Blackmailed For Her Baby (2024)

Well, we're back. I took a nice little trip through the fun, frothiness of Protecting the Desert Princess, but the train has once again arrived in Harley-land to be met by a cranky, epithet throwing, suspicious ass-hat of an H, and a long-suffering misunderstood martyr mommy h.

Long time ago, 6 years, the h gave up her son to her nasty, h-hating in-laws after the death of her husband, younger brother to the H. Yep, brothers. I don't care for the brother trope AT ALL because it just gives me the creeps to think of an h sleeping with such similar DNA. Anyhoo, the H shows up where the h is doing a modeling event, and says that despite the fact she is the lowest of the low, the scum beneath his wings,a conniving gold-digger, her little boy she ABANDONED for cold, hard cash needs her so she must abandon her shallow life where he just KNOWS she slept with every Tom, Dick and Harry. As we all know, there is another side to the story, but who cares.

The h arrives at the old homestead, is sneered at by her old MIL, and cheered by her very cute little son. The h can do nothing right. The H finds her stash of birthday cards for her plot moppet and reams her out as they aren't the correct year. He quickly finds out that she has birthday cards and baby books dating back years. I'll wait why you wipe away a tear. It's the first chink in his brutal armor.

The H still throws out punishing glances and eventually gets around to some punishing kisses because they both they've always wanted each other even when little bro was around. The h feels guilty, but slowly starts to recall that her young handsome husband wasn't around as much as he could have or should have been.

Toss in a brief appearance of an evil OW as a possible fiancee along with the cheery presence of Mrs. Danvers aka the MIL, a magic penis, and tons of mommy guilt that lets anyone who cares to to belittle the h and there we go.

The H demands a MOC and uses their mutual passion as well as the threat that if she won't marry him he'll find someone else to give his nephew a mother. What a sweet talker.

Eventually some truths come out for both sides. The H finds out that his father threatened the h that unless she gave up her son, he would pull the lease on her father's house. Her dad was very ill and she felt it would kill him literally. Over the years, the h had sent presents and cards that were all sent back and had tried to get custody back. The H is pretty horrified about it, but it doesn't change his behavior to the h. On the other side, the h ends up finding out that her beloved first husband had been cheating on her.

I could have taken all that and left three stars, but not until the bitter, bitter end does the H let up. He verbally abuses her at the beginning then manipulates the beejeezus out of her at the ending. I guess he loves her. On a scale of ass-hattedness, he is about a 4, 1 being ok and 10 being the devil. Heroes in the following books were worse, much worse: The Salvatore Marriage Deal, The Italian's Mistress,and a host of Penny Jordan books. Cruel ass-hat Hall of Famers: The Highest Stakes of All, Shattered Dreams and The Devil's Price.

Book Four of Bought for Her Baby quartet, this is my fifth read by Elizabeth Power, and by far the best one. Libby Vincent is a supermodel who is tired of pretending for the sake of her career. She had been nicknamed Blaze pretty early in her career because of her red hair. And nobody had been able to connect her to Luca Vincenzo as she fiercely guarded her privacy, though she carried too much of guilt from her past. Her six-year-old past which included disapproval from Luca's family on their marriage, especially the censure she faced at the hands of Luca's older brother, Romano Vincenzo. The same Romano who was waiting in her trailer, much to her shock, as she returned from her commercial shoot. She feared that something had happened to Giorgio, her baby son whom she had been forced to give up. While Romano, of course, believes her to be a heartless gold digger, exchanging her baby for loads of money. But now, he's insisting her to accompany him to Italy to meet with her five-year-old son. Giorgio is a little emotional mess because of the taunts he faces from his peers, all because of a mother who didn't want him - according to Romano.

Okay, I was a little cringed out because both the protagonists agreed that while Libby was married to Luca, Libby and Romano were attracted to each other. *Barf* But as the story progressed and their mutual past was revealed, it was a little bit understandable. But, there was another type of cringe which made me wish that Romano and Libby had met first. If only.

The real villain here seems to be Marius Vincenzo, who's conveniently dead since six months now. A tyrant of a father-in-law against whom Libby didn't have the power to stand up in her teens. She was nineteen when she had Giorgio and also an ill father about whom she had to consider. Even her mother-in-law didn't like her, Sophia Vincenzo idolized her younger son and thus the hate intensified after his death. Vincenzo's is a messy family. Marius blamed Libby for Luca's death, while he himself presented a facade in the name of a united front with his wife.

Romano, now thirty-three, believes Libby sold her eight-week-old baby for millions, while only she knows why she needed that money. And not that she had a choice. At eighteen to Luca's twenty-one, she was charmed by the roguish Italian. Her father was also impressed as he had been the head gardener in Giovanni Vincenzo's (hello, dynasty) Sussex estate.

The way Sophia Vincenzo adored Luca, and the way Romano felt for the motherless upbringing of Giorgio, it seemed there was something off in his childhood too. I felt for Libby, to have been so young and feel threatened, to have been denied access to her own child. And even in Marius' absence, her attitude left much to be desired. She remained bitter till the very end, though the revelations surrounding her life made me sympathise with her, in the end.

This story will put you through an emotional wringer. It will make you cry. And it has an epilogue too. And it made me a fan of the author's writing.

The series is as follows:
Book 1: The Marciano Love-Child
Book 2: Desert King, Pregnant Mistress
Book 3: The Italian's Pregnancy Proposal

Blackmailed for Her Baby
3 Stars

At the behest of her former brother-in-law, Romano Vincenzo, supermodel Libby Vincent returns to Italy to confront the shadows of her past and perhaps to find the happiness once denied her.

Similar to book #1 in this Harlequin mini-series, the hero is domineering and belligerent while the heroine is overly passive. In the first half, Romano is verbally and even physically abusive in his attitude toward Libby, who constantly fails to stand up for herself. Thankfully, the second half improves once Libby reveals the truth of past events and Romano acknowledges his own shortcomings.

The book also contains a couple of other problematic tropes, i.e., Libby was previously married to Romano's brother and gave birth to his child.. However, she was sexually attracted to Romano at the time, which is rather cringeworthy. While these tropes are not a deal-breaker, they do undermine the romance to a certain extent.

Despite these issues, the book is well-written and enjoyable overall.

Low side of 3 stars. Storey felt a little drawn out in places.

This book made me cry. I loved it. And the heroine's son stole my heart. He's so adorable.

A heartbreaking scenario. Young mother forced / coerced into giving up her baby into the care of her in-laws.
When the child is five, he cant understand why his mother is not around. So his uncle / guardian comes looking for her.

This is my first read by Elizabeth Power and despite the fact that Romano was a bully and some other things that didnt add up From libby in this book, it was enjoyable mainly because of little giorgio.

Libby and Romano. Second read of this book.