The Proposition by Jennifer Lyon (The Plus One Chronicles #1)
February 22, 2013
Contemporary Romance
Self Published

Reviewed by Mandi

By all accounts I should not have accepted this book for review. First, it’s book one in a trilogy and I’m not a fan of this new trend in drawing out a couple’s story into three parts. Also the hero is a billionaire, and besides Gideon Cross, it’s rare that a billionaire hero works for me (mostly because they are assholes). But, I’ve read Jennifer Lyon’s paranormal books in the past and enjoyed them, and a quick scan in Goodreads showed pretty favorable reviews so I took a chance. And guess what? I liked it!

Kat Thayne suffered through a brutal assault years ago, which left her with a permanent limp. Her then boyfriend, David was there when the assault went down, but Kat has no memories of that night. Kat also came to the conclusion after the attack that David was too controlling in her life and broke up with him. David works for her scientist parents though, so he isn’t out of her life for good.  For the past five years she has worked in a bakery (that she now owns) and hides behind locked doors. Kat grew up wealthy and privileged, but now as an adult she lives her own life, and has a very rocky relationship with her parents.

Working at a wedding one night, displaying one of her fabulous cakes, Kat meets Sloane Michaels. Sloane is an ex-UFC fighter turned gym owner, working his way up from having nothing as a kid. He is now a billionaire and when he looks at Kat, he recognizes her. Once he has her name, he realizes he was the dishwasher at the country club where Kat celebrated her sixteenth birthday. He takes an interest in her, luckily, because as she leaves that night, her roommate (a man named Kellan) and her are attacked, Kellan is stabbed and Kat is frozen unable to do anything. Sloane, who had been looking for her, comes to the rescue and saves their lives.

There are several things I like about this book. First, Sloane grew up with nothing and is now super rich, while Kat had the privileged life, but now looks upon money with uncertainty. I liked how their roles are reversed. Sloane, for all his wealth isn’t an asshole. Hooray! He has charity programs to help troubled youth, he encourages his employees to use his 60 gyms to become stronger people. He has a mentor who is dying from cancer and this is killing Sloane so much. Yet, he isn’t a deep, dark broken man with a huge secret (at least not in book one) which we see so much of in billionaire heroes.

Kat abhors violence, so when she finds out Sloane is an ex-fighter who still teaches fighting methods, this puts her off. But Sloane slowly convinces her to use fighting as self defense, and shows her how she can have confidence, but that doesn’t make her a violent person.

I like the tentative relationship these two have going on. Sloane does want Kat in his bed. He tells her this often. Is is very overprotective? Yes, he follows her around everywhere. He is bossy and slightly arrogant. He can’t be perfect, okay?! But he isn’t super pushy and he respects her. I like that. I didn’t love that they have already fallen into bed together, as I think Kat needed more time for that to happen. But we’ll see where this goes in book two.

This being book one of a trilogy, it ends with a lot of unanswered questions. There is a mystery brewing surrounding her parents and her ex-boyfriend. And Kat still has a ways to go before she is mentally healed. Book two comes out in May.

Rating: B

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Fiction Vixen – B
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