Review: Brain Candy Lite...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2011
Now, I happen to enjoy reading brain candy quite a bit and the Red, Hot and Blue series is just up that alley.  This is a series that does get into the hot details as well.The first three stories were about members of a special ops type group that included a pair of brothers.  In the course of the original three stories we got to meet Jared, the younger brother who stays home and runs the family's horse farm (or is that ranch?).  When I heard there was going to be a fourth book (hey, I thought it was a trilogy, so #4 was a pleasant surprise) I was quite thrilled it would be about Jared.  Sigh.  Just as I had higher expectations for the 'Jack' story, I also had them for 'Jared', however I feel these are the two weakest of her stories.  Perhaps it was the anticipation from the blurb reading, but I really hoped for more.For a shorter format (these are novella length and in terms of Kindle locations, Jared comes in just shy of 1300) it is really quite difficult to get  plot, story development, backstories, conflicts, relationships etc. done well.  If not done well the stories devolve into a lot of 'telling rather than showing' and head scratching as you just don't get how the characters got their connection.  It's not that it can't happen that way, but why do THESE characters have it?  Is he really that gorgeous, is her shirt really that well cut?  I mean, I want them to have it, I just don't see WHY they have it other than we are told they do.  Unfortunately, this is a bit how 'Jared' reads.Now, as brain candy type reading I can forgive a lot, but what changed this to a 3 star rating instead of a 4 was the moment when Jared's 'ex' had something to say that so horrified the main female character and she didn't even question the veracity or have the respect to ask Jared about it.  Instead she left in a pool of hurt and had to get chased down.  Really?  A smart lady like that?  Sigh.  Three stars for you.I still like the series overall and I'm still going to keep on reading--I love the basics of the characters, I just want more for/from them...JTG