Immersed by Jennifer Griffith
Lisette Pannebaker speaks five languages and has a brilliant business plan—personal language immersion. Clients can hire her to shadow them and speak all day in any language they need to learn for business or travel—whatever.
But there’s a major hitch: she’s far too pretty. Clients with less than honorable intentions sign up just have Lisette at their side. Solution? A make-under. Way under.It works like a charm. None of her male clients show her the least bit of interest.
Until… Erik.
Erik Gunnarsson is charming, kind, and smart—everything she’s ever looked for. Even though he seems to have a secret and she swore she'd never date a client, Lisette is tempted to shed her disguise—even if it means jeopardizing her career.
My Review: This is the sixth and final book in the Ripple
Effect Romance Series. I've really enjoyed the series--each book is
about a character who crosses paths with someone in the previous book
and they're all so different, yet all so darling.
In Immersed, Lisette is pretty fluent in many languages, since she grew up moving all over the world. After graduating from college, she wants to start a business helping clients learn a language by immersing them in it. Things don't go quite as planned because her good looks get in the way and most clients want more than to just learn a language. She decides to get a "make under" and turn herself into a more homely looking woman. She has a strict policy not to date her clients, but things change when she meets Erik. He's Icelandic and wants to become better at English to help his business along. He seems charmed by her, despite her looks, but it seems like he's hiding something to me.
Lisette isn't the type of woman to give in to her beauty and the demands men place on her because of it. She's very smart and independent, trying so hard to make her business work and to help her mom out with a shady contract. She fights her feelings so hard because she believes in being true to her word. My favorite part was the ski escapade in Aspen. I was laughing out loud over it!
Erik is a good-looking guy, yet he seems to look past the outward appearance and sees the inner beauty. I couldn't decide if he was a good guy or a bad guy because he didn't seem to be up front about everything. I loved how he deterred the burglars at McDonald's. He's either brave or stupid--maybe both. :)
The romance in this one was very gradual and hesitant, which fit the storyline well. I enjoyed watching the story unfold--it didn't feel forced or rushed.
Content: no language; some mild violence; mild romance. Clean!
Excerpt:
“So…what?”
“Plain and simple: you’re too
pretty for this job.”
Lisette rolled her eyes and picked
up her brush again, going at the high spots on the wall with vigor. “You’ve
been talking to my mom again. Did she finally rub off on you?” Great. Now no
one believed in her. Not even Aunt Corky. Just
a pretty face.
“No, not in that way. What I’m
saying is that your business has merit. It can totally work. But just not with
you, the way you are.”
Aunt Corky probably didn’t mean to
make Lisette want to cry, but the tears welled in her eyes all the same. This
dream had taken every waking hour of the last eighteen months. She’d poured her
heart and soul into making it grow, not to mention all the money she’d buried
in it—advertising, the office, everything. And her time. Day and night. How
entrepreneurs lived past age forty mystified her. She barely had time to keep
an eye on her elderly next door neighbors. And when a girl was too busy to
serve other people, she was too busy.
Aunt Corky reached over and grabbed
Lisette’s hand. “What I’m saying is you need a makeover.”
Lisette raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t raise that eyebrow at me, Z.
I’m serious about this.” Aunt Corky folded her arms across her chest. “Not a
makeover in the traditional sense. More like a make-under. You know, to make you look less…gorgeous.”
Here it went again, with the
appearance factor. Didn’t all the studies say that people who were good-looking
had a better chance at success than
those who were below average?
“You’re not buying it, I can tell.
But think with me. Dark circles under the eyes. A greasy wig. Lines at the
mouth. And right about here,” she pointed at her nostril, “a big wart.”
“A wart!”
“Okay, maybe not a wart. That might
be over the top. But something that will keep all the pawing maniacs at a
distance.” Aunt Corky shrugged and leaned against a dry wall like she’d made
her case and the prosecution rested. “Think about it, Z. I mean, you want
Immerse to succeed, right? All the years of language skills and business acumen
you’ve amassed, they’re going to waste.”
Lisette sighed. Even though she
wouldn’t admit it aloud to Aunt Corky, unless something changed at Immerse,
things could go south pretty fast. However, she wasn’t convinced it was reason
enough to subjugate her dignity and go into daily disguise just to ward off
pretenders.
Aunt Corky resumed painting. “Just
think about it. Don’t decide now. But if you want to do it, I know somebody.
Samantha. A genius with bad makeup. She could absolutely transform you. No one
would even recognize you.”
This was crossing over from ridiculous into the absurd.
Author Jennifer Griffith
Jennifer Griffith studied French, German, Japanese, and a wee bit of Spanish in her school days. Her grandmother was Norwegian, and Jennifer grew up with lots of Scandinavian traditions floating around, including fabulous cardamom laced cookies called Krumkaker, made on a fancy waffle iron. However, she’d never dream of trying to teach someone any of those languages. And she might botch the cookies. Instead, she writes novels in English, drives her five kids a million places, and laughs with her husband, who came up with the plot for Immersed because he’s just a cool muse like that.a Rafflecopter giveaway
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