Comadrin's manga / #Strong FL(59)

Loved the generous and loving FL, in spite of the fact that she stayed in love with that toxic prick. He definitely fit the Harlequin ML mold of being a complete asshole and a total idiot besides.

I liked it. ML had some handicaps from his childhood to overcome, but he wasn't a jerk like so many HQ MLs with childhood trauma. He was a really decent guy and very kindly. FL was a great person and not a wimp melting at the first hint of testosterone. Her attraction to the ML was understandable and due to his good character and not his tantric charisma.

I’m shocked. A Greek entrepreneur ML in an Harlequin story who ISN’T a testosterone sodden psychopath whose misogyny is world record breaking. Not only that, he used his horrible upbringing as a stepping stone to success and to develop empathy for the less fortunate instead of as an excuse to enjoy defiling innocent girls and kicking them to the curb. It must be confusing to many HQ readers, since both Greek and Italian ML’s are almost invariably painted up as misogynistic and sadistic horndogs who are absolutely certain that all women are gold-digging sluts and that they themselves occupy the moral high ground. Strange how these Southern European scumbags are always created by English speaking authors!

I liked it. She was a very interesting person and I appreciated how she felt about her in-laws. One thing that does bug me though is the concept that a bereaved person has to “get over” their lost loved one. A friend of mine was shot down in combat some years back, at the same time his wife was pregnant with their third child. She remarried a really decent guy about 6 years later. They’ve had a happy life ever since and he always treated her kids as his own. At the same time, none of them ever wanted to “get over” her loving her first husband. There are pictures of him and of them together in the house and her present husband has said that he really wished that he could have met the first one. Point being: you don’t have to give up your love for someone who has passed on. That is just sad. On a different note: I really loved the author’s afterward, “Perla of Green Gables.” Classic!

I really liked this one. She was a total sweetheart and he was great when he forgot his cold-hearted businessman persona. The story also made a point that I've run across in serious articles and studies. Companies that are acquired and run by people only interested in money and not the product usually ruin the company AND the product. I used to be a wine aficionado (a total amateur) and watched a number of very fine wineries get bought out by suits who then fired the top notch vintners, boosted production at the expense of quality, and tried to sell their product for the same gourmet prices. They made large profits for about a year and then became known as a brand that would try to sell Ripple for Dom Perignon. These companies run by "money-men" instead of producers of products also end up being toxic places to work, with absolutely no loyalty from the top to the employees or from the employees to the company.

Uhh... He was an idiot. His adulterous father is after a 15 year old abused girl under his wife's protection and he assumes everything is the girl's fault. Has he been appointed to the Supreme Court yet? He seems to have all the judgmental qualifications of some recent appointees. I also got another insight into his ignorance when he got all weirded out over his mother falling in love at 59. He acted as though she was 80, with Alzheimers, and being targeted by a 20 year old fortune hunter.

I really liked it. There was none of this, "I'll take my child away from you in court, you @#$%$#," no threats, and no blackmail or revenge. They realized that both of them had made mistakes, and they grew with that knowledge. I also absolutely loved it when the FL pretended she couldn't see the snotty woman who completely ignored her in the restaurant. I like women with that kind of spunk (even when it's directed at me!).

Good story. The thing I couldn't understand was the father's motive. It didn't really come out in what I read. Of course, he may just have been a delusional, narcissistic psychopath who hated the world and wanted to destroy lives, but that doesn't make sense. Anyway, I rather liked the couple and her sister.

I just about fell in love with the FL when she verbally body-slammed him early on. It was gorgeous. Then we were permitted to see her verbally slap the stuffing out of entitled a**holes who tried to humiliate her, and the ML backed her up beautifully. The only thing I didn't like was that the BIL wasn't thrown out a 3rd story window or kicked to the curb just in time to be run over by a garbage truck or street sweeper. There's something about a married man pretending to be single and in love with a decent woman (or, in fact, any woman) for the purpose of sex while leaving his wife at home with the kids and all the work of taking care of a house and family. He's betraying his wife and kids, and victimizing the woman he's seducing. It really sticks in my craw, so to speak. The FL is way too forgiving and self-sacrificing. She gave everything up for the scum sucker and his idiot wife to stay together. They should all realize that assholes like Jeremy don't change unless they have a "Regarding Henry" injury (which I would be more than happy to perform on him). The way that he was indignant and pretending the moral high ground when he pushed his way into the house shows that he wasn't remorseful at all, and thought the HE was the victim. Moron sister is just going to be miserable and semi-abandoned until he either dies or completely abandons her.

Nice story. I think I liked "the transformation of Belinda" even more than the main plot. That was done extremely well and believably (epiphanies in HQ are usually stilted and highly unlikely). ML got a little stupid toward the end and should have been smacked upside the head a few times for good measure, but he wasn't a scumbag like so many "irresistible" Harlequin MLs.