An innocent beauty is courted by her mysterious boss to play his lover during a dangerous mission. Dare she resist her SOLDIER OF FORTUNE?
A cornered beast. There's no other way to describe J.D. Brettman. And no one fought against love among all three heroes in this collection harder than he did. Knowing how Gabby Darwin felt for him, he set out to prove to her that he was not the man for her. I just didn't particularly like his methods for doing so--by almost raping her. Although he didn't intend to, J.D. lost control and undoubtedly managed to do more than what he set out to do, which was to turn Gabby against him. But then he panicked when he found out that she was really loving him. He was never comfortable with their thirteen-year age difference but he was willing to forget all that as long as Gabby could learn to care for him again. What made up for the almost-rape scene? When J.D. stopped their lovemaking even when he learned that Gabby was finally ready to give herself to him, so that they could wait until after their wedding. Sweet.
Final verdict: 7/10. Good read.
*******
A moment of reckless abandon leads to a whirlwind wedding for a virtuous bride and her secret agent groom, a.k.a. THE TENDER STRANGER.
I dunno why but this story is quite special for me. Eric van Meer was a special character. Probably because from the reference of him from the first story, he was introduced as a man who hated women, and marriage even more. But one look at bespectacled Danielle St Clair did him in to the point of offering marriage if that was the only way to have her. But then Dani found out what he did for a living and refused to live that kind of life, especially when he was leaving for a mission after their short idyll. And when he came to find her a few months later with the hope of saving their marriage, he found her pregnant with his child--and memories of the past came rushing back to him. What he had become was shaped by a woman who had left him for a richer man and that was after she aborted his child. And only when he learned that Dani almost had a miscarriage did he realize that her life was the most important thing for him--not the baby and not even his job. The reaction of his fellow ex-mercs to the news of this (supposed) womanhater's marriage and impending fatherhood made for a fun read.
Final verdict: 8/10. Great read.
*******
One night of passion propels a sheltered virgin into a tempestuous marriage with a mysterious freedom fighter. Can she protect her heart from becoming ENAMORED?
I have mixed feelings for this book. The thought of a man hating a woman after being forced into marriage with scares the hell outta me. It wasn't as if she was to blame for everything when he obviously let his little head did the thinking for the circumstances that forced them into marriage in the first place. It served Diego Laremos right to find his wife Melissa Sterling Laremos gone from the hospital she was confined in after a bad fall--and after telling him that she lost their child. But fate brought them back together and Diego found out that Melissa had had a child. He was as jealous of the child as of the man who fathered Matthew. Melissa refused to tell him who the father of the child was and so he thought of obtaining the child's birth certificate and learned the truth that way. It would have been better if he was able to better accept Matt before obtaining the documents. And so he began to treat the child with more warmth but still waited for his wife to trust him enough to tell him the truth. While Melissa was waiting for the right time to tell him because of the same fear that drove her to keep the child from his father five years ago--that Diego would take the child away from her. One consolation from his story: that Diego was true to his vows for the five years they were separated. And the possibility that he might actually have come around even if he learned hat Matt was indeed another man's son. Nevertheless, they made a beautiful family.
Final verdict: 7/10. Good read.
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