One of the foibles of humanity is making mistakes. Making a choice with the best of intentions but the execution ends up not working out like the plan. Drago in theory made decisions to help his family but along the way ended up hurting himself. While reading Seducing the Tycoon, I kept hearing the lyrics to Something Stupid in my head. The song is a cute twist on how an emotional bond and three simple words ("I Love You") can tie a person in knots and change the dynamic of their relationship. Chase got caught in the crossfire of Drago doing "something stupid" and neither would be the same. Ms. Meredith created an adorable story centered around a clueless hero and a insecure heroine. Humour, family, romance and wisdom - this story delivered on all counts.



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I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Chase Huntington arrives in Ferrara to oversee the opening of the newest hotel in the Huntington luxury hotel chain. She need the opening to be a success to persuade the board to appoint her to the post of "director of hotel operations" at HQ in Malibu, as Chase longs to settle down and make a permanent home for herself. Unfortunately, on her arrival in Ferrara, she discover that the "director of hotel operations" (is this the same as hotel manager?) has gone AWOL and things are not as far along as she had hoped with the opening due in three weeks. The missing director was also going to be her translator, since Huntington hotels clearly think sending some one who speaks no Italian to oversee the opening of a hotel in Italy is a good idea...? Anyway, she accepts the translation services of an attractive Italian man (Luca) she finds loitering around outside, failing to realize (Huntington hotels seemingly not having researched the competition) that Luca is the grandson of the owner of Nonna's inn, which is closed for repairs, but plans to open on exactly the same day as her hotel and which will be ruined if her plans succeed. Luca takes advantage of the fact that she speaks almost no Italian and of the fact that everyone in Ferrera loves Nonna to sabotage and delay all Chase's plans, while giving her the impression that he is doing his best for her.

This was a pleasant, harmless read, which improved as it went along, although it was not not terribly realistic: Luca apparently owns 70 companies, but during the course of the novel gets away with fielding the odd phone call. Chase never seems very good at her job, although we are constantly told that she is, and, after postponing the opening of the hotel in the end, she flies back to Malibu before the opening day itself. They spent so much time lusting after one another that it was no wonder they never did much work. I never quite bought into the idea that both the hotel and the inn absolutely had to open on the same day. Finally, there is the way Chase calls everyone "love", a habit she has picked up while "abroad" and a word she speaks in a slight British accent. If therefore we are supposed to assume she picked it up in the UK, can I say (as a British woman), that she has misunderstood how and when it is used? It grated on me every single time.

The description of the community in Ferrara was well done - I could imagine why Chase was drawn to the idea of living there and Nonna was lovely. I also liked the way Lucinda took no nonsense from Luca. ( )