Tina's Reading Books

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did. And actually I did find it pleasant while i was reading it, it was only after I was done that I realized that I had some major problems with it.

Abby Cole is the co-owner of a successful PR firm. She is well respected business woman with a take-no-prisoners reputation. Her personal life, though, is a little less successful. Her divorce from her ex-husband J.J., a famed NBA player, was front page news as he cheated on her repeatedly. And their relationship remains contentious as they share custody of their teenaged son and yet J.J. is often an absentee parent.

Sam Best just hung up his shoulder pads after seven seasons with the New York Giants. Newly retired he has committed to writing a memoir. However he has a massive case of writer's block mostly because his fiancee, Maria, is planning the blockbuster of all weddings and wants his input in every single detail.

The two meet when Sam's agent, who is also Abby's best childhood friend, suggest they work together to get the manuscript finished and in on time.

It is instant attraction on both their parts. But Sam is engaged to be married and Abby is hypersensitive to being a person who comes between a couple as she was the wronged party in the past. For his part Sam realizes that he has been unhappy with Maria for a long time. It just took meeting Abby to force him to confront it.

I bought this book mostly on the strength of a previous book by this author I'd read, Mixed Reality which I thought was great.

However, I didn't think this book was as successful as that one.

I felt there was a distinct lack of flow in the storytelling. It felt choppy as if the author was more concerned about getting from point A to point B so the plot could move forward. As a result I felt that some areas of character development were neglected.

For once I thought the hero came off less developed than the heroine. That is a rarity in newer romances, imo. Usually it is the heroine who gets the shaft. But in this case, Sam was decidedly second banana. He was a bit too much of a beta hero for my taste. Sometimes I don't mind a good beta hero -- when the author makes him quietly forceful and gives him a simmering authority. It may not be all in your face like that of an alpha hero, but it is still there nonetheless. But I didn't get that quiet forcefulness from Sam. He tended to let things happen to him. And Abby's personality really dwarfed his.

Speaking of Abby, I thought she was a bit of a superwoman. I love an educated, accomplished woman. If I may be so bold to say, I am one myself. Abby is well known and well respected. Her employees both like and have a healthy amount of fear of her. She is beautiful and speaks five languages fluently. This is all great and I enjoyed that aspect of her. But it went a bit over the top as whenever the smallest problem cropped up, only Abby could solve it. When a fashion designer's show during Fashion week threatened to implode, Abby swooped in an saved the day. One phone call from Abby and a mulish publisher caved like a marshmallow. You get the picture.

There was one scene where she and Sam are talking about sports and his connection to the game she says:

"Sports is more than touchdowns, goals, home-runs, baskets or aces. it represents the best and worst of human nature...It's about the continued drive for success and the joy when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat."

Great moment of reflective rumination about the nature of sport. It would have been even greater if it had come from him rather than her, though. At this point I said "I get it, I get it! She's brilliant." I think it was a lost opportunity to give Sam a little more...something and to allow Abby to take the back seat for once.

I also thought common sense was sacrificed to move the plot as well. Sam's broken engagement becomes quite contentious because Maria's billionaire Texas father Big Bill Carangelo and her mother Miss Kitty (ok, I loved those names) can't stand the fact their daughter was being rejected, so they start to make noise.

Sam makes a few decisions that I disagreed with but understood they were necessary to get the plot to where the author wanted it to go. This weakened the book for me and I found myself skipping passages to get to the inevitable fall-out.

I also thought Sam's fiancee and Abby's ex-husband were a bit cardboardy although both get a bit redeemed in the end.

All in all I thought characters got sacrificed to the plot. And to top it all off, I wasn't completely engaged in the romance.