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Greek Tycoon, Waitress Wife
Carrie Richards has stepped into the glittering life of Greek billionaire Alexeis Nicolaides. Luxurious hotels, designer clothes and rare jewels are all hers…and what they share in the bedroom is explosive. But the consequences of one night lead to a shocking end to Carrie's fairy tale. She discovers Alexeis is not her Prince Charming—he's a man who'll make her his, no matter what the cost!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2007
68 people are currently reading
501 people want to read
About the author
Julia James
719 books164 followersJulia lives in England with her family. Mills and Boon novels were Julia's first "grown up" books she read as a teenager ("Alongside Georgette Heyer and Daphne du Maurier."), and she's been reading them ever since.
Julia adores the English countryside ("And the Celtic countryside!"), in all its seasons, and is fascinated by all things historical, from castles to cottages. She also has a special love for the Mediterranean ("The most perfect landscape after England!") — she considers both are ideal settings for romance stories! In between writing she enjoys walking, gardening, needlework and baking "extremely gooey chocolate cakes" — and trying to stay fit!
Julia adores the English countryside ("And the Celtic countryside!"), in all its seasons, and is fascinated by all things historical, from castles to cottages. She also has a special love for the Mediterranean ("The most perfect landscape after England!") — she considers both are ideal settings for romance stories! In between writing she enjoys walking, gardening, needlework and baking "extremely gooey chocolate cakes" — and trying to stay fit!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
May 12, 2019
Okay, this one’s for you Angst Junkies. I’m giving it three stars because it’s well done for what it does, and I’ve read it twice.
The Arrogant Hero is your typical arrogant, uberly handsome and wealthy Greek billionaire with an emphasis 0n the arrogant. He’s just ditched his ex-mistress who’s getting big ideas (MATRIMONY) and picks up the poor waitress that was fired for spilling a drink on the mistress d’jour.
The Arrogant H loves his new mistress as she is sweet, loving, undemanding, appreciative…zzzzzzzz. She has all the personality and sass of Elsie the cow.
He dresses her up and takes her everywhere and loves and cuddles her…
When they get to Milan he takes her to see Madame Butterfly, and the parallel story of a woman as a toy to be dawdled with makes her very uncomfortable. Arrogant H sees her reaction as being a simple girl that can’t appreciate the finer things in life. In fact her attitude and disinterest in Italian art, fashion and architect were a little off-off-putting to me as well. Elsie, sweetheart, you are in Milan, look at the pretty buildings! Of course, her disinterest in fashion is HPLand code for NOT being a greedy gold-digger.
The H’s equally arrogant mother demands his presence on their Greek island as she has yet another Greek heiress to parade in from of him. Arrogant H devises a clever play to get his mother and the heiress off his back. He will parade the h like the mistress she really is in front of the dinner party. He encourages her to show cleavage, let her hair down literally and plops her in a dinner party where no one will speak to her or speak in English. She’s uncomfortable, but it isn’t until his younger half-brother shows up with insulting propositions and the God’s honest truth about her bimbohood that she actually clues in.
Fate is a wicked witch as the heroine turns up pregnant and on the verge of losing the baby. The H is coldly supportive as he internalizes and whines, “Why me!” Arrogant Mother shows up to lament that he’s tied himself to a low class bimbo, and later sneaks in to offer the h $5 million euros to have an abortion.
Nasty, nasty, nasty.
Poor Elsie has a miscarriage, and is devastated. She does manage to impart the knowledge that she knows all and would never marry such a cad as he, or marry into such a horrible family, nor would she let him have her baby. Oh, and your mother is an evil witch. Arrogant H finally gets a clue that maybe he isn’t as awesome as he thought he was.
She leaves for England, and he leaves to confront his mother. Arrogant Mother does a fast one that I am not quite sure I believe. The $5 mill offer was a test to see what kind ofcow girl Elsie really is. Hmmm? Secondly, her desire for Arrogant H to marry a wealthy woman was to save the future Arrogant Wife the dilemma of feeling less than. Hmm again. Nice save.
Arrogant H goes into a slight decline without his Elsie cow to comfort him, but still manages to get in a board meeting or two. He sets his investigative team out to find her. His complete and total lack of any information about the heroine as in her birth date, where she was born, etc was not helpful in finding her. Let’s be glad he knew her last name.
He finally catches up to her in a small University town, and pats himself on the back that she’s probably looking into training as a massage therapist as he suggested. No, she’s not. There is a nice surprise at the end on the heroine’s backstory. But, please Elsie, could you make him work for you at least a little!
Angsty, depressing and teeth clenching. While it was fun, like salt on a wound kind of fun, it was also irritating. The H was so dismissively arrogant about the heroine, but in fairness to him the girl never says anything about herself to let him know otherwise and has all the personality of Umbridge’s office.
The Arrogant Hero is your typical arrogant, uberly handsome and wealthy Greek billionaire with an emphasis 0n the arrogant. He’s just ditched his ex-mistress who’s getting big ideas (MATRIMONY) and picks up the poor waitress that was fired for spilling a drink on the mistress d’jour.
The Arrogant H loves his new mistress as she is sweet, loving, undemanding, appreciative…zzzzzzzz. She has all the personality and sass of Elsie the cow.
He dresses her up and takes her everywhere and loves and cuddles her…
When they get to Milan he takes her to see Madame Butterfly, and the parallel story of a woman as a toy to be dawdled with makes her very uncomfortable. Arrogant H sees her reaction as being a simple girl that can’t appreciate the finer things in life. In fact her attitude and disinterest in Italian art, fashion and architect were a little off-off-putting to me as well. Elsie, sweetheart, you are in Milan, look at the pretty buildings! Of course, her disinterest in fashion is HPLand code for NOT being a greedy gold-digger.
The H’s equally arrogant mother demands his presence on their Greek island as she has yet another Greek heiress to parade in from of him. Arrogant H devises a clever play to get his mother and the heiress off his back. He will parade the h like the mistress she really is in front of the dinner party. He encourages her to show cleavage, let her hair down literally and plops her in a dinner party where no one will speak to her or speak in English. She’s uncomfortable, but it isn’t until his younger half-brother shows up with insulting propositions and the God’s honest truth about her bimbohood that she actually clues in.
Fate is a wicked witch as the heroine turns up pregnant and on the verge of losing the baby. The H is coldly supportive as he internalizes and whines, “Why me!” Arrogant Mother shows up to lament that he’s tied himself to a low class bimbo, and later sneaks in to offer the h $5 million euros to have an abortion.
Nasty, nasty, nasty.
Poor Elsie has a miscarriage, and is devastated. She does manage to impart the knowledge that she knows all and would never marry such a cad as he, or marry into such a horrible family, nor would she let him have her baby. Oh, and your mother is an evil witch. Arrogant H finally gets a clue that maybe he isn’t as awesome as he thought he was.
She leaves for England, and he leaves to confront his mother. Arrogant Mother does a fast one that I am not quite sure I believe. The $5 mill offer was a test to see what kind of
Arrogant H goes into a slight decline without his Elsie cow to comfort him, but still manages to get in a board meeting or two. He sets his investigative team out to find her. His complete and total lack of any information about the heroine as in her birth date, where she was born, etc was not helpful in finding her. Let’s be glad he knew her last name.
He finally catches up to her in a small University town, and pats himself on the back that she’s probably looking into training as a massage therapist as he suggested. No, she’s not. There is a nice surprise at the end on the heroine’s backstory. But, please Elsie, could you make him work for you at least a little!
Angsty, depressing and teeth clenching. While it was fun, like salt on a wound kind of fun, it was also irritating. The H was so dismissively arrogant about the heroine, but in fairness to him the girl never says anything about herself to let him know otherwise and has all the personality of Umbridge’s office.
May 18, 2020
This is a "I didn't know I was your mistress" story. The tycoon hero picked up the heroine after she was fired for dropping a tray of drinks.
They spent many glorious months together until the hero decides to thwart his mother's match-making plans by showing up with the heroine dressed like a bimbo. Everyone is speaking in Greek, so the heroine doesn't understand what is going on.
The next day the hero's younger half-brother spells it out for the heroine. She is hurt and is planning to leave when she starts bleeding. Turns out she's pregnant and she may or may not be having a miscarriage.
The hero's mother offers her money to abort the baby. The hero offers marriage. The heroine doesn't speak and makes plans to leave and adopt out the baby. She finally has a miscarriage and leaves the hero.
Hero spends a few months feeling sorry for himself until he realizes he loves the h. He tracks her down. Surprise! She's got a PHd in biochemistry and was moonlighting as a waitress in London while writing up her father's notes to be published. Hero declares himself. HEA
The twist at the end about the heroine's career was never foreshadowed, so that was a little hard to take, but as a whole this was an entertaining, angsty story. Hero wasn't mean - he was just clueless. Heroine was naive because she spent so much time in the lab.
They spent many glorious months together until the hero decides to thwart his mother's match-making plans by showing up with the heroine dressed like a bimbo. Everyone is speaking in Greek, so the heroine doesn't understand what is going on.
The next day the hero's younger half-brother spells it out for the heroine. She is hurt and is planning to leave when she starts bleeding. Turns out she's pregnant and she may or may not be having a miscarriage.
The hero's mother offers her money to abort the baby. The hero offers marriage. The heroine doesn't speak and makes plans to leave and adopt out the baby. She finally has a miscarriage and leaves the hero.
Hero spends a few months feeling sorry for himself until he realizes he loves the h. He tracks her down. Surprise! She's got a PHd in biochemistry and was moonlighting as a waitress in London while writing up her father's notes to be published. Hero declares himself. HEA
The twist at the end about the heroine's career was never foreshadowed, so that was a little hard to take, but as a whole this was an entertaining, angsty story. Hero wasn't mean - he was just clueless. Heroine was naive because she spent so much time in the lab.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2022
3.75-star
The GOOD:
Good emotional pull with some angst. Got teary-eyed after 65% from mid-20s British waitress h's accidental pregnancy & realization of what she's been to him & 33yo Greek businessman H's later self-awareness of what she actually meant to him & his regrets & shame of how he treated her.
Liked how the romance & their characters developed so by 80% I was rooting for both of them & by the end believed in their love & possible HEA. Liked h's quiet/perceptive/non-pushy/humble attitude & not putting on airs nor valuing materialism or popularity. She did enjoy the luxurious lifestyle H indulged her in but viewed it as fantasy-fulfilllment that would end when H would eventually tire of her per his usual with his mistresses/lovers. Liked her quiet acceptance of H's wealthy player lifestyle & her temporary part in it even though she knew she'd never meet a man like him again. Also liked how she knew herself & didn't seek to prove herself to others. Good S chem/S.
MEH or the BAD: **SPOILERS**
Despite overall good romance & character development, both H&h both seemed shallow characters in the 1st 30%, with a shallow desire-based connection. Both were ok with their temporary affair and acknowledged how different they were in their interests. Their relationship was very much based on H's wants and h was enjoying him while waiting for him to end their affair. Around 35% the initial angst of h's 1-sided love & her acceptance of their temporary affair started.
Didn't care for the end-reveal around 90% re: h not a blonde bimbo but was actually a PhD in biochemistry with scientist parents. It was a surprise and an elevation of h's character status. But I didn't like how it made H really impressed with her now and how this made her fit his social status better. I didn't like how it shifted their dynamics, where H was now in awe of her status-wise. I would've preferred that h remained the unambitious and simple bimbo-ish woman H viewed her to be and loved her as she was.
Didn't like H initially. I thought he was a manipulative sexual creep during his 1st date with h. He played mental games to get h to trust him enough to smex him on their 1st date. And it worked. He was narcissistic, self-absorbed, and manipulative. Their relationship was focused on his desires and only later, after h's miscarriage & repeated rejection of him, did he start changing. He became more aware of his love for her /how special she was/& how his previous actions/word hurt her. He became absorbed in getting her back & valued her. He was still self-absorbed but at least he saw how much good she brought to him and he was genuinely willing to change his lifestyle just to be with her. Even before he knew she was a scientist.
Sexual History: Mid-20s h was not a virgin with H but no info on how many ex-lovers/BFs she's had. She'd been busy taking care of her sick father the last 3 years since her mom's accidental death. H had 2 more current high-society mistresses he picked for social purposes & for sex. No emotional attachments. One of them he just broke up with at the same party he met waitress h. He tended to break up with his lovers/mistresses when they start wanting a commitment from him.
The GOOD:
Good emotional pull with some angst. Got teary-eyed after 65% from mid-20s British waitress h's accidental pregnancy & realization of what she's been to him & 33yo Greek businessman H's later self-awareness of what she actually meant to him & his regrets & shame of how he treated her.
Liked how the romance & their characters developed so by 80% I was rooting for both of them & by the end believed in their love & possible HEA. Liked h's quiet/perceptive/non-pushy/humble attitude & not putting on airs nor valuing materialism or popularity. She did enjoy the luxurious lifestyle H indulged her in but viewed it as fantasy-fulfilllment that would end when H would eventually tire of her per his usual with his mistresses/lovers. Liked her quiet acceptance of H's wealthy player lifestyle & her temporary part in it even though she knew she'd never meet a man like him again. Also liked how she knew herself & didn't seek to prove herself to others. Good S chem/S.
MEH or the BAD: **SPOILERS**
Despite overall good romance & character development, both H&h both seemed shallow characters in the 1st 30%, with a shallow desire-based connection. Both were ok with their temporary affair and acknowledged how different they were in their interests. Their relationship was very much based on H's wants and h was enjoying him while waiting for him to end their affair. Around 35% the initial angst of h's 1-sided love & her acceptance of their temporary affair started.
Didn't care for the end-reveal around 90% re: h not a blonde bimbo but was actually a PhD in biochemistry with scientist parents. It was a surprise and an elevation of h's character status. But I didn't like how it made H really impressed with her now and how this made her fit his social status better. I didn't like how it shifted their dynamics, where H was now in awe of her status-wise. I would've preferred that h remained the unambitious and simple bimbo-ish woman H viewed her to be and loved her as she was.
Didn't like H initially. I thought he was a manipulative sexual creep during his 1st date with h. He played mental games to get h to trust him enough to smex him on their 1st date. And it worked. He was narcissistic, self-absorbed, and manipulative. Their relationship was focused on his desires and only later, after h's miscarriage & repeated rejection of him, did he start changing. He became more aware of his love for her /how special she was/& how his previous actions/word hurt her. He became absorbed in getting her back & valued her. He was still self-absorbed but at least he saw how much good she brought to him and he was genuinely willing to change his lifestyle just to be with her. Even before he knew she was a scientist.
Sexual History: Mid-20s h was not a virgin with H but no info on how many ex-lovers/BFs she's had. She'd been busy taking care of her sick father the last 3 years since her mom's accidental death. H had 2 more current high-society mistresses he picked for social purposes & for sex. No emotional attachments. One of them he just broke up with at the same party he met waitress h. He tended to break up with his lovers/mistresses when they start wanting a commitment from him.
April 12, 2013
The worst Harlequin I've read lately. Zero love scenes, zero chemistry and the plot twist was ridiculous.
August 4, 2011
I really liked this book. The hero was not nasty to the heroine at all except he didn't realize that he loved her. There is a big grovel scene at the end that was very well done. I liked the whole story. It was well written and made sense. There weren't any of those bits where you were wondering WTF? High drama and a satisfying HP read when you just need to be swept away.
January 23, 2015
Alexeis is bored with his smart gorgeous girlfriend, because she is so pretentious with all her art knowledge and her desire to talk about her job all the time. He’s with her at a party at an art gallery, and she’s at it again, off talking to other pretentious art people about pretentious art. He doesn’t like it. Maybe he needs a girlfriend who will stand silently at his side, and occasionally gaze up at him adoringly? Maybe that waitress? She has really smooth hair and she’s in that tight white shirt and oops, she’s just spilled a drink all over his girlfriend.
Girlfriend is not impressed. She’s one of those evil people who turn nasty over the tiniest inconveniences, which in some way justifies Alexeis’ decision right then to break up with her by sending her a new dress and some jewels, and never contacting her again.
Carrie the waitress is fired for spilling the drink. She’s walking herself down the street to get the bus home, and thinking about how she’ll have to go back to the employment agency for another job, and how that’s going to be embarrassing. She has no choice though, she has to have money to support herself over the summer, and she’s bravely holding back the sadness over her recent family tragedy, when Alexeis’ smooth rich car stops beside her and smooth rich Alexeis offers her a ride. ‘What about your girlfriend?’ Carrie asks. ‘She’s not my girlfriend,’ Alexeis says. Wow Alexeis. Just wow.
If there was a scene, or a reference to a scene where Alexeis personally breaks up with his girlfriend, I completely missed it. For the remainder of the book, I never really got over my distraction over how this must have worked out for her. He left while she was still in the bathroom trying to get herself cleaned up, so according to my timeline, she doesn’t yet know she’s been dumped by the time Alexeis starts chatting up her replacement. I just kept thinking about how she would have got out of the bathroom, and one of the hospitality managers would have been falling all over herself to apologise and reassure her that the wicked waitress had been cast out to starve in the gutter, and here is some money for your dry cleaning, and can we do anything for you, etc etc. And then she would have gone back out to the party and looked for Alexeis, and asked her friends if they’d seen him, and finally someone would have known that, oh yeah, he left maybe half an hour ago?
And she’s by then probably leaving him irritated and then angry messages, and finding her own way home, and sleeplessly wondering where he is and what happened, and then eventually when the breakup dress arrives wondering how she’s going to deal with the breakup and the loss of status she’ll suffer in her social circle, especially when it’s clear that Alexeis is with some new blonde girl in New York pretty much the next day. Or, she has proper human feelings rather than just rival mean-girl feelings, and she’s also genuinely hurt by his treatment.
The problem, I think, is that there’s no hot sex scene to distract me. In fact, the book is pretty lacking in the hotness department: while both Alexeis and Carrie are all about the fun they’re having in bed, it’s all glossed over on the page. The other problem, of course, is that for no particularly good reason Carrie reveals only a tiny part of who she is, so it can all turn out to be a big surprise later on.
Carrie’s background is that she comes from Marchester … and then she was doing low pay temporary jobs in London, the end. Her personality is that she’s a sweet girl. Alexeis enjoys her company, but realises that while they do talk to each other, he can never remember what they talk about. I can’t work out what they’re talking about either. Carrie can’t talk art, history, politics, current events, business or any of the other stuff that can be basically lumped into ‘things rich people buy and talk about.’ I’m assuming that Alexeis basically gives Carrie lectures on rich people stuff, and her contribution is looking interested and occasionally summing up something Alexeis said in one sentence, because that seems like the type of thing that he’d like, given how much he disliked his previous girlfriends for having their own interests and wanting to talk about them. I appreciate Carrie for being honest about what doesn’t interest her, but I found her remarkably incurious. That she can’t talk about herself, that who she is has no impact on how she thinks, talks and behaves, feels frustratingly artificial.
Alexeis is all about his family issues. His dad’s a bastard to women – he left Alexeis’ mother when he got the nanny pregnant, and Alexeis’ mother is obsessed with securing Alexeis’ fortune to the detriment of his half brother’s. The father’s now on about his fifth marriage, so he’s still managing to completely screw everyone over.
Alexeis’ mother nags Alexeis to come to dinner, where he is to be introduced to the perfect candidate for the role of his bride. Alexeis decides to take a passive aggressive approach to thwarting his mother’s meddling. He brings Carrie along to a family dinner with the bride candidate. He puts Carrie in a low-cut transparent dress. He doesn’t tell Carrie that she’s meeting his mother and various other family members, so she’s fairly bewildered about the whole thing, and since they all speak Greek and glare daggers at her it’s all a very confusing experience.
The book gives me a conversation about how sweet poor girls without education or ambition who fall in love with powerful men will struggle and be unhappy once the initial love affair has faded. A wife who has nothing in common with her husband, who is uncomfortable and isolated in his world, who has no passion or drive or status of her own, is doomed to suffer. Yes, exactly. That’s why romances are fantasies that ask you to pretend that true love will resolve everything. I don’t really need this explained to me. This is like when magicians explain how the cup and ball trick works, when all I really wanted was to enjoy a few moments of being amazed.
Carrie gets to suffer through learning third-hand what Alexeis actually thinks of her, and the circumstances should be satisfyingly dramatic, but it’s not enough. While keeping Carrie’s true self a mystery sounds like it would be intriguing and a big angsty break up and a reveal with some grovelling should balance it all out, I didn’t like it much.
Girlfriend is not impressed. She’s one of those evil people who turn nasty over the tiniest inconveniences, which in some way justifies Alexeis’ decision right then to break up with her by sending her a new dress and some jewels, and never contacting her again.
Carrie the waitress is fired for spilling the drink. She’s walking herself down the street to get the bus home, and thinking about how she’ll have to go back to the employment agency for another job, and how that’s going to be embarrassing. She has no choice though, she has to have money to support herself over the summer, and she’s bravely holding back the sadness over her recent family tragedy, when Alexeis’ smooth rich car stops beside her and smooth rich Alexeis offers her a ride. ‘What about your girlfriend?’ Carrie asks. ‘She’s not my girlfriend,’ Alexeis says. Wow Alexeis. Just wow.
If there was a scene, or a reference to a scene where Alexeis personally breaks up with his girlfriend, I completely missed it. For the remainder of the book, I never really got over my distraction over how this must have worked out for her. He left while she was still in the bathroom trying to get herself cleaned up, so according to my timeline, she doesn’t yet know she’s been dumped by the time Alexeis starts chatting up her replacement. I just kept thinking about how she would have got out of the bathroom, and one of the hospitality managers would have been falling all over herself to apologise and reassure her that the wicked waitress had been cast out to starve in the gutter, and here is some money for your dry cleaning, and can we do anything for you, etc etc. And then she would have gone back out to the party and looked for Alexeis, and asked her friends if they’d seen him, and finally someone would have known that, oh yeah, he left maybe half an hour ago?
And she’s by then probably leaving him irritated and then angry messages, and finding her own way home, and sleeplessly wondering where he is and what happened, and then eventually when the breakup dress arrives wondering how she’s going to deal with the breakup and the loss of status she’ll suffer in her social circle, especially when it’s clear that Alexeis is with some new blonde girl in New York pretty much the next day. Or, she has proper human feelings rather than just rival mean-girl feelings, and she’s also genuinely hurt by his treatment.
The problem, I think, is that there’s no hot sex scene to distract me. In fact, the book is pretty lacking in the hotness department: while both Alexeis and Carrie are all about the fun they’re having in bed, it’s all glossed over on the page. The other problem, of course, is that for no particularly good reason Carrie reveals only a tiny part of who she is, so it can all turn out to be a big surprise later on.
Carrie’s background is that she comes from Marchester … and then she was doing low pay temporary jobs in London, the end. Her personality is that she’s a sweet girl. Alexeis enjoys her company, but realises that while they do talk to each other, he can never remember what they talk about. I can’t work out what they’re talking about either. Carrie can’t talk art, history, politics, current events, business or any of the other stuff that can be basically lumped into ‘things rich people buy and talk about.’ I’m assuming that Alexeis basically gives Carrie lectures on rich people stuff, and her contribution is looking interested and occasionally summing up something Alexeis said in one sentence, because that seems like the type of thing that he’d like, given how much he disliked his previous girlfriends for having their own interests and wanting to talk about them. I appreciate Carrie for being honest about what doesn’t interest her, but I found her remarkably incurious. That she can’t talk about herself, that who she is has no impact on how she thinks, talks and behaves, feels frustratingly artificial.
Alexeis is all about his family issues. His dad’s a bastard to women – he left Alexeis’ mother when he got the nanny pregnant, and Alexeis’ mother is obsessed with securing Alexeis’ fortune to the detriment of his half brother’s. The father’s now on about his fifth marriage, so he’s still managing to completely screw everyone over.
