Overall rating: 3 stars

Plot: 6/10
Ending: 6/10
Writing: 8/10
Hero: 7/10
Heroine: 8/10
Humour: 5/10
Steaminess: 6/10
HEA:

Spoiler

Yes

3 Stars!

Hot!!!

Oh Michael! I was in love with him from the very first page!

Definitely my favorite character. I loved Maggie too of course but the way Michael cared for his family, and how he wanted to figure Maggie out and know about her past...

It was a cute funny read but I liked the first book better. The story in this one was well developed and even though at first I thought it wouldn't make much sense, it was more realistic than I expected.

I liked how everything happened, how the author let us know about the secondary characters. You couldn't help but love Michael's family. My heart ached for him sometimes, when he tried to be a dad to his sisters and Maggie helped him to understand them better.

They were perfect for each other, they completed the other so well and the chemistry between them was obvious. The sex scenes were well written and so intense.

Spoiler

My favorite was definitely the one where Michael makes love to her for the first time.. so real and intense... It was so amazing

Can't wait to read the next one! I loved Carina and I'm dying to know what's going to happen with her :)

I tried, I really really tried to like this one but I dnfed at 27%.
- Obnoxious Italian stereotypes ✔️
- Wrong Italian names (who the heck call her daughter Venezia? C'mon!) ✔️
- Wrong Italian words ("Dios" isn't even Italian is Spanish! You moron! And don't get me started with Mama and Papa - this last one in Italian means "Pope"

Yey. It's Maggie's story and the delectable Michael Conte.

Maggie is Alexa's best friend and her husbands sister. She is a spitfire and a professional photographer who works with mostly naked men and under ware with a brilliant eye for a great picture. She is also a bit of a control freak.

Michael Conte is the man in charge of his families chain of bakeries and looks after his three sisters and his mother. He too is a bit of a control freak after taking charge of the family business after his fathers death and giving up his own dreams of racing.

Maggie has always seen the close friendship between Michael and Maggie as something other, that Michael is in love with her best friend and is determined to do everything to keep him away from her. With a call from his sister however Michael's world spins.

His sister cries as her boyfriend has finally proposed, but his mother says that she cannot marry until Michael has done so. Family tradition that the eldest marries first. But his sister and her fiancé do not want to wait. So Michael needs to find someone to pretend to be married to for a while. The only one who fits the bill is Maggie.

Maggie cannot believe what she hears, but before she turns down his request, he goes for the kill, suggesting that perhaps he talks to Alexa to help him. Thereby she agrees to help, but only if he never sees Alexa again. She doesn't want him to interfere with her friend marriage to her brother.

They go to Milan where she has a photo shoot and she charms his family, and a stray cat that know one else can get close to along with his cousins children. It is obvious that his mother can see the truth immediately and she weaves her own little web.

Maggie and Michael have a tempestuous relationship, fire and passion and dominance all rolled into a flaming ball of heat. Maggie can see the truth about the family and is not shy at telling him what she really thinks and steps out to help his sisters. She sees the true heart of them all.

She helps young Carina bloom, one sister to marry the man she loves and the other as a business woman. She takes some fab shots at the photo shoot with Carina in the shadows that stuns Michael.

With a suspect sudden illness from his mother Michael and Maggie end up actually getting married, and Maggie reveals a secret that she has told know one other than her mother who was less than kind. But with the revelation and the sudden closeness she runs leaving both unhappy, especially as he tells her he loves her.

Once back Alexa tells her that Michael visited her and told her everything, that Michael really does love her. Michael on the other hand has decided that he will take another chance to see if he can get his wife to believe him and makes the grand gesture. Needless to say she sees the truth and runs to him.

A sweet story on marginally better than the first.

"The Marriage Trap" is the second in the "Marriage to a Billionaire" series by Jennifer Probst and while Alexa and Nick, the lead characters from the previous book, "The Marriage Bargain", do make appearances here, the story is focused on Nick's sister, Maggie Ryan, and his and Alexa's close friend, Michael Conte. Michael propositions Maggie by asking her to be his fake fiancee, in hopes of continuing a family tradition. Maggie agrees for as long as Michael keeps his word to stay away from Alexa and their family, mistakenly believing that Michael is in love with her sister-in-law and best friend.

Jennifer Probst continues the level of sexual tension that she brought in the first book. The reader is also introduced to Michael's family and his best friend, Max, opening the door for books 3 and 4. Maggie's character has experienced trauma, making it difficult it for her to trust and this adds some depth to her character while Michael also appears to have deep-rooted reasons behind the decisions he has made in his life, creating interesting back stories for both leads.

I'm giving four stars for this fast-paced read and quickly moved on to book 3, "The Marriage Mistake". ^.^

This read like an american movie, and even had the cheering scene at the end. Was too much for me.

Heroine: Maggie’s character genuinely surprised me. She comes off as a really confident woman, but she’s guarded when it comes to feelings and relationships. I guess I didn’t really believe her that she had reason to be guarded until her character finally reveals the trauma she’s been through in the past.

I thought that Maggie got a little excessive at times when she kept insisting that Michael was in love with her best friend, but I got over it. Minor complaint. If it had only been the only bump in the road that preventing Michael and Maggie from getting together, then we would have had issues. But it wasn’t, so I’ll stop whining about it.

Hero: I don’t really have much to say about Michael. I mean, he’s also a deeply layered character who tries so hard to be the best he can for his family. Except sometimes he doesn’t realize that his sisters have grown up and he needs to listen to what they want in life. I thought it was great that Maggie was able to make him see what he was doing wrong.

Supporting Cast: If you are a fan of this series, you will definitely love the supporting cast. I think that the connections are a little confusing if you haven’t read the books in a while, and it took me a while to acclimate myself with the characters’ relationships. Family is a big deal in the Marriage to a Billionaire series and I really enjoy it.

Plot: I am a sucker for a good arranged marriage plot. Since I already read the third book before this one, I had a vague idea of how it was going to play out so any suspense was lost on me. Still, I enjoyed how the story played out.

Romance: Probst is always spot on when it comes to building sexual tension and chemistry with the characters. This is no exception.

So I finally am up to date to the Marriage to a Billionaire series and I am sad. I want more yummy contemporary romance. Trust me, I will be reading all of Jennifer Probst’s books.

Guys, I should mention that this book has lots of details on cooking Italian food and good wine. It will make you crave both.

Full review can be found here .

Rating=3.75/5

Rated as a GOOD READ from the sunny side of life!

Review goes live at 00:00 hours MVT on February 11, 2013!

I was excited to read this, because the first was really good. I think this one was better! It was much more fun to read, the characters were so much fun and just funny, query story line was great, and I just fell in love with this book! This was a great read, though I do think the end could have been better, it was really good. I liked that most of it took place in Italy, and meeting his family was also very entertaining. This was a great addition, and I cannot wait to read the next!!

This was a quick read that followed the romance formula. Boy meets girl, there's chemistry neither wants to admit, blah blah blah. Maggie was stubborn and irritating to the extreme for me, while Michael was swoon worthy