Leanne Banks was born on 14 May 1959 in Roanoke, Virginia, USA. She holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology, which she claims she can only use on fictional characters. When her first book was published in 1991, she used the money from her advance to take her family to Disney World.
Leanne is known for telling a story with strong emotion, characters with whom everyone can relate, a kick of hot sensuality, and a feel-good ending that lingers. She believes in creating stories for her readers that will allow them to escape into a place filled fun, emotion and sensuality. She believes that she has the best readers in the world because they understand that love is the greatest miracle of all.
Leanne is the recipient of Romantic Times Magazine's career-achievement awards in Series Sensuality and Love and Laughter, and her books have been recognized by the Award of Excellence Contest, the Romance Writers of America RITA Award contest and the National Readers' Choice Awards. She is grateful for awards and reviews and was particularly moved by a letter from a reader remarking that Leanne's book got her through a chemotherapy session. The reader's letter inspired a favorite turn of phrase: Never underestimate the power of a romance novel.
Leanne lives in her native Virginia with her husband, two teenage children and a Pomeranian. She also has a little condo in South Carolina where she writes in the off-season. She loves music, chocolate, quotes, and new adventures.
I needed a little break . . . and what a sweet little break this was! I have forgotten how good these little books can make one feel :) No terribly difficult storyline . . . just a man, a woman and a love story. What could be better :)
It's now 10/10/22 and TBH I'm not entirely sure what day(s) I read this book ...
So ... in a bit of a "partitioning my brain" ... :X *closes eyes* I ... low key (high key) love me some office romance novels. IRL I think it's 99.999999% toxic and horrible and literally illegal and possibly/likely morally reprehensible. :X ... But in romance novels? I'm like "OK YES THIS CHECKS OUT"
Sooooo yeah. I'm certain I read this book in 2006 when it came out.
: x I liked it a lot more the first go round.
I think the second time like ... most of the romance depended on their closeness from the first time they were together. There didn't really seem to be any growth or change other than Gannon realizing he doesn't want to live with Erika. For her part ... Erika really caves super quickly/easily. Granted it gets her burned - but then also pretty quickly after having her heart crushed again nets her "everything she ever wanted" so ... >.> I mean I/ guess I'm too mean and petty?
But just... the massive LACK OF SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER and just all the assumptions that oh Gannon is ACTUALLY a super good guy even though all his actions and reality are telling you otherwise. "Oh no, he dumped you on your ass to protect you!" ... Because it would've been SO FUCKING HARD to add "hey I'm trying to keep the press out of your life" when he was telling her "hey people are talking about us so we need to just cool off/stop hooking up."
... REALLY?!
... heh. So yeah I'm annoyed.
Also the white elephant gift exchange called a "Chinese gift exchange"? ... I'd literally never heard of it and like ... that's ... super racist? I was like "god dammit, author" and also wondered " " how it got through edits. (Like, no real wonder- racism - but like... geez damn, you know?)
Blergh.
So ... overall I'm not MAD I re-read this book? But I also felt like it was a book of "see how this was inevitable without any reason or proof?"
:| Their chemistry was ok - just ... blergh.
[And granted maybe like 15% of this is down to my mood but ... still]
Ericka is a joy, a fighter, a take no prisoners, knows what she wants. You go girl. Gannon on he other hand thinks too much what others think. When that backfires and he is losing the love of his life ( he does not know it yet), his uncle Daniel’s words of wisdom wakes him up. Ericka and Gannon compliment each other and are soul mates as well ask knowing what each other feels. This seems like a great series. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series and seeing what happens with the matriarch.
Since this is a Silhouette Desire book, there are not glaring edit mistakes. The book was ok. It was an average contemporary romance. Here's the get down. This is the first in a line of books about one very wealthy publishing family and their quest for love. The first book involves the eldest son of the eldest son, Gannon. Gannon is one of the editors at Pulse. He had an affair with Erika over a year ago. Gannon broke it off because there were rumors about the two of them. Gannon now has to get Erika to return to Pulse from the HomeStyle to help his father win the competition for CEO. Gannon is able to get her to return. They become involved again only to break-up again when rumors start again. Oh yeah, Erika only returns because she wants his sperm to have a child. Erika returns to HomeStyle after the break-up, Gannon realizes he needs her in his life and asks her to marry him. She accepts. There was not much sex present. I would rate the few sex scences 2.5 chili peppers. I made the mistake of reading the second book first and then this one. I really enjoyed the second one much better. I did not like Gannon much at all. He was cold, all about business, and it only seemed that he like sex for the physical gratification side of it-no emotion. And by the end of the book, I really didn't see a big change in him realizing he didn't want to live a life without Erika. I did like like that Gannon was not afraid of challenge and went after what he wanted. I was not sure how Gannon became so rich. Was it only family money or what? In the second book Tag is wealthy, but it did not seem to be the billionaire level. The reader is lead to believe that Erika was very upset and heartbroke over the break-up. I accepted that. But in a year she changed from a female who would challenge Gannon to one who would? I did not buy that. I think she needed more time to develop these traits. What made Erika think Gannon would change once they started an affair again? He had no reason to. He was not going to give her his sperm. He only agreed to get her to return. Again, he had not changed. And the fact that Erika did not follow up on the contract, but trusted him. She was so focused and professional, it follows that she would have pressured Gannon more about the contract. He was just stringing Erika along. I did not get a good sense of the two of them together alone. Conversations the had were about office issues and Gannon attempting to woo her into bed. There was noting wrong with his book, but it really didn't blow up my skirt. I would recommend reading this book first if you are going to read the series.
well I am in love with this series. Every book getting better and better, except you don't count where ı just wanted to strangle Gallon. He acts like a boy, cant decide anything, so immature, in the end he finds the right way but so much pain for Erica.I just wanted to kill him. Bloody. Gallon is an editor like Erica they got involved sexually. They keep it secret until gossips react their ear that they had been seen, Gallon says it is bad publishy and we must end this . After one year he comes and ask her work for Pulse. they got involved again(and this is the place ı had fit of hysterics why after you spit, you try to make better of it) then he pulls the very same shit and Erica leaves Pulce her heart broken . Then he decides he cant be without her and he purpose. Happly ever after. But what about heartache. I cant understand how she quickly gets better and forget the pain. Revenge is a necesity in this situation. whatever. I am mad at the forgiveness part but except that it was such a good book. now ı am gonna read two.
Gannon Elliott never expected to become a father just to hire an editor for his magazine. But the billionaire had been bred to compete and win, like all in the Elliott dynasty, and now to win a challenge, he needed the best--his ex-lover Erika Layven. More than anything, Erika wanted a baby, and the way she saw it, Gannon, who'd ruined her for any other man, owed her. It didn't matter that his green eyes drew her like a bee to honey, that his killer bod put sinful thoughts in her head. She'd simply draw up a contract and treat him like any other business deal. But Erika made one fatal mistake. She underestimated Gannon's charms.... I loved this book. But i felt sorry for Erika. She loved Gannon for a long time, but it was never reciprocated. Didn't think Gannon was capable of loving anyone for long. It's alot like unrequited love of our younger years. Lesson to be learned. 5 stars.
"—Te quiero, Erika —repitió él—. Te quiero porque me haces reír, porque me haces pensar, porque me haces sentir cosas que nunca creí que pudiera llegar a sentir. Sé que estas cosas no se me dan muy bien, pero tú siempre has sido una mujer paciente, y estoy seguro de que puedo aprender a amar si tú me enseñas."
Como que le falta un poco para ser mejor historia! Tiene buena base, pero todo pasa demasiado rapido!
Know what upset me about this book and the sixth book (I read them out of order), the guys call all the shots. When. How. Where. If.
It's disgustingly sexist. I know most of these books are that way, it's probably PMS but I long for a book where the woman has the power for a change!! It is fiction afterall, right?
D1699 Jan06 The Elliotts: Cannon Elliott is in a competition to become the CEO of the publishing corporation his grandfather started. He needs Erika Layven, the best--but his ex-lover, to win the competition.
3 x 1 le decian.... Pienso que si hubiera sido el primer libro que leia de la serie probablemente no la hubiera seguido, bastante inconclusa la historia, lamentablemente. Pero algunos otros libros de la serie si valen la pena.
Orribile, obbrobrioso inizio di saga. Non si capisce assolutamente chi è figlio di chi e la narrazione è tutta un susseguirsi di 'il giorno dopo' 'due giorni dopo' 'quattro giorni dopo'. Tutte frasi fatte scrivibili in altro modo. Per fortuna che gli altri sono meglio.