Limecello’s review of Taking Care of Business by Megan Hart and Lauren Dane
Erotic romance released by Black Lace on 31 Mar 09

I really enjoy books by both Megan Hart and Lauren Dane, so I was looking forward to reading Taking Care of Business. I also love the cover – it’s eye catching, sexy but not raunchy, and has a great color scheme. The content of the book is just as good – better. This is a sexy book with a lot of strong characters that I really enjoyed.

Leah Grifffin and Kate Edwards were great heroines. Both of them are high powered businesswomen, and not only know what they want in life, but how to get it. Charles Dixon and Brandon Long, on the other hand, are perfect hero material, and men any woman would be happy to have.

Leah Griffin is newly out of a semi abusive relationship, and uses the conference to regroup, and find her footing. The dynamics of her burgeoning relationship with Brandon are quite interesting, and very provocative. Leah takes a complete 180 from her recently ended two year relationship, but it’s clear that she cares not only about Brandon, but in general. She’s a warm person who has insecurities, and is getting over a number of hang ups. Brandon, while different, is the same. He also dealt with a bad break up, but he’s incredibly stable. I really liked his quiet confidence, and soothing demeanor. In fact, the calm that Brandon projects really helps balance out all the other characters.

Yes, the focus of Leah and Brandon is borderline kinky, with a dominant/submissive relationship. Leah just broke up with her ex Mike, who didn’t really understand D/S and wasn’t good to Leah. She now, however, is exploring her new found freedom by exerting her will over Brandon. But it’s not that she’s coercing him or that he’s weak. Brandon is simply very into Leah, and willing to follow her lead. He’s a people pleasure, and their roles fit, but are fluid. I’m eager to see how this develops. (Yes there is a “sequel” of sorts.)

Kate and Charles (“Dix”) are a great couple. In fact, they’re the power couple. Both successful attorneys, their personalities are incredibly similar, but rather than clashing, they mesh well. Kate has been burned from a “work relationship” before, so she’s very cautious about what is happening with Dix.  For Dix, it isn’t so much work, as his personal life. He has a strange continuing relationship with his ex-wife, and it takes from blunt conversation with Kate for him to realize that it’s not quite as simple or over as he thinks.

I like that Kate and Dix do have real issues that they need to work through. First, they have to deal with a crazy assistant, and being partially caught at being intimate in public. Then there’s Kate’s past, but more importantly, Dix’s current situation with his family. I liked how self actualized both of them are, and their willingness to be vulnerable. I appreciated the fact that sometimes they made mistakes and knew they were being stupid – but that only made them human. Both Kate and Dix are willing to own up to their mistakes and behavior, and discuss it once they’ve had a chance to reason it out. I’m so glad they didn’t have over dramatic or ridiculous, pointless conflict.

There is a lot of heat in this book. The majority of it is the characters having sex, talking about sex, or at least thinking about sex. That can be, and is a lot of fun. Even so, the personalities of the characters are all quite clear, and each of them has a developed back story. I felt that I knew something about all of them. (Although it would be nice to get a little more of Brandon’s story.) I also felt that the book flowed nicely, which is impressive when there are two authors who wrote it.

I do admit that after hearing about it, I started reading the book trying to figure out who wrote what, and I got it right. While the book is by no means choppy, Ms. Hart and Ms. Dane have distinct writing styles. There’s something that can be a bit stark about Ms. Hart’s writing and characters, while Ms. Dane’s characters can get heavy on the dialogue. (It just seems unnatural to me because I’ve never met people who talk or have conversations like the characters do. But it’s a minor distraction.) The two combined act as a nice balance. The emotions and drama caused by Kate and Dix really help and warm Taking Care of Business while the interaction between Leah and Brandon is almost stoic at times.

I’ve already re-read a number of parts of this book, and cannot wait for the second book. I know I say it a lot, but I don’t want to wait for it. I read the book blurb for No Reservations and I know it’ll only get better. It was nice to see four extremely different characters and personalities be brought together. While they were generally paired off, all four did have some interaction with each other, and I can’t wait to see how their relationships develop and become stronger.

I definitely recommend this book.

Grade: A-

Summary:
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One Conference. Two friends. Two men who know how to take care of business.
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After leaving the wrong man, Leah Griffin’s not ready to look for the right one. All she wants is to survive the conference she’s planning and spend some time with her best friend Kate Edwards. She’s not expecting the conference services manager to be so tall, dark and handsome…or so eager to please. It’s Brandon Long’s job to make Leah happy, but after a scorching interlude in her hotel room, neither can deny business has become pleasure.
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Smart, driven and successful attorney, Katherine Edwards has spent her life making the right choices. Directly counter to those right choices, she’s involved in a long distance, secret love affair with a co-worker. Charles Dixon is a bad choice she can’t help but make –over and over. A conference and a promotion bring Kate back to Pennsylvania and suddenly, Dix wants far more than a few nights in random hotel rooms. He wants something permanent and Katherine has to figure out if sometimes a wrong choice isn’t exactly what a woman needs.
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Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series: