Greek tycoon Alekos Gionakis thought he knew the value of his secretary, but her newly transformed appearance—and surprising secret parentage—has him reappraising his most precious asset!
Alekos knows that he can offer beautiful Sara Lovejoy the ability to meet her family, under his protection, while also securing a secret deal…providing she agrees to become his mistress!
But his best-laid plans are about to go awry, because her innocence is the one thing this powerful tycoon will realize is priceless.
I grew up without a TV, let alone DVD’s, computer games etc that my kids spend so much time engrossed in, but I learned to read at an early age and from then on I was always entertained – so much so that my friends used to hide their books when I visited them because all I wanted to do was read!
When I was a teenager I discovered Mills & Boon romances in my local library, and so began a lifelong love affair. I still remember that feeling of anticipation when I settled down with a pile of books - all bearing the famous rose logo - knowing that I would be drawn into a world of love, passion and emotional intensity that I have never found in any other books. I enjoy reading a wide range of books, especially historical novels, and I am a big fan of Agatha Christie, mainly I think because her characters seem so real, but I love romances and unashamedly admit that I only want to read books with a guaranteed happy ending. Reading is my joy and pleasure and I don’t want to cry buckets at the end of a book or have my sleep disturbed by its gruesome content.
For me, the characters in Harlequin Mills & Boon romances are the key. I love reading and writing about strong, alpha heroes and feisty, independent heroines who find that they can’t fight the blazing attraction between them.
When I married my own tall, dark, but sadly not wealthy hero, we moved out of London to the Kent coast and started a family that grew and grew. I adore my six children, and when they were small I loved being a stay-at-home mum, but there can be days, as I’m sure many of you know, when you feel isolated and – dare I say it – bored of conversing with three-year-olds. Harlequin Mills & Boon romances were my life-line and my sanity and I read them whenever I had a spare five minutes (in the bath, pacing the floor at three am with colicky baby on one shoulder and a book in the other hand!)
My imagination soared and I decided to try and write a book myself. My first attempt was typed up on a manual type-writer with the full-stop key and the letter p missing. Luckily my hero and heroine were not called Paul and Poppy, but it still meant going over my manuscript with a pen to fill in the gaps!
That first book was duly rejected as were my next two. I suppose I was disheartened and by now I had four small children and very little spare time, so although I continued to read romances, I gave up writing. It wasn’t until my youngest son started school that I tried writing again. I was struggling to come to terms with the death of my darling mum Gabrielle and writing became my therapy. Mum had always nagged me to get on and write a book and had an unshakeable belief that I would one day be published – I’m so glad that she was proved right and my biggest regret is that she isn’t here to share my success with me.
I wrote two more books which were both rejected by HM&B, but I was given some advice on my writing from the editorial team that encouraged me to try again. Third time lucky certainly applied to me – the day I received ‘the call’ was exactly four years after Mum had died. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life - but instead of chatting to the editor about contracts I had to dash off and pick my sick daughter up from school. Reality is never far away in my house!
I have now had nine books published - At the Sheikh's Bidding was released in September 08. My next book, Argentinian Playboy, Unexpected Love-Child will be out in the UK in July 09, and The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess in the UK in August 09. I have just had my twelfth book accepted and am already busy on my thirteenth. Now that my children are growing up I am able to write every day between 9 am and 3 pm, but often I become so involved with my characters that I sneak off to write again in the evening!
