Review: Liked the book until the ending - a bit OTT - sappy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 6, 2014
Knox Wellington is home from the Army- due to a bomb explosion while in Afghanistan. He is severely injured and the person who is helping him around the house and to drive to/from doctor appointments is a volunteer named Charlie Davenport. Charlie (Charlotte) is a beautiful, smart, kick-butt, independent woman.The interaction b/w the gruff, tough and sexy Knox whose pride has taken a hit needing a babysitter. Charlie is strong, she knows how to handle Knox and his bad attitude.Their attraction becomes stronger each day, and as they get to know each other - they become friends and begin to fall in love.The story is told well with enough antagonists around to make you feel that there is enough pain and angst to want them to get their HEA as a couple. The pain and angst are not too much - just enough to keep you turning pages.The interaction between the H&h; is told through interesting dialogue b/w them.The book is 100% predictable. But generally, I don't mind that as long as I am entertained. The ending took a huge nose dive for me. The way that the hero 'comes around' made me gag and roll my eyes. It was not necessary, not believable and just too sappy. Cue in melodramatic music. The ending was just missing the scene where the hero drives madly (in the rain) to catch the heroine (in a super crowded airport) from boarding a plane and leaving his life forever. He declares his love to her in front of the crowd and they all applaud as she throws herself into his arms crying incessantly. (fade to black).What did I like about this book?- Charlie is kick a**. She was a military brat raised by an officer who made sure that she could take care of herself. She is honest, caring, loyal, smart, etc. She is a great female lead character. She is confident too. She is a bit on the taller side, but she is not insecure. Hate when female characters in book worry about how they look or wonder why such a gorgeous/famous guy shows any interest in her.- Knox - in general Knox was a good male lead for this story. He was supposed to be an alpha-male that hated his parents, hated his ex, hated romance in general. But he seemed to turn around pretty quickly. He is able to admit when he's wrong.- Oh, so they have a few steamy sex scenes. That's always kinda nice.- The friends, Jace, Lucy, Lexi and others. They provide some comic relief, more testosterone, male bashing, etc.- You didn't have to read the first book to read this one. I did read the first one, but seriously, I forgot the plot. Just for grins, I went back and skimmed it. But you don't need to read the first one.- No major angst, no big misunderstandings that go on forever.- Happy Ending/Closure- No CliffhangerWhat I didn't like about this book- Knox was supposed to be an alpha-male. But sometimes his 'jealousy' looked more like insecurity than being a Neanderthal.- Easy resolutions. Knox was supposed to be extremely broken up over the relationship with his parents and brother. But it seemed to get resolved fairly quickly. Shouldn't have been that easy.- As I mentioned before - the ending. The big 'show me that you love me' scene was eye rolling. It didn't seem in 'character' with his personality. Didn't make sense.- Sometimes the characters were OTT about the declaration of feelings for each other. Do guys (and even women) really talk that way? Started to skim some of these at times.It was a good read for what it was, an easy to read-predictable-nothing heavy in the plot-HEA-somewhat sappy-romance.