Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge

by Lynn Raye Harris

Nobody messes with Alejandro de Ramirez. He doesn't suffer fools, and certainly has no time for manipulative wantons. Rebecca Layton was both. Five years later, Alejandro's life is still in turmoil—and he's more merciless than ever. The Spanish magnate wants retribution....

Unusually, and frustratingly for Alejandro, his plan doesn't go smoothly. Surely Rebecca wasn't this alluring before. And did his body always respond in this way—with such passionate fury? This is no longer just revenge...this is red-hot and dangerous!

Genres: Harlequin Presents, Harlequin, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lynn Raye Harris is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sizzling military romantic suspense novels and contemporary romance novels. She lives in Alabama with her husband (former military), her cat, and her American Saddlebred horse.

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Reviews

[AvidReader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Give me my 4 hours back!
Dear god, I feel like cursing.. long and hard.
Hero was an abomination. I never warmed up to him. He was cold, calculating, verbally abusive manipulative son of a bitch.
(Whewwww I already feel better.)

He treated heroine cruelly the second time around. Calling her slut, blaming her for all the things that went wrong in his life after their breakup 5 years ago.
Even if that wasn’t enough he went on and married another woman. He was forced to do this .. I’ll give him this much. But nobody told him to have a kid with her and later sleep with many many women post his divorce. Dear god, in his monologue he even admitted to bringing women to the suite that once they shared and meant so much. Apparently his reason was to forget her.
I had a problem with him never trusting her, making her sign a prenuptial contract and for not giving her a sentimental wedding And much more.
Heroine tried to be brave and strong very hard with TRY being the operative word but never quite reached there.
I didn’t even want an epilogue about them and Alas when I didn’t, I got it🙄.
I need an Alexa Riley after this train wreck.

P.s for the record heroine wasn’t celibate during separation and I was bloody happy about it.
Oh.. and H/h weren’t very jealous about supposed partners they had during separation. Real mature right?!

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sure did get my blood pumping. If you like your romances intense and passionate, then this book will do the trick. I had all kinds of emotions stirring through me as I read, not all of them positive. At times I hated Alejandro. He could be a real jackass. I felt his pain at the loss of his daughter, but I resented that he wanted to blame Rebecca for everything. On the contrary, I liked and respected Rebecca a lot. She was emotionally susceptible to Alejandro, but she fought it and tried to stay in control. She was a lot more patient with him than he deserved. But for her, she had to be, because she'd never stopped loving him. At the end, I couldn't fault her for her behavior. Although Alejandro could be a real jerk, I was glad that he did apologize and try to make things right with Rebecca in the end.

This is the first book I've read by Lynn Raye Harris. I like her writing, and she definitely delivers a dramatic, sexy, passionate romance story. When it comes to Harlequin Presents, that's what I look for. So I'll be reading many more of her books (which is good, since I have a lot of her books in my pile).

[StMargarets · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this relationship. I don't know if it was the way the backstory was doled out or what - but these two characters seemed more concerned with their businesses than any emotional ties. Plus, the conflict didn't make much sense. The heroine left him because he was engaged already and he blamed her for his child dying? So the proper revenge is to ruin her family business, bed her, and then dump her?

I kept reading hoping to find some glimmer of logic in their actions. Even at the bitter end the hero was convinced the heroine had gotten pregnant on purpose and was feigning panic attacks while telling the press all kinds of secrets.

When the heroine asks how can she trust him if he keeps blowing up and accusing her of all kinds of sins, I really wanted to know the answer. I don't think she can. Dude was blinded by bitterness and delusion and don't see how that turns off just because it's page 187 and we have to wrap this up.

[KatieV · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The H is such a blind, judgmental, self-righteous POS at times that I had to remove a half star. I also wanted to kill the h for sleeping with him right after he told her he'd bought and paid for her. Also, I'd like to think my pride would have forced me to walk away sooner than she did. Still, there is lots of great angsty emotion and revenge involved. I did like the book and would read the author again.

The H was a victim of insane troll logic (credit to Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Seriously, his logic was not of this planet. He blames her for everything bad that's ever happened to him (and the universe) thanks to some seriously impressive mental acrobatics. He, of course, is blameless. It's not his fault she was freaked out by the wedding planner who showed up at their hotel room supposedly courtesy of his fiance. She shouldn't have expected a real explanation for that fiasco. She should have just meekly accepted his poor excuses and come flying back to him. She didn't and then his current business deal fell through, so OBVIOUSLY she was a pseudo-prostitute who was only sleeping with him for corporate secrets and just waiting for some sort of flimsy excuse (like a secret fiance) to leave him. She deserved to be humiliated and then utterly destroyed.

The heroine was a bit different than I've come to expect from the genre. She wasn't a virgin when she met the H and she had at least one sexual relationship after him. She wasn't wildly promiscuous, but she did have a more modern mindset where sex was concerned. If you're a stickler for the virginal heroine, you probably won't like this. I think the virgin thing appeals to me in these stories partly because it makes the heroine appear even more victimized/traumatized by the H's crap than a modern 'woman of the world' would be. Which I know isn't fair, because...pssst deep, dark, personal secret I'm not a virgin, but I still have feelings and stuff. Anyway, the author was skilled enough to make her an identifiable, likeable character who the reader could empathize with without resorting to the poor, inexperienced virgin trope (which, yes, I still love).

I did have an issue with the strength of the blackmail scheme in this one. It wasn't strong enough IMHO to justify the h putting up with all the crap. Her family wasn't in jeopardy, she wasn't supporting a secret baby, desperate to pay for the care of her twin/cousin/best friend who was in a coma, or any other obligations like that. Yeah, it was the family business and she'd have a hard time recovering from the loss, but no coma patients would have to go into 'state care', her mother wouldn't be thrown on the streets, and no kitties would be stomped if she refused to comply. She had a choice.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

So conflicted on this one...really tumbled between 3 and 4 stars. Loved the heroine's intellect but hard to see her putting up with hero's crap, except she was emotionally abused by her father, and had panic attacks, so maybe that accounts for it. she does rage a bit...great line to him about how he has to save his blackmail for the big things rather than control ever minute with it. Hero was just too irrational to be sympathetic or lovable, although the sex scenes made him more attractive. Well written and dramatic/angsty. Had the passion of the best HPs, just a little rough around the edges.

But loved that heroine moved on at least somewhat after hero so that originality got an extra star...given that he marries someone else, the usual HP silliness where she spends 5 years alone would have been ridiculous. However, did not love that she had been alone for a year and a half...or that she signed a prenup without demanding custody be included, given his threats about the baby.

[Corandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Rebecca and Alejandro. Five years ago they had a passionate affair that ended badly after Rebecca found out that Alejandro had an arranged marriage planned and Alejandro thought that Rebecca was the cause of him loosing out on an important business deal. Now Alejandro has the chance to take his revenge on Rebecca for what she did to him, he manages to take over her company and orders her to Madrid in order to let her see him destroy her company piece by piece. Only he didn't bank on the deep desire they still hold for one another, and when a surprise pregnancy happens Alejandro demands marriage.

This is a very emotional book, its full of ups and downs, and heartbreak and loss. The two characters are fantastic; Alejandro is man plagued by his past and acts completely ruthlessly towards Rebecca, yet it is obvious that even he can't control his feelings for her. Rebecca is a strong independent career woman, however she carries a lot of inner hurt over a difficult relationship with her parents and two doomed love affairs. The interaction between the two characters was always intense, going from passion to them hurling insults and accusations at each other, it's a wonder they didn't rip each other apart but it is clear that underneath everything they still have feelings for each other. The story was fast paced and exciting and really well executed.

Also, this is another example of a new writer taking traditional elements of the Modern line and breathing new life into it making it more relatable and up-to-date (eg. a strong career minded female character). I really recommend this book and others of Lynn Raye Harris.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[willaful · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an excerpt from this book when it won the Harlequin Presents "Instant Seduction" contest and was disappointed at the time that a contest for new writers was not won by a fresh, original voice but by someone imitating exactly what everyone else was writing. Reading it didn't change my mind. This plot is very much by the numbers and the writing is too -- the hero and heroine even have the same characteristic mannerism, described the same way, as if right out of a handbook.

Other than that it's an okay read, and avoids many of the worst forms of bad writing you often see in HPs, though the hero calling the heroine a slut right to her face after kissing her made me uncomfortable. On the plus side, this is the only Harlequin Presents I can think of where the (unmarried) heroine actually had sex with other people while she and the hero are separated, though naturally she isn't allowed to enjoy it.

[Jenny]

Hero and heroine not celibate.

[Nancy Crocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alejandro & Jessica had an affair that ended when Jessica walked a way, after a wedding planner showed up to plan his wedding with another woman. Feeling as though she had been used and betrayed by Alejandro, Jessica felt she had no other options but to walk away. Alejandro lost out on a major business deal that he thought Jessica had been behind so he sets out to destroy her family's business and her.

There is a lot more to this story. I did not care for the names the Hero called Jessica. But the passion between them deserved 5 stars. Of course the Hero ends up eating his words in the end as they always do.

Good overall story!

[Natalija · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge" was my first book by Lynn Raye Harris and definitely not the last one.

If you like passionate and relentless, but deeply emotionally wounded heroes, Alejandro is your man. Rebecca is intelligent and strong heroine, but what really made this story sparkle was the obvious chemistry between the two main characters. Every page was filled with angst, passion and undeniable tangible magnetism.

The only things I didn't like was the usage of the "whore" word. In my opinion, it's a pretty harsh word. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading it.

[Raffaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck.
I hoped it was a good revenge story but the hero is a whiny tiny manchild. I was tired of him blaming everything that went wrong in his life to the heroine dumping him.
Yes, the heroine had an affair with him, then a strange woman told her she was his fiancee wedding planner and she left him and refused to believe him when he told her he wasn’t engaged. She was dumb and she didn’t give him the benefit of doubt. Then her father who was a hotel magnate stole a business opportunity from him, maybe because he made his girl cry, but the hero thinks she was a spy for his father and went to bed with him because she wanted to help her father. So the hero married another woman for money, had a daughter that died for a congenital heart issue, and it’s all the heroines fault.
I was yawning during half of the book. He basically bought her hotel company and now he wants her ruined in every way just because. I don’t know what the heroine found charming about him. He’s only an immature passive aggressive man. Even if she did dumped him he didn’t starve himself, he managed to build his own empire and even got married. It’s not the heroine fault if his wife was a bitch and his child died, but you know, he wanted to marry the heroine that was rich so she would have helped him and when she left him he had to marry another rich woman who turned out to be a bitch. Booohoooo.
Until the end the hero behaves like a pain in the azz. I can’t even say he was cruel because the heroine never cared enough for him, she was thank god her own person, but it was tiring and I think that after a while he was too self absorbed to even feel any angst. Thank god no double standards, he had women but she had men too, but of course he also was married to ow. I don’t like this kind of plot at all. He got married for money, wanted to marry the heroine because she was hot and she was rich, nothing speaks love here. I suppose that if his wife had been a nice and decent woman and his daughter hadn’t died he would never have got back with the heroine so I didn’t find anything romantic here.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of this book, but I have to admit the first marriage back story was completely unnecessary to the actual story. All it added was pointless melodrama and motivation for the "hero"'s basket case complex.

Don't get me wrong, I completely recommend reading this just for the passion alone, but I feel like there was not enough evidence or reason for his preconceived judgements of the heroine that hurt my feelings towards towards this book. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but I feel like all of his motivation for revenge was flimsy and his final treatment of the heroine did not prove to me he really learned his lesson.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ooof that wasn't good. The hero is very foolish and makes every mistake so its hard to root for him. The heroine and the hero just keep hurting each other back and forth and nothing brings them closer. The author had to knock up the heroine just to get them back together, cause they couldn't do it on their own. Heroine, for being so accomplished, was a push over and did everything the hero wanted after some whining. Skip cause its aint fun.

[Mattie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really hated this one. I don't like that hero got married and had a daughter during 5 years hero and heroine were apart. I blame hero entirely because he refused to prove he wasn't actually engaged to another woman said his word was enough. I hate the whole plot and every single character, hero was jerk entire book and heroine just rolled over for him (like when she just stayed after all the horrible things he said to her). P.

[Aaron Polish · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is as good as it got, more power to the author,

[Arliana Musgrove · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it… I stopped when she said got on the plane after he found out she was pregnant. He was verbally abusive and controlling, she had no backbone or spine. I need my 3hrs back

[Edeliz Bering · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Alejandro and Rebecca, started five years ago, when Rebecca daughter of a successful American hotel magnate visited Madrid to see the
restoration of the Villa de Musica, then he meet Alejandro a drop-dead gorgeous and irresistible famous bullfighter and also new in the hotel
business. They have one-month whirlwind passionate affair which ended bitterly.

After five-years Alejandro become a successful business tycoon, He is now
a billionaire in his own right and now acquiring the Layton International's the hotel own by Rebecca's family. He vows to get to Rebecca and make her pay for leaving him and for stealing the business deal the Ramirez Enterprises should have with Roger Cahill Group five years ago.

The story is so intense, emotional and full of aghast, there are times it is too painful to read specially the vile and blatant rude accusation of Alejandro to Rebecca. If there is such thing as bitter-vile-ruthless hero then Alejandro's character pass with flying colors. To me he acted more like a villain than a hero. I can understand the reason of his bitterness and issues, but I cannot take his cold treatment towards Rebecca blames her of everything
including the death of his own daughter (really as if it was Rebecca's fault!). When he followed Rebecca to New York and found out she is pregnant with his child, he got furious and then he again accused her of calculating and manipulating the pregnancy. He blackmail her again drag her back to Madrid marries her with prenap, ofcourse he still thinks the worst of her.

Rebecca, well I cannot fault her she is a woman who is so blindly in-love with Alejandro, the painful insults or verbal abuse Alejandro throws to her is none compare to her great love for Alejandro (I felt at one point of the story that she is developing a battered girlfriend symptoms or something) I just wish she is strong enough. I cannot get over when she let Alejandro insulted her, degrades her by calling her bad names, and blackmail her although the blackmailing part she is totally helpless because Alejandro has all the cards and that she just wanted to save Layton International.

After they got married their rows still continues in-spite of how hot they were for each other. Until Rebecca no longer take his insults and accusations walks out. Alejandro followed her, she ask him for divorce which he refuses, then he started declaring his ultimate love towards Rebecca asking for her forgiveness for all the wrong accusations he says and done. I found his asking for forgiveness part as cold and insincere. Although it does not take long time for Rebecca to forgive Alejandro she is so crazily in love with him, in a space of minutes she forgive him quickly and too easily.

Eventually they found their happily ever after, she give birth to a healthy baby girl and expecting a twins after eight-months.

[Asrina Maharani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just another regular HQ

[Meily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate the story, heroine and hero. Enough said. It doesn't work for me

[Tilly]

2,5 stars.

[Nichole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, he owed her a whole lot more groveling. He was a real bastard to her time and again. Rebecca my dear, you were very weak.

[Angy · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the story.
100% recommended.

[lindel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

Not much of a story. Was not invested in this couple. Not a hint of passion detected. Just plain old vanilla.