By Design by Jayne Denker
May 16, 2013
Contemporary Romance
Kensington

Reviewed by Mandi

Emmie is a talented interior designer who works for a man who disrespects her and treats her like a secretary rather than an associate. But Emmie doesn’t have a lot of options in her small town, so she goes to work and deals with it. She finds herself spending a lot of time with her best friend Trish, drinking away her woes. She is in a rut with her life, with a loser boyfriend and a dad who is still reeling from her mother’s death. She needs a change. Then she meets Graham.

Graham’s wife died two years ago and he was left with a young daughter. He is an architect looking for an interior designer to help with renovating a house he just bought. Previous to meeting Emmie, he became involved with a woman named Juliette, (someone Emmie happened to go to school with) but once he found out she was married (she had told him she was divorced) he tried to break things off with her. Now he has met Emmie and wants to pursue her, but Juliette doesn’t want to let him go.

I have good and bad points to make about this book. This book has a strong heroine in Emmie. She is funny and really engaged me with her internal dialogue. She has great chemistry with her best friend Trish and their scenes together made me laugh a lot. She also has great tension when she first meets Graham and starts to fall for him. But then Juliette comes into the picture and it all kind of goes to hell. You see, Graham fell for Juliette when he was vulnerable after his wife’s death, and believed her when she lied and said she was divorced. Later he learned she was still married and tried to get distance from her. “Tried” being the keyword there because he really needed to grow a pair and end it with her. But he doesn’t – the entire book. It’s annoying. He is in love with Emmie, but goes running to Juliette every times she calls and threatens to do something. And Juliette felt too overwritten. Too caricature. As did Emmie’s boss. Their personalities felt too overdone and they exhausted me.

Besides Graham being a weenie, we never get a sex scene in this book. Not even a make-out session. BARELY a kiss. What the heck? Graham is super sexy and I wanted some nakey time damn it. At least a little over the zipper action or something.

Emmie by herself is a well done character who amused me and I enjoyed. Graham without the Juliette storyline (and maybe some chest hair action) would have equally satisfied me. But the distraction storyline with Juliette and the fact that Graham couldn’t break it off with a married woman really frustrated me. I was not a fan of that, at all.

Rating: C

Recent Reviews:
Dear Author – C-
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