Header PromotionA Grand Illusion by Maura McGiveny (HP 674)
Jenna Caldwell is a girl with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, possibly caused by her parents' deaths and a promise she made to her mother to take car of her younger sister Meg. So when Meg got pregnant, Jenna talked her into having the baby and is now being forced to admit that Meg was telling the truth when she said she had no maternal instincts and that the baby was Jenna's now – Meg's even altered the birth certificate to show Jenna's name! Dealing with this disappointment, a colic-y baby, and knowing that she's no beauty like her sister has made Jenna a bit subdued, but she gives her all and acts most professionally at work, prompting her boss to promote her when the company is bought out.
Only her new boss is none other than Royce Drummond, a playboy type Meg has been dating and the older brother of the baby's married father! Jenna is now the one responsible for fixing Royce's dinner dates and sending different coloured roses to who she terms his "conquests" so when he proposes to marry her, plain Jenna, she's shocked! She's not going to give in and agree when he tells her its for the good of his younger siblings is she?
I generally like this sort of plot, with the secrets and misunderstandings and anguished characters, but it didn't really work for me here. For one thing, Royce didn't act like a professional businessman – the way he seemed to constantly be "entertaining" models in his office or sending out roses and making dinner dates made me wonder how on earth anyone could respect him as a businessman. I was sure there was a misunderstanding somewhere, but the roses and woman were never explained – well, with one exception where Royce does say the reservation wasn't for him but another man in the company but qualifies it with "You're my wife now but that doesn't mean I'll start explaining my actions to you." Lovely – apart from being his wife she's also his assistant, what if she sent some note from him with the roses? I've worked with a boss who refuses to tell you where he is or with who when you are supposed to be answering his phones – it's not fun, and it doesn't give me high hopes for either their professional or personal relationships. He thinks Jenna has a low opinion of him when she thinks he's dating other women, but he himself said he would be seeing other women but being "discrete" during their marriage, and that wasn't resolved either.
One character I did really like here was Royce's little brother Adam who immediately understands why Jenna is reluctant to accept the proposal when he sees the stack of roses she's had to order for Royce in one month. The other thing I liked was Jenna's ironic line "The women who write them [romance novels] ought to be shot for filling up women's heads with such nonsense" - :p
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