Title: A Temporary Situation
Author: H.L. Day
Publisher: Loose Id
Length: 288 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Get ready for a sweet tooth fix. For those who love adorably cute and light romances with quirky characters.
Reviewed By: Lindsey
Blurb: Personal assistant Dominic is a consummate professional. Funny then, that he harbors such unprofessional feelings toward Tristan Maxwell, the CEO of the company. No, not in that way. The man may be the walking epitome of gorgeousness dressed up in a designer suit. But, Dominic’s immune. Unlike most of the workforce, he can see through the pretty facade to the arrogant, self-entitled asshole below. It’s lucky then, that the man’s easy enough to avoid.
Disaster strikes when Dominic finds himself having to work in close proximity as Tristan’s P.A. The man is infuriatingly unflappable, infuriatingly good-humored, and infuriatingly unorthodox. In short, just infuriating. A late-night rescue leading to a drunken pass only complicates matters further, especially with the discovery that Tristan is both straight and engaged.
Hatred turns to tolerance, tolerance to friendship, and friendship to mutual passion. One thing’s for sure, if Tristan sets his sights on Dominic, there’s no way Dominic has the necessary armor or willpower to keep a force of nature like Tristan at bay for long, no matter how unprofessional a relationship with the boss might be. He may just have to revise everything he previously thought and believed in a chance at love.
Review: Mostly I am one of those readers who is all about tension, mystery, angst and drama. Give me a protagonist with a bucket load of issues to overcome, and I am all over it. But every once in a while, I need a break and go looking for something that provides a tad bit of angst, but generally just gives me that feel good vibe and keeps me with a smile on my face. A Temporary Situation, overall, fit that need quite well. Workplace romance is nothing really new, so I was a little apprehensive about how this one would be approached and executed. I was happily surprised to find that H.L. Day changed things up. Sure, it’s a CEO and personal assistant, but where the change happened was the personalities.
Tristan, CEO of a huge engineering company, stoic businessman in the board room, and “Mr. F***ing Perfect”, as Dominic calls him, was an unexpected treat, and I ate him up. He took the stereotypes and pretty much blew them up, and it was a nice—if somewhat unbelievable—change. He is referred to as a puppy at some point, and that is an accurate assessment. Which also is what throws Dom completely off his game. Being assigned as the PA to the top-dog of the company he works for is not what he wants, since he has pre-conceived notions on the type of person Tristan is when they first meet. When Tristan doesn’t follow Dom’s ideas, he believes he is being played, and I would have too, because seriously Tristan is that unbelievable. He is like the unicorn of corporate big-wigs. His phobias, his love and focus on all things food related, his babbling and run-on commentary are in direct contrast to what one would expect of someone in his position. And his character kept the dourer Dominic on his toes. I loved Tristan’s character, but I can see how some people may find him a little OTT. I think he is one of those characters that readers will love or hate. Me? I happen to be the former.
The story is told from Dominic’s POV, and his internal dialogue was humorous as he tried to figure out his crazy boss and deal with each new nugget of information thrown his way. Sarcastic and witty Dom was a nice balance, keeping it from being too much, creating an equilibrium with Tristan’s more excitable character.
Though I mostly enjoyed the story, I did struggle with a few things that evolved around Dom. It brought my overall enjoyment down a bit. There were a few personality traits that just rubbed me the wrong way with him, his lack of caring or listening to Tristan once he made his mind up being the biggie, but there were also some other situations, giving him a self-absorbed quality I wasn’t really happy with. In this case, those particular traits were the main source of drama in their relationship. And while I acknowledge he was a better choice from a narration standpoint, because Tristan’s perspective may have been too much, there were times I was extremely frustrated with Dom. Characters aren’t perfect and it’s nothing new to have a character’s personality be a driving catalyst for the angst in a relationship. However, generally when this happens, I prefer to see maturity and growth in that character or, at the very minimum, they recognize the behavior and make an effort to change it. There is an epilogue, but it didn’t give me enough insight as to whether anything really changed there.
Mostly this was a sweet romance, though, following two strangers from the point of meeting, and watching them grow into friends and then more. Though for Dom the initial attraction physically was there, it was far from an insta-lust/love. There are some sexy times together, but it is not immediate, and the reader has to wait as they get to know each other and their attraction grows. When it finally happens it is cute, but I wouldn’t say it burned up the pages. Rather, it was more realistic and really followed with the characters’ personalities, which I actually liked. Sex doesn’t always have to set flame to the pages; sometimes it’s nice to see something lighter and fun.
I would classify this as leaning on the sugary sweet side, and a great way to pass the time if you are someone just looking for that feel-good book. So get ready for a sweet tooth fix. For those who love adorably cute and light romances with quirky characters, this one is probably right up your ally.
You can buy A Temporary Situation here:
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