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Dark family secrets A missing heir The scandal is about to break... Even the most powerful are touched by tragedy. Reeling from the death of their wastrel, playboy half-brother, the Leopardi family must find his illegitimate child. Rocco believes that Julie Simmonds is merely a gold-digger until he sees how truly she cares for his tiny nephew. But then it's proved that the child is not the missing heir... Alessandro doesn't employ women. So when he finds Leonora piloting his private jet, he's furious. And soon she's distracting him from his duty to find the missing Leopardi. When Falcon finally tracks down his late half-brother's child, he's appalled by the circumstances of his conception. Falcon will do anything to protect Annie, his nephew's mother. Even marry her... For fans of Danielle Steel and Barbara Taylor Bradford
Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2011
11 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Penny Jordan
1,126 books668 followersPenelope Jones Halsall
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 4, 2021
Η αλήθεια είναι ότι δεν έχω διαβάσει πολλά άρλεκιν ,αυτό όμως ήταν από τα καλύτερα, μου άρεσε πάρα πάρα πολύ ❣
November 25, 2021
Book books
April 19, 2023
I love the book 😍
October 30, 2023
Were you dropped on your head as a child? Or do all men think like this?
January 8, 2014
This is a three book collection relating the stories of three Sicilian brothers and - because it's from Mills and boon author Penny Jordan - how they fall in love.
The first story is Rocco's - the youngest brother and this is so much a Penny Jordan story, that if you are a fan of her novels, you are inevitably going to enjoy it. It's very very similar to her first ever modern romance, "Falcon's Prey", in which we have the impoverished heroine who gets whisked away to an exotic location by a red hot millionaire. Unlikely I know (most of my sex education was based on Penny Jordan romances whilst I was growing up, and I'm still waiting for it to happen. At 42, I don't think it's ever going to happen now). It's everything that Jordan always writes into her novels - the heroine is sweet, she's human in that she makes the same stupid mistakes we all do and yet there's still that happy ending for her. The hero is a nice bit of eye candy and turns out to be an alright bloke in the end, even if he does start off being a bit of an arrogant so-and-so.
The second tale is Alessandro's (the middle brother) and his meeting with feisty, mandarin speaking, airline pilot Leonora. Again, if you've ever read a Penny Jordan romance you are going to find the story line similar to some of her other works. This one is exactly like "The Power of Vasilli" in which the heroine has been so busy perfecting her education in order to maintain her independence, that she ends up being the oldest virgin in town. There then follows lots of agonising about how she can let the red-hot millionaire deflower her without him thinking her a charity case. I've got a theory about Penny Jordan's works in that she had 185 novels published for Mills and Boon but actually only wrote about five original stories - she just changed the names and the titles of the books as she went along. This one is not a great story and Alessandro definitely isn't as steamy as Vasilli was - still it's okay as it goes.
Finally, we get to Falcon, the eldest brother. This one has got a really strong start with the touchingly vulnerable heroine who has been raped by Falcon's half-brother and borne a child as a result. She's also got issues in that she's got a very controlling step-brother, dresses like a middle-aged librarian and doesn't like people touching her. This is where it all gets decidedly dodgy as Falcon steps in to rescue her and her child and decides that what she needs is lessons in how to enjoy sex again. Now there's a line here (which Falcon definitely crosses, and admits doing so later in the book) between teaching her how to live again and just enjoying the sex education lessons a little too much. It's a bizarre scenario but fortunately Annie (heroine) falls for Falcon and decides to marry him instead of pressing charges, despite the fact that it reads like he's grooming her to perform sexual favours for him. There are moments of tension and excitement in the book, but it's still slightly uncomfortable reading.
If you like Penny Jordan (and I really do like her work) you will like this book. It's not perfect (they never are) but the heroines are sweet and it's a bit of easy reading escapism.
The first story is Rocco's - the youngest brother and this is so much a Penny Jordan story, that if you are a fan of her novels, you are inevitably going to enjoy it. It's very very similar to her first ever modern romance, "Falcon's Prey", in which we have the impoverished heroine who gets whisked away to an exotic location by a red hot millionaire. Unlikely I know (most of my sex education was based on Penny Jordan romances whilst I was growing up, and I'm still waiting for it to happen. At 42, I don't think it's ever going to happen now). It's everything that Jordan always writes into her novels - the heroine is sweet, she's human in that she makes the same stupid mistakes we all do and yet there's still that happy ending for her. The hero is a nice bit of eye candy and turns out to be an alright bloke in the end, even if he does start off being a bit of an arrogant so-and-so.
The second tale is Alessandro's (the middle brother) and his meeting with feisty, mandarin speaking, airline pilot Leonora. Again, if you've ever read a Penny Jordan romance you are going to find the story line similar to some of her other works. This one is exactly like "The Power of Vasilli" in which the heroine has been so busy perfecting her education in order to maintain her independence, that she ends up being the oldest virgin in town. There then follows lots of agonising about how she can let the red-hot millionaire deflower her without him thinking her a charity case. I've got a theory about Penny Jordan's works in that she had 185 novels published for Mills and Boon but actually only wrote about five original stories - she just changed the names and the titles of the books as she went along. This one is not a great story and Alessandro definitely isn't as steamy as Vasilli was - still it's okay as it goes.
Finally, we get to Falcon, the eldest brother. This one has got a really strong start with the touchingly vulnerable heroine who has been raped by Falcon's half-brother and borne a child as a result. She's also got issues in that she's got a very controlling step-brother, dresses like a middle-aged librarian and doesn't like people touching her. This is where it all gets decidedly dodgy as Falcon steps in to rescue her and her child and decides that what she needs is lessons in how to enjoy sex again. Now there's a line here (which Falcon definitely crosses, and admits doing so later in the book) between teaching her how to live again and just enjoying the sex education lessons a little too much. It's a bizarre scenario but fortunately Annie (heroine) falls for Falcon and decides to marry him instead of pressing charges, despite the fact that it reads like he's grooming her to perform sexual favours for him. There are moments of tension and excitement in the book, but it's still slightly uncomfortable reading.
If you like Penny Jordan (and I really do like her work) you will like this book. It's not perfect (they never are) but the heroines are sweet and it's a bit of easy reading escapism.
August 15, 2013
You can see the full review at Chocolate Chunky Munkie
I have been having a spell of YA books and thought I'd pick up something a little more grown up. This has been sat on my shelf for a little while and I don't honestly know why I waited that long. I think it ticked all the boxes in the swoony hunky men department. Three stories all rolled into one book, all about different brothers of the Leopardi family. Each story is sort of entwined and follows on in time from each other.
At times yes I did feel it was a little cheesy and predictable and sometimes I did get a bit frustrated at the characters. I just wanted to shout out loud and them and give them a bit of a shake up. For some seriously intelligent people they could not see past their noses, all it takes is a bit of communication. But I guess it must have hit a note as I actually cared about what happened to the characters.
All the stories were equal in my eyes, I could not pin point my favourite. I did enjoy them and I would certainly seek out more books from this author. Nice easy writing style and a very comfortable light read for a bit of sheer escapism. I did get to learn a bit more about Sicily, somewhere I would love to visit, thank you Penny Jordan that's one country added to my holiday list.
If I had to gripe at one thing is that there were no more books in this series. I would have loved to see where each character would end up in the future.
I have been having a spell of YA books and thought I'd pick up something a little more grown up. This has been sat on my shelf for a little while and I don't honestly know why I waited that long. I think it ticked all the boxes in the swoony hunky men department. Three stories all rolled into one book, all about different brothers of the Leopardi family. Each story is sort of entwined and follows on in time from each other.
At times yes I did feel it was a little cheesy and predictable and sometimes I did get a bit frustrated at the characters. I just wanted to shout out loud and them and give them a bit of a shake up. For some seriously intelligent people they could not see past their noses, all it takes is a bit of communication. But I guess it must have hit a note as I actually cared about what happened to the characters.
All the stories were equal in my eyes, I could not pin point my favourite. I did enjoy them and I would certainly seek out more books from this author. Nice easy writing style and a very comfortable light read for a bit of sheer escapism. I did get to learn a bit more about Sicily, somewhere I would love to visit, thank you Penny Jordan that's one country added to my holiday list.
If I had to gripe at one thing is that there were no more books in this series. I would have loved to see where each character would end up in the future.
December 5, 2011
I loved the book, the three Leopardi brothers and the different heroines. What I don't love about Penny Jordan's work is that she keeps naming different people in different series with the same names which makes everything so confusing. Seriously, I read different series back to back but it was entertaining.
December 7, 2011
oh the lure of misunderstood heroes and heroines who are tired of being strong.... typical mills and boon stuff..... i thought i had graduated from them.. but everytime i get out they pull me in ;(
September 26, 2013
1st was really good the next two not as good but an enjoyable read
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews