I'm on a 'Beauty & the Beast' retellings jag. Dunlop's novella is what I would call a 'fantasy romance' - he & his Platinum Amex take her off to Paris for a 'Pretty Woman' style high-fashion makeover - but it is textbook perfect for the genre and hits all the marks. The main characters are devastating good-looking, confident, and successful, which is almost a given for the genre (possibly a necessity); I tend to go for less showy protagonists, like Connie Willis' nerdy & sweet male leads. I know it's supposed to be fantasy (pretend he's gorgeous; pretend you're gorgeous), but people like this feel unrelatable to me and don't snag my heart. Still, Dunlop deserves credit for a well-executed, squarely-in-the-genre novella. There is a lot of verbal repartee filled with teasing innuendo along the way that makes it a fun read.
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