The Sicilian's Surprise Wife

Society Weddings #3

by Tara Pammi

The Suave Sicilian: Married for Revenge

Stefan Bianco is a man with one thing on his mind. Revenge. And the last person he expects to see hanging on the arm of his nemesis? The stunning Clio Norwood—the only woman to ever resist his near-lethal brand of seduction.

Clio's life has become a mere shadow of what it once was. But Stefan's searing gaze returns her to the fiery, passionate woman he once knew. Clio has the key to his revenge, and Stefan has the key to her freedom…but only if he agrees to her shocking proposal!

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 15, 2015

About the author

Tara Pammi can't remember a moment when she wasn't lost in a book, especially a romance which, for a teenager, was much more exciting than mathematics textbook. Before long, she was hiding romance novels within bigger textbooks, smuggling them into the home through her unsuspecting younger cousin’s school bag, and cycling more than a few miles to her favorite library to borrow more.

Through numerous ‘true’ loves :-) and traveling thousands of miles from family and friends, her attachment to books and especially romance novels stayed constant.

One fine day, toiling away as a grad student in a basement lab, Tara started typing the beginning of a story instead of her thesis. But it wasn’t until years later, encouraged by her real life hero, Tara realized what she truly wanted to do was to write.

Tara lives in Texas with her real life hero and her two little girls. When she isn't writing or reading, Tara can be found failing in the kitchen, watching TV or making resolutions to exercise more, or even a little.

Reviews

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the 3rd novel in the Society Weddings Series, which I am not totally sold on..


Revenge…that’s the plot here!!
Clio Norwood, betrayed by the man she’s engaged to, decides to get him back by pretending to be in love with Stefan Bianco, a friend from her past, who in turn uses her to get back at her fickle fiancé.

Slow….boring at times….can’t believe I actually finished the entire book!!!! Maybe I was waiting for something exciting to happen…but no, nothing worthwhile
The heroine is such a whimp…..so non interesting…where’s your backbone girl!!!!!…what the hell did the hero see in her was beyond me!!!
Okay, I may just be a bit cruel here…but really!!!!

A bit disappointed!!!

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I just wrote a whole big review and lost the whole dang thing. Not happy about it at all. Took me almost a half and hour to compose the thing and I lost it all. Not going write it all over again so I am just putting notes down here and this will be my review.

Basically this was book: This is book 3 in Society Weddings miniseries in the Harlequin Presents featuring four alpha males known as the Columbia Four (best friends who met at Columbia). This was the first book I read out of the series. I was ready to get into this series so I decided to do this one first because the back synopsis sounded very intriguing and interesting to me.

This story featured the romance between Clio and Stefan. What is unique though was that Clio was friends with the Columbia Four back in their college days. They were close and very protective of her even Stefan. After he stopped pursuing her that was because he wanted her from the moment he saw her, but after a year of pursuit he stopped, valuing her friendship more and not wanting to reduce their relationship to a quick lay and lust.

They meet ten years later when Stefan vowed revenge on her fiancé, Jackson, who he didn't know was her finance at the time. When he found out he was livid, but more than that he was concerned because of the shell of the woman that she was once was. She was just not herself and a big reason for that was Jackson who kind of broke her a bit especially with his treatment of her. He was using her for her name and connection. He didn't care about her. Jackson treated her like dirt and didn't care about her feelings so she was broken and hurt by it all. When she met Stefan again there was a spark in her life, but she could feel Stefan disgust of her of what she allowed Jackson do to her. When Clio found out that Jackson was cheating on her then she vowed to help Stefan get his revenge on Stefan as well as get revenge on her own.

The set up was going in the beginning. Lots of tension and emotions going on between our couple. Just lovely friction that I love to see and witness in a romance novel. It was a promising start.

Then it petered out about half way through. The tension wasn't nearly as thick as it was nor was it overly present. I mean there was conflict there and misunderstandings to boot between them, but there wasn't more that. I didn't feel the tension emotional or otherwise between them. It was just like they were dealing with wanting each other and not having each other, but not in angst filled way if you know what I mean. It wasn't gut wrenching or even soul sucking like I have experienced in the past reading Presents books.

I didn't feel like they were panting for each other and dying to be in each others arms. That pull that they have to each other wasn't quite there or not as I would have like it. I didn't feel like they needed each other more than they needed to breathe. I felt like it was just the circumstances they were thrown in and proximity and nothing more. Not this soul connecting thing that they needed to do and explore in order to feel whole.

In my view there just wasn't a lot of tension or angst going on. There could have been. It could been upped like a hundred degree because the foundation from the beginning was set and it was already there, but it just never carried through to the rest of the book. I needed that. I needed to feel more than I got from this one. Instead I felt like I was just reading words on a page instead of going on the emotional journey with them.

There was only one big love scene, and even though it took them like forever to do the deed, I didn't feel it was pressure cooker. What I mean was I didn't think they had that explosion that I was expecting them to have after all this denial of their lust. There wasn't a lot of steam or sizzle when it came to the scene. It was kind of like finally they're going at it, bout time, but not because I was dying to see them intimately together but just because I wanted it to get over with already. It wasn't really that emotional, which was understandable for the first time, but I would have liked to have seen a love scene that was emotional and not just about the physical which the first one was very much about. I needed to see their connection on a deeper level. The intimate scenes just didn't do it.

Speaking of emotions, I wasn't feeling that they were deeply, madly in love with one another. Partly because their realization just seemed to come out of nowhere. It was very abrupt and kind of out of left field. Okay, I might understand it more from her side, but I could also see it as gratitude and not love. Gratitude for helping her and giving her the strength to become the person she was meant to be. In other words back to her normal self, Stefan gave that to her and that was where I felt she was coming from. While with him I just felt that he was in lust with her and no more. Even when he suddenly came to realize his love for her didn't feel believable and was bit rushed. I didn't feel the deep, soul wrenching emotions coming off of them, nor did I feel like they had this great love story. The caring was there. The love not so much or at least in my opinion. It felt very bland their love as did their passion for one another.

I just needed more. More emotional intensity. More sexual tension. More angst. Just more. Not just a flat line where the edge was missing. I needed that to enjoy this book more than I did. I needed that roller coaster feeling for their romance, and this one just didn't hit the mark for me.

Just I needed it to upped about a hundred percent more in all aspects then I think it would have gone over better for me. It was a shame because the beginning was very promising and was what I liked the most. Liked the character of Clio as well and loved seeing her transformation throughout the book. Her pain I could feel. I understood her. Stefan was okay. Kind of neutral about him. He needed to grovel a bit more, and I wished I felt like he found his soul mate with her but I just didn't. I didn't feel this was an all consuming love, which is what the purpose of love stories is, right? But I wasn't feeling it.

I was disappointed. Hopefully the other three books in the series will be a little bit better and have more of what this one was kind of lacking, but I look forward to the next books in this series.

[Susan in Perthshire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but I really don’t understand the 5 star reviews. I thought this was the worst of the series by far.
Stefan and Clio were the most miserable characters I’ve come across. Clio was so utterly unbelievable. We are supposed to believe that her parents and Jackson have so thoroughly destroyed her confidence and spirit that she puts up with anything and then suddenly she discovers the balls to revenge herself on the fiancé? Stefan is supposed to be so damaged by the greedy girlfriend walking off and leaving him that he has eliminated all love. His cynicism and suspicion of Clio was really hard to believe and his treatment of her was so cruel and unjustified that I couldn’t think for one moment why Clio would want him. The story was boring and the characters one dimensional. Even the sex scenes were unsatisfactory. Sorry, but I found this one so utterly disappointing. I didn’t care what happened to either of them by the end and I had no sense of there being any real love there.

[Reads by Starburst · Rating 3 out of 5]

he Sicilian’s Surprise Wife was a well written romance based on the revenge trope. Clio and Stefan both want the same thing and that is revenge, which binds them and propels their story forward. Their romance is believable because they both were friends before in college and share a good chemistry. Stefan is a playboy and is willing to do anything for the people he seriously cares about. Clio is a heroine whose fiery character can be summed up by the age old saying-“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. I loved how she did not back down and decided to make her nemesis pay.

The story has a slow start and is missing the intensity the revenge trope generally has. There is not a strong punch to the story to make the reader stay hooked throughout. Although the romance was enjoyable and once the story started it went off in a good pace but I was not hooked and could have stopped reading at any time.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did, but the conflict just felt so dumb considering these were two people who really liked each other. Oh, well.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great story in this series this is Stefan's story the Sicilian and what a hero he is he has so much from his past after being let down big time by a past girlfriend to overcome before he can finally admit to loving Clio and really this pull between them has been around for a long time since they were at university together but Clio also has a few things she must first get over and with her engagement to someone that is so not the right person for her their HEA follows a rocky and sensual path but one that will have you smiling don't miss this one :).

[Hina Tabassum Khatri · Rating 4 out of 5]

He wanted revenge. She wanted revenge.

Not from each other but from the man she was formerly engaged to.

These two are university friends and now with this marriage of convenience are on their way to find a forever.

It is not that simple though as there are many obstacles in their path.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and foremost, Harlequin's SOCIETY WEDDINGS, is a brilliant and spellbinding miniseries. I thoroughly enjoyed the previous stories and would most definitely recommend it to other fans of Harlequin Presents novels.

THE SICILIAN'S SURPRISE WIFE by Tara Pammi has continued in the same thread of brilliant and spellbinding.

Stefan Bianco is the perfect alpha. He has the looks, the money and the persona but the only thing on his mind is revenge. Clio Norwood is strong, sexy and fierce. The sizzling chemistry shared between her and Stefan keeps the pages turning. With a touch of drama, a sprinkle of intrigue and a huge dollop of hands on chemistry, I'd say this is a fairly riveting read that will have you reading until the very last page.

Recommended
5/5 Stars

[Vismantė · Rating 2 out of 5]

„Nemanau, kad pripažinti savo silpnumą yra silpnybė. “

Nesu iš tų skaitytojų, kuri kabinėjasi prie kiekvienos smulkmenos ar faktų nesutikimo. Tačiau kartais logikos nebuvimas knygą paverčia juokinga parodija. Taip nutiko ir šiuo atveju. Istorija pasakoja apie du suaugusius žmones, kurie visą jaunystę vienas kitą pažinojo, tačiau niekada apie jokias meilės seilės nepagalvojo, tačiau susitikus netyčia renginyje - meilė įsiplieskė taip, tarsi pirmą kartą pamačius.

Rimtai? Paminėkime ir tai, kad mergina įsimyli vaikiną tada, kai jie apsikeičia ir socialine padėtimi (mergina iš turtuolės tampa vargše varguole, o vaikinas pasiekia didžiausias aukso aukštumas). Ir ne, mergina tikrai nėra ta piktoji gražuolė. Ji čia pagrindinė veikėja. O tokia pagrindinė veikėja mane tikrai supykdė. Labai prastai pasirinktas siužetas.

Taip pat trikdo tai, kad šioje dalyje ne kartą užsimenama apie paskutinę serijos dalį, ir atskleidžiama daugiau nei turėtų.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a little odd to be honest.

It started off OK and then got a bit boring.

Romance was OK just not great to me.

[Dottie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clio Norwood and Stefan Bianco were friends in college in New York. They haven't seen each other in years but time has not stopped his feelings for her not love just need and a powerful sexual attraction. When Clio finds out that her fiancé has been cheating on her and using her contacts to swindle money Stefan sees his opportunity to get his nemesis. He offers Clio the opportunity to leave her fiancé and start over with his help. She takes him up on his offer ,and to get at her ex she says she is getting married in a week. Stefan feels he is being used as he was in the past closes up his feelings and writes a contract that he feel will protect him. He doesn't figure on how Clio will melt his ice cold heart. A warm story of a man hurt by the past and a women who will chip away at him till he can feel again. Its a very rocky road and lots of angst but as always Tara Pammi gives you a story with a HEA and a hero and heroine to love. Part of the society wedding series with 4 best friends . Don't miss this lovely book

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads first-reads giveaway.

This book has an intriguing and unique plotline that makes you want to rush through it to see how it turns out. What will she do to find herself again and who can help her see the real her. What will he learn about himself, so he can find his real self again as well. Great characters, plot, character chemisty and a satisfying ending.

[Lu Bielefeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

good

[Rabia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will be reviewed and shelved later when i have find time and energy after this tiring times.

[Pauline Destinugrainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stefan bertemu kembali dengan Clio, teman kuliahnya dulu. Tapi Clio yang dilihatnya sekarang berbeda dengan Clio yang dulu. Ketika Clio datang meminta tolong kepadanya untuk menyingkirkan Jackson, tunangannya, Stefan masih perlu berpikir akan kedekatannya dengan seorang wanita.

Sebenarnya Stefan juga ingin membalas dendam pada Jackson, yang telah membuat rekan kepercayaannya terpuruk. Karenanya dia menerima tawaran Clio untuk menjadikan wanita itu kekasih palsunya. Sebaliknya Clio akan mencarikan bukti-bukti bahwa Jackson telah melakukan kejahatan bisnis.

Sayangnya Clio tanpa sengaja mengumumkan bahwa dia akan menikah dengan Stefan. Stefan tak bisa mengelak, meski sebenarnya dia tidak ingin menikah dengan siapapun, terutama Clio. Stefan merasa dirinya tidak layak merasakan cinta setelah kepercayaan dirinya dihancurkan oleh Serena, mantan istrinya. Tapi Stefan juga sadar, dirinya menginginkan Clio bahkan sejak mereka masih kuliah dulu.

Saya berharap dalam HQ ini lebih ditonjolkan bagaimana Clio membongkar kelicikan mantan tunangannya. Tapi fokusnya lebih kepada bagaimana Clio meyakinkan Stefan bahwa dia layak mencintai dan dicintai. Dan bahwa harga diri Clio lebih besar daripada sejumlah kontrak dan uang.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Although this is the third book in the 4 book series, Society Weddings, I ended up reading it last. I have enjoyed them all but have my favorite couple! Stefan is hardened and jaded by an ex and despite the numerous mentions of him being a 'bastard', I really liked him because I felt he cared for Clio from the start. And despite how weak Clio is portrayed, she had been put through the ringer by her cheating ex. So revenge is the theme for this marriage of convenience plot but it's not focused on that much and that explains why I only give the book 3.5 stars. There's a real emphasis on each of the character's personalities and their obvious sexual attraction. A HEA but it's dealt with in only the last few pages as the ice around Stefan's heart melts and he realizes his deep love for the now strong heroine and soon-to-be mother of his child.

[Perdani Budiarti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku ketiga ini agak lebih baik dari buku kedua. Walaupun kedua tokoh utama sama2 berprasangka satu sama lain, setidaknya interaksi keduanya tidak melulu adu argumen dan pembenaran atas segala tindakan masing2. Memang cara yg dipakai Clio utk membalas dendam pada tunangannya terasa janggal dan akhirnya kurang terjelaskan dengan lebih fokusnya cerita dengan hubungan Clio dan Stefan. Bisa ditebak juga Clio berhasil menyentuh sisi rapuh Stefan yg disembunyikannya, pun demikian Stefan mengembalikan rasa percaya diri Clio. Happy ending? As always for modern romance.

2,5/*5 untuk seri ketiga Society Wedding ini.
Mari melanjutkan baca ke buku keempat. Harus hunting versi epub krn ebooknya tidak kutemukan di Gramedia Digital

[Mattie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like it. The hero and heroine were so depressing, him being traumatized by the breakup with an ex and her by her ex fiancée. It felt like their exes were present in almost every interaction they had (including the bedroom), they constantly thought about them or talked about them.

I didn't like the backstory of them meeting in college and hero liking heroine but not trying very hard to date her and was still pursuing a bunch of other women so she didn't take him seriously, then he falls in love with a terrible woman, she breaks up with him because she's a golddigger so that screws him up and so he was a manwhore for 10 years til heroine re-entered his life. P.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good. This is the second book I read from this author. I really like her characters. story line good. ending decent. I guess I read a couple more of hers too.

[T.M. Carper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best read in order since it references other books, but can be read alone.

Both are stubborn and well-suited to each other and you can't help but root for them as a couple to succeed.

Quick read.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of romance

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

See Susan of Perthshire's review.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to thank Tara Pammi for the signed edition or The Sicilian's Surprise Wife that I won in the Goodreads First Giveaway.

Stefan Bianco finds more than one surprise when he finds Clio Norwood coming back into his life. First is the surprise agreement to a false engagement and then the angry exchange that leads her to become The Sicilian's Surprise Wife with just a week to plan the wedding. Between contracts, friends and family reunions the surprises keep coming as both main characters find they are still attracted to each other after knowing one another a decade earlier at Columbia and seeing each other for a reunion after so much time and life has kept them apart. The emotional connection that develops with the deep romance makes The Sicilian's Surprise Wife an excellent romance.

[RomLibrary · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Suave Sicilian: Married for Revenge

Stefan Bianco is a man with one thing on his mind. Revenge. And the last person he expects to see hanging on the arm of his nemesis? The stunning Clio Norwood—the only woman to ever resist his near-lethal brand of seduction.

Clio's life has become a mere shadow of what it once was. But Stefan's searing gaze returns her to the fiery, passionate woman he once knew. Clio has the key to his revenge, and Stefan has the key to her freedom…but only if he agrees to her shocking proposal!

[❤SanaReads❤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was not What I really was waiting for because Stefan was given so much importnace in the story of Rocco and Liv that I was really waiting for his story with eagerness, but the book was not what I really expected. I don't see any revenge, I really didn't understand what's going on there ...

Tara is one of my best authors. I love her books so much but this one didn't get to my heart.

[Harlequin Books]

"..., Pammi’s story takes off, and she treats readers to a money-can’t-buy-happiness morality tale. These former friends will delight as they discover the key to healing each other’s past heartbreaks" (RT Book Reviews).

Miniseries: Society Weddings

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book was ok, nothing special. hero was a little to arrogant and heroine was in a constant state of self-pity.

[Kelly Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was unsure about Clio but I loved how she changed Stefan! He needed taking down a peg and she did it! LOVED the epilogue!

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: Society Weddings

[Sushma S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!