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Models & Millionaires #1
For Pleasure...or Marriage?
A mistress is for pleasure, not for marriage...
Tycoon Markos Makarios thinks he has the perfect woman in Vanessa: she's beautiful, adoring, living only to please him. In fact, she's the best mistress he's ever had. Until he has to warn her not to think of marriage; a mistress is only for pleasure, after all.
But Vanessa had believed she was his partner--not merely a plaything. Now Markos is about to learn the true price of the woman he's obsessed with...and to discover there's something even his billions can't buy!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 30, 2007
55 people are currently reading
824 people want to read
About the author
Julia James
727 books164 followersJulia lives in England with her family. Mills and Boon novels were Julia's first "grown up" books she read as a teenager ("Alongside Georgette Heyer and Daphne du Maurier."), and she's been reading them ever since.
Julia adores the English countryside ("And the Celtic countryside!"), in all its seasons, and is fascinated by all things historical, from castles to cottages. She also has a special love for the Mediterranean ("The most perfect landscape after England!") — she considers both are ideal settings for romance stories! In between writing she enjoys walking, gardening, needlework and baking "extremely gooey chocolate cakes" — and trying to stay fit!
Julia adores the English countryside ("And the Celtic countryside!"), in all its seasons, and is fascinated by all things historical, from castles to cottages. She also has a special love for the Mediterranean ("The most perfect landscape after England!") — she considers both are ideal settings for romance stories! In between writing she enjoys walking, gardening, needlework and baking "extremely gooey chocolate cakes" — and trying to stay fit!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
November 18, 2020
Re-read:
This would be a 1 star if it weren’t for the fact that the hero is the most stupid, most clueless and most self-involved H ever and makes this soooo entertaining. It’s also the HP that introduced me to the whole “What! I’m a mistress!” trope. The heroine, on the other hand, has all the personality of wallpaper paste.
Evidence of the heroine’s blandness.
Now all that seemed a universe away. All that existed to her now was Markos. Markos, Markos, Markos. His name ran like a litany in her head. Where he would go, she would follow. To the ends of the earth if he would let her.
**************
The bleakness was inside her as well. It was because Markos was not there with her. He had been gone longer than she’d thought he would be—well over a week now. And she had counted every day, felt each one like a hard, heavy weight dragging at her. She was missing him badly. There was an emptiness inside her, a dull, raw, sick longing like acid in her stomach, a restlessness that made her pace, now, despite….blah, blah, blah
**********************
She halted, hugging her arms around her body. Oh, Markos, why are you away so long? I hate it when you are away from me! Please come back—please come back soon! Tomorrow—please. I miss you so much!
And the coup d’grace….
She couldn’t even phone him or communicate with him. The mobile he had given her was for receiving his calls, not making her own to him—she didn’t even know his personal number, which came up as ‘private’ on her screen, and phoning his PA would have been too mortifying.
Kyrie Self-Involved comes home to make it up to her after being a big meanie about the mistress issue, “You are a mistress. A MISTRESS! A M-I-S-T-R-E-S-S!!!!
But to do all that she’d have had to be there. And she hadn’t. As he’d walked through into his closet to change into casual clothes he’d been on the edge of feeling a flicker of irritation at her. OK, so maybe she was just out buying a new dress, or getting her hair done or whatever—maybe she’d thought that wowing him that night would be the best way to get past the episode that morning—but her timing was bad. Here he was, all prepared to kiss and make up, and she wasn’t around.
So inconsiderate!
The H zipping up and down the highway in total denial and ignorance of basic biology and reproduction.
Music pounded in his ears, heavy metal thudding through his bones, even though it was being torn away in the wind rushing over the open top of the car as it sped down the motorway, heading southwest. Markos let the noise saturate him, obliterating his thoughts. He didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel. Didn’t want to do anything except reach his target. And even that he didn’t want to reach.
Old review
I really liked this one. It's a standard Harlequin with an infatuated, enslaved, ex-virgin doormat who falls pregnant because she got sick blah, blah, blah. Surprise, her tycoon boyfriend doesn't see her as a girlfriend, she is a MISTRESS. Conclusions are jumped to, and men are mean.
What was so incredibly funny about this one is the hero. Yes, he is your typical HQ asshat that can't LOVE because of mommy/daddy issues, but...after our winsome heroine grows a backbone and leaves him without a word, he has to find her. Sadly, being the self-involved jackass that he is, he can't recall anything about her so his "security" detail is unable to find her.
Now is when it gets funny,
Groveling ensues. He could have done more, but for a HQ it was downright eloquent.
This would be a 1 star if it weren’t for the fact that the hero is the most stupid, most clueless and most self-involved H ever and makes this soooo entertaining. It’s also the HP that introduced me to the whole “What! I’m a mistress!” trope. The heroine, on the other hand, has all the personality of wallpaper paste.
Evidence of the heroine’s blandness.
Now all that seemed a universe away. All that existed to her now was Markos. Markos, Markos, Markos. His name ran like a litany in her head. Where he would go, she would follow. To the ends of the earth if he would let her.
**************
The bleakness was inside her as well. It was because Markos was not there with her. He had been gone longer than she’d thought he would be—well over a week now. And she had counted every day, felt each one like a hard, heavy weight dragging at her. She was missing him badly. There was an emptiness inside her, a dull, raw, sick longing like acid in her stomach, a restlessness that made her pace, now, despite….blah, blah, blah
**********************
She halted, hugging her arms around her body. Oh, Markos, why are you away so long? I hate it when you are away from me! Please come back—please come back soon! Tomorrow—please. I miss you so much!
And the coup d’grace….
She couldn’t even phone him or communicate with him. The mobile he had given her was for receiving his calls, not making her own to him—she didn’t even know his personal number, which came up as ‘private’ on her screen, and phoning his PA would have been too mortifying.
Kyrie Self-Involved comes home to make it up to her after being a big meanie about the mistress issue, “You are a mistress. A MISTRESS! A M-I-S-T-R-E-S-S!!!!
But to do all that she’d have had to be there. And she hadn’t. As he’d walked through into his closet to change into casual clothes he’d been on the edge of feeling a flicker of irritation at her. OK, so maybe she was just out buying a new dress, or getting her hair done or whatever—maybe she’d thought that wowing him that night would be the best way to get past the episode that morning—but her timing was bad. Here he was, all prepared to kiss and make up, and she wasn’t around.
So inconsiderate!
The H zipping up and down the highway in total denial and ignorance of basic biology and reproduction.
Music pounded in his ears, heavy metal thudding through his bones, even though it was being torn away in the wind rushing over the open top of the car as it sped down the motorway, heading southwest. Markos let the noise saturate him, obliterating his thoughts. He didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel. Didn’t want to do anything except reach his target. And even that he didn’t want to reach.
Old review
I really liked this one. It's a standard Harlequin with an infatuated, enslaved, ex-virgin doormat who falls pregnant because she got sick blah, blah, blah. Surprise, her tycoon boyfriend doesn't see her as a girlfriend, she is a MISTRESS. Conclusions are jumped to, and men are mean.
What was so incredibly funny about this one is the hero. Yes, he is your typical HQ asshat that can't LOVE because of mommy/daddy issues, but...after our winsome heroine grows a backbone and leaves him without a word, he has to find her. Sadly, being the self-involved jackass that he is, he can't recall anything about her so his "security" detail is unable to find her.
Now is when it gets funny,
Groveling ensues. He could have done more, but for a HQ it was downright eloquent.
May 8, 2020
Julia James is a favorite because her heroes are always so awful at the beginning (and middle) but eventually learn their lesson. *And* she knows how to write a grovel and a heroine who doesn't cut them off in mid-apology.
In this "I'm your mistress?" trope, the heroine really has no idea what a throwback she is living with until she becomes pregnant. Once she smartens up she swings into action and actually create a life that would be viable for a single mother. (She buys a house near a seashore where she can rent out half to tourists, since she doesn't need a mortgage the rent will be her income.)
The hero actually takes a while to listen and learn and his two friends also have to help him clue in.
Once everything is sorted out, JJ throws in some meta for her fans.
"Don’t you dare marry him if he hasn’t grovelled to you yet! ’ she ordered.
Ha! JJ knows her audience.
In this "I'm your mistress?" trope, the heroine really has no idea what a throwback she is living with until she becomes pregnant. Once she smartens up she swings into action and actually create a life that would be viable for a single mother. (She buys a house near a seashore where she can rent out half to tourists, since she doesn't need a mortgage the rent will be her income.)
The hero actually takes a while to listen and learn and his two friends also have to help him clue in.
Once everything is sorted out, JJ throws in some meta for her fans.
"Don’t you dare marry him if he hasn’t grovelled to you yet! ’ she ordered.
Ha! JJ knows her audience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2012
The first half of this book was so saccharine that it made my teeth hurt. It was full of phrases like this:
and
Most of it is from his POV talking about how she's so pretty and so devoted to him and the best mistress he's ever had. From the tidbits we get of her POV she thinks she's his partner. I suppose it's realistic in that woman can convince themselves that any user/loser loves her and is surely going to marry her. But it made me roll my eyes when I wasn't gagging.
In the second half things improved marginally after she leaves him. Still mostly in his POV he eventually discovers he loves her. And there is an extensive grovel scene which is how this book ended up with two stars instead of one.
Never before in her life had she been so grateful to be beautiful--because her beauty was for the man she loved. For Markos. Without it, after all, he would not have looked twice at her--but with it, oh, with it, she could lay it at his feet as her gift to him.
and
The last thing Markos needed was criticism from her for working so hard. One of the few things she could do for him, after all,was to make the hours he did not work as easy for him as she could. How could she possibly mind sitting here, waiting for him at ten o'clock?
Most of it is from his POV talking about how she's so pretty and so devoted to him and the best mistress he's ever had. From the tidbits we get of her POV she thinks she's his partner. I suppose it's realistic in that woman can convince themselves that any user/loser loves her and is surely going to marry her. But it made me roll my eyes when I wasn't gagging.
In the second half things improved marginally after she leaves him. Still mostly in his POV he eventually discovers he loves her. And there is an extensive grovel scene which is how this book ended up with two stars instead of one.
August 20, 2014
Hero is a jerk who takes h for granted. He calls her his mistress, but she thinks he's her boyfriend. When he coldly sets her straight, she leaves and doesn't tell him she's pregnant. Although I could have smacked the hero, it was still a good read.
Actually one of my favorite of this genre (of which there aren't enough) listen up HP!
Actually one of my favorite of this genre (of which there aren't enough) listen up HP!
August 9, 2011
Love...or Hate?
Heroine is in a relationship with the hero but he's just keeping her as his mistress. When he tells her once that she's his mistress she thinks that it's just a language barrier. After she has a where is our relationship going question for the hero, he completely slams her little heart into the ground and stomps on it by giving her the big mistress starting to get too clingy speech about her being a good mistress but nothing else and if she tries to get pregnant to keep him she'll be O. U. T. out.
Heroine is heartbroken while the hero leaves her to think about it and in the meantime she's visited by the hero's soon to be mother-in-law. She offers the heroine a good chunk of money to vacate the hero's life now as opposed to later to smooth the way for her daughter. The heroine does vacate the hero's life and he finally tracks her down after seeing her modeling pregnancy clothing. The hero hunts her down to find out who she cheated on him with that got her pregnant.
I love this book, and I hate this book. If I had one big issue with the hero it was his lack of respect for the heroine. It's brought home exactly how much he insults her when he abandons her at a party so he can talk to a woman who will not associate with a mistress. When she comes up to him because another man was insulting her, he gets mad at her for not staying put where he told her. The heroine thinks the woman is prejudiced because the heroine isn't upper class, but it's never said how the hero disrespected her at that point too. And he did. That scene stuck with me and reparations were never made throughout the whole story.
My second point has to deal with the ending of the book. The hero has to be told over and over again by his cousin how he should be acting and things he should know about the woman he's been living with for months.
I loved how the heroine grew a spine and told him off. And I dearly loved when she told him that a kid could do worse than having no father, and that would be having a father like him. He just needed more suffering around her rather than going back to his office to drink himself into misery and having his cousin once again come and tell him what to do next.
Heroine is in a relationship with the hero but he's just keeping her as his mistress. When he tells her once that she's his mistress she thinks that it's just a language barrier. After she has a where is our relationship going question for the hero, he completely slams her little heart into the ground and stomps on it by giving her the big mistress starting to get too clingy speech about her being a good mistress but nothing else and if she tries to get pregnant to keep him she'll be O. U. T. out.
Heroine is heartbroken while the hero leaves her to think about it and in the meantime she's visited by the hero's soon to be mother-in-law. She offers the heroine a good chunk of money to vacate the hero's life now as opposed to later to smooth the way for her daughter. The heroine does vacate the hero's life and he finally tracks her down after seeing her modeling pregnancy clothing. The hero hunts her down to find out who she cheated on him with that got her pregnant.
I love this book, and I hate this book. If I had one big issue with the hero it was his lack of respect for the heroine. It's brought home exactly how much he insults her when he abandons her at a party so he can talk to a woman who will not associate with a mistress. When she comes up to him because another man was insulting her, he gets mad at her for not staying put where he told her. The heroine thinks the woman is prejudiced because the heroine isn't upper class, but it's never said how the hero disrespected her at that point too. And he did. That scene stuck with me and reparations were never made throughout the whole story.
My second point has to deal with the ending of the book. The hero has to be told over and over again by his cousin how he should be acting and things he should know about the woman he's been living with for months.
I loved how the heroine grew a spine and told him off. And I dearly loved when she told him that a kid could do worse than having no father, and that would be having a father like him. He just needed more suffering around her rather than going back to his office to drink himself into misery and having his cousin once again come and tell him what to do next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2013
This was so intense and angsty which is why I loved it. I love it when the hero is a jerk and as soon as he realizes his stupidity he is ready to grovel. This love story was so beautiful and passionate, my only complain is that I needed more of these two.
May 25, 2019
3.5 Stars.
#I wanted to strangle the hero so bad..... He was literally obsessed with the heroine and still could not accept her as his girlfriend for the most part of the book. And he did grovel that's why I am forgiving him a little just a little but I wanted more and more grovel scenes.
#Moving to the heroine... Stupid and utterly clueless about her situation... But when she understood and act on that... I admire her for her courage. And I actually liked that she was doing something good, not one of these helpless HP heroines who live on their waitress job...
# Overall I liked it. And Julia James is one of the HP Author how knows who to write an emotional scene.
#Checkout Vintage's Review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
#I wanted to strangle the hero so bad..... He was literally obsessed with the heroine and still could not accept her as his girlfriend for the most part of the book. And he did grovel that's why I am forgiving him a little just a little but I wanted more and more grovel scenes.
