Book Review: Terms and Conditions
The billionaire romance trope is starting to grow on me. In the beginning, I rolled my eyes; it was rather too evocative of Fifty Shades - or at least E.L. James gave the trope a bad name. It turns out it can be really rather fun, and rather than the heroine bending over backwards (literally in Ana and Christian’s case), Lauren Asher’s billionaires do a Mr. Darcy. They realise they’re crappy humans and make great strides to change into somewhat decent human beings, which is admirable for people who can change global markets with one email.
Iris and Declan have known each other for a good few years. They probably know each other better than they know themselves - or at least Iris knows Declan better than he does. She is, after all, his assistant. So when a potential contract bride backs out of the deal the day of the engagement party… well, who else is going to step in? Iris. Cue drama.
The drama mostly involves a lot of soul searching, which is not unusual, to say the least, in romance novels. There has to be a change for true love to have its happy ending. In this case its the shared trauma of shitty dads. Iris’s dad was a wealthy but abusive partner and somewhat ruined men for Iris. Declan’s father changed after his wife (Declan’s mother) died. And as such, he has become an abrasive alcoholic who is afraid of being powerless, to the point that he sabotages his children. I suppose trauma bonding is one way to fall in love. But I think everyone has some measure of trauma, and we can relate to that on some level - no one has had a perfect life. If they did, I don’t think you can call them human.
But here is what I really quite like about the book - yes, it is formulaic and structured and the ending is predictable - but on the flip side, isn't that what we love about these books? Knowing that there is a happily ever after is what we all aspire to have. Sure, marrying a billionaire would be lovely, but it isn’t necessarily all about the bows and frills. But Iris loves Decaln, despite that, not because of it, or in spite of it. Take that all away, and you find two very confident, hard-working individuals who find the good in each other and aspire to be better, to be worthy of the other. Even though they totally were in the first damn place. It is why hundreds and thousands of readers flock to these types of books and will probably devour them all again and again. In these unusual, deeply worrisome and trying times, escapism seems to be at the forefront of society. Romance, romantasy, grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers all offers a small distraction from how shit the world is. It’s why TV shows like Bridgerton do so well, or, heck, even crime dramas a la Agatha Christie, because they all have nice, neat and tidy resolutions and good endings. So yes, I will keep reading these until Kingdom come.