitely enjoy this novel. The main characteristic of these early HG novels, that makes them continue to be an entertaining read decades after they were first published, is the fact that they are filled with passionate intensity. In the case of this novel, Jessica and Carlo engage in wild bouts of sex about three or four times throughout the whole novel, but they plunge into teeth-gnashing arguments in virtually every scene.
By modern standards, I would rate this novel about 3 stars. But by the standards of the era this novel is from, I would rate it at 4 stars. This would be an average of 3.5 stars, which I have rounded up to 4 stars.
Jessica Amory first met Carlo Saracini six years ago, when he bought her father’s failing business. They were complete opposites. Jessica was a naïve young woman of 20, who had never held down a job, and Carlo was the worldly 27-year-old son of a billionaire, who was vigorously carving his own way to a huge personal fortune in the business world. At that time, Jessica was weeks away from her wedding to Simon, a man who had been her best friend since she was only 10 years old, and to whom she had been engaged for two years. Jessica grew up in a highly dysfunctional family. Her beautiful mother, Carole, was a promiscuous narcissist, and her father, Gerald, was so obsessed with Carole, he put up with her affairs without complaint, because he would do anything to keep her with him. Jessica was determined, at all costs, to avoid her mother’s terrible mistakes. Early on, she had decided that sexual passion was the cause of her mother’s downfall, and she wanted nothing to do with it. For that reason, she was relieved rather than concerned that Simon had never expected any more from her than a few chaste kisses in all their time together, or that she herself never desired anything more from him, because there were no sparks on either side in their relationship.
The instant Gerald received the money from Carlo for his business, Carole divorced him, snatched up the lion’s share of that money, and vanished, never to be seen again. Fortunately, Carlo left Jessica’s father in charge of his former business, so he had something to keep himself occupied in the midst of his tearing grief over losing Carole. Rather than leaving town after the deal was struck, Carlo hung around, because he was blazingly attracted to Jessica and determined to have her. The fact that she was engaged did not deter him at all. Unfortunately for Jessica’s image of herself as a loyal fiancée and a woman who had no interest in sex, she was as attracted to Carlo as he was to her. From the moment they met, the passion between them was a raging inferno, until one night they began kissing, got carried away, and had almost progressed to intercourse before a timely interruption saved Jessica from her “treacherous body.” After that frightening encounter, Jessica did not disagree with Carlo that her engagement would be at an end. But not because she shared Carlo’s assurance that she would break off her engagement with zero moral qualms in order to fly to Carlo’s side. Instead, Jessica believed that what she had done to Simon was so unforgivable, she deserved nothing less than to be summarily dumped. Instead, when she confessed her horrible transgression to Simon, he shocked her by declaring that he completely forgave her. He begged her to go through with their wedding, declaring that he desperately needed her by his side. Feeling far more of a sense of loyalty to a man she had loved for half of her life, compared to a man she had only known a handful of days, who made her feel sexual urges that terrified her and, above all, had made her no promises other than that she would be his temporary mistress, Jessica decided the only sane course of action would be to give up Carlo and return to Simon. To her relief, Carlo left town soon after, without making a scene. But unknown to Jessica, Carlo was experiencing a volcanic level of betrayal and humiliation that haunted him during all the subsequent years until he met her again.
Within days of giving in to Simon’s pathetic pleas, Jessica had strong reason to regret her choice. Her marriage was never consummated, and for several, guilt-wracked years, she could only assume—because Simon refused to talk to her about it—that it was because Simon had not, after all, forgiven her for her disloyalty with Carlo. Simon did nothing to dispel this belief and, being extremely slow on the uptake, it took Jessica several more years to wake up to the fact that Simon simply wasn’t sexually attracted to her. But before she could finally get some backbone and escape her sham of a marriage, Simon developed a fatal case of leukemia, and Jessica stayed on, nursing him for months, until he died a year ago.
What has finally brought Carlo back into Jessica’s life at the start of this story is an unexpected opportunity that falls into Carlo’s lap to get revenge upon Jessica. Four months prior, Gerald received word that Carole had died, and in a frenzy of misplaced grief, he went off the deep end, frequently getting drunk, gambling to excess, and embezzling from the company that Carlo bought from him years before in order to pay his gambling debts. When Carlo learns about both Jessica’s widowhood and Gerald’s theft, he arrives in town threatening to have Gerald prosecuted and jailed for his crime. As he accurately anticipated that she would, Jessica begs Carlo to spare Gerald. Carlo immediately offers her a cynical deal: he will let Gerald off the hook if she will pretend to be his fiancée for a few months. Unfortunately for Jessica’s personal moral code—which has not altered an iota during the past six years—it is obvious that uncommitted sex will be part of the unsavory bargain on offer.
This is a vintage HP romance from 1995 which contains a theme that is no longer included in modern HP romances, a heroine tricked into marriage by a closeted gay man who is using her, without her informed consent, as his “beard.” When LG wrote this plot of the virgin widow again in Virgin on Her Wedding Night from 2010, the reason she provided for the non-consummation of that heroine’s marriage was that her deceased husband thought her type of beauty was unattractive compared to the woman he actually loved, who had married another more wealthy man, but had continued having an affair with the heroine’s husband. Her husband had also been working at her parents’ business and had basically run it into the ground due to a combination of incompetence and theft. In both plots, the virgin widow is blackmailed into being the hero’s mistress in order to save her father’s business.
In addition, unlike LG’s more recent novels, there is almost no time spent in the hero’s thoughts, and there is no epilogue showing the romantic protagonists living out a blissful HEA in this or any of her other, early novels from the late 80s up to the mid-90s. In fact, the lovers are viciously at odds up until the last 5-6 pages, at which point those novels abruptly end.
Fans of classic, HP romances from the “bad old days” of harsh, Alpha heroes will definitely enjoy this novel. The main characteristic of these early HG novels, that makes them continue to be an entertaining read decades after they were first published, is the fact that they are filled with passionate intensity. In the case of this novel, Jessica and Carlo engage in wild bouts of sex about three or four times throughout the whole novel, but they plunge into teeth-gnashing arguments in virtually every scene.
By modern standards, I would rate this novel about 3 stars. But by the standards of the era this novel is from, I would rate it at 4 stars. This would be an average of 3.5 stars, which I have rounded up to 4 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2022
He wants her to trust him but keeps throwing the past - which was more a hope than reality - at her. Good, emotional story albeit silly set up.
May 4, 2022
Certainly passionate although I do find myself getting a bit drained by the icy hot switch backs. Must be getting old. Appreciating the reserved and controlled Hs more than the impetuous southern Med types these days. It'll be cardigans and slippers next 😂
November 1, 2014
This story is a great saga. The H tracks her down - what true love! These earlier books have a fair bit of male violence - that is hard to take. Graham's later works are more subtle with the passion and feelings. I like the fact that Jessica was strong enough to walk away - even though she loved him.
December 12, 2017
Wow this man, I really despised him. He was a jerk to the bone. He didnt has anything likeable on him. Who was in the right head though he was a Hero material? He was a jerk even more than that, arrogant and bossy. i could see him pounding his chest just to make a point.
He Made me despised this book. I had this urge to burn this book up in hope i could burn him too.. #lemmekickhisbutt
He Made me despised this book. I had this urge to burn this book up in hope i could burn him too.. #lemmekickhisbutt
September 27, 2020
Este es uno de esos libros que dices "Tremendo culebrón de telenovela". Carlo y Jessica son una pareja muy complicada. Se conocieron cuando ella estaba a punto de casarse con otro hombre y a pesar de hacer todo lo posible para hacerla suya, Carlo nunca pudo ganar y Jessica terminó casada con otro hombre.
Ahora luego de seis años Carlo ve la oportunidad de vengarse por su rechazo a través de su padre así que usa todas las artimañas posibles para meterla en su cama y así poder ser de una vez por todas el ganador.
Jessica por otro lado vivió un infierno en su matrimonio, usada como salvavidas y condenada a sufrir por su error de casi haberse acostado con Carlo antes de casarse. Cuando es obligada a interceder por su padre y aceptar meterse en la cama de su enemigo declarado y fingir ser su prometida siente que los secretos cada vez la ahogan más y más.
Lo que me gustó de Carlo fue su pasión por la venganza, me causó mucha gracia su "Yo me vengaré y vendrás arrastrándote hacia mí" y yo tipo "🙂" así que me daba aun más risa cuando ella luchaba por negarlo y al final terminaban cediendo a sus instintos más básicos.
Ya saben, la típica toxicidad de estas historias.
Cada vez que no decían cuanto se amaban yo cada vez me frustraba más y más ¿Que tan difícil puede ser sincerarse? Si lo hubiesen hecho el libro solo tendría como 20 páginas 😂.
La cosa es lo siguiente: Odio a Sunny, es una ridícula y casi al final cuando Carlo le dice a Jessica que no puede botarla de su casa yo quedé sin peluca (figurativamente).
Así que aquí estoy haciendo esta reseña mientras me digo "tú si que no tienes dignidad al sufrir con estas historias, igual te amo pero VALORATE".
Fin del comunicado.
