B+
Title: The Tycoon Meets His Match
Author: Barbara Benedict
Publication Info: Silhouette December 2007
ISBN: 0373248725
Genre: Contemporary Romance
This book begins with the most doofy premise in a flashback, I literally rolled my eyes and thought that there was NO way I was going to finish it, much less enjoy reading all these categories that insist on making me roll my eyes and snort.
Trae, the heroine, and four of her friends are in college, indulging in a candlelight oath ceremony wherein they promise to fulfill their personal goals before getting married. The ceremony ends with them all saying in unison, “When it comes to marriage, just say no!”
Oh, for God’s sake. Note to author: making me think of Nancy Reagan = total romance buzzkill.
Enter the story: Trae is a bridesmaid at her friend Lucie’s wedding when Lucie goes flying out the door and runs away, leaving her groom, Rhys, at the altar. Rhys, the tycoon referenced in the title, is Lucie’s longtime neighbor and their families had intended them to marry for a long ass time. Trae, one of Lucie’s friends from Tulane, the same group of friends who promised to “Just say no!” runs after her, as does Rhys. They end up in Rhys’ rental car, driving to Lucie’s house in case that’s where she ran off to.
No such luck. Lucie is gone, and Rhys and Trae are equally determined to find her and make sure she’s ok. Lucie, it seems, is exceptionally wealthy but horribly neglected and controlled by her parents, and neither Rhys nor Trae believe she’ll be ok without her money, connections, or friends for long. Trae wants to make sure she’s ok; Rhys fully expects that yet again, he’ll rescue Lucie, talk her down from whatever panic she’s in, and persuade her to go through with their marriage as expected. That’s your key to Rhys right there: “as expected.”
The two of them team up, and suddenly, this book is much less about the tycoon referenced in the title, and is more about the chase, the travel, the adventure, the maddening mishaps, and in short, became one of my favorite types of romance, one that I haven’t read in a long, long time: The Road Trip Romance.
Oh, man, I enjoyed this book like Merde and Mon Dieu, to quote Nathalie Grey. Seriously. I dug it.
The tycoon, Rhys, is slowly divested of his comforts – his luggage, his suits, his Blackberry, his laptop, and his credit cards – leaving him with Trae, who is accustomed to winging it on a thin budget, and leaving him forced to allow his younger brother to assume the helm of the family company immediately before a very tricky and delicate merger or acquisition. That’s the thing with these tycoons, you know? You’re not really sure what they’re a tycoon of. But given the comments made by Trae and by Rhys, I’m assuming his family business is a diverse holding company of some sort, as they own a bunch of random stuff.
The title doesn’t at all do justice to the adventure of the book. They go from Miami to New Orleans to LA, back to New Orleans by car, then to St. Louis, and finally back home, and by isolating a strong, stubborn hero and a strong, stubborn heroine in the car, on a motorcycle, and in dingy hotel rooms together, the author allows each character to be truly revealed to the other. While they have years of assumptions to undo, they simultaneously have a hell of an attraction to address, and it was delicious, delightful reading.
I have to say, the names were a bit of a distraction. At one point, “Trae’s gaze went to Rhys,” and I mentally filled in Rhys saying to her, “BITCH YOU STOLE MY VOWEL.”
There were also the secondary characters who didn’t add much except convenient plot progression or development, and while I know that the category structure allows only for the primary protagonists, I always feel bereft of the secondary character’s stories, especially when they are resolved so easily. For example: Trae’s roommate is the inspiration for their “Just Say No!” vow in the opening scene, as she dropped out of college to marry some guy who beat the shit out of her. The JSN friends chipped in to get her on a bus to a shelter where Beaty McShit couldn’t find her, and when said roommate appears near the end of the story, she is miraculously healed and healthy from her abusive cycle relationship, now that she’s escaped from Beaty McShit and has had his daughter away from him. Yeah, because that’s not a complicated situation or anything. She’s just so beamingly healthy, like she could march up to the heroine and say, “I’m a plot device, and as such must wrap up my angst as neatly and inspirationally as possible! I’m only permitted a handful of pages by law, and I’m much too close to the end of your story to mess up the joyful ending by including any unresolved angst!”
