Leaving her small town behind, Bethany Casse moves to Chicago in search of a new life. Working at a top financial bank brings her into contact with two men who are as different as night and day.
Kent Plack, heir to Plack Industries, has no interest in being with a woman for longer than one night. A spoiled and lazy man-whore, he is completely content with his playboy lifestyle, and Beth is surprised when they form an unlikely friendship.
Brian Burcham, a finance banker, is gorgeous and respectful. A man plucked from Beth’s dreams, he is definite husband material. Unfortunately, Beth has a hard rule against dating coworkers, but Brian is determined to change her mind.
When a deadbeat mother and money problems follow her to Chicago, Beth is offered a solution that could fix everything. Marrying for money seems simple enough, but when lines become blurred, Beth faces difficult choices, making her realize that the easy way out just made her life even harder than before.
Beth's life is going pretty good. She got offered a job right out of college at one of Chicago's top financial bank, which is pretty much all she's ever wanted. Leaving her small town in her rearview mirror, Chicago is her future. Things haven't always been so greta for her though. She was raised by her nana, after her mom left town. The only thing her mom ever gave Beth, was debt, lots and lots of debt. Using her daughter's name for credit cards etc. without her consent. Which is why Beth is so lucky to be in Chicago, her mom can not find her there.
One of the bank's clients is Pack Industries and that is how Beth meets Kent. She can admit he is gorgeous, there is no denying that, but he is also a player. Which isn't the thing that turns her off, the fact that does nothing all day and is actually proud of, is. He won't deny that she is attractive, though definitely not the kind of girl he goes for. Somehow they form the most unlikely friendship ever. The only way she is tolerating some of his behaviour is because of the fact that they are just friends and he can do with his life whatever he wants.
Meanwhile back at her office there is a guy that definitely draws and holds her attention. Brian is everything she ever wanted in a future husband. He is smart, ambitious, sweet and a pretty good kisser. At first she is a bit reluctant, since he is a coworker and she has a rule of not dating people you work with. Luckily Brian can wear her down and gets her to agree to go out with him.
All goes pretty well, until Kent has a bit of a situation going where he needs a wife. That is how the whole pact goes down. He needs help and he's her friend, plus he's willing to pay all her debt. Beth will have to choose and things start to go messy.
All the characters were brilliant. Kent was the perfect egoistical rich player and Beth is a strong confident often funny heroine. There might be a little love triangle going on, though it didn't bother me at all, because everything was so light between Kent and Beth most of the time. I always love it when there is no instant love going on. They are friends, helping each other out and they never expected there to be anything more than that. Though the chemistry between them and I do not mean this sexually, was amazing. The bantering between them was so refreshing.
The ending was no surprise and it isn't the first time I read a book where some rich guy offers a poor girl money to pretend being his wife/girlfriend. Though this went a little different. First of all she is already seeing someone and therefor complicating the whole situation even more. Also the 'rich' guy and 'poor' girl are friends, which usually isn't the case and there are not constantly sparks flying around. It was so refreshing to read. Mia Kayla took something known and gave it a very unique twist. I simply loved it.
The Author
On the weekdays, she can be caught wearing a suit, commuting to her corporate job in downtown Chicago and raising three beautiful munchkins in the suburbs, four if you count the husband.
In her free time she loves reading romance novels, jamming to boy bands, catching up on celebrity gossip and designing flowers for weddings.
Most of the time, she can be caught on the train with her nose in a book sporting a cheeky grin because the main characters finally get their happily-ever-after at the end.
She loves reading about happy endings but has more fun writing them.
Thanks for your review and I'm glad you enjoyed Beth's story ;)
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome :) It was an absolute pleasure to read!
Delete