Review: Not What I Expected
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 13, 2014
This book just wasn't executed well. I thought the concept sounded great, but I was rather let down.The hero, Rafa, is not the traditional military hero. I didn't find him strong or sexy. He was a bit odd and he just felt sorry for himself more often than not. His family is horrible to Emily and he just sits by and makes excuses for them. He's still hung up on his ex and gets turned on by her the moment she walks into the room. He's not really a stand up guy. I felt like he just kept hiding things. I just couldn't find it in myself to really like him.Emily was a boring heroine. She had the usual hang-ups about her weight and her looks and goes on and on and on about it. You can have these hang-ups and NOT whine about it on a regular basis. There wasn't much about her that made me care about her, either.The sex is closed door. This is not a sexy book whatsoever.By the time Emily and Rafa got to the proposal, I really didn't care any longer. There was a TON of wedding planning at the end, and I basically just skimmed through it. It wasn't necessary and it didn't add anything to the story.The author's dialogue writing is awkward and stunted. There are very few contractions. People don't typically say "do not." They say "don't." This is not a hard rule and there are obviously times when this should be broken, but not every time. It doesn't flow naturally. It seems like the author was instructed to not use many contractions (because for some reason this is still a "rule" in writing according to some people) and she blindly listened, despite the fact that it's just not natural.I just couldn't get into this book. I didn't like the characters. I didn't enjoy the plot. I won't be reading this author in the future