[Review] Her Italian Aristocrat

Title: Her Italian Aristocrat
Author: Louise Reynolds
Date of Publication: November 15, 2012
Genre: Romance, Chick-Lit
Rating: 4/5 

Links:
For some reason, this book has yet to be available on Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble.

Teaser/Blurb:

On a mission to buy a prestigious shoe company, Australian career girl, Gemma Parkinson, arrives in Italy determined to succeed. But when she falls ill, effortlessly handsome local aristocrat, Luca Andretti, is on hand. Suspicious about Gemma's presence in his town, he offers to let her recuperate in his amazing palazzo. Surrounded by the lavish trappings of the rich – servants, designer clothes, fine food and wine – Gemma is completely out of her depth.

Intent on saving the town's local industry, Brunelli Shoes, from foreign take-over, Luca throws every obstacle he can in Gemma's path. Headstrong, savvy and equally determined to successfully wrestle the company away from him, Gemma fights Luca all the way.

But Luca's life of privilege masks a private world of pain and Gemma has demons of her own. As they come to understand one another, their growing attraction starts getting in the way.

This moving love story involving two people from very different backgrounds is a delightful, contemporary romance in a gorgeous Italian setting.

Review:
A heartwarming story of love, prejudices and deceptive appearances!

Let me just say that this story isn't filled with fluff and sweet nonsense just for the heck of it. On the contrary, the protagonists in this story are equally stubborn business rivals. Imagine business rivals being attracted to each other and eventually falling in love!

I found this story heartwarming because it is the tale of two lonely people finding a kindred spirit in each other despite the fact that they don’t seem to have anything in common.

Secondly, this story also shows that prejudices can often blind people from seeing another person for who they really are. This is the very case for Gemma who saw Luca as a mere rich, Italian, aristocratic playboy. On the other hand, Luca thought of Gemma as the heartless businesswoman hell-bent on stealing Montefigore’s famous shoe company.

While love-hate relationships are quite common in romance novels, in Her Italian Aristocrat, the author was able to create complex personalities for the characters which really gave a credible reason for their initial conflict. The love-hate relationship wasn’t added just because they like bickering. It was there because the two main characters were from very different spectrums of society. And I think that the author was able to breathe life into the characters through her words.

One thing that I found fault in this novel is its scene transitions. While some transitions from one scene to another are very clear-cut and well described, some transitions are just blurry and confusing. I found myself leafing back to some pages to read again because of the confusing transitions. Then again, this gaffe is minor and probably depends on the reader anyways.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this story. It was a quick and refreshing read; perfect for people who are looking for light-hearted romance novels involving sexy Italians!