Challenging Dante

A Bride for a Billionaire #4

by Lynne Graham

When trouble comes to stay…

Unimpressed by his mother's new companion, shrewd Italian billionaire Dante Leonetti is determined to oust the cuckoo from his castle. After all, what could this beautiful, intelligent young woman want with his family other than a slice of their fortune?

Topaz Marshall's search for her father brought her into Dante's world and now she's experiencing Leonetti's ferocious reputation firsthand. Knowing Dante thinks she's a gold digger, she is shocked when he turns on his legendary charm. Dante is determined to seduce the truth from her lips and Topaz must do everything in her power to resist.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Mills and Boon

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 8, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.


Lynne Graham was born on July 30, 1956 of Irish-Scottish parentage. She has livedin Northern Ireland all her life. She grew up in a seaside village with herbrother. She learnt to read at the age of 3, and haven't stopped since then.

Lynne first met her husband when she was 14. At 15, she wrote her firstbook, but it was rejected everywhere. Lynne married after she completed adegree at Edinburgh University. She started writing again when she was athome with her first child. It took several attempts before she sold herfirst book in 1987 and the delight of seeing that first book for sale in thelocal newsagents has never been forgotten. Now, there are over 10 million ofher books in print worldwide.

Lynne always wanted a large family and has five children. Her eldest and heronly natural child is 19 and currently at university. Her other fourchildren, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted. She has two9-year-olds adopted from Sri Lanka and a 5- and a 3-year-old adopted fromGuatemala. In Lynne's home, there is a rich and diverse cultural mix, whichadds a whole extra dimension of interest and discovery to family life. Thefamily lives in a country house surrounded by a woodland garden, which iswonderfully private. The family has two pets. Thomas, a very large andaffectionate black cat, bosses the dog and hunts rabbits. The dog is Daisy,an adorable but not very bright white West Highland terrier, who loves beingchased by the cat. At night, dog and cat sleep together in front of thekitchen stove. Lynne loves gardening, cooking, collects everything from oldtoys to rock specimens and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.

Reviews

[Vashti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging Dante is my favorite book in this series about four sisters married to billionaires.I enjoyed Topsy( hated the name) as a heroine, she did not mince words and yes,she did challenge Dante at every turn which I enjoyed.She made it know right from the start that she was not a pushover and held her own very nicely with Dante.
I enjoyed how their relationship progressed thru the story andtheir love scenes had a nice sizzle.
It was great "seeing" Mikhal,Kat ,and the other siblings,their husbands, and children.
The secret about Dante's mother,I figured that out quickly so it was no suprise when it was revealed.
All in all,I really enjoyed this one,one of her better entries to date.4.5*****.

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fabulous conclusion to the Marshall Sisters finding their Billionaires Series and the book I most enjoyed.

I really liked them....these uber rich men being tamed by the gorgeous sisters...fabulous!!!!
I loved Topsy...how can one choose that horrid name over Topaz....she's my favourite sister of them all.
Topaz in Tuscany... The characters we meet through the series were quirky, zany, funny, lovable, engaging and I even enjoyed "Cruella Mother de Ville - loved seeing her downfall...she has to be one of the most horrid mothers of all time......

The hero was pretty cool...,his life of luxury kept him very happy and even happier when Topaz (i refuse to use horrid Topsy!!) blew into his life.

The mystery of Dante's mother, I kinda had a feeling about the story...and the revelation was so sweet and beautiful.

Let's not forget that this series has been, all along, about a family, who traumatized by events in their childhood, managed to rise above it and find love and happiness in their lives. I so enjoyed the relationship between the sisters and even their husbands. Great that other characters from the previous stories were included, giving us a glimpse into their lives after finding their own HEA.

What else did I love......the setting....TUSCANY. That is the place I love so much and it brought back so many memorable memories. Imagine living here.... ..beautiful..
A sweet, romantic and cute story.

I had loads of fun reading this series.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book in the series and every couple has children - lots and lots of children.

