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As a gauche young graduate on her way to an important job interview, Lucie Pembroke tries to impress a gorgeous man on a train - and puts her foot right in it. Six years later, now a successful saleswoman for a large computer company, Lucie's path crosses with Jake Lannigan's once more. And he remembers her. Fearing for her career, Lucie is furious when Jake holds her past mistakes against her. Is Jake really as unforgiving and callous as he seems to be? Lucie doesn't want to hear his excuses! The two are thrown together and she has to fight a growing attraction to him. Then there comes a time when she can't avoid hearing him out...
180 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 29, 2012
9 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Fenwick
4 books2 followersDeborah Fenwick now lives in Germany after spending most of her life in England. She writes romantic novels, strictly in English because her German really isn't up to much. She works part-time teaching English (because it's easy for her to teach and there aren't many English people around here so she has a head start on the competition) and spends quite a bit of her leisure time riding her horse and letting her dog come along too, thus saving her actually having to do too much walking. When she's not doing that she enjoys doing crossword puzzles and sudoku. After she's exhausted all other possibilities she gets down to some writing.
In the past Deborah worked for a large computer manufacturer (although she is still hopeless with technology) before going to university to study English because she wanted to have an excuse to spend three years reading books. A few more jobs later she upped sticks and moved to Germany. If all goes well her experiences will be charted in a non-romantic work of non-fiction, because they really are worth writing about.
Her books are currently available as ebooks. Sometimes she makes them available free on Amazon, and will tell you whenshe is about to do so in her blog.
In the past Deborah worked for a large computer manufacturer (although she is still hopeless with technology) before going to university to study English because she wanted to have an excuse to spend three years reading books. A few more jobs later she upped sticks and moved to Germany. If all goes well her experiences will be charted in a non-romantic work of non-fiction, because they really are worth writing about.
Her books are currently available as ebooks. Sometimes she makes them available free on Amazon, and will tell you whenshe is about to do so in her blog.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2013
This story was very reminiscent of some of the old Anne Mather Harlequin Presents I cut my teeth on back in the day. The dialog and the reserved demeanor of the characters were very... ENGLISH. Not to mention that the sex comes far, far into the story and when it does make an appearance it is closed-door action. Also, the hero and heroine don't seem to communicate very well--mainly due to the heroine's stubbornness.
When the story begins, the heroine, Lucie, is fresh from college and on her way to a sales job interview when she meets a handsome, professional older man. After embarrassing herself by spilling his coffee all over his work she answers his polite inquiries with some embellishments about herself--she introduces herself as Lucinda, fibs about her degree and glorifies her work that she's been doing for her father's company. The handsome stranger gives her advice: "A good salesperson always listens to the customer. Remember, you've got one mouth and two ears; use them in that proportion." When she gets to the interview, she realizes that the stranger is her new prospective boss and interviewer, Jake Lannigan. Her lies and embellishments are revealed and she is embarrassed and denied the job. But the silver lining is that the mortifying experience and well-meaning advice served to make her more mature and a very good sales person.
Six years later Lucie is an ace at her job and is given the opportunity to try for a big account with LanSoft, the company that she had previously and disastrously applied. She hopes Jake doesn't remember her and her white-lies, but he does and isn't too keen to work with her even though her presentation was stellar. The job is given to one of her colleagues because he has requested that she not be part of his team. Lucie feels very bitter about this and won't be swayed when he makes repeated attempts to apologize, explain and try to date her.
The chase is on and it is a slow, sort of uninteresting one. There is, of course, the usual misunderstanding. Just when all seems peachy the rug is pulled out from under Lucie and it takes a couple of weeks for the couple to get back together.
All in all, I did like this story. It was well written but not very exciting or romantic. I liked the idea of her embarrassing situation with the hero ultimately making her stronger and better at the job and that he falls in love with that confident, capable woman. But the lack of hero perspective and the lack of romance (a little more sexy-times couldn't hurt either) made it hard for me to feel like these two were in love.
When the story begins, the heroine, Lucie, is fresh from college and on her way to a sales job interview when she meets a handsome, professional older man. After embarrassing herself by spilling his coffee all over his work she answers his polite inquiries with some embellishments about herself--she introduces herself as Lucinda, fibs about her degree and glorifies her work that she's been doing for her father's company. The handsome stranger gives her advice: "A good salesperson always listens to the customer. Remember, you've got one mouth and two ears; use them in that proportion." When she gets to the interview, she realizes that the stranger is her new prospective boss and interviewer, Jake Lannigan. Her lies and embellishments are revealed and she is embarrassed and denied the job. But the silver lining is that the mortifying experience and well-meaning advice served to make her more mature and a very good sales person.
Six years later Lucie is an ace at her job and is given the opportunity to try for a big account with LanSoft, the company that she had previously and disastrously applied. She hopes Jake doesn't remember her and her white-lies, but he does and isn't too keen to work with her even though her presentation was stellar. The job is given to one of her colleagues because he has requested that she not be part of his team. Lucie feels very bitter about this and won't be swayed when he makes repeated attempts to apologize, explain and try to date her.
The chase is on and it is a slow, sort of uninteresting one. There is, of course, the usual misunderstanding. Just when all seems peachy the rug is pulled out from under Lucie and it takes a couple of weeks for the couple to get back together.
All in all, I did like this story. It was well written but not very exciting or romantic. I liked the idea of her embarrassing situation with the hero ultimately making her stronger and better at the job and that he falls in love with that confident, capable woman. But the lack of hero perspective and the lack of romance (a little more sexy-times couldn't hurt either) made it hard for me to feel like these two were in love.
October 25, 2015
I bought this kindle book as a freebie in the morning (of the day I read it). Since I tend to wake very early, I browse the daily free books while I wait for the coffee to brew, for something to do without waking the rest of the house. For some reason this book caught my eye, but I wasn't sure it was one I would like since the main female character appeared to be mid-twenties and thought it would be a (stereo)typical romance fluff. But something niggled at me that kept me from just cruising on past.
So, I read the description, tried to read the sample... had technical difficulties with my computer so I couldn't read the sample thoroughly... read the description again, hemmed and hawed, and then I was getting so annoyed with my own indecision, decided to just buy the free book and read it anyway. So I did.
And I spent the morning reading it.
It was a pretty cool story after all! Fairly typical romantic fluff but kind of perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, and not entirely stereotypical. (to my relief)
Lucie, the leading lady, we meet as a new graduate on her way to her first real interview. She meets a man on the commuter train by spilling his coffee all over him. They chat after this stellar introduction and she puffs herself up with a lot of embellishment. A later meeting with the same chap and her chickens come home to roost so to speak, but she learns from her experience and turns over a new leaf.
Fast forward a few years and she is a high-performing technical salesperson who takes over a colleague's client list when he leaves the company under a cloud. One of the hot prospects she inherits is none other than Mr. Coffee and the rom-com begins. Ups and downs follow both the hero and heroine, mostly the heroine really, but she holds her own and this older Lucie is no fluff puff at all. Mr. Coffee becomes enamored of our tough gal - of course, it is a romance novel!- and he has to change his tune and convince her he's not carrying a grudge.
More ups and downs but all is right by the end. The only thing I found wanting in this book was that the conclusion was too swift and the end came too soon.
The romance scenes were well staged without being significantly explicit - this is not a young adult book but is not much more explicit than typical TV or film entertainment would show, which is a plus as I'd rather things be left to the imagination with enough fuel to fire that imagination. This book did well on that front.
Well written, no kindle-freebie typos in sight, tight consistent storyline, characters I could like and enjoy who showed their personalities through the interactions with each other and other characters enough that I didn't find them wooden or single-dimensional caricatures. A pretty cool story all together.
One small note for other readers: The story is set in England, and the language and word usage is very British. The Britishness of the language was more pronounced at the start than when the book got underway, or maybe I just acclimated by then. I liked that, but others' mileage may vary.
So, I read the description, tried to read the sample... had technical difficulties with my computer so I couldn't read the sample thoroughly... read the description again, hemmed and hawed, and then I was getting so annoyed with my own indecision, decided to just buy the free book and read it anyway. So I did.
And I spent the morning reading it.
It was a pretty cool story after all! Fairly typical romantic fluff but kind of perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, and not entirely stereotypical. (to my relief)
Lucie, the leading lady, we meet as a new graduate on her way to her first real interview. She meets a man on the commuter train by spilling his coffee all over him. They chat after this stellar introduction and she puffs herself up with a lot of embellishment. A later meeting with the same chap and her chickens come home to roost so to speak, but she learns from her experience and turns over a new leaf.
Fast forward a few years and she is a high-performing technical salesperson who takes over a colleague's client list when he leaves the company under a cloud. One of the hot prospects she inherits is none other than Mr. Coffee and the rom-com begins. Ups and downs follow both the hero and heroine, mostly the heroine really, but she holds her own and this older Lucie is no fluff puff at all. Mr. Coffee becomes enamored of our tough gal - of course, it is a romance novel!- and he has to change his tune and convince her he's not carrying a grudge.
More ups and downs but all is right by the end. The only thing I found wanting in this book was that the conclusion was too swift and the end came too soon.
The romance scenes were well staged without being significantly explicit - this is not a young adult book but is not much more explicit than typical TV or film entertainment would show, which is a plus as I'd rather things be left to the imagination with enough fuel to fire that imagination. This book did well on that front.
Well written, no kindle-freebie typos in sight, tight consistent storyline, characters I could like and enjoy who showed their personalities through the interactions with each other and other characters enough that I didn't find them wooden or single-dimensional caricatures. A pretty cool story all together.
One small note for other readers: The story is set in England, and the language and word usage is very British. The Britishness of the language was more pronounced at the start than when the book got underway, or maybe I just acclimated by then. I liked that, but others' mileage may vary.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews