Review: Good Read, Different Flavor
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 4, 2011
This was the 10th and final entry in Mallery's Hometown Heartbreakers series. (Only half are currently available on the Kindle). And like several of the books in this series, the style is a little more serious than most of her other stuff I've read.It was a good story, but not a traditional romance. The heroine survived a horrid childhood by becoming a tough a**. This isn't just talk, a character description that really has no bearing on the boy-meets-girl plot. She lives the life: collects martial arts black belts, participates in war games, only has one female friend, etc. She also has a series of jobs (that we only hear about, don't really see) that can be dangerous, even violent. Her initial interest in the hero is because he is better than she is at fighting, and she wants him to teach her.There was just one thing that bothered me. From the start, the hero recognized that he had to keep the heroine off balance to hold her attention. So, all their interactions for most of the book were studied on his part. In one scene, for instance, he doesn't compliment her on her appearance when first he sees her, because she would be expecting it. He does so later in the evening, when it's a surprise. This might seem minor, but how honest is he in their getting to know each other, when all his actions and conversation are geared to unsettling her?It's different, but well done.