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FindingJane
Aug 25, 2017FindingJane rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
A man wrongfully incarcerated gets out of jail bent to getting revenge on the family that put him there. That’s right—it’s “The Greek’s Pleasurable Revenge”. Oh, wait. That’s another romance novel. You can forgive me for making the mistake. They’re so similar in tone and plot that the error is understandable. Eva Pennington has an aggrieved sister rather than sneering brothers and her father is alive instead of inconveniently deceased like Aristotle Gianopoulous. Eva also doesn’t have a child out of wedlock. But the story doesn’t alter much in terms of tone. Zaccheo Giordano is another foreign crotch-leak in designer clothes, a low-rent ex-convict who’s used his power and influence to re-build the empire stolen from him. He’s also seething with vindictiveness, determined to avenge himself on Eva and her lying father. He’s rude, autocratic, dictatorial, given to blackmail, subterfuge and surveillance. Like all these men, he uses his authority to spy on his fiancée, keep track of her father’s actions and Eva’s movements, her job. He forces himself into her presence whether she likes it or not, gives orders instead of requests and, in one scene that reads close to rape, he grabs her wrists and forces her up against a wall when she tries to push him away from her. Spoiler alert! Eva Pennington is a virgin! Wow, really? She’s had three boyfriends, two fiancés and Zaccheo gets to be the first one she allows to stick his penis into her? Of course. Even if she had had other sexual partners, Zaccheo remains the only one who lights her fire, the most powerful, sensuous, best lover she’s ever had. Again, who’s meant to read these things? Eager schoolgirls or men who cherish the fantasy of being the one and only in a woman’s life no matter how many came before him? Mr. Giordano has serious issues with Eva and the upper class. He sneers at their entitled attitude while gloating over the idea of having blue-blood aristocrats kowtow and fawn to him. He takes digs at Eva for her money and privilege while gathering enough wealth, influence and power so that he lives like a king, has grand houses and the resources to have powerful machines like his own helicopter at his disposal. He's hypocritical AND swinish. What a winner. Seeing as these two novels are very much interchangeable, I wasn’t really interested in watching Mr. Giordano coming to terms with his own broken family tree, his psychological issues or his sexual yearnings tumbling over into love. Eva isn’t much better than Calista Gianopoulous. She’s got the same angry, kittenish spark that delights the typical leads in these stories and yet poses no obstacle to the males getting what they want. It doesn’t matter if the men treat the women like a queen in terms of offering fancy dinners, plush surroundings or exquisite jewelry. If he acts like a pig, Dolce & Gabbana isn’t going to turn him into a gentleman. Too bad guys like this can’t be sliced up and cooked like bacon.