I feel I must be one of the luckiest people in the world to be doing something that I love, but I work hard at my luck and I believe that w
4.5stars!SPOILER THROWN THRU OUT ..... Wow,it has been years since I picked up a book by this author and this one did not disappoint.I enjoy the boss/employee trope and in this one our heroine who has suddenly undergone a metamorphosis has caught the eye of her multimillionaire Greek boss,I guess that billionaires are passe now. He sees his new and improved PA and he is now in a constant state of erections the poor sod.Our heroine is also keeping a secret from the world,seems that she is the illegitimate daughter of a famous politician whose wife had died 2 months prior and he also has 2 children, her half siblings.Things come to a header when her secret daddy tells her that she can't come for the planned visit to his home as it is too soon to meet her new siblings as it would hurt them to know that their daddy cheated on their beloved mother.Heroine is understandably distraught and spills the bean to her boss who now has a serious case of blue balls for her.Things get hot and heavy between the two,but no she can't succumb to her boss because her Mama said that all men want from you is a quickie and then you will be dropped like a hot potato!But passion wins out when they are in Monte where he is at a big deal yacht show where he is showing his yacht. Hero is a prestigious yacht builder.So they hit the sheets hard and harder ,et voila, she is his.But soon after news comes that someone in his organization is trying to take over his company,oh noos...off to his private Greek island where after a fateful dip in the sea,they become lovers.Sexxing is great,but soon her time is up,see she had given her pink slip to her boss and now it is time to say "adios",but not before announcing that the bun is in the oven.Well,what is a Greek despot boss to do but offer marriage to save face.But shortly a few weeks later, the sad part,our sweet heroine has an ectopic pregnancy :(this is where my heart bleed for her because to loose a child is such a devastating thing to happen.Heroine breaks up with our hero ,finally gets to be acknowledged as the daughter and half sister and finally attempts to get on with her life and be the person she wants to be and not what her mommy dearest wanted her to be. Few months pass,our H/h meet again and love and tears on our hero's part and hea ensues with marriage and a bouncing baby boy. I really liked this one,hero was self-centered in the hp way and a manipulator,but I liked him .The heroine was sweet and I could empathize with her character.Knocked off 1/2 cause of the hero's character.
No really, how the fuck is this even romance? He actually told her he didn't feel this attached to any of his other mistresses. Yuck. Also, he paraded them in front of her and what fell in lust and could no longer keep it in his pants AFTER she suddenly turned sexy? And he said these out loud along with the facts that before she looked sexy he did think about her but only as smart and funny, but that wasn't enough for him to desire her, but when she was desirable on top of that, he lost control. Does this get any shallower than this? And somehow these are all compliments which the heroine drunk up and fell head over heels in love with him and agreed to marry him? Give me a break! This has to be one of the most derogatory books I have read, and to think they're trying to pass this on as romance!!! I'm going back to smut and psycho thrillers. Psycho thrillers are way more romantic than this.
Oy vey. This is one Greek tycoon obsessed with his penis. I mean really.
What a jackanapes. (Trying to stay away from cussing. It's going to be difficult. Very)
This poor chick has it coming and going. An emotionally distant mother, no friends, a father who's scared to acknowledge her, two cool half-siblings who know nothing about her, and an arrogant, manipulative Greek tycoon asshat for a boss and prospective lover.
The h comes back from a vacation thinner and now sexy and the Greek tycoon's nether parts take over. I swear to goodness if he's not thinking about his penis or thinking with his penis, he's adjusting it, lusting after the h with it, or taking it for a cold shower. It's his only longterm relationship.
The stupid sweet h confides in him re: her high stakes father, and the H uses this knowledge for both his manipulation to get her in bed as well as use her to get business for the firm. They finally have sex, and he leaves her alone as he jets off to the Middle East. Apparently virgins don't need pillow talk.
Cutting through all the BS, this poor little Greek tycoon had no idea how much he cared. The h's spine appears when it's most needed (spoilers abound) and the H gets the one he loves.
This book was freaking amazing. It hit all my boxes for what a romance should be. It had great angst. Great sexual tension. Great emotional content. The characters were very likable and enjoyable. It was fun. It was sad. It was passionate. The pull between them was really good. I loved all the back and forth between Sara and Alekos. It had a great plot with multiple obstacles thrown in the couple's way. It was gut wrenching at times. My heart broke and soared throughout the course of the book. I loved the relationship between Sara and Alekos, and loved how they were friends first before anything started between them. And they were scorching hot together. The settings were incredible and I felt like I was really there. And I felt so much while reading. I took my time to savor this book, and I didn't want to rush because I wanted to experience every nuance of this book so that I felt very much apart of the action.
This book just felt very real and genuine that it wasn't hard to see Alekos and Sara were falling in love, though arguably she was already in love with him but it was nice to see her journey in realizing that she was in love with him and had been in love with him for years, I love those kinds of stories where there is a backstory and already feelings going in before even starts. This one had that. Also it had the friends to lovers trope that I love in romance. Wish there was more of it out there. Anyway I liked the steady progression and build up of their relationship over the course. It had nice pacing where it felt believable and not too dragged or rushed. I felt that this was truly a love story in its purest form.
I loved Sara so much. There were so many facets to her character that made her feel real and genuine. I believed in her. I rooted for her, and I wanted to win in life. What I really loved most about this character was her growth, her strength, and her vulnerability. I could feel her pain and hurt over her childhood and not feeling good enough because her father wasn't in her life. That carried with her for a long time and damaged her self worth and confidence, and during her journey it ebbed and flowed depending on what she was experiencing at the time, but finally she did find her self worth and stood proud and tall. I loved where her journey took her and what she learned about herself through it.
Another thing I loved in this book was how her makeover came about. Usually in these types of books either the hero forces the plain Jane heroine get a makeover so that people would believe that she was his type and wouldn't be hard to see why they were involved or the heroine changes her looks in order to get the hero's attention by catching his eye. In Sara's case, she wasn't getting a makeover in order to get Alekos attention and draw his interest, though she did hope he'd notice, she made herself over for herself because she wanted to feel good about herself. She wanted to take the time to look good because she realized she was worthy and she wanted to reflect that new self confidence that she felt on the inside to show on the outside. It was such a positive message, and it just really resonated with me. I was happy she was doing it for herself not for him. It made me love her all the more.
This book really began with a bang, and I loved how it was setup. I was immediately in the action as soon as he came into the office and thought a stranger was in his office instead of his familiar PA that he had known for two years, who happened to have made herself over. It was a huge punch to him and he got a good kick in the pants at the sudden physical attraction he felt for her. It was entertaining to watch the byplay between them and funny as he was coming to terms with this all consuming attraction he had for Sara. The attraction was very much present and just kept growing and growing over the course of the book. It felt very genuine and natural and not all contrived. From that first chapter on, I could feel their attraction to one another and sparks flew.
And boy did they flow. There was so much of that steamy chemistry that I thought both their hands were going to blow off, and his did especially during the first time scene. I mean he exploded like a volcano, and it was so delicious and so good that the pay off to all their sexual tension was so worth it. It just built and built until they couldn't take it anymore. Their make out scenes were steamy. Their love scenes were off the charts hot that it was a wonder the book didn't burst into flames. Their first time scene was very much filled with lust and attraction on his yacht no less then turned into a very sweet, gentle, and bonding encounter between them. The second half of that scene was very emotional and slower, which was nice to see the contrast between the first and the second time, which happened in the scene. I loved that it was a raw yet caring scene. The other love scenes were just as hot as they were emotional, and they were just really well written and really entertaining.
I know I didn't go into much detail about him, but I loved him as well. He was a great alpha male, which did some questionable things in the book, but I believe that his fear took over before he found the courage to finally admit that he loved her. He was never an absolute jerk, nor did I ever hate him through the course of the book even when he was being unfair to Sara and making mistakes along the way. That's what made him feel human and not just a one dimensional chapter on the page. He had to go on this journey just like Sara. At first he was just misguided before he finally found his way.
I loved this book. I loved everything about, and I have no complaints. This book exceeded my expectations and really made me realize why I fell in love with Harlequin Presents in the first place. I wish all of them were just like this one. It was just so, so good. I know that I will definitely read this book again in the future, and I can't wait to, which for me is a sign of how much I loved this book. I could go on and on about this book and never stopping talking about this book. It was everything a romance should be.
It has been a little while since I've read a Chantelle Shaw book and some of them have iffy, but this one just over the top great that I can't wait to read more of her stuff in the future.
Highly recommend this book for Presents fans as well as lovers of angsty, emotional and passionate romances.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Amazing book!! CS writes just the stuff that I want to read and makes my toes curl and puts a warm fuzzy feeling inside of me. It also has my most favourite of all tropes : work place romance.
Alekos and Sara have been working together for a couple years. While Sara has been falling in love with her boss, Alekos is oblivious to her feelings. Sara also dresses in a dowdy way and Alekos wouldn’t spare her a glance.
Sara comes back from a vacation where she is a new and improved version of herself. She walks and dresses up as a sexy siren now and Alekos is speechless and turned on. I guess this part of the book was rather off putting where the H falls for the h after her makeover and not before.
Thanks to CS’s incredible writing this little hitch doesn’t play that long. Soon enough Alekos is burning up for Sara while she’s just not giving in. Like most of her books, Alekos is an incredible lover. He’s passionate and possessive and relentless in his pursuit of her. Their chemistry fires up and Alekos hot love making melted my skin. I couldn’t get enough of them both.
Sara was also non-needy and didn’t let the H use and abuse her. She had her own back all the time and I loved that about her. Another sweet read that I will reach for again!
חביב ביותר כקריאה קלילה. הבעיה, שבסידרת הספרים הרומנטיים של הרליקון, הסופרות כל כך מתאמצות למצוא לדמויות שמות חריגים ואקזוטיים, שאחרי שעה אני לא זוכרת את השמות של הגיבורים.
והפעם סיפורם של אלקוס (שבחיי כל פעם התפתתי לקרוא לו אולקוס) ושרה. שרה לבג'וי היא העוזרת האישית האולטימטיבית. היא נחבית לכלים, אבל יעילה ��אופן קטלני.
היא עוזרת של מנכ"ל החברה הצעיר, אלקוס, והיא מאוהבת בו בסתר. מצב העיניינים והאיזון בינהם משתנה כששרה חוזרת מחופשה של חודש לאחר מות אימה.
זה עוד ספר בסידרת הרומנים בעבודה שבה הדמות הגברית המצליחנית מסתירה רגשי נחיתות ותסכולים משפחתיים. גברים שפורחים בצל נשים אסרטיביות שעומדות מולם בלי חת ומורא.
סיפור הרקע של שרה היה מטריד ובכנות אם אחד ההורים שלי היה עושה לי מה שאביה עשה לה, הוא לא היה רואה אותי יותר.
סיפור הרקע של אלקוס קצת יותר מידי צפוי וברור. בן שני שממשיך באימפריה של אביו בלית ברירה לאחר שאחיו מת בטביעה.
On page 226, I lost interest in reading Acquired by her Greek Boss and here's why-
1. Hero only becomes attracted to heroine when she has a makeover. That makes him superficial
2. Storytelling was underwhelming. Too much inner navel gazing. That's boring to me.
3. The subplot of the heroine connecting with her father. It took away from building the romance
4. Building the romance failed. The hero was indecisive on wanting the heroine. Then after their first smexual time he was still indecisive. That was when I lost interest. The hero wasn't possessive with the heroine after that & knowing her for years. He is superficial!
Maybe I can stand the following points if they are not together in the same book, but both of them were here, hence the DNF: - H thinks h is part of the furniture, she makes a physical transformation, his magic P stands on full attention now. - h has met the H's previous mistresses, organized his dates and maybe even sent them gifts in the name of the H.
Save your time and your money. The hero and heroine had ZERO chemistry. The first half of the book the hero was seriously obsessed with his penis. I’m still trying to fathom why the author would reference the hero’s penis so much and at that point in the book, they haven’t even had sex yet. I felt that the author felt pressured to make angst and drama where there didn’t need to be any. This is the second book from this author I have read. I read an earlier book of hers when she was a new author for Harlequin Presents and that was a decent read, that’s why I’m so shocked at how disappointed I was in this book. Towards the middle of the book once the hero got over his obsession with his penis all of a sudden the hero had family issues, the heroine had family issues, and they both were dealing with feelings of rejection from their families. I just didn’t know where the author was going to go next. I don’t think I have ever given a book 1 Star before (I could be wrong) however, this book was way too choppy, the hero and heroine had no chemistry and their relationship was contrived and completely forced and unbelievable. I honestly do not recommend this book.
