Review: Weak on the overall plot, but great love story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 6, 2013
Lily is the daughter of a rich businessman who is skirted away (against her will). She is young, a bit naive - but is strong, sassy and fights for what she wants.Nox is the sexy, brooding guy that is watching Lily on a day to day basis.They fall for each other (the young girl falling for her hero that opens her eyes to what she's been missing; the lonely gruff hero that falls for the innocent (yet swears like a sailor), trusting girl that tears down any walls he may have built to protect himself).Okay - so the love story is sweet. There are only two? steam sex scenes in the book. This isn't an erotic nor heavy steam romance.I love this author. Friend-zoned is high up there on my 'favorites' list of books. The sassy, bull-headed, funny, kind, a bit nutty heroine that falls in love with the gruff, sexy, alpha-male, macho man. The heroine basically pecks away at the hero until he finally gives in (in a good way) to his love for the heroine.It's a bit better done in Friend-Zoned (love all the baking that she does for the alpha-males), but Lilly is endearing in this book as well.My favorite part of this book is the last several chapters. The hero becomes completely vulnerable and is now the one needing to be saved - and Lily takes on the hero's role. Great twist. We finally get to see how strong, loving and deep Lily can be. This is a woman who I can completely champion, and who Nox deserves to have in his life.The parts I didn't like about this book was the overall plot. The reason why Lily is 'skirted away/kidnapped' is a bit thin in the reality scale. Had a hard time believing it.Then the way things wrapped up with the villain was a bit too quick. The villain never really was a pressing threat. I didn't feel that it was a hugely deep threat. Almost like Lily and Nox were hanging out.This is a standalone book, with no cliff hangers and a HEA.There is a nice epilogue. Love it when authors wrap things up really nicely with a bow. This wasn't over the top. It was just sweet.I can understand the need for the author to create an imminent threat to Lily's life so that the hero can come in and save the day. But I think the plot was a bit weak and it took away from the story.This author is good at dialogue and being able to show us how the characters feel - multiple layers of emotions. So it brings us closer to the them, and we become more invested in the characters.Even with an explosion or two, I didn't find this to be a high drama/suspenseful story. More deeply emotional than the recent fluff I've been reading. But not heavy angst-y. There were times when I found Lily a bit irritating (she has a tendency to swear too much, ask too many questions, or just prattle). But it was also funny in comparison to Nox's serious nature and maleness.The author is great at creating romance, building a strong relationship between two characters and tugging at our heart strings with other characters as well. We become involved and we care.I look forward to another book from this author.Enjoy.