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elenajohansen's review
2.0
I always have to give props to office romances where the characters actually work, and here, well, they work overtime. Seriously.
But the very nature of this story is its own downfall. The major point of conflict between Rae and Alex is that she's been assigned to his company as oversight--so for her to end up sleeping with him is bad news for everyone. He knows it, she knows it, and yet, attraction and emotion prove too much and she falls into bed with him anyway.
Honestly, they're both to blame--her for compromising her position, and him for encouraging a secret office affair--but in the actual moment, it seemed to me that Alex was taking advantage of Rae's weakened emotional state, because of the stress of her grandmother's health problems. One can argue that she initiated and he was only trying to comfort her, but really, he knew what was at stake too, and should have been the clear-headed one. (His twin brother Gabe, who I adored in the first book in this series? Never would have done that. He was a stand-up guy through and through.)
I get that Alex is supposed to be the casual ladies' man, and Rae is the one who changes him for the better because he actually gets emotionally involved, but his redemption isn't complete as James perhaps intends it to be. I still find him to be a jerk a lot of the time.
And don't even get me started on the corporate espionage subplot. It started too late in the book to seem like more than an afterthought, and the climax was so obviously a setup for Rae to prove her smarts. Not impressed.
All that being said, I do have the third and final book in the series, and I intend to read it. Hopefully this was just a hiccup in quality.
But the very nature of this story is its own downfall. The major point of conflict between Rae and Alex is that she's been assigned to his company as oversight--so for her to end up sleeping with him is bad news for everyone. He knows it, she knows it, and yet, attraction and emotion prove too much and she falls into bed with him anyway.
Honestly, they're both to blame--her for compromising her position, and him for encouraging a secret office affair--but in the actual moment, it seemed to me that Alex was taking advantage of Rae's weakened emotional state, because of the stress of her grandmother's health problems. One can argue that she initiated and he was only trying to comfort her, but really, he knew what was at stake too, and should have been the clear-headed one. (His twin brother Gabe, who I adored in the first book in this series? Never would have done that. He was a stand-up guy through and through.)
I get that Alex is supposed to be the casual ladies' man, and Rae is the one who changes him for the better because he actually gets emotionally involved, but his redemption isn't complete as James perhaps intends it to be. I still find him to be a jerk a lot of the time.
And don't even get me started on the corporate espionage subplot. It started too late in the book to seem like more than an afterthought, and the climax was so obviously a setup for Rae to prove her smarts. Not impressed.
All that being said, I do have the third and final book in the series, and I intend to read it. Hopefully this was just a hiccup in quality.
bananatricky's review against another edition
3.0
Alec Kincaid is a millionaire genius with his own software business. He has a new idea which he is looking to finance, but the finance guys insist on appointing their own office manager/accountant to keep Alec and his partners in line. Apparently they have a reputation for partying and mild misogyny and over-running projects.
Desiree (Rae) Harlin was the ugly duckling at school, poorly dressed and working minimum wage jobs to pay for college. She remembers Alec Kincaid very clearly, his cool kid friends mocked her mercilessly and she has never really forgiven him. Is it good or bad that Alec doesn't recognise her when she is introduced as the new office manager. She is the best of the best and has to put up with name-calling and being hit on all the time by men who just can't believe a pretty woman can be good at her job. She is determined to keep Alec and his partners on the straight and narrow despite her attraction to the man who has just got more attractive with age.
Alec is trying to keep things between him and Rae professional but it isn't easy, and it looks like they have a spy in their midst trying to sell their new project to a competitor.
I liked this but I didn't love it in the same way I loved Alec's twin brother's book. I thought the identity of the spy was fairly obvious and Rae's constant belief that she wasn't good enough for Alec wore very thin.
Desiree (Rae) Harlin was the ugly duckling at school, poorly dressed and working minimum wage jobs to pay for college. She remembers Alec Kincaid very clearly, his cool kid friends mocked her mercilessly and she has never really forgiven him. Is it good or bad that Alec doesn't recognise her when she is introduced as the new office manager. She is the best of the best and has to put up with name-calling and being hit on all the time by men who just can't believe a pretty woman can be good at her job. She is determined to keep Alec and his partners on the straight and narrow despite her attraction to the man who has just got more attractive with age.
Alec is trying to keep things between him and Rae professional but it isn't easy, and it looks like they have a spy in their midst trying to sell their new project to a competitor.
I liked this but I didn't love it in the same way I loved Alec's twin brother's book. I thought the identity of the spy was fairly obvious and Rae's constant belief that she wasn't good enough for Alec wore very thin.
catwendt's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a sucker for romance set in my favorite city -- but more than a couple moments of gender essentialism and an attempt to morph into a thriller with some weird "any Chinese person involved is suspect" sentiment thrown in derailed what would have otherwise been a relatively pleasant read.
triniredreading's review
3.0
Not my favorite of Rosalind James' books. I was a bit put off in the beginning when it's all about the insta-lust. Even when the story thankfully developed a bit more, I could have done with less gushing over Rae's "impossibly slim waist" etc etc (especially since Rae was a paragon of all virtues). I also found some aspects of the high tech operations/industrial espionage to be over simplified and unbelievable I mean, a programming whiz/CEO who can't get into his profile and just shrugs it off? Really? Still, I was happy to meet the Kincaids again and I will read Joe's story.
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