My rating of Tempted by Her Innocent Kiss by Maya Banks: 3 of 5 stars
This “married-for-a-business-deal” novel has its moments, but overall I felt let down by the heroine.
As part of a business deal, wealthy CEO Devon strikes a deal with another CEO: he will woo and marry the man’s daughter Ashley in order to run both businesses. It’s the kind of plot that usually makes me cringe, but I appreciated the fact that Devon actually feels guilty for his part in the deception instead of being the usual ruthless jackass.
What bothered me about this novel was the heroine. Not many pages are devoted to letting the reader know the real Ashley before she finds out about the deception and becomes despondent. She’s apparently supposed to come across as exuberant and thrilled by life, but to me she just seemed, well, a bit simple. At times I felt like I was reading about a grown man manipulating a woman with the mental age of a ten year old, which is creepy.
When Ashley does discover the deception, she finally starts to seem like a grown woman. She’s beside herself and begins getting regular migranes. She tells herself that she has a choice between leaving Devon or trying to become the sedate, mature woman he wants so he’ll fall in love with her. Her choice made me shake my head in despair.
It takes Devon a while to realize what the problem is:
She hadn’t cleaned and organized their apartment because she felt like it. She’d eradicated every hint of her presence there because she’d thought that’s what he wanted. She’d tried to become this image of the perfect wife to please him. He himself had thought he wanted her to.
This, too, made me cringe. She tried to eradicate her presence from the apartment because that’s how she thought she could be the wife he wanted: by being invisible. I just wanted to shout at her to grow a pair.
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This was the first Maya Banks novel I’ve read. Can you recommend others? What are your favorite Maya Banks books?
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i haven’t read anything by her yet but someone recommended to me her highlander series
I love Maya’s books and I can’t wait to read it.
Maya Banks’ stories usually do not work for me. Her heros can be so over the top Alpha. And the women often, as you so rightly put it, “need to grow a pair”. But I did enjoy “The Darkest Hour”, the first book in her KGI series. I had some complaints (for instance, the heroine has a name but nearly every male in the book called her “baby” or “sweetheart” or some other endearment. ALL THE TIME!) but overall I was entertained for an afternoon by the story.
I’ve read a couple of her books, but never felt like they were memorable in any way beyond the covers. Enticed by His Forgotten Lover was one book that was okay but I couldn’t decide if the hero was a complete douche or a reformed Alpha. It drove me nuts.
I’m a fan of Maya’s erotic romances and romantic suspenses, but haven’t tried her category romances.
Which Maya Banks book is your favorite?