I had to wait until I was in the right mood to read this. It sure was a different sort of book. Steam kept coming out of my ears because she was so helpless against him. He just used his money and power to steamroller right over her. In both the past and the present she was trying so hard to better herself and he had totally no respect for her.

There was quite a bit of angst at the end and he did a major bit of grovelling but I do have to say that he needed to be even sorrier for destroying her life and I would have liked to see him do even more begging for her to take him back.

So upshot? I liked it in a totally over the top asshatty hero, downtrodden but plucky heroine with heaping helpings of melodrama kind of way. ( )

Well that's a couple of hours I'm not going to see again. It's not that this was awful, just that it wasn't very good. BTW - the feather light plot is discussed, if you don;t want to know, look away now.

Thea Dautry is a famous model on the verge of an engagement to a Viscount in waiting. She is about to have everything she's always wanted, stability, security and family. But it's hardly a love match. She then comes across a blast from the past when business magnate Angelos Petrakos turns up and recognises her from an incident 5 years ago, when Thea wasn't Thea, but was Kat.

Kat was the child of a junkie and prostitute who was taken into care and didn't exactly come out of the system with any prospects in front of her. She discovers that her mother's mother was an alcoholic & prostitute and, to her credit, she decided that history is not going to repeat itself to the third generation. She swears off drink, drugs & sex and starts to work her way up from the bottom. She aims to become a model, and manages to get herself on some agency books and gets called to a casting for a yacht shoot - for the company of Angelos Petrakos. She gets the job, then looses it as Angelos has decided he'll have an affair with her, and he doesn't mix business with pleasure. She goes to plead for the job, he mistakes the intention, all gets very messy and not a bit unbelievable. Result, he destroys Kat's life. Like you do.

Fast forward 5 years & Kat's reinvented herself, has got over the ruination of her life and is now Thea. Still a model, but now a very highly paid one (and no-one's seemed to notice Thea bears a startling resemblance to Kat, that's never explained either). She has money of her own and is now craving security and some people to call family. Hence the plan to marry a Viscount - what with him having family going back generations. But Angelos decides that he knows best and that she can't be allowed to lie to the inoffensive Giles, and she's got to call it off. Like he's an expert on relationships.

Kat could have made a very interesting story, if she'd been allowed to inhabit any other kind of novel, but in the world of the romance the only thing of interest is how she's feeling. She's not sure how she's feeling, so that makes for a book written rather in emotions that must not be named. Also in rather short sentences. Felt a bit like being hit by the rose bush rather than being showered in rose petals. I found it annoying how there would almost be one paragraph from his point of view, then one from hers, and they were all terribly ambiguous. I thought he was not terribly attractive - no matter how often his broad shoulders were described they didn't do a lot for me. I also found him arrogant beyond belief; he's sure any woman would go weak at the knees at the idea of being his mate (NOT!). I'm sure we all compartmentalise life, but he seemed to have this to the nth degree.

I'm not quite sure I believed the enemy to lover thing either. I'm not quite sure why he had such a strong resentment against her - unless it was for turning him down - in which case he needs to get over himself. She had, to my mind, a far stronger reason for hating him - someone destroying everything you've ever tried to achieve doesn't happen in ~ 10 days, which can be all the time that elapsed here, I'm sure.

It wasn't really my type of read - I only picked it up to satisfy a challenge to read books with gemstones in the title. The characters were rather 2 dimensional, the story I'd have wanted to read was, to this book, irrelevant and glossed over. Either write a novel to set fire to the sheets, or one to sear the soul - this certainly managed neither. The writing was a bit on the weak side, very short sentence structure, or tailing off into ellipses with unfinished thoughts. And people thinking in italics - where did that idea come from? I can imagine my Granny reading this and being slightly shocked and mildly thrilled - takes a bit more to impress me. ( )

"Kat" was a toughened street youth out to make something of herself any way possible. No one would stand in her way to the top. Angelos was the exception. He saw beyond the tough facade, and wanted what was underneath the aspiring model. But "Kat" wasn't typical of any woman he had ever met and she fought him at every turn. Even going so far as to steal his father's watch. Angelos vowed to get revenge. Revenge for her theivery of this property, but also for his desire for her.
Five years later, Thea, beautiful, eloquent, desirable fashion model was happily accepting the marriage proposal of a viscount. It was her dream...stability, love, family. That's when Angelos spotted her and ruined her life once more. Thea, aka Kat, had been discovered again and Angelos was going to make her pay once more. This time her life would truely be over before it began. His vow this time was to destroy her inside and out, layer by layer. She could change her name a million times, but she could never change the person she was underneath. But Angelos never expected Thea to have already changed to a subdued, quiet, and breathtakingly beautiful enigma of the girl he once knew. He also never expected to fall even more in love with her as he spent his time trying to destroy her. ( )

Its a romance novel. Thea is hoping that Giles was about to ask her to marry him. Her dream that she has worked hard for. Before Giles could get the question out Angelos's came up to their table and rudely gave Thea his card and said, "Call me"Then went back to his table. Giles said how rude and finally got the question out. Thea said,"yes"

When Angelos did not recieve the call next day he went to her apartment with his bodyguard, He bullyed his way in and threatened her with the name Kat. Angelos told Thea that unless she broke off with Giles he would tell him all about Kat and her real past. Angelos wanted Thea to come stay with him at his hotel so Giles would believe that she chose Angelos from her past instead of Giles.

Angelos's is a greek tycoon who five years ago almost hired Kat to do a modleing job for his company. Angelos never mixed business with pleasure so he dropped Kat from the modleing job so he could persue her.

Kat was excited to hear she got the job because she could start getting more work and get a real apartment. She was raised by the state after she turned 18 she found out that her mom was a drug addict was taken from her. Her grandmother was an acholic so state took her mom away and they both paid for their addictions with prostution and did not know the fathers. Kat swore to not be like them so no drugs,sex or drinking.

Then Mike came and threatened her that he knew she was getting the job and she had to pay him what ever she got or he would cut her face like he did cut her friend. Mike had been following her around and she had not realized it. Kat was really scared and then she found out that after all she was not hired. So Kat went to Angelos's hotel room to beg for her job back with Mike outside waiting for something. Angelos almost got her to say for job she would have sex with her but told her that she was a whore and he never mixed business with pleasure to get out. He was angry. Kat was furious and scared and saw watch by her and took it to pay Mike.

Before Kat got out of hotel cops came and took her to jail. Before Kat was thinking well at least she was safe from Mike now. When other cops were talking about bad accident that killed the motorcycle rider Mike. Kat than told cops that Angelos had given her the watch as payment than changed his mind and gave the cops the watch. So because she had witness that Kat was in the room as a guest of his it was he said she said deal they were not arresting her.

Angelos was mad so he got her fired from modeling agency, fired from day job even kicked out of room she rented. He took what little she had away. All Kats hope and dreams.

Then She started over as Thea and modeled out of Manchester instead of London and got more refined and learned more social skills and got some success. Almost Married and on her way to be next wife of a Viscount. Then Angelos came back. to take that away.

Thea did break with Giles and went with Angelos to switerland but she still did not drink,drugs or sex. Thea tried to ignore Angelos, but they became closer and closer. More misunderstandings till things resolved.

I was entertained with it. I was given this ebook in exchange for honest review. ( )