Review – The Plan by Qwen Salsbury

……I knew this was going to be a good one when I connected with the author’s writing style as well as her characters right off the bat. ~ Kimber, Guilty Pleasures  

Description:
Day of Employment: 359

11:05 a.m.

Location: Cubicles outside Canon’s office.
Co-workers: Betting on how long Canon’s new PA will last.
Me: No doubts. Ms. Gum-smacker won’t last the day. I need to place my bet.
Manolo Blahnik’s New Fall Shoes: Mine. As soon as Madeline hands over my winnings.

Emma Baker has never spoken a word to Alaric Canon, nor has he to her. But she’s studied him every day across the office tundra for almost a year. Canon is hard and fierce, terrifying and beautiful. He’s also the most stern, unforgiving person Emma has ever seen. Emma’s co-workers run a betting pool for Personal Assistant terminations. There’s a separate pot for the day one leaves without crying. Not likely…Canon made a former Navy SEAL cry.

He has high standards and low tolerance. Everyone knows it. Everyone stays away. Everyone who can, that is. Except Emma. She can’t look away. Alaric Canon is the single most attractive man she’s ever seen. Bar none.

Canon has never noticed her. Not once in almost a year. She’s not even a blip on his radar. But she will be. His radar will be blipless no more.

It is a goal. Emma has a plan.

Every once in a while a book comes along and you stop and take note, dive into the story head first, and enjoy it more than you have anything in a long time, then you mope because it’s over, then you debate yourself on whether or not you want to immediately do a reread. A book like this throws me into a major book hanger. The Plan by Qwen Salsbury was one of those books and I knew this was going to be a good one when I connected with the author’s writing style as well as her characters right off the bat.

This is an office romance type story where girl notices boy, but boy acts like girl doesn’t exist. She’s tortured herself for a year watching and learning everything about him but getting nothing in return because he doesn’t give her the time of day. He is an A-#1 A-hole to everyone in the office and no one likes him and/or is afraid of him but she is drawn to him immediately after they bump into each other in the office elevator on her first day on the job. All she cares about is getting him to notice or acknowledge her. That’s her PLAN. That’s all you get, because the way this story unfolds is ace and I want you to experience it like I did. Totally blind.

I have never in my life been attracted to mean boys or stiff office jerkwads. I stayed away from these types, didn’t have anything to do with them and though Alaric Canon is a fictional character, I couldn’t stay away from him. I was as fascinated by him and lusted after him as much as Emma. He was such an interesting character, several times I caught myself holding my breath when he walked into a scene. I couldn’t wait to see how he was going to react or if he was going to speak. There isn’t a lot of dialog from him throughout the book but you better believe I hung on to every little word he said. The female lead in this story is just as interesting. Emma is nothing like me and yet I felt like I had things in common with her or maybe that was wishful thinking. I wanted to be her friend. She’s so funny, and smart, efficient in her job, and quick witted and sarcastic and I lost count of the times I was laughing out loud…… at 4 AM. Yeah, that’s right. I made the mistake of starting this book around 10 PM at night, thinking I would get in a few chapters. I admit, I’m a slow reader, but ALL NIGHT LONG? And since I couldn’t put it down and was wide-ass awake on the edge of my seat I just kept reading thinking if he would just ‘effin notice her I could get some rest before getting up for the day job.

The Plan is a witty, clever, heart stopping, sexy, brilliantly written book that I cannot recommend highly enough. I totally get Qwen Salsbury’s brand of humor and she has made me a fan. I NEVER would have guessed this was her first novel. Most of the time authors grow into their talent. Not this lady, her future is now. STELLAR!

I would like to say thank you Ms. Salsbury for the chapter after the ending which was written in Araric’s point of view. **big sigh** I’m still surprised at myself for warming up to him as quickly as I did.

Kudos to Ms. Salsbury for turning an age old trope into something fresh and modern. If you like your books with a little angst that keeps you on your toes with mature adult characters and lots of humor you will appreciate The Plan for the greatness that it is.