Roses

Voracious readers only, threw a new experience my way. I realized, I’ve never written a romance novel written by a man. This is hilarious to me as just last week I was talking about women writers who had to and still sometimes have to write under male pseudonyms to get their work taken seriously. 

Why aren’t there more male romance authors? Furthermore, if there are more male romance authors, why don’t we hear about them as much? Am I completely out of the loop and don’t notice, or does this sexism on genre’s really go both ways?

Food for thought….

Anyway, I recently read my first romance novel by a man; “Roses for his Rival” by Jax Burrows. It was a super cute, fast read. Romantic but not sappy, more of a romantic comedy, which was not entirely what I had expected.

“Roses for his Rival” centers around Leah and Harrison. Leah the girl who has climbed the corporate ladder within her father’s company, becoming a shrewd and efficient business woman perfectly groomed to take over when her father chooses to retire. Harrison has more of a wild streak, after shunning the family business for years he has returned to take over for his father’s hotel business as his father is gravely ill. Leah and Harrison’s families have been rivals since long before the two of them were born, stemming from a conflict between their two fathers that has something to do with Harrison’s mother and her past dating history including Leah’s father. 

Leah has been groomed and promised a takeover, Harrison has been groomed and promised a takeover...But what happens when they choose to merge their two companies?

What ensues is a hilarious and adorable romance between the two as they attempt to successfully merger the two companies and avoid the attraction between them (which obviously doesn’t last very long). 

I enjoyed the character depth that Burrows gave both Leah and Harrison, both are pretty solid characters on the surface, though as you go through the story you learn more and more about them, little snippets of background that explain a bit more about why they are the way they are. 

Given the title and description I was expecting a few epic showdowns between the two as they vie for the coveted CEO position. However most of the rivalry was kept in their minds and only brought out through a few random declarations by one or the other that they would be running the company some day. 

Obviously they were going to end up married and running the company together, that was a foregone conclusion...I would have personally enjoyed seeing a bit more interaction on the rival part, a little more enemies to lovers if you will. 

However the book was still enjoyable. It was a quick read and full of surprisingly deep moments followed by laughs.

Burrows can definitely write some amazing characters and is a master at steamy scenes.