What do you think?
Rate this book
Gold Ring of Betrayal
They've never stopped being married...
Nicolas Santino doesn't accept that Lia is his daughter. He believes Sara, his wife, cheated on him with another man, and Lia is the result of that betrayal.
So Sara and Nicolas are separated - until the silence between them is forcibly broken - Lia has been kidnapped! Nicolas knows he is the only one who can secure the little girl's safe return, but it means he must go back to Sara - and find that, even after three long years, she still wears his ring...
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1996
225 people are currently reading
1685 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Reid
388 books637 followersHi, my name is Michelle Reid and I’ve been writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon for the last twenty years, and the crazy part about it is that I only realised it had been twenty years while updating this page!
So, hang on for a minute while I take this huge milestone in....
Twenty years with almost forty books published or in the pipeline ... I know it isn’t a great average when compared with some authors but it sounds pretty good to me!
So what was I doing twenty years ago before I wrote books? Well, I did the all of the usual things, like growing up and attending school, finishing at secretarial college, which I hated, then spent the next several years wandering aimlessly from job to job. Eventually I met my husband, we married and produced two daughters who then grew up and between them presented us with two gorgeous grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Somewhere in between my girls growing up and the grandchildren arriving on the scene, I started writing. To this day I don’t know why, unless it was a natural progression from my never being without a book close by—often several—because books have always been an important part of my life for as far back as I can recall.
So, I started to write, by hand at first, scribbling short stories in notebooks which never saw the light of day. At some point I discovered Mills & Boon Romance books and that was pretty much it for me. I’d found my new love, as in reading romantic fiction and inevitably writing it too.
So twenty years on and almost forty books on, here I am still writing and still loving it!
So, hang on for a minute while I take this huge milestone in....
Twenty years with almost forty books published or in the pipeline ... I know it isn’t a great average when compared with some authors but it sounds pretty good to me!
So what was I doing twenty years ago before I wrote books? Well, I did the all of the usual things, like growing up and attending school, finishing at secretarial college, which I hated, then spent the next several years wandering aimlessly from job to job. Eventually I met my husband, we married and produced two daughters who then grew up and between them presented us with two gorgeous grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Somewhere in between my girls growing up and the grandchildren arriving on the scene, I started writing. To this day I don’t know why, unless it was a natural progression from my never being without a book close by—often several—because books have always been an important part of my life for as far back as I can recall.
So, I started to write, by hand at first, scribbling short stories in notebooks which never saw the light of day. At some point I discovered Mills & Boon Romance books and that was pretty much it for me. I’d found my new love, as in reading romantic fiction and inevitably writing it too.
So twenty years on and almost forty books on, here I am still writing and still loving it!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
November 16, 2022
3.5 Stars
I enjoyed this old school HQ style romance..but I wanted more angst. And more grovelling. Always more grovelling...I will perhaps upgrade upon reread, but we shall see.
I enjoyed this old school HQ style romance..but I wanted more angst. And more grovelling. Always more grovelling...I will perhaps upgrade upon reread, but we shall see.
January 8, 2019
Re Gold Ring of Betryal - Michelle Reid tackles one of the founding tropes of HPlandia in this one, the married couple reunited after a long separation. Anne Mather introduced us to it, way back in 1973 with The Sanchez Tradition, HP outing number eight.
Flora Kidd did innumerable takes on the topic, over half her backlist is all about this trope. Charlotte Lamb even threw her opinion in with a remarkably similar story line, right down to some very familiar themes in her 1981 Abduction.
But MR shows her true HPlandia genius with this one. She takes a common everyday HP trope and she makes literal HP magic that will keep an HP Voyager glued to the page.
The story starts with an ominous kidnapping. Our fragile, introverted, blonde fairy princess Sara is sitting on her settee, counting roses in a small square of carpet in the most meticulous way. That settee is sitting in a luxury seven bedroom upscale London home that is more prison than cozy nest and we are all waiting for an arrival.
Sara's two year old daughter, Lia, has been kidnapped. Stolen out of the local park whilst playing. Sara has a legion of staff to guard and watch her, and yet somehow Sara's beloved mini-Sara was stolen away.
A tall, dark and domineering man arrives, Sara is surprised because she thought it would be hours yet, but the Arrogant Sicilian Alpha Nicolas, explains he took the Concorde. Sara wryly thinks it must have been a jolt for the man to have to use public transportation.
Then in a shocking contrast to the formal and stilled quiet tension that is the tone for this scene, Sara leaps to her feet and demands to know why her Nematode Husband Nic and his Sewer Gulper Father Alfredo have taken her daughter.
Nic denies any and all responsibility for taking the child, yet Sara is adamant. He must have done this - or his father did. We are all left in stunned shock at the accusation, as the backstory begins to unfold.
Sara was the only child of a retired schoolteacher father. Her mother died when she was very young and her father moved her to the Fells of Yorkshire and home schooled her. When he died when she was 13, she was sent to an indifferent boarding school where her only friend was the elderly gardener and at twenty, unable to go to uni, she took a job at garden center.
Part of her job was to go around to various office buildings and care for the plants. On one of these trips, it was raining heavily and she collided with a man in a rush who dropped his wallet. She picked the wallet up, decided to return it to him and thus her fate was sealed.
The man turned out to be big, domineering Sicilian Alpha Nicolas, who took one look at Sara's long blonde locks and big blue eyes and fell head over heels into love. There was a whirlwind courtship and a marriage and then disaster struck. Nic and Sara moved into the family manse in Sicily.
Nicolas's equally domineering and quite evil father, Alfredo, despised Nic's choice of a wife. He sent Nic off on ever increasing and long business trips and in the interim ruthlessly derided, belittled and betrayed Sara on every level he could, hoping to oust her and find a more socially equal daughter in law.
There were snide asides from Alfredo's and Nic's societal compatriots, rudeness and negativity from the household staff and introverted Sara was forced into a social strata she hated, locked in a house she loathed and forced to accept pricey clothes and jewels that she did not give a damn about.
When she tried to tell Nic that she wasn't happy, Nic refused to hear it. All he wanted was a willing and warm bed partner and she needed to just put up and shut up, really she should just be grateful to be there.
It all ended in a high Italian Opera Drama when Sara was told to meet Nic one night at a nearby hotel. Sara waited and waited and finally got ready for bed, figuring Nic had been delayed. But when there was a knock on the door, a social gigolo up to no good and commissioned by Alfredo, barged into the room and grabbed Sara up in an embrace.
Nic walked in at the perfectly wrong time to misinterpret the situation and after one contemptuous glance, announced Sara was nothing to him and turned and walked away. The gigolo had jumped out the window by that point and Sara was sent to live in isolated luxury in London, because if Nic couldn't have her, no man would.
But Sara happened to discover she was pregnant, tho Nic refused to believe the baby was his. She even attempted to get Nic's BFF and personal assistant Toni to intervene for her, but outraged Sicilian males stick together and Sara was tried, condemned and banished without ever getting a hearing.
Alfredo was delirious with joy, Nic was coldly furious and Toni dismissed Sara as a trampy tart. So Sara buckled down and settled in and devoted herself to her beloved and angelic daughter Lia, seekritly hoping against hope that time and patience would bring about a sea change of tides.
Now that long awaited moment, almost three years after the big breakup, has arrived. There are several verbal battles as we wait for the kidnapper's contact and wonder about their demands and Sara finally gets to have her say.
She may be introverted, but she is no longer silent and Nicolas doesn't get everything his own way, Sara gives him smackdown after smackdown and angrily demands he find her daughter. All the tension and angst lead to a big passion lurve club explosion and then Lia is rescued.
Nic has decided that he can't be without Sara any longer, tho he has ostensibly tried with other women, Sara is the only one his passion wants.
So we all go back to Sicily and Alfredo, ill and in a wheelchair, is hovering like a poisonous spider in a fat web of lies, ready and waiting to strike. Sara worries that now that Alfredo has met Lia and become very attached to her, there are moves afoot to get Sara out of the way.
Warnings and threats are issued on both sides of the Alfreado/Sara war and Nic refuses to even acknowledge Lia's existence. After a few nights of purple passion, Nic has determined that Sara and Lia will be staying. But Lia is sectioned off to another area of the house and Nic will have his manly way.
Until Sara hears Lia screaming from a nightmare one night and rushes to the two year old's side. There is an EPIC Mum on the Rampage smackdown and Nic admits that he has been trying to reconnect with Sara while ignoring her child.
