Melanie Milburne

In a lot of ways I feel like I had missed something crucial to this book. The characters are all over the place in terms of how they feel--there's how they think they should feel (betrayed? lost? lust filled? angry?), how they act (stiff, formal, frustrated) and how they say they want to act (friendly). They tend to mix all those emotions up without sticking to one or the other for any length of time.

So let's lay this out. You're an uber wealthy, attractive, young guy. Your young daughter, who happens to be blind, is in need of specialized help for a month while her normal nanny has to tend to important family business. do you:

A) Throw oddles of money at an agency to get someone useful
B) Re-arrange your plans to provide for your daughter
C) call an old flame who you think is a scheming bitca, but who happens to be good with children and then offer to toss oddles of money at her soon to be shut down school for the underprivleged?

If you answered A or B, you're completely rational. Leo Valente is NOT rational.

I honestly was not convinced that after 4 years, most of which he's spent in seething anger and pain, that the first person he would think to call is Eliza. Eliza who he thought led him on for 3 weeks, was laughing at him behind his back as she told all her friends what a fool he was for proposing to her.

And Eliza? I think she wanted to apply for martyrdom. She felt so guilty about everything. Guilty about her fiancee's accident. Guilty about not telling his mother the truth. Guilty about leading Leo on. Guilty about feeling so intensely attracted to him. Guilty that if she hadn't hurt Leo so badly he wouldn't have gone out, shagged the first female he met, gotten her pregnant, married her, caused her post-natal depression and ultimately her suicide.

Yes I truly think that Eliza blames herself for what Leo's late wife did.

Another quiz. So you want to sleep with the woman who you hired to take care of your young blind daughter, but you believe her to be a scheming, lying, bitca. Do you:

A) Romance her, but make it clear that this is purely physical
B) Seduce her, but make it clear that this is purely physical
C) Offer her oddles of money to sleep with you for the remainder of her employment, but make it clear that its a purely physical relationship of exclusivity

Once again A&B are the rational choices, C is the choice that Leo took. And Eliza decides that she will take him up on his offer and then turn around and use the money to help her invalid, catatonic fiancee (I think he was catatonic? The author kind of wavered on what exactly was the problem beyond 'he's unresponsive') and his mother pay for the upkeep of said fiancee's condition.

I want to make sure its clear, at no point does Eliza tell Leo that her fiancee has been catatonic for a good 5 and half years now. Her evasive answers make him sound like a total jerk instead and only make Leo wondered MORE why she tossed him over.

So then of course we have the inevitable conflation of things--Leo finds out and confronts Eliza. Making some justifiable points about how she shouldn't live as if SHE was in the accident. Eliza gets upset and they part. Soon after returning home Eliza finds out that her fiancee's mother had been lying to HER all this time--she KNEW that her son and Eliza were no longer together and its severely implied that the reason he was in an accident was because he had been on his phone while driving. Not only that but the mother wasn't surprised they broke up at all.

But she needed someone to lean on and selfishly let Eliza be the martyr and Eliza never questioned it because of her overwhelming guilt. Now that the mother has found a new boyfriend--a doctor!--she doesn't need Eliza around anymore so Eliza happily prances off to find Leo and they make up and its all magically okay now.… (mais)

The Marciano Love-Child
2 Stars

Upon learning of her pregnancy, hotel magnate Alessandro Marciano accused Scarlett Fitzpatrick of being a cheating gold-digger and threw her out in the street. Now, 4 years later, Alessandro hires Scarlett design firm to refurbish his newest hotel and wants to pick up where they left off. But Scarlett is wary, especially about Alessandro's intentions once he realizes that her son is his.

The hero in this book is absolutely vile. His actions from beginning to end are completely inexcusable and there is nothing redeemable about him whatsoever. He threatens to ruin her business and take custody of their child away from her if she doesn't sleep with and then marry him. This goes far beyond sexual harassment and extortion.

Moreover, the heroine has no backbone. She ostensibly hates him and demands that he atone for his behavior, but never follows through and consistently succumbs to his sexual advances. The fact that she not only forgives him but actively encourages him to be a part of her son's life is very problematic and is reminiscent of abused women who allow their abusers back into their lives.

So, why the 2 star rating? Well, I actually enjoyed Milburne's writing style and the topic of cystic fibrosis is well researched and adds a compelling and emotional nuance to the story.

It would have been better as women's fiction rather than romance.


… (mais)

The Secret Baby Bargain
4 Stars

4 Years ago, Jack Marriot and Ashley Forrester had a passionate affair with the understanding that there would be no long term commitment and no children. Thus, upon learning of her pregnancy, Ashley returned home to Australia. Now, Jack is back and Ashley will have to decide whether to tell him of their child.

This is my second Melanie Milburne book and it has the same tropes as The Marciano Love-Child but without the vile hero and spineless heroine - See my 2 Star review .

Jack is the antithesis of Alessandro Marciano. Yes, he wants Ashley back but rather than resorting to sexual harassment and blackmail, he makes a concerted effort to make amends and clearly regrets his past actions.

Likewise, Ashley has the backbone that Scarlett Fitzpatrick was sorely missing. She stands up to Jack at every turn and does not melt into a puddle of mush when he touches her.

Overall, a charming second chances romance and the next book focuses on Ashley's younger sister.… (mais)