The Wedding Diaries
Grade : C-

The Wedding Diaries sounded like a book that could be kind of fun. A poor little rich girl suddenly loses her fortune and her fiancé, becomes a nanny for a sexy real estate mogul, and antics (both sexual and otherwise) ensue. It was fun up to a point; it was quick, light reading, and I zipped right through it. But the hero and heroine were both difficult to relate to, and in the end that made the book rather unsatisfying.

Vivienne Stansfield is accustomed to life as daddy's princess. Her days are filled with shopping and plans for her December wedding. But when her credit card is suddenly rejected and bill collectors arrive, her life changes in a heartbeat. The rent on her apartment hasn't been paid in months, and to top it all off she finds her faithless fiancé kissing another woman. Desperate, she turns to Max Landry, the sexy real estate mogul who recently showed her a home and mentioned his need for a nanny. She talks her way into the job and arrives at his home to find a sullen teenager and a precocious eleven-year-old.

Max's dad skipped out when he was still in high school, and his mom died shortly thereafter. He dropped out of college to work and raise his seven younger siblings, single-handedly pulling them all out of poverty and funding their college educations. Now he has only two chicks left in the nest, and he needs someone to coordinate things because he's so often working late or away on business. He doesn't particularly want Vivi around, mostly because she's hot, he's a had a lifelong fascination with her, and he's decided, romance-hero-like, that he can never marry.

Vivi moves in and starts care-taking in style. She loves to cook, manages to figure out how to do laundry, and tries to parent the petulant Nicki and eager Lila (after all, someone needs to parent them, and Max hasn't really bothered). Meanwhile she downsizes her wardrobe, tones down her more flamboyant tendencies, and tries to think about what she should do with her life. In her spare moments, she and Max get hot and heavy and nearly have sex half a dozen times (in her first few weeks on the job), but something always interrupts them.

So that's about it right there. Max is the tortured guy whose jerk father left. Vivi is the pretty princess who needs to learn how the little people (i.e., those with jobs) live. They are wildly attracted to each other but fight their feelings, because - well, because. They actually have a pretty good reason - Max is Vivi's employer and he should be trying to set some sort of example for the girls - but it's not the reason they use. The single time one of them brings it up, the other asserts that it's not the real issue. It's not, but it should have been. It took me a while to figure out why Max and Vivi's relationship didn't interest me much. It's not that they really annoyed me, although Max's aloofness and Vivi's obliviousness to real life were a little hard to take. Remember when George H.W. Bush bought socks and had never seen a scanner? It's kind of like that. Max is basically the other extreme. How often does a young man with a high school education raise seven siblings and become rich in the process? Probably not often, and I had some trouble buying it. However, I liked Vivi's sexy clothes and girly nail polish, and her relationship with the girls was interesting. And that's just it; her relationship with the girls was interesting because it had a compelling, believable conflict. Anyone who has ever been a teenage girl (or parented one) will recognize Nicki. At one point she sneaks off for a date with the guy for whom she's been lusting. The consequences are humiliating, and it makes for the most real moment in the book. Similarly, Nicki's alternate admiration and hatred for Vivi provide both conflict and reality - two ingredients which are unfortunately absent from the primary love relationship.

This isn't a terrible book. The writing itself is competent, and I was engaged enough to keep turning the pages. But I've found that when a book falls a little flat, the reason often has to do with the conflict (or more appropriately, the lack of it). That's really the problem here. However, the depth to Nicki's character suggests that Lee is capable of much more. Both of AAR's Laurie's have graded her well in the past; let's hope she once again realizes her potential.

Reviewed by Blythe Smith
Grade : C-

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : November 12, 2003

Publication Date: 2003

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Blythe Smith

I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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