Review: Fast-paced and intriguing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 24, 2013
When your entire childhood is based upon lies and misinformation, revenge can become more than a fantasy...At 21, Emily Anderson applied for an entry-level job in the marketing department at Hartmann Enterprises with one goal in mind, an opportunity for revenge against billionaire CEO Daniel Hartmann. Their fathers had once been business partners, but Daniel Hartmann bankrupted that company and saw Emily's father in prison in his own quest for revenge. But Daniel started over and built Hartmann Enterprises from nothing, and he likely doesn't remember that young child who had to live with her father's shame and bitterness for more than ten years. Emily only needs to get close to Daniel, find his Achilles' heel and exploit it, and she's got all summer to do it, even if it means sharing his bed.Daniel Hartmann knows exactly who Emily is and wastes no time in joining her game. There's a mutual attraction and desire between them, despite their ten year age difference, and he's not afraid to use his position to discover Emily's secret motivations, while enjoying her in his bed. But despite Daniel and Emily both taking care to guard their hearts, the game changes as the weeks pass and, with both their hearts in jeopardy, Daniel manipulates the game so that he can end it with his heart intact. Yet, the past isn't what Emily's father led her to believe and Daniel's manipulative end to the game, which is a defense mechanism for him, is just one more betrayal in Emily's eyes.Told in first person from Emily's POV, Sabrina Darby has written a fast-paced read that features a young heroine of insightful maturity and poise and a handsome older hero who seldom shows his true persona to those within the society he inhabits. While revenge against a wealthy man is a favorite romance novel plot, Emily's youth provides a freshness that contrasts well with Daniel's alpha male tendencies and jaded man of the world perspective. Ms. Darby cleverly reveals bit and pieces of Daniel in action and dialogue that hides and reveals just enough to make him an intriguing mystery that needs to be solved by both the heroine and the reader. A writer of Regency romance, this is the author's first foray into contemporary romance, and fans of her Regencies will be sure to appreciate her ability to excel at both sub-genres.Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com