I picked this book up for a light summer read, and it delivered exactly that. Though I can’t think about the story and the characters too much because it all makes me a bit uncomfortable.
The female lead is first portrayed as a hard, cranky, old woman who has given up on love. Then she meets a very hunky, ex-sports guy who is very sure of himself and with a big ego. Of course they immediately fall in lust. She fights it because she doesn’t trust men anymore, but he persists – sure that she wants him (basically saying she would have protested more if she didn’t… uhm?). And then we get a main romance trope, where the two people pretend to be in a relationship for their environment. She is getting divorced and is sick of people feeling sorry for her, she she wants him to play her boyfriend. And what’s in it for him? Well, sex. Which is also in it for her. As is usual for these romance stories, feelings develop and they get well on their way to a happily ever after.
Until the big misunderstanding. In this case, it isn’t just people not talking to each other out of fear or unresolved issues. It’s a man’s ego getting in the way of any communication at all. Also, there were so many pregnancies? The daughter’s pregnant, both sisters are pregnant, even the dog is pregnant. And of course, our heroine is ready to give up men but does kind of want a man and children. There were too many pregnancies, it’s ridiculous. Each happy ending needed a pregnancy apparently. And when the storyline was going a bit stale, hup, another pregnancy. And so much unnecessary drama pointing to the previous book and to the next one. I prefer romance series where we see our fave characters from previous books come back with cameos in their happily-ever-afters. Not like here, where you almost have to read all books to understand it. Lastly, the deal with the little sister is very, very weird. Didn’t like that at all! It didn’t tempt me to read the next book at all…
But you know, if you don’t think about it too much, or read this while on the train or something, it’s a fun summer read. Trust me, don’t think about it too much though.
Happy reading,
Loes M.