The Unfaithful Wife

by Lynne Graham

The Marriage Mistake!

Leah's marriage to powerful Greek businessman Nik Andreakis was an empty sham, and she was determined to get a divorce. But Nik didn't want one. In the circumstances, Leah found that totally unbelievable. Why would he want to hang on to a wife he'd been blackmailed into marrying!

Leah's lonely wedding night had set the pattern for the past five years, but now she couldn't sleep for wondering what motivated her husband. Why, all of a sudden, was he making advances to her when he had ignored her for so long?

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary, Marriage Of Convenience, Second Chance

175 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

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

[Boo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a little lost for words.

First, he cheats on her. Repeatedly...



And of course, he verbally and emotionally abuses her...



And then there's the rape...



Throughout all of which he paints himself as the victim...



And treats her like shit to be scraped off his shoe...



And then...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
... he says he loved her all along but just had to fuck his way around the world before he settled down and she gives him a HEA. For real. That's what happens. Some people might be able to take this shit. I'm not one of them.

1

[Ivy H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I read this years ago and it was awful because I HATED the hero Nik. Actually he should be another H who doesn't deserve the title "hero". This guy was an adulterous bastard, who was the slumlord of Double Standards Central. I was going through a list of Lynne G books that I decided needed to be read again before I would be able to do a review and then this novel cropped up and suddenly I remembered almost everything about it. I am big fan of Lynne G but once in a while she writes a novel that just makes me wonder if she had been channeling some other author or just thinking too far out of the box.

The H in this novel decides to wreak havoc and vengeance upon the nicest, sweetest, most lovable and adorable heroine - who is also utterly spineless. Why is it the really sweet Mary Sue heroines sometimes get saddled with the biggest assholes ever ? Leah ( the heroine ) is the daughter of a man who fetters out the secrets of the wealthy and uses it to blackmail them. He had managed to uncover the secret that Nik's biological mom is in fact his older sister. I am not going to go into that whole tale because I'd rather deal with how much this "romance" just annoyed me. The heroine had fallen in love with Nik at first sight; the poor thing was merely 17 or 18 years old then and was extremely sheltered by her blackmailing father.

Leah's dad then decides to blackmail Nik into marrying his daughter. Nik is upset ( obviously ) but instead of venting his anger and hatred towards the blackmailer, he proceeds to demean, insult, punish and cheat on his young wife. I know they had not consummated the marriage but this utter nasty man whore humiliated his wife by publicly carrying on with a series of classless bimbos. I honestly hate when these man whore "heroes" can't pick up OW with a semblance of class. Having OW is bad enough as it is, but to pick the lowest form of slutdom is just nauseating. Lynne G had described his OW as the type one would find on the infamous "Page 3" - the type that seek cheap publicity by flaunting their bare assets.

After about 5 years of this treatment, Leah has managed to fall in "love" with a handsome fortune hunter. This poor girl has the worst kind of luck with the men in her life: her dead dad was a professional blackmailer, her husband is an inhabitant of Slutdom and now this new guy has conned her into thinking he loves her. I wished Lynne G had made the OM decent. When Nik finds out that Leah has a boyfriend, he has the king of double standards meltdown. I wanted to punch him in the nuts - with a hot hammer. It's fine for him to have expensive subscriptions to every Z-list vagina on Page 3 but it's a sin for Leah to look for love with someone else. What a bastard.

I hated how he coerced Leah into having sex with him and then wheedled his way into her life. His declaration of true love made me want to gag. He needed to wash his penis with carbolic soap before going near the heroine. I didn't buy this guy's remorse because his justification for his antipathy to his marriage vows was that he had been too young to settle on just one vagina. Wtf ? That's just insulting to Leah because he had also mentioned how much he had been in love with her too. Wtf kind of love was it that he had felt ? What kind of love can he have felt if it was ok for him to want to revel in the pleasures of Slutdom ? I didn't even care if he had admitted to being celibate in the last year before he consummated his marriage to Leah. He was the worst "hero" created by Lynne G in my opinion. Leah should have divorced his ass and found a richer, hotter guy - maybe a Russian billionaire like Sergei from 'Ruthless Magnate, Convenient Wife'. I LOVED Sergei. I think he is my all time favourite Lynne Graham hero. Actually Leah deserved a H like the nice guy sheikh from His Queen By Desert Decree, because the heroine in that one was a termagant.

I usually enjoy old school alpha asshole heroes but not the ones who are cheaters.

[boogenhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re The Unfaithful Wife - LG is starting to really hit her HPlandia iconic stride with this one. In a rare classic HP blackmail into marriage twist, it is the H who is shanghaied as a 25 yr old into marriage with the 17 yr old h and he proceeds to cheat on her quite visibly for the next five years.

So huge warning, the H is not and had no intentions of being faithful to the newlywed h when the story starts.

However, in the HP rule book, Rule #7 says that as long as the H and h haven't consummated the marriage, the H can do whatever with whomever and the h should just be happy he put a ring on it and wait her turn.

This h starts out in that mold, mainly because at 17 she met the H and it was love at first sight. But the h's father, the ultimate in Pimp Daddy Criminals, wanted the H's social status for a son in law and wanted to get rid of his daughter, so PDC blackmailed the 25 yr old immature H into marriage with a teen ager.

The EXTREMELY angry H takes the standard action of angry immature H's everywhere. He isolates the cause of his downfall in a London house surrounded by minders and then proceeds to live it up with every attractive sample of the lady buffet that comes his way.

(To be fair, the H's actions in this for the first part of their marriage are simply disgusting - and this has turned many an HP voyager away from this book. That is utterly understandable, cheating is cheating is cheating and no one should have to tolerate that - not even an HP voyager only reading about it.

My thoughts are to give the H a small pass for two reasons. First the h is 17 when she is married off. A very, very immature 17 that put her mentally around 14 or so, so for the H to go there when he is in his own party wild belated teen years himself is just a trainwreck that never needed to happen and LG wisely prevented it.

The second reason is that tho the h has no self confidence and is kept locked up more securely than the Hope diamond, all the public humiliation and betrayal serve to force her to see the H for exactly what he is. That whipping off of the rosy glasses gives this h a sincere pragmatism that will serve her in good stead for the trainwreck avalanche that is rapidly approaching.)

The h, now 23, over the teen lurve surge for the H and looking for a way to get out to her own life, uses a very handy tool used by ladies everywhere in the Western World when they want to end a relationship, but are too polite to do the brush off. The h finds herself a new man and then proceeds to conflate his gooey attraction into a full blown emotional affair.

The h's father dies in the midst of all of this and the H suddenly decides that with the threat of revealed blackmail seekrits diminished, his wife is pretty hot and he can make his marriage real. Since the h isn't anything more than a seldom glimpsed beautiful blow up doll to him, the H perceives absolutely no problem with that. After all he is the Greek God of the Northern Hemisphere and ladies everywhere tumble at his feet.

Well. everyone but the h that is. Our GG H finally gets the consequences of what five years of flaunting HP lady buffet samples in front of your legal wife will do when he overhears the h on the phone to her little toyboy and the H knows he is sunk. The h appears to be moving on with a new man and the H is NOT happy about that.

The h is obviously over her temporary infatuation and obviously not real enthusiastic over hooking up with the H for domestic bliss. So the H exaggerates the threat of the h's father's blackmail being revealed to the world, throws in some intense roofie kissing melting seduction techniques and also includes a lot of verbal beratement to force the h to stay married to him.

The h can't help the Treacherous Body Syndrome, but she has done a LOT of thinking the last few years and she has determined that even tho her new infatuation is obviously not all that and she has to send him to the HP mists, she still has a powerful ax to hold over the H.

After the big, extended lurve club events, the H and h end up in Greece. They are meeting the H's truly hideous family for the first time and the H is about to get another kick in the teeth regarding the h as well.

The h gets the flu and the H panics. He calls up his ex fiancee who is now a doctor, (the H's family did an arranged marriage thing for him, which the blackmail experience broke up,) and we also get to meet the H's very perky and funny young cousin.

The h gets to worry that the H is still in love with his now married ex- which LG assures us by the H's words that he is not and we find out that the H's big seekrit worthy of blackmail is that he was adopted. (There is more to it, but we are building up to that.)

The H also gets to see the h immortalized in pictures with her ex toyboy and it drives him mad with jealousy. Cause he has actual proof that the h is looking at another man like she looked at him years ago and the chickens of adultery have come home to roost.

Plus the h gives him an EPIC verbal slapdown that I was quite proud of her for. The poor girl was forced to be more cloistered than a nun and kept in practical purdah, except for beauty treatments to reflect her trophy status and she did focus on her really excellent piano playing, but the girl finally figured out how to deliver a verbal knock out and she does it.

The H realizes that his attitude isn't helping his cause, so in one the funniest scenes in the book, he gets the h drunk in the limo on the way to his parents and has the driver circle around to try and talk to the h about their relationship. The h is just buzzed enough that roofie kisses are more interesting and the H has to admit his deceit.

The best lines of the H in book are:

"'I am a sneaky, slippery, devious bastard.' he mumbled thickly, his breath fanning her cheek. 'I am everything you ever called me and right now I would give ten years of my life to make love to you. I'm in agony...'

'But?' She sensed the 'but' coming.

'There was vodka in your drink. You're plastered, Leah.'

'Oh.'

'It was a disgusting thing to do but I was desperate to make you talk...make you relax. Also, the car has been driving round in circles. Please forgive me"

NO it is not a grovel, but the balance of power between the H and h shifts at that point and from then on out the h steadily expands and the H steadily loses his ugly intimidation skillz, until the two of them level out to the same amount of power that will lead to a mutual HEA.

The meeting with the H's family is rather strained, especially after the h learns that the woman she thought was the H's sister is actually his mother and her husband is the H's father. Apparently the couple was a teen love story gone wrong and the mother was forced by her father to give the baby up to them to be raised.

It is also an interesting look at where the H gets his Greek God Arrogance from, as his bio father is exactly the same. There is some more h angsty OW drama when we learn the ex-fiancee may be getting a divorce and be available again, but the true climax to the story comes when we all get back to London.

The h finds another bank deposit box key that contains the H's birth documents. She hands it over, explains she knows about the H's mother and declines to mention who the H's father is. The H indifferently tells her to stay or go and the h, heartbroken and prepping for the mopey moment, dumps all the socks she bought the H and leaves.

She gets a little bedsit and a job and starts trying to live her life on her own. In a very satisfying HP h fashion, she does the grotty flat and beans on bread crumbs, until the H tracks her down to ask her to sleep with him.

The h isn't exactly jumping with joy to accept the H's offer and she dismisses him, telling him her solicitor will be sending the divorce papers over any day. The H is forced to humble himself further and shows up at the h's door the next morning with a bunch of roses.

The h did not have a restful night and beats the H over the head with the roses in another highly satisfactory way - (I was absolutely jonesing to get this girl a cast iron skillet - she would be a master at skilleting in less than half an hour.)

The big explanation moment is at hand and while it doesn't excuse the H, it does explain some things and LG does it in a pretty nice style.

After the H gets his huge rose smackdown, he lets the h know that he was pretty isolated as a child because he was the child of his mother. The woman who raised him fiercely resented the fact that she couldn't have a son and lied to the H that he was the offspring of some mongrel cur and if the H ever revealed that fact to his real mother's husband, dire calamities would befall.

The H was also started at the very bottom of the family firm at 14 and he was kept at that all through his teen years. Which ultimately turned out to be a good thing, cause the H worked his way up the ladder and was ready to take over when his adopted father died.

What that also did was keep the H at the same immature emotional level as the h. He was engaged all that time to the OW and had kept his nose to the grindstone with school and work - the lady buffet sampling would have been STRONGLY discouraged by the OW's family and his own.

So in one way, the h's father's blackmail irked him because he got forced to do something he did not want to do, but in another, it let him catch up on his teen party years - and he now had unlimited income in which to do it.

The H also admits he was bowled over by the h as well when they first met, but he wasn't ready to marry, he wanted to do his thing and his rage at the h's father found a nice little object target in the h - who really was a blobfish and just tolerated any type of treatment because of her own childhood isolation.

LG subtly points out that the H pretty much ignored the h like she did not exist, except to put in a convent atmosphere and hire minders for her, so he never had to really see her as a person. Until the h starts making her own moves for independence and the H finally sees what hate and neglect can do.

The H sincerely believes he has finally driven the h away and he seriously begs for a second chance, even if the h doesn't love him, he loves her. He tells the h she can have whatever she wants, including a country house and unlimited money, if only she will not leave him in the desert his life has been since she gleefully left.

As this is HPlandia and forgiveness is a forgone conclusion by page 2, the h tells the H she still loves him and they decide to go look at the country house together for a pretty believable LG HP HEA.

This book is intense, the H is truly horrific for the first part. But his blatant and aggressive honesty allows the reader to believe the H when he makes his true love declaration by the end.

The reader realizes that the H was as immature as the h and neither one of them were good candidates for marriage when they first met. The h is pretty spineless, but she does learn and grow and calcium intake has been seen to occur by the end.

So if you see this, give it a go and have a nice little LG HP outing of two crazy kids who finally fall in love for an excellent LG HEA.

[KatieV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I know this book is controversial. I know some of my friends HATED it. I respect that, really I do, but it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be (content wise) and I had a hard time putting it down. Plus, I think it's the first Lynne Graham I've ever read without a pregnancy or secret baby which is a miracle in itself.

My take.

The heroine was a very sheltered 17 when she first meets the 25-year-old hero. She immediately falls hard. Unbeknownst to her, Daddy was a POS who wanted her married into an established, wealthy family by any means necessary. So, he blackmails the hero with a family secret to force him to marry her. Reminiscent of The Unwanted Wife in some ways.

1) Both heroines were innocent of Daddy's meddling and thought the hero was marrying them for the right reasons.
2) Both heroes were ANGRY about being manipulated into marrying and both placed unfair blame on the heroine as a co-conspirator.
3) Both heroes had initially found the heroine very attractive and were drawn to her, but forgot about that once the meddling began and became bitter and vengeful.

The main difference here is that the marriage was never consummated. Nik was angry and that kinda killed his attraction to the heroine (at least for a few years and then he ignored her out of pride).

He assumed that if he ignored Leah and she was unhappy with the non-marriage she'd run back to Daddy and ask for a divorce, therefore freeing him from the blackmail scheme. IMHO that was faulty reasoning, because Leah's dad made his living blackmailing people. If he didn't feel Nik was useful as a husband and for his social creds, then he'd have simply asked for cash instead OR he may have just gotten pissed and leaked the info. Then again, ALL the forced into marriage plots have ginormous holes in them. You have to be willing to suspend disbelief and just go with it.

So, Nik basically ignores the heroine for 5 years. He only sees her once or twice a year at official functions and has a string of mistresses. According to him it's not "that many" (whatever that means) and he'd had no partners in the last year.

As the book opens Leah's father has passed away and Leah has met a man who she thinks she's in love with. She's never slept with the guy, because she wants to wait until she's divorced to do that. I respected that. If you don't believe in adultery, you don't believe in adultery - period. It doesn't matter what the other partner is doing. It's your own conscience you have to live with and your own moral standards you should uphold. They shouldn't be relative to the situation. What I did have a problem with is Leah's lack of initiative for those 5 years.

Leaving him would have been the obvious answer, but apparently she was too emotionally stunted to do so. But she should have done something. Go to college or get a job - find a way to stand on her own. What the heck did she do with her time? We're supposed to believe that it all had to do with her lack of love and acceptance issues. Mom died when she was little, Dad never paid her much attention, and then her husband didn't even want to sleep with her. Supposedly she didn't want to disappoint her father by asking for a divorce and she didn't know what else to do. So she just.... sat there. FOR FIVE YEARS.

I've been blessed with parents who love me unconditionally, so I don't know what that can do to a person, but I do have to wonder how she could just live in limbo for 5 years. She was very young and had no confidence, so I guess that's supposed to explain it. The poor girl did have issues. No doubt. I will grant her that.

Predictably, the Greek alpha-male hero does not go along with the divorce idea. Leah's father has died and he's finally accepted that she was innocent of the scheme, plus he's played the field and had his fun ("it's a man thing") and now he's ready to settle down. He already has this beautiful, desirable little wife who is a master at being a society hostess. And obviously she's madly in love with him or she'd have left years ago (couldn't totally blame him for that assumption, because that was weird and unexplainable). All he has to do is consummate the marriage, start having some babies, and he's set.

Ha ha ha. That's where it gets good. He is BLOWN away that the h really wasn't pining after him all those years. That she REALLY does want to get a divorce. He's thick-headed and arrogant about it to the point that I wanted to reach inside the pages and slap him. It takes some convincing for him to see it, but he finally gets to a point where he thinks she's in love with this other man and he's eaten up alive with jealousy. He's also forced to face some very unpleasant facts about himself.

The heroine is predictably "melty" in that LG sorta way once the giant Greek wiener makes its appearance, but thankfully she's smart enough not to tell Nik that she's not really in love with the other guy and that she's realized she loves him instead. All that leads to the "big misunderstanding" where neither thinks the other cares and the heroine leaves and actually tries to take care of herself for a while.

I do wish the separation had been longer than a month and that she'd had a chance to deal with her own inadequacy issues by learning to truly stand on her own two feet. Plus the hero would have had to suffer more :) But, I think he really did see the error of his ways and had specific revelations about how certain actions had affected the heroine. He even tells her he won't ask what she did while they were apart, that he'll put his jealousy aside if she'll just give him another chance. That's a big step for a guy who recently believed it was A-oK for him to have slept around, but his neglected wife of 5 years just better be a virgin OR ELSE.

Yeah the guy was a MAJOR jerk for the first half of the book, but the point was that I think he grew as a person. Will he ever be the selfless sort? Heck no! But, I saw growth and a recognition of the things he did to hurt the heroine. Often all we get is "I love you, come back" on the last two pages with no indication whatsoever that the hero sees what he's done wrong, but the heroine is just so happy to hear the 3 magic words that she doesn't care. So, I was satisfied with the HEA even if I'd have liked to have seen him suffer for more than a mere month.

[Flor ❁ (HIATUS) · Rating 2 out of 5]

the title tho 🤪 🤪


still can't believe i loved this book so much and I just realized the title. the way she's portrayed as the unfaithful and he's not.

[Megzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give the book a 1 star. The male lead a 5 star for being the biggest douche and the female lead a 5 star for being a doormat.

Here is why,

I did fall in love with you the first time I saw you...you did not mistake my feelings. It was like being hit by lightning and when I got over the shock all I wanted to do was run—' Arrested by what he was telling her, Leah tried and failed to swallow. 'But—?' 'But you might as well have tied my ankles together.' he muttered with raw self-derision, his mouth taking on a sardonic curve, I couldn't stay away. You were too young. I wasn't ready for marriage. But if I was not I knew that some other man might be...that if I walked away there was very little chance that you would be around when I chose to come back.'.....levelly. 'I did. But I didn't know how to handle it and I'm afraid I resented the hold you had on me. Then Max changed everything. He made my mind up for me. Suddenly I had no choice...'...'Nobody had ever made me do anything I didn't want to do before. I couldn't believe that I could be that powerless,' he admitted harshly. 'I felt like some kind of stud stallion your father was buying for you!. Trapped by a teenager. I was in a rage for months on end after it. And I swore to myself that you would get nothing that I did not choose to give out of our marriage!'...'We had been married for a couple of years before I began to want you again.' Nik held her startled scrutiny with fierce determination. 'No, I didn't show it. I would have cut off my hands sooner than come near you!' he admitted. 'My pride revolted against the concept of surrendering further to Max's blackmail. You were the one woman in the world I wouldn't touch.'... 'I didn't consider you. It was a fight between me and Max and you were the pawn in the middle. I didn't have to consider you. In the back of my mind you were there, in my house, my wife, I couldn't touch you but nobody else could either. And I could just about live with that.' 'I was on ice,' she said, with a jagged laugh. 'But by the time Max died I had already decided that you would stay as my wife and then, when the choosing was mine, it would become a real marriage.

And That is exactly what happened. He treated her like a leper for five years. He had his fun with as many bimbos he could fit in his life, his pictures with the new bimbo of the moment were regularly featured in various magazines while the good, young , virginal wife was forgotten and living in a glass cage, only allowed to go out with bodyguards.

The male lead was a rat and there was nothing he could do to redeem him but the female lead took him back because she was in love.

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unwanted wife trifecta.

The Grandaddy of them all:

The true heir:

The illicit son:

All three books score a poor, put upon and pathetic hero that has been railroaded into marriage to the one he unknowingly but really loves and makes suffer for all the sins of mankind. The other thing all three have in common besides bad daddies is that the little women reach a level of fuggetaboutit, and the heroes are left scrambling to one degree or another to keep on to their women.

What can I say about this one that hasn’t been said. The hero is awful, and his turnaround from big mean Greek tycoon to lovestruck swain struck me as implausible. Cheating on and terrorizing (the bank vault scene) the woman you fell for at first sight doesn’t speak of true love. I almost wondered if Lynne Graham had a change of mind halfway through and decided to back peddle the hero into a clueless love fugue.

I will say this, Alessandro, the hero from The Unwanted Wife is the true heir to this hero which is probably why I liked the stinker from Nothing in My Heart so much more. Just as clueless as the other two heroes he, at least, embraced his bad boy ways from the beginning.

At least this one goes into a hero decline at the end:lost weight, edgier jaw.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting MOC story with the hero avoiding his 17 year-old wife for five years while he sowed his wild oats.

Heroine stayed married to him to please her father and in faint hope that her husband would fall in love with her. Now, five years in, she is seeing a fortune hunter who is pretending to be in love with her. They have a few innocent meetings - hence the “unfaithful” in the title.

This – and her father’s death – is what finally brings the H around. He quickly seduces the h, says they’re going to make their marriage work, introduces her to his awful family and then the reason for his cold treatment of her five years ago comes to light.

That her father had his birth certificate showing his “sister” was really his mother doesn’t seem like blackmail material to me, but then this is LG’s story and that is the hero’s motivation for resenting his marriage even though he says he fell in love at first sight with the heroine.

I enjoyed the premise that the H/h would go their separate ways when they married so young and for “blackmail” purposes. I love that kind of angst - but I wish the heroine had done something to improve herself or the world (university, volunteer work) during that time.

[Leona · Rating 1 out of 5]

This could have been a really powerful story had the heroine been made to be stronger. She was a doormat all the way through, and though the reviews say she plays out her revenge, I must have missed it. Oh, she had internal dialogues with herself on what she would do, but she never executed to it.

Nik Andreakis was a man whore who publicly humiliates her for 5 years with floozies left and right because 1) he was blackmailed into marriage, 2) When they married, he thought she was too young to consummate the marriage. He also believed that she would hang around for him, until he was ready to settle down.

He is a ruthless, calous cad...that should have been shot or castrated. Take your pick. My preference would have been the latter.

[Chantal ❤️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't often say this about LG work if ever but I really wished she had been unfaithful to the asshole. Worst thing she does to get even for him cheating on her is dumbing his socks???wtf girl you need to dumb his ass. He needed to do way way way more begging for forgiveness. Sucks cause it had all the right stuff to make it great like Mistress and mother that is a way better book by her.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another homerun from Lynne Graham.

Does he cheat? Yes? In the technical sense. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Does she cheat? Kinda? She certainly wanted to 😈, and who could really blame her? The H deserved that and more. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Was it DELICIOUS when the H realized he might have already lost her to OM?? Yaaaaaassssss 👌🏻😍💕🤡







Bottom Line? If you like some angst and an asshole that gets what’s coming to him, then you’ll love this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️





⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️

- cheating - the H (25) is blackmailed into marrying the h and he is PISSED - he basically locks up his teen bride (17) for 5 years, and runs off to Sow His Wild Oats. Leaving his marriage unconsummated. When the book opens the h (now 23) is embarking on her own extra-marital affair, although she’s only gotten as far as Secret Rendezvous and Torrid Embraces

- no sharing

- OW drama - the h knows about the H’s very public affairs and she believes he’s still in love with the woman he was supposed to marry

- OM drama - the H is out of his mind with jealousy over the h’s attempted infidelity

- dubcon - lots of Forced Seduction in the H’s desperate attempt to keep his wife

- h is a virgin, only with the H

- H is experienced, although he does say that his whoring around was mostly during the 1st year of their marriage and completely stopped the last year. He was too (reluctantly and bitterly) besotted with the h to continue betraying their marriage with his body.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've ranted all over the place but can't believe I never left a review. Yes, it's an angsty train wreck. Bottom line for me is that the male lead is a scum-sucking parasite, and he deserves 5 years in some hellish prison being repeatedly and anally raped. Then, sure, a nice HEA.

I'm in the castration camp.

[Pinky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: Dubious consent / non-consensual / can be rape (FMC repeatedly says no and gives in because MMC doesn’t listen. Even if FMC reciprocates in the end, she continuously said no in the beginning so I dunno what to label it as, this happens repeatedly until she believes she is happy with MMC, it’s definitely dub-con but I’m not sure if it counts as rape so lemme know please), emotional abuse, neglect from others, blackmailing, threats, slut-shaming, cheating (both sides)

I thank my lovely friend Shilpa when I recommended The Price of a Bride to her, she recommended this one. I, unfortunately, did not enjoy it, I found similarities to The Unwanted Wife in this one as well but I just didn’t like the MMC at all. Nik was just such a nasty douchebag with double standards and although the FMC Leah would stand up to him, she wasn’t that great, just a doormat. There is cheating, I mean the title gives it away, but like Flor ❁ [HIATUS]'s Reviews mentioned in her review, the title of the book makes it seem like the wife is the only one who is unfaithful, which is just plain stupid. This book helped pass time but once I got to the middle, I was just really bored and didn’t care anymore. I’m not a fan of cheating in books but if it’s done okay or if I’m emotionally invested I try to get past it, but with this, I didn’t even care that there was cheating. I didn’t care for the characters enough to think anything.


Leah and Nik are in a broken marriage for 5 years now, Leah barely sees Nik and Nik acts as though he was never married in the first place. Leah is fed up and finally meets a lovely lad named Paul, and decides she is done with her marriage with Nik and promises herself that when she gets the chance, she will ask for a divorce. But right as she decides to do that, Nik is suddenly always there, constantly pestering Leah, and even when she tries to end things, he is persistent in keeping their marriage. He believes she has something to do with something that causes him misery and wants to hurt her until he gets what he was waiting for, for the past 5 years.


Now for spoilers


So Nik was an asshole, I don’t even blame Leah for cheating. I just wished she asked for the divorce sooner, like homegirl why’d you wait so long. She honestly could’ve just asked for the divorce and met up with other people but honestly, the fact that this guy slept around with all these women and then gets pissed at her for meeting up with one guy just pissed me off. When he’s like listen, you’re my wife though, I would be like holy smokes and you’re my husband bruh what’re you doing. I don’t care if it’s in your traditions, not being able to respect your wife and ignoring her while sleeping around is just plain disgusting. And the fact that this title made it seem like Leah did the cheating when she was just seeing one guy while Nik was sleeping around pissed me off. Especially because Leah didn’t even get far with Paul because she wanted to respect Nik like what the fuck. And Nik was like you’re lucky you didn’t sleep with him because if you did I would’ve abandoned your ass. Like bro haven’t you slept around though? And she doesn’t want your ass anyway, get outta here.


When Leah is ready to speak up and Nik suddenly has the bodyguard ask her to meet him and she’s all shocked that he wants to talk to her, I was like bro what is this? They were practically strangers, that’s why it felt like nothing when we find out they’re both cheating on each other. When Nik started yelling at Leah to tell him where something was, I was like bro you have to tell her what you’re looking for. But he kept repeating himself like he never heard her. “You KNOW what it is tell me tell me tell me,” I have a headache just thinking about it. When she fainted I was like damn, but bruh he continues the second she wakes up. It was so annoying, and even after realizing that Leah’s father probably didn’t tell Leah anything, he still treated her like shit. So The Unwanted Wife is similar to this book because Leah is neglected by both her father and her husband. And it’s because of something between them and misunderstandings. The fact that Leah’s father blackmailed Nik with his adoption papers and stuff was fucked up, but Leah suffered for 5 years, she was so alone. I don’t even know why she waited so long, 5 years is too long. When she called him out on sleeping around, I was like yesss girl, but it pissed me off that he just shrugged his shoulders and moved on, he’s like it isn’t the same as you cheating though. Like what the fuck? Cuz a wife can’t cheat but husbands can sleep around cuz men have needs? Don’t give me that bullshit, please. I know this book is old and stuff but good lord, I was so pissed while reading this.


The fact that Nik wasn’t really present in Leah’s life and then suddenly he’s manhandling her and making her go to places pissed me off. And Leah did stand up for herself to some extent, I knew she couldn’t do much in her situation, but the whole thing was just annoying. When Nik was like you’re meeting my family and we’re gonna finally act like we’re married, I was like bro says who? When Nik heard Leah’s phone call with Paul and looked into Paul and found out the guy was a gold digger, I wasn’t surprised, he seemed very shady and eager to have Leah to himself when they had no sort of chemistry whatsoever. It was so cringey how he kept talking about money and what Leah would bring with her when she left Nik, the guy was disgusting and the second he left, Leah knew she was in love with Nik. Like come on, you sleep with Nik a coupla times and you’re in love? Oh my god and the fact that Leah was only 17 when they married, she wasn’t even an adult. I was relieved that she wasn’t forced to sleep with Nik on their wedding night. But he does force and coerces her to sleep with him 5 years later. When Leah finally left and she only used her own money and was tryna find a way to manage, I was so proud of her. But Nik found her right away and makes her have sex with him. So I dunno what to label this scene as cuz she says no over and over again, but once he kisses her, they both are kinda reciprocating, which is why I dunno if this is rape but it is definitely dubious consent. Nik continues to manipulate Leah by using sex. Whenever she didn’t wanna sleep with him and locked him out because of an argument, he would find a way in. Like using her bloody windows, he’s disgusting. When she calls him out for sleeping around, he says he slept with a coupla people in the first year and men have needs but in his last year, he didn’t sleep with anyone. I dunno if this guy expects us to stand up and applaud him for one year of celibacy but I find him disgusting. They also don’t use protection, and nobody really knows if the guy is clean, so there’s that. When they start sleeping together and they have their happy moments, I knew something would ruin it. When he gets pissed when seeing the pictures of Leah and Paul and called her a bitch and a whore, it was just uncalled for. He constantly called her messed up names and sure he did apologize in the end but bruh. When he added alcohol to her drink without telling her to get some answers, I found him to be a manipulative, sleazy bastard. When he apologized I was like bro are you really sorry though?


The fact that he gets all of his answers while revealing nothing to Leah pissed me off. Leah got answers from his family members instead, at this point I was skimming a lot. If I am getting stuff wrong, that’s probably why. Her father was a disgusting man but that does not mean she deserves the stuff that had happened to her. When she finally finds the key and they have an argument and he says leave or stay, I don’t care, I was like leave his ass, please. And I was surprised cuz she actually does and they had a month-long separation. When he comes back and she has a job and plays the piano, I was proud of her but just knew she was gonna go back to Nik. And she does. I wished Leah became successful and moved on with her life cuz Nik didn’t tell her much about his life. Especially the fact that he was engaged to another girl who was similar to Sandro and Francesca, I can’t man. Also what was the whole kissing thing when she was half asleep and saw them embracing? I dunno man, Nik is shady. Them saying I love you to each other pissed me off even more cuz they don’t even know each other that well. They’re practically strangers I swear. But yea, this book didn’t even have good groveling IMO, so I didn’t enjoy it much. But thankfully this book is super short, so I was able to finish it fast. Anyways, that’s all for spoilers.



That is all, stay safe folks!

[Raffaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jeez today I fall on books with cheaters on it.
But I was prepared, thanks to my Goodreads friends reviews!
This is very similar to a book I loved passionately, the unwanted wife, and I think this author read both this book and the price of a bride of Michelle Reid (that I loved).
A marriage that begins with a blackmail. The hero is blackmailed by his father in law to marry a naive and innocent heroine who’s besotted with him. She thinks it’s because of money but she also thinks they will have a normal marriage.
He doesn’t even touch her and starts his manwhoring ways around the years.
The heroine is humiliated by continuous pictures of him and his bimbos.
Eventually evil fil dies and she falls in love with om.
Sadly this one is evil too and only wants her for her money.
She asks for a divorce but the hero now wants a real marriage, he’s furious that she has a lover and basically kidnaps her and rapes her.
I hated this hero but I also hated the heroine because she was such a loser. She stayed in a marriage that was a sham and an exercise in debasement and never did anything to get free of that husband.
And his excuse? He was too young (25. Really??? A babe!) and not ready to get married, she was a teenager (17) and he wanted his cake and eat it too, that it is basically what he did.
Not believable his love, not believable his commitment, not romantic at all.
The plot and some parts are similar to the previous two book that I mentioned, but both are much better because the heroes pretended to have ow, but never had sex with them.
Sadly this one did and had the gall to justify his actions because he was too young and wanted to have sex with the world before settling with a meek and plain wife! But he was furious if she had another man!
The main thing that is inconsistent here is the fact that if a young man is in love with a woman, young as he may be, he will be faithful, no matter how many women he had or not.
A man can even love only one woman in his life, and not feeling deprived for not having had ow, if he’s really in love. It seems that ms Graham thinks men need to have sex with many women before settling with one as if it’s a trophy.
This is quaint and - wrong! Men ( or women) who have many partners aren’t always proud or happy because they often view those affairs as failures, that is failed attempt of finding true love!
How do those men in the author’s mind view their past affairs? As something pleasant? As something nice? If it is, then there’s no real love for the heroine. If it’s with regret then maybe they were mistakes and not something to be done.
So no, I don’t agree with this pov at all and I can’t enjoy a book where a man has sex with ow while married to another and then claiming he loved her all along.
The other two books I mentioned had faithful heroes who were in love with the heroines even when they were angry and believed they were blackmailed by them. Their behavior was pure show of defiance, not real cheating. A step forward.

[Mirjana **DTR - Down to Read** · Rating 2 out of 5]

***1.5 Stars***

Wow! The fact that this was EVER categorized as "romance" simply baffles me.

The hero is an abusive asshole. The heroine is a naive doormat. The storyline is beyond ridiculous. There's SERIOUS dubious consent all over the place. I just...I have no words.

[Julz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one a while back so my memory about specifics is a little dull. This one was about the father (grandfather?) of a 17 year old girl, who had actually been neglectful of her, decides to set her up in marriage with the guy she has a crush on. The h knows it's an arranged marriage but thinks that they are both willing participants. However, as soon as they get married, the H becomes totally hostile towards her and starts running around with every skank on the continent.

The floormat...I mean...the heroine had been waiting for the old guy to die so she could get out of her marriage. (She didn't want to let him down by knowing she was unhappy and couldn't make a success of her marriage, don't ya know.) Plus she met a new guy and wanted to be free to go forth with the new relationship. The h is totally afraid of the H but bites the bullet and tries to free herself.

After five years of making her suffer by being mean and hateful and being Mr. Major Whoredog, purposely publically humiliating her by not so discreetly having numerous affairs, the H won't let the h go. The reader is left going, WTF!?!?! Why not!

We end up finding out that the old man had blackmailed the hero into marrying her which was the reason for the H's anger. He assumed that the h was a spoilt daddy's girl and knew all about it, but she didn't. She is just as much a victim as he is. The H uses the excuse that until he finds the papers the old man used to blackmail him, he won't let h out of the marriage.

I remember getting extremely angry and wanting to do someone serious damage while I was reading this. That's always is a winner for me. If you like really angsty serious manwhore stories, and can overlook someone doing some really horrible things because they felt they deserved revenge, then you should enjoy this story. If it's a hard limit, then run far far away.

[Jasbell76 · Rating 1 out of 5]

My personal rating scale from 1 to 10: 8.5 !!!
I need to re-read this one. I have forgotten why I gave 8.5 o_O


Updated:
July/14/2015
I don't know what I was thinking :O when I gave this book such a HIGH rating!
I read this book in 2009. I think that was the time when I read my first LG's books and because she was a new author for me, I was happy and blind (yes, like a kid with his/her new toy). This book remembers me there is another book by her that has a hero like the one of this story The Greek's Chosen Wife, but the only difference is that he cheated on the heroine for 3 years more (they were married but separated and never consummated their marriage, yes she was still a virgin when they reunited again). So, as I did with that book, I will low my rating for this one too u_u
If I thought it deserved 8.5 from 10, now I will give 2 out of 10 and 2 stars in GRs. The book might be entertaining, but I CAN'T TOLERATE the pictures of him with other women u.u


Updated
February 22nd/2022
Maybe I will low my rating to 1.5/2 stars 🤔 Thanks to Ivy H. for helped me to remember about this book 😥 Perhaps I was too young and naive the first time I read it, or I was so glad to find a new author, but I couldn't pass this kind of heros anymore.

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

***FOUR STARS***

Everything I could ask for from a HR; forced marriage, heartless asshole husband-cheating with other women, wife giving up on the marriage and then her husband suddenly realizing what a prize he's had all along and actually trying to get her back, and redeeming himself by the end. The hateful in laws were an added bonus. It was a delicious story that I enjoyed very much!

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

"There was only a very small number of women I actually slept with during those years.' he volunteered ... 'Most the first year, but nobody at all the last."🤦‍♀️

This is how the hero Nik apologizes for cheating on his wife, Leah, whom he supposedly was in love with, yet hated to be forced into the marriage with by her father. He was so selfish, only caring about his own feelings and victimizing himself throughout the book. I love how untrue the title of the book truly is.

"I wish I hadn't spent five years being a self-centered, arrogant bastard, making you pay for what Max did.I did fall in love with you the first time I saw you...you did not mistake my feelings. It was like being hit by lightning, and when I got over the shock, all I wanted to do was run.. Every time I look at you, you get more beautiful, agape mou. At seventeen, you looked like an angel, pure, untouchable. Now you look like a woman, and you still take my breath away."

Leah forgives him cheating on her repeatedly for the sake of her paying for her father's sins. I really wished that she would've left him, became independent, and him at least crawl back to her. There was not enough groveling in this book for me to forgive the selfish hero.

Rating 2 stars 🌟 for a fast and angry read.

[Lemon · Rating 1 out of 5]

One word sums it up: D-O-U-C-H-E-B-A-G. No redeeming value whatsoever. I'm a masochist for actually having finished this train wreck.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is driven by conflict, tension, romance and crazy angst! LG never fails to amaze me.

[RomanceLover99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book however, there were so many issues and problems to overcome and reconcile that the length of an average Harlequin Presents book isn’t long enough to deal with everything. That’s my main problem with the book. Yes the hero was an alpha SUPER JERK however, if given the proper time for the hero and heroine to both come to terms with the reasons why they got married and each other’s feelings at the time of their marriage, I believe that it would have been a lot more easier for readers to accept and like the book. There just wasn’t enough pages to deal with everything. Just listing all the issues that come up within the book we have:
-17 year-old child bride
-infidelity
-blackmail
-Secret parentage
-daddy issue
-an OW and OM
-neglected wife
-secret siblings
-a broken relationship due to being blackmailed to marry someone else
-secret baby
-secret adoption
-unhappy childhood
-resentful in laws
-a heroine that was way to immature and sheltered for her age
-cheating gossip in the newspaper
-the flu
-.....and SOCKS!!! LOL! (You have to read the book to get the laugh)

Anyway, all of this was dealt with in one Harlequin Presents book and attempted to be tidied up at the end and Lynne Graham expects for us to believe it all worked out that fast. Will/can all of this workout? Yes, but give the reader more time to adjust. I’m not a fan of Lynne Graham taking a hero and heroine and splitting their story up into two books. I was so upset when I read The Volakis Vow books. Lynne Graham took a great story and ruined it by writing a second book with the same main characters. However, for whatever reason Lynne Graham felt she needed to add more to their story. Having said all of that, the main characters in The Unfaithful Wife needed more time to realistically deal with all the drama in their lives and we as readers need more time as well.

Despite everything I really did like the hero and heroine, even if I wanted to punch the hero at times and shake a backbone into the heroine. This is definitely worth reading and it was written during Lynne Graham’s heyday when her books were not so much paint by number. One ironic thing about this book is the title, I mean really? The Unfaithful WIFE!?!?

[Kate McMurry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic, 1995, HP, tycoon, alphahole, "enemies to lovers" romance

Leah's unconsummated, five-year marriage to powerful Greek tycoon, Nik Andreakis, is an empty sham, and she is determined to get a divorce. For the past three months, Leah has been sneaking away from her bodyguard and secretly meeting with Paul, a twenty-something man. She firmly believes she is in love with him, and that he is in love with her.

So far, during her affair with Paul, Leah has only been emotionally unfaithful to Nik. Though Paul has pressed her to have sex with him on multiple occasions, she has consistently refused. That is a step too far for her into violating her marriage vows. Also, it has not been at all difficult for her to hold Paul off because, as a virgin, sex isn't something she craves.

Leah is a prime example of the literary technique of an "unreliable narrator," because she is extremely naive. She does not realize that Paul is a conniving gigolo, even though, in an interesting use of the technique of dramatic irony, his presentation on the page makes that salient fact obvious to the reader. In a case of a silver lining to a dark cloud of deceit, however, Paul's false flattery has given Leah a confidence that she has never previously experienced in all of her 22, placidly cooperative years. That emotional boost, in combination with the fact that her father has recently died of a heart attack, has given her the courage to finally demand a divorce from her physically unfaithful, 30-year-old, Greek tycoon husband, Nik.

In another interesting use of irony, in this case, unconscious irony, though Leah seems to have been a complete doormat to her callously indifferent husband, she has stuck by him all these years, not because her teenage, worshipful adoration of him, which did not outlast the first six months of their marriage, after he rejected and abandoned her, but because of pride. She did not want to admit to her father what an abject failure her marriage has been. Unconsciously, because she is not into introspection, she feels both guilty and ashamed at how she got into this marriage. This is shown, not told, within flashbacks, by the fact that she never bothered to ask her father how he convinced Nik to marry her. Nik looked anything but delighted when he proposed to her, and there was a vast gulf between the two of them economically, socially, and in worldly experience. Last but not least, in the midst of her unexamined life, Leah has never admitted to herself the reality that, at an extremely unworldly age of 17, she was far too immature to get married to anyone.

This novel crosses a line in two directions as it violates the Prime Directive of mainstream romance: "Thou shalt not cheat." That prohibition exists because cheating directly violates the sacred goal of a romance novel, to convince the reader that the FMC and MMC are soulmates. The demonstrable proof of their soulmate status, in the rarefied, idealistic view of the romance genre, goes like this: If someone is your soulmate, you cannot possibly have any interest, whatsoever, either emotionally or sexually, in anyone other than your soulmate. (Which is aptly expressed in the immortal words of Paul Newman, regarding his perpetual fidelity to his beloved wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward: "I have steak at home; why go out for hamburger?") If either the MMC or FMC is capable of being physically or emotionally unfaithful from the moment they meet, then the fictive dream of True Love is violated. (This issue also creates a fatal flaw in any version of a reunion romance, if either of the two lovers is involved romantically or sexually with anyone else during the length of their separation or, worse, the breakup was caused by one of them cheating.)

In this particular story, the MMC physically cheats multiple times after a marriage ceremony he was forced into, which led to a marriage which he did not consummate and did not feel any commitment to. As Nik states to Leah, with brutal frankness, he did not consider himself actually married to her before her father died, and he knew that the only way he could escape the marriage he was forced into would be if Leah herself left him. He was astounded that she stuck around when he neglected and abandoned her and acted like a single man. It was only logical for him to assume that she remained, against all odds, madly in love with him. And, of course, even though this is an "enemies to lovers" plot, and Leah is initially convinced that she hates Nik, it doesn't take long for her to realize that she, in fact, never stopped loving him.

In order to convince diehard romance fans to forgive Nik for violating the no-cheating mandate, in addition to the above excuses, the focus of this story, via the title and the opening scenes of the novel which Leah spends with Paul, is placed on her counterbalancing emotional cheating. Basically, the story stands or falls on the degree to which LG has persuaded her audience to go along with a type of blame-extinguishing, dual-revenge, "Two wrongs make it right."

Trying to live up to the extremely limited list of tropes demanded by the HP line is like trying to dance on the head of a literary pin and not fall off. Sometimes, extremely popular HP authors like LG try to mix it up a bit, as she has done in this novel. It was a risky bet to employ cheating, though, and a lot of fans have assigned this book 1 or 2 stars. I myself, as a devoted fan of LG, the first time I read this book, only gave it 3 stars. But on rereading this book and noticing all the clever artistry LG has displayed in pulling off an extremely challenging plot, in terms of the demands of both HP and the romance genre in general, I actually think she succeeded.

I personally don't tend to enjoy romance novels in which the FMC acts like a doormat. That's the main reason I don't like the vast majority of chick lit novels, because the FMC tends to be a doormat throughout 75% of the novel. If the FMC is going to be presented as a worm, which inevitably is a passive, boring protagonist, for my personal taste, that worm needs to turn ASAP. That's exactly what happens in this novel. All of Leah's worminess occurs in flashbacks. In the present-day, foreground events of this novel, she is actually quite assertive. In addition, LG has definitely delivered in this novel all of the emotional punch that is her trademark, and the entire reason that she, alone among all of the HP authors I've ever tried to read, that I have stayed faithful to following for the past 25 years.

[Ⓐlleskelle - That ranting lady ッ · Rating 2 out of 5]

“And why are you my wife? Because you so badly wanted to be my wife.”

Train wreck romance alright. Fun read if you can deal with an asshole talking in riddles and an heroine obsessed with men socks.

“Ask yourself why you’re still buying my socks.”

Heroine is persuaded she's over the infatuation she had for Nik when they married.

@2%: “Time had taken care of that kind of nonsense. The child bride had grown up and wised up.”

—LIES, ALL LIES. There was no growing up and certainly no wising up. Nonsense on the other hand... oh, nonsense aplenty.

Her, 17 years old to his 25 years old. Yes, seven-fucking-teen, but they only had a marriage by name because... reasons, treasons, schemes and blackmail. In other words : LUDICROUS DRAMA
Well, because of a C-E-R-T-I-F-I-C-A-T-E to be precise. What kind of certificate you're wondering? Well, I wouldn't dare to deprive you of the madness pleasure it was to wonder during 70% of the story, grasping at at riddles and sekrits regarding that piece of paper, nor will I spoil for you the many occasions the heroine had to just push Nik for answers...
—Sigh.—
To reclaim his wife and some control, billionaire Nik will play the overbearing part, so well that he was more an asshole than anything. One solution, get in before Leah's new love interest—literally. Leah tries to quit Nik to get her freedom back but will abandon any thoughts of fleeting once Nik exerces his "marital rights". (Holy Shit, I just wrote that. Ewwww. But the book made me! It feels like reading this book make you lose any feminist trait.)
Once Nik between her legs, it seemed Leah remembered all sudden why she had crushed on Nik back then. The frenzy, the passion, his "savoir-faire", his good looks... And all is forgiven.

Nik, with all his considerable sexual savoir-faire, setting out with cool calculation to seduce his wife and thus throw her into absolute turmoil.

This book will make you mad. The heroine will make you mad. The hero will make you ENRAGE.
Will the romance make it up for all this nonsense? In my opinion? NO.
Even Nik sprouting cheesy flowery lines couldn't help the cause :

“Your skin has the bloom of a camellia.”
“You are a breath of spring in this winter scene”

Despite all this... I couldn't stop reading. So what does it says about me, really? Did I like it?
I picked this book as part of a challenge to read old school Harlequin Presents titles. I'm sure I'll find a couple I can genuinely like. This one just annoyed me too much.
The writing was good, I'll give you that. Although a bit dated. A parting gift for you, out of context I must admit, but it wouldn't be so much fun otherwise :

“Nik ejaculated incredulously.”

More reviews and book talk at :

You can find me here too ☞

[Tmstprc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread 3/1/2024… love the confrontation scene with the pictures, brilliant.

Reread 7/29/2023

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed this one. It’s an HP staple.

And I just realized this is probably the inspiration for The Unwanted Wife. Angry husband, ignored wife, blackmailing father. Husband believes wife is complicit in the blackmail—daddy bought you a husband plot point.

What surprised me on this reread was how much dubious consent runs throughout the story. It’s a bit envelope pushing in 2023, not so much in 1995.

Strangely, the cheating in this isn’t horrifying. They don’t have a real marriage, and he’s a completely hypocrite for being mad she was having an “emotional affair”. What’s more annoying is the OM had to be a gold digger, god forbid someone be truly interested in the ignored wife.

So ultimately, on this reread the cheating didn’t bother me nearly as much as the numerous dubious consent encounters.

4 it still entertained me stars.

[Kace | The Booknerd · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Booked · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's one of my top favorites from LG. I love how level headed Leah is. Her transition from being naive to just realizing herself is something I can relate with. She has this logic that he couldn't touch and he eventually bows down to. It's a battle of wills and of course the redemption of our hero seals the deal with a sweet kiss. I love this book because it gives you great characters and a solid plot.

[Janie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read this when I was 13, and remember dropping this book like a hot potato at the mention the hero was an adulterer. Now 7 years later, I have tried rereading it and just can't finish it, I just can't! This guy is the biggest manwhore and jerk, and mind you, I tend to love jerk heroes who end up grovelling. If he was a real person, I'd hope he gets an Incurable STD. This should've been renamed Cheating Jerk Husband!

[Lidia's Romance]

DNF @ 36% - No rating.

I've noticed a pattern in Graham's books: The constant, over-the-top bickering and yelling between the main characters.



A few of her books have worked very well for me while others have fallen short. The fighting here was ridiculous. The hero was ridiculous. His behavior towards the heroine didn't even make sense, not considering the relationship they had. They had no relationship. They didn't even know each other despite being married for 5 years. They interacted like once and lived separately since. Then, poof--I'm to believe his sudden interest in her, his desire for her? His crazy possessiveness? YOU'RE MINE! From one page to the next? Come on.

I saw a similarity to The Unwanted Wife. Maybe Natasha Anders got some of her inspiration from this book, too, besides The Price of a Bride. But in my opinion, Anders did it better. By far. There is just no other like The Unwanted Wife 🥰.