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Jemima Dewberry wears her heart on her sleeve. Her weakness for bad boys, coupled with her track record for making bad decisions has led to endless heartbreak. The only trouble is, she can’t seem to kick the habit.

On top of that, her “dream” job at Yorkshire Portions magazine hasn’t turned out to be what she’d hoped, and she seems to have developed the knack of annoying her boss without even trying. It doesn’t help that the new girl seems to have taken an instant dislike to her. All that’s keeping her there are her best friends Anna-Lisa and Aidey, who have picked up the pieces of her shattered heart more times than they care to remember.

When Jemima’s latest boyfriend turns out to be no better than the rest, the hurt and humiliation are almost unbearable. She declares she’s finally through with love and swears off men for life. But when charismatic Caspar De Verre walks into the office with his dangerous good looks and mesmerizing smile, she’s utterly captivated, and her promises to Anna-Lisa and Aidey not to let her heart rule her head are soon forgotten.

But is Caspar all he seems? Anna-Lisa and Aidey have their doubts. And Herbert, the happy-go-lucky black Labrador Jemima’s looking after, doesn’t seem to like him either.

As Jemima falls for Caspar’s charms she finds herself being forced to confront the struggle between her head and her heart. But which one will prove the most powerful?

And will Jemima get the happy-ever-after she so desperately craves?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Mim gazed after him, her libido raging into life; the effect Caspar De Verre was having on her, anyone would think he bathed in concentrated pheromones.

 

Well, it actually had everything to do with her dubious choice of boyfriends. Just when she thought she’d found “the one”, and she was in a relationship that might actually be going somewhere, she’d discover that the said boyfriend had other ideas and, more often than not, other girlfriends.

 

… kind of like Dracula in that handsome, irresistible sort of way; you know he’s bad but the temptation’s too great to resist, kind of thing.

 

Mim resisted the temptation to make eye contact with her; she had a suspicion Honey’s black looks had the power to turn people to stone.

My Review:

 

This was a slowly developing and somewhat circular story featuring the self-effacing and timorous Mim and her best friends/co-workers. The three enjoyed their work but were struggling with a hostile work environment that was becoming increasingly toxic on an exponential level. When it came to her sexy new co-worker, Mim’s dog knew at first whiff, but Mim chose to wear blinders when it came to men and as was her pattern as well as that of her mother before her, she made yet another disastrous choice. I wanted to give her a few pinches and/or whacks to the back of her head to knock some sense loose, but Mim had horrible taste in men and purposely ignored and denied her own niggles as well as the concerns of her friends. I enjoyed the characters, the friends’ relationships, the humor, the lovable Labrador Herbert, and the office intrigue, but I smirked with glee at the shenanigans they played on the local busybody and curtain-twitching gossip to catch her out on her rumor spreading.