Marie Loves Books: Marriage to a Billionaire series

The Marriage Mistake by Jennifer Probst
Marriage to a Billionaire #3
Release Date: November 6th, 2012 by Gallery Books
Details: 328 pages, paperback
Genre: Contemporary > Romance > Erotica
Source: NetGalley (Thank you NetGalley & Gallery Books!)
Find it: Amazon || Goodreads
Summary:

Carina Conte has had a crush on her brother Michael’s best friend, Max Gray, since she was a teenager. Now she’s earned her MBA and come to work at Michael’s new venture, America’s fastest-growing bakery empire. But some things never change: her family still treats her like a child. With three drop-dead gorgeous siblings, she’s still the ugly duckling of the bunch. And Max, the company’s new CEO, still barely notices her.

Max knows Carina Conte is strictly off limits. But hot-blooded lust wins out at a conference when the two share a scorching one-night stand—and are busted by her mother! Now, forced by old-world Italian tradition into a marriage he’s not ready for, Max is miserable—and Carina is furious. Her new husband is about to realize that hell hath no fury like a woman transformed….

The Marriage Mistake focuses on Count's younger sister Carina. She has just finished school and moved to America to help learn the ins and outs of the family's business while being paired up with her childhood crush (that's she's soo over) Max. This is the third book in the Marriage to a Billionaire series and it was the one I liked the least.

Carina really got on my nerves; it's like she hopped on a plane and decided she was over Max, but was obsessed with sleeping around since she was leaving Italy where family and tradition are heavy in her family. She thought moving to a different country on her own allowed her to be the sexually curious girl she always wanted to be. It felt a little over done. If she wasn't thinking about Max (or trying to seduce him, let's be real, she was), she was thinking of sex. Constantly.

Max really got on my nerves too; he was so fixated on protecting Carina and trying to talk her out of sleeping with other guys that he basically offered to sleep with her. But he wasn't attracted to her in that way since she IS his best friend's little sister. I felt like all his feelings towards Carina were forced. Like realizing things last minute while the whole time it seemed like he was in favor of one point more than the other. I just wasn't buying it.

Involving Carina means involving the rest of the family and both Carina and Count come from a big big family, I had trouble remember who was who and where they worked. It just got a bit confusing after awhile. I did like seeing the characters from the previous books make cameo's!

While I didn't enjoy The Marriage Mistake as much as I hoped I would, I'm still looking forward to the rest of this series!

The Marriage Trap by Jennifer Probst
Marriage to a Billionaire #2
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012 by Gallery Books
Details: 328 pages, paperback
Genre: Erotica > Contemporary
Source: Bought on Kindle
Summary (Goodreads):

WIFE WANTED…

Italian billionaire seeks faux fiancée. Willing to agree to anything in return...

In order for his sister to marry, Italian billionaire Michael Conte has to find himself a bride – and fast! When he learns that photographer Maggie Ryan is going to be in Milan, Michael hatches a plan to introduce her to his family as his “fiancée.” Never mind that Maggie is confident, independent, and a control freak. Never mind that she’s everything he doesn’t want in a wife… and everything he wants in his bed!

Convinced that Michael is in love with her married gal pal, Maggie agrees to keep up the ruse if he’ll keep away from her friend. Besides, she’s not attracted to charming, ridiculously hot billionaires who drive her nuts. Once they’re in Italy, however, everything changes – and the sexual tension between Maggie and Michael goes from simmer to naked nuclear meltdown!

But have they found the perfect arrangement… or are they trapped in a make-believe marriage?

Amazon* || Goodreads || BookDepo*

The Marriage Bargain is one of my favorite erotica's of this year so I was pretty excited to read the next book in the series -- The Marriage Trap. This companion novel features Maggie Ryan (Nick's sister) and Michael Conte otherwise known as Count. I had a bit of a soft spot for him in the first book, the savvy charming Italian.

In The Marriage Trap Michael needs someone to play his wife in order for his sister to get married. Traditionally the first born is suppose to marry first before any other sibling and with one of Michael's sisters engaged... well that didn't over well with their mother who is heavy on tradition. So Michael decides to pick the firey Maggie -- Alexa's best friend who thinks that he's in love with Alexa. Of course Maggie says no, but comes up with this master plan to get him to stay away from Alexa. Which if you ask me, is nuts.

I didn't have much of a problem with Maggie in the first book. She seemed like a wonderful supportive best friend to Alexa in the first book but omgosh these Ryan's really have issues!! For a good portion of the beginning, Maggie was obsessed with the fact that Michael was in love with Alexa. Like obsessed. It was really annoying but once you got passed that and more into who Maggie is, there's a very heartbreaking story there to be told and I just wanted to hug her and tell her everything will be okay. She was very resistant to Michael and refused to admit how she really felt, but once her story was told, it was obvious why. Poor Maggie and Nick they had awful awful parents that really screwed them up! Goodness.

I grew to like Michael a little bit more in The Marriage Trap because you got to see beyond the savvy sexy Italian and into who he is, what he's given up and how fiercely devoted he is to his family to the point to where he's blinded by caring too much for them. He patient and he's understanding. He cares, truly cares about Maggie even when she doesn't see it. Even when she pushes him away he doesn't think ill of her but wants to comfort her and convince her to trust him. Probst really knows how to write her men! Let me tell you!

I loved Michael's family. His sisters were a lot to take in but very distinct in their careers and their attitudes. I really really liked Micheal's mom. I was right there with Maggie on how it must feel to be raised by someone who doesn't criticize your mistakes but helps you along the way. I loved the scenes where she was teaching Maggie to cook and bake.

The Marriage Trap is a heartwarming and erotic read. Maggie is stubborn, Michael is forgiving and there's a lot of family bonds, promise keeping and tradition. Also, the majority takes place in Italy, hello! I was wrong to think that there wasn't anything better than The Marriage Bargain because this is certainly up there!

What would it feel like to have so many people love you no matter how many mistakes you made?

He bowed his head and smiled bloomed over this face. Lightness filled her, and she smiled back, the busyness of the table fading away under this attention. "Crazie, cara. I am honored to eat something you made for me. It is delicioso."