The Particulars: Harlequin Romance #4794, Contemporary romance, first in trilogy, 2022, Out of print, Available digitally
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a more recent release and it was in the print TBR, which means this was an impulse buy at either a used bookstore or library book sale (likely the latter). These days the vast majority of my new Harlequin purchases are in eBook.
The Review: The best way to describe this book is inoffensive but bland. It's the kind of book that starts to fade from my memory the moment I finish the final page. I'm not sure this makes it "bad" but it definitely makes it flat.
Hermione Kappas was all alone in the world (and homeless) when she took a job at an exclusive luxury resort on a private Greek island. This is the kind of place that doesn't need to advertise that magically stays afloat by rich people in the know who talk the place up to their equally rich friends. Anyway, Hermione has worked her way up the food chain and is now the resort manager. She loves her job and has a nice little "found family" among the other resort staff. The fly in the ointment? The longtime owner has passed away and her estranged son has inherited the whole enchilada.
Atlas Othonos runs a very successful security firm and needless to say he does not want to deal with his mother's death nor this inheritance. The woman abandoned him. Just up and left Atlas to be raised by his cold fish father. No contact, no nothing - poof! She's there one minute, gone the next. Needless to say he feels some kind of way finding out his mother owned a resort on a private island and that she built this whole new life where she was well-liked and respected while never giving a second thought to the son she just left behind like an out of season designer dress donated to a charity stop. His plan is to get in, get out, and sell the resort to the first person with a reasonable offer that comes along.
Thanks to terrible weather and a car accident, Hermione and Atlas unceremoniously meet and of course she doesn't disclose right away that she's the resort manager - which of course gets Atlas all butt-hurt when he finds out. This unintended subterfuge doesn't last long but it's the first in many instances of the conflict lacking credibility or urgency. Anyway, he's grumpy and Hermione is determined to have Atlas fall in love with the resort so he won't want to sell and everybody can keep their jobs.
The conflict here is all internal. Atlas was estranged from his mother and is rather put-out that she was Mary Mother of Private Greek Islands to everyone at the resort. There's absolutely no questions from Hermione of "hey, why are you a jackass and never talked to nor visited your mother?" nor is there any moment of Atlas retorting, "this woman you thought was so great just left me without a by-your-leave and dropped off the planet leaving me to be raised by my asshole father so yeah, my apologies I don't think she was all that and a bottle of ouzo." Basically he just grumps around and she tries to get him to see how great the island and resort are.
Then there's the fact that Hermione's ex was always undermining her and chipping away at her self-esteem, questioning her choices and implying she wasn't doing something (OK, anything) right. So when Atlas steps in to offer to help her out (which comes in the form of planning a big Valentine's Day party at the resort) she immediately thinks he's implying she's not capable or competent in her job. I mean, seriously. She sets the land speed record for jumping to conclusions. This could work as conflict if the author spent any time developing it, but she doesn't. This, along with Atlas' feelings about his mother are written in a "by the way..." manner. It's all surface. I realize the limitations of category length but pages upon pages of angst aren't needed to accomplish this. A modicum of depth would have done the job. One or two heartfelt conversations between the couple or one of them and a secondary character would have gone a long way.
There's a number of secondary characters, including a prince from a made-up country (ugh, I miss the days when Harlequin Romances featured normal, everyday characters....), the resort concierge, and a friend of Atlas', who he is trying to sell the resort to. They're mostly there as sequel bait, although the concierge plays a healthier role as she's trying to throw Hermione and Atlas together as much as possible.
Of course things are torn asunder for a third act break-up and of course Atlas falls into a giant vat of melted Velveeta dialogue to win Hermione back. Declarations of true love, a marriage proposal and they all live happily ever after.
Is this the worst category romance I've ever read? Hardly. But there's just not much here. The conflict could have worked for me but it lacks any sort of urgency or oomph to make it compelling. A hero with abandonment issues? A heroine with self-esteem issues? I mean, the angst should be dripping off the pages here. Instead it's mentioned in a way that felt like the author was ticking boxes and, as a result, I wasn't emotionally invested.
It's a quick read and I wasn't reading angry, but I was reading to get to the end so I could move on to something more compelling in my TBR. Very much meh.
Final Grade = C
