Under the Italian's Command by Susan Stephens

Somewhat mixed feelings about this one, loved some elements to bits, had a few things I would have liked better done different. 

Back Cover:

An innocent mouse…

Sheltered and mousy Carly Tate is out of her depth. Dark, dangerous Lorenzo Domenico is the first man to make her heart race, but she knows the gorgeous Italian will never see past her frumpy clothes and awkward shyness.

She's his for the taking!

Little does she realize that, to Lorenzo, sweet, endearing Carly is a breath of fresh air. He's sure that underneath her disastrous fashion there's a voluptuous figure—and he's going to be the one to discover it…. 

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! ok, I'm kidding, but I do prefer no facial hair), 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. 

My Rating: 3/5 stars, wildly funny and unique, but I had beefs with a bunch of things about the plot. 

I must say, this story read differently, relative to the usual Harlequin Presents style.  The writing -- along with the situation/setting -- was fresh, and contemporary.  In fact, if I hadn't known I was reading a Presents, I would've thought that I was reading an independent chick lit book. 

Anywho, I really loved the chemistry between Carly and Lorenzo, and the law environment in which they worked.  It was really a page turner ... until they made love for the first time, which I thought was somewhat anti-climactic (if you'll pardon the anti pun!  LOL.).

I guess I wanted the love scene to be treated with the reverence that I'm accustomed to reading in a Presents.  It wasn't intense  -- after all that build up!  From then on, the story lost its energy, and got bogged down in Carly's family situation.  I would've preferred continued focus on the couple, with perhaps an additional conflict to work through.  Carly's parental issues could've been addressed in 10 pages or so.

Carly's preoccupation with her weight was a bit annoying.  It was okay for her to be unsure of her career choice, but I just wanted her to OWN her figure -- just rock it, girl.

Cover art:  it was provocative, but inconsistent.  Since Carly was fuller figured, I feel the cover art should've reflected this by making the Carly image more voluptuous.  I don't think it would've been a detriment to sales.  In fact, I would've been MORE likely to read it, because I'm curvaceous.

That's a lot of criticism, but guess what?  I still like Susan Stephens's style, and I look forward to picking up more of her books this weekend! 

 Ta-taaaa...

Cpatrice