Very frustrated by the romanticization of this cheater. Hero is just not a good guy in the 2 year back story and it makes no sense that Milly would fall in love with a man who was cheating on her while they were dating and planning to continue to do so once they started sleeping together. I think this book confuses unhealthy, masochistic, infatuation with love. If a woman is dating a man and he goes away for 3 weeks and sleeps with other women, that's not love blooming. That's a casual thing and he is either up front from day 1 or is a sleaze ball...This guy was the latter. When he tells Milly that he of course slept with other women because his travel schedule made fidelity impractical, she demands fidelity and walked away because he didn't want an exclusive relationship, he spent another month sleeping with another woman or women and then comes back AFTER a month and tells heroine that competition is gone...she has been heartsick and lost weight and thinks it's love but really it's just because he just made this virgin feel crappy about her value as a woman. He did not deserve heroine's virginity and I don't understand how a self-professed jealous and possessive woman who seems to have some self-esteem could lower herself to giving up everything to be a kept woman, even if she did resist a bit. Their relationship was really tragic and it's so sad that it's being passed off as romantic. This was a fast-paced read, and I did love the parts about her amnesia, her shocked discovery of his true feelings of hating her, and the fact that he cared for her when she was ill was an inkling that he did have real feelings for her. But to give up everything in exchange for nothing? It made no sense when she was initially protecting herself and recognizing she needed a career when he left her. His lack of trust and refusal to even speak to her exemplifies why she should never have trusted him.it was exciting where she stood up for herself a bit, but when he threatened to take her child and challenged her requirement for fidelity (translate: he had no intention to be faithful) so that her only assurance lies in the financial cost to him of divorce? and she agrees to marry him knowing that he would believe the worst in any future doubtful situation and turn on her and immediately cheat on her (note: although he went off immediately with another woman, he claims he didn't sleep with her, but how long did he wait? He refers to the women since Milly and had a recent STD check...he was with other women, not so heartsick at his missing pregnant girlfriend that he didn't go back to being a player even while he kept her stuff). When life intrudes and love fades, it's hard to believe that this man will be faithful...I am so tired of a woman's willingness to be treated in an abusive manner passing for love and romance.
With apologies to John Osborne, this story is the kitchen-sink drama ala-Lynne Graham. In merely 185 pages, the reader gets a story with amnesia, secret baby, kidnapping, greedy fiancé, blackmail, forced seduction, scorned mistress, nervous breakdown, dysfunctional childhood woes, emotional repression vs touchy- feeliness, attempted rape, jealousy, sibling rivalry, two family reconciliations AND Christmas to boot. Everything but the kitchen sink...One must be pretty stoic to survive this book without feeling hatred, passion or bewilderment for this book. Unfortunately, I hated the hero. All along, I waited for him to be redeemed but when he issued that non-apology of an apology in the final chapter, I wanted to box his ears. Here is the proper way to apologize and how our hero did it wrong:1. Take full responsibility of the mistake; no cover-ups. – I didn’t know what to do and I was still thinking of marrying. (Thinking of marrying her? After two years of being her lover? Was he still weighing the pros and cons? Idiot.) 2. Don’t assign blame on somebody else. -- You shared an intergenerational bond with my younger brother while I only bored you with dinner dates, art galleries, and antiques. (Great back-hand! He basically just told her that she was a philistine.)-- You were in bed together. (But he didn’t wait for explanations.) 3. Don’t bother about mitigating circumstances. – But I searched for you right away the minute you left Paris. (So, now it’s HER fault for leaving after he rejected her.)-- But the Other Woman and I never made it between the sheets. (But the intent was there.)4. Be patient. -- I’ve already suffered, why can’t you forgive me? (It’s not about you, dearie.)LG definitely outdid herself once again in creating an egotistic man-child for a willing ninny-nanny. Please, please, give us an alpha male worthy of a thinking, self-respecting, non-delusional woman.
What do You think about The Sicilian's Mistress (2000)?
2.5 to 3 stars. It had a lot of elements I liked, but in this case the heroine and her wishy/washy hormones kinda dampened my enjoyment. She'd stand up to him one minute and the next she was sacrificing all of her pride and self respect to have sex with this jerk who treated her like crap. And all based on a misunderstanding and lies he wouldn't even let her defend herself against. Typical HP Tycoon reaction, but I wish she'd stuck to her guns for more than a second or two. I think I'm off Lynne Graham for a bit. Almost everything I've read by her lately has been mediocre to 'like'.
—KatieV
The heroine Faith is confronted by a striking man whom she thinks has mistaken her for someone else. A few days later he tracks her down and informs her she used to be his mistress and that he is the father of her young son. The hero Gianni has been searching for her for three years after their acrimonious break up, but he is shocked when he discovers the recent events in her life. Shortly after they broke up, Faith was found seriously injured after a hit and run and suffering from total amnesia, she was claimed by a couple thinking she was their runaway daughter. Gianni informs her that this is not the case and her name is actually Milly. He also tells her they must marry for the sake of their son and Milly, feeling rather lost, agrees. She asks him to tell her about her life but she can't understand the reason why he seems angry with her at times. It turns out that Gianni may be the key to her memory returning and the memories of their past relationship are not good. Well, this is certainly a lot of events to cram into one book, and it is done spectacularly by Lynne Graham. This is a really intense and emotional book, that had me hooked instantly. The glimpses of the past relationship between the hero and heroine are fantastic and really helped to add depth to the story and characters. The vulnerability of the heroine is written with such skill and the hero was perfectly alpha but also humble. Once again another fantastic book by Lynne Graham, and one that despite being over 10 years old does not feel dated!Recommended. Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
—RLA
This is the first Lynne Graham I have read for a while. She used to be an auto-read for me but three cheating sleaze-bag heroes in a row and I was suffering severe trust issues.So I'll get this out of the way at the beginning as it's only a minor spoiler. Gianni was quite possibly faithful to Milly while they were apart. It could be read both ways but it is vague enough that I can assume what I like. And I like faithful heroes.This is a fairly typical outing of an old style LG plot. Impoverished heroine, mega rich hotty hero of the Mediterranean ilk. And guess what...I like that formula.I like reunion romances where they've been physically faithful. I like amnesia plots. I like secret babies. So I like this book. But don't expect anything out of the box in terms of story.Gianni pretty much lost his jerkiness pretty quick which was nice. Milly stopped being a downtrodden wimp at a reasonable point. Gianni's sex charisma was totes overpowering even when it was inappropriate but hey we don't read these for logic and credibility. Do we? Naah.
—Fiona Marsden
