This book is the last one I had to read in the International Billionaire’s Series and it’s one of my favorite ones. I am not that crazy about rugby, which is the theme of the books but there wasn’t too much about rugby mania in it making the story of Karin Wallis, a beautiful titled English woman and Xanthus Rossi, a beyond gorgeous, rich and powerful Greek tycoon.
Karin has been labeled by the tabloids as the “Ice Queen” who jets around the world doing nothing but living the high life and they couldn’t be more wrong. She has been trying to keep her family together since the death of her beloved grandfather, a rugby legend and it seems that things are not really going well. Her drug-addicted parents had been killed after blowing most of the family’s fortune and now her horrible brother is continuing the saga which has her having to sell off the last of the family’s heirlooms to pay for her younger sister’s education.
Xanthe has clawed his way out of the Athens alleys to become a very rich man, who can have anything or anyone he wants. From the first moment he lays eyes on Karin, in one of his hotel’s foyer, he is totally smitten. But before he can make his move, she has flown away with one of his prized rugby mementos….the rugby rose which had belonged to her grandfather before her snarky brother had sold it without her knowledge. She needs it badly.
I just loved these two. Xanthe is really an amazing hero…yes alpha-male all the way but with such HEART.!! I couldn’t believe how beneath this hard exterior, was a gentle, caring person who goes out of his way to help Karin…on the way falling totally in love with her.
Karin seemed so bowed down by the things that had happened in her life, the terrible things she experienced with her parents before their death, the responsibility she feels for her sister, the result of her scars from an accident…I just wanted to cry for her. The feeling that you can’t trust or believe in anyone. But wow….does that mean she just gives in???? Absolutely not!!! She shows such courage and determination. She fights all the way…including the chemistry that is so sizzling between her and Xanthe. She can bite….some of the things she says to Xanthe…hurtful and spiteful…so cold at times…but I felt this was the way she believed she could remain strong and not be hurt again. Afraid to trust, to love. The patience Xanthe showed…really did me…I mean, here is this guy being snubbed, disrespected, bluntly told to go somewhere else…and what does he do??? He does everything possible to help her, to care for her, to love her!!!!! This is one of my most amazing heroes…..he has heart and soul!!!!!!! One of the things I think he learnt was that you cannot force anyone to love you….you have to believe and trust in them….something he also had an issue about. And that letter he sent Karin……..if that’s not poignant, romantic…then nothing else is!!!!!!
There were so many surprises in this book….even in the last few pages you learnt something new in their lives. You just had to keep reading page after page because you needed, wanted to know more.
This is just a wonderful love story, filled with hope, forgiveness, learning to trust and to love. It just made me feel so good after I finished reading and I could have quite happily continued reading about their life together.
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