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The Castelli Brothers #1
Unwrapping the Castelli Secret
An heir for Christmas!
Five years ago, Lily Holloway walked away from a car crash, turning her back on the forbidden passion she shared with her stepbrother, Rafael Castelli. Nothing could make Lily return to the irresistible Italian’s demanding world.
Now, when their paths cross again, Lily is desperate to retain her freedom and claims amnesia has blocked her memories of him. Yet all deception is quickly burnt away by the incredible attraction that still simmers between them.
But he’s found her, and she knows Rafael will soon discover her greatest secret…their son!
Secret Heirs of Billionaires
There are some things money can’t buy…
Five years ago, Lily Holloway walked away from a car crash, turning her back on the forbidden passion she shared with her stepbrother, Rafael Castelli. Nothing could make Lily return to the irresistible Italian’s demanding world.
Now, when their paths cross again, Lily is desperate to retain her freedom and claims amnesia has blocked her memories of him. Yet all deception is quickly burnt away by the incredible attraction that still simmers between them.
But he’s found her, and she knows Rafael will soon discover her greatest secret…their son!
Secret Heirs of Billionaires
There are some things money can’t buy…
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 16, 2015
170 people are currently reading
348 people want to read
About the author
Caitlin Crews
1,092 books594 followersCaitlin Crews discovered her first romance novel at the age of twelve, in a bargain bin at the local five and dime. It involved swashbuckling pirates, grand adventures, a heroine with rustling skirts and a mind of her own, and a seriously mouthwatering and masterful hero. The book (the title of which remains lost in the mists of time) made a serious impression. Caitlin was immediately smitten with romances and romance heroes, to the detriment of her middle school social life. And so began her life-long love affair with romance novels, many of which she insists on keeping near her at all times, thus creating a fire hazard of love wherever she lives.
Caitlin has made her home in places as far-flung as York, England and Atlanta, Georgia. She was raised near New York City, and fell in love with London on her first visit when she was a teenager. She has backpacked in Zimbabwe, been on safari in Botswana, and visited tiny villages in Namibia. She has, while visiting the place in question, declared her intention to live in Prague, Dublin, Paris, Athens, Nice, the Greek Islands, Rome, Venice, and/or any of the Hawaiian islands. Writing about exotic places seems like the next best thing to actually moving there.
She currently lives in Oregon with her animator/comic book artist husband and their menagerie of ridiculous animals.
Caitlin has made her home in places as far-flung as York, England and Atlanta, Georgia. She was raised near New York City, and fell in love with London on her first visit when she was a teenager. She has backpacked in Zimbabwe, been on safari in Botswana, and visited tiny villages in Namibia. She has, while visiting the place in question, declared her intention to live in Prague, Dublin, Paris, Athens, Nice, the Greek Islands, Rome, Venice, and/or any of the Hawaiian islands. Writing about exotic places seems like the next best thing to actually moving there.
She currently lives in Oregon with her animator/comic book artist husband and their menagerie of ridiculous animals.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
February 23, 2016
2,5 stars
This book is filled with “uber” drama, deception, betrayal and two of the most unsuited h/h!!!
I couldn’t get past with both Rafael and Lily had done to each other. I disliked Rafael intensely. His behavior towards Lily when she was a teenager was so despicable. Sleeping with loads of women in between seducing Lily in coat cupboards and other sneaky places. I totally got that she would want to get him right out of her life. To love someone so selfish and self-centered was just not healthy for her.
However, the way Lily left her life and Rafael behind was something I could never understand. She was being as selfish as him.
The cruelty and disdain they had for each other was really not a good thing to see. I actually didn’t believe that the two could ever overcome their past and find happiness together.
I did think the plot was pretty good and different from the norm and the story was well paced. I loved the settings….in particular, Venice. The vivid imagery was really well written. And this is why I rounded my review to 3 stars.
I am sure there are many readers who will like this book a lot but for me….it was okay.
PS…Does anyone name their child Arlo these days???? I found Lily’s son’s name a bit hard to "chew" on!!!!!
This book is filled with “uber” drama, deception, betrayal and two of the most unsuited h/h!!!
I couldn’t get past with both Rafael and Lily had done to each other. I disliked Rafael intensely. His behavior towards Lily when she was a teenager was so despicable. Sleeping with loads of women in between seducing Lily in coat cupboards and other sneaky places. I totally got that she would want to get him right out of her life. To love someone so selfish and self-centered was just not healthy for her.
However, the way Lily left her life and Rafael behind was something I could never understand. She was being as selfish as him.
The cruelty and disdain they had for each other was really not a good thing to see. I actually didn’t believe that the two could ever overcome their past and find happiness together.
I did think the plot was pretty good and different from the norm and the story was well paced. I loved the settings….in particular, Venice. The vivid imagery was really well written. And this is why I rounded my review to 3 stars.
I am sure there are many readers who will like this book a lot but for me….it was okay.
PS…Does anyone name their child Arlo these days???? I found Lily’s son’s name a bit hard to "chew" on!!!!!
November 9, 2015
This is pretty much a copy of my rant/exorcism from Amazon, so please forgive me. I couldn't waste too many more brain cells on this lovely Christmas special in hell. Or the most un-Christmasy Christmas HP imaginable.
I love a good trainwreck, but this one wasn't my cuppa. I had left over Halloween candy, but alas it didn't help.
H is the older step bro of the h. I can see the forbidden draw there and this sounded wrecky in a possibly fabulous way, so I clicked the evil one-click. Damn you, Amazon.
I love a good trainwreck, but this one wasn't my cuppa. I had left over Halloween candy, but alas it didn't help.
H is the older step bro of the h. I can see the forbidden draw there and this sounded wrecky in a possibly fabulous way, so I clicked the evil one-click. Damn you, Amazon.
September 1, 2016
Long and short she was his dirty little stepsister. He took her v card and then fucked her up by keeping her hanging.
Then she finds him in bed with another and get this he is mad.
Wait a fucking minute here, SHE FINDS HIM HAVING SEX WITH OTHER WOMAN AND HE IS MAD AT HER!!! Because according to him, he says " don't even remember her name baby?"
WOW
He is such an asshole and this is not romance.
The sex scene were in poor taste this is romance not fifty first hook-ups here.
She was stupid to get married to him! She should have been telling him that he can go fuck himself or better yet do it with all the other women.
Also, I am sooooo mad she did not do at least one revenge fuck!!!!
Cause hell why not!?
Let's make this a complete anti-romance book.
Come on! He was always sleeping with others while she stayed faithful! It killed me and the things he said to her was an all new low. He was so mean and she kept taking it all in until she could not any longer.
He deserves to be killed for the way he treated this sweet innocent. This is beyond human endurance!!!
If you are going to write about cheating why can't the guy be the one that has to forgive.
What? Is that too much for your macho mentally!
Safety: he is constantly fucking others while with her and she is faithful. Loads of OW and she needed to find herself another man! He uses condoms when he feels like it! And he treats like a whore he can pick up for some kinky taboo stepsister sex not love making here.
Then she finds him in bed with another and get this he is mad.
Wait a fucking minute here, SHE FINDS HIM HAVING SEX WITH OTHER WOMAN AND HE IS MAD AT HER!!! Because according to him, he says " don't even remember her name baby?"
WOW
He is such an asshole and this is not romance.
The sex scene were in poor taste this is romance not fifty first hook-ups here.
She was stupid to get married to him! She should have been telling him that he can go fuck himself or better yet do it with all the other women.
Also, I am sooooo mad she did not do at least one revenge fuck!!!!
Cause hell why not!?
Let's make this a complete anti-romance book.
Come on! He was always sleeping with others while she stayed faithful! It killed me and the things he said to her was an all new low. He was so mean and she kept taking it all in until she could not any longer.
He deserves to be killed for the way he treated this sweet innocent. This is beyond human endurance!!!
If you are going to write about cheating why can't the guy be the one that has to forgive.
What? Is that too much for your macho mentally!
Safety: he is constantly fucking others while with her and she is faithful. Loads of OW and she needed to find herself another man! He uses condoms when he feels like it! And he treats like a whore he can pick up for some kinky taboo stepsister sex not love making here.
May 19, 2018
Accidental re-read. Still hated it!
Good lord, this was chore to get through. I didn't like either character. The hero was a cheating hero who cheats and the heroine faked her death for *five years* to get away from him. Not only did she fake her death and not see her mother (who eventually died) or her friends for all that time, she had a child she kept from the hero. Can two wrongs make a right?
Well - they can - because with these two out of the dating pool, it makes it safer for everyone else swimming along in HP land.
Caitlin Crews is often dark, but these two were dysfunctional. *shudder* Their situation seemed even more sordid in that they were step-siblings, this took place at Christmas, and there was all this lovely white snow coming down. I guess the contrasts were supposed to be dramatic, but it didn't feel good to read at all.
Good lord, this was chore to get through. I didn't like either character. The hero was a cheating hero who cheats and the heroine faked her death for *five years* to get away from him. Not only did she fake her death and not see her mother (who eventually died) or her friends for all that time, she had a child she kept from the hero. Can two wrongs make a right?
Well - they can - because with these two out of the dating pool, it makes it safer for everyone else swimming along in HP land.
Caitlin Crews is often dark, but these two were dysfunctional. *shudder* Their situation seemed even more sordid in that they were step-siblings, this took place at Christmas, and there was all this lovely white snow coming down. I guess the contrasts were supposed to be dramatic, but it didn't feel good to read at all.
January 10, 2018
An okay story with a forbidden romance between step-siblings and a lot of drama and angst. Lily faked her death, had a secret baby, faked amnesia... Rafael was a jerk to Lily five years ago and only realized he loved her after she "died". The book was entertaining to a point, but there was so much hurting each other going on between Lily and Rafael, and they were always so miserable and tormented that it made this book a bit of a downer for me. It would have been nice to have seen some love between them, but their relationship seemed solely based on lust. Snowy Venice was nice though.
August 5, 2015
2.5
Let me start off by saying this story had so much potential, but in the end I had some major issues.
Lily and Rafael became stepsiblings when she was 16. Instant attraction for both but they hid it by antagonizing each other for a few years. Lily witnessed Rafael parade his many girlfriends through the years and she ridiculed his choices. But when Lily was nineteen she pushes a little to far and Rafael ends up kissing Lily. And from that point on their relationship changes and progresses as she loses her virginity to Rafael.
Now here is a major issue with me and it's big. Lily and Rafael keep their relationship (I don't even think I can call it that) and sexual encounters a secret. And Rafael is a rat!! He tells Lily there is no commitment between them and they need to keep this a secret. AS HE'S SEEING AND HAVING SEX WITH OTHER WOMEN AND SHE'S UPSET BUT ACCEPTING AND CONTINUES HAVING SEX WITH HIM ANYWAY...WHAT!! Sorry, this crossed a line for me. If I remember correctly this went on for years....They had terrible fights and treated each other horribly. One fight imparticular was bad (this was explained towards the end of the book) and a few days later she decides to go to his apartment to talk to him. She has a key to his place and walks in to witnesses him having sex with someone (and a little too much detail of what she witnesses too). She leaves without him knowing, speeds away and crashes. She walks away from the crash without anyone knowing she's alive and most assume she died even though no body was found.
The story opens with Rafael seeing her "ghost", the love of his life that died. He's a changed man after her death and goes around chasing women down thinking it might be Lily and that she is alive.
Well he did chase down Lily and she fakes that she has amnesia. The story progresses of how he brings her to Italy, doesn't really believe that she has amnesia. During this time Rafael is trying to let her know he really has changed after the crash and loves her. But throughout the rest of their story they still treat each other badly. The ending seemed forced and just didn't ring true.
I think the angst could have been really good if done differently. The writing was good and well paced. But Rafael and Lily's relationship didn't really come across as a love story.
Netgalley for an honest review
Let me start off by saying this story had so much potential, but in the end I had some major issues.
Lily and Rafael became stepsiblings when she was 16. Instant attraction for both but they hid it by antagonizing each other for a few years. Lily witnessed Rafael parade his many girlfriends through the years and she ridiculed his choices. But when Lily was nineteen she pushes a little to far and Rafael ends up kissing Lily. And from that point on their relationship changes and progresses as she loses her virginity to Rafael.
Now here is a major issue with me and it's big. Lily and Rafael keep their relationship (I don't even think I can call it that) and sexual encounters a secret. And Rafael is a rat!! He tells Lily there is no commitment between them and they need to keep this a secret. AS HE'S SEEING AND HAVING SEX WITH OTHER WOMEN AND SHE'S UPSET BUT ACCEPTING AND CONTINUES HAVING SEX WITH HIM ANYWAY...WHAT!! Sorry, this crossed a line for me. If I remember correctly this went on for years....They had terrible fights and treated each other horribly. One fight imparticular was bad (this was explained towards the end of the book) and a few days later she decides to go to his apartment to talk to him. She has a key to his place and walks in to witnesses him having sex with someone (and a little too much detail of what she witnesses too). She leaves without him knowing, speeds away and crashes. She walks away from the crash without anyone knowing she's alive and most assume she died even though no body was found.
The story opens with Rafael seeing her "ghost", the love of his life that died. He's a changed man after her death and goes around chasing women down thinking it might be Lily and that she is alive.
Well he did chase down Lily and she fakes that she has amnesia. The story progresses of how he brings her to Italy, doesn't really believe that she has amnesia. During this time Rafael is trying to let her know he really has changed after the crash and loves her. But throughout the rest of their story they still treat each other badly. The ending seemed forced and just didn't ring true.
I think the angst could have been really good if done differently. The writing was good and well paced. But Rafael and Lily's relationship didn't really come across as a love story.
Netgalley for an honest review
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2019
Just vile
4/30/19
I re-read it again last night, although I did skim some of it, and I still hated the hero. When he forced her to tell him how many men she had had while they were apart, but never told her how many he had, she called him a hypocrite and he says I know I am. How many? I wish she would have said 100 or something but no she said there had only been him. The scene where she sees him in bed with another woman made me cry. And I hated that he was mad at her for faking her death when his actions are what drove her to it. I liked how she said to him, that big love story you have been mourning for the last five years was a fairy tale. You never loved me or you wouldn't have treated me like that. I just loved it. Until she caved under the power of his STD ridden p@nis. Very disappointing.
First read
Hated the hero in this book and when she went to him and he was with someone else it just disgusted me! I wish I had never read this. The Hero is not a hero to me. Treating someone like he did just makes me sick. I wish he'd never found her. I would never ever trust him again. Plus he needs to be checked for diseases for sure. Just a vile vile book.
4/30/19
I re-read it again last night, although I did skim some of it, and I still hated the hero. When he forced her to tell him how many men she had had while they were apart, but never told her how many he had, she called him a hypocrite and he says I know I am. How many? I wish she would have said 100 or something but no she said there had only been him. The scene where she sees him in bed with another woman made me cry. And I hated that he was mad at her for faking her death when his actions are what drove her to it. I liked how she said to him, that big love story you have been mourning for the last five years was a fairy tale. You never loved me or you wouldn't have treated me like that. I just loved it. Until she caved under the power of his STD ridden p@nis. Very disappointing.
First read
Hated the hero in this book and when she went to him and he was with someone else it just disgusted me! I wish I had never read this. The Hero is not a hero to me. Treating someone like he did just makes me sick. I wish he'd never found her. I would never ever trust him again. Plus he needs to be checked for diseases for sure. Just a vile vile book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2019
I dont even want to remember why I hated this book!
Their past relationship felt cheap and sordid. And let’s not forget toxic.
I also skipped some part because I didn’t have strength to stomach it.
I hated the scene where heroine walked on hero having sex with another woman. Bloody hated it!
DO NOT RECOMMEND.
Their past relationship felt cheap and sordid. And let’s not forget toxic.
I also skipped some part because I didn’t have strength to stomach it.
I hated the scene where heroine walked on hero having sex with another woman. Bloody hated it!
DO NOT RECOMMEND.
November 8, 2015
This is a tricky one to write because I really don't like a hero who is a CHEATING DOUCHEBAG MANWHORE. Granted, as far as we know, this is five years in the past, when his totally selfish slutty behaviour drove his step-sister and SECRET LOVER into having a car accident and when she walked away, she KEPT ON WALKING. I may be a bit yelly about this.
There is an enormous amount of BAD history between Lily and Rafael Castelli. She was his DIRTY LITTLE SECRET, shagging her in closets and dark corners and seedy motel rooms while he continued to SHAG his public girlfriends without making any attempt to hide it from Lily. The amazing thing is that it took so long for her to walk away.
So. Here we are. Five years later. Rafael was so shaken up by Lily's DEATH that he reformed his selfish MANWHORE life and took RESPONSIBILITY by taking on the Castelli company CEO job from his ailing father.
And then, haunted by his memories, he sees one more woman that reminds him of LILY. And it is Lily. This time she is real. Not just a figment of his guilt ridden imagination. Only she denies it. YOU GO GIRL.
Trouble is, Rafael wont leave it at that and he finds out that when she walked away, she took with her an even bigger SECRET. Yeah. No way he's going to leave her behind now.
So...she has to go back to Italy. To Venice. So it isn't all bad. *Contemplates Venice*. So cheaty manwhore...*cough* Rafael is determined to make her pay for stealing five years of the SECRET and also for making him feel bad FOR NO REASON.
Seems like all that MATURITY he got from her DYING and so on just walked out the door.
And the whole "I want to do you in dark corridors" thing. That hasn't changed either.
Anyway, this is a romance so the pair of them have to work DAMN HARD (see what I did there) to get to a happy ending.
This was a very angsty read for obvious reasons. At times towards the end they seemed to get a bit mixed up about who was at fault but when you think about it, MANWHORE DOUCHEBAG was TWENTY-FIVE when he started his selfish little games and she was NINETEEN. So I know where most of the blame OUGHT to go.
It was still a really good read even though I never really got over Rafael's slimy behaviour and I did like that I could imagine him spending that five years with his manbits locked in a CAGE with SPIKES so he didn't get to USE it.
There is an enormous amount of BAD history between Lily and Rafael Castelli. She was his DIRTY LITTLE SECRET, shagging her in closets and dark corners and seedy motel rooms while he continued to SHAG his public girlfriends without making any attempt to hide it from Lily. The amazing thing is that it took so long for her to walk away.
So. Here we are. Five years later. Rafael was so shaken up by Lily's DEATH that he reformed his selfish MANWHORE life and took RESPONSIBILITY by taking on the Castelli company CEO job from his ailing father.
And then, haunted by his memories, he sees one more woman that reminds him of LILY. And it is Lily. This time she is real. Not just a figment of his guilt ridden imagination. Only she denies it. YOU GO GIRL.
Trouble is, Rafael wont leave it at that and he finds out that when she walked away, she took with her an even bigger SECRET. Yeah. No way he's going to leave her behind now.
So...she has to go back to Italy. To Venice. So it isn't all bad. *Contemplates Venice*. So cheaty manwhore...*cough* Rafael is determined to make her pay for stealing five years of the SECRET and also for making him feel bad FOR NO REASON.
Seems like all that MATURITY he got from her DYING and so on just walked out the door.
And the whole "I want to do you in dark corridors" thing. That hasn't changed either.
Anyway, this is a romance so the pair of them have to work DAMN HARD (see what I did there) to get to a happy ending.
This was a very angsty read for obvious reasons. At times towards the end they seemed to get a bit mixed up about who was at fault but when you think about it, MANWHORE DOUCHEBAG was TWENTY-FIVE when he started his selfish little games and she was NINETEEN. So I know where most of the blame OUGHT to go.
It was still a really good read even though I never really got over Rafael's slimy behaviour and I did like that I could imagine him spending that five years with his manbits locked in a CAGE with SPIKES so he didn't get to USE it.
November 19, 2017
Wow I think I like this book.
I need a light read after few suspense thriller I read lately, but this book even thought is a good one not necessarily an easy read.
Full of angst and the hero is a first class bastard who made heroine lived in a miserable life and she absolutely right to run away from him.
This is not your typical a billionaire met a poor girl HP story tho.
In a way is a sad story actually, and very intense.
Our heroine by chance run away from the hero five years ago, she had a reason for it and I feels like want to congratulate her to be able to do that.
Their relationship is a toxic one and believe me you want to smash (yup! Not smack) the hero head for what he did to our heroine.
He got a violence wake up call with her dead (everyone thought she was dead because her car went off over the cliff and it burned leaving nothing).
Of course the bastard realised he loved her and understood his behaviour probably the trigger of why that accident happened.
He became a change man and haunted by her memories and regret for five years. While she build a quite but seems like a happy life somewhere.
This book can be an excellent read for me if he did more grovel and she didn't forgive him too easily at the end.
I feels like everything perfect until the last couple of chapter, wish I can read the original version before got cut by the publisher, because the abrupt ending.
Oh he had a miserable life in those five years without her, he failed to really show her that when they together again but we can read what in his mind and the guy been punished himself with his active mind:)
I need a light read after few suspense thriller I read lately, but this book even thought is a good one not necessarily an easy read.
Full of angst and the hero is a first class bastard who made heroine lived in a miserable life and she absolutely right to run away from him.
This is not your typical a billionaire met a poor girl HP story tho.
In a way is a sad story actually, and very intense.
Our heroine by chance run away from the hero five years ago, she had a reason for it and I feels like want to congratulate her to be able to do that.
Their relationship is a toxic one and believe me you want to smash (yup! Not smack) the hero head for what he did to our heroine.
He got a violence wake up call with her dead (everyone thought she was dead because her car went off over the cliff and it burned leaving nothing).
Of course the bastard realised he loved her and understood his behaviour probably the trigger of why that accident happened.
He became a change man and haunted by her memories and regret for five years. While she build a quite but seems like a happy life somewhere.
This book can be an excellent read for me if he did more grovel and she didn't forgive him too easily at the end.
I feels like everything perfect until the last couple of chapter, wish I can read the original version before got cut by the publisher, because the abrupt ending.
Oh he had a miserable life in those five years without her, he failed to really show her that when they together again but we can read what in his mind and the guy been punished himself with his active mind:)
February 19, 2017
Five years on, Rafael is still mourning the loss of his stepsister Lily, his secret lover. She died in a fiery car crash, and Rafael can’t let her go. She was the love of his life, and everywhere he goes he thinks he sees her. Just now, a woman with Lily’s walk has passed the window of the coffee shop where he’s waiting to conduct an Important Business Meeting. Rafael cannot let this ghost go, he must follow. But, he tells himself, this will be the last time.
And it’s at this point that I am at my most sympathetic towards Rafael, because I get it. I get how this happens, when you sense that the dead are close, are back, and you know that it’s irrational but you can’t help yourself. It’s lovely and poignant and I was ready for a completely different plot.
Rafael catches up to the woman, and it’s Lily. But she’s pretending to be someone else. He wonders whether she has amnesia and sure, she’ll sort of go along with that. She gabbles out just enough information to make it completely easy for Rafael to track her down when she finally takes off. He lands on her doorstep and there’s his second surprise. She has a son. His son.
These two are terrible people. It took me a while to adjust, because all through that first scene with Lily I was trying to reject that this was happening, that this was the book I was reading. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with all their drama. I liked the plot enough, but found myself wishing it was happening to nicer people, but ultimately I couldn’t think of any way that ordinarily nice characters would have ended up in this level of mess. I also thought that some authors I like sometimes pretend their characters are really nice in this level of mess, and I get super cross because the characters end up coming across as smug with zero self-awareness (looking at you, Jennie Lucas).
Rafael’s carefully constructed romantic history with Lily is mostly a lie. He slept with her when he felt like it (and he felt like it a lot) and he ignored her when he didn’t. He had relationships with other women and Lily was his bit on the side.
Lily didn’t fake her own death, but she let her family, her friends, and her lover think she was dead because she couldn’t face going back. She’s interesting as a character for the hints of the extent of the self-hatred that lead her to hide herself and her kid away for five years. She clearly felt so trapped in her relationship with Rafael that she couldn’t find a positive way to end it. I didn’t get the sense that she’d kept herself and the kid hidden to punish him, it was more about the way she felt about herself. Lily saw herself as weak and damaged. She loved Rafael, but hated him for his betrayal, and hated herself even more because she kept taking him back.
I wish there hadn’t been a kid. While terrible people who hate themselves can be interesting characters, I’d prefer they didn’t have a kid around while they’re being so terrible. At least Crews quickly shoves the kid deep into the background with an army of nannies to do appropriate child-rearing things with him.
I was also really sad that I couldn’t enjoy Lily getting to wear an incredible dress and a lacy gold mask to attend a ball in Venice with a gorgeously hot Italian guy. That stuff is right up my alley, but Lily and Rafael didn’t deserve it. Nor did they deserve hot sexy times and orgasms. If, like me, you are planning to read this and congratulate yourself on how adult and tolerant and sympathetic you are towards characters who are awful and humourless, I’d recommend skipping the sex scenes. It’s a shame, because they are borderline nice and dirty and sort of push the HP envelope, but it doesn’t work if you keep thinking that these two haven’t yet proved they deserve anything nice.
The only tolerable thing about both Lily and Rafael is that they each realise that they are terrible people, and feel some remorse for it. I will go a long way with characters who are not just honest about being terrible, but start making plans to do something about it. In this case, I went all the way to the end of the book.
And it’s at this point that I am at my most sympathetic towards Rafael, because I get it. I get how this happens, when you sense that the dead are close, are back, and you know that it’s irrational but you can’t help yourself. It’s lovely and poignant and I was ready for a completely different plot.
Rafael catches up to the woman, and it’s Lily. But she’s pretending to be someone else. He wonders whether she has amnesia and sure, she’ll sort of go along with that. She gabbles out just enough information to make it completely easy for Rafael to track her down when she finally takes off. He lands on her doorstep and there’s his second surprise. She has a son. His son.
These two are terrible people. It took me a while to adjust, because all through that first scene with Lily I was trying to reject that this was happening, that this was the book I was reading. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with all their drama. I liked the plot enough, but found myself wishing it was happening to nicer people, but ultimately I couldn’t think of any way that ordinarily nice characters would have ended up in this level of mess. I also thought that some authors I like sometimes pretend their characters are really nice in this level of mess, and I get super cross because the characters end up coming across as smug with zero self-awareness (looking at you, Jennie Lucas).
Rafael’s carefully constructed romantic history with Lily is mostly a lie. He slept with her when he felt like it (and he felt like it a lot) and he ignored her when he didn’t. He had relationships with other women and Lily was his bit on the side.
Lily didn’t fake her own death, but she let her family, her friends, and her lover think she was dead because she couldn’t face going back. She’s interesting as a character for the hints of the extent of the self-hatred that lead her to hide herself and her kid away for five years. She clearly felt so trapped in her relationship with Rafael that she couldn’t find a positive way to end it. I didn’t get the sense that she’d kept herself and the kid hidden to punish him, it was more about the way she felt about herself. Lily saw herself as weak and damaged. She loved Rafael, but hated him for his betrayal, and hated herself even more because she kept taking him back.
I wish there hadn’t been a kid. While terrible people who hate themselves can be interesting characters, I’d prefer they didn’t have a kid around while they’re being so terrible. At least Crews quickly shoves the kid deep into the background with an army of nannies to do appropriate child-rearing things with him.
I was also really sad that I couldn’t enjoy Lily getting to wear an incredible dress and a lacy gold mask to attend a ball in Venice with a gorgeously hot Italian guy. That stuff is right up my alley, but Lily and Rafael didn’t deserve it. Nor did they deserve hot sexy times and orgasms. If, like me, you are planning to read this and congratulate yourself on how adult and tolerant and sympathetic you are towards characters who are awful and humourless, I’d recommend skipping the sex scenes. It’s a shame, because they are borderline nice and dirty and sort of push the HP envelope, but it doesn’t work if you keep thinking that these two haven’t yet proved they deserve anything nice.
The only tolerable thing about both Lily and Rafael is that they each realise that they are terrible people, and feel some remorse for it. I will go a long way with characters who are not just honest about being terrible, but start making plans to do something about it. In this case, I went all the way to the end of the book.
May 9, 2021
“Mi appartieni,” he said, soft and fierce at once. And she understood that little scrap of Italian. He’d taught it to her a long time ago. You belong to me.
"Unwrapping the Castelli Secret" is the story of Lily and Rafael.
Ok, a lot to unpack here.
The first half of this book was absolutely insane. The crazy hero finally finds the woman he has been obsessed with.. and whose death he has been mourning for five years.. his stepsister Lily. Theirs had been an illicit and passionate romance, until she had disappeared. He has made a shrine for her in his head.. until Lily pretends that she has amnesia and refuses to recognize him. However things change, when he discovers he has a son..
The second half deals with the toxicity of their past romance, where we discovered how callous and hurtful their relationship was. Not only did the hero repeatedly cheat on the heroine, he used her as his plaything, hurting her so much that she pretended to die to escape their addiction.
My heart went through a range of emotions reading this. The first half blew me away with their passion, chemistry and wild sex- the second half broke me especially with the realization what the heroine must have gone through. I really really despised the hero and their past relationship- and I think it cheapened things for me. This book is not for everyone but I enjoyed it in parts. The grovel was subpar- I dont like heroes who cheat AT ALL.
Unsafe
3/5
"Unwrapping the Castelli Secret" is the story of Lily and Rafael.
Ok, a lot to unpack here.
The first half of this book was absolutely insane. The crazy hero finally finds the woman he has been obsessed with.. and whose death he has been mourning for five years.. his stepsister Lily. Theirs had been an illicit and passionate romance, until she had disappeared. He has made a shrine for her in his head.. until Lily pretends that she has amnesia and refuses to recognize him. However things change, when he discovers he has a son..
The second half deals with the toxicity of their past romance, where we discovered how callous and hurtful their relationship was. Not only did the hero repeatedly cheat on the heroine, he used her as his plaything, hurting her so much that she pretended to die to escape their addiction.
My heart went through a range of emotions reading this. The first half blew me away with their passion, chemistry and wild sex- the second half broke me especially with the realization what the heroine must have gone through. I really really despised the hero and their past relationship- and I think it cheapened things for me. This book is not for everyone but I enjoyed it in parts. The grovel was subpar- I dont like heroes who cheat AT ALL.
Unsafe
3/5
May 14, 2016
2.5 stars
The fake amnesia ploy really annoyed me. It was weak,didn't go anywhere and then fizzled out.
There is no way this heroine should have put up with such a cheating hero. Even at her young age.
She should have run away again imo. I finished it....that's about all I can say.
The fake amnesia ploy really annoyed me. It was weak,didn't go anywhere and then fizzled out.
There is no way this heroine should have put up with such a cheating hero. Even at her young age.
She should have run away again imo. I finished it....that's about all I can say.
avoid
March 4, 2017The heroine HAS to be a masochist! And the hero is a fine example of debauchery! I shall not touch this book with a 10 meter pole!
July 13, 2021
So, the book did not disappoint me as I thought.
I read so many reviews about it so I knew what to expect, and I was quite scared in the beginning.
It’s certainly a creepy book, not a romantic one. If you are looking for a romantic story with a epic love this in definitely not one! Lily and Rafael are step siblings. He seduces her when she’s 19 and they start a relationship that toxic is the gentlest thing we can say to describe it. He wants to keep their relationship secret and keeps on having sex publicly with many other women. After years (years) of this abusive relationship, she sees him (literally) having sex with a woman, runs and has a car crash. She disappears and everybody thinks she’s dead. After 5 years he finds her accidentally: she has a son (his son) and he wants them back. He is changed (as if!!!) and eventually they marry. I think that the author made a very good job in describing how an emotional addiction works. It’s just like any other addiction, you feel the craving and you feel the awful aftereffects, you suffer from withdrawal syntoms and your life is ruined because you can't think of nothing else. The difference is that the partner and not a substance is the object of this addiction. In fact both of them refers to their relationship as an obsession, and the fact that Lily chose to go away from their relationship means that she understands, at a certain point, very well that it was a toxic addiction and the only way to recover was stay away from the substance of abuse that is him. She understands, after 4 years of toxic abuse that she must leave him behind and she would have never intentionally come back. This was the only insight she had. She recognizes that even if she knows he’s toxic to her she is powerless to resist him. This is what happens to addicted people. He was a narcissist selfish bastard and it’s very unlikely that a man like that ( not a boy, he was 28 when this happened) can change. He is the worst kind of narcissist that you can find, and that is the perverse narcissist, a person who wants to have attention on himself and to keep his women he manipulates them, emotionally abuses them, debasing them and destroying their self confidence.He can't accept that they leave him, so he's shattered when Lily leaves him and keeps his child from him. He isn't sorry for what he did to her and his child, he is sorry for himself. It is alway about himself in this book. Kudos to ms crews for the perfect description of this awful kind of man. And mind, the narcissist is very often a very pleasant and charming man, because he needs to attract the attention of people around him. This man used the heroine without any regard for her emotional wellbeing, he knew she was hurting because they always quarreled, but he didn't care anout her. And the heroine is also his perfect match. She was a former neglected child seeking every form of affection, even when it came as only sex. She tried to keep him for herself even if she knew it was an impossible thing, and accepted all the s**t he gave her, because this was the only kind of relationship she knew. She didn't think she was worth being loved and cared, thanks to her psycho mother. Eventually she left him and I was so sorry that she couldn't find a good man during their separation. That would have been her salvation. But no, she falls for him again. I know it seems very angsty, but I could not feel any sympathy for them, she was hopeless and he was a coward and I don’t want to think about their poor son. Their mothers were both mentally unstable and addicted so is there any wonder if these two are in need of therapy for the rest of their lives? Even their sex is a part of this addiction because it needs dangerous situations to trigger. This is a typical relationship not-with-you-nor without-you style and the result is unfortunately always disastrous. The writer maybe wants to give us a possible positive outcome but in all my experience I don’t see how a man like the hero could ever change. He is not changed even after he thought she was dead because he only missed his favorite toy. I also think he has a trait of psychopathy because he is not able to feel empathy and compassion for her feelings. He laughs at her when she cries for his repeated cheatings. Really??? His focus is on him and him alone. He never cares for her. When in the book is a scene where he cares for her? When he thinks she's dead, only because he lost a woman who worshipped his ego. He plans revenge because she left him and didn’t tell him she had his son, without ever questioning her reasons. How can a man like this be redeemed? He cannot. Because the narcissist is happy just the way he is. I know that many women dream of saving and changing awful monsters with their love, but this is not possible, ever. If a man has personality disorders of disorders of other type, he must go to a therapist, not to a poor innocent woman who will only become his willing victim and will ruin her life trying an impossible mission. The only thing the heroine-and any woman in this situation- can do is run, run and keep on running as fast as she can. I can only give two stars because unfortunately with those premises the only possible happy ending for the heroine is to leave definitely the hero and find a better man.
I read so many reviews about it so I knew what to expect, and I was quite scared in the beginning.
It’s certainly a creepy book, not a romantic one. If you are looking for a romantic story with a epic love this in definitely not one! Lily and Rafael are step siblings. He seduces her when she’s 19 and they start a relationship that toxic is the gentlest thing we can say to describe it. He wants to keep their relationship secret and keeps on having sex publicly with many other women. After years (years) of this abusive relationship, she sees him (literally) having sex with a woman, runs and has a car crash. She disappears and everybody thinks she’s dead. After 5 years he finds her accidentally: she has a son (his son) and he wants them back. He is changed (as if!!!) and eventually they marry. I think that the author made a very good job in describing how an emotional addiction works. It’s just like any other addiction, you feel the craving and you feel the awful aftereffects, you suffer from withdrawal syntoms and your life is ruined because you can't think of nothing else. The difference is that the partner and not a substance is the object of this addiction. In fact both of them refers to their relationship as an obsession, and the fact that Lily chose to go away from their relationship means that she understands, at a certain point, very well that it was a toxic addiction and the only way to recover was stay away from the substance of abuse that is him. She understands, after 4 years of toxic abuse that she must leave him behind and she would have never intentionally come back. This was the only insight she had. She recognizes that even if she knows he’s toxic to her she is powerless to resist him. This is what happens to addicted people. He was a narcissist selfish bastard and it’s very unlikely that a man like that ( not a boy, he was 28 when this happened) can change. He is the worst kind of narcissist that you can find, and that is the perverse narcissist, a person who wants to have attention on himself and to keep his women he manipulates them, emotionally abuses them, debasing them and destroying their self confidence.He can't accept that they leave him, so he's shattered when Lily leaves him and keeps his child from him. He isn't sorry for what he did to her and his child, he is sorry for himself. It is alway about himself in this book. Kudos to ms crews for the perfect description of this awful kind of man. And mind, the narcissist is very often a very pleasant and charming man, because he needs to attract the attention of people around him. This man used the heroine without any regard for her emotional wellbeing, he knew she was hurting because they always quarreled, but he didn't care anout her. And the heroine is also his perfect match. She was a former neglected child seeking every form of affection, even when it came as only sex. She tried to keep him for herself even if she knew it was an impossible thing, and accepted all the s**t he gave her, because this was the only kind of relationship she knew. She didn't think she was worth being loved and cared, thanks to her psycho mother. Eventually she left him and I was so sorry that she couldn't find a good man during their separation. That would have been her salvation. But no, she falls for him again. I know it seems very angsty, but I could not feel any sympathy for them, she was hopeless and he was a coward and I don’t want to think about their poor son. Their mothers were both mentally unstable and addicted so is there any wonder if these two are in need of therapy for the rest of their lives? Even their sex is a part of this addiction because it needs dangerous situations to trigger. This is a typical relationship not-with-you-nor without-you style and the result is unfortunately always disastrous. The writer maybe wants to give us a possible positive outcome but in all my experience I don’t see how a man like the hero could ever change. He is not changed even after he thought she was dead because he only missed his favorite toy. I also think he has a trait of psychopathy because he is not able to feel empathy and compassion for her feelings. He laughs at her when she cries for his repeated cheatings. Really??? His focus is on him and him alone. He never cares for her. When in the book is a scene where he cares for her? When he thinks she's dead, only because he lost a woman who worshipped his ego. He plans revenge because she left him and didn’t tell him she had his son, without ever questioning her reasons. How can a man like this be redeemed? He cannot. Because the narcissist is happy just the way he is. I know that many women dream of saving and changing awful monsters with their love, but this is not possible, ever. If a man has personality disorders of disorders of other type, he must go to a therapist, not to a poor innocent woman who will only become his willing victim and will ruin her life trying an impossible mission. The only thing the heroine-and any woman in this situation- can do is run, run and keep on running as fast as she can. I can only give two stars because unfortunately with those premises the only possible happy ending for the heroine is to leave definitely the hero and find a better man.
June 27, 2022
This is Brie’s fault, as all my inexplicable reading decisions are. 😭 Also: I’ve never read a book partially set in my hometown and I need to know if the author did any research on Charlottesville, Virginia. Because I suspect the answer is no. So laughably bad that it’s good. Read via KU.
November 7, 2015
4.5 stars.
