Lynne Connolly‘s review of Magnate’s Make-Believe Mistress by Bronwyn Jameson
Contemporary romance released by Silhouette Desire 14 Jul 09
Nice one, Bronwyn.
A fun beginning, overtly sexual but really our polo-playing hero was riding a polo pony – something most of us call a horse, being seventeen hands of heaving horseflesh. Called away from the polo field to sort out a family dilemma, Cristo hires a house in Australia with a housekeeper, Isabelle Browne, and it’s Isabelle that he’s really interested in. Isabelle is a professional housekeeper, taking care of VIP customers on short-term leases. Cristo thinks she’s involved in discrediting his future brother in law, and so he comes to Melbourne, Australia to investigate.
Wherein lies my first problem. Without Cristo and Isabelle meeting, there’d be no story, but there was no reason for this to happen, not really. Cristo could have sent a deputy and stopped any future scandal, he could have had her investigated, and what executive could change his plans at such short notice? He does it all himself – arranges the house and the housekeeper. Another “wha…?” moment for me. What makes him think he’s better at this than a professional investigator, and what would have happened if they’d bubbled him? If Isabelle was the conniving manipulator he thought when he first arrived at the house he would have been playing right into her hands. Her word against his, that kind of thing. But, thankfully, the misunderstanding doesn’t last long.
And he believes Hugh, his future brother-in-law, who has had a chequered past, enough to disrupt his schedule and fly off to investigate. On the other hand, I was happy with the way the story panned out, but I won’t say more in case I venture into spoiler territory. I also felt a bit indignant for Cristo’s sister, who knew nothing about any of this until later. They wanted to sort out the ‘little woman’s’ problems without telling her, not letting her make her own decisions. I felt kinda cross on her behalf.
A series of misunderstandings follow. Cristo thinks at first that Isabelle is the one the person claiming to be Hugh got pregnant. Then he realises it’s her sister. The Cinderella images are delightfully woven into the story, especially the shoe motif.
And I have to mention the contractions. Sometimes the characters speak so formally it reads wrong. Little moments like when Chessie says to Isabelle, “Then I will see you downstairs,” instead of “I’ll.” The occasional speech that sounds like narrative, because the language is formal. Quite a few “cannot”s instead of “can’t”s, that kind of thing.
Contrivance s happen through this story, but I still enjoyed it. Because I liked the characters. Isabelle is sweet without being cloying and has a sense of her own worth, so I read it for her. There are some interesting secondary characters too, not least of which was Cristo’s mother Vivi. I’d really love to read a story with Vivi as a central character. It was characters shoehorned into a plot, but the plot is probably the least of it. Cristos, despite his addiction to polo, a rich man’s sport, didn’t behave like a wealthy, busy executive and he was the weaker of the two leads, but he was an charming foil for the much more fully realised Isabelle.
I’d have to give this one a B- and most of that is for Isabelle.
Grade: B-
Summary:
Her new client was devilishly handsome, superbly charming.and absolutely hiding something. Why else would a man as rich and powerful as Cristo Verón have any interest in the cleaning services of lowly Isabelle Browne? Her suspicions were confirmed when she discovered his real reason for hiring her. And suddenly, she was agreeing to a preposterous proposition..
Cristo would protect his family at any cost – and keeping Isabelle close was key to his plan. Having her pose as his make-believe mistress was step one. But he hadn’t counted on wanting to make the pretense a reality.
Read an excerpt here (scroll down).
