An unforgettable Greek escape…
…with the man she never forgot!
A-list actress Catherine Wilde has it all, but behind closed doors she is fighting personal battles. So the chance to escape to the private Greek island of her best friend’s brother, Alaric, offers the tranquility she craves.
Except seeing Alaric again sets her heart rate soaring. Life might have changed him, but he can still make her feel alive—and when the torch she once held for him reignites, it’s impossible to ignore!
| Title: | Beauty and the Reclusive Millionaire |
| Author: | Rachael Stewart |
| Series: | n/a |
| Pages: | 207 |
| Category / Genre(s): | Harlequin / Mills & Boon |
| Trope(s): | Second Chance Romance Friends to Lovers Forced / Close Proximity |
| Point of View: | Third Person, Past Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
| Location: | Greece |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | UK: 1st December, 2021 / USA: 28th December, 2021 |
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Emotive and romantic
I really enjoy Rachael Stewart’s writing and she always delivers a romantic story with likeable characters who have a deep and palpable connection. That’s exactly what we get with this story about two former friends and childhood playmates all but stuck together on a private Greek island – each needing something only the other has to offer.
I always think it’s quite difficult to write an A-list starlet that’s both likeable and relatable to us ‘normal’ readers. Yet I liked Catherine from the first page to the last. She has her hang-ups and her issues – and she’s going through an emotionally difficult time – but she was honest, friendly and didn’t take herself too seriously. She also went after what she wanted and it was impossible not to root for her.
Alaric is the kind of hero that I adore swooning over. He’s hidden himself away on his island and he’s so tortured that it made me giddy. I do enjoy it when an author writes a deliciously tortured hero. But he’s believable and you really do feel for him. Even his grumpiness is delightful and the way he tries to push Catherine away is too cute. Did he ever really think it would work? Silly man!
“I’m dubbing Rachael Stewart as the bona fide queen of Mills & Boon romances…”
This book is part of the Mills & Boon True Love / Harlequin Romance line – tender stories that focus on the emotional heart of a relationship. We definitely get the emotional connection between Alaric and Catherine – it’s obvious from the first that our pair have an emotional and physical chemistry. There is sex in the story and it was deliciously fitting for the romance. Not overly gratuitous but very satisfying all the same.
As always with Ms Stewart, her writing skill is such that we’re all but transported to Greece and deep into the lives of our characters. It was so atmospheric and emotional and I adored every minute of it. The parallels between their issues and traumas was so exquisitely done that it truly moved me and I just knew that Catherine and Alaric were meant for each other but more so – they needed each other. This is the kind of story we read romance for.
There are some trigger warnings for this book but I have to say that they were all very delicately handled. You feel the pain and the depth of emotion and it all feels very real – but you never feel overwhelmed or bogged down with it and nothing was done purely for drama – it was all a real part of the journeys of our characters.
All said, this book transported me to a romantic, private Greek island and into the lives of Alaric and Catherine – and I couldn’t have been happier. It’s emotional, atmospheric, moving and oh so romantic. I’m dubbing Rachael Stewart as the bona fide queen of Mills & Boon romances with yet another 5 star read.
*I received this book in exchange for my honest review.*
Rachael Stewart adores conjuring up stories for the readers of Harlequin Mills & Boon and Deep Desires Press, with tales varying from the heartwarmingly romantic to the wildly erotic.
She’s been writing since she could put pen to paper as the stacks of scrawled on A4 sheets in her loft will attest to, and the lovingly bound short stories that her father would run off at work and proudly share out with his colleagues. Thinking it was a pipe dream to be published one day, she pursued a sensible career in business but she was really play-acting, achieving the appropriate degree and spending many years in the corporate world where she never truly belonged. Always happiest when she was sat at her laptop in the quiet hours tapping out a story or two. And so here she is, a published author, her full-time pleasure, a dream come true.
A Welsh lass at heart, she now lives in Yorkshire with her husband and three children, and if she’s not glued to her laptop, she’s wrapped up in them or enjoying the great outdoors seeking out inspiration.
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