#Moving to the heroine... Stupid and utterly clueless about her situation... But when she understood and act on that... I admire her for her courage. And I actually liked that she was doing something good, not one of these helpless HP heroines who live on their waitress job...
# Overall I liked it. And Julia James is one of the HP Author how knows who to write an emotional scene.
#Checkout Vintage's Review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 25, 2023
Simply the best!
https://youtu.be/GC5E8ie2pdM
July 4, 2018
I was laughing at midnight while reading about the H's transformation from poor little handsome greek snob into a human. Nothing to add to the great reviews by Dianna, StMargarets and Vintage
May 27, 2019
Definitely worth a re-read or four
Great story about a Greek billionaire and a simple librarian. She was brought up by her Grandparents and had old fashioned values. He swept her off her feet and they lived together for six months until she found out she was just his mistress. It was a very well done scene but still was heartbreaking. And of course she's pregnant. She runs away but he finds her and he is a total freaking jerk! Omg I hated him even more than I had. He was truly unbelievably cruel. I loved that the heroine stood her ground. It was a great story but I do not think he groveled as much as he should have. He deserved way more pain. I also wished we saw more or had an epilogue! Still worth re-reading. I love it when a hero is so totally wrong but makes it right! Safe read! I really loved it. One star off for the heroes insensitivity and cruel words. He was a really horrible person at times. The heroine made the story for me. I loved her.
Great story about a Greek billionaire and a simple librarian. She was brought up by her Grandparents and had old fashioned values. He swept her off her feet and they lived together for six months until she found out she was just his mistress. It was a very well done scene but still was heartbreaking. And of course she's pregnant. She runs away but he finds her and he is a total freaking jerk! Omg I hated him even more than I had. He was truly unbelievably cruel. I loved that the heroine stood her ground. It was a great story but I do not think he groveled as much as he should have. He deserved way more pain. I also wished we saw more or had an epilogue! Still worth re-reading. I love it when a hero is so totally wrong but makes it right! Safe read! I really loved it. One star off for the heroes insensitivity and cruel words. He was a really horrible person at times. The heroine made the story for me. I loved her.
January 20, 2013
In spite of the fact that this had all the ingredients I hate in an HP, I actually really liked it. I think because when she finally woke up, she really woke up....and he had to dance a merry tune to get her back.
February 6, 2022
Naive orphaned young woman falls for a self-centered Greek billionaire asshat. She’s got stars in her eyes, and he never intends to marry, unbeknownst to her.
What could possibly go wrong? 🤡
Well, family pressure to marry a proper Greek bride, an unplanned pregnancy, and villainous meddling mother-in-law (to be) provide us with a perfect storm of heart break and drama.
Add in that the h thought they were in a serious relationship and the H only considered her his mistress. 👀😬
What made this cliche drama-fest work?
- the pregnancy is only “secret” for a few weeks and they only spend a handful of months actually apart - he’s present for the birth 👍🏻
- the H frantically searches for the h - no passive H here. 😍
- jealous fits 😈
- the humor of the stupidity of the H - he’s got ridiculous blinders on and has no clue how pregnancy works. I felt like his clueless bumbling humanized him and lightened what could have been major angst.
- I loved that the h found her backbone. At first she’s so naive and all about him, but when she finds out she’s pregnant, she comes into her own. But not so much that she’s a shrew. Just enough that you’re rooting for her.
- once the H pulls his head out of his ass, he grovels. It’s not a long grovel because the books are short, but for a Harlequin, it’s respectable. 🤷🏼♀️
Bottom Line? This was schmaltzy good fun. Lots of drama and fun angst. I liked it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️
- no cheating or sharing
- OW drama - the H’s family wants him to marry someone else
- OM drama - the h is pursued by an acquaintance of the H and the H assumes the h Ieft him for another man and questions the paternity of her baby
- no dubcon
- h is a 24 yr old virgin
- the H is a 33 yr old experienced man
- both the MCs are celibate during their separation
- no condoms
What could possibly go wrong? 🤡
Well, family pressure to marry a proper Greek bride, an unplanned pregnancy, and villainous meddling mother-in-law (to be) provide us with a perfect storm of heart break and drama.
Add in that the h thought they were in a serious relationship and the H only considered her his mistress. 👀😬
What made this cliche drama-fest work?
- the pregnancy is only “secret” for a few weeks and they only spend a handful of months actually apart - he’s present for the birth 👍🏻
- the H frantically searches for the h - no passive H here. 😍
- jealous fits 😈
- the humor of the stupidity of the H - he’s got ridiculous blinders on and has no clue how pregnancy works. I felt like his clueless bumbling humanized him and lightened what could have been major angst.
- I loved that the h found her backbone. At first she’s so naive and all about him, but when she finds out she’s pregnant, she comes into her own. But not so much that she’s a shrew. Just enough that you’re rooting for her.
- once the H pulls his head out of his ass, he grovels. It’s not a long grovel because the books are short, but for a Harlequin, it’s respectable. 🤷🏼♀️
Bottom Line? This was schmaltzy good fun. Lots of drama and fun angst. I liked it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️
- no cheating or sharing
- OW drama - the H’s family wants him to marry someone else
- OM drama - the h is pursued by an acquaintance of the H and the H assumes the h Ieft him for another man and questions the paternity of her baby
- no dubcon
- h is a 24 yr old virgin
- the H is a 33 yr old experienced man
- both the MCs are celibate during their separation
- no condoms
July 3, 2021
Upping this one to five stars because it is possibly a perfect execution of the "I'm a mistress?" trope. In additional, it was unintentionally comical, which is always a nice gift.
H was a SPECTACULAR Superbaby, possibly the greatest of all time. He basically wanted the h, on his terms, and the second she said something he didn't like he had monster tantrums and drew the wrong conclusions. He said terrible things, not out of cruelty, but out of sheer wrongheadedness, which was actually worse in a way because she finally saw where she fit into his world. By the way, it took an ENTIRE CHAPTER of her asking repeated questions for her to finally realize that yes, she was actually the H's mistress.
Up until then he put up with a lot from him, largely because she was living in a dream world and wasn't very sophisticated, but once her eyes were opened (and to be honest, I was wishing the H had some specialized hand puppets to explain it to her, because nothing else seemed to work), she gave him the heave-ho and stuck with that decision. She really did a great job of getting her life together and planning for her baby, even if emotionally she was still devastated, so major points for that.
The H got everything wrong, and he, too, could have benefited from specialized hand puppets to explain to him what was obvious to everyone else. However, when he FINALLY figured it out, he did a beautiful grovel that was all one could want.
H was a SPECTACULAR Superbaby, possibly the greatest of all time. He basically wanted the h, on his terms, and the second she said something he didn't like he had monster tantrums and drew the wrong conclusions. He said terrible things, not out of cruelty, but out of sheer wrongheadedness, which was actually worse in a way because she finally saw where she fit into his world. By the way, it took an ENTIRE CHAPTER of her asking repeated questions for her to finally realize that yes, she was actually the H's mistress.
Up until then he put up with a lot from him, largely because she was living in a dream world and wasn't very sophisticated, but once her eyes were opened (and to be honest, I was wishing the H had some specialized hand puppets to explain it to her, because nothing else seemed to work), she gave him the heave-ho and stuck with that decision. She really did a great job of getting her life together and planning for her baby, even if emotionally she was still devastated, so major points for that.
The H got everything wrong, and he, too, could have benefited from specialized hand puppets to explain to him what was obvious to everyone else. However, when he FINALLY figured it out, he did a beautiful grovel that was all one could want.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2024
Another reread 2/23/2024
He really is D👏U👏M👏B as a rock.
Still entertaining.
Reread 3/2/2023
I seem to enjoy the level of ridiculousness that is the “I’m a mistress????” Trope. That should be read with the same incredulousness as “I shot the clerk???”
It’s all about perspective. She lives with her boyfriend of 6 months, he lives with his mistress. Once she ask the ‘I’m a mistress” question, it spirals out of control. She’s sweet, he’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Nice grovel, HEA.
He really is D👏U👏M👏B as a rock.
Still entertaining.
Reread 3/2/2023
I seem to enjoy the level of ridiculousness that is the “I’m a mistress????” Trope. That should be read with the same incredulousness as “I shot the clerk???”
It’s all about perspective. She lives with her boyfriend of 6 months, he lives with his mistress. Once she ask the ‘I’m a mistress” question, it spirals out of control. She’s sweet, he’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Nice grovel, HEA.
June 25, 2018
"Tell me, little cousin, does it ever occur to you that you are mentally deranged? "
-Hero's cousin accurately describing the hero.
"For Pleasure...or Marriage? " is the story of Vanessa and Markos.
Model Vanessa is vacationing in Paris and keeps getting hounded by lecherous strangers. She is rescued by the Greek billionaire Markos, who hides his identity but falls instantly for her beauty.
Soon he seduces her and they begin a passion filled "relationship". But while the h finds herself in love with him, she soon realizes the H thinks of her merely as a mistress.
Then some fertilization realization happens..
Typical HQN trope with a virgin heroine, scarred-because-of-past mean hero, some antibiotic mishap, and a surprise baby. What I am totally baffled by is how stupid the hero was!
Always saying the most lovely foot-in-the-mouth things, he muttered the most unfeeling things to a distressed heroine; and while she initially was blinded by love, I did like when she finally spoke and gave back all the verbal smack down she could to the pompous hero.
Yes there are steamy love scenes from HQN standard- but I really hated that there was no grovel at the end..BOOO.
Safe
Meh
2.5/5
-Hero's cousin accurately describing the hero.
"For Pleasure...or Marriage? " is the story of Vanessa and Markos.
Model Vanessa is vacationing in Paris and keeps getting hounded by lecherous strangers. She is rescued by the Greek billionaire Markos, who hides his identity but falls instantly for her beauty.
Soon he seduces her and they begin a passion filled "relationship". But while the h finds herself in love with him, she soon realizes the H thinks of her merely as a mistress.
Then some fertilization realization happens..
Typical HQN trope with a virgin heroine, scarred-because-of-past mean hero, some antibiotic mishap, and a surprise baby. What I am totally baffled by is how stupid the hero was!
Always saying the most lovely foot-in-the-mouth things, he muttered the most unfeeling things to a distressed heroine; and while she initially was blinded by love, I did like when she finally spoke and gave back all the verbal smack down she could to the pompous hero.
Yes there are steamy love scenes from HQN standard- but I really hated that there was no grovel at the end..BOOO.
Safe
Meh
2.5/5
March 1, 2015
Vanessa takes her red hair to Paris, and finds herself in a Cole Porter musical. She’s dancing on a stage set of a city square, with a backdrop on Notre Dame in the distance, and every time she skips a few steps towards it, a man in a tux dance-ambushes her with a synchronised shuffle-sway or a full on spin. They’re all singing ‘beautiful girl, we all adore, do you even know what your red hair is for?’ and she’s answering ‘please let me pass, please let me be, I just want to see some Paris scenery.’
Except without the singing and dancing. The role of Fred Astaire playing the role of the hero is played by hot rich Greek guy, Markos Makarios. Markos does his solo and sees off the extras and wins Vanessa. He’s got her seduced by the end of the week, and wow that would be a short book if it all ended there. I wish they’d stayed in France and made a musical, but they didn’t. Instead, Markos is a mess of a loveless childhood and equal splashes of selfishness and snobbery, and needs a whole lot more time to wallow in his own crapulence before turning into a human being.
Vanessa is beautiful and really easy going. Sometimes easy going is concealing a robust amount of passive-aggressiveness, but Vanessa is genuinely ‘oh, so this is how you have a relationship with a rich guy? Not quite what I expected, but no complaints.’ Markos is her first relationship and she adores him. So she lets a few things slide which maybe she shouldn’t have, and accepts a lot without asking some fairly pertinent questions. Like, ‘what’s with this whole mistress bs? Why can’t you just call me your girlfriend?’
Markos is Leo’s cousin (Leo is in ‘Shackled by Diamonds’)and they went to the same school and learnt the same taxonomy of women: wife, mistress or ‘other.’ Markos had a fairly standard HP hero upbringing with horrible parents who were horrible to each other and to him, so he’s for sure definitely not getting married ever. He has two attendants who do everything for him. His life is high-powered rich man work, and flying around the world taking high-powered rich man meetings. Sometimes he brings Vanessa, sometimes he leaves her at home. She’s always fine with whatever, never argues with him, never complains, never even tries to bore him about what she does when he’s not around. Any time he likes he can just pick her up, feel her up, and plonk her down on a bed somewhere and she’s good to go. He thinks this is the absolute best deal he’s ever had in his life.
It’s all fine for about six months, but then Vanessa starts to get a hint of an inkling that something isn’t quite right. She’s at a party with Markos and some sleaze offers to start buying her pretty things if she’ll move on from Markos to him. He’s also hinting about ‘keeping it in the family’ or something, she’s not interested, so she goes to Markos.
But Markos is talking to a French Duchess, who leaves in a huff, and Markos is a bit abrupt with Vanessa, because his instruction ‘stay over there and don’t talk to anyone’ should have been followed to the letter. Vanessa’s all ‘hang on, why can’t I be next to a French Duchess? Is it because I’m common?’ You know, I have no idea how this works, either. Romancelandic French are all about sophisticated mistress culture, and how no sex things are ever shocking. Markos should have been able to confidently drop Vanessa with a French Duchess and return in ten minutes to discover Vanessa now knows a whole heap of kinky stuff that she thinks they should right now go home and try.
Markos chooses not to engage in discussions about huffy French aristos but it all starts coming out anyway, about how Vanessa is his mistress, and while he says she’s the best mistress he’s ever had, Vanessa goes into deep denial about the whole thing. She hopes it’s some kind of mistranslation. Mistress might actually mean girlfriend in Greek? Yes, that must be it.
Then, everyone and everything starts telling Vanessa that she’s pregnant. She goes into deep denial about that too, for what seems like months since she first starts noticing that she’s been a wee bit sick, and developing a bit more tummy, but this may have actually been only a couple of days book time. So after the mistress talk ends in retreat, Vanessa bravely starts the baby scenario talk, and it doesn’t go down real well. Markos says: ‘if you think it would be a good idea to try to get more out of me by accidentally on purpose getting pregnant, you can think again, mistress!’ Which even Vanessa can’t rationalise into a slightly weird but still ok thing a guy might say to his girlfriend.
