Review: Vacation Fling. Ireland. Bartender. Sexing and Guiness!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2014
Cara McKenna. I've been fairly shouty with praise for this author since I read Unbound last year.(How the hell that book hasn't won every award is beyond me) She creates strong, smart and sensitive heroines and the most interesting array of men. McKenna has made me fall ass-over-teakettle in love with an alcoholic, reclusive Scot with a wicked sexy rope fetish, an agoraphobic Parisian gigolo, a construction worker/boxer with a penchant for rough role-playing, an orderly in a psychiatric facility with a sexual intensity strong enough to melt, and most recently, a prison inmate with a dark gaze and a knack for filthy, romantic letters. So. How does a seemingly "normal" (whatever that means) Irish bartender fit in here? Connor Kelleher fits in quite nicely. It doesn't matter how simple or complex the character is, McKenna constructs men and women who are accessible and engaging. You know them completely. Brilliant.My initial thoughts on Her Best Laid Plans: Vacation Fling. Ireland. Bartender. Forearms. Sexing. Guinness. By the way, if I came across a review that described a book with these words, my one-click trigger finger would be all over that.I went into Her Best Laid Plans with a sense of excitement and anxiety. Excitement because... MCKENNA. IRELAND. GUINNESS. SEXING. Anxiety because: VACATION FLING. I mean, I just knew I was going to believe in this couple, despite the fact it's a whirlwind romance that's not meant to go beyond a short space in time. Jamie is from Boston, Connor's home is Ireland. They both are determined to get their lives in order, in their respective homes. So yeah, I believed in Jamie and Connor, that they should be together. And yet, I also believed that the both should go after their dreams, even if those dreams leave them on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Jamie's given up far too much for a man before, she needs to follow her own dreams. I didn't want her to compromise again, but I did want her to stay with Connor. So why can't Connor follow Jamie, right? Well, he can, but he also has a life in Ireland and plans of his own. Ugh. My heart ached for them. What will become of my the star-crossed couple? I'll never tell, but I will say that I believe things worked out exactly as they should.Wow. I just packed a whole shed-load of feels into this review of a novella less than one hundred pages, more than many reviews I write for full-length novels. Another testament to the power of McKenna. Length doesn't matter, neither does the premise, the level of twistiness, or kink. Every time I open a Cara McKenna book, it's like opening a treasure box.