This story was a little hard for me to get into at first, namely because I found the opening pages to be over-written and the descriptions of our main characters to feel a little stereotypical for a romance novel. I guess that’s okay for most romance stories, but I always hope for a little more distinctiveness. I did like the doctor/malpractice lawyer pairing, however.
By the Lunch with the Parents scene, however, things were picking up. The lunch was very funny, and Nina and Wade both started feeling more three dimensional. I was getting into it pretty good by Chapter Five and was rather engrossed come Chapter Six. It was suspenseful enough to keep me interested and moving right along.
My main issue over all was with Nina. Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I tend to have trouble with female characters, generally in romances/romantic story lines, so that’s my thing…but there it is.
What my problem was, was that early on we see her presented as being very analytical, even in (especially in) romance. I realize it’s part of the story that Wade makes her feel impassioned and reckless, but it’s when we’re looking at her in the moments away from Wade that the inconsistency shows.
I’m trying to explain this without putting spoilers in my review, lol.
There comes a point in the story where she makes a snap emotional judgment about Wade, and at that point in the story, you can understand it. Her reaction later and that of Sally (her best friend) kind of annoy me for other reasons, but my inconsistency issue is that she clings to this belief despite any and all evidence to the contrary. She even will believe something an untrustworthy character says because it enforces that first belief, when there’s no real evidence.
A truly analytical, intellectual mind will always consider the evidence and will entertain the possibility that things are not as they emotionally believe they are. Nina never does until the very end, when it smacks her in the face. During those knee-jerk emotional moments, it’s understandable. But even when she’s out of the situation and has time to reflect, she never considers the alternative possible. It clashes, to me, with how she is presented and how she is allegedly supposed to be like.
As a very analytical person, I know how it works and I suppose that’s why it bothered me as much as it did. It felt…contrived for the sake of suspense, drawing it out unrealistically if Nina was really supposed to be the way she was described. Contrivance always tweaks me. Now, someone else may disagree. May say that she is just that emotional about Wade that it blinds her analysis. But I didn’t quite see it that way.
Otherwise, my issues were fairly minor. It could have used some more editing, but was never so bad off to make it hard to read. Detective Sullivan felt more like a caricature than a character, but he was a minor player. There was some Tell on scenes where it should have been Show. And Point of View changes without distinction.
Even so, all that being said, I enjoyed the story. Despite the inconsistency, I did like Nina and I liked her strength and dedication to her profession, even if it was a little naive at times. I liked Wade, but I’m always into a good alpha male that’s not an alpha asshole. The sex scenes were hot. I thought the malpractice plot was interesting, and although some aspects of the climax were not a surprise, others were. The ending chapter was fun, if a little silly.
So, I think I gotta go with a pretty solid 4 on this one. I may well check out Ms. Eugene’s new book coming out next month too.