Passion Becomes You by Michelle Reid

He wanted nothing more than her love...

From their first meeting, Jemma had known that forever wasn't in Leon Stephanades's vocabulary. She was inexperienced, but the passion between them was so powerful that she cast her doubts aside and agreed to Leon's demand of no-strings affair. Soon Jemma was head over heels in love, and couldn't imagine that she'd ever be the one to end the idyll...

Until she found that her love for Leon was to have a lasting price--and it meant having to let him go...


Another countrygirl-meets-worldly man story. But this one I actually liked. The characters really came out so realistically that I just couldn't help falling in love with them.

Jemma Davis was just living a simple life as a secretary. But that ended when she met Leon Stephanades. Or when he set his eyes on her, whichever way you prefer it. Theirs started as a no-strings affair, which was why when everything was turning "permanent," Jemma had the presence of mind to try to back away. She might have gone to their arrangement as a naive lady but she never assumed that Leon was going to offer her marriage, no matter the consequence that could lead to it.

And when she did find out that she was pregnant, she took the way out. I didn't think it was cowardly, only an honest reaction. Her relationship with him started out as a "faulty" one so I really couldn't blame her for what she did.

But I liked the way Leon took over when he found out about her situation. It might have come off as an overbearing asshole-ish maneuver the moment you get to that part; but when you get to read what he was really planning to do and why he tried to get back with her even before he learned there was a baby, it was kinda sweet. In all honesty, I didn't like Jemma keeping the truth from him at first so I guess she deserved being made to feel that she was "forced" into marriage.

And just when everything was rosy again in their relationship and when they were both adjusting to married life, Jemma had to find out that Leon was given an ultimatum by his father to get married or else he wouldn't be assured of his rightful inheritance. Unfortunately for Leon, he was enjoying his new life with Jemma too much that he kept on delaying telling her that he had decided to marry her even before he learned about her pregnancy and even tell her about his father's ultimatum. She, on the other hand, thought it was a cleverly laid out plan to present Leon's father with a fait accompli--a wife and a baby.

It casted more doubts on their already rocky marriage but Leon refused to ever let Jemma leave him the second time. He had to come clean with everything about the situation. And of course, I don't think you'll have a hard time changing your mind when you have an assurance like this:

"Leon? If I tell you I love you, will you break my heart?

"I will never break your heart. How can I, when it is so precious to me...I love you, Jemma. Please, whatever else you doubt abut me, do not doubt my love."

Final verdict: 8/10. Must read.

Gold Ring of Betrayal by Michelle Reid

They've never stopped being married...

Nicolas Santino doesn't accept Lia is his daughter. He believed Sara, his wife, cheated on him with another man, and Lia is the result of that betrayal.

So Sara and Nicolas are separated--until the silence between them is forcibly broken: Lia has been kidnapped! Nicolas knows he is the only one who can secure the little girl's safe return, but it means he must go back to Sara--and find that, even after three long years, she still wears his ring...


I've had this book for a number of years and have read it from cover to cover countless of times. And if ever there are any at all, then I'm blind to all it's flaws.

Nicolas Santino was one hot papa that I just wanted to sink my teeth into him! He'd make wonderful dessert, I'm sure. And the reason I loved him so much (and still do) was because even if he believed that Sara betrayed him three years earlier, he was still willing to have another go at their marriage when he did finally see her again. So what if it came three years later? Not a lot of people can accept the 'nasty' past and put it where it belongs--in the past; and try to have another chance at happiness. He did that--and more--because he could not let Sara go a second time around. And more because he really made an effort to accept Lia as his own. He didn't even bother with the blood tests Sara offered for the child and him to have.

"...I was afraid of the answer...I wanted her to be mine so much, it was easier to simply--tell myself she was mine and leave it at that than learn the opposite."

Sara was the guppy to Nic's shark (analogy courtesy of JM's Remeber When, of course). The guppy from the country fell in love with the worldly shark and vice versa. Unfortunately for her, Nic's father didn't think she was good enough for his son. So the older Santino set out to destroy the marriage of his son and when faced with what seemed to be incriminating evidence, Nic believed his father. But 'pride' prevented him from divorcing her even after believing she was pregnant from another man. To the rest of the world she was still his wife.

So being the saint she was and because she was still in love with Nic, she agreed to work it out with him. She did that even with the belief that Nic could possibly have a mistress--not, not true!

And that's the best thing about this book. Two very proud characters who managed to reach out and risk it all. And when the older Santino confessed all, Nic became all too human--and you'd love him more. While Sara made him understand that all of them are just victims, even his own father--for wanting the best for his only child. And you really couldn't hate Alfredo Santino forever because he brought back Nic and Sara in the end. Cunning as always.

My fave part would be:

"I promise you. I will never move from this bed if this is where you want me to stay."

"Always?" It was crazy, stupid conversation,yet so incredibly important!

"Until the day I die if that is what it will take," he vowed.

"Take for what?"

"For you to feel loved by me again."

"And do you?"

"I never stopped. How could I? You are the other part of me that is missing when I am not with you. You feel the need to hold on to me like this. But it is I who will never let you go again."

Final verdict: 9/10. Must read, must have.