Review: Good but kind of disappointed
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2014
I was going for a 4 star, but the ending ticked me off so badly, that I'm down to 3. Although it was great to be back in the CO mountains, there were no scenes of exuberant wackiness with all the usual wonderful cast of friends at the bars and restaurants like the good old KA days, nope, everyone butting in, etc, Nope. There's plenty plenty of "so sweet" "give me sweet" "Very sweet" "in deep" "the most beautiful thing" "such beauty" "Bright light shining". Yes, all those ditties we've heard so so many times before, that, I'm sorry, now, they simply lack much oomph. Also, KA's unfortunate use of "three days later,"  "seven hours later" time marker tool at every scene change is unnecessary and so annoying. Can't we hear about the time changes within the writing somehow? Also, for a girl who gave herself an awesome makeover, where were the usual KA descriptions of Emme's clothing and accessories...not here...Deck was a great hero, but I had to reread some of his Alpha-speak a few times over to "get" what he was saying. (He actually "gritted" once.) Yes, he "rammed in" "powered in" "was done with her" after , that would be his woman "the dead weight" on his body each night. And she "whimpered" repeatedly and remarked to us "such a nice guy" over and over. He's immediately into being with Emme and describes his enthusiastic feelings as "this did not suck"-- Really? He also gets a lacing of dominant man in bed, dishing orders. However, when these two finally get their breakthrough and are feeling the real love, we don't get in on that love scene...bummer.The crime/suspense factor was interesting, but lacked any scary villain super revelation as in days of old. And then the ending---(spoiler alert!) We think Emme's been kidnapped (alrighty! here we go!) Deck is freaking out, we're right there freaking out with him....and. Hell no...she's in her office daydreaming about burritos...say what? What was that about? Why? So Deck could hug her and be grateful? The poor boy already was! Where was the do or die KA action? Um, nowhere. Instead we got Deck explaining in 3+ pages about the downfall of the crime ring in ridiculous, useless-- at this point-- detail. Why should I read the info dump? Do we care now? Hell No! Even KA has her characters say "he told me the whole story, it isn't that interesting." Hmm. "The girl kidnapped was actually the ex's boyfriend's girlfriend." Holy cow, who cares now?? And then we read: Deck "kept talking." Indeed he does! "This was sad." Yep. You see, on some level, KA knows all this....so why is this big investigation we are made to invest in get clipped in such a ridiculous way??? I couldn't believe what I was reading. Honestly. Unbelievable.Remember in Sweet Dreams-- it was practically devastating to find out who the kidnapper/rapist was, etc....Heavy sigh. And all that Faye and Chace went through. And don't get me started on the masterpiece that is Cal and Violet's burg story "At Peace." Or even Law Man... And here there's a break up bit, but it's just that-- a 2 minute bit. As another reviewer wisely pointed out, remember the emotional grip of Ty and Lexi's breakup? Where has all that emotional up and down/yank and tug gone? Even Lauren and Tate's breakup moments were more epic than this. So there was a serious lack of drama. The baby "game changer" time was heading somewhere..made me hold my breath.. then it fizzled. Although the scenes with Emme trying to get along with Deck's parents were real and interesting.The girl posse moments with Krystle and Lauren were very nice. Sigh. I liked that there was a psychological complication Emme needed to face and deal with in order to be the best she could be, but it too seemed quickly dispensed with. I liked the Rock Chick Hot Bunch connection, albeit the blip that it was, but it was nice.And I have to say it, as I have been reading KA since the beginning when she was self-publishing only and so many would complain about her myriad of typos and bad grammar....here in post-fancy publisher KA, there were a number of typos and strange phrasing...there was even a letter "l" just hanging in the middle of a sentence on its own. Really.I enjoyed the quick ride, loved the title and the symbolism of it,  but I'm shrugging my shoulders aching for more of the good old days....