Overall cute and hot boss and personal assistant romance but it wasn't strong enough for me to make it a 4 out of 5 stars. More of a 3.5 stars. It didn't have enough passion and angst and the whole subplot of her real father was whatever.
When Alekos Gionakis, Greek tycoon and CEO of a wealthy ship building enterprise agrees to let his personal assistant Sara Lovejoy take a one month holiday after the death of her mother, he expects her to return and be the same as she was when she left – a competent, efficient, and rather plain looking woman. For two years Sara has been his right hand woman, but never on his ‘male’ radar.
But the Sara who returns to him is not a woman he recognizes at all. She’s cut her hair, gotten a total clothing makeover and now looks like someone he’d squire on his arm to any number of society parties. He suspects it’s a new man in her life, and is surprised at the spark of jealousy he feels. Her attention to the job is the same – but now he can’t keep his eyes off of her.
After working without a vacation for so long, the death of her mother is Sara’s last straw. She’s received a startling revelation – her father is a well known politician with whom her mother had an affair, and had kept the secret of her pregnancy until on her death bed. Revealing the truth to him, her father invites her to stay with him in France and Sara’s vacation, already planned, takes a bit of a detour. Her father’s wife recently passed away and his two children Frederick and Charlotte are unaware of his infidelity and for now he wants to keep it that way, not ready to reveal to the world that Sara is his daughter. But seeing photos of her half sister makes Sara aware of how dowdy she looks in comparison and this is what prompts her total makeover. And she can’t deny that after having a crush on her boss from afar, she’s hoping he’ll see her in a new light when she returns. And he definitely does!
The spark of attraction lit between them won’t be put out easily, and leads instead to an intimacy neither saw coming. When Sara reveals to Alekos who her father is, Alekos realizes that he can use the information to his advantage for business purposes. A fake relationship looks to be beneficial for both of them as it will also give her access to her half siblings without having to reveal her relationship to them – but what happens if they start to have real feelings for each other?
This is my first time reading this author and I enjoyed how everything came together. Sara’s reasons for getting a makeover were her own decisions, not prompted by a male telling her how she looked, which I definitely appreciated. I found the connection between Alekos and Sara believable and their chemistry leads to some sexy love scenes. Alekos’s brother died when he was younger and Alekos believes it was suicide due to a broken heart. This has tainted all his relationships with women and made him leery of commitment so he struggles with his feelings for Sara.
The latter half of the story deals with a lot of issues – Sara’s family, Alekos’s family, Sara’s job and desires for her future, Alekos’s company problems, and the conflicts between the show they are putting on for the public as a committed couple versus the reality behind the scenes. It all adds up to an entertaining plot, lovely settings (including some aboard Alekos’s yacht and his Greek island hideaway), a sexy romance and an eventual happy ending. If you like workplace romances with handsome Greek devils and competent, smart women, you'll enjoy this story.
Note: a copy of this story was provided by the publisher for review.
Alekos walked into his office expecting to see his normal mousy PA after her month of vacation and found a siren instead.
Sara went from “Ms. Mouse” to hot and sexy! While they had a great working relationship and friendship, her new look added a whole new dimension to their relationship- lust.
It was great watching Alekos and Sara try to fight the lust brewing between them. Alekos’ brothers death made him leery of love and played a huge part in how he reacted to Sara.
Sara’s bitter mother raised her with the belief that men want only one thing and after getting it, they will throw you out like the trash.
These two had a lot of ancient history to overcome before they could move forward with a relationship. Then the unthinkable happens and Sara and Alekos share a devastating loss that changes their relationship.
This was a really good read. I loved Alekos’ playful side. He was a fun hero. Sara was a bit buttoned up but her helped her relax. *grin* They had amazing chemistry and were not a boring couple. A fun read that I recommend highly.
I loved it because there were touching moments and original twist with her first pregnancy. At one point I was even cheering the heroine with an air punch saying 'Go, Sara, go'. I've NEVER done that in a Harlequin/Mills and Boon before.
