My brother loaned me this book. Hmmm, serial killer, similar victims, back after 30 years, sounds like it's right up my alley. Then, on page 30, I got to the following paragraph:
“John Baldwin stood with his arms crossed and one long leg propped against the wall behind him. He'd been avidly ignoring the receptionist for a good fifteen minutes; she'd been staring at him like he was a tasty dessert since he'd entered the building. He'd become entirely oblivious to all but the most blatant attempts to get his attention since Taylor (the protagonist) had entered his life. He had eyes only for her ….”
*Screech* The brakes slammed on and I came to a halt.
If he's oblivious to attempts to get his attention, it must be a pain if he's ahead of you in the line for coffee. As for him having eyes only for her, has the author met any men? We aren't all dogs, we don't chase everything in a skirt that walks by, but in my experience and talking to other men, unless we're blind, had brain surgery, or have been taken to the vet to be fixed, we still look. With some version of faked maturity, we make an attempt to stop being obvious about it.
I get it, it's your book, not mine, you're permitted to use exaggerations to emphasize a point, even if it's cribbed from romance novels. I'm also allowed to close the book and move on to something else, which I did.