Manga Review: A Mediterranean Marriage by Graham and Hashimoto

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

Harlequin manga is my crack! I purchased A Mediterranean Marriage when it was on sale for .99, and I decided to read it last night because, after a stressful week, I had the attention span of a small bug. This was perfect for my mood. It’s fast paced, the art is lovely, and the exotic locale was painstakingly rendered for my reading enjoyment. The biggest disappointment for me was Rauf, the incredibly jerky hero, who has a grudge against Lilly and treats her terribly, all because she turned him down three years ago and his delicate ego still hasn’t recovered.

Lilly’s family owns a travel agency that Rauf has invested in. Three years after being rejected by Lilly, he’s still smarting from the perceived slight. When her company fails to pay contractual dividends for two years, he thinks he’ll finally get his revenge. Lilly comes to his office in Istanbul to explain, as well as to sell some property in Turkey, and Rauf is prepared to make his displeasure with her family and their lack of payments well known. Lilly, however, has documents and bank statements showing that the dividends were, indeed paid, but the money wasn’t going into Rauf’s coffers. Instead, it was going to a company impersonating his, and Lilly’s family has been scammed for the last two years.

Rauf agrees to give Lilly’s family more time to come up with the money they owe him if she’ll accompany him in Turkey for a week. During that time, she’s to help go over all of the documentation she’s brought so Rauf’s legal team can go after the scam company. Because Lilly’s company is almost bankrupt, she has no other options, so she reluctantly agrees to go along with his request. All the while she has to hide the fact that she’s in love with Rauf.

Rauf, having been burned by beautiful women in the past, instantly suspects Lilly of lying to him. He doesn’t believe anything she’s told him, and he believes that she’s trying to cheat him out of the money her company owes him. What’s really sticking in his craw, though, is the constant memory of her rejection. How dare she?! How could she possibly be indifferent to his charms? I thought he was a complete butthead, and if that’s how he treated women, no wonder they only hooked up with him for his money. He remains unrepentantly petulant until the last two pages. If the pacing and the illustrations hadn’t been so skillful, I wouldn’t have enjoyed A Mediterranean Marriage as much, because it was so hard to like Rauf. Lilly is a star, though, forgiving and honest, and Rauf, darn the man, was lucky she forgave him.

Grade: B / B-

Review copy purchased from Amazon

From Amazon:

Lilly flies to Istanbul to appeal to Rauf Kasabian in person, an investor in her family’s travel company. He is suing the company for allegedly failing to pay its dividends, but she is unaware of any fraud. Rauf, who has gorgeous hazel eyes, coldly abandons her right after taking her virginity because he sees her as a wicked, calculating woman. Unbeknownst to Lilly, he plans to manipulate her for his own desires, thinking she is a fraud and a crook…!