But Emma’s real life is about to heat up when her mother books the entire inn to a professional snowboarder, hoping the publicity will put them on the map. In a karmic twist of fate, that guest is Wyatt Lawson, the man with whom Emma had shared the secret one-night stand that became the inspiration for her novel and its dreamy hero. Worse, a film crew is documenting his comeback just as her debut is about to hit the shelves. Emma’s only saving grace is that Wyatt doesn’t remember her—and hopefully he never will.
When Wyatt arrives in Sterling Canyon for several weeks of intense training, the last tumble he expects to take is falling for a girl, especially one as shy as Emma. Unlike groupies with their hidden agendas, she isn’t using him—or so he believes…until the film crew uncovers Emma’s pen name and steamy novel.
Wyatt’s comeback run can withstand a fall or two, but can his heart recover from this crash and burn? (Pub Date: Feb 21, 2017)
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
After reading the second book in this series, I didn't think twice before picking this up to review. And the writing remains as lovely.
Aside from one night of freedom years ago—which has led into her first published novel about to be published—, Emma has always been the good girl her mother hoped from her, especially after her father abandoned the family to follow his dream of Hollywood. Now she was left by herself to take care of the family's inn for a movie crew, the real version of her sexy character Dallas is back in her life, thus she needs to be careful not to be unmasked.
Montlake Romance books do have an appeal to me and this one was no exception. As was the previous number in the series, Unexpectedly Hers is even above average, compared to the others I have read from them. But it's impossible not to compare to Sterling Canyon #2, and this time I can't use the word above.. I did find a lot of the elements I loved in the second and the plot was even more interesting but the development of the story was a little flat. Again, this is better than most romance books but weaker when we're only talking about this series.
Character-wise, Emma was a good idea. Leading some sort of double life not because she wanted to fool others but because she wished her outside persona were her real self made my heart go to her. Also she's a great cook, how not to love? Her romantic interest Wyatt is a family guy even if he has the party boy fame. I liked how he wasn't a walking cliché whom Emma was supposed to break.
I think one of my issues with this book was when it came to the couple. I don't mean chemistry but I didn't find their getting together exciting and while they had a lot of material for a main conflict, the climax came and I felt even less willing to cheer for them. To be honest, that was a good excuse for conflict but a terrible reason for arguing. It was like the wrong person got angry there, and for being presumptuous. Pause for clicking my tongue here.
One nice point was an absence of rivals. There were lots of candidates, and I confess I hate that device in romances, so I was a little anxious every time a character seemed about to get in the way. Fortunately, Beck never went that route. For those following the series, you will love the appearances from previous characters, and Trip from #2 was again the funniest here. They gave a new life to a story that seemed on the brink of going stale, in my opinion.
In all, this was another heartwarming story from Jamie Beck. Family is the big theme here, as well as following your own passions while being yourself. I do recommend it to those who enjoy romance books, this is cute enough to warm your winter.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment