Review: It's Frankie and Benny....what went wrong 3.5 stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 10, 2014
The first book I read by Kristen Ashley was 'For You' and I was instantly hooked, it was a romance, my preferred genre but it was so much more, so much detail and the characters were fantastic, I was hooked. After this I read 'At Peace' which is one of my all time favourites, I've lost count of how many times I've actually read it, and Joe, don't get me started on Joe.Kristen soon became one of my favourite authors and with books like 'Motorcycle Man,' 'Golden Dynasty' and 'Until the Sun Falls from the Sky' she could do no wrong, or so it seemed but then her new books seemed to be missing something. I'd been waiting for Shy and Tabby's story but when it came out it wasn't what I'd expected, I put this down partly to the fact that the characters were younger than Kristen normally writes about, but then 'Fire Inside' was released and again I was disappointed, Hop was basically Tack and Lanie blew so hot and cold she drove me crazy. Since my first Kristen book was a 'burg book I have a soft for them and I loved Mike in 'At Peace' but I have to say not as much in 'Games of the Heart' but I did fall in love with Finn and Reesee although the worst thing about this book was 'little dusty' I was sick to death if hearing about 'little dusty' Fantastical just wasn't for me, I've read it twice but it's the weak book in this series but then 'Golden Dynasty' was so good it's a hard book to follow, 'Broken Dove' again disappointed and I have to admit I stopped looking for Kristen's new books and I never even considered reading 'Jagged' 'Kaleidoscope' or 'The Will'This brings me to this book 'The Promise' I couldn't let this one pass I mean it's Frankie and Benny, this one I had to read not only do we get Frankie and Benny but we get loads of Joe, Vi and the girls plus loads of other favourites.If ever a couple were meant to be together it's Frankie and Benny but they have one major stumbling block and that's the fact that seven years ago Frankie was dating and in love with Benny's brother Vinnie, now while this is generally a no-no for me it's easier in this case since we've no actual relationship with Vinnie in fact the only information we have on him is through other peoples comments and memories, so while I'm still not totally happy with the brother thing it's not as bad as it could have been. I love Frankie and Benny, Sal and Mrs Zambino plus the rest of this huge cast of characters, they made me laugh and Gary made me cry, a couple of times so what was the problem with this book, well for me it was boring, simply boring I mean everything was set for a fantastic book, we'd all the characters, hot fiery Italians with so much past baggage, but where was all the tension the fight and well plot that made Kristen's early books so good. I mean I loved Frankie, who wouldn't and Benny...wow...Benny what can I say apart from I love Benny, I feel gutted I can't understand what went wrong.I struggle with rating Kristen's books because even a bad book for her is generally still a good book and it doesn't seem fair to give this only 3 stars, the past characters alone, I mean Joe and Vi.....but I just can't bring myself to give 4 so I'm settling for 3.5 stars.*******SPOILERS********##############When picking names it seemed odd to have so many 'B's' yes we've got Benny, no one's going to mistake him but in Frankie's office we have Bierman, Berger and Barrow....why?When Frankie is asking Tandy for all the information they've got she says no until Frankie says she's got a guy watching out for Peter, that's it no proof at all she could be saying anything to get what she wants and yes suddenly everything is handed over.Roxie and Hanks wedding colours this is the answer needed to prove someone's who they say they are, I mean with a little bit of technical knowledge and Facebook how difficult is it to get someone's wedding picture.While I'm moaning why did Frankie forgive everyone instantly, I know she's a great person with a big heart but seriously seven years of shit!!!