Title: The Executive (also Exmas)
Author: Winter Renshaw
Release Date: November 4, 2018
★★★★
**Kindle Unlimited
Let me first say: Reed York was never my boyfriend. He was the pen. I was the company ink. Though if you want to get technical, we were more like colleagues-who-hated-each-other … with benefits.
Everything was fine until the charming jerk went behind my back, stole my promotion, and became my boss—literally overnight.
Refusing to work beneath him (professionally speaking and otherwise), I transferred 2,014 miles away to our Chicago division, and I’ve spent the past year trying to remember how much I hated his panty-melting smirk so I can forget how much I secretly loved the way his ocean eyes lit every time I walked into the room.
But he’s just announced a last-minute site visit the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and on top of that, he’s audaciously designated me as his ‘right hand gal’ during his visit. If he thinks he has a snowball’s chance in this hell at getting back in my good graces, he’s got another thing coming.
Reed York might be a man used to getting everything he’s ever wanted, but Joa Jolivet is a woman that never forgets.
He can put me on his Christmas list all he wants, but everyone knows naughty boys only get coal.
Honestly, sometimes I just need a contemporary romance where adult humans are being adult humans having adult human problems - but I need those books to be packed with chemistry, conflict that makes sense and doesn't piss me off, and leaves me with a happy feeling at the end. I was DEFINITELY in need of that when I picked up The Executive (also called Exmas) on a sort of whim and it delievered on all counts.
I went through a period of devouring contemporary romances set in business settings, loving the sort of young professionals falling in love with each other and kicking ass at their jobs sort of vibe, but I sort of fell off that and went down... very different rabbit holes. When these types of books are done well, though, they're so great and this one was really done well.
Joa is the kind of heroine that I can really get into. She's smart, professional, driven, independent, and knows what she wants. She doesn't take shit - not even from the man she ultimately ends up falling in love with - but she isn't bitchy or catty or not a nice person because of it. She's got that balance where it comes to confidence and humanity and she's no harder on others than she is on herself.
Reed was... Hooo! Reed was pretty dreamy. I loved that his motivations were really explored and made sense, that he was a certain type of guy that can easily skew into asshole territory - both in real life and in fiction - but he managed to just be a person. I feel like reading characters like Reed, ones that so often become generic caricatures, when they're written well and developed well reminds me of all of the reasons that I have a high appreciation for character development and no patience for laziness on that front.
I think the central conflict in this story and the way it played out was pretty much pitch perfect without any of those frustrating miscommunication aspects that can so often make the conflict feel weak and really only there for the sake of the story. I mean, certainly, there were assumptions made that were wrong, but there was actually a really solid reason that it couldn't get resolved right away that had nothing to do with someone flailing around being insecure and jumping to conclusions. And immediately when the whole story came to light, everyone understood what had actually happened.
I'm trying so hard not to give spoilers!!!
Anyway, this book was good, I'm glad I randomly decided to pick it up, and I would recommend it. While it does take place around Christmas and 100% made me google the recipe for a Hot Toddy, I don't think it's one of those aggressively Christmasy books that needs the season to be a reason for reading it. It's good. I liked it. Do recommend.
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