Julz's Jewels

Don’tcha just hate when you dig up old bones that should’ve stayed buried, like that old boyfriend...or that book you really liked. Being someone who can’t resist a good hello, (consequences be damned!) I sought this one out because I had such good memories (the book, not the boyfriend). I’ve discovered that I was certainly easy to please. Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually an ok story, just not the 5 star wonder that I remember. It’s just absolutely loaded with minute details of running various businesses and how someone stays busy when their hero tries to keep them thoroughly dumped while running around being rubbed on by her whorey stepmother, (who the H thinks is just so much fun!) Actual H&h time runs about 10 pages.

To give some background, this story is about an heiress of a movie producer who inherits a baseball team and other über money making businesses (with which we share in the education how each one is run). So she’s totally loaded and the boss of our hard-to-get baseball pitching hero. He has the hots for the h but openly admits that he would not be able to handle the hit (heh! pun) to his ego that being married to a muey moneyed mogul who calls all the shots would inflict (athletes are egomaniacs, after all). Makes sense, yes? So we’re witness to numerous scenes of his dark brooding while she shameless chases him and gets slammed with his pissy reaction afterwards. After a while, I found myself thinking “can’t you take a hint?” and “don’t you have any pride?” Yeah, it was embarrassing.

Added to that was the fact that the hero had screwed the stepmother a few years back (while she was married to her father! Can you say CHEATER‽ ) but that was ok because he was just a young kid new to fame and the h’s father forgave him (and the stepmother since daddy was a cheater too). That also supposedly made it ok that the H still ran around with the step-skank and was frequently privy to her feline ministrations even though “there was nothing between them.” Ah, the humor.

Of course, our determined H breaks down in the end while exerting his manliness to make sure the h knows who’s boss (and we’re supposed to be so turned on by his need for domination. Actually, that was kinda hot. I like my storybook heroes alpha ;D).

But did they really reach their HEA? In my opinion, theirs is a HFN at best, because I think all those issues that he was so insightful to recognize are still valid and will be making a reappearance in their future.

I would recommend this for those who like baseball and would find all those idiosyncrasies of running a league fascinating. This would also appeal to those who love a slooooow burn with a reluctant alpha hero who has inappropriate “friendships” with stepmothers. Angsty fun!