365 books in 365 days Challenge ... Book #361

Deserving of his Diamonds - Melanie Milburne
Mills & Boon Modern
Harlequin UK, 2012
ISBN: 9780263890624










My rating

From the back cover:

"His not-so-perfect fiancée… 
Emilio Andreoni’s goal is perfection: a corporate king and Italy’s most eligible bachelor, he craves only one more thing to complete his phenomenally successful life – the perfect woman! Once he thought that woman was shy Gisele Carter – until her scandalous goings-on became headline news and he called off their seemingly perfect engagement. 
But now Emilio is faced with proof of Gisele’s innocence! He’s determined to win back the only woman who ever truly satisfied him, but first he must persuade Gisele she’s worthy of wearing his diamonds again… "


4 books to go...!


The hero Emilio has just discovered that the reason he kicked the heroine Gisele out of his life two years ago was wrong. In fact it has just been revealed that Gisele has a twin sister she has never met or known about after they were separated at birth. Emilio knows that he needs to apologise for all that he accused her of, but when he goes to see her Gisele is not at all pleased to see him. Gisele doesn't want Emilio's empty apologies, he broke her heart when he refused to believe that she was innocent and the trauma she had to deal with, alone, when her precious baby died has left her harder. Emilio knows the minute he sees Gisele again that he wants to win her back so they can have the life together they had planned but she doesn't want anything to do with him. However Emilio convinces her to spend a month with him in return for her financial security and he hopes to seduce her into once again falling in love with him.

This is a very powerful story and a nice twist on the reconciliation/revenge theme. The plot is well thought out and gripping right from the start, and full of plenty of emotion. The heroine's journey is particularly poignant - she went through so much and came through the other side still sad but strong, and refused to give in to the hero like she had done in the past.
I could have done without the blackmail+offer-of-money part of the story, as plot elements go this felt a little lazy.

But this is a roller coaster of emotion and passion, and a very absorbing read.

Xx