The Twelve-Month Mistress

Joaquin Alcolar has never been in a relationship with a woman that lasted more than 12 months. With their 1st anniversary rapidly approaching, Cassandra is fearfully awaiting her marching orders.

This is the first book of the Alcolar family series and it certainly hasn't encouraged me to read the others. I could barely force myself to finish reading it. Cassandra has got to be one of the dumbest heroines I have ever seen. Joaquin has made no indication that he wants to break up with her, yet she is in such a mess of nerves that she seems determined to end their relationship in a self-fuliflling prophecy. She's moody and snappish, continuously rejecting him. She complains over him working instead of staying with her all day long. We're not talking about workaholic long hours here; Joaquin gets up in the morning to go to the office and she throws a tantrum. She decides to leave him and doesn't even bother talking to him first or giving him the courtesy of saying goodbye. To top it all off, Cassandra moves in with Joaquin's illegitimate half-brother. When Joaquin finds out where she has gone, he naturally jumps to the obvious conclusion, aided by her telling him that his brother gives her something Joaquin never could. Then she has the gall to be mad at him for his assumptions. Finally, Joaquin falls down the stairs and conveniently gets amnesia. He forgets about Cassandra leaving him and the doctors advise against telling him, so she moves back in with him. Then we get to have the first half of the book all over again, with Cassandra acting like an idiot and Joaquin being totally clueless. Yuck, yuck, yuck. This was simply terrible. My advice is to pass this book by.