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A review by katyanaish
Sizzle by Julie Garwood
3.0
I liked it. BUT.
I'm kind of tired of romance stories where ... one partner is all onboard, and wants nothing more than to be together, and openly throws him/herself at the other... and the other partner is reluctant, doesn't want a relationship/commitment/responsibility/etc. And then, at the end, the reluctant one goes "oh wait, I do want you" and ta-da, they are together.
The reason I'm tired of it is because, the vast majority of the time, the reluctant partner has been hurtful or dismissive over and over and over. And the eager partner has been telling him/herself "never again, I'm done with being hurt" ... but just keeps throwing him/herself at the reluctant partner if the reluctant douche shows the tiniest bit of affection.
I think I'm just tired of the power imbalance. You've got one bending over backwards to make the other notice/love him/her. And when the reluctant partner finally comes around, s/he never has to do anything to win back a person s/he has hurt over and over.
I've read this formula in countless romance novels. In this case, Lyra was the eager partner and Sam was the reluctant partner. And he really strings her along. I mean... one steamy look and she's falling over herself to be with him, but then afterwards he's dismissive of her - - until he just can't stand it and has to have her again. He bats his eyes, or walks up and stares down at her, manfully kissing her ... and she jumps in again.
I feel like this badly undercuts the eager partner - they are a damn doormat, with zero willpower, apparently unable to resist the magical penis. And the reluctant partner is also undercut - he's a self-absorbed asshole, who doesn't care at all about stringing the other along. And you can't said he didn't realize. Sam repeatedly says he knows that she's not the type for casual sex, or that she wouldn't be so uninhibited with him if her emotions weren't engaged. Does that impact his behavior at all?
No.
Another point of contention, outside the romance: I have finally started realizing just how many loose ends Garland is leaving in the series. I was okay with it in individual books, because I almost always read series, and so ... I'm comfortable with overall plot threads, things that remain open from book to book. But these things are never picked up again. Like ... off the top of my head, I can think of:
-Killjoy - what the fuck happens with Jilly?
-Shadow Dance - the stolen treasure was a running theme in the book. It ends with Jordan saying she figured it out... and then ... nothing. Never mentioned again.
-Fire & Ice - okay, the doctors developed some kind of superhuman serum? This seems like a big deal, but as a plot thread, there is zero followthrough. It wasn't even clear that the police ever understood that that was a thing. So who has the super serum? Does it work? Wtf?
And now in this book...
Now in ANY OTHER series, I'd assume this B-plot would wrap in the next book, because series, right? But now, I expect we will never hear anything about it again... especially since both Sam and Lyra have no real connection to the Buchanan family. The only other couple that has had no connection thus far - John Paul and Dr. Mike - has never been mentioned again. So... yeah.
*sigh*
***3 stars***
I'm kind of tired of romance stories where ... one partner is all onboard, and wants nothing more than to be together, and openly throws him/herself at the other... and the other partner is reluctant, doesn't want a relationship/commitment/responsibility/etc. And then, at the end, the reluctant one goes "oh wait, I do want you" and ta-da, they are together.
The reason I'm tired of it is because, the vast majority of the time, the reluctant partner has been hurtful or dismissive over and over and over. And the eager partner has been telling him/herself "never again, I'm done with being hurt" ... but just keeps throwing him/herself at the reluctant partner if the reluctant douche shows the tiniest bit of affection.
I think I'm just tired of the power imbalance. You've got one bending over backwards to make the other notice/love him/her. And when the reluctant partner finally comes around, s/he never has to do anything to win back a person s/he has hurt over and over.
I've read this formula in countless romance novels. In this case, Lyra was the eager partner and Sam was the reluctant partner. And he really strings her along. I mean... one steamy look and she's falling over herself to be with him, but then afterwards he's dismissive of her -
Spoiler
multiple times telling her that he'll be gone for good in the morning... until finally one day he IS actually gone for good and she has a replacement bodyguardI feel like this badly undercuts the eager partner - they are a damn doormat, with zero willpower, apparently unable to resist the magical penis. And the reluctant partner is also undercut - he's a self-absorbed asshole, who doesn't care at all about stringing the other along. And you can't said he didn't realize. Sam repeatedly says he knows that she's not the type for casual sex, or that she wouldn't be so uninhibited with him if her emotions weren't engaged. Does that impact his behavior at all?
No.
Another point of contention, outside the romance: I have finally started realizing just how many loose ends Garland is leaving in the series. I was okay with it in individual books, because I almost always read series, and so ... I'm comfortable with overall plot threads, things that remain open from book to book. But these things are never picked up again. Like ... off the top of my head, I can think of:
-Killjoy - what the fuck happens with Jilly?
-Shadow Dance - the stolen treasure was a running theme in the book. It ends with Jordan saying she figured it out... and then ... nothing. Never mentioned again.
-Fire & Ice - okay, the doctors developed some kind of superhuman serum? This seems like a big deal, but as a plot thread, there is zero followthrough. It wasn't even clear that the police ever understood that that was a thing. So who has the super serum? Does it work? Wtf?
And now in this book...
Spoiler
I swear to Christ, if we never get any resolution on Lyra's shitshow parents, I'm going to be pissed. How is there no wrap up on this? They are trying to get a perfectly healthy woman labeled legally incompetent, so they can steal her fortune! That HAS to be illegal. And they put Lyra's fucking house on the market, as if they had full rights to it. That is DEFINITELY illegal, and yet again, no consequences. What the actual fuck? If you are going to make this a constant running B-plot in the series, give it some fucking wrap up!Now in ANY OTHER series, I'd assume this B-plot would wrap in the next book, because series, right? But now, I expect we will never hear anything about it again... especially since both Sam and Lyra have no real connection to the Buchanan family. The only other couple that has had no connection thus far - John Paul and Dr. Mike - has never been mentioned again. So... yeah.
*sigh*
***3 stars***