This was your typical Harlequin with a clueless asshole MMC who comes from a rich & privileged background and a poor/destitute FMC who he uses for a time until he hits the road & leaves her angry and devastated. And boy was this FMC angry!
Six years prior, MCs were in a sexual relationship for 3 months where he took her virginity and thought of her as something to pass the time with, while the poor deluded fool thought she hit the jackpot gravy train to the high life and HEA. However, dude brutally sets her right by telling her that they come from different worlds and that it’s over. Over I tell you!! 🫣 🙋‍♂️
“It’s over Bianca! Over! Accept it!”

He then walks away and never gives her another thought while filtering through many other beauties through the years while poor fool freezes with anger & revenge. So FMC realizing that he was just slumming it with her, she spends next 6 years making something of herself and in her head she is sticking it to asshat MMC who didn’t think she was good enough – until she receives a call from a solicitor that she has a long-lost uncle in Italy who is dying and who commands her to marry Loverboy MMC.

Who woulda think it that MMC is also the poor dying Uncle’s Godson who immediately thinks she is using old man to gain his money and is a whore! Oh no he didn’t! 😰 Yep, he DID! 🤬
“Bianca, raised on an East London council estate, is Matteo’s niece? How can she be? It is impossible….surely impossible!”

But the poor fool is set right and heroine gets her first pound of flesh when she gleefully gloats & silently tells him to choke on his foul mouth & beliefs! 💁‍♀️ 👏
Then poor matchmaking uncle pulls the final dose – marry each other or else! 🤦‍♀️And what does the deluded Hero do? Yep, it’s all the temptress fault for she must have put the ideal in poor uncle’s head! 🤦‍♀️(strike 3 loverboy!) 🤣

And the boy just keeps sticking his mouth in his ass throughout the story until of course he finally sees the light and HEA.

Gotta say, I enjoyed this one because of it’s ridiculousness. He poor fool Hero was over the top an asshole but at least we have a feisty heroine who gives it back and holds grudges! Boy, does she ever! No doormat here. 😁

“You were a conceited pig six years ago, Luca – and you’re a conceited pig still!”

The h had an affair with the H six years ago. He broke it off rather brutally. Fast forward 6 years., the h went to university, got her degree and changed the way she spoke and dressed. The h was raised by a bitter aunt. she finds out the she is the niece of an elderly, ill gentleman in Italy.. she goes to Italy and unexpectedly runs into the H , the man who devastated her when he broke up with her, Turns out he is the godson of her uncle.

I received an ARC from Net Galley

There’s something oddly comforting about immersing myself in a story overflowing with emotional turbulence and over-the-top drama.
While this book doesn’t break new literary ground and I’ve definitely encountered more refined narratives, it hit the right spot at the right time for me. I found myself questioning both the storyline and the protagonists’ decisions, but that didn’t stop me from tearing through it.
It’s the kind of indulgent read you know isn’t objectively great—like devouring junk food late at night—yet somehow, it leaves you feeling strangely satisfied.

A digital advance copy was kindly provided by the publisher in return for an honest opinion.

I had forgotten what and how many deep needs I have, are satisfied by a book so full of drama and angst. It is not a masterpiece, and I have read better ones, but right now it is just what I needed. I don't even agree with the general plot line or the behavior of the main characters, but it's like a bag of chips, it is bad for you, but occasionally good for the soul.

Mi ero dimenticata quali e quanti miei profondi bisogni soddisfacesse un libro cosí pieno di dramma e angst. Non é un capolavoro e ne ho letti di migliori, ma in questo momento é proprio quello che mi ci voleva. Non sono nemmeno d'accordo sulla linea generale della trama né sul comportamento dei personaggi principali, ma é come un sacchetto di patatine, fa male, ma ogni tanto fa bene all'anima.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.