Book Review: "Wish You Were Here" by Phillipa Ashley

Summary from BN.com: Jack Thornfield, new CEO, is shocked to see his long lost love, Beth Allen’s resume come across his desk. After 8 years apart they have a second chance at happiness in this romantic story about love and secrets.

I don't normally read general market contemporary romance. I honestly even barely tolerate Christian romances to be honest. But for some reason I felt drawn towards this book. I think it was because it felt more like a chick lit story with romance thrown in rather than a full fledged romance story. Either way, I found myself enjoying it tremendously.

Jack and Beth have a past relationship. They've been apart for 8 years when they are reunited with Beth unknowingly applying for a position at Jack's company. I really like how they really do try to keep things professional for most of the book. They are able to put their private life on hold during work time which is what they really should be doing. Its quite annoying when there is obvious drama between coworkers who are dating/have dated. There's also quite a bit of talk about their families as well, which helps to understand the characters more.

Ok, I won't lie. When the sex scene happens, I found myself giggling, not because I'm immature but because just like most sex scenes in books and movies, it's quite unrealistic how it all happens. Still, it doesn't happen until almost the end of the book and it's not really the main focus of the story. There's a lot of build up and tension toward it but it's not the defining moment of Jack and Beth's relationship.

If there was anything that bugged me, it's one very obvious scene when Beth is getting dressed, can't find her underwear and of course Jack is pounding on the door trying to figure out what's going on. Why she couldn't yell out to him, I'm getting dressed or hold on, and why he feels the need to start panicking there, seemed very contrived to me. All it seem to do was emphasis the fact that Beth is half dressed on one side, with Jack trying to get in frantically on the other.

Overall though, I enjoyed this short sweet story. The writing is fresh and funny and I think the small touches of romance was just what I needed. It's British too, which makes it even more enjoyable. I think that if Ashley has more books written like this, I'll be glad to read those as well.

Wish You Were Here by Philipa Ashley is published by Sourcebooks Landmark (2011)

This ARC was provided by the publisher