Review: Taming the Italian Bad Boy by Joanne Walsh

Title: Taming the Italian Bad Boy

Author: Joanne Walsh

Publisher: Holiday Books, Tule Publishing

Published: September 17th, 2015

Rating: 4.5/5

This is proving to be a fantastic series and this is a great addition to it! Joanne Walsh has continued the wonderful writing by her fellow authors of books in the International Bad Boy Series to produce her own novel starring the wealthy Italian entrepreneur, lemon grower and Limoncello maker, Danilo Spinozzi. He’s a strong alpha male, used to loving and leaving as he wishes with little or no thought to the women he’s finishing with. He knows things are going to be different from the start when he first meets Lucy Luxton after swerving his motorbike and falling into a ditch in an otherwise successful attempt to avoid hitting her cat! She’s his antithesis in so many ways – she is shy, quiet, sweet, kind, considerate and totally unaware of her own beauty. She’s about to go to Ravello on the Amalfi Coast to study designing and making jewellery . . . . you guessed it, that’s where he lives! When her Nana advises Lucy to “take a wee risk” you just know you’re in for a great romance!

This is an excellently written novel with strong, well defined characters who grow and develop throughout the story. Whilst their attraction is explosive, their wariness is explained as  past experiences of both main characters are revealed making it easy to understand the emotional impact on them as adults and on their current relationship. The growth of trust, understanding and love through the story is portrayed brilliantly, ensuring readers are able to empathise with the characters and their reactions. This doesn’t just apply to the central couple but to some of the secondary characters, too. I particularly appreciated how Danilo and Lucy were shown to bring out the best in each other, revealing aspects of their personality that others had never noticed. The path of true love does not run smoothly but has plenty of obstacles and ‘flies in the ointment’ to get in the way of them achieving their HEA. How these are viewed and overcome are what make this into a great story.

If you enjoy your romances to have strong characters revealing hidden weaknesses and shy females proving themselves resilient and strong, this is a great book for you to read and I recommend you go get yourself a copy to escape into asap!

Other books in this series (which I have also read and reviewed) include:

Pursued by the Devil by Carole Mortimer
Never Resist a Sheikh by Jackie Ashenden
Claimed by the Warrior by Joss Wood
Taming the Italian Bad Boy by Joanne Walsh
The Billionaire’s Charade by Eve Gaddy

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley, too, for letting me read an ARC of this book in exchange for this, an honest review.

This book is available from a variety of sources including

amazon.co.uk           amazon.com