5+ stars: An absolute gem in a short romance!
5+ stars: An absolute gem in a short romance! Deeply moving.
Heart-moving and insightful, Jessica Hart's PROMOTED: TO WIFE AND MOTHER is a short romance with a big story for modern women readers. This romance features a professional heroine faced with being a caretaker for an aging parent with too little time for the niceties of picture perfect romance, but a woman who might just find love nevertheless.
Perdita James is stuck at one of those inane corporate management workshops. Dressed to the hilt and a bright, intelligent, professional woman, Perdita stands out from the crowd. The workshop labels her as a peacock, and indeed she is a vixen, a leader and a magnet whom no eye can resist. Try as she might to be a dolphin, a likable team player, she cannot hide her magnet professional and personal qualities. When she spots a latecomer to the event, irresponsible but ever so sexy, like a sleek panther, she can't help but open her mouth...and put her foot not far behind. Labeled a panther by the management test, Edward watches and plans. Forceful and innovative, he knows how to revitalize businesses but when it comes to love and family, can he perform a miracle? Widowed with three children and businesses to run, does Edward have time for romance? Labeled a panther, does Edward have the patience needed to capture Perdita's heart?
Forget the silly title of this book, and forget the blurb too. Neither tells anyone the awesome story of love inside the pages of this short romance. Away from the office, family preoccupy their time. Perdita cares for her aging mom and her boss Edward Merrick is a widower with three children. How can these two achieving professionals find love with others depending so much on them? Jessica Hart's PROMOTED: TO WIFE AND MOTHER is a rich story of learning that the message of true love is not some perfect scenario but a life lived with love amongst all the demands of life. As in previous romances, Jessica Hart once again demonstrates her gift for dialogue. The reader feels the hero and heroine getting to know each other, feels love evolving and growing. The unfolding dialogue builds an assurance that this hero and heroine, because they know each other and share, will have an happy ending long after the last page.
Although the title is accurate in keying a potential buyer into the themes of work and family that are inside this book, it gives no clue as to the reading treasure to be found inside. Quite simply, Jessica Hart's romance is a gem! The title word "Promoted" seems to place family above intelligence and career, creating a dichotomy and hierarchy in the roles women have. This is exactly what this book does not do. Indeed, Jessica Hart's romance opens the door, not closing it in a stay-at-home mom versus working mom or either/or choices but about a woman living and loving and respecting herself and her values --- all of them. It's not feminist or non-feminist but about women being full women in the midst of their lives, at all stages of their lives and also having romance. Hats off to Jessica Hart and Harlequin for bringing romance to those women who are caretakers for their parents, something that is happening to more and more women nowadays. Jessica Hart's PROMOTED: TO WIFE AND MOTHER is awesome! A keeper on my shelves and a book I would never lend out for fear of never getting it back.
