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A Vengeful Passion
A Desperate Plea
Ashley Forrester had no choice but to plead with Vito di Cavalieri to drop the charges that would put her brother in prison. She expected Vito to exact a high payment in return. But what shocked her was his asking price....
A Demanding Proposition
He wanted Ashley... in his bed, as his wife. And passion surged beneath her shaking defenses and betrayed her like never before. Because how could she control love turned to white-hot hatred--and desire that raged dangerously out of control.
Ashley Forrester had no choice but to plead with Vito di Cavalieri to drop the charges that would put her brother in prison. She expected Vito to exact a high payment in return. But what shocked her was his asking price....
A Demanding Proposition
He wanted Ashley... in his bed, as his wife. And passion surged beneath her shaking defenses and betrayed her like never before. Because how could she control love turned to white-hot hatred--and desire that raged dangerously out of control.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
72 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
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March 1, 2022
Second Chance story with a secret miscarriage subplot and a spot of revenge to bring them together.
The H/h had an affair four years before. University student heroine was 19 and feeling freedom for the first time from her bully father. Italian executive hero was uncharacteristically rash and seduced the heroine after seeing her at a party. She wanted no strings. He wanted a commitment, complete with marriage and babies.
His mother interfered by offering the heroine money to go away. The hero’s father’s dying wish was for him to marry a family friend. Hero wanted the heroine, but she turned him down after his mother’s visit. Hero went on to marry the family friend just a few weeks later.
Heroine found out she was pregnant and signed up to get an abortion but changed her mind. Her father threw her out. She failed her exams and ended up sleeping on a friend’s couch and then miscarried.
It’s four years later and the heroine’s brother has been in fights with the hero’s nephew at their boarding school. Her brother stands up for her honor and then after being beaten up by the nephew’s friends, steals the hero’s car and drives it all over their lawn and crashes it. The police have been called.
Heroine decides she’s going to confront the hero to ask for mercy for her brother. Hero demands a forced marriage and an heir.
I’m leaving out the many, many, many arguments, false statements, and misunderstandings that constitute the bulk of their interactions. This heroine is defensive, thoughtless, rude and stubborn. So is the hero. They are a matched set. The heroine’s backstory explains her behavior beautifully, but I didn’t like her very much. The hero has no excuse for his behavior except the heroine is a difficult person and it would take the patience of a saint to put up with her shrill tongue.
However, this hero was willing to let the heroine go – he married and then when his wife died, he had a mistress for 18 months. But that’s okay she looked like the heroine. Be still my heart.
But even though the H/h were not endearing characters, this was still fun to read. LG knows how to bring the drama and the angst.
The H/h had an affair four years before. University student heroine was 19 and feeling freedom for the first time from her bully father. Italian executive hero was uncharacteristically rash and seduced the heroine after seeing her at a party. She wanted no strings. He wanted a commitment, complete with marriage and babies.
His mother interfered by offering the heroine money to go away. The hero’s father’s dying wish was for him to marry a family friend. Hero wanted the heroine, but she turned him down after his mother’s visit. Hero went on to marry the family friend just a few weeks later.
Heroine found out she was pregnant and signed up to get an abortion but changed her mind. Her father threw her out. She failed her exams and ended up sleeping on a friend’s couch and then miscarried.
It’s four years later and the heroine’s brother has been in fights with the hero’s nephew at their boarding school. Her brother stands up for her honor and then after being beaten up by the nephew’s friends, steals the hero’s car and drives it all over their lawn and crashes it. The police have been called.
Heroine decides she’s going to confront the hero to ask for mercy for her brother. Hero demands a forced marriage and an heir.
I’m leaving out the many, many, many arguments, false statements, and misunderstandings that constitute the bulk of their interactions. This heroine is defensive, thoughtless, rude and stubborn. So is the hero. They are a matched set. The heroine’s backstory explains her behavior beautifully, but I didn’t like her very much. The hero has no excuse for his behavior except the heroine is a difficult person and it would take the patience of a saint to put up with her shrill tongue.
However, this hero was willing to let the heroine go – he married and then when his wife died, he had a mistress for 18 months. But that’s okay she looked like the heroine. Be still my heart.
But even though the H/h were not endearing characters, this was still fun to read. LG knows how to bring the drama and the angst.
June 1, 2018
Re A Vengeful Passion - Lynne Graham get the second November 1994 HP Plus spot and like Michelle Reid's Passionate Scandal this is a second chance romance set against the background of feuding relatives taking up fighting positions.
(In fact, this is one of the rare HP occasions where MR and LG both have books out together with identical tropes and a similar theme. I recommend you read both back to back, it really highlights each writer's style and both books show why these ladies are the brightest stars in the HP Firmament.)
The h is 23 when the book opens. We learn that she is an outcast in her own family. Her father is abusive and essentially kicked her out of the family because she lived with the H in her first year of uni at 19 and then the H dumped her after he told her they were getting married because his elderly father was ill and he had to return to Italy and she refused. He married another woman a month later.
As these things go in HPlandia when you have a 19 yr old h from a highly abusive background and a 28 yr old Alpha Italian Bully H, the h and H have a very fraught relationship and the H's family had a wife in mind for him already.
So it should be no surprise that the H's mother shows up at the H and h's flat one day and tries to pay the h off to leave her son. The bigger shock, (but not really), is that the h's unicorn status when she met the H leads to a potential stork visit.
Unfortunately for the h, the H had already gotten himself engaged to the family's spousal choice when the h found out she was preggers. She calls his house and learns he is having his engagement party and really, what can an HP h say after that? Nothing, so the h contemplates having a termination.
(One of the biggest complaints in this story is that the h is a shrew. Which is true to a certain extent, she doesn't take the H's insults and accusations lightly AT ALL at Any Point. I like this h, she isn't a doormat. She reacts exactly like a real 19 yr old who has a strong personality and is used to fighting off a bully, (ie her father,) would act.
That makes her srsly acerbic and volatile, but when you have spent 18 years being tormented for no reason that you can understand and when the others in your family are not treated the same way, it makes you extremely wary and combative. The h learned from a young age that offense is the best defense and she acts accordingly.)
The H on the other hand, is a much more mature 28 and uncomfortably like the h's father in certain aspects. The h is 9 yrs younger, idealistic on the feminist manifesto, (which is mostly the passion of youth and lack of life experience) and the H is all Italian Condescending Patriarch Male in how he treats her. The ladies in his family are very subservient butterflies around him as well, so when the h directly challenges his assumptions about how she should be, he doesn't take it well.
Both of them have very set in stone ideas about how the other person is when they initially get together, because neither one of them realize that they are seeing each other through the filters of their own experience and really the only communication they ever do the first time around is in bed. The HP Lurve Force Mojo clouds their brains and their thoughts and they almost can't function in the chaotic tsunami of it.
The h eventually decides she can't face a termination, even tho the sewer slurper nematode slime crawler H obviously didn't love her and pretty much only saw her as a convenient tart while he waited around for the family approved woman he must have really wanted. So the h is fighting off family opposition to her pregnancy and trying not to fail her exams.
Sadly the h loses on all counts. She fails out of uni, has a miscarriage and is exiled from the family fold. Tho really the family thing was no big loss. The h has gumption tho, so when the H and h are ready to meet again, she has a job she likes working with kids and is taking Open Uni courses to become a teacher.
Then her younger brother runs amok with the H's serial killer in the making sociopath nephew. Dubious set ups by the little sociopath lead the h's brother into police arrests and court appearances. When the sociopath gets his friends to beat the h's brother and the h's brother retaliates by driving the H's massively pricey one of a kind sports car all over the H's lawn and then wrecks the car, the h's snail snot sister blames the h and the h knows her parents will too.
In classic vintage HP blackmail style, the H agrees to drop the charges against the h's brother. The price will be marriage to him and an heir and the H is utterly offensive and deserved some serious skilleting in the proposing of his bargain.
The h frets, fights and has several very bad words to say about it, but the entirely predictable outcome is that the mysogynistic, tart shaming, wildly possessive, nasty nematode H and the vituperative, shrewish and very loud h marry. After the h meets the H's mother again and establishes a tentative truce.
Then we all go to Sri Lanka and see some elephants. The h also manages to get into an almost fatal car accident when she and the H start taking swipes at each other again, but the fighting is actually facilitating some real communication between them.
The H consistently makes these nasty and tart shaming comments and the h's responses force the H to continually reevaluate their earlier relationship through a different viewpoint. For every one of the H's accusations, the h vehemently responds with a few home truths - so while the verbal fighting is intense, it is also constructive, because LG shows the H and h moving to more compatible points of view.
After the car accident where the H thought the h might have died, but finds her safe instead, things calm down a lot and the H and h start enjoying their time outside of bed together. The H agrees to hold off on the pregnancy attempt and the h figures he is placing his revenge on her over his wanting an heir and resolves to hide her love, so he can't use it against her.
Too late tho, cause the h is already preggers. The h gets more freaked out. Her mother had a ton of miscarriages and the h already had one, so she is sure this pregnancy is due to end unhappily too. Plus she can't bring herself to tell the H about the baby, until we all get back to England and the H's serial killer sociopath young nephew shows up.
The sociopath thinks the h is home alone and starts bragging about how he set up the h's brother and making really nasty threats to the h. The h tells him that the H is there, but the sociopath thinks she is bluffing, until the H has his hands around the sociopath's throat. The h faints when she realizes that the H knows she is preggers and the H is pretty much beside himself with how hugely wrong he got everything.
That doesn't stop him from trying hard to fix what he broke in the h's life four years earlier and so he drags the h to her parent's home for lunch. The h is not wanting to go at all, she never wanted the H to see how poorly her family treated her and of course the H can't conceive of the kind of abuse the h endured.
The h's father goes ballistic and starts screaming and shaking the h. The H loses his mind and hits the h's father and then offers the h's mum a home. It finally comes out that the h's mum had an affair and the h's father thought she was the OM's kid. The h is biologically the father's, but he hated the h because she reminded him of his wife's infidelity and he punished the h ever since and her TSTL cow of a mother was too weak to protect her children.
The h finally feels released from her burden of inadequacy that she has struggled with all her life and in true LG h style, she even feels compassion for her betrayed father. The H, on the other hand, finally realizes the full extent of his very bad behavior. He believes the h sees him as a clone of her abusive father and he decides he should leave her and let her rebuild her life, even if it is with another man.
The h, now that her baggage is minimized, finally gets that the H's motivations are because he really, really loves her and just can't let her go. She puts an immediate stop on the H vacating the marital home and she convinces him that she loves him back and that there ain't no other man.
We get a very nice epilogue where the H and h are in their vacation home and the h has had twins and is going back to school for an educational degree while carrying their third child. The H and h are very much in love and mutually supportive of each other. The h and her father have a tolerable truce and the H has a remarkably great time making fun of the h's father's anti-everything ways. The h's mum and sister are more relaxed and enjoyable and the h's brother is in med school for the big HEA.
This one is an outstanding book in drama and how fighting between two people can actually be constructive. Plus I really like how LG presents two people in positions 180 degrees apart and then convinces me that they really have met in the middle.
If you don't like bickering or h's that will get in the H's face, this is not the book for you. But if you can tolerate the fighting, this is a great day's outing in HPlandia.
(In fact, this is one of the rare HP occasions where MR and LG both have books out together with identical tropes and a similar theme. I recommend you read both back to back, it really highlights each writer's style and both books show why these ladies are the brightest stars in the HP Firmament.)
The h is 23 when the book opens. We learn that she is an outcast in her own family. Her father is abusive and essentially kicked her out of the family because she lived with the H in her first year of uni at 19 and then the H dumped her after he told her they were getting married because his elderly father was ill and he had to return to Italy and she refused. He married another woman a month later.
As these things go in HPlandia when you have a 19 yr old h from a highly abusive background and a 28 yr old Alpha Italian Bully H, the h and H have a very fraught relationship and the H's family had a wife in mind for him already.
So it should be no surprise that the H's mother shows up at the H and h's flat one day and tries to pay the h off to leave her son. The bigger shock, (but not really), is that the h's unicorn status when she met the H leads to a potential stork visit.
Unfortunately for the h, the H had already gotten himself engaged to the family's spousal choice when the h found out she was preggers. She calls his house and learns he is having his engagement party and really, what can an HP h say after that? Nothing, so the h contemplates having a termination.
(One of the biggest complaints in this story is that the h is a shrew. Which is true to a certain extent, she doesn't take the H's insults and accusations lightly AT ALL at Any Point. I like this h, she isn't a doormat. She reacts exactly like a real 19 yr old who has a strong personality and is used to fighting off a bully, (ie her father,) would act.
That makes her srsly acerbic and volatile, but when you have spent 18 years being tormented for no reason that you can understand and when the others in your family are not treated the same way, it makes you extremely wary and combative. The h learned from a young age that offense is the best defense and she acts accordingly.)
The H on the other hand, is a much more mature 28 and uncomfortably like the h's father in certain aspects. The h is 9 yrs younger, idealistic on the feminist manifesto, (which is mostly the passion of youth and lack of life experience) and the H is all Italian Condescending Patriarch Male in how he treats her. The ladies in his family are very subservient butterflies around him as well, so when the h directly challenges his assumptions about how she should be, he doesn't take it well.
Both of them have very set in stone ideas about how the other person is when they initially get together, because neither one of them realize that they are seeing each other through the filters of their own experience and really the only communication they ever do the first time around is in bed. The HP Lurve Force Mojo clouds their brains and their thoughts and they almost can't function in the chaotic tsunami of it.
The h eventually decides she can't face a termination, even tho the sewer slurper nematode slime crawler H obviously didn't love her and pretty much only saw her as a convenient tart while he waited around for the family approved woman he must have really wanted. So the h is fighting off family opposition to her pregnancy and trying not to fail her exams.
Sadly the h loses on all counts. She fails out of uni, has a miscarriage and is exiled from the family fold. Tho really the family thing was no big loss. The h has gumption tho, so when the H and h are ready to meet again, she has a job she likes working with kids and is taking Open Uni courses to become a teacher.
Then her younger brother runs amok with the H's serial killer in the making sociopath nephew. Dubious set ups by the little sociopath lead the h's brother into police arrests and court appearances. When the sociopath gets his friends to beat the h's brother and the h's brother retaliates by driving the H's massively pricey one of a kind sports car all over the H's lawn and then wrecks the car, the h's snail snot sister blames the h and the h knows her parents will too.
In classic vintage HP blackmail style, the H agrees to drop the charges against the h's brother. The price will be marriage to him and an heir and the H is utterly offensive and deserved some serious skilleting in the proposing of his bargain.
The h frets, fights and has several very bad words to say about it, but the entirely predictable outcome is that the mysogynistic, tart shaming, wildly possessive, nasty nematode H and the vituperative, shrewish and very loud h marry. After the h meets the H's mother again and establishes a tentative truce.
