The Billionaire's Bargain (The Wedding Auction)

Rating:
Summary: Marrying a stuffed shirt billionaire, bleah
Review: This book suffered from startling technical anomalies in the plot. I'm not sure the author knew much about computers and technology judging from the way she wrote this book. Why would the heroine write a computer program to determine the best man for herself? And how would she mine all of this information on her own to create a database? Wouldn't it be easier to surf personal ads on the Internet? I was so obsessed wondering what the heroine was actually doing with her computer program-- had she found a way to hack Singles.com to make an even better match? was she a CIA agent with privileged information about every single man on earth?-- that I cared little about what happened with her and the hero. The fact that he was a billionaire stuck out to me and made me wonder if millionaires aren't good enough for romance readers anymore. The method of inserting a baby into the plot was kind of uncomfortable. The book left me with the distinct impression that the author had checked common elements off a list, i.e. bachelor auction, baby, billionaire; and set about writing a book with those elements. What has happened to Silhouette? Where are those 25-cent books from the resale shop with the tattered covers? Why don't romance authors write intelligent books anymore?

Rating:
Summary: Three and three quarters stars, maybe . . .
Review: This is the story of Dylan Valentine, billionaire security company exec whose emotionally-deprived childhood has left him unsure of his ability to connect with anyone. Having agreed to babysit his eighteen-month-old half-brothers, while their mother is out of town, Dylan goes to a charity auction, hoping to hire a no-nonsense grandmotherly type to help him. Instead, all his protective instincts come to the fore, and he winds up hiring high school teacher April Pruitt to save her from the unwanted attentions of another man.

April has her own issues with childcare; a failed romance and subsequent miscarriage have convinced her that her mother was right: love and passion are dangerous ingredients which should be kept out of relationships. As a result, she has created a computer program which she is using as she attempts to find the man who is "scientifically" right for her.

But April agrees to help Dylan, and slowly they both fall for the adorable toddlers and for each other.

It's the kids--and April and Dylan's evolving relationships with them--that give this book much of its punch. On the downside, there's a lot more sexual fantasizing here than I'd have wanted, although there's very little followup on it.