Jaci Burton - Dare to Love

A romantic game of chicken-and they're both too stubborn to flinch. Lucy Fairchild, lawyer and heiress to the Fairchild fortune, has just had the worst day of her life. Her father has found the perfect man for her to marry. Yes, she's thirty and single, but that doesn't give her father the right to run her life. She'll choose her own husband-someday. 
Jake Dalton is struggling to make his fledgling construction company a success. Ever mindful of his father's derogatory comments that he'd never amount to anything, he's spent his entire life trying to prove he's not a failure. From their first meeting on a construction site, verbal sparks fly. Their argument escalates into a dare for a date-and the game is on. Lucy thinks Jake is the perfect fake boyfriend to parade around in the hopes of getting her father off her back. Jake is amused by the chance to annoy both Lucy and her dad-he doesn't intend to take the dating thing seriously. 
But the heart is a fickle thing, and not above playing dirty. In their quest to prove something-to each other, or maybe to themselves-they find themselves building a case.for love. And suddenly all the rules have changed. Warning: This book does NOT contain hot monkey lovin', threesome action or anyone swinging from the chandeliers (sorry 'bout that). It does contain sexy romancin' on a trampoline under the stars, fun one liners, a dog named Rascal and a smokin' hot construction worker named Jake that the author is convinced you're going to fall madly in love with. She dares you to read it.

Comment: This was the first book by this author I've tried. I've had it for years and I got it because I saw in a message board it would have two opposites attract protagonists and most of the time I like stories like this where two apparently unsuited people find matching interests and overcome obstacles with love and joy. I was hoping this book would be like this.

This story begins when Lucy Fairchild replies to some workers in a construction site after they call on to her. Then the foreman answers her and somehow they ended up setting on a date. They both think it would be a waste of time as they don't seem to have anything in common, but after that first date things don't seem as simple and they start a relationship of sorts. With time they learn it's not the differences that define them, but what pulls them together.

By seeing the cover of this book, I was ready for some novel with a bitchy, annoying heroine more worried about her status or her clothes or her value as a woman or something and I thought it would be another of those boring contemporaries we see all the time about a woman's "needs" or whatever. I have to say the best thing in this story was, in fact, Lucy Fairchild. I liked her character so much! She seemed one thing, but she wasn't uppity or arrogant or superior to anyone else, she was quite humble sometimes insecure and a good person doing something she wasn't really passionate about. She didn't treat Jake bad because he as poorer than her and throughout the book we got to know her at the same time Jake did and with every small thing her charm would be more evident.

I've read this book in one day and I couldn't out it down. Lucy has some obstacles to overcome but with Jake's trust in her and her growing confidence she goes from insecure and living under her father's wing to someone willing to take risks and claiming her love for Jake.
I really liked how she progressed. Her relationship with Jake was funny and perfect to watch, they feel in love over small things, I really loved to see Lucy's inner charm along with Jae and it was amazing to see how he realized she was perfect for him.

Of course there some plot related issues, like her father wanting to marry her like an asset to someone and how the father tried to separate her from Jake using low class schemes...and the way she find out the truth about her father was a bit over the top, but I was too happy with the story to let it ruin it for me. I really enjoyed to see the balance of Lucy and Jake's relationship and how they saw their differences weren't as big as that and they had so much in common, acceptance, trust, goals and idea of how a good life should be. I liked their sintony.

All in all, this was an almost perfect story, something that surprised me quite a lot. I was ready to dismiss it but I actually loved it and I hope other works by the author have a similar tone and style..I'll buy something else by her one day and I just hope it can be as special as this one!