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The Husband Hunters #1
Una búsqueda desesperada
Maxie, Darcy y Polly tenían que encontrar un marido.
La difunta Nancy Leeward había legado a cada una de sus tres ahijadas una parte de su fortuna, a condición de que se casaran en un año y permanecieran casadas por lo menos seis meses.
Maxie, por culpa de la adicción al juego de su padre, tenía que hacer frente a una deuda que no podía asumir, así que la herencia de Nancy podría ser la solución a sus plegarias...
El millonario griego Angelos Petronides llevaba deseando acostarse con ella casi tres años, por lo tanto podrían llegar a un acuerdo... aunque él pronto descubriría que tendría que ofrecerle algo más que dinero para conseguirla...
La difunta Nancy Leeward había legado a cada una de sus tres ahijadas una parte de su fortuna, a condición de que se casaran en un año y permanecieran casadas por lo menos seis meses.
Maxie, por culpa de la adicción al juego de su padre, tenía que hacer frente a una deuda que no podía asumir, así que la herencia de Nancy podría ser la solución a sus plegarias...
El millonario griego Angelos Petronides llevaba deseando acostarse con ella casi tres años, por lo tanto podrían llegar a un acuerdo... aunque él pronto descubriría que tendría que ofrecerle algo más que dinero para conseguirla...
157 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 5, 1998
212 people are currently reading
887 people want to read
About the author
Lynne Graham
1,728 books1,436 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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April 2, 2019
Re Married to a Mistress - Lynne Graham kicks off the HPlandia 1999 New Year with her Husband Hunters Trilogy
The theme in this miniseries is that three goddaughters of a wealthy lady have all led less than spectacular lives in the marital stakes. Their elderly godmother was briefly married for six months before becoming a widow in her youth and she has left each of the goddaughters one third of her estate, if they too marry for at least six months and try to achieve marital bliss.
First up is Maxie, a model known as the Ice Queen, who has been living in a scandalous situation with a married man three times her age. As this is HPlandia and unicorn grooming is next to deification, Maxie is not exactly living in boudoir bouncing sin.
Maxie is being used by the old guy as a stick to publicly humiliate his separated and adulterous wife. While the two of them wrangle their way through the British court system without actually making it to a decree absolute, Maxie is left to be beautiful and reviled in the tabloids everywhere.
Especially when the old slime pustule has a heart attack and Maxie takes him to hospital and he kicks her out when he hears his wife is coming to support him in his time of illness.
Maxie, who was only staying at the old guy's house in a separate room because of her father's gigantic gambling debt, is left to fend for herself and beg a spare room at a blind friend's house.
The debt Maxie's dad owed had been transferred to the old slime pustule, he loaned Maxie a ton of money to pay off her dad's loan shark after her father was beaten and lost a kidney and threatened with death.
Maxie can't say she approves of her dad's addiction, but considering that her dad had no problem flinging her name around as being the guarantor of his bets, Maxie shacking up in name only with the old guy and accepting his ruinous loan to pay off the debt probably saved her from a worse fate, like rape or death.
This is where Angelos, our LG Approved Greek Hero steps in. The skeezy old guy and his wife are distant relations of his, Angelos is the head of a huge Greek clan and everybody is terrified of him and does exactly what he says. So Angelos buys Maxi's debt.
He claims he isn't a blackmailing kind of man, but he has had his eyes on Maxie for years and since she is a tart anyways, Angelos is sure Maxie will have no problems scooting right on into his bed as his mistress. He has a lot more money and much better boudoir moves than the old guy.
But Maxie isn't going along with that plan, she needs a husband, not a lover - tho Angelos is the only man who has ever made her backbone quiver. Maxie doesn't care tho, she wants a different life than what has been forced upon her up to now and she may be dyslexic, but she isn't stupid and she values herself as far more than just a bed-able tart.
Angelos is persistent tho and Maxie ends up throwing him out of her friend's house, then pawns off the last of her mother's jewelry and confronts Angelos in his office, she throws the money at him as the first installment payment on the assumed debt and roofie kisses follow.
Maxie almost melts from the lurve force mojo heat, but she doesn't admit defeat and she doesn't cave, she tells Angelos the next man she gets into bed with will be her husband and she also tells Angelos she flat out doesn't like him.
Angelos doesn't believe it, even tho he is escorting a famous French Actress around, he stops off at Maxie's place and finds her very ill from chicken pox. Casting the French Actress aside, he sweeps Maxie off to his London house and nurses her through her illness.
When Maxie recovers, she realizes that Angelos just isn't giving up and that she needs to get out of London. Fortunately her father's falling apart inherited cottage is vacant, so Maxie takes herself off to the country.
Angelos follows like a dog on a lease and there is a great fight as Angelos finds Maxie working as waitress in one of his hotels. He does the bully Alpha Greek H thing with Maxie and sacks her, she dumps brandy all over him and quits.
Then Angelos follows Maxie home and gets into fight with five guys who are trying to harass her. After Maxie and some bystanders run the ruffians off, Maxie drives Angelos fancy sports car into a stream outside her house.
When Angelos tries to put the moves on Maxie despite her massively leaky roof, Maxie accepts a date with the local vet who stops by because of the wrecked car in front of her cottage.
The vet kindly lends Angelos his phone to call his staff and Maxie, more affected by Angelos lurve mojo moves than she wants to be, writes a two page list of all Angelos' very bad personality traits to wean herself off of him. She also goes out to dinner with the very nice vet, but can't work up any enthusiasm for him.
Maxie soon gets pulled back into London life, her agent shows up with a revitalization of her modeling career. But Angelos manages to get Maxie again, he hijacks her after her first catwalk show.
Angelos has Maxie brought to a London penthouse that makes her ill, because Maxie doesn't do heights. Angelos kinda proposes, he will marry Maxie, they will keep it secret and then get a divorce when Angelos gets bored.
Maxie is furious at first, she doesn't like heights, she doesn't like cold modernism decorated penthouses and she doesn't like Angelos. Then he kisses her and Maxie starts to think.
She needs a husband to claim her inheritance and Angelos is the only candidate in sight. So she agrees to marry Angelos and the one-uppance game is REALLY on.
It doesn't go well at first, Angelos makes them get married in some out of the way church in the North of England and he is very late. Maxie is so tired she falls asleep on the plane, after returning Angelos' wedding ring. Angelos is shocked that Maxie isn't fawning all over him, but the shocks to Angelos' system aren't over yet.
In a stunningly hilarious scene, Angelos puts on his big bedroom seduction moves. Maxie has tried a few times to explain that circumstances that led her to living with the old guy and that she isn't as experienced as Angelos wants to believe.
Angelos doesn't listen tho, so when the unicorns are spreading their wings to fly away, Maxie screams in pain and runs off to the bathroom.
I can't describe the scene with any justice, so I will just give you the words.
Angelos has to get drunk over the failure of his manly powers of boudoir prowess, but Angelos isn't a dummy either and he soon has the whole gambling debt situation figured out. Which makes Maxie very ashamed, because Angelos has horrible taste in women and she doesn't think nice girls are his style.
The Angelos passes out, after he drunkenly comments that he figures he is at bottom basement level in Maxie's estimation and she remarks that she likes him drunk and humble, it makes him more human.
The next day we finally get the big consummation, but Maxie uses her need for a husband to win her inheritance as way to keep Angelos emotionally at bay. Angelos gets angry that his own sneaky tactics are being used against him, so he takes off and Maxie goes shopping when her credit cards are delivered.
