Loads of spoilers ahead.
You know which trope I hate the most in romance books? The trope where the guy is really insistent that he knows what's best for the woman, and she just doesn't understand how good he would be for her and how he knows she's actually in love with him and if she had any brains at all she'd understand they are 100% meant to be together and he's not going to give up or go away until she realizes this for herself, blah blah blah. It's annoying, it flies in the face of consent, and it's just... gross.
In this book Macomber does this exact thing, except this time the woman is the asshole. Simon very, VERY clearly tells Cassie he is not interested in a romance. He tells her not to fall in love with him because he is physically and emotionally unavailable, and then he goes on to prove over and over and over again this is absolutely true. There's no reason given in the text for why Cassie should fall in love with him, and a million different reasons why should run screaming for the hills, but of course, she falls in love with him anyway. And the climactic scene in the book is her explaining why he's wrong when he says he doesn't love her or doesn't want to get married and definitely doesn't want to have kids. And of course, he acquieses and they get their HAE ending. And I guarantee you they split up by June of the following year because they are a disaster waiting to happen and no good can come of it, and all because Cassie thinks just because she says it's so, it's so.
Don't get me wrong, Simon does his share of asshole stuff, too. Specifically, telling John NOT to take no for an answer and to keep pressing Cassie until she agrees to go out with him was so not cool. A true asshole move. If nothing else should have convinced Cassie that Simon was a true jerk, that should have been it. But at least she was smart enough not to give in.
Also, my second least favorite trope in romance books is "I'm a woman with wonderful friends and family and a fulfilling career and I'm good at lots of different things, but my life will never be complete without a man." Please. And it was 1000 times worse in this book, because Cassie is so desperate she's willing to cough up $30K to a matchmaker, which was just revolting to me.
This is my first venture into Macomber's work. The writing itself was okay, so it might be worth a look at another of her works. But I will be not be afraid to break the sound barrier setting the book aside if one of these lousy tropes shows up again.