Review and Giveaway The Plan by Qwen Salsbury

MY REVIEW

It seems that The Plan is the latest revelation in the contemporary romance genre, already gathering many positive reviews even if a few negative, but hey! it's impossible to please everyone equally, is it not?

Our heroine has a plan, has a goal ... even if not as high as the one to which the story seems to leads us ... anyway, it leads her. But we also have the right to dream about it.

The way the story is told reflects the resolution or rather "The Plan" of the heroine. Although it starts very rigorous, the plan, which looks more like a report, goes further than the stringent requirements of such document, and to the readers delight it will be reach in details; details such as witty lines, irony and self-irony, a delicate criticism of the office life and relations. In fact, the humor, that can be found both in the lines and in the situations the characters put themselves in (or are put in), is the strength of the book. Because, if you have met the story before, Emma’s humor, even sarcasm, brings so intensively freshness and fun that the book will be read in a single breath.

I would say, keeping the proportions, that we have a beginning of "Pride and Prejudice" at the office (do NOT overthink it as a retelling!). Elizabeth and Darcy are to be found strong enough in our main characters, and, even if the secondary characters are not so present and involved in the story, you can identify a Mr. Collins, a Jane and even a Miss Bingley.

The author makes it very easy for the reader to "see" the characters. I loved Emma and how different she is as an employee and as a person, almost like she is two different persons. I also loved Emma because I could identify her in ninety percent of a person I love, which shows that her character is viable. The moment the author decides to borrow to the lover a bit of the assistant’s determination, things will take a provoking path, and they can become a steam roller when the assistant releases the passion she takes in return.

Even if Alaric ("Critical. Maybe that's what Alaric meant in ancient Gaelic...") is physical a meteoric presence, he is always present through Emma’s thoughts and feelings, emphasizing thus the idea of that "intangibility" that surrounds him (“If that guy is lonely, he has only himself to blame. He probably ate all his young.” Oh, low blow. That hardly seems fair. There is no replicant technology that affords androids procreation.”). Gradually he is involved more, also ... physical, and things get complicated ... even more. I personally liked a lot this excruciating "non-presence" of his and that you do not know yet - clearly – in which boat he climbs. Along the way the author feels pity and she will slip here and there a gesture, a grimace or a line of his („Another move and a moan escapes him. “Emma…” His voice. My name. Midnight velvet.”). In fact, I don’t think the compassion led her to do this because what she does is to increase the reader and Emma's torment. You'll probably forgive her because of the wonderful inspiration that she had with "And Now for Something Completely different ..." Don’t you dare cheat and read ahead, wait for its turn! The satisfaction that you will feel will be bliss and nothing will spoil it, not even Lincoln!

The conclusion: we are all different, and we all like different things, but there is great chance you’ll like this book! Try it!

Description:

Day of Employment: 359

11:05 a.m.

Location: Cubicles outside Canon’s office.

Co-workers: Betting on how long Canon’s new PA will last.

Me: No doubts. Ms. Gum-smacker won’t last the day. I need to place my bet.

Manolo Blahnik’s New Fall Shoes: Mine. As soon as Madeline hands over my winnings.

Emma Baker has never spoken a word to Alaric Canon, nor has he to her. But she’s studied him every day across the office tundra for almost a year. Canon is hard and fierce, terrifying and beautiful. He’s also the most stern, unforgiving person Emma has ever seen. Emma’s co-workers run a betting pool for Personal Assistant terminations. There’s a separate pot for the day one leaves without crying. Not likely…Canon made a former Navy SEAL cry.

He has high standards and low tolerance. Everyone knows it. Everyone stays away. Everyone who can, that is. Except Emma. She can’t look away. Alaric Canon is the single most attractive man she’s ever seen. Bar none.

Canon has never noticed her. Not once in almost a year. She’s not even a blip on his radar. But she will be. His radar will be blipless no more.

It is a goal. Emma has a plan.

TOUR SCHEDULE

Goodreads ** Amazon ** Barnes&Noble ** Omnific Publishing

About the author:

Qwen Salsbury was born in Kansas and somehow keeps ending up back there. Raised on her grandparent’s five acre homestead within the city limits, her imagination was honed during long days of quiet play and spartan access to a TV signal. Now mother to handsome boys, she strives to ensure they appreciate potential adventures found within the pages of a book, an honest day’s work, and what ingenuity may yield from mundane objects like a string and a cup. The boys prefer a PS3. 

After spending time in corporate America, she returned to school and received a BA in English, Creative Writing and Poetry from Pittsburg State University, the alma mater of Pulitzer Prize winning poet, James Tate. She worked on a Masters there until going on to receive a juris doctorate from Washburn School of Law. 

A seven-time Sigma Tau Delta writing award winner, her fiction and poetry have appeared in literary magazines and have been selected by fiction communities as featured story of the month and year. Predominantly a writer of romance, her romantic fiction varies from contemporary to historical to fantasy, though often with a humorous slant and poetic undertones. 

For reasons she can’t even articulate herself, she decided to start writing fiction again while solo parenting and attending law school (during Constitutional Law class, to be exact.). 

Website ** Goodreads ** Facebook ** Twitter

Author's Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway