Review: Maybe Your Father Just Didn't Love You
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2013
Not a bad read, not a great read.This was a fast-paced suspense romance. Without going into too much of the story: Angela Mckenzie, an FBI desk operative (not an agent), learns that her father has passed away. Her father, Mac, was actually murdered for protecting a secret. Turns out that Mac has trusted his daughter to keep the information safe. If only he had told Angela what she was supposed to be protecting and how to do it, and therein lies the mystery.Here's what I had problems with:First, Angela is not the sharpest tool in the shed by any means. I guess I assumed that if she was working for the FBI, she would be intelligent when it comes to someone trying to kill her and solving her father's mystery. Then again she was NOT an agent and basically sat at a desk at the FBI, so that was my mistake for assuming she had inherited any survival skills from her kickass dad. Umm, someone breaks into your house, you stab them, you have bruised ribs, you're getting scary phone calls... yet, you DON'T call the police when you meet said stranger from the mysterious phone calls? Brilliant indeed.Which leads me to my next problem, Angela's relationship with her father. Or lack of one. Angela claimed to have such a great relationship with her dad but he kept her in the dark about darn-near everything. That was a tad too unbelievable. Furthermore, Angela's father was ex-Army/ninja/spy/Chuck Norris but all he taught his daughter to do was, shoot a gun? He didn't give her anymore survival skills in case, you know... his enemies murdered him and went after his daughter?!And why did Mac put his daughter in danger in the first place?! Did he not love her or something? It didn't make sense. Mac kept his daughter in the dark about everything, taught her nothing to save herself should a problem arise, and then, deliberately puts her in the line of fire by giving her the data that everyone wants? Brilliant again. Why didn't Mac give it to Zac or his Army buddies that would've been equipped to deal with the ensuing fall out? Oh wait, I'm overestimating the depth of the story here. I must remember to put my brain on cruise control instead trying to over/out-think a romance. Oops, my bad.Then comes hot, intelligent, Chuck Norris Jr... Nick. I liked him at first until his professionalism gave way almost immediately to insta-love. Nick's aggression combined with Angela's passivity made me cringe. Nick wouldn't let Angela sit anywhere but in his lap; he literally pulled her instead of walking with her or telling her to speed up; he failed to explain his decisions regarding her life and safety; and he even managed to get upset when Angela called him on his failure to explain situations to her. Angela allowed this to happen over and over again. However, because of Angela's above-mentioned lack of intelligence and aggression, I should not have been surprised.Random nitpicky thing was the repeated use of "Angel." Nicknames are great, especially when it coincides with the title of the book. However, using a term of endearment on almost every page is irritating. Especially when the characters only knew each other for about a week.I like sex in my romances. The lack of graphic sex scenes left me wanting more. In situations where one's life is at risk, more adrenaline usually means more impulsive decisions, i.e.- SEX before I'm almost 60% finished with the dang book!! It wasn't even descriptive sex and it was uber vanilla.The 3 star rating is completely my fault. I have a predilection towards aggressive, intelligent, kick-ass females. Angela came off as a completely helpless damsel in distress. Nick came off as a neanderthal. Their instant-attraction and insta-love in about a week, left me nauseous. The barely believable plot grated did me in though. As I said, I've matured and refined my taste in romances and this was something I would've liked when I was a teenager. Maybe I'm just not the right audience.