Bought: Destitute Yet Defiant

by Sarah Morgan

He's scarred, sexy and unashamedly Sicilian...

Silvio Brianza dragged himself out of the slums, but his scars run deep....

She's defiant, desirable and utterly disobedient!

Jessie still scrapes her living, scrubbing floors by day and singing in seedy bars by night.... Silvio had turned his back on that world, but now that he's found Jessie he's going to make her his!

Jessie may be powerless to resist Silvio's raw sexuality but no amount of dresses and diamonds can change their history. He's her enemy, he's shunned his past -- he'll never love the street girl she is.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin Presents, Fiction, Mills and Boon

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 31, 2011

About the author

About Sarah

USA Today and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah Morgan writes romance and contemporary women's fiction and her trademark humour and warmth have gained her fans across the globe. Sarah lives near London, England, and when she isn't reading or writing she loves being outdoors.

Look out for Sarah's next novel coming in October - All Together for Christmas (UK title)/ A Merry Little Lie (US/Canadian title)

Join Sarah on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSarahM...
Follow Sarah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahMorgan_
Follow Sarah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahmorgan...
Website: www.sarahmorgan.com





Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book.

The hero and heroine were such broken and tragic people, who are trying to make the best of what life has offered them and in the end are able to heal each other.

Emotional,passion, dark, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking and uplifting too.

A wonderful hero who comes back to rescue the woman he has never forgotten and stopped loving.
I loved how they reconnected and how their relationship developed.

This is a book I will read again and again.

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read about many insecure hs over the years, some r even veritable doormats …some irritate ,some evoke pity, others make u wanna shake them (almost as hard as those vintage alphaholes do)…but this one is in a league of her own. She is so low on self worth, self-confidence that you wanna weep--and not in sympathy! She flounders on with feelings of major worthlessness which gets worse n worse totally dragging the story down, often leaving even the H exasperated. She doesn’t even require a proper ow to pull her down…anyone n everything can do the job..and sadly this is a h who in the beginning shows herself as one spirited ball grabbing n ball crushing kickass chick…frm where things went speedily downhill. So who do we blame- the H perhaps cuz his presence is what’s causing this debilitating and total loss of spirit. Or was it the infamous gold dress which she wore in the first scene which the H ripped off along with any spunk she had left.
Otherwise the story is ok… h/H who grew up in foster homes with the h’s brother being bf with the H (they r both 10 years older than the h)…the brother dies.. she blames him..he leaves the backstreets to become a billionaire/gazillionaire ..few years later he arrives just in time to save her life n virtue… which she was saving quite fine on her own imo.. takes her with him…sleeping together is a given .. and so on!

[Ridley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally I give 3 stars to books that are entertaining but forgettable. This book, however, was beyond forgettable; it was derivative. It was an HP-by-numbers.

Our heroine, Jessie, is a nightclub singer in a seedy section of London. On the anniversary of her brother's death three years ago, she's singing her heart out, trying to ignore the gang of men there waiting to kill her when she's done. Sitting in the back, our hero, Silvio, is grinding his teeth at the live his best friend's sister is living rather than ask him for help. Despite her blaming him for her brother's death, Silvio saves her from trouble in an alleyway and convinces her to accept his help to keep her safe.

Even for an HP, the book lacks believability. I didn't buy the premise that a guy could work his way to billionaire real estate developer by age 30 after moving to London at age 10 and spending his childhood as a troubled immigrant kid in a bad neighborhood. Nor did I get the drama behind the heroine being chased by thugs who want her to pay up on her dead brother's debts. The hero pays them off early in the book, but then insists she must play the part of his woman because "money wasn't all they wanted." So, to protect the girl he's wanted since she was 16, he outfits her in fancy clothes and flies her down to Sicily to do rich people things with him. Uh huh.

The romantic conflict then hinges entirely on the heroine's insecurity. Listening to her constant whining about feeling out of place and not being good enough for Silvio just grated on me. Condomless, orgasmic virgin sex quieted it down a bit, but the author made sure to throw in a last "I'm going to leave you because a random socialite at a party said you were in love with a pretty actress and I wasn't good enough for you" just for good measure. Yawn.

