Monday, December 17, 2018

Driven to Distraction by Lori Foster ~ Review



When desire gets this hot, you’d better buckle up…

Mary Daniels doesn’t let anything get in the way of her job acquiring rare artifacts for her wealthy boss. But this particular obstacle—huge, hard-muscled, unashamedly masculine—is impossible to ignore. Stuck in a cramped car with Brodie Crews for hours en route to their new assignment, Mary feels her carefully crafted persona—and her trademark self-control—is slipping, and she won’t allow it.

Brodie can’t imagine what secret in Mary’s past has left her so buttoned-up, though he’d dearly love to find out. Maybe then she’d trust him enough to explore their explosive chemistry. But he needs this job, so he’ll play by her rules and bide his time…until an enemy determined to outwit them strikes and he needs to get close—in every way—to protect her. Otherwise they could lose much more than a precious collectible. They could lose it all.







This book started off strong for me.  I adore Brodie Crews with his mustang, his protective streak and his awesome dog, Howler.  I love how he got that dog.  I love how he baby talks that dog and takes care of him when others didn't.  As for his protective streak, I love that he likes to go to the rescue and won't let the buttoned-up Mary Daniels keep him in his place as "merely the transporter".  And I enjoyed most of the story.

Some of my issues started with Mary Daniels and her personality.  I guess she never felt real to me.  She's so strongly closed off to everyone in her life and that changes.  But I expect a story to provide the growth a character needs to make those changes.  I'm not sure I ever felt that with her.  Maybe it's her job and the whole unusual nature of it.  I don't think I ever bought that she walked off the street to become this assistant to a wealthy man, picking up his rare collection items on a moments notice.  So I never connected with her and that aspect of the story that felt forced.

And speaking of Mary's boss, he confused me too.  I felt his responses were forced to meet the needs of the story.  At the first sign of danger, his reaction was not what a caring employer would have been.  And he does come off as trying to be Mary's family.  There were just too many places where things didn't feel right to me.

So why 3 1/2 stars?  I loved the first half of the story.  It was much more pulled together and sharp.   At some point though, it become this forced thing that took a path the characters hadn't signed up for.  A new character come in and I'm thinking WHY are we all of a sudden seeing this persons perspective.  It was unsettling to me.  Maybe a little more planning to make the story flow better would have helped.

I did enjoy it.  I did finish it.  I will probably even want to read Jack's story, book 2.  I like the family and the I'm really hoping for more of the first half and less of the second.



                             






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