Review: Immature heroines
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2014
The two heroines in this book are sisters. Cassie is twenty years old, so brilliant that she has a Master's degree and is about to start a job as a high school science teacher. She also has some wicked self-defense moves, enough to teach a sheriff's deputy (female) how to take down a bad guy. Despite her status as a brainiac, she has no knowledge of Real Life and is unprepared when a local firefighter (and former Navy SEAL) falls for her. This relationship is so far out on the edge of Romance World that nothing could make me buy into it. Javier refers to her as "baby girl" and most of their conversations center on her beauty and virginity. This doesn't make much of a case for instant and eternal devotion, but so it goes. Sky is older, with an injured leg following a car accident. The leg injury disappears about halfway through the book - it made its point, no need to belabor the subject, right? She's a nurse, about to take a job in a local hospital. There's a killer stalking her, yet it doesn't occur to her that her nursing license is a sure way to track her down. But a protector is right at hand: Zach from next door takes one look and falls into eternal love. It seems as if people on this little island fall in love at the drop of a dime. Zach is a marine biologist, but his job is only mentioned a couple of times and then dropped, presumably so he will have constant free time to come to the rescue of, or fix dinner for, Sky. The killer is a generic psychopath who manages to elude detection while attacking Sky a few times (and her sister once - but that was in error). The story builds loosely, since most of the pages are busily describing the undying love of one couple or the other, but eventually gets around to a climax stuffed with coincidences. The two girls - or women - or baby girls, depending on how they're regarded - do some giggling, some chortling, and guffawing. The overall impression is of immaturity. The men (and their brothers and co-workers) are all taller and more muscular and more good-looking than average, which is a sign that this book is part of a series. The mildest possible contrast is provided by Javier's mother, who dislikes Cassie until she learns of her virginity, and Zach's mother, who embraces Sky at first sight. Another feeble obstacle is Javier's disappointment when learning of Cassie's unusual IQ. But she never once acts like a person with more than minimal intelligence. Arson provides an excuse for the Pretty Woman scene of the girls/women/baby girls shopping for new clothes. This book might have been improved in dozens of ways...but it wasn't.