Review: Ruin has me torn...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 25, 2013
Review for Ruin (A Summer in Winter Novel #1) by CJ ScottI am seriously torn about this review. I finished this book a few days ago and I have to be honest here, I'm still completely undecided on how I feel. So, here I am writing a review and I don't really know where it's going to go... probably into ruin. (See what I did there? Ruin, ruin. Oh, shut up you smiled at my idiocy.) The main thought that is running through my head is `rushed'. The entire book felt like a sprint to the end. Some stories less is best, but I think in this case it was to the detriment of the characters. I never really felt that they had the chance to be fully developed. At least not in any satisfying way. I give the author mad props for coming up with a plot line that wasn't just like a million others. It had a bit of mystery and intrigue, but again it just didn't have a chance to fully get there.Kathryn Bell is home from college for the summer. She hates Winter, it's boring, yadda yadda... Her BFF Jane is stuck in Winter because she is the only person who can take care of her grandmother, Mrs. M. (If you haven't caught on yet, Winter is the town they live in not the season.) Okay, so, in walks tall, dark, handsome stranger Ben Parker. Love or lust at-first-sight for Kate, while I don't hate these at-first-sight stories, this one for me was a bit much. Add to it that we take Mr. Parker, stranger, possible serial killer, hottie home with our shy BFF Jane just minutes after meeting him and I'm thinking, romance or Texas Chainsaw Massacre Winter Edition?I don't want to really get into the story much more than I have already because let's face it I tell much more and the whole 100 page story is ruined. This story has major potential, don't get me wrong, it's worth a read if you are wanting a short story that isn't all smutty. However, I do think the author did a disservice to herself and her characters by making this a novella length book instead of going for a full-length novel. Had she taken things that one step further it would be an epic story as it is, I was disappointed. I will give the storyline three stars for effort (I really want to go two stars, but the originality of some of the plot details keeps me from doing that.) As far as the smut factor, it's more angst ridden tension than fulfillment for me so that will have to be two pairs of damp panties. (The couple of full-on sex scenes left me feeling like I did with the rest of the book... rushed and disappointed.)Review by the Head Whore at Mommy's a Book Whore.Book provided by publisher for honest review.[...][...]