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Nicola found he was a law unto himself.
She had agreed to masquerade as his prospective bride to help her young friend escape. She was appalled that arranged marriages still existed.
But Luis Alvarado de Montalba was not a man to be crossed. "You forced your way into my life, " he informed her when he discovered the deception, "and now you will remain in it. "
While she conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. And he simply ignored her protests.
She had agreed to masquerade as his prospective bride to help her young friend escape. She was appalled that arranged marriages still existed.
But Luis Alvarado de Montalba was not a man to be crossed. "You forced your way into my life, " he informed her when he discovered the deception, "and now you will remain in it. "
While she conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. And he simply ignored her protests.
Unknown Binding
First published October 1, 1982
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185 people want to read
About the author
Sara Craven
493 books267 followersAnne Bushell was born on October 1938 in South Devon, England, just before World War II and grew up in a house crammed with books. She was always a voracious reader, some of her all-time favorites books are: "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë, "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell and "The Code of the Woosters" by P. G. Wodehouse.
She worked as journalist at the Paignton Observer, but after her marriage, she moved to the north of England, where she worked as teacher. After she returned to journalism, she joined the Middlesbrough Writers' Group, where she met other romance writer Mildred Grieveson (Anne Mather). She started to wrote romance, and she had her first novel "Garden of Dreams" accepted by Mills & Boon in 1975, she published her work under the pseudonym of Sara Craven. In 2010 she became chairman of the Southern Writers' Conference, and the next year was elected the twenty-six Chairman (2011–2013) of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Divorced twice, Annie lives in Somerset, South West England, and shares her home with a West Highland white terrier called Bertie Wooster. In her house, she had several thousand books, and an amazing video collection. When she's not writing, she enjoys watching very old films, listening to music, going to the theatre, and eating in good restaurants. She also likes to travel in Europe, to inspire her romances, especially in France, Greece and Italy where many of her novels are set. Since the birth of her twin grandchildren, she is also a regular visitor to New York City, where the little tots live. In 1997, she was the overall winner of the BBC's Mastermind, winning the last final presented by Magnus Magnusson.
She worked as journalist at the Paignton Observer, but after her marriage, she moved to the north of England, where she worked as teacher. After she returned to journalism, she joined the Middlesbrough Writers' Group, where she met other romance writer Mildred Grieveson (Anne Mather). She started to wrote romance, and she had her first novel "Garden of Dreams" accepted by Mills & Boon in 1975, she published her work under the pseudonym of Sara Craven. In 2010 she became chairman of the Southern Writers' Conference, and the next year was elected the twenty-six Chairman (2011–2013) of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Divorced twice, Annie lives in Somerset, South West England, and shares her home with a West Highland white terrier called Bertie Wooster. In her house, she had several thousand books, and an amazing video collection. When she's not writing, she enjoys watching very old films, listening to music, going to the theatre, and eating in good restaurants. She also likes to travel in Europe, to inspire her romances, especially in France, Greece and Italy where many of her novels are set. Since the birth of her twin grandchildren, she is also a regular visitor to New York City, where the little tots live. In 1997, she was the overall winner of the BBC's Mastermind, winning the last final presented by Magnus Magnusson.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 21, 2016
3 and 1/2 stars rounded up.
Set in Ye Olde Mexico, our impulsive, multi-lingual heroine decides to help her convent-raised flatmate escape an arranged marriage with an older man who doesn't love her. The heroine was recently jilted by her fiance who married for money and advancement, so she is horrified of loveless marriages.
The plan is for the heroine to don a wig and sunglasses and pretend to be the flatmate during the long journey to the old man's hacienda. The flatmate will have time to elope with her Anglo engineer and it will be a done deal by the time the heroine arrives at the hacienda to confront the old man.
It doesn't go as planned, of course. The old man didn't send a cousin to pick up his fiance, he came himself. And he's not old. He's hot and he's our hero.
I really liked the hero in this one - he was sincere in his feelings for the heroine. The rest of the characters managed to grow and change, which I appreciated. The heroine got annoying in the middle but she had moments of agency - like finally slapping the scheming cousin and changing her mind about staying with the hero. The flatmate grew a backbone once she had her man. The wannabe OW was nice once the h talked to her.
Set in Ye Olde Mexico, our impulsive, multi-lingual heroine decides to help her convent-raised flatmate escape an arranged marriage with an older man who doesn't love her. The heroine was recently jilted by her fiance who married for money and advancement, so she is horrified of loveless marriages.
The plan is for the heroine to don a wig and sunglasses and pretend to be the flatmate during the long journey to the old man's hacienda. The flatmate will have time to elope with her Anglo engineer and it will be a done deal by the time the heroine arrives at the hacienda to confront the old man.
It doesn't go as planned, of course. The old man didn't send a cousin to pick up his fiance, he came himself. And he's not old. He's hot and he's our hero.
I really liked the hero in this one - he was sincere in his feelings for the heroine. The rest of the characters managed to grow and change, which I appreciated. The heroine got annoying in the middle but she had moments of agency - like finally slapping the scheming cousin and changing her mind about staying with the hero. The flatmate grew a backbone once she had her man. The wannabe OW was nice once the h talked to her.
January 10, 2016
SPOILERS.
Nicola has been in Mexico City for the past year or so. She speaks fluent Spanish, in addition to French and German. She’s a secretary for a trans-chem company, and they are now packing up to return to the home offices in California.
Nicola is planning to stay on in Mexico and do a tour through all the awesome pyramids and Aztec ruins. She’ll get another job after that. Nicola’s whole deal is that she had this boyfriend, Ewan, in Zurich, who left her to marry the chairman of the bank’s daughter. Ewan asked Nicola to stay on as his mistress-secretary. Broken-hearted, she fled to Mexico.
Nicola has long exposition with her roommate Elaine about their other roommate, Teresita. Teresita has a strict guardian who thinks she’s living in a convent, but instead Teresita is out shopping for expensive jewellery and forming a relationship with an engineer from the US. As the exposition starts to wind down, Teresita bursts in. She’s tearful. Her guardian’s cousin is arriving at the convent tomorrow to take Teresita home to marry the guardian, Don Luis Alvarada de Montalba. Teresita knows she won’t be able to resist these plans for her future without some crazy intervention plan.
‘I know,’ Elaine says. ‘Nicola will put on a black wig and go home with the cousin in your place. Then, she will do a super-hero change and escape, with no one the wiser. It’s a fool proof plan!’
Yes. Yes it is. Nicola goes along with it because she’s hypersensitive about women being forced into arranged marriages and somehow thinks all this is somehow her business. She also has these vague ideas about feminism that do her some credit without being entirely accurate. No woman will marry a pudgy old guardian with a moustache on her watch!
The cousin duly picks Nicola up in his big limo, and the plan seems to be going without a hitch. Except that the cousin is the most gorgeous man Nicola has ever seen. She pretends to fall asleep so she doesn’t embarrass herself by staring at him. Then she really falls asleep and has what’s probably a sex dream about it.
Her car companion starts on with a bit of seduction and it makes Nicola really nervous. Then he disappears for the last leg of the journey, and Nicola discovers that she’s being taken straight to the guardian’s big ranch, Mariposa.
Panicked, she steals a truck and drives off into the desert. The truck runs out of gas, and she’s contemplating a difficult night that might involve scorpions and bears, when the hero rides up on a beautiful horse and rescues her.
The hero is of course her car companion, and he at first pretends not to recognise her. Turns out, he’s not the cousin. He’s the guardian, Luis. He’s really annoyed that he won’t get to marry Teresita, it’s an insult to him. He then offers her a deal. She can marry him, or she can go with him to Acapulco and they’ll hang out in bed for a while.
Nicola doesn’t like either of those options. Ok, Luis says, then I’ll turn you in for stealing a truck and you can go to prison. It won’t be pleasant.
Fine. Nicola will take marriage. I always find myself half hoping the heroine will take the hanging out in bed option. I mean, it’ll probably end in the same place, and at least both of them will commit to having some fun for a while. The marriage option is always miserable, with the heroine going on about how she doesn’t want this, and she doesn’t want to be a baby factory while the hero goes out and has lots of mistresses and is emotionally distant to her forever, the end. She takes it because she’s in love, and because of morals.
Personally, I think the morals rationale is questionable anyway. Her life choices are particularly questionable: she’ll steal a truck to avoid having an angry conversation when her deception is discovered. How moral is it to make a commitment that you believe will make you, your man, and probably your children, miserable for the rest of your lives?
I guess when a hero says, ‘hey, let’s go to Acapulco and fool around for a while,’ what the heroine actually hears is ‘let’s go to my sleazy mistress apartment and do weird sex things. When I’m done with you, I’ll hand you over to one of my ugly friends, and for some reason you’ll now be a hard-eyed nasty sliding further and further into pill and alcohol addiction.’ I can certainly understand choosing marriage over that, but if she’d played her cards right, Nicola could maybe have had some nice sex with an attractive man, and then gone on her bus tour without turning into a dead-eyed stereotype.
The story pans out with the usual terrible things that happen when a heroine reluctantly agrees to marry a wealthy man from a different country. The women in his family are horrible to her, she doesn’t understand any of the traditions or want anything to do with them, and the hero abandons her to (probably) spend time with another woman.
Ultimately, Luis is manipulated into believing that Nicola is fooling around with his cousin. So he rapes her.
Up to that point, I’d mostly liked Luis. While Nicola didn’t pick up on it, he’d at times been fairly sweet to her. Even Nicola wasn’t too horrible with her misery over being in love with a man who would never love her.
Once again, the rape is the hero overcome with passion, and the heroine immediately forgives him because she’s in love. He’s suitably remorseful and she finally takes the chance to admit her feelings, so it all works out ok for them in the end. It’s just that I think this could have worked out equally well and with a dramatic confrontation without rape.
Nicola has been in Mexico City for the past year or so. She speaks fluent Spanish, in addition to French and German. She’s a secretary for a trans-chem company, and they are now packing up to return to the home offices in California.
Nicola is planning to stay on in Mexico and do a tour through all the awesome pyramids and Aztec ruins. She’ll get another job after that. Nicola’s whole deal is that she had this boyfriend, Ewan, in Zurich, who left her to marry the chairman of the bank’s daughter. Ewan asked Nicola to stay on as his mistress-secretary. Broken-hearted, she fled to Mexico.
Nicola has long exposition with her roommate Elaine about their other roommate, Teresita. Teresita has a strict guardian who thinks she’s living in a convent, but instead Teresita is out shopping for expensive jewellery and forming a relationship with an engineer from the US. As the exposition starts to wind down, Teresita bursts in. She’s tearful. Her guardian’s cousin is arriving at the convent tomorrow to take Teresita home to marry the guardian, Don Luis Alvarada de Montalba. Teresita knows she won’t be able to resist these plans for her future without some crazy intervention plan.
‘I know,’ Elaine says. ‘Nicola will put on a black wig and go home with the cousin in your place. Then, she will do a super-hero change and escape, with no one the wiser. It’s a fool proof plan!’
Yes. Yes it is. Nicola goes along with it because she’s hypersensitive about women being forced into arranged marriages and somehow thinks all this is somehow her business. She also has these vague ideas about feminism that do her some credit without being entirely accurate. No woman will marry a pudgy old guardian with a moustache on her watch!
The cousin duly picks Nicola up in his big limo, and the plan seems to be going without a hitch. Except that the cousin is the most gorgeous man Nicola has ever seen. She pretends to fall asleep so she doesn’t embarrass herself by staring at him. Then she really falls asleep and has what’s probably a sex dream about it.
Her car companion starts on with a bit of seduction and it makes Nicola really nervous. Then he disappears for the last leg of the journey, and Nicola discovers that she’s being taken straight to the guardian’s big ranch, Mariposa.
Panicked, she steals a truck and drives off into the desert. The truck runs out of gas, and she’s contemplating a difficult night that might involve scorpions and bears, when the hero rides up on a beautiful horse and rescues her.
