is a rather sad book, where the protagonist lost her family company and name because of a betrayal, but also found love and knowledge to start over if she chose to embrace that. However, the shallowness of the characters left me puzzled, despite the amount of plot.Verena Valent had been running her family business, Valent Skin Care, for 10 years, ever since she turned 18 and her parents killed were by a drunk driver. She had put off her own happiness, and was responsible for a chain of spas for the rich and famous, employing hundreds, as well as providing for her grandma and her younger twin sisters. She was about to realize her greatest success when her products are about to be launched in Asia, when her world was turned upside down. She met Lance, the executive chef in the famous Beverly Hill Hotel, who cooked her an excellent dinner and was thoroughly charming, which made her doubt her engagement to Derrick. Unknown to her, the bank that would have financed her expansion just went under due to corruption, and she had to deal with the devil (who also employed her fiancee Derrick) to keep the company running, only to see the company being taken away from her piece by piece, assisted by her fiancee... including her family name. As Verena found her life unraveling, she learned that life is exactly what you make of it.Somehow, all the characters in this book feel shallow, as if they only want ONE thing in life. Lance only wants to woo Verena, and the only thing stopping him was his lack of fortune, not that Verena is rich any more. Derrick is the evil fiancee that showed no sign of having really ever loved Verena. Verena doesn't know what she wanted out of life, as she ran her life on automatic. And the karma for the evildoer came out of nowhere. All in all, it's just not a very interesting book.
Category: Contemporary
Primary Plot: Head of skin care empire found love in a chef, but was betrayed by fiancee and lost the entire family business
Overall Rating: 2/5
