My Christmas Fiance by Serenity Woods

My Christmas Fiance is part of a new series by Serenity Woods and it’s rather reminiscent of her very enjoyable Three Wise Men series in that we have a company founded by close friends/siblings who have managed to become billionaires while creating a product that also helps those with health problems. In this series, they have become one of the leading gaming companies in New Zealand while also catering to those with sight problems. I would have liked more about this aspect of their business since it was something totally new for me and I would have been interested in learning how video games can be made more adaptable for the blind. The reason that they want to help the blind is because one of the owners of the business, Teddi, who is the sister of the hero, Stratton, has been blind since she was a toddler. She had a genetic disease that Stratton fears he might be a carrier of so he has sworn off having children in case he passes along the blindness. That part of his character seemed a bit out of place to me because it was as if he were saying that his sister would have been better off not being born although she is portrayed as someone who has mostly adjusted to her disability and is living a fulfilled life despite being both blind and having had a fiance suddenly die on her. The heroine of the story, Meg, has moved to the city to take the job as PA to Stratton and they were immediately attracted to one another. The only problem is that she’s pretending to be married and has a 13-year old son. This might have been enough for the plot, but then layered on top of that is a pretend engagement which Stratton and Meg embark on in order to convince their former partners that they’re no longer interested. I’m a bit tired of the fake engagement plot device which has become a romance-novel cliche. Has it ever happened in real life? Especially with a billionaire? The plot complications with the former partners which formed the necessity for the fake engagement are rather smoothly resolved even though the reason for the pretense was the fear that there would be major problems with each ex. Despite that, the relationship between Stratton and Meg is an enjoyable read, especially in the first half of the book. She’s sassy and he really enjoys her independence and fun. Then, as they become involved together, she seems to become much needier and lacking in confidence. Stratton is revealed as being a caring and protective guy. The relationship between Stratton and Meg’s 13-year old son is nicely done. There are clearly going to be further novels in the series featuring Stratton’s sister as well as the other male partner. I look forward to reading those books and maybe finding out a bit more about how the blind play video games.