Ahora luego de seis años Carlo ve la oportunidad de vengarse por su rechazo a través de su padre así que usa todas las artimañas posibles para meterla en su cama y así poder ser de una vez por todas el ganador.
Jessica por otro lado vivió un infierno en su matrimonio, usada como salvavidas y condenada a sufrir por su error de casi haberse acostado con Carlo antes de casarse. Cuando es obligada a interceder por su padre y aceptar meterse en la cama de su enemigo declarado y fingir ser su prometida siente que los secretos cada vez la ahogan más y más.
Lo que me gustó de Carlo fue su pasión por la venganza, me causó mucha gracia su "Yo me vengaré y vendrás arrastrándote hacia mí" y yo tipo "🙂" así que me daba aun más risa cuando ella luchaba por negarlo y al final terminaban cediendo a sus instintos más básicos.
Ya saben, la típica toxicidad de estas historias.
Cada vez que no decían cuanto se amaban yo cada vez me frustraba más y más ¿Que tan difícil puede ser sincerarse? Si lo hubiesen hecho el libro solo tendría como 20 páginas 😂.
La cosa es lo siguiente: Odio a Sunny, es una ridícula y casi al final cuando Carlo le dice a Jessica que no puede botarla de su casa yo quedé sin peluca (figurativamente).
Así que aquí estoy haciendo esta reseña mientras me digo "tú si que no tienes dignidad al sufrir con estas historias, igual te amo pero VALORATE".
Fin del comunicado.
November 4, 2021
What a phenomenally awful book!! Truly i have made a Goodreads account just so I have some place to vent. It's so badly written. I just expected better from Lynne. She's usually a good writer but sometimes she really takes the cake in bad writing. Did she even bother to read the nonsense she spouted in this book. An absolute waste of 2 of my precious hours.
A bit of detail and spoilers ahead.
The hero offers a woman a most decidedly stupid offer and is then very offended that she rejects it. She gets married to someone who is most probably gay so shes still a virgin. He dies after 6 yrs of marriage. The hero comes back to her with another absolutely awful blackmail/bargain. Is again offended that she didn't appreciate it. Lots of making out scenes. Oh yes the hero is so awful and then when he finds out the heroine agreed to his offer only because of her father he is absolutely offended and says oh why would you think me so heartless. And she starts feeling bad when nothing absolutely nothing of his actions suggested that he would have cared. Not only that he goes ahead and hold her to the deal they had made. Like if you were really such a bleeding fing heart why didn't you let her go????
Also he's pretty abusive but ofcourse everything is all right because he secretly loved her.
The heroine is pretty stupid too so maybe they actually deserve each other!
I hate this book.
A bit of detail and spoilers ahead.
The hero offers a woman a most decidedly stupid offer and is then very offended that she rejects it. She gets married to someone who is most probably gay so shes still a virgin. He dies after 6 yrs of marriage. The hero comes back to her with another absolutely awful blackmail/bargain. Is again offended that she didn't appreciate it. Lots of making out scenes. Oh yes the hero is so awful and then when he finds out the heroine agreed to his offer only because of her father he is absolutely offended and says oh why would you think me so heartless. And she starts feeling bad when nothing absolutely nothing of his actions suggested that he would have cared. Not only that he goes ahead and hold her to the deal they had made. Like if you were really such a bleeding fing heart why didn't you let her go????
Also he's pretty abusive but ofcourse everything is all right because he secretly loved her.
The heroine is pretty stupid too so maybe they actually deserve each other!
I hate this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2010
Untouched...
Six years ago, Jessica Amory made the worst mistake of her life. The prospect of being Carlo Saracini's mistress was just too hot for her to handle, so she opted for the safety of marriage to Simon instead.
Now Jessica is a widow and faced with the unthinkable: she needs Carlo's help or her father will go to jail. Carlo is suggesting a deal that will give him what he's always wanted--Jessica, in his bed for three months! But Jessica can't give in to Carlo's demands; to let him possess her body and soul will be to give him the ultimate revenge ...because he will discover that, even after years of marriage, she is still a virgin!
When passion knows no reason... FORBIDDEN!
Six years ago, Jessica Amory made the worst mistake of her life. The prospect of being Carlo Saracini's mistress was just too hot for her to handle, so she opted for the safety of marriage to Simon instead.
Now Jessica is a widow and faced with the unthinkable: she needs Carlo's help or her father will go to jail. Carlo is suggesting a deal that will give him what he's always wanted--Jessica, in his bed for three months! But Jessica can't give in to Carlo's demands; to let him possess her body and soul will be to give him the ultimate revenge ...because he will discover that, even after years of marriage, she is still a virgin!
When passion knows no reason... FORBIDDEN!
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