You Can Have Manhattan

Book reviews

11 Sept

Written By Anzhelika Li

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1. YOU CAN HAVE MANHATTAN by P. Dangelico

SYNOPSIS

You are cordially invited to the worst wedding of the century.

Sydney Evans is no stranger to hard work. It’s the one constant in her life. And with no family or friends to speak of it’s been easy to pour everything she has into her career as general counsel for Blackstone Holdings.

She wants for nothing. Until her boss offers her a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. All she has to do in return is marry his good-for-nothing son.

Scott Blackstone used to be a party whore. Pardon, party animal. He hasn’t been that guy in a long time though. Not since he moved to Wyoming, bought a failing cattle ranch, and turned it into a profitable business.

All is good. Until a phone call from his father threatens the quiet, simple life he’s built. Marry or lose everything. And to a woman who can’t stand him, no less. Well, Scott is not going down without a fight. He’s never going back to Manhattan. Not if he can help it.

BOOK REVIEW

“Life-changing moments rarely announce themselves. They’d rather sneak up and sucker punch you in the face by way of greeting. That’s how it happened for me. It started as a day like any other. Until it wasn’t. Until it turned into both the best and the worst day of my life.”

P. Dangelico created a soul-gripping love story with all the emotions. The book was funny, steamy, and even slow-burnish antsy. There were times when I laughed out loud and times when I had tears prickling in my eyes. The author showed that life is full of surprises and true happiness can be found under the most devastating circumstances, even if you’re not looking for it, least expecting it.

“I don’t want your pity, Scott.”
“You don’t have it,” he said softly. “You have my admiration.”
“I’ll always find you,” he murmured.

Sydney was such a strong and inspiring female lead. Being an excellent lawyer in an environment dominated by men, she was tough and loyal to the bone. Despite her rough upbringing, Sydney managed to keep a good heart and pure soul, even though under a cold facade.

“Having been trained at such an early age to believe that anything that made you feel good was inherently evil was impossible to completely root out.”

I’m not saying that Sydney was perfect while Scott was flawed (a reckless rich playboy born with a silver spoon and zero responsibility). Both of them made tons of mistakes at certain periods of their lives, but those mistakes shaped Scott and Sydney into better versions of themselves. They were not that different from each other (both running away from the sucky past, whilst trying to fill out the hole after the loss of something that was important and finally find themselves), but prejudices reigned with no mercy.

However, when mutual aversion collided with feverishly hot chemistry, fireworks cracked and sparks started to fly in all kinds of direction. An amusing banter turned into unrestrained lust, while time spent together revealed the hidden underneath and turned unexplainable attraction into beautiful feelings.

“We’re not built to be alone. We need to connect. We’re designed to seek common ground, to hold each other up, to nurture one another. And he did that for me instinctually.”

To be completely honest, it’s really hard to stay unpredictable with the marriage of convenience trope. Usually, the main problem is whether something that was initially supposed to be a business deal can turn into a real marriage or not. In this particular case, the question was whether Sydney and Scott could make their feelings withstand the difficulties when the loyalty was ultimately tested. P. Dangelico’s writing was good, but the story still lacked the big surprise, if you know what I mean… The ending was also a tad bit rushed, in my opinion. Overall, however, I really enjoyed this charmingly sweet story and recommend it for a quick smile on a bad day.