Doukakis’s Apprentice by Sarah Morgan
Contemporary Romance
September 20, 2011
Paperback
Harlequin

Reviewed by Mandi

What an adorable book this is, and at only 186 pages, Sarah Morgan delivers a very believable romance.

To say Polly Prince is stressed is an understatement. Her father, and creator of Prince Advertising is nowhere to be found. Presumably shacked up with none other than her nemesis’s sister, who happens to be 30 years younger than he is. Picking up the slack like she always does, Polly is faced with a huge battle. Damon Doukakis, extremely wealthy, good looking, and business genius has taken over Prince Advertising, after her lazy board sold them out. Desperate to keep her 100 employees safe and not laid off, Polly works around the clock to come up with a presentation to prove to Damon that her employees are worth saving.

All Damon sees is a spunky, young girl with bright pink tights. He assumes she lives the high life off her father’s company and has never worked a day in her life. Oh how he is wrong. They also have a past history – Damon took over raising his sister when he was 16 (and she was 6) after his parents died in a car accident so he feels very responsible for her. When Polly was 14, she was expelled from school along with Damon’s sister (who is now shacked up with Polly’s dad). To this day, Damon still blames Polly for what happened all those years ago. To say tensions are high among Damon and Polly is an understatement. Damon’s main goal in buying Prince Advertising is to flush out Polly’s father, so he can talk some sense into his sister, but will his plan work? And as he works alongside of Polly, he starts to realize who really runs the company.

As I said earlier, this is such a cute book! Damon is so cold, and alpha, and just surly. But what makes his character work, is pairing him up with the very quirky, creative Polly. She is just full of surprises for him. Polly’s employees are like her family. They run a very creative ad agency, although they do very poor with handling their money. When Polly’s company moves to Damon’s offices he is appalled that they bring house plants and fish. He expects his employees to come to work, do their job, and not have any distractions whatsoever. Business is business and that is final. Polly believes in nurturing her employees and bending the rules, so the creative process can flow. This causes Damon to just lose his mind, which is quite amusing throughout the book.

It happened so fast she didn’t see him move, but one moment she was standing with an aerial view of London and the next she was staring at wide shoulders and a pair of fiercely angry eyes. “Never before have I had to restrain myself around a woman, but with you-“ He drew in a shaky breath, clearly struggling with the intensity of his own emotions. “You are enough to provoke a saint. Trust me when I say you do not want a demonstration of my power.”

Polly stared at him in appalled fascination, wondering why everyone thought he was Mr Cool. He was the most volatile man she’d met. He simmered like a pan of water kept permanently on the boil. And he smelt incredible…

Damon soon comes to realize that Polly is not the lazy daughter of her father he thought she was. She is the brains behind the operation, and he starts to respect her for that. I really enjoyed her backstory and the problems she has had growing up with a father like hers. I also love the woman she has become as a result. It takes awhile for his character to warm up -  but I still found the romance to be very believable. They have chemistry, and they both admit it. But so much messiness with their past, and the current situation with her father and his sister…they don’t just jump into bed either. Polly stands up for herself, and Damon eventually starts to listen and to be there for her – something she is not used to only knowing how to rely on herself.

All together just a fun, enjoyable romance book. Really great for a quick read.

Rating: B

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