Rating: 2.5 Stars
Source: NetGalley
Description: Brett Harrison has been married before and isn't particularly anxious to try it again. He wants to be left alone to focus on his ranch but when his sister sets him up on a date he's to polite to say no.
Melly Walker learned a lot from her one failed marriage and has signed up for a dating site interested to test that knowledge. When this leads to a coffee date with Brett she thinks her plan is working. Until she finds out who he really is.
Genre: Romance
Why I Picked This Book: I love Donna Alward's Jewell Cove series so even though I'm not a huge cowboy fan I couldn't resist.
My Impression: This book was maddening! To start with I loved it. I loved Brett and his sister and I loved the idea of a dating site for divorced people. The setup was fun and the writing was fast paced and Brett is just adorable. When he and Melly meet there's some zings and sparks but not insta-love. Instead they sit and talk like a real date and they're both pretty new at it. It was really cute and felt really real and I could really see Brett and Melly working.
Until...the conflict. I was going along loving the book and then the conflict happened. It's not exactly a misunderstanding but Melly's attitude was really irritating and I felt it was both naive and immature. While it was somewhat resolved at the end and Brett proved that he was a considerate sweetheart I had a hard time believing in a HEA for these two or believing that Melly is really ready to date again.
I found this book incredibly readable and I liked the Harrison family quite a bit. I loved Brett but I didn't feel like Melly was ready to date or really had taken the time to actually get to know Brett like he had for her.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely. Despite my dislike of Melly the Jewell Cove series is an auto-read for me and I like the concept for this series so I'll probably pick up the next one even if it's not by Alward.
Would I Recommend this Book?: No. I can't recommend Donna Alward's books enough to anyone who enjoys contemporaries but I'd give this one a pass.
Challenges Met? Alphabet Soup (N)
Oh, the dreaded conflict, I hear you ! How many times have I read a perfectly good novel until *that* happened. At first, I rated the books higher based on the whole feel of the book, but now I tend to lose patience with lacks of communication, misunderstandings, stupid reactions ;)
ReplyDeleteThis kind of made me mad because I loved so much about this book. Alward is still one of my favorites though.
DeleteWell here's one book that doesn't need to be on my list ;-)
ReplyDeleteNo probably not but I highly recommend House on Blackberry Hill. I loved that one!
DeleteOh no, that's sad! I still want to read more of Donna Alward's books, but I will definitely pass on this one. I hate the whole "big misunderstanding" thing, too.
ReplyDeleteThe misunderstanding really annoyed me partly because I loved the characters so much. I still love the Jewell Cove series.
DeleteToo bad the conflict and heroine made it all fall apart for you Katherine. You do have me curious about the author though.
ReplyDeleteI love this author and really there was a lot I loved about this book which was part of why I ended up getting frustrated.
DeleteOh good to know. I'm so not no board with heroines like that. Hope the next heroine rocks for ya. I'll have to check out her other series :D
ReplyDeleteOh I just wanted to shake her! I loved the Brett though. He was fantastic!
DeleteI'm sorry this one was disappointing. I hate when the heroine is like that. I've read a few romances where I just wanted to shake the heroine and I couldn't get past it.
ReplyDeleteShe was so exasperating and I loved so much about this book that I really wanted to shake her and tell her to stop messing with the story!
DeleteMmmm... I love me a good cowboy.
ReplyDeleteYes, the conflict is usually really the make or break it part in a romance novel for me. If it's done maturely I can usually deal. If not, than ugh!
Happy reading!
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
How aggravating! It sounds like Melly needs to work on her own issues some more. I'm sorry this one wasn't better for you, but it's good to know the author's other books are worth following up on just the same.
ReplyDelete