2 stars
This review will be long as I will try to briefly explain each of the three books. Also, there's a high chance of spoilers.
I went into this with high hopes since the first book I read by this author I loved. These three, however. Didn't give me the same impression. Again what I like about this author is the lack of 'this can't work out cause' and the 'they don't really like me cause' and so on and so forth. That whole level of naivete and irrational relationship blocking is overused. Beyond that, the three stories kind of meandered into other things that just didn't work for me.
The first one, His wedding Quarterback, was an almost hit. The best thing about it was the entire drunken scene. Just too much sweet for one Moose. Moose was all sorts of dreamy and Lane was fun. But it only takes one bad ending to ruin things and the fact that Lane made the 'adult' decision to not talk or conversate about something and instead storm away from the scene and then ignore phone calls for days and then, instead of some sort of adult compromise, Moose makes a drastic decision to be with someone who couldn't even be bothered to talk to him and express his emotions. It was all sorts of wrong. I couldn't get on board with a man trying his best to salvage a situation and dealing with someone who's acting like they are still in highschool and ends up changing his entire life really because Lane was basically being stubborn and not respecting or even considering there are more than a million ways to make a relationship work besides walking out on it and expecting the other person to change their entire existence for you. So yeah. It just didn't sit well and I know I was supposed to find Moose's actions heroic and romantic but it didn't feel right. He deserved better and Lane came off as selfish to me.
Then there's the second story, His Wedding Carpenter. Firstly, unlike the third instalment, there was an odd lack of connectivity to the first story. The same wedding is happening in all three books. At the very least the moment Noah lost his dog and had to call Lane should've been mentioned. That aside, a lot of spoilers here. Firstly I find it hard to believe that when Noah was losing his mind over the stage not being centred that a tradesman/wood carving artist would brush it off. Precision is legit a part of his job. It didn't make sense and only served as a device to get him in Noah's office which he could've just done on his own anyway. Then instead of Brooks hinting at some sort of surprise or secret about the art show he flat out accepts Noah's invitation to be his date like he, and we, didn't know he was the guest of honour. Then, later on, acts like he didn't mean to deceive him when that is literally what he did. Then, Noah having dealings with the press and knowing just how shady the reporter can be, did not think even for a second to call Brooks with a heads up that an article would be written and chances are it would be more scandal than news? That should've been the first thing he dod. He mentioned how ruthless she was when he thought about her so the readers know he knows. So there is no way even for a teeny bit of time he trusted her to write a good story. And lastly, Brooks getting all weirded out cause Noah wants to go home to get the dog he left alone with intentions of coming home too. Sigh. This had zero to do with Noah not wanting him. It's a perfectly reasonable concern. Just go pick up the dog and bring them back to his place. Hell put some clothes on and spend the night at Noah's. It was just odd. Basically, I couldn't get into this one because I was expected to believe that experts in their fields would behave like the exact opposite.
And the last one, His Wedding Professor, almost had me like the first one but I couldn't finish this one. Seth seemed fine, Luca was okay. The story seemed to be going somewhere but the plot just didn't hold up for me. Firstly Luca having issues about agreeing to let his picture be used was awkward. Like whether he said yes or no was completely separate from what he wanted from Seth. The fact he phrased it like saying yes would be the only reason Seth would date him or somehow allowing him the photo equated to taking a chance on the relationship being worth it was a non-issue. His picture was already shared and liked in the tens of thousands. Even if he never saw Seth again what harm would it be to give him the photo? Just make a decision yes, or no. Deal with your budding romance, if it even begins, later. Also if he wants to go against his family's plan for him so badly, giving up the rights to his photo for free and being blasted all over media even further, seems a pretty good way to do that. But when I really quit was signature forging. That is illegal.
Lots of people have bank loans, student loans, mortgage payments, car payments that the bank is hounding them for. Forgery is dead wrong but on top of that, my opinion on Luca aside, photos are personal property. You can't just illegally give away something of that nature and be like 'you need to understand I needed the money'. It's a hard no from me. I know this story has a HEA but somethings are just not redeemable. He basically stole Luca's image and sold it because his family probably sold their house, or put up their life savings for him to go college, which he quit and he somehow ended up with the bills. Life sucks, but this was not the way to fix it. All he had to do was call Luca. He had his number. He had at least half a day to get permission. He knew where he worked.
How does one, after having a steamy escapade, think 'yeah I'll just not ask and do this, he won't care'. smh. Also, where did he find his signature to copy and learn accurately enough to forge. That bit was sorta glossed over. Lastly, even though I'm def team Luca on this, if Seth was in it for the money the photo is not a big enough payday. He'd have to stick around and weasel his way into Luca's life. It was an odd conclusion to jump to mostly because Seth still showed up for the date. He clearly had zero intentions of running off with money and was stupid enough to think it wouldn't be a big deal. I dunno, I just feel like Luca was smart enough to see Seth for the idiot that he is. I really could not stick around for this HEA. It was just as unavoidable as Noah and the reporter thing. It makes me question if real-life adults actually behave this way.
All in all the rationale of the decisions that created the final tension in all three of these books, plus odd plot choices in the second two prevented me from enjoying these. Especially when you can always see the decision coming a mile away in this particular genre so that doesn't help. I can, however, honestly say I did not see Seth doing what he did. Seriously, mind blown. Just how? Maybe I'm just weird but I find it extremely hard to believe that adults, who are professionals in their field, would behave the way they do in these novels and unfortunately this lead to me not enjoying these three stories. Which is a shame considering I came in with high hopes after reading another one of this author's novels that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
No comments:
Post a Comment