Catch a Mate

Holy Bitter Betty! Damn, I thought I was jaded and cynical but I've got nothing on this chick! Jillian our leading lady has some serious man-hating issues. Marcus, the leading man who gets to deal with this little ball of joy has his own issues. He so charmingly puts women into three categories: cock teases, cock lovers, and cock haters. Be still my heart! So yeah these are the two main components that are suppose to come together and create a wonderful love fest. Color me surprised when it didn't happen, AT ALL.
Let's take a moment and think back to Susan Elizabeth Phillips and her Chicago Stars series. Now think about one of those stories, any one (I'm hella sure you've read them all because frankly who hasn't, well except the side show more book about Cal's bro. I haven't read that one but really it shouldn't count as part of the series I say!) and take a moment to sigh wistfully about how a man and a woman can be feisty, snappy, and sarcastically fun with each other. Now while you are lost in awesome sexual tension land add all the hate, bitterness, and vitriol you can to the witty, fun, snarky conversations those leading characters had. Now times all that hate, bitterness, and vitriol by ONE MILLION and you have 97% of the dialogue to Catch a Mate.
To add to this wonderful setting the first half of the book is written in short choppy sentences. Marcus thought this. Marcus thought that. Kyraryker thought UGH!!!
Every time I stepped away from this book it was super hard to pick it back up. All the "I super-duper hate you but oh wait feel this sexual chemistry" was completely exhausting. The dialogue was harsh to my eyes and grating on my ears.
For two over the top jaded cynical people apparently one week is all they need to fall in love, sign over half their business, and move in together with plans to get married. Insane trust issues? Forgetaboutit! Two nights of hot sex cures all!!!!
Jillian's trust issues come about because her dad cheated on her mother and at the end of the book she decides to forgive him. These two pages describing Jillian breaking down and forgiving him were powerful and the only part of the book I respected.
There is a side romance between Jillian's bro Brent and Georgia that I think was suppose to be cute and funny. It was dumb. All the reader sees Brent do is call Georgia everyday and beg her to dump her boyfriend. This man is suppose to have LOVED Georgia forever but all he does is call her; dude it's 2010 put the phone down and try facebook. Geez.
Anyway, I read this book because I saw a lot of wonderful reviews on how funny/witty it was. Bullshit. Just bullshit. I don't believe anyone really liked this book. I almost want to shove this book on friends and be like "read this, read this" (said maniacally) and dare them to say it's good.
This book had lead characters who are extremely cynical, only know each other for a week but still plan to get married, when only until the last 3 chapters or so of the book do they speak civilly to each other (oh excuse me that was foreplay). Oh yeah, and apparently just calling someone everyday is tantamount to a Mecca trip. I've read books before (aforementioned SEP) where the leads are snarky with each other and enjoyed it immensely. The dialogue here wasn't funny or witty to me, just grating. I didn't quite give it a F because before every chapter there were cute/dumb pick up lines that were fun to read; I swear these gave me the energy to keep reading.
Anyway, it turns out that I do like some actual romance in my romance books, so thank you to this book for helping me discover that about myself :)

D- show less

I love the premise of this book. The heroine, Jillian Greene, works at Catch a Mate, a company in Oklahoma City that helps people to catch their philandering significant others. Jillian caught her father in flagrante dilecto with the next door neighbor as a child, and since then hasn't trusted men. And it's no wonder, considering she's constantly acting as "bait" to catch cheating men. But then in walks Marcus Brody, a delectable piece of female bait. Ends up he's also bought the company, which Jillian had wanted to do. Sparks fly from the first time they're in the same room as each other, and things only get hotter as the story progresses.

Like I said, I loved the premise of this book. I also really enjoyed Showalter's voice. She's fun show more and snappy and witty, and tension between Jillian and Marcus was palpable. But...there was one thing that irked me so badly that it kept me from really, truly enjoying this book. What was that, you ask?

The way Jillian's reconciliation with her father was handled. Without spoiling too much, I thought Jillian's reconciliation and forgiveness happened way too fast. I know that she needed to forgive her father in order for her to truly feel free to be with Marcus, but it was like a split second, a small blip, really, and I don't think was treated with the gravity it should have been treated with. This is a man who broke his daughter's heart, who committed adultery and caused his daughter to have trust and emotional intimacy issues. You don't just get over those things. You don't just decide, "I need to forgive my father for cheating on my mom and leaving us all" and forgive him. It doesn't happen that easily. Especially not when you have a personality like Jillian does.

Showalter had me up until that point, but after the reconciliation scene...the rest was just really hard to enjoy and swallow. That being said, her next book (a paranormal romance) seems really interesting and I'm willing to give her another shot. show less

I'll start by saying that, besides her paranormal Lords of the Underworld series, I've never read any of her other works. If you've read any posts on my blog the past few weeks, you'll know I've mentioned LotU a few times - even in comments on other blogs. Why? I abso-freaking-lutely love the Lords series! I picked up the first one on a whim and haven't looked back since.

But I was always hesitant to read any other type of romance books other than paranormal. I don't really have a problem with other people reading them, I just always associated them with middle-aged housewives who read while tanning and drinking mixed cocktails. Nothing wrong with that - my mom and aunt fit under that category - I just didn't think it was for me. I was show more wrong!

Like the Lords, I picked this one up on a whim. The cover got my attention, along with seeing that it was written by Gena Showalter. I loved her writing style in LotU, so I assumed her writing would be similar with her other books. A few hours later, I started reading and didn't stop until I was done. I was absolutely hooked!

The premise of the book from the blurb was promising enough. A girl, Jillian, who was paid to go flirt with men and catch them trying to cheat on their wives. She's good at her job and, given her history, it's a nice perk to catch them in the act so she can tell their wives what kind of men they really are. Enter Marcus, Jillian's male counterpart. From the very beginning, it's bad blood between them - spoiler ahead! - and even worse when Jillian finds out Marcus is her new boss. Throughout most of the book, their relationship can best be described as love/hate, kiss me/I want to kill you - type relationship. But, then again, I think that's what makes a great story.

As mentioned earlier, I love Showalter's writing style. It's nice and smooth, just the way I like it. The characters have their own unique voice and personality, which is a big plus for books. I also loved the character interactions, mainly Jillian and Marcus - the witty dialogue made me laugh out loud many times ... much to my husband's dismay, who was playing video games at the time. The ending sealed up the package nicely. show less

It's hard to believe that AAR gave this book DIK status because I was not that impressed with it. It wasn't horrible but it just wasn't to my taste. CaM had a good plot and I loved the idea of a service that helps women discover if their boyfriend or husband is cheating on them and thought it had great comic potential. But I found some of the dialogue kind of silly and childish rather than funny as the author probably intended.

Heroine Jillian works for the agency and acts as bait to entice husbands or boyfriends who've been accused of cheating and captures their actions on film to show their female clients. Marcus takes over the agency and wants to include catching cheating wives and girlfriends into their offered services. But the way show more he handles his newly acquired female employees was chauvinistic and bullying. I couldn't stand the guy. Plus all his mental lusting for Jillian was ridiculous. Both the H/H had good reasons to hate members of the opposite sex and they work out their problems fairly realistically. And the sexual tension and steamy love scenes were great. But I couldn't warm up to the hero at all.

Jillian spent a lot of time thinking "I hate him, I hate him" "Wow, is he hot!" "Wow, does he have a great butt", then of course they have hot steamy sex. I don't get that. If I hate some guy (male chauvinist pig), I don't think they're attractive and want to jump them. MCP's are a total turnoff. But then that's just me. If you skip all the mental lusting and chauvinistic attitude, it would have been a pretty good read. GRADE: C+ show less

2 out of 5 stars. Don't let the rating fool you ... it was a really good book ... cute. I mean I loved all of the characters! Main and secondary stories were awesome! However ... the ending ruined it for me .... it felt like Gena tried to wrap everything up to fast. Yet I don't know how it could have been written any better either. Which is sad since I liked it right up until there was about a quarter left in the book. =0(

Read more of this review here: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2010/01/ive-found-reason-for-me-to-cha...

This was a light, fun read. It had me laughing out loud at times. The cheesy pickup lines at the beginning of each chapter were a nice reminder of how lucky I am to be done with the dating scene ;)

I struggled with this book, the characters were too argumentative, although the last half of the book they became fun and likeable.