LG has moved on from dyslexic and ditzy heroines to math genius and ditzy heroines. This English rose, pocket-venus math genius is working as an assistant to a billionaire's mother in Italy because she's looking for her bio dad. The billionaire instantly falls for her even though he thinks she's having an affair with his stepfather, is a former mistress to a Russian oligarch (her brother-in-law from the first book), and used to work for an escort service (her mother's). He comes up with these notions within a day of meeting her - but his lust is too great to worry about morals. He must have her

Heroine is equally smitten. They eventually fall into bed. Some misunderstandings are cleared up, but when the hero takes a top model to the charity ball his mother and heroine have been organizing, the heroine can't believe he's cheating on her. Luckily, her sister wants her back in London because their mother was arrested for running a prostitution ring. The hero comes running back - there's lots of posturing by all the brothers-in-law, but the heroine decides to take charge of her own life for once and melts into the hero's arms. (Where he will tell her what to do)

The hero then finds out his mother is pregnant and that his stepfather is his fiance's bio dad - so they both share a half sister. There's an epilogue with even more pregnancy.

LG didn't reinvent the wheel with this one - but it was amusing enough for an afternoon. Math genius? Really?

[*CJ* · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Challenging Dante" is the story of Topsy and Dante.
For some reason, I am starting with book 4 of the series, so bear my ignorance about the previous books (which I will eventually get to, I promise!)

Topsy is the youngest in her family, and always under the overprotective shadow of her sisters and their husbands. She finds a small rebellion in working as Mrs Leonetti's secretary in the beautiful and scenic Tuscany, also having a paternity related ulterior motive while doing the same.
Things, however are shaken up when Dante, Mrs Leonetti's son arrives with multiple suspicions regarding Topsy's motives, and both engage in a battle of wits and passion.
A very engaging read with a smart and strong heroine, a not-so-assholic and possessive hero, loads of banter, insane sexual chemistry, honky donk, mild drama, crazy family and HEA.
I liked the interactions between the characters, how crazy Dante's accusations were but how he could not stay away, the wild abandon of their lovemaking and the sweet ending.
Enjoyed this!!
Safe
4.25/5

[Alp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging Dante is one of my enjoyable books by Lynne Graham. It's pretty different than her other books I read. Topsy is stronger, smarter, and more independent! The best thing is that she's not a pregnant heroine!

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn’t drop it and I have to go to work 4,5 hours later. 🙈

[Fanniny Moreno Zavaleta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why didn't they just called her Topaz!?!? Topsy sounds like tipsy.
At least this one sister appreciated the effort Kat made to raise them, point for her. But, points less because Topaz is more indecisive than me trying to choose an outfit for a party. She said she wanted a soulmate (even had a list of her desired attributes), then that she didn't want marriage or commitment, then she wanted more than sex, then she said she'd traveled to Italy to extent her experience with men and so on. I may not be an advanced mathematics doctorate but I'm certain all those things don't add up.
Talking about maths...

“She was lying in bed around midnight reading an absorbing research paper on non-equilibrium dynamics and random matrices when her door opened, breaking her concentration.”
Come again?

“'A doctorate in advanced maths,’ Dante recounted. ‘You could have an incredible career in a bank.'”

I've found in HP land that if the Hero/heroine is good/great/genius at mathematics equals to working at banks/administration/accounting as if there wasn't a thing called science. I mean, I have a technical degree in accounting and only used the basics of math, but in my petroleum engineering bachelor I did suffer with several classes of maths; maybe it's because our professors teased us that if we couldn't with our exams we should consider moving to the building in front of us (the accounting and administration school).

Whatever, dear drunk tipsy Topsy gets me:

“'I’m not particularly interested in quantitative finance or statistics,’ Topsy told him [...], ‘I think I’d like to go into theoretical research. I want to take my time about choosing where I work.'”

Going back to Topaz and what I didn't like about her, she complained about Dante not being honest when she kept so many secrets. Which by the way I never understood the need for secrecy.

Anyway, my favorite parts were the interactions with Mikhail and then her whole family

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally love Lynne Graham heroines but I hated this heroine with a passion. She is cold, arrogant and unfeeling and always mean. All she does it be negative about everything and criticizes Dante because she has such a high IQ and is a genius in Maths *rollseyes* She thinks so highly of herself that she doesn't think anyone is capable of doing anything without her. I hate how she thinks everything has to be her way of the high way because hero is so beneath her.

Hero was sexy and dreamy but I wanted him to kick heroine to the curb. I was glad to see Kat and Mikhail from the previous book, such a gorgeous couple!

[Jacqueline J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this final installment of the Bride for a Billionaire series. In my opinion it was the best of the four. I liked the plucky heroine even if her name was too plucky for words. The author made such a big deal of her only being 4'10"but then didn't use it in the story in any way. We never even found out how tall the hero was and where her head came to on him. I know it's nit picky and not really important but if you make your heroine so short their needs to be some reason for it. Use it in the story somehow. I was expecting the whole Topsy doesn't drive thing to have something to with her height. That wasn't the only idea that could have been developed more fully. The whole driving thing was short changed and seemed to have been added just to give the character an interesting quirk. There were some other ideas that were short changed but on the whole they didn't bother me too much.

These were minor things thought and I thought that for the most part the plot held together well and I liked both the hero and the heroine although. I thought the ending could have been a bit more fulfilling.

But on the whole I enjoyed it.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was okay, but by far wasn't my favorite Lynne Graham book ever.

First off, the romance side of the story didn't feel real. I couldn't understand why Topsy fell in love with him and so quickly. Even on Dante's side too I couldn't see it. It just made no sense because they both weren't who the other truly was because so many secrets were between them and weren't revealed until later and already supposedly in love. To me their relationship was nothing but lust, chemistry, and attraction. That was it. There were no meaningful scenes together aside from the bedroom activities. They really didn't get to one another properly. So how can you love someone if you don't really know them?

Second off, even though there were highlights of deep emotional angst that came to be heart wrenching at times, it wasn't enough. It was not a big deal and easily dealt with. I honestly didn't feel like they had to work hard in their relationship. Plus by having less angst, it lessen the drama and the interest.

I did like the outside characters that came into the story. I was more interested and intrigued with them than I was with Topsy and Dante. In fact I was indifferent to them, and I didn't enjoy their relationship. There needed to be more build up and growth during the course of the book.

The love scenes were passionate and the had a lot of heat between them. I wasn't thrilled with the first time scene because it seemed rushed. In fact I wasn't thrilled where it too place, but I did enjoy the passion between them. The passion was really all they had going for them.

This book didn't quite do it for me. There needed to be more romance and showing them falling in love instead of it just being about the passion between them. I didn't even real like them as a couple. To me they didn't fit. I didn't get the soul mate vibe from them. There was angst in this story, but there needed to be a bit more for my taste. I will say that this story wasn't unreadable, and I could get through it pretty easily. The story just didn't thrill me.

[Rgreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lynne Graham usually has heroines I like from beginning to end. This is the first LG book where it took me ages to warm to a heroine.
Challenging Dante is the last book in a series about sisters. I really hoped Topsy's book would be the best. It wasn't. I should have known from the title the heroine, Topsy, would be annoying by always challenging the hero.

What really annoyed me was Topsy was so judgmental towards the hero without ever knowing him. That grated. It caused me to struggle to get thru those early chapters. At least the hero based his opinions on Topsy after talking to a person who gave him info on her. It was wrong info but at least he formed an opinion on her from a person and not from complete ignorance.

I also didn't like all the secrets kept from the hero. His mother, the heroine kept those secrets and for no good reason! The hero had a good relationship with his mother. What she did made no sense.

Another thing I didn't like was the time span of the romance. It was too short.

I did like the resolution. The hero & heroine talked. Their hea was believable.
I liked seeing the characters from previous books show up.

I liked the hero was possessive. He didn't cheat after meeting the heroine.
I liked the heroine was still a virgin. The hero was her first & only lover.
The ending was nice.

While Challenging Dante is no keeper it was an ok read.

[Kace | The Booknerd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kind of having a lazy day when I decided to read this book. Usually, I read the blurb and some reviews before reading a new book, but not with this one. I was almost halfway through it when I realized that it was a part of a series and the last book, as a matter of fact. (Well, I had already read the previous book The Billionaire's Trophy years ago, but I didn't know they were connected until I write this review.) So I was somewhat disappointed with that, I know it's my fault, but it took out some of the enjoyment, especially with the last two chapters where everyone was suddenly there. I had a hard time keeping up with all the names.

Anyway, I still think that Challenging Dante was an okay read for a lazy afternoon. And I will probably read the other books in the series and might reread this one after that.

[Dalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable series by LG. Not so impressive as her old books though, nothing to write home about. What I noticed about the 4 books is that LG's heroes are not ruthless or cruel as her old heroes but they are still arrogant, insensitive, with no connection whatsoever with their feelings. Till the final chapter, where they suddenly discover that they love heroines and cant live without them.
Her heroines have more backbones but when heroes touch them they instantly melt into a puddle at their feet.
It would have been fun to count how many times LG mentioned heroes "even white teeth" or " long lashes" or " amazing eyes".... ect

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the A Bride for a Billionaire series and in my opinion it’s the best one of the bunch, thanks in large part to the fact that Emmie isn’t in it at all. I hate that nasty cow of a character. Overall Challenging Dante was a decent book, though it loses some points for the ending being extremely contrived.


Topsy is the youngest of the four sisters in the series and she chafes under her sisters’ mothering. They all, especially Kat, feel the need to be all up in Topsy’s business and want to shepherd her in the directions that they think are best. They’ve tried to set Topsy up with men that they deem acceptable, and want to keep tabs on her wherever she goes. This has only gotten worse since each of her sisters has married a ruthless billionaire who worships the ground at his wife’s feet. So Topsy’s brothers-in-law are, if anything, even more overbearing than her sisters because they each love their wives so much that they want to ensure nothing ever upsets them. And if something bad happened to Topsy, it would upset the womenfolk. Therefore, Topsy needs to be wrapped in cotton wool and never allowed to do anything. The BILs also set up a huge trust fund for Topsy so she’s set for life and never has to worry about working or marrying for money.

When the book opens, Topsy has been forced to make use of some subterfuge. She found out on her 18th birthday that the Brazilian polo player she’d always been told was her father actually wasn’t. And now, six years later, she’s finally gotten her mother to cough up another name, Vittore. Topsy had to agree to fill in as an escort at her mother’s service for one night in order to secure the information. And now she’s tracked Vittore down. He’s recently married to Sofia, the mother of the hero, Dante.

Topsy took a job as Sofia’s social secretary in order to have a chance to get to know Vittore. However, once she was there, she realized that if she revealed who she was, it might disrupt Sofia and Vittore’s marriage. He hadn’t cheated on Sofia or anything like that, but some women wouldn’t be able to accept a long lost adult daughter just out of the blue. What’s more, Sofia is in a delicate state healthwise and Topsy doesn’t want to do anything to put her at risk. So she’s just biding her time. She also hasn’t let anyone know who she’s related to, because she didn’t want people to question why she’d need this job if all her BILs were billionaires and one is a literal king. She also lied to her sisters about where she was staying so they wouldn’t suspect.

Enter Dante. He’s been informed that things at his mother’s home are strange. Sofia, previously a very active and energetic woman, was now rarely seen. However, her new husband was seen out and about all the time…usually in the company of a beautiful young woman who was frequently taking Sofia’s place at her usual charity functions. Dante suspects that Vittore is having an affair with this young woman. He’s never really approved of the marriage because it seemed to happen too quickly. Dante’s horribly abusive father died and in less than a year, Sofia and Vittore had met and married. And Vittore has no wealth of his own, so Dante is suspicious he’s a gold digger.

