Who spends that kind of money on a Christmas present for their employer?! And was this out of spite, because they have to know what he’s like and how he’d react to a stranger showing up out of nowhere, they surely didn’t imagine he’d swoon for joy at Izzy’s arrival! The blurb promised all my favorite tropes (fake relationship! forced proximity! grumpy-curmudgeon-with-a-heart-of-gold! bookish-nerd-falling-for-her-boss!), but unfortunately ‘The Bookworm and the Beast’ didn’t live up to expectations.įirst of all, the circumstances leading to Izzy moving into Derek’s home for the holidays were flimsier than tissue paper – it makes zero sense that his staff would pay for an assistant to stay with their boss for a fortnight. I requested this out of the desire for a sweet Christmas read featuring a Beauty & The Beast retelling – it’s now nearly mid-February, which speaks volumes about how difficult I found it to get through this story.

Before long Izzy’s sweet disposition and unflappable optimism has him decorating a tree and looking forward to late night hot cocoa, but he’s all too aware their time together can’t last. Izzy is his polar opposite, but Derek soon realizes she could be the perfect solution to his interfering family…if he can get her to agree to pretend to be his live-in girlfriend. He might be as handsome as a storybook prince, but his prickly personality and resistance to all things Christmas are sure to make for a chilly holiday season.ĭerek Croft never agreed to the cheery temp his staff arranges for him while they’re on vacation. When quiet, bookish Izzy Simon accepts a two-week assignment as an assistant for an author of children’s books, it seems like the perfect way for her to make some much-needed extra money, but the grumpy author claims he doesn’t want or need her services.

Bookworm and the beast