Review: Sleaze, Corruption and Cheating
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2014
Ah - our main  characters. First, we have Ryan who comes across, at times, as a rube but at all times very immature and nave. He is engaged to his girlfriend of over six years, begins an affair with his male boss that goes on for months, yet does not consider himself gay - in spite of the fact that he has had numerous homosexual experiences in his past. Apparently his definition of gay and mine vary. Second we have the boss, Joseph, who comes across as cold, narcissistic, and manipulative.  Oh, and he's a liar also as well as having a  past that is less than stellar. I never saw him express any romantic feelings towards Ryan except perhaps some near the end of the story - but then again, being cold, narcissistic, and manipulative, that might not really have been his heart speaking. So we have the two MCs who are thoroughly unlikeable.Gosh, can this get any better? Of course it can - we have supporting characters who commit insurance fraud and insider trading. Oh, there is also the little issue of an adult male having underage sex with a 16-year old boy. About 2/3 of the way through this book I felt like taking a shower to rid myself of all the dirt - the last third did nothing to ameliorate those feelings.The writing wasn't bad although the author seemed to be not really knowledgeable as to actual corporate operations. She portrayed a multimillion corporation with thousands of employees as essentially being run like a mom-and-pop operation; she had the CEO urging employees to buy stock in "part of the company" (sorry, Ms. Bond, when you buy stock in a company, it is for the entire company); and although the company had to shut down (just) a branch of the business, she kept saying the business had crashed/failed - when, in fact, it was still an ongoing enterprise. And basically, I don't think she had a good grasp on 401(k) plans and investment activities either.There were some notable errors/inconsistencies which a good editor would have corrected. At one point, a group of former employees who were suing the company was referred to as the McNeil Industries Group. Later, the company itself was referred to as the McNeil Industries Group - which made it sound like the plaintiff(s) and the defendant were one in the same!  At another point, a character had a daughter who was beginning her senior year in high school yet a page or so later, this same daughter had to drop out of Notre Dame!As most every review will mention - there is cheating in this story. Normally, this does not bother me if it is a one or two off situation. In this story, however, Ryan was living with Daisy, his fiancée, while having a long term affair with his boss - this did bother me - a whole lot.  As a matter of fact, on the day that Ryan and Daisy moved into their new uptown, upscale apartment (procured by Joseph), Ryan leaves her to unpack so he can run to Joseph's place for a quickie. Sordid much?The story ended abruptly with no clear cut resolution for neither the characters nor the storyline and my guess is, there will be a sequel. But honestly, even if Cinderella's godmother was to wave her magic wand over the sequel, no way can I imagine a believable HEA for this "romance". Ryan needs to grow a pair and Joseph, well, I would never trust him further than I could throw him. I won't be reading a sequel.