Review: A Temporary Situation by H.L. Day

Personal assistant Dominic is a consummate professional. Funny then, that he harbors such unprofessional feelings toward Tristan Maxwell, the CEO of the company. No, not in that way. The man may be the walking epitome of gorgeousness dressed up in a designer suit. But, Dominic's immune. Unlike most of the workforce, he can see through the pretty facade to the arrogant, self-entitled asshole below. It's lucky then, that the man's easy enough to avoid.

Disaster strikes when Dominic finds himself having to work in close proximity as Tristan's P.A. The man is infuriatingly unflappable, infuriatingly good-humored, and infuriatingly unorthodox. In short, just infuriating. A late-night rescue leading to a drunken pass only complicates matters further, especially with the discovery that Tristan is both straight and engaged.

Hatred turns to tolerance, tolerance to friendship, and friendship to mutual passion. One thing's for sure, if Tristan sets his sights on Dominic, there's no way Dominic has the necessary armor or willpower to keep a force of nature like Tristan at bay for long, no matter how unprofessional a relationship with the boss might be. He may just have to revise everything he previously thought and believed in a chance at love.

It's easy to make assumptions about people. To have a first impression and not revise it - and that's exactly what Dominic did in this story.

A Temporary Situation is many things I don't normally like in a book; cliched, rich boss/PA, nasty cow of a fiancee, a git of a colleague, a bit of a paint-by-numbers plot, caricature characters, miscommunications...

And yet...

And yet... I did like it. It was all of the above, but it was also sweet and funny and entertaining. Tristan is the boss but he's all heart. A really likeable guy who is witty and kind and clever. Even though he had a fiancee before falling for Dom, the heart of his character was trying to do the right thing.

Dominic was trying very hard not to fall for Tristan because he believed something about the man which he didn't like.  He sees a different side to Tristan (than the one he believes exists) as he works with him, though, and slowly his feelings change. He's reluctant to let this happen and fights it all the way, but it wouldn't be an office romance without a romance, would it?

On paper this book hits a lot of bum  notes for me, but in practise I really enjoyed this author's style and this story. I will not shy away from another read by HL Day.

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.
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