Lynne Graham (1) (1956–)

Best Lynne Graham so far. So I'm a Lynne Graham fan. Some of her books I like really well. Some have been stinkers. This one is my favorite of all that I've read from her so far.

Heroine - Betsy. She had a job she liked. She had ambition and future plans. She was the farthest thing from a doormat. She found him attractive. When he called her on it, as those ass hat heroes do, she just said words to the effect 'surely you can't be surprised. You must be used to it but I can admire a painting show more without wanting to buy it.' She punched holes in his super ego throughout the book and never let him get away with any crap. After sleeping with him the first time when he did that HP hero thing of saying condescendingly 'now don't go falling in love with the awesomeness that is me,' she told him 'oh don't worry, I'm in love with someone else.' He practically went apesh*t. She basically had him reeling throughout the book. Strongest LG heroine I've read and one of the strongest of any HP I've read.

The hero, Cristos, was super rich and super hot and super conceited. He didn't know how to handle her and couldn't believe how she treated him. But once he decided he wanted her nothing stood in his way. You could tell he loved her and was trying to do his best for her. He never got over the conceited thing but he was never mean or nasty to her.

One of the best aspects of the book was that they talked to each other. Whenever something came up, she would call him on it instead of getting her feelings hurt and running away. There were some misunderstandings between them but they seem realistic ones.

Writing as always with LG is well done, plotting is tight, etc.

Can't recommend highly enough to HP readers. show less

Angelo Riccardi is the grandson of notorious crime family head Carmelo Zanetti. When Zanetti is dying, he summons Angelo to his bedside to tell him the awful secret of his family, including the fact that his late mother had been swindled by English fraudster Donald Hamilton and then dumped. Although he has always been on the right side of the law, his Italian heritage surfaces as he vows revenge on Hamilton.
But then, he meets Gwenna, Hamilton’s daughter and sparks of all kind begin to show more fly, more so when he includes her in his web of vendetta.
I have to begin by confessing that I’m not normally a fan of romance novels. Too many ripped bodices and heaving bosoms, exquisitely beautiful maidens and unbelievably handsome swains for my taste. But, Lynne Graham’s The Italian’s Inexperienced Mistress is not your usual cloyingly described sex scenes interspersed with a few paragraphs of purple prose narrative. I mean, it has a lot of the obligatory coupling, grappling, and heavy breathing, enough in fact to satisfy fans of the genre. But, it is also a novel of high intrigue, suspense, and not a small amount of humor. Part Cinderella, part Great Gatsby, Angelo’s adventures, Gwenna’s inner turmoil, and the path of their relationship will keep you turning the pages. show less

I really enjoyed this one. Mostly I think because it was different. The hero was a jerk throughout the whole story in what I felt was a very realistic way. There are some guys out there who are so full of themselves and oblivious that they believe that they are perfectly justified in tossing a bone to the heroine occasionally and going about their merry way is acceptable. It was nice to see a hero who wasn't all "You've had my secret baby and now you MUST marry me even though I despise you. show more The heroine was pretty realistic to in expecting more from the hero then getting her feelings hurt as the guy back peddles away. She was still a pretty strong character though. When she realizes the hero is offering her at most a fourth a loaf she doesn't put up with it. I liked that there were moments when the hero was made to realize what a jerk he'd been. I also greatly enjoy books where the characters knew each other when they were young. No insta love here.

So if you have a tolerance for less than perfect heroes this one might work for you. show less

I want to stab this book with knives! Then I want to rip out the last 50 pages and burn them and when they are nothing but ash, stomp them into oozing black mud.

There are going to be spoilers and I'm not going to black them out so don't come crying to me if you read further.

I was really liking this book. It wasn't one of those where they've already broken up and the author goes back to tell their story or tells of them getting back together. It starts at the beginning of their relationship show more and tells the whole thing. About half way through, they break up when the hero, Atreus, tells her, Lindy, that “I don't want a child with you.” Oh burn. And then he tells her she is his mistress and she isn't good enough for him to marry. Double, triple burn. He goes on and on with the whole with the whole cold sneering condescending thing.

He decides he doesn't want to see her anymore so he tells his estate manager that he'd like her to move then denies having anything to do with it when she gets evicted.

When he finds out she's pregnant, he tries to get her to sign a paper saying the child isn't his. When he finally decides to believe her, he withholds sex in order to get her to marry him. That's not cool especially when he smirked about it.

At their wedding, he sees no reason that the woman he hooked up with while they were apart shouldn't be there and why he shouldn't dance with her twice. On their wedding night, he admits that he has brought the other woman to this same island house and doesn't feel the need to tell the heroine that it was years ago when they were teenagers attending a party then he wonders why Lindy won't sleep with him. Then he decides she owes him an apology and keeps refusing to sleep with her. When she finally apologizes, for which total weakass lameness I will not forgive her, Atreus tells Lindy that he never slept with the other woman. I'm thinking at least that's good. But no, he didn't sleep with the other woman not because he couldn't bring himself to be with anyone but Lindy but rather because he knew if he did, the other woman would "get her hopes up". Full of yourself much?

He does finally admit that it had been a mistake to let her go and that he had missed her. Too damn little. Too damn late. And to top it off, Lindy tells him it was her own fault for pressuring him. OMG fire coming out of my ears!

I could have accepted all this asshatery if only the hero had realized he was the worst dick in romance land and grovelled until he had road rash on his chin. show less