Review by Kirkus Book Review
A nanny loses her shoe and attracts an earl instead of a prince. Diana Parker has sworn she'll never tell lies again. After a dysfunctional childhood with her mother, a con artist, she and her sister have promised to abandon the dishonest skills that allowed them to survive. That changes overnight when her sister becomes sick and needs a kidney transplant, though; Diana tells a whole pack of untruths in order to get an elite nannying gig, selling herself to an affluent couple as fluent in French, an accomplished skier, a child development expert, and more. Feeling guilty as she flies out to the short-term job, she commits to doing her best work in order to help her sister and then returning to the comforts of home and truth-telling. But she's not the only babysitter in Aspen; Griffin Windsor, Earl of Strathorne, is also there, watching his niece. When they meet by chance at a charity ball, he's instinctively smitten with Diana, while her instinct is to keep him at a distance so she can focus on being the nanny she promised to be. But when their two young charges, both delightfully odd in their own ways, become friends, Griffin has ample chances to win Diana over, and he soon does. Though Wilson's "Cinderella"-inspired story has many charming moments, any time the plot gets close to a meaningful conflict, it is resolved almost immediately, making the narrative energy a bit flat. Along the same lines, Griffin's aristocratic charms and complete perfection are wish fulfillment but dull, though Diana's inner struggles give some extra depth to her character. Diana and Griffin's slow-burn closed-door passion is authentic, and the book might appeal to readers who love a "Cinderella" story. A serviceable contemporary fairy tale. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