Maxie can seriously shop, she hops around Europe for a week before returning to her new penthouse in London. Which Angelos has completely redecorated to suit Maxie's style and she never has to look over the rooftops of London again, Angelos had them put very high decorative barriers up.
Angelos has now decided that Maxie should go home with him and be acknowledged as his wife, but Maxie figures that is just not good enough, so Angelos has to suffer.
We get some really cute Maxie and Angelos bonding time, after Maxie almost panics because Angelos mistakenly took her list of bad Angelos traits when Maxie claimed she did not have his phone number and he was writing all his numbers out, then he got distracted.
Things seem to be going swimmingly for the two of them, Angelos is even helping Maxie learn to read, when a picture of Angelos and the French Actress show up in the tabloids. Maxie goes into shock at first, because Angelos had made an excuse for not coming home the previous night.
Maxie then stiffens her spine, she is livid and Angelos is about to get his goose cooked. She storms into his office and is ready to read the riot act, but Angelos does some really fast talking.
The picture in the paper is an old one from months earlier, the French Actress gave Angelos the boot after the chickenpox incident and is currently in France. Angelos was really hunting down Maxie's dad.
Her dad has reformed from his gambling addiction and is now working as a candy salesman and has met a nice lady to settle down with.
Maxie is happy to see her dad and he is really sorry for his part in having to live with that old geezer guy. The guilt motivated him to get himself sorted and now we are only waiting for Angelos' big declaration.
We get it in huge pink letters written in the sky. Angelos hires a sky writer to tell Maxie he loves her, then he takes her to the family country estate for a big party to introduce her to all of his family. Maxie is overwhelmed and finally tells Angelos she loves him back, for a pink sparkly HEA and a really great LG HP outing.
This book is very re-readable and I enjoy it more every time I pick it up. There is a lot of the usual HP double standards the first time you start it, but Angelos' evolution from nematode to adoring, devoted, head over heels lurve puppy is too good to pass over.
This isn't the best LG has ever written, we are still waiting on that. But this is truly the start of the classic LG Trope HP Outing. We have an h who has a great backbone and H who reforms very nicely, for the really happy, very believable HEA.
That puts it on the HP required reading list because this book shows the full flowering of an HPlandia author who has grown enormously in her craft and vividly illustrates why LG is always an author to read for a very satisfying HP Romance.
The theme in this miniseries is that three goddaughters of a wealthy lady have all led less than spectacular lives in the marital stakes. Their elderly godmother was briefly married for six months before becoming a widow in her youth and she has left each of the goddaughters one third of her estate, if they too marry for at least six months and try to achieve marital bliss.
First up is Maxie, a model known as the Ice Queen, who has been living in a scandalous situation with a married man three times her age. As this is HPlandia and unicorn grooming is next to deification, Maxie is not exactly living in boudoir bouncing sin.
Maxie is being used by the old guy as a stick to publicly humiliate his separated and adulterous wife. While the two of them wrangle their way through the British court system without actually making it to a decree absolute, Maxie is left to be beautiful and reviled in the tabloids everywhere.
Especially when the old slime pustule has a heart attack and Maxie takes him to hospital and he kicks her out when he hears his wife is coming to support him in his time of illness.
Maxie, who was only staying at the old guy's house in a separate room because of her father's gigantic gambling debt, is left to fend for herself and beg a spare room at a blind friend's house.
The debt Maxie's dad owed had been transferred to the old slime pustule, he loaned Maxie a ton of money to pay off her dad's loan shark after her father was beaten and lost a kidney and threatened with death.
Maxie can't say she approves of her dad's addiction, but considering that her dad had no problem flinging her name around as being the guarantor of his bets, Maxie shacking up in name only with the old guy and accepting his ruinous loan to pay off the debt probably saved her from a worse fate, like rape or death.
This is where Angelos, our LG Approved Greek Hero steps in. The skeezy old guy and his wife are distant relations of his, Angelos is the head of a huge Greek clan and everybody is terrified of him and does exactly what he says. So Angelos buys Maxi's debt.
He claims he isn't a blackmailing kind of man, but he has had his eyes on Maxie for years and since she is a tart anyways, Angelos is sure Maxie will have no problems scooting right on into his bed as his mistress. He has a lot more money and much better boudoir moves than the old guy.
But Maxie isn't going along with that plan, she needs a husband, not a lover - tho Angelos is the only man who has ever made her backbone quiver. Maxie doesn't care tho, she wants a different life than what has been forced upon her up to now and she may be dyslexic, but she isn't stupid and she values herself as far more than just a bed-able tart.
Angelos is persistent tho and Maxie ends up throwing him out of her friend's house, then pawns off the last of her mother's jewelry and confronts Angelos in his office, she throws the money at him as the first installment payment on the assumed debt and roofie kisses follow.
Maxie almost melts from the lurve force mojo heat, but she doesn't admit defeat and she doesn't cave, she tells Angelos the next man she gets into bed with will be her husband and she also tells Angelos she flat out doesn't like him.
Angelos doesn't believe it, even tho he is escorting a famous French Actress around, he stops off at Maxie's place and finds her very ill from chicken pox. Casting the French Actress aside, he sweeps Maxie off to his London house and nurses her through her illness.
When Maxie recovers, she realizes that Angelos just isn't giving up and that she needs to get out of London. Fortunately her father's falling apart inherited cottage is vacant, so Maxie takes herself off to the country.
Angelos follows like a dog on a lease and there is a great fight as Angelos finds Maxie working as waitress in one of his hotels. He does the bully Alpha Greek H thing with Maxie and sacks her, she dumps brandy all over him and quits.
Then Angelos follows Maxie home and gets into fight with five guys who are trying to harass her. After Maxie and some bystanders run the ruffians off, Maxie drives Angelos fancy sports car into a stream outside her house.
When Angelos tries to put the moves on Maxie despite her massively leaky roof, Maxie accepts a date with the local vet who stops by because of the wrecked car in front of her cottage.
The vet kindly lends Angelos his phone to call his staff and Maxie, more affected by Angelos lurve mojo moves than she wants to be, writes a two page list of all Angelos' very bad personality traits to wean herself off of him. She also goes out to dinner with the very nice vet, but can't work up any enthusiasm for him.
Maxie soon gets pulled back into London life, her agent shows up with a revitalization of her modeling career. But Angelos manages to get Maxie again, he hijacks her after her first catwalk show.
Angelos has Maxie brought to a London penthouse that makes her ill, because Maxie doesn't do heights. Angelos kinda proposes, he will marry Maxie, they will keep it secret and then get a divorce when Angelos gets bored.
Maxie is furious at first, she doesn't like heights, she doesn't like cold modernism decorated penthouses and she doesn't like Angelos. Then he kisses her and Maxie starts to think.
She needs a husband to claim her inheritance and Angelos is the only candidate in sight. So she agrees to marry Angelos and the one-uppance game is REALLY on.
It doesn't go well at first, Angelos makes them get married in some out of the way church in the North of England and he is very late. Maxie is so tired she falls asleep on the plane, after returning Angelos' wedding ring. Angelos is shocked that Maxie isn't fawning all over him, but the shocks to Angelos' system aren't over yet.
In a stunningly hilarious scene, Angelos puts on his big bedroom seduction moves. Maxie has tried a few times to explain that circumstances that led her to living with the old guy and that she isn't as experienced as Angelos wants to believe.
Angelos doesn't listen tho, so when the unicorns are spreading their wings to fly away, Maxie screams in pain and runs off to the bathroom.
I can't describe the scene with any justice, so I will just give you the words.
Angelos banged on the door. 'Maxie? Come out of there!'
'Go to hell!' she shouted, cramming her hand to her wobbling mouth before a sob could escape and betray her.
'Are you all right?'
'I'm having a bath, Angelos... not drowning myself! Although with that technique of yours, I understand your concern!'
Angelos has to get drunk over the failure of his manly powers of boudoir prowess, but Angelos isn't a dummy either and he soon has the whole gambling debt situation figured out. Which makes Maxie very ashamed, because Angelos has horrible taste in women and she doesn't think nice girls are his style.
The Angelos passes out, after he drunkenly comments that he figures he is at bottom basement level in Maxie's estimation and she remarks that she likes him drunk and humble, it makes him more human.
The next day we finally get the big consummation, but Maxie uses her need for a husband to win her inheritance as way to keep Angelos emotionally at bay. Angelos gets angry that his own sneaky tactics are being used against him, so he takes off and Maxie goes shopping when her credit cards are delivered.
Maxie can seriously shop, she hops around Europe for a week before returning to her new penthouse in London. Which Angelos has completely redecorated to suit Maxie's style and she never has to look over the rooftops of London again, Angelos had them put very high decorative barriers up.
Angelos has now decided that Maxie should go home with him and be acknowledged as his wife, but Maxie figures that is just not good enough, so Angelos has to suffer.
We get some really cute Maxie and Angelos bonding time, after Maxie almost panics because Angelos mistakenly took her list of bad Angelos traits when Maxie claimed she did not have his phone number and he was writing all his numbers out, then he got distracted.
Things seem to be going swimmingly for the two of them, Angelos is even helping Maxie learn to read, when a picture of Angelos and the French Actress show up in the tabloids. Maxie goes into shock at first, because Angelos had made an excuse for not coming home the previous night.
Maxie then stiffens her spine, she is livid and Angelos is about to get his goose cooked. She storms into his office and is ready to read the riot act, but Angelos does some really fast talking.
The picture in the paper is an old one from months earlier, the French Actress gave Angelos the boot after the chickenpox incident and is currently in France. Angelos was really hunting down Maxie's dad.
Her dad has reformed from his gambling addiction and is now working as a candy salesman and has met a nice lady to settle down with.
Maxie is happy to see her dad and he is really sorry for his part in having to live with that old geezer guy. The guilt motivated him to get himself sorted and now we are only waiting for Angelos' big declaration.
We get it in huge pink letters written in the sky. Angelos hires a sky writer to tell Maxie he loves her, then he takes her to the family country estate for a big party to introduce her to all of his family. Maxie is overwhelmed and finally tells Angelos she loves him back, for a pink sparkly HEA and a really great LG HP outing.
This book is very re-readable and I enjoy it more every time I pick it up. There is a lot of the usual HP double standards the first time you start it, but Angelos' evolution from nematode to adoring, devoted, head over heels lurve puppy is too good to pass over.
This isn't the best LG has ever written, we are still waiting on that. But this is truly the start of the classic LG Trope HP Outing. We have an h who has a great backbone and H who reforms very nicely, for the really happy, very believable HEA.
That puts it on the HP required reading list because this book shows the full flowering of an HPlandia author who has grown enormously in her craft and vividly illustrates why LG is always an author to read for a very satisfying HP Romance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2021
Plenty of reviews for this one, so I won't get into the plot. I have this listed under revenge by hero - but it's really more of blackmail plot, since our smitten hero really, really wants the heroine in his bed - first as a mistress then as a secret wife and then as a real wife. It's adorable to watch him move the goal posts so that heroine will feel safe and secure with him.
I really liked the chicken pox scene and the poor hero taking on five thugs to protect the h.
I wasn't as impressed with the heroine. The dyslexia hangup and the fact that most of their conflict hinged on a misunderstanding (she was not the old guy's mistress) knocked a star off for me.
But those aren't huge quibbles. The hero more than makes up for the heroine's deficiencies. Lynne Graham did a great job setting up a very memorable trilogy. All of them are worth reading.
I really liked the chicken pox scene and the poor hero taking on five thugs to protect the h.
I wasn't as impressed with the heroine. The dyslexia hangup and the fact that most of their conflict hinged on a misunderstanding (she was not the old guy's mistress) knocked a star off for me.
But those aren't huge quibbles. The hero more than makes up for the heroine's deficiencies. Lynne Graham did a great job setting up a very memorable trilogy. All of them are worth reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2012
I really enjoyed this one. The hero wanted the heroine as his mistress and since he knows that she was already someone else's mistress, he can't understand why she'd turn him down once she's free. Of course like almost all LG heroine's she is really a virgin who had been forced to pretend to be the other man's mistress.
They fought throughout the whole thing. Sometimes he would come out on top and sometimes she would. I can take a lot of bickering if the winning is not all on one side. She had him frustrated 6 ways from Sunday. He treated her emotionally like crap several times but you could always tell he was just clueless about what he really wanted and was refusing to change his mind. She didn't help him out any. She kind of went with the 'well if that's the way he feels, I'll just live up to his bad opinion.' There were a lot of fun scenes in this one if you like over the top melodrama which is of course what I read these for.
Okay I've read the 1st and 3rd of these books, now I have to hunt down the 2nd.
They fought throughout the whole thing. Sometimes he would come out on top and sometimes she would. I can take a lot of bickering if the winning is not all on one side. She had him frustrated 6 ways from Sunday. He treated her emotionally like crap several times but you could always tell he was just clueless about what he really wanted and was refusing to change his mind. She didn't help him out any. She kind of went with the 'well if that's the way he feels, I'll just live up to his bad opinion.' There were a lot of fun scenes in this one if you like over the top melodrama which is of course what I read these for.
Okay I've read the 1st and 3rd of these books, now I have to hunt down the 2nd.
November 18, 2024
Re-read and I have realized again that prideful hs are best!
July 4, 2025
I’m getting insane. I actually loved this 😭
As usual for an HP book it’s doused with misogyny, chauvinism, OW drama, poor (literally) FMC, body betraying syndrome. Oh the body betraying syndrome, I tell ya!!
And this is me ignoring all of that in this book: 🙉🤔🙈
I loved this and it’s because of the firecracker FMC Maxie.
She’s stubborn. Her one reliable trait. Even with her BBS, it won’t let her give her pride and dignity to Angelos (MMC) and boy did she resist. It’s so rare to read HP books where the FMC doesn’t immediately open her legs before having a spell of dramatic bbs of no’s and nays and oh he’s giving me shivers why is he so crude and oh I’m so wet why is he belittling my weak personality.
Maxie made Angelos work for herpussy time. I’m proud of her 👏
As usual for an HP book it’s doused with misogyny, chauvinism, OW drama, poor (literally) FMC, body betraying syndrome. Oh the body betraying syndrome, I tell ya!!
And this is me ignoring all of that in this book: 🙉🤔🙈
I loved this and it’s because of the firecracker FMC Maxie.
She’s stubborn. Her one reliable trait. Even with her BBS, it won’t let her give her pride and dignity to Angelos (MMC) and boy did she resist. It’s so rare to read HP books where the FMC doesn’t immediately open her legs before having a spell of dramatic bbs of no’s and nays and oh he’s giving me shivers why is he so crude and oh I’m so wet why is he belittling my weak personality.
Maxie made Angelos work for her
November 27, 2018
Let me get this clear first, she was not his mistress. HP's manipulating book title is really really getting old.
She ruined her reputation because of a big stupidity and the hero thought to make her his mistress. She didn't agree to this obviously. There were some drama and heroine did try to fight the hero but I find it sometimes plain stupid. But she tries to fight and pushed him away. Stupid or not at least, I can give her some credit for that. The hero was one of the cruelest, meanest jerk and there was that same old question- why the heroine loved the hero. He agreed to marry her but only one condition that they have to hide the fact they were married like some dirty little secret. Still, the heroine marries her. You can understand why I said that she was stupid and immature. After, he marries her and finds out that she was a virgin obviously he tries to make some groveling which wasn't good enough and then HEA.
I can see that the hero was obsessed with the heroine. Sometimes people can make mistake by thinking that his obsession was love but make no mistake if you love her then how the hell you were cruel to her? So definitely his 10 days little groveling was not enough.
Safety Issue: The hero wasn't celibate after meeting the heroine. They know each other for 3/4 years. But it was safe after they got together.
She ruined her reputation because of a big stupidity and the hero thought to make her his mistress. She didn't agree to this obviously. There were some drama and heroine did try to fight the hero but I find it sometimes plain stupid. But she tries to fight and pushed him away. Stupid or not at least, I can give her some credit for that. The hero was one of the cruelest, meanest jerk and there was that same old question- why the heroine loved the hero. He agreed to marry her but only one condition that they have to hide the fact they were married like some dirty little secret. Still, the heroine marries her. You can understand why I said that she was stupid and immature. After, he marries her and finds out that she was a virgin obviously he tries to make some groveling which wasn't good enough and then HEA.
I can see that the hero was obsessed with the heroine. Sometimes people can make mistake by thinking that his obsession was love but make no mistake if you love her then how the hell you were cruel to her? So definitely his 10 days little groveling was not enough.
Safety Issue: The hero wasn't celibate after meeting the heroine. They know each other for 3/4 years. But it was safe after they got together.
January 12, 2018
Massive rant to follow.
If you liked this book, you might want to stay way.
This had the shittiest double standards concluding with women are to me subservient to men, so no, I’m not really going to soften the blow.
If you liked this book, you might want to stay way.
This had the shittiest double standards concluding with women are to me subservient to men, so no, I’m not really going to soften the blow.
December 19, 2018
Three girls inherit a share of their godmother's estate—if they marry within a year and remain married for six months.
Soon they will realize that what they have inherit is basically “good luck".
All of them will be married under different circumstances and will stay happily married for the rest of their lives.
Maxie is the first girl. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, but unfortunately her beauty is her curse. All men want her, but nobody really loves her. Angelos pursues her - although he feels that she is not good enough for him.
‘If I ever marry, my wife will be a lady with breeding, background and a decent reputation.’
It was an absolute pleasure watching Angelos following Maxie around almost everywhere pretending that he doesn't really care about her.
And it was an absolute pleasure watching Maxie being bitchy all the time and denying him.
‘I like my own space. I would buy you your own place and visit—’
An angry flush chased Maxie’s strained pallor. ‘I’m not for sale—’
‘Except for a wedding ring?’
Soon they will realize that what they have inherit is basically “good luck".
All of them will be married under different circumstances and will stay happily married for the rest of their lives.
Maxie is the first girl. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, but unfortunately her beauty is her curse. All men want her, but nobody really loves her. Angelos pursues her - although he feels that she is not good enough for him.
‘If I ever marry, my wife will be a lady with breeding, background and a decent reputation.’
It was an absolute pleasure watching Angelos following Maxie around almost everywhere pretending that he doesn't really care about her.
And it was an absolute pleasure watching Maxie being bitchy all the time and denying him.
‘I like my own space. I would buy you your own place and visit—’
An angry flush chased Maxie’s strained pallor. ‘I’m not for sale—’
‘Except for a wedding ring?’
August 2, 2016
Well, the H is another LG alpha-romero-hunka-hunka of magic penis hero in totally over his head, and the heroine is yet another gorgeous and misunderstood virginal martyr with dyslexia.
Good but not The Spanish Groom good.
3.5 stars
Good but not The Spanish Groom good.
3.5 stars
March 23, 2020
This has plenty of great reviews so I'll just leave a few thoughts.
This was a wild ride! The H is a typical Greek billionaire manwhore and the h is a sweet, good natured girl who gets fired up around the H and doesn't hold back. The back and forth between them was constant and they really ignited around each other. However, both the H/h seemed overwrought most of the time and their arguments and constant one-upping the other became tiresome. It felt like their relationship was mostly game playing and doing everything in their power to never admit to any vulnerability. Most people loved this book, and I'm convinced that my issues are completely a "me thing". I just couldn't find the romance or enjoyment when it felt a lot like an episode of Dynasty.
In the end, the book has a romantic and sweet last quarter as they finally get honest about their feelings, get to know each other, and begin to trust. They are a very memorable pair, just not one of my favorites.
Safety
This was a wild ride! The H is a typical Greek billionaire manwhore and the h is a sweet, good natured girl who gets fired up around the H and doesn't hold back. The back and forth between them was constant and they really ignited around each other. However, both the H/h seemed overwrought most of the time and their arguments and constant one-upping the other became tiresome. It felt like their relationship was mostly game playing and doing everything in their power to never admit to any vulnerability. Most people loved this book, and I'm convinced that my issues are completely a "me thing". I just couldn't find the romance or enjoyment when it felt a lot like an episode of Dynasty.
In the end, the book has a romantic and sweet last quarter as they finally get honest about their feelings, get to know each other, and begin to trust. They are a very memorable pair, just not one of my favorites.
Safety
March 1, 2012
This is one of the few Lynne Graham books that I actually liked. I understand that it is the first in a three part series, and the second book "Vengeful Husband" is supposedly even better...Can't wait to read that.
Surprisingly, the reason I liked this so much was for the Hero....and yes he was typical alpha, arrogant, close minded, rough handed...but he had ALOT of redeeming qualities...It was obvious (in his alpha way) that he truly cared for the heroine. For example, ditching his date to take care of her with the chickenpox...taking on 5 men to rescue her, worried that she would walk out on him over a misused photograph and article, seeing enough of the signs to recognize her dyslexia and helping her through it...and finally putting all the clues together to realize that she wasn't what she portrayed to the world. So often we read about these self-made billionaires who don't see the clues...which is absolutely ridiculous because they would not be billionaires if they weren't really very very astute men able to cut through all the bull in a matter of seconds. ; ))
What I didn't like....all that virgin baggage that authors love to play up that supposedly all of a sudden makes for a better person. Also the heroine came across very annoying at times and very immature.
Surprisingly, the reason I liked this so much was for the Hero....and yes he was typical alpha, arrogant, close minded, rough handed...but he had ALOT of redeeming qualities...It was obvious (in his alpha way) that he truly cared for the heroine. For example, ditching his date to take care of her with the chickenpox...taking on 5 men to rescue her, worried that she would walk out on him over a misused photograph and article, seeing enough of the signs to recognize her dyslexia and helping her through it...and finally putting all the clues together to realize that she wasn't what she portrayed to the world. So often we read about these self-made billionaires who don't see the clues...which is absolutely ridiculous because they would not be billionaires if they weren't really very very astute men able to cut through all the bull in a matter of seconds. ; ))
What I didn't like....all that virgin baggage that authors love to play up that supposedly all of a sudden makes for a better person. Also the heroine came across very annoying at times and very immature.
September 11, 2025
Reread 9/11/25: I agree with my rave review below 100%. I love the passion and the high-intensity verbal exchanges between Maxie and Angelos. For my preferences, this is one of the best books that LG ever wrote.
