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Lara's beloved restaurant is in crisis.
There's only one man who can help—Wolfe Alexander, her tall, dark, brooding stepbrother. Wolfe lives up to his he demands that, in exchange for his money, Lara must become his convenient wife!
With no choice but to accept Wolfe's terms, Lara is soon swept into his world of high-society glamour beyond her wildest dreams—and into the passion of his bed. But there is just one thing missing—her husband's love….
There's only one man who can help—Wolfe Alexander, her tall, dark, brooding stepbrother. Wolfe lives up to his he demands that, in exchange for his money, Lara must become his convenient wife!
With no choice but to accept Wolfe's terms, Lara is soon swept into his world of high-society glamour beyond her wildest dreams—and into the passion of his bed. But there is just one thing missing—her husband's love….
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 2007
142 people are currently reading
509 people want to read
About the author
Helen Bianchin
380 books228 followersHelen Shirley was born on February 20 1939 in New Zealand, where she grew up, an only child possessed by a vivid imagination and a love for reading. She wrote stories for amusement in her early teenage years, and when she left leaving school, she took a secretarial job at a father-and-son legal firm.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 6, 2020
All the sizzle of a damp campfire: plenty of smoke but no fire. Plus it creeped me out with the Stepford overtones.
Published in 2007. Conceived in 1977.
For starters…
Boring hero. Boring heroine.
They drink chilled water.
She wears a chignon just like they did in the 70s. What a surprise!
It’s bad enough having a boring hero, a boring heroine, and all the required showering, but when the boring H makes his soon to be boring MOC heroine give up her life-long dream of having her own restaurant to be a Stepford wife there was no hope. She cares enough about her restaurant to go to a loan shark then caves on her dreams just LIKE THAT when the H wants her to be a stay-at-home MOC wife with sexual benefits. I think hersaddest crowning achievement is at the Ladies Who Lunch lunch where she never even mentions she was a chef with her own restaurant, but smiles blandly at their suggestions for personal trainers, personal shoppers etc. I am no bra-burning feminist, but this reeked of misogyny-lite.
The most interesting thing that happened is
P.S.
Ugh, she even looks desperate on the cover. Love me. Love ME!
Published in 2007. Conceived in 1977.
For starters…
Boring hero. Boring heroine.
They drink chilled water.
She wears a chignon just like they did in the 70s. What a surprise!
It’s bad enough having a boring hero, a boring heroine, and all the required showering, but when the boring H makes his soon to be boring MOC heroine give up her life-long dream of having her own restaurant to be a Stepford wife there was no hope. She cares enough about her restaurant to go to a loan shark then caves on her dreams just LIKE THAT when the H wants her to be a stay-at-home MOC wife with sexual benefits. I think her
The most interesting thing that happened is
P.S.
Ugh, she even looks desperate on the cover. Love me. Love ME!
November 13, 2019
3.75 stars ⭐️.
It was low angst, matured but charming story. Loved that heroine didn’t pine for hero after his rejection. In this case that was ideal bz she was a young impressionable teenager (18) and hero was a 27 years old man.
Instead she became a chef started her own restaurant and became so darn independent. She also dated one or two men. And I loved that. So refreshing from the heroines that stay celibate and miserable after similar instances.
Recommended.
It was low angst, matured but charming story. Loved that heroine didn’t pine for hero after his rejection. In this case that was ideal bz she was a young impressionable teenager (18) and hero was a 27 years old man.
Instead she became a chef started her own restaurant and became so darn independent. She also dated one or two men. And I loved that. So refreshing from the heroines that stay celibate and miserable after similar instances.
Recommended.
April 19, 2013
Lara and Wolfe are step-siblings who are attracted to each other. Lara tries to seduce him when she is 18 years old but hero brushes her off cause she is too young for him. Ten years later they marry to protect the family fortune.
Well written book but I had to skip reading several chapters just because the characters had zero chemistry.
Well written book but I had to skip reading several chapters just because the characters had zero chemistry.
July 1, 2018
I am in dire need of the most intense kind of escapism that can be had at the moment, hence a regimen of Harlequin binge reading, however, even in this state, picking up a Helene Bianchin was an accident, and a mistake.
Helen Bianchin has a writing style so to speak, in which the characters barely communicate, and when they do it's infuriating. All her heroes use "hmmmmmm" as a full sentence. Her heroines are brittle creations that come off as bitter and one dimensional. Her plot lines are all similar, a straight plateau till the end. However as Bianchins went this one was better than most. So I thought tw stars was appropriate, and it served my purpose, to not think for a couple of hours, which I didn't. So, there!
