Twice the Temptation by Rochelle Alers

Title/Author: Twice the Temptation by Rochelle Alers
Publisher/Date published: Harlequin, Kimani Romance, October 1st 2010
How I got this book: got it from the publisher through NetGalley
Why I read this book: I'd requested it and felt like reading a romance novel (I seem to be on a romance spree lately)

Goodreads summary: "Denise Eaton is proud of the day-care business she built from scratch. But now the scion of this Philadelphia family dynasty could lose everything. The man who holds the key to her future? None other than Rhett Ferrell, the man she passionately loved in college… and who broke her heart.
Rhett has waited six years to take his sweet revenge. Now the legendary corporate raider is about to have Denise right where he wants her — at his mercy and in his bed. He's never forgiven her for walking out and taking up with his most hated enemy. But he's also never forgotten the desire that still burns so hotly, so irresistibly between them. That's when Rhett plots one final conquest: to take over Denise's heart. And he's a man who plays to win…"

I really like a good romance and the summary promised a lot of tension, heartbreak and just plain conflict, which always makes me cry and I love those kinds of books. But(yes there's a huge but), I was hugely disappointed. Let me explain:

They were a great couple for 4 years, then Denise thought Rhett was cheating on her and he thinks that after breaking if off she proceeded to jump into bed with his best friend. Both weren't rational enough to try and talk it over back then, but that part is understandable.
They both go on to have careers and meet again when Rhett is trying to get revenge on Denise for having sex with said former best friend and arranges for them to meet to discuss the rent for Denise's daycare centre, he owns the building. He devices a plan in which she can either choose to pay an enormous amount of rent or become his hostess/date for the summer. I found the reasoning for this a bit hard to believe, but still, I thought, let's see what happens from this.

I expected lots of devious plotting and Denise finding out and being heartbroken all over again and him discovering he still loved her after all in the end, after which revalation they kiss and make up and proceed to have lots of babies. Or something like that.

But none of this happened, or at least not in this context. They never really talked the misunderstandings from their previous relationship over, they just discovered what happened because someone told them. There's this huge mystery about Rhett's father, which didn't really seem that important to me and was a bit of a blah moment when he finally found out.

What I also couldn't figure out is the immediate switch from Rhett's need to get revenge to him loving her like he did before in just one date. And then deciding to get married after the second or third. There really was no conflict in this! And I love conflict! I expect and want it. This is somewhere at the beginning of the book and I couldn't figure out where the story was going exactly. What the book seemed to tell me is that they loved eachother, didn't talk about their problems and had sex whenever possible. And I don't mind sex in romance books, but there has to be a relevant plot somewhere too!

I thought the author definitely had a nice plot for an enjoyable romance novel, but then she didn't stick to it. I was really disappointed and found myself going 'huh??' more than once while reading it. Also, I didn't understand how he went from being named Garrett to Rhett (I mean, where does that H come from all of a sudden, but maybe that's just me being nitpickerish).

My rating: 1 star, I really want to give it more, but I can't in all honesty.