When they meet, Julie Parker thinks Tyler is very attractive, even before she finds out he’s part of the wealthiest family in Arizona. In fact Tyler overwhelms her - after all, he’s very sexy and very confident. Pretty soon the family is welcoming Julie, the wedding plans are getting made and the two of them are starting to get really interested in the honeymoon.

While I don’t mind jumping into the action at the start of the story, the book’s opening throws some elements in too quickly and confusingly - there is something about sabotage at a hospital that could ruin the family business. Also, after setting up the premise that Tyler is forced to marry, the story doesn’t explain right away why or how. This book seems to assume that everyone is familiar with the previous stories and would know what was going on. I didn’t. Come to think of it, I’m still not sure why his family was so het up about the idea of Tyler getting married within a year.

While I like Julie and Tyler well enough, Cinderella stories rarely do much for me. Tyler seems to have far too many advantages in this matchup. It’s a traditional book - Julie is a worthy bride because she’s a good sex partner, makes a nice home for Tyler and gets pregnant. I kept waiting for more without the story getting beyond that. She never seems to gain the upper hand in this battle of the sexes - shoot, she never gets close to a tie. Tyler has the money, the sex appeal and doesn’t seem to love her. Julie tells him it isn’t enough for her to be married if he doesn’t love her. It doesn’t seem to occur to her that the person at fault there is Tyler, not her.

Another part of Tyler’s problem is that he’s scared to live up to the only part of the deal Julie seems interested in. He isn’t sure fatherhood is the right thing for him. His family helps him realize he might be fine at parenting after all. Eventually Tyler realizes Julie is important to him and does something about saving the marriage. He isn’t a bad guy, but so what? He’s rich, she’s poor, they fall in love, she runs away and he searches for her. I couldn’t work up a lot of enthusiasm for a plot that didn’t give me any twists on the Cinderella theme.

--Irene Williams