They have this conversation in the morning, and Vanessa goes into a quiet room to stare at a wall for a while, and then a Greek lady turns up with a cheque for 25,000 pounds to pay Vanessa to get out of Markos’s life. The Greek lady and Markos’s dad are scheming for Markos to marry the Greek lady’s daughter, and the Greek lady’s son is the sleaze Vanessa met at the party with the French Duchess. The fact of Markos’s immanent marriage is finally the incontrovertible evidence that Markos is a total jerk. Vanessa packs her bags.
I wish she’d left the cheque out as her goodbye note and signed it over to ‘Markos the worst jerkface alive Makarios,’ but she doesn’t. It in fact takes Markos hours to work out that she’s gone at all, and he’s hopeless about the whole thing. The only way to like Markos is to recognise that he is in huge denial about his feelings and is in fact a lonely, wounded and unhappy creature. It’s impossible to like him based on what’s going on in his head, because that’s all about how dare Vanessa not be there to fulfil his desires.
He’s really horribly bad at his attempts to get Vanessa back, and while Leo and Anna show up to coach him in how to be a normal person, it does take a couple of goes for him to get it right.
Vanessa grew a fairly awesome steel spine and turned out to be super capable at sorting herself out, and she finally talked straight to Markos. It helped make up for the fact that she managed to spend six months blissfully happy with Markos without realising that he was a jerk.
Markos finally manages to bring on a fairly good grovel, but he is a somewhat more challenging character to like. I preferred ‘Shackled by Diamonds,’ but this book was still a decent amount of fun.
Except without the singing and dancing. The role of Fred Astaire playing the role of the hero is played by hot rich Greek guy, Markos Makarios. Markos does his solo and sees off the extras and wins Vanessa. He’s got her seduced by the end of the week, and wow that would be a short book if it all ended there. I wish they’d stayed in France and made a musical, but they didn’t. Instead, Markos is a mess of a loveless childhood and equal splashes of selfishness and snobbery, and needs a whole lot more time to wallow in his own crapulence before turning into a human being.
Vanessa is beautiful and really easy going. Sometimes easy going is concealing a robust amount of passive-aggressiveness, but Vanessa is genuinely ‘oh, so this is how you have a relationship with a rich guy? Not quite what I expected, but no complaints.’ Markos is her first relationship and she adores him. So she lets a few things slide which maybe she shouldn’t have, and accepts a lot without asking some fairly pertinent questions. Like, ‘what’s with this whole mistress bs? Why can’t you just call me your girlfriend?’
Markos is Leo’s cousin (Leo is in ‘Shackled by Diamonds’)and they went to the same school and learnt the same taxonomy of women: wife, mistress or ‘other.’ Markos had a fairly standard HP hero upbringing with horrible parents who were horrible to each other and to him, so he’s for sure definitely not getting married ever. He has two attendants who do everything for him. His life is high-powered rich man work, and flying around the world taking high-powered rich man meetings. Sometimes he brings Vanessa, sometimes he leaves her at home. She’s always fine with whatever, never argues with him, never complains, never even tries to bore him about what she does when he’s not around. Any time he likes he can just pick her up, feel her up, and plonk her down on a bed somewhere and she’s good to go. He thinks this is the absolute best deal he’s ever had in his life.
It’s all fine for about six months, but then Vanessa starts to get a hint of an inkling that something isn’t quite right. She’s at a party with Markos and some sleaze offers to start buying her pretty things if she’ll move on from Markos to him. He’s also hinting about ‘keeping it in the family’ or something, she’s not interested, so she goes to Markos.
But Markos is talking to a French Duchess, who leaves in a huff, and Markos is a bit abrupt with Vanessa, because his instruction ‘stay over there and don’t talk to anyone’ should have been followed to the letter. Vanessa’s all ‘hang on, why can’t I be next to a French Duchess? Is it because I’m common?’ You know, I have no idea how this works, either. Romancelandic French are all about sophisticated mistress culture, and how no sex things are ever shocking. Markos should have been able to confidently drop Vanessa with a French Duchess and return in ten minutes to discover Vanessa now knows a whole heap of kinky stuff that she thinks they should right now go home and try.
Markos chooses not to engage in discussions about huffy French aristos but it all starts coming out anyway, about how Vanessa is his mistress, and while he says she’s the best mistress he’s ever had, Vanessa goes into deep denial about the whole thing. She hopes it’s some kind of mistranslation. Mistress might actually mean girlfriend in Greek? Yes, that must be it.
Then, everyone and everything starts telling Vanessa that she’s pregnant. She goes into deep denial about that too, for what seems like months since she first starts noticing that she’s been a wee bit sick, and developing a bit more tummy, but this may have actually been only a couple of days book time. So after the mistress talk ends in retreat, Vanessa bravely starts the baby scenario talk, and it doesn’t go down real well. Markos says: ‘if you think it would be a good idea to try to get more out of me by accidentally on purpose getting pregnant, you can think again, mistress!’ Which even Vanessa can’t rationalise into a slightly weird but still ok thing a guy might say to his girlfriend.
They have this conversation in the morning, and Vanessa goes into a quiet room to stare at a wall for a while, and then a Greek lady turns up with a cheque for 25,000 pounds to pay Vanessa to get out of Markos’s life. The Greek lady and Markos’s dad are scheming for Markos to marry the Greek lady’s daughter, and the Greek lady’s son is the sleaze Vanessa met at the party with the French Duchess. The fact of Markos’s immanent marriage is finally the incontrovertible evidence that Markos is a total jerk. Vanessa packs her bags.
I wish she’d left the cheque out as her goodbye note and signed it over to ‘Markos the worst jerkface alive Makarios,’ but she doesn’t. It in fact takes Markos hours to work out that she’s gone at all, and he’s hopeless about the whole thing. The only way to like Markos is to recognise that he is in huge denial about his feelings and is in fact a lonely, wounded and unhappy creature. It’s impossible to like him based on what’s going on in his head, because that’s all about how dare Vanessa not be there to fulfil his desires.
He’s really horribly bad at his attempts to get Vanessa back, and while Leo and Anna show up to coach him in how to be a normal person, it does take a couple of goes for him to get it right.
Vanessa grew a fairly awesome steel spine and turned out to be super capable at sorting herself out, and she finally talked straight to Markos. It helped make up for the fact that she managed to spend six months blissfully happy with Markos without realising that he was a jerk.
Markos finally manages to bring on a fairly good grovel, but he is a somewhat more challenging character to like. I preferred ‘Shackled by Diamonds,’ but this book was still a decent amount of fun.
February 26, 2012
Markos is suffering from boredom when he comes across the very beautiful naïve Vanessa in Paris. He seems to be her white knight in discouraging the attentions of OM, yet he is really a wolf in disguise! Yep he has decided that he wants Vanessa for himself and he sets out to acquire her as his latest mistress – a term that Vanessa has never applied to herself nor even thought about. Markos is all kosher w/ the new status quo and seems to relish the idea that Vanessa is so in AWE of him. After all, all women would jump at the chance to be w/ this lazy, arrogant, self-absorbed, poor me playboy, right?
It really did get annoying the way Vanessa would cater to Markos and give in to him as though she really was nothing more than a toy. She was always looking at him w/ moonbeams in her eyes, and she seemed to not want to grow a backbone while in his presence because she was just so in awe of this magnificent specimen!! Yes, there were several incidences of eye rolling at the naivety of this young woman, but you have to remember her background and this seemed spot on for her – okay at least for HP land.
Despite my desire to shake some sense into Vanessa she soon gets “it” when another player is brought into the equation. Markos wasn’t all that either. He was way too self-absorbed and into his own pleasure on his time table, but seriously she let him get away w/ a LOT of that. He seemed to use his “bodyguards” as his clean-up crew too – i.e. he just slipped out of his skis and let them deal w/ them, leave the restaurant and they were to deal w/ the bill – GROW UP COUNTCHOCULA!! He so didn’t respect Vanessa either and there were several scenes where it was proven that he didn’t and he just didn’t get things either. I felt that the author did an excellent job of showing just how in the dark both of these characters were about things.
Of course, Markos didn’t trust Vanessa to not be like all other gold-digging-billionaire-hubby-trapping (GDBHT) females and he got really upset that she didn’t seem to trust him enough to ask him about things before doing a runner – but really what did he expect after that little tell-all he advised her of before she left? I know I shouldn’t be happy about her running w/ her secret, but considering all he put her through I was OVER THE MOON that she did! He feels awful and goes through some turmoil because the little bed warmer jelly fish had slipped away w/ no explanation and that is NOT allowed! This forces him to see things in a different light as well.
Of course, you know that he runs across her and discovers her secret. His argument of what she had been doing didn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but then I just chalk that up to hurt pride on his part. I think if he had reasoned things out he would NEVER have accused her of that given what he knew about Vanessa – but he is just striking out and if he could categorize as the same GDBHT female; well then it’s all good for him! Markos had to take some addition lessons from some interfering relatives in order to put two and two together, but I was fine w/ that. Seriously I don’t think he would have grasped the concept of adding up what he had done unless someone had boogilleted him a few times – at least the relatives were a little less subdued than my actions would have been.
I was just so happy that she evolved as well and told him like it was and he still came back for more of it! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found myself quite entertained from beginning to end – I have to say I couldn’t put it down until I finished it either.
It really did get annoying the way Vanessa would cater to Markos and give in to him as though she really was nothing more than a toy. She was always looking at him w/ moonbeams in her eyes, and she seemed to not want to grow a backbone while in his presence because she was just so in awe of this magnificent specimen!! Yes, there were several incidences of eye rolling at the naivety of this young woman, but you have to remember her background and this seemed spot on for her – okay at least for HP land.
Despite my desire to shake some sense into Vanessa she soon gets “it” when another player is brought into the equation. Markos wasn’t all that either. He was way too self-absorbed and into his own pleasure on his time table, but seriously she let him get away w/ a LOT of that. He seemed to use his “bodyguards” as his clean-up crew too – i.e. he just slipped out of his skis and let them deal w/ them, leave the restaurant and they were to deal w/ the bill – GROW UP COUNTCHOCULA!! He so didn’t respect Vanessa either and there were several scenes where it was proven that he didn’t and he just didn’t get things either. I felt that the author did an excellent job of showing just how in the dark both of these characters were about things.
Of course, Markos didn’t trust Vanessa to not be like all other gold-digging-billionaire-hubby-trapping (GDBHT) females and he got really upset that she didn’t seem to trust him enough to ask him about things before doing a runner – but really what did he expect after that little tell-all he advised her of before she left? I know I shouldn’t be happy about her running w/ her secret, but considering all he put her through I was OVER THE MOON that she did! He feels awful and goes through some turmoil because the little bed warmer jelly fish had slipped away w/ no explanation and that is NOT allowed! This forces him to see things in a different light as well.
Of course, you know that he runs across her and discovers her secret. His argument of what she had been doing didn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but then I just chalk that up to hurt pride on his part. I think if he had reasoned things out he would NEVER have accused her of that given what he knew about Vanessa – but he is just striking out and if he could categorize as the same GDBHT female; well then it’s all good for him! Markos had to take some addition lessons from some interfering relatives in order to put two and two together, but I was fine w/ that. Seriously I don’t think he would have grasped the concept of adding up what he had done unless someone had boogilleted him a few times – at least the relatives were a little less subdued than my actions would have been.
I was just so happy that she evolved as well and told him like it was and he still came back for more of it! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found myself quite entertained from beginning to end – I have to say I couldn’t put it down until I finished it either.
October 11, 2015
This was an Ok read. The hero was really callous and the grovelling at the end was not enough.
May 8, 2018
This is one of the many "i didnt know i was a mistress". There is nothing new but it was kinda good.
At least we got some good groveling so this is always yay!!!
At least we got some good groveling so this is always yay!!!
June 2, 2021
The hero and I had something in common. We both had a sense of ennui while being part of this book. Once again, I feel like I am in the minority since many of my favorite reviewers rated this a 4. My feelings were a 2 which got bumped to a 3 after the heroine left him. Vintage has a great review with many more thoughts and details then this review will have. So where to begin.....
Hero(Markos) needs to know his audience...mistress material is rarely a 24 year old random English woman taking in the sights of France ...who is still a virgin. Maybe this is why she was not like any mistress you have ever had before...hmmm....
Heroine(Vanessa)-Honey I can’t be too hard on you, because honestly I was a really naive young woman. Seriously, to this day I am convinced that John Taylor of Duran Duran just needed to meet me once to know I was his other 1/2(or maybe that was Rick Springfield nope it was definitely Bono of U2) Alas I digress(and age myself in the process) Vanessa, dear, you aren’t working, you are not allowed to call the hero, he rarely calls you when he is away, he adorns you with clothes(fake furs,PETA thanks you) and jewelry ...yes I know you do not ask for these things, but it is still happening. Also, you seem to know that if you say I love you to the hero that he will be out of your life as fast as a bullet from a gun. You are a mistress, or if you prefer his courtesan.
So Vanessa realizes she is officially a mistress when the wannabe mil of the hero confronts her and tries to pay her off. Vanessa packs a bag and leaves quietly without a word to the hero. I wonder what would have happened had she waited. I have a feeling if she would have confronted the hero and said ‘Hey I found out today that I’m your mistress and I am not ok with that”, Would he have given her the boot. I am pretty sure he would have.
Vanessa leaving the hero was the best part of the book. I don’t even hate the hero. I like cruel heroes, obsessed heroes, and loving heroes(if done right)but he wasn’t any of those things he was just clueless(stupid?).
He tracks her down. She cuts him down(bravo Vanessa). He goes back to France to consult some liquor and his cousin Leo. Leo’s wife Annie gives the hero a few home truths( I love her, I will be reading her and Leo’s story next) Both Leo and Annie basically tell the hero he has gone about things in a wrong way. They were channeling Andy Dufresne: How can you be so obtuse?
Hero goes back to heroine to make amends. He arranges it so the boarders that were going to stay at her place ended up with an all expense paid Mediterranean vacation. He will board in her house. He wants to be near her. She is the only one he can’t live without. Then he explains his background to her. All is forgiven. Finally the hero shows some depth.
Like I said the ending of the book is what really made up for my previous ennui. I by no means hated the book, it just didn’t give me the feels I look for when reading these books. I never felt like I was sitting on pins and needles or even complete outrage by the hero. I was also coming off a book that I rated a 5 that checked off so much of my feelings(the funny thing is I was the outlier on that one and many of my favorite reviewers gave it a 3)
Different strokes for different folks!!!
Hero(Markos) needs to know his audience...mistress material is rarely a 24 year old random English woman taking in the sights of France ...who is still a virgin. Maybe this is why she was not like any mistress you have ever had before...hmmm....
Heroine(Vanessa)-Honey I can’t be too hard on you, because honestly I was a really naive young woman. Seriously, to this day I am convinced that John Taylor of Duran Duran just needed to meet me once to know I was his other 1/2(or maybe that was Rick Springfield nope it was definitely Bono of U2) Alas I digress(and age myself in the process) Vanessa, dear, you aren’t working, you are not allowed to call the hero, he rarely calls you when he is away, he adorns you with clothes(fake furs,PETA thanks you) and jewelry ...yes I know you do not ask for these things, but it is still happening. Also, you seem to know that if you say I love you to the hero that he will be out of your life as fast as a bullet from a gun. You are a mistress, or if you prefer his courtesan.
So Vanessa realizes she is officially a mistress when the wannabe mil of the hero confronts her and tries to pay her off. Vanessa packs a bag and leaves quietly without a word to the hero. I wonder what would have happened had she waited. I have a feeling if she would have confronted the hero and said ‘Hey I found out today that I’m your mistress and I am not ok with that”, Would he have given her the boot. I am pretty sure he would have.
Vanessa leaving the hero was the best part of the book. I don’t even hate the hero. I like cruel heroes, obsessed heroes, and loving heroes(if done right)but he wasn’t any of those things he was just clueless(stupid?).
He tracks her down. She cuts him down(bravo Vanessa). He goes back to France to consult some liquor and his cousin Leo. Leo’s wife Annie gives the hero a few home truths( I love her, I will be reading her and Leo’s story next) Both Leo and Annie basically tell the hero he has gone about things in a wrong way. They were channeling Andy Dufresne: How can you be so obtuse?
Hero goes back to heroine to make amends. He arranges it so the boarders that were going to stay at her place ended up with an all expense paid Mediterranean vacation. He will board in her house. He wants to be near her. She is the only one he can’t live without. Then he explains his background to her. All is forgiven. Finally the hero shows some depth.
Like I said the ending of the book is what really made up for my previous ennui. I by no means hated the book, it just didn’t give me the feels I look for when reading these books. I never felt like I was sitting on pins and needles or even complete outrage by the hero. I was also coming off a book that I rated a 5 that checked off so much of my feelings(the funny thing is I was the outlier on that one and many of my favorite reviewers gave it a 3)
Different strokes for different folks!!!
May 26, 2020
This is a good book however the first half of the story moved along slowly and it either needed to be sped up or the story length reduced. There was an overabundance of very detailed info I could have skipped or done without. Once I was half-way into the book the speed began to pick up but then there was the final slow-down at somewhere close to 70%-80% or there-abouts.
There was also a very commendable grovel scene where he explained why he was the way he was and what had transpired between his parents and how it turned him into such a pessimist so against relationships, marriage and children. It was a sad situation! I have my print set on a larger size but in my reading program he groveled and explained for about ten pages! Loved it and it was clear to see his love for her! A deep abiding love that he was no longer afraid to voice. It was actually quite beautiful. It certainly made up for the frustration of a slow moving story.
This hero is really slow witted maybe dense is a better word! Several times I wanted to tell whomever he was talking to to slow down their speech and say the words very slowly.
I dearly loved his cousin Leo and his new bride Anna. What a treat those two were! I was so hoping for an epilogue that would include us in on the birth of their child.
There was also a very commendable grovel scene where he explained why he was the way he was and what had transpired between his parents and how it turned him into such a pessimist so against relationships, marriage and children. It was a sad situation! I have my print set on a larger size but in my reading program he groveled and explained for about ten pages! Loved it and it was clear to see his love for her! A deep abiding love that he was no longer afraid to voice. It was actually quite beautiful. It certainly made up for the frustration of a slow moving story.
This hero is really slow witted maybe dense is a better word! Several times I wanted to tell whomever he was talking to to slow down their speech and say the words very slowly.
I dearly loved his cousin Leo and his new bride Anna. What a treat those two were! I was so hoping for an epilogue that would include us in on the birth of their child.
November 5, 2018
4.5 stars ⭐️.
What I loved the most was hero’s slow realization of heroine’s worth and importance in his life and the epic groveling!
I loved how the heroine rejected him continuously. I loved hero’s interaction with his cousin.
No much needed epilogue so I cut half star.
Recommended.
What I loved the most was hero’s slow realization of heroine’s worth and importance in his life and the epic groveling!
I loved how the heroine rejected him continuously. I loved hero’s interaction with his cousin.
No much needed epilogue so I cut half star.
Recommended.
November 18, 2020
A perrrrrrfect book for the listopia "I'm a Mistress".
This is Book 1 in the series.
The Hero Markos is thirty-three.
The Heroine Vanessa is twenty-four.
Lots of good reviews, so just listing down......
Some predictable tropes -
Heroine is naive regarding Hero's intentions.
Hero thinks of her as a mistress only, not good enough to marry. Grr.
Heroine doesn't know that antibiotics can interfere with the efficacy of contraceptive pills. Tsk Tsk.
Heroine takes off when she finds out that she's pregnant. Good for her.
Hero has no clue where the Heroine has disappeared and comes searching for her.
Some not so predictable ones -
Hero doesn't know basic biology.
Poor clueless Hero, is a business tycoon, but can't count!
Descriptive Imagery - Eyes
Heroine's Eyes -
Lustrous long-lashed amber eyes
Her amber eyes gazed helplessly up at him rich with emotions - part afraid, part tantalised, part bewildered!!! (Imagine being able to read all that !!!!)
The blaze of shocked, incandescent awareness in her eyes.
She gazed at him, lovelight blinding in her eyes.
Her eyes seeing, yet unseeing.
Hero's Eyes -
Dark slate-grey eyes.
His grey eyes fared with naked desire.
Chill grey eyes bored into her.
Prospective OM's Eyes-
His Black eyes were openly lapping her up. (Is she an Ice-cream candy?)
The Hot eyes were all over her again, greedy, speculative and lascivious. Ooh!
More than the supposed OW, who's actually a wife-in-waiting, the Prospective OW's Mother's Eyes (Constantia Dimistris) get a lot of mention.
Her eyes narrowed speculatively and flicked over her in a hostile manner.
Malice and satisfaction mingled in the women's eyes. shiver
Places Frustratingly Ficticious -
The description of the seaside town of Teymouth was interesting enough that I Googled it.......But what do I get?
In the area of East Devon and Dorset, there are towns named Axmouth, Charmouth and Weymouth but there's no Teymouth. *Sad*
On a lighter vein........
And.......
The Award for utilising the word MISTRESS most number of times in a Mills and Boon Book goes to ------For Pleasure...or Marriage?
The word Mistress is used in the book around 92 times. Had the author used it 8 more times, it would have been a century!
Amongst the sub categories of the usage of the word Mistress , with reference to the Heroine,
(1) Adoring (Mistress) is used 13 times,
(2) Best Mistress is used 10 times,
(3) Perfect Mistress is used 7 times,
(4) Sensual (Mistress) is used 7 times &
(5) Easiest Mistress is used 2 times.
And the HEA -
Heroine - "You're going to be the Best Father in the world"
Hero - "Every one of our children would be blessed by the Best Mother in the world"
Hero - "I am going to have the Best Wife in the world"
Hero and Heroine jointly - "Lets start the Best Marriage in the world"
Hero's Cousin - "Joint Best"
Characters from Book 2 Shackled by Diamonds Leo and Anna are the voice of reason here. In fact Leo refers to the Hero as his Little Cousin 12 times.
This is Book 1 in the series.
The Hero Markos is thirty-three.
The Heroine Vanessa is twenty-four.
Lots of good reviews, so just listing down......
Some predictable tropes -
Heroine is naive regarding Hero's intentions.
Hero thinks of her as a mistress only, not good enough to marry. Grr.
Heroine doesn't know that antibiotics can interfere with the efficacy of contraceptive pills. Tsk Tsk.
Heroine takes off when she finds out that she's pregnant. Good for her.
Hero has no clue where the Heroine has disappeared and comes searching for her.
Some not so predictable ones -
Hero doesn't know basic biology.
Poor clueless Hero, is a business tycoon, but can't count!
Descriptive Imagery - Eyes
Heroine's Eyes -
Lustrous long-lashed amber eyes
Her amber eyes gazed helplessly up at him rich with emotions - part afraid, part tantalised, part bewildered!!! (Imagine being able to read all that !!!!)
The blaze of shocked, incandescent awareness in her eyes.
She gazed at him, lovelight blinding in her eyes.
Her eyes seeing, yet unseeing.
Hero's Eyes -
Dark slate-grey eyes.
His grey eyes fared with naked desire.
Chill grey eyes bored into her.
Prospective OM's Eyes-
His Black eyes were openly lapping her up. (Is she an Ice-cream candy?)
The Hot eyes were all over her again, greedy, speculative and lascivious. Ooh!
More than the supposed OW, who's actually a wife-in-waiting, the Prospective OW's Mother's Eyes (Constantia Dimistris) get a lot of mention.
Her eyes narrowed speculatively and flicked over her in a hostile manner.
Malice and satisfaction mingled in the women's eyes. shiver
Places Frustratingly Ficticious -
The description of the seaside town of Teymouth was interesting enough that I Googled it.......But what do I get?
In the area of East Devon and Dorset, there are towns named Axmouth, Charmouth and Weymouth but there's no Teymouth. *Sad*
On a lighter vein........
And.......
The Award for utilising the word MISTRESS most number of times in a Mills and Boon Book goes to ------For Pleasure...or Marriage?
The word Mistress is used in the book around 92 times. Had the author used it 8 more times, it would have been a century!
Amongst the sub categories of the usage of the word Mistress , with reference to the Heroine,
(1) Adoring (Mistress) is used 13 times,
(2) Best Mistress is used 10 times,
(3) Perfect Mistress is used 7 times,
(4) Sensual (Mistress) is used 7 times &
(5) Easiest Mistress is used 2 times.
And the HEA -
Heroine - "You're going to be the Best Father in the world"
Hero - "Every one of our children would be blessed by the Best Mother in the world"
Hero - "I am going to have the Best Wife in the world"
Hero and Heroine jointly - "Lets start the Best Marriage in the world"
Hero's Cousin - "Joint Best"
Characters from Book 2 Shackled by Diamonds Leo and Anna are the voice of reason here. In fact Leo refers to the Hero as his Little Cousin 12 times.
November 14, 2011
The heroine Vanessa and the hero Markos meet in Paris, Markos is immediately attracted to her and soon discovers that she is perfect for him. Vanessa has spent most of her life sheltered and is a little flustered by Markos's attentions, yet she quickly falls for him. Six months on and Vanessa feels blissfully happy and has more or less devoted herself to him. Markos is also happy with things the way they are with Vanessa, and even the pressure from his father to marry suitably doesn't get to him. Vanessa is shocked and hurt when Markos lets it slip that he only considers her as his mistress, and will never offer her more. Initially Vanessa thinks that it is a mistake, but his actions show her the truth. She leaves without a word and with a secret and begins to build a new life for herself. Until Markos tracks her down and confronts her with his angry accusations.
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't stand either of the characters. The hero was such an ass, he seemed to have so little respect for the heroine and that always frustrates me beyond belief (why do authors write hero's like this!). And the heroine is literally the definition of doormat, even worse than the hero's lack of respect for the heroine is the heroine's complete lack of self respect. Although she did manage to find her backbone eventually, when she finally stood up for herself were some of the best moments in the books, so she is slightly redeemed.
The story is also a little similar to other Julia James books, and while some of those worked, this one just did not.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't stand either of the characters. The hero was such an ass, he seemed to have so little respect for the heroine and that always frustrates me beyond belief (why do authors write hero's like this!). And the heroine is literally the definition of doormat, even worse than the hero's lack of respect for the heroine is the heroine's complete lack of self respect. Although she did manage to find her backbone eventually, when she finally stood up for herself were some of the best moments in the books, so she is slightly redeemed.
The story is also a little similar to other Julia James books, and while some of those worked, this one just did not.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
March 3, 2015
This is my first book of Julia James. I wanted to give a chance to this author since I have read some good comments about her so...
It was a nice book. There were some moments between the main characters that I loved, specially at the end when she treated bad the hero and refused his "help" to raise her child.
However I like my heros more like Olivia Gates', Michelle Reid's or Jacqueline Baird's style.
I didn't feel NOTHING for this hero at all, he is not going to be memorable. Julia James is not one of my fav authors, so I don't think I will read another book of her.
3.5 stars
It was a nice book. There were some moments between the main characters that I loved, specially at the end when she treated bad the hero and refused his "help" to raise her child.
However I like my heros more like Olivia Gates', Michelle Reid's or Jacqueline Baird's style.
I didn't feel NOTHING for this hero at all, he is not going to be memorable. Julia James is not one of my fav authors, so I don't think I will read another book of her.
3.5 stars
May 10, 2011
I don't know exactly the reason why but I'm i love with this story. Maybe that's because she's good, no weepy kind but a girl with a backbone but I cannot resist. I read it a lot of time and never got tired.
October 14, 2018
Este libro pertenece a la misma serie que “Cadenas de diamantes” y volvemos a encontrarnos con Leo y Anna, y su papel en esta novela me ha gustado mucho.
En esta ocasión nuestros protagonistas son Markos y Vannesa a los que conocimos brevemente en el libro anterior.
Markos es un millonario bastante prepotente y que está muy seguro del papel de Anna en su vida. Ella por su parte es muy ingenua, aunque se justifica por su pasado. Ella debió de hacerle arrastrarse al final, pero aún así he disfrutado de la lectura.
Se lee de tirón y me ha durado menos de tres horas. Seguiré leyendo a la autora.
En esta ocasión nuestros protagonistas son Markos y Vannesa a los que conocimos brevemente en el libro anterior.
Markos es un millonario bastante prepotente y que está muy seguro del papel de Anna en su vida. Ella por su parte es muy ingenua, aunque se justifica por su pasado. Ella debió de hacerle arrastrarse al final, pero aún así he disfrutado de la lectura.
Se lee de tirón y me ha durado menos de tres horas. Seguiré leyendo a la autora.
January 7, 2026
Julia James writes such good grovel. And heroines who are so enjoyably merciless until they get the respect they deserve!
April 26, 2013
absolutely loved it !! there was nothing special about this book i mean no intense emotions no major conflict but i enjoyed it so much !! a keeper definitely with no melodrama
September 12, 2014
Esta historia me gusto mucho mas que el libro de Leo, el primo de Marko.
3.5 de 5 Estrellas!!
3.5 de 5 Estrellas!!
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