I was thrilled went I saw that there was a new series about the Fortunes. We have often heard about the Dakota Fortunes, so it's past time we get to meet them. Unfortunately, this book didn't seem to live up to the past Fortunes great storylines. I hope the future books do the Fortunes legacy justice.

I was (and still am) eager for the Fortune continuity series, but this first one let me down. The hero is a jerk for most of the book. Alpha or not, he isn't my idea of a hero. Nor is Heroine, who's capitulation after her humiliation takes about one page. And how can anybody in literature --author, editor, copy editor, proofreader, publisher-- consistently use NewBURY for Newbery? Yikes!

Wealthy and powerful CEO Case Fortune was accustomed to getting his way. Now he had his sights set on merging his company, Dakota Fortune, with Reynolds Refining. But when the deal started heading south, the charismatic corporate shark's only recourse was to sweep Gina Reynolds off her feet to acquire her father's company. At first the beautiful heiress rebuffed his romantic gestures, though before long Case had her burning for him. By the time the dashing billionaire popped the question, Gina was all his.-That's from the back of the book and its sounded very good. A man who's after a company by going after the owner's only daughter only to find himself falling for her. It sounds good Case was creative in the beginning trying to get Gina to go out on a date with him and Gina wasn't sure why he was interested in her that fact he was a business man like her father made her cautious. Case and Gina were cute together at times. But I lost all respect for Case after he convinces Gina to sleep with him even though she stated she wanted to wait until they were married and then the next day boasted to his brother that he would now have the company. Gina finds out after her father's death that Case had been trying to buy the company she inherited and realized she's been had and is understandably upset. Gina, herself, starts coming off as someone who desperately needs therpy. She's been angry with her father for years because he shipped her off to school and never contacted her to deal with this Gina built a fantsay world which she turned into books. While its understandable as a child, it was unsettling to find a grown woman still trying to stay in that fantsey world so she doesn't have to deal with the real world. Her friend points that out to her and Gina tries to come out out into the real world only to get hurt by Case and tries to go back into that world. It was very disturbing and difficult to for me to get passed defiently hard to root for. This woman needs a therpist more then a husband.