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Passionate Captivity
"You are two people--a mind and a body. The mind is evasive and devious, but the body is mine."
Michalis Konstantine was right. April Stewart couldn't deny the spark of attraction that had flared between them, almost from their first meeting. It wasn't much consolation to realize that Michalis was fighting and resisting that attraction almost as hard as she was.
His overpowering sensuality made her aware she was losing the battle. How could she possibly be drawn to a man who made it quite clear he despised her morals and was determined to teach her a lesson for her seduction of his brother?
Michalis Konstantine was right. April Stewart couldn't deny the spark of attraction that had flared between them, almost from their first meeting. It wasn't much consolation to realize that Michalis was fighting and resisting that attraction almost as hard as she was.
His overpowering sensuality made her aware she was losing the battle. How could she possibly be drawn to a man who made it quite clear he despised her morals and was determined to teach her a lesson for her seduction of his brother?
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
5 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Wilson
239 books179 followersPatricia Wilson (1929 – 2010) was a best-selling writer of 53 romance novels for the Mills & Boon publisher from 1986 to 2004. She placed her novels primarily in England, Spain or France.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 18, 2016
This was a fun story if you can get past the ridiculous motivation of the Greek billionaire hero kidnapping the heroine and holding her captive in his house for a few days.
His motivation? Stop the heroine from breaking up the upcoming betrothal of his younger brother. Why did he think the heroine was in Greece to break up the betrothal? Because his younger brother told him. And why did the brother lie about his old school chum's visit?
So it's the brother's word against the heroine's - and around and around we go.
What's fun about the story is that the heroine does not take any of this lying down and the author is fairly tongue in cheek about it. For instance when she arrives at the house for the first time, she runs up to the old retainer and blurts out she's being kidnapped. The retainer doesn't speak English and the hero tells him that the heroine is addicted to tea (like all the English) and must have some immediately. Henceforth the old man is very careful to keep the poor heroine supplied with tea to stave off any more emotional scenes.
Also, the hero finds being a captor a lot of hard work. At the end he confesses he hardly had any sleep, since he had to watch for her at all times. (No security firm here - he's a hands-on kidnapper) And she does try to escape many times, although she isn't any great strategist - poor thing.
The high drama and action peters out once the hero and heroine go to the family island to confront the younger brother, but the author manages to throw in some sweet scenes of understanding between the H/h and keep the angst up until the very end.
One of the drawbacks of a Stockholm Syndrome scenario is that it's hard to see how their relationship will work out in real life when those power dynamics aren't in play. At the beginning the hero is described as an 'angry god' and the heroine is 'nothing.' The author transitions the hero's power from captor to that of pretend boyfriend during interlude with the hero's family. And then there is a one month gap between his declaration and her final answer. By the end, she has evened up the power play and they both want the same thing.
His motivation? Stop the heroine from breaking up the upcoming betrothal of his younger brother. Why did he think the heroine was in Greece to break up the betrothal? Because his younger brother told him. And why did the brother lie about his old school chum's visit?
So it's the brother's word against the heroine's - and around and around we go.
What's fun about the story is that the heroine does not take any of this lying down and the author is fairly tongue in cheek about it. For instance when she arrives at the house for the first time, she runs up to the old retainer and blurts out she's being kidnapped. The retainer doesn't speak English and the hero tells him that the heroine is addicted to tea (like all the English) and must have some immediately. Henceforth the old man is very careful to keep the poor heroine supplied with tea to stave off any more emotional scenes.
Also, the hero finds being a captor a lot of hard work. At the end he confesses he hardly had any sleep, since he had to watch for her at all times. (No security firm here - he's a hands-on kidnapper) And she does try to escape many times, although she isn't any great strategist - poor thing.
The high drama and action peters out once the hero and heroine go to the family island to confront the younger brother, but the author manages to throw in some sweet scenes of understanding between the H/h and keep the angst up until the very end.
One of the drawbacks of a Stockholm Syndrome scenario is that it's hard to see how their relationship will work out in real life when those power dynamics aren't in play. At the beginning the hero is described as an 'angry god' and the heroine is 'nothing.' The author transitions the hero's power from captor to that of pretend boyfriend during interlude with the hero's family. And then there is a one month gap between his declaration and her final answer. By the end, she has evened up the power play and they both want the same thing.
dnf
May 15, 2017When heroine repeatedly kept telling the truth, hero would not pay ANY attention, brother dearest, who is apparently a pathological liar must be telling the truth.
Then when she finally gave up and joined the SOB of a brother on the lie, the H kept whining about how NOW she's lying and she should trust him and tell him the truth.
Umm...what? Which one is YOUR preferred truth buddy? Pick one already!
Then when he FINALLY knows the "truth" he STILL blames the heroine to help his USER of a brother in this lie. Hellooooo! Have you forgotten ALL the protests she made when you kidnapped her and kissed her into silence???? This hero only sees what suits him best and has a memory of a gold fish.
The brother was not only a pathological liar, but was a selfish user as well. He has ruined the heroine's reputation without second thought and wasn't even sorry about it. His attitude was oh! It's not as important as my engagement! He actually said it as well. That his engagement is REALLY important and heroine should suck it up because she is his FRIEND and when the hero finds out the truth, because he's Greek he'll be ashamed and she'll be suitably compensated! Apparently this is what you do to a "best friend" that you invite to attend your engagement! He didn't even give her heads up, didn't ask for her help, he just threw her to shark as HE has planned. She NEVER agreed to help him because she never KNEW about it!
And he never really cleared the heroine's reputation, the hero worked out most of it from their body language which he obviously couldn't observe when he was alone with the heroine!
There was also NO comeuppance for this! NOTHING! The brother didn't even shout at him I think.
I would have read this if the heroine at least kicked him on the balls or slapped him across the face AT LEAST once, or hero at least punched him on the face. But this was too much.
Then when she finally gave up and joined the SOB of a brother on the lie, the H kept whining about how NOW she's lying and she should trust him and tell him the truth.
Umm...what? Which one is YOUR preferred truth buddy? Pick one already!
Then when he FINALLY knows the "truth" he STILL blames the heroine to help his USER of a brother in this lie. Hellooooo! Have you forgotten ALL the protests she made when you kidnapped her and kissed her into silence???? This hero only sees what suits him best and has a memory of a gold fish.
The brother was not only a pathological liar, but was a selfish user as well. He has ruined the heroine's reputation without second thought and wasn't even sorry about it. His attitude was oh! It's not as important as my engagement! He actually said it as well. That his engagement is REALLY important and heroine should suck it up because she is his FRIEND and when the hero finds out the truth, because he's Greek he'll be ashamed and she'll be suitably compensated! Apparently this is what you do to a "best friend" that you invite to attend your engagement! He didn't even give her heads up, didn't ask for her help, he just threw her to shark as HE has planned. She NEVER agreed to help him because she never KNEW about it!
And he never really cleared the heroine's reputation, the hero worked out most of it from their body language which he obviously couldn't observe when he was alone with the heroine!
There was also NO comeuppance for this! NOTHING! The brother didn't even shout at him I think.
I would have read this if the heroine at least kicked him on the balls or slapped him across the face AT LEAST once, or hero at least punched him on the face. But this was too much.
August 12, 2019
It's stories like this that keep me hooked to HPs. The plot isn't remarkable or even original (though it definitely is OTT/crazy in the tradition of older harlequins), but somehow you can't help but love the age old trope of girl meets boy (Greek tycoon) and it's love at first sight.
Michaelis is the archetypal M&B hero; Greek, arrogant, powerful and super passionate. h April (born in December) is your average romance heroine with a feisty personality and a tendency to melt whenever the Hero's near. Loved the angst-filled chemistry between the two and H was very much the jealous alpha hero that I enjoy reading about. There's also quite a bit of humour included. For e.g.: when the h is first kidnapped and brought to the H's home; she attempts to escape by running towards the gate; only to run back once she realises that it would be quite difficult for her to do so under the circumstances. I just kind of imagined the scene in my head and was as amused as the Hero was described to be, about it.
Good old school romance that reminded me of why I started reading M&Bs in the first place and still return to them over and over again. Five nostalgia-laden stars for this one.
Michaelis is the archetypal M&B hero; Greek, arrogant, powerful and super passionate. h April (born in December) is your average romance heroine with a feisty personality and a tendency to melt whenever the Hero's near. Loved the angst-filled chemistry between the two and H was very much the jealous alpha hero that I enjoy reading about. There's also quite a bit of humour included. For e.g.: when the h is first kidnapped and brought to the H's home; she attempts to escape by running towards the gate; only to run back once she realises that it would be quite difficult for her to do so under the circumstances. I just kind of imagined the scene in my head and was as amused as the Hero was described to be, about it.
Good old school romance that reminded me of why I started reading M&Bs in the first place and still return to them over and over again. Five nostalgia-laden stars for this one.
February 5, 2018
Brunette April has two worries. Her fledgling interior design business is failing because of the Recession, and her new stepsister hates her. April's taken the opportunity to redecorate (at great personal expense) her mother's house while her mother is on her honeymoon, and has paid particular attention to stepsister's room, in a bid to make her feel more welcome. She's also taking herself off to Greece for two weeks, at the invitation of Pete/Petros, a mere acquaintance of her university days. This is so that stepsister can acclimate to her new surroundings without feeling tense when April drops over all the time, because April loves her mum and is always going over to the house. April is a sweetie pie.
Her friend Dora is telling her she's mad and is going to get murdered or worse, but April's sure everything will be fine. Her mum called Petros' mum, and no one gets murdered when they've been vetted by mothers.
So April arrives in Athens, expecting to be met by Petros, but instead: she meets his older brother Michalis. And Michalis kidnaps her.
But before that happens, we learn that Greek airports are full of very tall, very Greek people, and that in 1993 airports had porters. I throw in this strange anachronism, because later in the book Michalis is all 'let's get into my helicopter and go to the family island' and I'm all: really, there were helicopters in 1993? And then of course I kicked myself very hard for doubting the existence of helicopters, but I'm pretty sure the whole porter situation is to blame.
Anyway, Michalis made use of 3 porters. The first held the name sign so that he could observe April from the menacing shadows as she approached sign porter. Porter 2 was (once it was confirmed he spoke English) enlisted to introduce Michalis to April when she offensively demanded proof that he was who he said he was, and then Porter 3 was ignored because Michalis decided he'd carry April's bags himself. He was very cranky. He also got POV on April, so that he could be confused by her innocent exterior masking her true hussy nature. In fact, I think Michalis only got POV when he was at airports, and that's probably symbolic somehow and may explain the porters, as an extension of Michalis' world view that he could command porterage whenever he deemed that porterage was necessary.
After Michalis is so offended about the whole 'let me see some ID' thing, April lets him bundle her into his big comfy car, and they subside into tense silence. April had dared to ask if they were going to get a boat to the island. Michalis had gotten snarky about the fact that islands are surrounded by water, and then April shot back that she understood islands and would go as far as to demonstrate knowledge of peninsulas, and before she could start listing more geography, Michalis shut her down by saying if he got bored enough to hear her peninsula narrative he'd let her know.
Which had the affect of making me think they were both adorable together, and also that if you are going to kidnap someone, this is just perfect. Get them to a state of huff that's on the edge of 'I refuse to go anywhere with you' and they'll be so distracted maintaining a barely polite silence that you can drive them just about anywhere.
So eventually it's dark and they're out in the middle of nowhere and Michalis drives up to these massive gates and they open automatically, and when April asks if he's kidnapped her confirms that yes, he has. He knows she's there to steal Petros from the perfectly nice girl Petros was supposed to be marrying, so Michalis is going to keep her away from the family island until the engagement is fully on.
April calls nonsense and makes escape attempt 1. She bursts out of the car and runs off into the darkness. Rapidly, it becomes clear that this is a stupid plan. She doesn't have her handbag and she doesn't know where she's going. So she runs back, yells at Michalis some more, and yells at the elderly Greek retainer who gives her a baffled look. No help there. And now she's out of breath from all that running and shouting, and having to refuse to drink a nice cup of tea on principle.
And look, I guess I should be a little more concerned about this whole abduction plot because clearly: abducting women and holding them prisoner is just not on. But ... I can't. Michalis lays out the details of his impregnable, escape-proof fortress of solitude house. April keeps making attempts to get away, because she's convinced she's good at climbing things. Michalis keeps rescuing her from her escape attempts, and becoming increasingly concerned that she's going to do herself an injury. And he's just so damn hopeful that she'll get Stockholm Syndrome. While he doesn't use the term, and April dismisses it as a thing that happens in movies, he keeps asking her if she's got it yet. It's wrong, of course, but it's also funny.
Eventually, Michalis decides that he is going to grab April's boobs a bunch and penetrate her. April's up for it, but warns him that she's a virgin. So they stop. Michalis, rather than go for hymen as proof that April is truthful and Petros is lying about how he's into April and is going to throw over the nice fiancée, Michalis decides that it's time they go to the island. In, as I mentioned above, the 1993 helicopter.
It doesn't really matter how Michalis persuades April to not expose him to his family as a creepy kidnapper. I think he uses some weird voodoo powers and also mentions that his mother cannot be bothered by news of her children's bad behaviour, she's too busy organising the engagement.
Petros explains to April that he's practising this sort of reverse psychology on Michalis. He desperately wants to marry the nice fiancee, but she's poor now, and Petros is convinced Michalis won't let him marry a poor girl. So he's concocted this scheme whereby he pretends he's desperately in love with April, to keep Michalis focussed on that as the problem, and maybe he won't start looking at the family's financials. April's all like: huh, if I hadn't been kidnapped, I probably would have gone along with this ridiculous plot, so why not? So she does, and immediately draws Michalis' ire, because hadn't she just finished saying she wasn't into Petros and she had this virginity thing going on, and doesn't she just go wobbly and soft around the edges every time he touches her?
And, let's ignore also what coming up with this plot says about this family dynamic and trust issues, because that's even less important than abducting women and lying to them and not believing anything they say, and hoping that they'll be so psychologically traumatised that they'll start sympathising with you, and then there'll be sex.
And there is sex. Michalis eventually orchestrates everyone leaving the island so that he can do April without any relatives around, and it's really satisfying. Everyone leaving was very complicated helicopter mathematics, and reminded me of that problem where you have to row the animals and food across the river and places in the row boat are limited and you can't leave certain animal-food combinations together because they'll eat each other. Or in this case, maybe use alone time to talk about things Michalis would prefer were left unsaid.
The sex, though, is spectacular enough for April to say she's amendable to doing a mistress gig, and Michalis is clearly all, ho ho, what a funny joke if I string her along and make her think that's what I want, when actually we're going to get married and it'll be all sparkles and puppies?
Naturally, this backfires. Back in Athens, Michalis leaves April in the car as he runs into a posh house to talk to the lady inside. Now, back when she was kidnapped but Michalis had to go to Athens for meetings, he locked April up in this house, and it was terrible because he forgot to turn on the air conditioning and she got really hot trying to escape, and she ended up lying down on a bed in her knickers and then Michalis came in and accused her of trying to seduce him. But, before all that, April had asked if this house belonged to his mistress and he implied that yes, it did. He did add that the woman owned the house outright, so the readers could helpfully connect the dots, but back in the present with April waiting in the car, she gets this terrible epiphany. Someday, Michalis is going to have another bird waiting in the car while he comes into a house to tell April that it's over, and she doesn't want that at all. Seriously, Michalis spent so much time organising complex and emotionally fraught transportation there should be some kind of mathematical logic problem thingy created around his struggles.
So April makes a dash for it, and gets on a plane back to England. And there's Michalis with his second confirmed airport POV, his nice sister who thinks April is fab beside him, as he realises that he's been quite the idiot about the whole thing. Still, I'm sure there are porters if he needs someone to fetch him a hankie.
THREE WEEKS LATER April's moping. There's still no interior design job on the horizon. She's probably going to have to move back home and put her business on hold, but at least her family love her and are totally on her side about how terrible it was to be kidnapped, and her stepsister adores her. She's contemplating this sad future when a sharp chap shows up in a snazzy Porsche and tells her he's got a job for her. April's not falling for any nonsense again, so she follows in her own car and tells him to sod off when they get to the big house in the country. She'll do her estimates without some fancy creeper breathing down her neck. But of course, Michalis is there! It's all sparkles and puppies after all, with love and marriage and helicopters, and being rich enough that you can pop back to England all the time to catch up with your mum.
And that's all very nice except: why the hell did it take him three weeks to show up, and also waste her time with this whole 'come paint my mansion' ruse? He could have got on the next damn plane and told her he loved her, but no: he had to wait so she could get her family relationships sorted out, but also be miserable. What a jerk!
Still: I always appreciate heroes with oddball senses of humour and April is cute. This is definitely worth tracking down.
Her friend Dora is telling her she's mad and is going to get murdered or worse, but April's sure everything will be fine. Her mum called Petros' mum, and no one gets murdered when they've been vetted by mothers.
So April arrives in Athens, expecting to be met by Petros, but instead: she meets his older brother Michalis. And Michalis kidnaps her.
But before that happens, we learn that Greek airports are full of very tall, very Greek people, and that in 1993 airports had porters. I throw in this strange anachronism, because later in the book Michalis is all 'let's get into my helicopter and go to the family island' and I'm all: really, there were helicopters in 1993? And then of course I kicked myself very hard for doubting the existence of helicopters, but I'm pretty sure the whole porter situation is to blame.
Anyway, Michalis made use of 3 porters. The first held the name sign so that he could observe April from the menacing shadows as she approached sign porter. Porter 2 was (once it was confirmed he spoke English) enlisted to introduce Michalis to April when she offensively demanded proof that he was who he said he was, and then Porter 3 was ignored because Michalis decided he'd carry April's bags himself. He was very cranky. He also got POV on April, so that he could be confused by her innocent exterior masking her true hussy nature. In fact, I think Michalis only got POV when he was at airports, and that's probably symbolic somehow and may explain the porters, as an extension of Michalis' world view that he could command porterage whenever he deemed that porterage was necessary.
After Michalis is so offended about the whole 'let me see some ID' thing, April lets him bundle her into his big comfy car, and they subside into tense silence. April had dared to ask if they were going to get a boat to the island. Michalis had gotten snarky about the fact that islands are surrounded by water, and then April shot back that she understood islands and would go as far as to demonstrate knowledge of peninsulas, and before she could start listing more geography, Michalis shut her down by saying if he got bored enough to hear her peninsula narrative he'd let her know.
Which had the affect of making me think they were both adorable together, and also that if you are going to kidnap someone, this is just perfect. Get them to a state of huff that's on the edge of 'I refuse to go anywhere with you' and they'll be so distracted maintaining a barely polite silence that you can drive them just about anywhere.
So eventually it's dark and they're out in the middle of nowhere and Michalis drives up to these massive gates and they open automatically, and when April asks if he's kidnapped her confirms that yes, he has. He knows she's there to steal Petros from the perfectly nice girl Petros was supposed to be marrying, so Michalis is going to keep her away from the family island until the engagement is fully on.
April calls nonsense and makes escape attempt 1. She bursts out of the car and runs off into the darkness. Rapidly, it becomes clear that this is a stupid plan. She doesn't have her handbag and she doesn't know where she's going. So she runs back, yells at Michalis some more, and yells at the elderly Greek retainer who gives her a baffled look. No help there. And now she's out of breath from all that running and shouting, and having to refuse to drink a nice cup of tea on principle.
And look, I guess I should be a little more concerned about this whole abduction plot because clearly: abducting women and holding them prisoner is just not on. But ... I can't. Michalis lays out the details of his impregnable, escape-proof fortress of solitude house. April keeps making attempts to get away, because she's convinced she's good at climbing things. Michalis keeps rescuing her from her escape attempts, and becoming increasingly concerned that she's going to do herself an injury. And he's just so damn hopeful that she'll get Stockholm Syndrome. While he doesn't use the term, and April dismisses it as a thing that happens in movies, he keeps asking her if she's got it yet. It's wrong, of course, but it's also funny.
Eventually, Michalis decides that he is going to grab April's boobs a bunch and penetrate her. April's up for it, but warns him that she's a virgin. So they stop. Michalis, rather than go for hymen as proof that April is truthful and Petros is lying about how he's into April and is going to throw over the nice fiancée, Michalis decides that it's time they go to the island. In, as I mentioned above, the 1993 helicopter.
It doesn't really matter how Michalis persuades April to not expose him to his family as a creepy kidnapper. I think he uses some weird voodoo powers and also mentions that his mother cannot be bothered by news of her children's bad behaviour, she's too busy organising the engagement.
Petros explains to April that he's practising this sort of reverse psychology on Michalis. He desperately wants to marry the nice fiancee, but she's poor now, and Petros is convinced Michalis won't let him marry a poor girl. So he's concocted this scheme whereby he pretends he's desperately in love with April, to keep Michalis focussed on that as the problem, and maybe he won't start looking at the family's financials. April's all like: huh, if I hadn't been kidnapped, I probably would have gone along with this ridiculous plot, so why not? So she does, and immediately draws Michalis' ire, because hadn't she just finished saying she wasn't into Petros and she had this virginity thing going on, and doesn't she just go wobbly and soft around the edges every time he touches her?
And, let's ignore also what coming up with this plot says about this family dynamic and trust issues, because that's even less important than abducting women and lying to them and not believing anything they say, and hoping that they'll be so psychologically traumatised that they'll start sympathising with you, and then there'll be sex.
And there is sex. Michalis eventually orchestrates everyone leaving the island so that he can do April without any relatives around, and it's really satisfying. Everyone leaving was very complicated helicopter mathematics, and reminded me of that problem where you have to row the animals and food across the river and places in the row boat are limited and you can't leave certain animal-food combinations together because they'll eat each other. Or in this case, maybe use alone time to talk about things Michalis would prefer were left unsaid.
The sex, though, is spectacular enough for April to say she's amendable to doing a mistress gig, and Michalis is clearly all, ho ho, what a funny joke if I string her along and make her think that's what I want, when actually we're going to get married and it'll be all sparkles and puppies?
Naturally, this backfires. Back in Athens, Michalis leaves April in the car as he runs into a posh house to talk to the lady inside. Now, back when she was kidnapped but Michalis had to go to Athens for meetings, he locked April up in this house, and it was terrible because he forgot to turn on the air conditioning and she got really hot trying to escape, and she ended up lying down on a bed in her knickers and then Michalis came in and accused her of trying to seduce him. But, before all that, April had asked if this house belonged to his mistress and he implied that yes, it did. He did add that the woman owned the house outright, so the readers could helpfully connect the dots, but back in the present with April waiting in the car, she gets this terrible epiphany. Someday, Michalis is going to have another bird waiting in the car while he comes into a house to tell April that it's over, and she doesn't want that at all. Seriously, Michalis spent so much time organising complex and emotionally fraught transportation there should be some kind of mathematical logic problem thingy created around his struggles.
So April makes a dash for it, and gets on a plane back to England. And there's Michalis with his second confirmed airport POV, his nice sister who thinks April is fab beside him, as he realises that he's been quite the idiot about the whole thing. Still, I'm sure there are porters if he needs someone to fetch him a hankie.
THREE WEEKS LATER April's moping. There's still no interior design job on the horizon. She's probably going to have to move back home and put her business on hold, but at least her family love her and are totally on her side about how terrible it was to be kidnapped, and her stepsister adores her. She's contemplating this sad future when a sharp chap shows up in a snazzy Porsche and tells her he's got a job for her. April's not falling for any nonsense again, so she follows in her own car and tells him to sod off when they get to the big house in the country. She'll do her estimates without some fancy creeper breathing down her neck. But of course, Michalis is there! It's all sparkles and puppies after all, with love and marriage and helicopters, and being rich enough that you can pop back to England all the time to catch up with your mum.
And that's all very nice except: why the hell did it take him three weeks to show up, and also waste her time with this whole 'come paint my mansion' ruse? He could have got on the next damn plane and told her he loved her, but no: he had to wait so she could get her family relationships sorted out, but also be miserable. What a jerk!
Still: I always appreciate heroes with oddball senses of humour and April is cute. This is definitely worth tracking down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Going to put it on my fav list. It's one of those rare HPs that has a combination of humor and angst. Just the kind of book I need these days of heavy stress. Was looking out for another book of PW when I came across this one. Yes, at times it did get silly and one has to quash down the question "Why would they do that?" But, if one goes with the flow, you'll really enjoy it.
Loved both Michalis Konstantine and April Stewart. They had matching tempers which made their verbal exchange fun and enjoyable. They had awesome chemistry too.
In Michalis's sis, Marika's words "It is like a fairy-tale—the kind, gentle princess and the rich, gallant knight.'
To which April replied 'The poor, penniless princess and the bad-tempered knight,'
which I would amend to 'The penniless but feisty princess and the gallant, jealous knight' (Lol).
Loved the romantic scenes. You can feel the deep passion between the two every time they touched, be it in the kissing or the almost-there sex scene, something which I find greatly missing in most HPs nowadays in spite of the too detailed sex scenes. They did make love eventually and it was not a fade-away scene.
I loved Michalis. He's my dream hero. I thoroughly enjoyed Michalis's jealousy. Oh my, just the mention of his brother's name by April was like a red cloth to a bull. He'd be driven to rage and leave in a huff. And yet, in spite of all that jealousy, in spite of being the captor he was never cruel or abusive. He was tender and caring instead. There was only one time that he was very insulting --when he walked into her room and found Petros with her.
'You deceitful little bitch! How many times have I looked at your face and questioned my own senses, my own judgement? I have even questioned the evidence of my own ears and eyes. Now my brother is here in your room, kneeling at your feet. What have you promised that makes him declare how wonderful you are? You will come back to Greece and be his mistress when he is married? You will go to him tonight?'
The insults stung April out of her hypnotic state and she didn't care if he was Zeus with the power to point a finger and throw lightning at her. She sprung to her feet and glared back at him.
'You toad!' she shouted. 'You black, slimy, money-grabbing toad!'
Loved how April gave it back to him.
Now for the story--
April freelanced as an interior designer. She spent all her savings in doing up her mum's place as a wedding gift hoping that her new step-father and his 17 yr old daughter, who's not happy about the marriage, will feel welcomed into the family. She receives a timely invitation from Petros Konstantine to visit his family's island in Greece.
Petros studied in a college in England, close to hers, three years ago, and was one of the group of college students she used to hang out with. They got along well. He was fun and nice. There was nothing romantic between them. After he left England they kept in touch for a while through letters. He always spoke greatly about his family's island and would invite her to visit. Along with his latest letter she received a two-way plane ticket from his mother to thank the English girl who had been kind to her son. To give her mum, step-father and step-sister some time to settle into their new life and get to know each other better, April decides to stay away from them and takes up Petros invitation.
When she lands at Athens, instead of Petros, she's met by this tall, formidable looking Greek god who sends shiver of apprehension into her. He tells her he's Petros' brother, Michalis, and before she knows it she's whisked away and held captive at his huge fortress like home high up on a cliff, instead of the family island. Apparently, Petros has told him that he and April are involved but Michalis and his family want Petros to marry the Greek girl long chosen for him and in two days time he's to be betrothed. Hence, Michalis is under the impression that Petros has called April to help him stop the engagement and so Michalis, as head of the family, is determined no greedy English girl is going to destroy his plan. She would be his guest until Petros is safely engaged and committed to marriage. He wasn't going to put her on a plane back to England and risk her contacting Petros once she's home. He refuses to believe there's nothing between her and Petros. Her going to Greece confirms that Petros is special to her.
But, April was no meek, willing captive. She makes attempts after attempt to escape only to be caught every time by an amused Michalis. It was hilarious at the beginning how she ran the entire length of the long avenue to the gates soon after alighting from the car then on realizing she didn't have her handbag and cases ran back with same speed and started appealing to the elderly man carrying her cases "Help me. This man has kidnapped me."
Michalis coolly tells her Giorgis doesn't know English and that Michalis explained to him that she wants to tea and the English are very desperate when they don't get their evening tea. (Lol).
With her never-ending attempts to escape she manages to frustrate Michalis so much that he fears leaving the house even for a moment. He had urgent business in Athens and so takes her along with him, but, locks her up at a house in Athens. He tells her he owns the house but a woman lives there. She thinks it's his mistress. With their usual arguing Michalis forgets to switch on the air-conditioning, so when the heat gets unbearable she strips to her bra and panties and falls off to sleep due to exhaustion. When Michalis returns seeing her almost naked he thinks she's trying to soften him and make her escape. They argue and in a weak emotional moment April bursts into tears and as Michalis tries to console her they end up kissing - a kiss that had a mind-blowing effect on both
Back to her prison at the cliff house, April finds she's no more a defiant captive. She was suddenly feeling close to her captor, who could be friendly and felt safe with him. There was something nice developing between them, but then Petros calls Michalis enquiring about April & Michalis angrily tells her "your lover called." All the softening on his part was gone he was back to his icy demeanor. April knew that he'd never change his mind about her and Petros which made her miserable.
When Michalis leaves the house for a while one afternoon she makes another attempt to escape taking the cliff route down to the beach and sea only to be caught up in a sudden violent storm and ends up clinging to the top of the grassy cliff, hanging on to dear life. The butler and housekeeper thought she was in her room and with Michalis having only just left, there with no chance of being rescued.
But, Michalis has a sort of premonition and returns. The rescue scene was beautifully done. I could picture every moment.
April was too shocked to speak. They stood there facing each other, rain drenching them. It was running off their faces, off their hair. His shirt was clinging to him, wet, muddy and grass-stained, but neither of them thought of discomfort. She was shaking and weak. Michalis was blackly angry. He cupped her wet face in hard hands and glared at her, and all she could do was look back helplessly.
'If I had not been suspicious,' he raged, his chest heaving with anger. 'If I had not come back...'
He choked on the words and then pulled her face to his, capturing her mouth in wild anger, crushing her lips and tightening his hands around her face.
It changed everything between them. Michalis tells her he's putting her on the plane to England the following day, preferring to risk her contacting his brother than watch her risk her life. However, now that the captor was all set to release his captive, the captive didn't want to escape from her prison.
Later, when he was attending to her sprained ankle, passion overtakes both of them. The almost-sex scene was passionate and beautiful but when April tells Michalis it's her first time, he is stunned because he thought she and Petros had been lovers. He then decides to get to the bottom of who out of April and Petros was lying. He takes April to meet Petros and his mother and sister on the island. He gets her to fall in with his plans to make his family believe that the two of them are a couple, that they knew each other before Petros went to college and that's why April helped Petros in England.
Then there is the complication with Petro and his silly reasoning for making his brother believe he and April were involved even though he's in love with Sophie - the girl his family has chosen for him. When he tells April his reason for it, she commiserates with him and Sophie and decides to help them, which makes Michalis jealous and angry every time he sees the two of them alone, especially when he finds Petros in her room. So there was lots of ANGST which got slightly diluted by Michalis sweet, impish nineteen old sister, Marika, who is very fond of April and dotes on her eldest brother. 'Quarrelling?' she asked with a sly grin. 'I have never heard a lovers' quarrel. May I listen?'
Michalis looked as if he was about to lift her and drop her into the pool on her head, and April intervened quickly.
Loved the sweet banter between brother and sister and the scene where Michalis actually dumps Marika into the pool.
Eventually, April and Michalis succumb to their raging passion and become lovers. Michalis then tells her he cannot let her go. She asks him what would she be to him - a mistress? He said he liked the sound of it and he would introduce her as his mistress at his yacht party that evening to celebrate Petros-Sophie's engagement. He takes her to Athens to buy her a dress for the party and stops at the house in Athens she thinks is his mistress' house. He tells her he wanted to tell the lady in he house about their relationship and asks her to wait in the car for him for he wanted to give the lady some time to absorb his news. When he goes into the house, April is sure he's gone tell his mistress that she has been replaced and one day when he tired of April he'd do the same to her and she'd only be left with a broken heart. So, she hops into a cab and goes to the airport.
Very touching scene when Michalis reaches there and sees the plane airborne
He looked up at the sky, watching the plane climb higher and higher.
'Go in!' Marika urged almost violently, shaking his sleeve.
'Yes, I will go in,' he agreed, his eyes on the plane, 'but it will be too late. She is up there. I will watch her go.'
'How do you even know that the plane is the one for England? How do you know that April is on it? You cannot know!'
'I know,' he said softly, and when Marika turned to look at him in agitation he was smiling to himself, a curious smile that had her baffled. 'I know, little sister,' he assured her, patting her hand. 'I also know why.'
I was however annoyed that it took him nearly three weeks to get in touch with her and found his excuse very lame. However, even though April was living with heartache on Michalis front, the good thing is she found her loving family rallying behind her, step-sister included.
Overall, a fantastic read. I enjoyed it.
Loved both Michalis Konstantine and April Stewart. They had matching tempers which made their verbal exchange fun and enjoyable. They had awesome chemistry too.
In Michalis's sis, Marika's words "It is like a fairy-tale—the kind, gentle princess and the rich, gallant knight.'
To which April replied 'The poor, penniless princess and the bad-tempered knight,'
which I would amend to 'The penniless but feisty princess and the gallant, jealous knight' (Lol).
Loved the romantic scenes. You can feel the deep passion between the two every time they touched, be it in the kissing or the almost-there sex scene, something which I find greatly missing in most HPs nowadays in spite of the too detailed sex scenes. They did make love eventually and it was not a fade-away scene.
I loved Michalis. He's my dream hero. I thoroughly enjoyed Michalis's jealousy. Oh my, just the mention of his brother's name by April was like a red cloth to a bull. He'd be driven to rage and leave in a huff. And yet, in spite of all that jealousy, in spite of being the captor he was never cruel or abusive. He was tender and caring instead. There was only one time that he was very insulting --when he walked into her room and found Petros with her.
'You deceitful little bitch! How many times have I looked at your face and questioned my own senses, my own judgement? I have even questioned the evidence of my own ears and eyes. Now my brother is here in your room, kneeling at your feet. What have you promised that makes him declare how wonderful you are? You will come back to Greece and be his mistress when he is married? You will go to him tonight?'
The insults stung April out of her hypnotic state and she didn't care if he was Zeus with the power to point a finger and throw lightning at her. She sprung to her feet and glared back at him.
'You toad!' she shouted. 'You black, slimy, money-grabbing toad!'
Loved how April gave it back to him.
Now for the story--
April freelanced as an interior designer. She spent all her savings in doing up her mum's place as a wedding gift hoping that her new step-father and his 17 yr old daughter, who's not happy about the marriage, will feel welcomed into the family. She receives a timely invitation from Petros Konstantine to visit his family's island in Greece.
Petros studied in a college in England, close to hers, three years ago, and was one of the group of college students she used to hang out with. They got along well. He was fun and nice. There was nothing romantic between them. After he left England they kept in touch for a while through letters. He always spoke greatly about his family's island and would invite her to visit. Along with his latest letter she received a two-way plane ticket from his mother to thank the English girl who had been kind to her son. To give her mum, step-father and step-sister some time to settle into their new life and get to know each other better, April decides to stay away from them and takes up Petros invitation.
When she lands at Athens, instead of Petros, she's met by this tall, formidable looking Greek god who sends shiver of apprehension into her. He tells her he's Petros' brother, Michalis, and before she knows it she's whisked away and held captive at his huge fortress like home high up on a cliff, instead of the family island. Apparently, Petros has told him that he and April are involved but Michalis and his family want Petros to marry the Greek girl long chosen for him and in two days time he's to be betrothed. Hence, Michalis is under the impression that Petros has called April to help him stop the engagement and so Michalis, as head of the family, is determined no greedy English girl is going to destroy his plan. She would be his guest until Petros is safely engaged and committed to marriage. He wasn't going to put her on a plane back to England and risk her contacting Petros once she's home. He refuses to believe there's nothing between her and Petros. Her going to Greece confirms that Petros is special to her.
But, April was no meek, willing captive. She makes attempts after attempt to escape only to be caught every time by an amused Michalis. It was hilarious at the beginning how she ran the entire length of the long avenue to the gates soon after alighting from the car then on realizing she didn't have her handbag and cases ran back with same speed and started appealing to the elderly man carrying her cases "Help me. This man has kidnapped me."
Michalis coolly tells her Giorgis doesn't know English and that Michalis explained to him that she wants to tea and the English are very desperate when they don't get their evening tea. (Lol).
With her never-ending attempts to escape she manages to frustrate Michalis so much that he fears leaving the house even for a moment. He had urgent business in Athens and so takes her along with him, but, locks her up at a house in Athens. He tells her he owns the house but a woman lives there. She thinks it's his mistress. With their usual arguing Michalis forgets to switch on the air-conditioning, so when the heat gets unbearable she strips to her bra and panties and falls off to sleep due to exhaustion. When Michalis returns seeing her almost naked he thinks she's trying to soften him and make her escape. They argue and in a weak emotional moment April bursts into tears and as Michalis tries to console her they end up kissing - a kiss that had a mind-blowing effect on both
Back to her prison at the cliff house, April finds she's no more a defiant captive. She was suddenly feeling close to her captor, who could be friendly and felt safe with him. There was something nice developing between them, but then Petros calls Michalis enquiring about April & Michalis angrily tells her "your lover called." All the softening on his part was gone he was back to his icy demeanor. April knew that he'd never change his mind about her and Petros which made her miserable.
When Michalis leaves the house for a while one afternoon she makes another attempt to escape taking the cliff route down to the beach and sea only to be caught up in a sudden violent storm and ends up clinging to the top of the grassy cliff, hanging on to dear life. The butler and housekeeper thought she was in her room and with Michalis having only just left, there with no chance of being rescued.
But, Michalis has a sort of premonition and returns. The rescue scene was beautifully done. I could picture every moment.
April was too shocked to speak. They stood there facing each other, rain drenching them. It was running off their faces, off their hair. His shirt was clinging to him, wet, muddy and grass-stained, but neither of them thought of discomfort. She was shaking and weak. Michalis was blackly angry. He cupped her wet face in hard hands and glared at her, and all she could do was look back helplessly.
'If I had not been suspicious,' he raged, his chest heaving with anger. 'If I had not come back...'
He choked on the words and then pulled her face to his, capturing her mouth in wild anger, crushing her lips and tightening his hands around her face.
It changed everything between them. Michalis tells her he's putting her on the plane to England the following day, preferring to risk her contacting his brother than watch her risk her life. However, now that the captor was all set to release his captive, the captive didn't want to escape from her prison.
Later, when he was attending to her sprained ankle, passion overtakes both of them. The almost-sex scene was passionate and beautiful but when April tells Michalis it's her first time, he is stunned because he thought she and Petros had been lovers. He then decides to get to the bottom of who out of April and Petros was lying. He takes April to meet Petros and his mother and sister on the island. He gets her to fall in with his plans to make his family believe that the two of them are a couple, that they knew each other before Petros went to college and that's why April helped Petros in England.
Then there is the complication with Petro and his silly reasoning for making his brother believe he and April were involved even though he's in love with Sophie - the girl his family has chosen for him. When he tells April his reason for it, she commiserates with him and Sophie and decides to help them, which makes Michalis jealous and angry every time he sees the two of them alone, especially when he finds Petros in her room. So there was lots of ANGST which got slightly diluted by Michalis sweet, impish nineteen old sister, Marika, who is very fond of April and dotes on her eldest brother. 'Quarrelling?' she asked with a sly grin. 'I have never heard a lovers' quarrel. May I listen?'
Michalis looked as if he was about to lift her and drop her into the pool on her head, and April intervened quickly.
Loved the sweet banter between brother and sister and the scene where Michalis actually dumps Marika into the pool.
Eventually, April and Michalis succumb to their raging passion and become lovers. Michalis then tells her he cannot let her go. She asks him what would she be to him - a mistress? He said he liked the sound of it and he would introduce her as his mistress at his yacht party that evening to celebrate Petros-Sophie's engagement. He takes her to Athens to buy her a dress for the party and stops at the house in Athens she thinks is his mistress' house. He tells her he wanted to tell the lady in he house about their relationship and asks her to wait in the car for him for he wanted to give the lady some time to absorb his news. When he goes into the house, April is sure he's gone tell his mistress that she has been replaced and one day when he tired of April he'd do the same to her and she'd only be left with a broken heart. So, she hops into a cab and goes to the airport.
Very touching scene when Michalis reaches there and sees the plane airborne
He looked up at the sky, watching the plane climb higher and higher.
'Go in!' Marika urged almost violently, shaking his sleeve.
'Yes, I will go in,' he agreed, his eyes on the plane, 'but it will be too late. She is up there. I will watch her go.'
'How do you even know that the plane is the one for England? How do you know that April is on it? You cannot know!'
'I know,' he said softly, and when Marika turned to look at him in agitation he was smiling to himself, a curious smile that had her baffled. 'I know, little sister,' he assured her, patting her hand. 'I also know why.'
I was however annoyed that it took him nearly three weeks to get in touch with her and found his excuse very lame. However, even though April was living with heartache on Michalis front, the good thing is she found her loving family rallying behind her, step-sister included.
Overall, a fantastic read. I enjoyed it.
September 12, 2023
Felt 16 again, reading this. My first ever encounter with HP was a dominant Greek tycoon and I pretty much imprinted on the type. Michalis does not disappoint 😂
Come for the passion and domination, ignore the absolute absurdity of the plot. You won't care. Like April you will be widening your innocent grey eyes and battling his implacable strength and determination in vain and if you're anything like me, you'll love every minute. Oh yes, it also ticks the two brothers box. My cup runneth over and I kneel before PW in admiration. Efharisto!
Come for the passion and domination, ignore the absolute absurdity of the plot. You won't care. Like April you will be widening your innocent grey eyes and battling his implacable strength and determination in vain and if you're anything like me, you'll love every minute. Oh yes, it also ticks the two brothers box. My cup runneth over and I kneel before PW in admiration. Efharisto!
May 1, 2013
meh.....It's not horrible, but I regret wasting my time.
This had so much potential, but the heroine was too much of a ninny. I kept rolling my eyes.
This had so much potential, but the heroine was too much of a ninny. I kept rolling my eyes.
January 11, 2024
One book to make the readers feel the silliest of all!
February 25, 2018
"Passionate Captivity" is the story of Michalis and April, and phew, this was an exhausting read.
Basically, April's mother is getting remarried to a man who has a 19 year ill-tempered brat, and to escape the bad atmosphere- decides to go visit a Greek friend Petros, who she had known in college.
Instead she is kidnapped by his brother Michalis, who keeps her captive despite her numerous attempts to escape (yeah there IS one expected scene where her life is in danger and he rescues her)- chastises and slut shames her, refuses to believe her but doesnt mind keeping her or kissing her. The brother Petros is despicable and a BIG sissy because I hated what he made the h go through, was unapologetic, and even when he came to know about his brother's behavior continued to act childish.
After all the drama, even when the H discovers the truth he's an ass, and it takes running away and weird love confessions for things to come full circle.
I hate nothing more than a doormat heroine and please, love shouldnt make you STUPID APRIL.
GRRR.
Safe?
1.5/5
Basically, April's mother is getting remarried to a man who has a 19 year ill-tempered brat, and to escape the bad atmosphere- decides to go visit a Greek friend Petros, who she had known in college.
Instead she is kidnapped by his brother Michalis, who keeps her captive despite her numerous attempts to escape (yeah there IS one expected scene where her life is in danger and he rescues her)- chastises and slut shames her, refuses to believe her but doesnt mind keeping her or kissing her. The brother Petros is despicable and a BIG sissy because I hated what he made the h go through, was unapologetic, and even when he came to know about his brother's behavior continued to act childish.
After all the drama, even when the H discovers the truth he's an ass, and it takes running away and weird love confessions for things to come full circle.
I hate nothing more than a doormat heroine and please, love shouldnt make you STUPID APRIL.
GRRR.
Safe?
1.5/5
June 22, 2021
I chose this book as my break from my Diana Palmer bender that I was on.
The plot/premise of this story is ridiculously fun! I really liked the fiery heroine(24). She reminded me of a brown haired Maureen O’Hara.
The Hero(36) kidnapped the h when he thought she was in Greece to break up her “lover’s” (the H’s brother) arranged marriage to a nice Greek girl from a nice Greek family. He is expecting a Gilligan’s Island Ginger to come off the plane, and instead sees what looks like an English Mary Ann.
He is attracted to her but knows that she is his brother’s lover and a gold digger. (They always are!). She thinks he is a Greek God.
Anyhoo he takes her to his secluded mansion where escape is impossible(like Gilligan’s Island). Our little heroine does her best to escape unfortunately she is not crafty like the professor and cannot tap into phone lines or dismantle intricate alarm systems(maybe that’s more of a Macgyver thing). Each time she tries to escape the Hero is one step ahead of her. On one daring escape, she almost falls to her death, but our hero having a “bad feeling”(Han Solo) came back to the house early and found her dangling. This little escapade lead to a very intense moment in the bedroom…in fact had the H not announced that he was going to be taking the virgin h fierce and fast it probably would have happened. However, his overzealousness and her innocence gave her a little fright and he was thinking that maybe she wasn’t the Mata Hari he first thought her to be. So they left to go to the island where his family was and the OM his brother, to get to the truth. The truth is in the spoiler if you want to know, if not skip it and continue to bottom.
On the island, the H has a very lovely mom and chatty friendly teenage sister. This is a nice change from many of the Greek stories I have read in the past. The brother is all over the h in private as no one wants the mom to know what is happening, and this just makes our jealous H become murderous in his anger. Finally, the engagement of the H’s brother and his love is announced which will make backing out of it impossible. The h thinks now that it is done she finally can go home and resume her life in England. But the H has other plans. The family leave the island to go to Athens to have a big engagement celebration. The H and h stay behind a night. The H has come to some conclusions about the h and its time to consummate their relationship. It is mind blowing for both of them, and although the h has nothing to compare it to, the H is 36 and experienced yet it’s the best ever for him. However, our h has no illusions. She knows that they are miles apart when it comes to social standing. She assumes she is to be his mistress, and he doesn’t correct her on this. They get to Athens, and he goes to the house where his current “mistress” lives to dismiss her. It is at this point that the h decides she doesn’t want to be a mistress. She loves the H and being dismissed in the future would be too much heartbreak. So, she finally escapes the H by making a mad dash to a cab then a plane to England. She reconnects with her mom, new step dad, and 17 year old step sister. It is good, but she is sad. It’s about 3 weeks later. The H comes to England to get his wayward captive. The rest of the miscommunications are cleared up, and it was a very satisfying ending.
I liked the characters in the story and there were no evil OW’s to contend with, which there often is in these Greek stories. The h is spunky and she hurls out the I hate you more than once. She also threatens to scream the house down on many occasions and the H wastes no time in taking advantage of her open mouth. This leads to her melting like an ice cream cone on a hot day. Throughout the book the h and H are fighting their attraction for each other. Our Greek hero doesn’t want to have what he thinks his brother has already had. Yet, his pull to the h is stronger than his distaste for what he thinks are her transgressions. I like how he thwarts all of her escape attempts. I can just picture his sexy Greekness with a sardonic grin on his face and the heroine with a defeated slump of her shoulders. She may have been his captive at the beginning of the story, but there’s no doubt he will be her captive for many years to come.
The plot/premise of this story is ridiculously fun! I really liked the fiery heroine(24). She reminded me of a brown haired Maureen O’Hara.
The Hero(36) kidnapped the h when he thought she was in Greece to break up her “lover’s” (the H’s brother) arranged marriage to a nice Greek girl from a nice Greek family. He is expecting a Gilligan’s Island Ginger to come off the plane, and instead sees what looks like an English Mary Ann.
He is attracted to her but knows that she is his brother’s lover and a gold digger. (They always are!). She thinks he is a Greek God.
Anyhoo he takes her to his secluded mansion where escape is impossible(like Gilligan’s Island). Our little heroine does her best to escape unfortunately she is not crafty like the professor and cannot tap into phone lines or dismantle intricate alarm systems(maybe that’s more of a Macgyver thing). Each time she tries to escape the Hero is one step ahead of her. On one daring escape, she almost falls to her death, but our hero having a “bad feeling”(Han Solo) came back to the house early and found her dangling. This little escapade lead to a very intense moment in the bedroom…in fact had the H not announced that he was going to be taking the virgin h fierce and fast it probably would have happened. However, his overzealousness and her innocence gave her a little fright and he was thinking that maybe she wasn’t the Mata Hari he first thought her to be. So they left to go to the island where his family was and the OM his brother, to get to the truth. The truth is in the spoiler if you want to know, if not skip it and continue to bottom.
On the island, the H has a very lovely mom and chatty friendly teenage sister. This is a nice change from many of the Greek stories I have read in the past. The brother is all over the h in private as no one wants the mom to know what is happening, and this just makes our jealous H become murderous in his anger. Finally, the engagement of the H’s brother and his love is announced which will make backing out of it impossible. The h thinks now that it is done she finally can go home and resume her life in England. But the H has other plans. The family leave the island to go to Athens to have a big engagement celebration. The H and h stay behind a night. The H has come to some conclusions about the h and its time to consummate their relationship. It is mind blowing for both of them, and although the h has nothing to compare it to, the H is 36 and experienced yet it’s the best ever for him. However, our h has no illusions. She knows that they are miles apart when it comes to social standing. She assumes she is to be his mistress, and he doesn’t correct her on this. They get to Athens, and he goes to the house where his current “mistress” lives to dismiss her. It is at this point that the h decides she doesn’t want to be a mistress. She loves the H and being dismissed in the future would be too much heartbreak. So, she finally escapes the H by making a mad dash to a cab then a plane to England. She reconnects with her mom, new step dad, and 17 year old step sister. It is good, but she is sad. It’s about 3 weeks later. The H comes to England to get his wayward captive. The rest of the miscommunications are cleared up, and it was a very satisfying ending.
I liked the characters in the story and there were no evil OW’s to contend with, which there often is in these Greek stories. The h is spunky and she hurls out the I hate you more than once. She also threatens to scream the house down on many occasions and the H wastes no time in taking advantage of her open mouth. This leads to her melting like an ice cream cone on a hot day. Throughout the book the h and H are fighting their attraction for each other. Our Greek hero doesn’t want to have what he thinks his brother has already had. Yet, his pull to the h is stronger than his distaste for what he thinks are her transgressions. I like how he thwarts all of her escape attempts. I can just picture his sexy Greekness with a sardonic grin on his face and the heroine with a defeated slump of her shoulders. She may have been his captive at the beginning of the story, but there’s no doubt he will be her captive for many years to come.
February 12, 2016
Found it corny despite the uber jealous hero who can't help wanting the heroine.
October 18, 2014
i luv this book <3
May 3, 2023
April wanted to give her recently married mother and her cantankerous stepsister some space to know each other without her existance. Therefore, she accepted Petros Konstantine's mother invitation to stay in their own island for two weeks in Greece. Petros was a friend to April in college whom she had kept in touch with even thought he went back to Greece after graduation. She was excited for her vacation, but everything changed when she met Petros brother, Michalis, who vertually kidnapped her to his islolated and will alarm-guarded vila. He refused to listen to her explanations and shocked her to the core with what Petros himself said about their relationshop!
Passable but not remarkable as a stroy. Patricia Wilson certainly had better plot development and more plausible characters and events.
Passable but not remarkable as a stroy. Patricia Wilson certainly had better plot development and more plausible characters and events.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2021
It’s as if this book is in two halves. In the first half of the book the h is feisty. She doesn’t cry. It was funny to read about her attempts to escape.
In the second half she becomes a weak woman who melts in his arms, who has lost her spunk, who cries too much. She became silly because she helped the H’s brother in a scheme.
It was disappointing to see the story deteriorate so much, because I enjoyed the first half of the book and I liked her in the first half. In the second half I found her stupid and I started to dislike her.
In the second half she becomes a weak woman who melts in his arms, who has lost her spunk, who cries too much. She became silly because she helped the H’s brother in a scheme.
It was disappointing to see the story deteriorate so much, because I enjoyed the first half of the book and I liked her in the first half. In the second half I found her stupid and I started to dislike her.
March 11, 2024
This poor, innocent and naive girl. She gets kidnapped, entrapped and seduced by a man who constantly threatens her. She deludes herself to believe that she wants him, when she is really in a constant state of fear. Nobody around them can tell what is going on or if they do they ignore it. I imagine in the epilogue you see April running away, small children in tow, finally freeing herself from this manipulative, evil man.
February 14, 2022
Some of Patricia Wilson's books are good but this one left me cold. I couldn't get into it, and even skipping around didn't find anything I wanted to read. Icky, overbearing H and h willing to be a doormat. Ugh.
August 8, 2018
maybe a 2.5
March 11, 2020
How do i read
March 11, 2023
I love this book so much. It's a romance with perfect amount of spice. Its keeps you on the edge while you read and I couldn't have asked for a better ending 😍🙈
July 26, 2022
You are two people--a mind and a body. The mind is evasive and devious, but the body is mine."
Michalis Konstantine was right. April Stewart couldn't deny the spark of attraction that had flared between them, almost from their first meeting. It wasn't much consolation to realize that Michalis was fighting and resisting that attraction almost as hard as she was.
His overpowering sensuality made her aware she was losing the battle. How could she possibly be drawn to a man who made it quite clear he despised her morals and was determined to teach her a lesson for her seduction of his brother?
Michalis Konstantine was right. April Stewart couldn't deny the spark of attraction that had flared between them, almost from their first meeting. It wasn't much consolation to realize that Michalis was fighting and resisting that attraction almost as hard as she was.
His overpowering sensuality made her aware she was losing the battle. How could she possibly be drawn to a man who made it quite clear he despised her morals and was determined to teach her a lesson for her seduction of his brother?
March 6, 2021
As a kid this was my favorite "cheap romance novel". It seem like something out of a Hallmark Channel movie, or a made-for-TV movie. As an adult, I realized that she was basically kidnapped by a stranger at an airport in another country, with no way of communicating for help... the stuff that scary documentaries are made of, and exclusive Dateline interviews. The ending is equally as disturbing as the Disney princesses who always have some random guy make everything okay in their lives. He basically shows up at her apartment out of nowhere after she managed to escape his imprisonment. Yet, despite the creepiness of it all, I still enjoyed this book better than any Nicholas Sparks novel!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2020
Not too keen of the kidnapping scenario but otherwise the romantic tension between the two protagonists was enjoyable.
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June 25, 2018"You are two people--a mind and a body. The mind is evasive and devious, but the body is mine."
Michalis Konstantine was right. April Stewart couldn't deny the spark of attraction that had flared between them, almost from their first meeting. It wasn't much consolation to realize that Michalis was fighting and resisting that attraction almost as hard as she was.
His overpowering sensuality made her aware she was losing the battle. How could she possibly be drawn to a man who made it quite clear he despised her morals and was determined to teach her a lesson for her seduction of his brother?
Michalis Konstantine was right. April Stewart couldn't deny the spark of attraction that had flared between them, almost from their first meeting. It wasn't much consolation to realize that Michalis was fighting and resisting that attraction almost as hard as she was.
His overpowering sensuality made her aware she was losing the battle. How could she possibly be drawn to a man who made it quite clear he despised her morals and was determined to teach her a lesson for her seduction of his brother?
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