Friday, July 24, 2015

Even the Score by Kate Meader ~ Review

Source:  Received an eBook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

He’ll make her an offer she can’t refuse…

Actress Tess McKenzie is performing in the Tenth Circle of Showbiz Hell—dinner theater. All she really wants is to start a theater of her own. Then Tess receives an offer she can’t refuse. She’ll get her funding…if she pretends to be the fiancée to her nemesis, Texan property tycoon Hunter Dade. If she’s going to pull this off, she’ll need all the luck she can get. Break a leg, indeed.

On the verge of a big business deal, Hunter needs to hire a fiancée. He hasn’t quite forgiven Tess for ruining his wedding, but when their chemistry goes from combative to straight-up lust, the “no sex” clause in their mutually beneficial arrangement is tested. Which is a serious problem, because if Tess isn’t careful, she’ll go from breaking a leg to breaking her heart…


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25712421-even-the-score

http://www.amazon.com/Even-Score-Entangled-Brazen-Texan-ebook/dp/B00YM591DQhttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/even-the-score-kate-meader/1122042368

 Now Available from Entangled Brazen

Review...

Pretending stories are one of my very favorite tropes, so when I saw this one I had to read it.  It wasn't as good as I'd hoped.

For me, a pretending story is good when the couple are forced to act like they love each other and discover there's some serious heat when they tough.  The trying to resist each other is part of the fun.   This one didn't feel that way to me.  They gave in early and then tried to back track.  It just wasn't right to me.

I did love these characters.  Hunter is a self-made man.  Growing up in a trailer park with an alcoholic mother, no know father and a sister that...well you'll need to read it for that part.  But he chose to work hard and get out of that life.   And he has the protective streak as wide as Texas.  He knows Tess as the best friend to his bride in the wedding that didn't happen.  Yeah, Tess may have talked the bride out of marrying Hunter at the last minute.  So no love lost here, right.  Really, though, it was kinda a marriage of connivance and Hunter was more upset about the business deal that went wrong with it.  I really couldn't reconcile him wanting to marry Jenna that way and who I learned him to be.  But I did love him.

Tess doesn't really get her side of that wedding story out until the end.  I kinda didn't like her until I knew the why of it.  But she's a strong women who has this inner sexpot.  She's down for this acting job playing Hunter fiance but she wants some action too.  Once she quit hating on Hunter and started trying to protect him as much as he protected her, I finally liked her.

Here's my real issue with this book.  There are all these pretty private conversations that happen in front of groups of people between Hunter and Tess.  They're either talking in each others ear or whispering low.  I just found it so odd.  How many people have LONG whispered conversations about things they don't want others to hear IN FRONT of those people.  It wasn't a phrase or a word, no it was a conversation.  It just kept happening too.  People.  Go in another room or wait till later.  You do not do this.  AND it's more likely that someone will hear you but they didn't.  Strange.

Anyway, if the pretending issue I had isn't a problem for you and you can set aside that little whisper conversation issue, then you probably like this one.  It's sexy hot and has a lot of story.  It just wasn't quite as good as I was thinking it would be.



2 comments:

  1. I am thinking the pretending issue you had I will also have. I get annoyed when people whisper in front of me for a length of time. Many whispering moments would tick me off, I came to the party to spend time with everyone not just my significant other. Great Review!

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  2. I don't like when the characters give in to their feelings and attraction too soon. Part of the fun is them trying to resist! Plus the whole backpacking after they gave in would frustrate me as well. Great Review Val :) Thanks for sharing!

    Lindy@ A Bookish Escape

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