Review of The Mistress (Anetakis Tycoons #1) by Maya Banks
The Mistress (originally printed as The Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress) is the first book in The Anetakis Tycoons Trilogy.
Marley Jameson spent months in a relationship with Chrysander Anetakis before finding herself unexpectedly pregnant. Before she can tell him, he accuses her of stealing plans from him and selling them to a competitor. He throws her out—right into the hands of waiting kidnappers.
Three months later, Marley is released from captivity and Chrysander is shocked to see her on the news—especially to see that she's five months pregnant. Feeling a duty to her and their child, he goes to the hospital only to discover she has amnesia and only remembers her own name. He tells her they're engaged and whisks her away to his private island in Greece so she can recover. He's determined to do the right thing and marry her, but that she'll never have his heart.
He knows everything balances on the edge of a knife. When she finally remembers what he believes she did, he knows it will change everything.
This book was in many ways not that great but in other ways strangely addicting. It's definitely not one of the better Maya Banks books I've read, but I really enjoyed it.
While I hadn't read a book like this before, probably because I don't usually read Harlequin novels, it felt very cliché. Almost every part of the book felt that way, which isn't great for the writer. Plenty of readers don't care, but plenty of others do.
Marley was an okay heroine. In some ways overly fragile and in others strong. She's playful, loving, and has fun needling Chrysander, which was a pleasure to read. Chrysander was an overbearing alpha male who tried to control how Marley went about her recovery. I was delighted when that didn't work. He could be a jerk to her at times, at other times gentle and loving, but underneath it all was the distrust of her and belief she'd stolen from him eating away at any happiness of his. While his feelings for Marley slowly erode that anger and distrust, he still holds her at a distance, determined not to get close. It was frustrating to see him do so and to see her pain in feeling the distance.
The settings seemed like they could have been lovely, but they were very vague and not hardly described at all. Not even places they spent a lot of time in. It stripped away a lot of depth to the story for me because it's hard for me to get lost in a book unless I know exactly where I am and what's happening. Actions were written clearly, but people and places were not.
Dialog was often cheesy, but it mostly worked. Some of it was a little over the top, but I didn't find it distracting. Otherwise, I found the dialog good and easy to read.
Overall, it was an okay book that was strangely absorbing. I'm looking forward to book two.
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