So Dante goes to visit his mother and is immediately bowled over by lust when he meets Topsy. So much so that he’s shocked. Dante is a man who prides himself on his iron control and ability to show no emotion, so having his body so thoroughly rocked with uncontrollable lust is very disconcerting. He hasn’t been this unable to control himself since he was a teenager. But, he decides, this just reinforces his reason for being there. No straight man could be around this little temptress and not sleep with her, so clearly Vittore must be having an affair with her. Topsy is also wildly attracted to Dante but endeavors to hide it.

Dante asks after his mother’s health, commenting that she looks pale. Topsy smoothly lies that she’s still recovering from that bout of the flu and Sofia and Vittore look relieved and agree. Dante can tell they’re all lying but doesn’t understand why. Then Sofia sends Topsy to go check on the house she’s having built to be her marital home with Vittore. Dante insists on going along. When they get there, we’re told that Topsy has a date with the head construction guy that night, but seeing him next to Dante makes it very clear to her that she’s not really interested in the construction guy as anything but a friend.

Dante follows her out into the yard and then kisses her. It’s a wild, scorching kiss that makes them both lose all concept of where they are. Eventually they break apart and Topsy says that was a mistake and won’t happen again. Back in the car, Topsy gets a call from Mikhail, Kat’s husband. He says that he’s been to visit the friend Topsy was supposed to be staying with and knows she’s been lying to them. He’ll be in Italy tomorrow and will send a car for Topsy so they can have lunch. Topsy says that’s not necessary, she’ll meet him if that’s what he wants, but Mikhail says to expect the limo tomorrow.

While Topsy was on her call, Dante had pulled over and watched her face. He could tell from her expression that she was apprehensive, even afraid of whoever called her. He could also tell it was a man and that makes him feel jealous that she agreed to meet the person. When she hangs up, Dante asks who it was and Topsy lies and says it was an old flame. Dante ends up kissing her again and then pulling her into his lap. He’s raging with desire again but settles for getting her to the big-O and then stopping. As soon as they’re done, Topsy is mortified, especially when she realizes that Dante’s security team saw the whole thing.

They go back to Sofia’s place and Dante tries to take Topsy straight to bed but she fends him off and insists that she’s not interested. Then he insists on trying to teach her how to drive. She doesn’t know how, and says she’s failed the driving test many times, so she’s accepted that it’s just not something she’s meant to do. But her inability to drive means that Vittore squires her around everywhere she needs to go, and Dante wants to put a stop to that. So he thinks if he forces her to learn to drive, it’ll remove one excuse she and Vittore have for being around each other. So he forces her into a car and then starts yelling at her and she gets pissed off, throws it in gear and stomps on the accelerator. Except she accidentally had it in reverse, not drive, and slams right into Dante’s prized and very expensive car.

The next day, Mikhail sends his car for Topsy and she has lunch with him. She doesn’t tell him the real reason she’s there, but instead tells him that she feels suffocated by her sisters and BILs. That they need to realize she’s an adult and can come and go as she pleases. Mikhail tells her that Kat is pregnant again. Her first pregnancy had to be achieved through IVF and was very hard on her. This one happened naturally, but he’s going to do whatever it takes to keep Kat from being upset by anything while she’s pregnant. And that includes dragging Topsy home if he feels like she’s in any kind of danger. Then he warns Topsy that Dante is known to have kept three mistresses at the same time at one point in his life. So he’s not the “settling down” kind.

While Topsy is at this meeting, Dante is called upon by an older man he respects. This man has always had a crush on Sofia, and Dante had hoped that they might get together after his father died but, alas, Sofia only had eyes for Vittore. This man tells Dante that the last time he was in London, he made use of an escort service and his companion for the night was none other than Topsy. This makes Dante sure that she must be a pay to play type of girl. Even though this guy says that THEY didn’t sleep together that night, she simply provided companionship and had dinner with him, Dante is sure that she must have slept with many other clients.

