Author: Kristen Proby
Format: E-Book
Eli Boudreaux’s family has built ships and boats in Louisiana for generations. He comes from a hard working, wealthy family and his empire is growing by leaps and bounds. At thirty, he is the youngest CEO to ever head Bayou Enterprises, co-chairing with his eldest brother. His head for business and his no-nonsense work ethic is also quickly making him the best the company has seen in generations. His staff admires him, women adore him and Eli’s family is solid. But he’s recently discovered that someone on the inside of his business is stealing from him and he’s determined to find out who.
Kate O’Shaughnessy is hired by companies all over the world to slip inside and investigate every member of the organization from the CEO down to the custodial staff to find the person or persons responsible for embezzling. She’s excellent at blending, becoming part of the team, and finding the weakest link. She’s smart, quick-witted, and she’s now been hired by Bayou Enterprises, specifically Eli Boudreaux. The attraction is immediate and the chemistry is off the charts, but Kate has heard all about Eli’s playboy past and she has a job to do. Sleeping with the boss isn’t a part of that job, even if just the sound of her name rolling off that Cajun tongue and the way he fills out a designer suit does make her sweat.
Eli’s southern charms surprise Kate. The man whose reputation labels him as a ruthless, callous womanizer is not the man she’s coming to know intimately. He’s generous, protective and makes her smile. Cracking through Kate’s cool, reserved demeanor and discovering her love of sexy, expensive lingerie is a challenge Eli can’t resist, but her sweet nature, love of family and sense of humor pull at him in ways no one else ever has.
But when the person responsible for trying to single-handedly dismantle Eli’s empire comes to light, and it’s time for Kate to move on, to what lengths will Eli go to keep the woman he’s fallen in love with by his side?
Easy Love, by Kristen Proby, takes place, as you can probably figure out from the title, in New Orleans. Kate is hired by a company that Eli and his family own to figure out who has been stealing money from them. She has been friends with his sister Savannah and brother Declan for years, and when she meets Eli for the first time, it's all bets off. Savannah and Dec warn Eli to stay away from her - but when does that ever work? And through everything that happens, they end up actually caring about each other. But of course, there has to be a twist - I won't spoil that for you though. If you read the book, you'll get to that twist yourself.
So: The plot to the story was okay. It was decently well-developed and had some good tension throughout. The characters all meshed well together and had distinct personalities that made it easy to tell them apart. Some things were fairly predictable - like that Kate would be *the one* to make Eli stop his womanizing ways. (You know, like that tale that all men are jerks until they meet that one woman who makes them stop wanting to be a jerk...)
The thing that drove me crazy about this book was that Eli was so bossy, and Kate just put up with it. In this case, when I say bossy, I mean that it felt like Eli had to take the lead on everything and that Kate wasn't allowed to think for herself or make up her mind about anything. It was infuriating. Maybe I was reading it wrong - but it just felt like an off relationship to me - sort of unbalanced.
I did appreciate the setting, and found it interesting to read about what life is like for these characters in New Orleans. This is only the second book I've ever read that takes place in the Big Easy, and I don't know too much about the city other than all the stuff people hear about what happens around Fat Tuesday.
The story was a pretty typical romance - guy and girl meet and fall in love. But the how was fairly interesting. I would give this 3 stars. It's a decent rainy day read.
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