bride-to-be for a short-term contract—bedding optional…
Within twenty-four hours of meeting Greek tycoon Mathieu Demetrios, Rose's life is in chaos. Mathieu is convinced he threw Rose out of his hotel bedroom years earlier, branding her a scarlet woman!
But Mathieu is looking for a wife of convenience, and taming the wild Rose into gracing his marital bed will be more pleasurable than he ever dreamed!
Though lacking much authentic Welsh blood, Kim Lawrence comes from English-Irish stock. She was born and brought up in North Wales. She returned there when she married, and her sons were both born on Anglesey, an island off the coast. Though not isolated, Anglesey is a little off the beaten track, but lively Dublin, which Kim loves, is only a short ferry ride away. Today they live on the farm her husband was brought up on. Welsh is the first language of many people in this area and Kim's husband and sons are all bilingual she is having a lot of fun, not to mention a few headaches, trying to learn the language! She is a keen gardener and cook and enjoys running often on the beach, as living on an island the sea is never very far away. She is usually accompanied by her Jack Russell, Sprout don't ask, it's long story!
With small children, the unsocial hours of nursing didn't look attractive so encouraged by a husband who thinks she can do anything she sets her mind to, Kim tried her hand at writing. Always a keen Mills & Boon reader, it seemed natural for her to write a romance novel. In 1995, she published her first novels and now she can't imagine doing anything else.
I had a great experience with another Demetrios and a H thinking the h was a hussy because of wrong first impressions. Ok, this one started on a weird note from me... because somehow I decided it was a good idea to start a book close to sleep time. So when first line goes like this: "Andreos Demetrios, his erect p...". I rubbed my eyes and realized that the "p" was for posture... I began to put more attention since then. Anyways. Four years ago the famous race driver H found a drunk and naked woman on his bed but he is prudish so he kicked her out (this I'll call the episode). Turns out said woman was the h's thinner and sexier twin (according to the h). Now he saves our heroine from drowning in a not so frozen lake and obviously recognizes the face of the intruding hussy from the episode, the intriguing thing is: this time he is not repulsed, on the contrary, he feels attracted by her. This woman now is sexier and hotter in his eyes because curves She's running from her supposedly love for a married man (that she totally forgets about the minute she meets the H). He has issues with the ass-hat father, but he has loved and lost three people already so he is not your average Hero-with-tragic-past; he's not a manwhore but is not looking for a woman to love either. After some drama with the h losing her job because apparently the H didn't keep his mouth shut about the episode (he did keep his mouth shut), the H and h end up in a muddy engagement. The H needed a temporary fiancée bacause the nice Greek dad wants him to marry a heiress because riches are never enough, the H doesn't want the girl that was in love and about to marry his beloved dead brother. There was no rule book in the engagement, only scheduled appearances leading to a meeting with the Greek dad. Thankfully the h was paired with Matt and not your average H because her poorly performance as fiancée in front of Greek dad wouldn't have gone unpunished by other H. They finally succumbed to the lurve, virgin surprise, H screws it up afterwards followed by eureka moment, h's insecurities all over the place, she leaves and BAM! She's having a scan, he shows up and explains his absence while the h is suffering inside, ILYs, HEA.
I loved it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This Open Library title finally became available and lo and behold, more twins! Unlike Melanie Milburne's Bought For The Marriage Bed, this heroine's twin is not evil - she just was bit of a crazy nympho a few years back and tried to seduce the hero. The hero thinks the librarian twin is her sister and he makes it clear he's still not interested, even though she's gained about 15 pounds. Oooof.
The story starts slow with the hero's family woes taking up a chapter. And then the heroine's jealousy of her "sexy" twin who is now respectably married and full of opinions about the heroine's lack of a love life. At her new job cataloging books at a Scottish Estate, the heroine takes a breather and falls through ice on a pond. The hero, who is a guest at the estate, rescues her.
Sounds exciting but it really wasn't.
The action finally heats up when they enter an engagement of convenience and they go to Greece. I liked how the H/h were bantering at this point, how the heroine didn't act like the awed fiance around his family and the wannabe OW, and how having sex didn't clear anything up.
The hero was a jerk
It's not the plot that was fun in this story - it was the chemistry between the H/h. Some reviewers felt they bickered too much, but I didn't mind it. I'm not a big Kim Lawrence fan, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one.
Yep, I loved it. A slow start, but when Rose and Mathieu (sp?) get together, they are pretty darn cute. Yes, he is somewhat of a closed down ass hat, but it's a little hat.
Oodles of chemistry and a hero who is in over his head and a heroine who actually makes him suffer a little for his ass-hattery.
After the H saves the h from drowning, he thinks he recognizes her from a few years ago when she wound up naked in his bed. He kicked her out. Standards, you know, plus that version was a lot less curvy. That version was also her twin. The twin confusion adds a little whimsy to the story.
He hires the kind of crazy and curvy h to serve as a decoy for the ubiquitous Greek heiress his mean old man wants him to merge with. His father is a gigantic ass-hat as the H is his son from a ONS. Everybody else in the family liked him but dad including the cheated on stepmother and the now dead half-brother who actually sounded very sweet.
Soooo, Mathieu, our yummy Greek H, has some daddy issues, but all in all is incredible well adjusted and not just for a Harlequin Greek tycoon. On more than one occasion he smiles AND laughs. I think he even cracks a joke or two. I don't know what the Harlequin editors were thinking as usually all humor is drained out of these suckers. He and the h spar quite a bit and all in all it's pretty cute.
I did downgrade from a 4 star to a 3 star, but it is a high level 3.
This had such great potential. However, the author spent way too much time in the beginning of the story and not enough time at the end. I found the ending to lack depth and credibility. .
Though there was lot of witty dialogue between the hero and heroine, I actually found it very hard to follow. Some of what they said just didn't make sense.
After this one, I may just give up on Kim Lawrence.
This was strange book, it left me a little bit confused at times with the flow especially the last two chapters. It felt forced a bit lacking that star factor..
Rose, broken-hearted, gets a job in Scotland where she falls into an icy loch and is rescued by Mathieu Demetrios. He recognizes her right away as the woman who tried to seduce him in Monaco several years ago and pegs her as a groupie. Only it's not Rose - that was Rose's twin sister, but she decides not to tell him, not that he would believe her anyway being the arrogant, know-it-all that he is. After he accidentally spreads this gossip, Rose loses her job and Mathieu sees an opportunity...so he asks her to be his fake-fiancee to rile up his father. By this point the two of them are experiencing attraction but Rose hesitates because she's a virgin and Mathieu doesn't seem to respect her all that much. But he is awfully convincing.
This had so much potential - especially with the hero. My favorite kind of hero is that big, silent, emotionally non-demonstrative guy who is not exactly an asshat, but still pretty much an asshole to everyone except the heroine (with whom he is privately a softie). Mathieu could have been this hero - it was the perfect set up for it. Only he wasn't actually a softie for the heroine. His monologues seem to indicate that maybe he's starting to feel something for Rose and his later so-called groveling admits that he loved her from the beginning, but his actions NEVER reflect this. In fact, his actions advertise in neon, the exact opposite. Both characters spend the entirety of the book pretty much disdaining the other. Mathieu looks at Rose with a sneering, taunting attitude and makes her feel absolutely worthless to him except as a tool to accomplish his goals and Rose actively acknowledges that he does this...she knows it - so how can I possibly believe that they love each other? Then, after their night together and Mathieu's freak out at her virginity (and subsequent nasty comments), Rose escapes, heartbroken. Then in the next chapter, 10 weeks have passed and she's pregnant and boom, Mathieu just shows up and starts declaring his love. There was no build up to it, no explanation, no POV from Mathieu to give us a glimpse into his tortured psyche and his guilt for his actions. It all felt so sudden. And why did she need to be pregnant anyway? Or why did he have to know about it? Given the timing, it made me feel like he came back for the baby even though he swore he didn't. But seeing as how I'd had no indication of his love for her earlier in the story, what else was I to conclude? Just take his word for it as the heroine does I guess. I feel it might have been better if he'd come back only for her and then discovered she was pregnant...then there's no doubt. This was a good read right up until about the 85% mark when I realized that it was about to be over and the book needed a lot more to happen before I could really believe their love and HEA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Needed: bride-to-be for a short-term contract--bedding optional...Within twenty-four hours of meeting Greek tycoon Mathieu Demetrios, Rose's life is in chaos. Mathieu is convinced he threw Rose out of his hotel bedroom years earlier, branding her a scarlet woman!But Mathieu is looking for a wife of convenience, and taming the wild Rose into gracing his marital bed will be more pleasurable than he ever dreamed!
