I was not wowed by this book but I did like it. It was cute, fast, and who does not love a old rich man who falls in love with the poor girl. I thought it was cute but I am one of those people who hate when the author writes a little bit of the book and then makes you purchase the next few chapters and then you end up paying $10 for a book that would have sold better if it was all together and cost $4.99 or something like that.
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Everything was rushed, nothing was believable, and it came off as some sort of cheap 50 Shades ripoff. I really thought the writing was pretty terrible as well. Stupid free Kindle books always let me down! ( )

Ashley Monroe has a graduate degree in Art History but has found herself unemployed and living on her best friend's couch, just trying to scrape by and get her life in order. Taking on a temporary waitressing gig for a catering company with her roommate, she meets the infamously sour Alexander Boone, owner of Boone Art Gallery, as well as many other enterprises in his billion-dollar portfolio. They spend a few minutes in a bit of a verbal sparring match (due to Xander's downright rude behavior) but it progresses a bit, leaving Ashley and Xander both wishing for more.

They meet again the next day by accident when she unknowingly applies for and accepts a position (from Xander's mother) as House Manager at his mansion. Xander keeps playing warm and cold with Ashley, leaving her confused but not stopping her heart from being drawn to him. In separate asides about Xander, we learn that he is just as attracted to her, although the story is not developed enough for us to see that by how he treats Ashley. Instead, we learn piece by piece parts of Xander's past which start to help us understand why he is so cold to everyone.

This novella ends on a cliff-hanger creating the necessity of picking up "Part 2" of the story [His One Desire] to find out what happens next. From the author's blog, it looks like there are two more parts after that, and it may be a continuing series.

This story does have potential but unfortunately it needs a little bit of tweaking. I don't exactly know how to explain it, but the characters need to be developed more so we can feel a little more vested in what happens to them. At this point, all I see is that Xander is a jerk and Ashley is needy and insecure. I am not inclined to care about either one of them...yet, although I can sense where the author was trying to go and I so want her to be able to do that.

There are several parts that are handled too quickly and left me in a "wait! what?" momentary confusion. One example is the scene near the end where she follows the florist and finds Xander. I think a little tension or conflict about Ashley's arrival, then an acceptance and resolution of her invading his private world, would have been helpful before Xander jumped right into his speech. More dialogue with each other is needed all throughout the story to help us slowly get to know what the characters are thinking and feeling. Slower pacing and seeing them actually develop some kind of actual relationship would be helpful to the reader to believe in them. The way it is now, it appears they've only been in each other's company a handful of times, so it would be unbelievable to think they could even be friends, let alone feel more for each other.

I see the author has her first novel coming out, [Lucky Break], so maybe with an experienced editor peeking over her shoulder, those kinds of issues will be ironed out. : ) ( )