Alexeis’ mother nags Alexeis to come to dinner, where he is to be introduced to the perfect candidate for the role of his bride. Alexeis decides to take a passive aggressive approach to thwarting his mother’s meddling. He brings Carrie along to a family dinner with the bride candidate. He puts Carrie in a low-cut transparent dress. He doesn’t tell Carrie that she’s meeting his mother and various other family members, so she’s fairly bewildered about the whole thing, and since they all speak Greek and glare daggers at her it’s all a very confusing experience.
The book gives me a conversation about how sweet poor girls without education or ambition who fall in love with powerful men will struggle and be unhappy once the initial love affair has faded. A wife who has nothing in common with her husband, who is uncomfortable and isolated in his world, who has no passion or drive or status of her own, is doomed to suffer. Yes, exactly. That’s why romances are fantasies that ask you to pretend that true love will resolve everything. I don’t really need this explained to me. This is like when magicians explain how the cup and ball trick works, when all I really wanted was to enjoy a few moments of being amazed.
Carrie gets to suffer through learning third-hand what Alexeis actually thinks of her, and the circumstances should be satisfyingly dramatic, but it’s not enough. While keeping Carrie’s true self a mystery sounds like it would be intriguing and a big angsty break up and a reveal with some grovelling should balance it all out, I didn’t like it much.
May 28, 2019
Loved this book
This is a re-read but I can't remember it from the first time I read it so it was like a brand new book and a wonderful one at that! It was awesome! There were parts where the hero made me angry and there were parts that made me cry. And the ending was almost perfect.
Greek billionaire meets beautiful blonde waitress and takes her home. She is totally smitten by his good looks and goes to bed with him. They travel together several months it sounds like and they are happy. His mother is trying to get him to marry a heiress and makes him come home for a dinner with what she hopes is his future bride. He goes but brings beautiful blonde mistress to show them he isn't doing it. She is totally snubbed and I hated the hero at that part. The next day she meets hero's brother who is a pig and he upsets her and she has a miscarriage. That part was hard to read. I felt so bad for her. I don't want to spoil anymore but believe me it turns out beautifully, after much more angst. I gave it five stars because I really felt their connection. I loved the ending and it made me go ahhhh. Just a great read and I will re-read it again and again. Safe reading too. I love love love Cinderella stories!! And this is a great one!
This is a re-read but I can't remember it from the first time I read it so it was like a brand new book and a wonderful one at that! It was awesome! There were parts where the hero made me angry and there were parts that made me cry. And the ending was almost perfect.
Greek billionaire meets beautiful blonde waitress and takes her home. She is totally smitten by his good looks and goes to bed with him. They travel together several months it sounds like and they are happy. His mother is trying to get him to marry a heiress and makes him come home for a dinner with what she hopes is his future bride. He goes but brings beautiful blonde mistress to show them he isn't doing it. She is totally snubbed and I hated the hero at that part. The next day she meets hero's brother who is a pig and he upsets her and she has a miscarriage. That part was hard to read. I felt so bad for her. I don't want to spoil anymore but believe me it turns out beautifully, after much more angst. I gave it five stars because I really felt their connection. I loved the ending and it made me go ahhhh. Just a great read and I will re-read it again and again. Safe reading too. I love love love Cinderella stories!! And this is a great one!
July 31, 2011
This story was somewhat similar to James' For Pleasure...Or Marriage? (a fav of mine,) but not so much that it's boring. Both feature lovesick, doormat, rich man's mistresses who redeem themselves by eventually growing a spine, and jerk tycoons who also mature.
There were several surprises here, one which I thought very well done, another which was inadequately foreshadowed and came off as pretty implausible. But mostly it was just the sort of Harlequin Presents I love: lots of drama and heartache, within a satisfying story arc.
There were several surprises here, one which I thought very well done, another which was inadequately foreshadowed and came off as pretty implausible. But mostly it was just the sort of Harlequin Presents I love: lots of drama and heartache, within a satisfying story arc.
September 4, 2014
Some interesting twists. I just wish the h hadn't have fallen right back into the hero's arms the minute he tracked her down. I do think he fully recognized his mistake and was truly remorseful, but (as usual) he got her back far too easily.
May 27, 2020
It was silly but I like nice heroine with a backbone and besotted dumb heroes. 3,5 stars!
June 26, 2024
Oh Pooh! I had high hopes to be entertained by this hokey premise but it didn't deliver for me. Usually, the heroes of this genre try to gaslight their heroines, but in this case, the author was trying to gaslight the reader. Turning the Monster Mother-In-Law who offered 5 mil to the heroine to abort her baby into a wise, sensitive matriarch who only wanted to "test" the heroine to see what kind of woman she was. PULL THE OTHER ONE, CERSEI!
I also felt the hero never redeemed himself after the way he used the heroine like his cheap bimbo and humiliated her in front of his hoity toity family just to score on his Monster Mom and prospective OW. There should have been a scene where the hero is similarly humiliated in front of the heroine's intellectual colleagues to achieve some justice and some well-deserved comeuppance for the hero, who might be rich but is totally clueless. Then at least I could have felt that he understood, really understood, what he did was utterly disgusting and wrong and maybe made up a tiny bit for his actions in the past.
Julia James has done this trope better in The Italian's Token Wife. Somehow she has never managed to make that magic again, at least for me.
I also felt the hero never redeemed himself after the way he used the heroine like his cheap bimbo and humiliated her in front of his hoity toity family just to score on his Monster Mom and prospective OW. There should have been a scene where the hero is similarly humiliated in front of the heroine's intellectual colleagues to achieve some justice and some well-deserved comeuppance for the hero, who might be rich but is totally clueless. Then at least I could have felt that he understood, really understood, what he did was utterly disgusting and wrong and maybe made up a tiny bit for his actions in the past.
Julia James has done this trope better in The Italian's Token Wife. Somehow she has never managed to make that magic again, at least for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2021
Really enjoyed this book. Greek hero is a billionaire and meets heroine who is a waitress, she is beautiful, blonde and sweet, they become lovers. After some time he receives and invitation from his mother who wants him to marry a heiress. He decides to go with h so his mother will understand that he’s not going to marry anyone because he’s just a playboy who loves bimbos. He let everyone think h is his bimbo mistress, when his brother tells her the truth she collapses. She finds out she’s pregnant and is risking to lose her baby, hero offers marriage if she stays pregnant. His mother offers her 5 million if she has a termination. She refuses both. She loses her baby and tells H she would never have married him and that she would have had her child adopted because his family is the family from hell. Then she leaves him and goes back to her town. Hero realizes he’s in love with her and even if she’s not so smart and cultured he wants to marry her. He follows her and when he tells her that he wants to marry her no matter if she’s a waitress he finds out she’s a PHd in biochemistry, a doctor! And she’s won a doctorate in her university, and her parents were both doctors! She’s been studying all her life so she has not great social skills but she’s a genius. I loved this story, it’s ironic the dichotomy rich vs intelligent! He and his world may have some social skills and some business abilities but she’s smart and intelligent and sweet! In the end he must recognize that she will be the first doctor in his family! That’s cute! Hero is not cruel nor mean, he’s only a spoiled playboy a little dumb, heroine is super! I recommend it.
April 3, 2012
A solid four stars for Julia James. This is my second HP from this author and I am quickly becoming a fan of hers. I really liked the story. Though I wasn't always happy with either the hero or heroines decisions and actions....I have to admit, it added the necessary tension that kept me flipping the pages!
I especially liked that the author gave us so much more than the typical one dimensional view into the characters. For example, The hero was not a ruthless jerk, but he made some truly ruthless, unforgivable decisions. The heroine was not stupid or spineless, yet some of her actions weren't too swift.
But through it all, I felt their pain....and hoped that they could reconcile their past mistakes. Without giving a spoiler away, I really really liked how the author played out the big misunderstanding....and the ramifications of it. I also liked that we continually got the hero's POV.
My only gripe, and it is a small one.......and probably why I gave it 4 versus 5 stars, is the conclusion and happy ending could have been stronger and tighter.....He definitely needed to grovel way more than he did. She forgave him way way too easily.
I especially liked that the author gave us so much more than the typical one dimensional view into the characters. For example, The hero was not a ruthless jerk, but he made some truly ruthless, unforgivable decisions. The heroine was not stupid or spineless, yet some of her actions weren't too swift.
But through it all, I felt their pain....and hoped that they could reconcile their past mistakes. Without giving a spoiler away, I really really liked how the author played out the big misunderstanding....and the ramifications of it. I also liked that we continually got the hero's POV.
My only gripe, and it is a small one.......and probably why I gave it 4 versus 5 stars, is the conclusion and happy ending could have been stronger and tighter.....He definitely needed to grovel way more than he did. She forgave him way way too easily.
August 16, 2022
3.5 stars….OMG these titles lately…I miss the titles of yore such as Chase the Green Shadow, or Hell is my Heaven…This title spells it out yet still gets it wrong to a certain extent….Oh well
First off, love Vintage’s review of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... it comes laced with humor!
First up is our hero, Alexeis, who like so many Greek heroes before him has his love life shaped by the disaster that was his parent’s marriage. He is cultured, suave, devastatingly handsome and adorns himself with accomplished, beautiful women. Once the women start to get ideas beyond the bedroom, it is off with the old and on to the new. While he is squiring about his latest toy at an art exhibit, he meets the very attractive heroine, Carrie. Carrie is not a struggling artist or a rich debutante, she is a “lowly” waitress who is definitely not in league with the H’s “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”.
The H ditches the bitchy ow after the h spills a drink on her and she goes all crazed. He picks up the h walking home after being fired from the waitressing job. He takes her back to his hotel for dinner, dessert, and breakfast. (JJ actually does fade to black for the sex in this book, they talk about how great it is, but that is really all we get) Anyhoo, the H likes the h enough to take her on his business trips all over the world. He has never done that before, but the h is a breath of fresh air, attractive, and likes sex as much as the hero. Now, the h doesn’t delude herself into thinking the H has fallen in love with her. She decides to embrace the luxury life of companion to a greek tycoon. She figures she will never have this chance again, so why not. That isn’t to say she becomes money hungry, but she allows the H to indulge her without taking advantage.
Now, I have a theory as to why our h would do something so uncharacteristic. Basically, she lost her mom tragically many years ago. Recently, she lost her father after a long bout with cancer. She came to London to escape and run away from reminders of her town Marchester. Her time in London was only to be temporary before she settled into a different kind of career. So, when the attractive Greek who caught her eye at the art showing wanted to take her on a once in a lifetime adventure filled with private jets, yachts, glamorous clothes, parties, and exciting new places she went for it.
Things go along swimmingly. The H and h love spending time with each other, and the H likes how the h is more of an observer instead of a stage hog when they go out. Of course, given that she is educationally lacking, he understands that many things probably go over her head. He is actually ok with that. Meanwhile, the h keeps waiting for the H to tire of her. Again, she realizes that their time together has an expiration date. She is surprised over and over again when the H continues his association with her. Then he decides to take her on a vacation. No more work interruptions. At the beginning of their vacation, his mom intrudes upon their Idyll by once again beckoning her son to one of her dinners where she has a newly acquired heiress picked out to be his wife. Sick of his mom’s meddling, he decides to take a detour from the planned trip, go to the party, and show his mom that his dating days are far from over. The h will make a great point of that. So, what happens next is what I call the “hero is an ass” moment. SPOILERS NOW which will cover the rest of the story. ➡️
So, overall an entertaining story with some unexpected twists. Plus, the handling of the usual trope was not as predictable. Briefly, in case you need to know:
*No virgins, but h is considered somewhat inexperienced
*No cheating
*Ow’s in the background(they are not active throughout the love story
*Special shout out to the 1/2 brother….he took the place of a meddlesome ow 😂
*Angst amped up when the H pulled his asshatery moves
*Very tame, off page bedroom antics
First off, love Vintage’s review of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... it comes laced with humor!
First up is our hero, Alexeis, who like so many Greek heroes before him has his love life shaped by the disaster that was his parent’s marriage. He is cultured, suave, devastatingly handsome and adorns himself with accomplished, beautiful women. Once the women start to get ideas beyond the bedroom, it is off with the old and on to the new. While he is squiring about his latest toy at an art exhibit, he meets the very attractive heroine, Carrie. Carrie is not a struggling artist or a rich debutante, she is a “lowly” waitress who is definitely not in league with the H’s “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”.
The H ditches the bitchy ow after the h spills a drink on her and she goes all crazed. He picks up the h walking home after being fired from the waitressing job. He takes her back to his hotel for dinner, dessert, and breakfast. (JJ actually does fade to black for the sex in this book, they talk about how great it is, but that is really all we get) Anyhoo, the H likes the h enough to take her on his business trips all over the world. He has never done that before, but the h is a breath of fresh air, attractive, and likes sex as much as the hero. Now, the h doesn’t delude herself into thinking the H has fallen in love with her. She decides to embrace the luxury life of companion to a greek tycoon. She figures she will never have this chance again, so why not. That isn’t to say she becomes money hungry, but she allows the H to indulge her without taking advantage.
Now, I have a theory as to why our h would do something so uncharacteristic. Basically, she lost her mom tragically many years ago. Recently, she lost her father after a long bout with cancer. She came to London to escape and run away from reminders of her town Marchester. Her time in London was only to be temporary before she settled into a different kind of career. So, when the attractive Greek who caught her eye at the art showing wanted to take her on a once in a lifetime adventure filled with private jets, yachts, glamorous clothes, parties, and exciting new places she went for it.
Things go along swimmingly. The H and h love spending time with each other, and the H likes how the h is more of an observer instead of a stage hog when they go out. Of course, given that she is educationally lacking, he understands that many things probably go over her head. He is actually ok with that. Meanwhile, the h keeps waiting for the H to tire of her. Again, she realizes that their time together has an expiration date. She is surprised over and over again when the H continues his association with her. Then he decides to take her on a vacation. No more work interruptions. At the beginning of their vacation, his mom intrudes upon their Idyll by once again beckoning her son to one of her dinners where she has a newly acquired heiress picked out to be his wife. Sick of his mom’s meddling, he decides to take a detour from the planned trip, go to the party, and show his mom that his dating days are far from over. The h will make a great point of that. So, what happens next is what I call the “hero is an ass” moment. SPOILERS NOW which will cover the rest of the story. ➡️
So, overall an entertaining story with some unexpected twists. Plus, the handling of the usual trope was not as predictable. Briefly, in case you need to know:
*No virgins, but h is considered somewhat inexperienced
*No cheating
*Ow’s in the background(they are not active throughout the love story
*Special shout out to the 1/2 brother….he took the place of a meddlesome ow 😂
*Angst amped up when the H pulled his asshatery moves
*Very tame, off page bedroom antics
February 9, 2016
This was good at parts but like some reviews have said it was fractured writing and the sex was almost you blink you miss it. It was not as good as it could have been. I like that they did not have to marry but she was way too forgiving. It was like she was being pushed down and they kept coming at her. No wonder she lost the baby. Also what lost points is that they do not have a baby at the end and the story is complete. They are together that's it the end but what about the mother and the brother and their careers hello!!! I did not love it but I loved the grovelling just wished she had made him work for it....ah well there are other books.
March 19, 2011
Carrie is a stupid dumb girl. She meets a guy, gets into a car with him, goes to his hotel, sleeps with him then jets off to New York with him for two weeks all in the space of 24 hours - probably less, taking out the shopping spree in between the sex and the flight.
I'm sorry, but to me that's just laughable.
I couldn't bring myself to feel any form of sympathy for her as she brooded.
She annoyed me from the first page to the last.
I can safely say that this is one of the worst book I have ever read. It won't be staying on my shelf.
I'm sorry, but to me that's just laughable.
I couldn't bring myself to feel any form of sympathy for her as she brooded.
She annoyed me from the first page to the last.
I can safely say that this is one of the worst book I have ever read. It won't be staying on my shelf.
April 21, 2020
okay first of all, why is this titled “Greek tycoon, waitress WIFE”?? they never get married in the book.
also the h is dimwit the whole book but suddenly is revealed to have a PhD in Biochem?? and that’s the justification provided for not knowing how to talk about anything else. i’m sorry, but that’s not better! That makes you super one dimensional. Ever heard of being a well-rounded person?? Also kinda lame to hide that for no reason for the sake of a shock at the end.
also the h is dimwit the whole book but suddenly is revealed to have a PhD in Biochem?? and that’s the justification provided for not knowing how to talk about anything else. i’m sorry, but that’s not better! That makes you super one dimensional. Ever heard of being a well-rounded person?? Also kinda lame to hide that for no reason for the sake of a shock at the end.
April 28, 2013
Started off great but fizzled due to hardly any dialogue from the hero and heroine. It was page after page of only their thoughts, then skip to weeks or months ahead. I love Cinderella stories and love to see the hero spoiling the heroine but you were only told what happened and never really got to see the heroine enjoying the attention. I was very frustrated and eventually bored to tears.
June 24, 2016
I think this is one of the worst HP's I have ever read!
It was so awkward, I could hardly go on.
It was so awkward, I could hardly go on.
dnf
March 6, 2024DNF @ 30% - this book lacks passion and the characters any charisma or chemistry. Everything was so bland and PC. Even the h wasn’t a virgin but we get no info about her past 🙄… and the H was equally wishy washy. Their first night together is just Yadayadayada’d through… with a bland recounting in the h’a head the next day 😐
I went review diving and found my instincts were correct.
😴😴😴😴😴
I went review diving and found my instincts were correct.
😴😴😴😴😴
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2019
It was OK.
The hero was not a slapable jerk like For Pleasure...or Marriage?'s hero but not that good either. I read this book just to compare it For Pleasure...or Marriage. I liked both of the book heroines, They are not spineless.
The hero was not a slapable jerk like For Pleasure...or Marriage?'s hero but not that good either. I read this book just to compare it For Pleasure...or Marriage. I liked both of the book heroines, They are not spineless.
June 26, 2014
I love how the author let us hear both sides. That way you knew what was going on the whole time with each character. Greek billionaire Alexeis Nicolaides has fallen for Carrie Richards and she loves all the attention and gifts that he gives her. The only thing she doesn't want is the way that he changes and he wants her to be his no matter what.
You have to read this book to see the enjoyment that I had reading it. Yes things changed and secrets were revealed. Some that will even make you cry. I will honestly say that I did cry at times but it made both characters heal and that's what I liked about this book.
You have to read this book to see the enjoyment that I had reading it. Yes things changed and secrets were revealed. Some that will even make you cry. I will honestly say that I did cry at times but it made both characters heal and that's what I liked about this book.
June 12, 2014
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I tell you, unexpected. Even the twist at the end. I was just telling lirio the other day how a certain author makes her heroines so dumb, sometimes I hate it. Then I discovered one whose heroines were so strong, when they get mad they spit venom. Hehe. This one I just read is in a class on its own. All through out while reading, you'd think she was really a bimbo or an idiot. Then you'd discover she was a brain box. I enjoyed reading it.
I tell you, unexpected. Even the twist at the end. I was just telling lirio the other day how a certain author makes her heroines so dumb, sometimes I hate it. Then I discovered one whose heroines were so strong, when they get mad they spit venom. Hehe. This one I just read is in a class on its own. All through out while reading, you'd think she was really a bimbo or an idiot. Then you'd discover she was a brain box. I enjoyed reading it.
July 11, 2012
Ergh...note to self....stop reading these books!!!
They always feature heroes who end up in the wrong and never really apologise because the heroines don't demand it. Add in the arrogance of the 'Greek Tycoon' and the sweetness (aka TSTL) Waitress and I knew I was headed to disaster.
I only have myself to blame...
They always feature heroes who end up in the wrong and never really apologise because the heroines don't demand it. Add in the arrogance of the 'Greek Tycoon' and the sweetness (aka TSTL) Waitress and I knew I was headed to disaster.
I only have myself to blame...
November 14, 2010
I must say, I think this is the first time a Harlequin Presents has ever surprised me with a twist at the end. I liked that about it.
February 24, 2017
I’m a sucker for a jerky hero. Plus the possibility of a groveling hero makes me absolutely giddy. And guess what? This one delivered on the groveling and then some.
February 6, 2014
I felt so bad for how this novel almost ended, to loose a child and then to have to go through all that emotional trauma. I'm not sure I could forgive the hero.
March 1, 2016
I really enjoy mistress romances and this was one of the better ones. Since it's an HP there are quite a few unbelievable moments, but overall it was a winner.
4.5 Stars
4.5 Stars
January 17, 2025
FANTASY
This was an okay read. More fantasy romance than romance. The type of life style portrayed was way more than Cinderella and the feel or vibe of the book my most characters was Pretty Woman “Esk”
Of course many things running under the surface and after the drama, angst and heartbreak the main characters get their HEA. There is also a sweet epilogue included.
This was an okay read. More fantasy romance than romance. The type of life style portrayed was way more than Cinderella and the feel or vibe of the book my most characters was Pretty Woman “Esk”
Of course many things running under the surface and after the drama, angst and heartbreak the main characters get their HEA. There is also a sweet epilogue included.
July 21, 2025
I hated every single thing about this. I usually enjoy a little Harlequin fluff to counter all the other trash I read, but this one didn’t have anything to bring to my table.
Carrie Richards (mid-twenties, waitress) made the mistake of spilling juice on a fancy patron during the party she was working at, and the mistake cost her her job. But that wasn’t the only splash she caused, handsome billionaire, Alexeis Nicolaides (mid-thirties, billionaire), now has his eyes set on the sweet blond waitress. He sees her walking home and sweeps her into his limo, takes her to this hotel, and they allegedly make sweet love all night. Since she has no job, she doesn’t mind being whisked away to travel with him. When he’s forced to attend a dinner held by his mother in her attempt to marry him off to a wealthy heiress, he decides to parade his unsuspecting bed partner around as a firm declaration that he has no intentions of ever marrying. Yada yada, Carrie is pregnant, Alexeis doesn’t want a baby, Carrie miscarries, she leaves, he realizes his mistakes, yada yada, surprises, and a HEA.
SEX: There isn’t any. None. Everything that happens is off page and past tense. There isn’t a single intimate act that happens on page. Not even kissing. I don’t even have to explain to you how I feel about that.
OFF PAGE: Everything else was off page as well, and past tense. The entire thing is an outline of a story, the story itself is missing. The only time we really had present tense was when she had the miscarriage and then left.
WHO?: The POV changed frequently within the same paragraph. Since there was no separation of paragraphs, everything just ran together.
Safe to say, I don’t recommend this.
Carrie Richards (mid-twenties, waitress) made the mistake of spilling juice on a fancy patron during the party she was working at, and the mistake cost her her job. But that wasn’t the only splash she caused, handsome billionaire, Alexeis Nicolaides (mid-thirties, billionaire), now has his eyes set on the sweet blond waitress. He sees her walking home and sweeps her into his limo, takes her to this hotel, and they allegedly make sweet love all night. Since she has no job, she doesn’t mind being whisked away to travel with him. When he’s forced to attend a dinner held by his mother in her attempt to marry him off to a wealthy heiress, he decides to parade his unsuspecting bed partner around as a firm declaration that he has no intentions of ever marrying. Yada yada, Carrie is pregnant, Alexeis doesn’t want a baby, Carrie miscarries, she leaves, he realizes his mistakes, yada yada, surprises, and a HEA.
SEX: There isn’t any. None. Everything that happens is off page and past tense. There isn’t a single intimate act that happens on page. Not even kissing. I don’t even have to explain to you how I feel about that.
OFF PAGE: Everything else was off page as well, and past tense. The entire thing is an outline of a story, the story itself is missing. The only time we really had present tense was when she had the miscarriage and then left.
WHO?: The POV changed frequently within the same paragraph. Since there was no separation of paragraphs, everything just ran together.
Safe to say, I don’t recommend this.
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