One Bad Element Outweighs Many Good
I enjoy romance of many stripes, but sometimes I do question why I keep reading contemporary romances. Perhaps it is because I have found a few books and authors that I enjoy. So many contemporary romances oddly combine uncomfortable parts. Like this book, for example. I liked the small-town feel of it. The characters are likable, decent people. There’s no heavy angst or drama. There's a charming, slow-burn feel to the brother’s-best-friend romance. Both characters have room to grow, and each learn something about themselves as they look at their world through the eyes of the other.
It all sounds good, right? And it is, mostly. But the one thing I can never get past, and frankly, ruins a book for me, is the casual use of profanity. I truly wish that authors would put that a book has swearing or other crude language (at any level) in the description/blurb. That way, people like me could quickly bypass the book. And, no, saying that a book is meant for 18+ audiences doesn’t cut it; when I see that, I think it means that it will have steamy sex scenes, not profanity. I have no issue with those!
For me, all the other delightful elements can carry me along quite well for a while… until I run across those profane or crude words. They simply jar me right out of the story as I believe that the swearing is neither warranted nor necessary in a small-town contemporary romance (or any fiction, really). So, while I liked many elements of this book, I found the swearing and crudeness pulled me right out of my suspended disbelief, ruining the effect of the book. If you don't mind swearing in your fiction or contemporary romance, this probably won't affect you as much as it did me.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.