This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Mandi. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Short Contemporary Romance category.

Here is Mandi's review:

This is one of the most difficult reviews I have ever written–simply because I have such mixed feelings about Sarah M. Anderson’s The Nanny Plan. When I was reading the book, there were actual moments that the love story put a cheesy grin on my face. And there were some elements that were executed really well. But then there were moments, after I finished the book, that I couldn’t help but cringe at the some of the negative cultural stereotypes displayed.

Please be patient with me while I attempt to provide context for my dilemma.

The book is part of the Billionaires and Babies series. The plot includes a college student accosting a tech billionaire at a public event in an attempt to get a donation for her charity. Obviously, sparks fly and a future meeting is set. But tragedy strikes first and the Billionaire becomes the legal guardian to his niece. A mixup sends the intrepid college student to the Billionaire’s door at the opportune moment and, after she saves the day and the baby’s formula, she is offered a ridiculous amount of money (for both her and her charity) to be the temporary nanny for a month.

I chose this book to review because of the ridiculously cheesy premise. But to my surprise, the author rose above the cheesy premise and executed many elements of this book really well. The Billionaire was more than just a billionaire. He was Nate Longmire, a well developed character that I actually was invested in. I also was invested in the heroine, Trish Hunter, and their ensuing relationship together. The characters were more than the typical stereotypes often found in series romances.

I also really enjoyed other elements of the book. I loved how each character had family issues that were never fully resolved, but are just a part of their background and who they are. For example, Nate had a brother with mental issues and Trish never met her father who may or may not be living in the same city. But unlike other books, neither scenario dominated the story. Each was a minor point that was acknowledged and then moved past. Little things like that made this an enjoyable read.

Don’t get me wrong, the writing and the story was in no way perfect. In fact, I almost didn’t read the book after the first two pages. The descriptions that were, I think, meant to make me feel sympathetic to Trish’s economic situation came across as just extremely whiny to me at first. Trish and her childhood were practically a caricature of being poor.

Something in her face changed—her eyes seemed to harden. “My sixth-grade teacher gave me two pencils once. It was all she could afford.” She dropped her gaze and began to fiddle with one of her earrings. “It was the best present I ever got.”

So yeah. Eye-roll-inducing and annoying, but forgivable. The minute I finished reading the book, I was already mentally grading it with a B+. The problem came the following minute when I thought more about Trish and her family. This may be a good time to mention that Trish is American Indian, Lakota to be exact.

In many ways Trish’s portrayal avoided a lot of the stereotypes one often runs into, but she definitely did not avoid the stereotype of the “dirt poor Indian.” So poor in fact that two pencils were the best gift Trish ever received. To be fair, Trish was the oldest of nine children–with four different fathers. Well, thirteen if you count her current four step-siblings.

Yeah.

Again, Trish’s childhood is a caricature of poverty. And a pretty ridiculous one at that. While reading the book, I found it annoying but forgivable. The book was so engaging that I didn’t connect her heritage and her economic situation/childhood together, especially as the book did a very nice job of not obsessing over the fact she was American Indian. It was just a part of her background and who she was. But after I connected Trish’s caricature of a childhood with her American Indian heritage, I realized that I can’t be so forgiving anymore.

I know. It sounds completely hypocritical. If Trish wasn’t American Indian, I would have moved on by now. But she is, and I can’t. It took me a while to work through why I found it a forgivable offense in one instance, but not the other. Ironically, Trish herself did a nice job of describing the problem….

Well. Yay for him acknowledging the state of the Native American reservations in a five-second picture, even if the montage did irritate her. All the people of color had been relegated to the poor section of the talk.

The only real representation of American Indian culture is that of extreme poverty and many of the negative stereotypes associated with it. There are no successful American Indians mentioned, except for Trish, who can’t afford a cellphone, lives in subsidized housing, and “If she got really wild, she might eat two whole packets of ramen noodles for dinner.” If Trish had been Caucasian then she would have represented one extreme end of the spectrum while Nick would have represented the other. Instead all the Caucasian representations are well-to-do (or at least comfortable) and all of the American Indian representations were extremely poor (often with an excessive number of children and in many cases unable to keep a job).

I really don’t believe that it was intentional, but it happened and I can’t get past it. And it will always taint the way I think of this book. Because of that I have to drop my grade. The book was enjoyable and deserves a B+ or B for the story. But the negative cultural stereotypes are disturbing (at least to me) and deserves a D (or at best a C- as I truly believe they were unintentional). So I guess if I were to average them, the grade would be a C? Maybe?