LynneC’s review of His Christmas Acquisition by Cathy Williams
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Presents 29 Nov 11
I have enjoyed Cathy Williams’ books in the past, but, sadly, this one isn’t one of them. Tired situations, tired characters no thicker than a sheet of paper, and a tired style make this a disappointing read.
Apart from his habit of wearing jeans to work, Ryan Sheppard is the usual type of Modern/Presents hero. He is powerful, wealthy, owns his own company—and the other stuff. He behaves in a conventional way, so making him a computer entrepreneur and getting him to wear jeans for work is only a thin disguise. He isn’t updated at all. This would have been fine, but Ryan behaves exactly as he is expected to by the reader, and there is really very little to say about him. He doesn’t stand out and he isn’t different. We have the standard supermodel-type girlfriend, except that Williams’ versions all seem to have hair down to their waists. Apart from that, they’re interchangeable, only there to compare to the wholesome heroine.
Jamie is a doormat of the first order, but at the beginning of the story she is running on empty. Her sister, a complete and utter bitch, is currently separated from her husband, a vet (not a veteran, an animal doctor) and the vet is the man Jamie used to work for before she came down to London to get away from him. Because she was quietly and desperately in love with him for years and she doesn’t think he noticed. No man is going to ignore that, unless he’s brain dead. She runs to London to get away from her sister marrying the vet. And meets Ryan.
Her sister makes Jamie ask people to Christmas dinner, including Ryan, and then Jamie does all the cooking while selfish people drink her wine and enjoy their day. It doesn’t say a lot for Jamie, who, after all, brought her sister up, that Jessica turns out to be such a dyed-in-the-wool, irredeemable bitch. What happens to Jessica in the end is so unbelievable that I nearly threw my Nook across the room.
Ryan and Jamie do the “this is only for two weeks” thing that is fast becoming one of my most unfavorite tropes in Harlequin-dom. Almost every author is using this artificial construct, and it is getting wearing. If an author who knows how to write interesting stories about real characters used it and added internal character pressures, then count me in, but when the hero just says it, for no real reason, or the heroine agrees to it, then it doesn’t work as well.
One of my big disconnects with this book is the head hopping. It’s a long time since I read head-hopping this wild and confusing in a published book. Unpublished authors do it all the time, and it’s one of the big things they are asked to change by critiquers. We’re told that you won’t get published if you head hop, and it’s true, most editors are very anti. Either Williams has earned her place because of her previous titles, or she has an editor who doesn’t care about this, or she doesn’t have an editor at all (this being Harlequin, I doubt that last bit). But during the first chapter, I started to mark the head hopping. After that, I didn’t bother. She changes points of view in the same sentence, so that at one point Ryan is thinking something about Jamie, and by the end of the sentence, the reader is in Jamie’s head. It’s only made worse by using a masculine-sounding name for the heroine, so, at first, it’s hard to remember if Jamie is the hero or if it’s Ryan.
A disappointing read, as if several tropes were jammed together, and a few characteristics added for effect.
Grade: D
Summary:
There’s only one item left on entrepreneur Ryan Sheppard’s Christmas list—something scandalous for his buttoned-up secretary…
It seems that disapproving Jamie Powell is the only woman that doesn’t fall at Ryan’s feet. Jamie is well aware of her boss’s heartbreaker reputation…fending off his discarded women is virtually part of her job description!
Ryan’s hoping a Christmas trip to the Caribbean will entice Jamie out of her pencil skirt and into the skimpiest of bikinis! And, with the boardroom transferred to the beach, surely there’s little harm in indulging in a little festive pleasure on the side…?Read an excerpt.