This is kind of a difficult review to write because despite the controversial plot points of this book I did really like and enjoyed the book. There were some things that were questionable especially with the characters of Rafael and Lily. There were times where I didn't them but then I would flip around and feel for them once certain things came to light. I just flip flopped but I will say that it made the angst and drama amped adding to my intrigue to the story.
There were somethings missing for me to put this over the top and would have made me give it five stars. For one I would have liked to see more of their past relationship to get the full emotional impact to the story. It would have been powerful to see those scenes instead of getting told with snippets here and there. For one, their first time scene I would liked to have scene and just what they went through emotionally during that time. Also I just wanted to see more examples of how Rafael treated Lily over the coarse of them being lovers in the past because I would see how much he truly hurt her and realize why she made the decisions that she made. I just wanted to feel the pain and just how bad he really was and show how much he changed after he realized he was a jerk after her accident. That would have been gut wrenching. Thirdly I would have liked to seen a love scene between them after all truths were revealed and have that loving, bonding, emotional scene expressed with their bodies. I wanted to see that tenderness between them and just how reaffirming that they were actually in love instead of just in lust which it felt for the majority of the book. I didn't understand why he loved her especially when his actions said otherwise.
With that being said, I do believe that despite those missing things in the book overall it was pretty good. Filled with lots of angst and drama to go around. It made the story interesting. It was entertaining and I was immersed in it all.
I did like the whole pretending amnesia theme that Lily enacted and understood why she did what she did. She didn't want to be in unhealthy relationship that she had with Rafael in the past. So she did everything in her power to protect herself and her son. It lasted longer I thought the pretending but I knew it couldn't last forever. She did a good job keeping it up. So the amnesia just upped the intensity of this book. I thought it only could be more interesting if she actually had amnesia and he had to woo her again then once she found out what he did then he'd be back at square one again.
Now for Rafael at first I felt bad for him and hurt for him at this broken man that lost the woman that he loved. It gutted him and I could feel his pain as well as his relief when he discovered she was in fact alive. But then when I found out what he did in the past and what he did to Lily then my line of him decreased. True in the presented he admitted what a selfish jerk that he was especially in regards to Lily. And he felt bad for him. What he did was pretty bad. He treated her like his own personal sex toy to use and abuse as he pleases all the while dating and sleeping with other women while she was with Lily. It was just so wrong and I could understand why she did what she did. And near the end he also understood why she did what she did. I didn't understand why he was in love with her though. I felt that he was in it more for the passion than love. There was just no indication that it was there. I think if they had that final love scene that I spoke of above where I could feel the love between them as well as the tenderness. It just would have helped me see it. Or also showed how he mourned after "death". Something like that.
The passion between was very hot and very real. The basically undressed each other with their eyes whenever they were in the same room with each other. Their chemistry was palpable and I could see how they could fall head long into a physical relationship despite the fact they were step siblings and were very much forbidden, which made their relationship all the more complicated but fun to watch.
There were two proper love scenes. The first one felt more like how it was between them in the past showing nothing really changed but it also felt disappointed that they were repeating a pattern from the past. It felt just that uncontrollable lust that needed to be slaked instead of both an emotional and physical coming together after being separated after all this time. I just wasn't expecting it to be a hurried encounter. But it was hot. The second love scene was slower and more drawn out with the coming together for the first time ever skin to skin to show the importance of the scene usually their encounters were rushed without removing only necessary things to complete the deed. So this scene showed the growth of their connection. Again it was hot. So their physical chemistry was off the charts and what they had going for them.
There was lots of drama and angst which was really, really good and I loved seeing it all play out. It reminded me of a Diana Palmer book that I absolutely loved. There were similarities between the two, though Dawson was less of a cruel jerk than Rafael. Dawson didn't sleep with other women after he slept with his love. But the basic plot lines were the same and that was why I enjoyed this book. They just had lots of drama and angst that I loved.
Overall this was a very enjoyable read full of interesting drama and angst. The romance though at times questionable was very intense and full of hurt, pain and just very emotional due to the past and past doings that created a very unhealthy relationship at the time. I liked they both acknowledged that and didn't gloss over what they had done and were both responsible for their relationship. Neither one was the victim though I think Lily was especially at her young age and not knowing better but it was nice to see a heroine step up and take responsibility for it too. It showed how mature she was and how much she grew as a person. It was a nice change.
I also liked the backstory and history between the characters adding to the intensity as well as the emotions. I love stories where characters have history and so much drama. It just ups the game especially when one character has been in love with other for a really long time while the other usually the hero denies what they have been them emotionally and just focus on physical. That happened here with Rafael focused on their passion and doing it anywhere he can while Lily loved him and kept getting hurt by his actions in attempts for him to push her away. It just gave the story an edge like many characters with past histories and a complicated romance in their story.
I really liked this book and enjoyed it. Lots of edge, angst and drama and lots of passion going on that makes for an entertaining read. Can't wait to read Luca's, Rafael's brother, story in 2016
This is kind of a difficult review to write because despite the controversial plot points of this book I did really like and enjoyed the book. There were some things that were questionable especially with the characters of Rafael and Lily. There were times where I didn't them but then I would flip around and feel for them once certain things came to light. I just flip flopped but I will say that it made the angst and drama amped adding to my intrigue to the story.
There were somethings missing for me to put this over the top and would have made me give it five stars. For one I would have liked to see more of their past relationship to get the full emotional impact to the story. It would have been powerful to see those scenes instead of getting told with snippets here and there. For one, their first time scene I would liked to have scene and just what they went through emotionally during that time. Also I just wanted to see more examples of how Rafael treated Lily over the coarse of them being lovers in the past because I would see how much he truly hurt her and realize why she made the decisions that she made. I just wanted to feel the pain and just how bad he really was and show how much he changed after he realized he was a jerk after her accident. That would have been gut wrenching. Thirdly I would have liked to seen a love scene between them after all truths were revealed and have that loving, bonding, emotional scene expressed with their bodies. I wanted to see that tenderness between them and just how reaffirming that they were actually in love instead of just in lust which it felt for the majority of the book. I didn't understand why he loved her especially when his actions said otherwise.
With that being said, I do believe that despite those missing things in the book overall it was pretty good. Filled with lots of angst and drama to go around. It made the story interesting. It was entertaining and I was immersed in it all.
I did like the whole pretending amnesia theme that Lily enacted and understood why she did what she did. She didn't want to be in unhealthy relationship that she had with Rafael in the past. So she did everything in her power to protect herself and her son. It lasted longer I thought the pretending but I knew it couldn't last forever. She did a good job keeping it up. So the amnesia just upped the intensity of this book. I thought it only could be more interesting if she actually had amnesia and he had to woo her again then once she found out what he did then he'd be back at square one again.
Now for Rafael at first I felt bad for him and hurt for him at this broken man that lost the woman that he loved. It gutted him and I could feel his pain as well as his relief when he discovered she was in fact alive. But then when I found out what he did in the past and what he did to Lily then my line of him decreased. True in the presented he admitted what a selfish jerk that he was especially in regards to Lily. And he felt bad for him. What he did was pretty bad. He treated her like his own personal sex toy to use and abuse as he pleases all the while dating and sleeping with other women while she was with Lily. It was just so wrong and I could understand why she did what she did. And near the end he also understood why she did what she did. I didn't understand why he was in love with her though. I felt that he was in it more for the passion than love. There was just no indication that it was there. I think if they had that final love scene that I spoke of above where I could feel the love between them as well as the tenderness. It just would have helped me see it. Or also showed how he mourned after "death". Something like that.
The passion between was very hot and very real. The basically undressed each other with their eyes whenever they were in the same room with each other. Their chemistry was palpable and I could see how they could fall head long into a physical relationship despite the fact they were step siblings and were very much forbidden, which made their relationship all the more complicated but fun to watch.
