HM Shander, $0.99, ISBN 978-1999234379
Contemporary Romance, 2020
While HM Shander’s Noel is a romance, it may rankle some readers because the heroine Brittania Edwards—yes, that’s her name—is having an affair with her married boss when she meets the hero.
Oh, she thinks he will leave his wife for her, but we all know how that story will end, don’t we? In the meantime, he’s making her run errands for him outside of her job scope when he’s not getting some from her for free, so it seems to me that he’s getting the best deals out of this arrangement, but hey, I suppose I can’t blame Brittania for having love goggles on.
Well, that is, except that she doesn’t seem particularly enamored of Daniel Holden, and she’s not putting her legs up for a career or bank account leg-up, so I don’t know what to think. The poor dear just comes off as confused and used, all for plot purposes. Sigh.
Anyway, she has to pick up the company CEO’s kid one day from school, and that’s how she meets Noel Sullivan, the teacher of the kid’s class.
A man – a gorgeous man with the perfect amount of scruff – appeared in my field of view. He was taller than Daniel, at least six feet tall, with a slender build. Dressed in an ugly sweater vest and sporting reindeer antlers, he stopped at the entrance.
Wait, so how tall is Daniel? The seven dwarfs kind of tall?
Anyway, the romance plays out in a manner that is as predictable as can be. She likes him, but she also keeps waiting for Daniel to pick her over his wife, and there is this back and forth until Noel has had enough and wish her all the best but he’s not playing anymore, and she decides that she really likes Noel more after all.
Still, the story is fine. It’s pleasant to read, doesn’t outstay its welcome by prolonging Brittania’s silly see-sawing emotions, and Noel is a pretty nice dreamy guy, if tad bland due to the story never having enough room to develop him into something more than a Christmas present for the heroine.
As I’ve mentioned, my only real issue with this one is Britannia’s supposed feelings for Daniel. They never feel real enough to me, and as a result, her affair feels like some contrivance just to get the story going.
I can’t help thinking that perhaps the story would resonate with me better had the heroine been sleeping with the boss for career or monetary purposes all along, and falling for Noel makes her reexamine her priorities in life. That would be more believable than Britannia’s love, or whatever it really is, for Daniel that is supposed to be central to the heroine’s dilemma in this story.
