Sophie and the Scorching Sicilian

The Balfour Brides #4

by Kim Lawrence

The Balfour girls are glitzy, glamorous and gorgeous—except Sophie. Convinced she's dumpy and plain, she avoids the limelight. But her father has had enough of Sophie hiding herself away. He's arranged a job for her to boost her self-confidence.

Working for gorgeous Sicilian Marco Speranza is a revelation. Sophie knows that she's not pretty enough to catch the eye of such a powerful man, yet he seems determined to seduce her. Does the gorgeous billionaire have an ulterior motive?

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin Romance, Fiction, Family

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Though lacking much authentic Welsh blood, Kim Lawrence comes from English-Irish stock. She was born and brought up in North Wales. She returned there when she married, and her sons were both born on Anglesey, an island off the coast. Though not isolated, Anglesey is a little off the beaten track, but lively Dublin, which Kim loves, is only a short ferry ride away. Today they live on the farm her husband was brought up on. Welsh is the first language of many people in this area and Kim's husband and sons are all bilingual she is having a lot of fun, not to mention a few headaches, trying to learn the language! She is a keen gardener and cook and enjoys running often on the beach, as living on an island the sea is never very far away. She is usually accompanied by her Jack Russell, Sprout don't ask, it's long story!

With small children, the unsocial hours of nursing didn't look attractive so encouraged by a husband who thinks she can do anything she sets her mind to, Kim tried her hand at writing. Always a keen Mills & Boon reader, it seemed natural for her to write a romance novel. In 1995, she published her first novels and now she can't imagine doing anything else.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Plain” heroine – she has an hourglass figure, perfect skin and hair, bright blue eyes and gorgeous legs – is sent off by her father to work for an interior designer in London. Father thinks she’s too shy and withdrawn.

Heroine is a doormat to everyone until there is an opening for her to represent the company to a wealthy client in Sicily. Seems everyone else is too ill too go. Heroine travels all day and is kept waiting by the hero. Heroine is hangry (that’s hungry and angry) and is uncharacteristically feisty during their confrontation.

Cynical, divorced hero is intrigued by heroine’s rudeness, blushes, clumsiness.

Have you read this scenario before? I know I have.

The heroine is given the commission to re-decorate his villa. Hero seduces her. They have a sexual and working relationship. Hero asks her to marry him without the magic words – heroine runs away, wrecks her car, hero realizes he loves her. HEA.

So tropey and cliched. This is probably a two star story, but I was in the mood for predictability and this was charmingly told so I rounded up.

[willaful]

Just didn't hold my interest... the heroine who thinks of herself as fat and turns out to have a tiny waist and great legs didn't help.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't really feeling this book, sorry to say, but it just didn't do much for me. I just wasn't feeling the romance so much and even felt it was kind of forced between the characters at time or more precisely I didn't believe what they were feeling as actually real or genuine. Like I said it was forced. I really didn't feel or see the chemistry between these two not at all, and that's the point of a romance for the reader to believe that the characters were falling in love and this one just didn't deliver. I think a big reason for that was that I felt like I was more told than shown the feelings of the characters in this book, which was what made it unbelievable for me. For instance, Marco stated that he was attracted to Sophie and that he wanted her, which was fine and explanation he gave for why he felt that was fine, but that didn't mean I felt it in my heart. I would have felt better if it was shown more that he couldn't keep his hands off her like maybe he moved head towards her to kiss her then quickly backed off because he realized what he was doing and kind of berating himself in his head for doing that because she was his employee or something like, but instead there was none of that and the first move he made or even first kiss was during the love scene, which wasn't much of a love scene to begin with in the first place, when he decided he wanted her, and it just was all most too sudden without much lead up.

Which leads me to the chemistry, which I thought there was none at all, or at least I didn't feel there was any. The development of their relationship was just bland and boring with no excitement or anticipation or tension between the pair for me to get excited about. It was ho hum. I was curious about their first kiss and first love scene, but at the same time I was drooling with anticipation for it or jumping up and down for them to get together because I just felt that the tension and the passion were missing between the pair. I just didn't feel it at all. Their relationship was boring.

