I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 1.5 stars
After an ok start, this book slowly but surely got worse and worse. The only reason I kept going is because someone said the ending was ok.
While the main characters – Jordan and Tanner – were fine, the secondary characters, particularly the women, were a joke. They all seemed to be caricatures: either they were ditzy, or they were ditzy AND cruel. Tanner’s first live-in nurse showed up for a couple of scenes, only to decide to sexually harass him out of nowhere, and this was somehow connected to the ex-girlfriend who dumped him but then kept sending him sexts. It was like all the women had to be nightmares to make Jordan look like the only option.
The relationship between Jordan and Tanner also didn’t make sense. They claimed to hate each other, but there wasn’t enough showing of this. If anything, maybe they found each other mildly irritating when around each other, but there wasn’t enough demonstration of actual hatred. And Tanner only hated Jordan because she was “perky”? Actually, the whole portrayal of Jordan was ridiculous and cliché: red hair, tiny, big eyes, perky.
Anyway, back to the relationship… I felt nothing, because nothing really made sense. Their first kiss wasn’t swoonworthy… It was out of place and made me call out WTAF. Their first time having sex was more yawnworthy than spicy, mostly because it had no foundation of pent-up chemistry. Plus, it had the usual features: the guy immediately gets hard after coming, the girl orgasms in a couple minutes, etc. Also, Tanner’s magically able to be on top with the knee that’s been in agony for months. Ok, sure.
The plot and pacing was waaaay off. I was never quite sure how much time had passed, and things seemed to move too fast at times because of that. Weird things were thrown in here and there without connection to the rest of the story. The author was pulling at straws, really.
Last but not least, what was with all the product placement? Specifically mentioning "Amazon Fresh" and "Microsoft" and "Surface tablet" in some places, then skimming over other opportunities for naming specific things was weird. I would have preferred "I get my groceries delivered" and "tablet". It felt like the author was getting paid for mentioning specific products or services, or thought it was showing how modern and cool she was, when actually it could easily date the book or confuse readers who don't know what these things are.
Wow, that’s two contemporary romances that have flopped for me in a row, and that makes this romance reader mega sad. Hopefully the next one will be better!