Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #417284 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Disappointing........SPOILER re this and further books in the trilogy
This book started off as a typical LG book i.e. rich, arrogant, handsome, powerful, manipulative male lead, and a beautiful but impoverished female lead. A formula which has served LG well in the past, but this time, the author spent too much time building the couple's past relationship (female lead's father dying young/her mother remarrying a bully and having 3 more kids/mother being an agoraphobic/abusive stepdad/mother not being able to deal with stress/ mother taking a loan off the male lead in secret, has never paid even one repayment in 5yrs, but has strangely enough never been chased for the debt until now, and then being given 14 days to vacate her home - this is NOT how the law works in the UK, Lynne/a fake file of evidence deeming the female lead to be a slut accepted by the male lead without question, etc.) but there was no real relationship between the lead characters. They do not even kiss until page 145, which turns out to be their wedding day, and the only other sex scene - blink and you miss it - is on page 173. Anyway, they get their HEA and have 2 kids in 3yrs, her mother is no longer an agoraphobic, bullying stepdad has been warned off, mother has remarried a rich kind man. The flypage states that this is the first of a new LG trilogy, and mentions characters called Leonidas Pallas and Sergio Torente, who will shortly have their own stories. In this book, they are the leads best mates from Oxford Uni, and come across as arrogant prats. Let's hope that 5 years on, with them being 30-ish by the time their tales are told, they have matured a little. LP's motto is BOY MEETS GIRL, BOY SHAGS GIRL, BOY DUMPS GIRL, COS YOU DON'T ROMANCE A WAITRESS. Charming. On, and Leonidas happens to carry £100 notes in his pocket - yeah right, as if these would be accepted by all and sundry. It's hard enough getting anyone to accept a £50 note without suspicion in 2007, never mind a £100 note in 2002!!

'Hoist on his own petard'
It's been five years since Prince Rashad of Bakhar ended his brief relationship with Tilda Crawford on the assumption that she betrayed him, based on the evidence he was given from an "unimpeachable" source. 5 years on, King Hazar, his father wanted him to marry and settle down, but Prince Rashad had no desire for a wife and an heir. However, all the talk about marriage brought back memories of what happened five years ago, memories further aroused by his seeing Tilda Crawford in his Oxford Alumini magazine. Prince Rashad realised that he still wanted Tilda, but he wanted revenge more than anything and he knew exactly how to exert it.

Tilda Crawford has never recovered from the broken heart she suffered at the hands of Prince Rashad 5 years ago, especially as she did not know why the Prince suddenly ended their relationship. Could it be because she refused to surrender her body? - She often wondered. What Tilda did not know was that 5 years ago her mother took a sizeable loan from Prince Rashad and even their house belonged to the prince. Unfortunately for Tilda, her mother had not repaid a cent of the loan in 5yrs. Now the Prince's company is asking for full repayment of the loan or eviction within a month.

Tilda approached Prince Rashad to plead for more time to come up with a repayment plan without knowledge of how much was involved. Rashad was unyielding because the debt owed him which was in excess of half a million pounds. The only bargaining chip he was interested in was to have her as his mistress. Tilda was outraged and refused initially but in the face of mounting problems at home, she accepted his terms. Prince Rashad was now convinced that the info he had on her was without doubt the truth. He felt that the best punishment was to lock her away in one of the deserted palace `harems' in Bakhar, where she would do only his bidding and never look at another man.

Wrapped in this cocoon of vengeful thoughts, the Prince forgot the law of his own country. When he inadvertently declared that Tilda didn't require visa to enter Bakhar because she was his woman, his fate was sealed, because his statement by law amounted to a marriage declaration. His vengeance plan was turned on its head and he now required Tilda's cooperation to carry out the enforced marriage. What will happen on the wedding night when the Prince discovers that his iron clad evidence, the `unimpeachable source' was a pack of lies and `impeachable', and his bride does a runner on finding the so called evidence? What now for the Prince, who set out on a futile vengeance, how does he go about getting his captive bride back?

This is the first book in a new trilogy by Lynne Graham. I liked this book because the hero and heroine were well matched. The heroine Tilda is a smart accountant with razor sharp tongue who had no qualms standing up to the Prince. The Prince confident that he knew it all was faced with one shock after another but I liked his crisp wit, sarcasm and sense of humour. He did redeem himself admirably. I liked how Lynne portrayed the futility of vengeance and the importance of trusting your own instincts and intuitive judgement rather than external information/evidence. Had he trusted his initial instincts about Tilda, they would not have lost five years of happiness. This may appear as a common vengeance storyline but LG gave it a twist that was not only refreshing but filled with high drama, humorous banter and hilarious consequences.