The Engagement Project

I really liked this little book and can't wait to read the next in the series. The star of the show is clearly our heroine. Megan is a scientist through and through- she relies on cold hard data, doesn't always understand human interactions and has no clue of her own appeal. She's fun, smart and totally unconventional for a romance heroine. Our hero Gage is pretty boring to be honest. Think your generic playboy rich kid in these novels and you have him. And his name is dumb. My pet peeve with romance novels is that the heroes are rarely actually interesting in their own right. Granted, these are books for women by women (usually) but a good book has strong characters period. The plot is also pretty much par for the course- Gage (seriously, who names their kid Gage?) wants the VP slot at the family business, so he decides to change his image by dating good girl co-worker scientist Megan. They "pretend" to be engaged all the while falling in love. There are some funny and touching scenes along the way. The heroine lifted a mediocre and generic story, she really did. She was the most unconventional thing about the book- uncertain without sliding into annoyingly neurotic and smart as a whip. She was totally believable. Another highlight was the b story (or stories), which I assume is set-up for the next book (or books) in the series. We are introduced to her sister and cousin- they are not as original as Megan, but both characters had a truly well-drawn quality that felt real. These women felt like real people, not cookie-cutter heroines. If you like series romance I HIGHLY recommend this book, and am on the look-out for more from this author!