Blackmailed Into a Fake Engagement

The Hudsons of Beverly Hills #1

by Leanne Banks, Emily McKay, Barbara Dunlop

Years after she'd fled Hollywood, former actress Gwen McCord now faced her toughest role. Film industry big shot Luc Hudson—a man she had never met before—had announced to the world that they were engaged! What was worse, he was moving in. Forced into the charade to protect her troubled sister, Gwen was quickly swept back into Luc's world of movie premieres and celebrity power plays. But the real danger lay in being swept away by her passionate, persistent PR man.…

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Desire, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance, Ebooks, Contemporary

179 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 25, 2008

About the author

Leanne Banks was born on 14 May 1959 in Roanoke, Virginia, USA. She holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology, which she claims she can only use on fictional characters. When her first book was published in 1991, she used the money from her advance to take her family to Disney World.

Leanne is known for telling a story with strong emotion, characters with whom everyone can relate, a kick of hot sensuality, and a feel-good ending that lingers. She believes in creating stories for her readers that will allow them to escape into a place filled fun, emotion and sensuality. She believes that she has the best readers in the world because they understand that love is the greatest miracle of all.

Leanne is the recipient of Romantic Times Magazine's career-achievement awards in Series Sensuality and Love and Laughter, and her books have been recognized by the Award of Excellence Contest, the Romance Writers of America RITA Award contest and the National Readers' Choice Awards. She is grateful for awards and reviews and was particularly moved by a letter from a reader remarking that Leanne's book got her through a chemotherapy session. The reader's letter inspired a favorite turn of phrase: Never underestimate the power of a romance novel.

Leanne lives in her native Virginia with her husband, two teenage children and a Pomeranian. She also has a little condo in South Carolina where she writes in the off-season. She loves music, chocolate, quotes, and new adventures.

Reviews

[Brianna (The Book Vixen) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more 3 ½ stars, since I'm interested in reading more in the series (but not quite 4 stars).


Luc is actually a nice guy. Honorable. Gwen was normal; not the high maintenance actress you'd expect. Weird that the story ended unresolved, but was resolved with epilogue.

Grandparents love story was sweet. Would love to read Devlin's and Max's stories.

[Agnė · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knygoje pasakojama apie buvusią aktorę Gvena Makord, dabar jinai gelbsti arklius, vieną dieną atvyksta Lukas Hadsonas - jis yra viešujų ryšių specialistas. Lukas pareiškia dėl to kad jie padeda jos seseriai kuri turėjo padėti reklamuoti filmą, ji dabar turi apsimesti jo sužadėtinę ir vietoj sesers reklamuoti filmą. Užmiršau paminėti sesuo vairavo gėrusi alkoholio ir vos nepervažiavo žmonių ir atsitrenkė į pastatą ir ji buvo išvežta į reabilitacijos kliniką. Knygai būčiau daviusi gal ir 3 žvaigždutes, bet pagrindinių veikėjų meilė buvo neįtikinama, gal ir elgėsi švelniai vienas su kitu. Pagrindinė mano problema būvo ne tai, kad jie greitai vienas kitu susižavėjo, o dėl to kad tarp jų daugiau seksualinio ryšio, negu emocinio. Jeigu būtų buve daugiau scenų, kur jie išsipasakoja vienas kitam apie savo rūpesčius ir savo praeitį ir mažiau scenų kur jie mylisi, labiau suprasčiau veikėjų veiksmus. Knygoje buvo ir gerų dalykų man patiko, kad pagrindinė veikėja padeda gelbėti arklius, nesu skaičius meilės romano kuriame būto toks dalykas.

[سارة محمد سيف · Rating 3 out of 5]

قرأتها مترجمة باسم (ابتزاز لخطوبة مزيفة) الجزء الأول من سلسلة (خيال الرغبة).

بعد سنوات من هروب الممثلة السابقة «غوين ماكورد» من عالم هوليوود بعد فضيحة طلاقها.. أعلن «لوك هدسون» رجل العلاقات العامة لشركة هدسون عن خطوبته المزيفة لها من أجل انقاذ أرباح ونجاح فيلم شقيقتها التي دخلت مصحة للتأهيل...
غوين لا تريد العودة لعالم الأضواء، أحبت عملها الجديد وعزلتها عن العالم واختفاء صحافة التقفي عن مسارها.. لكن من أجل شقيقتها مستعدة لكل شيء.. وخلال تلك الفترة تكتشف حقيقة لوك هدسون وأن البعض لا يكون كما توحي ظواهره.

