Title: His Personal Assistant
Series: Men of New York: Book One
Author: L.J. Harris
Publisher: Self-Published/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 257 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: I have mixed feelings about this book. It was promising but, in the end, it left me feeling underwhelmed.
Reviewed By: Lindsey
Blurb: At the tender age of twenty-one, Kade Hutchins is at a crossroads, having endured enough hardship to last a thousand lifetimes. With money tight and career at a standstill, he’s running out of time and options. The day he applies for a job that isn’t exactly in his field of expertise and meets his new boss, Mr. Preston, is the day his fate is changed irrecoverably.
Luke Preston is the kind of man others envy. Rich, successful and unattached, his no-nonsense, ‘take no prisoners attitude’ has made him one of the highest profile litigators in Manhattan. He’s also a man with secrets. Secrets he wants kept under wraps since tragedy rocked his privileged existence to the core. When Kade, a man some fifteen years his junior steps foot inside his office, Luke wonders if his heart will survive.
Review: I have a thing for office romance tropes, and done well, I am totally into them. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. Kade’s character was likable. Despite his younger age, he was leaps and bounds more mature than Luke, IMO. He was overall level-headed and generally a calming influence. His reactions were mostly believable, except for one glaring reaction that just made no sense. I’ll elaborate on that momentarily. If I had to pick one thing I genuinely liked about this book, it was Kade.
Have you ever read a book, and something early one sort of taints the experience and then you just can’t seem to get over it? I think that is what happened for me here. There were positive things, but after one thing in particular happened, I just found myself not being able to properly enjoy the relationship or anything else going on. The first chapter I was all in. I had high hopes for Luke and Kade’s relationship. Luke was just plain awful, and there is nothing I love more than watching a character grow and give you peeks that there is more than meets the eye. I enjoy reading a character slowly fall for the other character as understanding is given and trust is earned. That deliberate reveal of the character’s true nature, where I too fall for them after despising them, is like ambrosia to me. It seemed like that is what would happen here. But then a curveball came seemingly out of nowhere. Yes, Kade falls in love with Luke. Which is what I wanted. But my issue was when he first realizes he has deep feelings for him. It was very early in the game, way, way, way too early. At that point there had been absolutely nothing to create the plausibility of those feelings. Not just recognizing his feelings, but the level of emotion Kade felt had me straight up dumbfounded. At that moment I began to lose interest.
Unfortunately, so many different aspects of the story fell into the farfetched category for me, and at times were just plain ridiculous. The way Kade gets hired absolutely makes no sense and wasn’t fully explained in a believable manner as to how and why it went down the way it did. Especially because later in the book a realistic way to hire someone is completed.
The second half actually portrayed Luke in a much more favorable manner. Told mostly from his POV, more insight is given as he struggles to overcome guilt and insecurity and accept his feelings for Kade. He is an inconsistent character, and that made it harder for me to really connect with him. Even so, I’ll be honest and admit that had Kade waited for his moment of realization until closer to the second half of the book, I may have been more favorable towards the story. Regrettably, the damage was done already, and I had trouble getting into their relationship, no matter how hard I wished it so.
Though the last half the book seemed to flow better and make more sense, I just couldn’t get into it. Everything was just okay and, if I am honest, a wee bit over the top in areas. There is a twist thrown in, and it helps create angst and a bit of suspense, but its execution was on the outrageous side and, at its conclusion, left a lot more questions than answers as to motivations.
Despite a promising beginning and a decent second half, in the end I found the story underwhelming.
You can buy His Personal Assistant here:
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