Back home, they all have a few more awkward conversations where it’s clear that Dante is suspicious of everyone. He’s still crazy in lust with Topsy though. Then he hears Topsy and Vittore making plans to go somewhere together the next day and that Sofia can’t find out about it. Dante assumes they must be planning a romantic tryst so he follows them. In truth, Topsy is helping Vittore pick out jewelry for Sofia’s birthday present because he has terrible taste and Sofia hasn’t liked anything he’s picked on his own. Then he’s going on to his job, which Dante didn’t even know he had, and Topsy is going to spend the day at a museum.
While in town, Topsy and Vittore stop at a coffee shop and she asks him about the last time he was in London. Vittore reveals that he was in a relationship with a woman but it ended when she cleaned out his bank accounts, ruining the business he’d been running up there. Topsy suspects that woman might have been her mother but doesn’t reveal that.

Dante finds them at the coffee shop and insists on spending the day with Topsy. They end up having a picnic and finally have sex. Lo and behold, she’s still a virgin and Dante thinks that’s just awesome. It also makes him review everything he ever thought about her. Clearly she can’t be a hooker if she was a virgin. She also can’t have been having an affair with Vittore. So what’s up?

They start having sex as often as possible. They both tell themselves that this is just a short affair. Topsy knows that Dante isn’t the marrying kind and he also tells himself that he doesn’t do long-term. Then Dante has to go away for two days for business. While he’s gone, his mother pulls Topsy aside and tells her to be careful. That, although she loves her son, she knows he’s not the sort to settle down with anyone. Not since his wife died. And Tospy’s like…wife? Turns out that Dante was married to a childhood friend when he was 21 but the wife had died after only a year of marriage. He hadn’t had a long term relationship since then. That’s also when he had the three mistresses at the same time.

Then we flash over to Dante thinking about this supermodel woman he’s set to have dinner with. He thinks about whether he should call Topsy to let her know about it, but then decides that would be “too dramatic.” And besides, he and Topsy are just having an affair. It’s not like she’s his wife or anything.

Topsy has dinner with the construction worker guy the next night, but just as friends. She’s feeling uncomfortable about her relationship with Dante. He hasn’t contacted her since he left and she has no idea when or if he’ll return. Added to the info about him having been married before but never shared it with her and she’s starting to realize just how superficial their relationship is. He’s never opened up to her in any way. Then Dante shows up and basically drags her out of the bar. He was jealous to see her with another man, even though he knew nothing was going on between them, and he’s desperate to get her back into bed, having missed their sex these last two nights. So they race back to the bedroom and have sex all night long.

The next day is a big charity ball that Sofia and Topsy have been planning the whole book. Early in the evening, Sofia faints and Dante carries her into another room. There it finally comes out that the secret she, Vittore, and Topsy have all been keeping is that Sofia is pregnant, in her late forties. It was very unexpected and she was very worried about whether she’d be able to carry the pregnancy to term, since she’d had several miscarriages brought on by the beatings Dante’s father used to dole out. Dante turns on Topsy and is pissed that she didn’t tell him. He says that her loyalty should have been to him, because they’re lovers, not to her employer. Topsy disagrees and they all go back to the party.

Topsy goes to field the paparazzi’s questions. But they don’t want to ask about the charity ball, they want the gossip about whether there will be an engagement announcement tonight for Dante and the supermodel chick, since they’ve been dating for weeks. Topsy is totally blindsided and makes an excuse to get away from the press. Then Topsy sees Dante with the supermodel chick on his arm, dancing and looking like a perfect royal couple. She’s devastated to learn that she’s been his side piece this whole time. But she tries to soldier on through the event.

Dante eventually corners Topsy outside and she accuses him of being a cheater. Then the supermodel chick comes out and says that Dante isn’t sticking to their agreement, he’s cheating and unless he comes inside with her right now, she’ll go right to the paparazzi and give them the story. So Dante puts his arm around the supermodel chick and leaves without saying anything else to Topsy. Topsy’s phone then rings and it’s Kat telling her that there’s a family emergency and she needs to come home right away. Topsy pulls Vittore into a side room and explains about who her mother is and that she thinks he might be her father. She asks him to do a DNA test. He agrees. Then Topsy leaves.

