BOOK REVIEW- THE TROUBLE WITH CAASI by Debbie Macomber

A driven workaholic, CEO Caasi Crane has sacrificed all semblance of a personal life to build a West Coast hotel empire. But business as usual will never be the same when the man Caasi trusts with all her heart abruptly resigns. Having to replace her top manager isn’t the end of the world—or at least it shouldn’t feel like it. So why does it hurt so much to lose him?

Blake Sherrill is excellent at his job, and he knows it. But when it comes to Caasi, the time has come to cut his losses. Ironically, now that he’s ready to walk away from the woman he cares for, he gets what he’s wanted all along: Caasi’s undivided attention. Dragging her into his family’s frenzy of potlucks, weddings, and bouncing babies, Blake tries to teach an isolated career woman about the world outside her lonely penthouse—and a love that’s strong enough last a lifetime.  AMAZON 3 stars

I just felt like this book could have been so much more.  It started out okay but there were just so many mixed messages coming from Blake.  After a while, it just exasperated me.  Yes, I understand that Blake was trying to protect himself but geez.  Normal life that others took for granted was so outside of Caasi's experience.    The closest she had to normal were her two friends, who I did like.  The peek into Blake's family, felt just like that, warm and close but still just a peek.  I liked the story behind Caasi's name, that was unusual.  I know the story said that Caasi and Blake had worked together well over the years, but after he handed in his resignation I found it harder to believe.  Of course now they  were on a more personal ground but he was expressing a lot of anger and that made it harder to like him.  At times he came across as a jerk.  At a later point in the book, Caasi said something about not liking people to play games with her.   It expressed my feelings exactly.  It went on too long and at one point, I just wanted it over.   
This might be the first book, that I have read a book by this author and I had heard such great things about her writing.  I will give her books another chance but I was disappointed in this one.