The Italian Counts Defiant Bride by Catherine George

The Italian Counts Defiant Bride Reviews

• 
  Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves

  As bland as this book was, I still can’t totally wish it away. I read it months ago and here I am, writing the review. Some things were quite unintentionally hilarious in this book. This is a married and separated couple with an non-consummation hanging over their heads. .The mu causing the rift n her flight was quite lame, if original! And honestly neither can be blamed.
  
  Now imagine a h too fair skinned to be able to blush (as opposed to all other harly redheads).
  She is forever resting, 'repairing' and 'restoring' herself. Her look good mantra is to hide her freckles and bring her dimples into play!
  This mama’s girl knows that mama does know best- all her dresses are whetted or designed by mama and every time she dresses up, she sends up a prayer of thanks for mama’s good taste.
  
  The H is quite a sweet and easy going sorts. At one point he concedes that being married comes quite handy in getting rid of clingy lovers-so he gets his fun and then remorsefully points out that he’s a married man when things start getting heavy! What a cunning so and so but I found his bashful confession humorous and honest at the same time.
  
  Then there’s the determined OM- trying to escape from the cousin-brother-friend zone into wannabe-lover zone. The estranged h/H decide to co-habitate for a while so that this guy would cool off. And while they co-habitate one thing leads to another and they end up in bed of course. Now this is at end of chapter nine, when they realize they still love each other and romance is back in full bloom. And so what are the rest of three chapters all about?! No, no other shoe drops.
  Well, all you folks who always complain that the book ends too soon after ILYs shud read this one. The om lands up, bashes the H, who takes it quite sportingly and even urges the h to tell the om about their past mu (*cringe* I felt it was too private to discuss with anyone) that happened on the wedding night. The om is now won over to camp H!
  
  Still more BS later they end up in Wales, meet up with her family who are finally happily convinced that they are back together. Next scene back in Italy for a rugby match etc. (don’t ask) and then finally the author remembers to wrap it up!
  But still not a bad read. I liked the rugby match ending and all that it entailed.
  
  Would blandly sweet be an oxymoron?
• 
  Aou

  2,40
• 
  Naksed

  Young, Welsh, working-class heroine gets engaged to an aristocratic, sexy Italian in a whirlwind courtship only to be put down by snobby mother-in-law and railroaded by a jealous maid, leading her to flee on her unconsummated wedding night.
  
  Apparently, the maid delivered a present and letter purporting to be from the mother-in-law for the wedding night. It was some kind of Frederick of Hollywood get-up with instructions to make up her hair and face to match. Heroine meekly complies thinking this is some kind of family tradition LMAO Is she for real?
  
  The salivating groom, who was expecting a virginal, scrub-faced Sandy to ravish, instead gets the been-around-the-block Rizzo and flies into a rage, accusing his bride of having fooled him into believing her innocence and hurls fifty-five words for the oldest profession in the world at her mortified, teary face.
  
  Heroine flees. Hero and a now contrite mother-in-law pursue her back to her native Wales, to no avail. Years of separation ensue during which heroine build up a satisfactory career being the rep for a rugby team, and a nice circle of friends, but still virginally pining for her Italian Prince Charming who broke her heart.
  
  The hero's mom dies in the meantime and leaves a will stipulating that the heroine receives her gift in person. Hero finally picks up the trail of the heroine at a rugby match and asks her to return to Italy with him to get her legacy. Heroine agrees not so much because she is interested in getting a gift from her mean, snobby mother-in-law but to escape the rapey advances of a persistent suitor.
  
  The bickerfest continues back to the hero's Italian Palace where the two inevitably end up finally consummating their marriage. The mother-in-law left the heroine the jewelry that was supposed to have been her wedding night gift along with a letter explaining how the jealous maid intercepted it and replaced it with the slutty lingerie and tarty make-up instruction.
  
  HEA
• 
  Jenny

  No angst or intense emotions. Didn't like it.
• 
  Maura

  When she was 18, Alicia Cross traveled to Italy, met her rugby hero and crush, Francesco Da Luca, got romanced and proposed to and married him. On their wedding night though, disaster struck and Alicia ran back to Wales where she did her best to move on, presuming that he'd done so as well (though he did call periodically to check up on her). When she runs into him at a rugby match, he insists that he needs to speak to her. He needs her to return to Italy so that she can receive her inheritance that his mother left her, even though she'd been nothing but cruel to Alicia. Alicia reluctantly agrees to return. Fortunately, she needs to be seen with Francesco since her friend Gareth has gotten into his head that he loves her and she needs to dissuade him by pretending to reconcile with her husband. This works to Francesco's plan as well, since all he wants is his wife back. He never stopped loving her and wants a chance to prove that they can be happy.
  
  I was waffling between a 2 and a 3 here. A 3 because the set up of the story is really quite good with an estranged married couple and hero who really is head over heels but good at hiding it and a mystery about what happened on their wedding night to estrange them (is that a verb? No red squigglies under it, so maybe it is...) It took a good 40% of the book to learn exactly what happened and I liked that it was drawn out just enough, but not too much. But then of course, once we learn what happened things just devolve from there. Because what really happened is that Francesco was fantasizing about his pristine, pure little virginal wife walking out of the bathroom and him teaching her all about pleasure and she walked out wearing a supposed gift from his mother - a little black negligee that he told her made her look like a puttana . He ranted and railed at her and left the room, so she abandoned the marriage.
  
  Turns out too that he's wanted to get back together with her for a while now...but not so much that he hasn't been seeking out his physical pleasures in Rome for the past years. Keep in mind that although they're separated, they're both still married to each other. So this counts as infidelity in quite a few people's minds. It was only recently that he'd thought of her again and decided to see if he could win her back. Meanwhile, our heroine of course is still as pristine and virginal as ever (but not quite so naive about life). She's saved her v-card just for him and naturally this double standard is ignored. He's all enraged at the thought of her sleeping with other men (she had been dating), but she's totally fine with the fact that he hasn't been celibate. But once he puts his plan in action, where he invites her to his palazzo and starts wooing her back, she starts to see that this has been his plan all along (and isn't the slightest bit piqued by it). And isn't it fortunate that Gareth had made his move and she needed a cover to keep him away from her? No, he didn't plan that, it really was just fortunate and played into his plans perfectly.
  
  But let me say something about Gareth...he's the brother of Alicia's best friend and has never made a move on her (but everyone knew how he felt). He attack kisses her once and starts ranting about how he'll make her love him. Everybody else stresses how worried they are about Gareth's feelings and how she needs to stay away from him and find a lover to deter him. Everyone really starts acting like Gareth might turn out to be a rapist or something. They all love him dearly (they say) but are afraid of what he'll do if Alicia tells him no. How is this possible? How is it that this guy who has been so lovable all Alicia's life could have her so afraid to tell him she's simply not interested that she has to go fake it with her ex to keep him from something? This whole plotline felt contrived and kinda scary really. Especially since in the end, Gareth does attack Francesco and then suddenly calms down and is like, "I would never hurt you Alicia." He's just a convenient character that the author uses (and changes his personality like crazy) to give Alicia and Francesco a reason to pretend. I didn't care for it at all.
  
  Finally, there's just something wrong with the angst in this story. Most books have angst that is kind of drawn out...think of a radio wave, with the wavelengths being pretty long and the angst represented by that. This book was like a UV or gamma ray, where the wavelengths are really short. The heroine feels angst for a single moment after a comment and then next page she's laughing and totally moved on from it. That was what every moment of angst in this story did - there one minute and gone the next. So we don't get any drawn out or lengthy angst to really keep the suspense on. After a while I realized that none of the angst was gonna stick and so I got kinda bored after a while because I didn't care...since the heroine didn't really care. This had some potential, but didn't quite execute on it.
• 
  Ann Keller

  Alicia Cross thought she’d put that horrible moment behind her, but suddenly Count Francesco da Luca was standing in front of her and she couldn’t hide any longer.
  
  The years had been kind to Alicia. With her pale skin, adorable freckles and fiery red hair, she holds Francesco captive with her simple beauty. If only sweet Alicia can find it in her heart to forgive him for their misunderstanding, they might have a chance to be together again.
  
  I enjoyed the contrasts between these natives of Wales and Italy and how two people who are so very different can still love each other so deeply. Indeed, love knows all and forgives all. I’m looking forward to reading more of Catherine George’s work.
  
• 
  RomLibrary

  Count Francesco da Luca doesn't like being made a fool of. When his bride fled the marriage bed, he vowed she'd pay the debt she owed him--their wedding night!
  
  But Alicia Cross is no longer the trembling, naive innocent he married--and she won't be pushed around by the masterful count. His runaway bride is proving to be more of a challenge than he anticipated--until he discovers she's still a virgin. The wedding night Francesco wanted is his for the taking
• 
  Pauline Destinugrainy

  Kalau di Indonesia cerita ini di-sinetron-kan, yang saya bayangkan adalah cowok dan cewek beda suku trus jatuh cinta pada pandangan pertama, lalu menikah. Dan ternyata calon ibu mertua nggak begitu sreg sama menantu perempuannya gara-gara beda kasta. Nah pas malam pengantin, si perempuan pengen tampil seksi di depan suaminya, pake lingerie kado dari ibu mertua. Tapi malah suaminya ngumpat2 dalam bahasa daerahnya. Si perempuan yang tahu sedikit kalau arti umpatan suaminya itu ada kata "menjijikkan", langsung kabur karena emosi.
  
  Di sini, Alicia yang orang Wales ketemu mantan pemain rugbi Italia idolanya. Trus mereka saling jatuh cinta. Pernikahan pun direncanakan tidak lama dari pertemuan pertama. Ketika mau menikah itu Alicia baru tahu kalau Francesco adalah seorang count. Ceritanya berlanjut seperti di atas, dan akhirnya mereka berpisah. Bertahun-tahun kemudian, Francesco datang menemui Alicia, menuntut agar istrinya itu kembali. Dengan alasan ada warisan yang harus dia terima secara pribadi, Alicia akhirnya menyetujui untuk kembali ke kampung halamannya Francesco.
  
  Konfliknya memang remeh...tapi ya karena memang lagi cari bacaan yang ringan-ringan aja tanpa ekspektasi berlebihan, saya jatuhnya jadi menyukai ceritanya. Meski kesal sama Alicia yang ngotot berlebihan, tapi kesabaran Francesco lumayan menghibur.
• 
  Eri | Encrucijadas literarias

  Malentendidos, malas personas y palabras feas separan a estos recién casados que vuelven a verse luego de mucho tiempo... Francesco quiere que ella vuelva y ella no está dispuesta a que las cosas cambien entre ellos luego de lo que ella sufrió...
  Pero el tiempo, el desenredo de situaciones y los sentimientos que nunca se fueron hacen que todo se sienta mucho más y que aclarados los malentendidos, puedan darse otra oportunidad.
• 
  Fanny Roswita Ria

  Awal2nya sangat excited utk baca cerita ini krn adanya kesalahpahaman yg menurut gw tdk berlarut-larut diceritakan, tetapi menjelang setengah cerita alurnya yg begitu lambat sangat membosankan..apalagi sang heroine yang diawal begitu “keras” dlm menolak sang hero lalu melempem begitu saja,,yah tdk spt harlequin yg lain yg ini konfliknya sangat sedikit
• 
  More Books Than Time

  Much much better than the blurb sounds. She left him for what seemed at the time to be a good reason, but had she been a little more mature, she would not have done so. He wanted her back but her family refused to tell him where she was and he gave up looking for some reason.
  
  Quite well written and sympathetic, likable characters who have a strong bond.
• 
  Uchatadara

  Nyaris tanpa konflik sih tapi manis. Jadi 3.5 bintang cukuplah
• 
  Calysta

  Illogical behavior of the characters and ridiculous levels of melodrama
• 
  Cherry-Ann

  Fair enough read but the premise on which the bride fled the groom on her wedding night was too silly to cotton. Really? That's why they should increase the legal age to 21. Then it is only after the grand reconciliation Mommy dearest is being told what occurred after her stellar defence of daughter from a s-i-l she liked? Once physical abuse was out of the picture, no one thought to play mediator? Then for a Welsh/Italian story not sure how the language got mixed up...endearments uttered supposed in Welsh sounded Italian. The other puzzle...not sure exactly how long the couple separated. Noticed the author avoided going into details instead life events were offered....college, for instance (is it 3 or 4 years?). Anyway, finished since it forms part of my reading challenge but serious problems with the plot.
• 
  Jess

  The conflict in this one is SO DUMB and without it, there is no reason for the separation and the reunion proceeds without delay. The author tries to add a not wanted suitor as an additional conflict, but that comes across as ridiculous too, because the heroine becomes afraid of someone she's known for years and thinks of as a brother because she finds out he has feelings for her. The fear just seemed like a stupid overreaction.
• 
  Pam

  I liked the book. I like the Heroine, she became strong I loved the Hero he was so enamored with her. I like the traditional Italian Hero.
• 
  Michaela

  These people are stupid. They are in love yet they barely know each other and all their problems could have been solved if they spoke to each other in the first place.
• 
  Xai Xai

  I enjoyed this second chance romance. Even beyond the grave of the MIL, she brought them back together
• 
  Stephanie

  Boring and soppy.
• 
  liez

  sebenarnya konflik dibuku ini agak receh ya dan aku sebel aja dengan Alicia. Memang dalam suatu hubungan itu sangat diperlukan komunikasi bukan malah kabur dan menghindar jika ada masalah.
• 
  endang cippy

  Seri : Internasional Billionaire #5
  
  Alicia Cross bertemu dengan Fransesco da Luca, Count da Luca dari Sisilia, Italia. Pemain rugby dan juga cinta masa kecilnya dalam perjalanan wisatanya ke Italia bersama Megan.
  
  Fransesco langsung jatuh cinta pada padangan pertama. Alicia yang dididik dalam sekolah biara di Irlandia. Membawa Alicia kepada kehidupan cinta super kilat dan hubungan menantu-mertua yang begitu banyak konflik dalam ikatan pernikahan.
  
  Alicia Cross menikah dengan Fransesco menikah di usia 18 tahun. Kurangnya pengalaman menyebabkan salah komunikasi satu dengan yang lainnya. Dan menyebabkannya harus berpisah satu hari setelah hari pernikahannya.
  
  Beberapa tahun kemudian, Alicia bertemu dengan Fransesco dalam pertandingan rugby Six Nations di Irlandia sebagai pembawa acara olahraga di salah satu media olahraga Irlandia.
  
  Mulai dari sinilah alur cerita mulai bisa dinikmati. Teka teki kaburnya Alicia setelah satu hari pernikahannya di buka satu per satu. Baik dari sudut pandang Alicia maupun Fransesco 😄😅
  
  Yang menjadi teka teki mulai dari awal sampai akhir halaman buku ini yang dalam benakku adalah berapa usia Fransesco???
  
  Gilaaakkk..sampai akhir gak dikasih tahu pengarangnya. 😤😤😤
  
  Aku menebak-nebak terus menerus sampai sekarang 😤😤😤😤😤😬😠😡
• 
  Nikki

  Skimmed this turd. Dragged on and on. Then a lot of rugby nonsense that added nothing to the plot. A very obscure problem that broke up the couple that wasn’t believable in the slightest. Skip!