Crush On You by Christie Ridgway
June 1, 2010
Contemporary Romance
Paperback, 304 Pages
Berkley
Reviewed by Tori
The first in a new trilogy by Christie Ridgway-Three Kisses- this is the story of Alessandra Baci and Penn Bennet.
Alessandra Baci and her sisters are determined to save her family’s vineyard-Tanti Baci-by making it the premier wedding destination. Alessandra has had some bad luck with weddings. Her own fiancé never showed up at the alter. Now known as the Nun of Napa, she will do anything to preserve her family’s heritage…even if it means enlisting the sexy Penn Bennet’s help.
The basic premise of the book was good. Woman in a small town meets a vibrant sexy man. Man starts out not liking woman but events make him reconsider. He begins to see woman in a different manner and the chase is on. Had it stayed that way I would have been happy. But the padding was ridiculous. The female protagonist is shallow and one dimensional. The only character development I see is with the men and that was minimal. The storyline revolves around the sex of Alessandra and Penn and to me it felt flat.
I found Alessandra to be selfish & manipulative even after hearing why she is the way she is. The reason for her Nun of Napa nickname was just too much. The town folk are strange in the way they react to and what they expect of Alessandra and I found it annoying and unrealistic. I found her just annoying. Even though it’s fiction and a wide leeway is given to interpretation…I could not even begin to understand the actions of some of these characters.
I made it through 3/4’s of the way through but then Alessandra’s best friend does something that really shocks me. Alessandra’s reaction to that had me throwing up my hands, tossing book on desk and calling it quits. Maybe I will try one of her earlier books, but this one wasn’t it for me.
Rating: DNF (Did not finish)
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Thanks Tori!
It's always disappointing when a book holds promise, but fails completely.I've found myself short on patience these days and have had a lot more dnf's then usual.
A Buckeye Girl Reads-I have heard so many great things abt her previous books that I'm going to give one a try.
Oh, sad. I read the novella set in Napa (can't remember what it was called, or the book of anthologies either for that matter…) and I didn't think it was her best work. The trilogy with How to Knit a Wild Bikini, Unravel Me and Dirty Sexy Knitting was really good – maybe I won't rush to pick this one up though. (I can save some $$ and reduce my ridiculous tbr!)