Review: Enjoyable, but not what I expected
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
Like the majority of readers, I have expectations.  For this book, I expected that Rebecca would spend the majority of her time trying to seduce another  woman's husband.  I also expected that if she were to fall in love with with said husband, there would be a really good reason why I should be rooting for that to happen.  As with every other book, I expect to like the male and female leads to be fully developed and likable.  This book fell way short of all of my expectations.Plot:  What is described as the major plot seems like a subplot.  As likable as the trio of friends are, their drama really overshadowed the main story line, which was already moving slowly.  Most of the conflict in this book comes from friends or coworkers, and almost none of it from the major plot.  The majority of problems that arise are solved by other people or by accident.  From her long time rivalry with a coworker to mounting bills, Rebecca never does a thing to fix, improve, or impact her own life. My Kindle was 95% in before Charles found out Rebecca was hired by his wife.  The last 5% ties up everything neatly with a bow and glitter, even though there's not really a mention of how much time has passed.  Looking back, I think the entire book had to have taken place over a week or two, which makes a lot of it even more utterly ridiculous.Characters:  I'll start with Rebecca since she is both the lead and this ties into plot shortcomings--she just reacts.  I read the sample thinking she was a strong character, but she isn't proactive.  She mentions all the issues going on in her life, but doesn't do anything.  At no point does she decided to investigate what's going with Charles and Isabella.  She has to poll her friends about what she should do, but still doesn't really do anything until past the 90 percent mark.  She has an inkling that Isabella has issues of some kind before she agrees to help her, but does so anyway.  Third parties, completely unaware of the situation, tell her that Isabella isn't a good person, but still she continues to help her.  That's another problem, she's handed everything she could ever need to know, but at no point does a single thing to avoid potentially huge problems.  Charles literally tells her exactly what Isabelle's end game is and that is the moment she decides it's okay for them to kiss, fully knowing exactly what's going on, her role in it, and the fact that it is the very last moment Isabelle has to win.  After she kisses him multiple times, in a public place that Isabelle knows they will be out, she wonders why Isabelle pushed her to meet him one last time or she would get her fired.  Seriously?  He breaks down her motivation into little bite sizes and Rebecca still can't swallow it. I can't even chalk it up to, well she really liked Charles, because that's the other problem.I was not rooting for or against Charles.  I couldn't have cared less if they worked out.  I didn't even felt like I knew who he was outside of whatever everybody else told Rebecca about him.  I didn't feel any romance in their scenes.  It's a huge issue for me when I read a romance novel and feel thoroughly and completely apathetic about the male lead.  I don't understand why he would remain married to Isabella, particularly since his reasoning is that he is true to his marriage vows given what we know and her utter lack of redeeming traits.  I just didn't feel his character and I can't even think of anything to say about him other than he was under developed and lack luster.If you're looking for a light read about friendships with a small side of lukewarm romance, this would probably work for you.  If you're looking for a swoon worthy male lead, this probably won't cut it. Other than some unnecessarily long paragraphs, grammar and writing style were great.  In fact, I believe it was the writing style and the friendships that kept me going to the end, even if I was a little blah about it.