*** Note: This ARC was kindly provided to me in exchange for a honest review. ***
When Prince Tittoni decides he wants to expand his textile business and get into the mass market fashion industry, he realizes that supplying Lex, his new competition, will be a conflict of interest and bad for his new business. Lex, whose styles are known for the very fabrics the Prince supplies her with, of course, has huge objections to this.
Not willing to give up the business she fought so hard to get started, especially now when she is finally beginning to make a name for herself, Lex jumps on the next flight to Italy to confront the Prince... or potentially beg him to reconsider, if it comes to that.
After not being able to convince the reluctant Prince to sell her the fabric, the pair spend the next week attempting to come up with a compromise that will work for the both of them. The more time the pair spend together, the harder it is for either to deny the attraction they feel for one another, and soon, emotions, lust, and passion begins to complicate the business relationship they are trying to build.
Prince Tittoni, traumatized by a past relationship is very distrusting, and unwilling to fall in love with the fiesty American, while Lex, the daughter of a Rock -n- Roll legend of a father, and a notorious playmate groupie mother, grew up in the limelight, and doesn't want to return to it. Being seen on the Prince's arm at a ball causes rumors of the couple being an item, the very idea giving the handsome Prince cause to step back and evaluate what he and the American are doing together, and the attention they are receiving, causing Lex alarm.
Will these two overcome the obstacles in their path and take a chane on love? Buy the book and find out.
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I'm a bit torn about this book. On one hand, I appreciate the originality of this book. The plot is well thought out and not something I've read a million times before, which in the over-saturated world of the romance genre, is rare. The book also caught my interest and held it throughout the book, and the author has a great talent when it comes to bringing the locales to life... I could almost smell the salt water of Isola de Girasoli, and feel the hot sun beating down on my skin. However, on the other hand, the character development was off, and the story was far-fetched.
As far as character development, I feel as though both protagonists got over their issues with starting/being in a relationship rather quickly and without any reason behind it, other than the story needed it to happen. We have Lex, who doesn't have time to date, yet here she is, making time... to date. On top of that, Lex is a woman who is traumatized by a childhood in the spotlight, yet she gets over that and is strutting her stuff, nearly nude, on a red carpet with tons of papparazzi around. Yes she had some help from our friend 'liquid courage', but it was two shots, not the entire bottle. Then there's the Prince, jaded from a past relationship, he has sworn off love, yet quickly changes his tune, and when I say quickly... whew... I mean quickly. The entire love affair takes place in the time span of a week. Really?! ONE WEEK?! I'm sorry, but that is not enough time to meet, get to know, and fall in love with someone. It just isn't realistic that a man who is rich and powerful, who I'm sure has tons of women throwing themselvs at him in an attempt at becoming royalty, or rich, who also happens to have major emotional scars when it comes to trusting women and love, would or could go and change his tune so drastically in such a short amount of time. I don't care how beautiful the woman is, I don't care what connection you have with each other, you will take more than a week to get over the past and begin to learn to trust again.
I also disliked the "love scenes", and I use the term "love" very loosely here, because although the Prince claims that when he and Lex have sex it is not fu*#ing, but rather making love, the love scenes came off very much so, as fu*#ing. There was no tenderness in their interaction at all, and I'm sure the author threw in the 'I love you's during sex to reenforce that the Prince says he and Lex only make love, but that was definately not the feeling I was left with. I mean, you love each other, but you choose to have your first time together to be in at basement-sex-orgy-party? Granted they are in their own private quarters, but come on! Plus, he is a Prince, and she is a fashion designer, why would either of them take the chance at being caught there? Why wouldn't you find a place better suited for a romantic first occassion of 'making love', or even go home to his palace rather than going down to the sex dungeon? It's not that I'm a prude, it's not that the author didn't write very hot and steamy scenes, I just have issue with the fact that the whole 'making love' thing was driven home so much, yet that did not feel like the case at all to me. Making love requires more than having sex with someone you love, people in love can still simply fu*#. Making love requires tenderness, affection, intimacy, and emotional vulnerability, none of which was present in their 'making love'.
*** Spoiler alert *** Plus the ending, where Mossimo proposes marriage at Lex's fashion show was very cheesy to me. Aside from the fact that he's asking her to marry him after spending only a week together, he didn't take two things into consideration. One, Lex doesn't like the spotlight, so being propossed to in a setting that couldn't possibly be more in the spotlight, -literally, they had spotlights on them- would probably not be the best place to propose marriage. Two, the fashion show was about Lex and her company, it was her time to shine, her time to show the world all of the hard work she put into her company. If this were reality, no one would even be talking about the clothing line, all they would be talking about, is the proposal. It would totally over-shadow Lex's clothing line. How much of a narcissist would you have to be, to do something like that? *** End Spoiler ***
My overall view, is the story comes off as a bit unlikely, and unrealistic, which totally conflicts with the great talent that Avery Aster clearly has as an author. Some people might not mind quicky romances, or care about the believability of a story, but I do, and it really took a lot away from the story for me, which sucks, because I really liked both characters a lot.
** Note to author: Lex is described as having wavy blonde hair. The woman on the cover has dark brown, or black hair. Your cover is your only opportunity to give your readers a visual representation of your story, and an inconsistency such as this can throw your readers off. **
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Rating (based on a 5 star rating system):
* * *
Would I recommend this book to others?:
Possibly. If someone wanted a quick read, or had an interest in both romance and the fashion industry, then yes. Otherwise, probably not.
Would I read other books by the author?:
Yes, possibly. I would check the reviews first though.
*** It should be noted, that this book, while part of a series, IS a standalone novel. You will not be required to read other books in the series to get a HEA, although if you feel moved to do so, I'm sure the author would appreciate it. ***
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