Kristie J’s review of Mr. Hotshot CEO by Jackie Lau
Contemporary Romance published by Jackie Lau Books 10 Jul 18
Normally I wouldn’t touch a book with this kind of title, because I’m much more of a blue-collar-type hero. But it wasn’t that long ago that I read the previous book in this series, Grumpy Fake Boyfriend, and I was so charmed by it I wanted to keep reading this author. The heroine in this one, Courtney Kwan, is the sister of the heroine in the first book and she, along with her boyfriend, play a role in this one. There was another reason I wanted to read it, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
Julian Fong is the CEO of a very successful investment company. He had taken over when his father had a heart attack and since then has become a complete workaholic. His family gangs up on him and INSISTS he takes a two-week holiday – no visiting the office, no calling the office, no business emails, nothing. Julian is at a complete loss on what to do. He doesn’t take vacations, he just works, and he needs to find something to do or he’ll go crazy. He spies a young woman in a coffee shop, one he has seen in there before, and she seems to take such enjoyment in such simple things – such as the smell of coffee – and he does something very impulsive. He goes up to her and offers her $5,000.00 if she shows him how to relax and enjoy life for the next two weeks.
Now, it turns out that he couldn’t have made his offer at a better time. Courtney was planning on a trip to New York with her sister Naomi, but Naomi couldn’t make it because of financial reasons, and this trip is Very Important to Courtney. Julian is very well known and admired as a successful businessman in the Chinese community in Toronto, so Courtney agrees. She even agrees to move into his penthouse for the duration – in the spare bedroom, of course.
This book is just as delightful as the first one. I found myself grinning and chuckling a number of times and found it hard to put down. One of the most delightful characters is Julian’s brother, Vincent. He is such a riot and such a scene stealer. He sparkles in every scene he’s in. I hope sometime Ms. Lau has something planned for him.
But this story does have a serious tone to it. Courtney suffers from debilitating depression and she can tell when it is coming on. As one who also suffers from depression, I found the author did such a good job in describing the effects of depression and how it can ruin relationships. While those who have never experienced it and figure the sufferer can simply ‘get over it,’ it’s not something we can just get over. And while in a depression, it’s the worst thing one can imagine. There’s a voice in our heads drumming into us over and over again that we are worthless, that no one can love us, that we are much better off alone, or, in extreme cases – and thankfully mine isn’t this bad – but better off dead.
Courtney knows she should tell Julian, but the voices have started, and previously while in a depressed state, a boyfriend had broken up with her. Because of that and the rejection she has felt from her family, with the exception of Naomi, she feels she can’t have a relationship and is destined to remain alone and childless.
I love Julian. He’s such a sweetheart, even though he is a white-collar hero, and Courtney I could really relate to. Normally she’s a very fun and upbeat person who really does ‘stop to smell the roses.’
This book is SO good and I SO recommend it.
And now for the other reason I wanted to read it. I was at RWA not long ago, and while there usually isn’t a theme per se, this year I did notice one and that is the need for diversity in the romance community, and I spent a day in a workshop that had this as the central theme. The luncheon speaker was Sonali Dev, an Indian author of a number of books. Her speech was about the need to support, to read, to share books outside of our normal reading world. We readers need to expand our boundaries to read romance of POC, of different cultures, of different ethnicities. I was so moved by her speech – the whole audience was – that I determined I’m going to branch out in my reading world. I have a number of books by authors such as Sonali Dev, Beverly Jenkins, and a number of others. But I haven’t read most of them and now I want to, and this was a great book to start my diversity in reading.
While Julian’s family has been in Canada for a few generations, Courtney’s family have come to Canada more recently from Hong Kong. I’m planning on delving quite a bit into the more diverse books I already have and plan to make them a regular part of my reading life.
Grade: A-
Read Tabs’ review here.
Summary:
As CEO of Fong Investments, I’m a busy man. In fact, my family claims I’m an obsessive workaholic, and when they force me to take two weeks off, I have no idea what to do with myself.
While brooding over an espresso, I meet Courtney Kwan, a biomedical researcher who savors the little things in life. And, suddenly, an idea strikes me—I will pay this woman to teach me how to enjoy my vacation from work.
Soon, I find myself doing crazy things like baking cookies, reading for pleasure, buying a phallic cactus, and falling in love. But Courtney is dealing with some serious issues of her own, and I fear that when I return to work, I won’t be able to give her what she needs, and I’ll lose her forever.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
