It’s pretty rare that I don’t love something put out by Loveswept, but here we have a rarity. It’s not that I hated it, or even disliked it, really. It’s more that it was missing something that would have made me like it more.
The book begins as professor/scientist/cancer researcher Hayden’s best friend convinces her to finally take a night off work to check out a local tequila tasting. Hayden is a workaholic who never takes any time to herself, so even stepping away from her work for a few hours is a huge challenge for her. At the tasting, she meets ex-Navy SEAL Beck, a laid-back charmer who hopes to teach Hayden how to keep a better balance between work and her personal life.
Hayden quickly falls head-over-heels for Beck and then beats herself up for all the time she spends with him that she could have spent working. I actually totally understood this, because I am also the type of person who feels incredibly guilty for taking any amount of time off.
The thing that I couldn’t stand in this book was all of her flip-flopping. In one breath, she’ll say that she doesn’t have time to date. Ten pages later, they’re spending the day at the beach. She doesn’t want to take chances, wait, now she does, but… oh, now she doesn’t. I felt like I was re-reading the same conversation over and over and over again as she explained how important her research was to her, how little free time she had, how she shouldn’t be spending time with Beck… and repeat.
Jamieson sure knows how to write a steamy scene, I’ll give her that, but I was missing the connection that’s usually so apparent in Loveswept books. It was easy to see what Hayden saw in Beck. He was a gentleman, he helped her relax, and he showed her what’s important in life. But what Beck saw in Hayden I could never quite figure out.
A little more development of their relationship and a little bit of variety in their conversations could have taken this book from okay to great. Nevertheless, it’s still a fun, quick read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy.
Final rating: ★★★☆☆
The Bibliophagist 