Review: The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress (Anetakis Tycoons #1) by Maya Banks
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TITLE: The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress (Anetakis Tycoons #1)
AUTHOR: Maya Banks
ISBN: 9780373769209
PUBLISHER/IMPRINT: Harlequin/Silhouette Desire
LENGTH: Novel, 192 pages
GENRE: Contemporary Category Romance
BOOK BLURB:
Greek hotel magnate Chrysander Anetakis’s former mistress was pregnant? And had amnesia? That meant Marley Jameson didn’t remember betraying him by selling company secrets. Or that he’d thrown her out of his life. So he told her a little white lie: they were engaged. Then he swept her away to his Greek island to await the birth of his baby and enjoy her sudden devotion…before tossing her out. But he didn’t count on Marley regaining her memory so soon.
MY THOUGHTS:
This is one of the amnesia stories I’ve come across lately and, like the last one (review pending), I enjoyed it very much. Amnesia is quite a romance trope and I must admit that I have a soft spot for it. I found this author’s take on it to be very well-written and refreshing.
Chrysander is happy with his girlfriend, Marley, but just won’t admit it to himself or to her. When she asks him about the future of their relationship, he becomes defensive and tells her that they don’t have a relationship, that she’s merely his mistress. This comes as a shock to Marley, who has only just found out she’s pregnant. His callousness makes her feel cheap and used.
Through the machinations of his personal assistant, Chrysander believes that Marley sold company secrets to his competitor, thus costing him and his brothers millions of dollars in contracts and design copyrights. Chrysander does not ask if Marley did it, he just waves the incriminating paperwork in her face and kicks her out. All this while they are still in the middle of the “mistress” argument! Marley leaves in tears and, for once, she’s not followed by Chrysander’s faithful security detail. It’s too bad, too, because as soon as she hits the sidewalk in front of their apartment building, she’s grabbed and thrown into a vehicle, never to be seen again - well, not for some time, anyway.
The next time Chrysander hears about Marley, it’s five months after he threw her out and she’s on the news, the victim of a botched kidnapping scheme. Pretending to be her fiance, Chrysander forces his way into her hospital room and that’s where the angst really starts to kick off! It seems, due to the trauma of her kidnapping, that Marley doesn’t remember anything. Not the kidnapping, not Chrysander, not anything.
What follows is Marley’s attempts to piece her life together with the few clues Chrysander feeds her. What she learns is confusing and contradictory, as is Chrysander’s behavior towards her. He’s at times caring and supportive, at others he seems almost to hate her. It isn’t until the two go to Chrysander’s private island that they manage to find some common ground. It’s as if Marley’s a blank slate, her feelings for Chrysander have a chance to grow again without the burden of the past to inhibit them. It’s hard for Chrysander to let go of his anger and feelings of betrayal, but he slowly begins to as he sees that Marley acts no different without her past as she did when they were together before.
What I particularly liked about this story was that as Marley’s sense of self and love for Chrysander grew, Chrysander’s own hatred and urge for revenge was eroded until the two were forced to confront themselves, the past, and the consequences of Chrysander’s previous rash actions. My heart ached for Marley as she regained her memories, especially as she remembered the kidnapping. The HEA didn’t happen right away, and I was glad of that. Marley and Chrysander both needed time to heal individually as well as as a couple. I appreciated that aspect of the story and felt it was a realistic way of handling what the two had been through.
I’d recommend this to anyone who’s looking for an uncommonly emotional read on a common, but well-done, theme.
Rating:
