Review: Not Up To Par With Her Others
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2013
I was actually rather disappointed with this book. But I wasn't entirely surprised by that. I loved Ava Stone's earlier books which had lots of details and chemistry between the characters, not to mention lots of side characters that were always sticking their noses into things in a very believable way.  And there was always plenty of introspection and growth of character. Slowly all those wonderful things seem to be fading from her books and this is definitely one that demonstrates that.I was really looked forward to Russell Avery's book before I read it, it seemed like he was going to have a really interesting story to tell. Yeah, I knew he was getting over broken pride more than a broken heart, but his character development in this book seemed to happen quite suddenly and without a whole lot of motivation.  He stayed angry at his twin and Phoebe all the way up until he faced off with them. It apparently didn't occur to him that he'd treated Phoebe pretty awfully or that since he hadn't loved her then maybe it was better that she ended up with his twin rather than him. He cared more about appearances than he did about his family.On top of that... his chase after Bridget was pretty appalling. First he tries to basically rape her when he thinks she's a maid and then after that he keeps chasing after her and telling her that it's all her fault he can't leave her alone because he has no self control. And despite knowing that he was ready to ravish her when she was a maid, she trusts him almost immediately and it doesn't once occur to her to question his morals?There were so many issues that could have - should have - been explored by these characters and weren't. They were rather flat and shallow compared to the other books. This book also seemed a lot shorter than her other books, probably for that exact reason.  There are other characters from her books that I hope get their own stories, but I also hope that a lot more effort goes into bringing those books up to the level that her previous ones held. Bridget and Russell have nothing on Cordie and Clayham or Olivia and Alex. If you're looking to read an Ava Stone book, I'd recommend just about any of her other ones as being a much better buy than this one. If you've read the others and you want to see what happens with Russell, it's worth it just to know, but it's not nearly as satisfying a read as it could have been.