Under the Italian's Command - Susan Stephens

I had somewhat mixed feelings about this book.  At first I thought "LOVE IT" and loved the humour of the book, but then some things just didn't work for me....   but here's my fav scenes and opinions.

Favourite Scene:

The student who was late had just slammed her rusty old bike into his pristine Alfa Romeo.

‘You cannot wipe it off,’ he roared, exiting the outer doors like an avenging angel. He had arrived just in time to see the young woman’s pink tongue flick out to wet her finger.

‘It’s a very small scratch,’ she explained, her green eyes rounding with sincerity. ‘Oh…’ The blood drained from her face. ‘Hello…’

He stood motionless, taking in the facts. Whichever way he looked at it, this was bad.
  

Another Fav Scene:

She was quirky and different and fresh. Or, to put it another way, her breasts were extraordinarily large and she was divinely plump in all the right places…though he had to admit that her fashion sense still left everything to be desired.

But, of course, he had to forget this moment of weakness and remember their relative positions in life. He was dominant, while she was…

No.

No!

She was not spread-eagled on his bed!
 

My Review:

Wow this book got off to a great start!  I was howling with laughter at parts, I love comedy in a HP.  It seemed so fresh this story.  Parts just reached out and grabbed me, it felt very vivid.  I went into this book screaming with laughter and loving it.  The heroine was great, I loved her as a person, very independent, smart, she was outwitting the hero regularly and beating him at his own "tests" of her. 

I had a few small beefs though: the hero has a beard (ew!), the hero seduces his pupil (I know the heroine's a mature student of law, but still, ew), the heroine had only had sex once before she met the hero and all of a sudden she's screaming faster and putting her ankles around his neck (the athletic feats were a little sudden), and the hero was a bit too extravagent with his gifts (throwing clothes, a huge ring, and a month on an island at her... maybe I don't understand the whole professor/lawyer career, but he's not an obscenely wealthy playboy and his lifestyle doesn't match the kind of gifts he gives).  There was also a problem with emotions: it might be that there was a bit too much comedy, too much about funny situations that lead to wild no-holds barred sex.  I didn't see where the sexual fascination became love and respect.  I also thought the timing was a tad off near the end: they declare love, have sex without protection and happily talk about how they want to knock the heroine up, then he asks her to move in and she asks "do you mean temporarily" (hello, he just deliberately tried to impregnate you after telling you he loves you, why are you unsure of his committment level NOW?), then a bit later he takes her out and proposes.  The timing seemed chaotic, but maybe that fits with the wild chaotic nature of their coupling. 

The cover is absolutely gorgeous by the way: the heroine is beautiful, the arrangement of her limbs is sensual, the silky ivory sheets are great, the hero is a bit too muscled but he's sexy and I love him looming over her.