Sara is having none of that and if she had the power, the nanny that Nic and Alfredo provided would have been fired for her actions. That doesn't happen, but Nic is told that since he has another woman that he sees regularly twice a week, her name is Anastasia, he can go seek an outlet for his manly desires elsewhere. Sara's bed warming days and being treated like she is a disgrace are over.
Sara and Nic generate some powerful lurve force mojo, because barely a week goes by and then Nic is back, begging to start over on the marriage and Anastasia is now a liaison in the past. Nic even try's to make a connection with Lia, who only calls him "Man" and he allows Lia to call him papa.
Alfredo is still scheming and being nasty behind the scenes, but he needs medical treatment in Switzerland, his heart is failing and he is dying - but even the threat of death is not enough to mend his lying, evil ways.
Still, it is a break for the small family while he is gone and Sara even gets her own little residence inside the family manse. Lia is very attached to Alfredo, she calls him Grandpa, so Sara makes allowances to include him in their daily lives when he gets back.
Then another disaster strikes and it starts at a local society major event. Alfredo, Nic and Sara all dress in their best and make an appearance. As Sara is wandering around, much more socially confident now and indifferently accepting the local's turn about on her prior harassment, she sees Nic holding a tall and lovely brunette in his arms and kissing her.
Sara knows that this is Nic's Anastastia and that all Nic's words were just like his father's - utter lies. So Sara makes Alfredo take her back to the family pile, but when she gets there, she walks into a life and death situation.
Alfredo has a live in nurse and little Lia is very sick. The nurse suspects meningitis. In a mad rush to get the helicopter to the hospital. Sara and Lia take off for medical treatment, leaving Nic and a cursing and wailing Alfredo behind.
Nic eventually makes it to the hospital, later followed by Alfredo, and we learn the situation is very, very dire - there is no word yet on how much damage Lia might have sustained or even if Lia made to hospital and antibiotics in time.
There is a very tense wait of several days, Sara is totally focused on willing Lia to get better and live. Nic is unsure of what to do, but he tries his best to be supportive. Until Alfredo makes his grand confession of how he destroyed Nic and Sara's relationship three years earlier and lied to Nic about Sara's long term adultery.
Nic crashes and Sara, more aware now that Lia has passed the most dangerous point, steps up to care for all the casualties Alfredo's confession has created. Alfredo believes that Lia might die and that it is his fault. In his eagerness to show off the child, he took her to a village where there was a meningitis exposure and so to atone for his sins, he told Nic the truth about his sneaky antics.
Sara manages to bolster Nic up enough to wait with her until Lia is better. But once Lia is released from the hospital, Nic has to runway and be a big baby, cause he is so ashamed of himself. Alfredo isn't much better. He has lost the respect and love of his only child and so Compassionate Sara tries to help him mend it.
But Nic stays gone and Sara has rescinded the right to worry about it, then Nic shows up as Sara is running into the house to escape the rain. In a recreation of the first time they met, Sara tells Nic to drop his wallet. After he gets her dried off and her hair blown out, Nic tosses his wallet to Sara and a reconnection is made.
They finally talk and forgive each other and then Sara asks the big question about Anastasia. Nic is very ashamed of himself as he admits that Anastasia is his BFF Tony's fiancee. But Tony works for Nic a LOT and Anastasia's mum is really ill, so Nic goes and visits her when Tony can't.
He couldn't introduce Anastasia at the party because of his prior lies that she was his mistress, so he had to explain to Anastasia about that and his kissing her was an act of contrition.
Sara believes Nic and then she tells him that he has to forgive his father too, because Lia loves the nasty old man and it is time that Nic learned how to be a father. Nic is willing to try, if Sara will lurve him up first, so we leave the two of them reconnecting on all levels for the big, dramatic and sparkly pink passionate HEA.
This story is very intense and Michelle Reid shows just exactly what a really great HP author can do with a very common trope. The tension never lets up, the passion and the True Love avowals are utterly believable and via Alfredo and his many snarky and nasty comments, we learn that Nic very likely never cheated - even while they were apart.
Alfredo gets a big comeuppance too, in a karmic justice moment. His visits with Lia are now on Sara's sufferance and his own son, who once adored and looked up to him, absolutely despises him and only tolerates being around him for Lia's sake.
There is also the fact that this man, who once strode around causing angst and terror among anyone he perceived as lesser than himself, is slowly dying in the most confining and painful kind of way and very reliant on the very people he treated so badly.
I must admit that I don't think Nic suffered enough in all of this. If I had my way and in my own little ending re-creation, Sara and Lia would have had to go back to London for treatment and Sara would decide there to sort out the mistress situation. While Lia recovered, Sara would file for divorce and cite adultery - with Anastasia as a cross complainant.
The snide and snot BFF Tony would be the one to accept the divorce petition, and upon reading it, would then punch Nic in the face and break his nose for sullying the name of his most unicorn grooming fiancee - who has the gynecological cert and a daddy with a shotgun to prove it.
Eventually, after a year of Nic being unhappy and alone, stuck in a mouldering house in Sicily and only able to eat beans on crumbs because Alfredo died and all the staff quit after Nic's lies about the Beloved Anastasia. Sara would relent after the very nice Anastasia shows up to plead Nic's case. Anastasia and Tony are married by then, but Anastasia has a baby on the way and Tony needs to make a decent living, so Nic will have to hire him back and make him a partner.
Sara decides that Lia really needs a father, and Nic deserves to have to live through the Trying Threes and Eff You Fours. So after a suitably repentant Nic apologizes on his KNEES and humbly extends his wallet, Sara and Nic reunite and live in London and Sara gets a Gold at the Chelsea Garden Show, for a much more satisfying (at least in my rewritten book,) ending to this HP outing.
Flora Kidd did innumerable takes on the topic, over half her backlist is all about this trope. Charlotte Lamb even threw her opinion in with a remarkably similar story line, right down to some very familiar themes in her 1981 Abduction.
But MR shows her true HPlandia genius with this one. She takes a common everyday HP trope and she makes literal HP magic that will keep an HP Voyager glued to the page.
The story starts with an ominous kidnapping. Our fragile, introverted, blonde fairy princess Sara is sitting on her settee, counting roses in a small square of carpet in the most meticulous way. That settee is sitting in a luxury seven bedroom upscale London home that is more prison than cozy nest and we are all waiting for an arrival.
Sara's two year old daughter, Lia, has been kidnapped. Stolen out of the local park whilst playing. Sara has a legion of staff to guard and watch her, and yet somehow Sara's beloved mini-Sara was stolen away.
A tall, dark and domineering man arrives, Sara is surprised because she thought it would be hours yet, but the Arrogant Sicilian Alpha Nicolas, explains he took the Concorde. Sara wryly thinks it must have been a jolt for the man to have to use public transportation.
Then in a shocking contrast to the formal and stilled quiet tension that is the tone for this scene, Sara leaps to her feet and demands to know why her Nematode Husband Nic and his Sewer Gulper Father Alfredo have taken her daughter.
Nic denies any and all responsibility for taking the child, yet Sara is adamant. He must have done this - or his father did. We are all left in stunned shock at the accusation, as the backstory begins to unfold.
Sara was the only child of a retired schoolteacher father. Her mother died when she was very young and her father moved her to the Fells of Yorkshire and home schooled her. When he died when she was 13, she was sent to an indifferent boarding school where her only friend was the elderly gardener and at twenty, unable to go to uni, she took a job at garden center.
Part of her job was to go around to various office buildings and care for the plants. On one of these trips, it was raining heavily and she collided with a man in a rush who dropped his wallet. She picked the wallet up, decided to return it to him and thus her fate was sealed.
The man turned out to be big, domineering Sicilian Alpha Nicolas, who took one look at Sara's long blonde locks and big blue eyes and fell head over heels into love. There was a whirlwind courtship and a marriage and then disaster struck. Nic and Sara moved into the family manse in Sicily.
Nicolas's equally domineering and quite evil father, Alfredo, despised Nic's choice of a wife. He sent Nic off on ever increasing and long business trips and in the interim ruthlessly derided, belittled and betrayed Sara on every level he could, hoping to oust her and find a more socially equal daughter in law.
There were snide asides from Alfredo's and Nic's societal compatriots, rudeness and negativity from the household staff and introverted Sara was forced into a social strata she hated, locked in a house she loathed and forced to accept pricey clothes and jewels that she did not give a damn about.
When she tried to tell Nic that she wasn't happy, Nic refused to hear it. All he wanted was a willing and warm bed partner and she needed to just put up and shut up, really she should just be grateful to be there.
