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Una esposa perfecta
It was purely convenient…
…until their scorching wedding night!
When self-made billionaire Nikos meets socialite Diana, he’s instantly intrigued by her ice-cool façade. Her determination to save her family home provides Nikos with the perfect opportunity to propose a temporary marriage. But during their honeymoon, Nikos awakens Diana’s simmering desire and the heat between them blazes into overwhelming passion! Now Nikos can’t deny he craves more from his not-so-convenient wife…
…until their scorching wedding night!
When self-made billionaire Nikos meets socialite Diana, he’s instantly intrigued by her ice-cool façade. Her determination to save her family home provides Nikos with the perfect opportunity to propose a temporary marriage. But during their honeymoon, Nikos awakens Diana’s simmering desire and the heat between them blazes into overwhelming passion! Now Nikos can’t deny he craves more from his not-so-convenient wife…
148 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2019
33 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Julia James
745 books165 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 3, 2018
The beginning of this novel was awesome:
The middle was a huge failure that kinda executed my high expectations:
And the ending was average ( and that's probably me being nice )
But I did soldier through all the way to the end, like a good, obedient but unhappy little pup. Lol:
I didn't like the MC's very much. They were both so coldly manipulative and seemed to lack basic human emotion. It's kinda weird to read a romance novel where both main characters are a bit cold and unfeeling; I think it's fair to say that the ideal situation is to have only one character be cold so that the dialectical relationship ( of opposing forces at work ) will do its job and create some hot sexy chemistry. I am sad to say when there are 2 of the same in one romance novel, there isn't much hot sexy chemistry. In this novel, the heroine is referred to as an Ice Queen and trust me, this description is perfect for this woman:
The heroine, Diana, belongs to the impoverished gentry upper class and she cares only about her family's 18th century mansion called Greystone. Now, maybe I judged this woman a little too harshly but I've just finished reading 4 novels in a series by Marion Chesney ( The Daughters of Mannerling series ) where all the heroines were obsessed with their old family home so perhaps I groaned a little when I started this book and encountered a similar leading lady. Nevertheless, I can say honestly that I didn't allow that to prejudice me in any negative manner. My issue with Diana is that she deliberately stifles all her emotions in the most cold blooded fashion. Her rationale: her mother had abandoned her and her father for another man, which led to her father becoming emotionally comatose and perennially unhappy thereafter. Diana decided that she was never going to allow any other human being ( especially a man ) to get under her skin and make her love him. When she was a university student, she was involved with a nice young man who had been in love with her but her uncaring, chilly reserve and passionless persona led to the demise of that relationship. The poor guy in question felt unloved and left her for another woman. The heroine wasn't bothered in the slightest by this and that made me raise my eyebrows because she'd been in a sexual relationship with this man, yet she felt nothing when they broke up. It had been her only sexual relationship and she'd been celibate until she met the H.
At the start of this story, Diana is about to lose her beloved home unless she can find some rich man to marry her. Her lawyer had made a joke about it but the heroine was so calculating that she took it on as a definite plan:
Whatever it might take to keep Greymont, she would do it. Whatever it took. There was no trace of those vehement emotions as she spoke.
‘There is nothing more to discuss, Gerald. And as for what I am going to do—isn’t it obvious?’ She paused minutely, then said it.
‘I’m going to find an extremely rich man to marry.’
Julia James. Tycoon's Ring of Convenience (Kindle Locations 93-96). HarlequinUKLtd. Kindle Edition.
I am probably gonna sound like a swine for saying this, but I think I would've been able to feel more empathy for the heroine if she'd become so cold because of a bad love affair where some man had hurt her. The fact that she was the one to do the hurting ( like she did in her relationship with the university boyfriend ) makes her a bit unlikable in my eyes. The H, Nikos, also suffers from mommy abandonment issues. He's the illegitimate son of a French comtesse and a Greek tycoon; both parents abandoned him to the foster system and he's filled with an understandable desire to prove himself to both of them. He's a self made billionaire who has more wealth than his biological dad so the only person he needs to prove a point to now is dear old mommy. Nikos' main aim is to acquire an aristocratic trophy wife so that he can get access to the inner circle of the nobility and give the big middle finger to mommy. That's where the heroine comes in and the entire arrangement between these MC's is so utterly businesslike and totally bland. Julia James is a good author but she needed to craft some greater chemistry between these MC's. I've read marriage of convenience tropes that were a lot more passionate than this novel. These MC's were both so calculating at all times; it was all about business, image, the right friends and the goddam mansion Greystone !
In the final analysis, I did end up liking the H a lot more because he was the one who started to weaken first and I hated the heroine for the cold way she treated him after their first passionate sexual encounter. The poor guy was so excited to return home to her and he seemed so besotted too but the cold bitch just blanked him like the utter mechanical robot that she is:
‘I’ve been aching for you,’ he said, his voice a low, husky growl, his eyes alight with sensual desire. ‘Aching...’ His mouth lowered to hers, his arms around her tightening. But there was something wrong—something wrong—something different. She was tensing her body, straining back from him.
‘Nikos—’ There was something wrong in her voice, too. He drew back a moment, loosening his clasp but not relinquishing her.
‘What is it?’ he said. Concern was in his voice, in the searching frown of his eyes. She slipped her hands from her sides to rest them against his shoulders—to brace herself against them. Hold herself away.
‘Nikos—we...we can’t!’ His frown deepened, as did his expression of concern.
‘What is it?’ he asked again. ‘What is wrong?’
She did not answer, then carefully she drew away from him. He let her go and she walked to the far side of the dining table, as if to put it between them.
‘We need to talk.’
Julia James. Tycoon's Ring of Convenience (Kindle Locations 1460-1470). HarlequinUKLtd. Kindle Edition.
Are you f*cking kidding me ? My heart broke for the H ! The poor man had been filled with hope, light hearted dreams and a blossoming love for this cold bitch and she says ‘We need to talk.’ That made me loathe her so much. But, the H paid her back and he did so with interest too ! He was hurt and embarrassed but he just coldly accepted that they were going to be in a businesslike marriage with no more sex and he started to live in a separate house. They were to meet each other only for public gatherings, formal society dinners and gala hobnobbing etc. I cheered when Nikos just left her alone in her cold mansion and rode off:
She did suffer through the pangs of immediate regret and despondency after he left but I didn't feel an ounce of sympathy for her. They both had a nice reconciliation after she made her explanations and apologies. An Arabian princess pal of theirs also helped to bring them back together again. I would've rated this with 3 stars but then the H had to go and become a total mommy's boy at the end. This ruined it for me because his mother had chosen her legitimate son and deserted him coldly. The author did a good job of explaining his mother's reasons but I still found that the woman was undeserving of a happy ending with the son she had so cruelly discarded and then rejected when he had turned up to meet her as an adult. Maybe I'm too vengeful but I think his mother deserved only to be forgiven but not to receive his love and future devotion. Nikos turned from a vengeful son into a meek mommy's boy:
The novel itself was well written and hopefully Julia James' next story will be more romantic...
The middle was a huge failure that kinda executed my high expectations:
And the ending was average ( and that's probably me being nice )
But I did soldier through all the way to the end, like a good, obedient but unhappy little pup. Lol:
I didn't like the MC's very much. They were both so coldly manipulative and seemed to lack basic human emotion. It's kinda weird to read a romance novel where both main characters are a bit cold and unfeeling; I think it's fair to say that the ideal situation is to have only one character be cold so that the dialectical relationship ( of opposing forces at work ) will do its job and create some hot sexy chemistry. I am sad to say when there are 2 of the same in one romance novel, there isn't much hot sexy chemistry. In this novel, the heroine is referred to as an Ice Queen and trust me, this description is perfect for this woman:
The heroine, Diana, belongs to the impoverished gentry upper class and she cares only about her family's 18th century mansion called Greystone. Now, maybe I judged this woman a little too harshly but I've just finished reading 4 novels in a series by Marion Chesney ( The Daughters of Mannerling series ) where all the heroines were obsessed with their old family home so perhaps I groaned a little when I started this book and encountered a similar leading lady. Nevertheless, I can say honestly that I didn't allow that to prejudice me in any negative manner. My issue with Diana is that she deliberately stifles all her emotions in the most cold blooded fashion. Her rationale: her mother had abandoned her and her father for another man, which led to her father becoming emotionally comatose and perennially unhappy thereafter. Diana decided that she was never going to allow any other human being ( especially a man ) to get under her skin and make her love him. When she was a university student, she was involved with a nice young man who had been in love with her but her uncaring, chilly reserve and passionless persona led to the demise of that relationship. The poor guy in question felt unloved and left her for another woman. The heroine wasn't bothered in the slightest by this and that made me raise my eyebrows because she'd been in a sexual relationship with this man, yet she felt nothing when they broke up. It had been her only sexual relationship and she'd been celibate until she met the H.
At the start of this story, Diana is about to lose her beloved home unless she can find some rich man to marry her. Her lawyer had made a joke about it but the heroine was so calculating that she took it on as a definite plan:
Whatever it might take to keep Greymont, she would do it. Whatever it took. There was no trace of those vehement emotions as she spoke.
‘There is nothing more to discuss, Gerald. And as for what I am going to do—isn’t it obvious?’ She paused minutely, then said it.
‘I’m going to find an extremely rich man to marry.’
Julia James. Tycoon's Ring of Convenience (Kindle Locations 93-96). HarlequinUKLtd. Kindle Edition.
I am probably gonna sound like a swine for saying this, but I think I would've been able to feel more empathy for the heroine if she'd become so cold because of a bad love affair where some man had hurt her. The fact that she was the one to do the hurting ( like she did in her relationship with the university boyfriend ) makes her a bit unlikable in my eyes. The H, Nikos, also suffers from mommy abandonment issues. He's the illegitimate son of a French comtesse and a Greek tycoon; both parents abandoned him to the foster system and he's filled with an understandable desire to prove himself to both of them. He's a self made billionaire who has more wealth than his biological dad so the only person he needs to prove a point to now is dear old mommy. Nikos' main aim is to acquire an aristocratic trophy wife so that he can get access to the inner circle of the nobility and give the big middle finger to mommy. That's where the heroine comes in and the entire arrangement between these MC's is so utterly businesslike and totally bland. Julia James is a good author but she needed to craft some greater chemistry between these MC's. I've read marriage of convenience tropes that were a lot more passionate than this novel. These MC's were both so calculating at all times; it was all about business, image, the right friends and the goddam mansion Greystone !
In the final analysis, I did end up liking the H a lot more because he was the one who started to weaken first and I hated the heroine for the cold way she treated him after their first passionate sexual encounter. The poor guy was so excited to return home to her and he seemed so besotted too but the cold bitch just blanked him like the utter mechanical robot that she is:
‘I’ve been aching for you,’ he said, his voice a low, husky growl, his eyes alight with sensual desire. ‘Aching...’ His mouth lowered to hers, his arms around her tightening. But there was something wrong—something wrong—something different. She was tensing her body, straining back from him.
‘Nikos—’ There was something wrong in her voice, too. He drew back a moment, loosening his clasp but not relinquishing her.
‘What is it?’ he said. Concern was in his voice, in the searching frown of his eyes. She slipped her hands from her sides to rest them against his shoulders—to brace herself against them. Hold herself away.
‘Nikos—we...we can’t!’ His frown deepened, as did his expression of concern.
‘What is it?’ he asked again. ‘What is wrong?’
She did not answer, then carefully she drew away from him. He let her go and she walked to the far side of the dining table, as if to put it between them.
‘We need to talk.’
Julia James. Tycoon's Ring of Convenience (Kindle Locations 1460-1470). HarlequinUKLtd. Kindle Edition.
Are you f*cking kidding me ? My heart broke for the H ! The poor man had been filled with hope, light hearted dreams and a blossoming love for this cold bitch and she says ‘We need to talk.’ That made me loathe her so much. But, the H paid her back and he did so with interest too ! He was hurt and embarrassed but he just coldly accepted that they were going to be in a businesslike marriage with no more sex and he started to live in a separate house. They were to meet each other only for public gatherings, formal society dinners and gala hobnobbing etc. I cheered when Nikos just left her alone in her cold mansion and rode off:
She did suffer through the pangs of immediate regret and despondency after he left but I didn't feel an ounce of sympathy for her. They both had a nice reconciliation after she made her explanations and apologies. An Arabian princess pal of theirs also helped to bring them back together again. I would've rated this with 3 stars but then the H had to go and become a total mommy's boy at the end. This ruined it for me because his mother had chosen her legitimate son and deserted him coldly. The author did a good job of explaining his mother's reasons but I still found that the woman was undeserving of a happy ending with the son she had so cruelly discarded and then rejected when he had turned up to meet her as an adult. Maybe I'm too vengeful but I think his mother deserved only to be forgiven but not to receive his love and future devotion. Nikos turned from a vengeful son into a meek mommy's boy:
The novel itself was well written and hopefully Julia James' next story will be more romantic...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2018
Weird book and writing style. I couldn’t connect to the characters. Everything felt cold and clinical. Love scenes fade to black. Boring.
September 3, 2018
I loved this marriage of convenience story, with a sexy Greek hero who has French roots and takes his bride on the ultimate erotic adventure in the desert! Bonus points for the way he levels with her at the end, not groveling, but just revealing the truth about how her rejection hurts him. Diana and Nikos are both so wounded and sexy, and they have really adorable (and very aristocratic) mentors who help them face their true feelings and give love a second chance. Julia James has been a hero of mine ever since FROM DIRT TO DIAMONDS and this book is almost as good as that all-time keeper!
July 10, 2018
this book confused me !
July 15, 2018
A romantic read that gives both characters a steep but joyous learning curve, really enjoyed it.
September 3, 2020
Ok. Bit bland.
August 2, 2018
1.5 stars rated up. It was such a typical M&B from yester-era with a few cars n helicopters making an appearance to modernize it. Both the H and h's HEA was so cliched so uncharacteristic of each of them. It was unbelievable how the characters, their motivations, their wealth were so cliched and casually woven into the story without any regard as to how they even earned it!
July 14, 2018
Review Posted at HarlequinJunkie.com
Nikos is determined to get revenge on the family that abandoned him, but the only way he sees himself being able to mingle with the rich crowd his mother is a part of is to find himself a woman that’s part of that world and marry her. The moment he meets Diana, he knows he’s found the right woman, especially when he has something she’ll want in exchange for marrying him – the chance to repair her family home to it’s former glory. Will Nikos and Diana walk away once they have what they need from their marriage of convenience or will they fight for their shot at happy ever after? Read More
August 11, 2018
I like it :)
July 22, 2018
Good book
April 17, 2019
It reads like a novel from the eighties.
January 6, 2024
Boring, bland, little romance. Ivy has a great review.
own-but-wont-read-or-wallbanger
May 25, 2021It was purely convenien…until their scorching wedding night!
When self-made billionaire Nikos meets socialite Diana, he’s instantly intrigued by her ice-cool facade. Her determination to save her family home provides Nikos with the perfect opportunity to propose a temporary marriage. But during their honeymoon, Nikos awakens Diana’s simmering desire, and the heat between them blazes into overwhelming passion! Now Nikos can’t deny he craves more from his not-so-convenient wife
When self-made billionaire Nikos meets socialite Diana, he’s instantly intrigued by her ice-cool facade. Her determination to save her family home provides Nikos with the perfect opportunity to propose a temporary marriage. But during their honeymoon, Nikos awakens Diana’s simmering desire, and the heat between them blazes into overwhelming passion! Now Nikos can’t deny he craves more from his not-so-convenient wife
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews