REVIEW: At the Count’s Bidding by Caitlin Crews

At the Count’s Bidding by Caitlin Crews is a well written romance on the revenge and redemption trope. Paige Fielding has waited ten years for Giancarlo Alessi to walk back into her life. But the man she was once forced to betray isn’t interested in asking questions, or hearing apologies. He is furious to see Paige working as his mother’s PA and he decides to teach her a well deserved lesson.

So he lures her to Tuscany, where she will bow to his every – pleasurable – command.But when the lines between payback and passion quickly blur,will love triumph in the end or will revenge destroy them both.

There is a quote by Confucius which goes like this: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Now I don’t want to go philosophical but while reading reading this one, I felt the quote applied pretty well to Giancarlo’s whole revenge plan. He was so busy trying to outdo Paige, he never realized he that he had fallen in love with the enemy. He was a sexy hero whose revenge motives I totally understood. He did not start out as my ideal hero but fortunately his character improved as the story progressed.

Paige is a sweet heroine who is trying to undo the mistake she was forced to commit. I understood her and it helped me be sympathetic towards her situation with the hero. I liked her although she is nowhere like the feminist heroines I usually prefer when there is an alpha male in the story. It was difficult to take sides in this story and that was a wonderful thing.

The author writes this story beautifully and explores her characters emotions so perfectly that I ended up concentrating on the story more than who was right or wrong.

The romance is angsty with loads of arguments, emotional with some really heartfelt moments. The characters have to sort a lot before their HEA and it might be messy but I enjoyed the whole story because of the way Caitlin Crews wrote this one.

Book Info:

Publication: February 17th 2015 by Harlequin Presents Series #3315

“It’s the surrender. It’s all about the surrender.”

Paige Fielding has waited ten years for Giancarlo Alessi to walk back into her life. But the man she was once forced to betray isn’t interested in asking questions, or hearing apologies…

Shocked to discover Paige working as his mother’s PA, Giancarlo’s thirst for vengeance reignites. So he lures her to Tuscany, where she will bow to his every – pleasurable – command.

But the lines between payback and passion quickly blur. And when Giancarlo discovers Paige is pregnant he must ask himself, is it really revenge he so desperately craves – or her?