This book came out long before the billionaire craze that exploded in the romance genre as a result of the 50 Shades success. While I enjoyed the book when I read it (circa 2003-2004) and still remember the story, the story does not hold a place on my keeper shelf. I had a hard time deciding on a star rating and finally settled on 3 stars. This is book one in the Lost Hearts series, and I have no interest in reading the other books.
Summary from author's website:
Mystery and misery scar their young lives. Three sisters and their foster brother are torn apart by tragedy and scattered across the country to grow up alone…
Hope Prescott lives in Boston, far from the warm, southern home she recalls. She works hard with one goal in mind—finding her long-lost siblings. Yet her job at the answering service and her own loving nature creates a family of friends, people she knows only by their voices. She especially likes Griswald, gruff old butler for mysterious, wealthy Zack Givens.
Meeting Griswald is a shock; he is neither gruff nor old, but a powerful, handsome man. In fact, he is Zack Givens, mysterious, cold, heartless—and charmed by the artless young woman who brings him chicken soup, treats him like a friend…and falls in love with the humble man she imagines him to be. When she discovers Zack’s secret and faces his betrayal, she leaves without a backward glance. Can Zack solve the mystery that haunts Hope’s past to prove their futures lie together?
I am going with a list type of review.
What I liked:
1. Hope was a decent heroine; there were moments of Mary Sue, but overall she was an ordinary woman trying to better herself through work and education. She didn't have much in material wealth, but had strong relationships with those around her. She does no slut/women shame, as she is focused on her life and finding her siblings.
2. The commentary, through Hope's experiences, about the foster care system. I can see if you work within the system or as an outside agency that deals with the system you can be a little offended by the commentary. However, so much of Hope's motivation for her thoughts and deeds were affected by the system.
3. The commentary on socio-economic class difference. Unlike the billionaire romances of today, Hope was not jealous nor disdainful of Zack's wealth; she just didn't aspire to those heights. She just wanted to make enough money to live comfortably and help pay expenses in finding her siblings.
3. Zack's parents. They were not down with his plan to disguise himself as a humble butler when he was wooing Hope, and his mother in particular had not problem telling her son he was an idiot for pulling this stunt. When Hope finds out the secret and dumps Zack's sorry ass, his mother (who honestly loves her son and understands his desire to find a woman to love that isn't after his money) basically tells Zack that Hope dumped him because he lied, not that he had money. Go Mom.
4. The sex was emotional and not just stuck in there. I am not one for sex scenes, but I read every word of the scene. The one thing Zack does right is wait until Hope was ready to take their relationship to the next level. If you like your sex really steamy or erotic, this scene will seem pretty vanilla. What it lacks in acrobatics it makes up for in emotions.
What I did not like:
1. Zack. It makes it hard for a reader to root for a couple when one half of that couple sucks. Zack is a woe-is-me, women-only-love-me-for-my-money poor little rich boy. He is emotionally manipulative, even in the end during the groveling scene when he should have begged Hope's forgiveness. Hope could have done so much better than this ass.
2. That groveling scene sucked. Groveling included kidnapping Hope (with the help of her employer no less), using grandma and mom to do the heavy lifting and plead on Zack's behalf, and Zack being passive-aggressive and manipulative in his grovel. Hope should have ran the moment she had a chance and never looked back. Give grandma and mom credit - their pleas include acknowledging that Zack's plan was stupid from the get-go.
3. Billionaire saves the day! Doesn't matter that Hope spent years looking for her siblings while holding down several jobs and going to college, a couple of dollars from dear old rich Zack and low and behold, he finds her brother -- sequel bait to top it all off. Spare me.
Overall, an average read with a heroine who is too good for Richie Rich. 3/5 stars.
6
1