- Title: Goddess of Vengeance
- Classification: Adult Fiction
- Genre: Contemporary Romance
- Format: Hardcover, 528 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 13, 2011)
- ISBN-10: 0312567464
- ISBN-13: 978-0312567460
- Author's Website: http://jackiecollins.com/
"Just look at everything you've accomplished. You've built hotels, run a movie studio, had three kids, and you're married to Mister Amazing. Admit it, you're a goddamn superwoman!"
"No," Lucky answered after a thoughtful pause,"I'm a woman who took chances every inch of the way. I had to fight for my independence. Believe me, It wasn't easy."
"Right," Venus said. "And that's exactly why you and I understand each other so well. We both know that being a strong, successful woman in this town can be a lonely and difficult path."
"Agreed," Lucky said. "You gotta kick @ss like a guy, and get called a bitch for your trouble."
Lucky Santangelo fought her way to the top at a time when glass ceilings still had yet to be shattered. Once there, she wasn't given a free ride. Every so often someone comes along who underestimates her and thinks they can walk all over her. Such is the case in 'Goddess of Vengeance'. Armand Jordan, Prince in the small but affluent Middle Eastern country of Akramshar, has set his sights on Lucky's high profile casino and hotel complex, The Keys in Vegas. Only the best will do for Armand, and The Keys is it. With money never being an object, he's not prepared to take no for an answer. Maybe Armand should have done a little research because with a little bit of digging he could have found out Lucky's family motto is 'Never F@ck with a Santangelo'.
This is the second book of Ms. Collins' that I've read. I loved the character of Lucky. To sum up in a word what Venus said in the first quote at the top of this post, Lucky is amazing. I liked how she kept her cool when threatened and that she showed she has lots of integrity. There is an incident toward the end that proved it. I liked seeing how the dynamics of the Santangelo/Stanislopolous/Golden family work. I loved Lucky's advice on marriage:
"The secret to a sensual, sexy marriage is knowing when to leave children, pets, family commitments, and business affairs at the door."
"Rule number one: Leave any family problems outside the bedroom,
Rule number two: Remember the first time.
Rule number three: No inhibitions.
And rule number four-the most important rule of all: Absolutely no interruptions."
Armand is a guy you love to hate. Do they come any worse? A bona fide woman hater with a sick need to humiliate woman. He is every woman's nightmare of a man. The perfect bad guy. Not a lovable thing about him. While Ms. Collins admits traditionally her characters are based upon real people, I can't help but hope she broke tradition for this character. At the very least, I hope she highly exaggerated his persona.
Max was a fun character. She's a traditionally teenager with a bit of a wild streak. I'm sure there will be a few moms out there that won't be pleased with Lucky's reaction to finding out about her daughter's latest boyfriend. At first, I sort of cringed at her reaction, but as I thought about it, I have to agree it's probably not a bad way to deal with the situation. It will be interesting to see if the relationship Max establishes in this book will continue on in another. Plus, the poem Collins included about the 'first time' was a nice touch. Somehow this relationship reminds me of another one I'd heard rumors of from years past. Could there be a hint of Jackie in Max? I wonder? One last thing, the way Max treated Ace is a text book case of how not to treat a nice guy.
I loved that we got to see how Denver's and Bobby's relationship has progressed. I felt we didn't get a real look into their relationship in 'Poor Little Bitch Girl
' and was pleased to see how the two were doing. I enjoyed seeing a little insecurity on both their parts and the elevator scene, well, you'll just have to read about that one for yourself. I was surprised to see Annabelle and Frankie again. While Frankie will probably never change, I can't help wondering if perhaps Annabelle might? Now that would be an interesting thing to see.
Do you remember the Enjoli jingle back in the late 70's early 80's with the lyrics "I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you're a man. Cause I'm a woman."? For some reason the jingle kept dancing through my head while reading this book. It was one of my favorite commercials when I was little.
On the Lisarenee Romance Rating Scale this one gets a STEAM rating - too hot for a fan, but you still have a handle on things. You should use extreme caution when reading a book with this rating in public. People may inquire as to why you looked flustered and flushed. Overall, I gave this one 4 1/2 out of 5 roses.
Jackie Collins reads and excerpt from her book:
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