There were two proper love scenes. The first one felt more like how it was between them in the past showing nothing really changed but it also felt disappointed that they were repeating a pattern from the past. It felt just that uncontrollable lust that needed to be slaked instead of both an emotional and physical coming together after being separated after all this time. I just wasn't expecting it to be a hurried encounter. But it was hot. The second love scene was slower and more drawn out with the coming together for the first time ever skin to skin to show the importance of the scene usually their encounters were rushed without removing only necessary things to complete the deed. So this scene showed the growth of their connection. Again it was hot. So their physical chemistry was off the charts and what they had going for them.
There was lots of drama and angst which was really, really good and I loved seeing it all play out. It reminded me of a Diana Palmer book that I absolutely loved. There were similarities between the two, though Dawson was less of a cruel jerk than Rafael. Dawson didn't sleep with other women after he slept with his love. But the basic plot lines were the same and that was why I enjoyed this book. They just had lots of drama and angst that I loved.
Overall this was a very enjoyable read full of interesting drama and angst. The romance though at times questionable was very intense and full of hurt, pain and just very emotional due to the past and past doings that created a very unhealthy relationship at the time. I liked they both acknowledged that and didn't gloss over what they had done and were both responsible for their relationship. Neither one was the victim though I think Lily was especially at her young age and not knowing better but it was nice to see a heroine step up and take responsibility for it too. It showed how mature she was and how much she grew as a person. It was a nice change.
I also liked the backstory and history between the characters adding to the intensity as well as the emotions. I love stories where characters have history and so much drama. It just ups the game especially when one character has been in love with other for a really long time while the other usually the hero denies what they have been them emotionally and just focus on physical. That happened here with Rafael focused on their passion and doing it anywhere he can while Lily loved him and kept getting hurt by his actions in attempts for him to push her away. It just gave the story an edge like many characters with past histories and a complicated romance in their story.
I really liked this book and enjoyed it. Lots of edge, angst and drama and lots of passion going on that makes for an entertaining read. Can't wait to read Luca's, Rafael's brother, story in 2016
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2016
This one is a little different from the HP formula. Many reviewers didn't like it. If you are expecting a true HP, this one isn't for you. This one really plays out angst of the step-bro/sis relationship - and not all the warm hearts/fuzzies - but the taboo, etc. I do think the H should have groveled in some way, but the frustration, hurt, inevitability, and obsession all played out to the end. 3 stars.
December 11, 2019
relacionamento doentio e tóxico/unhealthy and toxic relationship
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Great Review Here
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Great Review Here
February 20, 2021
I was cringing the entire time. I just can't even.... *cringes*
February 26, 2016
This book was absolutely horrible. The hero (asshole) cheated on the heroine for years openly In her face. His thinking was that they had made no commitment to each other. He took her virginity and went right back to sleeping with other women and laughed at her when she cried over it. The worst part of this supposedly love story is she went to visit him one night and walked him to find him having sex with another woman at his home. His response later "would it help if I told you I don't even remember her name ". Hello no! She later got in an accident and faked her death and disappeared for years and raised her son. To get away from his toxic love. He finds her years later and is an absolute asshole again. I'm sorry but she should have dumped his ass found her self a real man and left this loser alone. This is not a romance story. I want to forget I ever read this horrible book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
dont-read-this-itll-just-enrage-you
March 14, 2018I am literally copying and pasting this warning I wrote for another book earlier today. That's how tired I am of this shit.
*Romance authors, if you're going to give us assholes that not only cheat, but cheat in front of the heroine, then give us a woman that has the guts to kick that guy in the nuts and make him grovel like he's never groveled before. It's 2018 and women are less likely to put up with such bullshit as women generations ago, and the reviews are reflecting that.
*Romance authors, if you're going to give us assholes that not only cheat, but cheat in front of the heroine, then give us a woman that has the guts to kick that guy in the nuts and make him grovel like he's never groveled before. It's 2018 and women are less likely to put up with such bullshit as women generations ago, and the reviews are reflecting that.
August 3, 2018
4 Toxic Stars
“Turn around”, he ordered her…Do not make me repeat myself.”
“These are your choices, Lily…You can walk away right now, go to sleep, dream of all the ways we’ve wronged each other so we can tear bigger chunks from each other in the morning. I won’t blame you if you do.”
“Or...?” she asked, in a voice that hardly sounded like hers.
“Or you can bend over that settee and hold on tight.”
The protagonists in Unwrapping the Castelli Secret have the perfect ingredients of hateful, dirty, secretive love that combines into an amazing toxic goop of a relationship. Reading this book was like watching a train wreck happen, you don’t really want to see it, but damn it!, you just can’t look away.
Rafael and Lily are step-siblings with a yearning for each other. They kept their dirty little secret from everyone for years. Rafael enjoyed the charms of his teenaged step sister at home while continued to date and sleep with many,many other women. Even bringing them home while Lily was there. This devastates Lily, but she continues the hurtful relationship with him.
Until one day she is forced to face the painful truth and she runs leaving everyone to believe that she died.
Five years later…
They are back in the same toxic ooze that they were in before. Only now there is more at risk, and they have to decide if this is worth it.
This was one hell of a painful ride. I found myself cringing at the venom these characters spewed at each other. I kept reading because I needed to know how this would get resolved, to see how Ms. Crews made this all better. It wasn’t as dramatic and I thought it would be, but all in all, she did damn good job of making me believe that these two people might actually have a chance at a life together.
This book reminded me of the classic Harlequin Romances that I grew up with - you know - the ones with the über macho hero that made you want to reach in and slap him stupid, but then you forgave him at the end cause he redeemed and humbled himself to keep the love of his life. Yeah…like that.
This is a definite Must Read! Especially if you are like me and you like a little (or a lot of) angst with your romance.
“Turn around”, he ordered her…Do not make me repeat myself.”
“These are your choices, Lily…You can walk away right now, go to sleep, dream of all the ways we’ve wronged each other so we can tear bigger chunks from each other in the morning. I won’t blame you if you do.”
“Or...?” she asked, in a voice that hardly sounded like hers.
“Or you can bend over that settee and hold on tight.”
The protagonists in Unwrapping the Castelli Secret have the perfect ingredients of hateful, dirty, secretive love that combines into an amazing toxic goop of a relationship. Reading this book was like watching a train wreck happen, you don’t really want to see it, but damn it!, you just can’t look away.
Rafael and Lily are step-siblings with a yearning for each other. They kept their dirty little secret from everyone for years. Rafael enjoyed the charms of his teenaged step sister at home while continued to date and sleep with many,many other women. Even bringing them home while Lily was there. This devastates Lily, but she continues the hurtful relationship with him.
Until one day she is forced to face the painful truth and she runs leaving everyone to believe that she died.
Five years later…
They are back in the same toxic ooze that they were in before. Only now there is more at risk, and they have to decide if this is worth it.
This was one hell of a painful ride. I found myself cringing at the venom these characters spewed at each other. I kept reading because I needed to know how this would get resolved, to see how Ms. Crews made this all better. It wasn’t as dramatic and I thought it would be, but all in all, she did damn good job of making me believe that these two people might actually have a chance at a life together.
This book reminded me of the classic Harlequin Romances that I grew up with - you know - the ones with the über macho hero that made you want to reach in and slap him stupid, but then you forgave him at the end cause he redeemed and humbled himself to keep the love of his life. Yeah…like that.
This is a definite Must Read! Especially if you are like me and you like a little (or a lot of) angst with your romance.
May 1, 2019
Book One of The Castelli Brothers Series, this is the story of the older one, Rafael. The story opens with Rafael Castelli regretting the day he lost his stepsister Lily in a car crash. It's been five years, and he hasn't got closure since the body had not been found. He blames his selfishness for the status of their relationship even before the crash. Now in Charlottesville, Virginia to scout for some vineyards to add to his family's historic wine business, away from his native Italy, he spots her again. Lily was the daughter of his father's fourth wife, and they had been having a secret affair which Rafael didn't want to be made public, and thus the self-blame. He finally finds her, Lily Holloway, his Lily, now all of twenty-four. But she refuses that name and instead introduces herself as Alison Herbert. What a smashing introduction it is!
Why do they have to say, stepsister? It sounds so damn sordid! Luca (of Castelli's Virgin Widow - the younger brother) and Rafael, both are there and both recognise Lily. And when he discovers Lily has a son - his son! (Arlo) - they all have to become a family, though Lily still maintains she is Alison. And Rafael can't seem to fathom why she's still denying everything. The make-believe and the pretend in the story is so funny. The author provides humour in spades in this one.
It was senseless, the way both Rafael and Lily trying to hurt each other. And this was the first M&B I read where the heroine does something this drastic as to make the hero believe she's dead, and living with another identity. Ugh... in the end, it makes sense why Lily would want to hurt him. The reason made me cringe, yuck!
There's something in the book, finally, that I agree with. Though definitely not under the circumstances.
The cover is just perfect. As is the ending. A whole chapter is given to it.
Why do they have to say, stepsister? It sounds so damn sordid! Luca (of Castelli's Virgin Widow - the younger brother) and Rafael, both are there and both recognise Lily. And when he discovers Lily has a son - his son! (Arlo) - they all have to become a family, though Lily still maintains she is Alison. And Rafael can't seem to fathom why she's still denying everything. The make-believe and the pretend in the story is so funny. The author provides humour in spades in this one.
It was senseless, the way both Rafael and Lily trying to hurt each other. And this was the first M&B I read where the heroine does something this drastic as to make the hero believe she's dead, and living with another identity. Ugh... in the end, it makes sense why Lily would want to hurt him. The reason made me cringe, yuck!
Books and dogs and absolute and total freedom. What could be better?
There's something in the book, finally, that I agree with. Though definitely not under the circumstances.
The cover is just perfect. As is the ending. A whole chapter is given to it.
January 14, 2016
Unwrapping the Castelli Secret is a compelling emo angstfest.
Hooking up as stepsibilings. Keeping the hookups secret. Hero screwing other women while screwing the heroine. Heroine tolerating it. Heroine faking own death. Secret baby. See the emo angstfest.
At one point I thought does the hero need to grovel. Then thought more, no, they weren't having a romance they had screwmance a lustmance. No relationship existed but lust and screwing. Once the hero and heroine meet again then the real relationship begins. They talk. A lot. They deal with the past almost like they are therapists. It worked.
The only thing missing in this book is an epilogue. After giving the reader so much emo angst the reader deserves the cherry on the cake showing this former dsyfunctional hero and heroine functioning without all the angst of their past.
Hooking up as stepsibilings. Keeping the hookups secret. Hero screwing other women while screwing the heroine. Heroine tolerating it. Heroine faking own death. Secret baby. See the emo angstfest.
At one point I thought does the hero need to grovel. Then thought more, no, they weren't having a romance they had screwmance a lustmance. No relationship existed but lust and screwing. Once the hero and heroine meet again then the real relationship begins. They talk. A lot. They deal with the past almost like they are therapists. It worked.
The only thing missing in this book is an epilogue. After giving the reader so much emo angst the reader deserves the cherry on the cake showing this former dsyfunctional hero and heroine functioning without all the angst of their past.
February 5, 2016
Really wish I did not get this book and that I read all the darn book. I hate reading about cheaters and worse yet when you see it with your own eyes. I still pressure in my chest just remembering this.
dnf
October 31, 2022DNF @ 28% - I don’t like these people. He’s a cheating narcissist and she’s a vindictive bitch. Match made in hell?
I’m good.
I’m good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2024
Тази история в нормалния живот не би могла да има щастлив завършек. Добре, че това е Арлекин, а не реалността. Много счупени герои, добре разписани, за които искрено се зарадвах, че все пак потеглиха към залеза.
October 3, 2015
Rafael has spent five long and painful years mourning the loss of Lily, the one girl he couldn't truly have but did have in so many ways, the one girl he treated like a bit on the side, the one girl that if he could have his time back, if he could bring her back from the dead, if he could talk to her one more time, how he would do things differently!
Five long and painful years Rafael has spent chasing ghosts. He promises himself when he sees another Lily look alike walk past a cafe that this is the last ghost he chases. When she turns in the street light and Rafael sees his beloved Lily, all walls come crashing down, all defenses come crashing down and what he says and does is from the heart.
Only this Lily look alike refuses his advances and tells him to leave before she calls the police. "I am the love of your life!" he says. This is when I was hooked, it was so heart wrenchingly beautifully raw and then the moment you figure Lily IS Lily but does everything to deny it, I was 100% invested and THEN when I learnt what Lily is hiding from Rafael I read and read and read this book till I could not keep my eyes open any more!
Unwrapping the Castelli Secret tells the story of Rafael, a man so in love, not realizing it until it's too late and given a precious second chance that we're never normally given, of a man who wants to right every wrong he has done to his loved one but how can he when he is so so furious with Lily and what she's deliberately done and hidden he can barely think straight. Lily adamantly refuses she's the Lily he remembers and with some fantastically brilliant and exceptional writing the author pens priceless conversations between the two, was such a joy to read.
I loved this book so much, I could feel every little piece of hurt and anger and sadness and joy and heartbreak and love and laughter and every other emotion Rafael and Lily experienced while their story was told. I loved the way the flashbacks were incorporated into the story to make everything come together and I completely understand why Rafael treated Lily as he did back in the day.
If they hadn't had the relationship (as in his convenient bit on the side) they did I don't think this story would have worked in the same way because Rafael has been given a second chance that he is going to grip with every ounce of strength he possesses. Of course, being a man, he doesn't get walking all over Lily is going to help her feel what he feels or believe what he says and part of the learning is to let go in the hope of return.
I wasn't too comfortable with the family side of things at the beginning, although i know they were removed enough to make it non ick but I still wasn't very comfortable with it. However, the incredible writing of the author had me ok about it by the time I reached the end.
This is a story that I would want to write if I had any skill in being a writer, I was so involved in the emotion and I absolutely loved the writing, of Lily's reaction and of Rafael's efforts to convince Lily she was who she was.
Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.
6 Stars.
Five long and painful years Rafael has spent chasing ghosts. He promises himself when he sees another Lily look alike walk past a cafe that this is the last ghost he chases. When she turns in the street light and Rafael sees his beloved Lily, all walls come crashing down, all defenses come crashing down and what he says and does is from the heart.
Only this Lily look alike refuses his advances and tells him to leave before she calls the police. "I am the love of your life!" he says. This is when I was hooked, it was so heart wrenchingly beautifully raw and then the moment you figure Lily IS Lily but does everything to deny it, I was 100% invested and THEN when I learnt what Lily is hiding from Rafael I read and read and read this book till I could not keep my eyes open any more!
Unwrapping the Castelli Secret tells the story of Rafael, a man so in love, not realizing it until it's too late and given a precious second chance that we're never normally given, of a man who wants to right every wrong he has done to his loved one but how can he when he is so so furious with Lily and what she's deliberately done and hidden he can barely think straight. Lily adamantly refuses she's the Lily he remembers and with some fantastically brilliant and exceptional writing the author pens priceless conversations between the two, was such a joy to read.
I loved this book so much, I could feel every little piece of hurt and anger and sadness and joy and heartbreak and love and laughter and every other emotion Rafael and Lily experienced while their story was told. I loved the way the flashbacks were incorporated into the story to make everything come together and I completely understand why Rafael treated Lily as he did back in the day.
If they hadn't had the relationship (as in his convenient bit on the side) they did I don't think this story would have worked in the same way because Rafael has been given a second chance that he is going to grip with every ounce of strength he possesses. Of course, being a man, he doesn't get walking all over Lily is going to help her feel what he feels or believe what he says and part of the learning is to let go in the hope of return.
I wasn't too comfortable with the family side of things at the beginning, although i know they were removed enough to make it non ick but I still wasn't very comfortable with it. However, the incredible writing of the author had me ok about it by the time I reached the end.
This is a story that I would want to write if I had any skill in being a writer, I was so involved in the emotion and I absolutely loved the writing, of Lily's reaction and of Rafael's efforts to convince Lily she was who she was.
Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.
6 Stars.
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