Now that’s a guarantee that you don’t have to worry about someone. It’s like the opposite of the James Bond Ancillary Character Rule, wherein if a character shows pictures of his children to James Bond in ANY Bond film, that character is going to die suddenly and irrevocably, without question, usually in the next 5 minutes. The Harlequin Ancillary Angsty Character Rule, if after reading two books I can be permitted to make up a rule, would be the opposite: if a character in a precarious or vividly emotionally horrid situation appears hale and resolved at the end, count on that resolution, because extraneous angst is not permitted to intrude upon the protagonists’ happy ending.
Pat expressions of autonomy and perfectly rational runaway brides notwithstanding, I reveled in reading this book, and it went a long way toward reassuring me that my naughty prejudices about the category genre were very much unfounded. This book made me happy, and I thank Ms. Benedict for reminding me how much I love love LOVE a road trip romance, particularly since she did so with characters that were delightful and real.
It’s always a refreshing change when something exceeds your expectations and brings you a few hours of real enjoyment, isn’t it?
I have never read a Harlequin anything – but maybe, SB, your New Year’s Resolution (and reviews) will inspire me to venture forth.
BTW – Rhys was our #1 choice of name if baby #2 (due in May) was a boy…I guess it’s a good thing she’s going to be a girl!
Mazel tov! Rhys is a great name, I think. I just think Trae totally swiped his vowel.
Oh, and I loved the Bond Character device bit.
And I read “Pat expressions of autonomy,” as “Pat expressions of anatomy” – would still probably fit many a book, no?
Road trip romances…I do like those. Like Romancing the Stone, or On the Road to Mr Right by Belinda Jones, which is more about the road trip, rather than road-trippin’ with a man and the inevitable squabbles about stopping to ask directions.
I love all kinds of “forced proximity” romances, of which road-trips are one type. Anything where the H/h just canNOT get away from each other! I *heart* me some forced proximity. Must pick this one up.
Romancing the Stone! YES. LOVE that movie. Especially the final scene when they sail down Park Avenue.
I don’t normally read Harliquins either, but this one sounds really interesting.
Might just break with tradition on this one.
He drives a rental car? Some Tycoon! And the cover makes her look pregnant.
It sounds like fun, though I might have to slap a fake cover on it if I took it to school. Looks about the right size for Torts in a Nutshell.
I was thinking about Romance Novel Unusual Naming Syndrome the other day when Jane Espenson discussed the naming of characters in ways to help the audience remember them.
I wondered if it was all that necessary in a romance since, after all, out of all the characters who will appear in the story, the audience won’t be forgetting the main characters.
Actually, it’s a trope I’ve wondered about off and on for years: why are uncommon names so seemingly necessary? I get that names like George or Bob don’t necessarily inspire instant sizzle at first glance, but I’m still not sure I fully grasp the reasoning why so many perfectly good names get the miss-in-balk.
And finally, I broke up my reading of an intense war memorial the other day by reading a Suzanne Brockmann category and was happily reminded it is possible to have a story with a plot and everything in a smaller-sized book. It’s too bad that I don’t seem to have found many authors who really have the knack for writing them.
Ooh, this was one of the free ebooks that eHarlequin gave away between Christmas and New Year. I wasn’t sure about it when I read the description, but am so glad I downloaded it now!
I am very surprised with the positive review and now curious to check for myself! Thanks!
Can I just say that category romance rocks. Ok, maybe that’s a little strong, and I don’t think I read this line because of the sometimes overbearing heroes and not enough sex – but maybe times have changed. Should you have not already indulged, I recommend my FAVORITE line of categories, Harlequin Blaze. Some great authors started there like Barbara Delinksy. Every third or fourth one is really good. The crap ones, with the big type, obviously hurried for impending deadlines, do suck, though.
I think that the unusual name thing is really interesting. I have heard mentioned here before that it can be squicky if a character has your name. I never have that problem because my name is rare but the flip side is that I am rather possesive of my name. If someone says ‘Yvonne’ they are talking to me.
*sigh*
Makes me miss the Love & Laughter series from Harlequin. Could read one in a giggly, guilt-free afternoon.
Thanks for reviewing this, I’ve been hoping for reviews of the free Harlequins. I downloaded all but one, and I liked this one as well. It’s probably a B for me, because of some plot weaknesses (idiot plot anyone?) but still a fun and worthwhile read.
I’m back reading categories after a long hiatus, and I’m really enjoying them. Short and satisfying at best, and at the worst it’s a couple of hours of your time.
There’s no question that during the plot of the novel, the protagonists were chasing after a complete idiot, but I suspect there may be other books written about the other characters, as they were important enough to the plot that I expected more to be said of them. Given that the object of their chase was minimally developed so I wondered WHY they were chasing her dim ass across the country, and the supporting characters appeared as one liner-dialogue in the larger story, I suspect other stories centered on each of them may be forthcoming.
I reveled in reading this book, and it went a long way toward reassuring me that my naughty prejudices about the category genre were very much unfounded.
I have come to see category Romance (especially good categories) as the amuse-bouche of the genre. Bite-sized, meant to stimulate the appetite for more, under-appreciated but often more difficult to pull off than a larger course, that’s the category at its best, IMO. A good category read excites me about the genre all over again, and makes me hungry for more. It’s a good thing (in honor of intertextuality, lol).
This sounds like It Happened One Night. I can only assume the BITCH WHERE MAH VOWEL?! scene involves a motel room divided in half with a sheet?
Before the Silver Tigress, who is Welsh by birth, comes in and bites you people, I should point out that “Rhys” DOES have a vowel—it’s Y. The name is pronounced “Reese.”
If you have a problem with the Welsh Y as a vowel, just wait till you read a story in which a character named Hywel is riding through a cwm playing his crwth…
I’m not entirely sure what you said there, Talpianna, but it sounds dirty. 😉
Haven’t posted here before, but I must just pick up on Foleydog’s comment about Harlequin Blaze: that line did not yet exist when writers like Delinsky were writing category in the 1980s and early 90s. It was the Harlequin Temptation line that saw some of the early work of quite a number of excellent novelists: Jayne Ann Krentz, and, a little later, Jennifer Crusie, are two other examples.
Oh, and a cwm is a valley, and a crwth a musical instrument. Perfectly decent.
Man, I wish I had known one of the books Harlequin was giving away was actually good! Guess I’ll have to stick it on my BookMooch wishlist.
~I have come to see category Romance (especially good categories) as the amuse-bouche of the genre. Bite-sized, meant to stimulate the appetite for more, under-appreciated but often more difficult to pull off than a larger course, that’s the category at its best, IMO. A good category read excites me about the genre all over again, and makes me hungry for more. It’s a good thing (in honor of intertextuality, lol). ~
Yeah… what Robin said.
I absolutely agree some categories out there are an offense to the tree that gave itself up for its printing. However, this is true across all genres, and not just a curse of category romances. And when you get a good one, they can be downright brilliant, and ever so satisfying. Just the perfect size, fitting in my hands comfortably, and I can read it in a convenient little chunk of time.
Sarah, you probably know this, but just in case … many times when you see mentions of other characters, it’s because somewhere out there in category land, there is a connecting story. When done well, it’s just a seamless part of the story, with a little “aha, I know them!†moment for those who’ve read the other books. If it’s not done well, then there can be all those distracting questions—Is there more coming? Was she aiming for a contract with sequels? Was this a bigger book edited down to category length and the better parts of those characters ended up on the editing floor? IS there an editing floor when one is discussing books?
When I read your post earlier today, I figured this was part of a connecting series. I got home and looked it up in my Byron database, though, and didn’t see any connecting books listed. Her backlist looks like it’s mostly mass-market historicals, though, not categories, so maybe she’s used to having more characters, because she usually has more words to work with.
Or not.
Diane
I think that this was the one free Harlequin title that I missed because I forgot the date – but I didn’t mind until now. The cover and title put me off a little. Oh well…
i dont know hwy do you say that, but the start of the book really sounds appealing! would love to read it fully!