An Heir Claimed by Christmas

Billion-Dollar Singapore Christmas #1

by Clare Connelly

She can’t deny him his heir…

…but she won’t surrender her heart!Dimitrios Papandreo once spent a desperate, passionate night with Annie Hargreaves. Knowing he couldn’t offer the happily-ever-after she deserved, he’s been trying to forget her ever since…until he’s told she’s raising their son!

Annie’s speechless when Dimitrios arrives on her doorstep, declaring he knows her secret. He’ll accept nothing less than marriage to claim his child! That means moving to Singapore and facing their electrifying connection… Can Annie walk down the aisle this Christmas, knowing Dimitrios might never be capable of loving her?

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

A Billion-Dollar Singapore Christmas

Book 1: An Heir Claimed by Christmas

Book 2: No Strings Christmas

Genres: Harlequin, Christmas, Romance, Harlequin Presents

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published December 1, 2020

About the author

For all things Clare Connelly, please see www.clareconnelly.co.uk, the official home of Clare Connelly on the web.

Clare Connelly grew up in a small country town in Australia. Surrounded by rainforests, and rickety old timber houses, magic was thick in the air, and stories and storytelling were a huge part of her childhood.

From early on in life, Clare realised her favourite books were romance stories, and read voraciously. Anything from Jane Austen to Georgette Heyer, to Mills & Boon and (more recently) 50 Shades, Clare is a romance devotee. She first turned her hand to penning a novel at fifteen (if memory serves, it was something about a glamorous fashion model who fell foul of a high-end designer. Sparks flew, clothes flew faster, and love was born.)

Clare has a small family and a bungalow near the sea. When she isn't chasing after energetic little toddlers, or wiping fingerprints off furniture, she's writing, thinking about writing, or wishing she were writing.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much to like in this novel...


I found it hard to believe in this H's *love* for the heroine; he seemed far more interested in his son. I know that's usually the case at the start of nearly all second chance/secret baby romances, but this specific H seemed to be focused mainly on the child.


The secret baby/second chance combo is a trope that's been done extremely well, by numerous authors ( including Clare Connelly herself ) on previous occasions.


Unfortunately, after an interesting start, this novel started to flop badly. The storytelling wasn't engrossing, it just seemed far too rushed and both MC's weren't exactly memorable. I have to second what's already been said by Nancy and Zubee. This guy would've happily gone on with his playboy lifestyle and not thought about the heroine, for a second, if he'd not heard about the secret *baby*.


There was much wasted potential; so many avenues to build on the available angst, but the author just let it all go to waste.


Safety: No cheating after both MC's got back together but the heroine had been celibate for years while the H was not.

[Aou · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much potential to be wasted for what? HP policies about super understanding heroes except their feelings? I loved Clare Connelly's old books with jerk alphas and loving but prideful heroines. Not new perfect (!) ones.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note to self: stop trusting this author. She can’t seem to write happy endings that are good and believable. Heroes are selfish jerks who sleep around and never redeem themselves.

Here’s a brief recap just to save you some time:

H: I promised my dying best friend, your brother, I’d watch out for you, 18-year-old heroine... so let me take your virginity while I’m drunk after the funeral and you’re super vulnerable.

h: Okay. I’ve always loved you.

H: (next morning) I was really drunk; I have a girlfriend; I regret having sex with you; You mean less than nothing to me.

(Secret baby, seven years have passed.)

H: A journalist tells me you had my secret baby, heroine. You should have told me even though I not only completely blew off my promise to my dying best friend, I was 25 and not responsible enough to follow up on if there were repercussions from our ONS. I was too busy with other women right away.

H: You have to marry me. Move to another continent. And I will never love you.

H: Just to be clear, every day I will tell you I don’t love you.

H: My son is amazing. Oh, you were busy raising him and haven’t had sex in seven years? Huh, I had a lot of sex... with a lot of other women. Which is okay, because I don’t love you.

H: My parents were awful. Remember, I will never love you. Although I could have sex with you, like I did with all those other women. Maybe in the same place, so you’ll know why I keep condoms handy.

H: I slept with women on 4-5 continents constantly over the last seven years, because it helped me forget all about you.

H: Sure, I’m selfish and I said I’d never love you, repeatedly, for 213 pages, but now I’ve completely changed my mind. And it has nothing to do with avoiding divorce so I can keep my clever son on this continent.

h: Okay. I’ve always loved you.

I’m not sure when Harlequin decided their Presents novels needed to stop having romance, but it’s frustrating as a long-time reader. These selfish, worthless Heroes are a waste of space. These heroines who accept poor treatment for the entire book and readily forgive the a******* in one paragraph are pathetic. There was no believable HEA.

No Epilogue.

[lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has all the things I love in reading hp except a jerk H !! He was so sweet for my liking 😂 I know I am weird!! , there was no angst and I felt something was missing!
Just an ok read !

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of Meh. I'm not a fan of stories where the heroine refuses to tell the hero about their baby, because she's pissed he's moved on with a new woman. Other than that theme, the story was very boring. Nothing really happened. No angst, no drama. Just boring.

[Margo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This books is full of tiny, tiny darts of poison.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a supremely unchristmassy book for something with christmas in its title. no offence to the southern hemipshere, but i feel you have to put in more christmas effort to get away with calling it christmas book if theres no snow. sorry i don't make the rules.

[Zubee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just didn't buy the HEA; H was too convincing when he says h was a convenience and it was hard to believe that in seven years he would have ever come looking for her if the secret baby thing didnt come up ... his about face came too late ... h was also lacking some self-respect and I hate the way she was happy to make excuses for his crappy behavior ...
The premise was so good ... but the angst that could have been was just missing ... finally it was meh ...

[anisa fitri zakirah · Rating 3 out of 5]

the story is actually very beautiful, and kind of sad, but it's not my favourite.

The heroine was the hero's bestfriend's sister, sadly her brother had died suddenly. And then after the funeral, the hero went to the heroine's home. They had attracted to one another since the first time they met. They had a son together and he didn't onow he existed until their son was already 6 years old. She hid it because she was scared that he wouldn't accept their son and because of the things he said the day they were together. They both came from broken family, which made them fucked up in some kind of way.

[Mattie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not like it, hero was just not a good guy. He promised his best friend on his death bed he would look after his sister, however he proceeded to sleep with her, take her virginity, break her heart by telling her he regrets it and that he was drunk then never contacts her again, seriously not a good guy. He also slept with lots of other women during next 7 years (he already had a woman 3 months after he slept with her, a redhead) and I doubt he ever would have thought about heroine again or ever contacted her. It doesn't feel like a happily ever after for heroine to end up with him, I would loved to have seen her meet a different guy that wasn't Dimitrios, she deserved someone way better then him. K.

[Monica Gearhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but I wish they would’ve told us how Lewis died. They talked about him a bunch but all we find out is he was sick. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[T from Istria 💛💚 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[RomLibrary]

he can’t deny him his heir…but she won’t surrender her heart!

Dimitrios Papandreo once spent a desperate, passionate night with Annie Hargreaves. Knowing he couldn’t offer the happily-ever-after she deserved, he’s been trying to forget her ever since…until he’s told she’s raising their son!

Annie’s speechless when Dimitrios arrives on her doorstep, declaring he knows her secret. He’ll accept nothing less than marriage to claim his child! That means moving to Singapore and facing their electrifying connection… Can Annie walk down the aisle this Christmas, knowing Dimitrios might never be capable of loving her?

[B Whited · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a nice quick read, would have given 4 stars if it mentioned how the family felt about the issue. The main guy is a nice change from the jerk protagonist we see now in many romance stories.

[Abanobi Noella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked this book better if the heroine had more self control and didnt let the hero push her around. He would never have seen her or contacted her again if not because if their son and not because of any promise he made to her brother and the first thing she could think about was having sex with him again, how stupid And how can a woman who has been through all those still make excuses for him.
I'm kinda disappointed in this book.

[Glendalee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh why isnt HP giving me the angst that I crave!

I think this book was slow and just the h needed a stronger back bone and the H was just a little too obtuse for my taste and late in realizing his true feelings for the h.

Not my favorite. I’m not interested in reading the brothers story.

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Contemporary Romance, Holiday, Holiday Romance
Miniseries
A Billion-Dollar Singapore Christmas (Book #1)

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Contemporary Romance, Holiday, Holiday Romance
Miniseries
A Billion-Dollar Singapore Christmas (Book #1)

[Julie Henke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of a duet, book one

[Michelle Padilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from the first page. I really liked the storyline and characters. Great book for a quick read.

[Mine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Please tell me why I read this.

[Rae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Double standards make it hard to feel the love.

[Lori Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t go anywhere, disappointing

[Juliewheatcox.Net · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Rebecca Eddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story, as I do all her books, but this one is exceptional

[Lee Wall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed in this book. The writer's earlier books were hot and heavy, I'm three quarters of the way through and all they've done is kissed. Not much "power and passion" in this one. I don't know if the PC police did a job on this author or not but I'm not happy. Don't think I'm going to bother finishing it.

[Susan in Perthshire · Rating 1 out of 5]

No, this is enough.

I hate stories where the heroine doesn’t tell the father. I especially hate ones where 7 years have gone by and the hero had shown no interest in finding the heroine after the cruel way he left her, despite his death bed promise to his friend.

I am utterly fed up with martyr-like heroines who constantly attribute every nice thing the hero does to his desire to keep his son happy. Annie is an absolute pain in the backside and I didn’t get her at all.

Nancy and Ivy’s reviews say everything I wanted to say - but so much better.

I hated this.