Η Γυναίκα του Ισπανού - ΧΡΥΣΑ ΑΡΛΕΚΙΝ SPECIAL #227

by India Grey

Ο διαβόητος πλεϊμπόι Τριστάν Ρομέρο γνώρισε τη Λίλι σ’ έναν αριστοκρατικό χορό μεταμφιεσμένων –και, με αλαζονική σιγουριά, της δήλωσε ότι το επόμενο πρωί θα ξυπνούσαν μαζί, στα μεταξωτά, πανάκριβα σεντόνια του…
Έτσι και έγινε! Η Λίλι δεν βρήκε τη δύναμη ν’ αντισταθεί στον Ισπανό μαρκήσιο με το σαγηνευτικό χαμόγελο και τα πανέμορφα γαλάζια μάτια, έστω κι αν γνώριζε πως αυτό που της πρόσφερε ήταν μονάχα μια νύχτα. Αλλά λίγες βδομάδες αργότερα ανακάλυψε πως περίμενε το παιδί του…

Ο Τριστάν θεώρησε καθήκον του να της ζητήσει να παντρευτούν. Όμως παρ’ όλο που ήξερε πόσες γυναίκες θα εύχονταν να είναι στη θέση της, η Λίλι δεν ένιωθε καθόλου τυχερή. Ντρεπόταν που είχε δεχτεί να κάνει ένα γάμο χωρίς αγάπη, και ένιωσε ακόμα χειρότερα όταν συνειδητοποίησε πως ως σύζυγος του Τριστάν θα ήταν υποχρεωμένη να εκπληρώνει την κάθε επιθυμία του …

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Second Chance, Harlequin Romance

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

India Grey was born in England, UK. A self-confessed romance junkie, she was just thirteen years old when she first sent away for the Mills & Boon Writers' Guidelines. She can still recall the thrill of getting the large brown envelope with its distinctive logo through the letterbox, and subsequently whiled away many a dull school-day staring out the window and dreaming of the perfect hero. She kept these guidelines with her for the next ten years, tucking them carefully inside the cover of each new diary in January, and beginning every list of New Year's resolutions with the words Start Novel. In the meantime she also gained a degree in English literature and language from Manchester University, and in a stroke of genius on the part of the Gods of romance, met her gorgeous future husband on the very last night of their three years there. The last fifteen years have been spent blissfully buried in domesticity, and heaps of pink washing generated by three small daughters, but she has never really stopped daydreaming about romance. She's just profoundly grateful to have finally got an excuse to do it legitimately! After meeting the bestselling novelist Penny Jordan, she returned to writing romance, and sold her first novel in September 2006. In 2009, her novel Mistress: Hired for the Billionaire's Pleasure won the Love Story of the Year by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved reading books written by India Grey. And this one, The Society Wife, was one of those that I loved.

I had to ask myself why this book made such a powerful impression on me. What was it about the story of Tristan and Lily that immediately drew me in from the very first page?

Well, one could say that it was the first chapter…the first time that Tristan and Lily meet at their mutual friends’ charity ball. Could anything be more exciting than Tristan’s arrival at the do????

It may even be that I was totally enchanted by the two mc’s…..there was something mysterious about them that just begged me to continue so that I could learn more about them.

And continue..I did!! Discovering that this was not merely a little fluffy and pink romance but an incredibly emotional story of how a one night of passion between two broken and lonely people can change their lives forever.

It’s a dark tale, filled with sadness, heartache, tragedy, loss, secrets, hope and redemption but also about how love can bring joy and happiness into your life. How love can show you the way to let go of the bad things in your past and move forward into the light.

This was a poignant and moving story…. What else could be thrown at Tristan and Lily? There were some heart rendering scenes that touched my heart..really, I mean that!!

But then – Lily has faced up to her losses and pain and knows Tristan has to do the same if they are ever able to find happiness together. And when he opens up ………did I ever expect what his secrets were??? Never, ever!!!! It was a moment, when I realized why he had become the man he was and why he did the things he did in his life!!! And having someone like Lily enter is beyond miserable life was the catalyst in him finally finding love and family.

I loved the epilogue…….wonderfully beautiful!

When a book like this comes my way, I realize why I love reading Mills & Boon romances.

PS…..I wonder what’s happened to this author? I haven’t seen any new books by her for a very long time!

AND PS…..This is my no 999 review!!! Wow!!! I can’t believe it!!!

