Rebecca York

Although I enjoyed the first two books in this series, this one didn't nearly live up to them. Simply put, it had issues the others didn't, and they got more and more apparent as the book moved forward. Whether or not I read more in the series will likely depend on any given book's premise, which I'll explain below.

While insta-love was kind of in play with the first two books, it was far worse here. This was more obvious and problematic partly because the book got such a slow start, putting the 'insta-love' even more front-and-center because the characters spent so little time together and knew so little of each other (beyond appearance). Even once they theoretically got to know each other, though, the romance was so focused on physical beauty and that automatic lust the characters had felt, the love never really became real for the reader. It just "was" and we were expected to believe it. Add that issue with the romance to the book generally taking on too many characters, making things over-complicated, and trying to do so much that most of the elements got short-shrift, and you don't have a recipe for a great book. But then there's the thing that really bothered me...

This book was published in 2003. However, the dated, race-charged town in the South which the author paints feels painfully out of date and stereotyped. I can't say whether or not the author has spent time in the South or near where this book was placed, but this feels, from start to finish, like an outsider's stereotypical picture of the South. Maybe she visited for a week or two and this is what she saw--I don't know--but as someone who has lived in the South for most of her life and spent real time near where this book is theoretically located, I can tell you that it feels incredibly inaccurate and stereotyped, written in the way of how northerners joke about and think about the South vs what the South actually is (certainly since before 2003). Part of this, and adding to the problem, is her depiction of Black characters and the unintentionally racist descriptions and positioning. Combined with the town, the book ends up feeling more and more racially charged with outdated attitudes as you get further and further in, the Black characters who show up being little more than stereotypes that, I think, are meant to make the town feel real, and end up doing the exact opposite because of how they're written and positioned. Again, all of this comes down to inherited stereotypes, and I suspect that they were employed, in large part, because the author has an outdated and/or inaccurate view of Southern culture and towns. At least that's how it felt to this reader.

So, yes, in the end, whether or not I read another book in the series may well come down to setting. If the future books in the series are also set in the South, I'll skip them. If they're not, I may delve in. But without doubt, I'd suggest that even readers who enjoyed the first two books in the series as easy, escapist fun just skip this installment in the series. I didn't even cover the fact that some story/character issues pop up late in the book, that issue so pales in comparison to the depiction of the South and the romance which leaves so much to be desired.… (more)

I didn't enjoy this installment in the series quite as much as I enjoyed the first, but it did pick up as it kept on going after a somewhat slow start. I can't remember if the first book in the series hinged on insta-love, but this one did, and I think that was part of the problem. If a book's romance is built in that fashion, then the plot/action/story needs to be strong enough--from the start--to offer real tension and stakes and excitement, simply because the 'romance' give-and-take tension is swallowed up by that insta-love. Here, the action/tension in the first part of the book just felt a little forced/awkward, like the author was having to work to build up excitement, so while the book came together in the end, I think going the route of a more traditional romantic attraction would have made for a much better book and taken some of the pressure off of fast plot movements that just didn't always work early on.

Still, this wasn't a bad escape, and even if it didn't live up to the first book in the series, I enjoyed it well enough for the most part and will (eventually) get around to the third.… (more)