We all know fame is a two sided coin. On the one hand the heady feeling of power –and the money that often accompanies it – can be fantastic. On the other hand, the press can spin stories about you without facts. And you can find yourself wondering how to protect yourself and your family from the fallout. That is what happens to our heroine as this story begins.

Model Bailey Hamilton made all the wrong kinds of headlines when she was found passed out with a bag of heroin in her possession during fashion week when she should have been on the runway. Few people know the truth: that Bailey is not just another strung out, drug addicted celebrity but was in fact assaulted. The drugs had been planted on her while she was unconscious from the attack. And she hasn’t been in rehab for the last two months but sitting in a safe house waiting for the police to let her know her assailant has been caught. When the wait becomes unbearable, Bailey returns to New York and holds a press conference to clear up the rumors. The result is a media disaster which makes matters worse.

Enter Micah Jones. Micah had done a popular interview with Bailey on his show Connect just before her current publicity nightmare. Now he is eligible for an executive producer position at his station but he needs something to really set him apart from – and above – the older and more experienced competition. He feels Bailey might just be that “something”. In spite of being hot news – or perhaps because of it – she is refusing to give interviews right now. He knows after the press conference disaster he is hardly likely to get her to do a sit down on his show but if he could do an hour long documentary about the healthy, humble, sexy young woman he knows her to be it would both give her the chance to tell her side of the story and let him soar to the top in his profession. It’s a completely win-win situation – if they can ignore the chemistry between them long enough to get the job done. However, Bailey’s assailant is still out there. And he still has her in his sights…

I’ve loved books by Ms. Rochon in the past but I struggled to connect with this story. Perhaps it was because of how successful the two main characters are at such a young age but I just couldn’t relate to them. Micah has been exemplary since elementary age, when he got an elite position at an excellent school through a scholarship. He goes on from there to excel both academically, graduating from Harvard, and professionally with a popular interview program where he gets to hobnob with celebrities. He is certainly likable and admirable but I didn’t know him well enough to find him relatable. I couldn’t really get a grasp on Bailey either. While it was emphasized that she is a sweet down to earth person in spite of her beauty, success and wealth we never really get a chance to see her doing ordinary things. Most of our time is spent either following her around the world of high fashion or seeing her in lust with Micah.

Which brings me to point number two: the romance is more lust than love. The two desire each other very much and are often distracted by that passion. The moments where we really see them connecting are too few, though, for us to really imagine them as a couple. The end result was that the HEA felt very rushed to me.

The positive side is that Ms. Rochon is such a smooth writer that the tale is easy to read and a pleasant if not brilliant bit of entertainment. While Bailey and Micah didn’t really capture my interest or enthrall me in their love story I spent a nice enough afternoon in their company. They were like pleasant strangers you meet at a party: maybe you don’t want to know them better but you’re happy enough to have passed the time with them.

This is book three in the series The Hamiltons: Fashioned with Love. I was easily able to read this book without having read the other two. The Hamiltons, by the way, are one of those ultra-successful families where everyone is finding love, one book after the other. Perhaps I am just being cranky but the big, happy, successful families have grown almost as tiresome as the years we spent reading only about orphans and loners. Hopefully authors will find some middle ground – families that don’t all work and play together but have individual lives and just gather for the holidays, maybe?

If you really love tales about the fashion world then perhaps this would be more of a hit for you but otherwise I can’t really recommend rushing out to buy it.