A good fast read for summer. It's light heart-ed and fun but not very heavy on the plot.
PI Grady Sullivan and sham heiress Annie Kendall lob jokes back and forth while trying to stop someone who wants to kill manipulative toilet-paper billionaire Archie PeeversAand that's just one of several disconcerting elements in Michaels's latest contemporary romance (following Can't Take My Eyes Off of You). In order to take the heat off himself and rile his would-be-assassin into revealing his or her identity, Archie hires Annie to pretend to be his long-lost illegitimate granddaughter and engages Grady to protect her. Although Grady and Annie fan the flames of their attraction while battling over whether they're equal partners in the investigation, there's no real competition among the rest of the crew at the Peevers mansion and little doubt that Grady and Annie will end up together. Michaels deftly conceals the identity of Annie's mysterious confidant, "Poppy," until the end, and Archie's quirky, larcenous butler Dickens garnishes every scene with his sharp wit. However, Grady's sloppy investigative technique (consisting mainly of Internet searches) and Annie's sudden "I did it for the Kidney Foundation" explanation for her heiress role-playing are only a few of the weaknesses that undermine this light romp.
To know Grady Sullivan is to love him...unless you're Annie Kendall. In that case, you absolutely can't stand the man. After all, smart, sassy Annie is here at Peevers Manor trying to prove she's the long-lost illegitimate granddaughter of a foul-tempered toilet paper tycoon. How's a girl supposed to focus on charming her way into an ornery old coot's will with this devilishly handsome bodyguard breathing down her neck-and filling her head with inappropriate impulses while he's at it?
As noble protector of the lovely, bathroom tissue heiress, Grady has his work cut out for him. He can't let Annie out of his sight, let alone get her off his mind. Okay, maybe a gloomy old mansion crawling with unscrupulous-even murderous-gold-digging relatives and servants isn't the perfect place to woo a woman. All that matters is that Grady's smitten enough to put everything on the line for her, including his live and his precious bachelorhood!
