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His Virgin Mistress
Demetri Kastro has dark suspicions about Joanna, the young and very attractive woman who has escorted his father home to Greece. Though the elderly millionaire is ill, Demetri is certain Joanna isn't what the doctor ordered!
However, Demetri's attempts to dig beneath Joanna's coolly beautiful exterior reveal few clues as to the nature of her relationship with his father. She's giving nothing away...except an unwitting sexual attractiveness that Demetri finds hard to resist....
However, Demetri's attempts to dig beneath Joanna's coolly beautiful exterior reveal few clues as to the nature of her relationship with his father. She's giving nothing away...except an unwitting sexual attractiveness that Demetri finds hard to resist....
185 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2003
22 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Anne Mather
799 books360 followersAnne Mather is the pseudonym used by Mildred Grieveson, a popular British author of over 160 romance novels. She also signed novels as Caroline Fleming and Cardine Fleming.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 26, 2020
It was an ansgty reading. The book was good, but there a few things I didn't like/enjoy.
1. I didn't feel the hero and heroine share many moments together 🤔
2. The sickness of hero's father and his fake relationship with the heroine were around 50% (more or less) the focus of the story.
3. Around 3 or 4 chapters before the end of book, hero and heroine share more moments together
On the other hand, the story was told in 3rd person, but both main characters had their POVs ☺️
I liked the end but I would have liked an epilogue 🤩
1. I didn't feel the hero and heroine share many moments together 🤔
2. The sickness of hero's father and his fake relationship with the heroine were around 50% (more or less) the focus of the story.
3. Around 3 or 4 chapters before the end of book, hero and heroine share more moments together
On the other hand, the story was told in 3rd person, but both main characters had their POVs ☺️
I liked the end but I would have liked an epilogue 🤩
November 25, 2015
When Demetri Kastro arrives at his Greek island home for his sister’s wedding, he sets eyes on Joanna Manning. He is overcome with forbidden lust. For cool, blonde Joanna is his father’s mistress and there’s a good bit of biblical kink about wanting to tap that.
Joanna has appeared out of nowhere – last Demetri and his sisters knew, their dad was in London getting cancer treatments. Now he’s back home for his daughter’s wedding and snuggling with gold-digging Joanna on the couch. It’s all very mysterious – where has Joanna come from? Where did she and Daddy Kastro meet? Where’s the Mr to Joanna’s Mrs Manning? Why won’t she let any of Daddy Kastro’s grown up children visit with him in his boudoir?
All of these are perfectly reasonable questions and Joanna refuses to fully answer any of them. Why is everyone interrogating her and implying she’s after money? She can’t stand it anymore! Can’t everyone see that she’s a sad orphan child, raised by a horrible bitch aunt and tricked into marrying an evil gay? She deserves sympathy, and to be left alone to somewhat unwillingly go along with Daddy Kastro’s pretend mistress scheme.
Why is Joanna pretending to be a mistress? She’s in the habit of keeping secrets. She’s just not very good at it.
Daddy Kastro’s list of reasons for having a pretend mistress:
• can’t show up to his daughter’s wedding without a date
• is going to die from cancer soon, and needs a diversion so no one will know
• is seriously into Joanna, and would want a non-pretend arrangement, except: cancer.
Daddy Kastro gets very cranky when Joanna reports that his children think she’s a gold digger, because instead they should be admiring his major virility in pulling such a choice piece like Joanna. Is Joanna sure Demetri isn’t even a tiny bit jealous of his old dad?
So, the title pretty much gives it away: Mrs/Mistress Joanna is a secret virgin lady and vastly noble and pure. Demetri is into ogling Joanna and noticing subtle hints that she’s really smart and noble and pure. These are clearly unmistress-like characteristics, and Demetri likes them. They make him want her more. And don’t forget the biblical kink aspect, that’s hot too.
The story of how Joanna is still a virgin is this: Joanna’s parents died in an avalanche and she was sent to live with her horrible aunt. Joanna wasn’t allowed to eat because food was expensive, or go to university, because that was expensive too. Then the aunt got sick, and Joanna became her slave until she died, and Joanna discovered that her aunt had been concealing Joanna’s inheritance for years. ‘How could she do that?’ Joanna asks her lawyer when the will is read. ‘Dunno,’ her lawyer shrugs. ‘She seemed a right bitch. You’d have noticed that too, on account of living with her for so long?’
