Driven to Distraction

Good start to the new series. Mary works for an eccentric collector. With the help of a driver, she is the one who picks up Therman's purchases, some of which may skirt the boundaries of legality. Therman sent Mary to Mustang Transportation to hire Brodie Crews to be her driver for the next pick-up, with the probability of offering Brodie steady work with them. However, Brodie didn't make a very good first impression on Mary. Her first sight of him was as he was shirtless, sweaty, dirty, hungover, and being fondled by a woman while working on one of his cars. Brodie saw a beautiful, curvy, bossy, and uptight woman who intrigued him from the moment he met her. It was fun to see the sparks fly between them.

I enjoyed the development of the show more relationship between these two very different people. Brodie is laid-back, friendly, and confident in himself. He has a very close relationship with his family and a large, goofy dog that he rescued. Mary grew up under very different circumstances and has created a controlled and professional persona that hides a rather lonely woman. The chemistry between them was off the charts, though Mary desperately tried to hide it at first. Brodie was determined to uncover the woman behind the walls and had the patience to chip away them. I enjoyed their road trips, the two of them and the dog, as they slowly got to know each other. Brodie's non-judgmental attitude and kindness made it easier for Mary to open up about her past. I loved seeing Mary blossom under Brodie's attention, discovering that she was loved for who she was. There were some terrific scenes of her realizing that she didn't have to be Ms. Perfect all the time. I especially loved the part in the kitchen at Brodie's house when Mary first met his mother. Mary also had an unexpectedly sexy side when she finally allowed herself to let go, and I loved seeing her knock Brodie off balance regularly.

The suspense side of the story was pretty good. Mary's boss, Therman, is one of several wealthy and eccentric collectors. There was one collector who seemed to be determined to get what he wanted at any cost. Brodie became super protective of Mary when some of their pickups either took place in sketchy locations, or they were physically attacked. One of the things I enjoyed was seeing that Mary does not take a subordinate role during any of the confrontations. She is smart and capable and holds her own when necessary. It was fun to see her outthink and outmaneuver a couple of the bad guys. We do get the point of view of that other collector, and he is definitely bad news. The final confrontation was pretty intense and resulted in some changed attitudes all around.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I did feel that it lacked a little bit of the intensity of some of the earlier series, such as Love Undercover and Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor. That will not stop me from reading the rest of the series. show less

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy, My copy had some electronic editing issues, which I assume will be fixed by release date. Lori starts this book off hot and steamy! Mary's a prickly pear, determined to be circumspect and proper, removed from all things and he's determined to bring out the real Mary Daniels. While he drives her to collect her boss's purchases they find themselves in danger as thugs attempt to steal and shoot at them. I loved the chemistry between these two, but the suspense part of the story felt very disconnected. It felt like I was reading two different stories forced to be together and detracted from this great couple's story.

I'm going to start by saying I love this author and all of her books but with that said this book was hard for me to get into. Lets start with what I loved about the book:

The storyline was amazing and I enjoyed it because it was different and I hadn't read anything like it yet. Brodie was amazing, sweet, and had a sense of humor. He was constantly aware of others feelings and he liked to lookout for the underdogs or those who may not be able to take care of themselves in certain situations. Also his dog, Howler was loyal, sweet, protective, and the story surrounding Brodie rescuing him was so sweet. Ok so lets go to my main issue with this book:

Mary. She was so uptight and out to prove herself to the world that she didn't realize how show more obnoxious, judgmental, and downright rude she came off as. I tried so hard to like her because as the reader you just know there is a reason for her being this way. you know that she wants to be treated as an equal and come off as I am an independent woman hear me roar which is fine because I am all for strong heroine leads but when they are constantly being condescending to the Hero over and over and over again you can't connect with them. She keep treating Brodie like he was a lowlife and every situation that occurred she yelled at him and belittled him. I honestly wanted Brodie to walk away from her and not look back because he kept apologizing for absolutely nothing. Honestly her attitude was so annoying it took away from their chemistry and romance.

Overall I enjoyed this book but Mary wasn't even likeable until she finally let go of her attitude but that was about at 80% of the book. If she had lost some of her attitude earlier then I could see the connection between her and Brodie but she had me feeling so sorry for him that I couldn't buy into their romance. show less

Driven to Distraction draws heavily on the ‘opposites attract’ trope. Mary Daniels is a no-nonsense professional sent by her billionaire employer, Therman Ritter, to hire the courier services of Brodie Crews, whose middle name is ‘Casual’ and their first meeting is less-than-professional. Little hint, Brodie’s half-naked and hungover and some woman is groping him outside of his shop. So much yikes, so little time, right?
The story shifts POVs between hero and heroine with the occasional villain POV dropped in to mix things up. The timeline is a couple months if my counting is right (I wouldn’t put money on it) and mainly consists of Mary and Brodie going on courier jobs together, Mary as the ‘bagman’ and Brodie as the show more wheels.
Character dish time! Obviously, Howler is my favourite from Driven to Distraction’s cast of characters. He reminds me of my dearly departed Zeus Amadeus. A goofy omnivore giant with clingy overprotective instincts but lazy dudebro tendencies. And playing opposite as my least favourite character is Therman Ritter. He cares more for his precious objects than he does his employees’ safety. He spends, I don’t even want to guess how much money, on stupid things just to say he owns them. And, he’s of the belief that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it because he’s rich. He admits in a conversation with Brodie that he not only didn’t bother with training his small breed dog, but that he took delight in letting it bite people when he was bored. That is not okay, folks.
Mary vacillates between masquerading as this character she’s created to protect herself from the world and who she really is and, honestly, a lot of us do it, it’s a great defensive measure. But she does it so much throughout the book, even in her POV, that I was a bit lost in figuring her out. There's a lot of alluding to a painful past and then we talk about it a smidgen and it's over and done with, complete with pretty bow tying up the problems. Then, towards the end, she's talking with Brodie's friend/co-worker who basically says "dude looks like he's serious about you, maybe you're not friends with benefits" and suddenly, bam!, she comes back over as a completely different person. And then there's a lot of coverage in there making sure we all understand that Mary didn't change for a boy. But she did?
Brodie is a pretty good hero character, Ms Foster knows how to write a male lead and leave us wanting more of him. Brodie is just enough of an alpha male to rev the engine but not enough to make me want to dig out my taser (I have my things and you have yours, we don't judge on my page, y'all). He supports Mary, left, right, and center, unless it endangers her, and then he's supporting her but also backing her up so when the bad guy rears his head, she's not alone. And he saves dogs. All the yes there.
The ending and the bad guy were both let-downs for me in a lot of ways. I won't say much on these subjects because this is a no-spoiler site, but normally Lori's villains can make me nervous for our hero and heroine set but this one fell flat on their face. Maybe my three-year-old niece might have cried over this baddie, but that's about it. The big ending where the bad guy gets what's coming to them and the hero and the heroine have their HEA moment is usually an OMG but this a "wait, that's it?"
I liked the made family of Therman Ritter's employees that adopted Mary. I would have loved to have more involvement from them in the book because that's some wholesomeness Mary needed. Charlotte does befriend Mary and she's adopted by Brodie's mom (who is next-level amazing, btw), but Mary needed some wrap-up, either dealing with her past or settling into her made family comfortably. Yes, this is going to be a thing for me.
Overall, I'm giving Driven to Distraction three stars and matching flames. For a variety of reasons, this book fell flat and it hurt me when I finished it to know that. Now. I do want to say things here. Lori Foster's writing is comfortable. It makes me feel warm and comfortable. Her books are books you take out on the porch with your handknit blanket and cup of hot tea and watch the sun come up after you've spent all night talking with your soulmate. Awww. I'm a huge fan of Lori's and I'm going to read Road to Love #2 shortly, asking whatever literary deity is listening to make sure it more than makes up for its predecessor. And I hope y'all give her books a chance if you haven't already.
This has been a review from Once Upon a Time, I Read a Book, for more of my reviews, you can follow me here or visit my dot-com. Have a happily ever after! show less

Driven to Distraction by Lori Foster
Road to Love #1

Family, trust and love are central to this story. Mary Daniels is buttoned up and conservative in what she wears and how she interacts with others trying to be all that her mother was not. She may have envy but it is more an envy of those who are in loving families so unlike the home she grew up in. Brodie Crews has a wonderful family of mother, brother and a young woman that is like a sister to him. Brodie was the perfect book boyfriend and his interactions with Mary were a delight to read.

When Brodie and Mary meet there are sparks but of a negative nature…eventually those change and a romance begins to ignite as the two go on the road to collect items their boss, Therman, has show more purchased for his collections. There is a bad guy out to out maneuver Therman and in doing so he causes trouble for Mary and Brodie.

Brodie has a heart of gold that sees him standing up for women, children, underdogs and animals. By saving one dog, Howler, he gained a friend for life. What a wonderful addition Howler was to the story! In addition to Howler we meet those in the employ of Therman and the family of Jack and by the end of the story I am more than eager to hear what will happen in book two of the series when it seems Jack will meet the woman that will be his true love. Can’t wait to get it in my hands!

Thank you to NetGalley, HQN and the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars show less

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy, My copy had some electronic editing issues, which I assume will be fixed by release date. Lori starts this book off hot and steamy! Mary's a prickly pear, determined to be circumspect and proper, removed from all things and he's determined to bring out the real Mary Daniels. While he drives her to collect her boss's purchases they find themselves in danger as thugs attempt to steal and shoot at them. I loved the chemistry between these two, but the suspense part of the story felt very disconnected. It felt like I was reading two different stories forced to be together and detracted from this great couple's story.

Lori Foster has an amazing way of making her characters come to life and the characters in this book are amazing. Who can resist a big alpha male who talks baby talk to a dog he rescued, who makes believe he's tasting the dog food so the dog things he's eating human food and who can see beneath the outer shell of a tightly wound woman to the soft heart beneath.
Additionally, you have a female character who had such a damaging childhood that she must protect her feelings at all costs - even from the people who want to care for her.
On top of that, add in a dangerous threat from two men who are following and threatening them. It all combines into a great read and a good start to this new series.
I received an ARC from NetGalley, and this is show more my honest review. show less