February 11, 2016
I don't know why I like Helen Bianchin so much, she always writes the same trope. Independent beautiful heroines, Heroes who just can't help loving and protecting them. And the really vicious other woman! (although this one - not too nasty) she just satisfies something in me, like a cookie with my coffee. Some are better than others, but always nice.
August 20, 2018
I liked this one, very low angst but entertaining.
I'm a MOC fan, so I liked the set up. The heroine was in a desperate situation at the beginning, and the hero was pretty cold about it. Thankfully the characters grew on me, by the halfway point I was hooked.
No insta-love, this was more of a slow burn romance. I liked the maturity of the couple and the heroine was no doormat. It was refreshing, especially for an HP.
I'm a MOC fan, so I liked the set up. The heroine was in a desperate situation at the beginning, and the hero was pretty cold about it. Thankfully the characters grew on me, by the halfway point I was hooked.
No insta-love, this was more of a slow burn romance. I liked the maturity of the couple and the heroine was no doormat. It was refreshing, especially for an HP.
November 3, 2024
why do i eat this up with a spoon
February 13, 2019
Nombres: Lara & Wolfe.
Profesiones: Chef & Empresario.
Pais: Australia & USA.
Profesiones: Chef & Empresario.
Pais: Australia & USA.
February 23, 2020
Somehow, me and Helen Bianchin click 100%. I love her books, although she uses the same scenario over and over again.
This time, Lara and Wolfe enter into a marriage of convenience, then they slowly fall in love (mostly the hero, the heroine had had a crush on him since she was 17). I liked it that there was no evil wannabe OW or OM and that their love story progressed naturally on its own.
This time, Lara and Wolfe enter into a marriage of convenience, then they slowly fall in love (mostly the hero, the heroine had had a crush on him since she was 17). I liked it that there was no evil wannabe OW or OM and that their love story progressed naturally on its own.
January 31, 2021
Lara's beloved restaurant is in crisis.
There's only one man who can help--Wolfe Alexander, her tall, dark, brooding stepbrother. Wolfe lives up to his name: he demands that, in exchange for his money, Lara must become his convenient wife!
With no choice but to accept Wolfe's terms, Lara is soon swept into his world of high-society glamour beyond her wildest dreams--and into the passion of his bed. But there is just one thing missing--her husband's love
There's only one man who can help--Wolfe Alexander, her tall, dark, brooding stepbrother. Wolfe lives up to his name: he demands that, in exchange for his money, Lara must become his convenient wife!
With no choice but to accept Wolfe's terms, Lara is soon swept into his world of high-society glamour beyond her wildest dreams--and into the passion of his bed. But there is just one thing missing--her husband's love
October 31, 2019
The woman just sort of...sleepwalks through this. Just going along with what the dude says, minor flares of independence that amount to nothing aside, with little to no argument. The writing left me feeling very emotionally disconnected from the characters who themselves seemed extremely disconnected from their feelings. Then the guy makes her confess her love before he gives her any overt sign of his? What a fucking tool.
August 10, 2009
A marriage proposal to save the girl from the loan shark. She had a crush on him since the beginning.
The story moved fast, which I like. At times it was hard to put the book down, which also grabs my attention. A good romance book.
The story moved fast, which I like. At times it was hard to put the book down, which also grabs my attention. A good romance book.
September 11, 2023
I managed to finish, thus the 2 stars, but this is not very good and has a lot of explicit sex.
Reread as it was in an anthology, same rating.
Reread as it was in an anthology, same rating.
February 19, 2025
True Heroine
Greetings,
I greatly appreciated the heroine in the story because she did not let other people solve her problems. I thought the initial bargain was a bit contrived, but the rationals fit and the strength and courage of the heroine was displayed and acknowledged in the reading. She made a lot of the same decisions anyone would make in the various circumstances.
All of the characters acted like real people and not just cliched romance characters. The decisions that were made were logical and made sense. The few times that the characters did something unusual, the plot and surrounding circumstances gave a good explanation for it. It didn’t have people telling their life stories to random people and secrets were kept private until another time (outside the realm of the book). The side characters acted like real people, concerned at the right time and making logical decisions. It was a stereotypical wealthy man romance, but with characters you could relate to outside of the main two.