The hero is of course her car companion, and he at first pretends not to recognise her. Turns out, he’s not the cousin. He’s the guardian, Luis. He’s really annoyed that he won’t get to marry Teresita, it’s an insult to him. He then offers her a deal. She can marry him, or she can go with him to Acapulco and they’ll hang out in bed for a while.
Nicola doesn’t like either of those options. Ok, Luis says, then I’ll turn you in for stealing a truck and you can go to prison. It won’t be pleasant.
Fine. Nicola will take marriage. I always find myself half hoping the heroine will take the hanging out in bed option. I mean, it’ll probably end in the same place, and at least both of them will commit to having some fun for a while. The marriage option is always miserable, with the heroine going on about how she doesn’t want this, and she doesn’t want to be a baby factory while the hero goes out and has lots of mistresses and is emotionally distant to her forever, the end. She takes it because she’s in love, and because of morals.
Personally, I think the morals rationale is questionable anyway. Her life choices are particularly questionable: she’ll steal a truck to avoid having an angry conversation when her deception is discovered. How moral is it to make a commitment that you believe will make you, your man, and probably your children, miserable for the rest of your lives?
I guess when a hero says, ‘hey, let’s go to Acapulco and fool around for a while,’ what the heroine actually hears is ‘let’s go to my sleazy mistress apartment and do weird sex things. When I’m done with you, I’ll hand you over to one of my ugly friends, and for some reason you’ll now be a hard-eyed nasty sliding further and further into pill and alcohol addiction.’ I can certainly understand choosing marriage over that, but if she’d played her cards right, Nicola could maybe have had some nice sex with an attractive man, and then gone on her bus tour without turning into a dead-eyed stereotype.
The story pans out with the usual terrible things that happen when a heroine reluctantly agrees to marry a wealthy man from a different country. The women in his family are horrible to her, she doesn’t understand any of the traditions or want anything to do with them, and the hero abandons her to (probably) spend time with another woman.
Ultimately, Luis is manipulated into believing that Nicola is fooling around with his cousin. So he rapes her.
Up to that point, I’d mostly liked Luis. While Nicola didn’t pick up on it, he’d at times been fairly sweet to her. Even Nicola wasn’t too horrible with her misery over being in love with a man who would never love her.
Once again, the rape is the hero overcome with passion, and the heroine immediately forgives him because she’s in love. He’s suitably remorseful and she finally takes the chance to admit her feelings, so it all works out ok for them in the end. It’s just that I think this could have worked out equally well and with a dramatic confrontation without rape.
January 16, 2018
So much drama!! But still loved it.
December 23, 2013
Heroine wants to save her friend from an arranged marriage so she impersonates her friend and enters a marriage of convenience with a hard cold tycoon.
He soon discovers her deceit but is reluctant to let her go even though heroine is still in love with her ex, a man who broke her heart and left her for another woman.
Loved this book. Lots of angst, passion, feisty but sweet heroine and a hard but vulnerable hero! Couldn't put it down! I love the old school Harlequin Presents, and this book reminds me why!
He soon discovers her deceit but is reluctant to let her go even though heroine is still in love with her ex, a man who broke her heart and left her for another woman.
Loved this book. Lots of angst, passion, feisty but sweet heroine and a hard but vulnerable hero! Couldn't put it down! I love the old school Harlequin Presents, and this book reminds me why!
October 7, 2021
Well, well, well, nothing like a forced marriage/semi kidnapping to remind me why I love to read these wonderfully, crazy, silly romances!
This book has ex-lovers, crazy family, supportive family, supportive friends, misunderstandings with dire consequences, love lust at first sight…..
The heroine(Nicola) goes to Mexico to work after being dumped/propositioned by the man she loved…he needed to marry for financial gain but was willing to have her as a side piece. She wasn’t that type of girl. She ends up sharing an apartment with 2 other women, 1 was a native Mexican, who was raised in convents and expected to marry her guardian(Luis). However, she fell in love with an American. Now the time has come for the guardian to claim her as his wife. He tells her he will be sending his cousin to collect her. She hasn’t seen the cousin in years. She feels she has no choice but to be a good ward and do as she is told. This outrages the h who lost her own love to a loveless arranged marriage, so she decides to help Teresita by masquerading as her. She speaks fluent Spanish, and with a wig and glasses it should not be a problem as the cousin Ramon hasn’t seen the girl since she was young. She plans to bring a bag of different clothes etc and when they stop in a specific town she will make her escape, shedding the wig and disappearing. Easy Peasy, Right?
Ok so she ends up at the Hacienda, and is now expected to marry the hero as a replacement for the bride he lost. Unfortunately, she is met with hostility by both his aunt and cousin Pilar, who were hoping the H would marry Pilar. Ramon, the male cousin, is attractive and kind. The h bonds with him quickly causing the H some jealousy moments. The H leaves a lot to visit the local widow woman who is supposedly his current lover. Angst, angst angst skipping ahead……..
The H and h are married but do not consummate the marriage. The H really wants the h to welcome him to her bed, however, she look terrified when he approached her on their wedding night(she was, because she realized she loved him but he did not return her love and she just met his beautiful lover at their wedding. He keeps sleeping in her bed and to everyone else it looks like they are married to the full extent. However, he spends more and more time away and the h starts having nightmares. One night she shouts out the name Evan, her previous love. This is like a pail of cold water to the H, and he becomes more distant. Then he has to go away. The h has some drama with Pilar, and ends up slapping her. Pilar vows revenge. She gets it, and this part really made me sad for the H because he does something not in his character at all.
Teresita and her new husband come to the Hacienda after receiving the letter that the h was to marry the H. Teresita is there to rescue the h, and the H tells her to go insisting he doesn’t love her.
She goes with them. They stop somewhere for food, and the h decides she wants to go back. She knows that the H must have been lying based on certain behaviors. She goes back to the hacienda and finds the H in her bedroom wrapped around her pillow(her scent) with a partially empty bottle of booze. She puts the moves on the H and they properly and passionately consummate their marriage. They have their declarations, and come to find out, the H had already bought a ticket to England to go get her back. Oh be still my beating heart!
This book has ex-lovers, crazy family, supportive family, supportive friends, misunderstandings with dire consequences, love lust at first sight…..
The heroine(Nicola) goes to Mexico to work after being dumped/propositioned by the man she loved…he needed to marry for financial gain but was willing to have her as a side piece. She wasn’t that type of girl. She ends up sharing an apartment with 2 other women, 1 was a native Mexican, who was raised in convents and expected to marry her guardian(Luis). However, she fell in love with an American. Now the time has come for the guardian to claim her as his wife. He tells her he will be sending his cousin to collect her. She hasn’t seen the cousin in years. She feels she has no choice but to be a good ward and do as she is told. This outrages the h who lost her own love to a loveless arranged marriage, so she decides to help Teresita by masquerading as her. She speaks fluent Spanish, and with a wig and glasses it should not be a problem as the cousin Ramon hasn’t seen the girl since she was young. She plans to bring a bag of different clothes etc and when they stop in a specific town she will make her escape, shedding the wig and disappearing. Easy Peasy, Right?
Ok so she ends up at the Hacienda, and is now expected to marry the hero as a replacement for the bride he lost. Unfortunately, she is met with hostility by both his aunt and cousin Pilar, who were hoping the H would marry Pilar. Ramon, the male cousin, is attractive and kind. The h bonds with him quickly causing the H some jealousy moments. The H leaves a lot to visit the local widow woman who is supposedly his current lover. Angst, angst angst skipping ahead……..
The H and h are married but do not consummate the marriage. The H really wants the h to welcome him to her bed, however, she look terrified when he approached her on their wedding night(she was, because she realized she loved him but he did not return her love and she just met his beautiful lover at their wedding. He keeps sleeping in her bed and to everyone else it looks like they are married to the full extent. However, he spends more and more time away and the h starts having nightmares. One night she shouts out the name Evan, her previous love. This is like a pail of cold water to the H, and he becomes more distant. Then he has to go away. The h has some drama with Pilar, and ends up slapping her. Pilar vows revenge. She gets it, and this part really made me sad for the H because he does something not in his character at all.
Teresita and her new husband come to the Hacienda after receiving the letter that the h was to marry the H. Teresita is there to rescue the h, and the H tells her to go insisting he doesn’t love her.
