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Virgin Mistress, Scandalous Love-Child
In the seductive heat of Rio during its Carnaval , Ellie succumbs to her dangerously charismatic boss, Diogo Serrador. But, having taken her virginity, the Brazilian billionaire wants nothing more to do with her—until he discovers she's pregnant!
Diogo will accept nothing less than taking Ellie as his bride. Their marriage is passionate by night, but tense and empty by day. Ellie realizes that she's in an impossible Diogo's dark past has frozen his heart, but she's fallen in love with her husband….
Diogo will accept nothing less than taking Ellie as his bride. Their marriage is passionate by night, but tense and empty by day. Ellie realizes that she's in an impossible Diogo's dark past has frozen his heart, but she's fallen in love with her husband….
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2008
112 people are currently reading
1990 people want to read
About the author
Jennie Lucas
557 books331 followersJennie Lucas had a tragic beginning for any would-be writer: a very happy childhood. Her parents owned a bookstore, and she grew up surrounded by books, dreaming about faraway lands. Her mother read aloud to her in French when she was little; when she was ten, her father secretly paid her a dollar for every classic novel (Jane Eyre, War and Peace) that she read. As a chubby teenager, Jennie covered her bedroom with travel posters and always had her nose in a book.
At fifteen, she went to a Connecticut boarding school on scholarship. She took her first solo trip to Europe at sixteen, then put off college and traveled around the U.S., supporting herself with jobs as diverse as gas station cashier and newspaper advertising assistant.
At 22, she met the man who would be her husband. For the first time in her life, she wanted to stay in one place, as long as she could be with him. After their marriage, she graduated from Kent State University with a degree in English, and started writing books a year later.
Jennie was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest in 2003 and won the award in 2005. A fellow 2003 finalist, Australian author Trish Morey, read Jennie’s writing and told her that she should write for Harlequin Presents. It seemed like too big a dream, but Jennie took a deep breath and went for it. A year later, after seven years of writing and eight finished manuscripts, Jennie got the magical call from London that turned her into a published author.
Since then, life has been hectic, juggling a writing career, a sexy husband and two young children, but Jennie loves her crazy, chaotic life. Who needs a clean house? Every day, Jennie gets swept into drama, glamour and passion. Now if she can only figure out how to pack up her family and live in all the places she’s writing about!
At fifteen, she went to a Connecticut boarding school on scholarship. She took her first solo trip to Europe at sixteen, then put off college and traveled around the U.S., supporting herself with jobs as diverse as gas station cashier and newspaper advertising assistant.
At 22, she met the man who would be her husband. For the first time in her life, she wanted to stay in one place, as long as she could be with him. After their marriage, she graduated from Kent State University with a degree in English, and started writing books a year later.
Jennie was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest in 2003 and won the award in 2005. A fellow 2003 finalist, Australian author Trish Morey, read Jennie’s writing and told her that she should write for Harlequin Presents. It seemed like too big a dream, but Jennie took a deep breath and went for it. A year later, after seven years of writing and eight finished manuscripts, Jennie got the magical call from London that turned her into a published author.
Since then, life has been hectic, juggling a writing career, a sexy husband and two young children, but Jennie loves her crazy, chaotic life. Who needs a clean house? Every day, Jennie gets swept into drama, glamour and passion. Now if she can only figure out how to pack up her family and live in all the places she’s writing about!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
October 2, 2011
Can you say stupid? I thought you could. Holy crap, this is the sort of book that gives Harlequins a bad name. This girl was so stupid I kept flashing on a girl I knew in high school who got upset and cried when I tried to convince her Germany and the USSR were separate countries. Weak, whining, whimpering idiot with irrational motivations for everything she did.
"I hate him. He lied to me and knocked me up. But he's hot and he's touching me and my lady bits are getting dampish. Therefore I must love him!"
And him? He kidnaps her from her wedding and flies her to Brazil in her wedding dress. I don't know about the rest of you but I didn't take my passport to my wedding tucked in my bustier. No mention ever made of it. She escapes from his car and immediately gets lost in a favela. Now if he was a rich as all that, they weren't anywhere near the favelas on the way to his mansion/hotel on the beach. The favelas are on the other side of the mountains from the ritzy part of Rio. While running she immediately meets up with evil guys who know the hero from his life on the streets. Right...there are 6.3 million people in Rio. And then he forces her to marry him. She says 'no' to the priest during the ceremony and he believes the hero when he tells him "aw she's just shy." I gotta think that even priests in the rainforest are a bit more savvy and dedicated than that. So illegal marriage anyone?
And what kind of a word is biskreta? Now I speak European Portuguese not Brazilian but the letter K is not used in any version of Portuguese except in wholly borrowed foreign words. I looked it up in my Brazilian dictionary and the closest I could come was bisca which is defined as a sarcastic criticism. (just talked to my Brazilian friend, she's never heard of the interjection biskreta.)
I'm all for angst but angst with out any rationale or real pain behind it is just laughable.
So shall I try this author again? Well I gave one 5 stars and one 2 stars and this one 1 star. I could get lucky again but I'm kind of gun shy after this one. We'll see.
"I hate him. He lied to me and knocked me up. But he's hot and he's touching me and my lady bits are getting dampish. Therefore I must love him!"
And him? He kidnaps her from her wedding and flies her to Brazil in her wedding dress. I don't know about the rest of you but I didn't take my passport to my wedding tucked in my bustier. No mention ever made of it. She escapes from his car and immediately gets lost in a favela. Now if he was a rich as all that, they weren't anywhere near the favelas on the way to his mansion/hotel on the beach. The favelas are on the other side of the mountains from the ritzy part of Rio. While running she immediately meets up with evil guys who know the hero from his life on the streets. Right...there are 6.3 million people in Rio. And then he forces her to marry him. She says 'no' to the priest during the ceremony and he believes the hero when he tells him "aw she's just shy." I gotta think that even priests in the rainforest are a bit more savvy and dedicated than that. So illegal marriage anyone?
And what kind of a word is biskreta? Now I speak European Portuguese not Brazilian but the letter K is not used in any version of Portuguese except in wholly borrowed foreign words. I looked it up in my Brazilian dictionary and the closest I could come was bisca which is defined as a sarcastic criticism. (just talked to my Brazilian friend, she's never heard of the interjection biskreta.)
I'm all for angst but angst with out any rationale or real pain behind it is just laughable.
So shall I try this author again? Well I gave one 5 stars and one 2 stars and this one 1 star. I could get lucky again but I'm kind of gun shy after this one. We'll see.
January 13, 2018
This was a three star story (in spite of the TSL heroine) until I got to the violent ending. I was not expecting a gun to be pointed at the heroine only to have I don't like violence and don't seek it out. I wouldn't have read this story if I had known of this scene. So trigger alert: gun violence.
Virgin heroine has a one night stand with her boss in Rio. Three months later she's pregnant and due to marry her (platonic) childhood sweetheart. She tells the hero she's pregnant, doesn't get her words of love, so she flees to her hometown to marry. She's about to walk up the aisle when she realizes she should probably tell her fiance she's pregnant with another man's baby. It's obvious he has a screw loose (and will be the villain of this piece) by his weird reaction. The hero shows up in time to spirit the heroine away to Brazil.
The H/h then do the classic push-pull when there is a pregnancy and a commitment-phobe hero. There is an added twist:
The H/h have a happy epilogue: After the violence, I'd hope so. We never do find out what happened to the traitorous bodyguard or what happened with the black market business the villain had.
Virgin heroine has a one night stand with her boss in Rio. Three months later she's pregnant and due to marry her (platonic) childhood sweetheart. She tells the hero she's pregnant, doesn't get her words of love, so she flees to her hometown to marry. She's about to walk up the aisle when she realizes she should probably tell her fiance she's pregnant with another man's baby. It's obvious he has a screw loose (and will be the villain of this piece) by his weird reaction. The hero shows up in time to spirit the heroine away to Brazil.
The H/h then do the classic push-pull when there is a pregnancy and a commitment-phobe hero. There is an added twist:
The H/h have a happy epilogue: After the violence, I'd hope so. We never do find out what happened to the traitorous bodyguard or what happened with the black market business the villain had.
April 29, 2018
For starters, to read this book you need to suspend disbelief close to ∞. So, avoid if you're not in for the trainwreck. Kiki, don't you dare unless you want a reason to get drunk.
I’m not even going to start complaining about the Portuguese use but it’s definitely an improvement from other books I’ve read.
From chapter one you get the idea that the heroine is victim to her quivering parts so it's unlikely that she'd ever grown a spine. She's just a small town girl
After their fµck fest, they go back to New York and he ignores her for three months because if he'd known she was a virgin he wouldn't have touched her and he doesn't want her getting any ideas. Meanwhile, the h was stupid enough to try to warn a co-worker of the danger of sleeping with the boss and now the whole company knows she slept with the boss. Imagine the working environment.
The friend that got her the job wants to marry her (not knowing about her sleeping with the boss or the pregnancy) and go live HEA in the small town. She says yes because anything is better than her current situation, though the OM tepid kisses are not that great of a prospect. On her wedding day, she goes to confront Mr. Boss whose mathematics calculate that she went to sleep and trap some idiot after she discovered the wonders of sex in his arms instead of weeping for him as he thought she would. He's so cute, not.
Anyways, she goes to her wedding, where we meet the orange-lipstick grandmother of the h (the one that loved her growing up) and the suspicious groom. You guessed it right, the H gets there just in time to stop the wedding and kidnap the bride all the way to Rio. Obviously, instead of a cell, she went to a luxurious penthouse with no mention of phone ban so I just can’t figure why she isn’t in a hurry to let her grandma know she’s safe…
At this point, I’m tired of writing so you have to bite the bullet too if you want to know the rest. You can start with StMargarets
I’ll just add a charming quote:
“But Ellie would be his. Diogo wanted to keep her for his children, sim. But also for himself. He would keep her in the nursery. Keep her in his kitchen.
Keep her in his bed.”
I have to blame chocolate for this, my students gave me a box of Ferrero Rocher so my eating them while reading may have had influence in my enjoying this book and not exactly for the romance. Or not.
January 30, 2013
This book just has one too many of the bad tropes, without the good characters to back it up and make you overlook it.
So the country bumpkin heroine goes to the city and becomes a junior secretary to the hero. While on a trip he's happy about securing a good deal and they sleep together. She was a virgin and he knows that country bumpkin virgins think that sex means relationship so he completely ignores her existance for months after that. Until she shows up and tells him she's pregnant and that she's getting married and quitting. Then he's upset that he wasn't tapping that the whole time when he could have been. And all that leeway he was giving her thinking she was crying over his loss was really her mooning over the new guy. While out on a date with another woman he realizes that maybe the baby is his!
Okay, first of all, I can't stand the country people are good people with simple good values. Uhm, bullcrud. People who live in the country can be jerk, evil, slutty, lazy etc. People are people and location doesn't really change that.
The heroine had to go home as an unwed pregnant woman from the result of a one night stand. What would people think?
She didn't care what people thought in so far. She cared about herself. She didn't want people to look down on her when she'd been looking down on everyone else. Because she was such a good value holding person.
So when all her little dreams of the hero failed, she agreed to marry the guy that's been asking her since she was 16. She didn't tell him that she'd slept with the boss, she just agreed to marry him. Then she finds out she's pregnant, and tells him the day she's going to marry him.
Leaving the heroine for now, let's talk about the hero. His relationships don't last longer the a week. No really, one week. And he's always got someone. He had a vasectomy just to make sure that he doesn't get any unknown kids floating around from all these women he's sleeping with. BUT, he didn't go back to have his check up to make sure that it took. Which just means that while he's sleeping with all these many many women *that's 52 different women a year, 260 different women in a mere 5 years* he doesn't go check himself out for...oh...stds for example. I mean, if he can't even be bothered to do his follow up for his vasectomy, you know he doesn't go get regular check ups to make sure he's clean. And guess what, condoms don't protect against all STDs, nor are they 100% and if you can get someone pregnant, you can get an STD.
So our sanctimonious heroine sleeps with the hero without a condom on the assurance that he can't get her pregnant. That's right, there was no heat of the moment I didn't even realize I didn't use one, it was a concious choice from BOTH the hero and the heroine to NOT use a condom. Also note that the hero did not know she was a virgin before he slept with her. Which just means that either A, they exist in the alternate reality where the only thing you can get from unprotected sex is pregnancy, or neither one of them cared about getting an STD, which means neither one of them was particularly cautious.
So just there is the major beginnings of not liking either character.
Next we have the heroine who falls apart, agrees to marry a guy she doesn't love because she can't have the guy she wants. And the hero's being all I'm such a great guy because I'm not leading her on and I'm letting her get away with screwing up so bad at work because she's heartbroken over not getting me.
No really, he thinks all her trips to the bathroom are to cry over him.
So when he figures out it might be his kid, he goes to her wedding, questions her in front of everyone at the church, and then kidnaps her to ANOTHER COUNTRY. He wants to buy her baby from her as long as she leaves when the baby is born, and she's not leaving his sight so he makes sure his baby is okay.
The heroine refuses to give up her baby, but falls all over him in lust. Ugh. They find out it's twins, and he decides the only way he can be the dad he wants is to marry the heroine.
He keeps tons of secrets from her, he's not lovable, but then neither is she. There's no reason for her to love him, she just has to convince herself she is so that she can stay on her I'm such a great and wonderful person full of wholesome values. I'd appreciate it more if she just admitted that she liked the sex and that was all.
The hero didn't care about her, he wanted his kids and she was convenient.
The heroine didn't love him, she just liked the sex a lot and had to excuse herself.
Reading this book is not like a trainwreck. It's like watching people getting pulled over by the cops and being curious about what they did and if they're going to get arrested.
I kept reading this one because it was so horrible I just kept going to see if they ever get better. If I can ever like the characters, if they actually turn into people I can like and care about.
It doesn't happen.
So the country bumpkin heroine goes to the city and becomes a junior secretary to the hero. While on a trip he's happy about securing a good deal and they sleep together. She was a virgin and he knows that country bumpkin virgins think that sex means relationship so he completely ignores her existance for months after that. Until she shows up and tells him she's pregnant and that she's getting married and quitting. Then he's upset that he wasn't tapping that the whole time when he could have been. And all that leeway he was giving her thinking she was crying over his loss was really her mooning over the new guy. While out on a date with another woman he realizes that maybe the baby is his!
Okay, first of all, I can't stand the country people are good people with simple good values. Uhm, bullcrud. People who live in the country can be jerk, evil, slutty, lazy etc. People are people and location doesn't really change that.
The heroine had to go home as an unwed pregnant woman from the result of a one night stand. What would people think?
She didn't care what people thought in so far. She cared about herself. She didn't want people to look down on her when she'd been looking down on everyone else. Because she was such a good value holding person.
So when all her little dreams of the hero failed, she agreed to marry the guy that's been asking her since she was 16. She didn't tell him that she'd slept with the boss, she just agreed to marry him. Then she finds out she's pregnant, and tells him the day she's going to marry him.
Leaving the heroine for now, let's talk about the hero. His relationships don't last longer the a week. No really, one week. And he's always got someone. He had a vasectomy just to make sure that he doesn't get any unknown kids floating around from all these women he's sleeping with. BUT, he didn't go back to have his check up to make sure that it took. Which just means that while he's sleeping with all these many many women *that's 52 different women a year, 260 different women in a mere 5 years* he doesn't go check himself out for...oh...stds for example. I mean, if he can't even be bothered to do his follow up for his vasectomy, you know he doesn't go get regular check ups to make sure he's clean. And guess what, condoms don't protect against all STDs, nor are they 100% and if you can get someone pregnant, you can get an STD.
So our sanctimonious heroine sleeps with the hero without a condom on the assurance that he can't get her pregnant. That's right, there was no heat of the moment I didn't even realize I didn't use one, it was a concious choice from BOTH the hero and the heroine to NOT use a condom. Also note that the hero did not know she was a virgin before he slept with her. Which just means that either A, they exist in the alternate reality where the only thing you can get from unprotected sex is pregnancy, or neither one of them cared about getting an STD, which means neither one of them was particularly cautious.
So just there is the major beginnings of not liking either character.
Next we have the heroine who falls apart, agrees to marry a guy she doesn't love because she can't have the guy she wants. And the hero's being all I'm such a great guy because I'm not leading her on and I'm letting her get away with screwing up so bad at work because she's heartbroken over not getting me.
No really, he thinks all her trips to the bathroom are to cry over him.
So when he figures out it might be his kid, he goes to her wedding, questions her in front of everyone at the church, and then kidnaps her to ANOTHER COUNTRY. He wants to buy her baby from her as long as she leaves when the baby is born, and she's not leaving his sight so he makes sure his baby is okay.
The heroine refuses to give up her baby, but falls all over him in lust. Ugh. They find out it's twins, and he decides the only way he can be the dad he wants is to marry the heroine.
He keeps tons of secrets from her, he's not lovable, but then neither is she. There's no reason for her to love him, she just has to convince herself she is so that she can stay on her I'm such a great and wonderful person full of wholesome values. I'd appreciate it more if she just admitted that she liked the sex and that was all.
The hero didn't care about her, he wanted his kids and she was convenient.
The heroine didn't love him, she just liked the sex a lot and had to excuse herself.
Reading this book is not like a trainwreck. It's like watching people getting pulled over by the cops and being curious about what they did and if they're going to get arrested.
I kept reading this one because it was so horrible I just kept going to see if they ever get better. If I can ever like the characters, if they actually turn into people I can like and care about.
It doesn't happen.
June 10, 2020
I liked how this one started. Quite promising (for a Boss-knocks-up-the-junior-PA kinda HP!) and I was grinning although I’m still not sure if the humor was intentional or not!
But then it got entangled in the same old H-with-mommy-issues issues and the h who throws a 100 millions (*sigh* for the baby, yes!) back in his face and a poor simple om transmogrified into a mind bogglingly evil avatar! *repeat sigh*
And then the writing got lazy putting out some inconsistencies and annoyances.
But then it got entangled in the same old H-with-mommy-issues issues and the h who throws a 100 millions (*sigh* for the baby, yes!) back in his face and a poor simple om transmogrified into a mind bogglingly evil avatar! *repeat sigh*
And then the writing got lazy putting out some inconsistencies and annoyances.
January 2, 2011
Great read by Jennie Lucas! This one had a perfect little epilogue. The ending upped this to the 5* for me. Up until the awesome ending it was sitting at a 4*. Some times I wanted to punch Diogo, the hero, but by the ending I loved him!
At first I wasn't happy with Diogo for throwing over Ellie in the beginning after their one night together. However, it worked for me because I was shown that even though he ignored her after their night together he always still wanted her and he didn't blame her for anything. Anyway, as I sawid he grew on me.
I've come to figure out Jennie Lucas's pattern. She doesn't do the Big Misunderstanding but has villans in the story. This one was just plain creepy. The ending for the villian was a bit more dramatic than seen in a HP but worked for me.
I have two more Jennie Lucas books on their way to me and I'm looking forward to reading them as well.
At first I wasn't happy with Diogo for throwing over Ellie in the beginning after their one night together. However, it worked for me because I was shown that even though he ignored her after their night together he always still wanted her and he didn't blame her for anything. Anyway, as I sawid he grew on me.
I've come to figure out Jennie Lucas's pattern. She doesn't do the Big Misunderstanding but has villans in the story. This one was just plain creepy. The ending for the villian was a bit more dramatic than seen in a HP but worked for me.
I have two more Jennie Lucas books on their way to me and I'm looking forward to reading them as well.
December 17, 2020
"Virgin Mistress, Scandalous Love-Child" is the story of Ellie and Diogo.
Desperately in love with boss heroine has a one night stand with her playboy stud. He then proceeds to ignore her, after dismissing her. She turns out to be pregnant, he interrupts her wedding, kidnaps her and eventually forcefully marries her. The drama is provided by her lecherous creepy ex, his secret "woman", his inability to express basic human emotions and her easy surrender.
Not good, not bad. Purely average.
Unsafe
2.5/5
Desperately in love with boss heroine has a one night stand with her playboy stud. He then proceeds to ignore her, after dismissing her. She turns out to be pregnant, he interrupts her wedding, kidnaps her and eventually forcefully marries her. The drama is provided by her lecherous creepy ex, his secret "woman", his inability to express basic human emotions and her easy surrender.
Not good, not bad. Purely average.
Unsafe
2.5/5
October 17, 2015
Harlequin just the way I like it: sexy, dramatic, emotional, angsty and with cute babies. So sad JL is taking a break from Harlequin Presents :(
January 14, 2025
Too much TBS
Too much silliness
Too big plot holes
Too funny without intention 😂
Too much silliness
Too big plot holes
Too funny without intention 😂
January 22, 2018
**This book contains gun violence.**
This book is so much more than what the title implies. The premise of the novel is that the hero and the secretary/heroine that works for him have a ONS which leaves the heroine pregnant. After the ONS the hero ignores the heroine for a couple of months, during that time she agrees to marry a childhood friend who is in love with her, though the heroine is not in love with him.
The hero realizes that the heroine is pregnant with his child, confronts the heroine at her wedding and kidnaps her before she can say “I Do.” The hero ends up taking the heroine to Rio de Janeiro and at first tries to pay her for their twins. I know the hero sounds like a jerk but as you continue to read, you’ll discover there’s a reason why he believes (at first) that the heroine should not be in contact with their children. It’s so sad and heartbreaking.😢
Both the hero and heroine have tragic backgrounds and their backgrounds definitely play a role in how they act and think. I liked both the hero and heroine. The hero is alpha so I’m already into the book just based on that fact alone.
4 Stars for this book. Wait until you get towards the last few chapters, you will never expect what the author delivers to the reader!🤭
This book is so much more than what the title implies. The premise of the novel is that the hero and the secretary/heroine that works for him have a ONS which leaves the heroine pregnant. After the ONS the hero ignores the heroine for a couple of months, during that time she agrees to marry a childhood friend who is in love with her, though the heroine is not in love with him.
The hero realizes that the heroine is pregnant with his child, confronts the heroine at her wedding and kidnaps her before she can say “I Do.” The hero ends up taking the heroine to Rio de Janeiro and at first tries to pay her for their twins. I know the hero sounds like a jerk but as you continue to read, you’ll discover there’s a reason why he believes (at first) that the heroine should not be in contact with their children. It’s so sad and heartbreaking.😢
Both the hero and heroine have tragic backgrounds and their backgrounds definitely play a role in how they act and think. I liked both the hero and heroine. The hero is alpha so I’m already into the book just based on that fact alone.
4 Stars for this book. Wait until you get towards the last few chapters, you will never expect what the author delivers to the reader!🤭
November 4, 2012
I...I don't know what just happened, here. I need to come back to this review once the crazy has settled in, and then give a rating that contains my enjoyment (such as it was) of the story and the sheer crackiness of it all. So for now I say: what.
Update, Nov. 2012: Just skimmed back through it and my reaction is still "...what." I'm settling on 1 star for now because while I couldn't help but marvel at this story, I also truly disliked it/the characters/the scenario/what.
Also, I would like to state that when I took this out of the library, the monitor cut off the name, so it appeared as "Virgin Mistress, Scandalous Love-Chi", which I would have been far more excited to read.
Update, Nov. 2012: Just skimmed back through it and my reaction is still "...what." I'm settling on 1 star for now because while I couldn't help but marvel at this story, I also truly disliked it/the characters/the scenario/what.
Also, I would like to state that when I took this out of the library, the monitor cut off the name, so it appeared as "Virgin Mistress, Scandalous Love-Chi", which I would have been far more excited to read.
December 9, 2014
So OTT dumb but it gets 2 stars because it kept me reading...
A few ways to know this relationship isn't going well 1) when you have to asks yourself if you DARE question if he could be faithful after the forced wedding, 2) when his answer to the fidelity question is "while you are in my arms, I am yours", 3) when just having an orgasm even if brought on by both manual and oral stimulation means you have to "love him completely, holding nothing back" (really?)
Oh and he sucks at picking staff-- the nanny says such overtly ridiculous lines like "I'll marry him and never have to work again" and he's supposed to be a brilliant billionaire but keeps referring to a bodyguard as his "most trusted bodyguard," and it's obvious the first time he says it that she should get away from that bodyguard! But I did like that he named the dollar amounts in the offers to buy the babies. They weren't bad offers for an HP, at least financially speaking.
A few ways to know this relationship isn't going well 1) when you have to asks yourself if you DARE question if he could be faithful after the forced wedding, 2) when his answer to the fidelity question is "while you are in my arms, I am yours", 3) when just having an orgasm even if brought on by both manual and oral stimulation means you have to "love him completely, holding nothing back" (really?)
Oh and he sucks at picking staff-- the nanny says such overtly ridiculous lines like "I'll marry him and never have to work again" and he's supposed to be a brilliant billionaire but keeps referring to a bodyguard as his "most trusted bodyguard," and it's obvious the first time he says it that she should get away from that bodyguard! But I did like that he named the dollar amounts in the offers to buy the babies. They weren't bad offers for an HP, at least financially speaking.
December 29, 2014
An enjoyable read if you're entertained by the OTT arrogant alpha. I do enjoy this trope, but it wasn't the most memorable. The constant jumping to conclusions on both sides got a bit annoying.
May 26, 2022
No lo sé 🤔 no ha sido el mejor que he leído la verdad. Fue tedioso.
April 18, 2011
This book should come with two warning:
Immature, insecure, inner ramblings of "woman-child." Proceed with caution.
Jerk, alpha male debauches virgin, grows then loses then grows then loses-his conscience! Get your mind out of the gutter!
OM...how could I forget the OTHER SECRET BABY in this book??? Like we didn't see THAT coming. Although, I think it sets a dangerous precedence to drop everything on your honeymoon on your child's whims. Even knowing the tragedy in the kid's life, I still can't cut him a slack burger on that one.
Poor form all around!
Actually, that whole scene and the ones preceding and proceeding just didn't make any sense to me, but, hey, she's published and I'm not!
Oh, they all live HEA...until he has a midlife crisis and realizes he's saddled himself with an immature ninny for a wife and two spoiled children. Just kidding! I'm sure they all lived HEA...in Harlequin land.
Immature, insecure, inner ramblings of "woman-child." Proceed with caution.
Jerk, alpha male debauches virgin, grows then loses then grows then loses-his conscience! Get your mind out of the gutter!
OM...how could I forget the OTHER SECRET BABY in this book??? Like we didn't see THAT coming. Although, I think it sets a dangerous precedence to drop everything on your honeymoon on your child's whims. Even knowing the tragedy in the kid's life, I still can't cut him a slack burger on that one.
Poor form all around!
Actually, that whole scene and the ones preceding and proceeding just didn't make any sense to me, but, hey, she's published and I'm not!
Oh, they all live HEA...until he has a midlife crisis and realizes he's saddled himself with an immature ninny for a wife and two spoiled children. Just kidding! I'm sure they all lived HEA...in Harlequin land.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2014
If the hero is going to be controlling, cruel and say the most abominable things to the heroine, there has to be a satisfying level of commupence for him later on. And I don't mean one scene where he says he feels awful and she immediately forgives him. I mean, real emotional pain the likes of which he caused her. Otherwise, the hero just ends up looking like a piece of shit and the heroine comes off as a weakling.
The hero in this book makes offhand comments like "women are weak" without even the slightest doubt. He is a physical and emotional bully. He actually freaks me out. That's not romantic. It's not hot. It's not good. What it is is disturbing. My God, I've read romances where the hero rapes the heroine and still ends up more redeemable than this guy. He's dirt and romance novels live and die on the quality of the hero. Hence, this book is a giant steaming turd.
The hero in this book makes offhand comments like "women are weak" without even the slightest doubt. He is a physical and emotional bully. He actually freaks me out. That's not romantic. It's not hot. It's not good. What it is is disturbing. My God, I've read romances where the hero rapes the heroine and still ends up more redeemable than this guy. He's dirt and romance novels live and die on the quality of the hero. Hence, this book is a giant steaming turd.
October 18, 2018
She wasn't his mistress, it was only a one-night stand which resulted in pregnancy, and the scandal which wasn't a scandal seemed to be forced in the text.
Ellie (Eleanor) Jensen is Brazilian billionaire, steel/iron magnate, Diogo Serrador's youngest executive secretary. A country girl, with little education due to circumstances of her childhood, she is an epitome of innocence and naivete who gets swept into Diego's arms in a lustful one-night stand, and falls in love with him. The book starts straight away with a shocked Ellie reaching Diogo's Manhattan offices to inform him of her pregnancy, and to hand in her resignation. Within six hours she is going to get married; married to the same person from her hometown, Timothy Wright, a lawyer who had since resigned from Diogo's payroll (and who Diogo detested?), who had helped get her the job in the first place.
Within a few pages, the scene is mind blowing, Diogo thundering through Ellie's wedding, and whisking her away! And what follows later is two totally unexpected surprises!
I never saw the bombs coming...
And then what a sweet family reunion there is! Just when I thought the story was maybe over, in came the real, the biggest, baddest villain. I was waiting for his comeuppance. And then, a typical Bollywood masala movie ending.
Action-packed book, highly recommended! After reading digitally, I am even getting a paperback as this one's for keeps, and for re-read.
Ellie (Eleanor) Jensen is Brazilian billionaire, steel/iron magnate, Diogo Serrador's youngest executive secretary. A country girl, with little education due to circumstances of her childhood, she is an epitome of innocence and naivete who gets swept into Diego's arms in a lustful one-night stand, and falls in love with him. The book starts straight away with a shocked Ellie reaching Diogo's Manhattan offices to inform him of her pregnancy, and to hand in her resignation. Within six hours she is going to get married; married to the same person from her hometown, Timothy Wright, a lawyer who had since resigned from Diogo's payroll (and who Diogo detested?), who had helped get her the job in the first place.
Within a few pages, the scene is mind blowing, Diogo thundering through Ellie's wedding, and whisking her away! And what follows later is two totally unexpected surprises!
I never saw the bombs coming...
And then what a sweet family reunion there is! Just when I thought the story was maybe over, in came the real, the biggest, baddest villain. I was waiting for his comeuppance. And then, a typical Bollywood masala movie ending.
Action-packed book, highly recommended! After reading digitally, I am even getting a paperback as this one's for keeps, and for re-read.
November 13, 2014
I'm Conflicted....**Spoilers**.......d:/
Being a fan of HP, I understand there's reality and then there's HP reality. So, I typically allow a broad ruler when measuring "believable" plot scenarios, not to mention, who really wants to read about Mary the Secretary and Joe the Plumber? Having said that, I wasn't sure I was going to like the H and h, plus, I had a few issues: 1) the h quit school at 15 yrs old but was a Jr Secretary to a billionaire?......2) the H had a vasectomy and believes he can't father a child, yet, mere hours after the h tells him she's preggers and marrying some else, he decides he's the father and kidnaps her from her wedding, even though, she never told him he was the father?.......3) when h escapes from the limo and runs into the favelas, the H chases her and fights off 4 hoodlums..... where are the bodyguards?........ 4) the h won't marry him, so he decides to "woo" her, and thinks one day will be sufficient?...... 5) the H decides they're getting married; he takes her to a dilapidated church, in the middle of the jungle, with a drunk priest, and when she says "no" to her vows.... the H and priest laugh and proceed on.....really?..... Now, maybe it's just me, but these oxymoronic events just seemed to shout, "look at me" and put a bit of a damper on the book for me, not to mention, I HATED the name Diogo! Stepping off my soapbox, I will admit, it wasn't a bad story, i was engaged and entertained and came to like both the H and h. I like JL and will continue to read her books, perhaps this was an attempt at being tongue in cheek...... lol d:)
Being a fan of HP, I understand there's reality and then there's HP reality. So, I typically allow a broad ruler when measuring "believable" plot scenarios, not to mention, who really wants to read about Mary the Secretary and Joe the Plumber? Having said that, I wasn't sure I was going to like the H and h, plus, I had a few issues: 1) the h quit school at 15 yrs old but was a Jr Secretary to a billionaire?......2) the H had a vasectomy and believes he can't father a child, yet, mere hours after the h tells him she's preggers and marrying some else, he decides he's the father and kidnaps her from her wedding, even though, she never told him he was the father?.......3) when h escapes from the limo and runs into the favelas, the H chases her and fights off 4 hoodlums..... where are the bodyguards?........ 4) the h won't marry him, so he decides to "woo" her, and thinks one day will be sufficient?...... 5) the H decides they're getting married; he takes her to a dilapidated church, in the middle of the jungle, with a drunk priest, and when she says "no" to her vows.... the H and priest laugh and proceed on.....really?..... Now, maybe it's just me, but these oxymoronic events just seemed to shout, "look at me" and put a bit of a damper on the book for me, not to mention, I HATED the name Diogo! Stepping off my soapbox, I will admit, it wasn't a bad story, i was engaged and entertained and came to like both the H and h. I like JL and will continue to read her books, perhaps this was an attempt at being tongue in cheek...... lol d:)
January 17, 2016
This is the second time I've read this book. I could feel the strong emotions of the heroine. Once the secrets were out, the book got a lot better. This was not just a typical romance, or he got her pregnant, so he had to marry her books. It offered suspense, twist and turns, and action. There were a few times I got annoyed with the heroine. The chemistry was strong between Ellie, and Diogo. It was Ellie that always pulled back. She had thought Diogo would love her for a week or two, and go on to date a super model. She was trying to protect her heart. No matter what the couple was doing, or what time of day it was, when the phone would ring, Diogo would answer it. she could hear a female voice on the other end. He had a lot of secrets. It would have prevented a lot of heart ache if he had just told Ellie, and trusted her. After the reading the book, I understand why he didn't. I understand how Ellie felt, but she came across as whining at times. Whining is just annoying to me. Diogo was better at showing that he loved Ellie through his actions. He never spoke the words, not knowing that it was love that he felt for her. He treated Ellie like fine china. It took a while, for Diogo to wake up, and know that he loved her, before he could tell her. This was a good.
