Genre: Romantic Comedy
~Synopsis~
Answer: practically impossible. It turns out that no wake-up call company in the world will take him on as a client. They’ve all had enough of his surly personality.
So in an effort not to lose my job, I secretly start making the calls myself, every day at 4:30 am sharp. OMG yes you read that right—four freaking thirty in the morning.
Confession: I’m not the nicest wake-up-call girl at that hour. Hello! Who wakes up before the roosters are even crowing? Luckily he doesn’t seem to mind my get-your-ass-out-of-bed attitude.
Day by day we’re becoming closer, and the calls start turning hot, like pay-by-the-minute hot and oh-so-wild. Snuggled under the covers with the moonlight streaming in the windows, we divulge our secrets to each other, but the one thing that he can never find out is that the sexy vixen who wakes him up every morning is just the lowly assistant who wears frumpy dresses. I can only imagine his disappointment.
Now he wants to take me out on a date and he’s scouring Manhattan to find me. He’s an overachieving billionaire bent on a mission. How much longer can I keep up this charade?
~Book Review~
4.25 Stars
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Cooper, 27, only has to stick out her new
job for 30 days to earn the sign-on bonus she desperately needs. Then she can escape the strange world of Vossameer
Inc. and its elusive Oz like owner.
“Everyone here is obsessed with Mr. Drummond. They seem to regard him the way the ancient regarded gods that controlled the weather and plagues.”
Theo Drummond is preoccupied with cracking the chemical
solution to another life-saving medical invention. That is till he’s preoccupied
with his new wake-up caller.
“‘Wake up, motherfucker’”
Lizzie has spirit, and she’s determined to be self sufficient.
After being screwed over in her last relationship, she’s weary of making the same
mistake. That doesn’t stop her though from taking some wild risks that fuel the
comedic element in this romcom.
“I had phone sex with my boss at 4:30 in the morning and now I’m in a prairie dress impersonating a wake-up-call service.”
Theo rocks the aloof and surly CEO image in the opening
chapters from Lizzie’s POV, but once the story reaches his perspective it’s
clear he has integrity and determination. Their opposites attract romance has
just the right amount of heart and depth.
“In chemistry, just the smallest adjustment—the addition of one atom—can be the difference between inertness and an explosion. We have that something. We really are combustible.”
Oh and there’s their sexual chemistry too!
“It’s just by the sheer backward recitations of the periodic table that I’m not losing it like a schoolboy at first fuck. But I’m not making it longer just for myself. I love concentrating on her pleasure. I could do it forever.”
Told via Lizzie and Theo’s first person POVs, the narrative
is witty and entertaining, and the premise as it played out gave me quite a few
out-loud chuckles. Lizzie’s descriptions of the company and employees in the
opening chapters were colorful and engaging. I did, however, pause at several points and
consider contracting the Dragusha brothers to handle Sasha. ;-)
But for the
most part the story only left me craving one thing…. I’ll be in the kitchen
baking before I start my next book.
~Excerpt~
Lizzie hasn’t even met Mr. Drummond yet, but she can already tell you all about him:
I’ve never met the notorious Mr. Drummond, but evidence of his assholery is all around.
The employees here are fearful, as though they’re expecting to be fired at any moment, or maybe beheaded. The environment is sleek gray marble and steel, like an elegant and slightly futuristic prison. No outside decorations are allowed, not even in the deepest recesses of your cubicle.
Even the outside of the building is unforgiving—a mod gray concrete bunker with rectangular windows arranged in straight rows. A study in harsh geometry.
Mr. Drummond doesn’t like decorations, my manager Sasha told me once. Vossameer is about lifesaving solutions, not party streamers.
I’d brought a giant tub of home-baked frosted cookies to share my second day, and people nearly fell out of their chairs. It turns out we can’t bring treats to share. Ever.
This is a workplace, not a potluck, Sasha said.
I’ve gotten good at sensing the jerky DNA of Mr. Drummond’s statements, and I’m pretty sure that was one of them. Same with the party streamers comment. It’s something about the sheer jerkiness of it, and also, how Sasha changes her voice to sound breathless and intense.
Everyone here is obsessed with Mr. Drummond. They seem to regard him the way the ancients regarded the gods that controlled the weather and plagues. Angry and vengeful, yet glorious. Never to be spoken ill of.
Also, nobody talks about Mr. Drummond without using the word “amazing” at least once. Maybe that’s in the employee manual somewhere.
Sasha’s obsession goes way further—more into awestruck love territory.
She speaks his name like she’s whispering hallowed secrets to the Greek oracles atop Mount Olympus—Mr. Drummond this, Mr. Drummond that. Amazing Mr. Drummond.
“Mr. Drummond is not the most sociable person in the world,” Sasha breathlessly informed me the day I started. “He has extremely high standards—for himself and for his employees—but his amazing breakthroughs save lives every day. The work we do to support him makes that possible.” And then she’d looked me deeply in the eyes and said, This is the most important job you’ll ever have.
I’d just nodded while making a mental note to stay away from any brightly colored liquid.
Annika Martin loves fun, dirty stories, hot heroes, and wild, dramatic everything. She enjoys hanging out in Minneapolis coffee shops with her writer husband, and also likes birdwatching at her bird feeder alongside her two stunningly photogenic cats, especially when she should be writing. She’s heavy into running, music, saving the planet, taking long baths, and consuming chocolate suckers. She’s worked a surprisingly large number of waitressing jobs, and has also worked in a plastics factory and the advertising trenches; her garden is total bee-friendly madness and her most unfavorite word is nosh or possibly fob. A NYT bestselling author, she has also written as RITA award-winning author Carolyn Crane.
No comments:
Post a Comment