Working Arrangements

Working Arrangements
Ellen Wolf
ebook
Published August 16th 2011

Laura Martin has every reason to be absolutely happy. After four lonely years following the tragic accident that took the life of her fiancé, Joshua, she is finally ready to embark on a new journey, accepting a marriage proposal.The only obstacle in the way of her happiness comes in the person of Luke Manning, her boss and Joshua’s life long best friend. Luke rejects her engagement for more than one reason.

Torn and unable to shake her opinion of her boss as a brilliant yet unreliable womanizer, Laura goes ahead with her engagement party, choosing safety and predictability in her life.

Only the evening goes terribly wrong ...

I must have been in a vulnerable situation of needing to be romanced when I picked this one up because it got to me- good and quick.

This poor book has gotten a number of 1 star ratings from Goodreads. Mostly, of which, for being too similar to In Bed With the Boss by Susan Napier. Well, I've never read that (or anything by Napier) so I didn't give a damn about the comparison. On its own, all by it's lonesome, I loved it!

The whole 'guy on a mission, fed up with the fried role' really worked for Luke. Being a 'Manning' didn't hurt him either. ;) It was all the numbskull things he did that fed into Laura's illusion of him being a player with an ever revolving parade of women that went against him. The man was truly his own worst enemy.

And Laura... well, there's an entire world going on around her that she's oblivious to. Another woman who needs to have it spelled out in block text to understand when a man's got it bad for her. Seven years, damn it!! Everybody else could see the blinking lights but oh no, Laura stayed in her own little cocoon, being cheated on, manipulated, and walked over and through.

Okay, sure... is it an altogether original thought? No. (What contemporary romance is?) Is it predictable? ...Yeah. (What contemporary romance isn't?) But does it deserve one single freaking star? NO.

4 out of 5 stars from me. All on my own, little lonesome me.