The Real Deal by Lucy Monroe

The art of mergers and acquisitions is taken to new heights in this entertaining spin on the battle of the sexes. In one corner: Amanda Zachary, a young, ambitious business ace but a dropout from love. (Blame it on a really despicable ex-husband.) In the opposite corner: Simon Brant, the brilliant, reclusive genius behind family-held Brant Computers, who is clueless about women. He's the only roadblock to the merger between Extant Corporation and Brant Computers. What won't Amanda do to sell the merger? What won't Simon do to stop the merger? PDAs and cell phones ready? The final showdown at the shareholders' meeting and the sparks that fly between this fiery new couple will satisfy and delight, as will Amanda's last encounter with her loathsome ex. From B&N by Ginger Curwen

I really enjoyed this one.

Amanda had a lot of the same insecurity issues that I've suffered from in the past, so it really struck a cord with me.

Her ex-husband was almost an exact replica of mine (except he had a way better job..LOL). Watching her recover from her divorce and realizing that she was worthing was like watching my own struggle to find myself after my marriage went bad.

He degraded her and made her feel less of a woman by constantly making comments about her weight and cheating on her. The emotional scars he left were deep and it was really hard for me to read some of her thoughts and fears, because they mirrored mine exactly.

A friend of mine recently asked our book club if we ever read about a book heroine and thought, "That's me". I would have to say of all the book heroines I've read about, I associate with Amanda the most.

I loved that Simon wasn't your typical hero, either. He was more nerd than anything and I found myself sighing dreamily as I read about him. He was a genius who had issues of his own to deal with. He was convinced that he was unlovable as he was. What kind of woman would want to be with a man who locked himself in his lab for days on end, and faded out in the middle of conversations?

This was a fabulous story and I'm so glad I read it.

I highly recommend this one to any woman who has questioned her worth. Thank you, Lucy.

4.5 out of 5