In short: equal parts phoned in, ridiculous and annoying.

[*CJ* · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Bought: Destitute yet Defiant” is the story of Jessie and Silvio.

Oh how I loved this!

So this is very different to the typical Harlequin books you read.
The hero returns to revisit his past, meeting the girl who he had abandoned and who blames him for her brother’s death. He has no plans to reveal himself, until he notices the heroine is in mortal danger and is forced to rescue her.
He soon realizes the young teenager he had once left is now a scarred, emaciated woman who is not only struggling to make ends meet, but has also had to give up on her dreams. He tries to help her but she is scared and wary, forcing him to challenge both their inhibitions and discuss some truths from the past. Soon a forced makeover leads to heartbreak, until the heroine decides to leave, and the hero decides he can never let her go..

The heroine is strong, the hero is so caring, the sex scenes are well written, there is loads of angst, drama, romance and a healthy discussion between the leads. I love how they both were able to resolve their issues, and behaved in mature manner. Some scenes like the heroine clutching the box and her sleeping habits made my heart weep, but oh the hero was there for her.

So good.

Unsafe
5/5

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romantic and passionate read! i loved how they both loved each other since childhood!

[Silke Juppenlatz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to strangle the heroine throughout.
The setting is supposed to be London, but frankly, for someone who lives here, it's more than just a little off. There is no "London flavor" to the location, and it could be anywhere.
It felt like "must have a different location than USA, lets pick - throws dart at globe - Oh yeah, let's set it in London".
The big letdown for me was the heroine, though. She is totally clueless, and borderline stupid. Someone who doesn't know where Las Vegas is? Come on, now. She dreams of being a big time singer, it stands to reason that she'll have a clue of where the big names do concerts in the USA.
The same goes for the yacht/boat thing and her surprise at landing a helicopter on it. Personally, if I were Silivo, I'd have ditched her into the sea.
I felt the "They will kill me" was contrived, as I never felt like she was actually in danger.
The idea was okay, the execution lacked finesse.
It has some redeeming factors, but overall, I just got bored of the repeated "it's your fault my brother is dead" theme.

[Figlet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having only recently discovered Sarah Morgan's Presents titles I now have to create a new bookshelf just to house every. single. title. she has ever written.

BDYD touched me in a way that no book has since maybe the first time I read a Helen Bianchin book. I keep re-reading it. My clenched heart was breathless for the last chapter.

I highly recommend 'Bought: Destitute Yet Defiant' if you love the Alpha Male rescue of a proud young woman scenario because this one is perfection.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know going into it that a Harlequin Present book has certain requirements for a story:
-billionaire alpha male (check)
-virgin heroine(check)
-often set in foreign country (check)

HP's don't generally appeal to me, but I've read some that I have enjoyed, plus I like this author. So when I saw this one for free I got it. All I can say is I'm glad it was free. The plot makes little sense and the heroine Jessie has even less sense than the plot. She is an idiot. Jessie immediately decides everything Silvio does for her is because he's embarrassed by her, or trying to buy her, or he feels sorry for her. Anything and everything except maybe he likes her?! Obtuse woman! "He's buying me a beautiful dress to wear to the party! Oh NOES! He must think I'm a hick and is trying to dress me up! I should flee!!"

Silvio isn't a great character either, but he mostly follows the HP mold. Dashing billionaire who has dragged himself up from the streets to oversee an empire while really being this great guy who helps others. He's brooding, he's dangerous, and he's inexplicably drawn to this mealy-mouthed woman.

Why two stars instead of one? Because Morgan's writing is good enough to make me want to finish the book and see how Silvio finally makes Jessie she the truth. Since I was compelled to finish the book, I give the author two stars. I'll definitely read Morgan again, but I may choose a little more carefully. ;-)

[Nerdish Mum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this was my first ever Mills and Boon (actually my first book in this whole genre) and I've always said I'd give it a go one day, so here I am.

I'll start by saying that it was nowhere near as cheesy and smut filled as I was expecting. I was just expecting cover to cover smut, but I think in total there are two "scenes".

The story itself I think is quite interesting and the characters back stories are definitely something I would have liked to have learned more about and how they ended up in such different places.

There was some cheese - ridiculously gorgeous, hard working, multi lingual, kind hearted, good in bed, bad boy gone good, billionaire....yeah that's cheesy!

The main character ummmm I've forgotten her name already but anyway she was incredibly irritating, everyone has some hang up or other but she was a total downer on herself and yet she's this gorgeous, talented, kind hearted, virgin....yeah ok cheesy again...it just felt a bit too much.

Overall, perfectly readable and not anything like what I was preparing myself for but I think I'll happily carry on not reading this genre.

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good fast read from Sarah Morgan. Jessie and Silvio have history, dating back to her childhood in the slums of London. Jessie and her brother lost their parents and ended up in care and Silvio became her brothers friend.

Silvio managed to escape the poverty, working his way out of the slums through working in construction. His help for Jessie and her brother backfires when the money is used for drugs and he dies. Grief-stricken, Jessie blames Silvio, sending him away.

Now three years later, he's back, saving her from thugs still hounding her for her brother's debts.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship as we see them reconnect. The feelings they had before her brothers death are still there and it doesn't take much to bring everything to the surface.

The only thing that annoyed me a little was the heroine's constant self-denigration. It got a little tired after a while which is why I couldn't give the book five stars.

The overall story was good, the sizzle was nicely done and the ending satisfying.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor man. He deserves a better woman.

He saves her from 6 thugs. She doesn’t even thank him, but she keeps bickering.

I grew so tired of her. She gets a record label contract and she just leaves the H without saying goodbye. After all the opening up he did about his past

Itwould be an insult to this fabulous H to give less than 3 stars, so only for him I’ll give it three stars.

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it

[Love love · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really more of a 3 1/2 * for me. I liked the plot but some of it was just a little unbelievable to me.

Silvio (H) is a very rich man. Having pulled himself up and out of the gutter in London, started his own buisness and is now a multi-millioniar. He spends his time helping people who were in the same place that he was, he would hire them to work "with him" not "for him" and giving them a second chance to make something better of themselves.He finds out that Jessie (h), a childhood friend is in a lot of trouble so he decides to check on her.
Jessie is a singer at a seedy bar where the workers there are also prostitutes. However Jessie is not one of them, she only sings. She aslo works two other jobs so that she can pay back a debt of her dead brothers to some very bad men.
On the night that Silvio shows up to check on her, he sees her on stage in a skimpy gold dress and thinks she's turned to prostitution. He aslo notices the bad men in the audience. Jessie can see them too (but not Silvio) and she knows that they are there to kill her. After her set is done she runs out the back only to be chased down by the bad men. Silvio is there to save her, she hasn't seen him in years and blames him for her brothers death. She hates him but has no other choice but to except his help.

I have this book marked down as haveing a depressed heroine but it's more like feelings of not being good enough, not fitting into Silvio's new world, not belonging there. There is also a fear of being trapped because of a fire she was in when she was 5 and she lost her parents but that is really only mentioned a few times.
I liked the chemistry between the two characters and how she didn't tell him that she wasnt a prostitute right away. It was "he wants to think the worst of me so let him" type of thing. The reason I gave this only 3 1/2 * is because I felt like the author tried to make it seem like Silvio had met and hired everyone of his employies himself and in such a large buisness that is unrealistic. Also it's said that Silvio paid off the debt that first night but that the men are still trying to kill her so she has to stay with him for protection but then they are never really mentioned again. After that the story is all about her feelings for him, her not fitting in and her singing.

