*This book was provided to me in exchange for an honest and unbiased review*
I wavered a little as to whether to rate this book 3 or 4 stars. I'd like to go down the middle at 3.5 but ultimately I had to choose and it came down to whether I would read the next book in the series (btw it seems to be a companion series, there was no cliffhanger or anything). The answer was yes I would, so I've bumped up to 4.
For me this was a book of two halves. The first half I found almost painfully slow paced. I couldn't get into it and didn't feel greatly connected to the chracters. At 50% I would have said this was a solid 3 star read, inoffensive but unengaging. The characters felt a little wooden and not much happened. Then around the middle of the book things steamed up a bit and all of a sudden I was drawn in! Honestly, that isn't normally what determines whether I like a book, but I was so surprised at how well written it was it made me sit up and pay attention! I started to really like Todd and the depth of Megans character shone through more. Things started to happen beyond painting and buying furniture!
It's no spoiler to say that Megan has just escaped from a horrendously abusive marriage to move to this small town and take over her brothers b&b business. As plots go it worked well. I liked the town, the Jordan family had some interesting history of their own, there was a good cast of town characters and the descriptions lent to a sense of place, of beauty and peace. I enjoyed seeing Megan piece together a life, take control and find a feeling of belonging, of family. But it was Megan's character that had me so sceptical for the first 50%. She just didn't strike me as someone who had been used and abused. She was a succesful career woman, she obviously had a strong sense of self worth, she was comfortable in her own skin (except for a shortlived 'jumpy' beginning). Don't get me a wrong, it's not that I don't think it believable for a woman to get over something like that. It's just that to believe she'd just escaped it? I think I needed to see more of her struggle to escape to really appreciate where her character had grown from. I saw very little fear or struggling in finding her feet, it was just all over with very quickly.
This is partly why it all turned around for me in the second half. We saw much more of her internal struggle, of her hesitation, reconciling her individuality with her desire to be part of a family. I was a bit frustrated with her but I understood it too. She wanted to love herself first. I get that. And lets face it, Todd was a bit full on! Of course I found that absolutely adorably great (!), but I could see why she may have been a bit frightened by it. So yeah, I found her much more rounded and real in the second half. Oh and there was the drama and emotions and Boomer! I read the last 40% all in one go and was left all smiley and satisfied.
I even felt I went on a similar journey with my feelings on the writing style. A lot of what I read is written in first person. I like it because I get right inside the main characters heads, it's easier to feel it. This was third person and at first I struggled to follow who was the subject, whos perspective we were concentrating on. I'd get a bit frustrated at it sometimes switching between what Megan was thinking/seeing/doing and what Todd or Iian or Lacey was thinking/seeing/doing. But, do you know what? By the end of the book I really liked it. I realised that although it had taken me a little longer to get to know everyone, I knew more people and had a more rounded perspective on everyone. For example, I loved the little insight we got into what the Dr thought of Todd near the end. Maybe it switched a little too often and could have done with delineation, or maybe I just needed to get used to it. I certainly know plenty of people who actually don't like first person so hey, every reader's different.
Anyway, to summarise, I found this book a little slow to get going and wasn't at all convinced I liked the characters at first. But, it really grew on me, and by the end I was grinning at the slightly cheesy yet cute and satisfying romance. I'll read more stories of characters in Pride that's for sure, the next one seems to be Lacey and she seems feisty, intuitive and loyal, I liked her from the start so I'm sure I'll enjoy her story. This wasn't a classic, it wasn't complicated, heart racing, tear inducing or a piece of literary art. But it was cute and easy and satisfying and quick and I enjoyed it.