Eve1972
Written on Feb 14, 2018
So yea, color me impressed. This is the authors debut novel, and it was really rather enjoyable. It reminded me of an old school KA novel without it being a copy. That said, there were a few issues that had me dropping stars. Especially the farther the book went on and the ending felt incomplete with a couple loose ends.
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
The writing was very good in this one. Especially for it being a debut novel. It had a nice flow to it. It was easy to read. The story is told mainly from the heroine's POV. Although I think there may have been a couple from Cole's as well. The pace was OK. I think for me it was a bit too long, and it started to drag three quarters into the story. Although part of that issue can be attributed to my growing irritation for the heroine and the fact there is ZERO sex. That said, the plot was still engaging. It was super humorous at times. Like I mentioned above it reminded me a lot of KA's ROCK CHICK series. Last, it was all wrapped up in an OK ending. It was a weak HFN with the couple never even saying "I Love You" the entire book. I also thought there was a HUGE loose end that was never addressed. The heroine didn't want kids and stated she would never change her mind (she said this in her head) and the hero very much wanted kids. I kept waiting for this to be discussed between them, but nope, not a word and the book ends with them living together. I mean HELLO. That is a HUGE issue that probably should have been addressed BEFORE you live with someone.
~HERO~
COLE...I pretty much adored Cole. He was smokin hot. He had a shaved head. He was sweet. He was alpha. He was protective. He chased after the heroine. He had the patience of a saint. There were a couple times I thought he crossed a line verbally during an argument, but he does apologize right after. So he got brownie points for that. He was a solid hero.
~HEROINE~
DIANE...Diane's character and I had a bit of a love/hate relationship, to be honest. I really struggle when an author pairs up a super reluctant heroine with a perfect hero. That was the case here. I found Diane's refusal to let Cole in and trust him more and more irritating as the book went on. She also sometimes came across very cold and bitchy. And honestly, a bit too stupid to live with some of her decisions. All in the name of "handling things herself." That said, I also thought being in her head was a frigging RIOT. Especially when she was teamed up with Lynnie. So she was a bit of a mixed bag for me.
~FAVORITE QUOTE~
"You take that crap out and use my phone. Swear to God, Lynnie, I refuse to die with ‘Gin and Juice’ being the last music I hear. We’re running for our lives, not cruisin’ down the street with forties lookin’ for our homies!"
~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
One of the best things about this book was its secondary characters. I ADORED Lynnie -- I SO hope she is getting a book with a certain cop as the hero. I also loved Diane's mother and her other family. Theresa as well. I hope we will get to see more of these characters in upcoming books.
~HEAT LEVEL~
ZERO. As in there were NO sexy times. This made me sad. This book could only have been better with some steam. I also think it might have helped cement the couple's connection for me. Although the couple did have good on page chemistry, I think there was SO much going on outside of the relationship that the romance got lost a little in the background. It felt to me at times that they didn't spend a lot of time actually together in a romantic sense.
~ANGST LEVEL~
Low. I didn't find this one particularly angsty although the heroine pushes the hero away quite a bit which is the main cause of angst between the couple. Not much is mentioned about their sexual pasts. The heroine wasn't a virgin, but it's implied she hasn't had great experiences. The hero was engaged (I think) before but it ended tragically --- I think this may have been a mistake in the book because when they talk about this "girl" from his past he never mentions he was engaged but then a few pages later the heroine is thinking to herself; that, of course, he was engaged, at his age it would be weird if he hadn't been. So I have NO clue if he was or wasn't. Other than that, there was zero OW or OM drama.
~IN THE END~
I enjoyed it quite a lot. It had some issues which lowered my rating. But that is to be expected in a debut book. The writing was very good. The plot interesting and humorous. The characters intriguing and (mostly) likable. I am certainly onboard to see what this author has up her sleeve for the next book in the series. This one gets a solid thumbs up from yours truly.