Another bumbling review from moi

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The second category romance I read recently was a Harlequin Presents.

Those of you who read and enjoy Presents know what to expect--hero who's rich (preferably megazillionaire), powerful, ruthless, devastatingly handsome, etc., teamed with a more pure of heart, virgin (or close facsimile thereof) heroine and a story loaded with lots of emotion--angst, high drama, oodles of sexual tension/passion.

I think what got me on this one was the one-two punch of the blurb and tagline:

Out of the office....and into his bed

Cormac Douglas doesn't let emotion get in the way of business. Now he needs a weekend wife to secure a prestigious contract, and biddable secretary Lizzie Chandler is the perfect candidate.
Lizzie is outraged, but Cormac's ruthless persuasion leaves her wanting more. When he asks for her services again, she finds herself agreeing to be his hired wife…in the bedroom as well as the boardroom.

Jaye: Woot! I'm a sucker for the cold emotionless hero whose heart is finally melted by the luuuuurve (and magical whohaw) of a good woman.


Here's the cover:




I think this is another magic wand moment because this is what I really think the cover should have said:





Isn't that the bestest title evah!?

Okay, maybe this would be the most awesomest, bestest, title evah:


..."Shut up
my breathtaking whore!"
-from The Unfeasibly Tall Greek Billionaire's Blackmailed
Martyr-Complex Secretary Mistress Bride (link)















So, why, you wonder, am I having fun with the title of the book? Well let me give an example:

'What I'm after,' Lizzie replied, her voice turning slightly shrill with desperation, 'is getting you out of my bedroom and my house. You may be my boss, but you don't have any rights in here.' Jaye: You tell him, girl!
'I wouldn't want any.' he scoffed, and too late Lizzie realised how it had sounded. Bedroom rights. Sexual rights. With a small smile, he bent down and hooked the strap of her discarded bra on his little finger, dangling it in front of her. 'A bit too small for my tastes.'

Jaye: Oh hell no. He did not just go there.


But he did! And he does! Over and over. I read on just to see what other bits of sweet nothings would fall from this man's lips; staying up till well after 1 AM to finish this book, and I enjoyed myself with each gasp of outrage at the hero's actions/statements.

A simply delicious 'guilty pleasure' read.

I found the 4-star review over on Amazon to be interesting to say the least, but there's an excerpt over there as well. I'd definitely give another book by Ms. Hewitt a try!
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13 comments:

raine said...

You are so freaking warped. Gawd, I love it--lmao!!
(And you liked this book--right?) :-O
Playing with Harlequin titles is always a fun pastime, lol.
And it may be me--I recently finished a romance in which the hero was, yes, a multi-millionaire, buff, handsome, courageous, etc., etc...
And all I kept thinking through the whole book was "what's this guy doing single in the first place?"

vanessa jaye said...

lol. I did enjoy it! You don't come across these *MB* heroes often. :-P Aside from that, the hero wasn't a gajillionaire, he was a well known fairly famous architect (but a playboy one, of course). The story took place in Endingburgh and a made up island in the carribean. And I liked his name 'Cormac' (never shortened to 'Mac'--or the more interesting 'Cor!' (heh) btw. It was a fun read.

As for your recent read. I think that hero probably had George Clooney-itis, until he met his Sara Lawson heroine.

Oh wait, Georgie boy dumped her azz, didn't he?

Well, that's why we love romance! The HEA is guaranteed. :-)

vanessa jaye said...

Oh, and did you checkout the tagline under the picture of the Millionaire Magnificent Bastard cover? heheh. It's tiny writing, but click onto the picture and the image will enlarge.

(yes, I know I wrote 'Edinburgh' wrong.)

meljean brook said...

LOL! I'm sold!

meljean brook said...

So I ended up stuck waiting for daughter/husband today after visiting the Borders near my house and picking up this book.

Read it.

Holy CRAP! At page 170 I was still like: how the hell is this going to work if he's STILL manipulating her? I haven't read a bastard quite like this one in years! He's consistent, if nothing else.

Hee. All good fun. So thanks for the review -- I might have passed on it, otherwise.

vanessa jaye said...

Did I not tell you?! lol. He was a Magnificent Bastard right to the end. I know this book will drive many peeps crazy, but I could not stop reading because of Cormac. Glad you enjoyed it, Meljean.

Gennita said...

Oh goodie! You know I'm a Presents Freak. Never tried this author but I'm all for one magnificent bastard. Sold!

And you're having wayyy too much fun with the magic wand.

raine said...

...You mean, the "frothy lurrrve juices"?

LMAO!! :D

vanessa jaye said...

Genn, I think this is her first Harl/Sil, at least I didn't notice any previous releases listed at the front of the book.

"And you're having wayyy too much fun with the magic wand."

It vibrates when it sparkles. How can I resist? ;-)


Raine - LOL. Yeah, that. *g*

Amie Stuart said...

*headdesk!!!* OMGWTFBBQ!

I really want someone to get that "Baby of SHame" book and read it. Fer realz cuz I was like thinking I'd burn it in effigy for the title alone.

OMG no wonder I"m single.

PS Your wand scares me.

vanessa jaye said...

Ames-- Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun with the title for this post, but I did enjoy the book. Meljean finished in one sitting and so did I. For folks who like/love Presents, I think they'll definitely enjoy this one.

*Baby of Shame*? I'm not big on kids/babies in romances, but I'll have to at least check out the blurb on that one. lol.

meljean brook said...

Wait, wait -- is that Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame?

I read that, lol. I kept thinking, OMG, why haven't I thrown this book at the wall yet? Yet it was really compelling. I ended up whacking my head against the pages a couple of times, but it wasn't as bad as the title suggests. I thought it'd be one of those "I saw you with your brother so I know you cheated on me ... and that baby isn't mine!" asshole heroes, but it wasn't like that at all. They were married and the relationship was shaky, they had a fight, she got drunk and went home with a male friend ... and the heroine really didn't know whose baby it was.

So it was different, at least.

vanessa jaye said...

LMAO! Okay, now I'm sold on Baby of Shame. Sounds like a Maury Povitch show: Hero, you are the father!! ::audience cheers, hero/heroine embrace while blubbering onto each other's shoulder. Produce brings baby out:: lol.

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