5-star review from 10/20/22:
Wonderful, witty, battle-of-the-sexes romance
I have read this delightful, frequently humorous romance multiple times over the years, and I enjoy it just as much every time. It is a real keeper. Though this novel was originally published in 1998, other than the fact that ubiquitous cell phones are missing from its story world, it does not feel at all dated.
This is the first book in a trilogy called, The Husband Hunters. Three young women, Maxie, Darcy and Polly, were goddaughters to a recently deceased, wealthy woman who wrote a very strange will. In order to inherit their share of her estate, they must each marry within a year and remain married for at least six months.
Maxie Kendall is a 22-year-old former model who, at the naïve age of 19, was tricked into signing a cruel contract by a scheming, middle-aged, wealthy man, Leland Coulter. She needed a huge amount of money, fast, to pay off her gambling-addict father’s debts to a gangster, who had already put her father in the hospital and was threatening to finish the job of brutalizing him with outright murder. Leland agreed to pay off her father’s debts and allow Maxie to repay him over time on condition that she move in with him, indefinitely, and pretend to be his mistress. This cynical arrangement was entirely to publicly one-up his wife, who had cheated on him. During the course of this unpleasant situation, Maxie’s reputation was destroyed in the paparazzi press, which portrayed her as the avaricious, immoral, young model living with a much-older, married sugar-daddy. In addition, during the course of this humiliating arrangement, Maxie ran into Greek tycoon Angelos Petronides, currently age 33, and there was instant attraction between them. Though neither of them overtly discussed it at the time, it was the start of a burning determination of Angelos to make Maxie his.
At the start of the story, Leland has just had a heart attack, and dumped Maxie to go back to his wife, Jennifer Coulter. Embittered and vengeful, Jennifer is determined to take her rival, Maxie, to court and demand a balloon payment of Leland’s original loan amount. In the opening scene, Jennifer is ranting to Angelos about her payback plan because she is his late mother’s English stepsister and part of his family. Maxie is the only woman that Angelos has ever lost sleep over, and he is elated that she is both now free of her sordid relationship, and that Jennifer is unwittingly offering him a chance to do something for Maxie that will put her under an obligation to him. He purchases the loan from Jennifer and tracks down Maxie, who is currently homeless and bunking with a longtime girlfriend. He informs Maxie that he has paid off her loan from Leland, and declares, with arrogant noblesse oblige, that he has no desire for her to ever repay him. But, contrary to what Angelos assumed would happen, Maxie not only does not fall upon his neck in greedy gratitude, she tells him off in no uncertain terms, proclaiming that he can’t buy her, and she will never be his mistress. Which is, of course, what they both know he wants from her.
Thus begins a rip-roaring, often wittily comical, battle-of-the-sexes, romantic journey between Maxie and Angelos. Some of the things I loved about this book include:
—No unplanned pregnancy! The plot of virtually every romance novel LG has ever written involves an unplanned pregnancy (including both of the other two novels in this trilogy), as do a huge percentage of all Harlequin Presents novels in general, so this is a lovely change of pace. I like LG’s novels in spite of the unplanned pregnancies, not because of them.
—Maxie is 5’11” tall, and much more size appropriate for Angelos, who is a typically large, 6’4” tall, LG hero, compared to the average LG heroine, who is most frequently around 5’4”. Out of over 100 books, there have only been two or three by LG in which the heroine is this tall, which is another pleasing novelty of this story.
—Maxie is dyslexic, which is an interesting, unique, and well-written source of internal conflict for her throughout the novel. Even 23 years after this book was initially published, I have rarely run across a romance novel with a dyslexic heroine.
—Maxie stands up to Angelos over and over again—no doormat heroine here! And Angelos is strongly attracted to her fiery spirit.
—As is the case in all of her novels, LG’s sex scenes in this story are well written, compelling, never crude, and they always further the plot, rather than just consisting of pointless, boring filler, unlike 90% of the sex scenes in romance novels. For that reason, I never skip the sex scenes written by LG, though I rarely read those of any other author.
—There is a great deal of emotional intensity between Maxie and Angelos, which is something I can always count on between the romantic protagonists in an LG romance, and why her novels are an auto-buy for me.
In past years, LG’s heroes, as in this book, tended to be in their early 30s. But interestingly, during the past few years, she has switched to writing her heroes as either age 28 or 29. Her heroines, as in this book, have continued to be in their early 20s, which means there is a much smaller age difference between her heroines and heroes, which contributes to more equal power dynamics between them. I have read every romance LG has ever written, and I only recall a single book, Second-Time Bride from 1997, in which the heroine is in her early 30s. That particular story is an excitingly intense, reunion, secret-baby romance, with a 13-year separation of the hero and heroine after a failed, teenage, shotgun marriage.
I rate this novel as follows:
Heroine: 5 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars
5-star review from 10/20/22:
Wonderful, witty, battle-of-the-sexes romance
I have read this delightful, frequently humorous romance multiple times over the years, and I enjoy it just as much every time. It is a real keeper. Though this novel was originally published in 1998, other than the fact that ubiquitous cell phones are missing from its story world, it does not feel at all dated.
This is the first book in a trilogy called, The Husband Hunters. Three young women, Maxie, Darcy and Polly, were goddaughters to a recently deceased, wealthy woman who wrote a very strange will. In order to inherit their share of her estate, they must each marry within a year and remain married for at least six months.
Maxie Kendall is a 22-year-old former model who, at the naïve age of 19, was tricked into signing a cruel contract by a scheming, middle-aged, wealthy man, Leland Coulter. She needed a huge amount of money, fast, to pay off her gambling-addict father’s debts to a gangster, who had already put her father in the hospital and was threatening to finish the job of brutalizing him with outright murder. Leland agreed to pay off her father’s debts and allow Maxie to repay him over time on condition that she move in with him, indefinitely, and pretend to be his mistress. This cynical arrangement was entirely to publicly one-up his wife, who had cheated on him. During the course of this unpleasant situation, Maxie’s reputation was destroyed in the paparazzi press, which portrayed her as the avaricious, immoral, young model living with a much-older, married sugar-daddy. In addition, during the course of this humiliating arrangement, Maxie ran into Greek tycoon Angelos Petronides, currently age 33, and there was instant attraction between them. Though neither of them overtly discussed it at the time, it was the start of a burning determination of Angelos to make Maxie his.
At the start of the story, Leland has just had a heart attack, and dumped Maxie to go back to his wife, Jennifer Coulter. Embittered and vengeful, Jennifer is determined to take her rival, Maxie, to court and demand a balloon payment of Leland’s original loan amount. In the opening scene, Jennifer is ranting to Angelos about her payback plan because she is his late mother’s English stepsister and part of his family. Maxie is the only woman that Angelos has ever lost sleep over, and he is elated that she is both now free of her sordid relationship, and that Jennifer is unwittingly offering him a chance to do something for Maxie that will put her under an obligation to him. He purchases the loan from Jennifer and tracks down Maxie, who is currently homeless and bunking with a longtime girlfriend. He informs Maxie that he has paid off her loan from Leland, and declares, with arrogant noblesse oblige, that he has no desire for her to ever repay him. But, contrary to what Angelos assumed would happen, Maxie not only does not fall upon his neck in greedy gratitude, she tells him off in no uncertain terms, proclaiming that he can’t buy her, and she will never be his mistress. Which is, of course, what they both know he wants from her.
Thus begins a rip-roaring, often wittily comical, battle-of-the-sexes, romantic journey between Maxie and Angelos. Some of the things I loved about this book include:
—No unplanned pregnancy! The plot of virtually every romance novel LG has ever written involves an unplanned pregnancy (including both of the other two novels in this trilogy), as do a huge percentage of all Harlequin Presents novels in general, so this is a lovely change of pace. I like LG’s novels in spite of the unplanned pregnancies, not because of them.
—Maxie is 5’11” tall, and much more size appropriate for Angelos, who is a typically large, 6’4” tall, LG hero, compared to the average LG heroine, who is most frequently around 5’4”. Out of over 100 books, there have only been two or three by LG in which the heroine is this tall, which is another pleasing novelty of this story.
—Maxie is dyslexic, which is an interesting, unique, and well-written source of internal conflict for her throughout the novel. Even 23 years after this book was initially published, I have rarely run across a romance novel with a dyslexic heroine.
—Maxie stands up to Angelos over and over again—no doormat heroine here! And Angelos is strongly attracted to her fiery spirit.
—As is the case in all of her novels, LG’s sex scenes in this story are well written, compelling, never crude, and they always further the plot, rather than just consisting of pointless, boring filler, unlike 90% of the sex scenes in romance novels. For that reason, I never skip the sex scenes written by LG, though I rarely read those of any other author.
—There is a great deal of emotional intensity between Maxie and Angelos, which is something I can always count on between the romantic protagonists in an LG romance, and why her novels are an auto-buy for me.
In past years, LG’s heroes, as in this book, tended to be in their early 30s. But interestingly, during the past few years, she has switched to writing her heroes as either age 28 or 29. Her heroines, as in this book, have continued to be in their early 20s, which means there is a much smaller age difference between her heroines and heroes, which contributes to more equal power dynamics between them. I have read every romance LG has ever written, and I only recall a single book, Second-Time Bride from 1997, in which the heroine is in her early 30s. That particular story is an excitingly intense, reunion, secret-baby romance, with a 13-year separation of the hero and heroine after a failed, teenage, shotgun marriage.
I rate this novel as follows:
Heroine: 5 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars
August 31, 2011
Great Lynne Graham. I normally find it tough in an HP to find characters falling in love for the first time truly believable, especially where they fight all the time (the books are too short for it to be believable), and normally I prefer stories where the characters were in love in the past, because with that history you can understand the love despite the fighting/cruelty. But this is a good one and you can really feel that Angelos can't help being totally in love with Maxie the whole time, even if he tries to hide it.
April 11, 2023
The delicious drama in this one... sigh!
I wasn’t expecting this much fun. I loved how spirited the heroine was. She always went toe to toe with the hero. She snapped and fought with him. She was also supermodel gorgeous which isn’t a usual norm for this author’s heroines.
Hero was as usual an arrogant jerk but he was a clearly smitten jerk. Possessive too.
There were so many scenes that pleasantly surprised me. I wasn’t expecting hero’s unusual proposition. I loved the last part so much. Though I admit in the middle I was a little bit fed up with heroine’s action.
Safe and recommended.
I wasn’t expecting this much fun. I loved how spirited the heroine was. She always went toe to toe with the hero. She snapped and fought with him. She was also supermodel gorgeous which isn’t a usual norm for this author’s heroines.
Hero was as usual an arrogant jerk but he was a clearly smitten jerk. Possessive too.
There were so many scenes that pleasantly surprised me. I wasn’t expecting hero’s unusual proposition. I loved the last part so much. Though I admit in the middle I was a little bit fed up with heroine’s action.
Safe and recommended.
June 10, 2018
"Married to a Mistress" is the story of Maxie and Angelos.
Every month or so I pick up a Lynne Graham, because she was the first romance author I ever read- and try to fall for her again. I fail, yet again.
This was a really bad read for me.
From bipolar main characters to detestable secondary ones, this annoyed me to no end. The heroine is always a slave to her circumstances, be it in the further past, recent past or present. Easily blackmailed by the men in her life, things take a turn for the worse when
-her godmother dies with a will, demanding she stop hoeing and get married
-a horny dude (aka hero) gets sups attached to her, and starts stalking her
-she runs out of money to pay back her lecherous father's debts
If you like a sacrificial tstl heroine, an obstinate hero, n number of misunderstandings, slave to sexual attraction and just insane amount of drama, slut shaming, tantrums- this is for you.
I didnt like it at all.
SWE?
1/5
Every month or so I pick up a Lynne Graham, because she was the first romance author I ever read- and try to fall for her again. I fail, yet again.
This was a really bad read for me.
From bipolar main characters to detestable secondary ones, this annoyed me to no end. The heroine is always a slave to her circumstances, be it in the further past, recent past or present. Easily blackmailed by the men in her life, things take a turn for the worse when
-her godmother dies with a will, demanding she stop hoeing and get married
-a horny dude (aka hero) gets sups attached to her, and starts stalking her
-she runs out of money to pay back her lecherous father's debts
If you like a sacrificial tstl heroine, an obstinate hero, n number of misunderstandings, slave to sexual attraction and just insane amount of drama, slut shaming, tantrums- this is for you.
I didnt like it at all.
SWE?
1/5
September 13, 2021
I enjoyed this book! She had him so tied up in knots that for most of the story, and I loved how Maxie stood up for herself and gave as good as she got! And I adored Angelos. He's such a great guy, and I was so giddy to see him with Maxie and how he tried to deny his feelings for her and failed. Angelos and Maxie are absolutely sizzling together. The romance isn’t sweet at; first they fight constantly, but the dialogue, snark, the banter, the sexual tension, everything between them… uber chemistry! Then there's the scene where he confessed his love. That big gestures he made for her seriously had my heart melting!
December 8, 2015
The most memorable thing about great book is that the Angelos went over the top with everything regarding Maxi. The best part was that he wasn't even aware of how ridiculously obvious he was. He kinda just waited for her to catch on. LG did a wonderful job adding a good measure of humor at the right places. I had some lmao moments with this book. It's equal measure emotion, breathless seduction, fun and wit. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one.
February 5, 2018
I’ve re-read this so many times. It still captures my attention with all the angst and drama and OTT caveman ways of the H.
Safety:
Hero is the usual greek billionaire manwhore but at least he became celibate when he started to seriously pursue the heroine.
Heroine is a virgin model who agreed to be an older man’s mistress as a charade but they never had sex. This deal is to save her useless father who racked up huge debts.
Safety:
Hero is the usual greek billionaire manwhore but at least he became celibate when he started to seriously pursue the heroine.
Heroine is a virgin model who agreed to be an older man’s mistress as a charade but they never had sex. This deal is to save her useless father who racked up huge debts.
April 5, 2012
These two were a match for each other, on every level, and it cracked me up seeing them interact. My favourite line was when he said to her, after her umpteenth time of telling him to leave her alone, 'You really can't look at me like that and expect me to throw in the towel.' That one line pretty much sums it all up.
March 20, 2022
More like a 3.25 stars. . I liked the overbearing obsession shown by hero to possess the heroine at all cost despite her thorny behavior throughout. Love scenes were late in the book, short and mostly off the page, which was a disappointment as even during their bickering the chemistry between them was sizzling. I didn't like how the heroines of the next two books were introduced.
December 5, 2017
4.8 stars out of 5.
It's a great book that only improves as it progresses !
However it lost two points, because for a book this good, I wished it had a more impassioned ending. It felt like how most HEA's end, simple and rushed. Therefore the ending didn't feel like much different from any other 'run of the mill' romance story.
Nonetheless, it is a good read.
It's a great book that only improves as it progresses !
However it lost two points, because for a book this good, I wished it had a more impassioned ending. It felt like how most HEA's end, simple and rushed. Therefore the ending didn't feel like much different from any other 'run of the mill' romance story.
Nonetheless, it is a good read.
March 20, 2012
Enjoyed this one.It was intense emotional full of tension,liked the way Maxie always gave it back to him but it always backfired.Overall a good read.
December 5, 2021
Didn’t much like this one. It was a drag just getting through it.
Most unpleasurable read. I didn’t get the sense that they love each other.
The way the hero makes a move on her was very unpleasant. Calling in a loan and asking for her body. Gave me the creeps. Like he’s horrible.
The scene where he’s beaten up by goons and then bleeding. The heroine showed a terrible lack of concern for him. I mean humanity would compel one to take care of someone. She didn’t.
And a hero is supposed to be heroic. What a wimp to get beaten up.
Then all the rain coming in through the roof when she takes him home. Senseless.
The story gets zero stars from me for having a flow. There was no fun in what was happening. No sense in the plot.
If she was dyslexic and couldn’t read or write then how did she write several pages of the hero’s shortcomings and read them??? How was he able to read her handwriting??
A glaring loophole.
I never feel the attraction between them in any sex scene ever described in any Lynne Graham book. Ever. I don’t know.
Her stories are very formulaic and dry. Very cold bloodedly written. But then I might be an exception in feeling this way.
Only one she wrote brilliantly was The Spanish Groom I think. The Unfaithful Wife is another of her good ones. The heiress bride. That was nice too.
The bedroom stuff is always very peculiar. No spark.
This one. I would advise that it should be avoided unless you are a die hard LG fan.
Most unpleasurable read. I didn’t get the sense that they love each other.
The way the hero makes a move on her was very unpleasant. Calling in a loan and asking for her body. Gave me the creeps. Like he’s horrible.
The scene where he’s beaten up by goons and then bleeding. The heroine showed a terrible lack of concern for him. I mean humanity would compel one to take care of someone. She didn’t.
And a hero is supposed to be heroic. What a wimp to get beaten up.
Then all the rain coming in through the roof when she takes him home. Senseless.
The story gets zero stars from me for having a flow. There was no fun in what was happening. No sense in the plot.
If she was dyslexic and couldn’t read or write then how did she write several pages of the hero’s shortcomings and read them??? How was he able to read her handwriting??
A glaring loophole.
I never feel the attraction between them in any sex scene ever described in any Lynne Graham book. Ever. I don’t know.
Her stories are very formulaic and dry. Very cold bloodedly written. But then I might be an exception in feeling this way.
Only one she wrote brilliantly was The Spanish Groom I think. The Unfaithful Wife is another of her good ones. The heiress bride. That was nice too.
The bedroom stuff is always very peculiar. No spark.
This one. I would advise that it should be avoided unless you are a die hard LG fan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2017
Oh, that was good! Nothing beats LG when she's at her best! The enemies-to-lovers formula might be a much-relied upon trope for her, but in this instance, it was one of the best!
The first half of the book or so was amazing! There was just so much antagonism between Maxie and Angelos, mixed with an attraction between them that Maxie hadn't the experience to recognise - it was absolutely delicious and smouldering! Then... somewhere near three quarters of the way, some of that tension just seemed to dwindle away (though mind, that really didn't detract from how wonderful the book was). I must however add that her father was flaky and utterly awful. How she could ever reconcile with him was beyond me, but meh. Apparently one can't choose one's father.
Look, this was completely textbook LG. There were misunderstandings galore, and both H and h set out to almost continually hurt one another. The h though, was at least not a doormat. She knew her own mind, and she was determined to subvert the situation to her own favour to protect herself (even though more often than not, it ended up blowing up in her face). The contrivances... were just that, and sometimes they seemed perhaps a tad unrealistic, but what's an LG book (or Harlequin or Mills & Boon for that matter) without a bit of fantasy?
The first half of the book or so was amazing! There was just so much antagonism between Maxie and Angelos, mixed with an attraction between them that Maxie hadn't the experience to recognise - it was absolutely delicious and smouldering! Then... somewhere near three quarters of the way, some of that tension just seemed to dwindle away (though mind, that really didn't detract from how wonderful the book was). I must however add that her father was flaky and utterly awful. How she could ever reconcile with him was beyond me, but meh. Apparently one can't choose one's father.
Look, this was completely textbook LG. There were misunderstandings galore, and both H and h set out to almost continually hurt one another. The h though, was at least not a doormat. She knew her own mind, and she was determined to subvert the situation to her own favour to protect herself (even though more often than not, it ended up blowing up in her face). The contrivances... were just that, and sometimes they seemed perhaps a tad unrealistic, but what's an LG book (or Harlequin or Mills & Boon for that matter) without a bit of fantasy?
June 15, 2021
re-reading 2021 -3 stars
( too much bickering)
4 stars when I first read it 10 yrs ago.
( too much bickering)
4 stars when I first read it 10 yrs ago.
August 2, 2020
Me exasperan ambos protagonistas, aunque sobra decir que ambos son muy orgullosos hasta mas no poder, no me gusta que den vueltas y vueltas sin llegar a nada concreto :#
October 18, 2023
Rating: 3.5 stars.
The 0.5 star is added after the heroine's reading and learning disorder is addressed by the end of the story.
Well............I bought the e-book after I read the sneak peek of the manga adaptation of this novel, the plot is pretty much over the top but I can live with it. I like the 'marriage due to the conditions set up in the last will of a dead relative' setting, hahaha!
The 0.5 star is added after the heroine's reading and learning disorder is addressed by the end of the story.
Well............I bought the e-book after I read the sneak peek of the manga adaptation of this novel, the plot is pretty much over the top but I can live with it. I like the 'marriage due to the conditions set up in the last will of a dead relative' setting, hahaha!
December 1, 2024
Married to a mistress
I love books like this where, when I am done reading, I not only feel happy but a little giggle escapes me as well.
This is first in the Husband Hunter’s series(I read the 2nd one over a year ago, and I am tempted to read it again now that I have read this one.)
Our heroine, Maxie, may be a little hard to take for some readers, but I loved her prideful, snarky, abrasive persona.
Some of her Maxieisms:
“Mr Petronides...I am not available to be any man's live toy. You want a toy, you go to a store and buy yourself a railway set!”………………………..
“You are just so slow on the uptake. I am not ever going to be with you, Angelos,' Maxie pointed out, and with that last word she strolled past him, holding herself taut and proud to the last, and walked into the lift…………………………….
“Maxie still hadn't opened her eyes, but she knew at that instant how a woman went off the rails and killed. ”………………………………..
There are lots of great reviews on the plot. (Boogenhagen gives a very thorough review with spoilers. I decided to read it after I was done with the story and it is a great summation of the book) I will just summarize some things that I enjoyed or noted.
Likes/quick points/roll my eyes
*Heroine is a 22 year old virgin model while the H is a 32 year old Greek playboy
*Heroine spent 3 years in servitude to a rich old geezer to save her dad’s pathetic life. She has dyslexia and didn’t realize what a raw deal she was getting in the loan she signed. Everyone thinks she broke up a marriage and was sleeping with the man, but in actuality she was just fancy window dressing to save the old man’s pride.
*Pride/prejudice-lots of pride in this one. The h and the H have an abundance of it and it is a big factor in why they didn’t have their avowals of love earlier. Due to the h’s liaison with the rich prideful dude, the hero is prejudiced against her. He believes her to be only good for mistress material.
*h does try to tell the H the truth, but he isn’t have any of it.
*The H and h have some wicked banter and bicker sessions.
.
