Review: A very emotional and moving love story...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2012
This book intrigued me right away. Like Claire, I too, was curious as to what her boss and CEO of the company, Nick Callahan, had in store for her. And just like Claire; I thought the assignment he gave her was just a front for what he really wanted from her, and in the end we were both right. It was all a front, plain and simple. What he really wanted from her was a marriage of convenience only. Sure he wanted all the perks that a marriage brings such as sex, children, and a life companion. What he didn't want was any emotional ties, or having to explain his where abouts to her. Basically he wanted a loveless marriage, one that held no emotional ties, none what so ever.Claire Kendrick was a very strong woman with lots of smarts. She never intended to get married or have children. Her first priority was her mother. Between seeing that her mother was well cared for and her demanding job, she didn't have much time left over for dating or many other normal activities. And besides all that...who in the world would want to take on and share all the expenses and responsibilities she had anyway? She couldn't even think about getting involved with someone right now, and maybe she never would.Nick doesn't come right out and proposition Claire right away. No he makes up this story about wanting her to write a story about him for the new highly publicized magazine called "THE CEO WORLD". What doesn't make sense to her is the way he drags her from place to place wining and dining her, yet she is not allowed to ask him any personal questions during those outings. And when she was allowed to ask questions, instead of answering them, he found ways to turn the questions back on her.But no matter how suspicious she became about his true motives, she actually found herself falling for the man. After all...he had treated her very well, and he didn't seem to be as ruthless as she'd first thought he was.That is until......On the last night that they were in New Orleans on business, he confesses the magazine article was all a big sham, and then he tells he what he really wanted from her. Needless to say, she was furious at being lied too, and flabbergasted that he would even think that she'd actually agree to such an outrageous proposition in the first place.After that night things become very strained between the two of them, but Nick is not willing to give up. It's just not his style. After all...he didn't get to where he was in life by giving up.Things start to take a turn for the worse for Claire too. The nursing home where her mother was being taken care of decided to drastically increase the monthly fees, then her car breaks down and needs some major repairs. And if that wasn't enough, then she gets a call from her mother's nurse saying that her mother is distraught, because her t.v. went on the blink and they can't seem to get her calmed down. And the biggest hurdle in all of this, is that her savings account is all but completely gone.There is only one solution to all her problems....and that would be to accept Nick's marriage proposal.It would have been a fantasy, a dream come true, a Cinderella story --- except for one oversight. Could Claire exist in a marriage of convenience? What kind of marriage would it be . . . without love?I have read a lot of stories containing 'Marriages of Convenience', but most of the time those woman were weak and needy. That's not the case in this story though, far from it actually. I think that's why I liked this story so much. I love to read stories, where the female characters are smart and strong willed.  And this story had that, so it made me quite happy.Would I recommend this book? Yes, most definitely!