Reviewed by EBookObsessed on
But always sunny and upbeat Suzy was devastated last year when she found out that her fiancé and former high school sweetheart, Jeff, was cheating on her, and even worse he was relieve when she found out so he could finally leave her. She has sworn off men, especially Grayson Merimon, who has been trying to get her to go out with him since Mericom started its merger with Danvers International last year. He is rich and gorgeous so there must be something wrong with him, right? He’s used to dating all those snooty, high society women, so he’s probably a just a boring, stuffed shirt under all that thick wavy hair and sparkling eyes. If only she could find something wrong with him, then she could finally convince herself to stop fantasizing about him.
When Suzy finally decides that that if she sleeps with Gray, maybe she’ll find that flaw she’s been looking for, but their date doesn’t end up like either of them hoped for when Suzy takes a tumble down the stairs and brakes her ankle.
Although Grayson didn’t get the chance to sleep with Suzy after a year of his own fantasies, taking care of Suzy while she recovers give Gray the time and the intimacy he needs in order to convince Suzy how much he needs her in his life…forever.
Just as Gray and Suzy begin to move forward with their relationship, someone from Gray’s past comes around to put a damper on their growing romance. Will past decisions come back to haunt Gray and ruin everything between them, or will they work together to build a future?
THOUGHTS:
Sydney Landon writes such delightful characters and some wicked scenes you can easily excuse the clumsy plotting of this book.
We saw the first meeting of Gray and Suzy in Weekends Required and noticed the spark, especially on Grayson’s part. When we start Not Planning on You, a year as passed and we learn that over this time, while working on the merger with Danvers, Gray has been trying to flirt and charm his way into Suzy’s life. Gray is enchanted with Suzy’s vibrancy and he knows he wants to spend his life with her. Now that he has moved to Myrtle Beach to begin running Danvers, it is all a matter of convincing Suzy to give him a chance. When Suzy is hurt, Gray jumps in to take care of her, finally giving him a chance to convince her they should be together.
All of this is absolutely delightful, and the time they spend together sizzles with sexual tension and their growing affection.
The clumsy part comes (and its right in the beginning so its not really a spoiler) when we learn that Gray has a former date (not girlfriend) who is stalking him. He doesn’t want to tell Suzy because is afraid she’ll be upset since her fiancé cheated on her, etc. He didn’t do anything wrong, but because he dated the stalker while he was trying to convince Suzy to go out with him, he doesn’t want to tell her. It was just way too obvious a set up that our couple’s time playing house will be destroyed when Suzy finds out about the hidden woman who she will obviously mistake for a lover before Gray can confess his problem to her.
It also didn’t make sense to me why they couldn’t work out their problems and Suzy turns it into a reason why they can’t be together. It seemed unnecessary to break things off completely. It seemed so contrived that it was like the author had an outline of the proper way to write a plot…#4. Separate your couple to add drama. As I read, I was trying to figure out how our couple would work around the psycho stalker problem, but the solution came so quickly, out of the blue and with so little fanfare, I definitely had the question mark dangling over my head…What? Again, back to the plot outline of…#5. Get them back together so you can end the story.
Watching Gray and Suzy spend their time together was so enjoyable, that I could forgive the clumsy attempt to add drama to the story. The author could have just left us with Gray taking care of Suzy and how their bond and love grows.
The next story involves Gray’s brother Nick (the womanizer) and Suzy’s sister Beth, who after years of being overweight has lost her weight, but still suffers from low self-esteem. Beth and Nick were helping to take care Suzy whenever Gray was not around. At first they don’t get along, then they start to work together without the friction. It is hard to know if something was happening between them, behind the scenes, so their story will coincide with this story or if the next story starts from the end of this book. I can’t wait to find out.
Received ARC from netgalley.com, courtesy of the publisher. Thank you.
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Reading updates
- Started reading
- 10 January, 2013: Finished reading
- 10 January, 2013: Reviewed