Review: 3.5 stars for a moderately entertaining read.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2013
The premise of this story sounded a bit trite and I struggled through the opening chapter with its 'he did'/'she did' approach. Once the characters met, however, the story began to hit its stride. Unfortunately, I felt it began to come off the boil again by 3/4 time and it really became a matter of going through the motions to get to the inevitable HEA.The plot development was a real weakness in this story, because nothing really happens in the lives of characters, beyond their interaction with each other. This is particularly the case for the hero, Connor. We never see him in his work environment or with friends or family; in fact, beyond the opening chapter, we never see him interact with anyone but the heroine and one frat boy for the entire story. Couple this with a heroine who is largely confined to her apartment on summer vacation and you really start to feel you are dying of the boredom she is also experiencing.With regards to the heroine, Jessica, she was lightly sketched at the beginning, but became increasingly likeable as the story progressed. I thought the internal conflict she was experiencing about her situation was actually reasonably well portrayed. Having said that, her problem-solving skills left a bit to be desired and her level of naivety was somewhat incredible (in the true sense of the word).Connor was less likeable. I love an alpha male and I can see the attraction of the controlling Mr Greys of the world. What I had trouble with here was a guy who seemed overly aggressive and almost physically abusive in his handling of the heroine - how many times can he forcefully grab her chin or squeeze her upper arms in a painful grip or demean her sexually before she starts to question the wisdom of hanging in there? I also found his character incredibly under-developed and it was really hard to believe he was only 28 years old. He didn't have any of the traits of a guy in his 20s - it seemed more like he was over 40 - he even had reading glasses, for heaven's sake! Other than the fact that he was good-looking and liked his bedroom action, the author just didn't have him exuding enough magnetism to make the heroine's attraction to him seem truly plausible. And his constant profanity, which became rather tedious, was more in keeping with a construction worker, not a successful, young, software developer. When I think of all the other hot, young, alpha male book boyfriends out there, Connor was out of his league.I liked the epilogue which gave a glimpse of their future. It also went some way to redeeming the hero. Nevertheless, it ended as a moderately entertaining read, rather than a particularly good one.