I couldn't do it. This pains my to even say it. I think I am done with the presents line. The last few I have read have been off putting to me.

The Secret The Italian Claims is the start of a new trilogy by Jennie Lucas in the Secret Heirs of Billionaires miniseries. I received a free copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I admit that these can be a guilty pleasure for me. I know it is a bit formulaic but, Hallie and Christiano were both interesting and flawed with loss in their pasts. It is entertaining to see them work beyond the loss and pain and find each other as well as something neither of them knew they were missing. I will follow this miniseries as I saw something in this story that makes me think I might know who the father of one of Hallie's buddies' baby is and will need to read the next story to see if I caught it correctly.

Awesome book can’t wait to read the next two books in this series and it had awesome character development

I'm a bit of a sucker for the Secret baby theme. While I wasn't a fan of both main characters, I did understand why they were the way they were. I could definitely identify with Hallie, who wanted a home. Not too much to ask of a man with a luxury hotel in every hot city around the globe, right? Cristiano has no desire to plant his roots anywhere. As Hallie begins to break down his walls, can they both get what they want out of a marriage?

I really liked this story, but I'm a sucker for this formula, always have been. Christiano is handsome, super rich and a bit cold the polar opposite of Hallie who's poor as a church mouse and very loving. She was assigned to clean his room and sparks went flying and they had a thing. Nine months later she broke, unemployed and with a baby. So her friends talk her into seeing him. I liked the fact that he was always in love with her, but he had love issues. I recommend this book.

I struggled to finish this book because I had a hard time liking either MC! They were both selfish, immature and just plain loathsome and annoying!.
Hero owns the hotel where heroine works as a maid. As they first meet, they are instantly attracted and have sex (h was a virgin) but Hero kicks her out afterwards and then fires her. Without any support system (no family) and broke, heroine finds herself pregnant and struggling to survive. With the help & encouragement of two friends, they force her to tell H about the baby so that she can get monetary support. When Hero finally earns he is a father, he offers marriage and more angst continues....

ARC provided by NetGalley and Harlequin in exchange for an honestest review. Opinions are totally my own.

This pains me to rate this so low. I'm a JL fan and normally enjoy her characters and storyline.

But the hero and heroine in this book where so childish and unlikeable, it made this a chore to finish.

The synopsis of the book is the overall gist of the story. So I'd just like to make a few point on what was so disappointing.

I found the opening or first meeting of the two off putting. She's a maid at a hotel, had a crush/loved him. They meet as she's cleaning his room and have sex. The dialogue and thought process of both in that first meeting was ridiculous IMHO. The heroines was juvenile and came across like a middle school girl. The hero was an employee and just decided to have sex with the maid cleaning his room (he found her attractive of course). Sorry that's not hero material and the author did a poor job in the setup of this story. It was week and one demential.

A pregnancy results with heroine not telling the hero. When they meet again the interaction between the two is pretty ugly, not even close to angst here. Neither character really develops or redeems themselves as the story progresses. The hero continues to be a jerk and the heroine's response and reactions are not quite adult in nature.

I will continue to read this authors books. These two characters just where a disappointment and believe this is an exception for this author and her HP.

**ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Alpha billionaire, Cristiano has a one night stand with Hallie a maid at his posh hotel. A secret baby, forced marriage and lots of angst ensue. The immediate sex upon first meeting was a turn off as well as the overall nastiness of the male character. Not one of my favorite reads.

This is Christian and Hallie’s story. He owns a chain of hotels. She was a maid in his main hotel. He seduces her and has her fired. She has his child. She tries to contact him. He won’t take her calls. She goes to see him and he wants to marry her because of his son. She says yes. They have a lot of passion but he won’t give her love. He is very bitter because of his own father. There are many twists and turns. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Cristiano is not one to mess around when it comes to his woman's safety, "I’m not fine,” Cristiano bit out, and got out of the vehicle. He looked back at her, his handsome face as implacable as granite. “Which apartment number?” Cristiano is like a caveman over some things, “soon,” he whispered. “Very soon.” Hallie sucked in her breath as if still in a trance. Taking a step, she nearly stumbled. He felt a surge of supremely masculine satisfaction." The man is just putty in his woman's hands, "Cristiano could not argue with her. He turned to the manager. “You heard the lady. Get her what she wants.” I liked this book, I loved Cristiano even though he needed an attitude adjustment at times.

Here's another one of these reads with insufferable male leads. Christiano had no intention of looking for Hallie after their night of lovemaking. He took her virginity, had her fired and then paid her off.

Hallie had his child in secret and is homeless. Her two friends convince her to go to look for him for support. She goes, then asks him for a check in the amount of the money that she tore up before and leaves. He follows his instincts, sees she has a child and demands a paternity test.

All of a sudden he wants to marry her, because of his own background. Months later he tells her he won't ever love her, he doesn't love anyone. This guy is a total jack ass, she should have never taken him back.