A Reputation to Uphold by Victoria Parker



Reviewed by Desere

The expression 'From the frying pan and into the fire' is not even close to what the heroine in this book steps into. Nope, she goes straight into the everlasting depths of torture.

And no I am not exaggerating ! Eva St George goes from hiding from the world to 'the woman who stole another's man' in the space of less than 24 hours. To make things worse the man of this entire mess is no one other than Dante Vitale.

Once she offered herself to him and he walked away and ever since she has made sure to avoid him at all costs, never again does she want to fall into his charm-trap and lose her heart again only to be discarded for someone more his taste.

And she most certainly does not need to be with a man that thinks her to be a all night party, spend ever sent I have, drink myself into oblivion, sleep with every man that wants me woman.

Dante of course sees only one problem in the entire set up, keeping his hands off the woman that has tempted him from the first time he saw, slutty or not he still craves her like a man craves water in the Sahara. And when he gives into temptation and discovers the shock of his life, he starts to crave something else entirely, but it is something that will never happen for that he is simply too cold hearted.

WOW WOW WOW ! This book was so many amazing things I am for the first time in my life speechless and struggling to find the words. I absolutely loved it to bits! From strong and feisty Eva to arrogant "I am going to whack this man so hard" Dante, to the exquisite backdrops and delicious heat that explodes into such a blazing inferno the pages went up in flames with each word I read, it was all romantic perfection!

The character of Dante was at first such a sob I wanted to do some serious damage to him, I have a soft spot for Italian hero's and even with them being a little arrogant in the start of reads none of them have ever bugged me as much as this man did. Of course knowing this is a romance read and knowing that this author always has something super special up her sleeves, I knew I had to keep reading to get to the bottom of his cold hearted attitude. And boy oh boy was it a fire cracker of secrets!  Him going in for the kill in everything he does in life, showed him as ruthless and cold hearted, but when the author showed me the reason behind it all my heart broke! I went from yelling at him to wanting to fix him anyway I could.  Through this character the author showed just how badly decisions made based on past issues can destroy our lives.

The character of Eva was really awesome! I adored her fighting spirit. She might be hiding from the world and the sacrifices she faces but when she is dared she fights back with such a vengeance it took my breath away. I truly enjoyed her anger and it was as if she was right there up in my face ready to tell me off too! I loved how the author let Eva go from feisty the one minute to " I am going to burn in hell for this" to fun and girly the next. It showed the character as I think many of us are, we hide our secrets behind various masks all the while fighting anything and anyone that threatens to remove the mask, and this causes us to lose track of which mask we are meant to be wearing and thus reveals the true person we are.

The book was full of red hot passion, amazing memorable realistic characters, a plot you will never, ever forget and a love so strong it will take your breath away. When I was done with this read it took me almost a full four hours to step out of Dante and Eva's world and come back to my own, this has happened to me before but, I have never been so sad to come back down to earth, I wanted to stay trapped with them !

I will forever remember the amazing intense love that Dante and Eva shared and the unforgettable magic that this author creates! I am taking away a message of letting someone you love into your heart, is the most important sacrifices you will ever make. At times it will hurt, it will feel as if you should have made a different decision, and it for darn sure will be hard at the best of times, but when you feel that person returning your love you will know it was all worth it.

5/5 star review
"He's about to send her reputation up in flames of desire, she's about to tear his to shreds with her heart"