What do you think?
Rate this book
Beware of Greeks! #1
The Alexakis Bride
Eligible tycoon seeks perfect bride!
Damon Alexakis had looks, wealth, power. What he didn't have was a suitable wife....
Kate McKee was the perfect choice. Beautiful, intelligent, she was the adored nanny of his sister's twins; and she was stunned by Damon's proposal! But what choice did she have? To fend off her father's matchmaking efforts, she'd invented a mystery lover--hut would her pretense backfire? The only solution was to accept Damon's extraordinary deal: for one year only, she'd share his life, but not his bed--at least, that was Kate's interpretation. Damon had other ideas!
Damon Alexakis had looks, wealth, power. What he didn't have was a suitable wife....
Kate McKee was the perfect choice. Beautiful, intelligent, she was the adored nanny of his sister's twins; and she was stunned by Damon's proposal! But what choice did she have? To fend off her father's matchmaking efforts, she'd invented a mystery lover--hut would her pretense backfire? The only solution was to accept Damon's extraordinary deal: for one year only, she'd share his life, but not his bed--at least, that was Kate's interpretation. Damon had other ideas!
187 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1994
2 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Anne McAllister
341 books124 followersAnne McAllister has written nearly 70 romance novels for Tule Publishing and Harlequin Books.
She has won two RITA awards from the Romance Writers of America — for COWBOY PRIDE and THE STARDUST COWBOY — and has had nine other books which were RITA finalists.
Her books have also been finalists for the National Readers’ Choice Award. She was named Midwest Fiction Writers “Writer of the Year” and also received Romantic Times’ Career Achievement Award as “Series Author of the Year.”
But while the awards and sales are wonderful, Anne thinks the best part of writing is telling the story. With every new book she writes, she meets new characters – or gets to know old ones even better – and discovers what makes them and their relationships tick.
It’s the relationships that interest her most and the question about “where do you get your ideas?” has always astonished her as she has more ideas than she knows what to do with!
She has won two RITA awards from the Romance Writers of America — for COWBOY PRIDE and THE STARDUST COWBOY — and has had nine other books which were RITA finalists.
Her books have also been finalists for the National Readers’ Choice Award. She was named Midwest Fiction Writers “Writer of the Year” and also received Romantic Times’ Career Achievement Award as “Series Author of the Year.”
But while the awards and sales are wonderful, Anne thinks the best part of writing is telling the story. With every new book she writes, she meets new characters – or gets to know old ones even better – and discovers what makes them and their relationships tick.
It’s the relationships that interest her most and the question about “where do you get your ideas?” has always astonished her as she has more ideas than she knows what to do with!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 13, 2018
Re The Alexakis Bride - Anne McAllister takes her shot at the MOC trope with this one, the first of her multi year spanning Beware of Greeks series
The set up on this is that the h runs a nanny agency and is having issues with finding staff for one of her clients. The lady is pregnant, has five year old twins running amok and a libidinous husband who keeps propositioning the nannies. The h has to step into take charge of things and of course the young husband has to try it out on her.
She runs into the nematode husband when she is out with her controlling father, who is trying to force her into a marriage with an up and coming captain of industry of his choice. The h has already had one destructive marriage with a certified gold digger who died as he was dumping her, so she is in no way ready to take on a new relationship.
To put the brakes on her heavy handed father, the h allows the nematode husband to be a bit over-familiar in the greeting stakes. This is witnessed by the H, who is the nematode husband's brother in law and very much the Head Patriarch of the Big Greek family full of women.
He confronts the h with her behavior around his sister's husband and the h lays it out for him. He believes her story, the h is pretty straightforward about things and comes up with a plan. He is the caretaker for his sisters and his helpless without a man mother, they keep trying to pair him off and he isn't really up for another woman he has to take care of.
The H and h decide to marry for a year, they can call it quits and claim it did not work out and then hopefully everyone will leave them alone for a while. So the two of them hop a plane to Reno and marry and then the H allows his mother to guilt trip them into a honeymoon.
The h and H don't jump into bed right away, there is a lot of getting to know each other and banter and the h has some hang ups about her womanly charms from her first marriage - the H interprets that as the first husband was perfect and he is second place.
The h feels that the H isn't really serious and would rather be playing the field until he finds his "good Greek wife" fragile flower, but the lurve force mojo is strong.
