A smart, fast-track executive and a handyman. Is this an “only in romance land” premise, or could it really work? After reading The Man She’ll Marry, I’d have to say that I am still reserving judgment. I’m not sure I buy it.

Cinnamon Smith has long been obsessed with corporate success. She grew up with a single mom who drifted from job to job, and she is determined to make a different life for herself. After rising to a fairly high level in the corporate world, she is forced to resign after a serious mis-step – she slept with her married boss. It isn’t quite as sordid as it sounds; he was separated from his wife and told Cinnamon that they were divorcing. Of course, Cinnamon has now learned the hard way that it’s best to wait until the divorce papers are signed. Everyone in her old company dismisses her as a home wrecking opportunist willing to sleep her way to the top. When she comes to her friend’s bed and breakfast in Cranberry, Oregon, she plans to stay for two weeks. She figures she’ll be able to find a new job by then, and maybe she’ll fit in time for a little sight-seeing and soul-searching as well.

One of the first people Cinnamon meets is Nick Mahoney, the extremely hot handyman. Nick does odd jobs for Cinnamon’s friend Fran and others in the small town. Cinnamon has an immediate attraction to him, and then embarrasses herself by bursting into tears. After the awkward beginning, their relationship continues in a similar pattern, with Cinnamon embarrassing herself, feeling attracted to Nick but not wanting to feel that way, and Nick returning her feelings of lust.

The main obstacles to the relationship are obvious. Cinnamon is a high-powered career woman and has always seen herself as settling down with a similar man. Nick agrees with her – because he thinks he is stupid. He isn’t; he’s dyslexic and still struggles with reading. But he thinks he’s not in Cinnamon’s league. Besides, she’s leaving anyway. Or is she? Cranberry’s main employer is a cranberry processing factory (oddly, everyone calls it just a cranberry factory, as if they manufacture cranberries) run by an outsider who refuses to properly invest in it. He’s been trying to sell it with little luck, and it’s possible that the factory might close. Cinnamon’s specialty is saving failing businesses. So maybe she could save the factory, stay in Cranberry, and get the guy. Just when it seems like this might happen, she gets a job offer elsewhere. What will she decide?

Well, we can all guess what she’ll decide. The real question is, will we find it believable? I wasn’t so sure. I found the basic premise of the story interesting, largely because I found Cinnamon interesting. She’s a flawed character who made a serious mistake. I wanted to see how she would bounce back from that, and how she would reconcile her desire to live and work in an urban environment with her love for Nick, who is very firmly rooted in Cranberry. Nick is not a bad character either, though I didn’t really understand why he absolutely needed to stay in Cranberry. He does have a sister and niece who live there, and he cares for them deeply. But I didn’t quite see why they necessarily had to stay there either. His sister has a crappy job in the cranberry factory that pays next to nothing. They have crappy jobs in cities, too. Anyway, Nick has struggled all his life with feelings of unworthiness. He wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until he was in high school, so he thought he was just dumb. It’s very clear, though, that he is a mechanical genius. He invents new machinery for the factory and for his own purposes, and he doesn’t realize his talent until Cinnamon tells him how extraordinary it is.

But though Cinnamon and Nick may both be perfectly nice people, I wasn’t sure I believed they were in love with each other or that their relationship was really heading anywhere permanent. Both of them think a lot about how hot the other one is, but it doesn’t get much beyond that. The moments they share don’t seem to be moments of deep understanding; they all seem to be about sex and only sex. And although I know it is a given that everyone who comes to a small town lives happily ever after, I wasn’t sure I believed that Cinnamon would really be happy or fulfilled there.

Beyond that, I had just one nitpick. Cinnamon is shocked and angry that she doesn’t have a job offer after a week. I’m sure there are unemployed people who get job offers after a week, but they would have to be a miniscule minority. It takes most people a lot longer than that. At any rate, this book is in the average range – not great, not terrible, and probably not memorable. I probably wouldn’t bother with it, unless you have a real thing for hot handymen.