The Fine Print – Lauren Asher

If you read a book about an amusement park and you cannot help but feel it’s a discount Disney (But without the discount) one could say that the characterization of the environment was done magically well. I remember standing in the store and looking at this book and being very unsure of what I would think of this. Tiktok has been flooded with this book and I had to know. Are the hyped up books worth the read?

The book in short
Rowan
I’m in the business of creating fairy tales.
Theme parks. Production companies. Five-star hotels.
Everything could be all mine if I renovated Dreamland.
My initial idea of hiring Zahra was good in theory, but then I kissed her.
Things spiraled out of control once I texted her using an alias.
By the time I realized where I went wrong, it was too late.
People like me don’t get happy endings.
Not when we’re destined to ruin them.

After submitting a drunk proposal criticizing Dreamland’s most expensive ride, I should have been fired. Instead, Rowan Kane offered me a dream job. The catch? I had to work for the most difficult boss I’d ever met. Rowan was rude and completely off-limits, but my heart didn’t care. At least not until I discovered his secret. It was time to teach the billionaire that money couldn’t fix everything. Especially not us.

The Fine Print is the first book in a series of interconnected standalone following three billionaire brothers.
I found this information here.

What did I think about the book?
I am unsure if it’s the author or the character but the main character Zahra wants the other main character Rowan to be ‘the devil in disguise’, for him to be a ‘billionaire bad boy’. But it just falls flat because that is not what is happening. It’s a man who has been abused by his father who lost his mother quite young and has never dealt with these emotional issues. More than that though he cares deeply for this girl, he listens to her and in the end learns to choose what would make himself and his mother proud. It’s a full-on redemption arc where I didn’t need one to begin with.

Overall the book wasn’t that good, it wasn’t bad by any means. It’s one of those books that is fun for an afternoon to read. If you see it somewhere and it sounds interesting to you and it’s on offer by all means buy it but do not go out of your way to purchase it. Within the first 100 pages, it’s clear that the main characters like each other, then they are in the talking phase for the next 100 pages then it comes out that Zahra was lied to. It felt like Zahra was angrier at the content of the lie than the fact that Rowan lied, which to me is the worst part of the sin, not the content. To each their own I suppose. Zahra paints Rowan with a brush that he is a liar that lies. That Rowan is like Zahra’s ex-boyfriend who had a whole affair. They are both terrible liars in here eyes when I do not think this is fair. Truly was it smart to lie? No of course not. But this man is a billionaire with a b. He is also her boss, it’s not unreasonable for him to want to get to know her on a more anonymous personal level. It’s wrong still as he is her boss but they both don’t care about that so neither shall I in this instance. Rowan is being honest about the whole situation after their first proper date, which is not a weird point to come clean.

They break it off but then of course they start dating again. If you feel so wronged that you want to break it off (which is valid), leave it at that. Do not then jump back to the same boy. In the next pages, Rowan becomes the stereotypical book man who decides that he loves this woman, which is wrong because he puts her in front of his work, the absolute horror. He is mean about it, but Zahra doesn’t want to hear it which is fair. It’s also the second instance when one should run for the hills. they do not work well together as they have so many miscommunications. Someone can be a great guy just simply not your guy and this is fine. But this isn’t something Zahra has thought about I suppose.

When you think that was more than enough, it is of course not. Rowan’s grandfather invites Zahra to vote for a plan of Rowan’s that has to do with the inheritance. Which the whole book is about. But Rowan didn’t tell Zahra which I understand they haven’t been dating that long. It’s a bit awkward to say that if you mess up your inheritance is gone which is why you work at that place while you didn’t want to (especially because she loved it there). Not to mention the fact that they don’t talk about work, as he is once again her boss.

Zahra decides in her ultimate wisdom that Rowan knew she would be picked for the vote and sort of used her to get this inheritance which he did not do. This woman simultaneously thinks the worst of this man and sells herself short. She believes she did not deserve her promotion when she did deserve it. She could have been an adult and just talked about it, but again Zahra jumps to conclusions. She puts all these things on Rowan that aren’t there. Quite frankly she is not ready to date. The jumping to conclusions makes her a bit insufferable, to be honest. Her emotional issues aren’t his fault or his problem she has to work out all of that on her own. I do love the name Zahra, I think it’s very cute and fits the character perfectly.

I somewhat want to read the rest of the series but just because I read this one. I also wonder if the other stories are better or if it’s all on this level. The thing is I do not own the other books. I do not think I will buy them as I am not that invested in finding out what happens to the other brothers. Maybe one day I’ll stumble upon the other books but for now, this is it. Finally, this story contains a fair few scenes with a sexual nature (spicy scenes people also call it). I was a bit embarrassed when reading these scenes in this book. I am unsure why this came about but I felt embarrassed it might have been the writing style or me at that time but I felt myself skimming through them. It doesn’t impact the story much, so if you are really uncomfortable you can easily skip these scenes. Overall, it wasn’t the best read of the past year but I can see how others enjoy this.