From the Blurb:
Suitable for marriage, but what about love?
Enrico DiRinaldi wants a wife and children, even though an accident has left him unable to walk. So he proposes a marriage of convenience to Gianna Lakewood. Having secretly always loved Rico, Gianna can't say no.
The passion Rico ignites in his innocent bride is explosive! But when she realizes that Rico's full recovery from his injuries is imminent, and his beautiful ex-fiancee is waiting in the wings, Gianna is sure he won't want her any more. However, Rico is still intent on keeping his convenient wife by his side...
Italian Husbands: Tall, dark, and ready to marry!
The Review:
After Rico is shot and hit by a car (presumably because one or the other could not be enough to take down this Italian stallion), Gianna is the first to his bedside. She's loved him since she was a child and she can't imagine a world without him. Unfortunately his fiancée wants her out of the way, but Rico will have none of it, telling his fiancée to piss off and then begging Gianna to marry him. Of course, she says yes, but marriage to her childhood love isn't all she had hoped once they make it back to Italy.
Rico, our sexy Italian hero, is hot hot hot! There's no questioning Gianna's devotion to this man as he is pretty much sexiness incarnate. And although his motivations aren't always clear, he is passionate and driven, with a sensitive side, afraid of what might become of him if he cannot recover from his accident. More importantly, he spouts Italian endearments that would make any woman weak at the knees and is mostly concerned with providing Gianna with the utmost sexual pleasure over and over... *cough* Where was I? Oh yes, I like Rico.
Unfortunately, Gianna is a bit of a disappointing heroine. Apparently she works at a University, but she is incredibly stupid and naïve. I enjoyed the change from the usual girl-meets-boy storyline to one of girl-who-has-been-longing-for boy-for-ages-and-they-finally-hook-up storyline, but mostly I just felt frustrated that maybe if Gianna hadn’t been such a sap they would have hooked up long ago. Basically, she's pretty pathetic. Having fallen for Rico myself, I understand why she is a virgin at 23, waiting for him to see her, but I don't understand why she seems to be completely ignorant of sex like some backwards 50s housewife. This girl needs to read more romance.
This is not my favourite of the Harlequin Presents line by any stretch, but sexy Italian man is sexy.
I read the Audiobook, so what about the Narrator?
Lindsay Ellison is a pretty good narrator. She certainly wasn't boring, but her Gianna voice was quite whiny. I suppose that suited the character pretty well though. She did good sexy male Italian, which was the most important thing in this story.
The Italian's Suitable Wife was published by Harlequin in 2005 and is available from Amazon and Audible.
