Review: Would Make a Good Lifetime Movie
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 20, 2014
Maze would make a GREAT Lifetime movie (if they ever bothered to make interracial romances). There's passion, danger, deadly secrets, the sexy swoon-worthy hero, the too-beautiful for words heroine, and of course the Happily Ever After.This wasn't a bad book overall. A couple of spelling hiccups but the action scenes were great and the revelation about a close member of Maze's family was heartbreaking. Yes, Maze gets major props for willing to do anything-including kill-to protect Ivy. Sure, what woman doesn't swoon over that? Sadly, I really just wasn't feeling the characters much, though to be honest Maze was the deeper and more emotionally compelling character (then again, the book is called "Maze" so of course he'd be the focal point).Still, I hate when heroines get shafted. This tends to happen in romance far too often for my liking. Ivy was weak. Seriously, criminally WEAK. I'm sorry but you don't get to the top of your profession by incessant crying or fawning all over the hero. I waited for Ivy to go through the emotions of a potentially life-changing injury, but instead it was all about Maze. I wanted stubbornness, rage, maybe a little self-pity (okay there was a little of that), then I wanted to hear "Eye of the Tiger" in the background as Ivy worked her caramel-colored butt off back to the top with Maze beside as an equal. I wanted to see a woman who could function independently without Maze as well as with him.And Maze, keeping secrets from the woman you love in the guise of "protecting her" NEVER works. Again, refer to Lifetime movies. If Ivy loves you enough to accept your dragon tattoo and the fact that you fight with swords, I think she'd be strong enough to accept that you straddled two worlds, though you walked away from the shadier side of the street. Still when the stuff hit the fan, you moved heaven and earth to save the woman you loved.I do have one character I absolutely LOVED and that was Dante. If there ever was a loyal, loving, ride or die dude he was it. Seriously, he was willing to kick Maze's ass if he hurt Ivy. Sure it was unrequited love, but there was also deeper friendship and trust. I loved Dante so much that I think he needs his own book. Not to mention he seemed a lot more invested in Ivy returning to dance moreso than Ivy herself.I think both books need to be combined and fleshed out as a longer story. There's plenty to work with, and I would have loved to learned more about the Tong and the Triads as they related to Maze, especially with his mother. I mean really, a white guy heading a legal Chinese organization? How would that work?