Taylor's Temptation, by Suzanne Brockmann

[rachelmanija]

I usually enjoy Brockmann's books a lot, but she can be uneven and has written a handful of stinkers. Unfortunately, this, an older book in her "Tall, Dark, and Dangerous" series, was one of them. It had the single least convincing romantic obstacle I've encountered in romance so far, and that's including Brockmann's own "Because I'm your boss...

Comments

[sovay]

the single least convincing romantic obstacle I've encountered in romance so far, and that's including Brockmann's own "Because I'm your boss... in this civilian temp job that you don't even need."

I take it that one is not instantly solved by the temp quitting their job and happily banging their ex-boss for the next hundred pages?

[rachelmanija]

The heroine is about to do so when they have to continue working together due to an undercover assignment. Then he comes up with some other ridiculous reason why they can't be together which is so idiotic that I now can't recall it. It might be that years ago, her brother told him she was a lesbian to ensure he'd steer clear (this actually made sense this time - the hero was quite a player back then) and even though she's now told him her brother made it up and why, it still mattered because... I forget. It wasn't homophobia. He might have thought that she really was a lesbian and was only hitting on him to preserve her closet or something equally implausible.

I wish Brockmann would be content with throwing her couples into dangerous situations, and let them develop their relationship naturally while dodging terrorists. Her "obstacles" tend toward the highly unlikely.

As a counterbalance, Laura Kinsale is good at extremely, extremely convincing obstacles. So much so that I often don't quite believe in her happy endings.

[melebeth]

Damn it. Now I may have to reread this series. (I don't think I read this book in it. Not that I really want to now, but... curious to see the rest in retrospect.)

[rachelmanija]

The ones I recall liking best were Harvard's Education (the heroine is also in the military), Frisco's Kid (some annoying aspects to the romance, but I really liked the hero's journey adjusting to a disability, plus a kid I didn't hate), and Night Watch (Wes's story! He's got quite a lot of angst but doesn't come across as an incestuous nut bar, unlike in this book.) I haven't read all of them. I don't think I can bring myself to read the surprise secret baby one.

[melebeth]

I picked up a kindle collection and realized I'd only ever read the later books in the series where they're no longer SEALs and are instead covert operatives against sex trafficking. COSTs? But so far, those two are my favorites as well. The "surprise! secret baby!" wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was still annoying.

On a related note, reading these has led me to realize that I haven't been reading romance at all lately, other than your werewolf marines. As it turned out, this was useful timing. I was feeling like I'd been over expressive about my relationship feelings this weekend. However, reading these books has reminded me that "OMG, THIS WOULD ALL BE SO MUCH SIMPLER IF YOU IDIOTS WOULD TALK TO EACH OTHER" is one of my major issues with the genre, and I realize I'd rather not be one of those idiots in real life.

[rachelmanija]

I find that frustrating as well. Especially since refusing to communicate isn't actually necessary for drama.

Would love opinions if you read any more of them!