The story picks up with Topsy back at Kat’s house. The emergency is that their mother has been arrested and they’re all worried that she’ll run her mouth about who her daughters are all married to. It would be especially bad for Saffy since she’s now the queen of a very conservative country, so having it known that her mother was essentially a Madame would be bad. Dante then bursts in and there’s a scuffle at the front door. He’s tried to call Topsy a hundred times but she ignored him. Now, however, she’s decided she wants to hear what he has to say. So they go somewhere alone and he tells her that he was never really with the supermodel chick. It was all just a PR stunt for the charity ball to get the reporters to cover it. And he just didn’t tell Topsy about it ahead of time because of plot contrivance.

He also never really loved his late wife. He’d grown up in with his abusive dad and the girl had been a friend to him. When he finally got out on his own he thought he’d do the whole marriage thing better than his parents had so he married the girl. But shortly after the wedding he realized that he’d made a mistake. The woman was super clingy and it drove him crazy. Then she’d been hit by a car crossing the street to join him for a lunch that he’d been wishing he could have on his own. So he’d felt guilty about thinking poorly of her when she was dead. After that he’d made sure to never get into a serious relationship again. But now he wants forever with Topsy. She’s his perfect match and she’s not clingy.

So they make up and HEA. There’s a brief epilogue of Topsy working at some research foundation because she’s really good at math, and they’re expecting their first child.

All in all, it was a fun little story. I thought Topsy and Dante were a good match for each other and they sizzled together in the sex scenes. The ending was really contrived though. No man as smart as Dante is supposed to be would fail to give the woman he was currently sleeping with the heads-up about the PR stunt. Not if he wanted to KEEP sleeping with her in future, anyway.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average middle of the road mills&boon story. Not sure where I got this book from but it's off to the charity shop now

[Maria Vega · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favs book from A Bride for a Billionaire series. I love it

Topsy really fierce heroine, i love her charchter, shes strong and determined at the same times she quite shy near men. This heroine have brain and witty too :D

Dante is your typical hero, Hes arrogant and belive the worst from woman. Hes noot keen to relationship but you will adore him cause he really care about his mother

I really love this story, i cannot put this book i just read it straight away. And i like the ending as always ;)

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work Ms. Graham. There may some hope left for you after all! As another reviewer mentionned, this final installment seems to be the pick of the lot. I was actually caught off guard by the mother's secret which wasn't what I was expecting at all so that really threw me for a loop. I also liked how at the end the heroine made it very clear to the hero that she didn't just want to rush into marriage and they actually had a long engagement. Good for you Topaz! I highly recommend this to all HP lovers.

[RomLibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unimpressed by his mother's new companion, shrewd Italian billionaire Dante Leonetti is determined to oust the cuckoo from his castle. After all, what could this beautiful, intelligent young woman want with his family other than a slice of their fortune? Topaz Marshall's search for her father brought her into Dante's world and now she's experiencing Leonetti's ferocious reputation firsthand. Knowing Dante thinks she's a gold digger, she is shocked when he turns on his legendary charm. Dante is determined to seduce the truth from her lips and Topaz must do everything in her power to resist

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ick. Too much focus on sex and so many references to nipples, crotch, etc. This occurred immediately, right from the first meeting. The relationship development felt weak. She forgave him for the Cosima thing too easily. Boring.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
I tried. Really tried, but just couldn't connect with Dante.He came out as too obnoxious.

[Ning · Rating 3 out of 5]

เป็นเล่มที่ชอบน้อยสุดในบรรดา 4 เล่ม
ไม่ปลื้มตัวเอกเลย
แต่เนื้อเรื่องก็อ่านได้เพลินๆ มีตัวละครเก่าออกมาเพิ่มสีสรรเล็กน้อยด้วย

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder if I would have liked this more if I hadn't just read four other Lynne Graham's. I very much liked the heroine and was happy that for once a lady who said no to the guy actually meant it... for a while. *sigh*

But reading multiple LG books in a row really does bring home how generic all the sex stuff is, from both hero and heroine immediately falling into insta-lust, to the way that insta-lust is described, to the sex scenes themselves, which I tend to skim. Not a big deal for me, since I don't read romances for the sex. But it is a reminder of what annoys me about a lot of romance sex, namely that it so rarely reflects the character's personalities. The LG heroine, whether introvert or extrovert, whether intellectual or emotional, whether she has sexual abuse in her past or not, has the exact same sexual response in terms of arousal, and is equally enthusiastic about the act, even when her body does not cooperate.

The fact that her heroes all work the same on a sexual level is less annoying, because they all kind of share the same personality.

But while I quite enjoyed this book, I think I would have given it another star if the sex scenes hadn't annoyed me by feeling so generic. Why I am not bothered by the fact that many authors repeat characters or plots but I am by repeated tropes within sex scenes I'm not sure.

Maybe because I enjoy those repeated characters or plots, while appreciating the minor differences between them (I'm after the same fantasy in a new guise). But when the sex is so generic and (in particular) doesn't reflect the different personalities or needs of the various heroines, those scenes end up feeling disconnected from the story and thus meaningless.

[Viv “BookVixen” Gutierrez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a let down. The only reason I’m reading these are for the cold, cruel, ruthless heroes and lots of secret babies. no secret baby in this one, even tho on Amazon it’s advertised as “challenging Dante: A SECRET BABY romance.” Ughhh annoying. Hero was a jerk for all of 5 seconds before he crumples like a wet paper bag. And I hated that the hero had been married before and while he didn’t love her, he was fond of her.

I also didn’t like the heroine. I found her annoying, her morals degraded, her attitude towards giving her innocence to someone she doesn’t care about vile and grotesque.

There’s some bogus misunderstanding of hero having a girlfriend, which he doesn’t have even tho he’s recently gotten rid of his current mistress. And of course the heroine runs into one of the hero’s old castoffs.

And as per usual, the sex scenes sucked. But I’ve come to expect that from HP.

Safe. Hero’s past is mentioned, he’s been a manwhore since death of his first wife. Heroine is a virgin. Small OM drama, small ow, no cheating or sharing. HEA with epilogue

[Shivani Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The girl is a math genius. The hero is hot, hunky and extremely suspicious of her motives vis a vis his mother’s newly acquired husband.
So he decides to make our heroine fall for him instead.

Didn’t like that he goes with another woman to the charity ball and does not make some kind of change to the program.

The ending wasn’t as good as I’d have liked. All the sisters from the previous books and their spouses and children are present. But the emotional quotient was missing.

LG has hit on a formula. She doesn’t try too hard with the emotional quotient. Still some of her books are wonderful.

This one is definitely good.

I recommend. 😊👍🏽

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenging Dante

This is the fourth and last book in this series. Topsy is the youngest sister and found out that she has a different father. So she goes to her psycho mother for his name. Once she located him things don't go as she wants. He has married and his step son is not impressed with him. And now that she is working for his mother he is out to make her life miserable. But what happens when all the truth gets told?

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is pretty fun. The heroine isn't constantly trapped by the hero, and even wins a few matches, and both characters have a little more depth than I might have expected. I also like the reappearance of characters from earlier in the series.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last book in ther series featuring Topaz Marshal. Dante is convinced that Topaz is after his Mom's husband and her fortune. She is in fact trying to find out if the man is her father and she took a job trying to get close to him to see if she even wanted to ask. A good read.

[Acadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graham uses the word “clitoris” and that’s why this got 3 stars instead of 2.

[Calysta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my thing

[رومولا الن emmajain-book · Rating 4 out of 5]

الجزء الاحكخير من السلسلة
بعنوان توباز من ترجمة منتدى روايتي
تريسي اصغر الشقيقات واذكاهن المحمية منهم ومن ازواجهن الاغنياء
ماذا سيحدث لها عندما تتورط مع دانتي المصرفي الايطالي