It all ended in a high Italian Opera Drama when Sara was told to meet Nic one night at a nearby hotel. Sara waited and waited and finally got ready for bed, figuring Nic had been delayed. But when there was a knock on the door, a social gigolo up to no good and commissioned by Alfredo, barged into the room and grabbed Sara up in an embrace.
Nic walked in at the perfectly wrong time to misinterpret the situation and after one contemptuous glance, announced Sara was nothing to him and turned and walked away. The gigolo had jumped out the window by that point and Sara was sent to live in isolated luxury in London, because if Nic couldn't have her, no man would.
But Sara happened to discover she was pregnant, tho Nic refused to believe the baby was his. She even attempted to get Nic's BFF and personal assistant Toni to intervene for her, but outraged Sicilian males stick together and Sara was tried, condemned and banished without ever getting a hearing.
Alfredo was delirious with joy, Nic was coldly furious and Toni dismissed Sara as a trampy tart. So Sara buckled down and settled in and devoted herself to her beloved and angelic daughter Lia, seekritly hoping against hope that time and patience would bring about a sea change of tides.
Now that long awaited moment, almost three years after the big breakup, has arrived. There are several verbal battles as we wait for the kidnapper's contact and wonder about their demands and Sara finally gets to have her say.
She may be introverted, but she is no longer silent and Nicolas doesn't get everything his own way, Sara gives him smackdown after smackdown and angrily demands he find her daughter. All the tension and angst lead to a big passion lurve club explosion and then Lia is rescued.
Nic has decided that he can't be without Sara any longer, tho he has ostensibly tried with other women, Sara is the only one his passion wants.
So we all go back to Sicily and Alfredo, ill and in a wheelchair, is hovering like a poisonous spider in a fat web of lies, ready and waiting to strike. Sara worries that now that Alfredo has met Lia and become very attached to her, there are moves afoot to get Sara out of the way.
Warnings and threats are issued on both sides of the Alfreado/Sara war and Nic refuses to even acknowledge Lia's existence. After a few nights of purple passion, Nic has determined that Sara and Lia will be staying. But Lia is sectioned off to another area of the house and Nic will have his manly way.
Until Sara hears Lia screaming from a nightmare one night and rushes to the two year old's side. There is an EPIC Mum on the Rampage smackdown and Nic admits that he has been trying to reconnect with Sara while ignoring her child.
Sara is having none of that and if she had the power, the nanny that Nic and Alfredo provided would have been fired for her actions. That doesn't happen, but Nic is told that since he has another woman that he sees regularly twice a week, her name is Anastasia, he can go seek an outlet for his manly desires elsewhere. Sara's bed warming days and being treated like she is a disgrace are over.
Sara and Nic generate some powerful lurve force mojo, because barely a week goes by and then Nic is back, begging to start over on the marriage and Anastasia is now a liaison in the past. Nic even try's to make a connection with Lia, who only calls him "Man" and he allows Lia to call him papa.
Alfredo is still scheming and being nasty behind the scenes, but he needs medical treatment in Switzerland, his heart is failing and he is dying - but even the threat of death is not enough to mend his lying, evil ways.
Still, it is a break for the small family while he is gone and Sara even gets her own little residence inside the family manse. Lia is very attached to Alfredo, she calls him Grandpa, so Sara makes allowances to include him in their daily lives when he gets back.
Then another disaster strikes and it starts at a local society major event. Alfredo, Nic and Sara all dress in their best and make an appearance. As Sara is wandering around, much more socially confident now and indifferently accepting the local's turn about on her prior harassment, she sees Nic holding a tall and lovely brunette in his arms and kissing her.
Sara knows that this is Nic's Anastastia and that all Nic's words were just like his father's - utter lies. So Sara makes Alfredo take her back to the family pile, but when she gets there, she walks into a life and death situation.
Alfredo has a live in nurse and little Lia is very sick. The nurse suspects meningitis. In a mad rush to get the helicopter to the hospital. Sara and Lia take off for medical treatment, leaving Nic and a cursing and wailing Alfredo behind.
Nic eventually makes it to the hospital, later followed by Alfredo, and we learn the situation is very, very dire - there is no word yet on how much damage Lia might have sustained or even if Lia made to hospital and antibiotics in time.
There is a very tense wait of several days, Sara is totally focused on willing Lia to get better and live. Nic is unsure of what to do, but he tries his best to be supportive. Until Alfredo makes his grand confession of how he destroyed Nic and Sara's relationship three years earlier and lied to Nic about Sara's long term adultery.
Nic crashes and Sara, more aware now that Lia has passed the most dangerous point, steps up to care for all the casualties Alfredo's confession has created. Alfredo believes that Lia might die and that it is his fault. In his eagerness to show off the child, he took her to a village where there was a meningitis exposure and so to atone for his sins, he told Nic the truth about his sneaky antics.
Sara manages to bolster Nic up enough to wait with her until Lia is better. But once Lia is released from the hospital, Nic has to runway and be a big baby, cause he is so ashamed of himself. Alfredo isn't much better. He has lost the respect and love of his only child and so Compassionate Sara tries to help him mend it.
But Nic stays gone and Sara has rescinded the right to worry about it, then Nic shows up as Sara is running into the house to escape the rain. In a recreation of the first time they met, Sara tells Nic to drop his wallet. After he gets her dried off and her hair blown out, Nic tosses his wallet to Sara and a reconnection is made.
They finally talk and forgive each other and then Sara asks the big question about Anastasia. Nic is very ashamed of himself as he admits that Anastasia is his BFF Tony's fiancee. But Tony works for Nic a LOT and Anastasia's mum is really ill, so Nic goes and visits her when Tony can't.
He couldn't introduce Anastasia at the party because of his prior lies that she was his mistress, so he had to explain to Anastasia about that and his kissing her was an act of contrition.
Sara believes Nic and then she tells him that he has to forgive his father too, because Lia loves the nasty old man and it is time that Nic learned how to be a father. Nic is willing to try, if Sara will lurve him up first, so we leave the two of them reconnecting on all levels for the big, dramatic and sparkly pink passionate HEA.
This story is very intense and Michelle Reid shows just exactly what a really great HP author can do with a very common trope. The tension never lets up, the passion and the True Love avowals are utterly believable and via Alfredo and his many snarky and nasty comments, we learn that Nic very likely never cheated - even while they were apart.
Alfredo gets a big comeuppance too, in a karmic justice moment. His visits with Lia are now on Sara's sufferance and his own son, who once adored and looked up to him, absolutely despises him and only tolerates being around him for Lia's sake.
There is also the fact that this man, who once strode around causing angst and terror among anyone he perceived as lesser than himself, is slowly dying in the most confining and painful kind of way and very reliant on the very people he treated so badly.
I must admit that I don't think Nic suffered enough in all of this. If I had my way and in my own little ending re-creation, Sara and Lia would have had to go back to London for treatment and Sara would decide there to sort out the mistress situation. While Lia recovered, Sara would file for divorce and cite adultery - with Anastasia as a cross complainant.
The snide and snot BFF Tony would be the one to accept the divorce petition, and upon reading it, would then punch Nic in the face and break his nose for sullying the name of his most unicorn grooming fiancee - who has the gynecological cert and a daddy with a shotgun to prove it.
Eventually, after a year of Nic being unhappy and alone, stuck in a mouldering house in Sicily and only able to eat beans on crumbs because Alfredo died and all the staff quit after Nic's lies about the Beloved Anastasia. Sara would relent after the very nice Anastasia shows up to plead Nic's case. Anastasia and Tony are married by then, but Anastasia has a baby on the way and Tony needs to make a decent living, so Nic will have to hire him back and make him a partner.
Sara decides that Lia really needs a father, and Nic deserves to have to live through the Trying Threes and Eff You Fours. So after a suitably repentant Nic apologizes on his KNEES and humbly extends his wallet, Sara and Nic reunite and live in London and Sara gets a Gold at the Chelsea Garden Show, for a much more satisfying (at least in my rewritten book,) ending to this HP outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2017
Married couple Sara and Nicolas Santino become estranged after Nicolas believes Sara cheated on him (which she didn’t). After Sara (and Nicolas’s) daughter is kidnapped Nicolas tries to help out…
I really liked the heroine Sara. She was sweet, shy, and classy. I like the way, as the book progressed, that she became a stronger person who started standing up for herself. I didn’t particularly like Nicolas. He was cold, heartless, and a total idiot at times. He supposedly loved Sara but never listened to her or took her side in anything. His father Alfredo was trying to break them up, Sara tried to tell him, he wouldn’t listen, he’d get angry. Sara was shy, had a hard time fitting into a different way of life than she was used to, and Nicolas wasn’t very helpful. He was gone away from home a lot. They both had a sweet little daughter (Lia) that Nicolas didn’t acknowledge because he believed that Sara was a cheater and Lia wasn’t his, so Nicolas lost years of his daughter’s life.
