Chloe Marston works at a luxury concierge company in New York. A hit and run lands her co-worker in the hospital, and gives Chloe the unenviable role of being the lifestyle manager for the company’s Top 5 VIP clients. She arranges everything from a last minute invitation for an opera singer to attend the Brazilian president’s state dinner to finding a secluded house for her hot new client Joe on a remote Greek island.

The Greek Escape is a fun, breezy and entertaining read. I enjoyed the parts about Chloe’s clients and the various luxuries in their lives. It’s a glimpse into the lifestyles of the super rich, and I can only imagine what it must be like to be able to order a private jet on a whim. I certainly don’t envy Chloe her job, but her world seems like an exciting one to inhabit.

I was expecting this to be escapist women’s fiction, so I was surprised to find it darker and creepier than I expected. First, evidence surfaces that the co-worker’s accident may not have been accidental at all, and that the crime may be connected to her work, which raises the question of Chloe’s own safety as she takes on the job. Then the wife of one of her clients goes missing, and Chloe begins to wonder who she can trust. And finally, Chloe finds herself falling for Joe, but after a quick trip house hunting in the Greek islands, she comes to discover that he isn’t quite as he seems.

All these mystery and thriller elements added excitement to the story and were much more compelling to me than the subplot about Chloe’s ex being in town and wanting to rekindle their relationship. But they were all wrapped up so quickly and neatly that the ending was a bit of a letdown.

Still, it was a fun read overall, and I enjoyed the glamorous lifestyle it depicted.

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Thank you to Publisher’s Group Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m happy to present a stop on the blog tour for Greek Millionaire, Unruly Wife by Sun Chara. See information about the book and author below, and enter an international giveaway for a Greek bracelet!

About the Book

A tempestuous fling…a marriage…a betrayal?

When Michalis Leonadis’ bride jumps ship at the first sign of rough waters, he’s annoyed. When she costs him a marriage and a billion-dollar deal, he’s furious; but when he discovers she ditched him whilst harboring a secret…he’s out for revenge.

Ex-model, Julia Armstrong gave up everything for Michalis but when she catches him with another woman, crushed, she jets out of his life. The proud Greek blasts back into her world seeking retribution—in exchange for a divorce, he demands she relinquish the one thing she cannot. Her daughter. Only one other bargaining chip remains…Julia herself.

Purchase the book online.

About the Author

Sun Chara, an Amazon top 100 bestseller, writes sexy, hip ‘n fun contemporary romance for HarperImpulse. JABBIC winner, Manhattan Millionaire’s Cinderella launched her writing career, spinning the ‘global millionaires’ series’. She makes her home in southern California, and has appeared on stage/film to rave reviews in How the Other Half Loves, General Hospital, and McGee and Me. With a Masters Degree in Education, and membership in SAG/AFTRA and Romance Writers of America, she enjoys sipping Frappuccinos topped with whipped cream/sprinkles, and dancing on the beach…making everyday a celebration!

Follow her on Facebook (Sun Chara Author Page) or Twitter (@sunchara3).

Giveaway

Win an e-copy of Greek Millionaire, Unruly Wife and a Greek style bracelet (Open Internationally)

The design of bracelet will vary depending on where in the world you live.

This giveaway is run by Rachel’s Random Resources.

Enter here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494100/?

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter link above.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Wei and Lina Zhen immigrate to America years ago, and have just recently moved back to Shanghai with their daughter Karen for Wei’s job. Wei has to deal with his sense of failure at being a manager without a clearly defined role for an American company rather than being an engineer whose work puts China on the map. Lina has to come to terms with her life as a tai tai, a stay-at-home wife who can’t be called a housewife because she’s too rich to actually do any housework. Wei and Lina also have to deal with the arrival of Wei’s long-lost brother Qiang, whose business involves criminal activities and who had had a secret romance with Lina when they were teenagers. Observing it all is the family ayi Sunny, who is very much aware of the wealth and status that distinguish this family’s life from her own, and can also see the various tensions the family struggles to hide.

What We Were Promised tells a story that likely rings true for many families in Asia and around the world, but is (to my knowledge) rarely told. What is it like to come back home, and realize you may now be more foreigner than local? I love how Tan shows the difference in the way Sunny and the other servants view the Zhens versus the way they view wealthy non-Chinese foreigners. The Zhens’ excesses cut more deeply, because they were visibly once on a more equal footing, and so the current differences in circumstances seem more obvious.

I love the family tensions that erupt on Qiang’s return. The scene of their first dinner together is a masterclass in writing: every word simmers with barely restrained emotion. There’s a great moment where Wei briefly wonders how Qiang could afford a Rolex, given how shabbily he’s dressed, then Qiang makes a comment on how you need to dress rich around the rich, and Wei realizes that Qiang thinks his outfit makes him look rich. “There’s a difference between dressing rich and dressing wealthy,” Wei thinks (an incredible quote!), and this is driven home with heartbreaking accuracy as we realize that, for all Qiang’s efforts, the building concierge sent him up the servants’ elevator.

The class differences are further heightened by Wei’s immigration to America, and the social status this accords him. Again, Tan highlights this with beautiful subtlety. Wei chooses to say something to his daughter in English, which Qiang doesn’t understand, and Qiang pretends not to notice. Qiang calls Wei out for promoting American products instead of Chinese innovation — Wei gets defensive because he secretly agrees and feels guilty about it, but one wonders if Qiang himself is also secretly jealous of Wei’s connections abroad.

I love the character of Sunny, and how her distance from the family in both wealth and cosmopolitanism sets her up as the perfect foil to reflect the family’s tensions and also to further heighten the themes around class and social status. Sunny is the unwilling witness to Qiang and Lina’s rekindled friendship (and undeniable sexual chemistry), which makes for some hilariously awkward moments.

I also love her own subplot, about a bracelet of Lina’s that had gone missing and a servant, Sunny’s best friend in the city, was accused of the crime. We see how the Zhens could get a servant fired for a fairly minor crime without thinking about the family that servant has to support, and like Sunny, we can understand how a servant could be driven to steal more out of long-held resentment towards the elite than need for money. And on the other side, we are also made to understand how a bracelet that Sunny and the other servants think doesn’t look valuable enough for a fuss actually has strong sentimental value for Lina, and why its loss really hurts her.

The book is compelling and well-written. I do wish there had been more closure with the ending. I’m also not sure how I feel about the truth behind something that happened twenty years ago — on one hand, it makes a lot of sense, on the other it also feels somewhat a copout for the emotional drama. Still, it’s a good book, and I like that it highlights the experience of coming back home only to realize it no longer feels like the home you remember.

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Thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.