This was a wonderful book that hooked me on to Catherine Coulter. I am not a romance novel reader, but one day at the library, I was looking for something different to pique me, and I saw Evening Star. I read the whole book in one night! ever since that day, I have read about 50 of her books. And that was only a couple of months ago. Her books are intriguing, seductive, whimsical, and addictive! I highly recommend her "Star" series, and in particular, "Evening Star".

The heroine Giana is an idiot who willfully falls in love with a fortune hunter. By the end of the book she has been enlightened by a tacky summer trip to Italy with her Uncle Daniele to tour brothels, etc. In one instance in particular, her uncle makes Giana strip in front of himself and another whore. Giana gets home and immediately dumps fortune hunter boy because she all of a sudden recognizes his faults. Her mother technically okays the trip. It is hard to believe; however, that the whole fiasco could ever have happened because, regardless of her mother's business practices, a typically well bred english woman would never do this to her daughter. The story jumps around too much. The hero Alex practically rapes the heroine both the first time they meet (without success) and the second (with success and even though she is sick with the flu). He then forces her to marry him after she makes it clear to us and to him that she doesn't like him. He treats her badly and she still falls in love with him despite all she learned about him during her Italy trip. The only story in this book worth reading is the one about Giana's mother, Aurora. The author should have written this as her story from the beginning instead of wasting time on the other two sorry main characters. Giana's character really seems like two different people. Spoiled little idiot rich girls don't change that much or that quickly. This is a silly book. This author does not write books that I consider be good and this one is no exception. I won't be reading any more of her books.

Evening Star is one of those rare wonderful books that the reader feels forlorn after it is over. Our hero and heroine, Alex Saxton and Giana Van Cleve, are such well-drawn and fascinating human beings that they become the reader's riveting intimate friends as their very realistic yet exciting lives are played out in a delightfully sensual, heartbreakingly emotional and always entertaining plot with endless twists. The novel is so engrossing that I had to read its 420 pages in one sitting.

The willfully independent Giana is saved from the matrimonial clutches of a cunning fortune hunter when her wealthy shipbuilding mother Aurora sends her from London to Rome for a very enlightening summer education with her Uncle Daniele. What Aurora doesn't know is that Daniele not only gives her a glimpse of the seedier side of life but makes her hang out in a high class brothel posing as one of its girls, though no one is allowed to touch her.

Her ultimate test is her posing as one of the virgins to be sold at the astounding Roman Flower Auction. But nothing goes as planned, and Alex Saxton wins the bid for the intriguing and saucy Giana.

Four years after her incredible escape from him and his festering humiliation, he encounters her again in London-a formidable opponent in a major business negotiation. He becomes obsessed with revenge, and the desire to have her no matter what. What he gets is something he never bargained for.

For a breathtaking and thoroughly entertaining ride through the gamut of human emotions, don't miss Evening Star. Like many Catherine Coulter novels, it's a sure bet.

Unlike our friend in Honolulu Hi, I have read everyone of Catherine Coulter's books. I can honestly say I have loved everyone of them. I have no idea what this person is talking about. Her stories are romantic yes, but they all hold a certain amount of excitment, intrigue, suspense and the out come is a very interesting book. I love the Bride series, as well as the Star and Song series. And most of all I would never judge a writer by one book. You might want to try her books that are more contemporary, like the Maze, the Edge, Etc.