What's it About (the Blurb):
Former pro-football kicker Sam Ridge has notoriously bad luck with women—from cheaters to fame chasers. Still, the gorgeous brunette at the bar in Fool's Gold looks harmless—until she takes him home and he discovers a room devoted to securing a man, for life.
Dellina Hopkins never guessed that storing gowns from a friend's bridal boutique would chase away her first and only fling. After her parents died, she skipped her "wild youth" to raise her sisters. She doesn't want forever from Sam, but one night—all night—would've been nice.
His clean getaway gets messy when his firm hires Dellina to plan an event. As long hours lead to late nights, the two succumb to temptation again. Has Sam's luck finally changed? Or this time, will Dellina be the one to run?
My thoughts:
So that doesn't even really describe it. Dellina never even considers running. All these darn Fool's Gold people are so incredibly honorable. They break up and they just go on with their lives with a broken heart. At least this one didn't have a Jo's Bar breakup party like the first dozen. Anyway, lost my train of thought.
Dellina and Sam are both perfectly nice. The plot line is perfectly acceptable. It just didn't really have any zing. The tension wasn't there at all. *crickets* I can't think of anything else to say about the romance itself. I did enjoy Sam's no-boundaries parents, despite thinking I'd hate them but that was probably the best part of the book. There was just way too much story that didn't involve Sam and Dellina (Dellina's sisters romance, a lot of setup about a Olympic skier, Larissa and her causes) and overall it felt like a set up for something else. I missed Gladys and Eddie's scheming and Facebooking.
On top of all these plot issues is the issue of the writing. Mallery was never a terrific writers, but she always had a knack for holding my interest and being entirely readable. I feel like this installment, and the one before to some extent, have both gotten choppy to the point where it pulls me out of the story. A completely made up example would be " Lisa picked up the milk jug. She poured a glass of milk. She handed one to Bob, gave Bill a beer, and opened a soda for Joe." Step. Step. Step. I don't mind an easy read, but I need better writing than that.
All of this together is just too much. I'm going to hold off on this last Fool's Gold as long as possible so that perhaps I'll come back to it fresh. (I'm writing this review at the beginning to April to be published in late May. This will give me a couple months "off.")
Before We Kiss will be published on May 27, 2014.
I can't believe this is #14. Okay well I can believe it since it seems every time I turn around there's a new Mallery but still! I think it's definitely time to give her a break for a bit. It's too bad this wasn't great because I do like the sound of the premise on this one.
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