She goes with them. They stop somewhere for food, and the h decides she wants to go back. She knows that the H must have been lying based on certain behaviors. She goes back to the hacienda and finds the H in her bedroom wrapped around her pillow(her scent) with a partially empty bottle of booze. She puts the moves on the H and they properly and passionately consummate their marriage. They have their declarations, and come to find out, the H had already bought a ticket to England to go get her back. Oh be still my beating heart!
August 10, 2017
I debated over giving it one star instead of two, but thought to be more lenient as this was my first Sara Craven book.
I'd start by saying that the plot looked very flimsy to me. Nicola finds herself trapped at Luis' estate when she realizes her subterfuge has already been detected. She (and I) is surprised when Luis instead of berating her, offers (or rather blackmails) to marry her. Now, I have two objections to this marriage. The first objection being they were only in each others company for a couple of days, and Nicola was acting as someone else, so how does Luis know she's the right one for marriage? My second objection is that Nicola is introduced as someone who can't stand marriages of convenience, so when the choice comes that either she marries Luis or gets taken to the jail for a few days for stealing a locals car(to escape Luis), she readily agrees to marriage. I was sure Nicola would throw his proposal in his face. But no, the story went something like this, Nicola decides she'd really rather marry someone whom she thinks of as a tyrant and resign to living a woeful and lonely life while he gallivants around with his mistress. Yes, that's exactly what she decides, so much for being the confident and independent woman huh. So both of them think marriage based on lust-at-first-sight is really a good start. Cheers to them! Not.
So there goes Luis arranging for a wedding and here is Nicola moping about his estate. So why agree to the marriage in the first place? Just because you’re sexually attracted to him? And the other alternative would be to get convicted of stealing a car, but even so, isn’t marriage something permanent? Another thing that disturbed me was why does she write letters to inform her parents and friends of the wedding, instead of using the phone? That's something that just did not make any sense to me.
She says she wants to get out of marrying Luis, but she is more concerned with “the ultimate intimate submission” rather than trying to escape. Also she goes on with the wedding even though she believes the hero visits his mistress regularly. And all this from the girl who supposedly hates marriages of convenience.
There isn’t even much interaction between Luis and Nicola after their initial meetings. I just couldn’t feel any love between them. And Nicola kept going through these mood swings, one moment angry, one moment sad and the other just confused. And the big misunderstanding and patch up wasn't anything interesting. So my advice is to skip this book.
I'd start by saying that the plot looked very flimsy to me. Nicola finds herself trapped at Luis' estate when she realizes her subterfuge has already been detected. She (and I) is surprised when Luis instead of berating her, offers (or rather blackmails) to marry her. Now, I have two objections to this marriage. The first objection being they were only in each others company for a couple of days, and Nicola was acting as someone else, so how does Luis know she's the right one for marriage? My second objection is that Nicola is introduced as someone who can't stand marriages of convenience, so when the choice comes that either she marries Luis or gets taken to the jail for a few days for stealing a locals car(to escape Luis), she readily agrees to marriage. I was sure Nicola would throw his proposal in his face. But no, the story went something like this, Nicola decides she'd really rather marry someone whom she thinks of as a tyrant and resign to living a woeful and lonely life while he gallivants around with his mistress. Yes, that's exactly what she decides, so much for being the confident and independent woman huh. So both of them think marriage based on lust-at-first-sight is really a good start. Cheers to them! Not.
So there goes Luis arranging for a wedding and here is Nicola moping about his estate. So why agree to the marriage in the first place? Just because you’re sexually attracted to him? And the other alternative would be to get convicted of stealing a car, but even so, isn’t marriage something permanent? Another thing that disturbed me was why does she write letters to inform her parents and friends of the wedding, instead of using the phone? That's something that just did not make any sense to me.
She says she wants to get out of marrying Luis, but she is more concerned with “the ultimate intimate submission” rather than trying to escape. Also she goes on with the wedding even though she believes the hero visits his mistress regularly. And all this from the girl who supposedly hates marriages of convenience.
