Jaci Burton - Nothing Personal

It was nothing personal, just a business arrangement.
Ryan McKay is a multi-millionaire with a problem. He needs a bride to fulfill the terms of his grandfather s will. Unfortunately, the one he chose just bailed on him and he s hours away from losing his company. Enter Faith Lewis his demure, devoted assistant. Ryan convinces Faith to step in and marry him, assuring her their marriage is merely a business deal. Ryan is certain he can keep this strictly impersonal. After all, he s the product of a loveless marriage and for years has sealed his own heart in an icy stone. Despite Faith s warmth, compassion and allure, he s convinced he s immune to her charms.
Faith will do anything for her boss, but marry him? The shy virgin sees herself as plain and unattractive, a product of a bitter mother who drummed into her head that she wasn t worthy of a man s love. But she agrees to help Ryan fulfill the terms of his grandfather s will, hoping she doesn t lose her heart to him in the process.
But love rarely listens to logic, and what follows is anything but business.

Comment: This is the last book I've read by this author to read. I've read several books by her which were part of a series but this one is a stand alone. It's also probably one of very few she wrote not focusing on erotica.

In this not very long story, we meet Ryan McKay, a young man who is very successful, very driven and has had the control of his company for a long time. However, he is about to lose it because his grandfather, the main sharer of the company has left in his will the clause that if Ryan isn't married and a father until a certain period, he will lose his company for someone else.

Close the big day, his supposed bride has enough and leaves him which means he needs to find another woman soon. Going into it as a business deal, he convinces his shy assistant Faith to act the part.

Faith knows she is not a captivating woman and she is still dreaming about romance and love but she has secretary loved her boss for a while so she agrees to enter a marriage with him to save his job and because she would be compensated. She feels she won't find anyone to share her life with so she might as well care for a man she already loves even if he doesn't reciprocate. However, they need to become parents and Faith isn't certain she can be intimate with him so soon and without love...

When I started reading romance and before I entered full speed in the notion of buying books online, my guilty pleasure was buying little harlequin stories, which would feature couples in the most exotic and sometimes clichéd scenarios in their attempts to find love. Most stories were predictable, easy to follow and presented situations where often heroines were seen as being in need of protection or help or the man always had the bigger control of their relationship somehow, whether due to having power, money, influence or charisma.

This basically is the main setup for this book by Jaci Burton. It fulfills all the wishes for a romantic read based on old fashioned criteria. The guy is rich and the girl is poor. He is confident and controls a lot, she is still doubting herself and has a simple life.

There's nothing between them that would convince the nowadays reader they should be a couple. I can understand the appeal of a formula and the Cinderella-style plot is sweet and sugary but none of the characters nor their actions provide any sort of development to justify one's good opinion.

I thought this would be a sweet story, probably a little predictable but I really struggle to imagine how the author who wrote some erotic stories also thought about writing this simple and under developed plot: basically they agree on marrying, he decides to buy her new clothes after hearing bad gossip, they go to Hawaii in their honeymoon, they start falling in love (apparently) and after the good old "misunderstanding over a mistakenly seen scene", they separate then get together again,  the end.

There wasn't anything in this book to make it an enjoyable read. It's cliché after cliché and the only thing I liked was that the heroine starts liking herself a bit, she kind of embraces her new self but doesn't change her sweet natured personality.

It's a real pity that the characters are all one dimensional. The know these people go through the motions but apart from the most basic descriptions, we never see these characters develop, evolve after being together. They only seem to change without actually doing it. I can't explain well, but everything feels very static. The villain also couldn't been more cliché.

I can understand the goal here but I don't think the author made a strong enough effort to give the best story using the details she chose. And this is a story from 2007, not 1987...

I think some elements are just too unlikely, things didn't progress in a fresh way and the main couple's interactions albeit somewhat funny here and there weren't good enough to improve this novel into a higher level (in my opinion). I can recognize the attempt but I don't think things wet that well, thus a very weak five, mostly because of the heroine's thoughts.

Plus, a little note about the cover, this one I feel was a miss, because it just doesn't remind me of the content nor the style...

Grade: 5/10