REVIEW: The Italian’s Christmas Child by Lynne Graham

The Italian’s Christmas Child by Lynne Graham is the first of the Christmas with a Tycoon duology, and is the story of Vito Zafarri, a wealthy Italian businessman and Holly Cleaver, a waitress, who ends up stranded at his cottage over Christmas. Vito had hoped for some peace and quiet from the scandal rocking his family back in Italy and had headed to a friend’s cottage to lay low. When Holly, en route to surprise her foster mother for Christmas ends up crashing into a ditch near Vito’s cabin due to the poor driving conditions, he’s got to do the gentlemanly thing and let her stay the night while she waits for a tow truck. Holly’s the complete opposite of the women Vito has dated – she’s petite, curvy and brunette, but also quite fascinating. She speaks her mind, is open with her emotions and loves the Christmas season (as her outfit and her giant box containing a Christmas tree attest to). One thing leads to another and they share a passionate night together, forgetting all about the outside world. But in the morning, Holly’s tow truck driver shows up while Vito is out for a walk, and she leaves him with a note, hopeful that he’ll call but under no illusions that their night together will have meant anything to him. And indeed when she doesn’t hear from him, she accepts the inevitable. But there’s a catch, a big one actually, when she discovers that she’s pregnant! She makes an effort to find him, but he never told her his whole name and she is unsuccessful. Several months after baby Angelo is born, she sees a newspaper picture of Vito and is able to track him down. Vito is shocked to see her again, and even more so to find out that he’s a father. But he’s determined to do the right thing and be a proper father to the boy, persuading Holly to marry him. Can what started out as a one night stand, become more than just a marriage of convenience?

I really enjoyed how this story began, with the obvious differences between Holly and Vito’s upbringing immediately obvious. Vito comes from a very wealthy, high society family. He’s got a cold father, but a good relationship with his mother. He’s very intelligent when it comes to numbers and banking but not so much when it comes to relationships with the working class, which Holly definitely belongs to. Holly makes him uncomfortable, even as he’s attracted to her. He’s not used to being around someone so open and honest, so free with her emotions. He’s been taught to be suspicious of women as they are usually after his money, so Holly’s innocence and guileless behaviour make it clear that she has no idea who he really is. That’s refreshing to him, and combined with her natural physical beauty add to her attraction.

Holly grew up with a single mother who abandoned her to the foster care system. She was therefore raised by a succession of different families, in and out of homes until she finally found one foster mother who gave her the love and affection she needed. Her best friend is Pixie, a foster sister who had a similar childhood. She works as a waitress but is taking classes to become an interior designer. She never imagined meeting a handsome foreigner like Vito, but he’s clearly attracted to her and gives her the confidence to meet his passion equally. When their night is over though, she’s the one left with the consequences and once the baby is born and she figures out who Vito really is, she believes that telling him about the baby is the right thing to do. She never knew her father, and she wants to give Vito the chance to help raise his son. Though marrying Vito is not what she’d ever expected, she’s determined to give their marriage a chance.

Adjusting to married life is a challenge for both of them. Holly must get used to the opulence of Vito’s lifestyle. She’s got nannies for her son, a full wardrobe of clothes she never shopped for, and a workaholic businessman for a husband. It’s not the life she expected. Plus, Vito’s best friend Apollo treated her very poorly at their wedding and has done nothing to show his support for their marriage, a sore point between them. Thankfully, Vito’s mother is much more welcoming (surprisingly actually, as I’d expected her to be disdainful of his marriage to a working woman) and a true ally for Holly as she adjusts to her new life. Vito, though attracted to his wife and keen to spend time with her in the bedroom, has his work cut out for him to in accepting that the lifestyle he led up to now is not going to cut it now that’s he’s married. I loved seeing Holly stand up for herself and challenge Vito to do better for them. In the end, we get a happy ending for this couple who come to realize how strong their feelings for each other really are. Since Apollo is not the most pleasant character in this story, I’m intrigued to see how the author will redeem him in the follow up to this one, The Greek’s Christmas Bride.

Book Info:

Publication: Nov 1, 2016 | Harlequin Presents | Christmas with a Tycoon #1

A Christmas consequence

Italian tycoon Vito Zaffari is waiting out the festive season while a family scandal fades from the press. So he’s come to his friend’s snow-covered English country cottage, determined to shut out the world.

Until a beautiful bombshell dressed as Santa literally crashes into his Christmas! Innocent Holly Cleaver sneaks under Vito’s defenses–he wants her like no other before and decides he must have her.

When Vito finds her gone the next day, he’s sure she’ll be easy to forget…until he discovers that their one night of passion has a shocking Christmas consequence!