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Vows for Billionaires #1

The Secret Valtinos Baby

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Chemistry has life-changing consequences in this dramatic secret heir romance by USA Today bestselling author Lynne Graham!

Her billionaire boss is the father of her child. But that’s always been her secret. Until he returns, with marriage in mind!

Personal assistant Merry Armstrong couldn’t resist Angel Valtinos’s sensual charisma. The Greek awakened her with his touch and the two mind-blowing nights she spent in his arms are branded onto her memory for ever. But the biggest reminder of their inescapable connection? Her adorable little daughter….

When Angel discovers his heir, he knows he must act. But Merry’s independent façade hides a lifetime of rejection by her family. To legitimize the Valtinos legacy, and persuade her to marry him, Angel must do more than offer her his name — he must convince Merry there’s more to his proposal than passion…

From Harlequin Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

Read all the Vows for Billionaires stories from Lynne

Book 1 — The Secret Valtinos Baby
Book 2 — Castiglione’s Pregnant Princess
Book 3 — Da Rocha’s Convenient Heir

193 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 11, 2018

346 people are currently reading
291 people want to read

About the author

Lynne Graham

1,763 books1,448 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.


Lynne Graham was born on July 30, 1956 of Irish-Scottish parentage. She has livedin Northern Ireland all her life. She grew up in a seaside village with herbrother. She learnt to read at the age of 3, and haven't stopped since then.

Lynne first met her husband when she was 14. At 15, she wrote her firstbook, but it was rejected everywhere. Lynne married after she completed adegree at Edinburgh University. She started writing again when she was athome with her first child. It took several attempts before she sold herfirst book in 1987 and the delight of seeing that first book for sale in thelocal newsagents has never been forgotten. Now, there are over 10 million ofher books in print worldwide.

Lynne always wanted a large family and has five children. Her eldest and heronly natural child is 19 and currently at university. Her other fourchildren, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted. She has two9-year-olds adopted from Sri Lanka and a 5- and a 3-year-old adopted fromGuatemala. In Lynne's home, there is a rich and diverse cultural mix, whichadds a whole extra dimension of interest and discovery to family life. Thefamily lives in a country house surrounded by a woodland garden, which iswonderfully private. The family has two pets. Thomas, a very large andaffectionate black cat, bosses the dog and hunts rabbits. The dog is Daisy,an adorable but not very bright white West Highland terrier, who loves beingchased by the cat. At night, dog and cat sleep together in front of thekitchen stove. Lynne loves gardening, cooking, collects everything from oldtoys to rock specimens and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
Profile Image for Ivy H.
856 reviews
January 7, 2018
Firstly, kudos to Lynne G for creating a heroine I loved. Merry was a vast improvement on that shrew from His Queen by Desert Decree !

This was a rather interesting novel and I admit I was very wary about reading it after I'd seen reviews that mentioned the H had not been celibate during the MC's separation. I didn't like that part at all, especially when the heroine had been celibate. It didn't sit well with me that while Merry was pregnant, gaining weight, bloated ankles, having morning sickness etc. that Angel would be out sleeping around. In fact, Angel had mentioned that he had been celibate for months after Merry until he got really drunk and had the "worst sex " of his life. It seemed as if that not so memorable incident had been a one off for him during their time apart. While it still bothered me, I didn't hate him. I did dislike his immediate reaction to her pregnancy because a H is not supposed to reject his child. Traditionally, H's that have been absolute assholes and even the politically incorrect cavemen H's of yesteryear have always tended to be very protective towards any unborn child of theirs. Later on Angel apologized and accepted his fault for the way he had employed his lawyers to handle Merry's pregnancy. I did like the fact that he apologized and admitted how wrong he was. That made up for his horrible ONS of bad sex with the unknown OW. It was great that he suffered pangs of jealousy over the kiss Merry had shared with Fergus and tortured himself wondering if the heroine had slept with the young vet.

