| Title | : | Untouched Until Marriage |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0263213943 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780263213942 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 192 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2010 |
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!
Untouched Until Marriage Reviews
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Hero really needed a private investigator - or Google. Yes, mother and daughter have the same name, but there are so many public records that could have tipped him off that the mother was dead and this young woman(heroine) had not been his adopted father's mistress or this child's mother.
T hat's the big misunderstanding that fuels the entire story. Hero must bring the child and mother to the family estate in Italy and he must let her vote at board meetings. Heroine goes along with it because she doesn't want to lose her half brother to the hero or social services. (Never mind she's signing contracts in someone else's name and - who am I kidding? I'm sure it's okay in HPlandia)
The H/h are wildly attracted to each other and convince each other that they should marry for "the sake of the child." The gig is up when h surrenders her v-card and hero throws a tantrum.
There's still a final black moment to go, but it's a minor lie by the hero concerning the shares, and it doesn't amount to much.
This is a standard HP with all the familiar tropes. It's already starting to fade from my memory. (Note to self: this is the one where heroine likes to wear orange and purple and green to highlight her vibrant nature) If you like misunderstandings and marriages of conveniences, you'll like this one. -
Inocente Hasta El Matrimonio aunque predecible y tipica fue una buena lectura, es cierto que no aporta nada nuevo a la tematica pero me gusto mucho la forma en la que esta escrita, en parte porque Chantelle Shaw escribe de una forma muy cuidada.
Si eres fan de este estilo estoy segura de que te gustara esta pequeña novela : es corta, agil, entretenida y sin sorpresas. Ideal para pasar una tarde.
2.5 Estrellas! -
Hero mistakes heroine for adoptive father's mistress. (I love when the H thinks the h is a whore that's sleeping with one of his relatives and the lust and jealousy consumes him buahahaha)
So this one was a super sweet h vs a super bastard H. -
Too much insta love and little substance to the hero, heroine or the story.
Heroine is way too sweet for the hero. He's pretty much a stinker.
Paint by the numbers Harlequin. -
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.
Originally posted at
http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot.... -
The implication of a relationship of the hero and his father's mistress makes my skin crawl (it sounds almost like incest), but if I rate the story down for that it will really be grossly unfair.
So only one star down for that.
Hero was an asshole, but I think he redeemed himself by his vulnerability. It was quite satisfactory to see him scared to death worrying h won't love him back -
Emotional book full of angst and passion. Heroine was a sweetheart and hero was sex on legs. Chemistry between these two is hot!!! Epilogue was adorable I couldn't help smiling!
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Buena lectura. Entretenida para pasar un rato , aunque en mi caso fueron unas tardes por el poco tiempo que tenía para leer.
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4,5 stars
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The h pretends that she is the mother of her little halfbrother. The father of her halfbrother is also the father of the H. So the H thinks the h was his dad’s mistress. But that doesn’t stop him from falling in lust with the h.
The h didn’t tell the H she was still a virgin. So their wedding night was a painful disaster. After the sex she runs to the bathroom to vomit.
Haha, imagine a man vomiting after he had sex with you. That would be such a turn-off. But not for this writer.
The H storms away mad that he was being lied to. After he comes back he wants to have sex again with that vomiting woman.
Bleh. -
Raul believes that Libby was his father's mistress and gave birth to his son. Libby was afraid that her baby half brother would be taken from her so she pretended to be his mother. This deception leads to a forced marriage and lots of heartache.
Good story with it's share of drama. Libby is sweet but fiery and Raul was the quintessential Latin alpha male - all heat and arrogance. It's an enjoyable book, not very memorable, but enjoyable all the same. -
Alpha H to Beta H, cute read.
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Another winner from CS. But like all other reviews, this is pretty safe and easy reading. The h is sweet and the H is an alpha Italian who is seemingly ruthless. I didn’t find the H to be too mean. He was kind and took things under control as soon as he meets the h. He was also a tender lover once he finds out that he has wrongly assumed about the h.
The book moved fast and the epilogue was also sickly sweet. A feel good book for anyone needing a little uplifting! -
Raul discovers he has a brother after his adopted father passes away. He seeks to discover this child and fulfill his father’s will. Also Raul needs them so that he can take the company in a new direction. This alpha handsome man shows up at Libby’s house proclaiming rights and setting out some legalese for her and the child. Libby lies and claims parental rights over her brother and easily goes along w/ this stranger! Not a great parent, IMHO. Sure things were addressed legally in this story about Libby not really having rights to bring up the child, but then neither did Raul. There was no DNA test done and I find it hard to believe that if Libby’s mom wouldn’t name her own father on her BC because of his runner and duplicity then why would she name Raul’s father on the BC when he failed to acknowledge the bun? Technicalities I suppose. Raul is appalled to find himself attracted to his late father’s mistress, but he is.
Anyway Raul gets Libby to go w/ him and she maintains her lie because she wants so badly to be a part of the baby’s life and she can’t provide much for him. She also believes that Raul has more rights than her, dummy. Are there no pro bono, legal aid attorneys in HP either? Raul needs to completely control the company and he doesn’t like sharing it w/ Libby and the baby. Question: why would his father not give complete control to him? Did he not trust him? Raul had been previously married to a gold digger and so, of course, he believes that Libby is one as well. Maybe his pa didn’t trust him after that failed marriage and the fact that dipstick didn’t do up a pre-nup?! Raul hits upon a plan, the will states that if Libby marries then she loses the right to help in the company. Raul decides he will marry her and then he gets it ALL. However, he does have second thoughts and sets things right, but he doesn’t tell her ANY of that and he KNOWS she didn’t read the document disclosing her loss very closely. Also, when he discovers that she was UNTOUCHED and couldn’t be the mother of the baby he gets very angry and threatens divorce. NOTE that he has already come to the table dirty! His duplicity has already been acted out as they don’t sleep together until their wedding night! She lied to him and deceived him and yet….so did he! He rethinks things and returns but he still doesn’t fess up to her. Nope it’s a naughty relative that lets the cat out of the bag and Libby isn’t too happy w/ Raul, but she forgives him after all is discussed. It was an enjoyable read. -
You wonder how naive some women can be to think that they can pretend to be more experienced than they are and yes, this probably only happens in romance novels. At least I think they do.
It hilarious because "untouched" Tamsin tries to deceive Raul into thinking her baby brother Gino is hers. Raul tries to deceive Tamsin that he wants to get married and become a good father to Gino when he does want that but also wants to have full control of the family's company.
When it all gets unraveled , he gets mad at her for her deception but forgives her easily and decides to stay married. She gets mad at him for his deception not too much later but doesn't see forgiveness at the end of the rainbow. I wanted to slap her and it wasn't the first time. I don't know why CS made Tamsin so immature on this point but I guess there wouldn't be a story if she wasn't.
Raul should have tossed her to the curb, took the baby and the company, and said ciao. How she could be so unforgiving when her transgression seemed a hundred times worse was beyond me and CS didn't really redeem her, imho. Definitely, Raul was a character that grew on you and worthy of more than a simpering heroine.
Tamsin gets my first too-stupid-to-live heroine award this year. -
Rating: 3 stars
I really like how sweet the heroine and misunderstood by the hero. Like most books I read, this is definitely emotional, full of misunderstandings and assumptions and a sorta grovelling hero at the end. A decent read. -
Entertaining read with some minor flaws that others may overlook. For an HP Extra, I thought there should've been more time to flesh out the characters and the attraction. Instant lust within one day is all well and good, but given the soapy plot set-up, a little more character/relationship build-up would've served the story better.
All in all, not a bad read, it just felt a little like I had seen and read it all before. The h was lively and brave in the beginning, but lost most of her pep by the middle of the book. There was some repetitive inner monologuing, but thankfully it happened in between scenes not in the middle of conversations!
And, I'm not really a big fan of huge age differences. Although the book never acknowledged it or made it an issue, there were times that the h really did come off way too young even though she was supposed to be this independent woman that was raised to be self-sufficient, etc. Fourteen years is a pretty big gap.
However, I would recommend it for a quick and steamy read. -
This worked, quite well. The guy is a bit of an ass, but starts getting his facts right sooner than later and amends his behavior even earlier than that so that helps a lot.
Not a lot of this particular type of story, daughter pretends to be her half-sibling's parent because her mom died and they have the same/similar name etc. But I'm oddly fond of them. This is a really good version of that.
I quite liked Libby, which always helps. -
i didn't finish this book until today. after flipping a few chapters, i realized i put it away for a rainy day. now i know why i didn't finish it - i hate storylines when H thinks everyone is lying to him. that in itself made him the biggest asshole and i don't respect that. and even after he gets married to h he still believes she's lying to him.
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4.5 stars
Would love to see her pregnancy journey but this is a lovely book. I enjoy every single chapter in this book and love both MCs and the lil baby Gino. The epilogue was sweet. -
I started reading this book with a high expectation - for a HQ romance - but I'm disappointed. Such a pity, because I do like both the hero and heroine. The heroine, especially, has a lot of potentials because it's not everyday we were given an HQ heroine with brash and impulsive personality but still smart - or street-smart, to be exact. I really like that she likes to dress in vibrant colors. Oh yes, I've had have too many HQ heroines with elegant tastes so having a different one is refreshing. The hero is also likable and judging from his background he has potentials to be developed into a 3-dimensional character.
Unfortunately my hopes had to crash against the old cliche of "lust at first sight". OK, I know that the "lust at first sight" trope is like a must in all HQ romance, but seriously, this story would have done better without that (or maybe if it's executed in better way?). The plot also doesn't help, what with the hero gives in to his 'heart' (or in this case, the ache in his groin) so fast and the unneeded charade from the heroine comes off as 'meh'. I guess it would be better if the author just let the book be about them dealing with their growing feelings. (But if that were the case this book wouldn't be an HQ after all) I realize that the theme is quite similar with
Bond of Hatred but maybe because I wasn't expecting much when reading that, I end up liking that book - especially the first half - because the both the hero and heroine's hatred toward each other is so well written, thus making the UST so enjoyable.
Before this one, I've read
Proud Greek, Ruthless Revenge by the same author and I like the way she depicts the relationship development between the two leads (yes, that one is also lust at first sight but it's done well in regards with the plot). Somehow I had certain expectations from this one also, which maybe why I get so disappointed that I only grant it 2 stars.
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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! -
Standard run of the mill Harlequin Romance. They even got the heroine's name wrong once. It's comforting how poorly written these books are, that alone gets a 3 star rating from me. But it is nice to read a story that you know is going to have a happy ending, unlike real life romance where there's nothing but work to make it work. So definitely a 3.
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When I read this the "virgin who must pretend she is not a virgin" plot device was fresh and unusual to me, but I've since learned it is a trope that's been done before. There are no new stories. This twist on it is interesting enough, the rest is predictable, and the hero is kind of a gross jerk for most of it.
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Miniseries: Wedlocked!
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Miniseries: Wedlocked!
Category: Classic Romance
