The Book: Pencil Him In by Molly O'Keefe
The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Flipside #15, 2004, Book 2 in duet, out of print, available in digital
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR: It's a truth universally acknowledged that when Wendy falls hard and fast for a new-to-her category romance writer, she will then scour the Earth for said author's entire backlist. Which is what happened after I picked up my first O'Keefe Harlequin SuperRomance. Yes, I bought the romantic comedy stuff she wrote for Harlequin Duets and Flipside despite that they were published by Duets and Flipside. My history with romantic comedy is bumpy.
The Review: I read the second book in this duet as part of the 2015 TBR Challenge so this month's backlist theme seemed like a good opportunity to read the first book...5 years later. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Anyway, this was only O'Keefe's third published book and unfortunately I was pretty meh about it. I probably would have tolerated the plot a lot more had I read this any other time in the years this has been languishing in my TBR, but 2020 was the absolutely worst year to pick. Let me explain....
Anna Simmons is a workaholic. At 18 she told her nomad, runaway-from-her-problems, mother that she was now an adult, she was done moving, and she was staying in California. She got a job as a receptionist at an ad agency and worked her way up. How far up? Her boss, the owner of the agency, has told Anna she's retiring in 6 months and she's going to hand over the keys to the kingdom to her - on one condition: Anna is taking a forced, paid, 6 month sabbatical. No arguments. Non-negotiable. Her boss is worried that if she leaves the company to her that Anna will literally end up dead. She works that hard. She runs herself (and her poor assistant) that ragged. She has no life.
And Anna freaks out.
OK, look - maybe this is the stress of being a public librarian in the time of COVID talking - but WHY IS MY BOSS NOT GIVING ME 6 MONTHS OFF WITH PAY AND DIRECT ORDERS TO DO ZERO WORK AND GET A DARN LIFE? I get that Anna is a workaholic but wide swaths of this book are her moaning about how she's been "fired" (does she not know the definition of the word fired?) and she's wound so tight I half expected a bathroom scene where she's pooping out diamonds.
Naturally all Anna can think about is getting her job back (never mind she's not fired and on a paid 6 month sabbatical - just roll with it). So her brilliant idea is to show her boss (who she is friendly with) that she is getting life, that she has a boyfriend! She just needs a fake boyfriend, and through a series of misadventures she lands on hunky, ex-firefighter (he was injured in the line of duty) Sam Drynan.
Sam is - OK, I guess? A nice guy, I guess? He's got a well-meaning family, he's still dealing with baggage from his work-related injury and he won't play second fiddle to Anna's work (when she, predictably, falls off the deep end for our Black Moment). As a couple they're not on page very much together but O'Keefe does have me half believing they've fallen in love, at least a little bit, by the end.
Besides the "conflict" which isn't really conflict and I'm frankly covetous of, I think my problem may be the Flipside line. The romantic couple just aren't on page enough to satisfy my romance reader needs. This is really a book about Anna's personal growth with the romance not coming into play until the second half. And this is category length. Waiting until the second half of a book that clocks in at just over 200 pages to give readers a romance (which they're reading a Harlequin - readers showed up for the romance) probably says all that needs to be said on why this line died a quick death. It's closer to the chick lit end of the spectrum and not far enough over towards the romance one.
The internal baggage for both Anna and Sam is decent. However Sam's baggage is dealt with superficially and Anna's - I get why the girl is a workaholic but I still can't help but think her moaning about being fired WHEN SHE HASN'T BEEN FIRED is weak sauce. Look, I get it - her entire self-worth is wrapped up in her job. Childhood trauma has molded her into the diamond pooping mess she is today. BUT SOMEONE IS GIVING YOU 6 MONTHS OFF WITH PAY AND THEN TURNING OVER THE BUSINESS TO YOU AND YOU'RE MOANING ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!?
Where can I sign up for this problem?
Final Grade = C
3 comments:
I try to focus on my digital TBR pile (waaay too many impulse purchases) for the challenge and I did something different this time for the "backlist" idea. I put my ebooks in order from first bought to last and skiimmed until I found the first book that looked remotely appealing.
Apparently about 8 years ago, I went on a tear with bonkers old-school Anne Stuart (I remember liking some set in the jungle and one about an invisible hero). So I stumbled across Moonrise which I had started and had never finished and picked it for the challenge. Well. . . Anne Stuart is a good writer both in style and pace, but I think I just can't do romantic suspense anymore and this didn't change that. I don't like romance heroes with guns anymore. Period. The guy that this guy was a raving jerkhead was almost beside the point.
I don't need a romance heroine to be a "bad ass" (I actually tend to shy away from those heroines b/c they often come off flat and one dimensional to me), but if they start out weak, I want to see them be resourceful and grow to be strong. I want a journey for them. I wasn't really feeling that here.
Anyways, this was very dark with a very dark hero, heroine who is pretty passive until the end, and lots of questionable consent stuff. Not just sexual consent, but I'll leave it vague for spoilers' sake.
In the end, I'd give it a C and chalk it up to not my cup of tea.
You're review made me LOL in the best of ways. It's true, 2020 isn't really the year for this book and the heroine's problems. And the issue of the latent romance is weird for a Harlequin. *shrugs* You can take it off your TBR now.
Jill: I LOL'ed at "bonkers old-school Anne Stuart" because that's just whole mood, isn't it? I know so many readers who are having a hard time with rom/sus right now - because Real Life. I've been off it for a little while now because the last few I tried to read featured illogically thinking heroines and....I just can't. I'm OK with Women In Peril plots, but when the author bends the heroine's brain into a pretzel just to move the plot forward I tap out.
Jen: Harlequin has it's own Romantic Comedy Graveyard - there was Love & Laughter, Duets, Flipside - and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. I think Flipside was meant to tap into the chick lit market at the time - but when I'm picking up a Harlequin I do so because I want romance. And yes, this conflict was just a non-starter for me. I spent the whole book wishing had this heroine's problems LOL.
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