His Poor Little Rich Girl - Melanie Milburne
Mills & Book Modern
Harlequin UK, 2011
ISBN: 9780263886870
My rating
From the back cover:
"'Sleeping rough not your thing any more, little rich girl?'
Alessandro Vallini once made the mistake of proposing to spoiled princess Rachel McCulloch. Her rejection scored his soul. But now the tables have turned: bad-boy-made-good Alessandro now holds Rachel's future in the palm of his hand! He needs a temporary housekeeper, and she needs money - it's a perfect opportunity to taunt her with what she turned down...
Riches-to-rags Rachel is very different from the glittering socialite Alessandro remembers. He's laid his trap - with himself as bait! - but who's catching who in this web of desire?"
I have been looking forward to reading this book for a while as I am a fan of Melanie Milburne's books.
The heroine Rachel is in Italy trying to get funding to launch her fashion label in Europe. However, when her plans fall through she suspects that Alessandro, the hero. might be behind it. Rachel and Alessandro go back a long way, but they have not spoken since Rachel turned down his proposal five years ago and got engaged to a man her father chose. Rachel has changed a lot over the last five years; after a disastrous engagement and her fathers fall from grace she is no longer the spoilt, superficial girl she once was. Alessandro finds this difficult to believe, but agrees to help her business on the condition that she act as his current partner at an upcoming meeting. All the resentment, betrayal and bottle up desire from five years ago comes bubbling up to the surface and it's not long before they give in to their desire. Rachel soon realises what a mistake she made letting Alessandro go five years ago, and with her growing feelings towards him she hopes that they can have a future. However Alessandro sees this as his perfect chance for revenge.
As usual from this author, this is a very passionate, intense, and emotional book. The writing is spectacular, it really draws you into the story. The characters are both fantastic. Alessandro is a brilliant 'self made' alpha male - this is something Melanie always excels at. I had a bit of an issue with Rachel, her moods seemed to swing almost constantly, and she came out as rather immature.
Another thing Melanie Milburne excels at is the revenge trope. And that is my main problem with this book - it's too similar to some of her other books (The Venadicci Marriage Vengeance, Bedded and Wedded for Revenge, The Greek's Bridal Bargain), it does put me off a little when some authors seem to stick to the same structure. And Melanie Milburne has proved that she can do a lot of variety in her books so I was a little disappointed with this one.
What saves this book is the wonderful flow of the story, some great chemistry between the hero and heroine, and the brilliant writing. Just wish it had been a little different...
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