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The Touch of Aphrodite
Emily's stepfather had insisted she spend a year in Cyprus managing his hotel empire. His will also stipulated that she learn the business under the guidance of his nephew, Nikolaos Konstantin. Nik's condescending air guaranteed trouble, but when business turned to pleasure, Emily simply couldn't resist. Unfortunately, Nik inisisted that falling in love wasn't part of the deal.
182 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 3, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 6, 2010
Things I liked:
- the beautiful Cyprus setting and descriptions of the countryside, the food, the birthplace of Aphrodite
- the drama, complete with bitchy Other Woman, and hero accusing heroine of being a fortune hunter
- the hot, dark hero (though not enough of his POV)
- steamy sex scene
- no virginity-proves-heroine's-innocence-to-dunderhead-hero scene
Things I didn't like:
- the heroine's constantly trembling legs, racing pulses (how many pulses does does 1 person have?), and stammering
- not everyone has to understand or forgive a parent who abused or deserted them (pet peeve of mine, sorry)
So overall I enjoyed the setting, plot and hero, but the heroine cost this 1*. She wasn't a ditz exactly, she was shown as competent in learning the hotel trade, but her fits of trembling or stuttering whenever the hero showed her attention made my eyes roll. And since most of the story was from her POV, there was a lot of that going on - I really, really wanted to read more from the hero's POV. The beautiful and unique setting impressed me though and brought my rating up to 4*.
- the beautiful Cyprus setting and descriptions of the countryside, the food, the birthplace of Aphrodite
- the drama, complete with bitchy Other Woman, and hero accusing heroine of being a fortune hunter
- the hot, dark hero (though not enough of his POV)
- steamy sex scene
- no virginity-proves-heroine's-innocence-to-dunderhead-hero scene
Things I didn't like:
- the heroine's constantly trembling legs, racing pulses (how many pulses does does 1 person have?), and stammering
- not everyone has to understand or forgive a parent who abused or deserted them (pet peeve of mine, sorry)
So overall I enjoyed the setting, plot and hero, but the heroine cost this 1*. She wasn't a ditz exactly, she was shown as competent in learning the hotel trade, but her fits of trembling or stuttering whenever the hero showed her attention made my eyes roll. And since most of the story was from her POV, there was a lot of that going on - I really, really wanted to read more from the hero's POV. The beautiful and unique setting impressed me though and brought my rating up to 4*.
May 15, 2018
Re The Touch of Aphrodite - Joanna Mansell's farewell voyage in HPlandia is also an offering in the Postcards From Europe Series and this time we are going to the Island of Cyprus.
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and has been populated by one group or another ever since the 1oth millennium BC. Groups as far back as the Neolithic cultures, up to the Crusaders, the British and more recently Greek and Turkish nationals have laid claimed to the place, it is currently an independent nation.
But one lady alone seems to have sovereignty over all. For Cyprus is the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Tormentor of Males everywhere and that is the focus of the travelogue for this story.
Our h is a 24 yr old blonde English Miss, who has recently lost both her mother and her beloved Greek stepfather in a very short amount of time. This has left the h an orphan.
When the story starts, the h is being informed by her stepfather's solicitor that she will inherit his Cypriot Hotel, provided she moves to Cyprus for a year and undergoes a hotel running apprenticeship from her beloved stepfather's nephew.
The h isn't too keen to go, mainly because she is well on her way to becoming an accountant and has a nice little life for herself, tho her grief over losing both parents can make her feel overwhelmed.
When the stepfather's Greek nephew shows up and calls the h an imbecilic gold digger, the h decides that she will go ahead and claim her stepfather's legacy, even tho the nephew claims that it should go to the stepfather's already filthy rich Greek relatives instead.
Mainly the nephew H claims this because the h's stepfather was supposed to marry the H's mother originally. But he met the h's mum and fell in love and broke the engagement and he married the h's mum instead.
As these things happen in HPlandia, the h's stepfather's family was furious, the H's mother tried to commit suicide and then she married the H's father, the stepfather's older brother, on the rebound and everyone was miserable.
