Neither Billionaire Gregorio De La Cruz nor the woman he’s enthralled with; a defiant beauty named Lia; are particularly likeable. He’s too pushy. He pursues her like a stalker even as his advances are angrily rejected. She’s too gullible. She eventually gives in and blames him for her caving to her own lustful temptations.

It’s up to the plot of the novel, Presented by Harlequin via Carole Mortimer, to keep the pages turning. That it does, if barely so, from the prologue, which takes place at Lia’s father’s burial; crime and corruption are underlining themes in this story; to the fairy tale epilogue, the latter bit of which is too mawkish for my tastes.

my rating : 3 of 5

2017