And there were even moments that the hero Alekos was nice. Quite touching and sweet until he remembered he was an idiot alpha male. So good balance in making him human. The secondary story was very interesting, so all good from me, and a nice quick read. I read this in one sitting. Yay!
Cute love story. I liked all the characters and the romance. The book lost it's one star because of the starting scene. She has changed her looks and suddenly, he is so attracted to her, he can't help himself.... Shallow!
Sara is Alekos's PA who goes on holiday for a month and comes back a desirable woman instead of "Miss Mouse." Alekos can't resist her, but he also doesn't want to lose her as his PA. Then he learns of her connection to a man with a great deal of influence over a potential client and decides to use her for his purposes. He asks her to "pretend" to be his mistress so she can spend time with her father and half-siblings, while he gets the business deal that he wants. Only it doesn't stay "pretend" for very long. When Alekos realizes that it's more than just sex, he tries to harden his heart further, believing love ruins things.
Pretty good. I wasn't a great fan of how Alekos suddenly "noticed" Sara because she'd paid a bit more attention to her appearance. Yeah, he may have respected her, but he wasn't able to see underneath the drab exterior to the attractive woman. I get it though, that's normal. I just would have respected him more if he had. The attraction and the chemistry build up was pretty great. I did struggle to like Alekos who merely saw the PA he supposedly respected so much as a means to an end. And his behavior after their night together was pretty descpicable...so much so that I think it should have been held over his head a bit longer, rather than being overshadowed by the takeover. Sara forgave him that nonsense too easily and with absolutely no apology. The end was the strongest part of the story, where Alekos does come to his senses. But more than that was Sara's realization that just because he couldn't say he loved her, didn't mean that he didn't and that they possibly could have been happy if she hadn't been so stubborn. So that was nice too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Sara (25) grew up with only a mother.Now,after her death,she learns her father is a MP,with two grown children ,a recent widower.Lionel is afraid of telling Freddy and Charlotte about Sara ,or going public about his second daughter. Alekos is the youngest of 5. His older brother Dimitri drowned in the sea when he was 21.Alekos blames himself for not saving him. Sara is Alekos's PA.Now he wants her to pretend to be his girlfriend- to appeace his board and get rid of the young Zelda (in my opinion, it's a strange name for a Greek girl- too Jewish).This enables Sara to meet her half-siblings socially .Till one day one of Alekos's clients mentions her father and Sara resigns... Both Alekos and Sara learn that not everything is black and white,there could be other explanations to a situation and they don't hold all the facts.Alekos grew up believing love hurts and thus he hates it. Set in London, Monaco and Greece, it's a nice story.
This is a story about 2 people who have suffered loss, which has held them back from love. The h was a very beautiful, sweet and kind person who lost her mother and just met her father. Her father was a famous politician who wanted to keep her existence from his children. The H had lost his older brother in an accident and he had shut down emotionally. The h worked for the H, there was chemistry between them, they were able to find their way to each other. Good ending.
Typical Greek male, has a P.A. who was frumpy who has a makeover and all of a sudden she's gorgeous and irresistible. They have sex, she's a virgin, leaves the next day while she's still sleeping. Makes her feel like a whore, she gets pregnant. Other stuff happens, very tragic. You guess what happens nexts.
It’s a good read. I would have liked it better if she didn’t have the metamorphosis. She shouldn’t have lost weight at the beginning of the book, she should still have been chubby. He should have fallen in love and lust with the extra pounds on her.
Loved it. The story was a bit different and held me captive from beginning to end! The characters had flaws and I absolutely adored both Sara and Alekos. A great read!
Greek tycoon Alekos Gionakis thought he knew the value of his secretary, but her newly transformed appearanceand surprising secret parentagehas him reappraising his most precious asset!
Alekos knows that he can offer beautiful Sara Lovejoy the ability to meet her family, under his protection, while also securing a secret dealproviding she agrees to become his mistress!
But his best-laid plans are about to go awry, because her innocence is the one thing this powerful tycoon will realize is priceless.
I always enjoy the boss and PA storyline where he doesn't recognize how gorgeous she is and then she does a transformation and he's not sure how to deal with it. I like HEA and if they are fun, the better.