Tailored for Trouble

April 18, 2016
Pivoting away from the paranormal (the Kings series), Pamfiloff adds just a dash of magic to an aphrodisiac cookie from San Francisco’s Happy Pants Café that nudges corporate trainer Taylor Reed a bit closer to tycoon Bennett Wade. Mr. Wade, as he insists on being called, seeks out Taylor for training, even though their first professional encounter resulted in Taylor leaving her job. After that disaster, Taylor picked herself up and started her own corporate training business, targeting CEOs like Mr. Wade who could benefit from more compassion. Unable to turn down his job offer—though she’s tempted to give him some incorrect training—Taylor begins to realize that Bennet’s aggressive, goal-driven behavior stems from a guilty secret he’s been hiding from the world. Pamfiloff’s skilled pacing ramps up the tension and attraction between Bennet and Taylor as they crisscross the globe together, and their consummation feels like a well-deserved payoff for them and the reader. Taylor’s brothers and friends are set up to find their own matches as the series matures. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary.

June 1, 2016
After a billionaire causes a human resources specialist to lose her job when she calls him out for being a jerk, he hires her as a consultant. She never expects to fall in love with him.When Taylor Reed meets Bennett Wade, a billionaire CEO, he insults her boss, then her, and she tells him off, then quits her job before she can be fired, starting her own business which she hopes to use to teach upper management executives how to treat their people better. The venture is a complete failure, but right as she's about to throw in the towel, Wade tracks her down and offers to hire her as a consultant, which she refuses, having no desire to work for a man who's shown himself to be such an abusive jerk. Not willing to take no for an answer, Wade keeps upping the price for her services, until she finally gives in, hatching a plan to take his money but to fake her coaching services, ultimately teaching him a lesson by teaching him lessons that will undermine his negotiations rather than support them. Yet as the two spend time together--and fly to Tokyo and then Bali--Taylor comes to see a completely different side of Wade and learns the deep dark secrets that prove he's damaged and trying to make amends, and she falls in love with him. Unfortunately, Wade has taken some of her lessons at face value and may have sabotaged the deal of his life, making him doubt he can ever trust her again. Good writing, some humorous scenarios, and an intriguing matchmaking back story can't save two main (and several secondary) characters who come across as so annoying, inconsistent, and unlikable that we really don't care how they eventually get over their relationship misfires. An interesting concept and a strong start but ultimately disappointing.

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July 1, 2016
Taylor Reed is fed up with know-it-all, alpha-male business execs like Bennett Wade, the maddeningly arrogant CEO who once got her fired. So when he comes knocking as a potential client, Taylor is tempted to slam the door in his face. However, her new business isn't exactly raking in the big bucks, so she agrees to help him. As Bennett and Taylor travel the world on business, she begins to see a side of Bennett she never imagined, and she begins to realize that he may not be a heartless android after all. As his soft side reveals itself, the intensity between the two spikes off the charts, but just when things start to fall into place, the reality of their very different lives comes crashing back into focus. Pamfiloff's continuation of her Happy Pants series, following Happy Pants Cafe (2014), is a quick read that will have readers laughing at the witty heroine and her series of misadventures, and relishing the tension between the sexy protagonists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)