Review: 4.5 stars - "Back to Basics" by Erin McCarthy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 17, 2013
Back to Basics is such a sweet contemporary romance story about Angel Weiss, who is trying everything to have a normal life, but she does not believe in happily ever after.  She has set up to marry her friend Brian so they can get the money that their friends did back a long time ago.  Whoever was the last to get married would get the bet money they put together in college.  Unfortunately, Brian never shows up to the Wedding due to him getting drunk and meeting a stripper that whisks him away.  Angel's brothers tell her Brian got married to the stripper, but she is determined to find out the truth and get that bet money.  She has something very important she wants to do with it.While searching for Brian, she ends up in the forest at one of the state parks in front of a bear and it takes ranger Rick to help her get out of that predicament with the bear.  One thing leads to another between Rick and Angel and both of them end up having mixed feelings about their situations together.  Angel is finally about to realize what love is for a person without feeling like she is following in her Dad's footsteps and realizing how much she does not want to find Brian at all.Erin McCarthy gives you a story of two unlikely people meeting each other, who really need each other.  Angel is one female character, who is determined not to end up like her father.  She does not know if she really knows if she can be happy and she never pictured herself getting married, but she really needs that money.  Rick on the other hand is trying everything to see his daughter, who was taken to another state with her mother and his salary only reaches so far.  He is such a sweet guy that I definitely believe Angel was destined to meet him in the forest. I loved Rick a little more than Angel though, while reading Back to Basics due to his charm and sense of humor.  He definitely won me over.  This is a definite different kind of story from Erin McCarthy and I hope she writes Angel's other siblings stories, especially her brother Luke.I give this book 4.5 moons and highly recommend it to contemporary romance readers, who love stories with a happily ever after with two complete opposite characters, you will enjoy Back to Basics.