LynneC’s review of Illegitimate Tycoon (Bad Blood Collection, Book 6) by Janette Kenny
Contemporary Romance published by Mills and Boon Modern Romance 1 Jul 11
I’ve been reading this series hoping to find another gem like the Caitlin Crews book. Although this one doesn’t quite reach it, for me anyway, it’s still a great read and a different take on the usual Modern Romance line.
By this stage in the “Bad Blood” series, it’s becoming obvious that the authors are trying out slightly different, edgier themes. In this one the hero and heroine have been married five years and are in love with each other. So what’s the problem?
Their careers are tearing them apart.
Rafael is the illegitimate son of William Wolfe. His father deliberately made him feel left out, deliberately taunting him and his mother about his illegitimate status. His siblings made him welcome. But, as a result, he wants to make a family of his own. Rafael has a Brazilian mother, but he was brought up mainly in England, it appears, near Wolfe Manor. He’s a successful businessman and a maker of top-level electronic phones and gadgets. His business has needed constant maintenance and he’s in the habit of traveling often.
Leila is a top model. She works hard on her career and is proud of what she’s achieved. She has a controlling mother, but Rafael rescued her from that and gave her the confidence to soar free. Her job takes her all over the world.
At the start of the story, they meet at a film premiere. Rafael’s newest phone is featured in a new film, he and his brother Nathaniel have financed and directed an indie film, and Leila has a perfume to promote. He reflects that they have met a handful of times in the last year and he wants more.
While Rafael is an alpha male, capable of alpha jerk behaviour, during the course of this book Leila comes to know him better, learn about the childhood he’s never quite left behind. If she’d given in to him, this would have been a C, maybe a D review, but it isn’t. The compromise works, but with a few rough edges.
Kenny lets the reader know enough about Rafael to understand why he sometimes behaves with less-than-perfect sensitivity. That kept me reading, while if I didn’t know the facts about him and how he reacts to it, I might have given up. The line is changing its remit, somewhat, from a Vogler-type story where the heroine is on a quest for a prize – the prize being the hero – to a more richly developed story that involves the hero and the heroine, where both contribute to the internal plot. I love it.
It’s certainly refreshing to read a story about a couple who have problems in their marriage and seek to redress them. They separate and come together, their busy lives are explained enough for the reader to sympathise. And on a less exalted level, we all have problems like this, or most of us do. The answer in this case is to compromise.
There is another event, also typical for the line, but it’s treated with an interesting twist and it forces Leila to face a problem she’s had for most of her life. She’s an anorexic. I absolutely love the way this is treated in this book. Her modeling career isn’t the cause of her problem, but it doesn’t help. She’s had treatment, but the author has obviously done a lot of research, or knows someone involved, because her understanding of this condition furthers mine and helps me to see how anorexia can impact on someone’s life and their subsequent life after they’ve recovered. She doesn’t pull any punches either. Rafael knows that Leila has had this problem and is still fighting the aftermath, and he has also done his research. He worries about her.
The only thing that really mars my enjoyment of this one is that it isn’t as carefully edited as the others in the series. While it’s easier to cope with the cover ballsup, typos and tense inconsistencies are more difficult to ignore. The author uses “that’s” when she means “that was,” for instance. And several times the wrong word is used.
Talk of the cover reminds me. They’ve done it again. The heroine on the cover is a brunette, but Leila is a blonde.
This book is definitely worth your time, and I’d definitely give it an A.
Grade: A
Summary:
Rafael…Illegitimate. Brooding. Proud.
Always an outsider, Rafael spent his life looking in on his priviledged Wolfe siblings. Determined to create the lifestyle denied to him, Rafael worked his way to the top – his marriage to beautiful Leila the icing on the cake! Now his marriage is crumbling. Rafael chased a rainbow – but made his wife feel like she was a trophy… Now it will take all of his courage to win her back…
No excerpt available.