I also felt that the wasn't a strong enough conflict there that would add to the complexity and interestingness to their relationship. Instead it was kind of flat and weak. Okay the conflict was that she didn't feel pretty enough compared to her sister and kept out of the limelight to avoid being compared to them by the public and believed no man would want her anyway because she wasn't beautiful enough. Then his conflict was that he was hurt by his ex-wife Allegra who only married him for his money and he vowed never to be a sap again and would only indulge in shallow, physical relationships with women plus the fact that Sophie worked for Marco, which he didn't do employee-employer relationships ever, thinking they would get too complicated. Those were conflict and when describing them it sounds like a good for a romance with a set up like that, right? But it was just executed all wrong and just did nothing for the romance and just felt like the conflicts were there, yet not big deal to overcome. There was no real struggle or tension that kept them from being together or fighting to be together. They employee-employer thing was there and Marco fought against it, but it still wasn't this agonizing, heart wrenching kind of a struggle that would add immensely to the tension between the two. It was almost superficial. I thought too that made the ex-wife would come into at the end to test their relationship, but that didn't happen.

Though the ex-wife apparently stole something from him, which was revealed at the end, which came out of nowhere and I was like where did this come from because I don't remember seeing anything about that previously, but then again I was skimming through the chapters pretty quickly since I was pretty bored with the entire romance. Also, I was confused about Sophie finding out that he was supposedly writing to Allegra and that seemed out of left field to me too, but was suppose to add to the tension, but once again didn't, again it could have been because I was reading to fast and not picking up every little word here or there, but that just threw me too and just felt almost stuck in there to add drama, which it did, but it didn't work in the long run.

Again I didn't believe these characters were falling in love and had no real passion or at least none that I could see. The love scenes were kind of abrupt and rushed for my taste, which added to the lack of tension between the two (that was shown anyway) and the scenes were kind of just brushed over and almost no big deal like much of the romance was. The one detailed scene of their so called passion was again rushed, but also forced and contrived and just seemed to do what they thought they should do not what they wanted to do or felt in their heart they should do, which made for a bad combination, making the scene almost boring and passionless. Then after that single scene there weren't really anymore beside maybe a paragraph or two summarizing their intimacy like her first time. So once again we didn't see their passion for another, which made it really hard to believe that they were passionately in love with one another, which I didn't think they were especially on his part and kind just threw that out there because he was supposed to like he was playing a role in a movie or something.

It just didn't feel real to me, and I didn't feel like I was watching a people's journey for falling in love with one another, which is the point of romance. So, if I couldn't feel the emotional journey that the characters were taking, how was I going to enjoy the ride right along with them? I don't even know if they enjoyed the ride a hundred percent, they could have be bored just like I was. Just the romance didn't work.

I will comment on one part I did like, but then back it up with something I didn't in the same breath. I liked the fact that Marco made Sophie feel comfortable and safe enough around him where she felt like she could be herself and become the person that she was meant to be. She could stand up for herself and be this independent woman that she longed to be, instead of the meek one stuck in her sisters shadows. I liked that her relationship with Marco made her stronger and find herself. What I didn't like, and I know that this sounds hypocritical of me, was how quickly she changed instead of showing a genuine, natural progression, showing her development as the novel went on. She stood up to him in the first few chapters, showing her passion for her career and showing that she wasn't afraid of him, not that I wanted her to be afraid him, on the contrary and I liked that she felt safe enough with him right away where she could fight her battles with him without fear really, but I just felt that she did a one eight in a couple of pages from meek mild mouse to fighter and standing up for herself too quickly and going back and forth in those pages that I wasn't sure who the true Sophie was yet especially since I was just getting to know her. It was almost bi-polar, and too fast. I like the build up in story where I would see this meek mouse turn into a strong woman by the end of the book, but instead in this book it was just all over the place, which made me not like Sophie so much and felt like she was whiny some of the times then go back and forth between strong to whiny in a couple pages. Didn't like that at all.

