365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #144

Untouched Until Marriage - Chantelle Shaw
Harlequin Presents Extra
Harlequin, 2011
ISBN: 9780373528066

N.B. The above details relate to the North American release of this book.


My rating





From the back cover:

"When infamous Raul Carducci learns that a little baby may challenge his inheritance he will stop at nothing—a new Carducci heir will not take away what is rightfully his.
To safeguard baby Gino, unassuming Libby Maynard has been forced to pretend she is his mother—but she hasn't counted on having to convince the wolfish Raul Carducci of her deception.
And when Raul, with his achingly seductive voice, asks her to marry him, Libby is powerless to refuse…even if their wedding night will blow her cover!"


I have been reading a lot of older books recently, so I thought I would go back to some more recent ones. Looking at my TBR pile, I have to warn you, there is going to be a lot of Modern/Presents coming up!

The hero Raul is livid when he discovers that not only does his late adopted father have an infant son but also that he will not gain full control of the family business because of this. He tracks down the baby and his mother and is shocked to discover that the mother is the very young and very beautiful Libby, the heroine. He thinks Libby is a gold differ as why else would she have an affair with a man more than twice her age. Libby is actually baby Gino's sister, it was her mother who had the affair with Raul's father and she died suddenly not long after the birth. Libby has been pretending to be Gino's mother in order to stop him being taken away and put into care. When Raul informs her that Gino has been provided for in his father's will and that Raul plans to bring him up as his own son she continues with the pretence, taking all of Raul's scorn fearing he would take the Gino away from her. Raul suggests that they marry, he wants to adopt Gino and despite what he thinks of her, he knows she loves Gino. Libby agrees knowing this is best for Gino but worries about Raul's reaction if he realises she is a virgin as well as worrying about the ulterior motives Raul has for marrying her.

I quite enjoyed this book, as expected from Chantelle Shaw, the book is quite emotional and full of misunderstandings. The story itself is quite original and well written, the characters interact well also. At times the hero did act a little cruel towards to the heroine and this was frustrating, I kept wanting to tell the hero to shut up, and tell the heroine to actually stick up for herself! The pace of the book does drag a little at times and I feel the ending was a little too rushed.

Overall, the book is interesting, emotional and passionate. Worth a read.

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