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Carly Mason has a fantastic career as one of the city’s top corporate designers. She works hard—too hard—and she has no life outside of work and no one to spend time with. But she refuses to turn into her mother or sisters, who have a string of children and no man to help raise them.
One day, Carly’s friends talk her into taking a vacation with them on a remote island, far from civilization. There’s only one catch: she has to bring the hunky new boyfriend she’s been telling them about. The problem is that he doesn’t exist—Carly made him up to get her friends off her back. So what’s a girl to do? Carly hires Marco Valente, a sexy Italian, to fill the position.
Marco doesn’t understand why someone as beautiful as Carly Mason needs to pay for a date, but he doesn’t mind playing her gigolo for four glorious days on a near-deserted island. He needs to get away, anyway—to put work behind him for a little while. He’s not really a gigolo, but Carly doesn’t need to know that just yet.
Neither of them counts on falling in love, but that’s just what happens. Unfortunately, though, the island is just a fantasy, and they both have to return to the real world—even though they’d rather not.
In Hiring Cupid, I found what’s been missing in so many of today’s romances—sexual tension between the characters. Ms. Beckenham brings this tension out superbly, without resorting to tossing her hero and heroine into bed every five minutes. While I like a steamy romance every now and then, I still prefer old-fashioned romance, where the characters actually have to battle obstacles and wrestle with their feelings before coming together in an intimate way. And Hiring Cupid is just that kind of romance.
Sure, the story may be somewhat cliché and mushy, but sometimes a gal needs a bit of fluff in her life—and it seems like Ms. Beckenham was born to write it. As a result, Hiring Cupid is a fun, feel-good read that’ll leave you with a silly grin on your face.
So if you’re looking for a solid romance that’ll leave you feeling all gooey inside, you can’t go wrong with Hiring Cupid.