Marco was a good guy and not a jerk at all during the entire book, yet still and alpha male, yet I didn't feel like he was a drool worthy alpha like alphas tend to be in these books. He definitely brought out and supported Sophie as she dealt with her confidence issues and even helped her through them by telling her all the time that she was beautiful, which was nice to see. And he did feel hurt when his ex betrayed him and I understood that, and understood why he acted like he did, but at the same time like I said before in this review I didn't see him falling in love with Sophie. I just didn't. It seemed like one minute he was so against marriage then he was pro marriage, and I get that it was "supposedly" because of Sophie and his feelings for her, but again I didn't feel that way. I needed it be shown a bit more. I guess him allowing her to act as hostess for the ball was meant to do that and meant to be the big gesture to show he trusted her, but I still wasn't feeling it. And the proposal was just weird and so just thrown out there it was like "what" with me not preparing anywhere that this was coming (despite I did know since this is a Presents after all). And during this proposal he didn't believe he was in love with her at all instead was only asking because it was the practical thing to do then when she left all of a sudden he realized he was in love with her. Too quick and too unbelievable because of such a rapid change of heart in only a few pages (I know many Presents have this formula as well with the hero coming to a realization that he loved the heroine after she is gone, but at least during those book I felt that the hero had developed deep feelings for the heroine earlier but just wasn't ready to admit it yet, but I could feel it coming off the pages and feel it in my heart of his true feelings for her then making a grand gesture to win her back. Also usually in those stories I could feel the passion/chemistry between the pair throughout the book as well, which helps the feelings along better as well as makes it more believable in a fiction sense that is) and it just didn't feel right. Then again I wasn't really fan of how this relationship was portrayed either so that didn't help my view either. I just didn't believe he was in love with her, and that was the bottom line of it all.

Also another thing that was disconcerting was the format of the book, which was just so choppy because sometimes point of views changed every two paragraphs from Marco's to Sophie's then back to Marco in like a single page, and it was very jarring and it was kind of hard to shift back and forth. It was too much back and forth within a short span of a page, and it didn't work for me. Too much shifting plus then there were breaks along the way too, which sometimes indicated point of view shifts or time breaks, but never being really consistent about it, making the novel less fluid and choppy. Plus there was too much telling and not enough showing for my taste.

I don't know what else to say except that I was extremely disappointed in this book, and was just expecting so much more than what I got. The story was bland, the romance was bland, there were weak conflicts, no real chemistry/tension between the characters, unlikable heroine, feelings changed too quickly, I didn't believe that they were in love with one another especially for him, his attitude seemed to change real quick, and I just would have liked to have seen more of a struggle so I could have read more about the fighting for their love. But that wasn't done so it just made for a not entertaining romance, instead it was just boring, harsh I know, but no less true from my point of view. It just didn't work for a love story, at least for me where I like more of the love/ hate relationships in romances, which adds so much to the tension to a story and feeling that pull back and forth until I would be like kiss her already or just seeing the struggles and obstacles along the way, and this book just didn't do it, which is what colored my view of the whole story. It just boring and bland, and that basically summarizes it for me. Hopefully the rest of the books in this mini-series aren't like this as well because then I am definitely not going to enjoy the series at all.

[Titinha Scaeiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
Outra história fofinha, os livros tem melhorado, pelo menos não são homens que tenha vontade de espancar!

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Makii · Rating 4 out of 5]

En realidad es un 3.5
Sophie esta Convencida de que ella es de todas las hermanas la unica regordeta y sosa, evita ser el centro de atención,es experta en pasar desapercibida con su look de ropas anchas y feas. Hasta que su padre, el multimillonario magnate Oscar Balfour, harto de que se escondiera, le consigue un trabajo para alentar su confianza en sí misma. Y que mejor que trabajar con el atractivo siciliano Marco Speranza? Sophie peinsa que no es lo suficientemente hermosa como para llamar la atención de un hombre tan poderoso, pero él parece decidido a seducirla. ¿Tendría el guapo multimillonario algún motivo oculto para hacerlo?
A ver, Sophie es de la única que esta todo el tiempo auto criticándose y menospreciándose, cuando en realidad no tiene porque hacerlo ya que es inteligente, hermosa y con un cuerpo escultural. Pero años de burlas la convencieron de que ella no era algo mas que insignificante. Vive constantemente a las sombras de sus hermanas. Y se nota porque todo el tiempo esta hablando de ellas. Me desespera...
Y Marcos... es frío, arrogante, pero cuando esta con ella es tan diferente. Con un fracaso matrimonial lleno de infidelidades y humillaciones, el no esta dispuesto a entregar su corazón a nadie mas, pero Sophie es tan diferente....

Un hombre puede hablar, andar e incluso reirse y al mismo tiempo tener el corazon muerto...

Sus díalogos son super divertidos(pero a veces no se entiende bien a que quieren llegar jajja). fue de todas las parejas mas divertidas, aunque me falto un poco de chispa, de esas que las siente una cuando lee.
Igual, agradezco que en este libro ni quede embarazada ni entre el padre como cazadero.
Sigo esperando alguna interacción entre las hermanas. Salvo la mención de una que ora mucho mas que eso no hay.... y ya voy haciéndome a la idea de que no la va a haber tampoco....
Al menos, hay algo mas de relación que en los anteriores y un par de lines con el padre... poquito pero peor es nada!

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sophie and the Scorching Sicilian" is the story of Sophie and Marco.
Out of all the glitzy and glamorous Balfour girls, Sophie is the shy and introverted one. Ridiculed both by her family and peers, the wallflower gets challenged by her father to carve her own destiny, and finds herself working for an interior designing firm.
Always a doormat, things change when she overtakes designing for the famous billionaire Sicilian Marco Speranza, and sparks fly and the butterfly emerges from her cocoon.
Slow burn romance with occasional hilarious banter and curve appreciation. I didnt like how everyone treated Sophie initially, but so glad she found her backbone.
Nothing special by the burned-by-ex hero.
Safe
3/5

[Megzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another spoiled socialite with no care in the world, ending up marrying a gizillionaire.

[Louise Venter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick, slightly hot read. I always do love the underdog and Sophie is just that!

[Lenore Kosinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars -- Meh. It started off pretty good actually, I read almost half before finally going to sleep and I was pretty pleased. Sophie was feisty around Marco, and I loved the way she got under his skin and he couldn't figure it out.

And then I started reading the next day, and the pacing just slowed to a crawl. There was one scene that was probably 5 minutes real time that took over 20 pages -- that's entirely too much internal shiznit going on for me, and it was fairly repetitive and boring. Felt like padding.

And at that point I think I started to lose interest, but I was far enough along I wanted to know how it ended. It was okay. The whole he could tell she was a virgin with his finger made me roll my eyes, but alas...it's a Harlequin. Ah well, another one I can give away!

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Novel ini mengecewakan saya. Pertama, terlalu panjang dan ber-tele² dan tidak pernah kena sasaran. Kedua, dialog antara kedua tokoh utama seperti makhluk bumi berkomunikasi dgn alien, alias nggak nyambung dan ber-putar² pd masa lalu Marco yaitu pengungkitan Allegra si Jalang (mantan istri Marco). Blm lagi sarkasme Marco salah sasaran mulu, malah jatuhnya melecehkan Sophie (kesan saya ya).

Klimaks cerita jg rada konyol dgn kecelakaan mobil Sophie, tetapi Sophie tidak terluka sama sekali. Demi apa saya gak ngerti mksd author bikin melodrama gak lucu begini?

[Cameil Ramouche · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like it

So I like the characters in this book I bought four book and I don't think I will buy any more because I don't like that ,there is no mention of any of the characters from previous books I would have love to see a better relationship between the sisters up to this point to me there is something missing and I can't connect the family as a whole .the story is in bits and pieces and the dots are not connected well to give a further understanding of everything.I think this will be my last book.

[Calysta · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh, I kept getting bored and distracted

[Luciagonzap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado como Sophia afronta su conflicto y Marco cómo afronta sus traumas

[Kit Tham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to skip a few sections every few pages. Maybe her writing is not my style. Will check out a handful of her books to ascertain.

[nahes. · Rating 2 out of 5]

agak lebay macam sinetron

[Debby Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book just didn’t really do a lot for me. Just a lot of introspection from the two main characters. Not a very good story line.

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

Haven’t we read this before. KL has one basic plot and I’m tired of it. She can be a good writer with real characters and interesting plots and good pacing but she doesn’t use those skills.

[Tania Martins · Rating 3 out of 5]

De todas as que li foi das mais gostei! Sophie era uma protagonista cheia de força e ele também tinha pinta...

[Fanny Roswita Ria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sebenarnya alur dari cerita ini menarik, walo agak disayangkan dengan kesalahan2 dalam pengetikan yg lumayan mengganggu spt "pucak" "didala" atau "NKali" sehingga gw jadinya lbh baca screening utk menyelesaikan novel ini. Terkadang ada beberapa bagian yg krg sinkron, terutama di awal2 cerita bagaimana sang heroine masuk ke sebuah rumah di tempat elite dg alur cerita yang memadukan masa lalu dan masa kini. Ada beberapa bagian yg menurut gw sukar utk dimengerti, kurang benang merah pada saat penerjemahaannya.

Sophie Balfour, salah satu dr putri Balfour yg terkenal, ditantang ayahnya utk keluar dr zona nyamannya yaitu mengambil pekerjaan di kantor design interior milik Amber, teman kencan ayahnya Sophie utk periode ini, dan mengembangkan bakat seninya yang didapat dari sekolah privat. Krn pada dasarnya Sophie anak yang penurut dan ingin menyenangkan ayahnya, dia mau untuk ikut ambil bagian yaitu kerja di kantor Amber.

Sophie adl sosok heroine yang tdk menjadi panutan cewek2 jaman skrg. Dia digambarkan memiliki badan yang mungil dan berlekuk, lbh terkesan gemuk dg pipi chubby. Dibandingkan dg saudara perempuan Balfour lainnya, maka heroine ini adalah sosok itik buruk rupa ditengan angsa putih yang anggun. Kepolosan dan pikiran naifnya kadang bikin gw greget lihat tingkahnya menghadapi sang hero.

Sang hero, Marco Speranza adl sosok Sisilia sejati dg pengalaman pahit dikhianati oleh istrinya sendiri menambah kesinisan sang hero akan dunia sekitarnya. Bertekad utk move on, sang hero mengambil keputusan utk merenovasi "palazzo" tempat nenek moyangnya hidup plus rumah yang dulu ditinggali oleh Marco dan Allegra, mantan istrinya.

Karena renovasi ini lah akhirnya Sophie bertemu dg Marco. 2 bintang dr gw disponsori oleh kenaifan sikap Sophie akan Marco yang menghasilkan senyum kecil selama membaca novel ini..selamat membaca

[Ladyacct · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fourth of eighth in this series and again really nothing great. I will read the description of the HP book series from now on. I don't think taking what is supposedly 7 spoiled girls and introducing/matchmaking them with bazillionaires is really teaching them anything.

This one is supposedly about the ugly duckling in the family - didn't really incite any sympathy in me, while the hero was a bit whiney...I'm beginning to see I wasted my money and my precious reading time on some lackluster series - when the authors chosen for the series are quite some of the best HP has. I don't understand it really.

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Balfour girls are glitzy, glamorous and gorgeous--except Sophie. Convinced she's dumpy and plain, she avoids the limelight. But her father has had enough of Sophie hiding herself away. He's arranged a job for her to boost her self-confidence. Working for gorgeous Sicilian Marco Speranza is a revelation. Sophie knows that she's not pretty enough to catch the eye of such a powerful man, yet he seems determined to seduce her. Does the gorgeous billionaire have an ulterior motive

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: The Balfour Brides

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: The Balfour Brides

[Katelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS AND THIS SERIES.

[Famma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its a little different than mills and boon typical contemporary romance. In all Balfour legacy series heroines are not poor and needy.

[Desi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leído el 23/07/2011

4.LA SEDUCCIÓN DE SOPHIE
Las herederas Balfour eran deslumbrantes, sofisticadas y bellas…, todas excepto Sophie. Convencida de que era regordeta y sosa, evitaba ser el centro de atención, pero su padre, harto de que se escondiera, le había conseguido un trabajo para alentar su confianza en sí misma. Trabajar con el atractivo siciliano Marco Speranza era toda una revelación. Sophie sabía que no era lo suficientemente hermosa como para llamar la atención de un hombre tan poderoso, pero él parecía decidido a seducirla. ¿Tendría el guapo multimillonario algún motivo oculto para hacerlo?