Book Review: Suite Assumptions by JW Manus

A Romantic Comedy

I know, I know, not what you expect from me.  Although, there was a glimmer of a gruesome murder that perked me up during the reading of this little number.....

So, what's it all about then.  Sandra Campbell was abandoned by her parents as a teenager and was taken in by her uncle Wally who operated a recycling plant.  Everything she does and says is aimed at one thing and one thing only, repaying Uncle Wally for his kindness, for taking her in, for putting her through school and college and for giving her a job in the plant.

She has become an obsessive compulsive within the plant alienating the workforce and colleagues with her demands for changes to systems that clearly would make the plant and life for the workforce much more difficult and the only person (other than uncle Wally) to support her is Martin Stonehouse, the plant engineer.

The only problem with Martin's support is that Sandra is unaware of it and believes that Martin, like the rest of the plant, hates her.  In her eyes he is a philanderer, goes out with a different girl every week and makes fun of her serious ways....

Sandra convinces her uncle that they need more business and that she is capable of taking on the role of 'salesperson' and so she and Martin are sent to Dallas for a pre-arranged meeting.  On arrival they find that the hotel they are booked into, in separate rooms,   can't accommodate them and then arranges for them to be transferred to the only hotel that has one single room left in the whole city, and so they end up in the Glass Garden Hotel's Honeymoon Suite.......

I have to confess I did nearly give up, as this is not my usual read, the last 'romantic novel' I read was by De-Ann Black entitled 'The Bitch Proof Suit' and I persevered with that one as I did with this one and found that I was thoroughly enjoying myself.  There are some funny moments, not laugh out loud moments but smiley moments and chuckle moments when the absurdity of the situations Sandra gets herself into because she keeps making Assumptions and jumping to the wrong conclusions.  It is difficult to tell you any of them here as they would all be spoilers, and, suffice to say that it was an 'assumption' by me that I would probably not like the book and all the misinterpretation that Sandra reads into situations that made this book an enjoyable break from the usual gruesome murder, mayhem, and action that I am used to reading:

The will they or wont they struggles between the two will keep you guessing and there are some sweet and tender moments in amongst the confusion .....

As I read more and more of this short book I kept thinking of Rock Hudson and Doris Day in 'Lover Come Back' where Hudson takes on the 'persona' of a Southern Cowboy' lost in the big city against know it all Day's advertising executive, and this made the book even funnier
 
You can find out more about Jaye here
You can purchase the book at Amazon UK here or at Amazon US here

Editing for Kindle: 5 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5