Excellent finale to a terrific trilogy in which three half-siblings find each other
Though each novel in this trilogy can stand alone, it is a lot more enjoyable and satisfying if they are read in order, because there are crossover characters who are strongly interconnected.
Molly is a 22-year-old woman who was raised in foster care from age nine to 18. She never knew her father, and her mother was very ineffectual in raising her before she died. Molly has an older half-sister, Ophelia, who had been more like a mother to her than her own mother during those first nine years of her life. Molly was devastated when her maternal grandmother refused to raise her, because she deemed Molly's illegitimacy shameful, and cruelly abandoned her to social services. Molly has frequently wondered over the past 13 years what became of her sister, but she did not have the financial resources to do anything to try to find her.
Molly is one of only two or three LG FMCs with black hair. All of her other FMCs have either blonde or red hair. But similar to every other LG FMC, Molly's hair is curly, and she is only a little above 5 feet tall. Also rare, in comparison to the vast majority of LG's working-class FMCs, who typically barely complete secondary school, Molly has an art degree. Her goal is to make a living with her beautiful pottery. But so far she is living the life of an impoverished artist. She is currently residing with a pleasant young man, who was her foster brother during her teen years and is a loyal, supportive friend. Molly sells her pottery at crafts fairs and supplements her paltry earnings by working as a waitress for a catering company.
Leandro Carrera Marquez, Duque de Sandoval, is an extremely wealthy, widowed, 33-year-old banker. It is only a year since his wife of five years died in a tragic car accident, but his arrogant, elitist mother is nagging him to remarry. He and his wife never had a child, and he has an obligation to his hallowed lineage to produce an heir. However, his marriage was deeply unhappy, and he has no desire to ever marry again. Atypically for billionaires in romance novels, he is not promiscuous. He has not had any other woman in his life but his dead wife in the last six years.
The first meet for these two people, who are from polar-opposite worlds, occurs at a ritzy party in London where Molly is a catering server. She and Leandro are intensely attracted to each other and, after a series of unexpected events, end up spending the night together.
These are some of the popular tropes in this romance novel:
1. Fling to forever.
2. Two different worlds.
3. Opposite attract.
4. King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid.
5. Virgin FMC who conceives the first time she has sex.
5. Handsome MMC with a ripped physique (though as is far too common, he is never shown exercising even once).
I have really enjoyed all three books in this series. This one is a terrific romance in and of itself, with two very appealing lovers. And the last portion of this novel offers a wonderful wrap-up for the overarching theme of three lonely, alienated half-siblings from the same birth mother finding each other.
I have read this novel multiple times over the years since its release in 2009, and I will read it many times in the future. This trilogy is definitely a comfort read for me.