SHOPPING FOR A BILLIONAIRE

Kent (Shopping for a Billionaire’s Honeymoon, 2017, etc.) offers a compilation of Shopping stories full of pop culture, witty dialogue, and great sex.

Shannon Jacoby is a mystery shopper who goes undercover to conduct quality-of-service investigations for her clients. She’s scoping out a men’s restroom when Declan McCormick, one of the most eligible bachelors in Boston, literally knocks her off her feet. Their attraction is immediate. Declan likes Shannon’s “realness” (she’ll order a steak rather than the expected salad). Shannon is incredulous that she seems to have landed the handsome billionaire, though she loves the self-assured woman she is becoming with Declan. They drift along in romantic bliss until a frightening medical emergency, a scheming ex-boyfriend, and a social media maven upend their romance. The collection includes the first five of Kent’s Shopping for a Billionaire series—nearly 500 pages of the often hilarious ups and downs of Shannon and Declan’s relationship. Kent has a gift for witty dialogue and memorable characters. Rather than physical descriptions, she uses evocative analogies to animate her characters. Declan “smells like a weekend in Stowe at a private cabin with skis propped against the back wall, a roaring fire in a stone fireplace that crawls from floor to ceiling, and a bearskin rug that feels amazing against all your naked parts.” Shannon is a likable hero who has knack for landing in situations that are equal parts cringeworthy and entertaining. While the sexual innuendos are sometimes a bit too much—at an ice cream parlor, Shannon compares marshmallow and caramel sauce to the viscosity of another “salacious fluid”—the novel is at its best when it focuses on Declan and Shannon’s evolving relationship. Beneath the humor, sex, and absurd situations, this is a sweet love story about a man who adores a woman and a woman who finally realizes her own self-worth.

A frothy, fabulous romantic comedy.