Review: Head over Heels – Cindy Procter-King

Head over Heels by Cindy Procter-King
Published by Amber Quill Press LLC on 16 August 2012
Genres: Adult, Chick-lit, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 160
Source: Netgalley

Magee Sinclair is a marketing executive in her dad's PR firm. She recently landed a mountain bike store to her account, and is meeting with Justin Kane to discuss upcoming strategy for when he expands his company. Their lunch take an unexpected turn when he asks her to be his pretend-lover for a week, in order for him to make sure the contract he needs will be signed.

*I received a free ARC of Head over Heels from Amber Quill Press LLC via Netgalley in exhcange of an honest review*

Head over Heels is a contemporary romance, featuring Magee (whose name we’re told how to pronounce several times…) and Justin. The story starts with Justin’s girlfriend Tina breaking up with him, because she wants marriage, babies and the whole package after dating him for six months. As Tina and Justin had talked about what they wanted from this relationship when they met, Justin is completely taken aback, because he had been very open about building his business first, and not marrying for several years. However, the weekend following the break-up he’s meeting with some very important potential clients, who are said to be extremely traditional, and Tina was supposed to spend some time with them.  Instead of letting them know he and Tina broke up, he decides to ask Magee to pretend to be Tina instead.

This is the very unlikely start to Head over Heels, and it continues to be unlikely throughout the whole book. The readers are told several times that Magee is a klutz, even though she really isn’t that bad, and she has a good head on her shoulders as well. After messing up two big accounts at her dad’s PR company, she feels the need to prove herself by landing Justin’s account, and that’s why she accepts to pretend to be Tina for a week. The first thing that made it difficult to believe in the characters and the story itself is that Head over Heels is set in a contemporary Canada. Even if Justin’s future clients come from England, even the British truly don’t live in the Victorian ages anymore. And breaking up is not a character defect in my opinion.

As Head over Heels progresses, both Magee and Justin develop very strong feelings for each other – it is very close to insta-love. Especially after they kiss on their trial-date they decided to go on to get to know each other a little better outside of business. The whole story spans over eight days, and in that time, Magee and Justin lie out of their teeth to the future clients – who is an English couple in their late twenties or early thirties – and almost slip up several times. Magee is really tense because she is uncomfortable when Justin touches or kisses her – albeit not for the reasons Justin thinks.

If you don’t mind insta-love or unbelievable situations, Head over Heels could be a nice, quick romance you’d enjoy. Unfortunately, it isn’t really my cup of tea, though. Head over Heels is a romantic comedy, but the comedy parts felt a little forced to me.

Justin Kane. he of the lustrous coal-black hair and piercing slate-blue eyes, which, at the moment, remained fixed on the hard copy of her preliminary advertising plan. The man confused her something fierce.

“How? We Barely know each other.”
“I have a plan to correct that.”
Her pert nose crinkled. “What?”
“Practice, Miss Sinclair. Lots of it.”

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