Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
“The fact that people underestimate me is my superpower. They never see me coming.”
I have decided that Karla Sorensen had it out for the Pierson sisters. LOL. First, in The Lie, she put Faith through her paces with the trouble-making Dominic. Thankfully, they found their happily ever after, and we read snippets of them in her newest story, The Plan. If you think her sister, Lydia, catches a break in her own story, well, you will be sadly mistaken. Thankfully, this reader ADORES grumpy, stubborn, “their own worst enemy” heroes like the hero of The Plan.
In The Lie, we find out that Lydia has been in an automobile accident. It has left her injured. In The Plan, we realize it has left her mentally and emotionally shaken as well. Struggling to find her place and re-enter society, her parents decide to hire her a driver/bodyguard, a former Washington Wolves player, Erik Wilder. Reticent about his hiring, Lydia ultimately agrees. She’s intrigued by him plus she needs to meet her responsibilities, so she allows it. Over time, Lydia finds herself drawn to the silent, sullen protection. Little by little, she tries to whittle into him, and over time, he becomes enamored with her. When a misstep threatens to rock any potential, Lydia almost gives up. However, Erik must ask her for a favor, and it may change everything.
There is so much that is always lovely about Karla Sorensen’s stories. For one, she has such impeccable pacing. I’ve mentioned this in other reviews, but I’m fairly certain I will continue to yell this from the rooftops. She knows how to build out the chemistry between her hero and heroine in such a way that you want to throw your Kindle at the wall sometimes. That’s definitely the case with Erik and Lydia. There may be a keen interest between her hero and heroine to start, but they are a slow-burn couple. And it should be so. Erik has solid emotional walls for days. If Lydia breaks them down too quickly, the story would lose its unction. It needs to happen as it does, and it’s brilliant as far as I’m concerned.
“You want a big, overwhelming wreck-your-world kind of love.”
Lydia is everything I love about a heroine. She isn’t perfect. She has anxieties that she must handle, and initially, she isn’t taking action in a way that allows her to live life abundantly. She hides behind schoolwork. Yet, this is still a move to improve. She is intelligent, she is insightful, and like her mother, she sees people, not just the ones who are important. She connects with everyone. She is spirited and lovely and the perfect mate for Erik.
Sadly, our hero, Erik, is a tough one. He needs a heroine such as Lydia, but he makes it so difficult on her. There were many times during this romance when I wish I had the superpower to reach through my Kindle and smack him upside the head. But again, this is Sorensen’s capacity to write characters that feel real, that make us feel and attach us to them. Once Erik’s secrets are revealed, it makes it easy to forgive his stubbornness, but he does make it difficult to love him. Thankfully, Lydia loves him for all of us.
I really don’t know how Karla Sorensen does it. Honestly, as I sit with her stories, books such as The Plan, as I’m reading her words, I wonder how she, time and again, writes stories that are relatable, reflective, and rich with story. I find myself actively considering her as a writer while I’m reading her books because she grabs at me, causing me to believe in her characters. Grumpy hero, sunshine heroine, slow-burn sultry romance? If this is your jam, then The Plan should be your next read. There isn’t even a question about it.
“He just needed…he needed to know that it was okay to let the walls down, even for a moment.”
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 