Book Review – The Plan by Qwen Salsbury

The Plan
<— Fan-freakin-tastic!! It was almost everything I was in the mood for, especially that “hard-to-get” guy that was finally NOT doing the chasing.

Ahhhhh how I love a book where the girl has been pining for awhile (in this case, almost a year) and where the guy shows absolutely no interest. Truly. No interest. And I mean none.

Mind you it would seems he shows NO interest in anyone, and he’s notoriously unapproachable. A higher up in the firm she works at, known to be a demanding, no-nonsense, intolerant ass…

I see his jaw is set. Tense. What have I done? Not done? He was as personable as he gets until…

Oh, sh!t… is this guy thinking I’m going to address him as “sir” or “Mr. Canon” every blessed time I speak? That I’m going to subjugate myself at every turn? That I’m mousy and meek and mild-mannered? I bet he gets off on… Oh, great dandelions and unicorns – the son of a b!tch might be one of those guys.

His jaw is still tense. You are gonna chip a molar at this rate, buddy.

And he can’t keep an assistant longer than a month, but more like a week. And they usually leave in tears.

Canon is particular and demanding. He’s busy and paid to think. The few times I have heard him dress down to someone – and, let’s face it, if he is speaking to someone, he is insulting them – it’s all centered on talk of “impacted productivity” and “wasting” his time.

But he’s awesome at what he does, and the firm just keeps trying.

And for some reason, it would seem Emma is a sucker for punishment and let’s her crushing heart rule her logic. She knows alllll about the gorgeous yet unapproachable “Mr. Canon”, has studied his every like and dislike, and in fact, practically wins the office pool every time one of his new PA’s lose their job. It’s what’s funding her shoe addiction, in fact. But even with all of his obvious negatives… her crush on him is ruling her to play a dangerous game, by becoming a blip on his radar

That’s the plan anyway.

Sometimes, she thinks logically:

“Clara, I’m putting it behind me, because as you well know, that man pays me no heed. And furthermore, I’m probably lucky for it as he is the hugest of jerks. This situation doesn’t feel good, and as a rule, things that cause pain should be avoided.”

And yet sometimes, her crush gets the best of her…

She wears her hottest new heels and purposely strides towards… errrr… okay now… past him. He doesn’t even glance her way. Drops her keys in front of him and strategically bends over. He continues to stare intently at his phone.

In a last ditch effort to generate a blip, I let my keys hit the floor and fail to bend fully at the knees while retrieving them.

I will chastise myself later for stooping to such adolescent, second-string cheerleader tactics.

And by chastise, I mean snarf a Reese’s.

Tee hee!!!!!!!! OMG YES!!!! I get this. I totally do.

She even dresses like a super-model for the company party (eyelashes and all) walks up to him and says “hi!” only to have him *spoiler* (sorry… I wanted to tell you, but I figure it’ll be more fun for you to read this part yourself), so I just backspaced it out. Just know that my reaction was —> GAH!!!! Ugggggghhhhh HOW DARE…? WHAT!?  Ohhhh no he did NOT! <— and… OMG THIS WAS SOOOOOO FOR ME!!!!

This crap is fast getting on my reserve nerve.

Yep… I get that, too! And I was in. In with a grin!

And I LOVED her. She had me in giggling fits, witty as anything, confident, determined, smart and well… I kind of wanna be her. And the fact that she was so down to earth (so solidly grounded even with her pitiful crush and her obviously thwarted attempts), that just made me love her more.

And I have been thinking about them non-stop. In fact, I haven’t stopped chattering about it to my husband since I finished it, following him around… driving him crazy.

Maryse: Okay so this book… She’s been working for a firm and she’s crushing on this guy and he wants nothing to do with her!!

Husband: *eyeroll*

Maryse: No wait!! So like, and then… she does all of this stuff to get his attention, and he’s not at all like how the guys usually are in my books, you know? “I’m into you but I can’t…” for whatever reason, you know? Nope. He doesn’t even look at her. ‘Cause he’s really not into her. And if he looks at her, it’s like he looks right THROUGH her. Tee hee!!

Husband: Uh huh. *tries to sidestep to get away*

Maryse: *blocks his way* Yah ’cause he’s hard to get!!! Like, I mean, she even bends over drops her keys and doesn’t even bend her knees so her butt’s in the air!!! And!!! He doesn’t even look at her!! *cackles with glee*

Husband: *blink blink*

Maryse: And then, and here’s the kicker!!! She get’s called in one day, by her boss… and she’s been ASSIGNED TO HIM as his new PA for a month while a merger goes through, and now she has to WORK for him and he makes everyone cry!!!

Husband: Okay….

Maryse: No wait. Okay, let me read you one of my favorite parts… *scrolls through a ton of highlights… practically the whole book*. Oh!! Here’s one! *chooses the airplane scene ’cause knows husband is fascinated and scared of planes*

Husband: *huff*

Maryse: You’ll laugh. You totally will. Okay listen: Our seats are in the front of the plane. I have heard this not the safest place to sit. But it occurs to me Canon would simply tell the plane it could not crash, and it would begin to flap it’s wings like a great, metal bird.

Husband: *chuckles*

Maryse: Seeeeeee!!?? The whole book is like that!!! You’d totally love this. It’s could totally be one of those funny but awesome Lifetime movies. Or maybe Katherine Heigl romantic comedies. (He likes those kinds…)

Husband: Yah… I’d probably watch it.

OMG you guys. Seriously. I’m not usually THAT into “romantic comedies” but this one just did it for me. It made me work for the “potential” romance (’cause you know… maybe HE’S not the one… I won’t say, you never know… *lips sealed*), but it had me laughing so often, and had me feeling so often, that it just felt like fun. The perfect Sunday afternoon read. The perfect anytime read.

Witty, intelligent modern woman but with a serious vice that was causing her all sorts of roadblocks (and us, all sorts of giggles, but even the emotional “feels”). Whether I was embarrassed (and loving it), or jealous (and loving it) or furious (and loving it), this one had a bit of everything. Even romantic angst (which of course, I need in my potential love stories).

Maryse’s Book Blog: CURRENTLY READING —> “The Plan” by Qwen Salsbury (and so far so good!! – I linked it up in the first comment below). It’s got that funny/witty Alice Clayton, Emma Chase vibe and what drew me to it? “They” work in a firm, and she’s been pining over him for a year and he won’t even glance at her… no matter what. She’s not even a blip on his radar. Plus. He’s a no-nonsense meanie! And… he hands her his drink at an office party thinking she’s waitstaff—> Yep. He’s THAT kind of an ass. YAY ME!!! So far, this is exactly what I was in the mood for.

Colleen: Just finished this yesterday – I really liked it

Polly: I think people either love or hate this one. I wasnt a fan.

Maryse’s Book Blog: Ahhh… did you like the beginning? The sample hooked me so I bought it and am really into it so far…

Polly: I did like the sample. I know a lot of my friends liked it but I struggled.

Sarah: I liked it so much I stayed up 2 hours late last night to finish it!

Colleen: I was a little confused in the beginning because of the jump but it becomes clearer as you go on. I liked that the “format” was different then I’ve ever read. Plus it was hysterical and really sexy

LeAnn: I really liked how it started then it kind of fizzled for me

Maria: i enjoyed this book . one love scene went on too long though. but i liked how it was written in the days of employment. good read.

Maryse’s Book Blog: Uggghhh but he’s such an ass! That’s why I’m so into it. I mean, he’s not in the least but gentlemanly. Polite, oh yessss but a rude-polite. I just gotta know where this goes. Or should I say… how it “gets” there.

Summer: I am 20% in and liking it so far!

Komal: I loved it! I could almost see it as a rom-com movie

Maryse’s Book Blog: Consider me in the group that loved it! it was delightful, funny and quite the tease.

Sandra: did you like the ending? A lot of people are complaining about the ending? Makes me nervous to read it

Maryse’s Book Blog: Yah I thought the ending was fine… great, actually. I especially liked one extra scene that was a “cherry on top” if you will. I didn’t think it was missing anything other than it was a bit “loose-ish” in the last quarter (it was much tighter in the first half) but not enough to ruin it for me as a whole. The whole first half to first 65 percent (maybe even 70%?) rocked my world!

Okay so let’s talk about the *issues*. Admittedly, it wasn’t perfect. As “tight” and awesome as I found the whole first half, even the first 65 to 70%, after 70% it kind of lost a bit of it’s momentum. Not for the whole last quarter, mind you. Personally I couldn’t wait to get to that “ending” and I thoroughly enjoyed it – although some say it ended abruptly, I was good with it.

But for me… where I lost myself a bit was in the last quarter. While I was reading the more steamy scenes in detail at first (vs. skimming them which I’ve been known to do with other books), the steam sort of… lost it’s steam for me at times, towards the end. They had a convoluted, descriptively poetic…  feel to them but to me, after awhile felt a bit drawn out. Even some of the dialogue in the last third of the book had that convoluted feel to it. I couldn’t always tell exactly what was going on, or what was trying to be said, or what wasn’t being said that SHOULD have been said… and found myself backtracking a few times to make sure I didn’t miss something, or accidentally skim something that I shouldn’t have skimmed.

And that’s about it in the realm of what I didn’t love.

But overall? Going over my many highlights and giggle-notes, and it just being exactly what I was in the mood for today and considering just how witty and flow-ey the writing was? I’m fluctuating between a 4 star and a 4.5 star rating.

It’s an absolutely EASY 4-star read for me (and the fact that it got “loose” a little towards the last third of the book makes me wanna settle on a 4-star).

But I’m thinking I want to give it 4.5 stars ’cause I couldn’t put it down, it gave me an excited adrenaline rush for the whole first half (and more), it made my grinny-cheeks hurt (a lot), and my heart hurt a bit, too.

4.5 stars!

Tagged as: 4.5 stars, alpha jerk, comedy romance, office romance, unrequited love