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was so . . . melancholy. The model heroine is at a beautiful society fancy dress party and she feels empty inside. The banker hero pilots his helicopter to the beautiful society fancy dress party and he feels empty inside. After doves are released and a party goer shoots an arrow into one, the heroine goes looking for the injured bird. Here, at a tower folly, she meets the H again and one thing leads to another and they have a one night stand. The H is very careful to explain that he is dead inside and can't promise more than a one night stand.

Two months later the heroine realizes she is pregnant. The hero is not happy (spoiler: he's never happy), but insists if she keeps the baby it must be legitimate. He's got a cursed, six hundred year-old name that the kid must be part of. He also promises that they will have a marriage of convenience and he will feel nothing for anyone ever. The heroine hopes for the best, but eventually she realizes she is alone in her marriage.

India Grey has an ornate, intricate style that weighs down each scene. Sometimes it's effective in a literary sense The fact that during their first meeting he first calls the heroine Demeter - goddess of the harvest - and then Selene - goddess of the moon - is a bit of foreshadowing since she falls pregnant, but looses her baby and her uterus after hemorrhaging at six months. She's not a fertile Demeter anymore. The goddess Selene supposedly had an affair with a mortal and then put him in deep sleep so she could love him forever. That our hero was dead inside for most of this story certainly fits. But other times she goes on and on with the inner monologues and the descriptions of the shadows and the sounds of children's voices in the courtyard that I just want a Lynne Graham pet to do something goofy to break up the relentless sadness.

I was glad that the hero finally opened up about his horrific childhood and has decided he loves the heroine. But even the HEA is sad. They got their adopted twins when the author killed off an entire village in an earthquake to free them up for the H/h.

This was well-written, but a little heavy-handed.

[Romance_reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the most unconvincing contemporary romances I've read in a while. H and h meet at an OTT party and agree to having a no strings attached one night stand which results in a - you know it- pregnancy. The h wants to keep the child, the H doesn't; but still offers marriage to her in order to do his 'duty'. The marriage is a sham and they spend way more time away from each other than together and so there was no real scope for a romance to develop between the two.

To explain the H's cool nature, IG tells us of his sad childhood - how he's descended from a long line of cruel spaniards and therefore, thinks he may have inherited their traits. This belief leads the H to think that he is unsuitable for family life (which is actually kind of strange, coz on the other hand, he's quite the humanitarian/philanthropist who works for the upliftment of the downtrodden in the mythical country of Kazhikismir or something ). So he ends up traumatising the h who isn't very stable herself. And so it goes, they keep hurting each other and being distant till the h discovers his more 'humane' side on the evening news and decides to forgive all and be with him.

I found this story completely unbelievable and thats saying a lot, given that I've read OTT plots that beat this one hands down and still somehow make me believe in their HEA. Definitely not a book I'd recommend.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tristan sees Lily and wants her, typical, but his friend warns him off. Tristan doesn’t heed the warning, that he is so screwed up he will screw her up too, and goes for it! Well they do the deed and bun is conveniently in the oven. Lily gets in touch w/ playboy and lets him know. He wants to deny the baby, offers to pay her off, but just don’t claim him as a father on BC. She won’t let her child go through life w/out a name though and refuses so Tristan does the right thing and marries her, but will be in name only – he is SO screwed up. Never wanted children and again I ask then why didn’t he get snipped and why doesn’t the h EVER ask H that? Tristan stated that illegitimacy isn’t an option. My question: whether she names him on BC or not does that change legitimacy? I didn’t think so. He would have to marry her to prevent that. It wasn’t a bad story, but it was incredibly DEPRESSING!! Not a light fluffy read, but a heavy makes you literally feel awful reading read! I’m not sure that Tristan wouldn’t have manned up if he didn’t feel so much emotionally after what happens to Lily, but that was horrible. Then in order for them to get their HEA and, I suppose break the inherited thing, someone else had to suffer! Ugghhh….I would have been better off reading the paper! One other thing, why call this The Society Wife? It doesn’t seem to fit this story. How about The Downers Demise?

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The hero Tristan and the heroine Lily meet at a party held by Tristan's best friend. Tristan is exhausted and in need of oblivion after spending time in a war torn country, although the media believes him to be living the life of an international playboy. Lily is nervous around him but they are both drawn to each other and spend the night together, each agreeing it's a one night only thing. Six weeks later, Lily is shocked to discover she is pregnant, and Tristan's reaction is as much a shock. Tristan has never wanted to be a father after what he went through as a child, so he tells Lily to ignore that he is the father otherwise duty means they will have to get married. Lily refuses to do this, she knows what it is like to grow up without a father and believes in family and marriage. For the first few days of their marriage, Lily is very happy as not only does Tristan desire her so much that it seems he can't get enough of her she also believes they are getting closer. Then Tristan suddenly pulls away from her making it clear that it will be a marriage in name only, and leaves Lily, alone and unhappy, to deal with a sudden tragedy.

Ages ago, I read 'Mistress: Hired for the Billionaires Pleasure' and it reduced me to blubbering and I thought that India Grey must be some writer to make me cry (honestly, it doesn't happen often!). But that was nothing compared to this book, I was crying my eyes out! This book is so full of pain and emotion that it's almost impossible to read and impossible to put down all at the same time. The hero and heroine go on a roller-coaster of a journey, and this is written with such heart and depth. India's characters are almost perfect; Lily is so gentle and caring, and Tristan is jaded and powerful. They fit together and balance each other perfectly.
I don't want to give too much away, so I am not going to say much more but believe me - you will need tissues.

This book is magnificent, it really is. If you haven't read any of India Grey's books then this is a perfect example of what she does.

A beautiful, emotional and amazing book.

(Deserves a better title though, but that has nothing to do with the content I'm just being picky! I'm so glad that M&B have changed the way they title books!)


Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[Alexis-Morgan Roark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did there have to be so much pain in this book? Oy! To come together, share a fantastic night, a semi-sweet parting, longing, an unplanned pregnancy, a miserably unhappy marriage of convenience, the loss of a child late in the pregnancy, the coming together again after months apart for the sake of adoption, another mother loses her life so that her twins might find a home with the childless, broken hero and heroine, a syrupy sweet ending.

I just felt like my heart strings were being brutally tugged for the sake of drama without any real basis in reality. I mean, I know these things happen, but, egads, so much pain!!

Ok. Maybe I just like my stories a little less real. I don't know. Definitely a re-read, one day.

[Booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just completed it my god what a story two ppl who have been hurt so badly in past by their close one's how they come together n how their love fights all their fears n wins

Tristan my god how much poor guy has suffered such a abusive childhood then the death of his brother and most painful part is how cold-cruel his parents are father only wants to keep title n money and mother is alcoholic ,Tristan is so lonely he has leaned to keep his emotions in such a locked state that is why when Lily appears all his emotions are haywire and then loss of his daughter

Lily such a sweet delicate soul,she is selfless only knows to give for her child he entered a loveless marriage bore such loneliness and then she lost her child along with all her chances of concieving next time ,my heart went out to her she is Tristan's better half

I applaud both Tristan-Lily both suffered so much but they gathered themselves and made a good better life for each other,both are better half od each other

Excellent book,definetely a keeper
Recommend it

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Society Wife" is the story of Lily and Tristan.

Tristan is the heir to Romero multimillions, and a notorious playboy. Hiding his emotional upheaval by drowning himself in alcohol and women, he shrugs off all his inner turmoil. When his friend Tom organizes an engagement party, he is looking for a hot woman to screw, and spots our heroine, Lily.

Lily is a famous model with a heart of gold. Working on ads as well as in many charities, she is exhausted by the superficial, monotonous life, and knows the score with men like Tristan. However, a hurt dove brings them together in a tower, and soon they have a one night stand, on his condition that it would mean nothing more..

That is until Lily misses her period.

Growing up without a father, Lily knows the pain of being illegitimate, and would not expose her child to the same. So she informs Tristan, never expecting he would force her into a marriage of convenience. But his is heart encased in a glacier of snow, and when tragedy strikes them, will they be able to find love?

Honestly, what a gut wrenching read. Did not the emotional draining at all.
Our heroine is such a nice and kind soul- she gives and gives and cares for everyone. The pain she goes through is heartbreaking, and I genuinely shed a few tears she loses her child due to placental abruption and has to have a hysterectomy . Many times I felt she deserved so much better.

The hero is a giant wah-wah-self-pity ahole. 90% of the book is him pushing away the heroine and thwarting her efforts to love him. Even after the trauma, he keeps hurting her..until abruptly confessing his feelings at the end. I know you had a bad past, but come on, BE NICE TO HER DUDE. I didn't like him much.

Anyways, ends on a super sweet note, and they get their new and lovely HEA.

Safe
3.5/5

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally read book November 2011 and obviously thought it was good as gave it 4 stars. The audio version was just as powerful and was extremely well narrated by Julia Franklin.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gets better in the last few chapters but pretty boring in places generally.

[Tia · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, apparently this book has two titles. The Society Wife and also Spanish Aristocrat, Forced Bride. That being said, on with the review..

I was really confused as to give this book 1 star or 5 stars, for these reasons:

-It didn't really fall under "harlequin" status for me, the book was dark and scary at some points.

-The hero was a total douche. I mean he literally beat down the heroine and to me all the verbal and emotional abuse was over the top and too much.

-The storyline was just too cruel and didn't follow other "harlequins". I was really confused and it felt so twisted reading this novel. I can't figure out if I should be proud the author was that dark or be ashamed because of the injustice and abuse this book promotes. I certainly wouldn't want my daughter when she is a teenager reading it. I wouldn't want her to think it's alright for a man to beat you down.

So once again, this book is controversial news and I am on the fence, totally. If any man treated me the way hero treats the heroine, he wouldn't have any private parts left, I'd take a meat grinder to them!

[More Books Than Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emotional and intense.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a reversal of the traditional fairy tale roles, this book is about a prince who's trapped in a tower and in need of rescue. In this case, it's a tower constructed of wealth and privilege and duty...at least, to some extent. Largely it seems to be constructed in the hero's mind because he feels he's trapped in a double life. He's a billionaire banker/playboy to the world and the paparazzi, but an activist, global do-gooder undercover. It's mentioned more than once that the hero is deft at manipulating the press to maintain this dual life, but I never thought the author sufficiently explained why the hero "sold his soul to the devil" to hide his true nature. Partly it's because his family's wealth is built on ill-gotten gains, dating back centuries, and his dad is ruthless. The kind of businessman who sells arms to terrorists and raises interest rates on loans to starving African nations. Naturally, the father is also abusive, controlling, and incapable of love. This wouldn't be a fairy tale without an irredeemable villain. The son lives his dual life to try to make up for the (almost-cartoon) villainy of his father and his ancestors, but without the family knowing about it, I guess--thus the tower. But I don't remember any fairy tale princess (even the ones really trapped in towers) being as angst-y as the hero in this book is. And somewhere along the way, after all the descriptions of his beauty, his fame, his billionaire status, it became a little difficult to feel sorry for him. Yes, he had a lousy, love-starved childhood, but I just wanted to smack him and say, "Hey, there are people in the world with real problems. Hire a therapist and get over it!" Whatever. This being a romance, and despite all the angst, the heroine rescues the prince from his self-imposed exile and it all ends well. I think the author is very good at what she does, but this book was not as good as the first one I read by her, Her Last Night of Innocence .

[Ltlmer2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very strange and dark offering from Ms. Grey. How much tragedy and angst can you pile into one story and onto two people---and in a "romance"at that? For me, too much, and then add to that someone else's tragedy so that those two people get a "happy" ending. Also, though you understand why the H/h are the way they are (and might even be sympathetic), neither is very likable to start and their behavior throughout does not improve.

I have liked other works by Ms. Grey, but this one jumped the tracks. Usually these books are a quick, light, escapist read. Not that I don't like some depth to the story and characters, but I just can't say that I "enjoyed" this story much.

[sbf20112011 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know, it was pretty dark for an HP. That's not to say it was bad necessarily, but just that the HEA wasn't didn't leave me feeling as happy as they normally do. I like angst, I just like the angst to GO AWAY by the end. I wasn't a fan of the permanent terrible thing that happened to the heroine.

[Romance Lover · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cruel! It was far too serious for an HP.

[Lisa-Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

perhaps the most depressing book i have ever read, even the "happy ending" is wrought with sorrow.

[Ladyacct · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two damaged souls meeting, losing, and loving.

REALLY good story.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dude. This romance novel got all naturalistic on a girl.

[Melanie♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Raffaella · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was good in itself. I liked very much the introspection, the inner dialogue, the dual perspective. What I didn't like was the story in itself. Heroine was a very sweet, caring, brave woman but the hero is one of the worst male character I ever seen. He hide behind a facade of careless playboy when he is trying to save the world because his father is an evil banker who makes money with arms trading and other filthy things. Ok, you want to save the world and you want to play hero. It's not your fault if your father is a criminal, when he's dead you will do what you want with his bank and his money, but no, he has to play hero. Then he has a ONS with this sweet beautiful creature and she's pregnant. He tries to buy her silence and is really nasty, because he don't do love. Ok, since you don't do love you should know that playing hero without love is a worthless game. You only are a hero if love and caring are on stage, because when you do something for others you have to care about others, instead all he does he does for himself, to make himself feel better. This is the biggest deception of all. Then he marries her and he don't do love and caring so he goes back to play hero in some part of the world while she's alone with her pregnancy. Something goes wrong and she's alone when it happens. Very wrong. very very wrong. And he's not there when it happens so it goes worse and worse. Then he realizes what he has done but it's too late. I hated him because if you want to be a hero you start with the people who are nearest to you, your family in this case, but you know, when you play hero big and you go to some foreign country it's a bigger satisfaction to your ego, you worthless selfish bastard of a man, than simlpy doing your everyday duty and staying near those people you are resposnible for, that is your pregnant wife, because nobody will tell you how good and brave you are simply because you do your duty, so you choose to leave them behind to face what is the greatest pain of all for a woman sweet and caring like his wife, that he doesn't deserve her at all. In the end I was so very sad for her because she is the victim, his victim, he is exactly like that criminal father of his, and he hasn't even the guts to go back and grovel and tell her if she wants his head on a platter he cuts it and gives it to her, this was the only thing he should have done. He is a coward, a lost cause and a worthless excuse of a man, Lily deserved a different ending. This book really upset me.

[Iman · Rating 3 out of 5]

India Grey has a beautiful way of writing. I love her descriptions of the events that took place as she made it sound beautiful and majestic.

However, this is totally an okay read. To be clearly honest, I do not fancy the heroine as much, as she can be quite forceful. She is also full of herself and never took time to actually understand the hero. She easily make her own conclusions towards every situations.

Tristan is an acceptable male character. Yes, he is a snob without a doubt but as the plot progresses, I understood why he were so serious about not wanting to marry the heroine. I understand his struggles and his choice to stay away from her and the baby due to his trauma but he can also be a bit too harsh in certain situations.

I personally would not recommend the book but I would not entirely stop anyone from reading it because it is an easy and fast read; the kind of material that you would pick up if you need something to do to past the time.

[Dreg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very well written book but still felt as if something was missing...Firstly,this book is too dark to fall under the category of 'harlequin romance'..seconldy the title 'society wife' simply does'nt justify the storyline. There was a lot of angst,emotion,heartbreak which is not news for a harlequin romance but somehow it was'nt what i was expecting.the heroines character was extremely strong and likable .Especially the pain of miscarriage she goes through was expressed very well.but this book had a very melancholy feel to it.There was too much suffering and grief shown which i felt cold hv been avoided.it made me sad even till the end. Hence the 3 stars.

[Mattie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this one, 70% into the book heroine had a miscarriage at 6 months pregnant that left her unable to have children (hysterectomy).

Hero was so horrible that when heroine told him of her pregnancy, he tried to relinquish responsibility and pay her off. He wanted nothing to do with the baby and only time he had any loving thoughts of the baby was just before heroine had the miscarriage.
He wasn't a good husband at all and it was sad that the heroine married him. He fully planned to sleep with other women.

[Jennell Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name of the book is a bit misleading. He never forced her to marry him, she made that decision on herself because she didn't want her child to be subjected to the same thing she went through as a child.
Good book, nonetheless.

[Hrtnsoul28 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will say it was emotional to the point of Tristan's sad life but too dark. I was bored through most of the book. I do not really classify as a romance book. One night stand to baby then I guess love.

[Allison Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love how they call the men in these romances Alpha. I call them abusive assholes, but tomato-tomahto I guess.

[Tiff91 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me so mad. I've read a few with absolute aholes but this guy takes the cake. And doormat heroines. She was ridiculous!!

[k · Rating 3 out of 5]

The worst three star book ive ever read?

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started the same way, the billionaire, titled H who was tall, dark, handsome, European (Spanish in this case) and h a model who was beautiful but didn't like being model and wanted to pursue charity in Africa which shows how its not about money for her but doing something important. They meet have a one night stand and surprise h becomes pregnant and then they marry. Happens in every Harlequin novel, so the author tries to be a bit different and ensures the H keeps going now and then to some unknown little province (not clear if its in African continent, middle east or Europe) where he tries to establish charity. There is talk of terrorists but its open to accepting international tourists and has corrupt government funded by the H's cruel dad. There is both mommy and daddy issues for both H and h but more for H by their presence and h by their absence. The h loses the baby and they adopt and have a HEA after a lot of drama.