Italian by birth, this street urchin lived a life of extreme poverty until he escaped to Brazil—where he cast off his roots, took a new name and pulled himself up from the streets.

Now Rio D'Aquila is beyond wealthy, with a reputation for being uncompromising in business…and incomparable in bed! But on meeting vulnerable Isabella Orsini, he feels something deep within him stir, and he finds himself pretending to be that long-forgotten man.

Passion flares and their affair spirals, but Isabella still doesn't know that her lover has lied to her. Who is the real Rio D'Aquila?

Review

The Real Rio D’Aquila is Sandra Marton’s last book in her Orsini Dynasty series.  The heroine was the most appealing part of this fairly satisfying read.  I doubt this will cause me to go back and read the previous five installments of the series but it was an enjoyable interlude.

Izzy is the youngest sibling in the Orsini family and is the family renegade as she’s the sweet, unsophisticated gardener among her powerful and wealthy family.  Izzy goes to bid on a landscaping job in wealthy Long Island’s Southampton.  She mistakes the corporate shark Rio for his relaxed caretaker, Matteo.  Rio is intoxicated by Izzy’s unsophisticated interest in him as a person and can’t resist playing along.  But will Izzy and Rio’s love survive when Izzy’s Orsini siblings reveal Rio’s duplicity?

First, I admit I haven’t read the others in the series so I can’t compare The Real Rio D’Aquila to them.  However, being a passive fan of the Harlequin Presents books, I can imagine they’re all about the same.  The locations are slightly exotic, which is mandatory for the line and the hero is wealthy, powerful and slightly foreign to American readers. 

As to the characters, Izzy is really the charmer.  I enjoyed her unique humor and unsophistication.  Of course, she’s a diamond in the rough just waiting for the beautiful make-over on an exotic island but she’s still likable.  Rio, like most Harlequin Presents heroes, is a wounded Alpha male stereotype.  I didn’t think he was cruel, as some of the heroes can be.  Both Izzy and Rio were interesting enough to hold my attention and I wanted them to find their HEA with each other.  Additionally, readers who are fans of the Orsini Dynasty will be happy to revisit the siblings, especially Anna, as they play a fairly large role in uncovering Rio’s masquerade. 

The couple’s intimacy is well done too.  Morton writes tasteful bedroom scenes and does them in the context of Izzy and Rio’s developing relationship.  I liked how Izzy and Rio use their airplane trip from Long Island to the Caribbean Island of Mustique to share their life stories with each other.  They really opened up about how their pasts made them who they are and I liked that self-reflection that is missing from a lot of category romance novels.

My one disappointment was Izzy and Rio’s big emotional denouement was so short and unsatisfying!  Rio and Izzy’s declarations of love happen in less than five pages and didn’t really address Rio’s duplicity or Izzy’s forgiveness.  In my opinion it was a very weak ending to an otherwise satisfying book.

Overall, if you want a few hours of escape in a contemporary romance then The Real Rio D’Aquila will be a pleasant diversion but don’t expect anything earth-shattering here.

Reviewed by Janine

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