I've been following this author on FB for a little while now, and she seems like a really nice and interesting person, so it pains me to say this, but: I really really do not like this book. At all. Like, it's fixin' to be a one star I-don't-ever-want-to-read-this-author-again bad. The writing is fine, that's not the problem. The problem is everything else: the characters, the plot, and the details. On the bright side, it's a pleasant and easy read, so no pain involved.
For my future reference: this is the story of how Sterling Prescott, head of Prescott Media (based in Indiana or Kansas or Missouri or some other place that's not Texas), and Chloe Sinclair, Station Manager of KTEX TV in El Paso, TX, get the hots for each other. This story could take place anywhere, so the location really isn't important.
I have developed a list of Things I Can't Stand About This Book Because They Are Totally Unbelievable. And I don't mean unbelievable as in: the heroine is a Plain Jane until she swipes on some mascara, and then becomes ravishing, or: the hero is tall dark and handsome with a granite-hard chest, or: the hero and heroine feel a TINGLE when they look at each other, or: the heroine and her two best friends grew up next door to each other and now JUST HAPPEN to all work at the same TV Station as owner, news anchor and station manager. Oh, no no no. It's a romance. I know to expect THIS level of ludicrous. It's everything else that I just cannot abide.
1. The heroine bumps into the hero and falls. Okay, in a regular romance, the heroic hero would catch her, so this is different. She falls. She scrapes up her knees and elbows. He walks her into the hotel where he ministers to her wounds. Now, I've fallen like that. It hurts. It hurts like hell!! It stings enough to bring involuntary tears to your eyes. Does our heroine give in to the pain? Oh no! She barely even discusses it. It's as if she stubbed her toe and then had a hangnail. She's all "oh touch me kiss me touch me kiss me." Uh, no. I was totally distracted by how much her scrapes must hurt.
2. They are completely unprofessional. Heroine arrives at work at 10 am! Barely in time for a meeting! Hero is supposed to be a big corporate raider, and HE impersonates someone else! Then heroine acts like a CHILD in the meeting. Some professionalism, PLEASE - she is supposed to be the Station Manager.
3. Part of the reason the heroine acts like a child is because she is blind-sided by the fact that the station owner, her purported best friend, invited a corporate raider to come on in and make his proposal to buy the station. What kind of boss OR best friend is this, that she doesn't say word boo about how company finances are shaky or that she's bringing in a consultant? She doesn't even bother to announce the meeting until late the evening before. That's bullshit. In the real world, management tells you about the finances of the company. And you get meeting invites at least a day in advance. And if your boss is a good boss, you know the meeting agenda. And if your friend is a good friend, you know if she's in financial trouble.
4. Hero fired the someone else because the guy was being too soft on companies they were taking over. Hero then proceeds to be too soft himself. You don't pull shit like that without being hit with a lawsuit. Furthermore, this makes him an ASSHOLE - he just fired his right hand man, just for nothing? Left the guy unemployed? And now he's off on a happy little romantic romp?
5. And, I'm sorry, he's the big deal owner of this company, he fires one guy, and he has no one else to replace him? He has to go down to El Paso himself??? What kind of rinky dink company is he running?
6. Their names. Good god their names. STERLING PRESCOTT??? TREY TANNER?????
7. Hero gets hot and heavy with heroine in the GYM. Right there in the middle of the weight machines and cardio equipment. Right. As if everyone else in the gym isn't staring.
8. Hero gets hot and heavy with heroine IN THE WORK LUNCHROOM. Helllo?????? Professionalism PLEASE???? This. Does. Not. Happen. In her office, maybe, after hours. In a back hall that no one uses, maybe. BUT NOT IN THE LUNCHROOM, NOT EVER.
9. The passage of time. For example ... heroine leaves work for a 6:30 gym class. Let's say class is a half hour (could be longer, but let's just say a half hour), so it's 7pm when hero arrives to ogle her. She works out for a bit. so let's say 7:15. She showers and heads home. At the earliest, she's getting home at 7:30. She has a pot of tea and a chat with her dad. She gets changed. At this point, no earlier than 8pm. She does chores - dusting, vacuuming, polishing, waxing (this is spelled out) - that's GOTTA take at least a good half hour, if not longer. So, 8:30pm. She heads outside, gets the mower, and mows the lawn. That's at least an hour. Then she does some yard work. At this point we're looking at 9:45pm, maybe 10pm. IT'S OCTOBER. There's no way the sun is still up!!!!! That really really bothered me.
10. The email exchanges between chapters are a cute device, but it really bothered me that each email had a different subject line. That's now how real people email. In real life, each email is "Not yet" and "re: Not yet" and "Re: re: Not yet" and so on. I even flipped back to check what year this was published, thinking maybe it was back before email was popular. Nope, 2004.
All that, and the hero is an asshole, too. A sexist asshole. Sexism is not sexy.
I'm left feeling like this a great author with a lot of potential, who just doesn't bother to research her stories first.
*
Sadly, at the halfway mark, this book just kept getting worse. There were two full pages of Hero's inner dialogue, all about how much he wants to fuck Heroine. There was nonsense about how he knows best. There was sexist claptrap. I'm not subjecting myself to more of the same, I'm done.