What the Greek Can’t Resist

by Maya Blake

June 1, 2014 · Harlequin Presents

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This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by KB. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Short Contemporary Romance category.

Here is KB's review:

I jumped at the chance to review this book, because it’s a Harlequin Presents, my category romance of choice since I was about 16.  If you have read more than 1 or 2 Harlequin Presents, then much of this book will seem like familiar territory.  What the Greek Can’t Resist employs many of the standard HP tropes.  In fact, what makes it unique is that it uses pretty much ALL OF THEM.  Like every single one.  It is trope-tastic.  You have tortured hero, you have heroine with super tragic backstory, you have really far-fetched money issues, you have boss/employee, you have marriage of convenience, you have secret baby…and it’s all in the same book!  Suspending disbelief is a general prerequisite for most Harlequin Presents, but this one really stretched the limits.

The story begins with recently-widowed Perla, stopping for a drink at a hotel bar.  It’s never really explained why she was there or where she was going–it seems initially like she’s on her way to her husband’s funeral, but then she goes home before that actually happens.  But two things are clear from the very first page: 1.) the melodrama in this book is going to be way over the top, and 2.) homegirl is kind of a mess.  Her inner dialogue about whether or not to put on lipstick lasted for two full pages, if that tells you anything.  Perla meets up with the dashing Greek billionaire Arion, somehow does not realize that he was her late husband’s boss, they have drinks and make eyes at each other and end up having a one-night stand.  She leaves and thinks she will never see him again, but then imagine her surprise when she gets up to give her husband’s eulogy and sees Arion sitting in the crowd. He is super pissed to discover just how recently widowed she was and leaves in a huff.

But Perla is destined to see Arion again, because she has applied for some kind of pension thing from her late husband’s company, which they have denied.  Without it she will be penniless and since she is financially responsible for her husband’s parents (huh?), that would be bad.  So she goes off to see Arion and beg him to sort things out.  Turns out that her husband had defrauded the company in some way that is never exactly made clear, so the pension is off the table, but Arion offers Perla another option–take a job working for him.

So this is where things start to get weird.  Given that this is an HP, I was willing to go along with it when the high-powered corporate magnate hires a complete rando to do “publicity work” which apparently includes planning the launch party for the company’s most important new hotel.  And she is totally in charge of it.  OK, fine. But then Arion chases Perla to Miami for the launch party because he just can’t stay away from her, and the storyline starts to get crazy.  Not one but two reasons for Arion’s tortured hero status are revealed, as is the real story behind Perla’s marriage, then Perla figures out that she is pregnant (not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb), and all sorts of craziness and drama takes place in various exotic locations.

There is so much going on here.  Why is Perla taking care of her husband’s parents?  How exactly was her husband cheating Arion’s company?  What is the deal with Arion’s dad?  All of it is mentioned and none of it is fully explained.  I just felt like the story would have been much better had it been a bit more focused.  As it was, I spent most of the book going “wait, what?”

In general, this read like an old-school Harlequin Presents, with an angry Greek hero, highly dramatic interactions between characters, and a heroine who had flashes of sass but mostly just cried a lot.  I think she even fainted at one point.  Classic.  But that kind of crazy can be fun if that is your thing.  Unfortunately the lack of focus in this story was just distracting, and it seemed like all the telling of tragic backstory took the place of character development.  Despite my affection for this brand of category romance, this one just didn’t do it for me.