"Time to find a new life and a man who really appreciates her!"

When Amanda Zachary walked into her husband's office one afternoon she hadn't expected to find him engaged in a menage a trois with a man and woman. She was shocked and humiliated. Not bothering to disturb the sex party she simply filed for divorce from the " ... condescending jerk who wouldn't know a truly sexy woman if she fell on her knees in front of him and offered him a blow-job."

Lance's real motive for marrying Amanda was to cover his alternative sexual lifestyle. He berated her by telling her she was not good in bed and that's why he sought satisfaction elsewhere. Amanda tried to make their marriage work by doing everything Lance wanted: exercising, restricting her diet to avoid gaining weight, and considering his request that she have breast reduction surgery, but she could not satisfy him.

Against Lance and her parent's objections she gets a divorce and becomes a modern California woman. She builds a successful career as a junior executive at Extant Corporation and her current assignment is to engineer the merger of her company with Brant Computers. One of the major share holders, Eric Brant, thinks the merger would be good for both companies and he agrees to it until his cousin, Simon Brant, objects. Amanda's boss has given her the task of changing Simon's mind by any means necessary.

Simon Brant is a rich, eccentric genius who lives on an island is Puget Sound, Washington. He hardly ever leaves and except for visits from his cousin Eric and his family, his only companion is his butler Jacob -- an ex-Secret Service man. When Amanda goes to the island to try to show Simon the benefits of a company merger he puts her off by giving her limited access to him. He spends most of his time in his lab working on experiments from which he can't be disturbed. When Amanda realizes that the only way to get Simon's attention is to move into his house the sparks start to fly.

The Real Deal is a delightful story. The plot is well developed and Lucy Monroe once again displays her talent for developing three-dimensional characters that are unique and likable (I loved the butler!). I've read other works by Ms. Monroe and have enjoyed them. The Real Deal is a good story of a modern woman who learns to overcome several mentally abusive relationships to find love and acceptance. There was plenty of sexual tension between Simon and Amanda but I thought the sex scenes were a bit tame compared to other Brava books I've read, but I still enjoyed the story and I believe other readers will too.

Reviewed by Angela Black for Sensual Romance.

Reviewed by Sensual Romance
Courtesy Sensual Romance Reviews
Posted September 3, 2004

Summary

SHUT UP AND KISS ME

The most important thing in Amanda's life is negotiating a successful merger between her company and Brant Computers, a family-held competitor. It should be a done deal: Company president Eric Brant is on board with the idea. But when Amanda arrives in Eric's office, it is his cousin Simon Brant who greets her-and Simon is anything but agreeable. He's not about to give up control of the family company or lay off loyal workers. Squaring off against the sexy, brilliant, sexy, obstinate, sexy, eccentric, not to mention sexy Simon is completely frustrating-and a total turn-on. And when he walks out on her presentation, sidetracked by another one of his brilliant ideas, Amanda is shocked...and intrigued...no, furious!...and...and...and so attracted she can barely enter data into her Palm Pilot...

Simon has never met a woman as passionate and driven as Amanda, or as devastatingly attractive. He can't decide if he wants to put her on the next plane home-in the cargo hold-or kidnap her and spend a long weekend showing her exactly the kind of negotiating he likes best. Come to think of it, if the lady wants war, maybe they should engage in full-on battle...in the bedroom...and see who will be the victor. But when intimacy leads to an explosive passion, it might be time to think of a different, more permanent kind of merger...one that's less about business and all about pleasure...