Joanna takes her newly free and financially ok self off to Sardinia, where she meets an evil gay. I don’t really understand this at all. What makes Sardinia THE holiday destination for a sad virgin orphan with a high school education? Why didn’t she go to Spain, or the south of France? I’ve seen pictures of Sardinia and it looks really beautiful. But it can’t be a place you would have dreamed of going all your life, to escape being your aunt’s half–starved drudge.
In Sardinia, Joanna meets a handsome English guy travelling with a friend. The English guy is immediately all over her, and she’s dazzled. They marry, and then the guy reveals he doesn’t do women. But he had to have a woman around, because he doesn’t want his parents suspecting that he’s into men.
And of course it gets worse, because for some reason Joanna stays married, and evil gay decides he wants to have a baby. He keeps planting random men around their flat, in the hopes that Joanna will accidently fall on top of one in a manner that will render her pregnant.
Joanna is not into this at all and finds it distressing and menacing.
I kept hoping Joanna was being set up to go to prison for Daddy Kastro’s murder. She acted so guilty and secretive, and she kept trying to prevent Demetri from visiting Daddy Kastro, and then Daddy Kastro took her shopping for a diamond bracelet and later casually dropped into coversation the fact that they went from the jewellers to his lawyer’s office.
Shortly after that, it would have been perfect if Daddy Kastro had been found dead. Demetri’s older sister would have gone completely mental, and Daddy Kastro’s valet Philip would have reluctantly come forward with his suspicions, because he’d told Joanna that Daddy Kastro was very sick many times, and Joanna had told him to keep his pie hole shut.
It would have ended up that Philip had big gambling debts and he’d needed the will money immediately so thugs didn’t break his legs. It would have all turned out fine, but I kept imaging Joanna in a prison cell. I wanted Demetri to show up at the police station and be all ‘but she can’t be the murderer, she was a virgin!’ and then the police to be all ‘oh really? Well no virgin’s ever murdered anyone ever, so of course we’ll let her go.’ And then Demetri would be all ‘what a relief, I’ll bring the car around.’ And then the police would have laughed at him for being an idiot, and then told him that he couldn’t see Joanna because Greece had recently outsourced all its detention awaiting trial prisoner housing to Siberia.
Wanting the heroine of a romance novel to languish in a Siberian prison for a crime she didn’t commit might make me sound like a mean person, but honestly, I’m not. And I didn’t hate Joanna, in fact I loved how everything about her was cartoon terrible, and I kept eagerly awaiting the next anvil to drop on her head.
Instead of Siberia, Joanna gets even more miserable about pretending to be a mistress and keeping secrets about cancer. And then she starts wanting Demetri, and Demetri gets even more suspicious of Joanna’s motives and even more lustful.
There’s a lot of layers involved in keeping Joanna a virgin but making it look like there’s no way she is one. The evil gay is a bad thing, but there’s a lot about this book that’s bad-good. It’s completely irrational and wrong-headed that if you only have a hymen it can biologically prove you haven’t done anything shady. But it’s satisfying and fun in a brain-off, gut-level way.
Joanna has appeared out of nowhere – last Demetri and his sisters knew, their dad was in London getting cancer treatments. Now he’s back home for his daughter’s wedding and snuggling with gold-digging Joanna on the couch. It’s all very mysterious – where has Joanna come from? Where did she and Daddy Kastro meet? Where’s the Mr to Joanna’s Mrs Manning? Why won’t she let any of Daddy Kastro’s grown up children visit with him in his boudoir?
All of these are perfectly reasonable questions and Joanna refuses to fully answer any of them. Why is everyone interrogating her and implying she’s after money? She can’t stand it anymore! Can’t everyone see that she’s a sad orphan child, raised by a horrible bitch aunt and tricked into marrying an evil gay? She deserves sympathy, and to be left alone to somewhat unwillingly go along with Daddy Kastro’s pretend mistress scheme.
Why is Joanna pretending to be a mistress? She’s in the habit of keeping secrets. She’s just not very good at it.
Daddy Kastro’s list of reasons for having a pretend mistress:
• can’t show up to his daughter’s wedding without a date
• is going to die from cancer soon, and needs a diversion so no one will know
• is seriously into Joanna, and would want a non-pretend arrangement, except: cancer.
Daddy Kastro gets very cranky when Joanna reports that his children think she’s a gold digger, because instead they should be admiring his major virility in pulling such a choice piece like Joanna. Is Joanna sure Demetri isn’t even a tiny bit jealous of his old dad?
So, the title pretty much gives it away: Mrs/Mistress Joanna is a secret virgin lady and vastly noble and pure. Demetri is into ogling Joanna and noticing subtle hints that she’s really smart and noble and pure. These are clearly unmistress-like characteristics, and Demetri likes them. They make him want her more. And don’t forget the biblical kink aspect, that’s hot too.
The story of how Joanna is still a virgin is this: Joanna’s parents died in an avalanche and she was sent to live with her horrible aunt. Joanna wasn’t allowed to eat because food was expensive, or go to university, because that was expensive too. Then the aunt got sick, and Joanna became her slave until she died, and Joanna discovered that her aunt had been concealing Joanna’s inheritance for years. ‘How could she do that?’ Joanna asks her lawyer when the will is read. ‘Dunno,’ her lawyer shrugs. ‘She seemed a right bitch. You’d have noticed that too, on account of living with her for so long?’
Joanna takes her newly free and financially ok self off to Sardinia, where she meets an evil gay. I don’t really understand this at all. What makes Sardinia THE holiday destination for a sad virgin orphan with a high school education? Why didn’t she go to Spain, or the south of France? I’ve seen pictures of Sardinia and it looks really beautiful. But it can’t be a place you would have dreamed of going all your life, to escape being your aunt’s half–starved drudge.
In Sardinia, Joanna meets a handsome English guy travelling with a friend. The English guy is immediately all over her, and she’s dazzled. They marry, and then the guy reveals he doesn’t do women. But he had to have a woman around, because he doesn’t want his parents suspecting that he’s into men.
And of course it gets worse, because for some reason Joanna stays married, and evil gay decides he wants to have a baby. He keeps planting random men around their flat, in the hopes that Joanna will accidently fall on top of one in a manner that will render her pregnant.
Joanna is not into this at all and finds it distressing and menacing.
I kept hoping Joanna was being set up to go to prison for Daddy Kastro’s murder. She acted so guilty and secretive, and she kept trying to prevent Demetri from visiting Daddy Kastro, and then Daddy Kastro took her shopping for a diamond bracelet and later casually dropped into coversation the fact that they went from the jewellers to his lawyer’s office.
Shortly after that, it would have been perfect if Daddy Kastro had been found dead. Demetri’s older sister would have gone completely mental, and Daddy Kastro’s valet Philip would have reluctantly come forward with his suspicions, because he’d told Joanna that Daddy Kastro was very sick many times, and Joanna had told him to keep his pie hole shut.
It would have ended up that Philip had big gambling debts and he’d needed the will money immediately so thugs didn’t break his legs. It would have all turned out fine, but I kept imaging Joanna in a prison cell. I wanted Demetri to show up at the police station and be all ‘but she can’t be the murderer, she was a virgin!’ and then the police to be all ‘oh really? Well no virgin’s ever murdered anyone ever, so of course we’ll let her go.’ And then Demetri would be all ‘what a relief, I’ll bring the car around.’ And then the police would have laughed at him for being an idiot, and then told him that he couldn’t see Joanna because Greece had recently outsourced all its detention awaiting trial prisoner housing to Siberia.
Wanting the heroine of a romance novel to languish in a Siberian prison for a crime she didn’t commit might make me sound like a mean person, but honestly, I’m not. And I didn’t hate Joanna, in fact I loved how everything about her was cartoon terrible, and I kept eagerly awaiting the next anvil to drop on her head.
Instead of Siberia, Joanna gets even more miserable about pretending to be a mistress and keeping secrets about cancer. And then she starts wanting Demetri, and Demetri gets even more suspicious of Joanna’s motives and even more lustful.
There’s a lot of layers involved in keeping Joanna a virgin but making it look like there’s no way she is one. The evil gay is a bad thing, but there’s a lot about this book that’s bad-good. It’s completely irrational and wrong-headed that if you only have a hymen it can biologically prove you haven’t done anything shady. But it’s satisfying and fun in a brain-off, gut-level way.
February 14, 2018
#BookLove2018: Demetrius Kastro
—Claro, lo había olvidado —le dijo duramente—. Prefieres a los hombres mayores, muy mayores. ¿Por qué? ¿No te van los hombres de tu edad?
Es una historia muy estupenda. El viejo magnate Kastro vuelve a su casa después de semanas internado en el hospital con una hermosa y elegante mujer en el brazo. Automáticamente sus hijos intentan separarlo de la "cazafortuna" pero para su desgracia, el viejo no es alguien que se deje dominar y mucho menos cuando muestra un cariño genuino por la chica. Demetri, el heredero, el único varón, se toma muy a pecho la situación, comenzando por el hecho de que es una hechicera de hombres que incluso ha logrado hechizarlo a él.
Los personajes son muy geniales, Joanna no es una niña que se deja intimidar por nadie, y aunque en el fondo no está de acuerdo con lo que está haciendo su amigo, es leal y lo ayuda. Demetri es, un hombre en toda la extensión de la palabra, preocupado por el bienestar de su padre, no logra entender como una mujer como ella elegiría a un hombre que pasa de los 70 y mucho menos mientras se está consumiendo de celos.
Lo genial del libro radica en como ambos luchan contra la atracción y se atacan "educadamente" entre sí para no sucumbir a los encantos del otro. Atrapados en la mentira de que ella es la amante de su moribundo padre, la cuál consigue su objetivo: mantenerlos por completo ajenos a la verdad. Que a su padre no le quedan muchos días.
Lo único que no me gustó, por lo que no le doy el cinco, es por el hecho de que cuando al fin están juntos, se acaba el libro. QUE RABIA. Esto me dejó picadísima.
July 1, 2022
Awful title, ‘meh’ book!
March 4, 2016
How did I miss this book? This was a wonderful story about a family dealing with a dying figure aka father. He asked his dear friend the heroine (who has been thru hell by her ex hubby) to help him cover up the fact that he had terminal stomach cancer. It was a great book with enough drama to keep it real and for once very little slut shaming. The hero was conflicted and endearing. I loved every minute and it took me one sitting to finish. In fact I was so engaged in it that my kids had to wait for their lunch 1:30 more. Yes I would recommend this book.
December 31, 2013
I love Anne Mather's books and this was a pretty good one from her.
January 31, 2016
2.5 Mistaken Stars
“What are you, Joanna? Apart from my father’s—”
“Go—go to hell!”
A decent read with about a judgmental Greek family, their tricky father and the innocent woman stuck in the middle.
Joanna meets the patriarch of the Kastro family, Constantine, through her job at a London auction house. They become fast friends and he gets her to open up about her life. When he learns that he has an incurable illness, she becomes the person that he confides in and a source of comfort for him.
He convinces her to travel to Greece with him to his daughter’s wedding. His children see her as nothing more that a gold digger. His son Demetri, assuming that Joanna is his father’s mistress, decides to prove that Joanna is only after his father’s money by planning to win her from him. Joanna holds her own, but at the cost of her piece of mind.
This book is about a family of spoiled, selfish kids who see’s Joanna as a threat to their inheritance and their father’s well being. Olivia is angry and bitter and Demetri is disturbed that he is lusting after the woman he thinks is his father’s lover. This makes him nasty toward Joanna, until he learns first hand just how innocent she truly is.
This is an ok read, pretty typical. Nothing fantastic, but still somewhat enjoyable. Not a book that I can highly recommend, so read at your own risk .
“What are you, Joanna? Apart from my father’s—”
“Go—go to hell!”
A decent read with about a judgmental Greek family, their tricky father and the innocent woman stuck in the middle.
Joanna meets the patriarch of the Kastro family, Constantine, through her job at a London auction house. They become fast friends and he gets her to open up about her life. When he learns that he has an incurable illness, she becomes the person that he confides in and a source of comfort for him.
He convinces her to travel to Greece with him to his daughter’s wedding. His children see her as nothing more that a gold digger. His son Demetri, assuming that Joanna is his father’s mistress, decides to prove that Joanna is only after his father’s money by planning to win her from him. Joanna holds her own, but at the cost of her piece of mind.
This book is about a family of spoiled, selfish kids who see’s Joanna as a threat to their inheritance and their father’s well being. Olivia is angry and bitter and Demetri is disturbed that he is lusting after the woman he thinks is his father’s lover. This makes him nasty toward Joanna, until he learns first hand just how innocent she truly is.
This is an ok read, pretty typical. Nothing fantastic, but still somewhat enjoyable. Not a book that I can highly recommend, so read at your own risk .
June 21, 2014
Decent. I would have enjoyed it a bit better if the situation where he despises her because he thinks she is his father's mistress was more drawn out. But instead he fell for her pretty quickly. She had some interesting back story. I do get tire of all these Harley heroines who turn down bequests though. Come on be sensible, especially considering it wasn't really taking that much away from the family members. It was just small beans to them and she had been friends with the old man for years. He wanted her to have it. It's sort of ungrateful and unnecessarily prideful to turn it down.
August 13, 2012
Read and rated in May, 2011.
I can't remember much of the novel if I'm honest but I don't give crappy ratings to books that don't deserve it, so based on the rating I did give it.. I assume it was a pretty damn good book.
I can't remember much of the novel if I'm honest but I don't give crappy ratings to books that don't deserve it, so based on the rating I did give it.. I assume it was a pretty damn good book.
August 13, 2017
So-so story. I thought there were other ways Demetri's father could have handled it without dragging Joanna's reputation through the mud.
March 22, 2013
simply loved it !!a keeper definitely !! it would have been a 5 star but for want of some magic or more passion..i guess it was cause of the lack of sex. yes i like more sex in my harlequins lol. but the book was definitely good
December 2, 2022
"His Virgin Mistress" is the story of Joanna and Demetri.
Hero is a Greek tycoon, whose father is unwell and has recently returned home. His father gets a new "lady friend", the heroine, who is ofcourse labelled a gold digger. They soon realize she has been married, and is hiding her own secrets. Now here's where things get confusing- although there are hints, its never clarified how the heroine and the father met and what exactly was their relationship. Did he rescue her? Was he her friend? Because I do not think that man had paternal feelings towards the heroine.
Anyways, the hero gets a giant boner when he sees the heroine, and midway through the book he starts acknowledging it. There's a lot of back and forth, some surprises and a confusing ending.
This one needed proofreading.. and a better plot. More apt title would be "his father's hymenated lady friend"
Safe
2/5
Hero is a Greek tycoon, whose father is unwell and has recently returned home. His father gets a new "lady friend", the heroine, who is ofcourse labelled a gold digger. They soon realize she has been married, and is hiding her own secrets. Now here's where things get confusing- although there are hints, its never clarified how the heroine and the father met and what exactly was their relationship. Did he rescue her? Was he her friend? Because I do not think that man had paternal feelings towards the heroine.
Anyways, the hero gets a giant boner when he sees the heroine, and midway through the book he starts acknowledging it. There's a lot of back and forth, some surprises and a confusing ending.
This one needed proofreading.. and a better plot. More apt title would be "his father's hymenated lady friend"
Safe
2/5
October 28, 2017
The hero thinks that the heroine is trouble .. he sees her with his father and sees dollar signs in her eyes but in reality the heroine didn't care about money ... she was with our hero's father because they were close friends and nothing more
December 25, 2018
drama drama. a bit dull at first but great at the end
April 11, 2021
Very good read,Happy and sad bits.
November 20, 2021
It was a nice book, however, she was never his mistress so the title is misleading.
January 10, 2022
Enjoyed reading this book
June 30, 2022
Good novel
June 8, 2021
Demetri Kastro has dark suspicions about Joanna, the young and very attractive woman who has escorted his father home to Greece. Though the elderly millionaire is ill, Demetri is certain Joanna isn't what the doctor ordered!
However, Demetri's attempts to dig beneath Joanna's coolly beautiful exterior reveal few clues as to the nature of her relationship with his father. She's giving nothing away...except an unwitting sexual attractiveness that Demetri finds hard to resist...
However, Demetri's attempts to dig beneath Joanna's coolly beautiful exterior reveal few clues as to the nature of her relationship with his father. She's giving nothing away...except an unwitting sexual attractiveness that Demetri finds hard to resist...
Want to read
October 31, 2019Pretty good story that kept me interested and entertained for the whole book. I liked the characters, and that Joanna's back story was rather original . I kept thinking that the father had her there to try and set up the son with her, but it didn't get vocalized that way. Overall, a good story.
January 15, 2017
I love angst, and I really like it when the hero thinks his woman is sleeping with his father. That causes so much forbidden angst. Anne Mather just knows the needs of my heart. Joanna was fun because she just kept letting him make a fool of himself by insinuating she was a useless gold-digger.
January 6, 2014
read it last year...
liked it a lot
liked it a lot
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews