Holly‘s review of Heartstrings and Diamond Rings by Jane Graves.
HE’S THE MAN OF HER DREAMS . . .
In a world full of frogs, Alison Carter is determined to find her prince. Maybe her dating past is more Titanic than Love Boat, but she’s seen enough happy marriages to know that true love is possible. No matter what, she won’t give up on happily-ever-after. If she can’t find Mr. Right, she’ll simply hire someone who can.
SHE JUST DOESN’T KNOW IT YET
When Brandon Scott inherits a successful matchmaking business, he thinks his prayers have been answered. Set up a few lonely ladies, collect the fee, how hard can it be? No one needs to know he’s not really a professional matchmaker-especially not his first client, the beautiful, spirited Alison. Soon he’s falling for her-and her dreams of kids and carpools. But Alison is getting close to figuring out his secret, and if she learns he’s deceived her too, she’ll walk right out the door, taking Brandon’s heart with her.
This was a well written contemporary romance with a silly plot. Unfortunately I didn’t understand the desperation of the heroine to get married and start a family, so the storyline fell flat for me. I did enjoy parts of the story and the characters away from the plot. Sadly there wasn’t a lot that didn’t center around her need to find a man.
Alison thinks her boyfriend of several months is getting ready to propose marriage. Instead he proposes a threesome with her best friend. Disgusted and disillusioned, Alison decides to try a matchmaker to find her the man of her dreams. She’s 30 and her biological clock isn’t just ticking, it’s about to blow up. She’s running out of time. When she arrives at the office of what she expects to be a kindly old woman, she instead finds that the woman has passed away and her grandson is taking over the business. She’s skeptical, but he talks her into signing up with him.
Brandon isn’t really interested in taking over his grandmother’s matchmaking business. He has a line on a construction deal and wants to use the matchmaking as a way to raise the capital he needs for that. As soon as he has his portion required for the investment, he plans to cut and run. Not that he’s telling Alison that. He figures it can’t be too hard to find her a man, especially with all his grandmother’s files at his disposal.
He didn’t plan on feeling an increasing attraction to her. The more time he spends with her, the more he realizes he could be just the man she’s looking for…if only his secret wasn’t hovering in the background, casting a shadow over them both.
Although there were some amusing scenes involving Alison’s awful dates, as the story wore on and they became increasingly over the top, I started to get impatient. Not only with the story, but with Alison herself. She was a bright, intelligent woman. She had a strong career, close friends and a wonderful relationship with her father. While I understood her desire to have a husband and children, I couldn’t understand the level of her desperation. 30 is still young. She had plenty of time to find someone and get married. You would have thought she was 40 the way she carried on.
The stink of her desperation tainted the entire story for me. Even the sweet, amusing scenes between her and Brandon smelled in the end, because her desire for a wedding ring and a baby overshadowed their love story. Even his plotting behind her back to take off for parts unknown started looking good in the face of her desperate need for a man.
Still, I did believe in the HEA in the end, and much of the story amused me. I’m going to give this a 3.5 and chalk it up to the premise not being my cuppa.
3.5 out of 5
This book is available from Forever. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
The story sounds promising. If it doesn’t turn out to be an excellent read, I’m pretty sure it will keep me entertained. I think the premise is current, too. More and more people are turning to third parties to make love connections.