Review: Humorous, But Needs Work
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 15, 2012
This book is entertaining, and I enjoyed it overall. In her subsequent books, I would encourage the author to focus on the humor -- that is her strongest asset. Being married to a former youth pastor, it's highly unlikely Tate, no matter how handsome, would have such a substantive history with women. The fact that he knew the actual number of women he'd kissed struck me as inappropriate and unrealistic. All the man wanted to do was make out (do adults older than high school age even CALL it that, anymore?), and one particular scene had me almost throw my Kindle across the room. It was a scene where Tate SHOULD have been called out by the pastor or a member of the congregation and fired from his position in the church. Even in the inevitable breakup scene (which lasted all of two pages, if that), he says, "Does this mean you don't want to make out?" Mare is a young widow with a child, and even though she's older than Tate, they seem to be compatible and a good match (even though there's way too much laughing, grinning, smiling, etc.). But I'd rather have read about more of their conversations and how they actually fell in love instead of all the heavy makeout sessions. I loved it when one of the youth group boys came to Tate's house and discovered he had a girl there and had to "remind" Tate of his place and position. Don't even get me started on the creepiness of something her mother does. Keep writing, Ms. Gray, but give us more character, conflict and plot development.