3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unconventional heroine in a fun story, January 26, 2010
I really liked this little book and can't wait to read the next in the series.
The star of the show is clearly our heroine. Megan is a scientist through and through- she relies on cold hard data, doesn't always understand human interactions and has no clue of her own appeal. She's fun, smart and totally unconventional for a romance heroine.
Our hero Gage is pretty boring to be honest. Think your generic playboy rich kid in these novels and you have him. And his name is dumb. My pet peeve with romance novels is that the heroes are rarely actually interesting in their own right. Granted, these are books for women by women (usually) but a good book has strong characters period.
The plot is also pretty much par for the course- Gage (seriously, who names their kid Gage?) wants the VP slot at the family business, so he decides to change his image by dating good girl co-worker scientist Megan. They "pretend" to be engaged all the while falling in love. There are some funny and touching scenes along the way.
The heroine lifted a mediocre and generic story, she really did. She was the most unconventional thing about the book- uncertain without sliding into annoyingly neurotic and smart as a whip. She was totally believable. Another highlight was the b story (or stories), which I assume is set-up for the next book (or books) in the series. We are introduced to her sister and cousin- they are not as original as Megan, but both characters had a truly well-drawn quality that felt real. These women felt like real people, not cookie-cutter heroines.
If you like series romance I HIGHLY recommend this book, and am on the look-out for more from this author!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not your average harlequin, September 11, 2010
This review is from: The Engagement Project (Silhouette Special Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)
Meet Megan, she is a young scientist with a genius IQ, a love of chemistry and the unfailing ability to speak her mind. Meet Gage, he's suffering from mommy issues that leave him unwilling to commit to any woman, but with his good looks, a fat pocket book the ladies keep on trying. When Gage is told, by his own father no less, that his philandering ways make him look unprofessional and he most likely isn't going to get the VP job that will be available in 6 months time when the old VP retires Gage makes a plan to get a fiancee, keep her for 6 months and once he gets his new job they will go their separate ways, no harm no foul. If only things worked out so easily.
There is nothing to really dislike about this book, but more than that there is very very little to like about it either. Megan was a fun and quirky character, different than most harlequin heroines in some respects but in others she was the same inexperienced plain-jane that we've seen a million times before, and Gage, well he's just about a clone of all those emotionally retarded men that are so prevalent in romances these days, the only good thing I can say about him is he's nice, respectful and has a conscious about what is going on between him and Megan. But this story just moved so slowly! There were WAY too many scenes taken up with Megan sitting around with Ashley, her sister, and Paige, her cousin, and just talking about boys and none of the three ladies said anything at all interesting or the lease bit insightful about the opposite sex, and their BBFs-4-Life relationship was about as wholesome and interesting as wonder bread. With all those scenes with the girls there are literally zero scenes of what Megan actually does for a living, even though there are more than a few after hours chats she has in the lab with Gage. We just plod along through the requisite plot points, with plod being the key word. We know they are going to break up, Gage is going to have an epiphany that he's in love and willing to commit and then there will be a happily ever after but I just couldn't be bothered to care what happened to these characters. Her writing style just isn't to my taste, it's been a long time since I've been so bored reading a book.
2 1/2 stars.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
