Books & Spoons Review A STERLING PROPOSAL by Sonia Parin

26/4/2016

New Yorker Zoe Wilde is determined to bond with her half sisters and finally have the family she’s missed out on. First she has some loose ends to tie up. The family she’s inherited has been passing the buck for generations, now it’s up to her to dispose of the Wilde building she’s inherited; a remnant of the past. While she’s at it, she also has to restore the Wilde’s shredded reputation, win the hearts of the townsfolk of Eden and convince Luke Sterling to buy her out.

When she takes a miniature poodle and an alpaca to a cattle dog trial, local cattle baron Luke Sterling knows life will never be the same. However, he doesn’t think she’ll last longer than a week living in the small country town, especially if the thunderclouds that have been hovering over the horizon roll in. Her roof leaks.

A coffee overdose, some goats and a hankering for a baseball game prove Luke right, Zoe doesn’t belong in Eden. But springing to her rescue at a fundraiser, his feelings are exposed prompting him to break the stalemate between their families and prove Zoe’s found a place in his heart

Very well thought out plot, in a story that takes you to the breathtaking prairies of down under.
The small down dynamics in the story are hilarious, how the two families are given so much power, and set against each other, yet still cheering on the both sides. The twitter hashtags, and use of the social media to communicate, and for shenanigans, made me smile.
The three sisters have a fragile bond, even though there doesn't appear to be anything fragile about these social butterflies. The half sentences, and communicating by just one word, and reading each other's thoughts can be hilarious, unless you are the one looking from outside, or the reader, left a bit clueless.
Zoe, she is a caffeine addict, and it shows in everything she does, and says, and even in the rhythm she talks with. She is trying so hard to fit in, with the sisters, with the town, with Luke, and still built her own way, with the new life she has been given, the new chances with a different kind of future.
Luke, I not sure I liked him. He is attracted to Zoe, he acts upon it, but constantly thinks the worst of her, and expects her to fail. He is scared - scared of her, scared she will change his steady, yet a bit boring life, scared of how the town will change with the sisters there, scared of everything, it seems.
The staccato style dialog, hiked up on caffeine, grows on you, and is very much part of the characteristics of Zoe and her sisters. The power struggles in the small town, and the spontaneous new start the sister are creating, is fun and interesting. The romance between Luke and Zoe is on the front and center, yet the tale is kept relatively 'clean', and the heat factor low. Lots of amusing and comical situations, making the story lively and fresh
~ Three Spoons and a teaspoon on the side