Monday, November 19, 2018

BOOK REVIEW for "Miss Demeanor" by Beth Rinyu

**(2) out of 5 stars!

Miss Demeanor 
by Beth Rinyu
Publication date: August 16th, 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
SUMMARY:

Spoiled. Privileged. Brat.

What others saw as entitled, I saw as standards, and mine were high, especially when it came to men. The boys I wasted time on in college were now a thing of the past. I was setting my eye on the real deal: Rich, successful, nice looking, good personality preferred — but not required.

I had it all figured out, I’d live off my family’s good fortune as I waited for my wealthy Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet. That was until my father decided to come up with his own ridiculous plan:

Move to New York City (good)
Take a job at a magazine owned by one of his friends (bad) 
Cut me off financially after three months (worse)

All out of options, I headed to the East Coast to start my job. Feeling much like a princess being thrown into court with the commoners, I intended to fail, and fail miserably — that was until I was given an office with a view and my own advice column. Suddenly, working for a living wasn't so bad after all...except for him. Obnoxious, boorish, rude… take your pick. He was the exact opposite in my quest for Prince charming — except for nice looking and good personality not required. He hated me the moment he laid eyes on me and was determined to make my life a living hell whenever I was in his company. Little did he know, he had no idea who he was up against, I planned on matching his animosity toward me in ways he never imagined. But the funny thing was, the more he got under my skin, the closer he was getting to my heart, making me reassess the girl I once was and focus on the girl I wanted to become.

REVIEW:

I generally don't like to write bad reviews, because I like to support authors as much as I can, but with this book... I don't even know where to start!  I cannot begin to offer a good review here, or find much in the way of redeeming qualities about it.  I picked it up and put it down several times because I just didn't enjoy it - at all!  

Rose, the main female character, was apparently plucked out of the 1950's or something, because she has a very antiquated view about having a man support her.  In fact, her only real criteria in a potential husband is that he have lots of money!  It's disgusting, ridiculous, and sets women's rights back about 60 years!  Not to mention the fact that she supposedly has an advanced degree, but she can't do anything, and she's about as dumb as a box of rocks.  She doesn't even know when she is being played, as is so obviously the case right from the beginning with the first query to her "Miss Demeanor" online advice column.

Alex, the main male lead, judges Rose - correctly! - as a lecherous, money-grubbing snake, who only cares about the value of a man's portfolio.  Nevertheless, he is inordinately rude to her on every possible occasion, well beyond what would be considered appropriate behavior in polite society.  

The subordinate characters are somehow even more one-dimentional than this pair.  With just a few strokes of a makeup brush and a few words her opinion couched as advice, Rose somehow wins over Lucy and Marisa, her subordinates at work, who then all become the best of friends.  And Alex's work buddy, Kent the IT guy, who is apparently gay, which Rose somehow doesn't know, even though everyone else in the place supposedly does (so surely one of her pals would have told her?) is even more flat and devoid of character than the girls in the office. 

There are some side events and subplots that occur, but the gist of the story is that - miraculously! - Rose and Alex somehow end up seeing past their differences and falling madly in love!  Although, of course, it doesn't even end there, and we have more angst to wade through before the happily ever after.  Really, it was just way too much to take.  The prose of the book itself was like something written by a high school student.  The dialogue was stilted at best, and did not at all even sound real or natural.  And nearly every interaction between the main players was an excuse to pontificate on the speaker's worth and the error of everyone else's ways.  Sadly, this is definitely not a book that I would recommend spending any time on.  

I received a free eBook copy of this title from Xpresso Book Tours, 
and have willingly provided an honest review.

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