This is the first book in a new two part mini-series by Lucy Monroe - Greek Tycoons seek brides. The series is about two childhood friends Neo Stamos and Zephyr Nikos who escaped the slumps and streets of Greece to America, where through hard work and discipline they conquered Wall Street to become billionaire tycoons.
Having made their first million, before their targeted age of thirty,`Nikos and Stamos Enterprises' is now a multibillion dollar company, but Neo was still as driven to succeed and achieve as ever. The company consumed his every waking and sleeping hour. Following a comment from their GP, that Neo was working himself into an early grave, Zephyr decided to do something about it and at a charity auction bought a year's worth of piano lessons for $100,000 with the reclusive pianist Cassandra Baker, as a gift for Neo's thirty-fifth birthday. After much argument, Neo reluctantly accepted the gift with the intention to try it for two months.
Cassandra Baker was a child prodigy who was thrust into the limelight at a very tender age by her parents. Touring as a concert pianist, a mode of living she hated, she developed agoraphobia and fear of strangers. Following the death of her parents, she became a recluse and retreated into her own world, too scared and shy to go out in public, but shares her music with the public through her composition and CD recordings. Once a year she offers a year of piano lessons in a charity auction to share her talent with a young protégé. This year her student was none other than the Greek billionaire tycoon Neo Stamos, who was unlike any other student she had ever had. The thought of having the billionaire tycoon in her house filled her with apprehension and anxiety. When Neo and Cassandra met it was like love at first sight but they did not know it then. Cassandra felt safe with Neo and within a few hours of their meeting she felt she could trust him completely. Neo sensed Cassandra's vulnerability and innocence and wanted to protect her. What was most amazing was their conscious effort to become friends and through their pure friendship and selfless giving, a deep abiding love, loyalty and trust developed.
This is one of the most beautiful, romantic love stories I have read in a while. It is pure, sweet and inspiring with no subterfuge, ego, vanity or the dramatic antics that mark most M&B love stories. Not since `Manhattan merger' by Rebecca Winters, have I read a love story with characters that inspired one with their nobility, purity, love and pure friendship. Beautifully crafted by Lucy Monroe, as usual she writes about another medical problem -agoraphobia, showing the vulnerability and difficulties faced by people with such problems; and how trust, pure friendship, love, honesty and openness, can help one overcome the problem.If you read only one M&B this month, make sure it is this one. I can't wait to read Zephyrs story.
