Review: "Secret" Killed the Romance for Me...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2014
I had just completed the author's Pretty Instinct when I picked this one up. Pretty Instinct is amazing, and I highly recommend it.  Unfortunately Entice is quite opposite of it.  It started out with potential. Sawyer's opening POV has interesting exposition and his thoughts on sex were quite amusing.  He's easily established as quite promiscuous so it makes it a bit hard to believe how fast he becomes obsessed with a girl he sees working as a stripper, out of her element or not.If you are not a fan of insta-love, this one is not for you. Sawyer as the playboy turned knight in shining armor happens way too fast. He sees her awkwardly dancing one moment and instantly knows she's the perfect girl the next. Yeah right.Emmett is a bit of a hot mess, and the "secret" is what killed the romance for me.  I read the reviews, virtually all positive, so I thought no way was the secret going to be that obvious and unoriginal.  But it was. Sooooo....Spoiler Alert *******Emmett is pregnant from a party night she doesn't remember, father unknown. Why this is a secret that she delays telling is completely ridiculous. It's not like it's not going to come out and soon. She's like 15 weeks and not visible in a bikini?! No way.  My dislike for her went down simply for the fact that she let it go as long as she did (because I only like drawn out secrets when they are worth the reveal) and for all the annoying clues. "Are you sick?" "No I'm not dying."  Seriously?  That was done more than once.  When he kissed her the first time she owed him a disclosure, not the hokey "we can't get involved because you are my boss" excuses she gave him.I'm not saying this type of plot device can't work in a romance but it takes a lot to avoid the pitfalls while still creating romance, and the characters aren't engaging enough to overlook the unromantic aspects of it--Like by the time Emmett is whining that they haven't made love in a while and he missed her last doctor's appointment.  Add in that Emmett is just too destitute and Sawyer too much of a former player to want such a 180 lifestyle change (all his friends pairing off or not) with a girl he hardly knows and the story feels too contrived.