Life In The Spotlight

 

So, obviously, I came back to the romance genre.  I swear, I do read other genres.  This is a brand-new author to me, Jennifer Hayward, and I'll admit, I've always been a sucker for an Italian protagonist.

Characters: Jensen Davis, Cristiano Vitale.

Premise: A man looking to rebrand his grandfather's fashion house and bring it into the twenty-first century takes a gamble on a model who has a reputation for partying.

It's the classic story, man inherits a business from a much-loved relative and wants to make it relative to the present while honoring their legacy and takes a gamble on a maverick employee, resulting in them falling for one another.  This time, it's Cristiano Vitale wanting to make a name for himself while honoring his grandfather who raised him after the death of his parents and in his mind, this includes being very on top of things, dedicating all of his time to the work, and not really making time for a social life.  Which, yeah okay, admirable, but dude!  Being a Type A sort of guy is going to lead you to an early grave.  Breathe a little, yeah?

This of course is where Jensen Davis comes in.  At the start of tale, she's already in Cristiano's employ, so her "wild behavior" is his business and he goes and fetches her---there is really no other way to word that since it's basically what he does 😛----and gives her a whole bunch of rules to follow and she's understandably upset because contrary to what everyone thinks, it's not Jensen partying, drinking, and doing drugs, but her mother while Jensen's been cleaning up after her for at least two years by the story's timeline.  Which, okay, yeah, I get, you wanna take care of your mother, give her a chance to get on her own two feet, but sometimes you just gotta wash your hands of people, no matter how hard it may be.

Of course, they start to fall for each other, and I'll admit, I found their differing views/takes on love quite interesting. Cristiano's afraid of love because his parents loved each other so deeply that his mother died of a broken heart shortly after his father passed from a car crash the couple had been in and Jensen watched her mother spiral after getting divorced as well as had a boy break up with her because he couldn't handle being in the spotlight of her mother's reality t.v. show.  Two different scenarios, but both are equally devastating and I can see how each situation could affect a person.  So with those backgrounds, it's no wonder that they were both hesitant to start something, but though they soon gave in to their passion.

Then of course comes the complications: Cristiano's family wants him to marry someone of their choosing, a woman named Alessandra, who on paper seems perfect for Cristiano, and they had even tried dating for a while, but Cristiano just ended up not feeling it, which, very fair, and Jensen continually has to take care of her mother to the detriment of her own career, such as when she's forced to collect her mother from a party where she's completely sauced and off her meds, resulting in her missing an important show, which understandably ticks off Cristiano and he really lays into Jensen, telling her that they're over and that they're done, unknowingly playing on her fears of rejection.  Look, if I thought someone was flaking on me, I'd be miffed too.  

But of course, Cristiano doesn't know about Jensen's struggles with her mother or that Alessandra waltzed into his home and basically told Jensen that she was nothing but a fling to Cristiano, which begs the question though: how did Alessandra get a key to Cristiano's house?  Did he give her a key during their prior relationship and just never ask for it back, or did his family give her carte blanche since they expected them to marry?  Do these people have no sense of self-preservation?  What happens years down the line if they divorce and she turns into a total loony tunes?  I mean, she's already kind of there with the whole not listening to Cristiano about being broken up thing.  Not really a viable candidate for marriage in my opinion, but I digress.  Naturally, Alessandra reveals that she was in Cristiano's house, had met Jensen, and told her that she was just the fling and then seemed surprised when Cristiano laid into her, which what did you expect, lady?  For him to applaud you?  After this, he goes to find Jensen and proposes to her because he's realized that she's the love of his life and because she's realized the same thing, she says yes.

As plotlines go, it's not really that special, it didn't really wow me, though it was still enjoyable.  The Harlequin Presents stories aren't usually that long, running from eight to eleven chapters, so things do get resolved even quicker than in most books and usually I don't mind that, but I feel like this particular story could've benefitted from longer chapters as well as more scenes between the two characters and their families. While I won't be keeping the book in my own library, I give the story a 4.1/2.