[LaFleurBleue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll start with saying that I might give the author another chance, as there were some good things. The hero could have been a caricature of Italian self-made billionaire, but he surprisingly managed to have his own personality, a rather refreshing one moreover. And I liked the way the first party on the yacht took place.
But there was really one huge problem in this book. From beginning to end and even beyond it, the whining insecure and stupid heroine. The hero was in love with her from their childhood onwards. Maybe she had something then that might explain it. I can't imagine why and in her current frame of mind and behavior, there definitely can be nothing to vouch for her.
I wondered for a long while how old she was, considering she behaved with the maturity of a 12 or maybe 13 year-old.
The more I read about her pervasive insecurities, the more she irritated me. When I realized the reason why she hated so much the hero and why he supposedly was guilty from the death of her brother in her eyes, I was rolling mine and raising them to the sky he gave money to her brother who had sworn he would use it to turn his life around and instead bought another fix, because he was a long-time junkie . And then came the ultimate coup de grace - she had to go to Las Vegas, but she did not know where it was, only that it was far from London.
Another thing that really made me laugh was when they land on a perfect beach where they could skinny dip, because it could only be reached from air. Well if there's a sandy beach appropriate for swimming, it means someone can also get there by boat.
Even if I don't rule out reading something else from this author, I'll be wary and I cannot really recommend this one.

[JillyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice read to pass the time. It won’t go on my need to read again shelf, but overall enjoyable.

Hero-sexy Sicilian , good hearted, grew up on the mean streets of London, rose above it all, gives back to the community, been in love with heroine forever✅

Heroine- sexy virgin , beautiful singing voice, tough, been in love with hero for years; that is when she isn’t busy hating him✅

Family-dead brother of heroine is a factor in the relationship between hero and heroine ✅

OW- the only OW that figures prominently in this book is the heroine’s huge feelings of inferiority...this is the biggest criticism I have read about the book. She purposely misinterprets any and every overture from our Hero as she is not good enough for him, so yes this gets old as it is obvious he loves her.✅

HEA- There is no epilogue, but a nod to their future happiness✅

[Susan in Perthshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve decided that I totally hate heroines like Jessie who spend the entire book clinging on to judgemental misconceptions about the hero. In this case, Jessie adds unbelievable levels of low esteem, vicious lies and put downs to the mix. There was nothing to like or root for in her. On the other hand Silvio was delicious and far more interesting than Jessie.

SM writes well but I disliked the heroine so much, I could not engage with the story. I hated the fact that she clung on to her idealised view of her brother almost to the end of the story.

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gak ada pasangan yg paling mengesalkan dlm novel romance adalah dipadankannya hero yg alpha dan tukang ngatur nomor wahid dgn heroine super insecure yg baperan. Itulah yg saya rasakan saat membaca novel ini.

Jessie itu cuma penyanyi bar yg dikejar-kejar oleh penagih hutang. Bukannya bersyukur sudah ditolong oleh Silvio Brianza, gadis ini malah rewel yg nggak-nggak. Silvio adalah teman baik dari almarhum kakak Jessie, dan sekarang Silvio yg memiliki cacat di wajah sdh menjadi milyarder.

Silvio menginginkan Jessie tapi gadis ini selalu menyalahartikan maksud niat baik Silvio. Mental Jessie ini belum siap pacaran dgn orang kaya. Mental "pembantu" dan rendah dirinya sudah bikin saya muak setengah mampus. Saya sebenarnya tidak mempermasalahkan kesenjangan kasta dlm romance, tapi yg kali ini sih keterlaluan menurut saya.

Saya jadi "lelah" sendiri membaca adu mulut mereka yg sptnya gak ada titik temunya. Di satu pihak Silvio ini tukang perintah yg zolim, tidak bisa menerima kata tidak dari Jessie. Di lain pihak, Jessie ini seperti gak konsisten antara kata dan perbuatannya. Jessie ini mood swingnya kacau sekali apalagi pas baperan dan insecure-nya kumat (dan sering pula).

Saya masih mencari romance (genre apapun) yg "setara" effort-nya. Bukan yg emosi tingkat dewa dan galau gak jelas.

[Immie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was complaining about Presents the other day when someone suggested I try Morgan's books. While I didn't find this as frustrating as I do many other books in this line, I didn't love it either.

My main gripe is the heroine. Jess grew up poor on the wrong side of London and has only gotten poorer as she's gotten older. When her childhood friend turned bitter enemy comes to her rescue in a dark alley one night, she's both grateful that he came and angry that she needs his help. He's now a billionaire and being around him makes her feel inadequate.

I have to give Morgan credit for the realism in Jessie's thoughts and actions. A girl who grew up hard isn't going to feel comfortable surrounded by wealth or in the company of the rich. Jessie was extremely uncomfortable, which showed in her every thought. Unfortunately, while I understand where she was coming from, in the end Jessie just seemed immature and petty. Her insecurities worked against her. Rather than feeling sympathetic toward her, I found myself getting impatient with her. Her hi-hum, I'm not good enough attitude began to grate. In the end she started to become pathetic. That level of insecurity isn't attractive on anyone, but most especially a heroine.

I did enjoy parts of it, however, and I found the writing easy to follow. I think I'll try a few more of her novels before giving up.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hero and heroine grew up in the same poor London neighborhood. The hero got out, the heroine didn't. He's now come back to check on her and discovers her in desperate straits, singing in a dive while wearing a tacky gold-sequined dress. This is a pretty Old Skool romance, where tacky short dress = Whore! but the heroine does lead him on a bit. Anyway, now he's rich and wants to rescue her. She resists rescue, for a bit, but she's not stupid, so she finally goes along. She's not quite a complete doormat to his a$$hole, but he's pretty bad. Eventually everything comes out okay.

Harlequin Presents is not one of my favored series lines, but Mills & Boon gave a bunch of books away free. Some were better than others, and this is one of the ones that teeters on the "better" side. It was worth an "I liked it" score, more so than "It was okay."

[Amafle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novela rosa en todo el sentido de la palabra, romance tierno, problemas del pasado, amor desde tiempo atrás, millonario ayudando a la desvalida mujer que es mas valiente de lo que cree, en fin cliché cliché pero divertida para pasar el rato.

[Delaney Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a rescue story, where the billionaire hero swoops in and saves the poor, struggling heroine. Sarah Morgan hit every emotional note possible. It's a heart-wrenching, beautiful love story.

[Beanimous · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF chapter 3. Not very good I am afraid. Rather forgettable. Story plot based on over-used "misunderstanding". Didn't like any of the characters.

[Mou: Fae of Heartfelt ARC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Last two chapters just ruined the book for me ............

[Grace Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first foray into the works for Mills & Boon of Sarah Morgan. It was free on Kindle and it didn't disappoint. The story is as follows: Silvio (hero) and Jessie (heroine) have grown up in care together. Silvio was Jessie's brother's best friend and after giving him money, her brother spent it on drugs and killed himself. Jessie, of course, blames Silvio for her brother's death and hates him. But it's a Mills and Boon, so this situation cannot be allowed to continue, can it?

Silvio is now a billionaire (because it's so easy to make a billion out of nothing isn't it? - Okay, you have to suspend disbelief here - M&B books are full of self-made billionaires). Setting out to rescue Jessie from her life of singing in seedy nightclubs in terrible clothes, he saves her from some thugs (to whom her brother owned money) and who also want additional favours from her. He then spends a fortune on her in clothes, spa treatments, provides some great sex on his own private Sicilian beach and gets her a recording contract. This novel probably represents the ultimate escapism in that it is offering everybody's dream (in some form or other) in just 75,000 words or so.

My description of it, however, makes it sound ridiculous - and it's not - because somehow this works. Jessie is a sassy, straight talking heroine who actually has conversations with her hero beyond just sighing his name. The hero is also a much more rounded character (although it's difficult to make M&B heroes fully rounded, because they're only there to perform a certain function after all, in the provision of the escapism).

What I really liked about this book is the way that it highlighted certain social issues in a way that reminded me of former M&B author, Roberta Leigh. The immense gap between the haves and the have-nots is being emphasised in this novel. The standard message from these self-made billionaires is always "if you work hard, you too can be a billionaire", which any reasonable person knows is not really true. You need a great deal of luck, a natural talent (which falls into the category of luck, I suppose), an education, and some inherited wealth doesn't hurt either. However, in this case, the character of Jessie highlights the facts of the matter in that she does have a great deal of luck in having Silvio's support and her own natural talent enabling her recording career.

I thought this was a great novel for M&B scholars. It offers a bit of everything that all these novels do, and in some ways was a kind of Rosetta stone of the novelistic tropes, offering a key to how to read them and what the tropes are there to do. I also liked the fact that it didn't end in a baby (although the threat of them was there at the end when Silvio started harping on about grandchildren - skipping out the messy bit with his own progeny) and Jessie was all too prepared to give up her hard won singing career to fit in with Silvio's plans. This is an interesting novel - I don't know if it's still free on Kindle, but if it is, it's definitely worth a look. Word to the wise though - the sex scenes aren't that good (but then I've read a lot of Jordan's works, and no one can beat her on a sex scene).

[Anuradha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its more like a 3.5 actually.

The idea is a greatly satisfying one. Hero rises from the gutters, makes it big. Goes back to the gutters to look for his lady love. She struggles to fit into his new world. But their history is so strong that the new circumstances don't alter their feelings for each other. She makes it big too. HEA.

Like all stories where the hero and heroine have a past, this one too talks of their unstated, calf love for each other. When both of them were growing up in the slums of London. He is her elder brother's best friend. She has always been in awe of him, he has always been protective/possessive.

The drug addict brother dies, and the circumstances of his death sours the relationship between the girl and the hero. He leaves, to make it big.

I would have been happier if the hero (who already has some experience in the construction trade) had become a decently rich builder. Why make him a gazillionaire tycoon with yachts and helicopters within 3 years !?!?!?!?

3 years later he comes looking for lady love. Who happens to be singing 'Out of this world' songs in a seedy bar. He rages in, rescues her. And then takes her on a roller coaster ride into his rich world. Her wonder, her fears, her pleasure at this whole new world is the bulk of the story. Throw in a sex ed class for the timid virgin. And her transformation is complete.

Now she is ready to sing at billionaire hotels and weddings. She is a Madonna in the making you see. She gets big too, again the gazillions begin flowing, this time for her !!!

But he sets her free, allowing her to choose him voluntarily and not out of gratitude. Not really ! He comes charging in 2 months, bullying her into accepting his shady past and eternal love. Well, her past is equally shady, her love is eternal too.

So 2 paupers fall in love, turn super rich and then marry. End of story !!! Good while it lasted. But certainly had the potential to be poignant and magical. Alas !

[Elle Arce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Siendo honesta, es una novela bastante mala, y lo peor, que para ser de editorial, tiene errores, más de los que una editorial se debería permitir, pero bueno, la calificación "tan alta" se debe a algunos factores: (1) Me entretuvo: sí, es raro que me haya entretenido una novela de este estilo, sobre todo cuando últimamente las he estado aborreciendo. Al menos cumplió con ese objetivo. (2) Es corta y por lo tanto, se lee rápidamente: en está novela, a diferencia de otras que he leído este año, he notado verdaderamente mi interés en terminarla, es decir, no sólo es corta o tiene pocas páginas, sino que la lectura no se hace lenta y tediosa, lo que, ciertamente le otorga puntos a favor. (3) A pesar del montón de clichés y demás cosas que, normalmente hacen que deje de leer, está novela logró mantenerme leyendo. Sí, a veces me detenía a respirar un poco cuando se tornaba muy.... ridícula, pero lograba seguir al momento, lo que, repito, últimamente ninguna novela había logrado, al menos no las de esté género.
En fin, para nada es la gran novela, pero al menos sirve para pasar el rato entretenida, leyendo una tontería que luego la olvidarás tan rápidamente que estarás satisfecho de haber desperdiciado ese tiempo en lectura. ¿Suena lógico lo que acabo de escribir? Probablemente no, pero es como creo que se va a tornar está novela: en algo que sólo recordaré porque la logré terminar, muy a pesar de ser muy mala.
Por cierto, ¡qué mal final!, ¡Dios, eso si que lo deteste!

[Dini Annisa Humaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, Jessie bisa jdi sangat menyebalkan dgn bersikap terlalu rendah diri, penuh kecemasan, sama sifat keras kepalanya. Jessi yg mencari nafkah sebagai penyanyi bar dan sedang terlilit hutang. Hutang yg ia punya itu sebenarnya hutang mendiang kakaknya. Dan dlm usahanya melarikan diri dari debt collector, Jessie bertemu dgn Silvio, teman mendiang kakaknya. Silvio yg mantan preman meskipun sekarang sdh menjadi miliuner, masih tetap menyeramkan seperti biasa. Di tambah dgn luka yg ada di wajahnya.

Silvio merasa bersalah telah meninggalkan Jessie tiga tahun belakangan setelah kakak gadis itu meninggal dan kini bertekad menarik Jessie dri kehidupan yg selama ini telah gadis itu jalani. Di lain pihak, Jessie yg sdh terlalu terbiasa terbayang di kejar menjadi terlalu cemas dan memikirkan banyak hal yg tdk perlu. Jessie ingin kembali ke tempat ia tinggal sebelumnya, meski kemudian ia sadar tdk mungkin. Meski Silvio sdh membayar hutang nya, Jessie tahu apa yg para penagih hutang itu inginkan selain uang nya.

Karena tahun Jessie akan menolak semua pemberiannya, maka Silvio mengatakan akan mempekerjakan Jessie sebagai penyanyi di acara2 perusahaanya. Meski tdk yakin, Jessie menerima tawaran itu.

....
Aku... tbh, agak capek bacanya karena sebal dgn Jessie awalnya tdk perlahan aku jdi paham knp Jessie bersikap seperti itu. Ceritanya lumayan.

[Tiny Shen 沈帝妮 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bought : Destitute Yet Defiant - Sarah Morgan 🌟🌠

Horror!!! Novelnya Sarah Morgan loh ini. Jadi kapok kan baca Harlequin tipis gini. Sejauh ini belom ada cerita yang sreg banget.

Jessie ini hidupnya super sulit. Bekerja keras buat membayar hutang almarhum kakaknya. Dikejar2 preman.

Silvio dulunya bersahabat dengan kakak Jessie. Tumbuh besar di jalanan tapi Silvio berhasil keluar dari jaring kemiskinan. Sekarang dia menjadi pengusaha hotel yg sukses.

Tiga tahun setelah kematian kakak Jessie. Silvio kembali ke kehidupan Jessie, bertekad memberikan kehidupan yg lebih baik untuk Jessie. Hanya saja Jessie ini sungguh TSTL. Ga kuat aku bacanya. Kegalauan, kebaperannya, kedramaannya Jessie ini sepanjang buku. Sepanjang buku, diulang2 lagi hal yang sama tapi sekali ditatap Silvio langsung lemah lutut.

Silvio ini juga super dominan. Ga terima kata tidak, harus diturutin mulu. Beda mental antara Silvio dan Jessie sih. Yang satu bisa move on dari masa lalu, yang satu masih bertahan.
Capeeekkk bacanya bikin emosi sendiri.

Kecewaaaaa..

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok. This book is pretty terrible, but here goes: Jessie, an orphaned 23 year old, grew up in foster care with her brother. His best friend, Silvio, aka the Sicilian, shows up in her life after a three year absence following the death of her brother, a drug addict. Jessie blames Silvio for her brother's death because he loaned her brother money which he used to buy the drugs that killed him.

Flash forward and Jessie finally gives into the attraction for Silvio that she has hidden away. They have sex and get married.

Here are the things I didn't like:
It was trite
He kept calling her tesoro
Things got resolved very quickly
She had no self confidence ever-need him to tell her how great she was constantly
I could go on...