But I did find the storyline engrossing which kept me reading. Even towards the end of the book some of the characters I didn’t like started to become a bit more likable.
This was a very angst-filled read. The hero Nicolas did sort of spoil it for me at times. Sara and Lia deserved better. But he did seem genuinely upset at the end.
I really liked the heroine Sara. She was sweet, shy, and classy. I like the way, as the book progressed, that she became a stronger person who started standing up for herself. I didn’t particularly like Nicolas. He was cold, heartless, and a total idiot at times. He supposedly loved Sara but never listened to her or took her side in anything. His father Alfredo was trying to break them up, Sara tried to tell him, he wouldn’t listen, he’d get angry. Sara was shy, had a hard time fitting into a different way of life than she was used to, and Nicolas wasn’t very helpful. He was gone away from home a lot. They both had a sweet little daughter (Lia) that Nicolas didn’t acknowledge because he believed that Sara was a cheater and Lia wasn’t his, so Nicolas lost years of his daughter’s life.
But I did find the storyline engrossing which kept me reading. Even towards the end of the book some of the characters I didn’t like started to become a bit more likable.
This was a very angst-filled read. The hero Nicolas did sort of spoil it for me at times. Sara and Lia deserved better. But he did seem genuinely upset at the end.
September 7, 2016
Hmm...
I really don't get why people like this book so much.
He treats her like crap, she suffers big-time and, when he finally finds out how wrong he was, does she get an abject apology or good grovelling? No. He leaves and, when he comes back, he's upset so she's the one who has to comfort him -- and at the end she's the one who has to make the first move to get them back together.
I mean, wtf? For what he put her through, he should've done all the comforting and all the chasing. I can't stand it when these so-called "heroes" put the heroines through hell and then, when they find out how wrong they were, well, boo-hoo they feel really bad about it so the heroine has to make it all better and, not only that, has to convince the dumb s.o.b. to give their relationship another try.
It makes for a really unsatisfying read, imo.
Oh yeah, and when you're separated and trying to sleep with other women? Unsuccessfully or not, that is cheating.
October 18, 2022
Very emotional read. The heroine's pain was palpable. A perfect agony read if you're in the mood for that sort of thing.
Had a re-read today, March 5, 2016. It's as good as I remembered it. The opening sentences reach out and grab you from the beginning.
London. Big house. Big address close to Hyde Park. The time: 17:45 pm. Six hours since it happened.
And the tension in the formal drawing room was so fraught it picked at the flesh.
*happy sigh* I picked this off my shelf and read every word until I had read it again. I love when a story sweeps you along.
M.R. doesn't let up once the initial tension of the kidnapping was resolved, she layered in a "second kidnapping" - this time the heroine was whisked away to Sicily and caught in her father-in-law's trap yet again.
I also appreciated that not a scene was wasted. And how there were scenes that mirrored the past - the hero sees heroine in a compromising situation - which lead to their estrangement, the heroine sees the hero in a compromising situation at a party (which lead to the eventual resolution). In both situations they have the father-in-law to thank for their wrong interpretations. And they both had a chance to feel what the other felt - jealousy and betrayal of not being trusted. Then there was the business with the wallet - how they initially met and how they made up. Lovely.
MR never quite explained the kidnapping and critics have said the father-in-law got off too easily. I kind of liked how he became less evil in stages (after he sees how miserable his son was), then when he meets his granddaughter, and then after his last surgery. And he's still kinda of evil and manipulative at the end. That seems more realistic than a complete 180.
I liked the hero. I liked the heroine. Their backstory was sweet and it was easy to see why they were both so susceptible to the old man's manipulations. Hero was not a cynical guy - just a passionate one. Heroine grew up a lot and was a fierce mama lion. Hero had no chance, really, and I think he realized that if he wanted her he had to accept her child. His remorse at learning the truth was heartbreaking and I loved how the heroine was worried she had to take care of him on top of everyone else.
This was a great re-read!
Had a re-read today, March 5, 2016. It's as good as I remembered it. The opening sentences reach out and grab you from the beginning.
London. Big house. Big address close to Hyde Park. The time: 17:45 pm. Six hours since it happened.
And the tension in the formal drawing room was so fraught it picked at the flesh.
*happy sigh* I picked this off my shelf and read every word until I had read it again. I love when a story sweeps you along.
M.R. doesn't let up once the initial tension of the kidnapping was resolved, she layered in a "second kidnapping" - this time the heroine was whisked away to Sicily and caught in her father-in-law's trap yet again.
I also appreciated that not a scene was wasted. And how there were scenes that mirrored the past - the hero sees heroine in a compromising situation - which lead to their estrangement, the heroine sees the hero in a compromising situation at a party (which lead to the eventual resolution). In both situations they have the father-in-law to thank for their wrong interpretations. And they both had a chance to feel what the other felt - jealousy and betrayal of not being trusted. Then there was the business with the wallet - how they initially met and how they made up. Lovely.
MR never quite explained the kidnapping and critics have said the father-in-law got off too easily. I kind of liked how he became less evil in stages (after he sees how miserable his son was), then when he meets his granddaughter, and then after his last surgery. And he's still kinda of evil and manipulative at the end. That seems more realistic than a complete 180.
I liked the hero. I liked the heroine. Their backstory was sweet and it was easy to see why they were both so susceptible to the old man's manipulations. Hero was not a cynical guy - just a passionate one. Heroine grew up a lot and was a fierce mama lion. Hero had no chance, really, and I think he realized that if he wanted her he had to accept her child. His remorse at learning the truth was heartbreaking and I loved how the heroine was worried she had to take care of him on top of everyone else.
This was a great re-read!
February 19, 2024
4/5 ⭐️ This was dramatic but in the best way. It even made me a bit emotional because of the kidnapping of Sara’s baby.
It was angsty and entertaining. Nicolas really believed that Sara had cheated on him and that the baby wasn’t his 😭. The jealousy and rage on his part because of this made me so damn giddy 🤭. Because even though he believed he cheated on her, he still cared and wanted her 🥹.
Overall, I had such a great time reading this and the drama was very entertaining!
It was angsty and entertaining. Nicolas really believed that Sara had cheated on him and that the baby wasn’t his 😭. The jealousy and rage on his part because of this made me so damn giddy 🤭. Because even though he believed he cheated on her, he still cared and wanted her 🥹.
Overall, I had such a great time reading this and the drama was very entertaining!
March 17, 2012
Wow.. what can I say. This was a very emotional book and at times I found I had to put the book down because it was too difficult to read. Definitely 4 stars given the plot, the characters, and the chemistry. But given all that, I am not sure I could read this book again. I really felt that the hero and family were just too sadistically mean to the heroine oftentimes going beyond what is just plain decent. Even though, I read HP's for the Happy Endings, I think I would have rated this a 10+, had the heroine decided to just move on with her life. She could still forgive him for the sake of their child. However, forgiving, doesn't have to mean staying married. Some mistakes just aren't repairable. I think this book was a case where the author made him so vindictive, that I just could not get past it. Without trust, there is nothing. Nic never really earned back or deserved the trust. At least not mine......
March 14, 2018
Michelle Reid and Gold Ring of Betrayal make a total hypocrite out of me. The unforgiving husband, hero behaving very badly, the wife willing to take on a second chance marriage by his terms, endangered plot moppet, and the unrepentant evil FIL just for starters in another book would have me ranting and one-starring. For whatever reason, Michelle Reid’s writing, archetypical strong and bitter hero and misjudged yet strong heroine are written with more depth than usual.
As mentioned by StMargarets, the drama and atmosphere starts from the very first page where Sara, the heroine, is frozen in a state of stasis at the thought of her baby being kidnapped I was hooked.
As mentioned by StMargarets, the drama and atmosphere starts from the very first page where Sara, the heroine, is frozen in a state of stasis at the thought of her baby being kidnapped I was hooked.
March 17, 2012
This was going to be a 5 star read right up until the end where I felt that there was insufficient grovelling. I loved the beginning. The set up wasn't all that different or anything but it was just very well written and moving. I choked up several times in the first half of the book as it was becoming apparent how he had misjudged her. Also the kidnapping scenario was emotionally written also. There was a lot of meat to the story. But sadly, just not quite enough grovelling. You knew he was remorseful but I wanted to read more actual words and begging from him. Is that vindictive of me? Still I recommend to angst lovers.
