Lynne Connolly’s review of High Powered, Hot Blooded by Susan Mallery
Contemporary Romance published by Silhouette Desire 8 Dec 09

A powerful businessman, Duncan didn’t like ultimatums, unless he was making them. But the board demanded his public image change. When he encountered sweet kindergarten teacher Annie McCoy, he knew she’d make him look like a perfect angel, though it would take some devilish manipulation.

Once he had Annie playing his pretend mistress, Duncan needed to make her his real-life lover. Could a grouchy CEO cultivate the charm necessary to win the woman he’d almost destroyed?

Susan Mallery is one of my favorite Harlequin authors. Sometimes she gets a bit too sweet for me, and everything turns to sugar, but this is a Christmas book, and I do like a bit of sweet stuff at this time of year.

This is a Scrooge-like Christmas story, except Scrooge isn’t that Scrooge-y. Duncan is more misunderstood, and he’s a good businessman. Most of his problem is bad press.

I liked Duncan, but he isn’t that much different to many of the other Harlequin Presents heroes. Rich, ruthless, a tycoon. But I have to confess I’m a sucker for that kind of hero, when he’s well done and Duncan was well done. And he never hurt the heroine. For me, the turning point between alpha and alpha jerk is often when the hero hurts the heroine, especially when he does it intentionally.

Annie was right on the cusp of annoyingly sweet, but she lands on the good side. Not too cloying, despite being a kindergarten teacher the story isn’t awash with ankle biters and there isn’t a baby McGuffin. Good points for me.

Duncan hires Annie to be his girlfriend to get him some good press. I liked that he was straightforward about the offer and she wasn’t stupid about it. She took the deal. It did annoy me that she planned to give away her expensive wardrobe after the job was up. Nah, who’d do that? True, kindergarten teachers don’t have much call for cocktail dresses and ball gowns, but hey, hanging them up and gloating is fun, too.

I didn’t like the motivation for Annie, or rather, I didn’t like the way it turned out. Got a bit sugary there. Annie’s brother works for Duncan, and he’s embezzled money from the company. I didn’t buy that Duncan would have covered that up. If there are shareholders, then he has no right to. He does report to a board, although that seems to consist of family members.

Anyway, that doesn’t take up much of the story. The main focus, as it should be, is the development of the relationship. And that was fun. Mallery does interaction and dialogue really well. I loved some of their exchanges.

So all in all, a fun Christmas read and I’ll give it a fun B.

Grade: B

Mr. December: Duncan Patrick, CEO Scrooge

His Objective: Lose the “bah humbug” attitude

His Plan: Find the right (temporary) mistress

A powerful businessman, Duncan didn’t like ultimatums, unless he was making them. But the board demanded his public image change. When he encountered sweet kindergarten teacher Annie McCoy, he knew she’d make him look like a perfect angel, though it would take some devilish manipulation.

Once he had Annie playing his pretend mistress, Duncan needed to make her his real-life lover. Could a grouchy CEO cultivate the charm necessary to win the woman he’d almost destroyed?