Marco's Pride (Mills & Boon Modern) [Paperback]

I loved this book. That is until the ending, which was a bit of a cop out. But for the end, I would have rated this book a 5+.

This book covered ground you don't normally traveled in a Harlequin. The hero, who is divorced from the heroine, has truly moved on - so much so that he is engaged with the wedding scheduled in a matter of months.

The writer did a good job of developing the emotional onnections between the characters.

My one other beef with this book is that the heroine remained celibate from their divorce until she encountered the hero again. Come on. How realistic is that? Though it is a common occurance in Harlequins, I don't know nor have a heard of a single person whose sexuality went dormant after a break-up, even if the ex was the first and only guy she had been with.

Despite these quibbles, this was an excellent book. I looks forward to reading more books by Ms. Porter.

Marco d'Angelo, head of d'Angelo's, Milan's top fashion house, is engaged to the lovely Princess Marilena Borgiano (something about that name just brings to mind images of someone named Lucrezia). He and the princess have everything in common, she will be a perfect wife, his future is set.

Well, maybe not. His ex-wife Peyton is coming for a visit with his three-year-old twin daughters, Gia and Livia. The Princess, secure in her relationship with Marco, isn't worried about the visit, she thinks Marco needs to spend some time with the twins. Marco, on the other hand, is very worried as he believes that Peyton knows very well if she brings the girls back to Italy, that he'll sue for custody. She won't be able to take them back to America, so why is she coming?

Payton has had a very bad year. After she fled from her husband, she got a job in an American design house and now is designing dresses under her own label. However, she's just suffered a grueling five month tax audit, just lost her mother to cancer and apparently has it herself. She's facing months of chemotherapy, thinks she may not survive, so she is bringing the children she loves more than life itself home to their father.

So there you have a brief summery of the first two chapters of this superb story, that is not without a few flaws. One, Ms. Porter as the annoying habit of shifting the point of view in midscene, a disease suffered by several romance writers that I usually overlook. Two, I thought the princess's change in attitude toward the children out of character. Three, I think probably that Payton should have died in the end, then we would have had a love story that would stand the test of time. And lastly, what a stupid title for such a nice story.

About the POV problem mentioned above. Many romance writers like to keep their readers in the heads of both hero in heroine in their stories and I know this. However this book is so good that it rises above the standard I usually set in rating a romance, so I am comparing it with books written by major authors, such as Messrs. Grisham, Patterson and Koontz, or Mesdames Brown, Gerritsen and Fairstein and those wonderful writers would all rather be shot dead than shift POV in a scene. Also I know Ms. Porter needed to give her princess feet of clay, otherwise readers wouldn't like Marco throwing her over and I also know that in a romance, especially a Harlequin, Mills and Boon romance, that you can't kill off the heroine, however these problems still detract from the story.

So if the book has these flaws, why am I giving it five stars. Especially, as I've said, I'm rating it on the same scale as major novels and not the scale I use to rate romances. Simple, it made me cry. I'll bet I've read over a thousand romances in my time and enjoyed most of them, but never has one pulled a tear out of me. Jonathan Irving got me crying in his wonderful SETTING FREE THE BEARS. Mitch Albom's TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE made me cry. Nicholas Evans made me weep when his Horse Whisperer chose death. There are a few others, very few, and they all deserve the highest praise.

As does this book with its stupid title. Ms. Porter paints people that we believe in, people that we come to love before the story is finished. My prediction is that if she solves that pesky POV problem and turns her talent to romantic suspense that she'll be a major player in the field, right up there with Sandra and Tess. This book gets five stars from me. I only wish that I could give it more.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Marco's Pride has all the elements of a great romance novel. It's a wonderful story, beautifully set in Milan, with characters that are believable, and it's a real tear-jerker.

The story starts with fashion tycoon Marco d'Angelo and Princess Marilena Borgiano, they are happily engaged to get married. Are madly in love with each other and have no reason to think anything will come between them.

Enter Marco's ex-wife Peyton. Peyton is returning to Italy with their twin daughters because she has come down with cancer and wants the girls to reunite with their father.

This throws a hitch in the happily ever after life of Marco and the Princess, but will they overcome it? I don't want to be the one to spoil it for you! Do yourself a favor, pick up this book, a box of tissues and spend a sunny afternoon in Milan. You'll love it!