Next to the requisite HEA ending, it is probably the defining characteristic of most romance novels that there be some sort of conflict between the protagonists. Sometimes this conflict is internal, sometimes external, and sometimes a little of each, but nevertheless, it is always there. Without that conflict, what you have is just a story of two well-adjusted people meeting and falling in love and becoming happier, which unfortunately is not terribly interesting. Sadly, such is the case in Diana Garcia’s Help Wanted. I say sadly, because other than the lack of any discernible conflict, this story had few other flaws, and had genuinely likable characters who I wanted to see get together. I just didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t, and so wasn’t that driven to keep turning the pages.

Rosa Osario is a divorced working mother with two young boys who are out of school for the summer. Needing a full-time nanny and housekeeper, she advertises for the position in her local paper. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get as much response as she had hoped for, and the first several candidates are duds. Enter Brian Torres, a young widower and father whose writing career is stalled and who consequently needs some alternative income for the summer. He also just happens to be an excellent cook and all-around great guy with kids, not to mention sinfully handsome to Rosa. She hires him on the spot and her life becomes better almost immediately.

And that, as they say, is that. It’s impossible for me to give away any spoilers because simply not that much more really happens. Brian and Rosa are attracted to each other from the word go, and it doesn’t take her all that long to get past the idea of dating her employee. That’s what passes for conflict. But since this is not a corporate setting, and both of them know the job is only for eight weeks, it’s not as if there’s really any barrier to them seeing each other if both are willing. Brian treats her like a queen and Rosa finally has a surrogate father for her two boys. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Since there’s not much conflict or plot, we do get to spend some quality time with these characters and that’s not such a bad thing. Rosa seems like a committed mother who is naturally somewhat self-depreciating of her physical assets, and she only did one thing that drove me crazy, and that right at the outset of the story. That is, she hired Brian after no more than a ten-minute interview, with no background or reference check. She didn’t even introduce him to her sons to see how they’d get on. This struck me as completely irresponsible, and almost made me throw the book at the wall. Luckily she acts much more sensibly throughout the rest of the book. For his part, Brian is just a little too perfect; there’s just about nothing this guy can’t or won’t do, and he even has creatively romantic ideas for what they should do on their dates.

This is lucky for our heroine, but it was never really explained how Brian could be instantly attracted to Rosa, but have no such feelings for his best friend and neighbor, Deborah. Frankly, Deborah seemed like she could also have been a perfect match for him, and in another book, might well have been the heroine. With the exception of Deborah, the few other secondary adult characters are completely annoying, especially Rosa’s interfering matchmaking best friend, Doreen. But thankfully these other characters don’t get much screen time. The focus is entirely on Rosa and Brian; in fact, we hardly even get to know their kids. Some of this sketchiness is certainly due to the short format of this series line – there simply isn’t enough time to develop more than just a few characters at any depth.

One thing Ms. Garcia does do very well is developing sexual tension. Even the simplest of kisses are made fraught with pent-up longing and frustration, and the reader is completely convinced of these characters’ mutual attraction. The love scenes themselves, while not terribly explicit, still manage to be provocative and daring. I think that if this author can just come up with an actual conflict next time, she will have all she needs to write a good story. Let’s hope she does it.