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Steady
Swallowing her pride, Katrina, the reigning gardening queen, agrees to help eco-friendly Will Nakane win the upcoming competition, and as they work closely together, they decide to take their friendship to the next level, but Katrina's feelings of insecurity threaten their newfound love. Original.
394 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2007
5 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Ruthie Robinson
17 books58 followersI grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. Attended Clark College as an undergrad, and completed my Masters at the University of Texas in Austin. Both of my degrees are in Economics. After working in the Banking industry, I am now doing what I love - telling stories.
I enjoy reading, gardening, movies and hanging out with my spouse of twenty-seven years and our two young adults. I currently live in Austin, Texas.
I enjoy reading, gardening, movies and hanging out with my spouse of twenty-seven years and our two young adults. I currently live in Austin, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 16, 2015
The sighs of slight annoyance:
- Again a hero that is too handsome for his own good and a heroine who is not
- Again a guy who is a ho and a girl who is practically a virgin
- The overkill on gardening info. Normally I like that Ruthie Robinson invest in creating a solid backstory but I could have done without a quart of the gardening stuff.
The big likes:
- Katrina is so quirky, some readers found her extremely annoying, but to me she was a hoot. She is so contrary in everything, I liked that.
- The pairing of an Asian American male and an African American woman
- Again a story set in Austin. After reading RR’s books I feel like I know Austin, would like to visit ;-)
- RR’s writing skills. Even though this particular book could have done with a lot less pages on gardening and a lot more dedicated on the actual romance between the characters, I still liked how RR kept my attention with her excellent prose and witty dialogues.
- Again a hero that is too handsome for his own good and a heroine who is not
- Again a guy who is a ho and a girl who is practically a virgin
- The overkill on gardening info. Normally I like that Ruthie Robinson invest in creating a solid backstory but I could have done without a quart of the gardening stuff.
The big likes:
- Katrina is so quirky, some readers found her extremely annoying, but to me she was a hoot. She is so contrary in everything, I liked that.
- The pairing of an Asian American male and an African American woman
- Again a story set in Austin. After reading RR’s books I feel like I know Austin, would like to visit ;-)
- RR’s writing skills. Even though this particular book could have done with a lot less pages on gardening and a lot more dedicated on the actual romance between the characters, I still liked how RR kept my attention with her excellent prose and witty dialogues.
March 11, 2011
2.5 stars. To say I was disappointed in this book is an understatement.
First, I enjoyed and was very impressed with this writer's freshmen effort Reye's Gold. I have been recommending that book all over the place and still encourage everyone to read it. Once of the things I enjoyed about that book was the writing. I have said in my review that the polish and sophistication of the writing felt like someone who had been writing a long time.
The upside of this book is that the writing level is still very high. Simply put, Ms. Robinson is very accomplished in that area. You know there are times when you are reading a book,espeically from a new author, and you just cringe at word usage, or the data dumps or certain dialogue passages. That just never happens with this author. The writing feels very organic, very natural.
When I began this book, I was stoked because it began very strongly. It was immediately interesting and the set up was great. Katrina Jones has a crush on her neighbor Will Nakane. He, however, has never really paid her any attention. Until the night of a New Year's Eve party where Katrina has a little too much to drink and pretty much throws herself at him. Only to be gently rebuffed. For his part, Will can't reconcile the tipsy siren Katrina in the skimpy red dress with neighbor Katrina -- the woman who always wears baggy jeans, baggy tee-shirts, old baseball caps and works in her garden all the time. He takes her home from the party to make sure she is safe and leaves her there.
So, yeah, this is a great set up. But then the book begins to derail. The biggest problem is length and pacing. The book is 400 pages long. The first 295 pages are given over to Will and Katrina simply working together to win a city wide gardening contest. During those 295 pages, Will and Katrina spend a lot of time together getting to know each other.
While Katrina's crush on Will stays strong throughout, the net result of all that time is to see Will slowly begin to realize how much he likes her. So much of what happens in those pages is Will feeling (but not really telling her about) these lusty thought for Katrina. The two of them have a lot of inner revelations. They have absolutely no romantic relationship in those first 295 pages. I am not kidding. They look at each other a lot, they (silently, to themselves) acknowledge that the other is attracted to him/her. But that is it. They don't do anything about the attraction.
And to add to the issue, the gardening competition, really smothers the romance in this part of the book. Katrina knows a lot about gardening so we get a plethora of mini lessons and lectures on it.
The last 100 pages of the book is a full romance novel squished in. In that time the two acknowledge their feelings for each other, sleep together a lot, Katrina has cold feet, they have a few fights and then they end up HEA.
This is the pacing issue. There wasn't enough romantic interaction between the two of them in that first big chunk of the book to sustain real interest in their relationship. They really should have begun a real, acknowledged romantic relationship much earlier than they did so that the tension and the conflict could have been spread throughout the book, rather than in the last 50 or so pages where it felt incredibly rushed.
Normally I wouldn't mind a nice, meaty 400 page romance novel. But I don't feel I got that. I think that the overabundance of the gardening plot just added bloat.
Will was a great character. I liked how she positioned him and his personality. He is all about nature, sustainability, and organic foods. He bikes, kayaks, hikes...all kinds of nature outdoorsy stuff. He was also very laid back and calm. In short he was a very three dimensional beta-hero who worked very well in the context of the story.
Katrina was a bit more problematic for me. Again, I like what the author did with her on a character level. She was an orphan was adopted as an older child by an older couple who instilled their love of gardening in her. Their death left he rudderless. Added to that Katrina had some real self esteem and abandonment issues. Sometimes I felt real sympathy for Katrina because despite the fact that she had a group of loving, close friends, a pair of godfathers and an entire town that really considered her their own, she was incredibly lonely. But then sometimes I felt she was a pity-partying brat. She was definitely a prickly character.
So, yeah, this book didn't really work for me. I do recommend it to people who like gardening or who really like a very long, slow build in a relationship. Otherwise I would probably steer clear.
First, I enjoyed and was very impressed with this writer's freshmen effort Reye's Gold. I have been recommending that book all over the place and still encourage everyone to read it. Once of the things I enjoyed about that book was the writing. I have said in my review that the polish and sophistication of the writing felt like someone who had been writing a long time.
The upside of this book is that the writing level is still very high. Simply put, Ms. Robinson is very accomplished in that area. You know there are times when you are reading a book,espeically from a new author, and you just cringe at word usage, or the data dumps or certain dialogue passages. That just never happens with this author. The writing feels very organic, very natural.
When I began this book, I was stoked because it began very strongly. It was immediately interesting and the set up was great. Katrina Jones has a crush on her neighbor Will Nakane. He, however, has never really paid her any attention. Until the night of a New Year's Eve party where Katrina has a little too much to drink and pretty much throws herself at him. Only to be gently rebuffed. For his part, Will can't reconcile the tipsy siren Katrina in the skimpy red dress with neighbor Katrina -- the woman who always wears baggy jeans, baggy tee-shirts, old baseball caps and works in her garden all the time. He takes her home from the party to make sure she is safe and leaves her there.
So, yeah, this is a great set up. But then the book begins to derail. The biggest problem is length and pacing. The book is 400 pages long. The first 295 pages are given over to Will and Katrina simply working together to win a city wide gardening contest. During those 295 pages, Will and Katrina spend a lot of time together getting to know each other.
While Katrina's crush on Will stays strong throughout, the net result of all that time is to see Will slowly begin to realize how much he likes her. So much of what happens in those pages is Will feeling (but not really telling her about) these lusty thought for Katrina. The two of them have a lot of inner revelations. They have absolutely no romantic relationship in those first 295 pages. I am not kidding. They look at each other a lot, they (silently, to themselves) acknowledge that the other is attracted to him/her. But that is it. They don't do anything about the attraction.
And to add to the issue, the gardening competition, really smothers the romance in this part of the book. Katrina knows a lot about gardening so we get a plethora of mini lessons and lectures on it.
The last 100 pages of the book is a full romance novel squished in. In that time the two acknowledge their feelings for each other, sleep together a lot, Katrina has cold feet, they have a few fights and then they end up HEA.
This is the pacing issue. There wasn't enough romantic interaction between the two of them in that first big chunk of the book to sustain real interest in their relationship. They really should have begun a real, acknowledged romantic relationship much earlier than they did so that the tension and the conflict could have been spread throughout the book, rather than in the last 50 or so pages where it felt incredibly rushed.
Normally I wouldn't mind a nice, meaty 400 page romance novel. But I don't feel I got that. I think that the overabundance of the gardening plot just added bloat.
Will was a great character. I liked how she positioned him and his personality. He is all about nature, sustainability, and organic foods. He bikes, kayaks, hikes...all kinds of nature outdoorsy stuff. He was also very laid back and calm. In short he was a very three dimensional beta-hero who worked very well in the context of the story.
Katrina was a bit more problematic for me. Again, I like what the author did with her on a character level. She was an orphan was adopted as an older child by an older couple who instilled their love of gardening in her. Their death left he rudderless. Added to that Katrina had some real self esteem and abandonment issues. Sometimes I felt real sympathy for Katrina because despite the fact that she had a group of loving, close friends, a pair of godfathers and an entire town that really considered her their own, she was incredibly lonely. But then sometimes I felt she was a pity-partying brat. She was definitely a prickly character.
So, yeah, this book didn't really work for me. I do recommend it to people who like gardening or who really like a very long, slow build in a relationship. Otherwise I would probably steer clear.
January 25, 2016
This was a re-read- I loved both characters. Katrina would say one thing when she meant something else; she spent a lot of time contradicting herself. She was shy, but she was bold, she was reserved, but totally wild. By having Katrina's contradictions in the story it worked. It gave this woman who, although dealing with issues, was wild without being unlikable, and reserved without being a boring.
Then there's Will, who is definitely the highlight of the story. I loved the fact that the hero was Asian American. Too often Asian men are emasculated in the media and are not seen as real men or even desirable mates. Will was amazing, and he was funny, he was witty, and he was compassionate and athletic without falling into the martial arts stereotype. I feel that this author did a great job of developing her characters; it was easy to identify with them, even Katrina as she works hard to overcome her fears.
The relationship was slow and well developed. As someone who hates, "love at first sight romances", it was refreshing to have a guy meet a girl who was not gorgeous. Although Will himself was gorgeous, he was down-to-earth enough to see past Katrina's walls to the beautiful person within. I would have to say that this is one author that I will be adding to my list of author to keep an eye out for their work.
Then there's Will, who is definitely the highlight of the story. I loved the fact that the hero was Asian American. Too often Asian men are emasculated in the media and are not seen as real men or even desirable mates. Will was amazing, and he was funny, he was witty, and he was compassionate and athletic without falling into the martial arts stereotype. I feel that this author did a great job of developing her characters; it was easy to identify with them, even Katrina as she works hard to overcome her fears.
The relationship was slow and well developed. As someone who hates, "love at first sight romances", it was refreshing to have a guy meet a girl who was not gorgeous. Although Will himself was gorgeous, he was down-to-earth enough to see past Katrina's walls to the beautiful person within. I would have to say that this is one author that I will be adding to my list of author to keep an eye out for their work.
October 5, 2012
This book was dragged out . It was far too many pages for a book that could have been told in about 200 or so pages. The author rambled about gardening through out the entire book, so much that I didn't know if I was reading a romance or a book on gardening. The lead male was pompous and full of himself, and the lead female was just a big waste of ink. The whole book was just a waste of time and I didn't care for it at all.
February 19, 2015
4.50 stars. Fun story, I enjoyed the humor and banter between Katrina and Will and how they gradually became lovers. Will Nakane is a successful businessman, sportsman and handsome Japanese-American, who is Katrina's neighbor and object of her affection. Katrina is an avid gardener and attends a party at the estate of Will's best friend, she gets drunk and Will takes her home. They become rivals for a position with the gardening club and they also fall in love.
December 19, 2016
Let me just say that Katrina had me in stitches. I felt all of her embarrassing moments and I would cringe then LOL. Initially I thought the story was a little slow but once I read the entire book I understood that Will needed to take the time to find out the puzzle that was Katrina. Once he saw her for her not just the outside package he became determined to win her over, quirkiness and all. I've read the book several times over and continue to enjoy it too.
March 31, 2013
I cannot even begin to describe how much I dislike this book. I have read hundreds of romance novels and never once did I dislike the main female character as much as I did in this book. Halfway through the book, I was hoping she wouldn't get together with the guy. Absolutely horrible character development. Horrible story. And the fact that gardening brings the two together is beyond lame.
June 15, 2011
I love this author, her first novel Reye's Gold was awesome, this novel was just as good. Kind of started slow for my taste as for as the romance aspect goes, but still a great romance between characters. Ruthie Robinson knows her stuff.
March 29, 2012
Cute story although it had it's moments where the girl's insecurities were getting on my nerves though. But I wished it didn't feel rushed in the end. Like I would have liked to read more about how the relationship developed more with Will and Katrina.
April 6, 2011
good book
May 23, 2011
This author's first novel, "Reyes Gold," is a good novel. This novel, "Steady," is a better novel with a sweeter story line, more interesting characters and a heartwarming ending
August 1, 2011
Slow. It was like reading a book recommended by HGTV.
June 9, 2012
Long drawn out story,Katrina was a straight up stalker, and it was creepy as I was reading I was only thinking of The Police "Every Breathe you Take"... did not like.
September 23, 2012
the story was very cute. I agree I do feel that towards the end of the story it was rushed. I don't regret reading this story.
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March 31, 2013lovely story without being overly erotic, believable, cozy, quaint.
May 6, 2013
Not as solid as Reyes Gold but a decent story. Her later books are better and a great read.
February 28, 2015
Linda Christiani
This was a good read for me. I like it when the man realized love is more than good looks or that normal is really overrated!
This was a good read for me. I like it when the man realized love is more than good looks or that normal is really overrated!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews