Business in the Bedroom – Anne Oliver

Business in the Bedroom belongs to the “Modern Heat” imprint of Mills and Boon books – and it certainly does what it says on the tin. It has a modern setting, and there’s certainly some heat present. I wouldn’t, by any means, class it as erotica (but then, it doesn’t say it is erotica!), but it’s not so flowery as some of the other Mills and Boon titles.

This is the story of Abby Seymour, who arrives on the Gold Coast with big plans. She’s rented a beautiful house and plans to locate some premises for her business – a massage parlour. Only her arrival doesn’t go exactly as planned. The house she’s rented was never available – she’s been swindled by an internet con artist, and it’s Zak Forrester to the rescue. He’s the true owner of the property and he takes pity on the beautiful Abby and helps her sort out the mess she’s in.

It soon becomes apparent that there’s a strong attraction between the two. Abby has no problem with this, but Zak does. The woman infuriates him, and he has no wish to get into another relationship, considering how the last one ended. So he tries to keep his distance, which doesn’t quite work. Soon Abby is completely confused – does Zak like her or not!? Never one to be a shrinking violet, she’s determined to find out. Watch out for fireworks…

This is quite a sweet book. It was incredibly short, I found, and for a love story was very brief. I didn’t feel as though there was enough development of the two main characters before the natural conclusion. It seemed like they suddenly realised they were in love and were going to live happily ever after. There wasn’t an awful lot of conflict either. I got the impression the author would have liked to take this further, but were restricted by a word count. Still, it was still a touching story – but it wasn’t as powerful as it could have been.

This is an ideal beach/garden/bath read. It’s easily digestible, doesn’t have too many characters and is contemporary. If you’re looking for chick lit, you’re looking in the wrong place, because Business in the Bedroom doesn’t have the prerequisite humour to carry this title off. It’s purely and simply a modern love story, albeit cut short. So if that’s what you’re after, you’ve found it!

Order from Amazon.co.uk
Order from Amazon.com
Order from BookDepository.co.uk