REVIEW: Unsuitable by Ainslie Paton
Dear Ms. Paton:
Audrey is an executive in the construction industry. She’s single, has a daughter, and is panicking because her care provider is leaving. She sets out to find a new nanny and encounters Reece. Initially Audrey believes that Reece is a woman and when this giant of a man shows up at her doorstep for the interview, her initial instinct is to turn him away.
But as she struggles through the interview, she realizes that Reece is suffering the same prejudices that she encountered trying to advance up the corporate ladder. In a woman dominated profession, Reece’s desire to be a care provider is viewed as suspicious and odd. What does a man, particular one that looks more like a day laborer, want with nannying a girl!
But Audrey’s child takes to Reece immediately and against the judgment of her good friends, Audrey hires Reece. From there we see Reece judged based on his gender rather than his amazing ability with kids. He’s sexually harassed by the other women in the play group. He’s assumed to have lecherous intentions toward Audrey’s daughter, Mia, by her friends and family. Even Audrey’s co workers objectify him when they watch Audrey’s nannycam feed.
Reece is a sweet, kind hero who ostensibly wants nothing more than to care for Mia, the three year old. And he grows to enjoy caring for Audrey as well. The gender flip aspect of Unsuitable was really well done from the thought process Audrey goes through in deciding to hire Reece to the way in which he is treated.
The relationship components–or the romance–was less successful for me. It wasn’t so much that the Audrey and Reece began a relationship with each other despite being boss / employee, but that Audrey’s personal angst was used to provide continual barriers to their emotional connection. At several different points, new issues from Audrey’s past were thrown in to keep the couple apart. First, there was the fact that they were boss / employee. Then it was that Audrey didn’t know how to love. Then it was that he wanted more children and Audrey didn’t. Then it was that Reece kept something from her.
There really only needed to be one or two and not the endless parade of emotional conflicts. Further, the big secret that Reece keeps from Audrey is blown out of proportion and her reaction to it came off as almost cruel. Without spoiling the ending, Audrey assumes very negative things about Reece’s character based on something that happened in his distant past.
I recognized she was using Reece’s reveal as an excuse to keep him at an emotional distance because she was ill equipped to dealing with being in love and having a long term commitment to a man, but I felt she lost a lot of sympathy at that point.
There seemed to be consistency issues. In the beginning of the story Reece has a girlfriend who is very ambitious. One of the things that breaks them up is that the woman is desirous of Reece to be more aggressive in bed and that he have more ambition beyond wanting to be a care provider. Reece maintains all along that he does not have these ambitions and this leads them to break up. I quite liked the idea of Reece wanting solely to be the caretaker of home and hearth and felt that was more closely aligned with the gender flip aspects. But in the end, that’s not how the story turns out. Further, Audrey’s position on family changes without much of any discussion.
It pains me to say this but there were several typos in the book and beyond that the use of Australian cant was so heavy that at times, I didn’t know if the word was misspelled or actually legitimate slang.
I liked that this book was written and it’s super hard to grade because I wasn’t in love with how the romance conflicts worked out but the use of a male nanny to expose gender politics was so well done and so unusual that alone gets high marks. In the end, I’ll settle on a C+
Best regards,
Jane
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This sounds like such a great set up – I may need to read it despite the faults you listed. But can we talk about the cover for a minute? There are no nipples! In the facebook link for this image the top of the book cover (with the guy’s chin) is cut off and I seriously thought I was looking at bare butt. Nipples are important.
@Anne: It looks like his nipples are playing downward dog. Look between the S and U.
Hmmm. I’m torn; I also love the concept, and the way it had social / political ramifications throughout the story would be my catnip. But it sounds like the author lost her nerve at the end. I’m afraid that might make this a wallbanger for me.
But I don’t want to have publishers use that as an excuse “see, heroes who aren’t billionaire athlete vampire SEAL biker dukes don’t sell!”
@Jane – I see it! Downward and outward dog, I think!
Jane, I was so worried you’d hate this book, so I’m glad some aspects worked for you. I mostly agree with you about the story having too many smaller conflicts rather than one or two big ones. I definitely disagree on the use of Aussie slang — I love that aspect of Paton’s writing. :) I didn’t have as big an issue with Reece’s career decision towards the end of the book, because I felt that he felt it was his best option — not his first choice, but the best choice at the time and something he could be happy with. What bothered me more was the time he and Audrey spent apart after the final conflict. It just felt like a really long time, and I’m used to my romances racing to the climax and then resolving in a fairly hectic, highly emotional way. Part of Paton’s appeal for me is that the cadence of her books don’t follow what I’ve come to expect in romance, but it also means that the books don’t always follow the path of emotional highs and lows I expect as a genre reader.
I really like that romance novels from Australian and UK authors often don’t follow standard US pacing and genre conventions. They often tend to be longer, the conflicts are different, the language is different – this is all total catnip to me. I get so bored with the standard US formula (including the almost unnaturally compressed time period in which most romances happen).
I loved the way gender politics was addressed in the book and I especially loved that even though she adored her daughter, Audrey didn’t suddenly decide that all she wanted out of life was to give up her career and be a full-time caregiver. I am so tired of romances presenting the idea that EVERY woman wants to stay at home with her child once she has one. Many of my female friends are the primary bread-winners in their families and their husbands (or partners) play a supporting role, yet in romance, this is very rare, so it’s refreshing to see this type of relationship portrayed.
I liked this one better than you Jane. Of course, I understood all the Australianisms and I’m sure that helped.
I too was frustrated that Audrey kept coming up with new barriers for them. But I adored the way Reece was accommodating and caring without in any way being a doormat. I think that’s a tough balance to pull off – for male or female characters and it was so well done here.
I wasn’t surprised by Reece’s career decision because he had already told Audrey that was his dream. He thought it was a “one day” dream but then circumstances changed through some beneficient investment and his situation with Audrey. The difference between Sky and Audrey was that Audrey never required or pushed Reece to do more – if they hadn’t had that final bust up and been apart, I think Reece would have been perfectly content to take care of Marvellous Mia until she started school at least. Sky wanted Reece to own a chain of day care centres and was constantly criticising Reece for not wanting to be more. That kind of pressure exhausted him. I didn’t find any inconsistency in that.
I was actually kind of disappointed by the “happy accident” at the end which neatly solved a problem. I’d have rather they worked things out without, personally.
That said, I adored Reece. He totally made the book for me. I have always been a sucker for guys with their little daughters. I get melty. Can’t help it.
Re the cover: I thought it was a butt at first.