Eventually we get to the Transcendent Shores of Purple Passion Bliss after a few times of the H having to sleep on the floor and the h attempting it, but being driven to the H's bed because of the giant cockroaches that live in New York City.
(Negative stars for that! Cockroaches Do Not Belong In Hplandia!)
So things are burbling along nicely, despite all the H's minor family drama with his various sisters and mother. The nematode husband finally decides to reform and quit chasing the ladies and then the H and h have to have the big mopey moment.
This happens when the h decides to skip the big family/company Christmas party as a test of the H's love, she claims she is caught up in out of the city business.
He doesn't chase, mainly cause he still believes the h's first marriage was perfect and decides to go have huge mopey moments by himself and get really drunk instead. Then the former nematode husband steps in to cajole both the H and h into talking to each other.
The h hunts the H down, sees that he is in a terrible state and declares her love. The H declares his back and we finally get to the HEA after the h admits her first marriage was horrible and the H admits that he can't imagine anyone but the h as his perfect wife.
This one was well done, the relationship building was very nice. I am just not a fan of having to caretake adult relatives unless they need real assistance and I am not a fan of cockroaches, so take my lack of enthusiasm with a grain of salt.
The story was good, it was just not my cuppa, but it makes a pretty decent HP Plus outing.
The set up on this is that the h runs a nanny agency and is having issues with finding staff for one of her clients. The lady is pregnant, has five year old twins running amok and a libidinous husband who keeps propositioning the nannies. The h has to step into take charge of things and of course the young husband has to try it out on her.
She runs into the nematode husband when she is out with her controlling father, who is trying to force her into a marriage with an up and coming captain of industry of his choice. The h has already had one destructive marriage with a certified gold digger who died as he was dumping her, so she is in no way ready to take on a new relationship.
To put the brakes on her heavy handed father, the h allows the nematode husband to be a bit over-familiar in the greeting stakes. This is witnessed by the H, who is the nematode husband's brother in law and very much the Head Patriarch of the Big Greek family full of women.
He confronts the h with her behavior around his sister's husband and the h lays it out for him. He believes her story, the h is pretty straightforward about things and comes up with a plan. He is the caretaker for his sisters and his helpless without a man mother, they keep trying to pair him off and he isn't really up for another woman he has to take care of.
The H and h decide to marry for a year, they can call it quits and claim it did not work out and then hopefully everyone will leave them alone for a while. So the two of them hop a plane to Reno and marry and then the H allows his mother to guilt trip them into a honeymoon.
The h and H don't jump into bed right away, there is a lot of getting to know each other and banter and the h has some hang ups about her womanly charms from her first marriage - the H interprets that as the first husband was perfect and he is second place.
The h feels that the H isn't really serious and would rather be playing the field until he finds his "good Greek wife" fragile flower, but the lurve force mojo is strong.
Eventually we get to the Transcendent Shores of Purple Passion Bliss after a few times of the H having to sleep on the floor and the h attempting it, but being driven to the H's bed because of the giant cockroaches that live in New York City.
(Negative stars for that! Cockroaches Do Not Belong In Hplandia!)
So things are burbling along nicely, despite all the H's minor family drama with his various sisters and mother. The nematode husband finally decides to reform and quit chasing the ladies and then the H and h have to have the big mopey moment.
This happens when the h decides to skip the big family/company Christmas party as a test of the H's love, she claims she is caught up in out of the city business.
He doesn't chase, mainly cause he still believes the h's first marriage was perfect and decides to go have huge mopey moments by himself and get really drunk instead. Then the former nematode husband steps in to cajole both the H and h into talking to each other.
The h hunts the H down, sees that he is in a terrible state and declares her love. The H declares his back and we finally get to the HEA after the h admits her first marriage was horrible and the H admits that he can't imagine anyone but the h as his perfect wife.
This one was well done, the relationship building was very nice. I am just not a fan of having to caretake adult relatives unless they need real assistance and I am not a fan of cockroaches, so take my lack of enthusiasm with a grain of salt.
The story was good, it was just not my cuppa, but it makes a pretty decent HP Plus outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2013
4 Stars ~ Faced with rumours that his brother-in-law is having an affair with the family nanny, Damon moves into protective brother mode, a role he's filled all his life. When he summons the nanny to his New York office, she not what he expected at all. Kate runs her own child minder agency and when every girl she sends to one family begs to be sent somewhere else, Kate steps in personally. The young mother, Sophia is expecting again, her five year old twins are too much for her to cope with and unknown to her, her husband, Stephanos keeps hitting on the nannies. When Damon accuses her of an affair with his sister's husband based on a greeting she made to the man in a local hotel restaurant, Kate is dismayed because she remembers how that greeting must look. Kate had been there with her controlling father and a young man he'd chosen for her to marry. Kate confessed that she had been relieved to see Stephanos only to use him to get her father to back off. With her story ringing true, as Damon's own mother is on a matching making mission, he believes her. Damon's a fix-it man. He fixes all the woes of his family, being the only male with six sisters and a widowed mother, he's the man they all call on. With a need to fix his sister's marriage and get their matchmaking parent's off their backs, Damon proposes a marriage of convenience. Fearing Damon could ruin her business, Kate agrees and finds herself whisked off to Reno. When Damon's mother questions why they aren't taking a honeymoon, Damon finds himself agreeing to take Kate to the family villa in the Bahamas. The more time these two spend together, the stronger the sexual tension becomes, until finally they can't keep their hands off each other.
Ms. McAllister has a talent for cheeky dialogue, that combined with the outrageous situation Damon and Kate find themselves made this a very fun read. Damon is a drool worthy hero who just can't say no to his family when they call him in need. Kate is a strong independant woman with scars from a previous marriage that was a disaster. She thinks Damon only wants a business deal with some casual sex thrown in, and Damon think's Kate is still in love with her former husband. Neither wants to risk admitting they love the other until it's nearly too late. This is the first in Ms. McAllister's Beware of Greeks series. I'm looking forward to reading more of her delightful Greeks
Ms. McAllister has a talent for cheeky dialogue, that combined with the outrageous situation Damon and Kate find themselves made this a very fun read. Damon is a drool worthy hero who just can't say no to his family when they call him in need. Kate is a strong independant woman with scars from a previous marriage that was a disaster. She thinks Damon only wants a business deal with some casual sex thrown in, and Damon think's Kate is still in love with her former husband. Neither wants to risk admitting they love the other until it's nearly too late. This is the first in Ms. McAllister's Beware of Greeks series. I'm looking forward to reading more of her delightful Greeks
June 28, 2011
This was a MOC, more of a business arrangement according to the H to last only for a specified time period of one year. It was to be in name only but the h/H couldn't keep their hands off each other and quickly developed a very hot sexual relationship. Unfortunately neither was willing to talk about their feelings so as per usual there were several misunderstandings.
The H assumed that the h was still deeply in love with her deceased husband when actually they had a terrible relationship. The h assumed that the H was only having sex with her because it was convenient and she was willing. Obviously this led to a rocky road for HEA but they eventually got there.
This was typical MOC, In name only marriage and romance and yet I liked it. It was sweet and at times amusing. There were also some interesting secondary characters.
The H assumed that the h was still deeply in love with her deceased husband when actually they had a terrible relationship. The h assumed that the H was only having sex with her because it was convenient and she was willing. Obviously this led to a rocky road for HEA but they eventually got there.
This was typical MOC, In name only marriage and romance and yet I liked it. It was sweet and at times amusing. There were also some interesting secondary characters.
July 2, 2019
Bien no hay mucho que resaltar de esta historia
Read
June 28, 2019Un Plan Perfecto (Versión)
June 10, 2017
I'm going with a 3.5 here. Damon is the only son in his family and therefore the official patriarch. He's concerned about his pregnant sister and her husband, who he thinks is philandering with the pretty nanny Kate. He also has to deal with his mother who is trying to foist potential marriage prospects on him. So he meets with Kate to set her straight about her little affair with his brother-in-law only to be completely surprised and find himself believing her that nothing is going on. In fact, she has similar problems with her father foisting marriage prospects on her. So they agree to a marriage of convenience to ease that pressure. It's all awkwardness and stress to begin with, but when Damon's mother manipulates them into taking a Caribbean honeymoon, the two really start to connect. But both of them are reminded of their agreement, that it would be a marriage of convenience only, over in a year. As neither of them want that to happen now, they begin to look for signs that the other might consider changing their mind...but neither has enough courage to come out and say it.
This was a really well-written and well plotted story throughout. There was the absolute awkwardness to start, there was the gradual development of the attraction and friendship and then there was the gradual falling in love that was all very believable. Usually, in stories like these, you see the marriage of convenience and then all of a sudden the attraction brushes all of that getting to know you stuff out of the way and it's sex all the time. This had a more realistic progression to it, and Kate, who is no doormat, was not going to have any hanky-panky with a man she didn't know. She even made him sleep on the floor! So the build up of UST was quite enjoyable, as was the obvious developing of feelings. Damon was an honest to goodness good man (who slept on the floor instead of forcing his wife-in-name-only to share a bed with him) who still managed to be grouchy and gruff. I liked him quite a bit. My only complaint about this story though was the ending. Not enough discussion about what happened, especially with Kate . And then she shows up and learns the truth of his feelings and they just forgive everything without discussing any of it. And I wouldn't have minded some closure regarding Kate's father either. Or even some closure and longer discussion regarding Kate's previous marriage. I do like that the lecherous brother-in-law got his redemption though too instead of remaining a perpetual villain.
This was a really well-written and well plotted story throughout. There was the absolute awkwardness to start, there was the gradual development of the attraction and friendship and then there was the gradual falling in love that was all very believable. Usually, in stories like these, you see the marriage of convenience and then all of a sudden the attraction brushes all of that getting to know you stuff out of the way and it's sex all the time. This had a more realistic progression to it, and Kate, who is no doormat, was not going to have any hanky-panky with a man she didn't know. She even made him sleep on the floor! So the build up of UST was quite enjoyable, as was the obvious developing of feelings. Damon was an honest to goodness good man (who slept on the floor instead of forcing his wife-in-name-only to share a bed with him) who still managed to be grouchy and gruff. I liked him quite a bit. My only complaint about this story though was the ending. Not enough discussion about what happened, especially with Kate . And then she shows up and learns the truth of his feelings and they just forgive everything without discussing any of it. And I wouldn't have minded some closure regarding Kate's father either. Or even some closure and longer discussion regarding Kate's previous marriage. I do like that the lecherous brother-in-law got his redemption though too instead of remaining a perpetual villain.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2016
I disagree with the other reviewers in their rate of this novel. I think it was an okay read, but not that much fun.
September 17, 2018
Damon thought Kate was seducing his sister’s husband. Thwy made an arrangement to marry for a year to ward off their parent meddling. Damon was a bit harsh in hiding his attraction towads Kate. They hardly slept together in a bed until their honeymoon when there were cockroaches on the living room. Then they went skinny dipping and started having sex. Damon though he could not rival her dead husband. She felt his dismissal and left. His brother in law came and told her to visit Damon. She told him about her gold digger ex husband and said her love. He returned her feelings and they planned to reward Stephanos as CEO for his help getting them back together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2020
She was the family nanny. But the wife thought she was having an affair with her husband. Kate does not realize this when she meets Damon, a very rich Greek male. He makes her a deal she can't refuse. She is being pressured by her own father to settle down. The marriage starts out as a convenience but soon they cross the lines. They come from different backgrounds and she needs her dependence, job security. He wants her away from his sister's husband. What happens when after the lines blur will they every confess their feelings?
August 23, 2020
Luna di miele con sorpresa (in italiano)
July 31, 2012
Good story, likable characters. Not as over-the-top-angsty as I like, but still a good read.
Read
June 27, 2018Eligible tycoon seeks perfect bride!
Damon Alexakis had looks, wealth, power. What he didn't have was a suitable wife....
Kate McKee was the perfect choice. Beautiful, intelligent, she was the adored nanny of his sister's twins; and she was stunned by Damon's proposal! But what choice did she have? To fend off her father's matchmaking efforts, she'd invented a mystery lover--hut would her pretense backfire? The only solution was to accept Damon's extraordinary deal: for one year only, she'd share his life, but not his bed--at least, that was Kate's interpretation. Damon had other ideas!
Damon Alexakis had looks, wealth, power. What he didn't have was a suitable wife....
Kate McKee was the perfect choice. Beautiful, intelligent, she was the adored nanny of his sister's twins; and she was stunned by Damon's proposal! But what choice did she have? To fend off her father's matchmaking efforts, she'd invented a mystery lover--hut would her pretense backfire? The only solution was to accept Damon's extraordinary deal: for one year only, she'd share his life, but not his bed--at least, that was Kate's interpretation. Damon had other ideas!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews