couldnt figure out why I didnt love this story until I realize that there are two types of revenge stories: cold revenge and hot revenge.
Cold revenge or hot revenge
In a cold revenge story the hero starts out in control if he wants the heroine married to him or kidnapped or pregnant he takes steps to make this happen.
Theres a logic behind the action and a deliberativeness that is deliciously chilling,
Okay its crazy logic for all of us out here in the real world but it makes sense to him and oftentimes its a plan that been in the works for a long time.
Hot revenge is a hero out of control, doing things he never imagined doing, because his emotions got away with him.
Its a different kind of revenge story because theres no way for a reader/heroine to anticipate what hes going to do or where it will backfire for him.
Part of the fun of revenge story for me at least is seeing the allpowerful, in control hero brought to his knees by the forces of notsological love and innocence.
If the heros corroding bitterness is transformed into mercy, forgiveness and love toward those who have wronged him, then all the better.
This is a hot revenge story, The hero acts out of emotion and lashes out at the heroine for his sisters death, He knows that she isnt directly responsible, but since her brother the driver of the car is dead, the heroine must take his place and be punished.
The hero didnt plan on having a onenight stand with her, He went with his emotions and hormones and only enacted his revenge of telling her who he was and what he thought of her when he thought of it the next morning.
That the heroine reacts with such dismay isnt based on his careful planning he just lucked on to ayearold virgin who had been abused by her brother since age.
Im guessing that Abby Green wrote the hero not planning a onenight stand in order to lessen his sin of cruelty and make him more understandable and forgivable to the reader.
Yes, it makes him more understandable but it also weakens him as an alpha, This is not a man in control of anything from what I can tell,
From that one night flows the rest of the story, with both the H/h reacting to events out of their control her pregnancy, her miscarriage, their childhood backstories.
About the only proactive action in this story was that the heroine got her business degree at Open University while she was being held as a virtual slave in her brothers household.
Good for the heroine it shows some character and foresight, Something woefully lacking in the rest of the story
I dont mean to run down this story.
Its a very emotional read that keeps you riveted to the page until the epilogue, Abby Green skilfully shows us the H/hs pain and grief as life comes at them, She also does a good job of reforming the hero so that his love for the heroine doesnt feel like an abrupt aboutface.
This is a story for the angst lovers out there, This inhabits the same shelves as quite a number of my guilty pleasure HPs, The plot, on the surface, is also very familiar,
Greek or Italian tycoon hero believes heroine and/or heroine's family are responsible for the death of a family member.
He tracks her down, seduces her out of her virginity and then drops the bomb that it was just hate sex to satisfy the HP tycoon Gods of family honor, vengeance, yada yada.
Heroine turns up pregnant and the tycoon then forces her to marry him through some sort of blackmail scheme.
Enough said. We all know the score,
This was essentially that, but it had more depth, I didn't just enjoy it because of the OTT craziness of it all, I actually teared up a few times, something I rarely if ever do when reading an HP.
I don't want to spoil it all, but suffice it to say that this was different.
The hero, though arrogant and powerful, had some depth and seemed more human, For one thing, he didn't set out to seduce the heroine, Sometimes that doesn't even make sense beyond the sheer naughty/kinkiness of it,
His plan was to meet her, feel her out, then reveal his identity and force her to spill the entire story of how she and her dead brother had set out to fleece his sister and were both responsible for her death.
He just wanted someone to lash out at, He wanted someone to admit responsibility for the death of his sister, There really was no big, complicated, sexy scheme of revenge,
Problem was, Vincenzo found himself very attracted to Cara, They both were in pain and grieving, so they tried to lose themselves in a night of passion.
It was only afterwards disgusted with himself for sleeping with the enemy that he told her his full name and how much he hated her.
Like I said we all know the score on the rest of the plot, but be prepared for some surprises and some genuine angst/emotion.
Highly recommended if you enjoy the revenge HPs, A very enjoyable Abby Green, The hero is a jerk in the beginning, loads of misunderstanding, seduction leading to a pregnancy, the usual HP fare.
He marries her for family's sake and then gradually starts noticing that she doesn't behave the way he expected her to.
Tries to let her go when he realizes the extent of his mistake, As I said a standard HP storyline but well written,
Another cruel bastard presented as a hero, I like the alpha male hero as much as the rest, but when the verbal and emotional abuse is so intense it's not much fun.
The hero hero believes that the Cara is partly responsible for the death of his sister so he seduces her.
Of course.
His incredibly potent little guys get her pregnant she finds him, so he marries her and proceeds to treat her like dirt.
She kind of holds her own, but his magic penis is too much for her,
He gets a grip and realizes that maaayyybeee she's not an evil woman, I am behind on reviews, These questions help me to better organize my thoughts,
How did the book make you feel: I look for angsty
reads and this fit the bill.
How do you feel about how the story was told: Silly title, entertaining read
What did you think about the main characters: The H is a supreme jerk to the h.
The h is a bit of a doormat, but its a HP!
Which parts of the book stood out to you: OTT drama and good groveling
What themes/tropes did you detect in the story: Revenge seduction, virgin h, unplanned pregnancy, MOC
What did you think about the ending: hardwon HEA
What is your impression of the author: I enjoy this authors style!
Triggers: death of a sibling, abandoned prego, pregnancy loss, sex.
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Abby Green