I didn't fault Merry for trying to move on with her life and dating the vet Fergus because in her mind Angel had already rejected both her and their baby. I loved her aunt/secret grandmother Sybil and it was wonderful to see that lovely lady get her own HEA with Angel's dad Charles. Lynne G also made a good job of turning things around for Merry and her mom Natalie. That was endearing. Everybody seemed to have gotten a good ending. I did have a bitch slap moment with the wannabe OW Roula. That lady and her manipulative lies almost ruined the MC's newlywed bliss because the heroine found it too easy to buy her tall tale instead of doing some investigation. I admired the way Angel handled the situation, by flying out to Greece and dragging a tearful, embarrassed Roula to confess her sins. However, I was rather confused by Merry's instinctive reaction to Roula's crocodile tears and apology for lying. Lynne G wrote:

"Merry experienced a very strong desire to pat the blonde's shoulder to comfort her and had to fight the weird prompting off..."

Wtf ?

Here we go again with LG's saccharine selfless heroine. If some bitch had tried to ruin my marriage with such lies, I'd want to F her sideways with a rusty old tyre iron. Well, maybe I'm just still immature and need to attend Mass more often to learn to be all sweet and forgiving like that ...
Of course in the epilogue it is mentioned that Roula had changed and had gotten married. I admit that's an interesting turn of events for a wannabe OW, especially since Merry ended up acting as the woman's matron of honour. Like I said, everybody seemed to end up happy, except for Angel's mother Angelina who is still playing hard with her gigolo boy toys. Angelina was a pitiful and disgusting mother. She flaunted her nude body in front of Angel after he and Merry had caught her skinny dipping in the pool with her latest gigolo. Angel knows his mother has breasts and a vagina. He didn't need to see it. That woman made me cringe with distaste. I did love the epilogue though. They ended up having 5 kids with an unborn baby on the way. It was so cute it made me almost want to throw away the birth control pills.

On the superficial side ( and because I tend to nit pick over what other readers would see as insignificant ) there were a few things I didn't like so much. Before I list them I must add a foreword that I tend to fuss a lot over "silly superficial" things like the physical appearance and names of MC's. Yeah I know this is dumb and hypocritical coming from a woman with a dog named Harold. Anyway, I didn't like LG's use of the name "Angel" for the H. When I think of "Angel" as a name for a man, I think of a hispanic gangster guy with gold teeth and a tattoo of a tear drop under one eye. "Angel" sounds like the name of a H in a Motorcycle Club romance. And for those of you who will take offence at my comment, I am not dissing all hispanic people because half of my heritage is Spanish and I'm very proud of it. Like I said, I am nit picky like this and LG probably chose the name "Angel" because it's a shorter form of his mom's "Angelina". I am only nit picky because maybe a billionaire H should have a different name. Where was daddy Charles in the naming of the H ?

Superficial point # 2: I don't really like guys who have curly hair. Nah. I like my heroes to have straight hair. I wish Angel had cut his hair really short to tame some of the curls. This is a personal thing with me and I know there are some readers who will find his curly hair adorable. I respect that. But on the plus side, he was 6 ft. 4 inches tall and that makes up for the curly hair and the gangster name...

Side note to Lynne G: Lynne I love you as an author and your novels have brought me tremendous hours of happy reading. However, I REALLY want to read about more of your old school alpha male H's. A REAL ALPHA MALE HOTTIE LYNNE. SERIOUSLY. I'm gonna quote Bonnie Tyler's old '80's song that my mother used to play and re-play. It's called "Holding Out For A Hero" who's gotta be "larger than life". It was not my generation but you gotta be dead to have never heard this song. So, Lynne:


"I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero
Till the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight"

Here are the full lyrics and the song, as sung by the incomparable Bonnie Tyler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GPZD...
Profile Image for Vashti.
1,233 reviews29 followers
January 11, 2018
It's no secret that I am a diehard LG fan,I admit to at times giving a little extra boost to my ratings of her book,but just a little bit mind you because well,I have to be honest and fair when putting my thoughts down about a particular romance novel that I have read.This being said,the title character whose name is Angel, and by coincidence my very own husband goes by that name too,well let's just say that our hero here does not live up to that name by any means.The minute he is informed that the heroine is pregnant by him,de decides to do a runner and sets his lawyers upon her.This was not the first time he upped and left the heroine,he first made his grand exit the second time they had sex when the condom broke,he tells her to go see his private doctor and come in to work later on in the day.The heroine does see the doctor ,he checks her out ,and offers her the "morning after pill",the heroine refuses of course,because if her own unwed mother had done such a thing,then of course she would not be in existence. She does indeed wind up with child.
So here we are 18 months later and the hero is called in to task by his father.Dad is disappointed in is favored son,1/3 boys,how is it that he has not told him of his grandchild and how could he not take responsibility for his child.Poor guy,he is gutted he is seen as less in his father's esteem and when next we see him again,off he goes to meet the mother of his child and his 8 month daughter.Daughter is adorable with his black unruly curly hair,I am thinking David Bisbal curly locks here when I picture the cad hero.
The story takes off from here ,and in true LG fashion,they marry for the sake of the child at first,resistance from the heroine,wannabe ow who tried to cause mischief,flighty ,promiscuous mother from hell for the hero,secrets from the heroine's side of the family revealed, wedding ,and honeymoon on private Greek island,misunderstanding,then the big ily's.
To fully understand this couple is to know their background which shaped them in their hea journey.While I don't like what the hero did at the beginning,I feel that if he had developed a relationship first with the heroine,he might have not dome the initial running away.The heroine was no peach either a bit hardened and judgemental,but then again her background comes into play.
For a man who did not want children,by epilogues end,this very fertile duo had 5 children under the age of 6,with another on the way!
I must make note that the hero did have 1 sexual partner while he was separated from the heroine,he said he was really,really drunk and the sex was the worst ever! to which the heroine replied "good"!
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,205 reviews630 followers
May 18, 2018
This H/h were well-matched. The hero is awful at the beginning of the novel - he chases the virgin heroine - his employee, btw. Seduces her and then fires her from her job. When she tells him she's pregnant, he won't talk to her and has his lawyers handle the settlement and the NDA.

When the story opens the heroine is bitter and out for a spot of revenge. So she uses her baby girl as leverage.

The hero calls her out on that.
The heroine reminds him of his sins.

They marry as a "solution."

The rest of the story is the H/h learning to trust each other, the hero's mother's awful behavior with her younger boy toy, and a last minute family secret on the heroine's side that really didn't add much to the story.

I liked that they were both awful at different points in the story - and they called each other out on their behavior. The epilogue took place many years later and was full of children - five with one more on the way.

There are two more stories to follow in this series about the hero's half-brothers.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
January 3, 2018
This was your typical working girl falls for her boss story. They spend two nights together, she ends up pregnant and hero who is reluctant to be a father rejects her and their baby. Merry and her baby are doing fine without him but Angel has a change of heart and he proposes marriage or else he will fight for custody of his daughter.

I liked this book by my favorite author but it's not completely safe. Hero was not celibate during separation and heroine dated a guy and she kissed him but I am pretty sure she didn't sleep with him. Merry and Angel fought a lot and heroine was too proud and kept sabotaging her marriage even believing the words of a woman who was obviously lying. Hero was charming and I don't know how he put up with Merry's insecurities. However I liked their light banter and they had nice chemistry. Epilogue with six kids was adorable! :)
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,714 reviews718 followers
April 14, 2018
Sorry GR Friends, no bueno for me. Miss Cranky Pants Reviewer is back.


I am going to re-read The Spanish Groom.
Profile Image for Lisa (Remarkablylisa).
2,518 reviews1,812 followers
February 7, 2022
I COULD NOT STAND OUR HERO!!!! HE WAS A MAN BABY. he was so stupid. He didn't know his actions would hurt our heroine when it's so obvious??? He never wanted to meet his child but his dad forced him too. When he confronts her he doesn't understand why she would be upset despite him sending out his whole legal team to resolve the custody issues and never once communicated with her directly. And then to. Make matters worse, he has hr fire her the day after she had sex with him and the condom broke. Bitch???? Also this title is wrong. It's not a secret baby. He knew she had a baby.
Profile Image for Fatimama.
1,017 reviews65 followers
January 3, 2018
So I haven’t read an HP for 3 months and breaking the dry spell with this book. I almost DNF’d this coz the zero is a dick who pursued the heroine and dropped her after the condom broke and sent his Lawyers to deal with her after she confirmed she got preggy. He threw money at her and basically gave up parental rights while she was preggy. A few months after the kid was born and without making any contact, he demands to see his kid coz his dad scolded him.

Writing this review is making my blood boil.. I did like the epilogue hence 2 stars.
Profile Image for *CJ*.
5,096 reviews623 followers
July 6, 2019
"The Secret Valtinos Baby" is the story of Merry and Angel.

Well, this was a colossal disappointment.

Basically the story begins when our h is a single mother taking care of her infant daughter while living with her aunt. At the same time, the H is chided by his father for giving up all rights to his unborn daughter by dangling money infront of the woman he impregnated.
Flashback shows our h being secretary to the super horny, charming and persistent hero. He hounds her like a dog, until she gives in and then sexes her hard. The condom breaks, he gets her pregnant, then unemploys her while letting his lawyers deal with her. She is utterly heartbroken, and goes through the pregnancy alone while he is seen in company of multiple OW (later revealed he slept around too).
It is only after his dad reminds him that he made a blunder, he tracks down the heroine, blackmails her into marrying him (as he sees her with OM and wants his baby mama), loads of OW/mother drama, confessions and ends in a super bred HEA.

This frustrated me to no ends.

Unsafe
2.5/5
Profile Image for mad4rombks.
658 reviews
February 3, 2018
I'm almost tempted to say this wasn't a Lynne Graham book because surely she wouldn't write such a hero?

Hero sleeps with his assistant. After their night together, he has her removed as his assistant. Later, there's another scene where they have sex and he again ignores her afterwards. When she goes to him to tell him she's pregnant, he sics his lawyers on her because he wants nothing to do with her or the baby she's having. This goes on for months.

The book starts with the hero going to see his father. His father has found out that he has a grandchild in the world and that his son encouraged his lawyers to make the heroine's life hell. His father tells him that even though he didn't get along with the hero's mother, he made sure that he was around for his son and that he grew up having a father. Basically a guilt trip discussion that caused the hero to go to the heroine months later to finally meet his daughter. He's annoyed that the heroine doesn't immediately fall into his arms when he says they need to be a two parent team for their daughter and that they should get married. He's puzzled that after months of his lawyers following his orders regarding the heroine and his child that the heroine wants nothing to do with him. Are you serious?

Of course this is a romance and it has a HEA but I honestly didn't care for him at all and I didn't care for his attitude with the heroine and how he felt she should be falling over herself to even get the marriage proposal he gave her.

Wasn't impressed with this one at all.
Profile Image for lily.
1,266 reviews
January 5, 2018
I really hated the first chapters ,
the hero was a big jerk
the heroine was so cold
but.......
I am a sucker for epilogues with bunch of kids, so .... 3 stars for the kids .
Profile Image for Maite Gil.
939 reviews31 followers
December 10, 2018
4,5 Estrellas para este libro de Lynne Graham, una de mis autoras favoritas de Harlequin.

Aunque se trata de una serie, los libros se pueden leer perfectamente por separado. En este primer libro conocemos al mayor de los hijos del empresario británico Charles Russel.

Angel Valtinos es un empresario griego de 33 años. Es volátil, intolerante, de trato difícil, con mal genio y egoísta. Cuando descubre que que su secretaria está embarazada, actúa protegiendo sus intereses sin importarle nada más.

Merry Armstrong termina sucumbiendo a la atracción que siente por su jefe y no se espera la forma en que este la trata cuando su vida se complica. Ella es una joven que viene de una infancia complicada por ser hija de una madre soltera que la tuvo siendo muy joven. Afortunadamente su tía Sybil fue para ella prácticamente una madre.

Aunque el protagonista masculino es una auténtica "Joya", no esconde lo que es y deja claro su nula intención de cambiar. Afortunadamente lo hace e intenta demostrárselo a Merry, que no está para nada convencida y le pone las cosas difíciles. Eso me gusta, aunque al ser libros muy cortos y todo pasa muy deprisa, creo que los protagonistas de este tipo de historia deben sufrir un poco antes de obtener el perdón.

Con este libro siento que he recuperado a la Lynne Graham de siempre. A ver si sigue la racha con la historia de su hermano Vitale, al que hemos podido conocer casi solo de nombre.
Profile Image for Rgreader.
734 reviews54 followers
April 6, 2020
First time rereading. Still like how the story unfolded. I didn't understand the heroine's earlier hatred of the hero because they had 2 hookups and weren't in a romantic love relationship. I still enjoyed the story. I liked both hero and heroine and I really liked they didn't do a lot of naval gazing about their dysfunctional childhood.
68 reviews
February 2, 2018
I REALLY was excited about reading this book and I was disappointed when I finally finished the book. I LOVE Lynne Graham however, this was not one of her best books. After writing off his child and its mother, the hero’s father reprimands him and convinces the hero to take part in his daughter’s life in order to gain his father’s respect again. I don’t even blame the heroine for not wanting the hero in their daughter’s life after the way he turned his lawyers on her after getting pregnant and thus having their daughter. The hero had them under surveillance but didn’t even know his daugjtet’s name until he first met her in person at the age of 6 months old.....are you kidding me!?!?

Then all of a sudden we are overrun with HPlandia tropes: lying OW, mommy issues for both the hero and heroine, the hero initially scared and not sure about being a parent yet six years later, the hero and heroine are expecting their 6th child.

Honestly, the funniest part of the book was at the end when the heroine’s mother said the hero and heroine were acting like a bunch of horny rabbits reproducing a child almost every year of their marriage.

If you are a fan of Lynne Graham you will understand why I think this book and His Queen by Desert Decree in no way sounds like LG’s normal writing. Outside of the virgin heroine and the wannabe OW, this book just didn’t feel like a Lynne Graham book.

3 Stars simply out of respect for Lynne Graham and how she used to write.
Profile Image for Rgreader.
734 reviews54 followers
August 5, 2019
Finally I have finished reading, The Secret Valtinos Baby! I didn't realize I started this book in February. A positive is even though I would stop reading this book for a week, when I began reading it again I remembered the plot and still liked the heroine and hero.

One thing that kept this from being a 5 star read was the drama that created a second separation. I think when a hero and heroine have already been separated for 9 months, the characters need to be kept together so their hea is more memorable.

I did love the epilogue. It made me sigh with happiness!
Profile Image for Diya✨.
245 reviews12 followers
August 16, 2018
3.75🌟
Hero was awful at beginning but worked on trying to win her back not as great as other reunion stories by LG. The epilogue was super sweet and best one I read and I loved loved the heroine Merry! She is up there as my fave h by Graham.
Profile Image for Viv “BookVixen” Gutierrez .
1,597 reviews472 followers
September 14, 2024
only the ending was good

Hero isnt faithful to heroine during separation. Usually in LG books, once a hero has sex with the heroine, he’s faithful from that point. We dont even get that in this one.
Profile Image for Ixthus.
86 reviews2 followers
October 24, 2018
I think, I've read this book for more than 3x already, and i keep forgetting, i have read it (goes to show the title is not catchy enough for me). Anyway, every time i come across with this, its the aunty turned gram that makes me smile
Profile Image for iamGamz.
1,549 reviews51 followers
February 23, 2018
This is my all-time favorite couple in HPLandia! I adore them.

Ok...

So I couldn’t stand Angel at the start of the book. He was cold and unpleasant. His treatment of Merry when she got pregnant was atrocious. And then it took his father to call him on his BS before he decided to see his daughter.

Buuut...

He was still sexy as hell even when he was being a dork. And I loved the communication between He and Merry. They were straightforward and brutally honest with each other. Even when the other did not like what was being said. Merry was a kick ass h. She didn’t put up with Angel’s BS. She called him in it. Frequently. And he needed that in his life.

Then...

There was the chemistry! It leaped off the pages and singed everything. They were hot together. The birth of their baby and the months apart did not kill it. These two were pure sex together.

Soooo ...

This is easily my favorite LG book. And I adore her work. I love the characters, the fast pace of the story, the dialogue between the H and h, their chemistry, Merry’s aunt Sybil, and the final chapter. I know I’m gushing but I really loved this book.
Profile Image for Shruthi.
58 reviews15 followers
May 3, 2018
The first book in the series and an absolutely great start!

Angel is unlike other LG hero's because he escaped from his duties as a father, at the start, but he soon realized his mistake and now he wants another chance.

Merry on the other hand was a sensible person and had it all planned until she met Angel. She broke her rules for him and then he hurt her by walking away from his responsibilities.

I liked that she was earning enough to support her child and didn't really need his financial help. I also liked that she didn't trust him at all. But it kind of backfired when she trusted the words of wannabe OW. Angel knew she didn't trust him and in the end, I felt bad for him when he had to go to extreme level to prove his innocence. But he had it coming...

