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A Ring for Vincenzo's Heir

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"Does anyone here present..."

Scarlett Ravenwood takes an enormous risk interrupting Vincenzo Borgia's wedding. He's rich and powerful, whereas she's penniless and alone, but she needs his help...to protect their unborn child!

Vincenzo's furious that Scarlett kept the pregnancy from him, but to claim his heir he has no other option than to make her his wife.

Scarlett hadn't imagined a 24 carat diamond would feel so heavy; it weighs on the ache in her heart. Because she might not get the one, truly priceless, thing she desires...for his heart is off-limits!

193 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

101 people are currently reading
148 people want to read

About the author

Jennie Lucas

556 books331 followers
Jennie Lucas had a tragic beginning for any would-be writer: a very happy childhood. Her parents owned a bookstore, and she grew up surrounded by books, dreaming about faraway lands. Her mother read aloud to her in French when she was little; when she was ten, her father secretly paid her a dollar for every classic novel (Jane Eyre, War and Peace) that she read. As a chubby teenager, Jennie covered her bedroom with travel posters and always had her nose in a book.

At fifteen, she went to a Connecticut boarding school on scholarship. She took her first solo trip to Europe at sixteen, then put off college and traveled around the U.S., supporting herself with jobs as diverse as gas station cashier and newspaper advertising assistant.

At 22, she met the man who would be her husband. For the first time in her life, she wanted to stay in one place, as long as she could be with him. After their marriage, she graduated from Kent State University with a degree in English, and started writing books a year later.

Jennie was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest in 2003 and won the award in 2005. A fellow 2003 finalist, Australian author Trish Morey, read Jennie’s writing and told her that she should write for Harlequin Presents. It seemed like too big a dream, but Jennie took a deep breath and went for it. A year later, after seven years of writing and eight finished manuscripts, Jennie got the magical call from London that turned her into a published author.

Since then, life has been hectic, juggling a writing career, a sexy husband and two young children, but Jennie loves her crazy, chaotic life. Who needs a clean house? Every day, Jennie gets swept into drama, glamour and passion. Now if she can only figure out how to pack up her family and live in all the places she’s writing about!

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5 stars
117 (26%)
4 stars
146 (32%)
3 stars
128 (28%)
2 stars
37 (8%)
1 star
17 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
Profile Image for Vashti.
1,233 reviews29 followers
August 17, 2016
I have been on a reading slump as of late and not for the lack of books as my towering pile of reading material is about to tumble over. When one of my absolute favorite HP author took a break from writing these category romances,I was like...say it ain't so Jennie!!! ,you are one of my trusted ,go to reads,how can you take a break,don't you know how devastated your fans will be (well,me anyways).Well,I am pleased to say that Jennie Lucas is back and boy howdy am I glad she returned with her trademark writing style.Her romances are simple,not overly dramatic,but with enough angst to satisfy me.
This lovely romance is classic with a sweet heroine and a tortured neanderthal hero who belongs in the dark ages.There is the secret baby,a villian who gets his justs deserts,coerced marriage,a lovely travelogue from New York to Switzerland, and Italy.
The story opens with the heroine close to eight months pregnant from her ONS with the hero who she choses not to reveal her pregnancy to as she read terrible things about him on the internet.She is in the back seat of a limo of her now deceased employer whose dastardly son is putting the moves on her and threatens her with taking her baby away from her if she does not cooperate with him and marry him. When the limo slows down,she decks him and makes a mad dash out of the limo sans shoes and runs to the cathedral the hero is getting married in this very moment.Guess who yells out "stop the wedding",hero is about to find out he is going to be a baby daddy,but not before the paternity tests of course.And so begins this really very enjoyable romance with tropes I love.Thank you Jennie Lucas for writing HP'S again,you were missed!
Profile Image for Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves.
1,462 reviews18 followers
March 19, 2018
With that absolute cracker of a beginning, I got so excited that I guess I did set myself up for disappointment.

There’s something about the ‘speak now or’ interruptions at weddings that makes me thoroughly gleeful!
But thereon, the h sets out to singlehandedly ruin this amazingly promising premise. It’s so okay to have a spine and be feisty and all, but she’s a control freak who wants to run everything according to her wishes – even him and his life, personal and business! No, he's not perfect but he gives in on every count till his mommy-issues kick in and give him a stern lecture on the reality of love and enslavement thereof. And he reverts to jerkitude.

And I didn’t like to see a pregnant to term h running around the globe without a thought or worry about the baby’s safety (She's not the only JL h to have this attitude to late pregnancy!). Some of her arguments were so counterproductive that she comes across as severely tstl. Moneyless, jobless, skill-less but certainly full on beans and running shoes, fleeing to another continent and looking at minimum wages and possible crèche charges rather than marry a billionaire? Hmmm, that certainly sounds like a reasonable person who knows what’s best for her baby!

Also, I prefer more connection with a baby, while in womb or out. A 8 mos. fetus moves, kicks and sleeps and a mother is always aware of him/her and is like an actual person already. I prefer the old fashioned way of h/H sharing the excitement over movements and talking to the baby – generally going mushy. But all the consideration this h gives to her bump is to hold it and run!
Profile Image for Melody Cox.
1,502 reviews180 followers
December 27, 2021
***3.75 Stars***

My feelings on this book are a bit on the fence. I found I had to suspend belief with this story because I have never known a man (or a woman for that matter) so obsessed with control over everything and everyone around them. It was a little creepy for me but yet I really enjoyed the heroine.

It's Vincenzo Borgia's wedding day, marrying a woman he didn't love while he still thought of another he had fallen hard for eight months prior which amounted to a ONS.

Scarlett Ravenwood was a red-haired beauty who had a one-night-stand eight months ago with Vin Borgia. She gave him the gift of her virginity and he wanted to see more of her and she him until she did internet searches on him and found out just what kind of man he was. So when she learned more about his ruthlessness and how he dismantled businesses and ruined peoples lives without a second thought she chose not to tell him about the pregnancy. Her thoughts were about the kind of father he would make for their child and clearly saw the outcome unlikely to be positive.

The lady she worked for passed away and her son was obsessed with Scarlett. He was trying to have Scarlett committed and was paying the doctor for a diagnosis of insanity so he could give away Scarlett's baby and then make a life with her.

When he tried to kidnap Scarlett she was able to escape and ran all the way to the church where Vin's wedding was taking place and stopped the wedding. Throughout the whole book, there was a constant internal struggle within Vin. He was at times a very cruel man, a slave driver if you will. No one's opinion mattered because his were the only ones that were right. Everyone else's was wrong. That gets a little old after a while.

The way he refused to love Scarlett and how he treated her did get old and I didn't feel the author redeemed him, at least in my eyes, by the end of the book. I liked him much, much less at the end than towards the beginning and just didn't think he groveled near enough.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,162 reviews558 followers
August 4, 2016
Hero and heroine spend one night together, heroine ends up pregnant they decide to marry but hero is a control freak.

I adore JL so I was very sad when she took a break from writing HP. I am glad she is back but this book was just ok. It took them ages to get married and even then I didnt feel the passion or the emotions that JL usually evokes. The epilogue was lame. I wanted to see them with two or three cute babies but instead we got an airplane ride. In short this was nothing like your typical JL book. It was decent but she can do so much better. I am sure her fans will love it though!
Profile Image for Rgreader.
734 reviews54 followers
October 31, 2016
On page 86 I gave up. The heroine annoyed me greatly.

The bad- the heroine she grated on my nerves.
She was judgmental towards the hero because he was a billionaire but she defended her thief father.
Hypocrite much.
She kept running from the hero. She was willing to deny him access to his child. The hero wasn't a bad guy. So selfish of her to do this.
She wanted to meet the hero's dad after he told her they were estranged. Why do this when she needed to focus on building a relationship with the hero.

This plot is based on a hookup. A plot device I find authors fail at building a believable romance. This is the case here. There's no focus on building the relationship. So much other is happening.

Oh last, I didn’t feel a connection between the hero and heroine.

I wanted to like this book but it missed the mark. Sad.
2,350 reviews
October 14, 2016
3.5 stars

This was Jennie Lucas's first foray back into the Harlequin Presents line after over a year away. Being that she is one of my favorite authors from this line, I was beyond excited for this book. Unfortunately this book left me a bit disappointed. Comparing this book to some of her other books this one just didn't hit the mark.

The setup was interesting and their chemistry was very interesting, but on an emotional level I expected more. I wished there was more rawness. More intensity to the story. I wanted to be gutted like I have when I have read her other books because there was so much intense emotion going on. There were things going on emotionally yet it didn't touch me or make me feel for the characters. I wanted that feeling deep in my soul instead it felt very surface and didn't go as deep as I would have liked to it have gone. I wanted more.

I wanted more angst as well. There was a little bit but again it felt very surface. I needed to feel more of the struggle between the two. I wanted the back and forth to be meaningful as well as making it added foreplay between them making it all the hotter. It would have also increased the anticipation between them tenfold if there was more angst. And also it would have created edge and intensity in the story that it needed. The angst was just felt and unbelievable to me.

Their chemistry was okay. They certainly weren't the hottest couple I have ever read. It was there, but there could have been more. However I will say the bath tub scene was pretty hot and steamy and I enjoyed reading it as well as the other big love scene where they were up against the wall at Christmas. I think there could have been one more love scene just to sweeten the deal with that one being slower and more meaningful. Less about the lust and more about the beauty of their coming together.

It was not a horrible story, but it just needed to dig a little deeper just like Jennie Lucas's books have done before. It needed more of a push in the emotionally intense realm. There was plenty of potential here it just needed to be amped up more so that it was a more gut wrenching journey.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Emona.
118 reviews20 followers
September 16, 2016
Not my usual JL, both characters were dull till about 3/4th of the book, not to mention, the epilogue was dry compared to how JL usually ends – something like up, up and awry!
I'd say, Scarlett was a bit too much, she was stubborn to no limit, infinitely stupid, and oh so childish, I think I'd have agreed with her ex-boss' claim that she was mentally ill, if it were not for her kind-heart that was revealed in the end, or maybe she changed, thankfully, her stupidity worked out some good, like the family reunion.

Vincenzo was not exactly alpha, but more like a vintage HP hero, afraid to love because he was afraid of love, for a simple reason, when in love, you can't control things.
The ending was dramatic, more like a Hollywood movie.
Definitely would not recommend this to a JL fan.

Overall Rating: 3.50/5.00
Profile Image for Debbie DiFiore.
2,738 reviews317 followers
September 4, 2016
Angst deliciousness!

I loved this book. The H Vin was a total jerk for most of the book but he redeemed himself beautifully. I loved the h too. She had a backbone and she wasn't afraid to use it. She is probably one of my favorites heroines. She loved him but she wasn't going to let him control her. The whole family dynamics were of course crazy on both sides but they had their HEA! Not without drama though and a lot of angst. If you are a fan of HP's this is a good one. Enjoy the ride.
Profile Image for lily.
1,266 reviews
May 9, 2018
loved it hero was a hot jerk and heroine was a tough girl with big heart .
Profile Image for Reads by Starburst.
321 reviews17 followers
August 20, 2016
A Ring for Vincenzo’s Heir by Jennie Lucas was a much awaited book as the author’s return to Harlequin presents after a long time. This is a part of the One Night With Consequences series and can be easily read as a standalone. I loved every minute of this one, especially the start and the climactic ending. The story picks up a superb pace with Scarlett entry in Vincenzo’s wedding and continues a good pace till the end. I loved the well written romantic scenes and the sizzling chemistry between the characters. Vincenzo was an intense hero with a fierce reputation. I loved how Scarlett kept shattering his control by her refusal to bow down to his every whim. Overall, a romance that definitely should not be missed this month!
Profile Image for iamGamz.
1,549 reviews51 followers
March 20, 2017
Hero has more issues than Time magazine!

He won't allow himself to love because of his childhood so he decides to marry a bride of convenience, until the wedding is interrupted by last spring's one night stand.

Heroine has had her difficulties in life but still believes in love. Then she meets hero. Spends a stunning night with him and later learns that he's an awful person. So she hides her pregnancy until 8 months later she's forced to crash hero's wedding to save herself and her unborn baby.

Hero is a MESS and made the heroine's life crazy. All in all it's a great read.
Profile Image for Jes.
613 reviews3 followers
January 10, 2024
Bruh. This insulted my intelligence. It begins with our heroine storming her one night stand's wedding... to reveal she's pregnant with their baby! But no worries, the book promptly dissolves any sort of tension or awkwardness. It turns out the would-be bride was cheating on the hero the entire time. And also our heroine was a virgin before she met the hero.

Now, let me level with you here. I take a lot of comfort in virgin heroines. But like. The idea that we separate our heroine (virtuous, good) from a minor character (lustful, bad) by their experience feels dumb. We don't hear from the bride from the beginning again, and it's kinda silly that the beginning of the book doesn't have many ramifications for the rest. Does it border on offensive? I dunno. I'm not the wronged group here. I'm as stupid and vestal as the heroine.

Speaking of intelligence, I liked how street smart the heroine was, at first at least. She (literally) runs away from the hero when he pretty much tells her she has to marry him or he'll lose her baby. But then we find out that she had a lot of money because her dad died in a plane crash but she donated ALL the money to charity. Like. What. Sure, this took place before the story but I don't even see why it rated a mention at all?? Like now I'm just thinking this girl is not smart. I really hate the "too stupid to live" label put on heroines and that's not what I'm doing here. It's just a really dumb backstory detail to include??

The hero was a beast and I didn't like him. Like when he first tells the hero he's going to marry her, the prenup says that he'll be able to choose her friends, clothes, and religion. And I feel like that level of control is just a cartoonish thing to have him demand. He doesn't really ever have any other actions that fully match his intro and the flaws he eventually develops and overcomes are different. It's just kinda inconsistent. The conflict he goes through, two decades of miscommunication with his family, is even dumber than the heroine's backstory. His refusal to talk to his dad (who loves him yadda yadda) and his refusal to be even a tiny bit honest with the heroine wrecked what little respect I had left for myself. For reading this book.

In any case, I liked this book way less than the first book in the collection I'm reading. But I do really enjoy all the camp in Harlequin books. I think I'm going to go back and edit my reviews after I finish the other two books, just to give notes about my favorites and least favorites.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Daisy Daisy.
706 reviews41 followers
July 16, 2018
Neither character was very likable for most of this kind of secret pregnancy story.
The H & h meet and have a ONS, she was a virgin and naturally falls pregnant. After googling her man she decides not to tell him shes up the duff and vows never to contact him again. He actually rather liked her and spends the next 8 months celibate but not knowing her means he moves on and plans to marry another for dynastic reasons.
Our h is the daughter of a man who was a robber and he took his family on the run for several years so shes an expert at evasion. However for some reason she can't use these tactics to evade the unwanted advances of her employers skeevy son and crashes the H's very public wedding. To be honest he totally does the right thing he just goes the wrong way about it. He makes a couple of mistakes such as leaving her at xmas and tricking her into signing the post nup and these are just totally awful. However she isn't much better she totally tried to hide his baby and he had done nothing wrong to her. She also sees her dad through rose tinted specs because he did have a huge impact on her upbringing because she never settled in one place long enough to get a proper education.
No one comes out of this very well although Vin is pretty darn heroic at the end and totally makes up for his hideousness of earlier.
Finally yet another cover lies to me our h Scarlett has hair to match her name but not on the cover grrrrr
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Paula Legate.
Author 17 books25 followers
November 10, 2016

I really enjoyed this book. The story starts out with Scarlett almost being kidnapped. She ended up losing her shoes in the process of getting away. She interrupted Vin's wedding. Her ex boss was a real jerk. Once Vin found out she was pregnant with his child, he demanded marriage. He literally told her, he would have total control over her, and their child. I Loved the part where she sweetly asked for shoes because she was barefooted. He asked what kind? He expected her to ask for a name brand. She was different from any one he had ever been with. She only asked for running shoes. Ok that should have been a clue. She had a back bone, and was not afraid to stand up for herself. She also knew when she had her back up against a wall, and when she had to run! She thought she went from one over controlling man, into the hands of another. As soon as she had her new shoes on, she slipped out the back door and never looked back. He did end up finding her a few weeks later. Vin always thought he had to have control of everything. Scarlett had a way of showing him, he had no control over her. He had his past to work through. He had this complex that he never wanted to love, because he was afraid of being hurt. The end of the story was heartwarming. When Scarlett was in Danger, he protected her, and took the bullet. Much better than groveling. I really did enjoy this book. I am so happy the two were able to find Happy ever after.
Profile Image for Susan in Perthshire.
2,211 reviews117 followers
October 28, 2020
This was full of so many ridiculous plot lines that I gave up half way through and skimmed to the end.

