Lisa Plumley

Natasha Jennings takes a job as assistant to Damon Torrance, heir to a chocolate company on the verge of meteoric rise. Natasha has done her homework and if she has to give up her dreams to support her husband’s then she wants to help Torrance Chocolates rise to the top, taking her with them.

Damon Torrance lives by the mantra all work and no play makes for a dull person. He considers himself lucky, he plays hard, works little and beds every woman who gives him the come on, which is all of show more them.

This is a well-written book that has moments of humor and insight. However, the characters of Natasha and Damon are not very likeable. Damon is an ass. His antics have him constantly needing bailed out by Natasha and he’s a man-whore. He beds anything in a skirt in any place he feels like and to hell with what anyone thinks of him because he’s Mr. Perfect who can charm his way out of anything. We rarely see him do a lick of work in this book. I couldn’t stand him. He becomes a bit more likeable and actually seems human at the end.

Natasha has a thing for Damon so she puts up with his crap for 10 years. He never noticed she was pregnant or that she went through a divorce. Really?! He never thinks about how very much she does for him, yet she continues to be his doormat. Until the day she finally leaves. I really began to like her then. But then she had to take him into her home and, here we go again, with Mr. Charm getting exactly what he wants.

They redeem themselves a bit at the end, but it would’ve been nice if Damon hadn’t been so Perfect from the start and Natasha less of a doormat. He was beyond irritating, she a little less so. Since this is my first Lisa Plumley book, I’ll read a few more just to see if this was a one-off for me.

*Many thanks to Kensington for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page on my blog. show less

After a miserable childhood, Griffin became a very successful businessman with a horrible reputation. His reputation precedes him to Morrow Creek, where he encounters Olivia Mouton. Olivia isn't intimidated by him at all, and soon tames the "Beast".

I liked Griffin right from the start. The book starts with a glimpse of his youth, growing up with a notorious father and an uncaring, selfish and cruel mother. He also deals with cruel taunts because of his looks, which causes him to lock away show more his emotions. He falls for a young woman as a teenager and works to become successful enough to win her. When she turns down his proposal he is devastated and retreats to Morrow to deal with his pain. He uses his reputation to keep people from bothering him, but discovers one person who refuses to be intimidated.

Olivia was a bit harder for me to warm up to. As a young girl she was quite pretty, but also intelligent and curious. She is determined that people see her as more than just a pretty face. But her father doesn't approve of her activities and prefers that she act more "proper". Because she wants to please him, she buries her own preferences and becomes the type of person everyone expects her to be. I really wanted to smack her for playing dumb so often. When she meets Griffin he has just displayed a terrible temper tantrum that she calls him on, and then walks away. When she returns to discover that he has taken over the hotel and threatened to shut it down, she is determined to get him to change his mind.

Griffin is surprised by Olivia and his reaction to her. Her attempts to get him out of his room and meeting people amuse him from the beginning. He is also surprised by the fact that she appears to see past his looks to who he really is. This worries him some, but also makes him surprisingly happy. He also begins to recognize a kindred spirit and finds himself telling her things he's never told anyone else. He sees the way that she hides who she really is behind the prim and proper facade and is determined to get her to show everyone who she really is.

Olivia sees past Griffin's looks into the pain she sees in his eyes. She is determined to get him out of his self imposed isolation and show him that he is worth getting to know. Because he doesn't know her at all, she feels comfortable being more like her real self around him. She uses her scientific way of looking at things to figure out how to break him free of his chains. But she only shows the real her when they are alone together. She continues to be the prim and proper Olivia when they are in public together, though it gets harder to do the more she is around him. She feels like he is encouraging her to be herself, but she has spent so long hiding that she has a hard time believing that he isn't simply testing her "properness". She feels good when she finally lets go of her fears, but it also creates a different problem with Griffin.

The interactions between Griffin and Olivia were a lot of fun. I had to laugh at her attempts to be the maid. It was also fun to see the way she took control of Griffin's life in an attempt to force him out in public. Olivia's own experiences with the way people treated her because of her looks enabled her to see past Griffin's looks. It was a unique experience for him to have those looks so completely ignored. I really liked the way their relationship grew from an initial friendship. It was great to see how easy it was for them to be themselves with each other rather than who they were expected to be. The deeper feelings that developed made them long for something more, but neither one felt that they deserved that kind of happiness. I loved the ending and seeing the whole town get involved in making sure they got their happy ending. show less

I'll start by making two things clear: 1. There's a dog in the book, but it's an elderly German shepherd, not the cute little thing on the cover. 2. Despite his advanced age, the dog does not die. He survives the book.

Marisol Winston is heiress to the Home Warehouse DIY chain store fortune, and her main skills are fashion and shopping. She may be getting a bit bored with having no real purpose to her life, because she's conceived an ambition to start a deluxe fashion boutique in L.A. show more Unfortunately, her family and friends stage an intervention, and her father won't fund her start-up until she completes a stint in shopaholic rehab.

Cash Connelly is, at 34, past his prime as a quarterback, and initially retired rather than be backup quarterback to the new guy, who is also the guy his wife left him for. He has no other skills, though, and doesn't enjoy doing personal appearances promoting whatever his agent has managed to find for him. He's got one last shot at getting re-signed by his old team, the Arizona Scorpions, and he's taking it. For that, he needs a nanny, because his ex has left the kids with him to go traveling, during the very weeks he needs to be getting ready for summer training camp.

Marisol's shopaholic program includes a work assignment stint, and the only useful skills she claims are childcare, cleaning, and entertaining. She's now a nanny for the summer.

I didn't have high hopes for this, but much to my surprise, Marisol is a smart, well-developed character, and if I suspect people running real addiction-type programs may cringe at the Dzeel program, she's shown as really working at her shopping issues, and having real challenges to overcome. Cash is not quite as satisfying, but he's shown as a hardworking guy and a loving is sometimes clumsy father, who really is trying to do things right.

Of course, this includes a strict hands-off-the-nanny policy, which does pose a problem for Marisol, especially as she realizes he's more than just a cute guy.

The kids are adorable without being either too bratty or too perfect to be believed.

Recommended, with some surprise.

I bought this book at some point, and only just found it again and read it. show less

Good book about new beginnings and overcoming adversity. A year ago, Rose was a housemaid in Boston, with a decent life and the possibility of romance. Then the master of the house made unwanted advances, his wife basically sold Rose into marriage with a gambler and whorehouse owner to get rid of her, and that husband died during a crooked card game. Determined to take back her life, Rose took her husband's winnings and headed West, along with the "ladies" who also wished for a chance to show more start fresh.

They end up in Morrow Creek, where Rose starts a matchmaking service to help her friends and fellow townspeople find love. She's quite successful, but that success doesn't make things easier for her. She's terrified that her former employer will come searching for her, and has hired security for her house to keep them safe. She is so afraid that she has started having panic attacks when she attempts to leave her home, so she doesn't go anywhere.

Then her fears are realized when someone from her past arrives in Morrow Creek. Miles was a stableman at the same house where she worked, a man that she liked quite a lot. She had felt bad about leaving without telling him, but it couldn't be helped. Now she wonders if Miles is there because he wants to be, or if he was sent by her boss to track her down.

Miles had been upset when Rose disappeared, as he had come to care for her very much. He couldn't believe she had gone without leaving him so much as a note. When his boss offered him a lot of money to find Rose, he took it, but had no intention of following through. He has been searching for her for months, and is happy to discover he has finally found her. But she's not the same girl she used to be, and getting close to her again isn't going to be easy.

The initial meeting between the two was interesting, with neither admitting who they are. The scene in the kitchen was pretty funny, as the ladies drugged his tea to question him. His answers were amusing and of course, gave away who he really was. But now that he's found "his" Rose again, he isn't about to give up. Over the next few weeks he finds ways to insert himself in her life and get to know her all over again.

I loved his determination and his ingenuity in getting involved. As he gets to know the new Rose, he is impressed by what she has done with her life. He is also concerned about her unwillingness to leave her house and works to help her conquer her fears. He also discovers that the attraction he felt for her before was nothing compared to what it is now, and that keeping control of himself is a real challenge. I loved seeing him use the sparks between them to help her move forward. At the same time, he's trying to find a way to end the threat against her.

I loved Rose's strength of will. From everything she went through in Boston to the events that brought her to Morrow Creek, she was determined never to be under someone else's power again. It was great to see the way she was helping her friends start new lives, even though she had given up all hope for the same kind of future for herself. Though she wanted to trust Miles, her past has made it difficult to do so. She finds that the feelings she had for him back home are still there, but she's afraid that he wouldn't want her anymore if he knew everything about her. She also discovers that she has a hard time resisting both his kisses and his attempts to get her away from her house.

The developing of their relationship is really good. I loved that Miles was sensitive to her fears, but that he was also determined to get her past them. I also liked the respect he had for what she had made of her life. I liked the way that Rose began to trust Miles to help her get over her fears. When she finally opened up to him about what had happened to her, she was able to believe that it would make no difference to the way he felt about her. One of the greatest things was the confidence that it gave her, and I loved how that confidence showed at the end.

That ending was very good. The final confrontation had a couple surprises in it, not least was Rose's fearlessness in dealing with it. She and Miles then had words, with Rose jumping to some conclusions. I felt bad for what happened to him, but enjoyed seeing the aftereffects, especially his conversation with Dylan. I really liked his big moment, and had fun seeing the obstacles put in his way as he tried to do it. There were several other surprises that came out that made the ending even more interesting.

The secondary characters were also really good. I loved her three security guys, Dylan, Seth and Judah. They were so protective of her, but also seemed to be on Miles's side. There were some great scenes involving them and Miles. I also liked Rose's friend Bonita. She worried about Rose and some of the things she said and did were a bit antagonistic toward Miles. She was involved in an interesting twist at the end, but it turned out well. I'd like to see her get a story of her own. show less