The Mistress (The Anetakis Tycoons Book 1)

This was Maya Bank's first Silhouette Desire, and it was excellent! Anyone who has read any of her books published by Ellora's Cave or Samhain Publishing knows what a fantastic writer she is. This book is the first of a three part series she is doing about three Greek brothers - Chrysander, Theron, and Piers Anetakis. This book is Chrysander's story. It starts out with his live-in girlfriend, Marley, finding out that she is pregnant and worrying about how to tell him and what he will think. It is obvious, even from the beginning that he spends a lot of time away from her - sometimes weeks at a time - on business. When she gets home to their apartment, he is waiting for her and they make love before she attempts to talk to him. You can tell right away that he has issues because when she asks him where he thinks their relationship is going, he tells her that they don't have a relationship - she is his mistress. Naturally this devastates her, and due to a serious lack of trust on his part and some cleverly planted "evidence", she doesn't even get a chance to tell him she is pregnant because he kicks her out, thinking she has stolen ideas from his company and sold them to a competitor. After she leaves him, she is kidnapped off the street. Then the story flashes forward to three months later - Marley has just been found by the police in a rundown building having been held by kidnappers for three months - Chrysander sees the story on the news and realizes she is pregnant with his child. When he goes to get her, he finds out that due to the trauma of being kidnapped, she doesn't remember anything but her name - she doesn't remember him, how she got pregnant, anything. He tells her that they are engaged to be married and takes her home with him. On the doctor's advice, he doesn't tell her anything about her kidnapping or anything else - he lets her believe she was in a car accident and that it caused her memory loss. She starts to slowly connect the dots and realize that something is wrong in their relationship due to little things like her not having any maternity clothes that fit her in their apartment - him having houses, property, etc. that she has never visited, and the hostility she senses from his brothers when she meets them. The rest of the story is a series of twists and turns that will leave you breathless and emotionally drained but feeling very satisfied in the end. You can feel the heroine's pain when she regains her memory and remembers all the things Chrysander said to her when he kicked her out, and she believes everything he told her since her kidnapping was a lie - it is also particularly devastating when she remembers that the kidnappers kept her for 3 months waiting for Chrysander to pay a half a million dollar ransom that they requested several times and he never responded to. By the time the villain who is responsible for the whole mess gets whats coming to him or her, I was cheering and clapping. Be sure to check this one out - you won't regret it! I can hardly wait for the next installment.

This book is what a lot of people read when they want something that is not too long, and can be read in a little bit of time,and almost always ends up in a happy positive way. A lot of people don't like reading Harlequin romances, but I feel personally that a lot more people do read them and for the same reasons I do. Maya Banks writes a lot of good books for many different book companies and I have enjoyed several of her Harlequin books!This book is the first of a 3 book series about 3 Greek brothers. This book's main characters are Marley Jameson, the mistress of Greek hotel magnate Chrysander Anetakis. Chrysander is the oldest of the three brothers. His two brothers have brief appearances in the book as does Roslyn, Chrysander's personal assistant, an evil person who would do anything to have Chrysander as her own.Marley lives in New York with Chrysander, and though he travels a lot and sometimes is gone for several weeks, he always anxiously returns to Marley as soon as his private jet lands. They share an apartment in the city. They have a very satisfactory arrangement and an awesome sex life. Even though they use precautions, Marley has found out she is pregnant and is scared to tell Chrysander. This book starts out where he has just returned, and she asks Chrysander what he feels about their relationship, and he answers her that there is no relationship as "you are my mistress". He really has feelings for her but does not tell her this as he is afraid to admit even to himself that he loves her. He wants her in his life, but he wants no attachments.Into this situation walks Roslyn the villain in this book, who has stolen documents and plans for different hotels around the world and sold them secretly to the highest bidder, all for making Marley look like a thief so she can get rid of her and take Marley's place in Chrysander's life. The very night he comes home, she stops by the apartment and stashes papers in Marley's purse to make her look like the thief the company has been looking for for several months. She "conveniently" tells Chrysander to look in Marley's things if he does not believe her and that is when he discovers the papers. After Roslyn leaves, he confronts Marley who is so stunned and hurt that he could think this of her. Chrysander gives her 30 minutes to get out of his apartment, and he walks out : she does not take anything, just walks out of the apartment, and straight into horror. Marley is kidnapped and disappears for three months, taken by two people so they can get their hands on some of the Anetakis money. After two ransoms are sent, and no one answers them, (as they are intercepted and destroyed by the jealous and sick Roslyn), they abandon Marley but phone in an anonymous tip so she can be found, as even though they kidnapped her they see that over the course of the time they have her she is pregnant, and really do not want anything to happen to her. This is when Chrysander sees all of it on the news while he is eating dinner. He rushes to the hospital and is told that Marley is in fact pregnant and has lost her memory, to protect herself and her baby emotionally as the memories are devastating to her. The doctor tells Chrysander that even though Marley is physically ok, mentally she should see a therapist.At this point Chrysander decides to take Marley to a small island that he owns, and hires a doctor and a nice woman to help take care of Marley and she does, acting like her mother and a friend.This book will not disappoint. It is fast paced and never has any parts of it that are dragging, and it is one emotional scene followed by more emotional scenes, you will read how far one woman's obsession for someone who does not belong to her will go to try to claim what she feels is hers. You will feel the animosity between all of the characters, and the emotional angst that weaves through the whole book. I could not believe how it ended, and you will be surprised as well, so pick up a copy and read it, you will be glad you did!I gave this book 4**** stars and I am going to go read part 2 and 3.!

love it

I love the amnesia trope and this book has it well done. The story starts off before the amnesia, so we are given a sense of the characters – in particular the heroine who experiences the amnesia. Marley has her life thrown into chaos by being accused of a crime by the man she loves and then by being the victim of a crime. She is strong, smart, loving, and sweet. Chrysander is an alpha through hand through.The amnesia and the herione’s pregnancy force the couple together, which enables them to explore their feelings for each other and discover a truth about their past and a major issue in their relationship.While the story is well written and easy to read, I didn’t understand some of the subplots and their link to the story. Some of the secondary characters added interest to the story, but there was one that was used for story purposes but never felt fully developed and therefore I didn’t have any real feelings for them or what they did outside of how it related to the main characters. I would have like more depth, not necessarily of the character, but their role in the story as apposed to the few times they actually appeared.This was a good start to the three-book series and I’m looking forward to reading the remaining. Hopefully we’ll get to see Marley and Chrysander some more.

I loved this book, but then I am a big fan of Maya Banks books,i love all her books, I have purchased the rest of her "The Mistress" series.Great book!!!!!

My first book by this author. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yes, I enjoy maya banks readings very much