So ya, 1 star less because Merry was an idiot at the end and because I didn't like that Angel was sowing wild oats while she was pregnant with his child. No wonder she didn't trust him. He wasn't there when she needed him the most!
Profile Image for Caro.
513 reviews46 followers
January 1, 2019
Leo muchos buenos reviews de esta novelita, pero a mí me pareció aburrida y con personajes nada memorables. Para colmo la complican con la historia de la madre de Merry, algo totalmente innecesario.
Pero, el epílogo es muy dulce, no le tenía fe a esta parejita por el modo en que comienzan.
Profile Image for Xai Xai.
347 reviews28 followers
October 27, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Both H and h were characters that came from a past of mistrust, lies and deceit. Merry was a strong willed woman with principles and confidence. She fought her attraction for Angel who was persistent with wanting an affair. Seemlingly, the more she resist the more sex appeal she became. With suavy , sexy, gorgeous man he is, Merry succumbed to hier desires. Getting Angel's appetite he went back for more and in so doing they conceived. Angel subjected Merry to his Valtinos's lawyers whom insulted her and literally wiped himself off from the the lives of the baby and Merry. After the conforntation with his father, Angel redeemed himself. Perfect husband and perfect dad. Until his friend made demands and it played on Merry's insecurities. Angel courageously fought for them and confesses his love and the two made up and found their HEA. Cannot wait for the other two books...The Prince and the brazilian.....
Profile Image for More Books Than Time  .
2,514 reviews19 followers
July 5, 2023
Standard boilerplate Lynne Graham HP, readable, enjoyable but nut satisfying. Reminds me of those little white donuts that you can eat a ton of without ever hitting donut nirvana.
2,329 reviews
August 11, 2018
Though this wasn’t my favorite book by Lynne Graham of all time, I did enjoy it and like it.

What was the most interesting thing about this book was definitely the relationship between Merry and Angel, it was very unique. Not that all couple’s relationships in books, aren’t unique in romance, but I don’t think I read one like the Merry and Angel. Firs off, there was a lot of hostility between them, and it wasn’t because there was feud, vendetta, or revenge on the plate, but just because they were fighting their attraction and chemistry so hard for each other. And when I say hard, I mean majorly. It was banter yet there was a lot beneath the surface, and wow. A big reason for that was that Merry was pistol. Oh my goodness. She fought him hard at every turn and just came off so hostile, though he loved it secretly I think. She just didn’t want to fall under the category of besotted woman and was doing everything in her power to show she wasn’t even if that meant fighting him, and she fought him both in the past and the present. She had reason to, but wow it was pretty intense. They didn’t exactly treat each other the nicest yet I wouldn’t categorize this as an enemies to lovers romance. It was just butting heads, though he deserved it a lot of the time.

Angel was an interesting hero to say the least. He did some of the most outrageous things that were way over the top and beyond arrogant, and even though he did somethings that I wasn’t happy with and definitely didn’t like, I did hate him, but I didn’t like him either. He made up for things later on the book, but there was something about him that I couldn’t hate him. I think just wanted to see what boneheaded thing he would do next because he just seemed to top himself every time. What he did was wrong a lot of the time especially in the past and at first he couldn’t understand why Merry was hurt and put off by him. It was like hello, “after you guys made love the second time you ran off like you were on fire then you removed her from your company basically paying her off so she would never be in your sight again and dealt with through lawyers and signing contracts. Then you did the same thing when you found out she was pregnant, and basically paid her off to go away. And you wonder why she would trust you or let her in your daughter’s life. Really?” I mean it was crazy all he did and how he really didn’t want to deal with his daughter at first. That’s usually an issue a hero or heroine have about their own parents not their own child. So, that was very interesting to start off the book, and I didn’t like it. I thought that this was not going to be the one where I rooted for the hero and part of the book I didn’t, but he made up for it later, though it took awhile to get there.

I liked the fact that this book did in fact have flashbacks to the story because I was a little unsure especially since Angel already knew about his child being born and having basically signed away the rights to the child but wanting them back now and be apart of his daughter’s life. That was interesting way to start the story, but I felt like I was missing the buildup fo the relationship between Merry and Angel and just what transpired between them, but it was quickly cleared up by those flashbacks and I was grateful for them because I got the full picture of their history and how everything came to pass between them. Plus it was good to see where they were emotionally especially Merry when he did some of the appalling things that he did to her the past. It was nice being shown that and not just told that. I understood where she was coming from and why she was so hurt and bitter when it came to him.

Their chemistry was good. It was steamy. It was hot to see them battle their attraction for each other, which was loosing battle from the start. They just had this really heated connection that neither could let go of. Their first time, which he knew it was her first time, he made as special as he could, showing that he did in fact care about her and want that closeness with her. He tried to cuddle her and asked her to stay, which was a big indication that he cared for her more than he acknowledged. It showed he wanted intimacy with her not just sex. The second time was a disaster because he ran off, but then when they reconnected again the heat and passion had took over and didn’t change despite the fact they hadn’t been together for sixteen months. Their wedding night scene was sexy and very much baring of their souls as things got revealed and showed off the importance of them being together and how they did have something there more there than sex. And the last scene was very playful and sexy yet full of meaning as it showed off their bond.

Merry. As I said she was a pistol and I really enjoyed her. Yes, she was naive and innocent but she was very independent and refused to let herself get bullied into anything. She put Angel in his place a time or two. I loved that. There was a vulnerability to her, but it was very hidden. There were a few glimpses that she showed to Angel, but not too many. She was just trying to do the best she could for everyone involved. Was she perfect? No, but some of the things she did I didn’t blame her because Angel really severely hurt her with his actions. I understood her.

Overall this was another enjoyable read from Lynne Graham. I wish there was a little bit more angst in the story, but nothing it was nothing to diminish my enjoyment because it wasn’t there. The synopsis was a little misleading because it sounded like Angel just found out about his child when in fact he knew and basically surrendered his paternal rights sixteen months pervious, which was kind of an unusual thing in the romance trope because usually the heroine hides her pregnancy and the hero finds out later and is very upset by it and that was what this synopsis surmised from the story, but that wasn’t the case. It was little hard to swallow that Angel gave up his paternal rights beforehand, but I was glad to see that he was having second thoughts about it because not this would have been a very different review. Then when Merry and Angel came back together again, they were as explosive as they were in the past. The chemistry was very steamy between them, and even though that was a majority it wasn’t the entirety. There were moments where it was just about intimacy and closeness between them, and that was nice balance. They did have some sweet moments, but they had some conflicted ones too. They definitely did battle with each other over their attraction, their daughter, and their relationship. It was a very interesting and different read from what I thought I was going to be, but I did enjoy it.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Shatarupa  Dhar.
620 reviews84 followers
May 22, 2018
The series is about three half-brothers, Angel Valtinos, Vitale Castaglione, and Zac Da Rocha, and all the three books run on the same timeline, with a parallel narration.

A classic Lynne Graham, though the secret between Merry, the heroine, and her family is shocking, or should I say hilarious (not a good choice of words, I know!). The hero, Angel, was a complete sweetheart later on, but his earlier actions didn't endear me to him. After reading about their father Charles Russell (what a player!), I was surprised as to the person he settled with, and how! (He is caring, emotional, but certainly has a colourful life.) While little Elyssa, and seeing (I mean, reading about) Angel with her, was lovely. The ending was super sweet (though way too impractical), and Tiger's presence just made it complete!
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
June 7, 2022
His seduction had life-changing consequences. Now her boss is back — with marriage in mind!

Personal assistant Merry Armstrong couldn’t resist Angel Valtinos’s sensual charisma. The Greek awakened her with his touch and left her pregnant! When Angel discovers his heir, duty compels him to act. Despite Merry’s independence, Valtinos’s legacy must be legitimised — and seducing her into becoming his wife will be his biggest challenge!
Profile Image for Susan in Perthshire.
2,205 reviews115 followers
August 4, 2023
Thanks to the Mills and Boon weloveromance subscription service I have been catching up with several back catalogues and LG is one of the authors whose books I have been exploring.

I really have a problem with LG’s heroines. So many of them are just too much ‘Ms Goody-two shoes’ and I find them irritating and unsympathetic. I am also getting seriously fed up,of them all being so small. What’s wrong with a woman being 5’6.”?

Enjoyable and good fun.
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