The Italian’s Suitable Wife

Gianna Lakewood has loved Enrico DiRinaldi since she was fifteen years old but he sees her only as a little sister. She would love to trade places with his super-model fiancée but she will be content to be in his life any way she can.

When his brother calls in the middle of the night telling her that Rico has been shot while rescuing a woman from a mugger and is in a coma, she immediately rushes to the hospital. For five days and nights she stays at his bedside talking to him, touching him and pouring out her heart the way that she has always longed to do but never dared. When he awakens but can’t move his legs she has no doubt that he will make a full recovery and she intends to be beside him through every step of his recuperation. Can his fiancée say the same?

Rico is not sure where the strange new feelings that he has for Gianna are coming from but he has no intention of letting her get very far away from him until he figures them out. He loves the fact that she has complete faith that he will recover and he shares that belief. He knows that he will need all of the support that he can get in order to achieve his goal. When his fiancée forces him to choose between his relationship with her and his relationship with Gianna, he has no trouble making the choice. Now all he has to do is learn to walk again and convince Gianna that his feelings are far from brotherly.

After reading and loving Ms. Monroe’s Brava title, The Real Deal, I was very curious to see what she could do with a category book. I was not disappointed. This book grabbed my attention from the start and refused to let go. I could feel the despair and desperation in Gianna as she wills Rico to live and the confusion in him as he faces his changing feelings for her. It was by turns sweet and scorching and very, very poignant. This one will definitely go on my list of comfort reads because it left me with a smile on my face and the knowledge that dreams really can come true.

Reviewed by: Missy