September Challenge" Chose one from the Author List or read a book by a new-to-you author
I won this book during a recent "Save the Contemporary" contest at Smart Bitches Trashy Books.
When it arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago I was buried in library books that needed to be read by their due dates, so I set it aside. Since I'm now caught up on my borrowed items and I've never read anything by Bronwyn Jameson this book seemed perfect for the September TBR challenge.
Cristo Véron is an airline executive living in England. He's wealthy and privilaged, but he also has problems. As is the case for many people they're mostly caused by his family. His main source of trouble is currently his sister Amanda. She's a nice enough young woman, but she's rather spoiled at the best of times and it's not the best of times. Amanda is getting married and by her own admission organizing the huge wedding has turned her into a bit of a bridezilla. Cristo initially disapproved of Amanda's fiancé Hugh because of his reputation as a hard-partying playboy. However, over time he became convinced that Hugh's love for Amanda was real and agreed to not only support the marriage, but pay for the wedding. As a result Cristo finds himself not only footing the bill, but acting as general fix-it person for all the many problems that arise with the planning.
Keeping the caterers in line is one thing, but the situation becomes much worse when Hugh comes to Cristo looking for help with a possible blackmail attempt. A woman named Isabelle Browne has called Hugh from Australia claiming to be pregnant with his child. Hugh claims that he's never met anyone named Isabelle Browne and that he's been completely faithful to Amanda. However, with only weeks to before the wedding he doesn't want Amanda to find out about the situation unless it's absolutely necessary. Cristo isn't sure what to believe. Hugh seems sincere, but Amanda's happiness is at stake so he agrees to go to Australia, track Isabelle down and find out the truth.
Isabelle works has a housekeeper for At Your Service, a concierge service for wealthy visitors to Melbourne. Cristo hires her for the week and plans to use the time to ferret out the truth about her supposed pregnancy. For her part Isabelle is suspicious of the fact that Cristo requested her by name and was willing to pay double her usual rate to get her to reschedule her vacation to take the job. In spite of their mutual distrust they're drawn to each other and enjoy spending time together. By the time the truth comes out about the pregnancy their attraction is undeniable, but some real problems remain. Cirsto has no interest in commitment and Isabelle is not a party girl. She also isn't sure how a housekeeper can possibly fit in, even temporarily, in the life of such a wealthy man.
If I hadn't won this book I probably would never have read it. In the recent discussion at Dear Author about money in romance novels I came down on the side of generally not liking books about "billionaire tycoons". I can't relate at all and it doesn't really work for me as a fantasy since I don't like the implication that huge amounts of money are necessary for an HEA. In spite of that I enjoyed this book. Cristo comes across as genuinely nice, even when he's being cynical about love. Isabelle is impressed by him, but not so much that she loses her good sense. I really appreciated the fact that the book presents their attraction as just that, attraction. Their physical chemistry isn't treated as love, it's just the thing that brings them together. They fall in love because they enjoy being together. The only thing that I didn't like was that Cristo's conversion from totally cynical to proposing marriage felt sort of abrupt, but that's one of the hazard's of category-length books.
Grade: B-
No comments:
Post a Comment