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Verleid onder de Griekse zon (Bouquet Book 4187)

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Hij is gevaarlijk, maar onweerstaanbaar…Helena mag voor haar eerste opdracht als architect een huis ontwerpen voor een mysterieuze, Griekse miljardair! Haar vreugde wordt onmiddellijk getemperd als ze ontdekt wie haar opdrachtgever Theo Nikolaidis, de man met wie ze ooit verloofd was. Ze wil meteen weer weg, want ze weet dat het niet goed voor haar is om zo dicht bij hem te zijn. Maar ze voelt zich ook meteen weer onweerstaanbaar tot hem aangetrokken...Theo heeft het Helena nooit vergeven dat ze hem heeft verlaten. En nu heeft hij eindelijk de kans zich te wreken. Ze zit hier vast op zijn Griekse privé-eiland, en hij zal haar straffen voor haar verraad. Straffen in de vorm van verleiding...

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 4, 2020

62 people are currently reading
97 people want to read

About the author

Michelle Smart

710 books257 followers
Michelle Smart is a Publishers Weekly bestselling romance author with a slight-to-severe coffee addiction. With over four million copies of her books sold worldwide, Michelle is now embracing the indie book world to write the passionate romance books she knows her readers love whilst continuing to write for Harlequin Mills & Boon. She is also the author of Butterflies, a standalone romantic and humorous time travel novel set in the 1990s.

A bookworm since birth, Michelle can usually be found hiding behind a paperback, or if it’s an author she really loves, a hardback.

Michelle loves hearing from readers and can be contacted directly via her website.

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5 stars
43 (24%)
4 stars
62 (35%)
3 stars
44 (25%)
2 stars
17 (9%)
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10 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,226 reviews634 followers
April 5, 2020
So good. Second chance story of a H/h who were on the verge of marrying three years before. Heroine jilted H because she thought he was too controlling (like her dad) and she wanted to explore her career. Hero has never forgotten her, and has been celibate ever since he met her (they never had sex while engaged).

For revenge, he arranges for the heroine to design a dream home for him on a Greek Island.

He joins the heroine, and all of that time together eventually leads to sex and finally conversations about their relationship. Turns out they were both jealous and possessive and controlling, but now they are mature enough to handle their strong emotions.

I really enjoyed the H/h’s personalities and how they fit together. Hero is exuberant guy who loves to “hold court.” Heroine is serious and quiet. I believed in their hard-won happy ending.
Profile Image for Esther .
960 reviews197 followers
January 18, 2020
ARC provided by NetGalley and Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 3.25

Theo, was exacting revenge against his ex fiancé, Helena. She left him at the alter and broke his heart three years ago. He devised a scheme to have her design his dream home (more like their dream home when they had talked about building when they were engaged), Helena is a design architect. He will be his charming self, have her fall in love with him and then let her experience what he did years ago. They travel to his island and he then proceed to slowly chip away at wall around her heart. He was charming, sweet and romantic. And of course Helena began to realize how much she missed him and all the feelings he evoked in her.

Helena, couldn't believe Theo was back in her life. She left him at the alter as he reminded her too much of her father. Her father was a domineering male who treated the females in his life, especially her mother, with arrogance and control. She dedicated her self to her career. But Theo was a ghost in her life and now he's back. She has no choice but to help build their, oops his dream home. Her company is suffering financially and this will be a tremendous help.

They than have a tug a war of who's going to win in their mission. Helena plan is to do her job, stay away from Theo and get off the island as soon as possible with her heart intact. Theo was determined to woo Helena, charm her and get her to have some fun. As Theo's mission progress he finds that his heart is now becoming involved again and Helena begins to realize that maybe she saw Theo in the wrong light and was everything she's always wanted. As they spend more time together hearts being to melt and feelings resurface. They begin to see that they misunderstood each other and situations in each other's lives. Theo's scheme is revealed just as Helena realizes she misjudge him and still loves him. She's heartbroken and Theo realizes he loves her and can't do life without her. He does a wonderful job of winning her back and really like the epilogue.

So now the reason for the three star rating. I had a very hard time liking Helena. She seemed almost like a shrew and negative Nancy. Her reasoning for leaving Theo was childish and done in a cruel manner. I didn't warm to her till the last couple chapters at best. Now Theo, I loved him. He was charming, funny, sweet and a tease (in a good way, with all his little winks). He did so much for Helena, he really did adore her. I thought he gave her too much chances to be honest. He almost deserved better. He was the reason the rating made it to three or it would have been a two.

I normally love this authors books but this heroine didn't work for me.

Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
March 4, 2020
Typical Michelle Smart heroine. She was cold and mean I couldn't warm up to her. Hero was beta and a softie not sexy at all. Boring! Both hero and heroine were celibate while apart so if you like super nice doormat heroes you will love this book.
Profile Image for reeder (reviews).
204 reviews116 followers
May 27, 2020
Three years earlier, the heroine jilted the hero the day before their wedding because she feared he was as controlling as her father. (Insert backstory about heroine's oppressed mother.) The hero, who has been impotent since their break-up, has decided on a three-pronged revenge to recover his machismo:

1) He hires the architect heroine to design the dream home they had discussed during their courtship, to remind her of all she could have had if she had married him
2) He will seduce her, to sex her out of his system.
3) In the process, he will squire her about publicly, so when it's over "everyone" will know that he dumped her.

I like many things about this book, but two things stand out (oh, heavens, this is going to be an enumerating review):

1) The hero's gregarious personality. He's an extrovert who enjoys partying, the company of others, and takes joy out of life. It isn't partying for sex or partying to prove he's part of an elite social strata. He parties for fun. Smart does a great job conveying his outgoing charisma, even though most of the book presents the protagonists in an isolated bubble.
2) Smart keeps the heroine out of the victim role by having her stand behind the choice she made 3 years ago. There's no pathetic mooning after the hero. She wants to sex him out of her system, too. (She sees his decision not to make love before their wedding three years ago as more evidence of his controlling nature. She wanted sex then. She'll take it now.)

However, I am incredibly frustrated with their behavior at the time of the break-up. (Eek. More enumerating.)

1) The heroine never had a reasonable conversation with her fiancé about her concerns. Smart tries to convince the reader and the hero that his benign actions (saving sex for the wedding night, facilitating the heroine's transfer to an architecture program in Greece to complete her studies, an unfortunate comment to her father that they would start their family as soon as she was through with her education) form a scary, controlling pattern, but...they don't. She's too damaged to trust him and escalates their first discussion of the topic to a break-up in under ten minutes.
2) Part of the hero's extreme bitterness -- the underlying justification for his revenge plot -- is that he was publicly humiliated by showing up for the wedding and being abandoned at the altar. She broke up with him the night before. She didn't contact him that night to say she'd changed her mind. He didn't contact her before heading to the cathedral. Dude, the public humiliation? That's on you for being so arrogant you didn't believe her.

Obviously his inability to understand that the sudden, extreme argument represented a real fear for the heroine contributed to his foolishness in showing up for the wedding. And I'm not going to ding the heroine for being both sheltered (hence behaving younger than her years) and damaged. But there's still something aggravating about the lack of communication on both sides.
Profile Image for Bibi.
1,287 reviews137 followers
March 7, 2020
It was a good story. Well written, but ultimately forgettable.
Profile Image for Tmstprc.
1,300 reviews168 followers
June 7, 2021
Nicely done second chance.
Profile Image for Toni.
1,571 reviews64 followers
March 23, 2020
4.5 Stars

This is a book in the Harlequin Presents line over at Harlequin Books. This line of books is slightly more sensual than a normal Harlequin book and tends to have an International flavor to it.

Basic premise: Theo has a plan. He wants revenge on Helena for leaving him at the alter years earlier. But of course, as plan go, this one goes awry almost immediately. Neither have been with another person since their breakup. And now them being together for an unexpected length of time is proving to pull them together closer than ever.

We all know how this is going to end. Theo will succeed at his quest and Helena will be embarrassed and dejected. But what if half way through he decides his quest is over and now he wants to have that happily ever after with Helena? If she ever finds out what he was up to it will be over. And now that he has fallen back in love with her, he never wants her to discover the truth.

This was a little hard to read at time. I could totally see both points of view and how they had come to this moment. It was just hard watching it all unfold knowing what was coming. Great book and I highly recommend it.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
hq-to-read
July 3, 2020
She owes him a wedding night…

He’ll collect it in Greece!

It’s heart-stopping for architect Helena to learn that her mystery client is Theo Nikolaidis—her ex-fiancé! Unwilling to sacrifice her hard-fought independence, she ended their engagement, but memories of their passion were harder to leave behind…

Theo has one goal: seeking vengeance on his runaway bride! Yet their return to the Greek island they had planned to call home complicates everything. Theo can’t escape their past…or the intense connection that spectacularly reignites! Will this tycoon be tempted to rewrite the rules of his revenge?
Profile Image for Frankie.
449 reviews
March 5, 2020
This is a personal preference for me but I loathe when one of the MCs (99% the Hero) is stuck on an ex. For me personally, I want my Heroes and heroines to be heart-free from others because it is the main couple's story that I want to read about - not about ex's. So if that doesn't bother you and you like romances with low angst, this would be a good one for you.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,949 reviews301 followers
March 12, 2021
Heroine jilted our hero at the altar 3 years ago. He's back and he wants retribution: he hires her services (she's an architect) and will make her fall in love with him to dump her publicly. Of course he realizes he's always been in love with her and that he can't go on with this revenge. He tells her the truth and he's more shattered than her. Eventually she's back and they marry and have children. The heroine in this book is really annoying. Hero is a nice and fun man very much in love with her, they are great together and she jilts him at the altar because they have a quarrel the day before, a stupid quarrel where she was angry because she saw him talking with her manipulative father, telling him that he wanted her to be a barefoot and pregnant wife. She's afraid that she will turn out to be as her mother who gave up all her dreams to live with a manipulative high- handed man. For this stupid reason she jilted him. When they meet again she's nasty and unpleasant and I really don't see why he's in love with her. I understand very well a woman's need for independence and career, her need to be equal to him in all her choices but her behaviour with him is unforgivable. She left him even if he explained to her that he was only joking with her father and that he really didn't mean for her to give up her career when they married. What else did she want? I think that her love for him was not so strong since she gave up at the first problem. She accused him of never calling her afterwards, never looking for her but I think I understand the hero perfectly. After a rejection like that I don't think there are many things to say between them. He was also celibate even if she was pictured on the press with many woman beside him. He has only her in his mind. Hero is also immature and coward. His plan for revenge is weak and mean: I can understand he was hurt but he's not a 10 year old boy. In the end when he realizes he was wrong he doesn't try to win her back and becomes a sad crybaby. It's ok that he tried to help her to live her life without fear but sometimes it seems that he is described as the adult one when he's always partying, and that what he requires from her, the real change is that she should party more, drink more, dance more. This was not appropriate, it is a behaviour more appropriate if you are 16 and not 35. The end was cute, they get married and have children, but anyway if you are looking for alpha man, that is brave, strong and ready to fight for their woman this is not the case.
Profile Image for Pauline Destinugrainy.
Author 1 book265 followers
December 20, 2021
Theo telah merencanakan aksi balas dendam terhadap Helena. Dia menjadikan gadis itu sebagai arsitek untuk rumah yang akan dibangunnya di sebuah pulau di Yunani. Helena yang meninggalkannya di altar tiga tahun yang lalu harus merasakan bagaimana sakit hati ketika ditinggalkan oleh orang yang dicintai.

Helena terkejut ketika mengetahui kliennya adalah mantan kekasih yang dihindarinya. Theo yang haus kendali mengingatkannya pada ayahnya yang memperlakukan ibunya tidak selayaknya seorang istri. Namun Helena harus bersikap profesional demi kelangsungan bisnis tempat kerjanya.

Theo membawa Helena ke Yunani, dan menempati sebuah wisma. Theo yakin Helena masih ingat akan rencana-rencana yang pernah mereka susun bersama. Dia bertekad mendekati Helena, membuatnya jatuh cinta lagi, dan mengakhiri semuanya. Baik Theo dan Helena masih sama-sama mencintai, dan merasakan dampak dari perpisahan mereka. Hanya saja keduanya terlalu angkuh untuk mengakui, bahkan cenderung saling menyakiti satu sama lain. Yang bikin turn off itu endingnya yang kayak langsung balik 180° gitu.
Profile Image for MissKitty.
1,747 reviews
June 3, 2022
3.5 this was very cute. Another revenge trope because the Hero was still heartbroken over the heroine jilting him. However unlike in the previous book i read, this Hero could not go through with his revenge scheme.

Poor besotted Hero was still so in love w the heroine. She thought he was domineering and controlling and she had a bad case of cold feet so she ended it w him the day before the wedding. In my opinion, the humiliation the Hero suffered was all self inflicted because he was too arrogant to believe the heroine meant to leave him, so he went through w the wedding and embarrassed himself in front of friends and family when she didn’t turn up. So yes this is his fault.

I liked that the heroine was talented snd had a career she was dedicated to. It was important to her to have a sense of independence especially since she grew up with a controlling father who warped her world view.

The Hero was cute and charming, even when he was trying to be an a$$ to the heroine. He really just couldnt do it.
Profile Image for Dana Busenbark.
2,801 reviews29 followers
March 31, 2020
Who is Helena Armstrong? How does Theo know her? Oh my…. The trials Theo has undergone over the past few years, poor thing. What do we learn about them? How does the past change the present? What plan does Theo have in his head? Why is this so important to him? What does he learn about Helena? The misconceptions that they each have about one another is so sad. The stubbornness of each side is maddening! Things flip-flop a number of times. Read and see how it ends!

RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A GIFT from Netgalley FOR A FAIR/HONEST REVIEW and REVIEWER FOR Bloggin' With M. Brennan.
Profile Image for Mattie.
1,988 reviews8 followers
July 27, 2022
I liked it, at first I thought I would hate it so much because the hero's personality was annoying (the constant smiling and teasing of heroine, he felt very unserious). Turns out he was pretty great, I really liked that he was celibate (I think he probably did stuff with other woman possibly oral but he had inability to get an erection so not really by his choice was he celibate, but I'll take it). I liked heroine but a bit less so than the hero, not a fan of how career focused she was. I did love how she reacted to hero's original plan of revenge and just leaving. I also liked how authentic her forgiving him came about, taking time to really think about everything. P.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kate.
57 reviews
August 16, 2020
A really passionate revenge story by Michelle Smart, who never disappoints!
Loved both the H and the h and the setting on the Greek isles was beautiful and added so much to the whole second chance at love theme as memories for them both at these places were so vividly never forgotten.
They both matured in their 3 year absence and soon revenge gives way to better communication, honesty about their love and a delightful and well deserved HEA.
I would give it 5 stars if Theo's winking didn't irritate me so much!
Profile Image for Nikki.
2,204 reviews9 followers
November 26, 2022
Hey did you know communication is key to a happy relationship and a happy marriage?!! This hero and heroine did NOT. They didn’t speak about expectations or feelings or insecurities, then are shocked they broke up?! It also make no sense for them to get back together…cause the heroine’s issues and points have to be ignored for the happy ending. She fought so hard to be heard by the hero then shoved it all aside to do what he wanted and she didn’t and completely negate everything she said. It’s just very sexist and lazy writing. Skip.
2 reviews
Read
November 17, 2024
I love harlequin romance and have no problem with the plethora of young single gorgeous billionaires that are available for leading roles in books. But spoiler alert this one with the winking billionaire who has been impotent for 2 years and is only excited by one woman in the world is just going too far. Besides that he is morally bankrupt and has no problem using his former fiancée’s chosen profession to coerce her into spending sexy time with him and drops innuendos that would embarrass a high schooler made me hate this book. First one in many many years I didn’t finish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Page Passion .
859 reviews9 followers
September 19, 2020
My first HP by Michelle Smart!

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I love second chance romances, so this was right up my alley. Also, lately, I've been into books that take place in faraway places because I desperately want to travel. It's so true about wanting to run away as an adult instead of when I was a child. I literally would go to an island right now!

The Greek setting, the sexy times, the cute relationship moments between Helena and Theo all make for an excellent and sensual read.
13 reviews
March 28, 2020
Really good read with happy ending. I love reading this authors books
279 reviews2 followers
March 5, 2021
3.5 ***
The story was engaging enough but there was something missing.
Profile Image for Brenda.
84 reviews
July 22, 2022
These are my absolute favorite books to read
Profile Image for Athena333.
60 reviews1 follower
January 9, 2026
it was over all a good read. second chance at love. both stayed celibate during breakup.
but it's a slow burn. im not into slow burn 😔❤️‍🔥.
Profile Image for Lori Sang.
284 reviews4 followers
October 15, 2020
I love this story! Especially the hero, Theo, he was quite a refreshing main character. He’s not the brooding, serious type that you would normally find in a Harlequin romance. He was playful, funny, romantic and very charming. I don’t know how Helena could’ve jilted him in the first place and then was able to resist him when he came back into her life, well okay the resistance didn’t last for very long. LOL. They were dealing with some really relatable issues and I love that they both fought for their HEA. Overall, a very original and well written story.
Profile Image for anisa fitri zakirah.
362 reviews4 followers
June 11, 2020
His ego was hurt when she left him at the altar. Not quite though, she actually told him why she left him the day before the wedding, but he didn't believe her. So he was planning on getting a revenge with her. But they fell in love again. It's cute, really. Oh yeah, don't listen to Jenny, she was actually a strong woman, I'm not a feminist but Im here for equality. Don't let men dominate every part of your life girl.
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