Purchase link: Amazon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Heat rating:
Regan Keller fell in
love with a wealthy and powerful man once. He was her boss. When that
turbulent relationship ended, she swore she’d never again date someone
she worked with. That was before she literally fell into her new boss’s
lap.
Zachary Benson is the head of a successful empire and used to getting what he wants in the boardroom and outside of it – and what he wants is Regan Keller. He’s determined to convince Regan that even though he’s her boss, they can share a life together.
However, when Regan’s past threatens to destroy the architectural firm Zach has invested his entire career in, he has to make an executive decision whether to choose his business or fight for the woman he loves.
Zachary Benson is the head of a successful empire and used to getting what he wants in the boardroom and outside of it – and what he wants is Regan Keller. He’s determined to convince Regan that even though he’s her boss, they can share a life together.
However, when Regan’s past threatens to destroy the architectural firm Zach has invested his entire career in, he has to make an executive decision whether to choose his business or fight for the woman he loves.
I originally got this book for free on Amazon because it was free, plus I'm a sucker for a boss / secretary romance. I recently had to make a rather long road trip and a girlfriend suggested an audio book to help pass the time. I decided to use the Amazon Kindle / Audible deal and pick up the audio book for this for $1.99 and I listened to this book rather than read it as I normally would have.
Because this was a boss / secretary story, I was predisposed to liking it, however, I found the writing to be rather tedious and boring. There was a lot of telling and a lot of detail that was described to the minutiae. She opened the drawer, she placed the bag into the drawer, she shut the drawer ... that sort of thing. I really wanted to skip all the detail but couldn't since I was listening to it.
The only reason I finished this book was because as I said earlier, I was on a road trip. Captive audience. I was driving and it was keeping me entertained. At one point, I got to about 86% and seriously considered stopping listening to it but I still had a 2 hour drive ahead of me so I persevered.
In addition, I started listening to this with my husband in the car and it was fun because we were both rolling our eyes at some of the things that were being said out loud. The beginning was cute (and if you read this you will know what I mean), and Steve and I had many laughs over it. Steve kept trying to make the facial expressions that were being described in the book that Zach was making while listening and that just cracked me up. There's one particular facial expression that Steve has taken a great liking to and he makes that face every now and then, and I'm rolling in laughter every time I see it. For that, I thank you, Ms Marie.
Regan was a battered heroine who went through a horrific experience. Nothing against battered heroines but Bernadette Marie did Regan very little justice by making her whiny and fearful of moving on constantly. It probably doesn't help either that the narrator contributed to how whiny Regan came across with her voice. We are constantly being beaten over the head by the fact that Regan doesn't trust men because of her traumatic past experience. It seemed like this was mentioned at least three or four times in each chapter, every time Regan was in contact with a man. Each time she was given an opportunity to be brave and to take a chance, she chickens out. At a couple of points, she even berates herself internally for being a coward. Each time, I see that happen, I want to smack her in the head. Even Zach, our hero gave her repeated opportunities to come clean with him, asking her point blank many times to share her secrets with him so that they could build a relationship and a future together and she chickens out repeatedly. She has this one big secret and in the end, she's too scared to face it so she decides to run away instead and leaves the telling to her brother when Zach goes looking for her. That's just pathetic. She's scared, distrustful and a coward and she stays that way right to the end. Frankly, aside from being an efficient secretary and apparently beautiful, I don't know what Zach saw in her to want to be with her as much as he did.
As for Zach, he has the patience of a saint. Seriously, with the crap that Regan put him through and the number of times she lied to him and pushes him away, it's a wonder he hung around. In fact, there were even a couple of times, when I wanted to smack him because he was so hung up on Regan and she was giving nothing in return. Zach did all the giving, Regan did all the taking, right to the very end.
There were a couple of moments of brightness in the story. Two of them which stood out both revolved around Regan's family and how they were together as a family, how they loved and supported each other, and by extension Zach and his family when tragedy strikes. There were very heartwarming scenes. Because of that this book seems to be to be more of a romantic family drama / saga rather than a straight romance.
There are more books in the series and while I'm mildly curious about what happens to Regan's siblings as they find love, especially the story between John Forrester and Arianna Keller, I don't know that I can handle the aggravating writing style with enough patience to find out. I can only hope the writing gets better because there are 10 books in the series and perhaps when I'm less aggravated over how annoying Regan was, I'll give the rest of the series a shot.
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The other book in the series:
About the author
Bestselling Author Bernadette Marie is known for building families readers want to be part of. Her series The Keller Family has graced bestseller charts since its release in 2011, along with her other series and single title books. The married mother of five sons promises Happily Ever After always...and says she can write it, because she lives it.
When not writing, Bernadette Marie is shuffling her sons to their many events--mostly hockey--and enjoying the beautiful views of the Colorado Rocky Mountains from her front step. She is also an accomplished martial artist with a second degree black belt in Tang Soo Do.
A chronic entrepreneur, Bernadette Marie opened her own publishing house in 2011, 5 Prince Publishing, so that she could publish the books she liked to write and help make the dreams of other aspiring authors come true too.
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