El hijo del siciliano

by Sharon Kendrick, Catalina Freire Hernández (Translator)

Cuando el marido siciliano de Emma descubre que ella es estéril, su matrimonio se rompe. Luego, de vuelta en Inglaterra, Emma descubre que ha ocurrido lo imposible… ¡está embarazada!
Pero la vida como madre soltera es muy difícil e, incapaz de pagar las facturas, sólo tiene una opción: Vincenzo.
Ahora que sabe que es padre, Vincenzo está decidido a reclamar a su hijo y volver a Sicilia con él. Pero si Emma quiere seguir con el niño, deberá volver a sus brazos y a su cama.

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin Presents, Second Chance, Contemporary, M F Romance

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2009

About the author

I was told off as a child for making up stories—little did I know that one day I’d earn my living by writing them!

To the horror of my parents, I left school at sixteen and held a bewildering variety of jobs: I was a London DJ (in the now-trendy Primrose Hill), a decorator and a singer. After that I became a cook, a photographer and, eventually, a nurse. I waitressed in the south of France, drove an ambulance in Australia, saw lots of beautiful sights but could never settle down. Everywhere I went I felt like a square peg—until one day I started writing again and then everything just fell into place. I felt like Cinderella must have when the glass slipper fit!

Today, I have the best job in the world, writing passionate romances for Harlequin. I like writing stories which are sexy and fast-paced, yet packed full of emotion—stories that readers will identify with, laugh and cry along with.

My interests are many and varied—chocolate and music, fresh flowers and bubble baths, films, cooking and trying to keep my home from looking burglarized! Simple pleasures—you can’t beat them!

I live in Winchester, one of the most stunning cities in the world, but don’t take my word for it—come see for yourself! I regularly visit London and Paris. Oh, and I love hearing from my readers all over the world…so I think it’s over to you!

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 2 out of 5]

Secret Baby story with a Sharon Kendrick husband from hell, a doormat heroine and a Bendryl baby.

Let's start with the husband shall we?

*married heroine because she was a virgin
*didn't talk to heroine - communication was only in the bedroom
*was angry when he found a letter from a doctor confirming her infertility
*didn't take her calls after she left
*taunted the heroine by telling her he had other women while they were separated
*threatened to take her baby
*thinks she's a golddigger and liar for - reasons?
*only realized he was in love with h when he realized how different she was acting once they were back in Sicily

I honestly don't know how he managed the evolutionary task of walking upright.

Heroine, on the other hand has no spine, but it's convenient for the hero since she is always in the prone position for frequent sex.

*sigh*

I could go on about how that heroine was entitled to child support no matter what shape their marriage was in. But that would be futile. The heroine is the perfect match for Mr. Caveman Billionaire.

And Bendryl baby? He's sleeping like all good plot devices. I'm sure he'll wake up in 18 years as a Caveman like good ol' dad.

[Desperado · Rating 1 out of 5]

My Thoughts:

Our hero Vincenzo is a Sicilian billionaire who views women as either sluts or virgins(his words) & spends the majority of the book being pissed off at his wife. Our heroine Emma is a poor, virgin, college dropout who lucked out, fell in love & married Vincenzo. She left him when the going got tough. Apparently his mission the whole marriage was to impregnant her with his Sicilian seed. When he found out she was infertile, he flipped the hell out-at her. Like it's her fault that she's infertile. After Emma left him she found out she was preggers but she can't run back to him because he treated her so bad. Of course they meet again after the baby is born & Vincenzo spends the rest of the book talking shit to her & using the threat of taking their baby away from her to get & keep her in his bed. Oh Vince, you are such an awesome hero using your child to make your estranged wife give you some kitty. I don't see why she left you at all! I'd totally get on that asshole train & take it for a ride.

I found both the hero & heroine intensely unlikeable. Vince is a douche to the nth degree who blames Emma for everything. I wouldn't be surprised if he put a hit out on her "defective" womb. Emma is a doormat who allows Vince to treat her like shit & as soon as he waves his Sicilian wand-o-much-lovin at her, her panties fall down. I have no respect for a woman who feels lust & love for a man who uses her child to blackmail her. Even the baby, Gino doesn't act like any baby I've been around. He's always giving Vince these hallmark smiles & looking superficially cute in his little baby jumper. He even balls up his fist at one point & gives Vince a baby punch to the jaw. Love that kid.

I would say this novel was an epic fail but my expectations going in were very low. I'm not a fan of uber asshole heroes & heroines who think with their kitty. I will say that I am very happy that the majority of these category romances are under 200 pages which means no matter how much the book sucketh, it will be over soon. On to the next book in my quest!

[Jasbell76 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book in 2010, I am re-reading it right now but it's more like re-skimming. I didn't want to read it again. I wanted to check why I couln't remember too much of this romance. I used to read Sharon Kendrick but her heros more than her heroines drove me MAD, her heros are REAL ASSHOLES and her heroines are weak and allow the heros to treat them like SHIT They never have good arguments to defend theirselves. Most of the times, they never win a verbal battle against the heros. Heros always behave like GOD and know EVERYTHING about heroine's feelings, thounghts, bodies and so on.
At the moment I just want to do this with hero's private parts

Then...


I will post the review of this book soon ;)

Updated
24/03/2015

[Marajean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb cluck heroine uses the last of her money to go on vacation and meets hero. They have an affair and when she returns he comes after her and sets her up as his mistress.

Everyone treats her with all the respect of a playboy bunny. Dumb blonde who's only good in bed and doesn't have a lick of intelligence. Also perfectly alright to make fun of her to her face because she's so stupid it's not like she knows anyway.

Eventually the hero makes the mistake of deciding to marry her. Immediately upon family disapproval of now being saddled with the brainless bimbo as part of the family, he decides to impregnate her with his son and heir in an effort to excuse his actions.

D.C. heroine is upset that it hasn't happened and goes to have a test only to find out that she's infertile. She doesn't know how to tell the hero but doesn't have to worry about it as he manages to find her HIDDEN PAPERS, while he was innocently going through her stuff. He's mad that not only does he look like a pathetic guy who fell for the brainless bimbo and married her, now he's saddled with a wife who didn't tell him right away she couldn't have kids so he could ditch her ASAP.

D.C heroine decides to leave him because he doesn't want to be with her anymore and he's okay with that as long as he gets a last good lay, then he makes sure she's out the door.

Enter almost two years later and D.C. destitute heroine needs money to survive with her son, and what better way than to divorce the hero. Hero is shocked that she would dare to contact him, and worse, she wants a divorce when he's been using the fact that he's married to keep the numerous bed partners he's had in 18 months since his marriage unofficially ended from thinking any permanent thoughts.

Hero is his usual insulting self and heroine is her usual brainless put up with anything self and poofle, they have sex. Then she tells him about the kid and he insults her left right and in to next year also.

But since it is his kid, which he decides after seeing the kid and not a moment before, they'll resume their marriage.

The D.C. heroine thinks she's basically making an effort to behave exactly as he expects her to, though no different than she ever really behaved, and hero has an epiphany that she doesn't like it there and decides to let her go because he just loves her so much.


Of course, despite the fact that the hero has insulted her morals, intelligence, choice of career, looks, speech and virtually anything else he can think of, the heroine loves him too.

I mean, who wouldn't love a guy who treated you like crap while you were sleeping with him, couldn't handle that he asked you to marry him because it made him seem weak, treated you as a breeding machine for his children, ditched you because you just weren't good enough when you couldn't have children, called you a slut, whore, ugly, pathetic, weak, and no wife of his would ever bake CUPCAKES.

What the hell isn't there to love about this guy?

In MY ending, the heroine hunted down many of his numerous women he'd slept with while not officially separated from his wife and sued him for divorce. She wins and gets all his money. Hero has never had to do without money before and he and his entire jerk-off better than thou family wind up bankrupt and living in little shacks somewhere begging for scraps. The hero winds up washing dishes in a bakery.


Meanwhile the heroine decides it's time she starts living her life and not just going through it and uses the money set up a charity to help provide free trustworthy childcare to single parents.

[Lu Bielefeld · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 ⭐- Ugh! Didn't like it or triggers or pet peeve!
=====================================
==>Re-read May 1, 2019
==>Re-read December 11, 2016
==>Read August 21, 2012
Jerk!!!!! I hate myself for having read this book!



The supposed hero sees the heroine as if she were a whore Gold-Digger.
Even if she's a virgin when he met her. When he discovers that she cannot have children he throws her out of the House.
This hero goes to my list of the most hateful and despicable.
And our heroine wins the trophy of which opened the legs faster despite being considered a slut by the hero and treated as such. He had to do was make out and her legs opened quickly.
Has no self-respect our heroine.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

When we first meet the heroine she has a ten month old son but she has no money or job. She realizes she needs to contact her estranged husband. She had married the hero because she was in love with him but their marriage ended up being a disaster. Vincenzo is your typical Sicilian alpha male whose only purpose of marrying the heroine was to have an heir. When he finds out she is infertile and she has hidden this little fact from him he is furious and she abandons him.

Their reunion is bitter, not sweet or romantic. I liked the heroine but I didn't care for the hero at all for some reason. He was so cold and indifferent that I can only describe him as a two-dimensional character. In short I wanted to like this one but it was impossible.

[AvidReader · Rating 1 out of 5]

A perfect romance book to read on valentines day..NOT!!!
I pity heroine because Hero believes she is his soulmate. Maybe not quite, because she is also doormat no.1.

[SandraIsAMoodyCowWhenSheCan'tRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘A son,’ he breathed on their wedding night as he stroked her flat, bare belly and moved over her with dark intent. ‘I will put my son inside your body, Emma.’

Who wouldn’t have thrilled at that avowal?

Err … me?

Nah, just kidding, baby, I adore that type of sexy talk. Go on. Let’s see how you can do this. Into a cup, then rush to a laboratory and spend your billions to see if you can separate the XX from the XY? Oh do it, baby, just do it! Artificially inseminate me! Yes! Yes!

If you can read this book in that vein, you may enjoy it. Maybe. No promises.

This H is Sicilian so I guess in romance la-la land this qualifies him to be some sort of Neanderthal? He gets mad. A Lot. He’s mad that she didn’t tell him she’s a virgin then takes pride in it. He’s mad and resentful that he’s fallen in love with her then marries her. He’s mad that his friends are ogling her but wants her to dress like a knockout. Then, he finds out she is barren and takes this as a sign of ultimate betrayal, accusing her of being a gold-digger who used her virginity to trap him into marriage and a rich lifestyle.

She decides to leave him but not before he carries her off for one last night of angry, passionate endless orgasms (no details, bummer) where he makes sure he has spoilt her for other men. After which, he callously throws her out. She of course, defies the medical prognosis, and becomes pregnant.

Frankly, unlike most sensible readers, I like these cavemen-type Heroes. It’s a bit like meeting a fire-breathing dragon and indulging the fantasy you can tame one. And it’s fun to pair it up with a clueless kitten, all wide-eyed and innocent and watch that dragon reduced to puffing out pathetic wisps of smoke before the end of the novel.

But this kitty needed to grow some claws and maybe fangs considering the reason he threw her out. I wanted her to storm into his office wearing an overcoat, slowly unbutton it and have an epic in-your-face moment with her pregnancy. But instead, she took some weird martyr route that didn’t gel with me.

He refuses to take her calls when she attempts to tell him she is pregnant, though to be fair to him, she barely pushed it. Kendrick tried to show the level of poverty the h had to endure but I could only feel impatience. Cutting back on the heater during harsh winters to make sure the bills don’t go up is a grim reality for some. A heroine who chooses to live in sub-zero temperatures with a baby when there was a way out didn’t endear her to me. And I’m getting tired of Hs, especially billionaires who think they do not need to provide spousal support after separation and by the same token the hs, who don’t try to find out if they are entitled to it.

It wasn’t all bad. She “suffered” till the baby was only 10 months old (not few years old, thank you, Kendrick) before she realised she had to put her pride aside and tell her husband. And there was some easy-reading angst for the first half of the book that I enjoyed.

But the rest of the book just fell flat. Even descriptions of their first meeting, that love-at-first-sight moment felt lacklustre. Neither grew in character or maturity. Case in point when he picks out a dress from the brand new wardrobe he’s purchased for her and tells her to get rid of her cheap, well-worn clothes.

‘And dump those jeans while you’re at it,’ he suggested caustically. ‘I don’t ever want to see them again.’

She does as he instructed in the name of maintaining peace for the sake of their child, puts on the dress and asks “How do I look?” Wtf. I would have googled “40 different ways to recycle your jeans” and put that shit everywhere in the house.

Perhaps writers should think of changing their setting to the 70s or 80s if you want to write novels like this. Explanations of him having macho male Sicilian pride just doesn’t cut it post 2000. It ends up having racist overtones. I foresee a future where she makes a furtive call to the Sicilian mafia to take him down a notch or two.

For those who like a gentle, docile heroine and a macho Hero who is uncompromising till the end (and why shouldn’t you, we’re all different in our tastes) this might work for you.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe I accidentally read this again. I am a moron. Husband was an a$$! While she was out pregnant then having his baby and starving he was sleeping around. I hate this trope. I never even understood why they broke up. He found a note saying she couldn't have a baby and so he let her go. Just gross. And he never tried to find or divorce her so he was a cheater. I just hated this guy. She did try and call him about the baby but he wouldn't take her call. But it's her fault? And yes she didn't want to tell him about the baby. But I don't blame her. Just another lane story. And I read it again. on accident. Sad day. It

[Dianna]

Unrated.

When I read the blurb, about how Vincenzo sends his wife away because he discovers she is barren I thought: that bastard. I must immediately read this book, I am sure it will be delightfully crazy!

I’m at the fifty per cent mark, and I can’t read any more. It’s not delightful, it’s sad. Vincenzo is a rage monster and abusive, and Emma is sad. She’s on the brink of rather desperate poverty, she has a ten month old baby, and is incapable of supporting herself. She ran a child minding service out of her home until the mothers complained that she had no heating, and removed their children. It’s highly unlikely Emma had done anything to make this a legitimate business, because Emma is hopeless.

Her landlord has told her that he’s going to raise the rent, and hints that he might be amenable to negotiating another form of compensation. i.e. sex. This is what prompts her to call her estranged billionaire husband and ask for a divorce. Because when you get a divorce, you get money, right?

Vincenzo will see her, but she must come to London. Emma can barely afford a train ticket. She’s going to have an interesting time getting legal representation for less than a return train fare. There’s more backstory about Emma’s sadness – when she was at catering school her mum got cancer and died, there was no money for Emma after paying the medical costs, and Emma didn’t feel like going back to school. So instead she booked herself a holiday in Sicily, and that’s where she met Vincenzo.

Vincenzo pursues her, and they sleep together. He discovers that Emma is a virgin, and is furious. “I have robbed you of your virginity – the most precious thing that a woman possesses,” he rages. That this doesn’t bother Emma is … not great. Emma is in the habit of not telling Vincenzo fairly important things: ‘warning, I’m a virgin,’ and ‘I went to the doctor, and it looks like I’m barren,’ and ‘it turns out I’m not barren, I am going to have a baby.’ Emma frequently insists to herself that she has done nothing wrong.

The thing is, and this is what I can’t rationalise enough to read the rest of the book: Vincenzo is abusive. I’d been prepared for him to be controlling – that’s the game, and the interest in a book like this is how, after a huge fail in the game, the couple renegotiate the rules. What I can’t see is how the second half of the book is going to rehabilitate Vincenzo, how he will see his own mistakes and work out how to correct them, because I haven’t even got to the part yet where he threatens to remove the child from Emma’s custody unless she agrees to have sex with him. Some of Vincenzo’s stand out romantic hero moments are:

1. ogling a female employee while on the phone to his estranged wife
2. not wanting a divorce because he won’t be able to sleep with women without them trying to marry him
3. emotionally torturing Emma by telling her that it wasn’t her infertility that was the problem, it was the fact that she’d discovered it in secret, and then deceitfully kept the news to herself
4. when they were living together, extreme jealousy when men looked at Emma, and a refusal to allow her to pursue anything that would give her some independence
5. after sex, pointing out that they didn’t use contraception and taunting Emma with her infertility
6. Despising Emma for enjoying sex so much, because women with babies should be more restrained
7. Calling her a whore.

I’m disappointed. I can’t see there being any satisfying redemption. Vincenzo is so over the top, but I can't find him funny, and I've really tried. I’m sure there’ll be something where Vincenzo comes upon a moment of understanding of the wrong he has done Emma, but I can’t imagine there’ll be much left in the book by that stage, and therefore no opportunity to see that he will become a better man. I can’t see Emma doing anything more than enduring. I’m sad for them both.

[Raffaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a joke not a book.
The hero dumped the heroine because she couldn’t get pregnant, then immediately went on with his whoring life and never thought about her. She found out she was pregnant and instead of going back and making him unhappy for years and years she hides the son from him and goes back when the child is 8 months and she has no more money.
Then decides to tell him he has a son, not at once but after she accepted to have sex with the hero in exchange for a divorce which by the way the hero doesn’t want to give her since he’s too happy not to have women who wants to marry him and he’s free to fuck them when he wants.
I don’t even want to go on and to tell what I think of this garbage.
None of those characters make sense.
The heroine is an idiot and a woman without self respect.
She has tbs that is even embarrassing and has no self respect at all.
The hero is a pig and a nasty bastard.
Who would want a husband who shamed you because you are not able to conceive? Who the first thing he says when he sees you again if how bad you’re looking and how many women he fucked since he left you?
Where does this book come from? From the land of misogyny?
I could not even read it until the end, it was a disgusting thing after another.
But please.

[reeder (reviews) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Before I get too worked up about this book, I have to ask: is it possible Sharon Kendrick is playing me?

The story in chronological order: Sicilian m/billionaire (I don't know and I don't care) dates beautiful blonde heroine while she's on vacation, gets angry when he discovers she's a virgin but still makes her his mistress, becomes increasingly possessive/obsessive until he finally marries her, goes all medieval with his desire to sire a son on her, then denounces her after he discovers she had learned she's infertile and didn't immediately tell him. She soon leaves their increasingly miserable marriage only to discover she's miracle!pregnant, but her husband won't take her calls and she can't afford postage, so she bears his son alone and is raising him in Dickensian poverty because she has no job skills.

The current timeline begins when her dimbulb flashes the brilliant idea that if she divorces the wallet, she'll get a settlement (shades of Bought by Her Husband). She finally gets a call through (my theory is that the other two times, the husband was getting blow jobs and his PA didn't interrupt him), and the husband insists that she come to London to discuss the divorce. Shaming and sex ensue, then she reveals the existence of their son and OF COURSE the hero threatens and bullies and lies to get the son under his control and simultaneously blackmails the heroine into his bed (not that blackmail was required, but the lack of any agency on her part makes it extra-humiliating).

The hero's view of the heroine is relentlessly negative and shaming: she betrayed him by not immediately revealing the doctor's diagnosis of infertility, she didn't try hard enough to contact him about the baby, her appearance is dreadful, she's a bad mother for leaving the baby with a neighbor to come to London. (How exactly am I supposed to get "love" from this?) Some authors' heroines -- Lynne Graham, Jacqueline Baird -- can stand up to this treatment and aim the mirror at the hero. This woman just folds every time after a *meep* of protest. It's like she can't even support herself with an internal monologue on the hero's hypocrisy. And of course all he has to do is crook his finger for sex with her...while shaming her for wanting it.

Anyway, about halfway through the book I was squirming (not in a good way) over this humiliation porn when the heroine actually puts the brakes on sex because their baby is in the next room and she doesn't want to disturb him. Here's the hero's reaction:

And yet, unexpectedly, he found himself surveying her with an element of approval. For wouldn't he have despised her if her cries of pleasure had woken up their baby son? If she had sought her own gratification at the expense of her son then wouldn't she have diminished her worth as a woman, as well as a mother?

F*** your approval, a**hole. And that's the moment I began to suspect Sharon Kendrick was pulling my leg. Look, I read overtly sexist scenarios. I read sf and paranormal romances where women are regarded as chattel/breeding machines just to see how the author is going to pull that off for a modern audience. Those heroes usually rise above their society's norms to value the heroine as more than a broodmare, to appreciate and support her worth as, y'know, a person. Meanwhile, this Sicilian husband is dark ages retro with his madonna/whore complex...and I'm supposed to find that romantic? Puhleeease.

I'm reluctantly treating this as a straightforward romance and rating it 1 star. If this is actually supposed to be a parody of alpha Italian billionaire romances, it might be worth 3 stars just for the attempt. (However, it's not a clever parody and does more to mock readers than the genre.)

[Jac K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have three of these to get through, and I’ve slept about 3 of the last 36 hours, so my brain is mush. (insomnia really is a bitch) These are going to be short and not great, but there’re several good reviews from others out there.

While looking through scribd for potential HP’s, I noticed most everyone hated this one. So, of course I decided to read it. As predicted, I fell right in the middle at 3⭐’s. My reading (like my personality) is very laid back. I’m not one to get super excited, pissed or cry. Some could call it emotionless; I call it being steady. 😋 Which is why I rate so many books a 3; my normal is the middle. 😑

This one’s for all the HP readers that love them an ASSHOLE that is a total prick for the majority of the book, then grovels at the end. (and a doormat h that allows him to treat her like crap) You’ll have to adopt the old HP thinking that the level of H jerkiness equates to how much he really loves her. If you’re not up to swallowing that down… I’d skip, unless you’re in the mood for a rage read. Just to give you an idea what you’re working with… He throws out his wife after he learns she’s unable to flower his Sicilian Seed, (infertile) and refuses to speak with her.

Bottom Line- I recommend this to readers that love the heartbreaking angst as the sad h is pummeled by life and the H repeatedly. For me, the gloomy parts were a smidge over sold, and it lost that HP realistic feel and bordered into HP ridonkulous territory. I can only take so much pathetic-ness before I say…seriously, and start to check out. However, I did find myself oddly curious of what offensive thing he would do or say next, and read this in one sitting. Regardless, if you’re looking for romance, respectable characters, or a delightful journey to HEAville. I’d skip.

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

***FOUR STARS***
Whew! So many other reviewers HATED this story. Guess I'm the odd man out, because....

I started this story right when I went to bed, and was sucked in and ended up staying up reading all night to see how it ended. This story had the perfect amount of angst for me. Good stuff!

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relectura de 2018.
Me gustó cómo la heroína le ponía los puntos al idiota del protagonista. Entendí los motivos que ella tenía para pedirle ayuda y no la consideré mercenaria, más bien una mujer desesperada.

[Susan in Perthshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem is that SK can actually write and write well, yet she writes this kind of awful story where the hero is an out and out bastard and the heroine is an utter wimp.

Where are the strong, feisty female characters? Where are the alpha males with heart and principles and ethics? What kind of lesson is this for young women? To expect to be abused, insulted, abandoned by a selfish, unfaithful, cruel man who apologises too little and too late. As for the heroine - she might as well have ‘doormat and victim’ tattooed on her forehead.

It’s a fine line between being an alpha male and an absolute bastard but SK is an experienced writer and ought to be able to negotiate that fine line and she does in so many of her books. I am so disappointed in this one. It could have been so much better if a subtler, more nuanced approach had been taken.

[Aou · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 stars

[Reader]

Oh dear this was so awful, how can female authors write this stuff, for instance the male protagonist thinks that because the heroine enjoys sex she's behaving like a mistress and not like a wife. I rest my case. The heroine is dumber than a bucket of rocks. While he's just a nasty piece of work. Totally unimpressed.

[Saintlyjuliet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is like most books of this genre where the heroine is a white woman and the hero is a brown man.

As usual, the hero is super proud of his heritage and this is somehow a sign for him to behave like a chauvinist pig who bosses the heroine around, makes her miserable and behaves in extremely inappropriate and sexist ways but it is all okay because he's Sicilian.

The heroine is a poor, helpless lady who can't get her own head out of her butt to demand rights for herself and her child. She's so stupid that when her home daycare business was in trouble she did nothing to stop it. All she had to do was turn the heater on because of course parents don't want their children to freeze. But the author wanted to tell us the heroine is a poor victim of circumstances so she ended up leaving the heater switched off and freezing her own baby aside from herself. Thus, her business lost all clients and she ended up back in dire situation just in time for the hero to come along and take advantage of her poverty.

I don't know why these authors think a hero who constantly berates, demeans and insults the heroine (especially the heroine they are married to) makes a romantic read? That's exactly what happens here. The hero blackmails her into bed in exchange for a divorce and then thinks less of her for submitting to the blackmail.

But here's the kicker, the heroine wasn't submitting to blackmail she was just too weak in the knees after being called a whore , liar and gold digger. So she fell into the office couch with the hero without thinking about it.

As usual for these books, we are repeatedly told the hero is Sicilian (as if we couldn't glean this from the title). And we usually receive this info just when the hero does something bad.

This author has written books with white heros and they seem to be civilized in comparison to her brown heros. I guess if you have no interest or inclination in learning about a culture and it's people you must rely on harmful stereotypes.

At one point the heroine complains about not being close to the hero's family and the next minute she has an inner monologue stating that she met all the many Pietro's and Maria's in the family...maybe that's why she isn't close? Because they are just faceless stereotypes to her?

I read this book after reading the reviews to see if it was as bad as the impression they gave me and yep. I guess I've grown out of these books. I'd rather read about Sicilian hero's from authors who put in the work to learn about the culture.

BTW the hero insults everything the heroine does including putting her down for giving up on her education when she says she was upset she couldn't even go to work. He says with her poor qualifications all she could do is bake cupcakes and how dare she want to do that while married to him and his big wealth. Is this really romance? The hero only sees the heroine as a good fuck, a pretty face and (after seeing her with a baby who is sleeping 24x7), a good mom. He himself is just rich. We don't know what his talents are or what he actually does that allows him to suddenly run a vineyard but that's all we know of him...he's rich. Yet he's better than the heroine who shouldn't bake cupcakes even though that's honest work.

I mean these books are written for women, by women and marketed for female readers and all we see is this insulting story over and over again.

My advice is for you to skip it because it doesn't offer anything new and nor is it romance.

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Пепеляшка среща (в случая - се връща при) пещерния мъж (дори не е патриархален, а си е жив неандерталец), а едно сладко бебче гука из цялата книга. Въпреки идиотското заглавие, историята е чудесна и показва как културните различия в манталитета могат да съсипят един брак, когато са съчетани с неувереност (за нея) и отказ от сблъсък с фактите (за него). Но, понеже това е любовен роман, вторият шанс е драматичен, показва уязвимостта и на двамата, а накрая пещернякът дори бързо скочи от пещерата в етапа на просветения патриархат! Ако някой очаква пълно преминаване към 21 век, ще е в грешка - авторката е наясно, че дори в Романсладния това е невъзможно, но много сръчно влиза в главите и на двамата герои - в крайна сметка, съвършени хора няма, но пък има истински заслужен и отвоюван хепи енд.

[Laur Laur · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for sucking me in on the first page and keeping my attention staight to the end. 2 stars for a lame assed doormat pushover and total chauvinist dickwad. Math says 3 stars.

[Paula Legate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn on how to rate this book. This was the worst hero I have ever read about. He was mean, cold blooded, and cruel. The book may not have had a villain, but the hero in the book could have played the role as villain. The author was very talented in writing about a character that drew out deep emotions from me. I just wanted to reach through the pages, and slap him for some of things that he had said to Emma. Part of me wants to rate this book a 2, because the main character was so awful, but the other side of me realizes it takes talent to make up a character that mean… Vincenzo did redeem himself a little bit by the end of the book!

[Emona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vincenzo was so damn demanding and dominating;
and Emma is like some kind of long-suffering, tolerating wife;
Where the hell is the supposed love they confessed to each other in the end?.......it could have been better if there was more elaboration on the subject of 'love' than 'sex/lust'; with more 'thinking' patterns of how each thought about the other.
Heard the saying "Oppsosites attract"? (sarcasm)
Just my opinion......

[LIA Kh. · Rating 1 out of 5]

the author implied that hero sleep with many women. but it didn't confirmed in the end. so we were left to guess the truth.

the hero is shallow, and not the brightest button in the box apparently. he accused the heroine as gold digger and deliberately trapped him into marriage because the heroine apparently couldn't give him an heir he was craved so badly.

the heroine is the doormat type, she fell into bed the moment he touched her and kissed her, makes us wonder isn't it! Girl, where is your dignity!

in all honesty I couldn't enjoy this book. this the kind of book that makes
me question my sanity.

[SC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why do I torture myself

I have read enough of these books to know better. I do not like weak female characters, and oh boy was she massively weak in this one. Why did this author have to write a female with with such potential, only to have her crumble or just so easily give in the second a man even looks at her ? Why does their common sense fly out the window at the drop of a hat ? Just no.

[Sabina Alilovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like hero, heroine has no self-respect...

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was just ok. I didn't really care for either protagonists. The hero just seemed like what someone would assume a chauvinistic Sicilian male should be like. A couple of times I kept thinking that he really needed to get over himself. The heroine wasn't much better. She was a doormat at best.

I knew within the first few pages that this wasn't going to be a good read as soon as it was revealed that the heroine didn't have any skills to get a job. Now having difficulty getting a job due to raising your child on your own is one thing, but having a heroine without any skills now a days just doesn't cut it for me.

[Anissa Hairston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the top

This storyline was over the top. She was too anxious and he was just too much. The saving grace was the love they shared for their son.

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

He told his wife to get out. He doesn’t want her anymore because he wants a baby and she is infertile. What an ***hole.

He is a millionaire. When he sees her back after 18 months, he sees she has become really thin, he sees her cheap clothes. He has no worry about her poverty. He doesn’t care about her at all. He wasn’t celibate in the period of separation, at least that’s what he hints at to hurt her. He never cared about where she was or if everything was alright with her when she was away. He doesn’t know where she lives.

This isn’t just a cruel H. This is an ***hole H who just doesn’t care about her unless it’s for sex.

She has no backbone. He tells her the worst things and immediately after being verbally humiliated, she melts in his arms. And she kept it from him for a while that she’s infertile.

They deserve each other.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite an unbelievable book. I didn't understand the hero's overall anger and disdain for the heroine apart from the fact that she hid a diagnosis from him. Like what would she do when all you want from her is a son. The h being a doormat was sorta expected but to never speak up was getting on my nerves frankly. There was never an indication that the H was in love, even when he claimed have said it in the past. Sorry, waste of a book. For all the money in the world, how did the H not have security tailing her during the separation period like they normally do in HarleyLand?