Annika Martin - Most Eligible Bastard

I’m Vicky, the dog whisperer. (Not really, but that’s what my elderly neighbor always says.) When she dies, she surprises everybody by leaving a corporation worth billions to her dog, Smuckers. With me as his spokesperson.
Suddenly I go from running my Etsy store to sitting in an elegant Wall Street boardroom with Smuckers in my lap. And my neighbor’s son, Henry Locke, aka New York’s most eligible bachelor, glaring across the table at me.
Rumor has it Henry’s a business genius who’s as talented in the bedroom as he is in the boardroom. Sure, he’s gorgeous. Sex-in-a-seven-thousand dollar suit. But…
He’s arrogant and infuriating.
He refuses to listen to me when I insist I didn’t con his mother.
He thinks he can bully me, buy me off, control me, even seduce me.
Henry may have the women of Manhattan eating out of the palm of his hand, but I'm so over entitled rich guys who think they own the world.
No way will his wicked smile be charming ME out of my panties.
His wicked...devastating...impossible-to-resist smile.

Comment: I probably added this book to my TBR after seeing some positive reviews about it, especially since it's a story featuring two people who have different financial backgrounds.

Vicky is a woman of many talents and recently she has been a pet sitter, as well as a supposed pet whisperer. At least this is what Bernadette, a cunning but old ill woman, believes she can do and Vicky has been taking are of Smuckers, Bernadette's dog, now that she is at the hospital. The problem is that while Vicky tried to explain this, Bernadette never wanted to hear and now that she is dead, Vicky needs to take care of the dog, and she finds out there's a provision in the will for him. Vicky attends the reading and finds out Bernadette was very wealthy and instead of simply providing the necessary, she left her share of a very important company to her dog's carer. Of course this doesn't go well with the rest of the shareholders, namely Bernadette's son Henry, with whom Vicky butts heads but who is fascinating at the same time. Will they ever see eye to eye of will Henry always think she is there as a scammer?

It does seem that only on romanceland or in a very specific type of environment would someone leave their fortune to a dog. The premise for this story is highly unlikely and to add the element that the owner thought Vicky was a dog whisperer makes this a perfect romcom beginning, but I was actually a little surprised by how intentionally not funny this is. There are some supposed cute/silly/funny scenes, but the overall vibe is one of a much more serious vibe.

Vicky is a very intriguing character and we slowly learn she has some secrets in her past, particularly the fact she denounced a situation and no one believed her, vilifying her instead. This, along with other facts, made Vicky decide to change her appearance into something more formal, and grab her younger sister and move to New York, where they could be anonymous in the big city. I can certainly applaud Vicky's need to do what's best for someone she feels she is responsible for, and the several jobs and projects make her seem dedicated and mature, but that is,perhaps, why I found it rather jarring how everything felt different when the dog share holder issue came up.

Vicky is a character I can root for and I was ready to have a story in which she and Henry (that is obvious) would slowly fall in love, despite the differences between them. Well, the author certainly stressed this out well, because until almost half way, the story was more about the oddities and what made them opposites, than a potential romance. It's true some scenes felt like foreplay, especially when they clash on board meetings, but the subjects addressed in this plot are actually quite serious and I could not really appreciate the supposed fun of these situations, making me dread the moment something bad would happen.

As the story progresses, we get to know more about Henry too (dual POV, some chapters by Vicky's, others by Henry's) and understand his personality and why he feels Vicky might be someone trying to deceive him and gaining something from his mother. At the same time, I cannot feel as if he is such a great guy, considering what he thinks of Vicky, and even more so when his family even has a PI investigating her...with the means at his disposal, I bet he could have gotten an idea about her closer to reality.. but, of course the plot had to have some conflict. Besides, Vicky did hid her true identity and her reasons are quite sound.

In fact, I thought more about her past would have bigger importance, but only closer to the end did this information gain some emphasis. I think the whole thing about this situation was a lot more necessary to be discussed and there were moments where it felt more like a vehicle for Vicky's behavior and disdain of wealthy men, than an actual need...still, it offered for an interesting debate and made me think. I only wish the romance had been even more special somehow, because while I liked how tings went on, I feel everything could have been even better done.

As one can expect, the shareholding issue is solved at some point, then there's more emotional conflict ongoing and developing, but the HEA is consistent enough for what happens in the meantime. I'd change something, though. Closer to the end, a few situations jump in time pretty quickly and it felt like a technique to justify learning and dealing with revelations, but it seemed so jarring that I cannot see how the author decided this was the best option. It still led to a HEA, but...

All in all, this was an interesting story, a little unbalanced in some elements, but enjoyable enough. I liked the writing style for the most part, but seeing how many more books in the series exist, I don't know if I want to repeat this (possible) style that much.

Grade: 7/10