Then we all go to Sri Lanka and see some elephants. The h also manages to get into an almost fatal car accident when she and the H start taking swipes at each other again, but the fighting is actually facilitating some real communication between them.
The H consistently makes these nasty and tart shaming comments and the h's responses force the H to continually reevaluate their earlier relationship through a different viewpoint. For every one of the H's accusations, the h vehemently responds with a few home truths - so while the verbal fighting is intense, it is also constructive, because LG shows the H and h moving to more compatible points of view.
After the car accident where the H thought the h might have died, but finds her safe instead, things calm down a lot and the H and h start enjoying their time outside of bed together. The H agrees to hold off on the pregnancy attempt and the h figures he is placing his revenge on her over his wanting an heir and resolves to hide her love, so he can't use it against her.
Too late tho, cause the h is already preggers. The h gets more freaked out. Her mother had a ton of miscarriages and the h already had one, so she is sure this pregnancy is due to end unhappily too. Plus she can't bring herself to tell the H about the baby, until we all get back to England and the H's serial killer sociopath young nephew shows up.
The sociopath thinks the h is home alone and starts bragging about how he set up the h's brother and making really nasty threats to the h. The h tells him that the H is there, but the sociopath thinks she is bluffing, until the H has his hands around the sociopath's throat. The h faints when she realizes that the H knows she is preggers and the H is pretty much beside himself with how hugely wrong he got everything.
That doesn't stop him from trying hard to fix what he broke in the h's life four years earlier and so he drags the h to her parent's home for lunch. The h is not wanting to go at all, she never wanted the H to see how poorly her family treated her and of course the H can't conceive of the kind of abuse the h endured.
The h's father goes ballistic and starts screaming and shaking the h. The H loses his mind and hits the h's father and then offers the h's mum a home. It finally comes out that the h's mum had an affair and the h's father thought she was the OM's kid. The h is biologically the father's, but he hated the h because she reminded him of his wife's infidelity and he punished the h ever since and her TSTL cow of a mother was too weak to protect her children.
The h finally feels released from her burden of inadequacy that she has struggled with all her life and in true LG h style, she even feels compassion for her betrayed father. The H, on the other hand, finally realizes the full extent of his very bad behavior. He believes the h sees him as a clone of her abusive father and he decides he should leave her and let her rebuild her life, even if it is with another man.
The h, now that her baggage is minimized, finally gets that the H's motivations are because he really, really loves her and just can't let her go. She puts an immediate stop on the H vacating the marital home and she convinces him that she loves him back and that there ain't no other man.
We get a very nice epilogue where the H and h are in their vacation home and the h has had twins and is going back to school for an educational degree while carrying their third child. The H and h are very much in love and mutually supportive of each other. The h and her father have a tolerable truce and the H has a remarkably great time making fun of the h's father's anti-everything ways. The h's mum and sister are more relaxed and enjoyable and the h's brother is in med school for the big HEA.
This one is an outstanding book in drama and how fighting between two people can actually be constructive. Plus I really like how LG presents two people in positions 180 degrees apart and then convinces me that they really have met in the middle.
If you don't like bickering or h's that will get in the H's face, this is not the book for you. But if you can tolerate the fighting, this is a great day's outing in HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2020
"A Vengeful Passion" is one of the reasons why Lynne Graham is so popular among Harlequin fans.It has the tropes caused by misunderstandings we all love and i found it a guilty pleasure!I could practically feel the air vibrate while reading the interactions between the separated lovers Ashley Forrester and the italian tycoon Vito Cavalieri.
This is a well-written angsty story full of pain,heartbreak,passion,hate and love!Ashley hadn`t been the madly besotted heroine in the past willing to give up everything for the hero when he proposed to her and confessed to loving her (like in all other stories where the young hs turns marchmallows when it comes to the Hs).She turned him down and he left angry,hurt and heartbroken.Now after 4 years they meet again,beneath all hate and contempt the fierce attraction is still burning between them and Vito takes the chance to forever claim her by his side.Both had hurt each other so much that i would have been sure there couldn`t be a HEA if this weren`t a harlequin romance.Ashley and Vito are a very passionate couple,always drawn to each other by a invinsible force.It was clear both became very much alive in each others presence,despite Vito pretending to be cold and bored at the start,LOL.But he couldn`t fool me!
I love this book,hell i love all books i have read by Graham.The reason i cut down one star is because Vito married another woman 2 months after he and Ashley broke up.I understand his reasons,he was in a very much bad place in his life at that time.But that doesn`t mean i have to like it.I like the scene where Ashley call him up on his past mistakes ruthlessly making him look at his mirror and fully realize his part in their bitter separation.The tears fell down my face near the end,it was a sweet and touching moment between Vito and Ashley and i am happy the author gave that to them.
This is a well-written angsty story full of pain,heartbreak,passion,hate and love!Ashley hadn`t been the madly besotted heroine in the past willing to give up everything for the hero when he proposed to her and confessed to loving her (like in all other stories where the young hs turns marchmallows when it comes to the Hs).She turned him down and he left angry,hurt and heartbroken.Now after 4 years they meet again,beneath all hate and contempt the fierce attraction is still burning between them and Vito takes the chance to forever claim her by his side.Both had hurt each other so much that i would have been sure there couldn`t be a HEA if this weren`t a harlequin romance.Ashley and Vito are a very passionate couple,always drawn to each other by a invinsible force.It was clear both became very much alive in each others presence,despite Vito pretending to be cold and bored at the start,LOL.But he couldn`t fool me!
I love this book,hell i love all books i have read by Graham.The reason i cut down one star is because Vito married another woman 2 months after he and Ashley broke up.I understand his reasons,he was in a very much bad place in his life at that time.But that doesn`t mean i have to like it.I like the scene where Ashley call him up on his past mistakes ruthlessly making him look at his mirror and fully realize his part in their bitter separation.The tears fell down my face near the end,it was a sweet and touching moment between Vito and Ashley and i am happy the author gave that to them.
December 3, 2017
Wow! I've read a lot of books featuring abusive heroes but this is the first time I'm reading a HP where it's the heroine that is abusive. Heroine was bitter, full of hatred, deceitful angry and immature like no other! She claims she is a kick ass feminist but she comes out as a deranged abuser.
Book is loaded with cursing, screaming, yelling and endless bickering! I'm convinced hero was a saint for putting up with this heroine.
Book is loaded with cursing, screaming, yelling and endless bickering! I'm convinced hero was a saint for putting up with this heroine.
January 7, 2018
Re-read
THAT couple you avoid at parties. Snipe, bicker, and flounce.
Yes, they are head over heels for each other, but they will never be happy. Never.
First reviewAn appropriate title. This is one tempestuous couple.
Four years ago, Ashely and Vito broke up. She was pregnant but miscarried although he never knew. He married within a month or so of their break up. No reason to see each other, but her younger brother has gone off the rails in defending her honor and destroyed Vito's bazillion $$ car.
Doing the ubiquitous grovel for clemency, V goads A into marriage and a baby. There is the typical sturm and drang over this from both parts, and the attraction that would not die pulls them both back in.
It was just too much of the same ole, same ole for me. Their bickering, mean-nees, and Ashley's shrillness was just unpleasant and exhausting.
Ashley, the heroine, had the requisite bad family baggage, but was so incredibly unpleasant and strident I could feel no sympathy for her or relate to her character.
THAT couple you avoid at parties. Snipe, bicker, and flounce.
Yes, they are head over heels for each other, but they will never be happy. Never.
First reviewAn appropriate title. This is one tempestuous couple.
Four years ago, Ashely and Vito broke up. She was pregnant but miscarried although he never knew. He married within a month or so of their break up. No reason to see each other, but her younger brother has gone off the rails in defending her honor and destroyed Vito's bazillion $$ car.
Doing the ubiquitous grovel for clemency, V goads A into marriage and a baby. There is the typical sturm and drang over this from both parts, and the attraction that would not die pulls them both back in.
It was just too much of the same ole, same ole for me. Their bickering, mean-nees, and Ashley's shrillness was just unpleasant and exhausting.
Ashley, the heroine, had the requisite bad family baggage, but was so incredibly unpleasant and strident I could feel no sympathy for her or relate to her character.
June 20, 2014
Lynne Graham excels in getting the reader's juices flowing, particularly in her older books. I pulled this one off the pile as part of my Harlequin Presents Binge because I knew I'd get something cathartic. I wasn't disappointed.
I liked the fact that Vito is quite sympathetic. He is actually a nice guy, although he does tend to want things his way. He did and said things the wrong way to Ashley, but He had no idea about how traumatic her upbringing was. So I can't really hold that against him.
Even though Ashley was hard to get along with, I liked that about her. I get tired of the heroine who is the hero's dumpbucket, there to be kicked around except for in bed. Ashley isn't shy about standing up for herself or telling Vito what for. Her aggressiveness about certain topics is 100% linked to her past, and I think that if she had felt free to open up, I don't think they would have broken up in the first place.
I think Ashley is definitely one of Graham's most tortured heroines, despite her flaws. Frankly, her homelife sucked, and the abandonment she faced by her family was lousy. Because of her parents highly dysfunctional marriage and her father's abuse (both mental/emotional and at times physical), she has a low opinion of marriage and any sort of commitment, and she was raised to disdain anything feminine. I like to think that Vito could have been the family she lacked, if he had been given full disclosure on her past. Instead, he thought the worst of her instead of digging to the deeper issues beneath her posturing. He took her aversion to commitment and marriage as a sign of a moral failing in her, instead of a sign of emotional scars. They missed out on three years together as a result.
While Ashley is still argumentative and abrasive, she genuinely loved Vito and was heartbroken about their breakup and a loss she suffers shortly thereafter. She has the time to revisit her past strong opinions about marriage and family, realizing a lot of them weren't her own. But now Vito has cast her in the role of heartless jade, although he never got over her. I like that Vito still went after her, even though he thought the worst of her and knew she could hurt him. It showed that his love for her hadn't died. And this time, he wasn't going to settle for a non-committed sexual relationship. He wanted marriage, as he had before, and he wasn't afraid to blackmail to get it this time around.
There is a lot of tension, both sexual and relationship, and plenty of drama in this book. I don't know if I ever read this back in the day. I didn't own it, and I think I would have remembered if it had read it. The feels like Classic Lynne Graham and is worth having in the collection of serious fans of hers.
I liked the fact that Vito is quite sympathetic. He is actually a nice guy, although he does tend to want things his way. He did and said things the wrong way to Ashley, but He had no idea about how traumatic her upbringing was. So I can't really hold that against him.
Even though Ashley was hard to get along with, I liked that about her. I get tired of the heroine who is the hero's dumpbucket, there to be kicked around except for in bed. Ashley isn't shy about standing up for herself or telling Vito what for. Her aggressiveness about certain topics is 100% linked to her past, and I think that if she had felt free to open up, I don't think they would have broken up in the first place.
I think Ashley is definitely one of Graham's most tortured heroines, despite her flaws. Frankly, her homelife sucked, and the abandonment she faced by her family was lousy. Because of her parents highly dysfunctional marriage and her father's abuse (both mental/emotional and at times physical), she has a low opinion of marriage and any sort of commitment, and she was raised to disdain anything feminine. I like to think that Vito could have been the family she lacked, if he had been given full disclosure on her past. Instead, he thought the worst of her instead of digging to the deeper issues beneath her posturing. He took her aversion to commitment and marriage as a sign of a moral failing in her, instead of a sign of emotional scars. They missed out on three years together as a result.
While Ashley is still argumentative and abrasive, she genuinely loved Vito and was heartbroken about their breakup and a loss she suffers shortly thereafter. She has the time to revisit her past strong opinions about marriage and family, realizing a lot of them weren't her own. But now Vito has cast her in the role of heartless jade, although he never got over her. I like that Vito still went after her, even though he thought the worst of her and knew she could hurt him. It showed that his love for her hadn't died. And this time, he wasn't going to settle for a non-committed sexual relationship. He wanted marriage, as he had before, and he wasn't afraid to blackmail to get it this time around.
There is a lot of tension, both sexual and relationship, and plenty of drama in this book. I don't know if I ever read this back in the day. I didn't own it, and I think I would have remembered if it had read it. The feels like Classic Lynne Graham and is worth having in the collection of serious fans of hers.
May 14, 2020
Like getting in a roller coaster ride.
The book had so many unexpected twists and turns and enjoyed it. I liked the Hero and heroine though in middle part I was bothered by some of the decisions heroine took. Contrary to many other reviews, I didn’t think she was a shrew as hero was more than enough rude.
Recommended if you like a bucket load of angst and drama. I enjoyed and liked certain parts of the book very much.
Safety is questionable as hero marries another woman and then after her death keeps a mistress for 18 months with same hair color as heroine’s. At this point I’m to fed up and exhausted to voice my complaints regarding this matter. Though to be honest I wasn’t expecting a celibate hero from this author.
The book had so many unexpected twists and turns and enjoyed it. I liked the Hero and heroine though in middle part I was bothered by some of the decisions heroine took. Contrary to many other reviews, I didn’t think she was a shrew as hero was more than enough rude.
Recommended if you like a bucket load of angst and drama. I enjoyed and liked certain parts of the book very much.
Safety is questionable as hero marries another woman and then after her death keeps a mistress for 18 months with same hair color as heroine’s. At this point I’m to fed up and exhausted to voice my complaints regarding this matter. Though to be honest I wasn’t expecting a celibate hero from this author.
March 26, 2012
this was a reread for me which i throughly enjoyed.this is why i enjoy the lynne graham of old.
January 17, 2016
Omg so much pain! I really felt her pain and when she cried how could you marry her when you were mine!!! Also I called to tell you about the baby but found out you were just married I said nothing there was nothing more to say. I totally loved it just wished she had married and moved on as well just so he could understand her torment. How dare he talk about the baby she lost!!! I was mad I was read to give it up when the hero redeems himself. I hated him almost the whole book he was a total sexist pig but somehow it worked. Read again and recommend
July 23, 2012
I'm not really quite sure how to rate this book. It certainly is not one of my favorite LG books, but I still found it very engrossing. My biggest challenge was that I could find nothing redeeming in either the hero or heroine.
Vito and Ashley met four years ago. She was very young, not only in age, but emotionally stinted due to being physically abused by her father and having a mother that never cared enough to protect her. She enters the relationship with tons of baggage fearing that love would make her weak like her mother. Vito, on the other hand, falls like a ton of bricks and overwhelms her to the point that the poor girl can't function. Obviously, these diametrically opposed people explode and their relationship ends badly with her deserted, pregnant and Vito married to another woman.
