Her Kind of Trouble by Sarah Mayberry

So last time I read a Sarah Mayberry book I said that  wasn’t jumping on the Mayberry bandwagon again. I appreciated the adultness of the interactions, I liked the characters honesty with each other, but there were some aspects that didn’t thrill me. The same things are true of Her Kind of Trouble. I really appreciate that the hero and heroine are  honest with each other. For the entirety of the book they act like actual adults and never play guessing games.  That said, I had some issues with the actual plot.

Here’s the blurb:

 

It takes one to know one

The moment Vivian Walker spies Seth Anderson she knows they're a match made in hedonistic pleasure. And everything that happens between them proves her right. Even better, they both agree their one night together is all they'll share.

Now, years later, Seth remains one of Vivian's favorite memories. Surely the sizzling chemistry has faded, though, right? Apparently not. Because when she sees him again he's still sinfully attractive. More than that, she actually likes the man he is. When Seth suddenly becomes a full-time dad to a newborn, Vivian falls hard. Despite the changes, however, she knows Seth will never settle down. And he will definitely never commit to one woman. So she needs to strengthen her defenses before she gets into real trouble!

 

My thoughts: Vivian and Seth are both really terrific characters. They are full-fledged adults with no hangups. They aren’t distrustful by nature or scared of relationships and neither have been horribly burned by the past. They both know that starting a relationship with each other is a very bad idea, because as it turns out their siblings are married to each other. They’ll be seeing each other at every family event for the next 50 years. For the last ten years they have had a terrific relationship of flirting around each other and knowing it’s going nowhere.  When Viv finds out that Seth is expecting a baby with an ex-girlfriend, she’s prepared to give him hell for it.  No one is expecting the baby’s mother to be involved in a horrible accident and Seth to get immediate and full custody of a newborn.

This is where my problem lies.  (And it’s really hard to explain without spoilers, I’m sorry!) The setup itself- a really great attraction between two really great people- is light and fun and the seriousness of the situation with Lola (the baby’s mother) is in direct contrast. I assume that Mayberry was trying to show the serious side of Seth  and Vivian and she does a great job of it, but it’s so hard to read about. Seth is really a standup guy. He does a million thoughtful things for everyone around him during a time that is both full of joy and sadness and the author does a  wonderful job of making me fall in love with him a little myself, but the entire time I was reading I couldn’t keep thinking of this poor woman whose real time tragedy was being used a  plot devise.  Usually when someone dies in a romance novel it’s something in the past, but in this one it’s a central theme of the book. Granted, she was a minor character, we never even actually meet her, but it was very uncomfortable for me to read about it.

Final Verdict: I’ve decided that Mayberry writes terrific characters, and the romances are well done, but I think the surrounding plots are maybe just a little two uncomfortable for me. I don’t always need things nice and easy, but I didn’t like the discord of killing this poor woman off so Seth could be the hero.

The Other Side of Us by Sarah Mayberry

Do you ever operate under the assumption that you really enjoy specific authors, make mental notes of when they have new books out, and then carefully track copies down, only to one day realize that you really aren't that impressed by said author?  This has happened to me with Sarah Mayberry. I just finished my third book by her, but for the life of me I don't even remember reading the first two (Anything for You in 2008 and Her Best Friend in 2010.)  When I started to see reviews of The Other Side of Us, and found it available on NetGalley, I requested it. While it wasn't particularly a bad book, it wasn't particularly noteworthy either.

So what is The Other Side of Us about? Mackenzie has been in a horrific auto accident. A year later, she's still recovering physically, and fighting hard to get back into her old life. All she can see is how hard she's trying and how fast it's slipping away. Oliver has escaped to his late aunt's beach house to escape his soon-to-be-ex-wife and their divorce. He's bitter and angry and distrustful of marriage. They are forced to interact with each other because their dogs refuse to stay apart.

What did I enjoy about it? I enjoyed that both parts of the couple were incredibly honest with each other. There was no hiding from what they felt and no big misunderstanding. Oliver knew without a doubt that he was distrustful of his ex-wife and himself, and that it wasn't about Mackenzie at all. Mackenzie was aware that she wanted him, and was willing to go after him without holding back. They are both adults and they both act like adults for the entirety of the book.

What I didn't like so much?  It's a very fast book, the entire thing takes place over a couple of short weeks. This isn't usually something I dislike, but I didn't feel like it completely worked here. They both have so much other emotional stuff going on in their lives (which is addressed) that it seems unlikely they'd have time to really fall in love. Additionally, Oliver is only a few months out from finding out that his wife was cheating, not even a few months out from the divorce, which is still pending. Last, Oliver is really really perfect. He has a terrific sense of humor (he really does!), he is smoking hot, he's genuinely nice, and he's very self aware. He's completely unbelievable.

Final thoughts? It was good, but it wasn't great, and I won't likely seek out Sarah Mayberry. I will still look up specific titles of hers based on great recommendations.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.