I won this book on Goodreads and I am so glad that I did. This is not a book I would have normally thought "I am going to just love this" but I did. I am definitely going to be passing on this title to friends of mine as a book to read. Once I started I didn't like putting it down. At the end I stayed up way too late one night to finish it. The characters had flaws but were real enough not to be horrid just human. I liked everyone involved and the flow of the book was nice and evenly paced. A very enjoyable read. ( )

3 STARS

An Act of Persuasion is a romance story with two main characters that are afraid to
open thier hearts all the way.
Ben Tyler was a CIA Agent now he owns his own company. Ben has cancer and the chemo did not work. He is facing some hard decisions alone about a risky choice he is making.
Anna Summers has worked for Ben for six years as his assistant. Since he got cancer she is living in his home and helping him fight the cancer.
Ben is trying to hide from Anna what he is going to try next. They are on the couch and end up Sleeping together. They don't talk about it. and a few days later Anna finds out that he is going to risk his life on some new treatment. She realizes that Ben is not falling in love with her and willing to share his decisions. So Anna leaves him at the hospital and quits working for him.
Anna was in foster care since the age six when her mom left her somewhere. Anna is afraid that she can not go through that again. Then Anna finds out she is pregnant.
Mark Anna's new boss used to work with Ben in the CIA and he always went after the women Ben was attracted too. Mark was always wanting to beat Ben in work or play now he was starting his own business and has Anna working for him. He has moved to the same town as Ben because of his daughter.
This is a fast read. Thier is a few love scenes in it.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.
03/05/2013 PUB Harlequin Imprint Harlequin Superromance 304 pages ISBN 0373718381 ( )

This one surprised me--I really, really liked it. (Not that I went into it expecting to hate it, but--the boss/secretary thing? Not exactly my cup of tea. Or so I thought. But this book turned a lot of things a bit sideways for me.)

There is a lot of depth here. Ben's illness, Anna's abandonment issues, Mark's surprising emotional layers, Sophie's bitterness--it was all very well done, and so much more than I expected. I was only about halfway through when I knew I had to get my hands on the first book in the series--not because I had read so much about its main characters in this one that I needed to hear their story (they're in it, but only briefly) but because I 1) wanted to see what Anna and Ben were like together before and 2) just was going to need more from this author.

I can't wait to read it, and will definitely be looking for the next in the series as well! ( )