A case of love at first sight, in CINDERELLA BUSTED, billionaire Rhett Buchanan sweeps gardener Lily Foster off her feet. All Lily Foster has ever wanted is to make her father Hank's greenhouse Bloom & Grow the best it can be. She has succeeded in that dream beyond her wildest dreams, with Bloom & Grow becoming the best place to buy specialty trees in the U.S. The greenhouse has also just launched a wildly popular new interiors line. Yet, Hank didn't live to see Lily's success and some developer is trying to force her to sell by seizing the small cottage she lives in on the property. The cottage apparently violates the building code. Rhett Buchanan is the owner of BDC development. When he meets Lily at her greenhouse, he thinks she's a customer. Lily doesn't correct him because she doesn't think he'd ask a gardener out and she really likes him. Lily is a millionaire in her own right, but landscaping is hardly glamourous. She wants Rhett to fall for her as hard as she has for him before she admits she designs lawns, not gowns. Unfortunately, Rhett's ex, Delia, has other plans for Rhett and spills the beans. Rhett accuses Lily of being a fortune hunter and tells her he never wants to see her again. The second half of the book mirrors the first, as Delia breaks the once-again happy couple up by staging a scene where it looks like Rhett was cheating on Lily with Delia. Lily is devastated and immediately breaks up with Rhett. There is also the underlying question of just who the developer is after Lily's home and business, and what will happen when the truth comes out? Will there be a happily ever after for Lily and Rhett or just a new golf course for BDC? CINDERELLA BUSTED is a modernization on the classic tale. Yet this Cinderella has neither a stepmother nor stepsisters nor is she poor. She lives in her cottage alone and runs her business with the support of her best friends Rob and Tammy. The only element of the classic tale that Petie McCarty has kept is that billionaires are the princes of the modern world. Miss McCarty may be better off not drawing such a close parallel to the story of Cinderella as it twists readers' expectations in ways that her story doesn't go. Delia, Rhett's ex-girlfriend, and Whittenhurst, the lawyer, are the antagonists of this story. Had the story had a more neutral title, it would have allowed readers to draw their own conclusions. Instead, the title creates a preconceived storyline that Ms. McCarty then throws out the window. This is a pity as it undermines an otherwise interesting, though overly structured, storyline of love at first sight. Ms. McCarty not only develops Rhett and Lily as real people with real concerns, but creates a supporting cast of their matchmaking friends. Delia makes a great villain with her egocentric view of reality. As long as this is read with the understanding that Lily is not Cinderella, it is a great read. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=20255#sthash.eaKmaQCs.dpuf
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Celebrity is the new royalty. Mia Troy has been a famous actress since childhood. She has come to the Victorian Rose Bed and Breakfast in North Salem for a month-long vacation before filming her new movie in Boston. Mia wants some time to be herself and not a famous actress. Sean O'Brien runs the bed and breakfast with his mother Maureen. He has spent his life taking care of his family. Still, Sean has not completely given up his own dreams and he has just completed his Master's from MIT in Physics. Both Sean and Mia are searching for something more. Mia feels instantly drawn to Sean. She asks him to the town's block party and is impressed by the way he protects her from the town drunk. As Sean and Mia get to know one another, Mia falls in love. Sean is unsure of his feeling. He feels tied to North Salem by the B&B. To complicate things further, his father, who walked out during his senior year of high school and left Sean to support the family alone, has reappeared. Mia helps Sean work through things with his father and half-sister. His mother ends up getting engaged and setting up the B&B so that a manager can run things. This leaves Sean able to live his own life for the first time in years. Will he be able to find love with Mia or will stubbornness spoil his happily ever after? This is yet another Cinderella story, though the prince is a princess. Ms. Tetreault uses gender inversion to try to breathe new life into an old tale. In some ways she is successful. Her characters are on an equal footing at the beginning of the novel. Sean is highly educated, though not living up to his potential, and Mia is famous and unhappy. Mia inspires Sean to get a job in his field and Sean makes Mia happy. Yet Mia stops acting and appears to become a housewife at the end. The story ends up raising Sean and lowering Mia so they can be together. Mia becomes the little woman. This does not seem to be the author's intent. Ms. Tetreault appears to unconsciously reflect masculine authority into her writing. Surely there is a way for Sean and Mia to come together that does not cause Mia to lose? This is a stereotypical contemporary romance and as long as its message is taken with a grain of salt, it is a good read. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=14141#sthash.VBQUUQp1.dpuf |
AuthorElizabeth Ramsay is English tutor and ESL Teacher. Archives
February 2018
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