Vito enters her life once again when she goes to him pleading to drop the charges against her younger brother who destroyed his $400K pound Ferrari and family property. Vito is intent on pressing charges unless she marries him for one year and gives him a child. It seems his wife passed away without leaving the heir and he feels pressed to produce. The rest of the book is about their forced reconciliation and is filled with anger, vitriolic barbs and foolish behavior. At times, I found it very hard to read, but I did finish it and here are my thoughts:
Vito was a hard hero for me to find worthy of any heroine. A man that so EASILY walks away from a woman that he loves to marry the woman his family wants, isn't worthy of a HEA. At the end, his motives are explained. However, the answer made him appear more shallow and lessened him (if possible) even more. I think it would have been better left as a mystery, or simply him following familial duty. Ashley on the other hand, was so badly damaged that her anger and bitterness was so consuming I found her hard to love. Her wish washy ways annoyed me and her vitriolic spew left no doubt as to why Vito walked away in the first place.
One final note, atypical of LG, there were a few threads left hanging and not well developed. If these threads had been further explored, I would have found it overall a much better read.
Vito and Ashley met four years ago. She was very young, not only in age, but emotionally stinted due to being physically abused by her father and having a mother that never cared enough to protect her. She enters the relationship with tons of baggage fearing that love would make her weak like her mother. Vito, on the other hand, falls like a ton of bricks and overwhelms her to the point that the poor girl can't function. Obviously, these diametrically opposed people explode and their relationship ends badly with her deserted, pregnant and Vito married to another woman.
Vito enters her life once again when she goes to him pleading to drop the charges against her younger brother who destroyed his $400K pound Ferrari and family property. Vito is intent on pressing charges unless she marries him for one year and gives him a child. It seems his wife passed away without leaving the heir and he feels pressed to produce. The rest of the book is about their forced reconciliation and is filled with anger, vitriolic barbs and foolish behavior. At times, I found it very hard to read, but I did finish it and here are my thoughts:
Vito was a hard hero for me to find worthy of any heroine. A man that so EASILY walks away from a woman that he loves to marry the woman his family wants, isn't worthy of a HEA. At the end, his motives are explained. However, the answer made him appear more shallow and lessened him (if possible) even more. I think it would have been better left as a mystery, or simply him following familial duty. Ashley on the other hand, was so badly damaged that her anger and bitterness was so consuming I found her hard to love. Her wish washy ways annoyed me and her vitriolic spew left no doubt as to why Vito walked away in the first place.
One final note, atypical of LG, there were a few threads left hanging and not well developed. If these threads had been further explored, I would have found it overall a much better read.
September 3, 2021
"A Vengeful Passion" is the story of Ashley and Vito.
In this angsty romance, the heroine is forced to reconcile with her ex to save her brother's life. In doing so, a dormant passion is reunited, past skeletons are unearthed and old traumas are exposed. It has flawed MCs who make poor decisions in the past and present, and then finally acknowledge it to make their future a worthwhile thing.
It was OK, but I enjoyed parts of it because there was just so much going on.
Unsafe
3/5
In this angsty romance, the heroine is forced to reconcile with her ex to save her brother's life. In doing so, a dormant passion is reunited, past skeletons are unearthed and old traumas are exposed. It has flawed MCs who make poor decisions in the past and present, and then finally acknowledge it to make their future a worthwhile thing.
It was OK, but I enjoyed parts of it because there was just so much going on.
Unsafe
3/5
November 18, 2022
Too much drama and I found it a bit redundant for my taste, with all the same problems, issues, and fears surfacing on almost every other page. And what I really hated the most in this book was the heroine. She's an irritating, vindictive, whiny, spineless bitch. She totally ruined the book for me.
October 7, 2016
2.5-3*
I like the 2nd chance HPs. Some of LG's are my favorite. This was a bit too much of a bickerfest for me. L.G. can write some quirky heroines who really give it to the hero, this one was a bit shrill.
I like the 2nd chance HPs. Some of LG's are my favorite. This was a bit too much of a bickerfest for me. L.G. can write some quirky heroines who really give it to the hero, this one was a bit shrill.
January 8, 2018
I would have liked this book so much more if there was not so much bickering between the MCs. I know the heroine isn’t well liked by a lot of reviewers however, she is a product of the home she grew up in. Her father was an abusive bully and she really only had two options: either she was a walking doormat apologizing for breathing like her mother or she was going to be the exact opposite. Considering that she was treated way worse than her siblings I’m not surprised that she was as stubborn and confrontational as she was. It also didn’t help that at he beginning of the book, she was dating the SUPER ALPHA older hero who was domineering and told not asked her to marry him.
There were a series of unfortunate events that lead to misunderstandings and confusion on the parts of both characters. Because the heroine was treated so badly by her father, I really wanted to root for her. I feel as though the hero should have done his due diligence in finding out everything he could about the heroine when they were first together. He was older and I felt he should have shouldered more responsibility in finding out why the heroine, his young girlfriend at the time, acted the way she did. So, I’m not going to lay all the blame on the heroine. After their first night together, and he realized how young she was, he decided to continue the relationship even when he stated she was too young so yes, he is held liable.
I also blame him for not seeking out information on what she was doing during the years they were not together. He honestly hasn’t seen her in years and decides on spot, she’s going to give him a baby. Really!?!? Did he think maybe, just maybe something might have happened to her medically to prevent this from happening? He didn’t even know her occupation. Yes, she lied but the hero still could have verified all of this information, especially since he keeps stating how disloyal she was. And how in the world does he have a creep of a nephew and not have one small inkling of the nephew’s real personality? I’m starting to think this hero isn’t as smart as he’s supposed to be.
If you are a Lynne Graham fan, this book is worth reading however, go into knowing that you have a younger heroine from an abusive, oppressive background. Knowing all of this, I think you will be more sympathetic to the heroine.
There were a series of unfortunate events that lead to misunderstandings and confusion on the parts of both characters. Because the heroine was treated so badly by her father, I really wanted to root for her. I feel as though the hero should have done his due diligence in finding out everything he could about the heroine when they were first together. He was older and I felt he should have shouldered more responsibility in finding out why the heroine, his young girlfriend at the time, acted the way she did. So, I’m not going to lay all the blame on the heroine. After their first night together, and he realized how young she was, he decided to continue the relationship even when he stated she was too young so yes, he is held liable.
I also blame him for not seeking out information on what she was doing during the years they were not together. He honestly hasn’t seen her in years and decides on spot, she’s going to give him a baby. Really!?!? Did he think maybe, just maybe something might have happened to her medically to prevent this from happening? He didn’t even know her occupation. Yes, she lied but the hero still could have verified all of this information, especially since he keeps stating how disloyal she was. And how in the world does he have a creep of a nephew and not have one small inkling of the nephew’s real personality? I’m starting to think this hero isn’t as smart as he’s supposed to be.
If you are a Lynne Graham fan, this book is worth reading however, go into knowing that you have a younger heroine from an abusive, oppressive background. Knowing all of this, I think you will be more sympathetic to the heroine.
June 15, 2021
Loved the angst, and I wasn’t bored for a moment, however, I couldn’t stand this abrasive, OT feminist heroine. She truly had mental issues with that temper of hers.
I’d give the story 4 stars, but removed 1 star because of the unlikeable h. She was an immature brat til the very end.
Safety /spoiler
They date/lived together for 5 months and break up.
He then marries someone else a month later. ( he didn’t love her)
Became a widow, then had a mistress who had the same hair color as h for 18 months. ( he tells her he was attracted to his mistress because of her hair color)
She,of course, remained celibate.
4 yr separation.
I’d give the story 4 stars, but removed 1 star because of the unlikeable h. She was an immature brat til the very end.
Safety /spoiler
They date/lived together for 5 months and break up.
He then marries someone else a month later. ( he didn’t love her)
Became a widow, then had a mistress who had the same hair color as h for 18 months. ( he tells her he was attracted to his mistress because of her hair color)
She,of course, remained celibate.
4 yr separation.
December 29, 2015
I liked this one even if the heroine was a bit more abrasive than I generally like my heroines to be. Lots of angst and a quite good grovel at the end.
April 22, 2016
I generally like h from Lynn Graham's novels but somehow the h in this did not click with me. I found her shreaking and fighting all the time. The H was wrong in certain places but h's behaviour just makes us pity the H. The fights got repetitive and made me skip through the pages. The last 5% of the book sorts out all issues between the couple making it a bit abrupt.
Read much better books by this author.
Read much better books by this author.
May 16, 2015
My personal rating scale from 1 to 10: 8.0 ????
I just have skimmed some pages of the book and I didn't like to read the hero dumped the heroine, she was pregnant (he didn't know it) and he got married to other woman. After 4 years he wants her back!
This is not a plot I will give 8.0 points or 4 stars!
I just have skimmed some pages of the book and I didn't like to read the hero dumped the heroine, she was pregnant (he didn't know it) and he got married to other woman. After 4 years he wants her back!
This is not a plot I will give 8.0 points or 4 stars!
February 18, 2017
very sad book!both hero and heroine suffered due to insecurities and misunderstandings.I found the heroine to be a little closed off! I mean the hero wanted to talk and solve the problems but she gave him the cold shoulder.it was a little gloomy for my tastes!
July 17, 2014
they loved each other so much it was heartbreaking ! they loved each other 4 years ago and they still did. however, it took some time for them to get over what the other did. they both hurt tremendously. they both screwed things up and had lots to forgive. ashley is much more complex than the usual HP heroines and she badly needed to work on her attitude. vigo left her just when she needed him the most but as it is revealed in the last parts, he also needed her the most at dat time and she let him down. this is a most realistic reunion story; the bitterness/hatred fed over the years, the clashing when they met again, a maelstrom of conflicting emotions and dat essential need for forgiveness, as only forgiveness cud erase their sordid past. i cud not be happier when they worked out their HEA! they DESERVED it! LG has done it again! another fantastic read! she's a terrific author, she handled the reunion theme brilliantly!
April 29, 2014
Would have given 5 stars but for the heroine's abusive parents getting their own hea.
Heroine's mom stood by as her husband abused the heroine. That makes her as evil as the dad who abused the heroine. Neither deserved any happiness for the pain they caused the heroine.
A Vengeful Passion is a keeper that I reread occasionally in spite of my hating the heroine's parents.
Now I have the paper copy & digital copy. Great.
Heroine's mom stood by as her husband abused the heroine. That makes her as evil as the dad who abused the heroine. Neither deserved any happiness for the pain they caused the heroine.
A Vengeful Passion is a keeper that I reread occasionally in spite of my hating the heroine's parents.
Now I have the paper copy & digital copy. Great.
December 24, 2025
Safety Stats
Ashley
Virgin - yes
Vito
Playboy - no
Sex scene with OW - no
Cheating - yes
OW drama - yes
Overall, Not Safe.
Ashley
Virgin - yes
Vito
Playboy - no
Sex scene with OW - no
Cheating - yes
OW drama - yes
Overall, Not Safe.
December 20, 2020
We have a real soap opera here, full of misunderstanding, angst, recrimination, lies. We have the parents from hell (his and hers), pregnancies, mother- in-law trying to buy the heroine if she leaves the hero, OW, OM, we have it all. I really enjoyed this reading, it was written so long ago, so now it seems a bit oldie...the hero is a creep: a 28 year old man who seduces a teenager (she is 19), wants to marry her and when she refuses he marries another woman. The pig. Shame on him. She was left pregnant and thrown out by her abusive parents, lost her child, had her life ruined... I don’t understand... then he comes back and blackmails her to marry him because he wants her still. This is obsession not love, he is a borderline and a controlling abusive man. Whatever... I loved this book because I love passion, angst, tears and drama.
September 8, 2011
Very angsty, but good. I always like stories where the H/h were in love in the past. And I like it when you can see that the H loves the h all along, is concerned about her feelings, doesn't like it when she cries, etc. Pretty good one!
December 4, 2023
Reread 12/3/2023–removed a star.
So much OTT drama.
So much OTT drama.
January 30, 2015
Quotes
'I'm prepared to marry you so that you can give me that child.'
The cup smashed harmlessly against the edge of the fireplace but the contents spattered Vito's jacket. It served him right, Ashley thought furiously. Vito had always seemed to have the opinion that it was somehow beneath him to duck when she threw things.
Without the smallest preparation she was being confronted with all the false images she had put up for Vito's benefit four years ago, when it had seemed so desperately important that he did not wring an admission of undying love from her. Being loved gave immense power to the loved one.
It's chemistry, it's my age, it's infatuation, she had told herself then. I do not love him, I do not need him, I will not look for him when he is not there. That had been her mantra of self-defence. And she had behaved accordingly, refusing verbally to grant him the exclusive commitment he demanded and loudly disclaiming the double standards which made sexual experimentation acceptable for a man but not for a woman.
Dear God, if her brother's freedom was to hinge on this, what was she to do? If Vito made that demand now, she felt that she would walk out of this apartment and under the nearest bus, because she would never be able to look either him or herself in the face again.
'I c-can't cope with you right now and you know it!' In a surge of mortified frustration, she struck weakly at his solidity with a loosely coiled fist. 'I n-never cry! I despise w-women who do this!'
If you endeavour not to be a lousy wife, I will endeavour not to be a lousy husband. Vito stilled.
'And, last but not least, no men,' he added very, very quietly. 'No flirtations, no male friends, platonic or otherwise. If you break that rule, life won't be worth living, I assure you, cara.'
'Every shred of clothing you possess,' Vito confirmed. 'I dumped it all.'
'Tell me; does the prospect of wearing silk and lace in my bed instead of a Snoopy nightshirt really embarrass you this much?'
Yes, she conceded dully, she had always trusted Vito not to let her down, not to betray her. That was why she had been so savaged, so destroyed by his marriage to Carina. He had told her that he loved her that he would always love her, that, no matter what she did, that love would always be there, and, fool that she was, she had begun to believe, she had begun to listen.
'You're not a brood mare, you're a woman. I wouldn't dream of sending you to a doctor. If it doesn't happen for us, it doesn't happen, but let us at least give nature a chance.'
'You won't listen to me, will you?' she whispered.
'I think you will do and say anything to escape marrying me.'
'And ... and doesn't that bother you?'
'Not in the slightest,' he countered huskily. 'I have what I want.'
Stark naked, he had prowled about the bedroom, ranting in Italian but using just enough English to ensure that she understood the gist of his fury. And the gist of the message had been that she was so stupid in her lack of care for herself that she wasn't fit to be let out on her own. He had then, with awesome arrogance, chosen to conclude that she had been extremely lucky to meet someone like him.
Vito tossed his napkin down beside the plate he had thrust away, his meal apparently abandoned. 'I believe it's time we returned to a subject I allowed you to ignore earlier,' he breathed very, very quietly. 'Where were you today?'
'You little slut. . .' Vito slashed back at her in a murderous undertone that chilled her blood in her veins and sent her heartbeat thudding in a race to the foot of her constricting throat. 'You filthy little slut. You spent the day being bedded by your lover.'.
'Love? I believed it couldn't happen to me. I had given up all hope of it ever happening. I was twenty-eight years old and, in many ways, older than my years. And then one night I saw you on a dance floor and I wanted you more than anything I had ever wanted in my life .. .'
Vito dealt her a flashing smile of all-male satisfaction. 'Console yourself with the thought that if you hadn't looked at me like that, you wouldn't be here now. You dug your own grave, cara.'
'You think that if you make me feel bad enough I'll let you go. I won't,' he said succinctly. 'Next week we are getting married and nothing will change that fact.'
She didn't want to be served up like a particularly nasty surprise to Elena di Cavalieri, who probably hadn't gone to bed dry-eyed for a single night since her son had shattered her with the bombshell of his marital plans. And she most certainly didn't want another cheque pressed into her supposedly hot and grasping little hand.
It was all or nothing with Vito. If you didn't surrender everything, he thought he was being short-changed. Once a banker, always a banker.
He was so shattered when you turned him down. I'd never seen him like that before but I told myself he'd get over it.'
He was showing her off like a trophy. Mine, that firm hand on her shoulder said. Look but don't touch, said his eyes. Self-satisfaction emanated from him in waves.
'Nature made it that way to keep us all on our toes.' Josh skimmed a wayward strand of Titian hair from one perfect cheekbone and withdrew his hand not quite steadily. 'You're so beautiful, I can't think straight around you-'
'Then permit me to do your thinking for you, Mr Hennessy'.' At the sound of Vito's smooth dark drawl, Ashley's head whipped round so sharply that it hurt. 'Put your hands on her just one more time and I'll break every bone in your body!'
As she spun, Vito clamped a hand that bruised round her forearm, his darkly handsome features a mask of rigidly constrained anger.
'If I go to hell, I take you with me.'
'Yes.' She bent her head. Give a little, end up giving the lot. Vito would accept nothing less than complete surrender to his will. It would be a battle to the death. She saw no other course. She was fighting for her own emotional survival.
'It was insensitive of me to say it out loud. I should have savoured it in silence,' he drawled mockingly.
'You won't be straying, cara. I'm very careful with my possessions.'
'Who did it?' Vito demanded. Her lashes fluttered and she came back to life again. 'You're imagining things,' she whispered.
'I thought I might be until I saw your face.' Long fingers cradled the tender curve of her jawbone. Golden eyes alight with fury were pinned with naked obduracy to her vulnerable features. 'Who?' he persisted.
'You're mine, absolutely, unequivocally mine.'
He had asked her out to dinner that evening. She had told him she was busy. He had suggested the following evening and she had told him that she would be busy for the rest of her life.
Clearly it was a very new experience for him with a woman. He had switched on the charm with a smoothness an oil slick would have envied. A wry smile had formed on his beautiful mouth. 'I think I've fallen in love with you.'
Her equal determination to retain her friends and attend occasional student functions had infuriated him as well. At the outset he had been irritated, but when one evening he chose to join her and discovered her sitting at a table with a male friend, irritation had become outright jealous, possessive suspicion.
'I am really bored with this feminist sh ... rubbish,' he had said.
'Are you? When my brother was at fault, you were ready to send him to prison.' 'Kumar doesn't have a sister I wish to marry,' Vito quipped humourlessly.
'Bond?' she echoed. 'Come to you?' She went off into gales of wild laughter at the very suggestion that she might have approached him. Would he have expected her to walk on coals of fire afterwards as an encore?
'I'll never love you again! Do you hear me?' she launched at him stridently, recklessly.
Disorientating, a brilliant smile softened the fierce line of his mouth. 'I should corner you at least twice a day and make you lose your head. By the end of a week, I'd know you inside-out. .. every secret. .. every thought. So, you believed that you loved me in your way, if not in mine, four years ago?'
She loved him. She was willing to settle for second best, willing to live for today at the expense of bitter regret tomorrow. If this was the only happiness she was fated to have in her life, she was ready to grab it with two greedy hands.
'That was the day I found out that I was pregnant and I was climbing the wall!' she lashed out. 'And you dare to tell me that you were sitting somewhere close by in a car, letting him do what you should have been there to do? Instead you were spying on me, dreaming up filthy suspicions on non-existent evidence? How dare you tell me that now? How dare you? You should be too ashamed to admit that you came that close and wimped out last minute!'
'And then, to crown it all, you went and married another woman when you still belonged to me! Do you think that I am ever going to forget or forgive that? You owe me, Vito ... you owe me for every morning you wake up without a knife stuck between your ribs!'
'Twins,' she hissed tragically at Josh.
Her use of English caused Vito to switch to the same language. 'You dare to enter my home and threaten my pregnant wife?' he was roaring. 'When I am finished with you, you will wish you were dead!'
'A son is always a son no matter what age he is.’
'Release my wife.' Vito's intervention carried at least ten generations of aristocratic cool and disdain.
Pressing her back with one formidable hand, Vito hit her father so hard that he went flying back on to the lawn. Susan screamed. Arnold flew upright. Ashley sagged back in shock against the table, her knees too wobbly to hold her.
'If you want a fight,' Vito was snarling, 'pick on someone more your own size!'
He grimaced. 'I didn't want you to suspect how badly I needed you. And if there was a child, I intended to use that child to keep you. I was betting on a dark horse but I couldn't believe that you would be able to walk away.'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2020
Obviando la portada que es horrible diré que el libro en sí es increíble.
La historia gira en torno a Ashley y Vito. Se supone que se separaron bajo términos muy dolorosos y destructivos hace unos cuantos años.
Ashley es una chica con conceptos feministas mal consolidados que se quiere rebelar ante las imposiciones de su padre y posteriormente de Vito la cosa es que a sus 19 años era muy infantil y no sabia distinguir la "tiranía" de las peticiones.
Vito por su lado con 28 años era un hombre arrogante y egoísta que no dejaba de sentirse inseguro de su relación con Ashley debido a que se sentía descartable y no prioritario por lo que no sabia como tratar a una chica que no quería crear lazos duraderos con él así que era coaccionado a actuar con un su fuerte temperamento destruyendo todo a su paso.
Cuando la relación quedó rota por malentendidos, Ashley se enteró de que estaba embarazada pero luego de 4 meses tuvo un aborto involuntario y eso la destrozó.
Luego de varios años Tim, el hermano de Ashley se mete en problemas destruyendo propiedad privada de Vito y Ashley no tiene de otra que ir a rogarle para que no presente cargos y termine en la cárcel siendo tan joven.
El trato es simple: Casarse con Vito a cambio de no presentar cargos contra Tim.
Obvio ella acepta, ya saben como es, sino el libro acabaría ahí y no habría historia.
Es así como Vito y Ashley regresan a una relación tempestuosa con discusiones, sexo y de nuevo discusiones. La cosa es que Ashley solo desea que Vito le confiese su amor.
Lo interesante es que los enigmas que rompieron la relación anteriormente son resueltos y Vito se disculpa una y otra vez con Ashley pero ella es un hueso duro de roer y es desesperante ver como no cede ni un milímetro a los sentimientos de Vito porque es muy egoísta y claramente infantil.
Al final Vito decide dejarla libre durante el nuevo embarazo para darle la paz y tranquilidad que necesita y ahí es cuando la estúpida reacciona y descubre que Vito siempre la ha amado y que ella no quería escuchar cada vez que él deseaba confesarse.
Es así como se reconcilian y dejan a un lado todos los malos recuerdos que los atormentaban y son felices para siempre.
Diré que me gustó mucho la forma en como Vito mostró su madurez y devoción por una mujer que juzgó mal desde el principio, es un amor 🤧
Me encantó, lo recomiendo.
La historia gira en torno a Ashley y Vito. Se supone que se separaron bajo términos muy dolorosos y destructivos hace unos cuantos años.
Ashley es una chica con conceptos feministas mal consolidados que se quiere rebelar ante las imposiciones de su padre y posteriormente de Vito la cosa es que a sus 19 años era muy infantil y no sabia distinguir la "tiranía" de las peticiones.
Vito por su lado con 28 años era un hombre arrogante y egoísta que no dejaba de sentirse inseguro de su relación con Ashley debido a que se sentía descartable y no prioritario por lo que no sabia como tratar a una chica que no quería crear lazos duraderos con él así que era coaccionado a actuar con un su fuerte temperamento destruyendo todo a su paso.
Cuando la relación quedó rota por malentendidos, Ashley se enteró de que estaba embarazada pero luego de 4 meses tuvo un aborto involuntario y eso la destrozó.
Luego de varios años Tim, el hermano de Ashley se mete en problemas destruyendo propiedad privada de Vito y Ashley no tiene de otra que ir a rogarle para que no presente cargos y termine en la cárcel siendo tan joven.
El trato es simple: Casarse con Vito a cambio de no presentar cargos contra Tim.
Obvio ella acepta, ya saben como es, sino el libro acabaría ahí y no habría historia.
Es así como Vito y Ashley regresan a una relación tempestuosa con discusiones, sexo y de nuevo discusiones. La cosa es que Ashley solo desea que Vito le confiese su amor.
Lo interesante es que los enigmas que rompieron la relación anteriormente son resueltos y Vito se disculpa una y otra vez con Ashley pero ella es un hueso duro de roer y es desesperante ver como no cede ni un milímetro a los sentimientos de Vito porque es muy egoísta y claramente infantil.
Al final Vito decide dejarla libre durante el nuevo embarazo para darle la paz y tranquilidad que necesita y ahí es cuando la estúpida reacciona y descubre que Vito siempre la ha amado y que ella no quería escuchar cada vez que él deseaba confesarse.
Es así como se reconcilian y dejan a un lado todos los malos recuerdos que los atormentaban y son felices para siempre.
Diré que me gustó mucho la forma en como Vito mostró su madurez y devoción por una mujer que juzgó mal desde el principio, es un amor 🤧
Me encantó, lo recomiendo.
August 7, 2025
I’m still reading.
The heroine is beyond aggravating. Messed up. Very very messed up mentally.
Hero and heroine meet and fall in love. He is a spoilt rich young man. Always has had his way. Everything given to him. Women in the family are subservient.
He is very conservative.
Heroine was mistreated always by her extremely conservative and even cruel father. The father made the mother have several miscarriages. And a nervous breakdown.
Her sister kow towed to the father.
The heroine rebelled. She is now scared of falling in love and giving up her freedom into the hands of a dominating male like her father.
Lots of misunderstandings. The hero and heroine both adore each other but don’t sit and talk rationally.
Basically it’s on the woman. Every Asian woman knows this. Also west Asian. Frankly. She has to see the relationship gets conducted sensibly.
But this girl is only 19 to his 28.
So.
I found her irritating. The way she keeps going to other men to sob down their collars makes me want to slap her.
Let me finish the book.
This is one of the few Lynn Graham books where I terribly dislike the heroine.
She makes mountains out of molehills. She keeps feeling upset about non existent issues. The hero worships the ground she walks on but she carries on like he owes her his life’s blood, his marrow, his brain, his liver. Everything.
Horrible.
In the ending the hero finally finds out why she is the way she is. He witnesses the father’s cruelty and socks him in the jaw.
That part was very well written.
But then we went back to one of them being stupid.
This time the hero wanted to break it off.
Frankly there has to be be a limit to the level of misunderstanding. With these two there was a brick wall of utter mis-comprehension .
They never sat and talked. The heroine started shrieking much before.
Don’t think I will be re-reading this one. It was too tedious.
The heroine is beyond aggravating. Messed up. Very very messed up mentally.
Hero and heroine meet and fall in love. He is a spoilt rich young man. Always has had his way. Everything given to him. Women in the family are subservient.
He is very conservative.
Heroine was mistreated always by her extremely conservative and even cruel father. The father made the mother have several miscarriages. And a nervous breakdown.
Her sister kow towed to the father.
The heroine rebelled. She is now scared of falling in love and giving up her freedom into the hands of a dominating male like her father.
Lots of misunderstandings. The hero and heroine both adore each other but don’t sit and talk rationally.
Basically it’s on the woman. Every Asian woman knows this. Also west Asian. Frankly. She has to see the relationship gets conducted sensibly.
But this girl is only 19 to his 28.
So.
I found her irritating. The way she keeps going to other men to sob down their collars makes me want to slap her.
Let me finish the book.
This is one of the few Lynn Graham books where I terribly dislike the heroine.
She makes mountains out of molehills. She keeps feeling upset about non existent issues. The hero worships the ground she walks on but she carries on like he owes her his life’s blood, his marrow, his brain, his liver. Everything.
Horrible.
In the ending the hero finally finds out why she is the way she is. He witnesses the father’s cruelty and socks him in the jaw.
That part was very well written.
But then we went back to one of them being stupid.
This time the hero wanted to break it off.
Frankly there has to be be a limit to the level of misunderstanding. With these two there was a brick wall of utter mis-comprehension .
They never sat and talked. The heroine started shrieking much before.
Don’t think I will be re-reading this one. It was too tedious.
December 17, 2017
A deliciously, drama filled, classic Lynne Graham! This is how I like my HP’s! Lol
Vito and Ashley had a drama filled relationship 4 Year’s earlier when she was just 19 and he was in his late 20’s. After a horrible breakup, Vito marry’s someone else and Ashley learned that she was pregnant and had a miscarriage.
Four year’s later, Ashley’s brother stole Vito’s car and totaled it, along with destroying a priceless fountain. This bring Ashley back into Vito’s orbit and he blackmails her into marriage with him.
From the very first their relationship is filled with drama and fraught with secrets and lies. Their relationship is so damn toxic that they spend more time fighting and ripping each other apart than they do being a couple.
This book was epic! It had ALL the drama, ALL the angst and ALL the awesomeness of a classic Lynne Graham book. If you haven’t read it yet, find a copy and let yourself get lost in the mess that is this relationship. :)
Vito and Ashley had a drama filled relationship 4 Year’s earlier when she was just 19 and he was in his late 20’s. After a horrible breakup, Vito marry’s someone else and Ashley learned that she was pregnant and had a miscarriage.
Four year’s later, Ashley’s brother stole Vito’s car and totaled it, along with destroying a priceless fountain. This bring Ashley back into Vito’s orbit and he blackmails her into marriage with him.
From the very first their relationship is filled with drama and fraught with secrets and lies. Their relationship is so damn toxic that they spend more time fighting and ripping each other apart than they do being a couple.
This book was epic! It had ALL the drama, ALL the angst and ALL the awesomeness of a classic Lynne Graham book. If you haven’t read it yet, find a copy and let yourself get lost in the mess that is this relationship. :)
April 17, 2020
Una lettura carina senza pretese per passare in leggerezza il tempo.
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