Review: Flashes of real potential weighed down by cliche
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 18, 2013
If Amazon allowed half stars, this would have received three and a half stars.  There were moments where reading this book was an enjoyable experience and other times when I found myself rolling my eyes.Ryker Valentine (the name is so ridiculous that the book shoots itself in the foot right from the beginning) is a actor-turned-director who needs help injecting heat into the sex scenes in his new movie.  His producer, Gunther, tells him to partner with Alix Z, a reclusive young woman who made several successful sexy art films and then dropped off the face of the earth to work on her photography book.  Alix, whose real name is Daisy, agrees to help Ryker for one month in exchange for $100,000.  She really needs the money in order to finish her book.The reason Ryker's sex scenes are so bad is because he doesn't believe in love.  Alix/Daisy, on the other hand, believes love is real and vastly important.  The two are instantly attracted to each other, but will they be able to overcome their divergent views on love?Well, it's a romance novel, so guess.  What was enjoyable about this book was the heat of the scenes between Ryker and Alix and another couple in the book.  Alix is also more intelligent than many romance heroines.  She is an artist, but it seems like Scott actually understands a bit about what that means instead of just picking a "cool" profession for her female main character.  She never really does anything facepalmingly stupid throughout the book and I appreciated that.  At the same time, it seemed as if the author didn't always completely understand the world in which she had her characters live and that created moments that would drive me out of the story.  There is one scene where Ryker has to go pick up his niece and Alix agrees to do it so he won't have to leave the studio.  Big shot directors have assistants, sometimes even more than one.  It's incredibly unlikely he'd have to face a decision between stopping production on his film and leaving his niece at daycare.I realize that love will and must overcome all in a romance novel, but it is also weird when a character overcomes years ofissues to instantly become a different person.  Progress is believable.  A complete turnaround just isn't.  By the end of the book, I felt as if I didn't even recognize Ryker anymore . . . and he was no longer an authentic-feeling character.With all this, I would be interested in reading something by this author again.  I love the situation she constructed, the intelligence of the majority of her dialogue, and the heat in the scenes.