ARC Review: The Plan by Qwen Salsbury

The Plan by Qwen Salsbury is her debut novel, so as a reader you never know quite what to expect. But when I read the blurb for this one, I was instantly drawn in and had to read this book. I am so glad that I took the chance with this one, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this book. That being said, I will admit that this book will not be for everyone. Even though I thought that this story had everything that I look for in a really great read, the writing style is something that you will either love/tolerate, or it will drive you crazy. For me, I didn't always love it but I was so invested in the story and was enjoying myself so much that it wasn't a problem. The writing is a lot of inner-monologues and day dreams and at times it comes off as extremely choppy. There were also a lot of extremely uncommon words used in this book, and at times it almost seemed like a vocab lesson.

Emma has been working at her job for a year and is trying to balance her job while taking night classes at the same time. She and her coworkers take bets on how long each new PA (personal assistant) will last working for Alaric Canon their boss. Emma has become quite good at winning because over the last year she has been watching him and is determined to get him to notice her. When a big business deal comes up and Alaric must go out of town, Emma's boss Rebecca convinces Emma to be his personal assistant for a week and offers her incentive to try to last as long as she can. If she can last the week, she will get a raise. Make it a month and she will get a promotion in her department. As Emma and Alaric go on the trip, Emma is able to perform as his PA better than any of the others have been able to even attempt. But the attraction she feels towards him and the plan she has for him to notice her quickly begin to interfere with keeping things strictly business. Before long Alaric has more than noticed, and Emma is left trying to figure out how to proceed when there are feelings and attraction between them.

I really loved Alaric. Don't get me wrong he is an absolute jerk a lot of the time. He goes through a ton of employees and barely gives them a chance. He almost seems to root for their failure and is pretty much set in the assumption that they will all be incompetent. But when things start to change with Emma around, you get to see a whole other side to him. He tries so hard to keep his guard up and not let any emotions be read, but Emma really seems to get under his skin almost instantly. I loved that he started to let her in and really didn't have any problems with opening up to her. It was fun to watch as these two sort of circled around each other. I liked Emma. I thought that she was funny and strong, but she had a problem of way over thinking things. It was good to see her start to let go a bit though with Alaric's help. I loved when he admitted to having noticed her before and how he explained that he knew the real her despite her assumptions. I thought that these two were really perfect for each other. They made a great team, but an even better couple. They were also really hot together and had amazing chemistry.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I was surprised just how great it was for a debut novel. As I mentioned before, the writing style was different and that is the only reason that I didn't give this one five stars. I was able to enjoy this book, but there were times that because of the style I got a bit confused and would have to go back a bit to try and figure out what was going on. It also caused the beginning of this story to be a bit slow to get into as well, but I am so happy that I kept reading. My only other minor complaint is the ending. There is not a cliffhanger and this book is a standalone, but I wish that there would have been a bit more to the story. I felt like I would have been much more satisfied if we would have been given a bit more of their future. I liked the place they were at when the story ended, but I was curious to see things a little further down the line as far as their relationship and her career went. But I thought that this story was pretty fantastic, and I literally laughed out loud countless times. Besides romance and sex, this story was funny and engaging. I highly recommend giving this one a chance if you are looking for a funny romance read. At first glance you might think that this story sounds similar to many others out there, but it was really different and was well worth the read. I am so excited to have found out about a new author, and I can't wait to read more from Salsbury in the future.

**ARC provided by AToMR Tours**

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