Choice Matters by Jamie Salisbury

Choice Matters (Southern Heat 1)
By: Jamie Salisbury
Publisher: Secret Cravings Publishing
Published: August 17, 2014
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance
Content: M/F, Oral Sex
Length: Novel
Heat Level: Spicy
Reviewer: Marchelle
Date: March 3, 2015

 

Apolo Choice, master of all that surrounds him. A billionaire at an age when most men are still in college. He has never failed; failure is not in his vocabulary.

Enter Caitlyn White, beautiful, sophisticated and educated. Drawn to the dark and roguish man, she finds her self control teetering on the edge as she enters Apolo Choice's world...a world full of contradictions, mystery and passion.

Finding himself falling deeply in love, Apolo realizes he must come clean with her. He must reveal a secret his family has kept hidden. A past situation his own brother would rather Apolo not share with anyone.

Caitlyn sees his "secret" as a way to boost her man's rising political star. If Apolo Choice can rise like a phoenix, then anyone can. Together they take on not only politicians, but family as well.

Apolo Choice is a self made billionaire running his own company, Choice Enterprises. He’s interviewing for the position of Executive Vice President, which is basically his second in command, running the office when he is away on other business. Caitlyn is interviewing for the position, although having been with the company for four years, she’s sure she is not the right person for the job. To her surprise, she gets the job and quickly finds out that Mr. Choice wants her in more than a professional capacity. They begin a relationship and as they get to know each other, they share their pasts as all new couples do. They learn each other’s family dynamics and Apolo shares a shocking secret with Caitlyn that no one outside his immediate family knows.

I had problems with the plausibility of parts of the story. It didn't seem believable that a shrewd businessman, as Apolo Choice is supposed to be, would promote an unqualified person to such a lofty position. Also, once she was promoted, it seemed that Caitlyn didn’t actually do any real work. It also seemed that the secret he shared with her was glossed over. It is such an integral part of the story as it is the reason behind his complicated relationship with his brother, Anthony. Yet, when it is revealed it is done in an almost innocuous manner.

There were also parts of the story that seemed like they were going to lead somewhere and then didn’t. For example, there were several times Don Turner was mentioned. It seemed as though he was going to become a problem for the couple but after being mentioned a couple of times, he was not heard from again. The same can be said of the ex-girlfriend of Apolo’s who shows up at a couple of important events, even getting into a verbal altercation with Caitlyn at one point. 

I really wanted to like this book. It held my interest enough that I never considered not finishing it. That being said, I kept waiting for something exciting or dramatic to happen but it never did. I found the story a bit flat and the ending left me with more questions than answers.