The Count's Blackmail Bargain

Unusually, this Harlequin romance opens with the hero's point of view. He's an Italian count; in bed in his apartment in Rome with a married lady, and already regretting his entanglement. Then, his wicked witch of an aunt arrives on his doorstep, and makes him regret it even more. She blackmails him into helping her break up a most unsuitable romance between her son and an English girl. Her son will be arriving in Italy soon with the little money-grubbing tart, and Auntie intends for the hero to seduce the heroine away from her son, or else she'll reveal the hero's affair to the married lady's husband -- who's a friend of the hero's, no less. What Auntie doesn't know is that the heroine, Laura, is in Italy under false pretences: she's agreed to play at being the son's fiancee in order to help him escape an arranged marriage, and more importantly to earn a bit of money. After wading through some subpar Harlequins, I really appreciated this setup. It showed more imagination than the average "hero somehow manipulates heroine to sleep with him to save her father/brother/family from ruin", typical Harlequin plot. Also, one of the story's strengths is that the viewpoint of the hero is given equal time with the POV of the heroine; he's as conflicted as she is about their mutual attraction, and it gives balance and depth to the story to see the hero's inner conflict together with the heroine's. Again, this makes for an untypical Harlequin. The characters are well-rounded, although the heroine is just a wee bit tarred with martyrdom's brush (can't have a Harlequin without that!) but fortunately just a little. And the book is not without humor (the blackmailing aunt and her slimy son are a hoot). The story really moves along, propelled by sex appeal and the above-average plot. A solid, well-constructed Harlequin, with an (ultimately) sincere, sexy hero, and a heroine I for once don't want to clock over the head. Thank you, Sara Craven; this is a Harlequin I thoroughly enjoyed and want to keep.

Unusually, this Harlequin romance opens with the hero's point of view. He's an Italian count; in bed in his apartment in Rome with a married lady, and already regretting this entanglement. Then his wicked witch of an aunt arrives on his doorstep, and makes him regret it even more. She blackmails him into helping her break up a most unsuitable romance between her son and an English girl. Her son will be arriving in Italy soon with the little money-grubbing tart, and Auntie asks the hero to seduce the heroine away from her son, or else she'll reveal the hero's affair to the married lady's husband -- who's a friend of the hero's, no less. What Auntie doesn't know is that the heroine, Laura, is in Italy under false pretences: she's agreed to play at being the son's fiancee in order to help him escape an arranged marriage, and more importantly to earn a bit of money. After wading through some subpar Harlequins, I appreciated this setup. It showed more imagination than the average "hero somehow manipulates heroine to sleep with him to save her father/brother/family from ruin", typical Harlequin plot. Also, one of the story's strengths is that the viewpoint of the hero is given equal time with the POV of the heroine; he's as conflicted as she is about their mutual attraction, and it gives balance and depth to the story to see the hero's inner conflict together with the heroine's. Again, this makes for an untypical Harlequin. The characters are well-rounded, although the heroine is just a wee bit tarred with martyrdom's brush (can't have a Harlequin without that!) but fortunately just a little. And the book is not without humor (the blackmailing aunt and her slimy son are a hoot). The story really moves along, propelled by sex appeal and the above-average plot. A solid, well-constructed Harlequin, with an (ultimately) sincere, sexy hero, and a heroine I for once don't want to clock over the head. Thank you, Sara Craven; this is a Harlequin I thoroughly enjoyed and want to keep.