Marco Donati is rich, ruthless--and more often than not--indiscriminate. Interested only in satisfying his sexual needs casually and frequently, he has no intention of changing a thing about his life. Natalie Lambert is alone, broke, and new to the city when a chance encounter leaves her under the power and control of Marco Donati. As the story unfolds, tensions mount and trust is tested between two people who can't manage to stay away from each other.
Always a fan of romantic fiction, I've always been in love with the alpha-male. So in love, I've never been quite satisfied with the restrictions of series romance. I like to get into a guy's mind and have him do or say exactly what he's feeling at the moment, and sometimes I shock even myself! I consider my stories soft erotica; one man, one woman, heterosexual. But since abiding love is always the happy ending I'm looking for, my couples are always monogamous. My guy would never share his woman with anyone, and she is always enough to satisfy him. Since I believe that love starts with lust, my stories are always highly sexual, explicit in nature, and hopefully totally satisfying to my readers. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
★★★★★! Book 1 of 1. A highly recommended read. You will love the alpha male Hero, Marco!
First off I want to say that it was refreshing to read a book that was not a trilogy. Not that I have anything against a story spanning 3 books before it reaches its conclusion/HEA. But it is the WAIT and the LACK of book release dates that bothers me. I understand an author writing a book and waiting to see how it’s received. However in this “After Fifty Shades/Everything trilogy era”, you may recall the Fifty Shades book 2 and 3 was released on the same day. I personally would happily pay $40-50 to get to read a series in one sitting. So if the book is written I don’t agree with Publishers holding off the release (thinking to milk more money out of us?!). Think about it, there might be an important event or remark in book 1 that is long forgotten months later when one gets to read book 3…
Now back Marco’s Redemption: Marco’s Redemption - In my opinion a Must read for all you Gideon Cross, William Honor, Gabriel Emerson, Ethan Blackstone and Christian Grey lovers out there. Marco Donati (32 years/$$$$/black-brown hair/dark brown eyes) is every bit the alpha male – so very sexy, handsome, successful, rich, dominant, controlling and possessive. In addition, I found his need to be “fuzzed at” (while sick) adorable = )
I do NOT agree with some other reader’s comments that heroine, Natalie was weak etc. I found Natalie Lambert (24 years/brown hair/blue eyes) to be both smart and strong. Her personality was that of a Submissive in that she wanted to be controlled by Marco and she was turned on my his dominance. But when she needed/wanted to she put her foot down and in the end I found her to be very much a/the controlling force in their relationship. She was just more laid back and very importantly a more peaceful person. She brought Marco the peace he needed.
If you are still reading this… – just hurry up and get your copy of Marco’s Redemption you won’t regret it – promise! And I will be checking out other books by Lynda Chance.
*** Hero rating: 5 stars Heroine rating: 4.5 stars Story line rating: 5 stars ****************************** Overall rating: 5 stars
Would I recommend this book: Yes. Would I re-read this book: Maybe later.
I thought I finally made it past my Lynda Chance’s obsession but after a couple of hours glued to the book, I can’t say I have. What crack does this woman put on her writing?
Original Read
Have you read any of the author’s work before and you liked it?
Do you like alpha/one grunt as an answer/ possessive Heroes?
Do you enjoy her sassy and not pushover heroines?
Do you actually enjoy banter between a clever h and a grumpy as hell H?
Did you read this review as if it was an old lawyers advertisement for claiming old injuries?
Well then. Stop looking, you’ve found the book you were searching and you’ll love it. Keep in mind you might hate it because it has very ridiculous points, but oh so fun if you keep going. And you’ll see a very large male lusting after a very small female, what’s not to love.
Ps: Don’t tell Irunía I thank her everyday for introducing me to Lynda Chance, she’ll start thinking I love her recommendations.
Re-read Due to Marinalva's sweet comments I felt a re-read was in order. Is Natalie a weak heroine and is there a grovel? Yes, and I stand by my first review. It may not be a 4 star, but poor smitten jackass Marco is just too much fun to read about. He’s arrogant, selfish, spoiled, a complete and utter baby when he’s sick, but he’s so far under the spell of Natalie. His half-baked non-proposal when he drops off a huge diamond ring that's "part of a set" then scurries out of the room reeks of a little boy that doesn't know if he should pull the girl's pigtails or not.
She finally tires of his OTT possessiveness and throws down the gauntlet, and he folds.
These don’t seem like the words or actions of a doormat.
”You can't keep me here through intimidation. Get that shit through your head, Marco. If I stay--we need to be a couple. If we're a couple, you need to understand that it's because it's what we both want. If you threaten me--try to intimidate me--that shit won't fly. See, here's the thing. I know you'd never hurt me. I feel it in my bones. So that crap won't work. And if it was working? If you were scaring me? I'd leave you in a second flat." Her words were firm, even, and she stared into his eyes while she made the speech.
He listened closely and Natalie believed he absorbed everything she said. His hand in her hair gentled almost imperceptibly. "I'll quit trying to intimidate--if you promise we're a couple.”
It's not perfect, but for a curmudgeon in training he's sweet and amusing.
First reviewOkay folks, here we have a wonderfully wicked and tortured hero. Yes, he is a little bit of a jerk to our intrepid heroine, but she stands up to him and he, wait for it, grows from the experience.
So many of the brooding heroes are just downright mean. Marco is so deliciously dark he truly won my heart, and I hate the Heathcliff types usually.
Mmm yeah.Just what i needed."Marco`s Redemption" succeeded in making me forget my whole life and embark on this enthralling romance with a dark edge to it!Marco Donati saw the young lost Natalie Lambert as his prey almost from first sight and manipulates the circumstances to keep her with him even letting her work as his housekeeper to let her pay back her debt to him,under his roof. He obsesses and lusts after her everyday as it comes but also resents her hold over him as he realizes he can`t even manage to breath without her.HE WAS LOCA CRAZY over her....and me LOVED IT! Natalie`s life was very much crap until she moved to Houston and met Marco.She does try to resist his sexual appeal and i like it how she saw through his manipulations and lies and knew he was keeping track on her all the time.I also love how flabbergasted he was by that knowledge near the end. Marco and Natalie are another couple just so sexily perfect for each other that i wanted to give both of them hugs in the end. This book`s awesomeness also reminds me to check out more books by this author since i only read Marco's Redemption and Rule's Obsession,both books are rated 5-star by me!
Ainhoa’s marketing skills was the reason I read Marco’s Redemption.
It had the potential to be a great story but for me it lacked depth and was a little messy. While I was reading I thought there were chapters missing... Things were thrown out of nowhere in the plot and without support and then just evaporated.
I didn’t feel any emotions between Marco and Natalie. Marco was an alpha arsehole, possessive and controlling human being. Natalie was weak, despite her few attempts to stand up to Marco. She only cleaned, cooked sometimes, had sex with the arsehole and accompanied him to his public functions. I am wondering if I will give this author another chance. 🤷🏻♀️
OK, I really loved this book.. I know the reviews are all over the place on this one but this book hit me in all the right places.. many times.
Marco is the most alpha male possesive jerky super sexy insatable guy i've ever had the privilege to read about. He is possessive to the extream... and I love it. He is rich, sexy, goes after what he wants.. but --- Marco, deep deep down, does have a heart. Its just a very controlling heart.
Natalie.. she sweet, un-jaded and seriously short on money. She's petite and beautiful.. and when Marco first lays eyes on her he has the uncontrolable need to protect AND possess her.
They meet when Natalie accidently rear ends his very expensive car on the interstate.. she of course is driving a beat up un-insured hooptie. She has no way to pay him for the damages.. so he convinces her to move in with him and be his housekeeper while she works off the cost of the repairs.. Its all blazing chemistry and combustion from there. Read my status updates and you can see the emotions I was going through while reading this book.
Marco is the perfect book man for me.. so sexy and jerky and possessive.. I loved every minute of it. Whats even BETTER.. is there was no angst at all in this book...the chemistry was there from the beginning, they did something about it, they kept at it, they fell for each other, they admitted it , and you get your HEA. All of that and plus you get the man that would do anything to possess you and keep you happy and satisfied.
I will be re-reading this one again very soon. I'm just now done and I miss Marco already...
I'm sorry but two schmucks in heat never make a good romance story.
I was soooo disappointed with it. Honestly, Chance is my go-to writer whenever I wanna read a hot alpha billionaire romance who is crazy in love with the girl. It's just what she does.
And so my expectations were really high, not gonna lie. But what we have here is just pure toxicity to the nth degree.
And maybe I could swallow that amount of stupidity that poured down on me from each page if at least one character had some brain cells or maybe, dunno, knew what a relationship should be about?
Yeah, that didn't happen.
But back to the story...
Schmuck no. 1 is our hero Marco.
Marco is a dick.
Marco thinks with his dick.
And Marco's dick and what it needs seem to be the driving force in this story.
I need to add that our Marco Polo here is also a manwhore who fucks around, likes to participate in sex parties and is known for exchanging sex partners with his colleagues on a regular basis. That is Marco's life.
He is also a spoilt brat, a complete and utter douche, a control freak and has zero redeeming qualities. Oh, and he's a billionaire and dead gorgeous so every woman wants him. Naturally.
Schmuck no. 2 is Natalie who licks her dry lips ever few minutes.
Natalie is the main prostitute, I mean protagonist of this story.
She is dumb as a rock, shallow, a complete and utter doormat and has zero interests whatsoever. And she is so freaking annoying...
My god.
Hands down, one of the worst, most infuriating heroines for me in a very long time. We have some soppy backstory about how she ran away from her mother's house because her boyfriend made a pass on her. And so sis, instead of talking to her mum, decided to run away.
We meet her when she rams into Marco Polo's car and turns out the car is her cousin's, the insurance has expired and she is broke and has no job. So he offers her to work it off by cleaning his house.
So far sounds good, right? I thought so. Boy-oh-boy, was I wrong.
And so she agrees and moves in with him but she is really skittish around him. And for good reason. She very quickly discovers that he tracks her phone and follows her every movement. And that was when I expected for her to show us some character, to tell him to fuck off, pack her bags and move out. That's what a smart girl would do.
Not Natalie.
Natalie started making out with him and slept with him soon after that. Simply because he told her she was beautiful, he dumped his current fuck Tanya and she thought he was hot.
And let’s be honest, him being rich and hot are the reasons why our leeching heroine just can’t say no. Self-respect is not sth this dumb bitch even knows how to spell.
And honestly, he forbade her to find a job, he told her what she could and couldn't do, she wasn't allowed to leave the house and he even told her what clothes she was allowed to wear. What is more, she had no right to say no and had to be ready every time and for everything as far as sex was concerned. In exchange, Polo bought her expensive gifts and she could just relax at home.
What is better, this dumb bitch saw absolutely nothing wrong with that. *insert eyeroll
My favourite scene was when he threw a box with a ring at her and told her to wear it and that's how they got engaged!! And sis was so happy she almost cried. LMFAO!
I also need to add that every scene with these two in this book is either fucking or arguing. They don't talk about anything. He just tells her how beautiful she is or screams at her whenever he gets jealous. Which is all the time btw.
There's this guy (don't remember his name) that Polo works with that he used to have orgies with, and now this guy wants to fuck Natalie, simply like they used to do, and that is the only 'edge' that we have in this book. So Polo tells her that they should get married so he would be less jealous when she belongs to him completely and our gold digging heroine agrees.
And that's the end of this clusterfuck. (!?!?!)
All in all, I could go on and on about things that were so very not ok, so very toxic, frustrating and plain stupid in this so called romance but what is the point? If you wanna have the idea of how bad it is think of 50 Shades and multiply it by 10. Or a 100. And there's your answer.
Poor Marco! Natalie's adorable cuteness and pot roast knock him on his billionaire hiney. He has to be on guard to protect her ALL THE TIME, cause he just knows every other sewer slurper is out lookin' to steal his woman.
Marco is OTT in his caveman possessiveness, yet so cute when he thinks he upset his adored Natalie. Absolutely adorable read and I could really get into the HPlandia Stalkery Stalkerificness of the whole thing.
Natalie isn't having the best day. She has just moved to Houston and is looking for a job. He is staying with her cousin and has borrowed his car to get around. Unfortunately, that didn't go very well....
Marco is not happy, but he sees the petite woman driving and is intrigued with her. Natalie's cousin doesn't have insurance on the car so she needs to pay him back somehow. Marco suggests she work for him, cooking, cleaning, etc. in his apartment but she has to stay there for a year to work it off.
Things go smoothly for awhile but Marco is finding it harder and harder to stay away from this tiny woman.
"Promise you're mine, Natalie. Give me that promise....."
".....I'm asking you to stay. To stay for the sole reason of being with me. You and me. Nobody else. I'm promising fidelity to you. That's something I've never promised before in my life and I want the same promise from you."
Gawd I love Lynda Chance’s heros. This one, like the others is just barely hanging on to civility with the h. His caveman is just clawing at the surface. I love watching him struggle to not cross lines. I love how controlling and dominant he is.
You know why most of her books just aren’t 5 stars for me, though? The H always gives in too much to the h’s demands for independence. Like in this one, the H has a tracker in her phone. Because he’s worried for her safety (and also because he’s a besotted obsessed control freak 😍) and she throws a fit about it…. And he just gives in, chastened like a little boy. 🙄😕 I know this will be popular with most readers. I get it. …. But me? 😬 I wanted him to stick to his guns. 🤷🏼♀️ He wants her safe. The tracker is non-negotiable. That’s what I wanted from him. Also, I REALLY wanted to see him completely lose his shit and step over the line, even if it’s just a little. 😈 Her heros are truly good honorable men, at the end of the day, despite their depraved fantasies and instincts… they are always able to hold themselves back… I just would like to see one maybe not listen to his better angels quite so much. 👀😬🙈 That’s all I’m saying. 😬 That would earn a 5-star from me. 🤷🏼♀️
Bottom Line? As usual a great swoony read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 - I’m giving it an extra 1/2 star since he does kinda refuse a condom and doesn’t listen when she asks him to stop and get protection 😈😈😈😅🙈🙈
⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️
- no cheating or sharing
- OW drama - he has a woman who “attends to his needs” on the regular - we see him continue to take her out after he has moved the h into his home, but before they are intimate or are in a relationship - she’s not nice to the h - we are told later that he doesn’t touch her after he meets the h - also the H used to do some swinging and group sex with that woman, and a couple they used to “play” with try to lure him into sharing the h… he’s furious that they are anywhere near the h, and swears he’d never share her, is disgusted by the thought, but that couple shows up in several scenes and make drama.
- OM drama - the man in the swinging couple makes passes at the h - the H loses his shit
- dubcon-ish - he goes in without a condom once - she asks him to stop and get a condom and he refuses (says it’s too late) - they have an established sexual relationship at this point
- h (24) - isn’t a virgin, but only had sex with her HS boyfriend and nothing since
- H (32) is an experienced man - a serial monogamist
This was a lot of fun. H/h meet when she rear ends him in Houston traffic. No insurance, no money? No problem. She can be his live-in housekeeper until she pays off the $20,000 in damages.
Hero is beyond smitten as heroine Swiffers the penthouse and tries not to notice. They eventually start a sexual relationship, then declare themselves boyfriend/girlfriend, then she wears his ring on her left hand, then he finally demands they marry. Heroine let him think it was all his idea.
Heroine knows how to handle his controlling ways, but his kids will need therapy or rebellion or both.
New favorite author! My first book by her and I loved it.
The hero was instantly smitten with the calm, naive, innocent-like heroine and it showed thru his constant worry, possessiveness, jealousy. He does finally verbally acknowledge it, but it took time.
The heroine was not a doormat to me, as some reviews felt. She was initially overwhelmed by the car accident, huge repair costs, trying to get her bearing to her new situation… I liked how she took her time to get herself mentally settled and then would speak up and argue back. She wasn’t bitchy and spewing off crap to cause drama.
I did love when the hero got pissed off, and I would have loved to see several of the scenes go even further. Especially the ring scene. He was so awkward in giving the ring to her, she should have called him out a bit to get him talking. I loved the scene in his office and how he lost control with her (and forgot the condom). Then the story fast forwarded several months…. I wish we could have had even more scenes watching them learn to live together.
I should've hated the caveman hero, but I didn't ╮( ̄▽ ̄"")╭
What's the line between an alphahole and a possessive hero? Preference. There's really no reason I should've liked Marco. He's an insecure asshole to his core. He even tells her to shut up once.
But it still worked for me. He's all male on the outside and scared boy on the inside and my cavewoman brain wanted to have him hunt me a pelt so I can snuggle him with it (╥ ω ╥)
Ok, so Marco is a bit intense. He may even be considered an A-hole, but I still liked him. It just took Natalie awhile to soften him a teeny, tiny bit. If your not into OTT Alpha's, then this book isn't for you. If you are, jump right in.
Review for audio...I wasn't a fan of the narrator doing Marco's voice. I just don't think she did his intense behavior in the right way. She made him sound like he was yelling all the time when really, he was just intense. Have I mentioned that Marco was intense?
4.5 stars ⭐️ Marco is why I always love Lynda chance’s heros. Dear god he was hot and possessive to the core. I loved the fights and dynamics in their relationship. I want more and more of this couple. Epilogue just whetted my appetite for more. But I felt the ending was a bit rushed. Still I enjoyed it. Recommended.
It had everything that I just love in a book. Hot, rich, controlling, alpha male falls in love with a regular, nice girl. I did not want it to end, I wanted more. I did not want the author to speed the couples time along. I was yelling at her to slow it down. I was getting sad when I say the percentage on my Kindle go 84%, 89%, 91%. :(
This book is an acquired taste, I think. I mean the writing was okay. The characters were nothing that we have not read about before and yet, I loved every single sentence. LOVED! I could not get enough of Marco or Natalie.
Why not 5 stars? I don't think this is a book that I would say "stop what you are reading and read this book." The story was very simple. Rich, hot guy gets rear-ended by a regular girl who is struggling financially. To pay for the damages, she agrees to be his housekeeper. Hence, the chemistry and tension sizzles. LOVED IT! Simple, but the pace of the story was good and there was the steam. I have never read anything by Lynda Chance before, but now I want to read everything.
Sometimes you run across a book that was the right book at the right time. This is that book for me.
Having read Ainhoa's review for this book I couldn’t not give it a chance. It was an okay read but it didn’t stir any emotions. It was a bit flat for me but overall, it was a decent read. I have to mention that I was a bit surprised when I started reading it and I realized that it’s written in 3rd person pov but I had no problem getting into the story, which is definitely a plus. 3 ⭐
Hero is over the top alpha emo tortured rich guy. Why he's emo and tortured is never explained. The heroine is skittish around Marco and rightly so. He's more a villain type rather than a romantic hero because of his unstable personality and actions. Marco needs some therapy for his anger management issues.
Marco even tracks Natalie (through her cell phone, which she figures out but shrugs it off because she needs her job as his housekeeper since she has no place to live or no other job) to keep an eye on her and gets upset when she tries to be sneaky and does things like explore the city and goes to the library. How dare she!
The sex was pretty vanilla- all missionary sex. There's this skanky married couple who pop up from Marco's past. I expected major mustache swirling from them. Their roles had me scratching my head because I couldn't understand their point.
The ending was abrupt and made no sense. Actually this story really didn't make much sense and had no real plot to speak of.
**re-re-read**I love Lynda Chance, she is a brilliant author. And this is yet another example of what she does best(I love her H's) Marco's Redemption Lynda's newest book is fantastic. This is again an example of her generousness. Marco and Natalie meet when Natalie accidentally rereands Marco's brand new expensive car and with no money and no way to pay him back Natalie agree's to work as his maid to pay off her dept. But Natalie notices that Marco seems to be changing around her and his looks suggest he wants more. As time goes by it becomes apparent to them both that they are attracted to one another so they agree to take their relationship to a physical level, But Marco makes it clear he doesn't want more.
Marco knows he doesn't deserve Natalie but he wants her and won't let her go and with Natalie finally telling him she wants more or they will need to part ways Marco knows he will do anything to tie her to him any and every way possible so that she will never leave him. I loved this book Marco was FAN-TAS-TIC (oh yes he is so phenomenal he needed that), he is terrified Natalie will leave him and is sure that every man wants her. He is possessive, hot, jealous, hot, pushy, hot, no no nonsense type guy and did I say HOT. This is a great short story exactly as it should be and how Lynda knows how to do it. Though short I felt connected to the characters, I never felt rushed I got a beginning, middle and a great end. I always have a soft spot for an epilogue and This epilogue didn't disappoint. This is another wonderful book that all Lynda Chance fans will love.
Lynda Chance's book are so much fun! How has it taken me so long to find them?! Anyway, Marco was a little harder to love than some of her other uber alpha men. But he pulled it out in the end. If you can just leave your feminist side at the door and enjoy the mind of an irrational male, this is a fun read.
I just re-read via audible. Marco is hot and cold for me. I liked him, but many times I did not. He was just too uptight and distant much of the time. But I loved his possessive craziness.
I forgot all I wanted to say about this book except it had a halequinn feel to it which I'm not a fan of, the H was a gross manwhore before meeting the h which I definitely didn't need to know about and the h could've done with a firmer backbone. His J/P moments were the best parts
***The OW and the man who caused trouble were just unnecessary, they just faded into the woodwork after a few appearances. At least commit to the angst and let them cause some real trouble why don't you?
No cheating H had OW but when he met the h he ended the relationship soon after, she caused slight drama H was a HUGE manwhore h had one boyfriend before I think
I liked this book in the beginning, Marco was hott and I liked his dominance. Unfortunately that wasn't carried through into the second half of the book. As the story progressed I felt him grow more and more unattractive, his character lost it's appeal. His actions were that of a clingy boyfriend with self esteem issues, not hot at all. It was like he turned into a different person. Maybe its just me but I couldn't help but question Natalie's responses to his requests and she acted like a doormat, it wasn't for me.
This was surprisingly great. I like it, when OTT-ness of the hero creeps up on the heroine and the reader slowly, unsuspectingly, bit by bit. What started out as a accidental meeting turned into a story of obsession and possession, but gradually.
I liked that there where no flowery descriptions of hero's "darkness, black soul, monster" etc. We see the deviant tendencies of the hero, rather than being told about them.