July 12, 2017
I know in real life people's life doesn't revolve around sex, so if this was true story I wouldn't automatically assume he wasn't celibate.
However, this is HP, and it appears the heroes need to f*ck OW during separation to keep their dicks in shape. Basically if they have a row and he walks out for a smoke and comes back half an hour later, chances are he already have had sex with someone else.
So I am not willing to give him benefit of doubt.
And between no grovelling, no apologies and no comeuppance for bad guys this book was terrible!
However, this is HP, and it appears the heroes need to f*ck OW during separation to keep their dicks in shape. Basically if they have a row and he walks out for a smoke and comes back half an hour later, chances are he already have had sex with someone else.
So I am not willing to give him benefit of doubt.
And between no grovelling, no apologies and no comeuppance for bad guys this book was terrible!
March 23, 2013
3.5 stars
A highly emotional read. Do not read this book unless you want something really angsty. The biggest problem I have with this book is that the author made the lead male character and his father so unlikable that no reader with an ounce of self preservation and respect could bring themselves to accept the ending. It makes the readers question the unrealistic and what seems to be a forced happily ever after for the sake of writing a HEA book. I would have had more respect for the author if she took the unpopular route and allowed the lead female character walk away from these two very nasty men. She didn't look saintly, she looked stupid for forgiving them.
I should also mention, in fiction I want to see antagonists pay dearly for what they did, since in real life they usually get to walk away unharmed. Also, I don't want to see the lead male character having had his share of liaison when he was the one at fault for breaking up due to what ever reason, unless the female character gets a chance of having the same sexually full filed life. I hate it when the authors write a born again virgin lead female characters waiting for the lead male character to come to his senses and give them a crumb of attention. it is basically freezing their life into nothing less and make us believe the female character is nothing unless the male character decide to come back to them. It makes the book very unrealistic and is an insult to all the women who fought for equality and same sexual freedom as men.
A highly emotional read. Do not read this book unless you want something really angsty. The biggest problem I have with this book is that the author made the lead male character and his father so unlikable that no reader with an ounce of self preservation and respect could bring themselves to accept the ending. It makes the readers question the unrealistic and what seems to be a forced happily ever after for the sake of writing a HEA book. I would have had more respect for the author if she took the unpopular route and allowed the lead female character walk away from these two very nasty men. She didn't look saintly, she looked stupid for forgiving them.
I should also mention, in fiction I want to see antagonists pay dearly for what they did, since in real life they usually get to walk away unharmed. Also, I don't want to see the lead male character having had his share of liaison when he was the one at fault for breaking up due to what ever reason, unless the female character gets a chance of having the same sexually full filed life. I hate it when the authors write a born again virgin lead female characters waiting for the lead male character to come to his senses and give them a crumb of attention. it is basically freezing their life into nothing less and make us believe the female character is nothing unless the male character decide to come back to them. It makes the book very unrealistic and is an insult to all the women who fought for equality and same sexual freedom as men.
December 25, 2019
‘What are you, Sara?’ he rasped in angry disbelief. ‘Some kind of saint that you can forgive me the unforgivable? I denounced your love! Your trust! Your honesty! I even denounced our own child!’
‘But you came back,’ she said gently. ‘Even believing all those things about me. You came back to me. You wanted to try again. I think you even forgave!’
Yeah. No.
‘But you came back,’ she said gently. ‘Even believing all those things about me. You came back to me. You wanted to try again. I think you even forgave!’
Yeah. No.
July 12, 2013
You can have your pick of reasons to hate this book: hypocritical rapey hero, illogical heroine, or tortured purple prose. Or you can just enjoy the ride. The prose actually calms down fairly soon, or else I got used to it, though I continued to be amused by Reid's creative way of making virtually any word into the equivalent of "he said.":
"'Fabia will see to the child,' he ordained. 'We have unfinished business to discuss here.'
'Except I prefer to see to Lia myself.'
'And I am telling you you cannot!' he snapped, then made an effort to get ahold of himself. 'This is more important. So leave it,' he clipped."
And then there was this fabulous comment, "grated" and "snarled" by Nicolas:
"'I worshipped the very ground you stood upon! You were mine -- mine!' He shook her hard. 'I found you! I woke you! I owned this beautiful body and those beautiful words!'"
I really wasn't in the right mood for a book involving lots of child angst -- -- especially with that used as a way of making a hero suffer for his sins. So this wasn't an entirely satisfying cathartic read for me. Enjoyable, though.
"'Fabia will see to the child,' he ordained. 'We have unfinished business to discuss here.'
'Except I prefer to see to Lia myself.'
'And I am telling you you cannot!' he snapped, then made an effort to get ahold of himself. 'This is more important. So leave it,' he clipped."
And then there was this fabulous comment, "grated" and "snarled" by Nicolas:
"'I worshipped the very ground you stood upon! You were mine -- mine!' He shook her hard. 'I found you! I woke you! I owned this beautiful body and those beautiful words!'"
I really wasn't in the right mood for a book involving lots of child angst -- -- especially with that used as a way of making a hero suffer for his sins. So this wasn't an entirely satisfying cathartic read for me. Enjoyable, though.
November 11, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ four stars -
If you follow my reviews, you may recall me mentioning that I’ve been off on a recent read-fest of old school Harlequin Presents books. This story is my latest HQ find, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Can anyone else remember back to the latter part of the twentieth century when HQ (and probably Mills and Boon, for that matter) romance books had a negative stigma attached to them? I was always given the impression that they were viewed as inferior, bawdy, simple reading; or at least that’s how I perceived them in the 1970s and 1980s 💁♀️ I have fond memories of sneaking these “forbidden” books into the house, and of secretly reading them inside a school textbook. Such a daring little rebel nerd, I was 😂
Well, I’m here to tell you that you need to throw out all of those outdated perceptions away. It’s 2022, and boy have times changed! Besides the glaring changes in the business world of publishing, and the obvious addition of technology, we also have changed mores, and a whole new level of what’s out there in sexiness tolerance. Viewed through the eyes of the modern reader, HQ is pretty tame when compared to what exists out there in the world of fiction today. Times have certainly changed, and for this reader, it’s fun to take a telescope and glance behind you at the way things used to be. For the trip down Memory Lane alone, these books are worth a second glance.
A favorite perk of Goodreads for me has been the discovery of romance lists. I have been making my way through titles found on different recommended romance lists, and this is how I discovered Michelle Reid and her bibliography. I have found that this book, “Gold Ring of Betrayal”, is one of her more popular titles, so I decided to start with this one, and I just loved it!
This story was easy to read, as predicted, but also surprisingly for this reader, very well written. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this book!
What you get here:
* delicious enemies to lovers
* glorious second chance romance
* yummy hot alpha Hero - he’s ruthless - bonus!
* hinted at (very subtle) mafia-connected Hero - did I mention I’m a sucker for mafia romance? *sigh
* soft hearted woman and a hard headed man - I eat this trope right up!
This one will be a keeper and a re-read for sure. As mentioned, I loved it lol. It’s highly romantic, fulfilling, highly readable, and absolutely enjoyable.
Recommend for easy-reading romance. Great for an escape when you need to get away from reality for a few hours. Most definitely recommend for my fellow romance readers. Get yourself your own permanent copy, because you’ll surely want to re-read this one, too 📖♥️
Four shiny stars.
If you follow my reviews, you may recall me mentioning that I’ve been off on a recent read-fest of old school Harlequin Presents books. This story is my latest HQ find, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Can anyone else remember back to the latter part of the twentieth century when HQ (and probably Mills and Boon, for that matter) romance books had a negative stigma attached to them? I was always given the impression that they were viewed as inferior, bawdy, simple reading; or at least that’s how I perceived them in the 1970s and 1980s 💁♀️ I have fond memories of sneaking these “forbidden” books into the house, and of secretly reading them inside a school textbook. Such a daring little rebel nerd, I was 😂
Well, I’m here to tell you that you need to throw out all of those outdated perceptions away. It’s 2022, and boy have times changed! Besides the glaring changes in the business world of publishing, and the obvious addition of technology, we also have changed mores, and a whole new level of what’s out there in sexiness tolerance. Viewed through the eyes of the modern reader, HQ is pretty tame when compared to what exists out there in the world of fiction today. Times have certainly changed, and for this reader, it’s fun to take a telescope and glance behind you at the way things used to be. For the trip down Memory Lane alone, these books are worth a second glance.
A favorite perk of Goodreads for me has been the discovery of romance lists. I have been making my way through titles found on different recommended romance lists, and this is how I discovered Michelle Reid and her bibliography. I have found that this book, “Gold Ring of Betrayal”, is one of her more popular titles, so I decided to start with this one, and I just loved it!
This story was easy to read, as predicted, but also surprisingly for this reader, very well written. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this book!
What you get here:
* delicious enemies to lovers
* glorious second chance romance
* yummy hot alpha Hero - he’s ruthless - bonus!
* hinted at (very subtle) mafia-connected Hero - did I mention I’m a sucker for mafia romance? *sigh
* soft hearted woman and a hard headed man - I eat this trope right up!
This one will be a keeper and a re-read for sure. As mentioned, I loved it lol. It’s highly romantic, fulfilling, highly readable, and absolutely enjoyable.
Recommend for easy-reading romance. Great for an escape when you need to get away from reality for a few hours. Most definitely recommend for my fellow romance readers. Get yourself your own permanent copy, because you’ll surely want to re-read this one, too 📖♥️
Four shiny stars.
July 8, 2023
Nicolas and Sara. Old style harlequin but with a heroine who stands up for herself. The first part of the book is hard to get through because the hero is so cold to Sara. Three years ago, Nicolas and Sara were blissfully in love. They met by accident, him the wealthy, confident son of a Sicilian family and her shy and poor. It is love at first sight but Nicolas' father and friends are determined to make her go away. Finally the father stoops to a lie which Nicolas believes. Believing her to be unfaithful, when Nicolas finds out she is pregnant he repudiates his own child. Three years later, Lia (their daughter) is kidnapped and Sara is forced to go to Nicolas for help. Nicolas' manipulative, diabolical father is now a sick old man confined to a wheel chair... perhaps his own venom has damaged his health?? Anyways, what follows is the slow realization by Nicolas that he still cares for Sara, no matter what she allegedly did in the past. Of course there is an OW (this is a harlequin after all!... that his father tells her about) and some supremely excellent grovelling at the end. The one thing I wish there had been, was a meeting between Sara and the 'OW' and how that would play out. But this was still one of my favourite harlequins.
safety is good
safety is good
July 11, 2017
Okay I just read a review below that says the H was not celibate while apart. But I thought he was. I just reread it and can't find where he says he was or wasn't. Or anything. I am sick over it. I thought he was faithful but now I am confused. I reread it and I still am unsure. That will definitely ruin this whole book for me and it has been one of my favorite for years. I hate the Father and he never seems to get Karma. The little girl even loved him. Yuk. Just awful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2016
Wow! Very touching, emotional read! I'm a sucker for second chances. Heroine was an angel and hero a true alpha male. This book had it all, passion, drama, angst, love!!
July 20, 2020
Nic didn't express much remorse, if any, for his crappy treatment of Sara and their daughter, which was my biggest problem with this book. He believed she'd cheated on him, but once he discovered the truth he still didn't apologize or grovel.
Sara excused his behavior because he'd had his pride to consider and because he had been mistakenly led to believe in her infidelity. WTF!? As if that absolved the big baby of any responsibility. Big Baby never emotionally supported her during their first year of marriage either so who was he to judge?
The story gets two-stars for keeping my interest even though the lead characters annoyed me so, so much.
Sara excused his behavior because he'd had his pride to consider and because he had been mistakenly led to believe in her infidelity. WTF!? As if that absolved the big baby of any responsibility. Big Baby never emotionally supported her during their first year of marriage either so who was he to judge?
The story gets two-stars for keeping my interest even though the lead characters annoyed me so, so much.
January 10, 2026
2,5 😤😤⭐️s
Such a bastard! 😡
And he didn’t even grovel! 😤
(the hero’s pov was occasionally scattered)
Such a bastard! 😡
And he didn’t even grovel! 😤
(the hero’s pov was occasionally scattered)
March 19, 2019
"Gold Ring of Betrayal" is the story of Sara and Nicolas.
A truly heartbreaking and satisfying read, this book had a separated couple who go through various trials and tribulations, learn the meaning of love and trust, before reuniting again.
Two years ago, the hero suspected the heroine of cheating and banished her from his household when she was pregnant. He however, refuses to divorce her wanting her to belong to no other man, and the perpetrator to all the misunderstandings is the hero's conniving father, whom he has blind faith in. He also refuses to acknowledge the child when the heroine gives birth, and instead settles the h down in his house in London.
Flash forward to now, when the child is kidnapped and the H is called forth to rescue her (since he did not publicly denounce the paternity), as well as wake h from the anxious stupor she is in since the tragedy occurs. They have war of words, old resentments are exposed, heated kisses and passion ensues, and the child is finally rescued...only to be transported to Sicily and be claimed by the now dying grandfather!
Then we have the h trapped in Sicily, dealing with an antagonistic h, devious FIL and a scared child. More health scares occur, insecurities come forth and after much lovemaking, crying and confessions, the h and H find their HEA.
The positives:
- I am a angst hoe. I love crying with a good, tearjerker and the book certainly delivered on those accounts. The scenes where the h missed her child, the reunion, her anguish when the baby had nightmares; the h and grandfather's scenes- gave me a good sob fest
- The grovel scenes were good. I really liked when the H finally broke down, as well as when the FIL confessed all his wrongdoing for repentance
- The passion between the couple was HOT! They were insanely obsessed and jealous, and their love was filled with possession.
- The child Lia was adorable
The negatives:
- I think the H definitely tried to "move on" when he was married, so NOT being a fan of even almost cheating, especially when he had trapped the h and had her under surveillance, really annoyed me
- I felt the H was a bit "too" jealous and quite condescending with the h. The first trial at marriage was definitely doomed, with her immaturity and naivety, and his insecure temper
- His behavior with Lia throughout the book. I know he was uncomfortable with her presence, but his behavior bordered on ignorance until he realized she shared his DNA- but I appreciate that he rescued her (mainly because she belonged to the h)
- He could have groveled more
Overall, really enjoyed it! I just felt it had something..missing.
SWE
3.5/5
A truly heartbreaking and satisfying read, this book had a separated couple who go through various trials and tribulations, learn the meaning of love and trust, before reuniting again.
Two years ago, the hero suspected the heroine of cheating and banished her from his household when she was pregnant. He however, refuses to divorce her wanting her to belong to no other man, and the perpetrator to all the misunderstandings is the hero's conniving father, whom he has blind faith in. He also refuses to acknowledge the child when the heroine gives birth, and instead settles the h down in his house in London.
Flash forward to now, when the child is kidnapped and the H is called forth to rescue her (since he did not publicly denounce the paternity), as well as wake h from the anxious stupor she is in since the tragedy occurs. They have war of words, old resentments are exposed, heated kisses and passion ensues, and the child is finally rescued...only to be transported to Sicily and be claimed by the now dying grandfather!
Then we have the h trapped in Sicily, dealing with an antagonistic h, devious FIL and a scared child. More health scares occur, insecurities come forth and after much lovemaking, crying and confessions, the h and H find their HEA.
The positives:
- I am a angst hoe. I love crying with a good, tearjerker and the book certainly delivered on those accounts. The scenes where the h missed her child, the reunion, her anguish when the baby had nightmares; the h and grandfather's scenes- gave me a good sob fest
- The grovel scenes were good. I really liked when the H finally broke down, as well as when the FIL confessed all his wrongdoing for repentance
- The passion between the couple was HOT! They were insanely obsessed and jealous, and their love was filled with possession.
- The child Lia was adorable
The negatives:
- I think the H definitely tried to "move on" when he was married, so NOT being a fan of even almost cheating, especially when he had trapped the h and had her under surveillance, really annoyed me
- I felt the H was a bit "too" jealous and quite condescending with the h. The first trial at marriage was definitely doomed, with her immaturity and naivety, and his insecure temper
- His behavior with Lia throughout the book. I know he was uncomfortable with her presence, but his behavior bordered on ignorance until he realized she shared his DNA- but I appreciate that he rescued her (mainly because she belonged to the h)
- He could have groveled more
Overall, really enjoyed it! I just felt it had something..missing.
SWE
3.5/5
November 23, 2022
Excellent second-chance story with a blockbuster beginning and a plot shift that relies heavily on character development rather than additional dramatic events. What a smart author Reid is--she doesn't let the intense and dramatic beginning overwhelm the romance in this and quickly shifts so that the relationship between our MCs is front and center. The intensity of the opening chapters is wonderfully done, and nicely sustained when the emotional drama and wreckage of the past become the main sources of conflict.
The heroine's story is a nice little potted bildungsroman, too, as we see how her shyness and reliance on the sophisticated hero (and his impatience with it, despite being a big part of her initial appeal) helped doom their relationship, even without the Machiavellian manipulations of his horrible father. Our Shy-Di heroine has since grown up with a vengeance, however, and shows that she's now, mostly, a match for our autocratic alpha hero.
I didn't love the Big Mis/communication-breakdown plot development re: an OW, but it did serve to extend the conflict between our MCs--although it struck me as flimsy that the heroine wouldn't say something about it to the hero because she didn't feel she had the right, given what the hero (falsely) believed about her. So that was a little weak, but otherwise, every
time I thought "but what about..." or "seriously?," MR would move the characters and action in such a way that it erased my brief dissatisfaction.
Boogenhausen and other reviewers do a great job of laying out the details and how MR polishes up the tropes and makes them shine. In the end, the themes of forgiveness (and self-forgiveness) and acknowledging that even the worst people can change and grow (looking at you, Grandpa, evil old man with a soft spot for plot moppets) are what elevated this story for me. (Poor plot moppet Lia--she's put through the ringer even more than Neel's poor little moppet in Hannah--but, to coin a phrase or two, needs must and all's well that ends well).
Intense, wrecky, and skillfully done, GRoB shows MR at her angsty, twisty best!
The heroine's story is a nice little potted bildungsroman, too, as we see how her shyness and reliance on the sophisticated hero (and his impatience with it, despite being a big part of her initial appeal) helped doom their relationship, even without the Machiavellian manipulations of his horrible father. Our Shy-Di heroine has since grown up with a vengeance, however, and shows that she's now, mostly, a match for our autocratic alpha hero.
I didn't love the Big Mis/communication-breakdown plot development re: an OW, but it did serve to extend the conflict between our MCs--although it struck me as flimsy that the heroine wouldn't say something about it to the hero because she didn't feel she had the right, given what the hero (falsely) believed about her. So that was a little weak, but otherwise, every
time I thought "but what about..." or "seriously?," MR would move the characters and action in such a way that it erased my brief dissatisfaction.
Boogenhausen and other reviewers do a great job of laying out the details and how MR polishes up the tropes and makes them shine. In the end, the themes of forgiveness (and self-forgiveness) and acknowledging that even the worst people can change and grow (looking at you, Grandpa, evil old man with a soft spot for plot moppets) are what elevated this story for me. (Poor plot moppet Lia--she's put through the ringer even more than Neel's poor little moppet in Hannah--but, to coin a phrase or two, needs must and all's well that ends well).
Intense, wrecky, and skillfully done, GRoB shows MR at her angsty, twisty best!
April 12, 2014
This is full of angst and I really enjoyed it and was all ready to give it 5 stars, that is until I got to the end! After all that angst and the way Nic treated both Sara and Lia I really thought it deserved and needed a lot more grovelling from him. We knew that Nic was suffering after his father had confessed because he went off on his own to lick his wounds but I wanted to read about his guilt, what he was feeling and what his thought process was, how he felt after thinking about every single time he badly treated and spoke harshly to Sara, for every accusation he threw her way. I also wanted to know what he felt like when he realised that he had denied and ignored his daughter for the last two years, what he felt like knowing that he had missed all her ‘firsts’ such as her first tooth, first step and first words. I didn’t want all this implied or to be told that he felt guilt, I wanted to read it!
As I have already stated I really wanted to give this 5 stars but can’t and it is such a shame because it is a fantastic read for anyone who loves loads of angst in their Harlequins.
As I have already stated I really wanted to give this 5 stars but can’t and it is such a shame because it is a fantastic read for anyone who loves loads of angst in their Harlequins.
February 20, 2016
*looks at the mirror*
You disgust me Pay-pay. Why on earth did you read this one?
You disgust me Pay-pay. Why on earth did you read this one?
September 10, 2015
I'm going back and forth between 1 and 2 stars right now. I'm inclined to rate it at 2 only because I managed to finish this piece of crap and it held my interest for a long time before I realized that there was not going to be nearly enough appropriate page time for recovery from all the asshattery that was happening.
Sara and Nicolas are married, only they've been separated for three years, ever since Nicolas thinks he caught her cheating. As a result, he's automatically disowned her child and has never even seen it. The book begins when Sara's daughter (I refuse to call her Nicolas's too because he is a sperm donor, plain and simple) is kidnapped and held for ransom by a bunch of shadowy bad guys who we never hear much about. Nicolas comes in, the two fight, Sara falls apart, they fight, Sara falls apart, they fight, they shag, and then Sara falls apart again (seriously, have this woman checked to see if she's related to those fainting goats - she faints, like six times during this book).
(See the resemblance?)
Eventually Sara gets her beloved daughter back, then proceeds to do a bunch of mental hand wringing over how Nicolas is missing out and longing for him to get the chance to love his little girl. Sorry for him, babe, but he threw you both away and it's not even like he had a mildly legit reason, like an incompetent doctor telling him he was sterile or something, to not get a blood test (although even in the cases involving incompetent doctors, I still marvel at the stupidity of HP alpholes and their reluctance to even check out the possible pregnancy claims). The bottom line is, whether or not Nicolas believes Lia is his, he has every chance to love that little girl. A kid is a kid. She's an innocent child and Nic spends a good chunk of the book acting like she doesn't exist. That's all well and good because your wittle pwide got a bwuise, but you don't get to pick the mother without the kid, douchenugget.
Sorry for the rant. This book threw me back to Sarah's Child, where the two MCs are so busy being selfish fuckheads they forget about the psychological harm they might be inflicting on an innocent kid.
I bitch a lot on GR about how if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and floats like a duck, a character should be given a little leeway for not immediately leaping to the conclusion that Oh hey, it's the entrance to the top-secret lair of the Secret Society of Supervillains in the middle of Lake Onawana! And seriously, I normally would. But for Nic not even to say, Oh, hm, maybe I should just double-check and get a blood test as an alternative to missing the first two years of his kid's life, nuh-uh. Sorry dude, you don't get a pass on that. TSTL.
And Sara... oh ho ho, Sara. For someone who claims she's all mama-bear-hear-me-roar now she sure is a spineless weenie. Your husband spends 75% of the book implying you're a ho but oh wait, he'll magnanimously forgive you and do his best to work it out with you and you're just okay with that. Seriously, Nic doesn't even really grovel. And when he tries to, Sara stops it. Sorry but watching him verbally and mentally abuse her for the length of the book made me deserve a grovel, Sara, so shut your mouth and let him get down to business.
As for Nic's big come-to-Jesus moment...
So nope. Not a fan of this one. Hated him, hated her, hated the father-in-law, hated Nic's best friend, hated the nanny, hated pretty much everyone with a speaking role in this book.
Sara and Nicolas are married, only they've been separated for three years, ever since Nicolas thinks he caught her cheating. As a result, he's automatically disowned her child and has never even seen it. The book begins when Sara's daughter (I refuse to call her Nicolas's too because he is a sperm donor, plain and simple) is kidnapped and held for ransom by a bunch of shadowy bad guys who we never hear much about. Nicolas comes in, the two fight, Sara falls apart, they fight, Sara falls apart, they fight, they shag, and then Sara falls apart again (seriously, have this woman checked to see if she's related to those fainting goats - she faints, like six times during this book).
(See the resemblance?)
Eventually Sara gets her beloved daughter back, then proceeds to do a bunch of mental hand wringing over how Nicolas is missing out and longing for him to get the chance to love his little girl. Sorry for him, babe, but he threw you both away and it's not even like he had a mildly legit reason, like an incompetent doctor telling him he was sterile or something, to not get a blood test (although even in the cases involving incompetent doctors, I still marvel at the stupidity of HP alpholes and their reluctance to even check out the possible pregnancy claims). The bottom line is, whether or not Nicolas believes Lia is his, he has every chance to love that little girl. A kid is a kid. She's an innocent child and Nic spends a good chunk of the book acting like she doesn't exist. That's all well and good because your wittle pwide got a bwuise, but you don't get to pick the mother without the kid, douchenugget.
Sorry for the rant. This book threw me back to Sarah's Child, where the two MCs are so busy being selfish fuckheads they forget about the psychological harm they might be inflicting on an innocent kid.
