The Sicilian's Defiant Virgin (Harlequin Presents)

Author Susan Stephen’s novel the Sicilian’s Virgin Mistress breaks some stereotypes, not every Sicilian Billionaire is in the mob, and not every twenty-four year old is sexually active. The first third of this novel I liked, after that, the novel just coasted.Luca Tebaldi discovers at his younger brother’s passing that he has left his trust fund to a British woman. Luca’s father, a mean spirited unkind man, asks him to investigate the woman. Luca’s father is convinced she is a gold digger.Jen Sanderson works at an auction house for gems, is a waitress at a Casino and she is a university student. Her parents have died and she is alone in the world but for her friends working in the Casino with her; there is no mention at all of university friends. She befriended Luca’s brother as he was a habitual gambler and she felt he was a lonely man.Luca plays his cards close to the chest and he chats up the pretty and friendly Jen. He is taken with her spirit and her smarts. Jen thinks he is handsome and charming.SPOILER…Yes there is attraction and Jen falls in love and in bed in no time. This did not jive with the girl who was introduced in the first part of this story.This relationship happens fast, then it slows and then slows some more. This couple does not listen to each other very much. They kept secrets from each other too but what seems to hold them back is that they don’t seem to really know one another and they lack some empathy for each other. Jen doesn’t understand Luca’s need to really understand his brother and he cannot fathom why she is protecting the secrets of a dead man. For this couple, love comes too swiftly.

The story started well but fizzled out quickly. There was no real feel of love, more lust than anything else. The grand deception and betrayal of the the story felt forced and didn't evoke any sadness at the completion of the usual formula. There were parts that felt she was writing about two different women and not the same one.I have to admit that as someone who works in the jewelry industry, that whole part fell flat to me as well. I took some of the errors with a grain of salt. I'm sure that the writer did research but she couldn't possibly know as much as someone in the field. Any gemologist would have been HORRIFIED at the bag scene. Jen probably would have found many stones abraded and devalued because of their harsh storage. Gems scratch. Many rare and valuable stones aren't faceted things you can comb your fingers through. Many don't have a hardness of even 7. All those stones together? I can't even. I won't even get into my nitpicking about it always being about diamonds.I do feel that the writer shows promise though. I'm sure that with a story she truly feels her talent will become as evident through out the whole story as it was at the beginning. You might call her a diamond in the rough 😉

Just blah. The story had potential in the H trying to figure out why his little brother left a fortune to the h.Jumped the rails because I don't have the foggiest what the H was going to do with that information. It's not like he could keep it from her. But why am I letting reality and legalities into my HP world!Despite some nice sexual tension between H and h, a little too paint by the numbers.

good read

My Good god where did they drag this book from , it's absolute twaddle , save your money and sanity ,.