Review: The Heart of the Deal: Finding Love on Wall Street by J.B. Stewart

The Heart of the Deal: Finding Love on Wall Street is an engaging contemporary romance novella by J.B. Stewart, set in the high stakes world of hedge funds.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kayla Hartman has always lived by two cardinal rules: never be poor and never let a man come between her and her career. So far these rules have helped her graduate at the top of her class at Harvard and obtain a Masters Degree from Columbia.

But now, thanks to her fiercely competitive nature, Kayla’s managed to put her job on the line as a junior analyst with the world’s most successful hedge fund, Prescott Blake Investments, by suggesting a new investment strategy to the firm’s Chief Investment Officer during their weekly staff meeting. Surprisingly, he likes her idea and gives Kayla three days to prepare a preliminary report, teaming her with his son, James, who’s one of the firm’s star portfolio managers and heir apparent.

The last thing Kayla wants is to be working with the boss’ privileged son – even if he is extremely handsome – but during their long hours working together, Kayla soon discovers that James Prescott is more than an Adonis with a posh British accent. He’s smart, has a sense of humor and even knows how to write computer code. Suddenly, one of her cardinal rules is about to take a back seat to the demands of her heart…

The Heart of the Deal is written well, with a smooth flow to both the narrative and dialogue. However, the chapters are divided into “scenes,” which is more appropriate to a screenplay than a novel. The world of hedge funds provides the opportunity for world-building and narrative immersion that may have been better presented in a full length work rather than a novella, as the story currently feels more like the sketch of a longer work.

More importantly, the novella lacks the necessary substance to be entirely credible due to underwhelming conflict and the unrealistic actions of her main protagonists. Romance requires conflict and plenty of sexual tension in order to keep readers engaged. Although there’s some sexual tension between her star characters, there is limited conflict otherwise. The two are under a very tight, three-day deadline to investigate various aspects of Charbonneau, the firm’s new investment strategy and while Stewart constantly reminds us of the looming deadline, there’s no organic build-up of urgency.

Character vulnerability is also essential in the romance genre and although Kayla and James have their vulnerabilities, the author could have better incorporated them so when the characters finally take their leap of faith, the union is all that much sweeter. It’s also worth mentioning that while Kayla may only be a low-level junior analyst with her firm, she’s nevertheless well-educated and it strains credibility that she would allow herself to lose control during a business meeting – or resort to childish name calling afterwards. These sorts of reactions are not uncommon in the romance genre, but it is compounded by other issues of character depth and realism.

The Heart of the Deal has all the elements for a really great romance but lacks the necessary substance to really pull it off. That said, it is a quick read that ticks many of the boxes of a successful romance, which will appeal to die-hard fans of the genre.