4 stars I have to admit the flowery writing style threw me off especially in the first chapter which gives us background on Mathieu and his contentious relationship with his father. It got less flowery as the story progressed, thank goodness. Overall, I liked this book more than the average HP because Mathieu is not a man-hoe and Rose is a strong person who can stand up for herself. How they met (she fell through ice on a pond because she saw a fox and Mathieu rescued her) made me doubt her intelligence but once I put that from my memory, I liked her better. (Seriously, what a foolish thing to do.) The climax which causes a separation and the final chapter was rushed and abrupt but we got our HEA.
fue divertida pero siento que todo fue muy rapido osea no ubo tiempo de enamorarse todo paso en un fin de semana el tipo es un bruto tantas señales y no se dio cuenta de nada me parece que no estubo bine pero que se le hace igual siguen siendo no taaan malo pero no lo recomiendo mucho fue un poco aburrido y me costo termianrlo por mucho tiempo
Started slow and the twin thing got old but the dialogue and chemistry were great.
Reread and still like but the beginning should have zinged, dramatic ice rescue, mistaken identity, good dialogue, but in factd the first half is dreary dragging. Story picks up right at the 50% mark. The second part is great, lots of good dialogue and two people who reveal themselves.
The problem is the first half we see very little of the characters' emotions or feelings or flaws beyond "I want him/her". The h thinks she's unattractive because she compares herself to her thinner, more obvious sister and the H, well, we don't really know much what he thinks other than want and his family problems.
Later reread. I’ve noticed KL’s books appeal more on rereads. This is another that I liked first time, stuck in my mind and reread several times now. The twin thing wasn’t as intrusive this last time through although h is right that sis needs to butt out. The first half moved better too.
I think after reading 4 times I should add a star too. This is in my Very Good shelf on Glose, a good choice when I want something enjoyable and easy.
Good Book. the hero was a race car driver, whose illegitimate father hated him. he had a very bad childhood. hero meets the heroine for the first time while saving her life. he was attracted to her right from the first glance . he was sure that h is the same girl whom he threw from his bed(naked) four years ago. but the heroine continuously argues that she's not the same girl. then H plans a fake engagement to annoy his father and get rid of the girl chosen by his father( who is the same was engaged to his now dead brother). he offers the heroine the place of his fake fiance and takes her to his island. their they make love and finally hero discovers that 4 yrs ago he threw her identical twin from his bed in Morocco. he feel deceived. they have an argument and heroine leaves in tears. n rest u have to read to know the ending.
it was quiet an entertaining book. specially the dialogues. the h was feisty but not bitchy. hero was not that alpha but was sexy. all in all the lead characters were super likable.
I enjoyed the first part of this book. I loved the part where Mathieu thought Rose was the young woman who had crept into his room one night after the race years ago. But it wasn't her, and it was actually her twin sister Rebecca. And, of course, Mathieu doesn't believe her twin story and continues to make fun of her.
I had some fun reading it, especially the part where Rose demanded that Mathieu give her a job because she lost her other job, and it's his fault. I really liked the heroine. I found her honesty and simplicity quite refreshing. And I liked that she wasn't a pushover. She stood up for herself and gave as well as she got. I also liked the hero. Yes, he's a total alpha but not a jerk.
Yes, I enjoyed it for the most part. Like I've said before, the first part was quite entertaining, but I found the ending a bit confusing and lacking in the romance department. But the back and forth banter between the main characters made me laugh. And it was enough for me to continue reading Kim Lawrence's books.
I will admit that I love my guilty pleasure romances! I usually buy them a few at a time at walmart or target and devour them at rapid speeds. I got lucky to find some for kindle at my library this past week and have been flying through them.
When I got to this one I was eagerly anticipating what I would find and I wasn't disappointed. Pretty typical, this book was still a pleasure to read and I enjoyed it for the most part. Some of it was a little too predictable for me to give it a higher rating and I felt like it was wrapped up a little too abruptly. I would definitely recommend it for a summer pool/beach read tho!
بعد اربع وعشرين ساعة فقط على لقائها بالمليونير اليوناني الوسيم ماثيو ديمتريوس . انقلبت حياة روز رأساً على عقب . ماثيو مقتنع أن روز هل المرأة نفسها التي طردها من غرفته في الفندق منذ بضع سنوات وهو يظنها إمرأة فاسقة. إلا إنه بحاجة الى زوجة الآن , وروز تبدو ملائمة لهذا الدور . وبعد ان وضع خاتمه في إصبعها واستدرجها الى سريره, إكتشف ماثيو أنها ليست المرأة التي في خياله , هذه المرأة اخطر بكثير
The hero did not force the heroine into some sort of arranged prostitution agreement or mistress agreement and because of this I gave the book a star. The heroine had spunk and backbone she took nobody's bull$h!t.
This is more like a 3.5. Fairly light-hearted romance, not enough action for me -- I felt like I was skimming all the introspection to get to what was actually happening.