TBR Day. Doukakis's Apprentice / Sarah Morgan. 2011


This month's TBR theme is something steamy. You can usually rely on an HP to provide the heat, so I decided to finally read this RITA winner by Sarah Morgan. This is one of several books that caught my eye when the RITA nominations were announced last spring because I remembered reading some positive reviews of it. I found this one here at Dear Author and another at The Good, the Bad, and the Unread.

Polly Prince may be "just" an assistant in her father's marketing firm, but in truth she's the inspiration behind their successful campaigns, and the glue holding the foundering company together. Damon Doukakis is a self-made, successful businessman with an ax to grind against both Polly and her father. As the book opens, Damon has purchased the smaller company and Polly is desperate to do what she can to save everyone's jobs. The board of directors has bled the company dry, while taking credit for any success Polly and her team have had. Damon already has a low opinion of Polly and the company, but he hears enough to realize that maybe he should give Polly a chance to prove herself.

This is a wonderful character-driven story that does what the best HP books often do: tell a story of two opposite people who are instantly attracted to one another, but are also divided by some pretty major differences or pre-conceived ideas. Polly is unconventional in her style while Damon is rigid and controlled. Perhaps the best part of this book is that, unlike some HP heroines, Polly isn't afraid to stand up for herself and her people from the get-go. The interactions between Polly and Damon are so well done, and a couple are even a little surprising. There's great chemistry here that leaps off the page and it was great fun to watch both of them, but especially Damon, grow and change because of their relationship.

I haven't read many of the other 2011 books in this RITA category, but I have no complaint that Morgan took home the statue. This was a great read, and a wonderful example of the Harlequin Presents category.

Comments

  1. WendyAugust 15, 2012 at 7:49 PM

    SOLD! I somehow missed Lynne's review over at TGTBTU, and I tend to rely on her to vet the HP line for me. It's one I have a hard time navigating on my own without some assistance :)

    I met Morgan briefly at RWA last month. An online bud of mine asked me to stop by her table at the Lit Signing and get her autograph because she "LOVES all her HPs!" Very nice woman - and a lovely accent :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. PhylAugust 16, 2012 at 11:30 AM

    Oh I do think this is one you'll like, Wendy. And I agree-- Lynne does a great job of separating the gold from the dross when it comes to HPs. Neat that you got to meet Morgan; if I'd been there I'd have stopped by her table for sure. I have a few others of her books that are favorites.

    ReplyDelete
  3. HilciaAugust 17, 2012 at 1:31 PM

    Oh, I usually make a point of reading a few of RITA winners each year. I missed this one! It is now on my list. So glad you enjoyed it, Phyl.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PhylAugust 17, 2012 at 11:33 PM

    Me too. I like using the RITA nominations to find books I might have missed otherwise. I hope you like this book too!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I think I have ADD

Image
I'm one of those people who constantly moves from project to project. I do finish things, but midway through one project I'll stop and pull out fabric to start another one. Or something will come up that makes me start in on something else--a challenge, a class, a need to make a gift, or a new fabric purchase. All of those things change my focus. I don't want to admit how many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I have here, but if I were totally honest, it's probably at least a dozen. Here are 3 I started this summer. And I'm not including the one I started the other night because I couldn't get a decent picture of it. This first one is from a class I took in June with 2 friends. I still have 4 more flowers to add to it. This is funky and fun, but it's large and appliqueing down the flowers is awkward at times. A while back I posted a picture of some flower blocks that I'm doing as part of an exchange with the same 2 friends. I had another set of blocks to finis
Read more

57, 3, 15

Image
57 years. 3 months. 15 days. That's how old my sister was when she died on December 30, 2015. Char spent four and a half years in a tug of war with cancer. For a while there she seemed to be in total control. But that insidious disease came back and this time would not let up. Here's the kicker. She had uterine cancer, just like me. Only hers was Stage 4 when they found it. Mine barely qualified as Stage 1. Life is often unfair, but that seemed the cruelest irony of all. As I wept that she was dying, she wept because I was not. It's taken me a long time to process this and to be willing to talk openly about it. Some of you reading this have been very open with your own struggles with health, grief, death, and dying. I've wanted to be, but I think I needed for the worst of it to be over first. Every time I tried to write about it, I'd sit paralyzed at the keyboard. I just wasn't ready I guess. Char decided to suspend further treatment last August. It wa
Read more

TBR Day. Conor's Way / Laura Lee Guhrke. 1996

Image
Back in the early 2000's, when I began lurking at the old AAR  boards, I heard talk of this book. And according to Amazon, I apparently broke down and purchased a copy for myself via Marketplace in 2004 for a "mere" $4.75. Today a used print copy goes for about $25. I don't know why I waited so long to read it. I'd keep seeing references to how good it is, especially from KristieJ who has been nagging our TBR hostess to read it forever. I think I was saving it for a day when I knew I needed to read a really good book. But when I saw that this month's theme was "Recommended Read" it was clear that this was the book I had to read. I was really, really stupid to wait 8 years to read this. Frankly, I should just end this review with that statement. I am writing this Tuesday evening. Earlier today I saw on Twitter that at least 2 other TBR participants are reviewing this for today as well. And they'll probably do a better job at it than me. B
Read more