The H's mother eventually met another man, an American, that she fell in love with and the woman ran off with him when the H was eleven or twelve. The H's dad went into his own little mental world and only paints, so the H has been pretty much an orphan for the last twenty years.
The H is still extremely resentful all these years later and he blames all women for being conniving, gold digging harlots who have no honour and this includes his mother and the h. Who the H decides is clearly out for her own gain, irregardless of the fact that the h loved her stepfather and nursed him for the last months of his fatal illness.
The h herself has not had an easy life. When the h's mum and her stepfather married the first time, the stepfather's family pretty much stirred up so much drama that it drove them apart and the h's mum married the h's bio father on the rebound.
The man turned out to be very abusive and an alcoholic and so the h had a very violent childhood, until her bio dad died working on an oil rig when she was ten and her mum and her stepfather reconnected and her stepfather moved to England to marry the h's mum.
The h has never met any of the stepfather's family, (and really who would want to,) but now the H is interpreting the stepfather's will as he has to be responsible for the h for a year. He doesn't like it, he continually insults the h and the one relative she meets when she arrives with a truckload of shopping she purchased in a fit of depression, turns out to be the H's cousin and also the evil snake viper OW.
Things do not get off to a great start, the H is a jerk and a grabby roofie kisser and the h is a jelly blobfish quivering wreck anytime she gets within thirty feet of the manly, swoony, broody H. The h is a hard worker tho and soon learns the ins and outs of running a five star hotel like nobody's business.
She has a harder time with the H tho, especially since she is forced to explain her abusive father and her past to him after a drunken guest gets out of hand one night. The evil snake viper OW isn't very nice either, as she accuses the h's stepfather of forcing the H and h together for year so that the H will feel compelled to marry the h.
There is also a lot of lovely Cyprian travelogue and we visit some beautiful places, (do the googles here,) and some ancient muddy water wells, following the footsteps of Aphrodite and we get to see some very rare Cyprian Mouflon (wild sheep that only exist on Cyprus.)
After some verbal sparing back and forth and tart and gold digger accusations with an added sprinkling of meetings with the H's meddling aunts, (that includes a very sad meeting with the H's now famous painter father, who has not acknowledged another person since the H's mother dumped him for her American,) the h and H have a semi-forced seduction after the h berates the H for not allowing himself to have a romantic love interest.
Unfortunately for the h's attempt at using the Lurve Force Mojo to win the H's heart, the evil viper snake OW shows up the next morning with the news that the H's long estranged mother is on the island and the h agreed to help the woman meet with the H.
Which is true, the woman accosted the h and begged her to help her arrange a meeting with the H, her son, who definitively does NOT want to see the whacked out tart who ran off and left him essentially parentless. The h said she would try and when the OW breaks the news that the h did not inform him of, the H kicks the OW out of his life and then turns on the h.
The h has her own big drama hissy fit about how the H has to confront his mother to move on his life and learn to love. The H scores a HUGE point when he claims the h isn't talking about his ability to love, as he dearly loves his family, she means he doesn't love her and this her little pout about it.
The h goes back to her hotel and then decides that she is going to meddle some more. (Which technically, she is just using the turnabout is fair play clause, cause the H and her stepfather definitely meddled with her life to an uncomfortable extent.) So she locks the H and his estranged mother in the H's office and forces them to stay in there for an hour.
Eventually she lets them out and then runs off to hide, the H tracks her down and decides that he loves her and she is his and they are getting married and the h is good with that, as long as she gets to be on the Isle of Love forever with the H and lots of kids for the big HEA.
This one was a bit uninspired in the romance department. The evil snake viper OW was great, but really we probably needed more page time for her evil machinations. The h was a dithery idiot around the H and the H himself was nothing special. I just did not feel any Lurve Force Mojo between them, except that JM told us there was, so I kinda went with it.
The travelogue was excellent and JM does a pretty nice little summary of Cypriot history, tho she diplomatically skips a lot of the late twentieth century civil war stuff. Her descriptions of the various locations are lovely and as always, the mini guide book at the end was excellent.
This wasn't JM's best HP outing in the romance department by any means. But it was a nice little tour around a very lovely land with some interesting legends and it was a decent day at the office for an HPlandia final outing.
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and has been populated by one group or another ever since the 1oth millennium BC. Groups as far back as the Neolithic cultures, up to the Crusaders, the British and more recently Greek and Turkish nationals have laid claimed to the place, it is currently an independent nation.
But one lady alone seems to have sovereignty over all. For Cyprus is the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Tormentor of Males everywhere and that is the focus of the travelogue for this story.
Our h is a 24 yr old blonde English Miss, who has recently lost both her mother and her beloved Greek stepfather in a very short amount of time. This has left the h an orphan.
When the story starts, the h is being informed by her stepfather's solicitor that she will inherit his Cypriot Hotel, provided she moves to Cyprus for a year and undergoes a hotel running apprenticeship from her beloved stepfather's nephew.
The h isn't too keen to go, mainly because she is well on her way to becoming an accountant and has a nice little life for herself, tho her grief over losing both parents can make her feel overwhelmed.
When the stepfather's Greek nephew shows up and calls the h an imbecilic gold digger, the h decides that she will go ahead and claim her stepfather's legacy, even tho the nephew claims that it should go to the stepfather's already filthy rich Greek relatives instead.
Mainly the nephew H claims this because the h's stepfather was supposed to marry the H's mother originally. But he met the h's mum and fell in love and broke the engagement and he married the h's mum instead.
As these things happen in HPlandia, the h's stepfather's family was furious, the H's mother tried to commit suicide and then she married the H's father, the stepfather's older brother, on the rebound and everyone was miserable.
The H's mother eventually met another man, an American, that she fell in love with and the woman ran off with him when the H was eleven or twelve. The H's dad went into his own little mental world and only paints, so the H has been pretty much an orphan for the last twenty years.
The H is still extremely resentful all these years later and he blames all women for being conniving, gold digging harlots who have no honour and this includes his mother and the h. Who the H decides is clearly out for her own gain, irregardless of the fact that the h loved her stepfather and nursed him for the last months of his fatal illness.
The h herself has not had an easy life. When the h's mum and her stepfather married the first time, the stepfather's family pretty much stirred up so much drama that it drove them apart and the h's mum married the h's bio father on the rebound.
The man turned out to be very abusive and an alcoholic and so the h had a very violent childhood, until her bio dad died working on an oil rig when she was ten and her mum and her stepfather reconnected and her stepfather moved to England to marry the h's mum.
The h has never met any of the stepfather's family, (and really who would want to,) but now the H is interpreting the stepfather's will as he has to be responsible for the h for a year. He doesn't like it, he continually insults the h and the one relative she meets when she arrives with a truckload of shopping she purchased in a fit of depression, turns out to be the H's cousin and also the evil snake viper OW.
Things do not get off to a great start, the H is a jerk and a grabby roofie kisser and the h is a jelly blobfish quivering wreck anytime she gets within thirty feet of the manly, swoony, broody H. The h is a hard worker tho and soon learns the ins and outs of running a five star hotel like nobody's business.
She has a harder time with the H tho, especially since she is forced to explain her abusive father and her past to him after a drunken guest gets out of hand one night. The evil snake viper OW isn't very nice either, as she accuses the h's stepfather of forcing the H and h together for year so that the H will feel compelled to marry the h.
There is also a lot of lovely Cyprian travelogue and we visit some beautiful places, (do the googles here,) and some ancient muddy water wells, following the footsteps of Aphrodite and we get to see some very rare Cyprian Mouflon (wild sheep that only exist on Cyprus.)
After some verbal sparing back and forth and tart and gold digger accusations with an added sprinkling of meetings with the H's meddling aunts, (that includes a very sad meeting with the H's now famous painter father, who has not acknowledged another person since the H's mother dumped him for her American,) the h and H have a semi-forced seduction after the h berates the H for not allowing himself to have a romantic love interest.
Unfortunately for the h's attempt at using the Lurve Force Mojo to win the H's heart, the evil viper snake OW shows up the next morning with the news that the H's long estranged mother is on the island and the h agreed to help the woman meet with the H.
Which is true, the woman accosted the h and begged her to help her arrange a meeting with the H, her son, who definitively does NOT want to see the whacked out tart who ran off and left him essentially parentless. The h said she would try and when the OW breaks the news that the h did not inform him of, the H kicks the OW out of his life and then turns on the h.
The h has her own big drama hissy fit about how the H has to confront his mother to move on his life and learn to love. The H scores a HUGE point when he claims the h isn't talking about his ability to love, as he dearly loves his family, she means he doesn't love her and this her little pout about it.
The h goes back to her hotel and then decides that she is going to meddle some more. (Which technically, she is just using the turnabout is fair play clause, cause the H and her stepfather definitely meddled with her life to an uncomfortable extent.) So she locks the H and his estranged mother in the H's office and forces them to stay in there for an hour.
Eventually she lets them out and then runs off to hide, the H tracks her down and decides that he loves her and she is his and they are getting married and the h is good with that, as long as she gets to be on the Isle of Love forever with the H and lots of kids for the big HEA.
This one was a bit uninspired in the romance department. The evil snake viper OW was great, but really we probably needed more page time for her evil machinations. The h was a dithery idiot around the H and the H himself was nothing special. I just did not feel any Lurve Force Mojo between them, except that JM told us there was, so I kinda went with it.
The travelogue was excellent and JM does a pretty nice little summary of Cypriot history, tho she diplomatically skips a lot of the late twentieth century civil war stuff. Her descriptions of the various locations are lovely and as always, the mini guide book at the end was excellent.
This wasn't JM's best HP outing in the romance department by any means. But it was a nice little tour around a very lovely land with some interesting legends and it was a decent day at the office for an HPlandia final outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2020
We start the story with Emily, a nice English miss, hearing the terms of her beloved step-father, Dmitri's will. And she's gobsmacked by it. In order to inherit, she must pick up her English life and cart it off to Cyprus. There she will have to train how to take over his hotel business under the tutelage of his nephew (her step-cousin), Nikolaos. But Nikolaos is NOT pleased with events and disdains all women for being selfish, manipulative and greedy - the heroine included. He thinks she's a gold-digging tart who is after Dmitri's money when it rightfully belongs to his family. But promises are promises...so he fulfills them, all along snarking and sniping at the heroine who melts into a puddle of goo every time she goes near him. Before long, Nikolaos's disdain seems to lighten up as Emily shows that she has a work ethic and seems overall a nice young lady. But despite his admiration for her and his attraction, Nikolaos does not want love...he watched it destroy his family (as his mother left him and his father for the love of another man) and he doesn't ever want to put a manipulative woman in that power situation again. Emily wants to prove him wrong, that love can be healing as well. But when Emily "betrays" Nikolaos by conspiring with his mother to reunite them, she may lose her opportunity to prove it.
A solid story that entertains, but I didn't totally love it. I liked the set up well enough as it puts Emily in Cyprus and working closely with the hero who is both attracted to her but also wants to believe the absolute worst of her. She defends herself plenty in the beginning, but then she just gives up. And even later in the story he continues implying that she's a gold-digger and she doesn't really defend herself much...and unfortunately we never see that turnaround moment or a confession on the hero's part that he no longer thinks this about her. This of course had me wondering if he wasn't maybe in the romance to stop her gold-digging and get the inheritance back in the family. Though he fought pretty damn hard against the attraction...but I had doubts. Maybe that was because his turn around seemed so sudden and there wasn't any apology really...just an "I was lying to myself all along." Don't get me wrong though, I did warm up to Nikolaos as the story went on and his struggle to stay away from the heroine felt real, so I think in the end the author did make him likeable. If only she'd cleared my doubts about his intentions.
The heroine was also fairly likeable, if not needing some backbone every now and again. It seems that, as the story progresses, she loses more and more of it. Although she gets a big healthy dose of backbone when she decides to meddle in the hero's life and damn the consequences and invites his mother in for a talk. But at that point she feels she has nothing left to lose, so why the hell not? Nikolaos and his family issues were a hot mess, but quite interesting. Especially when we bring in Sophia, the OW/cousin who really does respresent everything Nikolaos claims to hate about women.
Now I did find it ironic that Nikolaos accuses Emily and all women of just going after what they want and not caring about who they hurt with it. Because not too long after Emily says she doesn't want just sex..that she wants more than that with Nikolaos... and asks him to stop seducing her if he has nothing more to give...he goes ahead and seduces her, knowing she's reluctant, knowing that she wants more. He goes after the physical experience that he wants and doesn't care that he's going to hurt her with it. Pot, meet kettle. And it's a real shame that the heroine doesn't have the wherewithal to point that one out to him.
A solid story that entertains, but I didn't totally love it. I liked the set up well enough as it puts Emily in Cyprus and working closely with the hero who is both attracted to her but also wants to believe the absolute worst of her. She defends herself plenty in the beginning, but then she just gives up. And even later in the story he continues implying that she's a gold-digger and she doesn't really defend herself much...and unfortunately we never see that turnaround moment or a confession on the hero's part that he no longer thinks this about her. This of course had me wondering if he wasn't maybe in the romance to stop her gold-digging and get the inheritance back in the family. Though he fought pretty damn hard against the attraction...but I had doubts. Maybe that was because his turn around seemed so sudden and there wasn't any apology really...just an "I was lying to myself all along." Don't get me wrong though, I did warm up to Nikolaos as the story went on and his struggle to stay away from the heroine felt real, so I think in the end the author did make him likeable. If only she'd cleared my doubts about his intentions.
The heroine was also fairly likeable, if not needing some backbone every now and again. It seems that, as the story progresses, she loses more and more of it. Although she gets a big healthy dose of backbone when she decides to meddle in the hero's life and damn the consequences and invites his mother in for a talk. But at that point she feels she has nothing left to lose, so why the hell not? Nikolaos and his family issues were a hot mess, but quite interesting. Especially when we bring in Sophia, the OW/cousin who really does respresent everything Nikolaos claims to hate about women.
Now I did find it ironic that Nikolaos accuses Emily and all women of just going after what they want and not caring about who they hurt with it. Because not too long after Emily says she doesn't want just sex..that she wants more than that with Nikolaos... and asks him to stop seducing her if he has nothing more to give...he goes ahead and seduces her, knowing she's reluctant, knowing that she wants more. He goes after the physical experience that he wants and doesn't care that he's going to hurt her with it. Pot, meet kettle. And it's a real shame that the heroine doesn't have the wherewithal to point that one out to him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2013
A book filled with romance, passion, arrogance and true love! Greatly enjoyed it! <3
January 27, 2021
Wonderful Romance book set in Greece based around the story of the Goddess Aphrodite this story is beautifully engaging and I found myself encapsulated by the intricate storylines the author wove in The Touch of Aphrodite and the desire brewing between Konstaine & Emily throughout the book now id like a will that states I can have a whole hotel estate if I stay in Greece for a whole year and fall In love sounds amazing to me!
August 14, 2023
The story has an unexpected twist just like that of all Joanna Mansell’s books but this particular is that of hatred in a lovers setting of Cyprus…who are you to say no to love. From feisty enemies to lovers ,from fantasy to reality check. I wish I could keep reading on and on, for I did fall in love with the vivid descriptions of Cyprus settings and wow I wish I was there…makes you for in love without you realizing it hence a love story in this setting definitely will thrive . A must read.
pback-to-read
June 8, 2020Emily's stepfather had insisted she spend a year in Cyprus managing his hotel empire. His will also stipulated that she learn the business under the guidance of his nephew, Nikolaos Konstantin. Nik's condescending air guaranteed trouble, but when business turned to pleasure, Emily simply couldn't resist. Unfortunately, Nik inisisted that falling in love wasn't part of the deal.
March 28, 2026
Mój pierwszy harlequin. Nie nastawiałam się na nic specjalnego, ale i tak z pozytywów jedynie mam ochotę odwiedzić Cypr. Nikolaos jest strasznym red flagiem.
May 9, 2012
Good book. I really liked this one for an oldie.
May 16, 2016
This book sucks, so boring and wierd.
October 17, 2011
Really beautiful story set in Cyprus. Loved the H/h too.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews