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doinacondrea's review
2.0
The back and forth was exhausting. Either be together or don’t. Those two found the dumbest things to fight over. Also, Dara knowing Sean had feelings for her and encouraging it without reciprocating was so dumb. Also, without spoiling it, I really hated the ending where it sounded like she made a decision without talking to him first.
aurianne's review
1.0
I received this as a free giveaway. Thank god, because even at free I couldn't say I got my money's worth. DNF at about 20%.
Yikes. I don't know where to start with this one. In no particular order:
1. The writing is so bad it was painful to make it through a page without my eyes falling out of my head from all the rolling. The opening scene is an incredibly painful expositional conversation between the male POV (I refuse to call him either a hero or a romantic lead, as he is neither), Mike, and his mama. I'll summarize it for you -
Mama: Watch out for your little brother who somehow got into law school, despite being such a screwup who can't stop thinking with his penis for 2 seconds that we both know he won't make it without your brilliant legal mind helping him out (and helping him keep it in his pants).
Mike: But he hates me, and also he was a total screwup at my firm when I gave him a pity job.
Mama: But son, I have a lump. I apparently ignored medical advice and now this is my maybe dying wish. I haven't had the biopsy yet, but you should react like this is a deathbed promise. Also, you should get married and have babies. You know how you're emotionally scarred from that one time in college a girl you were sleeping with turned out to also be sleeping with someone else.
Mike: Debbie who? I don't even remember her last name, but she's apparently going to integral to my emotional baggage plot during this book.
The actual dialogue is equally ridiculous. It reads like melodramatic manipulation on the part of "Mama," but maybe we're supposed to actually be sad or worried about the lump she found? I can't tell, the writing is too bad.
2. The first impression Mike has of the female POV (again, I refuse to use heroine or romantic lead), Dara, includes the words "big titties" in the same paragraph where he waxes poetic about her having the face of an angel and it being like he's never seen a woman before.
I'm wondering if he actually hasn't seen a woman before, other than "Mama." He reads like a horny teenager having his first embarrassing in-public erection or an immature frat boy, not the "brilliant criminal defense attorney" who "follows the highest ethical standards. In his career and his personal life." That's taken directly from the book description. The author also goes out of her way to very quickly disclose that this man is supposed to be 34 and such a successful lawyer that he already owns his own firm based on that success, not family influence or money. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
3. Dara thinks Mike has "the eyes of a pirate." I don't know what the hell this is supposed to mean, but I choose to believe that he has an eye patch to cover the missing one, because so far that would be the most interesting thing about him.
4. Everything else. From the complete inability of any character to act like they have ever set foot in law school, a law firm, or any professional setting whatsoever, to the unbelievably boring litany of obsessive thoughts about some hot nincompoop they just met equating to emotions.
This "brilliant" lawyer was skulking around the office after hours trying to sniff his first year law student intern's perfume at her desk. Then he berates her for not calling him personally to tell him she'd be out with the flu, despite her not having worked directly with him at all (because he was trying to stay away from her due to his uncontrollable lust for her).
That's where I stopped. I just couldn't do it any more. I came to the goodreads page for this book and found out that not only is this book godawful, it used to be worse. At least that's what I assume when the edition I have is a rewrite of the original. Theoretically, the author originally released a version that was so bad that this is the improvement.
I know this review is harsh, but the huge number of positive ratings on this book seem highly suspect to me. I would want to know what I was in for with specific examples before wasting a dime on this amateurish, completely unsexy, hot mess.
Yikes. I don't know where to start with this one. In no particular order:
1. The writing is so bad it was painful to make it through a page without my eyes falling out of my head from all the rolling. The opening scene is an incredibly painful expositional conversation between the male POV (I refuse to call him either a hero or a romantic lead, as he is neither), Mike, and his mama. I'll summarize it for you -
Mama: Watch out for your little brother who somehow got into law school, despite being such a screwup who can't stop thinking with his penis for 2 seconds that we both know he won't make it without your brilliant legal mind helping him out (and helping him keep it in his pants).
Mike: But he hates me, and also he was a total screwup at my firm when I gave him a pity job.
Mama: But son, I have a lump. I apparently ignored medical advice and now this is my maybe dying wish. I haven't had the biopsy yet, but you should react like this is a deathbed promise. Also, you should get married and have babies. You know how you're emotionally scarred from that one time in college a girl you were sleeping with turned out to also be sleeping with someone else.
Mike: Debbie who? I don't even remember her last name, but she's apparently going to integral to my emotional baggage plot during this book.
The actual dialogue is equally ridiculous. It reads like melodramatic manipulation on the part of "Mama," but maybe we're supposed to actually be sad or worried about the lump she found? I can't tell, the writing is too bad.
2. The first impression Mike has of the female POV (again, I refuse to use heroine or romantic lead), Dara, includes the words "big titties" in the same paragraph where he waxes poetic about her having the face of an angel and it being like he's never seen a woman before.
I'm wondering if he actually hasn't seen a woman before, other than "Mama." He reads like a horny teenager having his first embarrassing in-public erection or an immature frat boy, not the "brilliant criminal defense attorney" who "follows the highest ethical standards. In his career and his personal life." That's taken directly from the book description. The author also goes out of her way to very quickly disclose that this man is supposed to be 34 and such a successful lawyer that he already owns his own firm based on that success, not family influence or money. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
3. Dara thinks Mike has "the eyes of a pirate." I don't know what the hell this is supposed to mean, but I choose to believe that he has an eye patch to cover the missing one, because so far that would be the most interesting thing about him.
4. Everything else. From the complete inability of any character to act like they have ever set foot in law school, a law firm, or any professional setting whatsoever, to the unbelievably boring litany of obsessive thoughts about some hot nincompoop they just met equating to emotions.
This "brilliant" lawyer was skulking around the office after hours trying to sniff his first year law student intern's perfume at her desk. Then he berates her for not calling him personally to tell him she'd be out with the flu, despite her not having worked directly with him at all (because he was trying to stay away from her due to his uncontrollable lust for her).
That's where I stopped. I just couldn't do it any more. I came to the goodreads page for this book and found out that not only is this book godawful, it used to be worse. At least that's what I assume when the edition I have is a rewrite of the original. Theoretically, the author originally released a version that was so bad that this is the improvement.
I know this review is harsh, but the huge number of positive ratings on this book seem highly suspect to me. I would want to know what I was in for with specific examples before wasting a dime on this amateurish, completely unsexy, hot mess.
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