March 20, 2018
2 ✮ ✮
Ellie grew up as a country girl, she is very innocent in a lot of ways then she decided to live and work in the city. She work as a junior assistant to Diogo Serrador and went to Rio where she lost her virginity to him. Three months later Ellie discovered she is pregnant knowing Diogo believed he can’t get her pregnant she decided to marry someone else, Timothy Wright, Diogo’s employee as well. Though she still attempted to tell him about the pregnancy. When Diogo realized there was a chance that he might be the father he forced Ellie to go back to Rio and married her.
The story was rather fast paced for me, there were times that I really wanted to skip some parts good thing the characters improved. There’s not much depth on the story. Diogo’s reason behind being a commitment-phobe was not enough for me. All in all it was an okay book.
Ellie grew up as a country girl, she is very innocent in a lot of ways then she decided to live and work in the city. She work as a junior assistant to Diogo Serrador and went to Rio where she lost her virginity to him. Three months later Ellie discovered she is pregnant knowing Diogo believed he can’t get her pregnant she decided to marry someone else, Timothy Wright, Diogo’s employee as well. Though she still attempted to tell him about the pregnancy. When Diogo realized there was a chance that he might be the father he forced Ellie to go back to Rio and married her.
The story was rather fast paced for me, there were times that I really wanted to skip some parts good thing the characters improved. There’s not much depth on the story. Diogo’s reason behind being a commitment-phobe was not enough for me. All in all it was an okay book.
June 10, 2018
This was a book that I really wanted to give up reading at one point because of the arrogance of the hero but it turned out to be a really nice book......the only reason for me to give this book a four star is because the hero didn't apologise for the few things but it is a HP romance and what more can we expect.......
February 16, 2021
dude. how is this man gonna knock up two different women accidentally?? Has he ever heard of using a condom?? i didn’t like the whole having another secret child with another woman plot.
August 29, 2023
قراتها بعنوان احلام مستحيلة
ترجمة منتدى روايتي
ممتعه
ترجمة منتدى روايتي
ممتعه
January 4, 2020
Yawn fest. Diogo gets Ellie pregnant while he’s her boss and they’re at a trip. Later he shuns her realizing she’s young and would want commitment. Only that Ellie is pregnant and is losing her mind on being so reckless with a player like Diogo.
Eventually it’s the day of Ellie’s marriage and she runs to catch Diogo at their work place and at least inform him of her dire situation. Ellie’s long time friend who was also a co-worker has agreed to marry her. The book basically just spirals downwards from here.
There was no catch or chase in this book. The book begins with all of the above already happened and the rest is Diogo calling dibs on Ellie at her wedding.
The rest of the book is a drone fest of Ellie throwing empty threats how she’d like to raise the baby on her own and Diogo telling her that she has to stay till the baby’s here. Then she says what happens next and he outplays that’s question till the same conversation takes place five minutes later!
This bothered me that pages and pages of this book were repetitive. No movement in the plot, just this silly argument over how ideally Ellie will be on her own and hated Diogo and Diogo stating that she can’t do that.
I didn’t care for either h or H. Diogo was apparently alpha but he didn’t give me any feels at all. Ellie was a wet rag and way too whiny and just stupid. How could Diogo or anyone at all like her. Either ways. Not reading a JL again!
Eventually it’s the day of Ellie’s marriage and she runs to catch Diogo at their work place and at least inform him of her dire situation. Ellie’s long time friend who was also a co-worker has agreed to marry her. The book basically just spirals downwards from here.
There was no catch or chase in this book. The book begins with all of the above already happened and the rest is Diogo calling dibs on Ellie at her wedding.
The rest of the book is a drone fest of Ellie throwing empty threats how she’d like to raise the baby on her own and Diogo telling her that she has to stay till the baby’s here. Then she says what happens next and he outplays that’s question till the same conversation takes place five minutes later!
This bothered me that pages and pages of this book were repetitive. No movement in the plot, just this silly argument over how ideally Ellie will be on her own and hated Diogo and Diogo stating that she can’t do that.
I didn’t care for either h or H. Diogo was apparently alpha but he didn’t give me any feels at all. Ellie was a wet rag and way too whiny and just stupid. How could Diogo or anyone at all like her. Either ways. Not reading a JL again!
November 19, 2011
Really cannot stand the heroine. This is one of those books which a stupid heroine ruined what potentially be a good, decent story.
January 5, 2021
In the seductive heat of Rio during its Carnaval, Ellie succumbs to her dangerously charismatic boss, Diogo Serrador. But, having taken her virginity, the Brazilian billionaire wants nothing more to do with her--until he discovers she's pregnant!
Diogo will accept nothing less than taking Ellie as his bride. Their marriage is passionate by night, but tense and empty by day. Ellie realizes that she's in an impossible situation: Diogo's dark past has frozen his heart, but she's fallen in love with her husband...
Diogo will accept nothing less than taking Ellie as his bride. Their marriage is passionate by night, but tense and empty by day. Ellie realizes that she's in an impossible situation: Diogo's dark past has frozen his heart, but she's fallen in love with her husband...
October 29, 2017
Usually I really like Jennie Lucas books.
Needs edit & re-release: This one, the heroine is overall, very oddly (considering her grandma) too wimpy & passive with only two bursts of assertiveness. Very unattractively passive, keeps eagerly putting herself into victimizing relationships. Being from a rural area doesn't not make people naive at all, there is plenty of bad people & high crime out there to grow your people & street-smarts on.
Hero-Character: unremarkable, unattractive personality, zero courtship, Grinch-like zero growth until the last minutes (pre-Epilogue), did not work at all for the girl.
Synopsis:
First hero seduces her, swears he cannot impregnate her.
Boom she's pregnant & spends the next few months being a little mouse creeping around his offices while he avoids her. (This lie "should" have eventually driven most women into some-sort of confrontation before three-whole-months passed. ) So she finally tells him she's quitting, pregnant, and runs out to marry her wannabe-boyfriend.
Hero kidnaps her from the wedding, nobody lifts a finger to stop it or makes any attempt to check up on her. It's out of character, he's rich enough to have easily delayed the wedding beforehand just with a few phone calls & $$.
He then barrages her on different ways to buy or steal her kids off her, and ditch her. He tricks her with a few visits around Rio, then surrounded by his army of goons, they bumrush her into an illegal seeming wedding (out in the boonies, ruin of church, drunk priest that ignores her "NO!"--I doubt the papers even got filed.)
How could she not have called her grandma (mother-figure) for help, or to call the embassy or do it herself? Especially over the babystealing threats then the creepy, awful marriage?
Twilight Zone: Unbelievably, she spends the next six months playing Robot-Super-Wife (deliriously-happy, non-questioning) eagerly playing house making everything fabulous for him & his 5-yr-old, without him giving any sign that he's grown & changed. No reassurances like love-expressions or genuine-commitment to her, like a guarantee to keep her around post-pregnancy and he won't steal her kids.
Most women would have GONE BEZERK before then, somehow started a confrontation, and/or run off or call grandma to help. AND it didn't bother her to leave her grandma all alone for 6 months (awful). The grandma "should" have attempted to block her & her unborn baby's kidnap (she didn't), demanded to see her alone without any intimidation from him (she didn't), verify if she's alive, being treated well, NOT being held captive in a foreign country, and the baby won't be stolen by the spoiled billionaire hero.
FUNNY: Parts are extremely funny, especially when he took so long to figure out who the daddy might be AND he's with another woman (funny, but not endearing), and the awesome wedding showdown in her hometown. And grandma...I'd love more on her, and more of her should have rubbed off on the heroine, made her more assertive & feisty.
What I'd have loved: Have Grandma and the heroine throw a wrench in the spoiled billionaire's life, and make him really work for the girl, demonstrate some personal growth.
Needs edit & re-release: This one, the heroine is overall, very oddly (considering her grandma) too wimpy & passive with only two bursts of assertiveness. Very unattractively passive, keeps eagerly putting herself into victimizing relationships. Being from a rural area doesn't not make people naive at all, there is plenty of bad people & high crime out there to grow your people & street-smarts on.
Hero-Character: unremarkable, unattractive personality, zero courtship, Grinch-like zero growth until the last minutes (pre-Epilogue), did not work at all for the girl.
Synopsis:
First hero seduces her, swears he cannot impregnate her.
Boom she's pregnant & spends the next few months being a little mouse creeping around his offices while he avoids her. (This lie "should" have eventually driven most women into some-sort of confrontation before three-whole-months passed. ) So she finally tells him she's quitting, pregnant, and runs out to marry her wannabe-boyfriend.
Hero kidnaps her from the wedding, nobody lifts a finger to stop it or makes any attempt to check up on her. It's out of character, he's rich enough to have easily delayed the wedding beforehand just with a few phone calls & $$.
He then barrages her on different ways to buy or steal her kids off her, and ditch her. He tricks her with a few visits around Rio, then surrounded by his army of goons, they bumrush her into an illegal seeming wedding (out in the boonies, ruin of church, drunk priest that ignores her "NO!"--I doubt the papers even got filed.)
How could she not have called her grandma (mother-figure) for help, or to call the embassy or do it herself? Especially over the babystealing threats then the creepy, awful marriage?
Twilight Zone: Unbelievably, she spends the next six months playing Robot-Super-Wife (deliriously-happy, non-questioning) eagerly playing house making everything fabulous for him & his 5-yr-old, without him giving any sign that he's grown & changed. No reassurances like love-expressions or genuine-commitment to her, like a guarantee to keep her around post-pregnancy and he won't steal her kids.
Most women would have GONE BEZERK before then, somehow started a confrontation, and/or run off or call grandma to help. AND it didn't bother her to leave her grandma all alone for 6 months (awful). The grandma "should" have attempted to block her & her unborn baby's kidnap (she didn't), demanded to see her alone without any intimidation from him (she didn't), verify if she's alive, being treated well, NOT being held captive in a foreign country, and the baby won't be stolen by the spoiled billionaire hero.
FUNNY: Parts are extremely funny, especially when he took so long to figure out who the daddy might be AND he's with another woman (funny, but not endearing), and the awesome wedding showdown in her hometown. And grandma...I'd love more on her, and more of her should have rubbed off on the heroine, made her more assertive & feisty.
What I'd have loved: Have Grandma and the heroine throw a wrench in the spoiled billionaire's life, and make him really work for the girl, demonstrate some personal growth.
November 26, 2020
the H got a kid with OW. just no. Found out when I almost finished this. ugh. and not a fan of the H as well. He was confusing. Hot and cold throughout the book. bye.
July 21, 2014
A steamy read....the hero is an alpha latin man so full of possiveness, sexiness, and arrogence that he goes through women like Swiss cheese, he is afraid of love and doesn't know how to express his feelings. So of course he would need a naive sweet fresh small town girl to show him the errors of his way and how to love. There is some drama in this story but you will have to find that out for yourself........
May 21, 2014
Oh dear lord. This book was so bad I struggled to finish. For a long while I thought it was written in 1970s - the style was that old-fashioned.
The main female character was naive, dumb, helpless and a real pain in the butt - who thought she was in love because her girly bits were getting damp and kept crying all the time. The "hero" was annoying, a pig, chauvinistic, demanding, mean, and also a pain in the butt.
Cant say I recommend this one at all.
The main female character was naive, dumb, helpless and a real pain in the butt - who thought she was in love because her girly bits were getting damp and kept crying all the time. The "hero" was annoying, a pig, chauvinistic, demanding, mean, and also a pain in the butt.
Cant say I recommend this one at all.
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