The Golden Chance by Jayne Ann Krentz Published by self-published on 7/11/2023 (orig. pub. 1990)
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 387
Format: Kindle or ebook
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Chirp
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Also by this author: Copper Beach, Dream Eyes, River Road, Secret Sisters, Eye of the Beholder, Lost and Found, Sharp Edges, When All the Girls Have Gone, Smoke in Mirrors, Falling Awake, Hidden Talents, All Night Long, Untouchable, The Vanishing, Sleep No More, The Night Island, Flash
Independent and strong-willed Philadelphia Fox recently inherited shares in a family-run business. But she is not a member of the powerful Lightfoot clan, and they want those shares back. When it becomes clear that Philadelphia can’t be bought, the Lightfoots move on to Plan B — they send Nick, the dangerously sexy heir, to convince her to give up the shares. But Phila has plans of her own, and she has no intention of allowing herself to be charmed out of her inheritance.
Sparks will smolder and fly, but these two opposites may find they have more in common than they think.
A Jayne Ann Krentz Classic. First time in ebook.
A quick, fun 1990s romance
I enjoyed The Golden Chance, and it holds up fairly well considering when it was written (1990.) It’s a fairly straightforward contemporary romance, rather than the romantic suspense for which Jayne Ann Krentz is better known. It does, however, feature her usual humor and snappy dialogue.
The main characters are engaging, especially Phila (the female lead), a feisty former social worker and passionate liberal. Nick, the former CEO of his family’s company and current black sheep, is determined to return to both family and company. He is likeable, but he has a manipulative and sometimes dictatorial streak, which to be fair he usually deploys in a good cause.
A lot of the plot revolves around Nick’s wealthy but dysfunctional family, his attempts to regain control of the company, and Phila’s efforts to get the family members to actually talk to each other. Almost everyone is keeping secrets of one kind or another, which maintains a surface accord in the present but is leading them toward future disaster (though of course they don’t realize that.) I’m always down for sorting out messed-up relationships through honest conversation, so that theme worked well for me.
On the downside, there’s a bit of sexism that hasn’t aged well, including from Nick. There’s an uncomfortable and not really believable situation in which Nick’s ex-wife is now his stepmother. And I wasn’t happy that the only LGBTQIA+ characters are more unsympathetic than not, and don’t get a happy ending. (I can’t be more precise without spoilers.) Still, it holds up better than some other books from the time period.
Bottom line: The Golden Chance was a quick, fun read. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t quite earn a spot on my “rereadable” shelf.
Challenges: COYER Unwind (2024), Chapter 2. Note: Despite it’s original publication date, the book doesn’t count toward The Backlist Reader Challenge because I didn’t have it on my TBR list before 2024.
About Jayne Ann Krentz
The author of over 40 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense, often with a psychic and paranormal twist, in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.
She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.
Ms. Krentz is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington.
Pseudonyms: Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick, Stephanie James, Jayne Bentley, Jayne Taylor, Amanda Glass.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- COYER Unwind (2024) – Chapter 2
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