This had a truly awful heroine. Prejudiced, biased and utterly self centred, Scarlett was an utter pain. She plans to never tell Vin he’s a father - until of course she needs his help to escape from the unbelievable Blair’s, so crashes his wedding! If JL was trying to create a feminist heroine - she failed. She simply made her unpleasant and unlike able.

She condemns Vin for imagined sins, whilst wearing rose tinted spectacles and defending her criminal father. She prefers to live a ridiculous penniless life frying chicken (when she claimed that fried chicken made the world happy I just gave up.) Rather than try to create a secure home for her child.

As for the ridiculous melodrama with Blaise - other than creating the opportunity for Vin to play hero - it served no purpose whatsoever and lacked credibility.

I’ve been catching up on various authors’ back catalogues on the Mills and Boon ‘we love romance’ app - thank goodness I didn’t actually buy this. JL can definitely write but imho she spoils her books with her ghastly heroines.
Her heroes are much better - much more rounded characters who whilst behaving like jerks, are redeemed by love.
Profile Image for Calysta.
843 reviews8 followers
March 19, 2019
Crossed the line a few times, but there were still enjoyable elements. IDK, not awful but definitely not one I'd rec to anyone
Profile Image for Julie (Let's Read Good Books).
1,736 reviews485 followers
December 16, 2016
DNF

This was not working for me on any level. From picking the hero's pocket to the almost plane crash, the events were not believable at all. The icing on the cake was when the heroine insisted on staying in a run down, rodent infested villa with her newborn, instead of staying in a clean hotel until repairs could be made to make her new home a safe doweling for her baby. Common sense was in short supply here. NEXT!
Profile Image for Xai Xai.
347 reviews28 followers
August 9, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The h was bold and saucy! She had fire of stubbornness and courage. The H was Alpha all the way, even when he sacrificed his life for her. Beats grovelling any day! Which of course a dose of it was awarded. I loved JL books and happy to see her back with a bang!
Profile Image for Engy Salah.
186 reviews1 follower
August 10, 2016
First novel for Jennie Lucas after a long break she's one of my favorite authors. A ring for Vincenzo's heir easy to read story with a lovely heroine and a cruel hero. Very good romance 3.5 stars
1,508 reviews51 followers
August 23, 2016
Excellent romance with a hero that at times appears cruel but has many layers to his persona and the perfect heroine to peel back the layers to find her happy every after.
634 reviews
April 15, 2018
"Does anyone here present…" Scarlett Ravenwood (home healthcare aide) takes an enormous risk interrupting Vincenzo Borgia's (airline tycoon) wedding. He's rich and powerful, whereas she's penniless and alone, but she needs his help…to protect their unborn child! Her employer’s son gives her two options, marry and send the child away or marry and place the baby up for adoption, neither of which are palatable. So, she escapes his vehicle and runs to the church. Vincenzo's curious why Scarlett kept the pregnancy from him, since no woman,’ til her has been able to resist his charms. Leaving the hotel room before he awakened, and not having her full name, he thought he’d never see her again. Now she’s cost him a major business deal but saved he and his bride from a loveless marriage. Now to claim his heir he has no other option than to make her his wife. To do so he must face the ‘fake family’ he left behind. Scarlett hadn't imagined a 10-carat diamond would feel so heavy; it weighs on the ache in her heart. She has the home and the child Nico but she might not get the one, truly priceless, thing she desires…for his heart is off-limits! Learning his family loved him regardless of blood ties and taking two bullets for her, does he truly learn he's able to love.
Profile Image for Debra.
3,466 reviews13 followers
September 23, 2018
A Ring for Vincenzo's Heir

Before this story began they had a one night stand. Now she interrupts his wedding day by stating she is pregnant with his child. The bride faints, then her lover takes her away. Not what an opening for the plot of this story. He is being challenged to make the h his wife before the baby is born. But they have many obstacles to get over before. Will two broken souls be able to heal and come together for their child?
Profile Image for Sandra R.
3,354 reviews47 followers
April 10, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Well written with excellent character development. I liked the way their romance developed once they met up again and I could understand what motivated the H/h to do what they did.
Profile Image for Nala  Mili.
175 reviews
June 28, 2020
This one is so well written and i'm happy that i've read it. Good luck to the author ~ ♥
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews

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