This book was recommended to me by one of Harlequin's publicists when I inquired about another title, so I was skeptical. It's the third in a series about Dallas Billionaires and by an author I'd never tried, so I wasn't sure how jumping into the series with this book would go.
I'm happy to say that this book stands alone quite well and it was the fake-marriage fluff I needed when my brain was tired from starting a new job.
Stef made the mistake of sleeping with a jerk a while back, and now he's running against her brother for Mayor of Dallas. He's also friends with a gossip columnist, so he's convinced the world that he and Stef are getting married. Stef feels like a colossal f-up, so she hatches a plan to get married to someone else and prove Blake (the jerk) wrong.
Enter Emmett, her brother's Head of Security for the last decade. Emmett grew up poor, with a father wrecked by the death of Emmett's mother and sister. He feels like an outsider among the wealthy Fergusons, but he agrees to Stef's fake-marriage plan. As long as they don't fall in love, everything will be fine... right?
I assumed I'd hate the family because they're billionaires, but I was able to ignore a lot about the underpinnings of a wealthy oil family and the ways in which they earn/keep their fortune. Lemmon also humanizes Stef in a number of ways that made her a much deeper character than the socialite caricature she could have been.
Stef and Emmett have great chemistry and this was a quick Christmas read without too much angst. Perfect for a lazy winter evening.
Suzanne received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
