The Spaniard's Wedding Revenge

Name: The Spaniard's Wedding Revenge
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
ISBN: 9781488059513

By Jackie Ashenden

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The Spaniard's Wedding Revenge Reviews

4.0

BookishAngel

Created 4 days ago

Created over 5 years ago

“4.75 stars Warning: This is more of a book discussion than review, so if you don’t want like major plot spoilers then do not read this because you will be spoiled. There’s lot of detail here that I wanted to discuss and very much did. You have been warned. This was the first book that I read of Jackie Ashenden in the Harlequin Presents line, and it was freaking fantastic. From the storyline to the characters to the writing to the love scene was just all amazing. I was immediately sucked into the story, and a big reason was the writing. Just the flow was really good and felt very natural. The words were very evocative where felt very much part of the scene. I could see it so clearly in my mind like it was a movie playing in my head. The writing just made me want to take my time to savor the story and just enjoy it. Even while I was reading this story, I said to myself there just something about the way it was written that was getting to me and really loving it. For me the words just did an amazing job with pacing and kept really moving the story along. It wasn’t overdone or boring. It never dragged. I felt like every word that was in this story needed to be this story with no miscellaneous words to be found and clogging the story. Every word, every paragraph had a purpose. It didn’t feel like fluff. And for me to compliment the writing was saying something because I rare do that in my reviews especially in Presents. So, something special had to be happening for me to comment on it. I adored how the story began with Cristiano and Leonie meeting and later on setup. First off though elements from Presents were contained here, it was till done in a unique way and something never read in a Presents before mainly the fact that Leonie was homeless and had been living on the streets of Paris for six or seven years. The fact that Cristiano and Leonie met when she was tagging his car was just something else. It added such a layer to the story that it immediately hooked me, and I couldn’t wait to see this all play out on the page. This was totally different from any Presents I read because usual the heroine was beyond poor or she was about go into financial ruin before she met the hero, or something like that, but in this case when she met Cristiano she was homeless. It just blew me mind because it added so many complicated layers to the story and was just a completely different perspective to the story that I really enjoyed seeing play out. As soon as Leonie and Cristiano met, sparks flew. They had this really great rapport going on from the moment Cristiano caught Leonie tagging his car. It was this entertaining back and forth cat mouse game that I loved. They really played well off of each other. I loved how she stood up to him and didn’t give an inch whenever they sparred. She didn’t let him get away with anything, and really kept him on his toes and I absolutely loved that. She was such a great match for him. I loved seeing how their relationship built and developed throughout the story. I liked that didn’t trust him right away because she knew how men could be especially after living on the street all that time so she didn’t let her guard down with him. It happened gradually. He began to make her feel safe and protected after never having that, though he did have alternative motives for that. It was a slow build that was amazing to see and just see how much their relationship did change, and it was instantaneous either. Work was involved, and I adored that. That office scene. OMG. I could see where it was going, but to see it play out was just beyond incredible. A big reason for that was because I could feel all the buildup leading to the moment. I was waiting with bated breath for that kiss that I knew would be mind blowing. It was written in a way that I was practically salivating for that kiss. I was craving that kiss like Leonie was craving it. Even though I was pretty sure that this was the moment it was going to happen, a part of me wasn’t sure because they were do this push and pull in scene that it had questioning it, but I really wanted it to happen. I was dying for it to happen. I ready for it to happen between them. It was just an amazing crafted scene that really upped the anticipation between them. It was steamy too then when they finally did kiss it was just mind blowing. That kiss lead to an even hotter first love scene in the office. It was ten times steamer than the first kiss scene, and that was pretty steamy. So I thought I was pretty prepared for how steamy it would get between them from the kiss alone, but I was wrong. So wrong, but that’s what made it so good. I have never read in a Presents novel that mentioned scratch marks down a hero’s back before and just showed how passionate they were with one another, which made the scene even better, and a lot of that was due to the fact there was a lot of buildup and a lot of anticipation between them. It was an experience and reflected the experience of both Cristiano and Leonie in that moment. Usually love scenes either have on perspective or the other or there just a brief peek in their heads of both the characters, but this one was such an exploration of both of them in this book. I absolutely loved that because I got see where there heads were as well as their reaction to everything in their heads. It also showed them getting closer to each other and experience things they never experienced with anyone else. And they really matched well together in the bedroom being what they needed each other to be in order to have this mind blowing sexual experience. It just showed how compatible they were with each other. It showed the connection that they had with each other. After their mind blowing experience with each other, that was where the conflict arose. This was when Cristiano came clean with her that he knew who she was, which was the daughter of his enemy (and I have to say that was one of the most unique conflicts between feuding families. I thought I saw everything, but that took that cake, and was totally evil especially with Cristiano’s son in the mix), and how he planned to use her for revenge against her father, even though said father didn’t know she was alive at the time, but he still planned to use her because of it. I could just feel her heartbreak and devastation when she learned the truth. She began questioning everything that happened between him and her trust in him. It nearly killed her to find this out especially after finally giving her trust to someone for the first time ever then to have it thrown back in her face. She was upset, hurt, and angry, as she should have been. It was just heartbreaking. I knew it was coming, and I knew it was going to be very much a stab in the heart, but I don’t think I was prepared how much it was gonna hurt. Even though Cristiano was the one doing this and had set this plan in motion, I could feel that he was sorry about hurting her, even though he was going to go through it with it anyway. It didn’t feel like a typical alpha male reaction, which I was okay with even though I do prefer some a**hole behavior from my alpha males, but Cristiano didn’t really have those over the top moments. He had his moments when he was cruel and very hurtful all in the name of revenge, but he was regretful about what he was doing too. He wasn’t the cruelest hero that I have ever read, but nor was he the “nice” beta hero either, though he had some those moments as well. He was a nice balance between the two, which I really liked. Once she found out about his plan against her father, she agreed to his plan but vowed that there would be no more touching between the two of them. That didn’t happen, but what I was hoping for that because of this conflict between them would create some great angsty moments between them. I thought there would be all this lovely tension and friction between them as they fought this thing between them as they set about to carry out this plan. I wanted to see more of the struggle and friction between them that I wanted to see play out, but there really was none of that because she forgave him pretty quickly especially after the fact he hurt her as bad as he did. I thought she would make him work for it more like she made him work for her trust by giving him her first name that first time. I was ready see that battle of will. That cat and mouse game. Just everything they had in the beginning of the story, and I was really looking forward to it. But it just didn’t happen, and I was disappointed by that. For me it was just too quick to forgive. I understand the reason it happened like that was to show her character and her willingness to forgive and compare her reactions to things compared to his, but I still wanted to see him earn her forgiveness more before they engaged in another love scene together. That second love scene was as hot as the first. The fact that it was done on the stairs just spoke a lot of how much they needed that connection to one another. Plus I loved the symbolism that he was making her his in his ancestral home that he hadn’t lived in for fifteen years after her father took his wife and son away from him. It was a very sexy scene that brought them closer to one another. It also showed the level of caring between them. But the level of caring was really on display during the final love scene. It was more of a sensual scene, but no less steamy than the other two, but there was just more meaning when they made love together on that couch. This was where he showed his regret for how he did things to her in the name of revenge and was really the moment that he earned his forgiveness. He showed her emphatically his feelings for her, even though he didn’t say them and even pushed them from his mind. He just savored her. It was gentle, loving, and caring as he worshipped her entire body. He just showed her how worthy she was and deserved the best, and she did the same to him by worshipping him and showering him that he was worthy of love and deserved the best. It was just a beautiful scene between the two of them that just showed how deeply emotionally invested with each other and how much love there was between them. There were a couple more things that I wished was included in the story. One was in the case of Leonie’s mother, mainly why did she abandoned her daughter the way she did that later left her homeless? She never reunited with her mother to ask her questions that she had that she wanted answered. I wanted them answered too. There were just no reasons that were given. I can speculate why her mother faked Leonie and her death from Leonie’s father. I get that, but what I don’t understand was why she left Leonie the way she did. Just abandoning her out of the blue. It just didn’t make sense. If there were hints of mental illness or that she never wanted to be a mother or she met someone else or anything to that extent then I would understood that. But there was just nothing. It didn’t have to be stated explicitly in black and white, but the reason should have been alluded to I think. It really bothered me there wasn’t any explanation of any kind. Secondly I kind of wanted to see a scene between Leonie and her father. I understand why it wasn’t included in her, and there was actually perfectly reasonable explanation of why she didn’t make herself known to her father and confront him. But I would have liked to having seen it and their interaction with one another. I especially wanted to see his reaction to when he discovered that she was alive. It’s not important in the grand scheme of things, but I still wish it was included. Overall I did really love this book, and aside from a few things, this book was nearly perfect and almost a five stars. It had a great writing. It great pacing. It had a great setup that hooked me into the story immediately. I felt like I was in the story with them, experience things as they were experiencing things. I loved their unique first meeting. I loved the chemistry between them. I loved how they played off of each other. I loved how she didn’t let him get away with a lot in the beginning. I really enjoyed the slow development of their relationship as he set about to earn her trust even if it wasn’t for the purest of moments. That anticipation in that office scene with first the kiss then the love scene was spot on. I loved seeing their need and connection for one another that they could only provide one another. The love scenes were amazing and very steamy. The love between them was very much felt. It was just incredible and I throughly enjoyed it. I will definitely be reading this one again. This was my first foray into Jackie Ashenden in the Presents world, and it won’t be my last. If she writes books like she did this one, then going to fall in love with her and become a favorite in the Harlequin line. I know after reading this one it made me want to binge all the Presents she has thus far, and I might do that. I highly recommend this book for lovers of evocative writing, steamy loves, and very complex and lovable characters.”

About Jackie Ashenden

Jackie writes dark, emotional stories with alpha heroes who've just got the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband the inimitable Dr Jax and two kids. When she's not torturing alpha males, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, wasting time on social media, or forced to mountain biking with her husband.