Review: More depth/development to the relationship would have made it the perfect romantic blend
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 9, 2014
3.75 Stars(*May contain some spoilers*)Bakery owner Dylan Sparks literally falls into the lap of her best friend’s boyfriend’s co-worker (Reese Carroll) at a wedding for her cheating ex-boyfriend. Despite the fact that she made the wedding cake and her best friend is the wedding planner, I’m still not clear why she would be invited. But since it serves to set up their initial meeting and the plot, some suspension of disbelief is needed.The book description may be just slightly misleading on the pair’s intentions and feelings regarding the casual hook up. But then the pair misleads themselves as to what they really want.  Reece’s actions contract his belief in a casual fling. Dylan knows what she’s in for but continues to insist on it staying casual out of fear of losing him if she asks for more. Some of this is based on hearsay and his past history so her assumptions are understandable, but why she can’t just come right out and ask him about it instead of just assuming all the time, makes Dylan’s character slightly less likeable the longer the story goes on.The pros: The story is light-hearted, sexy, and with a few cute twists. There’s no tragedy or angst and no cheating—it’s a feel good book with a HEA.  Reece, while a little possessive at times for a casual hook-up, is one sexy and romantic CPA.The cons: (And this is largely what kept me from giving it 4 stars) Dylan really started to bug me about 55-60% through. There is an obstacle thrown at them for drama but yet it fits well with Reece’s characterization as a casual hook-up playboy.  It was Dylan’s reaction to it that really passed over a great opportunity for more character and story development in place of a damsel in distress moment and more sex. I lost a lot of respect for Dylan for not calling the police on her own and for seducing Reece to get his attention again rather than talking to him about how the pictures made her feel. I personally felt that the relationship (while deeper feelings were developing) was still largely based off sex and the photos should have taken away from her enjoyment of that with him. But Dylan quickly brushed it away once she got banged by Reece again.  The other slightly inconsistent issue with Dylan’s characterization is that she’s 26 and only slept with one guy—her former cheating boyfriend of two years who never pleased her. Yet, she’s fairly sexually adventurous and quick to engage in a bathroom hook up at a wedding with a guy she just met as well and readily accepts their causal relationship (and then keeps insisting on it) like she does it all the time, or at least has done it before. It just didn’t quite add up.  And finally, her slapping thing got to be way too much.Despite those fall backs, Dylan and Reece have good chemistry. If they spent a little less time having sex, and a little more talking, getting to know each other, and communicating their feelings the relationship would have been more swoon-worthy.First person POV told by Dylan.  Stand alone story w/no cliffhanger. Grammatically there are far too many tense mistakes (present one sentence, past the next). A sufficient editor should have fixed this before publication, and while it’s distracting in some instances it doesn’t take away from the overall story.  At 99 cents it’s defiantly worth checking out.