Synopsis:

Julia’s new job was a step up in her career

She was personal assistant to the autocratic Marcus Lang. That hadn’t been Julia’s main objective when she started–though she’d gone to a great deal of trouble to get the position.

She had plans for Marcus Lang–and especially for his brother, Garrett-and once she’d achieved her aims she didn’t think she’d be staying long with Lang Holdings.

Marcus was a difficult, demanding employer, but gradually Julia had to admit that she found him attractive. Too bad that he was the one man she couldn’t let herself fall in love with.

COME BACK TO ME by CATHERINE GEORGE

The Book

Catherine George is a category romance author who rarely disappoints. Sadly, Come Back to Me is one of those rare occasions.

The Plot

The plot centers around revenge, a trope I usually enjoy. However, the execution in this book… It’s quite odd. The heroine’s sister had a one-night stand with a married man and became impregnated. The sister dies and then Julia, our heroine, is forced to care for the baby. Mistakenly, she believes it’s the hero Marcus’s happily married brother who slept with and then abandoned her sister.

So Julia plots the lamest revenge ever conceived. Oh, she’ll get back at that man for his evil deeds. How? By putting herself through school and learning to be the most efficient secretary ever hired by a corporation. She’ll deal with the hero’s clients, organize his social calendar, and capably smooth over his troubles until he becomes so reliant on her, then she’ll somehow inveigle her way into the hero’s family and ruin the brother.

How’s that supposed to work? Will she quit, forcing Marcus to run after her, offer her a raise, and declare that he’s never had an assistant as competent as she and damn his brother to hell on top of that?

Or will Julia just let her bizarre revenge plot disintegrate as she falls in love with the actual man who fathered her dead sister’s child after a drunken night of misplaced passion? Yup, that’s more like it.

Big old spoiler here: Marcus Lang, the hero of this book, had sex with the heroine’s sister, not knowing she was a virgin–heck, he didn’t even know who she was–and a baby resulted from that night. He was drunk and mistook her for another woman.

Final Analysis of Come Back to Me

Yuck. Worst revenge plan ever! Sorry, there are some places in romance where it’s too weird for me to delve into, and sloppy seconds from sister to another sister is one of them. I’m a hypocrite here, I admit because I enjoy a good love triangle romance where two brothers butt heads over the same woman, but even this was too far.

If you’re looking for an angsty revenge story in the Harlequin Presents line, just read Sally Wentworth.

Oh, and that cover is terrible. That hot-pink dress with off-the-shoulder ruffles screams 1983 prom night.

1.5 Stars