The Boss's Bedroom Agenda

Nicola Marsh is a new author for me in the Harlequin Presents series, and I have to say this is a pleasant and steamy introduction for me. Her exciting and take charge style of heroine is refreshing and not something you see much of in the Harlequin Presents series, Beth the heroine is not of the cookie cutter variety and Aidan the hero is an alpha-male with some common sense and not of the he-man sort that can be over barring at times and at other times down right annoying. Beth was the kind of person that could be a friend, sister, cousin, best friend of any woman who reads this story or the woman herself, she is a girly girl who loves fabulous shoes, chocolate and loves any excuse to shop whether it be for herself or to help a girlfriend get a hot makeover for a night out on the town. To some readers at first she may seem a little and a bit of a bubble head, but as the story progresses she soon disabuses you of that notion. She is intelligent to boot, sassy, funny and straight forward, knowing what she wants and not afraid to go out and pursue her desires at hell bent for leather speed. She is also caring, loving and a bit quirky at times, but all these things combine to make a great person. Aidan the hero is a mixture of sexy and brainy he never once comes off as over barring, arrogant or just unlikeable, he's the kind of guy that everyone one would want to meet and wishes she could patent him. Aidan was likable from the start, yes he is gorgeous and successful, but he's approachable and not filled with his own importance, which is also another refreshing change in this book. This book is so un-Harlequin in so many ways; I had to keep checking the cover every now and again to make sure. For a change the characters talk like regular adults not in a melodrama and low and behold, Beth is the one to openly acknowledge the physical attraction between her and Aidan, she puts all the cards on the table and basically propositions him to start a no-strings attached affair. Aidan who is equal parts intrigued, attracted and fascinated by Beth's blunt, sassy, witty and intelligent personality, not to mention he's digging her "shoe game" and gives her the nickname of "Fancy Feet" and she in turn called him "Professor". I must admit I brought this book back in February and let it sit in my house for nearly a month because I thought it was going to be one of those harlequins's "Ugly duckling has a crush on the boss, and gets turned into a swan finally to get noticed by the boss" type of office romance I was so wrong, its nothing like that! If you like good dialogue likable characters an even paced storyline I would definitely recommend this book. I read it in a few hours and look forward to other books by this author. Happy Reading.