“Theos...come here,' Angelos groaned. He hauled her resisting frozen length into his arms. 'Why are you always so set on punishing me?" He gave her a frustrated little shake, black eyes blazing over her mutinous expression. 'Why do you always feel the need to top everything I do and turn every encounter into a fight? That is not a womanly trait. Why cannot you just one time give me the response I expect?”
“I suppose I do it because I don't like you,' Maxie admitted, with the kind of impulsive sincerity that was indisputably convincing.” ..
*The H laments that he has been celibate for weeks, in Greek terms that equates to years in a non greek male.
*The H shows has a lot of admirable traits. I actually liked him even though his pursuit for the h in the beginning was basically to bed her….However even in his quest to bed her, he believed that she was not a one off and done.
“We will still be together six months from now,' Angelos , forecast reflectively. 'Possibly even longer. I burn for you , in a way I haven't burned for a woman in a very long time.'
……………..
'Try a cold shower.”
*Their first time together (after their secret marriage) was not good. Since he cut her off every time she tried to explain her inexperience, he was shocked and ashamed that he caused her pain. He didn’t even finish properly. They made up for it later, but their pride ended up making that a mess as well.
*The h makes a 2 page list about why the H is such an ass….he ends up with the list later. She thinks it got tossed, but he actually uses the list to woo his wife after the marriage.
*The H ended up being such a romantic. He did so many things to disprove the dreaded list of his faults
*The h has no problem confronting the H
*The h decided to act like a true mistress to get under the H’s skin. He pretty much figured out what she was doing. This scene was rather comical. Again, their pride was at work.
*HEA with a 1 paragraph epilogue…These 2 will never let their marriage get boring. I think they really do like and enjoy each other. Plus all the passion….
*BFF-Liz is an older female in the story. She takes the h under her wing. She is physically blind, but in this story she sees so much more than the h and H. Her dog takes to the H right away, so you know if the dog likes the hero than he can’t be too bad.
As I said earlier, the h will probably turn off some people because she really fights back at the H. He remains an alpha, but she knows how to cut him down. However, why should she take a lucrative deal in exchange for her body? Selling yourself to a penthouse doesn’t make you any better than someone selling themselves to a Motel 8. Some may say she eventually did, but she didn’t agree to marry the H until she realized she loved him. Therefore, why shouldn’t she marry the man she loves, give her innocence to him, and hope that he loves her back eventually.
This book just really checked off a lot of my boxes and I enjoyed the main characters immensely.
I love books like this where, when I am done reading, I not only feel happy but a little giggle escapes me as well.
This is first in the Husband Hunter’s series(I read the 2nd one over a year ago, and I am tempted to read it again now that I have read this one.)
Our heroine, Maxie, may be a little hard to take for some readers, but I loved her prideful, snarky, abrasive persona.
Some of her Maxieisms:
“Mr Petronides...I am not available to be any man's live toy. You want a toy, you go to a store and buy yourself a railway set!”………………………..
“You are just so slow on the uptake. I am not ever going to be with you, Angelos,' Maxie pointed out, and with that last word she strolled past him, holding herself taut and proud to the last, and walked into the lift…………………………….
“Maxie still hadn't opened her eyes, but she knew at that instant how a woman went off the rails and killed. ”………………………………..
There are lots of great reviews on the plot. (Boogenhagen gives a very thorough review with spoilers. I decided to read it after I was done with the story and it is a great summation of the book) I will just summarize some things that I enjoyed or noted.
Likes/quick points/roll my eyes
*Heroine is a 22 year old virgin model while the H is a 32 year old Greek playboy
*Heroine spent 3 years in servitude to a rich old geezer to save her dad’s pathetic life. She has dyslexia and didn’t realize what a raw deal she was getting in the loan she signed. Everyone thinks she broke up a marriage and was sleeping with the man, but in actuality she was just fancy window dressing to save the old man’s pride.
*Pride/prejudice-lots of pride in this one. The h and the H have an abundance of it and it is a big factor in why they didn’t have their avowals of love earlier. Due to the h’s liaison with the rich prideful dude, the hero is prejudiced against her. He believes her to be only good for mistress material.
*h does try to tell the H the truth, but he isn’t have any of it.
*The H and h have some wicked banter and bicker sessions.
.
“Theos...come here,' Angelos groaned. He hauled her resisting frozen length into his arms. 'Why are you always so set on punishing me?" He gave her a frustrated little shake, black eyes blazing over her mutinous expression. 'Why do you always feel the need to top everything I do and turn every encounter into a fight? That is not a womanly trait. Why cannot you just one time give me the response I expect?”
“I suppose I do it because I don't like you,' Maxie admitted, with the kind of impulsive sincerity that was indisputably convincing.” ..
*The H laments that he has been celibate for weeks, in Greek terms that equates to years in a non greek male.
*The H shows has a lot of admirable traits. I actually liked him even though his pursuit for the h in the beginning was basically to bed her….However even in his quest to bed her, he believed that she was not a one off and done.
“We will still be together six months from now,' Angelos , forecast reflectively. 'Possibly even longer. I burn for you , in a way I haven't burned for a woman in a very long time.'
……………..
'Try a cold shower.”
*Their first time together (after their secret marriage) was not good. Since he cut her off every time she tried to explain her inexperience, he was shocked and ashamed that he caused her pain. He didn’t even finish properly. They made up for it later, but their pride ended up making that a mess as well.
*The h makes a 2 page list about why the H is such an ass….he ends up with the list later. She thinks it got tossed, but he actually uses the list to woo his wife after the marriage.
*The H ended up being such a romantic. He did so many things to disprove the dreaded list of his faults
*The h has no problem confronting the H
*The h decided to act like a true mistress to get under the H’s skin. He pretty much figured out what she was doing. This scene was rather comical. Again, their pride was at work.
*HEA with a 1 paragraph epilogue…These 2 will never let their marriage get boring. I think they really do like and enjoy each other. Plus all the passion….
*BFF-Liz is an older female in the story. She takes the h under her wing. She is physically blind, but in this story she sees so much more than the h and H. Her dog takes to the H right away, so you know if the dog likes the hero than he can’t be too bad.
As I said earlier, the h will probably turn off some people because she really fights back at the H. He remains an alpha, but she knows how to cut him down. However, why should she take a lucrative deal in exchange for her body? Selling yourself to a penthouse doesn’t make you any better than someone selling themselves to a Motel 8. Some may say she eventually did, but she didn’t agree to marry the H until she realized she loved him. Therefore, why shouldn’t she marry the man she loves, give her innocence to him, and hope that he loves her back eventually.
This book just really checked off a lot of my boxes and I enjoyed the main characters immensely.
August 3, 2019
Sinceramente, ella me desesperó. Esas heroínas que sólo gritan por todo y que son tercas sin razón, bueno, así es ella.
April 23, 2018
This book got me started on Mills & Boon books way back in 2003. I found a copy of this in a book sale and it took me a couple of years to find the other books in the series!
I lived the plot; poor misunderstood heroine, and the alpha Greek hero who was proven wrong and then redeemed himself so beautifully! The sick scene, her going on the mother of all shopping sprees, and her final jealous show down! Both were too proud to admit their love first!
I love how spunky Maxie was; her indomitable spirit made her a match for Angelos indeed! Her List was the ultimate haha!
I lived the plot; poor misunderstood heroine, and the alpha Greek hero who was proven wrong and then redeemed himself so beautifully! The sick scene, her going on the mother of all shopping sprees, and her final jealous show down! Both were too proud to admit their love first!
I love how spunky Maxie was; her indomitable spirit made her a match for Angelos indeed! Her List was the ultimate haha!
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