Greetings,
I greatly appreciated the heroine in the story because she did not let other people solve her problems. I thought the initial bargain was a bit contrived, but the rationals fit and the strength and courage of the heroine was displayed and acknowledged in the reading. She made a lot of the same decisions anyone would make in the various circumstances.
All of the characters acted like real people and not just cliched romance characters. The decisions that were made were logical and made sense. The few times that the characters did something unusual, the plot and surrounding circumstances gave a good explanation for it. It didn’t have people telling their life stories to random people and secrets were kept private until another time (outside the realm of the book). The side characters acted like real people, concerned at the right time and making logical decisions. It was a stereotypical wealthy man romance, but with characters you could relate to outside of the main two.
March 2, 2021
The writer's storyline is one used in all the books I've read by her.
Enter the heroine who is forced by circumstances to marry the Hero.
Said H is rich and there are always violent OW (not here though in that extreme) to try and bully the h.
Said h will prevail.
Suddenly the h is in love and there are endless charity affairs where said h will dress up in less than 30 min after rushing home having fought battles.
There's the usual shopping and and gifts on the part of the H, oh and the most luxurious cars, let us not forget that.
Then the assault, here by the h's abusive father.
H comes in and solves all with minimum fuss.
Confessions all around and the HEA as is usual with all romances.
I wish I could read a book by Bianchin with a different theme.
Feel free to suggest one if you find one. 😊
Enter the heroine who is forced by circumstances to marry the Hero.
Said H is rich and there are always violent OW (not here though in that extreme) to try and bully the h.
Said h will prevail.
Suddenly the h is in love and there are endless charity affairs where said h will dress up in less than 30 min after rushing home having fought battles.
There's the usual shopping and and gifts on the part of the H, oh and the most luxurious cars, let us not forget that.
Then the assault, here by the h's abusive father.
H comes in and solves all with minimum fuss.
Confessions all around and the HEA as is usual with all romances.
I wish I could read a book by Bianchin with a different theme.
Feel free to suggest one if you find one. 😊
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2025
Meh. Purple, oddly chosen, and poorly edited prose; a charming bully of a Hero; and no real plot.
SPOILER:
The whole thing can be summed up thus: H and h are estranged stepsiblings whose parents married when H and h were nearly adults and later die in a car accident (the book completely glosses over the social weirdness of this pairing). To collect the inheritance, H forces h into marrying him as a convenience. He makes her give up her lifelong dreams she has worked her tail off for, but she accepts it because she’s already smitten and she’s being hounded by a loan shark. He takes a while to sort out his own feelings; meanwhile they spend *a lot* of time in the bedroom.
4/5 spiciness level
SPOILER:
The whole thing can be summed up thus: H and h are estranged stepsiblings whose parents married when H and h were nearly adults and later die in a car accident (the book completely glosses over the social weirdness of this pairing). To collect the inheritance, H forces h into marrying him as a convenience. He makes her give up her lifelong dreams she has worked her tail off for, but she accepts it because she’s already smitten and she’s being hounded by a loan shark. He takes a while to sort out his own feelings; meanwhile they spend *a lot* of time in the bedroom.
4/5 spiciness level
August 12, 2017
Sono stata tentata più di una volta di abbandonarlo sia per la trama fin troppo irreale, che per i refusi, che per lo stile lento e poco coinvolgente. Helen scrive in un modo che io recepisco come “bidimensionale”, senza profondità né pathos.
March 14, 2018
Good solid effort. HB touches on some serious issues here; spousal abuse, child abuse. Minimum description of designer opulence and lifestyle, just a solid plot with likable main characters. At the top of her game here.
May 3, 2020
Purchased
In true Bianchin fashion this story was about two people who married for convenience but along the way fell in love. There were tense moments when others tried to come between them. And when she was hurt. But in the end they were going to be together forever.
In true Bianchin fashion this story was about two people who married for convenience but along the way fell in love. There were tense moments when others tried to come between them. And when she was hurt. But in the end they were going to be together forever.
November 22, 2018
Very good
This was a good book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot very much. Only issue i has were a few words were mis-spelled.
This was a good book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot very much. Only issue i has were a few words were mis-spelled.
July 30, 2019
Yeah, This one is completely basic. the premise is so thin and contrived and the MCs were holy unlikeable.
October 20, 2022
Boring book. Nothing much happens. A few explicit sex scenes, some cookery scenes, descriptions of food , clothes, and the main characters.
January 11, 2023
Excellent
These older books go into great detail and you can see the characters in the book. Helen Branch in is a good author.
These older books go into great detail and you can see the characters in the book. Helen Branch in is a good author.
December 8, 2023
A nice entertaining read.
July 9, 2025
I loved the characters but a lot of it felt like just a rundown of their daily activities and mundane tasks. And then it just was over.
November 11, 2012
Dije clásica historia y me quede corta.Es como la mayoría un matrimonio casi por obligacion o como suelen llamar mas "romanticamente" por contrato o conveniencia.
Lara es chef y tiene su propio restaurante,pero su socio la estafa y le roba dejándola casi en la ruina.Ella busca ayuda financiera y no ve otra opción que tomar el dinero que le ofrece un prestamista de poca monta.Si quiere permanecer con vida no le queda de otra que pedirle la ayuda a su hermanastro Wolfe,del que ella se enamoro a primera vista cuando era una adolecente y conoció al hijo de su padrastro.El la rechazo en ese momento,tomando en cuenta que le llevaba 10 aÑos .Pero habia sentido alguna coneccion con ella pero la rechazo ,ahora la tenia de frente porque el padre de el y la madre de esta murieron en un accidente dejandolos como herederos,pero Lara no podia tomar control inmediato de su dinero.Por eso cuando Lara le pidio ayuda,Wolfe no dudo en pedirle matrimonio e hijos a cambio del dinero.Cuando ella el pide explicacion del porque esa peticion el le dice que es para poder tener el control completo de la herencia y de los hijos que ella necesita para heredar,ya que los hijos de ella serian los beneficiarios de la fortuna.
Eso si el personaje de Lara me gusto desde el principio es testaruda,siempre dice lo que piensa y no importa lo mucho que le atrae Wolfe ella siempre trata de llevarle la contraria.Pero la atraccion y el amor es mas fuerte y siempre triunfa.Por fortuna de las historias porque en la vida real todas sabemos que no todos los finales son felices y la mayoria de las veces si el verdadero amor logra salvar algunas situaciones cotidianas.
Lara es chef y tiene su propio restaurante,pero su socio la estafa y le roba dejándola casi en la ruina.Ella busca ayuda financiera y no ve otra opción que tomar el dinero que le ofrece un prestamista de poca monta.Si quiere permanecer con vida no le queda de otra que pedirle la ayuda a su hermanastro Wolfe,del que ella se enamoro a primera vista cuando era una adolecente y conoció al hijo de su padrastro.El la rechazo en ese momento,tomando en cuenta que le llevaba 10 aÑos .Pero habia sentido alguna coneccion con ella pero la rechazo ,ahora la tenia de frente porque el padre de el y la madre de esta murieron en un accidente dejandolos como herederos,pero Lara no podia tomar control inmediato de su dinero.Por eso cuando Lara le pidio ayuda,Wolfe no dudo en pedirle matrimonio e hijos a cambio del dinero.Cuando ella el pide explicacion del porque esa peticion el le dice que es para poder tener el control completo de la herencia y de los hijos que ella necesita para heredar,ya que los hijos de ella serian los beneficiarios de la fortuna.
Eso si el personaje de Lara me gusto desde el principio es testaruda,siempre dice lo que piensa y no importa lo mucho que le atrae Wolfe ella siempre trata de llevarle la contraria.Pero la atraccion y el amor es mas fuerte y siempre triunfa.Por fortuna de las historias porque en la vida real todas sabemos que no todos los finales son felices y la mayoria de las veces si el verdadero amor logra salvar algunas situaciones cotidianas.
September 28, 2016
Oh Wolfe! I'm so in love with Wolfe
Wow! Just wow! I love a story that makes me cry. Lara suffered so much at the hands of her father. I'm so glad the H healed her wounds and protected her. Lara deserved a loving hero without any of the drama or mistreatment u usually find in HP novels. Well done ms Bianchin! Thank u.
Wow! Just wow! I love a story that makes me cry. Lara suffered so much at the hands of her father. I'm so glad the H healed her wounds and protected her. Lara deserved a loving hero without any of the drama or mistreatment u usually find in HP novels. Well done ms Bianchin! Thank u.
December 23, 2014
The book was OK. It had all the normal elements about a purshaising wife book going on. But OMG HOW I HATED THE CONTINUED REPETITION OF "EN SUITE"! GOD AT SOME POINT I ACTUALLY TOUGHT THE WHOLE STORY WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH ALWAYS GOING INSIDE THE EN SUITE AND COMING OUT OF IT !
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews