LynneC’s review of Sold to the Enemy by Sarah Morgan
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Presents 22 Jan 13
Sarah Morgan is all about the heroine. Don’t get me wrong, her heroes are gorgeous, alpha, strong, handsome, all that, and they are bemused when they meet the woman they’ll eventually marry, because she sweeps him off his feet. But the heroines are the best part.
In this book with the preposterous but fun title, Selene is the abused daughter of a Greek billionaire. He keeps her close, and when she offends him, he takes it out on her mother. So far, so Presents. But Selene doesn’t take anything lying down and she doesn’t do anything stupid. She has a plan, and she sticks to it.
Years ago, she met Stefan at a carefully controlled event and spent time talking to him. He’s the only man, apart from her father, who she’s met and had conversation with. So he’s her salvation. Not only that, she has a business plan, one she’s worked out properly. When I realized it’s candles and soap, I have to admit I rolled my eyes, and later in the book, Selene’s marketing pitch to Stefan’s team is amateurish and wouldn’t get her through the front door in real life. Full of “might”s and “we could”s. But you know what? I don’t care because I’m rooting for Selene.
All the tropes are there—the abusive father; young, beautiful, talented heroine; alpha male hero—but it’s what Morgan does with the characters involved that matters. Okay, Selene. Her mother is a sketchy figure, shown briefly and stereotypically a martyr; her father is abusive, and although there are hints for his motivation, he still comes across as Nasty Man Number One. But Selene is a doll. I dislike reading young heroines and will usually avoid books where the heroine is under twenty-five. They’re too precocious, as a rule. They think and behave like mature women but have the body of dewy youth, or they are so weak and frail, they lose my interest from the start. Because, despite being frail and all that, they attract the hero like nobody else has ever done. Okay, Selene is beautiful, young, abused, and she has a smart mind, but she reminds me of some of the smart young people I know in real life. I avoid most urban fantasy, too, because of that irritatingly old-before-her-time thing or the too-stupid-to-live thing. Selene makes mistakes, but she’s genuinely naïve and has the bruises to prove it.
Her feistiness is a little too much for a girl who has known nothing but abuse from her father and weak submission from her mother, but Presents has a short word count and so that’s a given. She doesn’t have the time to go through the counseling and trauma detraining that many people have to undergo, formally or just by living life, so she’s feisty from the get-go. And although a virgin, the defrocking–sorry–deflowering scene is nice. Stefan knows, doesn’t see her as a special snowflake because she’s sexually inexperienced. It’s Selene he wants, he doesn’t have a virgin fetish, and he knows she doesn’t have any compunction about giving up that little bit of flesh in return for a whole lot of male.
A book I thoroughly enjoyed when I should have been working, so truly a guilty pleasure. One of Harlequin’s great writers, soon to write a trilogy in longer length for HQN. I can’t wait.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Stefan Ziakas might be her father’s most hated business rival, but he’s the only man who has ever made Selene Antaxos feel beautiful. So, needing to make a new life for herself, Selene apprehensively turns to Stefan for help.
Except the dark-hearted tycoon is nothing like the white knight she remembers. Seduced, bedded and betrayed in a matter of days, Selene realizes it’s not always better the devil you know. She’s sold her soul—and her heart—to the enemy!
Read an excerpt.
