Am bored. Thus, book review! Or as reviewy as I get.
Having already read Catch of the Day and loving it I didn't expect to hate this book, which is why I dropped $5 on it, and I didn't. Do I like it as much as the other one? Probably not because I love Malone quite a lot but it's still awesome. It's also different from a typical romance novel.
The premise is that Chastity Virginia O'Neill (her father had high hopes and a sense of humor when he named her while her mother was thanking god she finally had a girl) is the youngest of 5 with 4 older brothers, all fire fighters, cops, paramedics with their dad as the Capt. Fire fighter. In other words it's a family of big alpha male heroes. Chas went another route. She has a Master's in journalism from Columbia and has recently moved back home to take over as managing editor for features. She wants to write soft stories because she got burnt out on the depressing news she found working for a newspaper in Newark. So she moves home to tiny Eaton Falls in upstate New York.
3 of Chas's 4 brothers are married with kids and she adores them but she's also 31 and wants that for herself. Her problem? She's still kind of sorta totally in love with Trevor. Trevor is an honorary O'Neill (his little sister died when she was 10-- this is how he met Chas and the other O'Neill's-- and his parents kind of checked out so the O'Neill's kind of adopted him as one of their own) and the best friend of Chas's younger brothers Mark and Matt (who lives with Chas and is closest to her in age). Chas has pretty much been in love with Trevor since she was 10 and invited him to dinner at the O'Neill's soon after his sister's death (he was playing basketball alone and just looked so sad).
Unfortunately for Chas Trevor has seen her as "just one of the guys" for years (when she's not just "the O'Neill girl") and as a little sister . . . oh yeah except for that one time when she was a freshman in college. There is that where they stayed in a sex cocoon for 3 days. Other than that he totes sees her as "just one of the guys". Yeah. I'd say it's unbelievable that Chas spends 12 years thinking that but Higgins, and therefore Trevor, does a pretty good job of selling it. They convince each other it was a mistake (Chas when she sees how dejected Trevor looks at a football game with her brother Matt) and to move on. Chas, of course, doesn't move on. She has boyfriends, of course, and dates but she still loves Trevor.
So here Chas is, 12 years after those blissful 3 days, back home and confronted with Trevor's presence more than she has been. She still loves him but he's pushing her to date other people and completely acts like she's just a friend and a little sister. He's pretty convincing. Telling her she should date this one guy because he's perfect for her. Oh and he also gets back together with his ex-fiance.
That's what makes this book atypical. For almost the entire novel both Chas and Trevor are in relationships with other people. Chas is trying to make it work with Dr. Ryan Darling, a gorgeous but arrogant surgeon, and Trevor is with Perfect Hayden the ex. Chas has her mother, her best friend Elaine (also Mark's estranged wife, but that's a side plot I won't get into), and especially Trevor telling her to make it work with Ryan. That Ryan would be the perfect husband for her. Chas likes Ryan, she truly does, she even loves him, which is perhaps what makes it so easy for her to listen to these people telling her to stay with Ryan and to forget Trevor (Elaine as she's the only one who knows about Chas and Trev) to the point that she accepts Ryan's proposal.
I admit, I got a bit concerned here. But Chas realizes, faced with watching her mother marry a man she loves but not THE love of her life (that man being Chas's father and this is another side plot but they got divorced because her father wouldn't retire and her mother felt he'd always put her third, which tbh, he did) that she would rather be alone and watch Trevor marry Perfect Hayden than marry someone she didn't love with her whole heart.
This brings us to her mother's wedding (where her ex-husband is giving her a way. Finally! A divorced couple more dysfunctional than my parents) where she is dancing with her dad when Trevor steps in. She tells Trevor that she broke it off with Ryan. He asks why and rather than lying she says "Because he wasn't you" at which point Trevor leaves. Yeah. Oh, and I should mention that after learning her mother was remarrying she went to Trevor's upset and they had sex. Yeah. At which point he, again, freaked out. She finally told him she loved him and he, well, he didn't respond as one would hope. She accused him of not wanting to be with her because he was afraid of losing his surrogate family (a valid assumption) to which he responds that no, he was afraid of losing her but Chas is angry and she doesn't really listen, especially when he pushes her back to Ryan. She is absolutely convinced that Trevor just doesn't feel the same way about her, which is again a valid point because he's never told her he loves her.
So we're at the reception and he's walked out and an hour or so later or who knows really she's preparing to give a wedding toast. At which point Trevor walks back in calling her name. There, in front of god and every body, he tells her he loves her. He has always loved her, since she first asked him to dinner with her family, but was stupid and scared of losing her like he lost his sister or lost his parents (to alcohol and California) so he thought it'd be better if he pushed her toward someone else. Chas is crying, Trevor's crying, I'm crying and it's really fucking romantic. He asks Chas to marry her and she says yes.
My favorite part is while her dad is going "where the hell did this come from?" (her mother having already dropped the bomb a few days earlier that she knew all along Chas loved Trev) all 4 of her brothers are doing the variation on the "fucking finally!" and "I knew it!" (her brother Matt: "Try living with her!") theme which cracked my shit up because Chas thought she'd done a good job hiding it all these years and as Trevor had convinced her he didn't love her it's reasonable to assume he'd convinced her brothers as well. Not so much.
The epilogue is a bit cheesy what with having Chas and Trevor married and learning they're having twins, and I would've preferred if it'd ended with the engagement, but I'll deal with it.
As I said, it is different in that Trevor and Chas aren't together for pretty much the entire book. I'm not sure that's something I'd like to see in every romance novel I ever read but it is a nice change of pace because in most romance novels, even if they don't get their act together until the end of the novel, they're either sort of together or at least not with anyone else. Unfortunately, my one complaint, is that because they spend the book with other people, with the exception of the sex near the end, it does make Trevor's proposal and Chas's acceptance seem a little out of left field. I think I would've liked it just as much if at the reception Trevor did finally confess that he's loved Chas all along (that is easy to see, I think, because it's obvious that he's pushing her away because he's afraid of losing her and Higgins gives enough of how he sees Chas to know it's not just as "one of the guys") and then have the epilogue be a proposal. That they love each other isn't in doubt because everyone except Chas's dad saw it, but the proposal so soon (literally about a day) after she breaks off her other engagement and he dumps Perfect Hayden seems a little icky. I know, I know, they love each other and have for years but they didn't admit it and I say give them a while to adjust to having their feelings out in the open before getting married. But it's a minor quibble and I can live with the way it happened.
Kristan Higgins reminds me a lot of Jenny Crusie with her small town settings (though in New England and not the Midwest), dogs that play a prominent role and are characters in their own right (one of the most hilarious scenes was when Chas's dog, Buttercup, in the throes of heat, escapes and finds Chas at the restaurant where she's with Ryan on a date. Matt and Trevor come racing up in Matt's truck and Trevor and Matt are laughing so hard they can't stand and Chas is trying to be angry at them for letting Buttercup escape but she's cracking up to because Buttercup just wants some love), the humor, the well-developed secondary characters (with their own lives and problems who don't exist just to help Chas realize her destiny), and the slightly unconventional heroes and heroines (Chas isn't a tiny 5'5" size 2 but is just shy of 6ft and weighs in at over 150 pounds. She, most of the time has a healthy body image except when confronted with Perfect Hayden. Trevor is gorgeous and attracts women like flies, but not because of his looks which Higgins describes as not exactly handsome, but because of his personality and the way he smiles).
Now I really want Fools Rush In but my local library doesn't have it and Borders didn't have it so I will probably have to request my library get it for me. I also have nothing else to read since I refuse to read Down and Dirty by Sandra Hill after the shit fest that was Pearl Jinx. I could go to the library today but, eh, I'll wait. I have 30 tbr books, surely I can find something to tide me over.
Heh. I've got KET on and this program just started about . . . something to do with Kentucky and the Civil War and it was introduced by Matt Long. First, I was like "he's hotter than the usual hosts of these programs" and then I was like "wait, where have I seen him before" so I IMDb'd him and discovered he was in Jack & Bobby and is from Winchester which explains how they roped him into introducing this.
The premise is that Chastity Virginia O'Neill (her father had high hopes and a sense of humor when he named her while her mother was thanking god she finally had a girl) is the youngest of 5 with 4 older brothers, all fire fighters, cops, paramedics with their dad as the Capt. Fire fighter. In other words it's a family of big alpha male heroes. Chas went another route. She has a Master's in journalism from Columbia and has recently moved back home to take over as managing editor for features. She wants to write soft stories because she got burnt out on the depressing news she found working for a newspaper in Newark. So she moves home to tiny Eaton Falls in upstate New York.
3 of Chas's 4 brothers are married with kids and she adores them but she's also 31 and wants that for herself. Her problem? She's still kind of sorta totally in love with Trevor. Trevor is an honorary O'Neill (his little sister died when she was 10-- this is how he met Chas and the other O'Neill's-- and his parents kind of checked out so the O'Neill's kind of adopted him as one of their own) and the best friend of Chas's younger brothers Mark and Matt (who lives with Chas and is closest to her in age). Chas has pretty much been in love with Trevor since she was 10 and invited him to dinner at the O'Neill's soon after his sister's death (he was playing basketball alone and just looked so sad).
Unfortunately for Chas Trevor has seen her as "just one of the guys" for years (when she's not just "the O'Neill girl") and as a little sister . . . oh yeah except for that one time when she was a freshman in college. There is that where they stayed in a sex cocoon for 3 days. Other than that he totes sees her as "just one of the guys". Yeah. I'd say it's unbelievable that Chas spends 12 years thinking that but Higgins, and therefore Trevor, does a pretty good job of selling it. They convince each other it was a mistake (Chas when she sees how dejected Trevor looks at a football game with her brother Matt) and to move on. Chas, of course, doesn't move on. She has boyfriends, of course, and dates but she still loves Trevor.
So here Chas is, 12 years after those blissful 3 days, back home and confronted with Trevor's presence more than she has been. She still loves him but he's pushing her to date other people and completely acts like she's just a friend and a little sister. He's pretty convincing. Telling her she should date this one guy because he's perfect for her. Oh and he also gets back together with his ex-fiance.
That's what makes this book atypical. For almost the entire novel both Chas and Trevor are in relationships with other people. Chas is trying to make it work with Dr. Ryan Darling, a gorgeous but arrogant surgeon, and Trevor is with Perfect Hayden the ex. Chas has her mother, her best friend Elaine (also Mark's estranged wife, but that's a side plot I won't get into), and especially Trevor telling her to make it work with Ryan. That Ryan would be the perfect husband for her. Chas likes Ryan, she truly does, she even loves him, which is perhaps what makes it so easy for her to listen to these people telling her to stay with Ryan and to forget Trevor (Elaine as she's the only one who knows about Chas and Trev) to the point that she accepts Ryan's proposal.
I admit, I got a bit concerned here. But Chas realizes, faced with watching her mother marry a man she loves but not THE love of her life (that man being Chas's father and this is another side plot but they got divorced because her father wouldn't retire and her mother felt he'd always put her third, which tbh, he did) that she would rather be alone and watch Trevor marry Perfect Hayden than marry someone she didn't love with her whole heart.
This brings us to her mother's wedding (where her ex-husband is giving her a way. Finally! A divorced couple more dysfunctional than my parents) where she is dancing with her dad when Trevor steps in. She tells Trevor that she broke it off with Ryan. He asks why and rather than lying she says "Because he wasn't you" at which point Trevor leaves. Yeah. Oh, and I should mention that after learning her mother was remarrying she went to Trevor's upset and they had sex. Yeah. At which point he, again, freaked out. She finally told him she loved him and he, well, he didn't respond as one would hope. She accused him of not wanting to be with her because he was afraid of losing his surrogate family (a valid assumption) to which he responds that no, he was afraid of losing her but Chas is angry and she doesn't really listen, especially when he pushes her back to Ryan. She is absolutely convinced that Trevor just doesn't feel the same way about her, which is again a valid point because he's never told her he loves her.
So we're at the reception and he's walked out and an hour or so later or who knows really she's preparing to give a wedding toast. At which point Trevor walks back in calling her name. There, in front of god and every body, he tells her he loves her. He has always loved her, since she first asked him to dinner with her family, but was stupid and scared of losing her like he lost his sister or lost his parents (to alcohol and California) so he thought it'd be better if he pushed her toward someone else. Chas is crying, Trevor's crying, I'm crying and it's really fucking romantic. He asks Chas to marry her and she says yes.
My favorite part is while her dad is going "where the hell did this come from?" (her mother having already dropped the bomb a few days earlier that she knew all along Chas loved Trev) all 4 of her brothers are doing the variation on the "fucking finally!" and "I knew it!" (her brother Matt: "Try living with her!") theme which cracked my shit up because Chas thought she'd done a good job hiding it all these years and as Trevor had convinced her he didn't love her it's reasonable to assume he'd convinced her brothers as well. Not so much.
The epilogue is a bit cheesy what with having Chas and Trevor married and learning they're having twins, and I would've preferred if it'd ended with the engagement, but I'll deal with it.
As I said, it is different in that Trevor and Chas aren't together for pretty much the entire book. I'm not sure that's something I'd like to see in every romance novel I ever read but it is a nice change of pace because in most romance novels, even if they don't get their act together until the end of the novel, they're either sort of together or at least not with anyone else. Unfortunately, my one complaint, is that because they spend the book with other people, with the exception of the sex near the end, it does make Trevor's proposal and Chas's acceptance seem a little out of left field. I think I would've liked it just as much if at the reception Trevor did finally confess that he's loved Chas all along (that is easy to see, I think, because it's obvious that he's pushing her away because he's afraid of losing her and Higgins gives enough of how he sees Chas to know it's not just as "one of the guys") and then have the epilogue be a proposal. That they love each other isn't in doubt because everyone except Chas's dad saw it, but the proposal so soon (literally about a day) after she breaks off her other engagement and he dumps Perfect Hayden seems a little icky. I know, I know, they love each other and have for years but they didn't admit it and I say give them a while to adjust to having their feelings out in the open before getting married. But it's a minor quibble and I can live with the way it happened.
Kristan Higgins reminds me a lot of Jenny Crusie with her small town settings (though in New England and not the Midwest), dogs that play a prominent role and are characters in their own right (one of the most hilarious scenes was when Chas's dog, Buttercup, in the throes of heat, escapes and finds Chas at the restaurant where she's with Ryan on a date. Matt and Trevor come racing up in Matt's truck and Trevor and Matt are laughing so hard they can't stand and Chas is trying to be angry at them for letting Buttercup escape but she's cracking up to because Buttercup just wants some love), the humor, the well-developed secondary characters (with their own lives and problems who don't exist just to help Chas realize her destiny), and the slightly unconventional heroes and heroines (Chas isn't a tiny 5'5" size 2 but is just shy of 6ft and weighs in at over 150 pounds. She, most of the time has a healthy body image except when confronted with Perfect Hayden. Trevor is gorgeous and attracts women like flies, but not because of his looks which Higgins describes as not exactly handsome, but because of his personality and the way he smiles).
Now I really want Fools Rush In but my local library doesn't have it and Borders didn't have it so I will probably have to request my library get it for me. I also have nothing else to read since I refuse to read Down and Dirty by Sandra Hill after the shit fest that was Pearl Jinx. I could go to the library today but, eh, I'll wait. I have 30 tbr books, surely I can find something to tide me over.
Heh. I've got KET on and this program just started about . . . something to do with Kentucky and the Civil War and it was introduced by Matt Long. First, I was like "he's hotter than the usual hosts of these programs" and then I was like "wait, where have I seen him before" so I IMDb'd him and discovered he was in Jack & Bobby and is from Winchester which explains how they roped him into introducing this.