I’m pretty sure that this story is what people who don’t read Harlequin Romances think they are like. For all I know, they may be right. When You’re Ready was a neat and tidy package tied up with a bow and never really caught my interest. Part of that may be because I prefer my romances without plot moppets, but, more importantly, there was nothing new, fresh, or special in J.L. Berg’s story.
Clare Murray has been widowed for three years and is raising her daughter alone. When her child has a bad fall, a trip to the Emergency Room brings Logan into her life. He’s a doctor without a personal life, thinking himself incapable of love. He takes one look at Clare and her moppet and his soul awakens and he falls hard for the potential ready-made family. They start to date. He wants to go slowly, Clare wants forever. When their love is challenged, will they find the courage to risk it all for a stolen chance at happiness? Barf.
Logan is the son of a billionaire. I have mentioned this before, but I am sick of billionaires in these books. Can’t he just be really well off or comfortable? Is extreme wealth really so important? It’s like we don’t even understand what rich means anymore. If you have a few million dollars, you are rich. You don’t need $1,000,000,000 to provide financial security; moreover, I suspect that for most people, even the one’s with enough money, moving into the world of billionaires would be like moving to another country complete with culture shock. In When You’re Ready’s defense, Logan lives a fairly regular life, but that alien world is still on the periphery and it annoys me and this is my chance to mention it.
Logan, either used as a sur- or given name is proving to be very popular in contemporary romance. I am starting to think it will replace Simon as the number one romance novel hero name. The standings as of June 27, 2015 and for over 300 romances read are: Simon (9); Alec/Alex (8); James (8); Michael (8); Sebastian (7); William (7); Robert (6); Daniel (5); Jack (5); Benedict, Charles, Colin, Duncan, Edward, Gareth, Harry, Ian, John (4); Andrew, Blake, Gabriel, Jackson, Julian, Lucien, Marcus, Phillip, Phin/Finn, Rhys, Richard, Stephen, Tristan (3); and only one David.
Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.
Thank you for mentioning the billionaire trope. It’s just ridiculous! Especially since it’s almost always the men with the money. I presume it’s because that’s what people think of as the modern equivalents to dukes, but really, we don’t live in that world anymore. Also, I know and once dated a billionaire’s son, it was not any different than any other series of dates I’d been on. Except my sister telling me to marry him all the time so I’d pay for her kids college tuition someday…
The Florand books are the only ones I can think of where the woman is the rich one. One more reason to love her so.