There isn’t even much interaction between Luis and Nicola after their initial meetings. I just couldn’t feel any love between them. And Nicola kept going through these mood swings, one moment angry, one moment sad and the other just confused. And the big misunderstanding and patch up wasn't anything interesting. So my advice is to skip this book.
October 7, 2015
قراءتها بعنوان سجن الماس من روايات احلام
April 20, 2024
This was vintage Harlequin at it’s finest: All the elements we want and enjoy. OW and OM drama, angst and protagonists galore. Add in a male main character who hides his love by being hurtful and obnoxious. A female main character that wallows in unrequited love and self pity all leading to a satisfying HEA!
October 8, 2021
Nicola found he was a law unto himself.
She had agreed to masquerade as his prospective bride to help her young friend escape. She was appalled that arranged marriages still existed.
But Luis Alvarado de Montalba was not a man to be crossed. "You forced your way into my life, " he informed her when he discovered the deception, "and now you will remain in it. "
While she conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. And he simply ignored her protests.
She had agreed to masquerade as his prospective bride to help her young friend escape. She was appalled that arranged marriages still existed.
But Luis Alvarado de Montalba was not a man to be crossed. "You forced your way into my life, " he informed her when he discovered the deception, "and now you will remain in it. "
While she conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. And he simply ignored her protests.
August 12, 2013
I love this book! The hero was so strong & vulnerable at the same time....it thrilled my teenage heart!
I liked the heroine with her spunk!
I liked the heroine with her spunk!
February 27, 2020
Odious and arrogant bodice-ripper male protagonist.
July 12, 2018
Such crazy brainless schemes in the name of altruism , only HP heroines are capable of them. Her flatmate doesn't want to marry big shot hero, but she doesn't dare say so. Our hero is a duke or a don or some such thing, and is offering to marry the roommate due to some business obligations to her father.
The heroine masquerades as the roommate, and hero spots her in a flash. But no, he lets the charade go on. He is bowled over on first sight you see.
Because she deprived him of a wife, he forces her to marry him instead. He is rich, hot, whats not to like! So of course she says yes !!
The rest of the story is about the counterfeit becoming the real one. The usual OM, OW tropes fill pages. And a rather tame HEA follows.
Nothing spectacular.
The heroine masquerades as the roommate, and hero spots her in a flash. But no, he lets the charade go on. He is bowled over on first sight you see.
Because she deprived him of a wife, he forces her to marry him instead. He is rich, hot, whats not to like! So of course she says yes !!
The rest of the story is about the counterfeit becoming the real one. The usual OM, OW tropes fill pages. And a rather tame HEA follows.
Nothing spectacular.
January 23, 2018
The story is good but Sara pulls the story of the lovers to the extreme and the heroine of her novels does not even know what she is doing or that she is in love. The story are lenghty. If it had been short with more considerate romance, it was a wonderful story
November 26, 2017
SUPER <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
January 15, 2018
To many difficult names...
February 4, 2018
Yikes... puke alarm.
June 26, 2019
Quite the forced arrangement. It did make me think, "so what does she see in him?"
November 25, 2019
Four solid guilty pleasure stars.
Totally, totally, my guilty pleasure.
Totally, totally, my guilty pleasure.
February 8, 2022
Heroine was a dumb idiot who after the “discovery” and confession of their love became a dumb, servile idiot which is much worse in my opinion.
September 9, 2023
Totally in it's years. This was anticlimactic romance novel at its finest.
May 18, 2025
I was enjoying it until .
August 27, 2025
boring and dull
January 27, 2015
Amazing what can happen when you try to help 2 close friends elope. Masquerading as her young friend Teresita can become dangerous when Nicola has never met the man Teresita has been promised too. Nicola was appalled that arranged marriages still existed. When the man she
is traveling with, turns out not to be Roman the cousin to Luis, she realizes she has to escape as was the plan she and Teresita had plotted. Roman was supposed to escort Luis's bride to her arranged wedding, but Nicole had never met Roman or Luis.
Luis Alvarado de Montalba was not a man to be tricked. "You forced your way into my life", he informed her when he discovered the deception. While she conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. Miles from any town on his ranch of hundreds of acres in Mexico of all places. She had only intended to work in Mexico until her contract was up, then do a little site seeing of the Aztec ruins and maybe tour the United States, before returning to Europe. But she finds herself in a home she can't run from as she is under to much surveillance.
is traveling with, turns out not to be Roman the cousin to Luis, she realizes she has to escape as was the plan she and Teresita had plotted. Roman was supposed to escort Luis's bride to her arranged wedding, but Nicole had never met Roman or Luis.
Luis Alvarado de Montalba was not a man to be tricked. "You forced your way into my life", he informed her when he discovered the deception. While she conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. Miles from any town on his ranch of hundreds of acres in Mexico of all places. She had only intended to work in Mexico until her contract was up, then do a little site seeing of the Aztec ruins and maybe tour the United States, before returning to Europe. But she finds herself in a home she can't run from as she is under to much surveillance.
March 22, 2022
Good but as a couple reviewers pointed out, for a lady who despises MOC our heroine was willing to be in one. Of course if the alternative is fornication then I guess marriage is preferable and the third choice, jail time, is pretty ghastly in Mexico.
Plus she could have simply stayed, avoided stealing truck, or asked truck driver for a lift, all sorts of things. I guess she got a little mixed up being in love.
The worst part of the story is that after her husband rapes her she immediately forgives him and wants him to stop treating her as a guest but to make love to her. Lady, this is where you get your sturdiest boots out and kick him where it hurts. Then leave.
If you think you are in love, then ask yourself what will happen the next time hubby gets jealous or someone tells him a pack of lies. If he didn't even listen to you this time, would he listen in the future? You won't have your virginity any more, but he will still want you to prove you are innocent. Don't think there won't be a next time, or that he'll suddenly start trusting you just because you told him you love him. He won't.
Plus she could have simply stayed, avoided stealing truck, or asked truck driver for a lift, all sorts of things. I guess she got a little mixed up being in love.
The worst part of the story is that after her husband rapes her she immediately forgives him and wants him to stop treating her as a guest but to make love to her. Lady, this is where you get your sturdiest boots out and kick him where it hurts. Then leave.
If you think you are in love, then ask yourself what will happen the next time hubby gets jealous or someone tells him a pack of lies. If he didn't even listen to you this time, would he listen in the future? You won't have your virginity any more, but he will still want you to prove you are innocent. Don't think there won't be a next time, or that he'll suddenly start trusting you just because you told him you love him. He won't.
January 23, 2014
very absorbing read, exactly my type of book... i simply love a besotted hero ! luis was madly in love wid nicola ! nicola unfortunately had been disillusioned by a bad experience wid ewan. yet she thought she was still in love wid him! she does realise it's luis she loves on her wedding night. instead of making the best out of the situation, she pushed him away ! ofc we have our usual rape scene -> it's a sara craven book !!lol. but really, she pushed him into dat one; from her nightmares at night n calling out 4 ewan 2 her growing affection towards ramon. add 2 dat, she was very cold wid luis, refusing him her bed, her body ! what did she expect !? luis' jealous, evil cousin pilar used this 2 create trouble n it's no wonder luis believed her lies
May 21, 2020
Synopsis:
Nicola had agreed to masquerade as Luis Alvarado de Montalba's prospective bride to help her young friend escape. She was appalled that arranged marriages still existed.
But he was not a man to be crossed. "You forced your way into my life, " he informed her when he discovered the deception, "and now you will remain in it. "
While Nicola conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. And he simply ignored her protests.
Nicola had agreed to masquerade as Luis Alvarado de Montalba's prospective bride to help her young friend escape. She was appalled that arranged marriages still existed.
But he was not a man to be crossed. "You forced your way into my life, " he informed her when he discovered the deception, "and now you will remain in it. "
While Nicola conceded he was entitled to his anger, it was her life and future he had taken under control. And he simply ignored her protests.
January 8, 2015
Great book, too! I would have done some things differently if I had been in her place, but it was all worth it.
:)
:)
February 17, 2016
Rape is excused because the hero was mad with jealousy.
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October 12, 2017LA NOVIA FALSA (Spanish Version)
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