4 Stars! ~~~ This is a fast paced emotional read and I enjoyed it very much
The Kouvaris Marriage by Diana Hamilton
Harlequin Presents # 2614 ~ March 2007
(Alert!! ~~~ spoiler discussion in comments)
.
.
It was one blazingly hot sweaty day when Dimitri Kouvaris came upon Maddie Ryan in his neighbour’s garden, and immediately he was smitten with her tatty old shorts, dirty face and freckles. He followed her home to England and informed her that in three weeks she was returning home with him to Greece as his wife! With an attraction that was explosive, Maddie couldn’t fight her feelings and quickly gave in to his decree. And now three months later, Dimitri is totally stunned to come home and find a note from his wife that she’s left him and wants a divorce. What Dimitri doesn’t know is that his live-in Aunt has been subtly undermining Maddie’s confidence, claiming she was so far beneath the Kouvaris family. And that Irini the woman his Aunt had wanted Dimitri to marry, has been telling evil stories on how Dimitri had only married her for her ability to give children, as Irini can’t conceive; and once a child is born, Dimitri won’t hesitate to divorce her, taking the child from her and then marrying the woman he really loves, Irini. Dimitri thinks she’s a gold-digger and that now after the obligatory few months of marriage she’s looking for a juicy financial settlement. So he uses a crisis with her parents to blackmail her into returning to the marriage, this only reinforces in Maddie’s mind what Irini has told her.
There are quite a few plot similarities to the story I previously reviewed. Again, we have a heroine who leaves her husband before he has the chance to boot her out. One very nice difference is that we are given Dimitri’s POV and we can see that for him it was love at first sight. He’s in total ignorance of the evil stories Irini and his Aunt have been telling Maddie. This is a classic story where both hero and heroine could easily have cleared up their problems had they only communicated. I felt for Maddie, as she put it, she was in a catch 22 situation. Dimitri was well portrayed in his real confusion over why his wife wants a divorce. There were a few moments where I was truly ready to thworp him over the head and one cringe worthy moment near the end of the book that I wished hadn’t been included. This is a fast paced emotional read and I enjoyed it very much.
Excellence: Very Good ~ Steaminess: Sensual
My Totals = 84 ~ Harlequin Imprint =73 ~ Other Publisher = 11
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
Katherine did you figure out which part I didn't like?
When Maddie asked him to stay and he said that he needed to go to Irini because he always keeps his promises. How about his promises and vows when he married Maddie? He told her to think about their marriage, maybe they shouldn't be together.
Anyway, he said that he would be back later. Maddie collapsed and was taken to the hospital. He appeared TWO DAYS later and blamed his aunt for not calling him to tell him about it. WHAT? If he was supposed to be back home later and was gone for a few days didn't he bother to call Maddie at home and tell her that he was delayed? Had he bothered to call he would have found out that Maddie was in the hospital.
Both of them needed a good "shaking." Dimitri for not explaining his relationship with Irini to Maddie -- it was a lot of him to ask of her -- since he was constatnly runnning to Irini's side and she was 'always there' in their house, where they went, etc... He even went away with Irini to take her to some 'hospital' and didn't tell Maddie where he was going or why.
And Maddie should have confronted him from the start when Irini first started 'telling her stories.' I guess she was scared because she didn't want to fnd out from Dimitri that what Irini said was true. She was insecure about her place in his life -- we knew that he loved her but she didn't.
Yes their lack of communication led to many of the problems -- but not all of them.
Lidia
ROFL ...
Lidia .. check your email :)
yes .... though I should have caught the promises thing ... I recall reading it and but I didn't see how contradictory it was to his actions .... I did most definitely note the two days away and not even a call to his pregnant wife .... if he didn't want to talk to Maddie after their fight he could have easily verified with his staff that she hadn't left him as she threatened to do .... I hated that even when he found out it wasn't from his own initiative ....
but I was disgusted with Maddie for forgiving Irini for the lies ... what??? ...... she could excuse that evil woman? ... she was manipulative through and through and didn't deserve any understanding at all .... I didn't even know whether to believe that she had a drug issue ... as surely if she did the rehab facilities would have found ways of keeping her or notifying Dimitri that Irini has left the program
check your email ..... if you want we continue the discussion here or offline .... I'll add a spoiler alert to my review! ;)
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
You've got mail!
I sent a response to your email with some additional thoughts. We can discuss it in either place. Putting a "spoiler" alert is probably a good idea since we did mention what happens towards the end.
Hey Kat, so you read this
Hey Kat, so you read this one. :) 4 stars eh?
I didn't get past the halfway point on this one... just didn't draw me in.
This one drew me in .....
the prologue was kind of draggy but once they were married and in Greece the story picked up .... did you at least get as far as him taking her to his island?
there's some great scenes on the island .... one where I'd have loved it if Maddie had pushed him over the cliff ...
I had to read this one right to the ending last night ... so it must have been compelling .... I wasn't in the least bit sleepy ;) .... though I felt it this morning!
I wanted to badly for her to have a huge confrontation with him ... but that silly pride of hers kept getting in the way ...... in that way this book and Savage Obsession are incredibly alike .... both heroines don't want to risk their pride ... both believed in the other woman that was never an other woman ... there are quite a few similarities
if you have this one kicking around, give it another shot
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
Interesting...
These discussions are interesting even though I have no intention of reading this book! Nice to see you guys' perspective and I think it means I will be using all of you as a guide to which books in the HP line might appeal to me as well since those sort of things would irk me as well.
BTW, Katherine, how in the world do you create those neat boxes????
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Kat... I got exactly to the
Kat... I got exactly to the halfway point, where the cardboard postcard was. I stopped reading there because it was a good "bookmark" I remember. But hmmm, I don't remember much about the plot at that point.
Debbie ... those little boxes ....
on the editing tool bar there is an "outdent" icon and an "indent" icon ... fourth and fifth spots from the right ... if your run your cursor slowly over the tool bar icons their titles pop up
in "indent" icon is the one with the little blue are pointing to the right as if pushing text (fourth from the right)
type the text you want in the box ... highlight it ... then click on the indent icon .... then hit return and click on the "outdent" icon so no further text gets added to the box
voila!
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
My copy doesn't have the insert ....
I usually pick up mine from subscribers who sell on eBay .. that way I get the whole month
I think that would be around Chapter 7 .... did they know she was pregnant yet? ... if so, then they were on the island and that scene has already happened ... and I doubt you would have forgotten that scene!
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
YAY!
Thanks!!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
far out!
see ... easy peasy!
now once you've done that ... highlight the same text and click on the "center" icon ... that will center the text inside the box :)
see .... not so hard once you do it !
I'm grinning from ear to ear for you :D
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
Happy
Now I finally understand!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Just for the hell of
Just for the hell of it....
*failed but I tried again and it worked*
ROFL ...
I'm Happy, you're Happy ;)
see, we can learn new tricks!
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog