Rose Lerner

I was super excited for this book because I adored Olivia in the prequel and was excited about another of my favorite trope: h/h goes undercover in a job they don't care about and then cannot bear to do the work in a subpar manner. In this case, Olivia goes undercover as agoraphobic Alastair's housekeeper and then can't help but get his household straightened out. OMG. I could not stop reading this book once I started. As I mentioned in my previous review, Meredith Duran is one of the best authors out there at creating genuine romantic/sexual tension and making me desperately want two characters to be together. Typically a hero as scary and alpha as Alastair would freak me out--and he DID--but I still wanted nothing more in the WORLD than for him and Olivia to be happy and to be together. The best Beauty and the Beast story I've read in a while. His adoration for her was so satisfying! This gave me exactly the high a romance novel is supposed to give, where I couldn't stop smiling goofily to myself during entire scenes.

TW for food/body/weight issues. Details below the spoiler cut: