His Fantasy Bride
by Nina Croft
Synopsis:
I can’t marry you. You don’t love me.
Two sentences, that’s all Gabrielle Harper left Vito D’Ascensio when she vanished the night before their wedding. If he wants his bride back, he’s going to have to hunt her down and prove his love. But when he searches for Gabrielle, he finds Gabby instead; it seems his perfect bride is nothing but a fantasy.
After six months, Gabby presumes it’s over, an episode in her life she’s totally ashamed of. But now Vito is back. He’s the one man she can never have, but as desire explodes between them, she has a tough time remembering why they shouldn’t be together. Oh, right, her family hates him, and he’s done terrible things. Or has he? But it doesn’t matter. When he finds out the truth about who she really is…he’ll never want to see her again.
Review:
I’m torn!
I loved Vito in the second book, Her Fantasy Husband (book one, His Fantasy Girl is sitting patiently in my TBR…I will get to you Logan, I promise!) and was really anxious for his story. I still liked him a heck of a lot in his book (and LOL, the sleeping-drunk-with-a-chicken-scene, I’d forgotten about it! Loved it from his POV!), but I didn’t love his book as much as I wanted to.
Mostly, it’s Gabby. Her slightly schizophrenic I’m not Gabrielle–call me Gabby routine was a bit much. I get where she’s going with it–yes, she played the part of super-sophisticated “Gabrielle” months ago, and now she’s trying to be the “real” her, but at the same time she’s getting all dressed up in her roomie’s black dress and putting on pearls? Why? Either own your real self, girl, or don’t. The constant back and forth was confusing, both for Vito and the reader.
I also really wished she’d confessed the truth much earlier, in order to make their moving on with their relationship feel more realistic. Yes, Vito was finally getting to see Gabby, but essentially all of her omissions and dodging around the truth meant she was still playing a role, and it was frustrating all around. I did feel for her because of her reasons for taking Luca’s money, but she made it difficult to sustain that sympathy. Maybe if we’d actually gotten to see her mother and/or brother, whom she helped with the cash? That might have made a difference, but as it was they were more of a vague idea than real motivations.
Still, I liked Vito a whole lot and the two of them had some nice chemistry going on. It’s not my favorite of the series (right now that’s Josh’s–at least until Logan manages to convince me otherwise) but I’m definitely glad to have read it and that Vito was able to accomplish his “thing to do” in the end.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
