Format read: ebook provided by publisher
Release Date: 15 March 2012
Number of pages: 232 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Entangled Publishing

Olivia Brent is happy with her quiet life in the country, until the imminent loss of her home forces her to embark on a search for her estranged father. Catapulted into a world of criminals, Olivia is out of her depth. When she meets the stunningly gorgeous and enigmatic billionaire Luc Severino, her world is turned upside down.

Jimmy Brent’s daughter was the last person Luc ever wanted to be with, but she’s the key to finding her father,the man Luc has wanted revenge on for over ten years. He’s willing to use any methods available, including blackmail, to persuade Olivia to help him find Jimmy and put the past behind him.

And if blackmail doesn’t gain her total cooperation, then perhaps a little seduction will…

“Why the hell would I trust you?” she snarled. “What have you ever done to gain my trust? You slept with me, then you blackmailed me into staying here. You want me to help you find my father, but you won’t tell me why. I find out you’ve been in prison, but you refuse to talk about it. You…” she paused then forced herself to go on, “…you make me want you, and then you walk away as if I don’t matter at all.”

One major plotline that didn’t sit well with me was how Lia declared that she hated her father. To understand and accept such strong emotions from such a soft and kind hearted character I would have needed to see more reasons or get more explanation to how and why she could hate her own father (sorry but if it’s only based on her mother’s/parents’ self-destructive love that doesn’t convince me, that’s just not enough to warrant such violent emotions like hatred towards a parent).

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BEWARE

My other problem was that we were left without explanation regarding many details: just to name a few of the main ones: the what and why of Olivia’s dad’s involvement in Luc’s imprisonment (why did he do it? and why to Luc personally?), then we never got to know the specifics of why Luc went to prison (yes because he killed a man, and I get that as a sign of trust Olivia must not have questioned that, but we readers would have liked to get an explanation, and I think Olivia deserved one too).

END OF POTENTIAL SPOILERS

Though the Romeo and Juliet, starcrossed lovers, sworn enemies lovers trope was at the base of this novel I found that the characters got over this detail too quickly. There was not much agonozing and tortured dilemma (I missed this mostly from Luc’s part who has passed the past 10 years hating a man and he got over that pretty quickly and without much turmoil – or at least we didn’t witness it).

And to finish here is one of my favourite quotes that shows the kind of humour that was hidden at parts in Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire:

He got to his feet, moving to stand in front of her. Lia stood up as well, not wanting to be at a disadvantage. A wave of apprehension passed through her, but she stood her ground. She was determined she wasn’t going to be intimidated, but he was just so big, and she’d always been better at dealing with horses than she was humans. Maybe she should treat him like a stallion she was training. Stand up to him, show him who was boss…and if all else failed—castrate him.
“What are you thinking?”
“Sorry?”
“You were smiling.”
“Really?”

Verdict: Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire is not flawless and I wish some things were a bit better developed, but nonetheless it was a very enjoyable, fast and lovely read. If you’d like a quick, engrossing and passionate light read, Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire is a good choice.

I give Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire 4 stars!

About Stella

Stella is a proud bookaholic and a self-taught multilinguist in training. Besides reading, her other great passions are travelling and baking. When she is not globetrotting she lives in sunny Budapest, where she loves to spend her free time preparing (and feasting on) delicious cookies or devouring equally yummy books. Her favourite genres are urban fantasy and romance and she couldn't live without her daily dose of sunshine. Besides being the Latin Lover on BLI Stella also blogs about books and a bookish life on Ex Libris.

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