[Lisbet Rojas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo comencé a leer por tres razones:
1-Era super corto
2-Estaba estancada leyendo solo fantasía y quería cambiar de aires
3-Se lo había leído mi hermana
No esperaba nada de él y aún así me decepcionó. El romance de los protagonistas me pareció forzado y en general las cosas que sucedían eran muy aburridas.
No, pero lo que me mató realmente fue ese final. Más cliché IMPOSIBLE 🤢🤮 Literal me entraron ganas de vomitar
Definitivamente no voy a continuar con la saga. Es un sufrimiento verdaderamente innecesario.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book by Leanne and certainly not my last! I LOVE this series and the Hudson family so much and Leanne did an excellent job with starting this new series, well, new to me that is!

I truly enjoyed Gwen and Luc's love story and I highly recommend it!

Thank YOU, Leanne, for writing such a beautiful and memorable love story and for introducing us to all the other members of the Hudson family! I am super excited to be reading about rest of them!

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginning of a series so lots of details and characters that weren't relevant to the H/h's relationship.

Heroine was an retired actress. Hero was the PR head for his family's movie studio. The "blackmail" was the H/h's relationship being gossip fodder to take the heat off of heroine's actress sister who was in rehab.

There's a bit of menace with the heroine's stalking ex-husband, but other than that, the H/h fake engagement turning into love was fairly straightforward. (And forgettable)

[Kaythy Salling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las novelas de falsos compromisos me gustan mucho, sin embargo, no pude con esta. Se me hizo pesada, los personajes no tuvieron fuerza, ella, una mujer sin carácter, por otro lado, el tipo es un controlador estableciendo una relación de dominios y sumisión.

No me gustó mucho.

[Lotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only novel in the Hudson of Bev Hills series worth reading, try the rest out at your own risk.

[Diah Didi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gara-gara udah baca duluan buku keduanya, Tempted Into The Tycoon's Trap dan liat silsilah keluarga Hudson, jadi penasaran baca anggota keluarga Hudson yang lain.
Yes, I knew almost every harlequin story was a bit cliche, but still, I think this one was entertaining enough. Terutama karena saya suka sama tema PDA (public display arrangement) dimana mereka harus pura-pura jadi pasangan. :D
Sayang, endingnya agak terlalu cepat. Bayangkan, begitu Gwen balik ke ranch dan Luc ngerasa kehilangan karena udah terlanjur biasa ada Gwen dalam kehidupannya, itulah akhir cerita dan langsung masuk Epilog. Lucunya, adegan Luc nyusul dan ngelamar Gwen muncul justru di Epilog. Bukannya harusnya ini jadi klimaks dan epilog itu setelah klimaks ya?
Tau deh. :p
Overall, I liked this one, a lot! Yak, lanjut ke yang lain! Penasaran sama ceritanya Devlin dan Valerie, tapi itu buku keenam, save the best for last kali yeee ... soalnya MOC dan SAM (kayaknya). ^^

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay. The characters were well-developed, however the storyline just wasn't something I am interested in. Leanne Banks is one of my absolute favorite author's and I think she's had some better stories. It's based on a woman, Gwen McCord, a former Hollywood actress and Luc Hudson, a film industry PR man. Gwen's sister is in trouble and in order to save her, Luc developed a plan in which Gwen and himself are pretending to be engaged.

[Sweety · Rating 3 out of 5]

pengorbanan seorang kakak untuk adeknya *angkat jempol*, terpaksa harus berhadapan lagi dengan kamera dan diincar wartawan, padahal dia lebih senang mengurus kuda *hidupnya sederhana banget ya*

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. I would have liked more strings tied up at the end, but maybe that's to get you to read the next book about the Hudson family.

[Josi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, fast read.

[Kace | The Booknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me awhile to get into. But overall, it was a good read. I'm looking forward to read the rest of the series.

[Wendy Keel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one took me awhile to get into. But overall was a very good book.

[Lynn Calvin]

Amazon received

[Jen Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start to another promising series!

[Mem · Rating 5 out of 5]

D1916 Jan09 Hudsons of Beverly Hills #1 Gwen McCord agrees to a fake engagement to protect her sister Nicki, who is in rehab. Luke Hudson, family PR, moves in and helps her with her horse rescue. Gwen fled the movie world and business when her ex husband demands after her miscarriage. She is cautious and she doesn't realize when a Hudson falls in love it is forever,

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An up-and-coming actress is arrested for drunken driving and, with her new film about to be released, the public relations people have to do something else to get the reporters’ attention. A fake engagement is to be announced. The public relations guy goes to a retired actress and tells her about his plan and that he has already told the public about their engagement. She is furious and has no intention of returning to Hollywood but this is to help her sister finish rehab so she agrees. What has she gotten herself in for?

I received this book free and highly recommend the love story between Gwen and Luc to all those romantics out there!