I bitch a lot on GR about how if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and floats like a duck, a character should be given a little leeway for not immediately leaping to the conclusion that Oh hey, it's the entrance to the top-secret lair of the Secret Society of Supervillains in the middle of Lake Onawana! And seriously, I normally would. But for Nic not even to say, Oh, hm, maybe I should just double-check and get a blood test as an alternative to missing the first two years of his kid's life, nuh-uh. Sorry dude, you don't get a pass on that. TSTL.
And Sara... oh ho ho, Sara. For someone who claims she's all mama-bear-hear-me-roar now she sure is a spineless weenie. Your husband spends 75% of the book implying you're a ho but oh wait, he'll magnanimously forgive you and do his best to work it out with you and you're just okay with that. Seriously, Nic doesn't even really grovel. And when he tries to, Sara stops it. Sorry but watching him verbally and mentally abuse her for the length of the book made me deserve a grovel, Sara, so shut your mouth and let him get down to business.
As for Nic's big come-to-Jesus moment...
So nope. Not a fan of this one. Hated him, hated her, hated the father-in-law, hated Nic's best friend, hated the nanny, hated pretty much everyone with a speaking role in this book.
November 23, 2022
Update:
Sep/08/2020
2 stars! XD
Last Update:
I gave it this book 5 stars few years ago, but was until today: Feb/28/2015 after I confirmed that the hero wasn't celibate during their separation, so I changed my rating to 3 stars. Yes, the book has many angst, it's emotional, intense... BUT they were still married, she was faithfull to him during their separation, there is not any excuse to cheat on her :S
P.S.: I deleted my last review by mistake, luckily I copied it before, so I could post it again.
Sep/08/2020
2 stars! XD
Last Update:
I gave it this book 5 stars few years ago, but was until today: Feb/28/2015 after I confirmed that the hero wasn't celibate during their separation, so I changed my rating to 3 stars. Yes, the book has many angst, it's emotional, intense... BUT they were still married, she was faithfull to him during their separation, there is not any excuse to cheat on her :S
P.S.: I deleted my last review by mistake, luckily I copied it before, so I could post it again.
December 14, 2025
It's me, I'm the problem, it's me
I was uncomfortable with the fact that
・
・
・
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I was uncomfortable with the fact that
・
・
・
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
December 6, 2019
Oh boy, this was plenty angsty and very well written. But I just can't get past the evil grandfather not getting any comeuppance other than declining health. Maybe he's simmering in his own hatefulness. And the way everyone just miraculously forgives all the hurt and betrayal in the end with little to no discussion. I need some closure! The way the H never even gave the h the chance to defend herself. Or the cruel game he played by letting her believe he has a mistress that he sees at the same time as her. In what universe is cheating a way to win your wife back? (He didn't cheat, she was the fiance of his best friend) There were too many irritations for me to fully enjoy this book.
Safety: Both celibate during the 3 year separation. OM drama as the H believe his wife cheated. OW drama as the H lets the h think he has a mistress and that he is going to her.
Safety: Both celibate during the 3 year separation. OM drama as the H believe his wife cheated. OW drama as the H lets the h think he has a mistress and that he is going to her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2022
Reread 12/11/2021 and upped it to 5 stars. This may very well be the perfect HP second chance story. Perfect angst.
October 4, 2021
Wow. This was an emotional angst fest.
👀 I kinda loved it? 🤷🏼♀️😬
What I liked:
- shy sweet h (21 when she marries the H, 25 for most of the book)
- older alphahole H - he’s ruthless and controlling
- H has an evil father who sabotages their marriage
- H believes the h cheated on him and got pregnant by another man
- baby (2yrs old) is kidnapped, which brings the h and H together
- all the drama with kidnapping and betrayal and paternity
- the H bulldozes the h and takes over her life again, all but kidnapping HER, forcing her to stay with him
- they try to repair their marriage
- more drama - medical and OW
- just all the effing drama and emotion that made me cry
- a hard earned HEA
Me:
What I didn’t like:
- he tells her that he “tried” to find passion with OW during their separation, but we don’t get details. Did he sleep with OP or not?? I really don’t like it when things are left ambiguous with OW.
Bottom Line? This was drama-rific and I loved it way more than I thought I would. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️
- cheating? Not completely sure. They are separated for 2 years, but still officially married. He tells the h that he tried replace her with OW, but was unsuccessful, however we’re never given any details. So I’m not sure what that means. Maybe he went out with OP? Maybe he made out with OP? Maybe he has sex?? It’s not confirmed explicitly. 😐
- no sharing
- OW drama - he lets her think he has a mistress he’s seeing, but it’s a lie to make her jealous
- OM drama - he thinks she cheated on him and that her child is the OM’s - neither is true but he’s eaten up with jealousy
- dubcon-ish
- h was a 21 year old virgin when she marries the H and hasn’t been with anyone else
- the H was an experienced older man when he married the h, and his sexual status during their separation was left ambiguous
👀 I kinda loved it? 🤷🏼♀️😬
What I liked:
- shy sweet h (21 when she marries the H, 25 for most of the book)
- older alphahole H - he’s ruthless and controlling
- H has an evil father who sabotages their marriage
- H believes the h cheated on him and got pregnant by another man
- baby (2yrs old) is kidnapped, which brings the h and H together
- all the drama with kidnapping and betrayal and paternity
- the H bulldozes the h and takes over her life again, all but kidnapping HER, forcing her to stay with him
- they try to repair their marriage
- more drama - medical and OW
- just all the effing drama and emotion that made me cry
- a hard earned HEA
Me:
What I didn’t like:
- he tells her that he “tried” to find passion with OW during their separation, but we don’t get details. Did he sleep with OP or not?? I really don’t like it when things are left ambiguous with OW.
Bottom Line? This was drama-rific and I loved it way more than I thought I would. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️
- cheating? Not completely sure. They are separated for 2 years, but still officially married. He tells the h that he tried replace her with OW, but was unsuccessful, however we’re never given any details. So I’m not sure what that means. Maybe he went out with OP? Maybe he made out with OP? Maybe he has sex?? It’s not confirmed explicitly. 😐
- no sharing
- OW drama - he lets her think he has a mistress he’s seeing, but it’s a lie to make her jealous
- OM drama - he thinks she cheated on him and that her child is the OM’s - neither is true but he’s eaten up with jealousy
- dubcon-ish
- h was a 21 year old virgin when she marries the H and hasn’t been with anyone else
- the H was an experienced older man when he married the h, and his sexual status during their separation was left ambiguous
July 11, 2017
"Two years since she'd seen him, coming closer to three? He had changed little."
"The eyes of a hard, cold, ruthless predator. Cruel and unforgiving."
"Three years since he had last allowed himself to share the same space as her."
"I am not here to listen to your lies. I am here to recover your child lost child!' He emphasised bitterly. 'Whoever the father is, it certainly is not me!'
EVIL FATHER-IN-LAW!
"Alfredo's mocking little jibes about her failing marriage and his son's preference for being anywhere but with his pathetic little wife."
'So my father was right. You bitch,' he said. That was all.
"Alfredo. Alfredo had set her up-set this up! Alfredo. 'Nic-please!' Her blue eyes were"
'Never,' he said through gritted teeth. 'You no longer exist.'
"Then she'd discovered she was pregnant, and everything had changed. She'd tried phoning him; he'd refused to take her calls. She'd tried writing to him; he hadn't acknowledged her letters. In the end she'd turned to Toni for help, called him on the phone and begged him-begged him to persuade Nicolas to see her, listen to what she had to say! 'I'm going to have his baby, Toni!'
'You are a fix I can get from no other source!' 'You've tried?' she asked painfully. 'Of course I have tried!' he admitted. 'Do you think I like feeling this way about you?' 'No,'
'Don't talk,' he commanded bleakly. 'I have to remember what you are when you talk. And I need this, need it!' he repeated hoarsely.
'Yes, I'm sure I shall manage.' Her sarcasm bit. 'I'm used to being alone, after all,' she added bleakly. 'I've been alone since I was thirteen.'
"His hand snaking round her neck and yanking her forcefully towards him stopped the words. 'Hold your tongue, you little shrew!' he rasped. 'Before I bite it off!' 'I hate and despise you!'
"Cancer. Alfredo was a cancer that lived on the weaknesses of others."
'You can be as two- faced as your father when it really comes down to it, can't you?'
'What do you want me to do?' he muttered when she didn't answer. 'Deny the other woman's existence? Is that what this is all about?'
'What are you, Sara?' he rasped in angry disbelief. 'Some kind of saint that you can forgive me the unforgivable? I denounced your love! Your trust! Your honesty! I even denounced our own child!'
Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews